diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18094-8.txt | 19931 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18094-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 454848 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18094-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 483977 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18094-h/18094-h.htm | 20036 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18094-h/images/frontis.jpg | bin | 0 -> 11980 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18094.txt | 19931 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 18094.zip | bin | 0 -> 454229 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
10 files changed, 59914 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18094-8.txt b/18094-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..874dd2f --- /dev/null +++ b/18094-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19931 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Girondists, Volume I, by +Alphonse de Lamartine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Girondists, Volume I + Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution + +Author: Alphonse de Lamartine + +Translator: H. T. Ryde + +Release Date: April 1, 2006 [EBook #18094] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at +http://dp.rastko.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Portrait of Robespierre] + + + + +HISTORY + +OF + +THE GIRONDISTS; + +OR + +_Personal Memoirs of the Patriots_ + +OF + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. + + +FROM UNPUBLISHED SOURCES. + +BY + +ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE, + +Author of "Travels in the Holy Land," &c. + + * * * * * + +IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. + + * * * * * + +TRANSLATED BY H. T. RYDE. + + +LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1856. +LONDON PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. NEW-STREET SQUARE + ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's Note: You may notice some inconsistencies in | +|accentation. These have been left as they are in the original.| ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +We have not thought it necessary to preface this recital by any +introduction of the preceding epochs of the Revolution. + +We have not re-produced, with the minute elaboration of an annalist, the +numerous parliamentary and military details of all the events of these +forty months. Two or three times we have, in order to group men and +circumstances in masses, made unimportant anachronisms. + +We have written after having scrupulously investigated facts and +characters: we do not ask to be credited on our mere word only. Although +we have not encumbered our work with notes, quotations, and documentary +testimony, we have not made one assertion unauthorised by authentic +memoirs, by unpublished manuscripts, by autograph letters, which the +families of the most conspicuous persons have confided to our care, or +by oral and well confirmed statements gathered from the lips of the last +survivors of this great epoch. + +If some errors in fact or judgment have, notwithstanding, escaped us, we +shall be ready to acknowledge them, and repair them in sequent editions, +when the proofs have been transmitted to us. We shall not reply one by +one to such denials and contradictions as this book may give rise to; it +might be a tedious and unprofitable paper-war in the newspapers. But we +will make notes of every observation, and reply _en masse_, by our +proofs and tests, after a certain lapse of time. We seek the truth only, +and should blush to make our work a calumny of the dead. + +As to the title of this book, we have only assumed it, as being unable +to find any other which can so well define this recital, which has none +of the pretensions of history, and therefore should not affect its +gravity. It is an intermediate labour between history and memoirs. +Events do not herein occupy so much space as men and ideas. It is full +of private details, and details are the physiognomy of characters, and +by them they engrave themselves on the imagination. + +Great writers have already written the records of this memorable epoch, +and others still to follow will write them also. It would be an +injustice to compare us with them. They have produced, or will produce, +the history of an age. We have produced nothing more than a "study" of a +group of men and a few months of the Revolution. + + A. L. + + Paris, March 1. 1847. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + BOOK I. + + Introduction. Mirabeau. Marries. Enters the National Assembly. His + Master Mind. His Death and Character. Glance at the Revolution. The + New Idea. Revolution defined. Revolutions the Results of Printing. + Bossuet's Warnings. Rousseau. Fénélon. Voltaire. The Philosophers + of France. Louis XVI. The King's Ministers. The Queen. Her Conduct + and Plans. The National Assembly. Maury. Cazalès. Barnave and the + Lameths. Rival Champions. Robespierre. His Personal Appearance. + Revolutionary Leaders. State of the Kingdom. Jacobin Club. Effects + of the Clubs. Club of the Cordeliers. La Fayette. His Popularity. + Characters of the Leaders. What the Revolution might have been 1 + + BOOK II. + + State of the Assembly. Discussions. The Periodical Press. The King + and his Brothers. He meditates Escape. Various Plans of Flight. The + King's embarrassed Position. Marquis de Bouillé. The King and + Mirabeau. Preparations for the King's Escape. Fatal Alterations. + Anxiety. Rumours. Count de Fersen. A Faithless Servant suspicious. + Mode of Escape. Dangers of the Route. The Passport. Hopes of + Success. Drouet recognises the King. Narrowly saves his own Life. + Varennes. Capture of the Royal Family. Entreaties of the King and + Queen. Refusal of the Syndic and his Wife. Conduct of the Soldiers + and People. Effect on the Queen. Conduct of the Parisians. Their + Rage. La Fayette attacked. Defended by Barnave. Power assumed by La + Fayette. La Fayette's Proceedings. The King's Parting Address. + Manifesto. Proceedings of the Cordeliers and Jacobins. + Robespierre's Address. Its Effect. Danton's Oration. His Audacity + and Venality. Address of the Assembly. The King's Arrest known. His + Hopes. The Queen's Despair. The Royal Family depart for Paris. De + Bouillé's unavailing Efforts. Indignation of the Populace. + Barnave's noble Interference. Barnave gained over. Drouet's + Declaration. The Entrance into Paris. Arrival at the Tuileries. + Barnave and Pétion's report to the Assembly. La Fayette and the + Royal Family. The Queen's Courage. Effects of the Flight. The King + should have abdicated 42 + + BOOK III. + + The Interregnum. Barnave's Conversion. His Devotion. His Meetings + with the Queen. The King's Reply. Fatal Resolution of the "Right." + A Party that protests, abdicates. Address of the Cordeliers to the + National Assembly. Barnave's great Speech. Irresistible Advance of + the Revolution. The Press. Camille Desmoulins. Marat. Brissot. + Clamours for a Republic. Desmoulin's Attack on La Fayette. + Petitions of the People. Robespierre's Popularity. Popular Meeting + in the Champ de Mars. Absence of the Ringleaders. "The Altar of + the Country." The Remarkable Signatures. Advance of the National + Guard, preceded by the Red Flag. Fearful Massacre. The Day after. + The Jacobins take Courage. Schisms in the Clubs. Attempts of + Desmoulins and Pétion to restore Unity. Malouet's Plan for amending + the Constitution. Power of the Assembly. The New Men. Condorcet. + Danton. Brissot disowned by Robespierre. Charges made against him. + Defended by Manuel. Girondist Leaders 100 + + BOOK IV. + + Revolutionary Press. High State of Excitement. Removal of + Voltaire's Remains to the Pantheon. The Procession. Voltaire's + Character. His War against Christianity. His Tact and Courage in + opposing the Priesthood. His Devotion. His Deficiencies. Barnave's + weakened Position. His momentary Success while addressing the + Assembly. Sillery's Defence of the Duc d'Orleans. Robespierre's + Alarm. Malouet's Speech in Defence of the Monarchy. Robespierre's + Remarks. Constitution presented to the King. His Reply and + Acceptance. Rejoicings. Universal Satisfaction. The King in Person + dissolves the Assembly 145 + + BOOK V. + + Opinions of the Revolution in Europe. + Austria--Prussia--Russia--England--Spain. State of + Italy--Venice--Genoa--Florence--Piedmont--Savoy--Sweden. Gustavus + III. Feelings of the People. Poets and Philosophers. England and + its Liberty. America. Holland. Germany. Freemasonry. German School. + French Emigration. Female Influence. Louis XIV.'s Letter. Conduct + of the Emigrant Princes unsatisfactory to the King. Attempts of the + Emigrés. The German Sovereigns. Their Conference. The Revolt. The + Declaration. The Courts of Europe, The Princes disobey the King. + Desire for War in the Assembly. Madame de Stäel. Count Louis de + Narbonne. His Ambition. The Hero of Madame de Stäel. M. de Segur's + Mission. The Mission frustrated. The Duke of Brunswick 172 + + BOOK VI. + + The New Assembly. Juvenile Members. First Audience with the King. + Decrees of the Assembly. Vergniaud's Policy. Offensive Decree + repealed. Rage of the Clubs. Indifference of the People. The King's + Address to the Assembly. Momentary Calm. The Girondists. The + Clergy. The King's Religious Alarms. State of Religious Worship. + Fauchet's Speech. The Abbé Tourné's Reply. Advantages of + Toleration. Dacos. Gensonné. Isnard. Isnard's eloquent Address to + the Assembly. His severe Measures. Decree against the Priests. New + Policy of Louis XVI. Question of Emigration. Brissot advocates War. + His Arguments. Condorcet. Vergniaud. His Character and his Speech + against the Emigrants. Isnard's violent Harangue. Decision of the + Assembly. André Chénier. Camille Desmoulins. State of Parties. + Hopes of the Aristocracy. La Fayette's Letter. La Fayette in + Retirement. Candidates for Mayor of Paris. Pétion and La Fayette. + La Fayette's Popularity. Pétion elected Mayor 211 + + BOOK VII + + Character of Parties. France worked for the Universe. Mechanism of + the Constitution. The King's Veto. Defence of the Constitution. No + Balance of Power. All Odium falls upon the King. Order, the Life of + Monarchy. When a Republic is needful. The Will of the People. + Mistake of the Assembly. The King's Position. The Assembly + hesitates. Third Course open. The Republicans 257 + + + BOOK VIII. + + Madame Roland. Her Infancy. Her Personal Appearance. Early + Abilities. Habits. Her Father's House. Future Héloïse. Influence of + Birth in Society. Her Impression of the Court. Has many Suitors. M. + Roland. His Career. Their Marriage. Mode of Life. La Platière. + Country Life. Madame Roland's Love for Mankind. The Rolands in + Paris. Interview with Brissot. Reunion at Roland's. Madame Roland + and Robespierre. Her Opinion of him. Her Anxiety for his Safety 272 + + + BOOK IX. + + New Assembly. Roland's Position. De Molleville. M. de Narbonne. + Treachery of the Girondists. Narbonne's Policy and Success. His + Popularity. Robespierre his sole Opponent. Robespierre's Desire for + Peace. His Views. His Rupture with the Girondists. His Speech + against War. Louvet's Reply. Brissot's Efforts 296 + + + BOOK X. + + Committee of the Girondists. Its Report. Gensonné. His Reply. + Guadet. Vergniaud's Proclamation. Constitutionalists for War. + Narbonne's Report. The Pamphleteers. Unpopularity of the Veto. + Outbreak at Avignon. Jourdan. San Domingo. Negro Slavery. Men of + Colour. Ogé. His Execution. Insurrection of the Blacks at San + Domingo. Increase of Disorder. The Abbé Fauchet. His Career. + Charges against him. Riot in Caen Cathedral. Insurrection at Mende. + National Guard drives out the Troops. Insubordination. Universal + Bloodshed. The Swiss Soldiers. Their Revolt pardoned. Chénier's + Remonstrance. Dupont de Nemours. Pétion's Weakness. Robespierre's + Interference. Gouvion. Couthon. Triumph of the Swiss Soldiers 312 + + + BOOK XI + + Increasing Disturbances. Murder of Simoneau. Duc d'Orleans. His + peculiar Position. The Duchesse d'Orleans. Duc disliked at Court. + Forms the Palais Royal. Madame de Genlis. Her Talents. The Duke + Citizen. Mirabeau's Estimate of the Duke. La Fayette's Interference + with the Duc d'Orleans. Plans of the Girondists. Duc d'Orleans made + Admiral. His Declaration. Details. Avoided by the King's Friends. + Becomes a Jacobin. Vergniaud's great Eloquence. His powerful + Appeal. Its Effects 352 + + + BOOK XII. + + The Emperor Leopold. De Lessart's Despatch. His Impeachment. De + Narbonne's Dismissal. Death of Leopold. Supposed to be poisoned. + His Vices and Virtues. Conspiracy. Assassination. Ankastroem. Death + of Gustavus. Joy of the Jacobins. Brissot's Policy. Accusation of + M. de Lessart. Roland and the Girondist Ministry 377 + + + BOOK XIII. + + Dumouriez's Talent and Aptitude. Education and Acquirements. + Favier. Corsica. Paoli. Dumouriez sent to Poland. Stanislaus + Policy. Dumouriez at Cherbourg. His Tact; Appearance. Dumouriez and + Madame Roland. Roland's Vanity. His Opinion of the King. His Wife's + Sagacity. Dumouriez in favour with the King. His Interview with the + Queen. His Advice. Bonnet Rouge. Dumouriez and Robespierre. Pétion + and the Bonnet Rouge. The King's Letter. Treachery of the + Girondists. Roland's Letter to the King. Letter of the Girondist + Chiefs. Dumouriez's Policy. Danton. Hatred of Robespierre and + Brissot. Camille Desmoulins. Brissot's Attack on Robespierre. + Guadet. Robespierre's Defence 396 + + + BOOK XIV. + + Quarrel between Girondists and Jacobins. Violence of the Journals. + Marat's atrocious Writings. Duke of Brunswick. Mirabeau's Opinion + of him. Dumouriez's Plan. The King himself proposes War. Slight + Opposition. Condorcet's Manifesto. War declared. State of Belgium. + Revolt. German Confederation. French Nobility and Emigrés. Comte de + Provence. Comte d'Artois. Mallet-Dupan, the King's Confidant 436 + + + BOOK XV. + + Dumouriez's Tactics. Servan's Proposition. Change of Ministry. + Dumouriez's Infidelity. Another Change of Ministers. Dumouriez + quits Paris. Barbaroux. Madame Roland's Plans for a Republic. + Increase of the Girondists. Buzot. Danton: his Origin and Life. + Progress. Hostilities in Belgium. Duc de Lauzun. Luckner. State of + France 459 + + + BOOK XVI. + + King Pétion. His Policy. Murder of De Brissac. Another Phase of the + Revolution. Santerre, Legendre, Instigators of 20th June. + Preparation. Disposition of Lower Orders. The Mobs excited. The + Alarm of the King. The Assembling of the People. St. Huruge. + Théroigne de Méricourt. Her Fate. The Procession. Roederer's + Courage. Huguenin's Declaration. The Mob admitted. Defence at the + Tuileries. Movement of the Populace. The Troops faithless. Fury of + the Mob. The King's Defenders. Madame Elizabeth. Legendre's + Insolence. The Bonnet Rouge. "Vive le Roi." The Dangers of the + Queen. Princesse de Lamballe. Queen and Royal Children. Santerre. + Deputation to the King. Pétion's Duplicity. Retirement of the + Rebels. Merlin's brutal Remark. The Marseillaise. Its Origin and + Popularity: universally adopted 478 + + + + +HISTORY + +OF + +THE GIRONDISTS. + + + + +BOOK I. + + +I. + +INTRODUCTION. + +I now undertake to write the history of a small party of men who, cast +by Providence into the very centre of the greatest drama of modern +times, comprise in themselves the ideas, the passions, the faults, the +virtues of their epoch, and whose life and political acts forming, as we +may say, the nucleus of the French Revolution, perished by the same blow +which crushed the destinies of their country. + +This history, full of blood and tears, is full also of instruction for +the people. Never, perhaps, were so many tragical events crowded into so +short a space of time, never was the mysterious connexion which exists +between deeds and their consequences developed with greater rapidity. +Never did weaknesses more quickly engender faults,--faults +crimes,--crimes punishment. That retributive justice which God has +implanted in our very acts, as a conscience more sacred than the +fatalism of the ancients[1], never manifested itself more unequivocally; +never was the law of morality illustrated by a more ample testimony, or +avenged more mercilessly. Thus the simple recital of these two years is +the most luminous commentary of the whole Revolution; and blood, spilled +like water, not only shrieks in accents of terror and pity, but gives, +indeed, a lesson and an example to mankind. It is in this spirit I would +indite this work. The impartiality of history is not that of a mirror, +which merely reflects objects, it should be that of a judge who sees, +listens, and decides. Annals are not history; in order to deserve that +appellation it requires a conviction; for it becomes, in after times, +_that_ of the human race. + +Recital animated by the imagination, weighed and judged by wisdom,--such +is history as the ancients understood it; and of history conceived and +produced in such a spirit, I would, under the Divine guidance, leave a +fragment to my country. + + +II. + +HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS. + +Mirabeau had just died. The instinct of the people led them to press +around the house of his tribune, as if to demand inspiration even from +his coffin; but had Mirabeau been still living, he could no longer have +given it; his star had paled its fires before that of the Revolution; +hurried to the verge of an unavoidable precipice by the very chariot he +himself had set in motion, it was in vain that he clung to the tribune. +The last memorial he addressed to the king, which the Iron Chest has +surrendered to us, together with the secret of his venality, testify the +failure and dejection of his mind. His counsels are versatile, +incoherent, and almost childish:--now he will arrest the Revolution with +a grain of sand--now he places the salvation of the Monarchy in a +proclamation of the crown and a regal ceremony which shall revive the +popularity of the king,--.and now he is desirous of buying the +acclamations of the tribune, and believes the nation, like him, to be +purchasable at a price. The pettiness of his means of safety are in +contrast with the vast increase of perils; there is a vagueness in every +idea; we see that he is impelled by the very passions he has excited, +and that unable any longer to guide or control them, he betrays, whilst +he is yet unable to crush, them. The prime agitator is now but the +alarmed courtier seeking shelter beneath the throne, and though still +stuttering out terrible words in behalf of the nation and liberty, which +are in the part set down for him, has already in his soul all the +paltriness and the thoughts of vanity which are proper to a court. We +pity genius when we behold it struggling with impossibility. Mirabeau +was the most potent man of his time; but the greatest individual +contending with an enraged element appears but a madman. A fall is only +majestic when accompanied by virtue. + +Poets say that clouds assume the form of the countries over which they +have passed, and moulding themselves upon the valleys, plains, or +mountains, acquire their shapes and move with them over the skies. This +resembles certain men, whose genius being as it were acquisitive, models +itself upon the epoch in which it lives, and assumes all the +individuality of the nation to which it belongs. Mirabeau was a man of +this class: he did not invent the Revolution, but was its manifestation. +But for him it might perhaps have remained in a state of idea and +tendency. He was born, and it took in him the form, the passion, the +language which make a multitude say when they see a thing--There it is. + +He was born a gentleman and of ancient lineage, refugee and established +in Provence, but of Italian origin: the progenitors were Tuscan. The +family was one of those whom Florence had cast from her bosom in the +stormy excesses of her liberty, and for which Dante reproaches his +country in such bitter strains for her exiles and persecutions. The +blood of Machiavel and the earthquake genius of the Italian republics +were characteristics of all the individuals of this race. The +proportions of their souls exceed the height of their destiny: vices, +passions, virtues are all in excess. The women are all angelic or +perverse, the men sublime or depraved, and their language even is as +emphatic and lofty as their aspirations. There is in their most familiar +correspondence the colour and tone of the heroic tongues of Italy. + +The ancestors of Mirabeau speak of their domestic affairs as Plutarch of +the quarrels of Marius and Sylla, of Cæsar and Pompey. We perceive the +great men descending to trifling matters. Mirabeau inspired this +domestic majesty and virility in his very cradle. I dwell on these +details, which may seem foreign to this history, but explain it. The +source of genius is often in ancestry, and the blood of descent is +sometimes the prophecy of destiny. + + +III. + +Mirabeau's education was as rough and rude as the hand of his father, +who was styled the _friend of man_, but whose restless spirit and +selfish vanity rendered him the persecutor of his wife and the tyrant of +all his family. The only virtue he was taught was honour, for by that +name in those days they dignified that ceremonious demeanour which was +too frequently but the show of probity and the elegance of vice. +Entering the army at an early age, he acquired nothing of military +habits except a love of licentiousness and play. The hand of his father +was constantly extended not to aid him in rising, but to depress him +still lower under the consequences of his errors: his youth was passed +in the prisons of the state; his passions, becoming envenomed by +solitude, and his intellect being rendered more acute by contact with +the irons of his dungeon, where his mind lost that modesty which rarely +survives the infamy of precocious punishments. + +Released from gaol, in order, by his father's command, to attempt to +form a marriage beset with difficulties with Mademoiselle De Marignan, a +rich heiress of one of the greatest families of Provence, he displayed, +like a wrestler, all kinds of stratagems and daring schemes of policy in +the small theatre of Aix. Cunning, seduction, courage, he used every +resource of his nature to succeed, and he succeeded; but he was hardly +married, before fresh persecutions beset him, and the stronghold of +Pontarlier gaped to enclose him. A love, which his _Lettres à Sophie_ +has rendered immortal, opened its gates and freed him. He carried off +Madame de Monier from her aged husband. The lovers, happy for some +months, took refuge in Holland; they were seized there, separated and +shut up, the one in a convent and the other in the dungeon of Vincennes. +Love, which, like fire in the veins of the earth, is always detected in +some crevice of man's destiny, lighted up in a single and ardent blaze +all Mirabeau's passions. In his vengeance it was outraged love that he +appeased; in liberty, it was love which he sought and which delivered +him; in study, it was love which still illustrated his path. Entering +obscure into his cell, he quitted it a writer, orator, statesman, but +perverted--ripe for any thing, even to sell himself, in order to buy +fortune and celebrity. The drama of life was conceived in his head, he +wanted but the stage, and that time was preparing for him. During the +few short years which elapsed for him between his leaving the keep of +Vincennes and the tribune of the National Assembly, he employed himself +with polemic labours, which would have weighed down another man, but +which only kept him in health. The Bank of Saint Charles, the +Institutions of Holland, the books on Prussia, the skirmish with +Beaumarchais, his style and character, his lengthened pleadings on +questions of warfare, the balance of European power, finance, those +biting invectives, that war of words with the ministers or men of the +hour, resembled the Roman forum in the days of Clodius and Cicero. We +discern the men of antiquity in even his most modern controversies. We +may fancy that we hear the first roarings of those popular tumults which +were so soon to burst forth, and which his voice was destined to +control. At the first election of Aix, rejected with contempt by the +_noblesse_, he cast himself into the arms of the people, certain of +making the balance incline to the side on which he should cast the +weight of his daring and his genius. Marseilles contended with Aix for +the great plebeian; his two elections, the discourses he then delivered, +the addresses he drew up, the energy he employed, commanded the +attention of all France. His sonorous phrases became the proverbs of the +Revolution; comparing himself, in his lofty language, to the men of +antiquity, he placed himself already in the public estimation in the +elevated position he aspired to reach. Men became accustomed to identify +him with the names he cited; he made a loud noise in order to prepare +minds for great commotions; he announced himself proudly to the nation +in that sublime apostrophe in his address to the Marseillais: "When the +last of the Gracchi expired, he flung dust towards heaven, and from this +dust sprung Marius! Marius, less great for having exterminated the +Cimbri than for having prostrated in Rome the aristocracy of the +nobility." + +From the moment of his entry into the National Assembly he filled it: he +was the whole people. His gestures were commands; his movements _coups +d'état_. He placed himself on a level with the throne, and the nobility +felt itself subdued by a power emanating from its own body. The clergy, +which is the people, and desires to reconcile the democracy with the +church, lends him its influence, in order to destroy the double +aristocracy of the nobility and bishops. + +All that had been built by antiquity and cemented by ages fell in a few +months. Mirabeau alone preserved his presence of mind in the midst of +this ruin. His character of tribune ceases, that of the statesman +begins, and in this he is even greater than in the other. There, when +all else creep and crawl, he acts with firmness, advancing boldly. The +Revolution in his brain is no longer a momentary idea--it is a settled +plan. The philosophy of the eighteenth century, moderated by the +prudence of policy, flows easily, and modelled from his lips. His +eloquence, imperative as the law, is now the talent of giving force to +reason. His language lights and inspires every thing; and though almost +alone at this moment, he has the courage to remain alone. He braves +envy, hatred, murmurs, supported by the strong feeling of his +superiority. He dismisses with disdain the passions which have hitherto +beset him. He will no longer serve them when his cause no longer needs +them. He speaks to men now only in the name of his genius. This title is +enough to cause obedience to him. His power is based on the assent which +truth finds in all minds, and his strength again reverts to him. He +contests with all parties, and rises superior to one and all. All hate +him because he commands; and all seek him because he can serve or +destroy them. He does not give himself up to any one, but negotiates +with each: he lays down calmly on the tumultuous element of this +assembly, the basis of the reformed constitution: legislation, finance, +diplomacy, war, religion, political economy, balances of power, every +question he approaches and solves, not as an Utopian, but as a +politician. The solution he gives is always the precise mean between the +theoretical and the practical. He places reason on a level with manners, +and the institutions of the land in consonance with its habits. He +desires a throne to support the democracy, liberty in the chambers, and +in the will of the nation, one and irresistible in the government. The +characteristic of his genius, so well defined, so ill understood, was +less audacity than justness. Beneath the grandeur of his expression is +always to be found unfailing good sense. His very vices could not +repress the clearness, the sincerity of his understanding. At the foot +of the tribune he was a man devoid of shame or virtue: in the tribune he +was an honest man. Abandoned to private debauchery, bought over by +foreign powers, sold to the court in order to satisfy his lavish +expenditure, he preserved, amidst all this infamous traffic of his +powers, the incorruptibility of his genius. Of all the qualities of a +great man of his age, he was only wanting in honesty. The people were +not his devotees, but his instruments,--his own glory was the god of his +idolatry; his faith was posterity; his conscience existed but in his +thought; the fanaticism of his idea was quite human; the chilling +materialism of his age had crushed in his heart the expansion, force, +and craving for imperishable things. His dying words were "sprinkle me +with perfumes, crown me with flowers, that I may thus enter upon eternal +sleep." He was especially of his time, and his course bears no impress +of infinity. Neither his character, his acts, nor his thoughts have the +brand of immortality. If he had believed in God, he might have died a +martyr, but he would have left behind him the religion of reason and the +reign of democracy. Mirabeau, in a word, was the reason of the people; +and that is not yet the faith of humanity! + + +IV. + +Grand displays cast a veil of universal mourning over the secret +sentiments which his death inspired to all parties. Whilst the various +belfries tolled his knell, and minute guns were fired; whilst, in a +ceremony that had assembled two hundred thousand spectators, they +awarded to a citizen the funeral obsequies of a monarch; whilst the +Pantheon, to which they conveyed his remains, seemed scarcely a monument +worthy of such ashes,--what was passing in the depths of men's hearts? + +The king, who held Mirabeau's eloquence in pay, the queen, with whom he +had nocturnal conferences, regretted him, perhaps, as the last means of +safety: yet still he inspired them with more terror than confidence; and +the humiliation of a crowned head demanding succour from a subject must +have felt comforted at the removal of that destroying power which itself +fell before the throne did. The court was avenged by death for the +affronts which it had undergone. He was to the nobility merely an +apostate from his order. The climax of its shame must have been to be +one day raised by him who had abased it. The National Assembly had +grown weary of his superiority; the Duc d'Orleans felt that a word from +this man would unfold and crush his premature aspirations; M. de La +Fayette, the hero of the _bourgeoisie_, must have been in dread of the +orator of the people. Between the dictator of the city and the dictator +of the tribune there must have been a secret jealousy. Mirabeau, who had +never assailed M. de La Fayette in his discourses, had often in +conversation allowed words to escape with respect to his rival which +print themselves as they fall on a man. Mirabeau the less, and then M. +de La Fayette appeared the greater, and it was the same with all the +orators of the Assembly. There was no longer any rival, but there were +many envious. His eloquence, though popular in its style, was that of a +patrician. His democracy was delivered from a lofty position, and +comprised none of that covetousness and hate which excite the vilest +passions of the human heart, and which see in the good done for the +people nothing but an insult to the nobility. His popular sentiments +were in some sort but the liberality of his genius. The vast +expansiveness of his mighty soul had no resemblance with the paltry +impulses of demagogues. In acquiring rights for the people he seemed as +though he bestowed them. He was a volunteer of democracy. He recalled by +his part, and his bearing, to those democrats behind him, that from the +time of the Gracchi to his own, the tribunes who most served the people +had sprung from the ranks of the patricians. His talent, unequalled for +philosophy of thought, for depth of reflection, and loftiness of +expression, was another kind of aristocracy, which could never be +pardoned him. Nature placed him in the foremost rank; and death only +created a space around him for secondary minds. They all endeavoured to +acquire his position, and all endeavoured in vain. The tears they shed +upon his coffin were hypocritical. The people only wept in all +sincerity, because the people were too strong to be jealous, and they, +far from reproaching Mirabeau with his birth, loved in him that nobility +as though it were a spoil they had carried off from the aristocracy. +Moreover, the nation, disturbed at seeing its institutions crumbling +away one by one, and dreading a total destruction, felt instinctively +that the genius of a great man was the last stronghold left to them. +This genius quenched, it saw only darkness and precipices before the +monarchy. The Jacobins alone rejoiced loudly, for it was only he who +could outweigh them. + +It was on the 6th of April, 1791, that the National Assembly resumed its +sittings. Mirabeau's place, left vacant, reminded each gazer of the +impossibility of again filling it; consternation was impressed on every +countenance in the tribunes, and a profound silence pervaded the +meeting. M. de Talleyrand announced to the Assembly a posthumous address +of Mirabeau. They would hear him though dead. The weakened echo of his +voice seemed to return to his country from the depths of the vaults of +the Pantheon. The reading was mournful. Parties were burning to measure +their strength free from any counterpoise. Impatience and anxiety were +paramount, and the struggle was imminent. The arbitrator who controlled +them was no more. + + +V. + +Before we depict the state of these parties, let us throw a rapid glance +over the commencement of the Revolution, the progress it had made, and +the principal leaders who were about to attempt directing it in the way +they desired to see it advance. + +It was hardly two years since opinion had opened the breaches against +the monarchy, yet it had already accomplished immense results. The weak +and vacillating spirit of the government had convoked the Assembly of +Notables, whilst public spirit had placed its grasp on power and +convoked the States General. The States General being established, the +nation had felt its omnipotence, and from this feeling to a legal +insurrection there was but a word; that word Mirabeau had uttered. The +National Assembly had constituted itself in front of, and higher than, +the throne itself. The prodigious popularity of M. Necker was exhausted +by concessions, and utterly vanished when he no longer had any of the +spoils of monarchy to cast before the people. Minister of a monarch in +retirement, his own had been utter defeat. His last step conducted him +out of the kingdom. The disarmed king had remained the hostage of the +ancient _régime_ in the hands of the nation. The declaration of the +rights of man and citizen, the sole metaphysical act of the Revolution +to this time, had given it a social and universal signification. This +declaration had been much jeered; it certainly contained some errors, +and confused in terms the state of nature and the state of society; but +it was, notwithstanding, the very essence of the new dogma. + + +VI + +There are objects in nature, the forms of which can only be accurately +ascertained when contemplated afar off. Too near, as well as too far +off, prevents a correct view. Thus it is with great events. The hand of +God is visible in human things, but this hand itself has a shadow which +conceals what it accomplishes. All that could then be seen of the French +Revolution announced all that was great in this world, the advent of a +new idea in human kind, the democratic idea, and afterwards the +democratic government. + +This idea was an emanation of Christianity. Christianity finding men in +serfage and degraded all over the earth, had arisen on the fall of the +Roman Empire, like a mighty vengeance, though under the aspect of a +resignation. It had proclaimed the three words which 2000 years +afterwards was re-echoed by French philosophy--liberty, equality, +fraternity--amongst mankind. But it had for a time hidden this idea in +the recesses of the Christian heart. As yet too weak to attack civil +laws, it had said to the powers--"I leave you still for a short space of +time possession of the political world, confining myself to the moral +world. Continue if you can to enchain, class, keep in bondage, degrade +the people, I am engaged in the emancipation of souls. I shall occupy +2000 years, perchance, in renewing men's minds before I become apparent +in human institutions. But the day will come when my doctrines will +escape from the temple, and will enter into the councils of the people; +on that day the social world will be renewed." + +This day had now arrived; it had been prepared by an age of philosophy, +sceptical in appearance but in reality replete with belief. The +scepticism of the 18th century only affected exterior forms, and the +supernatural dogmata of Christianity, whilst it adopted with enthusiasm, +morality and the social sense. What Christianity called revelation, +philosophy called reason. The words were different, the meaning +identical. The emancipation of individuals, of castes, of people, were +alike derived from it. Only the ancient world had been enfranchised in +the name of Christ, whilst the modern world was freed in the name of the +rights which every human creature has received from the hand of God; and +from both flowed the enfranchisement of God or nature. The political +philosophy of the Revolution could not have invented a word more true, +more complete, more divine than Christianity, to reveal itself to +Europe, and it had adopted the dogma and the word of _fraternity_. Only +the French Revolution attacked the form of this ruling religion; because +it was incrusted in the forms of government, monarchical, theocratic, or +aristocratic, which they sought to destroy. It is the explanation of +that apparent contradiction of the mind of the 18th century, which +borrowed all from Christianity in policy, and denied, whilst it +despoiled, it. There was at one and the same time a violent attraction +and a violent repulsion in the two doctrines. They recognised whilst +they struggled against each other, and yearned to recognise each other +even more completely when the contest was terminated by the triumph of +liberty. + +Three things were then evident to reflecting minds from and after the +month of April, 1791; the one, that the march of the revolutionary +movement advanced from step to step to the complete restoration of all +the rights of suffering humanity--from those of the people by their +government, to those of citizens by castes, and of the workman by the +citizen; thus it assailed tyranny, privilege, inequality, selfishness, +not only on the throne, but in the civil law; in the administration, in +the legal distribution of property, in the conditions of industry, +labour, family, and in all the relations of man with man, and man with +woman: the second,--that this philosophic and social movement of +democracy would seek its natural form in a form of government analogous +to its principle, and its nature; that is to say, representing the +sovereignty of the people; republic with one or two heads: and, finally, +that the social and political emancipation would involve in it the +intellectual and religious emancipation of the human mind; that the +liberty of thought, of speaking and acting, should not pause before the +liberty of belief; that the idea of God confined in the sanctuaries, +should shine forth pouring into each free conscience the right of +liberty itself; that this light, a revelation for some, and reason for +others, would spread more and more with truth and justice, which emanate +from God to overspread the earth. + + +VII. + +Human thought, like God, makes the world in its own image. + +Thought was revived by a philosophical age. + +It had to transform the social world. + +The French Revolution was therefore in its essence a sublime and +impassioned spirituality. It had a divine and universal ideal. This is +the reason why its passion spread beyond the frontiers of France. Those +who limit, mutilate it. It was the accession of three moral +sovereignties:-- + +The sovereignty of right over force; + +The sovereignty of intelligence over prejudices; + +The sovereignty of people over governments. + +Revolution in rights; equality. + +Revolution in ideas; reasoning substituted for authority. + +Revolution in facts; the reign of the people. + +A Gospel of social rights. + +A Gospel of duties, a charter of humanity. + +France declared itself the apostle of this creed. In this war of ideas +France had allies every where, and even on thrones themselves. + + +VIII. + +There are epochs in the history of the human race, when the decayed +branches fall from the tree of humanity; and when institutions grown old +and exhausted, sink and leave space for fresh institutions full of sap, +which renew the youth and recast the ideas of a people. Antiquity is +replete with this transformation, of which we only catch a glimpse in +the relics of history. Each decadence of effete ideas carries with it an +old world, and gives its name to a new order of civilisation. The East. +China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, have seen these ruins and these renewals. +The West experienced them when the Druidical theocracy gave way to the +gods and government of the Romans. Byzantium, Rome, and the Empire +effected them rapidly, and as it were instinctively by themselves when, +wearied with, and blushing at, polytheism, they rose at the voice of +Constantine against their gods, and swept away, like an angry tempest, +those temples, those ideas and forms of worship, to which the people +still clung, but which the superior portion of human thought had already +abandoned. The Civilisation of Constantine and Charlemagne grew old in +its turn, and the beliefs which for eighteen centuries had supported +altars and thrones, menaced the religious world, as well as the +political world, with a catastrophe which rarely leaves power standing +when faith is staggered. Monarchical Europe was the handiwork of +catholicism; politics were fashioned after the image of the Church; +authority was founded on a mystery. Rights came to it from on high, and +power, like faith, was reputed divine. The obedience of the people was +consecrated to it, and from that very reason inquiry was a blasphemy, +and servitude a virtue. The spirit of philosophy, which had silently +revolted against this for three centuries, as a doctrine which the +scandals, tyrannies, and crimes of the two powers belied daily, refused +any longer to recognise a divine title in those authorities which deny +reason and subjugate a people. So long as catholicism had been the sole +legal doctrine in Europe, these murmuring revolts of mind had not +overset empires. They had been punished by the hands of rulers. +Dungeons, punishments, inquisitions, fire, and faggot, had intimidated +reason, and preserved erect the two-fold dogma on which the two +governments reposed. + +But printing, that unceasing outpouring of the human mind, was to the +people a second revelation. Employed at first exclusively for the +Church, for the propagation of ruling ideas, it had begun to sap them. +The dogmata of temporal power, and spiritual power, incessantly assailed +by these floods of light, could not be long without being shaken, first +in the human mind and afterwards in things, to the very foundations. +_Guttemberg_; without knowing it, was the mechanist of the New World. In +creating the communication of ideas, he had assured the independence of +reason. Every letter of this alphabet which left his fingers, contained +in it, more power than the armies of kings, and the thunders of +pontiffs. It was mind which he furnished with language. These two powers +were the mistresses of man, as they were hereafter of mankind. The +intellectual world was born of a material invention, and it had grown +rapidly. The reformed religion was one of its early offspring. + +The empire of catholic Christianity had undergone extensive +dismemberments. Switzerland, a part of Germany, Holland, England, whole +provinces of France, had been drawn away from the centre of religious +authority, and passed over to the doctrine of free examination. Divine +authority attacked and contested in catholicism, the authority of the +throne remained at the mercy of the people. Philosophy, more potent than +sedition, approached it more and more near, with less respect, less +fear. History had actually written of the weaknesses and crimes of +kings. Public writers had dared to comment upon it, and the people to +draw conclusions. Social institutions had been weighed by their real +value for humanity. Minds the most devoted to power had spoken to +sovereigns of duties, and to people of rights. The holy boldness of +Christianity had been heard even in the consecrated pulpit, in the +presence of Louis XIV. Bossuet, that sacerdotal genius of the ancient +synagogue, had mingled his proud adulations to Louis XIV. with some of +those austere warnings which console persons for their abasement. +Fénélon, that evangelical and tender genius, of the new law, had written +his instructions to princes, and his Telemachus, in the palace of the +king, and in the cabinet of an heir to the throne. The political +philosophy of Christianity, that insurrection of justice in favour of +the weak, had glided from the lips of Louis XIV. into the ear of his +grandson. Fénélon educated another revolution in the Duke of Burgundy. +This the king perceived when too late, and expelled the divine seduction +from his palace. But the revolutionary policy was born there; there the +people read the pages of the holy archbishop: Versailles was destined to +be, thanks to Louis XIV. and Fénélon, at once the palace of despotism +and the cradle of the Revolution. Montesquieu had sounded the +institutions, and analysed the laws of all people. By classing +governments, he had compared them, by comparing he passed judgment on +them; and this judgment brought out, in its bold relief, and contrast, +on every page, right and force, privilege and equality, tyranny and +liberty. + +Jean Jacques Rousseau, less ingenious, but more eloquent, had studied +politics, not in the laws, but in nature. A free but oppressed and +suffering mind, the palpitation of his noble heart had made every heart +beat that had been ulcerated by the odious inequality of social +conditions. It was the revolt of the ideal against the real. He had been +the tribune of nature, the Gracchus of philosophy--he had not produced +the history of institutions, only its vision--but that vision descended +from heaven and returned thither. There was to be seen the design of God +and the excess of his love--but there was not enough seen of the +infirmity of men. It was the Utopia of government; but by this Rousseau +led further astray. To impel the people to passion there must be some +slight illusion mingled with the truth; reality alone was too chilling +to fanaticise the human mind; it is only roused to enthusiasm by things +something out of nature. What is termed the ideal is the attraction and +force of religions, which always aspire higher than they mount; this is +how fanaticism is produced, that delirium of virtue. Rousseau was the +ideal of politics, as Fénélon was the ideal of Christianity. + +Voltaire had the genius of criticism, that power of raillery which +withers all it overthrows. He had made human nature laugh at itself, had +felled it low in order to raise it, had laid bare before it all errors, +prejudices, iniquities, and crimes of ignorance; he had urged it to +rebellion against consecrated ideas, not by the ideal but by sheer +contempt. Destiny gave him eighty years of existence, that he might +slowly decompose the decayed age; he had the time to combat against +time, and when he fell he was the conqueror. His disciples filled +courts, academies, and saloons; those of Rousseau grew splenetic and +visionary amongst the lower orders of society. The one had been the +fortunate and elegant advocate of the aristocracy, the other was the +secret consoler and beloved avenger of the democracy. His book was the +book of all oppressed and tender souls. Unhappy and devotee himself, he +had placed God by the side of the people; his doctrines sanctified the +mind, whilst they led the heart to rebellion. There was vengeance in his +very accent, but there was piety also. Voltaire's followers would have +overturned altars, those of Rousseau would have raised them. The one +could have done without virtues, and made arrangements with thrones; the +other had absolute need of a God, and could only have founded republics. + +Their numerous disciples progressed with their missions, and possessed +all the organs of public thought. From the seat of geometry to the +consecrated pulpit, the philosophy of the 18th century invaded or +altered every thing. D'Alembert, Diderot, Raynal, Buffon, Condorcet, +Bernardin Saint Pierre, Helvetius, Saint Lambert, La Harpe, were the +church of the new era. One sole thought animated these diverse +minds--the renovation of human ideas. Arithmetic, science, history, +economy, politics, the stage, morals, poetry, all served as the vehicle +of modern philosophy; it ran in all the veins of the times; it had +enlisted every genius, it spoke every language. Chance or Providence had +decided that this period, which elsewhere was almost barren, should be +the age of France. From the end of the reign of Louis XIV. to the +commencement of the reign of Louis XVI., nature had been prodigal of men +to France. This brilliancy continued by so many geniuses of the first +order, from Corneille to Voltaire, from Bossuet to Rousseau, from +Fénélon to Bernardin Saint Pierre, had accustomed the people to look on +this side. The focus of the ideas of the world shed thence its +brilliancy. The moral authority of the human mind was no longer at Rome. +The stir, light, direction, were from Paris; the European mind was +French. There was, and there always will be, in the French genius +something more potent than its potency, more luminous than its +splendour; and that is its warmth, its penetrating power of +communicating the attraction which it has, and which it inspires to +Europe. + +The genius of the Spain of Charles V. is high and adventurous, that of +Germany is profound and severe, that of England skilful and proud, that +of France is attractive,--it is in that it has its force. Easily seduced +itself, it easily seduces other people. The other great individualities +of the world of have only their genius. France for a second genius has +its heart, and is prodigal in its thoughts, in its writings, as well as +in its national acts. When Providence wills that one desire shall fire +the world, it is first kindled in a Frenchman's soul. This communicative +quality of the character of this race--this French attraction, as yet +unaltered by the ambition of conquest,--was then the precursory mark of +the age. It seems that a providential instinct turned all the attraction +of Europe towards this point, as if motion and light could only emanate +thence. The only real echoing point of the Continent was Paris. There +the smallest things made great noise, literature was the vehicle of +French influence; there intellectual monarchy had its books, its +theatre, its writings even before it had its heroes. + +Conquering by its intelligence, its printing-presses were its army. + + +IX. + +The parties who divided the country after the death of Mirabeau were +thus distributed; out of the Assembly, the Court, and the Jacobins; in +the Assembly the right side and the left side, and between these two +extreme parties--the one fanatic by its innovations, the other fanatic +from its resistance,--there was an intermediate party, consisting of the +men of substance and peace belonging to both these parties. Their views +moderate, and wavering between revolution and conservatism, desired that +the one should conquer without violence, and the other concede without +vindictiveness. These were the philosophers of the Revolution,--but it +was not the hour for philosophy, it was the hour of victory; the two +ideas required champions, not judges; they crushed men in their +encounter. Let us enumerate the principal chiefs of the contending +parties, and make them known before we bring them into action. + +King Louis XVI. was then only thirty-seven years of age; his features +resembled those of his race, rendered somewhat heavy by the German blood +of his mother, a princess of the house of Saxony. Fine blue eyes, very +wide open, and clear rather than dazzling, a round and retreating +forehead, a Roman nose, the nostrils flaccid and large, and somewhat +destroying the energy of the aquiline profile, a mouth smiling and +gracious in expression, lips thick, but well shaped, a fine skin, fresh +and high-coloured in tint, though rather loose; of short stature, stout +frame, timid carriage, irregular walk, and, when not moving, a +restlessness of body in shifting first one foot and then the other +without advancing--a habit contracted either from that impatience common +to princes compelled to undergo long audiences, or else the outward +token of the constant wavering of an undecided mind. In his person there +was an expression of _bonhommie_ more vulgar than royal, which at the +first glance inspired as much derision as veneration, and on which his +enemies seized with contemptuous perversity, in order to show to the +people in the features of their ruler the visible and personal sign of +those vices they sought to destroy in royalty; in the _tout ensemble_ +some resemblance to the imperial physiognomy of the later Cæsars at the +period of the fall of things and races,--the mildness of Antoninus, with +the vast obesity of Vitellius;--this was precisely the man. + + +X. + +This young prince had been educated in complete solitude at the court of +Louis XV. The atmosphere which had infected the age had not touched his +heir. Whilst Louis XV. had changed his court into a place of ill-fame, +his grandson, educated in a corner of the palace of Meudon by pious and +enlightened masters, grew up in respect for his rank, in awe of the +throne, and in a real love for the people whom he was one day to be +called upon to govern. The soul of Fénélon seemed to have traversed two +generations of kings in the palace where he had brought up the Duke of +Burgundy, in order to inspire the education of his descendant. What was +nearest the crowned vice upon the throne was perhaps the most pure of +any thing in France. If the age had not been as dissolute as the king, +it would have directed his love in that direction. He had reached that +point of corruption in which purity appears ridiculous, and modesty was +treated with contempt. + +Married at twenty years of age to a daughter of Maria Theresa of +Austria, the young prince had continued until his accession to the +throne in his life of domestic retirement, study, and isolation. Europe +was slumbering in a disgraceful peace. War, that exercise of princes, +could not thus form him by contact with men and the custom of command. +Fields of battle, which are the theatre of great actors of his stamp, +had not brought him under the observation of his people. No _prestige_, +except the circumstance of birth, clung to him. His sole popularity was +derived from the disgust inspired by his grandfather. He occasionally +had the esteem of his people, but never their favour. Upright and +well-informed, he called to him sterling honesty and clear intelligence +in the person of Turgot. But with the philosophic sentiment of the +necessity of reforms, the prince had not the feeling of a reformer; he +had neither the genius nor the boldness; nor had his ministers more than +himself. They raised all questions without settling any, accumulated +storms, without giving them any impulse, and the tempests were doomed to +be eventually directed against themselves. From M. de Maurepas to M. +Turgot, from M. Turgot to M. de Calonne, from M. de Calonne to M. +Necker, from M. Necker to M. de Malesherbes, he floated from an honest +man to an _intriguant_, from a philosopher to a banker, whilst the +spirit of system and charlatanism ill supplied the spirit of government. +God, who had given many men of notoriety during this reign, had refused +it a statesman; all was promise and deception. The court clamoured, +impatience seized on the nation, and violent convulsions followed. The +Assembly of Notables, States General, National Assembly, had all burst +in the hands of royalty; a revolution emanated from his good intentions +more fierce and more irritable than if it had been the consequence of +his vices. At the time when the king had this revolution before him in +the National Assembly, he had not in his councils one man, not only +capable of resisting but even of comprehending it. Men really strong +prefer in such moments to be rather the popular ministers of the nation +than the bucklers of the king. + + +XI. + +M. de Montmorin was devoted to the king, but had no credit with the +nation. The ministry had neither the initiative nor opposition; the +initiative was in the hands of the Jacobins, and the executive power +with the mob. The king, without an organ, without privilege, without +force, had merely the odious responsibility of anarchy. He was the butt +against which all parties directed the hate or rage of the people. He +had the privilege of every accusation; whilst from the tribune Mirabeau, +Barnave, Pétion, Lameth, and Robespierre, eloquently threatened the +throne; infamous pamphlets, factious journals painted the king in the +colours of a tyrant who was brutalised by wine, who lent himself to +every caprice of an abandoned woman, and who conspired in the recesses +of his palace with the enemies of the nation. In the sinister feeling of +his coming fall, the stoical virtue of this prince sufficed for the +calming of his conscience, but was not adequate to his resolutions. On +leaving the council of his ministers, where he loyally accomplished the +constitutional conditions of his character, he sought, sometimes in the +friendship of his devoted servants, sometimes from the very persons of +his enemies, admitted by stealth to his confidence, the most important +inspirations. Counsels succeeded to counsels, and contradicted one +another in the royal ear, as their results contradicted each other in +their operations. His enemies suggested concessions, promising him a +popularity, which escaped their hands just as they were about to ensure +it to him. The court counselled the resistance which it had only in its +dreams; the queen the courage she felt in her soul; intriguants, +corruption, the timid, flight; and in turns, and almost at the same +time, he tried all these expedients: not one was efficacious; the time +for useful resolutions had passed,--the crisis was without remedy. It +was necessary to choose between life and the throne. In endeavouring to +preserve the two, it was written that he should lose both. + +When we place ourselves in imagination in the position of Louis XVI., +and ask what could have saved him? we reply disheartened--nothing. There +are circumstances which enfold all a man's movements in such a snare, +that, whatever direction he may take, he falls into the fatality of his +faults or his virtues. This was the dilemma of Louis XVI. All the +unpopularity of royalty in France, all the faults of preceding +administrations, all the vices of kings, all the shame of courts, all +the griefs of the people, were as it were accumulated on his head, and +marked his innocent brow for the expiation of many ages. Epochs have +their sacrifices as well as their religions. When they desire to recast +an institution which no longer suits them, they pile upon the individual +who personifies this institution all the odium and all the condemnation +of the institution itself,--they make of this man a victim whom they +sacrifice to the time. Louis XVI. was this innocent sacrifice, +overwhelmed with all the iniquities of thrones, and destined to be +immolated as a chastisement for royalty. Such was the king. + + +XII. + +The queen seemed to be created by nature to contrast with the king, and +to attract for ever the interest and pity of ages to one of those state +dramas, which are incomplete unless the miseries and misfortunes of a +woman mingle in them. Daughter of Maria Theresa, she had commenced her +life in the storms of the Austrian monarchy. She was one of the children +whom the Empress held by the hand when she presented herself as a +supplicant before her faithful Hungarians, and the troops exclaimed, "We +will die for our king, Maria Theresa." Her daughter, too, had the heart +of a king. On her arrival in France, her beauty had dazzled the whole +kingdom,--a beauty then in all its splendour. The two children whom she +had given to the throne, far from impairing her good looks, added to the +attractions of her person that character of maternal majesty which so +well becomes the mother of a nation. The presentiment of her +misfortunes, the recollection of the tragic scenes of Versailles, the +uneasiness of each day somewhat diminished her youthful freshness. She +was tall, slim, and graceful,--a real daughter of Tyrol. Her naturally +majestic carriage in no way impaired the grace of her movements; her +neck rising elegantly and distinctly from her shoulders gave expression +to every attitude. The woman was perceptible beneath the queen, the +tenderness of heart was not lost in the elevation of her destiny. Her +light brown hair was long and silky, her forehead, high and rather +projecting, was united to her temples by those fine curves which give so +much delicacy and expression to that seat of thought or the soul in +women; her eyes of that clear blue which recall the skies of the North +or the waters of the Danube; an aquiline nose, with nostrils open and +slightly projecting, where emotions palpitate and courage is evidenced; +a large mouth, brilliant teeth, Austrian lips, that is, projecting and +well defined; an oval countenance, animated, varying, impassioned, and +the _ensemble_ of these features replete with that expression impossible +to describe which emanates from the look, the shades, the reflections of +the face, which encompasses it with an iris like that of the warm and +tinted vapour which bathes objects in full sunlight--the extreme +loveliness which the ideal conveys, and which by giving it life +increases its attraction. With all these charms, a soul yearning to +attach itself, a heart easily moved, but yet earnest in desire to fix +itself; a pensive and intelligent smile, with nothing of vacuity in it, +nothing of preference or mere acquaintanceship in it, because it felt +itself worthy of friendships. Such was Marie-Antoinette as a woman. + + +XIII. + +It was enough to form the happiness of a man and the ornament of a +court: to inspire a wavering monarch, and be the safeguard of a state +under trying circumstances, something more is requisite. The genius of +government is required, and the queen had it not. Nothing could have +prepared her for the regulation of the disordered elements which were +about her; misfortune had given her no time for reflection. Hailed with +enthusiasm by a perverse court and an ardent nation, she must have +believed in the eternity of such sentiments. She was lulled to sleep in +the dissipations of the Trianon. She had heard the first threatenings of +the tempest without believing in its dangers: she had trusted in the +love she inspired, and which she felt in her own heart. The court had +become exacting, the nation hostile. The instrument of the intrigues of +the court on the heart of the king, she had at first favoured and then +opposed all reforms which prevented or delayed the crises that arose. +Her policy was but infatuation; her system but the perpetual abandonment +of herself to every partisan who promised her the king's safety. The +Comte D'Artois, a youthful prince, chivalrous in etiquette, had much +influence with her. He relied greatly on the noblesse; made frequent +references to his sword. He laughed at the crises: he disdained this war +of words, caballed against ministers, and treated passing events with +levity. The queen, intoxicated with the adulation of those around her, +urged the king to recall the next day what he had conceded on the +previous evening. Her hand was felt in all the transactions of the +government: her apartments were the focus of a perpetual conspiracy +against the government; the nation detected it, and ultimately detested +her. + +Her name became for the people the phantom of all counter-revolution. We +are apt to calumniate what we fear. She was depicted under the features +of a Messalina. The most infamous pamphlets were in circulation; the +most scandalous anecdotes were credited. She may be accused of +tenderness, but never of depravity. Lovely, young, and adored, if her +heart did not remain insensible, her innermost feelings, innocent +perhaps, never gave just ground for open scandal. History has its +modesty, and we will not violate it. + + +XIV. + +On the days of the 5th and 6th of October the queen perceived (too late) +the enmity of the people; her heart must have been full of vengeance. +Emigration commenced, and she viewed it favourably. All her friends were +at Coblentz; she was believed to be in close connection with them, and +this belief was true. Stories of an Austrian committee were busily +spread amongst the people. The queen was accused of conspiring for the +destruction of the nation, who at every moment demanded her head. A +people in revolt must have some one to hate, and they handed over to her +the queen. Her name was the theme of their songs of rage. One woman was +the enemy of a whole nation, and her pride disdained to undeceive them. +She inclosed herself in her resentment and her terror. Imprisoned in the +palace of the Tuileries, she could not put her head out of window +without provoking an outrage and hearing insult. Every noise in the city +made her apprehensive of an insurrection. Her days were melancholy, her +nights disturbed: she underwent hourly agony for two years, and that +anguish was magnified in her heart by her love for her two children, and +her disquietude for the king. Her court was forsaken; she saw none but +the shadows of authority; the ministers forced on her by M. de La +Fayette, before whom she was compelled to mask her countenance in +smiles. Her apartments were watched by spies in the guise of servants. +It was necessary to mislead them, in order to have interviews with the +few friends who remained to her. Private staircases, dark corridors, +were the means by which at night her secret counsellors obtained access +to her. These meetings resembled conspiracies; she left them every time +with a different train of ideas, which she communicated to the king, +whose behaviour thus acquired the incoherence of a woman persecuted and +distressed. Measures of resistance, bribing the Assembly, an entire +surrender of the constitution, attempts by force, an assumption of royal +dignity, repentance, weakness, terror, and flight,--all were discussed, +planned, decided on, prepared and abandoned, on the same day. Women, so +sublime in their devotion, are seldom capable of the continuous firmness +of mind--the imperturbability requisite for a political plan. Their +politics are in their heart, their passions trench so closely on their +reason. Of all the virtues which a throne requires they have but +courage; often heroes, they are never statesmen. The queen was another +example of this: she did the king incredible mischief. With a mind +infinitely superior, with more soul, more character than he, her +superiority only served to inspire him with mischievous counsels. She +was at once the charm of his misfortunes and the genius of his +destruction; she conducted him step by step to the scaffold, but she +ascended it with him. + + +XV. + +The right side in the National Assembly consisted of men, the natural +opponents of the movement, the nobility and higher clergy. All, however, +were not of the same rank nor the same title. Seditions are found +amongst the lower rank, revolutions in the higher. Seditions are but the +angry workings of the people--revolutions are the ideas of the epoch. +Ideas begin in the head of the nation. The French Revolution was a +generous thought of the aristocracy. This thought fell into the hands of +the people, who framed of it a weapon against the _noblesse_, the +throne, and religion. The philosophy of the saloons became revolt in the +streets: nevertheless all the great houses of the kingdom had given +apostles to the first dogmata of the Revolution: the States General, the +ancient theatre of the importance and triumphs of the higher nobility, +had tempted the ambition of their heirs, and they had marched in the van +of the reformers. _Esprit de corps_ could not restrain them when the +question of uniting with the Tiers Etat had been invoked. The +Montmorencies, Noailles, La Rochefoucaulds, Clermont Tonnerres, Lally +Tollendals, Virieux, d'Aiguillons, Lauzans, Montesquieus, Lameths, +Mirabeaus, the Duc d'Orleans, first prince of the blood, the Count de +Provence, brother of the king, king himself afterwards as Louis XVIII., +had given an impulse to the boldest innovations. They had each borrowed +their momentary popularity from principles easier to enunciate than +restrain, and that popularity had nearly forsaken them all. So soon as +these theorists of speculative revolution saw that they were carried +away in the torrent, they attempted to ascend the stream from whose +source they had started; some again surrounded the throne, others had +emigrated after the days of the 5th and 6th of October. Others, more +firm, remained in their places in the National Assembly; they fought +without a hope, but still defended a fallen cause, gloriously resolute +to maintain at least a monarchical power, and abandoning to the people, +without a struggle, the spoils of the nobility and the church. Amongst +these are Cazalès, the Abbé Maury, Malouet, and Clermont Tonnerre: they +were the distinguished orators of this expiring party. + +Clermont Tonnerre and Malouet were rather statesmen than orators; their +cautious and reflective language weighed only on the reason; they sought +for the mean between liberty and monarchy, and believed they had found +it in the system of the Two Houses of English Legislature. The _modérés_ +of the two parties listened to them respectfully; like all half parties +and half talents, they excited neither hatred nor anger; but events did +not listen to them, but thrusting them aside, advanced towards results +that were utterly absolute. Maury and Cazalès, less philosophic, were +the two champions of the right side; different in character, their +oratorical powers were much on a par. Maury represented the clergy, of +which body he was a member; Cazalès, the _noblesse_, to whom he +belonged. The one, Maury, early trained to struggles of polemical +theology, had sharpened and polished in the pulpit the eloquence he was +to bring into the tribune. Sprung from the lowest ranks of the people, +he only belonged to the _ancien régime_ by his garb, and defended +religion and the monarchy as two texts, imposed upon him as themes for +discourses. His conviction was the part he played; any other appointed +character would have suited equally well; yet he sustained with +unflinching courage and admirable consistency that which had been "set +down for him." + +Devoted from his youth to serious studies, endowed with abundant flow of +words, striking and vivid in his language, his harangues were perfect +treatises on the subjects he discussed. The only rival of Mirabeau, he +needed but a cause more natural and more sterling to have become his +equal: but sophistry could not deck abuses in colours more specious than +those with which Maury invested the _ancien régime_. + +Historical erudition and sacred learning supplied him with ample sources +of argument. The boldness of his character and language inspired words +which even avenge a defeat, and his fine countenance, his sonorous +voice, his commanding gesture, the defiance and good temper with which +he braved the tribunes, frequently drew down the applauses of his +enemies. The people, who recognised his invincible strength, were amused +at his impotent opposition. Maury was to them as one of those gladiators +whom they like to see fight, although well knowing that they must perish +in the strife. One thing was wanting to the Abbé Maury,--weight to his +eloquence; neither his birth, his faith, nor his life inspired respect +in those who listened. The actor was visible in the man, the advocate in +the cause, the orator and his language were not identified. Strip the +Abbé Maury of the habit of his order, and he might have changed sides +without a struggle, and have taken his seat amongst the innovators. Such +orators grace a party, they never save it. + + +XVI. + +Cazalès was one of those men who are themselves ignorant of their own +powers until the hour arrives when circumstances call forth their +genius, and assign to them a duty. An obscure officer in the ranks of +the army, chance, which cast him into the tribune, revealed the orator. +He did not inquire which side he should defend; noble, the _noblesse_; +royalist, the king; a subject, the throne. His position made his creed; +he bore in the Assembly the character and qualities of his uniform. +Language to him was only another sword, and in all the spirit of +chivalry, he devoted it to the cause of Monarchy. Indolent and +ill-educated, his natural good sense supplied the place of study. His +monarchical faith was by no means fanaticism of the past: it admitted +the modifications conceded by the king himself, and which were +compatible with the inviolability of the throne and the working of the +executive power. From Mirabeau to him the difference of the first +principle was not wide apart, only one decried it as an aristocrat, and +the other as a democrat. The one flung himself headlong into the midst +of the people, the other attached himself to the steps of the throne. +The characteristic of Cazalès' eloquence was that of a desperate cause. +He protested more than he discussed, and opposed to the triumphs of +violence on the _côté gauche_, his ironic defiance, his bursts of bitter +indignation, which for the moment acquired admiration, but never led to +victory. To him the _noblesse_ owed that it fell with glory; the throne, +with majesty: and his eloquence attained something that was heroic. + +Behind these two men there was only a party, soured by ill-fortune, +discouraged by its isolation from the nation, odious to the people, +useless to the throne, feeding on vain illusions, and only preserving of +its fallen power the resentment of injuries, and that insolence which +was perpetually provoking fresh humiliations. The hopes of this party +were entirely sustained by their reliance on the armed intervention of +foreign powers. Louis XVI. was in their eyes a prisoner king, whom +Europe would come and deliver from his thraldom. With them, patriotism +and honour were at Coblentz. Overcome by numbers, without skilful +leaders who understood how to gain immortal names by timely retreats; +with no strength to contend against the spirit of the age and refusing +to move with it, the _côté droit_ could only call for vengeance, its +political power was now confined to an imprecation. + +The left side lost at one blow its leader and controller; in Mirabeau +the national man had ceased to exist, and only the men of party +remained, and they were Barnave and the two Lameths. These men humbled, +rebuked, before the ascendency of Mirabeau, had attempted, long before +his death, to balance the sovereignty of his genius by the exaggeration +of their doctrines and harangues. Mirabeau was but the apostle--they +would fain have been the faction-leaders of the time. Jealous of his +influence, they would have crushed his talents beneath the superiority +of their popularity. Mediocrity thinks to equal genius by outraging +reason. A diminution of thirty or forty votes had taken place in the +left side. This was the work of Barnave and the Lameths. The club of the +friends of the constitution become the Jacobin Club, responded to them +from without. The popular agitation excited by them was restrained by +Mirabeau, who rallied against them the left, the centre, and the +intelligent members of the right side. They conspired, they caballed, +they fomented divisions in opinion all the more that they had not +control in the Assembly. + +Mirabeau was dead, and now the field was open to them. The +Lameths--courtiers, educated by the kindness of the royal family, +overwhelmed by the favours and pensions of the king, had the conspicuous +defection of Mirabeau without having the excuse of his wrongs against +the monarchy: this defection was one of their titles to popular favour. +Clever men, they carried with them into the national cause the conduct +of Courts in which they had been brought up: still their love of the +Revolution was disinterested and sincere. Their eminent talents did not +equal their ambition. Crushed by Mirabeau, they stirred up against him +all those whom the shadow of that great man eclipsed in common with +themselves. They sought for a rival to oppose to him, and found only men +who envied him. Barnave presented himself, and they surrounded him, +applauded him, intoxicated him with his self-importance. They persuaded +him for a moment that phrases were politics, and that a rhetorician was +a statesman. + +Mirabeau was great enough not to fear, and just enough not to despise +him. Barnave, a young barrister of Dauphiné, had made his _début_ with +much effect in the struggles between the parliament and the throne which +had agitated his province, and displayed on small theatres the eloquence +of men of the bar. Sent at thirty years of age to the States General, +with Mounier his patron and master, he had soon quitted Mounier and the +monarchical party, and made himself conspicuous amongst the democratic +division. A word of sinister import which escaped not from his heart, +but from his lips, weighed on his conscience with remorse. "Is then the +blood that flows so pure?" he exclaimed at the first murder of the +Revolution. This phrase had branded him on the brow with the mark of a +ringleader of faction. Barnave was not this, or only as much so as was +necessary for the success of his discourses; nothing in him was extreme +but the orator: the man was by no means so, neither was he at all cruel. +Studious, but without imagination; copious, but without warmth, his +intellect was mediocre, his mind honest, his will variable, his heart in +the right place. His talent, which they affected to compare with +Mirabeau's, was nothing more than a power of skilfully rivetting public +attention. His habit of pleading gave him, with its power of extempore +speaking, an apparent superiority which vanished before reflection, +Mirabeau's enemies had created him a pedestal on their hatred, and +magnified his importance to make the comparison closer. When reduced to +his actual stature, it was easy to recognise the distance that existed +between the man of the nation, and the man of the bar. + +Barnave had the misfortune to be the great man of a mediocre party, and +the hero of an envious faction: he deserved a better destiny, which he +subsequently acquired. + + +XVII. + +Still deeper in the shade, and behind the chief of the National +Assembly, a man almost unknown began to move, agitated by uneasy +thoughts which seemed to forbid him to be silent and unmoved; he spoke +on all occasions, and attacked all speakers indifferently, including +Mirabeau himself. Driven from the tribune, he ascended it next day: +overwhelmed with sarcasm, coughed down, disowned by all parties, lost +amongst the eminent champions who fixed public attention, he was +incessantly beaten, but never dispirited. It might have been said, that +an inward and prophetic genius revealed to him the vanity of all talent, +and the omnipotence of a firm will and unwearied patience, and that an +inward voice said to him, "These men who despise thee are thine: all the +changes of this Revolution which now will not deign to look upon thee, +will eventually terminate in thee, for thou hast placed thyself in the +way like the inevitable excess, in which all impulse ends." + +This man was Robespierre. + +There are abysses that we dare not sound, and characters we desire not +to fathom, for fear of finding in them too great darkness, too much +horror; but history, which has the unflinching eye of time, must not be +chilled by these terrors, she must understand whilst she undertakes to +recount. Maximilien Robespierre was born at Arras, of a poor family, +honest and respectable; his father, who died in Germany, was of English +origin. This may explain the shade of Puritanism in his character. The +bishop of Arras had defrayed the cost of his education. Young Maximilien +had distinguished himself on leaving college by a studious life, and +austere manners. Literature and the bar shared his time. The philosophy +of Jean Jacques Rousseau had made a profound impression on his +understanding; the philosophy, falling upon an active imagination, had +not remained a dead letter; it had become in him a leading principle, a +faith, a fanaticism. In the strong mind of a sectarian, all conviction +becomes a thing apart. Robespierre was the Luther of politics: and in +obscurity he brooded over the confused thoughts of a renovation of the +social world, and the religious world, as a dream which unavailingly +beset his youth, when the Revolution came to offer him what destiny +always offers to those who watch her progress, opportunity. He seized on +it. He was named deputy of the third estate in the States General. Alone +perhaps among all these men who opened at Versailles the first scene of +this vast drama, he foresaw the termination; like the soul, whose seat +in the human frame philosophers have not discovered, the thought of an +entire people sometimes concentrates itself in the individual, the least +known in the great mass. We should not despise any, for the finger of +Destiny marks in the soul and not upon the brow. Robespierre had +nothing: neither birth, nor genius nor exterior which should point him +out to men's notice. There was nothing conspicuous about him; his +limited talent had only shone at the bar or in provincial academies; a +few verbal harangues filled with a tame and almost rustic philosophy, +some bits of cold and affected poetry, had vainly displayed his name in +the insignificance of the literary productions of the day: he was more +than unknown, he was mediocre and contemned. His features presented +nothing which could attract attention, when gazing round in a large +assembly: there was no sign in visible characters of this power which +was all within; he was the last word of the Revolution, but no one could +read him. + +Robespierre's figure was small, his limbs feeble and angular, his step +irresolute, his attitudes affected, his gestures destitute of harmony or +grace; his voice, rather shrill, aimed at oratorical inflexions, but +only produced fatigue and monotony; his forehead was good, but small and +extremely projecting above the temples, as if the mass and embarrassed +movement of his thoughts had enlarged it by their efforts; his eyes, +much covered by their lids and very sharp at the extremities, were +deeply buried in the cavities of their orbits; they gave out a soft blue +hue, but it was vague and unfixed, like a steel reflector on which a +light glances; his nose straight and small was very wide at the +nostrils, which were high and too expanded; his mouth was large, his +lips thin and disagreeably contracted at each corner; his chin small and +pointed, his complexion yellow and livid, like that of an invalid or a +man worn out by vigils and meditations. The habitual expression of this +visage was that of superficial serenity on a serious mind, and a smile +wavering betwixt sarcasm and condescension. There was softness, but of a +sinister character. The prevailing characteristic of this countenance +was the prodigious and continual tension of brow, eyes, mouth, and all +the facial muscles; in regarding him it was perceptible that the whole +of his features, like the labour of his mind, converged incessantly on a +single point with such power that there was no waste of will in his +temperament, and he appeared to foresee all he desired to accomplish, as +though he had already the reality before his eyes. Such then was the man +destined to absorb in himself all those men, and make them his victims +after he had used them as his instruments. He was of no party, but of +all parties which in their turn served his ideal of the Revolution. In +this his power consisted, for parties paused but he never did. He placed +this ideal as an end to reach in every revolutionary movement, and +advanced towards it with those who sought to attain it; then, this goal +reached, he placed it still further off, and again marched forward with +other men, continually advancing without ever deviating, ever pausing, +ever retreating. The Revolution, decimated in its progress, must one day +or other inevitably arrive at a last stage, and he desired it +should end in himself. He was the entire incorporation of the +Revolution,--principles, thoughts, passions, impulses. Thus +incorporating himself wholly with it, he compelled it one day to +incorporate itself in him--that day was a distant one. + + +XVIII. + +Robespierre, who had often struggled against Mirabeau with Duport, the +Lameths, and Barnave, began to separate himself from them as soon as +they appeared to predominate in the Assembly. He formed, with Pétion and +some others of small note, a small band of opposition, radically +democratic, who encouraged the Jacobins without, and menaced Barnave and +the Lameths whenever they ventured to pause. Pétion and Robespierre in +the Assembly, Brissot and Danton at the Jacobin Club, formed the nucleus +of the new party which was destined to accelerate the movement and +speedily to convert it into convulsions and catastrophes. + +Pétion was a popular Lafayette: popularity was his aim, and he acquired +it earlier than Robespierre. A barrister without talent but upright, he +had imbibed no more of philosophy than the Social Contract; young, good +looking and a patriot, he was destined to become one of those +complaisant idols of whom the people make what they please except a man; +his credit in the streets and amongst the Jacobins gave him a certain +amount of authority in the Assembly, where he was listened to as the +significant echo of the will out of doors. Robespierre affected to +respect him. + + +XIX. + +The constitution was completed, the regal power was but a mere name, the +king was but the executive of the orders of the national representation, +his ministers only responsible hostages in the hands of the Assembly. +The vices of this constitution were evident before it was entirely +finished. Voted in the rage of parties, it was not a constitution, it +was a vengeance of the people against the monarchy, the throne only +existing as the substitute of a unique power which was every where +instituted, but which no one yet dared to name. The people, parties, +trembled lest on removing the throne they should behold an abyss in +which the nation would be engulphed: it was thus tacitly agreed to +respect its forms, though they daily despoiled and insulted the +unfortunate monarch whom they kept chained to it. + +Things were at that point where they have no possible termination except +in a catastrophe. The army, without discipline, added but another +element to the popular ferment: forsaken by its officers, who emigrated +in masses, the subalterns seized upon democracy and propagated it in +their ranks. Affiliated in every garrison with the Jacobin Club, they +received from it their orders, and made of their troops soldiers of +anarchy, accomplices of faction. The people to whom they had cast as a +prey the feudal rights of the nobility and the tithes of the clergy, +feared to have wrested from it what it held with disquietude, and saw in +every direction plots which it anticipated by crimes. The sudden burst +of liberty, for which it was not prepared, agitated without +strengthening it: it evinced all the vices of enfranchised men without +having got the virtues of the free man. The whole of France was but one +vast sedition: anarchy swayed the state, and in order that it might be, +as it were, self-governed, it had created its government in as many +clubs as there were large municipalities in the kingdom. The dominant +club was that of the Jacobins: this club was the centralisation of +anarchy. So soon as a powerful and high passioned will moves a nation, +their common impulse brings men together; individuality ceases, and the +legal or illegal association organises the public prejudice. Popular +societies thus have birth. At the first menaces of the court against the +States General, certain Breton deputies had a meeting at Versailles, and +formed a society to detect the plots of the court and assure the +triumphs of liberty: its founders were Siéyès, Chapelier, Barnave, and +Lameth. After the 5th and 6th of October, the Breton Club, transported +to Paris in the train of the National Assembly, had there assumed the +more forcible name of "Society of the Friends of the Constitution." It +held its sittings in the old convent of the Jacobins Saint Honoré, not +far from the Manège, where the National Assembly sat. The deputies, who +had founded it at the beginning for themselves, now opened their doors +to journalists, revolutionary writers, and finally to all citizens. The +presentation by two of its members, and an open scrutiny as to the moral +character of the person proposed, were the sole conditions of admission: +the public was admitted to the sittings by inspectors, who examined the +admission card. A set of rules, an office, a president, a corresponding +committee, secretaries, an order of the day, a tribune, and orators, +gave to these meetings all the forms of deliberative assemblies: they +were assemblies of the people only without elections and responsibility; +feeling alone gave them authority: instead of framing laws they formed +opinion. + +The sittings took place in the evening, so that the people should not be +prevented from attending in consequence of their daily labour: the acts +of the National Assembly, the events of the moment, the examination of +social questions, frequently accusations against the king, ministers, +the _côté droit_; were the texts of the debates. Of all the passions of +the people, there hatred was the most flattered; they made it suspicious +in order to subject it. Convinced that all was conspiring against +it,--king, queen, court, ministers, authorities, foreign powers,--it +threw itself headlong into the arms of its defenders. The most eloquent +in its eyes was he who inspired it with most dread--it had a parching +thirst for denunciations, and they were lavished on it with prodigal +hand. It was thus that Barnave, the Lameths, then Danton, Marat, +Brissot, Camille Desmoulins, Pétion, Robespierre, had acquired their +authority over the people. These names had increased in reputation as +the anger of the people grew hotter; they cherished their wrath in order +to retain their greatness. The nightly sittings of the Jacobins and the +Cordeliers frequently stifled the echo of the sittings of the National +Assembly: the minority, beaten at the Manège, came to protest, accuse, +threaten at the Jacobins. + +Mirabeau himself, accused by Lameth on the subject of the law of +emigration, came a few days before his death to listen face to face to +the invectives of his denouncer, and had not disdained to justify +himself. The clubs were the exterior strength, where the factious of the +assembly gave the support of their names in order to intimidate the +national representation. The national representation had only the laws; +the club had the people, sedition, and even the army. + + +XX. + +This expression of public opinion, thus organised into a permanent +association at every point in the empire, gave an electric shock which +nothing could resist. A motion made in Paris was echoed from club to +club to the extremest provinces. The same spark lighted at once the same +passion in millions of souls. All the societies corresponded with one +another and with the mother society. The impulse was communicated and +the response was felt every day. It was the government of factions +enfolding in their nets the government of the law; but the law was mute +and invisible, whilst faction was erect and eloquent. Let us imagine one +of these sittings, at which the citizens, already agitated by the stormy +air of the period, took their places at the close of day in one of those +naves recently devoted to another worship. Some candles, brought by the +affiliated, scarcely lighted up the gloomy place; naked walls, wooden +benches, a tribune instead of an altar. Around this tribune some +favoured orators pressed in order to speak. A crowd of citizens of all +classes, of all costumes, rich, poor, soldiers, workpeople; women, to +create excitement, enthusiasm, tenderness, tears whenever they enter; +children, whom they raise in their arms as if to make them inspire, with +their earliest breath, the feelings of an irritated people: a gloomy +silence interrupted by shouts, applause, or hisses, just as the speaker +is loved or hated: then inflammatory discourses shaking to the very +centre by phrases of magical effect, the passions of this mob new to all +the effects of eloquence. The enthusiasm real in some, feigned in +others; stirring propositions, patriotic gifts, civic crowns, busts of +leading republicans paraded round, symbols of superstition, and +aristocracy burnt, songs loudly vociferated by demagogues in chorus at +the opening of each sitting. What people, even in a time of +tranquillity, could have resisted the pulsations of this fever, whose +throbbings were daily renewed from the end of 1790 in every city in the +kingdom? It was the rule of fanaticism preceding the reign of terror. + +Thus was the Jacobin Club organised. + + +XXI. + +The club of the Cordeliers, which is sometimes confounded with that of +the Jacobins, even surpassed it in turbulence and demagogism. Marat and +Danton ruled there. + +The moderate constitutional party had also attempted its clubs, but +passion is wanting to defensive societies; it is only the offensive that +groups in factions; and thus the former expired of themselves until the +establishment of the Club of Feuillants. The people drove away with a +shower of stones the first meeting of the deputies, at M. De Clermont +Tonnerres. Barnave reproached his colleagues in the tribune, and +devoted them to public execration with the same voice which had raised +and rallied the _Friends of the Constitution_. Liberty was as yet but a +partial arm, which was unblushingly broken in the hands of an opponent. + +What remained to the king thus pressed between an assembly, which had +usurped all the executive functions, and those factious clubs, which +usurped to themselves all the rights of representation? Placed without +adequate strength between two rival powers, he was only there to receive +the blows of each in the struggle, and to be cast as a daily sacrifice +to popularity by the National Assembly; one power alone still maintained +the shadow of the throne and exterior order, the national guard of +Paris. But the national guard, which as a neutral force, whose only law +was in public opinion, and was wavering itself between factions and the +monarchy, might very well maintain safety in a public place, was unable +to serve as a strong and independent support to political power. It was +itself of the people; every serious intervention against the will of the +people, appeared to it as sacrilege. It was a body of municipal police; +it could never again be the army of the throne or the constitution; it +was born of itself on the day after the 14th of July on the steps of the +Hôtel de Ville, and it received no orders but from the municipality. The +municipality had assigned M. de La Fayette as its head--nor could it +have chosen better: an honest people, directed by its instinct, could +not have selected a man who would represent it more faithfully. + + +XXII. + +The marquis de La Fayette was a patrician, possessor of an immense +fortune, and allied, through his wife, daughter of the Duc d'Ayen, with +the greatest families of the court. Born at Chavaignac in Auvergne on +the 6th of September, 1757, married at sixteen years of age, a +precocious instinct of renown drove him in 1777 from his own country. It +was at the period of the war of Independence in America; the name of +Washington resounded throughout the two continents. A youth dreamed the +same destiny for himself in the delights of the effeminate court of +Louis XV.; that youth was La Fayette. He privately fitted out two +vessels with arms and provisions, and arrived at Boston. Washington +hailed him as he would have hailed the open succour of France. It was +France without its flag. La Fayette and the young officers who followed +him assured him of the secret wishes of a great people for the +independence of the new world. The American general employed M. de La +Fayette in this long war, the least of whose skirmishes assumed in +traversing the seas the importance of a great battle. The American war, +more remarkable for its results than its campaigns, was more fitted to +form republicans than warriors. M. de La Fayette joined in it with +heroism and devotion: he acquired the friendship of Washington. A French +name was written by him on the baptismal register of a transatlantic +nation. This name came back to France like the echo of liberty and +glory. That popularity which seizes on all that is brilliant, was +accorded to La Fayette on his return to his native land, and quite +intoxicated the young hero. Opinion adopted him, the opera applauded +him, actresses crowned him; the queen smiled upon him, the king created +him a general; Franklin, made him a citizen, and national enthusiasm +elevated him into its idol. This excess of public estimation decided his +life. La Fayette found this popularity so sweet that he could not +consent to lose it. Applause, however, is by no means glory, and +subsequently he deserved that which he acquired. He gave to democracy +that of which it was worthy, honesty. + +On the 14th of July M. de La Fayette was ready for elevation on the +shields of the _bourgeoisie_ of Paris. A _frondeur_ of the court, a +revolutionist of high family, an aristocrat by birth, a democrat in +principles, radiant with military renown acquired beyond seas, he united +in his own person many qualities for rallying around him a civic +militia, and for becoming the natural chief of an army of citizens. His +American glory shone forth brilliantly in Paris. Distance increases +every reputation--his was immense; it comprised and eclipsed all; +Necker, Mirabeau, the Duc d'Orleans, the three most popular men in +Paris,--all + + Paled their ineffectual fires + +before La Fayette, whose name was the nation's for three years. Supreme +arbiter, he carried into the Assembly his authority as commandant of the +national guard; his authority, as an influential member of the Assembly. +Of these two conjoined titles be made a real dictatorship of opinion. As +an orator he was but of slight consideration; his gentle style, though +witty and keen, had nothing of that firm and electric manner which +strikes the senses, makes the heart vibrate and communicates its vigour +and effects to all who listen. Elegant as the language of a drawing room +and overwhelmed in the mazes of diplomatic intrigues, he spoke of +liberty in court phrases. The only parliamentary act of M. La Fayette +was a proclamation of the _rights of man_, which was adopted by the +National Assembly. This decalogue of free men, formed in the forests of +America, contained more metaphysical phrases than sound policy. It +applied as ill to an old society as the nudity of the savage to the +complicated wants of civilised man: but it had the merit of placing man +bare for the moment, and, by showing him what he was and what he was +not, of setting him on the discovery of the real value of his duties and +his rights. It was the cry of the revolt of nature against all +tyrannies. This cry was destined to crumble into dust an old world used +up in servitude, and to produce another new and breathing. It was to La +Fayette's honour that he first proposed it. + +The federation of 1790 was the apogee of M. de La Fayette: on that day +he surpassed both king and assembly. The nation armed and reflective was +there in person, and he commanded it; he could have done every thing and +attempted nothing: the misfortune of that man was in his situation. A +man of transition, his life passed between two ideas; if he had had but +one he could have been master of the destinies of his country. The +monarchy or the republic were alike in his hand; he had but to open it +wide, he only half opened it, and it was only a semi-liberty that issued +from it. In inspiring his country with a desire for a republic, he +defended a constitution and a throne. His principles and his conduct +were in opposition; he was honest, and yet seemed to betray; whilst he +struggled with regret from duty to the monarchy, his heart was in the +republic. Protector of the throne, he was at the same time its bugbear. +One life can only be devoted to one cause. Monarchy and republicanism +had the same esteem, the same wrongs in his mind, and he served for and +against both. He died without having seen either of them triumphant, but +he died virtuous and popular. He had, beside his private virtues, a +public virtue, which will ever be a pardon to his faults, and +immortality to his name; he had before all, more than all, and after +all, the feeling, constancy, and moderation of the Revolution. + +Such was the man and such the army on which reposed the executive power, +the safety of Paris, the constitutional throne, and the life of the +king. + + +XXIII. + +Thus on the 1st of June, 1791, were parties situated, such the men and +things in the midst of which the irresistible spirit of a vast social +renovation advanced with occult and continuous impulse. What but +contention, anarchy, crime, and death, could emanate from such elements! +No party had the reason, no mind had the genius, no soul had the +virtue, no arm had the energy, to control this chaos, and extract from +it justice, truth, and strength. Things will only produce what they +contain. Louis XVI. was upright and devoted to well doing, but he had +not understood, from the very first symptoms of the Revolution, that +there was only one part for the leader of a people, and that was to +place himself in the van of the newly born idea, to forbear any struggle +for the past, and thus to combine in his own person the twofold power of +chief of the nation, and chief of a party. The character of moderation +is only possible on the condition of having already acquired the +unreserved confidence of the party whom it is desired to control. Henri +IV. assumed this character, but it was _after_ victory; had he attempted +it _before_ Ivry, he would have lost, not only the kingdom of France, +but also of Navarre. + +The court was venal, selfish, corrupt; it only defended in the king's +person the sources of its vanities,--profitable exactions. The clergy, +with Christian virtues, had no public virtues: a state within a state, +its life was apart from the life of the nation, its ecclesiastical +establishment seemed to be wholly independent of the monarchical +establishment. It had only rallied round the monarchy, on the day it had +beheld its own fortune compromised; and then it had appealed to the +faith of the people, in order to preserve its wealth; but the people now +only saw in the monks mendicants, and in the bishops extortioners. The +nobility, effeminate by lengthened peace, emigrated in masses, +abandoning their king to his besetting perils, and fully trusting in the +prompt and decisive intervention of foreign powers. The third estate, +jealous and envious, fiercely demanded their place and their rights +amongst the privileged castes; its justice appeared hatred. The Assembly +comprised in its bosom all these weaknesses, all this egotism, all these +vices. Mirabeau was venal, Barnave jealous, Robespierre fanatic, the +Jacobin Club blood-thirsty, the National Guard selfish, La Fayette a +waverer, the government a nullity. No one desired the Revolution but for +his own purpose, and according to his own scheme; and it must have been +wrecked on these shoals a hundred times, if there were not in human +crises something even stronger than the men who appear to guide +them--the will of the event itself. + +The Revolution in all its comprehensive bearings was not understood at +that period by any one except, perchance, Robespierre and the thorough +going democrats. The King viewed it only as a vast reform, the Duc +d'Orleans as a great faction, Mirabeau but in its political point of +view, La Fayette only in its constitutional aspect, the Jacobins as a +vengeance, the mob as the abasing of the higher orders, the nation as a +display of patriotism. None ventured as yet to contemplate its ultimate +consummation. + +All was thus blind, except the Revolution itself. The virtue of the +Revolution was in the idea which forced these men on to accomplish it, +and not in those who actually accomplished it; all its instruments were +vitiated, corrupt, or personal; but the idea was pure, incorruptible, +divine. The vices, passions, selfishness of men were inevitably doomed +to produce in the coming crises those shocks, those violences, those +perversities, and those crimes which are to human passions what +consequences are to principles. + +If each of the parties or men, mixed up from the first day with these +great events had taken their virtue, instead of their impulses as the +rule of their actions, all these disasters which eventually crushed +them, would have been saved to them and to their country. If the king +had been firm and sagacious, if the clergy had been free from a longing +for things temporal, and if the aristocracy had been good; if the people +had been moderate, if Mirabeau had been honest, if La Fayette had been +decided, if Robespierre had been humane, the Revolution would have +progressed, majestic and calm as a heavenly thought, through France, and +thence through Europe; it would have been installed like a philosophy in +facts, in laws, and in creeds. But it was otherwise decreed. The holiest +most just and virtuous thought, when it passes through the medium of +imperfect humanity, comes out in rags and in blood. Those very persons +who conceived it, no longer recognise, disavow it. Yet it is not +permitted, even to crime, to degrade the truth, that survives all, even +its victims. The blood which sullies men does not stain its idea; and +despite the selfishness which debases it, the infamies which trammel it, +the crimes which pollute it, the blood-stained Revolution purifies +itself, feels its own worth, triumphs, and will triumph. + + + + +BOOK II. + + +I. + +The National Assembly, wearied with two years of existence, relaxed in +its legislative movement: from the moment when it had nothing more to +destroy, it really was at a loss what to do. The Jacobins took umbrage +at it, its popularity was disappearing, the press inveighed against it, +the clubs insulted it; the worn-out tool by which the people had +acquired conquest, it felt the people were about to snap it asunder if +it did not dissolve of its own accord. Its sittings were inanimate, and +it was completing the constitution as a task inflicted on it, but at +which it was discouraged before completion. It had no belief in the +duration of that which it proclaimed imperishable. The lofty voices +which had shaken France so long were now no more, or were silent from +indifference. Maury, Cazalès, Clermont Tonnerre seemed careless of +continuing a conflict in which honour was saved, and in which victory +was henceforth impossible. From time to time, indeed, some burst of +passion between parties interrupted the usual monotony of these +theoretical discussions. Such was the struggle of the 10th of June +between Cazalès and Robespierre with respect to the disbanding the +officers of the army. "What is it," exclaimed Robespierre, "that the +committees propose to us? to trust to the oaths, to the honour of +officers, to defend a constitution which they detest! of what honour do +they talk to us? What is that honour more than virtue and love of +country? I take credit to myself for not believing in such honour." + +Cazalès himself arose indignantly. "I could not listen tamely to such +calumniating language," he exclaimed. At these words violent murmurs +arose on the left, and cries (order! to the Abbaye! to the Abbaye!) +burst forth from the ranks of the revolution: "What," said the royalist +orator, "is it not enough to have restrained my indignation on hearing +two thousand citizens thus accused, who in all moments of peril have +presented an example of most heroic patience! I have listened to the +previous speaker, because I am, and I assert it, a partisan of the most +unlimited declaration of opinions; but it is beyond human endurance for +me to conceal the contempt I feel for such diatribes. If you adopt the +disbanding proposed you will no longer have an army, our frontiers will +be delivered up to foreign invasion, and the interior to excesses and +the pillage of an infuriated soldiery." These energetic words were the +funeral oration of the old army, the project of the committee was +adopted. + +The discussion on the abolition of the punishment of death presented to +Adrien Duport an opportunity to pronounce in favour of the abolition one +of those orations which survive time, and which protest, in the name of +reason and philosophy, against the blindness and atrocity of criminal +legislation. He demonstrated with the most profound logic that society, +by reserving to itself the right of homicide, justifies it to a certain +extent in the murderer, and that the means most efficacious for +preventing murder and making it infamous was to evince its own horror of +the crime. Robespierre, who subsequently was fated to allow of unlimited +immolation, demanded that society should be disarmed of the power of +putting to death. If the prejudices of jurists had not prevailed over +the wholesome doctrines of moral philosophy, who can say how much blood +might not have been spared in France. + +But these discussions confined to the interior of the Manège, occupied +less public attention than the fierce controversies of the periodical +press. Journalism, that universal and daily _forum_ of the people's +passions, had expanded with the progress of liberty. All ardent minds +had eagerly embraced it, Mirabeau himself having set the example when he +descended from the tribune. He wrote his letters to his constituents in +the _Courrier de Provence_. Camille Desmoulins, a young man of great +talent but weak reasoning powers, threw into his lucubrations for the +press the feverish tumult of his thoughts. Brissot, Gorsas, Carra, +Prudhomme, Fréron, Danton, Fauchet, Condorcet, edited democratic +journals: they began by demanding the abolition of royalty, "the +greatest scourge," said the _Revolutions de Paris_, "which has ever +dishonoured the human species." Marat seemed to have concentrated in +himself all the evil passions which ferment in a society in a state of +decomposition: he constituted himself the permanent representative of +popular hate. By pretending this, he kept it up, writing all the while +with bitterness and ferocity. He became a cynic in order the more +intimately to know the masses. He assumed the language of the lowest +reprobates. Like the elder Brutus, he feigned idiocy, but it was not to +save his country, it was to urge it to the uttermost bounds of madness, +and then control it by its very insanity. All his pamphlets, echoes of +the Jacobins and Cordeliers, daily excited the uneasiness, suspicions, +and terrors of the people. + +"Citizens," said he, "watch closely around this palace: the inviolable +asylum of all plots against the nation, there a perverse queen lords it +over an imbecile king and rears the cubs of tyranny. Lawless priests +there consecrate the arms of insurrection against the people. They +prepare the Saint Bartholomew of patriots. The genius of Austria is +there, hidden in the committees over which Antoinette presides; they +correspond with foreigners, and by concealed means forward to them the +gold and arms of France, so that the tyrants who are assembling in arms +on your frontier may find you famished and disarmed. The +emigrants--d'Artois and Condé--there receive instructions of the coming +vengeance of despotism. A guard of Swiss stipendiaries is not enough for +the liberticide schemes of the Capets. Every night the good citizens who +watch around this den see the ancient nobility entering stealthily and +concealing arms beneath their clothes. Can knights of the poignard be +any thing but the enrolled assassins of the people? What is La Fayette +doing,--is he a dupe or an accomplice? Why does he leave free the +avenues of the palace, which is only opened for vengeance or flight? Why +do we leave the Revolution incomplete, and also leave in the hands of +our crowned enemy, still in the midst of us, the time to overcome and +destroy it? Do you not see that specie is disappearing and assignats are +discredited? What means the assemblings on your frontier of emigrants +and armed bodies, who are advancing to enclose you in a circle of iron? +What are your ministers doing? Why is not the property of emigrants +confiscated, their houses burnt, their heads set at a price? In whose +hands are arms? In the hands of traitors. Who command your troops? +traitors! Who hold the keys of your strong places? traitors, traitors, +traitors, everywhere traitors; and in this palace of treason, the king +of traitors! the inviolable traitor, the king! They tell you that he +loves the constitution,--humbug! he comes to the Assembly,--humbug; the +better he conceals his flight. Watch! watch! a great blow is preparing, +is ready to burst; if you do not prevent it by a counter-blow more +sudden, more terrible, the people and liberty are annihilated." + +These declarations were not wholly void of foundation. The king, honest +and good, did not conspire against his people, the queen did not think +of selling to the House of Austria the crown of her husband and her son. +If the constitution now completed had been able to restore order to the +country and security to the throne, no sacrifice of power would have +been felt by Louis XVI.: never did prince find more innate in his +character the conditions of his moderation: that passive resignation, +which is the character of constitutional sovereigns, was his virtue. He +neither desired to reconquer nor to avenge himself. All he desired was, +that his sincerity should be appreciated by the people, order +re-established within and power without; that the Assembly, receding +from the encroachments it had made on the executive power, should raise +the constitution, correct its errors, and restore to royalty that power +indispensable for the weal of the kingdom. + +The queen herself, although of a mind more powerful and absolute, was +convinced by necessity, and joined the king in his intentions; but the +king, who had not two wills, had nevertheless two administrations, and +two policies, one in France with his constitutional ministers, and +another without with his brothers, and his agents with other powers. +Baron de Breteuil, and M. de Calonne, rivals in intrigue, spake and +diplomatised in his name. The king disowned them, sometimes with, and +sometimes without, sincerity, in his official letters to ambassadors. +This was not hypocrisy, it was weakness; a captive king, who speaks +aloud to his jailers and in whispers to his friends, is excusable. These +two languages not always agreeing, gave to Louis XVI. the appearance of +disloyalty and treason: he did not betray, he hesitated. + +His brothers, and especially the Comte d'Artois, did violence from +without to his wishes, interpreting his silence according to their own +desires. This young prince went from court to court to solicit in his +brother's name the coalition of the monarchical powers against +principles which already threatened every throne. Received graciously at +Florence by the Emperor of Austria, Leopold, the queen's brother, he +obtained a few days afterwards at Mantua the promise of a force of +35,000 men. The King of Prussia, and Spain, the King of Sardinia, +Naples, and Switzerland, guaranteed equal forces. Louis XVI. sometimes +entertained the hope of an European intervention as a means of +intimidating the Assembly, and compelling it to a reconciliation with +him; at other times he repulsed it as a crime. The state of his mind in +this respect depended on the state of the kingdom; his understanding +followed the flux and reflux of interior events. If a good decree, a +cordial reconciliation with the Assembly, a return of popular applause +came to console his sorrows, he resumed his hopes, and wrote to his +agents to break up the hostile gatherings at Coblentz. If a new _émeute_ +disturbed the palace--if the Assembly degraded the royal power by some +indignity or some outrage--he again began to despair of the +Constitution, and to fortify himself against it. The incoherence of his +thoughts was rather the fault of his situation than his own; but it +compromised his cause equally within and without. Every thought which is +not at unity destroys itself. The thought of the king, although right in +the main, was too fluctuating not to vary with events, but those events +had but one direction--the destruction of the monarchy. + + +II. + +Nevertheless, in the midst of these vacillations of the royal will, it +is impossible for history to misunderstand that from the month of +November 1790 the king vaguely meditated a plan of escape from Paris in +collusion with the emperor. Louis XVI. had obtained from this prince the +promise of sending a body of troops on the French frontier at the moment +when he should desire it; but had the king the intention of quitting the +kingdom and returning at the head of a foreign force, or simply to +assemble round his person a portion of his own army in some point of the +frontier, and there to treat with the Assembly? This latter is the more +probable hypothesis. + +Louis XVI. had read much history, especially the history of England. +Like all unfortunate men, he sought, in the misfortunes of dethroned +princes, analogies with his own unhappy position. The portrait of +Charles I., by Van Dyck, was constantly before his eyes in his closet in +the Tuileries; his history continually open on his table. He had been +struck by two circumstances; that James II. had lost his throne because +he had left his kingdom, and that Charles I. had been beheaded for +having made war against his parliament and his people. These reflections +had inspired him with an instinctive repugnance against the idea of +leaving France, or of casting himself into the arms of the army. In +order to compel his decision one way or the other in favour of one of +these two extreme parties, his freedom of mind was completely oppressed +by the imminence of his present perils, and the dread which beset the +château of the Tuileries night and day had penetrated the very soul of +the king and queen. + +The atrocious threats which assailed them whenever they showed +themselves at the windows of their residence, the insults of the press, +the vociferations of the Jacobins, the riots and murders which +multiplied in the capital and the provinces, the violent obstacles which +had been opposed to their departure from St. Cloud, and then the +recollections of the daggers which had even pierced the queen's bed on +the evening of the 5th to the 6th of October, made their life one +continued scene of alarms. They began to comprehend that the insatiate +Revolution was irritated even by the concessions they had made; that the +blind fury of factions which had not paused before royalty surrounded by +its guards, would not hesitate before the illusory inviolability decreed +by a constitution; and that their lives, those of their children, and +those of the royal family which remained, had no longer any assurance of +safety but in flight. + +Flight was therefore resolved upon, and was frequently discussed before +the time when the king decided upon it. Mirabeau himself, bought by the +court, had proposed it in his mysterious interviews with the queen. One +of his plans presented to the king was, to escape from Paris, take +refuge in the midst of a camp, or in a frontier town, and there treat +with the baffled Assembly. Mirabeau remaining in Paris, and again +possessing himself of the public mind, would lead matters, as he +declared, to accommodation, and a voluntary restoration of the royal +authority. Mirabeau had carried these hopes away with him into the tomb. +The king himself, in his secret correspondence, testified his repugnance +to intrusting his fate into the hands of the ringleader of the factions. +Another cause of uneasiness troubled the king's mind, and gave the queen +great anxiety; they were not ignorant that it was a question without, +either at Coblentz or in the councils of Leopold and the King of +Prussia, to declare the throne of France virtually vacant by default of +the king's liberty, and to nominate as regent one of the emigrant +princes, in order that he might call around him with a show of legality +all his loyal subjects, and give to foreign troops an incontestible +right of intervention. A throne even in fragments will not admit of +participation. + +An uneasy jealousy still prevailed in the midst of so many other alarms +even in this palace, where sedition had already effected so many +breaches. "M. le Comte d'Artois will then become a hero," said the queen +ironically, who at one time was excessively fond of this young prince, +but now hated him. The king, on his part, feared that moral forfeiture +with which he was menaced, under pretence of delivering the monarchy. He +knew not which to fear the most, his friends or his enemies. Flight +only, to the centre of a faithful army, could remove him from both these +perils; but flight was also a peril. If he succeeded, civil war might +spring up, and the king had a horror of blood spilled in his defence; if +it did not succeed, it would be imputed to him as a crime, and then who +could say where the national fury would stop? Forfeiture, captivity, +death, might be the consequence of the slightest accident, or least +indiscretion. He was about to suspend by a slender thread his throne, +his liberty, his life, and the lives a thousand times more dear to +him--those of his wife, his two children, and his sister. + +His tormenting reflections were long and terrible, lasting for eight +months, during which time he had no confidants but the queen, Madame +Elizabeth, a few faithful servants within the palace, and the Marquis de +Bouillé without. + + +III. + +The Marquis de Bouillé, cousin of M. de La Fayette, was of a character +totally different to that of the hero of Paris. Severe and stern +soldier, attached to the monarchy by principle, to the king by an almost +religious devotion, his respect for his sovereign's orders had alone +prevented him from emigrating; he was one of the few general officers +popular amongst the soldiers who had remained faithful to their duty +amidst the storms and tempests of the last two years, and who, without +openly declaring for or against these innovations, had yet striven to +preserve that force which outlives, and not unfrequently supplies, the +deficiency of all others,--the force of discipline. He had served with +great distinction in America, in the colonies in India, and the +authority of his character and name had not as yet lost their influence +over the soldiery; the heroic repression of the famous outbreak amongst +the troops at Nancy in the preceding August had greatly contributed to +strengthen this authority; and he alone of all the French generals had +re-obtained the supreme command, and had crushed insubordination. The +Assembly, alarmed in the midst of its triumphs by the seditions amongst +the troops, had passed a vote of thanks to him as the saviour of his +country. La Fayette, who commanded the citizens, feared only this rival +who commanded regiments, he therefore watched and flattered M. de +Bouillé. He constantly proposed to him a coalition of their forces, of +which they would be the commanders-in-chief, and by thus acting in +concert secure at once the revolution and the monarchy. M. de Bouillé, +who doubted the loyalty of La Fayette, replied with a cold and sarcastic +civility, that but ill concealed his suspicions. These two characters +were incompatible,--the one was the representative of modern patriotism, +the other of ancient honour: they could not harmonise. + +The Marquis de Bouillé commanded the troops of Loraine, Alsace, +Franche-Comté, and Champagne, and his government extended from +Switzerland to the Sambre. He had no less than ninety battalions of +foot, and a hundred and four squadrons of cavalry under his orders. Out +of this number the general could only rely upon twenty battalions of +German troops and a few cavalry regiments; the remainder were in favour +of the Revolution: and the influence of the clubs had spread amongst +them the spirit of insubordination and hatred for the king; the +regiments obeyed the municipalities rather than their generals. + + +IV. + +Since the month of February, 1791, the king, who had the most entire +confidence in M. de Bouillé, had written to this general that he wished +him to make overtures to Mirabeau, and through the intervention of the +Count de Lamarck, a foreign nobleman, the intimate and confidential +friend of Mirabeau. "Although these persons are not over estimable," +said the king in his letter, "and although I have paid Mirabeau very +dearly, I yet think he has it in his power to serve me. Hear all he has +to say, without putting yourself too much in his hands." The Count de +Lamarck arrived soon after at Metz. He mentioned to M. de Bouillé the +object of his mission, confessed to him that the king had recently given +Mirabeau 600,000f. (24,000_l._), and that he also allowed him 50,000f. a +month. He then revealed to him the plan of his counter-revolutionary +conspiracy, the first act of which was to be an address to Paris and the +Departments demanding the liberty of the king. Every thing in this +scheme depended upon the rhetoric of Mirabeau. Carried away by his own +eloquence, the salaried orator was ignorant that words, though +all-powerful to excite, are yet impotent to appease; they urge nations +forward, but nothing but the bayonet can arrest them. M. de Bouillé, a +veteran soldier, smiled at these chimerical projects of the citizen +orator; but he did not, however, discourage him in his plans, and +promised him his assistance: he wrote to the king to repay largely the +desertion of Mirabeau; "A clever scoundrel," said he, "who perhaps has +it in his power to repair through cupidity the mischief he has done +through revenge;" and to mistrust La Fayette, "A chimerical enthusiast, +intoxicated with popularity, who might become the chief of a party, but +never the support of a monarchy." + +After the death of Mirabeau, the king adhered to the project with some +modification; he wrote in cypher to the Marquis de Bouillé at the end +of April, to inform him that he should leave Paris almost immediately +with his family in one carriage, which he had ordered to be built +secretly and expressly for this purpose; and he also desired him to +establish a line of posts from Châlons to Montmédy, the frontier town he +had fixed upon. The nearest road from Paris to Montmédy was through +Rheims; but the king having been crowned there dreaded recognition. He +therefore determined, in spite of M. de Bouillé's reiterated advice, to +pass through Varennes. The chief inconvenience of this road was, that +there were no relays of post-horses, and it would be therefore necessary +to send relays thither under different pretexts; the arrival of these +relays would naturally create suspicion amongst the inhabitants of the +small towns. The presence of detachments along a road not usually +frequented by troops was likewise dangerous, and M. de Bouillé was +anxious to dissuade the king from taking this road. He pointed out to +him in his answer, that if the detachments were strong they would excite +the alarm and vigilance of the municipal authorities, and if they were +weak they would be unable to afford him protection: he also entreated +him not to travel in a berlin made expressly for him, and conspicuous by +its form, but to make use of two English carriages, then much in vogue, +and better fitted for such a purpose; he, moreover, dwelt on the +necessity of taking with him some man of firmness and energy to advise +and assist him in the unforeseen accidents that might happen on his +journey; he mentioned as the fittest person the Marquis d'Agoult, major +in the French guards; and he lastly besought the king to request the +Emperor to make a threatening movement of the Austrian troops on the +frontier near Montmédy, in order that the disquietude and alarm of the +population might serve as a pretext to justify the movements of the +different detachments and the presence of the different corps of cavalry +in the vicinity of the town. + +The king agreed to this, and also to take with him the Marquis d'Agoult; +to the rest he positively refused to accede. A few days prior to his +departure he sent a million in assignats (40,000_l._) to M. de Bouillé, +to furnish the rations and forage, as well as to pay the faithful troops +who were destined to favour his flight. These arrangements made, the +Marquis de Bouillé despatched a trusty officer of his staff, M. de +Guoguelas, with instructions to make a minute and accurate survey of the +road and country between Châlons and Montmédy, and to deliver an exact +report to the king. This officer saw the king, and brought back his +orders to M. de Bouillé. + +In the meantime M. de Bouillé held himself in readiness to execute all +that had been agreed upon; he had sent to a distance the disaffected +troops, and concentrated the twelve foreign battalions on which he could +rely. A train of sixteen pieces of artillery was sent towards Montmédy. +The regiment of _Royal Allemand_ arrived at Stenay, a squadron of +hussars was at Dun, another at Varennes; two squadrons of dragoons were +to be at Clermont on the day the king would pass through; they were +commanded by Count Charles de Damas, a bold and dashing officer, who had +instructions to send forward a detachment to Sainte Menehould, and fifty +hussars, detached from Varennes, were to march to Pont Sommeville +between Châlons and Sainte Menehould, under pretence of securing the +safe passage of a large sum of money sent from Paris to pay the troops. +Thus once through Châlons the king's carriage would be surrounded at +each relay by tried and faithful followers. The commanding officers of +these detachments had instructions to approach the window of the +carriage whilst they changed horses, and to receive any orders the king +might think proper to issue. In case his majesty wished to pursue his +journey without being recognised, these officers were to content +themselves with ascertaining that no obstacle existed to bar the road. +If it was his pleasure to be escorted, then they would mount their men +and escort him. Nothing could be better devised, and the most inviolable +secrecy enveloped all. + +The 27th of May the king wrote that he should set out the 19th of the +next month between twelve and one at night; that he should leave Paris +in a hired carriage, and at Bondy, the first stage out of Paris, he +should take his berlin; that one of his body guard, who was to serve as +courier, would await him at Bondy; that in case the king did not arrive +before two, it was because he had been arrested on his way; the courier +would then proceed alone to Pont Sommeville to inform M. de Bouillé the +scheme had failed, and to warn the general, and those of his officers +engaged in the plot, to provide for their own safety. + + +V. + +After the receipt of these last orders, M. de Bouillé despatched the +Duke de Choiseul to Paris, with orders to await the king's instructions, +and to precede his departure by twelve hours. M. de Choiseul was to +desire his servants to be at Varennes on the 18th with his own horses, +which would draw the king's carriage; the spot where the horses were +placed was to be clearly explained to the king, in order that they might +be changed without any loss of time. On his return M. de Choiseul had +instructions to take the command of the hussars posted at Pont +Sommeville, to await the king, to escort him with his hussars as far as +Sainte-Menehould, and to station his troopers there, with positive +orders to allow no one to pass on the road from Paris to Verdun, and +from Paris to Varennes, for four and twenty hours after the king's +arrival. M. de Choiseul received from M. de Bouillé orders signed by the +king himself, enjoining him, as well as all the other commanding +officers of the detachments, to employ force, should it be necessary, to +rescue his majesty if the populace attempted to lay violent hands on +him. In case the carriage was stopped at Lyons, M. de Choiseul was to +give instant information to the general to assemble all the detachments, +and march to the king's rescue. He received six hundred louis in gold, +to distribute amongst the soldiers, and thus insure their fidelity, when +the king arrived and made himself known to them. + +M. de Guoguelas left at the same for Paris, to reconnoitre the roads a +second time, passing by Stenay, Dun, Varennes, and Sainte Menehould, and +to explain clearly to the king the topography of the country; he was +also to bring back the latest orders for M. de Bouillé, and to return to +Montmédy by another route. The Marquis de Bouillé left Metz himself, +under pretence of visiting the fortresses under his command, and drew +near Montmédy. The 15th he was at Longwy, where he received a message +from the king, informing him that they had put off their journey for +four and twenty hours, in consequence of the necessity of concealing +the preparations for their departure from a femme de chambre of the +queen, a fanatical democrat, who was fully capable of betraying them, +and whose duties only terminated on the 19th. His majesty added that the +Marquis d'Agoult would not accompany him, because Madame de Tourzel, the +governess of the royal children, had claimed the privileges of her post, +and wished to accompany them. + +This delay rendered necessary counter-orders of the most fatal nature; +all the arrangements as to time and place were thus thrown out. The +detachments were forced to remain at places they were only to have +marched through, and the relays stationed on the road might be +withdrawn. However, the Marquis de Bouillé remedied all these evils as +far as was in his power; sent modified orders to the commanders of the +detachments, and advanced in person the 20th to Stenay, which was +garrisoned by the Royal Allemand regiment, on whose fidelity he could +rely. The 21st he assembled the generals under his orders, informed them +that the king would pass in the course of the night by Stenay, and would +be at Montmédy the next evening; he ordered General Klinglin to prepare +under the guns of the fortress a camp of twelve battalions and +twenty-four squadrons; the king was to reside in a chateau behind the +camp: this chateau would thus serve as head quarters, and the king's +position would be at once more secure and more dignified surrounded by +his army. The generals did not hesitate for an instant. M. de Bouillé +left General de Hoffelizze at Stenay with the Royal Allemand regiment, +with orders to saddle the horses at night fall, to mount at daybreak and +to send at ten o'clock at night a detachment of fifty troopers between +Stenay and Dun, to await the king and escort him to Stenay. + +At night M. de Choiseul quitted Stenay with several officers on +horseback, and advanced to the very gate of Dun, but he would not enter +lest his presence might in any way work on the people. There he awaited, +in silence and obscurity, the courier who was to precede the carriages +by an hour. The destiny of the monarchy, the throne of a dynasty, the +lives of the royal family, king, queen, princess, children, all weighed +down his spirit and lay heavily on his heart. The night seemed +interminable, yet it passed without the sound of horses' feet +announcing to the group who so anxiously awaited the intelligence, that +the king of France was saved or lost. + + +VI. + +What passed at the Tuileries during these decisive hours? the secret of +the projected flight had been carefully confined to the king, the queen, +the princess Elizabeth, two or three faithful attendants, and the Count +de Fersen, a Swedish gentlemen who had the care of the exterior +arrangements confided to him. Some vague rumours, like presentiments of +coming events, had, it is true, been bruited amongst the people for some +days past, but these rumours originated rather in the state of popular +excitement than any actual disclosures of the intended departure. These +reports, however, which were constantly transmitted to M. de La Fayette +and his staff, occasioned a stricter _surveillance_ round the palace and +the king's apartments. Since the 5th and 6th of October the household +guards had been disbanded; the companies of the body guard, every +soldier of whom was a gentleman and whose honour, descent, ancient +traditions, and party feeling assured their fidelity, existed no longer; +that respectful vigilance that rendered their service a matter of duty +with them, had given place to the jealous watchfulness of the national +guard, who were rather spies on the king than guardians of the monarchy. +The Swiss guards still, it is true, surrounded the Tuileries, but they +only occupied the exterior posts; the interior of the Tuileries, the +staircases, the communications between the apartments, were guarded by +the national guards. M. de La Fayette was constantly going to and fro, +his officers at night were at every issue, and they had secret orders +not to allow even the king to quit the palace after midnight. To this +official vigilance was now joined the secret and close _espionage_ of +the numerous domestics of the palace, amongst whom revolutionary feeling +had crept in to encourage treachery, and sanction ingratitude: amongst +them, as amongst their superiors, betrayal was termed virtue, and +treason, patriotism. Within the walls of the palace of his fathers the +king could alone count on the queen, his sisters, and a few nobles still +faithful in his misfortunes, and even whose gestures were duly reported +to M. de La Fayette. This general had driven by violence from the +Tuileries many of the faithful gentlemen who had come to strengthen the +guard, on the day of the _émeute_ at Vincennes. The king had witnessed, +with tears in his eyes, his most faithful adherents ignominiously driven +from his palace and exposed by his official protector to the insults and +outrages of the populace. Thus the royal family could hope to find no +one disposed to aid their escape without the palace walls. + + +VII. + +The Count de Fersen was the principal agent and confidant of this +hazardous enterprise. Young, handsome, and accomplished, he had been +admitted during the happy years of Marie Antoinette's life to the +parties and fêtes of Trianon. It was said, that a chivalrous admiration, +to which respect alone prevented his giving the name of love, had bound +him to the queen. And now this admiration had been changed into the most +passionate devotion to her in misfortune. The queen perceived this, and +when she reflected to whom she could confide the safety of the king and +her children, she thought of M. de Fersen--he instantly quitted +Stockholm, saw the king and queen, and undertook to prepare for the +flight the carriages, which were to meet them at Bondy. His position as +a foreigner favoured his plans, and he combined them with a skill only +equalled by his fidelity. Three soldiers of the body guard, MM. de +Valorg, de Moustier, et de Maldan, were taken into his confidence, and +the parts they were to play were fully explained to them; they were to +disguise themselves as servants, mount behind the carriages, and protect +the royal family at all risks. The names of three obscure gentlemen +effaced that day the names of the courtiers. Should they be discovered, +their fate was sealed; but in the hope of aiding the escape of their +king, they courageously offered themselves as a sacrifice to the popular +fury. + + +VIII. + +The queen had for many months entertained the project of escape. Since +the month of March she had commissioned one of her waiting-maids to +procure her from Brussels a complete wardrobe for Madame and the +Dauphin; she had sent most of her valuables to her sister, the +Archduchess Christina, the regent of the Low Countries, under pretence +of making her a present; her diamonds had been intrusted to her +hair-dresser, Leonard, who had started before herself with the Duke de +Choiseul. These slight indications of a projected flight had not +entirely escaped the vigilance of a waiting-maid; this woman had noticed +that whispered conversations were carried on; she had seen desks opened +on the table, and empty jewel boxes lying about; she denounced these +facts to M. de Gouvion, M. de La Fayette's _aide-de-camp_, whose +mistress she was, and M. de Gouvion reported all again to the mayor of +Paris and his general. But these denunciations had been so often made, +and by so many different persons, and had so often proved false, that +now but little importance was attached to them. However, in consequence +of the revelations of this woman, a stricter watch than usual was kept +around the chateau. M. de Gouvion detained several officers of the +national guard under various pretexts in the palace, he placed them at +the different doors, and he himself, with five _chefs-de-bataillon_, +passed part of the night at the door of the apartment formerly occupied +by the Duke de Villequier, which had been specially pointed out to him. +He had been told (which was the case) that there existed a secret +communication from the queen's cabinet to the apartment of the former +captain of the guard; and that the king, who it is well known was an +expert locksmith, had made false keys that opened all the doors; at last +these reports (that went the round of all the clubs) transformed every +patriot on that night into the king's gaoler. We read with surprise in +the journal of Camille Desmoulins of the 20th of June, 1791:--"The +evening passed most tranquilly at Paris; I returned at eleven o'clock +from the Jacobins' Club with Danton and several other patriots; we only +met a single patrole all the way. Paris appeared to me that night so +deserted, that I could not help remarking it. One of us, Fréron, who had +in his pocket a letter warning him that the king would escape that +night, wished to observe the chateau; he saw M. de La Fayette enter it +at eleven." + +A little further on Camille Desmoulins relates the restless fears of +the people on the fatal night. "The night," says he "on which the family +of the Capets escaped, Busebi, a perruke-maker in the Rue de Bourbon, +called on Hucher, a baker and Sapeur in the Bataillon of the Théatins, +to communicate his fears on what he had just learnt relative to the +king's projected flight. They instantly aroused their neighbours, to the +number of thirty, and went to La Fayette to inform him of the fact, and +to summon him to take instant measures to prevent it. M. de La Fayette +laughed, and advised them to go home. In order to avoid being stopped by +the patrols, they asked for the pass-word, which he gave them. Armed +with this they hastened to the Tuileries, where nothing was visible +except several hackney coachman drinking round one of the small shops +near the wicket gate of the Carrousel. They inspected all the courts +until they came to the door of the Manége without perceiving anything +suspicious, but at their return they were surprised to find that every +hackney coach had disappeared, which made them conjecture that these +coaches had been used by some of the attendants of this unworthy +(_indigne_) family." + +It is too evident from the state of agitation of the public mind and the +severity of the king's captivity, how difficult it must have been. +However, either owing to the connivance of some of the national guards +who had on that day demanded the custody of the interior posts, and who +winking at this infraction of the orders,--to the skilful management of +the Count de Fersen,--or that providence afforded a last ray of hope and +safety to those whom she was so soon about to overwhelm with +misfortunes, all the watchfulness of the guardians was in vain, and the +Revolution suffered its prey for some time to escape. + + +IX. + +The king and queen received, as was their custom at their _coucher_, +those persons who were in the habit of paying their respects to them at +that time, nor did they dismiss their servants any earlier than was +their wont. But no sooner were they alone than they again dressed +themselves in plain travelling dress adapted to their supposed station. +They met Madame Elizabeth and their children, in the Queen's room, and +thence they passed by a secret communication into the apartment of the +Duke de Villequier, first gentleman of the bed-chamber, and left the +palace at intervals, in order that the attention of the sentinels in the +court might not be attracted by the appearance of groups of persons at +that late hour; owing to the bustle of the servants and workpeople +leaving the chateau, and which M. de Fersen had no doubt taken care +should on that evening be greater than usual, they arrived, without +having been recognised, at the Carrousel. The queen leaned on the arm of +one of the body guard, and led Madame Royal by the hand. As she crossed +the Carrousel she met M. La Fayette with one or two officers of his +staff proceeding to the Tuileries, in order to satisfy himself that the +measures ordered in consequence of the revelations made that day had +been strictly complied with. She shuddered as she recognised the man who +in her eyes was the representative of insurrection and captivity, but in +escaping him she fancied she had escaped the whole nation, and smiled as +she thought of his appearance the next day when he could no longer +produce his prisoners to the people. Madame Elizabeth also held the arm +of one of the guards, and followed them at some distance, whilst the +king, who had insisted upon being the last, held the Dauphin (who was in +his seventh year) by the hand. The Count de Fersen, disguised as a +coachman, walked a little ahead of the king to show him the way. The +meeting place of the royal family was on the Quai des Théatins, where +two hackney coaches awaited them; the queen's waiting women, and the +Marquise de Tourzel had preceded them. + +Amidst the confusion of so dangerous and complicated a flight, the queen +and her guide crossed the Pont Royal and entered the Rue de Bac, but +instantly perceiving their error, with hasty and faltering steps they +retraced their road. The king and his son, obliged to traverse the +darkest and least frequented streets to arrive at the rendezvous, were +delayed half an hour, which seemed to his wife and sister an age. At +last they arrived, sprang into the coach, the Count de Fersen seized the +reins and drove the royal family to Bondy, the first stage between Paris +and Châlons: there they found, ready harnessed for the journey, a berlin +and a small travelling carriage; the queen's women and one of the +disguised body-guard got into the smaller carriage, whilst the king, +the queen, and the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Madame Elizabeth, and the +Marquise de Tourville took their places in the berlin; one of the +body-guard sat on the box, and the other behind, the Count de Fersen +kissed the hands of the king and queen, and returned to Paris, from +whence he went, the same night to Brussels by another road, in order to +rejoin the royal family at a later period. At the same hour Monsieur the +king's brother, Count de Provence, left the Luxembourg palace, and +arrived safely at Brussels. + + +X. + +The king's carriage rolled on the road to Châlons, and relays of eight +horses were ordered at each post-house: this number of horses, the +remarkable size and build of the berlin, the number of travellers who +occupied the interior, the three body guards, whose livery formed a +strange contrast to their physiognomy and martial appearance, the +Bourbonian features of Louis XVI. seated in a corner of the carriage, +and which was totally out of character with the _rôle_ of valet de +chambre the king had taken on himself,--all these circumstances were +calculated to excite distrust and suspicion, and to compromise the +safety of the royal family. But their passport removed all +objections,--it was perfectly formal, and in these terms: "_De par le +roi. Mandons de laisser passer Madame la baronne de Korf, se rendant à +Franckfort avec ses deux enfants, une femme de chambre, un valet de +chambre, et trois domestiques_." And lower down, "_Le Ministre des +Affaires étrangeres_, MONTMORIN." + +This foreign name, the title of German Baroness, the proverbial wealth +of the bankers of Frankfort, to whom the people were accustomed to +attribute everything that was singular and bizarre, had been most +admirably combined by the Count de Fersen, to account for anything +strange or remarkable in the appearance of the royal equipages; nothing, +however, excited attention, and they arrived without interruption at +Montmirail, a little town between Meaux and Châlons: there some +necessary repairs to the berlin detained them an hour; this delay, +during which the king's flight might be discovered, and couriers +despatched to give information to all the country, threw them into the +greatest alarm. + +However the carriage was soon repaired, and they once more started on +their journey, ignorant that this hour's delay would ultimately cost the +lives of four out of five persons who composed the royal family. + +They were full of security and confidence; the success with which they +had escaped from the palace, the manner in which they had left Paris, +the punctuality with which the relays were furnished, the loneliness of +the roads, the absence of anything like suspicion or vigilance in the +towns they had passed through, the dangers they had left behind them, +the security they were so fast approaching, each turn of the wheel +bringing them nearer M. de Bouillé and his faithful troops; the beauty +of the scene and the time, doubly beautiful to their eyes, that for two +years had looked on nought save the seditious mob that daily filled the +courts of the Tuileries, or the glittering bayonets of the armed +populace beneath their windows,--all this seemed to them as if +Providence had at last taken pity on them, that the fervent and touching +prayers of the babes that slept in their arms, and of the angelic Madame +Elizabeth had at last vanquished the fate that had so long pursued them. + +It was under the influence of these happy feelings that they entered +Châlons, the only large town through which they had to pass, at +half-past three in the afternoon. A few idlers gathered round the +carriage whilst the horses were being changed; the king somewhat +imprudently put his head out of the window, and was recognised by the +post-master; but this worthy man felt that his sovereign's life was in +his hands, and without manifesting the least surprise, he helped to put +to the horses, and ordered the postilions to drive on; he alone of this +people was free from the blood of his king. The carriage passed the +gates of Châlons, the king, the queen, and madame Elizabeth exclaimed, +with one voice, "We are saved." Châlons once passed, the king's security +no longer depended on chance, but on prudence and force. The first relay +was at Pont Sommeville. It will be remembered, that in obedience to the +orders of M. de Bouillé, M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, at the head +of a detachment of fifty hussars, were to meet the king and follow in +his rear, and besides, as soon as the king's carriage appeared, to send +off an hussar to warn the troops at Sainte Menehould and at Clermont of +the vicinity of the royal family. The king felt thus certain of meeting +faithful and armed friends; but he found no one, M. de Choiseul, M. de +Guoguelas, and the fifty hussars had left half an hour before. The +populace seemed disturbed and restless; they looked suspiciously at the +travellers, and whispered from time to time in a low voice with each +other. However, no one ventured to oppose their departure, and the king +arrived at half past seven at Sainte Menehould; at this season of the +year, it was still broad daylight; and alarmed at having passed two of +the relays without meeting the friends he expected, the king by a +natural impulse put his head out of the window, in order to seek amidst +the crowd for some friend, some officer posted there to explain to him +the reason of the absence of the detachments: that action caused his +ruin. The son of the post-master, Drouet, recognised the king, whom he +had never seen, by his likeness to the effigy on the coins in +circulation. + +Nevertheless as the horses were harnessed, and the town occupied by a +troop of dragoons, who could force a passage, the young man did not +venture to attempt to detain the carriages at this spot. + + +XI. + +The officer commanding the detachment of dragoons in the town, was also, +under pretence of walking on the Grand Place, on the watch for the royal +carriages, which he recognised instantly, by the description of them +with which he was furnished. He ordered his soldiers to mount and follow +the king; but the national guards of Sainte Menehould, amongst whom the +rumour of the likeness between the travellers and the royal family had +been rapidly circulated, surrounded the barracks, closed the stables, +and opposed by force the departure of the soldiers. During this rapid +and instinctive movement of the people, the post-master's son saddled +his best horse, and galloped as fast as possible to Varennes, in order +to arrive before the carriages, inform the municipal authorities of his +suspicions, and arouse the patroles to arrest the monarch. Whilst this +man, who bore the king's fate, galloped on the road to Varennes, the +king himself, unconscious of danger, pursued his journey towards the +same town. Drouet was certain to arrive before the king; for the road +from Sainte Menehould to Varennes forms a considerable angle, and passes +through Clermont, where a relay of horses was stationed; whilst the +direct road, accessible only to horsemen, avoids Clermont, runs in a +straight line to Varennes, and thus lessens the distance between this +town and Menehould by four leagues. Drouet had thus two hours before +him, and danger far outstripped safety. Yet by a strange coincidence +death followed Drouet also, and threatened without his being aware of +it, the life of him who in his turn (and without _his_ knowledge) +threatened the life of his sovereign. + +A quarter-master (maréchal des logis) of the dragoons shut up in the +barracks at Sainte Menehould, had alone found means to mount his horse, +and escape the vigilance of the people. He had learnt from his +commanding officer of Drouet's precipitate departure, and, suspecting +the cause, he followed him on the road to Varennes, resolved to overtake +and kill him; he kept within sight of him, but always at a distance, in +order that he might not arouse his suspicions, and with the intention of +overtaking and killing him at a favourable opportunity, and at a retired +spot. But Drouet, who had repeatedly looked round to ascertain whether +he were pursued, had conjectured his intentions; and, being a native of +the country, and knowing every path, he struck into some bye roads, and +at last under cover of a wood he escaped from the dragoon and pursued +his way to Varennes. + +On his arrival at Clermont the king was recognised by Count Charles de +Damas, who awaited his arrival at the head of two squadrons. Without +opposing the departure of the carriages, the municipal authorities, +whose suspicions had been in some measure aroused by the presence of the +troops, ordered the dragoons not to quit the town, and they obeyed these +orders. The Count de Damas alone, with a corporal and three dragoons, +found means to leave the town, and galloped towards Varennes at some +distance from the king, a too feeble or too tardy succour. The royal +family shut up in their berlin--and seeing that no opposition was +offered to their journey, was unacquainted with these sinister +occurrences. It was half past eleven at night, when the carriages +arrived at the first houses of the little town of Varennes; all were or +appeared to be asleep; all was silent and deserted. It will be +remembered, that Varennes not being on the direct line from Châlons to +Montmédy, the king would not find horses there. It had been arranged +between himself and M. de Bouillé, that the horses of M. de Choiseul +should be stationed beforehand in a spot agreed upon in Varennes, and +should conduct the carriages to Dun and Stenay, where M. de Bouillé +awaited them. It will also be borne in mind that in compliance with the +instructions of M. de Bouillé, M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, who, +with the detachment of fifty hussars, were to await the king at Pont +Sommeville, and then follow in his rear, had not awaited him nor +followed him. Instead of reaching Varennes at the same time as the king, +these officers on leaving Pont Sommeville had taken a road that avoids +Sainte Menehould, and thus materially lengthens the distance between +Pont Sommeville and Varennes. Their object in this was to avoid Sainte +Menehould, in which the passage of the hussars had created some +excitement the day previous. The consequence was, that neither M. de +Guoguelas, nor M. de Choiseul, these two guides and confidants of the +king's flight, were at Varennes on his arrival, nor did they reach there +until an hour after. The carriages had stopped at the entrance of +Varennes. The king, surprised to meet neither M. de Choiseul nor M. de +Guoguelas, neither escort nor relays, hoped that the cracking of the +postilions' whips would procure them fresh horses to continue their +journey. The three body-guards went from door to door, to inquire where +the horses had been placed, but could obtain no information. + + +XII. + +The little town of Varennes is formed into two divisions, the upper and +lower town, separated by a river and bridge. M. Guoguelas had stationed +the fresh horses in the lower town on the other side of the bridge: the +measure was in itself prudent, because the carriages would cross the +bridge at full speed, and also, because in case of popular tumult, the +changing horses and departure would be more easy when the bridge was +once crossed; but the king should have been, but was not, informed of +it. The king and queen, greatly alarmed, left the carriage and wandered +about in the deserted streets of the upper town for half an hour, +seeking for the relays. In vain did they knock at the door of the houses +in which lights were burning, they could not hear of them. At last they +returned in despair to the carriages, from which the postilions, wearied +with waiting, threatened to unharness the horses: by dint of bribes and +promises, however, they persuaded them to remount and continue their +road: the carriages again were in motion, and the travellers reassured +themselves that this was nothing but a misunderstanding, and that in a +few moments they should be in the camp of M. de Bouillé. They traversed +the upper town without any difficulty, all was buried in the most +perfect tranquillity,--a few men alone are on the watch, and they are +silent and concealed. + +Between the upper and lower town is a tower at the entrance of the +bridge that divides them; this tower is supported by a massive and +gloomy arch, which carriages are compelled to traverse with the greatest +care, and in which the least obstacle stops them; a relic of the feudal +system, in which the nobles captured the serfs, and in which by a +strange retribution the people were destined to capture the monarchy. +The carriages had hardly entered this dark arch than the horses, +frightened at a cart that was overturned, stopped, and five or six armed +men seizing their heads, ordered the travellers to alight and exhibit +their passports at the Municipality. The man who thus gave orders to his +sovereign was Drouet: scarcely had he arrived at Sainte Menehould than +he hastened to arouse the young _patriotes_ of the town, to communicate +to them his conjectures and his apprehensions. Uncertain as to how far +their suspicions were correct, or wishing to reserve for themselves the +glory of arresting the king of France, they had neither warned the +authorities nor aroused the populace. The plot awakened their +patriotism; they felt that they represented the whole of the nation. + +At this sudden apparition, at these shouts, and the aspect of the naked +swords and bayonets, the body-guard seized their arms and awaited the +king's orders; but the king forbade them to force the passage, the +horses were turned round, and the carriages, escorted by Drouet and his +companions, stopped before the door of a grocer named Sausse, who was +at the same time Procureur Syndic of Varennes. There the king and his +family were obliged to alight, in order that their passports might be +examined, and the truth of the people's suspicions ascertained. At the +same instant the friends of Drouet rushed into the town, knocked at the +doors, mounted the belfry, and rang the alarm-bell. The affrighted +inhabitants awoke, the national guards of the town and the adjacent +villages hastened one after another to M. Sausse's door; others went to +the quarters of the troops, to gain them over to their interest, or to +disarm them. In vain did the king deny his rank--his features and those +of the queen betrayed them. He at last discovered himself to the mayor +and the municipal officers, and taking M. de Sausse's hand, "Yes," said +he, "I am your king, and in your hands I place my destiny, and that of +my wife, of my sister, and of my children; our lives, the fate of the +empire, the peace of the kingdom, the safety of the constitution even, +depends upon you. Suffer me to continue my journey; I have no design of +leaving the country; I am going in the midst of a part of the army, and +in a French town, to regain my real liberty, of which the factions at +Paris deprive me, and from thence make terms with the Assembly, who, +like myself, are held in subjection through fear. I am not about to +destroy, but to save and secure the constitution; if you detain me, the +constitution, I myself, France, all are lost. I conjure you as a father, +as a husband, as a man, as a citizen, leave the road free to us; in an +hour we shall be saved, and with us France is saved; and if you guard in +your hearts that fidelity your words profess for him who was your +master, I order you as your king." + + +XIII. + +The men, touched by these words, respectful even in their violence, +hesitated, and seemed touched. It is evident, by the expression of their +features, by their tears, that they are wavering between their pity for +so terrible a reverse of fortune and their conscience as patriots. The +sight of their king, who pressed their hands in his, of their queen, by +turns suppliant and majestic, who strives by despair or entreaties to +wring from them permission to depart, unmanned them. They would have +yielded had they consulted the dictates of their heart alone; but they +began to fear for themselves the responsibility of their indulgence; the +people will demand from them their king, the nation its chief. Egotism +hardened their hearts; the wife of M. Sausse, with whom her husband +repeatedly exchanged glances, and in whose breast the queen hoped to +find pity and compassion, was the least moved of any. Whilst the king +harangued the municipal authorities, the queen, seated with her children +on her lap between two bales of goods in the shop, showed her infants to +Madame Sausse. "You are a mother, madame," said the queen; "you are a +wife; the fate of a wife and mother is in your hands--think what I must +suffer for these children, for my husband. At one word from you I shall +owe them to you; the queen of France will owe you more than her kingdom, +more than life." "Madame," returned the grocer's wife unmoved, with that +petty common sense of minds in which calculation stifles generosity, "I +wish it was in my power to serve you; you are thinking of the king; I am +thinking of M. Sausse. It is a wife's duty to think of her husband." All +hope is lost when no pity can be found in a woman's heart. The queen, +indignant and hurt, retired with Madame Elizabeth and the children into +two rooms at the top of the house, and there she burst into tears. The +king, surrounded by municipal officers and national guard, relinquished +all hope of softening them. He repeatedly mounted the wooden staircase +of the wretched shop; he went from the queen to his sister, from his +sister to his children; that which he had been unable to obtain from +pity she hoped to obtain from time and compulsion. He could not believe +that these men, who still showed something like feeling, and manifested +so much respect for him, would persist in their determination of +detaining him, and awaiting the orders of the Assembly. At all events he +felt certain that before the return of the couriers from Paris he should +be rescued by the forces of M. de Bouillé, by which he knew he was +surrounded without the knowledge of the people. He was only astonished +that these succours should delay their appearance so long. Hour after +hour chimed, the night wore away, and yet they came not. + + +XIV. + +The officer who commanded the squadron of hussars stationed at Varennes +by M. de Bouillé was not entirely acquainted with the plan of action, or +its nature; he had merely been told that a large sum in gold would pass +through, and that it would be his duty to escort it. No courier preceded +the king's carriage, no messenger had arrived from Sainte Menehould to +warn him to assemble his troopers; MM. de Choiseul and de Guoguelas, who +were to be at Varennes before the king's arrival, and communicate to +this officer the last secret orders relative to his duty, were not +there; thus the officer was left with nothing but his own conjectures to +guide him. Two other officers, who were informed by M. de Bouillé of the +real facts, had been sent by the general to Varennes, but they remained +in the lower town at the same inn where the horses of M. de Choiseul had +been stationed; they were totally ignorant of all that was passing in +the upper town; they awaited, in compliance with their orders, the +arrival of M. de Choiseul, and were only aroused by the sound of the +alarm-bell. + +M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, with count Charles de Damas, and his +three faithful dragoons, galloped towards Varennes, having with the +greatest difficulty escaped the insurrection of the squadrons at +Clermont. On their arrival at the gates of the town, three quarters of +an hour after the king's arrest, they were recognised and stopped by the +national guard, who, before they would allow the little troop to enter, +compelled them to dismount. They demanded to see the king, and this they +were permitted to do. The king, however, forbade them to use any +violence, as he expected every instant the arrival of M. de Bouillé's +superior force. M. de Guoguelas, however, left the house; and seeing the +hussars intermingled with the crowd that filled the streets, wished to +make trial of their fidelity. "Hussars," exclaimed he, imprudently, "are +you for the nation or the king?" "_Vive la nation_!" replied the +soldiers; "we are, and always shall be, in her favour." The people +applauded this declaration; and a sergeant of the national guard headed +them, whilst their commanding officer succeeded in making his escape, +and hastened to join the two officers, who, together with M. de +Choiseul's horses, had been stationed in the lower town, and they all +three quitted Varennes, and hastened to inform their general at Dun. + +These officers had been fired upon, when, learning the royal carriages +had been stopped, they endeavoured to gain access to the king. The whole +night passed in these different occurrences. Already had the national +guards of the neighbouring villages arrived at Varennes; barricades were +erected between the upper and lower town; and the authorities sent off +expresses to warn the inhabitants of Metz and Verdun, and to demand that +troops and cannon might be instantly sent, to prevent the king being +rescued by the approaching troops of M. de Bouillé. + +The king, the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the children, lay down for a +short time, dressed as they were, in the rooms at M. Sausse's, amidst +the threatening murmurs of the people and the noise of footsteps, that +at each instant increased beneath their window. Such was the state of +affairs at Varennes at seven o'clock in the morning. The queen had not +slept; all her feelings as a wife, a mother, a queen--rage, terror, +despair,--waged so terrible a conflict in her mind, that her hair, which +had been auburn on the previous evening, was in the morning white as +snow. + + +XV. + +At Paris the most profound mystery had covered the king's departure. M. +de La Fayette, who had twice been to the Tuileries, to assure himself +with his own eyes that his orders had been strictly obeyed, quitted it +at midnight, perfectly convinced that its walls would securely guard the +people's hostages. It was only at seven o'clock in the morning of the +21st of June, that the servants of the chateau, on entering the +apartments of the king and queen, found the beds undisturbed and the +rooms deserted, and spread the alarm amongst the palace guard. The +fugitive family had thus ten or twelve hours' start of any attempt that +could be made to pursue them; and even supposing it could be ascertained +which road they had taken, they could be only stopped by couriers, and +the body guard who accompanied the king would arrest the couriers +without difficulty. Moreover, no attempt could be made to oppose their +flight by force before they had reached the town in which were stationed +the detachments of M. de Bouillé. + +All Paris was in the greatest confusion. The report flew from the +chateau, and spread like wildfire into the neighbouring _quartiers_, and +from thence into the faubourgs. The words, "The king has escaped," were +in every body's mouth; yet no one could believe it. Crowds flocked to +the chateau, to assure themselves of the fact--they questioned the +guards--inveighed against the traitors--every one believed that some +conspiracy was on the point of breaking out. The name of M. de La +Fayette, coupled with invectives, was on every tongue. "Is he a fool--is +he a confederate? how is it possible that so many of the royal family +could have passed the gates--the guards--without connivance?" The doors +were forced open, to enable the people to visit the royal apartments. +Divided between stupor and insult, they avenged themselves on inanimate +objects, for the long respect with which these dwellings of kings had +inspired them--and they passed from awe to derision. A portrait of the +king was taken from the bed-chamber and hung up at the gate of the +chateau, as an article of furniture for sale. A fruit woman took +possession of the queen's bed, to sell her cherries in, saying, "It is +to-day the nation's turn to take their ease." + +A cap of the queen's was placed on the head of a young girl, but she +exclaimed it would sully her forehead, and trampled it under foot with +indignation and contempt. They entered the school-room of the young +dauphin--there the people were touched, and respected the books, the +maps, the toys of the baby king. The streets and public squares were +crowded with people; the national guards assembled; the drums beat to +arms; the alarm-gun thundered every minute. Men armed with pikes, and +wearing the _bonnet rouge_, reappeared, and eclipsed the uniforms. +Santerre, the brewer and agitator of the faubourgs, alone led a band of +2000 pikes. The people's indignation began to prevail over their terror, +and showed itself in satirical outcries and injurious actions against +royalty. On the Place de la Grève, the bust of Louis XVI., placed +beneath the fatal lantern, that had been the instrument of the first +crimes of the Revolution, was mutilated. "When," exclaimed the +demagogues, "will the people execute justice for themselves upon all +these kings of bronze and marble--shameful monuments of their slavery +and their idolatry?" The statues of the king were torn from the shops; +some broke them into pieces, others merely tied a bandage over the eyes, +to signify the blindness attributed to the king. The names of king, +queen, Bourbon, were effaced from all the signs. The Palais Royal lost +its name, and was now called Palais d'Orléans. The clubs, hastily +convoked, rang with the most frantic motions; that of the Cordeliers +decreed that the National Assembly had devoted France to slavery, by +declaring the crown hereditary; they demanded that the name of the king +should be for ever abolished, and that the kingdom should be constituted +into a republic. Danton gave it its audacity, and Marat its madness. + +The most singular reports were in circulation, and contradicted each +other at every moment. According to one, the king had taken the road to +Metz, to another, the royal family had escaped by a drain. Camille +Desmoulins excited the people's mirth as the most insulting mark of +their contempt. The walls of the Tuileries were placarded with offers of +a small reward to any one who would bring back the noxious or unclean +animals that had escaped from it. In the garden, in the open air, the +most extravagant proposals were made. "People," said one of these +orators, mounting on a chair, "it will be unfortunate, should this +perfidious king be brought back to us,--what should we do with him? He +would come to us like Thersites to pour forth those big tears, of which +Homer tells us; and we should be moved with pity. If he returns, I +propose that he be exposed for three days to public derision, with the +red handkerchief on his head, and that he be then conducted from stage +to stage to the frontier, and that he be then kicked out of the +kingdom." + +Fréron caused his papers to be sold amongst the groups. "He is gone," +said one of them, "this imbecile king, this perjured monarch. She is +gone, this wretched queen, who, to the lasciviousness of Messalina, +unites the insatiable thirst of blood that devoured Medea. Execrable +woman, evil genius of France, thou wast the leader, the soul of this +conspiracy." The people repeating these words, circulated from street +to street these odious accusations, which fomented their hate, and +envenomed their alarm. + + +XVI. + +It was only at ten o'clock that three cannon shots proclaimed (by order +of the municipal and departmental authorities) the event of the night to +the people. The National Assembly had already met; the president +informed it that M. Bailly, the mayor of Paris, was come to acquaint +them that the king and his family had been carried off during the night +from the Tuileries by some enemies of the nation; the Assembly, who were +already individually aware of this fact, listened to the communication +with imposing gravity. It seemed as though at this moment the critical +juncture of public affairs gave them a majestic calmness, and that +all the wisdom of the great nation was concentrated in its +representatives--one feeling alone dictated every act, every thought, +every resolution,--to preserve and defend the constitution, even +although the king was absent, and the royalty virtually dead. To take +temporary possession of the regency of the kingdom, to summon the +ministers, to send couriers on every road, to arrest all individuals +leaving the kingdom; to visit the arsenal, to supply arms, to send the +generals to their posts, and to garrison the frontiers,--all this was +the work of an instant; there was no "right," no "left," no "centre;" +the "left" comprised all. The Assembly was informed that one of the +aides-de-camp of M. de La Fayette, sent by him on his own +responsibility, and previous to any orders from the Assembly, was in the +power of the people, who accused M. de La Fayette and his staff of +treason; and messengers were sent to free him. + +The aide-de-camp entered the chamber and announced the object of his +mission; the Assembly gave a second order, sanctioning that of M. de La +Fayette, and he departed. Barnave, who perceived in the popular +irritation against La Fayette a fresh peril, hastened to mount the +tribune; and although up to that period he had been opposed to the +popular general, he yet generously, or adroitly, defended him against +the suspicions of the people, who were ready to abandon him. It was +said that for some days past Lameth and Barnave, in succeeding Mirabeau +in the Assembly, felt, like himself, the necessity of some secret +intelligence with this remnant of the monarchy. Much was said of secret +relations between Barnave and the king, of a planned flight, of +concealed measures; but these rumours, accredited by La Fayette himself +in his Memoirs, had not then burst forth; and even at this present +period they are doubtful. "The object which ought to occupy us," said +Barnave, "is to re-establish the confidence in him to whom it belongs. +There is a man against whom popular movement would fain create distrust, +that I firmly believe is undeserved; let us throw ourselves between this +distrust and the people. We must have a concentrated, a central force, +an arm to act, when we have but one single head to reflect. M. de La +Fayette, since the commencement of the revolution, has evinced the +opinions and the conduct of a good citizen. It is absolutely necessary +that he should retain his credit with the nation. Force is necessary at +Paris, but tranquillity is equally so. It is you, who must direct this +force." + +These words of Barnave were voted to be the text of the proclamation. At +this moment information was brought that M. de Cazalès, the orator of +the _côté droit_, was in the hands of the people, and exposed to the +greatest danger at the Tuileries. + +Six commissioners were appointed to go to his succour, and they +conducted him to the chamber. He mounted the tribune, irritated at once +against the people, from whose violence he had just escaped, and against +the king, who had abandoned his partisans without giving them any timely +information. + +"I have narrowly escaped being torn in pieces by the people," cried he; +"and without the assistance of the national guard, who displayed so much +attachment for me--." At these words which indicated the pretension to +personal popularity lurking in the mind of the royalist orator, the +Assembly gave marked signs of disapprobation, and the _côté gauche_ +murmured loudly. "I do not speak for myself," returned Cazalès, "but for +the common interest. I will willingly sacrifice my petty existence, and +this sacrifice has long ago been made; but it is important to the whole +empire that your sittings be undisturbed by any popular tumult in the +critical state of affairs at present, and in consequence I second all +the measures for preserving order and tranquillity that have just been +proposed." At length, on the motion of several members, the Assembly +decided, that in the king's absence, all power should be vested in +themselves, and that their decrees should be immediately put in +execution by the ministers without any further sanction or acceptance. +The Assembly seized on the dictatorship with a prompt and firm grasp, +and declared themselves permanent. + + +XVII. + +Whilst the Assembly, by the rights alike of prudence and necessity, +seized on the supreme power, M. de La Fayette cast himself with calm +audacity amidst the people, to grasp again, at the peril of his life, +the confidence that he had lost. The first impulse of the people would +naturally be to massacre the perfidious general, who had answered for +the safe custody of the king with his life, and had yet suffered him to +escape. La Fayette saw his peril, and, by braving, averted the tempest. +One of the first to learn the king's flight, from his officers, he +hurried to the Tuileries, where he found the mayor of Paris, Bailly, and +the president of the Assembly, Beauharnais. Bailly and Beauharnais +lamented the number of hours that must be lost in the pursuit before the +Assembly could be convoked, and the decrees executed. "Is it your +opinion," asked La Fayette, "that the arrest of the king and the royal +family is absolutely essential to the public safety, and can alone +preserve us from civil war?" "No doubt can be entertained of that," +returned the mayor and the president. "Well then," returned La Fayette, +"I take on myself all the responsibility of this arrest;" and he +instantly wrote an order to all the national guards and citizens to +arrest the king. This was also a dictatorship, and the most personal of +all dictatorships, that a single man, taking the place of the Assembly, +and the whole nation, thus assumed. He, on his private authority and the +right of his civic foresight, struck at the liberty and perhaps the life +of the lawful ruler of the nation. This order led Louis XVI. to the +scaffold, for it restored to the people the victim who had escaped +their clutches. "Fortunately for him," he writes in his Memoirs, after +the atrocities committed on these august victims, "fortunately for him, +their arrest was not owing to his orders, but to the accident of being +recognised by a post-master, and to their ill arrangements." Thus the +citizen ordered that which the man trembled to see fulfilled; and tardy +sensibility protested against patriotism. + +Quitting the Tuileries, La Fayette went to the Hôtel de Ville, on +horseback. The quays were crowded with persons whose anger vented itself +in reproaches against him, which he supported with the utmost apparent +serenity. On his arrival at the Place de Grève, almost unattended, he +found the duke d'Aumont, one of his officers, in the hands of the +populace, who were on the point of massacring him; and he instantly +mingled with the crowd, who were astonished at his audacity, and rescued +the duke d'Aumont. He thus recovered by courage the dominion, which he +would have lost (and with it his life) had he hesitated. + +"Why do you complain?" he asked of the crowd. "Does not every citizen +gain twenty sous by the suppression of the civil list? If you call the +flight of the king a misfortune, by what name would you then denominate +a counter-revolution that would deprive you of liberty?" He again +quitted the Hôtel de Ville with an escort, and directed his steps with +more confidence towards the Assembly. As he entered the chamber, Camus, +near whom he seated himself, rose indignantly: "No uniforms here," cried +he; "in this place we should behold neither arms nor uniforms." Several +members of the left side rose with Camus, exclaiming to La Fayette, +"Quit the chamber!" and dismissing with a gesture the intimidated +general. Other members, friends of La Fayette, collected round him, and +sought to silence the threatening vociferations of Camus. M. de La +Fayette at last obtained a hearing at the bar. After uttering a few +common places about liberty and the people, he proposed that M. de +Gouvion, his second in command, to whom the guard of the Tuileries had +been intrusted, should be examined by the Assembly. "I will answer for +this officer," said he; "and take upon myself the responsibility." M. de +Gouvion was heard, and affirmed that all the outlets from the palace had +been strictly guarded, and that the king could not have escaped by any +of the doors. This statement was confirmed by M. Bailly, the mayor of +Paris. The intendant of the civil list, M. de Laporte, appeared, to +present to the Assembly the manifesto the king had left for his people. +He was asked, "How did you receive it?" "The king," replied M. de +Laporte, "had left it sealed, with a letter for me." "Read this letter," +said a member. "No, no," exclaimed the Assembly, "it is a confidential +letter, we have no right to read it." They equally refused to unseal a +letter for the queen that had been left on her table. The generosity of +the nation, even in this moment, predominated over their irritation. + +The king's manifesto was read amidst much laughter and loud murmurs. + +"Frenchmen," said the king in this address to his people, "so long as I +hoped to behold public happiness and tranquillity restored by the +measures concerted by myself and the Assembly, no sacrifice was too +great; calumnies, insult, injury, even the loss of liberty,--I have +suffered all without a murmur. But now that I behold the kingdom +destroyed, property violated, personal safety compromised, anarchy in +every part of my dominions, I feel it my duty to lay before my subjects +the motives of my conduct. In the month of July, 1789, I did not fear to +trust myself amongst the inhabitants of Paris. On the 5th and 6th of +October, although outraged in my own palace, and a witness of the +impunity with which all sorts of crimes were committed, I would not quit +France, lest I should be the cause of civil war. I came to reside in the +Tuileries, deprived of almost the necessaries of life; my body-guard was +torn from me, and many of these faithful gentlemen were massacred under +my very eyes. The most shameful calumnies have been heaped upon the +faithful and devoted wife, who participates in my affection for the +people, and who has generously taken her share of all the sacrifices I +have made for them. Convocation of the States-general, double +representation granted to the third estate (_le tiers état_), reunion of +the orders, sacrifice of the 20th of June,--I have done all this for the +nation; and all these sacrifices have been lost, misinterpreted, turned +against me. I have been detained as a prisoner in my own palace; instead +of guards, jailers have been imposed on me. I have been rendered +responsible for a government that has been torn from my grasp. Though +charged to preserve the dignity of France in relation to foreign powers, +I have been deprived of the right of declaring peace or war. Your +constitution is a perpetual contradiction between the titles with which +it invests me, and the functions it denies me. I am only the responsible +chief of anarchy, and the seditious power of the clubs wrests from you +the power you have wrested from me. Frenchmen, was this the result you +looked for from your regeneration? Your attachment to your king was wont +to be reckoned amongst your virtues; this attachment is now changed into +hatred, and homage into insult. From M. Necker down to the lowest of the +rabble, every one has been king except the king himself. Threats have +been held out of depriving the king even of this empty title, and of +shutting up the queen in a convent. In the nights of October, when it +was proposed to the Assembly to go and protect the king by its presence, +they declared it was beneath their dignity to do so. The king's aunts +have been arrested, when from religious motives they wished to journey +to Rome. My conscience has been equally outraged; even my religious +principles have been constrained: when after my illness I wished to go +to St. Cloud, to complete my convalescence, it was feared that I was +going to this residence to perform my pious duties with priests who had +not taken the oaths; my horses were unharnessed, and I was compelled by +force to return to the Tuileries. M. de La Fayette himself could not +ensure obedience to the law, or the respect due to the king. I have been +forced to send away the very priests of my chapels, and even the adviser +of my conscience. In such a situation, all that is left me is to appeal +to the justice and affection of my people, to take refuge from the +attacks of the factions and the oppression of the Assembly and the +clubs, in a town of my kingdom, and to resolve there, in perfect +freedom, on the modifications the constitution requires; of the +restoration of our holy religion; of the strengthening of the royal +power, and the consolidation of true liberty." + +The Assembly, who had several times interrupted the reading of this +manifesto by bursts of laughter or murmurs of indignation, proceeded +with disdain to the order of the day, and received the oaths of the +generals employed at Paris. Numerous deputations from Paris and the +neighbouring departments came successively to the bar to assure the +Assembly that it would ever be considered as the rallying point by all +good citizens. + +The same evening the clubs of the Cordeliers and the Jacobins caused the +motions for the king's dethronement to be placarded about. The club of +the Cordeliers declared in one of its placards that every citizen who +belonged to it had sworn individually to poignard the tyrants. Marat, +one of its members, published and distributed in Paris an incendiary +proclamation. "People," said he, "behold the loyalty, the honour, the +religion of kings. Remember Henry III. and the duke de Guise: at the +same table as his enemy did Henry receive the sacrament, and swear on +the same altar eternal friendship; scarcely had he quitted the temple +than he distributed poignards to his followers, summoned the duke to his +cabinet, and there beheld him fall pierced with wounds. Trust then to +the oaths of princes! On the morning of the 19th, Louis XVI. laughed at +his oath, and enjoyed beforehand the alarm his flight would cause you. +The Austrian woman has seduced La Fayette last night. Louis XVI., +disguised in a priest's robe, fled with the dauphin, his wife, his +brother, and all the family. He now laughs at the folly of the +Parisians, and ere long he will swim in their blood. Citizens, this +escape has been long prepared by the traitors of the National Assembly. +You are on the brink of ruin; hasten to provide for your safety. +Instantly choose a dictator; let your choice fall on the citizen who has +up to the present displayed most zeal, activity, and intelligence; and +do all he bids you do to strike at your foes; this is the time to lop +off the heads of Bailly, La Fayette, all the scoundrels of the staff, +all the traitors of the Assembly. A tribune, a military tribune, or you +are lost without hope. At present I have done all that was in the power +of man to save you. If you neglect this last piece of advice, I have no +more to say to you, and take my farewell of you for ever. Louis XVI., at +the head of his satellites, will besiege you in Paris, and the friend of +the people will have a burning pile (_four ardent_) for his tomb, but +his last sigh shall be for his country, for liberty, and for you." + + +XVIII. + +The members of the constitutional party felt it their duty to attend the +sitting of the Jacobins on the 22d, in order to moderate its ardour. +Barnave, Siéyès, and La Fayette also appeared there, and took the oath +of fidelity to the nation. Camille Desmoulins thus relates the results +of this sitting: + +"Whilst the National Assembly was decreeing, decreeing, decreeing, the +people were acting. I went to the Jacobins, and on the Quai Voltaire I +met La Fayette. Barnave's words had begun to turn the current of popular +opinion, and some voices cried 'Vive La Fayette.' He had reviewed the +battalions on the quay. Convinced of the necessity of rallying round a +chief, I yielded to the impulse that drew me towards the white horse. +'Monsieur de La Fayette,' said I to him in the midst of the crowd, 'for +more than a year I have constantly spoken ill of you, this is the moment +to convict me of falsehood. Prove that I am a calumniator, render me +execrable, cover me with infamy, and save the state.' I spoke with the +utmost warmth, whilst he pressed my hand. 'I have always recognised you +as a good citizen,' returned he; 'you will see that you have been +deceived; our common oath is to live free, or to die--all goes +well--there's but one feeling amongst the National Assembly--the common +danger has united all parties.' 'But why,' I inquired, 'does your +Assembly affect to speak of the carrying off (_enlèvement_) of the king +in all its decrees, when the king himself writes that he escaped of his +own free will? what baseness, or what treason, in the Assembly to employ +such language, when surrounded by three millions of bayonets.' 'The word +_carrying off_ is a mistake in dictation, that the Assembly will +correct,' replied La Fayette; then he added, 'this conduct of the king +is infamous.' La Fayette repeated this several times, and shook me +heartily by the hand. I left him, reflecting that possibly the vast +field that the king's flight opened to his ambition, might bring him +back to the party of the people. I arrived at the Jacobins, striving to +believe the sincerity of his demonstrations, of his patriotism, and +friendship; and to persuade myself of this, which, in spite of all my +efforts, escaped by a thousand recollections, and a thousand issues." + +When Camille Desmoulins entered Robespierre was in the tribune: the +immense credit that this young orator's perseverance and +incorruptibility had gained him with the people, made his hearers crowd +around him. + +"I am not one of those," said he, "who term this event a disaster; this +day would be the most glorious of the Revolution, did you but know how +to turn it to your advantage. The king has chosen to quit his post at +the moment of our most deadly perils, both at home and abroad. The +Assembly has lost its credit; all men's minds are excited by the +approaching elections. The emigrés are at Coblentz. The emperor and the +king of Sweden are at Brussels; our harvests are ripe to feed their +troops; but three millions of men are under arms in France, and this +league of Europe may easily be vanquished. I fear neither Leopold, nor +the king of Sweden. That which alone terrifies me, seems to reassure all +others. It is the fact that since this morning all our enemies affect to +use the same language as ourselves. All men are united, and in +appearance wear the same aspect. It is impossible that all can feel the +same joy at the flight of a king who possessed a revenue of forty +millions of francs, and who distributed all the offices of state amongst +his adherents and our enemies; there are traitors, then, among us; there +is a secret understanding between the fugitive king and these traitors +who have remained at Paris. Read the king's manifesto, and the whole +plot will be there unveiled. The king, the emperor, the king of Sweden, +d'Artois, Condé, all the fugitives, all these brigands, are about to +march against us. A paternal manifesto will appear, in which the king +will talk of his love of peace, and even of liberty; whilst at the same +time the traitors in the capital and the departments will represent you, +on their part, as the leaders of the civil war. Thus the Revolution will +be stifled in the embraces of hypocritical despotism and intimidated +moderatism. + +"Look already at the Assembly: in twenty decrees the king's flight is +termed carrying off by force (_enlèvement_). To whom does it intrust the +safety of the people? To a minister of foreign affairs, under the +inspection of diplomatic committee. Who is the minister? A traitor whom +I have unceasingly denounced to you, the persecutor of the patriot +soldiers, the upholder of the aristocrat officers. What is the +committee? A committee of traitors composed of all our enemies beneath +the garb of patriots. And the minister for foreign affairs, who is he? A +traitor, a Montmorin, who but a short month ago declared a perfidious +_adoration_ of the constitution. And Delissart, who is he? A traitor, to +whom Necker has bequeathed his mantle to cover his plots and +conspiracies. + +"Do you not see the coalition of these men with the king, and the king +with the European league? That will crush us! In an instant you will see +all the men of 1789--mayor, general, ministers, orators,--enter this +room. How can you escape Antony?" continued he, alluding to La Fayette. +"Antony commands the legions that are about to avenge Cæsar; and +Octavius, Cæsar's nephew, commands the legions of the republic. + +"How can the republic hope to avoid destruction? We are continually told +of the necessity of uniting ourselves; but when Antony encamped at the +side of Lepidus, and all the foes to freedom were united to those who +termed themselves its defenders, nought remained for Brutus and Cassius, +save to die. + +"It is to this point that this feigned unanimity, this perfidious +reconciliation of patriots, tends. Yes, this is the fate prepared for +you. I know that by daring to unveil these conspiracies I sharpen a +thousand daggers against my own life. I know the fate that awaits me; +but if, when almost unknown in the National Assembly, I, amongst the +earliest apostles of liberty, sacrificed my life to the cause of truth, +of humanity, of my country; to-day, when I have been so amply repaid for +this sacrifice, by such marks of universal goodwill, consideration, and +regard, I shall look at death as a mercy, if it prevents my witnessing +such misfortunes. I have tried the Assembly, let them in their turn try +me." + + +XIX. + +These words so artfully combined, and calculated to fill every breast +with suspicion, were hailed like the last speech of a martyr for +liberty. All eyes were suffused with tears. "We will die with you," +cried Camille Desmoulins, extending his arms towards Robespierre, as +though he would fain embrace him. His excitable and changeable spirit +was borne away by the breath of each new enthusiastic impulse. He passed +from the arms of La Fayette into those of Robespierre like a courtezan. +Eight hundred persons rose _en masse_; and by their attitudes, their +gestures, their spontaneous and unanimous inspiration, offered one of +those most imposing tableaux, that prove how great is the effect of +oratory, passion, and circumstance over an assembled people. After they +had all individually sworn to defend Robespierre's life, they were +informed of the arrival of the ministers and members of the Assembly who +had belonged to the club in '89, and who in this perilous state of their +country, had come to fraternise with the Jacobins. + +"Monsieur le President," cried Danton, "if the traitors venture to +present themselves, I undertake solemnly either that my head shall fall +on the scaffold, or to prove that their heads should roll at the feet of +the nation they have betrayed." + +The deputies entered: Danton, recognising La Fayette amongst them, +mounted the tribunal, and addressing the general, said:--"It is my turn +to speak, and I will speak as though I were writing a history for the +use of future ages. How do you dare, M. de La Fayette, to join the +friends of the constitution; you, who are a friend and partisan of the +system of the two chambers invented by the priest Siéyès, a system +destructive of the constitution and liberty? Did you not yourself tell +me that the project of M. Mounier was too execrable for any one to +venture to reproduce it, but that it was possible to cause an equivalent +to it to be accepted by the Assembly? I dare you to deny this fact--that +damns you. How comes it that the king in his proclamation uses the same +language as yourself? How have you dared to infringe an order of the day +on the circulation of the pamphlets of the defenders of the people, +whilst you grant the protection of your bayonets to cowardly writers, +the destroyers of the constitution? Why did you bring back prisoners, +and as it were in triumph, the inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Antoine, +who wished to destroy the last stronghold of tyranny at Vincennes? Why, +on the evening of this expedition to Vincennes, did you protect in the +Tuileries assassins armed with poignards to favour the king's escape? +Explain to me by what chance, on the 21st June, the Tuileries was +guarded by the company of the grenadiers of the Rue de l'Oratoire, that +you had punished on the 18th of April for having opposed the king's +departure? Let us not deceive ourselves: the king's flight is only the +result of a plot; there has been a secret understanding, and you, M. de +La Fayette, who lately staked your head for the king's safety, do you by +appearing in this assembly seek your own condemnation? The people must +have vengeance; they are wearied of being thus alternately braved or +deceived. If my voice is unheard here, if our weak indulgence for the +enemies of our country continually endanger it, I appeal to posterity, +and leave it to them to judge between us." + +M. de La Fayette, thus attacked, made no reply to these strong appeals; +he merely said that he had come to join the assembly, because it was +there that all good citizens should hasten in perilous times; and he +then left the place. The assembly having issued a decree next day +calling on the general to appear and justify himself, he wrote that he +would do so at a future period; he however never did so. But the motions +of Robespierre and Danton did not in the least injure his influence over +the national guard. Danton on that day displayed the greatest audacity. +M. de La Fayette had the proofs of the orator's venality in his +possession--he had received from M. de Montmorin 100,000 francs. Danton +knew that M. de La Fayette was well aware of this transaction; but he +also knew that La Fayette could not accuse him without naming M. de +Montmorin, and without also accusing himself of participation in this +shameful traffic, that supplied the funds of the civil list. This double +secret kept them mutually in check, and obliged the orator and general +to maintain a degree of reserve that lessened the fury of the contest. +Lameth replied to Danton, and spoke in favour of concord. The violent +resolutions proposed by Robespierre and Danton had no weight that day at +the Jacobins' Club. The peril that threatened them taught the people +wisdom, and their instinct forbade their dividing their force before +that which was unknown. + + +XX. + +The same evening the National Assembly discussed and adopted an address +to the French nation, in these terms:-- + +"A great crime has been committed. The king and his family have been +_carried off_, (the continuance of this pretended _enlèvement_ of the +king excited loud murmurs,) but your representatives will triumph over +all these obstacles. France wishes to be free, and she shall be; the +Revolution will not retrograde. We have saved the law by resolving that +our decrees shall be the law. We have saved the nation by sending to the +army reinforcements of 300,000 men. We have saved public peace by +placing it under the safeguard of the zeal and patriotism of the armed +citizens. In this position we await our enemies. In a manifesto dictated +to the king by those who have offered violence to his affection for his +people, you are accused--the constitution is accused--the law of +impunity of the 6th of October is accused. The nation is more just, for +she does not accuse the king of the crimes of his ancestors. (Applause.) + +"But the king swore on the 14th of July to protect this constitution; he +has therefore consented to perjure himself. The changes made in the +constitution of the kingdom are laid to the charge of the _soidisant_ +factious. A few factious? that is not sufficient; we are 26,000,000 of +factious. (Loud applause.) We have re-constructed the power, we have +preserved the monarchy, because we believe it useful to France. We have +doubtless reformed it, but it was to save it from its abuses and its +excesses; we have granted a yearly sum of 50,000,000 of francs to +maintain the legitimate splendour of the throne. We have reserved to +ourselves the right of declaring war, because we would not that the +blood of the people should belong to the ministers. Frenchmen! all is +organised, every man is at his post. The Assembly watches over all. You +have nought to fear save from yourselves, should your just emotion lead +you to commit any violence or disorders. The people who seek to be free +should remain unmoved in great crises. + +"Behold Paris, and imitate the example of the capital. All goes on as +usual; the tyrants will be deceived. Before they can bend France beneath +their yoke, the whole nation must be annihilated. Should despotism +venture to attempt it, it will be vanquished; or even though it +triumph, it will triumph over nought save ruins!" (Loud and unanimous +applause followed the conclusion of the address.) + +The sitting which had been suspended during an hour, re-opened at +half-past nine. Much agitation prevailed in the chamber, and the words +_He is arrested! He is arrested!_ ran along the benches, and from the +benches to the tribune. The president announced that he had just +received a packet containing several letters which he would read; at the +same time recommending them to abstain from any marks of approbation or +disapprobation. He then opened the packet amidst a profound silence, and +read the letters of the municipal authorities at Varennes and of St. +Menehould brought by M. Mangin, surgeon, at Varennes. The Assembly then +nominated three commissioners out of the members to bring the king back +to Paris. These three commissioners were Barnave, Pétion, and +Latour-Maubourg, and they instantly started off to fulfil their mission. +Let us now for a brief space leave Paris a prey to all the different +emotions of surprise, joy, and indignation excited by the flight and +arrest of the king. + + +XXI. + +The night at Varennes had been passed by the king, the queen, and the +people in alternate feelings of hope and terror. Whilst the children, +fatigued with a long day's journey, and the heat of the weather, slept +soundly, the king and queen, guarded by the municipal guards of +Varennes, discussed, in a low voice, the danger of their position, their +pious sister, Madame Elizabeth, prayed by their side; her kingdom was, +indeed, "in heaven." Nothing had induced her to remain at the court, +from which she was estranged, alike by her piety and her renouncement of +all worldly pleasure, but her affection for her brother, and she had +shared only the sorrows and sufferings of the throne. + +The prisoners were far from despairing yet; they had no doubt that M. de +Bouillé, warned by one of the officers whom he had stationed on the +road, would march all night to their assistance; and they attributed his +delay to the necessity of collecting a sufficient force to overpower +the numerous troops of national guards whom the sound of the tocsin had +summoned to Varennes. But at each instant they expected to see him +appear, and the least movement of the populace, the slightest clash of +arms in the streets, seemed to announce his arrival; the courier +despatched to Paris by the authorities of Varennes to receive the orders +of the Assembly, only left at three o'clock in the morning. He could not +reach Paris in less than twenty hours, and would require as much more +for his return; and the Assembly would require, at least three or four +hours more to deliberate; thus M. de Bouillé must have forty-eight +hours' start of any orders from Paris. + +Moreover, in what state would Paris be? what would have happened there +at the unexpected announcement of the king's departure? Had not terror +or repentance taken possession of every mind; would not anarchy have +destroyed the feeble barriers that an anarchical assembly might have +opposed to it? Would not the cry of treason have been the first signal +of alarm? La Fayette have been torn to pieces as a traitor, and the +national guard disbanded? Would not the well-intentioned and loyal +citizens have again obtained the mastery over the factious and turbulent +in the confusion and terror that would prevail? Who would give orders? +who would execute them? + +The nation trembling, and in disorder, would fall perhaps at the feet of +its king. Such were the chimæras, the last fond hopes of this +unfortunate family, and on which they sustained their courage, during +this fatal night, in the small and suffocating room into which they were +all crowded. + +The king had been allowed to communicate with several officers: M. de +Guoguelas, M. de Damas, M. de Choiseul had seen him. The procureur +syndic, and the municipal officers of Varennes, showed both respect and +pity for their king, even in the execution of what they believed to be +their duty. The people do not pass at once from respect to outrage. +There is a moment of indecision in every sacrilegious act, in which they +seem yet to reverence that which they are about to destroy. The +authorities of Varennes and M. Sausse, although believing they were the +saviours of the nation, were yet far from wishing to offend the king, +and guarded him as much as their sovereign as their captive. This did +not escape the king's notice; he flattered himself that at the first +demand made by M. de Bouillé, respect would prevail over patriotism, and +that he would be set at liberty, and he expressed this belief to his +officers. + +One of them, M. Derlons, who commanded the squadron of hussars stationed +at Dun, between Varennes and Stenay, had been informed of the king's +arrest at two o'clock in the morning by the commander of the detachment +at Varennes: having escaped this town, M. Derlons, without awaiting any +orders from the general, and anticipating them, he ordered his hussars +to mount, and galloped to Varennes, determined to rescue the king by +force. On his arrival at the gates of that town, he found them +barricaded and defended by a numerous body of national guards, who +refused to allow the hussars to enter the town. M. Derlons dismounted, +and leaving his men outside, demanded to see the king, which was +consented to. His aim was to inform the king that M. de Bouillé was +about to march thither at the head of the royal Allemand regiment, and +also to assure himself, if it was impossible for his squadron to force +the obstacles, to break down the barricades in the upper town, and carry +off the king. The barricades appeared to him impregnable to cavalry, he +therefore gained admittance to the king, and asked him what were his +orders. "Tell M. de Bouillé," returned the king, "that I am a prisoner, +and can give no orders. I much fear he can do no more for me, but I pray +him to do all he can." M. Derlons, who was an Alsatian, and spoke +German, wished to say a few words in that language to the queen, in +order that no person present might understand what passed. "Speak +French, sir," said the queen, "we are overheard." M. Derlons said no +more, but withdrew in despair; but he remained with his troop at the +gates of Varennes, awaiting the arrival of the superior forces of M. de +Bouillé. + + +XXII. + +The aide-de-camp of M. de La Fayette, M. Romeuf, despatched by that +general, and bearer of the order of the Assembly, arrived at Varennes at +half-past seven. The queen, who knew him personally, reproached him in +the most pathetic manner with the odious mission with which his general +had charged him. M. Romeuf sought in vain to calm her indignation by +every mark of respect and devotion compatible with the rigour of his +orders. The queen then changing from invectives to tears, gave a free +vent to her grief. M. Romeuf having laid the order of the Assembly on +the Dauphin's bed, the queen seized the paper, threw it on the ground, +and trampled it under her feet, exclaiming, that such a paper would +sully her son's bed. "In the name of your safety, of your glory, madam," +said the young officer, "master your grief; would you suffer any one but +myself to witness such a fit of despair?" + +The preparations for their departure were hastened, through fear, lest +the troops of M. de Bouillé might march on the town, or cut them off. +The king used every means in his power to delay them, for each minute +gained gave them a fresh hope of safety, and disputed them one by one. +At the moment they were entering the carriage, one of the queen's women +feigned a sudden and alarming illness. The queen refused to start +without her, and only yielded at last to threats of force, and the +shouts of the impatient populace. She would suffer no one to touch her +son, but carried him herself to the carriage; and the royal cortège +escorted by three or four thousand national guards, moved slowly towards +Paris. + + +XXIII. + +What was M. de Bouillé doing during this long and agonising night the +king passed at Varennes? He had, as we have already seen, passed the +night at the gates of Dun, two leagues from Varennes, awaiting the +couriers who were to inform him of the king's approach. At four in the +morning, fearing to be discovered, and having seen no one, he regained +Stenay, in order to be nearer his troops, in case any accident had +happened to the king. At half-past four he was at the gates of Stenay, +when the two officers whom he had left there the previous evening, and +the commanding officer of the squadron that had abandoned him, arrived +and informed him that the king had been arrested since eleven o'clock at +night. Stupified and astonished at being informed so late he instantly +ordered the royal Allemand regiment, which was at Stenay, to mount and +follow him. The colonel of this regiment had received the previous +evening orders to keep the horses saddled. This order had not been +executed, and the regiment lost three quarters of an hour, in spite of +the repeated messages of M. de Bouillé, who sent his own son to the +barracks. The general was powerless without this regiment, and no sooner +were they outside the town than M. de Bouillé endeavoured to ascertain +its disposition towards the king. "Your king," said he, "who was +hastening hither to dwell amongst you, has been stopped by the +inhabitants of Varennes, within a few leagues. Will you let him remain a +prisoner, exposed to every insult at the hands of the national guards? +Here are his orders: he awaits you; he counts every moment. Let us march +to Varennes. Let us hasten to deliver him, and restore him to the nation +and liberty." + +Loud acclamations followed this speech. M. de Bouillé distributed 500 or +600 louis amongst the soldiers, and the regiment marched forward. + +Stenay is at least nine leagues from Varennes, and the road very hilly +and bad. M. de Bouillé, however, used all possible dispatch, and at a +little distance from Varennes he met the advanced guard of the regiment, +halted at the entrance of a little wood, defended by a body of the +national guard. M. de Bouillé ordered them to charge, and putting +himself at the head of the troop, arrived at Varennes at a quarter to +nine, closely followed by the regiment. Whilst reconnoitring the town, +previous to an attack, he observed a troop of hussars, who appeared also +to watch the town. It was the squadron from Dun, commanded by M. +Derlons, who had passed the night here, awaiting reinforcements. M. +Derlons hastened to inform the general that the king had left the town +more than an hour and a half; he added, the bridge was broken, the +streets barricaded; that the hussars of Clermont and Varennes had +fraternised with the people, and the commanders of the detachments, MM. +de Choiseul, de Damas, and de Guoguelas, were prisoners. M. de Bouillé, +baffled, but not discouraged, resolved to follow the king, and rescue +him from the hands of the national guard. He despatched officers to find +a ford by which they could pass the river; but, unfortunately, although +one existed, they were unable to find it. + +Whilst thus engaged, he learnt that the garrisons of Metz and Verdun +were advancing with a train of artillery to the aid of the people. The +country was swarming with troops and national guards. The troops began +to show symptoms of hesitation; the horses, fatigued by nine leagues +over a bad road, could not sustain the speed necessary to overtake the +king at Sainte Menehould. All energy deserted them with hope. The +regiment turned round, and M. de Bouillé led them back in silence to +Stenay; thence, followed only by a few of the officers most implicated, +he gained Luxembourg, and passed the frontier amidst a shower of balls, +and wishing for death more than he shunned the punishment. + + +XXIV. + +The royal carriages, however, rolled rapidly along the road to Châlons, +attended by the national guard, who relieved each other in order to +escort them on; the whole population lined the road on either side, to +gaze upon a king brought back in triumph by the nation that believed +itself betrayed. The pikes and bayonets of the national guards could +scarcely force them a passage through this dense throng, that at each +instant grew more and more numerous, and who were never weary of +uttering cries of derision and menace, accompanied by the most furious +gestures. + +The carriages pursued their journey amidst a torrent of abuse, and the +clamour of the people recommenced at every turn of the wheel. It was a +Calvary of sixty leagues, every step of which was a torture. One +gentleman, M. de Dampierre, an old man, accustomed all his life to +venerate the king, having advanced towards the carriage to show some +marks of respectful compassion to his master, was instantly massacred +before their eyes, and the royal family narrowly escaped passing over +his bleeding corpse. Fidelity was the only unpardonable crime amongst +this band of savages. The king and queen, who had already made the +sacrifice of their lives, had summoned all their dignity and courage, in +order to die worthily. Passive courage was Louis XVI.'s virtue, as +though Heaven, who destined him to suffer martyrdom, had gifted him with +heroic endurance, that cannot resist, but can die. The queen found in +her blood and her pride sufficient hatred for the people, to return +with inward scorn the insults with which they profaned her. Madame +Elizabeth prayed mentally for divine assistance; and the two children +wondered at the hatred of the people they had been taught to love, and +whom they now saw only a prey to the most violent fury. The august +family would never have reached Paris alive, had not the commissioners +of the Assembly, who by their presence overawed the people, arrived in +time to subdue and control this growing sedition. + +The commissioners met the carriages between Dormans and Epernay, and +read to the king and people the order of the Assembly, giving them the +absolute command of the troops and national guards along the line; and +which enjoined them to watch not only over the king's security, but also +to maintain the respect due to royalty, represented in his person. +Barnave and Pétion hastened to enter the king's carriage, to share his +danger, and shield him with their bodies. They succeeded in preserving +him from death, but not from outrage. The fury of the people, kept aloof +from the carriages, found vent further off; and all persons suspected of +feeling the least sympathy were brutally ill-treated. + +An ecclesiastic having approached the berlin, and exhibited some traces +of respect and sorrow on his features, was seized by the people, thrown +under the horses' feet, and was on the point of being massacred before +the queen's eyes, when Barnave, with a noble impulse, leant out of the +carriage. "Frenchmen," exclaimed he, "will you, a nation of brave men, +become a people of murderers?" Madame Elizabeth, struck with admiration +at his courageous interference, and fearing lest he might spring out, +and be in his turn torn to pieces by the people, held him by his coat +whilst he addressed the mob. From this moment the pious princess, the +queen, and the king himself conceived a secret esteem for Barnave. A +generous heart amidst so many cruel ones inspired them with a species of +confidence in the young _député_. They had known him only as a leader of +faction, and by his voice heard amidst all their misfortunes; and they +were astonished to find a respectful protector in the man whom they had +hitherto looked upon as an insolent foe. + +Barnave's features were marked, yet attractive and open; his manners +polished, his language elegant; his bearing saddened by the aspect of +so much beauty, so much majesty, and so great a reverse of fortune. The +king in the intervals of calm and silence frequently spoke to him, and +discoursed of the events of the day. Barnave replied, with the tone of a +man devoted to liberty, but faithful still to the throne; and who in his +plans of regeneration, never separated the nation from the throne. Full +of attention to the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the royal children, he +strove by every means in his power to hide from them the perils and +humiliations of the journey. Constrained, no doubt, by the presence of +his rough colleague, Pétion, if he did not openly avow the feeling of +pity, admiration, and respect which had conquered him during the +journey, he showed it in his actions, and a tacit treaty was concluded +by looks. The royal family felt that amidst this wreck of all their +hopes they had yet gained Barnave. All his subsequent conduct justified +the confidence of the queen. Audacious, when opposed to tyranny, he was +powerless against weakness, beauty, and misfortune; and this lost him +his life, but rendered his memory glorious. Until then he had been only +eloquent; he now showed that he possessed sensibility. Pétion, on the +contrary, remained cold as a sectarian, and rude as a _parvenu_; he +affected a brusque familiarity with the royal family, eating in the +queen's presence, and throwing the rind of fruit out of the window, at +the risk of striking the king's face. When Madame Elizabeth poured him +out some wine, he raised his glass without thanking her to show that he +had enough. Louis XVI. having asked him if he was in favour of the +system of the two chambers, or for the republic--"I should be in favour +of a republic," returned Pétion, "if I thought my country sufficiently +ripe for this form of government." The king, offended, made no reply, +and did not once speak until they arrived at Paris. + +The commissioners had written from Dormans to the Assembly, to inform +them what road the king would take, and at what day and hour he would +arrive. The approach to Paris offered increasing danger, owing to the +numbers and fury of the populace through which the king had to pass. The +Assembly redoubled its energy and precaution to assure the inviolability +of the king's person. The people, too, recovered the sentiment of their +own dignity before this great success fate granted them: they would not +dishonour their own triumph. Thousands of placards were stuck on the +walls--"_Whoever applauds the king shall be beaten; whoever insults him +shall be hung_." The king had slept at Meaux, and the commissioners +advised the Assembly to sit permanently, in order to be in readiness for +any unforeseen event that might take place on the king's arrival at +Paris; and the Assembly, consequently, did not dissolve. The hero of the +day, the author of the king's arrest, Drouet, son of the post-master of +Sainte Menehould, appeared before it, and gave the following +evidence:--"I have served in Condé's regiment of dragoons, and my +comrade, Guillaume, in the Queen's dragoons. The 21st of June, at seven +in the evening, two carriages and eleven horses arrived at Sainte +Menehould, and I recognised the king and queen; but, fearful of being +deceived, I resolved to ascertain the truth of this by arriving at +Varennes, by a bye-road, before the carriages. It was eleven o'clock, +and quite dark, when I reached Varennes; the carriages arrived also, and +were delayed by a dispute between the couriers and the postilions, who +refused to go any farther. I said to my comrade, 'Guillaume, are you a +good patriot?' 'Do not doubt it,' replied he. 'Well, then, the king is +here; let us arrest him.' We overturned a cart, filled with goods, under +the arch of the bridge; and when the carriage arrived, demanded their +passports. 'We are in a hurry, gentlemen,' said the queen. However, we +insisted, and made them alight at the house of the procureur of the +district; then, of his own accord, Louis XVI. said to us, 'Behold your +king--your queen--and my children! Treat us with that respect that +Frenchmen have always shown to their king.' We, however, detained him; +the national guards hastened to the town, and the hussars espoused our +cause; and after having done our duty, we returned home, amidst the +acclamations of our fellow-citizens, and to-day come to offer the homage +of our services to the National Assembly." + +Drouet and Guillaume were loudly applauded after this speech. + +The Assembly then decreed that immediately after the arrival of Louis +XVI. at the Tuileries, a guard should be given him, under the orders of +La Fayette, who should be responsible for his security. Malouet was the +only one who ventured to remonstrate against this captivity. "It at +once destroyed inviolability and the constitution; the legislative and +executive powers are now united." Alexandre Lameth opposed Malouet's +motion, and declared that it was the duty of the Assembly to assume and +retain, until the completion of the constitution, a dictatorship, forced +upon it by the state of affairs, but that the monarchy being the form of +government necessary to the concentration of the forces of so great a +nation, the Assembly would immediately afterwards resume a division of +powers, and return to the forms of a monarchy. + + +XXV. + +At this moment the captive king entered Paris. It was on the 25th of +June, at seven o'clock in the evening. From Meaux to the suburbs of +Paris, the crowd thickened in every place as the king passed. The +passions of the city, the Assembly, the press, and the clubs worked more +intensely, and even closer in this population of the environs of Paris. +These passions, written on every countenance, were repressed by their +very violence. Indignation and contempt controlled their rage. Insult +escaped them only in under tones; the populace was sinister, and not +furious. Thousands of glances darted death into the windows of the +carriages, but not one tongue uttered a threat. + +This calmness of hatred did not escape the king; the day was burning +hot. A scorching sun, reflected by the pavement and the bayonets, was +almost suffocating in the berlin, where ten persons were squeezed +together. Volumes of dust, raised by the trampling of two or three +hundred thousand spectators, was the only veil which from time to time +covered the humiliation of the king and queen from the triumph of the +people. The sweat of the horses, the feverish breath of this multitude +compact and excited, made the atmosphere dense and fetid. The travellers +panted for breath, the foreheads of the two children were bathed in +perspiration. The queen, trembling for them, let down one of the windows +of the carriage quickly, and addressing the crowd in an appeal to their +compassion, "See, gentlemen," she exclaimed, "in what a state my poor +children are--one is choking!" "We will choke you in another fashion," +replied these ferocious men in an under tone. + +From time to time violent attempts of the mob broke through the line, +pushed aside the horses, and men reaching the doors mounted on the +steps. Merciless ruffians, looking in silence on the king, the queen, +and the dauphin, seemed calculating on final crimes, and feeding on the +degradation of royalty. Bodies of _gendarmerie_ restored order from time +to time. The procession resumed its way in the midst of the clashing of +sabres, and the cries of men trampled under the horses' hoofs. La +Fayette, who feared attempts and surprises in the streets of Paris, +desired general Damas, the commandant of the escort, not to traverse the +city. He placed troops in deep line on the boulevard from the barrier De +l'Etoile to the Tuileries. The national guard bordered this line. The +Swiss guards were also drawn up, but their flags no longer lowered +before their master. No military honour was paid to the supreme head of +the army. The national guards, resting on their arms, did not salute +them, but saw the _cortège_ pass by in an attitude of force, +indifference, and contempt. + + +XXVI. + +The carriages entered in the garden of the Tuileries by the turning +bridge. La Fayette, on horseback at the head of his staff, had gone to +meet the procession, and now headed it. During his absence an immense +crowd had filled the garden, the terraces, and obstructed the gate of +the chateau. The escort had the greatest difficulty in forcing its way +through this tumultuous mass. They made every man keep his hat on. M. de +Guillermy, a member of the Assembly, alone remained uncovered, in spite +of the threats and insults which this mark of respect brought down upon +him. It was then that the queen, perceiving M. de La Fayette, and +fearing for her faithful body-guard sitting in the carriage, and +threatened by the people, exclaimed, "Monsieur de La Fayette, save the +_gardes du corps_." + +The royal family descended from the carriage at the end of the terrace. +La Fayette received them from the hands of Barnave and Pétion. The +children were carried in the arms of the national guard. One of the +members of the left side of the Assembly, the vicomte de Noailles, +approached the queen with eagerness, and offered his arm. The queen +indignantly rejected it, and cast a look of contempt at the offer of +protection from an enemy, then perceiving a deputy of the right, +demanded his arm. So much degradation might depress, but could not +overcome her. The dignity of the empire displayed itself unabated in the +gesture and the heart of the woman. + +The prolonged clamours of the crowd at the entrance of the king at the +Tuileries announced to the Assembly its triumph. The excitement +suspended the sitting for nearly half an hour. A deputy, rushing into +the meeting, exclaimed that three _gardes du corps_ were in the hands of +the people, who would rend them in pieces. Twenty _commissaires_ went +out at the moment to rescue them. They entered some minutes afterwards. +The riot had been appeased by them. They stated that they had seen +Pétion protecting with his person the door of the king's carriage. +Barnave entered, mounted the tribune, covered as he was with the dust of +his journey, and said, "We have fulfilled our mission to the honour of +France and the Assembly; we have assured the public tranquillity and the +safety of the king. The king has declared to us that he had no intention +of passing the boundaries of the kingdom. (Murmurs.) We advanced rapidly +as far as Meaux, in order to avoid the pursuit of M. de Bouillé's +troops. The national guards and the troops have done their duty. The +king is at the Tuileries." + +Pétion added, in order to flatter public opinion, that when the carriage +stopped some persons had attempted to lay hands on the _gardes du +corps_, that he himself had been seized by the collar and dragged from +his place by the carriage door, but that this movement by the people was +legal in its intention, and had no other object than to enforce the +execution of the law which had ordered the arrest of the accomplices of +the court. It was decreed that information should be drawn up by the +tribunal of the _arrondissement_ of the Tuileries concerning the king's +flight, and that three commissioners appointed by the Assembly should +receive the declarations of the king and queen. "What means this +obsequious exception?" exclaimed Robespierre. "Do you fear to degrade +royalty by handing over the king and queen to ordinary tribunals? A +citizen, a _citoyenne_, any man, any dignity, how elevated soever, can +never be degraded by the law." Buzot supported this opinion; Duport +opposed it. Respect prevailed over outrage. The commissioners named were +Tronchet, Dandré, and Duport. + + +XXVII. + +Once more in his own apartments, Louis XVI. measured with a glance the +depth of his fall. La Fayette presented himself with all the demeanour +of regret and respect, but with the reality of command. "Your majesty," +said he to the king, "knows my attachment for your royal person, but at +the same time you are not ignorant that if you separated yourself from +the cause of the people, I should side with the people." "That is true," +replied the king. "You follow your principles--this is a party matter, +and I tell you frankly, that until lately I had believed you had +surrounded me by a turbulent faction of persons of your own way of +thinking in order to mislead me, but that yours was not the real opinion +of France. I have learnt during my journey that I was deceived, and that +this was the general wish." "Has your majesty any orders to give me?" +replied La Fayette. "It seems to me," retorted the king with a smile, +"that I am more at your orders than you are at mine." + +The queen allowed the bitterness of her ill-restrained resentment to +display itself. She wished to force on M. de La Fayette the keys of her +caskets, which were in the carriages: he refused. She insisted; and when +he was firm in his refusal, she placed them in his hat with her own +hands. "Your majesty will have the goodness to take them back," said M. +de La Fayette, "for I shall not touch them." "Well, then," answered the +queen, "I shall find persons less delicate than you." The king entered +his closet, wrote several letters, and gave them to a footman, who +presented them to La Fayette for inspection. The general appeared +indignant that he should be deemed capable of such an unworthy office as +acting the spy over the king's acts; he was desirous that the thraldom +of the monarch should at least preserve the outward appearance of +liberty. + +The service of the chateau went on as usual; but La Fayette gave the +pass-word without first receiving it from the king. The iron gates of +the courts and gardens were locked. The royal family submitted to La +Fayette the list of persons whom they desired to receive. Sentinels were +placed at every door, in every passage, in the corridors between the +chambers of the king and queen. The doors of these chambers were +constantly kept open--even the queen's bed was inspected. Every place, +the most sacred, was suspected; female modesty was in no wise respected. +The gestures, looks, and words of the king and queen all were watched, +spied, and noted. They were obliged to manage by stealth some secret +interviews. An officer of the guard passed twenty-four hours at a time +at the end of a dark corridor, which was placed behind the apartment of +the queen's,--a single lamp lighted it, like the vault of a dungeon. +This post, detested by the officers on service, was sought after by the +devotion of some of them; they affected zeal, in order to cloak their +respect. Saint Prix, a celebrated actor of the Théâtre Français, +frequently accepted this post,--he favoured the hasty interviews of the +king, his wife, and sister. + +In the evening one of the queen's women moved her bed between that of +her mistress and the open door of the apartment, that she might thus +conceal her from the eyes of the sentinels. One night the commandant of +the guard, who watched between the two doors, seeing that this woman was +asleep, and the queen was awake, ventured to approach the couch of his +royal mistress, and gave her in a low tone some information and advice +as to her situation. This conversation aroused the sleeping attendant, +who, alarmed at seeing a man in uniform close to the royal bed, was +about to call aloud, when the queen desired her to be silent, saying, +"Do not alarm yourself; this is a good Frenchman, who is mistaken as to +the intentions of the king and myself, but whose conversation betokens a +sincere attachment to his masters." + +Providence thus made some of their persecutors to convey some +consolation to the victims. The king, so resigned, so unmoved, was bowed +for a moment beneath the weight of so many troubles--so much +humiliation. Such was his mental occupation, that he remained for ten +days without exchanging a word with one of his family. His last struggle +with misfortune seemed to have exhausted his strength. He felt himself +vanquished, and desired, it would almost seem, to die by anticipation. +The queen, throwing herself at his feet, and presenting to him his +children, forced him to break this mournful silence. "Let us," she +exclaimed, "preserve all our fortitude, in order to sustain this long +struggle with fortune. If our destruction be inevitable, there is still +left to us the choice of how we will perish; let us perish as +sovereigns, and do not let us wait without resistance, and without +vengeance, until they come and strangle us on the very floor of our own +apartments!" The queen had the heart of a hero; Louis XVI. had the soul +of a sage; but the genius which combines wisdom with valour was wanting +to both: the one knew how to struggle--the other knew how to +submit--neither knew how to reign. + + +XXVIII. + +The effect of this flight, had it succeeded, would have wholly changed +the aspect of the Revolution. Instead of having in the king, captive in +Paris, an instrument and a victim, the Revolution would have had in an +emancipated king, an enemy or a mediator; instead of being an anarchy, +she would have had a civil war; instead of having massacres, she would +have gained victories; she would have triumphed by arms, and not by +executions. + +Never did the fate of so many men and so many ideas depend so plainly on +a chance! And yet this was not a chance. Drouet was the means of the +king's destruction: if he had not recognised the monarch from his +resemblance with his portrait on the assignats--if he had not rode with +all speed, and reached Varennes before the carriages, in two hours more +the king and his family must have been saved. Drouet, this obscure son +of a post-master, sauntering and idle that evening before the door of a +cottage, decided the fate of a monarchy. He took the advice of no one +but himself--he set off, saying, "I will arrest the king." But Drouet +would not have had this decisive impulse if, at this moment, as it were, +he had not personified in himself all the agitation and all the +suspicions of the people. It was the fanaticism of his country which +impelled him, unknown to himself, to Varennes, and which urged him to +sacrifice a whole family of fugitives to what he believed to be the +safety of the nation. + +He had not received instructions from anyone; he took upon himself alone +the arrest and the death that ensued. His devotion to his country was +cruel: his silence and commiseration would have drawn down minor +calamities. + +As to the king himself, this flight was in him a fault if not a crime: +it was too soon or too late. Too late--for the king had already too far +sanctioned the Revolution, to turn suddenly against it without appearing +to betray his people and give himself the lie; too soon--for the +constitution which the National Assembly was drawing up was not yet +completed, the government was not yet pronounced powerless; and the foes +of the king and his family were not yet so decidedly menaced that the +care of his safety as a man should surpass his duties as a king. In case +of success, Louis XVI. had none but foreign forces to recover his +kingdom; in case of arrest, he found only a prison in his palace. On +which side soever we view it, flight was fatal--it was the road to shame +or to the scaffold. There is but one route by which to flee a throne and +not to die--abdication. On his return from Varennes, the king should +have abdicated. The Revolution would have adopted his son, and have +educated it in its own image. He did not abdicate--he consented to +accept the pardon of his people; he swore to execute a constitution from +which he had fled. He was a king in a state of amnesty. Europe beheld in +him but a fugitive from his throne led back to his punishment, the +nation but a traitor, and the Revolution but a plaything. + + + + +BOOK III + + +I. + +There is for a people, as for individuals, an instinct of conservation +which warns and "gives them pause," even under the impulses of the most +blind passions, before the dangers into which they are about to fling +themselves headlong. They seem suddenly to recede at the aspect of this +abyss, into which but now they were hastening precipitately. The +intermissions of human passions are short and fugitive, but they give +time to events, returns to wisdom, and opportunities to statesmen. These +are moments in which they seize the hesitating and intimidated spirit of +the people, in order to make them create a reaction against their own +excesses, and to lead them back by the very revulsion of the passions +that have already urged them too far. The day after the 25th of June, +1791, France experienced one of those throes of repentance which save a +people. There was only the statesman wanting. + +Never had the National Assembly presented a spectacle so imposing and so +calm as during the five days which had succeeded the king's departure. +It would appear as though it felt the weight of the whole empire resting +on it, and it sustained its attitude in order to bear it with dignity. +It accepted the power without desiring either to usurp or to retain it. +It covered with a respectful fiction the king's desertion--called the +flight a carrying off, and sought for the guilty around the +throne--regarding the throne itself as inviolable. The man disappeared, +for it, in Louis XVI.:--in the irresponsible chief of the state. These +three months may be considered as an interregnum, during which public +reason was her sole constitution. There was no longer a king, for he was +a captive, and his sanction was taken from him: there was no longer law, +for the constitution was incomplete: there was no longer a minister, for +the executive power was suspended; and yet the kingdom was standing +erect, was acting, organising, defending itself, preserving itself--and +what is still more marvellous, controlled itself. It held in reserve in +a palace the principal machinery of the constitution,--Royalty; and the +day when the work is accomplished, it puts the king in his place, and +says to him, "Be free and reign." + + +II. + +One thing only dishonours this majestic interregnum of the nation--the +temporary captivity of the king and his family. But we must remember +that the nation had the right to say to its chief; "If thou wilt reign +over us, thou shalt not quit the kingdom, thou shalt not convey the +royalty of France amongst our enemies." And as to the forms of that +captivity in the Tuileries, we must remember too that the National +Assembly had not prescribed them,--that in fact it had risen with +indignation at the word imprisonment,--that it had commanded a political +resistance and nothing more, and that the severity and odium of the +precautionary measures used were occasioned by the zealous +responsibility of the national guard, more than to the irreverence of +the Assembly. La Fayette guarded, in the person of the king, the +dynasty, its proper head, and the constitution--a hostage against the +republic and royalty at the same time. _Maire du palais_, he intimidated +by the presence of a weak and degraded monarch, the discouraged +royalists and the restrained republicans. Louis XVI. was his pledge. + +Barnave and the Lameths had within the Assembly the attitude of La +Fayette without. They required the king, in order to defend themselves +from their enemies. So long as there was a man (Mirabeau) between the +throne and themselves, they had played with the republic and sapped the +throne in order to crush a rival. But Mirabeau dead and the throne +shaken, they felt themselves weak against the very impulse they had +given. They sustained, therefore, this wreck of monarchy in order to be +sustained in their turn. Founders of the Jacobins, they trembled before +their own handiwork:--they took refuge in the constitution which they +themselves had dilapidated, and passed from the character of +destructives to that of statesmen. But for the first part there is only +violence needed; for the second genius is required. Barnave had talent +only. He had something more, however--he had a heart, and he was a good +man. The first excesses of his language were in him but the excitements +of the tribune; he was desirous of tasting the popular applause, and it +was showered upon him beyond his real merit. Hereafter it was not with +Mirabeau he was about to measure his strength; it was with the +Revolution in all its force. Jealousy took from him the pedestal which +it had lent, and he was about to appear as he really was. + + +III. + +But a sentiment more noble than that of his personal safety impelled +Barnave to side with the monarchical party. His heart had passed before +his ambition to the side of weakness, beauty, and misfortune. Nothing is +more dangerous than for a sensitive man to know those against whom he +contends. Hatred against the cause shrinks before the feeling for the +persons. We become partial unwittingly. Sensibility disarms the +understanding, and we soften instead of reasoning, whilst the +sensitiveness of a commiserating man soon usurps the place of his +opinion. + +It was thus that Barnave's mind was worked upon, after the return from +Varennes. The interest he had conceived for the queen had converted this +young republican into a royalist. Barnave had only previously known this +princess through a cloud of prejudice, amid which parties enshroud those +whom they wish to have detested. A sudden communication caused this +conventional atmosphere to dissipate, and he adored, when close, what he +had calumniated at a distance. The very character which fortune had cast +for him in the destiny of this woman had something unexpected and +romantic, capable of dazzling his lofty imagination, and deeply +affecting his generous disposition. Young, obscure, unknown but a few +months before, and now celebrated, popular, and powerful--thrown in the +name of a sovereign assembly between the people and the king--he became +the protector of those whose enemy he had been. Royal and suppliant +hands met his plebeian touch! He who opposed the popular royalty of +talent and eloquence to the royalty of the blood of the Bourbons! He +covered with his body the life of those who had been his masters. His +very devotion was a triumph; the object of that devotion was in his +queen. That queen was young, handsome, majestic; but brought to the +level of ordinary humanity by her alarm for her husband and his +children. Her tearful eyes besought their safety from Barnave's eyes. He +was the leading orator in that Assembly which held the fate of the +monarch in his house. He was the favourite of that people whom he +controlled by a gesture, and whose fury he averted during the long +journey between the throne and death. The queen had placed her son, the +young dauphin, between his knees. Barnave's fingers had played with the +fair hair of the child. The king, the queen, Madame Elizabeth, had +distinguished, with tact, Barnave from the inflexible and brutal Pétion. +They had conversed with him as to their situation: they complained of +having been deceived as to the nature of the public mind in France. They +unveiled their repentance and constitutional inclinations. These +conversations, marred in the carriage by the presence of the other +commissioner and the eyes of the people, had been stealthily and more +intimately renewed in the meetings which the royal family nightly held. +Mysterious political correspondences and secret interviews in the +Tuileries were contrived. Barnave, the inflexible partisan, reached +Paris a devoted man. The nocturnal conference of Mirabeau with the +queen, in the park of Saint Cloud, was ambitioned by his rival; but +Mirabeau sold, Barnave gave, himself. Heaps of gold bought the man of +genius; a glance seduced the man of sentiment. + + +IV. + +Barnave had found Duport and the Lameths, his friends, in the most +monarchical moods, but from other motives than his own. This triumvirate +was in terms of good understanding at the Tuileries. Lameths and Duport +saw the king. Barnave, who at first dared not venture to visit the +chateau, subsequently went there secretly. The utmost precaution and +concealment attended these interviews. The king and queen sometimes +awaited the youthful orator in a small apartment on the _entre sol_ of +the palace, with a key in their hand, so as to open the door the moment +his footsteps were heard. When these meetings were utterly impossible, +Barnave wrote to the queen. He reckoned greatly on the strength of his +party in the Assembly, because he measured the power of their opinions +by the talent with which they expressed them. The queen did not feel a +similar confidence. "Take courage, madame," wrote Barnave; "it is true +our banner is torn, but the word _Constitution_ is still legible +thereon. This word will recover all its pristine force and _prestige_, +if the king will rally to it sincerely. The friends of this +constitution, retrieving past errors, may still raise and maintain it +firmly. The Jacobins alarm public reason; the emigrants threaten our +nationality. Do not fear the Jacobins--put no trust in the emigrants. +Throw yourself into the national party which now exists. Did not Henry +IV. ascend the throne of a Catholic nation at the head of a Protestant +party?" + +The queen with all sincerity adopted this tardy counsel, and arranged +with Barnave all her measures, and all her foreign correspondence. She +neither said nor did any thing which could thwart the plans he had +conceived for the restoration of royal authority. "A feeling of +legitimate pride," said the queen when speaking of him, "a feeling which +I am far from blaming in a young man of talent born in the obscure ranks +of the third estate, has made him desire a revolution which should +smooth the way to fame and influence. But his heart is loyal, and if +ever power is again in our hands, Barnave's pardon is already written on +our hearts." Madame Elizabeth partook of this regard of the king and +queen for Barnave. Defeated at all points, they had ended by believing +that the only persons capable of restoring the monarchy were those who +had destroyed it. This was a fatal superstition. They were induced to +adore that power of the Revolution which they could not bend. + + +V. + +The first acts of the king were too much imbued with the inspirations of +Barnave and the Lameths for the royal dignity. He addressed to the +commissioners of the Assembly charged with interrogating him as to the +circumstances of the 21st of June, a reply, the bad faith of which +called for the smile rather than the indulgence of his enemies. + +"Introduced into the king's chamber and alone with him," said the +commissioners of the Assembly, "the king made to us the following +declaration:--The motives of my departure were the insults and outrages +I underwent on the 18th of April, when I wished to go to St. Cloud. +These insults remained unpunished, and I thereupon believed that there +was neither safety nor decorum in my staying any longer in Paris. Unable +to quit publicly, I resolved to depart in the night, and without +attendants; my intention was never to leave the kingdom. I had no +concert with foreign powers, nor with the princes of my family who have +emigrated. My residence would have been at Montmédy, a place I had +chosen because it is fortified, and that being close to the frontier, I +was more ready to oppose every kind of invasion. I have learnt during my +journey that public opinion was decided in favour of the constitution, +and so soon as I learnt the general wish I have not hesitated, as I +never have hesitated, to make the sacrifice of what concerns myself for +the public good." + +"The king," added the queen, in her declaration, "desiring to depart +with his children, I declare that nothing in nature could prevent my +following him. I have sufficiently proved, during two years, and under +the most painful circumstances, that I will never separate from him." + +Not content with this inquiry into the motives and circumstances of the +king's flight, public opinion, much irritated, demanded that the hand of +the nation should be extended even to the paternal authority, and that +the Assembly should appoint a governor for the dauphin. Eighty names, +for the most part of obscure persons, were found in the division which +was openly taken. They were hailed with shouts of general derision. This +outrage to the king and father was spared him. The governor subsequently +named by Louis XVI., M. de Fleurieu, never entered upon his duties. The +governor of the heir to an empire was the gaoler of a prison of +malefactors. + +The Marquis de Bouillé addressed from Luxembourg a threatening letter to +the Assembly, in order to turn from the king all popular indignation, +and to assume to himself the projection and execution of the king's +departure. "If," he added, "one hair of the head of Louis XVI. fall to +the ground, not one stone of Paris shall remain upon another. I know the +roads, and will guide the foreign armies thither." A laugh followed +these words. The Assembly was sufficiently wise not to require the +advice of M. de Bouillé, and strong enough to despise the threats of a +proscribed man. + +M. de Cazalès sent in his resignation, in order to _go and fight (aller +combattre)_. The most prominent members of the right side, amongst whom +were Maury, Montlozier, the abbé Montesquieu, the abbé de Pradt, Virieu, +&c. &c., to the number of two hundred and ninety, took a pernicious +resolution, which, by removing all counterpoise from the extreme party +of the Revolution, precipitated the fall of, and destroyed, the king, +under pretext of a sacred respect for royalty. They remained in the +Assembly, but they annulled their power, and would only be considered as +a living protest against the violation of the royal liberty and +authority. The Assembly refused to hear the reading of their protest, +which was itself a violation of their elective power; and they then +published it and circulated it profusely all over the kingdom. "The +decrees of the Assembly," they said, "have wholly absorbed the royal +power. The seal of state is on the president's table; the king's +sanction is annihilated. The king's name is erased from the oath which +is taken from the law. The commissioners convey the orders of the +committees direct to the armies. The king is a captive; a provisional +republic occupies the interregnum. Far be it from us to concur in such +acts; we would not even consent to be witnesses of it, if we had not +still the duty of watching over the preservation of the king. Excepting +this sole interest, we shall impose on ourselves the most absolute +silence. This silence will be the only expression of our constant +opposition to all your acts." + +These words were the abdication of an entire party, for any party that +protests abdicates. On this day there was emigration in the Assembly. +This mistaken fidelity, which deplored instead of combating, obtained +the applause of the nobility and clergy; it merited the utmost contempt +of politicians. Abandoning, in their struggle against the Jacobins, +Barnave and the monarchical constitutionalists, it gave the victory to +Robespierre, and by assuring the majority to his proposition for the non +re-election of the members of the National Assembly to the Legislative +Assembly, it sanctioned the convention. The royalists took away the +weight of one great opinion from the balance, which consequently then +leaned towards the disorders that ensued, and which in their progress +carried off the head of the king and their own heads. A great opinion +never lays down its arms with impunity for its country. + + +VI. + +The Jacobins perceived this great error, and rejoiced at it. On seeing +so large a body of the supporters of the constitutional monarchy +withdraw from the contest voluntarily, they at once foresaw what they +might dare, and they dared it. Their sittings became more significant in +proportion as those of the Assembly grew more dull and impotent. The +words of "forfeiture" and "republic" were heard there for the first +time. Retracted at first, they were afterwards again pronounced: uttered +at first like blasphemies, they were not long in being familiar as +principles. Parties did not at first know what they themselves +desired--they learnt it from success. The daring broached distempered +ideas; if repulsed, the sagacious disavowed them--if caught up, the +leaders resumed them. In conflicts of opinions _reconnaissances_ are +employed, as they are in the campaigns of armies. The Jacobins were the +advanced guard of the Revolution, who measured the opposing obstacles of +the monarchical feeling. + +The club of Cordeliers sent to the Jacobins a copy of a proposed address +to the National Assembly, in which the annihilation of royalty was +openly demanded. + +"We are _free and without a king,_" said the Cordeliers, "as the day +after the taking of the Bastille; it is only for us to decide whether or +no we shall name another. We are of opinion that the nation should do +every thing by itself or by agents removable by her. We think, that the +more important an employ, the more temporary should be its tenure. We +think that royalty, and especially hereditary royalty, is incompatible +with liberty; we anticipate the crowd of opponents such a declaration +will create, but has not the declaration of rights produced as many? In +leaving his post the king virtually abdicated,--let us profit by the +occasion and our right--let us swear that France is a republic." + +This address, read to the club of Jacobins on the 22d, at first excited +universal indignation. On the 23d, Danton mounted the tribune, demanded +the positive forfeiture of the throne (_la déchéance_), and the +nomination of a council of regency. "Your king," he said, "is an idiot, +or a criminal. It would be a horrid spectacle to present to the world, +if, having the option of declaring a king criminal or idiotic, you did +not prefer the latter alternative." + +On the 27th, Girey Dupré, a young writer who awaited the Gironde, +mooted the judgment of Louis XVI. "We can punish a perjured king, and we +ought;" such was the text of his discourse. Brissot opened the question +as Pétion had done at the preceding sitting, "_Can a perjured king be +brought to trial_ (_jugé_)? + +"Why," asked Brissot "should we divide ourselves into dangerous +denominations? we are all of one opinion. What do they want who are here +hostile to the republicans? They detest the turbulent assemblies of +Athens and Rome; they fear the division of France into isolated +federations. They only want the representative constitution, and they +are right. What do they want who boast of the name of republicans? They +fear, they abhor equally, the turbulent assemblies of Rome and Athens, +and equally dread a federated republic. They desire a representative +constitution--nothing more, nothing less--and thus, we all concur. The +head of the executive power has betrayed his oath,--must we bring him to +judgment? This is the only point on which we differ. Inviolability will +else be impunity to all crimes, an encouragement for all treason--common +sense demands that the punishment should follow the offence. I do not +see an inviolable man governing the people, but a _God_ and 25,000,000 +of _brutes!_ If the king had on his return entered France at the head of +foreign forces, if he had ravaged our fairest provinces, and if, checked +in his career, you had made him prisoner, what would you then have done +with him? Would you have allowed his inviolability to have saved him? +Foreign powers are held up before you as a threat; do not fear them: +Europe in arms is impotent against a people who will be free." + +In the National Assembly Muguer, in the name of the joint committees, +brought up the report on the king's flight; he maintained the +inviolability of Louis XVI. and the accusation of his accomplices. +ROBESPIERRE opposed the inviolability; he avoided all show of +anger in his language; and was careful to veil all his conclusions +beneath the cover of mildness and humanity. "I will not pause to +inquire," he said, "whether the king fled voluntarily, of his own act, +or if from the extremity of the frontiers a citizen carried him off by +his advice: I will not inquire either, whether this flight is a +conspiracy against the public liberty. I shall speak of the king as of +an imaginary sovereign, and of inviolability as a principle." After +having combated the principle of inviolability by the same arguments +which Girey Dupré and Brissot had applied, Robespierre thus concluded. +"The measures you propose cannot but dishonour you; if you adopt them, I +demand to declare myself the advocate of all the accused. I will be the +defender of the three _gardes du corps_, the dauphine's governess, even +of Monsieur de Bouillé. By the principles of your committees, there is +no crime; yet, invariably, where there is no crime there can be no +accomplices. Gentlemen, if it be a weakness to spare a culprit, +to visit the weaker culprit when the greater one escapes, is +cowardice--injustice. You must pass sentence on all the guilty alike, or +pronounce a general pardon." + +Grégoire supported the accusation party. Salles defended the +recommendation of the committee. + +Barnave at length spoke, and in support of Salles' opinion. He said: +"The French nation has just undergone a violent shock; but if we are to +believe all the auguries which are delivered, this recent event, like +all others which have preceded it, will only serve to advance the +period, to confirm the solidity of the revolution we have effected. I +will not dilate on the advantages of monarchical government: you have +proved your conviction by establishing it in your country: I will only +say that every government, to be good, should comprise within itself the +principles of its stability: for otherwise, instead of prosperity there +would be before us only the perspective of a series of changes. Some +men, whose motives I shall not impugn, seeking for examples to adduce, +have found, in America, a people occupying a vast territory with a +scanty population, nowhere surrounded by very powerful neighbours, +having forests for their boundaries, and having for customs the feelings +of a new race, and who are wholly ignorant of those factitious passions +and impulses which effect revolutions of government. They have seen a +republican government established in that land, and have thence drawn +the conclusion that a similar government was suitable for us. These men +are the same who at this moment are contesting the inviolability of the +king. But, if it be true that in our territory there is a vast +population spread,--if it be true that there are amongst them a +multitude of men exclusively given up to those intellectual speculations +which excite ambition and the love of fame,--if it be true that around +us powerful neighbours compel us to form but one compact body in order +to resist them,--if it be true that all these circumstances are +irresistible, and are wholly independent of ourselves, it is undeniable +that the sole existing remedy lies in a monarchical government. When a +country is populous and extensive, there are--and political experience +proves it--but two modes of assuring to it a solid and permanent +existence. Either you must organise those parts separately;--you must +place in each section of the empire a portion of the government, and +thus you will maintain security at the expense of unity, strength, and +all the advantages which result from a great and homogeneous +association:--or else you will be forced to centralise an unchangeable +power, which, never renewed by the law, presenting incessantly obstacles +to ambition, resists with advantage the shocks, rivalries, and rapid +vibrations of an immense population, agitated by all the passions +engendered by long established society. These facts decide our position. +We can only be strong through a federative government, which no one here +has the madness to propose, or by a monarchical government, such as you +have established; that is to say, by confiding the reins of the +executive power to a family having the right of hereditary succession. +You have intrusted to an inviolable king the exclusive function of +naming the agents of his power, but you have made those agents +responsible. To be independent the king must be inviolable: do not let +us set aside this axiom. We have never failed to observe this as regards +individuals, let us regard it as respects the monarch. Our principles, +the constitution, the law, declare that he has not forfeited (_qu'il +n'est pas déchu_): thus, then, we have to choose between our attachment +to the constitution and our resentment against an individual. Yes, I +demand at this moment from him amongst you all, who may have conceived +against the head of the executive power prejudices however strong, and +resentment however deep; I ask at his hands whether he is more irritated +against the king than he is attached to the laws of his country? I would +say to those who rage so furiously against an individual who has done +wrong,--I would say, Then you would be at his feet if you were content +with him? (Loud and lengthened applause.) Those who would thus sacrifice +the constitution to their anger against one man, seem to me too much +inclined to sacrifice liberty from their enthusiasm for some other man; +and since they love a republic, it is, indeed, the moment to say to +them, What, would you wish a republic in such a nation? How is it you do +not fear that the same variableness of the people, which to-day +manifests itself by hatred, may on another day be displayed by +enthusiasm in favour of some great man? Enthusiasm even more dangerous +than hatred: for the French nation, you know, understands better how to +love than to hate. I neither fear the attacks of foreign nations nor of +emigrants: I have already said so; but I now repeat it with the more +truth, as I fear the continuation of uneasiness and agitation, which +will not cease to exist and affect us until the Revolution be wholly and +pacifically concluded. We need fear no mischief from without; but vast +injury is done to us from within, when we are disturbed by painful +ideas--when chimerical dangers, excited around us, create with the +people some consistency and some credit for the men who use them as a +means of unceasing agitation. Immense damage is done to us when that +revolutionary impetus, which has destroyed every thing there was to +destroy, and which has urged us to the point where we must at last +pause, is perpetuated. If the Revolution advance one step further it +cannot do so without danger. In the line of liberty, the first act which +can follow is the annihilation of royalty; in the line of equality, the +first act which must follow is an attempt on all property. Revolutions +are not effected with metaphysical maxims--there must be an actual +tangible prey to offer to the multitude that is led astray. It is time, +therefore, to end the Revolution. It ought to stop at the moment when +the nation is free, and when all Frenchmen are equal. If it continue in +trouble, it is dishonoured, and we with it; yes, all the world ought to +agree that the common interest is involved in the close of the +Revolution. Those who have lost ought to perceive that it is impossible +to make it retrograde. Those who fashioned it must see that it is at its +consummation. Kings themselves--if from, time to time profound truths +can penetrate to the councils of kings--if occasionally the prejudices +which surround them will permit the sound views of a great and +philosophical policy to reach them--kings themselves must learn that +there is for them a wide difference between the example of a great +reform in the government and that of the abolition of royalty: that if +we pause here, where we are, they are still kings! but be their conduct +what it may, let the fault come from them and not from us. Regenerators +of the empire! follow straightly your undeviating line; you have been +courageous and potent--be to-day wise and moderate. In this will consist +the glorious termination of your efforts. Then, again returning to your +domestic hearths, you will obtain from all, if not blessings, at least +the silence of calumny." This address, the most eloquent ever delivered +by Barnave, carried the report in the affirmative; and for several days +checked all attempts at republic and forfeiture in the clubs of the +Cordeliers and Jacobins. The king's inviolability was consecrated in +fact as well as in principle. M. de Bouillé, his accomplices and +adherents, were sent for trial to the high national court of Orleans. + + +VII. + +Whilst these men, exclusively political, each measuring the advance of +the Revolution, step by step, with their eyes, desired courageously to +stop it, or checked their own views, the Revolution was continually +progressing. Its own thought was too vast for any head of public man, +orator, or statesman to contain. Its breath was too powerful for any one +breast to respire it solely. Its end was too comprehensive to be +included in any of the successive views that the ambition of certain +factions, or the theories of certain statesmen could propound. Barnave, +the Lameths, and La Fayette, like Mirabeau and Necker, endeavoured, in +vain, to oppose to it the power and influence they had derived from it. +It was destined, before it was appeased or relaxed in its onward career, +to frustrate many other systems, make many other breasts pant in vain, +and outstrip a multitude of other aims. + +Independent of the national assemblies it had given to itself as a +government, and in which were, for the most part, concentrated the +political instruments of its impulse, it had also given birth to two +levers, still more potent and terrible to move and sweep away these +political bodies when they attempted to check her when she chose to +advance. These two levers were the press and the clubs. The clubs and +the press were, to the legal assemblies, what free air is to confined +air. Whilst the air of these assemblies became vitiated, and exhausted +itself in the circle of the established government, the air of +journalism and popular societies was impregnated and incessantly stirred +by an inexhaustible principle of vitality and movement. The stagnation +within was fully credited, but the current was without. + +The press, in the half century which had preceded the Revolution, had +been the echo, well organised and calm, of the thoughts of sages and +reformers. From the time when the Revolution burst forth, it had become +the turbulent and frequently cynical echo of the popular excitement. + +It had itself transformed the modes of communicating ideas; it no longer +produced books--it had not the time: at first it expended itself in +pamphlets, and subsequently in a multitude of flying and diurnal sheets, +which, published at a low price amongst the people, or gratuitously +placarded in the public thoroughfares, incited the multitude to read and +discuss them. The treasury of the national thought, whose pieces of gold +were too pure, or too bulky, for the use of the populace, it was, if we +may be allowed the expression, converted into a multitude of smaller +coins, struck with the impress of the passions of the hour, and often +tarnished with the foulest oxides. Journalism, like an irresistible +element of the life of a people in revolution, had made its own place, +without listening to the law which had been made to restrain it. + +Mirabeau, who required that his speeches should echo throughout the +departments, had given birth to this speaking trumpet of the Revolution, +(despite the orders in council) in his _Letters to my Constituents_, and +in the _Courrier de Provence_. At the opening of the States General, and +at the taking of the Bastille, other journals had appeared. At each new +insurrection there was a fresh inundation of newspapers. The leading +organs of public agitation were then the _Revolution of Paris_, edited +by Loustalot; a weekly paper, with a circulation of 200,000 copies; the +feeling of the man may be seen in the motto of his paper: "The great +appear great to us only because we are on our knees--let us rise!" The +_Discours de la Lanterne aux Parisiens_, subsequently called the +_Revolutions de France et de Brabant_, was the production of Camille +Desmoulins. This young student, who became suddenly a political +character on a chair in the garden of the Palais Royal, on the first +outbreak of the month of July, 1789, preserved in his style, which was +frequently very brilliant, something of his early character. It was the +sarcastic genius of Voltaire descended from the saloon to the pavement. +No man in himself ever personified the people better than did Camille +Desmoulins. He was the mob with his turbulent and unexpected movements, +his variableness, his unconnectedness, his rages interrupted by +laughter, or suddenly sinking into sympathy and sorrow for the very +victims he immolated. A man, at the same time so ardent and so trifling, +so trivial and so inspired, so indecisive between blood and tears, so +ready to crush what he had just deified with enthusiasm, must have the +more empire over a people in revolt, in proportion as he resembled them. +His character was his nature. He not only aped the people, he was the +people himself. His newspapers cried in the public streets, and their +sarcasm, bandied from mouth to mouth, has not been swept away with the +other impurities of the day. He remains, and will remain, a Menippus, +the satirist stained with blood. It was the popular chorus which led the +people to their most important movements, and which was frequently +stifled by the whistling of the cord of the street lamp, or in the +hatchet-stroke of the guillotine. Camille Desmoulins was the remorseless +offspring of the Revolution,--Marat was its fury; he had the clumsy +tumblings of the brute in his thought, and its gnashing of teeth in his +style. His journal (_L'Ami du Peuple_), the People's Friend, smelt of +blood in every line. + + +VIII. + +Marat was born in Switzerland. A writer without talent, a _savant_ +without reputation, with a desire for fame without having received from +society or nature the means of acquiring either, he revenged himself on +all that was great not only in society but in nature. Genius was as +hateful to him as aristocracy. Wherever he saw any thing elevated or +striking he hunted it down as though it were a deadly enemy. He would +have levelled creation. Equality was his mania, because superiority was +his martyrdom; he loved the Revolution because it brought down all to +his level; he loved it even to blood, because blood washed out the stain +of his long-during obscurity; he made himself a public denouncer by the +popular title; he knew that denouncement is flattery to all who tremble, +and the people are always trembling. A real prophet of demagogueism, +inspired by insanity, he gave his nightly dreams to daily conspiracies. +The Seid of the people, he interested it by his self-devotion to its +interests. He affected mystery like all oracles. He lived in obscurity, +and only went out at night; he only communicated with his fellows with +the most sinistrous precautions. A subterranean cell was his residence, +and there he took refuge safe from poignard and poison. His journal +affected the imagination like something supernatural. Marat was wrapped +in real fanaticism. The confidence reposed in him nearly amounted to +worship. The fumes of the blood he incessantly demanded had mounted to +his brain. He was the delirium of the Revolution, himself a living +delirium! + + +IX. + +Brissot, as yet obscure, wrote _Le Patriote Français_. A politician, and +aspiring to leading parts, he only excited revolutionary passions in +proportion as he hoped one day to govern by them. At first a +constitutionalist and friend of Necker and Mirabeau, a hireling before +he became a _doctrinaire_, he saw in the people only a sovereign more +suitable to his own ambition. The republic was his rising sun; he +approached it as to his own fortune, but with prudence, and frequently +looking behind him to see if opinion followed his traces. + +Condorcet, an aristocrat by genius, although an aristocrat by birth, +became a democrat from philosophy. His passion was the transformation of +human reason. He wrote _La Chronique de Paris_. + +Carra, an obscure demagogue, had created for himself a name of fear in +the _Annales Patriotiques_. Fréron, in the _Orateur du Peuple_, rivalled +Marat. Fauchet, in the _Bouche de Fer_, elevated democracy to a level +with religious philosophy. The "last not least," Laclos, an officer of +artillery, author of an obscene novel, and the confidant of the Duc +d'Orleans, edited the _Journal des Jacobins_, and stirred up through +France the flame of ideas and words of which the focus was in the clubs. + +All these men used their utmost efforts to impel the people beyond the +limits which Barnave had prescribed to the event of the 21st June. They +desired to avail themselves of the instant when the throne was left +empty to obliterate it from the constitution. They overwhelmed the king +with insults and objurgations, in order that the Assembly might not dare +to replace at the head of their institutions a prince whom they had +vilified. They clamoured for interrogatory, sentence, forfeiture, +abdication, imprisonment, and hoped to degrade royalty for ever by +degrading the king. The republic saw its hour for the first moment, and +trembled to allow it to escape. All these hands at once urged men's +minds towards a decisive movement. Articles in the journals provoked +motions, motions petitions, and petitions riots. The altar of the +country in the Champ-de-Mars, which remained erected for a new +federation, was the place which was already pointed out for the +assemblies of the people. It was the _Mons Aventinus_, whither it was to +retire, and whence it was to dictate to a timid and corrupt senate. + +"No more king,--let us be republicans," wrote Brissot in the _Patriote_. +"Such is the cry at the Palais Royal, and it does not gain ground fast +enough; it would seem as though it were blasphemy. This repugnance for +assuming the name of the condition in which the state _actually is_ is +very extraordinary in the eyes of philosophy." "No king! no protector! +no regent! Let us have done with man-eaters of every sort and kind," +re-echoed the _Bouche de Fer_. "Let the eighty-three departments enter +into a federation, and declare that they will no longer endure tyrants, +monarchs, or protectors. Their shade is as fatal to the people as that +of the Bohonupas is deadly to all that lives. If we nominate a regent we +shall soon fight for the choice of a master. Let us only contend for +liberty." + +Provoked by this reference to the regency, which appeared to point to +him, the Duc d'Orleans wrote to the journals that he was ready to serve +his country by land or by sea; but in respect to any question of +regency, he from that moment renounced, and for ever, any pretensions to +that title which the constitution might give him. "After having made so +many sacrifices to the cause of the people," he said, "I am no longer in +a condition to quit my position as a simple citizen. Ambition in me +would be an inexcusable inconsistency." + +Already discredited by all parties, this prince, henceforth incapable of +serving the throne, was equally incapable of serving the republic. +Odious to the royalists, put aside by the demagogues, suspected by the +constitutionalists, there only remained to him the stoical attitude in +which he took refuge. He had abdicated his rank, abdicated his own +faction; he had abdicated the favour of the people. His life was all +that remained to him. + +At the same moment Camille Desmoulins was thus satirically +apostrophising La Fayette, the first idol of the Revolution:--"Liberator +of two worlds, flower of Janissaries, phoenix of Alguazils-major, Don +Quixotte of Capet and the two chambers, constellation of the white +horse[2], my voice is too weak to raise itself above the clamour of your +thirty thousand spies, and as many more your satellites, above the noise +of your four hundred drums, and your cannons loaded with grape. I had +until now misrepresented your--more than--royal highness through the +allusions of Barnave, Lameth, and Duport. It was after them that I +denounced you to the eighty-three departments as an ambitious man who +only cared for parade, a slave of the court similar to those marshals of +the league to whom revolt had given the _bâton_, and who, looking upon +themselves as bastards, were desirous of becoming legitimate; but all of +a sudden you embrace each other, and proclaim yourselves mutually +fathers of your country! You say to the nation, 'Confide in us; we are +the Cincinnati, the Washingtons, the Aristides.' Which of these two +testimonies are we to believe? Foolish people! The Parisians are like +those Athenians to whom Demosthenes said, 'Shall you always resemble +those athletes who struck in one place cover it with their hand,--struck +in another place they place their hand there, and thus always occupied +with the blows they receive, do not know either how to strike or defend +themselves!' They are beginning to doubt whether Louis XVI. could be +perjured since he is at Varennes. I think I see the same great eyes open +when they shall see La Fayette open the gates of the capital to +despotism and aristocracy. May I be deceived in my conjectures, for I am +going from Paris, as Camillus my patron departed from an ungrateful +country, wishing it every kind of prosperity. I have no occasion to have +been an emperor like Diocletian to know that the fine lettuces of +Salernum, which are far superior to the empire of the East, are quite +equal to the gay scarf which a municipal authority wears, and the +uneasiness with which a Jacobin journalist returns to his home in the +evening, fearing always lest he should fall into an ambuscade of the +cut-throats of the general. For me it was not to establish two chambers +that I first mounted the tricolour cockade!" + + +X. + +Such was the general tone of the press, such the exhaustless laughter +which this young man diffused, like the Aristophanes of an irritated +people. He accustomed it to revile men, majesty, misfortune, and worth. +The day came when he required for himself and for the young and lovely +woman whom he adored, that pity which he had destroyed in the people. He +found, in his turn, only the brutal derision of the multitude, and he +himself then became sad and sorry for the first and last time. + +The people, all whose political idea is from the senses, could not at +all comprehend why the statesmen of the Assembly should impose upon them +a fugitive king, out of respect for abstract royalty. The moderation of +Barnave and Lameth seemed to them full of suspicion; and cries of +treason were uttered at all their meetings. The decree of the Assembly +was the signal for increased ferment, which developed from and after the +13th of July, in zealous meetings, imprecations, and threats. Large +bodies of workmen, leaving their work, congregated in the public places, +and demanded bread of the municipal authorities. The commune, in order +to appease them, voted for distributions and supplies. Bailly, the mayor +of Paris, harangued them, and gave them extraordinary work. They went to +it for a moment, and then quitted it, being speedily attracted by the +mob becoming dense and uttering cries of hunger. + +The crowd betook itself from the Hôtel-de-Ville to the Jacobins, from +the Jacobins to the National Assembly, clamorous for the forfeiture of +the crown and the republic. This popular gathering had no other leader +than the uneasiness that excited it. A spontaneous and unanimous +instinct assured it that the Assembly would be found wanting at the hour +of great resolutions. This mob desired to compel it again to seize the +opportunity. Its will was the more potent as it was wholly impossible to +trace it to its source--no chief gave it any visible impetus. It +advanced of itself, spake of itself, and wrote with its own hand in the +streets--on the corner stone--its threatening petitions. + +The first that the people presented to the Assembly, on the 14th, and +which was escorted by 4000 petitioners, was signed "_The People_." The +14th of July and the 6th of October had taught it its name. The +Assembly, firm and unmoved, passed to the order of the day. + +On quitting the Assembly, the crowd went to the Champ-de-Mars, where it +signed, in greater numbers, a second petition in still more imperative +terms. "Entrusted with the representation of a free people, will you +destroy the work we have perfected? Will you replace liberty by a reign +of tyranny? If, indeed, it were so, learn that the French people, which +has acquired its rights, will not again lose them." + +On quitting the Champ-de-Mars, the people thronged round the Tuileries, +the Assembly, and the Palais Royal. Of their own accord they shut up the +theatres, and proclaimed the suspension of all public entertainments, +until justice should be done to them. That evening 4000 persons went to +the Jacobins, as though to identify in the agitators who met there the +real assembly of the people. The chiefs in whom they reposed confidence +were there: the tribune was occupied by a member who was denouncing to +the meeting a citizen for having made a remark injurious to Robespierre; +the accused was justifying himself, and they drove him tumultuously from +the chamber. At this moment Robespierre appeared, and begged them to +pardon the citizen who had insulted him. His generous intercession was +hailed with applause, and enthusiasm for Robespierre was at its height. +"Sacred vaults of the Jacobins," were the words of an address from the +departments; "you guarantee to us Robespierre and Danton, these two +oracles of patriotism." Laclos proposed a petition to be sent into the +departments, and covered with ten millions of signatures. A member +opposes this proposition, from love of order and peace. Danton +rises,--"And I, too, love peace, but not the peace of slavery. If we +have energy, let us show it. Let those who do not feel courage to rise +and beard tyranny refrain from signing our petition: we want no better +proof by which to understand each other. Here it is to our hand." + +Robespierre next spoke, and demonstrated to the people that Barnave and +the Lameths were playing the same game as Mirabeau. "They concert with +our enemies, and then they call us factious!" More timid than Laclos and +Danton, he did not give any opinion as to the petition. A man of +calculation rather than of passion, he foresaw that the disorderly +movement would split against the organised resistance of the +_bourgeoisie_. He reserved to himself the power of falling back upon the +legality of the question, and kept on terms with the Assembly. Laclos +pressed his motion, and the people carried it. At midnight they +separated, after having agreed to meet the next day in the +Champ-de-Mars, there to sign the petition. + +The day following was lost to sedition, by disputes between the clubs as +to the terms of the petition. The Republicans negotiated with La +Fayette, to whom they offered the presidency of an American government. +Robespierre and Danton, who detested La Fayette--Laclos, who urged on +the Duc d'Orleans, concerted together, and impeded the impulse given by +the Cordeliers subservient to Danton. The Assembly watchful, Bailly on +his guard, La Fayette resolute, watched in unison for the repression of +all outbreak. On the 16th the Assembly summoned to its bar the +municipality and its officers, to make it responsible for the public +peace. It drew up an address to the French people, in order to rally +them around the constitution. Bailly, the same evening, issued a +proclamation against the agitators. The fluctuating Jacobins themselves +declared their submission to the decrees of the Assembly. At the moment +when the struggle was expected, the leaders of the projected movement +were invisible. The night was spent in military preparations against the +meeting on the morrow. + + +XI. + +On the 17th, very early in the morning, the people, without leaders, +began to collect in the Champ-de-Mars, and surround the altar of the +country, raised in the centre of the large square of the confederation. +A strange and melancholy chance opened the scenes of murder on this day. +When the multitude is excited, every thing becomes the occasion of +crime. A young painter, who, before the hour of meeting, was copying the +patriotic inscriptions engraved in front of the altar, heard a slight +noise at his feet; astonished, he looked around him and saw the point of +a gimlet, with which some men, concealed under the steps of the altar, +were piercing the planks of the pedestal. He hastened to the nearest +guard-house, and returned with some soldiers. They lifted up one of the +steps and found beneath two invalids, who had got under the altar in the +night, with no other design, as they declared, than a childish and +obscene curiosity. The report instantly spread that the altar of the +country was undermined, in order to blow up the people; that a barrel of +gunpowder had been discovered beside the conspirators; that the +invalids, surprised in the preliminaries to their criminal design, were +well known satellites of the aristocracy; that they had confessed their +deadly design, and the amount of reward promised on the success of their +wickedness. The mob mustered, and raging with fury, surrounded the +guard-house of the Gros-Caillou. The two invalids underwent an +interrogatory. The moment when they left the guard-house, to be conveyed +to the Hôtel-de-Ville, the populace rushed upon them, tore them from the +soldiers who were escorting them, rent them in pieces, and their heads, +placed on the tops of pikes, were carried by a band of ferocious +children to the environs of the Palais Royal. + + +XII. + +The news of these murders, confusedly spread and variously interpreted +in the city, in the Assembly, among various groups, excited various +feelings, according as it was viewed as a crime of the people or a crime +of its enemies. The truth was only made apparent long after. The +agitation increased from the indignation of some and the suspicions of +others. Bailly, duly informed, sent three commissaries and a battalion. +Other commissaries traversed the quarters of the capital, reading to the +people the proclamation of the magistrates and the address of the +National Assembly. + +The ground of the Bastille was occupied by the national guard and the +patriotic societies, which were to go thence to the field of the +Federation. Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Fréron, Brissot, and the +principal ringleaders of the people had disappeared; some said in order +to concert insurrectional measures, at Legendre's house in the country; +others, in order to escape the responsibility of the day. The former +version was the more generally accredited, from Robespierre's known +hatred to Danton, to whom Saint Just said, in his accusation--"Mirabeau, +who meditated a change of dynasty, appreciated the force of thy +audacity, and laid hands upon it. Thou didst startle him from the laws +of stern principle; we heard nothing more of thee until the massacres of +the Champ-de-Mars. Thou didst support that false measure of the people, +and the proposition of the law, which had no other object than to serve +for a pretext for unfolding the red banner, and an attempt at tyranny. +The patriots, not initiated in this treachery, had opposed thy +perfidious advice. Thou wast named in conjunction with Brissot to draw +up this petition. You both escaped the prey of La Fayette, who caused +the slaughter of ten thousand patriots. Brissot remained calmly in +Paris, and thou didst hasten to Arcis-sur-Aube, to pass some agreeable +days. Can one fancy thy tranquil joys--thou being one of the drawers up +of this petition, whilst those who signed the document were loaded with +irons, or weltering in their blood? You were then--thou and +Brissot--objects for the gratitude of tyranny; because, assuredly, you +could not be the objects of its detestation!" + +Camille Desmoulins thus justifies the absence of Danton, himself, and +Fréron, by asserting that Danton had fled from proscription and +assassination to the house of his father-in-law, at Fontenay, on the +previous night, and was tracked thither by a band of La Fayette's spies; +and that Fréron, whilst crossing the Pont Neuf, had been assailed, +trampled under foot, and wounded by fourteen hired ruffians; whilst +Camille himself, marked for the dagger, only escaped by a mistake in his +description. History has not put any faith in these pretended +assassinations of La Fayette. + +Camille, invisible all day, repaired in the evening to the Jacobins. + + +XIII. + +In the mean while the crowd began to congregate in vast masses in the +Champ-de-Mars--agitated, but inoffensive--the national guard, every +battalion of whom La Fayette had ordered out, were under arms. One of +the detachments which had arrived that morning in the Champ-de-Mars, +with a train of artillery, withdrew by the quays, in order that the +appearance of an armed force might not irritate the people. At twelve +o'clock the crowd assembled round the "altar of the country" (_autel de +la patrie_), not seeing the commissioners of the Jacobin club, who had +promised to bring the petition to be signed, of their own accord chose +four commissioners of their number to draw up one. One of the +commissioners took the pen, the citizens crowded round him, and he wrote +as follows:-- + +"On the altar of the country, July 13th, in the year III. +Representatives of the people, your labours are drawing to a close. A +great crime has been committed; Louis flies, and has unworthily +abandoned his post--the empire is on the verge of ruin--he has been +arrested, and has been brought back to Paris, where the people demand +that he be tried. You declare he shall be king. This is not the wish of +the people, and the decree is therefore annulled. He has been carried +off by the two hundred and ninety-two _aristocrates_, who have +themselves declared that they have no longer a voice in the National +Assembly. It is annulled because it is in opposition to the voice of the +people, your sovereign. Repeal your decree: the king has abdicated by +his crime: receive his abdication; convoke a fresh constitutive power; +point out the criminal, and organise a new executive power." + +This petition was laid on the altar of the country, and quires of paper, +placed at the four corners of the altar, received six thousand +autographs. + +This petition is still preserved in the archives of the Municipality, +and bears on it the indelible imprint of the hand of the people. It is +the medal of the Revolution struck on the spot in the fused metal of +popular agitation. Here and there on it are to be traced those sinister +names that for the first time emerged from obscurity. These names are +like the hieroglyphics of the ancient monuments. The acts of men now +famous, who signed names then unknown and obscure, give to these +signatures a retrospective signification, and the eye dwells with +curiosity on these characters that seem to contain in a few marks the +mystery of a long life--the whole horror of an epoch. Here is the name +of _Chaumette, then a medical student, Rue Mazarine, No. 9_. There +_Maillard_, the president of the fearful massacres of September. Further +on, _Hébert_; underneath it, _Hanriot_, Inspector Warden of the +condemned prisoners (_Général des Suppliciés_) during the reign of +terror. The small and scrawled signature of Hébert, who was afterwards +the "_Père_ Duchesne," or le Peuple en colère, is like a spider that +extends its arms to seize its prey. Santerre has signed lower down: this +is the last name of note, the rest are alone those of the populace. It +is easy to discern how many a hasty and tremulous hand has traced the +witness of its fury or ignorance on this document. Many were even unable +to write. A circle of ink with a cross in the centre marks their +anonymous adhesion to the petition. Some female names are to be seen, +and numerous names of children are discernible, from the inaccuracy of +their hand, guided by another: poor babes, who professed the opinions of +their parents, without comprehending them; and who signed the +attestation of the passions of the people, ere their infant tongues +could utter a manly sound. + + +XIV. + +The municipal body had been informed at two o'clock of the murders +committed at the Champ-de-Mars, and of the insults offered to the body +of national guards sent to disperse the mob. M. de La Fayette himself, +who headed this detachment, had been struck by several stones hurled at +him by the populace. It was even reported that a man in the uniform of +the national guard had fired a pistol at him, and that he had generously +pardoned and released this man, who had been seized by the escort. This +popular report cast a halo of heroism around M. de La Fayette, and +animated anew the national guard, who were devoted to him. At this +recital Bailly did not hesitate to proclaim martial law, and to unfurl +the red flag, the last resource against sedition. On their side, the +mob, alarmed at the aspect of the red flag floating from the windows of +the Hôtel-de-Ville, despatched twelve of their number as a deputation to +the municipality. These commissioners with difficulty made their way to +the audience-hall, through a forest of bayonets, and demanded that three +citizens who had been arrested should be given up to them. No attention +was paid to them, however, and the resolution of employing force was +adopted. The mayor and authorities descended the steps of the +Hôtel-de-Ville, uttering threats of their intentions. At the sight of +Bailly preceded by the red flag a cry of enthusiasm burst from the +ranks, and the national guards clashed the butts of their muskets loudly +against the stones. The public force, indignant with the clubs, was in a +state of that nervous excitement that occasionally takes possession of +large bodies as well as individuals. + +La Fayette, Bailly, and the municipal authorities commenced their march +preceded by the red flag, and followed by 10,000 national guards, the +paid battalions of grenadiers of this army of citizens formed the +advanced guard. An immense concourse of people followed by a natural +impulse this mass of bayonets that slowly descended the quays and the +rue du Gros-Caillou, towards the Champ-de-Mars. During this march, the +people congregated around the altar of the country since the morning +continued to sign the petition in peace. They were aware that the troops +were called out, but did not believe any violence was intended; their +calm and lawful method of proceeding, and the impunity of their sedition +for two years, made them believe in a perpetual impunity, and they +looked on the red flag merely as a fresh law to be despised. + +On his arrival at the glacis of the Champ-de-Mars, La Fayette divided +his forces into three columns; the first debouched by the avenue of the +Ecole Militaire, the second and third by the two successive openings +that intersect the glacis between the Ecole Militaire and the Seine. +Bailly, La Fayette, and the municipal body with the red flag, marched at +the head of the first column. The _pas de charge_ beaten by 400 drums, +and the rolling of the cannon over the stones, announced the arrival of +the national army. These sounds drowned for an instant the hollow +murmurs and the shrill cries of 50,000 men, women, and children, who +filled the centre of the Champ-de-Mars, or crowded on the glacis. At the +moment when Bailly debouched between the glacis, the populace, who from +the top of the bank looked down on the mayor, the bayonets, and the +artillery, burst into threatening shouts and furious outcries against +the national guard. "_Down with the red flag! Shame to Bailly! Death to +La Fayette!_" The people in the Champ-de-Mars responded to these cries +with unanimous imprecations. Lumps of wet mud, the only arms at hand, +were cast at the national guard, and struck La Fayette's horse, the red +flag, and Bailly himself; and it is even said that several pistol shots +were fired from a distance; this however was by no means proved,--the +people had no intention of resisting, they wished only to intimidate. +Bailly summoned them to disperse legally, to which they replied by +shouts of derision; and he then, with the grave dignity of his office, +and the mute sorrow that formed part of his character, ordered them to +be dispersed by force. La Fayette first ordered the guard to fire in the +air; but the people, encouraged by this vain demonstration, formed into +line before the national guard, who then fired a discharge that killed +and wounded 600 persons, the republicans say 10,000. At the same moment +the ranks opened, the cavalry charged, and the artillerymen prepared to +open their fire; which, on this dense mass of people, would have taken +fearful effect. La Fayette, unable to restrain his soldiers by his +voice, placed himself before the cannon's mouth, and by this heroic act +saved the lives of thousands. In an instant the Champ-de-Mars was +cleared, and nought remained on it save the dead bodies of women, +children, trampled under foot, or flying before the cavalry; and a few +intrepid men on the steps of the altar of their country, who, amidst a +murderous fire and at the cannon's mouth, collected, in order to +preserve them, the sheets of the petition, as proofs of the wishes, or +bloody pledges of the future vengeance, of the people, and they only +retired when they had obtained them. + +The columns of the national guard, and particularly the cavalry, pursued +the fugitives into the neighbouring fields, and made two hundred +prisoners. Not a man was killed on the side of the national guard; the +loss of the people is unknown. The one side diminished it, in order to +extenuate the odium of an execution without resistance; the others +augmented it, in order to rouse the people's resentment. At night, which +was already fast approaching, the bodies were cast into the Seine. +Opinions were divided as to the nature and details of this execution, +some terming it a crime, and others a painful duty; but this day of +unresisting butchery still retains the name given it by the people, _The +Massacre of the Champ-de-Mars_. + + +XV. + +The national guard, headed by La Fayette, marched victorious, but +mournful, again into Paris: it was visible by their demeanour that they +hesitated between self-congratulation and shame, as though undecided on +the justice of what they had done. Amidst a few approving acclamations +that saluted them on their passage, they heard smothered imprecations; +and the words _murderers_ and _vengeance_ were substituted for +_patriotism_ and _obedience to the law_. They passed with a gloomy air +beneath the windows of that Assembly they had so lately protected; +still more sadly and more silently beneath the windows of the palace of +that monarchy, whose cause rather than whose king, they had just +defended. Bailly, calm and glacial as the law--La Fayette, resolute and +stern as a system, knew not how to awake any feeling beyond that of +imperious duty. They furled the red flag, stained with the first drops +of blood; and dispersed, battalion after battalion, in the dark streets +of Paris, more like gendarmes after an execution, than an army returning +from a victory. + +Such was this "_Day of the Champ-de-Mars_," which gave a reign of three +months to the Assembly, by which they did not profit; which intimidated +the clubs for a few days, but which did not restore to the monarchy or +to the public tranquillity the blood it had cost. La Fayette had on this +day the destiny of the monarchy and the republic in his hands: he merely +re-established order. + + +XVI. + +The next morning Bailly appeared before the Assembly to report to them +the triumph of the law. He displayed the heartfelt sorrow of his mind, +and the masculine energy that formed part of his duty. + +"The conspiracy had been formed," said he; "it was necessary to employ +force, and severe punishment has overtaken the crime." The president +approved, in the name of the Assembly, of the mayor's conduct, and +Barnave thanked the national guard in cold and weak language, whilst his +praises seemed near akin to excuses. The enthusiasm of the victors had +already subsided, and Pétion perceiving this, rose and said a few words +concerning a _projet de décret_ that had just been proposed, against +those who should assemble the people in numbers. These words, in the +mouth of Pétion, who was well known to be the friend of Brissot and the +conspirators, were at first received with sarcastic cries by the _côté +droit_, and then with loud applause from the _côté gauche_ and the +tribunes. The victory of the Champ-de-Mars was already contested in the +Assembly, and the clubs re-opened that evening. Robespierre, Brissot, +Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Marat, who had for some days past +disappeared, now took fresh courage, for the hesitation of their enemies +reassured them,--by constantly attacking a power that was contented to +remain on the defensive, they could not fail to weary it out, and thus, +from accused they transformed themselves into accusers. Their papers +abandoned for a short time, became more malignant from their temporary +panic, and heaped ridicule and odium on Bailly and La Fayette. They +aroused the people to vengeance by displaying unceasingly before their +eyes the blood of the Champ-de-Mars. The red flag became the emblem of +the government and the winding-sheet of liberty. The conspirators +figured as victims, and constantly kept popular excitement on the rack, +by imaginary stories of the most odious persecutions. + + +XVII. + +"See," wrote Desmoulins, "see how the furious satellites of La Fayette +rush from their barracks, or rather from their taverns,--see, they +assemble and load their arms with ball, in the presence of the people, +whilst the battalions of _aristocrates_ mutually excite each other to +the massacre. It is chiefly in the eyes of the cavalry that you behold +the love of blood aroused by the double influence of wine and vengeance. +It was against women and babes that this army of butchers chiefly +directed their fury. The altar of the country is strewn with dead +bodies,--it is thus that La Fayette has dyed his hands in the gore of +citizens: those hands which, in my eyes, will ever appear to reek with +this innocent blood--this very spot where he had raised them to heaven +to swear to defend them. From this moment, the most worthy citizens are +proscribed; they are arrested in their beds, their papers are seized, +their presses broken, and lists of the names of those proscribed are +signed; the _modérés_ sign these lists, and then display them. 'Society +must be purged,' is their cry, 'of such men as _Brissot_, _Carra_, +_Pétion_, _Bonneville_, _Fréron_, _Danton_, and _Camille_.' Danton and I +found safety in flight alone from our assassins. The patriots are timid +factions." "And," added _Fréron_, "there are men to be found, who +venture to justify these cowardly murders--these informations--these +_lettres de cachet_--these seizures of papers--these confiscations of +presses. The red flag floats for a week from the balcony of the +Hôtel-de-Ville, like as in times of old, the banners torn from the grasp +of the dying foeman floated from the arched roof of our temples." In +another part he says, "Marat's presses have been seized--the name of the +author should have sufficed to protect the typographer. The press is +sacred, as sacred as the cradle of the first-born, which even the +officers of the law have orders to respect. The silence of the tomb +reigns in the city, the public places are deserted, and the theatres +re-echo alone with servile applause of royalism, that triumphs alike on +the stage and in our streets. You were impatient, Bailly, and you +treacherous, La Fayette, to employ that terrible weapon, martial law, so +dangerous, so difficult to be wielded. No, no, nought can ever efface +the indelible stain of the blood of your brethren, that has spurted over +your scarfs and your uniforms. It has sunk even to your heart--it is a +slow poison that will consume ye all." + +Whilst the revolutionary press thus infused the spirit of resentment +into the people, the clubs, reassured by the indolence of the Assembly, +and by the scrupulous legality of La Fayette, suffered but slightly the +effects of this body blow of the victory of the Champ-de-Mars. A schism +took place in the assembly of the Jacobins between the intolerant +members and its first founders, Barnave, Duport, and the two +Lameths. This schism took its rise in the great question of the +non-re-eligibility of the members of the National Assembly for the +Legislative Assembly which was so soon to succeed. The pure Jacobins, +together with Robespierre, wished that the National Assembly should +abdicate, _en masse_, and voluntarily sentence themselves to a political +ostracism, in order to make room for men of newer ideas and more imbued +with the spirit of the time. The moderate and constitutional Jacobins +looked upon this abdication as equally fatal to the monarch, as it dealt +a mortal blow to their ambition, for they wished to seize on the +direction of the power they had just created; they deemed themselves +alone competent to control the movement that they had excited, and they +sought to rule in the name of those laws of which they were the framers. +Robespierre, on the contrary, who felt his own weakness in an assembly +composed of the same elements, wished these elements to be excluded +from the new assembly: he himself suffered by the law that he laid down +for his colleagues; but with scarcely a rival to dispute his authority +at the Jacobins, they formed his assembly. His instinct or calculation +told him that the Jacobins must have supreme sway in a newly formed +assembly composed of men whose very names were unknown to the nation. +One of the faction himself, it was enough for him that the factions +reigned; and the tool he possessed in the Jacobins, and his immense +popularity, gave him the positive assurance that he should rule the +factions. + +This question, at the time of the events of the Champ-de-Mars, agitated, +and already tended to dissolve the Jacobins. The rival club of the +Feuillants, composed almost entirely of constitutionalists and members +of the National Assembly, had a more legal and monarchical appearance. +The irritation caused by the popular excesses, and their hatred for +Robespierre and Brissot, induced the ancient founders of the club to +join the Feuillants. The Jacobins trembled lest the empire of the +factions should escape them, and that division would weaken them. "It is +the court," said Camille Desmoulins, the friend of Robespierre, "it is +the court that foments this schism amongst us, and has invented this +perfidious stratagem to destroy the popular party. It knows the two +Lameths, La Fayette, Barnave, Duport, and the others who first figured +in the Jacobin assembly. 'What,' the court asked itself, 'is the aim of +all these men? their aim was to be elevated to rank and station, by the +voice of the people, and by the gales of popularity, of command of the +ministers, of gold: what they needed was court favour to serve as the +sails of their ambition; and, wanting these sails, they use the oars of +the people. Let us prove to Lameth and Barnave that they will not be +re-elected, that they cannot fill any important place before four years +have passed away. They will be indignant, and return to our party. I saw +Alexandre and Theodore Lameth the evening of the day on which +Robespierre's motion of the non-re-eligibility was carried. The Lameths +were then patriots, but the next day they were no longer the same. 'It +is impossible to submit to this,' said they,--'in concert with +Duport--we must quit France.' What! shall those who have been the +architects of the constitution undergo the mortification of witnessing +the downfall of the edifice they have reared, by this approaching system +of legislation? We shall be condemned to hear from the galleries of the +Assembly, some fool in the tribune attack our wisest enactments, which +we are denied the power of defending. Would to Heaven! that they would +quit France. Is it not enough to cause us to despise both the Assembly +and the people of Paris, when we see that the clue of this is, that the +supreme control was on the point of eluding the grasp of Lameth and La +Fayette, and that Duport and Barnave would not be again elected." + +Pétion, alarmed at these symptoms of discord, addressed the tribune of +the Jacobins in conciliatory terms--"You are lost" said he, "should the +members of the Assembly quit your party, and betake themselves _en +masse_ to the Feuillants. The empire of public opinion is deserting you; +and these countless affiliated societies, imbued with your spirit, will +sever the bonds of fraternity, and unite them to you. Forestall the +designs of your enemies. Publish an address to the affiliated societies, +and reassure them of your constitutional intentions; tell them that you +have been belied to them, and that you are no promoters of faction. Tell +them that far from wishing to disturb public tranquillity, your sole +design is to avert those troubles entailed on you by the king's +departure. Tell them that we submit to the rapid and imposing influence +of opinion, and that respect for the Assembly, fidelity to the +constitution, devotion to the cause of your country and of liberty, form +your principles." This address, dictated by the hypocrisy of fear, was +adopted and sent to all the societies in the kingdom. This measure was +followed by a remodelling of the Jacobins; the primitive nucleus alone +was suffered to remain, which re-organised the rest by the ballot over +which Pétion presided. + +On their side the Feuillants wrote to the patriotic societies of the +provinces, and for a brief space there was an interregnum of the +factions; but the societies of the provinces speedily declared _en +masse_, and with an almost unanimous and revolutionary enthusiasm, in +favour of the Jacobins. + +"Free and sincere union with our brothers in Paris:" such was the +rallying cry of the clubs. Six hundred clubs sent in their adherence to +the Jacobins; eighteen alone declared for the Feuillants. The factions +felt the importance of unity as fully as the nation, and the schism of +opinion was stifled by the enthusiasm for the grandeur of their work, +Pétion, in a letter to his constituents which made a great sensation, +spoke of these fruitless attempts at dissension amongst the patriots, +and denounced those who dissented from it. "I tremble for my country," +said he; "the _modérés_ are meditating the reform of the constitution +already; and to place again in the king's hands the power the people +have scarcely acquired. My mind is overwhelmed by these gloomy +reflections, and I despond. I am ready to quit the post you have +confided to me. Oh, my country, be but thou saved, and I shall breathe +my last sigh in peace!" + +Such were Pétion's words, and from that hour he became the idol of the +people. He possessed neither the abilities nor the audacity of +Robespierre; but he had hypocrisy, that shameless veil of doubtful +positions. The people believed him to be sincere, and his speeches had +the same influence over them as his reputation. + + +XVIII. + +The coalition which he denounced to the people was true. Barnave had an +understanding with the court. Malouet, an eloquent and able member of +the right, had an understanding with Barnave: a plan for modifying the +constitution had been concerted between these two men--yesterday foes, +to-day allies. The moment was come for uniting in one general measure +all these scattered laws valid during a revolution of thirty months. In +separating, on this review of the acts of the Assembly, what was +integral from that which was not, the occasion must arise for a revision +of every act of the constitution. It was, therefore, the moment to +profit (in order to amend them in a sense more monarchical), by the +reaction produced by La Fayette's victory. What impulse and anger had +too violently taken from the prerogatives of the crown, reason and +reflection could restore to it. The same men who had placed the +executive power in the hands of the Assembly, hoped to be able to +withdraw it from them. They believed they could effect every thing by +their eloquence and popularity. Like all who are descending the tide of +a revolution, they thought they were able to ascend the stream with +equal ease. They did not see that their strength, of which they were so +proud, was not in themselves, but in the current which bore them along. +Events were about to teach them that there is no opposing passions to +which concession has been once made. The strength of a statesman is his +power. One concession, how slight soever, to factions, is an irrevocable +engagement with them: when once we consent to become their instrument, +we may be made their idol and their victim, never their master. Barnave +was doomed to learn this when too late; and the Girondists were to learn +it after him. The plan was thus arranged:--Malouet was to ascend the +tribune, and in a vehement but well-reasoned discourse was to attack all +the errors of the constitution; he was to demonstrate that if these +vices were not amended by the Assembly before the constitution itself +should be presented to the king and the people to swear to, it would be +anarchy registered by an oath. The three hundred members of the _côté +droit_ were to support the charges of their spokesman by vehement +plaudits. Barnave was then to demand a reply, and in a discourse, +apparently much excited, was to have vindicated the constitution from +the invectives of Malouet, at the same time conceding that as this +constitution was suddenly produced by the enthusiastic ardour of the +Revolution, and under the impulse of desperately contending +circumstances, there might be some imperfections in a certain portion of +the construction; that the grave consideration and wisdom of the +Assembly might remedy these errors before it dissolved; and that, +amongst other ameliorations which might be applied to this work, they +might retouch two or three articles in which the power assigned to the +executive authority and the legislative authority had been ill defined, +so as to restore to the executive power the independence and scope +indispensable to their existence. The friends of Barnave, Lameth, and +Duport, as well as all the members of the left, would have clamorously +supported the speaker, except Robespierre, Pétion, Buzot, and the +republicans. A commission would have been instantly named for the +special revision of the articles alluded to. This commission would have +made its report before the end of the meeting of the chambers; and the +three hundred votes of Malouet, united to the constitutional votes of +Barnave, would have assured to the monarchical amendments the majority +which was to restore royalty. + + +XIX. + +But the members of the right refused to give their unanimous concurrence +to this plan. "To amend the constitution was to sanction revolt. To +unite themselves with the factious, was to become factious themselves. +To restore royalty by the hands of a Barnave, was to degrade the king +even to gratitude towards a member of a faction. Their hopes had not +fallen so low that it was thus they had but the option of accepting a +character in a comedy of startled revolutionists. Their hopes were not +in any amelioration of present ill, but in its progress towards worse. +The very excess of disorder would punish disorder itself. The king was +at the Tuileries, but royalty was not there--it was at Coblentz, it was +on all the thrones of Europe. Monarchies were all in connection; they +knew very well how to restore the French monarchy without the fellowship +of those who had overturned it." + +Thus reasoned the members of the right. Feelings and resentments closed +their ears to the counsels of moderation and wisdom, and the monarchy +was not less systematically pushed towards its catastrophe by the hand +of its friends than that of its enemies. The plan was abortive. + +Whilst the captive king kept up a twofold understanding with his +emigrant brothers to learn the strength and inclination of foreign +powers, and with Barnave to attempt the conquest of the Assembly, the +Assembly itself lost its power; and the spirit of the Revolution, +quitting the place in which it had no longer any hopes, went to excite +the clubs and municipalities, and bestow its energies on the elections. +The Assembly had committed the fault of declaring its members not +re-eligible for the new legislature. This act of renunciation of itself, +which resembled the heroism of disinterestedness, was in reality the +sacrifice of the country; it was the ostracism of superior power, and an +assurance of triumph to mediocrity. A nation how rich soever in genius +and virtue, never possesses more than a definite number of great +citizens. Nature is chary of superiority. The social conditions +necessary to form a public man are rarely in combination. Intelligence, +clear-sightedness, virtue, character, independence, leisure, fortune, +consideration already acquired, and devotion,--all this is seldom united +in one individual. An entire society is not decapitated with impunity. +Nations are like their soil: after having pared off the vegetable earth, +we find only the sand beneath, and that is unproductive. The Constituent +Assembly had forgotten this truth, or rather its abdication had assumed +the form of a vengeance. The royalist party had voted the +non-re-eligibility, in order that the Revolution, thus eluding Barnave's +grasp, should fall into the clutch of the demagogues. The republican +party had voted in order to annihilate the constitutionalists. The +constitutionalists voted in order to chastise the ingratitude of the +people, and to make themselves regretted by the unworthy spectacle which +they expected their successors would present. It was a vote of +contending passions, all evil, and which could only produce a loss to +all parties. The king alone was averse from this measure. He perceived +repentance in the National Assembly--he was in communication with its +leading members--he had the key to many consciences. A new nation, +unknown and impatient, was about to present it before him in a new +Assembly. The reports of the press, the clubs, and places of popular +bruit told him, but too plainly, on what men the excited people would +bestow their confidence. He preferred known, exhausted, opponents, men +partly gained over, to new and ardent enemies who would surpass in +exactions those they replaced. To them there only remained his throne to +overthrow,--to him there was left to yield but his life. + + +XX. + +The principal names discussed in the public newspapers in Paris, were +those of Condorcet, Brissot, Danton;--in the departments, those of +Vergniaud, Guadet, Isnard, Louvet,--who were afterwards Girondists; and +those of Thuriot, Merlin, Carnot, Couthon, Danton, Saint Just, who, +subsequently united with Robespierre, were, by turns, his instruments or +his victims. Condorcet was a philosopher, as intrepid in his actions as +bold in his speculations. His political creed was a consequence of his +philosophy. He believed in the divinity of reason, and in the +omnipotence of the human understanding, with liberty as its handmaid. +Heaven, the abode of all ideal perfections, and in which man places his +most beautiful dreams, was limited by Condorcet to earth: his science +was his virtue; the human mind his deity. The intellect impregnated by +science, and multiplied by time, it appeared to him must triumph +necessarily over all the resistance of matter; must lay bare all the +creative powers of nature, and renew the face of creation. He had made +of this system a line of politics, whose first idea was to adore the +future and abhor the past. He had the cool fanaticism of logic, and the +reflective anger of conviction. A pupil of Voltaire, D'Alembert, and +Helvetius, he, like Bailly, was of that intermediate generation by which +philosophy was embodied with the Revolution. More ambitious than Bailly, +he had not his impassibility. Aristocrat by birth, he, like Mirabeau, +had passed over to the camp of the people. Hated by the court, he hated +it as do all renegades. He had become one of the people, in order to +convert the people into the army of philosophy. He wanted of the +republic no more than was sufficient to overturn its prejudices. Ideas +once become victorious,--he would willingly have confided it to the +control of a constitutional monarchy. He was rather a man for dispute +than a man of anarchy. Aristocrats always carry with them, into the +popular party, the desire of order and command. They would fain + + "Ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm." + +Real anarchists are those who are impatient of having always obeyed, and +feel themselves impotent to command. Condorcet had edited the _Chronique +de Paris_ from 1789. It was a journal of constitutional doctrines, but +in which the throbbings of anger were perceivable beneath the cool and +polished hand of the philosopher. Had Condorcet been endowed with warmth +and command of language, he might have been the Mirabeau of another +assembly. He had his earnestness and constancy, but had not the +resounding and energetic tone which made his own soul and feelings felt +by another. The club of electors of Paris, who met at La Sainte +Chapelle, elected Condorcet to the chamber. The same club returned +Danton. + + +XXI. + +Danton, whom the Revolution had found an obscure barrister at the +Châtelet, had increased with it in influence. He had already that +celebrity which the multitude easily assigns to him whom it sees every +where, and always listens to. He was one of those men who seem born of +the stir of revolutions, and which float on its surface until it +swallows them up. All in him was like the mass--athletic, rude, coarse. +He pleased them because he resembled them. His eloquence was like the +loud clamour of the mob. His brief and decisive phrases had the martial +curtness of command. His irresistible gestures gave impulse to his +plebeian auditories. Ambition was his sole line of politics. Devoid of +honour, principles, or morality, he only loved democracy because it was +exciting. It was his element, and he plunged into it. He sought there +not so much command as that voluptuous sensuality which man finds in the +rapid movement which bears him away with it. He was intoxicated with the +revolutionary vertigo as a man becomes drunken with wine; yet he bore +his intoxication well. He had that superiority of calmness in the +confusion he created, which enabled him to control it: preserving +_sangfroid_ in his excitement and his temper, even in a moment of +passion, he jested with the clubs in their stormiest moods. A burst of +laughter interrupted bitterest imprecations; and he amused the people +even whilst he impelled them to the uttermost pitch of fury. Satisfied +with his two-fold ascendency, he did not care to respect it himself, and +neither spoke to it of principles nor of virtue, but solely of force. +Himself, he adored force, and force only. His sole genius was contempt +for honesty; and he esteemed himself above all the world, because he had +trampled under foot all scruples. Every thing was to him a means. He was +a statesman of materialism, playing the popular game, with no end but +the terrible game itself, with no stake but his life, and with no +responsibility beyond nonentity. Such a man must be profoundly +indifferent either to despotism or to liberty. His contempt of the +people must incline him rather to the side of tyranny. When we can +detect nothing divine in men, the better part to play is to make use of +them. We can only serve well that which we respect. He was only with the +people because he was of the people, and thus the people ought to +triumph. He would have betrayed it, as he served it, unscrupulously. The +court well knew the tariff of his conscience. He threatened it in order +to make it desirous of buying him; he only opened his mouth in order to +have it stuffed with gold. His most revolutionary movements were but the +marked prices at which he was purchaseable. His hand was in every +intrigue, and his honesty was not checked by any offer of corruption. He +was bought daily, and next morning was again for sale. Mirabeau, La +Fayette, Montmorin, M. de Laporte, the intendant of the civil list, the +Duc d'Orleans, the king himself, all knew his price. Money had flowed +with him from all sources, even the most impure, without remaining with +him. Any other individual would have felt shame before men and parties +who had the secret of his dishonour; but he only was not ashamed, and +looked them in the face without a blush. His was the quietude of +vice.[3] He was the focus of all those men who seek in events nothing +but fortune and impunity. But others had only the baseness of +crime--Danton's vices partook of the heroic--his intellect was all but +genius. He had upon him the bright flash of circumstances, but it was as +sinister as his face. Immorality, which was the infirmity of his mind, +was in his eyes the essence of his ambition; he cultivated it in himself +as the element of future greatness. He pitied any body who respected any +thing. Such a man had of necessity a vast ascendency over the bad +passions of the multitude. He kept them in continual agitation, and +always boiling on the surface ready to flow into any torrent, even if it +were of blood. + + +XXII. + +Brissot de Warville was another of these popular candidates for the +representation. As this individual was the root of the Girondist party, +the first apostle and first martyr of the republic, we ought to know +him. Brissot was the son of a pastrycook at Chartres, and had received +his education in that city with Pétion, his fellow countryman. An +adventurer in literature, he had begun by assuming the name of +_Warville_, which concealed his own. It is a plebeian nobility not to +blush at one's father's name. Brissot had not done so. He began by +furtively appropriating one of the titles of that aristocracy of races +against which he was about to raise equality. Like Rousseau in every +thing but his genius, he sought his fortune hither and thither, and +descended even lower than he into misery and intrigue, before he +acquired celebrity. Dispositions become weakened and stained by such a +struggle with the difficulties of life in the dregs of great corrupted +cities. Rousseau had paraded his indigence and his reveries in the bosom +of nature; and as its consideration calms and purifies everything he +quitted it a philosopher. Brissot had dragged his misery and vanity into +the heart of Paris and of London, and into those haunts of infamy in +which adventurers and pamphleteers drag on a filthy existence: he left +them an intriguer. Yet in the very midst of these vices which had +rendered his honesty dubious, and name bespotted, he nurtured in the +depths of his soul three virtues capable of again elevating him--an +unshaken love for a young girl, whom he married in spite of his family, +a love of occupation, and a courage against the difficulties of life, +which he had afterwards to display in the face of death. His philosophy +was identical with Rousseau's. He believed in God. He had faith in +liberty, truth, and virtue. He had in his soul that unqualified devotion +towards the human species which is the charity of philosophers. He +detested society, for in it there was no place awarded to him; but what +he hated with unmitigated hate was the state of society; its +prejudices--its falsehoods. He would have recast it, less for himself +than for the benefit of mankind. He would have consented to be crushed +beneath its ruins, provided those ruins were to give place to his ideal +plan of the government of reason. Brissot was one of those mercenary +scribes who write for those who pay best. He had written on all +subjects, for every minister; especially Turgot. Criminal laws, +political economy, diplomacy, literature, philosophy, even libels,--his +pen was at the hire of the first comer. Seeking the support of +celebrated and influential men, he had adulated all from Voltaire and +Franklin down to Marat. Known to Madame de Genlis, he had, through her, +some acquaintance with the Duc d'Orleans. Sent to London by the minister +on one of those missions which are nameless, he there became connected +with the editor of the _Courrier de l'Europe_, a French journal, printed +in London, and the boldness of whose style was offensive at the court of +the Tuileries. He engaged himself to Swinton, the proprietor of this +newspaper, and edited it in a manner favorable to the views of +Vergennes. He knew at Swinton's several writers, amongst others one +Morande. These libellers, outcasts of society, frequently then become +the refuse of the pen, and live at the same time on the disgraces of +vice and in the pay of spies. Their collision infected Brissot. He was +or appeared to be sometimes their accomplice. Hideous blotches thus +stain his life, and were cruelly revived by his enemies, when the time +came in which he was compelled to appeal to public esteem. + +Returning to France at the first symptoms of the Revolution, he watched +its successive phases, with the ambition of an impatient man, and with +the indecision of one not knowing what part to take. He was frequently +wrong. He compromised himself by his devotion, too early displayed, +towards certain men who had seemed to him for a moment to be all +powerful, especially towards La Fayette. Editor of the _Patriote +Français_, he had occasionally put forth revolutionary feelers, and +flattered the future by going even faster than the factions themselves. +He had even been disowned by Robespierre. "Whilst I content myself," +said Robespierre, referring to him, "with defending the principles of +liberty, without opening any other question, what are you doing, Brissot +and Condorcet? Known until now by your great moderation and your +connection with La Fayette, for a long time followers of the +aristocratic club of '89, you suddenly blazon forth the word Republic. +You issue a journal entitled the _Republican_! Then minds become in a +ferment. The mere word Republic throws division amongst patriots, and +affords to our enemies a pretext which they seek for announcing that +there exists in France a party which conspires against the monarchy and +the constitution. Under this title we are persecuted, and peaceable +citizens are sacrificed on the altars of their country! At this name we +are transformed into factions, and the Revolution is made to recede, +perhaps, half a century. It was at the same moment that Brissot came to +the Jacobins, where he had never before appeared, to propose a republic +of which the simplest rules of prudence had forbidden us to speak in the +National Assembly. By what fatality did Brissot find himself there? I +would fain discover no craft in his conduct; I would prefer detecting +only imprudence and folly. But now that his connection with La Fayette +and Narbonne are no longer a mystery--now that he no longer dissimulates +his schemes of dangerous innovations, let him clearly understand that +the nation will at once and effectually break through all the plots +framed during so many years by pitiful intriguers." + +So spake Robespierre, jealous by anticipation, and yet just, on +Brissot's presenting himself as a candidate. The Revolution rejected +him, the Counter-revolution repudiated him no less. Brissot's old allies +in London, especially Morande, returned to Paris under cover of the +troublous times, revealed to the Parisians in the _Argus_, and in +placards, the secret intrigues and the disgraceful literary career of +their former associate. They quoted actual letters, in which Brissot had +lied unblushingly as to his name, the condition of his family, and his +father's fortune, in order to acquire Swinton's confidence, to gain +credit, and make dupes in England. The proofs were damning. A +considerable sum had been extorted from a man named Desforges, under +pretence of erecting an institution in London, and this sum had been +expended by Brissot on himself. This was but a trifle: Brissot, on +quitting England, had left in the hands of this Desforges twenty-four +letters, which but too plainly established his participation in the +infamous trade of libels carried on by his allies. It was proved to +demonstration that Brissot had connived at the sending into France, and +the propagation of, odious pamphlets by Morande. The journals hostile to +his election seized on these scandalous facts, and held them up to +public obloquy. He was, besides, accused of having extracted from the +funds of the district of the _Filles-Saint-Thomas_, of which he was +president, a sum for his own purse, long forgotten. His defence was +laboured and obscure; yet it was held by the club of the Rue de la +Michodière sufficient proof of his innocence and integrity. Some +journals, solely occupied with the political bearing of his life, took +up his defence, and made loud complaints against his calumny. Manuel, +his friend, who edited a vile journal, wrote thus, to console +him:--"These ordures of calumny, spread abroad at the moment of +scrutiny, always end by leaving a dirty stain on those who scatter them. +But it is allowing a triumph to the enemies of the people, to repulse +thus a man who fearlessly attacks them. They give me votes, in spite of +my drivellings, and my love of the bottle. Leave 'Père Duchesne'[4] +alone, and let us nominate Brissot; he is a better man than I am." + +Marat, in his _Ami du Peuple_, wrote thus ambiguously of +Brissot:--"Brissot," says the Friend of the People, "was never, in my +eyes, a thorough-going patriot. Either from ambition or baseness, he has +up to this time betrayed the duties of a good citizen. Why has he been +so tardy in leaving a system of hypocrisy? Poor Brissot, thou art the +victim of a court valet, of a base hypocrite!--why lend thy paw to La +Fayette? Why, thou must expect to experience the fate of all men of +indecision. Thou hast displeased every body; thou canst never make thy +way. If thou hast one atom of proper feeling left, hasten, and scratch +out thy name from the list of candidates for the approaching general +election." + +Thus appeared on the scene for the first time, in the midst of the +hootings of both parties, this man, who attempted in vain to escape from +the general contempt accumulated on his name from the faults of his +youth, in order to enter on the gravity of his political career--a +mingled character, half intrigue, half virtue. Brissot, destined to +serve as the centre of a rallying point to the party of the _Gironde_, +had, by anticipation in his character, all there was in after days, of +destiny in his party, of intrigue and patriotism, of faction and +martyrdom. The other marked candidates in Paris, were, Pastoret, a man +of the South, prudent and skilful as a Southron, steering ably betwixt +parties, giving sufficient guarantee to the Revolution to be accepted by +it, enough devotion to the court to retain its secret confidence; borne +hither and thither by the alternating favours of the two opinions, like +a man who seeks fortune for his talent in the Revolution, but never +looking for it beyond the limits of the just and honourable. Lacepede, +Cérutti, Héraut de Séchelles, and Gouvion, La Fayette's aide-de-camp. +The elections of the department occupied but little attention. The +National Assembly had exhausted the country of its characters and its +talents; the ostracism it had exercised had imposed on France but +secondary ability. There was but little enthusiasm for untried men: the +public eyes were only fixed on the names about to disappear. A country +cannot contain a twofold renown: that of France was departing with the +members of the dissolved Assembly--another France was about to rise. + + + + +BOOK IV. + + +I. + +At this juncture the germ of a new opinion began to display itself in +the south, and Bordeaux felt its full influence. The department of the +Gironde had given birth to a new political party in the twelve citizens +who formed its deputies. This department, far removed from the _centre_, +was at no distant period to seize on the empire alike of opinion and of +eloquence. The names (obscure and unknown up to this period) of _Ducos, +Guadet, Lafond-Ladebat, Grangeneuve, Gensonné, Vergniaud_, were about to +rise into notice and renown with the storms and the disasters of their +country; they were the men who were destined to give that impulse to the +Revolution that had hitherto remained in doubt and indecision, before +which it still trembled with apprehension, and which was to precipitate +it into a republic. Why was this impulse fated to have birth in the +department of the Gironde and not in Paris? Nought but conjectures can +be offered on this subject; and yet perhaps the republican spirit was +more likely to manifest itself at Bordeaux than at Paris, where the +presence and influence of a court had for ages past enervated the +independence of character, and enfeebled the austerity of principle that +form the basis of patriotism and liberty. The states of Languedoc, and +the habits that necessarily result from the administration of a province +governed by itself, could not fail to predispose the inclination of the +Gironde in favour of an elective and federative government. Bordeaux was +a parliamentary country; the parliaments had every where encouraged the +spirit of resistance, and had often created a factious feeling against +the king. Bordeaux was a commercial city, and commerce, which requires +liberty through interest, at last desires it through a love of freedom. +Bordeaux was the great commercial link between America and France, and +their constant intercourse with America had communicated to the Gironde +their love for free institutions. Moreover Bordeaux was more exposed to +the enlightening influence of the sun of philosophy than the centre of +France. Philosophy had germed there ere it arose in Paris, for Bordeaux +was the birthplace of Montaigne and Montesquieu, those two great +republicans of the French school. The one had deeply investigated the +religious dogmata, the other the political institutions; and the +president Dupaty had long after awakened there enthusiasm for the new +system of philosophy. Bordeaux, in addition, was a country where the +traditions of liberty and the _Roman Forum_ had been perpetuated in the +bar. A certain leaven of antiquity animated each heart, and lent vigour +to every tongue, and the town was still more republican by eloquence +than by opinion, though there was something of Latin emphasis in their +patriotism. It was in the birthplace of Montaigne and Montesquieu that +the republic was to take its origin. + + +II. + +The period of the elections was the signal for a still more obstinate +attack from the public press. The papers were insufficient: men sold +pamphlets in the streets, and the "_Journaux affiches_" were invented, +which were placarded against the walls of Paris, and around which groups +of people were constantly collected. Wandering orators, inspired or +hired by the different parties, took their stand there and commented +aloud on these impassioned productions:--Loustalot, in the _Revolutions +de Paris_, founded by Prudhomme, and continued alternately by Chaumette +and Fabre d'Eglantine; Marat, in the _Publiciste_ and the _Ami du +Peuple_; Brissot, in the _Patriote Française_; Gorsas, in the _Courier +de Versailles_; Condorcet, in the _Chronique de Paris_, Cérutti, in the +_Feuille Villageoise_; Camille Desmoulins, in the _Discours de la +Lanterne_, and the _Revolutions de Brabant_; Fréron, in the _Orateur du +Peuple_; Hébert and Manuel, in the _Père Duchesne_; Carra, in the +_Annales Patriotiques;_ Fleydel, in the _Observateur_; Laclos, in the +_Journal des Jacobins_; Fauchet, in the _Bouche de Fer_; Royon, in the +_Ami du Roi_; Champcenetz-Rivarol, in the _Actes des Apôtres_; Suleau +and André Chénier, in several _royaliste_ or _modérée_ papers,--excited +and disputed dominion over the minds of the people. It was the ancient +tribune transported to the dwelling of each citizen, and adapting its +language to the comprehension of all men, even the most illiterate. +Anger, suspicion, hatred, envy, fanaticism, credulity, invective, thirst +of blood, sudden panics, madness and reflection, treason and fidelity, +eloquence and folly, had each their organ in this concert of every +passion and feeling in which the city revelled each night. All toil was +at an end; the only labour in their eyes was to watch the throne, to +frustrate the real or fancied plots of the aristocracy, and to save +their country. The hoarse bawling of the vendors of the public journals, +the patriotic chaunts of the Jacobins as they quitted their clubs, the +tumultuous assemblies, the convocations to the patriotic ceremonies, +fallacious fears as to the failure of provisions--kept the population of +the city and faubourgs in a perpetual state of excitement, which +suffered no one to remain inactive; indifference would have been +considered treason; and it was necessary to feign enthusiasm in order to +be in accordance with public opinion. Each fresh event quickened this +feverish excitement, which the press constantly instilled into the veins +of the people. Its language already bordered on delirium, and borrowed +from the population even their proverbs, their love of trifles, their +obscenity, their brutality, and even their oaths, with which the +articles were interlarded, as though to impress more forcibly its hatred +on the ear of its foes. Danton, Hébert, and Marat were the first to +adopt this tone, these gestures, and these exclamations of the populace, +as though to flatter them by imitating their vices. Robespierre never +condescended to this, and never sought to obtain ascendency over the +people by pandering to their brutality, but by appealing to their +reason; and the fanatical tone of his speeches possessed at least that +decency that attends great ideas--he ruled by respect, and scorned to +captivate them by familiarity. The more he gained the confidence of the +lower classes, the more did he affect the philosophical tone and austere +demeanour of the statesman. It was plainly perceptible in his most +radical propositions, that however he might wish to renew social order +he would not corrupt its elements, and that his eyes to emancipate the +people was not to degrade them. + + +III. + +It was at this period that the Assembly ordered the removal of +Voltaire's remains to the Pantheon: philosophy thus avenged itself on +the anathemas that had been thundered forth, even against the ashes of +the great innovator. The body of Voltaire, on his death, in Paris, +A.D. 1778, had been furtively removed by his nephew at night, +and interred in the church of the abbey of Sellières in Champagne; and +when the nation sold this abbey, the cities of Troyes and Romilly +mutually contended for the honour of possessing the bones of the +greatest man of the age. The city of Paris, where he had breathed his +last, now claimed its privilege as the capital of France, and addressed +a petition to the National Assembly, praying that Voltaire's body might +be brought back to Paris and interred in the Pantheon, that cathedral of +philosophy. The Assembly eagerly hailed the idea of this homage, that +traced liberty back to its original source. "The people owe their +freedom to him," said Regnault de Saint Jean d'Angély; "for by +enlightening them, he gave them power; nations are enthralled by +ignorance alone, and when the torch of reason displays to them the +ignominy of bearing these chains, they blush to wear them, and snap them +asunder." + +On the 11th of July, the departmental and municipal authorities went in +state to the barrier of Charenton, to receive the mortal remains of +Voltaire, which were placed on the ancient site of the Bastille, like a +conqueror on his trophies; his coffin was exposed to public gaze, and a +pedestal was formed for it of stones torn from the foundations of this +ancient stronghold of tyranny; and thus Voltaire when dead triumphed +over those stones which had triumphed over and confined him when living. +On one of the blocks was the inscription, "_Receive on this spot, where +despotism once fettered thee, the honours decreed to thee by thy +country_." + + +IV. + +The next day, when the rays of a brilliant sun had dissipated the mists +of the night, an immense concourse of people followed the car that bore +Voltaire to the Pantheon. This car was drawn by twelve white horses, +harnessed four abreast; their manes plaited with flowers and golden +tassels, and the reins held by men dressed in antique costumes, like +those depicted on the medals of ancient triumphs. On the car was a +funeral couch, extended on which was a statue of the philosopher, +crowned with a wreath. The National Assembly, the departmental and +municipal bodies, the constituted authorities, the magistrates, and the +army, surrounded, preceded, and followed the sarcophagus. The +boulevards, the streets, the public places, the windows, the roofs of +houses, even the trees, were crowded with spectators; and the suppressed +murmurs of vanquished intolerance could not restrain this feeling of +enthusiasm. Every eye was riveted on the car; for the new school of +ideas felt that it was the proof of their victory that was passing +before them, and that philosophy remained mistress of the field of +battle. + +The details of this ceremony were magnificent; and in spite of its +profane and theatrical trappings, the features of every man that +followed the car wore the expression of joy, arising from an +intellectual triumph. A large body of cavalry, who seemed to have now +offered their arms at the shrine of intelligence, opened the march. Then +followed the muffled drums, to whose notes were added the roar of the +artillery that formed a part of the cortège. The scholars of the +colleges of Paris, the patriotic societies, the battalions of the +national guard, the workmen of the different public journals, the +persons employed to demolish the foundations of the Bastille, some +bearing a portable press, which struck off different inscriptions in +honour of Voltaire, as the procession moved on; others carrying the +chains, the collars and bolts, and bullets found in the dungeons and +arsenals of the state prisons; and lastly, busts of Voltaire, Rousseau, +and Mirabeau, marched between the troops and the populace. On a litter +was displayed the _procès-verbal_ of the electors of '89, that _Hegyra_ +of the insurrection. On another stand, the citizens of the Faubourg +Saint Antoine exhibited a plan in relief of the Bastille, the flag of +the donjon, and a young girl, in the costume of an Amazon, who had +fought at the siege of this fortress. Here and there, pikes surmounted +with the Phrygian cap of liberty arose above the crowd, and on one of +them was a scroll bearing the inscription, "_From this steel sprung +Liberty!_" + +All the actors and actresses of the theatres of Paris followed the +statue of him who for sixty years had inspired them; the titles of his +principal works were inscribed on the sides of a pyramid that +represented his immortality. His statue, formed of gold and crowned with +laurel, was borne on the shoulders of citizens, wearing the costumes of +the nations and the times whose manners and customs he had depicted; and +the seventy volumes of his works were contained in a casket, also of +gold. The members of the learned bodies, and of the principal academies +of the kingdom surrounded this ark of philosophy. Numerous bands of +music, some marching with the troops, others stationed along the road of +the procession, saluted the car as it passed with loud bursts of +harmony, and filled the air with the enthusiastic strains of liberty. +The procession stopped before the principal theatres, a hymn was sung in +honour of his genius, and the car then resumed its march. On their +arrival at the quai that bears his name, the car stopped before the +house of M. de Villette, where Voltaire had breathed his last, and where +his heart was preserved. Evergreen shrubs, garlands of leaves, and +wreaths of roses decorated the front of the house, which bore the +inscription, "_His fame is every where, and his heart is here_." Young +girls dressed in white, and wreaths of flowers on their heads, covered +the steps of an amphitheatre erected before the house. Madame de +Villette, to whom Voltaire had been a second father, in all the +splendour of her beauty, and the pathos of her tears, advanced and +placed the noblest of all his wreaths, the wreath of filial affection, +on the head of the great philosopher. + +At this moment the crowd burst into one of the hymns of the poet +Chénier, who, up to his death, most of all men cherished the memory of +Voltaire. Madame de Villette and the young girls of the amphitheatre +descended into the street, now strewed with flowers, and walked before +the car. The Théâtre Français, then situated in the Faubourg St. +Germain, had erected a triumphal arch on its peristyle. On each pillar a +medallion was fixed, bearing in letters of gilt bronze the title of the +principal dramas of the poet; on the pedestal of the statue erected +before the door of the theatre was written, "_He wrote Irène at +eighty-three years; at seventeen he wrote OEdipus_." + +The immense procession did not arrive at the Pantheon until ten o'clock +at night, for the day had not been sufficiently long for this triumph. +The coffin of Voltaire was deposited between those of Descartes and +Mirabeau,--the spot predestined for this intermediary genius between +philosophy and policy, between the design and the execution. This +apotheosis of modern philosophy, amidst the great events that agitated +the public mind, was a convincing proof that the Revolution comprehended +its own aim, and that it sought to be the inauguration of those two +principles represented by these cold ashes--Intelligence and Liberty. It +was intelligence that triumphantly entered the city of Louis XIV. over +the ruins of the prejudices of birth. It was philosophy taking +possession of the city and the temple of Sainte Geneviève. The remains +of two schools, of two ages, and two creeds were about to strive for the +mastery even in the tomb. Philosophy who, up to this hour, had timidly +shrunk from the contest, now revealed her latest inspiration--that of +transferring the veneration of the age from one great man to another. + + +V. + +Voltaire, the sceptical genius of France in modern ages, combined, in +himself, the double passion of this people at such a period--the passion +of destruction, and the desire of innovation, hatred of prejudices, and +love of knowledge: he was destined to be the standard-bearer of +destruction; his genius, although not the most elevated, yet the most +comprehensive in France, has hitherto been only judged by fanatics or +his enemies. Impiety deified his very vices; superstition anathematised +his very virtues; in a word, despotism, when it again seized on the +reins of government in France, felt that to reinstate tyranny it would +be necessary first to unseat Voltaire from his high position in the +national opinion. Napoleon, during fifteen years, paid writers who +degrade, vilify, and deny the genius of Voltaire; he hated his name, as +_might_ must ever hate _intellect_; and so long as men yet cherished the +memory of Voltaire, so long he felt his position was not secure, for +tyranny stands as much in need of prejudice to sustain it as falsehood +of uncertainty and darkness; the restored church could no longer suffer +his glory to shine with so great a lustre; she had the right to hate +Voltaire, not to deny his genius. + +If we judge of men by what they have _done_, then Voltaire is +incontestably the greatest writer of modern Europe. No one has caused, +through the powerful influence of his genius alone, and the perseverance +of his will, so great a commotion in the minds of men; his pen aroused a +world, and has shaken a far mightier empire than that of Charlemagne, +the European empire of a theocracy. His genius was not _force_ but +_light_. Heaven had destined him not to destroy but to illuminate, and +wherever he trod light followed him, for reason (which is _light_) had +destined him to be first her poet, then her apostle, and lastly her +idol. + + +VI. + +Voltaire was born a plebeian in an obscure street of old Paris.[5] +Whilst Louis XIV. and Bossuet reigned in all the pomp of absolute power +and Catholicism at Versailles, the child of the people, the Moses of +incredulity, grew up amidst them: the secrets of destiny seem thus to +sport with men, and are alone suspected when they have exploded. The +throne and the altar had attained their culminating point in France. The +Duc d'Orleans, as regent, governed during an interregnum,--one vice in +the room of another, weakness instead of pride. This life was easy and +agreeable, and corruption avenged itself for the monacal austerity of +the last years of Madame de Mainténon and Letellier. Voltaire, alike +precocious by audacity as by talent, began already to sport with those +weapons of the mind of which he was destined, after years, to make so +terrible a use. The regent, all unsuspicious of danger, suffered him to +continue, and repressed, for form's sake alone, some of the most +audacious of his outbreaks, at which he laughed even whilst he punished +them. The incredulity of the age took its rise in debauchery and not in +examination, and the independence of thought was rather a _libertinage_ +of manners, than a conclusion arising from reflection. There was vice in +irreligion, and of this Voltaire always savoured. His mission began by a +contempt and derision of holy things, which, even though doomed to +destruction, should be touched with respect. From thence arose that +mockery, that irony, that cynicism too often on the lips, and in the +heart, of the apostle of reason; his visit to England gave assurance and +gravity to his incredulity, for in France he had only known libertines, +in London he knew philosophers; he became passionately attached to +eternal reason, as we are all eager after what is new, and he felt the +enthusiasm of the discovery. In so active a nature as the French, this +enthusiasm and this hatred could not remain in mere speculation as in +the mind of a native of the north. Scarcely was he himself persuaded, +than he wished in his turn to persuade others; his whole life became a +multiplied action, tending to one end, the abolition of theocracy, and +the establishment of religious toleration and liberty. He toiled at this +with all the powers with which God had gifted him; he even employed +falsehood (_ruse_), aspersion, cynicism, and immorality: he used even +those arms that respect for God and man denies to the wise; he employed +his virtue, his honour, his renown, to aid in this overthrow; and his +apostleship of reason had too often the appearance of a profanation of +piety; he ravaged the temple instead of protecting it. + +From the day when he resolved upon this war against Christianity he +sought for allies also opposed to it. His intimacy with the king of +Prussia, Frederic II., had this sole inducement. He desired the support +of thrones against the priesthood. Frederic, who partook of his +philosophy, and pushed it still further, even to atheism and the +contempt of mankind, was the Dionysius of this modern Plato. Louis XV., +whose interest it was to keep up a good understanding with Prussia, +dared not to show his anger against a man whom the king considered as +his friend. Voltaire, thus protected by a sceptre, redoubled his +audacity. He put thrones on one side, whilst he affected to make their +interests mutual with his own, by pretending to emancipate them from the +domination of Rome. He handed over to kings the civil liberty of the +people, provided that they would aid him in acquiring the liberty of +consciences. He even affected--perhaps he felt--respect for the absolute +power of kings. He pushed that respect so far as even to worship their +weaknesses. He palliated the infamous vices of the great Frederic, and +brought philosophy on its knees before the mistresses of Louis XV. Like +the courtezan of Thebes, who built one of the pyramids of Egypt from the +fruits of her debaucheries, Voltaire did not blush at any prostitution +of genius, provided that the wages of his servility enabled him to +purchase enemies against Christ. He enrolled them by millions throughout +Europe, and especially in France. Kings were reminded of the middle +ages, and of the thrones outraged by the popes. They did not see, +without umbrage and secret hate, the clergy as powerful as themselves +with the people, and who under the name of cardinals, almoners, bishops +or confessors, spied, or dictated its creeds even to courts themselves. +The parliaments, that civil clergy, a body redoubtable to sovereigns +themselves, detested the mass of the clergy, although they protected its +faith and its decrees. The nobility, warlike, corrupted, and ignorant, +leaned entirely to the unbelief which freed it from all morality. +Finally, the _bourgeoisie_, well-informed or learned, prefaced the +emancipation of the third estate by the insurrection of the new +condition of ideas. + +Such were the elements of the revolution in religious matters. Voltaire +laid hold of them, at the precise moment, with that _coup d'oeil_ of +strong instinct which sees clearer than genius itself. To an age young, +fickle, and unreflecting, he did not present reason under the form of an +austere philosophy, but beneath the guise of a facile freedom of ideas +and a scoffing irony. He would not have succeeded in making his age +think, he did succeed in making it smile. He never attacked it in front, +nor with his face uncovered, in order that he might not set the laws in +array against him; and to avoid the fate of Servetius, he, the modern +Æsop, attacked under imaginary names the tyranny which he wished to +destroy. He concealed his hate in history, the drama, light poetry, +romance, and even in jests. His genius was a perpetual allusion, +comprehending all his age, but impossible to be seized on by his +enemies. He struck, but his hand was concealed. Yet the struggle of a +man against a priesthood, an individual against an institution, a life +against eighteen centuries, was by no means destitute of courage. + + +VII. + +There is an incalculable power of conviction and devotion of idea, in +the daring of one against all. To brave at once, with no other power +than individual reason, with no other support than conscience, human +consideration, that cowardice of the mind, masked under respect for +error; to dare the hatred of earth and the anathema of heaven, is the +heroism of the writer. Voltaire was not a martyr in his body, but he +consented to be one in his name, and devoted it during his life and +after his death. He condemned his own ashes to be thrown to the winds, +and not to have either an asylum or a tomb. He resigned himself even to +lengthened exile in exchange for the liberty of a free combat. He +isolated himself voluntarily from men, in order that their too close +contact might not interfere with his thoughts. + +At eighty years of age, feeble, and feeling his death nearly +approaching, he several times made his preparations hastily, in order to +go and struggle still, and die at a distance from the roof of his old +age. The unwearied activity of his mind was never checked for a moment. +He carried his gaiety even to genius, and under that pleasantry of his +whole life we may perceive a grave power of perseverance and +conviction. Such was the character of this great man. The enlightened +serenity of his mind concealed the depth of its workings: under the joke +and laugh his constancy of purpose was hardly sufficiently recognised. +He suffered all with a laugh, and was willing to endure all, even in +absence from his native land, in his lost friendships, in his refused +fame, in his blighted name, in his memory accursed. He took all--bore +all--for the sake of the triumph of the independence of human reason. +Devotion does not change its worth in changing its cause, and this was +his virtue in the eyes of posterity. He was not the truth, but he was +its precursor, and walked in advance of it. + +One thing was wanting to him--the love of a God. He saw him in mind, and +he detested those phantoms which ages of darkness had taken for him, and +adored in his stead. He rent away with rage those clouds which prevent +the divine idea from beaming purely on mankind; but his weakness was +rather hatred against error, than faith in the Divinity. The sentiment +of religion, that sublime _résumé_ of human thought; that reason, which, +enlightened by enthusiasm, mounts to God as a flame, and unites itself +with him in the unity of the creation with the Creator, of the ray with +the focus--this, Voltaire never felt in his soul. Thence sprung the +results of his philosophy; it created neither morals, nor worship, nor +charity; it only decomposed--destroyed. Negative, cold, corrosive, +sneering, it operated like poison--it froze--it killed--it never gave +life. Thus, it never produced--even against the errors it assailed, +which were but the human alloy of a divine idea--the whole effect it +should have elicited. It made sceptics, instead of believers. The +theocratic reaction was prompt and universal, as it ought to have been. +Impiety clears the soul of its consecrated errors, but does not fill the +heart of man. Impiety alone will never ruin a human worship: a faith +destroyed must be replaced by a faith. It is not given to irreligion to +destroy a religion on earth. There is but a religion more enlightened +which can really triumph over a religion fallen into contempt, by +replacing it. The earth cannot remain without an altar, and God alone is +strong enough against God. + + +VIII. + +It was on the 5th of August, 1791, the first anniversary of the famous +night of the 4th of August, 1790, when feudality crumbled to atoms, that +the National Assembly commenced the revision of the constitution. It was +a solemn and imposing act, was this comprehensive _coup d'oeil_ cast +by legislators at the end of their career, over the ruins they had +scattered, and the foundations they had laid in their course. But how +different at this moment was the disposition of their mind from what +they felt in commencing this mighty work! They had begun it with an +enthusiasm of the ideal, they now contemplated it with the misgivings +and the sadness of reality. The National Assembly was opened amidst the +acclamations of a people unanimous in their hopes, and was about to +close amidst the clamorous recriminations of all parties. + +The king was captive, the princes emigrants, the clergy at feud, the +nobility in flight, the people seditious; Necker's popularity had +vanished, Mirabeau was dead, Maury silenced, Cazalès, Lally, Mounier had +deserted from their work. Two years had carried off more men and things +than a generation removes in ordinary times. The great voices of '89, +inspired with philosophy and vast hopes, no longer resounded beneath +those vaults. The foremost ranks had fallen. The men of second order +were now to contend in their stead. Intimidated, discouraged, repentant, +they had neither the spirit to yield to the impulse of the people nor +the power to resist it. Barnave had recovered his virtue in his +sensibility; but virtue which comes late is like the experience which +follows the act, and only enables us to measure the extent of our +errors. In revolutions there is no repentance--there is only expiation. +Barnave, who might have saved the monarchy, had he only united with +Mirabeau, was just commencing his expiatory sentence. Robespierre was to +Barnave what Barnave had been to Mirabeau; but Robespierre, more +powerful than Barnave, instead of acting on the impulse of a passion as +fluctuating as jealousy, acted under the influence of a fixed idea, and +an unalterable theory. Robespierre had the whole people at his back. + + +IX. + +From the opening of the sittings Barnave attempted to consolidate around +the constitution the opinions so fiercely shaken by Robespierre and his +friends. He did it with a caution which bespoke but too well the +weakness of his position, notwithstanding the boldness of his language. +"The labours of your committee of the constitution are assailed," he +said. "There exist against our work but two kinds of opposition. Those +who, up to the present time, have constantly shown themselves inimical +to the Revolution--the enemies of equality, who hate our constitution +because it is the condemnation of their aristocracy. Yet there is +another class hostile also, and I will divide it into two distinct +species. One of these is the men who, in the opinion of their own +conscience, give the preference to another government which they +disguise more or less in their language, and seek to deprive our +monarchical government of all the strength which can retard the advent +of a republic. I declare that these persons I shall not attack. +Whosoever has a pure political opinion has a right to communicate it; +but we have another class of foes. They are the foes of all government. +If this class betrays its opposition, it is not because it prefers the +republic to the monarchy, democracy to aristocracy, it is because all +that concentrates the political machine, all that is order, all that +places in his right position the honest man and the rogue, the candid +man and the calumniator, is contrary and hateful to its system." (Long +and loud applause from the majority on the left.) "Yes, gentlemen," +continued Barnave, "such is the party which has the most strongly +opposed our labours. They have sought fresh sources of revolution +because the revolution as defined by us escaped them. These are the men +who, changing the name of things, by uttering sentiments apparently +patriotic, in the stead of sentiments of honour, probity, purity--by +sitting even in the most august places with a mask of virtue, have +believed that they would impose upon public opinion, and have coalesced +with certain writers. (The plaudits here redoubled, and all eyes were +turned towards Robespierre and Brissot.) If we desire to see our +constitution carried out, if you desire that the nation, after having +owed to you its hopes of liberty,--for as yet it is but hope (Murmurs of +dissent),--shall owe to you reality, prosperity, happiness, peace, let +us endeavour to simplify it, by giving to the government--by which I +mean all the powers established by this constitution--the amount of +simultaneous strength requisite to move the social machine, and to +preserve to the nation the liberty you have conferred upon it. If the +welfare of your country is dear to you, take care what you are about to +do. Above all, let us discard injurious mistrust, which can serve none +but our enemies, when they would believe that this national assembly, +this constant majority, at once bold and sagacious, which has so much +cast upon it since the king's departure, is ready to disappear before +the divisions so skilfully fomented by perfidious imputations. (Loud +cheering.) You will see renewed, do not doubt this, the disorders, the +convulsions of which you are weary, and to which the completion of the +Revolution ought also to be a completion. You will see renewed without +hopes, projects, temptations which we openly brave because we feel our +strength and are united--because we know that so long as we are united +they will not be attempted; and if extravagant ideas should dare to try +them it would always result in their shame. But the attempts would +succeed, and on the success of them they might, with some semblance +rely, if we were once divided amongst ourselves, not knowing in whom we +might believe. We suspect each other of different plans when we have but +the same idea--of contrary feelings, when every one of us has in his +heart the testimony of his colleagues' purity, during two years of +labour performed together--during consecutive proofs of courage--during +sacrifices which nothing can compensate but the approving voice of +conscience." + +Here Barnave's voice was lost in the applauses of the majority, and the +Assembly electrified, seemed for the moment unanimous in its monarchical +feeling. + + +X. + +At the sitting of the 25th of August, the Assembly discussed the article +of the constitution which declared that the members of the royal family +could not exercise the rights of citizens. The Duc d'Orleans ascended +the tribune to protest against this article, and declared, in the midst +of applauses and murmurs, that if it were adopted, there remained to him +the right of choosing between the title of a French citizen and his +eventual right to the throne; and that, in that case, he should renounce +the throne. Sillery, the friend and confidant of this prince, spoke +after him, and combated with much eloquence the conclusions of the +committee. This discourse, full of allusions to the position of the duc +d'Orleans, impossible to be misunderstood, was the only act of direct +ambition attempted by the Orleans party. Sillery began by boldly +replying to Barnave:--"Let me be allowed," he exclaimed, "to lament over +the deplorable abuse which some orators make of their talents. What +strange language! It is attempted to make you believe that you have here +men of faction and anarchy--enemies of order, as if order could only +exist by satisfying the ambition of certain individuals! It is proposed +to you to grant to all individuals of the royal family the title of +prince, and to deprive them of the rights of a citizen? What +incoherence, and what ingratitude! You declare the title of French +citizen to be the most admirable of titles, and you propose to exchange +it for the title of prince, which you have suppressed, as contrary to +equality! Have not the relatives of the king, who still remain in Paris, +constantly displayed the purest patriotism? What services have they not +rendered to the public cause by their example and their sacrifices! Have +they not themselves abjured all their titles for one only--that of +citizen? and yet you propose to despoil them of it! When you suppressed +the title of prince, what happened? The fugitive princes formed a league +against the country; the others ranged themselves with you. If to-day +the title of prince is re-established, we concede to the enemies of our +country all they covet; we deprive the patriotic relatives of the king +of all they esteem! I see the triumph and the recompence on the side of +the conspiring princes; I see the punishment of all sacrifices on the +side of the popular princes. It is said to be dangerous to admit the +members of the royal family into the legislative body. This hypothesis +would then be established, that every individual of the royal family +must be for the future a corrupt courtier or factious partisan! However, +is it not possible to suppose that there are patriots amongst them? Is +it those you would thus brand? You condemn the relatives of a king to +hate the constitution and conspire against a form of government which +does not leave them the choice between the character of courtiers or +that of conspirators. See, on the other hand, what may accrue if the +love of country inspire them! Cast your eyes on one of the branches of +that race, whom it is proposed to you to exile. Scarcely out of his +childhood, he had the happiness of saving the life of three citizens, at +the peril of his own. The city of Vendôme decreed to him a civic crown. +Unhappy child! is that indeed the last which thy race shall obtain?" + +The applause which constantly interrupted, and for a long time followed +this discourse, after the orator had concluded, proved that the idea of +a revolutionary dynasty already tempted some imaginations, and that if +there existed no faction of Orleans, at least it was not without a +leader. Robespierre, who no less detested a dynastic faction than the +monarchy itself, saw with terror this symptom of a new power which +appeared in the distant horizon. "I remark," he replied, "that there is +too much reference to individuals, and not enough to the national +interest. It is not true that we seek to degrade the relations of the +king: there is no design to place them beneath other citizens--we wish +to separate them from the people by an honourable distinction. What is +the use of seeking titles for them? The relatives of the king will be +simply the relatives of the king. The splendour of the throne is not +derived from such vain denominations of rank. We cannot declare with +impunity that there exists in France any particular family above +another: it would be a nobility by itself. This family would remain in +the midst of us, like the indestructible root of that nobility which we +have destroyed--it would be the germ of a new aristocracy." Violent +murmurs hailed these remarks of Robespierre. He was obliged to break off +and apologise. "I see," he said in conclusion, "that we are no longer +allowed to utter here, without reproach, opinions which our adversaries +amongst the first have maintained in this assembly." + + +XI. + +The whole difficulty of the situation was in the question whether or +not, that constitution once completed, the nation would recognise in the +constitution the right to revise and alter itself. It was on this +occasion that Malouet, although abandoned by his party and hopeless, +endeavoured, single-handed, the restoration of the royal authority. His +discourse, worthy of the genius of Mirabeau, was a bill of terrible +accusation against the excesses of the people, and the inconsistencies +of the Assembly. Its moderation heightened its effect--the man of +integrity was seen beneath the orator, and the statesman in the +legislator. Something of the serene and stoical soul of Cato breathed in +his words; but political eloquence is rather in the people who listen, +than in the man who speaks. The voice is nothing without the +reverberation that multiplies its echo. Malouet, deserted by his party, +left by Barnave who listened with dismay, only spoke from his +conscience; he fought no longer for victory, he only struggled for +principle. Thus did he speak.-- + +"It is proposed to you to determine the epoch, and the conditions of the +use of a new constituent power; it is proposed to you to undergo +twenty-five years of disorder and anarchy before you have the right to +amend. Remark, in the first place, under what circumstances it is +proposed to you to impose silence on the appeals of the nation as to the +new laws; it is when you have not as yet heard the opinion of those +whose instincts and passions these new laws favour, when all contending +passions are subdued by terror or by force; it is when France is no +longer expounded but through the organ of her clubs. When it has been a +question of suspending the exercise of the royal authority itself, what +has been the language addressed to you from this tribune? You have been +told '_we should have begun the Revolution from thence; but we were not +aware of our strength_.' Thus it only remains for your successors to +measure their strength in order to attempt fresh enterprises. Such, in +effect, is the danger of making a violent revolution and a free +constitution march side by side. The one is only produced in tumultuous +periods, and by passions and weapons, the other is only established by +amicable arrangements between old interests and new. (Laughter, murmurs, +and 'that is the point.') We do not count voices, we do not discuss +opinions, to make a revolution. A revolution is a storm during which we +must furl our sails, or we sink. But after the tempest, those who have +been beaten by it, as well as those who have not suffered, enjoy in +common the serenity of the sky. All becomes calm, and the horizon is +cleared. Thus after a revolution, the constitution, if it be good, +rallies all its citizens. There should not be one man in the kingdom who +incurs danger of his life in expressing his free views of the +constitution. Without this security there is no free will, no expression +of opinion, no liberty; there will be only a predominant power, a +tyranny popular or otherwise, until you have separated the constitution +from the workings of the revolution. Behold all these principles of +justice, morality, and liberty which you have laid down, hailed with +joy, and oaths renewed, but violated immediately with unprecedented +audacity and rage. It is at a moment when the holiest or the freest of +constitutions has been proclaimed that the most infamous attempts +against liberty, against property,--nay, what do I say?--against +humanity and conscience, are multiplied and perpetuated! Does not this +contrast alarm you? I will tell you wherefore. Yourselves deceived as to +the mechanism of political society, you have sought its regeneration +without reflecting on its dissolution; you have considered as an +obstacle to your plans the discontent of some, and as a means the +enthusiasm of others. Only desirous to overcome obstacles you have +overturned principles, and taught the people to brave every thing. You +have taken the passions of the people for auxiliaries. It is to raise an +edifice by sapping the foundations. I repeat to you then, there is no +free and durable constitution out of despotism but that which terminates +a revolution, and which is proposed, accepted, and executed, by forms, +calm, free, and totally different from the forms of the Revolution. All +we do, all we seek for with excitement before we reach this point of +repose, whether we obey the people or are obeyed by them; whether we +would flatter, deceive, or serve them, is but the work of +folly,--madness. I demand, therefore, that the constitution be peaceably +and freely accepted by the majority of the nation and by the king. +(Violent murmurs.) I know we call the national will, all that we know of +proposed addresses, of assent, of oaths, agitations, menaces, and +violence. (Loud expressions of angry dissent.) Yes, we must close the +Revolution by beginning to destroy every tendency to violate it. Your +committees of inquiry, laws respecting emigrants, persecutions of +priests, despotic imprisonments, criminal proceedings against persons +accused without proofs, the fanaticism and domination of clubs; but this +is not all, licence has gone to such unbounded extent,--the dregs of the +nation ferment so tumultuously:--(Loud burst of indignation.) Do we then +pretend to be the first nation which has no dregs? The fearful +insubordination of troops, religious disturbances, the discontents of +the colonies, which already sound so ominously in our ports,--if the +Revolution does not stop here and give place to the constitution;--if +order be not re-established at once, and on all points, the shattered +state will be long agitated by the convulsions of anarchy. Do you +remember the history of the Greeks, where a first revolution not +terminated produced so many others during a period of only half a +century? Do you remember that Europe has her eyes fixed on your weakness +and agitations, and whilst she will respect you if you are free within +the limits of order, she will surely profit by your disorders if you +only know how to weaken yourself and alarm her by your anarchy?" + +Malouet demanded, therefore, that the constitution should be submitted +to the judgment of the people, and to the free acceptance of the king. + + +XII. + +This magnificent harangue only sounded as the voice of remorse in the +bosom of the Assembly. It was listened to with impatience, and then +forgotten with all speed. M. de La Fayette opposed, in a short speech, +the proposition of M. Dandré, who desired to adjourn for thirty years +the revision of the constitution. The Assembly neither adopted the +advice of Dandré nor of La Fayette, but contented itself with inviting +the nation not to make use for twenty-five years of its right to modify +the constitution. "Behold us, then," said Robespierre, "arrived at the +end of our long and painful career: it only remains for us to give it +stability and duration. Why are we asked to submit to the acceptance of +the king? The fate of the constitution is independent of the will of +Louis XVI. I do not doubt he will accept it with delight. An empire for +patrimony, all the attributes of the executive power, forty millions for +his personal pleasures,--such is our offer! Do not let us wait, before +we offer it, until he be away from the capital and environed by ill +advisers. Let us offer it to him in Paris. Let us say to him, Behold the +most powerful throne in the universe--will you accept it? Suspected +gatherings, the system of weakening your frontiers, threats of your +enemies without, manoeuvres of your enemies within,--all warns you to +hasten the establishment of an order of things which assures and +fortifies the citizens. If we deliberate, when we should swear, if our +constitution may be again attacked, after having been already twice +assailed, what remains for us to do? Either to resume our arms or our +fetters. We have been empowered," he added, looking towards the seats of +Barnave and the Lameths, "to constitute the nation, and not to raise the +fortunes of certain individuals, in order to favour the coalition of +court intriguers, and to assure to them the price of their complaisance +or their treason." + + +XIII. + +The constitutional act was presented to the king on the 3d of September, +1791. Thouret reported to the National Assembly in these words the +result of the solemn interview between the conquered will of the monarch +and the victorious will of his people:--"At nine o'clock in the evening +our deputation quitted this chamber, proceeding to the chateau escorted +by a guard of honour, consisting of various detachments of the national +guard and _gendarmerie_. It was invariably accompanied by the applauses +of the people. It was received in the council-chamber, where the king +was attended by his ministers and a great number of his servants. I said +to the king, 'Sire, the representatives of the nation come to present to +your majesty the constitutional act, which consecrates the indefeasible +rights of the French people--which gives to the throne its true +dignity, and regenerates the government of the empire.' The king +received the constitutional act, and thus replied: 'I receive the +constitution presented to me by the National Assembly. I will convey to +it my resolution after the shortest possible delay which the examination +of so important an act must require. I have resolved on remaining in +Paris. I will give orders to the commandant of the national Parisian +guard for the duties of my guard.' The king, during the whole time, +presented an aspect of satisfaction; and from all we saw and heard we +anticipate that the completion of the Constitution will be also the +termination of the Revolution." The Assembly and the tribunes applauded +several times. It was one of those days of public hope, when faction +retreats into the shade, to allow the serenity of good citizens to shine +forth. + +La Fayette removed the degrading _consignes_, which made the Tuileries a +jail to the royal family. The king ceased to be the hostage of the +nation, in order to become its ostensible head. He gave some days to the +apparent examination which he was supposed to bestow upon the +Constitution. On the 13th he addressed to the Assembly, by the minister +of justice, a message concerted with Barnave, thus conceived:--"I have +examined the constitutional act. I accept it, and will have it carried +into execution. I ought to make known the motives of my resolution. From +the commencement of my reign I have desired the reform of abuses, and in +all my acts I have taken for rule public opinion. I have conceived the +project of assuring the happiness of the people on permanent bases, and +of subjecting my own authority to settled rules. From these intentions I +have never varied. I have favoured the establishment of trials of your +work before it was even finished. I have done so in all sincerity; and, +if the disorders which have attended almost every epoch of the +Revolution have frequently affected my heart, I hoped that the law would +resume its force, and that on reaching the term of your labours, every +day would restore to it that respect, without which the people can have +no liberty, and a king no happiness. I have long entertained that hope; +and my resolution has only changed at the moment when I could hope no +longer. Remember the moment when I quitted Paris: disorder was at its +height--the licence of the press and the insolence of parties knew no +bounds. Then, I avow, if you had offered to me the constitution, I +should not have thought it my duty to accept it. + +"All has changed. You have manifested the desire to re-establish order; +you have revised many of the articles; the will of the people is no +longer doubtful to me, and therefore I accept the constitution under +better auspices. I freely renounce the co-operation I had claimed in +this work, and I declare that when I have renounced it no other but +myself has any right to claim it. Unquestionably I still see certain +points in the constitution in which more perfection might be attained; +but I agree to allow experience to be the judge. When I shall have +fairly and loyally put in action the powers of government confided to me +no reproach can be addressed to me, and the nation will make itself +known by the means which the constitution has reserved to it. +(Applause.) Let those who are restrained by the fear of persecutions and +troubles out of their country return to it in safety. In order to +extinguish hatreds let us consent to a mutual forgetfulness of the past. +(The tribunes and the left renewed their acclamations.) Let the +accusations and the prosecutions which have sprung solely from the +events of the constitution be obliterated in a general reconciliation. I +do not refer to those which have been caused by an attachment to me. Can +you see any guilt in them? As to those who from excess, in which I can +see personal insult, have drawn on themselves the visitation of the +laws, I prove with respect to them that I am the king of all the French. +I will swear to the constitution in the very place where it was drawn +up, and I will present myself to-morrow at noon to the National +Assembly." + +The Assembly adopted unanimously, on the proposition of La Fayette, the +general amnesty demanded by the king. A numerous deputation went to +carry to him this resolution. The queen was present. "My wife and +children, who are here," said the king to the deputation, "share my +sentiments." The queen, who desired to reconcile herself to public +opinion, advanced, and said, "Here are my children; we all agree to +participate in the sentiments of the king." These words reported to the +Assembly, prepared all hearts for the pardon which royalty was about to +implore. Next day the king went to the Assembly; he wore no decoration +but the cross of Saint Louis, from deference to a recent decree +suppressing the other orders of chivalry. He took his place beside the +president, the Assembly all standing. + +"I come," said the king, "to consecrate solemnly here the acceptance I +have given to the constitutional act. I swear to be faithful to the +nation and the law, and to employ all the power delegated to me for +maintaining the constitution, and carrying its decrees into effect. May +this great and memorable epoch be that of the re-establishment of peace, +and become the gage of the happiness of the people, and the prosperity +of the empire." The unanimous applauses of the chamber, and the tribunes +ardent for liberty, but kindly disposed towards the king, demonstrated +that the nation entered with enthusiasm into this conquest of the +constitution. + +"Old abuses," replied the president, "which had for a long time +triumphed over the good intentions of the best of kings, oppressed +France. The National Assembly has re-established the basis of public +prosperity. What it has desired the nation has willed. Your majesty no +longer desires in vain the happiness of Frenchmen. The National Assembly +has nothing more to wish, now that on this day in its presence you +consummate the constitution by accepting it. The attachment of Frenchmen +decrees to you the crown, and what assures it to you is the need that so +great a nation must always have of an hereditary power. How sublime, +sire, will be in the annals of history this regeneration, which gives +citizens to France, to Frenchmen a country, to the king a fresh title of +greatness and glory, and a new source of happiness!" + +The king then withdrew, being accompanied to the Tuileries by the entire +Assembly; the procession with difficulty making its way through the +immense throng of people which rent the air with acclamations of joy. +Military music and repeated salvos of artillery taught France that the +nation and the king, the throne and liberty, were reconciled in the +constitution, and that after three years of struggles, agitations, and +shocks, the day of concord had dawned. These acclamations of the people +in Paris spread throughout the empire. France had some days of delirium. +The hopes which softened men's hearts, brought back their old feelings +for its king. The prince and his family were incessantly called to the +windows of their palace to receive the applause of the crowds. They +sought to make them feel how sweet is the love of a people. + +The proclamation of the constitution on the 18th had the character of a +religious fête. The Champ-de-Mars was covered with battalions of the +national guard. Bailly, mayor of Paris, the municipal authorities, the +department, public functionaries, and all the people betook themselves +thither. One hundred and one cannon shots hailed the reading of the +constitutional act, made to the nation from the top of the altar of the +country. One cry of _Vive la Nation!_ uttered by 300,000 voices, was the +acceptation by the people. The citizens embraced, as members of one +family. Balloons, bearing patriotic inscriptions, rose in the evening in +the Champs Elysées, as if to bear to the skies the testimony of the joy +of a regenerated people. Those who went up in them threw out copies of +the book of the constitution. The night was splendid with illuminations. +Garlands of flames, running from tree to tree, formed, from the Arc de +l'Etoile to the Tuileries, a sparkling avenue, crowded with the +population of Paris. At intervals, orchestras filled with musicians +sounded forth the pealing notes of glory and public joy. M. de La +Fayette rode on horseback at the head of his staff. His presence seemed +to place the oaths of the people and the king under the guard of the +armed citizens. The king, the queen, and their children appeared in +their carriage at eleven o'clock in the evening. The immense crowd that +surrounded them as if in one popular embrace,--the cries of _Vive le +Roi! Vive la Reine! Vive le Dauphin!_--hats flung in the air, the +gestures of enthusiasm and respect, made for them a triumph on the very +spot over which they had passed two months previously in the midst of +the outrages of the multitude, and deep murmuring of the excited +populace. The nation seemed desirous of redeeming these threatening +days, and to prove to the king how easy it was to appease the people, +and how sweet to it was the reign of liberty! The national acceptance of +the laws of the Constituent Assembly was the counterproof of its work. +It had not the legality, but it had really the value, of an individual +acceptance by primary assemblies. It proved that the will of the public +mind was satisfied. The nation voted by acclamation, what the wisdom of +its Assembly had voted on reflection. Nothing but security was wanting +to the public feeling. It seemed as if it desired to intoxicate itself +by the delirium of its happiness; and that it compensated, by the very +excess of its manifestations of joy, for what it lacked in solidity and +duration. + +The king sincerely participated in this general joyous feeling. Placed +between the recollections of all he had suffered for three years, and +the lowering storms he foresaw in the future, he endeavoured to delude +himself, and to feel persuaded of his good fortune. He said to himself, +that perhaps he had mistaken the popular opinion; and that having at +least surrendered himself unconditionally to the mercy of his +people--that people would respect in him his own power and his own will: +he swore in his honest and good heart fidelity to the constitution and +love to the nation he really loved. + +The queen herself returned to the palace with more national thoughts: +she said to the king, "They are no longer the same people;" and, taking +her son in her arms, she presented him to the crowd who thronged the +terrace of the chateau, and seemed thus to invest herself in the eyes of +the people with the innocence of age and the interest of maternity. + +The king gave, some days afterwards, a fête to the people of Paris, and +distributed abundant alms to the indigent. He desired that even the +miserable should have his day of content, at the commencement of that +era of joy, which his reconciliation with his people promised to his +reign. The _Te Deum_ was sung in the cathedral of Paris, as on a day of +victory, to bless the cradle of the French constitution. On the 30th of +September, the king closed the Constituent Assembly. Before he entered +the chamber, Bailly, in the name of the municipality; Pastoret, in the +name of the departments, congratulated the Assembly on the conclusion of +its work:--"Legislators," said Bailly, "you have been armed with the +greatest power that men can require. To-morrow you will be nothing. It +is not, therefore interest or flattery which praises you--it is your +works. We announce to you the benedictions of posterity, which commence +for you from to-day!" "Liberty," said Pastoret, "had fled beyond the +seas, or taken refuge in the mountains,--you have raised her fallen +throne. Despotism had effaced every page of the book of nature; you have +re-established the decalogue of freemen!" + + +XIV. + +The king, surrounded by his ministers, entered the Assembly at three +o'clock: lengthened cries of _Vive le roi_ for a moment checked his +speaking. "Gentlemen," said Louis XVI., "after the completion of the +constitution, you have resolved on to-day terminating your labours. It +would have been desirable, perhaps, that your session should have been +prolonged in order that you, yourselves, should prove your work. But you +have wished, no doubt, to mark by this the difference which should exist +between the functions of a constituent body and ordinary legislators. I +will exercise all the power you have confided to me in assuring to the +constitution the respect and obedience due to it. For you, gentlemen, +who, during a long and painful career, have evinced an indefatigable +zeal in your labours, there remains a last duty to fulfil when you are +scattered over the face of the empire; it is to enlighten your fellow +citizens as to the spirit of the laws you have made; to purify and unite +opinions by the example you will give to the love of order and +submission to the laws. Be, on your return to your homes, the +interpreters of my sentiments to your fellow-citizens; tell them that +the king will always be their first and most faithful friend--that he +desires to be loved by them, and can only be happy with them and by +them." + +The president replied to the king:--"The National Assembly having +arrived at the termination of its career, enjoys, at this moment, the +first fruit of its labours. Convinced that the government best suited to +France is that which reconciles the respected prerogatives of the throne +with the inalienable rights of the people, it has given to the state a +constitution which equally guarantees royalty and liberty. Our +successors, charged with the onerous burden of the safety of the empire, +will not misunderstand their rights, nor the limits of the constitution: +and you, sire, you have almost completed every thing--by accepting the +Constitution, you have consummated the Revolution." + +The king departed amidst loud acclamations. It appeared that the +National Assembly was in haste to lay down the responsibility of events +which it no longer felt itself capable of controlling. "The National +Assembly declares," says Target, its president, "that its mission is +finished, and that, at this moment, it terminates its sittings." + +The people, who crowded round the Manège, and saw with pain the +Revolution abdicated into the hands of the king, insulted, as it +recognised them, the members of the Right--even Barnave. They +experienced even on the first day the ingratitude they had so often +fomented. They separated in sorrow and in discouragement. + +When Robespierre and Pétion went out, the people crowned them with oaken +chaplets, and took the horses off their carriage in order to drag them +home in triumph. The power of these two men already proved the weakness +of the constitution, and presaged its fall. An amnestied king returned +powerless to his palace. Timid legislators abdicated in trouble. Two +triumphant tribunes were elevated by the people. In this was all the +future. The Constituent Assembly, begun in an insurrection of +principles, ended as a sedition. Was it the error of those +principles--was it the fault of the Constituent Assembly? We will +examine the question at the end of the last book of this volume, in +casting a retrospect over the acts of the Constituent Assembly; till +then we will delay this judgment, in order not to interfere with the +progress of the recital. + + + + +BOOK V. + + +I. + +Whilst an instant's breathing time was permitted to France between two +convulsive efforts, and the Revolution as yet knew not whether it should +maintain the constitution it had gained, or employ it as a weapon to +obtain a republic, Europe began to arouse itself; egotistical and +improvident, she merely beheld in the first movement in France a comedy +played at Paris on the stage of the States General and the constituent +Assembly--between popular genius, represented by Mirabeau, and the +vanquished genius of the aristocracy, personified in Louis XVI. and the +clergy. This grand spectacle had been in the eyes of the sovereigns and +their ministers merely the continuation of the struggle (in which they +had taken so much interest, and showed so much secret favour) between +Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau on one side, and the old +aristocratical and religious system on the other. To them the Revolution +was the philosophy of the eighteenth century, which had migrated from +the _salons_ into the public streets, and from books to speeches. This +earthquake in the moral world, and these shocks at Paris, the presages +of some unknown change in European destinies, attracted far more than +they affrighted them. They had not as yet learned that institutions are +but ideas, and that those ideas, when overthrown, involve in their fall +thrones and nations. Whatsoever the spirit of God wills, that also do +all mankind will, and are to accomplish, unperceived even by themselves. +Europe bestowed attention, time, and astonishment on the commencement of +the French Revolution, and that was all it needed to bring it to +maturity. The spark not having been extinguished at its outbreak was +fated to kindle and consume every thing before it. The moral and +political state of Europe was eminently favourable to the contagion of +new ideas. Time, men, and things, all lay at the mercy of France. + + +II. + +A long period of peace had softened the minds, and deadened those +hereditary hatreds that oppose the communication of feelings and the +similarity of ideas between different nations. Europe, since the treaty +of Westphalia, had become a republic of perfectly balanced powers, where +the general equilibrium of power resulting from each formed a +counterpoise to the other. One glance sufficed to show the solidity and +unity of this European _building_, every beam of which, opposing an +equal resistance to the others, afforded an equal support by the +pressure of all the states. + +Germany was a confederation presided over by Austria, the emperors were +the chiefs only of this ancient feudalism of kings, dukes, and electors. +The house of Austria was more powerful through itself and its vast +possessions than through the imperial dignity. The two crowns of Hungary +and Bohemia, the Tyrol, Italy, and the Low Countries, gave it an +ascendency, which the genius of Richelieu had been able to fetter, but +not to destroy. Powerful to resist, but not to impel, Austria was more +fitted to _sustain_ than to _act_; her force lies in her situation and +immobility, for she is like a block in the middle of Germany,--her power +is in her _weight_; she is the pivot of the balance of European power. +But the federative diet weakened and enervated its designs by those +secret influences all federations naturally possess. Two new states, +unperceived until the time of Louis XIV., had recently risen, out of +reach of the power, and the long rivalry of the houses of Bourbon and +Austria: the one in the north of Germany, Prussia; the other in the +east, Russia. The policy of England had encouraged the rise of these two +infant powers, in order to form the elements of political combinations +that would admit of her interests obtaining a firm footing. + + +III. + +A hundred years had hardly elapsed since an emperor of Austria had +conferred the title of king on a margrave of Prussia, a subordinate +sovereign of two millions of men, and yet Prussia already balanced in +Germany the influence of the house of Austria. The Machiavelian genius +of Frederic the Great had become the genius of Prussia. His monarchy, +composed of territories acquired by victory, required war to strengthen +itself, still more of agitation and intrigue to legitimise itself. +Prussia was in a ferment of dissolution amidst the German states. +Scarcely had it risen into existence than it abdicated all German +feeling by leaguing with England and Russia; and England, always on the +watch to widen these breaches, had used Prussia as her lever in Germany. +Russia, whose two-fold ambition already had designs on Asia on the one +hand, on Europe on the other, had made it an advanced guard on the west, +and used it as an advanced camp on the borders of the Rhine. Thus +Prussia was the point of the Russian sword in the very heart of France. +Military power was every thing; its government was only discipline, its +people only an army. As for its ideas, its policy was to place itself +at the head of the Protestant states, and offer protection, assistance, +and revenge to all those whose interest or whose ambition was threatened +by the house of Austria. Thus by its nature Prussia was a revolutionary +power. + +Russia, to whom nature had assigned a sterile yet immense place on the +globe, the ninth part of the habitable world, and a population of forty +millions of men, all compelled by the savage genius of Peter the Great +to unite themselves into one nation, seemed yet to waver between two +roads, one of which led to Germany, the other to the Ottoman empire. +Catherine II. governed it: a woman endowed with wondrous beauty, +passion, genius, and crime,--such are necessary in the ruler of a +barbarous nation, in order to add the _prestige_ of adoration to the +terror inspired by the sceptre. Each step she took in Asia awakened an +echo of surprise and admiration in Europe, and for her was revived the +name of Semiramis. Russia, Prussia, and France, intimidated by her fame, +applauded her victories over the Turks, and her conquests in the Black +Sea, without apparently comprehending that she weighed down the European +power, and that once mistress of Poland and Constantinople, nothing then +would prevent her from carrying out her designs on Germany, and +extending her arm over all the West. + + +IV. + +England, humiliated in her maritime pride by the brilliant rivalry of +the French fleet in the Indian Seas, irritated by the assistance given +by France to aid America in her struggle for independence, had secretly +allied herself in 1788 with Prussia and Holland, to counterbalance the +effect of the alliance of France with Austria, and to intimidate Russia +in her invasion of Turkey. England at this moment relied on the genius +of one man, Mr. Pitt, the greatest statesman of the age, son of Lord +Chatham, the only political orator of modern ages who equalled (if he +did not surpass) Demosthenes. Mr. Pitt, in a manner born in the council +of kings, and brought up at the tribune of his country, at the age of +twenty-three was launched in political life. At this age, when other men +have scarcely emerged from childhood, he was already the most eminent of +all that aristocracy that confided their cause to him as the most +worthy to uphold it, and when almost a boy he acquired the government of +his country from the admiration excited by his talents, and held it +almost without interruption up to his death by his enlightened views of +policy, and the energy of his resolution. He showed the House of Commons +what a great statesman, supported by the opinion of the nation, can dare +to attempt and accomplish, with the consent (and sometimes against it) +of a parliament. He was the despot of the constitution, if we may link +together those two words that can alone express his lawful omnipotence. +The struggle against the French Revolution was the continual act of his +twenty-five years of ministerial life; he became the antagonist of +France, and died vanquished. + +And yet it was not the Revolution that he hated, it was France, and in +France it was not liberty he hated, for at heart he loved freedom; it +was the destruction of this balance of Europe that, once destroyed, left +England isolated in its ocean. At this moment, England, hostile towards +America, at war with India, a coolness existing between itself and +Spain, secretly hating Russia, had on the Continent nothing but Prussia +and the Stadtholder; and observation and temporisation became a +necessary part of its policy. + + +V. + +Spain, enervated by the reign of Philip III. and Ferdinand VI., had +recovered some degree of internal vitality and external dignity during +the long reign of Charles III.; Campomanes, Florida Blanca, the Comte +d'Aranda, his ministers, had struggled against superstition, that second +nature of the Spaniards. A _coup d'état_, meditated in silence, and +executed like a conspiracy by the court, had driven out of the kingdom +the Jesuits, who reigned under the name of the kings. The family +agreement between Louis XV. and Charles III., in 1761, had guaranteed +the thrones, and all the possessions of the different branches of the +house of Bourbon. But this political compact had been unable to +guarantee this many-branched dynasty against the decay of its root, and +that degeneracy that gives effeminate and weak princes as successors to +mighty kings. The Bourbons became satraps at Naples, and in Spain +crowned monks, and the very palace of the Escurial had assumed the +appearance and the gloom of a monastery. + +The _monacal_ system devoured Spain, and yet this unfortunate country +adored the evil that destroyed it. After having been subject to the +caliphs, Spain became the conquest of the popes; and their authority +reigned paramount there under every costume; whilst theocracy made its +last efforts there. Never had the sacerdotal system more completely +swayed a nation, and never had a nation been reduced to a more abject +state of degradation. The Inquisition was its government,--the +_auto-da-fés_ its triumphs,--bull-fights and processions its only +diversions. Had the inquisitorial reign lasted a few years more, this +people would have been no longer reckoned amongst the civilised +inhabitants of Europe. + +Charles III. had trembled at each new effort he made to emancipate his +government; his good intentions had all been frustrated and checked, and +he had been forced to sacrifice his ministers to the vengeance of +superstition. Florida Blanca and d'Aranda died in exile, to which they +had been condemned for the crime of having served their country. The +weak Charles IV. had mounted the throne and reigned for several years, +guided by a faithless wife, a confessor, and a favourite. The loves of +Godoy and the queen formed the whole of the Spanish policy, and to the +fortune of the favourite all the rest of the empire was sacrificed. What +mattered it that the fleet rotted in the unfinished ports of Charles +III.--that Spanish America asserted its independence--that Italy bent +beneath the yoke of Austria--that the house of Bourbon combated in vain +in France the progress of a new system--that the Inquisition and the +monks cast a gloom over and devoured the whole of the peninsula,--all +this was nothing to the court, provided the queen were but loved and +Godoy great. The palace of Aranjuez was like the walled tomb of Spain, +into which the active spirit that now agitated Europe could no longer +penetrate. + + +VI. + +The state of Italy was yet worse; for it was severed into pieces that, +unlike the snake, were unable to reunite. Naples was under the severe +sway of Spain, and the yoke of Austria pressed on Milan and Lombardy. +Rome was nought but the capital of an idea--her people had disappeared, +and she had now become the modern Ephesus, at which each cabinet sought +an oracle favourable to its own cause, and paid for this purpose the +members of the sacred college. Although the centre of all diplomatic +intrigue, and the spot where all worldly ambition humbled itself but to +increase its power,--although this court could shake Europe to its +foundations, it was yet unable to govern it. The elective aristocracy, +cardinals chosen by powers at variance with each other; the elective +monarchy, a pope whose qualifications were old age and feebleness, and +who was only crowned on condition of a speedy decease: such was the +_temporal_ government of the Roman States. This government combined in +itself all the weakness of anarchy, and all the vices of despotism. It +had produced its inevitable result, the servitude of the state, the +poverty of the government and the misery of the population; Rome was no +longer anything but the great Catholic municipality, and her government +nought save a republic of diplomatists. Rome possessed a temple enriched +with the offerings of the Christian world, a sovereign and ambassadors, +but neither population, treasure, nor army. It was the venerated shadow +of that universal monarchy to which the popes had pretended in the +golden age of Catholicism, and of which they had only preserved the +capital and the court. + + +VII. + +Venice drew near its fall, but the silence and mystery of its government +concealed even from the Venetians the decrepitude of the state. The +government was an aristocratic sovereignty, founded on the corruption of +the people and treachery, for the master sinew of the government was +_espionage_; its _prestige_, mystery; its power, the torture. It lived +on terror and voluptuousness; its police was a system of secret +confession, of each against the other. Its cells, termed the _Piombi_ +or _Leads_, and which were entered at night by the _Bridge of Sighs_, +were a hell that closed on the captive never to re-open. The wealth of +the East flowed in on Venice from the fall of the Lower Empire. She +became the refuge of Greek civilisation, and the Constantinople of the +Adriatic; and the arts had emigrated thither from Byzance, with +commerce. Its marvellous palaces, washed by the waves, were crowded +together on a narrow spot of ground, so that the city was like a vessel +at anchor, on board which a people driven from the land have taken +refuge with all their treasures. She was thus impregnable, but could not +exercise the least influence over Italy. + + +VIII. + +Genoa, a more popular and more turbulent republic, subsisted only by her +fleet and her commerce. Hemmed in between barren mountains and a gulf +without a shore, it was only a port peopled by sailors. The marble +palaces, built one above the other on the rocky banks, looked down on +the sea, their sole territory. The portraits of the doges and the statue +of Andreà Doria constantly reminded the Genoese that from the waves had +proceeded their riches and their renown, and that _there_ alone they +could hope to look for them. Its ramparts were impregnable, its arsenals +full; and thus Genoa formed the stronghold of armed commerce. + +The immense country of Tuscany, governed and rendered illustrious by the +_Médici_, those Pericles of Italy, was learned, agricultural, +industrious, but unwarlike. The house of Austria ruled it by its +archdukes, and these princes of the north, transported to the palaces of +the Pitti or the Cômo, contracted the mild and elegant manners of the +Tuscans; and the climate and serenity of the hills of Florence softened +there even tyranny, and these princes became voluptuaries or sages. +Florence, the city of Leo X., of philosophy, and the arts, had +transformed even religion. Catholicism, so ascetic in Spain, so gloomy +in the north, so austere and literal in France, so popular at Rome, had +become at Florence, under the _Médici_ and the Grecian philosophers, a +species of luminous and Platonic theory, whose dogmata were only sacred +symbols, and whose pomps were only pleasures that overpowered the mind +and the senses. The churches at Florence were more museums of Christ +than his sanctuaries; the colonies of all the arts and trades of Greece +had emigrated, on the entry of Mahomet II. into Constantinople, to +Florence, and there they had prospered; and a new Athens, enriched like +the ancient with temples, porticoes, and statues, beautified the banks +of the Arno. + +Leopold, the philosopher prince, awaited there, busied in learning the +art of governing men and putting in practice new theories of political +economy, the moment to mount the imperial throne of Austria, where his +destiny was not to leave him long. He was the Germanicus of Germany, and +philosophy could alone display him to the world, after having lent him +for a few years to Italy. + +Piedmont, whose frontiers reached to the heart of France by the Alpine +valleys, and on the other side the walls of Genoa and the Austrian +possessions on the Po, was governed by the house of Savoy, one of the +most ancient of the royal lines in Europe. This military monarchy had +its intrenched camp, rather than its capital, in Turin. The plains it +occupied in Italy had been, and were destined to be, the field of battle +for Austria and France; and her positions were the keys of Italy. + +This population, accustomed to war, was necessarily constantly under +arms to defend itself, or to unite with that one of the two powers whose +rivalry could alone assure its independence. Thus, military disposition +was its strength; its weakness lay in having half its possessions in +Italy, half in France. The whole of Savoy is French in language, +descent, and manners; and at any great commotion Savoy must detach +itself from Italy, and fall on this side of its own accord. The Alps are +too essential a frontier to two people to belong to only one; for if +their south side looks to Italy, their north looks to France. The snow, +the sun, and the torrents have thus willed this division of the Alps +between two nations. Policy does not long prevail against nature, and +the house of Savoy was not sufficiently powerful to preserve the +neutrality of the valleys of the Alps and the roads of Italy; and though +it increase in power in Italy, yet it must be worsted in a struggle +against France. The court of Turin was doubly allied to the house of +France by the marriage of the Comte d'Artois and the Comte de Provence, +brothers of Louis XVI., with two princesses of the house of Savoy. The +clergy had more influence at this court than at any other in Italy; and +hated instinctively all revolutions, because they threatened its +political influence. From religious feeling--from family feeling--from +political feeling, Savoy was destined to become the first scene of +conspiracy against the French Revolution. + + +IX. + +There was yet another in the north, and that was Sweden; but there it +was neither a superstitious attachment to Catholicism, nor family +feeling, nor even national interest, that excited the hostility of a +king against the Revolution; it was a more noble sentiment--the +disinterested glory of combating for the cause of kings; and, above all, +for a queen whose beauty and whose misfortunes had won the heart of +Gustavus III., in which blazed the last spark of that chivalrous feeling +that vowed to avenge the cause of ladies, to assist the oppressed, and +succour the right. Extinguished in the south, it burnt, for the last +time, in the north, and in the breast of a king. Gustavus III. had in +his policy something of the adventurous genius of Charles XII., for the +Sweden of the race of Wasa is the land of heroes. Heroism, when +disproportioned to genius and its resources, resembles folly: there was +a mixture of heroism and folly in the projects of Gustavus against +France; and yet this folly was noble, as its cause--and great, as his +own courage. Fortune had accustomed Gustavus to desperate and bold +enterprises; and success had taught him to believe nothing impossible. +Twice he had made a revolution in his kingdom, twice he had striven +single-handed against the gigantic power of Russia, and had he been +seconded by Prussia, Austria, and Turkey, Russia would have found a +rampart against her in the north. The first time, abandoned by his +troops, in his tent by his revolted generals, he had escaped, and alone, +made an appeal to his brave Dalecarlians. His eloquence, and his +magnanimous bearing had caused a new army to spring from the earth. He +had punished traitors, rallied cowards, concluded the war, and returned +triumphant to Stockholm, borne on the shoulders of his people, wrought +up to a pitch of enthusiasm. The second time, seeing his country torn by +the anarchical predominance of the nobility, he had resolved, in the +depths of his own palace, on the overthrow of the constitution. United +in feeling with the _bourgeoisie_ and the people, he had led on his +troops, sword in hand; imprisoned the senate in its chamber; dethroned +the nobility, and acquired for royalty the prerogatives it required in +order to defend and govern the country. In three days, and before one +drop of blood had been shed, Sweden under his sword had become a +monarchy. Gustavus's confidence in his own boldness was confirmed. The +monarchical feeling in him was strengthened by all the hatred which he +bore to the privileges of the orders he had overturned. The cause of the +king was identified with his own. + +He had embraced with enthusiasm that of Louis XVI. Peace, which he had +concluded with Russia, allowed him to direct his attention and his +forces towards France. His military genius dreamed of a triumphant +expedition to the banks of the Seine. It was there that he desired to +acquire glory. He had visited Paris in his youth; under the name of the +Count de Haga he had partaken of the hospitalities of Versailles. Marie +Antoinette, then in the brilliancy of her youth and beauty, now appeared +humiliated, and a captive in the hands of a pitiless people. To deliver +this woman, restore the throne, to make himself at once feared and +blessed by this capital, seemed to him one of those adventures formerly +sought by crowned chevaliers. His finances alone opposed the execution +of this bold design. He negotiated a loan with the court of Spain, +attached to him the French emigrants renowned for their military +talents, requested plans from the Marquis de Bouillé, solicited the +courts of St. Petersburg and Berlin to unite with him in this crusade of +kings. He asked of England nothing but neutrality. Russia encouraged +him; Austria temporised; Spain trembled; England looked on. Each new +shock of the Revolution at Paris found Europe undecided and always +behind-hand in counsels and resolutions. Monarchical Europe, hesitating +and divided, did not know what it had to fear, nor what it ought to do. + +Such was the political situation of cabinets with respect to France. +But as to ideas, the feelings of the people were different. + +The movement of intelligence and philosophy at Paris was responded to by +the agitation of the rest of Europe, and especially in America. Spain, +under M. d'Aranda, was become alive to the general feeling; the Jesuits +had disappeared; the Inquisition had extinguished its fires; the Spanish +nobility blushed for the sacred theocracy of its monks. Voltaire had +correspondents at Cadiz and at Madrid. The forbidden produce of our +ideas was favoured even by those whose charge was to exclude it. Our +books crossed the snows of the Pyrenees. Fanaticism, tracked by the +light to its last den, felt Spain escaping from it. The excess of a +tyranny long undergone, prepared ardent minds for the excess of liberty. + +In Italy, and even at Rome, the sombre Catholicism of the middle age was +lighted up by the reflections of time. It played even with the dangerous +arms which philosophy was about to turn against it. It seemed to +consider itself as a weakened institution, which ought to have its long +duration pardoned in consequence of its complaisance towards princes and +the age. Benedict XIV. (Lambertini) received from Voltaire the +dedication of "Mahomet." The Cardinals _Passionei_ and _Quirini_, in +their correspondence with Ferney[6],--Rome, in its bulls, preached +tolerance for dissenters, and obedience to princes. The pope disavowed +and reformed the company of Jesus: he soothed the spirit of the age. +Clement XIV. (Ganganelli) shortly after secularised the Jesuits, +confiscated their possessions, and imprisoned their superior, Ricci, in +the castle of Saint Angelo, the Bastille of papacy. Severe only towards +exaggerated zealots, he enchanted the Christian world by the evangelical +sweetness, the grace of his understanding, and the poignancy of his wit; +but pleasantry is the first step to the profanation of dogmata. The +crowd of strangers and English whom his affability attracted to Italy +and retained at Rome, caused, with the circulation of gold and science, +the inflowing of scepticism and indifference, which destroy creeds +before they sap institutions. + +Naples, under a corrupt court, left fanaticism to the populace. +Florence, under a philosophical prince, was an experimental colony of +modern doctrines. The poet Alfieri, that Tyrtæus of Italian liberty, +produced there his revolutionary dramas, and there sowed his maxims +against the two-fold tyranny of popes and kings in every theatre in +Italy. + +Milan, beneath the Austrian flag, had within its walls a republic of +poets and philosophers. Beccaria wrote there more daringly than +Montesquieu. His work on "Crimes and Punishments" was a bill of +accusation of all the laws of his native country. _Parini Monte, +Cesarotti, Pindemonte, Ugo Foscolo_ gay, serious, and heroic poets, then +satirised the absurdities of their tyrants, the baseness of their +fellow-countrymen, or sang, in patriotic odes, the virtues of their +ancestors, and the approaching deliverance of their country. + +Turin alone, attached to the house of Saxony, was silent, and proscribed +Alfieri. + +In England, the mind, a long time free, had produced sound morals. The +aristocracy felt itself sufficiently strong never to become persecuting. +Worship was there as independent as conscience. The dominant religion +was a political institution, which, whilst it bound the citizen, left +the believer to his free will. The government itself was popular, only +the people consisted of none but its leading citizens. The House of +Commons more resembled a senate of nobles than a democratic forum; but +this parliament was an open and resounding chamber, where they discussed +openly in face of the throne, as in the face of all Europe, the most +comprehensive measures of the government. Royalty, honoured in form, +whilst in fact it is excluded and powerless, merely presides over these +debates, and adds order to victory; it was, in reality, nothing more +than a perpetual consulate of this Britannic senate. The voices of the +leading orators, who contested the rule of the nation, echoed thence, +through and out of Europe. Liberty finds its level in the social world, +like the waves in the common bed of the ocean. One nation is not free +with impunity--one people is not in bondage with impunity--all finally +compares and equalises itself. + + +X. + +England had been intellectually the model of nations, and the envy of +the reflecting universe. Nature and its institutions had conferred upon +it men worthy of its laws. Lord Chatham, sometimes leading the +opposition, sometimes at the head of the government, had expanded the +space of parliament to the proportions of his own character and his own +language. Never did the manly liberty of a citizen before a +throne--never did the legal authority of a prime minister before a +people display themselves in such a voice to assembled citizens. He was +a public man in all the greatness of the phrase--the soul of a nation +personified in an individual--the inspiration of the nation in the heart +of a patrician. His oratory had something as grand as action--it was the +heroic in language. The echo of Lord Chatham's discourses were +heard--felt on the Continent. The stormy scenes of the Westminster +elections[7] shook to the very depths the feelings of the people, and +that love of turbulence which slumbers in every multitude, and which it +so often mistakes for the symptoms of true liberty. These words of +counterpoise to royal power, to ministerial responsibility, to laws in +operation, to the power of the people, explained at the present by a +constitution--explained in the past by the accusation of Strafford, the +tomb of Sidney, on the scaffold of a king, had resounded like old +recollections and strange novelties. + +The English drama had the whole world for audience. The great actors for +the moment were Pitt, the controller of these storms, the intrepid organ +of the throne, of order, and the laws of his country; Fox, the +precursory tribune of the French Revolution, who propagated the +doctrines by connecting them with the revolutions of England, in order +to sanctify them in the eyes of the English; Burke, the philosophical +orator, every one of whose orations was a treatise; then the Cicero of +the opposition party, and who was so speedily to turn against the +excesses of the French Revolution, and curse the new faith in the first +victim immolated by the people; and lastly, Sheridan, an eloquent +debauchee, liked by the populace for his levity and his vices, seducing +his country, instead of elevating it. The warmth of the debates on the +American war, and the Indian war, gave a more powerful interest to the +storms of the English parliament. + +The independence of America, effected by a newly-born people, the +republican maxims on which this new continent founded its government, +the reputation attached to the fresh names, which distance increased +more than their victories,--Washington, Franklin, La Fayette, the heroes +of public imagination; those dreams of ancient simplicity, of primitive +manners, of liberty at once heroic and pastoral, which the fashion and +illusion of the moment had transported from the other side of the +Atlantic,--all contributed to fascinate the spirit of the Continent, and +nourish in the mind of the people contempt for their own institutions, +and fanaticism for a social renovation. + +Holland was the workshop of innovators; it was there that, sheltered by +a complete toleration of religious dogmata, by an almost republican +liberty, and by an authorised system of contraband, all that could not +be uttered in Paris, in Italy, in Spain, in Germany, was printed. Since +Descartes, independent philosophy had selected Holland for its asylum: +Boyle had there rendered scepticism popular: it was the land sacred to +insurrection against all the abuses of power, and had subsequently +become the seat of conspiracy against kings. Every one who had a +suspicious idea to promulgate, an attack to make, a name to conceal, +went to borrow the presses of Holland. Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, +Diderot, Helvetius, Mirabeau himself--had gone there to naturalise their +writings in this land of publicity. The mask of concealment which these +writers assumed in Amsterdam deceived no one, but it effected their +security. All the crimes of thought were there inviolable; it was at the +same time the asylum and the arsenal of new ideas. An active and vast +trade in books made a speculation of the overthrow of religion and +thrones. The prodigious demand for prohibited works which were thus +circulated in the world, proved sufficiently the increasing alteration +of ancient beliefs in the mind of the people. + + +XI. + +In Germany, the country of phlegm and patience, minds apparently so slow +shared with serious and concentrated ardour in the general movement of +mind in Europe. Free thought there assumed the form of an universal +conspiracy. It was enveloped in mystery. Learned and formal Germany +liked to give even to its insurrection the appearances of science and +tradition. The Egyptian initiations, mystic ceremonies of the middle +age, were imitated by the adepts of new ideas. Men thought as they +conspired. Philosophy moved veiled in symbols; and that veil was torn +away only in secret societies, from which the profane were excluded. The +_prestiges_ of the imagination, so powerful in the ideal and dreamy +nature of Germany, served as a bait to the newly arisen truths. + +The great Frederic had made his court the centre of religious +incredulity. Sheltered by his power altogether military, contempt for +Christianity and of monarchical institutions was freely propagated. +Moral force was nothing to this materialist prince. Bayonets were in his +eyes the right of princes; insurrection the right of the people; +victories or defeats the public right. His constant run of good fortune +was the accomplice of his immorality. He had received the recompence of +every one of his vices, because his vices were great. Dying he had +bequeathed his perverse genius to Berlin. It was the corrupting city of +Germany. Military men educated in the school of Frederic, academies +modelled after the genius of Voltaire, colonies of Jews enriched by war, +and the French refugees, peopled Berlin and formed the public mind. This +mind, full of levity, sceptic, impertinent and sneering, intimidated the +rest of Germany. The weakened spirit of that land may be dated from the +period of Frederic II. He was the corrupter of the empire--he conquered +Germany in the French spirit--he was a hero of a falling destiny. + +Berlin continued it after his death; great men always bequeath the +impulse of their spirit to their country. The reign of Frederic had at +least one happy result: religious tolerance arose in Germany from the +very contempt in which Frederic had held religious creeds. Under the +wing of this toleration the spirit of philosophy had organised occult +associations, after the image of freemasonry. The German princes were +initiated. It was thought an act of superior mind to penetrate into +those shadows, which, in reality, included nothing beyond some general +principles of humanity and virtue, with no direct application to civil +institutions. Frederic in his youth had been initiated himself, at +Brunswick, by Major Bielfeld; the emperor Joseph II., the most bold +innovator of his time, had also desired to undergo these proofs at +Vienna, under the tutelage of the baron de Born, the chief of the +freemasons in Austria. These societies, which had no religious tendency +in England, because there liberty conspired openly in parliament and in +the press, had a wholly different sense on the Continent. They were the +secret council-chambers of independent thought: the thought, escaping +from books, passed into action. Between the initiated and established +institutions, the war was concealed, but the more deadly. + +The hidden agents of these societies had evidently for aim the creation +of a government of the opinion of the human race, in opposition to the +governments of prejudice. They desired to reform religious, political, +and civil society, beginning by the most refined classes. These lodges +were the catacombs of a new worship. The sect of _illuminés_, founded +and guided by Weishaupt, was spreading in Germany in conjunction with +the _freemasons_ and the _rosicrucians_. The _theosophists_ in their turn +produced the symbols of supernatural perfection, and enrolled all +susceptible minds and ardent imaginations around dogmata full of love +and infinity. The theosophists, the Swedenborgians, disciples of the +sublime but obscure Swedenborg, the Saint Martin of Germany, pretended +to complete the Gospel, and to transform humanity by overcoming death +and the senses. All these dogmata were mingled in an equal contempt for +existing institutions in one same aspiration for the renewal of the mind +and things. All were democratic in their last conclusion, for all were +inspired by a love of mankind without distinction of classes. + +Affiliations were multiplied _ad infinitum_. Prejudice, as it always +occurs when zeal is ardent, was added fraudulently to truth, as if error +or falsehood were the inevitable alloy of truth, and even the virtues of +the human mind: they called up past ages, summoned spectres, and the +dead were heard to speak. They played upon the plastic imagination of +princes, by rapid transition from terror to enthusiasm. The knowledge of +the phantasmagoria, then but little known, served as an auxiliary in +these deceptions. On the death of Frederic II., his successor submitted +to such tests, and was worked upon by wonders. Kings conspired against +thrones. The princes of Gotha gave Weishaupt an asylum. Augustus of +Saxony, prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, the prince of Neuvied, even the +coadjutor of the ecclesiastical principalities on the banks of the +Rhine, those of Mayence, Worms, and Constance, signalised themselves by +their ardour for the mystic doctrines of freemasonry or the illuminati. +Cagliostro was astounding Strasburgh--Cardinal de Rohan ruined himself, +and bent before his voice. Like at the fall of great empires--like at +the cradle of great things--these signs appeared every where. The most +infallible was the general convulsion of human ideas. When a creed is +crumbling to atoms, all mankind trembles. + +The lofty geniuses of Germany and Italy were already singing the new era +to their offspring; Göethe the sceptic poet, Schiller the republican +poet, Klopstock the sacred poet, intoxicated with their strophes the +universities and theatres; each shock of the events of Paris had its +_contre coup_ and sonorous echo, multiplied by these writers on the +borders of the Rhine. Poetry is the remembrance and anticipation of +things: what it celebrates is not yet dead, and what it sings already +hath existence. Poetry sang everywhere the unformed but impassioned +hopes of the people. It is a sure augury--it is full of enthusiasm, for +its voice is heard on all sides; science, poetry, history, philosophy, +the stage, mysticism, the arts, the genius of Europe under every form, +had passed over to the Revolution: not one name of a man of reputation +in all Europe could be cited who remained attached to the party of the +past. The past was overcome, because the mind of the human race had +withdrawn from it--when the spirit hath flown life is extinct. None but +mediocrities remain under the shelter of old forms and institutions: +There was a general mirage in the horizon of the future; and, whether +the small saw therein their safety, or the great an abyss, all went +headlong towards the novelty. + + +XII. + +Such was the tendency of minds in Europe, when the princes, brothers of +Louis XVI., and the emigrant gentlemen, spread themselves over Savoy, +Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, to demand succour and vengeance from +powers and principalities against the Revolution. Never, from the first +great emigrations of ancient people, fleeing from the Roman invasions, +had been seen such a movement of terror and perturbation as this, which +cast forth from the territory all the clergy and all the aristocracy of +a nation. An immense vacuum was created in France: first, in the steps +of the throne itself; next, in the court, in châteaux, in ecclesiastical +dignities; and finally in the ranks of the army. Officers, all noble, +emigrated in masses; the navy followed somewhat later, the example of +the army, which also abandoned the flag. It was not that the clergy, the +nobility, the land and sea officers were more pressed upon by the stir +of revolutionary ideas which had agitated the nation in 1789; on the +contrary, the movement commenced by them. Philosophy had in the first +place enlightened the apex of the nation. The thought of the age was +especially in the higher classes; but those classes who sought a reform +by no means desired a disorganisation. When they had seen the moral +agitation of ideas transform itself into an insurrection of the people, +they had trembled. The reins of government violently snatched from the +king by Mirabeau and La Fayette, at the Tennis court; the attempts of +the 5th and 6th of October; privileges suppressed without compensation, +titles abolished, the aristocracy handed over to execration, to pillage, +to fire, and even to murder, in the provinces; religion deposed, and +compelled to nationalise itself by a constitutional oath; and; finally +the king's flight, his imprisonment in his palace, the threats of death +vomited forth by the patriotic press, or the tribunes of popular clubs, +against all aristocracy, the triumphant riots in the provinces, the +defection of the French guards in Paris, the revolt of the Swiss of +Châteauvieux at Nancy, the excesses of the soldiery, mutinous and +unpunished, at Caen, Brest, and everywhere, had changed into horror and +hatred the favourable feeling of the noblesse for the progress of +opinion. It saw that the first act of the people was to degrade superior +authority. The _esprit de caste_ impelled the nobility to emigrate, the +_esprit de corps_ similarly influenced the officers, and the _esprit de +cour_ made it shameful to remain on a soil stained with so many outrages +to royalty. The women, who then formed public opinion in France, and +whose tender and easily excited imagination is soon transferred to the +side of their victims, all sided with the throne and the aristocracy. +They despised those who would not go and seek their avengers in foreign +lands. Young men departed at their desire; those who did not, dared not +show themselves. They sent them distaffs, as a token of their cowardice! + +But it was not shame alone that led the officers and the nobles to join +the ranks of the army, it was also the appearance of a duty; for the +last virtue that was left to the French nobility was a religious +fidelity to the throne: their honour, their second and almost only +religion, was to die for their king; and any design against the throne, +in their belief, was a design against heaven. Chivalry, that code of +aristocratic feeling, had preserved and disseminated this noble +prejudice throughout Europe; and, to the nobility, the king represented +their country. This feeling, eclipsed for a while by the debaucheries of +the regency, the scandalous vices of Louis XV., and the bold maxims of +Rousseau's philosophy, was awakened in the heart of the gentlemen at the +spectacle of the degradation and danger of the king and queen. In their +eyes, the Assembly was nothing but a band of revolutionary subjects, who +detained their sovereign a prisoner. The most voluntary acts of the king +were suspected by them, and beneath his constitutional speeches, they +imagined they discovered another and a contrary meaning; and the very +ministers of Louis XVI. were believed to be nothing but his gaolers. A +secret understanding existed between these gentlemen and the king, and +counsels were held in secluded apartments of the Tuileries, at which the +king alternately encouraged and forbade his friends to emigrate. And his +orders, varied at each day and each fresh occurrence, were sometimes +constitutional and patriotic when he hoped to re-establish and moderate +the constitution at home; at other times, despairing and blameable when +it seemed to him that the security of the queen and his children could +only proceed from another country. Whilst he addressed official letters +through his minister for foreign affairs to his brothers, and the Prince +de Condé, to recall them, and point out to them their duty as citizens, +the Baron de Breteuil, his confidential agent to the Foreign Powers, +transmitted to the king of Prussia letters that revealed the secret +thoughts of the king. The following letter to the king of Prussia, found +in the archives of the chancellorship of Berlin, dated December 3rd, +1790, leaves no doubt of this double diplomacy of the unfortunate +monarch. Louis XVI. wrote:-- + + "Monsieur mon Frère, + + "I have learnt from M. de Moustier how great an interest your + majesty has displayed, not only for my person but for the welfare + of my kingdom, and your majesty's determination to prove this + interest, whenever it can be for the good of my people, has deeply + touched me; and I confidently claim the fulfilment of it, at this + moment, when, in spite of my having accepted the new constitution, + the factious portion of my subjects openly manifest their intention + of destroying the remainder of the monarchy. I have addressed the + emperor, the empress of Russia, and the kings of Spain and Sweden, + and I have suggested to them the idea of a congress of the + principal powers of Europe, _supported by an armed force_, as the + best measure to check the progress of faction here, to afford the + means of establishing a better order of things, and preventing the + evil that devours this country from seizing on the other states of + Europe. I trust that your majesty will approve my ideas, _and + maintain the strictest secrecy respecting the step I have taken in + this matter_, as you will feel that the critical position in which + I am placed at present compels me to use the greatest + circumspection. It is for this reason that the Baron de Breteuil is + alone acquainted with my secret, and through him your majesty can + transmit me whatever you may think fit." + + +XIII. + +This letter, added to that addressed by Louis XVI. to M. de Bouillé, +informing him that his brother-in-law the emperor Leopold was about to +march a body of troops on Longwi, in order to afford a pretext for the +concentration of the French troops on that frontier, and thus favour his +flight from Paris, are irrefragable proofs of the counter-revolutionary +understanding existing between the king and the foreign powers, no less +than between the king and the leaders of the emigrés. The memoirs of the +emigrés are full of proofs of this fact; and nature even attests them, +for the cause of the king, the aristocracy, and the religious +institutions was identical. The emperor Leopold was the brother of the +queen of France; the dangers of the king were the dangers of all the +other princes; for the example of the triumph of one people was +contagious to all nations. The emigrés were the friends of the monarchy, +and the defenders of kings; had they not exchanged a word more on the +subject, they would have been united by the same feelings, the same +interests. But in addition to this, they had preconcerted communication +with each other, and the suspicions of the people were no empty +chimeras, but the presentiment of the plots of their enemies. + +The conspiracy of the court with all the courts and aristocracies +abroad, with all the aristocracies of the emigrés, with their relations, +of the king with his brothers, had no need of being carried on in +writing. Louis XVI. himself, the most really revolutionary of all the +monarchs who have occupied the throne, had no thought of treachery to +the people or to the revolution, when he implored the armed succour of +the other powers. This idea of an appeal to foreign forces, or even the +emigrated forces, was not his real desire; for he dreaded the +intervention of the enemies of France, he disapproved of emigration, and +he was not without a feeling of offence at his brothers intriguing +abroad, sometimes in his name, but often against his wishes. He shrank +from the idea of passing in the eyes of Europe for a prince in +leading-strings, whose ambitious brothers seized upon his rights in +adopting his cause, and stipulated for his interests without his +intervention. At Coblentz a regency was openly spoken of, and bestowed +on the Comte de Provence, the brother of Louis XVI.; and this regency, +that had devolved on a prince of the blood by emigration, whilst the +king maintained a struggle at Paris, greatly humiliated Louis XVI. and +the queen. This usurpation of their rights, although clothed in the +dress of devotion and tenderness, was even more bitter to them than the +outrages of the Assembly and the people. We always dread most that which +is nearest to us, and the triumph of the emigration only promised them a +throne, disputed by the regent who had restored it. This gratitude +appeared to them a disgrace, and they knew not whether they had most to +hope or to apprehend from the emigrés. + +The queen, in her conversations with her friends, spoke of them with +more bitterness than confidence. The king loudly complained of the +disobedience of his brothers, and dissuaded from flight all those who +demanded his advice; but his advice was as changeable as events; like +all men balancing between hope and fear, he alternately bent and stood +erect beneath the pressure of circumstances. His acts were culpable, but +not his intentions; it was not the king who conspired, but the man, the +husband, the father, who sought by foreign aid to ensure the safety of +his wife and children; and he alone became criminal when all seemed +desperate. The "tangled thread" of negotiation was incessantly broken +off and renewed: that which was resolved yesterday was to-morrow +disavowed; and the secret negotiators of these plots, armed with +credentials and powers which had been recalled, yet continued to employ +them, in spite of the king's orders, to carry on in his name those plans +of which he disapproved. The prince de Condé, the Comte de Provence, and +the Comte d'Artois had each his separate line of policy and court, and +abused the king's name in order to increase his own credit and interest. +Hence arises the difficulty, to those who write the history of that +period, of tracing the hand of the king in all these conspiracies, +carried on in his name, and to pronounce either his entire innocence or +his palpable treachery. He did not betray his country, or sell his +subjects; but he did not observe his oaths to the constitution or his +country. An upright man, but a persecuted king, he believed that oaths, +extorted by violence and eluded through fear, were no perjuries; and he +broke each day some of those to which he had bound himself, under the +belief, doubtless, that the excesses of the people freed him from his +oath. Educated with all the prejudices of personal sovereignty, he +sought with sincerity amidst this chaos of parties, who disputed with +each other the empire, to find the nation; and failing to discover the +object of his search, he fancied he had the right to find it in his own +person. His crime, if there be any in his actions, was less the crime of +his heart than the crime of his birth, his situation, and his +misfortunes. + + +XIV. + +The Baron de Breteuil, an old minister and ambassador, a man incapable +of making the least concession, and ever counselling strong and forcible +measures, had quitted France at the commencement of the year 1790, the +king's secret plenipotentiary to all the other powers. He alone was, to +all intents, and for all purposes, the sole minister of Louis XVI. He +was, moreover, absolute minister; for once invested with the confidence +and unlimited power of the king, who could not revoke, without betraying +the existence of his occult diplomacy, he was in a position to make any +use of it, and to interpret at will the intentions of Louis XVI. to his +own views. The Baron de Breteuil did abuse it; not, as it is said, from +personal ambition, but from excess of zeal for the welfare and dignity +of his master. His negotiations with Catherine, Gustavus, Frederic, and +Leopold were a constant incitement to a crusade against the Revolution +of France. + +The Count de Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII.), and the Count d'Artois +(afterwards Charles X.), after several visits to the different courts of +the South and North, had met at Coblentz, where Louis Venceslas, elector +of Trèves, their maternal uncle, received them with a more kind than +politic welcome. Coblentz became the _Paris_ of Germany, the focus of +the counter-revolutionary conspiracy, the head quarters of all the +French nobles assembled round their natural leaders, the two brothers of +the captive king. Whilst they held there their wandering court, and +formed the first links of the coalition of Pilnitz, the Prince de Condé, +who, from inclination and descent, was of a more military disposition, +formed the army of the Princes, consisting of eight or ten thousand +officers, and no soldiers, and thus it was the head of the army severed +from the trunk. Names renowned in history's annals, fervent devotion, +youthful ardour, heroic bravery, fidelity, the conviction of +success,--nothing was wanting to this army at Coblentz save an +understanding with their country and time. Had the French _noblesse_ but +employed one half of the virtues and efforts they made to subdue the +Revolution, in regulating it, the Revolution, although it changed the +laws, would not have changed the monarchy. But it is useless to expect +that institutions can comprehend the means that transform them. The +king, the nobility, and the priests could not understand a revolution +that threatened to destroy the noblesse, the clergy, and the throne. A +contest became unavoidable; they had not space for the struggle in +France, and they took their stand on a foreign soil. + + +XV. + +Whilst the army of the princes thus increased in strength at Coblentz, +the counter-revolutionary diplomacy was on the eve of the first great +result it had been enabled to obtain in the actual state of Europe. The +conferences of Pilnitz had opened, and the Count de Provence had sent +the baron Roll from Coblentz to the king of Prussia, to demand in the +name of Louis XVI. the assistance of his troops to aid in the +re-establishment of order in France. The king of Prussia, before +deciding, wished to learn the state of France from a man whose military +talents and devoted attachment to the monarchy had gained him the +confidence of the foreign courts,--the Marquis de Bouillé. He fixed the +Château de Pilnitz as the meeting place, and requested him to bring a +plan of operation for the foreign armies on the different French +frontiers; and on the 24th of August Frederic Willam, accompanied by his +son, his principal generals, and his ministers, arrived at the Château +de Pilnitz, the summer residence of the court of Saxony, where he had +been preceded by the emperor. + +The Archduke Francis, afterwards the emperor Francis II., the Maréchal +de Lascy, the Baron de Spielman, and a numerous train of courtiers, +attended the emperor. The two sovereigns, the rivals of Germany, seemed +for a time to have laid aside their rivalry to occupy themselves solely +with the safety of the thrones of Europe; this fraternity of the great +family of monarchs prevailed over every other feeling, and they treated +each other more like brothers than sovereigns, whilst the elector of +Saxony, their entertainer, enlivened the conference by a succession of +splendid fêtes. + +In the midst of a banquet the unexpected arrival of the Count d'Artois +at Dresden was announced, and the king of Prussia requested permission +from the emperor for the French prince to appear. The emperor consented, +but previous to admitting him to their official conferences the two +monarchs had a secret interview, at which two of their most confidential +agents only were present. The emperor inclined to peace, the inertness +of the Germanic body weighed down his resolve, for he felt the +difficulty of communicating to this vassal federation of the empire the +unity and energy necessary to attack France in the full enthusiasm of +her Revolution. The generals, and even the Maréchal de Lascy himself, +hesitated before frontiers reputed to be impregnable, whilst the emperor +was apprehensive for the Low Countries and Italy. The French maxims had +passed the Rhine, and might explode in the German states at the moment +when the princes and people were called upon to take arms against +France, and the diet of the people might prove more powerful than the +diet of the kings. Dilatory measures would have the same intimidating +effect on the revolutionary genius, without presenting the same dangers +to Germany; and would it not be more prudent to form a general league of +all the European powers to surround France with a circle of bayonets, +and summon the triumphant party to restore liberty to the king, dignity +to the throne, and security to the Continent? "Should the French nation +refuse," added the emperor, "_then_ we will threaten her in a manifesto, +with a general invasion, and should it become necessary, we will crush +her beneath the irresistible weight of the united forces of all Europe." +Such were the counsels of that temporising genius of empires that awaits +necessity without ever forestalling, and would fain be assured of every +thing without the least risk. + + +XVI. + +The king of Prussia, more impatient and more threatening, confessed to +the emperor that he had no faith in the effect of these threats. +"Prudence," said he, "is a feeble defence against audacity, and the +defensive is but a timid position to assume in the face of the +Revolution. We must attack it in its infancy; for to give time to the +French principles, is to give them strength. To treat with the popular +insurrection, is to prove to them that we fear, and are disposed to form +a compact with them. We must surprise France in the very act of anarchy, +and publish a manifesto to Europe when the armies have crossed the +frontiers and success has given authority to our declaration." + +The emperor appeared moved; he, however, insisted on the dangers to +which a sudden invasion would inevitably expose Louis XVI., he showed +the letters of this prince, and intimated that the Marquis de Noailles +and M. de Montmorin--the one French ambassador at Vienna, the other +minister for Foreign Affairs at Paris, who were both devoted to the +king--held out hopes to the court of Vienna of the speedy +re-establishment of order and monarchical modifications of the +constitution in France; and he demanded the right of suspending his +decision until the month of September, although in the mean while +military preparations should be made by both powers. The scene was +changed the next morning by the Count d'Artois. This young prince had +received from the hand of nature all the exterior qualifications of a +chevalier: he spoke to the sovereigns in the name of the thrones; to the +emperor in the name of an outraged and dethroned sister. The whole +emigration, with its misfortunes, its nobility, its valour, its +illusions, seemed personified in him. The Marquis de Bouillé and M. de +Calonne, the genius of war and the genius of intrigue, had followed him +to these conferences. He obtained several audiences of the two +sovereigns, he inveighed with respect and energy against the temporising +system of the emperor, and violently roused the Germanic sluggishness. +The emperor and the king of Prussia authorised the Baron de Spielman for +Austria, the Baron de Bischofswerden for Prussia, and M. de Calonne for +France, to meet the same evening, and draw up a declaration for the +signature of the monarchs. + +The Baron de Spielman, under the immediate dictation of the emperor, +drew up the document. M. de Calonne in vain combated, in the name of the +Count d'Artois, the hesitation that disconcerted the impatience of the +emigrés. The next day, on their return from a visit to Dresden, the two +sovereigns, the Count d'Artois, M. de Calonne, the Maréchal de Lascy, +and the two negotiators, met in the emperor's apartment, where the +declaration was read and discussed, every sentence weighed, and some +expressions modified; and at the proposal of M. de Calonne, and the +entreaties of the Count d'Artois, the emperor and the king of Prussia +consented to the insertion of the last phrase, that threatened the +Revolution with war. + +Subjoined is the document that was the date of a war of twenty-two +years' duration. + +"The emperor and the king of Prussia, having listened to the wishes and +representations of _Monsieur_ and _Monsieur le Comte d'Artois_, declare +conjointly that they look upon the present position of the king of +France as an object of common interest to all the sovereigns of Europe. +They trust that this interest cannot fail to be acknowledged by all the +powers whose assistance is claimed; and that, in consequence, they will +not refuse to employ, conjointly with the emperor and the king of +Prussia, the most efficacious means, proportioned to their forces, for +enabling the king of France to strengthen with the most perfect liberty +the bases of a monarchical government, equally conformable to the rights +of sovereigns and the welfare of the French nation. Then, and in that +case, their aforesaid majesties are resolved to act promptly and in +concert with the forces requisite to attain the end proposed and agreed +on. In the mean time they will issue all needful orders to their troops +to hold themselves in a state of readiness." + +This declaration, at once timid and threatening, was evidently too much +for peace, too little for war; for such words encourage the revolution, +without crushing it. They at once showed the impatience of the emigrés, +the resolution of the king of Prussia, the hesitation of the powers, the +temporising policy of the emperor. It was a concession to force and +weakness, to peace and war; the whole state of Europe was there +unveiled, for it was the declaration of the uncertainty and anarchy of +its councils. + + +XVII. + +After this imprudent and useless act, the two sovereigns separated. +Leopold to go and be crowned at Prague, and the king of Prussia, +returning to Berlin, began to put his army on a war footing. The +emigrants, triumphing in the engagement they had entered into, increased +in numbers. The courts of Europe, with the exception of England, sent in +equivocal adhesions to the courts of Berlin and Vienna. The noise of the +declaration of Pilnitz burst forth, and died away in Paris in the midst +of the fêtes in honour of the acceptance of the constitution. + +However, Leopold, after the conferences at Pilnitz, was more earnest +than ever in his attempts to find excuses for peace. The Prince de +Kaunitz, his minister, feared all violent shocks, which might derange +the old diplomatic mechanism, whose workings he so well knew. Louis XVI. +sent the Count de Fersen secretly to him, in order to disclose his real +motives in accepting the constitution, and to entreat him not to +provoke, by any preparation of arms, the bad feelings of the Revolution, +which seemed to be quieted by its triumph. + +The emigrant princes, on the contrary, filled all courts with the words +uttered in favour of their cause in the declaration of Pilnitz. They +wrote a letter to Louis XVI., in which they protested against the oath +of the king to the constitution, forced, as they declared, from his +weakness and his captivity. The king of Prussia, on receiving the +circular of the French cabinet, in which the acceptance of the +constitution was notified, exclaimed, "I see the peace of Europe +assured!" The courts of Vienna and Berlin feigned to believe that all +was concluded in France by the mutual concessions of the king and the +Assembly. They made up their minds to see the throne of Louis XVI. +abased, provided that the Revolution would consent to allow itself to be +controlled by the throne. + +Russia, Sweden, Spain, and Sardinia were not so easily appeased. +Catherine II. and Gustavus III., the one from a proud feeling of her +power, and the other from a generous devotion to the cause of kings, +arranged together, to send 40,000 Russians and Swedes to the aid of the +monarchy. This army, paid by a subsidy of 15,000,000f. of Spain, and +commanded by Gustavus in person, was to land upon the coast of France, +and march upon Paris, whilst the forces of the empire crossed the Rhine. + +These bold plans of the two northern courts were displeasing to Leopold +and the king of Prussia. They reproached Catherine with not keeping her +promises, and making peace with the Turks. Could the emperor march his +troops on the Rhine whilst the battles of the Russians and Ottomans +continued on the Danube and threatened the remoter provinces of his +empire? Catherine and Gustavus nevertheless did not abate in their open +protection to the emigration party. These two sovereigns accredited +ministers plenipotentiary to the French princes at Coblentz. This was +declaring the forfeiture of Louis XVI., and even the forfeiture of +France. It was recognising that the government of the kingdom was no +longer at Paris, but at Coblentz. Moreover, they contracted a treaty of +alliance, offensive and defensive, between Sweden and Russia in the +common interest of the re-establishment of the monarchy. + +Louis XVI. then earnestly desiring the disarming, sent to Coblentz the +Baron Vioménil and the Chevalier de Coigny to command his brothers and +the Prince de Condé to disarm and disperse the emigrants. They received +his orders as coming from a captive, and disobeyed without even sending +him a reply. Prussia and the empire showed more deference to the king's +intentions. These two courts disbanded the army collected by the +princes, and ordered to be punished in their states all insults offered +to the tricolour cockade; but at the very moment when the emperor thus +gave evidence of his desire to maintain peace, war was about to involve +him in spite of himself. What human wisdom sometimes refuses to the +greatest causes, it sees itself compelled to accord to the smallest. +Such was Leopold's situation. He had refused war to the great interests +of the monarchy, and the strong feelings of the family which asked it +from him, and yet was about to grant it to the insignificant interests +of certain princes of the empire, whose possessions were in Alsace and +Lorraine, and whose personal rights were violated by the new French +constitution. He had refused succour to his sister, and was about to +accord it to his vassals. The influence of the diet, and his duties as +head of the empire, led him on to steps to which his personal feelings +would never have urged him. By his letter of 3d December, 1791, he +announced to the cabinet of the Tuileries the formal resolution on his +part "of giving aid to the princes holding lands in France, if he did +not obtain their perfect restoration to all the rights which belonged to +them by treaty." + + +XVIII. + +This threatening letter, secretly communicated in Paris, (before it was +officially sent,) by the French ambassador in Vienna, was received by +the king with much alarm, and with joy by certain of his ministers, and +the political party of the Assembly. War cuts through every thing. They +hailed it as a solution to the difficulties which they felt were +crushing them. When there is no longer any hope in the regular order of +events, there is in what is unknown. War appeared to these adventurous +spirits a necessary diversion to the universal ferment; a career to the +Revolution; a means for the king again to seize on power by acquiring +the support of the army. They hoped to change the fanaticism of liberty +into the fanaticism of glory, and to deceive the spirit of the age by +intoxicating it with conquests instead of satisfying it with +institutions. + +The Girondist deputies were of this party. Brissot was their +inspiration. Flattered by the title of statesmen, which they already +assumed from vanity, and which was used towards them with irony, they +were desirous to justify their pretensions by a bold stroke, which would +change the scene, and disconcert, at the same time, the king, the +people, and Europe. They had studied Machiavel, and considered the +disdain of the just as a proof of genius. They little heeded the blood +of the people, provided that it cemented their ambition. + +The Jacobin party, with the exception of Robespierre, clamoured loudly +for war: his fanaticism deceived him as to his weakness. War was to +these men an armed apostleship, which was about to propagate their +social philosophy over the universe. The first cannon shot fired in the +name of the rights of man would shake thrones to their centre. Then +there was finally a third party which hoped for war, that of the +constitutional _modérés_, which flattered itself that it would restore +sound energy to the executive power, by the necessity of concentrating +the military authority in the hands of the king at the moment when the +nationality should be menaced. All extremity of war places the +dictatorship in the hands of the party which makes it, and they hoped, +on behalf of the king, and of themselves, for this dictatorship of +necessity. + + +XIX. + +A young, but already influential, female had lent to this latter party +the _prestige_ of her youth, her genius, and her enthusiasm--it was +Madame de Stäel. Necker's daughter, she had inspired politics from her +birth. Her mother's _salon_ had been the _coenaculum_ of the +philosophy of the 18th century. Voltaire, Rousseau, Buffon, D'Alembert, +Diderot, Raynal, Bernardin de Saint Pierre, Condorcet had played with +this child, and fostered her earliest ideas. Her cradle was that of the +Revolution. Her father's popularity had played about her lips, and left +there an inextinguishable thirst for fame. She sought it in the storms +of the populace, in calumny, and death. Her genius was great, her soul +pure, her heart deeply impassioned. A man in her energy, a woman in her +tenderness, that the ideal of her ambition should be satisfied, it was +necessary for her to associate in the same character genius, glory, and +love. + +Nature, education, and fortune rendered possible this triple dream of a +woman, a philosopher, and a hero. Born in a republic, educated in a +court, daughter of a minister, wife of an ambassador, belonging by birth +to the people, to the literary world by talent, to the aristocracy by +rank, the three elements of the Revolution mingled or contended in her. +Her genius was like the antique chorus, in which all the great voices of +the drama unite in one tumultuous concord. A deep thinker by +inspiration, a tribune by eloquence, a woman in attraction, her beauty, +unseen by the million, required intellect to be admired, and admiration +to be felt. Hers was not the beauty of form and features, but visible +inspiration and the manifestation of passionate impulse. Attitude, +gesture, tone of voice, look--all obeyed her mind, and created her +brilliancy. Her black eyes, flashing with fire, gave out from beneath +their long lids as much tenderness as pride. Her look, so often lost in +space, was followed by those who knew her, as if it were possible to +find with her the inspiration she sought. That gaze, open, yet profound +as her understanding, had as much serenity as penetration. We felt that +the light of her genius was only the reverberation of a mine of +tenderness of heart. Thus there was a secret love in all the admiration +she excited; and she, in admiration, cared only for love. Love with her +was but enlightened admiration. + +Events rapidly ripened; ideas and things were crowded into her life: she +had no infancy. At twenty-two years of age she had maturity of thought +with the grace and softness of youth. She wrote like Rousseau, and spoke +like Mirabeau. Capable of bold conceptions and complicated designs, she +could contain in her bosom at the same time a lofty idea and a deep +feeling. Like the women of old Rome who agitated the republic by the +impulses of their hearts, or who exalted or depressed the empire with +their love, she sought to mingle her feelings with her politics, and +desired that the elevation of her genius should elevate him she loved. +Her sex precluded her from that open action which public position, the +tribune, or the army only accord to men in public governments; and thus +she compulsorily remained unseen in the events she guided. To be the +hidden destiny of some great man, to act through and by him, to grow +with his greatness, be eminent in his name, was the sole ambition +permitted to her--an ambition tender and devoted, which seduces a woman +whilst it suffices to her disinterested genius. She could only be the +mind and inspiration of some political man; she sought such a one, and +in her delusion believed she had found him. + + +XX. + +There was then in Paris a young general officer of illustrious race, +excessively handsome, and with a mind full of attraction, varied in its +powers and brilliant in its display. Although he bore the name of one of +the most distinguished families at court, there was a cloud over his +birth. Royal blood ran in his veins, and his features recalled those of +Louis XV. The affection of Mesdames the aunts of Louis XVI. for this +youth, educated under their eyes, attached to their persons, and who +rose by their influence to the highest employments in the court and +army, gave credit to many mysterious rumours. + +This young man was the count Louis de Narbonne. Sprung from this origin, +brought up in this court, a courtier by birth; spoiled by the hands of +these females, only remarkable for his good looks, his levities, and his +hasty wit; it was not to be expected that such a person was imbued with +that ardent faith which casts a man headlong into the centre of +revolutions, or the stoical energy which produces and controls them. He +saw in the people only a sovereign, more exacting and more capricious +than any others, towards whom it was necessary to display more skill to +seduce, more policy to manage them. He believed himself sufficiently +plastic for the task, and resolved to attempt it. Without a lofty +imagination, he yet had ambition and courage, and he viewed the position +of affairs as a drama, similar to the Fronde[8], in which skilful actors +could enlarge their hopes in proportion to the facts, and direct the +catastrophe. He had not sufficient penetration to see, that in a +revolution there is but one serious actor--enthusiasm; and he had none. +He stammered out the words of a revolutionary tongue--he assumed the +costume, but had not the spirit of the times. + +The contrast of this nature and of this part, this court favourite +casting himself into the crowd to serve the nation, this aristocratic +elegance, masked in patriotism of the tribune, pleased public opinion +for the moment. They applauded this transformation as a difficulty +overcome. The people was flattered by having great lords with it. It was +a testimony of its power. It felt itself king, by seeing courtiers +bowing to it, and excused their rank by reason of their complaisance. + +Madame de Stäel was seduced as much by the heart as the intellect of M. +de Narbonne. Her masculine and sensitive imagination invested the young +soldier with all she desired to find in him. He was but a brilliant, +active, high-couraged man; she pictured him a politician and a hero. She +magnified him with all the endowments of her dreams, in order to bring +him up to her ideal standard. She found patrons for him; surrounded him +with a _prestige_; created a name for him, marked him out a course. She +made him the living type of her politics. To disdain the court, gain +over the people, command the army, intimidate Europe, carry away the +Assembly by his eloquence, to struggle for liberty, to save the nation, +and become, by his popularity alone, the arbiter between the throne and +the people, to reconcile them by a constitution, at once liberal and +monarchical; such was the perspective that she opened for herself and M. +de Narbonne. + +She but awakened his ambition, yet he believed himself capable of the +destinies which she dreamed of for him. The drama of the constitution +was concentrated in these two minds, and their conspiracy was for some +time the entire policy of Europe. + +Madame de Stäel, M. de Narbonne, and the constitutional party were for +war; but theirs was to be a partial and not a desperate war which, +shaking nationality to its foundations, would carry away the throne and +throw France into a Republic. They contrived by their influence to renew +all the personal staff of the diplomacy, exclusively devoted to the +emigrants or the king. They filled foreign courts with their adherents, +M. de Marbois was sent to the Diet of Ratisbon, M. Barthélemy to +Switzerland, M. de Talleyrand to London, M. de Ségur to Berlin. The +mission of M. de Talleyrand was to endeavour to fraternise the +aristocratic principle of the English constitution with the democratic +principle of the French constitution, which they believed they could +effect and control by an Upper Chamber. They hoped to interest the +statesmen of Great Britain in a Revolution, imitated from their own, +which, after having convulsed the people, was now becoming moulded in +the hands of an intelligent aristocracy. This mission would be easy, if +the Revolution were in regular train for some months in Paris. French +ideas were popular in London. The opposition was revolutionary. Fox and +Burke, then friends, were most earnest in their desire for the liberty +of the Continent[9]. We must render this justice to England, that the +moral and popular principle concealed in the foundation of its +constitution, has never stultified itself by combating the efforts of +other nations to acquire a free government. It has everywhere accorded +the liberty similar to its own. + + +XXI. + +The mission of M. de Ségur at Berlin was more delicate. Its object was +to detach the king of Prussia from his alliance with the emperor +Leopold, whose coronation was not yet known, and to persuade the cabinet +of Berlin into an alliance with revolutionary France. This alliance held +out to Prussia with its security on the Rhine the ascendency of the +new-sprung ideas in Germany: it was a Machiavelian idea, which would +smile at the agitating spirit of the great Frederic, who had made of +Prussia the corrosive influence (_la puissance corrosive_) of the +empire. + +These two words--seduce and corrupt--were all M. de Ségur's +instructions. The king of Prussia had favourites and mistresses. +Mirabeau had written in 1786, "There can be at Berlin no secrets for the +ambassador of France, unless money and skill be wanting; the country is +poor and avaricious, and there is no state secret which may not be +purchased with three thousand louis." M. de Ségur, imbued with these +ideas, made it his first object to buy over the two favourites. The one +was daughter of Elie Enka, who was a musician in the chapel of the late +king. Handsome and witty, she had at twelve years of age attracted the +notice of the king, then prince royal, and he had, at that early age, as +in anticipation of his amour, bestowed on her all the care and all the +cost of a royal education. She had travelled in France and in England, +and knew all the European languages; she had polished her natural genius +by contact with the lettered men and artists of Germany. A feigned +marriage with Rietz, valet de chambre of the king, was the pretext for +her residence at court, and gave her the opportunity for surrounding +herself with the leading men in politics and literature in the city of +Berlin. Spoiled by the precocity of her fortune, yet careless as to its +retention, she had allowed two rivals to dispute the king's heart. One, +the young Countess d'Ingenheim, had just died in the flower of her +youth; the other, the Countess d'Ashkof, had borne the king two +children, and flattered herself, in vain, with having extricated him +from the empire of Madame Rietz. + +The Baron de Roll, in the name of the Count d'Artois, and the Viscount +de Caraman, in the name of Louis XVI., had possessed themselves of all +the avenues to this cabinet. The Count de Goltz, ambassador from Prussia +to Paris, had informed his court of the object of M. de Ségur's mission. +The report ran amongst well-informed persons that this envoy carried +with him several millions (francs), destined to pay the weakness or the +treason of the Berlin cabinet. + +A copy of the secret instructions of M. de Ségur reached Berlin two +hours before him, which revealed to the king the whole plan of seduction +and venality that the agent of France was to practice on his favourites +and mistresses, whose character, ambition, rivalries, weaknesses, true +or feigned, the means of acting by them on the mind of the king, were +all and severally noted down with the security of confidence. There was +a tariff for all consciences,--a price for every treachery. The +favourite aide-de-camp of the king, Rischofwerder, then very powerful, +was to be assailed by irresistible offers, and in case his connivance +should be revealed, a splendid establishment in France was to guarantee +him against any eventuality. + +These instructions fell into the very hands of those whose fidelity was +thus priced, and they gave them to the king with all the innocence of +individuals shamefully calumniated. The king blushed for himself at the +empire over his politics thus ascribed to love and intrigue. He was +indignant at the fidelity of his subjects being thus assailed: all +negotiation was nipped in the bud before the arrival of the negotiator. +M. de Ségur was received with coldness and all the irony of contempt. +Frederic Willam affected never to mention him in his circle, and asked +aloud before him, of the envoy of the elector of Mayence, news of the +Prince de Condé: the envoy replied that this prince was approaching the +frontiers of France with his army. "He is right," said the king, "for he +is on the point of entering there." M. de Ségur, accustomed, from his +long residence and his familiar footing at the court of Catherine, to +take love for the intermediary of his affairs, induced, it is said, the +countess d'Ashkof and prince Henry of Prussia to join the peace party. +This success was but a snare for his negotiation. The king, arranging +with the emperor, affected for some time to lean towards France, to +complain of the exactions of emigration, and to make much of the +ambassador; who, thus cajoled, sent the warmest assurances to the French +cabinet as to the intentions of Prussia. But the sudden disgrace of the +countess d'Ashkof and the offer of alliance with France insultingly +repulsed, threw at once light and confusion into the plots of M. de +Ségur: he demanded his recall. The humiliation of seeing his talents +played with, the hopes of his party annihilated, the prospect of his +country's misfortunes, and Europe in flames, had, it was reported, urged +his sadness to despair. The report ran that he had attempted his life. +This imputed suicide was but a brain fever occasioned by the anguish of +a proud mind deeply wounded. + + +XXII. + +The same party attempted, and at nearly the same time, to acquire for +France a sovereign whose renown weighed as heavily as a throne in the +opinion of Europe. This was the duke of Brunswick, a pupil of the great +Frederic, the presumed heir of his military fame and inspiration, and +proclaimed, by anticipation, by the public voice, generalissimo, in the +coming war against France. To carry off from the emperor and the king of +Prussia the chief of their armies, was to deprive Germany of confidence +and of victory. + +The name of the duke of Brunswick was a prestige which invested Germany +with a feeling of terror and inviolability. Madame de Stäel and her +party attempted it. This secret negotiation was concerted amongst Madame +de Stäel, M. de Narbonne, M. de La Fayette, and M. de Talleyrand. M. de +Custine, son of the general of that name, was chosen to convey to the +duke of Brunswick the wishes of the constitutional party. The young +negotiator was well prepared for his mission: witty, attractive, clever, +an intense admirer of Prussian tactics and the duke of Brunswick, from +whom he had had lessons in Berlin, he inspired confidence into this +prince beforehand. He offered to him the rank of generalissimo of the +French armies, an allowance of three millions of francs, and an +establishment in France equivalent to his possessions and rank in the +empire. The letter bearing these offers was signed by the minister of +war and Louis XVI. himself. + +M. de Custine set out from France in the month of January; on his +arrival he handed his letter to the duke. Four days elapsed before an +interview was accorded to him. On the fifth day, the duke admitted him +to a personal and private interview. He expressed to M. de Custine with +military frankness his pride and gratitude that the price attached to +his merits by France must inspire in him: "But," he added, "my blood is +German and my honour Prussia's; my ambition is satisfied with being the +second person in this monarchy, which has adopted me. I would not +exchange for an adventurous glory on the shifting stage of revolutions, +the high and firm position which my birth, my duty, and some reputation +already acquired have secured for me in my native land." + +After this conversation, M. de Custine, finding the prince immoveable, +disclosed his ultimatum, and held before his eyes the dazzling chance of +the crown of France, if it fell from the brow of Louis XVI. into the +hands of a conquering general. The duke appeared overwhelmed, and +dismissed M. de Custine without depriving him of all hope of his +accepting such an offer. But shortly afterwards, the duke, from +duplicity, repentance, or prudence, replied by a formal refusal to both +these propositions. He addressed his reply to Louis XVI., and not to his +minister; and this unhappy king thus learnt the last word of the +constitutional party, and how frail was the tenure on his brow of a +crown which was already offered perspectively to the ambition of a foe! + + + + +BOOK VI. + + +I. + +Such were the mutually threatening dispositions of France and Europe at +the moment when the Constituted Assembly, after having proclaimed its +principles, left to others to defend and apply them; like the legislator +who retires into private life, thence to watch the effect and the +working of his laws. The great idea of France abdicated, if we may use +the expression, with the Constituted Assembly; and the government fell +from its high position into the hands of the inexperience or the +impulses of a new people. From the 29th of September to the 1st of +October, there seemed to be a new reign: the Legislative Assembly found +themselves on that day face to face with a king who, destitute of +authority, ruled over a people destitute of moderation. They felt on +their first sitting the oscillation of a power without a counterpoise, +that seeks to balance itself by its own wisdom, and changing from insult +to repentance, wounds itself with the weapon that has been placed in its +grasp. + + +II. + +An immense crowd had attended the first sittings; the exterior aspect of +the Assembly had entirely changed; almost all the white heads had +disappeared, and it seemed as though France had become young again in +the course of a night. The expression of the physiognomies, the +gestures, the attire of the members of the Assembly were no longer the +same; that pride of the French noblesse, visible alike in the look and +bearing; that dignity of the clergy and the magistrates; that austere +gravity of the deputies of the _Tiers état_ had suddenly given place to +the representatives of a new people, whose confusion and turbulence +announced rather the invasion of power than the custom and the +possession of supreme power. Many members were remarkable for their +youth; and when the president, by virtue of his age, summoned all the +deputies who had not yet attained their twenty-sixth year, in order to +form the provisional _bureau_, sixty young men presented themselves, and +disputed the office of secretary to the Assembly. This youth of the +representatives of the nation alarmed some, whilst it rejoiced others; +for if, on the one hand, such a representation did not possess that +mature calmness and that authority of age that the ancient legislators +sought in the council of the people; on the other, this sudden return to +youth of the representatives of the nation, seemed a symptom of the +regeneration of all the established institutions. It was visible to +every body that this new generation had discarded all the traditions and +prejudices of the old order of things; and its very age was a guarantee +opposite to established rule, and which required that every statesman +should by his age give pledges for the past, whilst from these was +required guarantees for the future. Their inexperience was made a merit, +their youth an oath. Old men are needed in times of tranquillity, young +ones in times of revolutions. + +Scarcely was the Assembly constituted, than the twofold feeling that was +destined to dispute and contest every act--the monarchical and +republican feeling--commenced upon a frivolous pretext, a struggle, +puerile in appearance, serious in reality, and in which each party in +the course of two days was alternately the conqueror and the conquered. +The deputation that had waited on the king to announce to him the +constitution of the Assembly, reported the result of its mission through +the medium of the _député_ Ducastel, the president of this deputation. +"We deliberated," said he, "as to what form of words we should make use +of in addressing his majesty, as we feared to wound the national dignity +or the royal dignity, and we agreed to use these terms:--'Sire, the +Assembly is formed, and has deputed us to inform your majesty.' We +proceeded to the Tuileries; the minister of justice announced to us that +the king could not receive us before to-day at one o'clock. We, however, +thought that the public safety required that we should be instantly +admitted to the king's presence, and we therefore persisted. The king +then informed us he would give us audience at nine o'clock, at which +hour we again presented ourselves. At four paces distance from the king +I saluted him, and addressed him in the terms agreed upon; he inquired +the names of my colleagues, and I replied, 'I do not know them;' we were +about to withdraw, when he recalled us, saying, 'I cannot see you before +Friday.'" + +An ill-repressed agitation, which had hitherto pervaded the ranks of the +Assembly, now broke forth at these last words. "I demand," cried a +deputy, "that this title of Majesty be no longer employed." "I demand," +added another, "that this title of Sire be abolished; it is only an +abbreviation of Seigneur, which recognises a sovereignty in the man to +whom it is given." "I demand," said the deputy Bequet, "that we be no +longer treated as automata, obliged to sit down or stand, just as it +pleases the king to rise or to sit down." Couthon made his voice heard +for the first time, and his first speech was a threat against royalty. +"There is no other majesty here," said he, "than that of the law and the +people. Let us leave the king no other title than that of King of the +French. Let this scandalous chair be removed, the gilded seat brought +for his use the last time he appeared in this chamber, if he really is +anxious to fill the simple place of the president of a great people. Let +an equality exist between us as regards ceremony: when he is uncovered +and standing, let us stand and uncover our heads; when he is covered and +seated, let us sit and wear our hats." "The people," said Chabot, "has +sent you here to maintain its dignity; will you permit the king to say +'I will come at three o'clock,' as if you were unable to adjourn the +Assembly without awaiting him?" + +It was decreed that every member should have the right to sit covered +in the king's presence. "This decree," observed Garrau de Coulon, "is +calculated to create a degree of confusion in the Assembly; this +privilege, given indiscriminately, would enable some to display pride, +and others flattery." "So much the better," said a voice; "if there are +any flatterers, we shall know them." It was also decreed that there +should be only two chairs, placed in a line, one for the king, the other +for the president; and lastly, that the king should have no other title +than that of King of the French. + + +III. + +These decrees humiliated the king, spread consternation amongst the +constitutional party, and agitated the people. All had hoped that +harmony would be established between the powers, and yet this +understanding was destroyed at the outset, and the constitution tottered +at its first step. This deprivation of the titles of royalty seemed a +greater humiliation than the deprivation of the absolute power. Had we +alone kept our king to expose him to the insults and derision of the +people's representatives? how will a nation that does not respect its +hereditary chief, respect its elected representatives? and is it by such +outrages that liberty hopes to render herself acceptable to the throne? +Or, is it by infusing similar feelings of resentment in the breast of +the king, that he will be induced to protect the constitution, and to +aid the maintenance of the rights of the people? If the executive power +be a necessary reality, we must respect it, even in the king; if it be +but a shadow, still should we respect and honour it. The ministerial +council assembled, and the king declared that he was not forced by the +new constitution to expose the monarchical dignity represented in his +person to the outrages of the Assembly, and that he would order the +ministers to preside at the opening of the legislative body. + +This rumour created a reaction in Paris in favour of the king. The +Assembly, as yet undecided, felt the blow; and that the popularity it +sought was fast disappearing. "What has been the result of the decree of +yesterday?" said the deputy Vosgien, at the opening of the sitting of +the 6th of October. "Fresh hopes for the enemies of the public welfare, +agitation of the people, depreciation of our credit, general +disquietude. Let us pay to the hereditary representative of the people +the respect that is his due. Do not let him believe that he is destined +to be the mockery and the plaything of each fresh legislation; it is +time for the constitution to cast anchor, and fix itself with firmness +and stability." + +Vergniaud, the hitherto unknown orator of the Gironde, displayed in his +opening speech that audacious yet undecided character that was the type +of his policy. His speeches were uncertain as his mind; he spoke in +favour of one party, and voted for the other. "We all appear to agree," +said he, "that if this decree concerns our internal regulations, it +should be instantly put into execution; and it is evident to me that the +decree does concern our internal regulations, for there can be no +connection of authority between the legislative body and the king. It is +merely a question of those marks of respect which are demanded to be +shown to the royal dignity. I know not why the titles of Sire and +Majesty, which recall feudality, should be restored; for the king ought +to glory in the title of King of the French. I ask you, whether the king +demanded a decree to regulate the etiquette of his household when he +received your deputation? However, to speak my opinion without reserve, +I think that if the king, as a mark of respect to the Assembly, rises +and uncovers his head, the Assembly, as a mark of respect to the king, +should imitate his example." + +Hérault de Séchelles demanded the repeal of the decree, and Champion, +deputy of the Jura, reproached his colleagues for employing their +meetings in such puerile debates. "I do not fear that the people will +worship a gilded chair," said he, "but I dread a struggle between the +two powers. You will not permit that the words _sire_ and _majesty_ be +used, you will not even permit us to applaud the king; as if it were +possible to forbid the people from manifesting their gratitude when the +king has merited it. Do not let us dishonour ourselves, gentlemen, by a +culpable ingratitude towards the National Assembly, who has retained +these marks of respect for the king. The founders of liberty were not +slaves; and previous to fixing the prerogatives of royalty, they +established the rights of the people. It is the nation that is honoured +in the person of its hereditary representative. It is the nation who, +after having created royalty, has invested it with a splendour that +remounts to the source from whence it sprung, and gives it a double +lustre." + +Ducastel, the president of the deputation sent to the king, spoke on the +same side, but having inadvertently used the expression _sovereign_, in +speaking of the king, and that the legislative power was vested in the +Assembly and the king, this blasphemy and involuntary heresy raised a +terrible storm in the chamber. Every word of this nature seemed to them +to threaten a counter-revolution; for they were still so near despotism, +that they feared at each step again to fall into its toils. The people +was a slave, freed but yesterday, and who still trembled at the clank of +his chains. However, the offensive decree was repealed, and this +retraction was rapturously hailed by the royalists and the national +guard. The constitutionalists saw in it the augury of renewed harmony +between the ruling powers of the state; the king saw in it the triumph +of a fidelity that had been deadened, but which blazed forth again on +the least appearance of outrage to his person. + +They were all deceived: it was but a movement of generosity, succeeding +one of brutality; the hesitation of a nation that dares not, at one +stroke, destroy the idol before which it has so long bowed the knee. + +The royalists, however, attacked this return to moderation in their +journals. "See," they cried, "how contemptible is this revolution--how +conscious of its own weakness! This feeling of its own feebleness is a +defeat already anticipated; see in two days how often it has given +itself the lie. The authority that concedes is lost unless it possess +the art of masking its retreat, of retreating by slow and imperceptible +steps, and of causing its laws to be rather forgotten than repealed. +Obedience arises from two causes, respect and fear. And both have been +alike snapped asunder by the sudden and violent retrograde movement of +the Assembly; for how can we respect or dread that power that trembles +at its own audacity? The Assembly has abdicated by not completing that +which it had dared to commence: the revolution that does not advance, +retreats; and the king has conquered without striking a blow." + +On their side the revolutionary party assembled that evening at the +Jacobins, deplored their defeat, accused every one, and mutually +recriminated on each other. "See," said their orators, "what underhand +work has been accomplished in one night; what a triumph of corruption +and fraud! The members of the former Assembly have mixed with the new +members in the chamber, and have infused into the ears of their +successors those concessions that have ruined them. After the sitting of +that evening they mingled with the groups in the Palais Royal, spread +alarm around, hinted of a second flight of the king, prognosticated +trouble and anarchy, and made the people of Paris, who prefer their own +private interests to the public weal, fear the utter destruction of +confidence and the depression of the public credit. Can this venal race +resist such arguments?" + +All the real feelings of Paris were infused the next day into the +attitude and discourses of the Assembly. "At the opening of the +sitting," says a Jacobin, "I took my place amongst the deputies who were +discussing the best means to obtain the repeal of the decree. I remarked +that the decree having been carried the previous evening almost +unanimously, it appeared impracticable to reckon upon so sudden and so +scandalous a change of opinion. 'We are sure of the majority,' was their +reply. I quitted my seat and took another, where precisely the same +conversation passed. I then took refuge in that part of the chamber that +had been so long the sanctuary of patriotism: there I heard the same +arguments, the same apostacy. All had been purchased in the course of +the night, and the best proof that this work of corruption had been +accomplished before the deliberation is, that all the orators who spoke +against the decree had their speeches ready written. Whence arises this +surprise of the patriots? Because the well-intentioned members of the +Assembly do not know each other; they have not met or reckoned their +numbers here. It is true that you have opened your doors to receive +them: they have entered this room to examine your countenance and +ascertain your forces; but they are not as yet associated and knit +together; nor have they acquired, by frequent visits here, and by +listening to your discourses, that confidence and patriotism that form +the great and good citizen." + +The people, who sighed for repose after so many exciting scenes, +destitute of work, money, and food, and intimidated by the approach of a +severe winter, saw with indifference the attempt and the retraction of +the Assembly, and suffered the deputies who had supported the decree to +be insulted with impunity. Goupilleau, Couthon, Basire, Chabot, were +threatened in the very Assembly by the officers of the national guard. +"Beware!" said these soldiers of the people, bought over to the cause of +the throne; "we will not suffer the Revolution to advance another step. +We know you--we will watch you--you shall be hewed to pieces by our +bayonets." These deputies, seconded by Barrère, came to the Jacobins' +club, to denounce these outrages; but no effect was produced, and they +gained nothing save expression of sterile indignation. + + +IV. + +The king, reassured by this state of public feeling, proceeded, on the +7th, to the Assembly, where his appearance was the signal for unanimous +acclamations. Some applauded _the king_, others applauded the +constitution, in the person of the king. It inspired with real +fanaticism that mass that judges of things by words alone, and believes +all that the law proclaims sacred to be imperishable. Not content with +crying _Vive le Roi_, they cried also _Vive sa Majesté;_ and the +acclamations of one part of the people thus avenged themselves on the +offences of the others, and revered those titles that a decree had +striven to efface. They even applauded the restoration of the royal +chair beside that of the president, and it seemed to the royalists that +this chair was a throne on which the people replaced the monarchy. The +king addressed them, standing and bareheaded; his speech reassured their +minds and touched their hearts; and if he lacked the language of +enthusiasm, he had at least the accent of sincerity. "In order," said +he, "that our labours may produce the beneficial results we have a right +to expect, it is necessary that a constant harmony and an unalterable +confidence should exist between the king and the legislative body. The +enemies of our repose will seek every opportunity to spread disunion +amongst us, but let the love of our country ally us, the public interest +render us inseparable. Thus, public power will unfold itself without +opposition, and the administration be harassed by no vain fears. The +property and the opinions of every man shall be protected, and no excuse +will remain for any one to live away from a country where the laws are +in force, and the rights of all respected." This allusion to the +emigrés, and this indirect appeal to the king's brothers, caused a +sensation of joy and hope to pervade the ranks of the Assembly. + +The president Pastoret, a moderate constitutionalist, beloved alike by +the king and the people, because, with the doctrines of power, he +possessed the acuteness of the diplomatist and the language of the +constitution, replied,--"Sire, your presence in this assembly is a fresh +oath you take of fidelity to your country: the rights of the people were +forgotten and all power confused. A constitution is born, and with it +the liberty of France. As a citizen, it is your duty to cherish--as a +king, to strengthen and defend it. Far from shaking your power, it has +confirmed it, and has given you friends in those who formerly were +styled your subjects. You said a few days ago in this temple of our +country, that you have need of being beloved by all Frenchmen, and we +also have need of being beloved by you. The constitution has rendered +you the greatest monarch in the world; your attachment to it will place +your majesty amongst those kings most beloved by the people. Strong by +our union, we shall soon feel its salutary effects. To purify the +legislation, support public credit, and crush anarchy,--such is our +duty, such are our wishes. Such are yours, sire; and the blessing of the +French nation will be the recompence." + +This day awakened hope once more in the hearts of the king and queen. +They believed they had again found their subjects; and the people +believed that they had again found their king. All recollections of what +had passed at Varennes seemed buried in oblivion; and popularity had one +of those sudden blasts that drive away the clouds in the sky for a short +space, and deceive even those who have learnt to mistrust them. The +royal family wished to enjoy it, and to let Madame and the dauphin +profit by it; for these two infants knew nothing of the people save +their fury; they had alone seen the nation through the bayonets of the +6th of October,--the rags of the _émeute_,--of the dust of the return +from Varennes; the king wished they should now see them in a state of +tranquillity and affection for him, for he taught his son to love the +people, and not to avenge their offences towards him. In the pangs he +had suffered, the most bitter was rather the ingratitude of the nation, +than his own personal humiliations; for, to be misconstrued by the +nation, was, in his eyes, far more painful than to be persecuted by +them. One moment of justice on the part of public opinion made him +forget two years of outrage. He went that evening to the Théâtre Italien +with the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and his children. The hopes to which +the events of the day had given rise--his words of that morning--the +expression of confidence and affection on his features--the beauty of +the two princesses--the infantine grace of his children, produced on the +spectators one of those impressions, where pity vies with respect, and +enthusiasm softens the heart into veneration. + +The theatre rang with applause mingled with sobs; every eye was fixed on +the royal box, as though in mute reparation for so many insults offered +to the king and his family. The populace can never resist the sight of +children, there are so many mothers in every crowd; the dauphin, a +lovely child, seated on the lap of his mother, and absorbed in the play, +repeated the gestures of the actors to his mother as though to explain +the piece to her. This careless tranquillity of innocence between the +two storms--this childish sport at the foot of a throne, so soon to +become a scaffold--this expansion of the heart of the queen, that had +been so long closed to joy and security, filled every eye with tears, +not excepting the king himself. + +There are moments in every revolution when the most furious and enraged +populace becomes gentle and compassionate; it is when it suffers nature +and not policy to sway it; and instead of being a people, it becomes a +man. Paris had such an instant: it was of short duration. + + +V. + +The Assembly was very anxious to re-acquire the public feeling of which +a momentary weakness had dispossessed it. It already blushed at its +moderation for a day, and was anxious to cast fresh jealousies between +the throne and the nation. A numerous party in the chamber was desirous +of pushing matters to extremities, and to tighten the cord of the +present posture of affairs until it snapped. For this purpose the party +required agitation; tranquillity by no means suited its designs. It had +ambitious desires as vast as its talents, ardent as its youth, impatient +as its thirst for advancement. The Constituent Assembly, composed of +reflective men of eminence in the state, and in the social hierarchy, +had but the ambition of advancing the ideas of liberty and fame; the new +Assembly had that of tumult, fortune, and power. Formed of obscure, +poor, and unknown men, it aspired to the acquisition of all in which it +was deficient. + +This latter party, of which Brissot was the journalist, Pétion the +popular member, Vergniaud the genius, the party of the Girondists the +body, entered on the scene with the boldness and unity of a conspiracy. +It was the _bourgeoisie_ triumphant, envious, turbulent, eloquent, the +aristocracy of talent, desiring to acquire and control by itself alone +liberty, power, and the people. The Assembly was made up of unequal +portions of three elements; the constitutionalists, who formed the +aristocratic liberty and moderate monarchy party; the Girondists, the +party of the movement, sustained until the Revolution fell into their +hands; the Jacobins, the party of the people, and of philosophy in +action; the first arrangement and transition, the second boldness and +intrigue, the third fanaticism and devotion. Of these last two parties +the Jacobin was not the most hostile to the king. The aristocracy and +the clergy destroyed, that party had no repugnance to the throne; it +possessed in a high degree the instinct of the unity of power; it was +not the Jacobins who first demanded war, and who first uttered the word +republic, but it was the first who uttered and often repeated the word +_dictatorship_. The word _republic_ appertained to Brissot and the +Girondists. If the Girondists, on their coming in to the Assembly, had +united with the constitutional party in order to save the constitution +by moderate measures, and the Revolution by not urging it into war, they +would have saved their party and controlled the throne. The honesty in +which their leader was deficient was also wanting in their +conduct--they were all intrigue. They made themselves the agitators in +an assembly of which they might have been the statesmen. They had not +confidence in the republic, but feigned it. In revolutions sincere +characters are the only skilful characters. It is glorious to die the +victim of a faith; it is pitiful to die the dupe of one's ambition. + + +VI. + +Three causes of uneasiness agitated men's minds at the moment when the +Assembly opened its sittings--the clergy, emigration, and impending war. + +The Constituent Assembly had committed a gross error in stopping at a +half measure in reforming the clergy in France. Mirabeau himself had +been weak on this question. The Revolution was at the bottom only the +legitimate rising of political liberty against despotism, and of +religious liberty against the legal domination of Catholicism, because a +political institution. The constitution had emancipated the citizens, +and it was necessary to emancipate the faithful, and to claim +consciences for the state, in order to restore them to themselves, to +individual reason, and to God. This is what philosophy desired, which is +only the rational expression of the mind's impulses. + +The philosophers of the Constituent Assembly receded before the +difficulties of this labour. Instead of an emancipation, they made a +compact with the power of the clergy, the dreaded influences of the +court of Rome, and the inveterate habits of the people. They contented +themselves with relaxing the chain which bound the state to the church. +Their duty was to have snapped it asunder. The throne was chained to the +altar, they desired to chain the altar to the throne. It was only +displacing tyranny,--oppressing conscience by law instead of oppressing +the law by conscience. + +The civil constitution of the clergy was the expression of this +reciprocal false position. The clergy was deprived of these endowments +in landed estates, which decimated property and population in France. +They deprived it of its benefices, its abbeys, and its tithes--the +altar's feudality. It received in lieu an endowment in salaries levied +on the taxes. As the condition of this arrangement, which gave to the +working clergy an existence, influence, and a powerful body of ministers +of worship paid by the state, they required the clergy to take the oath +of the constitution. This constitution comprised articles which affected +the spiritual supremacy and administrative privileges of the court of +Rome. Catholicism became alarmed and protested; consciences were +disturbed. The Revolution, until then exclusively political, became +schism in the eyes of a portion of the clergy and the faithful. Amongst +the bishops and the priests, some took the civil oath, which was the +guarantee of their existence; others refused, or, after having taken it, +retracted. This gave rise to trouble in many minds, agitation in +consciences, division in the temples. The great majority of parishes had +two ministers,--the one a constitutional priest, salaried and protected +by the government, the other refractory, refusing the oath, deprived of +his income, driven from the church, and raising altar opposing altar in +some clandestine chapel, or in the open field. These two ministers of +the same worship excommunicated each other, the one in the name of the +constitution, and the other in the name of the Pope and of the church. +The population was also divided according to the greater or lesser +degree of revolutionary spirit prevailing in the province. In cities and +the more enlightened districts the constitutional worship was exercised +almost without dispute. In the open country and the less civilised +departments, the priest who had not taken the oath became a consecrated +tribune, who at the foot of the altar, or in the elevation of the +pulpit, agitated the people and inspired it, in all the horror of a +constitutional and schismatic priesthood, with hatred of the government +which protected it. This was not actually persecution or civil war, but +the sure prelude to both. + +The king had signed with repugnance and even constraint the civil +constitution of the clergy: but he had done so only as king, and +reserving to himself his liberty and the faith of his conscience. He was +Christian and Catholic in all the simplicity of the Gospel, and in all +the humility of obedience to the church. The reproaches he had received +from Rome for having ratified by his weakness the schism in France, +wounded his conscience and distracted his mind. He had never ceased to +negotiate officially or secretly with the pope, in order to obtain from +the head of the church either an indulgent concession to the necessities +of religion in France, or prudent temporising. It was on these terms +only that he could restore peace to his mind. Inexorable Rome had only +granted him its pity. Fulminating bulls were in circulation by the hands +of nonjuring priests, cast at the heads of the population, and only +stopping at the foot of the throne. The king trembled, to see them burst +one day on his own head. + +On the other hand, he felt that the nation, of which he was the +legitimate head, would never forgive him for sacrificing it to his +religious scruples. Placed thus between the menaces of Heaven and the +threats of his own people, he procrastinated with all his might the +denunciations of Rome and the votes of the Assembly. The Constitutional +Assembly understood this anxiety of the king's feelings and the dangers +of persecution. It had given time to the king, and displayed forbearance +to men's consciences: it had not intermeddled with the faith of the +simple believer, but left each at liberty to pray with the priest of his +choice. The king had been the first to avail himself of this liberty, +and had not thrown open the chapel of the Tuileries to the +constitutional worship. The choice of his confessor sufficiently +indicated the choice of his conscience. The man in him protested against +the political necessities which oppressed the monarch. The Girondists +wished to compel him to declare himself. If he yielded to them, he +infringed upon his dignity; if he resisted, he lost the remaining shreds +of his popularity. To compel him to decide was a great point for the +Girondists. + +The public feeling served their designs. Religious troubles began to +assume a political character. In ancient Brittany the conforming priests +became objects of the people's horror, and they fled from contact with +them. The nonjuring priests all retained their flocks. On Sundays large +bodies of many thousand souls were seen to follow their ancient pastors, +and go to chapels situated two or three leagues from any dwelling, or in +concealed hermitages, sanctuaries which had never been stained by the +ceremonies of a constitutional worship. At Caen blood had even flowed +in the very cathedral, where the nonjuring priest disputed the altar +with the conforming pastor. The same disorders threatened to spread over +all parts of the kingdom: every where were to be seen two pastors and a +divided flock. Resentment, which already displayed itself in insult, of +necessity soon arrived at bloodshed. The one half of the people, +disturbed in its faith, reverted to the aristocracy out of love for its +worship. The Assembly must thus alienate the popular element, which it +had so recently caused to triumph over royalty. It was highly necessary +to provide against this unexpected peril. + +There were only two means of extinguishing this flame at its source: +either by freedom of conscience, stoutly maintained by the executive +power, or persecution of the ministers of the ancient faith. The +undecided Assembly wavered between these two parties. On a report of +Gallois and Gensonné, sent as commissioners into the departments of the +west, to investigate the causes of the agitation and the feelings of the +people, the discussion commenced. Fauchet, a conforming priest and +celebrated preacher, subsequently constitutional bishop of Calvados, +opened the debate. He was one of those men who, beneath an +ecclesiastical garb, conceal the heart of a philosopher. Reformers from +feeling, priests by the state, sensible of the wide discrepancy between +their opinions and their character, a national religion, a revolutionary +Christianity, was the sole means remaining to them to reconcile their +interest and their policy: their faith, wholly academic, was only a +religious convenience. They desired to transform Catholicism insensibly +into a moral code, of which the dogma was now but a symbol, which, in +the people's eyes, comprised sacred truths; and which, gradually +stripped of holy fictions, would allow the human understanding to glide +insensibly into a symbolic deism, whose temple should be flesh, and +whose Christ should be hardly more than Plato rendered a divinity. +Fauchet had the daring mind of a sectarian and the intrepidity of a man +of resolution. + + +VII. + +"We are accused of a desire to persecute. It is calumny. No persecution. +Fanaticism is greedy of it, real religion repulses it, philosophy holds +it in horror. Let us beware of imprisoning the nonjurors; of exiling, +even of displacing them. Let them think, say, write all they please +against us. We will oppose our thoughts to their thoughts; our truths to +their errors; our charity to their hatred. Time will do the rest. But in +awaiting its infallible triumph we must find an efficacious and prompt +mode of hindering them from prevailing over weak minds, and propagating +ideas of a counter-revolution. A counter-revolution! This is not a +religion, gentlemen! Fanaticism is not compatible with liberty. Look +else at these ministers--they would have swum in the blood of patriots. +This is their own expression. Compared with these priests, atheists are +angels. (Applause.) However, I repeat, let us tolerate them, but do not +let us pay them. Let us not pay them to rend our country in pieces. It +is to this measure only that we should confine ourselves. Let us +suppress all salary from the national treasury to the nonjuring priests. +Nothing is due to them but in their clerical capacity. What service do +they render? They invoke ruin on our laws; and they say they follow +their consciences! Must we pay consciences which push them to the +extremity of crime against their country? The nation supports them: is +not that enough? They appeal to the article of the constitution, which +says, 'The salaries of the ministers of Catholic worship form a portion +of the national debt.' Are they ministers of the Catholic worship? Does +the state recognise any other Catholicity than its own? If they would +attempt any other it is open to them and their sectarians! The nation +allows all sorts of worship, but only pays one. And what a saving for +the nation to be freed from thirty millions (of francs), which she pays +annually to her most implacable enemies! (Bravo.) Why have we these +phalanx of priests, who have abjured their ministry? these legions of +canons and monks; these cohorts of abbés, friars, and beneficed clergy +of all sorts, who were not remarkable otherwise, except for their +pretensions, inutility, intrigues and licentious life; and are only so +to-day by their vindictive interference, their schemes, their unwearied +hatred of the Revolution? Why should we pay this army of dependents from +the funds of the nation? What do they do? They preach emigration, they +send coin from the realm, they foment conspiracies against us from +within and without. Go, say they to the nobility, and combine your +attacks with the foreigner; let blood flow in streams, provided that we +recover our privileges! This is their church! If hell had one on earth +it is thus that it would speak. Who shall say we ought to endow it?" + +Tourné, the constitutional bishop of Bourges, replied to the Abbé +Fauchet as Fénélon would have answered Bossuet. He proved that, in the +mouth of his adversary, toleration was fanatical and cruel. "You have +proposed to you violent remedies for the evils which anger can only +envenom; it is a sentence of starvation which is demanded of you against +our nonjuring brethren. Simple religious errors should be strangers to +the legislator. The priests are not guilty--they are only led astray. +When the eye of the law falls on these errors of the conscience, it +envenoms them. The best means of curing them is not to see them. To +punish by the pangs of hunger simple and venial errors, would be an +opprobrium to legislation--a horror in morals. The legislator leaves to +God the care of avenging his own glory, if he believe it violated by an +indecorous worship. Would you, in the name of tolerance, again create an +inquisition which would not have, like the other, the excuse of +fanaticism? What, gentlemen, would you transform into arbitrary +proscribers the founders of liberty? You will judge, you will exile, you +will imprison, _en masse_, men amongst whom, if there are some guilty, +there are still more innocent! Crimes are no longer individual, and +guilt would be decreed by category; but were they all and all equally +guilty, could you have the cruelty to strike, at the same time, this +multitude of heads; when under similar circumstances the most cruel +despots would be content with decimating them? What then have you to do? +One thing only: to be consistent, and found practical liberty and the +peaceable co-existence of different worships on the bases of tolerance. +Why do not our brethren of the priesthood enjoy the power of worshiping +beside us the same God--whilst in our cities, where we refuse them the +right of celebrating our holy mysteries, we allow heathens to celebrate +the mysteries of Iris and Osiris? Mahometans to invoke their prophet? +the rabbin to make his burnt-offerings? To what extent, I ask, shall +such strange tolerance be permissible? to what extent, I ask also, will +you push despotism and persecution? When the law shall have regulated +the civil arts, births, marriage, burial, with religious ceremonies, by +which Christians consecrate them; when the law will permit the same +sacrifice on two altars, with what consistency can it forbid the virtue +of the same sacraments? These temples, it will be repeated, are the +council-chambers of the factious. True, if they be rendered clandestine, +as the persecutors would make them; but if these temples be open and +free, the eye of the law will penetrate there and every where else: it +will be no longer religious worship, it will be crime they will watch +and detect--and what do you fear? Time is with you; this class of the +nonjurors will be extinct, and never renewed. A worship supported by +individuals, and not by the state, constantly tends to weaken itself; at +least, the factious, who are in their commencement animated by the +divinity of their faith, gradually become reconciled, and identify +themselves with the general freedom. Look at Germany--look at +Virginia--where opposite creeds mutually borrow the same sanctuaries, +and where different sects fraternise in the same patriotism. This is +what we should tend to; these are the principles which ought gradually +to implant themselves widely amongst a people: light ought to be the +great precursor of the law. Let us leave to despotism to prepare its +slaves for its commands by ignorance." + + +VIII. + +Ducos, a young and generous-hearted Girondist, with whom enthusiasm for +the honest carried him beyond the policy of his party, moved for the +printing of this speech. His voice was drowned amidst the applause and +murmurs which followed--a testimony of the indecision and impartiality +of men's minds. Fauchet replied at the next sitting, and pointed out the +connection between civil troubles and religious quarrels. "The priests," +he said, "are of unreasonable tyranny, which still maintains its hold on +consciences by the ill-broken thread of its power. It is a faction +'scotched, not killed'--it is the most dangerous of factions." + +Gensonné spake like a statesman, and counselled toleration towards +conscientious priests, and the repulsion by force of law of the +turbulent clergy. During this discussion, couriers daily arriving from +the country, brought news of fresh disorders. Every where the +constitutional priests were insulted, driven away, massacred at the foot +of the altars. The country churches, closed by order of the National +Assembly, were burst open by axes, the nonjuring priests returned to +them, urged by the fanaticism of the people. Three cities were besieged +and on the point of being burnt down by the country people. The +threatened civil war seemed the prelude to the counter-revolution. +"See," exclaimed Isnard, "whither the toleration and impunity you have +preached, conduct you!" + +Isnard, deputy of Provence, was the son of a perfumer of Grasse. His +father had educated him for a literary life, and not for business. He +had studied politics in the antiquities of Greece and Rome. He had in +his mind the idea of one of the Gracchi; he had his courage in his soul +and his tone in his voice. Still very young, his eloquence was as +fervent as his blood; his language was but the fire of his passion, +coloured by a southern imagination; his words poured forth like the +rapid bursts of impatience. He was the revolutionary impetus +personified. The Assembly followed him breathless, and with him arrived +at fury before it attained conviction. His discourses were magnificent +odes, which elevated discussion to lyric poetry, and enthusiasm to +convulsion; his action bespoke the tripod rather than the tribune. He +was the Danton of the Gironde, as Vergniaud was to become its Mirabeau. + + +IX. + +It was his maiden speech in the Assembly. "Yes," he said, "look at the +point to which impunity conducts us! It is always the source of great +crimes, and is now the sole cause of the disorganised state into which +society is plunged. The plans of toleration proposed to you are very +well for tranquil times; but can we tolerate those who will neither +tolerate the constitution nor the laws? Will it be when French blood has +at last stained the waves of the sea, that you will become sensible of +the dangers of indulgence? It is time that every thing is submitted to +the will of the nation; that tiaras, diadems, and censers should yield +to the sceptre of the laws. The facts you have just heard are but the +prelude of what is about to occur in the rest of the kingdom. Consider +the circumstances of these troubles, and you will see that they have the +effect of a disorganised system contemporary with the constitution. This +system was born there! (the orator pointed to the right) it is +sanctioned at the court of Rome. It is but a real fanaticism we have to +unmask--it is but hypocrisy! The priests are the privileged brawlers, +who ought to be punished by penalties more severe than mere private +individuals. Religion is an all-powerful weapon. 'The priest,' says +Montesquieu, 'takes the man from the cradle, and accompanies him to the +tomb;' is it then astonishing that he should have so much control over +the mind of the people, and that it is requisite to make laws, in order +that under a pretence of religion it should not trouble the public +peace? What should be the nature of such a law? I maintain that one only +can be efficacious, and that is banishment from the realm. (The tribunes +hailed this with loud applause.) Do you not see that it is necessary to +separate the factious priest from the people whom he misleads, and send +away these plague-spotted men to the lazarettos of Italy and Rome? I am +told that the measure is too severe. What!--you are then blind and mute +at all that occurs! Are you then ignorant that a priest can effect more +mischief than all your enemies? I am answered, 'Ah! you should not +persecute.' My answer is, that to punish is not to persecute. I answer +thus to those who repeat what I heard retorted here on the Abbé Maury, +that nothing is more dangerous than to make martyrs. This danger only +exists when you have to strike fanatics in earnest, or men really pious, +who believe the scaffold to be the nearest footstool to heaven. This is +not the present case; for if there be priests who earnestly reject the +constitution, they will not give any trouble to public order. Those who +really trouble it, are men who only weep over religion in order to +recover their lost privileges; those who should be punished without +pity; and be assured that you will not thereby augment the strength of +the emigrants: for we know that the priest is cowardly--as cowardly as +vindictive--that he knows no other weapon but superstition; and that, +accustomed to combat in the mysterious arena of confession, he is a +nullity in every other battle-field. The thunders of Rome will fall +harmless on the bucklers of liberty. The foes to your regeneration will +never grow weary; no, they will never grow weary of crimes, so long as +you leave them the means! You must overcome them, or be overcome by +them; and whosoever sees not this is blind. Open the page of history; +you will see the English sustaining for fifty years a disastrous war, in +order to maintain their revolution. You will see in Holland seas of +blood flowing in the war against Philip of Spain. When, in our times, +the Philadelphians would be free, have we not also seen war in the two +hemispheres? You have been witnesses of the recent outbreaks in Brabant, +and do you believe that your Revolution, which has snatched the sceptre +from despotism, and from aristocracy its privileges, from nobility its +pride, from the clergy its fanaticism--a Revolution which has dried up +so many golden sources from the grasp of the priesthood, torn so many +frocks, crushed so many theories--do you believe that such a Revolution +will absolve you? No--no!--this Revolution will have a _dénouement_, and +I say--and with no intention of provocation--that we must advance boldly +towards this _dénouement_. The more you delay, the more difficult and +blood-stained will be that triumph!" (Violent murmurs.) + +"But do you not see," resumed Isnard; "that all counter-revolutionists +are obstinate, and leave you no other part than that of vanquishing +them? It is better to have to contend against them, whilst the citizens +are still up and stirring, and well remember the perils they have +encountered, than to allow patriotism to grow cold! Is it not true that +already we are no longer what we were in the first year of liberty; +(some of the chamber applaud, whilst others disapprove). If fanaticism +had then raised its head, the law would have been subjected! Your policy +should be to compel victory to declare itself; drive your enemies to +extremities, and you Will have them return to you from fear, or you will +subdue them by the sword. Under important circumstances, prudence is a +weakness. It is especially with respect to rebels that you should be +decisive and severe; they should be hewn down as they rise. If time be +permitted to them to have meetings and earnest partisans, then they +spread over the empire like an irresistible torrent. It is thus that +despotism acts, and it was thus that one individual kept beneath his +yoke a whole nation. If Louis XVI. had employed this great means whilst +the Revolution was but yet in its cradle, we should not now be here! +This rigour, the vice of a despot, is the virtue of a nation. +Legislators, who shrink from such extreme means, are cowards--criminals: +for when the public liberty is assailed, to pardon is to share the +crime. (Great applause.) + +"Such rigour might perchance cost an effusion of blood? I know it! But +if you do not make use of it, will not more blood flow? Is not civil war +a still greater misfortune? Cut off the gangrened member to save the +whole frame.[10] Indulgence is the snare into which you are tempted. You +will find yourselves abandoned by the nation for not having dared to +sustain, nor known how to defend, it. Your enemies will hate you no +less. Your friends will lose confidence in you. The law is my God: I +have no other--the public good, that is my worship! You have already +struck the emigrants--again a decree against the refractory priests, and +you will have gained over ten millions of arms! My decree would be +comprised in two words: compel every Frenchman, priest or not, to take +the civil oath, and ordain that every man who will not sign shall be +deprived of all salary or pension. Sound policy would decree that every +one who does not sign the contract should leave the kingdom. What proofs +against the priest do we require? If there be but a complaint lodged +against the priest by the citizen with whom he lives, let him be at once +expelled! As to those against whom the penal code shall pronounce +punishment more severe than exile, there is but one sentence left: +_Death!_!" + + +X. + +This oration, which pushed patriotism even to impiety, and made of the +public safety an implacable deity, to which even the innocent were to be +sacrificed, excited a frantic enthusiasm in the ranks of the Girondist +party, a bitter indignation amongst the moderate party. "To propose the +printing of such a speech," said Lecos, a constitutional bishop, "is to +propose the printing of a code of atheism. It is impossible that a +society can exist, if it have not an immutable morality derived from the +idea of a God." Derisive sneers and murmurings hailed this religious +protest. The decree against the priests, presented by François de +Neufchâteau, and adopted by the legislative committee, was couched in +these terms:--"Every ecclesiastic not taking the oaths is required to +present himself before the expiration of the week at his municipality, +and there take the civil oath. + +"Those who shall refuse are not entitled in future to receive any +allowance or pension from the public treasury. + +"Every year there shall be an aggregate made of those pensions which the +priests have forfeited, and this sum shall be divided amongst the +eighty-three departments, to be employed in charitable works, and in +giving succour to the indigent. + +"These priests shall be, moreover, from their simple refusal of the +oath, reputed as suspected of rebellion and specially _surveillés_. + +"They may in consequence thereof be sent from their domicile, and +another be assigned to them. + +"If they refuse to change their domicile when called upon to do so, they +shall be imprisoned. + +"The churches employed for the paid worship of the state, cannot be +devoted to any other service. Citizens may hire other churches or +chapels, and exercise their worship therein. But this permission is +forbidden to nonjuring priests suspected of revolt." + + +XI. + +This decree, which created more fanaticism than it repressed, and which +accorded freedom of worship not as a right but as a favour, saddened +the heart of the faithful; and the revolt in La Vendée, and persecution +every where, followed. Suspended as a fearful weapon over the conscience +of the king, it was sent for his assent. + +The Girondists were delighted at thus keeping the wretched monarch +between their law and his own faith--schismatic if he recognised the +decree, and a traitor to the nation if he refused it. Conquerors in this +victory, they advanced towards another. + +After having forced the king to strike at the religion of his +conscience, they wished to force him to deal a blow at the nobility and +his own brothers. They renewed the question of the emigrants. The king +and his ministers had anticipated them. Immediately after the acceptance +of the constitution, Louis XVI. had formally renounced all conspiracy, +interior or exterior, in order to recover his power. The omnipotence of +opinion had convinced him of the vanity of all the plans submitted to +him for crushing it. The momentary tranquillity of spirits after so many +shocks, the reception he had met with in the Assembly, the +Champ-de-Mars, in the theatre,--the freedom and honours restored to him +in his palace, had persuaded him that, if the constitution had some +fanatics, royalty had no implacable enemies in his kingdom. He believed +the constitution easy of execution in many of its provisions, and +impracticable in others. The government which they imposed on him seemed +to him as a philosophical experiment which they desired to make with +their king. He only forgot one thing, and that is, the experiments of a +people are catastrophes. A king who accepts the terms of a government +which are impossible, accepts his own overthrow by anticipation. A +well-considered and voluntary abdication is more regal than that daily +abdication which is undergone in the degradation of power. A king saves, +if not his life, at least his dignity. It is more suitable to majesty +royal to descend by its own will, than to be cast down headlong. From +the moment when the king is king no longer, the throne becomes the last +place in the kingdom. + +Be this as it may, the king frankly declared to his ministers his +intention of legally executing the constitution, and of associating +himself unreservedly and without guile to the will and destiny of the +nation. The queen, by one of those sudden and inexplicable changes in +the heart of woman, threw herself, with the trust of despair, into the +party of the constitution. "Courage," she said to M. Bertrand de +Molleville, minister and confidant of the king: "Courage! I hope, with +patience, firmness, and perseverance, that all is not lost." + +The minister of marine, Bertrand de Molleville, wrote, by the king's +orders, to the commandants of the ports a letter, signed by the +king:--"I am informed," he said, in this circular, "that emigrations in +the navy are fast increasing. How is it that the officers of a service +always so dear to me, and which has invariably given me proofs of its +attachment, are so mistaken at what is due to their country, to me, and +to themselves! This extreme step would have seemed to me less surprising +some time since, when anarchy was at its height, and when its +termination was unseen; but now, when the nation desires to return to +order and submission to the laws, is it possible that generous and +faithful sailors can think of separating from their king? Tell them to +remain where their country calls them. The precise execution of the +constitution is to-day the surest means of appreciating its advantages, +and of ascertaining what is wanting to make it perfect. It is your king +who desires you to remain at your posts as he remains at his. You would +have considered it a crime to resist his orders, you will not refuse his +prayers." + +He wrote to general officers, and to commandants of the land +forces:--"In accepting the constitution, I have promised to maintain it +within, and defend it against enemies without; this solemn act should +banish all uncertainty. The law and the king are henceforth identified. +The enemy of the law becomes that of the king. I cannot consider those +sincerely devoted to my person who abandon their country at the moment +when it has the greatest need of their services. Those only are attached +to me who follow my example and unite with me for the public weal, and +remain inseparable from the destiny of the empire!" + +Finally, he ordered M. de Lessart, the minister for foreign affairs, to +publish the following proclamation, addressed to the French +emigrants:--"The king," thus it ran, "informed that a great number of +French emigrants are withdrawing to foreign lands, cannot see without +much grief such an emigration. Although the law permits to all citizens +a free power to quit the kingdom, the king is anxious to enlighten them +as to their duties, and the distress they are preparing for themselves. +If they think, by such means, to give me a proof of their affection, let +them be undeceived; my real friends are those who unite with me in order +to put the laws in execution, and re-establish order and peace in the +kingdom. When I accepted the constitution, I was desirous of putting an +end to civil discord--I believed that all Frenchmen would second my +intentions. However, it is at this moment that emigration is increasing: +some depart because of the disturbances which have threatened their +lives and property. Ought we not to pardon the circumstances? Have not I +too my sorrows? And when I forget mine, can any one remember his perils? +How can order be again established if those interested in it abandon it +by abandoning themselves? Return, then, to the bosom of your country: +come and give to the laws the support of good citizens. Think of the +grief your obstinacy will give to the king's heart; they would be the +most painful he could experience." + +The Assembly was not blinded by these manifestations; it saw beneath a +secret design of escaping from the severest measures; it was desirous of +compelling the king to carry them out, and, let us add, the nation and +the public safety also required it. + + +XII. + +Mirabeau had treated the question of the emigration of the Constituent +Assembly rather as a philosopher than a statesman. He had disputed with +the legislator the right of making laws against emigration: he was +mistaken. Whenever a theory is in contradiction to the welfare of +society it is because that theory is false, for society is the supreme +truth. + +Unquestionably in ordinary times, man is not imprisoned by nature, and +ought not to be by the law, within the frontiers of his native land; +and, with this view, the laws against emigration should only be +exceptional laws. But, because exceptional, are these laws therefore +unjust? Evidently not. The public danger has its peculiar laws, as +necessary and as just as laws made in a time of security. A state of war +is not a state of peace. You shut your frontiers to strangers in war +time; you may close them to your citizens. A city is legally put in a +state of siege during a sedition. We can put the nation in a state of +siege in case of external danger co-existent with internal conspiracy. +By what absurd abuse of liberty can a state be constrained to tolerate +on a foreign soil gatherings of citizens armed against itself, which it +would not tolerate in its own land? And if these gatherings should be +culpable without, why should the state be interdicted from shutting up +those roads which lead emigrants to these gatherings? A nation defends +itself from its foreign enemies by arms, from its internal foes by its +laws. To act otherwise would be to consecrate without the country the +inviolability of conspiracies which were punished within: it would be to +proclaim the legality of civil war, provided it was mixed up with +foreign war, and that sedition was covered by treason. Such maxims ruin +a whole people's nationality, in order to protect abuse of liberty by +certain citizens. The Constituent Assembly was so wrong as to sanction +such. Had it proclaimed from the beginning the laws repressive of +emigration in troubled times, during revolutions, or on the eve of war, +it would have proclaimed a national truth, and prevented one of the +great dangers and principal causes of the excesses of the Revolution. +The question now was no longer to be treated with reason, but by +vindictive feelings. The imprudence of the Constituent Assembly had left +this dangerous weapon in the hands of parties who were about to turn it +against the king. + + +XIII. + +Brissot, the inspirer of the Gironde, the dogmatic statesman of a party +which needed ideas and a leader, ascended the tribune in the midst of +anticipated plaudits, which betokened his importance in the new +Assembly. His voice was for war, as the most efficacious of laws. + +"If," said he, "it be really desired to check the tide of emigration, we +must more particularly punish the more elevated offenders, who establish +in foreign lands a centre of counter-revolution. We should distinguish +three classes of emigrants; the brothers of the king, unworthy of +belonging to him,--the public functionaries, deserting their posts and +deluding citizens,--and finally, the simple citizens, who follow example +from imitation, weakness, or fear. You owe hate and banishment to the +first, pity and indulgence to the others. How can the citizens fear you, +when the impunity of their chiefs insures their own? Have you then two +scales of weights and measures? What can the emigrants think, when they +see a prince, after having squandered 40,000,000 (of francs) in ten +years, still receive from the National Assembly more millions, in order +to provide for his extravagance and pay his debts? + +"Divide the interests of the rebellious by alarming the prime criminals. +Patriots are still amused by paltry palliatives against emigration; the +partisans of the court have thus trifled with the credulity of the +people, and you have seen even Mirabeau deriding those laws, and telling +you they would never be put into execution, because a king would not +himself become the accuser of his own family. Three years without +success, a wandering and unhappy life, their intrigues frustrated, their +conspiracies overthrown, all these defeats have not cured the emigrants; +their hearts were corrupted from the cradle. Would you check this +revolt? then strike the blow on the other side of the Rhine: it is not +in France. It was by such decided steps that the English prevented James +II. from impeding the establishment of their liberty. They did not amuse +themselves with framing petty laws against emigration, but demanded that +foreign princes should drive the English princes from their dominions. +(Applause.) The necessity of this measure was seen here from the first. +Ministers will talk to you of considerations of state, family reasons; +these considerations, these weaknesses cover a crime against liberty. +The king of a free people has no family. Again, I counsel you attack the +leaders only; let it no longer be said, 'These malcontents are then very +strong; these 25,000,000 of men must then be very weak thus to consider +them.' + +"It is to foreign powers especially that you should address your demands +and your menaces. It is time to show to Europe what you are, and to +demand of it an account of the outrages you have received from it. I say +it is necessary to compel those powers to reply to us, one of two +things; either they will render homage to our constitution, or they +will declare against it. In the first place, you have not to balance, it +is necessary that you should assail the powers that dare to threaten +you. In the last century when Portugal and Spain lent an asylum to James +II., England attacked both. Have no fears--the image of liberty, like +the head of Medusa, will affright the armies of our enemies; they fear +to be abandoned by their soldiers, and that is why they prefer the line +of expectation, and an armed mediation. The English constitution and an +aristocratic liberty will be the basis of the reforms they will propose +to you, but you will be unworthy of all liberty if you accept yours at +the hands of your enemies. The English people love your Revolution; the +emperor fears the force of your arms: as to this empress of Russia, +whose aversion to the French constitution is well known, and who in some +degree resembles Elizabeth, she cannot hope for success more brilliant +than had Elizabeth against Holland. It is with difficulty that slaves +are subjugated fifteen hundred leagues off; they cannot enslave free men +at this distance. I will not condescend to speak of other princes; they +are not worthy of being included in the number of your serious enemies. +I believe then that France ought to elevate its hopes and its attitude. +Unquestionably you have declared to Europe that you will not attempt any +more conquests, but you have a right to say to it, 'Choose between +certain rebels and a nation.'" + + +XIV. + +This discourse, although in several parts very contradictory, proved +that Brissot had the intention of playing three parts in one, and of +captivating at once the three parties in the Assembly. In his +philosophical principles he affected the tone of a moderator, and +repeated the axioms of Mirabeau against the laws relative to +expatriation; in his attack on the princes he included the king, and +held him up to the people as an object of suspicion; and lastly, in his +denunciation of the diplomacy of the ministers, he urged them to a war +_à l'outrance_, and displayed in this measure the energy of a patriot +and the foresight of a statesman; for in case war should be the result, +he did not conceal from himself the jealousy of the nation against the +court, and he knew that the first act of open war would be to declare +the king a traitor to his country. + +This speech placed Brissot at the head of the conspirators of the +Assembly; he brought to the young and untried party of the Gironde his +reputation as a public writer, and a man who had had ten years' +experience of the factions; the audacity of his policy flattered their +impatience, and the austerity of his language made them believe in the +depth of his designs. Condorcet, the friend of Brissot, and, like him, +devoured by insatiable and unscrupulous ambition, mounting the tribune, +merely commented on the preceding discourse, and concluded, like +Brissot, by summoning the powers to pronounce for or against the +constitution, and demanded the renewal of the _corps diplomatique_. + +This discourse was visibly concerted, and it was evident that a party, +already formed, took possession of the tribune, and was about to +arrogate to itself the dominion of the Assembly. Brissot was its +conspirator, Condorcet its philosopher, Vergniaud its orator. Vergniaud +mounted the tribune, with all the _prestige_ of his marvellous +eloquence, the fame of which had long preceded him. The eager looks of +the Assembly, the silence that prevailed, announced in him one of the +great actors of the revolutionary drama, who only appear on the stage to +win themselves popularity, to intoxicate themselves with applause, +and--to die. + + +XV. + +Vergniaud, born at Limoges, and an advocate at the bar of Bordeaux, was +now in his thirty-third year, for the revolutionary movement had seized +on and borne him along with its currents when very young. His dignified, +calm, and unaffected features announced the conviction of his power. +Facility, that agreeable concomitant of genius, had rendered alike +pliable his talents, his character, and even the position he assumed. A +certain _nonchalance_ announced that he easily laid aside these +faculties from the conviction of his ability to recover all his forces +at the moment when he should require them. His brow was contemplative, +his look composed, his mouth serious and somewhat sad; the deep +inspiration of antiquity was mingled in his physiognomy with the smiles +and the carelessness of youth. At the foot of the tribune he was loved +with familiarity; as he ascended it each man was surprised to find that +he inspired him with admiration and respect; but at the first words that +fell from the speaker's lips they felt the immense distance between the +man and the orator. He was an instrument of enthusiasm, whose value and +whose place was in his inspiration. This inspiration, heightened by the +deep musical tones of his voice, and an extraordinary power of language, +had drunk in deep draughts at the purest sources of antiquity; his +sentences had all the images and harmony of poesy, and if he had not +been the orator of a democracy he would have been its philosopher and +its poet. His genius, devoted to the people, yet forbade him to descend +to the language of the people, even to flatter them. All his passions +were noble as his words, and he adored the Revolution as a sublime +philosophy destined to ennoble the nation without immolating on its +altars other victims than prejudices and tyranny. He had doctrines, and +no hatreds; the thirst of glory, and not of ambition,--nay, power +itself, was in his eyes, too real, too vulgar a thing for him to aim at, +and he disdained it for himself, and alone sought it for his ideas. +Glory and posthumous fame were his objects alone; he mounted the tribune +to behold them, and he beheld them later from the scaffold; and he +plunged into the future, young, handsome, immortal in the annals of +France, with all his enthusiasm, and some few stains, already effaced in +his generous blood. Such was the man whom nature had given to the +Girondists as their chief. He disdained the office, although he +possessed all the qualities and the views, of a statesman; too careless +to be the leader of a party, too great to be second to any one. Such was +Vergniaud,--more illustrious than useful to his friends; he would not +lead, but immortalised, them. + +We will describe this great man more in detail at the period when his +talent places him in a more conspicuous situation. "Are there +circumstances," said he "in which the natural rights of man can permit a +nation to adopt any measure against emigrations?" Vergniaud spoke +against those pretended natural rights, and recognised, above all +individual rights, the right of society, which comprises and dominates +over all, just as the whole predominates over a portion: he compared +political liberty to the right of a citizen to do what he pleases, +provided he do nothing injurious to his country; but there he stops. Man +can, no doubt, materially use this right to abdicate the country in +which he was born and to which he belongs, as the limb belongs to the +body, but this abdication is treason; for it severs the union between +the nation and himself, and the nation no longer owes him or his +property any protection. After having on this principle destroyed the +puerile distinction between the functionary and the mere emigrant, he +proved that society falls into decay if she refuse herself the right of +retaining those who forsake her in her hour of danger and difficulty. +When she gave him all the universe for his country, she refused him that +which gave him birth. But what will be the consequence if this emigrant, +ceasing to play merely the part of a cowardly fugitive, becomes a foe, +and, assembling with his fellow-traitors, surrounds the nation with a +band of conspirators? What, shall attack be permitted to the emigrés, +and good citizens forbidden to defend themselves? + + +XVI. + +"But," continued he, "is France in this situation that she ought to fear +from these men, who are about to excite all the ancient hatreds of the +foreign courts against us? No; we shall soon see these proud mendicants, +who are now receiving the roubles of Catherine and the millions of +Holland, expiate in shame and misery the crimes their pride has entailed +on them. Moreover these kings hesitate to attack us; they know that, to +the spirit of philosophy that has infused into us the breath of liberty, +there are no Pyrenees; they dread that the foot of their soldiers should +touch a soil that blazes with this holy flame; they tremble, lest on the +day of battle the patriots of every country should recognise each other, +and two armies ready to combat be converted into a band of brethren, +united against their tyrants. But should it be necessary to appeal to +arms, we well remember that a thousand Greeks, combating for liberty, +trampled on a million of Persians. + +"We are told 'the emigrés have no evil designs against their country; it +is only a temporary absence: where are the legal proofs of what you +assert? when you produce them it be time enough to punish the guilty.' +Oh you who use such language, why were you not in the Roman senate when +Cicero denounced Catiline? You would have asked him for the legal proof. +I can picture his astonishment to myself: whilst he sought for proofs +Rome would have been sacked, and you and Catiline have reigned over a +heap of ruins. Legal proofs! And have you calculated the blood they will +cost you to obtain? Now let us forestall our enemies, by adopting +rigorous measures; let us rid the nation of this swarm of insects, +greedy of its blood,--by whom it is pursued and tormented. But what +should these measures be? In the first place seize on the property of +the absentees. This is but a petty measure you will say. What matter its +importance or its insignificancy, so that it be just. As for the +officers who have deserted, the _Code pénal_ prescribes their +fate--death and infamy. The French princes are even more culpable; and +the summons to return to their country, which it is proposed to address +to them, is neither sufficient for your honour nor your safety. Their +attempts are openly made; either they must tremble before you, or you +must tremble before them; you must choose. Men talk of the profound +grief this will cause the king: Brutus immolated his guilty offspring at +the shrine of his country, but the heart of Louis XVI. shall not be put +to so severe a trial. If these princes, alike bad brothers and citizens, +refuse to obey, let him turn to the hearts of the French nation, and +they will amply repay his losses." (Loud applause.) + +Pastoret, who spoke after Vergniaud, quoted the saying of Montesquieu, +"_There is a time when it is necessary to cast a veil over the statue of +Liberty, as we conceal the statues of the Gods_." To be ever on the +watch, and to fear nothing, should be the maxim of every free people. He +concluded by proposing repressive, but moderate and gradual measures, +against the absentees. + + +XVII. + +Isnard declared that the measures proposed until then were satisfactory +to prudence, but not to justice, and the vengeance which an outraged +nation owed to itself; and he thus continued:-- + +"If I am allowed to speak the truth, I shall say, that if we do not +punish all these heads of the rebellion, it is not that we do not know, +at the bottom of our hearts, that they are guilty, but because they are +princes; and, although we have destroyed the nobility and distinctions +of blood, these vain phantoms still affect our minds. Ah! it is time +that this great level of equality, which has passed over France, should +at length take its full effect. Then only will they believe in our +equality. You should fear by this evidence of impunity that you may urge +the people to excesses. The anger of the people is but too often the +sequel to the silence of the laws. The law should enter the palaces of +the great, as well as in the hovel of the poor, and as inexorable as +death, when it falls upon the guilty, should make no distinction between +ranks and titles. They try to lull you to sleep. I tell you that the +nation should watch incessantly. Despotism and aristocracy do not sleep; +and if nations doze but for a moment, they awake in fetters. If the fire +of heaven was in the power of men, it should be darted at those who +attempt the liberties of the people: thus, the people never pardon +conspirators against their liberties. When the Gauls scaled the walls of +the capital, Manlius awoke, hastened to the breach, and saved the +republic. That same Manlius, subsequently accused of conspiring against +public liberty, was cited before the tribunes. He presented bracelets, +javelins, twelve civic crowns, thirty spoils torn from conquered +enemies, and his breast scarred with cicatrices; he reminded them that +he had saved Rome, and yet the sole reply was to cast him headlong from +the same rock whence he had precipitated the Gauls. These, sirs, were a +free people. + +"And we, since the day we acquired our liberty, have not ceased to +pardon our patricians their conspiracies, have not ceased to recompense +their crimes by sending them chariots of gold: as for me, if I voted +such gifts, I should die of remorse. The people contemplate and judge +us, and on their sentence depends the destiny of our labours. Cowards, +we lose the public confidence; firm, our enemies would be disconcerted. +Do not then sully the sanctity of the oath, by making it pause in +deference before mouths thirsting for our blood. Our enemies will swear +with one hand, whilst with the other they will sharpen their swords +against us." + +Each violent sentence in this harangue excited in the Assembly and the +tribunes those displays of public feeling which found expression in loud +applause. It was felt that, for the future, the only line of policy +would be in the anger of the nation; that the time for philosophy in the +tribune was passed, and that the Assembly would not be slow in throwing +aside principles in order to take up arms. + +The Girondists, who did not wish that Isnard should have gone so far, +felt that it was necessary to follow him whithersoever popularity should +lead him. In vain did Condorcet defend his proposition for a delay of +the decree. The Assembly, in a report brought up by Ducastel, adopted +the decree of its legislative committee. The principal clauses were, +that the French, assembled on the other side of the frontiers, should +be, from that moment, declared actuated by conspiracy towards France; +that they should be declared actual conspirators, if they did not return +before the 1st of January, 1792, and as such punished with death; that +the French princes, brothers of the king, should be punishable with +death, like other emigrants, if they did not obey the summons thus sent +to them; that, for the present, their revenues should be sequestrated; +and, finally, that those military and naval officers who abandoned their +posts without leave, or their resignation being accepted, should be +considered as deserters, and punished with death. + + +XVIII. + +These two decrees struck terror to the heart of the king, and +consternation to his council. The constitution gave him the right of +suspending them by the royal _veto_; but to suspend the effects of the +national indignation against the armed enemies of the Revolution, was to +invoke it on his own head. The Girondists artfully fomented these +elements of discord between the Assembly and the king. They impatiently +awaited until the refusal to sanction the decrees should urge irritation +to its height, and force the king to fly or place himself in their +hands. + +The most monarchical spirit of the Constituent Assembly still reigned in +the Directory of the department of Paris. Desmeuniers, Baumetz, +Talleyrand-Perigord, Larochefoucauld, were the principal members. They +drew up an address to the king, entreating him to refuse his sanction to +the decree against the nonjuring priests. This address, in which the +Legislative Assembly was treated with much disdain, breathes the true +spirit of government as regards religious matters. It is comprised in +the axiom which is or ought to be the code of all consciences, "Since no +religion is a law, let no religion be a crime!" + +A young writer whose name, already celebrated, was to be hereafter +consecrated by martyrdom, André Chénier, considering the question in the +highest strain of philosophy, published on the same subject a letter +worthy of posterity. It is the property of genius not to allow its views +to be obscured by the prejudices of the moment. Its gaze is too lofty +for vulgar errors to deprive it of the ever-during light of truth. It +has by anticipation in its decisions the impartiality of the future. + +"All those," says André Chénier, "who have preserved the liberty of +their reason, and in whom patriotism is not a violent desire for rule, +see with much pain that the dissensions of the priests have of necessity +occupied the first sittings of the Assembly. It is true that the public +mind is enlightened on this point, on which even the Constituent +Assembly itself is deceived. It has pretended to form a civil code of +religion, that is to say, it had the idea of creating one priesthood +after having destroyed another. Of what consequence is it that one +religion differs from another? Is it for the National Assembly to +reunite the divided sects, and weigh all their differences? Are +politicians theologians? We shall only be delivered from the influence +of these men when the National Assembly shall have maintained for each +the perfect liberty of following or inventing whatsoever religion may +please it; when every one shall pay for the worship he prefers to adopt, +and pays for no other; and when the impartiality of tribunals, in such +cases, shall punish alike the persecutors or the seditious of all forms +of worship: and the members of the National Assembly say also, that all +the French people are not yet sufficiently ripe for this doctrine. We +must reply to them,--this may be, but it is for you to ripen us by your +words, your acts, your laws! Priests do not trouble states when states +do not disturb them. Let us remember that eighteen centuries have seen +all the Christian sects, torn and bleeding from theological absurdities +and sacerdotal hatreds, always terminate by arming themselves with +popular power." + +This letter passed over the heads of the parties who disputed the +conscience of the people; but the petition of the Directory of Paris, +which demanded the _veto_ of the king against the decrees of the +Assembly, produced violent opposition petitions. For the first time, +Legendre, a butcher of Paris, appeared at the bar of the Assembly, where +he vociferated in oratorical strain the imprecations of the people +against the enemies of the nation and crowned traitors. Legendre decked +his trivial ideas in high-sounding language. From this junction of +vulgar ideas with the ambitious expressions of the tribune sprung that +strange language in which the fragments of thought are mingled with the +tinsel of words, and thus the popular eloquence of the period resembles +the ill-combined display at an extravagant _parvenu_. The populace was +proud at robbing the aristocracy of its language, even to turn it +against them; but whilst it filched, it soiled it. "Representatives," +said Legendre, "bid the eagle of victory and fame to soar over your +heads and ours; say to the ministers, We love the people,--let your +punishment begin: the tyrants must die!" + + +XIX. + +Camille Desmoulins, the Aristophanes of the Revolution, then borrowed +the sonorous voice of the Abbé Fauchet, in order to make himself heard. +Camille Desmoulins was the Voltaire of the streets; he struck on the +chord of passion by his sarcasms. "Representatives," said he, "the +applauses of the people are its civil list: the inviolability of the +king is a thing most infinitely just, for he ought, by nature, to be +always in opposition to the general will and our interest. One does not +voluntarily fall from so great a height. Let us take example from God, +whose _commandments are never impossible_; let us not require from the +_ci-devant_ sovereign an _impossible love_ of the national sovereignty; +is it not very natural that he should give his _veto_ to the best +decrees? But let the magistrates of the people--let the Directory of +Paris--let the same men, who, four months since, in the Champ-de-Mars, +fired upon the citizens who were signing a petition against one decree, +inundate the empire with a petition, which is evidently but the first +page of a vast register of counter-revolution, a subscription to civil +war, sent by them for signature to all the fanatics, all the idiots, all +the slaves, all the robbers of the eighty-three departments, at the head +of which are the exemplary names of the members of the Directory of +Paris--fathers of their country! There is in this such a complication of +ingratitude and fraud, prevarication and perverseness, philosophical +hypocrisy and perfidious moderation, that on the instant we rally round +the decrees and around yourselves. Continue faithful, mandatories, and +if they obstinately persist in not permitting you to save the nation, +well, then, we will save it ourselves! For at last the power of the +royal _veto_ will have a term, and the taking of the Bastille is not +prevented by a _veto_. + +"For a long while we have been in possession of the civism of our +Directory, when we saw it in an incendiary proclamation, not only again +open the evangelical pulpits to the priests, but the seditious tribunes +to conspirators in surplices! Their address is a manifesto tending to +degrade the constitutional powers: it is a collective petition--it is an +incentive to civil war, and the overthrow of the constitution. Assuredly +we are no admirers of the representative government, of which we think +with J. J. Rousseau; and if we like certain articles but little, still +less do we like civil war. So many grounds of accusation! The crime of +these men is settled. Strike, then! If the head sleeps, shall the arm +act? Raise not that arm again; do not rouse the national club only to +crush insects. A Varnier or De Lâtre! Did Cato and Cicero accuse +Cethegus or Catiline? It is the leaders we should assail. Strike at the +head." + +This strain of irony and boldness, less applauded by the clapping of +hands than by shouts of laughter, delighted the tribunes. They voted the +sending of the _procès verbal_ of the meeting into every department. It +was legislatively elevating a pamphlet to the dignity of a public act, +and to distribute ready-made insult to the citizens, that they might +have a supply to vent against public authority. The king trembled before +the pamphleteer; he felt from this first treatment of his baffled +prerogative that the constitution would crumble in his hands each time +that he dared to make use of it. + +The next day the constitutional party in greater force at the meeting +recalled the sending of this pamphlet to the departments. Brissot was +angry in his journal, the _Patriote Français_. It was there and at the +Jacobins more than in the tribune, that he gave instructions to his +party, and allowed the idea of a republic to escape him. Brissot had not +the properties of an orator: his dogged spirit, sectarian and arbitrary, +was fitter for conspiracy than action: the ardour of his mind was +excessive, but concentrated. He shed neither those lights nor those +flames which kindle enthusiasm--that explosion of ideas. It was the lamp +of the Gironde party; it was neither its beacon nor its torch. + + +XX. + +The Jacobins, weakened for a time by the great number of their members +elected to the Legislative Assembly, remained for a brief space without +a fixed course to pursue, like an army disbanded after victory. The club +of the Feuillants, composed of the remains of the constitutional party +in the Constituted Assembly, strove to resume the ascendency over the +mind of the people. Barnave, Lameth, and Duport were the leaders of this +party. Fearful of the people, and convinced that an Assembly without any +thing to counterbalance it would inevitably absorb the poor remnant of +the monarchy, this party wished to have two chambers and an equally +poised constitution. Barnave, whose repentance had led him to join this +party, remained at Paris, and had secret interviews with Louis XVI.; but +his counsels, like those of Mirabeau in his latter days, were but vain +regrets, for the Revolution was beyond their power to control, and no +longer obeyed them. They yet, however, maintained some influence over +the constituted bodies of Paris, and the resolutions of the king, who +could not bring himself to believe that these men, who yesterday were +so powerful against it, were to-day destitute of influence; and they +formed his last hope against the new enemies he saw in the Girondists. + +The national guard, the directory of the department of Paris! the mayor +of Paris himself, Bailly, and all that party in the nation who wished to +maintain order, still supported them--theirs was the party of repentance +and terror. M. de La Fayette, Madame de Stäel, and M. de Narbonne, had a +secret understanding with the Feuillants, and a part of the press was on +their side. These papers sought to render M. de Narbonne popular, and to +obtain for him the post of minister of war. The Girondist papers already +excited the anger of the people against this party. Brissot sowed the +seeds of calumny and suspicion: he denounced them to the hatred of the +nation. "Number them--name them," said he; "their names denounce them; +they are the relics of the dethroned aristocracy, who would fain +resuscitate a constitutional nobility, establish a second legislative +chamber and a senate of nobles, and who implore, in order to gain their +ends, the armed intervention of the powers. They have sold themselves to +the Château de Tuileries, and sell there a great portion of the members +of the Assembly; they have amongst them neither men of genius nor men of +resolution; their talent is but treason, their genius but intrigue." + +It was thus that the Girondists and the Jacobins, though at this moment +beaten, prepared those enmities against the Feuillants that, at no +remote period, were destined to disperse the club. Whilst the Girondists +followed this course, the royalists continually urged the people to +excesses through the medium of their papers, in order, as they said, to +find a remedy for the evil in the evil itself. Thus they encouraged the +Jacobins against the Feuillants, and heaped ridicule and insult on those +leaders of the constitutional party who sought to save a remnant of the +monarchy; for that which they detested most was the success of the +revolution. Their doctrine of absolute power was less humiliatingly +contradicted in their eyes by the overthrow of the empire and throne, +than in the constitutional monarchy that preserved at once the king and +liberty. Since the aristocracy lost the possession of the supreme power, +its sole ambition--its only aim--was to see it fall into the hands of +those most unworthy to hold it. Incapable of again rising by its own +force, it sought to find in disorder the means of so doing; and from the +first day of the Revolution to the last, this party had no other +instinct, and it was thus that it ruined itself whilst it ruined the +monarchy. It carried the hatred of the Revolution even to posterity; and +though they did not take an active part in the crimes of the Revolution, +yet their best wishes were with it. Every fresh excess of the people +gave a new ray of hope to its enemies: such is the policy of despair, +blind and criminal as herself. + + +XXI. + +An example of this at this moment occurred. La Fayette resigned the +command of the national guard into the hands of the council general of +the commune. At this meeting blazed the last faint spark of popular +favour. After he quitted the chamber a deliberation was held as to what +mark of gratitude and regard the city of Paris should offer him. The +general addressed a farewell letter to the civic force, and affected to +believe that the formation of the constitution was the era of the +Revolution, and reduced him, like Washington, to the rank of a simple +citizen of a free country. "The time of revolution," said he, in this +letter, "has given place to a regular organisation, owing to the liberty +and prosperity it assures us. I feel it is now my duty to my country to +return unreservedly into her hands all the force and influence with +which I was intrusted for her defence during the tempests that convulsed +her--such is my only ambition. Beware how you believe," added he, in +conclusion, "that every species of despotism, is extinct!" And he then +proceeded to point out some of those perils and excesses into which +liberty might fall at her first outset. + +This letter was received by the national guard with an enthusiasm rather +feigned than sincere. They wished to strike a last blow against the +factious by adhering to the principles of their general, and voted to +him a sword forged from the bolts of the Bastille, and a marble statue +of Washington. La Fayette hastened to enjoy this premature triumph, and +resigned the dictatorship at the moment when a dictatorship was most +necessary to his country. On his retirement to his estates in Auvergne, +he received the deputation of the national guard, who brought him the +_procès verbal_ of the debate. "You behold me once more amidst the +scenes where I was born," said he; "I shall not again quit them, save to +defend and confirm our new-formed liberty should it be menaced." + +The different opinions of parties followed him in his retirement. "Now," +said the _Journal de la Revolution_, "that the hero of two worlds has +played out his part at Paris, we are curious to know if the ex-general +has done more harm than good to the Revolution. In order to solve the +problem, let us examine his acts. We shall first see that the founder of +American liberty does not dare comply with the wishes of the people in +Europe, until he had asked permission from the monarch. We shall see +that he grew pale at the sight of the Parisian army on its road to +Versailles--alike deceiving the people and the king; to the one he said, +'I deliver the king into your power,' to the other, 'I bring you my +army.' We should have seen him return to Paris, dragging in his train +those brave citizens who were alone guilty of having sought to destroy +the keep of Vincennes as they had destroyed the Bastille, their hands +bound behind their backs. We see him on he morrow of the _journeé des +poignards_, touch the hands of those whom he had denounced to public +indignation the yesterday. And now we behold him quit the cause of +liberty, by a decree which he himself had secretly solicited, and +disappear for a moment in Auvergne to re-appear on our frontiers. Yet he +has done us some service, let us acknowledge it. We owe to him to have +accustomed our national guards to go through the civic and religious +ceremonies; to bear the fatigue of the morning drill in the Champs +Elysées; to take patriotic oaths and to give suppers. Let us then bid +him adieu! La Fayette, to consummate the greatest revolution that a +nation ever attempted, we required a leader, whose mind was on an +equality with so great an event. We accepted you; the pliability of your +features, your studied orations, your premeditated axioms--all those +productions of art that nature disavows, seemed suspicious to the more +clear-sighted patriots. The boldest of them followed you, tore the mask +from your visage, and cried--Citizens, this hero is but a courtier, +this sage but an impostor. Now, thanks to you, the Revolution can no +longer bite, you have cut the lion's claws; the people is more +formidable to its conductors; they have reassumed the whip and spur, and +you fly. Let civic crowns strew your paths, though we remain; but where +shall we find a Brutus?" + + +XXII. + +Bailly, mayor of Paris, withdrew at the same time, abandoned by that +party of whom he had been the idol, and whose victim he began to be; but +his philosophic mind rated more highly the good done to the people than +its favour, and more ambitious of being useful than of governing it, he +already testified that heroic contempt for the calumnies of his enemies +he afterwards displayed for death. + +His voice was, however, lost in the tumult of the approaching municipal +elections; two men already disputed the dignity of mayor of Paris, for +in proportion as the royal authority declined, and that of the +constitution was absorbed in the troubles of the kingdom, the mayor of +Paris would become the real dictator of the capital. + +These two men were La Fayette and Pétion. La Fayette supported by the +constitutionalists and the national guard, Pétion by the Girondists and +the Jacobins. The royalist party, by pronouncing for or against one of +them, would decide the election. The king had no longer the influence of +the government, which he had suffered to escape from his grasp, but he +still possessed the occult powers of corruption over the leaders of the +different parties. A portion of the twenty-five millions of francs +(1,000,000_l._) was applied by M. de Laporte, the intendant de la liste +civile, and by MM. Bertrand de Molleville and Montmorin, his ministers, +in purchasing votes at the elections, motions at the clubs, applause or +hisses in the Assembly. These subsidies, which had commenced with +Mirabeau, now descended to the lowest dregs of the factions; they bribed +the royalist press, and found their way into the hands of the orators +and writers apparently most inveterate against the court; and many false +manoeuvres, to which the people were urged, arose from no other +source. There was a ministry of corruption, over which perfidy +presided. Many obtained from this source, under pretence of aiding the +court, the power of moderating or betraying the people; then fearing +lest their treachery should be discovered, they hid it by a second +betrayal, and turned against the king his own motions. Danton was of +this number. Sometimes, through motives of charity or peace, the king +gave a monthly sum to be distributed amongst the national guard, and the +_quartiers_ in which insurrection was most to be apprehended. M. de La +Fayette, and Pétion himself, often drew money from this source. Thus the +king could, by employing those means, ensure the election, and by +joining the constitutionalist party determine the choice of Paris in +favour of M. de La Fayette. M. de La Fayette was one of the first +originators of this revolution which humbled the throne; his name was +associated with every humiliation of the court, with all the resentment +of the queen, all the terrors of the king; he had been first their +dread, then their protector, and, lastly, their guardian: could he be +now their hope? Would not this post of mayor of Paris, this vast, civil, +and popular dignity, after this long-armed dictatorship in the capital, +be to La Fayette but a second stepping-stone that would raise him higher +than the throne, and cast the king and constitution into the shade? This +man, with his theoretically liberal ideas, was well-intentioned, and +wished rather to dominate than to reign; but could any reliance be +placed on these good intentions that had been so often overcome? Was it +not full of these good intentions that he had usurped the command of the +civic force--captured the Bastille with the insurgent Gardes +Françaises--marched to Versailles at the head of the populace of +Paris--suffered the château to be forced on the 6th of October--arrested +the royal family at Varennes, and retained the king a prisoner in his +own palace? Would he now resist should the people again command him? +Would he abandon the _rôle_ of the French Washington when he had half +fulfilled it? The human heart is so constituted that we rather prefer to +cast ourselves into the power of those who would destroy us than seek +safety from those who humiliate us. La Fayette humiliated the king, and +more especially the queen. + +A respectful independence was the habitual expression of La Fayette's +countenance in presence of Marie Antoinette. There was perceptible in +the general's attitude, it was to be seen in his words, distinguishable +in his accent, beneath the cold and polished forms of the courtier, the +inflexibility of the citizen. The queen preferred the factions. She thus +plainly spoke to her confidents. "M. de La Fayette," she said, "will not +be the mayor of Paris in order that he may the sooner become the _maire +du Palais_. Pétion is a Jacobin, a republican; but he is a fool, +incapable of ever becoming the leader of a party: he would be a nullity +as _maire_, and, besides, the very interest he knows we should take in +his nomination might bind him to the king." + +Pétion was the son of a _procureur_ at Chartres, and a townsman of +Brissot; was brought up in the same way as he,--in the same studies, +same philosophy, same hatreds. They were two men of the same mind. The +Revolution, which had been the ideal of their youth, had called them on +the scene the same day, but to play very different parts. Brissot, the +scribe, political adventurer, journalist, was the man of theory; Pétion, +the practical man. He had in his countenance, in his character, and his +talents, that solemn mediocrity which is of the multitude, and charms +it; at least he was a sincere man, a virtue which the people appreciate +beyond all others in those who are concerned in public affairs. Called +by his fellow citizens to the National Assembly, he acquired there a +name rather from his efforts than his success. The fortunate compeer of +Robespierre, and then his friend, they had formed by themselves that +popular party, scarcely visible at the beginning, which professed pure +democracy and the philosophy of J. J. Rousseau; whilst Cazalès, +Mirabeau, and Maury, the nobility, clergy, and _bourgeoisie_, alone +disputed the government. The despotism of a class appeared to +Robespierre and Pétion as odious as the despotism of a king. The triumph +of the _tiers état_ was of little consequence, so long as the people, +that is to say, all human kind in its widest acceptation, did not +prevail. They had given themselves as a task, not victory to one class +over another, but the victory and organisation of a divine and absolute +principle--humanity. This was their weakness in the first days of the +Revolution, and subsequently their strength. Pétion was beginning to +gather in its harvest. + +He had gradually, by his doctrines and his speeches, insinuated himself +into the confidence of the people of Paris; he connected himself with +literary men by the cultivation of his mind; with the Orleans party by +his intimacy with Madame de Genlis, the favourite of the prince, and +governess to his children. He was spoken of in one place as a sage, who +sought to embody philosophy in the constitution; in another as a +sagacious conspirator, who desired to sap the throne, or to place upon +it the Duc D'Orleans, embodying the interests and dynasty of the people. +This two-fold reputation was equally advantageous to him. Honest men +believed him to be an honest man,--malcontents to be a malcontent: the +court disdained to fear him; it saw in him only an innocent Utopian, and +had for him that contemptuous indulgence which aristocrats have +invariably for men of political creed; besides, Pétion ridded it of La +Fayette. To change its foe was to give it breathing time. + +These three elements of success gave Pétion an immense majority; he was +nominated mayor of Paris by more than 6000 votes. La Fayette had but +3000. He might at this moment, from the depth of his retreat, have +fairly measured by these figures the decline of his popularity. La +Fayette represented the city, Pétion the nation. The armed _bourgeoisie_ +quitted public affairs with the one, and the people assumed them with +the other. The Revolution marked with a proper name the fresh step she +had made. + +Pétion, scarcely elected, went in triumph to the Jacobins, and was thus +carried in the arms of patriots into the tribune. Old Dusault, who +occupied it at the moment, stammered out a few words, interrupted by his +sobs, in honour of his pupil. "I look on M. Pétion," said he, "as my +son; it is very bold no doubt." Pétion overcome, embraced the old man +with ardour; the tribunes applauded and wept. + +The other nominations were made in the same spirit. Manuel[11] was named +_procureur de la commune_;--Danton, his deputy, which was his first step +in popularity; he did not owe it, like Pétion, to the public esteem, but +to his own intriguing. He was appointed in spite of his reputation. The +people are apt to excuse the vices they find useful. + +The nomination of Pétion to the office of _maire_ of Paris gave the +Girondists a constant _point d'appui_ in the capital. Paris, as well as +the Assembly, escaped from the king's hands. The work of the Constituent +Assembly crumbled away in three months. The wheels gave way before they +were set in motion. All presaged an approaching collision between the +executive power and the power of the Assembly. Whence arose this sudden +decomposition? It is now the moment for throwing a glance over this +labour of the Constituent Assembly and its framers. + + + + +BOOK VII. + + +I. + +The Constituent Assembly had abdicated in a storm. + +This assembly had consisted of the most imposing body of men that had +ever represented, not only France, but the human race. It was in fact +the oecumenical council of modern reason and philosophy. Nature seemed +to have created expressly, and the different orders of society to have +reserved, for this work, the geniuses, characters, and even vices most +requisite to give to this focus of the lights of the age the greatness, +_éclat_, and movement of a fire destined to consume the remnants of an +old society, and to illumine a new one. There were sages, like Bailly +and Mounier; thinkers, like Siéyès; factious partisans, like Barnave; +statesmen like Talleyrand; men, epochs, like Mirabeau, and men, +principles like Robespierre. Each cause was personified by what most +distinguished each party. The very victims were illustrious. Cazalès, +Malouet, Maury, sounded forth in bursts of grief and eloquence the +successive falls of the throne, the aristocracy, and the clergy. This +active centre of the thoughts of a century, was sustained during the +whole time by the storm of perpetual political conflict. Whilst they +were deliberating within, the people were acting without, and struck at +the doors. These twenty-six months of consultations were one +uninterrupted sedition. Scarcely had one institution crumbled to pieces +in the tribune, than the nation swept it away to clear the space for +another institution. The anger of the people was only its impatience of +obstacles, its madness was only the excitement of its reason. Even in +its fury it was always a truth that agitated it. The tribunes only +blinded, by dazzling it. The unique characteristic of this Assembly was +that passion for the ideal which it always felt itself irresistibly +urged on to accomplish. An act of perpetual faith in reason and justice: +a holy passion for the good and right, which possessed it, and made it +devote itself to its work; like the statuary who seeing the fire in the +furnace, where he was casting his bronze, on the point of being +extinguished, threw his furniture, his children's bed, and even his +house into the flame, preferring rather that all should perish than that +his work should be lost. + +Thus it is that the Revolution has become a date in the human mind, and +not merely an event in the history of the people. The men of the +Constituent Assembly were not Frenchmen, they were universal men. We +mistake, we vilify them when we consider them only as priests, +aristocrats, plebeians, faithful subjects, malcontents or demagogues. +They were, and they felt themselves to be, better than that,--workmen of +God; called by him to restore social reason, and found right and justice +throughout the universe. None of them, except those who opposed the +Revolution, limited the extent of its thought to the boundaries of +France. The declaration of the Rights of Man proves this. It was the +decalogue of the human race in all languages. The modern Revolution +called the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, to partake of the light and +reign of Fraternity. + + +II. + +Thus, not one of its apostles who did not proclaim peace amongst +nations. Mirabeau, La Fayette, Robespierre himself erased war from the +symbol which they presented to the nation. It was the malcontent and +ambitious who subsequently demanded it, and not the leading +Revolutionists. When war burst out the Revolution had degenerated. The +Constituent Assembly took care not to place on the frontiers of France +the boundaries of its truths, and to limit the sympathising soul of the +French Revolution to a narrow patriotism. The globe was the country of +its dogmata. France was only the workshop; it worked for all other +people. Respectful of, or indifferent to, the question of national +territories, from the first moment it forbade conquest. It only reserved +to itself the property, or rather the invention of universal truths +which it brought to light. As vast as humanity, it had not the +selfishness to isolate itself. It desired to give, and not to deprive. +It sought to spread itself by right, and not by force. Essentially +spiritual, it sought no other empire for France than the voluntary +empire which imitation by the human mind conferred upon it. + +Its work was prodigious, its means a nullity; all that enthusiasm can +inspire, the Assembly undertook and perfected, without a king, without a +military leader, without a dictator, without an army, without any other +strength than deep conviction. Alone, in the midst of an amazed people, +with a disbanded army, an emigrating aristocracy, a despoiled clergy, a +conspiring court, a seditious city, hostile Europe--it did what it +designed. Such is the will, such the real power of a people--and such is +truth, the irresistible auxiliary of the men who agitate themselves for +God. If ever inspiration was visible in the prophet or ancient +legislator, it may be asserted that the Constituent Assembly had two +years of sustained inspiration. France was the inspired of civilisation. + + +III. + +Let us examine its work. The principle of power was entirely displaced: +royalty had ended by believing that it was the exclusive depositary of +power. It had demanded of religion to consummate this robbery in the +eyes of the people, by telling them that tyranny came from God, and was +responsible to God only. The long heirship of throned races had made it +believed that there was a right of reigning in the blood of crowned +families. Government instead of being a function had become a +possession; the king master instead of being chief. This misplaced +principle displaced everything. The people became a nation, the king a +crowned magistrate. Feudality, subaltern royalty, assumed the rank of +actual property. The clergy, which had had institutions and inviolable +property, was now only a body paid by the state for a sacred service. It +was from this only one step to receiving a voluntary salary for an +individual service. The magistracy ceased to be hereditary. They left it +its unremoveability to confirm its independence. It was an exception to +the principle of offices when a dismissal was possible, a +semi-sovereignty of justice--but it was one step towards the truth. The +legislative power was distinct from the executive power. The nation in +an assembly freely chosen, declared its will, and the hereditary and +irresponsible king executed it. Such was the whole mechanism of the +Constitution--a people--a king--a minister. But the king irresponsible, +and consequently passive, was evidently a concession to custom, the +respectful fiction of suppressed royalty. + + +IV. + +He was no longer will; for to will is to do. He was not a functionary; +for the functionary acts and replies. The king did not reply. He was but +a majestic inutility in the constitution. The functions destroyed, they +left the functionary. He had but one attribute, the _suspensive veto_, +which consisted of his right to suspend, for three years, the execution +of the Assembly's decrees. He was an obstacle; legal, but impotent for +the wishes of the nation. It was evident that the Constituent Assembly, +perfectly convinced of the superfluity of the throne in a national +government, had only placed a king at the summit of its institutions to +check ambition, and that the kingdom should not be called a republic. +The only part of such a king was to prevent the truth from appearing, +and to make a show in the eyes of a people accustomed to a sceptre. This +fiction, or this nullity cost the people 30,000,000 (of francs) a year +in the civil list, a court, continual jealousies, and the interminable +corruption practised by the court on the organs of the nation. This was +the real vice of the constitution of 1791: it was not consistent. +Royalty embarrassed the constitution; and all that embarrasses injures. +The motive of this inconsistency was less an error of its reason than a +respectful piety for an ancient prejudice, and a generous tenderness +towards a race which had long worn the crown. If the race of the +Bourbons had been extinct in the month of September 1791, certainly the +Constituent Assembly would not have invented a king. + + +V. + +However, the royalty of '91, very little different from the royalty of +to-day, could work for a century, as well as a day. The error of all +historians is to attribute to the vices of the constitution the brief +duration of the work of the Constituent Assembly. In the first place, +the work of the Constituent Assembly was not principally to perpetuate +this wheelwork of useless royalty, placed out of complaisance to the +people's eyes, in machinery which did not regulate it. The work of the +Constituent Assembly was the regeneration of ideas and government, the +displacing of power, the restoration of right, the abolition of all +subjugation even of the mind, the freedom of consciences, the formation +of an administration; and this work lasts, and will endure as long as +the name of France. The vice of the institution of 1791 was not in any +one particular point. It has not perished because the _veto_ of the king +was suspensive instead of absolute; it has not perished, because the +right of peace or war was taken from the king, and reserved to the +nation; it has not perished, because it did not place the legislative +power in one chamber only instead of in two: these asserted vices are to +be found in many other constitutions, which still endure. The diminution +of the royal power was not the main danger to royalty in '91; it was +rather its salvation, if it could have been saved. + + +VI. + +The more power was given to the king, and action to the monarchical +principle, the quicker the king and the principle would have fallen; for +the greater would have been the distrust and hatred against him. Two +chambers, instead of one, would not have preserved any thing. Such +divisions of power would have no value, but in proportion as they are +sacred. They are only sacred in proportion as they are the +representatives of real existing force in the nation. Would a revolution +which had not paused before the iron gates of the Château of Versailles +have respected the metaphysical distinction of power of two kinds! + +Besides, where were, and where would be now, the constitutive elements +of two chambers, in a nation whose entire revolution is but a convulsion +towards unity? If the second chamber be democratic and temporary, it is +but a twofold democracy with but one common impulse. It can only serve +to retard the common impulse, or destroy the unity of the public will. +If it be hereditary and aristocratic, it supposes an aristocracy +pre-existent in, and acknowledged by, the state. Where was this +aristocracy in 1791? Where is it now? A modern historian says, "In the +nobility, in the presence of social inequalities." But the Revolution +was made against the nobility, and in order to level social hereditary +inequalities. It was to ask of the Revolution itself to make a +counter-revolution. Besides, these pretended divisions of power are +always fictions; power is never really divided. It is always here or +there, in reality and in its integrity,--it is not to be divided. It is +like the will, it is _one_ or it is not. If there be two chambers, it is +in one of the two; the other complies or is dissolved. If there be one +chamber and a king, it is in the king or the chamber. In the king, if he +subjugates the Assembly by force, or if he buys it by corruption; in the +chamber if it agitates the public mind, and intimidates the court and +the army by the power of its language, and the superiority of its +opinions. Those who do not see this have no eyes. In this _soidisant_ +balance of power there is always a controlling weight; equilibrium is a +chimera. If it did exist, it would produce mere immobility. + + +VII. + +The Constituent Assembly had then done a good work; wise, and as durable +as are the institutions of a people in travail, in an age of transition. +The constitution of '91 had written all the truths of the times, and +reduced all human reason to its epoch. All was true in its work except +royalty, which had but one wrong, which was making the monarchy the +depository of its code. + +We have seen that this very fault was an excess of virtue. It receded +before the deposing from the throne the family of its kings; it had the +superstition of the past without having its faith, and desired to +reconcile the republic and the monarchy. It was a virtue in its +intentions; it was a mistake in its results; for it is an error in +politics to attempt the impossible. Louis XVI. was the only man in the +nation to whom the constituent royalty could not be confided, since it +was he from whom the absolute monarchy had just been snatched: the +constitution was a shared royalty, and but a few days previously, and he +had possessed it entire. With any other person this royalty would have +been a gift, for him alone it was an insult. If Louis XVI. had been +capable of this abnegation of supreme power which makes disinterested +heroes (and he was one), the deposed party, of which he was the natural +head, was not like him; we may expect an act of sublime +disinterestedness from a virtuous man, never from a party _en masse_. +Party is never magnanimous; they never abdicate, they are extirpated. +Heroic acts come from the heart, and party has no heart; they have only +interests and ambition. A body is a thing of unvarying selfishness. + +Clergy, nobility, court, magistracy, all abuses, all falsehoods, all +contumelies, every injustice of a monarchy, are personified, in spite of +Louis XVI., in the king. Degraded with him, they must desire to rise +with him. The nation, which well perceived this fatal connection between +the king and the counter-revolution, could not confide in the king, +however it might venerate the man; it saw, in him, of necessity, the +accomplice of every conspiracy against itself. The _parvenus_ of liberty +are as thinskinned as the _parvenus_ of fortune. Jealousies must arise, +suspicions would produce insults, insults resentments, resentments +factions, factions shocks and overthrows: the momentary enthusiasm of +the people, the sincere concessions of the king, avert nothing. The +situations were false on both sides. + +If there were in the Constituent Assembly more statesmen than +philosophers, it must have perceived that an intermediate state was +impossible, under the guardianship of a half-dethroned king. We do not +confide to the vanquished the care and management of the conquests. To +act as she acts, was to drive the king, without redemption, to treason +or the scaffold. An absolute party is the only safe party in great +crises. The tact consists in knowing when to have recourse to extreme +measures at the critical minute. We say it unhesitatingly--history will +hereafter say as we do. Then came a moment when the Constituent Assembly +had the right to choose between the monarchy and the republic, and when +she had to choose the republic. There was the safety of the Revolution +and its legitimacy. In wanting resolution it failed in prudence. + + +VIII. + +But, they say with Barnave, France is monarchical by its geography as by +its character, and the contest arises in minds directly between the +monarchy and the republic. Let us make ourselves understood:-- + +Geography is of no party; Rome and Carthage had no frontiers; Genoa and +Venice had no territories. It is not the soil which determines the +nature of the constitutions of people, it is time. The geographical +objection of Barnave fell to the ground a year afterwards, before the +prodigies in France in 1792. It proved that if a republic fails in unity +and centralisation, it is unable to defend a continental nationality. +Waves and mountains are the frontiers of the weak--men are the frontiers +of a people. Let us then have done with geography. It is not +geometricians but statesmen who form social constitutions. + +Nations have two great interests which reveal to them the form they +should take, according to the hour of the national life which they have +attained--the instinct of their conservation, and the instinct of their +growth. To act, or be idle, to walk, or sit down, are two acts wholly +different, which compel men to assume attitudes wholly diverse. It is +the same with nations. The monarchy or the republic correspond exactly +amongst a people to the necessities of these two opposite conditions of +society--repose or action. We here understand two words; these two +words, repose and action, in their most absolute acceptation; for there +is repose in republics, as there is action in monarchies. + +Is it a question of preservation, of reproduction, of development in +that kind of slow and insensible growth which people have like vast +vegetables? Is it a question of keeping in harmony with the European +balance of preserving its laws and manners; of maintaining its +traditions, perpetuating opinions and worship, of guaranteeing +properties and right conduct, of preventing troubles, agitation, +factions? The monarchy is evidently more proper for this than any other +state of society. It protects in lower classes that security which it +desires for its own elevated condition. It is order in essence and +selfishness: order is its life--tradition its dogma, the nation is its +heritage, religion its ally, aristocracies are its barrier against the +invasions of the people. It must preserve all this or perish. It is the +government of prudence, because it is also that of great responsibility. +An empire is the stake of a monarch--the throne is everywhere a +guarantee of immobility. When we are placed on high we fear every shake, +for we have but to lose or to fall. + +When then a nation is placed in a sufficing territory, with settled +laws, fixed interests, sacred creeds, its worship in full force, its +social classes graduated, its administration organised, it is +monarchical in spite of seas, rivers, or mountains. It abdicates and +empowers the monarchy to foresee, to will, to act for it. It is the most +perfect of governments for such functions. It calls itself by the two +names of society itself, _unity_ and _hereditary right_. + + +IX. + +If a people, on the contrary, is at one of those epochs when it is +necessary to act with all the intensity of its strength in order to +operate within and without one of those organic transformations which +are as necessary to people as is a current to waves or explosion to +compressed powers--a republic is the obligatory and fated form of a +nation at such a moment. + +For a sudden, irresistible, convulsive action of the social body, the +arm and will of all is needed; the people become a mob, and rush +headlong to danger. It can alone suffice to its own danger. What other +arm but that of the whole people could stir what it has to +stir?--displace what it has to displace?--install what it desires to +found? The monarch would break his sceptre into fragments on it. There +must be a lever capable of raising thirty millions of wills--this lever +the nation alone possesses. It is in itself the moving power, the +fulcrum and the lever. + + +X. + +We cannot ask of the law to act against the law, of tradition to act +against tradition, of established order to act against established +order. It would be to require strength from weakness, life from suicide; +and, besides, we should ask in vain of the monarchical power to +accomplish these changes, in which very often all perish, and the king +foremost. Such a course would be the contradiction to the monarchy: how +could it attempt it? + +To ask a king to destroy the empire of a religion which consecrates him; +to despoil of their riches a clergy who has them by the same divine +title as that by which he has tenure of his kingdom; to degrade an +aristocracy which is the first step of his throne; to throw down social +hierarchies of which he is the head and crown; to undermine laws of +which he is the highest,--is to ask of the vaults of an edifice to sap +the foundation. The king could not do so, and would not. In thus +overthrowing all that serves him for support, he feels that he would be +rendered wholly destitute. He would be playing with his throne and +dynasty. He is responsible for his race. He is prudent by nature, and a +temporiser from necessity. He must soothe, please, manage, and be on +terms with all constituted interests. He is the king of the worship, +aristocracy, laws, manners, abuses, and falsehoods of the empire. Even +the vices of the constitution form a portion of his strength. To +threaten them is to destroy himself. He may hate them: he dares not to +attack them. + + +XI. + +A republic alone can suffice for such crises: nations know this, and +cling to it as their sole hope of preservation. The will of the people +becomes the ruling power. It drives from its presence the timid, seeks +the bold and the determined, summons all men to aid in the great work, +makes trial of, employs, and combines the force, the devotion, the +heroism of every man. It is the populace that holds the helm of the +vessel, on which the most prompt, or the most firm seizes, until it is +again torn from him by a stronger hand. But every one governs in the +common name. Private consideration, timidity of situation, difference of +rank, all disappears. No one is responsible--to-day he rises to +power--to-morrow he descends to exile or the scaffold--there is no +_morrow_, all is _to-day_--resistance is crushed by the irresistible +power of movement. All bends--all yields before the people. The +resentments of castes--the abolished forms of worship--the decimation of +property--the extirpated abuses--the humiliated aristocracies--all are +lost in the thundering sound of the overthrow of ancient ideas and +things. On whom can we demand revenge? The nation answers for all to +all, and no man has aught to require from it. It does not survive +itself, it braves recrimination and vengeance--it is absolute as an +element--anonymous, as fatality--it completes its work, and when that is +ended, says, "Let us rest; and let us assume monarchy." + + +XII. + +Such a plan of action is the republic--the only one that befits the +trying period of transformation. It is the government of passion, the +government of crises, the government of revolutions. So long as +revolutions are unfinished, so long does the instinct of the people urge +them to a republic; for they feel that every other hand is too feeble to +give that onward and violent impulse necessary to the Revolution. The +people (and they act wisely), will not trust an irresponsible, +perpetual, and hereditary power to fulfil the commands of the epochs of +creation--they will perform them themselves. Their dictatorship appears +to them indispensable to save the nation; and what is a dictatorship but +a republic? It cannot resign its power until every crisis be over, and +the great work of revolution completed and consolidated. Then it can +again resume the monarchy, and say, "Reign in the name of the ideas I +have given thee!" + + +XIII. + +The Constituent Assembly was then blind and weak, not to create a +republic as the natural instrument of the Revolution. Mirabeau, Bailly, +La Fayette, Siéyès, Barnave, Talleyrand, and Lameth acted in this +respect like philosophers, and not great politicians, as events have +amply proved. They believed the Revolution finished as soon as it was +written, and the monarchy converted as soon as it had sworn to preserve +the constitution. The Revolution was but begun, and the oath of royalty +to the Revolution as futile as the oath of the Revolution to royalty. +These two elements could not mingle until after an interval of an +age--this interval was the republic. A nation does not change in a day, +or in fifty years, from revolutionary excitements to monarchical repose. +It is because we forgot it at the hour when we should have remembered +it, that the crisis was so terrible, and that we yet feel its effects. +If the Revolution, which perpetually follows itself, had had its own +natural and fitting government, the republic--this republic would have +been less tumultuous and less perturbed than the five attempts we made +for a monarchy. The nature of the age in which we live protests against +the traditional forms of power: at an epoch of movement--a government of +movement--such is the law. + + +XIV. + +The National Assembly, it is said, had not the right to act thus; for it +had sworn allegiance to the monarchy and recognised Louis XVI., and +could not dethrone him without a crime. The objection is puerile, if it +originates in minds who do not believe in the possession of the people +by dynasties. The Assembly at its outset had proclaimed the inalienable +right of the people; and the lawfulness of necessary insurrection, and +the oath of the Tennis Court (_Serment du Jeu de Paume_), were nought +but an oath of disobedience to the king and of fidelity to the nation. +The Assembly had afterwards proclaimed Louis XVI. king of the French. If +they possessed the power of proclaiming him king, they also possessed +that of proclaiming him a simple citizen. Forfeiture for the national +utility, and that of the human race, was evidently one of its +principles, and yet how did it act? It leaves Louis XVI. king, or makes +him king, not through respect for that institution, but out of respect +for his person, and pity for so great a downfall. Such was the truth; it +feared sacrilege, and fell into anarchy. It was clement, noble, and +generous. Louis XVI. had deserved well from his people; who well can +dare to censure so magnanimous a condescension? Before the king's +departure for Varennes, the absolute right of the nation was but an +abstract fiction, the _summum jus_ of the Assembly. The royalty of Louis +XVI. was respectable and respected, once again it was established. + + +XV. + +But a moment arrived, and this moment was when the king fled his +kingdom, protesting against the will of the nation, and sought the +assistance of the army, and the intervention of foreign powers, when the +Assembly legitimately possessed the rigorous right of disposing of the +power, thus abandoned or betrayed. Three courses were open: to declare +the downfall of the monarchy, and proclaim a republican revolution; the +temporary suspension of the royalty, and govern in its name during its +moral eclipse; and, lastly, to restore the monarchy. + +The Assembly chose the worst alternative of the three. It feared to be +harsh, and was cruel; for by retaining the supreme rank for the king, it +condemned him to the torture of the hatred and contempt of the people; +it crowned him with suspicions and outrages; and nailed him to the +throne, in order that the throne might prove the instrument of his +torture and his death. + +Of the two other courses, the first was the most logical, to proclaim +the downfall of the monarchy and the formation of a republic. + +The republic, had it been properly established by the Assembly, would +have been far different from the republic traitorously and atrociously +extorted nine months after by the insurrection of the 10th of August. It +would have doubtless suffered the commotion, inseparable from the birth +of a new order of things. It would not have escaped the disorders of +nature in a country where every thing was done by first impulse, and +impassioned by the magnitude of its perils. But it would have originated +in law and not in sedition--in right, and not in violence--in +deliberation, and not in insurrection. This alone could have changed the +sinister conditions of its birth and its future fate; it might become an +agitating power, but it would remain pure and unsullied. + +Only reflect for a moment how entirely its legal and premeditated +proclamation would have altered the course of events. The 10th of August +would not have taken place--the perfidy and tyranny of the commune of +Paris--the massacre of the guards--the assault on the palace--the flight +of the king to the Assembly--the outrages heaped on him there--and his +imprisonment in the temple--would have never occurred. + +The republic would not have killed a king, a queen, an innocent babe, +and a virtuous princess; it would not have had the massacres of +September, those St. Bartholomews of the people--that have left an +indelible stain on the whole robes of liberty. It would not have been +baptized in the blood of three hundred thousand human beings--it would +not have armed the revolutionary tribunal with the axe of the people, +with which it immolated a generation to make way for an idea,--it would +not have had the 31st of May. The Girondists arriving at the supreme +power, unsullied by crime, would have possessed more force with which to +combat the demagogues; and the republic calmly and deliberately +instituted, would have intimidated Europe far more than an _émeute_ +legitimised by bloodshed and assassination. War might have been avoided, +or, if it was inevitable, have been more unanimous and more triumphant; +our generals would not have been massacred by their soldiers amidst +cries of treason. The spirit of the people would have combated with us, +and the horror of our days of August, September, and January would not +have alienated from our standards the nations attracted thither by our +doctrines. Thus a single change in the origin of the republic changed +the fate of the Revolution. + + +XVI. + +But if this rigorous resolution was yet repugnant to the feelings of +France, and if the Assembly had feared they had given birth to a +republic prematurely, the third course was yet open, to proclaim the +temporary cessation of royalty during ten years, and govern in a +republican form in its name until the constitution was firmly and +securely established. This course would have saved all the respect due +to royalty; the life of the king--the life of the royal family--the +rights of the people--the purity of the Revolution--it was at once firm +and calm, efficacious and legitimate. It was such a dictatorship as the +people had instinctively figured in the critical times of their +existence. But instead of a short, fugitive, disturbed, and ambitious +dictatorship of one man, it was the dictatorship of the nation, +governing itself through its National Assembly. The nation might have +respectfully laid by royalty during ten years, in order itself to carry +out a work above the power of the king. This accomplished, resentment +extinguished, habits formed, the laws in operation, the frontiers +protected, the clergy secularised, the aristocracy humbled, the +dictatorship could terminate. The king or his dynasty could ascend +without danger a throne from which all danger was now averted. This +veritable republic would have thus resumed the name of a constitutional +monarchy, without changing any thing, and the statue of royalty would +have been replaced on its pedestal when the base had been consolidated. +Such would have been the consulate of the people, far superior to that +consulate of a man who was to finish by ravaging Europe, and by the +double usurpation of a throne and a revolution. + +Or, if at the expiration of this national dictatorship, the nation, well +governed and guided, found it dangerous or useless to re-establish the +throne, what prevented it from saying, I now assume as a definitive +government that which I assumed as a dictatorship: I proclaim the French +republic as the only government befitting the excitement and energy of a +regenerative epoch; for the republic is a dictatorship perpetuated and +constituted by the people. What avails a throne? I remain erect: it is +the attitude of a people in travail! + +In a word, the Constituent Assembly, whose light illumined the +globe--whose audacity in two years transformed an empire, had but one +fault, that of coming to a close. It should have perpetuated itself: it +abdicated. A nation that abdicates after a reign of two years, and on +heaps of ruins, bequeaths the sceptre to anarchy. The king _could_ reign +no longer, the nation _would not_. Thus faction reigned, and the +Revolution perished; not because it had gone too far, but because it had +not been sufficiently bold. So true is it that the timidity of nations +is not less disastrous than the weakness of kings; and that a people who +knows not how to seize and guard all that which pertains to it, falls at +once into tyranny and anarchy. The Assembly dared to do every thing save +to reign: the reign of the Revolution was nought but a republic: and the +Assembly left this name to factions, and this form to terror. Such was +its fault--it expiated it: and the expiation is not yet ended for +France. + + + + +BOOK VIII. + + +I. + +Whilst the king, isolated at the summit of the constitution, sought +support, sometimes by hazardous negotiations with foreigners, sometimes +by rash attempts at corruption in the capital, a body, some Girondists +and other Jacobins, but as yet confounded under the common denomination +of patriots, began to unite and form the nucleus of a great republican +idea: they were Pétion, Robespierre, Brissot, Buzot, Vergniaud, Guadet, +Gensonné, Carra, Louvet, Ducos, Fonfrède, Duperret, Sillery-Genlis, and +many others, whose names have scarcely emerged from obscurity. The home +of a young woman, daughter of an engraver of the Quai des Orfévres, was +the meeting place of this union. It was there that the two great parties +of the _Gironde_ and the _Montagne_ assembled, united, separated, and +after having acquired power, and overturned the monarchy in company, +tore the bosom of their country with their dissensions, and destroyed +liberty whilst they destroyed each other. It was neither ambition, nor +fortune, nor celebrity which had successively attracted these men to +this woman's residence, then without credit, name, or comforts: it was +conformity of opinion; it was that devoted worship which chosen spirits +like to render in secret as in public to a new truth which promises +happiness to mankind; it was the invisible attraction of a common faith, +that communion of the first neophytes in the religion of philosophy, +where the necessity for souls to unite before they associate by deeds, +is felt. So long as the thoughts common to political men have not +reached that point where they become fruitful, and are organised by +contact, nothing is accomplished. Revolutions are ideas, and it is this +communion which creates parties. + +The ardent and pure mind of a female was worthy of becoming the focus to +which converged all the rays of the new truth, in order to become +prolific in the warmth of the heart, and to light the pile of old +institutions. Men have the spirit of truth, women only its passion. +There must be love in the essence of all creations; it would seem as +though truth, like nature, has two sexes. There is invariably a woman at +the beginning of all great undertakings; one was requisite to the +principle of the French Revolution.[12] We may say that philosophy found +this woman in Madame Roland. + +The historian, led away by the movement of the events which he retraces, +should pause in the presence of this serious and touching figure, as +passengers stopped to contemplate her sublime features and white dress +on the tumbril which conveyed thousands of victims to death. To +understand her we must trace her career from the _atelier_ of her father +to the scaffold. It is in a woman's heart that the germ of virtue lies; +it is almost always in private life that the secret of public life is +reposed. + + +II. + +Young, lovely, radiant with genius, recently married to a man of serious +mind, who was touching on old age, and but recently mother of her first +child, Madame Roland was born in that intermediary condition in which +families scarcely emancipated from manual labour are, it may be said, +amphibious between the labourer and the tradesman, and retain in their +manners the virtues and simplicity of the people, whilst they already +participate in the lights of society. The period in which aristocracies +fall is that in which nations regenerate. The sap of the people is +there. In this was born Jean Jacques Rousseau, the virile type of Madame +Roland. A portrait of her when a child represents a young girl in her +father's workshop, holding in one hand a book, and in the other an +engraving tool. This picture is the symbolic definition of the social +condition in which Madame Roland was born, and the precise moment +between the labour of her hands and her mind. + +Her father, Gratien Phlippon, was an engraver and painter in enamel. He +joined to these two professions that of a trade in diamonds and jewels. +He was a man always aspiring higher than his abilities allowed, and a +restless speculator, who incessantly destroyed his modest fortune in his +efforts to extend it in proportion to his ambitious yearnings. He adored +his daughter, and could not, for her sake, content himself with the +perspective of the workshop. He gave her an education of the highest +degree, and nature had conferred upon her a heart for the most elevated +destinies. We need not say what dreams, misery, and misfortunes men with +such characters invariably bring upon their honest families. + +The young girl grew up in this atmosphere of luxuriant imagination and +actual wretchedness. Endowed with a premature judgment, she early +detected these domestic miseries, and took refuge in the good sense of +her mother from the illusions of her father and her own presentiments of +the future. + +Marguerite Bimont (her mother's name) had brought her husband a calm +beauty, and a mind very superior to her destiny, but angelic piety and +resignation armed her equally against ambition and despair. The mother +of seven children, who had all died in the birth, she concentrated in +her only child all the love of her soul. Yet this very love guarded her +from any weakness in the education of her daughter. She preserved the +nice balance of her heart and her mind; of her imagination and her +reason. The mould in which she formed this youthful mind was graceful; +but it was of brass. It might have been said that she foresaw the +destinies of her child, and infused into the mind of the young girl that +masculine spirit which forms heroes and inspires martyrs. + +Nature lent herself admirably to the task, and had endowed her pupil +with an understanding even superior to her dazzling beauty. This beauty +of her earlier years, of which she has herself traced the principal +features with infinite ingenuousness in the more sprightly pages of her +memoirs, was far from having gained the energy, the melancholy, and the +majesty which she subsequently acquired from repressed love, high +thought, and misfortune. + +A tall and supple figure, flat shoulders, a prominent bust, raised by a +free and strong respiration, a modest and most becoming demeanour, that +carriage of the neck which bespeaks intrepidity, black and soft hair, +blue eyes, which appeared brown in the depth of their reflection, a look +which like her soul passed rapidly from tenderness to energy, the nose +of a Grecian statue, a rather large mouth, opened by a smile as well as +speech, splendid teeth, a turned and well rounded chin gave to the oval +of her features that voluptuous and feminine grace without which even +beauty does not elicit love, a skin marbled with the animation of life, +and veined by blood which the least impression sent mounting to her +cheeks, a tone of voice which borrowed its vibrations from the deepest +fibres of her heart, and which was deeply modulated to its finest +movements (a precious gift, for the tone of the voice, which is the +channel of emotion in a woman, is the medium of persuasion in the +orator, and by both these titles nature owed her the charm of voice, and +had bestowed it on her freely). Such at eighteen years of age was the +portrait of this young girl, whom obscurity long kept in the shade, as +if to prepare for life or death a soul more strong, and a victim more +perfect. + + +III. + +Her understanding lightened this beauteous frame-work with a precocious +and flashing intelligence, which was already inspiration. She acquired, +as it were, the most difficult accomplishments even from looking into +their very elements. What is taught to her age and sex was not +sufficient for her. The masculine education of men was a want and sport +to her. Her powerful mind had need of all the means of thought for its +due exercise. Theology, history, philosophy, music, painting, dancing, +the exact sciences, chemistry, foreign tongues and learned languages, +she learned all and desired more. She herself formed her ideas from all +the rays which the obscurity of her condition allowed to penetrate into +the laboratory of her father. She even secreted the books which the +young apprentices brought and forgot for her in the workshop. Jean +Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and the English philosophers, +fell into her hands; but her real food was Plutarch. + +"I shall never forget," she said, "the Lent of 1763, during which I +every day carried that book to church, instead of the book of prayers: +it was from this moment that I date the impressions and ideas which made +me republican, when I had never formed a thought on the subject." After +Plutarch, Fénélon made the deepest impression upon her. Tasso and the +poets followed. Heroism, virtue, and love were destined to pour from +their three vases at once into the soul of a woman destined to this +triple palpitation of grand impressions. + +In the midst of this fire in her soul her reason remained calm, and her +purity spotless. She scarcely owns to the slightest and fugitive +emotions of the heart and senses. "When as I read behind the screen +which closed up my chamber from my father's apartment," she writes, "my +breathing was at all loud, I felt a burning blush overspread my cheek, +and my altered voice would have betrayed my agitation. I was Eucharis to +Telemachus, and Herminia to Tancred. Yet, transformed as I was into +them, I never thought myself of becoming anything to any body. I made no +reflection that individually affected me; I sought nothing around me: it +was a dream without awaking. Yet I remember having beheld with much +agitation a young painter named Taboral, who called on my father +occasionally. He was about twenty years of age, with a sweet voice, +intelligent countenance, and blushed like a girl. When I heard him in +the _atelier_, I had always a pencil or something to look after; but as +his presence embarrassed as much as it pleased me, I went away quicker +than I entered, with a palpitating heart, a tremor that made me run and +hide myself in my little room." + +Although her mother was very pious, she did not forbid her daughter from +reading. She wished to inspire her with religion, and not enforce it +upon her. Full of good sense and toleration, she left her with +confidence to her reason, and sought neither to repress nor dry up the +sap which would hereafter produce its fruit in her heart. A servile, not +voluntary religion, appeared to her degradation and slavery which God +could not accept as a tribute worthy of him. The pensive mind of her +daughter naturally tended towards the great objects of eternal happiness +or misery, and she was sure, at an earlier age than any other, to plunge +deeply into their mysteries. The reign of sentiment began in her through +the love of God. The sublime delirium of her pious contemplations +embellished and preserved the first years of her youth, composed the +rest by her philosophy, and seemed as if it must preserve her for ever +from the tempests of passion. Her devotion was ardent; it took the tints +of her soul, and she aspired to the cloister, and dreamed of martyrdom. +Entering a convent, she found there propitious moments, surrendering her +thoughts to mysticism and her heart to first friendships. The monotonous +regularity of this life gently soothed the activity of her meditations. +In the hours of relaxation she did not play with her companions, but +retired beneath some tree to read and muse. As sensitive as Rousseau to +the beauty of foliage, the rustling of the grass, the odour of the +herbs, she admired the hand of God, and kissed it in his works. +Overflowing with gratitude and inward delight, she went to adore him at +church. There the sonorous organ's lengthened peal, uniting with the +voices of the youthful nuns, completed the excess of her ecstacy. The +Catholic religion has every mysterious fascination for the senses, and +pleasure for the imagination. A novice took the veil during her +residence in the convent. Her presentation at the entrance, her white +veil, her crown of roses, the sweet and soothing hymns which directed +her from earth to heaven, the mortuary cloth cast over her youthful and +buried beauty, and over her palpitating heart, made the young artist +shudder, and overwhelmed her with tears. Her destiny opened to her the +image of great sacrifices, and she felt within herself by anticipation +all the courage and the suffering. + + +IV. + +The charm and custom of these religious feelings were never effaced from +her mind. Philosophy, which soon became her worship, dissipated her +faith, but left the impression it had created. She could not assist at +the ceremonies of a worship whose mysteries her reason had repudiated, +without feeling their attraction and respect. The sight of weak men +united to adore and pray to the Father of the human race affected her +sensibly. The music raised her to the skies. She quitted these Christian +temples happier and better; so much are the recollections of infancy +reflected and prolonged even in the most troubled existence. + +This impassioned taste for infinity and pious sentiment continued their +influences over her after her return to her father's house. "My father's +house had not," she writes, "the solitary tranquillity of the convent, +still plenty of air, and a wide space on the roof of our house near the +_Pont Neuf_, were before my dreamy and romantic imagination. How many +times from my window, which looked northward, have I contemplated with +emotions the vast deserts of heaven, its glorious azure vault, so +splendidly framed from the blue dawn of morning, behind the +_Pont-du-Change_, until the golden sunset, when the glorious purple +faded away behind the trees of the Champs Elysées and the houses of +Chaillot. I did not fail thus to employ some moments at the close of a +fine day; and quiet tears frequently stole deliciously from my eyes, +whilst my heart, throbbing with an inexpressible sentiment, happy thus +to beat, and grateful to exist, offered to the Being of beings a homage +pure and worthy of him." + +Alas! when she wrote these lines, she no longer saw but in her mind that +narrow strip of the heaven of Paris, and the remembrance of those +glorious evenings only illumined with a fugitive gleam the walls of her +dungeon. + + +V. + +But she was then happy, between her aunt Angelique and her mother, in +what she calls the beautiful quarter of the Isle Saint Louis. On these +straight quays, on this tranquil bank, she took the air on summer +evenings, watching the graceful course of the river, and the distant +landscape. In the morning she traversed these quays with holy zeal, in +order to go to church, and that she might not meet in this lone road any +thing to distract her attention. Her father, who liked her lofty +studies, and was intoxicated at his daughter's success, was still +desirous of initiating her in his own craft, and made her begin to +engrave. She learned to handle the _burin_, and succeeded in this as in +every thing else. As yet she did not derive any salary from it; but at +the fête of her grandfather and grandmother, she presented to them as +her offering, sometimes a head, which she had applied herself to execute +for this express purpose, sometimes a small brass plate, highly +polished, on which she had engraved emblems or flowers; and they in +return gave her ornaments or something for her toilette, for which she +confesses always to have been anxious. + +This taste, natural to her age and sex, did not, however, distract her +from the more humble domestic duties. She was not ashamed, after +appearing on Sundays at church, or walking out elegantly dressed, to put +on during the week a cotton gown, and go to market with her mother. She +used even to go out to shops in their neighbourhood to buy parsley or +salad, which had been forgotten. Although she felt herself somewhat +humiliated by these domestic cares, which brought her down from the +eminence of her Plutarch, and her visionary wanderings, she combined so +much grace, and so much natural dignity, that the fruit-woman used to +take pleasure in serving her before her other customers; and the first +comers took no offence at this preference. This young girl, this future +Héloïse of the eighteenth century, who read serious books, who expounded +the circles of the celestial globe, handled the pencil and _burin_, and +in whose soul-aspiring thoughts and impassioned feelings already found +space, was often called into the kitchen to prepare the vegetables for +dinner. This mixture of serious shades, elegant research, and domestic +occupations, ordered and sensibly mingled by her mother's sagacity, +seemed to prepare her already for the vicissitudes of fortune, and in +after days helped her to support them. It was Rousseau at Charmettes +piling up the woodstack of Madame de Warens with the hand which was to +write the _Contrat Social_, or Philopoemen chopping his wood. + + +VI. + +From the retirement of such secluded life, she sometimes perceived the +higher world which shone above her. The lights which displayed to her +this great world offended, more than they dazzled, her sight. The pride +of this aristocratic society, which saw without valuing her, weighed on +her sensitive mind--a society in which her position was not assigned to +her, seemed badly framed. It was less envy than justice that revolted in +her. Superior beings have their places marked out by nature, and every +thing that keeps them from occupying them, seems to them an usurpation. +They find society frequently the reverse of nature, and take their +revenge by despising it: from this arises the hatred of genius against +power. Genius dreams of an order of things, in which the ranks should be +marked out by nature and virtue; whilst in reality they are almost +always derived from birth--that blind allotment of fate. There are few +great minds which do not feel in their earliest progress the persecution +of fortune, and who do not begin by an internal revolt against society. +They are only quieted by their own discouragement. Some are resigned +from a more lofty feeling to the place which God assigns to them. To put +up with the world humbly is still more beautiful than to control it. +This is the very acme of virtue. Religion leads to it in a day; +philosophy only conducts to it by a lengthened life, misery, or death. +These are days when the most elevated place in the world is a scaffold. + + +VII. + +The young maiden once conducted by her grandmother to an aristocratic +house, of which her humble parents were _free_, was deeply hurt at the +tone of condescending superiority with which her grandmother and herself +were treated. "My pride took alarm," she writes, "my blood boiled more +than usual, and I blushed violently. I no longer inquired of myself why +this lady was seated on a sofa, and my grandmother on a low stool; but +my feelings led to such reflection, and I saw the end of the visit with +satisfaction as if a weight was taken off my mind." + +Another time she was taken to pass eight days at Versailles, in the +palace of that king and queen whose throne she was one day to sap. +Lodged in the attics with one of the female domestics of the Château, +she was a close observer of this royal luxury, which she believed was +paid for by the misery of the people, and that grandeur of things +founded on the servility of courtiers. The lavishly spread tables, the +walks, the play, presentations--all passed before her eyes in the pomp +and vanity of the world. These ceremonious details of power were +repugnant to her mind, which fed on philosophy, truth, liberty, and the +virtue of the olden time. The obscure names, the humble attire, of the +relatives who took her to see all this, only procured for her mere +passing looks and a few words, which meant more protection than favour. +The feeling that her youth, beauty, and merit, were unperceived by this +crowd, who only adored favour or etiquette, oppressed her mind. The +philosophy, natural pride, imagination, and fixedness of her soul were +all wounded during this sojourn. "I preferred," she says, "the statues +in the gardens to the personages of the palace." And her mother +inquiring if she were pleased with her visit--"Yes," was her reply, "if +it be soon ended; for else, in a few more days I shall so much detest +all the persons I see, that I should not know what to do with my +hatred." "What harm have they done you?" inquired her mother. "To make +me feel injustice, and look upon absurdity." As she contemplated these +splendours of the despotism of Louis XIV., which were drooping into +corruption, she thought of Athens, but forgot the death of Socrates, the +exile of Aristides, the condemnation of Phocion. "I did not then +foresee," she writes, in melancholy mood, as she pens these lines--"that +destiny reserved me to be the witness of crimes such as those of which +they were the victims, and to participate in the glory of their +martyrs, after having professed their principles." + +Thus, the imagination, character, and studies of this girl prepared her, +unknown to herself, for the republic. Her religion alone, then so +powerful over her, restrained her within the bounds of that resignation +which submits the thoughts to the will of God. But philosophy became her +creed, and this creed formed a portion of her politics. The emancipation +of the people united itself in her mind with the emancipation of ideas. +She believed, by overturning thrones, that she was working for man; and, +by overthrowing altars, that she was labouring for God. Such is the +confession which she herself made of her change. + + +VIII. + +However, the young girl had already attracted many suitors for her hand. +Her father wished to marry her in the class to which he himself +belonged. He loved, esteemed commerce, because he considered it the +source of wealth. His daughter despised it because it was, in her eyes, +the source of avarice and the food of cupidity. Men in this condition of +life were repugnant to her. She desired in a husband ideas and feelings +sympathising with her own. Her ideal was a soul and not a fortune. +"Brought up from my infancy in connexion with the great men of all ages, +familiar with lofty ideas and illustrious examples--had I lived with +Plato, with all the philosophers, all the poets, all the politicians of +antiquity, merely to unite myself with a shopkeeper, who would neither +appreciate nor feel any thing as I did?" + +She who wrote these lines was at that moment demanded in marriage of her +parents by a rich butcher of the neighbourhood. She refused every offer. +"I will not descend from the world of my noble chimeras," she replied to +the incessant remonstrances of her father; "what I want is not a +position but a mind. I will die single rather than prostitute my own +mind in an union with a being with whom I have no sympathies." + +Deprived of her mother by an early death, alone in the house of a father +where disorder was the consequence of a second _amour_, melancholy +gained possession of her mind, though it did not overcome it. She +became more collected and reserved, in order to strengthen her feelings +against isolation and misfortune. The perusal of the _Héloïse_ of +Rousseau, which was lent to her about that time, made on her heart the +same impression that Plutarch had made on her mind. Plutarch had shown +her liberty; Rousseau made her dream of happiness: the one fortified, +the other weakened her. She found the earnest desire of pouring forth +her feelings. Melancholy was her rigid muse. She began to write, in +order to console herself in the nurture of her own thoughts. Without any +intention of becoming an authoress, she acquired by these solitary +trials that eloquence with which she subsequently animated her friends. + + +IX. + +Thus gradually ripened this patient and resolute mind, working on +towards its destiny, when she believed she had found the man of the +olden time of whom she had so long dreamed. This man was Roland de la +Platière. + +He was introduced to her by one of her early friends, married at Amiens, +where Roland then carried on the functions of inspector of manufactures. +"You will receive this letter," wrote her friend, "by the hand of the +philosopher of whom I have spoken to you already, M. Roland, an +enlightened man, of antique manners; without reproach, except for his +passion for the ancients, his contempt of his age, and his too high +estimation of his own virtue. This portrait," she adds, "was just and +well depicted. I saw a man nearly fifty years of age, tall, careless in +his attitude, with that kind of awkwardness which a solitary life always +produces; but his manners were easy and winning, and without possessing +the elegance of the world, they united the politeness of the well-bred +man to the seriousness of the philosopher. He was very thin, with a +complexion much tanned; his brow, already covered by very little hair, +and very broad, did not detract from his regular but unattractive +features. He had, however, a pleasing smile, and his features an +animated play, which gave them a totally different appearance when he +was excited in speaking or listening. His voice was manly, his mode of +speech brief, like a man with shortened breath; his conversation, full +of matter, because his head was full of ideas, occupied the mind more +than it flattered the ear. His language was sometimes striking, but +harsh and inharmonious. This charm of the voice is a gift very rare, and +most powerful over the senses," she adds, "and does not merely depend on +the quality of the sound, but equally upon that delicate sensibility +which varies the expression by modifying the accent." This is enough to +assure us that Roland had not this charming gift. + + +X. + +Roland, born of an honest tradesman's family, which had held magisterial +offices and asserted claims to nobility, was the youngest of five +brothers, and intended for the church. To avoid this destiny, which +disgusted him, he fled from his father's roof at nineteen, and went to +Nantes. Procuring a situation with a ship-builder, he was about to +embark for India in trade, when an illness at the moment he was to +embark prevented him. One of his relations, a superintendent of a +factory, received him at Rouen, and gave him a situation in his office. +This house, animated by the spirit of Turgot, made experiments in the +details of its business with all the sciences, and by political economy +with the loftiest problems of governments. It was peopled by +philosophers, amongst whom Roland distinguished himself, and the +government sent him to Italy to watch the progress of commerce there. + +He left his young friend with reluctance, and forwarded to her regularly +scientific letters, intended as notes to the work which he proposed to +write on Italy--letters in which the sentiment that displayed itself +beneath science, more resembled the studies of a philosopher than the +conversations of a lover. + +On his return she saw in him a friend. His age, gravity, manners, +laborious habits, made her consider him as a sage who existed solely on +his reason. In the union they contemplated, and which less resembled +love, than the ancient associations of the days of Socrates and +Plato--the one sought a disciple rather than a wife, and the other +married a master rather than a husband. M. Roland returned to Amiens, +and thence wrote to the father to demand his daughter's hand, which was +bluntly denied to him. He feared in Roland, whose austerity displeased +him, a censor for himself, and a tyrant for his child. Informed of her +father's refusal, she grew indignant, and went to a convent destitute of +every thing. There she lived on the coarsest food, prepared by her own +hands. She plunged into deep study, and strengthened her heart against +adversity. _She revenged herself by deserving the happiness of a lot +which was not accorded to her_. In the evening she visited her friends; +in the day an hour's walk in a garden surrounded with high walls. That +feeling of strength which steels against fate--that melancholy which +softens the soul, and feeds it on its own sensibility,--helped her to +pass long winter months in her voluntary captivity. + +A feeling of internal bitterness, however, poisoned even this sacrifice. +She said to herself that this sensibility was not recompensed. She had +flattered herself that M. Roland, on learning of her resolution and +retreat, would hasten to take her from this convent and unite their +destinies. Time passed on. Roland came not, and scarcely wrote. At the +end of six months he arrived, and was again deeply enamoured on seeing +his beloved behind a grating. He resolved on offering her his hand, +which she accepted. However, so much calculation, hesitation, and +coldness had dissipated the little illusion which the young captive had +left, and reduced her feelings to deep esteem. She devoted rather than +gave herself. It appeared to her sublime to immolate herself for the +happiness of a worthy man; and she consummated this sacrifice with all +the seriousness of reason and without a grain of heartfelt enthusiasm. +Her marriage was to her an act of virtue, which she performed, not +because it was agreeable to her, but because she deemed it sublime. + +The pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau is seen again at this decisive moment +of her existence. The marriage of Madame Roland is a palpable imitation +of that of Héloïse with M. de Volmar. But the bitterness of reality was +not slow in developing itself beneath the heroism of her devotion. "By +dint," she herself says, "of occupying myself with the happiness of the +man with whom I was associated, I felt that something was wanting to my +own. I have not for a moment ceased to see in my husband one of the +most estimable persons that exists, and to whom it was an honour to me +to belong; but I often felt that similarity was wanting between +us,--that the ascendency of a dominating temper, united to that of +twenty years more of age, made one of these superiorities too much. If +we lived in solitude, I had sometimes very painful hours to pass: if we +went into the world, I was liked by persons, some one of whom I was +fearful might affect me too closely. I plunged into my husband's +occupations, became his copying clerk, corrected his proofs, and +fulfilled the task with an unrepining humility, which contrasted +strongly with a spirit as free and tried as mine. But this humility +proceeded from my heart: I respected my husband so much, that I always +liked to suppose that he was superior to myself. I had such a dread of +seeing a shade over his countenance, he was so tenacious of his own +opinions, that it was a long time before I ventured to contradict him. +To this labour I joined that of my house; and observing that his +delicate health could not endure every kind of diet, I always prepared +his meals with my own hands. I remained with him four years at Amiens, +and became there a mother and nurse. We worked together at the +_Encyclopédie Nouvelle_, in which the articles relative to commerce had +been confided to him. We only quitted this occupation for our walks in +the vicinity of the town." + +Roland, dictatorial and exacting, had insisted from the beginning of +their marriage, that his wife should refrain from seeing her young and +attached friends whom she had loved in the convent, and who lived at +Amiens. He dreaded the least participation of affection. His prudence +outstepped the bounds of reason. To an union as solemn as marriage, the +pleasure of friendship was necessary. This tyranny of an exclusive +feeling was not compensated by love. Roland demanded every thing from +his wife's compliance. If there was no faltering in her conduct, still +she felt these sacrifices, and joyed over the accomplishment of her +duties as the stoic enjoys his sufferings. + + +XI. + +After some years passed at Amiens, Roland was promoted to the same +duties at Lyons, his native place. In winter he dwelt in the town, and +the rest of the year was passed in the country in his paternal home, +where his mother still lived, a respectable old woman, but meddlesome +and overbearing in her household. Madame Roland, in all the flower of +youth, beauty, and genius, thus found herself tormented and beset by a +domineering mother-in-law, a rough brother-in-law, and an exacting +husband. The most passionate love could scarcely have been proof against +so trying and painful a position. To soothe her she had the +consciousness of discharging her duties, her occupation, her philosophy, +and her child. It was sufficing, and eventually transformed this gloomy +retreat into the abode of harmony and peace. We love to follow her into +that solitude, when her mind was becoming tempered for her struggle, as +we go to seek at Charmettes the still fresh and sparkling source of the +life and genius of Jean Jacques Rousseau. + + +XII. + +At the foot of the mountains of Beaujolais, in the large basin of the +Sâone, in face of the Alps, there is a series of small hills scattered +like the sea sands, which the patient vine-dresser has planted with +vines, and which form amongst themselves, at their base, oblique +valleys, narrow and sinuous ravines, interspersed with small verdant +meads. These meadows have each their thread of water, which filters down +from the mountains: willows, weeping birch, and poplars, show the course +and conceal the bed of the streams. The sides and tops of these hills +only bear above the lowly vines a few wild peach trees, which do not +shade the grapes and large walnut trees in the orchards near the houses. +On the declivity of one of these sandy protuberances was _La Platière_, +the paternal inheritance of M. Roland, a low farm-house, with regular +windows, covered with a roof of red tiles nearly flat; the eaves of this +roof project a little beyond the wall, in order to protect the windows +from the rain of winter and the summer's sun. The walls, straight and +wholly unornamented, were covered with a coating of white plaister, +which time had soiled and cracked. The vestibule was reached by +ascending five stone steps, surmounted by a rustic balustrade of rusty +iron. A yard surrounded by outhouses, where the harvest was gathered +in, presses for the vintage, cellars for the wine, and a dove-cote, +abutted on the house. Behind was levelled a small kitchen-garden, whose +beds were bordered with box, pinks, and fruit trees, pruned close down +to the ground. An arbour was formed at the extremity of each walk. A +little further on was an orchard, where the trees inclining in a +thousand attitudes, cast a degree of shade over an acre of cropped +grass; then a large enclosure of low vines, cut in right lines by small +green sward paths. Such is this spot. The gaze is turned from the gloomy +and lowering horizon to the mountains of Beaujeu, spotted on their sides +by black pines, and severed by large inclined meadows, where the oxen of +Charolais fatten, and to the valley of the Sâone, that immense ocean of +verdure, here and there topped by high steeples. The belt of the higher +Alps, covered with snow and the apex of Mont Blanc, which overhangs the +whole, frame this extensive landscape. There is in this something of the +vastness of the infinite sea: and if on its bounded side it may inspire +recollection and resignation, in its open part it seems to solicit +thought to expand, and to convey the soul to far off hopes and to the +eminences of imagination. + +Such was, for five years, the bounded horizon of this young woman. It +was there that she plunged into the plenitude of that nature of which, +in her infancy, she had so frequently dreamed, and in which she had +perceived only some small bits of sky, and some confused perspectives of +royal forests, from the height of her window over the roofs of Paris. It +was there that her simple tastes and loving soul found nutriment and +scope for her sensibility. + +Her life was there divided between household cares, the improvement of +her mind, and active charity--that cultivator of the heart. Adored by +the peasants, whose protectress she was, she applied to the consolation +of their miseries the little to spare which a rigid economy left to her, +and to the cure of their maladies the knowledge she had acquired in +medicine. She was fetched from three and four leagues' distance to visit +a sick person. On Sunday the steps of her court-yard were covered with +invalids, who came to seek relief, or convalescents, who came to bring +her proofs of their gratitude; baskets of chestnuts, goats' milk +cheeses, or apples from their orchards. She was delighted at finding the +country people grateful and sensible of kindness. She had drawn her own +picture of the people residing in the vicinity of large cities. The +burning of châteaux, during the outbreak and massacres of September, +taught her subsequently that these seas of men, then so calm, have +tempests more terrible than those of the ocean, and that society +requires institutions, just as the waves require a bed, and strength is +as indispensable as justice to the government of a people. + + +XIII. + +The hour of the Revolution of '89 had struck, and came upon her in the +bosom of this retreat. Intoxicated with philosophy, passionately devoted +to the ideal of humanity, an adorer of antique liberty, she became on +fire at the first spark of this focus of new ideas;--she believed with +all her faith, that this revolution, like a child born without a +mother's sufferings, must regenerate the human race, destroy the misery +of the working classes, for whom she felt the deepest sympathy, and +renew the face of the earth. Even the piety of great souls has its +imagination. The generous illusion of France at this epoch was equal to +the work which France had to accomplish. If she had not dared to hope so +much, she would have dared nothing: her faith was her strength. + +From this day, Madame Roland felt a fire kindled within her which was +never to be quenched but in her blood. All the love which lay slumbering +in her soul was converted into enthusiasm and devotion for the human +race. Her sensibility deceived--too ardent, unquestionably, for one +man--spread over a nation. She adored the Revolution like a lover. She +communicated this flame to her husband and to all her friends. All her +repressed feelings were poured forth in her opinions; she avenged +herself on her destiny, which refused her individual happiness, by +sacrificing herself for the happiness of others. Happy and beloved, she +would have been but a woman; unhappy and isolated, she became the leader +of a party. + + +XIV. + +The opinions of M. and Madame Roland excited against them all the +commercial aristocracy of Lyons, an honest right-minded city, but one of +money, where all becomes a calculation, and where ideas have the weight +and immobility of interests. Ideas have an irresistible current, which +attract even the most stagnant populations; Lyons was led on and +overwhelmed by the opinions of the epoch. M. Roland was raised to the +municipality at the first election, and spoke out with all the +earnestness of his principles, and the energy inspired by his wife. +Feared by the timid, adored by the eager, his name, at first a byeword, +became a rallying point;--public favour recompensed him for the insults +of the rich. He was deputed to Paris by the municipal council, there to +defend the commercial interests of Lyons, in the committees of the +Constituent Assembly. + +The connection of Roland with philosophers and economists who formed the +practical party of philosophy, his necessary intercourse with +influential members of the Assembly, his literary tastes, and, above +all, the attraction and natural temptation which drew and retained +eminent men around a young, eloquent, and impassioned woman, soon made +the _salon_ of Madame Roland an ardent, though not as yet noted, focus +of the Revolution. The names which were found there reveal, from the +first days, extreme opinions. For these opinions, the constitution of +1791 was only a halt. + +It was on the 20th February, 1791, that Madame Roland returned to that +Paris which she had quitted five years before, a young girl, unknown and +nameless, and whither she came as a flame to animate an entire party, +found a republic, reign for a moment, and--die! She had in her mind a +confused presentiment of this destiny. Genius and Will know their +strength,--they feel before others and prophesy their mission. Madame +Roland had beforehand seemed carried on by hers to the heart of action. +She hastened on the day after her arrival to the sittings of the +Assembly. She saw the powerful Mirabeau, the dazzling Cazalès, the +daring Maury, the crafty Lameth, the impassive Barnave. She remarked +with annoyance and intense hate, in the attitude and language of the +right side, that superiority conferred by the habit of command and +confidence in the respect of the million; on the left side, she saw +inferiority of manners, and the insolence that mingles with low +breeding. And thus did the antique aristocracy survive in blood, and +avenge itself, even after its defeat on the democracy, which envied, +whilst it beat it to the earth. Equality is written in the laws long +before it is established in races. Nature is an aristocrat, and it +requires a long use of independence to give to a republican people the +noble attitude and polished dignity of the citizen. Even in revolutions, +the _parvenu_ of liberty is long seen in the vanquisher. Women's tact is +very sensitive to these nice shades. Madame Roland understood them, but, +so far from allowing herself to be seduced by this superiority of +aristocracy, she was but the more indignant, and felt her hatred +redoubled against a party which it was possible to overcome but +impossible to humble. + + +XV. + +It was at this period that she and her husband united with some of the +most ardent amongst the apostles of popular ideas. It was not they who, +as yet, were foremost in the favour of the people, and the _éclat_ of +talent,--it was they who appeared to it, to love the Revolution for the +Revolution itself, and to devote themselves, with sublime +disinterestedness, not to the success of their fortune, but to the +progress of humanity. Brissot was one of the first. M. and Madame Roland +had been, for a long time, in correspondence with him on matters of +public economy, and the more important problems of liberty. Their ideas +had fraternised and expanded together. They were united beforehand by +all the fibres of their revolutionary hearts, but, as yet, did not know +it. Brissot, whose adventurous life, and unwearied contentions were +allied to the youth of Mirabeau, had already acquired a name in +journalism and the clubs. Madame Roland awaited him with respect; she +was curious to judge if his features resembled the physiognomy of his +mind. She believed that nature revealed herself by all forms, and that +the understanding and virtue modelled the external senses of men just +as the statuary impresses on the clay the outward forms of his +conception. The first appearance undeceived, without discouraging her in +her admiration of Brissot. He wanted that dignity of aspect, and that +gravity of character which seem like a reflection of the dignity, life, +and seriousness of his doctrines. There was something in the man +political, which recalled the pamphleteer. His levity shocked her; even +his gaiety seemed to her a profanation of the grave ideas of which he +was the organ. The Revolution, which gave passion to his style, did not +throw any passion into his countenance. She did not find in him enough +hatred against the enemies of the people. The mobile mind of Brissot did +not appear to have sufficient consistency for a feeling of devotion. His +activity, directed upon all matters, gave him the appearance of a novice +in ideas rather than an apostle. They called him an intriguer. + +Brissot brought Pétion, his fellow-student and friend. Pétion, already +member of the Constituent Assembly, and whose harangues in two or three +cases had excited interest. Brissot was reputed to have inspired these +orations. Buzot and Robespierre, both members of the same Assembly, were +introduced there. Buzot, whose pensive beauty, intrepidity, and +eloquence were destined hereafter to agitate the heart and soften the +imagination of Madame Roland; and Robespierre, whose disquiet mind and +fanatic hatred cast him henceforward into all meetings where +conspiracies were formed in the name of the people. Some others, too, +came, whose names will subsequently appear in the annals of this period. +Brissot, Pétion, Buzot, Robespierre, agreed to meet four evenings in +each week in the _salon_ of Madame Roland. + + +XVI. + +The motive of these meetings was to confer secretly as to the weakness +of the Constituent Assembly, on the plots laid by the aristocracy to +fetter the Revolution, and on the impulse necessary to impress on the +lukewarm opinions, in order to consolidate the triumph. They chose the +house of Madame Roland, because this house was situated in a quarter +equi-distant from the homes of all the members who were to assemble +there. As in the conspiracy of Harmodius, it was a woman who held the +torch to light the conspirators. + +Madame Roland thus found herself cast, from the first, in the midst of +the movement party. Her invisible hand touched the first threads of the +still entangled plot which was to disclose such great events. This part, +the only one that could be assigned to her sex, equally flattered her +woman's pride and passion for politics. She went through it with that +modesty which would have been in her a _chef d'oeuvre_ of skill if it +had not been a natural endowment. Seated out of the circle near a work +table, she worked or wrote letters, listening all the time with apparent +indifference to the discussions of her friends. Frequently tempted to +take a share in the conversation, she bit her lips in order to check her +desire. Her soul of energy and action was inspired with secret contempt +for the tedious and verbose debates which led to nothing. Action was +expended in words, and the hour passed away taking with it the +opportunity which never returns. + +The conquests of the National Assembly soon enervated the conquerors. +The leaders of this Assembly retreated from their own handiwork, and +covenanted with the aristocracy and the throne to grant the king the +revision of the constitution in a more monarchical spirit. The deputies +who met at Madame Roland's lost heart and dispersed, until, at length, +there only remained that small knot of unshaken men who attach +themselves to principles regardless of their success, and who are +attached to desperate causes with the more fervour in proportion as +fortune seems to forsake them. Of this number were Buzot, Pétion, and +Robespierre. + + +XVII. + +History must have a sinister curiosity in ascertaining the first +impression made on Madame Roland, by the man who, warmed at her hearth, +and then conspiring with her, was one day to overthrow the power of his +friends, immolate them _en masse_, and send her to the scaffold. No +repulsive feeling seems, at this period, to have warned her that in +conspiring to advance Robespierre's fortune, she conspired for her own +death. If she have any vague fear, that fear is instantly cloaked by a +pity which is akin to contempt. Robespierre appeared to her an honest +man; she forgave him his evil tongue and affected utterance. +Robespierre, like all men with one idea, appeared overcome with _ennui_. +Still she had remarked that he was always deeply attentive at these +committees, that he never spoke freely, listened to all other opinions +before he delivered his own, and then never took the pains to explain +his motives. Like men of imperious temper, his conviction was to him +always a sufficing reason. The next day he entered the tribune, and +profiting, for his reputation's sake, by the confidential discussions to +which he had listened in the previous evening, he anticipated the hour +of action agreed upon with his allies, and thus divulged the plan +concerted. When blamed for this at Madame Roland's, he made but slight +excuse. This wilfulness was attributed to his youth, and the impatience +of his _amour-propre_. Madame Roland, persuaded that this young man was +passionately attached to liberty, took his reserve for timidity, and +these petty treasons for independence. The common cause was a cover for +all. Partiality transforms the most sinister tokens into favour or +indulgence. "He defends his principles," said she, "with warmth and +pertinacity--he has the courage to stand up singly in their defence at +the time when the number of the people's champions is vastly reduced. +The court hates him, therefore we should like him. I esteem Robespierre +for this, and show him that I do; and then too, though he is not very +attentive at the evening meetings, he comes occasionally and asks me to +give him a dinner. I was much struck with the affright with which he was +agitated on the day of the king's flight to Varennes. He said the same +evening at Pétion's that the Royal Family had not taken such a step +without preparing in Paris a Saint Bartholomew for the patriots, and +that he expected to die before he was twenty-four hours older. Pétion, +Buzot, Roland, on the contrary, said that this flight of the king's was +his abdication, that it was necessary to profit by it in order to +prepare men's minds for the republic. Robespierre, sneering and biting +his nails, as usual, asked what a republic was." + +It was on this day that the plan of a journal, called the _Republican_, +was arranged between Brissot, Condorcet, Dumont of Geneva, and +Duchâtelet. We thus see that the idea of a republic was born in the +cradle of the Girondists before it emanated from Robespierre, and that +the 10th of August was no chance, but a plot. + +At the same epoch, Madame Roland had given way, in order to save +Robespierre's life, to one of those impulses which reveal a courageous +friendship, and leave their traces even in the memory of the ungrateful. +After the massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, accused of having conspired +with the originators of the petition of forfeiture, and threatened with +vengeance by the National Guard, Robespierre was obliged to conceal +himself. Madame Roland, accompanied by her husband, went at 11 o'clock +at night to his retreat in the Marais, to offer him a safer asylum in +their own house. He had already quitted his domicile. Madame Roland then +went to their common friend Buzot, and entreated him to go to the +Feuillants, where he still retained influence, and with all speed to +exculpate Robespierre before any act of accusation was issued against +him. + +Buzot hesitated for a moment, then replied,--"I will do all in my power +to save this unfortunate young man, although I am far from partaking the +opinion of many respecting him. He thinks too much of himself to love +liberty; but he serves it, and that is enough for me. I shall be there +to defend him." Thus, three of Robespierre's subsequent victims combined +that night, and unknown to him, for the safety of the man by whom they +were eventually to die. Destiny is a mystery whence spring the most +remarkable coincidences, and which tend no less to offer snares to men +through their virtues than their crimes. Death is everywhere: but, +whatever the fate may be, virtue alone never repents. Beneath the +dungeons of the Conciergerie Madame Roland remembered that night with +satisfaction. If Robespierre recalled it in his power, this memory must +have fallen colder on his heart than the axe of the headsman. + + + + +BOOK IX. + + +I. + +After the dispersion of the Constituent Assembly, the mission of M. and +Madame Roland having terminated, they quitted Paris. This woman, who had +just left the centre of faction and business, returned to La Platière to +resume the cares of her rustic household and the pruning of her vines. +But she had quaffed of the intoxicating cup of the Revolution. The +movement in which she had participated for a moment impelled her still, +though at a distance. She carried on a correspondence with Robespierre +and Buzot; political and formal with Robespierre, pathetic and tender +with Buzot. Her mind, her soul, her heart, all recalled it. Then took +place between herself and her husband a deliberation, apparently +impartial, in order to decide whether they should bury themselves in the +country, or should return to Paris. But the ambition of the one, and the +ardent desire of the other, had decided, unknown to, and before, either. +The most trifling pretext was sufficient for their impatience. In the +month of December they were again installed in Paris. + +It was the period when all their friends arrived. Pétion had just been +elected _maire_, and was creating a republic in the _commune_. +Robespierre, excluded from the Legislative Assembly by the law which +forbade the re-election of the members of the Constituent Assembly, +found a tribune in the Jacobins. Brissot assumed Buzot's place in the +new Assembly, and his reputation, as a public writer and statesman, +brought around him and his doctrines the young Girondists, who had +arrived from their department, with the ardour of their age, and the +impulse of a second revolutionary tide. They cast themselves, on their +arrival, into the places which Robespierre, Buzot, Laclos, Danton, and +Brissot had marked out for them. + +Roland, the friend of all these men, but in the back ground, and +concealed in their shadow, had one of those peculiar reputations, the +more potent over opinion, as it made but little display: it was spoken +of as though an antique virtue, beneath the simple appearance of a +rustic: he was the Siéyès of his party. Beneath his taciturnity his deep +thought was assured, and in his mystery the oracle was accredited. The +brilliancy and genius of his wife attracted all eyes towards him: his +very mediocrity, the only power that has the virtue of neutralising +envy, was of service to him. As no one feared him, every body thrust him +forward--Pétion as a cover for himself--Robespierre to undermine +him--Brissot to put his own villanous reputation under the shelter of +proverbial probity--Buzot, Vergniaud, Louvet, Gensonné, and the +Girondists, from respect for his science, and the attraction towards +Madame Roland; even the Court, from confidence in his honesty and +contempt for his influence. This man advanced to power without any +effort on his own part, borne onwards by the favour of a party, by the +_prestige_ which the unknown has over opinion, by the disdain of his +opponents and the genius of his wife. + + +II. + +The king had for some time hoped that the wrath of the Revolution would +be softened down by its triumph. Those violent acts, those stormy +oscillations between insolence and repentance, which had marked the +inauguration of the Assembly, had painfully undeceived him. His +astonished ministry already trembled before so much audacity, and in the +council avowed their incompetency. The king was desirous of retaining +men who had given him such proofs of devotion to his person. Some of +them, confidants or accomplices, served the king and queen, either by +keeping up communications with the emigrants or by their intrigues in +the interior. + +M. de Montmorin, an able man, but unequal to the difficulties of the +crisis, had retired. The two principal men of the ministry were M. de +Lessart for Foreign Affairs; M. Bertrand de Molleville in the Marine +Department. M. de Lessart, placed by his position between the armed +emigrants, the impatient Assembly, undecided Europe, and the inculpated +king, could not fail to fall under his own good intentions. His plan was +to avoid war in his own country by temporising and negotiations--to +suspend the hostile demonstration of foreign power: to present to the +intimidated Assembly the king, as sole arbiter and negotiator of peace +between his people and the foreigner; and he trusted thus to adjourn the +final collisions between the Assembly and the throne, and to +re-establish the regular authority of the king by preserving peace. The +personal arrangements of the emperor Leopold aided him in his plans; he +had only to contend against the fatality which urges men and things to +their _dénouement_. The Girondists, and Brissot especially, overwhelmed +him with accusations, inasmuch as he was the man who could most retard +their triumph. By sacrificing him they could sacrifice a whole system: +their press and their harangues pointed him out to the fury of the +people;--the partisans of war marked him down as their victim. He was no +traitor--but with them to negotiate was to betray. The king, who knew he +was irreproachable and confided all his plans to him, refused to +sacrifice him to his enemies, and thus accumulated resentments against +the minister. As to M. de Molleville, he was a secret enemy of the +constitution. He advised the king to play the hypocrite, acting in the +letter, and thus to destroy the spirit, of the law,--advancing by +subterranean ways to a violent catastrophe,--when, according to him the +monarchical cause must come out victorious. Confiding in the power of +intrigue more than in the influence of opinion, seeking everywhere +traitors to the popular cause, paying spies, bargaining for consciences, +believing in no one's incorruptibility, keeping up secret intelligence +with the most violent demagogues, paying in hard money for the most +incendiary propositions under the idea of making the Revolution +unpopular from its very excesses, and filling the tribunes of the +Assembly with his agents in order to choke down with their hootings, or +render effective by their applause, the discourses of certain orators, +and thus to feign in the tribunes a false people and a false opinion; +men of small means in great matters presuming that it is possible to +deceive a nation as if it were an individual. The king, to whom he was +devoted, liked him as the depositary of his troubles, the confidant of +his relations with foreign powers, and the skilful mediator of his +negotiation with all parties. M. de Molleville thus kept himself in +well-managed balance between his favour with the king, and his +intrigues with the revolutionary party He spoke the language of the +constitution well--he had the secret of many consciences bought and paid +for. + +It was between these two men that the king, in order to comply with +popular opinion, called M. de Narbonne to the ministry of war. Madame de +Stäel and the constitutional party sought the aid of the Girondists. +Condorcet, was the mediator between the two parties. Madame de +Condorcet, an exceedingly lovely woman, united with Madame de Stäel in +enthusiasm for the young minister. The one lent him the brilliancy of +her genius, the other the influence of her beauty. These two females +appeared to fuse their feelings in one common devotion for the man +honoured by their preference. Rivalry was sacrificed at the shrine of +ambition. + + +III. + +The point of union of the Girondist party with the constitutional party, +in that combination of which M. de Narbonne's elevation was the +guarantee, was the thirst of both parties for war. The constitutional +party desired it, in order to divert internal anarchy, and dispel those +fermentations of agitation which threatened the throne. The Girondist +party desired it in order to push men's minds to extremities. It hoped +that the dangers of the country would give it strength enough to shake +the throne and produce the republican regime. + +It was under these auspices that M. de Narbonne took office. He also was +desirous of war; not to overthrow the throne in whose shadow he was +born, but to dazzle and shake the nation, to hazard fortune by desperate +casts, and to replace at the head of the people under the arms of the +high military aristocracy of the country, La Fayette, Biron, Rochambeau, +the Lameths, Dillon, Custines, and himself. If victory favoured the +French flag, the victorious army, under constituent chiefs, would +control the Jacobins, strengthen the reformed monarchy, and maintain the +establishment of the two chambers; if France was destined to reverses, +unquestionably the throne and aristocracy must fall, but better to fall +nobly in a national contest of France against her enemies, than to +tremble perpetually and to perish at last in a riot by the pikes of the +Jacobins. This was the adventurous and chivalrous policy which pleased +the young men by its heroism, and the women by its _prestige_. It +betokened the high courage of France. M. de Narbonne personified it in +the council. His colleagues, MM. de Lessart and Bertrand de Molleville, +saw in him the total overthrow of all their plans. The king, as usual, +was all indecision; one step forward and one backwards; surprised by the +event in his hesitation, and thus unable to resist a shock, or himself +to give any impulse. + +Beside these official councillors, certain constituents not in the +Assembly, especially the Lameths, Duport, and Barnave, were consulted by +the king. Barnave had remained in Paris some months after the +dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. He redeemed by sincere devotion +to the monarchy the blows he had previously dealt upon it. He had +measured with an eye of judgment, the rapid declivity down which the +love of popular favour had impelled him. Like Mirabeau, he wished to +pause when it was too late. Henceforth, remaining on the brink of +events, he was besieged with terror and remorse. If his intrepid heart +did not tremble for himself, the sympathy he experienced for the queen +and royal family urged him to give the king advice which had but one +fault,--it was impossible now to follow it. + +These consultations, held at Adrien Duport's, the friend of Barnave and +the oracle of the party, only served to embarrass the mind of the king +with another element of hesitation. La Fayette and his friends also +added their imperious counsel. La Fayette could not believe that he was +supplanted. The national guard, which yet remained attached to him, +still credited his omnipotence,--all these men and all these parties +lent M. de Narbonne secret support. A courtier in the eyes of the court, +an aristocrat in the eyes of the nobility, a soldier in the eyes of the +army, one of the people in the eyes of the people, irresistible in the +eyes of the women, he was the minister of public hope. The Girondists +alone had an _arrière-pensée_ in their apparent favour towards him. They +elevated him to make his fall the more conspicuous: M. de Narbonne was +to them but the hand which prepared the way for their advent. + + +IV. + +Scarcely had he taken his place in the cabinet, than this young minister +displayed all the activity, frankness, and grace of his character in the +discussion of affairs, and his intercourse with the Assembly. He +employed the system of confidence, and surprised the Assembly by his +_abandon_, and these austere and suspicious men, who had hitherto seen +nothing but deceit in the language of ministers, now yielded to the +charm of his speeches. He addressed them, not in the official and cold +language of diplomacy, but in the open and cordial tone of a patriot. He +brought the dignity of his office to the tribune; he generously assumed +all responsibility, and he professed the most cherished principles of +the people with a sincerity that precluded the possibility of suspicion. +He openly disclosed his projects, and the energy of his mind +communicated itself to those men who were the most difficult to be won +over. The nation too saw with delight an _aristocrate_ so well adapt +himself to their costume, their principles, and their passions. The +ardour of his patriotism did not suffer the impulse, that confounded in +him the king and the people, to slacken; and in the course of his short +administration he did wonders of activity. He visited and put in a state +of defence all the fortified places; raised an army, harangued the +troops; arrested the emigration of the nobility, in the name of the +common danger; nominated the generals, and summoned La Fayette, +Rochambeau, and Luckner. A patriotic sentiment, of which he was the +soul, pervaded France; by rendering the throne the centre of the +national defence, he rendered the king again popular for a short time, +and in the enthusiasm felt for their country, all parties became +reconciled. His eloquence was rapid, brilliant, and sonorous as the +clash and din of arms. This expansion of his heart was a part of his +character; he bared his breast to the eyes of his adversaries, and by +this confidence won them to his side. + +The first day of his appointment to office, instead of announcing his +nomination by a letter to the president, as was customary with the other +ministers, he proceeded to the Assembly, and mounted the tribune. "I +come to offer you," said he, "the profoundest respect for the authority +with which the people have invested you; from attachment for the +constitution, to which I have sworn; a courageous love for liberty and +equality--yes, for equality, which has no longer any opponents, but +which should nevertheless possess no less energetic supporters." Two +days afterwards he gained the entire confidence of the Assembly, when +speaking of the responsibility of the ministers. "I accept," cried he, +"the definition of the situation of ministers just made, that tells us +responsibility is death. Spare no threats, no dangers. Load us with +personal fetters, but afford us the means of aiding the constitution to +progress. For my own part, I embrace this opportunity of entreating the +members of this Assembly to inform me of every thing which they deem +useful to the welfare of the nation, during my administration. Our +interests, our enemies are the same; and it is not the letter of the +constitution only that we should seek to enforce, but the spirit; we +must not seek merely to acquit ourselves, but to succeed. You will see +that the minister is convinced that there is no hope for liberty unless +it proceed through you and from you: cease then for awhile to mistrust +us, condemn us afterwards if we have merited it; but first give us with +confidence the means of serving you." + +Such words as these touched even the most prejudiced, and it was +unanimously voted that the speech should be printed, and sent to all the +departments. In order to cement the reconciliation of the king and the +nation, M. de Narbonne went to the committees of the Assembly, +communicated to them his plans, discussed his measures, and won over all +to his resolutions. This government in common was the spirit of the +constitution; the other ministers saw in this the abasement of the +executive power and an abdication of royalty, whilst M. de Narbonne saw +in it the sole means of winning back public feeling to the king. Opinion +had dethroned the royalty; it was to opinion that he looked to +strengthen it, and therefore he made himself the minister of public +opinion. + +At the moment when the emperor sent to the king a communication +threatening the frontiers, and the king personally informed the Assembly +of the energetic measures he had adopted, M. de Narbonne, re-entering +the Assembly after the king's departure, mounted the tribune. "I am on +the eve of quitting Paris," said he, "in order to visit our frontiers; +not that I believe the mistrust felt by the soldiers for their officers +has any foundation, but because I hope to dissipate them by addressing +all in the name of their king and their country. I will say to the +officers, that ancient prejudices and an affection for their king +carried to an excess for a time, may have excused their conduct, but +that the word treason is unknown amongst nations of honourable men. To +the soldiers, your officers who remain at the head of the army are bound +by their oath and their honour to the Revolution. The safety of the +state depends on the discipline of the army. I confide my post to the +minister of foreign affairs, and such is my confidence, such should be +the confidence of the nation in his patriotism, that I take on myself +the responsibility of all the orders that he may give in my name." M. de +Narbonne displayed on this occasion as much skill as magnanimity; he +felt that he had sufficient credit with the nation to cover the +unpopularity of his colleague, M. de Lessart, already denounced by the +Girondists, and thus placed himself between them and their victim. The +Assembly was carried away by his enthusiasm; he obtained 20,000,000 of +francs for the preparations for war, and the grade of marshal of France +for the aged Luckner. The press and the clubs themselves applauded him, +for the general eagerness for war swept away all before it, even the +resentments of faction. + +One man alone of the Jacobins resisted the influence of this enthusiasm: +this man was Robespierre. Up to this time Robespierre had been merely a +discusser of ideas, a subaltern agitator, indefatigable and intrepid, +but eclipsed by other and greater names. From this day he became a +statesman; he felt his own mental strength; he based this strength on a +principle, and alone and unaided ventured to cope with the truth. He +devoted himself without regarding even the number of his adversaries, +and by exercising he doubled his force. + +All the cabinets of the princes threatened by the Revolution still +debated the question of peace or war. It was discussed alike in the +councils of Louis XVI., in the meetings of parties in the Assembly, at +the Jacobins, and in the public journals. The moment was decisive, for +it was evident that the negotiation between the emperor Leopold and +France on the subject of the reception of emigrants in the states +dependent on the empire was fast drawing to a close, and that before +long the emperor would have given satisfaction to France by dispersing +these bodies of emigrés, or that France would declare war against him, +and by this declaration draw on herself the hostilities of all her +enemies at the same time. France thus would defy them all. + +We have already seen that the Statesmen, and Revolutionists, +Constitutionalists, and Girondists, Aristocrats, and Jacobins, were all +in favour of war. War was, in the eyes of all, an appeal to destiny, and +the impatient spirit of France wished that it would pronounce at once, +either by victory or defeat. Victory seemed to France the sole issue by +which she could extricate herself from her difficulties at home, and +even defeat did not terrify her. She believed in the necessity of war, +and defied even death. Robespierre thought otherwise, and it is for that +reason that he was Robespierre. + +He clearly comprehended two things; the first, that war was a gratuitous +crime against the people; the second, that a war, even though +successful, would ruin the cause of democracy. Robespierre looked on the +Revolution as the rigorous application of the principles of philosophy +to society. A passionate and devoted pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the +_Contrat Social_ was his gospel; war, made with the blood of the people, +was in the eyes of this philosopher--what it must ever be in the eyes of +the wise--wholesale slaughter to gratify the ambition of a few, glorious +only when it is defensive. Robespierre did not consider France placed in +such a position as to render it absolutely necessary for her safety that +the human vein should be opened, whence would flow such torrents of +blood. Embued with a firm conviction of the omnipotence of the new ideas +on which he nourished faith and fanaticism within a heart closed against +intrigue, he did not fear that a few fugitive princes, destitute of +credit, and some thousand aristocratic emigrés, would impose laws or +conditions on a nation whose first struggle for liberty had shaken the +throne, the nobility, and the clergy. Neither did he think that the +disunited and wavering powers of Europe would venture to declare war +against a nation that proclaimed peace so long as we did not attack +them. But should the European cabinets be sufficiently mad to attempt +this new crusade against human reason, then Robespierre fully believed +they would be defeated, for he knew that there lies invincible force in, +the justice of a cause--that right doubles the energy of a nation, that +despair often supplies the want of weapons, and that God and men were +for the people. + +He thought, moreover, that if it was the duty of France to propagate the +advantages and the light of reason and liberty, the natural and peaceful +extension of the French Revolution in the world would prove far more +infallible than our arms,--that the Revolution should be a doctrine and +not an universal monarchy realised by the sword, and that the patriotism +of nations should not coalesce against his dogmata. Their strength was +in their minds, for in his eyes the power of the Revolution lay in its +enlightenment. But he understood more: he understood that an offensive +war would inevitably ruin the Revolution, and annihilate that premature +republic of which the Girondists had already spoken to him, but which he +himself could not as yet define. Should the war be unfortunate, thought +he, Europe will crush without difficulty beneath the tread of its armies +the earliest germs of this new government, to the truth of which perhaps +a few martyrs might testify, but which would find no soil from whence to +spring anew. If fortunate, military feeling, the invariable companion of +aristocratic feeling, honour, that religion that binds the soldier to +the throne; discipline, that despotism of glory, would usurp the place +of those stern virtues to which the exercise of the constitution would +have accustomed the people,--then they would forgive every thing, even +despotism, in those who had saved them. The gratitude of a nation to +those who have led its children to victory is a pitfall in which the +people will ever be ensnared,--nay, they even offer their necks to the +yoke; civil virtues must ever fade before the brilliancy of military +exploits. Either the army would return to surround the ancient royalty +with all its strength, and France would have her Monk, or the army would +crown the most successful of its generals, and liberty would have her +Cromwell. In either case the Revolution escaped from the people, and +lay at the mercy of the soldiery, and thus to save it from war was to +save it from a snare. These reflections decided him; as yet he meditated +no violence; he but saw into the future, and read it aright. This was +the original cause of his rupture with the Girondists; their justice was +but policy, and war appeared to them politic. Just or unjust, they +wished for it as a means of destruction to the throne, of aggrandisement +for themselves. Posterity must decide, if in this great quarrel the +first blame lies on the side of the democrat, or the ambitious +Girondists. This fierce contest, destined to terminate in the death of +both parties, began on the 12th of December at a meeting of the Jacobin +Club. + + +V. + +"I have meditated during six months, and even from the first day of the +Revolution," said Brissot, the leader of the Gironde, "to what party I +should give my support. It is by the force of reason, and by considering +facts, that I have come to the conviction that a people, who, after ten +centuries of slavery, have re-conquered liberty, have need of war. War +is necessary to consolidate liberty, and to purge the constitution from +all taint of despotism. War is necessary to drive from amongst us those +men whose example might corrupt us. You have the power of chastising the +rebels, and intimidating the world; have the courage to do so. The +emigrés persist in their rebellion, the sovereigns persist in supporting +them. Can we hesitate to attack them? Our honour, our public credit, the +necessity of strengthening our revolution, all make it imperative on us. +France would be dishonoured, did she tamely suffer the insolence and +revolt of a few factions, and outrages that a despot would not bear for +a fortnight. How shall we be looked upon? No! we must avenge ourselves, +or become the opprobrium of all the other nations. We must avenge +ourselves by destroying these herds of _brigands_, or consent to behold +faction, conspiracy, and rebellion perpetuated, and the insolence of the +aristocrats greater than ever. They rely on the army at Coblentz,--in +that they put their trust. If you would at one blow destroy the +aristocracy, destroy Coblentz, and the chief of the nation will be +compelled to reign, according to the Constitution, with us and through +us." + +These words, pronounced by the statesman of the Gironde, awakened an +echo in the breast of every man, from the Jacobin Club to the extremity +of the country. The vehement applause of the tribunes was merely the +expression of that impatience to know the final decision that pervaded +all parties. Robespierre needed iron nerve and determination to confront +his friends, his enemies, and public opinion; and yet he sustained this +struggle of a single idea against all this passion for weeks. Great +convictions are indefatigable; and Robespierre, by his own unaided +exertions, balanced all France during a month. His very enemies spoke +with respect of his firmness, and those who had not the courage to +follow him, yet would have been ashamed not to esteem him. His +eloquence, which had been dry, verbose, and dialectic, now became more +elegant and more imposing. The public journals printed his speeches. +"You, O people, who do not possess the means of procuring the speeches +of Robespierre, I promise them to you," said the _Orateur du Peuple_, +the Jacobin paper. "Preserve carefully the numbers that contain these +speeches; they are masterpieces of eloquence, that should be preserved +in every family, in order to teach future generations that Robespierre +existed for the public good and the preservation of liberty." + +After having exhausted every argument that philosophy, policy, and +patriotism could suggest against an offensive war, commenced by the +Gironde, and secretly fomented by the ministers, and carried on by the +generals most suspected by the people, he mounted the tribune for the +last time, against Brissot, on the night of the 13th January, and +declared his conviction against war, in a speech as admirable as it was +pathetic. + + +VI. + +"Yes, I am vanquished; I yield to you," cried he, in a broken voice, "I +also demand war. What do I say?--I demand a war, more terrible, more +implacable than you demand. I do not demand it as an act of prudence, an +act of reason, an act of policy, but as the resource of despair. I +demand it on one condition, which doubtless you have anticipated,--for I +do not think that the advocates of war have sought to deceive us. I +demand it deadly--I demand it heroic--I demand it such as the genius of +Liberty would declare against all despotism--such as the people of the +Revolution, under their own leaders, would render it;--not such as +intriguing cowards would have it, or as the ambitious and traitorous +ministers and generals would carry it on. + +"Frenchmen, heroes of the 14th of July, who, without guide or leader, +yet acquired your liberty, come forth, and let us form that army which +you tell us is destined to conquer the universe. But where is the +general, who, imperturbable defender of the rights of the people, and +born with a hatred to tyrants, has never breathed the poisonous air of +the courts, and whose virtue is attested by the hatred and disgrace of +the court; this general, whose hands, guiltless of our blood, are worthy +to bear before us the banner of freedom; where is he, this new Cato, +this third Brutus, this unknown hero? let him appear and disclose +himself, he shall be our leader. But where is he? Where are these +soldiers of the 14th of July, who laid down, in the presence of the +people, the arms furnished them by despotism. Soldiers of Châteauvieux, +where are you? Come and direct our efforts. Alas! it is easier to rob +death of its prey, than despotism of its victims. Citizens! Conquerors +of the Bastille, come! Liberty summons you, and assigns you the honour +of the first rank! They are mute. Misery, ingratitude, and the hatred of +the aristocracy, have dispersed them. And you, citizens, immolated at +the Champ-de-Mars, in the very act of a patriotic confederation, you +will not be with us. Ah, what crime had these females, these massacred +babes, committed? Good God! how many victims, and all amongst the +people--all amongst the patriots, whilst the powerful conspirators live +and triumph. Rally round us, at least you national guards, who have +especially devoted yourselves to the defence of our frontiers in this +war with which a perfidious court threatens us. Come--but how?--you are +not yet armed. During two whole years you have demanded arms, and yet +have them not. What do I say? You have been refused even uniforms, and +condemned to wander from department to department, objects of contempt +to the minister, and of derision to the patricians, who receive you +only to enjoy the spectacle of your distress. No matter; come, we will +combat naked like the American savages. + +"But shall we await the orders of the war office to destroy thrones? +Shall we await the signal of the court? Shall we be commanded by these +patricians, these eternal favourites of despotism, in this war against +aristocrats and kings? No--let us march forward alone; let us be our own +leaders. But see, the orators of war stop me! Here is Monsieur Brissot, +who tells me that Monsieur le Comte de Narbonne must conduct this +affair; that we must march under the orders of Monsieur le Marquis de La +Fayette; that the executive power alone possesses the right of leading +the nation to victory and freedom. Ah, citizens, this word has dispelled +all the charm! Adieu, victory and the independence of the people; if the +sceptres of Europe ever be broken, it will not be by such hands. Spain +will continue for some time the degraded slave of superstition and +royalism. Leopold will continue the tyrant of Germany and Italy, and we +shall not speedily behold Catos or Ciceros replace the pope and the +cardinals in the conclave. I declare openly, that war, as I understand +the term--war, such as I have proposed, is impracticable. And if it be +the war of the court, of the ministers, of the patricians who affect +patriotism, that we must accept--oh, then, far from believing in the +freedom of the world, I despair of your liberty. The wisest course left +us is to defend it against the perfidy of those enemies at home who lull +you with these heroic illusions. + +"I continue calmly and sorrowfully. I have proved that liberty possesses +no more deadly foe than war; I have proved that war, advised by men +already objects of suspicion, was, in the hands of the executive power, +nought save a means of annihilating the constitution, only the end of a +plot against the Revolution. Thus to favour these plans of war, under +what pretext soever, is to associate ourselves with these treasonable +plots against the Revolution. All the patriotism in the world, all the +pretended political commonplaces, cannot change the nature of things. To +inculcate, like M. Brissot and his friends, confidence in the executive +power, and to call down public favour on the generals, is to disarm the +Revolution of its last hope--the vigilance and energy of the nation. In +the horrible position in which despotism, intrigue, treason, and the +general blindness have placed us, I consult alone my head and my heart. +I respect nothing, save my country; I obey nought, save truth. I know +that some patriots blame the frankness with which I present this +discouraging future of our situation. I do not conceal my fault from +myself. Is not the truth already sufficiently guilty because it is the +truth? Ah! so that our slumbers be light, what matter, though we be +awakened by the clash of chains?--and in the quietude of slavery let us +no longer disturb the repose of these fortunate patriots. No, but let +them know that we can measure with a firm eye and steady heart the depth +of the abyss. Let us adopt the device of the palatine of Posnania--'_I +prefer the storms of liberty to the serenity of slavery_.' + +"If the moment of emancipation be not yet arrived, at least we should +have the patience to await it. If this generation was but destined to +struggle in the quicksand of vice, into which despotism had plunged it; +if the theatre of our revolution was destined but to present to the eyes +of the universe a struggle between perfidy and weakness, egotism and +ambition;--the rising generation would commence the task of purifying +this earth, so sullied by vice. It would bring, not the peace of +despotism or the sterile agitations of intrigue, but fire and sword to +lay low the thrones and exterminate the oppressors. O more fortunate +posterity, thou art not stranger to us! It is for thee that we brave the +storms and the intrigues of tyranny. Often discouraged by the obstacles +that environ us, we feel the necessity of struggling for thee. Thou +shalt complete our work. Retain on thy memory the names of the martyrs +of liberty." The sentiments of Rousseau were to be traced in these +words. + + +VII. + +Louvet, one of the friends of Brissot, felt their power, and mounted the +tribune in order to move the man who alone arrested the progress of the +Gironde. "Robespierre," said he, apostrophising him directly; +"Robespierre--you alone keep the public mind in suspense--doubtless this +excess of glory was reserved for you. Your speeches belong to +posterity, and posterity will come to judge between you and me. But you +Will mar a great responsibility by persisting in your opinions; you are +accountable to your contemporaries, and even to future generations--yes, +posterity will judge between us, unworthy as I may be of it. It will +say, a man appeared in the Constituent Assembly--inaccessible to all +passions, one of the most faithful defenders of the people--it was +impossible not to esteem and cherish his virtues--not to admire his +courage--he was adored by the people, whom he had constantly served, and +he was worthy of it. A precipice opens. Fatigued by too much labour, +this man imagined he saw peril where there was none, and did not see it +where it really was. A man of no note was present, entirely occupied +with the present moment, aided by other citizens, he perceived the +danger, and could not remain silent. He went to Robespierre, and sought +to make him touch it with his finger. Robespierre turned away his eyes, +and withdrew his hand, the stranger persisted, and saved his country." + +Robespierre smiled with disdain and incredulity at these words. The +suppliant gestures of Louvet, and the adjurations of the tribunes +found-him the next morning firm and unmoved. Brissot resumed the debate +on war;--"I implore Monsieur Robespierre," said he, in conclusion, "to +terminate so unworthy a struggle, which profits alone the enemies of the +public welfare." "My surprise was extreme," cried Robespierre, "at +seeing this morning, in the journal edited by M. Brissot, the most +pompous eulogium on M. de La Fayette." "I declare," replied Brissot, +"that I am utterly ignorant of the insertion of this letter in '_Le +Patriots Français_.'" "So much the better," returned Robespierre. "I am +delighted to find that M. Brissot is not a party to any such apologies." +Their words became as bitter as their hearts, and hate became more +perceptible at every reply. The aged Dusaulx interfered, made a touching +appeal to the patriots, and entreated them to embrace. They complied. "I +have now fulfilled a duty of fraternity, and satisfied my heart," cried +Robespierre. "I have yet a more sacred debt to pay my country. All +personal regard must give place to the sacred interests of liberty and +humanity. I can easily reconcile them here with the regard and respect I +have promised to those who serve them; I have embraced M. Brissot, but +I persist in opposing him: let our peace repose only on the basis of +patriotism and virtue." Robespierre, by his very isolation, proved his +force, and obtained fresh influence over the minds of the waverers. The +papers began to side with him. Marat heaped invectives on Brissot; +Camille Desmoulins, in his pamphlets, exposed the shameful association +of Brissot, in London, with Morande, the dishonoured libellist. Danton +himself, the orator of success, fearing to be deceived by fortune, +hesitated between the Girondists and Robespierre. He remained silent for +a long time, and then made a speech full of high-sounding words, beneath +which was visible the hesitation of his convictions, and the +embarrassment of his mind. + + + + +BOOK X. + + +I. + +Whilst this was passing at the Jacobins, and the journals--those echoes +of the clubs--excited in the people the same anxiety and the same +hesitation, the underhand diplomacy of the cabinet of the Tuileries, and +the emperor Leopold, who sought in vain to postpone the termination, +were about to behold all their schemes thwarted by the impatience of the +Gironde and the death of Leopold. This philosophic prince was destined +to bear away with him all desire of reconciliation and every hope of +peace, for he alone restrained Germany. M. de Narbonne, thwarted by +public demonstrations the secret negotiations of his colleague M. de +Lessart, who strove to temporise, and to refer all the differences of +France and Europe to a congress. + +The diplomatic committee of the Assembly, urged by Narbonne, and +composed of Girondists, proposed decisive resolutions. This committee, +established by the Assembly, and influenced by the ideas of Mirabeau, +called the ministers to account for every thing that occurred: out of +the kingdom diplomacy was thus unmasked--the negotiations broken +off--all combination rendered impossible, for the cabinets of Europe +were continually cited before the tribune of Paris. The Girondists, the +actual leaders of this committee, possessed neither the skill nor the +prudence necessary to handle without breaking the fine threads of +diplomacy. A speech was in their eyes far more meritorious than a +negotiation; and they cared not that their words should re-echo in +foreign cabinets, provided they sounded well in the chamber or the +tribune. Moreover, they were desirous of war, and looked on themselves +as statesmen, because at one stroke they had disturbed the peace of +Europe. Ignorant of politics, they yet deemed themselves masters of it, +because they were unscrupulous; and because they affected the +indifference of Machiavel, they deemed they possessed his depth. + +The emperor Leopold, by a proclamation, on the 21st of December, +furnished the Assembly with a pretext for an outbreak. "The sovereigns +united," said the emperor, "for the maintenance of public tranquillity +and the honour and safety of the crowns." These words excited the minds +of all to know what could be their meaning; they asked each other how +the emperor, the brother-in-law, and ally of Louis XVI., could speak to +him for the first time of the sovereigns acting in concert? and against +what, if not against the Revolution? And how could the ministers and +ambassadors of the Revolution have been ignorant of its existence? Why +had they concealed from the nation their knowledge, if they had known +it? There was, then, a double diplomacy, each striving to outwit the +other. The Austrian Alliance was, then, no dream of faction; there was +either incompetence or treason in official diplomacy, perhaps both. A +projected congress was spoken of--could it have any other object than +that of imposing modifications on the constitution of France?--And all +felt indignant at the idea of ceding even one tittle of the constitution +to the demand of monarchical Europe. + + +II. + +It was whilst the public mind was thus agitated that the diplomatic +committee presented, through the Girondist Gensonné, its report on the +existing state of affairs with the emperor. Gensonné, an advocate of +Bordeaux, elected to the Legislative Assembly on the same day as Guadet +and Vergniaud, his friends and countrymen, composed, with these +deputies, that triumvirate of talent, opinion, and eloquence, afterwards +termed the Gironde. An obstinate and dialectic style of oratory, bitter +and keen irony, were the characteristics of the talents of the Gironde; +it did not carry away by its eloquence, it constrained; and its +revolutionary passions were strong, yet under the control of reason. + +Before entering the Assembly, he had been sent as a commissioner with +Dumouriez, afterwards so celebrated, to study the state of the popular +feeling in the department of the west, and to propose measures likely to +tend to the pacification of these countries, then distracted by +religious differences. His clear and enlightened report had been in +favour of tolerance and liberty--those two topics of all consciences. He +was then, in common with the other Girondists, resolved to carry out the +Revolution to its extreme and definite form--a republic, without, +however, too soon destroying the constitutional throne, provided the +constitution was in the hands of his party. + +The intimate friend of the minister Narbonne, his calumniators accused +him of having sold himself to him. Nothing, however, bears out this +suspicion; for if the soul of the Girondists was not free from ambition +and intrigue, their hands at least were pure from corruption. + +Gensonné, in his report in the name of the diplomatic committee, asked +two questions; first, what was our political situation with regard to +the emperor; secondly, should his last _office_ be regarded as an act of +hostility; and in this case was it advisable to accelerate this +inevitable rupture by commencing the attack. + +"Our situation with regard to the emperor," replied he to himself, "is, +that the French interests are sacrificed to the house of Austria; our +finances and our armies wasted in her service--our alliances broken, and +what mark of reciprocity do we receive? The Revolution insulted; our +cockade profaned; the emigrés permitted to congregate in the states +dependent on Austria; and, lastly, the avowal of the coalition of the +powers against us. When from the heart of Luxembourg our princes +threaten us with an invasion, and boast of the support of the other +powers, Austria remains silent, and thus tacitly sanctions the threats +of our enemies. It is true she affects from time to time to blame the +hostile demonstrations against France, but this was but an hypocritical +peace. The white cockade and the counter-revolutionary uniform are +openly worn in her states, whilst our national colours are proscribed. +When the king threatened the elector of Trèves that he would march into +his territories and disperse the emigrés by force, the emperor ordered +general Bender to advance to the assistance of the elector of Trèves. +This is but a slight matter: in the report drawn up at Pilnitz, the +emperor declares, in concert with the king of Prussia, that the two +powers would consider the steps to be taken, with regard to France, by +the other European courts; and that should war ensue, they would +mutually assist each other. Thus it is manifest that the emperor had +violated the treaty of 1756, by contracting alliances without the +knowledge of France; and that he has made himself the promoter and pivot +of an anti-French system. What can be his aim but to intimidate and +subdue us, in order to bring us to accept a congress, and the +introduction of shameful modifications in our new institutions? + +"Perhaps," added Gensonné, "this idea has germinated in France? Perhaps +secret information induces the emperor to hope that peace may be +maintained on such conditions. He is deceived: it is not at the moment +when the flame of liberty is first kindled in a nation of twenty-four +millions, that Frenchmen would consent to a capitulation, to which they +would prefer death. Such is our situation, that war, which in other +times would be a scourge to the human race, would now be useful to the +public welfare. This salutary crisis would elevate the people to the +level of their destiny; it would restore to them their pristine +energy--it would re-establish our finances, and stifle the germ of +intestine dissension. In a similar situation Frederic the Great broke +the league formed against him by the court of Vienna, by forestalling +it. Your committee propose that the preparations for war be accelerated. +A congress would be a disgrace--war is necessary--public opinion wishes +for it--and public safety demands it." + +The committee concluded, by demanding clear and satisfactory +explanations from the emperor; and that in case these explanations +should not be given before the 10th of February, this refusal to reply +should be considered as an act of hostility. + + +III. + +Scarcely was the report terminated than Guadet, who presided that day at +the Assembly, mounted the tribune, and began to comment on the report of +his friend and colleague. Guadet, born at Saint Emelion, near Bordeaux, +already celebrated as an advocate before the age at which men have +generally made themselves a reputation, impatiently expected by the +political tribunes, had at last arrived at the Legislative Assembly. A +disciple of Brissot, less profound, but equally courageous and more +eloquent than his master, he was intimately connected with Gensonné, +Vergniaud, to whom he was bound by being of the same age, the same +passions, and the same country; endowed with an undaunted and energetic +mind and winning powers of oratory, equally fitted to resist the +movement of a popular assembly, or to precipitate them to a termination; +all these natural advantages were heightened by one of those southern +casts of face and feature that serve so well to illustrate the working +of the mind within. + +"A congress has just been spoken of," said he; "what, then, is this +conspiracy formed against us? How long shall we suffer ourselves to be +fatigued by these manoeuvres--to be outraged by these hopes? Have +those who have planned them, well weighed this? The bare idea of the +possibility of a capitulation of liberty might hurry into crime those +malcontents who cherish the hope; and these are the crimes we should +crush in the bud. Let us teach these princes that the nation is resolved +to preserve its constitution pure and unchanged, or to perish with it. +In one word, let us mark out the place for these traitors, and let that +place be the scaffold. I propose that the decree pass at this instant; +That the nation regards as infamous, as traitors to their country, and +as guilty of _leze-majesté_, every agent of the executive power, every +Frenchman (several voices, 'every _legislator_') who shall take part, +directly or indirectly, at this congress, whose object is to obtain +modifications in the constitution, or a mediation between France and the +rebels." + +At these words the Assembly rose as if by common consent. Every hand was +raised in the attitude of men ready to take a solemn oath; the tribunes +and the chamber confounded their applause, and the decree was passed. + +M. de Lessart, whom the gesture and the allusion of Guadet seemed to +have already designated as the victim to the suspicions of the people, +could not remain silent under the weight of these terrible allusions. +"Mention has been made," said he, "of the political agents of the +executive power: I declare that I know nothing which can authorise us to +suspect their fidelity. For my own part, I will repeat the declaration +of my colleagues in the ministry, and adopt it for my own--the +constitution or death." + +Whilst Gensonné and Guadet aroused the Assembly by this preconcerted +scene, Vergniaud aroused the crowd by the copy of an address to the +French people, which had been spread abroad for the last few days +amongst the masses. The Girondists remembered the effect produced two +years previously by the proposed address to the king to dismiss the +troops. + +"Frenchmen," said Vergniaud, "war threatens your frontiers; conspiracies +against liberty are rife. Your armies are assembling: mighty movements +agitate the empire. Seditious priests prepare in the confessional, and +even in the pulpit, a rising against the constitution; martial law +becomes essential. Thus it appeared to us just. But we only succeeded in +brandishing the thunderbolts for a moment before the eyes of the +rebels--the king has refused to sanction our decrees; the German princes +make their territories a stronghold for the conspirators against us. +They favour the plots of the emigrés, and furnish them with an asylum, +arms, horses, and provisions. Can patience endure this without becoming +guilty of suicide? Doubtless you have renounced the desire of conquest; +but you have not promised to suffer insolent provocation. You have +shaken off the yoke of tyrants; surely, then, you will not bow the knee +to foreign despots? Beware! you are surrounded by snares; traitors seek +to reduce you through disgust or fatigue to a state of languor that +enervates your courage; and soon perhaps they will strive to lead it +astray. They seek to separate you from us; they pursue a system of +calumny against the National Assembly to criminate the Revolution in +your eyes. Oh, beware of these excessive terrors! Repulse indignantly +these impostors, who, whilst they affect an hypocritical zeal for the +constitution, yet unceasingly speak of the _monarchy_. The _monarchy_ is +to them the counter-revolution. The _monarchy_ is the _nobility_; the +counter-revolution--that is taxation, the feudal system, the Bastille, +chains, and executions, to punish the sublime impulses of liberty. +Foreign satellites in the interior of the state--bankruptcy, engulphing +with your _assignats_ your private fortunes and the national wealth--the +fury of fanaticism, of vengeance, murder, rapine, conflagration, +despotism, and slaughter, contending, in rivers of blood and over the +heaps of dead, for the mastery of your unhappy country. Nobility; that +is, two classes of men, one for greatness, the other for poverty; one +for tyranny, the other for slavery. Nobility; ah! the very word is an +insult to the human race. + +"And yet it is to ensure the success of this conspiracy against you that +all Europe is in arms.--You must annihilate these guilty hopes by a +solemn declaration. Yes, the representatives of France, free, and deeply +attached to the constitution, will be buried beneath her ruins, rather +than suffer a capitulation unworthy of them to be wrung from them. Rally +yourselves, take courage! In vain do they strive to excite the nations +against you, they will only excite the princes, for the hearts of the +people are with you, and you embrace their cause by defending your own. +Hate war: it is the greatest crime of mankind, and the most fearful +scourge of humanity; but since it is forced on you, follow the course of +your destiny. Who can foresee how far will extend the punishment of +those tyrants who have forced you to take arms?" Thus, these three +statesmen joined their voices to impel the nation to war. + + +IV. + +The last words of Vergniaud gave the people a tolerably clear prospect +of an universal republic. Nor were the constitutionalists less eager in +directing the ideas of the nation towards war. M. de Narbonne, on his +return from his hasty journey, presented a most encouraging report to +the Assembly, of the state of the fortified towns.--He praised every +one. He presented to the country the young Mathieu de Montmorency, one +of the most illustrious names of France, and whose character was even +more noble than his name, as the representative of the aristocracy +devoting itself to liberty. He declared that the army, in its attachment +to its country did not separate the King from the Assembly. He praised +the commanders of the troops, nominated Rochambeau general-in-chief of +the army of the north, Berthier at Metz, Biron at Lisle, Luckner and La +Fayette on the Rhine. He spoke of plans for the campaign, concerted +between the king and these officers; he enumerated the national guards, +ready to serve as a second line to the active army, and solicited that +they should be promptly armed; he described these volunteers, as giving +the army the most imposing of all characters--that of national feeling; +he vouched for the officers, who had sworn fidelity to the constitution, +and exonerated from the charge of treason those who had not done so; he +encouraged the Assembly to mistrust those that hesitated. "Mistrust," +said he, "is, in these stormy times, the most natural, but the most +dangerous feeling; confidence wins men's hearts, and it is important +that the people should show they have friends only." He ended by +announcing that the active force of the army was 110,000 foot, and +20,000 cavalry, ready to take the field. + +This report, praised by Brissot in his journal, and by the Girondists in +the Assembly, afforded no longer any pretext for delaying the war. +France felt that her strength was equal to her indignation, and she +could be restrained no longer. The increasing unpopularity of the king +augmented the popular excitement. Twice had he already arrested, by his +royal _veto_, the energetic measures of the Assembly--the decree against +the emigrés, and the decree against the priests who had not taken the +oath. These two _vetos_, the one dictated by his honour, the other by +his conscience, were two terrible weapons, placed in his hand by the +constitution, yet which he could not wield without wounding himself. The +Girondists revenged themselves for this resistance by compelling him to +make war on the princes, who were his brothers, and the emperor, whom +they believed to be his accomplice. + +The pamphleteers and the Jacobin journalists constantly spoke of these +two _vetos_ as acts of treason. The disturbances in Vendeé were +attributed to a secret understanding between the king and the rebellious +clergy. In vain did the department of Paris, composed of men who +respected the conscience of others, such as M. de Talleyrand, M. de la +Rochefoucauld, and M. de Beaumetz, present to the king a petition in +which the true principles of liberty protested against the revolutionary +inquisition: counter-petitions poured in from the departments. + + +V. + +Camille Desmoulins, the Voltaire of the clubs, lent to the petition of +the citizens of Paris that insolent raillery, which made the success of +his talent. + +"Worthy representatives," ran the petition[13], "applauses are the civil +list of the people, therefore do not reject ours. To collect the homages +of good citizens, and the insults of the bad, is, to a National +Assembly, to have combined all suffrages. The king has put his _veto_ to +your decree against the emigrants, a decree equally worthy of the +majesty of the Roman people and the clemency of the French people. We do +not complain of this act of the king, because we remember the maxim of +the great politician Machiavel, which we beg of you to meditate upon +profoundly--_It is against nature to fall voluntarily from such a +height_. Penetrated with this truth, we do not then require from the +king an impossible love for the constitution, nor do we find fault that +he is opposed to your best decisions. But let public functionaries +foresee the royal veto, and declare their rebellion against your decree, +against the priests; let them carry off public opinion; let these men be +precisely the same who caused to be shot in the Champ-de-Mars the +citizens who were signing a petition against a decree which was not yet +decided upon; let them inundate the empire with copies of this +petition, which is nothing more than the first leaf of a great +counter-revolutionary register and a subscription for civil war sent for +signature to all the fanatics, all the idiots, all permanent slaves. +Fathers of the country! there is here such complicated ingratitude and +abuse of confidence, of contradiction and chicanery, of prevarication +and treason, that profoundly indignant at so much wickedness concealed +beneath the cloak of philosophy and hypocritical civism, we say to +you--Your decree has saved the country, and if they are obstinate in +refusing you permission to save the country, well, the nation will save +itself, for, after all, the power of a _veto_ has a termination--a veto +does not prevent the taking of the Bastille. + +"You are told that the salary of the priests was a national debt. But +when you only request the priests to declare that they will not be +seditious--are not they who refuse this declaration already seditious in +their hearts? And these seditious priests, who have never lent anything +to the state--who are only creditors of the state in the name of +benevolence--have they not a thousand times forfeited the donation +through their ingratitude? Away, then, with these miserable sophisms, +fathers of the country, and have no more doubt of the omnipotence of a +free people. If liberty slumbers, how can the arm act? Do not raise this +arm again, do not again lift the national club to crush insects. Did +Cato and Cicero proceed against Cethegus or Catiline? It is the chiefs +we should assail: strike at the head." + +A scornful laugh echoed from the tribunes of the Assembly to the +populace. The _procès-verbal_ of this sitting was ordered to be sent to +the eighty-three departments. Next day the Assembly reconsidered this, +and negatived its vote of the previous evening; but publicity was still +given to it, and it echoed through the provinces, carrying with it the +disquietude, derision, and hatred attached to the _Royal Veto_. The +constitution, handed over to ridicule and hooted in full assembly, had +now become the plaything of the populace. + +For many months the state of the kingdom resembled the state of Paris. +All was uproar, confusion, denunciation, disturbance in the departments. +Each courier brought his riots, seditions, petitions, outbreaks, and +assassinations. The clubs established as many points of resistance to +the constitution as there were communes in the empire. The civil war +hatching in La Vendée burst out by massacres at Avignon. + + +VI. + +This city and comtal, united to France by the recent decree of the +Constituent Assembly, had remained from this period in an intermediary +state between two dominations, so favourable to anarchy. The partisans +of the papal government, and the partisans of the reunion with France, +struggled there in alternations of hope and fear, which prolonged and +envenomed their hate. The king, from a religious scruple, had for too +long suspended the execution of the decree of reunion. Trembling to +infringe upon the domain of the church, he deferred his decision, and +his impolitic delays gave time for crimes. + +France was represented in Avignon by mediators. The provisional +authority of these mediators was supported by a detachment of troops of +the line. The power, entirely municipal, was confided to the +dictatorship of the municipality. The populace, excited and agitated, +was divided into the French or revolutionary party, and the party +opposed to the reunion by France and the Revolution. The fanaticism of +religion with one, the fanaticism of liberty with the other, impelled +the two parties even to crimes. The warmth of blood, the thirst of +private vengeance, the heat of the climate, all added to civil passions. +The violences of Italian republics were all to be seen in the manners of +this Italian colony, of this branch establishment of Rome on the banks +of the Rhone. The smaller states are, the more atrocious are their civil +wars. There opposite opinions become personal hatreds; contests are but +assassinations. Avignon commenced these wholesale assassinations by +private murders. + +On the 16th of October a gloomy agitation betrayed itself by the mobs of +people collecting on various points, particularly consisting of persons +enemies of the Revolution. The walls of the church were covered with +placards, calling on the people to revolt against the provisional +authority of the municipality. There were bruited about rumours of +absurd miracles, which demanded in the name of Heaven vengeance for the +assaults made against religion. A statue of the Virgin worshipped by the +people in the church of the Cordeliers had blushed at the profanations +of her temple. She had been seen to shed tears of indignation and grief. +The people, educated under the papal government in such superstitious +credulities, had gone in a body to the Cordeliers to avenge the cause of +their protectress. Animated by fanatical exhortations, confiding in the +divine interposition, the mob, on quitting the Cordeliers, and +increasing as it went, hurried to the ramparts, closed the doors, turned +the cannon on the city, and then spread themselves through the streets, +demanding with loud clamours the overthrow of the government. The +unfortunate Lescuyer, notary of Avignon, secretary (_greffier_) of the +municipality, more particularly pointed out to the fury of the mob, was +dragged violently from his residence, and along the pavement to the +altar of the Cordeliers, where he was murdered by sabre-strokes and +blows from bludgeons, trampled under foot, his dead body outraged and +cast as an expiatory victim at the feet of the offended statue. The +national guard, having despatched a detachment with two pieces of cannon +from the fort, drove back the infuriated populace, and picked from the +pavement the naked and lifeless carcase of Lescuyer. The prisons of the +city had been broken open, and the miscreants they contained came to +offer their assistance for other murders. Horrible reprisals were +feared, and yet the mediators, absent from the city, were asleep, or +closed their eyes upon the actual danger. The understanding between the +leaders of the Paris clubs and the rioters of Avignon became more +fearfully intimate. + + +VII. + +One of those sinister persons who seem to smell blood and presage crime, +reached Avignon from Versailles: his name was Jourdan. He is not to be +confounded with another revolutionist of the same name, born at Avignon. +Sprung from the arid and calcined mountains of the south, where the very +brutes are more ferocious; by turns butcher, farrier, and smuggler, in +the gorges which separate Savoy from France; a soldier, deserter, +horse-jobber, and then a keeper of a low wine shop in the suburbs of +Paris; he had wallowed in all the lowest vices of the dregs of a +metropolis. The first murders committed by the people in the streets of +Paris had disclosed his real character. It was not that of contest but +of murder. He appeared after the carnage to mangle the victims, and +render the assassination fouler. He was a butcher of men, and he boasted +of it. It was he who had thrust his hands into the open breasts and +plucked forth the hearts of Foulon and Berthier.[14] It was he who had +cut off the head of the two _gardes-du-corps_, de Varicourt and des +Huttes, at Versailles, on the 6th of October. It was he who, entering +Paris, bearing the two heads at the end of a pike, reproached the people +with being content with so little, and having made him go so far to cut +off only two heads! He hoped for better things at Avignon, and went +thither. + +There was at Avignon a body of volunteers called the army of Vaucluse, +formed of the dregs of that country, and commanded by one Patrix. This +Patrix having been assassinated by his troop, whose excesses he desired +to moderate, Jourdan was elevated to the command by the claims of +sedition and wickedness. The soldiers, when reproached with their +robberies and murders, similar to those of the _Gueux_ of Belgium, and +the _sans-culottes_ of Paris, received the reproach as an honour, and +called themselves the _brave brigands_ of Avignon. Jourdan at the head +of this band, ravaged and fired le Comtal, laid siege to Carpentras, was +repulsed, lost five hundred men, and fell back upon Avignon, still +shuddering at the murder of Lescuyer. He resolved on lending his arm and +his troop to the vengeance of the French party. On the 30th of August +Jourdan and his myrmidons closed the city-gates, dispersed through the +streets, going to the houses noted as containing enemies to the +Revolution, dragging out the inhabitants--men, women, aged persons, and +children,--all, without distinction of age, sex or innocence, and shut +them up in the palace. When night came, the assassins broke down the +doors and murdered with iron crow-bars these disarmed and supplicating +victims. In vain did they shriek to the national guard for aid: the city +hears the massacre without daring to give any signs of animation. The +daring of the crime chilled and paralysed every citizen. The murderers +preluded the death of the females by derision and insults which added +shame to terror, and the agonies of modesty to the pangs of murder. When +there were no more to be slain they mutilated the carcases, and swept +the blood into the sewer of the palace. They dragged the mutilated +corpses to La Glacière, walled them up, and the vengeance of the people +was stamped upon them. Jourdan and his satellites offered the homage of +this night to the French mediators and the National Assembly. The +scoundrels of Paris admired--the Assembly shook with indignation, and +considered this crime as an outrage; whilst the president fainted on +reading the recital of this night at Avignon. The arrest of Jourdan and +his accomplices was commanded. Jourdan fled from Avignon, pursued by the +French; he dashed his horse in to the river of the Sargue: caught in the +middle of the river, by a soldier, he fired at him and missed. He was +seized and bound, and punishment awarded him, but the Jacobins compelled +the Girondists to agree to an amnesty for the crimes of Avignon. Jourdan +making sure of impunity, and proud of his iniquities, went thither to be +revenged on his denouncers. + +The Assembly shuddered for a moment at the sight of this blood, and then +hastily turned its eyes away. In its impatience to reign alone, it had +not the time to display pity. There was, besides, between the Girondists +and the Jacobins a contest for leadership, and a rivalry in going a-head +of the Revolution, which made each of the two factions afraid that the +other should be in advance. Dead bodies did not make them pause, and +tears shed for too long a time might have been taken for weakness. + + +VIII. + +However, victims multiplied daily, and disasters followed disasters. The +whole empire seemed ready to fall and crush its founders. San Domingo, +the richest of the French colonies, was swimming in blood. France was +punished for its egotism. The Constituent Assembly had proclaimed, in +principle, the liberty of the blacks, but, in fact, slavery still +existed. Two hundred thousand slaves served as human cattle to some +thousands of colonists. They were bought and sold, and cut and maimed, +as if they were inanimate objects. They were kept by speculation out of +the civil law, and out of the religious law. Property, family, marriage, +all was forbidden to them. Care was taken to degrade them below men, to +preserve the right of treating them as brutes. If some unions furtive, +or favoured by cupidity, were formed amongst them, the wife and children +belonged to the master. They were sold separately, without any regard to +the ties of nature, all the attachments with which God has formed the +chain of human sympathies were rent asunder without commiseration. + +This crime _en masse_, this systematic brutality, had its theorists and +apologists; human faculties were denied to the blacks. They were classed +as a race between the flesh and the spirit. Thus the infamous abuse of +power, which was exercised over this inert and servile race, was called +necessary guardianship. Tyrants have never wanted sophists: on the other +hand, men of right feeling towards their fellows, who had, like +Grégoire, Raynal, Barnave, Brissot, Condorcet, La Fayette, embraced the +cause of humanity, and formed the "_Society of the Friends of the +Blacks_" had circulated their principles in the colonies, like a +vengeance rather than as justice. These principles had burst forth +without preparation, and unanticipated in colonial society, where truth +had no organ but insurrection. Philosophy proclaims principles; politics +administer them; the friends of the blacks were contented with +proclaiming them. France had not had courage to dispossess and indemnify +her colonists: she had acquired liberty for herself alone: she +adjourned, as she still adjourns at the moment I write these lines, the +reparation for the crime of slavery in her colonies: could she be +astonished that slavery should seek to avenge herself, and that liberty, +warmly proclaimed in Paris, should not become an insurrection at San +Domingo? Every iniquity that a free society allows to subsist for the +profit of the oppressor, is a sword with which she herself arms the +oppressed. Right is the most dangerous of weapons; woe to him who leaves +it to his enemies! + + +IX. + +San Domingo proved this. Fifty thousand black slaves rose in one night +at the instigation, and under the command, of the mulattoes, or men of +colour. The men of colour, the intermediary race, springing from white +colonists and black slaves, were not slaves, neither were they citizens. +They were a kind of freedmen, with the defects and virtues of the two +races; the pride of the whites, the degradation of the blacks: a +fluctuating race who, by turning sometimes to the side of the slaves, +sometimes to that of the masters, inevitably produced those terrible +oscillations which inevitably superinduce the overthrow of society. + +The mulattoes, who themselves possessed slaves, had begun by making +common cause with the colonists, and by opposing the emancipation of the +blacks more obstinately than even the whites themselves. The nearer they +were to slavery, the more doggedly did they defend their share in +tyranny. Man is thus made: none is more ready to abuse his right than he +who, with difficulty, has acquired it; there are no tyrants worse than +slaves, and no men prouder than _parvenus_. + +The men of colour had all the vices of _parvenus_ of liberty. But when +they perceived that the whites despised them as a mingled race, that the +Revolution had not effaced the tinge of their skin, and the injurious +prejudices which were attached to their colour; when they in vain +claimed for themselves the exercise of civil rights, which the colonists +opposed, they passed with the impetuosity and levity of their conduct +from one passion to another, from one party to the other, and made +common cause with the oppressed race. Their habits of command, fortune, +intelligence, energy, boldness, naturally pointed them out as the +leaders of the blacks. They fraternised with them, they became popular +amongst the blacks, from the very tinge of skin for which they had +recently blushed, when in company with the whites. They secretly +fomented the germs of insurrection at the nightly meetings of the +slaves. They kept up a clandestine correspondence with the friends of +the blacks in Paris. They spread widely in the huts, speeches and papers +from Paris, which instructed the colonists in their duties and informed +the slaves of their indefeasible rights. The rights of man, commented +upon by vengeance, became the catechism of all dwellings. + +The whites trembled; terror urged them to violence. The blood of the +mulatto Ogé and his accomplices, shed by M. de Blanchelande, governor of +San Domingo and the colonial council, sowed every where despair and +conspiracy. + + +X. + +Ogé, deputed to Paris by the men of colour to assert their rights in the +Constituent Assembly, had become known to Brissot, Raynal, Grégoire, and +was affiliated with them to the Society of the Friends of the Blacks. +Passing thence into England, he became known to the admirable +philanthropist, Clarkson. Clarkson and his friend at this time were +pleading the cause of the emancipation of the negroes: they were the +first apostles of that religion of humanity who believed that they could +not raise their hands purely towards God, so long as those hands +retained a link of that chain which holds a race of human beings in +degradation and in slavery. The association with these men of worth +expanded Ogé's mind. He had come to Europe only to defend the interest +of the mulattoes; he now took up with warmth the more liberal and holy +cause of all the blacks; he devoted himself to the liberty of all his +brethren. He returned to France, and became very intimate with Barnave; +he entreated the Constituent Assembly to apply the principles of liberty +to the colonies, and not to make any exception to Divine law, by leaving +the slaves to their masters; excited and irritated by the hesitation of +the committee, who withdrew with one hand what it gave with the other, +he declared that if justice could not suffice for their cause, he would +appeal to force. Barnave had said, "_Perish the colonies rather than a +principle!_" The men of the 14th of July had no right to condemn, in the +heart of Ogé, that revolt which was their own title to independence. We +may believe that the secret wishes of the friends of the blacks followed +Ogé, who returned to San Domingo. He found there the rights of men of +colour and the principles of liberty of the blacks more denied and more +profaned than ever. He raised the standard of insurrection, but with the +forms and rights of legality. At the head of a body of two hundred men +of colour, he demanded the promulgation in the colonies of the decrees +of the National Assembly, despotically delayed until that time. He wrote +to the military commandant at the Cape, "We require the proclamation of +the law which makes us free citizens. If you oppose this, we will repair +to Leogane, we will nominate electors, and repel force by force. The +pride of the colonists revolts at sitting beside us: was the pride of +the nobility and clergy consulted when the equality of citizens was +proclaimed in France?" + +The government replied to this eloquent demand for liberty by sending a +body of troops to disperse the persons assembled, and Ogé drove them +back. + + +XI. + +A larger body of troops being despatched, they contrived, after a +desperate resistance, to disperse the mulattoes. Ogé escaped, and found +refuge in the Spanish part of the island. A price was set upon his head. +M. de Blanchelande in his proclamations imputed it as a crime to him +that he had claimed the rights of nature in the name of the Assembly, +which had so loudly proclaimed the rights of the citizen. They applied +to the Spanish authorities to surrender this Spartacus, equally +dangerous to the safety of the whites in both countries. Ogé was +delivered up to the French by the Spaniards, and sent for trial to the +Cape. His trial was protracted for two months, in order to afford time +to cut asunder all the threads of the plot of independence, and +intimidate his accomplices. The whites, in great excitement, complained +of these delays, and demanded his head with loud vociferations. The +judges condemned him to death for a crime which in the mother-country +had constituted the glory of La Fayette and Mirabeau. + +He underwent torture in his dungeon. The rights of his race, centred and +persecuted in him, raised his soul above the torments of his +executioners. "Give up all hope," he exclaimed, with unflinching daring; +"give up all hope of extracting from me the name of even one of my +accomplices. My accomplices are everywhere where the heart of a man is +raised against the oppressors of men." From that moment he pronounced +but two words, which sounded like a remorse in the ears of his +persecutors--_Liberty! Equality_! He walked composedly to his death; +listened with indignation to the sentence which condemned him to the +lingering and infamous death of the vilest criminals. "What!" he +exclaimed; "do you confound me with criminals because I have desired to +restore to my fellow-creatures the rights and titles of men which I feel +in myself! Well! you have my blood, but an avenger will arise from it!" +He died on the wheel, and his mutilated carcase was left on the highway. +This heroic death reached even to the National Assembly, and gave rise +to various opinions. "He deserved it," said Malouet; "Ogé was a criminal +and an assassin." "If Ogé be guilty," replied Grégoire, "so are we all; +if he who claimed liberty for his brothers perished justly on the +scaffold, then all Frenchmen who resemble us should mount there also." + + +XII. + +Ogé's blood bubbled silently in the hearts of all the mulatto race. They +swore to avenge him. The blacks were an army all ready for the massacre; +the signal was given to them by the men of colour. In one night 60,000 +slaves, armed with torches and their working tools, burnt down all their +masters' houses in a circuit of six leagues round the Cape. The whites +were murdered; women, children, old men--nothing escaped the +long-repressed fury of the blacks. It was the annihilation of one race +by the other. The bleeding heads of the whites, carried on the tops of +sugar canes, were the standards which guided these hordes, not to +combat, but to carnage. The outrages of so many centuries, committed by +the whites on the blacks, were avenged in one night. A rivalry of +cruelty seemed to arise between the two colours. The negroes imitated +the tortures so long used upon them, and invented new ones. If certain +noble and faithful slaves placed themselves between their old masters +and death, they were sacrificed together. Gratitude and pity are virtues +which civil war never recognises. Colour was a sentence of death without +exception of persons; the war was between the races, and no longer +between men. The one must perish for the other to live! Since justice +could not make itself understood by them, there was nothing but death +left for them. Every gift of life to a white was a treason which would +cost a black man's life. The negroes had no longer any pity: they were +men no longer, they were no longer a people, but a destroying element +which spread over the land, annihilating every thing. + +In a few hours eight hundred habitations, sugar and coffee stores, +representing an immense capital, were destroyed. The mills, magazines, +utensils, and even the very plant which reminded them of their servitude +and their compulsory labour, were cast into the flames. The whole plain, +as far as eye could reach, was covered with nothing but the smoke and +the ashes of conflagration. The dead bodies of whites, piled in hideous +trophies of heads and limbs, of men, women, and infants assassinated, +alone marked the spot of the rich residences, where they were supreme on +the previous night. It was the revenge of slavery: all tyranny has such +fearful reverses. + +Some whites, warned in time of the insurrection by the generous +indiscretion of the blacks, or protected in their flight by the forests +and the darkness, had taken refuge at the Cape Town; others, concealed +with their wives and children in caves, were fed and attended to by +attached slaves, at the peril of their lives. The army of blacks +increased without the walls of the Cape Town, where they formed and +disciplined a fortified camp. Guns and cannons arrived by the aid of +invisible auxiliaries. Some accused the English, others the Spaniards; +others, the "friends of the blacks," with being accomplices of this +insurrection. The Spaniards, however, were at peace with France; the +revolt of the blacks menaced them equally with ourselves. The English +themselves possessed three times as many slaves as the French: the +principle of the insurrection, excited by success, and spreading with +them, would have ruined their establishments, and compromised the lives +of their colonists. These suspicions were absurd; there was no one +culpable but liberty itself, which is not to be repressed with impunity +in a portion of the human race. It had accomplices in the very heart of +the French themselves. + +The weakness of the resolutions of the Assembly on the reception of this +news proved this. M. Bertrand de Molleville, minister of marine, +ordered the immediate departure of 6000 men as reinforcement for the +isle of San Domingo. + +Brissot attacked these repressive measures in a discourse in which he +did not hesitate to cast the odium of the crime on the victims, and to +accuse the government of complicity with the aristocracy of the +colonists. + +"By what fatality does this news coincide with a moment when emigrations +are redoubled? when the rebels assembled on our frontiers warn us of an +approaching outbreak? when, in fact, the colonies threaten us, through +an illegal deputation, with withdrawing from the rule of the +mother-country? Has not this the appearance of a vast plan combined by +treason?" + +The repugnance of the friends of the blacks, numerous in the Assembly, +to take energetic measures in favour of the colonists, the distance from +the scene of action, which weakens pity, and then the interior movement +which attracted into its sphere minds and things, soon effaced these +impressions, and allowed the spirit of independence amongst the blacks +to form and expand at San Domingo, which showed itself in the distance +in the form of a poor old slave--Toussaint-Louverture. + + +XIII. + +The internal disorder multiplied at every point of the empire. Religious +liberty, which was desire of the Constituent Assembly, and the most +important conquest of the Revolution, could not be established without +this struggle in face of a displaced worship, and a schism which spread +far and wide amongst the people. The counter-revolutionary party was +allied every where with the clergy. They had the same enemies, and +conspired against the same cause. The nonjuring priests had assumed the +character of victims, and the interest of a portion of the people, +especially in the country, attached to them. Persecution is so odious to +the public feeling that its very appearance raises generous indignation +against it. The human mind has an inclination to believe that justice is +on the side of the proscribed. The priests were not as yet persecuted, +but from the moment that they were no longer paramount they believed +themselves humiliated. The ill-repressed irritation of the clergy has +been more injurious to the Revolution than all the conspiracies of the +emigrated aristocracy. Conscience is man's most sensitive point. A +superstition attacked, or a faith disturbed in the mind of a people, is +the fellest of conspiracies. It was by the hand of God, invisible in the +hand of the priesthood, that the aristocracy roused La Vendée. Frequent +and bloody symptoms already betrayed themselves in the west, and in +Normandy, that concealed focus of religious war. + +The most fearful of these symptoms burst out at Caen. The Abbé Fauchet +was constitutional bishop of Calvados. The celebrity of his name, the +elevated patriotism of his opinions, the _éclat_ of his revolutionary +renown, his eloquence, and his writings, disseminated widely in his +diocese, were the causes of greater excitement throughout Calvados than +elsewhere. + +Fauchet, whose conformity of opinions, honesty of feelings for +renovation, and even whose somewhat fanciful imagination, which were +subsequently destined to associate him in acts, and even on the +scaffold, with the Girondists, was born at Domes, in the ancient +province of Nivernais. He embraced the Catholic faith, entered into the +free community of the priests of Saint Roch, at Paris, and was for some +time preceptor to the children of the marquis de Choiseul, brother of +the famous duke de Choiseul, the last minister of the school of +Richelieu and Mazarin. A remarkable talent for speaking gave him a +distinguished reputation in the pulpit. He was appointed preacher to the +king, abbé of Montfort, and grand-vicaire of Bourges. He advanced +rapidly towards the first dignities of the church; but his mind had +imbibed the spirit of the times. He was not a destructive, but a +reformer of the church, in whose bosom he was born. His work, entitled +_De l'Eglise Nationale_, proves in him as much respect for the +principles of the Christian faith as boldness of desire to change its +discipline. This philosophic faith, which so closely resembles the +Christian Platonism which was paramount in Italy under the Medici, and +even in the palace of the popes themselves under Leo X., breathed +throughout his sacred discourses. The clergy was alarmed at these lights +of the age shining in the very sanctuary. The Abbé Fauchet was +interdicted, and, struck off the list of the king's preachers. + +But the Revolution already opened other tribunes to him. It burst forth, +and he rushed headlong into it, as imagination rushes towards hope. He +fought for it from the day of its birth, and with every kind of weapon. +He shook the people in the primary assemblies, and in the sections; he +urged with voice and gesture the insurgent masses under the cannon of +the Bastille. He was seen, sword in hand, to lead on the assailants. +Thrice did he advance, under fire of the cannon, at the head of the +deputation which summoned the governor to spare the lives of the +citizens, and to surrender.[15] He did not soil his revolutionary zeal +with any blood or crime. He inflamed the mind of the people for liberty; +but with him liberty was virtue; nature had endowed him with this +twofold character. There were in his features the high-priest and the +hero. His exterior pleased and attracted the populace. He was tall and +slender, with a wide chest, oval countenance, black eyes, and his dark +brown hair set off the paleness of his brow. His imposing but modest +appearance inspired at the first glance favour and respect. His voice +clear, impressive, and full-toned; his majestic carriage, his somewhat +mystical style, commanded the reflection, as well as the admiration, of +his auditors. Equally adapted to the popular tribune or the pulpit, +electoral assemblies or cathedral were alike too circumscribed in limits +for the crowds who flocked to hear him. It seemed as though he were a +revolutionary saint--Bernard preaching political charity, or the crusade +of reason. + +His manners were neither severe nor hypocritical. He; himself confessed +that he loved with legitimate and pure; affection Madame Carron, who +followed him every where, even to churches and clubs. "They calumniated +me with respect to her," he said, "and I attached myself the more +strongly to her, and yet I am pure. You have seen her, even more lovely +in mind than face, and who for the ten years I have known her seems to +me daily more worthy of being loved. She would lay down her life for me; +I would resign my life for her; but I would never sacrifice my duty to +her. In spite of the malignant libels of the aristocrats, I shall go +every day at breakfast-time to taste the charms of the purest friendship +in her society. She comes to hear me preach! Yes, no doubt of it; no one +knows better than herself the sincerity with which I believe in the +truths I profess. She comes to the assemblies of the Hôtel-de-Ville! +Yes, no doubt of it: it is because she is convinced that patriotism is a +second religion, that no hypocrisy is in my soul, and that my life is +really devoted to God, to my country, and friendship." + +"And you dare to assert that you are chaste," retorted the faithful and +indignant priests, by the Abbé de Valmeron. "How absurd! Chaste, at the +moment when you confess the most unpardonable inclinations; when you +attract a woman from the bed of her husband--her duties as a +mother--when you take about every where this infatuated female, attached +to your footsteps, in order to display her ostentatiously to the public +gaze! And who follow, sir! A troop of ruffians and abandoned women. +Worthy pastor of this foul populace, which celebrates your pastoral +visit by the only rejoicings that can give you pleasure--your progress +is marked by every excess of rapine and debauchery." These bitter +reproaches resounded in the provinces, and caused great excitement. The +conforming and nonconforming priests were disputing the altars. A letter +from the minister of the interior came to authorise the nonjuring +priests to celebrate the holy sacrifice in the churches where they had +previously done duty. Obedient to the law, the constitutional priests +opened to them their chapels, supplied them with the ornaments necessary +for divine worship; but the multitude, faithful to their ancient +pastors, threatened and insulted the new clergy. Bloody struggles took +place between the two creeds on the very threshold of God's house. On +Friday, November the 4th, the former _curé_ of the parish of Saint Jean, +at Caen, came to perform the mass. The church was full of Catholics. +This meeting offended the constitutionalists and excited the other +party. The _Te Deum_, as a thanksgiving, was demanded and sung by the +adherents of the ancient _curé_, who, encouraged by this success, +announced to the faithful that he should come again the next day at the +same hour to celebrate the sacrament. "Patience!" he added; "let us be +prudent, and all will be well." + +The municipality, informed of these circumstances, entreated the _curé_ +to abstain from celebrating the mass the next day, as he had announced; +and he complied with their wishes. The multitude, not informed of this, +filled the church, and clamoured for the priest and the promised _Te +Deum_. The gentry of the neighbourhood, the aristocracy of Caen, the +clients and numerous domestics of the leading families in the +neighbourhood, had arms under their clothes. They insulted the +grenadiers; an officer of the national guard reprimanded them. "You come +to seek what you shall get," replied the aristocrats: "we are the +stronger, and will drive you from the church." At these words some young +men rushed on the national guards to disarm them: a struggle ensued, +bayonets glittered, pistol shots resounded in the cathedral, and they +made a charge, sword in hand. Companies of chasseurs and grenadiers +entered the church, cleared it, and followed the crowd, step by step, +who fired again upon them when in the street. Some killed and others +wounded, were the sad results of the day. Tranquillity seemed restored. +Eighty-two persons were arrested, and on one of them was found a +pretended plan of counter-revolution, the signal for which was to be +given on the following Monday. These documents were forwarded to Paris. +The nonjuring priests were suspended from the celebration of the holy +mysteries in the churches of Caen until the decision of the National +Assembly. The Assembly heard with indignation the recital of these +troubles, occasioned by the enemies of the constitution, and the +adherents of fanaticism and the aristocracy. "The only part we have to +take," said Cambon, "is to convoke the high national court, and send the +accused before it." They deferred pronouncing on this proposition until +the moment when they should be in possession of all the papers relative +to the troubles in Caen. + +Gensonné detailed the particulars of similar disturbances in La Vendée: +the mountains of the south, La Lozère, l'Herault, l'Ardèche, which were +but ill repressed by the recent dispersion of the camp of Jalès, the +first act of the counter-revolutionary army, were now greatly agitated +by the two-fold impulse of their priests and gentry. The plains, +furnished with streams, roads, towns, and easily kept down by the +central force, submitted without resistance to the _contre-coups_ of +Paris. The mountains preserve their customs longer, and resist the +influence of new ideas as to a conquest by armed strangers. It seems as +though the appearance of these natural ramparts gave their inhabitants +confidence in their strength, and a solid conviction of the +unchangeableness of things, which prevents them from being so easily +carried away by the rapid currents of alteration. + +The mountaineers of these countries felt for their nobles that voluntary +and traditional devotion which the Arabs have for their sheiks, and the +Scots for the chieftains of their clans. This respect and this +attachment form part of the national honour in these rural districts. +Religion, more fervent in the south, was in the eyes of these people a +sacred liberty, on which revolution made attempts in the name of +political liberty. They preferred the liberty of conscience to the +liberty as citizens. Under all these titles the new institutions were +odious: faithful priests nourished this hatred, and sanctified it in the +hearts of the peasantry, whilst the nobility kept up a royalism, which +pity for the king's misfortunes and the royal family made more full of +sympathy at the daily recital of fresh outrages. + +Mende, a small village hidden at the bottom of deep valleys, half way +between the plains of the south and those of the Lyonnais, was the +centre of counter-revolutionary spirit. The _bourgeoisie_ and the +nobility, mingled together from the smallness of their fortunes, the +familiarity of their manners, and the frequent unions of their families, +did not entertain towards each other that intestine envy, hatred, and +malice, which was favourable to the Revolution. There was neither pride +in the one nor jealousy in the other: it was as it is in Spain, one +single people, where nobility is only, if we may say so, but a right of +first birth of the same blood. These people had, it is true, laid down +their arms after the insurrection of the preceding year in the camp of +Jalès: but hearts were far from being disarmed. These provinces watched +with an attentive eye for the favourable moment in which they might rise +_en masse_ against Paris. The insults to the dignity of the king, and +the violence done to religion by the Legislative Assembly, excited +their minds even to fanaticism. They burst out again, as though +involuntarily, on the occasion of a movement of troops across their +valleys. The tricoloured cockade, emblem of infidelity to God and the +king, had entirely disappeared for several months in the town of Mende, +and they put up the white cockade, as a _souvenir_ and a hope of that +order of things to which they were secretly devoted. + +The directory of the department, consisting of men strangers to the +country, resolved on having the emblem of the constitution respected, +and applied for some troops of the line. This the municipality opposed, +in a resolution addressed to the directory, and made an insurrectional +appeal to the neighbouring municipalities, and a kind of federation with +them to resist together the sending of any troops into their districts. +However, the troops sent from Lyons at the request of the directory +approached; on their appearance, the municipality dissolved the ancient +national guard, composed of a few friends of liberty, and formed a fresh +national guard, of which the officers were chosen by itself from amongst +the gentry and most devoted royalists of the neighbourhood. Armed with +this force, the municipality compelled the directory of the department +to supply them with arms and ammunition. + +Such were the movements of the town of Mende, when the troops entered +the place. The national guard, under arms, replied to the cry of _Vive +la nation_, uttered by the troops, by the cry of _Vive le roi_. Then +they followed the soldiers to the principal square in the city, and +there took, in presence of the defenders of the constitution, an oath to +obey the king only, and to recognise no one but the king. After this +audacious display, the national guard, in parties, paraded the town, +insulting, braving the soldiers: swords were drawn, and blood flowed. +The troops pursued made a stand, and took to their weapons. The +municipality, having the directory in check, and holding it as hostage, +compelled it to send the troops orders to withdraw to their quarters. +The commandant of the forces obeyed. This victory emboldened the +national guard; and during the night it compelled the directory to send +the troops an order to leave the city and evacuate the department. The +national guard, drawn up in a line of battle in the square of Mende, +saw hourly its ranks increase by detachments of the neighbouring +municipalities, who came down from the mountains, armed with fowling +pieces, scythes, and ploughshares. The troops would have been massacred +if they had not retired under cover of the night. They retreated from +the city amidst victorious cries from the royalists. The following day +was a series of fêtes, in which the royalists of the town and those of +the city celebrated their common triumph, and fraternised together. They +insulted all the emblems of the Revolution; hooted the constitution; +plundered the hall of the Jacobins; burnt down the houses of the +principal members of this hateful club--put some in prison. But their +vengeance confined itself to outrage. The people, controlled by the +gentlemen and the _curés_, spared the blood of their enemies. + + +XIV. + +Whilst humiliated liberty was threatened by fanaticism in the south, it, +in its turn, carried on the work of assassination in the north. Brest +was the very focus of Jacobinism--the close proximity of La Vendeé gave +this city reason to apprehend the counter-revolution that constantly +threatened them--the presence of the fleet, commanded by officers +suspected of favouring the aristocratic part--a population greatly +composed of strangers and sailors, accessible to corruption, and capable +of being readily excited to crime--rendered this city more turbulent and +more agitated than any other port in the kingdom. The clubs constantly +strove to work on the sailors to mutiny against their officers, whilst +the revolutionists mistrusted the navy, as that was far more independent +of the people than the army, for the court could at a moment change the +station of the fleet, and turn their cannon against the constitution, +and the feeling of discipline, of aristocracy, and of the colonies, were +all contrary to the new school of ideas; and for this reason the +Jacobins had for some time striven to disorganise the fleet. The +appointment of M. de Lajaille to the command of one of the vessels +destined to carry assistance to San Domingo, caused an outbreak of the +suspicions infused into the minds of the inhabitants of Brest, and of +the officers of the navy. M. de Lajaille was designated by the clubs as +a traitor to the nation, who was about to introduce the +counter-revolutionary feeling in the colonies. Attacked at the moment he +was about to embark, by a crowd of nearly three thousand persons, he was +covered with wounds, stretched senseless on the ground, and would have +been killed, but for the heroic devotion of a workman, who shielded him +with his own body, and defended him until the arrival of the civic +guard. M. de Lajaille was, however, to appease popular feeling, +imprisoned: in vain did the king order the municipal authorities of +Brest to set this innocent and valuable officer free; in vain did the +minister of justice demand chastisement for this attempted murder, +committed in broad daylight, in the presence of the whole town; in vain +was a sabre and a gold medal voted to the courageous LANVERGENT, who had +saved de Lajaille; the dread of a more formidable outbreak assured the +guilty of impunity, and detained the innocent in prison. On the eve of +war the naval officers, threatened with mutiny on board their vessels, +and assassination on shore, had as much to apprehend from their crews as +from the enemy. + + +XV. + +The same discords were fomented in all the garrisons between the +soldiers and the officers, and the insubordination of the troops was, in +the eyes of the clubs, the chief virtue of the army. The people every +where sided with the soldiers, and the officers were constantly +disturbed by conspiracies and revolts in the regiments. The fortified +towns were the theatres of military outbreaks, which invariably +terminated in the impunity of the soldier, and the imprisonment or the +forced emigration of the officers. The Assembly, the supreme and partial +judge, always decided in favour of insubordination: unable to restrain +the people, it flattered their excesses. Perpignan was a new proof of +this. + +In the night of the 6th of December, the officers of the regiment of +Cambrésis, in garrison in this town, went in a body to M. de Chollet, +the general who commanded the division, and urged him to retire into the +citadel, as they had learnt that a conspiracy was formed in the +regiment, which threatened alike his and their lives. M. de Chollet +complied with their earnest request, whilst they went to the barracks, +and ordered the men to follow them to the citadel. The soldiers replied +that they would only obey M. Desbordes, their lieutenant-colonel, in +whose patriotism they had the greatest confidence. M. Desbordes came, +and read to the soldiers the order of the general; but the inflexion of +his voice, the expression of his face, his glance, alike seemed to +protest against the order which his duty as a soldier compelled him to +communicate to them. The troops understood this mute appeal, and +declared that they would not quit their quarters, because the municipal +authorities had forbidden them: the national guard joined them and +patrolled the streets: the officers shut themselves up in the citadel, +and shots were fired from the ramparts. Lieutenant-Colonel Desbordes, +the national guard, the _gendarmerie_, and the regiments, stormed the +citadel. The officers of the regiment of Cambrésis were imprisoned by +their soldiers; one, however, escaped, and committed suicide on the +frontiers of Spain. The unfortunate general, Chollet, victim of the +violence of the officers and soldiers, was impeached with fifty +officers, or inhabitants of Perpignan. They were ordered before the high +national court of Orleans; and thus were fifty victims predestined to +perish in the massacre at Versailles. + + +XVI. + +Blood flowed every where. The clubs seduced the regiments; patriotic +motions, denunciations against the generals, perfidious insinuations +against the fidelity of the officers, were constantly instilled into the +minds of the army by the people. The officer was a prey to terror, the +soldier to mistrust. The premeditated plan of the Jacobins and +Girondists was to destroy in concert this body that was yet attached to +the king, deprive the nobility of their command, substitute plebeians +for nobles as officers, and thus give the army to the nation. In the +meantime they surrendered it to anarchy and sedition; but these two +parties finding that the disorganisation was not sufficiently rapid, +wished to sum up in one act the systematic corruption of the army, the +ruin of all military discipline, and the legal triumph of the +insurrection. + +We have already mentioned how prominent a part the Swiss regiment of +Châteauvieux had taken in the famous insurrection of Nancy during the +latter period of the existence of the Constituent Assembly. An army +under M. de Bouillé had been necessary to repress the armed revolt of +several regiments that threatened all France with the rule of the +tyrannical soldiery. M. de Bouillé, at the head of a body of troops from +Metz, and the battalions of the national guard, had surrounded Nancy, +and after a desperate contest at the gates, and in the streets of the +town, forced the rebels to lay down their arms. These vigorous measures +for the restoration of order were applauded by all parties, and +reflected equal glory on M. de Bouillé and disgrace on the soldiers. +Switzerland, by virtue of her treaties with France, preserved her right +of federal justice over the regiments of her nation, and this +essentially military country had tried by court-martial the regiment of +Châteauvieux. Twenty-four of the ringleaders had been condemned and +executed in expiation of the blood they had shed, and the fidelity they +had violated, the remainder had been decimated, and forty-one soldiers +now were undergoing their sentence on board the galleys at Brest. The +amnesty proclaimed by the king for the crimes committed during the civil +troubles, when he accepted the constitution, could not be applied to +these foreign soldiers, for the right to pardon belongs alone to those +who have the right to punish. + +Sentenced by the judgment of the Helvetian jurisdiction, neither the +king nor the Assembly could invalidate the judgment, or annul its +effects. The king had, at the entreaty of the Constituent Assembly, in +vain attempted to obtain the pardon of these soldiers from the Swiss +confederation. + +These fruitless negotiations served the Jacobins and the National +Assembly as food for accusation against M. de Montmorin. In vain did he +justify himself by alleging the impossibility of obtaining such an +amnesty from Switzerland, at a moment when this country, who had +suffered from civil commotions, sought to restore order by the laws of +Draco. "We shall be then the compulsory gaolers of this ferocious +people," cried Guadet and Collot d'Herbois. "France must then degrade +herself so far as to punish in her very ports those heroes who have +gained the people a triumph over the aristocratic officers, and shed +their blood for the nation instead of pouring it out in the cause of +despotism." + +Pastoret, an influential member of the moderate party, and who was said +to concert all his measures with the king, supported Guadet's motion, in +order to give the king popularity by an act agreeable to the nation; and +the freedom of the soldiers of Châteauvieux was voted by the Assembly. +The king, having delayed his sanction for some time, in order not to +wound the cantons by this violent usurpation of their rights over their +own countrymen, afforded the Jacobins fresh ground for imprecation and +invective against the court and the ministers. "The moment is come when +one man must perish for the safety of all," cried Manuel, "and this man +must be a minister; they all appear to me so guilty, that I firmly +believe the Assembly would be free from crime did it cause them to draw +lots for who should perish on the scaffold," "All, all," vociferated the +tribunes. But at this very moment Collot d'Herbois mounted the tribune, +and announced, amidst loud applause, that the royal assent to the decree +for their liberation had been given the previous evening, and that in a +few days he should present to his brother deputies these victims of +discipline. + +The soldiers of Châteauvieux were in reality advancing to Paris, having +been liberated from the galleys at Brest, and their march was one +continued triumph, but Paris prepared for them a still more brilliant +one through the exertions of the Jacobins. In vain did the Feuillants +and the Constitutionalists energetically protest, through the mouth of +André Chénier, the Tyrtæus of moderation and good sense, of Dupont de +Nemours, and the poet Roucher, against the insolent oration of the +assassins of the generous Désilles. Collot d'Herbois, Robespierre, the +Jacobins, the Cordeliers, and the very commune of Paris, clung to the +idea of this triumph, which, according to them, would cover with +opprobium the court and La Fayette. The feeble interposition of Pétion, +who appeared as though he wished to moderate the scandal, served only to +encourage it, for he of all men was most fitted to plunge the people +into the last degree of excess. His affected virtue served only to cloak +violence, and to cover with an hypocritical appearance of legality the +outbreaks he dared not punish; and had a representative of anarchy been +sought to be placed at the head of the commune of Paris, it could have +found no fitter type than Pétion. His paternal reprimands to the people +were but promises of impunity. The public force always arrived too late +to punish; excuse was always to be found for sedition, amnesty for +crime. The people felt that their magistrate was their accomplice and +their slave, and yet whilst they despised they loved him. + + +XVII. + +"This _fête_ that is preparing for these soldiers," wrote Chénier, "is +attributed to enthusiasm. For my part, I confess I do not perceive this +enthusiasm. I see a few men who create a degree of agitation, but the +rest are alarmed or indifferent. We are told that the national honour is +interested in this reparation,--I can scarcely comprehend this; for, +either the national guards of Metz, who put down the revolt of Nancy, +are enemies of the public weal, or the soldiers of Châteauvieux are +assassins: there is no medium. How, then, is the honour of Paris +interested in _fêting_ the murderers of our brothers? Other profound +politicians say, this _fête_ will humiliate those who have sought to +fetter the nation. What! in order to humiliate, according to their +judgment, a bad government, it is necessary to invent extravagances +capable of destroying every species of government--recompense rebellion +against the laws--crown foreign satellites for having shot French +citizens in an _émeute_. It is said, that in every place where this +procession passes, the statues will be veiled:--Ah! they will do well to +veil the whole city, if this hideous orgy takes place; but it is not +alone the statues of despots that should be veiled, but the face of +every good citizen. It will be the duty of every youth in the kingdom, +of every national guard in the kingdom to assume mourning on the day +when the murder of their brothers confers a title of glory on foreign +and seditious soldiers; it is the eyes of the army that should be +veiled, that they may not behold the reward of insubordination and +revolt; it is the National Assembly--the king--the administrators--the +country--that should veil their faces, in order that they may not +become complaisant or silent witnesses of the outrages offered to the +authorities and the country. The book of the law must be covered, when +those who have torn and stained its pages by musket-balls and sabre-cuts +receive the civic honours. Citizens of Paris, honest yet weak men, there +is not one of you who, when he interrogates his own heart, does not feel +how much the country--how much he its child--are insulted by these +outrages offered to the laws,--to those who execute them, and those who +are for them. Do you not blush that a handful of turbulent men, who +appear numerous because they are united and make a noise, should +constrain you to do their pleasure, by telling you it is your own, and +by amusing your puerile curiosity by unworthy spectacles? In a city that +respected itself, such a _fête_ would find before it silence and +solitude, the streets and public places abandoned, the houses shut up, +the windows deserted, and the flight and scorn of the passers-by would +tell history what share honest and well-disposed men took in this +scandalous and bacchanalian procession." + + +XVIII. + +Collot d'Herbois insulted André Chénier and Roucher in his reply. +Roucher replied by a letter full of sarcasm, in which he reminded Collot +d'Herbois of his falls on the stage and his misadventures as an actor. +"This personage of comic romance," said he, "who has leapt from the +trestles of Punch to the tribune of the Jacobins, rushes at me, as +though to strike me with the oar the Swiss have brought him from the +galleys." + +Placards for or against the _fête_ covered the walls of the Palais +Royal, and were alternately torn down by groups of young men or +Jacobins. + +Dupont de Nemours, the friend and master of Mirabeau, laid aside his +philosophical calm, to address a letter on the same subject to Pétion, +in which his conscience, as an honest man, braved the popularity of the +tribune. "When the danger is imminent, it is the duty of all honest men +to warn the magistrates of it. More particularly, when the magistrates +themselves create it. You told a falsehood when you asserted that these +soldiers had aided the Revolution on the 14th of July, and that they had +refused to combat against the people of Paris. It is untrue that the +Swiss refused to combat against the people of Paris, and it is true that +they assassinated the national guards of Nancy. You have the audacity to +term those men patriots who dare command the legislative body to send a +deputation to the _fête_ prepared for these rebels; these are the men +whom you adopt as your friends; it is with them that you dine at _la +Rapée_, so that the general of the national guard is obliged to gallop +about for two hours to receive your orders before he can find you, and +you seek in vain to conceal your embarrassment by high-flown phrases. +You seek in vain to conceal this banquet given to assassins beneath the +pretext of a banquet in honour of liberty. But these subterfuges are no +longer available; the moment is urgent, and you will no longer deceive +the sections, the army, or the eighty-three departments. Those who rule +you, as they would a child, have agreed to surrender Paris to ten +thousand pikes, to whom the bar of the Assembly will be thrown open the +day the national guard is disarmed; the men destined to bear them arrive +every day, and Paris receives an accession of twelve or fifteen hundred +bandits every twenty-four hours, and beg, until the day of pillage +arrives, which they await as ravens await their prey.--I have not told +all;--generals are prepared for this hideous army. The friends of +Jourdan, impatient to behold the man whom the amnesty had not delivered +sufficiently soon, have broken open his prison at Avignon. Already, he +has been received in triumph in several cities of the south, like the +Swiss of the Châteauvieux, and will arrive at Paris to-morrow; Sunday he +will be present at the _fête_ with his companions--with the two +Mainvielle--with Pegtavin;--with all those cold-blooded scoundrels who +have killed in one night sixty-eight defenceless persons, and violated +females before they murdered them. Catiline!--Cethegus!--march forward, +the soldiers of Sylla are in the city, and the consul himself undertakes +to disarm the Romans. The measure is full,--it overflows!" + +Pétion strove miserably to justify himself in a letter in which his +weakness and connivance revealed themselves beneath the multiplicity of +excuses. At the same time Robespierre, mounting the tribune of the +Jacobins, exclaimed, "You do not trace to their source the obstacles +that oppose the expansion of the sentiments of the people. Against whom +think you that you have to strive? against the aristocracy?--No. Against +the court?--No. Against a general who has long entertained great designs +against the people. It is not the national guard that views these +preparations with alarm; it is the genius of La Fayette that conspires +in the staff; it is the genius of La Fayette that conspires in the +directory of the department; it is the genius of La Fayette that +perverts the minds of so many good citizens in the capital who would but +for him be with us. + +"La Fayette is the most dangerous of the enemies of liberty, because he +wears the mask of patriotism; it is he who, after having wrought all the +evil in his power in the Constituent Assembly, has affected to withdraw +to his estates, and then comes to strive for this post of mayor of +Paris, not to obtain it, but to refuse it, in order to affect +disinterestedness; it is he who has been appointed to the command of the +French armies, in order to turn them against the Revolution. The +national guards of Metz were as innocent as those of Paris, they can be +nothing but patriots; it is La Fayette who, through the medium of +Bouillé his relation and accomplice, has deceived them. How can we +inscribe on the banners of this fête, _Bouillé is alone guilty_? Who +sought to stifle the revolt at Nancy, and cover it with an impenetrable +veil? Who demands crowns for the assassins of the soldiers of +Châteauvieux? La Fayette. Who prevented me from speaking? La Fayette. +Who are those who now dart such threatening glances at me? La Fayette +and his accomplices." (Loud applause.) + + +XIX. + +The preparations for this ceremony gave rise to a still more exciting +drama at the National Assembly. At the opening of the sitting, a member +demanded that the forty soldiers of Châteauvieux should be admitted to +pay their respects to the legislative body. M. de Jaucourt opposed it: +"If these soldiers," said he, "are only admitted to express their +gratitude, I consent to their being admitted to the bar; but I demand +that afterwards they be not allowed to remain during the debate." The +speaker was interrupted by loud murmurs, and cries of _à bas! à bas!_ +from the tribunes. "An amnesty is neither a triumph nor a civic crown," +continued he; "you cannot dishonour the names of the brave Désilles, or +of those generous citizens who perished defending the laws against them; +you cannot lacerate by this triumph the hearts of those among you who +took part in the expedition of Nancy. Allow a soldier, who was ordered +on this expedition with his regiment, to point out to you the effects +this decision would have on the army. (The murmurs redouble.) The army +will see in your conduct only an encouragement to insurrection; and +these honours will lead the soldiers to believe that you look on these +men, whom an amnesty has freed, not as men whose punishment was too +severe, but as innocent victims." The tumult here became so great that +M. de Jaucourt was forced to descend. But one of the members, who, it is +evident to all, was almost overpowered by emotion, took his place. It +was M. de Gouvion, a young officer, whose name was already gloriously +inscribed in the early pages of the annals of our wars. He was clothed +in deep black, and every feature of his face wore an expression of +intense grief, which inspired the Assembly with involuntary interest, +and the tumult was instantly changed into attention. His voice was +tremulous and scarcely audible at first; it was evident that indignation +as much as sorrow choked his utterance. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "I had a brother, a good patriot, who, through the +estimation in which he was held by his fellow citizens, had been +successively elected commandant of the national guard, and member for +the department. Ever ready to sacrifice himself for the revolution and +the law, it was in the name of the revolution and the law that he was +called upon to march to Nancy at the head of the brave national guards, +and there he fell pierced by five bayonet-wounds, and by the hand of +those who, ... I demand, if I am condemned to behold here the assassins +of my brother." "Well, then, leave the chamber," cried a stern voice. +The tribunes applauded this speech, more cruel and poignant than the +thrust of a dagger. Indignation enabled M. de Gouvion to overcome his +contempt. "Who is the dastard who himself in order to insult the grief +of a brother?" cried he, glancing around to discover the speaker. "I +will tell my name--'tis I," replied the deputy Choudieu, rising from his +seat. Loud applause from the tribunes followed this insult of +Choudieu's; it would seem as though this crowd had no longer any +feeling, and that passion triumphed over nature. But M. de Gouvion was +sustained by a sentiment stronger than popular fury--that of generous +despair; he continued: "As a man, I applauded the clemency of the +National Assembly when it burst the fetters of these unhappy soldiers +who were misled." He was again interrupted, but continued: "the decrees +of the Constituent Assembly, the orders of the king, the voice of their +officers, the cries of their country, all were unavailing; without +provocation on the part of the national guards of the two departments, +they fired on Frenchmen, and my brother fell a victim to his obedience +to the laws. No, I cannot remain silent, so long as the memory of the +national guards is disgraced by the honours decreed to these men who +murdered them." + +Couthon, a young Jacobin, seated not far from Robespierre, from whose +eyes he seemed to gain his secret inspirations, rose and replied to +Gouvion, without insulting him. "Who is the slave of prejudices that +would venture to dishonour men whom the law has absolved; who would not +repress his personal grief in the interest and the triumph of liberty?" +But Gouvion's voice touched that chord of justice and natural emotion +that always vibrates beneath the insensibility of opinion. Twice did the +Assembly, summoned by the president to vote for or against their +admission to the debate, rise in an even number for and against this +motion. And the secretaries, the judges of these decisions, hesitated to +pronounce on which side the majority was; they at length, after two +attempts, declared that the majority was in favour of the admission of +the Swiss; but the minority protested, and the _appel nominal_ was +demanded. This pronounced a feeble majority that the Swiss should be +admitted; and they instantly entered, amidst the applause of the +tribunes, whilst the unfortunate Gouvion left the chamber by the +opposite door, his forehead scarlet with indignation, and vowing never +to set foot in that Assembly, where he was forced to behold and welcome +the murderers of his brother. He instantly applied to the minister of +war to join the army of the north, and fell there. + + +XX. + +The soldiers were introduced, and Collot d'Herbois presented them to the +admiring tribunes. The national guard of Versailles, who had followed +them to the Assembly, defiled in the hall amidst the sound of drums, and +cries of "_Vive la Nation!_" Groups of citizens and females of Paris, +with tricoloured flags and pikes brandished over their heads, followed +them; then the members of the popular societies of Paris presented to +the president flags of honour given to the Swiss by the departments +which these conquerors had just traversed. The men of the 14th of July, +with Gouchon, the agitator of the faubourg St. Antoine, as their +spokesman, announced that this faubourg had fabricated 10,000 pikes to +defend their liberties and their country. This legitimate ovation, +offered by the Girondists and Jacobins to undisciplined soldiers, +authorised the people of Paris to decree to them the triumph of such an +infamous proceeding (_le triomphe du scandale_). + +It was no longer the people of liberty, but the people of anarchy; the +day of the 15th of April combined all its emblems. Revolt armed against +the laws, for instance, mutinous soldiers as conquerors; a colossal +galley, an instrument of punishment and shame, crowned with flowers as +an emblem; abandoned women and girls, collected from the lowest haunts +of infamy, carrying and kissing the broken fetters of these +galley-slaves; forty trophies, bearing the forty names of these Swiss; +civic crowns on the names of these murderers of citizens; busts of +Voltaire, Rousseau, Franklin, Sidney, the greatest philosophers and most +virtuous patriots, mingled with the ignoble busts of these malefactors, +and sullied by the contact; these soldiers themselves, astonished if not +ashamed of their glory, advancing in the midst of a group of rebellious +French-guard, in all the glorification of the forsaking of flags and +want of discipline; the march closed by a car imitating in its form the +prow of a galley, in this car the statue of Liberty armed in +anticipation with the bludgeon of September, and wearing the _bonnet +rouge_, an emblem borrowed from Phrygia by some, from the galleys by +others; the book of the constitution carried processionally in this +fête, as if to be present at the homage decreed to those who were armed +against the laws; bands of male and female citizens, the pikes of the +faubourg, the absence of the civic bayonets, fierce threats, theatrical +music, demagogic hymns, derisive halts at the Bastille, the +Hôtel-de-Ville, the Champ-de-Mars; at the altar of the country the vast +and tumultuous rounds danced several times by chains of men and women +round the triumphal galley, amidst the foul chorus of the air of the +_Carmagnole_; embraces, more obscene than patriotic, between these women +and the soldiers, who threw themselves into each others' arms; and in +order to put the cope-stone on this debasement of the laws, Pétion the +Maire of Paris, the magistrates of the people assisting personally at +this fête, and sanctioning this insolent triumph over the laws by their +weakness or their complicity. Such was this fête: an humiliating copy of +the 14th of July, an infamous parody of an insurrection, which parodied +a revolution! + +France blushed; good citizens were alarmed; the national guard began to +be afraid of pikes; the city to fear the faubourgs, and the army herein +received the signal of the most entire disorganisation. + +The indignation of the constitutional party burst forth in ironical +strophes in a hymn of André Chénier, in which that young poet avenged +the laws, and marked himself out for the scaffold. + + "Salut divin triomphe! Entre dans nos murailles! + Rends nous ces soldats, illustrés + Par le sang de Désilles et par les funérailles + De nos citoyens massacrés!"[16] + + + + +BOOK XI. + + +I. + +The echo of these triumphs of insubordination and murder was felt every +where in the mutinous conduct of the troops, the disobedience of the +national guard, and the risings of the populace; whilst at Paris they +_fêted_ the Swiss of Châteauvieux, the mob of Marseilles demanded with +much violence that the Swiss regiment of _Ernst_ should be expelled from +the garrison at Aix, under pretext that they favoured the aristocracy, +and that the security of Provence was thereby menaced. On the refusal of +this regiment to quit the city, the Marseillaise marched upon Aix as the +Parisians had marched upon Versailles in the days of October. They by +violence compelled the national guard to accompany them, who had been +destined to repress them; they surrounded the regiment of Ernst with +cannon, made them lay down their arms, and shamefully drove them before +sedition. The national guard, a force essentially revolutionary, because +it participates, like the people, in the opinions, feelings, and +passions, which, as a civic guard, it ought to repress, followed in +every direction, from weakness or example, the fickle impressions of the +mob. How could men, just leaving clubs, where they had been listening +to, applauding, and frequently exciting sedition in patriotic +discourses,--how could they, changing their feelings and part at the +door of popular societies, take arms against the seditious? Thus they +remained spectators, when they were not accomplices, of insurrections. +The scarcity of colonial produce, the dearness of grain, the rigour of a +hard winter, all contributed to disturb the people: the agitators turned +all these misfortunes of the times into accusations and grounds of +hatred against royalty. + + +II. + +The government, powerless and disarmed, was rendered responsible for the +severities of nature. Secret emissaries, armed bands, went amongst the +towns and cities where markets were held, and there disseminated the +most alarming reports, provoking the people to tax grain and flour, +stigmatising the corn-dealers as monopolists--the perfidious charge of +monopoly being a sure sentence of death. The fear of being accused of +starving the people checked every speculation of business, and tended +much more than actual want to the dearth of the markets. Nothing is so +scarce as a commodity which is concealed. The corn-stores were crimes in +the eyes of consumers of bread. The Maire of Etampes, Simoneau, an +honest man, and an intrepid magistrate, was one victim sacrificed to the +people's suspicions. Etampes was one of the great markets that supplied +Paris. It was therefore necessary for it to preserve the liberty of +commerce and the supply of flour. A mob, composed of men and women of +the adjacent villages, assembling at the sound of the tocsin, marched +upon the city one market-day, preceded by drums, armed with guns and +pitchforks, in order to carry off the grain by force from the +proprietors, divide it amongst themselves, and to exterminate, as they +declared, the monopolists, amongst whom sinister voices mingled in low +tones the name of Simoneau. The national guard disappeared, a detachment +of one hundred men of the eighteenth regiment of cavalry were at +Etampes, and the sole force at the Maire's disposal. + +The officer answered for these soldiers _as for himself_. After long +conversations with the seditious, to bring them back to reason and the +law, Simoneau returned to the _maison commune_, ordered the red flag to +be unfurled, proclaimed martial law, and then advanced upon the rebels, +surrounded by the municipal body, and in the centre of the armed force; +on reaching the square of the town, the crowd surrounded and cut off the +detachment. The troopers left the Maire exposed--not one drew his sword +in his defence. In vain did he summon them, in the name of the law, and +by the weapons they wore, to render aid to the magistrate against +assassins--in vain did he seize the bridle of one of the horsemen near +him, crying, "_Help, my friends_." + +Struck by blows of pitchforks and guns, at the moment when he appealed +to the soldiery, he fell, shot, grasping in his hands the bridle of the +cowardly trooper whom he was entreating: the fellow, in order to +disengage himself, struck with the back of his sabre the arm of the +Maire already dead, and left his body to the insults of the people. The +miscreants, remaining in possession of the carcase, brutally mangled the +palpitating limbs, and deliberated together as to cutting off the head. +The leaders made their followers defile passing over the body of the +Maire, and trampling in his blood. Then they went away beating their +drums, and went to get drunk in the suburbs; and the taking away the +grain, the apparent motive of the riot, was neglected in the moment of +triumph. There was no pillage--either the blood made the people forget +their hunger, or their hunger was but the pretext for assassination. + + +III. + +At the moment when all was thus crumbling to pieces round the throne, a +man, celebrated by the vast part attributed to him in the common ruin, +sought to reconcile himself with the king: this was Louis-Philippe +Joseph, Duc d'Orléans, first prince of the blood. I pause for this man, +before whom history has hitherto paused, without being able to discover +the real place which should be assigned to him amongst the passing +events. An enigma to himself, he remains an enigma for posterity. Was +the real solution of this enigma ambition or patriotism, weakness or +conspiracy? Let facts reply. + +Public opinion has its prejudices. Struck by the immensity of the work +it accomplishes; giddy, as it were, by the rapidity of the movement +which urges things on, it cannot believe that a series of natural +causes, combined by Providence with the rise of certain ideas in the +human mind, and aided by the coincidence of the times, can of itself +produce such vast commotions. It seeks, then, the supernatural--the +wonderful--fatality. It takes pleasure in imagining latent causes acting +with mystery, and compelling with hidden hand men and events. It takes, +in a word, every revolution for a conspiracy; and if it meets at +starting, in the middle, or at the end of such crises some leading man, +to whose interest these events may tend, it supposes itself the author, +attributes to itself all the action of these revolutions, and all the +scope of idea that accomplishes them; and, fortunate or unfortunate, +innocent or guilty, claims for itself all the glory or demerit of the +result. It renders its name divine, or its memory accursed. Such, for +fifty years, was the destiny of the Duc d'Orleans. + + +IV. + +It is a historic tradition amongst people from the highest antiquity, +that the throne wears out royal races, and that whilst the reigning +branches grow enervated by the possession of empire, younger branches +become stronger and greater, by nourishing the ambition of becoming more +powerful, and inspiring more closely to the people an air less corrupt +than that which pervades courts. Thus, whilst primogeniture gives power +to the elder, the people confer popularity on the juniors. + +This singularity of a handsomer and more popular family than the +reigning family, increasing near the throne, and having a dangerous +rivalry with the throne in the mind of the nation, had always existed in +the house of Orleans, since the time of Louis XIV. If this equivocal +situation gave to the princes of this family some virtues, it gave them +also corresponding vices. More intelligent and more ambitious than the +king's sons, they were also more restless. The very restraint in which +the policy of the reigning house kept them, condemned their idea or +their courage to inaction, and forced them to misapply, in +irregularities or indolence, the faculties with which nature had endowed +them, and the immense fortune for which they had no other occupation: +too great for citizens, too dangerous at the head of armies or in +affairs, they had no place either amongst the people or at court; and +thus they assumed it in opinion. + +The Regent, a very superior man, long kept down by the inferiority of +his part, had been the most brilliant example of all the virtues and all +the vices of the blood of Orleans. Since the Regent, the princes +endowed, like himself, with natural wit and courage, had felt the glory +of great actions in their early youth. They had then again fallen back +into obscurity, pleasures or devotion, by the jealousy of the reigning +house. At the first show of brilliancy attached to their name, it had +been darkened. Guilty by their very merit, their name urged them on to +glory; and as soon as they proved themselves deserving, it was +forbidden to them. These princes were destined to transmit with their +family honours that impatience of a change of government which allows +them to be men. + +Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duc d'Orleans, was born at the precise epoch, +when his rank, fortune, and character were to throw him into a current +of new ideas, which his family passions called on him to favour, and +into which, once drawn, it would be impossible for him to pause except +at the throne or the scaffold. He was twenty when the first symptoms of +the Revolution manifested themselves. + +He was handsome, like all his race. Slender figure, firm step, smiling +countenance, piercing glance, limbs made supple by all bodily exercises, +with a heart disposed to love, and a splendid horseman, that great +accomplishment of princes; a condescension void of familiarity, a ready +eloquence, unquestionable courage, liberal to the arts, even to +extravagance; those faults which are only due to the luxuries of the +age, all marked him out as a popular favourite. He took every advantage +of it; and, perhaps, his early intoxication with it somewhat affected +his natural good sense. The love of the people appeared to him a means +of avenging himself for the contempt in which the court neglected him. +In his mind he braved the king of Versailles, feeling himself king of +Paris. + +He had married a princess of a race as beloved by the people; the only +daughter of the Duc de Penthièvre. Lovely, amiable, and virtuous, she +brought to her husband as dowry, with the vast fortune of the Duc de +Penthièvre, that amount of consideration and public esteem which +belonged to her house. The first political act of the Duc d'Orleans was +a bold resistance to the wishes of the court, at the period of the +exile of the parliaments. Exiled himself in his chateau of +_Villars-Cotterêts_, the esteem and interest of the people followed him. +The applauses of France sweetened the disgrace of the court. He believed +that he comprehended the part of a great citizen in a free country; he +desired to do so. He forgot too easily, in the atmosphere of adulation +which surrounded him, that a man is not a great citizen only to please +the people, but to defend--serve--and frequently to resist them. + +Returned to Paris, he was desirous of joining the _prestige_ of glory of +arms to the civic crowns, with which his name was already decorated. He +solicited of the court the dignity of _grand-admiral_ of France, the +survivorship of which belonged to him, after the Duc de Penthièvre, his +father-in-law. He was refused. He embarked as a volunteer on board the +fleet, commanded by the Comte d'Orvilliers, and was at the battle of +Ouessant on the 17th of July, 1778. The results of this fight, when +victory remained without conquest, in consequence of a false +manoeuvre, were imputed to the weakness of Duc d'Orleans, who wished +to check the pursuit of the enemy. This dishonouring report, invented +and disseminated by court hatred, soured the resentments of the young +prince, but could not hide the brilliancy of his courage, which he +displayed in caprices unworthy of his rank. At St. Cloud he sprang into +the first balloon that carried aerial navigators into space. Calumny +followed him even there, and a report was spread that he had burst the +balloon with a thrust of his sword, in order to compel his companions to +descend. Then arose between the court and himself a continual struggle +of boldness on the one hand and slander on the other. The king treated +him, however, with the indulgence which virtue testifies for youth's +follies. The Comte d'Artois took him as the constant companion of his +pleasures. The queen, who liked the Comte d'Artois, feared for him the +contagion of the disorders and amours of the Duc d'Orleans. She hated +equally in this young prince the favourite of the people of Paris and +the corrupter of the Comte d'Artois. She made the king purchase the +almost royal palace of St. Cloud, the favourite seat of the Duc +d'Orleans. Infamous insinuations against him were incessantly +transpiring from the half confidences of courtiers. He was accused of +having induced courtezans to poison the blood of the Prince de Lamballe, +his brother-in-law, and of having enervated him in debauches, in order +that he might be the sole heir of the immense property of the house of +Penthièvre. This crime was the pure invention of malice. + +Thus persecuted by the animosity of the court, the Duc d'Orleans was +more and more driven to retirement. In his frequent visits to England he +formed a close intimacy with the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne, +who took for his friends all the enemies of his father; playing with +sedition, dishonoured by debts, of scandalous life, prolonging beyond +the usual term those excesses of princes--horses, pleasure of the table, +gaming, women; abetting the intrigues of Fox, Sheridan and Burke, and +prefacing his advent to royal power by all the audacity of a refractory +son and a factious citizen. + +The Duc d'Orleans thus tasted of the joys of liberty in a London life. +He brought back to France habits of insolence against the court, a taste +for popular disturbances, contempt for his own rank, familiarity with +the multitude, a citizen's life in a palace, and that simple style of +dress, which by abandoning the uniform of the French nobility, and +blending attire generally, soon destroyed all inequalities of costume +amongst citizens. + +Then given up entirely to the exclusive care of repairing his impaired +fortune, the Duc d'Orleans constructed the _Palais Royal_. He changed +the noble and spacious gardens of his palace into a market of luxury, +devoted by day to traffic, and by night to play and debauchery--a +complete sink of iniquities, built in the heart of the capital--a work +of cupidity which antique manners never could forgive this prince; and +which, being gradually adopted like the forum by the indolence of the +Parisian population, was destined to become the cradle of the +Revolution. This Revolution was striding onwards. The prince awaited it +in supineness, as if liberty of the world had been but one more +mistress. + +His well-known hatred against the court had naturally drawn into his +acquaintance all who desired a change. The Palais Royal was the elegant +centre of a conspiracy with open doors, for the reform of government: +the philosophy of the age there encountered politics and literature: it +was the palace of opinion. Buffon came there constantly to pass the +latter evenings of his life. Rousseau there received at a distance the +only worship which his proud sensitiveness would accept even from +princes. Franklin and the American republicans; Gibbon and the orators +of the English opposition, Grimm and the German philosophers, Diderot, +Siéyès, Sillery, Laclos, Suard, Florian, Raynal, La Harpe, and all the +thinkers or writers who anticipated the new mind, met there with +celebrated artists and _savans_. Voltaire himself, proscribed from +Versailles by the human respect of a court, which admired his genius, +had arrived thither on his last journey. The prince presented to him his +children, one of whom reigns to-day over France. The dying philosopher +blessed them, as he did those of Franklin, in the name of reason and +liberty. + + +V. + +If the prince himself had not a love of literature and a highly refined +mind, he had sufficiently cultivated his mind to appreciate perfectly +the pleasures of the understanding; but the revolutionary feeling +instinctively counselled him to surround himself with all the strength +that might one day serve liberty. Early tired of the beauty and virtue +of the Duchesse d'Orleans, he had conceived for a lovely, witty, +insinuating woman a sentiment which did not enchain the caprices of his +heart, but which controlled his inconsistency and directed his mind. +This woman, then seducing and since celebrated, was the Comtesse de +Sillery-Genlis, daughter of the Marquis Ducret de Saint Aubin, a +gentleman of Charolais, without fortune. Her mother, who was still young +and handsome, had brought her to Paris, to the house of M. de la +Popelinière, a celebrated financier, whose old age she had taken +captive. She educated her daughter for that doubtful destiny which +awaits women on whom nature has lavished beauty and mind, and to whom +society has refused their right position--adventuresses in society, +sometimes raised, sometimes degraded. + +The first masters formed this child by all the arts of mind and +hand--her mother directed her to ambition. The second-rate position of +this mother at the house of her opulent protector, formed the child to +the plasticity and adulation which her mother's domestic condition +required and illustrated. At sixteen years of age her precocious beauty +and musical talent caused her to be already sought in the _salons_. Her +mother produced her there in the dubious publicity between the theatre +and the world. An _artiste_ for some, she was, with others, a well +educated girl; all were attracted by her: old men forgot their age. +Buffon called her "_ma fille_." Her relationship with Madame de +Montesson, widow of the Duc d'Orleans, gave her a footing in the house +of the young prince. The Comte de Sillery-Genlis fell in love with her, +and married her in spite of his family's opposition. Friend and +confidant of the Duc d'Orleans, the Comte de Sillery obtained for his +wife a place at the court of the Duchesse d'Orleans. Time and her +ability did the rest. + +The duke attached himself to her with the twofold power of admiration +for her beauty and admiration of her superior understanding--the one +empire confirmed the other. The complaints of the insulted duchess only +made the duke more obstinate in his liking. He was governed, and +desirous of having his feelings honoured, he announced it openly, merely +seeking to colour it under the pretext of the education of his children. +The Comtesse de Genlis followed at the same time the ambition of courts +and the reputation of literature. She wrote with elegance those light +works which amuse a woman's idle hours, whilst they lead their hearts +astray into imaginary amours. Romances, which are to the west what opium +is to the Orientals, waking day-dreams, had become necessities and +events for the _salons_. Madame de Genlis wrote in a graceful style, and +clothed her characters and ideas with a certain affectation of austerity +which gave a becomingness to love: she moreover affected an universal +acquaintance with the sciences, which made her sex disappear before the +pretensions of her mind, and which recalled in her person those women of +Italy who profess philosophy with a veil over their countenances. + +The Duc d'Orleans, an innovator in every thing, believed he had found in +a woman the Mentor for his sons. He nominated her governor of his +children. The duchess, greatly annoyed, protested against this; the +court laughed, and the people were amazed. Opinion, which yields to all +who brave it, murmured, and then was silent. The future proved that the +father was right: the pupils of this lady were not princes but men. She +attracted to the Palais Royal all the dictators of public opinion. The +first club in France was thus held in the very apartments of a prince of +the blood. Literature, concealed from without these meetings as the +madness of the first Brutus concealed his vengeance. The duke was not, +perhaps, a conspirator, but henceforth there was an Orleans party. +Siéyès, the mystic oracle of the Revolution, who seemed to carry it on +his pensive front, and brood over it in silence; the Duc de Lauzun, +passing from the confidence of Trianon to the consultations of the +Palais Royal; Laclos, a young officer of artillery, author of an obscene +romance, capable at need of elevating romantic intrigue to a political +conspiracy; Sillery, soured against his order, at enmity with the court, +an ambitious malcontent, awaiting nothing but what the future might +bring forth; and others more obscure, but not less active, and serving +as unknown guides for descending from the _salons_ of a prince into the +depths of the people: some the head, others the arms, of the duke's +ambition, attended these meetings. Perhaps they might be ignorant of the +aim, but they placed themselves on the declivity, and allowed Fortune to +do as she pleased. Fortune was a revolution. The wonderful, that marvel +of the masses, which is to the imagination what calculation is to +reason, was not wanting to the Orleans party. Prophecies, those popular +presentiments of destiny, domestic prodigies, admitted by the interested +credulity of numerous clients of this house, announced the throne +shortly to one of these princes. These rumours were rife amongst the +people, from themselves, or the skilful insinuations of the partisans of +the house of Orleans. In the convocation of States-General, the duke had +not hesitated to pronounce in favour of the most popular reforms. The +instructions which he had drawn up for the electors of his dominions +were the work of the abbé Siéyès. The prince himself intrigued for the +name and style of _Citoyen_. Elected deputy of the noblesse of Paris at +Crespy and at Villars-Cotterêts, he selected Crespy, because the +electors of this bailiwick were the more patriotic. At the procession of +the States-General he left his own place vacant amongst the princes, and +walked in the midst of the deputies. This abdication of his dignity near +the throne to assume the dignity of a citizen, procured him the +applauses of the nation. + + +VI. + +Public favour towards him was such that had he been a Duc de Guise, and +Louis XVI. a Henry III., the States-General would have finished, as did +those of Blois, by an assassination or usurpation. Uniting with the +_tiers état_, to obtain equality and the friendship of the nation +against the nobility, he took the oath of the Tennis Court. He took his +place behind Mirabeau, to disobey the king. Nominated president by the +National Assembly, he refused this honour in order to remain a citizen. +The day on which the dismissal of Necker betrayed the hostile projects +of the court, and when the people of Paris named its leaders and +defenders by acclamation, the name of the Duc d'Orleans was the first +uttered. France took in the gardens of the palace the colours of his +livery for a cockade. At the voice of Camille Desmoulins, who uttered +the cry of alarm in the Palais Royal, the populace gathered, Legendre +and Fréron led them; they placed the bust of the Duc d'Orleans beside +that of Necker, covered them with black crape, and promenaded them, +bareheaded themselves, in the presence of the silent citizens. Blood +flowed; the dead body of one of the citizens who carried the busts, +killed by the mob, serving as a standard to the people. The Duc +d'Orleans was thus mixed up from his palace--his name and his +image--with the first struggle and first murder of liberty. This was +enough to make it believed that his hand moved all the threads of +events. Whether from lack of boldness or ambition, he never assumed the +appearance of the part which public opinion assigned to him. He did not +then appear to push things beyond the conquest of a constitution for his +country, and the character of a great patriot for himself. He respected +or despised the throne. One or other of these feelings gave him +importance in the eyes of history. All the world was of his party except +himself. + +Impartial men did honour to his moderation, the revolutionists imputed +shame to his character. Mirabeau, who was seeking a pretender to +personify the revolt, had had secret interviews with the Duc d'Orleans; +had tested his ambition, to judge if it aspired to the throne. He had +left him dissatisfied; he had even betrayed his dissatisfaction by angry +phrases. Mirabeau required a conspirator; he had only found a patriot. +What he despised in the Duc d'Orleans was not the meditation of a crime, +but the refusal to be his accomplice. He had not anticipated such +scruples; he revenged himself by terming this carelessness about the +throne the cowardice of an ambitious man. + +La Fayette instinctively hated in the Duc d'Orleans an influential +rival. He accused the prince of fomenting troubles which he felt himself +powerless to repress. It was asserted that the Duc d'Orleans and +Mirabeau had been seen mingled with groups of men and women, and +pointing to the château. Mirabeau defended himself by a smile of +contempt. The Duc d'Orleans proved his innocence in a more serious +manner. An assassination which should kill the king or queen would still +leave the monarchy, the laws of the kingdom, and the princes inheritors +of the throne. He could not mount to it except over the dead bodies of +five persons placed by nature between himself and his ambition. These +steps of crime could only have incurred the execrations of the nation, +and must have even wearied the assassins themselves. Besides, he proved +by numerous and undeniable witnesses that he had not gone to Versailles +either on the 4th or 5th of October. Quitting Versailles on the 3rd, +after the sitting of the National Assembly, he had returned to Paris. He +had passed the day of the 4th in his palace and gardens at Mousseaux. On +the 5th, he again was at Mousseaux; his cabriolet having broken down on +the boulevard, he had gone on foot by the Champs Elysées. He had passed +the day at Passy with his children and Madame de Genlis. He had supped +at Mousseaux with some intimate friends, and slept again in Paris. It +was not until the 6th, in the morning, that, informed of the events of +the previous evening, he had gone to Versailles, and that his carriage +had been stopped at the bridge of Sèvres, by the mob carrying the +bleeding heads of the king's guard.[17] If this was not the conduct of a +prince of the blood, who flies to the succour of his king and places +himself at the foot of the throne, between the threatened sovereign and +the people, neither was it that of an audacious usurper who tempts +revolt by occasion, and at least presents to the people a completed +crime. + +The conduct of this prince was but that of one who looks to a contingent +reversion: either that he would not receive the crown except by a +fatality of events, and without thrusting forth his hand to fortune, or +that he had more indifference than ambition for supreme power, or that +he would not place his royalty as a check upon the way of liberty; that +he sincerely desired a republic, and that the title of first citizen of +a free nation appeared to him greater than that of king. + + +VII. + +However, a short time after the days of the 5th and 6th October, La +Fayette desired to break off the intimacy between the Duc d'Orleans and +Mirabeau. He resolved at all risks to compel the prince to remove from +the scene, and by an exercise of moral restraint or the fear of a state +prosecution, to absent himself and go to London. He made the king and +queen enter into his plans, by alarming them as to the prince's +intrigues, and designating him as a competitor for the throne. La +Fayette said one day to the queen, that this prince was the only man +upon whom the suspicion of so lofty an ambition could fall. "Sir," +replied the queen, with a look of incredulity, "is it necessary then to +be a prince in order to pretend to the throne?" "At least, madam," +replied the general, "I only know the Duc d'Orleans who aspires to it." +La Fayette presumed too much on the prince's ambition. + + +VIII. + +Mirabeau, discouraged at the hesitations and scruples of the Duc +d'Orleans, and finding him above or below crime, cast him off like a +despised accomplice of ambition, and tried to ally himself with La +Fayette, who, possessed of the armed force, and who saw in Mirabeau the +whole of the moral force, smiled at the idea of a duumvirate, which +could assume to themselves empire. There were secret interviews at Paris +and at Passy between these two rivals. La Fayette rejecting every idea +of an usurpation profitable to the prince, declared to Mirabeau that he +must renounce every conceived plot against the queen if he would come +to an understanding with him. "Well, general," replied Mirabeau, "since +you will have it so, let her live! A humbled queen may be fit for +something, but a queen with her throat cut is only good as the subject +of a bad tragedy!" This atrocious remark, which treated the bloodshed of +a woman as a jest, was subsequently known by the queen, who however +forgave Mirabeau, and did not allow it to interfere with her _liaisons_ +with the great orator. But the cold-blooded infamy must have found its +way to her heart as an ominous warning of what she might fear hereafter. + +La Fayette, sure of the consent of the king and queen, supported by the +feelings of the national guard, who were growing weary of factions and +the factious, ventured to assume quietly towards the prince the tone of +a dictator, and to pronounce against him an arbitrary exile under the +appearance of a mission freely accepted. He sent to request of the Duc +d'Orleans a meeting at the Marquise de Coigny's, a noble intelligent +lady attached to La Fayette, and in whose _salon_ the Duc d'Orleans +occasionally met him. After a conversation, heard by the walls alone, +but the result of which showed its tenor, and which Mirabeau, to whom it +was communicated, termed _very imperious on the one side, and very +resigned on the other_, it was agreed that the Duc d'Orleans should +forthwith set out for London. The friends of the prince induced him to +change his resolution that same night, and he sent La Fayette a note to +this effect. La Fayette requested another interview, in which he called +upon him to keep his word, enjoined him to depart in twenty-four hours, +and then conducted him to the king. There the prince accepted the +feigned mission, and promised to leave nothing neglected to expose in +England the plots of the conspirators of the kingdom. "You are more +interested than any one," said La Fayette in the king's presence, "for +no one is more compromised than yourself." Mirabeau, cognisant of this +oppression of La Fayette and the court over the mind of the Duc +d'Orleans, offered his services to the duke, and tempted him with the +last offers of supreme power. The subject of his address to the Assembly +was already prepared: he intended to denounce, as a conspiracy of +despotism, this _coup d'état_ against one citizen, in which the liberty +of all citizens was attempted. "This violation of the inviolability of +the representatives of the nation in the palpable exile of a prince of +the blood; he was to point out La Fayette, making use of the royal hand +to strike the rivals of his popularity, and to cover his own insolent +dictatorship under the venerated sanction of the chief of the nation and +the head of the family." Mirabeau had no doubt of the resentment of the +Assembly against so odious an attempt, and promised the friends of the +Duc d'Orleans one of those returns of opinion which raise a man to a +higher elevation than that from which he has fallen. This language, +backed by the entreaties of Laclos, Sillery, Lauzun, a second time shook +the prince's resolution. He saw now disgrace in this voluntary exile, +where at first he had only seen magnanimity. At the break of day he +wrote that he declined the mission. La Fayette then sent for him to the +minister for foreign affairs. There the prince, again overcome, wrote to +the Assembly a letter, which destroyed beforehand all the denunciation +of Mirabeau. "My enemies pretend," said the duke to La Fayette, "that +you boast of having against me proofs of my share in the attempts of the +5th of October." "They are rather my enemies who say so," replied La +Fayette: "if I had proofs against you I should already have arrested +you. I have none, but I am seeking for them." The Duc d'Orleans went. +Nine months had passed away since his return. The Constituent Assembly +had left, without any other defence than anarchy, the constitution it +had so lately voted. Disorder prevailed throughout the kingdom: the +first acts of the Legislative Assembly announced the hesitation of a +people which halts on a declivity, but is doomed to descend to the very +bottom. + + +IX. + +The Girondists, at the first step going a-head of the Barnaves and +Lameths, showed a disposition to push France, all unprepared, into a +republic. The Duc d'Orleans, whose long residence in England had allowed +him to reflect at a distance from the attractions of events and +factions, felt his Bourbon blood rise within him. He did not cease to be +a patriot, but he understood that the safety of the country on the brink +of a war was not in the destruction of the executive power. +Unquestionably pity for the king and queen awakened in a heart in which +hatred had not stifled every generous feeling. He felt himself too much +avenged by the days of 5th and 6th October, by the humiliation of the +king before the Assembly, by the daily insults of the populace under the +windows of Marie Antoinette, and by the fearful nights of this family, +whose palace was but a prison; and perhaps also he feared for himself +the ingratitude of revolutions. + +He had gone to England on compulsion, and had remained there under the +idea, which was perfectly just, that his name might be used as a pretext +for agitation in Paris. Laclos had gone to him in London from time to +time to try again to tempt the exile's ambition, and make him ashamed of +a deference for La Fayette, which France took to be cowardice. The +prince's pride was roused at this, and he threatened to return; but the +representations of M. de la Luzerne, minister of France in England, +those of M. de Boinville, one of La Fayette's aides-de-camp, and his own +reflections, had prevailed over the incitements of Laclos. Proof of this +is found in a note of M. de la Luzerne's, found in an iron chest amongst +the king's secret papers. "I attest," says M. de la Luzerne, "that I +have presented to M. the Duc d'Orleans, M. de Boinville, aide-de-camp of +M. de La Fayette, that M. de Boinville declared to the Duc d'Orleans +that they were very uneasy as to the troubles which might at this moment +be excited in Paris by malcontents, who would not scruple to make use of +his name to disturb the capital, and perhaps the kingdom; and he was +urged on these grounds to protract the time of his departure. The Duc +d'Orleans, unwilling in any way to afford plea or pretext for any +disturbance of public tranquillity, consented to delay his return." + + +X. + +He at last left England, and on his return made several fruitless +attempts to be again employed in the navy. Whilst his mind was thus +wavering, he received the intelligence, through M. Bertrand de +Molleville, that the king had nominated him to the rank of admiral. The +Duc d'Orleans went to thank the minister, and added that, "He was +rejoiced at the honour the king conferred on him, as it would give him +an opportunity of communicating to the king his real sentiments, which +had been odiously calumniated. I am very unfortunate," continued he; "my +name has been involved in all the crimes imputed to me, and I have been +deemed guilty, because I disdained to justify myself; but time will show +whether my conduct belies my words." + +The air of frankness and good faith, and the significant tone with which +the Duc d'Orleans uttered these words, struck the minister, who until +then had been greatly prejudiced against his innocence. He inquired if +his royal highness would consent to repeat these expressions to the +king, as they would rejoice his majesty, and he feared that they might +lose some of their force if repeated by himself. The duke eagerly +embraced the idea of seeing the king, if the king would receive him, and +expressed his intention of presenting himself at the chateau the next +day. The king, informed of this by his minister, awaited the prince, and +had a long and private conference with him. + +A confidential document, written with the prince's own hand, and drawn +up in order to justify his memory in the eyes of his children and his +friends, informs us of what passed at this interview. "The +ultra-democrats," said the Duc d'Orleans, "deemed that I wished to make +France a republic; the ambitious, that I wished, by my popularity, to +force the king to resign the administration of the kingdom into my +hands; lastly, the virtuous and patriotic had the illusion of their own +virtue concerning me, for they deemed that I sacrificed myself entirely +to the public good. The one party deemed me worse than I was; the +others, better. I have merely followed my nature, and that impelled me, +above all, to liberty. I fancied I saw her image in the parliaments, +which at least possessed her tone and forms, and I embraced this phantom +of representative freedom. Thrice did I sacrifice myself for those +parliaments; twice from a conviction on my part; the third, not to belie +what I had previously done. I had been in England; I had there seen true +liberty, and I doubted not that the States-General, and France also, +wished to obtain freedom. Scarcely had I foreseen that France would +possess citizens, than I wished to be one of these citizens myself, and +I made unhesitatingly the sacrifice of all the rank and privileges that +separated me from the nation: they cost me nothing; I aspired to be a +deputy--I was one. I sided with the _tiers état_, not from factious +feeling, but from justice. In my opinion, it was impossible to prevent +the completion of the Revolution, although some persons around the king +thought otherwise. The troops were assembled, and surrounded the +National Assembly. Paris imagined it was threatened, and rose _en +masse_; the Gardes Françaises, who lived amongst the people, followed +the stream, and the report was circulated that I had bribed this +regiment with my gold. I will frankly declare my opinion: if the Gardes +Françaises had acted differently, I should in that case have deemed they +had been bought over; for their hostility against the people of Paris +would have been unnatural. My bust was earned with that of M. Necker on +the 14th of July. Why? because this minister, on whom every public hope +reposed, was the idol of the nation, and because my name was amongst the +list of those deputies of the Assembly, who, it was said, were to have +been arrested by the troops summoned to Versailles. Amidst all these +events, so favourable to a factious man, what was my behaviour? I +withdrew from the eyes of the people: I did not flatter their excesses, +but retired to my house at Mousseaux, where I passed the night; and the +next morning I went, unattended, to the National Assembly at Versailles. +At the fortunate moment when the king resolved to cast himself into the +arms of the Assembly, I refused to form one of the deputation of members +despatched to Paris to announce these tidings to the capital, for I +feared lest some of the homages which the city owed to the king alone +might be paid to me. And such was again my conduct on the days of +October; I again absented myself, not to add fresh fuel to the +excitement of the people; and I only reappeared when calm again +prevailed. I was met at Sèvres by the bands of straggling assassins, who +bore back the bleeding heads of the king's guards: these men stopped my +carriage, and fired on the postilion. Thus I, who was the pretended +leader of these men, narrowly escaped being their victim, and owed my +safety to a body of the national guard, who escorted me to Versailles; +and as I went to wait on the king I repressed the last murmurs of the +people in the Cour des Ministres I signed the decree which declared the +Assembly inseparable from the person of the king. It was at this time +that M. de La Fayette called on me, and informed me of the king's desire +that I should quit Paris, in order to afford no pretext for popular +tumult. Convinced now, that the Revolution was accomplished, and only +fearing the troubles with which attempts might be made to fetter its +onward progress, I unhesitatingly obeyed, only demanding the consent of +the National Assembly to my departure; this they granted, and I left +Paris. The inhabitants of Boulogne, who had been worked upon by an +intrigue which may be laid to my charge, but to which I was a stranger, +since I would not yield to it, wished forcibly to detain me, and opposed +my embarkation. I confess I was much touched, but I did not yield to +this violent manifestation of public favour, and I myself persuaded them +to return to their allegiance. Advantage has been taken of this voyage +and my absence to impute to me, without refutation on my part, the most +odious crimes. It was I who wished to force the king to fly with the +Dauphin from Versailles,--but Versailles is not France; the king would +have found his army and the nation when once he left this town, and the +only result of my ambition would be civil war, and, a military +dictatorship given to the king. But the Count de Provence was alive; he +was the natural heir to the throne thus abandoned. He was popular; he +had, like myself, joined the commons,--thus I should only have laboured +for him. But the Count d'Artois was in safety in another country, his +children were secure from my pretended murders, they were nearer the +throne than myself. What a series of follies, absurdities, or useless +crimes! The French nation, amidst the Revolution, have neither changed +their character nor their sentiments. I fully believe that the Count +d'Artois, whom I have myself loved, will prove this. I believe that by +drawing nearer to a monarch whom he loves, and by whom he is loved, and +to a people to whose love his brilliant qualities give him so great a +right, he will, when these troubles have ceased, enjoy this portion of +his inheritance, the love which the most sensible and affectionate of +nations has vowed to the descendants of HENRI IV." + + +XI. + +These excuses, mingled doubtless with expressions of repentance and +tears, and heightened by those attitudes and gestures, more eloquent +than words, that add so much pathos to solemn explanations, convinced +the heart if not the mind of the king; and he forgave--he excused, and +he trusted. "I am of your opinion," said he to his minister, yet a prey +to the emotion of this scene, "that the Duc d'Orleans really regrets his +past errors, and that he will do all in his power to repair the evil he +has done, and in which perhaps he has not had so great a share as we +believed." + +The prince left the king's apartments reconciled with himself, and more +than ever resolved to withdraw himself from the factious party. It had +cost him but little to sacrifice his ambition, for he had none; and his +popularity of her own accord had quitted him for other men of inferior +rank and station than his own, and he could only hope to find security +and an honourable refuge at the foot of the throne, to which he was +alike guided by inclination and duty. Louis XVI. as a man had far more +influence over him than as a king, but the adulation and resentment of +the court ruined all. + +The Sunday following this reconciliation, the Duc d'Orleans presented +himself at the Tuileries to pay his respects to the king and queen. It +was the day and hour of the _grandes receptions_, and crowds of +courtiers thronged the courts, the staircases, the corridors, some +hoping that fortune might yet be propitious; others, come from the +provinces to the court of their unfortunate master, drawn thither by the +double tie of misfortune and fidelity. At the sight of the Duc +d'Orleans, whose reconciliation with the king had not as yet transpired, +astonishment and horror appeared on every face, and an indignant murmur +followed the announcement of his name. The crowd opened and shrank from +him, as though his touch was odious to them. In vain did he seek one +glance of respect or welcome amongst all these gloomy visages. As be +approached the king's chamber, the courtiers and guards barred his +entrance by turning their backs, and crowding together as if by +accident, repulsed him: he entered the apartments of the queen, where +the royal family's dinner was prepared. "Look to the dishes," cried +voices, as though some public and well-known poisoner had been seen to +enter. The indignant prince turned alternately pale and red, and +imagined that these insults were offered him, at the instigation of the +queen, and the order of the king. As he descended the stairs to quit the +palace, fresh cries and outrages followed him; some even spat on his +coat and head. A poignard stab would have been far less painful to bear +than these withering marks of hatred and contempt. He had entered the +palace appeased, he quitted it implacable; he felt that his only refuge +against the court was in the last ranks of democracy, and he enrolled +himself resolutely in them to find safety or vengeance. + +The king and queen, who were soon informed of these insults, of which, +however, they were utterly innocent, took no steps to make any +reparation for them; possibly they were secretly flattered by the wrath +of their adherents, and the humiliation of their enemy. The queen was +too prodigal of her favour, and too hasty in her displeasure; the king +did not want kindness, but grace; one word, such as Henri IV. knew so +well how to employ, would have punished these insulters, and have +brought the prince to his feet, yet he knew not how to say it; +resentment brooded over her wrongs in silence, and destiny took its +course. + + +XII. + +The Duc d'Orleans severed himself on that day from the Girondists, to +whom he was alone held by Pétion and Brissot, and passed over to the +side of the Jacobins; he opened his palace to Danton and Barrère, and no +longer followed any but the extreme party, which he adopted without +hesitation in silence, even to the republic, to regicide, to death. + + +XIII. + +However, the alarm with which the preparations of the emperor inspired +the people, and the mischief excited by the speeches of the Girondists +against the court and the ministers, agitated the capital more and more +every day. At each fresh communication from M. de Lessart, minister of +foreign affairs, the party of the Gironde raised a fresh cry of war and +treason. Fauchet denounced the minister. Brissot exclaimed, "The mask +has fallen,--our enemy is now known,--it is the emperor. The princes, +who hold possessions in Alsace, whose cause he affects to espouse, are +but the pretexts of his hate; and the _emigrés_ themselves are but his +instruments. Let us despise these _emigrés_: it is the duty of the high +national court to execute justice on these mendicant princes. The +electors of the empire are not worthy of your anger; fear causes them +beforehand to prostrate themselves at your feet--a free people does not +crush a fallen foe: strike at the head--this head is the emperor." + +He communicated his own ardour to the Assembly; but Brissot, although a +skilful politician, and the able counsellor of his party, did not +possess that sonorous oratory that elevates an opinion to the level of +the voice of a nation. Vergniaud alone was gifted with a soul, in which +was combined all the passion and eloquence of a party: by meditating on +the annals of the past, he elevated his mind to scenes that passed then +analogous to those in which he was an actor, and communicated an +importance and solemnity to every word. "Our revolution," said he at the +same sitting, "has spread alarm amongst every throne, for it has given +an example of the destruction of the despotism that sustains them. Kings +hate our constitution because it renders men free, and because they +would reign over slaves. This hate has been manifested on the part of +the emperor by all the measures he has adopted, to disturb us or to +strengthen our enemies, and encourage those Frenchmen who have rebelled +against the laws of their country. We must not believe that this hate +has ceased to exist, but it must cease to work. The genius of Liberty +watches over our frontiers, which are less defended by our troops and +our national guards than by the enthusiasm of freedom. Liberty, since +its birth, has been the object of a shameful and secret war, waged +against it even in its very cradle. What is this war? Three armies of +reptiles and venomous insects breed and creep in your own breast: one is +composed of paid libellists and hired calumniators, who strive to arm +the two powers against each other by inspiring them with mutual +distrust; the other army, equally dangerous, is composed of seditious +priests, who feel that their God is forsaking them, and that their power +is crumbling away with their _prestige_, and who, to retain their +empire, term vengeance religion, and crime virtue. The third is composed +of greedy speculators and financiers, who can grow rich only on our +ruin: national prosperity would be destruction to their egotistical +speculations; and our death would be their life. They are like those +beasts of prey, who wait the issue of the battle that they may batten +and feast on the corpses of the slain. (Loud applause.) + +"They know that the expenses of your preparations for defence are +numerous; and they reckon upon the failure of the credit of the +treasury, and the scarcity of specie; they reckon upon the weariness of +those citizens who have abandoned their wives, their babes, to hasten to +the frontiers, and who will abandon them, whilst millions, distributed +at home, will arouse insurrections, in which the people, armed by +madness, will themselves destroy their rights, whilst they imagine they +are defending them; then the emperor will advance at the head of a +powerful army to rivet your fetters. Such is the war that they make on +you, and that they seek to make. (Loud applause.) + +"The people has sworn to maintain the constitution, because in that lies +its honour and its liberty; but if you suffer it to remain in a state of +troubled immobility, that weakens its force and exhausts all our +resources, will not the day of this exhaustion be the last of the +constitution? The state in which we are kept is one of annihilation that +may lead us to disgrace or to death. (Applause.) To arms, citizens! to +arms, freemen! defend your liberty! assure the hope of that liberty to +the whole human race, or you will not deserve even pity in your +misfortunes. (Applause.) We have no other allies than the eternal +justice, whose rights we defend: but is it forbidden us to seek others, +and to interest those powers who, like ourselves are threatened by the +rupture of the equilibrium in Europe? No, doubtless, let us declare to +the emperor, that from this moment all treaties are broken. (Vehement +applause.) The emperor has himself violated them; and if he does not +attack us, it is because he is not yet prepared; but he is unmasked; +felicitate yourselves upon this. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon you, +show them what is really the National Assembly of France. If you display +the dignity that befits the representatives of a great nation, you will +gain esteem, applause, and assistance. If you evince weakness, if you do +not avail yourselves of the occasion offered you by Providence, of +freeing yourselves from a situation that fetters you, dread the +degradation that is prepared for you by the hatred of Europe, of France, +of your own time and of posterity. (Applause.) Do more; demand that your +flag be respected beyond the Rhine; demand that the _emigrés_ be +dispersed. I might demand that they be given up to the country they +insult, and to punishment. But no. If they have been greedy for our +blood, let us not show ourselves greedy for theirs; their crime is +having wished to destroy their country; let them be vagrants and +wanderers on the face of the earth, and let their punishment be never to +find a country. (Applause.) If the emperor delays to answer your +demands, let all delay be deemed a refusal, and every refusal on his +part to explain, a declaration of war. Attack whilst you yet may. If, in +the Saxon wars, Frederic had temporised, the king of Prussia would at +this moment be marquis of Brandenbourg, instead of disputing with +Austria the balance of power in Germany which has escaped from your +grasp. + +"Up to this period you have only adopted half measures and I may well +apply to you the language which Demosthenes addressed to the Athenians, +under similar circumstances: 'You act towards the Macedonians,' said he, +'like the barbarians, who combat in our games, towards their +adversaries; when they are struck on the arm they raise their hand to +their arm; if struck on the head, they raise their hand to their head; +they never dream of defending themselves when they are wounded, nor of +parrying the blows dealt them. Does Philip take up arms, you do the +same; does he lay them down, you also lay down yours. If he attack one +of your allies, you immediately despatch a numerous army to the +assistance of your ally. If he attack a city, you despatch a numerous +army to the relief of the city. Does he again lay down his arms, you do +the same, without thinking of any means of forestalling his ambition; +and placing yourself beyond the reach of his attacks. Thus you are at +the orders of your enemy, and he it is who commands your army.' + +"And I, I tell you the same of the _emigrés_. Do you hear that they are +at Coblentz,--the citizens hasten to combat them; are they assembled on +the banks of the Rhine,--two _corps d'armée_ are despatched thither; do +foreign powers afford them shelter,--you propose to attack them; do you +learn, on the contrary, that they have withdrawn to the north of +Germany,--you lay down your arms; do they again offend you,--your +indignation is again aroused; do they make you specious promises,--you +are again appeased. Thus, it is the _emigrés_ and the cabinets that +support them--who are your leaders, and who dispose of your counsels, +your treasures, and your armies. (Applause.) It is for you to consider +whether this humiliating part be worthy of a great nation. A thought +flashes across my mind, and with that I will terminate. It appears to +me, that the manes of past generations arise, to conjure you, in the +name of all the evils that slavery has inflicted on them, to preserve +from it future generations, whose destinies are in your hands; fulfil +this prayer, and be for the future a second providence. Associate +yourself with the eternal justice that protects the people. By meriting +the title of benefactors of your country, you will also merit that of +benefactors of the human race." + +Loud and prolonged applause succeeded the different emotions that had +been excited by this speech in every heart; for Vergniaud, following the +example of the ancient orators, instead of suffering his eloquence to +grow cold in political combinations, heated it at the flame of his +daring genius. The people comprehends only that which it feels; its sole +orators are those who excite it, and emotion is the conviction of the +populace. Vergniaud felt this, and knew how to communicate it. The +knowledge that they laboured for universal good, and the prospect of the +gratitude of future ages shed a halo--a noble pride around France, and +of sanctity around liberty. It was one of the characteristics of this +orator, that he almost invariably elevated the Revolution to the dignity +of an apostleship, that he extended his humanity to all mankind, and +that he only impassioned and worked upon the people by his virtues; such +words produced an effect over all the empire, against which neither the +king nor his ministers could strive. + + +XIV. + +Moreover, as has been shown, Vergniaud and his party had friends in the +council. M. de Narbonne and the Girondists met and concerted their plans +at Madame de Stäel's, whose _salon_, in which some warlike measure was +always being discussed, was called the camp of the Revolution: the Abbé +Fauchet, the denouncer of M. de Lessart, here imbibed fresh ardour for +the overthrow of this minister. M. de Lessart, by weakening as much as +possible the threats of the court of Vienna and the anger of the +Assembly, sought to gain time for better and wiser resolutions. His +loyal attachment to Louis XVI., and his wise and prudent foresight, +showed him that war would not restore, but shake the throne; and in this +shock of Europe and France, the king would inevitably be crushed. The +attachment of M. de Lessart to his master supplied the place of genius; +he was the only obstacle in the path of the three parties who wished for +war; it was necessary, at all risks, to remove him. He might have +shielded himself by withdrawing from the contest, or by yielding to the +impatience of the Assembly. But, though fully aware of the terrible +responsibility that rested on him, and that this responsibility was +death, he braved all, to afford the king a few days more for +negotiation.--These days were numbered. + + + + +BOOK XII. + + +I. + +Leopold, a pacific and philosophic prince, who had he not been an +emperor, would have been a revolutionist, had sought by every means in +his power to adjourn the concussion between the two principles; he only +demanded from France such concessions as would enable him to repress the +ardour of Prussia, Germany, and Russia. The prince de Kaunitz, his +minister, continually wrote to M. de Lessart in this strain; and the +private communications which the king received from his ambassador at +the court of Vienna, the Marquis de Noailles, breathed the same spirit +of conciliation. Leopold only desired that guarantees should be given to +the monarchical powers for the establishment of order in France, and +that the constitution should be vigorously enforced by the executive +power. But the last sittings of the Assembly, the armaments of M. de +Narbonne, the accusations of Brissot, the fiery speeches of Vergniaud, +and the applause he had gained, began to weary his patience; and the +desire for war, so long repressed, now, in spite of himself, took +possession of him. "The French wish for war," said he one day; "they +shall have it--they shall see that the peaceful Leopold can be warlike +when the interest of his people demands it." + +The cabinet councils at Vienna became more frequent, in presence of the +emperor. Russia had just concluded peace with the Ottoman empire, and +was thus enabled to turn her eyes to France; Sweden fanned the flame of +all the princes; Prussia yielded to the advice of Leopold; England +observed, but pledged herself to nothing, for the struggle on the +Continent would increase her importance. The armaments were decided +upon, and on the 7th of February, 1792, the definitive treaty of +alliance between Austria and Prussia was signed at Berlin. "Now," wrote +Leopold to Frederic William, "it is France who menaces--who arms--who +provokes: Europe must arm." + +The party in favour of war in Germany triumphed. "It is very fortunate +for you," said the elector of Mayence to the Marquis de Bouillé, "that +the French were the aggressors; but for that we should never have had a +war." War was resolved upon in the councils, yet Leopold still hoped. In +an official note, which the prince de Kaunitz transmitted to the Marquis +de Noailles, for the king, Leopold yet showed himself willing to be +reconciled. M. de Lessart replied confidentially to these last +overtures, in a despatch which he had the honesty to communicate to the +diplomatic committee of the Assembly, composed of Girondists. In this +reply the minister palliated the charges made against the Assembly by +the emperor, and seemed rather to excuse France than justify. He +acknowledged that there were some disturbances in the kingdom, some +excesses in the clubs, some licence in the press; but he attributed +these disorders to the excitement produced by the movements of the +_emigrés_, and the inexperience of a people who essay their constitution +and wound themselves with it. + +"Indifference and contempt," said he, "are the fittest weapons with +which to combat this pest. Could Europe stoop so low, as to quarrel with +the French nation, because some few demagogues and madmen dwell amongst +them, and would honour them so far as to reply to them by cannon balls?" + +In a despatch of the prince de Kaunitz, addressed to all the European +cabinets, was this phrase,--"Latest events give us cause to hope, for it +is evident that the majority of the French nation, struck by the evils +they are preparing for themselves, are returning to more moderate +principles, and are inclined to restore to the throne the dignity and +authority which form the bases of monarchical government." The Assembly +remained silent from suspicion, and this suspicion was awakened whilst +diplomatic notes and counter notes were exchanged between the cabinet of +the Tuileries and the cabinet of Vienna. But no sooner had M. de Lessart +descended from the tribune, and the Assembly closed the sitting, than +the murmurs of mistrust were changed into loud and sullen exclamations +of indignation. + + +II. + +The Jacobins burst out into threats against the perfidious minister and +the court, who united in a treasonable combination, called the Austrian +Committee, concerted counter-revolutionary plans in the Tuileries, made +signals to the enemies of the nation from the very foot of the throne, +and secretly communicated with the court of Vienna, and dictated the +language necessary to intimidate France. The Memoirs of Hardenberg, the +Prussian minister, which have since been published, prove that these +accusations were not entirely the dreams of the demagogues; and that in +order to promote peace the two courts did all in their power to adopt +the same tone with each other. It was resolved that M. de Lessart should +be impeached, and Brissot, the leader of the diplomatic committee, the +advocate of war, undertook to prove his pretended crimes. + +The constitutional party abandoned M. de Lessart, without any defence, +to the hatred of the Jacobins; this party had no suspicions, but +vengeance to wreak upon M. de Lessart. The king had suddenly dismissed +M. de Narbonne, the rival of this minister in the council. M. de +Narbonne, feeling himself menaced, caused La Fayette to write a letter, +in which he conjured him to remain at his post so long as the perils of +his country rendered it necessary. + +This step, of which M. de Narbonne was cognisant, appeared to the king +an insolent act of oppression against his liberty and that of the +constitution. The popularity of M. de Narbonne diminished +proportionately as that of the Girondists became greater and inspired +them with more audacity. The Assembly began to change its applause into +murmurs when he mounted the tribune, whence a short time before he had +been shamefully forced to withdraw, because he had wounded the plebeian +susceptibility by appealing to the _most distinguished_ members of the +Assembly. The aristocracy of his rank showed itself beneath his uniform, +whilst the people wished for members of its own stamp in the councils; +and thus between the offended king and the suspicious Girondists, M. de +Narbonne fell. The king dismissed him, and he went to serve in the army +he had organised. His friends did not conceal their resentment. Madame +de Stäel lost in him her ambition and her ideal at the same time; but +she did not abandon all hope of regaining for M. de Narbonne the +confidence of the king, and of seeing him play a great political part. +She had sought to render him a Mirabeau, she now dreamed of making him a +Monk. From this day she conceived the idea of rescuing the king from the +power of the Jacobins and Girondists--of carrying him off through the +agency of M. de Narbonne and the constitutionalists--of re-seating him +on the throne--of crushing the extreme parties, and establishing her +ideal government--a liberal aristocracy. A woman of genius, her genius +had the prejudices of her birth; a plebeian, who had found her way to +court, it was necessary for her to have patricians between the throne +and the people. The first blow at M. de Lessart was dealt by a man who +frequented the _salon_ of Madame de Stäel. + + +III. + +But a more terrible and more unexpected blow fell on M. de Lessart: the +very day on which he thus surrendered himself to his enemies, the +unexpected death of the emperor Leopold was known at Paris, and with +this prince expired the last faint hope of peace, for his wisdom died +with him; and who could tell what new policy would arise from his tomb? +The agitation that prevailed filled every one with terror, and this was +soon changed into hatred against the unfortunate minister of Louis XVI. +He had neither known, it was said, how to profit by the pacific +disposition of Leopold whilst this prince yet lived, nor to forestall +the hostile designs of those who succeeded him in the dominion of +Germany. Every thing furnished fresh accusation against him, even +fatality and death. + +At the moment of his decease all was ready for hostility. Two hundred +thousand men formed a line from Bâle to the Scheldt. The duke of +Brunswick, on whom rested every hope of the coalition, was at Berlin, +giving his last advice to the king of Prussia, and receiving his final +orders. Beschoffwerder, the general and confidant of the king of +Prussia, arrived at Vienna to concert with the emperor the point and +time of attack. On his arrival the prince de Kaunitz hastily informed +him of the sudden illness of the emperor. The 27th Leopold was in +perfect health, and received the Turkish envoy; on the 28th he was in +the agonies of death. His stomach swelled, and convulsive vomitings put +him to intense torture. The doctors, alarmed at these symptoms, ordered +copious bleeding, which appeared to allay his sufferings; but they +enervated the vital force of the prince, who had weakened himself by +debauchery. He fell asleep for a short time, and the doctors and +ministers withdrew; but he soon awoke in fresh convulsions, and died in +the presence of a valet de chambre, named Brunetti, in the arms of the +empress, who had just arrived. + +The intelligence of the death of the emperor, the more terrible as it +was so unexpected, spread abroad instantly, and surprised Germany at +the very moment of a crisis. Terror for the future destiny of Germany +was joined to pity for the empress and her children: the palace was all +confusion and despair; the ministers felt power snatched from their +grasp; the grandees of the court, without waiting for their carriages, +hurried to the court, in the disorder of astonishment, and grief and +sobs were heard in the vestibules and staircases that led to the +apartments of the empress. At this moment, this princess, without having +time to assume black, appeared, bathed in tears, surrounded by her +numerous children, and leading them to the new king of the Romans, the +eldest son of Leopold, she threw herself at his feet, and implored his +protection for these orphans. Francis I., mingling his tears with those +of his mother and brothers, one of whom was only four years old, raised +the empress, and embracing the children, vowed to be a second father to +them. + + +IV. + +This catastrophe was inexplicable to scientific men; politicians +suspected some mystery; the people poison. These reports of poison, +however, have neither been confirmed nor disproved by time. The most +probable opinion is that this prince had made an immoderate use of drugs +which he compounded himself, in order to recruit his constitution, +shattered by debauchery and excess. Lagusius, his chief physician, who +had assisted at the autopsy of the body, declared he discovered traces +of poison. Who had administered it? The Jacobins and _emigrés_ mutually +accused each other, the one party to disembarrass themselves of the +armed chief of the empire, and thus spread anarchy amongst the +federation of Germany, of which the emperor was the bond that united +them; the others had slain in Leopold the philosopher prince, who +temporised with France, and who retarded the war. A female was spoken of +who had attracted the notice of the emperor at the last _bal masqué_ at +the court, and it was said that this stranger, favoured by her disguise, +had given him poisoned sweetmeats, without its being possible to +discover from whose hand they came. Others accused the beautiful +Florentine, Donna Livia, his mistress, who, according to them, was the +fanatical instrument of a few priests. These anecdotes are the mere +chimeras of surprise and sorrow, for the people can never believe that +the events which have had so vast an influence over their destiny are +merely natural. But crimes, universally approved, are rare; opinion may +desire, but never commits them. Crime, like ambition or vengeance, is +personal: there was neither ambition nor vengeance around +Leopold,--nought but a few female jealousies; and his attachments were +too numerous and too fugitive to kindle in the heart of a mistress that +love that arms the hand with poison or poignard. He loved at the same +time Donna Livia, whom he had brought with him from Tuscany, and who was +known in Europe as "La belle Florentine," Prokache, a young Polish girl, +the charming countess of Walkenstein, and others of an inferior rank. +The countess of Walkenstein had for some time past been his avowed +mistress; he had given her a million (francs) in drafts on the bank of +Vienna, and he had even presented her to the empress, who forgave him +his weaknesses, on condition that he gave no one his political +confidence, which up to that time he had confided to her alone. He was a +devoted admirer of the fair sex, and it would be necessary to refer to +the most shameful epochs of Roman history to find any emperor whose life +was as scandalous as his own; his cabinet was found after his death to +be filled with valuable stuffs, rings, fans, trinkets, and even a +quantity of rouge. These traces of debauch made the empress blush when +she visited them with the new emperor. "My son," said she, "you have +before you the sad proof of your father's disorderly life, and of my +long afflictions: remember nothing of them except my forgiveness and his +virtues. Imitate his great qualities, but beware lest you fall into the +same vices, in order that you may not, in your turn, put to the blush +those who scrutinise your life." + +The prince in Leopold was superior to the man: he had made trial of a +philosophical government in Tuscany, and this happy country yet blesses +his memory; but his genius was not suited for a more enlarged field. The +struggle, forced on him by the French Revolution, compelled him to seize +on the helm in Germany; but he did so without energy. He opposed the +temporising policy of diplomacy to the contagion of new ideas; he was +the Fabius of kings. To afford the Revolution time was to ensure it the +victory. It could be only vanquished by surprise, and stifled in its own +stronghold; the genius of the people was its negotiator and accomplice, +and its increasing popularity was its army. Its ideas found new +adherents in princes, people, and cabinets. Leopold would have given it +a share, but the share of the Revolution is the conquest of every thing +that opposes its principles. The principles of Leopold could conciliate +the Revolution, but his power as the arbitrator of Germany could not +conciliate the conquering power of France. His part was a double one, +and his position false. He died at a right moment for his renown; he +paralysed Germany, and checked the impetus of France, and, by +disappearing between the two, he left the two principles to clash +together, and destiny to take its course. + + +V. + +Opinion, already agitated by the death of Leopold, received another +shock from the news of the tragical death of the king of Sweden, who was +assassinated on the night of the 16th of March, 1792, at a masked ball. +Death seemed to strike, one after another, all the enemies of France. +The Jacobins saw its hand in all these catastrophes, and even boasted of +them through their most audacious demagogues; but they proclaimed more +crimes than they committed, and their wishes alone shared in these +assassinations. + +Gustavus, this hero of the counter-revolution, this chevalier of +aristocracy, fell by the blows of his nobility. When he was ready to set +forth on the expedition he projected against France, he had assembled +his diet to ensure the tranquillity of the kingdom during his absence. +His vigorous measures had put down the malcontents; yet it was foretold +to him, like Cæsar, that the ides of March would be a critical period of +his destiny. A thousand traces revealed a plot, and his intended +assassination was rumoured over all Germany before the blow was struck. +These rumours are the forerunners of projected crimes: some indication +escapes the heart of the conspirator, and it is by this means that the +event is predicted before it happens. + +The king of Sweden, warned by his numerous friends, who entreated him to +be upon his guard, replied, like Cæsar, that the stroke when once +received was less painful than the perpetual dread of receiving it, and +that if he listened to all these warnings, he could no longer drink a +glass of water without trembling. He braved danger, and showed himself +more than ever to the people. The conspirators had made several +fruitless attempts during the Diet, but chance had preserved the king. +Since his return to Stockholm, the king frequently went to pass the day +alone at his château at Haga, a league from the capital. Three of the +conspirators had approached the château, at five o'clock on a dark +winter's evening, armed with carbines, and ready to fire on the king. +The apartment he occupied was on the ground floor, and the lighted +candles in the library enabled them to see their victim. Gustavus, on +his return from hunting, undressed, and fell asleep in an arm chair, +within a few feet of the assassins. Whether it was that they were +alarmed by the sound of footsteps, or that the solemn contrast of the +peaceful slumber of this prince with the death that threatened him, +softened their hearts, they again abandoned their project, and only +revealed this circumstance on their trial after the assassination, when +the king acknowledged the truth and precision of their details. They +were ready to renounce their intention, discouraged by a sort of divine +intervention, and by the fatigue of having so long meditated this design +in vain, when a fatal occasion tempted them too strongly, and made them +resolve on the murder of the king. + + +VI. + +A masked ball was given at the opera, which the king was to attend, and +the conspirators resolved to take advantage of the mystery of the +disguise and tumult of the fête to strike the blow, without allowing the +hand to appear. A short time before the ball the king supped with a few +of his most intimate courtiers. A letter was brought to him, which he +opened, and reading it jestingly, then threw it on the table. The +anonymous writer informed him that he was neither a friend to his person +nor an approver of his policy, but that as a loyal enemy he desired to +inform him of the death that menaced him. He counselled him not to go +to the ball; or, if he persisted, he advised him to mistrust the crowd +that might press around him, for that was the signal for the blow to be +aimed at him. That the king might not doubt the warning thus given, he +recalled to his memory his dress, gesture, his sleep in his apartment of +Haga in the evening that he had believed himself quite alone. Such +convincing proofs must have struck and intimidated the mind of the +prince, but his intrepid soul made him brave, not only the warning, but +death: he rose and went to the ball. + + +VII. + +Scarcely had he reached the apartment, when he was surrounded, as he had +been warned, by a group of masks, and separated, as if by preconcerted +movement, from the body of officers who were in attendance. At this +moment an invisible hand fired at his back a pistol loaded with slugs. +The blow struck him in the left flank above the hip. Gustavus fell into +the arms of Count d'Armsfeld, his favourite. The report of the fire arm, +the smell of powder, the cries of "_fire_," which resounded through the +apartment, the confusion which followed the king's fall, the real or +feigned anxiety of persons who hurried forward to save him, favoured the +escape of the assassins: the pistol had been dropped on the ground. +Gustavus did not lose his presence of mind for a moment. He ordered the +doors to be immediately closed, and desired all to unmask. Carried by +his guards into an apartment in the opera-house, he was confided to his +surgeons. He admitted some of the foreign ministers into his presence, +and spoke to them with all the calmness of a strong mind. Even his pain +did not inspire him with any feeling of vengeance. Generous even in +death, he demanded anxiously if the assassin had been apprehended. He +was told that he was unknown. "Oh God, grant," he said, "that he may not +be discovered." + +Whilst the king was receiving the first attentions, and being conveyed +to the palace, the guards stationed at the doors of the ball-room +compelled all to take off their masks, asked their names, and searched +their persons: nothing suspicious was discovered. Four of the chief +conspirators, men of the highest nobility in Stockholm, had succeeded +in escaping from the apartment in the first confusion produced by the +report of the pistol, and before the doors had been closed. Of nine +confidants or accomplices in the crime, eight had already gone away +without exciting any suspicion: only one was left in the apartment, who +affected a slow step and calm demeanour as guarantees of his innocence. + +He left the apartment last of all, raising his mask before the officer +of police, and saying, as he looked steadfastly at him, "As for me, sir, +I hope you do not suspect me." This man was the assassin. + +They allowed him to pass; the crime had no other evidence than itself, a +pistol, and a knife, sharpened as a poignard, found beneath the masks +and flowers on the floor of the opera. The weapon revealed the hand. A +gunsmith at Stockholm identified the pistol, and declared he had +recently sold it to a Swedish gentleman, formerly an officer in the +guards, named Ankastroem. They found Ankastroem at his house, neither +thinking of exculpation nor of flight. He confessed the weapon and the +crime. An unjust judgment, he averred, in which however the king spared +his life, the wearisomeness of an existence which he had cherished to +employ and make illustrious at its close for his country's advantage, +the hope, if he succeeded, of a national recompence worthy of the deed, +had, he declared, inspired this project; and he claimed to himself alone +the glory or disgrace. He denied all plot and all accomplices. Beneath +the fanatic he masked the conspirator. + +He failed in his part, after a few days, beneath the truth and his +remorse. He avowed the conspiracy, named the guilty, and the reward of +his crime. It was a sum of money, that had been weighed, rix-dollar by +rix-dollar, against the blood of Gustavus. The plot, planned six months +before, had been thrice frustrated, by chance or destiny--at the diet of +Jessen, at Stockholm, and at Haga. The king killed, all his +favourites--all the instruments of his government--must be sacrificed to +the vengeance of the senate and the restoration of the aristocracy. +Their heads were to have been carried at the tops of pikes, in the +streets of the capital, in imitation of the popular punishments of +Paris. The duke of Sudermania, the king's brother, was to be +sacrificed. The young monarch, handed over to the conspirators, was to +serve as a passive instrument to re-establish the ancient constitution, +and legitimate their crime. The principal conspirators belonged to the +first families in Sweden; the shame of their lost power had debased +their ambition, even to crime. They were the Count de Bibbing, Count de +Horn, Baron d'Erensward, and Colonel Lilienhorn. Lilienhorn, commandant +of the guards, drawn from misery and obscurity by the king's favour, +promoted to the first rank in the army, and admitted to closest intimacy +in the palace, confessed his ingratitude and his crime; seduced, he +declared, by the ambition of commanding, during the trouble, the +national guard of Stockholm. The part played by La Fayette in Paris +seemed to him the ideal of the citizen and the soldier. He could not +resist the fascination of the perspective; half-way in the conspiracy, +he had endeavoured to render it impossible, even whilst he meditated it. +It was he who had written the anonymous letter to the king, in which the +king was warned of the failure in the attempt at Haga, and that which +threatened him at this fête; with one hand he thrust forward the +assassin--with the other he held back the victim, as though he had thus +prepared for himself an excuse for his remorse after the deed was done. + +On the fatal day he had passed the evening in the king's apartments--had +seen him read the letter--had followed him to the ball. Enigma of +crime--a pitying assassin! the mind thus divided between the thirst for, +and horror of, his benefactor's blood. + + +VIII. + +Gustavus died slowly: he saw death approach and recede with the same +indifference, or the same resignation; received his court, conversed +with his friends, even reconciled himself to the opponents of his +government, who did not conceal their opposition, but did not push their +aristocratic resentment to assassination. "I am consoled," he said, to +the Count de Brahé, one of the greatest of the nobility and chief of the +malcontents, "since death enables me to recover an old friend in you." + +He watched to the very last over his kingdom; nominated the Duke of +Sudermania regent, instituted a council of regency, made his friend +Armsfeld military governor of Stockholm, surrounded the young king, only +thirteen years of age, with all that could strengthen his position +during his minority. He prepared his passage from one world to another, +awaiting his death, so that it should be an event to himself alone. "My +son," he wrote, a few hours before he died, "will not come of age before +he is eighteen, but I hope he will be king at sixteen;" thus predicting +for his successor that precocity of courage and genius which had enabled +him to reign and govern before the time. He said to his grand almoner, +in confessing himself, "I do not think I shall take with me great merits +before God, but at least I shall have the consciousness of never having +willingly done harm to any person." Then, having requested a moment's +repose to acquire strength, in order to embrace his family for the last +time, he bid adieu, with a smile, to his friend Bergenstiern, and, +falling asleep, never waked again. + +The prince royal, proclaimed king, mounted the throne the same day. The +people, whom Gustavus had emancipated from the yoke of the senate, swore +spontaneously to defend his institutions in his son. He had so well +employed the day, which God had allowed him between assassination and +death, that nothing perished but himself, and his shade seemed to +continue to reign over Sweden. + +This prince had nothing great but his soul, nor handsome but his eyes. +Small in size, with broad shoulders, his haunches badly set on, his +forehead singularly shaped, long nose, large mouth, the grace and +animation of his countenance overcame every imperfection of figure, and +rendered Gustavus one of the most attractive men in his dominions; +intelligence, goodness, courage, beamed from his eyes, and pervaded his +features. You felt the man, admired the king, appreciated the hero. +There was heart in his genius, as there is in all really great men. Well +informed, deeply read, eloquent, he applied all his endowments to the +empire; those whom he had conquered by his courage, he vanquished by his +generosity, and charmed by his language. His faults were display and +pleasure; he liked the glory of those enjoyments and amours which are +found and pardoned in heroes; his vices were those of Alexander, Cæsar, +and Henri IV. The revenge of a disgraceful amour had something to do +with the conspiracy which destroyed him; to resemble these great men, he +only wanted their destiny. + +When almost a child, he had rescued himself from the tutelage of the +aristocracy; in emancipating the throne, he had emancipated the people. +At the head of an army, recruited without money, and which he +disciplined by its enthusiasm, he conquered Finland, and went on from +victory to victory to St. Petersburgh. Checked in his greatness by a +revolt of his officers, surrounded in his tent by his guards, he had +escaped by flight, and had gone to the succour of another portion of his +kingdom, invaded by the Danes. Again a victor against these deadly +enemies of Sweden, the gratitude of the nation had restored to him his +repentant army; and his sole vengeance was in again leading them to +conquest. + +He had subdued all without, tranquillised all within, and had only one +ambition left--disinterested from every consideration but fame--to +avenge the forsaken cause of Louis XVI., and to secure from her +persecutors a queen whom he adored at a distance. This was the vision of +a hero; it had but one mistake--his genius was vaster than his empire. +Heroism with disproportioned means makes the great man resemble an +adventurer, and transforms gigantic designs into follies. But history +does not judge like fortune, and it is the heart rather than success +that makes the hero. The romantic and adventurous character of Gustavus +is still the greatness of a restless and struggling soul in the +pettiness of its destiny. His death excited a shriek of joy amongst the +Jacobins, who deified Ankastroem; but their burst of delight on learning +the end of Gustavus, proved how insincere was their affected contempt +for this enemy of the constitution. + + +IX. + +These two obstacles removed, nothing now kept France and Europe on terms +but the feeble cabinet of Louis XVI. The impatience of the nation, the +ambition of the Girondists, and the resentment of the constitutionalists +wounded through M. de Narbonne, united them to overthrow this cabinet. +Brissot, Vergniaud, Guadet, Condorcet, Gensonné, Pétion, their friends +in the Assembly, the council-chamber of Madame Roland, their Seids +amongst the Jacobins balanced between two ambitions--equally open to +their abilities--to destroy power or seize on it. Brissot counselled +this latter measure. More conversant with politics than the young +orators of the Gironde, he did not comprehend the Revolution without +government; anarchy, in his opinion, did not destroy the monarchy more +than it did liberty. The greater were events, the more necessary was the +direction of them. Placed disarmed in the foremost rank of the Assembly +and of opinion, power presented itself, and it was necessary to lay +hands upon it. Once in their grasp, they would make of it, according to +the dictates of fortune and the will of the people, a monarchy or a +republic. Ready for any thing that would allow them to reign in the name +of the king or of the people, this counsel was pleasing to men who had +scarcely emerged from obscurity, and who, seduced by the facility of +their good fortune, seized on it at its first smile. Men who ascend +quickly, easily become giddy. + +Still a very profound line of policy was disclosed in the secret council +of the Girondists, in the choice of the men whom they put forward, and +whom they presented for ministers to the king. + +Brissot in this gave evidence of the patience of consummate ambition. He +inspired Vergniaud, Pétion, Guadet, Gensonné, as well as all the leading +men of his party, with similar patience. He remained with them in the +twilight close to power, but not included in the projected ministry, +being desirous of feeling the pulse of popular opinion through secondary +men, who could be disavowed or sacrificed at need, and keeping in +reserve himself and the leaders of the Girondists, either to support or +overthrow this weak and transitory ministry, if the nation should +resolve upon more decisive measures. Brissot, and those who acted with +him, were thus ready at all points, as well to direct as to replace +power--they were masters without any responsibility. The doctrines of +Machiavel were very perceptible in this tactic of statesmen. Besides, by +abstaining from entering into the first cabinet, they would remain +popular, and maintain, in the Assembly and Jacobins, those voices of +power which would have been stifled in an administration. Popularity was +requisite for their contest with Robespierre, who was treading so +closely on their heels, and who would soon be at the head of opinion if +they abandoned it to him. On entering upon their course they affected +for this rival more contempt than they really felt. Robespierre, +single-handed, balanced their influence with the Jacobins. The +vociferations of Billaud, Varennes, Danton, Collot d'Herbois, did not in +the least alarm them. Robespierre's silence gave them considerable +uneasiness. They had been successful in the question of war; but the +stoical opposition of Robespierre, and the desire of the people for war, +had not affected his reputation. This man had redoubled his power in his +isolation. The inspiration of a mind alone and incorruptible was more +powerful than the enthusiasm of a whole party. Those who did not +approve, still admired him. He had stood aside to allow war to pass by +him, but opinion always had its eyes on him, and it might have been said +that a secret instinct revealed to the people that in this man was the +destiny of the future. When he advanced, they followed him; when he did +not move, they waited for him. The Girondists, therefore, were +compelled, from prudential motives, to distrust this man, and to remain +in the Assembly between their own course and him. These precautions +taken, they looked about them for the men who were nullities by +themselves, and yet, engrafted on their party, of whom they could make +ministers. They required instruments, and not masters,--Seids attached +to their fortune, whom they could direct at will either against the king +or against the Jacobins--could elevate without fear, or reject without +compunction. They sought them in obscurity, and believed they had found +them in Clavière, Roland, Dumouriez, Lacoste, and Duranton,--they made +only one mistake: Dumouriez, under the guise of an adventurer, had +talents equal to any emergency.[18] + + +X. + +The party thus distributed, and Madame Roland informed of the proposed +elevation of her husband, the Girondists attacked the ministry in the +person of M. de Lessart, at the sitting of the 10th of March. Brissot +read against this minister a bill of accusation, skilfully and +perfidiously fabricated, in which the appearance presented by facts and +the conjecture derived from proofs, cast on the negotiation of M. de +Lessart all the odium and criminality of treason. He proposed that a +decree of accusation should proceed against the minister for foreign +affairs. The Assembly was silent or applauded. Some members, with a view +of defending the minister, demanded time in order that the Assembly +might reflect on the charge, and thus, at least, affect the impartiality +of justice. "Hasten!" exclaimed Isnard; "whilst you are deliberating +perhaps the traitor will flee." "I have been a long time judge," replied +Boulanger, "and never did I decree capital punishment so lightly." +Vergniaud, who saw the indecision of the Assembly, rushed twice into the +tribune to combat the excuses and the delays of the right side. Becquet, +whose coolness was equal to his courage, desirous of averting the peril, +proposed that it should be sent to the diplomatic committee. Vergniaud +began to fear that the moment would escape his party, and said, "No, no +we do not require actual proofs for a criminal accusation--presumptive +proofs are sufficient. There is not one of us in whose minds the +cowardice and perfidy which characterises the acts of the minister have +not produced the most lively indignation. Is it not he who has for two +months kept in his portfolio the decree of the reunion of Avignon with +France? and the blood spilled in that city, the mutilated carcases of so +many victims, do they not cry to us for vengeance against him? I see +from this tribune the palace in which evil counsellors deceive the king +whom the constitution gives to us, forge the fetters which enchain us, +and plot the stratagems which are to deliver us to the house of Austria. +(Loud acclamations.) The day has arrived to put an end to such audacity +and insolence, and to crush such conspirators. Dread and terror have +frequently, in the ancient times, come forth from this palace in the +name of despotism: let them return thither to-day in the name of the law +(loud applauses); let them penetrate all hearts; let all those who +inhabit it know that the constitution promises inviolability to the king +alone; let them learn that the law will reach all the guilty, and that +not one head convicted of criminality can escape its sword." + +These allusions to the queen, who was accused of directing the Austrian +committee, this threatening language, addressed to the king, went +echoing into the king's cabinet, and forced his hand to sign the +nomination of a Girondist ministry. This was a party manoeuvre, +executed beneath the appearance of sudden indignation in the tribune--it +was more, it was the first signal made by the Girondists to the men of +the 20th of June and the 10th of August. The act of accusation was +carried, and De Lessart sent to the court of Orleans, which only yielded +him up to the cut-throats of Versailles. He might have fled, but his +flight would have been interpreted against the king. He placed himself +generously between death and his master, innocent of every crime except +his love for him. + +The king felt that there was but one step between himself and +abdication: that was, by taking his ministry from amongst his enemies, +and giving them an interest in power, by placing it in their hands. He +yielded to the times, embraced his minister, and requested the +Girondists to supply him with another. The Girondists were already +silently occupied in so doing. They had previously made, in the name of +the party, overtures to Roland at the end of February. "The court," they +said to him, "is not very far off from taking Jacobin ministers: not +from inclination, but through treachery. The confidence it will feign to +bestow will be a snare. It requires violent men in order to impute to +them the excesses of the people and the disorders of the kingdom: we +must deceive its perfidious hopes, and give to it firm and sagacious +patriots. We think of you." + + +XI. + +Roland, whose ambition had soured in obscurity, had smiled at the power +which came to avenge his old age. Brissot, himself, had gone to Madame +Roland on the 21st of the same month, and repeating the same words, had +requested from her the formal consent of her husband. Madame Roland was +ambitious, not of power but of fame. Fame lightens up the higher places +only, and she ardently desired to see her husband elevated to this +eminence. She spoke like a woman who had predicted the event, and whom +fortune does not surprise. "The burden is heavy," she said to Brissot, +"but Roland has a great consciousness of his own powers, and would +derive fresh strength from the feeling of being useful to liberty and +his country." + +This choice being made, the Girondists cast their eyes on Lacoste, an +active commissioner of the navy, a working man, his mind limited by his +duties, but honest and upright; his very candour of nature preserving +him from faction. Put into council to watch over his master, he +naturally became his friend. Duranton, an advocate of Bordeaux, was +called to the bureau of justice. The Girondists, who knew him, boasted +of his honesty, and relied on his plasticity and weakness. Brissot +intended for the finance department Clavière, a Genevese economist, +driven from his native land, a relation and friend of his own; used to +intrigue; rival of Necker; brought up in the cabinet of Mirabeau, in +order to bring forward a rival against this finance minister, so hateful +to Mirabeau: a man without republican prejudices or monarchical +principles, only seeking in the Revolution a part, and with whom the +great aim and end was--to get on. His mind, indifferent to all scruples, +was on a level with every situation, and at the height of all parties. +The Girondists, new to state affairs, required men well conversant in +the details of war and finance departments, and who yet were the mere +tools of their government: Clavière was one of these. In the war office +they had De Grave, by whom the king had replaced Narbonne. De Grave, who +from the subaltern ranks of the army had been raised to the post of +minister of war, had declared relations with the Girondists. The friends +of Gensonné, Vergniaud, Guadet, Brissot, and even Danton, hoped, through +their instrumentality, to save at the same time the constitution and the +king. Devoted to both, he was the link by which he hoped to unite the +Girondists to royalty. Young, he had the illusions of his age: +constitutional, he had the sincerity of his conviction; but weak, in ill +health, more ready to undertake than firm to execute, he was one of +those men of the moment who help events to their accomplishment, and do +not disturb them when they are accomplished. + +The principal minister, however, he to whose hands was to be confided +the fate of his country, and who was to comprise in himself all the +policy of the Girondists, was the minister for foreign affairs, destined +to replace the unfortunate De Lessart. The rupture with Europe was the +most pressing matter with the party, and they required a man who would +control the king, detect the secret intrigues of the court, cognisant of +the mysteries of European cabinets, and who knew how, by his skill and +resolution, at the same time to force our enemies into a war,--our +dubious friends into neutrality,--our secret partisans to an alliance. +They sought such a man: he was close at hand. + + + + +BOOK XIII. + + +I. + +Dumouriez combined all the requisites of boldness, devotion to the +cause, and talent that the Girondists required, and yet, until then, a +second-rate man, and almost unknown, had no fortune to hope for but as +theirs culminated. His name would not give umbrage to their genius, and +if he proved incompetent, or rebelled against their projects, they would +remove him without fear, or crush him without pity. Brissot, the +diplomatic oracle of the Gironde, was evidently to be the minister who +was one day to control our foreign relations, and who _en attendant_ was +to govern for the moment under the name of Dumouriez. + +The Girondists had discovered Dumouriez in the obscurity of an +existence, until then very insignificant, through Gensonné, whose +colleague Dumouriez had been in the mission which the Constituent +Assembly had given him to visit and examine the position of the western +departments, already agitated by the secret presentiment of civil war +and the early religious troubles. During this inquiry, which lasted +several months, the two commissioners had frequent opportunities for an +interchange of their most private thoughts on the great events which at +this moment agitated men's minds. They became much attached to each +other. Gensonné detected with much tact in his colleague one of those +intellects repressed by circumstances, and weighed down by the +obscurity of their lot, which it is enough to expose to the open +daylight of public action, in order to shine forth with all the +brilliancy with which nature and study had endowed it: he had too found +in this mind the spring of character strong enough to bear the movements +of a revolution, and sufficiently elastic to bend to all the +difficulties of affairs. In a word, Dumouriez had on the first contact +exercised over Gensonné that influence, that ascendency, that empire +which superiority, when it displays and humbles itself, never fails to +acquire over minds to which it condescends to disclose itself. + +This attractive power, the confidence of genius, was one of the +characteristics of Dumouriez, and by that he subsequently made a +conquest of the Girondists, the king, the queen, his army, the Jacobins, +Danton,--Robespierre himself. It was what great men call their star,--a +star which precedes them, and prepares their way. Dumouriez's star was +fascination of manner; but this fascination was but the attraction of +his just, rapid, quick ideas, into whose orbit the incredible activity +of his mind carried away the mind of those who heard his thoughts or +witnessed his actions. Gensonné, on his return from his mission, had +desired to enrich his party with this unknown man, whose eminence he +foresaw from afar. He presented Dumouriez to his friends of the +Assembly, to Guadet, Vergniaud, Roland, Brissot, and De Grave: +communicated to them his own astonishment at, and confidence in, the +twofold faculties of Dumouriez as diplomatist and soldier. He spoke of +him as of a concealed saviour, whom fate had reserved for liberty. He +conjured them to attach to themselves a man whose greatness would +enhance their own. + +They had scarcely seen Dumouriez before they were convinced. His +intellect was electrical: it struck before they had time to anatomise +it. The Girondists presented him to De Grave, and De Grave to the king, +who offered him the temporary management of foreign affairs, until M. de +Lessart, sent before the _Haute Cour_, had proved his innocence to his +judges, and could resume the place reserved for him in the council. +Dumouriez refused the post of minister _pro tempore_, which would injure +and weaken his position before all parties by rendering him suspected +by all. The king yielded, and Dumouriez was appointed. + + +II. + +History should pause a moment before this man, who, without having +assumed the name of Dictator, concentrated in himself during two years +all expiring France, and exercised over his country the most +incontestible of dictatorships--that of genius. Dumouriez was of the +number of men who are not to be painted by merely naming them, but of +those whose previous life explains their nature; who have in the past +the secret of their future; who have, like Mirabeau, their existence +spread over two epochs; who have their roots in two soils, and are only +known by the perusal of every detail. + +Dumouriez, son of a commissioner in the war department, was born at +Cambrai in 1739; and although his family lived in the north, his blood +was southern by extraction. His family, originally from Aix, in +Provence, evinced itself in the light, warmth, and sensibility of his +nature; there was perceptible the same sky that had rendered so prolific +the genius of Mirabeau. His father, a military and well-read man, +educated him equally for war and literature. One of his uncles, employed +in the foreign office, made him early a diplomatist. A mind equally +powerful and supple, he lent himself equally to all--as fitted for +action as for thought, he passed from one to the other with facility, +according to the phases of his destiny. There was in him the flexibility +of the Greek mind in the stirring periods of the democracy in Athens. +His deep study early directed his mind to history, that poem of men of +action. Plutarch nourished him with his manly diet. He moulded on the +antique figures drawn from life by the historian the ideal of his own +life, only all the parts of every great man suited him alike: he assumed +them by turns, realised them in his reveries, as suited to reproduce In +him the voluptuary as the sage, the malcontent as the patriot; +Aristippus as Themistocles; Scipio as Coriolanus. He mingled with his +studies the exercises of a military life, formed his body to fatigue, at +the same time that he fashioned his mind to lofty ideas; equally skilled +in handling a sword and daring in subduing a horse. + +Demosthenes, by patience, formed a sonorous voice from a stammering +tongue. Dumouriez, with a weak and ailing constitution in his childhood, +enured his body for war. The stirring ambition of his soul required that +the frame which encased it should be of endurance. + + +III. + +Opposing the desires of his father, who destined him for the war +office, the pen was his abhorrence, and he obtained a sub-lieutenancy in +the cavalry. As aide-de-camp of marshal d'Armentières, he made the +campaign of Hanover. In a retreat he seized the standard from the hands +of a fugitive, rallied two hundred troopers round him, saved a battery +of five pieces of cannon, and covered the passage of the army. Remaining +almost alone in the rear, he made himself a rampart of his dead horse, +and wounded three of the enemy's hussars. Wounded in many places by +gun-shot and sabre wounds--his thigh entangled beneath a fallen +horse--two fingers of his right hand severed--his forehead cut open--his +eyes literally singed by a discharge of powder, he still fought, and +only surrendered prisoner to the Baron de Beker, who saved his life, and +conveyed him to the camp of the English. + +His youth and good constitution restored him to health at the end of two +months. Destined to form himself to victory by the example of defeats, +and want of experience in our generals, he rejoined marshal de Soubise +and marshal de Broglie; and was present at the routs which the French +owe to their enmity and rivalry. + +At the peace he went to rejoin his regiment in garrison at Saint Lô. +Passing by Pont Audemer, he stopped at the house of his father's sister. +A passionate love for one of his uncle's daughters kept him there. This +love, shared by his cousin, and favoured by his aunt, was opposed by his +father. The young girl, in despair, took refuge in a convent. Dumouriez +swore to take her thence, and went away. On his road, overcome by his +grief, he bought some opium at Dieppe, shut himself up in his apartment, +wrote his adieus to his beloved, a letter of reproaches to his father, +and took the poison. Nature saved him, and repentance ensued--he went, +and, throwing himself at his father's feet, they were reconciled. + +At four and twenty years of age, after seven campaigns, he brought from +the wars only twenty-two wounds, a decoration, the rank of captain, a +pension of 600 livres, debts contracted in the service, and a hopeless +love, which preyed upon his mind. His ambition, spurred by his love, +made him seek in politics that success which war had hitherto refused +him. + +There was then in Paris one of those enigmatic men who are at the same +time intriguers and statesmen. Unknown and unconsidered, they play under +some name parts hidden, but important in affairs. Men of police, as well +as of politics, the governments that employ and despise them pay their +services, not in appointments, but in subsidies. Manoeuvrers in +politics, they are paid from day to day--they are urged onwards, +compromised, and then disavowed, and sometimes even imprisoned. They +suffer all, even captivity and dishonour, for money. Such men are things +to buy and sell, and their talent and utility stamp their price. Of this +class were Linguet, Brissot, even Mirabeau in his youth. Such at this +period was one Favier. + +This man, employed in turns by the duc de Choiseul and M. d'Argenson, to +draw up diplomatic memoranda, had an infinite knowledge of Europe; he +was the vigilant spy of every cabinet, knew their back-games, guessed +their intrigues, and kept them in play by counter-mines, of which the +minister for foreign affairs did not always know the secret. Louis XV., +a king of small ideas and petty resources, was not ashamed to take into +his confidence Favier, as an instrument in the schemes he contemplated +against his own ministers. Favier was the go-between in the political +correspondence which this monarch kept up with the count de Broglie, +unknown to, and against the policy of, his own ministers. This +confidence, suspected by, rather than known to, his ministers, talent as +a very able writer, deep knowledge of national eras, of history, and +diplomacy, gave Favier a credit with the administration, and an +influence over affairs very much beyond his obscure position and dubious +character; he was, in some sort, the minister of the intrigues of high +life of his time. + + +IV. + +Dumouriez seeing the high roads to fortune closed before him, resolved +to cast himself into them by indirect ways; and with this view attached +himself to Favier. Favier attached himself to him, and in this +connection of his earlier years, Dumouriez acquired that character for +adventure and audacity which gave, during all his life, something +skilful as intrigue and as rash as a _coup de main_ to his heroism and +his policy. Favier initiated him into the secrets of courts, and engaged +Louis XV. and the Duc de Choiseul to employ Dumouriez in diplomacy and +war at the same time. + +It was at this moment that the great Corsican patriot, Paoli, was making +gigantic efforts to rescue his country from the tyranny of the republic +of Genoa, and to assure to this people an independence, of which he by +turns offered the patronage to England and to France. On reaching Genoa, +Dumouriez undertook to deceive at the same time the Republic, England, +and Paoli, united himself with Corsican adventurers, conspired against +Paoli, made a descent upon the island, which he summoned to +independence, and was partially successful. He threw himself into a +felucca, to bring to the Duc de Choiseul information as to the new state +of Corsica, and to implore the succour of France. Delayed by a tempest, +tossed for several weeks on the coast of Africa, he reached Marseilles +too late; the treaty between France and Genoa was signed. He hastened to +Favier, his friend in Paris. + +Favier informed him confidentially, that he was employed to draw up a +memorial to prove to the king and his ministers the necessity of +supporting the republic of Genoa against the independent Corsicans; that +this memorial had been demanded of him secretly by the Genoese +ambassador, and by a _femme de chambre_ of the Duchesse de Grammont, +favourite sister of the Duc de Choiseul, interested, like the brothers +of the Du Barry[19], in supplying the army: that 500 louis were the +price of this memorial and the blood of the Corsicans; and he offered a +portion of this intrigue and its profits to Dumouriez who pretended to +accept this, and then hastening to the Duc de Choiseul, revealed the +manoeuvre, was well received, believed he had convinced the minister, +and was preparing to return, conveying to the Corsicans the subsidies +and arms they expected. Next day, he found the minister changed, and was +sent from the audience with harsh language. Dumouriez retired, and made +his way unmolested to Spain. Aided by Favier, who was satisfied with +having jockeyed him, and pitied his candour; assisted by the Duc de +Choiseul, he conspired with the Spanish minister and French ambassador +to effect the conquest of Portugal, whose topography he was empowered to +study in a military point of view, as well as its means of defence. The +Marquis de Pombal, first minister of Portugal, conceived suspicions as +to Dumouriez's mission, and forced him to leave Lisbon. The young +diplomatist returned to Madrid, learned that his cousin, over-persuaded +by the priests, had abandoned him, and meant to take the veil. He then +attached himself to another mistress, a young Frenchwoman, daughter of +an architect established at Madrid, and for some years his activity +reposed in the happiness of a participated love. An order of the Duc de +Choiseul recalled him to Paris,--he hesitated: his beloved herself +compelled him, and sacrificed him as if she had from afar anticipated +his fame. He reached Paris, and was named quartermaster-general of the +French army in Corsica, where, as everywhere else, he greatly +distinguished himself. At the head of a detachment of volunteers, he +seized on the Château de Corte, the last asylum and home of Paoli. He +retained for himself the library of this unfortunate patriot. The choice +of these books, and the notes with which they were covered in Paoli's +hand, revealed one of those characters which seek their fellows in the +finest models of antiquity. Dumouriez was worthy of this spoil, since he +appreciated it above gold. The great Frederic called Paoli the first +captain of Europe: Voltaire declared him the conqueror and lawgiver of +his country. The French blushed at conquering him--fortune at forsaking +him. If he did not emancipate his country, he deserved that his struggle +should be immortalised. Too great a citizen for so small a people, he +did not bear a reputation in proportion to his country, but to his +virtues. Corsica remains in the ranks of conquered provinces; but Paoli +must always be in the ranks of great men. + + +V. + +After his return to Paris, Dumouriez passed a year in the society of the +literary men and women of light fame who gave to the society of the +period the spirit and the tone of a constant orgy. Forming an attachment +with an old acquaintance of Madame Du Barry, he knew this _parvenue_ +courtezan, whom libertinism had elevated nearly to the throne. Devoted +to the Duc de Choiseul, the enemy of this mistress of the king, and +retaining that remnant of virtue which amongst the French is called +honour, he did not prostitute his uniform to the court, and blushed to +see the old monarch, at the reviews of Fontainebleau, walk on foot with +his hat off before his army, beside a carriage in which this woman +displayed her beauty and her empire. Madame Du Barry took offence at the +forgetfulness of the young officer, and divined the cause of his +absence. Dumouriez was sent to Poland on the same errand that had before +despatched him to Portugal. His mission, half diplomatic, half military, +was, in consequence of a secret idea of the king, approved by his +confidant, the Count de Broglie, and by Favier, the count's adviser. + +It was at the moment when Poland, menaced and half-occupied by the +Russians, devoured by Prussia, forsaken by Austria, was attempting some +ill-considered movements, in order to repair its scattered limbs, and to +dispute, at least, in fragments, its nationality with its +oppressors--the last sigh of liberty which moved the corpse of a people. +The king, who feared to come into collision with the Empress of Russia, +Catherine, to give excuses to the hostilities of Frederic and umbrage to +the court of Vienna, was still desirous of extending to expiring Poland +the hand of France; but concealing that hand, and reserving to himself +the power even to cut it off, if it became necessary. Dumouriez was the +intermediary selected for this part; the secret minister of France, +amongst the Polish confederates; a general, if necessary--but a general +adventurer and disowned--to rally and direct their efforts. + +The Duc de Choiseul, indignant at the debasement of France, was +secretly preparing war against Prussia and England. This powerful +diversion in Poland was necessary for his plan of campaign, and he gave +his confidential instructions to Dumouriez; but, thrown out of the +administration by the intrigues of Madame Du Barry and M. d'Argenson, +the Duc de Choiseul was suddenly exiled to Versailles before Dumouriez +reached Poland. The policy of France, changing with the minister, at +once destroyed Dumouriez's plans. Still he followed them up with an +ardour and perseverance worthy of better success. He found the Poles +debased by misery, slavery, and the custom of bearing a foreign yoke. He +found the Polish aristocrats corrupted by luxury, enervated by +pleasures, employing in intrigues and language the warmth of their +patriotism in the conferences and confederation of _Epéries_. A female +of remarkable beauty, high rank, and eastern genius, the Countess of +Mnizeck, stirred up, destroyed, or combined different parties, according +to the taste of her ambition or her amours. Certain patriot orators +caused the last accents of independence to resound again in vain. +Certain princes and gentlemen formed meetings without any understanding +with each other, who contended as partisans rather than as citizens, and +who boasted of personal fame, without any reference to the safety of +their country. Dumouriez availed himself of the ascendency of the +countess, and endeavoured to unite these isolated effects, formed an +infantry, an artillery, seized upon two fortresses, threatened in all +directions the Russians, scattered in small bodies over the wide plains +of Poland, prepared for war, disciplined the insubordinate patriotism of +the insurgents, and contended successfully against Souwarow, the Russian +general, subsequently destined to threaten the republic so closely. + +But Stanislaus, the king of Poland, the crowned creature of Catherine, +saw the danger of a national insurrection, which, by drawing out the +Russians, would endanger his throne; and he paralysed it by offering to +the federates to adhere, in his own person, to the confederation. One of +them, Bohuez, the last great orator of Polish liberty, returned to the +king, in a sublime oration, his perfidious succour, and then combined +the unanimity of the conspirators into the last resource of the +oppressed--insurrection. It burst forth. Dumouriez is its life and soul, +flies from one camp to the other, giving a spirit of unity to the plan +of attack. Cracovis was ready to fall into his hands; the Russians +regain the frontier in disorder; but anarchy, that fatal genius of +Poland, suddenly dissolves the union of the chiefs, and they surrender +one another to the united efforts of the Russians. All desire to have +the exclusive honour of delivering their country, and prefer to lose it +rather than owe their success to a rival. + +Sapieha, the principal leader, was massacred by his nobles. Pulauwski +and Micksenski were delivered up, wounded, to the Russians; Zaremba +betrayed his country; Oginski, the last of these great patriots, roused +Lithuania at the moment when Lesser Poland had laid down its arms. +Abandoned and fugitive, he escaped to Dantzig, and wandered for thirty +years over Europe and America, carrying in his heart the memory of his +country. The lovely Countess of Mnizeck languished and died of grief +with Poland. Dumouriez wept for this heroine, adored in a country +wherein he said the women are more men than the men. He brake his sword, +despairing for ever of this aristocracy without a people, bestowing on +it, as he quitted it, the name of _Asiatic Nation of Europe_. + + +VI. + +He returned to Paris. The king and M. d'Argenson, to save appearances +with Russia and Prussia, threw him and Favier into the Bastille, and he +there passed a year in cursing the ingratitude of courts and the +weakness of kings, and recovered his natural energy in retreat and +study. The king changed his prison into exile to the citadel of Caen; +there Dumouriez found again, in a convent, the cousin he had loved. +Free, and weary of a monastic life, she became softened on again +beholding her former lover, and they were married. He was then appointed +commandant of Cherbourg, and his indefatigable mind contended with the +elements as if it were opposing men. He conceived the plan of fortifying +this harbour, which was to imprison a stormy sea in a granite basin, and +give the French navy a halting place in the channel. Here he passed +fifteen years in domestic life, much troubled by the ill humour and +ascetic devotion of his wife; in military studies constant, but without +application, and in the dissipation of the philosophic and voluptuous +society of his time. + +The Revolution, which was drawing nigh, found him indifferent to its +principles, and prepared for its vicissitudes. The justness of his +penetration enabled him at a glance to measure the tendency of events. +He soon comprehended that a revolution in ideas must undermine +institutions, unless institutions modelled themselves on the new ideas. +He gave himself to the constitution without enthusiasm; he desired the +maintenance of the throne, had no faith in a republic, foresaw a change +in the dynasty; and was even accused of meditating it. The emigration, +by decimating the upper ranks of the army, left space for him, and he +was named general, by length of service. He preserved a firm and +well-devised conduct, equi-distant from the throne and the people, from +the counter-revolutionist and the malcontent, ready to go with the +opinion of the court or of the nation, according as events might +transpire. By turns he was in communication with all parties, as if to +sound the growing power of Mirabeau and de Montmorin, the Duc d'Orleans +and the Jacobins, La Fayette and the Girondists. In his various commands +during these days of crises, he maintained discipline by his popularity, +was on terms with the insurgent people, and placed himself at their +head, in order to restrain them. The people believed him certainly on +their side; the soldiery adored him; he detested anarchy, but flattered +the demagogues. He applied very skilfully to his popularity those able +tactics which Favier had taught him. He viewed the Revolution as an +heroic intrigue. He manoeuvred his patriotism as he would have +manoeuvred his battalions on the field of battle. He considered the +coming war with much delight, knowing already all of a hero's part. He +foresaw that the Revolution, deserted by the nobility, and assailed by +all Europe, would require a general ready formed to direct the +undisciplined efforts of the masses it had excited. He prepared himself +for that post. The long subordination of his genius fatigued him. At +fifty-six years of age he had the fire of youth with all the coolness of +age; his earnest desire was advancement; the yearning of his soul for +fame was the more intense in proportion to the years he had already +unavailingly passed. His frame, fortified by climates and voyages, lent +itself, like a passive instrument, to his activity: all was young in him +except his amount of years; they were expended, but not by energy. He +had the youth of Cæsar, an impatient desire for fortune, and the +certainty of acquiring it. With great men, to live is to rise in renown; +he had not lived, because his reputation was not equivalent to his +ambition. + + +VII. + +Dumouriez was of that middle stature of the French soldier who wears his +uniform gracefully, his havresac lightly, and his musket and sabre as if +he did not feel their weight. Equally agile and compact, his body had +the cast of those statues of warriors who repose on their expanded +muscles, and yet seem ready to advance. His attitude was confident and +proud; all his motions were as rapid as his mind. He vaulted into the +saddle without touching the stirrup, holding the mane by his left hand. +He sprung to the ground with one effort, and handled the bayonet of the +soldier as vigorously as the sword of the general. His head, rather +thrown backwards, rose well from his shoulders, and turned on his neck +with ease and grace, like all elegant men. These haughty motions of his +head made him look taller under the tricoloured cockade. His brow was +lofty, well-turned, flat at the temples, and well displayed; his muscles +set in play by his reflection and resolution. The salient and +well-defined angles announced sensibility of mind beneath delicacy of +understanding and the most exquisite tact. His eyes were black, large, +and full of fire; his long lids, beginning to turn grey, increased their +brilliancy, though sometimes they were very soft; his nose, and the oval +of his countenance, were of that aquiline type which reveals races +ennobled by war and empire; his mouth, flexible and handsome, was almost +always smiling; no tension of the lips betrayed the effort of this +plastic mind--this master mind, which played with difficulties, overcame +obstacles; his chin, turned and decided, bore his face, as it were, on a +firm and square base, whilst the habitual expression of his countenance +was calm and expansive cheerfulness. It was evident that no pressure of +affairs was too heavy for him, and that he constantly preserved so much +liberty of mind as enabled him to jest alike with good or bad fortune. +He treated politics, war, and government with gaiety. The tone of his +voice was sonorous, manly, and vibrating; and was distinctly heard above +the noise of the drum, and the clash of the bayonet. His oratory was +straightforward, clever, striking; his words were effective in council, +in confidence, and intimacy: they soothed and insinuated themselves like +those of a woman. He was persuasive, for his soul, mobile and sensitive, +had always in its accent the truth and impression of the moment. Devoted +to the sex, and easily enamoured, his experience with them had imbued +him with one of their highest qualities--pity. He could not resist +tears, and those of the queen would have made him a Seid of the throne; +there was no position or opinion he would not have sacrificed to a +generous impulse; his greatness of soul was not calculation, it was +excessive feeling. He had no political principles; the Revolution was to +him nothing more than a fine drama, which was to furnish a grand scene +for his abilities, and a part for his genius. A great man for the +service of events, if the Revolution had not beheld him as its general +and preserver, he would equally have been the general and preserver of +the Coalition. Dumouriez was not the hero of a principle, but of the +occasion. + + +VIII. + +The new ministers met at Madame Roland's, the soul of the Girondist +ministry: Duranton, Lacoste, Cahier-Gerville received there, in all +passiveness, their instructions from the men whose shadows only they +were in the council. Dumouriez affected, like them, at first, a full +compliance with the interests and will of the party, which, personified +at Roland's by a young, lovely, and eloquent woman, must have had an +additional attraction for the general. He hoped to rule by ruling the +heart of this female. He employed with her all the plasticity of his +character, all the graces of his nature, all the fascinations of his +genius; but Madame Roland had a preservative against the warrior's +seductions that Dumouriez had not been accustomed to find in the women +he had loved--austere virtue and a strong will. There was but one means +of captivating her admiration, and that was by surpassing her in +patriotic devotion. These two characters could not meet without +contrasting themselves, nor understand without despising each other. +Very soon, therefore, Dumouriez considered Madame Roland as a stubborn +bigot, and she estimated Dumouriez as a frivolous presuming man, finding +in his look, smile, and tone of voice that audacity of success towards +her sex which betrayed, according to her estimation, the free conduct of +the females amongst whom he had lived, and which offended her decorum. +There was more of the courtier than the patriot in Dumouriez. This +French aristocracy of manners displeased the engraver's humble daughter; +perhaps it reminded her of her lowly condition, and the humiliations of +her childhood at Versailles. Her ideal was not the military, but the +citizen; a republican mind alone could acquire her love. Besides, she +saw at a glance that this man was too great to remain long on the level +of her party; she suspected his genius in his politeness, and his +ambition beneath his familiarity. "Have an eye to that man," she said to +her husband after their first interview; "he may conceal a master +beneath the colleague, and drive from the cabinet those who introduced +him there." + + +IX. + +Roland, too happy at being in power, did not foresee his disgrace, and +encouraging his wife, trusted more and more to the admiration which +Dumouriez feigned for him. He thought himself the statesman of the +cabinet, and his gratified vanity lent itself credulously to the +advances of Dumouriez, and even made him better disposed towards the +king. On his entry to the ministry Roland had affected in his costume +the bluntness of his principles, and in his manners the rudeness of his +republicanism. He presented himself at the Tuileries in a black coat, +with a round hat, and nailed shoes covered with dust. He wished to show +in himself the man of the people, entering the palace in the plain garb +of the citizen, and thus meeting the man of the throne. This tacit +insolence he thought would flatter the nation and humiliate the king. +The courtiers were indignant; the king groaned over it; Dumouriez +laughed at it. "Ah, well then, really, gentlemen," he said to the +courtiers, "since there is no more etiquette there is no more monarchy." +This jocose mode of treating the thing had at once removed all the anger +of the court, and all the effect of the Spartan pretensions of Roland. + +The king no longer regarded the discourtesy, and treated Roland with +that cordiality which unlocks men's hearts. The new ministers were +astonished to feel themselves confiding and moved in the presence of the +monarch. Having arrived suspicious and republican to their seats in the +cabinet, they quitted it almost royalists. + +"The king is not known," said Roland to his wife: "a weak prince, he is +one of the best of men; he does not want good intentions, but good +advice: he does not like the aristocracy, and has strong affection for +the people: perhaps he was born to serve as the medium between republic +and monarchy. By rendering the constitution easy to him we shall make +him like it, and the popularity he will re-acquire by following our +counsels will render government easy to ourselves. His nature is so +great that the throne has been unable to corrupt it, and he is equally +remote from the silly brute which has been held up to the laughter of +the people as from the sensitive and highly accomplished man his +courtiers pretend to adore in him; his mind, without being superior, is +expansive and reflecting; in a humble position his abilities would have +provided for him; he has a general and occasionally sound knowledge, +knows the details of business, and acts towards men with that simple but +persuasive ability which gives kings the precocious necessity of +governing their impressions; his prodigious memory always recalls to him +at the right time things, names, and faces; he likes work, and reads +every thing; he is never idle for a moment; a tender parent, a model of +a husband: chaste in feeling, he has done away with all those scandals +which disgraced the courts of his predecessors; he loves none but the +queen, and his condescension, which is occasionally injurious to his +politics, is at least a weakness 'which leans to virtue's side.' Had he +been born two centuries earlier his peaceable reign would have been +counted amongst the number of happy years of the monarchy. Circumstances +appear to have influenced his mind. The Revolution has convinced him of +its necessity, and we must convince him of its possibility. In our +hands the king may better serve it than any other citizen in the +kingdom; by enlightening this prince we may be faithful alike to his +interests and those of the nation--the king and Revolution must be with +us as one." + + +X. + +Thus said Roland in the first dazzling of power; his wife listened with +a smile of incredulity on her lips. Her keener glance had at the instant +measured a career more vast and a termination more decisive than the +timid and transitory compromise between a degraded royalty and an +imperfect revolution. It would have cost her too much to renounce the +ideal of her ardent soul; all her wishes tended to a republic; all her +exertions, all her words, all her aspirations, were destined, +unconsciously to herself, to urge thither her husband and his +associates. + +"Mistrust every man's perfidy, and more especially your own virtue," was +her reply to the weak and vain Roland. "You see in this world but +courts, where all is unreal, and where the most polished surfaces +conceal the most sinister combinations. You are only an honest +countryman wandering amongst a crowd of courtiers,--virtue in danger +amidst a myriad of vices: they speak our language, and we do not know +theirs. Would it be possible that they should not deceive us? Louis +XVI., of a degenerate race, without elevation of mind, or energy of +will, allowed himself to be enthralled early in life by religious +prejudices, which have even lessened his intellect; fascinated by a +giddy queen, who unites to Austrian insolence the enchantment of beauty +and the highest rank, and who makes of her secret and corrupt court the +sanctuary of her pleasures and the focus of her vices, this prince, +blinded on the one hand by the priests, and on the other by love, holds +at random the loose reins of an empire which is escaping from his grasp. +France, exhausted of men, does not give to him, either in Maurepas, +Necker, or Calonne, a minister capable of supporting him. The +aristocracy is barren, and produces nothing but to its shame; the +government must be renewed in the holier and deeper fount of the nation; +the time for a democracy is here,--why delay it! You are its men, its +virtues, its characters, its intelligence. The Revolution is behind you, +it hails you, urges you onward, and would you surrender it to the first +smile from the king because he has the condescension of a man of the +people? No: Louis XVI., half dethroned by the nation, cannot love the +nation that fetters him; he may feign to caress his chains, but all his +thoughts are devoted to the idea of how he can spurn them. His only +resource at this moment is to protest his attachment to the Revolution, +and to lull the ministers whom the Revolution empowers to watch over his +intrigues. But this pretence is the last and most dangerous of the +conspiracies of the throne. The constitution is the forfeiture of Louis +XVI., and the patriot ministers are his superintendents. Fallen +greatness cannot love the cause of its decadence; no man likes his +humiliation. Trust in human nature, Roland--that alone never deceives, +and mistrust courts. Your virtue is too elevated to see the snares which +courtiers spread beneath your feet." + + +XI. + +Such language amazed Roland. Brissot, Condorcet, Vergniaud, Gensonné, +Guadet, and especially Buzot, the friend and most intimate confidant of +Madame Roland, strengthened at their evening meetings the mistrust of +the minister. He armed himself with fresh distrust from their +conversations, and entered the council with a more frowning brow and +more resolute determination: the king's frankness disarmed +him--Dumouriez discouraged him by his gaiety--power softened him by its +influence. He wavered between the two great difficulties of the moment, +the double sanction required from the king for the decrees which were +most repugnant to his heart and conscience, the decree against the +emigrants, and the decree against the nonjuring priests; and he wavered +as to war. + +During this tergiversation of Roland and his colleagues, Dumouriez +acquired the favour of the king and the people, the secret of his +conduct being comprised in what he had said a short time before to M. de +Montmorin, in a secret conversation he had with that minister. "If I +were king of France, I would disconcert all parties by placing myself +at the head of the Revolution." + +This sentence contained the sole line of policy capable of saving Louis +XVI. In a time of revolution every king who is not revolutionary must be +inevitably crushed between the two parties: a neutral king no longer +reigns--a pardoned king degrades the throne--a king conquered by his own +people has for refuge only exile or the scaffold. Dumouriez felt that +his first step was to convince the king of his personal attachment, and +take him into his confidence, or indeed make him his accomplice in the +patriotic part he proposed to play; constitute himself the secret +mediator between the will of the monarch and the exactions of the +cabinet, to control the king by his influence over the Girondists, and +the Girondists by his influence over the king; the part of the favourite +of misfortune and protector of a persecuted queen pleased alike his +ambition and his heart. A soldier, diplomatist, gentleman, there was in +his soul a wholly different feeling for degraded royalty than the +sentiment of satisfied jealousy which filled the minds of the +Girondists. The _prestige_ of the throne existed for Dumouriez; the +_prestige_ of liberty only existed for the Girondists. This feeling, +revealed in his attitude, language, gestures, could not long escape the +observation of Louis XVI. Kings have twofold tact, misfortune makes them +more nice; the unfortunate perceive pity in a look; it is the only +homage they are allowed to receive, and they are the more jealous of it. +In a secret conversation the king and Dumouriez came to an +understanding. + + +XII. + +Dumouriez's restless conduct in his commands in Normandy, the friendship +of Gensonné, the favour of the Jacobins for him, had prejudiced Louis +XVI. against his new minister. The minister, on his side, expected to +find in the king a spirit opposed to the constitution, a mind trammelled +by routine, a violent temper, an abrupt manner, and using language +imperious and offensive to all who approached him. Such was the +caricature of this unfortunate prince. It was necessary to disfigure him +in order to make the nation hate him. + +Dumouriez found in him at this moment, and during the three months of +his ministry, an upright mind, a heart open to every benevolent +sentiment, unvarying politeness, endurance and patience which defied the +calamities of his situation. Extreme timidity, the result of the long +seclusion in which his youth had been passed, repressed the feelings of +his heart, and gave to his language and his intercourse with men a +stiffness and embarrassment which destroyed his better qualities of +decided and calm courage; he frequently spoke to Dumouriez of his death +as an event probable and doomed, the prospect of which did not affect +his serenity nor preclude him from doing his duty to the last as a +father and a king. + +"Sire," said Dumouriez to him, with the chivalric sympathy which +compassion adds to respect, and with that aspect in which the heart says +more than language; "you have overcome your prejudices against myself; +you have commanded me by M. de Laporte to accept the post he had +refused." "Yes," replied the king. "Well, I come now to devote myself +wholly to your service, to your protection. But the part of a minister +is no longer what it was in former days: without ceasing to be the +servant of the king, I am the man of the nation. I will speak to you +always in the language of liberty and the constitution. Allow me then, +in order to serve you better, that in public and in the council I appear +in my character as a constitutionalist, and that I avoid every thing +that may at all reveal my personal attachment towards you. In this +respect I must break through all etiquette, and avoid attending the +court. In the council, I shall oppose your views, and shall propose as +our representatives in foreign courts men devoted to the nation. When +your repugnance to my choice shall be invincible and on good grounds, I +shall comply; if this repugnance shall tend to compromise the safety of +the country and yourself, I shall beg you to allow me to resign, and +nominate my successor. Think of the terrible dangers which beset your +throne--it must be consolidated by the confidence of the nation in your +sincere attachment to the Revolution. It is a conquest which it depends +on you to make. I have prepared four despatches to ambassadors in this +sense. In these I have used language to which they are unused from +courts, the language of an offended and resolute nation. I shall read +them this morning before the council: if you approve my labour, I shall +continue to speak thus, and act in accordance with my language; if not, +my carriage is ready, and, unable to serve you in the council, I shall +depart whither my tastes and studies for thirty years call me, to serve +my country in the field." + +The king, astonished and much moved, said to him, "I like your +frankness; I know you are attached to me, and I anticipate all from your +services. They had created many prejudices against you, but this moment +effaces them all. Go and do as your heart directs you, and according to +the best interests of the nation, which are also mine." Dumouriez +retired; but he knew that the queen, adored by her husband, clung to the +policy of her husband with all the passion and excitement of her soul. +He desired and feared at the same time an interview with this princess: +one word from her would accomplish or destroy the bold enterprise he had +dared to meditate, of reconciling the king with the people. + + +XIII. + +The queen sent for the general into her most private apartments. +Dumouriez found her alone, her cheeks flushed by the emotion of an +internal struggle, and walking rapidly up and down the room, like a +person whose agitated thoughts require corresponding activity of body. +Dumouriez placed himself in silence near the fireplace, in the attitude +of respect and sorrow, inspired by the presence of so august, so +beautiful, and so miserable a princess. She advanced towards him with a +mingled air of majesty and anger. + +"Monsieur," said she, with that accent that reveals at once resentment +against fortune, and contempt for fate; "you are all-powerful at this +moment; but it is through popular favour, and that soon destroys its +idols." She did not await his reply, but continued, "Your existence +depends upon your conduct; it is said that you possess great talents, +and you must imagine that neither the king nor myself can suffer all +these innovations of the constitution. I tell you thus much frankly, so +make your decision." "Madame," returned Dumouriez, "I am confounded by +the dangerous disclosure your Majesty has thought fit to make me; I +will not betray your confidence, but I am placed between the king and +the nation, and I belong to my country. Permit me," continued Dumouriez, +with respectful earnestness, "to represent to you that the safety of the +king--your own--and that of your children, and the very re-establishment +of the royal authority--is bound up with the constitution. You are +surrounded by enemies, who sacrifice you to their own interests. The +constitution alone can, by strengthening itself, protect you and assure +the happiness and glory of the king." "It cannot last long, beware of +yourself," returned the queen, with a look of anger and menace. +Dumouriez imagined that he saw in this look and speech an allusion to +personal danger and an insinuation of alarm. "I am more than fifty years +old, madame," replied he, in a low tone, in which the firmness of the +soldier was mingled with the pity of the man; "I have braved many perils +in my life; and when I accepted the ministry, I well knew that my +responsibility was not the greatest of my dangers." "Ah," cried the +queen, with a gesture of horror, "this calumny and disgrace was alone +wanting! You appear to believe me capable of causing you to be +assassinated." Tears of indignation checked her utterance. Dumouriez, +equally moved with herself, disclaimed the injurious interpretation +given to his reply. "Far be it from me, madame, to offer you so cruel an +insult; your soul is great and noble, and the heroism you have displayed +in so many circumstances, has for ever attached me to you." She was +appeased in a moment, and laid her hand on Dumouriez's arm, in token of +reconciliation. + +The minister profited by this return to serenity and confidence to give +Marie Antoinette advice, of which the emotion of his features and voice +sufficiently attested the sincerity. "Trust me, madame, I have no motive +for deceiving you; I abhor anarchy and its crimes equally with yourself. +But I have experience; I live in the centre of the different parties, +and I take part in opinion. I am connected with the people, and I am +better placed than your majesty for judging the extent and the direction +of events. This is not, as you deem it, a popular movement; but the +almost unanimous insurrection of a great nation against an old and +decaying order of things. Mighty factions feed the flame, and in every +one of them are scoundrels or madmen. I alone see in the Revolution the +king and the nation, and that which tends to separate them, ruins them +both. I seek to unite them, and it is for you to aid me. If I am an +obstacle to your designs, and if you persist in them, tell me instantly, +and I will retire, and mourn in obscurity the fate of my country and +your own." The queen was touched and convinced; the frankness of +Dumouriez at once pleased and won her. The heart of the soldier was a +guarantee to her of the conduct of the statesman. Firm, brave, and +heroic, she preferred to have the weight of his sword in the councils of +his king, rather than those politicians, and specious orators, who, +nevertheless, bent before every blast of opinion or sedition; and an +intimate understanding soon existed between the queen and the general. + +The queen was for some time faithful to her promises, but the repeated +outrages of the people again moved her, in spite of herself, to anger +and conspiracy. "See," said she to the king before Dumouriez, one day, +pointing to the tops of the trees in the Tuileries; "a prisoner in this +palace, I do not venture to show myself at the windows that look on to +the garden. The crowd collected there, and who watch even my tears, hoot +me. Yesterday, to breathe the air, I showed myself at a window that +looks at the court; an artillery-man on guard addressed the most +revolting language to me. 'How I should like,' added he, 'to see your +head on the point of my bayonet!' In this frightful garden I see on one +side a man mounted on a chair, and vociferating the most odious insults +against us, whilst he threatens, by his gestures, the inhabitants of the +palace; on the other, the populace is dragging to the basin some priest +or soldier, whom they overwhelm with blows and outrages, whilst, at the +same time, and close to these terrible scenes, persons are playing at +ball or walking about in the _allées_. What a residence--what a +life--what a people!" Dumouriez could but lament with the royal family, +and exhort them to be patient. But the endurance of the victims is +exhausted sooner than the cruelty of the executioner. How could it be +expected that a courageous and proud princess, who had been constantly +surrounded by the adulation of the court, could love the Revolution that +was the instrument of her humiliation and her torture? or see in this +indifferent and cruel nation a people worthy of empire and of liberty? + + +XIV. + +When all his measures with the court were concerted, Dumouriez no longer +hesitated to leap over the space that divided the king and the extreme +party, and to give the government the form of pure patriotism. He made +overtures to the Jacobins, and boldly presented himself at their sitting +the next day. The chamber was thronged, and the apparition of Dumouriez +struck the tribunes with mute astonishment. His martial figure and the +impetuosity of his conduct won for him at once the favour of the +Assembly; for no one suspected that so much audacity concealed so much +stratagem, and they saw in him only the minister who threw himself into +the arms of the people, and every one hastened to receive him. + +It was the moment when the _bonnet rouge_, the symbol of extreme +opinion, a species of livery worn by the demagogues and flatterers of +the people, had been almost unanimously adopted by the Jacobins. This +emblem, like many similar ones received by the revolutions from the hand +of chance, was a mystery even to those who wore it. It had been adopted +for the first time on the day of the triumph of the soldiers of +Châteauvieux. Some said it was the _coiffure_ of the galley-slaves, once +infamous, but glorious since it had covered the brows of these martyrs +of the insurrection; and they added that the people wished to purify +this head-dress from every stain by wearing it themselves. Others only +saw in it the Phrygian bonnet, a symbol of freedom for slaves. + +The _bonnet rouge_ had from its first appearance been the subject of +dispute and dissension amongst the Jacobins; the _exaltés_ wore it, +whilst the _modérés_ yet abstained from adopting it. Dumouriez did not +hesitate, but mounted the tribune, placed this sign of patriotism on his +head, and at once assumed the emblem of the most prominent party, whilst +this mute yet significant eloquence awakened a burst of enthusiasm on +every side of the _Salle_. "Brothers and friends," said Dumouriez, +"every instant of my life shall be devoted to carrying out the wishes of +the people, and to justifying the king's choice. I will employ in all +negotiations the force of a free people, and before long these +negotiations will produce a lasting peace or a decisive war. (Applause.) +If we have this war I will abandon my political post, and I will assume +my rank in the army to triumph, or perish a free man with my brethren. A +heavy weight presses on me, aid me to bear it; I require your counsels, +transmit them to me through your journals. Tell me truth, even the most +unpalatable; but repel calumny, and do not repulse a citizen whom you +know to be sincere and intrepid, and who devotes himself to the cause of +the Revolution and the nation." + +The president replied to the minister that the society gloried in +counting him amongst its brethren. These words occasioned some murmurs, +which were stifled by the acclamations that followed Dumouriez to his +place. It was proposed that the two speeches should be printed. Legendre +opposed the motion from economical motives, but was hissed by the +tribunes. "Why these unusual honours, and this reply of the president to +the minister?" said Collot d'Herbois. "If he comes here as a minister, +there is no reply to make him. If he comes here as an associate and a +brother, he does no more than his duty; he only raises himself to the +level of our opinions. There is but one answer to be made,--let him act +as he has spoken." Dumouriez raised his hand, and gesticulated to Collot +d'Herbois. + +Robespierre rose, smiled sternly on Dumouriez, and said, "I am not one +of those who believe it is utterly impossible for a minister to be a +patriot, and I accept with pleasure the promises that M. Dumouriez has +just given us. When he shall have verified these promises, when he has +dissipated the foes armed against us by his predecessors, and by the +conspirators who even now hold the reins of government, spite of the +expulsion of several ministers, then, and then only, I shall be inclined +to bestow on him the praises he will have merited, and I shall even in +that case deem that every good citizen in this assembly is his equal. +The people only is great, is worthy in my eyes; the toys of ministerial +power fade into insignificance before it. It is out of respect for +people, for the minister himself, that I demand that his presence here +be not marked by any of those homages that mark the decay of public +feeling. He asks us to counsel the ministers; I promise him, on my +part, to give him advice which will be useful to them and to the country +at large. So long as M. Dumouriez shall prove by acts of pure +patriotism, and by real services to his country, that he is the brother +of all good citizens, and the defender of the people, he shall find none +but supporters here. I do not dread the presence of any minister in this +society, but I declare that the instant a minister possesses more +ascendency here than a citizen, I will demand his ostracism. But this +will never happen." + +Robespierre left the tribune, and Dumouriez cast himself into his arms; +the Assembly rose, and sealed by its applause their fraternal embrace, +in which all saw the augury of the union of power and the people. The +president Doppet read (the _bonnet rouge_ on his head) a letter from +Pétion to the society, on the subject of this new head-dress adopted by +the patriots, and on which Pétion spoke against this superfluous mark of +_civisme_. + +"This sign," said he, "instead of increasing your popularity, alarms the +public mind, and affords a pretext for calumnies against you. The moment +is serious, the demonstrations of patriotism should be serious as the +times. It is the enemies of the Revolution who urge it to these +frivolities in order that they may have the right to accuse it of +frivolity and thoughtlessness. They thus give patriotism the appearance +of faction, and these emblems divide those they should rally. However +great the vogue that counsels them to-day, they will never be +universally adopted, for every man really devoted to the public welfare +will be quite indifferent to a _bonnet rouge_. Liberty will neither be +more majestic nor more glorious in this garb, but the very signs with +which you adorn her will serve as a pretext for dissension amongst her +children. A civil war, commencing in sarcasm and ending in bloodshed, +may be caused by a ridiculous manifestation. I leave you to meditate on +these ideas." + + +XV. + +Whilst this letter was being read, the president, a timorous man, who +perceived the agency of Robespierre in the advice of Pétion, had quietly +removed from his head the repudiated _bonnet rouge_, and the members of +the society, one after another, followed his example. Robespierre alone, +who had never adopted this bauble of the fashion, and with whom Pétion +had concerted his letter, mounted the tribune, and said, "I, in common +with the major of Paris, respect every thing that bears the image of +liberty; but we have a sign which recalls to us constantly our oath to +live and die free, and here is this sign. (He showed his cockade.) The +citizens, who have adopted the _bonnet rouge_ through a laudable +patriotism, will lose nothing by laying it aside. The friends of the +Revolution will continue to recognise each other by the sign of virtue +and of reason. These emblems are ours alone; all those may be imitated +by traitors and aristocrats. In the name of France, I rally you again to +the only standard that strikes terror into her foes. Let us alone retain +the cockade and the banner, beneath which the constitution was born." + +The _bonnet rouge_ instantly disappeared in the Assembly; but even the +voice of Robespierre, and the resolutions of the Jacobins, could not +arrest the outbreak of enthusiasm that had placed the sign of _avenging +equality_ ("_l'égalité vengeresse_") on every head; and the evening +of the day on which it was repudiated at the Jacobins saw it inaugurated +at all the theatres. The bust of Voltaire, the destroyer of prejudice, +was adorned with the Phrygian cap of liberty, amidst the shouts of the +spectators, whilst the cap and pike became the uniform and weapon of the +citizen soldier. The Girondists, who had attacked this sign as long as +it appeared to them the livery of Robespierre, began to excuse it as +soon as Robespierre repulsed it. Brissot himself, in his report of what +passed at this sitting, regrets this symbol, because, "adopted by the +most indignant portion of the people, it humiliated the rich, and became +the terror of the aristocracy." The breach between these two men became +wider every day, and there was not sufficient space in the Jacobins, the +Assembly, and the supreme power for these rival ambitions, which strove +for the dictatorship of opinion. + +The nomination of the ministers, which was entirely under the influence +of Girondists, the councils held at Madame Roland's, the presence of +Brissot, of Guadet, of Vergniaud at the deliberations of the ministers, +the appointment of all their friends to the government offices, served +as themes for the clamours of the _exaltés_ of the Jacobins. These +Jacobins were termed Montagnards, from the high benches occupied in the +Assembly by the friends of Robespierre and Danton. "Remember," they +said, "the almost prophetic sagacity of Robespierre, when, in answer to +Brissot, who attacked the former minister De Lessart, he made this +allusion to the Girondist leader, which has been so speedily +justified,--'For me, who do not aim at the ministry either for myself or +my friends.'" On their side the Girondist journals heaped opprobrium on +this handful of calumniators and petty tyrants, who resembled Catiline +in crimes if not in courage; thus war commenced by sarcasm. + +The king, however, when the ministry was completed, wrote the Assembly a +letter, more resembling an abdication into the hands of opinion than the +constitutional act of a free power. Was this humiliating resignation an +affectation of slavery, or a sign of restraint and degradation made from +the throne to the armed powers, in order that they might comprehend that +he was no longer free, and only see in him the crowned automaton of the +Jacobins? The letter was in these terms: + +"Profoundly touched by the disorders that afflict the French nation, and +by the duty imposed on me by the constitution of watching over the +maintenance of order and public tranquillity, I have not ceased to +employ every means that it places at my disposal to execute the laws. I +had selected as my prime agents men recommended by the purity of their +principles and their opinions. They have quitted the ministry; and I +have felt it my duty to replace them by men who hold a high position in +public favour. You have so often repeated that this measure was the only +means of ensuring the re-establishment of order and the enforcement of +the laws, that I have deemed it fitting to adopt it, that no pretext may +be afforded for doubting my sincere desire to add to the prosperity and +happiness of my country. I have appointed M. Clavière minister of the +contributions, and M. Roland minister of the interior. The person whom I +had chosen as the minister of justice has prayed me to make another +choice: when I shall have again made it the Assembly shall be duly +informed. (Signed) Louis." + +The Assembly received this message with loud applause: for with the king +once in its power, it could employ him in the works of regeneration. The +most perfect harmony appeared to reign in the council. The king +astonished his new ministers by his assiduity and his aptitude for +business. He conversed with everyone on the subject that most interested +him. He questioned Roland on his works, Dumouriez on his adventures, and +Clavière on the finances, whilst he avoided the irritating topics of +general policy. Madame Roland reproached her husband with these +conversations, and besought him to make use of his time, to take +abstracts of these conversations, and to keep an authentic register, +which would one day cover his responsibility. The ministers appeared to +dine four times a week together, in order to concert their acts and +language in the king's presence. It was at these private meetings that +Buzot, Guadet, Vergniaud, Genevéive and Brissot infused into the +ministers the feelings of their party and reigned unseen over the +Assembly and the king. Dumouriez soon became an object of suspicion to +them for his mind escaped their dominion by its greatness, and his +character escaped fanaticism by its pliability. Madame Roland, seduced +by his eloquence, yet experienced remorse for her admiration; she felt +that the genius of this man was necessary to her party, but that genius +without virtue would be fatal to the republic; and she infused distrust +of Dumouriez into the mind of her allies. The king invariably adjourned +the sanction which the Girondists demanded from him to the crimes +against the priests and _emigrés_. Foreseeing that they would be called +upon, sooner or later, to give an account of their responsibility to the +nation, Madame Roland wished to take precautionary measures. She +persuaded her husband to write a confidential letter to the king, full +of the most strict lessons of patriotism; to read it himself in council +to loyal princes; and to keep a copy, which he would publish at the +proper time as an accusation against Louis XVI. and a justification of +himself. This treacherous precaution against the perfidy of the court +was odious as a snare and cowardly a denunciation. Passion only, which +disturbs the sight of the soul, could blind a generous-minded woman as +to the meaning of such an act; but party feeling supplies the place of +generosity, justice, and even of virtue. This letter was a concealed +weapon, with which Roland reserved to himself the power of mortally +wounding the reputation of the king whilst he saved his own. This was +his only crime, or rather the only error of his hate; and this was the +only cause for remorse he felt at the foot of the scaffold. + + +XVI. + +"Sire," said Roland in this celebrated letter, "things cannot remain in +their present state; it is a state of crises, and we must be extricated +from it by some extreme measure (_une explosion quelconque_). France has +given itself a constitution; the minority are undermining, the majority +are defending, it. There arises a fierce internal struggle in which no +person remains neuter. You enjoyed supreme power, and could not have +laid it down without regret. The enemies of the Revolution took into +calculation the sentiments they presume you entertain. Your secret +favour is their strength. Ought you now to ally yourself to the enemies +or the friends of the constitution? Pronounce once for all. Royalty, +clergy, nobility, aristocracy, must abhor these changes, which destroy +them: on the other hand, the people see the triumph of their rights in +the Revolution and will not allow themselves to be despoiled. The +declaration of rights has become their new Gospel: liberty is henceforth +the religion of the people. In this shock of opposing interests, all +sentiments have become extreme--opinions have assumed the accent of +enthusiasm. The country is no longer an abstraction, but a real being, +to which we are attached by the happiness it promises to us, and the +sacrifices we have made for it. To what point will this patriotism be +exalted at the moment now imminent, when the enemies' forces without are +about to combine with the intrigues within to assail it? The rage of the +nation will be terrible if it have not confidence in you. But this +confidence is not to be acquired by words, but by acts. Give +unquestionable proofs of your sincerity. For instance, two important +decrees have been passed, both deeply important for the security of the +state, and the delay of your sanction excites distrust. Be on your +guard: distrust is not very wide from hatred, and hatred does not +hesitate at crime. If you do not give satisfaction to the Revolution, +it will be cemented by blood. Desperate measures, which you may be +advised to adopt to intimidate Paris, to control the Assembly, would +only cause the development of that sullen energy, the mother of great +devotions and great attempts (this was meant indirectly for Dumouriez, +who had advised firm measures). You are deceived, Sire, when the nation +is represented to you as hostile to the throne, and to yourself. Love, +serve the Revolution, and the people will love it in you. Deposed +priests are agitating the provinces: ratify the measures requisite to +put down their fanaticism. Paris is uneasy as to its security: sanction +the measures which summon a camp of citizens beneath its walls. Still +more delays, and you will be considered as a conspirator and an +accomplice. Just heaven! hast thou stricken kings with blindness? I know +that the language of truth is rarely welcomed at the foot of thrones: I +know, too, that it is the withholding the truth from the councils of +kings which renders revolutions so often necessary. As a citizen, and as +a minister, I owe the truth to the king, and nothing shall prevent my +making it reach his ear. I demand that we should have here a secretary +of council to register our deliberations. Responsible ministers should +have a witness of their opinions. If this witness existed, I should not +now address your majesty in writing." + +The threat was no less evident than the treachery of this letter; and +the last sentence indicated, in equivocal terms, the odious use which +Roland meant one day to make of it. The magnanimity of Vergniaud was +excited against this step of the powerful Girondist minister: +Dumouriez's military loyalty was roused by it: the king listened to the +reading of it with the calmness of a man accustomed to put up with +insult. The Girondists were informed of it in the secret councils at +Madame Roland's, and Roland kept a copy to cover himself at the hour of +his fall. + + +XVII. + +At this moment secret understandings, unknown to Roland himself, were +formed by the three Girondist chiefs, Vergniaud, Guadet, and Gensonné +and the château, through Boze, the king's painter. A letter, intended +for the monarch's perusal, was written by them. The iron chest guarded +it for the day of accusation. + +"You ask of us," runs this epistle, "what is our opinion as to the state +of France, and the choice of measures fit to save the public weal. +Questioned by you concerning such important interests, we do not +hesitate to reply. The conduct of the executive power is the cause of +all the evil. The king is deceived by persuading him that it is the +clubs and factions which foment public agitation. This is placing the +cause of the evil in its symptoms. If the people was reassured of the +loyalty of the king, it would grow tranquil, and factions die a natural +death. But so long as conspiracies, internal and external, appear +favoured by the king, troubles will perpetually spring up, and +continually increase the mistrust of the citizens. The present tendency +of things is evidently towards a crisis, all the chances of which are +opposed to royalty. They are making of the chief of a free nation, the +chief of a party. The opposite party ought to consider him, not as a +king, but as an enemy. What is to be hoped from the success of +manoeuvres carried on with foreigners, in order to restore the +authority of the throne? They will give to the king the appearance of a +violent usurpation of the rights of the nation. The same force which +would have served this violent restoration would be necessary to +maintain it. It would produce a permanent civil war. Attached as we are +to the interests of the nation, from which we shall never separate those +of the king, we think that the sole means by which he can alleviate the +evils that threaten the empire and the throne, is to identify himself +with the nation. Renewed protestations are useless; we must have deeds. +Let the king abandon every idea of increased power offered to him by the +succour of foreigners. Let him obtain from cabinets hostile to the +Revolution the withdrawal of the troops who press upon our frontiers. If +that be impossible, let him arm the nation himself, and direct it +against the enemies of the constitution. Let him choose his ministers +amongst the leading men of the Revolution. Let him offer the muskets and +horses of his own guard. Let him publish the documents connected with +the civil list, and thus prove that the secret treasury is not the +source of counter-revolutionary plots. Let him apply himself for a law +respecting the education of the prince royal, and let him be brought up +in the spirit of the constitution. Finally, let him withdraw from M. de +La Fayette the command of the army. If the king shall adopt these +determinations, and persist in them with firmness, the constitution is +saved!" + +This letter, conveyed to the king by Thierri, had not been sought by +him. He was annoyed at the many plans of succour sent to him. "What do +these men mean?" he inquired of Boze; "Have I not done all that they +advise? Have I not chosen patriots for ministers? Have I not rejected +succour from without? Have I not repudiated my brothers, and hindered, +as far as in me lies, the coalition, and armed the frontiers? Have I not +been, since my acceptance of the constitution, more faithful than the +malcontents themselves to my oath?" + +The Girondist leaders, still undecided between the republic and the +monarchy, thus felt the pulse of power--sometimes of the Assembly, +sometimes of the king; ready to seize it wherever they should find it; +but discovering it on the side of the king, they judged that there was +more certainty in sapping than in consolidating the throne, and they +inclined more than ever to a factious policy. + + +XVIII. + +Still, half-masters of the council through Roland, Clavière, and Servan, +who had succeeded De Grave, they bore to a certain extent the +responsibility of these three ministers. The Jacobins began to require +from them an account of the acts of a ministry which was in their hands, +and bore their name. Dumouriez, placed between the king and the +Girondists, saw daily the increasing want of confidence between his +colleagues and himself; they suspected his probity equally with his +patriotism. He had profited by his popularity and ascendency over the +Jacobins to demand of the Assembly a sum of 6,000,000 (240,000_l._) of +secret service money on his accession to the ministry. The apparent +destination of this money was to bribe foreign cabinets, and to detach +venal powers from the coalition, and to foment revolutionary symptoms in +Belgium. Dumouriez alone knew the channels by which this money was to +flow. His exhausted personal fortune, his costly tastes, his attachment +to a seductive woman, Madame de Beauvert, sister to Rivarol; his +intimacy with men of unprincipled character and irregular +habits,--reports of extortion charged on his ministry, and falling, if +not on him on those he trusted, tarnished his character in the eyes of +Madame Roland and her husband. Probity is the virtue of democrats, for +the people look first at the hands of those who govern them. The +Girondists, pure as men of the ancient time, feared the shadow of a +suspicion of this nature on their characters, and Dumouriez's +carelessness on this point annoyed them. They complained. Gensonné and +Brissot insinuated their feelings to him on this point at Roland's. +Roland himself, authorised by his age and austerity of manners, took +upon himself to remind Dumouriez that a public man owes respect to +decorum and revolutionary manners. The warrior turned the remonstrance +into pleasantry, replied to Roland that he owed his blood to the nation, +but neither owed it the sacrifice of his tastes nor his amours; that he +understood patriotism as a hero, and not as a puritan. The bitterness of +his language left venom behind, and they separated with mutual +ill-feeling. + +From this day forth he no longer visited at Roland's evening meetings. +Madame Roland, who understood the human heart by the superior instinct +of her genius and her sex, was not deceived by the general's tactics. +"The hour is come to destroy Dumouriez," she said boldly to her friends. +"I know very well," she added, addressing Roland, "that you are +incapable of descending either to intrigue or revenge; but remember that +Dumouriez must conspire in his heart against those who have wounded him. +When such daring remonstrances have been made to such a man, and +uselessly made, it is necessary to strike the blow if we would not be +struck ourselves." She felt truly, and spoke sagaciously. Dumouriez, +whose rapid glance had seen behind the Girondists a party stronger and +bolder than their own, began from this time to connect himself with the +leaders of the Jacobins. He thought, and with reason, that party hatred +would be more potent than patriotism, and that by flattering the rivalry +of Robespierre and Danton against Brissot, Pétion, and Roland, he should +find in the Jacobins themselves a support for the government. He liked +the king, pitied the queen, and all his prejudices were in favour of +the monarchy. He would have been as proud to restore the throne as to +save the republic. Skilful in handling men, every instrument was good +that was available; to get rid of the Girondists, who, by oppressing the +king menaced himself, and to go and seek further off and lower than +these rhetoricians, that popularity which was necessary to him when +opposed to them, was a master-stroke of genius: he tried it, and +succeeded. From this epoch may be dated his connection with Camille +Desmoulins and Danton. + +Danton and Dumouriez came to an understanding the sooner, because in +their vices, like their good qualities, they closely resembled each +other. Danton, like Dumouriez, only wanted the impulse of the +Revolution. Principles were trifles with him; what suited his energy and +his ambition was that tumultuous turmoil which cast down and elevated +men, from the throne to nothing, from nothing to fortune and power. The +intoxication of movement was to Danton, as to Dumouriez, the continual +need of their disposition: the Revolution was to them a battle field, +whose whirl charmed and promoted them. + +Yet any other revolution would have suited them as well; despotism or +liberty, king or people. There are men whose atmosphere is the whirlwind +of events--who only breathe easily in a storm of agitation. Moreover, if +Dumouriez had the vices or levities of courts, Danton had the vices and +licentiousness of the mob. These vices, how different soever in form, +are the same at bottom; they understand each other, they are a point of +contact between the weaknesses of the great and the corruption of the +small. Dumouriez understood Danton at the first glance, and Danton +allowed himself to be approached and tamed by Dumouriez. Their +connection, often suspected of bribery on the one hand, and venality on +the other, subsisted secretly or publicly until the exile of Dumouriez +and the death of Danton. Camille Desmoulins, freed of Danton and +Robespierre, attached himself also to Dumouriez, and brought his name +constantly forward in his pamphlets. The Orleans party, who held on with +the Jacobins by Sillery, Laclos, and Madame de Genlis, also sought the +friendship of the new minister. As to Robespierre, whose policy was +perpetual reserve with all parties, he affected neither liking nor +dislike towards Dumouriez, but was secretly delighted at seeing him +become a rival to his enemies. At least he never accused him. It is +difficult long to hate the enemy of those whom we hate. + + +XIX. + +The growing hatred of Robespierre and Brissot became daily more deadly. +The sittings of the Jacobins and the newspapers were the continual +theatre of the struggles and reconciliations of these two men. Equal in +strength in the nation--equal in talent in the tribune--it was evident +that they were afraid of each other in their attacks. They affected +mutual respect, even when most offensive; but this repressed animosity +only corroded their hearts more deeply, and it burst forth occasionally +beneath the politeness of their language, like death beneath the glance +of steel. + +All these fermentations of division, rivalry, and resentment, boiled +over in the April sittings. They were like a general review of two great +parties who were about to destroy the empire in disputing their own +ascendency. The Feuillants or moderate constitutionalists were the +victims, that each of the two popular parties mutually immolated to the +suspicions and rage of parties. Ræderer, a moderate Jacobin, was accused +of having dined with the Feuillants, friends of La Fayette. "I do not +only inculpate Ræderer," exclaimed Tallien, "I denounce Condorcet and +Brissot. Let us drive from our society the ambitious and the +Cromwellites." + +"The moment for unmasking traitors will soon arrive," said Robespierre +in his turn. "I do not desire to unmask them to-day. The blow when +struck must be decisive. I wish that all France heard me now. I wish +that the culpable chief of these factions, La Fayette, was here with all +his army; I would say to his soldiers, whilst I presented my +breast,--Strike! That moment would be the last of La Fayette and the +_intrigants_" (this name had been invented by Robespierre for the +Girondists). Fauchet excused himself for having said that Guadet, +Vergniaud, Gensonné, and Brissot might be, advantageously for the +country, placed at the head of the government. The Girondists were +accused of dreaming of a _protector_, the Jacobins a _tribune_ of the +people. + +At last, Brissot rose to reply. "I am here to defend myself," he said. +"What are my crimes? I am said to have made seven ministers--I keep up a +connection with La Fayette--I desire to make a protector of him. +Certainly great power is thus assigned to me by those who think that +from my fourth story I have dictated laws to the Château of the +Tuileries. But if it even were true that I had made ministers, how long +has it been a crime to have confided the interests of the people to the +hands of the people? This minister is about, it is said, to distribute +all his favours to the Jacobins! Ah! would to heaven that all the places +were filled by Jacobins!" + +At these words Camille Desmoulins, Brissot's enemy, concealed in the +chamber, bowing towards his neighbour, said aloud with a sneering laugh, +"What a cunning rogue! Cicero and Demosthenes never uttered more +eloquent insinuations." Cries of angry feeling burst from the ranks of +Brissot's friends, who clamoured for Camille Desmoulins' expulsion. A +censor of the chamber declared that the remarks of the pamphleteer were +disgraceful, and order was restored. Brissot proceeded. "Denunciation is +the weapon of the people: I do not complain of this. Do you know who are +its bitterest enemies? Those who prostitute denunciation. Yes; but where +are the proofs? Treat with the deepest contempt him who denounces, but +does not prove. How long have a protector or a protectorate been talked +of? Do you know why? Is it to accustom the ear to the name of +tribuneship and tribune. They do not see that a tribuneship can never +exist. Who would dare to dethrone the constitutional king? Who would +dare to place the crown on his head? Who can imagine that the race of +Brutus is extinct? And if there were no Brutus, where is the man who has +ten times the ability of Cromwell? Do you believe that Cromwell himself +would have succeeded in a revolution like ours? There were for him two +easy roads to usurpation, which are to-day closed--ignorance and +fanaticism. You think you see a Cromwell in a La Fayette. You neither +know La Fayette nor your times. Cromwell had character--La Fayette has +none. A man does not become protector without boldness and decision; +and when he has both, this society comprises a crowd of friends of +liberty, who would rather perish than support him. I first make the +oath, that either equality shall reign, or I will die contending against +protectors and tribunes. Tribunes! they are the worst enemies of the +people. They flatter to enchain it. They spread suspicions of virtue, +which will not debase itself. Remember who were Aristides and +Phocion,--they did not always sit in the tribune." + +Brissot, as he darted this sarcasm, looked towards Robespierre, for whom +he meant it. Robespierre turned pale, and raised his head suddenly. +"They did not always sit in the tribune," continued Brissot; "they were +at their posts in the camp, or at the tribunals," (a sneering laugh came +from the Girondist benches, accusing Robespierre of abandoning his post +at the moment of danger). "They did not disdain any charge, however +humble it might be, when it was assigned them by the people: they spoke +seldom; they did not flatter demagogues; they never denounced without +proofs! The calumniators did not spare Phocion. He was the victim of an +adulator of the people! Ah! this reminds me of the horrible calumny +uttered against Condorcet! Who are you who dare to slander this great +man? What have you done? What are your labours, your writings? Can you +quote, as he can, so many assaults during three years by himself with +Voltaire and D'Alembert against the throne, superstition, prejudices, +and the aristocracy? Where would you be, where this tribune, were it not +for these gentlemen? They are your masters; and you insult those who +gain you the voices of the people. You assail Condorcet, as though his +life had not been a series of sacrifices! A philosopher, he became a +politician; academician, he became a newspaper writer; a courtier, he +became one of the people; noble, he became a Jacobin! Beware! you are +following the concealed impulses of the court. Ah, I will not imitate my +adversaries, I would not repeat those rumours which assert they are paid +by the civil list." (There was a report that Robespierre had been gained +over to oppose the war.) "I shall not say a word of a secret committee +which they frequent, and in which are concerted the means of influencing +this society; but I will say that they follow in the track of the +promoters of civil war. I will say, that without meaning it, they do +more harm to the patriots than the court. And at what moment do they +throw division amongst us? At the moment when we have a foreign war, and +when an intestine war threatens us. Let us put an end to these disputes, +and let us go to the order of the day, leaving our contempt for odious +and injurious denunciations." + + +XX. + +At this, Robespierre and Guadet, equally provoked, wished to enter the +tribune. "It is forty-eight hours," said Guadet, "that the desire of +justifying myself has weighed upon my heart; it is only a few minutes +that this want has affected Robespierre. I request to be heard." Leave +was accorded, and he briefly exculpated himself. "Be especially on your +guard," he said, as he concluded, and pointed to Robespierre, "against +empirical orators, who have incessantly in their mouths the words of +liberty, tyranny, conspiracy--always mixing up their own praises with +the deceit they impose upon the people. Do justice to such men!" +"Order!" cried Fréron, Robespierre's friend; "this is insult and +sarcasm." The tribune resounded with applause and hooting. The chamber +itself was divided into two camps, separated by a wide space. Harsh +names were exchanged, threatening gesticulations used, and hats were +raised and shaken about on the tops of canes. "I am called a wretch," +(_scelerat_) continued Guadet, "and yet I am not allowed to denounce a +man who invariably thrusts his personal pride in advance of the public +welfare. A man who, incessantly talking of patriotism, abandons the post +to which he was called! Yes, I denounce to you a man who, either from +ambition or misfortune, has become the idol of the people!" Here the +tumult reached its height, and drowned the voice of Guadet. + +Robespierre himself requested silence for his enemy. "Well," added +Guadet, alarmed or softened by Robespierre's feigned generosity, "I +denounce to you a man who, from love of the liberty of his country, +ought perhaps to impose upon himself the law of ostracism; for to remove +him from his own idolatry is to serve the people!" These words were +smothered under peals of affected laughter. Robespierre ascended the +steps of the tribune with studied calmness. His impassive brow +involuntarily brightened at the smiles and applauses of the Jacobins. +"This speech meets all my wishes," said he, looking towards Brissot and +his friends; "it includes in itself all the inculpations which the +enemies by whom I am surrounded have brought against me. In replying to +M. Guadet, I shall reply to all. I am invited to have recourse to +ostracism; there would, no doubt, be some excess of vanity in my +condemning myself--that is the punishment of great men, and it is only +for M. Brissot to class them. I am reproached for being so constantly in +the tribune. Ah! let liberty be assured, let equality be confirmed; let +the _Intrigants_ disappear, and you will see me as anxious to fly from +this tribune, and even this place, as you now see me desirous to be in +them. Thus, in effect, my dearest wishes will be accomplished. Happy in +the public liberty, I shall pass my peaceful days in the delights of a +sweet and obscure privacy." + +Robespierre confined himself to these few words, frequently interrupted +by the murmurs of fanatical enthusiasm, and then adjourned his answer to +the following sittings, when Danton was seated in the arm-chair, and +presided over this struggle between his enemies and his rival. +Robespierre began by elevating his own cause to the height of a national +one. He defended himself for having first provoked his adversaries. He +quoted the accusations made, and the injurious things uttered against +him, by the Brissot party. "Chief of a party, agitator of the people, +secret agent of the Austrian committee," he said, "these are the names +thrown in my teeth, and to which they urge me to reply! I shall not make +the answer of Scipio or La Fayette, who, when accused in the tribune of +the crime of _lêze-nation_, only replied by their silence. I shall reply +by my life. + +"A pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau, his doctrines have inspired my soul +for the people. The spectacles of the great assemblies in the first days +of our Revolution have filled me with hope. I soon understood the +difference that exists between those limited assemblies, composed of men +of ambitious views, or egotists, and the nation itself. My voice was +stifled there; but I preferred rather to excite the murmurs of the +enemies of truth, than to obtain applauses that were disgraceful. I +threw my glance beyond this limited circle, and my aim was to make +myself heard by the nation and the whole human race. It is for this that +I have so much frequented the tribune. I have done more than this--it +was I who gave Brissot and Condorcet to France. These great philosophers +have unquestionably ridiculed and opposed the priests; but they have not +the less courted kings and grandees, out of whom they have made a pretty +good thing. (Laughter). You do not forget with what eagerness they +persecuted the genius of liberty in the person of Jean Jacques Rousseau, +the only philosopher who, in my opinion, has deserved the public honours +lavished for a long time on so many political charlatans and so many +contemptible heroes. Brissot, at least, should feel well inclined +towards me. Where was he when I was defending this society from the +Jacobins against the Constituent Assembly itself? But for what I did at +this epoch, you would not have insulted me in this tribune; for it would +not have existed. I the corrupter, the agitator, the tribune of the +people! I am none of these, I am the people myself. You reproach me for +having quitted my place as public accuser. I did so when I saw that that +place gave me no other right than that of accusing citizens for civil +offences, and would deprive me of the right of accusing political +enemies. And it is for this that the people love me; and yet you desire +that I sentence myself to ostracism, in order to withdraw myself from +its confidence. Exile! how can you dare to propose it to me? Whither +would you have me retire? Amongst what people should I be received? Who +is the tyrant who would give me asylum?--Ah! we may abandon a happy, +free, and triumphant country; but a country threatened, rent by +convulsions, oppressed; we do not flee from that, we save, or perish +with it! Heaven, which gave me a soul impassioned for liberty, and gave +me birth in a land trampled on by tyrants--Heaven, which placed my life +in the midst of the reign of factions and crimes, perhaps calls me to +trace with my blood the road to happiness, and the liberty of my fellow +men! Do you require from me any other sacrifice? If you would have my +good name, I surrender it to you; I only wish for reputation in order to +do good to my fellow-creatures. If to preserve it, it be necessary to +betray by a cowardly silence the cause of the truth and of the people, +take it, sully it,--I will no longer defend it. Now that I have defended +myself, I may attack you. I will not do it; I offer you peace. I forget +your injuries; I put up with your insults; but on one condition, that +is, you join me in opposing the factions which distract our country, +and, the most dangerous of all, that of La Fayette: this pseudo-hero of +the two worlds, who, after having been present at the revolution of the +New World, has only exerted himself here in arresting the progress of +liberty in the old hemisphere. You, Brissot, did not you agree with me +that this chief was the executioner and assassin of the people, that the +massacre of the Champ-de-Mars had caused the Revolution to retrograde +for twenty years? Is this man less redoubtable because he is at this +time at the head of the army? No. Hasten then! Let the sword of the laws +strike horizontally at the heads of great conspirators. The news which +has arrived to us from the army is of threatening import. Already it +sows division amongst the national guards and the troops of the line; +already the blood of citizens has flowed at Metz; already the best +patriots are incarcerated at Strasbourg. I tell you, you are accused of +all these evils: wipe out these suspicions by uniting with us, and let +us be reconciled; but let it be for the sake of saving our common +country." + + + + +BOOK XIV. + + +I. + +Night was far advanced at the moment when Robespierre concluded his +eloquent discourse in the midst of the enthusiasm of the Jacobins. The +Jacobins and the Girondists then separated more exasperated than ever. +They hesitated before this important severance, which, by weakening the +patriotic party, might deliver the army over to La Fayette, and the +Assembly to the Feuillants.[20] Pétion, friend of Robespierre and +Brissot, at the same time closely allied to the Jacobins and with Madame +Roland, kept his popularity in equilibrium for fear of losing half of it +if he decided positively for one side or the other. He tried next day to +effect a general reconciliation. "On both sides," he said, with a +tremulous voice, "I see my friends." There was an apparent truce; but +Guadet and Brissot printed their speeches, with offensive additions, +against Robespierre. They doggedly sapped his reputation by fresh +calumnies. On the 30th of April another storm broke out. + +It was proposed to interdict all denunciations unaccompanied by proofs. +"Reflect on what is proposed to you," said Robespierre: "the majority +here belongs to a faction, which desires by this means to calumniate us +freely, and stifle our accusations by silence. If you decree that I am +prohibited from defending myself from the libellers who conspire against +me, I shall quit this place, and will bury myself in retreat." "We will +follow you, Robespierre," exclaimed the women in the tribunes. "They +have profited by the discourse of Pétion," he continued, "to disseminate +infamous libels against me. Pétion himself is insulted. His heart beats +in sympathy with mine; he groans over the insults with which I am +assailed. Read Brissot's journal, and you will there see that I am +invited not always to be apostrophising the people in my discourses. +Yes, it is to be forbidden to pronounce the name of the people under +pain of passing for a malcontent,--a tribune. I am compared to the +Gracchi: they are right so to compare me. What may be perhaps common +between us is their tragical end. That is little: they make me +responsible for a writing of Marat, who points me out as a tribune by +preaching blood and slaughter. Have I ever professed such principles? Am +I guilty of the extravagance of such an excited writer as Marat?" + +At these words, Lasource, the friend of Brissot, wished to speak, and +was refused. Merlin demanded if the peace sworn yesterday ought to bind +only one of two parties, and to authorise the other to spread calumnies +against Robespierre? The Assembly tumultuously insisted on the orators +being silent. Legendre declared that the chamber was partial. +Robespierre quitted the tribune, approached the president, and addressed +him with menacing gestures, and in language impossible to be heard in +the noise of the chamber, and the taunts and sneers profusely scattered +by the opposing factions. + +"Why do we see this ferocity among the _intrigants_ against +Robespierre?" exclaimed one of the partisans when tranquillity was +re-established. "Because he is the only man capable of making head +against their party, if they should succeed in forming it. Yes, in +revolutions we require those men, who, full of self-denial, deliver +themselves as voluntary victims to factions. The people should support +them. You have found those men--Robespierre and Pétion. Will you abandon +them to their enemies?" "No! no!" exclaimed a thousand voices, and a +motion, proposed by the president (Danton), declaring that Brissot had +calumniated Robespierre, was carried in the affirmative. + + +II. + +The journals took part, according to their politics, in these intestine +wars of the patriots. "Robespierre," said the _Revolution de Paris_, +"how is it that this man, whom the people bore in triumph to his house +when he left the Constituent Assembly, has now become a problem? For a +long while you believed yourself the only column of French liberty. Your +name was like the holy ark, no one could touch it without being struck +with death. You sought to be the man of the people. You have neither the +exterior of the orator, nor the genius which disposes of the will of +men. You have stirred up the clubs with your language; the incense burnt +in your honour has intoxicated you. The God of patriotism hath become a +man. The apogee of your glory was on the 17th July, 1791. From that day +your star declined. Robespierre, the patriots do not like that you +should present such a spectacle to them. When the people press around +the tribune to which you ascend, it is not to hear your self-eulogies, +but to hear you enlighten popular opinion. You are incorruptible--true; +but yet there are better citizens than you: there are those who are as +good, and do not boast of it. Why have you not the simplicity which is +ignorant of itself, and that right quality of the ancient times which +you sometimes refer to as possessed by you? + +"You are accused, Robespierre, of having been present at a secret +conference, held some time since at the Princesse de Lamballe's, at +which the queen Marie Antoinette was present. No mention is made of the +terms of the bargain between you and these two women, who would corrupt +you. Since then some changes have been seen in your domestic +arrangements, and you have had the money requisite to start a newspaper. +Could there have been such injurious suspicions against you in July, +1791? We believe nothing of these infamies: we do not think you the +accomplice of Marat, who offers you the dictatorship. We do not accuse +you of imitating Cæsar when Anthony presented to him the diadem. No: but +be on your guard! Speak of yourself with less egotism. We have in our +time warned both La Fayette and Mirabeau, and pointed out the Tarpeian +rock for citizens who think themselves greater than their country." + + +III. + +"The wretches," replied Marat, who was then sheltered beneath the +patronage of Robespierre, "they cast a shade upon the purest virtues! +His genius is offensive to them. They punish him for his sacrifices. His +inclinations lead him to retirement. He only remained in the tumult of +the Jacobins from devotion to his country; but men of mediocre +understanding are not accustomed to the eulogiums of another, and the +mob likes to change its hero. + +"The faction of the La Fayettes, Guadets, Brissots circumvent him. They +call him the leader of a party! Robespierre chief of a party! They show +his hand in the disgraceful columns of the Civil List. They make the +people's confidence in him a crime, as if a simple citizen without +fortune and power had any other means of acquiring the love of his +fellow-countrymen but from his deserts! as if a man who has only his +isolated voice in the midst of a society of _intrigants_, hypocrites, +and knaves, could ever be feared! But this incorruptible censor annoys +them. They say he has an understanding with me to offer him the +dictatorship. This is my affair, and I declare that Robespierre is so +far from controlling my pen, that I never had the slightest connection +with him. I have seen him but once, and the sole conversation has +convinced me that he was not the man whom I sought for the supreme and +energetic power demanded by the Revolution. + +"The first word he addressed to me was a reproach for having dipped my +pen in the blood of the enemies of liberty,--for always speaking of the +cord, the axe, and the poignard; cruel words, which unquestionably my +heart would disavow, and my principles discredit. I undeceived him. +'Learn,' I replied to him, 'that my credit with the people does not +depend on my ideas, but on my audacity, the daring impetuosity of my +mind, my cries of rage, despair, and fury against the wretches who +impede the action of the Revolution. I know the anger, the just anger, +of the people, and that is why it listens to, and believes in, me. Those +cries of alarm and fury, that you take for words in the air, are the +most simple and sincere expression of the passions which devour my mind. +Yes, if I had had in my hand the arms of the people after the decree +against the garrison of Nancy, I would have decimated the deputies who +confirmed it. After the information of the events of the 5th and 6th +October, I would have immolated every judge on the pile; after the +massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, had I but had 2000 men, animated with the +same resentment as myself, I would have gone at their head to stab La +Fayette in the midst of his battalion of brigands, burnt the king in his +palace, and cut the throats of our atrocious representatives on their +very seats!' Robespierre listened to me with affright, turned pale, and +was for a long time silent. I left him. I had seen an honest man, but +not a man of the state." + +Thus the wretch had excited horror in the fanatic: Robespierre had +obtained Marat's pity. + + +IV. + +The first struggle between the Jacobins and the Girondists gave the +skilful Dumouriez a double _point d'appui_ for his policy. The enmity of +Roland, Clavière, and Servan no longer disturbed him in council. He +balanced their influence by his alliance with their enemies. But the +Jacobins demanded wages; he proffered them in war. Danton, as violent +but more politic than Marat, did not cease to repeat that the +revolutionists and the despots were irreconcileable, and that France had +no safety to expect except from its audacity and despair. War, according +to Danton, was the baptism or the martyrdom which liberty was to +undergo, like a new religion. It was necessary to replunge France into +the fire, in order to purify it from the stains and shame of its past. + +Dumouriez, agreeing with La Fayette and the Feuillants, was also anxious +for war; but it was as a soldier, to acquire glory, and thus crush +faction. From the first day of his ministry he negotiated so as to +obtain from Austria a decisive answer. He had removed nearly all the +members of the diplomatic body; he had replaced them by energetic men. +His despatches had a martial accent, which sounded like the voice of an +armed people. He summoned the princes of the Rhine, the emperor, the +king of Russia, the king of Sardinia, and Spain, to recognise or oppose +the constitutional king of France. But whilst these official envoys +demanded from the various courts prompt and categorical replies, the +secret agents of Dumouriez insinuated themselves into the cabinets of +princes, and compelled some states to detach themselves from the +coalition that was forming. They pointed out to them the advantages of +neutrality for their aggrandisement: they promised them the patronage of +France after victory. Not daring to hope for allies, the minister at +least contrived for France secret understanding: he corrupted by +ambition the states that he could not move by terror: he benumbed the +coalition, which he trusted subsequently to crush. + + +V. + +The prince on whose mind he operated most powerfully was the Duke of +Brunswick, whom the emperor and the king of Prussia alike destined for +the command of the combined armies against the French. This prince was +in their hopes the Agamemnon of Germany. + +Charles-Frederic-Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, bred in combats +and in pleasures, had inspired in the camps of the great Frederic the +genius of war, the spirit of French philosophy, and the Machiavellianism +of his master. He had accompanied this philosopher and soldier-king in +all the campaigns of the seven years' war. At the peace he travelled in +France and Italy. Received everywhere as the hero of Germany, and as the +heir to the genius of Frederic, he had married a sister of George III., +king of England. His capital, where his mistresses shone or philosophers +harangued, united the epicureism of the court to the austerity of the +camp. He reigned according to the precepts of sages; he lived after the +example of the Sybarites. But his soldier's mind, which was but too +easily given up to beauty, was not quenched in love; he only gave his +heart to women, he reserved his head for glory, war, and the government +of his states. Mirabeau, then a young man, had stayed at his court, on +his way to Berlin, to catch the last glimpses of the shining genius of +the great Frederic. The Duke of Brunswick had favourably received and +appreciated Mirabeau. These two men, placed in such different ranks, +resembled each other by their qualities and defects. They were two +revolutionary spirits; but from their difference of situations and +countries, the one was destined to create, and the other to oppose, a +revolution. + +Be this as it may, Mirabeau was seduced by the sovereign, whom he was +sent to seduce. + +"This prince's countenance," he writes in his secret correspondence, +"betokens depth and finesse. He speaks with eloquence and precision: he +is prodigiously well-informed, industrious, and clear-sighted: he has a +vast correspondence, which he owes to his merit alone: he is even +economical of his amours. His mistress, Madame de Hartfeld, is the most +sensible woman of his court. A real Alcibiades, he loves pleasure, but +never allows it to intrude on business. When acting as the Prussian +general, no one so early, so active, so precisely exact as he. Under a +calm aspect, which arises from the absolute control he has over his +mind, his brilliant imagination and ambitious aspirations often carry +him away; but the circumspection which he imposes on himself, and the +satisfactory reflection of his fame, restrain him and lead him to +doubts, which, perhaps, constitute his sole defect." + +Mirabeau predicted to the Duke of Brunswick, from this moment, leading +influence in the affairs of Germany after the death of the king of +Prussia, whom Germany called the Great King. + +The duke was then fifty years of age. He defended himself, in his +conversations with Mirabeau, from the charge of loving war. "Battles are +games of chance," said he to the French traveller: "up to this time I +have been fortunate. Who knows if to-day, although more lucky, I should +be as well used by fortune?" A year after this remark he made the +triumphant invasion of Holland, at the head of the troops of England. +Some years later Germany nominated him generalissimo. + +But war with France, however it might be grateful to his ambition as a +soldier, was repugnant to his mind as a philosopher. He felt he should +but ill carry out the ideas in which he had been educated. Mirabeau had +made that profound remark, which prophesied the weaknesses and defects +of a coalition guided by that prince: "This man is of a rare stamp, but +he is too much of a sage to be feared by sages." + +This phrase explains the offer of the crown of France made to the Duke +of Brunswick by Custine, in the name of the monarchical portion of the +Assembly. Freemasonry, that underground religion, into which nearly all +the reigning princes of Germany had entered, concealed beneath its +mysteries secret understandings between French philosophy and the +sovereigns on the banks of the Rhine. Brothers in a religious +conspiracy, they could not be very bitter enemies in politics. The Duke +of Brunswick was in the depth of his heart more the citizen than the +prince--more the Frenchman than the German. The offer of a throne at +Paris had pleased his fancy. He fights not against a people, whose king +he hopes to be, and against a cause, which he desires to conquer, but +not to destroy. Such was the state of the Duke of Brunswick's +mind;--consulted by the king of Prussia, he advised this monarch to turn +his forces to the Polish frontier and conquer provinces there, instead +of principles in France. + + +VI. + +Dumouriez's plan was to separate, as much as possible, Prussia from +Austria, in order to have but one enemy at a time to cope with; and the +union of these two powers, natural and jealous rivals of each other, +appeared to him so totally unnatural, that he flattered himself he could +prevent or sever it. The instinctive hatred of despotism for liberty, +however, overthrew all his schemes. Russia, through the ascendency of +Catherine, forced Prussia and Austria to make common cause against the +Revolution. At Vienna, the young Emperor Francis I. made far greater +preparations for war than for negotiation. The Prince de Kaunitz, his +principal minister, replied to the notes of Dumouriez in language that +seemed a defiance of the Assembly. Dumouriez laid these documents before +the Assembly, and forestalled the expressions of their just indignation, +by bursting himself into patriotic anger. The _contre coup_ of these +scenes was felt even in the cabinet of the emperor at Vienna, where +Francis I., pale and trembling with rage, censured the tardiness of his +minister. He was present every day at the conferences held at the +bedside of the veteran Prince de Kaunitz and the Prussian and Russian +envoys charged by their sovereigns to foment the war. The king of +Prussia demanded to have the whole direction of the war in his hands, +and he proposed the sudden invasion of the French territory as the most +efficacious means of preventing the effusion of blood, by striking +terror into the Revolution, and causing a counter-revolution, with the +hope of which the _emigrés_ flattered him, to break out in France. An +interview to concert the measures of Austria and Prussia, was fixed +between the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince de Hohenlohe, general of +the emperor's army. For form's sake, however, conferences were still +carried on at Vienna between M. de Noailles, the French ambassador, and +Count Philippe de Cobentzel, vice-chancellor of the court. These +conferences, in which the liberty of the people and the absolute +sovereignty of monarchs continually strove to conciliate two +irreconcileable principles, ended invariably in mutual reproaches. A +speech of M. de Cobentzel broke off all negotiations, and this speech, +made public at Paris, caused the final declaration of war. Dumouriez +proposed it at the council, and induced the king, as if by the hand of +fatality, himself to propose the war to his people. "The people," said +he, "will credit your attachment when they behold you embrace their +cause, and combat kings in its defence." + +The king, surrounded by his ministers, appeared unexpectedly at the +Assembly on the 20th of April, at the conclusion of the council. A +solemn silence reigned in the Assembly, for every one felt that the +decisive word was now about to be pronounced--and they were not +deceived. After a full report of the negotiations with the house of +Austria had been read by Dumouriez, the king added in a low but firm +voice, "You have just heard the report which has been made to my +council; these conclusions have been unanimously adopted, and I myself +have taken the same resolution. I have exhausted every means of +maintaining peace, and I now come, in conformity with the terms of the +constitution, to propose to you, formally, war with the king of Hungary +and Bohemia." + +The king, after this speech, quitted the Assembly amidst cries and +gestures of enthusiasm, which burst forth in the salle and the tribunes: +the people followed their example. France felt certain of herself when +she was the first to attack all Europe armed against her. It seemed to +all good citizens that domestic troubles would cease before this mighty +external excitement of a people who defend their frontiers. That the +cause of liberty would be judged in a few hours on the field of battle, +and that the constitution needed only a victory, in order to render the +nation free at home, and triumphant abroad. The king himself re-entered +his palace relieved from the cruel weight of irresolution which had so +long oppressed him. War against his allies and his brothers had cost him +many a pang. This sacrifice of his feelings to the constitution seemed +to him to merit the gratitude of the Assembly, and by thus identifying +himself with the cause of his country, he flattered himself that he +should at least recover the good opinion and the love of his people. The +Assembly separated without deliberating, and gave a few hours up to +enthusiasm rather than to reflection. + + +VII. + +At the sitting in the evening, Pastoret, one of the principal +Feuillants, was the first to support the war. "We are reproached with +having voted the effusion of human blood in a moment of enthusiasm; but +is it to-day only that we are provoked? During four hundred years the +house of Austria has violated every treaty with France. Such are our +motives; let us no longer hesitate. Victory will adhere faithfully to +the cause of liberty." + +Becquet, a constitutional royalist, a profound and courageous orator, +alone ventured to speak against the declaration of war. "In a free +country," said he, "war is alone made to defend the constitution or the +nation. Our constitution is but of yesterday, and it requires calm to +take root. A state of crisis, such as war, opposes all regular movements +of political bodies. If your armies combat abroad, who will repress +faction at home? You are flattered with the belief that you have only +Austria to cope against. You are promised that the other northern powers +will not interfere; do not rely on this. Even England cannot remain +neuter: if the exigencies of the war lead you to revolutionise Belgium, +or to invade Holland, she will join Prussia to support the stadtholder +against you. Doubtless England loves the liberty which is now taking +root amongst you; but her life is commercial, she cannot abandon her +trade in the Low Countries. Wait until you are attacked, and then the +spirit of the people will fight in your cause. The justice of a cause is +worth armies. But if you can be represented to other nations as a +restless and conquering people, who can only exist in a vortex of +turmoil and war, the nations will shun and dread you. Besides, is not +war the hope of the enemies of the Revolution? Why give them cause to +rejoice by offering it to them. The _emigrés_, now only despicable, will +become dangerous on that day when foreign armies lend them their +assistance." + +This sensible and profound speech, interrupted repeatedly by the +ironical laughter and the insults of the Assembly, was concluded amidst +the outcries of the tribunes. It required no small degree of heroism to +combat the proposed war in the French chambers. Bazire alone, the friend +of Robespierre, ventured, like Becquet, the king's friend, to demand a +few days' reflection, before giving a vote that would shed so much human +gore. "If you decide upon war, do so in such a manner that treason +cannot envelope it," said he. Feeble applause showed that the republican +allusion of Bazire had been comprehended, and that above all, it was +necessary to remove a king and generals whose fidelity was suspected. +"No, no," returned Mailhe, "do not lose an hour in decreeing the liberty +of the whole world." "Extinguish the torches of your disagreements in +the blaze of your cannon, and the glitter of your bayonets," added +Dubayet. "Let the report be made instantly," demanded Brissot. "Declare +war against kings, and peace to all nations," cried Merlin. The war was +voted. + +Condorcet, who had been informed already of this by the Girondists of +the council, read in the tribune a proposed manifesto to the nations. +The following was its substance: "Every nation has the right of giving +itself laws, and of altering them at pleasure. The French nation had +every reason to believe that these simple truths would obtain the assent +of all princes. This hope has not been fulfilled. A league has been +formed against its independence; and never did the pride of thrones more +audaciously insult the majesty of nations. The motives alleged by +despots against France are but an outrage to her liberty. This insulting +pride, far from intimidating her, serves only to excite her courage. It +requires time to discipline the slaves of despotism; every man is a +soldier when he combats against tyranny." + + +VIII. + +But the principal orator of the Gironde mounted the tribune the last. +"You owe it to the nation," said Vergniaud, "to employ every means to +assure the success of the great and terrible determination by which you +have signalised this memorable day. Remember the hour of that general +federation when all Frenchmen devoted their life to the defence of +liberty and the constitution. Remember the oath which you have taken on +the 14th of January, to bury yourselves beneath the ruins of the temple +rather than consent to a capitulation, or to the least modification in +the constitution. Where is the icy heart that does not palpitate in +these important moments--the grovelling soul that does not elevate +itself (I venture to utter the words) to heaven amidst these +acclamations of universal joy; the apathetic man who does not feel his +whole being penetrated and his forces raised by a noble enthusiasm far +above the common force of the human race? Give to France, to Europe, +the imposing spectacle of these national fêtes. Reanimate that energy +before which the Bastille fell. Let every part of the empire resound +with these sublime words: '_To live free or die! The entire constitution +without any modification, or death!_' Let these cries reach even the +thrones that have leagued against you; let them learn that it is useless +to reckon upon our internal dissensions; that when our country is in +danger, we are animated by one passion alone--that of saving her, or of +perishing for her; in a word, should fortune prove false to so just a +cause as ours, our enemies might insult our lifeless corpses, but never +shall one Frenchman wear their fetters." + + +IX. + +These lyrical words of Vergniaud re-echoed at Berlin and at Vienna. "War +has been declared against us," said the Prince de Kaunitz to the Russian +ambassador, the Prince de Galitzin, "it is the same thing as if it had +been declared against you." The command of the Prussian and Austrian +forces was given to the Duke of Brunswick. The two princes by this act +only ratified the choice of all Germany, for opinion had already +nominated him. Germany moves but slowly: federations are but ill fitted +for sudden wars. The campaign was opened by the French before Prussia +and Austria had prepared their armaments. + +Dumouriez had reckoned upon this sluggishness and inactivity of the two +German monarchies. His skilful plan was to sever the coalition, and +suddenly invade Belgium before Prussia could take the field. Had +Dumouriez alone framed and carried out his own plan, the fate of Belgium +and Holland was sealed; but La Fayette, who was charged to invade them +at the head of 40,000 men, had neither the temerity nor the rapidity of +this veteran soldier. A general of opinion rather than the general of an +army, he was more accustomed to command citizens in the public square, +than soldiers in a campaign. Personally brave, beloved by his troops, +but more of a citizen than a soldier, he had, during the American war, +headed small bodies of free men, but not undisciplined masses. Not to +peril his soldiers; defend the frontiers with intrepidity; die bravely +at a Thermopylæ; harangue the national guard; and excite his troops for +or against opinions; such was the nature of La Fayette. The daring +schemes of great wars, that risk much to save every thing, and which +expose the frontiers for a moment to strike at the heart of an empire, +accorded but ill with his habits, much less with his situation. + +By becoming a general, La Fayette had become the chief of a party; and +whilst he was opposing foreign powers, his eyes were constantly turned +towards the interior. Doubtless he needed glory to nourish his +influence, and to regain the _rôle_ of arbitrator of the Revolution, +which now began to escape his grasp; but before every thing, it was +necessary that he should not compromise himself; one defeat would have +ruined all, and he knew it. He who never risks a loss, will never gain a +victory. La Fayette was the general of temporisation; and to waste the +time of the Revolution, was to destroy its force. The strength of +undisciplined forces is their impetuosity, and every thing that slackens +that ruins them. + +Dumouriez, impetuous as the volcano, instinctively felt this, and +strove, in the conferences that preceded the nomination of the generals, +to infuse some portion of his own fire into La Fayette. He placed him at +the head of the principal _corps d'armée_, destined to penetrate into +Belgium, as the general most fitted to foment popular insurrection, and +convert the war on the Belgian provinces into revolution; for to rouse +Belgium in favour of French liberty, and to render its independence +dependent on ours, was to wrest it from the power of Austria, and turn +it against our foes. The Belgians, according to Dumouriez's plan, were +to conquer Belgium for us; for the germs of revolt had been but +imperfectly stifled in these provinces, and were destined to bud again +at the step of the first French soldier. + + +X. + +Belgium, which had been long dominated over by Spain, had contracted its +jealous and superstitious Catholicism. The nation pertains to the +priests, and the privileges of the priests appear to it the privileges +of the people. Joseph II., a premature but an armed philosopher, sought +to emancipate the people from sacerdotal despotism. Belgium had risen in +arms against the liberty offered to her, and had sided with her +oppressors. The fanaticism of the priests, and of the municipal +privileges, united in a feeling of resistance to Joseph II., had set all +Belgium in a flame. The rebels had captured GHENT and BRUSSELS, +and proclaimed the downfall of the house of Austria, and the sovereignty +of the Pays Bas. Scarcely had they triumphed, than the Belgians became +divided amongst themselves. The sacerdotal and aristocratic party +demanded an oligarchical constitution, whilst the popular party demanded +a democracy, modelled on the French revolution. + +VAN-DER-NOOT, an eloquent and cruel tribune, was the leader of the first +party; VAN-DER-MERSH, a brave soldier, of the people. Civil war broke +out amidst a struggle for independence. VAN-DER-MERSH, made +prisoner by the aristocratic party, was immured in a gloomy dungeon +until Leopold, the successor of Joseph II., profited by these domestic +feuds, again to subjugate Belgium. Weary of liberty, after having tasted +it, she submitted without resistance. Van-der-noot took refuge in +Holland. Van-der-mersh, freed by the Austrians, was generously pardoned, +and again became an obscure citizen. + +All attempts at independence were repressed by strong Austrian +garrisons, and could not fail to be awakened at the approach of the +French armies. La Fayette appeared to comprehend and approve of this +plan. It was agreed that the Maréchal de Rochambeau should be appointed +commander-in-chief of the army that threatened Belgium, that La Fayette +should have under his orders a considerable _corps_ that would invade +the country, and then La Fayette would command alone in the Netherlands. +Rochambeau, old and worn out by inactivity, would thus only receive the +honour due to his rank. La Fayette would in reality direct the whole of +the campaign and of the armed propaganda of the revolution. "This _rôle_ +suits him," said the old maréchal. "I do not understand this war of +cities." To cause La Fayette to march on Namur, which was but ill +defended, capture it, march from thence on Brussels and Liège, the two +capitals of the Pays Bas, and the focus of Belgian independence--send +General Biron forward at the head of ten thousand men on Mons, to oppose +the Austrian General Beaulieu, whose force was only two or three +thousand men--detach from the garrison at Lille another corps of three +thousand men, who would occupy Tournay, and who, after having left a +garrison in this town, would swell the corps of Biron--send twelve +hundred men from Dunkirk to surprise Furnes, and then advance by +converging into the heart of the Belgian provinces with these forty +thousand men under the command of La Fayette--attack, on every side, in +ten days an enemy ill prepared to resist--to rouse the populations to +revolt, and then increase the attacking army to eighty thousand troops, +and join to it the Belgian battalions raised in the name of freedom, to +combat the emperor's army as it arrived from Germany:--such was +Dumouriez's bold idea of the campaign. Nothing was wanting to ensure its +success but a man capable of executing it. Dumouriez disposed of the +troops and the generals in conformity with this plan. + + +XI. + +The impulse of France responded to the impulse of her genius. + +On the other side of the Rhine the preparations were making with +promptitude and energy. The emperor and the king of Prussia met at +Frankfort, where they were joined by the Duke of Brunswick. The empress +of Russia adhered to the aggression of the powers against France, and +marched her troops into Poland, to repress the germs of the same +principles that were to be combated at Paris. Germany yielded, in spite +of herself, to the impulse of the three cabinets, and poured her masses +towards the Rhine. The emperor preluded this war of thrones against +people by his coronation at Frankfort. The head-quarters of the Duke of +Brunswick were at Coblentz, the capital of the emigration. The +generalissimo of the confederation had an interview there with the two +brothers of Louis XVI., and promised to restore to them, ere long, their +country and their rank, whilst they, in their turn, styled him the _Hero +of the Rhine_, and the _Right arm of kings_. + +Every thing wore a military aspect. The two princes of Prussia, +quartered in a village near Coblentz, had but one room, and slept on the +floor. The king of Prussia was welcomed on every bank of the Rhine by +the salvos of his artillery. In every town through which he passed the +_emigrés_, the population, and the troops, proclaimed him beforehand the +preserver of Germany. His name, written in letters of fire at the +illuminations, was surrounded by this adulatory device, "_Vivat +Villelmus, Francos deleat, jura regis restituat!"--"Long live William, +the exterminator of the French, the restorer of royalty._" + + +XII. + +Coblentz, a town situated on the confluence of the Moselle and the +Rhine, in the states of the Elector of Trèves, had become the capital of +the French _emigrés_. A constantly increasing body of gentlemen, to the +number of twenty-two thousand, assembled there, around the seven +fugitive princes of the house of Bourbon. These princes were, the Comte +de Provence and the Comte d'Artois, the king's brothers; the two sons of +the Comte d'Artois, the Duc de Berri and the Duc d'Angoulême; the Prince +de Condé, the king's cousin, the Duke de Bourbon, his son, and the Duc +d'Enghien, his grandson. All the military noblesse of the kingdom, with +the exception of the partisans of the constitution, had quitted their +garrisons or their Châteaus to join this crusade of kings against the +French revolution. This movement--which now appears sacrilegious, since +it armed citizens against their country, and led them to implore the +assistance of foreign powers to combat France--did not at that time +possess in the eyes of the French noblesse that parricidal character +with which the more enlightened patriotism of the present age invests +it. Culpable in the eyes of reason, it could at least explain itself +before feeling. Infidelity to their country was termed fidelity to their +king, and desertion, honour. + +Allegiance to the throne was the religion of the French nobles; and the +sovereignty of the people appeared to them an insolent dogma, against +which it was imperative to take arms, unless they wished to be partakers +of the crime. The noblesse had patiently supported the humiliation and +the personal spoliation of title and fortune which the National Assembly +had imposed on them by the destruction of the last vestiges of the +feudal system; or rather, they had generously sacrificed them to their +country on the night of the 6th of August. But these outrages on the +king appeared more intolerable to them than those inflicted on +themselves. To deliver him from his captivity--rescue him from impending +danger--save the queen and her children--restore royalty--or perish +fighting for this sacred cause, appeared to them the duty of their +situation and their birth. On one side was honour, on the other their +country: they had not hesitated, but had followed honour; and this was +sanctified even more in their eyes by the magic word devotion. There was +real devotion in the feeling that induced these young and these old men +to abandon their rank in the army--their fortune--their country--their +families, to rally around the white flag in a foreign land, to perform +the duty of private soldiers, and brave eternal exile, the spoliation +pronounced against them by the laws of their country, the fatigues of +the camp, and death and danger on the battle-field. If the devotion of +the patriots to the Revolution was sublime as hope, that of the emigrant +nobles was generous as despair. In civil wars we should ever judge each +party by its own ideas, for civil wars are almost invariably the +expression of two duties in opposition to each other. The duty of the +patriots was their country; of the _emigrés_, the throne: one of the two +parties was deceived as to its duty, but each believed it fulfilled it. + + +XIII. + +The emigration was composed of two entirely distinct parties--the +politicians and the combatants. The politicians, who crowded round the +Comte de Provence and the Comte d'Artois, and poured forth idle +invectives against the truths of philosophy and the principles of +democracy. They wrote books and supported papers, in which the French +Revolution was represented to the foreign sovereigns as an infernal +conspiracy of a few scoundrels against kings, and even against heaven. +They formed the councils of an imaginary government--they sought to +obtain missions--they formed plans--renewed intrigues--visited every +court--stirred up the sovereigns and their ministers against +France--disputed the favour of the French princes--devoured their +subsidies--and transported to this foreign soil the ambitions, the +rivalries, and the cupidity of a court. + +The military men had brought nothing but the bravery, the _insouciance_, +the recklessness, and the polish of their nation and profession. +Coblentz became the camp of illusion and devotion. This handful of brave +men deemed themselves a nation; and prepared, by accustoming themselves +to the manoeuvres and fatigues of war, to conquer in a few days a +whole monarchy. The emigrants of every country and every age have +presented this spectacle; for emigration, like the desert, has its +mirage. The emigrants believe that they have borne away their country on +the soles of their shoes, to employ the language of Danton, but they +carry away nought but its shadow, accumulate nothing but its anger, and +find nothing but its pity. + + +XIV. + +Amongst the first _emigrés_, three factions corresponded to these +different parties in the emigration itself. + +The Comte de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII., was a philosophic +prince--a politician and a diplomatist somewhat inclined towards +innovation; an enemy of the nobility, of the priesthood; favourable to +the aristocracy; and who would have pardoned the Revolution, if the +Revolution itself would have pardoned royalty. His early infirmities +closing the career of arms to him, he became addicted to politics--he +cultivated his mind--he studied history--he wrote well, and foreseeing +the approaching downfall, he predicted the probable death of Louis +XVI.--he believed in the vicissitudes of the Revolution, and prepared +himself to become the pacificator of his country, and the conciliator of +the throne and liberty. His heart possessed all the qualities and all +the faults of a woman--he needed friendship, and he gave himself +favourites; but he chose them rather for their elegance than their +merit, and saw men and things only through books and the hearts of +courtiers. Somewhat theatrical, he exhibited himself as a statue of +right and misfortune to all Europe; studied his attitudes; spoke +learnedly of his adversaries; and assumed the position of a victim and a +sage: he was, however, unpopular with the army. + +XV. + +The Comte d'Artois, his junior, spoiled by nature, by the court, and by +the fair sex, had taken on himself the _rôle_ of a hero. He represented +at Coblentz antique honour, chivalrous devotion, and the French +character; he was adored by the court, whose grace, elegance, and pride +were personified in him: his heart was good, his mind apt, but not well +informed, and of limited comprehension. A philosopher, through indolence +and carelessness before the Revolution, superstitious afterwards, +through weakness and _entrainment_, he threatened the Revolution with +his sword from a distance. He appeared more fitted to irritate than to +conquer, and at this early period he already manifested that unbridled +rashness and that useless spirit of provocation which was one day to +cost him a throne. But his personal beauty, his grace, and his +cordiality, covered all these defects, and he seemed destined never to +die. Old in years, he was fated to reign, and die, eternally young. He +was the prince of youth: at another epoch he would have been Francis I., +in his own he was Charles X. + +The Prince de Condé was a soldier by birth, inclination, and profession. +He despised these two courts, transposed to the banks of the Rhine, for +his court was his camp. His son, the Duc de Bourbon, served his first +campaign under his orders, and his grandson, the Duc d'Enghien, in his +seventeenth year, acted as his aide-de-camp. This young prince was the +representative of manly grace in the camp of the _emigrés_; his bravery, +his enthusiasm, his generosity, all seemed to promise another hero to +the heroic race of Condé. He was worthy of conquering in a cause not +doomed, of dying sword in hand on the battle field, and not to fall, +some years later, in the fosse at Vincennes, by the "lantern dimly +burning," with no other friend than his dog, by the balls of a platoon +of soldiers, ordered out at dead of night, as if for an assassination. + + +XVI. + +Louis XVI. trembled in his palace at the shock of this war which he +himself had proclaimed, and which loured on the frontiers. He did not +conceal from himself that he was less the chief than the hostage of +France, and that his head and that of his children would be forfeited to +the nation on the first reverse or peril. Danger sees treason on every +side, and the public journals and the clubs denounced more vehemently +than ever the existence of the _comité Autrichien_, of which the queen +was the centre. This report was universally believed by the nation, and +only cost the queen her popularity during the peace, but during the war +it might cost her her life. Thus, formerly accused of betraying the +peace, this unfortunate family was now accused of betraying the war. In +false positions every thing is a danger; the king comprehended the +extent of his perils, and hastened to avert the most impending. + +He despatched a secret emissary to the king of Prussia and the emperor, +to entreat them, as they valued his safety, to suspend hostilities, and +to precede the invasion by a conciliating manifesto, which might allow +France to retire from the contest without disgrace, and would place the +life of the royal family under the safeguard of the nation. This secret +agent was Mallet-Dupan, a young journalist of Geneva, established in +France, and mixed up with the counter-revolutionary movement. +Mallet-Dupan was attached to the monarchy by principle, and to the king +by personal devotion. He left Paris under pretext of returning to +Geneva, and from thence went to Germany, where he had an interview with +the Maréchal de Castries, the foreign confidant of Louis XVI., and one +of the leaders of the _emigrés_. Accredited by the Duc de Castries, he +presented himself at Coblentz to the Duke of Brunswick, at Frankfort to +the ministers of the king of Prussia and the emperor; they however +refused to place any faith in his communications, unless he produced a +letter in the king's own hand. On this the king transmitted him a slip +of paper, about two inches long, on which was written: "_The person who +will produce this note knows my intentions; implicit credence may be +given to all he says in my name._" This royal sign of recognition gave +Mallet-Dupan access to the cabinets of the coalition. + +Conferences were opened between the French negotiator, the Comte de +Cobentzel, the Comte d'Haugwitz, and general Heyman, the +plenipotentiaries of the emperor, and the king of Prussia. These +ministers, after having examined the credentials of Mallet-Dupan, +listened to his communications. They were to the effect that "the king +alike prayed and exhorted the _emigrés_ not to cause the approaching war +to lose its appearance of power against power, by taking part in it, in +the name of the re-establishment of the monarchy. Any other line of +conduct would produce a civil war, endanger the lives of the king and +queen, destroy the throne, and occasion a general massacre of the +royalists. The king added, that he besought the sovereigns who had taken +up arms in his cause, to separate, in their manifesto, the faction of +the Jacobins from the nation, and the liberty of the people from the +anarchy that convulsed them; to declare formally and energetically to +the Assembly, the administrative and municipal bodies, that their lives +should be answerable for all and every attempt against the sacred +persons of the king, the queen, and their children; and to announce to +the nation that no dismemberment would follow the war, that they would +treat for peace with the king alone, and that in consequence the +Assembly should hasten to give him the most perfect liberty, in order to +enable him to negotiate in the name of his people with the allied +powers." + +Mallet-Dupan explained the sense of these instructions with that +enlightened good sense, and that devoted attachment to the king that +marked him; he painted in the most lively colours the interior of the +Tuileries, and the terror to which the royal family was a prey. + +The negotiators were moved almost to tears, and promised to communicate +these impressions to their sovereigns, and gave Mallet-Dupan the +assurance that the intentions of the king should be the measure of the +language which the manifesto of the coalition would address to the +French nation. + +They did not however dissimulate their astonishment at the fact that the +language of the emigrant princes at Coblentz was so opposed to the views +of the king at Paris. "They openly manifest," said they, "the intention +of re-conquering the kingdom for the counter-revolution, of rendering +themselves independent, of dethroning their brother and proclaiming a +regency." The confidant of Louis XVI. left for Geneva after this +conference; whilst the emperor, the king of Prussia, the principal +princes of the confederation, the ministers, the generals, and the Duke +of Brunswick went to Mayence. Mayence, where the fêtes were interrupted +by the councils, became for some days the head-quarters of the monarchs, +and there, at the instigation of the _emigrés_, extreme resolutions were +adopted. It was resolved to combat a revolution that but increased in +proportion as it received indulgence. The supplications of Louis XVI., +and the warnings of Dupan were forgotten, and the plan of the campaign +was fixed. + + +XVII. + +The emperor was to have the supreme control of the war in Belgium, where +his army was to be commanded by the Duke of Saxe-Teschen. Fifteen +thousand men were to cover the right of the Prussians, and affect a +junction with them at Longwy. Twenty thousand more of the emperor's +troops, commanded by the Prince de Hohenlohe, were to establish +themselves between the Rhine and the Moselle, cover the Prussian left, +and operate upon Landau, Sarrelouis, and Thionville. A third corps, +under Prince Esterhazy, and strengthened by five thousand _emigrés_ +under the Prince de Condé, would threaten the frontiers from Switzerland +to Philipsbourg, and the king of Sardinia would have an army of +observation on the Var and the Isère. These dispositions made, it was +resolved to reply to terror by terror, and to publish in the name of the +generalissimo the Duke of Brunswick, a manifesto, which would leave the +French revolution no other alternative than submission or death. + +M. de Calonne proposed it, and the Marquis de Limon, formerly intendant +des finances to the Duke of Orleans, first an ardent revolutionist like +his master, then an _emigré_ and an implacable royalist, wrote the +manifesto and submitted it to the emperor, who in his turn submitted it +to the king of Prussia. The king of Prussia sent it to the Duke of +Brunswick, who murmured, and demanded a modification of some of the +expressions, which was accorded. The Marquis de Limon, however, +supported by the French princes, again restored the text. The Duke of +Brunswick became indignant, and tore the manifesto to pieces, without +however daring to disavow it, and the manifesto appeared, with all its +insults and threats, to the French nation. + +The emperor and the king of Prussia, informed of the secret leaning of +the Duke of Brunswick to France, and of the offer of the crown made to +him by the factions, caused him to undertake the responsibility of this +proclamation either as a vengeance or a disavowal. This imperious +defiance of the kings to freedom threatened with death every national +guard taken with arms in his hand, protecting the independence of his +country, and that in case the least outrage was offered by the factions +to the king, Paris should be razed to the ground. + + + + +BOOK XV. + + +I. + +Whilst a war to the death impended over the people, and menaced the +king, discord continued to reign in the councils of the ministers. The +minister of war, Servan, was accused by Dumouriez with obeying with +servility, which resembled love rather than complaisance, the influence +of Madame Roland, and of having wholly defeated the plans for the +invasion of Belgium. The friends of Madame Roland, on their side, +threatened Dumouriez that they would make the Assembly demand of him an +account of the six millions of secret expenses, whose destination they +suspected. Already Guadet and Vergniaud had prepared discourses and a +project of a decree to demand a public reckoning for these sums. +Dumouriez, who had bought friends and accomplices with this gold amongst +the Jacobins and the Feuillants, revolted against the suspicion, +refused, in the name of his outraged honour, to make any return of this +expenditure, and boldly offered his resignation. Upon this a great +number of members of the Assembly, Feuillants and Jacobins, Pétion +himself, called at the residence of the insulted minister, and conjured +him to return to his post. He consented, on condition that they would +leave the disposal of these funds to his conscience alone. The +Girondists themselves, intimidated by his retirement, and feeling that a +man of his character was indispensable to their weakness, withdrew their +motion, and passed a vote of public confidence in him. The people +applauded him as he quitted the Assembly. These applauses sounded +gloomily in the council-chamber of Madame Roland. The popularity of +Dumouriez renders her jealous. It was not in her eyes the popularity of +virtue, and she coveted it all for her husband and her party. Roland and +his Girondist colleagues, Servan, Clavière, redoubled their efforts to +influence the mind of the king, and used threats in order to acquire it. +To flatter the Assembly, court the people; irritate the Jacobins against +the court; beset the king by the imperious demand of sacrifices which +they knew were impossible; to injure him silently in opinion as the +cause of all evil, or the obstacle to all good; to compel him, in fact, +by insolence and outrage, to dismiss them that they might afterwards +accuse him of betraying in them the Revolution: such were their tactics, +resulting from their weakness rather than from their ambition. + +This feeling of backing the king, whose ministers they were, was the +basis of a conspiracy of which Madame Roland was the origin. At Roland's +there was nothing but ill humour; amongst his colleagues it was a +rivalry of patriotism with Robespierre. At Madame Roland's it was that +passion for a republic which was impatient of any remnant of a throne, +and which smiled complacently at the factions ready to overturn the +monarchy. When factions had arms no longer, Madame Roland and her +friends hastened to lead them. + + +II. + +We see a fatal example in the step of the minister of war, Servan. He, +entirely controlled by Madame Roland, proposed to the National Assembly, +without authority from the king, or the consent of the council, to +assemble round Paris a camp of 20,000 troops. This army, composed of +_fédérés_ chosen from amongst the most enthusiastic persons of the +provinces, would be, as the Girondists believed, a kind of central army +of opinions devoted to the Assembly, counter-balancing the king's guard, +repressing the national guard, and recalling to mind that army of the +parliament which, under the orders of Cromwell, had conducted Charles I. +to the scaffold. + +The Assembly, with the exception of the constitutional party, seized on +this idea as hatred seizes the arm which is offered to it. The king felt +the blow; Dumouriez saw through the perfidy, and could not repress his +choler against Servan in the council-chamber. His reproaches were those +of a loyal defender of his king. The replies of Servan were evasive, but +full of provocation. The two ministers laid their hands upon their +swords, and but for the presence of the king, and the intervention of +their colleagues, blood would have flowed in the council-chamber. + +The king was desirous of refusing his sanction to the decree for the +20,000 men. "It is too late," said Dumouriez: "your refusal would +display fears too well founded, but which we must take care not to +betray to our enemies. Sanction the decree, I will undertake to +neutralise the danger of the concentration." The king requested time for +consideration. + +Next day the Girondists called upon the king to sanction the decree +against the nonjuring priests. They came into direct contact with the +religious conscience of Louis XVI. Supported by that, this prince +declared that he would rather die than sign the persecution of the +church. Dumouriez insisted as much as the Girondists in obtaining this +sanction. The king was inflexible. In vain did Dumouriez represent to +him that by refusing legal measures against the nonjuring priests he +exposed the priests to massacre, and thus made himself responsible for +all the blood that might be shed. In vain did they represent to him that +this refusal would render the ministry unpopular, and thus deprive them +of all hope of saving the monarchy. In vain did they appeal to the +queen, and implore her, by her feelings as a mother, to bend the king to +their wishes. The queen herself was for a long time powerless. At last +the king seemed to hesitate, and gave Dumouriez a private meeting in the +evening. In this conversation he ordered Dumouriez to present to him +three ministers, to succeed Roland, Clavière, and Servan. Dumouriez at +once named Vergennes for finance, Naillac for foreign affairs, Mourgues +for the interior. He reserved the war department for himself: +dictatorial minister at the moment when France was becoming an army. +Roland, Clavière, and Servan, stung to the quick at a dismissal they had +provoked the more because they had not anticipated it, hastened to carry +their complaints and accusations to the Assembly. They were received +there as martyrs to their patriotism; they had filled the tribunes with +their partisans. + + +III. + +Roland, Clavière, and Servan were present, under pretence of rendering +an account of the grounds of their dismissal. Roland laid before the +Assembly the celebrated confidential letter dictated by his wife, and +which he had read to the king in his cabinet. He affected to believe +that the dismissal of ministers was the punishment of his own courage. +The advice he gave to the king in this letter thus turned into +accusations of this unfortunate prince. Louis XVI. had never received +from the malcontents a more terrible blow than that now given by his +minister. Passions trouble the conscience of the people, and there are +days when treachery passes current for heroism. The Girondists made a +hero of Roland. They had his letter printed, and circulated it in the +eighty-three departments. + +Roland left the chamber amidst loud applauses. Dumouriez entered it in +the midst of uproar. He displayed in the tribune the same calmness as in +the field of battle. He began by announcing to the Assembly the death of +General Gouvion. "He is happy," he said, with sadness, "to have died +fighting against the enemy, and not to have been the witness of the +discords which rend us to pieces. I envy his death." The deep serenity +of a powerful mind was felt in his every tone--a mind resolute to +contend against factions unto death. He then read a memorial relating to +the ministry of war. His exordium was an attack upon the Jacobins, and a +claim for the respect due to the ministers of the executive power. "Do +you hear Cromwell!" exclaimed Guadet, in a voice of thunder. "He thinks +himself already so sure of empire, that he dares to inflict his commands +upon us." "And why not?" retorted Dumouriez, proudly, and turning +towards the Mountain. His daring imposed on the Assembly. The Feuillant +deputies went out with him to the Tuileries. The king announced to him +his intention to give his sanction to the decree for the 20,000 men. As +to the decree of the priests, he repeated to the ministers that he had +resolved, and begged them to take to the president of the Assembly a +letter in his own writing, which contained the motives for his _veto_. +The ministers bowed, and separated in consternation. + + +IV. + +When Dumouriez reached his house, he learnt that there had been +gatherings of the populace in the Faubourg St. Antoine, and he informed +the king, who believing that he intended to alarm him, lost his +confidence in Dumouriez, who instantly offered his resignation, which +the king accepted. The portfolio of the ministry of foreign affairs was +confided to Chambonas; that of war to Lajard, a soldier of La Fayette's +party; that of the interior to M. de Monciel, a constitutional Feuillant +and friend of the king. This was on the 17th of June. The Jacobins, the +people incited by the Girondists, were already disturbing the capital: +all announced a coming insurrection. These ministers, without any armed +force, without popularity, without party, thus accepted the +responsibility of the perils accumulated by their predecessors. The king +saw Dumouriez once again--it was the last time. The farewell between the +monarch and his minister was affecting. + +"You are going to the army?" said the king. "Yes, sire," replied +Dumouriez, "and I should leave with joy this fearful city, if I had not +a feeling of the dangers impending over your majesty. Deign to listen to +me, sire; I am never destined to see you again. I am fifty-three years +of age, and have much experience. They abuse your conscience with +respect to the decree against the priests, and are pushing you on to +civil war. You are without strength, defenceless, and you will sink +under it, whilst History, though full of commiseration for you, will +accuse you of the misfortunes of your people." + +The king was seated near a table where he had just signed the general's +accounts. Dumouriez was standing beside him with clasped hands. The king +took his hands in his own, and said to him, in a voice sorrowful but +resigned, "God is my witness, that I only think of the happiness of +France." "I never doubted it, sire," responded Dumouriez, deeply +affected. "You owe an account to God, not only for the purity, but also +for the enlightened use, of your intentions. You think to save religion: +you destroy it. The priests will be massacred: your crown will be taken +from you; perhaps even your queen and children--." He did not finish, +but pressed his lips to the king's hand, who shed tears. + +"I await--expect death," replied the king, sorrowfully; "and I pardon my +enemies already. I am grateful to you for your sensibility. You have +served me well, and I esteem you. Adieu--be more happy than I am!" And +on saying these words Louis XVI. went to a recess in a window at the end +of the chamber, in order to conceal the trouble he felt. Dumouriez never +saw him again. He shut himself up for several days in retirement, in a +lonely quarter of Paris. Looking upon the army as the only refuge for a +citizen still capable of serving his country, he set out for Douai, the +head quarters of Luckner. + + +V. + +The Girondists remained a moment overwhelmed by the humiliation of their +fall and the joy of their coming vengeance. "Here I am dismissed," was +Roland's exclamation to his wife, on his return home. "I have but one +regret, and that is, that our delays have prevented us from taking the +initiative." Madame Roland retired to a humble apartment, without losing +any of her influence and without regretting power, since she carried +with her into her retreat, her genius, her patriotism, and her friends. +With her the conspiracy only changed place; from the ministry of the +interior she passed at once into the small council which she gathered +about her, and inspired with her own earnest enthusiasm. + +This circle daily increased. The admiration for the woman mingled in the +hearts of her friends with the attraction of liberty. They adored in her +the future Republic. The love which these young men did not avow for her +made, unknown to her, a portion of their politics. Ideas only become +active and powerful when vivified by sentiment. She was the sentiment of +her party. + +This party was joined about this time by a man unconnected with the +Gironde; but his youth, his remarkable beauty, and his energy naturally +threw him into this faction of illusion and love, controlled by a woman. +This young man was Barbaroux. + +At this time he was only twenty-six years of age. Born at Marseilles, of +a sea-faring family, who preserved in their manners and features +something of the boldness of their life and the agitation of their +element. The elegance of his stature, the poetic grace of his +countenance, recalled the accomplished forms which antiquity adored in +the statues of Antinous. The blood of that Asiatic Greece of which +Marseilles is a colony revealed itself in the purity of the young +Phocian's profile.[21] As richly endowed with the gifts of the mind as +those of the body, Barbaroux early used himself to public oratory, that +gift of the men of the south. He became a barrister, and pleaded several +causes with success; but the power and honesty of his mind revolted from +that exercise of eloquence, so often mercenary, which simulates +earnestness. He required a national cause, to which a man should give +with language his soul and blood. The Revolution with which he was born +offered this to him. He awaited with impatience the occasion and the +hour to make use of it. + +His youth still kept him away from the scene into which he ardently +longed to cast himself. He passed his time near the village of +Ollioules, on a small family estate, concealed beneath tall cork-trees, +which threw their slight shade over the calcined declivities of this +valley. He there attended to the cultivated patches which the aridity of +the soil and the burning sun dispute with the rocks. In his leisure he +studied natural sciences, and kept up a correspondence with two Swiss, +whose systems of physics then occupied the learned world--M. de Saussure +and Marat. But science was not sufficient for his mind, which overflowed +with sensitiveness, and which Barbaroux poured forth in elegiac poetry +as burning as the noonday, and vague as the horizon of the sea beneath +his view. There is felt that southern melancholy whose languor, is +closer allied to pleasure than weakness, and which resembles the songs +of man seated in the broad sunshine, before or after labour. Mirabeau +had thus begun his life. The most energetic lives frequently open in +gloom, as if they had in their very germ presentiments of their contrary +destiny. It would seem as though we read in the verses of this young man +that through his tears he contemplated his faults, his expiation, and +his scaffold. + + +VI. + +After Mirabeau's election, and the agitations which followed, Barbaroux +was named secretary of the municipality of Marseilles. At the troubles +of Aries he took arms, and marched at the head of the young Marseillais +against the rulers of the Comtal. His martial figure, his gestures, his +ardour, his voice, made him conspicuous everywhere: he fascinated all. +Being deputed to Paris in order to give an account of the events of the +south to the National Assembly, the Girondists, Vergniaud and Guadet, +who were desirous of obtaining an amnesty for the crimes of Avignon, did +all in their power to attach this young man to their party. Barbaroux, +impetuous as he was, did not justify the butchers of Avignon; but +detested the victims. He was a man requisite to the Girondists. Struck +by his eloquence and his enthusiasm, they presented him to Madame +Roland: no woman was more formed to seduce, no man more formed to be +seduced. Madame Roland--in all the freshness of her youth, in all the +brilliancy of her beauty, and also in all the fulness of sensibility, +which all the purity of her life could not stifle in her unoccupied +heart--speaks thus tenderly of Barbaroux: "I had read," she says, "in +the cabinet of my husband, the letters of Barbaroux, full of sense and +premature wisdom. When I saw him I was astonished at his youth. He +attached himself to my husband. We saw more of him after we left the +ministry; and it was then, that reasoning on the miserable state of +things, and the fear of a triumph of despotism in the north of France, +we formed the plan of a republic in the south. This will be our _pis +aller_, said Barbaroux, with a smile; but the Marseillais army here will +dispense with our attempting it." + + +VII. + +Roland then lived in a gloomy house of the Rue St. Jaques, almost in the +garrets: it was a philosopher's retreat, and his wife illumined it. +Present at all the conversations of Roland, she witnessed the +conferences between her husband and the young Marseillais. Barbaroux +thus relates the interview in which the first idea of a republic was +mooted: "That astonishing woman was there," said he. "Roland asked me +what I thought the best means of saving France. I opened my heart to +him: my confidence called for his. 'Liberty is gone,' he replied, 'if we +do not speedily disconcert the plots of the court. La Fayette is +meditating treason in the north: the army of the centre is +systematically disorganised: in six weeks the Austrians will be at +Paris. Have we then laboured at the most glorious of revolutions for so +many years to see it overthrown in a single day? If Liberty dies in +France, it is lost for ever to the rest of the world!--all the hopes of +philosophy are deceived--prejudices and tyranny will again grasp the +world. Let us prevent this misfortune, and if the north is subjected, +let us take Liberty with us into the south, and there form a colony of +free men.' His wife wept as she listened to him, and I myself wept as I +looked at her. Oh! how much the outpourings of confidence console and +fortify minds that are in desolation. I drew a rapid sketch of the +resources and hopes of Liberty in the south. A serene expression of joy +spread over Roland's brow: he squeezed my hand, and we traced on a map +of France the limits of this empire of Liberty, which extended from the +Doubs, the Ain, and the Rhone to La Dordogne, and from the inaccessible +mountains of Auvergne to Durance and the sea. I wrote, by dictation of +Roland, to request from Marseilles a battalion and two pieces of cannon. +These preliminaries agreed upon, I left Roland with feelings of deep +respect for himself and his wife. I have seen them subsequently, during +their second ministry, as simple minded as in their humble retreat. Of +all the men of modern times, Roland seems to me most to resemble Cato; +but it must be owned that it is to his wife that his courage and talents +are due." + +Thus did the original idea of a federative republic arise in the first +interview between Barbaroux and Madame Roland. What they dreamed of as a +desperate measure of Liberty, was afterwards made a reproach to them for +having conspired as a plot. This first sigh of patriotism of two young +minds who met and understood each other, was their attraction and their +crime. + + +VIII. + +From this day the Girondists, disengaged from every obligation with the +king and ministers, conspired secretly with Madame Roland, and publicly +in the tribune, for the suppression of the monarchy. They appeared to +envy the Jacobins the honour of giving the throne the most deadly blows. +Robespierre as yet spoke only of the constitution, limiting himself +within the law, and not going a-head of the people. The Girondists +already spoke in the name of the republic, and motioned with gesture and +eye the republican _coup d'état_, which every day drew nearer. The +meetings at Roland's multiplied and enlarged: new men joined their +ranks. Roland, Brissot, Vergniaud, Guadet, Gensonné, Condorcet, Pétion, +Lanthenas, who in the hour of danger betrayed them; Valazé, Pache, who +persecuted and decimated his friends; Grangeneuve, Louvet, who beneath +levity of manners and gaiety of mind veiled undaunted courage; Chamfort, +the intimate of the great, a vivid intellect, heart full of venom, +discouraged by the people before he had served it; Carra, the popular +journalist, enthusiastic for a republic, mad with desire for liberty; +Chénier[22], the poet of the revolution, destined to survive it, and +preserving his worship of it until death, even under the tyranny of the +empire; Dusaulx, who had beneath his gray hairs the enthusiasm of youth +for philosophy--the Nestor of all the young men, whom he moderated by +his sage exhortations; Mercier, who took all as a jest, even in the +dungeon and death. + + +IX. + +But of the men whom enthusiasm for the Revolution brought around her, he +whom Madame Roland preferred to all was Buzot. More attached to this +young female than to his party, Buzot was to her a friend, whilst the +others were but tools or accomplices. She had quickly passed her +judgment on Barbaroux, and this judgment, impressed with a certain +bitterness, was like a repentance for the secret impression which the +favourable exterior of this young man had at first inspired. She accuses +herself with finding him so handsome, and seems to fortify her heart +against the fascination of his looks. "Barbaroux is volatile," she said; +"the adoration he receives from worthless women destroys the seriousness +of his feelings. When I see such fine young men too conceited at the +impression they make, like Barbaroux and Hérault de Séchelles, I cannot +help thinking that they adore themselves too much to have a great deal +of adoration left for their country." + +If we may lift the veil from the heart of this virtuous woman, who does +not raise it herself for fear of developing a sentiment contrary to her +duties, we must be convinced that her instinctive inclination had been +one moment for Barbaroux, but her reflecting tenderness was for Buzot. +It is neither given to duty nor liberty to fill completely the soul of a +woman as lovely and impassioned as she: duty chills, politics deceive, +virtue retains, love fills the heart. Madame Roland loved Buzot. He +adored in her his inspiration and his idol. Perchance they never +disclosed to each other in words a sentiment which would have been the +less sacred to them from the hour in which it had become guilty. But +what they concealed from one another they have involuntarily revealed at +their death. There are in the last days and last hours of this man and +this woman, sighs, gestures, and words, which allow the secret preserved +during life to escape in the presence of death; but the secret thus +disclosed keeps its mystery. Posterity may have the right to detect, +but none to accuse, this sentiment. + +Roland, an estimable but morose old man, had the exactions of weakness +without having its gratitude or indulgence towards his partner. She +remained faithful to him, more from respect to herself than from +affection to him. They loved the same cause--Liberty; but Roland's +fanaticism was as cold as pride, whilst his wife's was as glowing as +love. She sacrificed herself daily at the shrine of her husband's +reputation, and scarcely perceived her own self-devotion. He read in her +heart that she bore the yoke with pride, and yet the yoke galled her. +She paints Buzot with complacency, and as the ideal of domestic +happiness. "Sensible, ardent, melancholy," she writes, "a passionate +admirer of nature, he seems born to give and share happiness. This man +would forget the universe in the sweetness of private virtues. Capable +of sublime impulses and unvarying affections, the vulgar, who like to +depreciate what it cannot equal, accuse him of being a dreamer. Of sweet +countenance, elegant figure, there is always in his attire that care, +neatness, and propriety, which announce respect of self as well as of +others. Whilst the dregs of the nation elevate the flatterers and +corrupters of the people to station--whilst cut-throats swear, drink, +and clothe themselves in rags, in order to fraternise with the populace, +Buzot possesses the morality of Socrates, and maintains the decorum of +Scipio: so they pull down his house and banish him, as they did +Aristides. I am astonished they have not issued a decree that his name +should be forgotten." The man of whom she speaks in such terms from the +depths of her dungeon, on the evening before her death, exiled, +wandering, concealed in the caves of St. Emilion, fell as though struck +by lightning, and remained several days in a state of phrenzy, on +learning the death of Madame Roland. + +Danton, whose name began to rise above the crowd, when his fame was but +slight until now, sought at this period Madame Roland's acquaintance. +All inquired what was the secret of the growing ascendency of this man? +Where he came from? Who he was? Whither he was advancing? They sought +his origin; his first appearance on the stage of the people; his first +connection with the celebrated personages of his time. They sought in +mysteries the cause of his prodigious popularity. It was pre-eminently +in his nature. + + +X. + +Danton was not merely one of those adventurers of demagogism who rise, +like _Masaniello_, or like Hébert,[23] from the boiling scum of the +masses. He was one of the middle classes, the heart of the nation. His +family, pure, honest, of property, and industrious, ancient in name, +honourable in manners, was established at Arcis-sur-Aube, and possessed +a rural domain in the environs of that small town. It was of the number +of those modest but well-esteemed families, who have the soil for their +basis, and agriculture as their main occupation, but who give their sons +the most complete moral and literary education, and who thus prepare +them for the liberal professions of society. Danton's father died young. +His mother had married again to a manufacturer of Arcis-sur-Aube, who +had (and himself managed), a small cotton mill. There is still to be +seen near the river, without the city, in a pleasant spot, the house, +half rustic half town built, and the garden on the banks of the Aube, +where Danton's infancy was passed. + +His step-father, M. Ricordin, attended to his education as he would have +done that of his own child. He was of an open communicative disposition, +and was beloved in spite of his ugliness and turbulence; for his +ugliness was radiant with intellect, and his turbulence was calmed and +repented of at the least caress of his mother. He pursued his studies at +Troyes, the capital of Champagne. Rebellious against discipline, idle at +study, beloved by his masters and fellow pupils, his rapid comprehension +kept him on an equality with the most assiduous. His instinct sufficed +without reflection. He learned nothing; he acquired all. His companions +called him Catiline--he accepted the name, and sometimes played with +them at getting up rebellions and riots, which he excited or calmed by +his harangues--as if he were repeating at school the characters of his +after life. + + +XI. + +M. and Madame Ricordin, already advanced in years, gave him, after his +education was finished, the small fortune of his father. He came to +finish his studies in law at Paris, and bought a place in parliament as +a barrister, where he practised little and without any notoriety. He +despised chicanery; his mind and language had the proportions of the +great causes of the people and the throne. The Constituent Assembly +began to stir them. Danton, watchful and impassioned, was anxious to +mingle with them: he sought the leading men, whose eloquence resounded +throughout France. He attached himself to Mirabeau; became connected +with Camille Desmoulins, Marat, Robespierre, Pétion, Brune (afterwards +the marshal), Fabre d'Eglantine, the Duc d'Orleans, Laclos, Lacroix, and +all the illustrious and second class orators who then "fulmined over" +Paris. He passed his whole time in the tribunes of the Assembly, in the +walks, and the coffee-houses, and his nights in the clubs. A few +well-seasoned words, some brief harangues, some bursts of mysterious +lightning: and above all, his hair like a horse's mane, his gigantic +stature, and his powerful voice, made him universally remarked. Yet +beneath the purely physical qualities of the orator men of intelligence +remarked great good sense and an instinctive knowledge of the human +heart. Beneath the agitator they discerned the statesman. Danton in +truth read history, studied the ancient orators, practised himself in +real eloquence, that which enlightens in its passion, and beneath his +actual part was preparing another much superior. He only asked the +movement to raise him so high that he might subsequently control it. + +He married Mademoiselle Charpentier, daughter of a lemonade-seller on +the Quai de l'Ecole. This young lady controlled him by her affection, +and insensibly reformed him from the disorders of his youth to more +regular domestic habits. She extinguished the violence of his passions, +but without being able to quench that which survived all +others--ambition of a great destiny. + +Danton lived in a small apartment in the Cour de Commerce, near his +father-in-law, in rigid economy, receiving but a very few friends, who +admired his talent and attached themselves to his fortunes. The most +constant were Camille Desmoulins, Pétion, and Brune. From these meetings +went forth signals of extensive sedition. The secret subsidies of the +court came there to tempt the cupidity of the head of the young +revolutionists. He did not reject them, but used them sometimes to +excite and sometimes to control the agitations of opinion. + +He had by this marriage two sons, whom his death left orphans in their +cradle, and who succeeded to his small inheritance at Arcis-sur-Aube. +These two sons of Danton, alarmed at the effects of their name, retired +to their family domain, and cultivated it with their own hands, and in +an honest and industrious obscurity limited to themselves all their +father's notoriety. Like the son of Cromwell, they preferred the shade +and silence the more, as their name had a too sinister reputation, and +too wide an extension in the world. They remained unmarried, that the +name might die with them. + +At this moment Danton, whose ambitious instincts revealed the close +return to fortune of the Girondists, sought to attach himself to this +rising party, and give them the weight of his worth and importance. +Madame Roland flattered him, but with fear and repugnance, as a woman +would pat a lion. + + +XII. + +Whilst the Girondists were exciting the anger of the people against the +king, hostilities were beginning in Belgium, in consequence of reverses, +which were attributed to treasons of the court: these were produced by +three causes; the hesitation of the generals, who did not understand how +to impart to their troops that ardour which impels the masses, and bears +down resistance; the disorganisation of the armies, which emigration had +deprived of their ancient officers, and who had no confidence in the +new; and finally, the want of discipline, that element of revolutions, +which clubs and Jacobinism had spread amongst the troops. An army that +discusses is like a hand which would think. + +La Fayette, instead of advancing at once on Namur according to +Dumouriez's plan, lost a good deal of precious time in assembling and +organising at Givet, and the camp of Ransenne. Instead of giving the +other generals in line with him, the example and the signal of invasion +and victory, by at once occupying Namur, he moved about the country with +10,000 men, leaving the remainder of his forces encamped in France, and +fell back at the first news of the checks sustained by the detachments +of Biron and Théobald Dillon. These checks, though partial and slight, +were disgraceful for our troops. It was the astonishment of an army +unaccustomed to war, and fearful of entering the lists, but which, like +a soldier at his first campaign, would soon grow used to battles. + +The Duc de Lauzun commanded under La Fayette, and was called general +Biron. He was a man of the court, who had gone over in all sincerity to +the side of the people. Young, handsome, chivalrous, with that intrepid +gaiety which plays with death, he carried aristocratic honour into +republican ranks. Loved by the soldiers, adored by the women, at his +ease in camps, a roué in courts, he was of that school of sparkling +vices of which the Marshal de Richelieu had been the type in France. It +was said that the queen herself had been enamoured of him, without being +able to fix his inconstancy. Friend of the Duc d'Orleans, companion of +his debaucheries, still he had never conspired with him. All treachery +was abhorrent to him, all baseness of heart roused his utmost +indignation. He adopted the Revolution as a noble idea, of which he was +always ready to be the soldier, but never the accomplice. He did not +betray the king, and always preserved a deep feeling of pity and +sympathy for the queen; with an intense love for philosophy and liberty, +instead of fomenting them by sedition, he defended them by war. He +changed devotion to kings into devotion to his country. This noble +cause, and the sorrows of the Revolution gave to his character a more +manly stamp, and made him fight and die with the conscience of a hero. + +He was encamped at Quievrain with 10,000 men, and advanced against the +Austrian general Beaulieu, who occupied the heights of Mons, with a very +weak army. Two regiments of dragoons, who formed Biron's advanced guard, +were seized with a sudden panic on beholding Beaulieu's troops. The +soldiers cried out treachery, and in vain did their officers attempt to +rally them; they turned bridle and scattered disorder and fear +throughout the ranks. The army gave way and mechanically followed the +current of flight. Biron and his aides-de-camp threw themselves into the +centre of the troops to stay and to rally them. They struck at them with +their swords, and fired at them. The camp of Quievrain, the military +chest, the carriage of Biron himself, were plundered by the fugitives. + +Whilst this defeat, without a battle, humiliated the French army, in its +first step, at Quievrain, bloody assassinations stained our flag at +Lille. General Dillon had left that city, the enemy showed itself on the +plain to the number of nine hundred men. At its appearance only, the +French cavalry uttered treacherous cries, and passing by the infantry, +fled to Lille, without being followed, abandoning its artillery, +carriages, and baggage. Dillon, hurried along by his squadrons to Lille, +was there massacred by his own soldiers. His colonel of engineers, +Berthois, fell beside his general, beneath the bayonets of the cowards +who abandoned him. The dead bodies of these two victims of fear were +hung up in the _Place d'Armes_, and then delivered up by the malcontents +to the insults of the populace of Lille, who dragged their mutilated +carcases along the streets. Thus commenced in shame and crime those wars +of the Revolution which were destined to produce, during twenty years, +so much heroism, and so much military virtue. Anarchy had penetrated to +the camps, honour was there no longer: order and honour are the two +necessities of an army. In anarchy there is still a nation--without +discipline there is no longer an army. + + +XIII. + +Paris was in consternation at this news; the Assembly greatly troubled, +the Girondists trembled, the Jacobins were vociferous in their +imprecations against the traitors. Foreign courts and the emigrants had +no doubt of an easy triumph in a few marches over a revolution which was +afraid of its very shadow. La Fayette, without having been attacked, +fell back, very prudently, on Givet. Rochambeau sent in his resignation +as commandant of the army of the north. Marshal Luckner was nominated +in his place. La Fayette, much dissatisfied, kept the command of the +central army. + +Luckner was upwards of seventy years of age, but retained all the fire +and activity of the warrior; he only required genius to have been a +great general. He had a reputation for complaisance, which sufficed for +every thing. It is a great advantage for a general to be a stranger in +the country in which he is serving. He has no one jealous of him: his +superiority is pardoned, and presumed if it do not exist, in order to +crush his rivals: such was old Luckner's position. He was a +German,--pupil of the great Frederic, with whom he had served with +_éclat_ during the seven years' war as commandant of the vanguard, at +the moment when Frederic changed the war, and commenced its tactics. The +Duc de Choiseul was desirous of depriving Prussia of a general of this +great school, to teach the modern art of battles to French generals. He +had attracted Luckner from his country by force of temptations, fortune, +and honours. The national Assembly, from respect to the memory of the +philosopher king, had preserved to Luckner the pension of 60,000 francs +which had been paid to him during the Revolution. Luckner, indifferent +to constitutions, believed himself a revolutionist from gratitude. He +was almost the only one amongst the ancient general officers who had not +emigrated. Surrounded by a brilliant staff of young officers of the +party of La Fayette, Charles Lameth, du Jarri, Mathieu de Montmorency, +he believed he had the opinions which they instilled into him. The king +caressed, the Assembly flattered, the army respected, him. The nation +saw in him the mysterious genius of the old war coming to give lessons +of victory to the untried patriotism of the Revolution, and concealing +its infinite resources under the bluntness of his exterior, and the +obscure Germanism of his language. They addressed to him, from all +sides, homage as though he were an unknown God. He did not deserve +either this adoration, or the outrages with which he was soon after +overwhelmed. He was a brave and coarse soldier, as misplaced in courts +as in clubs. For some days he was an idol, then the plaything of the +Jacobins, who, at last, threw him to the guillotine, without his being +able to comprehend either his popularity or his crime. + + +XIV. + +Berthier, who afterwards became Napoleon's right hand, was then the head +of Luckner's staff. The old general seized, with warlike instinct, on +Dumouriez's bold plan. He had entered at the head of 22,000 men on the +Austrian territory at Courtray and Menin. Biron and Valence, his two +seconds in command, entreated him to remain there, and Dumouriez, in his +letters, urged him in similar manner. On arriving at Lille, Dumouriez +learnt that Luckner had suddenly retreated on Valenciennes, after having +burnt the suburbs of Courtray; thus giving, on our frontier, the signal +of hesitation and retreat. + +The Belgian population, their impulses thus checked by the disasters or +timidity of France, lost all hope, and bent beneath the Austrian yoke. +General Montesquiou collected the army of the south with difficulty. The +king of the Sardinians concentrated a large force on the Var. The +advanced guard of La Fayette, posted at Gliswel, at a league from +Maubeuge, was beaten by the Duke of Saxe-Teschen, at the head of 12,000 +men. The great invasion of the Duke of Brunswick, in Champagne, was +preparing. The emigration took off the officers, desertion diminished +our soldiery. The clubs disseminated distrust against the commanders of +our strong places. + +The Girondists were urging on rebellion, the Jacobins were exciting the +army to anarchy, the volunteers did not rise, the ministry was null, the +Austrian committee of the Tuileries corresponded with various powers, +not to deceive the nation, but to save the lives of the king and his +family. A suspected government, hostile assembly, seditious clubs, a +national guard intimidated and deprived of its chief, incendiary +journalism, dark conspiracies, factious municipality, a +conspirator-mayor, people distrustful and starving, Robespierre and +Brissot, Vergniaud and Danton, Girondists and Jacobins, face to face, +having the same spoil to contend for--the monarchy, and struggling for +pre-eminence in demagogism in order to acquire the favour of the people; +such was the state of France, within and without, at the moment when +exterior war was pressing France on all sides, and causing it to burst +forth with disasters and crimes. The Girondists and Jacobins united for +a moment, suspended their personal animosity, as if to see which could +best destroy the powerless constitution which separated them. The +_bourgeoisie_ personified by the Feuillants, the National Guard, and La +Fayette, alone remained attached to the constitution. The Gironde, from +the tribune itself, made that appeal to the people against the king +which it was subsequently doomed to make in vain in favour of the king +against the Jacobins. In order to control the city, Brissot, Roland, +Pétion, excited the suburbs, those capitals of miseries and seditions. +Every time that a people which has long crouched in slavery and +ignorance is moved to its lowest depths, then appear monsters and +heroes, prodigies of crime and prodigies of virtue; such were about to +appear under the conspiring hand of the Girondists and demagogues. + + + + +BOOK XVI + + +I. + +In proportion as power snatched from the hands of the king by the +Assembly disappeared, it passed into the commune of Paris. The +municipality, that first element of nations which are forming +themselves, is also the last asylum of authority when they are crumbling +to pieces. Before it falls quite to the people, power pauses for a +moment in the council-chamber of the magistrates of the city. The Hôtel +de Ville had become the Tuileries of the people; after La Fayette and +Bailly, Pétion reigned there: this man was the king of Paris. The +populace (which has always the instinct of position) called him _King +Pétion_. He had purchased his popularity, first by his private virtues, +which the people almost always confound with public virtues, and +subsequently by his democratic speeches in the Constituent Assembly. The +skilful balance which he preserved at the Jacobins between the +Girondists and Robespierre had rendered him respectable and important. +Friend of Roland, Robespierre, Danton, and Brissot, at the same time +suspected of too close connection with Madame de Genlis and the Duc +d'Orleans' party, he still always covered himself with the mantle of +proper devotion to order and a superstitious reverence for the +constitution. He had thus all the apparent titles to the esteem of +honest men and the respect of factions; but the greatest of all was in +his mediocrity. Mediocrity, it must be confessed, is almost always the +brand of these idols of the people: either that the mob, mediocre +itself, has only a taste for what resembles it; or that jealous +contemporaries can never elevate themselves sufficiently high towards +great characters and great virtues; or that Providence, which +distributes gifts and faculties in proportion, will not allow that one +man should unite in himself, amidst a free people, these three +irresistible powers, virtue, genius, and popularity; or rather, that the +constant favour of the multitude is a thing of such a nature that its +price is beyond its worth in the eyes of really virtuous men, and that +it is necessary to stoop too low to pick it up, and become too weak to +retain it. Pétion was only king of the people on condition of being +complaisant to its excesses. His functions as mayor of Paris, in a time +of trouble, placed him constantly between the king, the Assembly, and +the revolts. He bearded the king, flattered the Assembly, and pardoned +crime. Inviolable as the capital which he personified in his position of +first magistrate of the commune, his unseen dictatorship had no other +title than his inviolability, and he used it with respectful boldness +towards the king, bowed before the Assembly, and knelt to the +malcontents. To his official reproaches to the rioters, he always added +an excuse for crime, a smile for the culprits, encouragement to the +misled citizens. The people loved him as anarchy loves weakness; it knew +it could do as it pleased with him. As mayor, he had the law in his +hand; as a man, he had indulgence on his lips and connivance in his +heart: he was just the magistrate required in times of the _coups +d'état_ of the faubourgs. + +Pétion allowed them to make all their preparations without appearing to +see them, and legalised them whenever they were completed. + + +II. + +His early connection with Brissot had drawn him towards Madame Roland. +The ministry of Roland, Clavière, and Servan obeyed him more than even +the king, he was present at all their consultations, and although their +fall did not involve him, it wrested the executive power from his grasp. +The expelled Girondists had no need to infuse their thirst of vengeance +into the mind of Pétion. Unable any longer to conspire legally against +the king, with his ministers, he yet could conspire with the factions +against the Tuileries. The national guards, the people, the Jacobins, +the faubourgs, the whole city, were in his hands; thus he could give +sedition to the Girondists to aid this party to regain the ministry; and +he gave it them with all the hazards--all the crimes that sedition +carries with it. Amongst these hazards was the assassination of the king +and his family: this event was beforehand accepted by those who provoked +the assembly of the populace, and their invasion of the king's palace. +Girondists, Orleanists, Republicans, Anarchists, none of these parties +perhaps actually meditated this crime, but they looked upon it as an +eventuality of their fortune. Pétion, who doubtless did not desire it, +at least risked it; and if his intention was innocent, his temerity was +a murder. What distance was there between the steel of twenty thousand +pikes and the heart of Louis XVI.? Pétion did not betray the lives of +the king, the queen, and the children, but he placed them at stake. The +constitutional guard of the king had been ignominiously disbanded by the +Girondists; the Duc de Brissac, its commander, was sent to the high +court of Orleans, for imaginary conspiracies,--his only conspiracy was +his honour; and he had sworn to die bravely in defence of his master and +his friend. He could have escaped, but though even the king advised him +to fly, he refused. "If I fly," replied he, to the king's entreaties, +"it will be said that I am guilty, and that you are my accomplice; my +flight will accuse you: I prefer to die." He left Paris for the national +court of Orleans: he was not tried, but massacred at Versailles, on the +6th of September, and his head with its white hairs was planted on one +of the palisades of the palace gates, as if in atrocious mockery of +that chivalrous honour that even in death guarded the gate of the +residence of his king. + + +III. + +The first insurrections of the Revolution were the spontaneous impulses +of the people: on one side was the king, the court and the nobility; on +the other the nation. These two parties clashed by the mere impulse of +conflicting ideas and interests. A word--a gesture--a chance--the +assembling a body of troops--a day's scarcity--the vehement address of +an orator in the Palais Royal, sufficed to excite the populace to +revolt, or to march on Versailles. The spirit of sedition was confounded +with the spirit of the Revolution. Every one was factious--every one was +a soldier--every one was a leader. Public passion gave the signal, and +chance commanded. + +Since the Revolution was accomplished, and the constitution had imposed +on each party legal order, it was different. The insurrections of the +people were no longer agitations, but plans. The organised factions had +their partisans--their clubs--their assemblies--their army and their +pass-word. Amongst the citizens, anarchy had disciplined itself, and its +disorder was only external, for a secret influence animated and directed +it unknown even to itself. In the same manner as an army possesses +chiefs on whose intelligence and courage they rely; so the _quartiers_ +and sections of Paris had leaders whose orders they obeyed. Secondary +popularities, already rooted in the city and faubourgs, had been founded +behind those mighty national popularities of Mirabeau, La Fayette, and +Bailly. The people felt confidence in such a name, reliance in such an +arm, favour for such a face; and when these men showed themselves, +spoke, or moved, the multitude followed them without even knowing +whither the current of the crowd would lead; it was sufficient for the +chiefs to indicate a spot on which to assemble, to spread abroad a panic +terror, infuse a sudden rage, or indicate a purpose, to cause the blind +masses of the people to assemble on the appointed spot ready for +action. + + +IV. + +The spot chosen was most frequently the site of the Bastille, the Mons +Aventinus of the people, the national camp, where the place and the +stones reminded them of their servitude and their strength. Of all the +men who governed the agitators of the faubourgs, Danton was the most +redoubtable. Camille Desmoulins, equally bold to plan, possessed less +courage to execute. Nature, which had given this young man the +restlessness of the leaders of the mob, had denied him the exterior and +the power of voice necessary to captivate them; for the people do not +comprehend intellectual force. A colossal stature and a sonorous voice +are two indispensable requisites for the favourites of the people: +Camille Desmoulins was small, thin, and had but a feeble voice, that +seemed to "pipe and whistle in the wind" after the tones of Danton, who +possessed the roar of the populace. + +Pétion enjoyed the highest esteem of the anarchists, but his official +legality excused him from openly fomenting the disorder, which it was +sufficient that he desired. Nothing could be done without him, and he +was an accomplice. After them came Santerre, the commander of the +battalion of the faubourg St. Antoine. Santerre, son of a Flemish +brewer, and himself a brewer, was one of those men that the people +respect because they are of themselves, and whose large fortune is +forgiven them on account of their familiarity. Well known to the +workmen, of whom he employed great numbers in his brewery; and +by the populace, who on Sundays frequented his wine and beer +establishments--Santerre distributed large sums of money, as well as +quantities of provisions, to the poor; and, at a moment of famine, had +distributed three hundred thousand francs' worth of bread (12,000_l_.). +He purchased his popularity by his beneficence; he had conquered it, by +his courage, at the storming of the Bastille; and he increased it by his +presence at every popular tumult. He was of the race of those Belgian +brewers who intoxicated the people of Ghent to rouse them to revolt. + +The butcher, Legendre, was to Danton what Danton was to Mirabeau, a step +lower in the abyss of sedition. Legendre had been a sailor during ten +years of his life, and had the rough and brutal manners of his two +callings, a savage look, his arms covered with blood, his language +merciless, yet his heart naturally good. Involved since '89 in all the +Revolutionary movements, the waves of this agitation had elevated him to +a certain degree of authority. He had founded, under Danton, the +Cordeliers club, the club of _coups de main_, as the Jacobins was the +club of radical theories; and he convulsed it to its very centre, by his +eloquence untaught and unpolished. He compared himself to the peasant of +the Danube. Always more ready to strike than to speak, Legendre's +gesture crushed before he spoke. He was the mace of Danton. Huguenin, +one of those men who roll from profession to profession, on the +acclivity of troublous times, without the power to arrest his course; an +advocate expelled from the body to which he belonged; then a soldier, +and a clerk at the barrière; always disliked, aspiring for power to +recover his fortune, and suspected of pillage. Alexandre, the commandant +of the battalion of the Gobelins, the hero of the faubourg, the friend +of Legendre. Marat, a living conspiracy, who had quitted his +subterranean abode in the night; a living martyr of demagogism, +revelling in excitement, carrying his hatred of society to madness, +exulting in it, and voluntarily playing the part of the fool of the +people as so many others had played at the courts the part of the king's +fool. Dubois Crancé, a brave and educated soldier. Brune, a sabre, at +the service of all conspiracies. Mormoro, a printer, intoxicated with +philosophy. Dubuisson, an obscure writer, whom the hisses of the theatre +had forced to take refuge in intrigue. Fabre d'Eglantine, a comic poet, +ambitious of another field for his powers. Chabot, a capuchin monk, +embittered by the cloister, and eager to avenge himself on the +superstition which had imprisoned him. Lareynie, a soldier-priest. +Gonchon, Duquesnois, friends of Robespierre. Carra, a Girondist +journalist. An Italian, named Rotondo. Henriot, Sillery, Louvet, Laclos, +and Barbaroux, the emissary of Roland and Brissot, were the principal +instigators of the _émeute_ of the 20th of June. + + +V. + +All these men met in an isolated house at Charenton, to concert in the +stillness and secrecy of the night on the pretext, the plan, and the +hour of the insurrection. The passions of these men were different, but +their impatience was the same; some wished to terrify, others to strike, +but all wished to act; when once the people were let loose, they would +stop where destiny willed. There were no scruples at a meeting at which +Danton presided; speeches were superfluous where but one feeling +prevailed; propositions were sufficient, and a look was enough to convey +all their meaning. A pressure of the hand, a glance, a significant +gesture, are the eloquence of men of action. In a few words, Danton +dictated the purpose, Santerre the means, Marat the atrocious energy, +Camilla Desmoulins the cynical gaiety of the projected movement, and all +decided on the resolution of urging the people to this act. A +revolutionary map of Paris was laid on the table, and on it Danton +traced the sources, the tributary streams, the course, and the +meeting-place of these gatherings of the people. + +The Place de la Bastille, an immense square into which opened, like the +mouths of so many rivers, the numerous streets of the faubourg St. +Antoine, which joins, by the quartier de l'Arsenale and a bridge, the +faubourg St. Marceau, and which, by the boulevard, opened before the +ancient fortress, has a large opening to the centre of the city and the +Tuileries, was the rendezvous assigned, and the place whence the columns +were to depart. They were to be divided into three bodies, and a +petition to present to the king and the Assembly against the _veto_ to +the decree against the priests and the camp of 20,000 men, was the +ostensible purpose of the movement; the recall of the patriot ministers, +Roland, Servan, and Clavière, the countersign; and the terror of the +people, disseminated in Paris and the château of the Tuileries the +effect of this day. Paris expected this visit of the faubourgs, for five +hundred persons had dined together the previous day on the Champs +Elysées. + +The chief of the _fédérés_ of Marseilles and the agitators of the +central quarters had fraternised there with the Girondists. The actor +Dugazon had sung verses, denunciatory of the inhabitants of the Château; +and at his window in the Tuileries the king had heard the applause and +these menacing strains, that reached even to his palace. As for the +order of the march, the grotesque emblems, the strange weapons, the +hideous costumes, the horrible banners and the obscene language, +destined to signal the apparition of this army of the faubourgs in the +streets of the capital, the conspirators prescribed nothing, for +disorder and horror formed a part of the programme, and they left all to +the disordered imagination of the populace, and to that rivalry of +cynicism which invariably takes place in such masses of men. Danton +relied on this fact. + + +VI. + +Although the presence of Panis and Sergent, two members of the +municipality, gave a tacit sanction to the plan, the leaders undertook +to recruit the sedition in silence, by small groups during the night, +and to collect the fiercest _rassemblements_ of the quartier Saint +Marceau and the Jardin des Plantes, on the bank of the Arsenale, by +means of a ferry, then the only means of communication between the two +faubourgs. Lareynie was to arouse the faubourg St. Jacques and the market +of the place Maubert, where the women of the lower classes came daily to +make their household purchases. To sell and to buy is the life of the +lower orders, and money and famine are their two leading passions. They +are always ready for tumult in those places where these two passions +concentrate, and no where is sedition more readily excited, or in +greater masses of people. + +The dyer Malard, the shoemaker Isambert, the tanner Gibon, rich and +influential artizans, were to pour from the sombre and foetid streets +of the faubourg Saint Marceau their indigent population, who but rarely +show themselves in the principal quartiers. Alexandre, the military +tribune of this quarter of Paris, in which he commanded a battalion, was +to place himself at its head on the place, before daybreak, to +concentrate the people, and then give them the impulse that should lead +them to the quays and the Tuileries. Varlet, Gonchon, Ronsin, and Siret, +the lieutenants of Santerre, who had been employed in this system of +tactics since the first agitations of '89, were charged with the +execution of similar manoeuvres in the faubourg St. Antoine. The +streets of this quarter, full of manufactories and wine and beer shops, +the abiding place of misery, toil, and sedition, which extend from the +Bastille to la Roquette and Charenton, contained in themselves alone an +army that could invade Paris. + + +VII. + +This army had known its leaders for four years. They posted themselves +at the openings of the principal streets, at the hour when the workmen +leave the _ateliers_; they procured a chair and table from the nearest +and best _cabaret_, and mounting on these wine-stained tribunes, they +called by name some of the passers by, who grouped round them; these +stopped others, the street was blocked up by them, and this crowd was +increased by all the men, women, and children, attracted by the noise. +The orator addressed this motley assemblage, whilst wine or beer were +gratuitously handed round. The cessation of work, the scarcity of money, +the dearth of food, the manoeuvres of the aristocrats to starve Paris, +the treacheries of the king, the orgies of the queen, the necessity of +the nation's defeating the plots of an Austrian court, were the usual +themes of their addresses. When once the agitation rose to fever heat, +the cry of "_Marchons_" was heard, and the mob set itself in motion down +every street. A few hours afterwards masses of workmen from the +quartiers Popincourt, Quinze-Vingts de la Grève, Port au Blé, and the +Marché St. Jean, poured from the rues du Faubourg St. Antoine, and +covered the Place de la Bastille. There the tumult of the meeting of all +these tributaries of sedition for a moment stayed the progress of this +living torrent; but the impulse soon carried them on, and the columns +instinctively divided themselves, and plunged into the vast outlets and +main streets of Paris. Some took the line of the boulevards, others +marched along the quays to the Pont Neuf, there encountered the column +of the Place Maubert, and poured, in constantly increasing masses, on +the Palais Royal, and the gardens of the Tuileries. + +Such were the plans ordered on the night of the 19th of June, to be +executed by the agitators in the different quartiers, and who separated +with a rallying word, which gave the movement of the morrow the +excitement and uncertainty of hope, and which, without commanding the +consummation of crime, yet authorised the last excesses, "_To make an +end of the Château_." + + +VIII. + +Such was the meeting of Charenton, such were the unseen actors who were +to set in motion a million of citizens. Did Laclos and Sillery, who were +about to seek a throne for the Duc d'Orleans their master, in the +faubourgs, distribute his gold there? It has been asserted and believed, +but never proved, and yet their presence at this meeting is suspicious. +History has the right of suspecting without evidence, but never of +accusing without proof. The assassination of the king would give the +crown, the next day, to the Duc d'Orleans; Louis XVI. might be +assassinated by the weapon of some drunken man--he was not. This is the +only justification of the Orleans' faction. Some of these men were +disaffected, like Marat and Hébert; others, like Barbaroux, Sillery, +Laclos, and Carra, were impatient malcontents; and others, like +Santerre, were but citizens, whose love of liberty became fanaticism. +The conspirators concerted together, and disciplined and organised the +city. Individual and distorted passions kindled the mighty and virtuous +love of the people for the triumph of democracy. It is thus that in a +conflagration the most tainted substances oft light the fire; the +combustible matter is foul, but the flames pure; the flame of the +Revolution was liberty; the factious might dim, they could not stain, +its brightness. + +Whilst the conspirators of Charenton distributed their _rôles_ and +recruited their forces, the king trembled for his wife and children at +the Tuileries. "Who knows," said he, to M. de Malesherbes, with a +melancholy smile, "whether I shall behold the sun set to-morrow?" + +Pétion, by ordering the municipal forces and the national guards under +his orders to resist, could have entirely put down the sedition. The +directory of the department presided over by the unfortunate Duc de la +Rochefoucauld, summoned Pétion in the most energetic terms to perform +his duty. Pétion smiled, took all on himself, and justified the legality +of the proposed meetings and the petitions presented _en masse_ to the +Assembly. + +Vergniaud in the tribune repelled the alarm felt by the +constitutionalists, as calumnies against the innocence of the people. +Condorcet laughed at the disquietude manifested by the ministers, and +the demands for armed force they addressed to the Assembly. "Is it not +amusing," said he, addressing his colleagues, "to see the executive +power demanding the means of action from the legislators? let them save +themselves, it is their trade." Thus derision was united to the plots +against the unfortunate monarch; the legislators derided the power their +hands had disarmed, and applauded the factious. + + +IX. + +It was under these auspices that the 20th of June dawned. A second +council, more secret and less numerous than the former, had assembled +the men destined to put these designs into execution, and they only +separated at midnight. Each of them went to his post, awoke his most +trusty followers, and stationed them in small groups, to stop and +assemble together the workmen, as they quitted their homes. Santerre +answered for the neutrality of the national guard. "Do not fear," said +he; "Pétion will be there." Pétion in reality had on the previous +evening ordered the battalions of the national guard to get under arms, +not to oppose the columns of the people, but to fraternise with the +petitioners and swell the cortège of sedition. This equivocal measure at +once saved the responsibility of Pétion to the department, and his +complicity before the assembled people; to the one he said I watch; to +the other, I march with you. + +At daybreak the battalions were assembled, and their arms piled on all +the _grandes places_. Santerre harangued his on the Place de la +Bastille, whilst around him flocked an immense throng, agitated, +impatient, ready to rush upon the city at his signal. Uniforms and rags +were blended, and detachments of invalides, gendarmes, national guards, +and volunteers, received the orders of Santerre, and repeated them to +the crowd. An instinctive discipline prevailed amidst this disorder, and +the half military half civil appearance of this camp of the people gave +the Assembly rather the character of a warlike expedition than an +_émeute_. This throng recognised leaders, manoeuvred at their command, +followed their flags, obeyed their voice, and even controlled their +impatience to await reinforcements and give detached bodies the +appearance of a simultaneous movement. Santerre on horseback, surrounded +by a staff of men of the faubourgs, issued his orders, fraternised with +the citizens and insurgents, recommended the people to remain silent and +dignified, and slowly formed the columns, ready for the signal to march. + + +X. + +At eleven o'clock the people set out for the quartier of the Tuileries. +The number of men who left the Place de la Bastille was estimated at +twenty thousand; they were divided into three bodies, the first composed +of the battalions of the faubourg, armed with sabres and bayonets, +obeyed Santerre; the second, composed of the lowest rabble, without arms +or only armed with pikes and sticks, was under the orders of the +demagogue Saint-Huruge; the third, a confused mass of squalid men, +women, and children, followed, in a disorderly march, a young and +beautiful woman in male attire, a sabre in her hand, a musket on her +shoulder, and seated on a cannon drawn by a number of workmen. This was +Théroigne de Méricourt. + +Santerre was well known: he was the king of the faubourgs. Saint-Huruge +had been, since '89, the great agitator of the Palais Royal. + +The Marquis de Saint-Huruge, born at Mâcon of a rich and noble family, +was one of those men of tumult and disturbances who seem to personify +the masses. Gifted by nature with a towering stature and a martial +figure, his voice thundered above the roars of the crowd. He had his +agitations, his fury, his moments of repentance, and sometimes even of +cowardice; his heart was not cruel, but his brain was disturbed. Too +aristocratic to be envious, too rich to be a spoliator, too frivolous to +be a fanatic by principle, the Revolution turned his brain in the same +manner as a rapidly flowing river carries with it the eye that in vain +strives to gaze fixedly on it. His life seemed that of a maniac; he +loved the Revolution when in motion because it was akin to madness. When +yet very young he had sullied his name, ruined his fortune, and +forfeited his honours by debauchery, women, and gaming. At the Palais +Royal and the neighbouring quartiers, the scene of every disorder, he +possessed the infamous celebrity of scandal and shame. All the world had +heard of him; his family had procured his incarceration in the Bastille, +from which the 14th of July had freed him. He had sworn to be avenged, +and he kept his oath; a voluntary and indefatigable accomplice of every +faction, he had offered his unpaid services to the Duc d'Orleans, +Mirabeau, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, the Girondists, and Robespierre: +always an adherent of the party who went the greatest lengths; always a +leader of those _émeutes_ that promised the most havoc and ruin. Awake +before daybreak, present at every club, he hastened at the slightest +noise to swell the crowd; at the smallest tumult to stir men up to more +violence. He himself was consumed by the common passion, ere he +comprehended its nature; and his voice, his gestures, the expression of +his features communicated it to others. He vociferated tales of terror; +he disseminated the fever; he electrified the wavering masses; he urged +on the current; he was in himself a sedition. + + +XI. + +After Saint Huruge, marched Théroigne de Méricourt. Théroigne, or +Lambertine de Méricourt, who commanded the third corps of the army of +the faubourgs, was known among the people by the name of _La Belle +Liégoise_. The French Revolution had drawn her to Paris, as the +whirlwind attracts things of no weight. She was the impure Joan of Arc +of the public streets. Outraged love had plunged her into disorder, and +the vice, at which she herself blushed, only made her thirst for +vengeance. In destroying the aristocrats she fancied she purified her +honour, and washed out her shame in blood. + +She was born at the village of Méricourt, near Liège, of a family of +wealthy farmers, and had received a finished education. At the age of +seventeen her singular loveliness had attracted the attention of a young +_seigneur_, whose chateau was close to her residence. Beloved, seduced, +and deserted, she had fled from her father's roof and taken refuge in +England, from whence, after a residence of some months, she proceeded to +France. Introduced to Mirabeau, she knew through him Siéyès, Joseph +Chénier, Danton, Ronsin, Brissot, and Camille Desmoulins. Romme, a +mystical republican, infused into her mind the German spirit of +illumination. Youth, love, revenge, and the contact with this furnace of +a revolution, had turned her head, and she lived in the intoxication of +passions, ideas, and pleasures. Connected at first with the great +innovators of '89, she had passed from their arms into those of rich +voluptuaries, who purchased her charms dearly. Courtezan of opulence, +she became the voluntary prostitute of the people; and like her +celebrated prototypes of Egypt or of Rome, she lavished upon liberty the +wealth she derived from vice. + +On the first assemblage of the people she appeared in the streets, and +devoted her beauty to serve as an ensign to the people. Dressed in a +riding habit of the colour of blood, a plume of feathers in her hat, a +sabre at her side, and two pistols in her belt, she hastened to join +every insurrection. She was the first of those who burst open the gates +of the Invalides and took the cannon from thence. She was also one of +the first to attack the Bastille; and a sabre d'homme was voted her on +the breach by the victors. On the days of October, she had led the women +of Paris to Versailles, on horseback, by the side of the ferocious +Jourdan, called "_the man with the long beard_." She had brought back +the king to Paris: she had followed, without emotion, the heads of the +gardes du corps, stuck on pikes as trophies. Her language, although +marked by a foreign accent, had yet the eloquence of tumult. She +elevated her voice amidst the stormy meetings of the clubs, and from the +galleries blamed their conduct. Sometimes she spoke at the Cordeliers. +Camille Desmoulins mentions the enthusiasm which her harangues created. +"Her similes," says he, "were drawn from the Bible and Pindar,--it was +the eloquence of a Judith." She proposed to build the palace of the +representative body on the site of the Bastille. "To found and embellish +this edifice," said she, "let us strip ourselves of our ornaments, our +gold, our jewels. I will be the first to set the example." And with +these words she tore off her ornaments in the tribune. Her ascendency +during the _émeutes_ was so great, that with a single sign she condemned +or acquitted a victim; and the royalists trembled to meet her. + +During this period, by one of those chances that appear like the +premeditated vengeances of destiny, she recognised in Paris the young +Belgian gentleman who had seduced and abandoned her. Her look told him +how great was his danger, and he sought to avert it by imploring her +pardon. "My pardon," said she; "at what price can you purchase it? My +innocence gone--my family lost to me--my brothers and sisters pursued in +their own country by the jeers and sarcasms of their kindred; the +malediction of my father--my exile from my native land--my enrolment +amongst the infamous caste of courtezans; the blood with which my days +have been and will be stained; that imperishable curse attached to my +name, instead of that immortality of virtue which you have taught me to +doubt. It is for this that you would purchase my forgiveness. Do you +know any price on earth capable of purchasing it?" The young man made no +reply. Théroigne had not the generosity to forgive him, and he perished +in the massacres of September. In proportion as the Revolution became +more bloody, she plunged deeper into it. She could no longer exist, +without the feverish excitement of public emotion. However, her early +leaning to the Girondist party again displayed itself, and she also +wished to stay the progress of the Revolution. But there were women +whose power was superior even to her own. These women, called the +_furies_ of the guillotine, stripped the belle Liégoise of her attire, +and publicly flogged her on the terrace of the Tuileries, on the 31st of +May. This punishment, more terrible than death, turned her brain, and +she was conveyed to a mad-house, where she lived twenty years, which +were but one long paroxysm of fury. Shameless and blood-thirsty in her +delirium, she refused to wear any garments, as a souvenir of the outrage +she had undergone. She dragged herself, only covered by her long white +hair, along the flags of her cell, or clung with her wasted hands to the +bars of the window, from whence she addressed an imaginary people, and +demanded the blood of Suleau. + + +XII. + +After Théroigne de Méricourt came other demagogues, less widely known, +but already celebrated in their own quartiers, such as Rossignol, the +working goldsmith; Brièrre, a wine-seller; Gonor, the conqueror of the +Bastille; Jourdan, surnamed _Coupe-tête_; the famous Polish Jacobin, +Lozouski, afterwards buried by the people at the Carrousel; and Henriot, +afterwards the confidential general of the convention. As the columns +penetrated into Paris, they were swelled by new groups, that poured +forth from the crowded streets that open on the boulevards and the +quays. At each influx of these new recruits, a shout of joy burst from +the columns, the military bands struck up the air of the _Ça Ira_, the +Marseillaise of assassins, whilst the insurgents sang the chorus, and +brandished their arms threateningly at the windows of those suspected of +being aristocrates. + +These weapons did not resemble the arms of regular troops, which excite +at once terror and admiration; they were strange and uncouth arms, +caught up by the people in the first impulse of fury or defence.[24] +Pikes, lances, spits, cutlasses, carpenters' axes, masons' hammers, +shoemakers' knives, paviours' levers, saws, wedges, mattocks, crow-bars, +the commonest household utensils of the poor, and the rusty iron exposed +for sale on the quays, were alike seized upon by the people; and these +different weapons, rusted, black, hideous, each of which presented a +different manner of inflicting a wound, seemed to increase the horror of +death by displaying it in a thousand terrible and unwonted forms. The +mixture of all sexes, ages, and conditions; the confusion of costumes +and rags beside uniforms, old men beside young; even children, some +carried in their mothers' arms, others holding their father's hand or +his garments; common prostitutes, their silken dresses soiled and torn, +indecency on their brow, and insult on their lips, hundreds of women of +the lowest description, and from the dregs of the people, recruited to +swell the cortège, and excite commiseration from the garrets of the +faubourgs, clothed in tattered finery, pale, emaciated, their eyes +hollow, and their cheeks sunken from misery, the personifications of +want, in fact the people, in all the disorder, the confusion, the +exposure of a city suddenly summoned from its houses, its workshops, its +garrets, its scenes and haunts of debauch and infamy; such was the +aspect of intimidation which the conspirators wished to give to this +scene. + +Here and there flags waved above the heads of the multitude. On one was +written _Sanction or death_; on another, _The recall of the patriot +ministers_; on the third, _Tremble tyrant, thine hour is come_. A man, +his arms bared to the shoulders, bore a gibbet, from which hung the +effigy of a crowned female, with the inscription, _Beware the lantern_. +Farther on a group of hags raised a _guillotine_, with a card bearing +the words, _National Justice on tyrants; death for Veto and his wife_. +Amidst all this apparent disorder, a secret system of order was visible. +Men in rags, yet whose white hands and shirts of the finest linen +pointed them out as of superior rank, wore hats, on which signs of +recognition were drawn with white chalk; the crowd regulated their march +by them, and followed wherever they went. + +The principal body thus marched by the Rue Saint Antoine, and the dark +and central avenues of Paris, to the Rue Saint Honoré, the population of +these quartiers swelling its numbers at each instant. The more this +living torrent increased the more furious it became. Now a band of +butchers joined it, each bearing a pike, on which was stuck the bleeding +heart of a calf, with the words, _Coeur d'aristocrate_. Next came a +band of Chiffoniers dressed in rags, and displaying a lance, from which +floated a tattered garment, with the inscription, _Tremble tyrants, here +are the sans culottes_. The insult which the aristocracy had cast at +poverty, now, when adopted by the people, became the weapon of the +nation against the rich. + +This army defiled during three hours along the Rue Saint Honoré. +Sometimes a terrible silence, only broken by the sound of thousands of +feet on the pavement, oppressed the imagination, as the sign of +concentrated rage of this multitude; then solitary voices, insulting +speeches, and atrocious sarcasms, were mingled with the laughter of the +crowd; then sudden and confused murmurs burst from this human sea, and +rising to the roofs of the houses, left only the last syllables of +their prolonged acclamations audible: _Long live the nation! Long live +the sans culottes! Down with the veto!_ This tumult reached the salle du +Manège, where the Legislative Assembly was then sitting. The head of the +cortège stopped at the doors, the columns inundated the court of the +Feuillants, the court of the Manège, and all the openings of the salle. +These courts, these avenues, these passages, which then masked the +terrace of the garden, occupied the space which now extends between the +garden of the Tuileries and the Rue Saint Honoré--that central artery of +Paris. It was mid-day. + + +XIII. + +Roederer, the procureur syndic of the directory of the department, a +post which in '92 corresponded with that of prefect de Paris, was at +this moment at the bar of the Assembly. Roederer, a partisan of the +constitution, of the school of Mirabeau and Talleyrand, was a courageous +enemy of anarchy. He found in the constitution the point of +reconciliation between his fidelity to the people and his loyalty to the +king; and he sought to defend this constitution with every weapon of the +law which sedition had not broken in his grasp. "Armed mobs threaten to +violate the constitution, the Chamber of Representatives, and the +dwelling of the king," said Roederer at the bar; "the reports of the +night are alarming; the minister of the interior calls on us to march +troops immediately to defend the château. The law forbids armed +assemblies, and yet they advance--they demand admittance; but if you +yourselves set an example by suffering them to enter, what will become +of the force of the law in our hands? your indulgence will destroy all +public force in the hands of the magistrates. We demand to be charged +with the fulfilment of all our duties: let the responsibility also be +ours, and let nothing diminish the obligation we are under of dying to +preserve and defend public tranquillity." These words, worthy the +chancellor L'Hôpital, or Mathieu Molé, were coldly listened to by the +Assembly, and saluted by ironical laughter from the tribunes. Vergniaud +affected to bow to them, and weakened their effect. "Yes, doubtless," +said this orator, destined to be torn from the tribune, a year later, by +an armed mob,--"Doubtless, we should have done better never to have +received armed men, for if to-day patriotism brings good citizens +hither, aristocracy may to-morrow bring its janissaries. But the error +we have committed authorises that of the people. The Assembly, formed up +to the present time, appears sanctioned by the silence of the law. It is +true that the magistrates demand force to put them down: but what should +you do in such circumstances? I think that it would be an excess of +severity to be inflexible to a fault, the origin of which is in your +decrees: it would be an insult to the citizens to imagine they had any +evil designs. It is said that this Assembly wishes to present an address +at the château: I do not believe that the citizens who compose it will +demand to be presented with arms in their hands to the king: I think +that they will obey the laws, and that they will go unarmed, and like +simple petitioners. I demand that these citizens be instantly permitted, +to defile before us." Dumolard and Raymond, indignant at the perfidy or +the cowardice of these words, energetically opposed this weakness or +complicity of the Assembly. "The best homage to pay the people of +Paris," cried Raymond, "is to make them obey their own laws. I demand +that before these citizens are introduced they lay down their arms." +"Why," returned Guadet, "do you talk of disobedience to the law, when +you have so often disobeyed it yourself? you would commit a revolting +injustice; you would resemble that Roman emperor who, in order to find +more guilty persons, caused the laws to be written in letters so obscure +that no one could read them." + +The deputation of the insurgents entered at these last words, amidst the +bursts of applause and the indignant murmurs of the Assembly. + + +XIV. + +The orator of the deputation, Huguenin, read the petition concerted at +Charenton. He declared that the city had risen ready to employ every +means of avenging the majesty of the people, whilst he deplored the +necessity of staining their hands with the blood of the conspirators. +"But," said he, with apparent resignation, "the hour has come; blood +must be shed. The men of the 14th of July are not asleep, they only +appeared to be; their awakening is terrible: speak, and we will act. The +people is there to judge its enemies: let them choose between Coblentz +and ourselves; let them purge the land of their enemies--the tyrants; +you know them. The king is not with you: we need no other proof of it +than the dismissal of the patriot ministers and the inaction of the +armies. Is not the head of the people worth that of kings? Must the +blood of patriots flow with impunity to satisfy the pride and ambition +of the perfidious château of the Tuileries? If the king does not act, +suspend him from his functions: one man cannot fetter the will of +twenty-five millions of men. If through respect we suffer him to retain +the throne, it is on condition that he observe the constitution. If he +depart from this he is no longer anything. And the high court of +Orleans," continued Huguenin, "what is that doing?--where are the heads +of those it should have doomed to death?" These sinister expressions +threw the constitutionalists into alarm, and caused the Girondists to +smile. The president, however, replied with a firmness which was not +sustained by the attitude of his colleagues. It was decided that the +people of the faubourgs should be allowed to defile before them under +arms. + + +XV. + +Immediately after this decree was voted, the doors, besieged by the +multitude opened, and admitted thirty thousand petitioners. During this +long procession the band played the demagogical airs of the _Carmagnole_ +and the _Ça Ira_, those _pas de charge_ of revolts. Females, armed with +sabres, brandished them at the tribunes, who loudly applauded, and +danced before a table of stone, on which were engraved the rights of +man, like the Israelites before the Ark. The same flags and the same +obscene inscriptions visible in the streets, disgraced the temple of the +law. The tattered garments, hanging from their lances, the guillotine, +and the _potence_, with the effigy of the queen suspended from it, +traversed the Assembly with impunity. Some of the deputies applauded, +others turned away their heads or hid their faces in their hands; some +more courageous, forced the wretch who bore the _coeur saignant_, +partly by entreaties, partly by threats, to retire with his emblem of +assassination. Part of the people regarded with a respectful eye the +salle they profaned; others addressed the representatives as they +passed, and seemed to exult in their degradation. The rattling of the +strange weapons of the crowd, the clatter of their nailed shoes and +sabots on the pavement, the shrill shouts of the women, the voices of +the children, the cries of _Vive la nation_, patriotic songs, and the +sound of instruments, deafened the ear, whilst to the eye, these rags +contrasted strangely with the marbles, the statues, and the decorations +of the salle. The miasmas of this horde set in motion tainted the air, +and stifled respiration. Three hours elapsed ere all the troop had +defiled. The president hastened to adjourn the sitting, in the +expectation of approaching excesses. + + +XVI. + +But an imposing force was drawn up in the courts of the Tuileries and +the garden, to defend the dwelling of the king against the invasion of +the people. Three regiments of the line, two squadrons of gendarmes, +several battalions of the national guard, and several pieces of cannon, +composed the means of resistance; but the troops, undecided, and acted +upon by sedition, were but an appearance of force. The cries of _Vive la +nation_, the friendly gestures of the insurgents, the appearance of the +women extending their arms towards the soldiers through the palisades, +and the presence of the municipal officers, who displayed a disdainful +neutrality towards the king, shook the feeling of resistance amongst the +troops, who beheld on either side the uniform of the national guard; and +between the population of Paris, in whose sentiments they participated, +and the château, which was represented to them as full of treason, they +no longer knew which it was their duty to obey. In vain did M. +Roederer, a firm organ of the constitution, and the superior officers +of the national guard, such as MM. Acloque and De Romainvilliers, +present the text of the law, ordering them to repel force by force. The +Assembly set the example of complicity; and the mayor, Pétion, by his +absence avoided responsibility. The king took refuge in his +inviolability; and the troops, abandoned to themselves, could not fail +to yield to threats or seduction. + +In the interior of the palace, two hundred gentlemen, at the head of +whom was the old marshal De Mouchy, had hastened together at the first +news of the king's danger. They were rather the voluntary victims of +ancient French honour, than useful defenders of the monarchy. Fearing to +excite the jealousy of the national guard and the troops, these +gentlemen concealed themselves in the remote apartments of the palace, +ready rather to die than to combat: they wore no uniform, and their arms +were concealed under their coats--hence the name by which they were +pointed out to the people of _Chevaliers du poignard_. Arriving secretly +from their provinces to offer their services to the king unknown to each +other; and only furnished with a card of entrance to the palace, they +hastened thither whenever there was danger. They should have been ten +thousand, and were but two hundred--the last reserve of fidelity; but +they did their duty without counting their number, and avenged the +French nobility for the faults and the desertion of the emigration. + + +XVII. + +The mob, on quitting the Assembly, had marched in close columns to the +Carrousel. Santerre and Alexandre, at the head of their battalions, +directed the movement. A compact mass of the insurgents, followed by the +Rue St. Honoré. The other branches of the populace, cut off from the +main body, thronged the courts of the Manège and the Feuillants, and +tried to make room for themselves by issuing violently by one of the +avenues which communicated with the garden from these courts. A +battalion of the national guard defended the approach to this iron gate. +The weakness or complaisance of a municipal officer freed the passage, +and the battalion fell back, and took up its ground beneath the windows +of the Château. The crowd traversed the garden in an oblique direction, +and passing before the battalions, saluted them with cries of _Vive la +nation!_ bidding them take their bayonets from their muskets. The +bayonets were removed, and the mob then passed out by the entrance of +the Port Royal, and fell back upon the gates of the Carrousel, which +shut off this place from the Seine. The guards at these wickets again +gave way, to allow a certain number of the malcontents to enter, and +then shut the doors. These men, excited by their march, songs, the +acclamations of the Assembly, and by intoxication, rushed with furious +clamours into the court-yards of the Château. They ran to the principal +doors, pressed upon the soldiers on guard, called their comrades without +to come to them, and forced the hinges of the royal entrance gate. The +municipal officer, Panis, gave orders that it should be opened. The +Carrousel was forced, and the mob seemed for a moment to hesitate before +the cannon pointed against them, and some squadrons of _gendarmerie_, +drawn up in a line of battle. Saint Prix, who commanded the artillery, +separated from his guns by a movement of the crowd, sent to the second +in command an order to let them fall back in the door of the Château. He +refused to obey: "_The Carrousel is forced_," he said in a loud voice, +"_and so must be the Château. Here, artillery men, here is the enemy!_" +And he pointed to the king's windows, turned his guns, and levelled them +at the palace. The troops following this desertion of the artillery, +remained in line, but took the powder from the pans of their muskets in +sight of the people, in sign of fraternity, and allowed a free passage +to the malcontents. + +At this movement of the soldiers, the commandant of the national guard, +who witnessed it, called from the court to the grenadiers, whom he saw +at the windows of the _Salle des Gardes_, to take their arms, and defend +the staircase. The grenadiers, instead of obeying, left the palace by +the gallery leading to the garden. + +Santerre, Théroigne, and Saint-Huruge hastened by the gate of the +palace. The boldest and stoutest of the men in the mob went under the +vault which leads from the Carrousel to the garden, dashed the +artillerymen on one side, and seizing one of the guns, unlimbered it, +and carried it in their arms to the _Salle des Gardes_, on the top of +the grand staircase. The crowd, emboldened by this feat of strength and +audacity, poured into the apartment and spread like a torrent throughout +the staircase and corridors of the Château. All the doors were burst in, +or fell beneath the shoulders and axes of the multitude. They shouted +loudly for the king; only one door separated them, and this door was +already yielding beneath the efforts of levers and blows of pikes from +the assailants. + + +XVIII. + +The king, relying on Pétion's promises, and the number of troops with +which the palace was surrounded, had seen the assemblage of the mob +without uneasiness. + +The assault suddenly made on his abode had surprised him in complete +security. Retired with the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and his children to +the interior apartments on the side of the garden, he had heard the +distant thunder of the crowd without expecting that it was so soon to +burst on him. The voices of his frightened servants, flying in all +directions, the noise of doors burst open and falling on the floors, the +shouts of the people as they approached, threw alarm suddenly amongst +the family party, which had met in the king's bed-chamber. The prince, +confiding, by his look, his wife, sister, and children to the officers +and women of the household who surrounded them, went alone to the _Salle +du Conseil_. He there found the faithful Marshal de Mouchy, who did not +hesitate to offer the last days of his long life to his master; M. +d'Hervilly, the commandant of the Constitutional Horse Guard, disbanded +a few days previously; the governor Acloque, commandant of the battalion +of the faubourg St. Marceau, at first a moderate republican, then, +overcome by the private virtues of Louis XVI., was his friend, and ready +to die for him; three brave grenadiers of the battalion of the faubourg +St. Martin, Lecrosnier, Bridau, and Gossé, who alone remained at their +post of the interior on the general defection, and ready to protect the +king with their bayonets, men of the people, strangers at court, rallied +round him by the sole sentiment of duty and affection, only defending +the man in the king. + +At the moment the king entered this apartment, the doors of the adjacent +room, called the _Salle des Nobles_, were dashed in by the blows of the +assailants. The king rushed forward to meet the danger. The door-panels +fell at his feet, lance heads, iron-shod sticks, spikes were thrust +through the opening. Cries of fury, oaths, imprecations accompanied the +blows of the axe. The king, in a firm voice, ordered two devoted _valets +de chambre_, who accompanied him, Hue, and de Marchais, to open the +doors. "What have I to fear in the midst of my people?" said the prince, +boldly advancing towards the assailants. + +These words, his advancing step, the serenity of his brow, the respect +of so many ages for the sacred person of the king, suspended the +impetuosity of the ringleaders, and they appeared to hesitate in +crossing the threshold they had burst open. During this doubtful moment, +the Marshal de Mouchy, Acloque, the three grenadiers and two servants, +made the king retreat a few paces, and then placed themselves between +him and the populace. The grenadiers presented their bayonets, and for a +moment kept the crowd at bay. But the increasing mob pushed forward the +first ranks. The first who pressed in was a man in rags, with naked +arms, haggard eyes, and foaming at the mouth. "Where is the _veto_?" he +said, thrusting in the direction of the king's breast a long stick with +an iron dart at the end. One of the grenadiers pressed down this stick +with his bayonet, and thrust aside the arm of this infuriated creature. +The brigand fell at the feet of the citizen, and this act of energy +imposed on his companions, and they trampled upon the man as he lay. +Pikes, hatchets, and knives were lowered or withdrawn. The majesty of +royalty resumed its empire for a moment, and this mob restrained itself +at a certain distance from the king, in an attitude rather of brutal +curiosity than of ferocity. + + +XIX. + +Several officers of the National Guard, roused by the report of the +king's danger, had hastened to join the brave grenadiers, and made a +space round Louis XVI. The king, who had but one thought, which was to +keep the people away from the apartment in which he had left the queen, +ordered the door of the _Salle de Conseil_ to be closed behind him. He +was followed by the multitude into the salon of the _OEil de Boeuf_, +under pretence that this apartment, from its extent, would allow a +greater quantity of citizens to see and speak with him. He reached the +room surrounded by a vast and turbulent crowd, and was happy at finding +that only himself was exposed to blows from weapons of all kinds, which +thousands of hands brandished over his head; but as he turned his head +he saw his sister, Madame Elizabeth, who extended her arms, and was +anxious to rush towards him. + +She had escaped from the women who retained the queen and children in +the bed-chamber. She adored her brother, and wished to die with him. +Young, excessively beautiful, and deeply respected at court, for the +piety of her life and her passionate devotion to the king, she had +renounced all love from her intense affection for her family. Her +dishevelled hair, her eyes swimming with tears, her arms extended +towards the king, gave to her a despairing and sublime expression. "It +is the queen!" exclaimed several women of the faubourgs. This name, at +such a moment, was a sentence of death. Some miscreants rushed towards +the king's sister with uplifted arms, and were about to strike her, when +the officers of the palace undeceived them. The venerated name of Madame +Elizabeth made them drop their arms. "Ah! what are you doing?" exclaimed +the princess sorrowfully; "let them suppose I am the queen; dying in her +place, I might perhaps have saved her." At these words an irresistible +movement of the crowd thrust Madame Elizabeth violently from her +brother, and drove her into the opening of one of the windows of the +_salle_, where the crowd which hemmed her in still contemplated her with +respect. + + +XX. + +The king was in a deep recess of the centre window; Acloque, Vaunot, +d'Hervilly, twenty volunteers and national guards, made him a rampart +with their bodies. Some of the officers drew their swords. "Put your +swords into their scabbards," said the king, calmly, "this multitude is +more excited than guilty." He got upon a bench in the window, the +grenadiers mounted beside him, the others in front of him; they thrust +aside, parried, and lowered the sticks, scythes, and pikes lifted above +the heads of the people. Ferocious vociferations now rose confusedly +from this irritated mass. "_Down with the veto!--the camp of Paris! give +us back our patriotic ministers! where is the Austrian woman?_" Some +ringleaders advanced from the ranks every moment to utter louder +threats and menaces of death to the king. Unable to reach him through +the hedge of bayonets crossed in front of him, they waved beneath his +eyes and over his head hideous flags, with sinister inscriptions, ragged +breeches, the guillotine, the bleeding heart, the gibbet. One of them +tried perpetually to reach the king with his lance in his hand; it was +the same cut-throat who, two years before, had washed with his own hands +in a pail of water the heads of Berthier and Foulon, and, carrying them +by the hair to the Quai de la Ferraille, had thrown them amongst the +people for symbols of carnage, and incentives to fresh murders. + +A fair young man, elegantly dressed, with menacing gesture continually +attacked the grenadiers, and cut his fingers with their bayonets in +order to move them aside and make a clear passage. "Sire--Sire!" he +shouted, "I summon you in the name of one hundred thousand souls who +surround me, to sanction the decree against the priests: that is death!" +Other persons in the crowd, although armed with drawn swords, pistols, +and pikes, made no violent gestures, and warded off every attempt on the +life of the king. There were even seen expressions of respect and grief +in the countenances of a great many. In this review of the Revolution, +the people displayed themselves as very terrible, but did not identify +themselves with assassins. A certain order began to establish itself in +the staircases and apartments: the crowd, pressed by the crowd, after +having seen the king, and uttered threats against him, wandered into +other apartments, and went triumphantly over this _palace of despotism_. + +Legendre the butcher drove before him, in order to find room, these +hordes of women and children accustomed to tremble at his voice. He made +signs that he desired to speak, and silence being established, the +national guard separated a little in order to allow him to address the +king. "Monsieur!" he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder: the king, at this +word, which was a degradation, made a movement of offended dignity; +"yes, Sir," continued Legendre, with more emphasis on the word, "listen +to us; you were made to listen to us! you are a traitor! you have +deceived us always--you deceive us again; but beware! the measure is +heaped up. The people are weary of being your plaything and your +victim." Legendre, after these threatening words, read a petition in +language as imperious, in which he demanded, in the name of the people, +the restitution of the Girondist ministers and the immediate sanction of +their decrees. The king replied with intrepid dignity, "I will do what +the constitution orders me to do." + + +XXI. + +Scarcely had one sea of people gone away, than another succeeded. At +each new invasion of the mob, the strength of the king and the small +number of his defenders was exhausted in the renewed struggles with a +crowd which never wearied. The doors no longer sufficed to the impatient +curiosity of these thousands of men assembled in this pillory of +royalty; they entered by the roof, the windows, and the high balconies +which open on to the terraces. Their climbing up amused the multitude of +spectators crowded in the gardens. The clapping of hands, the cheers of +laughter of this multitude without encouraged the assailants. Menacing +dialogues in loud tones took place between the malcontents above and the +impatient who were below. "Have they struck him?--is he dead?--throw us +the heads!" they shouted. Members of the Assembly, Girondist +journalists, political characters, Garat, Gorsas, Marat, mingled in this +crowd, and uttered their jokes as to this martyrdom of shame to which +the king was being subjected. There was for a moment a report of his +assassination. + +There was no cry of horror thereat among the populace, which raised its +eyes towards the balcony, expecting to see the carcase. Still, in the +very whirlwind of its passion, the multitude appeared to require +reconciliation. One of the multitude handed a _bonnet rouge_ to Louis +XVI. at the end of a pike. "Let him put it on! let him put it on!" +exclaimed the mob, "it is the sign of patriotism, if he puts it on we +will believe in his good faith." The king made a signal to one of his +grenadiers to hand him the _bonnet rouge_, and smiling, he put it on his +head; and then arose shouts of _Vive le Roi!_ The people had crowned its +chief with the symbol of liberty, the cap of democracy replaced the +bandeau of Rheims. The people were conquerors, and felt appeased. + +However, fresh orators, mounting on the shoulders of their comrades, +demanded incessantly of the king, sometimes by entreaties, sometimes +with threats, to promise the recall of Roland, and the sanction of the +decrees. Louis XVI., invincible in his constitutional resistance, +eluded, or refused to acquiesce in the injunctions of the malcontents. +"Guardian of the prerogative of the executive power, I will not +surrender to violence," he answered: "this is not the moment for +deliberation, when it is impossible to deliberate freely." "Do not fear, +sire," said a grenadier of the national guard to him. "My friend," was +the king's reply, taking his hand, and placing it on his breast, "place +your hand there, and see if my heart beats quicker than usual." This +action, and the language of unshaken intrepidity, seen and heard in the +crowd, had its effect on the rebels. + +A fellow in tatters, holding a bottle in his hand, came towards the +king, and said, "if you love the people, drink to their health!" Those +who surrounded the prince, afraid of poison as much as the poignard, +entreated the king not to drink. Louis XVI., extending his arm, took the +bottle, raised it to his lips, and drank "to the nation!" This +familiarity with the multitude, represented by a beggar, consummated the +king's popularity. Renewed cries of _Vive le Roi!_ burst from all +tongues and reached even the staircases: these cries created +consternation in the terrace of the garden amongst the groups who were +expecting a victim, and thus learnt that his executioners were softened. + + +XXII. + +Whilst the unfortunate prince thus contended alone against a whole +people, the queen, in another apartment, was undergoing the same +outrages and the same torments; more hated than the king, she ran more +risks. Agitated nations require to have their hatreds personified as +well as their love. Marie Antoinette represented in the eyes of the +nation all the corruptions of courts, all the pride of despotism, and +all the infamies of treason. Her beauty, her youthful inclination for +pleasure, tenderness of heart provoked by calumny into excesses, the +blood of the house of Austria, her pride, which she derived from her +nature even more than from her blood, her close connection with the +Comte D'Artois, her intrigues with the emigrants, her presumed +complicity with the coalition, the scandalous or infamous libels +disseminated against her for four years--made this princess the spied +victim of public opinion. The women despised her as a guilty wife, the +patriots detested her as a conspirator, political men feared her as the +counsellor of the king. The name of _Autrichienne_ which the people gave +her, summed up all their alleged wrongs against her. She was the +unpopularity of a throne of which she should have been the grace and +forgiveness. + +Marie Antoinette was aware of this hatred of the people to her person. +She knew that her presence beside the king would be a provocation to +assassination. This was the motive that restrained her to remain alone +with her children in the bed-chamber. The king hoped that she was +forgotten, but it was the queen particularly the women of this mob +sought and called for in terms the most offensive for a wife, a woman, +and a queen. + +The king was scarcely surrounded by the masses of people in the _OEil +de Boeuf_ than the doors of the sleeping apartment were beset with the +same uproar and violence. But this party was principally composed of +women. Their weaker arms were not so efficient against oaken panels and +stout hinges. They called to their assistance the men who had carried +the piece of ordnance into the _Salle des Gardes_, and they hastened to +them. The queen was standing up, pressing her two children to her bosom, +and listening with mortal anxiety to the vociferations at her door. She +had near her no one but M. de Lajard, minister of war,--alone, +powerless, but devoted; a few ladies of her suite, and the Princesse de +Lamballe, that friend of her happy and unhappy hours. Daughter-in-law of +the Duc de Penthièvre, and sister-in-law of the Duc d'Orleans, the +Princesse de Lamballe had succeeded in the queen's heart to that deep +affection which Marie Antoinette had long entertained for the Comtesse +de Polignac. The friendship of Marie Antoinette was adoration. Chilled +by the coldness of the king, who had the virtues only, and not the +graces of a husband; detested by the people, weary of the throne, she +gave vent in private predilections to the overflow of a heart equally +desirous and void of sentiment. This favouritism was even accused; the +queen was calumniated in her very friendships. + +The Princesse de Lamballe, a widow at eighteen, free from any suspicion +of levity, above all ambition and every interest from her rank and +fortune, loved the queen as a friend. The more adverse were the fortunes +of Marie Antoinette, the more did her young favourite desire to share +them with her. It was not greatness, but misfortune, that attracted her. +_Surintendante_ of the household, she lodged in the Tuileries, in an +apartment adjacent to the queen, to share with her her tears and her +dangers. She was sometimes obliged to be absent in order to go to the +Château de Vernon to watch over the old Duc de Penthièvre. The queen, +who foresaw the coming storm, had written to her some days before the +20th of June a touching letter, entreating her not to return. This +letter, found in the hair of the Princesse de Lamballe after her +assassination, and _unknown until now_, discloses the tenderness of the +one and the devotion of the other. + +"Do not leave Vernon, my dear Lamballe, before you are perfectly +recovered. The good Duc de Penthièvre would be sorry and distressed, and +we must all take care of his advanced age, and respect his virtues. I +have so often told you to take heed of yourself, that if you love me you +must think of yourself; we shall require all our strength in the times +in which we live. Oh do not return, or return as late as possible. Your +heart would be too deeply wounded; you would have too many tears to shed +over my misfortunes, you who love me so tenderly. This race of tigers +which infests the kingdom would cruelly enjoy itself if it knew all the +sufferings we undergo. Adieu, my dear Lamballe; I am always thinking of +you, and you know I never change." + +Madame Lamballe, contrary to this advice, made all haste to return, and +clung to the queen as though she sought to be struck with the same blow. +By her side were also other courageous women,--the Princesse de Tarente, +Latrémouille, Mesdames de Tourzel, de Mackau, de La Roche-Aymon. + +M. de Lajard, a cool soldier, responsible to the king and himself for so +many dear and sacred lives, collected in haste by the secret passages +which communicated with the sleeping chamber and the interior of the +palace, several officers and national guards wandering about in the +tumult. He had the queen's children brought to her, in order that their +presence and appearance, by softening the mob, might serve as a buckler +to their mother. He himself opened the doors. He placed the queen and +her ladies in the depth of the window. They wheeled in front of this the +massive council-table, in order to interpose a barrier between the +weapons of the malcontents and the lives of the royal family. Some +national guards were around the table on each side, and rather in +advance of it. The queen, standing up, held by the hand her daughter, +then fourteen years of age. + +A child of noble beauty and precocious maturity, the anxieties of the +family in the midst of whom she had grown up had already reflected their +weight and sorrow in her features. Her blue eyes, her lofty brow, +aquiline nose, light brown hair, floating in long waves down her +shoulders, recalled at the decline of the monarchy those young girls of +the Gauls who graced the throne of the earlier races. The young daughter +pressed closely against her mother's bosom, as though to shield her with +her innocence. Born amidst the early tumults of the Revolution, dragged +to Paris captive amidst the blood of the 6th of October, she only knew +the people by its turbulence and rage. The Dauphin, a child of seven +years old, was seated on the table in front of the queen. His innocent +face, radiant with all the beauty of the Bourbons, expressed more +surprise than fear. He turned to his mother at every moment, raising his +eyes towards her as though to read through her tears whether he should +have confidence or alarm. It was thus that the mob found the queen as it +entered and defiled triumphantly before her. The calming produced by the +firmness and confidence of the king was already perceptible in the faces +of the multitude. The most ferocious of the men were softened in the +presence of weakness--beauty--childhood. A lovely woman, a queen, +humiliated,--a young innocent girl,--a child, smiling at his father's +enemies, could not fail to awaken sensibility even in hatred. The men of +the suburbs moved on silent, and as if ashamed, before this group of +humiliated greatness. Some of them the more cowardly made as they passed +derisive or vulgar gestures, which were a dishonour to the +insurrection. Their indignant accomplices checked them in their +insolence, and made these dastards quit the room as speedily as +possible. Some even addressed looks of sympathy and compassion, others +smiles, and others a few familiar words to the dauphin. Conversations, +half menacing, half respectful, were exchanged between the child and the +throng. "If you love the nation," said a volunteer to the queen, "put +the _bonnet rouge_ on your son's head." The queen took the _bonnet +rouge_ from this man's hands, and placed it herself on the dauphin's +head. The astonished child took these insults as play. The men +applauded, but the women, more implacable towards a woman, never ceased +their invectives. Obscene words, borrowed from the sinks of the +fish-market, for the first time echoed in the vaults of the palace, and +in the ears of these children. Their ignorance in not comprehending +their meaning saved them from this horror. The queen, whilst she blushed +to the eyes, did not allow her offended modesty to lessen her lofty +dignity. It was evident that she blushed for the people, for her +children, and not for herself. A young girl, of pleasing appearance and +respectably attired, came forward and bitterly reviled in coarsest terms +_l'Autrichienne_. The queen, struck by the contrast between the rage of +this young girl and the gentleness of her face, said to her in a kind +tone, "Why do you hate me? Have I ever unknowingly done you any injury +or offence?" "No, not to me," replied the pretty patriot; "but it is you +who cause the misery of the nation." "Poor child!" replied the queen; +"some one has told you so, and deceived you. What interest can I have in +making the people miserable? The wife of the king, mother of the +dauphin, I am a Frenchwoman by all the feelings of my heart as a wife +and mother. I shall never again see my own country. I can only be happy +or unhappy in France. I was happy when you loved me." + +This gentle reproach affected the heart of the young girl, and her anger +was effaced in a flood of tears. She asked the queen's pardon, saying, +"I did not know you, but I see that you are good." At this moment +Santerre made his way through the crowd. Easily moved, and sensitive +though coarse, Santerre had roughness, impetuosity, and feelings easily +affected. The faubourgs opened before him and trembled at his voice. He +made an imperious sign for them to leave the apartment, and thrust +these men and women by the shoulders towards the door in front of the +_OEil de Boeuf_. The current advanced by opposite issues of the +palace, and the heat was suffocating. The dauphin's brow reeked with +perspiration beneath the _bonnet rouge_. "Take the cap off the child," +shouted Santerre; "don't you see he is half stifled." The queen darted a +mother's glance at Santerre, who came towards her, and placing his hand +on the table, he leaned towards Marie Antoinette and said, in an under +tone, "You have some very awkward friends, madame; I know those who +would serve you better!" The queen looked down, and was silent. It was +from this moment that may be dated the secret understanding which she +established with the agitators of the faubourgs. The leading malcontents +received the queen's entreaties with complacency. Their pride was +flattered in raising the woman whom they had degraded. Mirabeau, +Barnave, Danton had in turns sold or offered to sell the influence of +their popularity. Santerre merely offered his compassion. + + +XXIII. + +The Assembly had again resumed its sitting on the news of the invasion +of the Château. A deputation of twenty-four members was sent as a +safeguard for the king. Arriving too late, these deputies wandered in +the crowded court-yard, vestibules, and staircases of the palace. +Although they felt repugnance at the idea of the last crime being +committed on the person of the king, they were not very grievously +afflicted in their hearts at this long-threatened insult to the court. +Their steps were lost in the crowd, their words in the uproar. Vergniaud +himself, from a top step of the grand staircase, vainly appealed to +order, legality, and the constitution. The eloquence, so powerful to +incite the masses, is powerless to check them. From time to time the +royalist deputies, highly indignant, returned to the chamber, and, +mounting the tribune, with their clothes all in disorder, reproached the +Assembly with its indifference. Amongst these more conspicuously, +Vaublanc, Ramond, Becquet, Girardin. Mathieu Dumas, La Fayette's friend, +exclaimed, as he pointed to the windows of the Château, "I am just come +from there; the king is in danger! I have this moment seen him, and can +bear witness to the testimony of my colleagues MM. Isnard and Vergniaud +in their unavailing efforts to restrain the people. Yes, I have seen the +hereditary representative of the nation insulted, menaced, degraded! I +have seen the _bonnet rouge_ on his head. You are responsible for this +to posterity!" They replied to him by ironical laughter and uproarious +shouts. "Would you imply that the _bonnet_ of patriots is a disgraceful +mark for a king's brow?" said the Girondist, Lasource; "will it not be +believed that we are uneasy as to the king's safety? Let us not insult +the people by lending it sentiments which it does not possess. The +people do not menace either the person of Louis XVI. or the prince +royal. They will not commit excess or violence. Let us adopt measures of +mildness and conciliation." This was the perfidious lulling of Pétion, +and the Assembly was put to sleep by such language. + + +XXIV. + +Pétion himself could not for any length of time feign ignorance of the +gathering of 40,000 persons in Paris since the morning, and the entry of +this armed mob into the Assembly and the Maison of the Tuileries. His +prolonged absence recalled to mind the sleep of La Fayette on the 6th of +October; but the one was an accomplice, and the other innocent. Night +approached, and might conceal in its shades the disorders and attempts +which would go even beyond the views of the Girondists. Pétion appeared +in the court-yard, amidst shouts of _Vive Pétion!_ They carried him in +their arms to the lowest steps of the staircase, and he entered the +apartment where for three hours Louis XVI. had been undergoing these +outrages. "I have only just learned the situation of your majesty," said +Pétion. "That is very astonishing," replied the king, in a tone of deep +indignation, "for it is a long time that it has lasted." + +Pétion, mounted on a chair, then made several addresses to the mob, +without inducing it to move in the least. At length, being put on the +shoulders of four grenadiers, he said, "Citizens, male and female, you +have used with moderation and dignity your right of petition; you will +finish this day as you began it. Hitherto your conduct has been in +conformity with the law, and now in the name of the law I call upon you +to follow my example and to retire." + +The crowd obeyed Pétion, and moved off slowly through the long avenue of +apartments of the chateau. Scarcely had the mass begun to grow +perceptibly less, than the king, released by the grenadiers from the +recess in which he had been imprisoned, went to his sister, who threw +herself into his arms: he went out of the apartment with her by a side +door, and hastened to join the queen in her apartment. Marie Antoinette, +sustained until then by her pride against showing her tears, gave way to +the excess of her tenderness and emotion on again beholding the king. +She threw herself at his feet, and clasping his knees, sobbed bitterly +but not loudly. Madame Elizabeth and the children, locked in each +other's arms, and all embraced by the king, who wept over them, rejoiced +at finding each other as if after a shipwreck, and their mute joy was +raised to heaven with astonishment and gratitude for their safety. The +faithful national guard, the generals attached to the king, Marshal de +Mouchy, M. d'Aubier, Acloque, congratulated the king on the courage and +presence of mind he had displayed. They mutually related the perils +which they had escaped, the infamous remarks, gestures, looks, arms, +costumes, and sudden repentance of this multitude. The king at this +moment having accidently passed a mirror, saw on his head the _bonnet +rouge_, which had not been taken off; he turned very red, and threw it +at his feet, then casting himself into an arm-chair, he raised his +handkerchief to his eyes, and looking at the queen, exclaimed, "Ah, +madame! why did I take you from your country to associate you with the +ignominy of such a day?" + + +XXV. + +It was eight o'clock in the evening. The agony of the royal family had +lasted for five hours. The national guard of the neighbouring quarters, +assembling by themselves, arrived singly, in order to lend their aid to +the constitution. There were still heard from the king's apartment +tumultuous footsteps, and the sinister cries of the columns of people, +who were slowly filing off by the courts and garden. The constitutional +deputies ran about in indignation, uttering imprecations against Pétion +and the Gironde. A deputation of the Assembly went over the château in +order to take cognisance of the violence and disorder resulting from +this visitation of the faubourgs. The queen pointed out to them the +forced locks, the bursten hinges, the bludgeons, pike irons, panels, and +the piece of cannon loaded with small shot, placed on the threshold of +the apartments. The disorder of the attire of the king, his sister, the +children, the _bonnets rouges_, the cockades forcibly placed on their +heads; the dishevelled hair of the queen, her pale features, the +tremulousness of her lips, her eyes streaming with tears, were tokens +more evident than these spoils left by the people on the battle ground +of sedition. This spectacle moistened the eyes, and excited the +indignation, even of the deputies most hostile to the court. The queen +saw this: "You weep, sir?" she said to Merlin. "Yes, madame," replied +the stoic deputy; "I weep over the misfortunes of the woman, the wife, +and the mother; but my sympathy goes no further. I hate kings and +queens!" + +Such was the day of the 20th of June. The people displayed discipline in +disorder, and forbearance in violence: the king, heroic intrepidity in +his resignation; and some of the Girondists, a cold brutality which +gives to ambition the mask of patriotism. + + +XXVI. + +Every thing was preparing in the departments to send to Paris the 20,000 +troops ordered by the Assembly. The Marseillais, summoned by Barbaroux +at the instigation of Madame Roland, were approaching the capital. It +was the fire of the soul in the south coming to rekindle the +revolutionary hearth, which, as the Girondists believed, was failing in +Paris. This body of twelve or fifteen hundred men was composed of +Genoese, Ligurians, Corsicans, Piedmontese, banished from their country +and recruited suddenly on the shores of the Mediterranean; the majority +sailors or soldiers accustomed to warfare, and some bandits, hardened in +crime. They were commanded by young men of Marseilles, friends of +Barbaroux and Isnard. Rendered fanatic by the climate and the eloquence +of the provincial clubs, they came on amidst the applauses of the +population of central France, received, fêted, overcome by enthusiasm +and wine at the patriotic banquets which hailed them in constant +succession on their way. The pretext of their march was to fraternise, +at the federation of the 14th of July[25], with the other _fédérés_ of +the kingdom. The secret motive was to intimidate the Parisian national +guard, to revive the energy of the faubourgs, and to be the vanguard of +that camp of 20,000 men which the Girondists had made the Assembly vote, +in order at the same time to control the Feuillants, the Jacobins, the +king, and the Assembly itself, with an army from the departments wholly +composed of their creatures. The sea of people was violently agitated on +their approach. The national guard, the _fédérés_, the popular +societies, children, women, all that portion of the population which +lives on excitement of the streets, and runs after public spectacles, +flew to meet the Marseillais. Their bronzed faces, martial appearance, +eyes of fire, uniforms covered with the dust of their journey, their +Phrygian head-dress, their strange weapons, the guns they dragged after +them, the green branches which shaded their _bonnets rouges_, their +strange language mingled with oaths, and accentuated by savage gestures, +all struck the imagination of the multitude with great force. The +revolutionary idea appeared to have assumed the guise of a mortal, and +to be marching under the aspect of this horde, to the assault of the +last remnant of royalty. They entered the cities and villages beneath +triumphal arches. They sang terrible songs as they progressed. Couplets, +alternated by the regular noise of their feet on the road, and by the +sound of drums, resembled chorusses of the country and war, answering at +intervals to the clash of arms and weapons of death in a march to +combat. This song is graven on the soul of France. + + + + +XXVII. + +THE MARSEILLAISE. + + +I. + + Allons, enfants de la Patrie, + Le jour de gloire est arrivé! + Contre nous, de la tyrannie + L'étendart sanglant est levé. + Entendez-vous dans ces campagnes + Mugir ces féroces soldats! + Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras + Egorger vos fils et vos compagnes!-- + Aux armes, citoyens! formez vos bataillons! + Marchons! qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons! + + + II. + + Que veut cette horde d'esclaves, + De traîtres, de rois conjurés? + Pour qui ces ignobles entraves + Ces fers dès longtemps preparés? + Français, pour nous ah! quel outrage, + Quels transports il doit exciter! + C'est nous qu'on ose méditer + De rendre à l'antique esclavage; + Aux armes, &c. + + + III. + + Quoi! des cohortes étrangères + Feraient la loi dans nos foyers? + Quoi! ces phalanges mercenaires + Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers? + Grand Dieu! par des mains enchainées, + Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient; + De vils despotes deviendraient + Les maîtres de nos destineés! + Aux armes, &c. + + + IV. + + Tremblez, tyrans! et vous, perfides, + L'opprobre de tous les partis! + Tremblez, vos projets parricides + Vont enfin recevoir leur prix! + Tout est soldat pour vous combattre: + S'ils tombent nos jeunes héros, + La terre en produit les nouveaux, + Contre vous tout prêts à se battre. + Aux armes, &c. + + + V. + + Français, en guerriers magnanimes, + Portez ou retenez vos coups; + Epargnez ces tristes victimes + A regret s'armant contre nous. + Mais ces despotes sanguinaires, + Mais les complices de Bouillé, + Tous ces tigres sans pitié + Déchirent le sein de leur mère. + Aux armes, &c. + + VI. + + Amour sacré de la patrie, + Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs! + Liberté, liberté chérie, + Combats avec tes défenseurs! + Sous nos drapeaux que la Victoire + Accoure à tes mâles accents; + Que tes ennemis expirants + Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire! + Aux armes, &c. + + + VERSE SUNG BY CHILDREN. + + + Nous entrerons dans la carrière, + Quand nos aînés n'y seront plus; + Nous y trouverons leur poussière, + Et la trace de leurs vertus! + Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre + Que de partager leur cercueil, + Nous aurons le sublime orgueil + De les venger ou de les suivre! + Aux armes, &c.[26] + + +XXVIII. + +These words were sung in notes alternately flat and sharp, which seemed +to come from the breast with sullen mutterings of national anger, and +then with the joy of victory. They had something as solemn as death, but +as serene as the undying confidence of patriotism. It seemed a recovered +echo of Thermopylæ--it was heroism sung. + +There was heard the regular footfall of thousands of men walking +together to defend the frontiers over the resounding soil of their +country, the plaintive notes of women, the wailing of children, the +neighing of horses, the hissing of flames as they devoured palaces and +huts; then gloomy strokes of vengeance, striking again and again with +the hatchet, and immolating the enemies of the people, and the profaners +of the soil. The notes of this air rustled like a flag dipped in gore, +still reeking in the battle plain. It made one tremble--but it was the +shudder of intrepidity which passed over the heart, and gave an +impulse--redoubled strength--veiled death. It was the "fire-water" of +the Revolution, which instilled into the senses and the soul of the +people the intoxication of battle. There are times when all people find +thus gushing into their national mind accents which no man hath written +down, and which all the world feels. All the senses desire to present +their tribute to patriotism, and eventually to encourage each other. The +foot advances--gesture animates--the voice intoxicates the ear--the ear +shakes the heart. The whole heart is inspired like an instrument of +enthusiasm. Art becomes divine; dancing, heroic; music, martial; poetry, +popular. The hymn which was at that moment in all mouths will never +perish. It is not profaned on common occasions. Like those sacred +banners suspended from the roofs of holy edifices, and which are only +allowed to leave them on certain days, we keep the national song as an +extreme arm for the great necessities of the country. Ours was +illustrated by circumstances, whence issued a peculiar character, which +made it at the same time more solemn and more sinister: glory and crime, +victory and death, seemed intertwined in its chorus. It was the song of +patriotism, but it was also the imprecation of rage. It conducted our +soldiers to the frontier, but it also accompanied our victims to the +scaffold. The same blade defends the heart of the country in the hand of +the soldier, and sacrifices victims in the hand of the executioner. + + +XXIX. + +The _Marseillaise_ preserves notes of the song of glory and the shriek +of death: glorious as the one, funereal like the other, it assures the +country, whilst it makes the citizen turn pale. This is its history. + +There was then a young officer of artillery in garrison at Strasbourg, +named Rouget de Lisle. He was born at Lons-le-Saunier, in the _Jura_, +that country of reverie and energy, as mountainous countries always +are. This young man loved war like a soldier--the Revolution like a +thinker. He charmed with his verses and music the slow dull garrison +life. Much in request from his twofold talent as musician and poet, he +visited the house of Dietrick, an Alsatian patriot (_maire of +Strasbourg_), on intimate terms. Dietrick's wife and young daughters +shared in his patriotic feelings, for the Revolution was advancing +towards the frontiers, just as the affections of the body always +commence at the extremities. They were very partial to the young +officer, and inspired his heart, his poetry, and his music. They +executed the first of his ideas hardly developed, confidantes of the +earliest flights of his genius. + +It was in the winter of 1792, and there was a scarcity in Strasbourg. +The house of Dietrick was poor, and the table humble; but there was +always a welcome for Rouget de Lisle. This young officer was there from +morning to night, like a son or brother of the family. One day, when +there was only some coarse bread and slices of ham on the table, +Dietrick, looking with calm sadness at De Lisle, said to him, "Plenty is +not seen at our feasts; but what matter if enthusiasm is not wanting at +our civic fêtes, and courage in our soldiers' hearts. I have still a +bottle of wine left in my cellar. Bring it," he added, addressing one of +his daughters, "and we will drink to liberty and our country. Strasbourg +is shortly to have a patriotic ceremony, and De Lisle must be inspired +by these last drops to produce one of those hymns which convey to the +soul of the people the enthusiasm which suggested it." The young girls +applauded, fetched the wine, filled the glasses of their old father and +the young officer until the wine was exhausted. It was midnight, and +very cold. De Lisle was a dreamer; his heart was moved, his head heated. +The cold seized on him, and he went staggering to his lonely chamber, +endeavouring, by degrees, to find inspiration in the palpitations of his +citizen heart; and on his small clavicord, now composing the air before +the words, and now the words before the air, combined them so intimately +in his mind, that he could never tell which was first produced, the air +or the words, so impossible did he find it to separate the poetry from +the music, and the feeling from the impression. He sung every +thing--wrote nothing. + + +XXX. + +Overcome by this divine inspiration, his head fell sleeping on his +instrument, and he did not awake until daylight. The song of the over +night returned to his memory with difficulty, like the recollections of +a dream. He wrote it down, and then ran to Dietrick. He found him in his +garden. His wife and daughters had not yet risen. Dietrick aroused them, +called together some friends as fond as himself of music, and capable of +executing De Lisle's composition. Dietrick's eldest daughter accompanied +them, Rouget sang. At the first verse all countenances turned pale, at +the second tears flowed, at the last enthusiasm burst forth. The hymn of +the country was found. Alas! it was also destined to be the hymn of +terror. The unfortunate Dietrick went a few months afterwards to the +scaffold to the sound of the notes produced at his own fireside, from +the heart of his friend, and the voices of his daughters. + +The new song, executed some days afterwards at Strasbourg, flew from +city to city, in every public orchestra. Marseilles adopted it to be +sung at the opening and the close of the sittings of its clubs. The +Marseillais spread it all over France, by singing it every where on +their way. Whence the name of _Marseillaise_. De Lisle's old mother, a +royalist and religious, alarmed at the effect of her son's voice, wrote +to him: "What is this revolutionary hymn, sung by bands of brigands, who +are traversing France, and with which our name is mingled?" De Lisle +himself, proscribed as a royalist, heard it and shuddered, as it sounded +on his ears, whilst escaping by some of the wild passes of the Alps. +"What do they call that hymn?" he inquired of his guide. "The +_Marseillaise_," replied the peasant. It was thus he learnt the name of +his own work. The arm turned against the hand that forged it. The +Revolution, insane, no longer recognised its own voice! + +END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] See an elegant exposition of this idea in Schlegel's Dramatic +Literature (Standard Library Edition, page 67.). + +[2] La Fayette rode a favourite white horse on public occasions during +this period.--H. T. R. + +[3] "Infamous and contented."--_Junius_. + +[4] "Père Duchesne" was one of the most virulent, gross, and +blood-thirsty productions of the Revolution. It was edited by Manuel and +Hébert. Its success and profit were so great, that it had many +imitators. It was rather a pamphlet than a newspaper, the price fifty +sous a month--H. T. R. + +[5] It has been generally understood that Voltaire was born at Châtenay, +_near_ Paris, in February, 1694.--H. T. R. + +[6] Voltaire's residence in Switzerland, where he lived nearly twenty +years.--H. T. R. + +[7] Qu. Middlesex in 1769?--H. T. R. + +[8] This appellation is given to a period of French history extending +from 1643 to 1655. By some it is styled an attempt to establish a +balanced constitution in the state,--by others, the last essay of +expiring feudality. The _frondeur_ leaders were the Duc de Beaufort, +Cardinal de Retz, Prince de Conti, Duc de Bouillon, Mareschaux Turenne +and de la Motte. On the side of their opponents, called _Mazarins_, were +the Cardinal Mazarin himself, the Prince de Condé, Maréchal de Grammont, +and the Duc de Chatillon, while the Duc d'Orleans, a vacillating man, +wavered between the two parties. The successes of the rival powers were +alternate for a long time; eventually the _frondeurs_ were defeated, and +De Retz escaping into Lorraine, Mazarin returned to Paris triumphant in +February 1653.--H. T. R. + +[9] If M. de Lamartine would convey the idea that Burke was a partisan +of the French Revolution, we must combat the assertion by a reference to +dates. Talleyrand was ambassador in England in 1792. In October 1791, +Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France" appeared, to which Tom +Paine's "Rights of Man" was one of the replies, and Sir James +Mackintosh's "Vindiciæ" another; and previously, in 1789 and 1790, Burke +had condemned the tendencies of the Revolution, and the conduct of the +Revolutionists.--H. T. R. + +[10] + + -------- immedicabile vulnus + Ense recidendum, ne pars sincera trahatur. + + +[11] Co-editor with Hébert of the disgusting "Père Duchesne."--H. T. R. + +[12] "Dux fæmina facti."--VIRG. + +[13] This extract has been given before at p. 247.--_Translator._ + +[14] Foulon was a contractor, who, odious to the populace, was compelled +to fly from Paris, but being discovered, was brought back, and +eventually murdered by the mob in July 1789. Berthier was his +son-in-law, and also incurring the displeasure of the people, was a few +days later stabbed by a hundred bayonets whilst on his way to +prison.--H. T. R. + +[15] See Michelet's History of the French Revolution, vol. i. +p.154.--_Standard Library._ + +[16] + + "Hail mighty triumph!--enter these our walls! + Restore those soldiers, heroes of the day + When fell Désilles, pierced by their murderous balls, + And blood of citizens bedew'd the clay!" + + +[17] In Michelet's _History of the French Revolution_, publishing +contemporaneously with this work, the author acquits the Duc d'Orleans +of any participation in the riots and bloodshed at Versailles, on the +4th and 5th of October; but says, page 280., "Depositions prove that he +was seen every where between Paris and Versailles, but that he did +nothing. Between eight and nine o'clock in the morning of the 6th, so +soon after the massacre that the court of the castle was still stained +with blood, he went and showed himself to the people, with an enormous +cockade in his hat, laughing, and flourishing a switch in his +hand."--_Standard Library._--H. T. R. + +[18] This passage is somewhat obscure in the original: "_Dumouriez se +trouva la génie d'une circonstance caché sous l'habit d'un aventurier._" +We trust we have caught its spirit.--H. T. H. + +[19] Madame Du Barry was the favourite mistress of Louis XV., and her +brother, as he was called, the Count Jean du Barry, had the king's +patronage, and preyed on the public to a great extent, to supply his low +habits and expensive tastes.--_Translator._ + +[20] The club of the Feuillants, of which La Fayette was the leading +member, was formed after the 17th July, 1791. It consisted principally +of Royalists, and was soon dissolved.--H. T. R. + +[21] The Marseillais trace their origin to a colony of Phocians in the +1st year of the 43d Olympiad, 599 years B.C. It was the +Massilia of the Romans, and called by Cicero the "mistress of Gaul," and +by Pliny, the "mistress of education."--H. T. R. + +[22] M. Lamartine does not here refer to André Chénier, an admirable +lyric poet, from whom he has quoted at page 351.; _he_ was a Royalist, +and as such condemned and guillotined in July 1794, in his thirty-second +year. He had a brother, Joseph Chénier, his junior by two years, who was +an enthusiastic republican, and wrote and brought out, from 1785 to +1795, a great many tragedies, viz. _Charles IX._, _Calas_, _Henry +VIII._, _Timoleon_, _Tibère_, &c., and was elected member of the +legislative assemblies from 1792 to 1802. He fell under Napoleon's +displeasure, and he dismissed him from his appointment as +inspector-general of public instruction, in 1803. The consul was +becoming imperial in his aspirations. Joseph Chénier died in 1811, +consistent to the last in his republican notions.--H. T. R. + +[23] Editor of the infamous Père Duchesne.--H. T. R. + +[24] Furor arma ministrat.--H. T. H. + +[25] It was on the 30th July, 1792, that the Marseillais arrived in +Paris.--H. T. R. + +[26] M. Lamartine has not in his work given the verses 3, 4, and 5; we +have therefore supplied them, that "The Marseillaise" may be complete. +The Marseillais ruffians entered Paris on the 30th July, 1792, by the +Faubourg Saint-Antoine (the St. Giles's of Paris), and headed by +Santerre, went to the Champs Elysées, (thus traversing the whole city +from south to north,) where a banquet awaited them. Their arrival was +marked by riots and bloodshed--Duhamel was murdered. This celebrated +song was written by Rouget de Lisle, who also composed the air. On the +18th Nivose, an. iv.(8th January, 1795,) an order of the Directory +enjoined that at all theatres and sights the air of the "Marseillaise," +and those of "Ça Ira,--Veillons au Salut de l'Empire," and "Le Chant du +Depart," should be played. Rouget de Lisle was an officer of engineers +in 1790, and in spite of his republican opinions, incarcerated during +the reign of terror and only saved by the 9th Thermidor. He would +assuredly have been accompanied to the guillotine by his own +song.--H. T. R. + +PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE, LONDON + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Girondists, Volume I, by +Alphonse de Lamartine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS *** + +***** This file should be named 18094-8.txt or 18094-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/0/9/18094/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at +http://dp.rastko.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/18094-8.zip b/18094-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..98653b3 --- /dev/null +++ b/18094-8.zip diff --git a/18094-h.zip b/18094-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..32e120b --- /dev/null +++ b/18094-h.zip diff --git a/18094-h/18094-h.htm b/18094-h/18094-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b6414f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/18094-h/18094-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,20036 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of the Girondists, Volume 1, + by Alphonse De Lamartine + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + + div.trans-note {border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; + margin: 3em 15%; padding: 1em; text-align: center;} + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + visibility: hidden; + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .author {text-align: right; margin-right: 5%;} + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Girondists, Volume I, by +Alphonse de Lamartine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Girondists, Volume I + Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution + +Author: Alphonse de Lamartine + +Translator: H. T. Ryde + +Release Date: April 1, 2006 [EBook #18094] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at +http://dp.rastko.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1>HISTORY</h1> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h1>THE GIRONDISTS;</h1> + +<h4>OR</h4> + +<h3><i>Personal Memoirs of the Patriots</i></h3> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h2>THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.</h2> + + +<h4>FROM UNPUBLISHED SOURCES.</h4> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h2>ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE,</h2> + +<p class='center'>Author of "Travels in the Holy Land," &c.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>IN THREE VOLUMES.<br />VOL. I.</h4> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h4>TRANSLATED BY H. T. RYDE.</h4> + +<p class='center'>LONDON:<br />HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.<br />1856.</p> + +<p class='center'>LONDON<br />PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.<br />NEW-STREET SQUARE</p> + +<div class="trans-note"> + Transcriber's Note: You may notice some inconsistencies in accentation. These have been +left as they are in the original. + </div> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="Robespierre" title="Robespierre" /></div> + +<h4>Robespierre</h4> +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> +<h3>ADVERTISEMENT.</h3> + +<p>We have not thought it necessary to preface this recital by any +introduction of the preceding epochs of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>We have not re-produced, with the minute elaboration of an annalist, the +numerous parliamentary and military details of all the events of these +forty months. Two or three times we have, in order to group men and +circumstances in masses, made unimportant anachronisms.</p> + +<p>We have written after having scrupulously investigated facts and +characters: we do not ask to be credited on our mere word only. Although +we have not encumbered our work with notes, quotations, and documentary +testimony, we have not made one assertion unauthorised by authentic +memoirs, by unpublished manuscripts, by autograph letters, which the +families of the most conspicuous persons have confided to our care, or +by oral and well confirmed statements gathered from the lips of the last +survivors of this great epoch.</p> + +<p>If some errors in fact or judgment have, notwithstanding, escaped us, we +shall be ready to acknowledge them, and repair them in sequent editions, +when the proofs have been transmitted to us. We shall not reply one by +one to such denials and contradictions as this book may give rise to; it +might be a tedious and unprofitable paper-war in the newspapers. But we +will make notes of every observation, and reply <i>en masse</i>, by our +proofs and tests, after a certain lapse of time. We seek the truth only, +and should blush to make our work a calumny of the dead.</p> + +<p>As to the title of this book, we have only assumed it, as being unable +to find any other which can so well define this recital, which has none +of the pretensions of history, and therefore should not affect its +gravity. It is an intermediate labour between history and memoirs. +Events do not herein occupy so much space as men and ideas. It is full +of private details, and details are the physiognomy of characters, and +by them they engrave themselves on the imagination.</p> + +<p>Great writers have already written the records of this memorable epoch, +and others still to follow will write them also. It would be an +injustice to compare us with them. They have produced, or will produce, +the history of an age. We have produced nothing more than a "study" of a +group of men and a few months of the Revolution.</p> + +<p class='author'>A. L.</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;">Paris, March 1. 1847.</span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK I.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Introduction. Mirabeau. Marries. Enters the National Assembly.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His Master Mind. His Death and Character. Glance at the Revolution.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The New Idea. Revolution defined. Revolutions the Results of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Printing. Bossuet's Warnings. Rousseau. Fénélon. Voltaire. The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Philosophers of France. Louis XVI. The King's Ministers. The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Queen. Her Conduct and Plans. The National Assembly. Maury.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cazalès. Barnave and the Lameths. Rival Champions. Robespierre.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His Personal Appearance. Revolutionary Leaders. State of the Kingdom.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Jacobin Club. Effects of the Clubs. Club of the Cordeliers.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Fayette. His Popularity. Characters of the Leaders. What the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Revolution might have been</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'><b>1</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK II.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">State of the Assembly. Discussions. The Periodical Press. The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">King and his Brothers. He meditates Escape. Various Plans of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flight. The King's embarrassed Position. Marquis de Bouillé. The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">King and Mirabeau. Preparations for the King's Escape. Fatal Alterations.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Anxiety. Rumours. Count de Fersen. A Faithless Servant</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">suspicious. Mode of Escape. Dangers of the Route. The Passport.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hopes of Success. Drouet recognises the King. Narrowly saves his</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">own Life. Varennes. Capture of the Royal Family. Entreaties of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the King and Queen. Refusal of the Syndic and his Wife. Conduct of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Soldiers and People. Effect on the Queen. Conduct of the Parisians.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their Rage. La Fayette attacked. Defended by Barnave.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Power assumed by La Fayette. La Fayette's Proceedings. The King's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Parting Address. Manifesto. Proceedings of the Cordeliers and Jacobins.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robespierre's Address. Its Effect. Danton's Oration. His</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Audacity and Venality. Address of the Assembly. The King's Arrest</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">known. His Hopes. The Queen's Despair. The Royal Family depart</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for Paris. De Bouillé's unavailing Efforts. Indignation of the Populace.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Barnave's noble Interference. Barnave gained over. Drouet's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Declaration. The Entrance into Paris. Arrival at the Tuileries. Barnave</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Pétion's report to the Assembly. La Fayette and the Royal</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Family. The Queen's Courage. Effects of the Flight. The King</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">should have abdicated</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_42'><b>42</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK III.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Interregnum. Barnave's Conversion. His Devotion. His</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meetings with the Queen. The King's Reply. Fatal Resolution of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "Right." A Party that protests, abdicates. Address of the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cordeliers to the National Assembly. Barnave's great Speech. Irresistible</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Advance of the Revolution. The Press. Camille Desmoulins.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marat. Brissot. Clamours for a Republic. Desmoulin's Attack on</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Fayette. Petitions of the People. Robespierre's Popularity. Popular</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Meeting in the Champ de Mars. Absence of the Ringleaders.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">"The Altar of the Country." The Remarkable Signatures. Advance</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the National Guard, preceded by the Red Flag. Fearful Massacre.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Day after. The Jacobins take Courage. Schisms in the Clubs.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Attempts of Desmoulins and Pétion to restore Unity. Malouet's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Plan for amending the Constitution. Power of the Assembly. The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Men. Condorcet. Danton. Brissot disowned by Robespierre.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charges made against him. Defended by Manuel. Girondist Leaders</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_100'><b>100</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK IV.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Revolutionary Press. High State of Excitement. Removal of Voltaire's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remains to the Pantheon. The Procession. Voltaire's Character.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His War against Christianity. His Tact and Courage in opposing the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Priesthood. His Devotion. His Deficiencies. Barnave's weakened</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Position. His momentary Success while addressing the Assembly.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sillery's Defence of the Duc d'Orleans. Robespierre's Alarm. Malouet's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech in Defence of the Monarchy. Robespierre's Remarks. Constitution</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">presented to the King. His Reply and Acceptance. Rejoicings.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Universal Satisfaction. The King in Person dissolves the Assembly</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_145'><b>145</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK V.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Opinions of the Revolution in Europe.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Austria—Prussia—Russia—England—Spain.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">State of Italy—Venice—Genoa—Florence—Piedmont—Savoy—Sweden.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gustavus III. Feelings of the People. Poets and Philosophers.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">England and its Liberty. America. Holland. Germany.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Freemasonry. German School. French Emigration. Female</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Influence. Louis XIV.'s Letter. Conduct of the Emigrant Princes</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">unsatisfactory to the King. Attempts of the Emigrés. The German</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sovereigns. Their Conference. The Revolt. The Declaration. The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Courts of Europe, The Princes disobey the King. Desire for War in</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Assembly. Madame de Stäel. Count Louis de Narbonne. His</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ambition. The Hero of Madame de Stäel. M. de Segur's Mission.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Mission frustrated. The Duke of Brunswick</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_172'><b>172</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK VI.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The New Assembly. Juvenile Members. First Audience with the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">King. Decrees of the Assembly. Vergniaud's Policy. Offensive</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Decree repealed. Rage of the Clubs. Indifference of the People. The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">King's Address to the Assembly. Momentary Calm. The Girondists.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Clergy. The King's Religious Alarms. State of Religious Worship.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fauchet's Speech. The Abbé Tourné's Reply. Advantages of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Toleration. Dacos. Gensonné. Isnard. Isnard's eloquent Address</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">to the Assembly. His severe Measures. Decree against the Priests.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Policy of Louis XVI. Question of Emigration. Brissot advocates</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">War. His Arguments. Condorcet. Vergniaud. His Character</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and his Speech against the Emigrants. Isnard's violent Harangue.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Decision of the Assembly. André Chénier. Camille Desmoulins.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">State of Parties. Hopes of the Aristocracy. La Fayette's Letter. La</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fayette in Retirement. Candidates for Mayor of Paris. Pétion and</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">La Fayette. La Fayette's Popularity. Pétion elected Mayor</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_211'><b>211</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK VII.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Character of Parties. France worked for the Universe. Mechanism</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Constitution. The King's Veto. Defence of the Constitution.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">No Balance of Power. All Odium falls upon the King. Order, the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Life of Monarchy. When a Republic is needful. The Will of the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">People. Mistake of the Assembly. The King's Position. The Assembly</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">hesitates. Third Course open. The Republicans</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_257'><b>257</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK VIII.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame Roland. Her Infancy. Her Personal Appearance. Early</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abilities. Habits. Her Father's House. Future Héloïse. Influence</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Birth in Society. Her Impression of the Court. Has many Suitors.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">M. Roland. His Career. Their Marriage. Mode of Life. La Platière.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Country Life. Madame Roland's Love for Mankind. The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rolands in Paris. Interview with Brissot. Reunion at Roland's.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame Roland and Robespierre. Her Opinion of him. Her Anxiety</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for his Safety</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_272'><b>272</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK IX.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">New Assembly. Roland's Position. De Molleville. M. de Narbonne.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Treachery of the Girondists. Narbonne's Policy and Success.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His Popularity. Robespierre his sole Opponent. Robespierre's Desire</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">for Peace. His Views. His Rupture with the Girondists. His</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Speech against War. Louvet's Reply. Brissot's Efforts</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_296'><b>296</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK X.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Committee of the Girondists. Its Report. Gensonné. His Reply.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guadet. Vergniaud's Proclamation. Constitutionalists for War. Narbonne's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Report. The Pamphleteers. Unpopularity of the Veto. Outbreak</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Avignon. Jourdan. San Domingo. Negro Slavery. Men of</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Colour. Ogé. His Execution. Insurrection of the Blacks at San</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Domingo. Increase of Disorder. The Abbé Fauchet. His Career.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charges against him. Riot in Caen Cathedral. Insurrection at Mende.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Guard drives out the Troops. Insubordination. Universal</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bloodshed. The Swiss Soldiers. Their Revolt pardoned. Chénier's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Remonstrance. Dupont de Nemours. Pétion's Weakness. Robespierre's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interference. Gouvion. Couthon. Triumph of the Swiss Soldiers</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_312'><b>312</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK XI.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Increasing Disturbances. Murder of Simoneau. Duc d'Orleans.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His peculiar Position. The Duchesse d'Orleans. Duc disliked at</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Court. Forms the Palais Royal. Madame de Genlis. Her Talents.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Duke Citizen. Mirabeau's Estimate of the Duke. La Fayette's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Interference with the Duc d'Orleans. Plans of the Girondists. Duc</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">d'Orleans made Admiral. His Declaration. Details. Avoided by the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">King's Friends. Becomes a Jacobin. Vergniaud's great Eloquence.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His powerful Appeal. Its Effects</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_352'><b>352</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK XII.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Emperor Leopold. De Lessart's Despatch. His Impeachment.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">De Narbonne's Dismissal. Death of Leopold. Supposed to be poisoned.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His Vices and Virtues. Conspiracy. Assassination. Ankastroem.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death of Gustavus. Joy of the Jacobins. Brissot's Policy. Accusation</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of M. de Lessart. Roland and the Girondist Ministry</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_377'><b>377</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK XIII.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dumouriez's Talent and Aptitude. Education and Acquirements.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Favier. Corsica. Paoli. Dumouriez sent to Poland. Stanislaus Policy.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dumouriez at Cherbourg. His Tact; Appearance. Dumouriez</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Madame Roland. Roland's Vanity. His Opinion of the King.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">His Wife's Sagacity. Dumouriez in favour with the King. His Interview</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">with the Queen. His Advice. Bonnet Rouge. Dumouriez and</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Robespierre. Pétion and the Bonnet Rouge. The King's Letter. Treachery</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Girondists. Roland's Letter to the King. Letter of the</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Girondist Chiefs. Dumouriez's Policy. Danton. Hatred of Robespierre</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">and Brissot. Camille Desmoulins. Brissot's Attack on Robespierre.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guadet. Robespierre's Defence</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_396'><b>396</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK XIV.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Quarrel between Girondists and Jacobins. Violence of the Journals.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marat's atrocious Writings. Duke of Brunswick. Mirabeau's Opinion</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of him. Dumouriez's Plan. The King himself proposes War. Slight</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Opposition. Condorcet's Manifesto. War declared. State of Belgium. Revolt.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">German Confederation. French Nobility and Emigrés. Comte de</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Provence. Comte d'Artois. Mallet-Dupan, the King's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Confidant</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_436'><b>436</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK XV.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dumouriez's Tactics. Servan's Proposition. Change of Ministry.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dumouriez's Infidelity. Another Change of Ministers. Dumouriez</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">quits Paris. Barbaroux. Madame Roland's Plans for a Republic.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Increase of the Girondists. Buzot. Danton: his Origin and Life.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Progress. Hostilities in Belgium. Duc de Lauzun. Luckner.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">State of France</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_459'><b>459</b></a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>BOOK XVI.</b></span></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">King Pétion. His Policy. Murder of De Brissac. Another Phase</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Revolution. Santerre, Legendre, Instigators of 20th June.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Preparation. Disposition of Lower Orders. The Mobs excited.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Alarm of the King. The Assembling of the People. St.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Huruge. Théroigne de Méricourt. Her Fate. The Procession.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rœderer's Courage. Huguenin's Declaration. The Mob admitted.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Defence at the Tuileries. Movement of the Populace. The Troops</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">faithless. Fury of the Mob. The King's Defenders. Madame Elizabeth.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Legendre's Insolence. The Bonnet Rouge. "Vive le Roi." The</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dangers of the Queen. Princesse de Lamballe. Queen and Royal</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Children. Santerre. Deputation to the King. Pétion's Duplicity.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Retirement of the Rebels. Merlin's brutal Remark. The Marseillaise.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Its Origin and Popularity: universally adopted</span></td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_478'><b>478</b></a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><br /></p> +<h2>BOOK I.</h2> +<p><br /></p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<h3>INTRODUCTION.</h3> + + +<p>I now undertake to write the history of a small party of men who, cast +by Providence into the very centre of the greatest drama of modern +times, comprise in themselves the ideas, the passions, the faults, the +virtues of their epoch, and whose life and political acts forming, as we +may say, the nucleus of the French Revolution, perished by the same blow +which crushed the destinies of their country.</p> + +<p>This history, full of blood and tears, is full also of instruction for +the people. Never, perhaps, were so many tragical events crowded into so +short a space of time, never was the mysterious connexion which exists +between deeds and their consequences developed with greater rapidity. +Never did weaknesses more quickly engender faults,—faults +crimes,—crimes punishment. That retributive justice which God has +implanted in our very acts, as a conscience more sacred than the +fatalism of the ancients<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>, never manifested itself more unequivocally; +never was the law of morality illustrated by a more ample testimony, or +avenged more mercilessly. Thus the simple recital of these two years is +the most luminous commentary of the whole Revolution; and blood, spilled +like water, not only shrieks in accents of terror and pity, but gives, +indeed, a lesson and an example to mankind. It is in this spirit I would +indite this work. The impartiality of history is not that of a mirror, +which merely reflects objects, it should be that of a judge who sees, +listens,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> and decides. Annals are not history; in order to deserve that +appellation it requires a conviction; for it becomes, in after times, +<i>that</i> of the human race.</p> + +<p>Recital animated by the imagination, weighed and judged by wisdom,—such +is history as the ancients understood it; and of history conceived and +produced in such a spirit, I would, under the Divine guidance, leave a +fragment to my country.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<h4>HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS.</h4> + + +<p>Mirabeau had just died. The instinct of the people led them to press +around the house of his tribune, as if to demand inspiration even from +his coffin; but had Mirabeau been still living, he could no longer have +given it; his star had paled its fires before that of the Revolution; +hurried to the verge of an unavoidable precipice by the very chariot he +himself had set in motion, it was in vain that he clung to the tribune. +The last memorial he addressed to the king, which the Iron Chest has +surrendered to us, together with the secret of his venality, testify the +failure and dejection of his mind. His counsels are versatile, +incoherent, and almost childish:—now he will arrest the Revolution with +a grain of sand—now he places the salvation of the Monarchy in a +proclamation of the crown and a regal ceremony which shall revive the +popularity of the king,—.and now he is desirous of buying the +acclamations of the tribune, and believes the nation, like him, to be +purchasable at a price. The pettiness of his means of safety are in +contrast with the vast increase of perils; there is a vagueness in every +idea; we see that he is impelled by the very passions he has excited, +and that unable any longer to guide or control them, he betrays, whilst +he is yet unable to crush, them. The prime agitator is now but the +alarmed courtier seeking shelter beneath the throne, and though still +stuttering out terrible words in behalf of the nation and liberty, which +are in the part set down for him, has already in his soul all the +paltriness and the thoughts of vanity which are proper to a court. We +pity genius when we behold it struggling with impossibility. Mirabeau +was the most potent man of his time; but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> greatest individual +contending with an enraged element appears but a madman. A fall is only +majestic when accompanied by virtue.</p> + +<p>Poets say that clouds assume the form of the countries over which they +have passed, and moulding themselves upon the valleys, plains, or +mountains, acquire their shapes and move with them over the skies. This +resembles certain men, whose genius being as it were acquisitive, models +itself upon the epoch in which it lives, and assumes all the +individuality of the nation to which it belongs. Mirabeau was a man of +this class: he did not invent the Revolution, but was its manifestation. +But for him it might perhaps have remained in a state of idea and +tendency. He was born, and it took in him the form, the passion, the +language which make a multitude say when they see a thing—There it is.</p> + +<p>He was born a gentleman and of ancient lineage, refugee and established +in Provence, but of Italian origin: the progenitors were Tuscan. The +family was one of those whom Florence had cast from her bosom in the +stormy excesses of her liberty, and for which Dante reproaches his +country in such bitter strains for her exiles and persecutions. The +blood of Machiavel and the earthquake genius of the Italian republics +were characteristics of all the individuals of this race. The +proportions of their souls exceed the height of their destiny: vices, +passions, virtues are all in excess. The women are all angelic or +perverse, the men sublime or depraved, and their language even is as +emphatic and lofty as their aspirations. There is in their most familiar +correspondence the colour and tone of the heroic tongues of Italy.</p> + +<p>The ancestors of Mirabeau speak of their domestic affairs as Plutarch of +the quarrels of Marius and Sylla, of Cæsar and Pompey. We perceive the +great men descending to trifling matters. Mirabeau inspired this +domestic majesty and virility in his very cradle. I dwell on these +details, which may seem foreign to this history, but explain it. The +source of genius is often in ancestry, and the blood of descent is +sometimes the prophecy of destiny.</p> + + +<h4>III.</h4> + + +<p>Mirabeau's education was as rough and rude as the hand of his father, +who was styled the <i>friend of man</i>, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> whose restless spirit and +selfish vanity rendered him the persecutor of his wife and the tyrant of +all his family. The only virtue he was taught was honour, for by that +name in those days they dignified that ceremonious demeanour which was +too frequently but the show of probity and the elegance of vice. +Entering the army at an early age, he acquired nothing of military +habits except a love of licentiousness and play. The hand of his father +was constantly extended not to aid him in rising, but to depress him +still lower under the consequences of his errors: his youth was passed +in the prisons of the state; his passions, becoming envenomed by +solitude, and his intellect being rendered more acute by contact with +the irons of his dungeon, where his mind lost that modesty which rarely +survives the infamy of precocious punishments.</p> + +<p>Released from gaol, in order, by his father's command, to attempt to +form a marriage beset with difficulties with Mademoiselle De Marignan, a +rich heiress of one of the greatest families of Provence, he displayed, +like a wrestler, all kinds of stratagems and daring schemes of policy in +the small theatre of Aix. Cunning, seduction, courage, he used every +resource of his nature to succeed, and he succeeded; but he was hardly +married, before fresh persecutions beset him, and the stronghold of +Pontarlier gaped to enclose him. A love, which his <i>Lettres à Sophie</i> +has rendered immortal, opened its gates and freed him. He carried off +Madame de Monier from her aged husband. The lovers, happy for some +months, took refuge in Holland; they were seized there, separated and +shut up, the one in a convent and the other in the dungeon of Vincennes. +Love, which, like fire in the veins of the earth, is always detected in +some crevice of man's destiny, lighted up in a single and ardent blaze +all Mirabeau's passions. In his vengeance it was outraged love that he +appeased; in liberty, it was love which he sought and which delivered +him; in study, it was love which still illustrated his path. Entering +obscure into his cell, he quitted it a writer, orator, statesman, but +perverted—ripe for any thing, even to sell himself, in order to buy +fortune and celebrity. The drama of life was conceived in his head, he +wanted but the stage, and that time was preparing for him. During the +few short years which elapsed for him between his leaving the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> keep of +Vincennes and the tribune of the National Assembly, he employed himself +with polemic labours, which would have weighed down another man, but +which only kept him in health. The Bank of Saint Charles, the +Institutions of Holland, the books on Prussia, the skirmish with +Beaumarchais, his style and character, his lengthened pleadings on +questions of warfare, the balance of European power, finance, those +biting invectives, that war of words with the ministers or men of the +hour, resembled the Roman forum in the days of Clodius and Cicero. We +discern the men of antiquity in even his most modern controversies. We +may fancy that we hear the first roarings of those popular tumults which +were so soon to burst forth, and which his voice was destined to +control. At the first election of Aix, rejected with contempt by the +<i>noblesse</i>, he cast himself into the arms of the people, certain of +making the balance incline to the side on which he should cast the +weight of his daring and his genius. Marseilles contended with Aix for +the great plebeian; his two elections, the discourses he then delivered, +the addresses he drew up, the energy he employed, commanded the +attention of all France. His sonorous phrases became the proverbs of the +Revolution; comparing himself, in his lofty language, to the men of +antiquity, he placed himself already in the public estimation in the +elevated position he aspired to reach. Men became accustomed to identify +him with the names he cited; he made a loud noise in order to prepare +minds for great commotions; he announced himself proudly to the nation +in that sublime apostrophe in his address to the Marseillais: "When the +last of the Gracchi expired, he flung dust towards heaven, and from this +dust sprung Marius! Marius, less great for having exterminated the +Cimbri than for having prostrated in Rome the aristocracy of the +nobility."</p> + +<p>From the moment of his entry into the National Assembly he filled it: he +was the whole people. His gestures were commands; his movements <i>coups +d'état</i>. He placed himself on a level with the throne, and the nobility +felt itself subdued by a power emanating from its own body. The clergy, +which is the people, and desires to reconcile the democracy with the +church, lends him its influence, in order to destroy the double +aristocracy of the nobility and bishops.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p> + +<p>All that had been built by antiquity and cemented by ages fell in a few +months. Mirabeau alone preserved his presence of mind in the midst of +this ruin. His character of tribune ceases, that of the statesman +begins, and in this he is even greater than in the other. There, when +all else creep and crawl, he acts with firmness, advancing boldly. The +Revolution in his brain is no longer a momentary idea—it is a settled +plan. The philosophy of the eighteenth century, moderated by the +prudence of policy, flows easily, and modelled from his lips. His +eloquence, imperative as the law, is now the talent of giving force to +reason. His language lights and inspires every thing; and though almost +alone at this moment, he has the courage to remain alone. He braves +envy, hatred, murmurs, supported by the strong feeling of his +superiority. He dismisses with disdain the passions which have hitherto +beset him. He will no longer serve them when his cause no longer needs +them. He speaks to men now only in the name of his genius. This title is +enough to cause obedience to him. His power is based on the assent which +truth finds in all minds, and his strength again reverts to him. He +contests with all parties, and rises superior to one and all. All hate +him because he commands; and all seek him because he can serve or +destroy them. He does not give himself up to any one, but negotiates +with each: he lays down calmly on the tumultuous element of this +assembly, the basis of the reformed constitution: legislation, finance, +diplomacy, war, religion, political economy, balances of power, every +question he approaches and solves, not as an Utopian, but as a +politician. The solution he gives is always the precise mean between the +theoretical and the practical. He places reason on a level with manners, +and the institutions of the land in consonance with its habits. He +desires a throne to support the democracy, liberty in the chambers, and +in the will of the nation, one and irresistible in the government. The +characteristic of his genius, so well defined, so ill understood, was +less audacity than justness. Beneath the grandeur of his expression is +always to be found unfailing good sense. His very vices could not +repress the clearness, the sincerity of his understanding. At the foot +of the tribune he was a man devoid of shame or virtue: in the tribune he +was an honest man. Abandoned to private debauchery,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> bought over by +foreign powers, sold to the court in order to satisfy his lavish +expenditure, he preserved, amidst all this infamous traffic of his +powers, the incorruptibility of his genius. Of all the qualities of a +great man of his age, he was only wanting in honesty. The people were +not his devotees, but his instruments,—his own glory was the god of his +idolatry; his faith was posterity; his conscience existed but in his +thought; the fanaticism of his idea was quite human; the chilling +materialism of his age had crushed in his heart the expansion, force, +and craving for imperishable things. His dying words were "sprinkle me +with perfumes, crown me with flowers, that I may thus enter upon eternal +sleep." He was especially of his time, and his course bears no impress +of infinity. Neither his character, his acts, nor his thoughts have the +brand of immortality. If he had believed in God, he might have died a +martyr, but he would have left behind him the religion of reason and the +reign of democracy. Mirabeau, in a word, was the reason of the people; +and that is not yet the faith of humanity!</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Grand displays cast a veil of universal mourning over the secret +sentiments which his death inspired to all parties. Whilst the various +belfries tolled his knell, and minute guns were fired; whilst, in a +ceremony that had assembled two hundred thousand spectators, they +awarded to a citizen the funeral obsequies of a monarch; whilst the +Pantheon, to which they conveyed his remains, seemed scarcely a monument +worthy of such ashes,—what was passing in the depths of men's hearts?</p> + +<p>The king, who held Mirabeau's eloquence in pay, the queen, with whom he +had nocturnal conferences, regretted him, perhaps, as the last means of +safety: yet still he inspired them with more terror than confidence; and +the humiliation of a crowned head demanding succour from a subject must +have felt comforted at the removal of that destroying power which itself +fell before the throne did. The court was avenged by death for the +affronts which it had undergone. He was to the nobility merely an +apostate from his order. The climax of its shame must have been to be +one day raised by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> him who had abased it. The National Assembly had +grown weary of his superiority; the Duc d'Orleans felt that a word from +this man would unfold and crush his premature aspirations; M. de La +Fayette, the hero of the <i>bourgeoisie</i>, must have been in dread of the +orator of the people. Between the dictator of the city and the dictator +of the tribune there must have been a secret jealousy. Mirabeau, who had +never assailed M. de La Fayette in his discourses, had often in +conversation allowed words to escape with respect to his rival which +print themselves as they fall on a man. Mirabeau the less, and then M. +de La Fayette appeared the greater, and it was the same with all the +orators of the Assembly. There was no longer any rival, but there were +many envious. His eloquence, though popular in its style, was that of a +patrician. His democracy was delivered from a lofty position, and +comprised none of that covetousness and hate which excite the vilest +passions of the human heart, and which see in the good done for the +people nothing but an insult to the nobility. His popular sentiments +were in some sort but the liberality of his genius. The vast +expansiveness of his mighty soul had no resemblance with the paltry +impulses of demagogues. In acquiring rights for the people he seemed as +though he bestowed them. He was a volunteer of democracy. He recalled by +his part, and his bearing, to those democrats behind him, that from the +time of the Gracchi to his own, the tribunes who most served the people +had sprung from the ranks of the patricians. His talent, unequalled for +philosophy of thought, for depth of reflection, and loftiness of +expression, was another kind of aristocracy, which could never be +pardoned him. Nature placed him in the foremost rank; and death only +created a space around him for secondary minds. They all endeavoured to +acquire his position, and all endeavoured in vain. The tears they shed +upon his coffin were hypocritical. The people only wept in all +sincerity, because the people were too strong to be jealous, and they, +far from reproaching Mirabeau with his birth, loved in him that nobility +as though it were a spoil they had carried off from the aristocracy. +Moreover, the nation, disturbed at seeing its institutions crumbling +away one by one, and dreading a total destruction, felt instinctively +that the genius of a great man was the last stronghold left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> to them. +This genius quenched, it saw only darkness and precipices before the +monarchy. The Jacobins alone rejoiced loudly, for it was only he who +could outweigh them.</p> + +<p>It was on the 6th of April, 1791, that the National Assembly resumed its +sittings. Mirabeau's place, left vacant, reminded each gazer of the +impossibility of again filling it; consternation was impressed on every +countenance in the tribunes, and a profound silence pervaded the +meeting. M. de Talleyrand announced to the Assembly a posthumous address +of Mirabeau. They would hear him though dead. The weakened echo of his +voice seemed to return to his country from the depths of the vaults of +the Pantheon. The reading was mournful. Parties were burning to measure +their strength free from any counterpoise. Impatience and anxiety were +paramount, and the struggle was imminent. The arbitrator who controlled +them was no more.</p> + + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>Before we depict the state of these parties, let us throw a rapid glance +over the commencement of the Revolution, the progress it had made, and +the principal leaders who were about to attempt directing it in the way +they desired to see it advance.</p> + +<p>It was hardly two years since opinion had opened the breaches against +the monarchy, yet it had already accomplished immense results. The weak +and vacillating spirit of the government had convoked the Assembly of +Notables, whilst public spirit had placed its grasp on power and +convoked the States General. The States General being established, the +nation had felt its omnipotence, and from this feeling to a legal +insurrection there was but a word; that word Mirabeau had uttered. The +National Assembly had constituted itself in front of, and higher than, +the throne itself. The prodigious popularity of M. Necker was exhausted +by concessions, and utterly vanished when he no longer had any of the +spoils of monarchy to cast before the people. Minister of a monarch in +retirement, his own had been utter defeat. His last step conducted him +out of the kingdom. The disarmed king had remained the hostage of the +ancient <i>régime</i> in the hands of the nation. The declaration of the +rights of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> man and citizen, the sole metaphysical act of the Revolution +to this time, had given it a social and universal signification. This +declaration had been much jeered; it certainly contained some errors, +and confused in terms the state of nature and the state of society; but +it was, notwithstanding, the very essence of the new dogma.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>There are objects in nature, the forms of which can only be accurately +ascertained when contemplated afar off. Too near, as well as too far +off, prevents a correct view. Thus it is with great events. The hand of +God is visible in human things, but this hand itself has a shadow which +conceals what it accomplishes. All that could then be seen of the French +Revolution announced all that was great in this world, the advent of a +new idea in human kind, the democratic idea, and afterwards the +democratic government.</p> + +<p>This idea was an emanation of Christianity. Christianity finding men in +serfage and degraded all over the earth, had arisen on the fall of the +Roman Empire, like a mighty vengeance, though under the aspect of a +resignation. It had proclaimed the three words which 2000 years +afterwards was re-echoed by French philosophy—liberty, equality, +fraternity—amongst mankind. But it had for a time hidden this idea in +the recesses of the Christian heart. As yet too weak to attack civil +laws, it had said to the powers—"I leave you still for a short space of +time possession of the political world, confining myself to the moral +world. Continue if you can to enchain, class, keep in bondage, degrade +the people, I am engaged in the emancipation of souls. I shall occupy +2000 years, perchance, in renewing men's minds before I become apparent +in human institutions. But the day will come when my doctrines will +escape from the temple, and will enter into the councils of the people; +on that day the social world will be renewed."</p> + +<p>This day had now arrived; it had been prepared by an age of philosophy, +sceptical in appearance but in reality replete with belief. The +scepticism of the 18th century only affected exterior forms, and the +supernatural dogmata of Christianity, whilst it adopted with enthusiasm, +morality and the social<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> sense. What Christianity called revelation, +philosophy called reason. The words were different, the meaning +identical. The emancipation of individuals, of castes, of people, were +alike derived from it. Only the ancient world had been enfranchised in +the name of Christ, whilst the modern world was freed in the name of the +rights which every human creature has received from the hand of God; and +from both flowed the enfranchisement of God or nature. The political +philosophy of the Revolution could not have invented a word more true, +more complete, more divine than Christianity, to reveal itself to +Europe, and it had adopted the dogma and the word of <i>fraternity</i>. Only +the French Revolution attacked the form of this ruling religion; because +it was incrusted in the forms of government, monarchical, theocratic, or +aristocratic, which they sought to destroy. It is the explanation of +that apparent contradiction of the mind of the 18th century, which +borrowed all from Christianity in policy, and denied, whilst it +despoiled, it. There was at one and the same time a violent attraction +and a violent repulsion in the two doctrines. They recognised whilst +they struggled against each other, and yearned to recognise each other +even more completely when the contest was terminated by the triumph of +liberty.</p> + +<p>Three things were then evident to reflecting minds from and after the +month of April, 1791; the one, that the march of the revolutionary +movement advanced from step to step to the complete restoration of all +the rights of suffering humanity—from those of the people by their +government, to those of citizens by castes, and of the workman by the +citizen; thus it assailed tyranny, privilege, inequality, selfishness, +not only on the throne, but in the civil law; in the administration, in +the legal distribution of property, in the conditions of industry, +labour, family, and in all the relations of man with man, and man with +woman: the second,—that this philosophic and social movement of +democracy would seek its natural form in a form of government analogous +to its principle, and its nature; that is to say, representing the +sovereignty of the people; republic with one or two heads: and, finally, +that the social and political emancipation would involve in it the +intellectual and religious emancipation of the human mind; that the +liberty of thought, of speaking and acting,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> should not pause before the +liberty of belief; that the idea of God confined in the sanctuaries, +should shine forth pouring into each free conscience the right of +liberty itself; that this light, a revelation for some, and reason for +others, would spread more and more with truth and justice, which emanate +from God to overspread the earth.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Human thought, like God, makes the world in its own image.</p> + +<p>Thought was revived by a philosophical age.</p> + +<p>It had to transform the social world.</p> + +<p>The French Revolution was therefore in its essence a sublime and +impassioned spirituality. It had a divine and universal ideal. This is +the reason why its passion spread beyond the frontiers of France. Those +who limit, mutilate it. It was the accession of three moral +sovereignties:—</p> + +<p>The sovereignty of right over force;</p> + +<p>The sovereignty of intelligence over prejudices;</p> + +<p>The sovereignty of people over governments.</p> + +<p>Revolution in rights; equality.</p> + +<p>Revolution in ideas; reasoning substituted for authority.</p> + +<p>Revolution in facts; the reign of the people.</p> + +<p>A Gospel of social rights.</p> + +<p>A Gospel of duties, a charter of humanity.</p> + +<p>France declared itself the apostle of this creed. In this war of ideas +France had allies every where, and even on thrones themselves.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>There are epochs in the history of the human race, when the decayed +branches fall from the tree of humanity; and when institutions grown old +and exhausted, sink and leave space for fresh institutions full of sap, +which renew the youth and recast the ideas of a people. Antiquity is +replete with this transformation, of which we only catch a glimpse in +the relics of history. Each decadence of effete ideas carries with it an +old world, and gives its name to a new order of civilisation. The East. +China, Egypt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> Greece, Rome, have seen these ruins and these renewals. +The West experienced them when the Druidical theocracy gave way to the +gods and government of the Romans. Byzantium, Rome, and the Empire +effected them rapidly, and as it were instinctively by themselves when, +wearied with, and blushing at, polytheism, they rose at the voice of +Constantine against their gods, and swept away, like an angry tempest, +those temples, those ideas and forms of worship, to which the people +still clung, but which the superior portion of human thought had already +abandoned. The Civilisation of Constantine and Charlemagne grew old in +its turn, and the beliefs which for eighteen centuries had supported +altars and thrones, menaced the religious world, as well as the +political world, with a catastrophe which rarely leaves power standing +when faith is staggered. Monarchical Europe was the handiwork of +catholicism; politics were fashioned after the image of the Church; +authority was founded on a mystery. Rights came to it from on high, and +power, like faith, was reputed divine. The obedience of the people was +consecrated to it, and from that very reason inquiry was a blasphemy, +and servitude a virtue. The spirit of philosophy, which had silently +revolted against this for three centuries, as a doctrine which the +scandals, tyrannies, and crimes of the two powers belied daily, refused +any longer to recognise a divine title in those authorities which deny +reason and subjugate a people. So long as catholicism had been the sole +legal doctrine in Europe, these murmuring revolts of mind had not +overset empires. They had been punished by the hands of rulers. +Dungeons, punishments, inquisitions, fire, and faggot, had intimidated +reason, and preserved erect the two-fold dogma on which the two +governments reposed.</p> + +<p>But printing, that unceasing outpouring of the human mind, was to the +people a second revelation. Employed at first exclusively for the +Church, for the propagation of ruling ideas, it had begun to sap them. +The dogmata of temporal power, and spiritual power, incessantly assailed +by these floods of light, could not be long without being shaken, first +in the human mind and afterwards in things, to the very foundations. +<i>Guttemberg</i>; without knowing it, was the mechanist of the New World. In +creating the commu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>nication of ideas, he had assured the independence of +reason. Every letter of this alphabet which left his fingers, contained +in it, more power than the armies of kings, and the thunders of +pontiffs. It was mind which he furnished with language. These two powers +were the mistresses of man, as they were hereafter of mankind. The +intellectual world was born of a material invention, and it had grown +rapidly. The reformed religion was one of its early offspring.</p> + +<p>The empire of catholic Christianity had undergone extensive +dismemberments. Switzerland, a part of Germany, Holland, England, whole +provinces of France, had been drawn away from the centre of religious +authority, and passed over to the doctrine of free examination. Divine +authority attacked and contested in catholicism, the authority of the +throne remained at the mercy of the people. Philosophy, more potent than +sedition, approached it more and more near, with less respect, less +fear. History had actually written of the weaknesses and crimes of +kings. Public writers had dared to comment upon it, and the people to +draw conclusions. Social institutions had been weighed by their real +value for humanity. Minds the most devoted to power had spoken to +sovereigns of duties, and to people of rights. The holy boldness of +Christianity had been heard even in the consecrated pulpit, in the +presence of Louis XIV. Bossuet, that sacerdotal genius of the ancient +synagogue, had mingled his proud adulations to Louis XIV. with some of +those austere warnings which console persons for their abasement. +Fénélon, that evangelical and tender genius, of the new law, had written +his instructions to princes, and his Telemachus, in the palace of the +king, and in the cabinet of an heir to the throne. The political +philosophy of Christianity, that insurrection of justice in favour of +the weak, had glided from the lips of Louis XIV. into the ear of his +grandson. Fénélon educated another revolution in the Duke of Burgundy. +This the king perceived when too late, and expelled the divine seduction +from his palace. But the revolutionary policy was born there; there the +people read the pages of the holy archbishop: Versailles was destined to +be, thanks to Louis XIV. and Fénélon, at once the palace of despotism +and the cradle of the Revolution. Montesquieu had sounded the +institutions, and analysed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> the laws of all people. By classing +governments, he had compared them, by comparing he passed judgment on +them; and this judgment brought out, in its bold relief, and contrast, +on every page, right and force, privilege and equality, tyranny and +liberty.</p> + +<p>Jean Jacques Rousseau, less ingenious, but more eloquent, had studied +politics, not in the laws, but in nature. A free but oppressed and +suffering mind, the palpitation of his noble heart had made every heart +beat that had been ulcerated by the odious inequality of social +conditions. It was the revolt of the ideal against the real. He had been +the tribune of nature, the Gracchus of philosophy—he had not produced +the history of institutions, only its vision—but that vision descended +from heaven and returned thither. There was to be seen the design of God +and the excess of his love—but there was not enough seen of the +infirmity of men. It was the Utopia of government; but by this Rousseau +led further astray. To impel the people to passion there must be some +slight illusion mingled with the truth; reality alone was too chilling +to fanaticise the human mind; it is only roused to enthusiasm by things +something out of nature. What is termed the ideal is the attraction and +force of religions, which always aspire higher than they mount; this is +how fanaticism is produced, that delirium of virtue. Rousseau was the +ideal of politics, as Fénélon was the ideal of Christianity.</p> + +<p>Voltaire had the genius of criticism, that power of raillery which +withers all it overthrows. He had made human nature laugh at itself, had +felled it low in order to raise it, had laid bare before it all errors, +prejudices, iniquities, and crimes of ignorance; he had urged it to +rebellion against consecrated ideas, not by the ideal but by sheer +contempt. Destiny gave him eighty years of existence, that he might +slowly decompose the decayed age; he had the time to combat against +time, and when he fell he was the conqueror. His disciples filled +courts, academies, and saloons; those of Rousseau grew splenetic and +visionary amongst the lower orders of society. The one had been the +fortunate and elegant advocate of the aristocracy, the other was the +secret consoler and beloved avenger of the democracy. His book was the +book of all oppressed and tender souls. Unhappy and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> devotee himself, he +had placed God by the side of the people; his doctrines sanctified the +mind, whilst they led the heart to rebellion. There was vengeance in his +very accent, but there was piety also. Voltaire's followers would have +overturned altars, those of Rousseau would have raised them. The one +could have done without virtues, and made arrangements with thrones; the +other had absolute need of a God, and could only have founded republics.</p> + +<p>Their numerous disciples progressed with their missions, and possessed +all the organs of public thought. From the seat of geometry to the +consecrated pulpit, the philosophy of the 18th century invaded or +altered every thing. D'Alembert, Diderot, Raynal, Buffon, Condorcet, +Bernardin Saint Pierre, Helvetius, Saint Lambert, La Harpe, were the +church of the new era. One sole thought animated these diverse +minds—the renovation of human ideas. Arithmetic, science, history, +economy, politics, the stage, morals, poetry, all served as the vehicle +of modern philosophy; it ran in all the veins of the times; it had +enlisted every genius, it spoke every language. Chance or Providence had +decided that this period, which elsewhere was almost barren, should be +the age of France. From the end of the reign of Louis XIV. to the +commencement of the reign of Louis XVI., nature had been prodigal of men +to France. This brilliancy continued by so many geniuses of the first +order, from Corneille to Voltaire, from Bossuet to Rousseau, from +Fénélon to Bernardin Saint Pierre, had accustomed the people to look on +this side. The focus of the ideas of the world shed thence its +brilliancy. The moral authority of the human mind was no longer at Rome. +The stir, light, direction, were from Paris; the European mind was +French. There was, and there always will be, in the French genius +something more potent than its potency, more luminous than its +splendour; and that is its warmth, its penetrating power of +communicating the attraction which it has, and which it inspires to +Europe.</p> + +<p>The genius of the Spain of Charles V. is high and adventurous, that of +Germany is profound and severe, that of England skilful and proud, that +of France is attractive,—it is in that it has its force. Easily seduced +itself, it easily seduces other people. The other great individualities +of the world of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> have only their genius. France for a second genius has +its heart, and is prodigal in its thoughts, in its writings, as well as +in its national acts. When Providence wills that one desire shall fire +the world, it is first kindled in a Frenchman's soul. This communicative +quality of the character of this race—this French attraction, as yet +unaltered by the ambition of conquest,—was then the precursory mark of +the age. It seems that a providential instinct turned all the attraction +of Europe towards this point, as if motion and light could only emanate +thence. The only real echoing point of the Continent was Paris. There +the smallest things made great noise, literature was the vehicle of +French influence; there intellectual monarchy had its books, its +theatre, its writings even before it had its heroes.</p> + +<p>Conquering by its intelligence, its printing-presses were its army.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>The parties who divided the country after the death of Mirabeau were +thus distributed; out of the Assembly, the Court, and the Jacobins; in +the Assembly the right side and the left side, and between these two +extreme parties—the one fanatic by its innovations, the other fanatic +from its resistance,—there was an intermediate party, consisting of the +men of substance and peace belonging to both these parties. Their views +moderate, and wavering between revolution and conservatism, desired that +the one should conquer without violence, and the other concede without +vindictiveness. These were the philosophers of the Revolution,—but it +was not the hour for philosophy, it was the hour of victory; the two +ideas required champions, not judges; they crushed men in their +encounter. Let us enumerate the principal chiefs of the contending +parties, and make them known before we bring them into action.</p> + +<p>King Louis XVI. was then only thirty-seven years of age; his features +resembled those of his race, rendered somewhat heavy by the German blood +of his mother, a princess of the house of Saxony. Fine blue eyes, very +wide open, and clear rather than dazzling, a round and retreating +forehead, a Roman nose, the nostrils flaccid and large, and somewhat +destroying the energy of the aquiline profile, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> mouth smiling and +gracious in expression, lips thick, but well shaped, a fine skin, fresh +and high-coloured in tint, though rather loose; of short stature, stout +frame, timid carriage, irregular walk, and, when not moving, a +restlessness of body in shifting first one foot and then the other +without advancing—a habit contracted either from that impatience common +to princes compelled to undergo long audiences, or else the outward +token of the constant wavering of an undecided mind. In his person there +was an expression of <i>bonhommie</i> more vulgar than royal, which at the +first glance inspired as much derision as veneration, and on which his +enemies seized with contemptuous perversity, in order to show to the +people in the features of their ruler the visible and personal sign of +those vices they sought to destroy in royalty; in the <i>tout ensemble</i> +some resemblance to the imperial physiognomy of the later Cæsars at the +period of the fall of things and races,—the mildness of Antoninus, with +the vast obesity of Vitellius;—this was precisely the man.</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>This young prince had been educated in complete solitude at the court of +Louis XV. The atmosphere which had infected the age had not touched his +heir. Whilst Louis XV. had changed his court into a place of ill-fame, +his grandson, educated in a corner of the palace of Meudon by pious and +enlightened masters, grew up in respect for his rank, in awe of the +throne, and in a real love for the people whom he was one day to be +called upon to govern. The soul of Fénélon seemed to have traversed two +generations of kings in the palace where he had brought up the Duke of +Burgundy, in order to inspire the education of his descendant. What was +nearest the crowned vice upon the throne was perhaps the most pure of +any thing in France. If the age had not been as dissolute as the king, +it would have directed his love in that direction. He had reached that +point of corruption in which purity appears ridiculous, and modesty was +treated with contempt.</p> + +<p>Married at twenty years of age to a daughter of Maria Theresa of +Austria, the young prince had continued until his accession to the +throne in his life of domestic retirement,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> study, and isolation. Europe +was slumbering in a disgraceful peace. War, that exercise of princes, +could not thus form him by contact with men and the custom of command. +Fields of battle, which are the theatre of great actors of his stamp, +had not brought him under the observation of his people. No <i>prestige</i>, +except the circumstance of birth, clung to him. His sole popularity was +derived from the disgust inspired by his grandfather. He occasionally +had the esteem of his people, but never their favour. Upright and +well-informed, he called to him sterling honesty and clear intelligence +in the person of Turgot. But with the philosophic sentiment of the +necessity of reforms, the prince had not the feeling of a reformer; he +had neither the genius nor the boldness; nor had his ministers more than +himself. They raised all questions without settling any, accumulated +storms, without giving them any impulse, and the tempests were doomed to +be eventually directed against themselves. From M. de Maurepas to M. +Turgot, from M. Turgot to M. de Calonne, from M. de Calonne to M. +Necker, from M. Necker to M. de Malesherbes, he floated from an honest +man to an <i>intriguant</i>, from a philosopher to a banker, whilst the +spirit of system and charlatanism ill supplied the spirit of government. +God, who had given many men of notoriety during this reign, had refused +it a statesman; all was promise and deception. The court clamoured, +impatience seized on the nation, and violent convulsions followed. The +Assembly of Notables, States General, National Assembly, had all burst +in the hands of royalty; a revolution emanated from his good intentions +more fierce and more irritable than if it had been the consequence of +his vices. At the time when the king had this revolution before him in +the National Assembly, he had not in his councils one man, not only +capable of resisting but even of comprehending it. Men really strong +prefer in such moments to be rather the popular ministers of the nation +than the bucklers of the king.</p> + +<h3>XI.</h3> + + +<p>M. de Montmorin was devoted to the king, but had no credit with the +nation. The ministry had neither the initiative nor opposition; the +initiative was in the hands of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> Jacobins, and the executive power +with the mob. The king, without an organ, without privilege, without +force, had merely the odious responsibility of anarchy. He was the butt +against which all parties directed the hate or rage of the people. He +had the privilege of every accusation; whilst from the tribune Mirabeau, +Barnave, Pétion, Lameth, and Robespierre, eloquently threatened the +throne; infamous pamphlets, factious journals painted the king in the +colours of a tyrant who was brutalised by wine, who lent himself to +every caprice of an abandoned woman, and who conspired in the recesses +of his palace with the enemies of the nation. In the sinister feeling of +his coming fall, the stoical virtue of this prince sufficed for the +calming of his conscience, but was not adequate to his resolutions. On +leaving the council of his ministers, where he loyally accomplished the +constitutional conditions of his character, he sought, sometimes in the +friendship of his devoted servants, sometimes from the very persons of +his enemies, admitted by stealth to his confidence, the most important +inspirations. Counsels succeeded to counsels, and contradicted one +another in the royal ear, as their results contradicted each other in +their operations. His enemies suggested concessions, promising him a +popularity, which escaped their hands just as they were about to ensure +it to him. The court counselled the resistance which it had only in its +dreams; the queen the courage she felt in her soul; intriguants, +corruption, the timid, flight; and in turns, and almost at the same +time, he tried all these expedients: not one was efficacious; the time +for useful resolutions had passed,—the crisis was without remedy. It +was necessary to choose between life and the throne. In endeavouring to +preserve the two, it was written that he should lose both.</p> + +<p>When we place ourselves in imagination in the position of Louis XVI., +and ask what could have saved him? we reply disheartened—nothing. There +are circumstances which enfold all a man's movements in such a snare, +that, whatever direction he may take, he falls into the fatality of his +faults or his virtues. This was the dilemma of Louis XVI. All the +unpopularity of royalty in France, all the faults of preceding +administrations, all the vices of kings, all the shame of courts, all +the griefs of the people, were as it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> were accumulated on his head, and +marked his innocent brow for the expiation of many ages. Epochs have +their sacrifices as well as their religions. When they desire to recast +an institution which no longer suits them, they pile upon the individual +who personifies this institution all the odium and all the condemnation +of the institution itself,—they make of this man a victim whom they +sacrifice to the time. Louis XVI. was this innocent sacrifice, +overwhelmed with all the iniquities of thrones, and destined to be +immolated as a chastisement for royalty. Such was the king.</p> + + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + + +<p>The queen seemed to be created by nature to contrast with the king, and +to attract for ever the interest and pity of ages to one of those state +dramas, which are incomplete unless the miseries and misfortunes of a +woman mingle in them. Daughter of Maria Theresa, she had commenced her +life in the storms of the Austrian monarchy. She was one of the children +whom the Empress held by the hand when she presented herself as a +supplicant before her faithful Hungarians, and the troops exclaimed, "We +will die for our king, Maria Theresa." Her daughter, too, had the heart +of a king. On her arrival in France, her beauty had dazzled the whole +kingdom,—a beauty then in all its splendour. The two children whom she +had given to the throne, far from impairing her good looks, added to the +attractions of her person that character of maternal majesty which so +well becomes the mother of a nation. The presentiment of her +misfortunes, the recollection of the tragic scenes of Versailles, the +uneasiness of each day somewhat diminished her youthful freshness. She +was tall, slim, and graceful,—a real daughter of Tyrol. Her naturally +majestic carriage in no way impaired the grace of her movements; her +neck rising elegantly and distinctly from her shoulders gave expression +to every attitude. The woman was perceptible beneath the queen, the +tenderness of heart was not lost in the elevation of her destiny. Her +light brown hair was long and silky, her forehead, high and rather +projecting, was united to her temples by those fine curves which give so +much delicacy and expression to that seat of thought or the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> soul in +women; her eyes of that clear blue which recall the skies of the North +or the waters of the Danube; an aquiline nose, with nostrils open and +slightly projecting, where emotions palpitate and courage is evidenced; +a large mouth, brilliant teeth, Austrian lips, that is, projecting and +well defined; an oval countenance, animated, varying, impassioned, and +the <i>ensemble</i> of these features replete with that expression impossible +to describe which emanates from the look, the shades, the reflections of +the face, which encompasses it with an iris like that of the warm and +tinted vapour which bathes objects in full sunlight—the extreme +loveliness which the ideal conveys, and which by giving it life +increases its attraction. With all these charms, a soul yearning to +attach itself, a heart easily moved, but yet earnest in desire to fix +itself; a pensive and intelligent smile, with nothing of vacuity in it, +nothing of preference or mere acquaintanceship in it, because it felt +itself worthy of friendships. Such was Marie-Antoinette as a woman.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>It was enough to form the happiness of a man and the ornament of a +court: to inspire a wavering monarch, and be the safeguard of a state +under trying circumstances, something more is requisite. The genius of +government is required, and the queen had it not. Nothing could have +prepared her for the regulation of the disordered elements which were +about her; misfortune had given her no time for reflection. Hailed with +enthusiasm by a perverse court and an ardent nation, she must have +believed in the eternity of such sentiments. She was lulled to sleep in +the dissipations of the Trianon. She had heard the first threatenings of +the tempest without believing in its dangers: she had trusted in the +love she inspired, and which she felt in her own heart. The court had +become exacting, the nation hostile. The instrument of the intrigues of +the court on the heart of the king, she had at first favoured and then +opposed all reforms which prevented or delayed the crises that arose. +Her policy was but infatuation; her system but the perpetual abandonment +of herself to every partisan who promised her the king's safety. The +Comte D'Artois, a youthful prince,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> chivalrous in etiquette, had much +influence with her. He relied greatly on the noblesse; made frequent +references to his sword. He laughed at the crises: he disdained this war +of words, caballed against ministers, and treated passing events with +levity. The queen, intoxicated with the adulation of those around her, +urged the king to recall the next day what he had conceded on the +previous evening. Her hand was felt in all the transactions of the +government: her apartments were the focus of a perpetual conspiracy +against the government; the nation detected it, and ultimately detested +her.</p> + +<p>Her name became for the people the phantom of all counter-revolution. We +are apt to calumniate what we fear. She was depicted under the features +of a Messalina. The most infamous pamphlets were in circulation; the +most scandalous anecdotes were credited. She may be accused of +tenderness, but never of depravity. Lovely, young, and adored, if her +heart did not remain insensible, her innermost feelings, innocent +perhaps, never gave just ground for open scandal. History has its +modesty, and we will not violate it.</p> + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>On the days of the 5th and 6th of October the queen perceived (too late) +the enmity of the people; her heart must have been full of vengeance. +Emigration commenced, and she viewed it favourably. All her friends were +at Coblentz; she was believed to be in close connection with them, and +this belief was true. Stories of an Austrian committee were busily +spread amongst the people. The queen was accused of conspiring for the +destruction of the nation, who at every moment demanded her head. A +people in revolt must have some one to hate, and they handed over to her +the queen. Her name was the theme of their songs of rage. One woman was +the enemy of a whole nation, and her pride disdained to undeceive them. +She inclosed herself in her resentment and her terror. Imprisoned in the +palace of the Tuileries, she could not put her head out of window +without provoking an outrage and hearing insult. Every noise in the city +made her apprehensive of an insurrection. Her days were melancholy, her +nights disturbed: she underwent hourly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> agony for two years, and that +anguish was magnified in her heart by her love for her two children, and +her disquietude for the king. Her court was forsaken; she saw none but +the shadows of authority; the ministers forced on her by M. de La +Fayette, before whom she was compelled to mask her countenance in +smiles. Her apartments were watched by spies in the guise of servants. +It was necessary to mislead them, in order to have interviews with the +few friends who remained to her. Private staircases, dark corridors, +were the means by which at night her secret counsellors obtained access +to her. These meetings resembled conspiracies; she left them every time +with a different train of ideas, which she communicated to the king, +whose behaviour thus acquired the incoherence of a woman persecuted and +distressed. Measures of resistance, bribing the Assembly, an entire +surrender of the constitution, attempts by force, an assumption of royal +dignity, repentance, weakness, terror, and flight,—all were discussed, +planned, decided on, prepared and abandoned, on the same day. Women, so +sublime in their devotion, are seldom capable of the continuous firmness +of mind—the imperturbability requisite for a political plan. Their +politics are in their heart, their passions trench so closely on their +reason. Of all the virtues which a throne requires they have but +courage; often heroes, they are never statesmen. The queen was another +example of this: she did the king incredible mischief. With a mind +infinitely superior, with more soul, more character than he, her +superiority only served to inspire him with mischievous counsels. She +was at once the charm of his misfortunes and the genius of his +destruction; she conducted him step by step to the scaffold, but she +ascended it with him.</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>The right side in the National Assembly consisted of men, the natural +opponents of the movement, the nobility and higher clergy. All, however, +were not of the same rank nor the same title. Seditions are found +amongst the lower rank, revolutions in the higher. Seditions are but the +angry workings of the people—revolutions are the ideas of the epoch. +Ideas begin in the head of the nation. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> French Revolution was a +generous thought of the aristocracy. This thought fell into the hands of +the people, who framed of it a weapon against the <i>noblesse</i>, the +throne, and religion. The philosophy of the saloons became revolt in the +streets: nevertheless all the great houses of the kingdom had given +apostles to the first dogmata of the Revolution: the States General, the +ancient theatre of the importance and triumphs of the higher nobility, +had tempted the ambition of their heirs, and they had marched in the van +of the reformers. <i>Esprit de corps</i> could not restrain them when the +question of uniting with the Tiers Etat had been invoked. The +Montmorencies, Noailles, La Rochefoucaulds, Clermont Tonnerres, Lally +Tollendals, Virieux, d'Aiguillons, Lauzans, Montesquieus, Lameths, +Mirabeaus, the Duc d'Orleans, first prince of the blood, the Count de +Provence, brother of the king, king himself afterwards as Louis XVIII., +had given an impulse to the boldest innovations. They had each borrowed +their momentary popularity from principles easier to enunciate than +restrain, and that popularity had nearly forsaken them all. So soon as +these theorists of speculative revolution saw that they were carried +away in the torrent, they attempted to ascend the stream from whose +source they had started; some again surrounded the throne, others had +emigrated after the days of the 5th and 6th of October. Others, more +firm, remained in their places in the National Assembly; they fought +without a hope, but still defended a fallen cause, gloriously resolute +to maintain at least a monarchical power, and abandoning to the people, +without a struggle, the spoils of the nobility and the church. Amongst +these are Cazalès, the Abbé Maury, Malouet, and Clermont Tonnerre: they +were the distinguished orators of this expiring party.</p> + +<p>Clermont Tonnerre and Malouet were rather statesmen than orators; their +cautious and reflective language weighed only on the reason; they sought +for the mean between liberty and monarchy, and believed they had found +it in the system of the Two Houses of English Legislature. The <i>modérés</i> +of the two parties listened to them respectfully; like all half parties +and half talents, they excited neither hatred nor anger; but events did +not listen to them, but thrusting them aside, advanced towards results +that were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> utterly absolute. Maury and Cazalès, less philosophic, were +the two champions of the right side; different in character, their +oratorical powers were much on a par. Maury represented the clergy, of +which body he was a member; Cazalès, the <i>noblesse</i>, to whom he +belonged. The one, Maury, early trained to struggles of polemical +theology, had sharpened and polished in the pulpit the eloquence he was +to bring into the tribune. Sprung from the lowest ranks of the people, +he only belonged to the <i>ancien régime</i> by his garb, and defended +religion and the monarchy as two texts, imposed upon him as themes for +discourses. His conviction was the part he played; any other appointed +character would have suited equally well; yet he sustained with +unflinching courage and admirable consistency that which had been "set +down for him."</p> + +<p>Devoted from his youth to serious studies, endowed with abundant flow of +words, striking and vivid in his language, his harangues were perfect +treatises on the subjects he discussed. The only rival of Mirabeau, he +needed but a cause more natural and more sterling to have become his +equal: but sophistry could not deck abuses in colours more specious than +those with which Maury invested the <i>ancien régime</i>.</p> + +<p>Historical erudition and sacred learning supplied him with ample sources +of argument. The boldness of his character and language inspired words +which even avenge a defeat, and his fine countenance, his sonorous +voice, his commanding gesture, the defiance and good temper with which +he braved the tribunes, frequently drew down the applauses of his +enemies. The people, who recognised his invincible strength, were amused +at his impotent opposition. Maury was to them as one of those gladiators +whom they like to see fight, although well knowing that they must perish +in the strife. One thing was wanting to the Abbé Maury,—weight to his +eloquence; neither his birth, his faith, nor his life inspired respect +in those who listened. The actor was visible in the man, the advocate in +the cause, the orator and his language were not identified. Strip the +Abbé Maury of the habit of his order, and he might have changed sides +without a struggle, and have taken his seat amongst the innovators. Such +orators grace a party, they never save it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>Cazalès was one of those men who are themselves ignorant of their own +powers until the hour arrives when circumstances call forth their +genius, and assign to them a duty. An obscure officer in the ranks of +the army, chance, which cast him into the tribune, revealed the orator. +He did not inquire which side he should defend; noble, the <i>noblesse</i>; +royalist, the king; a subject, the throne. His position made his creed; +he bore in the Assembly the character and qualities of his uniform. +Language to him was only another sword, and in all the spirit of +chivalry, he devoted it to the cause of Monarchy. Indolent and +ill-educated, his natural good sense supplied the place of study. His +monarchical faith was by no means fanaticism of the past: it admitted +the modifications conceded by the king himself, and which were +compatible with the inviolability of the throne and the working of the +executive power. From Mirabeau to him the difference of the first +principle was not wide apart, only one decried it as an aristocrat, and +the other as a democrat. The one flung himself headlong into the midst +of the people, the other attached himself to the steps of the throne. +The characteristic of Cazalès' eloquence was that of a desperate cause. +He protested more than he discussed, and opposed to the triumphs of +violence on the <i>côté gauche</i>, his ironic defiance, his bursts of bitter +indignation, which for the moment acquired admiration, but never led to +victory. To him the <i>noblesse</i> owed that it fell with glory; the throne, +with majesty: and his eloquence attained something that was heroic.</p> + +<p>Behind these two men there was only a party, soured by ill-fortune, +discouraged by its isolation from the nation, odious to the people, +useless to the throne, feeding on vain illusions, and only preserving of +its fallen power the resentment of injuries, and that insolence which +was perpetually provoking fresh humiliations. The hopes of this party +were entirely sustained by their reliance on the armed intervention of +foreign powers. Louis XVI. was in their eyes a prisoner king, whom +Europe would come and deliver from his thraldom. With them, patriotism +and honour were at Coblentz. Overcome by numbers, without skilful +leaders who under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>stood how to gain immortal names by timely retreats; +with no strength to contend against the spirit of the age and refusing +to move with it, the <i>côté droit</i> could only call for vengeance, its +political power was now confined to an imprecation.</p> + +<p>The left side lost at one blow its leader and controller; in Mirabeau +the national man had ceased to exist, and only the men of party +remained, and they were Barnave and the two Lameths. These men humbled, +rebuked, before the ascendency of Mirabeau, had attempted, long before +his death, to balance the sovereignty of his genius by the exaggeration +of their doctrines and harangues. Mirabeau was but the apostle—they +would fain have been the faction-leaders of the time. Jealous of his +influence, they would have crushed his talents beneath the superiority +of their popularity. Mediocrity thinks to equal genius by outraging +reason. A diminution of thirty or forty votes had taken place in the +left side. This was the work of Barnave and the Lameths. The club of the +friends of the constitution become the Jacobin Club, responded to them +from without. The popular agitation excited by them was restrained by +Mirabeau, who rallied against them the left, the centre, and the +intelligent members of the right side. They conspired, they caballed, +they fomented divisions in opinion all the more that they had not +control in the Assembly.</p> + +<p>Mirabeau was dead, and now the field was open to them. The +Lameths—courtiers, educated by the kindness of the royal family, +overwhelmed by the favours and pensions of the king, had the conspicuous +defection of Mirabeau without having the excuse of his wrongs against +the monarchy: this defection was one of their titles to popular favour. +Clever men, they carried with them into the national cause the conduct +of Courts in which they had been brought up: still their love of the +Revolution was disinterested and sincere. Their eminent talents did not +equal their ambition. Crushed by Mirabeau, they stirred up against him +all those whom the shadow of that great man eclipsed in common with +themselves. They sought for a rival to oppose to him, and found only men +who envied him. Barnave presented himself, and they surrounded him, +applauded him, intoxicated him with his self-importance. They persuaded +him for a moment that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> phrases were politics, and that a rhetorician was +a statesman.</p> + +<p>Mirabeau was great enough not to fear, and just enough not to despise +him. Barnave, a young barrister of Dauphiné, had made his <i>début</i> with +much effect in the struggles between the parliament and the throne which +had agitated his province, and displayed on small theatres the eloquence +of men of the bar. Sent at thirty years of age to the States General, +with Mounier his patron and master, he had soon quitted Mounier and the +monarchical party, and made himself conspicuous amongst the democratic +division. A word of sinister import which escaped not from his heart, +but from his lips, weighed on his conscience with remorse. "Is then the +blood that flows so pure?" he exclaimed at the first murder of the +Revolution. This phrase had branded him on the brow with the mark of a +ringleader of faction. Barnave was not this, or only as much so as was +necessary for the success of his discourses; nothing in him was extreme +but the orator: the man was by no means so, neither was he at all cruel. +Studious, but without imagination; copious, but without warmth, his +intellect was mediocre, his mind honest, his will variable, his heart in +the right place. His talent, which they affected to compare with +Mirabeau's, was nothing more than a power of skilfully rivetting public +attention. His habit of pleading gave him, with its power of extempore +speaking, an apparent superiority which vanished before reflection, +Mirabeau's enemies had created him a pedestal on their hatred, and +magnified his importance to make the comparison closer. When reduced to +his actual stature, it was easy to recognise the distance that existed +between the man of the nation, and the man of the bar.</p> + +<p>Barnave had the misfortune to be the great man of a mediocre party, and +the hero of an envious faction: he deserved a better destiny, which he +subsequently acquired.</p> + + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + +<p>Still deeper in the shade, and behind the chief of the National +Assembly, a man almost unknown began to move, agitated by uneasy +thoughts which seemed to forbid him to be silent and unmoved; he spoke +on all occasions, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> attacked all speakers indifferently, including +Mirabeau himself. Driven from the tribune, he ascended it next day: +overwhelmed with sarcasm, coughed down, disowned by all parties, lost +amongst the eminent champions who fixed public attention, he was +incessantly beaten, but never dispirited. It might have been said, that +an inward and prophetic genius revealed to him the vanity of all talent, +and the omnipotence of a firm will and unwearied patience, and that an +inward voice said to him, "These men who despise thee are thine: all the +changes of this Revolution which now will not deign to look upon thee, +will eventually terminate in thee, for thou hast placed thyself in the +way like the inevitable excess, in which all impulse ends."</p> + +<p>This man was Robespierre.</p> + +<p>There are abysses that we dare not sound, and characters we desire not +to fathom, for fear of finding in them too great darkness, too much +horror; but history, which has the unflinching eye of time, must not be +chilled by these terrors, she must understand whilst she undertakes to +recount. Maximilien Robespierre was born at Arras, of a poor family, +honest and respectable; his father, who died in Germany, was of English +origin. This may explain the shade of Puritanism in his character. The +bishop of Arras had defrayed the cost of his education. Young Maximilien +had distinguished himself on leaving college by a studious life, and +austere manners. Literature and the bar shared his time. The philosophy +of Jean Jacques Rousseau had made a profound impression on his +understanding; the philosophy, falling upon an active imagination, had +not remained a dead letter; it had become in him a leading principle, a +faith, a fanaticism. In the strong mind of a sectarian, all conviction +becomes a thing apart. Robespierre was the Luther of politics: and in +obscurity he brooded over the confused thoughts of a renovation of the +social world, and the religious world, as a dream which unavailingly +beset his youth, when the Revolution came to offer him what destiny +always offers to those who watch her progress, opportunity. He seized on +it. He was named deputy of the third estate in the States General. Alone +perhaps among all these men who opened at Versailles the first scene of +this vast drama, he foresaw the termination; like the soul, whose seat +in the human frame philosophers have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> not discovered, the thought of an +entire people sometimes concentrates itself in the individual, the least +known in the great mass. We should not despise any, for the finger of +Destiny marks in the soul and not upon the brow. Robespierre had +nothing: neither birth, nor genius nor exterior which should point him +out to men's notice. There was nothing conspicuous about him; his +limited talent had only shone at the bar or in provincial academies; a +few verbal harangues filled with a tame and almost rustic philosophy, +some bits of cold and affected poetry, had vainly displayed his name in +the insignificance of the literary productions of the day: he was more +than unknown, he was mediocre and contemned. His features presented +nothing which could attract attention, when gazing round in a large +assembly: there was no sign in visible characters of this power which +was all within; he was the last word of the Revolution, but no one could +read him.</p> + +<p>Robespierre's figure was small, his limbs feeble and angular, his +step irresolute, his attitudes affected, his gestures destitute of +harmony or grace; his voice, rather shrill, aimed at oratorical +inflexions, but only produced fatigue and monotony; his forehead was +good, but small and extremely projecting above the temples, as if the +mass and embarrassed movement of his thoughts had enlarged it by their +efforts; his eyes, much covered by their lids and very sharp at the +extremities, were deeply buried in the cavities of their orbits; they +gave out a soft blue hue, but it was vague and unfixed, like a steel +reflector on which a light glances; his nose straight and small was very +wide at the nostrils, which were high and too expanded; his mouth was +large, his lips thin and disagreeably contracted at each corner; his +chin small and pointed, his complexion yellow and livid, like that of an +invalid or a man worn out by vigils and meditations. The habitual +expression of this visage was that of superficial serenity on a serious +mind, and a smile wavering betwixt sarcasm and condescension. There was +softness, but of a sinister character. The prevailing characteristic of +this countenance was the prodigious and continual tension of brow, eyes, +mouth, and all the facial muscles; in regarding him it was perceptible +that the whole of his features, like the labour of his mind, converged +incessantly on a single point with such power<span class='pagenum'><a +name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> that there was no waste +of will in his temperament, and he appeared to foresee all he desired to +accomplish, as though he had already the reality before his eyes. Such +then was the man destined to absorb in himself all those men, and make +them his victims after he had used them as his instruments. He was of no +party, but of all parties which in their turn served his ideal of the +Revolution. In this his power consisted, for parties paused but he never +did. He placed this ideal as an end to reach in every revolutionary +movement, and advanced towards it with those who sought to attain it; +then, this goal reached, he placed it still further off, and again +marched forward with other men, continually advancing without ever +deviating, ever pausing, ever retreating. The Revolution, decimated in +its progress, must one day or other inevitably arrive at a last stage, +and he desired it should end in himself. He was the entire incorporation +of the Revolution,—principles, thoughts, passions, impulses. Thus +incorporating himself wholly with it, he compelled it one day to +incorporate itself in him—that day was a distant one.</p> + + +<h3>XVIII.</h3> + +<p>Robespierre, who had often struggled against Mirabeau with Duport, the +Lameths, and Barnave, began to separate himself from them as soon as +they appeared to predominate in the Assembly. He formed, with Pétion and +some others of small note, a small band of opposition, radically +democratic, who encouraged the Jacobins without, and menaced Barnave and +the Lameths whenever they ventured to pause. Pétion and Robespierre in +the Assembly, Brissot and Danton at the Jacobin Club, formed the nucleus +of the new party which was destined to accelerate the movement and +speedily to convert it into convulsions and catastrophes.</p> + +<p>Pétion was a popular Lafayette: popularity was his aim, and he acquired +it earlier than Robespierre. A barrister without talent but upright, he +had imbibed no more of philosophy than the Social Contract; young, good +looking and a patriot, he was destined to become one of those +complaisant idols of whom the people make what they please except a man; +his credit in the streets and amongst the Jacobins gave him a certain +amount of authority in the Assembly, where he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> was listened to as the +significant echo of the will out of doors. Robespierre affected to +respect him.</p> + + +<h3>XIX.</h3> + +<p>The constitution was completed, the regal power was but a mere name, the +king was but the executive of the orders of the national representation, +his ministers only responsible hostages in the hands of the Assembly. +The vices of this constitution were evident before it was entirely +finished. Voted in the rage of parties, it was not a constitution, it +was a vengeance of the people against the monarchy, the throne only +existing as the substitute of a unique power which was every where +instituted, but which no one yet dared to name. The people, parties, +trembled lest on removing the throne they should behold an abyss in +which the nation would be engulphed: it was thus tacitly agreed to +respect its forms, though they daily despoiled and insulted the +unfortunate monarch whom they kept chained to it.</p> + +<p>Things were at that point where they have no possible termination except +in a catastrophe. The army, without discipline, added but another +element to the popular ferment: forsaken by its officers, who emigrated +in masses, the subalterns seized upon democracy and propagated it in +their ranks. Affiliated in every garrison with the Jacobin Club, they +received from it their orders, and made of their troops soldiers of +anarchy, accomplices of faction. The people to whom they had cast as a +prey the feudal rights of the nobility and the tithes of the clergy, +feared to have wrested from it what it held with disquietude, and saw in +every direction plots which it anticipated by crimes. The sudden burst +of liberty, for which it was not prepared, agitated without +strengthening it: it evinced all the vices of enfranchised men without +having got the virtues of the free man. The whole of France was but one +vast sedition: anarchy swayed the state, and in order that it might be, +as it were, self-governed, it had created its government in as many +clubs as there were large municipalities in the kingdom. The dominant +club was that of the Jacobins: this club was the centralisation of +anarchy. So soon as a powerful and high passioned will moves a nation, +their common impulse brings<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> men together; individuality ceases, and the +legal or illegal association organises the public prejudice. Popular +societies thus have birth. At the first menaces of the court against the +States General, certain Breton deputies had a meeting at Versailles, and +formed a society to detect the plots of the court and assure the +triumphs of liberty: its founders were Siéyès, Chapelier, Barnave, and +Lameth. After the 5th and 6th of October, the Breton Club, transported +to Paris in the train of the National Assembly, had there assumed the +more forcible name of "Society of the Friends of the Constitution." It +held its sittings in the old convent of the Jacobins Saint Honoré, not +far from the Manège, where the National Assembly sat. The deputies, who +had founded it at the beginning for themselves, now opened their doors +to journalists, revolutionary writers, and finally to all citizens. The +presentation by two of its members, and an open scrutiny as to the moral +character of the person proposed, were the sole conditions of admission: +the public was admitted to the sittings by inspectors, who examined the +admission card. A set of rules, an office, a president, a corresponding +committee, secretaries, an order of the day, a tribune, and orators, +gave to these meetings all the forms of deliberative assemblies: they +were assemblies of the people only without elections and responsibility; +feeling alone gave them authority: instead of framing laws they formed +opinion.</p> + +<p>The sittings took place in the evening, so that the people should not be +prevented from attending in consequence of their daily labour: the acts +of the National Assembly, the events of the moment, the examination of +social questions, frequently accusations against the king, ministers, +the <i>côté droit</i>; were the texts of the debates. Of all the passions of +the people, there hatred was the most flattered; they made it suspicious +in order to subject it. Convinced that all was conspiring against +it,—king, queen, court, ministers, authorities, foreign powers,—it +threw itself headlong into the arms of its defenders. The most eloquent +in its eyes was he who inspired it with most dread—it had a parching +thirst for denunciations, and they were lavished on it with prodigal +hand. It was thus that Barnave, the Lameths, then Danton, Marat, +Brissot, Camille Desmoulins, Pétion, Robespierre, had acquired their +authority over the people. These names<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> had increased in reputation as +the anger of the people grew hotter; they cherished their wrath in order +to retain their greatness. The nightly sittings of the Jacobins and the +Cordeliers frequently stifled the echo of the sittings of the National +Assembly: the minority, beaten at the Manège, came to protest, accuse, +threaten at the Jacobins.</p> + +<p>Mirabeau himself, accused by Lameth on the subject of the law of +emigration, came a few days before his death to listen face to face to +the invectives of his denouncer, and had not disdained to justify +himself. The clubs were the exterior strength, where the factious of the +assembly gave the support of their names in order to intimidate the +national representation. The national representation had only the laws; +the club had the people, sedition, and even the army.</p> + + +<h3>XX.</h3> + +<p>This expression of public opinion, thus organised into a permanent +association at every point in the empire, gave an electric shock which +nothing could resist. A motion made in Paris was echoed from club to +club to the extremest provinces. The same spark lighted at once the same +passion in millions of souls. All the societies corresponded with one +another and with the mother society. The impulse was communicated and +the response was felt every day. It was the government of factions +enfolding in their nets the government of the law; but the law was mute +and invisible, whilst faction was erect and eloquent. Let us imagine one +of these sittings, at which the citizens, already agitated by the stormy +air of the period, took their places at the close of day in one of those +naves recently devoted to another worship. Some candles, brought by the +affiliated, scarcely lighted up the gloomy place; naked walls, wooden +benches, a tribune instead of an altar. Around this tribune some +favoured orators pressed in order to speak. A crowd of citizens of all +classes, of all costumes, rich, poor, soldiers, workpeople; women, to +create excitement, enthusiasm, tenderness, tears whenever they enter; +children, whom they raise in their arms as if to make them inspire, with +their earliest breath, the feelings of an irritated people: a gloomy +silence interrupted by shouts, applause, or hisses, just as the speaker<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +is loved or hated: then inflammatory discourses shaking to the very +centre by phrases of magical effect, the passions of this mob new to all +the effects of eloquence. The enthusiasm real in some, feigned in +others; stirring propositions, patriotic gifts, civic crowns, busts of +leading republicans paraded round, symbols of superstition, and +aristocracy burnt, songs loudly vociferated by demagogues in chorus at +the opening of each sitting. What people, even in a time of +tranquillity, could have resisted the pulsations of this fever, whose +throbbings were daily renewed from the end of 1790 in every city in the +kingdom? It was the rule of fanaticism preceding the reign of terror.</p> + +<p>Thus was the Jacobin Club organised.</p> + + +<h3>XXI.</h3> + +<p>The club of the Cordeliers, which is sometimes confounded with that of +the Jacobins, even surpassed it in turbulence and demagogism. Marat and +Danton ruled there.</p> + +<p>The moderate constitutional party had also attempted its clubs, but +passion is wanting to defensive societies; it is only the offensive that +groups in factions; and thus the former expired of themselves until the +establishment of the Club of Feuillants. The people drove away with a +shower of stones the first meeting of the deputies, at M. De Clermont +Tonnerres. Barnave reproached his colleagues in the tribune, and +devoted them to public execration with the same voice which had raised +and rallied the <i>Friends of the Constitution</i>. Liberty was as yet but a +partial arm, which was unblushingly broken in the hands of an opponent.</p> + +<p>What remained to the king thus pressed between an assembly, which had +usurped all the executive functions, and those factious clubs, which +usurped to themselves all the rights of representation? Placed without +adequate strength between two rival powers, he was only there to receive +the blows of each in the struggle, and to be cast as a daily sacrifice +to popularity by the National Assembly; one power alone still maintained +the shadow of the throne and exterior order, the national guard of +Paris. But the national guard, which as a neutral force, whose only law +was in public opinion, and was wavering itself between factions and the +monarchy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> might very well maintain safety in a public place, was unable +to serve as a strong and independent support to political power. It was +itself of the people; every serious intervention against the will of the +people, appeared to it as sacrilege. It was a body of municipal police; +it could never again be the army of the throne or the constitution; it +was born of itself on the day after the 14th of July on the steps of the +Hôtel de Ville, and it received no orders but from the municipality. The +municipality had assigned M. de La Fayette as its head—nor could it +have chosen better: an honest people, directed by its instinct, could +not have selected a man who would represent it more faithfully.</p> + + +<h3>XXII.</h3> + +<p>The marquis de La Fayette was a patrician, possessor of an immense +fortune, and allied, through his wife, daughter of the Duc d'Ayen, with +the greatest families of the court. Born at Chavaignac in Auvergne on +the 6th of September, 1757, married at sixteen years of age, a +precocious instinct of renown drove him in 1777 from his own country. It +was at the period of the war of Independence in America; the name of +Washington resounded throughout the two continents. A youth dreamed the +same destiny for himself in the delights of the effeminate court of +Louis XV.; that youth was La Fayette. He privately fitted out two +vessels with arms and provisions, and arrived at Boston. Washington +hailed him as he would have hailed the open succour of France. It was +France without its flag. La Fayette and the young officers who followed +him assured him of the secret wishes of a great people for the +independence of the new world. The American general employed M. de La +Fayette in this long war, the least of whose skirmishes assumed in +traversing the seas the importance of a great battle. The American war, +more remarkable for its results than its campaigns, was more fitted to +form republicans than warriors. M. de La Fayette joined in it with +heroism and devotion: he acquired the friendship of Washington. A French +name was written by him on the baptismal register of a transatlantic +nation. This name came back to France like the echo of liberty and +glory. That popularity which seizes on all that is brilliant, was +accorded to La Fayette on his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> return to his native land, and quite +intoxicated the young hero. Opinion adopted him, the opera applauded +him, actresses crowned him; the queen smiled upon him, the king created +him a general; Franklin, made him a citizen, and national enthusiasm +elevated him into its idol. This excess of public estimation decided his +life. La Fayette found this popularity so sweet that he could not +consent to lose it. Applause, however, is by no means glory, and +subsequently he deserved that which he acquired. He gave to democracy +that of which it was worthy, honesty.</p> + +<p>On the 14th of July M. de La Fayette was ready for elevation on the +shields of the <i>bourgeoisie</i> of Paris. A <i>frondeur</i> of the court, a +revolutionist of high family, an aristocrat by birth, a democrat in +principles, radiant with military renown acquired beyond seas, he united +in his own person many qualities for rallying around him a civic +militia, and for becoming the natural chief of an army of citizens. His +American glory shone forth brilliantly in Paris. Distance increases +every reputation—his was immense; it comprised and eclipsed all; +Necker, Mirabeau, the Duc d'Orleans, the three most popular men in +Paris,—all</p> + +<p class='center'> +Paled their ineffectual fires +</p> + +<p>before La Fayette, whose name was the nation's for three years. Supreme +arbiter, he carried into the Assembly his authority as commandant of the +national guard; his authority, as an influential member of the Assembly. +Of these two conjoined titles be made a real dictatorship of opinion. As +an orator he was but of slight consideration; his gentle style, though +witty and keen, had nothing of that firm and electric manner which +strikes the senses, makes the heart vibrate and communicates its vigour +and effects to all who listen. Elegant as the language of a drawing room +and overwhelmed in the mazes of diplomatic intrigues, he spoke of +liberty in court phrases. The only parliamentary act of M. La Fayette +was a proclamation of the <i>rights of man</i>, which was adopted by the +National Assembly. This decalogue of free men, formed in the forests of +America, contained more metaphysical phrases than sound policy. It +applied as ill to an old society as the nudity of the savage to the +complicated wants of civilised man: but it had the merit of placing man +bare for the moment, and, by showing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> him what he was and what he was +not, of setting him on the discovery of the real value of his duties and +his rights. It was the cry of the revolt of nature against all +tyrannies. This cry was destined to crumble into dust an old world used +up in servitude, and to produce another new and breathing. It was to La +Fayette's honour that he first proposed it.</p> + +<p>The federation of 1790 was the apogee of M. de La Fayette: on that day +he surpassed both king and assembly. The nation armed and reflective was +there in person, and he commanded it; he could have done every thing and +attempted nothing: the misfortune of that man was in his situation. A +man of transition, his life passed between two ideas; if he had had but +one he could have been master of the destinies of his country. The +monarchy or the republic were alike in his hand; he had but to open it +wide, he only half opened it, and it was only a semi-liberty that issued +from it. In inspiring his country with a desire for a republic, he +defended a constitution and a throne. His principles and his conduct +were in opposition; he was honest, and yet seemed to betray; whilst he +struggled with regret from duty to the monarchy, his heart was in the +republic. Protector of the throne, he was at the same time its bugbear. +One life can only be devoted to one cause. Monarchy and republicanism +had the same esteem, the same wrongs in his mind, and he served for and +against both. He died without having seen either of them triumphant, but +he died virtuous and popular. He had, beside his private virtues, a +public virtue, which will ever be a pardon to his faults, and +immortality to his name; he had before all, more than all, and after +all, the feeling, constancy, and moderation of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>Such was the man and such the army on which reposed the executive power, +the safety of Paris, the constitutional throne, and the life of the +king.</p> + + +<h3>XXIII.</h3> + +<p>Thus on the 1st of June, 1791, were parties situated, such the men and +things in the midst of which the irresistible spirit of a vast social +renovation advanced with occult and continuous impulse. What but +contention, anarchy, crime, and death, could emanate from such elements! +No party had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> the reason, no mind had the genius, no soul had the +virtue, no arm had the energy, to control this chaos, and extract from +it justice, truth, and strength. Things will only produce what they +contain. Louis XVI. was upright and devoted to well doing, but he had +not understood, from the very first symptoms of the Revolution, that +there was only one part for the leader of a people, and that was to +place himself in the van of the newly born idea, to forbear any struggle +for the past, and thus to combine in his own person the twofold power of +chief of the nation, and chief of a party. The character of moderation +is only possible on the condition of having already acquired the +unreserved confidence of the party whom it is desired to control. Henri +IV. assumed this character, but it was <i>after</i> victory; had he attempted +it <i>before</i> Ivry, he would have lost, not only the kingdom of France, +but also of Navarre.</p> + +<p>The court was venal, selfish, corrupt; it only defended in the king's +person the sources of its vanities,—profitable exactions. The clergy, +with Christian virtues, had no public virtues: a state within a state, +its life was apart from the life of the nation, its ecclesiastical +establishment seemed to be wholly independent of the monarchical +establishment. It had only rallied round the monarchy, on the day it had +beheld its own fortune compromised; and then it had appealed to the +faith of the people, in order to preserve its wealth; but the people now +only saw in the monks mendicants, and in the bishops extortioners. The +nobility, effeminate by lengthened peace, emigrated in masses, +abandoning their king to his besetting perils, and fully trusting in the +prompt and decisive intervention of foreign powers. The third estate, +jealous and envious, fiercely demanded their place and their rights +amongst the privileged castes; its justice appeared hatred. The Assembly +comprised in its bosom all these weaknesses, all this egotism, all these +vices. Mirabeau was venal, Barnave jealous, Robespierre fanatic, the +Jacobin Club blood-thirsty, the National Guard selfish, La Fayette a +waverer, the government a nullity. No one desired the Revolution but for +his own purpose, and according to his own scheme; and it must have been +wrecked on these shoals a hundred times, if there were not in human +crises something even stronger than the men who appear to guide +them—the will of the event itself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Revolution in all its comprehensive bearings was not understood at +that period by any one except, perchance, Robespierre and the thorough +going democrats. The King viewed it only as a vast reform, the Duc +d'Orleans as a great faction, Mirabeau but in its political point of +view, La Fayette only in its constitutional aspect, the Jacobins as a +vengeance, the mob as the abasing of the higher orders, the nation as a +display of patriotism. None ventured as yet to contemplate its ultimate +consummation.</p> + +<p>All was thus blind, except the Revolution itself. The virtue of the +Revolution was in the idea which forced these men on to accomplish it, +and not in those who actually accomplished it; all its instruments were +vitiated, corrupt, or personal; but the idea was pure, incorruptible, +divine. The vices, passions, selfishness of men were inevitably doomed +to produce in the coming crises those shocks, those violences, those +perversities, and those crimes which are to human passions what +consequences are to principles.</p> + +<p>If each of the parties or men, mixed up from the first day with these +great events had taken their virtue, instead of their impulses as the +rule of their actions, all these disasters which eventually crushed +them, would have been saved to them and to their country. If the king +had been firm and sagacious, if the clergy had been free from a longing +for things temporal, and if the aristocracy had been good; if the people +had been moderate, if Mirabeau had been honest, if La Fayette had been +decided, if Robespierre had been humane, the Revolution would have +progressed, majestic and calm as a heavenly thought, through France, and +thence through Europe; it would have been installed like a philosophy in +facts, in laws, and in creeds. But it was otherwise decreed. The holiest +most just and virtuous thought, when it passes through the medium of +imperfect humanity, comes out in rags and in blood. Those very persons +who conceived it, no longer recognise, disavow it. Yet it is not +permitted, even to crime, to degrade the truth, that survives all, even +its victims. The blood which sullies men does not stain its idea; and +despite the selfishness which debases it, the infamies which trammel it, +the crimes which pollute it, the blood-stained Revolution purifies +itself, feels its own worth, triumphs, and will triumph.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK II.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The National Assembly, wearied with two years of existence, relaxed in +its legislative movement: from the moment when it had nothing more to +destroy, it really was at a loss what to do. The Jacobins took umbrage +at it, its popularity was disappearing, the press inveighed against it, +the clubs insulted it; the worn-out tool by which the people had +acquired conquest, it felt the people were about to snap it asunder if +it did not dissolve of its own accord. Its sittings were inanimate, and +it was completing the constitution as a task inflicted on it, but at +which it was discouraged before completion. It had no belief in the +duration of that which it proclaimed imperishable. The lofty voices +which had shaken France so long were now no more, or were silent from +indifference. Maury, Cazalès, Clermont Tonnerre seemed careless of +continuing a conflict in which honour was saved, and in which victory +was henceforth impossible. From time to time, indeed, some burst of +passion between parties interrupted the usual monotony of these +theoretical discussions. Such was the struggle of the 10th of June +between Cazalès and Robespierre with respect to the disbanding the +officers of the army. "What is it," exclaimed Robespierre, "that the +committees propose to us? to trust to the oaths, to the honour of +officers, to defend a constitution which they detest! of what honour do +they talk to us? What is that honour more than virtue and love of +country? I take credit to myself for not believing in such honour."</p> + +<p>Cazalès himself arose indignantly. "I could not listen tamely to such +calumniating language," he exclaimed. At these words violent murmurs +arose on the left, and cries (order! to the Abbaye! to the Abbaye!) +burst forth from the ranks of the revolution: "What," said the royalist +orator, "is it not enough to have restrained my indignation on hearing +two thousand citizens thus accused, who in all moments of peril have +presented an example of most heroic patience! I have listened to the +previous speaker, because I am, and I assert it, a partisan of the most +unlimited declaration of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> opinions; but it is beyond human endurance for +me to conceal the contempt I feel for such diatribes. If you adopt the +disbanding proposed you will no longer have an army, our frontiers will +be delivered up to foreign invasion, and the interior to excesses and +the pillage of an infuriated soldiery." These energetic words were the +funeral oration of the old army, the project of the committee was +adopted.</p> + +<p>The discussion on the abolition of the punishment of death presented to +Adrien Duport an opportunity to pronounce in favour of the abolition one +of those orations which survive time, and which protest, in the name of +reason and philosophy, against the blindness and atrocity of criminal +legislation. He demonstrated with the most profound logic that society, +by reserving to itself the right of homicide, justifies it to a certain +extent in the murderer, and that the means most efficacious for +preventing murder and making it infamous was to evince its own horror of +the crime. Robespierre, who subsequently was fated to allow of unlimited +immolation, demanded that society should be disarmed of the power of +putting to death. If the prejudices of jurists had not prevailed over +the wholesome doctrines of moral philosophy, who can say how much blood +might not have been spared in France.</p> + +<p>But these discussions confined to the interior of the Manège, occupied +less public attention than the fierce controversies of the periodical +press. Journalism, that universal and daily <i>forum</i> of the people's +passions, had expanded with the progress of liberty. All ardent minds +had eagerly embraced it, Mirabeau himself having set the example when he +descended from the tribune. He wrote his letters to his constituents in +the <i>Courrier de Provence</i>. Camille Desmoulins, a young man of great +talent but weak reasoning powers, threw into his lucubrations for the +press the feverish tumult of his thoughts. Brissot, Gorsas, Carra, +Prudhomme, Fréron, Danton, Fauchet, Condorcet, edited democratic +journals: they began by demanding the abolition of royalty, "the +greatest scourge," said the <i>Revolutions de Paris</i>, "which has ever +dishonoured the human species." Marat seemed to have concentrated in +himself all the evil passions which ferment in a society in a state of +decomposition: he constituted himself the permanent representative of +popular hate. By pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>tending this, he kept it up, writing all the while +with bitterness and ferocity. He became a cynic in order the more +intimately to know the masses. He assumed the language of the lowest +reprobates. Like the elder Brutus, he feigned idiocy, but it was not to +save his country, it was to urge it to the uttermost bounds of madness, +and then control it by its very insanity. All his pamphlets, echoes of +the Jacobins and Cordeliers, daily excited the uneasiness, suspicions, +and terrors of the people.</p> + +<p>"Citizens," said he, "watch closely around this palace: the inviolable +asylum of all plots against the nation, there a perverse queen lords it +over an imbecile king and rears the cubs of tyranny. Lawless priests +there consecrate the arms of insurrection against the people. They +prepare the Saint Bartholomew of patriots. The genius of Austria is +there, hidden in the committees over which Antoinette presides; they +correspond with foreigners, and by concealed means forward to them the +gold and arms of France, so that the tyrants who are assembling in arms +on your frontier may find you famished and disarmed. The +emigrants—d'Artois and Condé—there receive instructions of the coming +vengeance of despotism. A guard of Swiss stipendiaries is not enough for +the liberticide schemes of the Capets. Every night the good citizens who +watch around this den see the ancient nobility entering stealthily and +concealing arms beneath their clothes. Can knights of the poignard be +any thing but the enrolled assassins of the people? What is La Fayette +doing,—is he a dupe or an accomplice? Why does he leave free the +avenues of the palace, which is only opened for vengeance or flight? Why +do we leave the Revolution incomplete, and also leave in the hands of +our crowned enemy, still in the midst of us, the time to overcome and +destroy it? Do you not see that specie is disappearing and assignats are +discredited? What means the assemblings on your frontier of emigrants +and armed bodies, who are advancing to enclose you in a circle of iron? +What are your ministers doing? Why is not the property of emigrants +confiscated, their houses burnt, their heads set at a price? In whose +hands are arms? In the hands of traitors. Who command your troops? +traitors! Who hold the keys of your strong places? traitors, traitors, +traitors, everywhere traitors;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> and in this palace of treason, the king +of traitors! the inviolable traitor, the king! They tell you that he +loves the constitution,—humbug! he comes to the Assembly,—humbug; the +better he conceals his flight. Watch! watch! a great blow is preparing, +is ready to burst; if you do not prevent it by a counter-blow more +sudden, more terrible, the people and liberty are annihilated."</p> + +<p>These declarations were not wholly void of foundation. The king, honest +and good, did not conspire against his people, the queen did not think +of selling to the House of Austria the crown of her husband and her son. +If the constitution now completed had been able to restore order to the +country and security to the throne, no sacrifice of power would have +been felt by Louis XVI.: never did prince find more innate in his +character the conditions of his moderation: that passive resignation, +which is the character of constitutional sovereigns, was his virtue. He +neither desired to reconquer nor to avenge himself. All he desired was, +that his sincerity should be appreciated by the people, order +re-established within and power without; that the Assembly, receding +from the encroachments it had made on the executive power, should raise +the constitution, correct its errors, and restore to royalty that power +indispensable for the weal of the kingdom.</p> + +<p>The queen herself, although of a mind more powerful and absolute, was +convinced by necessity, and joined the king in his intentions; but the +king, who had not two wills, had nevertheless two administrations, and +two policies, one in France with his constitutional ministers, and +another without with his brothers, and his agents with other powers. +Baron de Breteuil, and M. de Calonne, rivals in intrigue, spake and +diplomatised in his name. The king disowned them, sometimes with, and +sometimes without, sincerity, in his official letters to ambassadors. +This was not hypocrisy, it was weakness; a captive king, who speaks +aloud to his jailers and in whispers to his friends, is excusable. These +two languages not always agreeing, gave to Louis XVI. the appearance of +disloyalty and treason: he did not betray, he hesitated.</p> + +<p>His brothers, and especially the Comte d'Artois, did violence from +without to his wishes, interpreting his silence according to their own +desires. This young prince went from court to court to solicit in his +brother's name the coali<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>tion of the monarchical powers against +principles which already threatened every throne. Received graciously at +Florence by the Emperor of Austria, Leopold, the queen's brother, he +obtained a few days afterwards at Mantua the promise of a force of +35,000 men. The King of Prussia, and Spain, the King of Sardinia, +Naples, and Switzerland, guaranteed equal forces. Louis XVI. sometimes +entertained the hope of an European intervention as a means of +intimidating the Assembly, and compelling it to a reconciliation with +him; at other times he repulsed it as a crime. The state of his mind in +this respect depended on the state of the kingdom; his understanding +followed the flux and reflux of interior events. If a good decree, a +cordial reconciliation with the Assembly, a return of popular applause +came to console his sorrows, he resumed his hopes, and wrote to his +agents to break up the hostile gatherings at Coblentz. If a new <i>émeute</i> +disturbed the palace—if the Assembly degraded the royal power by some +indignity or some outrage—he again began to despair of the +Constitution, and to fortify himself against it. The incoherence of his +thoughts was rather the fault of his situation than his own; but it +compromised his cause equally within and without. Every thought which is +not at unity destroys itself. The thought of the king, although right in +the main, was too fluctuating not to vary with events, but those events +had but one direction—the destruction of the monarchy.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>Nevertheless, in the midst of these vacillations of the royal will, it +is impossible for history to misunderstand that from the month of +November 1790 the king vaguely meditated a plan of escape from Paris in +collusion with the emperor. Louis XVI. had obtained from this prince the +promise of sending a body of troops on the French frontier at the moment +when he should desire it; but had the king the intention of quitting the +kingdom and returning at the head of a foreign force, or simply to +assemble round his person a portion of his own army in some point of the +frontier, and there to treat with the Assembly? This latter is the more +probable hypothesis.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>Louis XVI. had read much history, especially the history of England. +Like all unfortunate men, he sought, in the misfortunes of dethroned +princes, analogies with his own unhappy position. The portrait of +Charles I., by Van Dyck, was constantly before his eyes in his closet in +the Tuileries; his history continually open on his table. He had been +struck by two circumstances; that James II. had lost his throne because +he had left his kingdom, and that Charles I. had been beheaded for +having made war against his parliament and his people. These reflections +had inspired him with an instinctive repugnance against the idea of +leaving France, or of casting himself into the arms of the army. In +order to compel his decision one way or the other in favour of one of +these two extreme parties, his freedom of mind was completely oppressed +by the imminence of his present perils, and the dread which beset the +château of the Tuileries night and day had penetrated the very soul of +the king and queen.</p> + +<p>The atrocious threats which assailed them whenever they showed +themselves at the windows of their residence, the insults of the press, +the vociferations of the Jacobins, the riots and murders which +multiplied in the capital and the provinces, the violent obstacles which +had been opposed to their departure from St. Cloud, and then the +recollections of the daggers which had even pierced the queen's bed on +the evening of the 5th to the 6th of October, made their life one +continued scene of alarms. They began to comprehend that the insatiate +Revolution was irritated even by the concessions they had made; that the +blind fury of factions which had not paused before royalty surrounded by +its guards, would not hesitate before the illusory inviolability decreed +by a constitution; and that their lives, those of their children, and +those of the royal family which remained, had no longer any assurance of +safety but in flight.</p> + +<p>Flight was therefore resolved upon, and was frequently discussed before +the time when the king decided upon it. Mirabeau himself, bought by the +court, had proposed it in his mysterious interviews with the queen. One +of his plans presented to the king was, to escape from Paris, take +refuge in the midst of a camp, or in a frontier town, and there treat +with the baffled Assembly. Mirabeau remaining in Paris,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> and again +possessing himself of the public mind, would lead matters, as he +declared, to accommodation, and a voluntary restoration of the royal +authority. Mirabeau had carried these hopes away with him into the tomb. +The king himself, in his secret correspondence, testified his repugnance +to intrusting his fate into the hands of the ringleader of the factions. +Another cause of uneasiness troubled the king's mind, and gave the queen +great anxiety; they were not ignorant that it was a question without, +either at Coblentz or in the councils of Leopold and the King of +Prussia, to declare the throne of France virtually vacant by default of +the king's liberty, and to nominate as regent one of the emigrant +princes, in order that he might call around him with a show of legality +all his loyal subjects, and give to foreign troops an incontestible +right of intervention. A throne even in fragments will not admit of +participation.</p> + +<p>An uneasy jealousy still prevailed in the midst of so many other alarms +even in this palace, where sedition had already effected so many +breaches. "M. le Comte d'Artois will then become a hero," said the queen +ironically, who at one time was excessively fond of this young prince, +but now hated him. The king, on his part, feared that moral forfeiture +with which he was menaced, under pretence of delivering the monarchy. He +knew not which to fear the most, his friends or his enemies. Flight +only, to the centre of a faithful army, could remove him from both these +perils; but flight was also a peril. If he succeeded, civil war might +spring up, and the king had a horror of blood spilled in his defence; if +it did not succeed, it would be imputed to him as a crime, and then who +could say where the national fury would stop? Forfeiture, captivity, +death, might be the consequence of the slightest accident, or least +indiscretion. He was about to suspend by a slender thread his throne, +his liberty, his life, and the lives a thousand times more dear to +him—those of his wife, his two children, and his sister.</p> + +<p>His tormenting reflections were long and terrible, lasting for eight +months, during which time he had no confidants but the queen, Madame +Elizabeth, a few faithful servants within the palace, and the Marquis de +Bouillé without.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>The Marquis de Bouillé, cousin of M. de La Fayette, was of a character +totally different to that of the hero of Paris. Severe and stern +soldier, attached to the monarchy by principle, to the king by an almost +religious devotion, his respect for his sovereign's orders had alone +prevented him from emigrating; he was one of the few general officers +popular amongst the soldiers who had remained faithful to their duty +amidst the storms and tempests of the last two years, and who, without +openly declaring for or against these innovations, had yet striven to +preserve that force which outlives, and not unfrequently supplies, the +deficiency of all others,—the force of discipline. He had served with +great distinction in America, in the colonies in India, and the +authority of his character and name had not as yet lost their influence +over the soldiery; the heroic repression of the famous outbreak amongst +the troops at Nancy in the preceding August had greatly contributed to +strengthen this authority; and he alone of all the French generals had +re-obtained the supreme command, and had crushed insubordination. The +Assembly, alarmed in the midst of its triumphs by the seditions amongst +the troops, had passed a vote of thanks to him as the saviour of his +country. La Fayette, who commanded the citizens, feared only this rival +who commanded regiments, he therefore watched and flattered M. de +Bouillé. He constantly proposed to him a coalition of their forces, of +which they would be the commanders-in-chief, and by thus acting in +concert secure at once the revolution and the monarchy. M. de Bouillé, +who doubted the loyalty of La Fayette, replied with a cold and sarcastic +civility, that but ill concealed his suspicions. These two characters +were incompatible,—the one was the representative of modern patriotism, +the other of ancient honour: they could not harmonise.</p> + +<p>The Marquis de Bouillé commanded the troops of Loraine, Alsace, +Franche-Comté, and Champagne, and his government extended from +Switzerland to the Sambre. He had no less than ninety battalions of +foot, and a hundred and four squadrons of cavalry under his orders. Out +of this number the general could only rely upon twenty battalions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> of +German troops and a few cavalry regiments; the remainder were in favour +of the Revolution: and the influence of the clubs had spread amongst +them the spirit of insubordination and hatred for the king; the +regiments obeyed the municipalities rather than their generals.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Since the month of February, 1791, the king, who had the most entire +confidence in M. de Bouillé, had written to this general that he wished +him to make overtures to Mirabeau, and through the intervention of the +Count de Lamarck, a foreign nobleman, the intimate and confidential +friend of Mirabeau. "Although these persons are not over estimable," +said the king in his letter, "and although I have paid Mirabeau very +dearly, I yet think he has it in his power to serve me. Hear all he has +to say, without putting yourself too much in his hands." The Count de +Lamarck arrived soon after at Metz. He mentioned to M. de Bouillé the +object of his mission, confessed to him that the king had recently given +Mirabeau 600,000f. (24,000<i>l.</i>), and that he also allowed him 50,000f. a +month. He then revealed to him the plan of his counter-revolutionary +conspiracy, the first act of which was to be an address to Paris and the +Departments demanding the liberty of the king. Every thing in this +scheme depended upon the rhetoric of Mirabeau. Carried away by his own +eloquence, the salaried orator was ignorant that words, though +all-powerful to excite, are yet impotent to appease; they urge nations +forward, but nothing but the bayonet can arrest them. M. de Bouillé, a +veteran soldier, smiled at these chimerical projects of the citizen +orator; but he did not, however, discourage him in his plans, and +promised him his assistance: he wrote to the king to repay largely the +desertion of Mirabeau; "A clever scoundrel," said he, "who perhaps has +it in his power to repair through cupidity the mischief he has done +through revenge;" and to mistrust La Fayette, "A chimerical enthusiast, +intoxicated with popularity, who might become the chief of a party, but +never the support of a monarchy."</p> + +<p>After the death of Mirabeau, the king adhered to the project with some +modification; he wrote in cypher to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> Marquis de Bouillé at the end +of April, to inform him that he should leave Paris almost immediately +with his family in one carriage, which he had ordered to be built +secretly and expressly for this purpose; and he also desired him to +establish a line of posts from Châlons to Montmédy, the frontier town he +had fixed upon. The nearest road from Paris to Montmédy was through +Rheims; but the king having been crowned there dreaded recognition. He +therefore determined, in spite of M. de Bouillé's reiterated advice, to +pass through Varennes. The chief inconvenience of this road was, that +there were no relays of post-horses, and it would be therefore necessary +to send relays thither under different pretexts; the arrival of these +relays would naturally create suspicion amongst the inhabitants of the +small towns. The presence of detachments along a road not usually +frequented by troops was likewise dangerous, and M. de Bouillé was +anxious to dissuade the king from taking this road. He pointed out to +him in his answer, that if the detachments were strong they would excite +the alarm and vigilance of the municipal authorities, and if they were +weak they would be unable to afford him protection: he also entreated +him not to travel in a berlin made expressly for him, and conspicuous by +its form, but to make use of two English carriages, then much in vogue, +and better fitted for such a purpose; he, moreover, dwelt on the +necessity of taking with him some man of firmness and energy to advise +and assist him in the unforeseen accidents that might happen on his +journey; he mentioned as the fittest person the Marquis d'Agoult, major +in the French guards; and he lastly besought the king to request the +Emperor to make a threatening movement of the Austrian troops on the +frontier near Montmédy, in order that the disquietude and alarm of the +population might serve as a pretext to justify the movements of the +different detachments and the presence of the different corps of cavalry +in the vicinity of the town.</p> + +<p>The king agreed to this, and also to take with him the Marquis d'Agoult; +to the rest he positively refused to accede. A few days prior to his +departure he sent a million in assignats (40,000<i>l.</i>) to M. de Bouillé, +to furnish the rations and forage, as well as to pay the faithful troops +who were destined to favour his flight. These arrangements made, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +Marquis de Bouillé despatched a trusty officer of his staff, M. de +Guoguelas, with instructions to make a minute and accurate survey of the +road and country between Châlons and Montmédy, and to deliver an exact +report to the king. This officer saw the king, and brought back his +orders to M. de Bouillé.</p> + +<p>In the meantime M. de Bouillé held himself in readiness to execute all +that had been agreed upon; he had sent to a distance the disaffected +troops, and concentrated the twelve foreign battalions on which he could +rely. A train of sixteen pieces of artillery was sent towards Montmédy. +The regiment of <i>Royal Allemand</i> arrived at Stenay, a squadron of +hussars was at Dun, another at Varennes; two squadrons of dragoons were +to be at Clermont on the day the king would pass through; they were +commanded by Count Charles de Damas, a bold and dashing officer, who had +instructions to send forward a detachment to Sainte Menehould, and fifty +hussars, detached from Varennes, were to march to Pont Sommeville +between Châlons and Sainte Menehould, under pretence of securing the +safe passage of a large sum of money sent from Paris to pay the troops. +Thus once through Châlons the king's carriage would be surrounded at +each relay by tried and faithful followers. The commanding officers of +these detachments had instructions to approach the window of the +carriage whilst they changed horses, and to receive any orders the king +might think proper to issue. In case his majesty wished to pursue his +journey without being recognised, these officers were to content +themselves with ascertaining that no obstacle existed to bar the road. +If it was his pleasure to be escorted, then they would mount their men +and escort him. Nothing could be better devised, and the most inviolable +secrecy enveloped all.</p> + +<p>The 27th of May the king wrote that he should set out the 19th of the +next month between twelve and one at night; that he should leave Paris +in a hired carriage, and at Bondy, the first stage out of Paris, he +should take his berlin; that one of his body guard, who was to serve as +courier, would await him at Bondy; that in case the king did not arrive +before two, it was because he had been arrested on his way; the courier +would then proceed alone to Pont Sommeville<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> to inform M. de Bouillé the +scheme had failed, and to warn the general, and those of his officers +engaged in the plot, to provide for their own safety.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>After the receipt of these last orders, M. de Bouillé despatched the +Duke de Choiseul to Paris, with orders to await the king's instructions, +and to precede his departure by twelve hours. M. de Choiseul was to +desire his servants to be at Varennes on the 18th with his own horses, +which would draw the king's carriage; the spot where the horses were +placed was to be clearly explained to the king, in order that they might +be changed without any loss of time. On his return M. de Choiseul had +instructions to take the command of the hussars posted at Pont +Sommeville, to await the king, to escort him with his hussars as far as +Sainte-Menehould, and to station his troopers there, with positive +orders to allow no one to pass on the road from Paris to Verdun, and +from Paris to Varennes, for four and twenty hours after the king's +arrival. M. de Choiseul received from M. de Bouillé orders signed by the +king himself, enjoining him, as well as all the other commanding +officers of the detachments, to employ force, should it be necessary, to +rescue his majesty if the populace attempted to lay violent hands on +him. In case the carriage was stopped at Lyons, M. de Choiseul was to +give instant information to the general to assemble all the detachments, +and march to the king's rescue. He received six hundred louis in gold, +to distribute amongst the soldiers, and thus insure their fidelity, when +the king arrived and made himself known to them.</p> + +<p>M. de Guoguelas left at the same for Paris, to reconnoitre the roads a +second time, passing by Stenay, Dun, Varennes, and Sainte Menehould, and +to explain clearly to the king the topography of the country; he was +also to bring back the latest orders for M. de Bouillé, and to return to +Montmédy by another route. The Marquis de Bouillé left Metz himself, +under pretence of visiting the fortresses under his command, and drew +near Montmédy. The 15th he was at Longwy, where he received a message +from the king, informing him that they had put off their journey for +four and twenty hours, in consequence of the necessity of concealing +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> preparations for their departure from a femme de chambre of the +queen, a fanatical democrat, who was fully capable of betraying them, +and whose duties only terminated on the 19th. His majesty added that the +Marquis d'Agoult would not accompany him, because Madame de Tourzel, the +governess of the royal children, had claimed the privileges of her post, +and wished to accompany them.</p> + +<p>This delay rendered necessary counter-orders of the most fatal nature; +all the arrangements as to time and place were thus thrown out. The +detachments were forced to remain at places they were only to have +marched through, and the relays stationed on the road might be +withdrawn. However, the Marquis de Bouillé remedied all these evils as +far as was in his power; sent modified orders to the commanders of the +detachments, and advanced in person the 20th to Stenay, which was +garrisoned by the Royal Allemand regiment, on whose fidelity he could +rely. The 21st he assembled the generals under his orders, informed them +that the king would pass in the course of the night by Stenay, and would +be at Montmédy the next evening; he ordered General Klinglin to prepare +under the guns of the fortress a camp of twelve battalions and +twenty-four squadrons; the king was to reside in a chateau behind the +camp: this chateau would thus serve as head quarters, and the king's +position would be at once more secure and more dignified surrounded by +his army. The generals did not hesitate for an instant. M. de Bouillé +left General de Hoffelizze at Stenay with the Royal Allemand regiment, +with orders to saddle the horses at night fall, to mount at daybreak and +to send at ten o'clock at night a detachment of fifty troopers between +Stenay and Dun, to await the king and escort him to Stenay.</p> + +<p>At night M. de Choiseul quitted Stenay with several officers on +horseback, and advanced to the very gate of Dun, but he would not enter +lest his presence might in any way work on the people. There he awaited, +in silence and obscurity, the courier who was to precede the carriages +by an hour. The destiny of the monarchy, the throne of a dynasty, the +lives of the royal family, king, queen, princess, children, all weighed +down his spirit and lay heavily on his heart. The night seemed +interminable, yet it passed without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> the sound of horses' feet +announcing to the group who so anxiously awaited the intelligence, that +the king of France was saved or lost.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>What passed at the Tuileries during these decisive hours? the secret of +the projected flight had been carefully confined to the king, the queen, +the princess Elizabeth, two or three faithful attendants, and the Count +de Fersen, a Swedish gentlemen who had the care of the exterior +arrangements confided to him. Some vague rumours, like presentiments of +coming events, had, it is true, been bruited amongst the people for some +days past, but these rumours originated rather in the state of popular +excitement than any actual disclosures of the intended departure. These +reports, however, which were constantly transmitted to M. de La Fayette +and his staff, occasioned a stricter <i>surveillance</i> round the palace and +the king's apartments. Since the 5th and 6th of October the household +guards had been disbanded; the companies of the body guard, every +soldier of whom was a gentleman and whose honour, descent, ancient +traditions, and party feeling assured their fidelity, existed no longer; +that respectful vigilance that rendered their service a matter of duty +with them, had given place to the jealous watchfulness of the national +guard, who were rather spies on the king than guardians of the monarchy. +The Swiss guards still, it is true, surrounded the Tuileries, but they +only occupied the exterior posts; the interior of the Tuileries, the +staircases, the communications between the apartments, were guarded by +the national guards. M. de La Fayette was constantly going to and fro, +his officers at night were at every issue, and they had secret orders +not to allow even the king to quit the palace after midnight. To this +official vigilance was now joined the secret and close <i>espionage</i> of +the numerous domestics of the palace, amongst whom revolutionary feeling +had crept in to encourage treachery, and sanction ingratitude: amongst +them, as amongst their superiors, betrayal was termed virtue, and +treason, patriotism. Within the walls of the palace of his fathers the +king could alone count on the queen, his sisters, and a few nobles still +faithful in his misfortunes, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> even whose gestures were duly reported +to M. de La Fayette. This general had driven by violence from the +Tuileries many of the faithful gentlemen who had come to strengthen the +guard, on the day of the <i>émeute</i> at Vincennes. The king had witnessed, +with tears in his eyes, his most faithful adherents ignominiously driven +from his palace and exposed by his official protector to the insults and +outrages of the populace. Thus the royal family could hope to find no +one disposed to aid their escape without the palace walls.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>The Count de Fersen was the principal agent and confidant of this +hazardous enterprise. Young, handsome, and accomplished, he had been +admitted during the happy years of Marie Antoinette's life to the +parties and fêtes of Trianon. It was said, that a chivalrous admiration, +to which respect alone prevented his giving the name of love, had bound +him to the queen. And now this admiration had been changed into the most +passionate devotion to her in misfortune. The queen perceived this, and +when she reflected to whom she could confide the safety of the king and +her children, she thought of M. de Fersen—he instantly quitted +Stockholm, saw the king and queen, and undertook to prepare for the +flight the carriages, which were to meet them at Bondy. His position as +a foreigner favoured his plans, and he combined them with a skill only +equalled by his fidelity. Three soldiers of the body guard, MM. de +Valorg, de Moustier, et de Maldan, were taken into his confidence, and +the parts they were to play were fully explained to them; they were to +disguise themselves as servants, mount behind the carriages, and protect +the royal family at all risks. The names of three obscure gentlemen +effaced that day the names of the courtiers. Should they be discovered, +their fate was sealed; but in the hope of aiding the escape of their +king, they courageously offered themselves as a sacrifice to the popular +fury.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>The queen had for many months entertained the project of escape. Since +the month of March she had commissioned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> one of her waiting-maids to +procure her from Brussels a complete wardrobe for Madame and the +Dauphin; she had sent most of her valuables to her sister, the +Archduchess Christina, the regent of the Low Countries, under pretence +of making her a present; her diamonds had been intrusted to her +hair-dresser, Leonard, who had started before herself with the Duke de +Choiseul. These slight indications of a projected flight had not +entirely escaped the vigilance of a waiting-maid; this woman had noticed +that whispered conversations were carried on; she had seen desks opened +on the table, and empty jewel boxes lying about; she denounced these +facts to M. de Gouvion, M. de La Fayette's <i>aide-de-camp</i>, whose +mistress she was, and M. de Gouvion reported all again to the mayor of +Paris and his general. But these denunciations had been so often made, +and by so many different persons, and had so often proved false, that +now but little importance was attached to them. However, in consequence +of the revelations of this woman, a stricter watch than usual was kept +around the chateau. M. de Gouvion detained several officers of the +national guard under various pretexts in the palace, he placed them at +the different doors, and he himself, with five <i>chefs-de-bataillon</i>, +passed part of the night at the door of the apartment formerly occupied +by the Duke de Villequier, which had been specially pointed out to him. +He had been told (which was the case) that there existed a secret +communication from the queen's cabinet to the apartment of the former +captain of the guard; and that the king, who it is well known was an +expert locksmith, had made false keys that opened all the doors; at last +these reports (that went the round of all the clubs) transformed every +patriot on that night into the king's gaoler. We read with surprise in +the journal of Camille Desmoulins of the 20th of June, 1791:—"The +evening passed most tranquilly at Paris; I returned at eleven o'clock +from the Jacobins' Club with Danton and several other patriots; we only +met a single patrole all the way. Paris appeared to me that night so +deserted, that I could not help remarking it. One of us, Fréron, who had +in his pocket a letter warning him that the king would escape that +night, wished to observe the chateau; he saw M. de La Fayette enter it +at eleven."</p> + +<p>A little further on Camille Desmoulins relates the restless<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> fears of +the people on the fatal night. "The night," says he "on which the family +of the Capets escaped, Busebi, a perruke-maker in the Rue de Bourbon, +called on Hucher, a baker and Sapeur in the Bataillon of the Théatins, +to communicate his fears on what he had just learnt relative to the +king's projected flight. They instantly aroused their neighbours, to the +number of thirty, and went to La Fayette to inform him of the fact, and +to summon him to take instant measures to prevent it. M. de La Fayette +laughed, and advised them to go home. In order to avoid being stopped by +the patrols, they asked for the pass-word, which he gave them. Armed +with this they hastened to the Tuileries, where nothing was visible +except several hackney coachman drinking round one of the small shops +near the wicket gate of the Carrousel. They inspected all the courts +until they came to the door of the without perceiving Manège anything +suspicious, but at their return they were surprised to find that every +hackney coach had disappeared, which made them conjecture that these +coaches had been used by some of the attendants of this unworthy +(<i>indigne</i>) family."</p> + +<p>It is too evident from the state of agitation of the public mind and the +severity of the king's captivity, how difficult it must have been. +However, either owing to the connivance of some of the national guards +who had on that day demanded the custody of the interior posts, and who +winking at this infraction of the orders,—to the skilful management of +the Count de Fersen,—or that providence afforded a last ray of hope and +safety to those whom she was so soon about to overwhelm with +misfortunes, all the watchfulness of the guardians was in vain, and the +Revolution suffered its prey for some time to escape.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>The king and queen received, as was their custom at their <i>coucher</i>, +those persons who were in the habit of paying their respects to them at +that time, nor did they dismiss their servants any earlier than was +their wont. But no sooner were they alone than they again dressed +themselves in plain travelling dress adapted to their supposed station. +They met Madame Elizabeth and their children, in the Queen's room,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> and +thence they passed by a secret communication into the apartment of the +Duke de Villequier, first gentleman of the bed-chamber, and left the +palace at intervals, in order that the attention of the sentinels in the +court might not be attracted by the appearance of groups of persons at +that late hour; owing to the bustle of the servants and workpeople +leaving the chateau, and which M. de Fersen had no doubt taken care +should on that evening be greater than usual, they arrived, without +having been recognised, at the Carrousel. The queen leaned on the arm of +one of the body guard, and led Madame Royal by the hand. As she crossed +the Carrousel she met M. La Fayette with one or two officers of his +staff proceeding to the Tuileries, in order to satisfy himself that the +measures ordered in consequence of the revelations made that day had +been strictly complied with. She shuddered as she recognised the man who +in her eyes was the representative of insurrection and captivity, but in +escaping him she fancied she had escaped the whole nation, and smiled as +she thought of his appearance the next day when he could no longer +produce his prisoners to the people. Madame Elizabeth also held the arm +of one of the guards, and followed them at some distance, whilst the +king, who had insisted upon being the last, held the Dauphin (who was in +his seventh year) by the hand. The Count de Fersen, disguised as a +coachman, walked a little ahead of the king to show him the way. The +meeting place of the royal family was on the Quai des Théatins, where +two hackney coaches awaited them; the queen's waiting women, and the +Marquise de Tourzel had preceded them.</p> + +<p>Amidst the confusion of so dangerous and complicated a flight, the queen +and her guide crossed the Pont Royal and entered the Rue de Bac, but +instantly perceiving their error, with hasty and faltering steps they +retraced their road. The king and his son, obliged to traverse the +darkest and least frequented streets to arrive at the rendezvous, were +delayed half an hour, which seemed to his wife and sister an age. At +last they arrived, sprang into the coach, the Count de Fersen seized the +reins and drove the royal family to Bondy, the first stage between Paris +and Châlons: there they found, ready harnessed for the journey, a berlin +and a small travelling carriage; the queen's women and one of the +disguised body-guard got into the smaller carriage, whilst the king,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +the queen, and the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Madame Elizabeth, and the +Marquise de Tourville took their places in the berlin; one of the +body-guard sat on the box, and the other behind, the Count de Fersen +kissed the hands of the king and queen, and returned to Paris, from +whence he went, the same night to Brussels by another road, in order to +rejoin the royal family at a later period. At the same hour Monsieur the +king's brother, Count de Provence, left the Luxembourg palace, and +arrived safely at Brussels.</p> + +<h3>X.</h3> + + +<p>The king's carriage rolled on the road to Châlons, and relays of eight +horses were ordered at each post-house: this number of horses, the +remarkable size and build of the berlin, the number of travellers who +occupied the interior, the three body guards, whose livery formed a +strange contrast to their physiognomy and martial appearance, the +Bourbonian features of Louis XVI. seated in a corner of the carriage, +and which was totally out of character with the <i>rôle</i> of valet de +chambre the king had taken on himself,—all these circumstances were +calculated to excite distrust and suspicion, and to compromise the +safety of the royal family. But their passport removed all +objections,—it was perfectly formal, and in these terms: "<i>De par le +roi. Mandons de laisser passer Madame la baronne de Korf, se rendant à +Franckfort avec ses deux enfants, une femme de chambre, un valet de +chambre, et trois domestiques</i>." And lower down, "<i>Le Ministre des +Affaires étrangeres</i>, <span class="smcap">Montmorin</span>."</p> + +<p>This foreign name, the title of German Baroness, the proverbial wealth +of the bankers of Frankfort, to whom the people were accustomed to +attribute everything that was singular and bizarre, had been most +admirably combined by the Count de Fersen, to account for anything +strange or remarkable in the appearance of the royal equipages; nothing, +however, excited attention, and they arrived without interruption at +Montmirail, a little town between Meaux and Châlons: there some +necessary repairs to the berlin detained them an hour; this delay, +during which the king's flight might be discovered, and couriers +despatched to give information to all the country, threw them into the +greatest alarm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>However the carriage was soon repaired, and they once more started on +their journey, ignorant that this hour's delay would ultimately cost the +lives of four out of five persons who composed the royal family.</p> + +<p>They were full of security and confidence; the success with which they +had escaped from the palace, the manner in which they had left Paris, +the punctuality with which the relays were furnished, the loneliness of +the roads, the absence of anything like suspicion or vigilance in the +towns they had passed through, the dangers they had left behind them, +the security they were so fast approaching, each turn of the wheel +bringing them nearer M. de Bouillé and his faithful troops; the beauty +of the scene and the time, doubly beautiful to their eyes, that for two +years had looked on nought save the seditious mob that daily filled the +courts of the Tuileries, or the glittering bayonets of the armed +populace beneath their windows,—all this seemed to them as if +Providence had at last taken pity on them, that the fervent and touching +prayers of the babes that slept in their arms, and of the angelic Madame +Elizabeth had at last vanquished the fate that had so long pursued them.</p> + +<p>It was under the influence of these happy feelings that they entered +Châlons, the only large town through which they had to pass, at +half-past three in the afternoon. A few idlers gathered round the +carriage whilst the horses were being changed; the king somewhat +imprudently put his head out of the window, and was recognised by the +post-master; but this worthy man felt that his sovereign's life was in +his hands, and without manifesting the least surprise, he helped to put +to the horses, and ordered the postilions to drive on; he alone of this +people was free from the blood of his king. The carriage passed the +gates of Châlons, the king, the queen, and madame Elizabeth exclaimed, +with one voice, "We are saved." Châlons once passed, the king's security +no longer depended on chance, but on prudence and force. The first relay +was at Pont Sommeville. It will be remembered, that in obedience to the +orders of M. de Bouillé, M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, at the head +of a detachment of fifty hussars, were to meet the king and follow in +his rear, and besides, as soon as the king's carriage appeared, to send +off an hussar to warn the troops at Sainte<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> Menehould and at Clermont of +the vicinity of the royal family. The king felt thus certain of meeting +faithful and armed friends; but he found no one, M. de Choiseul, M. de +Guoguelas, and the fifty hussars had left half an hour before. The +populace seemed disturbed and restless; they looked suspiciously at the +travellers, and whispered from time to time in a low voice with each +other. However, no one ventured to oppose their departure, and the king +arrived at half past seven at Sainte Menehould; at this season of the +year, it was still broad daylight; and alarmed at having passed two of +the relays without meeting the friends he expected, the king by a +natural impulse put his head out of the window, in order to seek amidst +the crowd for some friend, some officer posted there to explain to him +the reason of the absence of the detachments: that action caused his +ruin. The son of the post-master, Drouet, recognised the king, whom he +had never seen, by his likeness to the effigy on the coins in +circulation.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless as the horses were harnessed, and the town occupied by a +troop of dragoons, who could force a passage, the young man did not +venture to attempt to detain the carriages at this spot.</p> + +<h3>XI.</h3> + + +<p>The officer commanding the detachment of dragoons in the town, was also, +under pretence of walking on the Grand Place, on the watch for the royal +carriages, which he recognised instantly, by the description of them +with which he was furnished. He ordered his soldiers to mount and follow +the king; but the national guards of Sainte Menehould, amongst whom the +rumour of the likeness between the travellers and the royal family had +been rapidly circulated, surrounded the barracks, closed the stables, +and opposed by force the departure of the soldiers. During this rapid +and instinctive movement of the people, the post-master's son saddled +his best horse, and galloped as fast as possible to Varennes, in order +to arrive before the carriages, inform the municipal authorities of his +suspicions, and arouse the patroles to arrest the monarch. Whilst this +man, who bore the king's fate, galloped on the road to Varennes, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +king himself, unconscious of danger, pursued his journey towards the +same town. Drouet was certain to arrive before the king; for the road +from Sainte Menehould to Varennes forms a considerable angle, and passes +through Clermont, where a relay of horses was stationed; whilst the +direct road, accessible only to horsemen, avoids Clermont, runs in a +straight line to Varennes, and thus lessens the distance between this +town and Menehould by four leagues. Drouet had thus two hours before +him, and danger far outstripped safety. Yet by a strange coincidence +death followed Drouet also, and threatened without his being aware of +it, the life of him who in his turn (and without <i>his</i> knowledge) +threatened the life of his sovereign.</p> + +<p>A quarter-master (maréchal des logis) of the dragoons shut up in the +barracks at Sainte Menehould, had alone found means to mount his horse, +and escape the vigilance of the people. He had learnt from his +commanding officer of Drouet's precipitate departure, and, suspecting +the cause, he followed him on the road to Varennes, resolved to overtake +and kill him; he kept within sight of him, but always at a distance, in +order that he might not arouse his suspicions, and with the intention of +overtaking and killing him at a favourable opportunity, and at a retired +spot. But Drouet, who had repeatedly looked round to ascertain whether +he were pursued, had conjectured his intentions; and, being a native of +the country, and knowing every path, he struck into some bye roads, and +at last under cover of a wood he escaped from the dragoon and pursued +his way to Varennes.</p> + +<p>On his arrival at Clermont the king was recognised by Count Charles de +Damas, who awaited his arrival at the head of two squadrons. Without +opposing the departure of the carriages, the municipal authorities, +whose suspicions had been in some measure aroused by the presence of the +troops, ordered the dragoons not to quit the town, and they obeyed these +orders. The Count de Damas alone, with a corporal and three dragoons, +found means to leave the town, and galloped towards Varennes at some +distance from the king, a too feeble or too tardy succour. The royal +family shut up in their berlin—and seeing that no opposition was +offered to their journey, was unacquainted with these sinister +occurrences. It was half past eleven at night, when the car<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>riages +arrived at the first houses of the little town of Varennes; all were or +appeared to be asleep; all was silent and deserted. It will be +remembered, that Varennes not being on the direct line from Châlons to +Montmédy, the king would not find horses there. It had been arranged +between himself and M. de Bouillé, that the horses of M. de Choiseul +should be stationed beforehand in a spot agreed upon in Varennes, and +should conduct the carriages to Dun and Stenay, where M. de Bouillé +awaited them. It will also be borne in mind that in compliance with the +instructions of M. de Bouillé, M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, who, +with the detachment of fifty hussars, were to await the king at Pont +Sommeville, and then follow in his rear, had not awaited him nor +followed him. Instead of reaching Varennes at the same time as the king, +these officers on leaving Pont Sommeville had taken a road that avoids +Sainte Menehould, and thus materially lengthens the distance between +Pont Sommeville and Varennes. Their object in this was to avoid Sainte +Menehould, in which the passage of the hussars had created some +excitement the day previous. The consequence was, that neither M. de +Guoguelas, nor M. de Choiseul, these two guides and confidants of the +king's flight, were at Varennes on his arrival, nor did they reach there +until an hour after. The carriages had stopped at the entrance of +Varennes. The king, surprised to meet neither M. de Choiseul nor M. de +Guoguelas, neither escort nor relays, hoped that the cracking of the +postilions' whips would procure them fresh horses to continue their +journey. The three body-guards went from door to door, to inquire where +the horses had been placed, but could obtain no information.</p> + +<h3>XII.</h3> + + +<p>The little town of Varennes is formed into two divisions, the upper and +lower town, separated by a river and bridge. M. Guoguelas had stationed +the fresh horses in the lower town on the other side of the bridge: the +measure was in itself prudent, because the carriages would cross the +bridge at full speed, and also, because in case of popular tumult, the +changing horses and departure would be more easy when the bridge was +once crossed; but the king should have been,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> but was not, informed of +it. The king and queen, greatly alarmed, left the carriage and wandered +about in the deserted streets of the upper town for half an hour, +seeking for the relays. In vain did they knock at the door of the houses +in which lights were burning, they could not hear of them. At last they +returned in despair to the carriages, from which the postilions, wearied +with waiting, threatened to unharness the horses: by dint of bribes and +promises, however, they persuaded them to remount and continue their +road: the carriages again were in motion, and the travellers reassured +themselves that this was nothing but a misunderstanding, and that in a +few moments they should be in the camp of M. de Bouillé. They traversed +the upper town without any difficulty, all was buried in the most +perfect tranquillity,—a few men alone are on the watch, and they are +silent and concealed.</p> + +<p>Between the upper and lower town is a tower at the entrance of the +bridge that divides them; this tower is supported by a massive and +gloomy arch, which carriages are compelled to traverse with the greatest +care, and in which the least obstacle stops them; a relic of the feudal +system, in which the nobles captured the serfs, and in which by a +strange retribution the people were destined to capture the monarchy. +The carriages had hardly entered this dark arch than the horses, +frightened at a cart that was overturned, stopped, and five or six armed +men seizing their heads, ordered the travellers to alight and exhibit +their passports at the Municipality. The man who thus gave orders to his +sovereign was Drouet: scarcely had he arrived at Sainte Menehould than +he hastened to arouse the young <i>patriotes</i> of the town, to communicate +to them his conjectures and his apprehensions. Uncertain as to how far +their suspicions were correct, or wishing to reserve for themselves the +glory of arresting the king of France, they had neither warned the +authorities nor aroused the populace. The plot awakened their +patriotism; they felt that they represented the whole of the nation.</p> + +<p>At this sudden apparition, at these shouts, and the aspect of the naked +swords and bayonets, the body-guard seized their arms and awaited the +king's orders; but the king forbade them to force the passage, the +horses were turned round, and the carriages, escorted by Drouet and his +compa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>nions, stopped before the door of a grocer named Sausse, who was +at the same time Procureur Syndic of Varennes. There the king and his +family were obliged to alight, in order that their passports might be +examined, and the truth of the people's suspicions ascertained. At the +same instant the friends of Drouet rushed into the town, knocked at the +doors, mounted the belfry, and rang the alarm-bell. The affrighted +inhabitants awoke, the national guards of the town and the adjacent +villages hastened one after another to M. Sausse's door; others went to +the quarters of the troops, to gain them over to their interest, or to +disarm them. In vain did the king deny his rank—his features and those +of the queen betrayed them. He at last discovered himself to the mayor +and the municipal officers, and taking M. de Sausse's hand, "Yes," said +he, "I am your king, and in your hands I place my destiny, and that of +my wife, of my sister, and of my children; our lives, the fate of the +empire, the peace of the kingdom, the safety of the constitution even, +depends upon you. Suffer me to continue my journey; I have no design of +leaving the country; I am going in the midst of a part of the army, and +in a French town, to regain my real liberty, of which the factions at +Paris deprive me, and from thence make terms with the Assembly, who, +like myself, are held in subjection through fear. I am not about to +destroy, but to save and secure the constitution; if you detain me, the +constitution, I myself, France, all are lost. I conjure you as a father, +as a husband, as a man, as a citizen, leave the road free to us; in an +hour we shall be saved, and with us France is saved; and if you guard in +your hearts that fidelity your words profess for him who was your +master, I order you as your king."</p> + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + + +<p>The men, touched by these words, respectful even in their violence, +hesitated, and seemed touched. It is evident, by the expression of their +features, by their tears, that they are wavering between their pity for +so terrible a reverse of fortune and their conscience as patriots. The +sight of their king, who pressed their hands in his, of their queen, by +turns suppliant and majestic, who strives by despair or entreaties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> to +wring from them permission to depart, unmanned them. They would have +yielded had they consulted the dictates of their heart alone; but they +began to fear for themselves the responsibility of their indulgence; the +people will demand from them their king, the nation its chief. Egotism +hardened their hearts; the wife of M. Sausse, with whom her husband +repeatedly exchanged glances, and in whose breast the queen hoped to +find pity and compassion, was the least moved of any. Whilst the king +harangued the municipal authorities, the queen, seated with her children +on her lap between two bales of goods in the shop, showed her infants to +Madame Sausse. "You are a mother, madame," said the queen; "you are a +wife; the fate of a wife and mother is in your hands—think what I must +suffer for these children, for my husband. At one word from you I shall +owe them to you; the queen of France will owe you more than her kingdom, +more than life." "Madame," returned the grocer's wife unmoved, with that +petty common sense of minds in which calculation stifles generosity, "I +wish it was in my power to serve you; you are thinking of the king; I am +thinking of M. Sausse. It is a wife's duty to think of her husband." All +hope is lost when no pity can be found in a woman's heart. The queen, +indignant and hurt, retired with Madame Elizabeth and the children into +two rooms at the top of the house, and there she burst into tears. The +king, surrounded by municipal officers and national guard, relinquished +all hope of softening them. He repeatedly mounted the wooden staircase +of the wretched shop; he went from the queen to his sister, from his +sister to his children; that which he had been unable to obtain from +pity she hoped to obtain from time and compulsion. He could not believe +that these men, who still showed something like feeling, and manifested +so much respect for him, would persist in their determination of +detaining him, and awaiting the orders of the Assembly. At all events he +felt certain that before the return of the couriers from Paris he should +be rescued by the forces of M. de Bouillé, by which he knew he was +surrounded without the knowledge of the people. He was only astonished +that these succours should delay their appearance so long. Hour after +hour chimed, the night wore away, and yet they came not.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + + +<p>The officer who commanded the squadron of hussars stationed at Varennes +by M. de Bouillé was not entirely acquainted with the plan of action, or +its nature; he had merely been told that a large sum in gold would pass +through, and that it would be his duty to escort it. No courier preceded +the king's carriage, no messenger had arrived from Sainte Menehould to +warn him to assemble his troopers; MM. de Choiseul and de Guoguelas, who +were to be at Varennes before the king's arrival, and communicate to +this officer the last secret orders relative to his duty, were not +there; thus the officer was left with nothing but his own conjectures to +guide him. Two other officers, who were informed by M. de Bouillé of the +real facts, had been sent by the general to Varennes, but they remained +in the lower town at the same inn where the horses of M. de Choiseul had +been stationed; they were totally ignorant of all that was passing in +the upper town; they awaited, in compliance with their orders, the +arrival of M. de Choiseul, and were only aroused by the sound of the +alarm-bell.</p> + +<p>M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, with count Charles de Damas, and his +three faithful dragoons, galloped towards Varennes, having with the +greatest difficulty escaped the insurrection of the squadrons at +Clermont. On their arrival at the gates of the town, three quarters of +an hour after the king's arrest, they were recognised and stopped by the +national guard, who, before they would allow the little troop to enter, +compelled them to dismount. They demanded to see the king, and this they +were permitted to do. The king, however, forbade them to use any +violence, as he expected every instant the arrival of M. de Bouillé's +superior force. M. de Guoguelas, however, left the house; and seeing the +hussars intermingled with the crowd that filled the streets, wished to +make trial of their fidelity. "Hussars," exclaimed he, imprudently, "are +you for the nation or the king?" "<i>Vive la nation</i>!" replied the +soldiers; "we are, and always shall be, in her favour." The people +applauded this declaration; and a sergeant of the national guard headed +them, whilst their commanding officer succeeded in making his escape, +and hastened to join the two officers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> who, together with M. de +Choiseul's horses, had been stationed in the lower town, and they all +three quitted Varennes, and hastened to inform their general at Dun.</p> + +<p>These officers had been fired upon, when, learning the royal carriages +had been stopped, they endeavoured to gain access to the king. The whole +night passed in these different occurrences. Already had the national +guards of the neighbouring villages arrived at Varennes; barricades were +erected between the upper and lower town; and the authorities sent off +expresses to warn the inhabitants of Metz and Verdun, and to demand that +troops and cannon might be instantly sent, to prevent the king being +rescued by the approaching troops of M. de Bouillé.</p> + +<p>The king, the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the children, lay down for a +short time, dressed as they were, in the rooms at M. Sausse's, amidst +the threatening murmurs of the people and the noise of footsteps, that +at each instant increased beneath their window. Such was the state of +affairs at Varennes at seven o'clock in the morning. The queen had not +slept; all her feelings as a wife, a mother, a queen—rage, terror, +despair,—waged so terrible a conflict in her mind, that her hair, which +had been auburn on the previous evening, was in the morning white as +snow.</p> + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>At Paris the most profound mystery had covered the king's departure. M. +de La Fayette, who had twice been to the Tuileries, to assure himself +with his own eyes that his orders had been strictly obeyed, quitted it +at midnight, perfectly convinced that its walls would securely guard the +people's hostages. It was only at seven o'clock in the morning of the +21st of June, that the servants of the chateau, on entering the +apartments of the king and queen, found the beds undisturbed and the +rooms deserted, and spread the alarm amongst the palace guard. The +fugitive family had thus ten or twelve hours' start of any attempt that +could be made to pursue them; and even supposing it could be ascertained +which road they had taken, they could be only stopped by couriers, and +the body guard who accompanied the king would arrest the couriers +without difficulty. Moreover, no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> attempt could be made to oppose their +flight by force before they had reached the town in which were stationed +the detachments of M. de Bouillé.</p> + +<p>All Paris was in the greatest confusion. The report flew from the +chateau, and spread like wildfire into the neighbouring <i>quartiers</i>, and +from thence into the faubourgs. The words, "The king has escaped," were +in every body's mouth; yet no one could believe it. Crowds flocked to +the chateau, to assure themselves of the fact—they questioned the +guards—inveighed against the traitors—every one believed that some +conspiracy was on the point of breaking out. The name of M. de La +Fayette, coupled with invectives, was on every tongue. "Is he a fool—is +he a confederate? how is it possible that so many of the royal family +could have passed the gates—the guards—without connivance?" The doors +were forced open, to enable the people to visit the royal apartments. +Divided between stupor and insult, they avenged themselves on inanimate +objects, for the long respect with which these dwellings of kings had +inspired them—and they passed from awe to derision. A portrait of the +king was taken from the bed-chamber and hung up at the gate of the +chateau, as an article of furniture for sale. A fruit woman took +possession of the queen's bed, to sell her cherries in, saying, "It is +to-day the nation's turn to take their ease."</p> + +<p>A cap of the queen's was placed on the head of a young girl, but she +exclaimed it would sully her forehead, and trampled it under foot with +indignation and contempt. They entered the school-room of the young +dauphin—there the people were touched, and respected the books, the +maps, the toys of the baby king. The streets and public squares were +crowded with people; the national guards assembled; the drums beat to +arms; the alarm-gun thundered every minute. Men armed with pikes, and +wearing the <i>bonnet rouge</i>, reappeared, and eclipsed the uniforms. +Santerre, the brewer and agitator of the faubourgs, alone led a band of +2000 pikes. The people's indignation began to prevail over their terror, +and showed itself in satirical outcries and injurious actions against +royalty. On the Place de la Grève, the bust of Louis XVI., placed +beneath the fatal lantern, that had been the instrument of the first +crimes of the Re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>volution, was mutilated. "When," exclaimed the +demagogues, "will the people execute justice for themselves upon all +these kings of bronze and marble—shameful monuments of their slavery +and their idolatry?" The statues of the king were torn from the shops; +some broke them into pieces, others merely tied a bandage over the eyes, +to signify the blindness attributed to the king. The names of king, +queen, Bourbon, were effaced from all the signs. The Palais Royal lost +its name, and was now called Palais d'Orléans. The clubs, hastily +convoked, rang with the most frantic motions; that of the Cordeliers +decreed that the National Assembly had devoted France to slavery, by +declaring the crown hereditary; they demanded that the name of the king +should be for ever abolished, and that the kingdom should be constituted +into a republic. Danton gave it its audacity, and Marat its madness.</p> + +<p>The most singular reports were in circulation, and contradicted each +other at every moment. According to one, the king had taken the road to +Metz, to another, the royal family had escaped by a drain. Camille +Desmoulins excited the people's mirth as the most insulting mark of +their contempt. The walls of the Tuileries were placarded with offers of +a small reward to any one who would bring back the noxious or unclean +animals that had escaped from it. In the garden, in the open air, the +most extravagant proposals were made. "People," said one of these +orators, mounting on a chair, "it will be unfortunate, should this +perfidious king be brought back to us,—what should we do with him? He +would come to us like Thersites to pour forth those big tears, of which +Homer tells us; and we should be moved with pity. If he returns, I +propose that he be exposed for three days to public derision, with the +red handkerchief on his head, and that he be then conducted from stage +to stage to the frontier, and that he be then kicked out of the +kingdom."</p> + +<p>Fréron caused his papers to be sold amongst the groups. "He is gone," +said one of them, "this imbecile king, this perjured monarch. She is +gone, this wretched queen, who, to the lasciviousness of Messalina, +unites the insatiable thirst of blood that devoured Medea. Execrable +woman, evil genius of France, thou wast the leader, the soul of this +conspi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>racy." The people repeating these words, circulated from street +to street these odious accusations, which fomented their hate, and +envenomed their alarm.</p> + + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>It was only at ten o'clock that three cannon shots proclaimed (by order +of the municipal and departmental authorities) the event of the night to +the people. The National Assembly had already met; the president +informed it that M. Bailly, the mayor of Paris, was come to acquaint +them that the king and his family had been carried off during the night +from the Tuileries by some enemies of the nation; the Assembly, who were +already individually aware of this fact, listened to the communication +with imposing gravity. It seemed as though at this moment the critical +juncture of public affairs gave them a majestic calmness, and that all +the wisdom of the great nation was concentrated in its +representatives—one feeling alone dictated every act, every thought, +every resolution,—to preserve and defend the constitution, even +although the king was absent, and the royalty virtually dead. To take +temporary possession of the regency of the kingdom, to summon the +ministers, to send couriers on every road, to arrest all individuals +leaving the kingdom; to visit the arsenal, to supply arms, to send the +generals to their posts, and to garrison the frontiers,—all this was +the work of an instant; there was no "right," no "left," no "centre;" +the "left" comprised all. The Assembly was informed that one of the +aides-de-camp of M. de La Fayette, sent by him on his own +responsibility, and previous to any orders from the Assembly, was in the +power of the people, who accused M. de La Fayette and his staff of +treason; and messengers were sent to free him.</p> + +<p>The aide-de-camp entered the chamber and announced the object of his +mission; the Assembly gave a second order, sanctioning that of M. de La +Fayette, and he departed. Barnave, who perceived in the popular +irritation against La Fayette a fresh peril, hastened to mount the +tribune; and although up to that period he had been opposed to the +popular general, he yet generously, or adroitly, defended him against +the suspicions of the people, who were ready to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> abandon him. It was +said that for some days past Lameth and Barnave, in succeeding Mirabeau +in the Assembly, felt, like himself, the necessity of some secret +intelligence with this remnant of the monarchy. Much was said of secret +relations between Barnave and the king, of a planned flight, of +concealed measures; but these rumours, accredited by La Fayette himself +in his Memoirs, had not then burst forth; and even at this present +period they are doubtful. "The object which ought to occupy us," said +Barnave, "is to re-establish the confidence in him to whom it belongs. +There is a man against whom popular movement would fain create distrust, +that I firmly believe is undeserved; let us throw ourselves between this +distrust and the people. We must have a concentrated, a central force, +an arm to act, when we have but one single head to reflect. M. de La +Fayette, since the commencement of the revolution, has evinced the +opinions and the conduct of a good citizen. It is absolutely necessary +that he should retain his credit with the nation. Force is necessary at +Paris, but tranquillity is equally so. It is you, who must direct this +force."</p> + +<p>These words of Barnave were voted to be the text of the proclamation. At +this moment information was brought that M. de Cazalès, the orator of +the <i>côté droit</i>, was in the hands of the people, and exposed to the +greatest danger at the Tuileries.</p> + +<p>Six commissioners were appointed to go to his succour, and they +conducted him to the chamber. He mounted the tribune, irritated at once +against the people, from whose violence he had just escaped, and against +the king, who had abandoned his partisans without giving them any timely +information.</p> + +<p>"I have narrowly escaped being torn in pieces by the people," cried he; +"and without the assistance of the national guard, who displayed so much +attachment for me—." At these words which indicated the pretension to +personal popularity lurking in the mind of the royalist orator, the +Assembly gave marked signs of disapprobation, and the <i>côté gauche</i> +murmured loudly. "I do not speak for myself," returned Cazalès, "but for +the common interest. I will willingly sacrifice my petty existence, and +this sacrifice has long ago been made; but it is important to the whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +empire that your sittings be undisturbed by any popular tumult in the +critical state of affairs at present, and in consequence I second all +the measures for preserving order and tranquillity that have just been +proposed." At length, on the motion of several members, the Assembly +decided, that in the king's absence, all power should be vested in +themselves, and that their decrees should be immediately put in +execution by the ministers without any further sanction or acceptance. +The Assembly seized on the dictatorship with a prompt and firm grasp, +and declared themselves permanent.</p> + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + + +<p>Whilst the Assembly, by the rights alike of prudence and necessity, +seized on the supreme power, M. de La Fayette cast himself with calm +audacity amidst the people, to grasp again, at the peril of his life, +the confidence that he had lost. The first impulse of the people would +naturally be to massacre the perfidious general, who had answered for +the safe custody of the king with his life, and had yet suffered him to +escape. La Fayette saw his peril, and, by braving, averted the tempest. +One of the first to learn the king's flight, from his officers, he +hurried to the Tuileries, where he found the mayor of Paris, Bailly, and +the president of the Assembly, Beauharnais. Bailly and Beauharnais +lamented the number of hours that must be lost in the pursuit before the +Assembly could be convoked, and the decrees executed. "Is it your +opinion," asked La Fayette, "that the arrest of the king and the royal +family is absolutely essential to the public safety, and can alone +preserve us from civil war?" "No doubt can be entertained of that," +returned the mayor and the president. "Well then," returned La Fayette, +"I take on myself all the responsibility of this arrest;" and he +instantly wrote an order to all the national guards and citizens to +arrest the king. This was also a dictatorship, and the most personal of +all dictatorships, that a single man, taking the place of the Assembly, +and the whole nation, thus assumed. He, on his private authority and the +right of his civic foresight, struck at the liberty and perhaps the life +of the lawful ruler of the nation. This order led Louis XVI. to the +scaffold,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> for it restored to the people the victim who had escaped +their clutches. "Fortunately for him," he writes in his Memoirs, after +the atrocities committed on these august victims, "fortunately for him, +their arrest was not owing to his orders, but to the accident of being +recognised by a post-master, and to their ill arrangements." Thus the +citizen ordered that which the man trembled to see fulfilled; and tardy +sensibility protested against patriotism.</p> + +<p>Quitting the Tuileries, La Fayette went to the Hôtel de Ville, on +horseback. The quays were crowded with persons whose anger vented itself +in reproaches against him, which he supported with the utmost apparent +serenity. On his arrival at the Place de Grève, almost unattended, he +found the duke d'Aumont, one of his officers, in the hands of the +populace, who were on the point of massacring him; and he instantly +mingled with the crowd, who were astonished at his audacity, and rescued +the duke d'Aumont. He thus recovered by courage the dominion, which he +would have lost (and with it his life) had he hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Why do you complain?" he asked of the crowd. "Does not every citizen +gain twenty sous by the suppression of the civil list? If you call the +flight of the king a misfortune, by what name would you then denominate +a counter-revolution that would deprive you of liberty?" He again +quitted the Hôtel de Ville with an escort, and directed his steps with +more confidence towards the Assembly. As he entered the chamber, Camus, +near whom he seated himself, rose indignantly: "No uniforms here," cried +he; "in this place we should behold neither arms nor uniforms." Several +members of the left side rose with Camus, exclaiming to La Fayette, +"Quit the chamber!" and dismissing with a gesture the intimidated +general. Other members, friends of La Fayette, collected round him, and +sought to silence the threatening vociferations of Camus. M. de La +Fayette at last obtained a hearing at the bar. After uttering a few +common places about liberty and the people, he proposed that M. de +Gouvion, his second in command, to whom the guard of the Tuileries had +been intrusted, should be examined by the Assembly. "I will answer for +this officer," said he; "and take upon myself the responsibility." M. de +Gouvion was heard, and affirmed that all the outlets from the palace had +been strictly guarded, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> that the king could not have escaped by any +of the doors. This statement was confirmed by M. Bailly, the mayor of +Paris. The intendant of the civil list, M. de Laporte, appeared, to +present to the Assembly the manifesto the king had left for his people. +He was asked, "How did you receive it?" "The king," replied M. de +Laporte, "had left it sealed, with a letter for me." "Read this letter," +said a member. "No, no," exclaimed the Assembly, "it is a confidential +letter, we have no right to read it." They equally refused to unseal a +letter for the queen that had been left on her table. The generosity of +the nation, even in this moment, predominated over their irritation.</p> + +<p>The king's manifesto was read amidst much laughter and loud murmurs.</p> + +<p>"Frenchmen," said the king in this address to his people, "so long as I +hoped to behold public happiness and tranquillity restored by the +measures concerted by myself and the Assembly, no sacrifice was too +great; calumnies, insult, injury, even the loss of liberty,—I have +suffered all without a murmur. But now that I behold the kingdom +destroyed, property violated, personal safety compromised, anarchy in +every part of my dominions, I feel it my duty to lay before my subjects +the motives of my conduct. In the month of July, 1789, I did not fear to +trust myself amongst the inhabitants of Paris. On the 5th and 6th of +October, although outraged in my own palace, and a witness of the +impunity with which all sorts of crimes were committed, I would not quit +France, lest I should be the cause of civil war. I came to reside in the +Tuileries, deprived of almost the necessaries of life; my body-guard was +torn from me, and many of these faithful gentlemen were massacred under +my very eyes. The most shameful calumnies have been heaped upon the +faithful and devoted wife, who participates in my affection for the +people, and who has generously taken her share of all the sacrifices I +have made for them. Convocation of the States-general, double +representation granted to the third estate (<i>le tiers état</i>), reunion of +the orders, sacrifice of the 20th of June,—I have done all this for the +nation; and all these sacrifices have been lost, misinterpreted, turned +against me. I have been detained as a prisoner in my own palace; instead +of guards, jailers have been im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>posed on me. I have been rendered +responsible for a government that has been torn from my grasp. Though +charged to preserve the dignity of France in relation to foreign powers, +I have been deprived of the right of declaring peace or war. Your +constitution is a perpetual contradiction between the titles with which +it invests me, and the functions it denies me. I am only the responsible +chief of anarchy, and the seditious power of the clubs wrests from you +the power you have wrested from me. Frenchmen, was this the result you +looked for from your regeneration? Your attachment to your king was wont +to be reckoned amongst your virtues; this attachment is now changed into +hatred, and homage into insult. From M. Necker down to the lowest of the +rabble, every one has been king except the king himself. Threats have +been held out of depriving the king even of this empty title, and of +shutting up the queen in a convent. In the nights of October, when it +was proposed to the Assembly to go and protect the king by its presence, +they declared it was beneath their dignity to do so. The king's aunts +have been arrested, when from religious motives they wished to journey +to Rome. My conscience has been equally outraged; even my religious +principles have been constrained: when after my illness I wished to go +to St. Cloud, to complete my convalescence, it was feared that I was +going to this residence to perform my pious duties with priests who had +not taken the oaths; my horses were unharnessed, and I was compelled by +force to return to the Tuileries. M. de La Fayette himself could not +ensure obedience to the law, or the respect due to the king. I have been +forced to send away the very priests of my chapels, and even the adviser +of my conscience. In such a situation, all that is left me is to appeal +to the justice and affection of my people, to take refuge from the +attacks of the factions and the oppression of the Assembly and the +clubs, in a town of my kingdom, and to resolve there, in perfect +freedom, on the modifications the constitution requires; of the +restoration of our holy religion; of the strengthening of the royal +power, and the consolidation of true liberty."</p> + +<p>The Assembly, who had several times interrupted the reading of this +manifesto by bursts of laughter or murmurs of indignation, proceeded +with disdain to the order of the day,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> and received the oaths of the +generals employed at Paris. Numerous deputations from Paris and the +neighbouring departments came successively to the bar to assure the +Assembly that it would ever be considered as the rallying point by all +good citizens.</p> + +<p>The same evening the clubs of the Cordeliers and the Jacobins caused the +motions for the king's dethronement to be placarded about. The club of +the Cordeliers declared in one of its placards that every citizen who +belonged to it had sworn individually to poignard the tyrants. Marat, +one of its members, published and distributed in Paris an incendiary +proclamation. "People," said he, "behold the loyalty, the honour, the +religion of kings. Remember Henry III. and the duke de Guise: at the +same table as his enemy did Henry receive the sacrament, and swear on +the same altar eternal friendship; scarcely had he quitted the temple +than he distributed poignards to his followers, summoned the duke to his +cabinet, and there beheld him fall pierced with wounds. Trust then to +the oaths of princes! On the morning of the 19th, Louis XVI. laughed at +his oath, and enjoyed beforehand the alarm his flight would cause you. +The Austrian woman has seduced La Fayette last night. Louis XVI., +disguised in a priest's robe, fled with the dauphin, his wife, his +brother, and all the family. He now laughs at the folly of the +Parisians, and ere long he will swim in their blood. Citizens, this +escape has been long prepared by the traitors of the National Assembly. +You are on the brink of ruin; hasten to provide for your safety. +Instantly choose a dictator; let your choice fall on the citizen who has +up to the present displayed most zeal, activity, and intelligence; and +do all he bids you do to strike at your foes; this is the time to lop +off the heads of Bailly, La Fayette, all the scoundrels of the staff, +all the traitors of the Assembly. A tribune, a military tribune, or you +are lost without hope. At present I have done all that was in the power +of man to save you. If you neglect this last piece of advice, I have no +more to say to you, and take my farewell of you for ever. Louis XVI., at +the head of his satellites, will besiege you in Paris, and the friend of +the people will have a burning pile (<i>four ardent</i>) for his tomb, but +his last sigh shall be for his country, for liberty, and for you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XVIII.</h3> + + +<p>The members of the constitutional party felt it their duty to attend the +sitting of the Jacobins on the 22d, in order to moderate its ardour. +Barnave, Siéyès, and La Fayette also appeared there, and took the oath +of fidelity to the nation. Camille Desmoulins thus relates the results +of this sitting:</p> + +<p>"Whilst the National Assembly was decreeing, decreeing, decreeing, the +people were acting. I went to the Jacobins, and on the Quai Voltaire I +met La Fayette. Barnave's words had begun to turn the current of popular +opinion, and some voices cried 'Vive La Fayette.' He had reviewed the +battalions on the quay. Convinced of the necessity of rallying round a +chief, I yielded to the impulse that drew me towards the white horse. +'Monsieur de La Fayette,' said I to him in the midst of the crowd, 'for +more than a year I have constantly spoken ill of you, this is the moment +to convict me of falsehood. Prove that I am a calumniator, render me +execrable, cover me with infamy, and save the state.' I spoke with the +utmost warmth, whilst he pressed my hand. 'I have always recognised you +as a good citizen,' returned he; 'you will see that you have been +deceived; our common oath is to live free, or to die—all goes +well—there's but one feeling amongst the National Assembly—the common +danger has united all parties.' 'But why,' I inquired, 'does your +Assembly affect to speak of the carrying off (<i>enlèvement</i>) of the king +in all its decrees, when the king himself writes that he escaped of his +own free will? what baseness, or what treason, in the Assembly to employ +such language, when surrounded by three millions of bayonets.' 'The word +<i>carrying off</i> is a mistake in dictation, that the Assembly will +correct,' replied La Fayette; then he added, 'this conduct of the king +is infamous.' La Fayette repeated this several times, and shook me +heartily by the hand. I left him, reflecting that possibly the vast +field that the king's flight opened to his ambition, might bring him +back to the party of the people. I arrived at the Jacobins, striving to +believe the sincerity of his demonstrations, of his patriotism, and +friendship; and to persuade myself of this, which, in spite of all my +efforts, escaped by a thousand recollections, and a thousand issues."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p> + +<p>When Camille Desmoulins entered Robespierre was in the tribune: the +immense credit that this young orator's perseverance and +incorruptibility had gained him with the people, made his hearers crowd +around him.</p> + +<p>"I am not one of those," said he, "who term this event a disaster; this +day would be the most glorious of the Revolution, did you but know how +to turn it to your advantage. The king has chosen to quit his post at +the moment of our most deadly perils, both at home and abroad. The +Assembly has lost its credit; all men's minds are excited by the +approaching elections. The emigrés are at Coblentz. The emperor and the +king of Sweden are at Brussels; our harvests are ripe to feed their +troops; but three millions of men are under arms in France, and this +league of Europe may easily be vanquished. I fear neither Leopold, nor +the king of Sweden. That which alone terrifies me, seems to reassure all +others. It is the fact that since this morning all our enemies affect to +use the same language as ourselves. All men are united, and in +appearance wear the same aspect. It is impossible that all can feel the +same joy at the flight of a king who possessed a revenue of forty +millions of francs, and who distributed all the offices of state amongst +his adherents and our enemies; there are traitors, then, among us; there +is a secret understanding between the fugitive king and these traitors +who have remained at Paris. Read the king's manifesto, and the whole +plot will be there unveiled. The king, the emperor, the king of Sweden, +d'Artois, Condé, all the fugitives, all these brigands, are about to +march against us. A paternal manifesto will appear, in which the king +will talk of his love of peace, and even of liberty; whilst at the same +time the traitors in the capital and the departments will represent you, +on their part, as the leaders of the civil war. Thus the Revolution will +be stifled in the embraces of hypocritical despotism and intimidated +moderatism.</p> + +<p>"Look already at the Assembly: in twenty decrees the king's flight is +termed carrying off by force (<i>enlèvement</i>). To whom does it intrust the +safety of the people? To a minister of foreign affairs, under the +inspection of diplomatic committee. Who is the minister? A traitor whom +I have unceasingly denounced to you, the persecutor of the patriot +soldiers, the upholder of the aristocrat officers. What is the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +committee? A committee of traitors composed of all our enemies beneath +the garb of patriots. And the minister for foreign affairs, who is he? A +traitor, a Montmorin, who but a short month ago declared a perfidious +<i>adoration</i> of the constitution. And Delissart, who is he? A traitor, to +whom Necker has bequeathed his mantle to cover his plots and +conspiracies.</p> + +<p>"Do you not see the coalition of these men with the king, and the king +with the European league? That will crush us! In an instant you will see +all the men of 1789—mayor, general, ministers, orators,—enter this +room. How can you escape Antony?" continued he, alluding to La Fayette. +"Antony commands the legions that are about to avenge Cæsar; and +Octavius, Cæsar's nephew, commands the legions of the republic.</p> + +<p>"How can the republic hope to avoid destruction? We are continually told +of the necessity of uniting ourselves; but when Antony encamped at the +side of Lepidus, and all the foes to freedom were united to those who +termed themselves its defenders, nought remained for Brutus and Cassius, +save to die.</p> + +<p>"It is to this point that this feigned unanimity, this perfidious +reconciliation of patriots, tends. Yes, this is the fate prepared for +you. I know that by daring to unveil these conspiracies I sharpen a +thousand daggers against my own life. I know the fate that awaits me; +but if, when almost unknown in the National Assembly, I, amongst the +earliest apostles of liberty, sacrificed my life to the cause of truth, +of humanity, of my country; to-day, when I have been so amply repaid for +this sacrifice, by such marks of universal goodwill, consideration, and +regard, I shall look at death as a mercy, if it prevents my witnessing +such misfortunes. I have tried the Assembly, let them in their turn try +me."</p> + +<h3>XIX.</h3> + + +<p>These words so artfully combined, and calculated to fill every breast +with suspicion, were hailed like the last speech of a martyr for +liberty. All eyes were suffused with tears. "We will die with you," +cried Camille Desmoulins, extending his arms towards Robespierre, as +though he would fain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> embrace him. His excitable and changeable spirit +was borne away by the breath of each new enthusiastic impulse. He passed +from the arms of La Fayette into those of Robespierre like a courtezan. +Eight hundred persons rose <i>en masse</i>; and by their attitudes, their +gestures, their spontaneous and unanimous inspiration, offered one of +those most imposing tableaux, that prove how great is the effect of +oratory, passion, and circumstance over an assembled people. After they +had all individually sworn to defend Robespierre's life, they were +informed of the arrival of the ministers and members of the Assembly who +had belonged to the club in '89, and who in this perilous state of their +country, had come to fraternise with the Jacobins.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur le President," cried Danton, "if the traitors venture to +present themselves, I undertake solemnly either that my head shall fall +on the scaffold, or to prove that their heads should roll at the feet of +the nation they have betrayed."</p> + +<p>The deputies entered: Danton, recognising La Fayette amongst them, +mounted the tribunal, and addressing the general, said:—"It is my turn +to speak, and I will speak as though I were writing a history for the +use of future ages. How do you dare, M. de La Fayette, to join the +friends of the constitution; you, who are a friend and partisan of the +system of the two chambers invented by the priest Siéyès, a system +destructive of the constitution and liberty? Did you not yourself tell +me that the project of M. Mounier was too execrable for any one to +venture to reproduce it, but that it was possible to cause an equivalent +to it to be accepted by the Assembly? I dare you to deny this fact—that +damns you. How comes it that the king in his proclamation uses the same +language as yourself? How have you dared to infringe an order of the day +on the circulation of the pamphlets of the defenders of the people, +whilst you grant the protection of your bayonets to cowardly writers, +the destroyers of the constitution? Why did you bring back prisoners, +and as it were in triumph, the inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Antoine, +who wished to destroy the last stronghold of tyranny at Vincennes? Why, +on the evening of this expedition to Vincennes, did you protect in the +Tuileries assassins armed with poignards to favour the king's escape?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +Explain to me by what chance, on the 21st June, the Tuileries was +guarded by the company of the grenadiers of the Rue de l'Oratoire, that +you had punished on the 18th of April for having opposed the king's +departure? Let us not deceive ourselves: the king's flight is only the +result of a plot; there has been a secret understanding, and you, M. de +La Fayette, who lately staked your head for the king's safety, do you by +appearing in this assembly seek your own condemnation? The people must +have vengeance; they are wearied of being thus alternately braved or +deceived. If my voice is unheard here, if our weak indulgence for the +enemies of our country continually endanger it, I appeal to posterity, +and leave it to them to judge between us."</p> + +<p>M. de La Fayette, thus attacked, made no reply to these strong appeals; +he merely said that he had come to join the assembly, because it was +there that all good citizens should hasten in perilous times; and he +then left the place. The assembly having issued a decree next day +calling on the general to appear and justify himself, he wrote that he +would do so at a future period; he however never did so. But the motions +of Robespierre and Danton did not in the least injure his influence over +the national guard. Danton on that day displayed the greatest audacity. +M. de La Fayette had the proofs of the orator's venality in his +possession—he had received from M. de Montmorin 100,000 francs. Danton +knew that M. de La Fayette was well aware of this transaction; but he +also knew that La Fayette could not accuse him without naming M. de +Montmorin, and without also accusing himself of participation in this +shameful traffic, that supplied the funds of the civil list. This double +secret kept them mutually in check, and obliged the orator and general +to maintain a degree of reserve that lessened the fury of the contest. +Lameth replied to Danton, and spoke in favour of concord. The violent +resolutions proposed by Robespierre and Danton had no weight that day at +the Jacobins' Club. The peril that threatened them taught the people +wisdom, and their instinct forbade their dividing their force before +that which was unknown.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XX.</h3> + + +<p>The same evening the National Assembly discussed and adopted an address +to the French nation, in these terms:—</p> + +<p>"A great crime has been committed. The king and his family have been +<i>carried off</i>, (the continuance of this pretended <i>enlèvement</i> of the +king excited loud murmurs,) but your representatives will triumph over +all these obstacles. France wishes to be free, and she shall be; the +Revolution will not retrograde. We have saved the law by resolving that +our decrees shall be the law. We have saved the nation by sending to the +army reinforcements of 300,000 men. We have saved public peace by +placing it under the safeguard of the zeal and patriotism of the armed +citizens. In this position we await our enemies. In a manifesto dictated +to the king by those who have offered violence to his affection for his +people, you are accused—the constitution is accused—the law of +impunity of the 6th of October is accused. The nation is more just, for +she does not accuse the king of the crimes of his ancestors. (Applause.)</p> + +<p>"But the king swore on the 14th of July to protect this constitution; he +has therefore consented to perjure himself. The changes made in the +constitution of the kingdom are laid to the charge of the <i>soidisant</i> +factious. A few factious? that is not sufficient; we are 26,000,000 of +factious. (Loud applause.) We have re-constructed the power, we have +preserved the monarchy, because we believe it useful to France. We have +doubtless reformed it, but it was to save it from its abuses and its +excesses; we have granted a yearly sum of 50,000,000 of francs to +maintain the legitimate splendour of the throne. We have reserved to +ourselves the right of declaring war, because we would not that the +blood of the people should belong to the ministers. Frenchmen! all is +organised, every man is at his post. The Assembly watches over all. You +have nought to fear save from yourselves, should your just emotion lead +you to commit any violence or disorders. The people who seek to be free +should remain unmoved in great crises.</p> + +<p>"Behold Paris, and imitate the example of the capital. All goes on as +usual; the tyrants will be deceived. Before they can bend France beneath +their yoke, the whole nation must be annihilated. Should despotism +venture to attempt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> it, it will be vanquished; or even though it +triumph, it will triumph over nought save ruins!" (Loud and unanimous +applause followed the conclusion of the address.)</p> + +<p>The sitting which had been suspended during an hour, re-opened at +half-past nine. Much agitation prevailed in the chamber, and the words +<i>He is arrested! He is arrested!</i> ran along the benches, and from the +benches to the tribune. The president announced that he had just +received a packet containing several letters which he would read; at the +same time recommending them to abstain from any marks of approbation or +disapprobation. He then opened the packet amidst a profound silence, and +read the letters of the municipal authorities at Varennes and of St. +Menehould brought by M. Mangin, surgeon, at Varennes. The Assembly then +nominated three commissioners out of the members to bring the king back +to Paris. These three commissioners were Barnave, Pétion, and +Latour-Maubourg, and they instantly started off to fulfil their mission. +Let us now for a brief space leave Paris a prey to all the different +emotions of surprise, joy, and indignation excited by the flight and +arrest of the king.</p> + +<h3>XXI.</h3> + + +<p>The night at Varennes had been passed by the king, the queen, and the +people in alternate feelings of hope and terror. Whilst the children, +fatigued with a long day's journey, and the heat of the weather, slept +soundly, the king and queen, guarded by the municipal guards of +Varennes, discussed, in a low voice, the danger of their position, their +pious sister, Madame Elizabeth, prayed by their side; her kingdom was, +indeed, "in heaven." Nothing had induced her to remain at the court, +from which she was estranged, alike by her piety and her renouncement of +all worldly pleasure, but her affection for her brother, and she had +shared only the sorrows and sufferings of the throne.</p> + +<p>The prisoners were far from despairing yet; they had no doubt that M. de +Bouillé, warned by one of the officers whom he had stationed on the +road, would march all night to their assistance; and they attributed his +delay to the necessity of collecting a sufficient force to overpower +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> numerous troops of national guards whom the sound of the tocsin had +summoned to Varennes. But at each instant they expected to see him +appear, and the least movement of the populace, the slightest clash of +arms in the streets, seemed to announce his arrival; the courier +despatched to Paris by the authorities of Varennes to receive the orders +of the Assembly, only left at three o'clock in the morning. He could not +reach Paris in less than twenty hours, and would require as much more +for his return; and the Assembly would require, at least three or four +hours more to deliberate; thus M. de Bouillé must have forty-eight +hours' start of any orders from Paris.</p> + +<p>Moreover, in what state would Paris be? what would have happened there +at the unexpected announcement of the king's departure? Had not terror +or repentance taken possession of every mind; would not anarchy have +destroyed the feeble barriers that an anarchical assembly might have +opposed to it? Would not the cry of treason have been the first signal +of alarm? La Fayette have been torn to pieces as a traitor, and the +national guard disbanded? Would not the well-intentioned and loyal +citizens have again obtained the mastery over the factious and turbulent +in the confusion and terror that would prevail? Who would give orders? +who would execute them?</p> + +<p>The nation trembling, and in disorder, would fall perhaps at the feet of +its king. Such were the chimæras, the last fond hopes of this +unfortunate family, and on which they sustained their courage, during +this fatal night, in the small and suffocating room into which they were +all crowded.</p> + +<p>The king had been allowed to communicate with several officers: M. de +Guoguelas, M. de Damas, M. de Choiseul had seen him. The procureur +syndic, and the municipal officers of Varennes, showed both respect and +pity for their king, even in the execution of what they believed to be +their duty. The people do not pass at once from respect to outrage. +There is a moment of indecision in every sacrilegious act, in which they +seem yet to reverence that which they are about to destroy. The +authorities of Varennes and M. Sausse, although believing they were the +saviours of the nation, were yet far from wishing to offend the king, +and guarded him as much as their sovereign as their captive. This did +not escape the king's notice; he flattered himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> that at the first +demand made by M. de Bouillé, respect would prevail over patriotism, and +that he would be set at liberty, and he expressed this belief to his +officers.</p> + +<p>One of them, M. Derlons, who commanded the squadron of hussars stationed +at Dun, between Varennes and Stenay, had been informed of the king's +arrest at two o'clock in the morning by the commander of the detachment +at Varennes: having escaped this town, M. Derlons, without awaiting any +orders from the general, and anticipating them, he ordered his hussars +to mount, and galloped to Varennes, determined to rescue the king by +force. On his arrival at the gates of that town, he found them +barricaded and defended by a numerous body of national guards, who +refused to allow the hussars to enter the town. M. Derlons dismounted, +and leaving his men outside, demanded to see the king, which was +consented to. His aim was to inform the king that M. de Bouillé was +about to march thither at the head of the royal Allemand regiment, and +also to assure himself, if it was impossible for his squadron to force +the obstacles, to break down the barricades in the upper town, and carry +off the king. The barricades appeared to him impregnable to cavalry, he +therefore gained admittance to the king, and asked him what were his +orders. "Tell M. de Bouillé," returned the king, "that I am a prisoner, +and can give no orders. I much fear he can do no more for me, but I pray +him to do all he can." M. Derlons, who was an Alsatian, and spoke +German, wished to say a few words in that language to the queen, in +order that no person present might understand what passed. "Speak +French, sir," said the queen, "we are overheard." M. Derlons said no +more, but withdrew in despair; but he remained with his troop at the +gates of Varennes, awaiting the arrival of the superior forces of M. de +Bouillé.</p> + +<h3>XXII.</h3> + + +<p>The aide-de-camp of M. de La Fayette, M. Romeuf, despatched by that +general, and bearer of the order of the Assembly, arrived at Varennes at +half-past seven. The queen, who knew him personally, reproached him in +the most pathetic manner with the odious mission with which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> his general +had charged him. M. Romeuf sought in vain to calm her indignation by +every mark of respect and devotion compatible with the rigour of his +orders. The queen then changing from invectives to tears, gave a free +vent to her grief. M. Romeuf having laid the order of the Assembly on +the Dauphin's bed, the queen seized the paper, threw it on the ground, +and trampled it under her feet, exclaiming, that such a paper would +sully her son's bed. "In the name of your safety, of your glory, madam," +said the young officer, "master your grief; would you suffer any one but +myself to witness such a fit of despair?"</p> + +<p>The preparations for their departure were hastened, through fear, lest +the troops of M. de Bouillé might march on the town, or cut them off. +The king used every means in his power to delay them, for each minute +gained gave them a fresh hope of safety, and disputed them one by one. +At the moment they were entering the carriage, one of the queen's women +feigned a sudden and alarming illness. The queen refused to start +without her, and only yielded at last to threats of force, and the +shouts of the impatient populace. She would suffer no one to touch her +son, but carried him herself to the carriage; and the royal cortège +escorted by three or four thousand national guards, moved slowly towards +Paris.</p> + +<h3>XXIII.</h3> + + +<p>What was M. de Bouillé doing during this long and agonising night the +king passed at Varennes? He had, as we have already seen, passed the +night at the gates of Dun, two leagues from Varennes, awaiting the +couriers who were to inform him of the king's approach. At four in the +morning, fearing to be discovered, and having seen no one, he regained +Stenay, in order to be nearer his troops, in case any accident had +happened to the king. At half-past four he was at the gates of Stenay, +when the two officers whom he had left there the previous evening, and +the commanding officer of the squadron that had abandoned him, arrived +and informed him that the king had been arrested since eleven o'clock at +night. Stupified and astonished at being informed so late he instantly +ordered the royal Allemand regiment, which was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> at Stenay, to mount and +follow him. The colonel of this regiment had received the previous +evening orders to keep the horses saddled. This order had not been +executed, and the regiment lost three quarters of an hour, in spite of +the repeated messages of M. de Bouillé, who sent his own son to the +barracks. The general was powerless without this regiment, and no sooner +were they outside the town than M. de Bouillé endeavoured to ascertain +its disposition towards the king. "Your king," said he, "who was +hastening hither to dwell amongst you, has been stopped by the +inhabitants of Varennes, within a few leagues. Will you let him remain a +prisoner, exposed to every insult at the hands of the national guards? +Here are his orders: he awaits you; he counts every moment. Let us march +to Varennes. Let us hasten to deliver him, and restore him to the nation +and liberty."</p> + +<p>Loud acclamations followed this speech. M. de Bouillé distributed 500 or +600 louis amongst the soldiers, and the regiment marched forward.</p> + +<p>Stenay is at least nine leagues from Varennes, and the road very hilly +and bad. M. de Bouillé, however, used all possible dispatch, and at a +little distance from Varennes he met the advanced guard of the regiment, +halted at the entrance of a little wood, defended by a body of the +national guard. M. de Bouillé ordered them to charge, and putting +himself at the head of the troop, arrived at Varennes at a quarter to +nine, closely followed by the regiment. Whilst reconnoitring the town, +previous to an attack, he observed a troop of hussars, who appeared also +to watch the town. It was the squadron from Dun, commanded by M. +Derlons, who had passed the night here, awaiting reinforcements. M. +Derlons hastened to inform the general that the king had left the town +more than an hour and a half; he added, the bridge was broken, the +streets barricaded; that the hussars of Clermont and Varennes had +fraternised with the people, and the commanders of the detachments, MM. +de Choiseul, de Damas, and de Guoguelas, were prisoners. M. de Bouillé, +baffled, but not discouraged, resolved to follow the king, and rescue +him from the hands of the national guard. He despatched officers to find +a ford by which they could pass the river; but, unfortunately, although +one existed, they were unable to find it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> + +<p>Whilst thus engaged, he learnt that the garrisons of Metz and Verdun +were advancing with a train of artillery to the aid of the people. The +country was swarming with troops and national guards. The troops began +to show symptoms of hesitation; the horses, fatigued by nine leagues +over a bad road, could not sustain the speed necessary to overtake the +king at Sainte Menehould. All energy deserted them with hope. The +regiment turned round, and M. de Bouillé led them back in silence to +Stenay; thence, followed only by a few of the officers most implicated, +he gained Luxembourg, and passed the frontier amidst a shower of balls, +and wishing for death more than he shunned the punishment.</p> + +<h3>XXIV.</h3> + + +<p>The royal carriages, however, rolled rapidly along the road to Châlons, +attended by the national guard, who relieved each other in order to +escort them on; the whole population lined the road on either side, to +gaze upon a king brought back in triumph by the nation that believed +itself betrayed. The pikes and bayonets of the national guards could +scarcely force them a passage through this dense throng, that at each +instant grew more and more numerous, and who were never weary of +uttering cries of derision and menace, accompanied by the most furious +gestures.</p> + +<p>The carriages pursued their journey amidst a torrent of abuse, and the +clamour of the people recommenced at every turn of the wheel. It was a +Calvary of sixty leagues, every step of which was a torture. One +gentleman, M. de Dampierre, an old man, accustomed all his life to +venerate the king, having advanced towards the carriage to show some +marks of respectful compassion to his master, was instantly massacred +before their eyes, and the royal family narrowly escaped passing over +his bleeding corpse. Fidelity was the only unpardonable crime amongst +this band of savages. The king and queen, who had already made the +sacrifice of their lives, had summoned all their dignity and courage, in +order to die worthily. Passive courage was Louis XVI.'s virtue, as +though Heaven, who destined him to suffer martyrdom, had gifted him with +heroic endurance, that cannot resist, but can die. The queen found in +her blood and her pride suffi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>cient hatred for the people, to return +with inward scorn the insults with which they profaned her. Madame +Elizabeth prayed mentally for divine assistance; and the two children +wondered at the hatred of the people they had been taught to love, and +whom they now saw only a prey to the most violent fury. The august +family would never have reached Paris alive, had not the commissioners +of the Assembly, who by their presence overawed the people, arrived in +time to subdue and control this growing sedition.</p> + +<p>The commissioners met the carriages between Dormans and Epernay, and +read to the king and people the order of the Assembly, giving them the +absolute command of the troops and national guards along the line; and +which enjoined them to watch not only over the king's security, but also +to maintain the respect due to royalty, represented in his person. +Barnave and Pétion hastened to enter the king's carriage, to share his +danger, and shield him with their bodies. They succeeded in preserving +him from death, but not from outrage. The fury of the people, kept aloof +from the carriages, found vent further off; and all persons suspected of +feeling the least sympathy were brutally ill-treated.</p> + +<p>An ecclesiastic having approached the berlin, and exhibited some traces +of respect and sorrow on his features, was seized by the people, thrown +under the horses' feet, and was on the point of being massacred before +the queen's eyes, when Barnave, with a noble impulse, leant out of the +carriage. "Frenchmen," exclaimed he, "will you, a nation of brave men, +become a people of murderers?" Madame Elizabeth, struck with admiration +at his courageous interference, and fearing lest he might spring out, +and be in his turn torn to pieces by the people, held him by his coat +whilst he addressed the mob. From this moment the pious princess, the +queen, and the king himself conceived a secret esteem for Barnave. A +generous heart amidst so many cruel ones inspired them with a species of +confidence in the young <i>député</i>. They had known him only as a leader of +faction, and by his voice heard amidst all their misfortunes; and they +were astonished to find a respectful protector in the man whom they had +hitherto looked upon as an insolent foe.</p> + +<p>Barnave's features were marked, yet attractive and open; his manners +polished, his language elegant; his bearing sad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>dened by the aspect of +so much beauty, so much majesty, and so great a reverse of fortune. The +king in the intervals of calm and silence frequently spoke to him, and +discoursed of the events of the day. Barnave replied, with the tone of a +man devoted to liberty, but faithful still to the throne; and who in his +plans of regeneration, never separated the nation from the throne. Full +of attention to the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the royal children, he +strove by every means in his power to hide from them the perils and +humiliations of the journey. Constrained, no doubt, by the presence of +his rough colleague, Pétion, if he did not openly avow the feeling of +pity, admiration, and respect which had conquered him during the +journey, he showed it in his actions, and a tacit treaty was concluded +by looks. The royal family felt that amidst this wreck of all their +hopes they had yet gained Barnave. All his subsequent conduct justified +the confidence of the queen. Audacious, when opposed to tyranny, he was +powerless against weakness, beauty, and misfortune; and this lost him +his life, but rendered his memory glorious. Until then he had been only +eloquent; he now showed that he possessed sensibility. Pétion, on the +contrary, remained cold as a sectarian, and rude as a <i>parvenu</i>; he +affected a brusque familiarity with the royal family, eating in the +queen's presence, and throwing the rind of fruit out of the window, at +the risk of striking the king's face. When Madame Elizabeth poured him +out some wine, he raised his glass without thanking her to show that he +had enough. Louis XVI. having asked him if he was in favour of the +system of the two chambers, or for the republic—"I should be in favour +of a republic," returned Pétion, "if I thought my country sufficiently +ripe for this form of government." The king, offended, made no reply, +and did not once speak until they arrived at Paris.</p> + +<p>The commissioners had written from Dormans to the Assembly, to inform +them what road the king would take, and at what day and hour he would +arrive. The approach to Paris offered increasing danger, owing to the +numbers and fury of the populace through which the king had to pass. The +Assembly redoubled its energy and precaution to assure the inviolability +of the king's person. The people, too, recovered the sentiment of their +own dignity before this great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> success fate granted them: they would not +dishonour their own triumph. Thousands of placards were stuck on the +walls—"<i>Whoever applauds the king shall be beaten; whoever insults him +shall be hung</i>." The king had slept at Meaux, and the commissioners +advised the Assembly to sit permanently, in order to be in readiness for +any unforeseen event that might take place on the king's arrival at +Paris; and the Assembly, consequently, did not dissolve. The hero of the +day, the author of the king's arrest, Drouet, son of the post-master of +Sainte Menehould, appeared before it, and gave the following +evidence:—"I have served in Condé's regiment of dragoons, and my +comrade, Guillaume, in the Queen's dragoons. The 21st of June, at seven +in the evening, two carriages and eleven horses arrived at Sainte +Menehould, and I recognised the king and queen; but, fearful of being +deceived, I resolved to ascertain the truth of this by arriving at +Varennes, by a bye-road, before the carriages. It was eleven o'clock, +and quite dark, when I reached Varennes; the carriages arrived also, and +were delayed by a dispute between the couriers and the postilions, who +refused to go any farther. I said to my comrade, 'Guillaume, are you a +good patriot?' 'Do not doubt it,' replied he. 'Well, then, the king is +here; let us arrest him.' We overturned a cart, filled with goods, under +the arch of the bridge; and when the carriage arrived, demanded their +passports. 'We are in a hurry, gentlemen,' said the queen. However, we +insisted, and made them alight at the house of the procureur of the +district; then, of his own accord, Louis XVI. said to us, 'Behold your +king—your queen—and my children! Treat us with that respect that +Frenchmen have always shown to their king.' We, however, detained him; +the national guards hastened to the town, and the hussars espoused our +cause; and after having done our duty, we returned home, amidst the +acclamations of our fellow-citizens, and to-day come to offer the homage +of our services to the National Assembly."</p> + +<p>Drouet and Guillaume were loudly applauded after this speech.</p> + +<p>The Assembly then decreed that immediately after the arrival of Louis +XVI. at the Tuileries, a guard should be given him, under the orders of +La Fayette, who should be responsible for his security. Malouet was the +only one who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> ventured to remonstrate against this captivity. "It at +once destroyed inviolability and the constitution; the legislative and +executive powers are now united." Alexandre Lameth opposed Malouet's +motion, and declared that it was the duty of the Assembly to assume and +retain, until the completion of the constitution, a dictatorship, forced +upon it by the state of affairs, but that the monarchy being the form of +government necessary to the concentration of the forces of so great a +nation, the Assembly would immediately afterwards resume a division of +powers, and return to the forms of a monarchy.</p> + +<h3>XXV.</h3> + + +<p>At this moment the captive king entered Paris. It was on the 25th of +June, at seven o'clock in the evening. From Meaux to the suburbs of +Paris, the crowd thickened in every place as the king passed. The +passions of the city, the Assembly, the press, and the clubs worked more +intensely, and even closer in this population of the environs of Paris. +These passions, written on every countenance, were repressed by their +very violence. Indignation and contempt controlled their rage. Insult +escaped them only in under tones; the populace was sinister, and not +furious. Thousands of glances darted death into the windows of the +carriages, but not one tongue uttered a threat.</p> + +<p>This calmness of hatred did not escape the king; the day was burning +hot. A scorching sun, reflected by the pavement and the bayonets, was +almost suffocating in the berlin, where ten persons were squeezed +together. Volumes of dust, raised by the trampling of two or three +hundred thousand spectators, was the only veil which from time to time +covered the humiliation of the king and queen from the triumph of the +people. The sweat of the horses, the feverish breath of this multitude +compact and excited, made the atmosphere dense and fetid. The travellers +panted for breath, the foreheads of the two children were bathed in +perspiration. The queen, trembling for them, let down one of the windows +of the carriage quickly, and addressing the crowd in an appeal to their +compassion, "See, gentlemen," she exclaimed, "in what a state my poor +children are—one is choking!" "We will choke you in another fashion," +replied these ferocious men in an under tone.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p> + +<p>From time to time violent attempts of the mob broke through the line, +pushed aside the horses, and men reaching the doors mounted on the +steps. Merciless ruffians, looking in silence on the king, the queen, +and the dauphin, seemed calculating on final crimes, and feeding on the +degradation of royalty. Bodies of <i>gendarmerie</i> restored order from time +to time. The procession resumed its way in the midst of the clashing of +sabres, and the cries of men trampled under the horses' hoofs. La +Fayette, who feared attempts and surprises in the streets of Paris, +desired general Damas, the commandant of the escort, not to traverse the +city. He placed troops in deep line on the boulevard from the barrier De +l'Etoile to the Tuileries. The national guard bordered this line. The +Swiss guards were also drawn up, but their flags no longer lowered +before their master. No military honour was paid to the supreme head of +the army. The national guards, resting on their arms, did not salute +them, but saw the <i>cortège</i> pass by in an attitude of force, +indifference, and contempt.</p> + +<h3>XXVI.</h3> + + +<p>The carriages entered in the garden of the Tuileries by the turning +bridge. La Fayette, on horseback at the head of his staff, had gone to +meet the procession, and now headed it. During his absence an immense +crowd had filled the garden, the terraces, and obstructed the gate of +the chateau. The escort had the greatest difficulty in forcing its way +through this tumultuous mass. They made every man keep his hat on. M. de +Guillermy, a member of the Assembly, alone remained uncovered, in spite +of the threats and insults which this mark of respect brought down upon +him. It was then that the queen, perceiving M. de La Fayette, and +fearing for her faithful body-guard sitting in the carriage, and +threatened by the people, exclaimed, "Monsieur de La Fayette, save the +<i>gardes du corps</i>."</p> + +<p>The royal family descended from the carriage at the end of the terrace. +La Fayette received them from the hands of Barnave and Pétion. The +children were carried in the arms of the national guard. One of the +members of the left side of the Assembly, the vicomte de Noailles, +approached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> the queen with eagerness, and offered his arm. The queen +indignantly rejected it, and cast a look of contempt at the offer of +protection from an enemy, then perceiving a deputy of the right, +demanded his arm. So much degradation might depress, but could not +overcome her. The dignity of the empire displayed itself unabated in the +gesture and the heart of the woman.</p> + +<p>The prolonged clamours of the crowd at the entrance of the king at the +Tuileries announced to the Assembly its triumph. The excitement +suspended the sitting for nearly half an hour. A deputy, rushing into +the meeting, exclaimed that three <i>gardes du corps</i> were in the hands of +the people, who would rend them in pieces. Twenty <i>commissaires</i> went +out at the moment to rescue them. They entered some minutes afterwards. +The riot had been appeased by them. They stated that they had seen +Pétion protecting with his person the door of the king's carriage. +Barnave entered, mounted the tribune, covered as he was with the dust of +his journey, and said, "We have fulfilled our mission to the honour of +France and the Assembly; we have assured the public tranquillity and the +safety of the king. The king has declared to us that he had no intention +of passing the boundaries of the kingdom. (Murmurs.) We advanced rapidly +as far as Meaux, in order to avoid the pursuit of M. de Bouillé's +troops. The national guards and the troops have done their duty. The +king is at the Tuileries."</p> + +<p>Pétion added, in order to flatter public opinion, that when the carriage +stopped some persons had attempted to lay hands on the <i>gardes du +corps</i>, that he himself had been seized by the collar and dragged from +his place by the carriage door, but that this movement by the people was +legal in its intention, and had no other object than to enforce the +execution of the law which had ordered the arrest of the accomplices of +the court. It was decreed that information should be drawn up by the +tribunal of the <i>arrondissement</i> of the Tuileries concerning the king's +flight, and that three commissioners appointed by the Assembly should +receive the declarations of the king and queen. "What means this +obsequious exception?" exclaimed Robespierre. "Do you fear to degrade +royalty by handing over the king and queen to ordinary tribunals? A +citizen, a <i>citoyenne</i>, any man, any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> dignity, how elevated soever, can +never be degraded by the law." Buzot supported this opinion; Duport +opposed it. Respect prevailed over outrage. The commissioners named were +Tronchet, Dandré, and Duport.</p> + +<h3>XXVII.</h3> + + +<p>Once more in his own apartments, Louis XVI. measured with a glance the +depth of his fall. La Fayette presented himself with all the demeanour +of regret and respect, but with the reality of command. "Your majesty," +said he to the king, "knows my attachment for your royal person, but at +the same time you are not ignorant that if you separated yourself from +the cause of the people, I should side with the people." "That is true," +replied the king. "You follow your principles—this is a party matter, +and I tell you frankly, that until lately I had believed you had +surrounded me by a turbulent faction of persons of your own way of +thinking in order to mislead me, but that yours was not the real opinion +of France. I have learnt during my journey that I was deceived, and that +this was the general wish." "Has your majesty any orders to give me?" +replied La Fayette. "It seems to me," retorted the king with a smile, +"that I am more at your orders than you are at mine."</p> + +<p>The queen allowed the bitterness of her ill-restrained resentment to +display itself. She wished to force on M. de La Fayette the keys of her +caskets, which were in the carriages: he refused. She insisted; and when +he was firm in his refusal, she placed them in his hat with her own +hands. "Your majesty will have the goodness to take them back," said M. +de La Fayette, "for I shall not touch them." "Well, then," answered the +queen, "I shall find persons less delicate than you." The king entered +his closet, wrote several letters, and gave them to a footman, who +presented them to La Fayette for inspection. The general appeared +indignant that he should be deemed capable of such an unworthy office as +acting the spy over the king's acts; he was desirous that the thraldom +of the monarch should at least preserve the outward appearance of +liberty.</p> + +<p>The service of the chateau went on as usual; but La Fayette gave the +pass-word without first receiving it from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> the king. The iron gates of +the courts and gardens were locked. The royal family submitted to La +Fayette the list of persons whom they desired to receive. Sentinels were +placed at every door, in every passage, in the corridors between the +chambers of the king and queen. The doors of these chambers were +constantly kept open—even the queen's bed was inspected. Every place, +the most sacred, was suspected; female modesty was in no wise respected. +The gestures, looks, and words of the king and queen all were watched, +spied, and noted. They were obliged to manage by stealth some secret +interviews. An officer of the guard passed twenty-four hours at a time +at the end of a dark corridor, which was placed behind the apartment of +the queen's,—a single lamp lighted it, like the vault of a dungeon. +This post, detested by the officers on service, was sought after by the +devotion of some of them; they affected zeal, in order to cloak their +respect. Saint Prix, a celebrated actor of the Théâtre Français, +frequently accepted this post,—he favoured the hasty interviews of the +king, his wife, and sister.</p> + +<p>In the evening one of the queen's women moved her bed between that of +her mistress and the open door of the apartment, that she might thus +conceal her from the eyes of the sentinels. One night the commandant of +the guard, who watched between the two doors, seeing that this woman was +asleep, and the queen was awake, ventured to approach the couch of his +royal mistress, and gave her in a low tone some information and advice +as to her situation. This conversation aroused the sleeping attendant, +who, alarmed at seeing a man in uniform close to the royal bed, was +about to call aloud, when the queen desired her to be silent, saying, +"Do not alarm yourself; this is a good Frenchman, who is mistaken as to +the intentions of the king and myself, but whose conversation betokens a +sincere attachment to his masters."</p> + +<p>Providence thus made some of their persecutors to convey some +consolation to the victims. The king, so resigned, so unmoved, was bowed +for a moment beneath the weight of so many troubles—so much +humiliation. Such was his mental occupation, that he remained for ten +days without exchanging a word with one of his family. His last struggle +with misfortune seemed to have exhausted his strength.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> He felt himself +vanquished, and desired, it would almost seem, to die by anticipation. +The queen, throwing herself at his feet, and presenting to him his +children, forced him to break this mournful silence. "Let us," she +exclaimed, "preserve all our fortitude, in order to sustain this long +struggle with fortune. If our destruction be inevitable, there is still +left to us the choice of how we will perish; let us perish as +sovereigns, and do not let us wait without resistance, and without +vengeance, until they come and strangle us on the very floor of our own +apartments!" The queen had the heart of a hero; Louis XVI. had the soul +of a sage; but the genius which combines wisdom with valour was wanting +to both: the one knew how to struggle—the other knew how to +submit—neither knew how to reign.</p> + +<h3>XXVIII.</h3> + + +<p>The effect of this flight, had it succeeded, would have wholly changed +the aspect of the Revolution. Instead of having in the king, captive in +Paris, an instrument and a victim, the Revolution would have had in an +emancipated king, an enemy or a mediator; instead of being an anarchy, +she would have had a civil war; instead of having massacres, she would +have gained victories; she would have triumphed by arms, and not by +executions.</p> + +<p>Never did the fate of so many men and so many ideas depend so plainly on +a chance! And yet this was not a chance. Drouet was the means of the +king's destruction: if he had not recognised the monarch from his +resemblance with his portrait on the assignats—if he had not rode with +all speed, and reached Varennes before the carriages, in two hours more +the king and his family must have been saved. Drouet, this obscure son +of a post-master, sauntering and idle that evening before the door of a +cottage, decided the fate of a monarchy. He took the advice of no one +but himself—he set off, saying, "I will arrest the king." But Drouet +would not have had this decisive impulse if, at this moment, as it were, +he had not personified in himself all the agitation and all the +suspicions of the people. It was the fanaticism of his country which +impelled him, unknown to himself, to Varennes, and which urged him to +sacrifice a whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> family of fugitives to what he believed to be the +safety of the nation.</p> + +<p>He had not received instructions from anyone; he took upon himself alone +the arrest and the death that ensued. His devotion to his country was +cruel: his silence and commiseration would have drawn down minor +calamities.</p> + +<p>As to the king himself, this flight was in him a fault if not a crime: +it was too soon or too late. Too late—for the king had already too far +sanctioned the Revolution, to turn suddenly against it without appearing +to betray his people and give himself the lie; too soon—for the +constitution which the National Assembly was drawing up was not yet +completed, the government was not yet pronounced powerless; and the foes +of the king and his family were not yet so decidedly menaced that the +care of his safety as a man should surpass his duties as a king. In case +of success, Louis XVI. had none but foreign forces to recover his +kingdom; in case of arrest, he found only a prison in his palace. On +which side soever we view it, flight was fatal—it was the road to shame +or to the scaffold. There is but one route by which to flee a throne and +not to die—abdication. On his return from Varennes, the king should +have abdicated. The Revolution would have adopted his son, and have +educated it in its own image. He did not abdicate—he consented to +accept the pardon of his people; he swore to execute a constitution from +which he had fled. He was a king in a state of amnesty. Europe beheld in +him but a fugitive from his throne led back to his punishment, the +nation but a traitor, and the Revolution but a plaything.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK III.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + + +<p>There is for a people, as for individuals, an instinct of conservation +which warns and "gives them pause," even under the impulses of the most +blind passions, before the dangers into which they are about to fling +themselves headlong. They seem suddenly to recede at the aspect of this +abyss, into which but now they were hastening precipitately. The +intermissions of human passions are short and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> fugitive, but they give +time to events, returns to wisdom, and opportunities to statesmen. These +are moments in which they seize the hesitating and intimidated spirit of +the people, in order to make them create a reaction against their own +excesses, and to lead them back by the very revulsion of the passions +that have already urged them too far. The day after the 25th of June, +1791, France experienced one of those throes of repentance which save a +people. There was only the statesman wanting.</p> + +<p>Never had the National Assembly presented a spectacle so imposing and so +calm as during the five days which had succeeded the king's departure. +It would appear as though it felt the weight of the whole empire resting +on it, and it sustained its attitude in order to bear it with dignity. +It accepted the power without desiring either to usurp or to retain it. +It covered with a respectful fiction the king's desertion—called the +flight a carrying off, and sought for the guilty around the +throne—regarding the throne itself as inviolable. The man disappeared, +for it, in Louis XVI.:—in the irresponsible chief of the state. These +three months may be considered as an interregnum, during which public +reason was her sole constitution. There was no longer a king, for he was +a captive, and his sanction was taken from him: there was no longer law, +for the constitution was incomplete: there was no longer a minister, for +the executive power was suspended; and yet the kingdom was standing +erect, was acting, organising, defending itself, preserving itself—and +what is still more marvellous, controlled itself. It held in reserve in +a palace the principal machinery of the constitution,—Royalty; and the +day when the work is accomplished, it puts the king in his place, and +says to him, "Be free and reign."</p> + +<h3>II.</h3> + + +<p>One thing only dishonours this majestic interregnum of the nation—the +temporary captivity of the king and his family. But we must remember +that the nation had the right to say to its chief; "If thou wilt reign +over us, thou shalt not quit the kingdom, thou shalt not convey the +royalty of France amongst our enemies." And as to the forms of that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +captivity in the Tuileries, we must remember too that the National +Assembly had not prescribed them,—that in fact it</p> + +<p>had risen with indignation at the word imprisonment,—that it had +commanded a political resistance and nothing more, and that the severity +and odium of the precautionary measures used were occasioned by the +zealous responsibility of the national guard, more than to the +irreverence of the Assembly. La Fayette guarded, in the person of the +king, the dynasty, its proper head, and the constitution—a hostage +against the republic and royalty at the same time. <i>Maire du palais</i>, he +intimidated by the presence of a weak and degraded monarch, the +discouraged royalists and the restrained republicans. Louis XVI. was his +pledge.</p> + +<p>Barnave and the Lameths had within the Assembly the attitude of La +Fayette without. They required the king, in order to defend themselves +from their enemies. So long as there was a man (Mirabeau) between the +throne and themselves, they had played with the republic and sapped the +throne in order to crush a rival. But Mirabeau dead and the throne +shaken, they felt themselves weak against the very impulse they had +given. They sustained, therefore, this wreck of monarchy in order to be +sustained in their turn. Founders of the Jacobins, they trembled before +their own handiwork:—they took refuge in the constitution which they +themselves had dilapidated, and passed from the character of +destructives to that of statesmen. But for the first part there is only +violence needed; for the second genius is required. Barnave had talent +only. He had something more, however—he had a heart, and he was a good +man. The first excesses of his language were in him but the excitements +of the tribune; he was desirous of tasting the popular applause, and it +was showered upon him beyond his real merit. Hereafter it was not with +Mirabeau he was about to measure his strength; it was with the +Revolution in all its force. Jealousy took from him the pedestal which +it had lent, and he was about to appear as he really was.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>But a sentiment more noble than that of his personal safety impelled +Barnave to side with the monarchical party.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> His heart had passed before +his ambition to the side of weakness, beauty, and misfortune. Nothing is +more dangerous than for a sensitive man to know those against whom he +contends. Hatred against the cause shrinks before the feeling for the +persons. We become partial unwittingly. Sensibility disarms the +understanding, and we soften instead of reasoning, whilst the +sensitiveness of a commiserating man soon usurps the place of his +opinion.</p> + +<p>It was thus that Barnave's mind was worked upon, after the return from +Varennes. The interest he had conceived for the queen had converted this +young republican into a royalist. Barnave had only previously known this +princess through a cloud of prejudice, amid which parties enshroud those +whom they wish to have detested. A sudden communication caused this +conventional atmosphere to dissipate, and he adored, when close, what he +had calumniated at a distance. The very character which fortune had cast +for him in the destiny of this woman had something unexpected and +romantic, capable of dazzling his lofty imagination, and deeply +affecting his generous disposition. Young, obscure, unknown but a few +months before, and now celebrated, popular, and powerful—thrown in the +name of a sovereign assembly between the people and the king—he became +the protector of those whose enemy he had been. Royal and suppliant +hands met his plebeian touch! He who opposed the popular royalty of +talent and eloquence to the royalty of the blood of the Bourbons! He +covered with his body the life of those who had been his masters. His +very devotion was a triumph; the object of that devotion was in his +queen. That queen was young, handsome, majestic; but brought to the +level of ordinary humanity by her alarm for her husband and his +children. Her tearful eyes besought their safety from Barnave's eyes. He +was the leading orator in that Assembly which held the fate of the +monarch in his house. He was the favourite of that people whom he +controlled by a gesture, and whose fury he averted during the long +journey between the throne and death. The queen had placed her son, the +young dauphin, between his knees. Barnave's fingers had played with the +fair hair of the child. The king, the queen, Madame Elizabeth, had +distinguished, with tact, Barnave from the inflexible and brutal Pétion. +They had conversed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> with him as to their situation: they complained of +having been deceived as to the nature of the public mind in France. They +unveiled their repentance and constitutional inclinations. These +conversations, marred in the carriage by the presence of the other +commissioner and the eyes of the people, had been stealthily and more +intimately renewed in the meetings which the royal family nightly held. +Mysterious political correspondences and secret interviews in the +Tuileries were contrived. Barnave, the inflexible partisan, reached +Paris a devoted man. The nocturnal conference of Mirabeau with the +queen, in the park of Saint Cloud, was ambitioned by his rival; but +Mirabeau sold, Barnave gave, himself. Heaps of gold bought the man of +genius; a glance seduced the man of sentiment.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + + +<p>Barnave had found Duport and the Lameths, his friends, in the most +monarchical moods, but from other motives than his own. This triumvirate +was in terms of good understanding at the Tuileries. Lameths and Duport +saw the king. Barnave, who at first dared not venture to visit the +chateau, subsequently went there secretly. The utmost precaution and +concealment attended these interviews. The king and queen sometimes +awaited the youthful orator in a small apartment on the <i>entre sol</i> of +the palace, with a key in their hand, so as to open the door the moment +his footsteps were heard. When these meetings were utterly impossible, +Barnave wrote to the queen. He reckoned greatly on the strength of his +party in the Assembly, because he measured the power of their opinions +by the talent with which they expressed them. The queen did not feel a +similar confidence. "Take courage, madame," wrote Barnave; "it is true +our banner is torn, but the word <i>Constitution</i> is still legible +thereon. This word will recover all its pristine force and <i>prestige</i>, +if the king will rally to it sincerely. The friends of this +constitution, retrieving past errors, may still raise and maintain it +firmly. The Jacobins alarm public reason; the emigrants threaten our +nationality. Do not fear the Jacobins—put no trust in the emigrants. +Throw yourself into the national party which now exists. Did not Henry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +IV. ascend the throne of a Catholic nation at the head of a Protestant +party?"</p> + +<p>The queen with all sincerity adopted this tardy counsel, and arranged +with Barnave all her measures, and all her foreign correspondence. She +neither said nor did any thing which could thwart the plans he had +conceived for the restoration of royal authority. "A feeling of +legitimate pride," said the queen when speaking of him, "a feeling which +I am far from blaming in a young man of talent born in the obscure ranks +of the third estate, has made him desire a revolution which should +smooth the way to fame and influence. But his heart is loyal, and if +ever power is again in our hands, Barnave's pardon is already written on +our hearts." Madame Elizabeth partook of this regard of the king and +queen for Barnave. Defeated at all points, they had ended by believing +that the only persons capable of restoring the monarchy were those who +had destroyed it. This was a fatal superstition. They were induced to +adore that power of the Revolution which they could not bend.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + + +<p>The first acts of the king were too much imbued with the inspirations of +Barnave and the Lameths for the royal dignity. He addressed to the +commissioners of the Assembly charged with interrogating him as to the +circumstances of the 21st of June, a reply, the bad faith of which +called for the smile rather than the indulgence of his enemies.</p> + +<p>"Introduced into the king's chamber and alone with him," said the +commissioners of the Assembly, "the king made to us the following +declaration:—The motives of my departure were the insults and outrages +I underwent on the 18th of April, when I wished to go to St. Cloud. +These insults remained unpunished, and I thereupon believed that there +was neither safety nor decorum in my staying any longer in Paris. Unable +to quit publicly, I resolved to depart in the night, and without +attendants; my intention was never to leave the kingdom. I had no +concert with foreign powers, nor with the princes of my family who have +emigrated. My residence would have been at Montmédy, a place I had +chosen because it is fortified, and that being close to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> frontier, I +was more ready to oppose every kind of invasion. I have learnt during my +journey that public opinion was decided in favour of the constitution, +and so soon as I learnt the general wish I have not hesitated, as I +never have hesitated, to make the sacrifice of what concerns myself for +the public good."</p> + +<p>"The king," added the queen, in her declaration, "desiring to depart +with his children, I declare that nothing in nature could prevent my +following him. I have sufficiently proved, during two years, and under +the most painful circumstances, that I will never separate from him."</p> + +<p>Not content with this inquiry into the motives and circumstances of the +king's flight, public opinion, much irritated, demanded that the hand of +the nation should be extended even to the paternal authority, and that +the Assembly should appoint a governor for the dauphin. Eighty names, +for the most part of obscure persons, were found in the division which +was openly taken. They were hailed with shouts of general derision. This +outrage to the king and father was spared him. The governor subsequently +named by Louis XVI., M. de Fleurieu, never entered upon his duties. The +governor of the heir to an empire was the gaoler of a prison of +malefactors.</p> + +<p>The Marquis de Bouillé addressed from Luxembourg a threatening letter to +the Assembly, in order to turn from the king all popular indignation, +and to assume to himself the projection and execution of the king's +departure. "If," he added, "one hair of the head of Louis XVI. fall to +the ground, not one stone of Paris shall remain upon another. I know the +roads, and will guide the foreign armies thither." A laugh followed +these words. The Assembly was sufficiently wise not to require the +advice of M. de Bouillé, and strong enough to despise the threats of a +proscribed man.</p> + +<p>M. de Cazalès sent in his resignation, in order to <i>go and fight (aller +combattre)</i>. The most prominent members of the right side, amongst whom +were Maury, Montlozier, the abbé Montesquieu, the abbé de Pradt, Virieu, +&c. &c., to the number of two hundred and ninety, took a pernicious +resolution, which, by removing all counterpoise from the extreme party +of the Revolution, precipitated the fall of, and de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>stroyed, the king, +under pretext of a sacred respect for royalty. They remained in the +Assembly, but they annulled their power, and would only be considered as +a living protest against the violation of the royal liberty and +authority. The Assembly refused to hear the reading of their protest, +which was itself a violation of their elective power; and they then +published it and circulated it profusely all over the kingdom. "The +decrees of the Assembly," they said, "have wholly absorbed the royal +power. The seal of state is on the president's table; the king's +sanction is annihilated. The king's name is erased from the oath which +is taken from the law. The commissioners convey the orders of the +committees direct to the armies. The king is a captive; a provisional +republic occupies the interregnum. Far be it from us to concur in such +acts; we would not even consent to be witnesses of it, if we had not +still the duty of watching over the preservation of the king. Excepting +this sole interest, we shall impose on ourselves the most absolute +silence. This silence will be the only expression of our constant +opposition to all your acts."</p> + +<p>These words were the abdication of an entire party, for any party that +protests abdicates. On this day there was emigration in the Assembly. +This mistaken fidelity, which deplored instead of combating, obtained +the applause of the nobility and clergy; it merited the utmost contempt +of politicians. Abandoning, in their struggle against the Jacobins, +Barnave and the monarchical constitutionalists, it gave the victory to +Robespierre, and by assuring the majority to his proposition for the non +re-election of the members of the National Assembly to the Legislative +Assembly, it sanctioned the convention. The royalists took away the +weight of one great opinion from the balance, which consequently then +leaned towards the disorders that ensued, and which in their progress +carried off the head of the king and their own heads. A great opinion +never lays down its arms with impunity for its country.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>The Jacobins perceived this great error, and rejoiced at it. On seeing +so large a body of the supporters of the con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>stitutional monarchy +withdraw from the contest voluntarily, they at once foresaw what they +might dare, and they dared it. Their sittings became more significant in +proportion as those of the Assembly grew more dull and impotent. The +words of "forfeiture" and "republic" were heard there for the first +time. Retracted at first, they were afterwards again pronounced: uttered +at first like blasphemies, they were not long in being familiar as +principles. Parties did not at first know what they themselves +desired—they learnt it from success. The daring broached distempered +ideas; if repulsed, the sagacious disavowed them—if caught up, the +leaders resumed them. In conflicts of opinions <i>reconnaissances</i> are +employed, as they are in the campaigns of armies. The Jacobins were the +advanced guard of the Revolution, who measured the opposing obstacles of +the monarchical feeling.</p> + +<p>The club of Cordeliers sent to the Jacobins a copy of a proposed address +to the National Assembly, in which the annihilation of royalty was +openly demanded.</p> + +<p>"We are <i>free and without a king,</i>" said the Cordeliers, "as the day +after the taking of the Bastille; it is only for us to decide whether or +no we shall name another. We are of opinion that the nation should do +every thing by itself or by agents removable by her. We think, that the +more important an employ, the more temporary should be its tenure. We +think that royalty, and especially hereditary royalty, is incompatible +with liberty; we anticipate the crowd of opponents such a declaration +will create, but has not the declaration of rights produced as many? In +leaving his post the king virtually abdicated,—let us profit by the +occasion and our right—let us swear that France is a republic."</p> + +<p>This address, read to the club of Jacobins on the 22d, at first excited +universal indignation. On the 23d, Danton mounted the tribune, demanded +the positive forfeiture of the throne (<i>la déchéance</i>), and the +nomination of a council of regency. "Your king," he said, "is an idiot, +or a criminal. It would be a horrid spectacle to present to the world, +if, having the option of declaring a king criminal or idiotic, you did +not prefer the latter alternative."</p> + +<p>On the 27th, Girey Dupré, a young writer who awaited<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> the Gironde, +mooted the judgment of Louis XVI. "We can punish a perjured king, and we +ought;" such was the text of his discourse. Brissot opened the question +as Pétion had done at the preceding sitting, "<i>Can a perjured king be +brought to trial</i> (<i>jugé</i>)?</p> + +<p>"Why," asked Brissot "should we divide ourselves into dangerous +denominations? we are all of one opinion. What do they want who are here +hostile to the republicans? They detest the turbulent assemblies of +Athens and Rome; they fear the division of France into isolated +federations. They only want the representative constitution, and they +are right. What do they want who boast of the name of republicans? They +fear, they abhor equally, the turbulent assemblies of Rome and Athens, +and equally dread a federated republic. They desire a representative +constitution—nothing more, nothing less—and thus, we all concur. The +head of the executive power has betrayed his oath,—must we bring him to +judgment? This is the only point on which we differ. Inviolability will +else be impunity to all crimes, an encouragement for all treason—common +sense demands that the punishment should follow the offence. I do not +see an inviolable man governing the people, but a <i>God</i> and 25,000,000 +of <i>brutes!</i> If the king had on his return entered France at the head of +foreign forces, if he had ravaged our fairest provinces, and if, checked +in his career, you had made him prisoner, what would you then have done +with him? Would you have allowed his inviolability to have saved him? +Foreign powers are held up before you as a threat; do not fear them: +Europe in arms is impotent against a people who will be free."</p> + +<p>In the National Assembly Muguer, in the name of the joint committees, +brought up the report on the king's flight; he maintained the +inviolability of Louis XVI. and the accusation of his accomplices. +<span class="smcap">Robespierre</span> opposed the inviolability; he avoided all show of +anger in his language; and was careful to veil all his conclusions +beneath the cover of mildness and humanity. "I will not pause to +inquire," he said, "whether the king fled voluntarily, of his own act, +or if from the extremity of the frontiers a citizen carried him off by +his advice: I will not inquire either, whether this flight is a +conspiracy against the public liberty. I shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> speak of the king as of +an imaginary sovereign, and of inviolability as a principle." After +having combated the principle of inviolability by the same arguments +which Girey Dupré and Brissot had applied, Robespierre thus concluded. +"The measures you propose cannot but dishonour you; if you adopt them, I +demand to declare myself the advocate of all the accused. I will be the +defender of the three <i>gardes du corps</i>, the dauphine's governess, even +of Monsieur de Bouillé. By the principles of your committees, there is +no crime; yet, invariably, where there is no crime there can be no +accomplices. Gentlemen, if it be a weakness to spare a culprit, to visit +the weaker culprit when the greater one escapes, is +cowardice—injustice. You must pass sentence on all the guilty alike, or +pronounce a general pardon."</p> + +<p>Grégoire supported the accusation party. Salles defended the +recommendation of the committee.</p> + +<p>Barnave at length spoke, and in support of Salles' opinion. He said: +"The French nation has just undergone a violent shock; but if we are to +believe all the auguries which are delivered, this recent event, like +all others which have preceded it, will only serve to advance the +period, to confirm the solidity of the revolution we have effected. I +will not dilate on the advantages of monarchical government: you have +proved your conviction by establishing it in your country: I will only +say that every government, to be good, should comprise within itself the +principles of its stability: for otherwise, instead of prosperity there +would be before us only the perspective of a series of changes. Some +men, whose motives I shall not impugn, seeking for examples to adduce, +have found, in America, a people occupying a vast territory with a +scanty population, nowhere surrounded by very powerful neighbours, +having forests for their boundaries, and having for customs the feelings +of a new race, and who are wholly ignorant of those factitious passions +and impulses which effect revolutions of government. They have seen a +republican government established in that land, and have thence drawn +the conclusion that a similar government was suitable for us. These men +are the same who at this moment are contesting the inviolability of the +king. But, if it be true that in our territory there is a vast +population spread,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>—if it be true that there are amongst them a +multitude of men exclusively given up to those intellectual speculations +which excite ambition and the love of fame,—if it be true that around +us powerful neighbours compel us to form but one compact body in order +to resist them,—if it be true that all these circumstances are +irresistible, and are wholly independent of ourselves, it is undeniable +that the sole existing remedy lies in a monarchical government. When a +country is populous and extensive, there are—and political experience +proves it—but two modes of assuring to it a solid and permanent +existence. Either you must organise those parts separately;—you must +place in each section of the empire a portion of the government, and +thus you will maintain security at the expense of unity, strength, and +all the advantages which result from a great and homogeneous +association:—or else you will be forced to centralise an unchangeable +power, which, never renewed by the law, presenting incessantly obstacles +to ambition, resists with advantage the shocks, rivalries, and rapid +vibrations of an immense population, agitated by all the passions +engendered by long established society. These facts decide our position. +We can only be strong through a federative government, which no one here +has the madness to propose, or by a monarchical government, such as you +have established; that is to say, by confiding the reins of the +executive power to a family having the right of hereditary succession. +You have intrusted to an inviolable king the exclusive function of +naming the agents of his power, but you have made those agents +responsible. To be independent the king must be inviolable: do not let +us set aside this axiom. We have never failed to observe this as regards +individuals, let us regard it as respects the monarch. Our principles, +the constitution, the law, declare that he has not forfeited (<i>qu'il +n'est pas déchu</i>): thus, then, we have to choose between our attachment +to the constitution and our resentment against an individual. Yes, I +demand at this moment from him amongst you all, who may have conceived +against the head of the executive power prejudices however strong, and +resentment however deep; I ask at his hands whether he is more irritated +against the king than he is attached to the laws of his country? I would +say to those who rage so fu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>riously against an individual who has done +wrong,—I would say, Then you would be at his feet if you were content +with him? (Loud and lengthened applause.) Those who would thus sacrifice +the constitution to their anger against one man, seem to me too much +inclined to sacrifice liberty from their enthusiasm for some other man; +and since they love a republic, it is, indeed, the moment to say to +them, What, would you wish a republic in such a nation? How is it you do +not fear that the same variableness of the people, which to-day +manifests itself by hatred, may on another day be displayed by +enthusiasm in favour of some great man? Enthusiasm even more dangerous +than hatred: for the French nation, you know, understands better how to +love than to hate. I neither fear the attacks of foreign nations nor of +emigrants: I have already said so; but I now repeat it with the more +truth, as I fear the continuation of uneasiness and agitation, which +will not cease to exist and affect us until the Revolution be wholly and +pacifically concluded. We need fear no mischief from without; but vast +injury is done to us from within, when we are disturbed by painful +ideas—when chimerical dangers, excited around us, create with the +people some consistency and some credit for the men who use them as a +means of unceasing agitation. Immense damage is done to us when that +revolutionary impetus, which has destroyed every thing there was to +destroy, and which has urged us to the point where we must at last +pause, is perpetuated. If the Revolution advance one step further it +cannot do so without danger. In the line of liberty, the first act which +can follow is the annihilation of royalty; in the line of equality, the +first act which must follow is an attempt on all property. Revolutions +are not effected with metaphysical maxims—there must be an actual +tangible prey to offer to the multitude that is led astray. It is time, +therefore, to end the Revolution. It ought to stop at the moment when +the nation is free, and when all Frenchmen are equal. If it continue in +trouble, it is dishonoured, and we with it; yes, all the world ought to +agree that the common interest is involved in the close of the +Revolution. Those who have lost ought to perceive that it is impossible +to make it retrograde. Those who fashioned it must see that it is at its +consummation. Kings themselves—if from, time to time<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> profound truths +can penetrate to the councils of kings—if occasionally the prejudices +which surround them will permit the sound views of a great and +philosophical policy to reach them—kings themselves must learn that +there is for them a wide difference between the example of a great +reform in the government and that of the abolition of royalty: that if +we pause here, where we are, they are still kings! but be their conduct +what it may, let the fault come from them and not from us. Regenerators +of the empire! follow straightly your undeviating line; you have been +courageous and potent—be to-day wise and moderate. In this will consist +the glorious termination of your efforts. Then, again returning to your +domestic hearths, you will obtain from all, if not blessings, at least +the silence of calumny." This address, the most eloquent ever delivered +by Barnave, carried the report in the affirmative; and for several days +checked all attempts at republic and forfeiture in the clubs of the +Cordeliers and Jacobins. The king's inviolability was consecrated in +fact as well as in principle. M. de Bouillé, his accomplices and +adherents, were sent for trial to the high national court of Orleans.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Whilst these men, exclusively political, each measuring the advance of +the Revolution, step by step, with their eyes, desired courageously to +stop it, or checked their own views, the Revolution was continually +progressing. Its own thought was too vast for any head of public man, +orator, or statesman to contain. Its breath was too powerful for any one +breast to respire it solely. Its end was too comprehensive to be +included in any of the successive views that the ambition of certain +factions, or the theories of certain statesmen could propound. Barnave, +the Lameths, and La Fayette, like Mirabeau and Necker, endeavoured, in +vain, to oppose to it the power and influence they had derived from it. +It was destined, before it was appeased or relaxed in its onward career, +to frustrate many other systems, make many other breasts pant in vain, +and outstrip a multitude of other aims.</p> + +<p>Independent of the national assemblies it had given to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> itself as a +government, and in which were, for the most part, concentrated the +political instruments of its impulse, it had also given birth to two +levers, still more potent and terrible to move and sweep away these +political bodies when they attempted to check her when she chose to +advance. These two levers were the press and the clubs. The clubs and +the press were, to the legal assemblies, what free air is to confined +air. Whilst the air of these assemblies became vitiated, and exhausted +itself in the circle of the established government, the air of +journalism and popular societies was impregnated and incessantly stirred +by an inexhaustible principle of vitality and movement. The stagnation +within was fully credited, but the current was without.</p> + +<p>The press, in the half century which had preceded the Revolution, had +been the echo, well organised and calm, of the thoughts of sages and +reformers. From the time when the Revolution burst forth, it had become +the turbulent and frequently cynical echo of the popular excitement.</p> + +<p>It had itself transformed the modes of communicating ideas; it no longer +produced books—it had not the time: at first it expended itself in +pamphlets, and subsequently in a multitude of flying and diurnal sheets, +which, published at a low price amongst the people, or gratuitously +placarded in the public thoroughfares, incited the multitude to read and +discuss them. The treasury of the national thought, whose pieces of gold +were too pure, or too bulky, for the use of the populace, it was, if we +may be allowed the expression, converted into a multitude of smaller +coins, struck with the impress of the passions of the hour, and often +tarnished with the foulest oxides. Journalism, like an irresistible +element of the life of a people in revolution, had made its own place, +without listening to the law which had been made to restrain it.</p> + +<p>Mirabeau, who required that his speeches should echo throughout the +departments, had given birth to this speaking trumpet of the Revolution, +(despite the orders in council) in his <i>Letters to my Constituents</i>, and +in the <i>Courrier de Provence</i>. At the opening of the States General, and +at the taking of the Bastille, other journals had appeared. At each new +insurrection there was a fresh inundation of news<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>papers. The leading +organs of public agitation were then the <i>Revolution of Paris</i>, edited +by Loustalot; a weekly paper, with a circulation of 200,000 copies; the +feeling of the man may be seen in the motto of his paper: "The great +appear great to us only because we are on our knees—let us rise!" The +<i>Discours de la Lanterne aux Parisiens</i>, subsequently called the +<i>Revolutions de France et de Brabant</i>, was the production of Camille +Desmoulins. This young student, who became suddenly a political +character on a chair in the garden of the Palais Royal, on the first +outbreak of the month of July, 1789, preserved in his style, which was +frequently very brilliant, something of his early character. It was the +sarcastic genius of Voltaire descended from the saloon to the pavement. +No man in himself ever personified the people better than did Camille +Desmoulins. He was the mob with his turbulent and unexpected movements, +his variableness, his unconnectedness, his rages interrupted by +laughter, or suddenly sinking into sympathy and sorrow for the very +victims he immolated. A man, at the same time so ardent and so trifling, +so trivial and so inspired, so indecisive between blood and tears, so +ready to crush what he had just deified with enthusiasm, must have the +more empire over a people in revolt, in proportion as he resembled them. +His character was his nature. He not only aped the people, he was the +people himself. His newspapers cried in the public streets, and their +sarcasm, bandied from mouth to mouth, has not been swept away with the +other impurities of the day. He remains, and will remain, a Menippus, +the satirist stained with blood. It was the popular chorus which led the +people to their most important movements, and which was frequently +stifled by the whistling of the cord of the street lamp, or in the +hatchet-stroke of the guillotine. Camille Desmoulins was the remorseless +offspring of the Revolution,—Marat was its fury; he had the clumsy +tumblings of the brute in his thought, and its gnashing of teeth in his +style. His journal (<i>L'Ami du Peuple</i>), the People's Friend, smelt of +blood in every line.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>Marat was born in Switzerland. A writer without talent, a <i>savant</i> +without reputation, with a desire for fame without having received from +society or nature the means of acquiring either, he revenged himself on +all that was great not only in society but in nature. Genius was as +hateful to him as aristocracy. Wherever he saw any thing elevated or +striking he hunted it down as though it were a deadly enemy. He would +have levelled creation. Equality was his mania, because superiority was +his martyrdom; he loved the Revolution because it brought down all to +his level; he loved it even to blood, because blood washed out the stain +of his long-during obscurity; he made himself a public denouncer by the +popular title; he knew that denouncement is flattery to all who tremble, +and the people are always trembling. A real prophet of demagogueism, +inspired by insanity, he gave his nightly dreams to daily conspiracies. +The Seid of the people, he interested it by his self-devotion to its +interests. He affected mystery like all oracles. He lived in obscurity, +and only went out at night; he only communicated with his fellows with +the most sinistrous precautions. A subterranean cell was his residence, +and there he took refuge safe from poignard and poison. His journal +affected the imagination like something supernatural. Marat was wrapped +in real fanaticism. The confidence reposed in him nearly amounted to +worship. The fumes of the blood he incessantly demanded had mounted to +his brain. He was the delirium of the Revolution, himself a living +delirium!</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>Brissot, as yet obscure, wrote <i>Le Patriote Français</i>. A politician, and +aspiring to leading parts, he only excited revolutionary passions in +proportion as he hoped one day to govern by them. At first a +constitutionalist and friend of Necker and Mirabeau, a hireling before +he became a <i>doctrinaire</i>, he saw in the people only a sovereign more +suitable to his own ambition. The republic was his rising sun; he +approached it as to his own fortune, but with prudence, and frequently +looking behind him to see if opinion followed his traces.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p>Condorcet, an aristocrat by genius, although an aristocrat by birth, +became a democrat from philosophy. His passion was the transformation of +human reason. He wrote <i>La Chronique de Paris</i>.</p> + +<p>Carra, an obscure demagogue, had created for himself a name of fear in +the <i>Annales Patriotiques</i>. Fréron, in the <i>Orateur du Peuple</i>, rivalled +Marat. Fauchet, in the <i>Bouche de Fer</i>, elevated democracy to a level +with religious philosophy. The "last not least," Laclos, an officer of +artillery, author of an obscene novel, and the confidant of the Duc +d'Orleans, edited the <i>Journal des Jacobins</i>, and stirred up through +France the flame of ideas and words of which the focus was in the clubs.</p> + +<p>All these men used their utmost efforts to impel the people beyond the +limits which Barnave had prescribed to the event of the 21st June. They +desired to avail themselves of the instant when the throne was left +empty to obliterate it from the constitution. They overwhelmed the king +with insults and objurgations, in order that the Assembly might not dare +to replace at the head of their institutions a prince whom they had +vilified. They clamoured for interrogatory, sentence, forfeiture, +abdication, imprisonment, and hoped to degrade royalty for ever by +degrading the king. The republic saw its hour for the first moment, and +trembled to allow it to escape. All these hands at once urged men's +minds towards a decisive movement. Articles in the journals provoked +motions, motions petitions, and petitions riots. The altar of the +country in the Champ-de-Mars, which remained erected for a new +federation, was the place which was already pointed out for the +assemblies of the people. It was the <i>Mons Aventinus</i>, whither it was to +retire, and whence it was to dictate to a timid and corrupt senate.</p> + +<p>"No more king,—let us be republicans," wrote Brissot in the <i>Patriote</i>. +"Such is the cry at the Palais Royal, and it does not gain ground fast +enough; it would seem as though it were blasphemy. This repugnance for +assuming the name of the condition in which the state <i>actually is</i> is +very extraordinary in the eyes of philosophy." "No king! no protector! +no regent! Let us have done with man-eaters of every sort and kind," +re-echoed the <i>Bouche de Fer</i>. "Let the eighty-three departments enter +into a federation, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> declare that they will no longer endure tyrants, +monarchs, or protectors. Their shade is as fatal to the people as that +of the Bohonupas is deadly to all that lives. If we nominate a regent we +shall soon fight for the choice of a master. Let us only contend for +liberty."</p> + +<p>Provoked by this reference to the regency, which appeared to point to +him, the Duc d'Orleans wrote to the journals that he was ready to serve +his country by land or by sea; but in respect to any question of +regency, he from that moment renounced, and for ever, any pretensions to +that title which the constitution might give him. "After having made so +many sacrifices to the cause of the people," he said, "I am no longer in +a condition to quit my position as a simple citizen. Ambition in me +would be an inexcusable inconsistency."</p> + +<p>Already discredited by all parties, this prince, henceforth incapable of +serving the throne, was equally incapable of serving the republic. +Odious to the royalists, put aside by the demagogues, suspected by the +constitutionalists, there only remained to him the stoical attitude in +which he took refuge. He had abdicated his rank, abdicated his own +faction; he had abdicated the favour of the people. His life was all +that remained to him.</p> + +<p>At the same moment Camille Desmoulins was thus satirically +apostrophising La Fayette, the first idol of the Revolution:—"Liberator +of two worlds, flower of Janissaries, phœnix of Alguazils-major, Don +Quixotte of Capet and the two chambers, constellation of the white +horse<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>, my voice is too weak to raise itself above the clamour of your +thirty thousand spies, and as many more your satellites, above the noise +of your four hundred drums, and your cannons loaded with grape. I had +until now misrepresented your—more than—royal highness through the +allusions of Barnave, Lameth, and Duport. It was after them that I +denounced you to the eighty-three departments as an ambitious man who +only cared for parade, a slave of the court similar to those marshals of +the league to whom revolt had given the <i>bâton</i>, and who, looking upon +themselves as bastards, were desirous of becoming legitimate; but all of +a sudden you embrace each<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> other, and proclaim yourselves mutually +fathers of your country! You say to the nation, 'Confide in us; we are +the Cincinnati, the Washingtons, the Aristides.' Which of these two +testimonies are we to believe? Foolish people! The Parisians are like +those Athenians to whom Demosthenes said, 'Shall you always resemble +those athletes who struck in one place cover it with their hand,—struck +in another place they place their hand there, and thus always occupied +with the blows they receive, do not know either how to strike or defend +themselves!' They are beginning to doubt whether Louis XVI. could be +perjured since he is at Varennes. I think I see the same great eyes open +when they shall see La Fayette open the gates of the capital to +despotism and aristocracy. May I be deceived in my conjectures, for I am +going from Paris, as Camillus my patron departed from an ungrateful +country, wishing it every kind of prosperity. I have no occasion to have +been an emperor like Diocletian to know that the fine lettuces of +Salernum, which are far superior to the empire of the East, are quite +equal to the gay scarf which a municipal authority wears, and the +uneasiness with which a Jacobin journalist returns to his home in the +evening, fearing always lest he should fall into an ambuscade of the +cut-throats of the general. For me it was not to establish two chambers +that I first mounted the tricolour cockade!"</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>Such was the general tone of the press, such the exhaustless laughter +which this young man diffused, like the Aristophanes of an irritated +people. He accustomed it to revile men, majesty, misfortune, and worth. +The day came when he required for himself and for the young and lovely +woman whom he adored, that pity which he had destroyed in the people. He +found, in his turn, only the brutal derision of the multitude, and he +himself then became sad and sorry for the first and last time.</p> + +<p>The people, all whose political idea is from the senses, could not at +all comprehend why the statesmen of the Assembly should impose upon them +a fugitive king, out of respect for abstract royalty. The moderation of +Barnave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> and Lameth seemed to them full of suspicion; and cries of +treason were uttered at all their meetings. The decree of the Assembly +was the signal for increased ferment, which developed from and after the +13th of July, in zealous meetings, imprecations, and threats. Large +bodies of workmen, leaving their work, congregated in the public places, +and demanded bread of the municipal authorities. The commune, in order +to appease them, voted for distributions and supplies. Bailly, the mayor +of Paris, harangued them, and gave them extraordinary work. They went to +it for a moment, and then quitted it, being speedily attracted by the +mob becoming dense and uttering cries of hunger.</p> + +<p>The crowd betook itself from the Hôtel-de-Ville to the Jacobins, from +the Jacobins to the National Assembly, clamorous for the forfeiture of +the crown and the republic. This popular gathering had no other leader +than the uneasiness that excited it. A spontaneous and unanimous +instinct assured it that the Assembly would be found wanting at the hour +of great resolutions. This mob desired to compel it again to seize the +opportunity. Its will was the more potent as it was wholly impossible to +trace it to its source—no chief gave it any visible impetus. It +advanced of itself, spake of itself, and wrote with its own hand in the +streets—on the corner stone—its threatening petitions.</p> + +<p>The first that the people presented to the Assembly, on the 14th, and +which was escorted by 4000 petitioners, was signed "<i>The People</i>." The +14th of July and the 6th of October had taught it its name. The +Assembly, firm and unmoved, passed to the order of the day.</p> + +<p>On quitting the Assembly, the crowd went to the Champ-de-Mars, where it +signed, in greater numbers, a second petition in still more imperative +terms. "Entrusted with the representation of a free people, will you +destroy the work we have perfected? Will you replace liberty by a reign +of tyranny? If, indeed, it were so, learn that the French people, which +has acquired its rights, will not again lose them."</p> + +<p>On quitting the Champ-de-Mars, the people thronged round the Tuileries, +the Assembly, and the Palais Royal. Of their own accord they shut up the +theatres, and proclaimed the suspension of all public entertainments, +until<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> justice should be done to them. That evening 4000 persons went to +the Jacobins, as though to identify in the agitators who met there the +real assembly of the people. The chiefs in whom they reposed confidence +were there: the tribune was occupied by a member who was denouncing to +the meeting a citizen for having made a remark injurious to Robespierre; +the accused was justifying himself, and they drove him tumultuously from +the chamber. At this moment Robespierre appeared, and begged them to +pardon the citizen who had insulted him. His generous intercession was +hailed with applause, and enthusiasm for Robespierre was at its height. +"Sacred vaults of the Jacobins," were the words of an address from the +departments; "you guarantee to us Robespierre and Danton, these two +oracles of patriotism." Laclos proposed a petition to be sent into the +departments, and covered with ten millions of signatures. A member +opposes this proposition, from love of order and peace. Danton +rises,—"And I, too, love peace, but not the peace of slavery. If we +have energy, let us show it. Let those who do not feel courage to rise +and beard tyranny refrain from signing our petition: we want no better +proof by which to understand each other. Here it is to our hand."</p> + +<p>Robespierre next spoke, and demonstrated to the people that Barnave and +the Lameths were playing the same game as Mirabeau. "They concert with +our enemies, and then they call us factious!" More timid than Laclos and +Danton, he did not give any opinion as to the petition. A man of +calculation rather than of passion, he foresaw that the disorderly +movement would split against the organised resistance of the +<i>bourgeoisie</i>. He reserved to himself the power of falling back upon the +legality of the question, and kept on terms with the Assembly. Laclos +pressed his motion, and the people carried it. At midnight they +separated, after having agreed to meet the next day in the +Champ-de-Mars, there to sign the petition.</p> + +<p>The day following was lost to sedition, by disputes between the clubs as +to the terms of the petition. The Republicans negotiated with La +Fayette, to whom they offered the presidency of an American government. +Robespierre and Danton, who detested La Fayette—Laclos, who urged on +the Duc d'Orleans, concerted together, and impeded the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> impulse given by +the Cordeliers subservient to Danton. The Assembly watchful, Bailly on +his guard, La Fayette resolute, watched in unison for the repression of +all outbreak. On the 16th the Assembly summoned to its bar the +municipality and its officers, to make it responsible for the public +peace. It drew up an address to the French people, in order to rally +them around the constitution. Bailly, the same evening, issued a +proclamation against the agitators. The fluctuating Jacobins themselves +declared their submission to the decrees of the Assembly. At the moment +when the struggle was expected, the leaders of the projected movement +were invisible. The night was spent in military preparations against the +meeting on the morrow.</p> + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>On the 17th, very early in the morning, the people, without leaders, +began to collect in the Champ-de-Mars, and surround the altar of the +country, raised in the centre of the large square of the confederation. +A strange and melancholy chance opened the scenes of murder on this day. +When the multitude is excited, every thing becomes the occasion of +crime. A young painter, who, before the hour of meeting, was copying the +patriotic inscriptions engraved in front of the altar, heard a slight +noise at his feet; astonished, he looked around him and saw the point of +a gimlet, with which some men, concealed under the steps of the altar, +were piercing the planks of the pedestal. He hastened to the nearest +guard-house, and returned with some soldiers. They lifted up one of the +steps and found beneath two invalids, who had got under the altar in the +night, with no other design, as they declared, than a childish and +obscene curiosity. The report instantly spread that the altar of the +country was undermined, in order to blow up the people; that a barrel of +gunpowder had been discovered beside the conspirators; that the +invalids, surprised in the preliminaries to their criminal design, were +well known satellites of the aristocracy; that they had confessed their +deadly design, and the amount of reward promised on the success of their +wickedness. The mob mustered, and raging with fury, surrounded the +guard-house of the Gros-Caillou. The two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> invalids underwent an +interrogatory. The moment when they left the guard-house, to be conveyed +to the Hôtel-de-Ville, the populace rushed upon them, tore them from the +soldiers who were escorting them, rent them in pieces, and their heads, +placed on the tops of pikes, were carried by a band of ferocious +children to the environs of the Palais Royal.</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>The news of these murders, confusedly spread and variously interpreted +in the city, in the Assembly, among various groups, excited various +feelings, according as it was viewed as a crime of the people or a crime +of its enemies. The truth was only made apparent long after. The +agitation increased from the indignation of some and the suspicions of +others. Bailly, duly informed, sent three commissaries and a battalion. +Other commissaries traversed the quarters of the capital, reading to the +people the proclamation of the magistrates and the address of the +National Assembly.</p> + +<p>The ground of the Bastille was occupied by the national guard and the +patriotic societies, which were to go thence to the field of the +Federation. Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Fréron, Brissot, and the +principal ringleaders of the people had disappeared; some said in order +to concert insurrectional measures, at Legendre's house in the country; +others, in order to escape the responsibility of the day. The former +version was the more generally accredited, from Robespierre's known +hatred to Danton, to whom Saint Just said, in his accusation—"Mirabeau, +who meditated a change of dynasty, appreciated the force of thy +audacity, and laid hands upon it. Thou didst startle him from the laws +of stern principle; we heard nothing more of thee until the massacres of +the Champ-de-Mars. Thou didst support that false measure of the people, +and the proposition of the law, which had no other object than to serve +for a pretext for unfolding the red banner, and an attempt at tyranny. +The patriots, not initiated in this treachery, had opposed thy +perfidious advice. Thou wast named in conjunction with Brissot to draw +up this petition. You both escaped the prey of La Fayette, who caused +the slaughter of ten thousand patriots. Brissot re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>mained calmly in +Paris, and thou didst hasten to Arcis-sur-Aube, to pass some agreeable +days. Can one fancy thy tranquil joys—thou being one of the drawers up +of this petition, whilst those who signed the document were loaded with +irons, or weltering in their blood? You were then—thou and +Brissot—objects for the gratitude of tyranny; because, assuredly, you +could not be the objects of its detestation!"</p> + +<p>Camille Desmoulins thus justifies the absence of Danton, himself, and +Fréron, by asserting that Danton had fled from proscription and +assassination to the house of his father-in-law, at Fontenay, on the +previous night, and was tracked thither by a band of La Fayette's spies; +and that Fréron, whilst crossing the Pont Neuf, had been assailed, +trampled under foot, and wounded by fourteen hired ruffians; whilst +Camille himself, marked for the dagger, only escaped by a mistake in his +description. History has not put any faith in these pretended +assassinations of La Fayette.</p> + +<p>Camille, invisible all day, repaired in the evening to the Jacobins.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>In the mean while the crowd began to congregate in vast masses in the +Champ-de-Mars—agitated, but inoffensive—the national guard, every +battalion of whom La Fayette had ordered out, were under arms. One of +the detachments which had arrived that morning in the Champ-de-Mars, +with a train of artillery, withdrew by the quays, in order that the +appearance of an armed force might not irritate the people. At twelve +o'clock the crowd assembled round the "altar of the country" (<i>autel de +la patrie</i>), not seeing the commissioners of the Jacobin club, who had +promised to bring the petition to be signed, of their own accord chose +four commissioners of their number to draw up one. One of the +commissioners took the pen, the citizens crowded round him, and he wrote +as follows:—</p> + +<p>"On the altar of the country, July 13th, in the year III. +Representatives of the people, your labours are drawing to a close. A +great crime has been committed; Louis flies, and has unworthily +abandoned his post—the empire is on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> verge of ruin—he has been +arrested, and has been brought back to Paris, where the people demand +that he be tried. You declare he shall be king. This is not the wish of +the people, and the decree is therefore annulled. He has been carried +off by the two hundred and ninety-two <i>aristocrates</i>, who have +themselves declared that they have no longer a voice in the National +Assembly. It is annulled because it is in opposition to the voice of the +people, your sovereign. Repeal your decree: the king has abdicated by +his crime: receive his abdication; convoke a fresh constitutive power; +point out the criminal, and organise a new executive power."</p> + +<p>This petition was laid on the altar of the country, and quires of paper, +placed at the four corners of the altar, received six thousand +autographs.</p> + +<p>This petition is still preserved in the archives of the Municipality, +and bears on it the indelible imprint of the hand of the people. It is +the medal of the Revolution struck on the spot in the fused metal of +popular agitation. Here and there on it are to be traced those sinister +names that for the first time emerged from obscurity. These names are +like the hieroglyphics of the ancient monuments. The acts of men now +famous, who signed names then unknown and obscure, give to these +signatures a retrospective signification, and the eye dwells with +curiosity on these characters that seem to contain in a few marks the +mystery of a long life—the whole horror of an epoch. Here is the name +of <i>Chaumette, then a medical student, Rue Mazarine, No. 9</i>. There +<i>Maillard</i>, the president of the fearful massacres of September. Further +on, <i>Hébert</i>; underneath it, <i>Hanriot</i>, Inspector Warden of the +condemned prisoners (<i>Général des Suppliciés</i>) during the reign of +terror. The small and scrawled signature of Hébert, who was afterwards +the "<i>Père</i> Duchesne," or le Peuple en colère, is like a spider that +extends its arms to seize its prey. Santerre has signed lower down: this +is the last name of note, the rest are alone those of the populace. It +is easy to discern how many a hasty and tremulous hand has traced the +witness of its fury or ignorance on this document. Many were even unable +to write. A circle of ink with a cross in the centre marks their +anonymous adhesion to the petition. Some female names are to be seen, +and numerous names of children are discernible, from the inac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>curacy of +their hand, guided by another: poor babes, who professed the opinions of +their parents, without comprehending them; and who signed the +attestation of the passions of the people, ere their infant tongues +could utter a manly sound.</p> + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>The municipal body had been informed at two o'clock of the murders +committed at the Champ-de-Mars, and of the insults offered to the body +of national guards sent to disperse the mob. M. de La Fayette himself, +who headed this detachment, had been struck by several stones hurled at +him by the populace. It was even reported that a man in the uniform of +the national guard had fired a pistol at him, and that he had generously +pardoned and released this man, who had been seized by the escort. This +popular report cast a halo of heroism around M. de La Fayette, and +animated anew the national guard, who were devoted to him. At this +recital Bailly did not hesitate to proclaim martial law, and to unfurl +the red flag, the last resource against sedition. On their side, the +mob, alarmed at the aspect of the red flag floating from the windows of +the Hôtel-de-Ville, despatched twelve of their number as a deputation to +the municipality. These commissioners with difficulty made their way to +the audience-hall, through a forest of bayonets, and demanded that three +citizens who had been arrested should be given up to them. No attention +was paid to them, however, and the resolution of employing force was +adopted. The mayor and authorities descended the steps of the +Hôtel-de-Ville, uttering threats of their intentions. At the sight of +Bailly preceded by the red flag a cry of enthusiasm burst from the +ranks, and the national guards clashed the butts of their muskets loudly +against the stones. The public force, indignant with the clubs, was in a +state of that nervous excitement that occasionally takes possession of +large bodies as well as individuals.</p> + +<p>La Fayette, Bailly, and the municipal authorities commenced their march +preceded by the red flag, and followed by 10,000 national guards, the +paid battalions of grenadiers of this army of citizens formed the +advanced guard. An immense concourse of people followed by a natural +impulse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> this mass of bayonets that slowly descended the quays and the +rue du Gros-Caillou, towards the Champ-de-Mars. During this march, the +people congregated around the altar of the country since the morning +continued to sign the petition in peace. They were aware that the troops +were called out, but did not believe any violence was intended; their +calm and lawful method of proceeding, and the impunity of their sedition +for two years, made them believe in a perpetual impunity, and they +looked on the red flag merely as a fresh law to be despised.</p> + +<p>On his arrival at the glacis of the Champ-de-Mars, La Fayette divided +his forces into three columns; the first debouched by the avenue of the +Ecole Militaire, the second and third by the two successive openings +that intersect the glacis between the Ecole Militaire and the Seine. +Bailly, La Fayette, and the municipal body with the red flag, marched at +the head of the first column. The <i>pas de charge</i> beaten by 400 drums, +and the rolling of the cannon over the stones, announced the arrival of +the national army. These sounds drowned for an instant the hollow +murmurs and the shrill cries of 50,000 men, women, and children, who +filled the centre of the Champ-de-Mars, or crowded on the glacis. At the +moment when Bailly debouched between the glacis, the populace, who from +the top of the bank looked down on the mayor, the bayonets, and the +artillery, burst into threatening shouts and furious outcries against +the national guard. "<i>Down with the red flag! Shame to Bailly! Death to +La Fayette!</i>" The people in the Champ-de-Mars responded to these cries +with unanimous imprecations. Lumps of wet mud, the only arms at hand, +were cast at the national guard, and struck La Fayette's horse, the red +flag, and Bailly himself; and it is even said that several pistol shots +were fired from a distance; this however was by no means proved,—the +people had no intention of resisting, they wished only to intimidate. +Bailly summoned them to disperse legally, to which they replied by +shouts of derision; and he then, with the grave dignity of his office, +and the mute sorrow that formed part of his character, ordered them to +be dispersed by force. La Fayette first ordered the guard to fire in the +air; but the people, encouraged by this vain demonstration, formed into +line before the national guard, who then fired a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> discharge that killed +and wounded 600 persons, the republicans say 10,000. At the same moment +the ranks opened, the cavalry charged, and the artillerymen prepared to +open their fire; which, on this dense mass of people, would have taken +fearful effect. La Fayette, unable to restrain his soldiers by his +voice, placed himself before the cannon's mouth, and by this heroic act +saved the lives of thousands. In an instant the Champ-de-Mars was +cleared, and nought remained on it save the dead bodies of women, +children, trampled under foot, or flying before the cavalry; and a few +intrepid men on the steps of the altar of their country, who, amidst a +murderous fire and at the cannon's mouth, collected, in order to +preserve them, the sheets of the petition, as proofs of the wishes, or +bloody pledges of the future vengeance, of the people, and they only +retired when they had obtained them.</p> + +<p>The columns of the national guard, and particularly the cavalry, pursued +the fugitives into the neighbouring fields, and made two hundred +prisoners. Not a man was killed on the side of the national guard; the +loss of the people is unknown. The one side diminished it, in order to +extenuate the odium of an execution without resistance; the others +augmented it, in order to rouse the people's resentment. At night, which +was already fast approaching, the bodies were cast into the Seine. +Opinions were divided as to the nature and details of this execution, +some terming it a crime, and others a painful duty; but this day of +unresisting butchery still retains the name given it by the people, <i>The +Massacre of the Champ-de-Mars</i>.</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>The national guard, headed by La Fayette, marched victorious, but +mournful, again into Paris: it was visible by their demeanour that they +hesitated between self-congratulation and shame, as though undecided on +the justice of what they had done. Amidst a few approving acclamations +that saluted them on their passage, they heard smothered imprecations; +and the words <i>murderers</i> and <i>vengeance</i> were substituted for +<i>patriotism</i> and <i>obedience to the law</i>. They passed with a gloomy air +beneath the windows of that As<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>sembly they had so lately protected; +still more sadly and more silently beneath the windows of the palace of +that monarchy, whose cause rather than whose king, they had just +defended. Bailly, calm and glacial as the law—La Fayette, resolute and +stern as a system, knew not how to awake any feeling beyond that of +imperious duty. They furled the red flag, stained with the first drops +of blood; and dispersed, battalion after battalion, in the dark streets +of Paris, more like gendarmes after an execution, than an army returning +from a victory.</p> + +<p>Such was this "<i>Day of the Champ-de-Mars</i>," which gave a reign of three +months to the Assembly, by which they did not profit; which intimidated +the clubs for a few days, but which did not restore to the monarchy or +to the public tranquillity the blood it had cost. La Fayette had on this +day the destiny of the monarchy and the republic in his hands: he merely +re-established order.</p> + + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>The next morning Bailly appeared before the Assembly to report to them +the triumph of the law. He displayed the heartfelt sorrow of his mind, +and the masculine energy that formed part of his duty.</p> + +<p>"The conspiracy had been formed," said he; "it was necessary to employ +force, and severe punishment has overtaken the crime." The president +approved, in the name of the Assembly, of the mayor's conduct, and +Barnave thanked the national guard in cold and weak language, whilst his +praises seemed near akin to excuses. The enthusiasm of the victors had +already subsided, and Pétion perceiving this, rose and said a few words +concerning a <i>projet de décret</i> that had just been proposed, against +those who should assemble the people in numbers. These words, in the +mouth of Pétion, who was well known to be the friend of Brissot and the +conspirators, were at first received with sarcastic cries by the <i>côté +droit</i>, and then with loud applause from the <i>côté gauche</i> and the +tribunes. The victory of the Champ-de-Mars was already contested in the +Assembly, and the clubs re-opened that evening. Robespierre, Brissot, +Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Marat, who had for some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> days past +disappeared, now took fresh courage, for the hesitation of their enemies +reassured them,—by constantly attacking a power that was contented to +remain on the defensive, they could not fail to weary it out, and thus, +from accused they transformed themselves into accusers. Their papers +abandoned for a short time, became more malignant from their temporary +panic, and heaped ridicule and odium on Bailly and La Fayette. They +aroused the people to vengeance by displaying unceasingly before their +eyes the blood of the Champ-de-Mars. The red flag became the emblem of +the government and the winding-sheet of liberty. The conspirators +figured as victims, and constantly kept popular excitement on the rack, +by imaginary stories of the most odious persecutions.</p> + + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + +<p>"See," wrote Desmoulins, "see how the furious satellites of La Fayette +rush from their barracks, or rather from their taverns,—see, they +assemble and load their arms with ball, in the presence of the people, +whilst the battalions of <i>aristocrates</i> mutually excite each other to +the massacre. It is chiefly in the eyes of the cavalry that you behold +the love of blood aroused by the double influence of wine and vengeance. +It was against women and babes that this army of butchers chiefly +directed their fury. The altar of the country is strewn with dead +bodies,—it is thus that La Fayette has dyed his hands in the gore of +citizens: those hands which, in my eyes, will ever appear to reek with +this innocent blood—this very spot where he had raised them to heaven +to swear to defend them. From this moment, the most worthy citizens are +proscribed; they are arrested in their beds, their papers are seized, +their presses broken, and lists of the names of those proscribed are +signed; the <i>modérés</i> sign these lists, and then display them. 'Society +must be purged,' is their cry, 'of such men as <i>Brissot</i>, <i>Carra</i>, +<i>Pétion</i>, <i>Bonneville</i>, <i>Fréron</i>, <i>Danton</i>, and <i>Camille</i>.' Danton and I +found safety in flight alone from our assassins. The patriots are timid +factions." "And," added <i>Fréron</i>, "there are men to be found, who +venture to justify these cowardly murders—these informations—these +<i>lettres de cachet</i>—these seizures of papers—these confiscations of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +presses. The red flag floats for a week from the balcony of the +Hôtel-de-Ville, like as in times of old, the banners torn from the grasp +of the dying foeman floated from the arched roof of our temples." In +another part he says, "Marat's presses have been seized—the name of the +author should have sufficed to protect the typographer. The press is +sacred, as sacred as the cradle of the first-born, which even the +officers of the law have orders to respect. The silence of the tomb +reigns in the city, the public places are deserted, and the theatres +re-echo alone with servile applause of royalism, that triumphs alike on +the stage and in our streets. You were impatient, Bailly, and you +treacherous, La Fayette, to employ that terrible weapon, martial law, so +dangerous, so difficult to be wielded. No, no, nought can ever efface +the indelible stain of the blood of your brethren, that has spurted over +your scarfs and your uniforms. It has sunk even to your heart—it is a +slow poison that will consume ye all."</p> + +<p>Whilst the revolutionary press thus infused the spirit of resentment +into the people, the clubs, reassured by the indolence of the Assembly, +and by the scrupulous legality of La Fayette, suffered but slightly the +effects of this body blow of the victory of the Champ-de-Mars. A schism +took place in the assembly of the Jacobins between the intolerant +members and its first founders, Barnave, Duport, and the two Lameths. +This schism took its rise in the great question of the +non-re-eligibility of the members of the National Assembly for the +Legislative Assembly which was so soon to succeed. The pure Jacobins, +together with Robespierre, wished that the National Assembly should +abdicate, <i>en masse</i>, and voluntarily sentence themselves to a political +ostracism, in order to make room for men of newer ideas and more imbued +with the spirit of the time. The moderate and constitutional Jacobins +looked upon this abdication as equally fatal to the monarch, as it dealt +a mortal blow to their ambition, for they wished to seize on the +direction of the power they had just created; they deemed themselves +alone competent to control the movement that they had excited, and they +sought to rule in the name of those laws of which they were the framers. +Robespierre, on the contrary, who felt his own weakness in an assembly +composed of the same<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" +id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> elements, wished these elements to be +excluded from the new assembly: he himself suffered by the law that he +laid down for his colleagues; but with scarcely a rival to dispute his +authority at the Jacobins, they formed his assembly. His instinct or +calculation told him that the Jacobins must have supreme sway in a newly +formed assembly composed of men whose very names were unknown to the +nation. One of the faction himself, it was enough for him that the +factions reigned; and the tool he possessed in the Jacobins, and his +immense popularity, gave him the positive assurance that he should rule +the factions.</p> + +<p>This question, at the time of the events of the Champ-de-Mars, agitated, +and already tended to dissolve the Jacobins. The rival club of the +Feuillants, composed almost entirely of constitutionalists and members +of the National Assembly, had a more legal and monarchical appearance. +The irritation caused by the popular excesses, and their hatred for +Robespierre and Brissot, induced the ancient founders of the club to +join the Feuillants. The Jacobins trembled lest the empire of the +factions should escape them, and that division would weaken them. "It is +the court," said Camille Desmoulins, the friend of Robespierre, "it is +the court that foments this schism amongst us, and has invented this +perfidious stratagem to destroy the popular party. It knows the two +Lameths, La Fayette, Barnave, Duport, and the others who first figured +in the Jacobin assembly. 'What,' the court asked itself, 'is the aim of +all these men? their aim was to be elevated to rank and station, by the +voice of the people, and by the gales of popularity, of command of the +ministers, of gold: what they needed was court favour to serve as the +sails of their ambition; and, wanting these sails, they use the oars of +the people. Let us prove to Lameth and Barnave that they will not be +re-elected, that they cannot fill any important place before four years +have passed away. They will be indignant, and return to our party. I saw +Alexandre and Theodore Lameth the evening of the day on which +Robespierre's motion of the non-re-eligibility was carried. The Lameths +were then patriots, but the next day they were no longer the same. 'It +is impossible to submit to this,' said they,—'in concert with +Duport—we must quit France.' What! shall those who have been the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +architects of the constitution undergo the mortification of witnessing +the downfall of the edifice they have reared, by this approaching system +of legislation? We shall be condemned to hear from the galleries of the +Assembly, some fool in the tribune attack our wisest enactments, which +we are denied the power of defending. Would to Heaven! that they would +quit France. Is it not enough to cause us to despise both the Assembly +and the people of Paris, when we see that the clue of this is, that the +supreme control was on the point of eluding the grasp of Lameth and La +Fayette, and that Duport and Barnave would not be again elected."</p> + +<p>Pétion, alarmed at these symptoms of discord, addressed the tribune of +the Jacobins in conciliatory terms—"You are lost" said he, "should the +members of the Assembly quit your party, and betake themselves <i>en +masse</i> to the Feuillants. The empire of public opinion is deserting you; +and these countless affiliated societies, imbued with your spirit, will +sever the bonds of fraternity, and unite them to you. Forestall the +designs of your enemies. Publish an address to the affiliated societies, +and reassure them of your constitutional intentions; tell them that you +have been belied to them, and that you are no promoters of faction. Tell +them that far from wishing to disturb public tranquillity, your sole +design is to avert those troubles entailed on you by the king's +departure. Tell them that we submit to the rapid and imposing influence +of opinion, and that respect for the Assembly, fidelity to the +constitution, devotion to the cause of your country and of liberty, form +your principles." This address, dictated by the hypocrisy of fear, was +adopted and sent to all the societies in the kingdom. This measure was +followed by a remodelling of the Jacobins; the primitive nucleus alone +was suffered to remain, which re-organised the rest by the ballot over +which Pétion presided.</p> + +<p>On their side the Feuillants wrote to the patriotic societies of the +provinces, and for a brief space there was an interregnum of the +factions; but the societies of the provinces speedily declared <i>en +masse</i>, and with an almost unanimous and revolutionary enthusiasm, in +favour of the Jacobins.</p> + +<p>"Free and sincere union with our brothers in Paris:" such was the +rallying cry of the clubs. Six hundred clubs sent in their adherence to +the Jacobins; eighteen alone de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>clared for the Feuillants. The factions +felt the importance of unity as fully as the nation, and the schism of +opinion was stifled by the enthusiasm for the grandeur of their work, +Pétion, in a letter to his constituents which made a great sensation, +spoke of these fruitless attempts at dissension amongst the patriots, +and denounced those who dissented from it. "I tremble for my country," +said he; "the <i>modérés</i> are meditating the reform of the constitution +already; and to place again in the king's hands the power the people +have scarcely acquired. My mind is overwhelmed by these gloomy +reflections, and I despond. I am ready to quit the post you have +confided to me. Oh, my country, be but thou saved, and I shall breathe +my last sigh in peace!"</p> + +<p>Such were Pétion's words, and from that hour he became the idol of the +people. He possessed neither the abilities nor the audacity of +Robespierre; but he had hypocrisy, that shameless veil of doubtful +positions. The people believed him to be sincere, and his speeches had +the same influence over them as his reputation.</p> + + +<h3>XVIII.</h3> + +<p>The coalition which he denounced to the people was true. Barnave had an +understanding with the court. Malouet, an eloquent and able member of +the right, had an understanding with Barnave: a plan for modifying the +constitution had been concerted between these two men—yesterday foes, +to-day allies. The moment was come for uniting in one general measure +all these scattered laws valid during a revolution of thirty months. In +separating, on this review of the acts of the Assembly, what was +integral from that which was not, the occasion must arise for a revision +of every act of the constitution. It was, therefore, the moment to +profit (in order to amend them in a sense more monarchical), by the +reaction produced by La Fayette's victory. What impulse and anger had +too violently taken from the prerogatives of the crown, reason and +reflection could restore to it. The same men who had placed the +executive power in the hands of the Assembly, hoped to be able to +withdraw it from them. They believed they could effect every thing by +their eloquence and popularity. Like all who are descending the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> tide of +a revolution, they thought they were able to ascend the stream with +equal ease. They did not see that their strength, of which they were so +proud, was not in themselves, but in the current which bore them along. +Events were about to teach them that there is no opposing passions to +which concession has been once made. The strength of a statesman is his +power. One concession, how slight soever, to factions, is an irrevocable +engagement with them: when once we consent to become their instrument, +we may be made their idol and their victim, never their master. Barnave +was doomed to learn this when too late; and the Girondists were to learn +it after him. The plan was thus arranged:—Malouet was to ascend the +tribune, and in a vehement but well-reasoned discourse was to attack all +the errors of the constitution; he was to demonstrate that if these +vices were not amended by the Assembly before the constitution itself +should be presented to the king and the people to swear to, it would be +anarchy registered by an oath. The three hundred members of the <i>côté +droit</i> were to support the charges of their spokesman by vehement +plaudits. Barnave was then to demand a reply, and in a discourse, +apparently much excited, was to have vindicated the constitution from +the invectives of Malouet, at the same time conceding that as this +constitution was suddenly produced by the enthusiastic ardour of the +Revolution, and under the impulse of desperately contending +circumstances, there might be some imperfections in a certain portion of +the construction; that the grave consideration and wisdom of the +Assembly might remedy these errors before it dissolved; and that, +amongst other ameliorations which might be applied to this work, they +might retouch two or three articles in which the power assigned to the +executive authority and the legislative authority had been ill defined, +so as to restore to the executive power the independence and scope +indispensable to their existence. The friends of Barnave, Lameth, and +Duport, as well as all the members of the left, would have clamorously +supported the speaker, except Robespierre, Pétion, Buzot, and the +republicans. A commission would have been instantly named for the +special revision of the articles alluded to. This commission would have +made its report before the end of the meeting of the chambers; and the +three hundred votes of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> Malouet, united to the constitutional votes of +Barnave, would have assured to the monarchical amendments the majority +which was to restore royalty.</p> + + +<h3>XIX.</h3> + +<p>But the members of the right refused to give their unanimous concurrence +to this plan. "To amend the constitution was to sanction revolt. To +unite themselves with the factious, was to become factious themselves. +To restore royalty by the hands of a Barnave, was to degrade the king +even to gratitude towards a member of a faction. Their hopes had not +fallen so low that it was thus they had but the option of accepting a +character in a comedy of startled revolutionists. Their hopes were not +in any amelioration of present ill, but in its progress towards worse. +The very excess of disorder would punish disorder itself. The king was +at the Tuileries, but royalty was not there—it was at Coblentz, it was +on all the thrones of Europe. Monarchies were all in connection; they +knew very well how to restore the French monarchy without the fellowship +of those who had overturned it."</p> + +<p>Thus reasoned the members of the right. Feelings and resentments closed +their ears to the counsels of moderation and wisdom, and the monarchy +was not less systematically pushed towards its catastrophe by the hand +of its friends than that of its enemies. The plan was abortive.</p> + +<p>Whilst the captive king kept up a twofold understanding with his +emigrant brothers to learn the strength and inclination of foreign +powers, and with Barnave to attempt the conquest of the Assembly, the +Assembly itself lost its power; and the spirit of the Revolution, +quitting the place in which it had no longer any hopes, went to excite +the clubs and municipalities, and bestow its energies on the elections. +The Assembly had committed the fault of declaring its members not +re-eligible for the new legislature. This act of renunciation of itself, +which resembled the heroism of disinterestedness, was in reality the +sacrifice of the country; it was the ostracism of superior power, and an +assurance of triumph to mediocrity. A nation how rich soever in genius +and virtue, never possesses more than a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> definite number of great +citizens. Nature is chary of superiority. The social conditions +necessary to form a public man are rarely in combination. Intelligence, +clear-sightedness, virtue, character, independence, leisure, fortune, +consideration already acquired, and devotion,—all this is seldom united +in one individual. An entire society is not decapitated with impunity. +Nations are like their soil: after having pared off the vegetable earth, +we find only the sand beneath, and that is unproductive. The Constituent +Assembly had forgotten this truth, or rather its abdication had assumed +the form of a vengeance. The royalist party had voted the +non-re-eligibility, in order that the Revolution, thus eluding Barnave's +grasp, should fall into the clutch of the demagogues. The republican +party had voted in order to annihilate the constitutionalists. The +constitutionalists voted in order to chastise the ingratitude of the +people, and to make themselves regretted by the unworthy spectacle which +they expected their successors would present. It was a vote of +contending passions, all evil, and which could only produce a loss to +all parties. The king alone was averse from this measure. He perceived +repentance in the National Assembly—he was in communication with its +leading members—he had the key to many consciences. A new nation, +unknown and impatient, was about to present it before him in a new +Assembly. The reports of the press, the clubs, and places of popular +bruit told him, but too plainly, on what men the excited people would +bestow their confidence. He preferred known, exhausted, opponents, men +partly gained over, to new and ardent enemies who would surpass in +exactions those they replaced. To them there only remained his throne to +overthrow,—to him there was left to yield but his life.</p> + + +<h3>XX.</h3> + +<p>The principal names discussed in the public newspapers in Paris, were +those of Condorcet, Brissot, Danton;—in the departments, those of +Vergniaud, Guadet, Isnard, Louvet,—who were afterwards Girondists; and +those of Thuriot, Merlin, Carnot, Couthon, Danton, Saint Just, who, +subsequently united with Robespierre, were, by turns, his instruments or +his victims. Condorcet was a philosopher,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> as intrepid in his actions as +bold in his speculations. His political creed was a consequence of his +philosophy. He believed in the divinity of reason, and in the +omnipotence of the human understanding, with liberty as its handmaid. +Heaven, the abode of all ideal perfections, and in which man places his +most beautiful dreams, was limited by Condorcet to earth: his science +was his virtue; the human mind his deity. The intellect impregnated by +science, and multiplied by time, it appeared to him must triumph +necessarily over all the resistance of matter; must lay bare all the +creative powers of nature, and renew the face of creation. He had made +of this system a line of politics, whose first idea was to adore the +future and abhor the past. He had the cool fanaticism of logic, and the +reflective anger of conviction. A pupil of Voltaire, D'Alembert, and +Helvetius, he, like Bailly, was of that intermediate generation by which +philosophy was embodied with the Revolution. More ambitious than Bailly, +he had not his impassibility. Aristocrat by birth, he, like Mirabeau, +had passed over to the camp of the people. Hated by the court, he hated +it as do all renegades. He had become one of the people, in order to +convert the people into the army of philosophy. He wanted of the +republic no more than was sufficient to overturn its prejudices. Ideas +once become victorious,—he would willingly have confided it to the +control of a constitutional monarchy. He was rather a man for dispute +than a man of anarchy. Aristocrats always carry with them, into the +popular party, the desire of order and command. They would fain</p> + +<p class='center'> +"Ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm." +</p> + +<p>Real anarchists are those who are impatient of having always obeyed, and +feel themselves impotent to command. Condorcet had edited the <i>Chronique +de Paris</i> from 1789. It was a journal of constitutional doctrines, but +in which the throbbings of anger were perceivable beneath the cool and +polished hand of the philosopher. Had Condorcet been endowed with warmth +and command of language, he might have been the Mirabeau of another +assembly. He had his earnestness and constancy, but had not the +resounding and energetic tone which made his own soul and feelings felt +by another. The club of electors of Paris, who met at La Sainte<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +Chapelle, elected Condorcet to the chamber. The same club returned +Danton.</p> + + +<h3>XXI.</h3> + +<p>Danton, whom the Revolution had found an obscure barrister at the +Châtelet, had increased with it in influence. He had already that +celebrity which the multitude easily assigns to him whom it sees every +where, and always listens to. He was one of those men who seem born of +the stir of revolutions, and which float on its surface until it +swallows them up. All in him was like the mass—athletic, rude, coarse. +He pleased them because he resembled them. His eloquence was like the +loud clamour of the mob. His brief and decisive phrases had the martial +curtness of command. His irresistible gestures gave impulse to his +plebeian auditories. Ambition was his sole line of politics. Devoid of +honour, principles, or morality, he only loved democracy because it was +exciting. It was his element, and he plunged into it. He sought there +not so much command as that voluptuous sensuality which man finds in the +rapid movement which bears him away with it. He was intoxicated with the +revolutionary vertigo as a man becomes drunken with wine; yet he bore +his intoxication well. He had that superiority of calmness in the +confusion he created, which enabled him to control it: preserving +<i>sangfroid</i> in his excitement and his temper, even in a moment of +passion, he jested with the clubs in their stormiest moods. A burst of +laughter interrupted bitterest imprecations; and he amused the people +even whilst he impelled them to the uttermost pitch of fury. Satisfied +with his two-fold ascendency, he did not care to respect it himself, and +neither spoke to it of principles nor of virtue, but solely of force. +Himself, he adored force, and force only. His sole genius was contempt +for honesty; and he esteemed himself above all the world, because he had +trampled under foot all scruples. Every thing was to him a means. He was +a statesman of materialism, playing the popular game, with no end but +the terrible game itself, with no stake but his life, and with no +responsibility beyond nonentity. Such a man must be profoundly +indifferent either to despotism or to liberty. His contempt of the +people must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> incline him rather to the side of tyranny. When we can +detect nothing divine in men, the better part to play is to make use of +them. We can only serve well that which we respect. He was only with the +people because he was of the people, and thus the people ought to +triumph. He would have betrayed it, as he served it, unscrupulously. The +court well knew the tariff of his conscience. He threatened it in order +to make it desirous of buying him; he only opened his mouth in order to +have it stuffed with gold. His most revolutionary movements were but the +marked prices at which he was purchaseable. His hand was in every +intrigue, and his honesty was not checked by any offer of corruption. He +was bought daily, and next morning was again for sale. Mirabeau, La +Fayette, Montmorin, M. de Laporte, the intendant of the civil list, the +Duc d'Orleans, the king himself, all knew his price. Money had flowed +with him from all sources, even the most impure, without remaining with +him. Any other individual would have felt shame before men and parties +who had the secret of his dishonour; but he only was not ashamed, and +looked them in the face without a blush. His was the quietude of +vice.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> He was the focus of all those men who seek in events nothing +but fortune and impunity. But others had only the baseness of +crime—Danton's vices partook of the heroic—his intellect was all but +genius. He had upon him the bright flash of circumstances, but it was as +sinister as his face. Immorality, which was the infirmity of his mind, +was in his eyes the essence of his ambition; he cultivated it in himself +as the element of future greatness. He pitied any body who respected any +thing. Such a man had of necessity a vast ascendency over the bad +passions of the multitude. He kept them in continual agitation, and +always boiling on the surface ready to flow into any torrent, even if it +were of blood.</p> + + +<h3>XXII.</h3> + +<p>Brissot de Warville was another of these popular candidates for the +representation. As this individual was the root of the Girondist party, +the first apostle and first martyr of the republic, we ought to know +him. Brissot was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> son of a pastrycook at Chartres, and had received +his education in that city with Pétion, his fellow countryman. An +adventurer in literature, he had begun by assuming the name of +<i>Warville</i>, which concealed his own. It is a plebeian nobility not to +blush at one's father's name. Brissot had not done so. He began by +furtively appropriating one of the titles of that aristocracy of races +against which he was about to raise equality. Like Rousseau in every +thing but his genius, he sought his fortune hither and thither, and +descended even lower than he into misery and intrigue, before he +acquired celebrity. Dispositions become weakened and stained by such a +struggle with the difficulties of life in the dregs of great corrupted +cities. Rousseau had paraded his indigence and his reveries in the bosom +of nature; and as its consideration calms and purifies everything he +quitted it a philosopher. Brissot had dragged his misery and vanity into +the heart of Paris and of London, and into those haunts of infamy in +which adventurers and pamphleteers drag on a filthy existence: he left +them an intriguer. Yet in the very midst of these vices which had +rendered his honesty dubious, and name bespotted, he nurtured in the +depths of his soul three virtues capable of again elevating him—an +unshaken love for a young girl, whom he married in spite of his family, +a love of occupation, and a courage against the difficulties of life, +which he had afterwards to display in the face of death. His philosophy +was identical with Rousseau's. He believed in God. He had faith in +liberty, truth, and virtue. He had in his soul that unqualified devotion +towards the human species which is the charity of philosophers. He +detested society, for in it there was no place awarded to him; but what +he hated with unmitigated hate was the state of society; its +prejudices—its falsehoods. He would have recast it, less for himself +than for the benefit of mankind. He would have consented to be crushed +beneath its ruins, provided those ruins were to give place to his ideal +plan of the government of reason. Brissot was one of those mercenary +scribes who write for those who pay best. He had written on all +subjects, for every minister; especially Turgot. Criminal laws, +political economy, diplomacy, literature, philosophy, even libels,—his +pen was at the hire of the first comer. Seeking the support of +celebrated and influential men, he had adu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>lated all from Voltaire and +Franklin down to Marat. Known to Madame de Genlis, he had, through her, +some acquaintance with the Duc d'Orleans. Sent to London by the minister +on one of those missions which are nameless, he there became connected +with the editor of the <i>Courrier de l'Europe</i>, a French journal, printed +in London, and the boldness of whose style was offensive at the court of +the Tuileries. He engaged himself to Swinton, the proprietor of this +newspaper, and edited it in a manner favorable to the views of +Vergennes. He knew at Swinton's several writers, amongst others one +Morande. These libellers, outcasts of society, frequently then become +the refuse of the pen, and live at the same time on the disgraces of +vice and in the pay of spies. Their collision infected Brissot. He was +or appeared to be sometimes their accomplice. Hideous blotches thus +stain his life, and were cruelly revived by his enemies, when the time +came in which he was compelled to appeal to public esteem.</p> + +<p>Returning to France at the first symptoms of the Revolution, he watched +its successive phases, with the ambition of an impatient man, and with +the indecision of one not knowing what part to take. He was frequently +wrong. He compromised himself by his devotion, too early displayed, +towards certain men who had seemed to him for a moment to be all +powerful, especially towards La Fayette. Editor of the <i>Patriote +Français</i>, he had occasionally put forth revolutionary feelers, and +flattered the future by going even faster than the factions themselves. +He had even been disowned by Robespierre. "Whilst I content myself," +said Robespierre, referring to him, "with defending the principles of +liberty, without opening any other question, what are you doing, Brissot +and Condorcet? Known until now by your great moderation and your +connection with La Fayette, for a long time followers of the +aristocratic club of '89, you suddenly blazon forth the word Republic. +You issue a journal entitled the <i>Republican</i>! Then minds become in a +ferment. The mere word Republic throws division amongst patriots, and +affords to our enemies a pretext which they seek for announcing that +there exists in France a party which conspires against the monarchy and +the constitution. Under this title we are persecuted, and peaceable +citizens are sacri<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>ficed on the altars of their country! At this name we +are transformed into factions, and the Revolution is made to recede, +perhaps, half a century. It was at the same moment that Brissot came to +the Jacobins, where he had never before appeared, to propose a republic +of which the simplest rules of prudence had forbidden us to speak in the +National Assembly. By what fatality did Brissot find himself there? I +would fain discover no craft in his conduct; I would prefer detecting +only imprudence and folly. But now that his connection with La Fayette +and Narbonne are no longer a mystery—now that he no longer dissimulates +his schemes of dangerous innovations, let him clearly understand that +the nation will at once and effectually break through all the plots +framed during so many years by pitiful intriguers."</p> + +<p>So spake Robespierre, jealous by anticipation, and yet just, on +Brissot's presenting himself as a candidate. The Revolution rejected +him, the Counter-revolution repudiated him no less. Brissot's old allies +in London, especially Morande, returned to Paris under cover of the +troublous times, revealed to the Parisians in the <i>Argus</i>, and in +placards, the secret intrigues and the disgraceful literary career of +their former associate. They quoted actual letters, in which Brissot had +lied unblushingly as to his name, the condition of his family, and his +father's fortune, in order to acquire Swinton's confidence, to gain +credit, and make dupes in England. The proofs were damning. A +considerable sum had been extorted from a man named Desforges, under +pretence of erecting an institution in London, and this sum had been +expended by Brissot on himself. This was but a trifle: Brissot, on +quitting England, had left in the hands of this Desforges twenty-four +letters, which but too plainly established his participation in the +infamous trade of libels carried on by his allies. It was proved to +demonstration that Brissot had connived at the sending into France, and +the propagation of, odious pamphlets by Morande. The journals hostile to +his election seized on these scandalous facts, and held them up to +public obloquy. He was, besides, accused of having extracted from the +funds of the district of the <i>Filles-Saint-Thomas</i>, of which he was +president, a sum for his own purse, long forgotten. His defence was +laboured and obscure; yet it was held by the club of the Rue de la +Micho<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>dière sufficient proof of his innocence and integrity. Some +journals, solely occupied with the political bearing of his life, took +up his defence, and made loud complaints against his calumny. Manuel, +his friend, who edited a vile journal, wrote thus, to console +him:—"These ordures of calumny, spread abroad at the moment of +scrutiny, always end by leaving a dirty stain on those who scatter them. +But it is allowing a triumph to the enemies of the people, to repulse +thus a man who fearlessly attacks them. They give me votes, in spite of +my drivellings, and my love of the bottle. Leave 'Père Duchesne'<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> +alone, and let us nominate Brissot; he is a better man than I am."</p> + +<p>Marat, in his <i>Ami du Peuple</i>, wrote thus ambiguously of +Brissot:—"Brissot," says the Friend of the People, "was never, in my +eyes, a thorough-going patriot. Either from ambition or baseness, he has +up to this time betrayed the duties of a good citizen. Why has he been +so tardy in leaving a system of hypocrisy? Poor Brissot, thou art the +victim of a court valet, of a base hypocrite!—why lend thy paw to La +Fayette? Why, thou must expect to experience the fate of all men of +indecision. Thou hast displeased every body; thou canst never make thy +way. If thou hast one atom of proper feeling left, hasten, and scratch +out thy name from the list of candidates for the approaching general +election."</p> + +<p>Thus appeared on the scene for the first time, in the midst of the +hootings of both parties, this man, who attempted in vain to escape from +the general contempt accumulated on his name from the faults of his +youth, in order to enter on the gravity of his political career—a +mingled character, half intrigue, half virtue. Brissot, destined to +serve as the centre of a rallying point to the party of the <i>Gironde</i>, +had, by anticipation in his character, all there was in after days, of +destiny in his party, of intrigue and patriotism, of faction and +martyrdom. The other marked candidates in Paris, were, Pastoret, a man +of the South, prudent and skilful as a Southron <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>steering ably betwixt +parties, giving sufficient guarantee to the Revolution to be accepted by +it, enough devotion to the court to retain its secret confidence; borne +hither and thither by the alternating favours of the two opinions, like +a man who seeks fortune for his talent in the Revolution, but never +looking for it beyond the limits of the just and honourable. Lacepede, +Cérutti, Héraut de Séchelles, and Gouvion, La Fayette's aide-de-camp. +The elections of the department occupied but little attention. The +National Assembly had exhausted the country of its characters and its +talents; the ostracism it had exercised had imposed on France but +secondary ability. There was but little enthusiasm for untried men: the +public eyes were only fixed on the names about to disappear. A country +cannot contain a twofold renown: that of France was departing with the +members of the dissolved Assembly—another France was about to rise.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK IV.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>At this juncture the germ of a new opinion began to display itself in +the south, and Bordeaux felt its full influence. The department of the +Gironde had given birth to a new political party in the twelve citizens +who formed its deputies. This department, far removed from the <i>centre</i>, +was at no distant period to seize on the empire alike of opinion and of +eloquence. The names (obscure and unknown up to this period) of <i>Ducos, +Guadet, Lafond-Ladebat, Grangeneuve, Gensonné, Vergniaud</i>, were about to +rise into notice and renown with the storms and the disasters of their +country; they were the men who were destined to give that impulse to the +Revolution that had hitherto remained in doubt and indecision, before +which it still trembled with apprehension, and which was to precipitate +it into a republic. Why was this impulse fated to have birth in the +department of the Gironde and not in Paris? Nought but conjectures can +be offered on this subject; and yet perhaps the republican spirit was +more likely to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> manifest itself at Bordeaux than at Paris, where the +presence and influence of a court had for ages past enervated the +independence of character, and enfeebled the austerity of principle that +form the basis of patriotism and liberty. The states of Languedoc, and +the habits that necessarily result from the administration of a province +governed by itself, could not fail to predispose the inclination of the +Gironde in favour of an elective and federative government. Bordeaux was +a parliamentary country; the parliaments had every where encouraged the +spirit of resistance, and had often created a factious feeling against +the king. Bordeaux was a commercial city, and commerce, which requires +liberty through interest, at last desires it through a love of freedom. +Bordeaux was the great commercial link between America and France, and +their constant intercourse with America had communicated to the Gironde +their love for free institutions. Moreover Bordeaux was more exposed to +the enlightening influence of the sun of philosophy than the centre of +France. Philosophy had germed there ere it arose in Paris, for Bordeaux +was the birthplace of Montaigne and Montesquieu, those two great +republicans of the French school. The one had deeply investigated the +religious dogmata, the other the political institutions; and the +president Dupaty had long after awakened there enthusiasm for the new +system of philosophy. Bordeaux, in addition, was a country where the +traditions of liberty and the <i>Roman Forum</i> had been perpetuated in the +bar. A certain leaven of antiquity animated each heart, and lent vigour +to every tongue, and the town was still more republican by eloquence +than by opinion, though there was something of Latin emphasis in their +patriotism. It was in the birthplace of Montaigne and Montesquieu that +the republic was to take its origin.</p> + +<h3>II.</h3> + + +<p>The period of the elections was the signal for a still more obstinate +attack from the public press. The papers were insufficient: men sold +pamphlets in the streets, and the "<i>Journaux affiches</i>" were invented, +which were placarded against the walls of Paris, and around which groups +of people were constantly collected. Wandering orators, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>spired or +hired by the different parties, took their stand there and commented +aloud on these impassioned productions:—Loustalot, in the <i>Revolutions +de Paris</i>, founded by Prudhomme, and continued alternately by Chaumette +and Fabre d'Eglantine; Marat, in the <i>Publiciste</i> and the <i>Ami du +Peuple</i>; Brissot, in the <i>Patriote Française</i>; Gorsas, in the <i>Courier +de Versailles</i>; Condorcet, in the <i>Chronique de Paris</i>, Cérutti, in the +<i>Feuille Villageoise</i>; Camille Desmoulins, in the <i>Discours de la +Lanterne</i>, and the <i>Revolutions de Brabant</i>; Fréron, in the <i>Orateur du +Peuple</i>; Hébert and Manuel, in the <i>Père Duchesne</i>; Carra, in the +<i>Annales Patriotiques;</i> Fleydel, in the <i>Observateur</i>; Laclos, in the +<i>Journal des Jacobins</i>; Fauchet, in the <i>Bouche de Fer</i>; Royon, in the +<i>Ami du Roi</i>; Champcenetz-Rivarol, in the <i>Actes des Apôtres</i>; Suleau +and André Chénier, in several <i>royaliste</i> or <i>modérée</i> papers,—excited +and disputed dominion over the minds of the people. It was the ancient +tribune transported to the dwelling of each citizen, and adapting its +language to the comprehension of all men, even the most illiterate. +Anger, suspicion, hatred, envy, fanaticism, credulity, invective, thirst +of blood, sudden panics, madness and reflection, treason and fidelity, +eloquence and folly, had each their organ in this concert of every +passion and feeling in which the city revelled each night. All toil was +at an end; the only labour in their eyes was to watch the throne, to +frustrate the real or fancied plots of the aristocracy, and to save +their country. The hoarse bawling of the vendors of the public journals, +the patriotic chaunts of the Jacobins as they quitted their clubs, the +tumultuous assemblies, the convocations to the patriotic ceremonies, +fallacious fears as to the failure of provisions—kept the population of +the city and faubourgs in a perpetual state of excitement, which +suffered no one to remain inactive; indifference would have been +considered treason; and it was necessary to feign enthusiasm in order to +be in accordance with public opinion. Each fresh event quickened this +feverish excitement, which the press constantly instilled into the veins +of the people. Its language already bordered on delirium, and borrowed +from the population even their proverbs, their love of trifles, their +obscenity, their brutality, and even their oaths, with which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> the +articles were interlarded, as though to impress more forcibly its hatred +on the ear of its foes. Danton, Hébert, and Marat were the first to +adopt this tone, these gestures, and these exclamations of the populace, +as though to flatter them by imitating their vices. Robespierre never +condescended to this, and never sought to obtain ascendency over the +people by pandering to their brutality, but by appealing to their +reason; and the fanatical tone of his speeches possessed at least that +decency that attends great ideas—he ruled by respect, and scorned to +captivate them by familiarity. The more he gained the confidence of the +lower classes, the more did he affect the philosophical tone and austere +demeanour of the statesman. It was plainly perceptible in his most +radical propositions, that however he might wish to renew social order +he would not corrupt its elements, and that his eyes to emancipate the +people was not to degrade them.</p> + +<h3>III.</h3> + + +<p>It was at this period that the Assembly ordered the removal of +Voltaire's remains to the Pantheon: philosophy thus avenged itself on +the anathemas that had been thundered forth, even against the ashes of +the great innovator. The body of Voltaire, on his death, in Paris, +<span class="smcap">A.D.</span> 1778, had been furtively removed by his nephew at night, +and interred in the church of the abbey of Sellières in Champagne; and +when the nation sold this abbey, the cities of Troyes and Romilly +mutually contended for the honour of possessing the bones of the +greatest man of the age. The city of Paris, where he had breathed his +last, now claimed its privilege as the capital of France, and addressed +a petition to the National Assembly, praying that Voltaire's body might +be brought back to Paris and interred in the Pantheon, that cathedral of +philosophy. The Assembly eagerly hailed the idea of this homage, that +traced liberty back to its original source. "The people owe their +freedom to him," said Regnault de Saint Jean d'Angély; "for by +enlightening them, he gave them power; nations are enthralled by +ignorance alone, and when the torch of reason displays to them the +ignominy of bearing these chains, they blush to wear them, and snap them +asunder."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<p>On the 11th of July, the departmental and municipal authorities went in +state to the barrier of Charenton, to receive the mortal remains of +Voltaire, which were placed on the ancient site of the Bastille, like a +conqueror on his trophies; his coffin was exposed to public gaze, and a +pedestal was formed for it of stones torn from the foundations of this +ancient stronghold of tyranny; and thus Voltaire when dead triumphed +over those stones which had triumphed over and confined him when living. +On one of the blocks was the inscription, "<i>Receive on this spot, where +despotism once fettered thee, the honours decreed to thee by thy +country</i>."</p> + +<h3>IV.</h3> + + +<p>The next day, when the rays of a brilliant sun had dissipated the mists +of the night, an immense concourse of people followed the car that bore +Voltaire to the Pantheon. This car was drawn by twelve white horses, +harnessed four abreast; their manes plaited with flowers and golden +tassels, and the reins held by men dressed in antique costumes, like +those depicted on the medals of ancient triumphs. On the car was a +funeral couch, extended on which was a statue of the philosopher, +crowned with a wreath. The National Assembly, the departmental and +municipal bodies, the constituted authorities, the magistrates, and the +army, surrounded, preceded, and followed the sarcophagus. The +boulevards, the streets, the public places, the windows, the roofs of +houses, even the trees, were crowded with spectators; and the suppressed +murmurs of vanquished intolerance could not restrain this feeling of +enthusiasm. Every eye was riveted on the car; for the new school of +ideas felt that it was the proof of their victory that was passing +before them, and that philosophy remained mistress of the field of +battle.</p> + +<p>The details of this ceremony were magnificent; and in spite of its +profane and theatrical trappings, the features of every man that +followed the car wore the expression of joy, arising from an +intellectual triumph. A large body of cavalry, who seemed to have now +offered their arms at the shrine of intelligence, opened the march. Then +followed the muffled drums, to whose notes were added the roar of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> the +artillery that formed a part of the cortège. The scholars of the +colleges of Paris, the patriotic societies, the battalions of the +national guard, the workmen of the different public journals, the +persons employed to demolish the foundations of the Bastille, some +bearing a portable press, which struck off different inscriptions in +honour of Voltaire, as the procession moved on; others carrying the +chains, the collars and bolts, and bullets found in the dungeons and +arsenals of the state prisons; and lastly, busts of Voltaire, Rousseau, +and Mirabeau, marched between the troops and the populace. On a litter +was displayed the <i>procès-verbal</i> of the electors of '89, that <i>Hegyra</i> +of the insurrection. On another stand, the citizens of the Faubourg +Saint Antoine exhibited a plan in relief of the Bastille, the flag of +the donjon, and a young girl, in the costume of an Amazon, who had +fought at the siege of this fortress. Here and there, pikes surmounted +with the Phrygian cap of liberty arose above the crowd, and on one of +them was a scroll bearing the inscription, "<i>From this steel sprung +Liberty!</i>"</p> + +<p>All the actors and actresses of the theatres of Paris followed the +statue of him who for sixty years had inspired them; the titles of his +principal works were inscribed on the sides of a pyramid that +represented his immortality. His statue, formed of gold and crowned with +laurel, was borne on the shoulders of citizens, wearing the costumes of +the nations and the times whose manners and customs he had depicted; and +the seventy volumes of his works were contained in a casket, also of +gold. The members of the learned bodies, and of the principal academies +of the kingdom surrounded this ark of philosophy. Numerous bands of +music, some marching with the troops, others stationed along the road of +the procession, saluted the car as it passed with loud bursts of +harmony, and filled the air with the enthusiastic strains of liberty. +The procession stopped before the principal theatres, a hymn was sung in +honour of his genius, and the car then resumed its march. On their +arrival at the quai that bears his name, the car stopped before the +house of M. de Villette, where Voltaire had breathed his last, and where +his heart was preserved. Evergreen shrubs, garlands of leaves, and +wreaths of roses decorated the front of the house, which bore the +inscription, "<i>His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> fame is every where, and his heart is here</i>." Young +girls dressed in white, and wreaths of flowers on their heads, covered +the steps of an amphitheatre erected before the house. Madame de +Villette, to whom Voltaire had been a second father, in all the +splendour of her beauty, and the pathos of her tears, advanced and +placed the noblest of all his wreaths, the wreath of filial affection, +on the head of the great philosopher.</p> + +<p>At this moment the crowd burst into one of the hymns of the poet +Chénier, who, up to his death, most of all men cherished the memory of +Voltaire. Madame de Villette and the young girls of the amphitheatre +descended into the street, now strewed with flowers, and walked before +the car. The Théâtre Français, then situated in the Faubourg St. +Germain, had erected a triumphal arch on its peristyle. On each pillar a +medallion was fixed, bearing in letters of gilt bronze the title of the +principal dramas of the poet; on the pedestal of the statue erected +before the door of the theatre was written, "<i>He wrote Irène at +eighty-three years; at seventeen he wrote Œdipus</i>."</p> + +<p>The immense procession did not arrive at the Pantheon until ten o'clock +at night, for the day had not been sufficiently long for this triumph. +The coffin of Voltaire was deposited between those of Descartes and +Mirabeau,—the spot predestined for this intermediary genius between +philosophy and policy, between the design and the execution. This +apotheosis of modern philosophy, amidst the great events that agitated +the public mind, was a convincing proof that the Revolution comprehended +its own aim, and that it sought to be the inauguration of those two +principles represented by these cold ashes—Intelligence and Liberty. It +was intelligence that triumphantly entered the city of Louis XIV. over +the ruins of the prejudices of birth. It was philosophy taking +possession of the city and the temple of Sainte Geneviève. The remains +of two schools, of two ages, and two creeds were about to strive for the +mastery even in the tomb. Philosophy who, up to this hour, had timidly +shrunk from the contest, now revealed her latest inspiration—that of +transferring the veneration of the age from one great man to another.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> + +<h3>V.</h3> + + +<p>Voltaire, the sceptical genius of France in modern ages, combined, in +himself, the double passion of this people at such a period—the passion +of destruction, and the desire of innovation, hatred of prejudices, and +love of knowledge: he was destined to be the standard-bearer of +destruction; his genius, although not the most elevated, yet the most +comprehensive in France, has hitherto been only judged by fanatics or +his enemies. Impiety deified his very vices; superstition anathematised +his very virtues; in a word, despotism, when it again seized on the +reins of government in France, felt that to reinstate tyranny it would +be necessary first to unseat Voltaire from his high position in the +national opinion. Napoleon, during fifteen years, paid writers who +degrade, vilify, and deny the genius of Voltaire; he hated his name, as +<i>might</i> must ever hate <i>intellect</i>; and so long as men yet cherished the +memory of Voltaire, so long he felt his position was not secure, for +tyranny stands as much in need of prejudice to sustain it as falsehood +of uncertainty and darkness; the restored church could no longer suffer +his glory to shine with so great a lustre; she had the right to hate +Voltaire, not to deny his genius.</p> + +<p>If we judge of men by what they have <i>done</i>, then Voltaire is +incontestably the greatest writer of modern Europe. No one has caused, +through the powerful influence of his genius alone, and the perseverance +of his will, so great a commotion in the minds of men; his pen aroused a +world, and has shaken a far mightier empire than that of Charlemagne, +the European empire of a theocracy. His genius was not <i>force</i> but +<i>light</i>. Heaven had destined him not to destroy but to illuminate, and +wherever he trod light followed him, for reason (which is <i>light</i>) had +destined him to be first her poet, then her apostle, and lastly her +idol.</p> + +<h3>VI.</h3> + + +<p>Voltaire was born a plebeian in an obscure street of old Paris.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> +Whilst Louis XIV. and Bossuet reigned in all the pomp of absolute power +and Catholicism at Versailles,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> the child of the people, the Moses of +incredulity, grew up amidst them: the secrets of destiny seem thus to +sport with men, and are alone suspected when they have exploded. The +throne and the altar had attained their culminating point in France. The +Duc d'Orleans, as regent, governed during an interregnum,—one vice in +the room of another, weakness instead of pride. This life was easy and +agreeable, and corruption avenged itself for the monacal austerity of +the last years of Madame de Mainténon and Letellier. Voltaire, alike +precocious by audacity as by talent, began already to sport with those +weapons of the mind of which he was destined, after years, to make so +terrible a use. The regent, all unsuspicious of danger, suffered him to +continue, and repressed, for form's sake alone, some of the most +audacious of his outbreaks, at which he laughed even whilst he punished +them. The incredulity of the age took its rise in debauchery and not in +examination, and the independence of thought was rather a <i>libertinage</i> +of manners, than a conclusion arising from reflection. There was vice in +irreligion, and of this Voltaire always savoured. His mission began by a +contempt and derision of holy things, which, even though doomed to +destruction, should be touched with respect. From thence arose that +mockery, that irony, that cynicism too often on the lips, and in the +heart, of the apostle of reason; his visit to England gave assurance and +gravity to his incredulity, for in France he had only known libertines, +in London he knew philosophers; he became passionately attached to +eternal reason, as we are all eager after what is new, and he felt the +enthusiasm of the discovery. In so active a nature as the French, this +enthusiasm and this hatred could not remain in mere speculation as in +the mind of a native of the north. Scarcely was he himself persuaded, +than he wished in his turn to persuade others; his whole life became a +multiplied action, tending to one end, the abolition of theocracy, and +the establishment of religious toleration and liberty. He toiled at this +with all the powers with which God had gifted him; he even employed +falsehood (<i>ruse</i>), aspersion, cynicism, and immorality: he used even +those arms that respect for God and man denies to the wise; he employed +his virtue, his honour, his renown, to aid in this overthrow; and his +apostleship of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> reason had too often the appearance of a profanation of +piety; he ravaged the temple instead of protecting it.</p> + +<p>From the day when he resolved upon this war against Christianity he +sought for allies also opposed to it. His intimacy with the king of +Prussia, Frederic II., had this sole inducement. He desired the support +of thrones against the priesthood. Frederic, who partook of his +philosophy, and pushed it still further, even to atheism and the +contempt of mankind, was the Dionysius of this modern Plato. Louis XV., +whose interest it was to keep up a good understanding with Prussia, +dared not to show his anger against a man whom the king considered as +his friend. Voltaire, thus protected by a sceptre, redoubled his +audacity. He put thrones on one side, whilst he affected to make their +interests mutual with his own, by pretending to emancipate them from the +domination of Rome. He handed over to kings the civil liberty of the +people, provided that they would aid him in acquiring the liberty of +consciences. He even affected—perhaps he felt—respect for the absolute +power of kings. He pushed that respect so far as even to worship their +weaknesses. He palliated the infamous vices of the great Frederic, and +brought philosophy on its knees before the mistresses of Louis XV. Like +the courtezan of Thebes, who built one of the pyramids of Egypt from the +fruits of her debaucheries, Voltaire did not blush at any prostitution +of genius, provided that the wages of his servility enabled him to +purchase enemies against Christ. He enrolled them by millions throughout +Europe, and especially in France. Kings were reminded of the middle +ages, and of the thrones outraged by the popes. They did not see, +without umbrage and secret hate, the clergy as powerful as themselves +with the people, and who under the name of cardinals, almoners, bishops +or confessors, spied, or dictated its creeds even to courts themselves. +The parliaments, that civil clergy, a body redoubtable to sovereigns +themselves, detested the mass of the clergy, although they protected its +faith and its decrees. The nobility, warlike, corrupted, and ignorant, +leaned entirely to the unbelief which freed it from all morality. +Finally, the <i>bourgeoisie</i>, well-informed or learned, prefaced the +emancipation of the third estate by the insurrection of the new +condition of ideas.</p> + +<p>Such were the elements of the revolution in religious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> matters. Voltaire +laid hold of them, at the precise moment, with that <i>coup d'œil</i> of +strong instinct which sees clearer than genius itself. To an age young, +fickle, and unreflecting, he did not present reason under the form of an +austere philosophy, but beneath the guise of a facile freedom of ideas +and a scoffing irony. He would not have succeeded in making his age +think, he did succeed in making it smile. He never attacked it in front, +nor with his face uncovered, in order that he might not set the laws in +array against him; and to avoid the fate of Servetius, he, the modern +Æsop, attacked under imaginary names the tyranny which he wished to +destroy. He concealed his hate in history, the drama, light poetry, +romance, and even in jests. His genius was a perpetual allusion, +comprehending all his age, but impossible to be seized on by his +enemies. He struck, but his hand was concealed. Yet the struggle of a +man against a priesthood, an individual against an institution, a life +against eighteen centuries, was by no means destitute of courage.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>There is an incalculable power of conviction and devotion of idea, in +the daring of one against all. To brave at once, with no other power +than individual reason, with no other support than conscience, human +consideration, that cowardice of the mind, masked under respect for +error; to dare the hatred of earth and the anathema of heaven, is the +heroism of the writer. Voltaire was not a martyr in his body, but he +consented to be one in his name, and devoted it during his life and +after his death. He condemned his own ashes to be thrown to the winds, +and not to have either an asylum or a tomb. He resigned himself even to +lengthened exile in exchange for the liberty of a free combat. He +isolated himself voluntarily from men, in order that their too close +contact might not interfere with his thoughts.</p> + +<p>At eighty years of age, feeble, and feeling his death nearly +approaching, he several times made his preparations hastily, in order to +go and struggle still, and die at a distance from the roof of his old +age. The unwearied activity of his mind was never checked for a moment. +He carried his gaiety even to genius, and under that pleasantry of his +whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> life we may perceive a grave power of perseverance and +conviction. Such was the character of this great man. The enlightened +serenity of his mind concealed the depth of its workings: under the joke +and laugh his constancy of purpose was hardly sufficiently recognised. +He suffered all with a laugh, and was willing to endure all, even in +absence from his native land, in his lost friendships, in his refused +fame, in his blighted name, in his memory accursed. He took all—bore +all—for the sake of the triumph of the independence of human reason. +Devotion does not change its worth in changing its cause, and this was +his virtue in the eyes of posterity. He was not the truth, but he was +its precursor, and walked in advance of it.</p> + +<p>One thing was wanting to him—the love of a God. He saw him in mind, and +he detested those phantoms which ages of darkness had taken for him, and +adored in his stead. He rent away with rage those clouds which prevent +the divine idea from beaming purely on mankind; but his weakness was +rather hatred against error, than faith in the Divinity. The sentiment +of religion, that sublime <i>résumé</i> of human thought; that reason, which, +enlightened by enthusiasm, mounts to God as a flame, and unites itself +with him in the unity of the creation with the Creator, of the ray with +the focus—this, Voltaire never felt in his soul. Thence sprung the +results of his philosophy; it created neither morals, nor worship, nor +charity; it only decomposed—destroyed. Negative, cold, corrosive, +sneering, it operated like poison—it froze—it killed—it never gave +life. Thus, it never produced—even against the errors it assailed, +which were but the human alloy of a divine idea—the whole effect it +should have elicited. It made sceptics, instead of believers. The +theocratic reaction was prompt and universal, as it ought to have been. +Impiety clears the soul of its consecrated errors, but does not fill the +heart of man. Impiety alone will never ruin a human worship: a faith +destroyed must be replaced by a faith. It is not given to irreligion to +destroy a religion on earth. There is but a religion more enlightened +which can really triumph over a religion fallen into contempt, by +replacing it. The earth cannot remain without an altar, and God alone is +strong enough against God.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>It was on the 5th of August, 1791, the first anniversary of the famous +night of the 4th of August, 1790, when feudality crumbled to atoms, that +the National Assembly commenced the revision of the constitution. It was +a solemn and imposing act, was this comprehensive <i>coup d'œil</i> cast +by legislators at the end of their career, over the ruins they had +scattered, and the foundations they had laid in their course. But how +different at this moment was the disposition of their mind from what +they felt in commencing this mighty work! They had begun it with an +enthusiasm of the ideal, they now contemplated it with the misgivings +and the sadness of reality. The National Assembly was opened amidst the +acclamations of a people unanimous in their hopes, and was about to +close amidst the clamorous recriminations of all parties.</p> + +<p>The king was captive, the princes emigrants, the clergy at feud, the +nobility in flight, the people seditious; Necker's popularity had +vanished, Mirabeau was dead, Maury silenced, Cazalès, Lally, Mounier had +deserted from their work. Two years had carried off more men and things +than a generation removes in ordinary times. The great voices of '89, +inspired with philosophy and vast hopes, no longer resounded beneath +those vaults. The foremost ranks had fallen. The men of second order +were now to contend in their stead. Intimidated, discouraged, repentant, +they had neither the spirit to yield to the impulse of the people nor +the power to resist it. Barnave had recovered his virtue in his +sensibility; but virtue which comes late is like the experience which +follows the act, and only enables us to measure the extent of our +errors. In revolutions there is no repentance—there is only expiation. +Barnave, who might have saved the monarchy, had he only united with +Mirabeau, was just commencing his expiatory sentence. Robespierre was to +Barnave what Barnave had been to Mirabeau; but Robespierre, more +powerful than Barnave, instead of acting on the impulse of a passion as +fluctuating as jealousy, acted under the influence of a fixed idea, and +an unalterable theory. Robespierre had the whole people at his back.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>From the opening of the sittings Barnave attempted to consolidate around +the constitution the opinions so fiercely shaken by Robespierre and his +friends. He did it with a caution which bespoke but too well the +weakness of his position, notwithstanding the boldness of his language. +"The labours of your committee of the constitution are assailed," he +said. "There exist against our work but two kinds of opposition. Those +who, up to the present time, have constantly shown themselves inimical +to the Revolution—the enemies of equality, who hate our constitution +because it is the condemnation of their aristocracy. Yet there is +another class hostile also, and I will divide it into two distinct +species. One of these is the men who, in the opinion of their own +conscience, give the preference to another government which they +disguise more or less in their language, and seek to deprive our +monarchical government of all the strength which can retard the advent +of a republic. I declare that these persons I shall not attack. +Whosoever has a pure political opinion has a right to communicate it; +but we have another class of foes. They are the foes of all government. +If this class betrays its opposition, it is not because it prefers the +republic to the monarchy, democracy to aristocracy, it is because all +that concentrates the political machine, all that is order, all that +places in his right position the honest man and the rogue, the candid +man and the calumniator, is contrary and hateful to its system." (Long +and loud applause from the majority on the left.) "Yes, gentlemen," +continued Barnave, "such is the party which has the most strongly +opposed our labours. They have sought fresh sources of revolution +because the revolution as defined by us escaped them. These are the men +who, changing the name of things, by uttering sentiments apparently +patriotic, in the stead of sentiments of honour, probity, purity—by +sitting even in the most august places with a mask of virtue, have +believed that they would impose upon public opinion, and have coalesced +with certain writers. (The plaudits here redoubled, and all eyes were +turned towards Robespierre and Brissot.) If we desire to see our +constitution carried<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> out, if you desire that the nation, after having +owed to you its hopes of liberty,—for as yet it is but hope (Murmurs of +dissent),—shall owe to you reality, prosperity, happiness, peace, let +us endeavour to simplify it, by giving to the government—by which I +mean all the powers established by this constitution—the amount of +simultaneous strength requisite to move the social machine, and to +preserve to the nation the liberty you have conferred upon it. If the +welfare of your country is dear to you, take care what you are about to +do. Above all, let us discard injurious mistrust, which can serve none +but our enemies, when they would believe that this national assembly, +this constant majority, at once bold and sagacious, which has so much +cast upon it since the king's departure, is ready to disappear before +the divisions so skilfully fomented by perfidious imputations. (Loud +cheering.) You will see renewed, do not doubt this, the disorders, the +convulsions of which you are weary, and to which the completion of the +Revolution ought also to be a completion. You will see renewed without +hopes, projects, temptations which we openly brave because we feel our +strength and are united—because we know that so long as we are united +they will not be attempted; and if extravagant ideas should dare to try +them it would always result in their shame. But the attempts would +succeed, and on the success of them they might, with some semblance +rely, if we were once divided amongst ourselves, not knowing in whom we +might believe. We suspect each other of different plans when we have but +the same idea—of contrary feelings, when every one of us has in his +heart the testimony of his colleagues' purity, during two years of +labour performed together—during consecutive proofs of courage—during +sacrifices which nothing can compensate but the approving voice of +conscience."</p> + +<p>Here Barnave's voice was lost in the applauses of the majority, and the +Assembly electrified, seemed for the moment unanimous in its monarchical +feeling.</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>At the sitting of the 25th of August, the Assembly discussed the article +of the constitution which declared that the members of the royal family +could not exercise the rights of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> citizens. The Duc d'Orleans ascended +the tribune to protest against this article, and declared, in the midst +of applauses and murmurs, that if it were adopted, there remained to him +the right of choosing between the title of a French citizen and his +eventual right to the throne; and that, in that case, he should renounce +the throne. Sillery, the friend and confidant of this prince, spoke +after him, and combated with much eloquence the conclusions of the +committee. This discourse, full of allusions to the position of the duc +d'Orleans, impossible to be misunderstood, was the only act of direct +ambition attempted by the Orleans party. Sillery began by boldly +replying to Barnave:—"Let me be allowed," he exclaimed, "to lament over +the deplorable abuse which some orators make of their talents. What +strange language! It is attempted to make you believe that you have here +men of faction and anarchy—enemies of order, as if order could only +exist by satisfying the ambition of certain individuals! It is proposed +to you to grant to all individuals of the royal family the title of +prince, and to deprive them of the rights of a citizen? What +incoherence, and what ingratitude! You declare the title of French +citizen to be the most admirable of titles, and you propose to exchange +it for the title of prince, which you have suppressed, as contrary to +equality! Have not the relatives of the king, who still remain in Paris, +constantly displayed the purest patriotism? What services have they not +rendered to the public cause by their example and their sacrifices! Have +they not themselves abjured all their titles for one only—that of +citizen? and yet you propose to despoil them of it! When you suppressed +the title of prince, what happened? The fugitive princes formed a league +against the country; the others ranged themselves with you. If to-day +the title of prince is re-established, we concede to the enemies of our +country all they covet; we deprive the patriotic relatives of the king +of all they esteem! I see the triumph and the recompence on the side of +the conspiring princes; I see the punishment of all sacrifices on the +side of the popular princes. It is said to be dangerous to admit the +members of the royal family into the legislative body. This hypothesis +would then be established, that every individual of the royal family +must be for the future a corrupt courtier or factious partisan! However, +is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> it not possible to suppose that there are patriots amongst them? Is +it those you would thus brand? You condemn the relatives of a king to +hate the constitution and conspire against a form of government which +does not leave them the choice between the character of courtiers or +that of conspirators. See, on the other hand, what may accrue if the +love of country inspire them! Cast your eyes on one of the branches of +that race, whom it is proposed to you to exile. Scarcely out of his +childhood, he had the happiness of saving the life of three citizens, at +the peril of his own. The city of Vendôme decreed to him a civic crown. +Unhappy child! is that indeed the last which thy race shall obtain?"</p> + +<p>The applause which constantly interrupted, and for a long time followed +this discourse, after the orator had concluded, proved that the idea of +a revolutionary dynasty already tempted some imaginations, and that if +there existed no faction of Orleans, at least it was not without a +leader. Robespierre, who no less detested a dynastic faction than the +monarchy itself, saw with terror this symptom of a new power which +appeared in the distant horizon. "I remark," he replied, "that there is +too much reference to individuals, and not enough to the national +interest. It is not true that we seek to degrade the relations of the +king: there is no design to place them beneath other citizens—we wish +to separate them from the people by an honourable distinction. What is +the use of seeking titles for them? The relatives of the king will be +simply the relatives of the king. The splendour of the throne is not +derived from such vain denominations of rank. We cannot declare with +impunity that there exists in France any particular family above +another: it would be a nobility by itself. This family would remain in +the midst of us, like the indestructible root of that nobility which we +have destroyed—it would be the germ of a new aristocracy." Violent +murmurs hailed these remarks of Robespierre. He was obliged to break off +and apologise. "I see," he said in conclusion, "that we are no longer +allowed to utter here, without reproach, opinions which our adversaries +amongst the first have maintained in this assembly."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>The whole difficulty of the situation was in the question whether or +not, that constitution once completed, the nation would recognise in the +constitution the right to revise and alter itself. It was on this +occasion that Malouet, although abandoned by his party and hopeless, +endeavoured, single-handed, the restoration of the royal authority. His +discourse, worthy of the genius of Mirabeau, was a bill of terrible +accusation against the excesses of the people, and the inconsistencies +of the Assembly. Its moderation heightened its effect—the man of +integrity was seen beneath the orator, and the statesman in the +legislator. Something of the serene and stoical soul of Cato breathed in +his words; but political eloquence is rather in the people who listen, +than in the man who speaks. The voice is nothing without the +reverberation that multiplies its echo. Malouet, deserted by his party, +left by Barnave who listened with dismay, only spoke from his +conscience; he fought no longer for victory, he only struggled for +principle. Thus did he speak.—</p> + +<p>"It is proposed to you to determine the epoch, and the conditions of the +use of a new constituent power; it is proposed to you to undergo +twenty-five years of disorder and anarchy before you have the right to +amend. Remark, in the first place, under what circumstances it is +proposed to you to impose silence on the appeals of the nation as to the +new laws; it is when you have not as yet heard the opinion of those +whose instincts and passions these new laws favour, when all contending +passions are subdued by terror or by force; it is when France is no +longer expounded but through the organ of her clubs. When it has been a +question of suspending the exercise of the royal authority itself, what +has been the language addressed to you from this tribune? You have been +told '<i>we should have begun the Revolution from thence; but we were not +aware of our strength</i>.' Thus it only remains for your successors to +measure their strength in order to attempt fresh enterprises. Such, in +effect, is the danger of making a violent revolution and a free +constitution march side by side. The one is only produced in tumultuous +periods, and by passions and weapons, the other is only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> established by +amicable arrangements between old interests and new. (Laughter, murmurs, +and 'that is the point.') We do not count voices, we do not discuss +opinions, to make a revolution. A revolution is a storm during which we +must furl our sails, or we sink. But after the tempest, those who have +been beaten by it, as well as those who have not suffered, enjoy in +common the serenity of the sky. All becomes calm, and the horizon is +cleared. Thus after a revolution, the constitution, if it be good, +rallies all its citizens. There should not be one man in the kingdom who +incurs danger of his life in expressing his free views of the +constitution. Without this security there is no free will, no expression +of opinion, no liberty; there will be only a predominant power, a +tyranny popular or otherwise, until you have separated the constitution +from the workings of the revolution. Behold all these principles of +justice, morality, and liberty which you have laid down, hailed with +joy, and oaths renewed, but violated immediately with unprecedented +audacity and rage. It is at a moment when the holiest or the freest of +constitutions has been proclaimed that the most infamous attempts +against liberty, against property,—nay, what do I say?—against +humanity and conscience, are multiplied and perpetuated! Does not this +contrast alarm you? I will tell you wherefore. Yourselves deceived as to +the mechanism of political society, you have sought its regeneration +without reflecting on its dissolution; you have considered as an +obstacle to your plans the discontent of some, and as a means the +enthusiasm of others. Only desirous to overcome obstacles you have +overturned principles, and taught the people to brave every thing. You +have taken the passions of the people for auxiliaries. It is to raise an +edifice by sapping the foundations. I repeat to you then, there is no +free and durable constitution out of despotism but that which terminates +a revolution, and which is proposed, accepted, and executed, by forms, +calm, free, and totally different from the forms of the Revolution. All +we do, all we seek for with excitement before we reach this point of +repose, whether we obey the people or are obeyed by them; whether we +would flatter, deceive, or serve them, is but the work of +folly,—madness. I demand, therefore, that the constitution be peaceably +and freely accepted by the majority of the nation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> and by the king. +(Violent murmurs.) I know we call the national will, all that we know of +proposed addresses, of assent, of oaths, agitations, menaces, and +violence. (Loud expressions of angry dissent.) Yes, we must close the +Revolution by beginning to destroy every tendency to violate it. Your +committees of inquiry, laws respecting emigrants, persecutions of +priests, despotic imprisonments, criminal proceedings against persons +accused without proofs, the fanaticism and domination of clubs; but this +is not all, licence has gone to such unbounded extent,—the dregs of the +nation ferment so tumultuously:—(Loud burst of indignation.) Do we then +pretend to be the first nation which has no dregs? The fearful +insubordination of troops, religious disturbances, the discontents of +the colonies, which already sound so ominously in our ports,—if the +Revolution does not stop here and give place to the constitution;—if +order be not re-established at once, and on all points, the shattered +state will be long agitated by the convulsions of anarchy. Do you +remember the history of the Greeks, where a first revolution not +terminated produced so many others during a period of only half a +century? Do you remember that Europe has her eyes fixed on your weakness +and agitations, and whilst she will respect you if you are free within +the limits of order, she will surely profit by your disorders if you +only know how to weaken yourself and alarm her by your anarchy?"</p> + +<p>Malouet demanded, therefore, that the constitution should be submitted +to the judgment of the people, and to the free acceptance of the king.</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>This magnificent harangue only sounded as the voice of remorse in the +bosom of the Assembly. It was listened to with impatience, and then +forgotten with all speed. M. de La Fayette opposed, in a short speech, +the proposition of M. Dandré, who desired to adjourn for thirty years +the revision of the constitution. The Assembly neither adopted the +advice of Dandré nor of La Fayette, but contented itself with inviting +the nation not to make use for twenty-five years of its right to modify +the constitution. "Behold us,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> then," said Robespierre, "arrived at the +end of our long and painful career: it only remains for us to give it +stability and duration. Why are we asked to submit to the acceptance of +the king? The fate of the constitution is independent of the will of +Louis XVI. I do not doubt he will accept it with delight. An empire for +patrimony, all the attributes of the executive power, forty millions for +his personal pleasures,—such is our offer! Do not let us wait, before +we offer it, until he be away from the capital and environed by ill +advisers. Let us offer it to him in Paris. Let us say to him, Behold the +most powerful throne in the universe—will you accept it? Suspected +gatherings, the system of weakening your frontiers, threats of your +enemies without, manœuvres of your enemies within,—all warns you to +hasten the establishment of an order of things which assures and +fortifies the citizens. If we deliberate, when we should swear, if our +constitution may be again attacked, after having been already twice +assailed, what remains for us to do? Either to resume our arms or our +fetters. We have been empowered," he added, looking towards the seats of +Barnave and the Lameths, "to constitute the nation, and not to raise the +fortunes of certain individuals, in order to favour the coalition of +court intriguers, and to assure to them the price of their complaisance +or their treason."</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>The constitutional act was presented to the king on the 3d of September, +1791. Thouret reported to the National Assembly in these words the +result of the solemn interview between the conquered will of the monarch +and the victorious will of his people:—"At nine o'clock in the evening +our deputation quitted this chamber, proceeding to the chateau escorted +by a guard of honour, consisting of various detachments of the national +guard and <i>gendarmerie</i>. It was invariably accompanied by the applauses +of the people. It was received in the council-chamber, where the king +was attended by his ministers and a great number of his servants. I said +to the king, 'Sire, the representatives of the nation come to present to +your majesty the constitutional act, which consecrates the indefeasible +rights of the French people—which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> gives to the throne its true +dignity, and regenerates the government of the empire.' The king +received the constitutional act, and thus replied: 'I receive the +constitution presented to me by the National Assembly. I will convey to +it my resolution after the shortest possible delay which the examination +of so important an act must require. I have resolved on remaining in +Paris. I will give orders to the commandant of the national Parisian +guard for the duties of my guard.' The king, during the whole time, +presented an aspect of satisfaction; and from all we saw and heard we +anticipate that the completion of the Constitution will be also the +termination of the Revolution." The Assembly and the tribunes applauded +several times. It was one of those days of public hope, when faction +retreats into the shade, to allow the serenity of good citizens to shine +forth.</p> + +<p>La Fayette removed the degrading <i>consignes</i>, which made the Tuileries a +jail to the royal family. The king ceased to be the hostage of the +nation, in order to become its ostensible head. He gave some days to the +apparent examination which he was supposed to bestow upon the +Constitution. On the 13th he addressed to the Assembly, by the minister +of justice, a message concerted with Barnave, thus conceived:—"I have +examined the constitutional act. I accept it, and will have it carried +into execution. I ought to make known the motives of my resolution. From +the commencement of my reign I have desired the reform of abuses, and in +all my acts I have taken for rule public opinion. I have conceived the +project of assuring the happiness of the people on permanent bases, and +of subjecting my own authority to settled rules. From these intentions I +have never varied. I have favoured the establishment of trials of your +work before it was even finished. I have done so in all sincerity; and, +if the disorders which have attended almost every epoch of the +Revolution have frequently affected my heart, I hoped that the law would +resume its force, and that on reaching the term of your labours, every +day would restore to it that respect, without which the people can have +no liberty, and a king no happiness. I have long entertained that hope; +and my resolution has only changed at the moment when I could hope no +longer. Remember the moment when I quitted Paris: disorder was at its +height—the licence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> of the press and the insolence of parties knew no +bounds. Then, I avow, if you had offered to me the constitution, I +should not have thought it my duty to accept it.</p> + +<p>"All has changed. You have manifested the desire to re-establish order; +you have revised many of the articles; the will of the people is no +longer doubtful to me, and therefore I accept the constitution under +better auspices. I freely renounce the co-operation I had claimed in +this work, and I declare that when I have renounced it no other but +myself has any right to claim it. Unquestionably I still see certain +points in the constitution in which more perfection might be attained; +but I agree to allow experience to be the judge. When I shall have +fairly and loyally put in action the powers of government confided to me +no reproach can be addressed to me, and the nation will make itself +known by the means which the constitution has reserved to it. +(Applause.) Let those who are restrained by the fear of persecutions and +troubles out of their country return to it in safety. In order to +extinguish hatreds let us consent to a mutual forgetfulness of the past. +(The tribunes and the left renewed their acclamations.) Let the +accusations and the prosecutions which have sprung solely from the +events of the constitution be obliterated in a general reconciliation. I +do not refer to those which have been caused by an attachment to me. Can +you see any guilt in them? As to those who from excess, in which I can +see personal insult, have drawn on themselves the visitation of the +laws, I prove with respect to them that I am the king of all the French. +I will swear to the constitution in the very place where it was drawn +up, and I will present myself to-morrow at noon to the National +Assembly."</p> + +<p>The Assembly adopted unanimously, on the proposition of La Fayette, the +general amnesty demanded by the king. A numerous deputation went to +carry to him this resolution. The queen was present. "My wife and +children, who are here," said the king to the deputation, "share my +sentiments." The queen, who desired to reconcile herself to public +opinion, advanced, and said, "Here are my children; we all agree to +participate in the sentiments of the king." These words reported to the +Assembly, prepared all hearts for the pardon which royalty was about to +implore. Next day the king went to the Assembly; he wore no decoration +but the cross<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> of Saint Louis, from deference to a recent decree +suppressing the other orders of chivalry. He took his place beside the +president, the Assembly all standing.</p> + +<p>"I come," said the king, "to consecrate solemnly here the acceptance I +have given to the constitutional act. I swear to be faithful to the +nation and the law, and to employ all the power delegated to me for +maintaining the constitution, and carrying its decrees into effect. May +this great and memorable epoch be that of the re-establishment of peace, +and become the gage of the happiness of the people, and the prosperity +of the empire." The unanimous applauses of the chamber, and the tribunes +ardent for liberty, but kindly disposed towards the king, demonstrated +that the nation entered with enthusiasm into this conquest of the +constitution.</p> + +<p>"Old abuses," replied the president, "which had for a long time +triumphed over the good intentions of the best of kings, oppressed +France. The National Assembly has re-established the basis of public +prosperity. What it has desired the nation has willed. Your majesty no +longer desires in vain the happiness of Frenchmen. The National Assembly +has nothing more to wish, now that on this day in its presence you +consummate the constitution by accepting it. The attachment of Frenchmen +decrees to you the crown, and what assures it to you is the need that so +great a nation must always have of an hereditary power. How sublime, +sire, will be in the annals of history this regeneration, which gives +citizens to France, to Frenchmen a country, to the king a fresh title of +greatness and glory, and a new source of happiness!"</p> + +<p>The king then withdrew, being accompanied to the Tuileries by the entire +Assembly; the procession with difficulty making its way through the +immense throng of people which rent the air with acclamations of joy. +Military music and repeated salvos of artillery taught France that the +nation and the king, the throne and liberty, were reconciled in the +constitution, and that after three years of struggles, agitations, and +shocks, the day of concord had dawned. These acclamations of the people +in Paris spread throughout the empire. France had some days of delirium. +The hopes which softened men's hearts, brought back their old feelings +for its king. The prince and his family were incessantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> called to the +windows of their palace to receive the applause of the crowds. They +sought to make them feel how sweet is the love of a people.</p> + +<p>The proclamation of the constitution on the 18th had the character of a +religious fête. The Champ-de-Mars was covered with battalions of the +national guard. Bailly, mayor of Paris, the municipal authorities, the +department, public functionaries, and all the people betook themselves +thither. One hundred and one cannon shots hailed the reading of the +constitutional act, made to the nation from the top of the altar of the +country. One cry of <i>Vive la Nation!</i> uttered by 300,000 voices, was the +acceptation by the people. The citizens embraced, as members of one +family. Balloons, bearing patriotic inscriptions, rose in the evening in +the Champs Elysées, as if to bear to the skies the testimony of the joy +of a regenerated people. Those who went up in them threw out copies of +the book of the constitution. The night was splendid with illuminations. +Garlands of flames, running from tree to tree, formed, from the Arc de +l'Etoile to the Tuileries, a sparkling avenue, crowded with the +population of Paris. At intervals, orchestras filled with musicians +sounded forth the pealing notes of glory and public joy. M. de La +Fayette rode on horseback at the head of his staff. His presence seemed +to place the oaths of the people and the king under the guard of the +armed citizens. The king, the queen, and their children appeared in +their carriage at eleven o'clock in the evening. The immense crowd that +surrounded them as if in one popular embrace,—the cries of <i>Vive le +Roi! Vive la Reine! Vive le Dauphin!</i>—hats flung in the air, the +gestures of enthusiasm and respect, made for them a triumph on the very +spot over which they had passed two months previously in the midst of +the outrages of the multitude, and deep murmuring of the excited +populace. The nation seemed desirous of redeeming these threatening +days, and to prove to the king how easy it was to appease the people, +and how sweet to it was the reign of liberty! The national acceptance of +the laws of the Constituent Assembly was the counterproof of its work. +It had not the legality, but it had really the value, of an individual +acceptance by primary assemblies. It proved that the will of the public +mind was satisfied. The nation voted by ac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>clamation, what the wisdom of +its Assembly had voted on reflection. Nothing but security was wanting +to the public feeling. It seemed as if it desired to intoxicate itself +by the delirium of its happiness; and that it compensated, by the very +excess of its manifestations of joy, for what it lacked in solidity and +duration.</p> + +<p>The king sincerely participated in this general joyous feeling. Placed +between the recollections of all he had suffered for three years, and +the lowering storms he foresaw in the future, he endeavoured to delude +himself, and to feel persuaded of his good fortune. He said to himself, +that perhaps he had mistaken the popular opinion; and that having at +least surrendered himself unconditionally to the mercy of his +people—that people would respect in him his own power and his own will: +he swore in his honest and good heart fidelity to the constitution and +love to the nation he really loved.</p> + +<p>The queen herself returned to the palace with more national thoughts: +she said to the king, "They are no longer the same people;" and, taking +her son in her arms, she presented him to the crowd who thronged the +terrace of the chateau, and seemed thus to invest herself in the eyes of +the people with the innocence of age and the interest of maternity.</p> + +<p>The king gave, some days afterwards, a fête to the people of Paris, and +distributed abundant alms to the indigent. He desired that even the +miserable should have his day of content, at the commencement of that +era of joy, which his reconciliation with his people promised to his +reign. The <i>Te Deum</i> was sung in the cathedral of Paris, as on a day of +victory, to bless the cradle of the French constitution. On the 30th of +September, the king closed the Constituent Assembly. Before he entered +the chamber, Bailly, in the name of the municipality; Pastoret, in the +name of the departments, congratulated the Assembly on the conclusion of +its work:—"Legislators," said Bailly, "you have been armed with the +greatest power that men can require. To-morrow you will be nothing. It +is not, therefore interest or flattery which praises you—it is your +works. We announce to you the benedictions of posterity, which commence +for you from to-day!" "Liberty," said Pastoret, "had fled beyond the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +seas, or taken refuge in the mountains,—you have raised her fallen +throne. Despotism had effaced every page of the book of nature; you have +re-established the decalogue of freemen!"</p> + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>The king, surrounded by his ministers, entered the Assembly at three +o'clock: lengthened cries of <i>Vive le roi</i> for a moment checked his +speaking. "Gentlemen," said Louis XVI., "after the completion of the +constitution, you have resolved on to-day terminating your labours. It +would have been desirable, perhaps, that your session should have been +prolonged in order that you, yourselves, should prove your work. But you +have wished, no doubt, to mark by this the difference which should exist +between the functions of a constituent body and ordinary legislators. I +will exercise all the power you have confided to me in assuring to the +constitution the respect and obedience due to it. For you, gentlemen, +who, during a long and painful career, have evinced an indefatigable +zeal in your labours, there remains a last duty to fulfil when you are +scattered over the face of the empire; it is to enlighten your fellow +citizens as to the spirit of the laws you have made; to purify and unite +opinions by the example you will give to the love of order and +submission to the laws. Be, on your return to your homes, the +interpreters of my sentiments to your fellow-citizens; tell them that +the king will always be their first and most faithful friend—that he +desires to be loved by them, and can only be happy with them and by +them."</p> + +<p>The president replied to the king:—"The National Assembly having +arrived at the termination of its career, enjoys, at this moment, the +first fruit of its labours. Convinced that the government best suited to +France is that which reconciles the respected prerogatives of the throne +with the inalienable rights of the people, it has given to the state a +constitution which equally guarantees royalty and liberty. Our +successors, charged with the onerous burden of the safety of the empire, +will not misunderstand their rights, nor the limits of the constitution: +and you, sire, you have almost completed every thing—by accepting the +Constitution, you have consummated the Revolution."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>The king departed amidst loud acclamations. It appeared that the +National Assembly was in haste to lay down the responsibility of events +which it no longer felt itself capable of controlling. "The National +Assembly declares," says Target, its president, "that its mission is +finished, and that, at this moment, it terminates its sittings."</p> + +<p>The people, who crowded round the Manège, and saw with pain the +Revolution abdicated into the hands of the king, insulted, as it +recognised them, the members of the Right—even Barnave. They +experienced even on the first day the ingratitude they had so often +fomented. They separated in sorrow and in discouragement.</p> + +<p>When Robespierre and Pétion went out, the people crowned them with oaken +chaplets, and took the horses off their carriage in order to drag them +home in triumph. The power of these two men already proved the weakness +of the constitution, and presaged its fall. An amnestied king returned +powerless to his palace. Timid legislators abdicated in trouble. Two +triumphant tribunes were elevated by the people. In this was all the +future. The Constituent Assembly, begun in an insurrection of +principles, ended as a sedition. Was it the error of those +principles—was it the fault of the Constituent Assembly? We will +examine the question at the end of the last book of this volume, in +casting a retrospect over the acts of the Constituent Assembly; till +then we will delay this judgment, in order not to interfere with the +progress of the recital.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK V.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Whilst an instant's breathing time was permitted to France between two +convulsive efforts, and the Revolution as yet knew not whether it should +maintain the constitution it had gained, or employ it as a weapon to +obtain a republic, Europe began to arouse itself; egotistical and +improvident, she merely beheld in the first movement in France a comedy +played at Paris on the stage of the States General and the constituent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +Assembly—between popular genius, represented by Mirabeau, and the +vanquished genius of the aristocracy, personified in Louis XVI. and the +clergy. This grand spectacle had been in the eyes of the sovereigns and +their ministers merely the continuation of the struggle (in which they +had taken so much interest, and showed so much secret favour) between +Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau on one side, and the old +aristocratical and religious system on the other. To them the Revolution +was the philosophy of the eighteenth century, which had migrated from +the <i>salons</i> into the public streets, and from books to speeches. This +earthquake in the moral world, and these shocks at Paris, the presages +of some unknown change in European destinies, attracted far more than +they affrighted them. They had not as yet learned that institutions are +but ideas, and that those ideas, when overthrown, involve in their fall +thrones and nations. Whatsoever the spirit of God wills, that also do +all mankind will, and are to accomplish, unperceived even by themselves. +Europe bestowed attention, time, and astonishment on the commencement of +the French Revolution, and that was all it needed to bring it to +maturity. The spark not having been extinguished at its outbreak was +fated to kindle and consume every thing before it. The moral and +political state of Europe was eminently favourable to the contagion of +new ideas. Time, men, and things, all lay at the mercy of France.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>A long period of peace had softened the minds, and deadened those +hereditary hatreds that oppose the communication of feelings and the +similarity of ideas between different nations. Europe, since the treaty +of Westphalia, had become a republic of perfectly balanced powers, where +the general equilibrium of power resulting from each formed a +counterpoise to the other. One glance sufficed to show the solidity and +unity of this European <i>building</i>, every beam of which, opposing an +equal resistance to the others, afforded an equal support by the +pressure of all the states.</p> + +<p>Germany was a confederation presided over by Austria, the emperors were +the chiefs only of this ancient feudalism of kings, dukes, and electors. +The house of Austria was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> more powerful through itself and its vast +possessions than through the imperial dignity. The two crowns of Hungary +and Bohemia, the Tyrol, Italy, and the Low Countries, gave it an +ascendency, which the genius of Richelieu had been able to fetter, but +not to destroy. Powerful to resist, but not to impel, Austria was more +fitted to <i>sustain</i> than to <i>act</i>; her force lies in her situation and +immobility, for she is like a block in the middle of Germany,—her power +is in her <i>weight</i>; she is the pivot of the balance of European power. +But the federative diet weakened and enervated its designs by those +secret influences all federations naturally possess. Two new states, +unperceived until the time of Louis XIV., had recently risen, out of +reach of the power, and the long rivalry of the houses of Bourbon and +Austria: the one in the north of Germany, Prussia; the other in the +east, Russia. The policy of England had encouraged the rise of these two +infant powers, in order to form the elements of political combinations +that would admit of her interests obtaining a firm footing.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>A hundred years had hardly elapsed since an emperor of Austria had +conferred the title of king on a margrave of Prussia, a subordinate +sovereign of two millions of men, and yet Prussia already balanced in +Germany the influence of the house of Austria. The Machiavelian genius +of Frederic the Great had become the genius of Prussia. His monarchy, +composed of territories acquired by victory, required war to strengthen +itself, still more of agitation and intrigue to legitimise itself. +Prussia was in a ferment of dissolution amidst the German states. +Scarcely had it risen into existence than it abdicated all German +feeling by leaguing with England and Russia; and England, always on the +watch to widen these breaches, had used Prussia as her lever in Germany. +Russia, whose two-fold ambition already had designs on Asia on the one +hand, on Europe on the other, had made it an advanced guard on the west, +and used it as an advanced camp on the borders of the Rhine. Thus +Prussia was the point of the Russian sword in the very heart of France. +Military power was every thing; its government was only discipline, its +people only an army. As for its ideas, its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> policy was to place itself +at the head of the Protestant states, and offer protection, assistance, +and revenge to all those whose interest or whose ambition was threatened +by the house of Austria. Thus by its nature Prussia was a revolutionary +power.</p> + +<p>Russia, to whom nature had assigned a sterile yet immense place on the +globe, the ninth part of the habitable world, and a population of forty +millions of men, all compelled by the savage genius of Peter the Great +to unite themselves into one nation, seemed yet to waver between two +roads, one of which led to Germany, the other to the Ottoman empire. +Catherine II. governed it: a woman endowed with wondrous beauty, +passion, genius, and crime,—such are necessary in the ruler of a +barbarous nation, in order to add the <i>prestige</i> of adoration to the +terror inspired by the sceptre. Each step she took in Asia awakened an +echo of surprise and admiration in Europe, and for her was revived the +name of Semiramis. Russia, Prussia, and France, intimidated by her fame, +applauded her victories over the Turks, and her conquests in the Black +Sea, without apparently comprehending that she weighed down the European +power, and that once mistress of Poland and Constantinople, nothing then +would prevent her from carrying out her designs on Germany, and +extending her arm over all the West.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>England, humiliated in her maritime pride by the brilliant rivalry of +the French fleet in the Indian Seas, irritated by the assistance given +by France to aid America in her struggle for independence, had secretly +allied herself in 1788 with Prussia and Holland, to counterbalance the +effect of the alliance of France with Austria, and to intimidate Russia +in her invasion of Turkey. England at this moment relied on the genius +of one man, Mr. Pitt, the greatest statesman of the age, son of Lord +Chatham, the only political orator of modern ages who equalled (if he +did not surpass) Demosthenes. Mr. Pitt, in a manner born in the council +of kings, and brought up at the tribune of his country, at the age of +twenty-three was launched in political life. At this age, when other men +have scarcely emerged from childhood, he was already the most eminent of +all that aristocracy that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> confided their cause to him as the most +worthy to uphold it, and when almost a boy he acquired the government of +his country from the admiration excited by his talents, and held it +almost without interruption up to his death by his enlightened views of +policy, and the energy of his resolution. He showed the House of Commons +what a great statesman, supported by the opinion of the nation, can dare +to attempt and accomplish, with the consent (and sometimes against it) +of a parliament. He was the despot of the constitution, if we may link +together those two words that can alone express his lawful omnipotence. +The struggle against the French Revolution was the continual act of his +twenty-five years of ministerial life; he became the antagonist of +France, and died vanquished.</p> + +<p>And yet it was not the Revolution that he hated, it was France, and in +France it was not liberty he hated, for at heart he loved freedom; it +was the destruction of this balance of Europe that, once destroyed, left +England isolated in its ocean. At this moment, England, hostile towards +America, at war with India, a coolness existing between itself and +Spain, secretly hating Russia, had on the Continent nothing but Prussia +and the Stadtholder; and observation and temporisation became a +necessary part of its policy.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>Spain, enervated by the reign of Philip III. and Ferdinand VI., had +recovered some degree of internal vitality and external dignity during +the long reign of Charles III.; Campomanes, Florida Blanca, the Comte +d'Aranda, his ministers, had struggled against superstition, that second +nature of the Spaniards. A <i>coup d'état</i>, meditated in silence, and +executed like a conspiracy by the court, had driven out of the kingdom +the Jesuits, who reigned under the name of the kings. The family +agreement between Louis XV. and Charles III., in 1761, had guaranteed +the thrones, and all the possessions of the different branches of the +house of Bourbon. But this political compact had been unable to +guarantee this many-branched dynasty against the decay of its root, and +that degeneracy that gives effeminate and weak princes as successors to +mighty kings. The Bourbons be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>came satraps at Naples, and in Spain +crowned monks, and the very palace of the Escurial had assumed the +appearance and the gloom of a monastery.</p> + +<p>The <i>monacal</i> system devoured Spain, and yet this unfortunate country +adored the evil that destroyed it. After having been subject to the +caliphs, Spain became the conquest of the popes; and their authority +reigned paramount there under every costume; whilst theocracy made its +last efforts there. Never had the sacerdotal system more completely +swayed a nation, and never had a nation been reduced to a more abject +state of degradation. The Inquisition was its government,—the +<i>auto-da-fés</i> its triumphs,—bull-fights and processions its only +diversions. Had the inquisitorial reign lasted a few years more, this +people would have been no longer reckoned amongst the civilised +inhabitants of Europe.</p> + +<p>Charles III. had trembled at each new effort he made to emancipate his +government; his good intentions had all been frustrated and checked, and +he had been forced to sacrifice his ministers to the vengeance of +superstition. Florida Blanca and d'Aranda died in exile, to which they +had been condemned for the crime of having served their country. The +weak Charles IV. had mounted the throne and reigned for several years, +guided by a faithless wife, a confessor, and a favourite. The loves of +Godoy and the queen formed the whole of the Spanish policy, and to the +fortune of the favourite all the rest of the empire was sacrificed. What +mattered it that the fleet rotted in the unfinished ports of Charles +III.—that Spanish America asserted its independence—that Italy bent +beneath the yoke of Austria—that the house of Bourbon combated in vain +in France the progress of a new system—that the Inquisition and the +monks cast a gloom over and devoured the whole of the peninsula,—all +this was nothing to the court, provided the queen were but loved and +Godoy great. The palace of Aranjuez was like the walled tomb of Spain, +into which the active spirit that now agitated Europe could no longer +penetrate.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>The state of Italy was yet worse; for it was severed into pieces that, +unlike the snake, were unable to reunite. Naples was under the severe +sway of Spain, and the yoke of Austria pressed on Milan and Lombardy. +Rome was nought but the capital of an idea—her people had disappeared, +and she had now become the modern Ephesus, at which each cabinet sought +an oracle favourable to its own cause, and paid for this purpose the +members of the sacred college. Although the centre of all diplomatic +intrigue, and the spot where all worldly ambition humbled itself but to +increase its power,—although this court could shake Europe to its +foundations, it was yet unable to govern it. The elective aristocracy, +cardinals chosen by powers at variance with each other; the elective +monarchy, a pope whose qualifications were old age and feebleness, and +who was only crowned on condition of a speedy decease: such was the +<i>temporal</i> government of the Roman States. This government combined in +itself all the weakness of anarchy, and all the vices of despotism. It +had produced its inevitable result, the servitude of the state, the +poverty of the government and the misery of the population; Rome was no +longer anything but the great Catholic municipality, and her government +nought save a republic of diplomatists. Rome possessed a temple enriched +with the offerings of the Christian world, a sovereign and ambassadors, +but neither population, treasure, nor army. It was the venerated shadow +of that universal monarchy to which the popes had pretended in the +golden age of Catholicism, and of which they had only preserved the +capital and the court.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Venice drew near its fall, but the silence and mystery of its government +concealed even from the Venetians the decrepitude of the state. The +government was an aristocratic sovereignty, founded on the corruption of +the people and treachery, for the master sinew of the government was +<i>espionage</i>; its <i>prestige</i>, mystery; its power, the torture. It lived +on terror and voluptuousness; its police was a system of secret +confession, of each against the other. Its cells,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> termed the <i>Piombi</i> +or <i>Leads</i>, and which were entered at night by the <i>Bridge of Sighs</i>, +were a hell that closed on the captive never to re-open. The wealth of +the East flowed in on Venice from the fall of the Lower Empire. She +became the refuge of Greek civilisation, and the Constantinople of the +Adriatic; and the arts had emigrated thither from Byzance, with +commerce. Its marvellous palaces, washed by the waves, were crowded +together on a narrow spot of ground, so that the city was like a vessel +at anchor, on board which a people driven from the land have taken +refuge with all their treasures. She was thus impregnable, but could not +exercise the least influence over Italy.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>Genoa, a more popular and more turbulent republic, subsisted only by her +fleet and her commerce. Hemmed in between barren mountains and a gulf +without a shore, it was only a port peopled by sailors. The marble +palaces, built one above the other on the rocky banks, looked down on +the sea, their sole territory. The portraits of the doges and the statue +of Andreà Doria constantly reminded the Genoese that from the waves had +proceeded their riches and their renown, and that <i>there</i> alone they +could hope to look for them. Its ramparts were impregnable, its arsenals +full; and thus Genoa formed the stronghold of armed commerce.</p> + +<p>The immense country of Tuscany, governed and rendered illustrious by the +<i>Médici</i>, those Pericles of Italy, was learned, agricultural, +industrious, but unwarlike. The house of Austria ruled it by its +archdukes, and these princes of the north, transported to the palaces of +the Pitti or the Cômo, contracted the mild and elegant manners of the +Tuscans; and the climate and serenity of the hills of Florence softened +there even tyranny, and these princes became voluptuaries or sages. +Florence, the city of Leo X., of philosophy, and the arts, had +transformed even religion. Catholicism, so ascetic in Spain, so gloomy +in the north, so austere and literal in France, so popular at Rome, had +become at Florence, under the <i>Médici</i> and the Grecian philosophers, a +species of luminous and Platonic theory, whose dogmata were only sacred +symbols, and whose pomps were only pleasures that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> overpowered the mind +and the senses. The churches at Florence were more museums of Christ +than his sanctuaries; the colonies of all the arts and trades of Greece +had emigrated, on the entry of Mahomet II. into Constantinople, to +Florence, and there they had prospered; and a new Athens, enriched like +the ancient with temples, porticoes, and statues, beautified the banks +of the Arno.</p> + +<p>Leopold, the philosopher prince, awaited there, busied in learning the +art of governing men and putting in practice new theories of political +economy, the moment to mount the imperial throne of Austria, where his +destiny was not to leave him long. He was the Germanicus of Germany, and +philosophy could alone display him to the world, after having lent him +for a few years to Italy.</p> + +<p>Piedmont, whose frontiers reached to the heart of France by the Alpine +valleys, and on the other side the walls of Genoa and the Austrian +possessions on the Po, was governed by the house of Savoy, one of the +most ancient of the royal lines in Europe. This military monarchy had +its intrenched camp, rather than its capital, in Turin. The plains it +occupied in Italy had been, and were destined to be, the field of battle +for Austria and France; and her positions were the keys of Italy.</p> + +<p>This population, accustomed to war, was necessarily constantly under +arms to defend itself, or to unite with that one of the two powers whose +rivalry could alone assure its independence. Thus, military disposition +was its strength; its weakness lay in having half its possessions in +Italy, half in France. The whole of Savoy is French in language, +descent, and manners; and at any great commotion Savoy must detach +itself from Italy, and fall on this side of its own accord. The Alps are +too essential a frontier to two people to belong to only one; for if +their south side looks to Italy, their north looks to France. The snow, +the sun, and the torrents have thus willed this division of the Alps +between two nations. Policy does not long prevail against nature, and +the house of Savoy was not sufficiently powerful to preserve the +neutrality of the valleys of the Alps and the roads of Italy; and though +it increase in power in Italy, yet it must be worsted in a struggle +against France. The court of Turin was doubly allied to the house of +France by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> marriage of the Comte d'Artois and the Comte de Provence, +brothers of Louis XVI., with two princesses of the house of Savoy. The +clergy had more influence at this court than at any other in Italy; and +hated instinctively all revolutions, because they threatened its +political influence. From religious feeling—from family feeling—from +political feeling, Savoy was destined to become the first scene of +conspiracy against the French Revolution.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>There was yet another in the north, and that was Sweden; but there it +was neither a superstitious attachment to Catholicism, nor family +feeling, nor even national interest, that excited the hostility of a +king against the Revolution; it was a more noble sentiment—the +disinterested glory of combating for the cause of kings; and, above all, +for a queen whose beauty and whose misfortunes had won the heart of +Gustavus III., in which blazed the last spark of that chivalrous feeling +that vowed to avenge the cause of ladies, to assist the oppressed, and +succour the right. Extinguished in the south, it burnt, for the last +time, in the north, and in the breast of a king. Gustavus III. had in +his policy something of the adventurous genius of Charles XII., for the +Sweden of the race of Wasa is the land of heroes. Heroism, when +disproportioned to genius and its resources, resembles folly: there was +a mixture of heroism and folly in the projects of Gustavus against +France; and yet this folly was noble, as its cause—and great, as his +own courage. Fortune had accustomed Gustavus to desperate and bold +enterprises; and success had taught him to believe nothing impossible. +Twice he had made a revolution in his kingdom, twice he had striven +single-handed against the gigantic power of Russia, and had he been +seconded by Prussia, Austria, and Turkey, Russia would have found a +rampart against her in the north. The first time, abandoned by his +troops, in his tent by his revolted generals, he had escaped, and alone, +made an appeal to his brave Dalecarlians. His eloquence, and his +magnanimous bearing had caused a new army to spring from the earth. He +had punished traitors, rallied cowards, concluded the war, and returned +triumphant to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> Stockholm, borne on the shoulders of his people, wrought +up to a pitch of enthusiasm. The second time, seeing his country torn by +the anarchical predominance of the nobility, he had resolved, in the +depths of his own palace, on the overthrow of the constitution. United +in feeling with the <i>bourgeoisie</i> and the people, he had led on his +troops, sword in hand; imprisoned the senate in its chamber; dethroned +the nobility, and acquired for royalty the prerogatives it required in +order to defend and govern the country. In three days, and before one +drop of blood had been shed, Sweden under his sword had become a +monarchy. Gustavus's confidence in his own boldness was confirmed. The +monarchical feeling in him was strengthened by all the hatred which he +bore to the privileges of the orders he had overturned. The cause of the +king was identified with his own.</p> + +<p>He had embraced with enthusiasm that of Louis XVI. Peace, which he had +concluded with Russia, allowed him to direct his attention and his +forces towards France. His military genius dreamed of a triumphant +expedition to the banks of the Seine. It was there that he desired to +acquire glory. He had visited Paris in his youth; under the name of the +Count de Haga he had partaken of the hospitalities of Versailles. Marie +Antoinette, then in the brilliancy of her youth and beauty, now appeared +humiliated, and a captive in the hands of a pitiless people. To deliver +this woman, restore the throne, to make himself at once feared and +blessed by this capital, seemed to him one of those adventures formerly +sought by crowned chevaliers. His finances alone opposed the execution +of this bold design. He negotiated a loan with the court of Spain, +attached to him the French emigrants renowned for their military +talents, requested plans from the Marquis de Bouillé, solicited the +courts of St. Petersburg and Berlin to unite with him in this crusade of +kings. He asked of England nothing but neutrality. Russia encouraged +him; Austria temporised; Spain trembled; England looked on. Each new +shock of the Revolution at Paris found Europe undecided and always +behind-hand in counsels and resolutions. Monarchical Europe, hesitating +and divided, did not know what it had to fear, nor what it ought to do.</p> + +<p>Such was the political situation of cabinets with respect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> to France. +But as to ideas, the feelings of the people were different.</p> + +<p>The movement of intelligence and philosophy at Paris was responded to by +the agitation of the rest of Europe, and especially in America. Spain, +under M. d'Aranda, was become alive to the general feeling; the Jesuits +had disappeared; the Inquisition had extinguished its fires; the Spanish +nobility blushed for the sacred theocracy of its monks. Voltaire had +correspondents at Cadiz and at Madrid. The forbidden produce of our +ideas was favoured even by those whose charge was to exclude it. Our +books crossed the snows of the Pyrenees. Fanaticism, tracked by the +light to its last den, felt Spain escaping from it. The excess of a +tyranny long undergone, prepared ardent minds for the excess of liberty.</p> + +<p>In Italy, and even at Rome, the sombre Catholicism of the middle age was +lighted up by the reflections of time. It played even with the dangerous +arms which philosophy was about to turn against it. It seemed to +consider itself as a weakened institution, which ought to have its long +duration pardoned in consequence of its complaisance towards princes and +the age. Benedict XIV. (Lambertini) received from Voltaire the +dedication of "Mahomet." The Cardinals <i>Passionei</i> and <i>Quirini</i>, in +their correspondence with Ferney<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>,—Rome, in its bulls, preached +tolerance for dissenters, and obedience to princes. The pope disavowed +and reformed the company of Jesus: he soothed the spirit of the age. +Clement XIV. (Ganganelli) shortly after secularised the Jesuits, +confiscated their possessions, and imprisoned their superior, Ricci, in +the castle of Saint Angelo, the Bastille of papacy. Severe only towards +exaggerated zealots, he enchanted the Christian world by the evangelical +sweetness, the grace of his understanding, and the poignancy of his wit; +but pleasantry is the first step to the profanation of dogmata. The +crowd of strangers and English whom his affability attracted to Italy +and retained at Rome, caused, with the circulation of gold and science, +the inflowing of scepticism and indifference, which destroy creeds +before they sap institutions. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + +<p>Naples, under a corrupt court, left fanaticism to the populace. +Florence, under a philosophical prince, was an experimental colony of +modern doctrines. The poet Alfieri, that Tyrtæus of Italian liberty, +produced there his revolutionary dramas, and there sowed his maxims +against the two-fold tyranny of popes and kings in every theatre in +Italy.</p> + +<p>Milan, beneath the Austrian flag, had within its walls a republic of +poets and philosophers. Beccaria wrote there more daringly than +Montesquieu. His work on "Crimes and Punishments" was a bill of +accusation of all the laws of his native country. <i>Parini Monte, +Cesarotti, Pindemonte, Ugo Foscolo</i> gay, serious, and heroic poets, then +satirised the absurdities of their tyrants, the baseness of their +fellow-countrymen, or sang, in patriotic odes, the virtues of their +ancestors, and the approaching deliverance of their country.</p> + +<p>Turin alone, attached to the house of Saxony, was silent, and proscribed +Alfieri.</p> + +<p>In England, the mind, a long time free, had produced sound morals. The +aristocracy felt itself sufficiently strong never to become persecuting. +Worship was there as independent as conscience. The dominant religion +was a political institution, which, whilst it bound the citizen, left +the believer to his free will. The government itself was popular, only +the people consisted of none but its leading citizens. The House of +Commons more resembled a senate of nobles than a democratic forum; but +this parliament was an open and resounding chamber, where they discussed +openly in face of the throne, as in the face of all Europe, the most +comprehensive measures of the government. Royalty, honoured in form, +whilst in fact it is excluded and powerless, merely presides over these +debates, and adds order to victory; it was, in reality, nothing more +than a perpetual consulate of this Britannic senate. The voices of the +leading orators, who contested the rule of the nation, echoed thence, +through and out of Europe. Liberty finds its level in the social world, +like the waves in the common bed of the ocean. One nation is not free +with impunity—one people is not in bondage with impunity—all finally +compares and equalises itself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>England had been intellectually the model of nations, and the envy of +the reflecting universe. Nature and its institutions had conferred upon +it men worthy of its laws. Lord Chatham, sometimes leading the +opposition, sometimes at the head of the government, had expanded the +space of parliament to the proportions of his own character and his own +language. Never did the manly liberty of a citizen before a +throne—never did the legal authority of a prime minister before a +people display themselves in such a voice to assembled citizens. He was +a public man in all the greatness of the phrase—the soul of a nation +personified in an individual—the inspiration of the nation in the heart +of a patrician. His oratory had something as grand as action—it was the +heroic in language. The echo of Lord Chatham's discourses were +heard—felt on the Continent. The stormy scenes of the Westminster +elections<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> shook to the very depths the feelings of the people, and +that love of turbulence which slumbers in every multitude, and which it +so often mistakes for the symptoms of true liberty. These words of +counterpoise to royal power, to ministerial responsibility, to laws in +operation, to the power of the people, explained at the present by a +constitution—explained in the past by the accusation of Strafford, the +tomb of Sidney, on the scaffold of a king, had resounded like old +recollections and strange novelties.</p> + +<p>The English drama had the whole world for audience. The great actors for +the moment were Pitt, the controller of these storms, the intrepid organ +of the throne, of order, and the laws of his country; Fox, the +precursory tribune of the French Revolution, who propagated the +doctrines by connecting them with the revolutions of England, in order +to sanctify them in the eyes of the English; Burke, the philosophical +orator, every one of whose orations was a treatise; then the Cicero of +the opposition party, and who was so speedily to turn against the +excesses of the French Revolution, and curse the new faith in the first +victim immolated by the people; and lastly, Sheridan, an eloquent +debauchee, liked by the populace for his levity and his vices, seducing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +his country, instead of elevating it. The warmth of the debates on the +American war, and the Indian war, gave a more powerful interest to the +storms of the English parliament.</p> + +<p>The independence of America, effected by a newly-born people, the +republican maxims on which this new continent founded its government, +the reputation attached to the fresh names, which distance increased +more than their victories,—Washington, Franklin, La Fayette, the heroes +of public imagination; those dreams of ancient simplicity, of primitive +manners, of liberty at once heroic and pastoral, which the fashion and +illusion of the moment had transported from the other side of the +Atlantic,—all contributed to fascinate the spirit of the Continent, and +nourish in the mind of the people contempt for their own institutions, +and fanaticism for a social renovation.</p> + +<p>Holland was the workshop of innovators; it was there that, sheltered by +a complete toleration of religious dogmata, by an almost republican +liberty, and by an authorised system of contraband, all that could not +be uttered in Paris, in Italy, in Spain, in Germany, was printed. Since +Descartes, independent philosophy had selected Holland for its asylum: +Boyle had there rendered scepticism popular: it was the land sacred to +insurrection against all the abuses of power, and had subsequently +become the seat of conspiracy against kings. Every one who had a +suspicious idea to promulgate, an attack to make, a name to conceal, +went to borrow the presses of Holland. Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, +Diderot, Helvetius, Mirabeau himself—had gone there to naturalise their +writings in this land of publicity. The mask of concealment which these +writers assumed in Amsterdam deceived no one, but it effected their +security. All the crimes of thought were there inviolable; it was at the +same time the asylum and the arsenal of new ideas. An active and vast +trade in books made a speculation of the overthrow of religion and +thrones. The prodigious demand for prohibited works which were thus +circulated in the world, proved sufficiently the increasing alteration +of ancient beliefs in the mind of the people.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>In Germany, the country of phlegm and patience, minds apparently so slow +shared with serious and concentrated ardour in the general movement of +mind in Europe. Free thought there assumed the form of an universal +conspiracy. It was enveloped in mystery. Learned and formal Germany +liked to give even to its insurrection the appearances of science and +tradition. The Egyptian initiations, mystic ceremonies of the middle +age, were imitated by the adepts of new ideas. Men thought as they +conspired. Philosophy moved veiled in symbols; and that veil was torn +away only in secret societies, from which the profane were excluded. The +<i>prestiges</i> of the imagination, so powerful in the ideal and dreamy +nature of Germany, served as a bait to the newly arisen truths.</p> + +<p>The great Frederic had made his court the centre of religious +incredulity. Sheltered by his power altogether military, contempt for +Christianity and of monarchical institutions was freely propagated. +Moral force was nothing to this materialist prince. Bayonets were in his +eyes the right of princes; insurrection the right of the people; +victories or defeats the public right. His constant run of good fortune +was the accomplice of his immorality. He had received the recompence of +every one of his vices, because his vices were great. Dying he had +bequeathed his perverse genius to Berlin. It was the corrupting city of +Germany. Military men educated in the school of Frederic, academies +modelled after the genius of Voltaire, colonies of Jews enriched by war, +and the French refugees, peopled Berlin and formed the public mind. This +mind, full of levity, sceptic, impertinent and sneering, intimidated the +rest of Germany. The weakened spirit of that land may be dated from the +period of Frederic II. He was the corrupter of the empire—he conquered +Germany in the French spirit—he was a hero of a falling destiny.</p> + +<p>Berlin continued it after his death; great men always bequeath the +impulse of their spirit to their country. The reign of Frederic had at +least one happy result: religious tolerance arose in Germany from the +very contempt in which Frederic had held religious creeds. Under the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +wing of this toleration the spirit of philosophy had organised occult +associations, after the image of freemasonry. The German princes were +initiated. It was thought an act of superior mind to penetrate into +those shadows, which, in reality, included nothing beyond some general +principles of humanity and virtue, with no direct application to civil +institutions. Frederic in his youth had been initiated himself, at +Brunswick, by Major Bielfeld; the emperor Joseph II., the most bold +innovator of his time, had also desired to undergo these proofs at +Vienna, under the tutelage of the baron de Born, the chief of the +freemasons in Austria. These societies, which had no religious tendency +in England, because there liberty conspired openly in parliament and in +the press, had a wholly different sense on the Continent. They were the +secret council-chambers of independent thought: the thought, escaping +from books, passed into action. Between the initiated and established +institutions, the war was concealed, but the more deadly.</p> + +<p>The hidden agents of these societies had evidently for aim the creation +of a government of the opinion of the human race, in opposition to the +governments of prejudice. They desired to reform religious, political, +and civil society, beginning by the most refined classes. These lodges +were the catacombs of a new worship. The sect of <i>illuminés</i>, founded +and guided by Weishaupt, was spreading in Germany in conjunction with +the <i>freemasons</i> and the <i>rosicrucians</i>. The <i>theosophists</i> in their turn +produced the symbols of supernatural perfection, and enrolled all +susceptible minds and ardent imaginations around dogmata full of love +and infinity. The theosophists, the Swedenborgians, disciples of the +sublime but obscure Swedenborg, the Saint Martin of Germany, pretended +to complete the Gospel, and to transform humanity by overcoming death +and the senses. All these dogmata were mingled in an equal contempt for +existing institutions in one same aspiration for the renewal of the mind +and things. All were democratic in their last conclusion, for all were +inspired by a love of mankind without distinction of classes.</p> + +<p>Affiliations were multiplied <i>ad infinitum</i>. Prejudice, as it always +occurs when zeal is ardent, was added fraudulently to truth, as if error +or falsehood were the inevitable alloy of truth, and even the virtues of +the human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> mind: they called up past ages, summoned spectres, and the +dead were heard to speak. They played upon the plastic imagination of +princes, by rapid transition from terror to enthusiasm. The knowledge of +the phantasmagoria, then but little known, served as an auxiliary in +these deceptions. On the death of Frederic II., his successor submitted +to such tests, and was worked upon by wonders. Kings conspired against +thrones. The princes of Gotha gave Weishaupt an asylum. Augustus of +Saxony, prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, the prince of Neuvied, even the +coadjutor of the ecclesiastical principalities on the banks of the +Rhine, those of Mayence, Worms, and Constance, signalised themselves by +their ardour for the mystic doctrines of freemasonry or the illuminati. +Cagliostro was astounding Strasburgh—Cardinal de Rohan ruined himself, +and bent before his voice. Like at the fall of great empires—like at +the cradle of great things—these signs appeared every where. The most +infallible was the general convulsion of human ideas. When a creed is +crumbling to atoms, all mankind trembles.</p> + +<p>The lofty geniuses of Germany and Italy were already singing the new era +to their offspring; Göethe the sceptic poet, Schiller the republican +poet, Klopstock the sacred poet, intoxicated with their strophes the +universities and theatres; each shock of the events of Paris had its +<i>contre coup</i> and sonorous echo, multiplied by these writers on the +borders of the Rhine. Poetry is the remembrance and anticipation of +things: what it celebrates is not yet dead, and what it sings already +hath existence. Poetry sang everywhere the unformed but impassioned +hopes of the people. It is a sure augury—it is full of enthusiasm, for +its voice is heard on all sides; science, poetry, history, philosophy, +the stage, mysticism, the arts, the genius of Europe under every form, +had passed over to the Revolution: not one name of a man of reputation +in all Europe could be cited who remained attached to the party of the +past. The past was overcome, because the mind of the human race had +withdrawn from it—when the spirit hath flown life is extinct. None but +mediocrities remain under the shelter of old forms and institutions: +There was a general mirage in the horizon of the future; and, whether +the small saw<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> therein their safety, or the great an abyss, all went +headlong towards the novelty.</p> + + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>Such was the tendency of minds in Europe, when the princes, brothers of +Louis XVI., and the emigrant gentlemen, spread themselves over Savoy, +Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, to demand succour and vengeance from +powers and principalities against the Revolution. Never, from the first +great emigrations of ancient people, fleeing from the Roman invasions, +had been seen such a movement of terror and perturbation as this, which +cast forth from the territory all the clergy and all the aristocracy of +a nation. An immense vacuum was created in France: first, in the steps +of the throne itself; next, in the court, in châteaux, in ecclesiastical +dignities; and finally in the ranks of the army. Officers, all noble, +emigrated in masses; the navy followed somewhat later, the example of +the army, which also abandoned the flag. It was not that the clergy, the +nobility, the land and sea officers were more pressed upon by the stir +of revolutionary ideas which had agitated the nation in 1789; on the +contrary, the movement commenced by them. Philosophy had in the first +place enlightened the apex of the nation. The thought of the age was +especially in the higher classes; but those classes who sought a reform +by no means desired a disorganisation. When they had seen the moral +agitation of ideas transform itself into an insurrection of the people, +they had trembled. The reins of government violently snatched from the +king by Mirabeau and La Fayette, at the Tennis court; the attempts of +the 5th and 6th of October; privileges suppressed without compensation, +titles abolished, the aristocracy handed over to execration, to pillage, +to fire, and even to murder, in the provinces; religion deposed, and +compelled to nationalise itself by a constitutional oath; and; finally +the king's flight, his imprisonment in his palace, the threats of death +vomited forth by the patriotic press, or the tribunes of popular clubs, +against all aristocracy, the triumphant riots in the provinces, the +defection of the French guards in Paris, the revolt of the Swiss of +Châteauvieux at Nancy, the excesses of the soldiery, mutinous and +unpunished, at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> Caen, Brest, and everywhere, had changed into horror and +hatred the favourable feeling of the noblesse for the progress of +opinion. It saw that the first act of the people was to degrade superior +authority. The <i>esprit de caste</i> impelled the nobility to emigrate, the +<i>esprit de corps</i> similarly influenced the officers, and the <i>esprit de +cour</i> made it shameful to remain on a soil stained with so many outrages +to royalty. The women, who then formed public opinion in France, and +whose tender and easily excited imagination is soon transferred to the +side of their victims, all sided with the throne and the aristocracy. +They despised those who would not go and seek their avengers in foreign +lands. Young men departed at their desire; those who did not, dared not +show themselves. They sent them distaffs, as a token of their cowardice!</p> + +<p>But it was not shame alone that led the officers and the nobles to join +the ranks of the army, it was also the appearance of a duty; for the +last virtue that was left to the French nobility was a religious +fidelity to the throne: their honour, their second and almost only +religion, was to die for their king; and any design against the throne, +in their belief, was a design against heaven. Chivalry, that code of +aristocratic feeling, had preserved and disseminated this noble +prejudice throughout Europe; and, to the nobility, the king represented +their country. This feeling, eclipsed for a while by the debaucheries of +the regency, the scandalous vices of Louis XV., and the bold maxims of +Rousseau's philosophy, was awakened in the heart of the gentlemen at the +spectacle of the degradation and danger of the king and queen. In their +eyes, the Assembly was nothing but a band of revolutionary subjects, who +detained their sovereign a prisoner. The most voluntary acts of the king +were suspected by them, and beneath his constitutional speeches, they +imagined they discovered another and a contrary meaning; and the very +ministers of Louis XVI. were believed to be nothing but his gaolers. A +secret understanding existed between these gentlemen and the king, and +counsels were held in secluded apartments of the Tuileries, at which the +king alternately encouraged and forbade his friends to emigrate. And his +orders, varied at each day and each fresh occurrence, were sometimes +constitutional and patriotic when he hoped to re-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>establish and moderate +the constitution at home; at other times, despairing and blameable when +it seemed to him that the security of the queen and his children could +only proceed from another country. Whilst he addressed official letters +through his minister for foreign affairs to his brothers, and the Prince +de Condé, to recall them, and point out to them their duty as citizens, +the Baron de Breteuil, his confidential agent to the Foreign Powers, +transmitted to the king of Prussia letters that revealed the secret +thoughts of the king. The following letter to the king of Prussia, found +in the archives of the chancellorship of Berlin, dated December 3rd, +1790, leaves no doubt of this double diplomacy of the unfortunate +monarch. Louis XVI. wrote:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Monsieur mon Frère,</p> + +<p>"I have learnt from M. de Moustier how great an interest your +majesty has displayed, not only for my person but for the welfare +of my kingdom, and your majesty's determination to prove this +interest, whenever it can be for the good of my people, has deeply +touched me; and I confidently claim the fulfilment of it, at this +moment, when, in spite of my having accepted the new constitution, +the factious portion of my subjects openly manifest their intention +of destroying the remainder of the monarchy. I have addressed the +emperor, the empress of Russia, and the kings of Spain and Sweden, +and I have suggested to them the idea of a congress of the +principal powers of Europe, <i>supported by an armed force</i>, as the +best measure to check the progress of faction here, to afford the +means of establishing a better order of things, and preventing the +evil that devours this country from seizing on the other states of +Europe. I trust that your majesty will approve my ideas, <i>and +maintain the strictest secrecy respecting the step I have taken in +this matter</i>, as you will feel that the critical position in which +I am placed at present compels me to use the greatest +circumspection. It is for this reason that the Baron de Breteuil is +alone acquainted with my secret, and through him your majesty can +transmit me whatever you may think fit."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> </p></div> + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>This letter, added to that addressed by Louis XVI. to M. de Bouillé, +informing him that his brother-in-law the emperor Leopold was about to +march a body of troops on Longwi, in order to afford a pretext for the +concentration of the French troops on that frontier, and thus favour his +flight from Paris, are irrefragable proofs of the counter-revolutionary +understanding existing between the king and the foreign powers, no less +than between the king and the leaders of the emigrés. The memoirs of the +emigrés are full of proofs of this fact; and nature even attests them, +for the cause of the king, the aristocracy, and the religious +institutions was identical. The emperor Leopold was the brother of the +queen of France; the dangers of the king were the dangers of all the +other princes; for the example of the triumph of one people was +contagious to all nations. The emigrés were the friends of the monarchy, +and the defenders of kings; had they not exchanged a word more on the +subject, they would have been united by the same feelings, the same +interests. But in addition to this, they had preconcerted communication +with each other, and the suspicions of the people were no empty +chimeras, but the presentiment of the plots of their enemies.</p> + +<p>The conspiracy of the court with all the courts and aristocracies +abroad, with all the aristocracies of the emigrés, with their relations, +of the king with his brothers, had no need of being carried on in +writing. Louis XVI. himself, the most really revolutionary of all the +monarchs who have occupied the throne, had no thought of treachery to +the people or to the revolution, when he implored the armed succour of +the other powers. This idea of an appeal to foreign forces, or even the +emigrated forces, was not his real desire; for he dreaded the +intervention of the enemies of France, he disapproved of emigration, and +he was not without a feeling of offence at his brothers intriguing +abroad, sometimes in his name, but often against his wishes. He shrank +from the idea of passing in the eyes of Europe for a prince in +leading-strings, whose ambitious brothers seized upon his rights in +adopting his cause, and stipulated for his interests without his +intervention. At Coblentz a regency was openly spoken of, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> bestowed +on the Comte de Provence, the brother of Louis XVI.; and this regency, +that had devolved on a prince of the blood by emigration, whilst the +king maintained a struggle at Paris, greatly humiliated Louis XVI. and +the queen. This usurpation of their rights, although clothed in the +dress of devotion and tenderness, was even more bitter to them than the +outrages of the Assembly and the people. We always dread most that which +is nearest to us, and the triumph of the emigration only promised them a +throne, disputed by the regent who had restored it. This gratitude +appeared to them a disgrace, and they knew not whether they had most to +hope or to apprehend from the emigrés.</p> + +<p>The queen, in her conversations with her friends, spoke of them with +more bitterness than confidence. The king loudly complained of the +disobedience of his brothers, and dissuaded from flight all those who +demanded his advice; but his advice was as changeable as events; like +all men balancing between hope and fear, he alternately bent and stood +erect beneath the pressure of circumstances. His acts were culpable, but +not his intentions; it was not the king who conspired, but the man, the +husband, the father, who sought by foreign aid to ensure the safety of +his wife and children; and he alone became criminal when all seemed +desperate. The "tangled thread" of negotiation was incessantly broken +off and renewed: that which was resolved yesterday was to-morrow +disavowed; and the secret negotiators of these plots, armed with +credentials and powers which had been recalled, yet continued to employ +them, in spite of the king's orders, to carry on in his name those plans +of which he disapproved. The prince de Condé, the Comte de Provence, and +the Comte d'Artois had each his separate line of policy and court, and +abused the king's name in order to increase his own credit and interest. +Hence arises the difficulty, to those who write the history of that +period, of tracing the hand of the king in all these conspiracies, +carried on in his name, and to pronounce either his entire innocence or +his palpable treachery. He did not betray his country, or sell his +subjects; but he did not observe his oaths to the constitution or his +country. An upright man, but a persecuted king, he believed that oaths, +extorted by violence and eluded through fear, were no perjuries; and he +broke each day some of those to which he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> had bound himself, under the +belief, doubtless, that the excesses of the people freed him from his +oath. Educated with all the prejudices of personal sovereignty, he +sought with sincerity amidst this chaos of parties, who disputed with +each other the empire, to find the nation; and failing to discover the +object of his search, he fancied he had the right to find it in his own +person. His crime, if there be any in his actions, was less the crime of +his heart than the crime of his birth, his situation, and his +misfortunes.</p> + + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + + +<p>The Baron de Breteuil, an old minister and ambassador, a man incapable +of making the least concession, and ever counselling strong and forcible +measures, had quitted France at the commencement of the year 1790, the +king's secret plenipotentiary to all the other powers. He alone was, to +all intents, and for all purposes, the sole minister of Louis XVI. He +was, moreover, absolute minister; for once invested with the confidence +and unlimited power of the king, who could not revoke, without betraying +the existence of his occult diplomacy, he was in a position to make any +use of it, and to interpret at will the intentions of Louis XVI. to his +own views. The Baron de Breteuil did abuse it; not, as it is said, from +personal ambition, but from excess of zeal for the welfare and dignity +of his master. His negotiations with Catherine, Gustavus, Frederic, and +Leopold were a constant incitement to a crusade against the Revolution +of France.</p> + +<p>The Count de Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII.), and the Count d'Artois +(afterwards Charles X.), after several visits to the different courts of +the South and North, had met at Coblentz, where Louis Venceslas, elector +of Trèves, their maternal uncle, received them with a more kind than +politic welcome. Coblentz became the <i>Paris</i> of Germany, the focus of +the counter-revolutionary conspiracy, the head quarters of all the +French nobles assembled round their natural leaders, the two brothers of +the captive king. Whilst they held there their wandering court, and +formed the first links of the coalition of Pilnitz, the Prince de Condé, +who, from inclination and descent, was of a more military disposition, +formed the army of the Princes, consisting of eight<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> or ten thousand +officers, and no soldiers, and thus it was the head of the army severed +from the trunk. Names renowned in history's annals, fervent devotion, +youthful ardour, heroic bravery, fidelity, the conviction of +success,—nothing was wanting to this army at Coblentz save an +understanding with their country and time. Had the French <i>noblesse</i> but +employed one half of the virtues and efforts they made to subdue the +Revolution, in regulating it, the Revolution, although it changed the +laws, would not have changed the monarchy. But it is useless to expect +that institutions can comprehend the means that transform them. The +king, the nobility, and the priests could not understand a revolution +that threatened to destroy the noblesse, the clergy, and the throne. A +contest became unavoidable; they had not space for the struggle in +France, and they took their stand on a foreign soil.</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>Whilst the army of the princes thus increased in strength at Coblentz, +the counter-revolutionary diplomacy was on the eve of the first great +result it had been enabled to obtain in the actual state of Europe. The +conferences of Pilnitz had opened, and the Count de Provence had sent +the baron Roll from Coblentz to the king of Prussia, to demand in the +name of Louis XVI. the assistance of his troops to aid in the +re-establishment of order in France. The king of Prussia, before +deciding, wished to learn the state of France from a man whose military +talents and devoted attachment to the monarchy had gained him the +confidence of the foreign courts,—the Marquis de Bouillé. He fixed the +Château de Pilnitz as the meeting place, and requested him to bring a +plan of operation for the foreign armies on the different French +frontiers; and on the 24th of August Frederic Willam, accompanied by his +son, his principal generals, and his ministers, arrived at the Château +de Pilnitz, the summer residence of the court of Saxony, where he had +been preceded by the emperor.</p> + +<p>The Archduke Francis, afterwards the emperor Francis II., the Maréchal +de Lascy, the Baron de Spielman, and a numerous train of courtiers, +attended the emperor. The two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> sovereigns, the rivals of Germany, seemed +for a time to have laid aside their rivalry to occupy themselves solely +with the safety of the thrones of Europe; this fraternity of the great +family of monarchs prevailed over every other feeling, and they treated +each other more like brothers than sovereigns, whilst the elector of +Saxony, their entertainer, enlivened the conference by a succession of +splendid fêtes.</p> + +<p>In the midst of a banquet the unexpected arrival of the Count d'Artois +at Dresden was announced, and the king of Prussia requested permission +from the emperor for the French prince to appear. The emperor consented, +but previous to admitting him to their official conferences the two +monarchs had a secret interview, at which two of their most confidential +agents only were present. The emperor inclined to peace, the inertness +of the Germanic body weighed down his resolve, for he felt the +difficulty of communicating to this vassal federation of the empire the +unity and energy necessary to attack France in the full enthusiasm of +her Revolution. The generals, and even the Maréchal de Lascy himself, +hesitated before frontiers reputed to be impregnable, whilst the emperor +was apprehensive for the Low Countries and Italy. The French maxims had +passed the Rhine, and might explode in the German states at the moment +when the princes and people were called upon to take arms against +France, and the diet of the people might prove more powerful than the +diet of the kings. Dilatory measures would have the same intimidating +effect on the revolutionary genius, without presenting the same dangers +to Germany; and would it not be more prudent to form a general league of +all the European powers to surround France with a circle of bayonets, +and summon the triumphant party to restore liberty to the king, dignity +to the throne, and security to the Continent? "Should the French nation +refuse," added the emperor, "<i>then</i> we will threaten her in a manifesto, +with a general invasion, and should it become necessary, we will crush +her beneath the irresistible weight of the united forces of all Europe." +Such were the counsels of that temporising genius of empires that awaits +necessity without ever forestalling, and would fain be assured of every +thing without the least risk.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>The king of Prussia, more impatient and more threatening, confessed to +the emperor that he had no faith in the effect of these threats. +"Prudence," said he, "is a feeble defence against audacity, and the +defensive is but a timid position to assume in the face of the +Revolution. We must attack it in its infancy; for to give time to the +French principles, is to give them strength. To treat with the popular +insurrection, is to prove to them that we fear, and are disposed to form +a compact with them. We must surprise France in the very act of anarchy, +and publish a manifesto to Europe when the armies have crossed the +frontiers and success has given authority to our declaration."</p> + +<p>The emperor appeared moved; he, however, insisted on the dangers to +which a sudden invasion would inevitably expose Louis XVI., he showed +the letters of this prince, and intimated that the Marquis de Noailles +and M. de Montmorin—the one French ambassador at Vienna, the other +minister for Foreign Affairs at Paris, who were both devoted to the +king—held out hopes to the court of Vienna of the speedy +re-establishment of order and monarchical modifications of the +constitution in France; and he demanded the right of suspending his +decision until the month of September, although in the mean while +military preparations should be made by both powers. The scene was +changed the next morning by the Count d'Artois. This young prince had +received from the hand of nature all the exterior qualifications of a +chevalier: he spoke to the sovereigns in the name of the thrones; to the +emperor in the name of an outraged and dethroned sister. The whole +emigration, with its misfortunes, its nobility, its valour, its +illusions, seemed personified in him. The Marquis de Bouillé and M. de +Calonne, the genius of war and the genius of intrigue, had followed him +to these conferences. He obtained several audiences of the two +sovereigns, he inveighed with respect and energy against the temporising +system of the emperor, and violently roused the Germanic sluggishness. +The emperor and the king of Prussia authorised the Baron de Spielman for +Austria, the Baron de Bischofswerden for Prussia, and M. de Calonne for +France, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> meet the same evening, and draw up a declaration for the +signature of the monarchs.</p> + +<p>The Baron de Spielman, under the immediate dictation of the emperor, +drew up the document. M. de Calonne in vain combated, in the name of the +Count d'Artois, the hesitation that disconcerted the impatience of the +emigrés. The next day, on their return from a visit to Dresden, the two +sovereigns, the Count d'Artois, M. de Calonne, the Maréchal de Lascy, +and the two negotiators, met in the emperor's apartment, where the +declaration was read and discussed, every sentence weighed, and some +expressions modified; and at the proposal of M. de Calonne, and the +entreaties of the Count d'Artois, the emperor and the king of Prussia +consented to the insertion of the last phrase, that threatened the +Revolution with war.</p> + +<p>Subjoined is the document that was the date of a war of twenty-two +years' duration.</p> + +<p>"The emperor and the king of Prussia, having listened to the wishes and +representations of <i>Monsieur</i> and <i>Monsieur le Comte d'Artois</i>, declare +conjointly that they look upon the present position of the king of +France as an object of common interest to all the sovereigns of Europe. +They trust that this interest cannot fail to be acknowledged by all the +powers whose assistance is claimed; and that, in consequence, they will +not refuse to employ, conjointly with the emperor and the king of +Prussia, the most efficacious means, proportioned to their forces, for +enabling the king of France to strengthen with the most perfect liberty +the bases of a monarchical government, equally conformable to the rights +of sovereigns and the welfare of the French nation. Then, and in that +case, their aforesaid majesties are resolved to act promptly and in +concert with the forces requisite to attain the end proposed and agreed +on. In the mean time they will issue all needful orders to their troops +to hold themselves in a state of readiness."</p> + +<p>This declaration, at once timid and threatening, was evidently too much +for peace, too little for war; for such words encourage the revolution, +without crushing it. They at once showed the impatience of the emigrés, +the resolution of the king of Prussia, the hesitation of the powers, the +temporising policy of the emperor. It was a concession to force<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> and +weakness, to peace and war; the whole state of Europe was there +unveiled, for it was the declaration of the uncertainty and anarchy of +its councils.</p> + + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + +<p>After this imprudent and useless act, the two sovereigns separated. +Leopold to go and be crowned at Prague, and the king of Prussia, +returning to Berlin, began to put his army on a war footing. The +emigrants, triumphing in the engagement they had entered into, increased +in numbers. The courts of Europe, with the exception of England, sent in +equivocal adhesions to the courts of Berlin and Vienna. The noise of the +declaration of Pilnitz burst forth, and died away in Paris in the midst +of the fêtes in honour of the acceptance of the constitution.</p> + +<p>However, Leopold, after the conferences at Pilnitz, was more earnest +than ever in his attempts to find excuses for peace. The Prince de +Kaunitz, his minister, feared all violent shocks, which might derange +the old diplomatic mechanism, whose workings he so well knew. Louis XVI. +sent the Count de Fersen secretly to him, in order to disclose his real +motives in accepting the constitution, and to entreat him not to +provoke, by any preparation of arms, the bad feelings of the Revolution, +which seemed to be quieted by its triumph.</p> + +<p>The emigrant princes, on the contrary, filled all courts with the words +uttered in favour of their cause in the declaration of Pilnitz. They +wrote a letter to Louis XVI., in which they protested against the oath +of the king to the constitution, forced, as they declared, from his +weakness and his captivity. The king of Prussia, on receiving the +circular of the French cabinet, in which the acceptance of the +constitution was notified, exclaimed, "I see the peace of Europe +assured!" The courts of Vienna and Berlin feigned to believe that all +was concluded in France by the mutual concessions of the king and the +Assembly. They made up their minds to see the throne of Louis XVI. +abased, provided that the Revolution would consent to allow itself to be +controlled by the throne.</p> + +<p>Russia, Sweden, Spain, and Sardinia were not so easily<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> appeased. +Catherine II. and Gustavus III., the one from a proud feeling of her +power, and the other from a generous devotion to the cause of kings, +arranged together, to send 40,000 Russians and Swedes to the aid of the +monarchy. This army, paid by a subsidy of 15,000,000f. of Spain, and +commanded by Gustavus in person, was to land upon the coast of France, +and march upon Paris, whilst the forces of the empire crossed the Rhine.</p> + +<p>These bold plans of the two northern courts were displeasing to Leopold +and the king of Prussia. They reproached Catherine with not keeping her +promises, and making peace with the Turks. Could the emperor march his +troops on the Rhine whilst the battles of the Russians and Ottomans +continued on the Danube and threatened the remoter provinces of his +empire? Catherine and Gustavus nevertheless did not abate in their open +protection to the emigration party. These two sovereigns accredited +ministers plenipotentiary to the French princes at Coblentz. This was +declaring the forfeiture of Louis XVI., and even the forfeiture of +France. It was recognising that the government of the kingdom was no +longer at Paris, but at Coblentz. Moreover, they contracted a treaty of +alliance, offensive and defensive, between Sweden and Russia in the +common interest of the re-establishment of the monarchy.</p> + +<p>Louis XVI. then earnestly desiring the disarming, sent to Coblentz the +Baron Vioménil and the Chevalier de Coigny to command his brothers and +the Prince de Condé to disarm and disperse the emigrants. They received +his orders as coming from a captive, and disobeyed without even sending +him a reply. Prussia and the empire showed more deference to the king's +intentions. These two courts disbanded the army collected by the +princes, and ordered to be punished in their states all insults offered +to the tricolour cockade; but at the very moment when the emperor thus +gave evidence of his desire to maintain peace, war was about to involve +him in spite of himself. What human wisdom sometimes refuses to the +greatest causes, it sees itself compelled to accord to the smallest. +Such was Leopold's situation. He had refused war to the great interests +of the monarchy, and the strong feelings of the family which asked it +from him, and yet was about to grant it to the insignificant interests +of certain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> princes of the empire, whose possessions were in Alsace and +Lorraine, and whose personal rights were violated by the new French +constitution. He had refused succour to his sister, and was about to +accord it to his vassals. The influence of the diet, and his duties as +head of the empire, led him on to steps to which his personal feelings +would never have urged him. By his letter of 3d December, 1791, he +announced to the cabinet of the Tuileries the formal resolution on his +part "of giving aid to the princes holding lands in France, if he did +not obtain their perfect restoration to all the rights which belonged to +them by treaty."</p> + + +<h3>XVIII.</h3> + +<p>This threatening letter, secretly communicated in Paris, (before it was +officially sent,) by the French ambassador in Vienna, was received by +the king with much alarm, and with joy by certain of his ministers, and +the political party of the Assembly. War cuts through every thing. They +hailed it as a solution to the difficulties which they felt were +crushing them. When there is no longer any hope in the regular order of +events, there is in what is unknown. War appeared to these adventurous +spirits a necessary diversion to the universal ferment; a career to the +Revolution; a means for the king again to seize on power by acquiring +the support of the army. They hoped to change the fanaticism of liberty +into the fanaticism of glory, and to deceive the spirit of the age by +intoxicating it with conquests instead of satisfying it with +institutions.</p> + +<p>The Girondist deputies were of this party. Brissot was their +inspiration. Flattered by the title of statesmen, which they already +assumed from vanity, and which was used towards them with irony, they +were desirous to justify their pretensions by a bold stroke, which would +change the scene, and disconcert, at the same time, the king, the +people, and Europe. They had studied Machiavel, and considered the +disdain of the just as a proof of genius. They little heeded the blood +of the people, provided that it cemented their ambition.</p> + +<p>The Jacobin party, with the exception of Robespierre, clamoured loudly +for war: his fanaticism deceived him as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> his weakness. War was to +these men an armed apostleship, which was about to propagate their +social philosophy over the universe. The first cannon shot fired in the +name of the rights of man would shake thrones to their centre. Then +there was finally a third party which hoped for war, that of the +constitutional <i>modérés</i>, which flattered itself that it would restore +sound energy to the executive power, by the necessity of concentrating +the military authority in the hands of the king at the moment when the +nationality should be menaced. All extremity of war places the +dictatorship in the hands of the party which makes it, and they hoped, +on behalf of the king, and of themselves, for this dictatorship of +necessity.</p> + + +<h3>XIX.</h3> + +<p>A young, but already influential, female had lent to this latter party +the <i>prestige</i> of her youth, her genius, and her enthusiasm—it was +Madame de Stäel. Necker's daughter, she had inspired politics from her +birth. Her mother's <i>salon</i> had been the <i>cœnaculum</i> of the +philosophy of the 18th century. Voltaire, Rousseau, Buffon, D'Alembert, +Diderot, Raynal, Bernardin de Saint Pierre, Condorcet had played with +this child, and fostered her earliest ideas. Her cradle was that of the +Revolution. Her father's popularity had played about her lips, and left +there an inextinguishable thirst for fame. She sought it in the storms +of the populace, in calumny, and death. Her genius was great, her soul +pure, her heart deeply impassioned. A man in her energy, a woman in her +tenderness, that the ideal of her ambition should be satisfied, it was +necessary for her to associate in the same character genius, glory, and +love.</p> + +<p>Nature, education, and fortune rendered possible this triple dream of a +woman, a philosopher, and a hero. Born in a republic, educated in a +court, daughter of a minister, wife of an ambassador, belonging by birth +to the people, to the literary world by talent, to the aristocracy by +rank, the three elements of the Revolution mingled or contended in her. +Her genius was like the antique chorus, in which all the great voices of +the drama unite in one tumultuous concord. A deep thinker by +inspiration, a tribune by eloquence, a woman in attraction, her beauty, +unseen by the million, required<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> intellect to be admired, and admiration +to be felt. Hers was not the beauty of form and features, but visible +inspiration and the manifestation of passionate impulse. Attitude, +gesture, tone of voice, look—all obeyed her mind, and created her +brilliancy. Her black eyes, flashing with fire, gave out from beneath +their long lids as much tenderness as pride. Her look, so often lost in +space, was followed by those who knew her, as if it were possible to +find with her the inspiration she sought. That gaze, open, yet profound +as her understanding, had as much serenity as penetration. We felt that +the light of her genius was only the reverberation of a mine of +tenderness of heart. Thus there was a secret love in all the admiration +she excited; and she, in admiration, cared only for love. Love with her +was but enlightened admiration.</p> + +<p>Events rapidly ripened; ideas and things were crowded into her life: she +had no infancy. At twenty-two years of age she had maturity of thought +with the grace and softness of youth. She wrote like Rousseau, and spoke +like Mirabeau. Capable of bold conceptions and complicated designs, she +could contain in her bosom at the same time a lofty idea and a deep +feeling. Like the women of old Rome who agitated the republic by the +impulses of their hearts, or who exalted or depressed the empire with +their love, she sought to mingle her feelings with her politics, and +desired that the elevation of her genius should elevate him she loved. +Her sex precluded her from that open action which public position, the +tribune, or the army only accord to men in public governments; and thus +she compulsorily remained unseen in the events she guided. To be the +hidden destiny of some great man, to act through and by him, to grow +with his greatness, be eminent in his name, was the sole ambition +permitted to her—an ambition tender and devoted, which seduces a woman +whilst it suffices to her disinterested genius. She could only be the +mind and inspiration of some political man; she sought such a one, and +in her delusion believed she had found him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XX.</h3> + +<p>There was then in Paris a young general officer of illustrious race, +excessively handsome, and with a mind full of attraction, varied in its +powers and brilliant in its display. Although he bore the name of one of +the most distinguished families at court, there was a cloud over his +birth. Royal blood ran in his veins, and his features recalled those of +Louis XV. The affection of Mesdames the aunts of Louis XVI. for this +youth, educated under their eyes, attached to their persons, and who +rose by their influence to the highest employments in the court and +army, gave credit to many mysterious rumours.</p> + +<p>This young man was the count Louis de Narbonne. Sprung from this origin, +brought up in this court, a courtier by birth; spoiled by the hands of +these females, only remarkable for his good looks, his levities, and his +hasty wit; it was not to be expected that such a person was imbued with +that ardent faith which casts a man headlong into the centre of +revolutions, or the stoical energy which produces and controls them. He +saw in the people only a sovereign, more exacting and more capricious +than any others, towards whom it was necessary to display more skill to +seduce, more policy to manage them. He believed himself sufficiently +plastic for the task, and resolved to attempt it. Without a lofty +imagination, he yet had ambition and courage, and he viewed the position +of affairs as a drama, similar to the Fronde<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>, in which skilful actors +could enlarge their hopes in proportion to the facts, and direct the +catastrophe. He had not sufficient penetration to see, that in a +revolution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> there is but one serious actor—enthusiasm; and he had none. +He stammered out the words of a revolutionary tongue—he assumed the +costume, but had not the spirit of the times.</p> + +<p>The contrast of this nature and of this part, this court favourite +casting himself into the crowd to serve the nation, this aristocratic +elegance, masked in patriotism of the tribune, pleased public opinion +for the moment. They applauded this transformation as a difficulty +overcome. The people was flattered by having great lords with it. It was +a testimony of its power. It felt itself king, by seeing courtiers +bowing to it, and excused their rank by reason of their complaisance.</p> + +<p>Madame de Stäel was seduced as much by the heart as the intellect of M. +de Narbonne. Her masculine and sensitive imagination invested the young +soldier with all she desired to find in him. He was but a brilliant, +active, high-couraged man; she pictured him a politician and a hero. She +magnified him with all the endowments of her dreams, in order to bring +him up to her ideal standard. She found patrons for him; surrounded him +with a <i>prestige</i>; created a name for him, marked him out a course. She +made him the living type of her politics. To disdain the court, gain +over the people, command the army, intimidate Europe, carry away the +Assembly by his eloquence, to struggle for liberty, to save the nation, +and become, by his popularity alone, the arbiter between the throne and +the people, to reconcile them by a constitution, at once liberal and +monarchical; such was the perspective that she opened for herself and M. +de Narbonne.</p> + +<p>She but awakened his ambition, yet he believed himself capable of the +destinies which she dreamed of for him. The drama of the constitution +was concentrated in these two minds, and their conspiracy was for some +time the entire policy of Europe.</p> + +<p>Madame de Stäel, M. de Narbonne, and the constitutional party were for +war; but theirs was to be a partial and not a desperate war which, +shaking nationality to its foundations, would carry away the throne and +throw France into a Republic. They contrived by their influence to renew +all the personal staff of the diplomacy, exclusively devoted to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> the +emigrants or the king. They filled foreign courts with their adherents, +M. de Marbois was sent to the Diet of Ratisbon, M. Barthélemy to +Switzerland, M. de Talleyrand to London, M. de Ségur to Berlin. The +mission of M. de Talleyrand was to endeavour to fraternise the +aristocratic principle of the English constitution with the democratic +principle of the French constitution, which they believed they could +effect and control by an Upper Chamber. They hoped to interest the +statesmen of Great Britain in a Revolution, imitated from their own, +which, after having convulsed the people, was now becoming moulded in +the hands of an intelligent aristocracy. This mission would be easy, if +the Revolution were in regular train for some months in Paris. French +ideas were popular in London. The opposition was revolutionary. Fox and +Burke, then friends, were most earnest in their desire for the liberty +of the Continent<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>. We must render this justice to England, that the +moral and popular principle concealed in the foundation of its +constitution, has never stultified itself by combating the efforts of +other nations to acquire a free government. It has everywhere accorded +the liberty similar to its own.</p> + + +<h3>XXI.</h3> + +<p>The mission of M. de Ségur at Berlin was more delicate. Its object was +to detach the king of Prussia from his alliance with the emperor +Leopold, whose coronation was not yet known, and to persuade the cabinet +of Berlin into an alliance with revolutionary France. This alliance held +out to Prussia with its security on the Rhine the ascendency of the +new-sprung ideas in Germany: it was a Machiavelian idea, which would +smile at the agitating spirit of the great Frederic, who had made of +Prussia the corrosive influence (<i>la puissance corrosive</i>) of the +empire.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + +<p>These two words—seduce and corrupt—were all M. de Ségur's +instructions. The king of Prussia had favourites and mistresses. +Mirabeau had written in 1786, "There can be at Berlin no secrets for the +ambassador of France, unless money and skill be wanting; the country is +poor and avaricious, and there is no state secret which may not be +purchased with three thousand louis." M. de Ségur, imbued with these +ideas, made it his first object to buy over the two favourites. The one +was daughter of Elie Enka, who was a musician in the chapel of the late +king. Handsome and witty, she had at twelve years of age attracted the +notice of the king, then prince royal, and he had, at that early age, as +in anticipation of his amour, bestowed on her all the care and all the +cost of a royal education. She had travelled in France and in England, +and knew all the European languages; she had polished her natural genius +by contact with the lettered men and artists of Germany. A feigned +marriage with Rietz, valet de chambre of the king, was the pretext for +her residence at court, and gave her the opportunity for surrounding +herself with the leading men in politics and literature in the city of +Berlin. Spoiled by the precocity of her fortune, yet careless as to its +retention, she had allowed two rivals to dispute the king's heart. One, +the young Countess d'Ingenheim, had just died in the flower of her +youth; the other, the Countess d'Ashkof, had borne the king two +children, and flattered herself, in vain, with having extricated him +from the empire of Madame Rietz.</p> + +<p>The Baron de Roll, in the name of the Count d'Artois, and the Viscount +de Caraman, in the name of Louis XVI., had possessed themselves of all +the avenues to this cabinet. The Count de Goltz, ambassador from Prussia +to Paris, had informed his court of the object of M. de Ségur's mission. +The report ran amongst well-informed persons that this envoy carried +with him several millions (francs), destined to pay the weakness or the +treason of the Berlin cabinet.</p> + +<p>A copy of the secret instructions of M. de Ségur reached Berlin two +hours before him, which revealed to the king the whole plan of seduction +and venality that the agent of France was to practice on his favourites +and mistresses, whose character, ambition, rivalries, weaknesses, true +or feigned, the means of acting by them on the mind of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> king, were +all and severally noted down with the security of confidence. There was +a tariff for all consciences,—a price for every treachery. The +favourite aide-de-camp of the king, Rischofwerder, then very powerful, +was to be assailed by irresistible offers, and in case his connivance +should be revealed, a splendid establishment in France was to guarantee +him against any eventuality.</p> + +<p>These instructions fell into the very hands of those whose fidelity was +thus priced, and they gave them to the king with all the innocence of +individuals shamefully calumniated. The king blushed for himself at the +empire over his politics thus ascribed to love and intrigue. He was +indignant at the fidelity of his subjects being thus assailed: all +negotiation was nipped in the bud before the arrival of the negotiator. +M. de Ségur was received with coldness and all the irony of contempt. +Frederic Willam affected never to mention him in his circle, and asked +aloud before him, of the envoy of the elector of Mayence, news of the +Prince de Condé: the envoy replied that this prince was approaching the +frontiers of France with his army. "He is right," said the king, "for he +is on the point of entering there." M. de Ségur, accustomed, from his +long residence and his familiar footing at the court of Catherine, to +take love for the intermediary of his affairs, induced, it is said, the +countess d'Ashkof and prince Henry of Prussia to join the peace party. +This success was but a snare for his negotiation. The king, arranging +with the emperor, affected for some time to lean towards France, to +complain of the exactions of emigration, and to make much of the +ambassador; who, thus cajoled, sent the warmest assurances to the French +cabinet as to the intentions of Prussia. But the sudden disgrace of the +countess d'Ashkof and the offer of alliance with France insultingly +repulsed, threw at once light and confusion into the plots of M. de +Ségur: he demanded his recall. The humiliation of seeing his talents +played with, the hopes of his party annihilated, the prospect of his +country's misfortunes, and Europe in flames, had, it was reported, urged +his sadness to despair. The report ran that he had attempted his life. +This imputed suicide was but a brain fever occasioned by the anguish of +a proud mind deeply wounded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XXII.</h3> + +<p>The same party attempted, and at nearly the same time, to acquire for +France a sovereign whose renown weighed as heavily as a throne in the +opinion of Europe. This was the duke of Brunswick, a pupil of the great +Frederic, the presumed heir of his military fame and inspiration, and +proclaimed, by anticipation, by the public voice, generalissimo, in the +coming war against France. To carry off from the emperor and the king of +Prussia the chief of their armies, was to deprive Germany of confidence +and of victory.</p> + +<p>The name of the duke of Brunswick was a prestige which invested Germany +with a feeling of terror and inviolability. Madame de Stäel and her +party attempted it. This secret negotiation was concerted amongst Madame +de Stäel, M. de Narbonne, M. de La Fayette, and M. de Talleyrand. M. de +Custine, son of the general of that name, was chosen to convey to the +duke of Brunswick the wishes of the constitutional party. The young +negotiator was well prepared for his mission: witty, attractive, clever, +an intense admirer of Prussian tactics and the duke of Brunswick, from +whom he had had lessons in Berlin, he inspired confidence into this +prince beforehand. He offered to him the rank of generalissimo of the +French armies, an allowance of three millions of francs, and an +establishment in France equivalent to his possessions and rank in the +empire. The letter bearing these offers was signed by the minister of +war and Louis XVI. himself.</p> + +<p>M. de Custine set out from France in the month of January; on his +arrival he handed his letter to the duke. Four days elapsed before an +interview was accorded to him. On the fifth day, the duke admitted him +to a personal and private interview. He expressed to M. de Custine with +military frankness his pride and gratitude that the price attached to +his merits by France must inspire in him: "But," he added, "my blood is +German and my honour Prussia's; my ambition is satisfied with being the +second person in this monarchy, which has adopted me. I would not +exchange for an adventurous glory on the shifting stage of revolutions, +the high and firm position which my birth, my duty, and some reputation +already acquired have secured for me in my native land."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p> + +<p>After this conversation, M. de Custine, finding the prince immoveable, +disclosed his ultimatum, and held before his eyes the dazzling chance of +the crown of France, if it fell from the brow of Louis XVI. into the +hands of a conquering general. The duke appeared overwhelmed, and +dismissed M. de Custine without depriving him of all hope of his +accepting such an offer. But shortly afterwards, the duke, from +duplicity, repentance, or prudence, replied by a formal refusal to both +these propositions. He addressed his reply to Louis XVI., and not to his +minister; and this unhappy king thus learnt the last word of the +constitutional party, and how frail was the tenure on his brow of a +crown which was already offered perspectively to the ambition of a foe!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK VI.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Such were the mutually threatening dispositions of France and Europe at +the moment when the Constituted Assembly, after having proclaimed its +principles, left to others to defend and apply them; like the legislator +who retires into private life, thence to watch the effect and the +working of his laws. The great idea of France abdicated, if we may use +the expression, with the Constituted Assembly; and the government fell +from its high position into the hands of the inexperience or the +impulses of a new people. From the 29th of September to the 1st of +October, there seemed to be a new reign: the Legislative Assembly found +themselves on that day face to face with a king who, destitute of +authority, ruled over a people destitute of moderation. They felt on +their first sitting the oscillation of a power without a counterpoise, +that seeks to balance itself by its own wisdom, and changing from insult +to repentance, wounds itself with the weapon that has been placed in its +grasp.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>An immense crowd had attended the first sittings; the exterior aspect of +the Assembly had entirely changed;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> almost all the white heads had +disappeared, and it seemed as though France had become young again in +the course of a night. The expression of the physiognomies, the +gestures, the attire of the members of the Assembly were no longer the +same; that pride of the French noblesse, visible alike in the look and +bearing; that dignity of the clergy and the magistrates; that austere +gravity of the deputies of the <i>Tiers état</i> had suddenly given place to +the representatives of a new people, whose confusion and turbulence +announced rather the invasion of power than the custom and the +possession of supreme power. Many members were remarkable for their +youth; and when the president, by virtue of his age, summoned all the +deputies who had not yet attained their twenty-sixth year, in order to +form the provisional <i>bureau</i>, sixty young men presented themselves, and +disputed the office of secretary to the Assembly. This youth of the +representatives of the nation alarmed some, whilst it rejoiced others; +for if, on the one hand, such a representation did not possess that +mature calmness and that authority of age that the ancient legislators +sought in the council of the people; on the other, this sudden return to +youth of the representatives of the nation, seemed a symptom of the +regeneration of all the established institutions. It was visible to +every body that this new generation had discarded all the traditions and +prejudices of the old order of things; and its very age was a guarantee +opposite to established rule, and which required that every statesman +should by his age give pledges for the past, whilst from these was +required guarantees for the future. Their inexperience was made a merit, +their youth an oath. Old men are needed in times of tranquillity, young +ones in times of revolutions.</p> + +<p>Scarcely was the Assembly constituted, than the twofold feeling that was +destined to dispute and contest every act—the monarchical and +republican feeling—commenced upon a frivolous pretext, a struggle, +puerile in appearance, serious in reality, and in which each party in +the course of two days was alternately the conqueror and the conquered. +The deputation that had waited on the king to announce to him the +constitution of the Assembly, reported the result of its mission through +the medium of the <i>député</i> Ducastel, the president of this deputation. +"We deliberated," said he,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> "as to what form of words we should make use +of in addressing his majesty, as we feared to wound the national dignity +or the royal dignity, and we agreed to use these terms:—'Sire, the +Assembly is formed, and has deputed us to inform your majesty.' We +proceeded to the Tuileries; the minister of justice announced to us that +the king could not receive us before to-day at one o'clock. We, however, +thought that the public safety required that we should be instantly +admitted to the king's presence, and we therefore persisted. The king +then informed us he would give us audience at nine o'clock, at which +hour we again presented ourselves. At four paces distance from the king +I saluted him, and addressed him in the terms agreed upon; he inquired +the names of my colleagues, and I replied, 'I do not know them;' we were +about to withdraw, when he recalled us, saying, 'I cannot see you before +Friday.'"</p> + +<p>An ill-repressed agitation, which had hitherto pervaded the ranks of the +Assembly, now broke forth at these last words. "I demand," cried a +deputy, "that this title of Majesty be no longer employed." "I demand," +added another, "that this title of Sire be abolished; it is only an +abbreviation of Seigneur, which recognises a sovereignty in the man to +whom it is given." "I demand," said the deputy Bequet, "that we be no +longer treated as automata, obliged to sit down or stand, just as it +pleases the king to rise or to sit down." Couthon made his voice heard +for the first time, and his first speech was a threat against royalty. +"There is no other majesty here," said he, "than that of the law and the +people. Let us leave the king no other title than that of King of the +French. Let this scandalous chair be removed, the gilded seat brought +for his use the last time he appeared in this chamber, if he really is +anxious to fill the simple place of the president of a great people. Let +an equality exist between us as regards ceremony: when he is uncovered +and standing, let us stand and uncover our heads; when he is covered and +seated, let us sit and wear our hats." "The people," said Chabot, "has +sent you here to maintain its dignity; will you permit the king to say +'I will come at three o'clock,' as if you were unable to adjourn the +Assembly without awaiting him?"</p> + +<p>It was decreed that every member should have the right<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> to sit covered +in the king's presence. "This decree," observed Garrau de Coulon, "is +calculated to create a degree of confusion in the Assembly; this +privilege, given indiscriminately, would enable some to display pride, +and others flattery." "So much the better," said a voice; "if there are +any flatterers, we shall know them." It was also decreed that there +should be only two chairs, placed in a line, one for the king, the other +for the president; and lastly, that the king should have no other title +than that of King of the French.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>These decrees humiliated the king, spread consternation amongst the +constitutional party, and agitated the people. All had hoped that +harmony would be established between the powers, and yet this +understanding was destroyed at the outset, and the constitution tottered +at its first step. This deprivation of the titles of royalty seemed a +greater humiliation than the deprivation of the absolute power. Had we +alone kept our king to expose him to the insults and derision of the +people's representatives? how will a nation that does not respect its +hereditary chief, respect its elected representatives? and is it by such +outrages that liberty hopes to render herself acceptable to the throne? +Or, is it by infusing similar feelings of resentment in the breast of +the king, that he will be induced to protect the constitution, and to +aid the maintenance of the rights of the people? If the executive power +be a necessary reality, we must respect it, even in the king; if it be +but a shadow, still should we respect and honour it. The ministerial +council assembled, and the king declared that he was not forced by the +new constitution to expose the monarchical dignity represented in his +person to the outrages of the Assembly, and that he would order the +ministers to preside at the opening of the legislative body.</p> + +<p>This rumour created a reaction in Paris in favour of the king. The +Assembly, as yet undecided, felt the blow; and that the popularity it +sought was fast disappearing. "What has been the result of the decree of +yesterday?" said the deputy Vosgien, at the opening of the sitting of +the 6th of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> October. "Fresh hopes for the enemies of the public welfare, +agitation of the people, depreciation of our credit, general +disquietude. Let us pay to the hereditary representative of the people +the respect that is his due. Do not let him believe that he is destined +to be the mockery and the plaything of each fresh legislation; it is +time for the constitution to cast anchor, and fix itself with firmness +and stability."</p> + +<p>Vergniaud, the hitherto unknown orator of the Gironde, displayed in his +opening speech that audacious yet undecided character that was the type +of his policy. His speeches were uncertain as his mind; he spoke in +favour of one party, and voted for the other. "We all appear to agree," +said he, "that if this decree concerns our internal regulations, it +should be instantly put into execution; and it is evident to me that the +decree does concern our internal regulations, for there can be no +connection of authority between the legislative body and the king. It is +merely a question of those marks of respect which are demanded to be +shown to the royal dignity. I know not why the titles of Sire and +Majesty, which recall feudality, should be restored; for the king ought +to glory in the title of King of the French. I ask you, whether the king +demanded a decree to regulate the etiquette of his household when he +received your deputation? However, to speak my opinion without reserve, +I think that if the king, as a mark of respect to the Assembly, rises +and uncovers his head, the Assembly, as a mark of respect to the king, +should imitate his example."</p> + +<p>Hérault de Séchelles demanded the repeal of the decree, and Champion, +deputy of the Jura, reproached his colleagues for employing their +meetings in such puerile debates. "I do not fear that the people will +worship a gilded chair," said he, "but I dread a struggle between the +two powers. You will not permit that the words <i>sire</i> and <i>majesty</i> be +used, you will not even permit us to applaud the king; as if it were +possible to forbid the people from manifesting their gratitude when the +king has merited it. Do not let us dishonour ourselves, gentlemen, by a +culpable ingratitude towards the National Assembly, who has retained +these marks of respect for the king. The founders of liberty were not +slaves; and previous to fixing the prerogatives of royalty, they +established the rights of the people. It is the nation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> that is honoured +in the person of its hereditary representative. It is the nation who, +after having created royalty, has invested it with a splendour that +remounts to the source from whence it sprung, and gives it a double +lustre."</p> + +<p>Ducastel, the president of the deputation sent to the king, spoke on the +same side, but having inadvertently used the expression <i>sovereign</i>, in +speaking of the king, and that the legislative power was vested in the +Assembly and the king, this blasphemy and involuntary heresy raised a +terrible storm in the chamber. Every word of this nature seemed to them +to threaten a counter-revolution; for they were still so near despotism, +that they feared at each step again to fall into its toils. The people +was a slave, freed but yesterday, and who still trembled at the clank of +his chains. However, the offensive decree was repealed, and this +retraction was rapturously hailed by the royalists and the national +guard. The constitutionalists saw in it the augury of renewed harmony +between the ruling powers of the state; the king saw in it the triumph +of a fidelity that had been deadened, but which blazed forth again on +the least appearance of outrage to his person.</p> + +<p>They were all deceived: it was but a movement of generosity, succeeding +one of brutality; the hesitation of a nation that dares not, at one +stroke, destroy the idol before which it has so long bowed the knee.</p> + +<p>The royalists, however, attacked this return to moderation in their +journals. "See," they cried, "how contemptible is this revolution—how +conscious of its own weakness! This feeling of its own feebleness is a +defeat already anticipated; see in two days how often it has given +itself the lie. The authority that concedes is lost unless it possess +the art of masking its retreat, of retreating by slow and imperceptible +steps, and of causing its laws to be rather forgotten than repealed. +Obedience arises from two causes, respect and fear. And both have been +alike snapped asunder by the sudden and violent retrograde movement of +the Assembly; for how can we respect or dread that power that trembles +at its own audacity? The Assembly has abdicated by not completing that +which it had dared to commence: the revolution that does not advance, +retreats; and the king has conquered without striking a blow."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> + +<p>On their side the revolutionary party assembled that evening at the +Jacobins, deplored their defeat, accused every one, and mutually +recriminated on each other. "See," said their orators, "what underhand +work has been accomplished in one night; what a triumph of corruption +and fraud! The members of the former Assembly have mixed with the new +members in the chamber, and have infused into the ears of their +successors those concessions that have ruined them. After the sitting of +that evening they mingled with the groups in the Palais Royal, spread +alarm around, hinted of a second flight of the king, prognosticated +trouble and anarchy, and made the people of Paris, who prefer their own +private interests to the public weal, fear the utter destruction of +confidence and the depression of the public credit. Can this venal race +resist such arguments?"</p> + +<p>All the real feelings of Paris were infused the next day into the +attitude and discourses of the Assembly. "At the opening of the +sitting," says a Jacobin, "I took my place amongst the deputies who were +discussing the best means to obtain the repeal of the decree. I remarked +that the decree having been carried the previous evening almost +unanimously, it appeared impracticable to reckon upon so sudden and so +scandalous a change of opinion. 'We are sure of the majority,' was their +reply. I quitted my seat and took another, where precisely the same +conversation passed. I then took refuge in that part of the chamber that +had been so long the sanctuary of patriotism: there I heard the same +arguments, the same apostacy. All had been purchased in the course of +the night, and the best proof that this work of corruption had been +accomplished before the deliberation is, that all the orators who spoke +against the decree had their speeches ready written. Whence arises this +surprise of the patriots? Because the well-intentioned members of the +Assembly do not know each other; they have not met or reckoned their +numbers here. It is true that you have opened your doors to receive +them: they have entered this room to examine your countenance and +ascertain your forces; but they are not as yet associated and knit +together; nor have they acquired, by frequent visits here, and by +listening to your discourses, that confidence and patriotism that form +the great and good citizen."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + +<p>The people, who sighed for repose after so many exciting scenes, +destitute of work, money, and food, and intimidated by the approach of a +severe winter, saw with indifference the attempt and the retraction of +the Assembly, and suffered the deputies who had supported the decree to +be insulted with impunity. Goupilleau, Couthon, Basire, Chabot, were +threatened in the very Assembly by the officers of the national guard. +"Beware!" said these soldiers of the people, bought over to the cause of +the throne; "we will not suffer the Revolution to advance another step. +We know you—we will watch you—you shall be hewed to pieces by our +bayonets." These deputies, seconded by Barrère, came to the Jacobins' +club, to denounce these outrages; but no effect was produced, and they +gained nothing save expression of sterile indignation.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The king, reassured by this state of public feeling, proceeded, on the +7th, to the Assembly, where his appearance was the signal for unanimous +acclamations. Some applauded <i>the king</i>, others applauded the +constitution, in the person of the king. It inspired with real +fanaticism that mass that judges of things by words alone, and believes +all that the law proclaims sacred to be imperishable. Not content with +crying <i>Vive le Roi</i>, they cried also <i>Vive sa Majesté;</i> and the +acclamations of one part of the people thus avenged themselves on the +offences of the others, and revered those titles that a decree had +striven to efface. They even applauded the restoration of the royal +chair beside that of the president, and it seemed to the royalists that +this chair was a throne on which the people replaced the monarchy. The +king addressed them, standing and bareheaded; his speech reassured their +minds and touched their hearts; and if he lacked the language of +enthusiasm, he had at least the accent of sincerity. "In order," said +he, "that our labours may produce the beneficial results we have a right +to expect, it is necessary that a constant harmony and an unalterable +confidence should exist between the king and the legislative body. The +enemies of our repose will seek every opportunity to spread disunion +amongst us, but let the love of our country ally us, the public interest +render us inseparable. Thus,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> public power will unfold itself without +opposition, and the administration be harassed by no vain fears. The +property and the opinions of every man shall be protected, and no excuse +will remain for any one to live away from a country where the laws are +in force, and the rights of all respected." This allusion to the +emigrés, and this indirect appeal to the king's brothers, caused a +sensation of joy and hope to pervade the ranks of the Assembly.</p> + +<p>The president Pastoret, a moderate constitutionalist, beloved alike by +the king and the people, because, with the doctrines of power, he +possessed the acuteness of the diplomatist and the language of the +constitution, replied,—"Sire, your presence in this assembly is a fresh +oath you take of fidelity to your country: the rights of the people were +forgotten and all power confused. A constitution is born, and with it +the liberty of France. As a citizen, it is your duty to cherish—as a +king, to strengthen and defend it. Far from shaking your power, it has +confirmed it, and has given you friends in those who formerly were +styled your subjects. You said a few days ago in this temple of our +country, that you have need of being beloved by all Frenchmen, and we +also have need of being beloved by you. The constitution has rendered +you the greatest monarch in the world; your attachment to it will place +your majesty amongst those kings most beloved by the people. Strong by +our union, we shall soon feel its salutary effects. To purify the +legislation, support public credit, and crush anarchy,—such is our +duty, such are our wishes. Such are yours, sire; and the blessing of the +French nation will be the recompence."</p> + +<p>This day awakened hope once more in the hearts of the king and queen. +They believed they had again found their subjects; and the people +believed that they had again found their king. All recollections of what +had passed at Varennes seemed buried in oblivion; and popularity had one +of those sudden blasts that drive away the clouds in the sky for a short +space, and deceive even those who have learnt to mistrust them. The +royal family wished to enjoy it, and to let Madame and the dauphin +profit by it; for these two infants knew nothing of the people save +their fury; they had alone seen the nation through the bayonets of the +6th of October,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>—the rags of the <i>émeute</i>,—of the dust of the return +from Varennes; the king wished they should now see them in a state of +tranquillity and affection for him, for he taught his son to love the +people, and not to avenge their offences towards him. In the pangs he +had suffered, the most bitter was rather the ingratitude of the nation, +than his own personal humiliations; for, to be misconstrued by the +nation, was, in his eyes, far more painful than to be persecuted by +them. One moment of justice on the part of public opinion made him +forget two years of outrage. He went that evening to the Théâtre Italien +with the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and his children. The hopes to which +the events of the day had given rise—his words of that morning—the +expression of confidence and affection on his features—the beauty of +the two princesses—the infantine grace of his children, produced on the +spectators one of those impressions, where pity vies with respect, and +enthusiasm softens the heart into veneration.</p> + +<p>The theatre rang with applause mingled with sobs; every eye was fixed on +the royal box, as though in mute reparation for so many insults offered +to the king and his family. The populace can never resist the sight of +children, there are so many mothers in every crowd; the dauphin, a +lovely child, seated on the lap of his mother, and absorbed in the play, +repeated the gestures of the actors to his mother as though to explain +the piece to her. This careless tranquillity of innocence between the +two storms—this childish sport at the foot of a throne, so soon to +become a scaffold—this expansion of the heart of the queen, that had +been so long closed to joy and security, filled every eye with tears, +not excepting the king himself.</p> + +<p>There are moments in every revolution when the most furious and enraged +populace becomes gentle and compassionate; it is when it suffers nature +and not policy to sway it; and instead of being a people, it becomes a +man. Paris had such an instant: it was of short duration.</p> + +<h3>V.</h3> + + +<p>The Assembly was very anxious to re-acquire the public feeling of which +a momentary weakness had dispossessed it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> It already blushed at its +moderation for a day, and was anxious to cast fresh jealousies between +the throne and the nation. A numerous party in the chamber was desirous +of pushing matters to extremities, and to tighten the cord of the +present posture of affairs until it snapped. For this purpose the party +required agitation; tranquillity by no means suited its designs. It had +ambitious desires as vast as its talents, ardent as its youth, impatient +as its thirst for advancement. The Constituent Assembly, composed of +reflective men of eminence in the state, and in the social hierarchy, +had but the ambition of advancing the ideas of liberty and fame; the new +Assembly had that of tumult, fortune, and power. Formed of obscure, +poor, and unknown men, it aspired to the acquisition of all in which it +was deficient.</p> + +<p>This latter party, of which Brissot was the journalist, Pétion the +popular member, Vergniaud the genius, the party of the Girondists the +body, entered on the scene with the boldness and unity of a conspiracy. +It was the <i>bourgeoisie</i> triumphant, envious, turbulent, eloquent, the +aristocracy of talent, desiring to acquire and control by itself alone +liberty, power, and the people. The Assembly was made up of unequal +portions of three elements; the constitutionalists, who formed the +aristocratic liberty and moderate monarchy party; the Girondists, the +party of the movement, sustained until the Revolution fell into their +hands; the Jacobins, the party of the people, and of philosophy in +action; the first arrangement and transition, the second boldness and +intrigue, the third fanaticism and devotion. Of these last two parties +the Jacobin was not the most hostile to the king. The aristocracy and +the clergy destroyed, that party had no repugnance to the throne; it +possessed in a high degree the instinct of the unity of power; it was +not the Jacobins who first demanded war, and who first uttered the word +republic, but it was the first who uttered and often repeated the word +<i>dictatorship</i>. The word <i>republic</i> appertained to Brissot and the +Girondists. If the Girondists, on their coming in to the Assembly, had +united with the constitutional party in order to save the constitution +by moderate measures, and the Revolution by not urging it into war, they +would have saved their party and controlled the throne. The honesty in +which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> their leader was deficient was also wanting in their +conduct—they were all intrigue. They made themselves the agitators in +an assembly of which they might have been the statesmen. They had not +confidence in the republic, but feigned it. In revolutions sincere +characters are the only skilful characters. It is glorious to die the +victim of a faith; it is pitiful to die the dupe of one's ambition.</p> + +<h3>VI.</h3> + + +<p>Three causes of uneasiness agitated men's minds at the moment when the +Assembly opened its sittings—the clergy, emigration, and impending war.</p> + +<p>The Constituent Assembly had committed a gross error in stopping at a +half measure in reforming the clergy in France. Mirabeau himself had +been weak on this question. The Revolution was at the bottom only the +legitimate rising of political liberty against despotism, and of +religious liberty against the legal domination of Catholicism, because a +political institution. The constitution had emancipated the citizens, +and it was necessary to emancipate the faithful, and to claim +consciences for the state, in order to restore them to themselves, to +individual reason, and to God. This is what philosophy desired, which is +only the rational expression of the mind's impulses.</p> + +<p>The philosophers of the Constituent Assembly receded before the +difficulties of this labour. Instead of an emancipation, they made a +compact with the power of the clergy, the dreaded influences of the +court of Rome, and the inveterate habits of the people. They contented +themselves with relaxing the chain which bound the state to the church. +Their duty was to have snapped it asunder. The throne was chained to the +altar, they desired to chain the altar to the throne. It was only +displacing tyranny,—oppressing conscience by law instead of oppressing +the law by conscience.</p> + +<p>The civil constitution of the clergy was the expression of this +reciprocal false position. The clergy was deprived of these endowments +in landed estates, which decimated property and population in France. +They deprived it of its benefices, its abbeys, and its tithes—the +altar's feudality.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> It received in lieu an endowment in salaries levied +on the taxes. As the condition of this arrangement, which gave to the +working clergy an existence, influence, and a powerful body of ministers +of worship paid by the state, they required the clergy to take the oath +of the constitution. This constitution comprised articles which affected +the spiritual supremacy and administrative privileges of the court of +Rome. Catholicism became alarmed and protested; consciences were +disturbed. The Revolution, until then exclusively political, became +schism in the eyes of a portion of the clergy and the faithful. Amongst +the bishops and the priests, some took the civil oath, which was the +guarantee of their existence; others refused, or, after having taken it, +retracted. This gave rise to trouble in many minds, agitation in +consciences, division in the temples. The great majority of parishes had +two ministers,—the one a constitutional priest, salaried and protected +by the government, the other refractory, refusing the oath, deprived of +his income, driven from the church, and raising altar opposing altar in +some clandestine chapel, or in the open field. These two ministers of +the same worship excommunicated each other, the one in the name of the +constitution, and the other in the name of the Pope and of the church. +The population was also divided according to the greater or lesser +degree of revolutionary spirit prevailing in the province. In cities and +the more enlightened districts the constitutional worship was exercised +almost without dispute. In the open country and the less civilised +departments, the priest who had not taken the oath became a consecrated +tribune, who at the foot of the altar, or in the elevation of the +pulpit, agitated the people and inspired it, in all the horror of a +constitutional and schismatic priesthood, with hatred of the government +which protected it. This was not actually persecution or civil war, but +the sure prelude to both.</p> + +<p>The king had signed with repugnance and even constraint the civil +constitution of the clergy: but he had done so only as king, and +reserving to himself his liberty and the faith of his conscience. He was +Christian and Catholic in all the simplicity of the Gospel, and in all +the humility of obedience to the church. The reproaches he had received +from Rome for having ratified by his weakness the schism in France,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +wounded his conscience and distracted his mind. He had never ceased to +negotiate officially or secretly with the pope, in order to obtain from +the head of the church either an indulgent concession to the necessities +of religion in France, or prudent temporising. It was on these terms +only that he could restore peace to his mind. Inexorable Rome had only +granted him its pity. Fulminating bulls were in circulation by the hands +of nonjuring priests, cast at the heads of the population, and only +stopping at the foot of the throne. The king trembled, to see them burst +one day on his own head.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, he felt that the nation, of which he was the +legitimate head, would never forgive him for sacrificing it to his +religious scruples. Placed thus between the menaces of Heaven and the +threats of his own people, he procrastinated with all his might the +denunciations of Rome and the votes of the Assembly. The Constitutional +Assembly understood this anxiety of the king's feelings and the dangers +of persecution. It had given time to the king, and displayed forbearance +to men's consciences: it had not intermeddled with the faith of the +simple believer, but left each at liberty to pray with the priest of his +choice. The king had been the first to avail himself of this liberty, +and had not thrown open the chapel of the Tuileries to the +constitutional worship. The choice of his confessor sufficiently +indicated the choice of his conscience. The man in him protested against +the political necessities which oppressed the monarch. The Girondists +wished to compel him to declare himself. If he yielded to them, he +infringed upon his dignity; if he resisted, he lost the remaining shreds +of his popularity. To compel him to decide was a great point for the +Girondists.</p> + +<p>The public feeling served their designs. Religious troubles began to +assume a political character. In ancient Brittany the conforming priests +became objects of the people's horror, and they fled from contact with +them. The nonjuring priests all retained their flocks. On Sundays large +bodies of many thousand souls were seen to follow their ancient pastors, +and go to chapels situated two or three leagues from any dwelling, or in +concealed hermitages, sanctuaries which had never been stained by the +ceremonies of a constitutional worship. At Caen blood had even flowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +in the very cathedral, where the nonjuring priest disputed the altar +with the conforming pastor. The same disorders threatened to spread over +all parts of the kingdom: every where were to be seen two pastors and a +divided flock. Resentment, which already displayed itself in insult, of +necessity soon arrived at bloodshed. The one half of the people, +disturbed in its faith, reverted to the aristocracy out of love for its +worship. The Assembly must thus alienate the popular element, which it +had so recently caused to triumph over royalty. It was highly necessary +to provide against this unexpected peril.</p> + +<p>There were only two means of extinguishing this flame at its source: +either by freedom of conscience, stoutly maintained by the executive +power, or persecution of the ministers of the ancient faith. The +undecided Assembly wavered between these two parties. On a report of +Gallois and Gensonné, sent as commissioners into the departments of the +west, to investigate the causes of the agitation and the feelings of the +people, the discussion commenced. Fauchet, a conforming priest and +celebrated preacher, subsequently constitutional bishop of Calvados, +opened the debate. He was one of those men who, beneath an +ecclesiastical garb, conceal the heart of a philosopher. Reformers from +feeling, priests by the state, sensible of the wide discrepancy between +their opinions and their character, a national religion, a revolutionary +Christianity, was the sole means remaining to them to reconcile their +interest and their policy: their faith, wholly academic, was only a +religious convenience. They desired to transform Catholicism insensibly +into a moral code, of which the dogma was now but a symbol, which, in +the people's eyes, comprised sacred truths; and which, gradually +stripped of holy fictions, would allow the human understanding to glide +insensibly into a symbolic deism, whose temple should be flesh, and +whose Christ should be hardly more than Plato rendered a divinity. +Fauchet had the daring mind of a sectarian and the intrepidity of a man +of resolution.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VII.</h3> + + +<p>"We are accused of a desire to persecute. It is calumny. No persecution. +Fanaticism is greedy of it, real religion repulses it, philosophy holds +it in horror. Let us beware of imprisoning the nonjurors; of exiling, +even of displacing them. Let them think, say, write all they please +against us. We will oppose our thoughts to their thoughts; our truths to +their errors; our charity to their hatred. Time will do the rest. But in +awaiting its infallible triumph we must find an efficacious and prompt +mode of hindering them from prevailing over weak minds, and propagating +ideas of a counter-revolution. A counter-revolution! This is not a +religion, gentlemen! Fanaticism is not compatible with liberty. Look +else at these ministers—they would have swum in the blood of patriots. +This is their own expression. Compared with these priests, atheists are +angels. (Applause.) However, I repeat, let us tolerate them, but do not +let us pay them. Let us not pay them to rend our country in pieces. It +is to this measure only that we should confine ourselves. Let us +suppress all salary from the national treasury to the nonjuring priests. +Nothing is due to them but in their clerical capacity. What service do +they render? They invoke ruin on our laws; and they say they follow +their consciences! Must we pay consciences which push them to the +extremity of crime against their country? The nation supports them: is +not that enough? They appeal to the article of the constitution, which +says, 'The salaries of the ministers of Catholic worship form a portion +of the national debt.' Are they ministers of the Catholic worship? Does +the state recognise any other Catholicity than its own? If they would +attempt any other it is open to them and their sectarians! The nation +allows all sorts of worship, but only pays one. And what a saving for +the nation to be freed from thirty millions (of francs), which she pays +annually to her most implacable enemies! (Bravo.) Why have we these +phalanx of priests, who have abjured their ministry? these legions of +canons and monks; these cohorts of abbés, friars, and beneficed clergy +of all sorts, who were not remarkable otherwise, except for their +pretensions, inutility, intrigues and licentious life; and are only so +to-day by their vindictive interference,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> their schemes, their unwearied +hatred of the Revolution? Why should we pay this army of dependents from +the funds of the nation? What do they do? They preach emigration, they +send coin from the realm, they foment conspiracies against us from +within and without. Go, say they to the nobility, and combine your +attacks with the foreigner; let blood flow in streams, provided that we +recover our privileges! This is their church! If hell had one on earth +it is thus that it would speak. Who shall say we ought to endow it?"</p> + +<p>Tourné, the constitutional bishop of Bourges, replied to the Abbé +Fauchet as Fénélon would have answered Bossuet. He proved that, in the +mouth of his adversary, toleration was fanatical and cruel. "You have +proposed to you violent remedies for the evils which anger can only +envenom; it is a sentence of starvation which is demanded of you against +our nonjuring brethren. Simple religious errors should be strangers to +the legislator. The priests are not guilty—they are only led astray. +When the eye of the law falls on these errors of the conscience, it +envenoms them. The best means of curing them is not to see them. To +punish by the pangs of hunger simple and venial errors, would be an +opprobrium to legislation—a horror in morals. The legislator leaves to +God the care of avenging his own glory, if he believe it violated by an +indecorous worship. Would you, in the name of tolerance, again create an +inquisition which would not have, like the other, the excuse of +fanaticism? What, gentlemen, would you transform into arbitrary +proscribers the founders of liberty? You will judge, you will exile, you +will imprison, <i>en masse</i>, men amongst whom, if there are some guilty, +there are still more innocent! Crimes are no longer individual, and +guilt would be decreed by category; but were they all and all equally +guilty, could you have the cruelty to strike, at the same time, this +multitude of heads; when under similar circumstances the most cruel +despots would be content with decimating them? What then have you to do? +One thing only: to be consistent, and found practical liberty and the +peaceable co-existence of different worships on the bases of tolerance. +Why do not our brethren of the priesthood enjoy the power of worshiping +beside us the same God—whilst in our cities, where we refuse them the +right of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> celebrating our holy mysteries, we allow heathens to celebrate +the mysteries of Iris and Osiris? Mahometans to invoke their prophet? +the rabbin to make his burnt-offerings? To what extent, I ask, shall +such strange tolerance be permissible? to what extent, I ask also, will +you push despotism and persecution? When the law shall have regulated +the civil arts, births, marriage, burial, with religious ceremonies, by +which Christians consecrate them; when the law will permit the same +sacrifice on two altars, with what consistency can it forbid the virtue +of the same sacraments? These temples, it will be repeated, are the +council-chambers of the factious. True, if they be rendered clandestine, +as the persecutors would make them; but if these temples be open and +free, the eye of the law will penetrate there and every where else: it +will be no longer religious worship, it will be crime they will watch +and detect—and what do you fear? Time is with you; this class of the +nonjurors will be extinct, and never renewed. A worship supported by +individuals, and not by the state, constantly tends to weaken itself; at +least, the factious, who are in their commencement animated by the +divinity of their faith, gradually become reconciled, and identify +themselves with the general freedom. Look at Germany—look at +Virginia—where opposite creeds mutually borrow the same sanctuaries, +and where different sects fraternise in the same patriotism. This is +what we should tend to; these are the principles which ought gradually +to implant themselves widely amongst a people: light ought to be the +great precursor of the law. Let us leave to despotism to prepare its +slaves for its commands by ignorance."</p> + + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + + +<p>Ducos, a young and generous-hearted Girondist, with whom enthusiasm for +the honest carried him beyond the policy of his party, moved for the +printing of this speech. His voice was drowned amidst the applause and +murmurs which followed—a testimony of the indecision and impartiality +of men's minds. Fauchet replied at the next sitting, and pointed out the +connection between civil troubles and religious quarrels. "The priests," +he said, "are of unreasonable tyranny, which still maintains its hold on +consciences by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> ill-broken thread of its power. It is a faction +'scotched, not killed'—it is the most dangerous of factions."</p> + +<p>Gensonné spake like a statesman, and counselled toleration towards +conscientious priests, and the repulsion by force of law of the +turbulent clergy. During this discussion, couriers daily arriving from +the country, brought news of fresh disorders. Every where the +constitutional priests were insulted, driven away, massacred at the foot +of the altars. The country churches, closed by order of the National +Assembly, were burst open by axes, the nonjuring priests returned to +them, urged by the fanaticism of the people. Three cities were besieged +and on the point of being burnt down by the country people. The +threatened civil war seemed the prelude to the counter-revolution. +"See," exclaimed Isnard, "whither the toleration and impunity you have +preached, conduct you!"</p> + +<p>Isnard, deputy of Provence, was the son of a perfumer of Grasse. His +father had educated him for a literary life, and not for business. He +had studied politics in the antiquities of Greece and Rome. He had in +his mind the idea of one of the Gracchi; he had his courage in his soul +and his tone in his voice. Still very young, his eloquence was as +fervent as his blood; his language was but the fire of his passion, +coloured by a southern imagination; his words poured forth like the +rapid bursts of impatience. He was the revolutionary impetus +personified. The Assembly followed him breathless, and with him arrived +at fury before it attained conviction. His discourses were magnificent +odes, which elevated discussion to lyric poetry, and enthusiasm to +convulsion; his action bespoke the tripod rather than the tribune. He +was the Danton of the Gironde, as Vergniaud was to become its Mirabeau.</p> + + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + + +<p>It was his maiden speech in the Assembly. "Yes," he said, "look at the +point to which impunity conducts us! It is always the source of great +crimes, and is now the sole cause of the disorganised state into which +society is plunged. The plans of toleration proposed to you are very +well for tranquil times; but can we tolerate those who will neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +tolerate the constitution nor the laws? Will it be when French blood has +at last stained the waves of the sea, that you will become sensible of +the dangers of indulgence? It is time that every thing is submitted to +the will of the nation; that tiaras, diadems, and censers should yield +to the sceptre of the laws. The facts you have just heard are but the +prelude of what is about to occur in the rest of the kingdom. Consider +the circumstances of these troubles, and you will see that they have the +effect of a disorganised system contemporary with the constitution. This +system was born there! (the orator pointed to the right) it is +sanctioned at the court of Rome. It is but a real fanaticism we have to +unmask—it is but hypocrisy! The priests are the privileged brawlers, +who ought to be punished by penalties more severe than mere private +individuals. Religion is an all-powerful weapon. 'The priest,' says +Montesquieu, 'takes the man from the cradle, and accompanies him to the +tomb;' is it then astonishing that he should have so much control over +the mind of the people, and that it is requisite to make laws, in order +that under a pretence of religion it should not trouble the public +peace? What should be the nature of such a law? I maintain that one only +can be efficacious, and that is banishment from the realm. (The tribunes +hailed this with loud applause.) Do you not see that it is necessary to +separate the factious priest from the people whom he misleads, and send +away these plague-spotted men to the lazarettos of Italy and Rome? I am +told that the measure is too severe. What!—you are then blind and mute +at all that occurs! Are you then ignorant that a priest can effect more +mischief than all your enemies? I am answered, 'Ah! you should not +persecute.' My answer is, that to punish is not to persecute. I answer +thus to those who repeat what I heard retorted here on the Abbé Maury, +that nothing is more dangerous than to make martyrs. This danger only +exists when you have to strike fanatics in earnest, or men really pious, +who believe the scaffold to be the nearest footstool to heaven. This is +not the present case; for if there be priests who earnestly reject the +constitution, they will not give any trouble to public order. Those who +really trouble it, are men who only weep over religion in order to +recover their lost privileges; those who should be punished without +pity;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> and be assured that you will not thereby augment the strength of +the emigrants: for we know that the priest is cowardly—as cowardly as +vindictive—that he knows no other weapon but superstition; and that, +accustomed to combat in the mysterious arena of confession, he is a +nullity in every other battle-field. The thunders of Rome will fall +harmless on the bucklers of liberty. The foes to your regeneration will +never grow weary; no, they will never grow weary of crimes, so long as +you leave them the means! You must overcome them, or be overcome by +them; and whosoever sees not this is blind. Open the page of history; +you will see the English sustaining for fifty years a disastrous war, in +order to maintain their revolution. You will see in Holland seas of +blood flowing in the war against Philip of Spain. When, in our times, +the Philadelphians would be free, have we not also seen war in the two +hemispheres? You have been witnesses of the recent outbreaks in Brabant, +and do you believe that your Revolution, which has snatched the sceptre +from despotism, and from aristocracy its privileges, from nobility its +pride, from the clergy its fanaticism—a Revolution which has dried up +so many golden sources from the grasp of the priesthood, torn so many +frocks, crushed so many theories—do you believe that such a Revolution +will absolve you? No—no!—this Revolution will have a <i>dénouement</i>, and +I say—and with no intention of provocation—that we must advance boldly +towards this <i>dénouement</i>. The more you delay, the more difficult and +blood-stained will be that triumph!" (Violent murmurs.)</p> + +<p>"But do you not see," resumed Isnard; "that all counter-revolutionists +are obstinate, and leave you no other part than that of vanquishing +them? It is better to have to contend against them, whilst the citizens +are still up and stirring, and well remember the perils they have +encountered, than to allow patriotism to grow cold! Is it not true that +already we are no longer what we were in the first year of liberty; +(some of the chamber applaud, whilst others disapprove). If fanaticism +had then raised its head, the law would have been subjected! Your policy +should be to compel victory to declare itself; drive your enemies to +extremities, and you Will have them return to you from fear, or you will +subdue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> them by the sword. Under important circumstances, prudence is a +weakness. It is especially with respect to rebels that you should be +decisive and severe; they should be hewn down as they rise. If time be +permitted to them to have meetings and earnest partisans, then they +spread over the empire like an irresistible torrent. It is thus that +despotism acts, and it was thus that one individual kept beneath his +yoke a whole nation. If Louis XVI. had employed this great means whilst +the Revolution was but yet in its cradle, we should not now be here! +This rigour, the vice of a despot, is the virtue of a nation. +Legislators, who shrink from such extreme means, are cowards—criminals: +for when the public liberty is assailed, to pardon is to share the +crime. (Great applause.)</p> + +<p>"Such rigour might perchance cost an effusion of blood? I know it! But +if you do not make use of it, will not more blood flow? Is not civil war +a still greater misfortune? Cut off the gangrened member to save the +whole frame.<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Indulgence is the snare into which you are tempted. You +will find yourselves abandoned by the nation for not having dared to +sustain, nor known how to defend, it. Your enemies will hate you no +less. Your friends will lose confidence in you. The law is my God: I +have no other—the public good, that is my worship! You have already +struck the emigrants—again a decree against the refractory priests, and +you will have gained over ten millions of arms! My decree would be +comprised in two words: compel every Frenchman, priest or not, to take +the civil oath, and ordain that every man who will not sign shall be +deprived of all salary or pension. Sound policy would decree that every +one who does not sign the contract should leave the kingdom. What proofs +against the priest do we require? If there be but a complaint lodged +against the priest by the citizen with whom he lives, let him be at once +expelled! As to those against whom the penal code shall pronounce +punishment more severe than exile, there is but one sentence left: +<i>Death!</i>!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p> + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>This oration, which pushed patriotism even to impiety, and made of the +public safety an implacable deity, to which even the innocent were to be +sacrificed, excited a frantic enthusiasm in the ranks of the Girondist +party, a bitter indignation amongst the moderate party. "To propose the +printing of such a speech," said Lecos, a constitutional bishop, "is to +propose the printing of a code of atheism. It is impossible that a +society can exist, if it have not an immutable morality derived from the +idea of a God." Derisive sneers and murmurings hailed this religious +protest. The decree against the priests, presented by François de +Neufchâteau, and adopted by the legislative committee, was couched in +these terms:—"Every ecclesiastic not taking the oaths is required to +present himself before the expiration of the week at his municipality, +and there take the civil oath.</p> + +<p>"Those who shall refuse are not entitled in future to receive any +allowance or pension from the public treasury.</p> + +<p>"Every year there shall be an aggregate made of those pensions which the +priests have forfeited, and this sum shall be divided amongst the +eighty-three departments, to be employed in charitable works, and in +giving succour to the indigent.</p> + +<p>"These priests shall be, moreover, from their simple refusal of the +oath, reputed as suspected of rebellion and specially <i>surveillés</i>.</p> + +<p>"They may in consequence thereof be sent from their domicile, and +another be assigned to them.</p> + +<p>"If they refuse to change their domicile when called upon to do so, they +shall be imprisoned.</p> + +<p>"The churches employed for the paid worship of the state, cannot be +devoted to any other service. Citizens may hire other churches or +chapels, and exercise their worship therein. But this permission is +forbidden to nonjuring priests suspected of revolt."</p> + + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + + +<p>This decree, which created more fanaticism than it repressed, and which +accorded freedom of worship not as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> right but as a favour, saddened +the heart of the faithful; and the revolt in La Vendée, and persecution +every where, followed. Suspended as a fearful weapon over the conscience +of the king, it was sent for his assent.</p> + +<p>The Girondists were delighted at thus keeping the wretched monarch +between their law and his own faith—schismatic if he recognised the +decree, and a traitor to the nation if he refused it. Conquerors in this +victory, they advanced towards another.</p> + +<p>After having forced the king to strike at the religion of his +conscience, they wished to force him to deal a blow at the nobility and +his own brothers. They renewed the question of the emigrants. The king +and his ministers had anticipated them. Immediately after the acceptance +of the constitution, Louis XVI. had formally renounced all conspiracy, +interior or exterior, in order to recover his power. The omnipotence of +opinion had convinced him of the vanity of all the plans submitted to +him for crushing it. The momentary tranquillity of spirits after so many +shocks, the reception he had met with in the Assembly, the +Champ-de-Mars, in the theatre,—the freedom and honours restored to him +in his palace, had persuaded him that, if the constitution had some +fanatics, royalty had no implacable enemies in his kingdom. He believed +the constitution easy of execution in many of its provisions, and +impracticable in others. The government which they imposed on him seemed +to him as a philosophical experiment which they desired to make with +their king. He only forgot one thing, and that is, the experiments of a +people are catastrophes. A king who accepts the terms of a government +which are impossible, accepts his own overthrow by anticipation. A +well-considered and voluntary abdication is more regal than that daily +abdication which is undergone in the degradation of power. A king saves, +if not his life, at least his dignity. It is more suitable to majesty +royal to descend by its own will, than to be cast down headlong. From +the moment when the king is king no longer, the throne becomes the last +place in the kingdom.</p> + +<p>Be this as it may, the king frankly declared to his ministers his +intention of legally executing the constitution, and of associating +himself unreservedly and without guile to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> will and destiny of the +nation. The queen, by one of those sudden and inexplicable changes in +the heart of woman, threw herself, with the trust of despair, into the +party of the constitution. "Courage," she said to M. Bertrand de +Molleville, minister and confidant of the king: "Courage! I hope, with +patience, firmness, and perseverance, that all is not lost."</p> + +<p>The minister of marine, Bertrand de Molleville, wrote, by the king's +orders, to the commandants of the ports a letter, signed by the +king:—"I am informed," he said, in this circular, "that emigrations in +the navy are fast increasing. How is it that the officers of a service +always so dear to me, and which has invariably given me proofs of its +attachment, are so mistaken at what is due to their country, to me, and +to themselves! This extreme step would have seemed to me less surprising +some time since, when anarchy was at its height, and when its +termination was unseen; but now, when the nation desires to return to +order and submission to the laws, is it possible that generous and +faithful sailors can think of separating from their king? Tell them to +remain where their country calls them. The precise execution of the +constitution is to-day the surest means of appreciating its advantages, +and of ascertaining what is wanting to make it perfect. It is your king +who desires you to remain at your posts as he remains at his. You would +have considered it a crime to resist his orders, you will not refuse his +prayers."</p> + +<p>He wrote to general officers, and to commandants of the land +forces:—"In accepting the constitution, I have promised to maintain it +within, and defend it against enemies without; this solemn act should +banish all uncertainty. The law and the king are henceforth identified. +The enemy of the law becomes that of the king. I cannot consider those +sincerely devoted to my person who abandon their country at the moment +when it has the greatest need of their services. Those only are attached +to me who follow my example and unite with me for the public weal, and +remain inseparable from the destiny of the empire!"</p> + +<p>Finally, he ordered M. de Lessart, the minister for foreign affairs, to +publish the following proclamation, addressed to the French +emigrants:—"The king," thus it ran, "informed that a great number of +French emigrants are withdrawing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> foreign lands, cannot see without +much grief such an emigration. Although the law permits to all citizens +a free power to quit the kingdom, the king is anxious to enlighten them +as to their duties, and the distress they are preparing for themselves. +If they think, by such means, to give me a proof of their affection, let +them be undeceived; my real friends are those who unite with me in order +to put the laws in execution, and re-establish order and peace in the +kingdom. When I accepted the constitution, I was desirous of putting an +end to civil discord—I believed that all Frenchmen would second my +intentions. However, it is at this moment that emigration is increasing: +some depart because of the disturbances which have threatened their +lives and property. Ought we not to pardon the circumstances? Have not I +too my sorrows? And when I forget mine, can any one remember his perils? +How can order be again established if those interested in it abandon it +by abandoning themselves? Return, then, to the bosom of your country: +come and give to the laws the support of good citizens. Think of the +grief your obstinacy will give to the king's heart; they would be the +most painful he could experience."</p> + +<p>The Assembly was not blinded by these manifestations; it saw beneath a +secret design of escaping from the severest measures; it was desirous of +compelling the king to carry them out, and, let us add, the nation and +the public safety also required it.</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>Mirabeau had treated the question of the emigration of the Constituent +Assembly rather as a philosopher than a statesman. He had disputed with +the legislator the right of making laws against emigration: he was +mistaken. Whenever a theory is in contradiction to the welfare of +society it is because that theory is false, for society is the supreme +truth.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably in ordinary times, man is not imprisoned by nature, and +ought not to be by the law, within the frontiers of his native land; +and, with this view, the laws against emigration should only be +exceptional laws. But, because exceptional, are these laws therefore +unjust? Evidently not. The public danger has its peculiar laws, as +necessary and as just as laws made in a time of security. A state of war +is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> not a state of peace. You shut your frontiers to strangers in war +time; you may close them to your citizens. A city is legally put in a +state of siege during a sedition. We can put the nation in a state of +siege in case of external danger co-existent with internal conspiracy. +By what absurd abuse of liberty can a state be constrained to tolerate +on a foreign soil gatherings of citizens armed against itself, which it +would not tolerate in its own land? And if these gatherings should be +culpable without, why should the state be interdicted from shutting up +those roads which lead emigrants to these gatherings? A nation defends +itself from its foreign enemies by arms, from its internal foes by its +laws. To act otherwise would be to consecrate without the country the +inviolability of conspiracies which were punished within: it would be to +proclaim the legality of civil war, provided it was mixed up with +foreign war, and that sedition was covered by treason. Such maxims ruin +a whole people's nationality, in order to protect abuse of liberty by +certain citizens. The Constituent Assembly was so wrong as to sanction +such. Had it proclaimed from the beginning the laws repressive of +emigration in troubled times, during revolutions, or on the eve of war, +it would have proclaimed a national truth, and prevented one of the +great dangers and principal causes of the excesses of the Revolution. +The question now was no longer to be treated with reason, but by +vindictive feelings. The imprudence of the Constituent Assembly had left +this dangerous weapon in the hands of parties who were about to turn it +against the king.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>Brissot, the inspirer of the Gironde, the dogmatic statesman of a party +which needed ideas and a leader, ascended the tribune in the midst of +anticipated plaudits, which betokened his importance in the new +Assembly. His voice was for war, as the most efficacious of laws.</p> + +<p>"If," said he, "it be really desired to check the tide of emigration, we +must more particularly punish the more elevated offenders, who establish +in foreign lands a centre of counter-revolution. We should distinguish +three classes of emigrants; the brothers of the king, unworthy of +belong<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>ing to him,—the public functionaries, deserting their posts and +deluding citizens,—and finally, the simple citizens, who follow example +from imitation, weakness, or fear. You owe hate and banishment to the +first, pity and indulgence to the others. How can the citizens fear you, +when the impunity of their chiefs insures their own? Have you then two +scales of weights and measures? What can the emigrants think, when they +see a prince, after having squandered 40,000,000 (of francs) in ten +years, still receive from the National Assembly more millions, in order +to provide for his extravagance and pay his debts?</p> + +<p>"Divide the interests of the rebellious by alarming the prime criminals. +Patriots are still amused by paltry palliatives against emigration; the +partisans of the court have thus trifled with the credulity of the +people, and you have seen even Mirabeau deriding those laws, and telling +you they would never be put into execution, because a king would not +himself become the accuser of his own family. Three years without +success, a wandering and unhappy life, their intrigues frustrated, their +conspiracies overthrown, all these defeats have not cured the emigrants; +their hearts were corrupted from the cradle. Would you check this +revolt? then strike the blow on the other side of the Rhine: it is not +in France. It was by such decided steps that the English prevented James +II. from impeding the establishment of their liberty. They did not amuse +themselves with framing petty laws against emigration, but demanded that +foreign princes should drive the English princes from their dominions. +(Applause.) The necessity of this measure was seen here from the first. +Ministers will talk to you of considerations of state, family reasons; +these considerations, these weaknesses cover a crime against liberty. +The king of a free people has no family. Again, I counsel you attack the +leaders only; let it no longer be said, 'These malcontents are then very +strong; these 25,000,000 of men must then be very weak thus to consider +them.'</p> + +<p>"It is to foreign powers especially that you should address your demands +and your menaces. It is time to show to Europe what you are, and to +demand of it an account of the outrages you have received from it. I say +it is necessary to compel those powers to reply to us, one of two +things;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> either they will render homage to our constitution, or they +will declare against it. In the first place, you have not to balance, it +is necessary that you should assail the powers that dare to threaten +you. In the last century when Portugal and Spain lent an asylum to James +II., England attacked both. Have no fears—the image of liberty, like +the head of Medusa, will affright the armies of our enemies; they fear +to be abandoned by their soldiers, and that is why they prefer the line +of expectation, and an armed mediation. The English constitution and an +aristocratic liberty will be the basis of the reforms they will propose +to you, but you will be unworthy of all liberty if you accept yours at +the hands of your enemies. The English people love your Revolution; the +emperor fears the force of your arms: as to this empress of Russia, +whose aversion to the French constitution is well known, and who in some +degree resembles Elizabeth, she cannot hope for success more brilliant +than had Elizabeth against Holland. It is with difficulty that slaves +are subjugated fifteen hundred leagues off; they cannot enslave free men +at this distance. I will not condescend to speak of other princes; they +are not worthy of being included in the number of your serious enemies. +I believe then that France ought to elevate its hopes and its attitude. +Unquestionably you have declared to Europe that you will not attempt any +more conquests, but you have a right to say to it, 'Choose between +certain rebels and a nation.'"</p> + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + + +<p>This discourse, although in several parts very contradictory, proved +that Brissot had the intention of playing three parts in one, and of +captivating at once the three parties in the Assembly. In his +philosophical principles he affected the tone of a moderator, and +repeated the axioms of Mirabeau against the laws relative to +expatriation; in his attack on the princes he included the king, and +held him up to the people as an object of suspicion; and lastly, in his +denunciation of the diplomacy of the ministers, he urged them to a war +<i>à l'outrance</i>, and displayed in this measure the energy of a patriot +and the foresight of a statesman; for in case war should be the result, +he did not conceal from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> himself the jealousy of the nation against the +court, and he knew that the first act of open war would be to declare +the king a traitor to his country.</p> + +<p>This speech placed Brissot at the head of the conspirators of the +Assembly; he brought to the young and untried party of the Gironde his +reputation as a public writer, and a man who had had ten years' +experience of the factions; the audacity of his policy flattered their +impatience, and the austerity of his language made them believe in the +depth of his designs. Condorcet, the friend of Brissot, and, like him, +devoured by insatiable and unscrupulous ambition, mounting the tribune, +merely commented on the preceding discourse, and concluded, like +Brissot, by summoning the powers to pronounce for or against the +constitution, and demanded the renewal of the <i>corps diplomatique</i>.</p> + +<p>This discourse was visibly concerted, and it was evident that a party, +already formed, took possession of the tribune, and was about to +arrogate to itself the dominion of the Assembly. Brissot was its +conspirator, Condorcet its philosopher, Vergniaud its orator. Vergniaud +mounted the tribune, with all the <i>prestige</i> of his marvellous +eloquence, the fame of which had long preceded him. The eager looks of +the Assembly, the silence that prevailed, announced in him one of the +great actors of the revolutionary drama, who only appear on the stage to +win themselves popularity, to intoxicate themselves with applause, +and—to die.</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + + +<p>Vergniaud, born at Limoges, and an advocate at the bar of Bordeaux, was +now in his thirty-third year, for the revolutionary movement had seized +on and borne him along with its currents when very young. His dignified, +calm, and unaffected features announced the conviction of his power. +Facility, that agreeable concomitant of genius, had rendered alike +pliable his talents, his character, and even the position he assumed. A +certain <i>nonchalance</i> announced that he easily laid aside these +faculties from the conviction of his ability to recover all his forces +at the moment when he should require them. His brow was contemplative, +his look composed, his mouth serious and somewhat sad; the deep<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +inspiration of antiquity was mingled in his physiognomy with the smiles +and the carelessness of youth. At the foot of the tribune he was loved +with familiarity; as he ascended it each man was surprised to find that +he inspired him with admiration and respect; but at the first words that +fell from the speaker's lips they felt the immense distance between the +man and the orator. He was an instrument of enthusiasm, whose value and +whose place was in his inspiration. This inspiration, heightened by the +deep musical tones of his voice, and an extraordinary power of language, +had drunk in deep draughts at the purest sources of antiquity; his +sentences had all the images and harmony of poesy, and if he had not +been the orator of a democracy he would have been its philosopher and +its poet. His genius, devoted to the people, yet forbade him to descend +to the language of the people, even to flatter them. All his passions +were noble as his words, and he adored the Revolution as a sublime +philosophy destined to ennoble the nation without immolating on its +altars other victims than prejudices and tyranny. He had doctrines, and +no hatreds; the thirst of glory, and not of ambition,—nay, power +itself, was in his eyes, too real, too vulgar a thing for him to aim at, +and he disdained it for himself, and alone sought it for his ideas. +Glory and posthumous fame were his objects alone; he mounted the tribune +to behold them, and he beheld them later from the scaffold; and he +plunged into the future, young, handsome, immortal in the annals of +France, with all his enthusiasm, and some few stains, already effaced in +his generous blood. Such was the man whom nature had given to the +Girondists as their chief. He disdained the office, although he +possessed all the qualities and the views, of a statesman; too careless +to be the leader of a party, too great to be second to any one. Such was +Vergniaud,—more illustrious than useful to his friends; he would not +lead, but immortalised, them.</p> + +<p>We will describe this great man more in detail at the period when his +talent places him in a more conspicuous situation. "Are there +circumstances," said he "in which the natural rights of man can permit a +nation to adopt any measure against emigrations?" Vergniaud spoke +against those pretended natural rights, and recognised, above all +individual rights, the right of society, which comprises and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> dominates +over all, just as the whole predominates over a portion: he compared +political liberty to the right of a citizen to do what he pleases, +provided he do nothing injurious to his country; but there he stops. Man +can, no doubt, materially use this right to abdicate the country in +which he was born and to which he belongs, as the limb belongs to the +body, but this abdication is treason; for it severs the union between +the nation and himself, and the nation no longer owes him or his +property any protection. After having on this principle destroyed the +puerile distinction between the functionary and the mere emigrant, he +proved that society falls into decay if she refuse herself the right of +retaining those who forsake her in her hour of danger and difficulty. +When she gave him all the universe for his country, she refused him that +which gave him birth. But what will be the consequence if this emigrant, +ceasing to play merely the part of a cowardly fugitive, becomes a foe, +and, assembling with his fellow-traitors, surrounds the nation with a +band of conspirators? What, shall attack be permitted to the emigrés, +and good citizens forbidden to defend themselves?</p> + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + + +<p>"But," continued he, "is France in this situation that she ought to fear +from these men, who are about to excite all the ancient hatreds of the +foreign courts against us? No; we shall soon see these proud mendicants, +who are now receiving the roubles of Catherine and the millions of +Holland, expiate in shame and misery the crimes their pride has entailed +on them. Moreover these kings hesitate to attack us; they know that, to +the spirit of philosophy that has infused into us the breath of liberty, +there are no Pyrenees; they dread that the foot of their soldiers should +touch a soil that blazes with this holy flame; they tremble, lest on the +day of battle the patriots of every country should recognise each other, +and two armies ready to combat be converted into a band of brethren, +united against their tyrants. But should it be necessary to appeal to +arms, we well remember that a thousand Greeks, combating for liberty, +trampled on a million of Persians.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> + +<p>"We are told 'the emigrés have no evil designs against their country; it +is only a temporary absence: where are the legal proofs of what you +assert? when you produce them it be time enough to punish the guilty.' +Oh you who use such language, why were you not in the Roman senate when +Cicero denounced Catiline? You would have asked him for the legal proof. +I can picture his astonishment to myself: whilst he sought for proofs +Rome would have been sacked, and you and Catiline have reigned over a +heap of ruins. Legal proofs! And have you calculated the blood they will +cost you to obtain? Now let us forestall our enemies, by adopting +rigorous measures; let us rid the nation of this swarm of insects, +greedy of its blood,—by whom it is pursued and tormented. But what +should these measures be? In the first place seize on the property of +the absentees. This is but a petty measure you will say. What matter its +importance or its insignificancy, so that it be just. As for the +officers who have deserted, the <i>Code pénal</i> prescribes their +fate—death and infamy. The French princes are even more culpable; and +the summons to return to their country, which it is proposed to address +to them, is neither sufficient for your honour nor your safety. Their +attempts are openly made; either they must tremble before you, or you +must tremble before them; you must choose. Men talk of the profound +grief this will cause the king: Brutus immolated his guilty offspring at +the shrine of his country, but the heart of Louis XVI. shall not be put +to so severe a trial. If these princes, alike bad brothers and citizens, +refuse to obey, let him turn to the hearts of the French nation, and +they will amply repay his losses." (Loud applause.)</p> + +<p>Pastoret, who spoke after Vergniaud, quoted the saying of Montesquieu, +"<i>There is a time when it is necessary to cast a veil over the statue of +Liberty, as we conceal the statues of the Gods</i>." To be ever on the +watch, and to fear nothing, should be the maxim of every free people. He +concluded by proposing repressive, but moderate and gradual measures, +against the absentees.</p> + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + + +<p>Isnard declared that the measures proposed until then were satisfactory +to prudence, but not to justice, and the vengeance<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> which an outraged +nation owed to itself; and he thus continued:—</p> + +<p>"If I am allowed to speak the truth, I shall say, that if we do not +punish all these heads of the rebellion, it is not that we do not know, +at the bottom of our hearts, that they are guilty, but because they are +princes; and, although we have destroyed the nobility and distinctions +of blood, these vain phantoms still affect our minds. Ah! it is time +that this great level of equality, which has passed over France, should +at length take its full effect. Then only will they believe in our +equality. You should fear by this evidence of impunity that you may urge +the people to excesses. The anger of the people is but too often the +sequel to the silence of the laws. The law should enter the palaces of +the great, as well as in the hovel of the poor, and as inexorable as +death, when it falls upon the guilty, should make no distinction between +ranks and titles. They try to lull you to sleep. I tell you that the +nation should watch incessantly. Despotism and aristocracy do not sleep; +and if nations doze but for a moment, they awake in fetters. If the fire +of heaven was in the power of men, it should be darted at those who +attempt the liberties of the people: thus, the people never pardon +conspirators against their liberties. When the Gauls scaled the walls of +the capital, Manlius awoke, hastened to the breach, and saved the +republic. That same Manlius, subsequently accused of conspiring against +public liberty, was cited before the tribunes. He presented bracelets, +javelins, twelve civic crowns, thirty spoils torn from conquered +enemies, and his breast scarred with cicatrices; he reminded them that +he had saved Rome, and yet the sole reply was to cast him headlong from +the same rock whence he had precipitated the Gauls. These, sirs, were a +free people.</p> + +<p>"And we, since the day we acquired our liberty, have not ceased to +pardon our patricians their conspiracies, have not ceased to recompense +their crimes by sending them chariots of gold: as for me, if I voted +such gifts, I should die of remorse. The people contemplate and judge +us, and on their sentence depends the destiny of our labours. Cowards, +we lose the public confidence; firm, our enemies would be disconcerted. +Do not then sully the sanctity of the oath, by making it pause in +deference before mouths thirsting for our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> blood. Our enemies will swear +with one hand, whilst with the other they will sharpen their swords +against us."</p> + +<p>Each violent sentence in this harangue excited in the Assembly and the +tribunes those displays of public feeling which found expression in loud +applause. It was felt that, for the future, the only line of policy +would be in the anger of the nation; that the time for philosophy in the +tribune was passed, and that the Assembly would not be slow in throwing +aside principles in order to take up arms.</p> + +<p>The Girondists, who did not wish that Isnard should have gone so far, +felt that it was necessary to follow him whithersoever popularity should +lead him. In vain did Condorcet defend his proposition for a delay of +the decree. The Assembly, in a report brought up by Ducastel, adopted +the decree of its legislative committee. The principal clauses were, +that the French, assembled on the other side of the frontiers, should +be, from that moment, declared actuated by conspiracy towards France; +that they should be declared actual conspirators, if they did not return +before the 1st of January, 1792, and as such punished with death; that +the French princes, brothers of the king, should be punishable with +death, like other emigrants, if they did not obey the summons thus sent +to them; that, for the present, their revenues should be sequestrated; +and, finally, that those military and naval officers who abandoned their +posts without leave, or their resignation being accepted, should be +considered as deserters, and punished with death.</p> + + +<h3>XVIII.</h3> + +<p>These two decrees struck terror to the heart of the king, and +consternation to his council. The constitution gave him the right of +suspending them by the royal <i>veto</i>; but to suspend the effects of the +national indignation against the armed enemies of the Revolution, was to +invoke it on his own head. The Girondists artfully fomented these +elements of discord between the Assembly and the king. They impatiently +awaited until the refusal to sanction the decrees should urge irritation +to its height, and force the king to fly or place himself in their +hands.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p> + +<p>The most monarchical spirit of the Constituent Assembly still reigned in +the Directory of the department of Paris. Desmeuniers, Baumetz, +Talleyrand-Perigord, Larochefoucauld, were the principal members. They +drew up an address to the king, entreating him to refuse his sanction to +the decree against the nonjuring priests. This address, in which the +Legislative Assembly was treated with much disdain, breathes the true +spirit of government as regards religious matters. It is comprised in +the axiom which is or ought to be the code of all consciences, "Since no +religion is a law, let no religion be a crime!"</p> + +<p>A young writer whose name, already celebrated, was to be hereafter +consecrated by martyrdom, André Chénier, considering the question in the +highest strain of philosophy, published on the same subject a letter +worthy of posterity. It is the property of genius not to allow its views +to be obscured by the prejudices of the moment. Its gaze is too lofty +for vulgar errors to deprive it of the ever-during light of truth. It +has by anticipation in its decisions the impartiality of the future.</p> + +<p>"All those," says André Chénier, "who have preserved the liberty of +their reason, and in whom patriotism is not a violent desire for rule, +see with much pain that the dissensions of the priests have of necessity +occupied the first sittings of the Assembly. It is true that the public +mind is enlightened on this point, on which even the Constituent +Assembly itself is deceived. It has pretended to form a civil code of +religion, that is to say, it had the idea of creating one priesthood +after having destroyed another. Of what consequence is it that one +religion differs from another? Is it for the National Assembly to +reunite the divided sects, and weigh all their differences? Are +politicians theologians? We shall only be delivered from the influence +of these men when the National Assembly shall have maintained for each +the perfect liberty of following or inventing whatsoever religion may +please it; when every one shall pay for the worship he prefers to adopt, +and pays for no other; and when the impartiality of tribunals, in such +cases, shall punish alike the persecutors or the seditious of all forms +of worship: and the members of the National Assembly say also, that all +the French people are not yet sufficiently ripe for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> this doctrine. We +must reply to them,—this may be, but it is for you to ripen us by your +words, your acts, your laws! Priests do not trouble states when states +do not disturb them. Let us remember that eighteen centuries have seen +all the Christian sects, torn and bleeding from theological absurdities +and sacerdotal hatreds, always terminate by arming themselves with +popular power."</p> + +<p>This letter passed over the heads of the parties who disputed the +conscience of the people; but the petition of the Directory of Paris, +which demanded the <i>veto</i> of the king against the decrees of the +Assembly, produced violent opposition petitions. For the first time, +Legendre, a butcher of Paris, appeared at the bar of the Assembly, where +he vociferated in oratorical strain the imprecations of the people +against the enemies of the nation and crowned traitors. Legendre decked +his trivial ideas in high-sounding language. From this junction of +vulgar ideas with the ambitious expressions of the tribune sprung that +strange language in which the fragments of thought are mingled with the +tinsel of words, and thus the popular eloquence of the period resembles +the ill-combined display at an extravagant <i>parvenu</i>. The populace was +proud at robbing the aristocracy of its language, even to turn it +against them; but whilst it filched, it soiled it. "Representatives," +said Legendre, "bid the eagle of victory and fame to soar over your +heads and ours; say to the ministers, We love the people,—let your +punishment begin: the tyrants must die!"</p> + + +<h3>XIX.</h3> + +<p>Camille Desmoulins, the Aristophanes of the Revolution, then borrowed +the sonorous voice of the Abbé Fauchet, in order to make himself heard. +Camille Desmoulins was the Voltaire of the streets; he struck on the +chord of passion by his sarcasms. "Representatives," said he, "the +applauses of the people are its civil list: the inviolability of the +king is a thing most infinitely just, for he ought, by nature, to be +always in opposition to the general will and our interest. One does not +voluntarily fall from so great a height. Let us take example from God, +whose <i>commandments are never impossible</i>; let us not require from the +<i>ci-devant</i> sovereign<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> an <i>impossible love</i> of the national sovereignty; +is it not very natural that he should give his <i>veto</i> to the best +decrees? But let the magistrates of the people—let the Directory of +Paris—let the same men, who, four months since, in the Champ-de-Mars, +fired upon the citizens who were signing a petition against one decree, +inundate the empire with a petition, which is evidently but the first +page of a vast register of counter-revolution, a subscription to civil +war, sent by them for signature to all the fanatics, all the idiots, all +the slaves, all the robbers of the eighty-three departments, at the head +of which are the exemplary names of the members of the Directory of +Paris—fathers of their country! There is in this such a complication of +ingratitude and fraud, prevarication and perverseness, philosophical +hypocrisy and perfidious moderation, that on the instant we rally round +the decrees and around yourselves. Continue faithful, mandatories, and +if they obstinately persist in not permitting you to save the nation, +well, then, we will save it ourselves! For at last the power of the +royal <i>veto</i> will have a term, and the taking of the Bastille is not +prevented by a <i>veto</i>.</p> + +<p>"For a long while we have been in possession of the civism of our +Directory, when we saw it in an incendiary proclamation, not only again +open the evangelical pulpits to the priests, but the seditious tribunes +to conspirators in surplices! Their address is a manifesto tending to +degrade the constitutional powers: it is a collective petition—it is an +incentive to civil war, and the overthrow of the constitution. Assuredly +we are no admirers of the representative government, of which we think +with J. J. Rousseau; and if we like certain articles but little, still +less do we like civil war. So many grounds of accusation! The crime of +these men is settled. Strike, then! If the head sleeps, shall the arm +act? Raise not that arm again; do not rouse the national club only to +crush insects. A Varnier or De Lâtre! Did Cato and Cicero accuse +Cethegus or Catiline? It is the leaders we should assail. Strike at the +head."</p> + +<p>This strain of irony and boldness, less applauded by the clapping of +hands than by shouts of laughter, delighted the tribunes. They voted the +sending of the <i>procès verbal</i> of the meeting into every department. It +was legislatively elevating a pamphlet to the dignity of a public act, +and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> distribute ready-made insult to the citizens, that they might +have a supply to vent against public authority. The king trembled before +the pamphleteer; he felt from this first treatment of his baffled +prerogative that the constitution would crumble in his hands each time +that he dared to make use of it.</p> + +<p>The next day the constitutional party in greater force at the meeting +recalled the sending of this pamphlet to the departments. Brissot was +angry in his journal, the <i>Patriote Français</i>. It was there and at the +Jacobins more than in the tribune, that he gave instructions to his +party, and allowed the idea of a republic to escape him. Brissot had not +the properties of an orator: his dogged spirit, sectarian and arbitrary, +was fitter for conspiracy than action: the ardour of his mind was +excessive, but concentrated. He shed neither those lights nor those +flames which kindle enthusiasm—that explosion of ideas. It was the lamp +of the Gironde party; it was neither its beacon nor its torch.</p> + + +<h3>XX.</h3> + +<p>The Jacobins, weakened for a time by the great number of their members +elected to the Legislative Assembly, remained for a brief space without +a fixed course to pursue, like an army disbanded after victory. The club +of the Feuillants, composed of the remains of the constitutional party +in the Constituted Assembly, strove to resume the ascendency over the +mind of the people. Barnave, Lameth, and Duport were the leaders of this +party. Fearful of the people, and convinced that an Assembly without any +thing to counterbalance it would inevitably absorb the poor remnant of +the monarchy, this party wished to have two chambers and an equally +poised constitution. Barnave, whose repentance had led him to join this +party, remained at Paris, and had secret interviews with Louis XVI.; but +his counsels, like those of Mirabeau in his latter days, were but vain +regrets, for the Revolution was beyond their power to control, and no +longer obeyed them. They yet, however, maintained some influence over +the constituted bodies of Paris, and the resolutions of the king, who +could not bring himself to believe that these men, who yesterday were +so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> powerful against it, were to-day destitute of influence; and they +formed his last hope against the new enemies he saw in the Girondists.</p> + +<p>The national guard, the directory of the department of Paris! the mayor +of Paris himself, Bailly, and all that party in the nation who wished to +maintain order, still supported them—theirs was the party of repentance +and terror. M. de La Fayette, Madame de Stäel, and M. de Narbonne, had a +secret understanding with the Feuillants, and a part of the press was on +their side. These papers sought to render M. de Narbonne popular, and to +obtain for him the post of minister of war. The Girondist papers already +excited the anger of the people against this party. Brissot sowed the +seeds of calumny and suspicion: he denounced them to the hatred of the +nation. "Number them—name them," said he; "their names denounce them; +they are the relics of the dethroned aristocracy, who would fain +resuscitate a constitutional nobility, establish a second legislative +chamber and a senate of nobles, and who implore, in order to gain their +ends, the armed intervention of the powers. They have sold themselves to +the Château de Tuileries, and sell there a great portion of the members +of the Assembly; they have amongst them neither men of genius nor men of +resolution; their talent is but treason, their genius but intrigue."</p> + +<p>It was thus that the Girondists and the Jacobins, though at this moment +beaten, prepared those enmities against the Feuillants that, at no +remote period, were destined to disperse the club. Whilst the Girondists +followed this course, the royalists continually urged the people to +excesses through the medium of their papers, in order, as they said, to +find a remedy for the evil in the evil itself. Thus they encouraged the +Jacobins against the Feuillants, and heaped ridicule and insult on those +leaders of the constitutional party who sought to save a remnant of the +monarchy; for that which they detested most was the success of the +revolution. Their doctrine of absolute power was less humiliatingly +contradicted in their eyes by the overthrow of the empire and throne, +than in the constitutional monarchy that preserved at once the king and +liberty. Since the aristocracy lost the possession of the supreme power, +its sole ambition—its only aim—was to see it fall into the hands of +those most unworthy to hold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> it. Incapable of again rising by its own +force, it sought to find in disorder the means of so doing; and from the +first day of the Revolution to the last, this party had no other +instinct, and it was thus that it ruined itself whilst it ruined the +monarchy. It carried the hatred of the Revolution even to posterity; and +though they did not take an active part in the crimes of the Revolution, +yet their best wishes were with it. Every fresh excess of the people +gave a new ray of hope to its enemies: such is the policy of despair, +blind and criminal as herself.</p> + + +<h3>XXI.</h3> + +<p>An example of this at this moment occurred. La Fayette resigned the +command of the national guard into the hands of the council general of +the commune. At this meeting blazed the last faint spark of popular +favour. After he quitted the chamber a deliberation was held as to what +mark of gratitude and regard the city of Paris should offer him. The +general addressed a farewell letter to the civic force, and affected to +believe that the formation of the constitution was the era of the +Revolution, and reduced him, like Washington, to the rank of a simple +citizen of a free country. "The time of revolution," said he, in this +letter, "has given place to a regular organisation, owing to the liberty +and prosperity it assures us. I feel it is now my duty to my country to +return unreservedly into her hands all the force and influence with +which I was intrusted for her defence during the tempests that convulsed +her—such is my only ambition. Beware how you believe," added he, in +conclusion, "that every species of despotism, is extinct!" And he then +proceeded to point out some of those perils and excesses into which +liberty might fall at her first outset.</p> + +<p>This letter was received by the national guard with an enthusiasm rather +feigned than sincere. They wished to strike a last blow against the +factious by adhering to the principles of their general, and voted to +him a sword forged from the bolts of the Bastille, and a marble statue +of Washington. La Fayette hastened to enjoy this premature triumph, and +resigned the dictatorship at the moment when a dictatorship was most +necessary to his country. On his retirement to his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> estates in Auvergne, +he received the deputation of the national guard, who brought him the +<i>procès verbal</i> of the debate. "You behold me once more amidst the +scenes where I was born," said he; "I shall not again quit them, save to +defend and confirm our new-formed liberty should it be menaced."</p> + +<p>The different opinions of parties followed him in his retirement. "Now," +said the <i>Journal de la Revolution</i>, "that the hero of two worlds has +played out his part at Paris, we are curious to know if the ex-general +has done more harm than good to the Revolution. In order to solve the +problem, let us examine his acts. We shall first see that the founder of +American liberty does not dare comply with the wishes of the people in +Europe, until he had asked permission from the monarch. We shall see +that he grew pale at the sight of the Parisian army on its road to +Versailles—alike deceiving the people and the king; to the one he said, +'I deliver the king into your power,' to the other, 'I bring you my +army.' We should have seen him return to Paris, dragging in his train +those brave citizens who were alone guilty of having sought to destroy +the keep of Vincennes as they had destroyed the Bastille, their hands +bound behind their backs. We see him on he morrow of the <i>journeé des +poignards</i>, touch the hands of those whom he had denounced to public +indignation the yesterday. And now we behold him quit the cause of +liberty, by a decree which he himself had secretly solicited, and +disappear for a moment in Auvergne to re-appear on our frontiers. Yet he +has done us some service, let us acknowledge it. We owe to him to have +accustomed our national guards to go through the civic and religious +ceremonies; to bear the fatigue of the morning drill in the Champs +Elysées; to take patriotic oaths and to give suppers. Let us then bid +him adieu! La Fayette, to consummate the greatest revolution that a +nation ever attempted, we required a leader, whose mind was on an +equality with so great an event. We accepted you; the pliability of your +features, your studied orations, your premeditated axioms—all those +productions of art that nature disavows, seemed suspicious to the more +clear-sighted patriots. The boldest of them followed you, tore the mask +from your visage, and cried—Citizens, this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> hero is but a courtier, +this sage but an impostor. Now, thanks to you, the Revolution can no +longer bite, you have cut the lion's claws; the people is more +formidable to its conductors; they have reassumed the whip and spur, and +you fly. Let civic crowns strew your paths, though we remain; but where +shall we find a Brutus?"</p> + + +<h3>XXII.</h3> + +<p>Bailly, mayor of Paris, withdrew at the same time, abandoned by that +party of whom he had been the idol, and whose victim he began to be; but +his philosophic mind rated more highly the good done to the people than +its favour, and more ambitious of being useful than of governing it, he +already testified that heroic contempt for the calumnies of his enemies +he afterwards displayed for death.</p> + +<p>His voice was, however, lost in the tumult of the approaching municipal +elections; two men already disputed the dignity of mayor of Paris, for +in proportion as the royal authority declined, and that of the +constitution was absorbed in the troubles of the kingdom, the mayor of +Paris would become the real dictator of the capital.</p> + +<p>These two men were La Fayette and Pétion. La Fayette supported by the +constitutionalists and the national guard, Pétion by the Girondists and +the Jacobins. The royalist party, by pronouncing for or against one of +them, would decide the election. The king had no longer the influence of +the government, which he had suffered to escape from his grasp, but he +still possessed the occult powers of corruption over the leaders of the +different parties. A portion of the twenty-five millions of francs +(1,000,000<i>l.</i>) was applied by M. de Laporte, the intendant de la liste +civile, and by MM. Bertrand de Molleville and Montmorin, his ministers, +in purchasing votes at the elections, motions at the clubs, applause or +hisses in the Assembly. These subsidies, which had commenced with +Mirabeau, now descended to the lowest dregs of the factions; they bribed +the royalist press, and found their way into the hands of the orators +and writers apparently most inveterate against the court; and many false +manœuvres, to which the people were urged, arose from no other +source. There was a ministry of corruption, over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> which perfidy +presided. Many obtained from this source, under pretence of aiding the +court, the power of moderating or betraying the people; then fearing +lest their treachery should be discovered, they hid it by a second +betrayal, and turned against the king his own motions. Danton was of +this number. Sometimes, through motives of charity or peace, the king +gave a monthly sum to be distributed amongst the national guard, and the +<i>quartiers</i> in which insurrection was most to be apprehended. M. de La +Fayette, and Pétion himself, often drew money from this source. Thus the +king could, by employing those means, ensure the election, and by +joining the constitutionalist party determine the choice of Paris in +favour of M. de La Fayette. M. de La Fayette was one of the first +originators of this revolution which humbled the throne; his name was +associated with every humiliation of the court, with all the resentment +of the queen, all the terrors of the king; he had been first their +dread, then their protector, and, lastly, their guardian: could he be +now their hope? Would not this post of mayor of Paris, this vast, civil, +and popular dignity, after this long-armed dictatorship in the capital, +be to La Fayette but a second stepping-stone that would raise him higher +than the throne, and cast the king and constitution into the shade? This +man, with his theoretically liberal ideas, was well-intentioned, and +wished rather to dominate than to reign; but could any reliance be +placed on these good intentions that had been so often overcome? Was it +not full of these good intentions that he had usurped the command of the +civic force—captured the Bastille with the insurgent Gardes +Françaises—marched to Versailles at the head of the populace of +Paris—suffered the château to be forced on the 6th of October—arrested +the royal family at Varennes, and retained the king a prisoner in his +own palace? Would he now resist should the people again command him? +Would he abandon the <i>rôle</i> of the French Washington when he had half +fulfilled it? The human heart is so constituted that we rather prefer to +cast ourselves into the power of those who would destroy us than seek +safety from those who humiliate us. La Fayette humiliated the king, and +more especially the queen.</p> + +<p>A respectful independence was the habitual expression of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> La Fayette's +countenance in presence of Marie Antoinette. There was perceptible in +the general's attitude, it was to be seen in his words, distinguishable +in his accent, beneath the cold and polished forms of the courtier, the +inflexibility of the citizen. The queen preferred the factions. She thus +plainly spoke to her confidents. "M. de La Fayette," she said, "will not +be the mayor of Paris in order that he may the sooner become the <i>maire +du Palais</i>. Pétion is a Jacobin, a republican; but he is a fool, +incapable of ever becoming the leader of a party: he would be a nullity +as <i>maire</i>, and, besides, the very interest he knows we should take in +his nomination might bind him to the king."</p> + +<p>Pétion was the son of a <i>procureur</i> at Chartres, and a townsman of +Brissot; was brought up in the same way as he,—in the same studies, +same philosophy, same hatreds. They were two men of the same mind. The +Revolution, which had been the ideal of their youth, had called them on +the scene the same day, but to play very different parts. Brissot, the +scribe, political adventurer, journalist, was the man of theory; Pétion, +the practical man. He had in his countenance, in his character, and his +talents, that solemn mediocrity which is of the multitude, and charms +it; at least he was a sincere man, a virtue which the people appreciate +beyond all others in those who are concerned in public affairs. Called +by his fellow citizens to the National Assembly, he acquired there a +name rather from his efforts than his success. The fortunate compeer of +Robespierre, and then his friend, they had formed by themselves that +popular party, scarcely visible at the beginning, which professed pure +democracy and the philosophy of J. J. Rousseau; whilst Cazalès, +Mirabeau, and Maury, the nobility, clergy, and <i>bourgeoisie</i>, alone +disputed the government. The despotism of a class appeared to +Robespierre and Pétion as odious as the despotism of a king. The triumph +of the <i>tiers état</i> was of little consequence, so long as the people, +that is to say, all human kind in its widest acceptation, did not +prevail. They had given themselves as a task, not victory to one class +over another, but the victory and organisation of a divine and absolute +principle—humanity. This was their weakness in the first days of the +Revolution, and subsequently their strength. Pétion was beginning to +gather in its harvest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + +<p>He had gradually, by his doctrines and his speeches, insinuated himself +into the confidence of the people of Paris; he connected himself with +literary men by the cultivation of his mind; with the Orleans party by +his intimacy with Madame de Genlis, the favourite of the prince, and +governess to his children. He was spoken of in one place as a sage, who +sought to embody philosophy in the constitution; in another as a +sagacious conspirator, who desired to sap the throne, or to place upon +it the Duc D'Orleans, embodying the interests and dynasty of the people. +This two-fold reputation was equally advantageous to him. Honest men +believed him to be an honest man,—malcontents to be a malcontent: the +court disdained to fear him; it saw in him only an innocent Utopian, and +had for him that contemptuous indulgence which aristocrats have +invariably for men of political creed; besides, Pétion ridded it of La +Fayette. To change its foe was to give it breathing time.</p> + +<p>These three elements of success gave Pétion an immense majority; he was +nominated mayor of Paris by more than 6000 votes. La Fayette had but +3000. He might at this moment, from the depth of his retreat, have +fairly measured by these figures the decline of his popularity. La +Fayette represented the city, Pétion the nation. The armed <i>bourgeoisie</i> +quitted public affairs with the one, and the people assumed them with +the other. The Revolution marked with a proper name the fresh step she +had made.</p> + +<p>Pétion, scarcely elected, went in triumph to the Jacobins, and was thus +carried in the arms of patriots into the tribune. Old Dusault, who +occupied it at the moment, stammered out a few words, interrupted by his +sobs, in honour of his pupil. "I look on M. Pétion," said he, "as my +son; it is very bold no doubt." Pétion overcome, embraced the old man +with ardour; the tribunes applauded and wept.</p> + +<p>The other nominations were made in the same spirit. Manuel<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> was named +<i>procureur de la commune</i>;—Danton, his deputy, which was his first step +in popularity; he did not owe it, like Pétion, to the public esteem, but +to his own intriguing. He was appointed in spite of his reputation. The +people are apt to excuse the vices they find useful.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> + +<p>The nomination of Pétion to the office of <i>maire</i> of Paris gave the +Girondists a constant <i>point d'appui</i> in the capital. Paris, as well as +the Assembly, escaped from the king's hands. The work of the Constituent +Assembly crumbled away in three months. The wheels gave way before they +were set in motion. All presaged an approaching collision between the +executive power and the power of the Assembly. Whence arose this sudden +decomposition? It is now the moment for throwing a glance over this +labour of the Constituent Assembly and its framers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK VII.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The Constituent Assembly had abdicated in a storm.</p> + +<p>This assembly had consisted of the most imposing body of men that had +ever represented, not only France, but the human race. It was in fact +the œcumenical council of modern reason and philosophy. Nature seemed +to have created expressly, and the different orders of society to have +reserved, for this work, the geniuses, characters, and even vices most +requisite to give to this focus of the lights of the age the greatness, +<i>éclat</i>, and movement of a fire destined to consume the remnants of an +old society, and to illumine a new one. There were sages, like Bailly +and Mounier; thinkers, like Siéyès; factious partisans, like Barnave; +statesmen like Talleyrand; men, epochs, like Mirabeau, and men, +principles like Robespierre. Each cause was personified by what most +distinguished each party. The very victims were illustrious. Cazalès, +Malouet, Maury, sounded forth in bursts of grief and eloquence the +successive falls of the throne, the aristocracy, and the clergy. This +active centre of the thoughts of a century, was sustained during the +whole time by the storm of perpetual political conflict. Whilst they +were deliberating within, the people were acting without, and struck at +the doors. These twenty-six months of consultations were one +uninterrupted sedition. Scarcely had one institution crum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>bled to pieces +in the tribune, than the nation swept it away to clear the space for +another institution. The anger of the people was only its impatience of +obstacles, its madness was only the excitement of its reason. Even in +its fury it was always a truth that agitated it. The tribunes only +blinded, by dazzling it. The unique characteristic of this Assembly was +that passion for the ideal which it always felt itself irresistibly +urged on to accomplish. An act of perpetual faith in reason and justice: +a holy passion for the good and right, which possessed it, and made it +devote itself to its work; like the statuary who seeing the fire in the +furnace, where he was casting his bronze, on the point of being +extinguished, threw his furniture, his children's bed, and even his +house into the flame, preferring rather that all should perish than that +his work should be lost.</p> + +<p>Thus it is that the Revolution has become a date in the human mind, and +not merely an event in the history of the people. The men of the +Constituent Assembly were not Frenchmen, they were universal men. We +mistake, we vilify them when we consider them only as priests, +aristocrats, plebeians, faithful subjects, malcontents or demagogues. +They were, and they felt themselves to be, better than that,—workmen of +God; called by him to restore social reason, and found right and justice +throughout the universe. None of them, except those who opposed the +Revolution, limited the extent of its thought to the boundaries of +France. The declaration of the Rights of Man proves this. It was the +decalogue of the human race in all languages. The modern Revolution +called the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, to partake of the light and +reign of Fraternity.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>Thus, not one of its apostles who did not proclaim peace amongst +nations. Mirabeau, La Fayette, Robespierre himself erased war from the +symbol which they presented to the nation. It was the malcontent and +ambitious who subsequently demanded it, and not the leading +Revolutionists. When war burst out the Revolution had degenerated. The +Constituent Assembly took care not to place on the frontiers of France +the boundaries of its truths, and to limit the sym<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>pathising soul of the +French Revolution to a narrow patriotism. The globe was the country of +its dogmata. France was only the workshop; it worked for all other +people. Respectful of, or indifferent to, the question of national +territories, from the first moment it forbade conquest. It only reserved +to itself the property, or rather the invention of universal truths +which it brought to light. As vast as humanity, it had not the +selfishness to isolate itself. It desired to give, and not to deprive. +It sought to spread itself by right, and not by force. Essentially +spiritual, it sought no other empire for France than the voluntary +empire which imitation by the human mind conferred upon it.</p> + +<p>Its work was prodigious, its means a nullity; all that enthusiasm can +inspire, the Assembly undertook and perfected, without a king, without a +military leader, without a dictator, without an army, without any other +strength than deep conviction. Alone, in the midst of an amazed people, +with a disbanded army, an emigrating aristocracy, a despoiled clergy, a +conspiring court, a seditious city, hostile Europe—it did what it +designed. Such is the will, such the real power of a people—and such is +truth, the irresistible auxiliary of the men who agitate themselves for +God. If ever inspiration was visible in the prophet or ancient +legislator, it may be asserted that the Constituent Assembly had two +years of sustained inspiration. France was the inspired of civilisation.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Let us examine its work. The principle of power was entirely displaced: +royalty had ended by believing that it was the exclusive depositary of +power. It had demanded of religion to consummate this robbery in the +eyes of the people, by telling them that tyranny came from God, and was +responsible to God only. The long heirship of throned races had made it +believed that there was a right of reigning in the blood of crowned +families. Government instead of being a function had become a +possession; the king master instead of being chief. This misplaced +principle displaced everything. The people became a nation, the king a +crowned magistrate. Feudality, subaltern royalty, assumed the rank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> of +actual property. The clergy, which had had institutions and inviolable +property, was now only a body paid by the state for a sacred service. It +was from this only one step to receiving a voluntary salary for an +individual service. The magistracy ceased to be hereditary. They left it +its unremoveability to confirm its independence. It was an exception to +the principle of offices when a dismissal was possible, a +semi-sovereignty of justice—but it was one step towards the truth. The +legislative power was distinct from the executive power. The nation in +an assembly freely chosen, declared its will, and the hereditary and +irresponsible king executed it. Such was the whole mechanism of the +Constitution—a people—a king—a minister. But the king irresponsible, +and consequently passive, was evidently a concession to custom, the +respectful fiction of suppressed royalty.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>He was no longer will; for to will is to do. He was not a functionary; +for the functionary acts and replies. The king did not reply. He was but +a majestic inutility in the constitution. The functions destroyed, they +left the functionary. He had but one attribute, the <i>suspensive veto</i>, +which consisted of his right to suspend, for three years, the execution +of the Assembly's decrees. He was an obstacle; legal, but impotent for +the wishes of the nation. It was evident that the Constituent Assembly, +perfectly convinced of the superfluity of the throne in a national +government, had only placed a king at the summit of its institutions to +check ambition, and that the kingdom should not be called a republic. +The only part of such a king was to prevent the truth from appearing, +and to make a show in the eyes of a people accustomed to a sceptre. This +fiction, or this nullity cost the people 30,000,000 (of francs) a year +in the civil list, a court, continual jealousies, and the interminable +corruption practised by the court on the organs of the nation. This was +the real vice of the constitution of 1791: it was not consistent. +Royalty embarrassed the constitution; and all that embarrasses injures. +The motive of this inconsistency was less an error of its reason than a +respectful piety for an ancient prejudice, and a generous tenderness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +towards a race which had long worn the crown. If the race of the +Bourbons had been extinct in the month of September 1791, certainly the +Constituent Assembly would not have invented a king.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>However, the royalty of '91, very little different from the royalty of +to-day, could work for a century, as well as a day. The error of all +historians is to attribute to the vices of the constitution the brief +duration of the work of the Constituent Assembly. In the first place, +the work of the Constituent Assembly was not principally to perpetuate +this wheelwork of useless royalty, placed out of complaisance to the +people's eyes, in machinery which did not regulate it. The work of the +Constituent Assembly was the regeneration of ideas and government, the +displacing of power, the restoration of right, the abolition of all +subjugation even of the mind, the freedom of consciences, the formation +of an administration; and this work lasts, and will endure as long as +the name of France. The vice of the institution of 1791 was not in any +one particular point. It has not perished because the <i>veto</i> of the king +was suspensive instead of absolute; it has not perished, because the +right of peace or war was taken from the king, and reserved to the +nation; it has not perished, because it did not place the legislative +power in one chamber only instead of in two: these asserted vices are to +be found in many other constitutions, which still endure. The diminution +of the royal power was not the main danger to royalty in '91; it was +rather its salvation, if it could have been saved.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>The more power was given to the king, and action to the monarchical +principle, the quicker the king and the principle would have fallen; for +the greater would have been the distrust and hatred against him. Two +chambers, instead of one, would not have preserved any thing. Such +divisions of power would have no value, but in proportion as they are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +sacred. They are only sacred in proportion as they are the +representatives of real existing force in the nation. Would a revolution +which had not paused before the iron gates of the Château of Versailles +have respected the metaphysical distinction of power of two kinds!</p> + +<p>Besides, where were, and where would be now, the constitutive elements +of two chambers, in a nation whose entire revolution is but a convulsion +towards unity? If the second chamber be democratic and temporary, it is +but a twofold democracy with but one common impulse. It can only serve +to retard the common impulse, or destroy the unity of the public will. +If it be hereditary and aristocratic, it supposes an aristocracy +pre-existent in, and acknowledged by, the state. Where was this +aristocracy in 1791? Where is it now? A modern historian says, "In the +nobility, in the presence of social inequalities." But the Revolution +was made against the nobility, and in order to level social hereditary +inequalities. It was to ask of the Revolution itself to make a +counter-revolution. Besides, these pretended divisions of power are +always fictions; power is never really divided. It is always here or +there, in reality and in its integrity,—it is not to be divided. It is +like the will, it is <i>one</i> or it is not. If there be two chambers, it is +in one of the two; the other complies or is dissolved. If there be one +chamber and a king, it is in the king or the chamber. In the king, if he +subjugates the Assembly by force, or if he buys it by corruption; in the +chamber if it agitates the public mind, and intimidates the court and +the army by the power of its language, and the superiority of its +opinions. Those who do not see this have no eyes. In this <i>soidisant</i> +balance of power there is always a controlling weight; equilibrium is a +chimera. If it did exist, it would produce mere immobility.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>The Constituent Assembly had then done a good work; wise, and as durable +as are the institutions of a people in travail, in an age of transition. +The constitution of '91 had written all the truths of the times, and +reduced all human reason to its epoch. All was true in its work except +royalty,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> which had but one wrong, which was making the monarchy the +depository of its code.</p> + +<p>We have seen that this very fault was an excess of virtue. It receded +before the deposing from the throne the family of its kings; it had the +superstition of the past without having its faith, and desired to +reconcile the republic and the monarchy. It was a virtue in its +intentions; it was a mistake in its results; for it is an error in +politics to attempt the impossible. Louis XVI. was the only man in the +nation to whom the constituent royalty could not be confided, since it +was he from whom the absolute monarchy had just been snatched: the +constitution was a shared royalty, and but a few days previously, and he +had possessed it entire. With any other person this royalty would have +been a gift, for him alone it was an insult. If Louis XVI. had been +capable of this abnegation of supreme power which makes disinterested +heroes (and he was one), the deposed party, of which he was the natural +head, was not like him; we may expect an act of sublime +disinterestedness from a virtuous man, never from a party <i>en masse</i>. +Party is never magnanimous; they never abdicate, they are extirpated. +Heroic acts come from the heart, and party has no heart; they have only +interests and ambition. A body is a thing of unvarying selfishness.</p> + +<p>Clergy, nobility, court, magistracy, all abuses, all falsehoods, all +contumelies, every injustice of a monarchy, are personified, in spite of +Louis XVI., in the king. Degraded with him, they must desire to rise +with him. The nation, which well perceived this fatal connection between +the king and the counter-revolution, could not confide in the king, +however it might venerate the man; it saw, in him, of necessity, the +accomplice of every conspiracy against itself. The <i>parvenus</i> of liberty +are as thinskinned as the <i>parvenus</i> of fortune. Jealousies must arise, +suspicions would produce insults, insults resentments, resentments +factions, factions shocks and overthrows: the momentary enthusiasm of +the people, the sincere concessions of the king, avert nothing. The +situations were false on both sides.</p> + +<p>If there were in the Constituent Assembly more statesmen than +philosophers, it must have perceived that an intermediate state was +impossible, under the guardianship of a half-dethroned king. We do not +confide to the vanquished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> the care and management of the conquests. To +act as she acts, was to drive the king, without redemption, to treason +or the scaffold. An absolute party is the only safe party in great +crises. The tact consists in knowing when to have recourse to extreme +measures at the critical minute. We say it unhesitatingly—history will +hereafter say as we do. Then came a moment when the Constituent Assembly +had the right to choose between the monarchy and the republic, and when +she had to choose the republic. There was the safety of the Revolution +and its legitimacy. In wanting resolution it failed in prudence.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>But, they say with Barnave, France is monarchical by its geography as by +its character, and the contest arises in minds directly between the +monarchy and the republic. Let us make ourselves understood:—</p> + +<p>Geography is of no party; Rome and Carthage had no frontiers; Genoa and +Venice had no territories. It is not the soil which determines the +nature of the constitutions of people, it is time. The geographical +objection of Barnave fell to the ground a year afterwards, before the +prodigies in France in 1792. It proved that if a republic fails in unity +and centralisation, it is unable to defend a continental nationality. +Waves and mountains are the frontiers of the weak—men are the frontiers +of a people. Let us then have done with geography. It is not +geometricians but statesmen who form social constitutions.</p> + +<p>Nations have two great interests which reveal to them the form they +should take, according to the hour of the national life which they have +attained—the instinct of their conservation, and the instinct of their +growth. To act, or be idle, to walk, or sit down, are two acts wholly +different, which compel men to assume attitudes wholly diverse. It is +the same with nations. The monarchy or the republic correspond exactly +amongst a people to the necessities of these two opposite conditions of +society—repose or action. We here understand two words; these two +words, repose and action, in their most absolute acceptation; for there +is repose in republics, as there is action in monarchies.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span></p> + +<p>Is it a question of preservation, of reproduction, of development in +that kind of slow and insensible growth which people have like vast +vegetables? Is it a question of keeping in harmony with the European +balance of preserving its laws and manners; of maintaining its +traditions, perpetuating opinions and worship, of guaranteeing +properties and right conduct, of preventing troubles, agitation, +factions? The monarchy is evidently more proper for this than any other +state of society. It protects in lower classes that security which it +desires for its own elevated condition. It is order in essence and +selfishness: order is its life—tradition its dogma, the nation is its +heritage, religion its ally, aristocracies are its barrier against the +invasions of the people. It must preserve all this or perish. It is the +government of prudence, because it is also that of great responsibility. +An empire is the stake of a monarch—the throne is everywhere a +guarantee of immobility. When we are placed on high we fear every shake, +for we have but to lose or to fall.</p> + +<p>When then a nation is placed in a sufficing territory, with settled +laws, fixed interests, sacred creeds, its worship in full force, its +social classes graduated, its administration organised, it is +monarchical in spite of seas, rivers, or mountains. It abdicates and +empowers the monarchy to foresee, to will, to act for it. It is the most +perfect of governments for such functions. It calls itself by the two +names of society itself, <i>unity</i> and <i>hereditary right</i>.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>If a people, on the contrary, is at one of those epochs when it is +necessary to act with all the intensity of its strength in order to +operate within and without one of those organic transformations which +are as necessary to people as is a current to waves or explosion to +compressed powers—a republic is the obligatory and fated form of a +nation at such a moment.</p> + +<p>For a sudden, irresistible, convulsive action of the social body, the +arm and will of all is needed; the people become a mob, and rush +headlong to danger. It can alone suffice to its own danger. What other +arm but that of the whole people could stir what it has to +stir?—displace what it has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> to displace?—install what it desires to +found? The monarch would break his sceptre into fragments on it. There +must be a lever capable of raising thirty millions of wills—this lever +the nation alone possesses. It is in itself the moving power, the +fulcrum and the lever.</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>We cannot ask of the law to act against the law, of tradition to act +against tradition, of established order to act against established +order. It would be to require strength from weakness, life from suicide; +and, besides, we should ask in vain of the monarchical power to +accomplish these changes, in which very often all perish, and the king +foremost. Such a course would be the contradiction to the monarchy: how +could it attempt it?</p> + +<p>To ask a king to destroy the empire of a religion which consecrates him; +to despoil of their riches a clergy who has them by the same divine +title as that by which he has tenure of his kingdom; to degrade an +aristocracy which is the first step of his throne; to throw down social +hierarchies of which he is the head and crown; to undermine laws of +which he is the highest,—is to ask of the vaults of an edifice to sap +the foundation. The king could not do so, and would not. In thus +overthrowing all that serves him for support, he feels that he would be +rendered wholly destitute. He would be playing with his throne and +dynasty. He is responsible for his race. He is prudent by nature, and a +temporiser from necessity. He must soothe, please, manage, and be on +terms with all constituted interests. He is the king of the worship, +aristocracy, laws, manners, abuses, and falsehoods of the empire. Even +the vices of the constitution form a portion of his strength. To +threaten them is to destroy himself. He may hate them: he dares not to +attack them.</p> + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>A republic alone can suffice for such crises: nations know this, and +cling to it as their sole hope of preservation. The will of the people +becomes the ruling power. It drives from its presence the timid, seeks +the bold and the determined,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> summons all men to aid in the great work, +makes trial of, employs, and combines the force, the devotion, the +heroism of every man. It is the populace that holds the helm of the +vessel, on which the most prompt, or the most firm seizes, until it is +again torn from him by a stronger hand. But every one governs in the +common name. Private consideration, timidity of situation, difference of +rank, all disappears. No one is responsible—to-day he rises to +power—to-morrow he descends to exile or the scaffold—there is no +<i>morrow</i>, all is <i>to-day</i>—resistance is crushed by the irresistible +power of movement. All bends—all yields before the people. The +resentments of castes—the abolished forms of worship—the decimation of +property—the extirpated abuses—the humiliated aristocracies—all are +lost in the thundering sound of the overthrow of ancient ideas and +things. On whom can we demand revenge? The nation answers for all to +all, and no man has aught to require from it. It does not survive +itself, it braves recrimination and vengeance—it is absolute as an +element—anonymous, as fatality—it completes its work, and when that is +ended, says, "Let us rest; and let us assume monarchy."</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>Such a plan of action is the republic—the only one that befits the +trying period of transformation. It is the government of passion, the +government of crises, the government of revolutions. So long as +revolutions are unfinished, so long does the instinct of the people urge +them to a republic; for they feel that every other hand is too feeble to +give that onward and violent impulse necessary to the Revolution. The +people (and they act wisely), will not trust an irresponsible, +perpetual, and hereditary power to fulfil the commands of the epochs of +creation—they will perform them themselves. Their dictatorship appears +to them indispensable to save the nation; and what is a dictatorship but +a republic? It cannot resign its power until every crisis be over, and +the great work of revolution completed and consolidated. Then it can +again resume the monarchy, and say, "Reign in the name of the ideas I +have given thee!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>The Constituent Assembly was then blind and weak, not to create a +republic as the natural instrument of the Revolution. Mirabeau, Bailly, +La Fayette, Siéyès, Barnave, Talleyrand, and Lameth acted in this +respect like philosophers, and not great politicians, as events have +amply proved. They believed the Revolution finished as soon as it was +written, and the monarchy converted as soon as it had sworn to preserve +the constitution. The Revolution was but begun, and the oath of royalty +to the Revolution as futile as the oath of the Revolution to royalty. +These two elements could not mingle until after an interval of an +age—this interval was the republic. A nation does not change in a day, +or in fifty years, from revolutionary excitements to monarchical repose. +It is because we forgot it at the hour when we should have remembered +it, that the crisis was so terrible, and that we yet feel its effects. +If the Revolution, which perpetually follows itself, had had its own +natural and fitting government, the republic—this republic would have +been less tumultuous and less perturbed than the five attempts we made +for a monarchy. The nature of the age in which we live protests against +the traditional forms of power: at an epoch of movement—a government of +movement—such is the law.</p> + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>The National Assembly, it is said, had not the right to act thus; for it +had sworn allegiance to the monarchy and recognised Louis XVI., and +could not dethrone him without a crime. The objection is puerile, if it +originates in minds who do not believe in the possession of the people +by dynasties. The Assembly at its outset had proclaimed the inalienable +right of the people; and the lawfulness of necessary insurrection, and +the oath of the Tennis Court (<i>Serment du Jeu de Paume</i>), were nought +but an oath of disobedience to the king and of fidelity to the nation. +The Assembly had afterwards proclaimed Louis XVI. king of the French. If +they possessed the power of proclaiming him king, they also possessed +that of proclaiming him a simple citizen. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>feiture for the national +utility, and that of the human race, was evidently one of its +principles, and yet how did it act? It leaves Louis XVI. king, or makes +him king, not through respect for that institution, but out of respect +for his person, and pity for so great a downfall. Such was the truth; it +feared sacrilege, and fell into anarchy. It was clement, noble, and +generous. Louis XVI. had deserved well from his people; who well can +dare to censure so magnanimous a condescension? Before the king's +departure for Varennes, the absolute right of the nation was but an +abstract fiction, the <i>summum jus</i> of the Assembly. The royalty of Louis +XVI. was respectable and respected, once again it was established.</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>But a moment arrived, and this moment was when the king fled his +kingdom, protesting against the will of the nation, and sought the +assistance of the army, and the intervention of foreign powers, when the +Assembly legitimately possessed the rigorous right of disposing of the +power, thus abandoned or betrayed. Three courses were open: to declare +the downfall of the monarchy, and proclaim a republican revolution; the +temporary suspension of the royalty, and govern in its name during its +moral eclipse; and, lastly, to restore the monarchy.</p> + +<p>The Assembly chose the worst alternative of the three. It feared to be +harsh, and was cruel; for by retaining the supreme rank for the king, it +condemned him to the torture of the hatred and contempt of the people; +it crowned him with suspicions and outrages; and nailed him to the +throne, in order that the throne might prove the instrument of his +torture and his death.</p> + +<p>Of the two other courses, the first was the most logical, to proclaim +the downfall of the monarchy and the formation of a republic.</p> + +<p>The republic, had it been properly established by the Assembly, would +have been far different from the republic traitorously and atrociously +extorted nine months after by the insurrection of the 10th of August. It +would have doubtless suffered the commotion, inseparable from the birth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +of a new order of things. It would not have escaped the disorders of +nature in a country where every thing was done by first impulse, and +impassioned by the magnitude of its perils. But it would have originated +in law and not in sedition—in right, and not in violence—in +deliberation, and not in insurrection. This alone could have changed the +sinister conditions of its birth and its future fate; it might become an +agitating power, but it would remain pure and unsullied.</p> + +<p>Only reflect for a moment how entirely its legal and premeditated +proclamation would have altered the course of events. The 10th of August +would not have taken place—the perfidy and tyranny of the commune of +Paris—the massacre of the guards—the assault on the palace—the flight +of the king to the Assembly—the outrages heaped on him there—and his +imprisonment in the temple—would have never occurred.</p> + +<p>The republic would not have killed a king, a queen, an innocent babe, +and a virtuous princess; it would not have had the massacres of +September, those St. Bartholomews of the people—that have left an +indelible stain on the whole robes of liberty. It would not have been +baptized in the blood of three hundred thousand human beings—it would +not have armed the revolutionary tribunal with the axe of the people, +with which it immolated a generation to make way for an idea,—it would +not have had the 31st of May. The Girondists arriving at the supreme +power, unsullied by crime, would have possessed more force with which to +combat the demagogues; and the republic calmly and deliberately +instituted, would have intimidated Europe far more than an <i>émeute</i> +legitimised by bloodshed and assassination. War might have been avoided, +or, if it was inevitable, have been more unanimous and more triumphant; +our generals would not have been massacred by their soldiers amidst +cries of treason. The spirit of the people would have combated with us, +and the horror of our days of August, September, and January would not +have alienated from our standards the nations attracted thither by our +doctrines. Thus a single change in the origin of the republic changed +the fate of the Revolution.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>But if this rigorous resolution was yet repugnant to the feelings of +France, and if the Assembly had feared they had given birth to a +republic prematurely, the third course was yet open, to proclaim the +temporary cessation of royalty during ten years, and govern in a +republican form in its name until the constitution was firmly and +securely established. This course would have saved all the respect due +to royalty; the life of the king—the life of the royal family—the +rights of the people—the purity of the Revolution—it was at once firm +and calm, efficacious and legitimate. It was such a dictatorship as the +people had instinctively figured in the critical times of their +existence. But instead of a short, fugitive, disturbed, and ambitious +dictatorship of one man, it was the dictatorship of the nation, +governing itself through its National Assembly. The nation might have +respectfully laid by royalty during ten years, in order itself to carry +out a work above the power of the king. This accomplished, resentment +extinguished, habits formed, the laws in operation, the frontiers +protected, the clergy secularised, the aristocracy humbled, the +dictatorship could terminate. The king or his dynasty could ascend +without danger a throne from which all danger was now averted. This +veritable republic would have thus resumed the name of a constitutional +monarchy, without changing any thing, and the statue of royalty would +have been replaced on its pedestal when the base had been consolidated. +Such would have been the consulate of the people, far superior to that +consulate of a man who was to finish by ravaging Europe, and by the +double usurpation of a throne and a revolution.</p> + +<p>Or, if at the expiration of this national dictatorship, the nation, well +governed and guided, found it dangerous or useless to re-establish the +throne, what prevented it from saying, I now assume as a definitive +government that which I assumed as a dictatorship: I proclaim the French +republic as the only government befitting the excitement and energy of a +regenerative epoch; for the republic is a dictatorship perpetuated and +constituted by the people. What avails a throne? I remain erect: it is +the attitude of a people in travail!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<p>In a word, the Constituent Assembly, whose light illumined the +globe—whose audacity in two years transformed an empire, had but one +fault, that of coming to a close. It should have perpetuated itself: it +abdicated. A nation that abdicates after a reign of two years, and on +heaps of ruins, bequeaths the sceptre to anarchy. The king <i>could</i> reign +no longer, the nation <i>would not</i>. Thus faction reigned, and the +Revolution perished; not because it had gone too far, but because it had +not been sufficiently bold. So true is it that the timidity of nations +is not less disastrous than the weakness of kings; and that a people who +knows not how to seize and guard all that which pertains to it, falls at +once into tyranny and anarchy. The Assembly dared to do every thing save +to reign: the reign of the Revolution was nought but a republic: and the +Assembly left this name to factions, and this form to terror. Such was +its fault—it expiated it: and the expiation is not yet ended for +France.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK VIII.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Whilst the king, isolated at the summit of the constitution, sought +support, sometimes by hazardous negotiations with foreigners, sometimes +by rash attempts at corruption in the capital, a body, some Girondists +and other Jacobins, but as yet confounded under the common denomination +of patriots, began to unite and form the nucleus of a great republican +idea: they were Pétion, Robespierre, Brissot, Buzot, Vergniaud, Guadet, +Gensonné, Carra, Louvet, Ducos, Fonfrède, Duperret, Sillery-Genlis, and +many others, whose names have scarcely emerged from obscurity. The home +of a young woman, daughter of an engraver of the Quai des Orfévres, was +the meeting place of this union. It was there that the two great parties +of the <i>Gironde</i> and the <i>Montagne</i> assembled, united, separated, and +after having acquired power, and overturned the monarchy in company, +tore the bosom of their country with their dissensions, and destroyed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +liberty whilst they destroyed each other. It was neither ambition, nor +fortune, nor celebrity which had successively attracted these men to +this woman's residence, then without credit, name, or comforts: it was +conformity of opinion; it was that devoted worship which chosen spirits +like to render in secret as in public to a new truth which promises +happiness to mankind; it was the invisible attraction of a common faith, +that communion of the first neophytes in the religion of philosophy, +where the necessity for souls to unite before they associate by deeds, +is felt. So long as the thoughts common to political men have not +reached that point where they become fruitful, and are organised by +contact, nothing is accomplished. Revolutions are ideas, and it is this +communion which creates parties.</p> + +<p>The ardent and pure mind of a female was worthy of becoming the focus to +which converged all the rays of the new truth, in order to become +prolific in the warmth of the heart, and to light the pile of old +institutions. Men have the spirit of truth, women only its passion. +There must be love in the essence of all creations; it would seem as +though truth, like nature, has two sexes. There is invariably a woman at +the beginning of all great undertakings; one was requisite to the +principle of the French Revolution.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> We may say that philosophy found +this woman in Madame Roland.</p> + +<p>The historian, led away by the movement of the events which he retraces, +should pause in the presence of this serious and touching figure, as +passengers stopped to contemplate her sublime features and white dress +on the tumbril which conveyed thousands of victims to death. To +understand her we must trace her career from the <i>atelier</i> of her father +to the scaffold. It is in a woman's heart that the germ of virtue lies; +it is almost always in private life that the secret of public life is +reposed.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>Young, lovely, radiant with genius, recently married to a man of serious +mind, who was touching on old age, and but recently mother of her first +child, Madame Roland was born in that intermediary condition in which +families scarcely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> emancipated from manual labour are, it may be said, +amphibious between the labourer and the tradesman, and retain in their +manners the virtues and simplicity of the people, whilst they already +participate in the lights of society. The period in which aristocracies +fall is that in which nations regenerate. The sap of the people is +there. In this was born Jean Jacques Rousseau, the virile type of Madame +Roland. A portrait of her when a child represents a young girl in her +father's workshop, holding in one hand a book, and in the other an +engraving tool. This picture is the symbolic definition of the social +condition in which Madame Roland was born, and the precise moment +between the labour of her hands and her mind.</p> + +<p>Her father, Gratien Phlippon, was an engraver and painter in enamel. He +joined to these two professions that of a trade in diamonds and jewels. +He was a man always aspiring higher than his abilities allowed, and a +restless speculator, who incessantly destroyed his modest fortune in his +efforts to extend it in proportion to his ambitious yearnings. He adored +his daughter, and could not, for her sake, content himself with the +perspective of the workshop. He gave her an education of the highest +degree, and nature had conferred upon her a heart for the most elevated +destinies. We need not say what dreams, misery, and misfortunes men with +such characters invariably bring upon their honest families.</p> + +<p>The young girl grew up in this atmosphere of luxuriant imagination and +actual wretchedness. Endowed with a premature judgment, she early +detected these domestic miseries, and took refuge in the good sense of +her mother from the illusions of her father and her own presentiments of +the future.</p> + +<p>Marguerite Bimont (her mother's name) had brought her husband a calm +beauty, and a mind very superior to her destiny, but angelic piety and +resignation armed her equally against ambition and despair. The mother +of seven children, who had all died in the birth, she concentrated in +her only child all the love of her soul. Yet this very love guarded her +from any weakness in the education of her daughter. She preserved the +nice balance of her heart and her mind; of her imagination and her +reason. The mould in which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> she formed this youthful mind was graceful; +but it was of brass. It might have been said that she foresaw the +destinies of her child, and infused into the mind of the young girl that +masculine spirit which forms heroes and inspires martyrs.</p> + +<p>Nature lent herself admirably to the task, and had endowed her pupil +with an understanding even superior to her dazzling beauty. This beauty +of her earlier years, of which she has herself traced the principal +features with infinite ingenuousness in the more sprightly pages of her +memoirs, was far from having gained the energy, the melancholy, and the +majesty which she subsequently acquired from repressed love, high +thought, and misfortune.</p> + +<p>A tall and supple figure, flat shoulders, a prominent bust, raised by a +free and strong respiration, a modest and most becoming demeanour, that +carriage of the neck which bespeaks intrepidity, black and soft hair, +blue eyes, which appeared brown in the depth of their reflection, a look +which like her soul passed rapidly from tenderness to energy, the nose +of a Grecian statue, a rather large mouth, opened by a smile as well as +speech, splendid teeth, a turned and well rounded chin gave to the oval +of her features that voluptuous and feminine grace without which even +beauty does not elicit love, a skin marbled with the animation of life, +and veined by blood which the least impression sent mounting to her +cheeks, a tone of voice which borrowed its vibrations from the deepest +fibres of her heart, and which was deeply modulated to its finest +movements (a precious gift, for the tone of the voice, which is the +channel of emotion in a woman, is the medium of persuasion in the +orator, and by both these titles nature owed her the charm of voice, and +had bestowed it on her freely). Such at eighteen years of age was the +portrait of this young girl, whom obscurity long kept in the shade, as +if to prepare for life or death a soul more strong, and a victim more +perfect.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Her understanding lightened this beauteous frame-work with a precocious +and flashing intelligence, which was already inspiration. She acquired, +as it were, the most difficult accomplishments even from looking into +their very elements.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> What is taught to her age and sex was not +sufficient for her. The masculine education of men was a want and sport +to her. Her powerful mind had need of all the means of thought for its +due exercise. Theology, history, philosophy, music, painting, dancing, +the exact sciences, chemistry, foreign tongues and learned languages, +she learned all and desired more. She herself formed her ideas from all +the rays which the obscurity of her condition allowed to penetrate into +the laboratory of her father. She even secreted the books which the +young apprentices brought and forgot for her in the workshop. Jean +Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and the English philosophers, +fell into her hands; but her real food was Plutarch.</p> + +<p>"I shall never forget," she said, "the Lent of 1763, during which I +every day carried that book to church, instead of the book of prayers: +it was from this moment that I date the impressions and ideas which made +me republican, when I had never formed a thought on the subject." After +Plutarch, Fénélon made the deepest impression upon her. Tasso and the +poets followed. Heroism, virtue, and love were destined to pour from +their three vases at once into the soul of a woman destined to this +triple palpitation of grand impressions.</p> + +<p>In the midst of this fire in her soul her reason remained calm, and her +purity spotless. She scarcely owns to the slightest and fugitive +emotions of the heart and senses. "When as I read behind the screen +which closed up my chamber from my father's apartment," she writes, "my +breathing was at all loud, I felt a burning blush overspread my cheek, +and my altered voice would have betrayed my agitation. I was Eucharis to +Telemachus, and Herminia to Tancred. Yet, transformed as I was into +them, I never thought myself of becoming anything to any body. I made no +reflection that individually affected me; I sought nothing around me: it +was a dream without awaking. Yet I remember having beheld with much +agitation a young painter named Taboral, who called on my father +occasionally. He was about twenty years of age, with a sweet voice, +intelligent countenance, and blushed like a girl. When I heard him in +the <i>atelier</i>, I had always a pencil or something to look after; but as +his presence embarrassed as much as it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> pleased me, I went away quicker +than I entered, with a palpitating heart, a tremor that made me run and +hide myself in my little room."</p> + +<p>Although her mother was very pious, she did not forbid her daughter from +reading. She wished to inspire her with religion, and not enforce it +upon her. Full of good sense and toleration, she left her with +confidence to her reason, and sought neither to repress nor dry up the +sap which would hereafter produce its fruit in her heart. A servile, not +voluntary religion, appeared to her degradation and slavery which God +could not accept as a tribute worthy of him. The pensive mind of her +daughter naturally tended towards the great objects of eternal happiness +or misery, and she was sure, at an earlier age than any other, to plunge +deeply into their mysteries. The reign of sentiment began in her through +the love of God. The sublime delirium of her pious contemplations +embellished and preserved the first years of her youth, composed the +rest by her philosophy, and seemed as if it must preserve her for ever +from the tempests of passion. Her devotion was ardent; it took the tints +of her soul, and she aspired to the cloister, and dreamed of martyrdom. +Entering a convent, she found there propitious moments, surrendering her +thoughts to mysticism and her heart to first friendships. The monotonous +regularity of this life gently soothed the activity of her meditations. +In the hours of relaxation she did not play with her companions, but +retired beneath some tree to read and muse. As sensitive as Rousseau to +the beauty of foliage, the rustling of the grass, the odour of the +herbs, she admired the hand of God, and kissed it in his works. +Overflowing with gratitude and inward delight, she went to adore him at +church. There the sonorous organ's lengthened peal, uniting with the +voices of the youthful nuns, completed the excess of her ecstacy. The +Catholic religion has every mysterious fascination for the senses, and +pleasure for the imagination. A novice took the veil during her +residence in the convent. Her presentation at the entrance, her white +veil, her crown of roses, the sweet and soothing hymns which directed +her from earth to heaven, the mortuary cloth cast over her youthful and +buried beauty, and over her palpitating heart, made the young artist +shudder, and overwhelmed her with tears.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> Her destiny opened to her the +image of great sacrifices, and she felt within herself by anticipation +all the courage and the suffering.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The charm and custom of these religious feelings were never effaced from +her mind. Philosophy, which soon became her worship, dissipated her +faith, but left the impression it had created. She could not assist at +the ceremonies of a worship whose mysteries her reason had repudiated, +without feeling their attraction and respect. The sight of weak men +united to adore and pray to the Father of the human race affected her +sensibly. The music raised her to the skies. She quitted these Christian +temples happier and better; so much are the recollections of infancy +reflected and prolonged even in the most troubled existence.</p> + +<p>This impassioned taste for infinity and pious sentiment continued their +influences over her after her return to her father's house. "My father's +house had not," she writes, "the solitary tranquillity of the convent, +still plenty of air, and a wide space on the roof of our house near the +<i>Pont Neuf</i>, were before my dreamy and romantic imagination. How many +times from my window, which looked northward, have I contemplated with +emotions the vast deserts of heaven, its glorious azure vault, so +splendidly framed from the blue dawn of morning, behind the +<i>Pont-du-Change</i>, until the golden sunset, when the glorious purple +faded away behind the trees of the Champs Elysées and the houses of +Chaillot. I did not fail thus to employ some moments at the close of a +fine day; and quiet tears frequently stole deliciously from my eyes, +whilst my heart, throbbing with an inexpressible sentiment, happy thus +to beat, and grateful to exist, offered to the Being of beings a homage +pure and worthy of him."</p> + +<p>Alas! when she wrote these lines, she no longer saw but in her mind that +narrow strip of the heaven of Paris, and the remembrance of those +glorious evenings only illumined with a fugitive gleam the walls of her +dungeon.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span></p> + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>But she was then happy, between her aunt Angelique and her mother, in +what she calls the beautiful quarter of the Isle Saint Louis. On these +straight quays, on this tranquil bank, she took the air on summer +evenings, watching the graceful course of the river, and the distant +landscape. In the morning she traversed these quays with holy zeal, in +order to go to church, and that she might not meet in this lone road any +thing to distract her attention. Her father, who liked her lofty +studies, and was intoxicated at his daughter's success, was still +desirous of initiating her in his own craft, and made her begin to +engrave. She learned to handle the <i>burin</i>, and succeeded in this as in +every thing else. As yet she did not derive any salary from it; but at +the fête of her grandfather and grandmother, she presented to them as +her offering, sometimes a head, which she had applied herself to execute +for this express purpose, sometimes a small brass plate, highly +polished, on which she had engraved emblems or flowers; and they in +return gave her ornaments or something for her toilette, for which she +confesses always to have been anxious.</p> + +<p>This taste, natural to her age and sex, did not, however, distract her +from the more humble domestic duties. She was not ashamed, after +appearing on Sundays at church, or walking out elegantly dressed, to put +on during the week a cotton gown, and go to market with her mother. She +used even to go out to shops in their neighbourhood to buy parsley or +salad, which had been forgotten. Although she felt herself somewhat +humiliated by these domestic cares, which brought her down from the +eminence of her Plutarch, and her visionary wanderings, she combined so +much grace, and so much natural dignity, that the fruit-woman used to +take pleasure in serving her before her other customers; and the first +comers took no offence at this preference. This young girl, this future +Héloïse of the eighteenth century, who read serious books, who expounded +the circles of the celestial globe, handled the pencil and <i>burin</i>, and +in whose soul-aspiring thoughts and impassioned feelings already found +space, was often called into the kitchen to prepare the vegetables for +dinner. This mixture of serious shades, elegant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> research, and domestic +occupations, ordered and sensibly mingled by her mother's sagacity, +seemed to prepare her already for the vicissitudes of fortune, and in +after days helped her to support them. It was Rousseau at Charmettes +piling up the woodstack of Madame de Warens with the hand which was to +write the <i>Contrat Social</i>, or Philopœmen chopping his wood.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>From the retirement of such secluded life, she sometimes perceived the +higher world which shone above her. The lights which displayed to her +this great world offended, more than they dazzled, her sight. The pride +of this aristocratic society, which saw without valuing her, weighed on +her sensitive mind—a society in which her position was not assigned to +her, seemed badly framed. It was less envy than justice that revolted in +her. Superior beings have their places marked out by nature, and every +thing that keeps them from occupying them, seems to them an usurpation. +They find society frequently the reverse of nature, and take their +revenge by despising it: from this arises the hatred of genius against +power. Genius dreams of an order of things, in which the ranks should be +marked out by nature and virtue; whilst in reality they are almost +always derived from birth—that blind allotment of fate. There are few +great minds which do not feel in their earliest progress the persecution +of fortune, and who do not begin by an internal revolt against society. +They are only quieted by their own discouragement. Some are resigned +from a more lofty feeling to the place which God assigns to them. To put +up with the world humbly is still more beautiful than to control it. +This is the very acme of virtue. Religion leads to it in a day; +philosophy only conducts to it by a lengthened life, misery, or death. +These are days when the most elevated place in the world is a scaffold.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>The young maiden once conducted by her grandmother to an aristocratic +house, of which her humble parents were <i>free</i>,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> was deeply hurt at the +tone of condescending superiority with which her grandmother and herself +were treated. "My pride took alarm," she writes, "my blood boiled more +than usual, and I blushed violently. I no longer inquired of myself why +this lady was seated on a sofa, and my grandmother on a low stool; but +my feelings led to such reflection, and I saw the end of the visit with +satisfaction as if a weight was taken off my mind."</p> + +<p>Another time she was taken to pass eight days at Versailles, in the +palace of that king and queen whose throne she was one day to sap. +Lodged in the attics with one of the female domestics of the Château, +she was a close observer of this royal luxury, which she believed was +paid for by the misery of the people, and that grandeur of things +founded on the servility of courtiers. The lavishly spread tables, the +walks, the play, presentations—all passed before her eyes in the pomp +and vanity of the world. These ceremonious details of power were +repugnant to her mind, which fed on philosophy, truth, liberty, and the +virtue of the olden time. The obscure names, the humble attire, of the +relatives who took her to see all this, only procured for her mere +passing looks and a few words, which meant more protection than favour. +The feeling that her youth, beauty, and merit, were unperceived by this +crowd, who only adored favour or etiquette, oppressed her mind. The +philosophy, natural pride, imagination, and fixedness of her soul were +all wounded during this sojourn. "I preferred," she says, "the statues +in the gardens to the personages of the palace." And her mother +inquiring if she were pleased with her visit—"Yes," was her reply, "if +it be soon ended; for else, in a few more days I shall so much detest +all the persons I see, that I should not know what to do with my +hatred." "What harm have they done you?" inquired her mother. "To make +me feel injustice, and look upon absurdity." As she contemplated these +splendours of the despotism of Louis XIV., which were drooping into +corruption, she thought of Athens, but forgot the death of Socrates, the +exile of Aristides, the condemnation of Phocion. "I did not then +foresee," she writes, in melancholy mood, as she pens these lines—"that +destiny reserved me to be the witness of crimes such as those of which +they were the victims, and to participate in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> the glory of their +martyrs, after having professed their principles."</p> + +<p>Thus, the imagination, character, and studies of this girl prepared her, +unknown to herself, for the republic. Her religion alone, then so +powerful over her, restrained her within the bounds of that resignation +which submits the thoughts to the will of God. But philosophy became her +creed, and this creed formed a portion of her politics. The emancipation +of the people united itself in her mind with the emancipation of ideas. +She believed, by overturning thrones, that she was working for man; and, +by overthrowing altars, that she was labouring for God. Such is the +confession which she herself made of her change.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>However, the young girl had already attracted many suitors for her hand. +Her father wished to marry her in the class to which he himself +belonged. He loved, esteemed commerce, because he considered it the +source of wealth. His daughter despised it because it was, in her eyes, +the source of avarice and the food of cupidity. Men in this condition of +life were repugnant to her. She desired in a husband ideas and feelings +sympathising with her own. Her ideal was a soul and not a fortune. +"Brought up from my infancy in connexion with the great men of all ages, +familiar with lofty ideas and illustrious examples—had I lived with +Plato, with all the philosophers, all the poets, all the politicians of +antiquity, merely to unite myself with a shopkeeper, who would neither +appreciate nor feel any thing as I did?"</p> + +<p>She who wrote these lines was at that moment demanded in marriage of her +parents by a rich butcher of the neighbourhood. She refused every offer. +"I will not descend from the world of my noble chimeras," she replied to +the incessant remonstrances of her father; "what I want is not a +position but a mind. I will die single rather than prostitute my own +mind in an union with a being with whom I have no sympathies."</p> + +<p>Deprived of her mother by an early death, alone in the house of a father +where disorder was the consequence of a second <i>amour</i>, melancholy +gained possession of her mind,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> though it did not overcome it. She +became more collected and reserved, in order to strengthen her feelings +against isolation and misfortune. The perusal of the <i>Héloïse</i> of +Rousseau, which was lent to her about that time, made on her heart the +same impression that Plutarch had made on her mind. Plutarch had shown +her liberty; Rousseau made her dream of happiness: the one fortified, +the other weakened her. She found the earnest desire of pouring forth +her feelings. Melancholy was her rigid muse. She began to write, in +order to console herself in the nurture of her own thoughts. Without any +intention of becoming an authoress, she acquired by these solitary +trials that eloquence with which she subsequently animated her friends.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>Thus gradually ripened this patient and resolute mind, working on +towards its destiny, when she believed she had found the man of the +olden time of whom she had so long dreamed. This man was Roland de la +Platière.</p> + +<p>He was introduced to her by one of her early friends, married at Amiens, +where Roland then carried on the functions of inspector of manufactures. +"You will receive this letter," wrote her friend, "by the hand of the +philosopher of whom I have spoken to you already, M. Roland, an +enlightened man, of antique manners; without reproach, except for his +passion for the ancients, his contempt of his age, and his too high +estimation of his own virtue. This portrait," she adds, "was just and +well depicted. I saw a man nearly fifty years of age, tall, careless in +his attitude, with that kind of awkwardness which a solitary life always +produces; but his manners were easy and winning, and without possessing +the elegance of the world, they united the politeness of the well-bred +man to the seriousness of the philosopher. He was very thin, with a +complexion much tanned; his brow, already covered by very little hair, +and very broad, did not detract from his regular but unattractive +features. He had, however, a pleasing smile, and his features an +animated play, which gave them a totally different appearance when he +was excited in speaking or listening. His voice was manly, his mode of +speech brief, like a man with shortened breath; his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> conversation, full +of matter, because his head was full of ideas, occupied the mind more +than it flattered the ear. His language was sometimes striking, but +harsh and inharmonious. This charm of the voice is a gift very rare, and +most powerful over the senses," she adds, "and does not merely depend on +the quality of the sound, but equally upon that delicate sensibility +which varies the expression by modifying the accent." This is enough to +assure us that Roland had not this charming gift.</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>Roland, born of an honest tradesman's family, which had held magisterial +offices and asserted claims to nobility, was the youngest of five +brothers, and intended for the church. To avoid this destiny, which +disgusted him, he fled from his father's roof at nineteen, and went to +Nantes. Procuring a situation with a ship-builder, he was about to +embark for India in trade, when an illness at the moment he was to +embark prevented him. One of his relations, a superintendent of a +factory, received him at Rouen, and gave him a situation in his office. +This house, animated by the spirit of Turgot, made experiments in the +details of its business with all the sciences, and by political economy +with the loftiest problems of governments. It was peopled by +philosophers, amongst whom Roland distinguished himself, and the +government sent him to Italy to watch the progress of commerce there.</p> + +<p>He left his young friend with reluctance, and forwarded to her regularly +scientific letters, intended as notes to the work which he proposed to +write on Italy—letters in which the sentiment that displayed itself +beneath science, more resembled the studies of a philosopher than the +conversations of a lover.</p> + +<p>On his return she saw in him a friend. His age, gravity, manners, +laborious habits, made her consider him as a sage who existed solely on +his reason. In the union they contemplated, and which less resembled +love, than the ancient associations of the days of Socrates and +Plato—the one sought a disciple rather than a wife, and the other +married a master rather than a husband. M. Roland returned to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> Amiens, +and thence wrote to the father to demand his daughter's hand, which was +bluntly denied to him. He feared in Roland, whose austerity displeased +him, a censor for himself, and a tyrant for his child. Informed of her +father's refusal, she grew indignant, and went to a convent destitute of +every thing. There she lived on the coarsest food, prepared by her own +hands. She plunged into deep study, and strengthened her heart against +adversity. <i>She revenged herself by deserving the happiness of a lot +which was not accorded to her</i>. In the evening she visited her friends; +in the day an hour's walk in a garden surrounded with high walls. That +feeling of strength which steels against fate—that melancholy which +softens the soul, and feeds it on its own sensibility,—helped her to +pass long winter months in her voluntary captivity.</p> + +<p>A feeling of internal bitterness, however, poisoned even this sacrifice. +She said to herself that this sensibility was not recompensed. She had +flattered herself that M. Roland, on learning of her resolution and +retreat, would hasten to take her from this convent and unite their +destinies. Time passed on. Roland came not, and scarcely wrote. At the +end of six months he arrived, and was again deeply enamoured on seeing +his beloved behind a grating. He resolved on offering her his hand, +which she accepted. However, so much calculation, hesitation, and +coldness had dissipated the little illusion which the young captive had +left, and reduced her feelings to deep esteem. She devoted rather than +gave herself. It appeared to her sublime to immolate herself for the +happiness of a worthy man; and she consummated this sacrifice with all +the seriousness of reason and without a grain of heartfelt enthusiasm. +Her marriage was to her an act of virtue, which she performed, not +because it was agreeable to her, but because she deemed it sublime.</p> + +<p>The pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau is seen again at this decisive moment +of her existence. The marriage of Madame Roland is a palpable imitation +of that of Héloïse with M. de Volmar. But the bitterness of reality was +not slow in developing itself beneath the heroism of her devotion. "By +dint," she herself says, "of occupying myself with the happiness of the +man with whom I was associated, I felt that something was wanting to my +own. I have not for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> moment ceased to see in my husband one of the +most estimable persons that exists, and to whom it was an honour to me +to belong; but I often felt that similarity was wanting between +us,—that the ascendency of a dominating temper, united to that of +twenty years more of age, made one of these superiorities too much. If +we lived in solitude, I had sometimes very painful hours to pass: if we +went into the world, I was liked by persons, some one of whom I was +fearful might affect me too closely. I plunged into my husband's +occupations, became his copying clerk, corrected his proofs, and +fulfilled the task with an unrepining humility, which contrasted +strongly with a spirit as free and tried as mine. But this humility +proceeded from my heart: I respected my husband so much, that I always +liked to suppose that he was superior to myself. I had such a dread of +seeing a shade over his countenance, he was so tenacious of his own +opinions, that it was a long time before I ventured to contradict him. +To this labour I joined that of my house; and observing that his +delicate health could not endure every kind of diet, I always prepared +his meals with my own hands. I remained with him four years at Amiens, +and became there a mother and nurse. We worked together at the +<i>Encyclopédie Nouvelle</i>, in which the articles relative to commerce had +been confided to him. We only quitted this occupation for our walks in +the vicinity of the town."</p> + +<p>Roland, dictatorial and exacting, had insisted from the beginning of +their marriage, that his wife should refrain from seeing her young and +attached friends whom she had loved in the convent, and who lived at +Amiens. He dreaded the least participation of affection. His prudence +outstepped the bounds of reason. To an union as solemn as marriage, the +pleasure of friendship was necessary. This tyranny of an exclusive +feeling was not compensated by love. Roland demanded every thing from +his wife's compliance. If there was no faltering in her conduct, still +she felt these sacrifices, and joyed over the accomplishment of her +duties as the stoic enjoys his sufferings.</p> + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>After some years passed at Amiens, Roland was promoted to the same +duties at Lyons, his native place. In winter he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> dwelt in the town, and +the rest of the year was passed in the country in his paternal home, +where his mother still lived, a respectable old woman, but meddlesome +and overbearing in her household. Madame Roland, in all the flower of +youth, beauty, and genius, thus found herself tormented and beset by a +domineering mother-in-law, a rough brother-in-law, and an exacting +husband. The most passionate love could scarcely have been proof against +so trying and painful a position. To soothe her she had the +consciousness of discharging her duties, her occupation, her philosophy, +and her child. It was sufficing, and eventually transformed this gloomy +retreat into the abode of harmony and peace. We love to follow her into +that solitude, when her mind was becoming tempered for her struggle, as +we go to seek at Charmettes the still fresh and sparkling source of the +life and genius of Jean Jacques Rousseau.</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>At the foot of the mountains of Beaujolais, in the large basin of the +Sâone, in face of the Alps, there is a series of small hills scattered +like the sea sands, which the patient vine-dresser has planted with +vines, and which form amongst themselves, at their base, oblique +valleys, narrow and sinuous ravines, interspersed with small verdant +meads. These meadows have each their thread of water, which filters down +from the mountains: willows, weeping birch, and poplars, show the course +and conceal the bed of the streams. The sides and tops of these hills +only bear above the lowly vines a few wild peach trees, which do not +shade the grapes and large walnut trees in the orchards near the houses. +On the declivity of one of these sandy protuberances was <i>La Platière</i>, +the paternal inheritance of M. Roland, a low farm-house, with regular +windows, covered with a roof of red tiles nearly flat; the eaves of this +roof project a little beyond the wall, in order to protect the windows +from the rain of winter and the summer's sun. The walls, straight and +wholly unornamented, were covered with a coating of white plaister, +which time had soiled and cracked. The vestibule was reached by +ascending five stone steps, surmounted by a rustic balustrade of rusty +iron. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> yard surrounded by outhouses, where the harvest was gathered +in, presses for the vintage, cellars for the wine, and a dove-cote, +abutted on the house. Behind was levelled a small kitchen-garden, whose +beds were bordered with box, pinks, and fruit trees, pruned close down +to the ground. An arbour was formed at the extremity of each walk. A +little further on was an orchard, where the trees inclining in a +thousand attitudes, cast a degree of shade over an acre of cropped +grass; then a large enclosure of low vines, cut in right lines by small +green sward paths. Such is this spot. The gaze is turned from the gloomy +and lowering horizon to the mountains of Beaujeu, spotted on their sides +by black pines, and severed by large inclined meadows, where the oxen of +Charolais fatten, and to the valley of the Sâone, that immense ocean of +verdure, here and there topped by high steeples. The belt of the higher +Alps, covered with snow and the apex of Mont Blanc, which overhangs the +whole, frame this extensive landscape. There is in this something of the +vastness of the infinite sea: and if on its bounded side it may inspire +recollection and resignation, in its open part it seems to solicit +thought to expand, and to convey the soul to far off hopes and to the +eminences of imagination.</p> + +<p>Such was, for five years, the bounded horizon of this young woman. It +was there that she plunged into the plenitude of that nature of which, +in her infancy, she had so frequently dreamed, and in which she had +perceived only some small bits of sky, and some confused perspectives of +royal forests, from the height of her window over the roofs of Paris. It +was there that her simple tastes and loving soul found nutriment and +scope for her sensibility.</p> + +<p>Her life was there divided between household cares, the improvement of +her mind, and active charity—that cultivator of the heart. Adored by +the peasants, whose protectress she was, she applied to the consolation +of their miseries the little to spare which a rigid economy left to her, +and to the cure of their maladies the knowledge she had acquired in +medicine. She was fetched from three and four leagues' distance to visit +a sick person. On Sunday the steps of her court-yard were covered with +invalids, who came to seek relief, or convalescents, who came to bring +her proofs of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> their gratitude; baskets of chestnuts, goats' milk +cheeses, or apples from their orchards. She was delighted at finding the +country people grateful and sensible of kindness. She had drawn her own +picture of the people residing in the vicinity of large cities. The +burning of châteaux, during the outbreak and massacres of September, +taught her subsequently that these seas of men, then so calm, have +tempests more terrible than those of the ocean, and that society +requires institutions, just as the waves require a bed, and strength is +as indispensable as justice to the government of a people.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>The hour of the Revolution of '89 had struck, and came upon her in the +bosom of this retreat. Intoxicated with philosophy, passionately devoted +to the ideal of humanity, an adorer of antique liberty, she became on +fire at the first spark of this focus of new ideas;—she believed with +all her faith, that this revolution, like a child born without a +mother's sufferings, must regenerate the human race, destroy the misery +of the working classes, for whom she felt the deepest sympathy, and +renew the face of the earth. Even the piety of great souls has its +imagination. The generous illusion of France at this epoch was equal to +the work which France had to accomplish. If she had not dared to hope so +much, she would have dared nothing: her faith was her strength.</p> + +<p>From this day, Madame Roland felt a fire kindled within her which was +never to be quenched but in her blood. All the love which lay slumbering +in her soul was converted into enthusiasm and devotion for the human +race. Her sensibility deceived—too ardent, unquestionably, for one +man—spread over a nation. She adored the Revolution like a lover. She +communicated this flame to her husband and to all her friends. All her +repressed feelings were poured forth in her opinions; she avenged +herself on her destiny, which refused her individual happiness, by +sacrificing herself for the happiness of others. Happy and beloved, she +would have been but a woman; unhappy and isolated, she became the leader +of a party.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>The opinions of M. and Madame Roland excited against them all the +commercial aristocracy of Lyons, an honest right-minded city, but one of +money, where all becomes a calculation, and where ideas have the weight +and immobility of interests. Ideas have an irresistible current, which +attract even the most stagnant populations; Lyons was led on and +overwhelmed by the opinions of the epoch. M. Roland was raised to the +municipality at the first election, and spoke out with all the +earnestness of his principles, and the energy inspired by his wife. +Feared by the timid, adored by the eager, his name, at first a byeword, +became a rallying point;—public favour recompensed him for the insults +of the rich. He was deputed to Paris by the municipal council, there to +defend the commercial interests of Lyons, in the committees of the +Constituent Assembly.</p> + +<p>The connection of Roland with philosophers and economists who formed the +practical party of philosophy, his necessary intercourse with +influential members of the Assembly, his literary tastes, and, above +all, the attraction and natural temptation which drew and retained +eminent men around a young, eloquent, and impassioned woman, soon made +the <i>salon</i> of Madame Roland an ardent, though not as yet noted, focus +of the Revolution. The names which were found there reveal, from the +first days, extreme opinions. For these opinions, the constitution of +1791 was only a halt.</p> + +<p>It was on the 20th February, 1791, that Madame Roland returned to that +Paris which she had quitted five years before, a young girl, unknown and +nameless, and whither she came as a flame to animate an entire party, +found a republic, reign for a moment, and—die! She had in her mind a +confused presentiment of this destiny. Genius and Will know their +strength,—they feel before others and prophesy their mission. Madame +Roland had beforehand seemed carried on by hers to the heart of action. +She hastened on the day after her arrival to the sittings of the +Assembly. She saw the powerful Mirabeau, the dazzling Cazalès, the +daring Maury, the crafty Lameth, the impassive Barnave. She remarked +with annoyance and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>tense hate, in the attitude and language of the +right side, that superiority conferred by the habit of command and +confidence in the respect of the million; on the left side, she saw +inferiority of manners, and the insolence that mingles with low +breeding. And thus did the antique aristocracy survive in blood, and +avenge itself, even after its defeat on the democracy, which envied, +whilst it beat it to the earth. Equality is written in the laws long +before it is established in races. Nature is an aristocrat, and it +requires a long use of independence to give to a republican people the +noble attitude and polished dignity of the citizen. Even in revolutions, +the <i>parvenu</i> of liberty is long seen in the vanquisher. Women's tact is +very sensitive to these nice shades. Madame Roland understood them, but, +so far from allowing herself to be seduced by this superiority of +aristocracy, she was but the more indignant, and felt her hatred +redoubled against a party which it was possible to overcome but +impossible to humble.</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>It was at this period that she and her husband united with some of the +most ardent amongst the apostles of popular ideas. It was not they who, +as yet, were foremost in the favour of the people, and the <i>éclat</i> of +talent,—it was they who appeared to it, to love the Revolution for the +Revolution itself, and to devote themselves, with sublime +disinterestedness, not to the success of their fortune, but to the +progress of humanity. Brissot was one of the first. M. and Madame Roland +had been, for a long time, in correspondence with him on matters of +public economy, and the more important problems of liberty. Their ideas +had fraternised and expanded together. They were united beforehand by +all the fibres of their revolutionary hearts, but, as yet, did not know +it. Brissot, whose adventurous life, and unwearied contentions were +allied to the youth of Mirabeau, had already acquired a name in +journalism and the clubs. Madame Roland awaited him with respect; she +was curious to judge if his features resembled the physiognomy of his +mind. She believed that nature revealed herself by all forms, and that +the understanding and virtue modelled the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> external senses of men just +as the statuary impresses on the clay the outward forms of his +conception. The first appearance undeceived, without discouraging her in +her admiration of Brissot. He wanted that dignity of aspect, and that +gravity of character which seem like a reflection of the dignity, life, +and seriousness of his doctrines. There was something in the man +political, which recalled the pamphleteer. His levity shocked her; even +his gaiety seemed to her a profanation of the grave ideas of which he +was the organ. The Revolution, which gave passion to his style, did not +throw any passion into his countenance. She did not find in him enough +hatred against the enemies of the people. The mobile mind of Brissot did +not appear to have sufficient consistency for a feeling of devotion. His +activity, directed upon all matters, gave him the appearance of a novice +in ideas rather than an apostle. They called him an intriguer.</p> + +<p>Brissot brought Pétion, his fellow-student and friend. Pétion, already +member of the Constituent Assembly, and whose harangues in two or three +cases had excited interest. Brissot was reputed to have inspired these +orations. Buzot and Robespierre, both members of the same Assembly, were +introduced there. Buzot, whose pensive beauty, intrepidity, and +eloquence were destined hereafter to agitate the heart and soften the +imagination of Madame Roland; and Robespierre, whose disquiet mind and +fanatic hatred cast him henceforward into all meetings where +conspiracies were formed in the name of the people. Some others, too, +came, whose names will subsequently appear in the annals of this period. +Brissot, Pétion, Buzot, Robespierre, agreed to meet four evenings in +each week in the <i>salon</i> of Madame Roland.</p> + + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>The motive of these meetings was to confer secretly as to the weakness +of the Constituent Assembly, on the plots laid by the aristocracy to +fetter the Revolution, and on the impulse necessary to impress on the +lukewarm opinions, in order to consolidate the triumph. They chose the +house of Madame Roland, because this house was situated in a quarter +equi-distant from the homes of all the members who were to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> assemble +there. As in the conspiracy of Harmodius, it was a woman who held the +torch to light the conspirators.</p> + +<p>Madame Roland thus found herself cast, from the first, in the midst of +the movement party. Her invisible hand touched the first threads of the +still entangled plot which was to disclose such great events. This part, +the only one that could be assigned to her sex, equally flattered her +woman's pride and passion for politics. She went through it with that +modesty which would have been in her a <i>chef d'œuvre</i> of skill if it +had not been a natural endowment. Seated out of the circle near a work +table, she worked or wrote letters, listening all the time with apparent +indifference to the discussions of her friends. Frequently tempted to +take a share in the conversation, she bit her lips in order to check her +desire. Her soul of energy and action was inspired with secret contempt +for the tedious and verbose debates which led to nothing. Action was +expended in words, and the hour passed away taking with it the +opportunity which never returns.</p> + +<p>The conquests of the National Assembly soon enervated the conquerors. +The leaders of this Assembly retreated from their own handiwork, and +covenanted with the aristocracy and the throne to grant the king the +revision of the constitution in a more monarchical spirit. The deputies +who met at Madame Roland's lost heart and dispersed, until, at length, +there only remained that small knot of unshaken men who attach +themselves to principles regardless of their success, and who are +attached to desperate causes with the more fervour in proportion as +fortune seems to forsake them. Of this number were Buzot, Pétion, and +Robespierre.</p> + + + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + +<p>History must have a sinister curiosity in ascertaining the first +impression made on Madame Roland, by the man who, warmed at her hearth, +and then conspiring with her, was one day to overthrow the power of his +friends, immolate them <i>en masse</i>, and send her to the scaffold. No +repulsive feeling seems, at this period, to have warned her that in +conspiring to advance Robespierre's fortune, she conspired for her own +death. If she have any vague fear, that fear is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> instantly cloaked by a +pity which is akin to contempt. Robespierre appeared to her an honest +man; she forgave him his evil tongue and affected utterance. +Robespierre, like all men with one idea, appeared overcome with <i>ennui</i>. +Still she had remarked that he was always deeply attentive at these +committees, that he never spoke freely, listened to all other opinions +before he delivered his own, and then never took the pains to explain +his motives. Like men of imperious temper, his conviction was to him +always a sufficing reason. The next day he entered the tribune, and +profiting, for his reputation's sake, by the confidential discussions to +which he had listened in the previous evening, he anticipated the hour +of action agreed upon with his allies, and thus divulged the plan +concerted. When blamed for this at Madame Roland's, he made but slight +excuse. This wilfulness was attributed to his youth, and the impatience +of his <i>amour-propre</i>. Madame Roland, persuaded that this young man was +passionately attached to liberty, took his reserve for timidity, and +these petty treasons for independence. The common cause was a cover for +all. Partiality transforms the most sinister tokens into favour or +indulgence. "He defends his principles," said she, "with warmth and +pertinacity—he has the courage to stand up singly in their defence at +the time when the number of the people's champions is vastly reduced. +The court hates him, therefore we should like him. I esteem Robespierre +for this, and show him that I do; and then too, though he is not very +attentive at the evening meetings, he comes occasionally and asks me to +give him a dinner. I was much struck with the affright with which he was +agitated on the day of the king's flight to Varennes. He said the same +evening at Pétion's that the Royal Family had not taken such a step +without preparing in Paris a Saint Bartholomew for the patriots, and +that he expected to die before he was twenty-four hours older. Pétion, +Buzot, Roland, on the contrary, said that this flight of the king's was +his abdication, that it was necessary to profit by it in order to +prepare men's minds for the republic. Robespierre, sneering and biting +his nails, as usual, asked what a republic was."</p> + +<p>It was on this day that the plan of a journal, called the <i>Republican</i>, +was arranged between Brissot, Condorcet, Du<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>mont of Geneva, and +Duchâtelet. We thus see that the idea of a republic was born in the +cradle of the Girondists before it emanated from Robespierre, and that +the 10th of August was no chance, but a plot.</p> + +<p>At the same epoch, Madame Roland had given way, in order to save +Robespierre's life, to one of those impulses which reveal a courageous +friendship, and leave their traces even in the memory of the ungrateful. +After the massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, accused of having conspired +with the originators of the petition of forfeiture, and threatened with +vengeance by the National Guard, Robespierre was obliged to conceal +himself. Madame Roland, accompanied by her husband, went at 11 o'clock +at night to his retreat in the Marais, to offer him a safer asylum in +their own house. He had already quitted his domicile. Madame Roland then +went to their common friend Buzot, and entreated him to go to the +Feuillants, where he still retained influence, and with all speed to +exculpate Robespierre before any act of accusation was issued against +him.</p> + +<p>Buzot hesitated for a moment, then replied,—"I will do all in my power +to save this unfortunate young man, although I am far from partaking the +opinion of many respecting him. He thinks too much of himself to love +liberty; but he serves it, and that is enough for me. I shall be there +to defend him." Thus, three of Robespierre's subsequent victims combined +that night, and unknown to him, for the safety of the man by whom they +were eventually to die. Destiny is a mystery whence spring the most +remarkable coincidences, and which tend no less to offer snares to men +through their virtues than their crimes. Death is everywhere: but, +whatever the fate may be, virtue alone never repents. Beneath the +dungeons of the Conciergerie Madame Roland remembered that night with +satisfaction. If Robespierre recalled it in his power, this memory must +have fallen colder on his heart than the axe of the headsman.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK IX.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>After the dispersion of the Constituent Assembly, the mission of M. and +Madame Roland having terminated, they quitted Paris. This woman, who had +just left the centre of faction and business, returned to La Platière to +resume the cares of her rustic household and the pruning of her vines. +But she had quaffed of the intoxicating cup of the Revolution. The +movement in which she had participated for a moment impelled her still, +though at a distance. She carried on a correspondence with Robespierre +and Buzot; political and formal with Robespierre, pathetic and tender +with Buzot. Her mind, her soul, her heart, all recalled it. Then took +place between herself and her husband a deliberation, apparently +impartial, in order to decide whether they should bury themselves in the +country, or should return to Paris. But the ambition of the one, and the +ardent desire of the other, had decided, unknown to, and before, either. +The most trifling pretext was sufficient for their impatience. In the +month of December they were again installed in Paris.</p> + +<p>It was the period when all their friends arrived. Pétion had just been +elected <i>maire</i>, and was creating a republic in the <i>commune</i>. +Robespierre, excluded from the Legislative Assembly by the law which +forbade the re-election of the members of the Constituent Assembly, +found a tribune in the Jacobins. Brissot assumed Buzot's place in the +new Assembly, and his reputation, as a public writer and statesman, +brought around him and his doctrines the young Girondists, who had +arrived from their department, with the ardour of their age, and the +impulse of a second revolutionary tide. They cast themselves, on their +arrival, into the places which Robespierre, Buzot, Laclos, Danton, and +Brissot had marked out for them.</p> + +<p>Roland, the friend of all these men, but in the back ground, and +concealed in their shadow, had one of those peculiar reputations, the +more potent over opinion, as it made but little display: it was spoken +of as though an antique virtue,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> beneath the simple appearance of a +rustic: he was the Siéyès of his party. Beneath his taciturnity his deep +thought was assured, and in his mystery the oracle was accredited. The +brilliancy and genius of his wife attracted all eyes towards him: his +very mediocrity, the only power that has the virtue of neutralising +envy, was of service to him. As no one feared him, every body thrust him +forward—Pétion as a cover for himself—Robespierre to undermine +him—Brissot to put his own villanous reputation under the shelter of +proverbial probity—Buzot, Vergniaud, Louvet, Gensonné, and the +Girondists, from respect for his science, and the attraction towards +Madame Roland; even the Court, from confidence in his honesty and +contempt for his influence. This man advanced to power without any +effort on his own part, borne onwards by the favour of a party, by the +<i>prestige</i> which the unknown has over opinion, by the disdain of his +opponents and the genius of his wife.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The king had for some time hoped that the wrath of the Revolution would +be softened down by its triumph. Those violent acts, those stormy +oscillations between insolence and repentance, which had marked the +inauguration of the Assembly, had painfully undeceived him. His +astonished ministry already trembled before so much audacity, and in the +council avowed their incompetency. The king was desirous of retaining +men who had given him such proofs of devotion to his person. Some of +them, confidants or accomplices, served the king and queen, either by +keeping up communications with the emigrants or by their intrigues in +the interior.</p> + +<p>M. de Montmorin, an able man, but unequal to the difficulties of the +crisis, had retired. The two principal men of the ministry were M. de +Lessart for Foreign Affairs; M. Bertrand de Molleville in the Marine +Department. M. de Lessart, placed by his position between the armed +emigrants, the impatient Assembly, undecided Europe, and the inculpated +king, could not fail to fall under his own good intentions. His plan was +to avoid war in his own country by temporising and negotiations—to +suspend the hostile demon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>stration of foreign power: to present to the +intimidated Assembly the king, as sole arbiter and negotiator of peace +between his people and the foreigner; and he trusted thus to adjourn the +final collisions between the Assembly and the throne, and to +re-establish the regular authority of the king by preserving peace. The +personal arrangements of the emperor Leopold aided him in his plans; he +had only to contend against the fatality which urges men and things to +their <i>dénouement</i>. The Girondists, and Brissot especially, overwhelmed +him with accusations, inasmuch as he was the man who could most retard +their triumph. By sacrificing him they could sacrifice a whole system: +their press and their harangues pointed him out to the fury of the +people;—the partisans of war marked him down as their victim. He was no +traitor—but with them to negotiate was to betray. The king, who knew he +was irreproachable and confided all his plans to him, refused to +sacrifice him to his enemies, and thus accumulated resentments against +the minister. As to M. de Molleville, he was a secret enemy of the +constitution. He advised the king to play the hypocrite, acting in the +letter, and thus to destroy the spirit, of the law,—advancing by +subterranean ways to a violent catastrophe,—when, according to him the +monarchical cause must come out victorious. Confiding in the power of +intrigue more than in the influence of opinion, seeking everywhere +traitors to the popular cause, paying spies, bargaining for consciences, +believing in no one's incorruptibility, keeping up secret intelligence +with the most violent demagogues, paying in hard money for the most +incendiary propositions under the idea of making the Revolution +unpopular from its very excesses, and filling the tribunes of the +Assembly with his agents in order to choke down with their hootings, or +render effective by their applause, the discourses of certain orators, +and thus to feign in the tribunes a false people and a false opinion; +men of small means in great matters presuming that it is possible to +deceive a nation as if it were an individual. The king, to whom he was +devoted, liked him as the depositary of his troubles, the confidant of +his relations with foreign powers, and the skilful mediator of his +negotiation with all parties. M. de Molleville thus kept himself in +well-managed balance between his favour with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> the king, and his +intrigues with the revolutionary party He spoke the language of the +constitution well—he had the secret of many consciences bought and paid +for.</p> + +<p>It was between these two men that the king, in order to comply with +popular opinion, called M. de Narbonne to the ministry of war. Madame de +Stäel and the constitutional party sought the aid of the Girondists. +Condorcet, was the mediator between the two parties. Madame de +Condorcet, an exceedingly lovely woman, united with Madame de Stäel in +enthusiasm for the young minister. The one lent him the brilliancy of +her genius, the other the influence of her beauty. These two females +appeared to fuse their feelings in one common devotion for the man +honoured by their preference. Rivalry was sacrificed at the shrine of +ambition.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>The point of union of the Girondist party with the constitutional party, +in that combination of which M. de Narbonne's elevation was the +guarantee, was the thirst of both parties for war. The constitutional +party desired it, in order to divert internal anarchy, and dispel those +fermentations of agitation which threatened the throne. The Girondist +party desired it in order to push men's minds to extremities. It hoped +that the dangers of the country would give it strength enough to shake +the throne and produce the republican regime.</p> + +<p>It was under these auspices that M. de Narbonne took office. He also was +desirous of war; not to overthrow the throne in whose shadow he was +born, but to dazzle and shake the nation, to hazard fortune by desperate +casts, and to replace at the head of the people under the arms of the +high military aristocracy of the country, La Fayette, Biron, Rochambeau, +the Lameths, Dillon, Custines, and himself. If victory favoured the +French flag, the victorious army, under constituent chiefs, would +control the Jacobins, strengthen the reformed monarchy, and maintain the +establishment of the two chambers; if France was destined to reverses, +unquestionably the throne and aristocracy must fall, but better to fall +nobly in a national contest of France against her enemies, than to +tremble perpetually and to perish at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> last in a riot by the pikes of the +Jacobins. This was the adventurous and chivalrous policy which pleased +the young men by its heroism, and the women by its <i>prestige</i>. It +betokened the high courage of France. M. de Narbonne personified it in +the council. His colleagues, MM. de Lessart and Bertrand de Molleville, +saw in him the total overthrow of all their plans. The king, as usual, +was all indecision; one step forward and one backwards; surprised by the +event in his hesitation, and thus unable to resist a shock, or himself +to give any impulse.</p> + +<p>Beside these official councillors, certain constituents not in the +Assembly, especially the Lameths, Duport, and Barnave, were consulted by +the king. Barnave had remained in Paris some months after the +dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. He redeemed by sincere devotion +to the monarchy the blows he had previously dealt upon it. He had +measured with an eye of judgment, the rapid declivity down which the +love of popular favour had impelled him. Like Mirabeau, he wished to +pause when it was too late. Henceforth, remaining on the brink of +events, he was besieged with terror and remorse. If his intrepid heart +did not tremble for himself, the sympathy he experienced for the queen +and royal family urged him to give the king advice which had but one +fault,—it was impossible now to follow it.</p> + +<p>These consultations, held at Adrien Duport's, the friend of Barnave and +the oracle of the party, only served to embarrass the mind of the king +with another element of hesitation. La Fayette and his friends also +added their imperious counsel. La Fayette could not believe that he was +supplanted. The national guard, which yet remained attached to him, +still credited his omnipotence,—all these men and all these parties +lent M. de Narbonne secret support. A courtier in the eyes of the court, +an aristocrat in the eyes of the nobility, a soldier in the eyes of the +army, one of the people in the eyes of the people, irresistible in the +eyes of the women, he was the minister of public hope. The Girondists +alone had an <i>arrière-pensée</i> in their apparent favour towards him. They +elevated him to make his fall the more conspicuous: M. de Narbonne was +to them but the hand which prepared the way for their advent.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p> + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Scarcely had he taken his place in the cabinet, than this young minister +displayed all the activity, frankness, and grace of his character in the +discussion of affairs, and his intercourse with the Assembly. He +employed the system of confidence, and surprised the Assembly by his +<i>abandon</i>, and these austere and suspicious men, who had hitherto seen +nothing but deceit in the language of ministers, now yielded to the +charm of his speeches. He addressed them, not in the official and cold +language of diplomacy, but in the open and cordial tone of a patriot. He +brought the dignity of his office to the tribune; he generously assumed +all responsibility, and he professed the most cherished principles of +the people with a sincerity that precluded the possibility of suspicion. +He openly disclosed his projects, and the energy of his mind +communicated itself to those men who were the most difficult to be won +over. The nation too saw with delight an <i>aristocrate</i> so well adapt +himself to their costume, their principles, and their passions. The +ardour of his patriotism did not suffer the impulse, that confounded in +him the king and the people, to slacken; and in the course of his short +administration he did wonders of activity. He visited and put in a state +of defence all the fortified places; raised an army, harangued the +troops; arrested the emigration of the nobility, in the name of the +common danger; nominated the generals, and summoned La Fayette, +Rochambeau, and Luckner. A patriotic sentiment, of which he was the +soul, pervaded France; by rendering the throne the centre of the +national defence, he rendered the king again popular for a short time, +and in the enthusiasm felt for their country, all parties became +reconciled. His eloquence was rapid, brilliant, and sonorous as the +clash and din of arms. This expansion of his heart was a part of his +character; he bared his breast to the eyes of his adversaries, and by +this confidence won them to his side.</p> + +<p>The first day of his appointment to office, instead of announcing his +nomination by a letter to the president, as was customary with the other +ministers, he proceeded to the Assembly, and mounted the tribune. "I +come to offer you," said he, "the profoundest respect for the authority +with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span> which the people have invested you; from attachment for the +constitution, to which I have sworn; a courageous love for liberty and +equality—yes, for equality, which has no longer any opponents, but +which should nevertheless possess no less energetic supporters." Two +days afterwards he gained the entire confidence of the Assembly, when +speaking of the responsibility of the ministers. "I accept," cried he, +"the definition of the situation of ministers just made, that tells us +responsibility is death. Spare no threats, no dangers. Load us with +personal fetters, but afford us the means of aiding the constitution to +progress. For my own part, I embrace this opportunity of entreating the +members of this Assembly to inform me of every thing which they deem +useful to the welfare of the nation, during my administration. Our +interests, our enemies are the same; and it is not the letter of the +constitution only that we should seek to enforce, but the spirit; we +must not seek merely to acquit ourselves, but to succeed. You will see +that the minister is convinced that there is no hope for liberty unless +it proceed through you and from you: cease then for awhile to mistrust +us, condemn us afterwards if we have merited it; but first give us with +confidence the means of serving you."</p> + +<p>Such words as these touched even the most prejudiced, and it was +unanimously voted that the speech should be printed, and sent to all the +departments. In order to cement the reconciliation of the king and the +nation, M. de Narbonne went to the committees of the Assembly, +communicated to them his plans, discussed his measures, and won over all +to his resolutions. This government in common was the spirit of the +constitution; the other ministers saw in this the abasement of the +executive power and an abdication of royalty, whilst M. de Narbonne saw +in it the sole means of winning back public feeling to the king. Opinion +had dethroned the royalty; it was to opinion that he looked to +strengthen it, and therefore he made himself the minister of public +opinion.</p> + +<p>At the moment when the emperor sent to the king a communication +threatening the frontiers, and the king personally informed the Assembly +of the energetic measures he had adopted, M. de Narbonne, re-entering +the Assembly after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> the king's departure, mounted the tribune. "I am on +the eve of quitting Paris," said he, "in order to visit our frontiers; +not that I believe the mistrust felt by the soldiers for their officers +has any foundation, but because I hope to dissipate them by addressing +all in the name of their king and their country. I will say to the +officers, that ancient prejudices and an affection for their king +carried to an excess for a time, may have excused their conduct, but +that the word treason is unknown amongst nations of honourable men. To +the soldiers, your officers who remain at the head of the army are bound +by their oath and their honour to the Revolution. The safety of the +state depends on the discipline of the army. I confide my post to the +minister of foreign affairs, and such is my confidence, such should be +the confidence of the nation in his patriotism, that I take on myself +the responsibility of all the orders that he may give in my name." M. de +Narbonne displayed on this occasion as much skill as magnanimity; he +felt that he had sufficient credit with the nation to cover the +unpopularity of his colleague, M. de Lessart, already denounced by the +Girondists, and thus placed himself between them and their victim. The +Assembly was carried away by his enthusiasm; he obtained 20,000,000 of +francs for the preparations for war, and the grade of marshal of France +for the aged Luckner. The press and the clubs themselves applauded him, +for the general eagerness for war swept away all before it, even the +resentments of faction.</p> + +<p>One man alone of the Jacobins resisted the influence of this enthusiasm: +this man was Robespierre. Up to this time Robespierre had been merely a +discusser of ideas, a subaltern agitator, indefatigable and intrepid, +but eclipsed by other and greater names. From this day he became a +statesman; he felt his own mental strength; he based this strength on a +principle, and alone and unaided ventured to cope with the truth. He +devoted himself without regarding even the number of his adversaries, +and by exercising he doubled his force.</p> + +<p>All the cabinets of the princes threatened by the Revolution still +debated the question of peace or war. It was discussed alike in the +councils of Louis XVI., in the meetings of parties in the Assembly, at +the Jacobins, and in the public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> journals. The moment was decisive, for +it was evident that the negotiation between the emperor Leopold and +France on the subject of the reception of emigrants in the states +dependent on the empire was fast drawing to a close, and that before +long the emperor would have given satisfaction to France by dispersing +these bodies of emigrés, or that France would declare war against him, +and by this declaration draw on herself the hostilities of all her +enemies at the same time. France thus would defy them all.</p> + +<p>We have already seen that the Statesmen, and Revolutionists, +Constitutionalists, and Girondists, Aristocrats, and Jacobins, were all +in favour of war. War was, in the eyes of all, an appeal to destiny, and +the impatient spirit of France wished that it would pronounce at once, +either by victory or defeat. Victory seemed to France the sole issue by +which she could extricate herself from her difficulties at home, and +even defeat did not terrify her. She believed in the necessity of war, +and defied even death. Robespierre thought otherwise, and it is for that +reason that he was Robespierre.</p> + +<p>He clearly comprehended two things; the first, that war was a gratuitous +crime against the people; the second, that a war, even though +successful, would ruin the cause of democracy. Robespierre looked on the +Revolution as the rigorous application of the principles of philosophy +to society. A passionate and devoted pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the +<i>Contrat Social</i> was his gospel; war, made with the blood of the people, +was in the eyes of this philosopher—what it must ever be in the eyes of +the wise—wholesale slaughter to gratify the ambition of a few, glorious +only when it is defensive. Robespierre did not consider France placed in +such a position as to render it absolutely necessary for her safety that +the human vein should be opened, whence would flow such torrents of +blood. Embued with a firm conviction of the omnipotence of the new ideas +on which he nourished faith and fanaticism within a heart closed against +intrigue, he did not fear that a few fugitive princes, destitute of +credit, and some thousand aristocratic emigrés, would impose laws or +conditions on a nation whose first struggle for liberty had shaken the +throne, the nobility, and the clergy. Neither did he think that the +disunited and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> wavering powers of Europe would venture to declare war +against a nation that proclaimed peace so long as we did not attack +them. But should the European cabinets be sufficiently mad to attempt +this new crusade against human reason, then Robespierre fully believed +they would be defeated, for he knew that there lies invincible force in, +the justice of a cause—that right doubles the energy of a nation, that +despair often supplies the want of weapons, and that God and men were +for the people.</p> + +<p>He thought, moreover, that if it was the duty of France to propagate the +advantages and the light of reason and liberty, the natural and peaceful +extension of the French Revolution in the world would prove far more +infallible than our arms,—that the Revolution should be a doctrine and +not an universal monarchy realised by the sword, and that the patriotism +of nations should not coalesce against his dogmata. Their strength was +in their minds, for in his eyes the power of the Revolution lay in its +enlightenment. But he understood more: he understood that an offensive +war would inevitably ruin the Revolution, and annihilate that premature +republic of which the Girondists had already spoken to him, but which he +himself could not as yet define. Should the war be unfortunate, thought +he, Europe will crush without difficulty beneath the tread of its armies +the earliest germs of this new government, to the truth of which perhaps +a few martyrs might testify, but which would find no soil from whence to +spring anew. If fortunate, military feeling, the invariable companion of +aristocratic feeling, honour, that religion that binds the soldier to +the throne; discipline, that despotism of glory, would usurp the place +of those stern virtues to which the exercise of the constitution would +have accustomed the people,—then they would forgive every thing, even +despotism, in those who had saved them. The gratitude of a nation to +those who have led its children to victory is a pitfall in which the +people will ever be ensnared,—nay, they even offer their necks to the +yoke; civil virtues must ever fade before the brilliancy of military +exploits. Either the army would return to surround the ancient royalty +with all its strength, and France would have her Monk, or the army would +crown the most successful of its generals, and liberty would have her +Cromwell. In either case the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> Revolution escaped from the people, and +lay at the mercy of the soldiery, and thus to save it from war was to +save it from a snare. These reflections decided him; as yet he meditated +no violence; he but saw into the future, and read it aright. This was +the original cause of his rupture with the Girondists; their justice was +but policy, and war appeared to them politic. Just or unjust, they +wished for it as a means of destruction to the throne, of aggrandisement +for themselves. Posterity must decide, if in this great quarrel the +first blame lies on the side of the democrat, or the ambitious +Girondists. This fierce contest, destined to terminate in the death of +both parties, began on the 12th of December at a meeting of the Jacobin +Club.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>"I have meditated during six months, and even from the first day of the +Revolution," said Brissot, the leader of the Gironde, "to what party I +should give my support. It is by the force of reason, and by considering +facts, that I have come to the conviction that a people, who, after ten +centuries of slavery, have re-conquered liberty, have need of war. War +is necessary to consolidate liberty, and to purge the constitution from +all taint of despotism. War is necessary to drive from amongst us those +men whose example might corrupt us. You have the power of chastising the +rebels, and intimidating the world; have the courage to do so. The +emigrés persist in their rebellion, the sovereigns persist in supporting +them. Can we hesitate to attack them? Our honour, our public credit, the +necessity of strengthening our revolution, all make it imperative on us. +France would be dishonoured, did she tamely suffer the insolence and +revolt of a few factions, and outrages that a despot would not bear for +a fortnight. How shall we be looked upon? No! we must avenge ourselves, +or become the opprobrium of all the other nations. We must avenge +ourselves by destroying these herds of <i>brigands</i>, or consent to behold +faction, conspiracy, and rebellion perpetuated, and the insolence of the +aristocrats greater than ever. They rely on the army at Coblentz,—in +that they put their trust. If you would at one blow destroy the +aristocracy, destroy Coblentz, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> chief of the nation will be +compelled to reign, according to the Constitution, with us and through +us."</p> + +<p>These words, pronounced by the statesman of the Gironde, awakened an +echo in the breast of every man, from the Jacobin Club to the extremity +of the country. The vehement applause of the tribunes was merely the +expression of that impatience to know the final decision that pervaded +all parties. Robespierre needed iron nerve and determination to confront +his friends, his enemies, and public opinion; and yet he sustained this +struggle of a single idea against all this passion for weeks. Great +convictions are indefatigable; and Robespierre, by his own unaided +exertions, balanced all France during a month. His very enemies spoke +with respect of his firmness, and those who had not the courage to +follow him, yet would have been ashamed not to esteem him. His +eloquence, which had been dry, verbose, and dialectic, now became more +elegant and more imposing. The public journals printed his speeches. +"You, O people, who do not possess the means of procuring the speeches +of Robespierre, I promise them to you," said the <i>Orateur du Peuple</i>, +the Jacobin paper. "Preserve carefully the numbers that contain these +speeches; they are masterpieces of eloquence, that should be preserved +in every family, in order to teach future generations that Robespierre +existed for the public good and the preservation of liberty."</p> + +<p>After having exhausted every argument that philosophy, policy, and +patriotism could suggest against an offensive war, commenced by the +Gironde, and secretly fomented by the ministers, and carried on by the +generals most suspected by the people, he mounted the tribune for the +last time, against Brissot, on the night of the 13th January, and +declared his conviction against war, in a speech as admirable as it was +pathetic.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>"Yes, I am vanquished; I yield to you," cried he, in a broken voice, "I +also demand war. What do I say?—I demand a war, more terrible, more +implacable than you demand. I do not demand it as an act of prudence, an +act of reason, an act of policy, but as the resource of despair.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> I +demand it on one condition, which doubtless you have anticipated,—for I +do not think that the advocates of war have sought to deceive us. I +demand it deadly—I demand it heroic—I demand it such as the genius of +Liberty would declare against all despotism—such as the people of the +Revolution, under their own leaders, would render it;—not such as +intriguing cowards would have it, or as the ambitious and traitorous +ministers and generals would carry it on.</p> + +<p>"Frenchmen, heroes of the 14th of July, who, without guide or leader, +yet acquired your liberty, come forth, and let us form that army which +you tell us is destined to conquer the universe. But where is the +general, who, imperturbable defender of the rights of the people, and +born with a hatred to tyrants, has never breathed the poisonous air of +the courts, and whose virtue is attested by the hatred and disgrace of +the court; this general, whose hands, guiltless of our blood, are worthy +to bear before us the banner of freedom; where is he, this new Cato, +this third Brutus, this unknown hero? let him appear and disclose +himself, he shall be our leader. But where is he? Where are these +soldiers of the 14th of July, who laid down, in the presence of the +people, the arms furnished them by despotism. Soldiers of Châteauvieux, +where are you? Come and direct our efforts. Alas! it is easier to rob +death of its prey, than despotism of its victims. Citizens! Conquerors +of the Bastille, come! Liberty summons you, and assigns you the honour +of the first rank! They are mute. Misery, ingratitude, and the hatred of +the aristocracy, have dispersed them. And you, citizens, immolated at +the Champ-de-Mars, in the very act of a patriotic confederation, you +will not be with us. Ah, what crime had these females, these massacred +babes, committed? Good God! how many victims, and all amongst the +people—all amongst the patriots, whilst the powerful conspirators live +and triumph. Rally round us, at least you national guards, who have +especially devoted yourselves to the defence of our frontiers in this +war with which a perfidious court threatens us. Come—but how?—you are +not yet armed. During two whole years you have demanded arms, and yet +have them not. What do I say? You have been refused even uniforms, and +condemned to wander from department to department, objects of contempt +to the minister, and of derision to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> patricians, who receive you +only to enjoy the spectacle of your distress. No matter; come, we will +combat naked like the American savages.</p> + +<p>"But shall we await the orders of the war office to destroy thrones? +Shall we await the signal of the court? Shall we be commanded by these +patricians, these eternal favourites of despotism, in this war against +aristocrats and kings? No—let us march forward alone; let us be our own +leaders. But see, the orators of war stop me! Here is Monsieur Brissot, +who tells me that Monsieur le Comte de Narbonne must conduct this +affair; that we must march under the orders of Monsieur le Marquis de La +Fayette; that the executive power alone possesses the right of leading +the nation to victory and freedom. Ah, citizens, this word has dispelled +all the charm! Adieu, victory and the independence of the people; if the +sceptres of Europe ever be broken, it will not be by such hands. Spain +will continue for some time the degraded slave of superstition and +royalism. Leopold will continue the tyrant of Germany and Italy, and we +shall not speedily behold Catos or Ciceros replace the pope and the +cardinals in the conclave. I declare openly, that war, as I understand +the term—war, such as I have proposed, is impracticable. And if it be +the war of the court, of the ministers, of the patricians who affect +patriotism, that we must accept—oh, then, far from believing in the +freedom of the world, I despair of your liberty. The wisest course left +us is to defend it against the perfidy of those enemies at home who lull +you with these heroic illusions.</p> + +<p>"I continue calmly and sorrowfully. I have proved that liberty possesses +no more deadly foe than war; I have proved that war, advised by men +already objects of suspicion, was, in the hands of the executive power, +nought save a means of annihilating the constitution, only the end of a +plot against the Revolution. Thus to favour these plans of war, under +what pretext soever, is to associate ourselves with these treasonable +plots against the Revolution. All the patriotism in the world, all the +pretended political commonplaces, cannot change the nature of things. To +inculcate, like M. Brissot and his friends, confidence in the executive +power, and to call down public favour on the generals, is to disarm the +Revolution of its last hope—the vigilance and energy of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> nation. In +the horrible position in which despotism, intrigue, treason, and the +general blindness have placed us, I consult alone my head and my heart. +I respect nothing, save my country; I obey nought, save truth. I know +that some patriots blame the frankness with which I present this +discouraging future of our situation. I do not conceal my fault from +myself. Is not the truth already sufficiently guilty because it is the +truth? Ah! so that our slumbers be light, what matter, though we be +awakened by the clash of chains?—and in the quietude of slavery let us +no longer disturb the repose of these fortunate patriots. No, but let +them know that we can measure with a firm eye and steady heart the depth +of the abyss. Let us adopt the device of the palatine of Posnania—'<i>I +prefer the storms of liberty to the serenity of slavery</i>.'</p> + +<p>"If the moment of emancipation be not yet arrived, at least we should +have the patience to await it. If this generation was but destined to +struggle in the quicksand of vice, into which despotism had plunged it; +if the theatre of our revolution was destined but to present to the eyes +of the universe a struggle between perfidy and weakness, egotism and +ambition;—the rising generation would commence the task of purifying +this earth, so sullied by vice. It would bring, not the peace of +despotism or the sterile agitations of intrigue, but fire and sword to +lay low the thrones and exterminate the oppressors. O more fortunate +posterity, thou art not stranger to us! It is for thee that we brave the +storms and the intrigues of tyranny. Often discouraged by the obstacles +that environ us, we feel the necessity of struggling for thee. Thou +shalt complete our work. Retain on thy memory the names of the martyrs +of liberty." The sentiments of Rousseau were to be traced in these +words.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Louvet, one of the friends of Brissot, felt their power, and mounted the +tribune in order to move the man who alone arrested the progress of the +Gironde. "Robespierre," said he, apostrophising him directly; +"Robespierre—you alone keep the public mind in suspense—doubtless this +excess of glory was reserved for you. Your speeches belong to +poste<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>rity, and posterity will come to judge between you and me. But you +Will mar a great responsibility by persisting in your opinions; you are +accountable to your contemporaries, and even to future generations—yes, +posterity will judge between us, unworthy as I may be of it. It will +say, a man appeared in the Constituent Assembly—inaccessible to all +passions, one of the most faithful defenders of the people—it was +impossible not to esteem and cherish his virtues—not to admire his +courage—he was adored by the people, whom he had constantly served, and +he was worthy of it. A precipice opens. Fatigued by too much labour, +this man imagined he saw peril where there was none, and did not see it +where it really was. A man of no note was present, entirely occupied +with the present moment, aided by other citizens, he perceived the +danger, and could not remain silent. He went to Robespierre, and sought +to make him touch it with his finger. Robespierre turned away his eyes, +and withdrew his hand, the stranger persisted, and saved his country."</p> + +<p>Robespierre smiled with disdain and incredulity at these words. The +suppliant gestures of Louvet, and the adjurations of the tribunes +found-him the next morning firm and unmoved. Brissot resumed the debate +on war;—"I implore Monsieur Robespierre," said he, in conclusion, "to +terminate so unworthy a struggle, which profits alone the enemies of the +public welfare." "My surprise was extreme," cried Robespierre, "at +seeing this morning, in the journal edited by M. Brissot, the most +pompous eulogium on M. de La Fayette." "I declare," replied Brissot, +"that I am utterly ignorant of the insertion of this letter in '<i>Le +Patriots Français</i>.'" "So much the better," returned Robespierre. "I am +delighted to find that M. Brissot is not a party to any such apologies." +Their words became as bitter as their hearts, and hate became more +perceptible at every reply. The aged Dusaulx interfered, made a touching +appeal to the patriots, and entreated them to embrace. They complied. "I +have now fulfilled a duty of fraternity, and satisfied my heart," cried +Robespierre. "I have yet a more sacred debt to pay my country. All +personal regard must give place to the sacred interests of liberty and +humanity. I can easily reconcile them here with the regard and respect I +have pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>mised to those who serve them; I have embraced M. Brissot, but +I persist in opposing him: let our peace repose only on the basis of +patriotism and virtue." Robespierre, by his very isolation, proved his +force, and obtained fresh influence over the minds of the waverers. The +papers began to side with him. Marat heaped invectives on Brissot; +Camille Desmoulins, in his pamphlets, exposed the shameful association +of Brissot, in London, with Morande, the dishonoured libellist. Danton +himself, the orator of success, fearing to be deceived by fortune, +hesitated between the Girondists and Robespierre. He remained silent for +a long time, and then made a speech full of high-sounding words, beneath +which was visible the hesitation of his convictions, and the +embarrassment of his mind.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK X.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Whilst this was passing at the Jacobins, and the journals—those echoes +of the clubs—excited in the people the same anxiety and the same +hesitation, the underhand diplomacy of the cabinet of the Tuileries, and +the emperor Leopold, who sought in vain to postpone the termination, +were about to behold all their schemes thwarted by the impatience of the +Gironde and the death of Leopold. This philosophic prince was destined +to bear away with him all desire of reconciliation and every hope of +peace, for he alone restrained Germany. M. de Narbonne, thwarted by +public demonstrations the secret negotiations of his colleague M. de +Lessart, who strove to temporise, and to refer all the differences of +France and Europe to a congress.</p> + +<p>The diplomatic committee of the Assembly, urged by Narbonne, and +composed of Girondists, proposed decisive resolutions. This committee, +established by the Assembly, and influenced by the ideas of Mirabeau, +called the ministers to account for every thing that occurred: out of +the kingdom diplomacy was thus unmasked—the negotiations broken +off—all combination rendered impossible, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> the cabinets of Europe +were continually cited before the tribune of Paris. The Girondists, the +actual leaders of this committee, possessed neither the skill nor the +prudence necessary to handle without breaking the fine threads of +diplomacy. A speech was in their eyes far more meritorious than a +negotiation; and they cared not that their words should re-echo in +foreign cabinets, provided they sounded well in the chamber or the +tribune. Moreover, they were desirous of war, and looked on themselves +as statesmen, because at one stroke they had disturbed the peace of +Europe. Ignorant of politics, they yet deemed themselves masters of it, +because they were unscrupulous; and because they affected the +indifference of Machiavel, they deemed they possessed his depth.</p> + +<p>The emperor Leopold, by a proclamation, on the 21st of December, +furnished the Assembly with a pretext for an outbreak. "The sovereigns +united," said the emperor, "for the maintenance of public tranquillity +and the honour and safety of the crowns." These words excited the minds +of all to know what could be their meaning; they asked each other how +the emperor, the brother-in-law, and ally of Louis XVI., could speak to +him for the first time of the sovereigns acting in concert? and against +what, if not against the Revolution? And how could the ministers and +ambassadors of the Revolution have been ignorant of its existence? Why +had they concealed from the nation their knowledge, if they had known +it? There was, then, a double diplomacy, each striving to outwit the +other. The Austrian Alliance was, then, no dream of faction; there was +either incompetence or treason in official diplomacy, perhaps both. A +projected congress was spoken of—could it have any other object than +that of imposing modifications on the constitution of France?—And all +felt indignant at the idea of ceding even one tittle of the constitution +to the demand of monarchical Europe.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>It was whilst the public mind was thus agitated that the diplomatic +committee presented, through the Girondist Gensonné, its report on the +existing state of affairs with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> emperor. Gensonné, an advocate of +Bordeaux, elected to the Legislative Assembly on the same day as Guadet +and Vergniaud, his friends and countrymen, composed, with these +deputies, that triumvirate of talent, opinion, and eloquence, afterwards +termed the Gironde. An obstinate and dialectic style of oratory, bitter +and keen irony, were the characteristics of the talents of the Gironde; +it did not carry away by its eloquence, it constrained; and its +revolutionary passions were strong, yet under the control of reason.</p> + +<p>Before entering the Assembly, he had been sent as a commissioner with +Dumouriez, afterwards so celebrated, to study the state of the popular +feeling in the department of the west, and to propose measures likely to +tend to the pacification of these countries, then distracted by +religious differences. His clear and enlightened report had been in +favour of tolerance and liberty—those two topics of all consciences. He +was then, in common with the other Girondists, resolved to carry out the +Revolution to its extreme and definite form—a republic, without, +however, too soon destroying the constitutional throne, provided the +constitution was in the hands of his party.</p> + +<p>The intimate friend of the minister Narbonne, his calumniators accused +him of having sold himself to him. Nothing, however, bears out this +suspicion; for if the soul of the Girondists was not free from ambition +and intrigue, their hands at least were pure from corruption.</p> + +<p>Gensonné, in his report in the name of the diplomatic committee, asked +two questions; first, what was our political situation with regard to +the emperor; secondly, should his last <i>office</i> be regarded as an act of +hostility; and in this case was it advisable to accelerate this +inevitable rupture by commencing the attack.</p> + +<p>"Our situation with regard to the emperor," replied he to himself, "is, +that the French interests are sacrificed to the house of Austria; our +finances and our armies wasted in her service—our alliances broken, and +what mark of reciprocity do we receive? The Revolution insulted; our +cockade profaned; the emigrés permitted to congregate in the states +dependent on Austria; and, lastly, the avowal of the coalition of the +powers against us. When from the heart of Luxembourg our princes +threaten us with an inva<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>sion, and boast of the support of the other +powers, Austria remains silent, and thus tacitly sanctions the threats +of our enemies. It is true she affects from time to time to blame the +hostile demonstrations against France, but this was but an hypocritical +peace. The white cockade and the counter-revolutionary uniform are +openly worn in her states, whilst our national colours are proscribed. +When the king threatened the elector of Trèves that he would march into +his territories and disperse the emigrés by force, the emperor ordered +general Bender to advance to the assistance of the elector of Trèves. +This is but a slight matter: in the report drawn up at Pilnitz, the +emperor declares, in concert with the king of Prussia, that the two +powers would consider the steps to be taken, with regard to France, by +the other European courts; and that should war ensue, they would +mutually assist each other. Thus it is manifest that the emperor had +violated the treaty of 1756, by contracting alliances without the +knowledge of France; and that he has made himself the promoter and pivot +of an anti-French system. What can be his aim but to intimidate and +subdue us, in order to bring us to accept a congress, and the +introduction of shameful modifications in our new institutions?</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," added Gensonné, "this idea has germinated in France? Perhaps +secret information induces the emperor to hope that peace may be +maintained on such conditions. He is deceived: it is not at the moment +when the flame of liberty is first kindled in a nation of twenty-four +millions, that Frenchmen would consent to a capitulation, to which they +would prefer death. Such is our situation, that war, which in other +times would be a scourge to the human race, would now be useful to the +public welfare. This salutary crisis would elevate the people to the +level of their destiny; it would restore to them their pristine +energy—it would re-establish our finances, and stifle the germ of +intestine dissension. In a similar situation Frederic the Great broke +the league formed against him by the court of Vienna, by forestalling +it. Your committee propose that the preparations for war be accelerated. +A congress would be a disgrace—war is necessary—public opinion wishes +for it—and public safety demands it."</p> + +<p>The committee concluded, by demanding clear and satis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>factory +explanations from the emperor; and that in case these explanations +should not be given before the 10th of February, this refusal to reply +should be considered as an act of hostility.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Scarcely was the report terminated than Guadet, who presided that day at +the Assembly, mounted the tribune, and began to comment on the report of +his friend and colleague. Guadet, born at Saint Emelion, near Bordeaux, +already celebrated as an advocate before the age at which men have +generally made themselves a reputation, impatiently expected by the +political tribunes, had at last arrived at the Legislative Assembly. A +disciple of Brissot, less profound, but equally courageous and more +eloquent than his master, he was intimately connected with Gensonné, +Vergniaud, to whom he was bound by being of the same age, the same +passions, and the same country; endowed with an undaunted and energetic +mind and winning powers of oratory, equally fitted to resist the +movement of a popular assembly, or to precipitate them to a termination; +all these natural advantages were heightened by one of those southern +casts of face and feature that serve so well to illustrate the working +of the mind within.</p> + +<p>"A congress has just been spoken of," said he; "what, then, is this +conspiracy formed against us? How long shall we suffer ourselves to be +fatigued by these manœuvres—to be outraged by these hopes? Have +those who have planned them, well weighed this? The bare idea of the +possibility of a capitulation of liberty might hurry into crime those +malcontents who cherish the hope; and these are the crimes we should +crush in the bud. Let us teach these princes that the nation is resolved +to preserve its constitution pure and unchanged, or to perish with it. +In one word, let us mark out the place for these traitors, and let that +place be the scaffold. I propose that the decree pass at this instant; +That the nation regards as infamous, as traitors to their country, and +as guilty of <i>leze-majesté</i>, every agent of the executive power, every +Frenchman (several voices, 'every <i>legislator</i>') who shall take part, +directly or indirectly, at this congress, whose object is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> to obtain +modifications in the constitution, or a mediation between France and the +rebels."</p> + +<p>At these words the Assembly rose as if by common consent. Every hand was +raised in the attitude of men ready to take a solemn oath; the tribunes +and the chamber confounded their applause, and the decree was passed.</p> + +<p>M. de Lessart, whom the gesture and the allusion of Guadet seemed to +have already designated as the victim to the suspicions of the people, +could not remain silent under the weight of these terrible allusions. +"Mention has been made," said he, "of the political agents of the +executive power: I declare that I know nothing which can authorise us to +suspect their fidelity. For my own part, I will repeat the declaration +of my colleagues in the ministry, and adopt it for my own—the +constitution or death."</p> + +<p>Whilst Gensonné and Guadet aroused the Assembly by this preconcerted +scene, Vergniaud aroused the crowd by the copy of an address to the +French people, which had been spread abroad for the last few days +amongst the masses. The Girondists remembered the effect produced two +years previously by the proposed address to the king to dismiss the +troops.</p> + +<p>"Frenchmen," said Vergniaud, "war threatens your frontiers; conspiracies +against liberty are rife. Your armies are assembling: mighty movements +agitate the empire. Seditious priests prepare in the confessional, and +even in the pulpit, a rising against the constitution; martial law +becomes essential. Thus it appeared to us just. But we only succeeded in +brandishing the thunderbolts for a moment before the eyes of the +rebels—the king has refused to sanction our decrees; the German princes +make their territories a stronghold for the conspirators against us. +They favour the plots of the emigrés, and furnish them with an asylum, +arms, horses, and provisions. Can patience endure this without becoming +guilty of suicide? Doubtless you have renounced the desire of conquest; +but you have not promised to suffer insolent provocation. You have +shaken off the yoke of tyrants; surely, then, you will not bow the knee +to foreign despots? Beware! you are surrounded by snares; traitors seek +to reduce you through disgust or fatigue to a state of languor that +enervates your courage; and soon perhaps they will strive to lead it +astray. They seek to separate you from us; they pursue a system of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +calumny against the National Assembly to criminate the Revolution in +your eyes. Oh, beware of these excessive terrors! Repulse indignantly +these impostors, who, whilst they affect an hypocritical zeal for the +constitution, yet unceasingly speak of the <i>monarchy</i>. The <i>monarchy</i> is +to them the counter-revolution. The <i>monarchy</i> is the <i>nobility</i>; the +counter-revolution—that is taxation, the feudal system, the Bastille, +chains, and executions, to punish the sublime impulses of liberty. +Foreign satellites in the interior of the state—bankruptcy, engulphing +with your <i>assignats</i> your private fortunes and the national wealth—the +fury of fanaticism, of vengeance, murder, rapine, conflagration, +despotism, and slaughter, contending, in rivers of blood and over the +heaps of dead, for the mastery of your unhappy country. Nobility; that +is, two classes of men, one for greatness, the other for poverty; one +for tyranny, the other for slavery. Nobility; ah! the very word is an +insult to the human race.</p> + +<p>"And yet it is to ensure the success of this conspiracy against you that +all Europe is in arms.—You must annihilate these guilty hopes by a +solemn declaration. Yes, the representatives of France, free, and deeply +attached to the constitution, will be buried beneath her ruins, rather +than suffer a capitulation unworthy of them to be wrung from them. Rally +yourselves, take courage! In vain do they strive to excite the nations +against you, they will only excite the princes, for the hearts of the +people are with you, and you embrace their cause by defending your own. +Hate war: it is the greatest crime of mankind, and the most fearful +scourge of humanity; but since it is forced on you, follow the course of +your destiny. Who can foresee how far will extend the punishment of +those tyrants who have forced you to take arms?" Thus, these three +statesmen joined their voices to impel the nation to war.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The last words of Vergniaud gave the people a tolerably clear prospect +of an universal republic. Nor were the constitutionalists less eager in +directing the ideas of the nation towards war. M. de Narbonne, on his +return from his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> hasty journey, presented a most encouraging report to +the Assembly, of the state of the fortified towns.—He praised every +one. He presented to the country the young Mathieu de Montmorency, one +of the most illustrious names of France, and whose character was even +more noble than his name, as the representative of the aristocracy +devoting itself to liberty. He declared that the army, in its attachment +to its country did not separate the King from the Assembly. He praised +the commanders of the troops, nominated Rochambeau general-in-chief of +the army of the north, Berthier at Metz, Biron at Lisle, Luckner and La +Fayette on the Rhine. He spoke of plans for the campaign, concerted +between the king and these officers; he enumerated the national guards, +ready to serve as a second line to the active army, and solicited that +they should be promptly armed; he described these volunteers, as giving +the army the most imposing of all characters—that of national feeling; +he vouched for the officers, who had sworn fidelity to the constitution, +and exonerated from the charge of treason those who had not done so; he +encouraged the Assembly to mistrust those that hesitated. "Mistrust," +said he, "is, in these stormy times, the most natural, but the most +dangerous feeling; confidence wins mens' hearts, and it is important +that the people should show they have friends only." He ended by +announcing that the active force of the army was 110,000 foot, and +20,000 cavalry, ready to take the field.</p> + +<p>This report, praised by Brissot in his journal, and by the Girondists in +the Assembly, afforded no longer any pretext for delaying the war. +France felt that her strength was equal to her indignation, and she +could be restrained no longer. The increasing unpopularity of the king +augmented the popular excitement. Twice had he already arrested, by his +royal <i>veto</i>, the energetic measures of the Assembly—the decree against +the emigrés, and the decree against the priests who had not taken the +oath. These two <i>vetos</i>, the one dictated by his honour, the other by +his conscience, were two terrible weapons, placed in his hand by the +constitution, yet which he could not wield without wounding himself. The +Girondists revenged themselves for this resistance by compelling him to +make war on the princes, who were his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> brothers, and the emperor, whom +they believed to be his accomplice.</p> + +<p>The pamphleteers and the Jacobin journalists constantly spoke of these +two <i>vetos</i> as acts of treason. The disturbances in Vendeé were +attributed to a secret understanding between the king and the rebellious +clergy. In vain did the department of Paris, composed of men who +respected the conscience of others, such as M. de Talleyrand, M. de la +Rochefoucauld, and M. de Beaumetz, present to the king a petition in +which the true principles of liberty protested against the revolutionary +inquisition: counter-petitions poured in from the departments.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>Camille Desmoulins, the Voltaire of the clubs, lent to the petition of +the citizens of Paris that insolent raillery, which made the success of +his talent.</p> + +<p>"Worthy representatives," ran the petition<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>, "applauses are the civil +list of the people, therefore do not reject ours. To collect the homages +of good citizens, and the insults of the bad, is, to a National +Assembly, to have combined all suffrages. The king has put his <i>veto</i> to +your decree against the emigrants, a decree equally worthy of the +majesty of the Roman people and the clemency of the French people. We do +not complain of this act of the king, because we remember the maxim of +the great politician Machiavel, which we beg of you to meditate upon +profoundly—<i>It is against nature to fall voluntarily from such a +height</i>. Penetrated with this truth, we do not then require from the +king an impossible love for the constitution, nor do we find fault that +he is opposed to your best decisions. But let public functionaries +foresee the royal veto, and declare their rebellion against your decree, +against the priests; let them carry off public opinion; let these men be +precisely the same who caused to be shot in the Champ-de-Mars the +citizens who were signing a petition against a decree which was not yet +decided upon; let them inundate the empire with copies of this petition, +which is nothing more than the first leaf of a great +counter-revolutionary register and a subscription for civil war sent for +signature to all the fanatics, all the idiots, all permanent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> slaves. +Fathers of the country! there is here such complicated ingratitude and +abuse of confidence, of contradiction and chicanery, of prevarication +and treason, that profoundly indignant at so much wickedness concealed +beneath the cloak of philosophy and hypocritical civism, we say to +you—Your decree has saved the country, and if they are obstinate in +refusing you permission to save the country, well, the nation will save +itself, for, after all, the power of a <i>veto</i> has a termination—a veto +does not prevent the taking of the Bastille.</p> + +<p>"You are told that the salary of the priests was a national debt. But +when you only request the priests to declare that they will not be +seditious—are not they who refuse this declaration already seditious in +their hearts? And these seditious priests, who have never lent anything +to the state—who are only creditors of the state in the name of +benevolence—have they not a thousand times forfeited the donation +through their ingratitude? Away, then, with these miserable sophisms, +fathers of the country, and have no more doubt of the omnipotence of a +free people. If liberty slumbers, how can the arm act? Do not raise this +arm again, do not again lift the national club to crush insects. Did +Cato and Cicero proceed against Cethegus or Catiline? It is the chiefs +we should assail: strike at the head."</p> + +<p>A scornful laugh echoed from the tribunes of the Assembly to the +populace. The <i>procès-verbal</i> of this sitting was ordered to be sent to +the eighty-three departments. Next day the Assembly reconsidered this, +and negatived its vote of the previous evening; but publicity was still +given to it, and it echoed through the provinces, carrying with it the +disquietude, derision, and hatred attached to the <i>Royal Veto</i>. The +constitution, handed over to ridicule and hooted in full assembly, had +now become the plaything of the populace.</p> + +<p>For many months the state of the kingdom resembled the state of Paris. +All was uproar, confusion, denunciation, disturbance in the departments. +Each courier brought his riots, seditions, petitions, outbreaks, and +assassinations. The clubs established as many points of resistance to +the constitution as there were communes in the empire. The civil war +hatching in La Vendée burst out by massacres at Avignon.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>This city and comtal, united to France by the recent decree of the +Constituent Assembly, had remained from this period in an intermediary +state between two dominations, so favourable to anarchy. The partisans +of the papal government, and the partisans of the reunion with France, +struggled there in alternations of hope and fear, which prolonged and +envenomed their hate. The king, from a religious scruple, had for too +long suspended the execution of the decree of reunion. Trembling to +infringe upon the domain of the church, he deferred his decision, and +his impolitic delays gave time for crimes.</p> + +<p>France was represented in Avignon by mediators. The provisional +authority of these mediators was supported by a detachment of troops of +the line. The power, entirely municipal, was confided to the +dictatorship of the municipality. The populace, excited and agitated, +was divided into the French or revolutionary party, and the party +opposed to the reunion by France and the Revolution. The fanaticism of +religion with one, the fanaticism of liberty with the other, impelled +the two parties even to crimes. The warmth of blood, the thirst of +private vengeance, the heat of the climate, all added to civil passions. +The violences of Italian republics were all to be seen in the manners of +this Italian colony, of this branch establishment of Rome on the banks +of the Rhone. The smaller states are, the more atrocious are their civil +wars. There opposite opinions become personal hatreds; contests are but +assassinations. Avignon commenced these wholesale assassinations by +private murders.</p> + +<p>On the 16th of October a gloomy agitation betrayed itself by the mobs of +people collecting on various points, particularly consisting of persons +enemies of the Revolution. The walls of the church were covered with +placards, calling on the people to revolt against the provisional +authority of the municipality. There were bruited about rumours of +absurd miracles, which demanded in the name of Heaven vengeance for the +assaults made against religion. A statue of the Virgin worshipped by the +people in the church of the Cordeliers had blushed at the profanations +of her temple. She had been seen to shed tears of indignation and grief. +The people, educated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> under the papal government in such superstitious +credulities, had gone in a body to the Cordeliers to avenge the cause of +their protectress. Animated by fanatical exhortations, confiding in the +divine interposition, the mob, on quitting the Cordeliers, and +increasing as it went, hurried to the ramparts, closed the doors, turned +the cannon on the city, and then spread themselves through the streets, +demanding with loud clamours the overthrow of the government. The +unfortunate Lescuyer, notary of Avignon, secretary (<i>greffier</i>) of the +municipality, more particularly pointed out to the fury of the mob, was +dragged violently from his residence, and along the pavement to the +altar of the Cordeliers, where he was murdered by sabre-strokes and +blows from bludgeons, trampled under foot, his dead body outraged and +cast as an expiatory victim at the feet of the offended statue. The +national guard, having despatched a detachment with two pieces of cannon +from the fort, drove back the infuriated populace, and picked from the +pavement the naked and lifeless carcase of Lescuyer. The prisons of the +city had been broken open, and the miscreants they contained came to +offer their assistance for other murders. Horrible reprisals were +feared, and yet the mediators, absent from the city, were asleep, or +closed their eyes upon the actual danger. The understanding between the +leaders of the Paris clubs and the rioters of Avignon became more +fearfully intimate.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>One of those sinister persons who seem to smell blood and presage crime, +reached Avignon from Versailles: his name was Jourdan. He is not to be +confounded with another revolutionist of the same name, born at Avignon. +Sprung from the arid and calcined mountains of the south, where the very +brutes are more ferocious; by turns butcher, farrier, and smuggler, in +the gorges which separate Savoy from France; a soldier, deserter, +horse-jobber, and then a keeper of a low wine shop in the suburbs of +Paris; he had wallowed in all the lowest vices of the dregs of a +metropolis. The first murders committed by the people in the streets of +Paris had disclosed his real character. It was not that of contest but +of murder. He appeared after the carnage to mangle the vic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span>tims, and +render the assassination fouler. He was a butcher of men, and he boasted +of it. It was he who had thrust his hands into the open breasts and +plucked forth the hearts of Foulon and Berthier.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> It was he who had +cut off the head of the two <i>gardes du corps</i>, de Varicourt and des +Huttes, at Versailles, on the 6th of October. It was he who, entering +Paris, bearing the two heads at the end of a pike, reproached the people +with being content with so little, and having made him go so far to cut +off only two heads! He hoped for better things at Avignon, and went +thither.</p> + +<p>There was at Avignon a body of volunteers called the army of Vaucluse, +formed of the dregs of that country, and commanded by one Patrix. This +Patrix having been assassinated by his troop, whose excesses he desired +to moderate, Jourdan was elevated to the command by the claims of +sedition and wickedness. The soldiers, when reproached with their +robberies and murders, similar to those of the <i>Gueux</i> of Belgium, and +the <i>sans-culottes</i> of Paris, received the reproach as an honour, and +called themselves the <i>brave brigands</i> of Avignon. Jourdan at the head +of this band, ravaged and fired le Comtal, laid siege to Carpentras, was +repulsed, lost five hundred men, and fell back upon Avignon, still +shuddering at the murder of Lescuyer. He resolved on lending his arm and +his troop to the vengeance of the French party. On the 30th of August +Jourdan and his myrmidons closed the city-gates, dispersed through the +streets, going to the houses noted as containing enemies to the +Revolution, dragging out the inhabitants—men, women, aged persons, and +children,—all, without distinction of age, sex or innocence, and shut +them up in the palace. When night came, the assassins broke down the +doors and murdered with iron crow-bars these disarmed and supplicating +victims. In vain did they shriek to the national guard for aid: the city +hears the massacre without daring to give any signs of animation. The +daring of the crime chilled and paralysed every citizen. The murderers +preluded the death of the females by derision<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> and insults which added +shame to terror, and the agonies of modesty to the pangs of murder. When +there were no more to be slain they mutilated the carcases, and swept +the blood into the sewer of the palace. They dragged the mutilated +corpses to La Glacière, walled them up, and the vengeance of the people +was stamped upon them. Jourdan and his satellites offered the homage of +this night to the French mediators and the National Assembly. The +scoundrels of Paris admired—the Assembly shook with indignation, and +considered this crime as an outrage; whilst the president fainted on +reading the recital of this night at Avignon. The arrest of Jourdan and +his accomplices was commanded. Jourdan fled from Avignon, pursued by the +French; he dashed his horse in to the river of the Sargue: caught in the +middle of the river, by a soldier, he fired at him and missed. He was +seized and bound, and punishment awarded him, but the Jacobins compelled +the Girondists to agree to an amnesty for the crimes of Avignon. Jourdan +making sure of impunity, and proud of his iniquities, went thither to be +revenged on his denouncers.</p> + +<p>The Assembly shuddered for a moment at the sight of this blood, and then +hastily turned its eyes away. In its impatience to reign alone, it had +not the time to display pity. There was, besides, between the Girondists +and the Jacobins a contest for leadership, and a rivalry in going a-head +of the Revolution, which made each of the two factions afraid that the +other should be in advance. Dead bodies did not make them pause, and +tears shed for too long a time might have been taken for weakness.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>However, victims multiplied daily, and disasters followed disasters. The +whole empire seemed ready to fall and crush its founders. San Domingo, +the richest of the French colonies, was swimming in blood. France was +punished for its egotism. The Constituent Assembly had proclaimed, in +principle, the liberty of the blacks, but, in fact, slavery still +existed. Two hundred thousand slaves served as human cattle to some +thousands of colonists. They were bought and sold, and cut and maimed, +as if they were inanimate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> objects. They were kept by speculation out of +the civil law, and out of the religious law. Property, family, marriage, +all was forbidden to them. Care was taken to degrade them below men, to +preserve the right of treating them as brutes. If some unions furtive, +or favoured by cupidity, were formed amongst them, the wife and children +belonged to the master. They were sold separately, without any regard to +the ties of nature, all the attachments with which God has formed the +chain of human sympathies were rent asunder without commiseration.</p> + +<p>This crime <i>en masse</i>, this systematic brutality, had its theorists and +apologists; human faculties were denied to the blacks. They were classed +as a race between the flesh and the spirit. Thus the infamous abuse of +power, which was exercised over this inert and servile race, was called +necessary guardianship. Tyrants have never wanted sophists: on the other +hand, men of right feeling towards their fellows, who had, like +Grégoire, Raynal, Barnave, Brissot, Condorcet, La Fayette, embraced the +cause of humanity, and formed the "<i>Society of the Friends of the +Blacks</i>" had circulated their principles in the colonies, like a +vengeance rather than as justice. These principles had burst forth +without preparation, and unanticipated in colonial society, where truth +had no organ but insurrection. Philosophy proclaims principles; politics +administer them; the friends of the blacks were contented with +proclaiming them. France had not had courage to dispossess and indemnify +her colonists: she had acquired liberty for herself alone: she +adjourned, as she still adjourns at the moment I write these lines, the +reparation for the crime of slavery in her colonies: could she be +astonished that slavery should seek to avenge herself, and that liberty, +warmly proclaimed in Paris, should not become an insurrection at San +Domingo? Every iniquity that a free society allows to subsist for the +profit of the oppressor, is a sword with which she herself arms the +oppressed. Right is the most dangerous of weapons; woe to him who leaves +it to his enemies!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>San Domingo proved this. Fifty thousand black slaves rose in one night +at the instigation, and under the command, of the mulattoes, or men of +colour. The men of colour, the intermediary race, springing from white +colonists and black slaves, were not slaves, neither were they citizens. +They were a kind of freedmen, with the defects and virtues of the two +races; the pride of the whites, the degradation of the blacks: a +fluctuating race who, by turning sometimes to the side of the slaves, +sometimes to that of the masters, inevitably produced those terrible +oscillations which inevitably superinduce the overthrow of society.</p> + +<p>The mulattoes, who themselves possessed slaves, had begun by making +common cause with the colonists, and by opposing the emancipation of the +blacks more obstinately than even the whites themselves. The nearer they +were to slavery, the more doggedly did they defend their share in +tyranny. Man is thus made: none is more ready to abuse his right than he +who, with difficulty, has acquired it; there are no tyrants worse than +slaves, and no men prouder than <i>parvenus</i>.</p> + +<p>The men of colour had all the vices of <i>parvenus</i> of liberty. But when +they perceived that the whites despised them as a mingled race, that the +Revolution had not effaced the tinge of their skin, and the injurious +prejudices which were attached to their colour; when they in vain +claimed for themselves the exercise of civil rights, which the colonists +opposed, they passed with the impetuosity and levity of their conduct +from one passion to another, from one party to the other, and made +common cause with the oppressed race. Their habits of command, fortune, +intelligence, energy, boldness, naturally pointed them out as the +leaders of the blacks. They fraternised with them, they became popular +amongst the blacks, from the very tinge of skin for which they had +recently blushed, when in company with the whites. They secretly +fomented the germs of insurrection at the nightly meetings of the +slaves. They kept up a clandestine correspondence with the friends of +the blacks in Paris. They spread widely in the huts, speeches and papers +from Paris, which instructed the colonists in their duties and informed +the slaves of their in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span>defeasible rights. The rights of man, commented +upon by vengeance, became the catechism of all dwellings.</p> + +<p>The whites trembled; terror urged them to violence. The blood of the +mulatto Ogé and his accomplices, shed by M. de Blanchelande, governor of +San Domingo and the colonial council, sowed every where despair and +conspiracy.</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>Ogé, deputed to Paris by the men of colour to assert their rights in the +Constituent Assembly, had become known to Brissot, Raynal, Grégoire, and +was affiliated with them to the Society of the Friends of the Blacks. +Passing thence into England, he became known to the admirable +philanthropist, Clarkson. Clarkson and his friend at this time were +pleading the cause of the emancipation of the negroes: they were the +first apostles of that religion of humanity who believed that they could +not raise their hands purely towards God, so long as those hands +retained a link of that chain which holds a race of human beings in +degradation and in slavery. The association with these men of worth +expanded Ogé's mind. He had come to Europe only to defend the interest +of the mulattoes; he now took up with warmth the more liberal and holy +cause of all the blacks; he devoted himself to the liberty of all his +brethren. He returned to France, and became very intimate with Barnave; +he entreated the Constituent Assembly to apply the principles of liberty +to the colonies, and not to make any exception to Divine law, by leaving +the slaves to their masters; excited and irritated by the hesitation of +the committee, who withdrew with one hand what it gave with the other, +he declared that if justice could not suffice for their cause, he would +appeal to force. Barnave had said, "<i>Perish the colonies rather than a +principle!</i>" The men of the 14th of July had no right to condemn, in the +heart of Ogé, that revolt which was their own title to independence. We +may believe that the secret wishes of the friends of the blacks followed +Ogé, who returned to San Domingo. He found there the rights of men of +colour and the principles of liberty of the blacks more denied and more +profaned than ever. He raised the standard of insurrection, but with the +forms and rights of legality. At the head of a body of two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> hundred men +of colour, he demanded the promulgation in the colonies of the decrees +of the National Assembly, despotically delayed until that time. He wrote +to the military commandant at the Cape, "We require the proclamation of +the law which makes us free citizens. If you oppose this, we will repair +to Leogane, we will nominate electors, and repel force by force. The +pride of the colonists revolts at sitting beside us: was the pride of +the nobility and clergy consulted when the equality of citizens was +proclaimed in France?"</p> + +<p>The government replied to this eloquent demand for liberty by sending a +body of troops to disperse the persons assembled, and Ogé drove them +back.</p> + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>A larger body of troops being despatched, they contrived, after a +desperate resistance, to disperse the mulattoes. Ogé escaped, and found +refuge in the Spanish part of the island. A price was set upon his head. +M. de Blanchelande in his proclamations imputed it as a crime to him +that he had claimed the rights of nature in the name of the Assembly, +which had so loudly proclaimed the rights of the citizen. They applied +to the Spanish authorities to surrender this Spartacus, equally +dangerous to the safety of the whites in both countries. Ogé was +delivered up to the French by the Spaniards, and sent for trial to the +Cape. His trial was protracted for two months, in order to afford time +to cut asunder all the threads of the plot of independence, and +intimidate his accomplices. The whites, in great excitement, complained +of these delays, and demanded his head with loud vociferations. The +judges condemned him to death for a crime which in the mother-country +had constituted the glory of La Fayette and Mirabeau.</p> + +<p>He underwent torture in his dungeon. The rights of his race, centred and +persecuted in him, raised his soul above the torments of his +executioners. "Give up all hope," he exclaimed, with unflinching daring; +"give up all hope of extracting from me the name of even one of my +accomplices. My accomplices are everywhere where the heart of a man is +raised against the oppressors of men." From that moment he pronounced +but two words, which sounded like a remorse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> in the ears of his +persecutors—<i>Liberty! Equality</i>! He walked composedly to his death; +listened with indignation to the sentence which condemned him to the +lingering and infamous death of the vilest criminals. "What!" he +exclaimed; "do you confound me with criminals because I have desired to +restore to my fellow-creatures the rights and titles of men which I feel +in myself! Well! you have my blood, but an avenger will arise from it!" +He died on the wheel, and his mutilated carcase was left on the highway. +This heroic death reached even to the National Assembly, and gave rise +to various opinions. "He deserved it," said Malouet; "Ogé was a criminal +and an assassin." "If Ogé be guilty," replied Grégoire, "so are we all; +if he who claimed liberty for his brothers perished justly on the +scaffold, then all Frenchmen who resemble us should mount there also."</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>Ogé's blood bubbled silently in the hearts of all the mulatto race. They +swore to avenge him. The blacks were an army all ready for the massacre; +the signal was given to them by the men of colour. In one night 60,000 +slaves, armed with torches and their working tools, burnt down all their +masters' houses in a circuit of six leagues round the Cape. The whites +were murdered; women, children, old men—nothing escaped the +long-repressed fury of the blacks. It was the annihilation of one race +by the other. The bleeding heads of the whites, carried on the tops of +sugar canes, were the standards which guided these hordes, not to +combat, but to carnage. The outrages of so many centuries, committed by +the whites on the blacks, were avenged in one night. A rivalry of +cruelty seemed to arise between the two colours. The negroes imitated +the tortures so long used upon them, and invented new ones. If certain +noble and faithful slaves placed themselves between their old masters +and death, they were sacrificed together. Gratitude and pity are virtues +which civil war never recognises. Colour was a sentence of death without +exception of persons; the war was between the races, and no longer +between men. The one must perish for the other to live! Since justice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> +could not make itself understood by them, there was nothing but death +left for them. Every gift of life to a white was a treason which would +cost a black man's life. The negroes had no longer any pity: they were +men no longer, they were no longer a people, but a destroying element +which spread over the land, annihilating every thing.</p> + +<p>In a few hours eight hundred habitations, sugar and coffee stores, +representing an immense capital, were destroyed. The mills, magazines, +utensils, and even the very plant which reminded them of their servitude +and their compulsory labour, were cast into the flames. The whole plain, +as far as eye could reach, was covered with nothing but the smoke and +the ashes of conflagration. The dead bodies of whites, piled in hideous +trophies of heads and limbs, of men, women, and infants assassinated, +alone marked the spot of the rich residences, where they were supreme on +the previous night. It was the revenge of slavery: all tyranny has such +fearful reverses.</p> + +<p>Some whites, warned in time of the insurrection by the generous +indiscretion of the blacks, or protected in their flight by the forests +and the darkness, had taken refuge at the Cape Town; others, concealed +with their wives and children in caves, were fed and attended to by +attached slaves, at the peril of their lives. The army of blacks +increased without the walls of the Cape Town, where they formed and +disciplined a fortified camp. Guns and cannons arrived by the aid of +invisible auxiliaries. Some accused the English, others the Spaniards; +others, the "friends of the blacks," with being accomplices of this +insurrection. The Spaniards, however, were at peace with France; the +revolt of the blacks menaced them equally with ourselves. The English +themselves possessed three times as many slaves as the French: the +principle of the insurrection, excited by success, and spreading with +them, would have ruined their establishments, and compromised the lives +of their colonists. These suspicions were absurd; there was no one +culpable but liberty itself, which is not to be repressed with impunity +in a portion of the human race. It had accomplices in the very heart of +the French themselves.</p> + +<p>The weakness of the resolutions of the Assembly on the reception of this +news proved this. M. Bertrand de Molle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>ville, minister of marine, +ordered the immediate departure of 6000 men as reinforcement for the +isle of San Domingo.</p> + +<p>Brissot attacked these repressive measures in a discourse in which he +did not hesitate to cast the odium of the crime on the victims, and to +accuse the government of complicity with the aristocracy of the +colonists.</p> + +<p>"By what fatality does this news coincide with a moment when emigrations +are redoubled? when the rebels assembled on our frontiers warn us of an +approaching outbreak? when, in fact, the colonies threaten us, through +an illegal deputation, with withdrawing from the rule of the +mother-country? Has not this the appearance of a vast plan combined by +treason?"</p> + +<p>The repugnance of the friends of the blacks, numerous in the Assembly, +to take energetic measures in favour of the colonists, the distance from +the scene of action, which weakens pity, and then the interior movement +which attracted into its sphere minds and things, soon effaced these +impressions, and allowed the spirit of independence amongst the blacks +to form and expand at San Domingo, which showed itself in the distance +in the form of a poor old slave—Toussaint-Louverture.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>The internal disorder multiplied at every point of the empire. Religious +liberty, which was desire of the Constituent Assembly, and the most +important conquest of the Revolution, could not be established without +this struggle in face of a displaced worship, and a schism which spread +far and wide amongst the people. The counter-revolutionary party was +allied every where with the clergy. They had the same enemies, and +conspired against the same cause. The nonjuring priests had assumed the +character of victims, and the interest of a portion of the people, +especially in the country, attached to them. Persecution is so odious to +the public feeling that its very appearance raises generous indignation +against it. The human mind has an inclination to believe that justice is +on the side of the proscribed. The priests were not as yet persecuted, +but from the moment that they were no longer paramount they believed +themselves humili<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>ated. The ill-repressed irritation of the clergy has +been more injurious to the Revolution than all the conspiracies of the +emigrated aristocracy. Conscience is man's most sensitive point. A +superstition attacked, or a faith disturbed in the mind of a people, is +the fellest of conspiracies. It was by the hand of God, invisible in the +hand of the priesthood, that the aristocracy roused La Vendée. Frequent +and bloody symptoms already betrayed themselves in the west, and in +Normandy, that concealed focus of religious war.</p> + +<p>The most fearful of these symptoms burst out at Caen. The Abbé Fauchet +was constitutional bishop of Calvados. The celebrity of his name, the +elevated patriotism of his opinions, the <i>éclat</i> of his revolutionary +renown, his eloquence, and his writings, disseminated widely in his +diocese, were the causes of greater excitement throughout Calvados than +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Fauchet, whose conformity of opinions, honesty of feelings for +renovation, and even whose somewhat fanciful imagination, which were +subsequently destined to associate him in acts, and even on the +scaffold, with the Girondists, was born at Domes, in the ancient +province of Nivernais. He embraced the Catholic faith, entered into the +free community of the priests of Saint Roch, at Paris, and was for some +time preceptor to the children of the marquis de Choiseul, brother of +the famous duke de Choiseul, the last minister of the school of +Richelieu and Mazarin. A remarkable talent for speaking gave him a +distinguished reputation in the pulpit. He was appointed preacher to the +king, abbé of Montfort, and grand-vicaire of Bourges. He advanced +rapidly towards the first dignities of the church; but his mind had +imbibed the spirit of the times. He was not a destructive, but a +reformer of the church, in whose bosom he was born. His work, entitled +<i>De l'Eglise Nationale</i>, proves in him as much respect for the +principles of the Christian faith as boldness of desire to change its +discipline. This philosophic faith, which so closely resembles the +Christian Platonism which was paramount in Italy under the Medici, and +even in the palace of the popes themselves under Leo X., breathed +throughout his sacred discourses. The clergy was alarmed at these lights +of the age shining in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> very sanctuary. The Abbé Fauchet was +interdicted, and, struck off the list of the king's preachers.</p> + +<p>But the Revolution already opened other tribunes to him. It burst forth, +and he rushed headlong into it, as imagination rushes towards hope. He +fought for it from the day of its birth, and with every kind of weapon. +He shook the people in the primary assemblies, and in the sections; he +urged with voice and gesture the insurgent masses under the cannon of +the Bastille. He was seen, sword in hand, to lead on the assailants. +Thrice did he advance, under fire of the cannon, at the head of the +deputation which summoned the governor to spare the lives of the +citizens, and to surrender.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> He did not soil his revolutionary zeal +with any blood or crime. He inflamed the mind of the people for liberty; +but with him liberty was virtue; nature had endowed him with this +twofold character. There were in his features the high-priest and the +hero. His exterior pleased and attracted the populace. He was tall and +slender, with a wide chest, oval countenance, black eyes, and his dark +brown hair set off the paleness of his brow. His imposing but modest +appearance inspired at the first glance favour and respect. His voice +clear, impressive, and full-toned; his majestic carriage, his somewhat +mystical style, commanded the reflection, as well as the admiration, of +his auditors. Equally adapted to the popular tribune or the pulpit, +electoral assemblies or cathedral were alike too circumscribed in limits +for the crowds who flocked to hear him. It seemed as though he were a +revolutionary saint—Bernard preaching political charity, or the crusade +of reason.</p> + +<p>His manners were neither severe nor hypocritical. He; himself confessed +that he loved with legitimate and pure; affection Madame Carron, who +followed him every where, even to churches and clubs. "They calumniated +me with respect to her," he said, "and I attached myself the more +strongly to her, and yet I am pure. You have seen her, even more lovely +in mind than face, and who for the ten years I have known her seems to +me daily more worthy of being loved. She would lay down her life for me; +I would resign my life for her; but I would never sacrifice my duty to +her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span> In spite of the malignant libels of the aristocrats, I shall go +every day at breakfast-time to taste the charms of the purest friendship +in her society. She comes to hear me preach! Yes, no doubt of it; no one +knows better than herself the sincerity with which I believe in the +truths I profess. She comes to the assemblies of the Hôtel-de-Ville! +Yes, no doubt of it: it is because she is convinced that patriotism is a +second religion, that no hypocrisy is in my soul, and that my life is +really devoted to God, to my country, and friendship."</p> + +<p>"And you dare to assert that you are chaste," retorted the faithful and +indignant priests, by the Abbé de Valmeron. "How absurd! Chaste, at the +moment when you confess the most unpardonable inclinations; when you +attract a woman from the bed of her husband—her duties as a +mother—when you take about every where this infatuated female, attached +to your footsteps, in order to display her ostentatiously to the public +gaze! And who follow, sir! A troop of ruffians and abandoned women. +Worthy pastor of this foul populace, which celebrates your pastoral +visit by the only rejoicings that can give you pleasure—your progress +is marked by every excess of rapine and debauchery." These bitter +reproaches resounded in the provinces, and caused great excitement. The +conforming and nonconforming priests were disputing the altars. A letter +from the minister of the interior came to authorise the nonjuring +priests to celebrate the holy sacrifice in the churches where they had +previously done duty. Obedient to the law, the constitutional priests +opened to them their chapels, supplied them with the ornaments necessary +for divine worship; but the multitude, faithful to their ancient +pastors, threatened and insulted the new clergy. Bloody struggles took +place between the two creeds on the very threshold of God's house. On +Friday, November the 4th, the former <i>curé</i> of the parish of Saint Jean, +at Caen, came to perform the mass. The church was full of Catholics. +This meeting offended the constitutionalists and excited the other +party. The <i>Te Deum</i>, as a thanksgiving, was demanded and sung by the +adherents of the ancient <i>curé</i>, who, encouraged by this success, +announced to the faithful that he should come again the next day at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span> +same hour to celebrate the sacrament. "Patience!" he added; "let us be +prudent, and all will be well."</p> + +<p>The municipality, informed of these circumstances, entreated the <i>curé</i> +to abstain from celebrating the mass the next day, as he had announced; +and he complied with their wishes. The multitude, not informed of this, +filled the church, and clamoured for the priest and the promised <i>Te +Deum</i>. The gentry of the neighbourhood, the aristocracy of Caen, the +clients and numerous domestics of the leading families in the +neighbourhood, had arms under their clothes. They insulted the +grenadiers; an officer of the national guard reprimanded them. "You come +to seek what you shall get," replied the aristocrats: "we are the +stronger, and will drive you from the church." At these words some young +men rushed on the national guards to disarm them: a struggle ensued, +bayonets glittered, pistol shots resounded in the cathedral, and they +made a charge, sword in hand. Companies of chasseurs and grenadiers +entered the church, cleared it, and followed the crowd, step by step, +who fired again upon them when in the street. Some killed and others +wounded, were the sad results of the day. Tranquillity seemed restored. +Eighty-two persons were arrested, and on one of them was found a +pretended plan of counter-revolution, the signal for which was to be +given on the following Monday. These documents were forwarded to Paris. +The nonjuring priests were suspended from the celebration of the holy +mysteries in the churches of Caen until the decision of the National +Assembly. The Assembly heard with indignation the recital of these +troubles, occasioned by the enemies of the constitution, and the +adherents of fanaticism and the aristocracy. "The only part we have to +take," said Cambon, "is to convoke the high national court, and send the +accused before it." They deferred pronouncing on this proposition until +the moment when they should be in possession of all the papers relative +to the troubles in Caen.</p> + +<p>Gensonné detailed the particulars of similar disturbances in La Vendée: +the mountains of the south, La Lozère, l'Herault, l'Ardèche, which were +but ill repressed by the recent dispersion of the camp of Jalès, the +first act of the counter-revolutionary army, were now greatly agitated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> +by the two-fold impulse of their priests and gentry. The plains, +furnished with streams, roads, towns, and easily kept down by the +central force, submitted without resistance to the <i>contre-coups</i> of +Paris. The mountains preserve their customs longer, and resist the +influence of new ideas as to a conquest by armed strangers. It seems as +though the appearance of these natural ramparts gave their inhabitants +confidence in their strength, and a solid conviction of the +unchangeableness of things, which prevents them from being so easily +carried away by the rapid currents of alteration.</p> + +<p>The mountaineers of these countries felt for their nobles that voluntary +and traditional devotion which the Arabs have for their sheiks, and the +Scots for the chieftains of their clans. This respect and this +attachment form part of the national honour in these rural districts. +Religion, more fervent in the south, was in the eyes of these people a +sacred liberty, on which revolution made attempts in the name of +political liberty. They preferred the liberty of conscience to the +liberty as citizens. Under all these titles the new institutions were +odious: faithful priests nourished this hatred, and sanctified it in the +hearts of the peasantry, whilst the nobility kept up a royalism, which +pity for the king's misfortunes and the royal family made more full of +sympathy at the daily recital of fresh outrages.</p> + +<p>Mende, a small village hidden at the bottom of deep valleys, half way +between the plains of the south and those of the Lyonnais, was the +centre of counter-revolutionary spirit. The <i>bourgeoisie</i> and the +nobility, mingled together from the smallness of their fortunes, the +familiarity of their manners, and the frequent unions of their families, +did not entertain towards each other that intestine envy, hatred, and +malice, which was favourable to the Revolution. There was neither pride +in the one nor jealousy in the other: it was as it is in Spain, one +single people, where nobility is only, if we may say so, but a right of +first birth of the same blood. These people had, it is true, laid down +their arms after the insurrection of the preceding year in the camp of +Jalès: but hearts were far from being disarmed. These provinces watched +with an attentive eye for the favourable moment in which they might rise +<i>en masse</i> against Paris. The insults to the dignity of the king, and +the violence done to religion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> by the Legislative Assembly, excited +their minds even to fanaticism. They burst out again, as though +involuntarily, on the occasion of a movement of troops across their +valleys. The tricoloured cockade, emblem of infidelity to God and the +king, had entirely disappeared for several months in the town of Mende, +and they put up the white cockade, as a <i>souvenir</i> and a hope of that +order of things to which they were secretly devoted.</p> + +<p>The directory of the department, consisting of men strangers to the +country, resolved on having the emblem of the constitution respected, +and applied for some troops of the line. This the municipality opposed, +in a resolution addressed to the directory, and made an insurrectional +appeal to the neighbouring municipalities, and a kind of federation with +them to resist together the sending of any troops into their districts. +However, the troops sent from Lyons at the request of the directory +approached; on their appearance, the municipality dissolved the ancient +national guard, composed of a few friends of liberty, and formed a fresh +national guard, of which the officers were chosen by itself from amongst +the gentry and most devoted royalists of the neighbourhood. Armed with +this force, the municipality compelled the directory of the department +to supply them with arms and ammunition.</p> + +<p>Such were the movements of the town of Mende, when the troops entered +the place. The national guard, under arms, replied to the cry of <i>Vive +la nation</i>, uttered by the troops, by the cry of <i>Vive le roi</i>. Then +they followed the soldiers to the principal square in the city, and +there took, in presence of the defenders of the constitution, an oath to +obey the king only, and to recognise no one but the king. After this +audacious display, the national guard, in parties, paraded the town, +insulting, braving the soldiers: swords were drawn, and blood flowed. +The troops pursued made a stand, and took to their weapons. The +municipality, having the directory in check, and holding it as hostage, +compelled it to send the troops orders to withdraw to their quarters. +The commandant of the forces obeyed. This victory emboldened the +national guard; and during the night it compelled the directory to send +the troops an order to leave the city and evacuate the department. The +national guard, drawn up in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span> a line of battle in the square of Mende, +saw hourly its ranks increase by detachments of the neighbouring +municipalities, who came down from the mountains, armed with fowling +pieces, scythes, and ploughshares. The troops would have been massacred +if they had not retired under cover of the night. They retreated from +the city amidst victorious cries from the royalists. The following day +was a series of fêtes, in which the royalists of the town and those of +the city celebrated their common triumph, and fraternised together. They +insulted all the emblems of the Revolution; hooted the constitution; +plundered the hall of the Jacobins; burnt down the houses of the +principal members of this hateful club—put some in prison. But their +vengeance confined itself to outrage. The people, controlled by the +gentlemen and the <i>curés</i>, spared the blood of their enemies.</p> + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>Whilst humiliated liberty was threatened by fanaticism in the south, it, +in its turn, carried on the work of assassination in the north. Brest +was the very focus of Jacobinism—the close proximity of La Vendeé gave +this city reason to apprehend the counter-revolution that constantly +threatened them—the presence of the fleet, commanded by officers +suspected of favouring the aristocratic part—a population greatly +composed of strangers and sailors, accessible to corruption, and capable +of being readily excited to crime—rendered this city more turbulent and +more agitated than any other port in the kingdom. The clubs constantly +strove to work on the sailors to mutiny against their officers, whilst +the revolutionists mistrusted the navy, as that was far more independent +of the people than the army, for the court could at a moment change the +station of the fleet, and turn their cannon against the constitution, +and the feeling of discipline, of aristocracy, and of the colonies, were +all contrary to the new school of ideas; and for this reason the +Jacobins had for some time striven to disorganise the fleet. The +appointment of M. de Lajaille to the command of one of the vessels +destined to carry assistance to San Domingo, caused an outbreak of the +suspicions infused into the minds of the inhabitants of Brest, and of +the officers of the navy. M. de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span> Lajaille was designated by the clubs as +a traitor to the nation, who was about to introduce the +counter-revolutionary feeling in the colonies. Attacked at the moment he +was about to embark, by a crowd of nearly three thousand persons, he was +covered with wounds, stretched senseless on the ground, and would have +been killed, but for the heroic devotion of a workman, who shielded him +with his own body, and defended him until the arrival of the civic +guard. M. de Lajaille was, however, to appease popular feeling, +imprisoned: in vain did the king order the municipal authorities of +Brest to set this innocent and valuable officer free; in vain did the +minister of justice demand chastisement for this attempted murder, +committed in broad daylight, in the presence of the whole town; in vain +was a sabre and a gold medal voted to the courageous +<span class="smcap">Lanvergent</span>, who had saved de Lajaille; the dread of a more +formidable outbreak assured the guilty of impunity, and detained the +innocent in prison. On the eve of war the naval officers, threatened +with mutiny on board their vessels, and assassination on shore, had as +much to apprehend from their crews as from the enemy.</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>The same discords were fomented in all the garrisons between the +soldiers and the officers, and the insubordination of the troops was, in +the eyes of the clubs, the chief virtue of the army. The people every +where sided with the soldiers, and the officers were constantly +disturbed by conspiracies and revolts in the regiments. The fortified +towns were the theatres of military outbreaks, which invariably +terminated in the impunity of the soldier, and the imprisonment or the +forced emigration of the officers. The Assembly, the supreme and partial +judge, always decided in favour of insubordination: unable to restrain +the people, it flattered their excesses. Perpignan was a new proof of +this.</p> + +<p>In the night of the 6th of December, the officers of the regiment of +Cambrésis, in garrison in this town, went in a body to M. de Chollet, +the general who commanded the division, and urged him to retire into the +citadel, as they had learnt that a conspiracy was formed in the +regiment, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span> threatened alike his and their lives. M. de Chollet +complied with their earnest request, whilst they went to the barracks, +and ordered the men to follow them to the citadel. The soldiers replied +that they would only obey M. Desbordes, their lieutenant-colonel, in +whose patriotism they had the greatest confidence. M. Desbordes came, +and read to the soldiers the order of the general; but the inflexion of +his voice, the expression of his face, his glance, alike seemed to +protest against the order which his duty as a soldier compelled him to +communicate to them. The troops understood this mute appeal, and +declared that they would not quit their quarters, because the municipal +authorities had forbidden them: the national guard joined them and +patrolled the streets: the officers shut themselves up in the citadel, +and shots were fired from the ramparts. Lieutenant-Colonel Desbordes, +the national guard, the <i>gendarmerie</i>, and the regiments, stormed the +citadel. The officers of the regiment of Cambrésis were imprisoned by +their soldiers; one, however, escaped, and committed suicide on the +frontiers of Spain. The unfortunate general, Chollet, victim of the +violence of the officers and soldiers, was impeached with fifty +officers, or inhabitants of Perpignan. They were ordered before the high +national court of Orleans; and thus were fifty victims predestined to +perish in the massacre at Versailles.</p> + + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>Blood flowed every where. The clubs seduced the regiments; patriotic +motions, denunciations against the generals, perfidious insinuations +against the fidelity of the officers, were constantly instilled into the +minds of the army by the people. The officer was a prey to terror, the +soldier to mistrust. The premeditated plan of the Jacobins and +Girondists was to destroy in concert this body that was yet attached to +the king, deprive the nobility of their command, substitute plebeians +for nobles as officers, and thus give the army to the nation. In the +meantime they surrendered it to anarchy and sedition; but these two +parties finding that the disorganisation was not sufficiently rapid, +wished to sum up in one act the systematic corruption of the army, the +ruin of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> all military discipline, and the legal triumph of the +insurrection.</p> + +<p>We have already mentioned how prominent a part the Swiss regiment of +Châteauvieux had taken in the famous insurrection of Nancy during the +latter period of the existence of the Constituent Assembly. An army +under M. de Bouillé had been necessary to repress the armed revolt of +several regiments that threatened all France with the rule of the +tyrannical soldiery. M. de Bouillé, at the head of a body of troops from +Metz, and the battalions of the national guard, had surrounded Nancy, +and after a desperate contest at the gates, and in the streets of the +town, forced the rebels to lay down their arms. These vigorous measures +for the restoration of order were applauded by all parties, and +reflected equal glory on M. de Bouillé and disgrace on the soldiers. +Switzerland, by virtue of her treaties with France, preserved her right +of federal justice over the regiments of her nation, and this +essentially military country had tried by court-martial the regiment of +Châteauvieux. Twenty-four of the ringleaders had been condemned and +executed in expiation of the blood they had shed, and the fidelity they +had violated, the remainder had been decimated, and forty-one soldiers +now were undergoing their sentence on board the galleys at Brest. The +amnesty proclaimed by the king for the crimes committed during the civil +troubles, when he accepted the constitution, could not be applied to +these foreign soldiers, for the right to pardon belongs alone to those +who have the right to punish.</p> + +<p>Sentenced by the judgment of the Helvetian jurisdiction, neither the +king nor the Assembly could invalidate the judgment, or annul its +effects. The king had, at the entreaty of the Constituent Assembly, in +vain attempted to obtain the pardon of these soldiers from the Swiss +confederation.</p> + +<p>These fruitless negotiations served the Jacobins and the National +Assembly as food for accusation against M. de Montmorin. In vain did he +justify himself by alleging the impossibility of obtaining such an +amnesty from Switzerland, at a moment when this country, who had +suffered from civil commotions, sought to restore order by the laws of +Draco. "We shall be then the compulsory gaolers of this ferocious +people," cried Guadet and Collot d'Herbois. "France must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> then degrade +herself so far as to punish in her very ports those heroes who have +gained the people a triumph over the aristocratic officers, and shed +their blood for the nation instead of pouring it out in the cause of +despotism."</p> + +<p>Pastoret, an influential member of the moderate party, and who was said +to concert all his measures with the king, supported Guadet's motion, in +order to give the king popularity by an act agreeable to the nation; and +the freedom of the soldiers of Châteauvieux was voted by the Assembly. +The king, having delayed his sanction for some time, in order not to +wound the cantons by this violent usurpation of their rights over their +own countrymen, afforded the Jacobins fresh ground for imprecation and +invective against the court and the ministers. "The moment is come when +one man must perish for the safety of all," cried Manuel, "and this man +must be a minister; they all appear to me so guilty, that I firmly +believe the Assembly would be free from crime did it cause them to draw +lots for who should perish on the scaffold," "All, all," vociferated the +tribunes. But at this very moment Collot d'Herbois mounted the tribune, +and announced, amidst loud applause, that the royal assent to the decree +for their liberation had been given the previous evening, and that in a +few days he should present to his brother deputies these victims of +discipline.</p> + +<p>The soldiers of Châteauvieux were in reality advancing to Paris, having +been liberated from the galleys at Brest, and their march was one +continued triumph, but Paris prepared for them a still more brilliant +one through the exertions of the Jacobins. In vain did the Feuillants +and the Constitutionalists energetically protest, through the mouth of +André Chénier, the Tyrtæus of moderation and good sense, of Dupont de +Nemours, and the poet Roucher, against the insolent oration of the +assassins of the generous Désilles. Collot d'Herbois, Robespierre, the +Jacobins, the Cordeliers, and the very commune of Paris, clung to the +idea of this triumph, which, according to them, would cover with +opprobium the court and La Fayette. The feeble interposition of Pétion, +who appeared as though he wished to moderate the scandal, served only to +encourage it, for he of all men was most fitted to plunge the people +into the last degree of excess. His affected virtue served only to cloak +violence, and to cover<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span> with an hypocritical appearance of legality the +outbreaks he dared not punish; and had a representative of anarchy been +sought to be placed at the head of the commune of Paris, it could have +found no fitter type than Pétion. His paternal reprimands to the people +were but promises of impunity. The public force always arrived too late +to punish; excuse was always to be found for sedition, amnesty for +crime. The people felt that their magistrate was their accomplice and +their slave, and yet whilst they despised they loved him.</p> + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + +<p>"This <i>fête</i> that is preparing for these soldiers," wrote Chénier, "is +attributed to enthusiasm. For my part, I confess I do not perceive this +enthusiasm. I see a few men who create a degree of agitation, but the +rest are alarmed or indifferent. We are told that the national honour is +interested in this reparation,—I can scarcely comprehend this; for, +either the national guards of Metz, who put down the revolt of Nancy, +are enemies of the public weal, or the soldiers of Châteauvieux are +assassins: there is no medium. How, then, is the honour of Paris +interested in <i>fêting</i> the murderers of our brothers? Other profound +politicians say, this <i>fête</i> will humiliate those who have sought to +fetter the nation. What! in order to humiliate, according to their +judgment, a bad government, it is necessary to invent extravagances +capable of destroying every species of government—recompense rebellion +against the laws—crown foreign satellites for having shot French +citizens in an <i>émeute</i>. It is said, that in every place where this +procession passes, the statues will be veiled:—Ah! they will do well to +veil the whole city, if this hideous orgy takes place; but it is not +alone the statues of despots that should be veiled, but the face of +every good citizen. It will be the duty of every youth in the kingdom, +of every national guard in the kingdom to assume mourning on the day +when the murder of their brothers confers a title of glory on foreign +and seditious soldiers; it is the eyes of the army that should be +veiled, that they may not behold the reward of insubordination and +revolt; it is the National Assembly—the king—the administrators—the +country—that should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> veil their faces, in order that they may not +become complaisant or silent witnesses of the outrages offered to the +authorities and the country. The book of the law must be covered, when +those who have torn and stained its pages by musket-balls and sabre-cuts +receive the civic honours. Citizens of Paris, honest yet weak men, there +is not one of you who, when he interrogates his own heart, does not feel +how much the country—how much he its child—are insulted by these +outrages offered to the laws,—to those who execute them, and those who +are for them. Do you not blush that a handful of turbulent men, who +appear numerous because they are united and make a noise, should +constrain you to do their pleasure, by telling you it is your own, and +by amusing your puerile curiosity by unworthy spectacles? In a city that +respected itself, such a <i>fête</i> would find before it silence and +solitude, the streets and public places abandoned, the houses shut up, +the windows deserted, and the flight and scorn of the passers-by would +tell history what share honest and well-disposed men took in this +scandalous and bacchanalian procession."</p> + + +<h3>XVIII.</h3> + +<p>Collot d'Herbois insulted André Chénier and Roucher in his reply. +Roucher replied by a letter full of sarcasm, in which he reminded Collot +d'Herbois of his falls on the stage and his misadventures as an actor. +"This personage of comic romance," said he, "who has leapt from the +trestles of Punch to the tribune of the Jacobins, rushes at me, as +though to strike me with the oar the Swiss have brought him from the +galleys."</p> + +<p>Placards for or against the <i>fête</i> covered the walls of the Palais +Royal, and were alternately torn down by groups of young men or +Jacobins.</p> + +<p>Dupont de Nemours, the friend and master of Mirabeau, laid aside his +philosophical calm, to address a letter on the same subject to Pétion, +in which his conscience, as an honest man, braved the popularity of the +tribune. "When the danger is imminent, it is the duty of all honest men +to warn the magistrates of it. More particularly, when the magistrates +themselves create it. You told a falsehood when you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> asserted that these +soldiers had aided the Revolution on the 14th of July, and that they had +refused to combat against the people of Paris. It is untrue that the +Swiss refused to combat against the people of Paris, and it is true that +they assassinated the national guards of Nancy. You have the audacity to +term those men patriots who dare command the legislative body to send a +deputation to the <i>fête</i> prepared for these rebels; these are the men +whom you adopt as your friends; it is with them that you dine at <i>la +Rapée</i>, so that the general of the national guard is obliged to gallop +about for two hours to receive your orders before he can find you, and +you seek in vain to conceal your embarrassment by high-flown phrases. +You seek in vain to conceal this banquet given to assassins beneath the +pretext of a banquet in honour of liberty. But these subterfuges are no +longer available; the moment is urgent, and you will no longer deceive +the sections, the army, or the eighty-three departments. Those who rule +you, as they would a child, have agreed to surrender Paris to ten +thousand pikes, to whom the bar of the Assembly will be thrown open the +day the national guard is disarmed; the men destined to bear them arrive +every day, and Paris receives an accession of twelve or fifteen hundred +bandits every twenty-four hours, and beg, until the day of pillage +arrives, which they await as ravens await their prey.—I have not told +all;—generals are prepared for this hideous army. The friends of +Jourdan, impatient to behold the man whom the amnesty had not delivered +sufficiently soon, have broken open his prison at Avignon. Already, he +has been received in triumph in several cities of the south, like the +Swiss of the Châteauvieux, and will arrive at Paris to-morrow; Sunday he +will be present at the <i>fête</i> with his companions—with the two +Mainvielle—with Pegtavin;—with all those cold-blooded scoundrels who +have killed in one night sixty-eight defenceless persons, and violated +females before they murdered them. Catiline!—Cethegus!—march forward, +the soldiers of Sylla are in the city, and the consul himself undertakes +to disarm the Romans. The measure is full,—it overflows!"</p> + +<p>Pétion strove miserably to justify himself in a letter in which his +weakness and connivance revealed themselves beneath the multiplicity of +excuses. At the same time Robes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>pierre, mounting the tribune of the +Jacobins, exclaimed, "You do not trace to their source the obstacles +that oppose the expansion of the sentiments of the people. Against whom +think you that you have to strive? against the aristocracy?—No. Against +the court?—No. Against a general who has long entertained great designs +against the people. It is not the national guard that views these +preparations with alarm; it is the genius of La Fayette that conspires +in the staff; it is the genius of La Fayette that conspires in the +directory of the department; it is the genius of La Fayette that +perverts the minds of so many good citizens in the capital who would but +for him be with us.</p> + +<p>"La Fayette is the most dangerous of the enemies of liberty, because he +wears the mask of patriotism; it is he who, after having wrought all the +evil in his power in the Constituent Assembly, has affected to withdraw +to his estates, and then comes to strive for this post of mayor of +Paris, not to obtain it, but to refuse it, in order to affect +disinterestedness; it is he who has been appointed to the command of the +French armies, in order to turn them against the Revolution. The +national guards of Metz were as innocent as those of Paris, they can be +nothing but patriots; it is La Fayette who, through the medium of +Bouillé his relation and accomplice, has deceived them. How can we +inscribe on the banners of this fête, <i>Bouillé is alone guilty</i>? Who +sought to stifle the revolt at Nancy, and cover it with an impenetrable +veil? Who demands crowns for the assassins of the soldiers of +Châteauvieux? La Fayette. Who prevented me from speaking? La Fayette. +Who are those who now dart such threatening glances at me? La Fayette +and his accomplices." (Loud applause.)</p> + + +<h3>XIX.</h3> + +<p>The preparations for this ceremony gave rise to a still more exciting +drama at the National Assembly. At the opening of the sitting, a member +demanded that the forty soldiers of Châteauvieux should be admitted to +pay their respects to the legislative body. M. de Jaucourt opposed it: +"If these soldiers," said he, "are only admitted to express their +gratitude, I consent to their being admitted to the bar;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> but I demand +that afterwards they be not allowed to remain during the debate." The +speaker was interrupted by loud murmurs, and cries of <i>à bas! à bas!</i> +from the tribunes. "An amnesty is neither a triumph nor a civic crown," +continued he; "you cannot dishonour the names of the brave Désilles, or +of those generous citizens who perished defending the laws against them; +you cannot lacerate by this triumph the hearts of those among you who +took part in the expedition of Nancy. Allow a soldier, who was ordered +on this expedition with his regiment, to point out to you the effects +this decision would have on the army. (The murmurs redouble.) The army +will see in your conduct only an encouragement to insurrection; and +these honours will lead the soldiers to believe that you look on these +men, whom an amnesty has freed, not as men whose punishment was too +severe, but as innocent victims." The tumult here became so great that +M. de Jaucourt was forced to descend. But one of the members, who, it is +evident to all, was almost overpowered by emotion, took his place. It +was M. de Gouvion, a young officer, whose name was already gloriously +inscribed in the early pages of the annals of our wars. He was clothed +in deep black, and every feature of his face wore an expression of +intense grief, which inspired the Assembly with involuntary interest, +and the tumult was instantly changed into attention. His voice was +tremulous and scarcely audible at first; it was evident that indignation +as much as sorrow choked his utterance.</p> + +<p>"Gentlemen," said he, "I had a brother, a good patriot, who, through the +estimation in which he was held by his fellow citizens, had been +successively elected commandant of the national guard, and member for +the department. Ever ready to sacrifice himself for the revolution and +the law, it was in the name of the revolution and the law that he was +called upon to march to Nancy at the head of the brave national guards, +and there he fell pierced by five bayonet-wounds, and by the hand of +those who, ... I demand, if I am condemned to behold here the assassins +of my brother." "Well, then, leave the chamber," cried a stern voice. +The tribunes applauded this speech, more cruel and poignant than the +thrust of a dagger. Indignation enabled M. de Gouvion to overcome his +contempt. "Who is the dastard who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> himself in order to insult the grief +of a brother?" cried he, glancing around to discover the speaker. "I +will tell my name—'tis I," replied the deputy Choudieu, rising from his +seat. Loud applause from the tribunes followed this insult of +Choudieu's; it would seem as though this crowd had no longer any +feeling, and that passion triumphed over nature. But M. de Gouvion was +sustained by a sentiment stronger than popular fury—that of generous +despair; he continued: "As a man, I applauded the clemency of the +National Assembly when it burst the fetters of these unhappy soldiers +who were misled." He was again interrupted, but continued: "the decrees +of the Constituent Assembly, the orders of the king, the voice of their +officers, the cries of their country, all were unavailing; without +provocation on the part of the national guards of the two departments, +they fired on Frenchmen, and my brother fell a victim to his obedience +to the laws. No, I cannot remain silent, so long as the memory of the +national guards is disgraced by the honours decreed to these men who +murdered them."</p> + +<p>Couthon, a young Jacobin, seated not far from Robespierre, from whose +eyes he seemed to gain his secret inspirations, rose and replied to +Gouvion, without insulting him. "Who is the slave of prejudices that +would venture to dishonour men whom the law has absolved; who would not +repress his personal grief in the interest and the triumph of liberty?" +But Gouvion's voice touched that chord of justice and natural emotion +that always vibrates beneath the insensibility of opinion. Twice did the +Assembly, summoned by the president to vote for or against their +admission to the debate, rise in an even number for and against this +motion. And the secretaries, the judges of these decisions, hesitated to +pronounce on which side the majority was; they at length, after two +attempts, declared that the majority was in favour of the admission of +the Swiss; but the minority protested, and the <i>appel nominal</i> was +demanded. This pronounced a feeble majority that the Swiss should be +admitted; and they instantly entered, amidst the applause of the +tribunes, whilst the unfortunate Gouvion left the chamber by the +opposite door, his forehead scarlet with indignation, and vowing never +to set foot in that Assembly, where he was forced to behold and welcome +the murderers of his brother. He instantly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span> applied to the minister of +war to join the army of the north, and fell there.</p> + + +<h3>XX.</h3> + +<p>The soldiers were introduced, and Collot d'Herbois presented them to the +admiring tribunes. The national guard of Versailles, who had followed +them to the Assembly, defiled in the hall amidst the sound of drums, and +cries of "<i>Vive la Nation!</i>" Groups of citizens and females of Paris, +with tricoloured flags and pikes brandished over their heads, followed +them; then the members of the popular societies of Paris presented to +the president flags of honour given to the Swiss by the departments +which these conquerors had just traversed. The men of the 14th of July, +with Gouchon, the agitator of the faubourg St. Antoine, as their +spokesman, announced that this faubourg had fabricated 10,000 pikes to +defend their liberties and their country. This legitimate ovation, +offered by the Girondists and Jacobins to undisciplined soldiers, +authorised the people of Paris to decree to them the triumph of such an +infamous proceeding (<i>le triomphe du scandale</i>).</p> + +<p>It was no longer the people of liberty, but the people of anarchy; the +day of the 15th of April combined all its emblems. Revolt armed against +the laws, for instance, mutinous soldiers as conquerors; a colossal +galley, an instrument of punishment and shame, crowned with flowers as +an emblem; abandoned women and girls, collected from the lowest haunts +of infamy, carrying and kissing the broken fetters of these +galley-slaves; forty trophies, bearing the forty names of these Swiss; +civic crowns on the names of these murderers of citizens; busts of +Voltaire, Rousseau, Franklin, Sidney, the greatest philosophers and most +virtuous patriots, mingled with the ignoble busts of these malefactors, +and sullied by the contact; these soldiers themselves, astonished if not +ashamed of their glory, advancing in the midst of a group of rebellious +French-guard, in all the glorification of the forsaking of flags and +want of discipline; the march closed by a car imitating in its form the +prow of a galley, in this car the statue of Liberty armed in +anticipation with the bludgeon of September, and wearing the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> <i>bonnet +rouge</i>, an emblem borrowed from Phrygia by some, from the galleys by +others; the book of the constitution carried processionally in this +fête, as if to be present at the homage decreed to those who were armed +against the laws; bands of male and female citizens, the pikes of the +faubourg, the absence of the civic bayonets, fierce threats, theatrical +music, demagogic hymns, derisive halts at the Bastille, the +Hôtel-de-Ville, the Champ-de-Mars; at the altar of the country the vast +and tumultuous rounds danced several times by chains of men and women +round the triumphal galley, amidst the foul chorus of the air of the +<i>Carmagnole</i>; embraces, more obscene than patriotic, between these women +and the soldiers, who threw themselves into each others' arms; and in +order to put the cope-stone on this debasement of the laws, Pétion the +Maire of Paris, the magistrates of the people assisting personally at +this fête, and sanctioning this insolent triumph over the laws by their +weakness or their complicity. Such was this fête: an humiliating copy of +the 14th of July, an infamous parody of an insurrection, which parodied +a revolution!</p> + +<p>France blushed; good citizens were alarmed; the national guard began to +be afraid of pikes; the city to fear the faubourgs, and the army herein +received the signal of the most entire disorganisation.</p> + +<p>The indignation of the constitutional party burst forth in ironical +strophes in a hymn of André Chénier, in which that young poet avenged +the laws, and marked himself out for the scaffold.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Salut divin triomphe! Entre dans nos murailles!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Rends nous ces soldats, illustrés</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Par le sang de Désilles et par les funérailles</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">De nos citoyens massacrés!"<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK XI.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>The echo of these triumphs of insubordination and murder was felt every +where in the mutinous conduct of the troops, the disobedience of the +national guard, and the risings of the populace; whilst at Paris they +<i>fêted</i> the Swiss of Châteauvieux, the mob of Marseilles demanded with +much violence that the Swiss regiment of <i>Ernst</i> should be expelled from +the garrison at Aix, under pretext that they favoured the aristocracy, +and that the security of Provence was thereby menaced. On the refusal of +this regiment to quit the city, the Marseillaise marched upon Aix as the +Parisians had marched upon Versailles in the days of October. They by +violence compelled the national guard to accompany them, who had been +destined to repress them; they surrounded the regiment of Ernst with +cannon, made them lay down their arms, and shamefully drove them before +sedition. The national guard, a force essentially revolutionary, because +it participates, like the people, in the opinions, feelings, and +passions, which, as a civic guard, it ought to repress, followed in +every direction, from weakness or example, the fickle impressions of the +mob. How could men, just leaving clubs, where they had been listening +to, applauding, and frequently exciting sedition in patriotic +discourses,—how could they, changing their feelings and part at the +door of popular societies, take arms against the seditious? Thus they +remained spectators, when they were not accomplices, of insurrections. +The scarcity of colonial produce, the dearness of grain, the rigour of a +hard winter, all contributed to disturb the people: the agitators turned +all these misfortunes of the times into accusations and grounds of +hatred against royalty.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The government, powerless and disarmed, was rendered responsible for the +severities of nature. Secret emissaries, armed bands, went amongst the +towns and cities where markets were held, and there disseminated the +most alarming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> reports, provoking the people to tax grain and flour, +stigmatising the corn-dealers as monopolists—the perfidious charge of +monopoly being a sure sentence of death. The fear of being accused of +starving the people checked every speculation of business, and tended +much more than actual want to the dearth of the markets. Nothing is so +scarce as a commodity which is concealed. The corn-stores were crimes in +the eyes of consumers of bread. The Maire of Etampes, Simoneau, an +honest man, and an intrepid magistrate, was one victim sacrificed to the +people's suspicions. Etampes was one of the great markets that supplied +Paris. It was therefore necessary for it to preserve the liberty of +commerce and the supply of flour. A mob, composed of men and women of +the adjacent villages, assembling at the sound of the tocsin, marched +upon the city one market-day, preceded by drums, armed with guns and +pitchforks, in order to carry off the grain by force from the +proprietors, divide it amongst themselves, and to exterminate, as they +declared, the monopolists, amongst whom sinister voices mingled in low +tones the name of Simoneau. The national guard disappeared, a detachment +of one hundred men of the eighteenth regiment of cavalry were at +Etampes, and the sole force at the Maire's disposal.</p> + +<p>The officer answered for these soldiers <i>as for himself</i>. After long +conversations with the seditious, to bring them back to reason and the +law, Simoneau returned to the <i>maison commune</i>, ordered the red flag to +be unfurled, proclaimed martial law, and then advanced upon the rebels, +surrounded by the municipal body, and in the centre of the armed force; +on reaching the square of the town, the crowd surrounded and cut off the +detachment. The troopers left the Maire exposed—not one drew his sword +in his defence. In vain did he summon them, in the name of the law, and +by the weapons they wore, to render aid to the magistrate against +assassins—in vain did he seize the bridle of one of the horsemen near +him, crying, "<i>Help, my friends</i>."</p> + +<p>Struck by blows of pitchforks and guns, at the moment when he appealed +to the soldiery, he fell, shot, grasping in his hands the bridle of the +cowardly trooper whom he was entreating: the fellow, in order to +disengage himself, struck with the back of his sabre the arm of the +Maire already dead, and left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> his body to the insults of the people. The +miscreants, remaining in possession of the carcase, brutally mangled the +palpitating limbs, and deliberated together as to cutting off the head. +The leaders made their followers defile passing over the body of the +Maire, and trampling in his blood. Then they went away beating their +drums, and went to get drunk in the suburbs; and the taking away the +grain, the apparent motive of the riot, was neglected in the moment of +triumph. There was no pillage—either the blood made the people forget +their hunger, or their hunger was but the pretext for assassination.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>At the moment when all was thus crumbling to pieces round the throne, a +man, celebrated by the vast part attributed to him in the common ruin, +sought to reconcile himself with the king: this was Louis-Philippe +Joseph, Duc d'Orléans, first prince of the blood. I pause for this man, +before whom history has hitherto paused, without being able to discover +the real place which should be assigned to him amongst the passing +events. An enigma to himself, he remains an enigma for posterity. Was +the real solution of this enigma ambition or patriotism, weakness or +conspiracy? Let facts reply.</p> + +<p>Public opinion has its prejudices. Struck by the immensity of the work +it accomplishes; giddy, as it were, by the rapidity of the movement +which urges things on, it cannot believe that a series of natural +causes, combined by Providence with the rise of certain ideas in the +human mind, and aided by the coincidence of the times, can of itself +produce such vast commotions. It seeks, then, the supernatural—the +wonderful—fatality. It takes pleasure in imagining latent causes acting +with mystery, and compelling with hidden hand men and events. It takes, +in a word, every revolution for a conspiracy; and if it meets at +starting, in the middle, or at the end of such crises some leading man, +to whose interest these events may tend, it supposes itself the author, +attributes to itself all the action of these revolutions, and all the +scope of idea that accomplishes them; and, fortunate or unfortunate, +innocent or guilty, claims for itself all the glory or demerit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span> of the +result. It renders its name divine, or its memory accursed. Such, for +fifty years, was the destiny of the Duc d'Orleans.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>It is a historic tradition amongst people from the highest antiquity, +that the throne wears out royal races, and that whilst the reigning +branches grow enervated by the possession of empire, younger branches +become stronger and greater, by nourishing the ambition of becoming more +powerful, and inspiring more closely to the people an air less corrupt +than that which pervades courts. Thus, whilst primogeniture gives power +to the elder, the people confer popularity on the juniors.</p> + +<p>This singularity of a handsomer and more popular family than the +reigning family, increasing near the throne, and having a dangerous +rivalry with the throne in the mind of the nation, had always existed in +the house of Orleans, since the time of Louis XIV. If this equivocal +situation gave to the princes of this family some virtues, it gave them +also corresponding vices. More intelligent and more ambitious than the +king's sons, they were also more restless. The very restraint in which +the policy of the reigning house kept them, condemned their idea or +their courage to inaction, and forced them to misapply, in +irregularities or indolence, the faculties with which nature had endowed +them, and the immense fortune for which they had no other occupation: +too great for citizens, too dangerous at the head of armies or in +affairs, they had no place either amongst the people or at court; and +thus they assumed it in opinion.</p> + +<p>The Regent, a very superior man, long kept down by the inferiority of +his part, had been the most brilliant example of all the virtues and all +the vices of the blood of Orleans. Since the Regent, the princes +endowed, like himself, with natural wit and courage, had felt the glory +of great actions in their early youth. They had then again fallen back +into obscurity, pleasures or devotion, by the jealousy of the reigning +house. At the first show of brilliancy attached to their name, it had +been darkened. Guilty by their very merit, their name urged them on to +glory; and as soon as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> they proved themselves deserving, it was +forbidden to them. These princes were destined to transmit with their +family honours that impatience of a change of government which allows +them to be men.</p> + +<p>Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duc d'Orleans, was born at the precise epoch, +when his rank, fortune, and character were to throw him into a current +of new ideas, which his family passions called on him to favour, and +into which, once drawn, it would be impossible for him to pause except +at the throne or the scaffold. He was twenty when the first symptoms of +the Revolution manifested themselves.</p> + +<p>He was handsome, like all his race. Slender figure, firm step, smiling +countenance, piercing glance, limbs made supple by all bodily exercises, +with a heart disposed to love, and a splendid horseman, that great +accomplishment of princes; a condescension void of familiarity, a ready +eloquence, unquestionable courage, liberal to the arts, even to +extravagance; those faults which are only due to the luxuries of the +age, all marked him out as a popular favourite. He took every advantage +of it; and, perhaps, his early intoxication with it somewhat affected +his natural good sense. The love of the people appeared to him a means +of avenging himself for the contempt in which the court neglected him. +In his mind he braved the king of Versailles, feeling himself king of +Paris.</p> + +<p>He had married a princess of a race as beloved by the people; the only +daughter of the Duc de Penthièvre. Lovely, amiable, and virtuous, she +brought to her husband as dowry, with the vast fortune of the Duc de +Penthièvre, that amount of consideration and public esteem which +belonged to her house. The first political act of the Duc d'Orleans was +a bold resistance to the wishes of the court, at the period of the exile +of the parliaments. Exiled himself in his chateau of +<i>Villars-Cotterêts</i>, the esteem and interest of the people followed him. +The applauses of France sweetened the disgrace of the court. He believed +that he comprehended the part of a great citizen in a free country; he +desired to do so. He forgot too easily, in the atmosphere of adulation +which surrounded him, that a man is not a great citizen only to please +the people, but to defend—serve—and frequently to resist them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p> + +<p>Returned to Paris, he was desirous of joining the <i>prestige</i> of glory of +arms to the civic crowns, with which his name was already decorated. He +solicited of the court the dignity of <i>grand-admiral</i> of France, the +survivorship of which belonged to him, after the Duc de Penthièvre, his +father-in-law. He was refused. He embarked as a volunteer on board the +fleet, commanded by the Comte d'Orvilliers, and was at the battle of +Ouessant on the 17th of July, 1778. The results of this fight, when +victory remained without conquest, in consequence of a false +manœuvre, were imputed to the weakness of Duc d'Orleans, who wished +to check the pursuit of the enemy. This dishonouring report, invented +and disseminated by court hatred, soured the resentments of the young +prince, but could not hide the brilliancy of his courage, which he +displayed in caprices unworthy of his rank. At St. Cloud he sprang into +the first balloon that carried aerial navigators into space. Calumny +followed him even there, and a report was spread that he had burst the +balloon with a thrust of his sword, in order to compel his companions to +descend. Then arose between the court and himself a continual struggle +of boldness on the one hand and slander on the other. The king treated +him, however, with the indulgence which virtue testifies for youth's +follies. The Comte d'Artois took him as the constant companion of his +pleasures. The queen, who liked the Comte d'Artois, feared for him the +contagion of the disorders and amours of the Duc d'Orleans. She hated +equally in this young prince the favourite of the people of Paris and +the corrupter of the Comte d'Artois. She made the king purchase the +almost royal palace of St. Cloud, the favourite seat of the Duc +d'Orleans. Infamous insinuations against him were incessantly +transpiring from the half confidences of courtiers. He was accused of +having induced courtezans to poison the blood of the Prince de Lamballe, +his brother-in-law, and of having enervated him in debauches, in order +that he might be the sole heir of the immense property of the house of +Penthièvre. This crime was the pure invention of malice.</p> + +<p>Thus persecuted by the animosity of the court, the Duc d'Orleans was +more and more driven to retirement. In his frequent visits to England he +formed a close intimacy with the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne, +who took for his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> friends all the enemies of his father; playing with +sedition, dishonoured by debts, of scandalous life, prolonging beyond +the usual term those excesses of princes—horses, pleasure of the table, +gaming, women; abetting the intrigues of Fox, Sheridan and Burke, and +prefacing his advent to royal power by all the audacity of a refractory +son and a factious citizen.</p> + +<p>The Duc d'Orleans thus tasted of the joys of liberty in a London life. +He brought back to France habits of insolence against the court, a taste +for popular disturbances, contempt for his own rank, familiarity with +the multitude, a citizen's life in a palace, and that simple style of +dress, which by abandoning the uniform of the French nobility, and +blending attire generally, soon destroyed all inequalities of costume +amongst citizens.</p> + +<p>Then given up entirely to the exclusive care of repairing his impaired +fortune, the Duc d'Orleans constructed the <i>Palais Royal</i>. He changed +the noble and spacious gardens of his palace into a market of luxury, +devoted by day to traffic, and by night to play and debauchery—a +complete sink of iniquities, built in the heart of the capital—a work +of cupidity which antique manners never could forgive this prince; and +which, being gradually adopted like the forum by the indolence of the +Parisian population, was destined to become the cradle of the +Revolution. This Revolution was striding onwards. The prince awaited it +in supineness, as if liberty of the world had been but one more +mistress.</p> + +<p>His well-known hatred against the court had naturally drawn into his +acquaintance all who desired a change. The Palais Royal was the elegant +centre of a conspiracy with open doors, for the reform of government: +the philosophy of the age there encountered politics and literature: it +was the palace of opinion. Buffon came there constantly to pass the +latter evenings of his life. Rousseau there received at a distance the +only worship which his proud sensitiveness would accept even from +princes. Franklin and the American republicans; Gibbon and the orators +of the English opposition, Grimm and the German philosophers, Diderot, +Siéyès, Sillery, Laclos, Suard, Florian, Raynal, La Harpe, and all the +thinkers or writers who anticipated the new mind, met there with +celebrated artists and <i>savans</i>. Voltaire himself, pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>scribed from +Versailles by the human respect of a court, which admired his genius, +had arrived thither on his last journey. The prince presented to him his +children, one of whom reigns to-day over France. The dying philosopher +blessed them, as he did those of Franklin, in the name of reason and +liberty.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>If the prince himself had not a love of literature and a highly refined +mind, he had sufficiently cultivated his mind to appreciate perfectly +the pleasures of the understanding; but the revolutionary feeling +instinctively counselled him to surround himself with all the strength +that might one day serve liberty. Early tired of the beauty and virtue +of the Duchesse d'Orleans, he had conceived for a lovely, witty, +insinuating woman a sentiment which did not enchain the caprices of his +heart, but which controlled his inconsistency and directed his mind. +This woman, then seducing and since celebrated, was the Comtess de +Sillery-Genlis, daughter of the Marquis Ducret de Saint Aubin, a +gentleman of Charolais, without fortune. Her mother, who was still young +and handsome, had brought her to Paris, to the house of M. de la +Popelinière, a celebrated financier, whose old age she had taken +captive. She educated her daughter for that doubtful destiny which +awaits women on whom nature has lavished beauty and mind, and to whom +society has refused their right position—adventuresses in society, +sometimes raised, sometimes degraded.</p> + +<p>The first masters formed this child by all the arts of mind and +hand—her mother directed her to ambition. The second-rate position of +this mother at the house of her opulent protector, formed the child to +the plasticity and adulation which her mother's domestic condition +required and illustrated. At sixteen years of age her precocious beauty +and musical talent caused her to be already sought in the <i>salons</i>. Her +mother produced her there in the dubious publicity between the theatre +and the world. An <i>artiste</i> for some, she was, with others, a well +educated girl; all were attracted by her: old men forgot their age. +Buffon called her "<i>ma fille</i>." Her relationship with Madame de +Montesson,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span> widow of the Duc d'Orleans, gave her a footing in the house +of the young prince. The Comte de Sillery-Genlis fell in love with her, +and married her in spite of his family's opposition. Friend and +confidant of the Duc d'Orleans, the Comte de Sillery obtained for his +wife a place at the court of the Duchesse d'Orleans. Time and her +ability did the rest.</p> + +<p>The duke attached himself to her with the twofold power of admiration +for her beauty and admiration of her superior understanding—the one +empire confirmed the other. The complaints of the insulted duchess only +made the duke more obstinate in his liking. He was governed, and +desirous of having his feelings honoured, he announced it openly, merely +seeking to colour it under the pretext of the education of his children. +The Comtesse de Genlis followed at the same time the ambition of courts +and the reputation of literature. She wrote with elegance those light +works which amuse a woman's idle hours, whilst they lead their hearts +astray into imaginary amours. Romances, which are to the west what opium +is to the Orientals, waking day-dreams, had become necessities and +events for the <i>salons</i>. Madame de Genlis wrote in a graceful style, and +clothed her characters and ideas with a certain affectation of austerity +which gave a becomingness to love: she moreover affected an universal +acquaintance with the sciences, which made her sex disappear before the +pretensions of her mind, and which recalled in her person those women of +Italy who profess philosophy with a veil over their countenances.</p> + +<p>The Duc d'Orleans, an innovator in every thing, believed he had found in +a woman the Mentor for his sons. He nominated her governor of his +children. The duchess, greatly annoyed, protested against this; the +court laughed, and the people were amazed. Opinion, which yields to all +who brave it, murmured, and then was silent. The future proved that the +father was right: the pupils of this lady were not princes but men. She +attracted to the Palais Royal all the dictators of public opinion. The +first club in France was thus held in the very apartments of a prince of +the blood. Literature, concealed from without these meetings as the +madness of the first Brutus concealed his vengeance. The duke was not, +perhaps, a conspirator, but henceforth there was an Orleans party. +Siéyès, the mystic oracle of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> Revolution, who seemed to carry it on +his pensive front, and brood over it in silence; the Duc de Lauzun, +passing from the confidence of Trianon to the consultations of the +Palais Royal; Laclos, a young officer of artillery, author of an obscene +romance, capable at need of elevating romantic intrigue to a political +conspiracy; Sillery, soured against his order, at enmity with the court, +an ambitious malcontent, awaiting nothing but what the future might +bring forth; and others more obscure, but not less active, and serving +as unknown guides for descending from the <i>salons</i> of a prince into the +depths of the people: some the head, others the arms, of the duke's +ambition, attended these meetings. Perhaps they might be ignorant of the +aim, but they placed themselves on the declivity, and allowed Fortune to +do as she pleased. Fortune was a revolution. The wonderful, that marvel +of the masses, which is to the imagination what calculation is to +reason, was not wanting to the Orleans party. Prophecies, those popular +presentiments of destiny, domestic prodigies, admitted by the interested +credulity of numerous clients of this house, announced the throne +shortly to one of these princes. These rumours were rife amongst the +people, from themselves, or the skilful insinuations of the partisans of +the house of Orleans. In the convocation of States-General, the duke had +not hesitated to pronounce in favour of the most popular reforms. The +instructions which he had drawn up for the electors of his dominions +were the work of the abbé Siéyès. The prince himself intrigued for the +name and style of <i>Citoyen</i>. Elected deputy of the noblesse of Paris at +Crespy and at Villars-Cotterêts, he selected Crespy, because the +electors of this bailiwick were the more patriotic. At the procession of +the States-General he left his own place vacant amongst the princes, and +walked in the midst of the deputies. This abdication of his dignity near +the throne to assume the dignity of a citizen, procured him the +applauses of the nation.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>Public favour towards him was such that had he been a Duc de Guise, and +Louis XVI. a Henry III., the States-General would have finished, as did +those of Blois, by an assassination or usurpation. Uniting with the +<i>tiers état</i>, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> obtain equality and the friendship of the nation +against the nobility, he took the oath of the Tennis Court. He took his +place behind Mirabeau, to disobey the king. Nominated president by the +National Assembly, he refused this honour in order to remain a citizen. +The day on which the dismissal of Necker betrayed the hostile projects +of the court, and when the people of Paris named its leaders and +defenders by acclamation, the name of the Duc d'Orleans was the first +uttered. France took in the gardens of the palace the colours of his +livery for a cockade. At the voice of Camille Desmoulins, who uttered +the cry of alarm in the Palais Royal, the populace gathered, Legendre +and Fréron led them; they placed the bust of the Duc d'Orleans beside +that of Necker, covered them with black crape, and promenaded them, +bareheaded themselves, in the presence of the silent citizens. Blood +flowed; the dead body of one of the citizens who carried the busts, +killed by the mob, serving as a standard to the people. The Duc +d'Orleans was thus mixed up from his palace—his name and his +image—with the first struggle and first murder of liberty. This was +enough to make it believed that his hand moved all the threads of +events. Whether from lack of boldness or ambition, he never assumed the +appearance of the part which public opinion assigned to him. He did not +then appear to push things beyond the conquest of a constitution for his +country, and the character of a great patriot for himself. He respected +or despised the throne. One or other of these feelings gave him +importance in the eyes of history. All the world was of his party except +himself.</p> + +<p>Impartial men did honour to his moderation, the revolutionists imputed +shame to his character. Mirabeau, who was seeking a pretender to +personify the revolt, had had secret interviews with the Duc d'Orleans; +had tested his ambition, to judge if it aspired to the throne. He had +left him dissatisfied; he had even betrayed his dissatisfaction by angry +phrases. Mirabeau required a conspirator; he had only found a patriot. +What he despised in the Duc d'Orleans was not the meditation of a crime, +but the refusal to be his accomplice. He had not anticipated such +scruples; he revenged himself by terming this carelessness about the +throne the cowardice of an ambitious man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span></p> + +<p>La Fayette instinctively hated in the Duc d'Orleans an influential +rival. He accused the prince of fomenting troubles which he felt himself +powerless to repress. It was asserted that the Duc d'Orleans and +Mirabeau had been seen mingled with groups of men and women, and +pointing to the château. Mirabeau defended himself by a smile of +contempt. The Duc d'Orleans proved his innocence in a more serious +manner. An assassination which should kill the king or queen would still +leave the monarchy, the laws of the kingdom, and the princes inheritors +of the throne. He could not mount to it except over the dead bodies of +five persons placed by nature between himself and his ambition. These +steps of crime could only have incurred the execrations of the nation, +and must have even wearied the assassins themselves. Besides, he proved +by numerous and undeniable witnesses that he had not gone to Versailles +either on the 4th or 5th of October. Quitting Versailles on the 3rd, +after the sitting of the National Assembly, he had returned to Paris. He +had passed the day of the 4th in his palace and gardens at Mousseaux. On +the 5th, he again was at Mousseaux; his cabriolet having broken down on +the boulevard, he had gone on foot by the Champs Elysées. He had passed +the day at Passy with his children and Madame de Genlis. He had supped +at Mousseaux with some intimate friends, and slept again in Paris. It +was not until the 6th, in the morning, that, informed of the events of +the previous evening, he had gone to Versailles, and that his carriage +had been stopped at the bridge of Sèvres, by the mob carrying the +bleeding heads of the king's guard.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> If this was not the conduct of a +prince of the blood, who flies to the succour of his king and places +himself at the foot of the throne, between the threatened sovereign and +the people, neither<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span> was it that of an audacious usurper who tempts +revolt by occasion, and at least presents to the people a completed +crime.</p> + +<p>The conduct of this prince was but that of one who looks to a contingent +reversion: either that he would not receive the crown except by a +fatality of events, and without thrusting forth his hand to fortune, or +that he had more indifference than ambition for supreme power, or that +he would not place his royalty as a check upon the way of liberty; that +he sincerely desired a republic, and that the title of first citizen of +a free nation appeared to him greater than that of king.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>However, a short time after the days of the 5th and 6th October, La +Fayette desired to break off the intimacy between the Duc d'Orleans and +Mirabeau. He resolved at all risks to compel the prince to remove from +the scene, and by an exercise of moral restraint or the fear of a state +prosecution, to absent himself and go to London. He made the king and +queen enter into his plans, by alarming them as to the prince's +intrigues, and designating him as a competitor for the throne. La +Fayette said one day to the queen, that this prince was the only man +upon whom the suspicion of so lofty an ambition could fall. "Sir," +replied the queen, with a look of incredulity, "is it necessary then to +be a prince in order to pretend to the throne?" "At least, madam," +replied the general, "I only know the Duc d'Orleans who aspires to it." +La Fayette presumed too much on the prince's ambition.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>Mirabeau, discouraged at the hesitations and scruples of the Duc +d'Orleans, and finding him above or below crime, cast him off like a +despised accomplice of ambition, and tried to ally himself with La +Fayette, who, possessed of the armed force, and who saw in Mirabeau the +whole of the moral force, smiled at the idea of a duumvirate, which +could assume to themselves empire. There were secret interviews at Paris +and at Passy between these two rivals. La Fayette rejecting every idea +of an usurpation profitable to the prince, declared to Mirabeau that he +must renounce every conceived<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> plot against the queen if he would come +to an understanding with him. "Well, general," replied Mirabeau, "since +you will have it so, let her live! A humbled queen may be fit for +something, but a queen with her throat cut is only good as the subject +of a bad tragedy!" This atrocious remark, which treated the bloodshed of +a woman as a jest, was subsequently known by the queen, who however +forgave Mirabeau, and did not allow it to interfere with her <i>liaisons</i> +with the great orator. But the cold-blooded infamy must have found its +way to her heart as an ominous warning of what she might fear hereafter.</p> + +<p>La Fayette, sure of the consent of the king and queen, supported by the +feelings of the national guard, who were growing weary of factions and +the factious, ventured to assume quietly towards the prince the tone of +a dictator, and to pronounce against him an arbitrary exile under the +appearance of a mission freely accepted. He sent to request of the Duc +d'Orleans a meeting at the Marquise de Coigny's, a noble intelligent +lady attached to La Fayette, and in whose <i>salon</i> the Duc d'Orleans +occasionally met him. After a conversation, heard by the walls alone, +but the result of which showed its tenor, and which Mirabeau, to whom it +was communicated, termed <i>very imperious on the one side, and very +resigned on the other</i>, it was agreed that the Duc d'Orleans should +forthwith set out for London. The friends of the prince induced him to +change his resolution that same night, and he sent La Fayette a note to +this effect. La Fayette requested another interview, in which he called +upon him to keep his word, enjoined him to depart in twenty-four hours, +and then conducted him to the king. There the prince accepted the +feigned mission, and promised to leave nothing neglected to expose in +England the plots of the conspirators of the kingdom. "You are more +interested than any one," said La Fayette in the king's presence, "for +no one is more compromised than yourself." Mirabeau, cognisant of this +oppression of La Fayette and the court over the mind of the Duc +d'Orleans, offered his services to the duke, and tempted him with the +last offers of supreme power. The subject of his address to the Assembly +was already prepared: he intended to denounce, as a conspiracy of +despotism, this <i>coup d'état</i> against one citizen, in which the liberty +of all citizens was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> attempted. "This violation of the inviolability of +the representatives of the nation in the palpable exile of a prince of +the blood; he was to point out La Fayette, making use of the royal hand +to strike the rivals of his popularity, and to cover his own insolent +dictatorship under the venerated sanction of the chief of the nation and +the head of the family." Mirabeau had no doubt of the resentment of the +Assembly against so odious an attempt, and promised the friends of the +Duc d'Orleans one of those returns of opinion which raise a man to a +higher elevation than that from which he has fallen. This language, +backed by the entreaties of Laclos, Sillery, Lauzun, a second time shook +the prince's resolution. He saw now disgrace in this voluntary exile, +where at first he had only seen magnanimity. At the break of day he +wrote that he declined the mission. La Fayette then sent for him to the +minister for foreign affairs. There the prince, again overcome, wrote to +the Assembly a letter, which destroyed beforehand all the denunciation +of Mirabeau. "My enemies pretend," said the duke to La Fayette, "that +you boast of having against me proofs of my share in the attempts of the +5th of October." "They are rather my enemies who say so," replied La +Fayette: "if I had proofs against you I should already have arrested +you. I have none, but I am seeking for them." The Duc d'Orleans went. +Nine months had passed away since his return. The Constituent Assembly +had left, without any other defence than anarchy, the constitution it +had so lately voted. Disorder prevailed throughout the kingdom: the +first acts of the Legislative Assembly announced the hesitation of a +people which halts on a declivity, but is doomed to descend to the very +bottom.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>The Girondists, at the first step going a-head of the Barnaves and +Lameths, showed a disposition to push France, all unprepared, into a +republic. The Duc d'Orleans, whose long residence in England had allowed +him to reflect at a distance from the attractions of events and +factions, felt his Bourbon blood rise within him. He did not cease to be +a patriot, but he understood that the safety of the country on the brink +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> a war was not in the destruction of the executive power. +Unquestionably pity for the king and queen awakened in a heart in which +hatred had not stifled every generous feeling. He felt himself too much +avenged by the days of 5th and 6th October, by the humiliation of the +king before the Assembly, by the daily insults of the populace under the +windows of Marie Antoinette, and by the fearful nights of this family, +whose palace was but a prison; and perhaps also he feared for himself +the ingratitude of revolutions.</p> + +<p>He had gone to England on compulsion, and had remained there under the +idea, which was perfectly just, that his name might be used as a pretext +for agitation in Paris. Laclos had gone to him in London from time to +time to try again to tempt the exile's ambition, and make him ashamed of +a deference for La Fayette, which France took to be cowardice. The +prince's pride was roused at this, and he threatened to return; but the +representations of M. de la Luzerne, minister of France in England, +those of M. de Boinville, one of La Fayette's aides-de-camp, and his own +reflections, had prevailed over the incitements of Laclos. Proof of this +is found in a note of M. de la Luzerne's, found in an iron chest amongst +the king's secret papers. "I attest," says M. de la Luzerne, "that I +have presented to M. the Duc d'Orleans, M. de Boinville, aide-de-camp of +M. de La Fayette, that M. de Boinville declared to the Duc d'Orleans +that they were very uneasy as to the troubles which might at this moment +be excited in Paris by malcontents, who would not scruple to make use of +his name to disturb the capital, and perhaps the kingdom; and he was +urged on these grounds to protract the time of his departure. The Duc +d'Orleans, unwilling in any way to afford plea or pretext for any +disturbance of public tranquillity, consented to delay his return."</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>He at last left England, and on his return made several fruitless +attempts to be again employed in the navy. Whilst his mind was thus +wavering, he received the intelligence, through M. Bertrand de +Molleville, that the king had nominated him to the rank of admiral. The +Duc d'Orleans went to thank the minister, and added that, "He was +rejoiced at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> the honour the king conferred on him, as it would give him +an opportunity of communicating to the king his real sentiments, which +had been odiously calumniated. I am very unfortunate," continued he; "my +name has been involved in all the crimes imputed to me, and I have been +deemed guilty, because I disdained to justify myself; but time will show +whether my conduct belies my words."</p> + +<p>The air of frankness and good faith, and the significant tone with which +the Duc d'Orleans uttered these words, struck the minister, who until +then had been greatly prejudiced against his innocence. He inquired if +his royal highness would consent to repeat these expressions to the +king, as they would rejoice his majesty, and he feared that they might +lose some of their force if repeated by himself. The duke eagerly +embraced the idea of seeing the king, if the king would receive him, and +expressed his intention of presenting himself at the chateau the next +day. The king, informed of this by his minister, awaited the prince, and +had a long and private conference with him.</p> + +<p>A confidential document, written with the prince's own hand, and drawn +up in order to justify his memory in the eyes of his children and his +friends, informs us of what passed at this interview. "The +ultra-democrats," said the Duc d'Orleans, "deemed that I wished to make +France a republic; the ambitious, that I wished, by my popularity, to +force the king to resign the administration of the kingdom into my +hands; lastly, the virtuous and patriotic had the illusion of their own +virtue concerning me, for they deemed that I sacrificed myself entirely +to the public good. The one party deemed me worse than I was; the +others, better. I have merely followed my nature, and that impelled me, +above all, to liberty. I fancied I saw her image in the parliaments, +which at least possessed her tone and forms, and I embraced this phantom +of representative freedom. Thrice did I sacrifice myself for those +parliaments; twice from a conviction on my part; the third, not to belie +what I had previously done. I had been in England; I had there seen true +liberty, and I doubted not that the States-General, and France also, +wished to obtain freedom. Scarcely had I foreseen that France would +possess citizens, than I wished to be one of these citizens myself, and +I made unhesitatingly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> the sacrifice of all the rank and privileges that +separated me from the nation: they cost me nothing; I aspired to be a +deputy—I was one. I sided with the <i>tiers état</i>, not from factious +feeling, but from justice. In my opinion, it was impossible to prevent +the completion of the Revolution, although some persons around the king +thought otherwise. The troops were assembled, and surrounded the +National Assembly. Paris imagined it was threatened, and rose <i>en +masse</i>; the Gardes Françaises, who lived amongst the people, followed +the stream, and the report was circulated that I had bribed this +regiment with my gold. I will frankly declare my opinion: if the Gardes +Françaises had acted differently, I should in that case have deemed they +had been bought over; for their hostility against the people of Paris +would have been unnatural. My bust was earned with that of M. Necker on +the 14th of July. Why? because this minister, on whom every public hope +reposed, was the idol of the nation, and because my name was amongst the +list of those deputies of the Assembly, who, it was said, were to have +been arrested by the troops summoned to Versailles. Amidst all these +events, so favourable to a factious man, what was my behaviour? I +withdrew from the eyes of the people: I did not flatter their excesses, +but retired to my house at Mousseaux, where I passed the night; and the +next morning I went, unattended, to the National Assembly at Versailles. +At the fortunate moment when the king resolved to cast himself into the +arms of the Assembly, I refused to form one of the deputation of members +despatched to Paris to announce these tidings to the capital, for I +feared lest some of the homages which the city owed to the king alone +might be paid to me. And such was again my conduct on the days of +October; I again absented myself, not to add fresh fuel to the +excitement of the people; and I only reappeared when calm again +prevailed. I was met at Sèvres by the bands of straggling assassins, who +bore back the bleeding heads of the king's guards: these men stopped my +carriage, and fired on the postilion. Thus I, who was the pretended +leader of these men, narrowly escaped being their victim, and owed my +safety to a body of the national guard, who escorted me to Versailles; +and as I went to wait on the king I repressed the last murmurs of the +people in the Cour des Ministres<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span> I signed the decree which declared the +Assembly inseparable from the person of the king. It was at this time +that M. de La Fayette called on me, and informed me of the king's desire +that I should quit Paris, in order to afford no pretext for popular +tumult. Convinced now, that the Revolution was accomplished, and only +fearing the troubles with which attempts might be made to fetter its +onward progress, I unhesitatingly obeyed, only demanding the consent of +the National Assembly to my departure; this they granted, and I left +Paris. The inhabitants of Boulogne, who had been worked upon by an +intrigue which may be laid to my charge, but to which I was a stranger, +since I would not yield to it, wished forcibly to detain me, and opposed +my embarkation. I confess I was much touched, but I did not yield to +this violent manifestation of public favour, and I myself persuaded them +to return to their allegiance. Advantage has been taken of this voyage +and my absence to impute to me, without refutation on my part, the most +odious crimes. It was I who wished to force the king to fly with the +Dauphin from Versailles,—but Versailles is not France; the king would +have found his army and the nation when once he left this town, and the +only result of my ambition would be civil war, and, a military +dictatorship given to the king. But the Count de Provence was alive; he +was the natural heir to the throne thus abandoned. He was popular; he +had, like myself, joined the commons,—thus I should only have laboured +for him. But the Count d'Artois was in safety in another country, his +children were secure from my pretended murders, they were nearer the +throne than myself. What a series of follies, absurdities, or useless +crimes! The French nation, amidst the Revolution, have neither changed +their character nor their sentiments. I fully believe that the Count +d'Artois, whom I have myself loved, will prove this. I believe that by +drawing nearer to a monarch whom he loves, and by whom he is loved, and +to a people to whose love his brilliant qualities give him so great a +right, he will, when these troubles have ceased, enjoy this portion of +his inheritance, the love which the most sensible and affectionate of +nations has vowed to the descendants of <span class="smcap">Henri IV</span>."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>These excuses, mingled doubtless with expressions of repentance and +tears, and heightened by those attitudes and gestures, more eloquent +than words, that add so much pathos to solemn explanations, convinced +the heart if not the mind of the king; and he forgave—he excused, and +he trusted. "I am of your opinion," said he to his minister, yet a prey +to the emotion of this scene, "that the Duc d'Orleans really regrets his +past errors, and that he will do all in his power to repair the evil he +has done, and in which perhaps he has not had so great a share as we +believed."</p> + +<p>The prince left the king's apartments reconciled with himself, and more +than ever resolved to withdraw himself from the factious party. It had +cost him but little to sacrifice his ambition, for he had none; and his +popularity of her own accord had quitted him for other men of inferior +rank and station than his own, and he could only hope to find security +and an honourable refuge at the foot of the throne, to which he was +alike guided by inclination and duty. Louis XVI. as a man had far more +influence over him than as a king, but the adulation and resentment of +the court ruined all.</p> + +<p>The Sunday following this reconciliation, the Duc d'Orleans presented +himself at the Tuileries to pay his respects to the king and queen. It +was the day and hour of the <i>grandes receptions</i>, and crowds of +courtiers thronged the courts, the staircases, the corridors, some +hoping that fortune might yet be propitious; others, come from the +provinces to the court of their unfortunate master, drawn thither by the +double tie of misfortune and fidelity. At the sight of the Duc +d'Orleans, whose reconciliation with the king had not as yet transpired, +astonishment and horror appeared on every face, and an indignant murmur +followed the announcement of his name. The crowd opened and shrank from +him, as though his touch was odious to them. In vain did he seek one +glance of respect or welcome amongst all these gloomy visages. As be +approached the king's chamber, the courtiers and guards barred his +entrance by turning their backs, and crowding together as if by +accident, repulsed him: he entered the apartments of the queen, where +the royal family's dinner was pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>pared. "Look to the dishes," cried +voices, as though some public and well-known poisoner had been seen to +enter. The indignant prince turned alternately pale and red, and +imagined that these insults were offered him, at the instigation of the +queen, and the order of the king. As he descended the stairs to quit the +palace, fresh cries and outrages followed him; some even spat on his +coat and head. A poignard stab would have been far less painful to bear +than these withering marks of hatred and contempt. He had entered the +palace appeased, he quitted it implacable; he felt that his only refuge +against the court was in the last ranks of democracy, and he enrolled +himself resolutely in them to find safety or vengeance.</p> + +<p>The king and queen, who were soon informed of these insults, of which, +however, they were utterly innocent, took no steps to make any +reparation for them; possibly they were secretly flattered by the wrath +of their adherents, and the humiliation of their enemy. The queen was +too prodigal of her favour, and too hasty in her displeasure; the king +did not want kindness, but grace; one word, such as Henri IV. knew so +well how to employ, would have punished these insulters, and have +brought the prince to his feet, yet he knew not how to say it; +resentment brooded over her wrongs in silence, and destiny took its +course.</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>The Duc d'Orleans severed himself on that day from the Girondists, to +whom he was alone held by Pétion and Brissot, and passed over to the +side of the Jacobins; he opened his palace to Danton and Barrère, and no +longer followed any but the extreme party, which he adopted without +hesitation in silence, even to the republic, to regicide, to death.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>However, the alarm with which the preparations of the emperor inspired +the people, and the mischief excited by the speeches of the Girondists +against the court and the ministers, agitated the capital more and more +every day. At each fresh communication from M. de Lessart, minister of +foreign affairs, the party of the Gironde raised a fresh cry of war and +treason.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> Fauchet denounced the minister. Brissot exclaimed, "The mask +has fallen,—our enemy is now known,—it is the emperor. The princes, +who hold possessions in Alsace, whose cause he affects to espouse, are +but the pretexts of his hate; and the <i>emigrés</i> themselves are but his +instruments. Let us despise these <i>emigrés</i>: it is the duty of the high +national court to execute justice on these mendicant princes. The +electors of the empire are not worthy of your anger; fear causes them +beforehand to prostrate themselves at your feet—a free people does not +crush a fallen foe: strike at the head—this head is the emperor."</p> + +<p>He communicated his own ardour to the Assembly; but Brissot, although a +skilful politician, and the able counsellor of his party, did not +possess that sonorous oratory that elevates an opinion to the level of +the voice of a nation. Vergniaud alone was gifted with a soul, in which +was combined all the passion and eloquence of a party: by meditating on +the annals of the past, he elevated his mind to scenes that passed then +analogous to those in which he was an actor, and communicated an +importance and solemnity to every word. "Our revolution," said he at the +same sitting, "has spread alarm amongst every throne, for it has given +an example of the destruction of the despotism that sustains them. Kings +hate our constitution because it renders men free, and because they +would reign over slaves. This hate has been manifested on the part of +the emperor by all the measures he has adopted, to disturb us or to +strengthen our enemies, and encourage those Frenchmen who have rebelled +against the laws of their country. We must not believe that this hate +has ceased to exist, but it must cease to work. The genius of Liberty +watches over our frontiers, which are less defended by our troops and +our national guards than by the enthusiasm of freedom. Liberty, since +its birth, has been the object of a shameful and secret war, waged +against it even in its very cradle. What is this war? Three armies of +reptiles and venomous insects breed and creep in your own breast: one is +composed of paid libellists and hired calumniators, who strive to arm +the two powers against each other by inspiring them with mutual +distrust; the other army, equally dangerous, is composed of seditious +priests, who feel that their God is forsaking them, and that their power +is crumbling away<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> with their <i>prestige</i>, and who, to retain their +empire, term vengeance religion, and crime virtue. The third is composed +of greedy speculators and financiers, who can grow rich only on our +ruin: national prosperity would be destruction to their egotistical +speculations; and our death would be their life. They are like those +beasts of prey, who wait the issue of the battle that they may batten +and feast on the corpses of the slain. (Loud applause.)</p> + +<p>"They know that the expenses of your preparations for defence are +numerous; and they reckon upon the failure of the credit of the +treasury, and the scarcity of specie; they reckon upon the weariness of +those citizens who have abandoned their wives, their babes, to hasten to +the frontiers, and who will abandon them, whilst millions, distributed +at home, will arouse insurrections, in which the people, armed by +madness, will themselves destroy their rights, whilst they imagine they +are defending them; then the emperor will advance at the head of a +powerful army to rivet your fetters. Such is the war that they make on +you, and that they seek to make. (Loud applause.)</p> + +<p>"The people has sworn to maintain the constitution, because in that lies +its honour and its liberty; but if you suffer it to remain in a state of +troubled immobility, that weakens its force and exhausts all our +resources, will not the day of this exhaustion be the last of the +constitution? The state in which we are kept is one of annihilation that +may lead us to disgrace or to death. (Applause.) To arms, citizens! to +arms, freemen! defend your liberty! assure the hope of that liberty to +the whole human race, or you will not deserve even pity in your +misfortunes. (Applause.) We have no other allies than the eternal +justice, whose rights we defend: but is it forbidden us to seek others, +and to interest those powers who, like ourselves are threatened by the +rupture of the equilibrium in Europe? No, doubtless, let us declare to +the emperor, that from this moment all treaties are broken. (Vehement +applause.) The emperor has himself violated them; and if he does not +attack us, it is because he is not yet prepared; but he is unmasked; +felicitate yourselves upon this. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon you, +show them what is really the National Assembly of France. If you display +the dignity that befits the representatives of a great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> nation, you will +gain esteem, applause, and assistance. If you evince weakness, if you do +not avail yourselves of the occasion offered you by Providence, of +freeing yourselves from a situation that fetters you, dread the +degradation that is prepared for you by the hatred of Europe, of France, +of your own time and of posterity. (Applause.) Do more; demand that your +flag be respected beyond the Rhine; demand that the <i>emigrés</i> be +dispersed. I might demand that they be given up to the country they +insult, and to punishment. But no. If they have been greedy for our +blood, let us not show ourselves greedy for theirs; their crime is +having wished to destroy their country; let them be vagrants and +wanderers on the face of the earth, and let their punishment be never to +find a country. (Applause.) If the emperor delays to answer your +demands, let all delay be deemed a refusal, and every refusal on his +part to explain, a declaration of war. Attack whilst you yet may. If, in +the Saxon wars, Frederic had temporised, the king of Prussia would at +this moment be marquis of Brandenbourg, instead of disputing with +Austria the balance of power in Germany which has escaped from your +grasp.</p> + +<p>"Up to this period you have only adopted half measures and I may well +apply to you the language which Demosthenes addressed to the Athenians, +under similar circumstances: 'You act towards the Macedonians,' said he, +'like the barbarians, who combat in our games, towards their +adversaries; when they are struck on the arm they raise their hand to +their arm; if struck on the head, they raise their hand to their head; +they never dream of defending themselves when they are wounded, nor of +parrying the blows dealt them. Does Philip take up arms, you do the +same; does he lay them down, you also lay down yours. If he attack one +of your allies, you immediately despatch a numerous army to the +assistance of your ally. If he attack a city, you despatch a numerous +army to the relief of the city. Does he again lay down his arms, you do +the same, without thinking of any means of forestalling his ambition; +and placing yourself beyond the reach of his attacks. Thus you are at +the orders of your enemy, and he it is who commands your army.'</p> + +<p>"And I, I tell you the same of the <i>emigrés</i>. Do you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span> hear that they are +at Coblentz,—the citizens hasten to combat them; are they assembled on +the banks of the Rhine,—two <i>corps d'armée</i> are despatched thither; do +foreign powers afford them shelter,—you propose to attack them; do you +learn, on the contrary, that they have withdrawn to the north of +Germany,—you lay down your arms; do they again offend you,—your +indignation is again aroused; do they make you specious promises,—you +are again appeased. Thus, it is the <i>emigrés</i> and the cabinets that +support them—who are your leaders, and who dispose of your counsels, +your treasures, and your armies. (Applause.) It is for you to consider +whether this humiliating part be worthy of a great nation. A thought +flashes across my mind, and with that I will terminate. It appears to +me, that the manes of past generations arise, to conjure you, in the +name of all the evils that slavery has inflicted on them, to preserve +from it future generations, whose destinies are in your hands; fulfil +this prayer, and be for the future a second providence. Associate +yourself with the eternal justice that protects the people. By meriting +the title of benefactors of your country, you will also merit that of +benefactors of the human race."</p> + +<p>Loud and prolonged applause succeeded the different emotions that had +been excited by this speech in every heart; for Vergniaud, following the +example of the ancient orators, instead of suffering his eloquence to +grow cold in political combinations, heated it at the flame of his +daring genius. The people comprehends only that which it feels; its sole +orators are those who excite it, and emotion is the conviction of the +populace. Vergniaud felt this, and knew how to communicate it. The +knowledge that they laboured for universal good, and the prospect of the +gratitude of future ages shed a halo—a noble pride around France, and +of sanctity around liberty. It was one of the characteristics of this +orator, that he almost invariably elevated the Revolution to the dignity +of an apostleship, that he extended his humanity to all mankind, and +that he only impassioned and worked upon the people by his virtues; such +words produced an effect over all the empire, against which neither the +king nor his ministers could strive.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>Moreover, as has been shown, Vergniaud and his party had friends in the +council. M. de Narbonne and the Girondists met and concerted their plans +at Madame de Stäel's, whose <i>salon</i>, in which some warlike measure was +always being discussed, was called the camp of the Revolution: the Abbé +Fauchet, the denouncer of M. de Lessart, here imbibed fresh ardour for +the overthrow of this minister. M. de Lessart, by weakening as much as +possible the threats of the court of Vienna and the anger of the +Assembly, sought to gain time for better and wiser resolutions. His +loyal attachment to Louis XVI., and his wise and prudent foresight, +showed him that war would not restore, but shake the throne; and in this +shock of Europe and France, the king would inevitably be crushed. The +attachment of M. de Lessart to his master supplied the place of genius; +he was the only obstacle in the path of the three parties who wished for +war; it was necessary, at all risks, to remove him. He might have +shielded himself by withdrawing from the contest, or by yielding to the +impatience of the Assembly. But, though fully aware of the terrible +responsibility that rested on him, and that this responsibility was +death, he braved all, to afford the king a few days more for +negotiation.—These days were numbered.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK XII.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Leopold, a pacific and philosophic prince, who had he not been an +emperor, would have been a revolutionist, had sought by every means in +his power to adjourn the concussion between the two principles; he only +demanded from France such concessions as would enable him to repress the +ardour of Prussia, Germany, and Russia. The prince de Kaunitz, his +minister, continually wrote to M. de Lessart in this strain; and the +private communications which the king<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span> received from his ambassador at +the court of Vienna, the Marquis de Noailles, breathed the same spirit +of conciliation. Leopold only desired that guarantees should be given to +the monarchical powers for the establishment of order in France, and +that the constitution should be vigorously enforced by the executive +power. But the last sittings of the Assembly, the armaments of M. de +Narbonne, the accusations of Brissot, the fiery speeches of Vergniaud, +and the applause he had gained, began to weary his patience; and the +desire for war, so long repressed, now, in spite of himself, took +possession of him. "The French wish for war," said he one day; "they +shall have it—they shall see that the peaceful Leopold can be warlike +when the interest of his people demands it."</p> + +<p>The cabinet councils at Vienna became more frequent, in presence of the +emperor. Russia had just concluded peace with the Ottoman empire, and +was thus enabled to turn her eyes to France; Sweden fanned the flame of +all the princes; Prussia yielded to the advice of Leopold; England +observed, but pledged herself to nothing, for the struggle on the +Continent would increase her importance. The armaments were decided +upon, and on the 7th of February, 1792, the definitive treaty of +alliance between Austria and Prussia was signed at Berlin. "Now," wrote +Leopold to Frederic William, "it is France who menaces—who arms—who +provokes: Europe must arm."</p> + +<p>The party in favour of war in Germany triumphed. "It is very fortunate +for you," said the elector of Mayence to the Marquis de Bouillé, "that +the French were the aggressors; but for that we should never have had a +war." War was resolved upon in the councils, yet Leopold still hoped. In +an official note, which the prince de Kaunitz transmitted to the Marquis +de Noailles, for the king, Leopold yet showed himself willing to be +reconciled. M. de Lessart replied confidentially to these last +overtures, in a despatch which he had the honesty to communicate to the +diplomatic committee of the Assembly, composed of Girondists. In this +reply the minister palliated the charges made against the Assembly by +the emperor, and seemed rather to excuse France than justify. He +acknowledged that there were some disturbances in the kingdom, some +excesses in the clubs, some licence in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[Pg 379]</a></span> the press; but he attributed +these disorders to the excitement produced by the movements of the +<i>emigrés</i>, and the inexperience of a people who essay their constitution +and wound themselves with it.</p> + +<p>"Indifference and contempt," said he, "are the fittest weapons with +which to combat this pest. Could Europe stoop so low, as to quarrel with +the French nation, because some few demagogues and madmen dwell amongst +them, and would honour them so far as to reply to them by cannon balls?"</p> + +<p>In a despatch of the prince de Kaunitz, addressed to all the European +cabinets, was this phrase,—"Latest events give us cause to hope, for it +is evident that the majority of the French nation, struck by the evils +they are preparing for themselves, are returning to more moderate +principles, and are inclined to restore to the throne the dignity and +authority which form the bases of monarchical government." The Assembly +remained silent from suspicion, and this suspicion was awakened whilst +diplomatic notes and counter notes were exchanged between the cabinet of +the Tuileries and the cabinet of Vienna. But no sooner had M. de Lessart +descended from the tribune, and the Assembly closed the sitting, than +the murmurs of mistrust were changed into loud and sullen exclamations +of indignation.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The Jacobins burst out into threats against the perfidious minister and +the court, who united in a treasonable combination, called the Austrian +Committee, concerted counter-revolutionary plans in the Tuileries, made +signals to the enemies of the nation from the very foot of the throne, +and secretly communicated with the court of Vienna, and dictated the +language necessary to intimidate France. The Memoirs of Hardenberg, the +Prussian minister, which have since been published, prove that these +accusations were not entirely the dreams of the demagogues; and that in +order to promote peace the two courts did all in their power to adopt +the same tone with each other. It was resolved that M. de Lessart should +be impeached, and Brissot, the leader of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[Pg 380]</a></span> diplomatic committee, the +advocate of war, undertook to prove his pretended crimes.</p> + +<p>The constitutional party abandoned M. de Lessart, without any defence, +to the hatred of the Jacobins; this party had no suspicions, but +vengeance to wreak upon M. de Lessart. The king had suddenly dismissed +M. de Narbonne, the rival of this minister in the council. M. de +Narbonne, feeling himself menaced, caused La Fayette to write a letter, +in which he conjured him to remain at his post so long as the perils of +his country rendered it necessary.</p> + +<p>This step, of which M. de Narbonne was cognisant, appeared to the king +an insolent act of oppression against his liberty and that of the +constitution. The popularity of M. de Narbonne diminished +proportionately as that of the Girondists became greater and inspired +them with more audacity. The Assembly began to change its applause into +murmurs when he mounted the tribune, whence a short time before he had +been shamefully forced to withdraw, because he had wounded the plebeian +susceptibility by appealing to the <i>most distinguished</i> members of the +Assembly. The aristocracy of his rank showed itself beneath his uniform, +whilst the people wished for members of its own stamp in the councils; +and thus between the offended king and the suspicious Girondists, M. de +Narbonne fell. The king dismissed him, and he went to serve in the army +he had organised. His friends did not conceal their resentment. Madame +de Stäel lost in him her ambition and her ideal at the same time; but +she did not abandon all hope of regaining for M. de Narbonne the +confidence of the king, and of seeing him play a great political part. +She had sought to render him a Mirabeau, she now dreamed of making him a +Monk. From this day she conceived the idea of rescuing the king from the +power of the Jacobins and Girondists—of carrying him off through the +agency of M. de Narbonne and the constitutionalists—of re-seating him +on the throne—of crushing the extreme parties, and establishing her +ideal government—a liberal aristocracy. A woman of genius, her genius +had the prejudices of her birth; a plebeian, who had found her way to +court, it was necessary for her to have patricians between the throne +and the people. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[Pg 381]</a></span> first blow at M. de Lessart was dealt by a man who +frequented the <i>salon</i> of Madame de Stäel.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>But a more terrible and more unexpected blow fell on M. de Lessart: the +very day on which he thus surrendered himself to his enemies, the +unexpected death of the emperor Leopold was known at Paris, and with +this prince expired the last faint hope of peace, for his wisdom died +with him; and who could tell what new policy would arise from his tomb? +The agitation that prevailed filled every one with terror, and this was +soon changed into hatred against the unfortunate minister of Louis XVI. +He had neither known, it was said, how to profit by the pacific +disposition of Leopold whilst this prince yet lived, nor to forestall +the hostile designs of those who succeeded him in the dominion of +Germany. Every thing furnished fresh accusation against him, even +fatality and death.</p> + +<p>At the moment of his decease all was ready for hostility. Two hundred +thousand men formed a line from Bâle to the Scheldt. The duke of +Brunswick, on whom rested every hope of the coalition, was at Berlin, +giving his last advice to the king of Prussia, and receiving his final +orders. Beschoffwerder, the general and confidant of the king of +Prussia, arrived at Vienna to concert with the emperor the point and +time of attack. On his arrival the prince de Kaunitz hastily informed +him of the sudden illness of the emperor. The 27th Leopold was in +perfect health, and received the Turkish envoy; on the 28th he was in +the agonies of death. His stomach swelled, and convulsive vomitings put +him to intense torture. The doctors, alarmed at these symptoms, ordered +copious bleeding, which appeared to allay his sufferings; but they +enervated the vital force of the prince, who had weakened himself by +debauchery. He fell asleep for a short time, and the doctors and +ministers withdrew; but he soon awoke in fresh convulsions, and died in +the presence of a valet de chambre, named Brunetti, in the arms of the +empress, who had just arrived.</p> + +<p>The intelligence of the death of the emperor, the more terrible as it +was so unexpected, spread abroad instantly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[Pg 382]</a></span> and surprised Germany at +the very moment of a crisis. Terror for the future destiny of Germany +was joined to pity for the empress and her children: the palace was all +confusion and despair; the ministers felt power snatched from their +grasp; the grandees of the court, without waiting for their carriages, +hurried to the court, in the disorder of astonishment, and grief and +sobs were heard in the vestibules and staircases that led to the +apartments of the empress. At this moment, this princess, without having +time to assume black, appeared, bathed in tears, surrounded by her +numerous children, and leading them to the new king of the Romans, the +eldest son of Leopold, she threw herself at his feet, and implored his +protection for these orphans. Francis I., mingling his tears with those +of his mother and brothers, one of whom was only four years old, raised +the empress, and embracing the children, vowed to be a second father to +them.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>This catastrophe was inexplicable to scientific men; politicians +suspected some mystery; the people poison. These reports of poison, +however, have neither been confirmed nor disproved by time. The most +probable opinion is that this prince had made an immoderate use of drugs +which he compounded himself, in order to recruit his constitution, +shattered by debauchery and excess. Lagusius, his chief physician, who +had assisted at the autopsy of the body, declared he discovered traces +of poison. Who had administered it? The Jacobins and <i>emigrés</i> mutually +accused each other, the one party to disembarrass themselves of the +armed chief of the empire, and thus spread anarchy amongst the +federation of Germany, of which the emperor was the bond that united +them; the others had slain in Leopold the philosopher prince, who +temporised with France, and who retarded the war. A female was spoken of +who had attracted the notice of the emperor at the last <i>bal masqué</i> at +the court, and it was said that this stranger, favoured by her disguise, +had given him poisoned sweetmeats, without its being possible to +discover from whose hand they came. Others accused the beautiful +Florentine, Donna Livia, his mistress, who,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[Pg 383]</a></span> according to them, was the +fanatical instrument of a few priests. These anecdotes are the mere +chimeras of surprise and sorrow, for the people can never believe that +the events which have had so vast an influence over their destiny are +merely natural. But crimes, universally approved, are rare; opinion may +desire, but never commits them. Crime, like ambition or vengeance, is +personal: there was neither ambition nor vengeance around +Leopold,—nought but a few female jealousies; and his attachments were +too numerous and too fugitive to kindle in the heart of a mistress that +love that arms the hand with poison or poignard. He loved at the same +time Donna Livia, whom he had brought with him from Tuscany, and who was +known in Europe as "La belle Florentine," Prokache, a young Polish girl, +the charming countess of Walkenstein, and others of an inferior rank. +The countess of Walkenstein had for some time past been his avowed +mistress; he had given her a million (francs) in drafts on the bank of +Vienna, and he had even presented her to the empress, who forgave him +his weaknesses, on condition that he gave no one his political +confidence, which up to that time he had confided to her alone. He was a +devoted admirer of the fair sex, and it would be necessary to refer to +the most shameful epochs of Roman history to find any emperor whose life +was as scandalous as his own; his cabinet was found after his death to +be filled with valuable stuffs, rings, fans, trinkets, and even a +quantity of rouge. These traces of debauch made the empress blush when +she visited them with the new emperor. "My son," said she, "you have +before you the sad proof of your father's disorderly life, and of my +long afflictions: remember nothing of them except my forgiveness and his +virtues. Imitate his great qualities, but beware lest you fall into the +same vices, in order that you may not, in your turn, put to the blush +those who scrutinise your life."</p> + +<p>The prince in Leopold was superior to the man: he had made trial of a +philosophical government in Tuscany, and this happy country yet blesses +his memory; but his genius was not suited for a more enlarged field. The +struggle, forced on him by the French Revolution, compelled him to seize +on the helm in Germany; but he did so without energy. He opposed the +temporising policy of diplomacy to the con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[Pg 384]</a></span>tagion of new ideas; he was +the Fabius of kings. To afford the Revolution time was to ensure it the +victory. It could be only vanquished by surprise, and stifled in its own +stronghold; the genius of the people was its negotiator and accomplice, +and its increasing popularity was its army. Its ideas found new +adherents in princes, people, and cabinets. Leopold would have given it +a share, but the share of the Revolution is the conquest of every thing +that opposes its principles. The principles of Leopold could conciliate +the Revolution, but his power as the arbitrator of Germany could not +conciliate the conquering power of France. His part was a double one, +and his position false. He died at a right moment for his renown; he +paralysed Germany, and checked the impetus of France, and, by +disappearing between the two, he left the two principles to clash +together, and destiny to take its course.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>Opinion, already agitated by the death of Leopold, received another +shock from the news of the tragical death of the king of Sweden, who was +assassinated on the night of the 16th of March, 1792, at a masked ball. +Death seemed to strike, one after another, all the enemies of France. +The Jacobins saw its hand in all these catastrophes, and even boasted of +them through their most audacious demagogues; but they proclaimed more +crimes than they committed, and their wishes alone shared in these +assassinations.</p> + +<p>Gustavus, this hero of the counter-revolution, this chevalier of +aristocracy, fell by the blows of his nobility. When he was ready to set +forth on the expedition he projected against France, he had assembled +his diet to ensure the tranquillity of the kingdom during his absence. +His vigorous measures had put down the malcontents; yet it was foretold +to him, like Cæsar, that the ides of March would be a critical period of +his destiny. A thousand traces revealed a plot, and his intended +assassination was rumoured over all Germany before the blow was struck. +These rumours are the forerunners of projected crimes: some indication +escapes the heart of the conspirator, and it is by this means that the +event is predicted before it happens.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[Pg 385]</a></span></p> + +<p>The king of Sweden, warned by his numerous friends, who entreated him to +be upon his guard, replied, like Cæsar, that the stroke when once +received was less painful than the perpetual dread of receiving it, and +that if he listened to all these warnings, he could no longer drink a +glass of water without trembling. He braved danger, and showed himself +more than ever to the people. The conspirators had made several +fruitless attempts during the Diet, but chance had preserved the king. +Since his return to Stockholm, the king frequently went to pass the day +alone at his château at Haga, a league from the capital. Three of the +conspirators had approached the château, at five o'clock on a dark +winter's evening, armed with carbines, and ready to fire on the king. +The apartment he occupied was on the ground floor, and the lighted +candles in the library enabled them to see their victim. Gustavus, on +his return from hunting, undressed, and fell asleep in an arm chair, +within a few feet of the assassins. Whether it was that they were +alarmed by the sound of footsteps, or that the solemn contrast of the +peaceful slumber of this prince with the death that threatened him, +softened their hearts, they again abandoned their project, and only +revealed this circumstance on their trial after the assassination, when +the king acknowledged the truth and precision of their details. They +were ready to renounce their intention, discouraged by a sort of divine +intervention, and by the fatigue of having so long meditated this design +in vain, when a fatal occasion tempted them too strongly, and made them +resolve on the murder of the king.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>A masked ball was given at the opera, which the king was to attend, and +the conspirators resolved to take advantage of the mystery of the +disguise and tumult of the fête to strike the blow, without allowing the +hand to appear. A short time before the ball the king supped with a few +of his most intimate courtiers. A letter was brought to him, which he +opened, and reading it jestingly, then threw it on the table. The +anonymous writer informed him that he was neither a friend to his person +nor an approver of his policy, but that as a loyal enemy he desired to +inform him of the death that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[Pg 386]</a></span> menaced him. He counselled him not to go +to the ball; or, if he persisted, he advised him to mistrust the crowd +that might press around him, for that was the signal for the blow to be +aimed at him. That the king might not doubt the warning thus given, he +recalled to his memory his dress, gesture, his sleep in his apartment of +Haga in the evening that he had believed himself quite alone. Such +convincing proofs must have struck and intimidated the mind of the +prince, but his intrepid soul made him brave, not only the warning, but +death: he rose and went to the ball.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Scarcely had he reached the apartment, when he was surrounded, as he had +been warned, by a group of masks, and separated, as if by preconcerted +movement, from the body of officers who were in attendance. At this +moment an invisible hand fired at his back a pistol loaded with slugs. +The blow struck him in the left flank above the hip. Gustavus fell into +the arms of Count d'Armsfeld, his favourite. The report of the fire arm, +the smell of powder, the cries of "<i>fire</i>," which resounded through the +apartment, the confusion which followed the king's fall, the real or +feigned anxiety of persons who hurried forward to save him, favoured the +escape of the assassins: the pistol had been dropped on the ground. +Gustavus did not lose his presence of mind for a moment. He ordered the +doors to be immediately closed, and desired all to unmask. Carried by +his guards into an apartment in the opera-house, he was confided to his +surgeons. He admitted some of the foreign ministers into his presence, +and spoke to them with all the calmness of a strong mind. Even his pain +did not inspire him with any feeling of vengeance. Generous even in +death, he demanded anxiously if the assassin had been apprehended. He +was told that he was unknown. "Oh God, grant," he said, "that he may not +be discovered."</p> + +<p>Whilst the king was receiving the first attentions, and being conveyed +to the palace, the guards stationed at the doors of the ball-room +compelled all to take off their masks, asked their names, and searched +their persons: nothing suspicious was discovered. Four of the chief +conspirators,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[Pg 387]</a></span> men of the highest nobility in Stockholm, had succeeded +in escaping from the apartment in the first confusion produced by the +report of the pistol, and before the doors had been closed. Of nine +confidants or accomplices in the crime, eight had already gone away +without exciting any suspicion: only one was left in the apartment, who +affected a slow step and calm demeanour as guarantees of his innocence.</p> + +<p>He left the apartment last of all, raising his mask before the officer +of police, and saying, as he looked steadfastly at him, "As for me, sir, +I hope you do not suspect me." This man was the assassin.</p> + +<p>They allowed him to pass; the crime had no other evidence than itself, a +pistol, and a knife, sharpened as a poignard, found beneath the masks +and flowers on the floor of the opera. The weapon revealed the hand. A +gunsmith at Stockholm identified the pistol, and declared he had +recently sold it to a Swedish gentleman, formerly an officer in the +guards, named Ankastroem. They found Ankastroem at his house, neither +thinking of exculpation nor of flight. He confessed the weapon and the +crime. An unjust judgment, he averred, in which however the king spared +his life, the wearisomeness of an existence which he had cherished to +employ and make illustrious at its close for his country's advantage, +the hope, if he succeeded, of a national recompence worthy of the deed, +had, he declared, inspired this project; and he claimed to himself alone +the glory or disgrace. He denied all plot and all accomplices. Beneath +the fanatic he masked the conspirator.</p> + +<p>He failed in his part, after a few days, beneath the truth and his +remorse. He avowed the conspiracy, named the guilty, and the reward of +his crime. It was a sum of money, that had been weighed, rix-dollar by +rix-dollar, against the blood of Gustavus. The plot, planned six months +before, had been thrice frustrated, by chance or destiny—at the diet of +Jessen, at Stockholm, and at Haga. The king killed, all his +favourites—all the instruments of his government—must be sacrificed to +the vengeance of the senate and the restoration of the aristocracy. +Their heads were to have been carried at the tops of pikes, in the +streets of the capital, in imitation of the popular punishments of +Paris. The duke of Sudermania, the king's brother, was to be +sacrificed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[Pg 388]</a></span> The young monarch, handed over to the conspirators, was to +serve as a passive instrument to re-establish the ancient constitution, +and legitimate their crime. The principal conspirators belonged to the +first families in Sweden; the shame of their lost power had debased +their ambition, even to crime. They were the Count de Bibbing, Count de +Horn, Baron d'Erensward, and Colonel Lilienhorn. Lilienhorn, commandant +of the guards, drawn from misery and obscurity by the king's favour, +promoted to the first rank in the army, and admitted to closest intimacy +in the palace, confessed his ingratitude and his crime; seduced, he +declared, by the ambition of commanding, during the trouble, the +national guard of Stockholm. The part played by La Fayette in Paris +seemed to him the ideal of the citizen and the soldier. He could not +resist the fascination of the perspective; half-way in the conspiracy, +he had endeavoured to render it impossible, even whilst he meditated it. +It was he who had written the anonymous letter to the king, in which the +king was warned of the failure in the attempt at Haga, and that which +threatened him at this fête; with one hand he thrust forward the +assassin—with the other he held back the victim, as though he had thus +prepared for himself an excuse for his remorse after the deed was done.</p> + +<p>On the fatal day he had passed the evening in the king's apartments—had +seen him read the letter—had followed him to the ball. Enigma of +crime—a pitying assassin! the mind thus divided between the thirst for, +and horror of, his benefactor's blood.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>Gustavus died slowly: he saw death approach and recede with the same +indifference, or the same resignation; received his court, conversed +with his friends, even reconciled himself to the opponents of his +government, who did not conceal their opposition, but did not push their +aristocratic resentment to assassination. "I am consoled," he said, to +the Count de Brahé, one of the greatest of the nobility and chief of the +malcontents, "since death enables me to recover an old friend in you."</p> + +<p>He watched to the very last over his kingdom; nominated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[Pg 389]</a></span> the Duke of +Sudermania regent, instituted a council of regency, made his friend +Armsfeld military governor of Stockholm, surrounded the young king, only +thirteen years of age, with all that could strengthen his position +during his minority. He prepared his passage from one world to another, +awaiting his death, so that it should be an event to himself alone. "My +son," he wrote, a few hours before he died, "will not come of age before +he is eighteen, but I hope he will be king at sixteen;" thus predicting +for his successor that precocity of courage and genius which had enabled +him to reign and govern before the time. He said to his grand almoner, +in confessing himself, "I do not think I shall take with me great merits +before God, but at least I shall have the consciousness of never having +willingly done harm to any person." Then, having requested a moment's +repose to acquire strength, in order to embrace his family for the last +time, he bid adieu, with a smile, to his friend Bergenstiern, and, +falling asleep, never waked again.</p> + +<p>The prince royal, proclaimed king, mounted the throne the same day. The +people, whom Gustavus had emancipated from the yoke of the senate, swore +spontaneously to defend his institutions in his son. He had so well +employed the day, which God had allowed him between assassination and +death, that nothing perished but himself, and his shade seemed to +continue to reign over Sweden.</p> + +<p>This prince had nothing great but his soul, nor handsome but his eyes. +Small in size, with broad shoulders, his haunches badly set on, his +forehead singularly shaped, long nose, large mouth, the grace and +animation of his countenance overcame every imperfection of figure, and +rendered Gustavus one of the most attractive men in his dominions; +intelligence, goodness, courage, beamed from his eyes, and pervaded his +features. You felt the man, admired the king, appreciated the hero. +There was heart in his genius, as there is in all really great men. Well +informed, deeply read, eloquent, he applied all his endowments to the +empire; those whom he had conquered by his courage, he vanquished by his +generosity, and charmed by his language. His faults were display and +pleasure; he liked the glory of those enjoyments and amours which are +found and pardoned in heroes; his vices were those of Alexander, Cæsar, +and Henri IV. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[Pg 390]</a></span> revenge of a disgraceful amour had something to do +with the conspiracy which destroyed him; to resemble these great men, he +only wanted their destiny.</p> + +<p>When almost a child, he had rescued himself from the tutelage of the +aristocracy; in emancipating the throne, he had emancipated the people. +At the head of an army, recruited without money, and which he +disciplined by its enthusiasm, he conquered Finland, and went on from +victory to victory to St. Petersburgh. Checked in his greatness by a +revolt of his officers, surrounded in his tent by his guards, he had +escaped by flight, and had gone to the succour of another portion of his +kingdom, invaded by the Danes. Again a victor against these deadly +enemies of Sweden, the gratitude of the nation had restored to him his +repentant army; and his sole vengeance was in again leading them to +conquest.</p> + +<p>He had subdued all without, tranquillised all within, and had only one +ambition left—disinterested from every consideration but fame—to +avenge the forsaken cause of Louis XVI., and to secure from her +persecutors a queen whom he adored at a distance. This was the vision of +a hero; it had but one mistake—his genius was vaster than his empire. +Heroism with disproportioned means makes the great man resemble an +adventurer, and transforms gigantic designs into follies. But history +does not judge like fortune, and it is the heart rather than success +that makes the hero. The romantic and adventurous character of Gustavus +is still the greatness of a restless and struggling soul in the +pettiness of its destiny. His death excited a shriek of joy amongst the +Jacobins, who deified Ankastroem; but their burst of delight on learning +the end of Gustavus, proved how insincere was their affected contempt +for this enemy of the constitution.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>These two obstacles removed, nothing now kept France and Europe on terms +but the feeble cabinet of Louis XVI. The impatience of the nation, the +ambition of the Girondists, and the resentment of the constitutionalists +wounded through M. de Narbonne, united them to overthrow this cabinet. +Brissot, Vergniaud, Guadet, Condorcet, Gensonné, Pétion,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[Pg 391]</a></span> their friends +in the Assembly, the council-chamber of Madame Roland, their Seids +amongst the Jacobins balanced between two ambitions—equally open to +their abilities—to destroy power or seize on it. Brissot counselled +this latter measure. More conversant with politics than the young +orators of the Gironde, he did not comprehend the Revolution without +government; anarchy, in his opinion, did not destroy the monarchy more +than it did liberty. The greater were events, the more necessary was the +direction of them. Placed disarmed in the foremost rank of the Assembly +and of opinion, power presented itself, and it was necessary to lay +hands upon it. Once in their grasp, they would make of it, according to +the dictates of fortune and the will of the people, a monarchy or a +republic. Ready for any thing that would allow them to reign in the name +of the king or of the people, this counsel was pleasing to men who had +scarcely emerged from obscurity, and who, seduced by the facility of +their good fortune, seized on it at its first smile. Men who ascend +quickly, easily become giddy.</p> + +<p>Still a very profound line of policy was disclosed in the secret council +of the Girondists, in the choice of the men whom they put forward, and +whom they presented for ministers to the king.</p> + +<p>Brissot in this gave evidence of the patience of consummate ambition. He +inspired Vergniaud, Pétion, Guadet, Gensonné, as well as all the leading +men of his party, with similar patience. He remained with them in the +twilight close to power, but not included in the projected ministry, +being desirous of feeling the pulse of popular opinion through secondary +men, who could be disavowed or sacrificed at need, and keeping in +reserve himself and the leaders of the Girondists, either to support or +overthrow this weak and transitory ministry, if the nation should +resolve upon more decisive measures. Brissot, and those who acted with +him, were thus ready at all points, as well to direct as to replace +power—they were masters without any responsibility. The doctrines of +Machiavel were very perceptible in this tactic of statesmen. Besides, by +abstaining from entering into the first cabinet, they would remain +popular, and maintain, in the Assembly and Jacobins, those voices of +power which would have been stifled in an administration. Popularity was +requisite for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[Pg 392]</a></span> their contest with Robespierre, who was treading so +closely on their heels, and who would soon be at the head of opinion if +they abandoned it to him. On entering upon their course they affected +for this rival more contempt than they really felt. Robespierre, +single-handed, balanced their influence with the Jacobins. The +vociferations of Billaud, Varennes, Danton, Collot d'Herbois, did not in +the least alarm them. Robespierre's silence gave them considerable +uneasiness. They had been successful in the question of war; but the +stoical opposition of Robespierre, and the desire of the people for war, +had not affected his reputation. This man had redoubled his power in his +isolation. The inspiration of a mind alone and incorruptible was more +powerful than the enthusiasm of a whole party. Those who did not +approve, still admired him. He had stood aside to allow war to pass by +him, but opinion always had its eyes on him, and it might have been said +that a secret instinct revealed to the people that in this man was the +destiny of the future. When he advanced, they followed him; when he did +not move, they waited for him. The Girondists, therefore, were +compelled, from prudential motives, to distrust this man, and to remain +in the Assembly between their own course and him. These precautions +taken, they looked about them for the men who were nullities by +themselves, and yet, engrafted on their party, of whom they could make +ministers. They required instruments, and not masters,—Seids attached +to their fortune, whom they could direct at will either against the king +or against the Jacobins—could elevate without fear, or reject without +compunction. They sought them in obscurity, and believed they had found +them in Clavière, Roland, Dumouriez, Lacoste, and Duranton,—they made +only one mistake: Dumouriez, under the guise of an adventurer, had +talents equal to any emergency.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>The party thus distributed, and Madame Roland informed of the proposed +elevation of her husband, the Girondists attacked the ministry in the +person of M. de Lessart, at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[Pg 393]</a></span> sitting of the 10th of March. Brissot +read against this minister a bill of accusation, skilfully and +perfidiously fabricated, in which the appearance presented by facts and +the conjecture derived from proofs, cast on the negotiation of M. de +Lessart all the odium and criminality of treason. He proposed that a +decree of accusation should proceed against the minister for foreign +affairs. The Assembly was silent or applauded. Some members, with a view +of defending the minister, demanded time in order that the Assembly +might reflect on the charge, and thus, at least, affect the impartiality +of justice. "Hasten!" exclaimed Isnard; "whilst you are deliberating +perhaps the traitor will flee." "I have been a long time judge," replied +Boulanger, "and never did I decree capital punishment so lightly." +Vergniaud, who saw the indecision of the Assembly, rushed twice into the +tribune to combat the excuses and the delays of the right side. Becquet, +whose coolness was equal to his courage, desirous of averting the peril, +proposed that it should be sent to the diplomatic committee. Vergniaud +began to fear that the moment would escape his party, and said, "No, no +we do not require actual proofs for a criminal accusation—presumptive +proofs are sufficient. There is not one of us in whose minds the +cowardice and perfidy which characterises the acts of the minister have +not produced the most lively indignation. Is it not he who has for two +months kept in his portfolio the decree of the reunion of Avignon with +France? and the blood spilled in that city, the mutilated carcases of so +many victims, do they not cry to us for vengeance against him? I see +from this tribune the palace in which evil counsellors deceive the king +whom the constitution gives to us, forge the fetters which enchain us, +and plot the stratagems which are to deliver us to the house of Austria. +(Loud acclamations.) The day has arrived to put an end to such audacity +and insolence, and to crush such conspirators. Dread and terror have +frequently, in the ancient times, come forth from this palace in the +name of despotism: let them return thither to-day in the name of the law +(loud applauses); let them penetrate all hearts; let all those who +inhabit it know that the constitution promises inviolability to the king +alone; let them learn that the law will reach all the guilty, and that +not one head convicted of criminality can escape its sword."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[Pg 394]</a></span></p> + +<p>These allusions to the queen, who was accused of directing the Austrian +committee, this threatening language, addressed to the king, went +echoing into the king's cabinet, and forced his hand to sign the +nomination of a Girondist ministry. This was a party manœuvre, +executed beneath the appearance of sudden indignation in the tribune—it +was more, it was the first signal made by the Girondists to the men of +the 20th of June and the 10th of August. The act of accusation was +carried, and De Lessart sent to the court of Orleans, which only yielded +him up to the cut-throats of Versailles. He might have fled, but his +flight would have been interpreted against the king. He placed himself +generously between death and his master, innocent of every crime except +his love for him.</p> + +<p>The king felt that there was but one step between himself and +abdication: that was, by taking his ministry from amongst his enemies, +and giving them an interest in power, by placing it in their hands. He +yielded to the times, embraced his minister, and requested the +Girondists to supply him with another. The Girondists were already +silently occupied in so doing. They had previously made, in the name of +the party, overtures to Roland at the end of February. "The court," they +said to him, "is not very far off from taking Jacobin ministers: not +from inclination, but through treachery. The confidence it will feign to +bestow will be a snare. It requires violent men in order to impute to +them the excesses of the people and the disorders of the kingdom: we +must deceive its perfidious hopes, and give to it firm and sagacious +patriots. We think of you."</p> + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>Roland, whose ambition had soured in obscurity, had smiled at the power +which came to avenge his old age. Brissot, himself, had gone to Madame +Roland on the 21st of the same month, and repeating the same words, had +requested from her the formal consent of her husband. Madame Roland was +ambitious, not of power but of fame. Fame lightens up the higher places +only, and she ardently desired to see her husband elevated to this +eminence. She spoke like a woman who had predicted the event, and whom +fortune does<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[Pg 395]</a></span> not surprise. "The burden is heavy," she said to Brissot, +"but Roland has a great consciousness of his own powers, and would +derive fresh strength from the feeling of being useful to liberty and +his country."</p> + +<p>This choice being made, the Girondists cast their eyes on Lacoste, an +active commissioner of the navy, a working man, his mind limited by his +duties, but honest and upright; his very candour of nature preserving +him from faction. Put into council to watch over his master, he +naturally became his friend. Duranton, an advocate of Bordeaux, was +called to the bureau of justice. The Girondists, who knew him, boasted +of his honesty, and relied on his plasticity and weakness. Brissot +intended for the finance department Clavière, a Genevese economist, +driven from his native land, a relation and friend of his own; used to +intrigue; rival of Necker; brought up in the cabinet of Mirabeau, in +order to bring forward a rival against this finance minister, so hateful +to Mirabeau: a man without republican prejudices or monarchical +principles, only seeking in the Revolution a part, and with whom the +great aim and end was—to get on. His mind, indifferent to all scruples, +was on a level with every situation, and at the height of all parties. +The Girondists, new to state affairs, required men well conversant in +the details of war and finance departments, and who yet were the mere +tools of their government: Clavière was one of these. In the war office +they had De Grave, by whom the king had replaced Narbonne. De Grave, who +from the subaltern ranks of the army had been raised to the post of +minister of war, had declared relations with the Girondists. The friends +of Gensonné, Vergniaud, Guadet, Brissot, and even Danton, hoped, through +their instrumentality, to save at the same time the constitution and the +king. Devoted to both, he was the link by which he hoped to unite the +Girondists to royalty. Young, he had the illusions of his age: +constitutional, he had the sincerity of his conviction; but weak, in ill +health, more ready to undertake than firm to execute, he was one of +those men of the moment who help events to their accomplishment, and do +not disturb them when they are accomplished.</p> + +<p>The principal minister, however, he to whose hands was to be confided +the fate of his country, and who was to com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[Pg 396]</a></span>prise in himself all the +policy of the Girondists, was the minister for foreign affairs, destined +to replace the unfortunate De Lessart. The rupture with Europe was the +most pressing matter with the party, and they required a man who would +control the king, detect the secret intrigues of the court, cognisant of +the mysteries of European cabinets, and who knew how, by his skill and +resolution, at the same time to force our enemies into a war,—our +dubious friends into neutrality,—our secret partisans to an alliance. +They sought such a man: he was close at hand.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK XIII.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Dumouriez combined all the requisites of boldness, devotion to the +cause, and talent that the Girondists required, and yet, until then, a +second-rate man, and almost unknown, had no fortune to hope for but as +theirs culminated. His name would not give umbrage to their genius, and +if he proved incompetent, or rebelled against their projects, they would +remove him without fear, or crush him without pity. Brissot, the +diplomatic oracle of the Gironde, was evidently to be the minister who +was one day to control our foreign relations, and who <i>en attendant</i> was +to govern for the moment under the name of Dumouriez.</p> + +<p>The Girondists had discovered Dumouriez in the obscurity of an +existence, until then very insignificant, through Gensonné, whose +colleague Dumouriez had been in the mission which the Constituent +Assembly had given him to visit and examine the position of the western +departments, already agitated by the secret presentiment of civil war +and the early religious troubles. During this inquiry, which lasted +several months, the two commissioners had frequent opportunities for an +interchange of their most private thoughts on the great events which at +this moment agitated men's minds. They became much attached to each +other. Gensonné detected with much tact in his colleague one of those +intellects<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[Pg 397]</a></span> repressed by circumstances, and weighed down by the +obscurity of their lot, which it is enough to expose to the open +daylight of public action, in order to shine forth with all the +brilliancy with which nature and study had endowed it: he had too found +in this mind the spring of character strong enough to bear the movements +of a revolution, and sufficiently elastic to bend to all the +difficulties of affairs. In a word, Dumouriez had on the first contact +exercised over Gensonné that influence, that ascendency, that empire +which superiority, when it displays and humbles itself, never fails to +acquire over minds to which it condescends to disclose itself.</p> + +<p>This attractive power, the confidence of genius, was one of the +characteristics of Dumouriez, and by that he subsequently made a +conquest of the Girondists, the king, the queen, his army, the Jacobins, +Danton,—Robespierre himself. It was what great men call their star,—a +star which precedes them, and prepares their way. Dumouriez's star was +fascination of manner; but this fascination was but the attraction of +his just, rapid, quick ideas, into whose orbit the incredible activity +of his mind carried away the mind of those who heard his thoughts or +witnessed his actions. Gensonné, on his return from his mission, had +desired to enrich his party with this unknown man, whose eminence he +foresaw from afar. He presented Dumouriez to his friends of the +Assembly, to Guadet, Vergniaud, Roland, Brissot, and De Grave: +communicated to them his own astonishment at, and confidence in, the +twofold faculties of Dumouriez as diplomatist and soldier. He spoke of +him as of a concealed saviour, whom fate had reserved for liberty. He +conjured them to attach to themselves a man whose greatness would +enhance their own.</p> + +<p>They had scarcely seen Dumouriez before they were convinced. His +intellect was electrical: it struck before they had time to anatomise +it. The Girondists presented him to De Grave, and De Grave to the king, +who offered him the temporary management of foreign affairs, until M. de +Lessart, sent before the <i>Haute Cour</i>, had proved his innocence to his +judges, and could resume the place reserved for him in the council. +Dumouriez refused the post of minister <i>pro tempore</i>, which would injure +and weaken his position before all parties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[Pg 398]</a></span> by rendering him suspected +by all. The king yielded, and Dumouriez was appointed.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>History should pause a moment before this man, who, without having +assumed the name of Dictator, concentrated in himself during two years +all expiring France, and exercised over his country the most +incontestible of dictatorships—that of genius. Dumouriez was of the +number of men who are not to be painted by merely naming them, but of +those whose previous life explains their nature; who have in the past +the secret of their future; who have, like Mirabeau, their existence +spread over two epochs; who have their roots in two soils, and are only +known by the perusal of every detail.</p> + +<p>Dumouriez, son of a commissioner in the war department, was born at +Cambrai in 1739; and although his family lived in the north, his blood +was southern by extraction. His family, originally from Aix, in +Provence, evinced itself in the light, warmth, and sensibility of his +nature; there was perceptible the same sky that had rendered so prolific +the genius of Mirabeau. His father, a military and well-read man, +educated him equally for war and literature. One of his uncles, employed +in the foreign office, made him early a diplomatist. A mind equally +powerful and supple, he lent himself equally to all—as fitted for +action as for thought, he passed from one to the other with facility, +according to the phases of his destiny. There was in him the flexibility +of the Greek mind in the stirring periods of the democracy in Athens. +His deep study early directed his mind to history, that poem of men of +action. Plutarch nourished him with his manly diet. He moulded on the +antique figures drawn from life by the historian the ideal of his own +life, only all the parts of every great man suited him alike: he assumed +them by turns, realised them in his reveries, as suited to reproduce In +him the voluptuary as the sage, the malcontent as the patriot; +Aristippus as Themistocles; Scipio as Coriolanus. He mingled with his +studies the exercises of a military life, formed his body to fatigue, at +the same time that he fashioned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[Pg 399]</a></span> his mind to lofty ideas; equally +skilled in handling a sword and daring in subduing a horse.</p> + +<p>Demosthenes, by patience, formed a sonorous voice from a stammering +tongue. Dumouriez, with a weak and ailing constitution in his childhood, +enured his body for war. The stirring ambition of his soul required that +the frame which encased it should be of endurance.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Opposing the desires of his father, who destined him for the war office, +the pen was his abhorrence, and he obtained a sub-lieutenancy in the +cavalry. As aide-de-camp of marshal d'Armentières, he made the campaign +of Hanover. In a retreat he seized the standard from the hands of a +fugitive, rallied two hundred troopers round him, saved a battery of +five pieces of cannon, and covered the passage of the army. Remaining +almost alone in the rear, he made himself a rampart of his dead horse, +and wounded three of the enemy's hussars. Wounded in many places by +gun-shot and sabre wounds—his thigh entangled beneath a fallen +horse—two fingers of his right hand severed—his forehead cut open—his +eyes literally singed by a discharge of powder, he still fought, and +only surrendered prisoner to the Baron de Beker, who saved his life, and +conveyed him to the camp of the English.</p> + +<p>His youth and good constitution restored him to health at the end of two +months. Destined to form himself to victory by the example of defeats, +and want of experience in our generals, he rejoined marshal de Soubise +and marshal de Broglie; and was present at the routs which the French +owe to their enmity and rivalry.</p> + +<p>At the peace he went to rejoin his regiment in garrison at Saint Lô. +Passing by Pont Audemer, he stopped at the house of his father's sister. +A passionate love for one of his uncle's daughters kept him there. This +love, shared by his cousin, and favoured by his aunt, was opposed by his +father. The young girl, in despair, took refuge in a convent. Dumouriez +swore to take her thence, and went away. On his road, overcome by his +grief, he bought some opium at Dieppe, shut himself up in his apartment, +wrote his adieus to his beloved, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[Pg 400]</a></span> letter of reproaches to his father, +and took the poison. Nature saved him, and repentance ensued—he went, +and, throwing himself at his father's feet, they were reconciled.</p> + +<p>At four and twenty years of age, after seven campaigns, he brought from +the wars only twenty-two wounds, a decoration, the rank of captain, a +pension of 600 livres, debts contracted in the service, and a hopeless +love, which preyed upon his mind. His ambition, spurred by his love, +made him seek in politics that success which war had hitherto refused +him.</p> + +<p>There was then in Paris one of those enigmatic men who are at the same +time intriguers and statesmen. Unknown and unconsidered, they play under +some name parts hidden, but important in affairs. Men of police, as well +as of politics, the governments that employ and despise them pay their +services, not in appointments, but in subsidies. Manœuvrers in +politics, they are paid from day to day—they are urged onwards, +compromised, and then disavowed, and sometimes even imprisoned. They +suffer all, even captivity and dishonour, for money. Such men are things +to buy and sell, and their talent and utility stamp their price. Of this +class were Linguet, Brissot, even Mirabeau in his youth. Such at this +period was one Favier.</p> + +<p>This man, employed in turns by the duc de Choiseul and M. d'Argenson, to +draw up diplomatic memoranda, had an infinite knowledge of Europe; he +was the vigilant spy of every cabinet, knew their back-games, guessed +their intrigues, and kept them in play by counter-mines, of which the +minister for foreign affairs did not always know the secret. Louis XV., +a king of small ideas and petty resources, was not ashamed to take into +his confidence Favier, as an instrument in the schemes he contemplated +against his own ministers. Favier was the go-between in the political +correspondence which this monarch kept up with the count de Broglie, +unknown to, and against the policy of, his own ministers. This +confidence, suspected by, rather than known to, his ministers, talent as +a very able writer, deep knowledge of national eras, of history, and +diplomacy, gave Favier a credit with the administration, and an +influence over affairs very much beyond his obscure position and dubious +character; he was, in some sort, the minister of the intrigues of high +life of his time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[Pg 401]</a></span></p> + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>Dumouriez seeing the high roads to fortune closed before him, resolved +to cast himself into them by indirect ways; and with this view attached +himself to Favier. Favier attached himself to him, and in this +connection of his earlier years, Dumouriez acquired that character for +adventure and audacity which gave, during all his life, something +skilful as intrigue and as rash as a <i>coup de main</i> to his heroism and +his policy. Favier initiated him into the secrets of courts, and engaged +Louis XV. and the Duc de Choiseul to employ Dumouriez in diplomacy and +war at the same time.</p> + +<p>It was at this moment that the great Corsican patriot, Paoli, was making +gigantic efforts to rescue his country from the tyranny of the republic +of Genoa, and to assure to this people an independence, of which he by +turns offered the patronage to England and to France. On reaching Genoa, +Dumouriez undertook to deceive at the same time the Republic, England, +and Paoli, united himself with Corsican adventurers, conspired against +Paoli, made a descent upon the island, which he summoned to +independence, and was partially successful. He threw himself into a +felucca, to bring to the Duc de Choiseul information as to the new state +of Corsica, and to implore the succour of France. Delayed by a tempest, +tossed for several weeks on the coast of Africa, he reached Marseilles +too late; the treaty between France and Genoa was signed. He hastened to +Favier, his friend in Paris.</p> + +<p>Favier informed him confidentially, that he was employed to draw up a +memorial to prove to the king and his ministers the necessity of +supporting the republic of Genoa against the independent Corsicans; that +this memorial had been demanded of him secretly by the Genoese +ambassador, and by a <i>femme de chambre</i> of the Duchesse de Grammont, +favourite sister of the Duc de Choiseul, interested, like the brothers +of the Du Barry<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>, in supplying the army: that 500 louis were the +price of this memorial and the blood of the Corsicans;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[Pg 402]</a></span> and he offered a +portion of this intrigue and its profits to Dumouriez who pretended to +accept this, and then hastening to the Duc de Choiseul, revealed the +manœuvre, was well received, believed he had convinced the minister, +and was preparing to return, conveying to the Corsicans the subsidies +and arms they expected. Next day, he found the minister changed, and was +sent from the audience with harsh language. Dumouriez retired, and made +his way unmolested to Spain. Aided by Favier, who was satisfied with +having jockeyed him, and pitied his candour; assisted by the Duc de +Choiseul, he conspired with the Spanish minister and French ambassador +to effect the conquest of Portugal, whose topography he was empowered to +study in a military point of view, as well as its means of defence. The +Marquis de Pombal, first minister of Portugal, conceived suspicions as +to Dumouriez's mission, and forced him to leave Lisbon. The young +diplomatist returned to Madrid, learned that his cousin, over-persuaded +by the priests, had abandoned him, and meant to take the veil. He then +attached himself to another mistress, a young Frenchwoman, daughter of +an architect established at Madrid, and for some years his activity +reposed in the happiness of a participated love. An order of the Duc de +Choiseul recalled him to Paris,—he hesitated: his beloved herself +compelled him, and sacrificed him as if she had from afar anticipated +his fame. He reached Paris, and was named quartermaster-general of the +French army in Corsica, where, as everywhere else, he greatly +distinguished himself. At the head of a detachment of volunteers, he +seized on the Château de Corte, the last asylum and home of Paoli. He +retained for himself the library of this unfortunate patriot. The choice +of these books, and the notes with which they were covered in Paoli's +hand, revealed one of those characters which seek their fellows in the +finest models of antiquity. Dumouriez was worthy of this spoil, since he +appreciated it above gold. The great Frederic called Paoli the first +captain of Europe: Voltaire declared him the conqueror and lawgiver of +his country. The French blushed at conquering him—fortune at forsaking +him. If he did not emancipate his country, he deserved that his struggle +should be immortalised. Too great a citizen for so small a people, he +did not bear a reputation in proportion to his country,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[Pg 403]</a></span> but to his +virtues. Corsica remains in the ranks of conquered provinces; but Paoli +must always be in the ranks of great men.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>After his return to Paris, Dumouriez passed a year in the society of the +literary men and women of light fame who gave to the society of the +period the spirit and the tone of a constant orgy. Forming an attachment +with an old acquaintance of Madame Du Barry, he knew this <i>parvenue</i> +courtezan, whom libertinism had elevated nearly to the throne. Devoted +to the Duc de Choiseul, the enemy of this mistress of the king, and +retaining that remnant of virtue which amongst the French is called +honour, he did not prostitute his uniform to the court, and blushed to +see the old monarch, at the reviews of Fontainebleau, walk on foot with +his hat off before his army, beside a carriage in which this woman +displayed her beauty and her empire. Madame Du Barry took offence at the +forgetfulness of the young officer, and divined the cause of his +absence. Dumouriez was sent to Poland on the same errand that had before +despatched him to Portugal. His mission, half diplomatic, half military, +was, in consequence of a secret idea of the king, approved by his +confidant, the Count de Broglie, and by Favier, the count's adviser.</p> + +<p>It was at the moment when Poland, menaced and half-occupied by the +Russians, devoured by Prussia, forsaken by Austria, was attempting some +ill-considered movements, in order to repair its scattered limbs, and to +dispute, at least, in fragments, its nationality with its +oppressors—the last sigh of liberty which moved the corpse of a people. +The king, who feared to come into collision with the Empress of Russia, +Catherine, to give excuses to the hostilities of Frederic and umbrage to +the court of Vienna, was still desirous of extending to expiring Poland +the hand of France; but concealing that hand, and reserving to himself +the power even to cut it off, if it became necessary. Dumouriez was the +intermediary selected for this part; the secret minister of France, +amongst the Polish confederates; a general, if necessary—but a general +adventurer and disowned—to rally and direct their efforts.</p> + +<p>The Duc de Choiseul, indignant at the debasement of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[Pg 404]</a></span> France, was +secretly preparing war against Prussia and England. This powerful +diversion in Poland was necessary for his plan of campaign, and he gave +his confidential instructions to Dumouriez; but, thrown out of the +administration by the intrigues of Madame Du Barry and M. d'Argenson, +the Duc de Choiseul was suddenly exiled to Versailles before Dumouriez +reached Poland. The policy of France, changing with the minister, at +once destroyed Dumouriez's plans. Still he followed them up with an +ardour and perseverance worthy of better success. He found the Poles +debased by misery, slavery, and the custom of bearing a foreign yoke. He +found the Polish aristocrats corrupted by luxury, enervated by +pleasures, employing in intrigues and language the warmth of their +patriotism in the conferences and confederation of <i>Epéries</i>. A female +of remarkable beauty, high rank, and eastern genius, the Countess of +Mnizeck, stirred up, destroyed, or combined different parties, according +to the taste of her ambition or her amours. Certain patriot orators +caused the last accents of independence to resound again in vain. +Certain princes and gentlemen formed meetings without any understanding +with each other, who contended as partisans rather than as citizens, and +who boasted of personal fame, without any reference to the safety of +their country. Dumouriez availed himself of the ascendency of the +countess, and endeavoured to unite these isolated effects, formed an +infantry, an artillery, seized upon two fortresses, threatened in all +directions the Russians, scattered in small bodies over the wide plains +of Poland, prepared for war, disciplined the insubordinate patriotism of +the insurgents, and contended successfully against Souwarow, the Russian +general, subsequently destined to threaten the republic so closely.</p> + +<p>But Stanislaus, the king of Poland, the crowned creature of Catherine, +saw the danger of a national insurrection, which, by drawing out the +Russians, would endanger his throne; and he paralysed it by offering to +the federates to adhere, in his own person, to the confederation. One of +them, Bohuez, the last great orator of Polish liberty, returned to the +king, in a sublime oration, his perfidious succour, and then combined +the unanimity of the conspirators into the last resource of the +oppressed—insurrection. It burst forth. Dumouriez is its life and soul, +flies from one camp to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[Pg 405]</a></span> other, giving a spirit of unity to the plan +of attack. Cracovis was ready to fall into his hands; the Russians +regain the frontier in disorder; but anarchy, that fatal genius of +Poland, suddenly dissolves the union of the chiefs, and they surrender +one another to the united efforts of the Russians. All desire to have +the exclusive honour of delivering their country, and prefer to lose it +rather than owe their success to a rival.</p> + +<p>Sapieha, the principal leader, was massacred by his nobles. Pulauwski +and Micksenski were delivered up, wounded, to the Russians; Zaremba +betrayed his country; Oginski, the last of these great patriots, roused +Lithuania at the moment when Lesser Poland had laid down its arms. +Abandoned and fugitive, he escaped to Dantzig, and wandered for thirty +years over Europe and America, carrying in his heart the memory of his +country. The lovely Countess of Mnizeck languished and died of grief +with Poland. Dumouriez wept for this heroine, adored in a country +wherein he said the women are more men than the men. He brake his sword, +despairing for ever of this aristocracy without a people, bestowing on +it, as he quitted it, the name of <i>Asiatic Nation of Europe</i>.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>He returned to Paris. The king and M. d'Argenson, to save appearances +with Russia and Prussia, threw him and Favier into the Bastille, and he +there passed a year in cursing the ingratitude of courts and the +weakness of kings, and recovered his natural energy in retreat and +study. The king changed his prison into exile to the citadel of Caen; +there Dumouriez found again, in a convent, the cousin he had loved. +Free, and weary of a monastic life, she became softened on again +beholding her former lover, and they were married. He was then appointed +commandant of Cherbourg, and his indefatigable mind contended with the +elements as if it were opposing men. He conceived the plan of fortifying +this harbour, which was to imprison a stormy sea in a granite basin, and +give the French navy a halting place in the channel. Here he passed +fifteen years in domestic life, much troubled by the ill humour and +ascetic devotion of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[Pg 406]</a></span> wife; in military studies constant, but without +application, and in the dissipation of the philosophic and voluptuous +society of his time.</p> + +<p>The Revolution, which was drawing nigh, found him indifferent to its +principles, and prepared for its vicissitudes. The justness of his +penetration enabled him at a glance to measure the tendency of events. +He soon comprehended that a revolution in ideas must undermine +institutions, unless institutions modelled themselves on the new ideas. +He gave himself to the constitution without enthusiasm; he desired the +maintenance of the throne, had no faith in a republic, foresaw a change +in the dynasty; and was even accused of meditating it. The emigration, +by decimating the upper ranks of the army, left space for him, and he +was named general, by length of service. He preserved a firm and +well-devised conduct, equi-distant from the throne and the people, from +the counter-revolutionist and the malcontent, ready to go with the +opinion of the court or of the nation, according as events might +transpire. By turns he was in communication with all parties, as if to +sound the growing power of Mirabeau and de Montmorin, the Duc d'Orleans +and the Jacobins, La Fayette and the Girondists. In his various commands +during these days of crises, he maintained discipline by his popularity, +was on terms with the insurgent people, and placed himself at their +head, in order to restrain them. The people believed him certainly on +their side; the soldiery adored him; he detested anarchy, but flattered +the demagogues. He applied very skilfully to his popularity those able +tactics which Favier had taught him. He viewed the Revolution as an +heroic intrigue. He manœuvred his patriotism as he would have +manœuvred his battalions on the field of battle. He considered the +coming war with much delight, knowing already all of a hero's part. He +foresaw that the Revolution, deserted by the nobility, and assailed by +all Europe, would require a general ready formed to direct the +undisciplined efforts of the masses it had excited. He prepared himself +for that post. The long subordination of his genius fatigued him. At +fifty-six years of age he had the fire of youth with all the coolness of +age; his earnest desire was advancement; the yearning of his soul for +fame was the more intense in proportion to the years he had already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[Pg 407]</a></span> +unavailingly passed. His frame, fortified by climates and voyages, lent +itself, like a passive instrument, to his activity: all was young in him +except his amount of years; they were expended, but not by energy. He +had the youth of Cæsar, an impatient desire for fortune, and the +certainty of acquiring it. With great men, to live is to rise in renown; +he had not lived, because his reputation was not equivalent to his +ambition.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Dumouriez was of that middle stature of the French soldier who wears his +uniform gracefully, his havresac lightly, and his musket and sabre as if +he did not feel their weight. Equally agile and compact, his body had +the cast of those statues of warriors who repose on their expanded +muscles, and yet seem ready to advance. His attitude was confident and +proud; all his motions were as rapid as his mind. He vaulted into the +saddle without touching the stirrup, holding the mane by his left hand. +He sprung to the ground with one effort, and handled the bayonet of the +soldier as vigorously as the sword of the general. His head, rather +thrown backwards, rose well from his shoulders, and turned on his neck +with ease and grace, like all elegant men. These haughty motions of his +head made him look taller under the tricoloured cockade. His brow was +lofty, well-turned, flat at the temples, and well displayed; his muscles +set in play by his reflection and resolution. The salient and +well-defined angles announced sensibility of mind beneath delicacy of +understanding and the most exquisite tact. His eyes were black, large, +and full of fire; his long lids, beginning to turn grey, increased their +brilliancy, though sometimes they were very soft; his nose, and the oval +of his countenance, were of that aquiline type which reveals races +ennobled by war and empire; his mouth, flexible and handsome, was almost +always smiling; no tension of the lips betrayed the effort of this +plastic mind—this master mind, which played with difficulties, overcame +obstacles; his chin, turned and decided, bore his face, as it were, on a +firm and square base, whilst the habitual expression of his countenance +was calm and expansive cheerfulness. It was evident that no pressure of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[Pg 408]</a></span> +affairs was too heavy for him, and that he constantly preserved so much +liberty of mind as enabled him to jest alike with good or bad fortune. +He treated politics, war, and government with gaiety. The tone of his +voice was sonorous, manly, and vibrating; and was distinctly heard above +the noise of the drum, and the clash of the bayonet. His oratory was +straightforward, clever, striking; his words were effective in council, +in confidence, and intimacy: they soothed and insinuated themselves like +those of a woman. He was persuasive, for his soul, mobile and sensitive, +had always in its accent the truth and impression of the moment. Devoted +to the sex, and easily enamoured, his experience with them had imbued +him with one of their highest qualities—pity. He could not resist +tears, and those of the queen would have made him a Seid of the throne; +there was no position or opinion he would not have sacrificed to a +generous impulse; his greatness of soul was not calculation, it was +excessive feeling. He had no political principles; the Revolution was to +him nothing more than a fine drama, which was to furnish a grand scene +for his abilities, and a part for his genius. A great man for the +service of events, if the Revolution had not beheld him as its general +and preserver, he would equally have been the general and preserver of +the Coalition. Dumouriez was not the hero of a principle, but of the +occasion.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>The new ministers met at Madame Roland's, the soul of the Girondist +ministry: Duranton, Lacoste, Cahier-Gerville received there, in all +passiveness, their instructions from the men whose shadows only they +were in the council. Dumouriez affected, like them, at first, a full +compliance with the interests and will of the party, which, personified +at Roland's by a young, lovely, and eloquent woman, must have had an +additional attraction for the general. He hoped to rule by ruling the +heart of this female. He employed with her all the plasticity of his +character, all the graces of his nature, all the fascinations of his +genius; but Madame Roland had a preservative against the warrior's +seductions that Dumouriez had not been accustomed to find in the women +he had loved—austere virtue and a strong will. There was but one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[Pg 409]</a></span> means +of captivating her admiration, and that was by surpassing her in +patriotic devotion. These two characters could not meet without +contrasting themselves, nor understand without despising each other. +Very soon, therefore, Dumouriez considered Madame Roland as a stubborn +bigot, and she estimated Dumouriez as a frivolous presuming man, finding +in his look, smile, and tone of voice that audacity of success towards +her sex which betrayed, according to her estimation, the free conduct of +the females amongst whom he had lived, and which offended her decorum. +There was more of the courtier than the patriot in Dumouriez. This +French aristocracy of manners displeased the engraver's humble daughter; +perhaps it reminded her of her lowly condition, and the humiliations of +her childhood at Versailles. Her ideal was not the military, but the +citizen; a republican mind alone could acquire her love. Besides, she +saw at a glance that this man was too great to remain long on the level +of her party; she suspected his genius in his politeness, and his +ambition beneath his familiarity. "Have an eye to that man," she said to +her husband after their first interview; "he may conceal a master +beneath the colleague, and drive from the cabinet those who introduced +him there."</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>Roland, too happy at being in power, did not foresee his disgrace, and +encouraging his wife, trusted more and more to the admiration which +Dumouriez feigned for him. He thought himself the statesman of the +cabinet, and his gratified vanity lent itself credulously to the +advances of Dumouriez, and even made him better disposed towards the +king. On his entry to the ministry Roland had affected in his costume +the bluntness of his principles, and in his manners the rudeness of his +republicanism. He presented himself at the Tuileries in a black coat, +with a round hat, and nailed shoes covered with dust. He wished to show +in himself the man of the people, entering the palace in the plain garb +of the citizen, and thus meeting the man of the throne. This tacit +insolence he thought would flatter the nation and humiliate the king. +The courtiers were indignant; the king groaned over it; Dumouriez +laughed at it. "Ah, well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[Pg 410]</a></span> then, really, gentlemen," he said to the +courtiers, "since there is no more etiquette there is no more monarchy." +This jocose mode of treating the thing had at once removed all the anger +of the court, and all the effect of the Spartan pretensions of Roland.</p> + +<p>The king no longer regarded the discourtesy, and treated Roland with +that cordiality which unlocks men's hearts. The new ministers were +astonished to feel themselves confiding and moved in the presence of the +monarch. Having arrived suspicious and republican to their seats in the +cabinet, they quitted it almost royalists.</p> + +<p>"The king is not known," said Roland to his wife: "a weak prince, he is +one of the best of men; he does not want good intentions, but good +advice: he does not like the aristocracy, and has strong affection for +the people: perhaps he was born to serve as the medium between republic +and monarchy. By rendering the constitution easy to him we shall make +him like it, and the popularity he will re-acquire by following our +counsels will render government easy to ourselves. His nature is so +great that the throne has been unable to corrupt it, and he is equally +remote from the silly brute which has been held up to the laughter of +the people as from the sensitive and highly accomplished man his +courtiers pretend to adore in him; his mind, without being superior, is +expansive and reflecting; in a humble position his abilities would have +provided for him; he has a general and occasionally sound knowledge, +knows the details of business, and acts towards men with that simple but +persuasive ability which gives kings the precocious necessity of +governing their impressions; his prodigious memory always recalls to him +at the right time things, names, and faces; he likes work, and reads +every thing; he is never idle for a moment; a tender parent, a model of +a husband: chaste in feeling, he has done away with all those scandals +which disgraced the courts of his predecessors; he loves none but the +queen, and his condescension, which is occasionally injurious to his +politics, is at least a weakness 'which leans to virtue's side.' Had he +been born two centuries earlier his peaceable reign would have been +counted amongst the number of happy years of the monarchy. Circumstances +appear to have influenced his mind. The Revolution has convinced him of +its necessity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[Pg 411]</a></span> and we must convince him of its possibility. In our +hands the king may better serve it than any other citizen in the +kingdom; by enlightening this prince we may be faithful alike to his +interests and those of the nation—the king and Revolution must be with +us as one."</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>Thus said Roland in the first dazzling of power; his wife listened with +a smile of incredulity on her lips. Her keener glance had at the instant +measured a career more vast and a termination more decisive than the +timid and transitory compromise between a degraded royalty and an +imperfect revolution. It would have cost her too much to renounce the +ideal of her ardent soul; all her wishes tended to a republic; all her +exertions, all her words, all her aspirations, were destined, +unconsciously to herself, to urge thither her husband and his +associates.</p> + +<p>"Mistrust every man's perfidy, and more especially your own virtue," was +her reply to the weak and vain Roland. "You see in this world but +courts, where all is unreal, and where the most polished surfaces +conceal the most sinister combinations. You are only an honest +countryman wandering amongst a crowd of courtiers,—virtue in danger +amidst a myriad of vices: they speak our language, and we do not know +theirs. Would it be possible that they should not deceive us? Louis +XVI., of a degenerate race, without elevation of mind, or energy of +will, allowed himself to be enthralled early in life by religious +prejudices, which have even lessened his intellect; fascinated by a +giddy queen, who unites to Austrian insolence the enchantment of beauty +and the highest rank, and who makes of her secret and corrupt court the +sanctuary of her pleasures and the focus of her vices, this prince, +blinded on the one hand by the priests, and on the other by love, holds +at random the loose reins of an empire which is escaping from his grasp. +France, exhausted of men, does not give to him, either in Maurepas, +Necker, or Calonne, a minister capable of supporting him. The +aristocracy is barren, and produces nothing but to its shame; the +government must be renewed in the holier and deeper fount of the nation; +the time for a democracy is here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[Pg 412]</a></span>—why delay it! You are its men, its +virtues, its characters, its intelligence. The Revolution is behind you, +it hails you, urges you onward, and would you surrender it to the first +smile from the king because he has the condescension of a man of the +people? No: Louis XVI., half dethroned by the nation, cannot love the +nation that fetters him; he may feign to caress his chains, but all his +thoughts are devoted to the idea of how he can spurn them. His only +resource at this moment is to protest his attachment to the Revolution, +and to lull the ministers whom the Revolution empowers to watch over his +intrigues. But this pretence is the last and most dangerous of the +conspiracies of the throne. The constitution is the forfeiture of Louis +XVI., and the patriot ministers are his superintendents. Fallen +greatness cannot love the cause of its decadence; no man likes his +humiliation. Trust in human nature, Roland—that alone never deceives, +and mistrust courts. Your virtue is too elevated to see the snares which +courtiers spread beneath your feet."</p> + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>Such language amazed Roland. Brissot, Condorcet, Vergniaud, Gensonné, +Guadet, and especially Buzot, the friend and most intimate confidant of +Madame Roland, strengthened at their evening meetings the mistrust of +the minister. He armed himself with fresh distrust from their +conversations, and entered the council with a more frowning brow and +more resolute determination: the king's frankness disarmed +him—Dumouriez discouraged him by his gaiety—power softened him by its +influence. He wavered between the two great difficulties of the moment, +the double sanction required from the king for the decrees which were +most repugnant to his heart and conscience, the decree against the +emigrants, and the decree against the nonjuring priests; and he wavered +as to war.</p> + +<p>During this tergiversation of Roland and his colleagues, Dumouriez +acquired the favour of the king and the people, the secret of his +conduct being comprised in what he had said a short time before to M. de +Montmorin, in a secret conversation he had with that minister. "If I +were king of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[Pg 413]</a></span> France, I would disconcert all parties by placing myself +at the head of the Revolution."</p> + +<p>This sentence contained the sole line of policy capable of saving Louis +XVI. In a time of revolution every king who is not revolutionary must be +inevitably crushed between the two parties: a neutral king no longer +reigns—a pardoned king degrades the throne—a king conquered by his own +people has for refuge only exile or the scaffold. Dumouriez felt that +his first step was to convince the king of his personal attachment, and +take him into his confidence, or indeed make him his accomplice in the +patriotic part he proposed to play; constitute himself the secret +mediator between the will of the monarch and the exactions of the +cabinet, to control the king by his influence over the Girondists, and +the Girondists by his influence over the king; the part of the favourite +of misfortune and protector of a persecuted queen pleased alike his +ambition and his heart. A soldier, diplomatist, gentleman, there was in +his soul a wholly different feeling for degraded royalty than the +sentiment of satisfied jealousy which filled the minds of the +Girondists. The <i>prestige</i> of the throne existed for Dumouriez; the +<i>prestige</i> of liberty only existed for the Girondists. This feeling, +revealed in his attitude, language, gestures, could not long escape the +observation of Louis XVI. Kings have twofold tact, misfortune makes them +more nice; the unfortunate perceive pity in a look; it is the only +homage they are allowed to receive, and they are the more jealous of it. +In a secret conversation the king and Dumouriez came to an +understanding.</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>Dumouriez's restless conduct in his commands in Normandy, the friendship +of Gensonné, the favour of the Jacobins for him, had prejudiced Louis +XVI. against his new minister. The minister, on his side, expected to +find in the king a spirit opposed to the constitution, a mind trammelled +by routine, a violent temper, an abrupt manner, and using language +imperious and offensive to all who approached him. Such was the +caricature of this unfortunate prince. It was necessary to disfigure him +in order to make the nation hate him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dumouriez found in him at this moment, and during the three months of +his ministry, an upright mind, a heart open to every benevolent +sentiment, unvarying politeness, endurance and patience which defied the +calamities of his situation. Extreme timidity, the result of the long +seclusion in which his youth had been passed, repressed the feelings of +his heart, and gave to his language and his intercourse with men a +stiffness and embarrassment which destroyed his better qualities of +decided and calm courage; he frequently spoke to Dumouriez of his death +as an event probable and doomed, the prospect of which did not affect +his serenity nor preclude him from doing his duty to the last as a +father and a king.</p> + +<p>"Sire," said Dumouriez to him, with the chivalric sympathy which +compassion adds to respect, and with that aspect in which the heart says +more than language; "you have overcome your prejudices against myself; +you have commanded me by M. de Laporte to accept the post he had +refused." "Yes," replied the king. "Well, I come now to devote myself +wholly to your service, to your protection. But the part of a minister +is no longer what it was in former days: without ceasing to be the +servant of the king, I am the man of the nation. I will speak to you +always in the language of liberty and the constitution. Allow me then, +in order to serve you better, that in public and in the council I appear +in my character as a constitutionalist, and that I avoid every thing +that may at all reveal my personal attachment towards you. In this +respect I must break through all etiquette, and avoid attending the +court. In the council, I shall oppose your views, and shall propose as +our representatives in foreign courts men devoted to the nation. When +your repugnance to my choice shall be invincible and on good grounds, I +shall comply; if this repugnance shall tend to compromise the safety of +the country and yourself, I shall beg you to allow me to resign, and +nominate my successor. Think of the terrible dangers which beset your +throne—it must be consolidated by the confidence of the nation in your +sincere attachment to the Revolution. It is a conquest which it depends +on you to make. I have prepared four despatches to ambassadors in this +sense. In these I have used language to which they are unused from +courts, the language of an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[Pg 415]</a></span> offended and resolute nation. I shall read +them this morning before the council: if you approve my labour, I shall +continue to speak thus, and act in accordance with my language; if not, +my carriage is ready, and, unable to serve you in the council, I shall +depart whither my tastes and studies for thirty years call me, to serve +my country in the field."</p> + +<p>The king, astonished and much moved, said to him, "I like your +frankness; I know you are attached to me, and I anticipate all from your +services. They had created many prejudices against you, but this moment +effaces them all. Go and do as your heart directs you, and according to +the best interests of the nation, which are also mine." Dumouriez +retired; but he knew that the queen, adored by her husband, clung to the +policy of her husband with all the passion and excitement of her soul. +He desired and feared at the same time an interview with this princess: +one word from her would accomplish or destroy the bold enterprise he had +dared to meditate, of reconciling the king with the people.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>The queen sent for the general into her most private apartments. +Dumouriez found her alone, her cheeks flushed by the emotion of an +internal struggle, and walking rapidly up and down the room, like a +person whose agitated thoughts require corresponding activity of body. +Dumouriez placed himself in silence near the fireplace, in the attitude +of respect and sorrow, inspired by the presence of so august, so +beautiful, and so miserable a princess. She advanced towards him with a +mingled air of majesty and anger.</p> + +<p>"Monsieur," said she, with that accent that reveals at once resentment +against fortune, and contempt for fate; "you are all-powerful at this +moment; but it is through popular favour, and that soon destroys its +idols." She did not await his reply, but continued, "Your existence +depends upon your conduct; it is said that you possess great talents, +and you must imagine that neither the king nor myself can suffer all +these innovations of the constitution. I tell you thus much frankly, so +make your decision." "Madame," returned Dumouriez, "I am confounded by +the dangerous disclosure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[Pg 416]</a></span> your Majesty has thought fit to make me; I +will not betray your confidence, but I am placed between the king and +the nation, and I belong to my country. Permit me," continued Dumouriez, +with respectful earnestness, "to represent to you that the safety of the +king—your own—and that of your children, and the very re-establishment +of the royal authority—is bound up with the constitution. You are +surrounded by enemies, who sacrifice you to their own interests. The +constitution alone can, by strengthening itself, protect you and assure +the happiness and glory of the king." "It cannot last long, beware of +yourself," returned the queen, with a look of anger and menace. +Dumouriez imagined that he saw in this look and speech an allusion to +personal danger and an insinuation of alarm. "I am more than fifty years +old, madame," replied he, in a low tone, in which the firmness of the +soldier was mingled with the pity of the man; "I have braved many perils +in my life; and when I accepted the ministry, I well knew that my +responsibility was not the greatest of my dangers." "Ah," cried the +queen, with a gesture of horror, "this calumny and disgrace was alone +wanting! You appear to believe me capable of causing you to be +assassinated." Tears of indignation checked her utterance. Dumouriez, +equally moved with herself, disclaimed the injurious interpretation +given to his reply. "Far be it from me, madame, to offer you so cruel an +insult; your soul is great and noble, and the heroism you have displayed +in so many circumstances, has for ever attached me to you." She was +appeased in a moment, and laid her hand on Dumouriez's arm, in token of +reconciliation.</p> + +<p>The minister profited by this return to serenity and confidence to give +Marie Antoinette advice, of which the emotion of his features and voice +sufficiently attested the sincerity. "Trust me, madame, I have no motive +for deceiving you; I abhor anarchy and its crimes equally with yourself. +But I have experience; I live in the centre of the different parties, +and I take part in opinion. I am connected with the people, and I am +better placed than your majesty for judging the extent and the direction +of events. This is not, as you deem it, a popular movement; but the +almost unanimous insurrection of a great nation against an old and +decaying order of things. Mighty factions feed the flame, and in every +one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[Pg 417]</a></span> them are scoundrels or madmen. I alone see in the Revolution the +king and the nation, and that which tends to separate them, ruins them +both. I seek to unite them, and it is for you to aid me. If I am an +obstacle to your designs, and if you persist in them, tell me instantly, +and I will retire, and mourn in obscurity the fate of my country and +your own." The queen was touched and convinced; the frankness of +Dumouriez at once pleased and won her. The heart of the soldier was a +guarantee to her of the conduct of the statesman. Firm, brave, and +heroic, she preferred to have the weight of his sword in the councils of +his king, rather than those politicians, and specious orators, who, +nevertheless, bent before every blast of opinion or sedition; and an +intimate understanding soon existed between the queen and the general.</p> + +<p>The queen was for some time faithful to her promises, but the repeated +outrages of the people again moved her, in spite of herself, to anger +and conspiracy. "See," said she to the king before Dumouriez, one day, +pointing to the tops of the trees in the Tuileries; "a prisoner in this +palace, I do not venture to show myself at the windows that look on to +the garden. The crowd collected there, and who watch even my tears, hoot +me. Yesterday, to breathe the air, I showed myself at a window that +looks at the court; an artillery-man on guard addressed the most +revolting language to me. 'How I should like,' added he, 'to see your +head on the point of my bayonet!' In this frightful garden I see on one +side a man mounted on a chair, and vociferating the most odious insults +against us, whilst he threatens, by his gestures, the inhabitants of the +palace; on the other, the populace is dragging to the basin some priest +or soldier, whom they overwhelm with blows and outrages, whilst, at the +same time, and close to these terrible scenes, persons are playing at +ball or walking about in the <i>allées</i>. What a residence—what a +life—what a people!" Dumouriez could but lament with the royal family, +and exhort them to be patient. But the endurance of the victims is +exhausted sooner than the cruelty of the executioner. How could it be +expected that a courageous and proud princess, who had been constantly +surrounded by the adulation of the court, could love the Revolution that +was the instrument of her humiliation and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[Pg 418]</a></span> her torture? or see in this +indifferent and cruel nation a people worthy of empire and of liberty?</p> + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>When all his measures with the court were concerted, Dumouriez no longer +hesitated to leap over the space that divided the king and the extreme +party, and to give the government the form of pure patriotism. He made +overtures to the Jacobins, and boldly presented himself at their sitting +the next day. The chamber was thronged, and the apparition of Dumouriez +struck the tribunes with mute astonishment. His martial figure and the +impetuosity of his conduct won for him at once the favour of the +Assembly; for no one suspected that so much audacity concealed so much +stratagem, and they saw in him only the minister who threw himself into +the arms of the people, and every one hastened to receive him.</p> + +<p>It was the moment when the <i>bonnet rouge</i>, the symbol of extreme +opinion, a species of livery worn by the demagogues and flatterers of +the people, had been almost unanimously adopted by the Jacobins. This +emblem, like many similar ones received by the revolutions from the hand +of chance, was a mystery even to those who wore it. It had been adopted +for the first time on the day of the triumph of the soldiers of +Châteauvieux. Some said it was the <i>coiffure</i> of the galley-slaves, once +infamous, but glorious since it had covered the brows of these martyrs +of the insurrection; and they added that the people wished to purify +this head-dress from every stain by wearing it themselves. Others only +saw in it the Phrygian bonnet, a symbol of freedom for slaves.</p> + +<p>The <i>bonnet rouge</i> had from its first appearance been the subject of +dispute and dissension amongst the Jacobins; the <i>exaltés</i> wore it, +whilst the <i>modérés</i> yet abstained from adopting it. Dumouriez did not +hesitate, but mounted the tribune, placed this sign of patriotism on his +head, and at once assumed the emblem of the most prominent party, whilst +this mute yet significant eloquence awakened a burst of enthusiasm on +every side of the <i>Salle</i>. "Brothers and friends," said Dumouriez, +"every instant of my life shall be devoted to carrying out the wishes of +the people, and to justifying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[Pg 419]</a></span> the king's choice. I will employ in all +negotiations the force of a free people, and before long these +negotiations will produce a lasting peace or a decisive war. (Applause.) +If we have this war I will abandon my political post, and I will assume +my rank in the army to triumph, or perish a free man with my brethren. A +heavy weight presses on me, aid me to bear it; I require your counsels, +transmit them to me through your journals. Tell me truth, even the most +unpalatable; but repel calumny, and do not repulse a citizen whom you +know to be sincere and intrepid, and who devotes himself to the cause of +the Revolution and the nation."</p> + +<p>The president replied to the minister that the society gloried in +counting him amongst its brethren. These words occasioned some murmurs, +which were stifled by the acclamations that followed Dumouriez to his +place. It was proposed that the two speeches should be printed. Legendre +opposed the motion from economical motives, but was hissed by the +tribunes. "Why these unusual honours, and this reply of the president to +the minister?" said Collot d'Herbois. "If he comes here as a minister, +there is no reply to make him. If he comes here as an associate and a +brother, he does no more than his duty; he only raises himself to the +level of our opinions. There is but one answer to be made,—let him act +as he has spoken." Dumouriez raised his hand, and gesticulated to Collot +d'Herbois.</p> + +<p>Robespierre rose, smiled sternly on Dumouriez, and said, "I am not one +of those who believe it is utterly impossible for a minister to be a +patriot, and I accept with pleasure the promises that M. Dumouriez has +just given us. When he shall have verified these promises, when he has +dissipated the foes armed against us by his predecessors, and by the +conspirators who even now hold the reins of government, spite of the +expulsion of several ministers, then, and then only, I shall be inclined +to bestow on him the praises he will have merited, and I shall even in +that case deem that every good citizen in this assembly is his equal. +The people only is great, is worthy in my eyes; the toys of ministerial +power fade into insignificance before it. It is out of respect for +people, for the minister himself, that I demand that his presence here +be not marked by any of those homages that mark the decay of public +feeling. He asks us to counsel the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[Pg 420]</a></span> ministers; I promise him, on my +part, to give him advice which will be useful to them and to the country +at large. So long as M. Dumouriez shall prove by acts of pure +patriotism, and by real services to his country, that he is the brother +of all good citizens, and the defender of the people, he shall find none +but supporters here. I do not dread the presence of any minister in this +society, but I declare that the instant a minister possesses more +ascendency here than a citizen, I will demand his ostracism. But this +will never happen."</p> + +<p>Robespierre left the tribune, and Dumouriez cast himself into his arms; +the Assembly rose, and sealed by its applause their fraternal embrace, +in which all saw the augury of the union of power and the people. The +president Doppet read (the <i>bonnet rouge</i> on his head) a letter from +Pétion to the society, on the subject of this new head-dress adopted by +the patriots, and on which Pétion spoke against this superfluous mark of +<i>civisme</i>.</p> + +<p>"This sign," said he, "instead of increasing your popularity, alarms the +public mind, and affords a pretext for calumnies against you. The moment +is serious, the demonstrations of patriotism should be serious as the +times. It is the enemies of the Revolution who urge it to these +frivolities in order that they may have the right to accuse it of +frivolity and thoughtlessness. They thus give patriotism the appearance +of faction, and these emblems divide those they should rally. However +great the vogue that counsels them to-day, they will never be +universally adopted, for every man really devoted to the public welfare +will be quite indifferent to a <i>bonnet rouge</i>. Liberty will neither be +more majestic nor more glorious in this garb, but the very signs with +which you adorn her will serve as a pretext for dissension amongst her +children. A civil war, commencing in sarcasm and ending in bloodshed, +may be caused by a ridiculous manifestation. I leave you to meditate on +these ideas."</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>Whilst this letter was being read, the president, a timorous man, who +perceived the agency of Robespierre in the advice of Pétion, had quietly +removed from his head the repudiated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[Pg 421]</a></span> <i>bonnet rouge</i>, and the members of +the society, one after another, followed his example. Robespierre alone, +who had never adopted this bauble of the fashion, and with whom Pétion +had concerted his letter, mounted the tribune, and said, "I, in common +with the major of Paris, respect every thing that bears the image of +liberty; but we have a sign which recalls to us constantly our oath to +live and die free, and here is this sign. (He showed his cockade.) The +citizens, who have adopted the <i>bonnet rouge</i> through a laudable +patriotism, will lose nothing by laying it aside. The friends of the +Revolution will continue to recognise each other by the sign of virtue +and of reason. These emblems are ours alone; all those may be imitated +by traitors and aristocrats. In the name of France, I rally you again to +the only standard that strikes terror into her foes. Let us alone retain +the cockade and the banner, beneath which the constitution was born."</p> + +<p>The <i>bonnet rouge</i> instantly disappeared in the Assembly; but even the +voice of Robespierre, and the resolutions of the Jacobins, could not +arrest the outbreak of enthusiasm that had placed the sign of <i>avenging +equality</i> ("<i>l'égalité vengeresse</i>") on every head; and the evening +of the day on which it was repudiated at the Jacobins saw it inaugurated +at all the theatres. The bust of Voltaire, the destroyer of prejudice, +was adorned with the Phrygian cap of liberty, amidst the shouts of the +spectators, whilst the cap and pike became the uniform and weapon of the +citizen soldier. The Girondists, who had attacked this sign as long as +it appeared to them the livery of Robespierre, began to excuse it as +soon as Robespierre repulsed it. Brissot himself, in his report of what +passed at this sitting, regrets this symbol, because, "adopted by the +most indignant portion of the people, it humiliated the rich, and became +the terror of the aristocracy." The breach between these two men became +wider every day, and there was not sufficient space in the Jacobins, the +Assembly, and the supreme power for these rival ambitions, which strove +for the dictatorship of opinion.</p> + +<p>The nomination of the ministers, which was entirely under the influence +of Girondists, the councils held at Madame Roland's, the presence of +Brissot, of Guadet, of Vergniaud at the deliberations of the ministers, +the appointment of all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[Pg 422]</a></span> their friends to the government offices, served +as themes for the clamours of the <i>exaltés</i> of the Jacobins. These +Jacobins were termed Montagnards, from the high benches occupied in the +Assembly by the friends of Robespierre and Danton. "Remember," they +said, "the almost prophetic sagacity of Robespierre, when, in answer to +Brissot, who attacked the former minister De Lessart, he made this +allusion to the Girondist leader, which has been so speedily +justified,—'For me, who do not aim at the ministry either for myself or +my friends.'" On their side the Girondist journals heaped opprobrium on +this handful of calumniators and petty tyrants, who resembled Catiline +in crimes if not in courage; thus war commenced by sarcasm.</p> + +<p>The king, however, when the ministry was completed, wrote the Assembly a +letter, more resembling an abdication into the hands of opinion than the +constitutional act of a free power. Was this humiliating resignation an +affectation of slavery, or a sign of restraint and degradation made from +the throne to the armed powers, in order that they might comprehend that +he was no longer free, and only see in him the crowned automaton of the +Jacobins? The letter was in these terms:</p> + +<p>"Profoundly touched by the disorders that afflict the French nation, and +by the duty imposed on me by the constitution of watching over the +maintenance of order and public tranquillity, I have not ceased to +employ every means that it places at my disposal to execute the laws. I +had selected as my prime agents men recommended by the purity of their +principles and their opinions. They have quitted the ministry; and I +have felt it my duty to replace them by men who hold a high position in +public favour. You have so often repeated that this measure was the only +means of ensuring the re-establishment of order and the enforcement of +the laws, that I have deemed it fitting to adopt it, that no pretext may +be afforded for doubting my sincere desire to add to the prosperity and +happiness of my country. I have appointed M. Clavière minister of the +contributions, and M. Roland minister of the interior. The person whom I +had chosen as the minister of justice has prayed me to make another +choice: when I shall have again made it the Assembly shall be duly +informed. (Signed) Louis."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[Pg 423]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Assembly received this message with loud applause: for with the king +once in its power, it could employ him in the works of regeneration. The +most perfect harmony appeared to reign in the council. The king +astonished his new ministers by his assiduity and his aptitude for +business. He conversed with everyone on the subject that most interested +him. He questioned Roland on his works, Dumouriez on his adventures, and +Clavière on the finances, whilst he avoided the irritating topics of +general policy. Madame Roland reproached her husband with these +conversations, and besought him to make use of his time, to take +abstracts of these conversations, and to keep an authentic register, +which would one day cover his responsibility. The ministers appeared to +dine four times a week together, in order to concert their acts and +language in the king's presence. It was at these private meetings that +Buzot, Guadet, Vergniaud, Genevèive and Brissot infused into +the ministers the feelings of their party and reigned unseen over the +Assembly and the king. Dumouriez soon became an object of suspicion to +them for his mind escaped their dominion by its greatness, and his +character escaped fanaticism by its pliability. Madame Roland, seduced +by his eloquence, yet experienced remorse for her admiration; she felt +that the genius of this man was necessary to her party, but that genius +without virtue would be fatal to the republic; and she infused distrust +of Dumouriez into the mind of her allies. The king invariably adjourned +the sanction which the Girondists demanded from him to the crimes +against the priests and <i>emigrés</i>. Foreseeing that they would be called +upon, sooner or later, to give an account of their responsibility to the +nation, Madame Roland wished to take precautionary measures. She +persuaded her husband to write a confidential letter to the king, full +of the most strict lessons of patriotism; to read it himself in council +to loyal princes; and to keep a copy, which he would publish at the +proper time as an accusation against Louis XVI. and a justification of +himself. This treacherous precaution against the perfidy of the court +was odious as a snare and cowardly a denunciation. Passion only, which +disturbs the sight of the soul, could blind a generous-minded woman as +to the meaning of such an act; but party feeling supplies the place of +generosity, justice, and even of virtue. This letter was a con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[Pg 424]</a></span>cealed +weapon, with which Roland reserved to himself the power of mortally +wounding the reputation of the king whilst he saved his own. This was +his only crime, or rather the only error of his hate; and this was the +only cause for remorse he felt at the foot of the scaffold.</p> + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + + +<p>"Sire," said Roland in this celebrated letter, "things cannot remain in +their present state; it is a state of crises, and we must be extricated +from it by some extreme measure (<i>une explosion quelconque</i>). France has +given itself a constitution; the minority are undermining, the majority +are defending, it. There arises a fierce internal struggle in which no +person remains neuter. You enjoyed supreme power, and could not have +laid it down without regret. The enemies of the Revolution took into +calculation the sentiments they presume you entertain. Your secret +favour is their strength. Ought you now to ally yourself to the enemies +or the friends of the constitution? Pronounce once for all. Royalty, +clergy, nobility, aristocracy, must abhor these changes, which destroy +them: on the other hand, the people see the triumph of their rights in +the Revolution and will not allow themselves to be despoiled. The +declaration of rights has become their new Gospel: liberty is henceforth +the religion of the people. In this shock of opposing interests, all +sentiments have become extreme—opinions have assumed the accent of +enthusiasm. The country is no longer an abstraction, but a real being, +to which we are attached by the happiness it promises to us, and the +sacrifices we have made for it. To what point will this patriotism be +exalted at the moment now imminent, when the enemies' forces without are +about to combine with the intrigues within to assail it? The rage of the +nation will be terrible if it have not confidence in you. But this +confidence is not to be acquired by words, but by acts. Give +unquestionable proofs of your sincerity. For instance, two important +decrees have been passed, both deeply important for the security of the +state, and the delay of your sanction excites distrust. Be on your +guard: distrust is not very wide from hatred, and hatred does not +hesitate at crime. If you do not give satisfaction to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[Pg 425]</a></span> Revolution, +it will be cemented by blood. Desperate measures, which you may be +advised to adopt to intimidate Paris, to control the Assembly, would +only cause the development of that sullen energy, the mother of great +devotions and great attempts (this was meant indirectly for Dumouriez, +who had advised firm measures). You are deceived, Sire, when the nation +is represented to you as hostile to the throne, and to yourself. Love, +serve the Revolution, and the people will love it in you. Deposed +priests are agitating the provinces: ratify the measures requisite to +put down their fanaticism. Paris is uneasy as to its security: sanction +the measures which summon a camp of citizens beneath its walls. Still +more delays, and you will be considered as a conspirator and an +accomplice. Just heaven! hast thou stricken kings with blindness? I know +that the language of truth is rarely welcomed at the foot of thrones: I +know, too, that it is the withholding the truth from the councils of +kings which renders revolutions so often necessary. As a citizen, and as +a minister, I owe the truth to the king, and nothing shall prevent my +making it reach his ear. I demand that we should have here a secretary +of council to register our deliberations. Responsible ministers should +have a witness of their opinions. If this witness existed, I should not +now address your majesty in writing."</p> + +<p>The threat was no less evident than the treachery of this letter; and +the last sentence indicated, in equivocal terms, the odious use which +Roland meant one day to make of it. The magnanimity of Vergniaud was +excited against this step of the powerful Girondist minister: +Dumouriez's military loyalty was roused by it: the king listened to the +reading of it with the calmness of a man accustomed to put up with +insult. The Girondists were informed of it in the secret councils at +Madame Roland's, and Roland kept a copy to cover himself at the hour of +his fall.</p> + + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + +<p>At this moment secret understandings, unknown to Roland himself, were +formed by the three Girondist chiefs, Vergniaud, Guadet, and Gensonné +and the château, through Boze, the king's painter. A letter, intended +for the monarch's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[Pg 426]</a></span> perusal, was written by them. The iron chest guarded +it for the day of accusation.</p> + +<p>"You ask of us," runs this epistle, "what is our opinion as to the state +of France, and the choice of measures fit to save the public weal. +Questioned by you concerning such important interests, we do not +hesitate to reply. The conduct of the executive power is the cause of +all the evil. The king is deceived by persuading him that it is the +clubs and factions which foment public agitation. This is placing the +cause of the evil in its symptoms. If the people was reassured of the +loyalty of the king, it would grow tranquil, and factions die a natural +death. But so long as conspiracies, internal and external, appear +favoured by the king, troubles will perpetually spring up, and +continually increase the mistrust of the citizens. The present tendency +of things is evidently towards a crisis, all the chances of which are +opposed to royalty. They are making of the chief of a free nation, the +chief of a party. The opposite party ought to consider him, not as a +king, but as an enemy. What is to be hoped from the success of +manœuvres carried on with foreigners, in order to restore the +authority of the throne? They will give to the king the appearance of a +violent usurpation of the rights of the nation. The same force which +would have served this violent restoration would be necessary to +maintain it. It would produce a permanent civil war. Attached as we are +to the interests of the nation, from which we shall never separate those +of the king, we think that the sole means by which he can alleviate the +evils that threaten the empire and the throne, is to identify himself +with the nation. Renewed protestations are useless; we must have deeds. +Let the king abandon every idea of increased power offered to him by the +succour of foreigners. Let him obtain from cabinets hostile to the +Revolution the withdrawal of the troops who press upon our frontiers. If +that be impossible, let him arm the nation himself, and direct it +against the enemies of the constitution. Let him choose his ministers +amongst the leading men of the Revolution. Let him offer the muskets and +horses of his own guard. Let him publish the documents connected with +the civil list, and thus prove that the secret treasury is not the +source of counter-revolutionary plots. Let him apply himself for a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[Pg 427]</a></span> law +respecting the education of the prince royal, and let him be brought up +in the spirit of the constitution. Finally, let him withdraw from M. de +La Fayette the command of the army. If the king shall adopt these +determinations, and persist in them with firmness, the constitution is +saved!"</p> + +<p>This letter, conveyed to the king by Thierri, had not been sought by +him. He was annoyed at the many plans of succour sent to him. "What do +these men mean?" he inquired of Boze; "Have I not done all that they +advise? Have I not chosen patriots for ministers? Have I not rejected +succour from without? Have I not repudiated my brothers, and hindered, +as far as in me lies, the coalition, and armed the frontiers? Have I not +been, since my acceptance of the constitution, more faithful than the +malcontents themselves to my oath?"</p> + +<p>The Girondist leaders, still undecided between the republic and the +monarchy, thus felt the pulse of power—sometimes of the Assembly, +sometimes of the king; ready to seize it wherever they should find it; +but discovering it on the side of the king, they judged that there was +more certainty in sapping than in consolidating the throne, and they +inclined more than ever to a factious policy.</p> + + +<h3>XVIII.</h3> + +<p>Still, half-masters of the council through Roland, Clavière, and Servan, +who had succeeded De Grave, they bore to a certain extent the +responsibility of these three ministers. The Jacobins began to require +from them an account of the acts of a ministry which was in their hands, +and bore their name. Dumouriez, placed between the king and the +Girondists, saw daily the increasing want of confidence between his +colleagues and himself; they suspected his probity equally with his +patriotism. He had profited by his popularity and ascendency over the +Jacobins to demand of the Assembly a sum of 6,000,000 (240,000<i>l.</i>) of +secret service money on his accession to the ministry. The apparent +destination of this money was to bribe foreign cabinets, and to detach +venal powers from the coalition, and to foment revolutionary symptoms in +Belgium. Dumouriez alone knew the channels by which this money was to +flow. His exhausted personal for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[Pg 428]</a></span>tune, his costly tastes, his attachment +to a seductive woman, Madame de Beauvert, sister to Rivarol; his +intimacy with men of unprincipled character and irregular +habits,—reports of extortion charged on his ministry, and falling, if +not on him on those he trusted, tarnished his character in the eyes of +Madame Roland and her husband. Probity is the virtue of democrats, for +the people look first at the hands of those who govern them. The +Girondists, pure as men of the ancient time, feared the shadow of a +suspicion of this nature on their characters, and Dumouriez's +carelessness on this point annoyed them. They complained. Gensonné and +Brissot insinuated their feelings to him on this point at Roland's. +Roland himself, authorised by his age and austerity of manners, took +upon himself to remind Dumouriez that a public man owes respect to +decorum and revolutionary manners. The warrior turned the remonstrance +into pleasantry, replied to Roland that he owed his blood to the nation, +but neither owed it the sacrifice of his tastes nor his amours; that he +understood patriotism as a hero, and not as a puritan. The bitterness of +his language left venom behind, and they separated with mutual +ill-feeling.</p> + +<p>From this day forth he no longer visited at Roland's evening meetings. +Madame Roland, who understood the human heart by the superior instinct +of her genius and her sex, was not deceived by the general's tactics. +"The hour is come to destroy Dumouriez," she said boldly to her friends. +"I know very well," she added, addressing Roland, "that you are +incapable of descending either to intrigue or revenge; but remember that +Dumouriez must conspire in his heart against those who have wounded him. +When such daring remonstrances have been made to such a man, and +uselessly made, it is necessary to strike the blow if we would not be +struck ourselves." She felt truly, and spoke sagaciously. Dumouriez, +whose rapid glance had seen behind the Girondists a party stronger and +bolder than their own, began from this time to connect himself with the +leaders of the Jacobins. He thought, and with reason, that party hatred +would be more potent than patriotism, and that by flattering the rivalry +of Robespierre and Danton against Brissot, Pétion, and Roland, he should +find in the Jacobins themselves a support for the government. He liked +the king, pitied the queen, and all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[Pg 429]</a></span> his prejudices were in favour of +the monarchy. He would have been as proud to restore the throne as to +save the republic. Skilful in handling men, every instrument was good +that was available; to get rid of the Girondists, who, by oppressing the +king menaced himself, and to go and seek further off and lower than +these rhetoricians, that popularity which was necessary to him when +opposed to them, was a master-stroke of genius: he tried it, and +succeeded. From this epoch may be dated his connection with Camille +Desmoulins and Danton.</p> + +<p>Danton and Dumouriez came to an understanding the sooner, because in +their vices, like their good qualities, they closely resembled each +other. Danton, like Dumouriez, only wanted the impulse of the +Revolution. Principles were trifles with him; what suited his energy and +his ambition was that tumultuous turmoil which cast down and elevated +men, from the throne to nothing, from nothing to fortune and power. The +intoxication of movement was to Danton, as to Dumouriez, the continual +need of their disposition: the Revolution was to them a battle field, +whose whirl charmed and promoted them.</p> + +<p>Yet any other revolution would have suited them as well; despotism or +liberty, king or people. There are men whose atmosphere is the whirlwind +of events—who only breathe easily in a storm of agitation. Moreover, if +Dumouriez had the vices or levities of courts, Danton had the vices and +licentiousness of the mob. These vices, how different soever in form, +are the same at bottom; they understand each other, they are a point of +contact between the weaknesses of the great and the corruption of the +small. Dumouriez understood Danton at the first glance, and Danton +allowed himself to be approached and tamed by Dumouriez. Their +connection, often suspected of bribery on the one hand, and venality on +the other, subsisted secretly or publicly until the exile of Dumouriez +and the death of Danton. Camille Desmoulins, freed of Danton and +Robespierre, attached himself also to Dumouriez, and brought his name +constantly forward in his pamphlets. The Orleans party, who held on with +the Jacobins by Sillery, Laclos, and Madame de Genlis, also sought the +friendship of the new minister. As to Robespierre, whose policy was +perpetual reserve with all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[Pg 430]</a></span> parties, he affected neither liking nor +dislike towards Dumouriez, but was secretly delighted at seeing him +become a rival to his enemies. At least he never accused him. It is +difficult long to hate the enemy of those whom we hate.</p> + + +<h3>XIX.</h3> + +<p>The growing hatred of Robespierre and Brissot became daily more deadly. +The sittings of the Jacobins and the newspapers were the continual +theatre of the struggles and reconciliations of these two men. Equal in +strength in the nation—equal in talent in the tribune—it was evident +that they were afraid of each other in their attacks. They affected +mutual respect, even when most offensive; but this repressed animosity +only corroded their hearts more deeply, and it burst forth occasionally +beneath the politeness of their language, like death beneath the glance +of steel.</p> + +<p>All these fermentations of division, rivalry, and resentment, boiled +over in the April sittings. They were like a general review of two great +parties who were about to destroy the empire in disputing their own +ascendency. The Feuillants or moderate constitutionalists were the +victims, that each of the two popular parties mutually immolated to the +suspicions and rage of parties. Ræderer, a moderate Jacobin, was accused +of having dined with the Feuillants, friends of La Fayette. "I do not +only inculpate Ræderer," exclaimed Tallien, "I denounce Condorcet and +Brissot. Let us drive from our society the ambitious and the +Cromwellites."</p> + +<p>"The moment for unmasking traitors will soon arrive," said Robespierre +in his turn. "I do not desire to unmask them to-day. The blow when +struck must be decisive. I wish that all France heard me now. I wish +that the culpable chief of these factions, La Fayette, was here with all +his army; I would say to his soldiers, whilst I presented my +breast,—Strike! That moment would be the last of La Fayette and the +<i>intrigants</i>" (this name had been invented by Robespierre for the +Girondists). Fauchet excused himself for having said that Guadet, +Vergniaud, Gensonné, and Brissot might be, advantageously for the +country, placed at the head of the government. The Girondists were +accused<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[Pg 431]</a></span> of dreaming of a <i>protector</i>, the Jacobins a <i>tribune</i> of the +people.</p> + +<p>At last, Brissot rose to reply. "I am here to defend myself," he said. +"What are my crimes? I am said to have made seven ministers—I keep up a +connection with La Fayette—I desire to make a protector of him. +Certainly great power is thus assigned to me by those who think that +from my fourth story I have dictated laws to the Château of the +Tuileries. But if it even were true that I had made ministers, how long +has it been a crime to have confided the interests of the people to the +hands of the people? This minister is about, it is said, to distribute +all his favours to the Jacobins! Ah! would to heaven that all the places +were filled by Jacobins!"</p> + +<p>At these words Camille Desmoulins, Brissot's enemy, concealed in the +chamber, bowing towards his neighbour, said aloud with a sneering laugh, +"What a cunning rogue! Cicero and Demosthenes never uttered more +eloquent insinuations." Cries of angry feeling burst from the ranks of +Brissot's friends, who clamoured for Camille Desmoulins' expulsion. A +censor of the chamber declared that the remarks of the pamphleteer were +disgraceful, and order was restored. Brissot proceeded. "Denunciation is +the weapon of the people: I do not complain of this. Do you know who are +its bitterest enemies? Those who prostitute denunciation. Yes; but where +are the proofs? Treat with the deepest contempt him who denounces, but +does not prove. How long have a protector or a protectorate been talked +of? Do you know why? Is it to accustom the ear to the name of +tribuneship and tribune. They do not see that a tribuneship can never +exist. Who would dare to dethrone the constitutional king? Who would +dare to place the crown on his head? Who can imagine that the race of +Brutus is extinct? And if there were no Brutus, where is the man who has +ten times the ability of Cromwell? Do you believe that Cromwell himself +would have succeeded in a revolution like ours? There were for him two +easy roads to usurpation, which are to-day closed—ignorance and +fanaticism. You think you see a Cromwell in a La Fayette. You neither +know La Fayette nor your times. Cromwell had character—La Fayette has +none. A man does not become protector without bold<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[Pg 432]</a></span>ness and decision; +and when he has both, this society comprises a crowd of friends of +liberty, who would rather perish than support him. I first make the +oath, that either equality shall reign, or I will die contending against +protectors and tribunes. Tribunes! they are the worst enemies of the +people. They flatter to enchain it. They spread suspicions of virtue, +which will not debase itself. Remember who were Aristides and +Phocion,—they did not always sit in the tribune."</p> + +<p>Brissot, as he darted this sarcasm, looked towards Robespierre, for whom +he meant it. Robespierre turned pale, and raised his head suddenly. +"They did not always sit in the tribune," continued Brissot; "they were +at their posts in the camp, or at the tribunals," (a sneering laugh came +from the Girondist benches, accusing Robespierre of abandoning his post +at the moment of danger). "They did not disdain any charge, however +humble it might be, when it was assigned them by the people: they spoke +seldom; they did not flatter demagogues; they never denounced without +proofs! The calumniators did not spare Phocion. He was the victim of an +adulator of the people! Ah! this reminds me of the horrible calumny +uttered against Condorcet! Who are you who dare to slander this great +man? What have you done? What are your labours, your writings? Can you +quote, as he can, so many assaults during three years by himself with +Voltaire and D'Alembert against the throne, superstition, prejudices, +and the aristocracy? Where would you be, where this tribune, were it not +for these gentlemen? They are your masters; and you insult those who +gain you the voices of the people. You assail Condorcet, as though his +life had not been a series of sacrifices! A philosopher, he became a +politician; academician, he became a newspaper writer; a courtier, he +became one of the people; noble, he became a Jacobin! Beware! you are +following the concealed impulses of the court. Ah, I will not imitate my +adversaries, I would not repeat those rumours which assert they are paid +by the civil list." (There was a report that Robespierre had been gained +over to oppose the war.) "I shall not say a word of a secret committee +which they frequent, and in which are concerted the means of influencing +this society; but I will say that they follow in the track of the +promoters of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[Pg 433]</a></span> civil war. I will say, that without meaning it, they do +more harm to the patriots than the court. And at what moment do they +throw division amongst us? At the moment when we have a foreign war, and +when an intestine war threatens us. Let us put an end to these disputes, +and let us go to the order of the day, leaving our contempt for odious +and injurious denunciations."</p> + + +<h3>XX.</h3> + +<p>At this, Robespierre and Guadet, equally provoked, wished to enter the +tribune. "It is forty-eight hours," said Guadet, "that the desire of +justifying myself has weighed upon my heart; it is only a few minutes +that this want has affected Robespierre. I request to be heard." Leave +was accorded, and he briefly exculpated himself. "Be especially on your +guard," he said, as he concluded, and pointed to Robespierre, "against +empirical orators, who have incessantly in their mouths the words of +liberty, tyranny, conspiracy—always mixing up their own praises with +the deceit they impose upon the people. Do justice to such men!" +"Order!" cried Fréron, Robespierre's friend; "this is insult and +sarcasm." The tribune resounded with applause and hooting. The chamber +itself was divided into two camps, separated by a wide space. Harsh +names were exchanged, threatening gesticulations used, and hats were +raised and shaken about on the tops of canes. "I am called a wretch," +(<i>scelerat</i>) continued Guadet, "and yet I am not allowed to denounce a +man who invariably thrusts his personal pride in advance of the public +welfare. A man who, incessantly talking of patriotism, abandons the post +to which he was called! Yes, I denounce to you a man who, either from +ambition or misfortune, has become the idol of the people!" Here the +tumult reached its height, and drowned the voice of Guadet.</p> + +<p>Robespierre himself requested silence for his enemy. "Well," added +Guadet, alarmed or softened by Robespierre's feigned generosity, "I +denounce to you a man who, from love of the liberty of his country, +ought perhaps to impose upon himself the law of ostracism; for to remove +him from his own idolatry is to serve the people!" These words were +smothered under peals of affected laughter. Robespierre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[Pg 434]</a></span> ascended the +steps of the tribune with studied calmness. His impassive brow +involuntarily brightened at the smiles and applauses of the Jacobins. +"This speech meets all my wishes," said he, looking towards Brissot and +his friends; "it includes in itself all the inculpations which the +enemies by whom I am surrounded have brought against me. In replying to +M. Guadet, I shall reply to all. I am invited to have recourse to +ostracism; there would, no doubt, be some excess of vanity in my +condemning myself—that is the punishment of great men, and it is only +for M. Brissot to class them. I am reproached for being so constantly in +the tribune. Ah! let liberty be assured, let equality be confirmed; let +the <i>Intrigants</i> disappear, and you will see me as anxious to fly from +this tribune, and even this place, as you now see me desirous to be in +them. Thus, in effect, my dearest wishes will be accomplished. Happy in +the public liberty, I shall pass my peaceful days in the delights of a +sweet and obscure privacy."</p> + +<p>Robespierre confined himself to these few words, frequently interrupted +by the murmurs of fanatical enthusiasm, and then adjourned his answer to +the following sittings, when Danton was seated in the arm-chair, and +presided over this struggle between his enemies and his rival. +Robespierre began by elevating his own cause to the height of a national +one. He defended himself for having first provoked his adversaries. He +quoted the accusations made, and the injurious things uttered against +him, by the Brissot party. "Chief of a party, agitator of the people, +secret agent of the Austrian committee," he said, "these are the names +thrown in my teeth, and to which they urge me to reply! I shall not make +the answer of Scipio or La Fayette, who, when accused in the tribune of +the crime of <i>lêze-nation</i>, only replied by their silence. I shall reply +by my life.</p> + +<p>"A pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau, his doctrines have inspired my soul +for the people. The spectacles of the great assemblies in the first days +of our Revolution have filled me with hope. I soon understood the +difference that exists between those limited assemblies, composed of men +of ambitious views, or egotists, and the nation itself. My voice was +stifled there; but I preferred rather to excite the murmurs of the +enemies of truth, than to obtain applauses that were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[Pg 435]</a></span> disgraceful. I +threw my glance beyond this limited circle, and my aim was to make +myself heard by the nation and the whole human race. It is for this that +I have so much frequented the tribune. I have done more than this—it +was I who gave Brissot and Condorcet to France. These great philosophers +have unquestionably ridiculed and opposed the priests; but they have not +the less courted kings and grandees, out of whom they have made a pretty +good thing. (Laughter). You do not forget with what eagerness they +persecuted the genius of liberty in the person of Jean Jacques Rousseau, +the only philosopher who, in my opinion, has deserved the public honours +lavished for a long time on so many political charlatans and so many +contemptible heroes. Brissot, at least, should feel well inclined +towards me. Where was he when I was defending this society from the +Jacobins against the Constituent Assembly itself? But for what I did at +this epoch, you would not have insulted me in this tribune; for it would +not have existed. I the corrupter, the agitator, the tribune of the +people! I am none of these, I am the people myself. You reproach me for +having quitted my place as public accuser. I did so when I saw that that +place gave me no other right than that of accusing citizens for civil +offences, and would deprive me of the right of accusing political +enemies. And it is for this that the people love me; and yet you desire +that I sentence myself to ostracism, in order to withdraw myself from +its confidence. Exile! how can you dare to propose it to me? Whither +would you have me retire? Amongst what people should I be received? Who +is the tyrant who would give me asylum?—Ah! we may abandon a happy, +free, and triumphant country; but a country threatened, rent by +convulsions, oppressed; we do not flee from that, we save, or perish +with it! Heaven, which gave me a soul impassioned for liberty, and gave +me birth in a land trampled on by tyrants—Heaven, which placed my life +in the midst of the reign of factions and crimes, perhaps calls me to +trace with my blood the road to happiness, and the liberty of my fellow +men! Do you require from me any other sacrifice? If you would have my +good name, I surrender it to you; I only wish for reputation in order to +do good to my fellow-creatures. If to preserve it, it be necessary to +betray by a cowardly silence the cause of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[Pg 436]</a></span> the truth and of the people, +take it, sully it,—I will no longer defend it. Now that I have defended +myself, I may attack you. I will not do it; I offer you peace. I forget +your injuries; I put up with your insults; but on one condition, that +is, you join me in opposing the factions which distract our country, +and, the most dangerous of all, that of La Fayette: this pseudo-hero of +the two worlds, who, after having been present at the revolution of the +New World, has only exerted himself here in arresting the progress of +liberty in the old hemisphere. You, Brissot, did not you agree with me +that this chief was the executioner and assassin of the people, that the +massacre of the Champ-de-Mars had caused the Revolution to retrograde +for twenty years? Is this man less redoubtable because he is at this +time at the head of the army? No. Hasten then! Let the sword of the laws +strike horizontally at the heads of great conspirators. The news which +has arrived to us from the army is of threatening import. Already it +sows division amongst the national guards and the troops of the line; +already the blood of citizens has flowed at Metz; already the best +patriots are incarcerated at Strasbourg. I tell you, you are accused of +all these evils: wipe out these suspicions by uniting with us, and let +us be reconciled; but let it be for the sake of saving our common +country."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK XIV.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Night was far advanced at the moment when Robespierre concluded his +eloquent discourse in the midst of the enthusiasm of the Jacobins. The +Jacobins and the Girondists then separated more exasperated than ever. +They hesitated before this important severance, which, by weakening the +patriotic party, might deliver the army over to La Fayette, and the +Assembly to the Feuillants.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Pétion, friend of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[Pg 437]</a></span> Robespierre and +Brissot, at the same time closely allied to the Jacobins and with Madame +Roland, kept his popularity in equilibrium for fear of losing half of it +if he decided positively for one side or the other. He tried next day to +effect a general reconciliation. "On both sides," he said, with a +tremulous voice, "I see my friends." There was an apparent truce; but +Guadet and Brissot printed their speeches, with offensive additions, +against Robespierre. They doggedly sapped his reputation by fresh +calumnies. On the 30th of April another storm broke out.</p> + +<p>It was proposed to interdict all denunciations unaccompanied by proofs. +"Reflect on what is proposed to you," said Robespierre: "the majority +here belongs to a faction, which desires by this means to calumniate us +freely, and stifle our accusations by silence. If you decree that I am +prohibited from defending myself from the libellers who conspire against +me, I shall quit this place, and will bury myself in retreat." "We will +follow you, Robespierre," exclaimed the women in the tribunes. "They +have profited by the discourse of Pétion," he continued, "to disseminate +infamous libels against me. Pétion himself is insulted. His heart beats +in sympathy with mine; he groans over the insults with which I am +assailed. Read Brissot's journal, and you will there see that I am +invited not always to be apostrophising the people in my discourses. +Yes, it is to be forbidden to pronounce the name of the people under +pain of passing for a malcontent,—a tribune. I am compared to the +Gracchi: they are right so to compare me. What may be perhaps common +between us is their tragical end. That is little: they make me +responsible for a writing of Marat, who points me out as a tribune by +preaching blood and slaughter. Have I ever professed such principles? Am +I guilty of the extravagance of such an excited writer as Marat?"</p> + +<p>At these words, Lasource, the friend of Brissot, wished to speak, and +was refused. Merlin demanded if the peace sworn yesterday ought to bind +only one of two parties, and to authorise the other to spread calumnies +against Robespierre? The Assembly tumultuously insisted on the orators +being silent. Legendre declared that the chamber was partial. +Robespierre quitted the tribune, approached the president, and addressed +him with menacing gestures, and in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[Pg 438]</a></span> language impossible to be heard in +the noise of the chamber, and the taunts and sneers profusely scattered +by the opposing factions.</p> + +<p>"Why do we see this ferocity among the <i>intrigants</i> against +Robespierre?" exclaimed one of the partisans when tranquillity was +re-established. "Because he is the only man capable of making head +against their party, if they should succeed in forming it. Yes, in +revolutions we require those men, who, full of self-denial, deliver +themselves as voluntary victims to factions. The people should support +them. You have found those men—Robespierre and Pétion. Will you abandon +them to their enemies?" "No! no!" exclaimed a thousand voices, and a +motion, proposed by the president (Danton), declaring that Brissot had +calumniated Robespierre, was carried in the affirmative.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>The journals took part, according to their politics, in these intestine +wars of the patriots. "Robespierre," said the <i>Revolution de Paris</i>, +"how is it that this man, whom the people bore in triumph to his house +when he left the Constituent Assembly, has now become a problem? For a +long while you believed yourself the only column of French liberty. Your +name was like the holy ark, no one could touch it without being struck +with death. You sought to be the man of the people. You have neither the +exterior of the orator, nor the genius which disposes of the will of +men. You have stirred up the clubs with your language; the incense burnt +in your honour has intoxicated you. The God of patriotism hath become a +man. The apogee of your glory was on the 17th July, 1791. From that day +your star declined. Robespierre, the patriots do not like that you +should present such a spectacle to them. When the people press around +the tribune to which you ascend, it is not to hear your self-eulogies, +but to hear you enlighten popular opinion. You are incorruptible—true; +but yet there are better citizens than you: there are those who are as +good, and do not boast of it. Why have you not the simplicity which is +ignorant of itself, and that right quality of the ancient times which +you sometimes refer to as possessed by you?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[Pg 439]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You are accused, Robespierre, of having been present at a secret +conference, held some time since at the Princesse de Lamballe's, at +which the queen Marie Antoinette was present. No mention is made of the +terms of the bargain between you and these two women, who would corrupt +you. Since then some changes have been seen in your domestic +arrangements, and you have had the money requisite to start a newspaper. +Could there have been such injurious suspicions against you in July, +1791? We believe nothing of these infamies: we do not think you the +accomplice of Marat, who offers you the dictatorship. We do not accuse +you of imitating Cæsar when Anthony presented to him the diadem. No: but +be on your guard! Speak of yourself with less egotism. We have in our +time warned both La Fayette and Mirabeau, and pointed out the Tarpeian +rock for citizens who think themselves greater than their country."</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>"The wretches," replied Marat, who was then sheltered beneath the +patronage of Robespierre, "they cast a shade upon the purest virtues! +His genius is offensive to them. They punish him for his sacrifices. His +inclinations lead him to retirement. He only remained in the tumult of +the Jacobins from devotion to his country; but men of mediocre +understanding are not accustomed to the eulogiums of another, and the +mob likes to change its hero.</p> + +<p>"The faction of the La Fayettes, Guadets, Brissots circumvent him. They +call him the leader of a party! Robespierre chief of a party! They show +his hand in the disgraceful columns of the Civil List. They make the +people's confidence in him a crime, as if a simple citizen without +fortune and power had any other means of acquiring the love of his +fellow-countrymen but from his deserts! as if a man who has only his +isolated voice in the midst of a society of <i>intrigants</i>, hypocrites, +and knaves, could ever be feared! But this incorruptible censor annoys +them. They say he has an understanding with me to offer him the +dictatorship. This is my affair, and I declare that Robespierre is so +far from controlling my pen, that I never had the slightest connection +with him. I have seen him but once, and the sole conver<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[Pg 440]</a></span>sation has +convinced me that he was not the man whom I sought for the supreme and +energetic power demanded by the Revolution.</p> + +<p>"The first word he addressed to me was a reproach for having dipped my +pen in the blood of the enemies of liberty,—for always speaking of the +cord, the axe, and the poignard; cruel words, which unquestionably my +heart would disavow, and my principles discredit. I undeceived him. +'Learn,' I replied to him, 'that my credit with the people does not +depend on my ideas, but on my audacity, the daring impetuosity of my +mind, my cries of rage, despair, and fury against the wretches who +impede the action of the Revolution. I know the anger, the just anger, +of the people, and that is why it listens to, and believes in, me. Those +cries of alarm and fury, that you take for words in the air, are the +most simple and sincere expression of the passions which devour my mind. +Yes, if I had had in my hand the arms of the people after the decree +against the garrison of Nancy, I would have decimated the deputies who +confirmed it. After the information of the events of the 5th and 6th +October, I would have immolated every judge on the pile; after the +massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, had I but had 2000 men, animated with the +same resentment as myself, I would have gone at their head to stab La +Fayette in the midst of his battalion of brigands, burnt the king in his +palace, and cut the throats of our atrocious representatives on their +very seats!' Robespierre listened to me with affright, turned pale, and +was for a long time silent. I left him. I had seen an honest man, but +not a man of the state."</p> + +<p>Thus the wretch had excited horror in the fanatic: Robespierre had +obtained Marat's pity.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The first struggle between the Jacobins and the Girondists gave the +skilful Dumouriez a double <i>point d'appui</i> for his policy. The enmity of +Roland, Clavière, and Servan no longer disturbed him in council. He +balanced their influence by his alliance with their enemies. But the +Jacobins demanded wages; he proffered them in war. Danton, as violent +but more politic than Marat, did not cease to repeat that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[Pg 441]</a></span> +revolutionists and the despots were irreconcileable, and that France had +no safety to expect except from its audacity and despair. War, according +to Danton, was the baptism or the martyrdom which liberty was to +undergo, like a new religion. It was necessary to replunge France into +the fire, in order to purify it from the stains and shame of its past.</p> + +<p>Dumouriez, agreeing with La Fayette and the Feuillants, was also anxious +for war; but it was as a soldier, to acquire glory, and thus crush +faction. From the first day of his ministry he negotiated so as to +obtain from Austria a decisive answer. He had removed nearly all the +members of the diplomatic body; he had replaced them by energetic men. +His despatches had a martial accent, which sounded like the voice of an +armed people. He summoned the princes of the Rhine, the emperor, the +king of Russia, the king of Sardinia, and Spain, to recognise or oppose +the constitutional king of France. But whilst these official envoys +demanded from the various courts prompt and categorical replies, the +secret agents of Dumouriez insinuated themselves into the cabinets of +princes, and compelled some states to detach themselves from the +coalition that was forming. They pointed out to them the advantages of +neutrality for their aggrandisement: they promised them the patronage of +France after victory. Not daring to hope for allies, the minister at +least contrived for France secret understanding: he corrupted by +ambition the states that he could not move by terror: he benumbed the +coalition, which he trusted subsequently to crush.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>The prince on whose mind he operated most powerfully was the Duke of +Brunswick, whom the emperor and the king of Prussia alike destined for +the command of the combined armies against the French. This prince was +in their hopes the Agamemnon of Germany.</p> + +<p>Charles-Frederic-Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, bred in combats +and in pleasures, had inspired in the camps of the great Frederic the +genius of war, the spirit of French philosophy, and the Machiavellianism +of his master. He had accompanied this philosopher and soldier-king in +all the campaigns of the seven years' war. At the peace he tra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[Pg 442]</a></span>velled in +France and Italy. Received everywhere as the hero of Germany, and as the +heir to the genius of Frederic, he had married a sister of George III., +king of England. His capital, where his mistresses shone or philosophers +harangued, united the epicureism of the court to the austerity of the +camp. He reigned according to the precepts of sages; he lived after the +example of the Sybarites. But his soldier's mind, which was but too +easily given up to beauty, was not quenched in love; he only gave his +heart to women, he reserved his head for glory, war, and the government +of his states. Mirabeau, then a young man, had stayed at his court, on +his way to Berlin, to catch the last glimpses of the shining genius of +the great Frederic. The Duke of Brunswick had favourably received and +appreciated Mirabeau. These two men, placed in such different ranks, +resembled each other by their qualities and defects. They were two +revolutionary spirits; but from their difference of situations and +countries, the one was destined to create, and the other to oppose, a +revolution.</p> + +<p>Be this as it may, Mirabeau was seduced by the sovereign, whom he was +sent to seduce.</p> + +<p>"This prince's countenance," he writes in his secret correspondence, +"betokens depth and finesse. He speaks with eloquence and precision: he +is prodigiously well-informed, industrious, and clear-sighted: he has a +vast correspondence, which he owes to his merit alone: he is even +economical of his amours. His mistress, Madame de Hartfeld, is the most +sensible woman of his court. A real Alcibiades, he loves pleasure, but +never allows it to intrude on business. When acting as the Prussian +general, no one so early, so active, so precisely exact as he. Under a +calm aspect, which arises from the absolute control he has over his +mind, his brilliant imagination and ambitious aspirations often carry +him away; but the circumspection which he imposes on himself, and the +satisfactory reflection of his fame, restrain him and lead him to +doubts, which, perhaps, constitute his sole defect."</p> + +<p>Mirabeau predicted to the Duke of Brunswick, from this moment, leading +influence in the affairs of Germany after the death of the king of +Prussia, whom Germany called the Great King.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[Pg 443]</a></span></p> + +<p>The duke was then fifty years of age. He defended himself, in his +conversations with Mirabeau, from the charge of loving war. "Battles are +games of chance," said he to the French traveller: "up to this time I +have been fortunate. Who knows if to-day, although more lucky, I should +be as well used by fortune?" A year after this remark he made the +triumphant invasion of Holland, at the head of the troops of England. +Some years later Germany nominated him generalissimo.</p> + +<p>But war with France, however it might be grateful to his ambition as a +soldier, was repugnant to his mind as a philosopher. He felt he should +but ill carry out the ideas in which he had been educated. Mirabeau had +made that profound remark, which prophesied the weaknesses and defects +of a coalition guided by that prince: "This man is of a rare stamp, but +he is too much of a sage to be feared by sages."</p> + +<p>This phrase explains the offer of the crown of France made to the Duke +of Brunswick by Custine, in the name of the monarchical portion of the +Assembly. Freemasonry, that underground religion, into which nearly all +the reigning princes of Germany had entered, concealed beneath its +mysteries secret understandings between French philosophy and the +sovereigns on the banks of the Rhine. Brothers in a religious +conspiracy, they could not be very bitter enemies in politics. The Duke +of Brunswick was in the depth of his heart more the citizen than the +prince—more the Frenchman than the German. The offer of a throne at +Paris had pleased his fancy. He fights not against a people, whose king +he hopes to be, and against a cause, which he desires to conquer, but +not to destroy. Such was the state of the Duke of Brunswick's +mind;—consulted by the king of Prussia, he advised this monarch to turn +his forces to the Polish frontier and conquer provinces there, instead +of principles in France.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>Dumouriez's plan was to separate, as much as possible, Prussia from +Austria, in order to have but one enemy at a time to cope with; and the +union of these two powers, na<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[Pg 444]</a></span>tural and jealous rivals of each other, +appeared to him so totally unnatural, that he flattered himself he could +prevent or sever it. The instinctive hatred of despotism for liberty, +however, overthrew all his schemes. Russia, through the ascendency of +Catherine, forced Prussia and Austria to make common cause against the +Revolution. At Vienna, the young Emperor Francis I. made far greater +preparations for war than for negotiation. The Prince de Kaunitz, his +principal minister, replied to the notes of Dumouriez in language that +seemed a defiance of the Assembly. Dumouriez laid these documents before +the Assembly, and forestalled the expressions of their just indignation, +by bursting himself into patriotic anger. The <i>contre coup</i> of these +scenes was felt even in the cabinet of the emperor at Vienna, where +Francis I., pale and trembling with rage, censured the tardiness of his +minister. He was present every day at the conferences held at the +bedside of the veteran Prince de Kaunitz and the Prussian and Russian +envoys charged by their sovereigns to foment the war. The king of +Prussia demanded to have the whole direction of the war in his hands, +and he proposed the sudden invasion of the French territory as the most +efficacious means of preventing the effusion of blood, by striking +terror into the Revolution, and causing a counter-revolution, with the +hope of which the <i>emigrés</i> flattered him, to break out in France. An +interview to concert the measures of Austria and Prussia, was fixed +between the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince de Hohenlohe, general of +the emperor's army. For form's sake, however, conferences were still +carried on at Vienna between M. de Noailles, the French ambassador, and +Count Philippe de Cobentzel, vice-chancellor of the court. These +conferences, in which the liberty of the people and the absolute +sovereignty of monarchs continually strove to conciliate two +irreconcileable principles, ended invariably in mutual reproaches. A +speech of M. de Cobentzel broke off all negotiations, and this speech, +made public at Paris, caused the final declaration of war. Dumouriez +proposed it at the council, and induced the king, as if by the hand of +fatality, himself to propose the war to his people. "The people," said +he, "will credit your attachment when they behold you embrace their +cause, and combat kings in its defence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[Pg 445]</a></span></p> + +<p>The king, surrounded by his ministers, appeared unexpectedly at the +Assembly on the 20th of April, at the conclusion of the council. A +solemn silence reigned in the Assembly, for every one felt that the +decisive word was now about to be pronounced—and they were not +deceived. After a full report of the negotiations with the house of +Austria had been read by Dumouriez, the king added in a low but firm +voice, "You have just heard the report which has been made to my +council; these conclusions have been unanimously adopted, and I myself +have taken the same resolution. I have exhausted every means of +maintaining peace, and I now come, in conformity with the terms of the +constitution, to propose to you, formally, war with the king of Hungary +and Bohemia."</p> + +<p>The king, after this speech, quitted the Assembly amidst cries and +gestures of enthusiasm, which burst forth in the salle and the tribunes: +the people followed their example. France felt certain of herself when +she was the first to attack all Europe armed against her. It seemed to +all good citizens that domestic troubles would cease before this mighty +external excitement of a people who defend their frontiers. That the +cause of liberty would be judged in a few hours on the field of battle, +and that the constitution needed only a victory, in order to render the +nation free at home, and triumphant abroad. The king himself re-entered +his palace relieved from the cruel weight of irresolution which had so +long oppressed him. War against his allies and his brothers had cost him +many a pang. This sacrifice of his feelings to the constitution seemed +to him to merit the gratitude of the Assembly, and by thus identifying +himself with the cause of his country, he flattered himself that he +should at least recover the good opinion and the love of his people. The +Assembly separated without deliberating, and gave a few hours up to +enthusiasm rather than to reflection.</p> + + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>At the sitting in the evening, Pastoret, one of the principal +Feuillants, was the first to support the war. "We are reproached with +having voted the effusion of human blood in a moment of enthusiasm; but +is it to-day only that we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[Pg 446]</a></span> are provoked? During four hundred years the +house of Austria has violated every treaty with France. Such are our +motives; let us no longer hesitate. Victory will adhere faithfully to +the cause of liberty."</p> + +<p>Becquet, a constitutional royalist, a profound and courageous orator, +alone ventured to speak against the declaration of war. "In a free +country," said he, "war is alone made to defend the constitution or the +nation. Our constitution is but of yesterday, and it requires calm to +take root. A state of crisis, such as war, opposes all regular movements +of political bodies. If your armies combat abroad, who will repress +faction at home? You are flattered with the belief that you have only +Austria to cope against. You are promised that the other northern powers +will not interfere; do not rely on this. Even England cannot remain +neuter: if the exigencies of the war lead you to revolutionise Belgium, +or to invade Holland, she will join Prussia to support the stadtholder +against you. Doubtless England loves the liberty which is now taking +root amongst you; but her life is commercial, she cannot abandon her +trade in the Low Countries. Wait until you are attacked, and then the +spirit of the people will fight in your cause. The justice of a cause is +worth armies. But if you can be represented to other nations as a +restless and conquering people, who can only exist in a vortex of +turmoil and war, the nations will shun and dread you. Besides, is not +war the hope of the enemies of the Revolution? Why give them cause to +rejoice by offering it to them. The <i>emigrés</i>, now only despicable, will +become dangerous on that day when foreign armies lend them their +assistance."</p> + +<p>This sensible and profound speech, interrupted repeatedly by the +ironical laughter and the insults of the Assembly, was concluded amidst +the outcries of the tribunes. It required no small degree of heroism to +combat the proposed war in the French chambers. Bazire alone, the friend +of Robespierre, ventured, like Becquet, the king's friend, to demand a +few days' reflection, before giving a vote that would shed so much human +gore. "If you decide upon war, do so in such a manner that treason +cannot envelope it," said he. Feeble applause showed that the republican +allusion of Bazire had been comprehended, and that above all, it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[Pg 447]</a></span> +necessary to remove a king and generals whose fidelity was suspected. +"No, no," returned Mailhe, "do not lose an hour in decreeing the liberty +of the whole world." "Extinguish the torches of your disagreements in +the blaze of your cannon, and the glitter of your bayonets," added +Dubayet. "Let the report be made instantly," demanded Brissot. "Declare +war against kings, and peace to all nations," cried Merlin. The war was +voted.</p> + +<p>Condorcet, who had been informed already of this by the Girondists of +the council, read in the tribune a proposed manifesto to the nations. +The following was its substance: "Every nation has the right of giving +itself laws, and of altering them at pleasure. The French nation had +every reason to believe that these simple truths would obtain the assent +of all princes. This hope has not been fulfilled. A league has been +formed against its independence; and never did the pride of thrones more +audaciously insult the majesty of nations. The motives alleged by +despots against France are but an outrage to her liberty. This insulting +pride, far from intimidating her, serves only to excite her courage. It +requires time to discipline the slaves of despotism; every man is a +soldier when he combats against tyranny."</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>But the principal orator of the Gironde mounted the tribune the last. +"You owe it to the nation," said Vergniaud, "to employ every means to +assure the success of the great and terrible determination by which you +have signalised this memorable day. Remember the hour of that general +federation when all Frenchmen devoted their life to the defence of +liberty and the constitution. Remember the oath which you have taken on +the 14th of January, to bury yourselves beneath the ruins of the temple +rather than consent to a capitulation, or to the least modification in +the constitution. Where is the icy heart that does not palpitate in +these important moments—the grovelling soul that does not elevate +itself (I venture to utter the words) to heaven amidst these +acclamations of universal joy; the apathetic man who does not feel his +whole being penetrated and his forces raised by a noble enthusiasm far +above the common force of the human<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_448" id="Page_448">[Pg 448]</a></span> race? Give to France, to Europe, +the imposing spectacle of these national fêtes. Reanimate that energy +before which the Bastille fell. Let every part of the empire resound +with these sublime words: '<i>To live free or die! The entire constitution +without any modification, or death!</i>' Let these cries reach even the +thrones that have leagued against you; let them learn that it is useless +to reckon upon our internal dissensions; that when our country is in +danger, we are animated by one passion alone—that of saving her, or of +perishing for her; in a word, should fortune prove false to so just a +cause as ours, our enemies might insult our lifeless corpses, but never +shall one Frenchman wear their fetters."</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>These lyrical words of Vergniaud re-echoed at Berlin and at Vienna. "War +has been declared against us," said the Prince de Kaunitz to the Russian +ambassador, the Prince de Galitzin, "it is the same thing as if it had +been declared against you." The command of the Prussian and Austrian +forces was given to the Duke of Brunswick. The two princes by this act +only ratified the choice of all Germany, for opinion had already +nominated him. Germany moves but slowly: federations are but ill fitted +for sudden wars. The campaign was opened by the French before Prussia +and Austria had prepared their armaments.</p> + +<p>Dumouriez had reckoned upon this sluggishness and inactivity of the two +German monarchies. His skilful plan was to sever the coalition, and +suddenly invade Belgium before Prussia could take the field. Had +Dumouriez alone framed and carried out his own plan, the fate of Belgium +and Holland was sealed; but La Fayette, who was charged to invade them +at the head of 40,000 men, had neither the temerity nor the rapidity of +this veteran soldier. A general of opinion rather than the general of an +army, he was more accustomed to command citizens in the public square, +than soldiers in a campaign. Personally brave, beloved by his troops, +but more of a citizen than a soldier, he had, during the American war, +headed small bodies of free men, but not undisciplined masses. Not to +peril his soldiers; defend the frontiers with intrepidity; die bravely +at a Thermopylæ;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_449" id="Page_449">[Pg 449]</a></span> harangue the national guard; and excite his troops for +or against opinions; such was the nature of La Fayette. The daring +schemes of great wars, that risk much to save every thing, and which +expose the frontiers for a moment to strike at the heart of an empire, +accorded but ill with his habits, much less with his situation.</p> + +<p>By becoming a general, La Fayette had become the chief of a party; and +whilst he was opposing foreign powers, his eyes were constantly turned +towards the interior. Doubtless he needed glory to nourish his +influence, and to regain the <i>rôle</i> of arbitrator of the Revolution, +which now began to escape his grasp; but before every thing, it was +necessary that he should not compromise himself; one defeat would have +ruined all, and he knew it. He who never risks a loss, will never gain a +victory. La Fayette was the general of temporisation; and to waste the +time of the Revolution, was to destroy its force. The strength of +undisciplined forces is their impetuosity, and every thing that slackens +that ruins them.</p> + +<p>Dumouriez, impetuous as the volcano, instinctively felt this, and +strove, in the conferences that preceded the nomination of the generals, +to infuse some portion of his own fire into La Fayette. He placed him at +the head of the principal <i>corps d'armée</i>, destined to penetrate into +Belgium, as the general most fitted to foment popular insurrection, and +convert the war on the Belgian provinces into revolution; for to rouse +Belgium in favour of French liberty, and to render its independence +dependent on ours, was to wrest it from the power of Austria, and turn +it against our foes. The Belgians, according to Dumouriez's plan, were +to conquer Belgium for us; for the germs of revolt had been but +imperfectly stifled in these provinces, and were destined to bud again +at the step of the first French soldier.</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>Belgium, which had been long dominated over by Spain, had contracted its +jealous and superstitious Catholicism. The nation pertains to the +priests, and the privileges of the priests appear to it the privileges +of the people. Joseph II., a premature but an armed philosopher, sought +to emancipate the people from sacerdotal despotism. Belgium had risen in +arms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_450" id="Page_450">[Pg 450]</a></span> against the liberty offered to her, and had sided with her +oppressors. The fanaticism of the priests, and of the municipal +privileges, united in a feeling of resistance to Joseph II., had set all +Belgium in a flame. The rebels had captured <span class="smcap">Ghent</span> and +<span class="smcap">Brussels</span>, and proclaimed the downfall of the house of Austria, +and the sovereignty of the Pays Bas. Scarcely had they triumphed, than +the Belgians became divided amongst themselves. The sacerdotal and +aristocratic party demanded an oligarchical constitution, whilst the +popular party demanded a democracy, modelled on the French revolution.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Van-der-noot</span>, an eloquent and cruel tribune, was the leader of +the first party; <span class="smcap">Van-der-mersh</span>, a brave soldier, of the people. +Civil war broke out amidst a struggle for independence. +<span class="smcap">Van-der-mersh</span>, made prisoner by the aristocratic party, was +immured in a gloomy dungeon until Leopold, the successor of Joseph II., +profited by these domestic feuds, again to subjugate Belgium. Weary of +liberty, after having tasted it, she submitted without resistance. +Van-der-noot took refuge in Holland. Van-der-mersh, freed by the +Austrians, was generously pardoned, and again became an obscure citizen.</p> + +<p>All attempts at independence were repressed by strong Austrian +garrisons, and could not fail to be awakened at the approach of the +French armies. La Fayette appeared to comprehend and approve of this +plan. It was agreed that the Maréchal de Rochambeau should be appointed +commander-in-chief of the army that threatened Belgium, that La Fayette +should have under his orders a considerable <i>corps</i> that would invade +the country, and then La Fayette would command alone in the Netherlands. +Rochambeau, old and worn out by inactivity, would thus only receive the +honour due to his rank. La Fayette would in reality direct the whole of +the campaign and of the armed propaganda of the revolution. "This <i>rôle</i> +suits him," said the old maréchal. "I do not understand this war of +cities." To cause La Fayette to march on Namur, which was but ill +defended, capture it, march from thence on Brussels and Liège, the two +capitals of the Pays Bas, and the focus of Belgian independence—send +General Biron forward at the head of ten thousand men on Mons, to oppose +the Austrian General Beaulieu,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_451" id="Page_451">[Pg 451]</a></span> whose force was only two or three +thousand men—detach from the garrison at Lille another corps of three +thousand men, who would occupy Tournay, and who, after having left a +garrison in this town, would swell the corps of Biron—send twelve +hundred men from Dunkirk to surprise Furnes, and then advance by +converging into the heart of the Belgian provinces with these forty +thousand men under the command of La Fayette—attack, on every side, in +ten days an enemy ill prepared to resist—to rouse the populations to +revolt, and then increase the attacking army to eighty thousand troops, +and join to it the Belgian battalions raised in the name of freedom, to +combat the emperor's army as it arrived from Germany:—such was +Dumouriez's bold idea of the campaign. Nothing was wanting to ensure its +success but a man capable of executing it. Dumouriez disposed of the +troops and the generals in conformity with this plan.</p> + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>The impulse of France responded to the impulse of her genius.</p> + +<p>On the other side of the Rhine the preparations were making with +promptitude and energy. The emperor and the king of Prussia met at +Frankfort, where they were joined by the Duke of Brunswick. The empress +of Russia adhered to the aggression of the powers against France, and +marched her troops into Poland, to repress the germs of the same +principles that were to be combated at Paris. Germany yielded, in spite +of herself, to the impulse of the three cabinets, and poured her masses +towards the Rhine. The emperor preluded this war of thrones against +people by his coronation at Frankfort. The head-quarters of the Duke of +Brunswick were at Coblentz, the capital of the emigration. The +generalissimo of the confederation had an interview there with the two +brothers of Louis XVI., and promised to restore to them, ere long, their +country and their rank, whilst they, in their turn, styled him the <i>Hero +of the Rhine</i>, and the <i>Right arm of kings</i>.</p> + +<p>Every thing wore a military aspect. The two princes of Prussia, +quartered in a village near Coblentz, had but one room, and slept on the +floor. The king of Prussia was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_452" id="Page_452">[Pg 452]</a></span> welcomed on every bank of the Rhine by +the salvos of his artillery. In every town through which he passed the +<i>emigrés</i>, the population, and the troops, proclaimed him beforehand the +preserver of Germany. His name, written in letters of fire at the +illuminations, was surrounded by this adulatory device, "<i>Vivat +Villelmus, Francos deleat, jura regis restituat!"—"Long live William, +the exterminator of the French, the restorer of royalty.</i>"</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>Coblentz, a town situated on the confluence of the Moselle and the +Rhine, in the states of the Elector of Trèves, had become the capital of +the French <i>emigrés</i>. A constantly increasing body of gentlemen, to the +number of twenty-two thousand, assembled there, around the seven +fugitive princes of the house of Bourbon. These princes were, the Comte +de Provence and the Comte d'Artois, the king's brothers; the two sons of +the Comte d'Artois, the Duc de Berri and the Duc d'Angoulême; the Prince +de Condé, the king's cousin, the Duke de Bourbon, his son, and the Duc +d'Enghien, his grandson. All the military noblesse of the kingdom, with +the exception of the partisans of the constitution, had quitted their +garrisons or their Châteaus to join this crusade of kings against the +French revolution. This movement—which now appears sacrilegious, since +it armed citizens against their country, and led them to implore the +assistance of foreign powers to combat France—did not at that time +possess in the eyes of the French noblesse that parricidal character +with which the more enlightened patriotism of the present age invests +it. Culpable in the eyes of reason, it could at least explain itself +before feeling. Infidelity to their country was termed fidelity to their +king, and desertion, honour.</p> + +<p>Allegiance to the throne was the religion of the French nobles; and the +sovereignty of the people appeared to them an insolent dogma, against +which it was imperative to take arms, unless they wished to be partakers +of the crime. The noblesse had patiently supported the humiliation and +the personal spoliation of title and fortune which the National Assembly +had imposed on them by the destruction of the last vestiges of the +feudal system; or rather, they had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_453" id="Page_453">[Pg 453]</a></span> generously sacrificed them to their +country on the night of the 6th of August. But these outrages on the +king appeared more intolerable to them than those inflicted on +themselves. To deliver him from his captivity—rescue him from impending +danger—save the queen and her children—restore royalty—or perish +fighting for this sacred cause, appeared to them the duty of their +situation and their birth. On one side was honour, on the other their +country: they had not hesitated, but had followed honour; and this was +sanctified even more in their eyes by the magic word devotion. There was +real devotion in the feeling that induced these young and these old men +to abandon their rank in the army—their fortune—their country—their +families, to rally around the white flag in a foreign land, to perform +the duty of private soldiers, and brave eternal exile, the spoliation +pronounced against them by the laws of their country, the fatigues of +the camp, and death and danger on the battle-field. If the devotion of +the patriots to the Revolution was sublime as hope, that of the emigrant +nobles was generous as despair. In civil wars we should ever judge each +party by its own ideas, for civil wars are almost invariably the +expression of two duties in opposition to each other. The duty of the +patriots was their country; of the <i>emigrés</i>, the throne: one of the two +parties was deceived as to its duty, but each believed it fulfilled it.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>The emigration was composed of two entirely distinct parties—the +politicians and the combatants. The politicians, who crowded round the +Comte de Provence and the Comte d'Artois, and poured forth idle +invectives against the truths of philosophy and the principles of +democracy. They wrote books and supported papers, in which the French +Revolution was represented to the foreign sovereigns as an infernal +conspiracy of a few scoundrels against kings, and even against heaven. +They formed the councils of an imaginary government—they sought to +obtain missions—they formed plans—renewed intrigues—visited every +court—stirred up the sovereigns and their ministers against +France—disputed the favour of the French princes—devoured their +subsidies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_454" id="Page_454">[Pg 454]</a></span>—and transported to this foreign soil the ambitions, the +rivalries, and the cupidity of a court.</p> + +<p>The military men had brought nothing but the bravery, the <i>insouciance</i>, +the recklessness, and the polish of their nation and profession. +Coblentz became the camp of illusion and devotion. This handful of brave +men deemed themselves a nation; and prepared, by accustoming themselves +to the manœuvres and fatigues of war, to conquer in a few days a +whole monarchy. The emigrants of every country and every age have +presented this spectacle; for emigration, like the desert, has its +mirage. The emigrants believe that they have borne away their country on +the soles of their shoes, to employ the language of Danton, but they +carry away nought but its shadow, accumulate nothing but its anger, and +find nothing but its pity.</p> + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>Amongst the first <i>emigrés</i>, three factions corresponded to these +different parties in the emigration itself.</p> + +<p>The Comte de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII., was a philosophic +prince—a politician and a diplomatist somewhat inclined towards +innovation; an enemy of the nobility, of the priesthood; favourable to +the aristocracy; and who would have pardoned the Revolution, if the +Revolution itself would have pardoned royalty. His early infirmities +closing the career of arms to him, he became addicted to politics—he +cultivated his mind—he studied history—he wrote well, and foreseeing +the approaching downfall, he predicted the probable death of Louis +XVI.—he believed in the vicissitudes of the Revolution, and prepared +himself to become the pacificator of his country, and the conciliator of +the throne and liberty. His heart possessed all the qualities and all +the faults of a woman—he needed friendship, and he gave himself +favourites; but he chose them rather for their elegance than their +merit, and saw men and things only through books and the hearts of +courtiers. Somewhat theatrical, he exhibited himself as a statue of +right and misfortune to all Europe; studied his attitudes; spoke +learnedly of his adversaries; and assumed the position of a victim and a +sage: he was, however, unpopular with the army.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_455" id="Page_455">[Pg 455]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>The Comte d'Artois, his junior, spoiled by nature, by the court, and by +the fair sex, had taken on himself the <i>rôle</i> of a hero. He represented +at Coblentz antique honour, chivalrous devotion, and the French +character; he was adored by the court, whose grace, elegance, and pride +were personified in him: his heart was good, his mind apt, but not well +informed, and of limited comprehension. A philosopher, through indolence +and carelessness before the Revolution, superstitious afterwards, +through weakness and <i>entrainment</i>, he threatened the Revolution with +his sword from a distance. He appeared more fitted to irritate than to +conquer, and at this early period he already manifested that unbridled +rashness and that useless spirit of provocation which was one day to +cost him a throne. But his personal beauty, his grace, and his +cordiality, covered all these defects, and he seemed destined never to +die. Old in years, he was fated to reign, and die, eternally young. He +was the prince of youth: at another epoch he would have been Francis I., +in his own he was Charles X.</p> + +<p>The Prince de Condé was a soldier by birth, inclination, and profession. +He despised these two courts, transposed to the banks of the Rhine, for +his court was his camp. His son, the Duc de Bourbon, served his first +campaign under his orders, and his grandson, the Duc d'Enghien, in his +seventeenth year, acted as his aide-de-camp. This young prince was the +representative of manly grace in the camp of the <i>emigrés</i>; his bravery, +his enthusiasm, his generosity, all seemed to promise another hero to +the heroic race of Condé. He was worthy of conquering in a cause not +doomed, of dying sword in hand on the battle field, and not to fall, +some years later, in the fosse at Vincennes, by the "lantern dimly +burning," with no other friend than his dog, by the balls of a platoon +of soldiers, ordered out at dead of night, as if for an assassination.</p> + + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>Louis XVI. trembled in his palace at the shock of this war which he +himself had proclaimed, and which loured on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_456" id="Page_456">[Pg 456]</a></span> the frontiers. He did not +conceal from himself that he was less the chief than the hostage of +France, and that his head and that of his children would be forfeited to +the nation on the first reverse or peril. Danger sees treason on every +side, and the public journals and the clubs denounced more vehemently +than ever the existence of the <i>comité Autrichien</i>, of which the queen +was the centre. This report was universally believed by the nation, and +only cost the queen her popularity during the peace, but during the war +it might cost her her life. Thus, formerly accused of betraying the +peace, this unfortunate family was now accused of betraying the war. In +false positions every thing is a danger; the king comprehended the +extent of his perils, and hastened to avert the most impending.</p> + +<p>He despatched a secret emissary to the king of Prussia and the emperor, +to entreat them, as they valued his safety, to suspend hostilities, and +to precede the invasion by a conciliating manifesto, which might allow +France to retire from the contest without disgrace, and would place the +life of the royal family under the safeguard of the nation. This secret +agent was Mallet-Dupan, a young journalist of Geneva, established in +France, and mixed up with the counter-revolutionary movement. +Mallet-Dupan was attached to the monarchy by principle, and to the king +by personal devotion. He left Paris under pretext of returning to +Geneva, and from thence went to Germany, where he had an interview with +the Maréchal de Castries, the foreign confidant of Louis XVI., and one +of the leaders of the <i>emigrés</i>. Accredited by the Duc de Castries, he +presented himself at Coblentz to the Duke of Brunswick, at Frankfort to +the ministers of the king of Prussia and the emperor; they however +refused to place any faith in his communications, unless he produced a +letter in the king's own hand. On this the king transmitted him a slip +of paper, about two inches long, on which was written: "<i>The person who +will produce this note knows my intentions; implicit credence may be +given to all he says in my name.</i>" This royal sign of recognition gave +Mallet-Dupan access to the cabinets of the coalition.</p> + +<p>Conferences were opened between the French negotiator, the Comte de +Cobentzel, the Comte d'Haugwitz, and general Heyman, the +plenipotentiaries of the emperor, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_457" id="Page_457">[Pg 457]</a></span> the king of Prussia. These +ministers, after having examined the credentials of Mallet-Dupan, +listened to his communications. They were to the effect that "the king +alike prayed and exhorted the <i>emigrés</i> not to cause the approaching war +to lose its appearance of power against power, by taking part in it, in +the name of the re-establishment of the monarchy. Any other line of +conduct would produce a civil war, endanger the lives of the king and +queen, destroy the throne, and occasion a general massacre of the +royalists. The king added, that he besought the sovereigns who had taken +up arms in his cause, to separate, in their manifesto, the faction of +the Jacobins from the nation, and the liberty of the people from the +anarchy that convulsed them; to declare formally and energetically to +the Assembly, the administrative and municipal bodies, that their lives +should be answerable for all and every attempt against the sacred +persons of the king, the queen, and their children; and to announce to +the nation that no dismemberment would follow the war, that they would +treat for peace with the king alone, and that in consequence the +Assembly should hasten to give him the most perfect liberty, in order to +enable him to negotiate in the name of his people with the allied +powers."</p> + +<p>Mallet-Dupan explained the sense of these instructions with that +enlightened good sense, and that devoted attachment to the king that +marked him; he painted in the most lively colours the interior of the +Tuileries, and the terror to which the royal family was a prey.</p> + +<p>The negotiators were moved almost to tears, and promised to communicate +these impressions to their sovereigns, and gave Mallet-Dupan the +assurance that the intentions of the king should be the measure of the +language which the manifesto of the coalition would address to the +French nation.</p> + +<p>They did not however dissimulate their astonishment at the fact that the +language of the emigrant princes at Coblentz was so opposed to the views +of the king at Paris. "They openly manifest," said they, "the intention +of re-conquering the kingdom for the counter-revolution, of rendering +themselves independent, of dethroning their brother and proclaiming a +regency." The confidant of Louis XVI. left for Geneva after this +conference; whilst the emperor, the king<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_458" id="Page_458">[Pg 458]</a></span> of Prussia, the principal +princes of the confederation, the ministers, the generals, and the Duke +of Brunswick went to Mayence. Mayence, where the fêtes were interrupted +by the councils, became for some days the head-quarters of the monarchs, +and there, at the instigation of the <i>emigrés</i>, extreme resolutions were +adopted. It was resolved to combat a revolution that but increased in +proportion as it received indulgence. The supplications of Louis XVI., +and the warnings of Dupan were forgotten, and the plan of the campaign +was fixed.</p> + + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + +<p>The emperor was to have the supreme control of the war in Belgium, where +his army was to be commanded by the Duke of Saxe-Teschen. Fifteen +thousand men were to cover the right of the Prussians, and affect a +junction with them at Longwy. Twenty thousand more of the emperor's +troops, commanded by the Prince de Hohenlohe, were to establish +themselves between the Rhine and the Moselle, cover the Prussian left, +and operate upon Landau, Sarrelouis, and Thionville. A third corps, +under Prince Esterhazy, and strengthened by five thousand <i>emigrés</i> +under the Prince de Condé, would threaten the frontiers from Switzerland +to Philipsbourg, and the king of Sardinia would have an army of +observation on the Var and the Isère. These dispositions made, it was +resolved to reply to terror by terror, and to publish in the name of the +generalissimo the Duke of Brunswick, a manifesto, which would leave the +French revolution no other alternative than submission or death.</p> + +<p>M. de Calonne proposed it, and the Marquis de Limon, formerly intendant +des finances to the Duke of Orleans, first an ardent revolutionist like +his master, then an <i>emigré</i> and an implacable royalist, wrote the +manifesto and submitted it to the emperor, who in his turn submitted it +to the king of Prussia. The king of Prussia sent it to the Duke of +Brunswick, who murmured, and demanded a modification of some of the +expressions, which was accorded. The Marquis de Limon, however, +supported by the French princes, again restored the text. The Duke of +Brunswick became indignant, and tore the manifesto to pieces, without +however daring to dis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_459" id="Page_459">[Pg 459]</a></span>avow it, and the manifesto appeared, with all its +insults and threats, to the French nation.</p> + +<p>The emperor and the king of Prussia, informed of the secret leaning of +the Duke of Brunswick to France, and of the offer of the crown made to +him by the factions, caused him to undertake the responsibility of this +proclamation either as a vengeance or a disavowal. This imperious +defiance of the kings to freedom threatened with death every national +guard taken with arms in his hand, protecting the independence of his +country, and that in case the least outrage was offered by the factions +to the king, Paris should be razed to the ground.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK XV.</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>Whilst a war to the death impended over the people, and menaced the +king, discord continued to reign in the councils of the ministers. The +minister of war, Servan, was accused by Dumouriez with obeying with +servility, which resembled love rather than complaisance, the influence +of Madame Roland, and of having wholly defeated the plans for the +invasion of Belgium. The friends of Madame Roland, on their side, +threatened Dumouriez that they would make the Assembly demand of him an +account of the six millions of secret expenses, whose destination they +suspected. Already Guadet and Vergniaud had prepared discourses and a +project of a decree to demand a public reckoning for these sums. +Dumouriez, who had bought friends and accomplices with this gold amongst +the Jacobins and the Feuillants, revolted against the suspicion, +refused, in the name of his outraged honour, to make any return of this +expenditure, and boldly offered his resignation. Upon this a great +number of members of the Assembly, Feuillants and Jacobins, Pétion +himself, called at the residence of the insulted minister, and conjured +him to return to his post. He consented, on condition that they would +leave the disposal of these funds to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_460" id="Page_460">[Pg 460]</a></span> his conscience alone. The +Girondists themselves, intimidated by his retirement, and feeling that a +man of his character was indispensable to their weakness, withdrew their +motion, and passed a vote of public confidence in him. The people +applauded him as he quitted the Assembly. These applauses sounded +gloomily in the council-chamber of Madame Roland. The popularity of +Dumouriez renders her jealous. It was not in her eyes the popularity of +virtue, and she coveted it all for her husband and her party. Roland and +his Girondist colleagues, Servan, Clavière, redoubled their efforts to +influence the mind of the king, and used threats in order to acquire it. +To flatter the Assembly, court the people; irritate the Jacobins against +the court; beset the king by the imperious demand of sacrifices which +they knew were impossible; to injure him silently in opinion as the +cause of all evil, or the obstacle to all good; to compel him, in fact, +by insolence and outrage, to dismiss them that they might afterwards +accuse him of betraying in them the Revolution: such were their tactics, +resulting from their weakness rather than from their ambition.</p> + +<p>This feeling of backing the king, whose ministers they were, was the +basis of a conspiracy of which Madame Roland was the origin. At Roland's +there was nothing but ill humour; amongst his colleagues it was a +rivalry of patriotism with Robespierre. At Madame Roland's it was that +passion for a republic which was impatient of any remnant of a throne, +and which smiled complacently at the factions ready to overturn the +monarchy. When factions had arms no longer, Madame Roland and her +friends hastened to lead them.</p> + + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>We see a fatal example in the step of the minister of war, Servan. He, +entirely controlled by Madame Roland, proposed to the National Assembly, +without authority from the king, or the consent of the council, to +assemble round Paris a camp of 20,000 troops. This army, composed of +<i>fédérés</i> chosen from amongst the most enthusiastic persons of the +provinces, would be, as the Girondists believed, a kind of central army +of opinions devoted to the Assembly, counter-balancing the king's guard, +repressing the national guard, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_461" id="Page_461">[Pg 461]</a></span> recalling to mind that army of the +parliament which, under the orders of Cromwell, had conducted Charles I. +to the scaffold.</p> + +<p>The Assembly, with the exception of the constitutional party, seized on +this idea as hatred seizes the arm which is offered to it. The king felt +the blow; Dumouriez saw through the perfidy, and could not repress his +choler against Servan in the council-chamber. His reproaches were those +of a loyal defender of his king. The replies of Servan were evasive, but +full of provocation. The two ministers laid their hands upon their +swords, and but for the presence of the king, and the intervention of +their colleagues, blood would have flowed in the council-chamber.</p> + +<p>The king was desirous of refusing his sanction to the decree for the +20,000 men. "It is too late," said Dumouriez: "your refusal would +display fears too well founded, but which we must take care not to +betray to our enemies. Sanction the decree, I will undertake to +neutralise the danger of the concentration." The king requested time for +consideration.</p> + +<p>Next day the Girondists called upon the king to sanction the decree +against the nonjuring priests. They came into direct contact with the +religious conscience of Louis XVI. Supported by that, this prince +declared that he would rather die than sign the persecution of the +church. Dumouriez insisted as much as the Girondists in obtaining this +sanction. The king was inflexible. In vain did Dumouriez represent to +him that by refusing legal measures against the nonjuring priests he +exposed the priests to massacre, and thus made himself responsible for +all the blood that might be shed. In vain did they represent to him that +this refusal would render the ministry unpopular, and thus deprive them +of all hope of saving the monarchy. In vain did they appeal to the +queen, and implore her, by her feelings as a mother, to bend the king to +their wishes. The queen herself was for a long time powerless. At last +the king seemed to hesitate, and gave Dumouriez a private meeting in the +evening. In this conversation he ordered Dumouriez to present to him +three ministers, to succeed Roland, Clavière, and Servan. Dumouriez at +once named Vergennes for finance, Naillac for foreign affairs, Mourgues +for the interior. He reserved the war department for himself: +dictatorial minister at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_462" id="Page_462">[Pg 462]</a></span> moment when France was becoming an army. +Roland, Clavière, and Servan, stung to the quick at a dismissal they had +provoked the more because they had not anticipated it, hastened to carry +their complaints and accusations to the Assembly. They were received +there as martyrs to their patriotism; they had filled the tribunes with +their partisans.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>Roland, Clavière, and Servan were present, under pretence of rendering +an account of the grounds of their dismissal. Roland laid before the +Assembly the celebrated confidential letter dictated by his wife, and +which he had read to the king in his cabinet. He affected to believe +that the dismissal of ministers was the punishment of his own courage. +The advice he gave to the king in this letter thus turned into +accusations of this unfortunate prince. Louis XVI. had never received +from the malcontents a more terrible blow than that now given by his +minister. Passions trouble the conscience of the people, and there are +days when treachery passes current for heroism. The Girondists made a +hero of Roland. They had his letter printed, and circulated it in the +eighty-three departments.</p> + +<p>Roland left the chamber amidst loud applauses. Dumouriez entered it in +the midst of uproar. He displayed in the tribune the same calmness as in +the field of battle. He began by announcing to the Assembly the death of +General Gouvion. "He is happy," he said, with sadness, "to have died +fighting against the enemy, and not to have been the witness of the +discords which rend us to pieces. I envy his death." The deep serenity +of a powerful mind was felt in his every tone—a mind resolute to +contend against factions unto death. He then read a memorial relating to +the ministry of war. His exordium was an attack upon the Jacobins, and a +claim for the respect due to the ministers of the executive power. "Do +you hear Cromwell!" exclaimed Guadet, in a voice of thunder. "He thinks +himself already so sure of empire, that he dares to inflict his commands +upon us." "And why not?" retorted Dumouriez, proudly, and turning +towards the Mountain. His daring imposed on the Assembly. The Feuillant +deputies went out with him to the Tuileries. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_463" id="Page_463">[Pg 463]</a></span> king announced to him +his intention to give his sanction to the decree for the 20,000 men. As +to the decree of the priests, he repeated to the ministers that he had +resolved, and begged them to take to the president of the Assembly a +letter in his own writing, which contained the motives for his <i>veto</i>. +The ministers bowed, and separated in consternation.</p> + + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>When Dumouriez reached his house, he learnt that there had been +gatherings of the populace in the Faubourg St. Antoine, and he informed +the king, who believing that he intended to alarm him, lost his +confidence in Dumouriez, who instantly offered his resignation, which +the king accepted. The portfolio of the ministry of foreign affairs was +confided to Chambonas; that of war to Lajard, a soldier of La Fayette's +party; that of the interior to M. de Monciel, a constitutional Feuillant +and friend of the king. This was on the 17th of June. The Jacobins, the +people incited by the Girondists, were already disturbing the capital: +all announced a coming insurrection. These ministers, without any armed +force, without popularity, without party, thus accepted the +responsibility of the perils accumulated by their predecessors. The king +saw Dumouriez once again—it was the last time. The farewell between the +monarch and his minister was affecting.</p> + +<p>"You are going to the army?" said the king. "Yes, sire," replied +Dumouriez, "and I should leave with joy this fearful city, if I had not +a feeling of the dangers impending over your majesty. Deign to listen to +me, sire; I am never destined to see you again. I am fifty-three years +of age, and have much experience. They abuse your conscience with +respect to the decree against the priests, and are pushing you on to +civil war. You are without strength, defenceless, and you will sink +under it, whilst History, though full of commiseration for you, will +accuse you of the misfortunes of your people."</p> + +<p>The king was seated near a table where he had just signed the general's +accounts. Dumouriez was standing beside him with clasped hands. The king +took his hands in his own, and said to him, in a voice sorrowful but +resigned, "God is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_464" id="Page_464">[Pg 464]</a></span> my witness, that I only think of the happiness of +France." "I never doubted it, sire," responded Dumouriez, deeply +affected. "You owe an account to God, not only for the purity, but also +for the enlightened use, of your intentions. You think to save religion: +you destroy it. The priests will be massacred: your crown will be taken +from you; perhaps even your queen and children—." He did not finish, +but pressed his lips to the king's hand, who shed tears.</p> + +<p>"I await—expect death," replied the king, sorrowfully; "and I pardon my +enemies already. I am grateful to you for your sensibility. You have +served me well, and I esteem you. Adieu—be more happy than I am!" And +on saying these words Louis XVI. went to a recess in a window at the end +of the chamber, in order to conceal the trouble he felt. Dumouriez never +saw him again. He shut himself up for several days in retirement, in a +lonely quarter of Paris. Looking upon the army as the only refuge for a +citizen still capable of serving his country, he set out for Douai, the +head quarters of Luckner.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>The Girondists remained a moment overwhelmed by the humiliation of their +fall and the joy of their coming vengeance. "Here I am dismissed," was +Roland's exclamation to his wife, on his return home. "I have but one +regret, and that is, that our delays have prevented us from taking the +initiative." Madame Roland retired to a humble apartment, without losing +any of her influence and without regretting power, since she carried +with her into her retreat, her genius, her patriotism, and her friends. +With her the conspiracy only changed place; from the ministry of the +interior she passed at once into the small council which she gathered +about her, and inspired with her own earnest enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>This circle daily increased. The admiration for the woman mingled in the +hearts of her friends with the attraction of liberty. They adored in her +the future Republic. The love which these young men did not avow for her +made, unknown to her, a portion of their politics. Ideas only become +active and powerful when vivified by sentiment. She was the sentiment of +her party.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_465" id="Page_465">[Pg 465]</a></span></p> + +<p>This party was joined about this time by a man unconnected with the +Gironde; but his youth, his remarkable beauty, and his energy naturally +threw him into this faction of illusion and love, controlled by a woman. +This young man was Barbaroux.</p> + +<p>At this time he was only twenty-six years of age. Born at Marseilles, of +a sea-faring family, who preserved in their manners and features +something of the boldness of their life and the agitation of their +element. The elegance of his stature, the poetic grace of his +countenance, recalled the accomplished forms which antiquity adored in +the statues of Antinous. The blood of that Asiatic Greece of which +Marseilles is a colony revealed itself in the purity of the young +Phocian's profile.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> As richly endowed with the gifts of the mind as +those of the body, Barbaroux early used himself to public oratory, that +gift of the men of the south. He became a barrister, and pleaded several +causes with success; but the power and honesty of his mind revolted from +that exercise of eloquence, so often mercenary, which simulates +earnestness. He required a national cause, to which a man should give +with language his soul and blood. The Revolution with which he was born +offered this to him. He awaited with impatience the occasion and the +hour to make use of it.</p> + +<p>His youth still kept him away from the scene into which he ardently +longed to cast himself. He passed his time near the village of +Ollioules, on a small family estate, concealed beneath tall cork-trees, +which threw their slight shade over the calcined declivities of this +valley. He there attended to the cultivated patches which the aridity of +the soil and the burning sun dispute with the rocks. In his leisure he +studied natural sciences, and kept up a correspondence with two Swiss, +whose systems of physics then occupied the learned world—M. de Saussure +and Marat. But science was not sufficient for his mind, which overflowed +with sensitiveness, and which Barbaroux poured forth in elegiac poetry +as burning as the noonday, and vague as the horizon of the sea beneath +his view. There is felt that southern melancholy whose languor,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_466" id="Page_466">[Pg 466]</a></span> is +closer allied to pleasure than weakness, and which resembles the songs +of man seated in the broad sunshine, before or after labour. Mirabeau +had thus begun his life. The most energetic lives frequently open in +gloom, as if they had in their very germ presentiments of their contrary +destiny. It would seem as though we read in the verses of this young man +that through his tears he contemplated his faults, his expiation, and +his scaffold.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>After Mirabeau's election, and the agitations which followed, Barbaroux +was named secretary of the municipality of Marseilles. At the troubles +of Aries he took arms, and marched at the head of the young Marseillais +against the rulers of the Comtal. His martial figure, his gestures, his +ardour, his voice, made him conspicuous everywhere: he fascinated all. +Being deputed to Paris in order to give an account of the events of the +south to the National Assembly, the Girondists, Vergniaud and Guadet, +who were desirous of obtaining an amnesty for the crimes of Avignon, did +all in their power to attach this young man to their party. Barbaroux, +impetuous as he was, did not justify the butchers of Avignon; but +detested the victims. He was a man requisite to the Girondists. Struck +by his eloquence and his enthusiasm, they presented him to Madame +Roland: no woman was more formed to seduce, no man more formed to be +seduced. Madame Roland—in all the freshness of her youth, in all the +brilliancy of her beauty, and also in all the fulness of sensibility, +which all the purity of her life could not stifle in her unoccupied +heart—speaks thus tenderly of Barbaroux: "I had read," she says, "in +the cabinet of my husband, the letters of Barbaroux, full of sense and +premature wisdom. When I saw him I was astonished at his youth. He +attached himself to my husband. We saw more of him after we left the +ministry; and it was then, that reasoning on the miserable state of +things, and the fear of a triumph of despotism in the north of France, +we formed the plan of a republic in the south. This will be our <i>pis +aller</i>, said Barbaroux, with a smile; but the Marseillais army here will +dispense with our attempting it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_467" id="Page_467">[Pg 467]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>Roland then lived in a gloomy house of the Rue St. Jaques, almost in the +garrets: it was a philosopher's retreat, and his wife illumined it. +Present at all the conversations of Roland, she witnessed the +conferences between her husband and the young Marseillais. Barbaroux +thus relates the interview in which the first idea of a republic was +mooted: "That astonishing woman was there," said he. "Roland asked me +what I thought the best means of saving France. I opened my heart to +him: my confidence called for his. 'Liberty is gone,' he replied, 'if we +do not speedily disconcert the plots of the court. La Fayette is +meditating treason in the north: the army of the centre is +systematically disorganised: in six weeks the Austrians will be at +Paris. Have we then laboured at the most glorious of revolutions for so +many years to see it overthrown in a single day? If Liberty dies in +France, it is lost for ever to the rest of the world!—all the hopes of +philosophy are deceived—prejudices and tyranny will again grasp the +world. Let us prevent this misfortune, and if the north is subjected, +let us take Liberty with us into the south, and there form a colony of +free men.' His wife wept as she listened to him, and I myself wept as I +looked at her. Oh! how much the outpourings of confidence console and +fortify minds that are in desolation. I drew a rapid sketch of the +resources and hopes of Liberty in the south. A serene expression of joy +spread over Roland's brow: he squeezed my hand, and we traced on a map +of France the limits of this empire of Liberty, which extended from the +Doubs, the Ain, and the Rhone to La Dordogne, and from the inaccessible +mountains of Auvergne to Durance and the sea. I wrote, by dictation of +Roland, to request from Marseilles a battalion and two pieces of cannon. +These preliminaries agreed upon, I left Roland with feelings of deep +respect for himself and his wife. I have seen them subsequently, during +their second ministry, as simple minded as in their humble retreat. Of +all the men of modern times, Roland seems to me most to resemble Cato; +but it must be owned that it is to his wife that his courage and talents +are due."</p> + +<p>Thus did the original idea of a federative republic arise in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_468" id="Page_468">[Pg 468]</a></span> the first +interview between Barbaroux and Madame Roland. What they dreamed of as a +desperate measure of Liberty, was afterwards made a reproach to them for +having conspired as a plot. This first sigh of patriotism of two young +minds who met and understood each other, was their attraction and their +crime.</p> + + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>From this day the Girondists, disengaged from every obligation with the +king and ministers, conspired secretly with Madame Roland, and publicly +in the tribune, for the suppression of the monarchy. They appeared to +envy the Jacobins the honour of giving the throne the most deadly blows. +Robespierre as yet spoke only of the constitution, limiting himself +within the law, and not going a-head of the people. The Girondists +already spoke in the name of the republic, and motioned with gesture and +eye the republican <i>coup d'état</i>, which every day drew nearer. The +meetings at Roland's multiplied and enlarged: new men joined their +ranks. Roland, Brissot, Vergniaud, Guadet, Gensonné, Condorcet, Pétion, +Lanthenas, who in the hour of danger betrayed them; Valazé, Pache, who +persecuted and decimated his friends; Grangeneuve, Louvet, who beneath +levity of manners and gaiety of mind veiled undaunted courage; Chamfort, +the intimate of the great, a vivid intellect, heart full of venom, +discouraged by the people before he had served it; Carra, the popular +journalist, enthusiastic for a republic, mad with desire for liberty; +Chénier<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>, the poet of the revolution, destined to survive it, and +preserving his worship of it until death, even under the tyranny of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_469" id="Page_469">[Pg 469]</a></span> +empire; Dusaulx, who had beneath his gray hairs the enthusiasm of youth +for philosophy—the Nestor of all the young men, whom he moderated by +his sage exhortations; Mercier, who took all as a jest, even in the +dungeon and death.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>But of the men whom enthusiasm for the Revolution brought around her, he +whom Madame Roland preferred to all was Buzot. More attached to this +young female than to his party, Buzot was to her a friend, whilst the +others were but tools or accomplices. She had quickly passed her +judgment on Barbaroux, and this judgment, impressed with a certain +bitterness, was like a repentance for the secret impression which the +favourable exterior of this young man had at first inspired. She accuses +herself with finding him so handsome, and seems to fortify her heart +against the fascination of his looks. "Barbaroux is volatile," she said; +"the adoration he receives from worthless women destroys the seriousness +of his feelings. When I see such fine young men too conceited at the +impression they make, like Barbaroux and Hérault de Séchelles, I cannot +help thinking that they adore themselves too much to have a great deal +of adoration left for their country."</p> + +<p>If we may lift the veil from the heart of this virtuous woman, who does +not raise it herself for fear of developing a sentiment contrary to her +duties, we must be convinced that her instinctive inclination had been +one moment for Barbaroux, but her reflecting tenderness was for Buzot. +It is neither given to duty nor liberty to fill completely the soul of a +woman as lovely and impassioned as she: duty chills, politics deceive, +virtue retains, love fills the heart. Madame Roland loved Buzot. He +adored in her his inspiration and his idol. Perchance they never +disclosed to each other in words a sentiment which would have been the +less sacred to them from the hour in which it had become guilty. But +what they concealed from one another they have involuntarily revealed at +their death. There are in the last days and last hours of this man and +this woman, sighs, gestures, and words, which allow the secret preserved +during life to escape in the presence of death; but the secret thus +disclosed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_470" id="Page_470">[Pg 470]</a></span> keeps its mystery. Posterity may have the right to detect, +but none to accuse, this sentiment.</p> + +<p>Roland, an estimable but morose old man, had the exactions of weakness +without having its gratitude or indulgence towards his partner. She +remained faithful to him, more from respect to herself than from +affection to him. They loved the same cause—Liberty; but Roland's +fanaticism was as cold as pride, whilst his wife's was as glowing as +love. She sacrificed herself daily at the shrine of her husband's +reputation, and scarcely perceived her own self-devotion. He read in her +heart that she bore the yoke with pride, and yet the yoke galled her. +She paints Buzot with complacency, and as the ideal of domestic +happiness. "Sensible, ardent, melancholy," she writes, "a passionate +admirer of nature, he seems born to give and share happiness. This man +would forget the universe in the sweetness of private virtues. Capable +of sublime impulses and unvarying affections, the vulgar, who like to +depreciate what it cannot equal, accuse him of being a dreamer. Of sweet +countenance, elegant figure, there is always in his attire that care, +neatness, and propriety, which announce respect of self as well as of +others. Whilst the dregs of the nation elevate the flatterers and +corrupters of the people to station—whilst cut-throats swear, drink, +and clothe themselves in rags, in order to fraternise with the populace, +Buzot possesses the morality of Socrates, and maintains the decorum of +Scipio: so they pull down his house and banish him, as they did +Aristides. I am astonished they have not issued a decree that his name +should be forgotten." The man of whom she speaks in such terms from the +depths of her dungeon, on the evening before her death, exiled, +wandering, concealed in the caves of St. Emilion, fell as though struck +by lightning, and remained several days in a state of phrenzy, on +learning the death of Madame Roland.</p> + +<p>Danton, whose name began to rise above the crowd, when his fame was but +slight until now, sought at this period Madame Roland's acquaintance. +All inquired what was the secret of the growing ascendency of this man? +Where he came from? Who he was? Whither he was advancing? They sought +his origin; his first appearance on the stage of the people; his first +connection with the celebrated personages<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_471" id="Page_471">[Pg 471]</a></span> of his time. They sought in +mysteries the cause of his prodigious popularity. It was pre-eminently +in his nature.</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>Danton was not merely one of those adventurers of demagogism who rise, +like <i>Masaniello</i>, or like Hébert,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> from the boiling scum of the +masses. He was one of the middle classes, the heart of the nation. His +family, pure, honest, of property, and industrious, ancient in name, +honourable in manners, was established at Arcis-sur-Aube, and possessed +a rural domain in the environs of that small town. It was of the number +of those modest but well-esteemed families, who have the soil for their +basis, and agriculture as their main occupation, but who give their sons +the most complete moral and literary education, and who thus prepare +them for the liberal professions of society. Danton's father died young. +His mother had married again to a manufacturer of Arcis-sur-Aube, who +had (and himself managed), a small cotton mill. There is still to be +seen near the river, without the city, in a pleasant spot, the house, +half rustic half town built, and the garden on the banks of the Aube, +where Danton's infancy was passed.</p> + +<p>His step-father, M. Ricordin, attended to his education as he would have +done that of his own child. He was of an open communicative disposition, +and was beloved in spite of his ugliness and turbulence; for his +ugliness was radiant with intellect, and his turbulence was calmed and +repented of at the least caress of his mother. He pursued his studies at +Troyes, the capital of Champagne. Rebellious against discipline, idle at +study, beloved by his masters and fellow pupils, his rapid comprehension +kept him on an equality with the most assiduous. His instinct sufficed +without reflection. He learned nothing; he acquired all. His companions +called him Catiline—he accepted the name, and sometimes played with +them at getting up rebellions and riots, which he excited or calmed by +his harangues—as if he were repeating at school the characters of his +after life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_472" id="Page_472">[Pg 472]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>M. and Madame Ricordin, already advanced in years, gave him, after his +education was finished, the small fortune of his father. He came to +finish his studies in law at Paris, and bought a place in parliament as +a barrister, where he practised little and without any notoriety. He +despised chicanery; his mind and language had the proportions of the +great causes of the people and the throne. The Constituent Assembly +began to stir them. Danton, watchful and impassioned, was anxious to +mingle with them: he sought the leading men, whose eloquence resounded +throughout France. He attached himself to Mirabeau; became connected +with Camille Desmoulins, Marat, Robespierre, Pétion, Brune (afterwards +the marshal), Fabre d'Eglantine, the Duc d'Orleans, Laclos, Lacroix, and +all the illustrious and second class orators who then "fulmined over" +Paris. He passed his whole time in the tribunes of the Assembly, in the +walks, and the coffee-houses, and his nights in the clubs. A few +well-seasoned words, some brief harangues, some bursts of mysterious +lightning: and above all, his hair like a horse's mane, his gigantic +stature, and his powerful voice, made him universally remarked. Yet +beneath the purely physical qualities of the orator men of intelligence +remarked great good sense and an instinctive knowledge of the human +heart. Beneath the agitator they discerned the statesman. Danton in +truth read history, studied the ancient orators, practised himself in +real eloquence, that which enlightens in its passion, and beneath his +actual part was preparing another much superior. He only asked the +movement to raise him so high that he might subsequently control it.</p> + +<p>He married Mademoiselle Charpentier, daughter of a lemonade-seller on +the Quai de l'Ecole. This young lady controlled him by her affection, +and insensibly reformed him from the disorders of his youth to more +regular domestic habits. She extinguished the violence of his passions, +but without being able to quench that which survived all +others—ambition of a great destiny.</p> + +<p>Danton lived in a small apartment in the Cour de Commerce, near his +father-in-law, in rigid economy, receiving but a very few friends, who +admired his talent and attached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_473" id="Page_473">[Pg 473]</a></span> themselves to his fortunes. The most +constant were Camille Desmoulins, Pétion, and Brune. From these meetings +went forth signals of extensive sedition. The secret subsidies of the +court came there to tempt the cupidity of the head of the young +revolutionists. He did not reject them, but used them sometimes to +excite and sometimes to control the agitations of opinion.</p> + +<p>He had by this marriage two sons, whom his death left orphans in their +cradle, and who succeeded to his small inheritance at Arcis-sur-Aube. +These two sons of Danton, alarmed at the effects of their name, retired +to their family domain, and cultivated it with their own hands, and in +an honest and industrious obscurity limited to themselves all their +father's notoriety. Like the son of Cromwell, they preferred the shade +and silence the more, as their name had a too sinister reputation, and +too wide an extension in the world. They remained unmarried, that the +name might die with them.</p> + +<p>At this moment Danton, whose ambitious instincts revealed the close +return to fortune of the Girondists, sought to attach himself to this +rising party, and give them the weight of his worth and importance. +Madame Roland flattered him, but with fear and repugnance, as a woman +would pat a lion.</p> + + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>Whilst the Girondists were exciting the anger of the people against the +king, hostilities were beginning in Belgium, in consequence of reverses, +which were attributed to treasons of the court: these were produced by +three causes; the hesitation of the generals, who did not understand how +to impart to their troops that ardour which impels the masses, and bears +down resistance; the disorganisation of the armies, which emigration had +deprived of their ancient officers, and who had no confidence in the +new; and finally, the want of discipline, that element of revolutions, +which clubs and Jacobinism had spread amongst the troops. An army that +discusses is like a hand which would think.</p> + +<p>La Fayette, instead of advancing at once on Namur according to +Dumouriez's plan, lost a good deal of precious time in assembling and +organising at Givet, and the camp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_474" id="Page_474">[Pg 474]</a></span> of Ransenne. Instead of giving the +other generals in line with him, the example and the signal of invasion +and victory, by at once occupying Namur, he moved about the country with +10,000 men, leaving the remainder of his forces encamped in France, and +fell back at the first news of the checks sustained by the detachments +of Biron and Théobald Dillon. These checks, though partial and slight, +were disgraceful for our troops. It was the astonishment of an army +unaccustomed to war, and fearful of entering the lists, but which, like +a soldier at his first campaign, would soon grow used to battles.</p> + +<p>The Duc de Lauzun commanded under La Fayette, and was called general +Biron. He was a man of the court, who had gone over in all sincerity to +the side of the people. Young, handsome, chivalrous, with that intrepid +gaiety which plays with death, he carried aristocratic honour into +republican ranks. Loved by the soldiers, adored by the women, at his +ease in camps, a roué in courts, he was of that school of sparkling +vices of which the Marshal de Richelieu had been the type in France. It +was said that the queen herself had been enamoured of him, without being +able to fix his inconstancy. Friend of the Duc d'Orleans, companion of +his debaucheries, still he had never conspired with him. All treachery +was abhorrent to him, all baseness of heart roused his utmost +indignation. He adopted the Revolution as a noble idea, of which he was +always ready to be the soldier, but never the accomplice. He did not +betray the king, and always preserved a deep feeling of pity and +sympathy for the queen; with an intense love for philosophy and liberty, +instead of fomenting them by sedition, he defended them by war. He +changed devotion to kings into devotion to his country. This noble +cause, and the sorrows of the Revolution gave to his character a more +manly stamp, and made him fight and die with the conscience of a hero.</p> + +<p>He was encamped at Quievrain with 10,000 men, and advanced against the +Austrian general Beaulieu, who occupied the heights of Mons, with a very +weak army. Two regiments of dragoons, who formed Biron's advanced guard, +were seized with a sudden panic on beholding Beaulieu's troops. The +soldiers cried out treachery, and in vain did their officers attempt to +rally them; they turned bridle and scat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_475" id="Page_475">[Pg 475]</a></span>tered disorder and fear +throughout the ranks. The army gave way and mechanically followed the +current of flight. Biron and his aides-de-camp threw themselves into the +centre of the troops to stay and to rally them. They struck at them with +their swords, and fired at them. The camp of Quievrain, the military +chest, the carriage of Biron himself, were plundered by the fugitives.</p> + +<p>Whilst this defeat, without a battle, humiliated the French army, in its +first step, at Quievrain, bloody assassinations stained our flag at +Lille. General Dillon had left that city, the enemy showed itself on the +plain to the number of nine hundred men. At its appearance only, the +French cavalry uttered treacherous cries, and passing by the infantry, +fled to Lille, without being followed, abandoning its artillery, +carriages, and baggage. Dillon, hurried along by his squadrons to Lille, +was there massacred by his own soldiers. His colonel of engineers, +Berthois, fell beside his general, beneath the bayonets of the cowards +who abandoned him. The dead bodies of these two victims of fear were +hung up in the <i>Place d'Armes</i>, and then delivered up by the malcontents +to the insults of the populace of Lille, who dragged their mutilated +carcases along the streets. Thus commenced in shame and crime those wars +of the Revolution which were destined to produce, during twenty years, +so much heroism, and so much military virtue. Anarchy had penetrated to +the camps, honour was there no longer: order and honour are the two +necessities of an army. In anarchy there is still a nation—without +discipline there is no longer an army.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>Paris was in consternation at this news; the Assembly greatly troubled, +the Girondists trembled, the Jacobins were vociferous in their +imprecations against the traitors. Foreign courts and the emigrants had +no doubt of an easy triumph in a few marches over a revolution which was +afraid of its very shadow. La Fayette, without having been attacked, +fell back, very prudently, on Givet. Rochambeau sent in his resignation +as commandant of the army of the north.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_476" id="Page_476">[Pg 476]</a></span> Marshal Luckner was nominated +in his place. La Fayette, much dissatisfied, kept the command of the +central army.</p> + +<p>Luckner was upwards of seventy years of age, but retained all the fire +and activity of the warrior; he only required genius to have been a +great general. He had a reputation for complaisance, which sufficed for +every thing. It is a great advantage for a general to be a stranger in +the country in which he is serving. He has no one jealous of him: his +superiority is pardoned, and presumed if it do not exist, in order to +crush his rivals: such was old Luckner's position. He was a +German,—pupil of the great Frederic, with whom he had served with +<i>éclat</i> during the seven years' war as commandant of the vanguard, at +the moment when Frederic changed the war, and commenced its tactics. The +Duc de Choiseul was desirous of depriving Prussia of a general of this +great school, to teach the modern art of battles to French generals. He +had attracted Luckner from his country by force of temptations, fortune, +and honours. The national Assembly, from respect to the memory of the +philosopher king, had preserved to Luckner the pension of 60,000 francs +which had been paid to him during the Revolution. Luckner, indifferent +to constitutions, believed himself a revolutionist from gratitude. He +was almost the only one amongst the ancient general officers who had not +emigrated. Surrounded by a brilliant staff of young officers of the +party of La Fayette, Charles Lameth, du Jarri, Mathieu de Montmorency, +he believed he had the opinions which they instilled into him. The king +caressed, the Assembly flattered, the army respected, him. The nation +saw in him the mysterious genius of the old war coming to give lessons +of victory to the untried patriotism of the Revolution, and concealing +its infinite resources under the bluntness of his exterior, and the +obscure Germanism of his language. They addressed to him, from all +sides, homage as though he were an unknown God. He did not deserve +either this adoration, or the outrages with which he was soon after +overwhelmed. He was a brave and coarse soldier, as misplaced in courts +as in clubs. For some days he was an idol, then the plaything of the +Jacobins, who, at last, threw him to the guillotine, without his being +able to comprehend either his popularity or his crime.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_477" id="Page_477">[Pg 477]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>Berthier, who afterwards became Napoleon's right hand, was then the head +of Luckner's staff. The old general seized, with warlike instinct, on +Dumouriez's bold plan. He had entered at the head of 22,000 men on the +Austrian territory at Courtray and Menin. Biron and Valence, his two +seconds in command, entreated him to remain there, and Dumouriez, in his +letters, urged him in similar manner. On arriving at Lille, Dumouriez +learnt that Luckner had suddenly retreated on Valenciennes, after having +burnt the suburbs of Courtray; thus giving, on our frontier, the signal +of hesitation and retreat.</p> + +<p>The Belgian population, their impulses thus checked by the disasters or +timidity of France, lost all hope, and bent beneath the Austrian yoke. +General Montesquiou collected the army of the south with difficulty. The +king of the Sardinians concentrated a large force on the Var. The +advanced guard of La Fayette, posted at Gliswel, at a league from +Maubeuge, was beaten by the Duke of Saxe-Teschen, at the head of 12,000 +men. The great invasion of the Duke of Brunswick, in Champagne, was +preparing. The emigration took off the officers, desertion diminished +our soldiery. The clubs disseminated distrust against the commanders of +our strong places.</p> + +<p>The Girondists were urging on rebellion, the Jacobins were exciting the +army to anarchy, the volunteers did not rise, the ministry was null, the +Austrian committee of the Tuileries corresponded with various powers, +not to deceive the nation, but to save the lives of the king and his +family. A suspected government, hostile assembly, seditious clubs, a +national guard intimidated and deprived of its chief, incendiary +journalism, dark conspiracies, factious municipality, a +conspirator-mayor, people distrustful and starving, Robespierre and +Brissot, Vergniaud and Danton, Girondists and Jacobins, face to face, +having the same spoil to contend for—the monarchy, and struggling for +pre-eminence in demagogism in order to acquire the favour of the people; +such was the state of France, within and without, at the moment when +exterior war was pressing France on all sides, and causing it to burst +forth with disasters and crimes. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_478" id="Page_478">[Pg 478]</a></span> Girondists and Jacobins united for +a moment, suspended their personal animosity, as if to see which could +best destroy the powerless constitution which separated them. The +<i>bourgeoisie</i> personified by the Feuillants, the National Guard, and La +Fayette, alone remained attached to the constitution. The Gironde, from +the tribune itself, made that appeal to the people against the king +which it was subsequently doomed to make in vain in favour of the king +against the Jacobins. In order to control the city, Brissot, Roland, +Pétion, excited the suburbs, those capitals of miseries and seditions. +Every time that a people which has long crouched in slavery and +ignorance is moved to its lowest depths, then appear monsters and +heroes, prodigies of crime and prodigies of virtue; such were about to +appear under the conspiring hand of the Girondists and demagogues.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BOOK XVI</h2> + + +<h3>I.</h3> + +<p>In proportion as power snatched from the hands of the king by the +Assembly disappeared, it passed into the commune of Paris. The +municipality, that first element of nations which are forming +themselves, is also the last asylum of authority when they are crumbling +to pieces. Before it falls quite to the people, power pauses for a +moment in the council-chamber of the magistrates of the city. The Hôtel +de Ville had become the Tuileries of the people; after La Fayette and +Bailly, Pétion reigned there: this man was the king of Paris. The +populace (which has always the instinct of position) called him <i>King +Pétion</i>. He had purchased his popularity, first by his private virtues, +which the people almost always confound with public virtues, and +subsequently by his democratic speeches in the Constituent Assembly. The +skilful balance which he preserved at the Jacobins between the +Girondists and Robespierre had rendered him respectable and important. +Friend of Roland,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_479" id="Page_479">[Pg 479]</a></span> Robespierre, Danton, and Brissot, at the same time +suspected of too close connection with Madame de Genlis and the Duc +d'Orleans' party, he still always covered himself with the mantle of +proper devotion to order and a superstitious reverence for the +constitution. He had thus all the apparent titles to the esteem of +honest men and the respect of factions; but the greatest of all was in +his mediocrity. Mediocrity, it must be confessed, is almost always the +brand of these idols of the people: either that the mob, mediocre +itself, has only a taste for what resembles it; or that jealous +contemporaries can never elevate themselves sufficiently high towards +great characters and great virtues; or that Providence, which +distributes gifts and faculties in proportion, will not allow that one +man should unite in himself, amidst a free people, these three +irresistible powers, virtue, genius, and popularity; or rather, that the +constant favour of the multitude is a thing of such a nature that its +price is beyond its worth in the eyes of really virtuous men, and that +it is necessary to stoop too low to pick it up, and become too weak to +retain it. Pétion was only king of the people on condition of being +complaisant to its excesses. His functions as mayor of Paris, in a time +of trouble, placed him constantly between the king, the Assembly, and +the revolts. He bearded the king, flattered the Assembly, and pardoned +crime. Inviolable as the capital which he personified in his position of +first magistrate of the commune, his unseen dictatorship had no other +title than his inviolability, and he used it with respectful boldness +towards the king, bowed before the Assembly, and knelt to the +malcontents. To his official reproaches to the rioters, he always added +an excuse for crime, a smile for the culprits, encouragement to the +misled citizens. The people loved him as anarchy loves weakness; it knew +it could do as it pleased with him. As mayor, he had the law in his +hand; as a man, he had indulgence on his lips and connivance in his +heart: he was just the magistrate required in times of the <i>coups +d'état</i> of the faubourgs.</p> + +<p>Pétion allowed them to make all their preparations without appearing to +see them, and legalised them whenever they were completed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_480" id="Page_480">[Pg 480]</a></span></p> + +<h3>II.</h3> + +<p>His early connection with Brissot had drawn him towards Madame Roland. +The ministry of Roland, Clavière, and Servan obeyed him more than even +the king, he was present at all their consultations, and although their +fall did not involve him, it wrested the executive power from his grasp. +The expelled Girondists had no need to infuse their thirst of vengeance +into the mind of Pétion. Unable any longer to conspire legally against +the king, with his ministers, he yet could conspire with the factions +against the Tuileries. The national guards, the people, the Jacobins, +the faubourgs, the whole city, were in his hands; thus he could give +sedition to the Girondists to aid this party to regain the ministry; and +he gave it them with all the hazards—all the crimes that sedition +carries with it. Amongst these hazards was the assassination of the king +and his family: this event was beforehand accepted by those who provoked +the assembly of the populace, and their invasion of the king's palace. +Girondists, Orleanists, Republicans, Anarchists, none of these parties +perhaps actually meditated this crime, but they looked upon it as an +eventuality of their fortune. Pétion, who doubtless did not desire it, +at least risked it; and if his intention was innocent, his temerity was +a murder. What distance was there between the steel of twenty thousand +pikes and the heart of Louis XVI.? Pétion did not betray the lives of +the king, the queen, and the children, but he placed them at stake. The +constitutional guard of the king had been ignominiously disbanded by the +Girondists; the Duc de Brissac, its commander, was sent to the high +court of Orleans, for imaginary conspiracies,—his only conspiracy was +his honour; and he had sworn to die bravely in defence of his master and +his friend. He could have escaped, but though even the king advised him +to fly, he refused. "If I fly," replied he, to the king's entreaties, +"it will be said that I am guilty, and that you are my accomplice; my +flight will accuse you: I prefer to die." He left Paris for the national +court of Orleans: he was not tried, but massacred at Versailles, on the +6th of September, and his head with its white hairs was planted on one +of the palisades of the palace gates, as if in atrocious mockery of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_481" id="Page_481">[Pg 481]</a></span> +that chivalrous honour that even in death guarded the gate of the +residence of his king.</p> + + +<h3>III.</h3> + +<p>The first insurrections of the Revolution were the spontaneous impulses +of the people: on one side was the king, the court and the nobility; on +the other the nation. These two parties clashed by the mere impulse of +conflicting ideas and interests. A word—a gesture—a chance—the +assembling a body of troops—a day's scarcity—the vehement address of +an orator in the Palais Royal, sufficed to excite the populace to +revolt, or to march on Versailles. The spirit of sedition was confounded +with the spirit of the Revolution. Every one was factious—every one was +a soldier—every one was a leader. Public passion gave the signal, and +chance commanded.</p> + +<p>Since the Revolution was accomplished, and the constitution had imposed +on each party legal order, it was different. The insurrections of the +people were no longer agitations, but plans. The organised factions had +their partisans—their clubs—their assemblies—their army and their +pass-word. Amongst the citizens, anarchy had disciplined itself, and its +disorder was only external, for a secret influence animated and directed +it unknown even to itself. In the same manner as an army possesses +chiefs on whose intelligence and courage they rely; so the <i>quartiers</i> +and sections of Paris had leaders whose orders they obeyed. Secondary +popularities, already rooted in the city and faubourgs, had been founded +behind those mighty national popularities of Mirabeau, La Fayette, and +Bailly. The people felt confidence in such a name, reliance in such an +arm, favour for such a face; and when these men showed themselves, +spoke, or moved, the multitude followed them without even knowing +whither the current of the crowd would lead; it was sufficient for the +chiefs to indicate a spot on which to assemble, to spread abroad a panic +terror, infuse a sudden rage, or indicate a purpose, to cause the blind +masses of the people to assemble on the appointed spot ready for +action.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_482" id="Page_482">[Pg 482]</a></span></p> + +<h3>IV.</h3> + +<p>The spot chosen was most frequently the site of the Bastille, the Mons +Aventinus of the people, the national camp, where the place and the +stones reminded them of their servitude and their strength. Of all the +men who governed the agitators of the faubourgs, Danton was the most +redoubtable. Camille Desmoulins, equally bold to plan, possessed less +courage to execute. Nature, which had given this young man the +restlessness of the leaders of the mob, had denied him the exterior and +the power of voice necessary to captivate them; for the people do not +comprehend intellectual force. A colossal stature and a sonorous voice +are two indispensable requisites for the favourites of the people: +Camille Desmoulins was small, thin, and had but a feeble voice, that +seemed to "pipe and whistle in the wind" after the tones of Danton, who +possessed the roar of the populace.</p> + +<p>Pétion enjoyed the highest esteem of the anarchists, but his official +legality excused him from openly fomenting the disorder, which it was +sufficient that he desired. Nothing could be done without him, and he +was an accomplice. After them came Santerre, the commander of the +battalion of the faubourg St. Antoine. Santerre, son of a Flemish +brewer, and himself a brewer, was one of those men that the people +respect because they are of themselves, and whose large fortune is +forgiven them on account of their familiarity. Well known to the +workmen, of whom he employed great numbers in his brewery; and by the +populace, who on Sundays frequented his wine and beer +establishments—Santerre distributed large sums of money, as well as +quantities of provisions, to the poor; and, at a moment of famine, had +distributed three hundred thousand francs' worth of bread (12,000<i>l</i>.). +He purchased his popularity by his beneficence; he had conquered it, by +his courage, at the storming of the Bastille; and he increased it by his +presence at every popular tumult. He was of the race of those Belgian +brewers who intoxicated the people of Ghent to rouse them to revolt.</p> + +<p>The butcher, Legendre, was to Danton what Danton was to Mirabeau, a step +lower in the abyss of sedition. Legendre had been a sailor during ten +years of his life, and had the rough and brutal manners of his two +callings, a savage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_483" id="Page_483">[Pg 483]</a></span> look, his arms covered with blood, his language +merciless, yet his heart naturally good. Involved since '89 in all the +Revolutionary movements, the waves of this agitation had elevated him to +a certain degree of authority. He had founded, under Danton, the +Cordeliers club, the club of <i>coups de main</i>, as the Jacobins was the +club of radical theories; and he convulsed it to its very centre, by his +eloquence untaught and unpolished. He compared himself to the peasant of +the Danube. Always more ready to strike than to speak, Legendre's +gesture crushed before he spoke. He was the mace of Danton. Huguenin, +one of those men who roll from profession to profession, on the +acclivity of troublous times, without the power to arrest his course; an +advocate expelled from the body to which he belonged; then a soldier, +and a clerk at the barrière; always disliked, aspiring for power to +recover his fortune, and suspected of pillage. Alexandre, the commandant +of the battalion of the Gobelins, the hero of the faubourg, the friend +of Legendre. Marat, a living conspiracy, who had quitted his +subterranean abode in the night; a living martyr of demagogism, +revelling in excitement, carrying his hatred of society to madness, +exulting in it, and voluntarily playing the part of the fool of the +people as so many others had played at the courts the part of the king's +fool. Dubois Crancé, a brave and educated soldier. Brune, a sabre, at +the service of all conspiracies. Mormoro, a printer, intoxicated with +philosophy. Dubuisson, an obscure writer, whom the hisses of the theatre +had forced to take refuge in intrigue. Fabre d'Eglantine, a comic poet, +ambitious of another field for his powers. Chabot, a capuchin monk, +embittered by the cloister, and eager to avenge himself on the +superstition which had imprisoned him. Lareynie, a soldier-priest. +Gonchon, Duquesnois, friends of Robespierre. Carra, a Girondist +journalist. An Italian, named Rotondo. Henriot, Sillery, Louvet, Laclos, +and Barbaroux, the emissary of Roland and Brissot, were the principal +instigators of the <i>émeute</i> of the 20th of June.</p> + + +<h3>V.</h3> + +<p>All these men met in an isolated house at Charenton, to concert in the +stillness and secrecy of the night on the pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_484" id="Page_484">[Pg 484]</a></span>text, the plan, and the +hour of the insurrection. The passions of these men were different, but +their impatience was the same; some wished to terrify, others to strike, +but all wished to act; when once the people were let loose, they would +stop where destiny willed. There were no scruples at a meeting at which +Danton presided; speeches were superfluous where but one feeling +prevailed; propositions were sufficient, and a look was enough to convey +all their meaning. A pressure of the hand, a glance, a significant +gesture, are the eloquence of men of action. In a few words, Danton +dictated the purpose, Santerre the means, Marat the atrocious energy, +Camilla Desmoulins the cynical gaiety of the projected movement, and all +decided on the resolution of urging the people to this act. A +revolutionary map of Paris was laid on the table, and on it Danton +traced the sources, the tributary streams, the course, and the +meeting-place of these gatherings of the people.</p> + +<p>The Place de la Bastille, an immense square into which opened, like the +mouths of so many rivers, the numerous streets of the faubourg St. +Antoine, which joins, by the quartier de l'Arsenale and a bridge, the +faubourg St. Marceau, and which, by the boulevard, opened before the +ancient fortress, has a large opening to the centre of the city and the +Tuileries, was the rendezvous assigned, and the place whence the columns +were to depart. They were to be divided into three bodies, and a +petition to present to the king and the Assembly against the <i>veto</i> to +the decree against the priests and the camp of 20,000 men, was the +ostensible purpose of the movement; the recall of the patriot ministers, +Roland, Servan, and Clavière, the countersign; and the terror of the +people, disseminated in Paris and the château of the Tuileries the +effect of this day. Paris expected this visit of the faubourgs, for five +hundred persons had dined together the previous day on the Champs +Elysées.</p> + +<p>The chief of the <i>fédérés</i> of Marseilles and the agitators of the +central quarters had fraternised there with the Girondists. The actor +Dugazon had sung verses, denunciatory of the inhabitants of the Château; +and at his window in the Tuileries the king had heard the applause and +these menacing strains, that reached even to his palace. As for the +order of the march, the grotesque emblems, the strange weapons, the +hideous costumes, the horrible banners and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_485" id="Page_485">[Pg 485]</a></span> obscene language, +destined to signal the apparition of this army of the faubourgs in the +streets of the capital, the conspirators prescribed nothing, for +disorder and horror formed a part of the programme, and they left all to +the disordered imagination of the populace, and to that rivalry of +cynicism which invariably takes place in such masses of men. Danton +relied on this fact.</p> + + +<h3>VI.</h3> + +<p>Although the presence of Panis and Sergent, two members of the +municipality, gave a tacit sanction to the plan, the leaders undertook +to recruit the sedition in silence, by small groups during the night, +and to collect the fiercest <i>rassemblements</i> of the quartier Saint +Marceau and the Jardin des Plantes, on the bank of the Arsenale, by +means of a ferry, then the only means of communication between the two +faubourgs. Lareynie was to arouse the faubourg St. Jacques and the market +of the place Maubert, where the women of the lower classes came daily to +make their household purchases. To sell and to buy is the life of the +lower orders, and money and famine are their two leading passions. They +are always ready for tumult in those places where these two passions +concentrate, and no where is sedition more readily excited, or in +greater masses of people.</p> + +<p>The dyer Malard, the shoemaker Isambert, the tanner Gibon, rich and +influential artizans, were to pour from the sombre and fœtid streets +of the faubourg Saint Marceau their indigent population, who but rarely +show themselves in the principal quartiers. Alexandre, the military +tribune of this quarter of Paris, in which he commanded a battalion, was +to place himself at its head on the place, before daybreak, to +concentrate the people, and then give them the impulse that should lead +them to the quays and the Tuileries. Varlet, Gonchon, Ronsin, and Siret, +the lieutenants of Santerre, who had been employed in this system of +tactics since the first agitations of '89, were charged with the +execution of similar manœuvres in the faubourg St. Antoine. The +streets of this quarter, full of manufactories and wine and beer shops, +the abiding place of misery, toil, and sedition, which extend from the +Bastille to la Roquette and Charenton, contained in themselves alone an +army that could invade Paris.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_486" id="Page_486">[Pg 486]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VII.</h3> + +<p>This army had known its leaders for four years. They posted themselves +at the openings of the principal streets, at the hour when the workmen +leave the <i>ateliers</i>; they procured a chair and table from the nearest +and best <i>cabaret</i>, and mounting on these wine-stained tribunes, they +called by name some of the passers by, who grouped round them; these +stopped others, the street was blocked up by them, and this crowd was +increased by all the men, women, and children, attracted by the noise. +The orator addressed this motley assemblage, whilst wine or beer were +gratuitously handed round. The cessation of work, the scarcity of money, +the dearth of food, the manœuvres of the aristocrats to starve Paris, +the treacheries of the king, the orgies of the queen, the necessity of +the nation's defeating the plots of an Austrian court, were the usual +themes of their addresses. When once the agitation rose to fever heat, +the cry of "<i>Marchons</i>" was heard, and the mob set itself in motion down +every street. A few hours afterwards masses of workmen from the +quartiers Popincourt, Quinze-Vingts de la Grève, Port au Blé, and the +Marché St. Jean, poured from the rues du Faubourg St. Antoine, and +covered the Place de la Bastille. There the tumult of the meeting of all +these tributaries of sedition for a moment stayed the progress of this +living torrent; but the impulse soon carried them on, and the columns +instinctively divided themselves, and plunged into the vast outlets and +main streets of Paris. Some took the line of the boulevards, others +marched along the quays to the Pont Neuf, there encountered the column +of the Place Maubert, and poured, in constantly increasing masses, on +the Palais Royal, and the gardens of the Tuileries.</p> + +<p>Such were the plans ordered on the night of the 19th of June, to be +executed by the agitators in the different quartiers, and who separated +with a rallying word, which gave the movement of the morrow the +excitement and uncertainty of hope, and which, without commanding the +consummation of crime, yet authorised the last excesses, "<i>To make an +end of the Château</i>."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_487" id="Page_487">[Pg 487]</a></span></p> + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + +<p>Such was the meeting of Charenton, such were the unseen actors who were +to set in motion a million of citizens. Did Laclos and Sillery, who were +about to seek a throne for the Duc d'Orleans their master, in the +faubourgs, distribute his gold there? It has been asserted and believed, +but never proved, and yet their presence at this meeting is suspicious. +History has the right of suspecting without evidence, but never of +accusing without proof. The assassination of the king would give the +crown, the next day, to the Duc d'Orleans; Louis XVI. might be +assassinated by the weapon of some drunken man—he was not. This is the +only justification of the Orleans' faction. Some of these men were +disaffected, like Marat and Hébert; others, like Barbaroux, Sillery, +Laclos, and Carra, were impatient malcontents; and others, like +Santerre, were but citizens, whose love of liberty became fanaticism. +The conspirators concerted together, and disciplined and organised the +city. Individual and distorted passions kindled the mighty and virtuous +love of the people for the triumph of democracy. It is thus that in a +conflagration the most tainted substances oft light the fire; the +combustible matter is foul, but the flames pure; the flame of the +Revolution was liberty; the factious might dim, they could not stain, +its brightness.</p> + +<p>Whilst the conspirators of Charenton distributed their <i>rôles</i> and +recruited their forces, the king trembled for his wife and children at +the Tuileries. "Who knows," said he, to M. de Malesherbes, with a +melancholy smile, "whether I shall behold the sun set to-morrow?"</p> + +<p>Pétion, by ordering the municipal forces and the national guards under +his orders to resist, could have entirely put down the sedition. The +directory of the department presided over by the unfortunate Duc de la +Rochefoucauld, summoned Pétion in the most energetic terms to perform +his duty. Pétion smiled, took all on himself, and justified the legality +of the proposed meetings and the petitions presented <i>en masse</i> to the +Assembly.</p> + +<p>Vergniaud in the tribune repelled the alarm felt by the +constitutionalists, as calumnies against the innocence of the people. +Condorcet laughed at the disquietude manifested<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_488" id="Page_488">[Pg 488]</a></span> by the ministers, and +the demands for armed force they addressed to the Assembly. "Is it not +amusing," said he, addressing his colleagues, "to see the executive +power demanding the means of action from the legislators? let them save +themselves, it is their trade." Thus derision was united to the plots +against the unfortunate monarch; the legislators derided the power their +hands had disarmed, and applauded the factious.</p> + + +<h3>IX.</h3> + +<p>It was under these auspices that the 20th of June dawned. A second +council, more secret and less numerous than the former, had assembled +the men destined to put these designs into execution, and they only +separated at midnight. Each of them went to his post, awoke his most +trusty followers, and stationed them in small groups, to stop and +assemble together the workmen, as they quitted their homes. Santerre +answered for the neutrality of the national guard. "Do not fear," said +he; "Pétion will be there." Pétion in reality had on the previous +evening ordered the battalions of the national guard to get under arms, +not to oppose the columns of the people, but to fraternise with the +petitioners and swell the cortège of sedition. This equivocal measure at +once saved the responsibility of Pétion to the department, and his +complicity before the assembled people; to the one he said I watch; to +the other, I march with you.</p> + +<p>At daybreak the battalions were assembled, and their arms piled on all +the <i>grandes places</i>. Santerre harangued his on the Place de la +Bastille, whilst around him flocked an immense throng, agitated, +impatient, ready to rush upon the city at his signal. Uniforms and rags +were blended, and detachments of invalides, gendarmes, national guards, +and volunteers, received the orders of Santerre, and repeated them to +the crowd. An instinctive discipline prevailed amidst this disorder, and +the half military half civil appearance of this camp of the people gave +the Assembly rather the character of a warlike expedition than an +<i>émeute</i>. This throng recognised leaders, manœuvred at their command, +followed their flags, obeyed their voice, and even controlled their +impatience to await reinforcements and give detached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_489" id="Page_489">[Pg 489]</a></span> bodies the +appearance of a simultaneous movement. Santerre on horseback, surrounded +by a staff of men of the faubourgs, issued his orders, fraternised with +the citizens and insurgents, recommended the people to remain silent and +dignified, and slowly formed the columns, ready for the signal to march.</p> + + +<h3>X.</h3> + +<p>At eleven o'clock the people set out for the quartier of the Tuileries. +The number of men who left the Place de la Bastille was estimated at +twenty thousand; they were divided into three bodies, the first composed +of the battalions of the faubourg, armed with sabres and bayonets, +obeyed Santerre; the second, composed of the lowest rabble, without arms +or only armed with pikes and sticks, was under the orders of the +demagogue Saint-Huruge; the third, a confused mass of squalid men, +women, and children, followed, in a disorderly march, a young and +beautiful woman in male attire, a sabre in her hand, a musket on her +shoulder, and seated on a cannon drawn by a number of workmen. This was +Théroigne de Méricourt.</p> + +<p>Santerre was well known: he was the king of the faubourgs. Saint-Huruge +had been, since '89, the great agitator of the Palais Royal.</p> + +<p>The Marquis de Saint-Huruge, born at Mâcon of a rich and noble family, +was one of those men of tumult and disturbances who seem to personify +the masses. Gifted by nature with a towering stature and a martial +figure, his voice thundered above the roars of the crowd. He had his +agitations, his fury, his moments of repentance, and sometimes even of +cowardice; his heart was not cruel, but his brain was disturbed. Too +aristocratic to be envious, too rich to be a spoliator, too frivolous to +be a fanatic by principle, the Revolution turned his brain in the same +manner as a rapidly flowing river carries with it the eye that in vain +strives to gaze fixedly on it. His life seemed that of a maniac; he +loved the Revolution when in motion because it was akin to madness. When +yet very young he had sullied his name, ruined his fortune, and +forfeited his honours by debauchery, women, and gaming. At the Palais +Royal and the neigh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_490" id="Page_490">[Pg 490]</a></span>bouring quartiers, the scene of every disorder, he +possessed the infamous celebrity of scandal and shame. All the world had +heard of him; his family had procured his incarceration in the Bastille, +from which the 14th of July had freed him. He had sworn to be avenged, +and he kept his oath; a voluntary and indefatigable accomplice of every +faction, he had offered his unpaid services to the Duc d'Orleans, +Mirabeau, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, the Girondists, and Robespierre: +always an adherent of the party who went the greatest lengths; always a +leader of those <i>émeutes</i> that promised the most havoc and ruin. Awake +before daybreak, present at every club, he hastened at the slightest +noise to swell the crowd; at the smallest tumult to stir men up to more +violence. He himself was consumed by the common passion, ere he +comprehended its nature; and his voice, his gestures, the expression of +his features communicated it to others. He vociferated tales of terror; +he disseminated the fever; he electrified the wavering masses; he urged +on the current; he was in himself a sedition.</p> + + +<h3>XI.</h3> + +<p>After Saint Huruge, marched Théroigne de Méricourt. Théroigne, or +Lambertine de Méricourt, who commanded the third corps of the army of +the faubourgs, was known among the people by the name of <i>La Belle +Liégoise</i>. The French Revolution had drawn her to Paris, as the +whirlwind attracts things of no weight. She was the impure Joan of Arc +of the public streets. Outraged love had plunged her into disorder, and +the vice, at which she herself blushed, only made her thirst for +vengeance. In destroying the aristocrats she fancied she purified her +honour, and washed out her shame in blood.</p> + +<p>She was born at the village of Méricourt, near Liège, of a family of +wealthy farmers, and had received a finished education. At the age of +seventeen her singular loveliness had attracted the attention of a young +<i>seigneur</i>, whose chateau was close to her residence. Beloved, seduced, +and deserted, she had fled from her father's roof and taken refuge in +England, from whence, after a residence of some months, she proceeded to +France. Introduced to Mirabeau, she knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_491" id="Page_491">[Pg 491]</a></span> through him Siéyès, Joseph +Chénier, Danton, Ronsin, Brissot, and Camille Desmoulins. Romme, a +mystical republican, infused into her mind the German spirit of +illumination. Youth, love, revenge, and the contact with this furnace of +a revolution, had turned her head, and she lived in the intoxication of +passions, ideas, and pleasures. Connected at first with the great +innovators of '89, she had passed from their arms into those of rich +voluptuaries, who purchased her charms dearly. Courtezan of opulence, +she became the voluntary prostitute of the people; and like her +celebrated prototypes of Egypt or of Rome, she lavished upon liberty the +wealth she derived from vice.</p> + +<p>On the first assemblage of the people she appeared in the streets, and +devoted her beauty to serve as an ensign to the people. Dressed in a +riding habit of the colour of blood, a plume of feathers in her hat, a +sabre at her side, and two pistols in her belt, she hastened to join +every insurrection. She was the first of those who burst open the gates +of the Invalides and took the cannon from thence. She was also one of +the first to attack the Bastille; and a sabre d'homme was voted her on +the breach by the victors. On the days of October, she had led the women +of Paris to Versailles, on horseback, by the side of the ferocious +Jourdan, called "<i>the man with the long beard</i>." She had brought back +the king to Paris: she had followed, without emotion, the heads of the +gardes du corps, stuck on pikes as trophies. Her language, although +marked by a foreign accent, had yet the eloquence of tumult. She +elevated her voice amidst the stormy meetings of the clubs, and from the +galleries blamed their conduct. Sometimes she spoke at the Cordeliers. +Camille Desmoulins mentions the enthusiasm which her harangues created. +"Her similes," says he, "were drawn from the Bible and Pindar,—it was +the eloquence of a Judith." She proposed to build the palace of the +representative body on the site of the Bastille. "To found and embellish +this edifice," said she, "let us strip ourselves of our ornaments, our +gold, our jewels. I will be the first to set the example." And with +these words she tore off her ornaments in the tribune. Her ascendency +during the <i>émeutes</i> was so great, that with a single sign she condemned +or acquitted a victim; and the royalists trembled to meet her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_492" id="Page_492">[Pg 492]</a></span></p> + +<p>During this period, by one of those chances that appear like the +premeditated vengeances of destiny, she recognised in Paris the young +Belgian gentleman who had seduced and abandoned her. Her look told him +how great was his danger, and he sought to avert it by imploring her +pardon. "My pardon," said she; "at what price can you purchase it? My +innocence gone—my family lost to me—my brothers and sisters pursued in +their own country by the jeers and sarcasms of their kindred; the +malediction of my father—my exile from my native land—my enrolment +amongst the infamous caste of courtezans; the blood with which my days +have been and will be stained; that imperishable curse attached to my +name, instead of that immortality of virtue which you have taught me to +doubt. It is for this that you would purchase my forgiveness. Do you +know any price on earth capable of purchasing it?" The young man made no +reply. Théroigne had not the generosity to forgive him, and he perished +in the massacres of September. In proportion as the Revolution became +more bloody, she plunged deeper into it. She could no longer exist, +without the feverish excitement of public emotion. However, her early +leaning to the Girondist party again displayed itself, and she also +wished to stay the progress of the Revolution. But there were women +whose power was superior even to her own. These women, called the +<i>furies</i> of the guillotine, stripped the belle Liégoise of her attire, +and publicly flogged her on the terrace of the Tuileries, on the 31st of +May. This punishment, more terrible than death, turned her brain, and +she was conveyed to a mad-house, where she lived twenty years, which +were but one long paroxysm of fury. Shameless and blood-thirsty in her +delirium, she refused to wear any garments, as a souvenir of the outrage +she had undergone. She dragged herself, only covered by her long white +hair, along the flags of her cell, or clung with her wasted hands to the +bars of the window, from whence she addressed an imaginary people, and +demanded the blood of Suleau.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_493" id="Page_493">[Pg 493]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XII.</h3> + +<p>After Théroigne de Méricourt came other demagogues, less widely known, +but already celebrated in their own quartiers, such as Rossignol, the +working goldsmith; Brièrre, a wine-seller; Gonor, the conqueror of the +Bastille; Jourdan, surnamed <i>Coupe-tête</i>; the famous Polish Jacobin, +Lozouski, afterwards buried by the people at the Carrousel; and Henriot, +afterwards the confidential general of the convention. As the columns +penetrated into Paris, they were swelled by new groups, that poured +forth from the crowded streets that open on the boulevards and the +quays. At each influx of these new recruits, a shout of joy burst from +the columns, the military bands struck up the air of the <i>Ça Ira</i>, the +Marseillaise of assassins, whilst the insurgents sang the chorus, and +brandished their arms threateningly at the windows of those suspected of +being aristocrates.</p> + +<p>These weapons did not resemble the arms of regular troops, which excite +at once terror and admiration; they were strange and uncouth arms, +caught up by the people in the first impulse of fury or defence.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> +Pikes, lances, spits, cutlasses, carpenters' axes, masons' hammers, +shoemakers' knives, paviours' levers, saws, wedges, mattocks, crow-bars, +the commonest household utensils of the poor, and the rusty iron exposed +for sale on the quays, were alike seized upon by the people; and these +different weapons, rusted, black, hideous, each of which presented a +different manner of inflicting a wound, seemed to increase the horror of +death by displaying it in a thousand terrible and unwonted forms. The +mixture of all sexes, ages, and conditions; the confusion of costumes +and rags beside uniforms, old men beside young; even children, some +carried in their mothers' arms, others holding their father's hand or +his garments; common prostitutes, their silken dresses soiled and torn, +indecency on their brow, and insult on their lips, hundreds of women of +the lowest description, and from the dregs of the people, recruited to +swell the cortège, and excite commiseration from the garrets of the +faubourgs, clothed in tattered finery, pale, emaciated, their eyes +hollow, and their cheeks sunken<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_494" id="Page_494">[Pg 494]</a></span> from misery, the personifications of +want, in fact the people, in all the disorder, the confusion, the +exposure of a city suddenly summoned from its houses, its workshops, its +garrets, its scenes and haunts of debauch and infamy; such was the +aspect of intimidation which the conspirators wished to give to this +scene.</p> + +<p>Here and there flags waved above the heads of the multitude. On one was +written <i>Sanction or death</i>; on another, <i>The recall of the patriot +ministers</i>; on the third, <i>Tremble tyrant, thine hour is come</i>. A man, +his arms bared to the shoulders, bore a gibbet, from which hung the +effigy of a crowned female, with the inscription, <i>Beware the lantern</i>. +Farther on a group of hags raised a <i>guillotine</i>, with a card bearing +the words, <i>National Justice on tyrants; death for Veto and his wife</i>. +Amidst all this apparent disorder, a secret system of order was visible. +Men in rags, yet whose white hands and shirts of the finest linen +pointed them out as of superior rank, wore hats, on which signs of +recognition were drawn with white chalk; the crowd regulated their march +by them, and followed wherever they went.</p> + +<p>The principal body thus marched by the Rue Saint Antoine, and the dark +and central avenues of Paris, to the Rue Saint Honoré, the population of +these quartiers swelling its numbers at each instant. The more this +living torrent increased the more furious it became. Now a band of +butchers joined it, each bearing a pike, on which was stuck the bleeding +heart of a calf, with the words, <i>Cœur d'aristocrate</i>. Next came a +band of Chiffoniers dressed in rags, and displaying a lance, from which +floated a tattered garment, with the inscription, <i>Tremble tyrants, here +are the sans culottes</i>. The insult which the aristocracy had cast at +poverty, now, when adopted by the people, became the weapon of the +nation against the rich.</p> + +<p>This army defiled during three hours along the Rue Saint Honoré. +Sometimes a terrible silence, only broken by the sound of thousands of +feet on the pavement, oppressed the imagination, as the sign of +concentrated rage of this multitude; then solitary voices, insulting +speeches, and atrocious sarcasms, were mingled with the laughter of the +crowd; then sudden and confused murmurs burst from this human sea, and +rising to the roofs of the houses, left only the last syl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_495" id="Page_495">[Pg 495]</a></span>lables of +their prolonged acclamations audible: <i>Long live the nation! Long live +the sans culottes! Down with the veto!</i> This tumult reached the salle du +Manège, where the Legislative Assembly was then sitting. The head of the +cortège stopped at the doors, the columns inundated the court of the +Feuillants, the court of the Manège, and all the openings of the salle. +These courts, these avenues, these passages, which then masked the +terrace of the garden, occupied the space which now extends between the +garden of the Tuileries and the Rue Saint Honoré—that central artery of +Paris. It was mid-day.</p> + + +<h3>XIII.</h3> + +<p>Rœderer, the procureur syndic of the directory of the department, a +post which in '92 corresponded with that of prefect de Paris, was at +this moment at the bar of the Assembly. Rœderer, a partisan of the +constitution, of the school of Mirabeau and Talleyrand, was a courageous +enemy of anarchy. He found in the constitution the point of +reconciliation between his fidelity to the people and his loyalty to the +king; and he sought to defend this constitution with every weapon of the +law which sedition had not broken in his grasp. "Armed mobs threaten to +violate the constitution, the Chamber of Representatives, and the +dwelling of the king," said Rœderer at the bar; "the reports of the +night are alarming; the minister of the interior calls on us to march +troops immediately to defend the château. The law forbids armed +assemblies, and yet they advance—they demand admittance; but if you +yourselves set an example by suffering them to enter, what will become +of the force of the law in our hands? your indulgence will destroy all +public force in the hands of the magistrates. We demand to be charged +with the fulfilment of all our duties: let the responsibility also be +ours, and let nothing diminish the obligation we are under of dying to +preserve and defend public tranquillity." These words, worthy the +chancellor L'Hôpital, or Mathieu Molé, were coldly listened to by the +Assembly, and saluted by ironical laughter from the tribunes. Vergniaud +affected to bow to them, and weakened their effect. "Yes, doubtless," +said this orator, destined to be torn from the tribune, a year later, by +an armed mob,—"Doubtless, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_496" id="Page_496">[Pg 496]</a></span> should have done better never to have +received armed men, for if to-day patriotism brings good citizens +hither, aristocracy may to-morrow bring its janissaries. But the error +we have committed authorises that of the people. The Assembly, formed up +to the present time, appears sanctioned by the silence of the law. It is +true that the magistrates demand force to put them down: but what should +you do in such circumstances? I think that it would be an excess of +severity to be inflexible to a fault, the origin of which is in your +decrees: it would be an insult to the citizens to imagine they had any +evil designs. It is said that this Assembly wishes to present an address +at the château: I do not believe that the citizens who compose it will +demand to be presented with arms in their hands to the king: I think +that they will obey the laws, and that they will go unarmed, and like +simple petitioners. I demand that these citizens be instantly permitted, +to defile before us." Dumolard and Raymond, indignant at the perfidy or +the cowardice of these words, energetically opposed this weakness or +complicity of the Assembly. "The best homage to pay the people of +Paris," cried Raymond, "is to make them obey their own laws. I demand +that before these citizens are introduced they lay down their arms." +"Why," returned Guadet, "do you talk of disobedience to the law, when +you have so often disobeyed it yourself? you would commit a revolting +injustice; you would resemble that Roman emperor who, in order to find +more guilty persons, caused the laws to be written in letters so obscure +that no one could read them."</p> + +<p>The deputation of the insurgents entered at these last words, amidst the +bursts of applause and the indignant murmurs of the Assembly.</p> + + +<h3>XIV.</h3> + +<p>The orator of the deputation, Huguenin, read the petition concerted at +Charenton. He declared that the city had risen ready to employ every +means of avenging the majesty of the people, whilst he deplored the +necessity of staining their hands with the blood of the conspirators. +"But," said he, with apparent resignation, "the hour has come; blood +must be shed. The men of the 14th of July are not asleep, they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_497" id="Page_497">[Pg 497]</a></span> only +appeared to be; their awakening is terrible: speak, and we will act. The +people is there to judge its enemies: let them choose between Coblentz +and ourselves; let them purge the land of their enemies—the tyrants; +you know them. The king is not with you: we need no other proof of it +than the dismissal of the patriot ministers and the inaction of the +armies. Is not the head of the people worth that of kings? Must the +blood of patriots flow with impunity to satisfy the pride and ambition +of the perfidious château of the Tuileries? If the king does not act, +suspend him from his functions: one man cannot fetter the will of +twenty-five millions of men. If through respect we suffer him to retain +the throne, it is on condition that he observe the constitution. If he +depart from this he is no longer anything. And the high court of +Orleans," continued Huguenin, "what is that doing?—where are the heads +of those it should have doomed to death?" These sinister expressions +threw the constitutionalists into alarm, and caused the Girondists to +smile. The president, however, replied with a firmness which was not +sustained by the attitude of his colleagues. It was decided that the +people of the faubourgs should be allowed to defile before them under +arms.</p> + + +<h3>XV.</h3> + +<p>Immediately after this decree was voted, the doors, besieged by the +multitude opened, and admitted thirty thousand petitioners. During this +long procession the band played the demagogical airs of the <i>Carmagnole</i> +and the <i>Ça Ira</i>, those <i>pas de charge</i> of revolts. Females, armed with +sabres, brandished them at the tribunes, who loudly applauded, and +danced before a table of stone, on which were engraved the rights of +man, like the Israelites before the Ark. The same flags and the same +obscene inscriptions visible in the streets, disgraced the temple of the +law. The tattered garments, hanging from their lances, the guillotine, +and the <i>potence</i>, with the effigy of the queen suspended from it, +traversed the Assembly with impunity. Some of the deputies applauded, +others turned away their heads or hid their faces in their hands; some +more courageous, forced the wretch who bore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_498" id="Page_498">[Pg 498]</a></span> the <i>cœur saignant</i>, +partly by entreaties, partly by threats, to retire with his emblem of +assassination. Part of the people regarded with a respectful eye the +salle they profaned; others addressed the representatives as they +passed, and seemed to exult in their degradation. The rattling of the +strange weapons of the crowd, the clatter of their nailed shoes and +sabots on the pavement, the shrill shouts of the women, the voices of +the children, the cries of <i>Vive la nation</i>, patriotic songs, and the +sound of instruments, deafened the ear, whilst to the eye, these rags +contrasted strangely with the marbles, the statues, and the decorations +of the salle. The miasmas of this horde set in motion tainted the air, +and stifled respiration. Three hours elapsed ere all the troop had +defiled. The president hastened to adjourn the sitting, in the +expectation of approaching excesses.</p> + + +<h3>XVI.</h3> + +<p>But an imposing force was drawn up in the courts of the Tuileries and +the garden, to defend the dwelling of the king against the invasion of +the people. Three regiments of the line, two squadrons of gendarmes, +several battalions of the national guard, and several pieces of cannon, +composed the means of resistance; but the troops, undecided, and acted +upon by sedition, were but an appearance of force. The cries of <i>Vive la +nation</i>, the friendly gestures of the insurgents, the appearance of the +women extending their arms towards the soldiers through the palisades, +and the presence of the municipal officers, who displayed a disdainful +neutrality towards the king, shook the feeling of resistance amongst the +troops, who beheld on either side the uniform of the national guard; and +between the population of Paris, in whose sentiments they participated, +and the château, which was represented to them as full of treason, they +no longer knew which it was their duty to obey. In vain did M. +Rœderer, a firm organ of the constitution, and the superior officers +of the national guard, such as MM. Acloque and De Romainvilliers, +present the text of the law, ordering them to repel force by force. The +Assembly set the example of complicity; and the mayor, Pétion, by his +absence avoided responsibility. The king took refuge in his +inviolability; and the troops,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_499" id="Page_499">[Pg 499]</a></span> abandoned to themselves, could not fail +to yield to threats or seduction.</p> + +<p>In the interior of the palace, two hundred gentlemen, at the head of +whom was the old marshal De Mouchy, had hastened together at the first +news of the king's danger. They were rather the voluntary victims of +ancient French honour, than useful defenders of the monarchy. Fearing to +excite the jealousy of the national guard and the troops, these +gentlemen concealed themselves in the remote apartments of the palace, +ready rather to die than to combat: they wore no uniform, and their arms +were concealed under their coats—hence the name by which they were +pointed out to the people of <i>Chevaliers du poignard</i>. Arriving secretly +from their provinces to offer their services to the king unknown to each +other; and only furnished with a card of entrance to the palace, they +hastened thither whenever there was danger. They should have been ten +thousand, and were but two hundred—the last reserve of fidelity; but +they did their duty without counting their number, and avenged the +French nobility for the faults and the desertion of the emigration.</p> + + +<h3>XVII.</h3> + +<p>The mob, on quitting the Assembly, had marched in close columns to the +Carrousel. Santerre and Alexandre, at the head of their battalions, +directed the movement. A compact mass of the insurgents, followed by the +Rue St. Honoré. The other branches of the populace, cut off from the +main body, thronged the courts of the Manège and the Feuillants, and +tried to make room for themselves by issuing violently by one of the +avenues which communicated with the garden from these courts. A +battalion of the national guard defended the approach to this iron gate. +The weakness or complaisance of a municipal officer freed the passage, +and the battalion fell back, and took up its ground beneath the windows +of the Château. The crowd traversed the garden in an oblique direction, +and passing before the battalions, saluted them with cries of <i>Vive la +nation!</i> bidding them take their bayonets from their muskets. The +bayonets were removed, and the mob then passed out by the entrance of +the Port Royal, and fell back upon the gates of the Car<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_500" id="Page_500">[Pg 500]</a></span>rousel, which +shut off this place from the Seine. The guards at these wickets again +gave way, to allow a certain number of the malcontents to enter, and +then shut the doors. These men, excited by their march, songs, the +acclamations of the Assembly, and by intoxication, rushed with furious +clamours into the court-yards of the Château. They ran to the principal +doors, pressed upon the soldiers on guard, called their comrades without +to come to them, and forced the hinges of the royal entrance gate. The +municipal officer, Panis, gave orders that it should be opened. The +Carrousel was forced, and the mob seemed for a moment to hesitate before +the cannon pointed against them, and some squadrons of <i>gendarmerie</i>, +drawn up in a line of battle. Saint Prix, who commanded the artillery, +separated from his guns by a movement of the crowd, sent to the second +in command an order to let them fall back in the door of the Château. He +refused to obey: "<i>The Carrousel is forced</i>," he said in a loud voice, +"<i>and so must be the Château. Here, artillery men, here is the enemy!</i>" +And he pointed to the king's windows, turned his guns, and levelled them +at the palace. The troops following this desertion of the artillery, +remained in line, but took the powder from the pans of their muskets in +sight of the people, in sign of fraternity, and allowed a free passage +to the malcontents.</p> + +<p>At this movement of the soldiers, the commandant of the national guard, +who witnessed it, called from the court to the grenadiers, whom he saw +at the windows of the <i>Salle des Gardes</i>, to take their arms, and defend +the staircase. The grenadiers, instead of obeying, left the palace by +the gallery leading to the garden.</p> + +<p>Santerre, Théroigne, and Saint-Huruge hastened by the gate of the +palace. The boldest and stoutest of the men in the mob went under the +vault which leads from the Carrousel to the garden, dashed the +artillerymen on one side, and seizing one of the guns, unlimbered it, +and carried it in their arms to the <i>Salle des Gardes</i>, on the top of +the grand staircase. The crowd, emboldened by this feat of strength and +audacity, poured into the apartment and spread like a torrent throughout +the staircase and corridors of the Château. All the doors were burst in, +or fell beneath the shoulders and axes of the multitude. They shouted +loudly for the king;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_501" id="Page_501">[Pg 501]</a></span> only one door separated them, and this door was +already yielding beneath the efforts of levers and blows of pikes from +the assailants.</p> + + +<h3>XVIII.</h3> + +<p>The king, relying on Pétion's promises, and the number of troops with +which the palace was surrounded, had seen the assemblage of the mob +without uneasiness.</p> + +<p>The assault suddenly made on his abode had surprised him in complete +security. Retired with the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and his children to +the interior apartments on the side of the garden, he had heard the +distant thunder of the crowd without expecting that it was so soon to +burst on him. The voices of his frightened servants, flying in all +directions, the noise of doors burst open and falling on the floors, the +shouts of the people as they approached, threw alarm suddenly amongst +the family party, which had met in the king's bed-chamber. The prince, +confiding, by his look, his wife, sister, and children to the officers +and women of the household who surrounded them, went alone to the <i>Salle +du Conseil</i>. He there found the faithful Marshal de Mouchy, who did not +hesitate to offer the last days of his long life to his master; M. +d'Hervilly, the commandant of the Constitutional Horse Guard, disbanded +a few days previously; the governor Acloque, commandant of the battalion +of the faubourg St. Marceau, at first a moderate republican, then, +overcome by the private virtues of Louis XVI., was his friend, and ready +to die for him; three brave grenadiers of the battalion of the faubourg +St. Martin, Lecrosnier, Bridau, and Gossé, who alone remained at their +post of the interior on the general defection, and ready to protect the +king with their bayonets, men of the people, strangers at court, rallied +round him by the sole sentiment of duty and affection, only defending +the man in the king.</p> + +<p>At the moment the king entered this apartment, the doors of the adjacent +room, called the <i>Salle des Nobles</i>, were dashed in by the blows of the +assailants. The king rushed forward to meet the danger. The door-panels +fell at his feet, lance heads, iron-shod sticks, spikes were thrust +through the opening. Cries of fury, oaths, imprecations accompanied the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_502" id="Page_502">[Pg 502]</a></span> +blows of the axe. The king, in a firm voice, ordered two devoted <i>valets +de chambre</i>, who accompanied him, Hue, and de Marchais, to open the +doors. "What have I to fear in the midst of my people?" said the prince, +boldly advancing towards the assailants.</p> + +<p>These words, his advancing step, the serenity of his brow, the respect +of so many ages for the sacred person of the king, suspended the +impetuosity of the ringleaders, and they appeared to hesitate in +crossing the threshold they had burst open. During this doubtful moment, +the Marshal de Mouchy, Acloque, the three grenadiers and two servants, +made the king retreat a few paces, and then placed themselves between +him and the populace. The grenadiers presented their bayonets, and for a +moment kept the crowd at bay. But the increasing mob pushed forward the +first ranks. The first who pressed in was a man in rags, with naked +arms, haggard eyes, and foaming at the mouth. "Where is the <i>veto</i>?" he +said, thrusting in the direction of the king's breast a long stick with +an iron dart at the end. One of the grenadiers pressed down this stick +with his bayonet, and thrust aside the arm of this infuriated creature. +The brigand fell at the feet of the citizen, and this act of energy +imposed on his companions, and they trampled upon the man as he lay. +Pikes, hatchets, and knives were lowered or withdrawn. The majesty of +royalty resumed its empire for a moment, and this mob restrained itself +at a certain distance from the king, in an attitude rather of brutal +curiosity than of ferocity.</p> + + +<h3>XIX.</h3> + +<p>Several officers of the National Guard, roused by the report of the +king's danger, had hastened to join the brave grenadiers, and made a +space round Louis XVI. The king, who had but one thought, which was to +keep the people away from the apartment in which he had left the queen, +ordered the door of the <i>Salle de Conseil</i> to be closed behind him. He +was followed by the multitude into the salon of the <i>Œil de Bœuf</i>, +under pretence that this apartment, from its extent, would allow a +greater quantity of citizens to see and speak with him. He reached the +room surrounded by a vast and turbulent crowd, and was happy at finding +that only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_503" id="Page_503">[Pg 503]</a></span> himself was exposed to blows from weapons of all kinds, which +thousands of hands brandished over his head; but as he turned his head +he saw his sister, Madame Elizabeth, who extended her arms, and was +anxious to rush towards him.</p> + +<p>She had escaped from the women who retained the queen and children in +the bed-chamber. She adored her brother, and wished to die with him. +Young, excessively beautiful, and deeply respected at court, for the +piety of her life and her passionate devotion to the king, she had +renounced all love from her intense affection for her family. Her +dishevelled hair, her eyes swimming with tears, her arms extended +towards the king, gave to her a despairing and sublime expression. "It +is the queen!" exclaimed several women of the faubourgs. This name, at +such a moment, was a sentence of death. Some miscreants rushed towards +the king's sister with uplifted arms, and were about to strike her, when +the officers of the palace undeceived them. The venerated name of Madame +Elizabeth made them drop their arms. "Ah! what are you doing?" exclaimed +the princess sorrowfully; "let them suppose I am the queen; dying in her +place, I might perhaps have saved her." At these words an irresistible +movement of the crowd thrust Madame Elizabeth violently from her +brother, and drove her into the opening of one of the windows of the +<i>salle</i>, where the crowd which hemmed her in still contemplated her with +respect.</p> + + +<h3>XX.</h3> + +<p>The king was in a deep recess of the centre window; Acloque, Vaunot, +d'Hervilly, twenty volunteers and national guards, made him a rampart +with their bodies. Some of the officers drew their swords. "Put your +swords into their scabbards," said the king, calmly, "this multitude is +more excited than guilty." He got upon a bench in the window, the +grenadiers mounted beside him, the others in front of him; they thrust +aside, parried, and lowered the sticks, scythes, and pikes lifted above +the heads of the people. Ferocious vociferations now rose confusedly +from this irritated mass. "<i>Down with the veto!—the camp of Paris! give +us back our patriotic ministers! where is the Austrian woman?</i>" Some +ringleaders advanced from the ranks every moment to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_504" id="Page_504">[Pg 504]</a></span> utter louder +threats and menaces of death to the king. Unable to reach him through +the hedge of bayonets crossed in front of him, they waved beneath his +eyes and over his head hideous flags, with sinister inscriptions, ragged +breeches, the guillotine, the bleeding heart, the gibbet. One of them +tried perpetually to reach the king with his lance in his hand; it was +the same cut-throat who, two years before, had washed with his own hands +in a pail of water the heads of Berthier and Foulon, and, carrying them +by the hair to the Quai de la Ferraille, had thrown them amongst the +people for symbols of carnage, and incentives to fresh murders.</p> + +<p>A fair young man, elegantly dressed, with menacing gesture continually +attacked the grenadiers, and cut his fingers with their bayonets in +order to move them aside and make a clear passage. "Sire—Sire!" he +shouted, "I summon you in the name of one hundred thousand souls who +surround me, to sanction the decree against the priests: that is death!" +Other persons in the crowd, although armed with drawn swords, pistols, +and pikes, made no violent gestures, and warded off every attempt on the +life of the king. There were even seen expressions of respect and grief +in the countenances of a great many. In this review of the Revolution, +the people displayed themselves as very terrible, but did not identify +themselves with assassins. A certain order began to establish itself in +the staircases and apartments: the crowd, pressed by the crowd, after +having seen the king, and uttered threats against him, wandered into +other apartments, and went triumphantly over this <i>palace of despotism</i>.</p> + +<p>Legendre the butcher drove before him, in order to find room, these +hordes of women and children accustomed to tremble at his voice. He made +signs that he desired to speak, and silence being established, the +national guard separated a little in order to allow him to address the +king. "Monsieur!" he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder: the king, at this +word, which was a degradation, made a movement of offended dignity; +"yes, Sir," continued Legendre, with more emphasis on the word, "listen +to us; you were made to listen to us! you are a traitor! you have +deceived us always—you deceive us again; but beware! the measure is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_505" id="Page_505">[Pg 505]</a></span> +heaped up. The people are weary of being your plaything and your +victim." Legendre, after these threatening words, read a petition in +language as imperious, in which he demanded, in the name of the people, +the restitution of the Girondist ministers and the immediate sanction of +their decrees. The king replied with intrepid dignity, "I will do what +the constitution orders me to do."</p> + + +<h3>XXI.</h3> + +<p>Scarcely had one sea of people gone away, than another succeeded. At +each new invasion of the mob, the strength of the king and the small +number of his defenders was exhausted in the renewed struggles with a +crowd which never wearied. The doors no longer sufficed to the impatient +curiosity of these thousands of men assembled in this pillory of +royalty; they entered by the roof, the windows, and the high balconies +which open on to the terraces. Their climbing up amused the multitude of +spectators crowded in the gardens. The clapping of hands, the cheers of +laughter of this multitude without encouraged the assailants. Menacing +dialogues in loud tones took place between the malcontents above and the +impatient who were below. "Have they struck him?—is he dead?—throw us +the heads!" they shouted. Members of the Assembly, Girondist +journalists, political characters, Garat, Gorsas, Marat, mingled in this +crowd, and uttered their jokes as to this martyrdom of shame to which +the king was being subjected. There was for a moment a report of his +assassination.</p> + +<p>There was no cry of horror thereat among the populace, which raised its +eyes towards the balcony, expecting to see the carcase. Still, in the +very whirlwind of its passion, the multitude appeared to require +reconciliation. One of the multitude handed a <i>bonnet rouge</i> to Louis +XVI. at the end of a pike. "Let him put it on! let him put it on!" +exclaimed the mob, "it is the sign of patriotism, if he puts it on we +will believe in his good faith." The king made a signal to one of his +grenadiers to hand him the <i>bonnet rouge</i>, and smiling, he put it on his +head; and then arose shouts of <i>Vive le Roi!</i> The people had crowned its +chief with the symbol of liberty, the cap of democracy replaced the +ban<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_506" id="Page_506">[Pg 506]</a></span>deau of Rheims. The people were conquerors, and felt appeased.</p> + +<p>However, fresh orators, mounting on the shoulders of their comrades, +demanded incessantly of the king, sometimes by entreaties, sometimes +with threats, to promise the recall of Roland, and the sanction of the +decrees. Louis XVI., invincible in his constitutional resistance, +eluded, or refused to acquiesce in the injunctions of the malcontents. +"Guardian of the prerogative of the executive power, I will not +surrender to violence," he answered: "this is not the moment for +deliberation, when it is impossible to deliberate freely." "Do not fear, +sire," said a grenadier of the national guard to him. "My friend," was +the king's reply, taking his hand, and placing it on his breast, "place +your hand there, and see if my heart beats quicker than usual." This +action, and the language of unshaken intrepidity, seen and heard in the +crowd, had its effect on the rebels.</p> + +<p>A fellow in tatters, holding a bottle in his hand, came towards the +king, and said, "if you love the people, drink to their health!" Those +who surrounded the prince, afraid of poison as much as the poignard, +entreated the king not to drink. Louis XVI., extending his arm, took the +bottle, raised it to his lips, and drank "to the nation!" This +familiarity with the multitude, represented by a beggar, consummated the +king's popularity. Renewed cries of <i>Vive le Roi!</i> burst from all +tongues and reached even the staircases: these cries created +consternation in the terrace of the garden amongst the groups who were +expecting a victim, and thus learnt that his executioners were softened.</p> + + +<h3>XXII.</h3> + +<p>Whilst the unfortunate prince thus contended alone against a whole +people, the queen, in another apartment, was undergoing the same +outrages and the same torments; more hated than the king, she ran more +risks. Agitated nations require to have their hatreds personified as +well as their love. Marie Antoinette represented in the eyes of the +nation all the corruptions of courts, all the pride of despotism, and +all the infamies of treason. Her beauty, her youthful inclination for +pleasure, tenderness of heart provoked by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_507" id="Page_507">[Pg 507]</a></span> calumny into excesses, the +blood of the house of Austria, her pride, which she derived from her +nature even more than from her blood, her close connection with the +Comte D'Artois, her intrigues with the emigrants, her presumed +complicity with the coalition, the scandalous or infamous libels +disseminated against her for four years—made this princess the spied +victim of public opinion. The women despised her as a guilty wife, the +patriots detested her as a conspirator, political men feared her as the +counsellor of the king. The name of <i>Autrichienne</i> which the people gave +her, summed up all their alleged wrongs against her. She was the +unpopularity of a throne of which she should have been the grace and +forgiveness.</p> + +<p>Marie Antoinette was aware of this hatred of the people to her person. +She knew that her presence beside the king would be a provocation to +assassination. This was the motive that restrained her to remain alone +with her children in the bed-chamber. The king hoped that she was +forgotten, but it was the queen particularly the women of this mob +sought and called for in terms the most offensive for a wife, a woman, +and a queen.</p> + +<p>The king was scarcely surrounded by the masses of people in the <i>Œil +de Bœuf</i> than the doors of the sleeping apartment were beset with the +same uproar and violence. But this party was principally composed of +women. Their weaker arms were not so efficient against oaken panels and +stout hinges. They called to their assistance the men who had carried +the piece of ordnance into the <i>Salle des Gardes</i>, and they hastened to +them. The queen was standing up, pressing her two children to her bosom, +and listening with mortal anxiety to the vociferations at her door. She +had near her no one but M. de Lajard, minister of war,—alone, +powerless, but devoted; a few ladies of her suite, and the Princesse de +Lamballe, that friend of her happy and unhappy hours. Daughter-in-law of +the Duc de Penthièvre, and sister-in-law of the Duc d'Orleans, the +Princesse de Lamballe had succeeded in the queen's heart to that deep +affection which Marie Antoinette had long entertained for the Comtesse +de Polignac. The friendship of Marie Antoinette was adoration. Chilled +by the coldness of the king, who had the virtues only, and not the +graces of a husband; detested by the people,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_508" id="Page_508">[Pg 508]</a></span> weary of the throne, she +gave vent in private predilections to the overflow of a heart equally +desirous and void of sentiment. This favouritism was even accused; the +queen was calumniated in her very friendships.</p> + +<p>The Princesse de Lamballe, a widow at eighteen, free from any suspicion +of levity, above all ambition and every interest from her rank and +fortune, loved the queen as a friend. The more adverse were the fortunes +of Marie Antoinette, the more did her young favourite desire to share +them with her. It was not greatness, but misfortune, that attracted her. +<i>Surintendante</i> of the household, she lodged in the Tuileries, in an +apartment adjacent to the queen, to share with her her tears and her +dangers. She was sometimes obliged to be absent in order to go to the +Château de Vernon to watch over the old Duc de Penthièvre. The queen, +who foresaw the coming storm, had written to her some days before the +20th of June a touching letter, entreating her not to return. This +letter, found in the hair of the Princesse de Lamballe after her +assassination, and <i>unknown until now</i>, discloses the tenderness of the +one and the devotion of the other.</p> + +<p>"Do not leave Vernon, my dear Lamballe, before you are perfectly +recovered. The good Duc de Penthièvre would be sorry and distressed, and +we must all take care of his advanced age, and respect his virtues. I +have so often told you to take heed of yourself, that if you love me you +must think of yourself; we shall require all our strength in the times +in which we live. Oh do not return, or return as late as possible. Your +heart would be too deeply wounded; you would have too many tears to shed +over my misfortunes, you who love me so tenderly. This race of tigers +which infests the kingdom would cruelly enjoy itself if it knew all the +sufferings we undergo. Adieu, my dear Lamballe; I am always thinking of +you, and you know I never change."</p> + +<p>Madame Lamballe, contrary to this advice, made all haste to return, and +clung to the queen as though she sought to be struck with the same blow. +By her side were also other courageous women,—the Princesse de Tarente, +Latrémouille, Mesdames de Tourzel, de Mackau, de La Roche-Aymon.</p> + +<p>M. de Lajard, a cool soldier, responsible to the king and himself for so +many dear and sacred lives, collected in haste by the secret passages +which communicated with the sleeping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_509" id="Page_509">[Pg 509]</a></span> chamber and the interior of the +palace, several officers and national guards wandering about in the +tumult. He had the queen's children brought to her, in order that their +presence and appearance, by softening the mob, might serve as a buckler +to their mother. He himself opened the doors. He placed the queen and +her ladies in the depth of the window. They wheeled in front of this the +massive council-table, in order to interpose a barrier between the +weapons of the malcontents and the lives of the royal family. Some +national guards were around the table on each side, and rather in +advance of it. The queen, standing up, held by the hand her daughter, +then fourteen years of age.</p> + +<p>A child of noble beauty and precocious maturity, the anxieties of the +family in the midst of whom she had grown up had already reflected their +weight and sorrow in her features. Her blue eyes, her lofty brow, +aquiline nose, light brown hair, floating in long waves down her +shoulders, recalled at the decline of the monarchy those young girls of +the Gauls who graced the throne of the earlier races. The young daughter +pressed closely against her mother's bosom, as though to shield her with +her innocence. Born amidst the early tumults of the Revolution, dragged +to Paris captive amidst the blood of the 6th of October, she only knew +the people by its turbulence and rage. The Dauphin, a child of seven +years old, was seated on the table in front of the queen. His innocent +face, radiant with all the beauty of the Bourbons, expressed more +surprise than fear. He turned to his mother at every moment, raising his +eyes towards her as though to read through her tears whether he should +have confidence or alarm. It was thus that the mob found the queen as it +entered and defiled triumphantly before her. The calming produced by the +firmness and confidence of the king was already perceptible in the faces +of the multitude. The most ferocious of the men were softened in the +presence of weakness—beauty—childhood. A lovely woman, a queen, +humiliated,—a young innocent girl,—a child, smiling at his father's +enemies, could not fail to awaken sensibility even in hatred. The men of +the suburbs moved on silent, and as if ashamed, before this group of +humiliated greatness. Some of them the more cowardly made as they passed +derisive or vulgar gestures, which were a dishonour to the +insurrection.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_510" id="Page_510">[Pg 510]</a></span> Their indignant accomplices checked them in their +insolence, and made these dastards quit the room as speedily as +possible. Some even addressed looks of sympathy and compassion, others +smiles, and others a few familiar words to the dauphin. Conversations, +half menacing, half respectful, were exchanged between the child and the +throng. "If you love the nation," said a volunteer to the queen, "put +the <i>bonnet rouge</i> on your son's head." The queen took the <i>bonnet +rouge</i> from this man's hands, and placed it herself on the dauphin's +head. The astonished child took these insults as play. The men +applauded, but the women, more implacable towards a woman, never ceased +their invectives. Obscene words, borrowed from the sinks of the +fish-market, for the first time echoed in the vaults of the palace, and +in the ears of these children. Their ignorance in not comprehending +their meaning saved them from this horror. The queen, whilst she blushed +to the eyes, did not allow her offended modesty to lessen her lofty +dignity. It was evident that she blushed for the people, for her +children, and not for herself. A young girl, of pleasing appearance and +respectably attired, came forward and bitterly reviled in coarsest terms +<i>l'Autrichienne</i>. The queen, struck by the contrast between the rage of +this young girl and the gentleness of her face, said to her in a kind +tone, "Why do you hate me? Have I ever unknowingly done you any injury +or offence?" "No, not to me," replied the pretty patriot; "but it is you +who cause the misery of the nation." "Poor child!" replied the queen; +"some one has told you so, and deceived you. What interest can I have in +making the people miserable? The wife of the king, mother of the +dauphin, I am a Frenchwoman by all the feelings of my heart as a wife +and mother. I shall never again see my own country. I can only be happy +or unhappy in France. I was happy when you loved me."</p> + +<p>This gentle reproach affected the heart of the young girl, and her anger +was effaced in a flood of tears. She asked the queen's pardon, saying, +"I did not know you, but I see that you are good." At this moment +Santerre made his way through the crowd. Easily moved, and sensitive +though coarse, Santerre had roughness, impetuosity, and feelings easily +affected. The faubourgs opened before him and trembled at his voice. He +made an imperious sign for them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_511" id="Page_511">[Pg 511]</a></span> to leave the apartment, and thrust +these men and women by the shoulders towards the door in front of the +<i>Œil de Bœuf</i>. The current advanced by opposite issues of the +palace, and the heat was suffocating. The dauphin's brow reeked with +perspiration beneath the <i>bonnet rouge</i>. "Take the cap off the child," +shouted Santerre; "don't you see he is half stifled." The queen darted a +mother's glance at Santerre, who came towards her, and placing his hand +on the table, he leaned towards Marie Antoinette and said, in an under +tone, "You have some very awkward friends, madame; I know those who +would serve you better!" The queen looked down, and was silent. It was +from this moment that may be dated the secret understanding which she +established with the agitators of the faubourgs. The leading malcontents +received the queen's entreaties with complacency. Their pride was +flattered in raising the woman whom they had degraded. Mirabeau, +Barnave, Danton had in turns sold or offered to sell the influence of +their popularity. Santerre merely offered his compassion.</p> + + +<h3>XXIII.</h3> + +<p>The Assembly had again resumed its sitting on the news of the invasion +of the Château. A deputation of twenty-four members was sent as a +safeguard for the king. Arriving too late, these deputies wandered in +the crowded court-yard, vestibules, and staircases of the palace. +Although they felt repugnance at the idea of the last crime being +committed on the person of the king, they were not very grievously +afflicted in their hearts at this long-threatened insult to the court. +Their steps were lost in the crowd, their words in the uproar. Vergniaud +himself, from a top step of the grand staircase, vainly appealed to +order, legality, and the constitution. The eloquence, so powerful to +incite the masses, is powerless to check them. From time to time the +royalist deputies, highly indignant, returned to the chamber, and, +mounting the tribune, with their clothes all in disorder, reproached the +Assembly with its indifference. Amongst these more conspicuously, +Vaublanc, Ramond, Becquet, Girardin. Mathieu Dumas, La Fayette's friend, +exclaimed, as he pointed to the windows of the Château, "I am just come +from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_512" id="Page_512">[Pg 512]</a></span> there; the king is in danger! I have this moment seen him, and can +bear witness to the testimony of my colleagues MM. Isnard and Vergniaud +in their unavailing efforts to restrain the people. Yes, I have seen the +hereditary representative of the nation insulted, menaced, degraded! I +have seen the <i>bonnet rouge</i> on his head. You are responsible for this +to posterity!" They replied to him by ironical laughter and uproarious +shouts. "Would you imply that the <i>bonnet</i> of patriots is a disgraceful +mark for a king's brow?" said the Girondist, Lasource; "will it not be +believed that we are uneasy as to the king's safety? Let us not insult +the people by lending it sentiments which it does not possess. The +people do not menace either the person of Louis XVI. or the prince +royal. They will not commit excess or violence. Let us adopt measures of +mildness and conciliation." This was the perfidious lulling of Pétion, +and the Assembly was put to sleep by such language.</p> + + +<h3>XXIV.</h3> + +<p>Pétion himself could not for any length of time feign ignorance of the +gathering of 40,000 persons in Paris since the morning, and the entry of +this armed mob into the Assembly and the Maison of the Tuileries. His +prolonged absence recalled to mind the sleep of La Fayette on the 6th of +October; but the one was an accomplice, and the other innocent. Night +approached, and might conceal in its shades the disorders and attempts +which would go even beyond the views of the Girondists. Pétion appeared +in the court-yard, amidst shouts of <i>Vive Pétion!</i> They carried him in +their arms to the lowest steps of the staircase, and he entered the +apartment where for three hours Louis XVI. had been undergoing these +outrages. "I have only just learned the situation of your majesty," said +Pétion. "That is very astonishing," replied the king, in a tone of deep +indignation, "for it is a long time that it has lasted."</p> + +<p>Pétion, mounted on a chair, then made several addresses to the mob, +without inducing it to move in the least. At length, being put on the +shoulders of four grenadiers, he said, "Citizens, male and female, you +have used with moderation and dignity your right of petition; you will +finish this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_513" id="Page_513">[Pg 513]</a></span> day as you began it. Hitherto your conduct has been in +conformity with the law, and now in the name of the law I call upon you +to follow my example and to retire."</p> + +<p>The crowd obeyed Pétion, and moved off slowly through the long avenue of +apartments of the chateau. Scarcely had the mass begun to grow +perceptibly less, than the king, released by the grenadiers from the +recess in which he had been imprisoned, went to his sister, who threw +herself into his arms: he went out of the apartment with her by a side +door, and hastened to join the queen in her apartment. Marie Antoinette, +sustained until then by her pride against showing her tears, gave way to +the excess of her tenderness and emotion on again beholding the king. +She threw herself at his feet, and clasping his knees, sobbed bitterly +but not loudly. Madame Elizabeth and the children, locked in each +other's arms, and all embraced by the king, who wept over them, rejoiced +at finding each other as if after a shipwreck, and their mute joy was +raised to heaven with astonishment and gratitude for their safety. The +faithful national guard, the generals attached to the king, Marshal de +Mouchy, M. d'Aubier, Acloque, congratulated the king on the courage and +presence of mind he had displayed. They mutually related the perils +which they had escaped, the infamous remarks, gestures, looks, arms, +costumes, and sudden repentance of this multitude. The king at this +moment having accidently passed a mirror, saw on his head the <i>bonnet +rouge</i>, which had not been taken off; he turned very red, and threw it +at his feet, then casting himself into an arm-chair, he raised his +handkerchief to his eyes, and looking at the queen, exclaimed, "Ah, +madame! why did I take you from your country to associate you with the +ignominy of such a day?"</p> + + +<h3>XXV.</h3> + +<p>It was eight o'clock in the evening. The agony of the royal family had +lasted for five hours. The national guard of the neighbouring quarters, +assembling by themselves, arrived singly, in order to lend their aid to +the constitution. There were still heard from the king's apartment +tumultuous footsteps, and the sinister cries of the columns of people, +who were slowly filing off by the courts and garden. The con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_514" id="Page_514">[Pg 514]</a></span>stitutional +deputies ran about in indignation, uttering imprecations against Pétion +and the Gironde. A deputation of the Assembly went over the château in +order to take cognisance of the violence and disorder resulting from +this visitation of the faubourgs. The queen pointed out to them the +forced locks, the bursten hinges, the bludgeons, pike irons, panels, and +the piece of cannon loaded with small shot, placed on the threshold of +the apartments. The disorder of the attire of the king, his sister, the +children, the <i>bonnets rouges</i>, the cockades forcibly placed on their +heads; the dishevelled hair of the queen, her pale features, the +tremulousness of her lips, her eyes streaming with tears, were tokens +more evident than these spoils left by the people on the battle ground +of sedition. This spectacle moistened the eyes, and excited the +indignation, even of the deputies most hostile to the court. The queen +saw this: "You weep, sir?" she said to Merlin. "Yes, madame," replied +the stoic deputy; "I weep over the misfortunes of the woman, the wife, +and the mother; but my sympathy goes no further. I hate kings and +queens!"</p> + +<p>Such was the day of the 20th of June. The people displayed discipline in +disorder, and forbearance in violence: the king, heroic intrepidity in +his resignation; and some of the Girondists, a cold brutality which +gives to ambition the mask of patriotism.</p> + + +<h3>XXVI.</h3> + +<p>Every thing was preparing in the departments to send to Paris the 20,000 +troops ordered by the Assembly. The Marseillais, summoned by Barbaroux +at the instigation of Madame Roland, were approaching the capital. It +was the fire of the soul in the south coming to rekindle the +revolutionary hearth, which, as the Girondists believed, was failing in +Paris. This body of twelve or fifteen hundred men was composed of +Genoese, Ligurians, Corsicans, Piedmontese, banished from their country +and recruited suddenly on the shores of the Mediterranean; the majority +sailors or soldiers accustomed to warfare, and some bandits, hardened in +crime. They were commanded by young men of Marseilles, friends of +Barbaroux and Isnard. Rendered fanatic by the climate and the eloquence +of the provincial clubs, they came on amidst the applauses of the +population of central France, received, fêted, overcome by enthusiasm +and wine at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_515" id="Page_515">[Pg 515]</a></span> patriotic banquets which hailed them in constant +succession on their way. The pretext of their march was to fraternise, +at the federation of the 14th of July<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>, with the other <i>fédérés</i> of +the kingdom. The secret motive was to intimidate the Parisian national +guard, to revive the energy of the faubourgs, and to be the vanguard of +that camp of 20,000 men which the Girondists had made the Assembly vote, +in order at the same time to control the Feuillants, the Jacobins, the +king, and the Assembly itself, with an army from the departments wholly +composed of their creatures. The sea of people was violently agitated on +their approach. The national guard, the <i>fédérés</i>, the popular +societies, children, women, all that portion of the population which +lives on excitement of the streets, and runs after public spectacles, +flew to meet the Marseillais. Their bronzed faces, martial appearance, +eyes of fire, uniforms covered with the dust of their journey, their +Phrygian head-dress, their strange weapons, the guns they dragged after +them, the green branches which shaded their <i>bonnets rouges</i>, their +strange language mingled with oaths, and accentuated by savage gestures, +all struck the imagination of the multitude with great force. The +revolutionary idea appeared to have assumed the guise of a mortal, and +to be marching under the aspect of this horde, to the assault of the +last remnant of royalty. They entered the cities and villages beneath +triumphal arches. They sang terrible songs as they progressed. Couplets, +alternated by the regular noise of their feet on the road, and by the +sound of drums, resembled chorusses of the country and war, answering at +intervals to the clash of arms and weapons of death in a march to +combat. This song is graven on the soul of France.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>XXVII.</h3> + +<h3>THE MARSEILLAISE.</h3> + + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>I.</b></span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Allons, enfants de la Patrie,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Le jour de gloire est arrivé!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Contre nous, de la tyrannie</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">L'étendart sanglant est levé.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_516" id="Page_516">[Pg 516]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Entendez-vous dans ces campagnes</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Mugir ces féroces soldats!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Egorger vos fils et vos compagnes!—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Aux armes, citoyens! formez vos bataillons!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marchons! qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!</span><br /> +</p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>II.</b></span></p> +<p><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Que veut cette horde d'esclaves,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">De traîtres, de rois conjurés?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Pour qui ces ignobles entraves</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Ces fers dès longtemps preparés?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Français, pour nous ah! quel outrage,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Quels transports il doit exciter!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">C'est nous qu'on ose méditer</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">De rendre à l'antique esclavage;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aux armes, &c.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>III.</b></span></p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Quoi! des cohortes étrangères</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Feraient la loi dans nos foyers?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Quoi! ces phalanges mercenaires</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Grand Dieu! par des mains enchainées,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">De vils despotes deviendraient</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Les maîtres de nos destineés!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aux armes, &c.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>IV.</b></span></p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Tremblez, tyrans! et vous, perfides,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">L'opprobre de tous les partis!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Tremblez, vos projets parricides</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Vont enfin recevoir leur prix!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Tout est soldat pour vous combattre:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">S'ils tombent nos jeunes héros,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">La terre en produit les nouveaux,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Contre vous tout prêts à se battre.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aux armes, &c.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>V.</b></span></p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Français, en guerriers magnanimes,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Portez ou retenez vos coups;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Epargnez ces tristes victimes</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">A regret s'armant contre nous.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Mais ces despotes sanguinaires,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Mais les complices de Bouillé,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Tous ces tigres sans pitié</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Déchirent le sein de leur mère.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_517" id="Page_517">[Pg 517]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aux armes, &c.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>VI.</b></span></p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Amour sacré de la patrie,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Liberté, liberté chérie,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Combats avec tes défenseurs!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Sous nos drapeaux que la Victoire</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Accoure à tes mâles accents;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Que tes ennemis expirants</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aux armes, &c.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>VERSE SUNG BY CHILDREN</b></span></p> +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Nous entrerons dans la carrière,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Quand nos aînés n'y seront plus;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Nous y trouverons leur poussière,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Et la trace de leurs vertus!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Que de partager leur cercueil,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Nous aurons le sublime orgueil</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">De les venger ou de les suivre!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aux armes, &c.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></span><br /> +</p> + + +<h3>XXVIII.</h3> + +<p>These words were sung in notes alternately flat and sharp, which seemed +to come from the breast with sullen mutterings of national anger, and +then with the joy of victory. They had something as solemn as death, but +as serene as the undying confidence of patriotism. It seemed a recovered +echo of Thermopylæ—it was heroism sung.</p> + +<p>There was heard the regular footfall of thousands of men walking +together to defend the frontiers over the resounding soil of their +country, the plaintive notes of women, the wailing of children, the +neighing of horses, the hissing of flames<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_518" id="Page_518">[Pg 518]</a></span> as they devoured palaces and +huts; then gloomy strokes of vengeance, striking again and again with +the hatchet, and immolating the enemies of the people, and the profaners +of the soil. The notes of this air rustled like a flag dipped in gore, +still reeking in the battle plain. It made one tremble—but it was the +shudder of intrepidity which passed over the heart, and gave an +impulse—redoubled strength—veiled death. It was the "fire-water" of +the Revolution, which instilled into the senses and the soul of the +people the intoxication of battle. There are times when all people find +thus gushing into their national mind accents which no man hath written +down, and which all the world feels. All the senses desire to present +their tribute to patriotism, and eventually to encourage each other. The +foot advances—gesture animates—the voice intoxicates the ear—the ear +shakes the heart. The whole heart is inspired like an instrument of +enthusiasm. Art becomes divine; dancing, heroic; music, martial; poetry, +popular. The hymn which was at that moment in all mouths will never +perish. It is not profaned on common occasions. Like those sacred +banners suspended from the roofs of holy edifices, and which are only +allowed to leave them on certain days, we keep the national song as an +extreme arm for the great necessities of the country. Ours was +illustrated by circumstances, whence issued a peculiar character, which +made it at the same time more solemn and more sinister: glory and crime, +victory and death, seemed intertwined in its chorus. It was the song of +patriotism, but it was also the imprecation of rage. It conducted our +soldiers to the frontier, but it also accompanied our victims to the +scaffold. The same blade defends the heart of the country in the hand of +the soldier, and sacrifices victims in the hand of the executioner.</p> + + +<h3>XXIX.</h3> + +<p>The <i>Marseillaise</i> preserves notes of the song of glory and the shriek +of death: glorious as the one, funereal like the other, it assures the +country, whilst it makes the citizen turn pale. This is its history.</p> + +<p>There was then a young officer of artillery in garrison at Strasbourg, +named Rouget de Lisle. He was born at Lons-le-Saunier, in the <i>Jura</i>, +that country of reverie and energy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_519" id="Page_519">[Pg 519]</a></span> as mountainous countries always +are. This young man loved war like a soldier—the Revolution like a +thinker. He charmed with his verses and music the slow dull garrison +life. Much in request from his twofold talent as musician and poet, he +visited the house of Dietrick, an Alsatian patriot (<i>maire of +Strasbourg</i>), on intimate terms. Dietrick's wife and young daughters +shared in his patriotic feelings, for the Revolution was advancing +towards the frontiers, just as the affections of the body always +commence at the extremities. They were very partial to the young +officer, and inspired his heart, his poetry, and his music. They +executed the first of his ideas hardly developed, confidantes of the +earliest flights of his genius.</p> + +<p>It was in the winter of 1792, and there was a scarcity in Strasbourg. +The house of Dietrick was poor, and the table humble; but there was +always a welcome for Rouget de Lisle. This young officer was there from +morning to night, like a son or brother of the family. One day, when +there was only some coarse bread and slices of ham on the table, +Dietrick, looking with calm sadness at De Lisle, said to him, "Plenty is +not seen at our feasts; but what matter if enthusiasm is not wanting at +our civic fêtes, and courage in our soldiers' hearts. I have still a +bottle of wine left in my cellar. Bring it," he added, addressing one of +his daughters, "and we will drink to liberty and our country. Strasbourg +is shortly to have a patriotic ceremony, and De Lisle must be inspired +by these last drops to produce one of those hymns which convey to the +soul of the people the enthusiasm which suggested it." The young girls +applauded, fetched the wine, filled the glasses of their old father and +the young officer until the wine was exhausted. It was midnight, and +very cold. De Lisle was a dreamer; his heart was moved, his head heated. +The cold seized on him, and he went staggering to his lonely chamber, +endeavouring, by degrees, to find inspiration in the palpitations of his +citizen heart; and on his small clavicord, now composing the air before +the words, and now the words before the air, combined them so intimately +in his mind, that he could never tell which was first produced, the air +or the words, so impossible did he find it to separate the poetry from +the music, and the feeling from the impression. He sung every +thing—wrote nothing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_520" id="Page_520">[Pg 520]</a></span></p> + +<h3>XXX.</h3> + +<p>Overcome by this divine inspiration, his head fell sleeping on his +instrument, and he did not awake until daylight. The song of the over +night returned to his memory with difficulty, like the recollections of +a dream. He wrote it down, and then ran to Dietrick. He found him in his +garden. His wife and daughters had not yet risen. Dietrick aroused them, +called together some friends as fond as himself of music, and capable of +executing De Lisle's composition. Dietrick's eldest daughter accompanied +them, Rouget sang. At the first verse all countenances turned pale, at +the second tears flowed, at the last enthusiasm burst forth. The hymn of +the country was found. Alas! it was also destined to be the hymn of +terror. The unfortunate Dietrick went a few months afterwards to the +scaffold to the sound of the notes produced at his own fireside, from +the heart of his friend, and the voices of his daughters.</p> + +<p>The new song, executed some days afterwards at Strasbourg, flew from +city to city, in every public orchestra. Marseilles adopted it to be +sung at the opening and the close of the sittings of its clubs. The +Marseillais spread it all over France, by singing it every where on +their way. Whence the name of <i>Marseillaise</i>. De Lisle's old mother, a +royalist and religious, alarmed at the effect of her son's voice, wrote +to him: "What is this revolutionary hymn, sung by bands of brigands, who +are traversing France, and with which our name is mingled?" De Lisle +himself, proscribed as a royalist, heard it and shuddered, as it sounded +on his ears, whilst escaping by some of the wild passes of the Alps. +"What do they call that hymn?" he inquired of his guide. "The +<i>Marseillaise</i>," replied the peasant. It was thus he learnt the name of +his own work. The arm turned against the hand that forged it. The +Revolution, insane, no longer recognised its own voice!</p> + +<h4>END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.</h4> + + + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See an elegant exposition of this idea in Schlegel's +Dramatic Literature (Standard Library Edition, page 67.).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> La Fayette rode a favourite white horse on public occasions +during this period.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "Infamous and contented."—<i>Junius</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> "Père Duchesne" was one of the most virulent, gross, and +blood-thirsty productions of the Revolution. It was edited by Manuel and +Hébert. Its success and profit were so great, that it had many +imitators. It was rather a pamphlet than a newspaper, the price fifty +sous a month—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> It has been generally understood that Voltaire was born at +Châtenay, <i>near</i> Paris, in February, 1694.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Voltaire's residence in Switzerland, where he lived nearly +twenty years.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Qu. Middlesex in 1769?—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> This appellation is given to a period of French history +extending from 1643 to 1655. By some it is styled an attempt to +establish a balanced constitution in the state,—by others, the last +essay of expiring feudality. The <i>frondeur</i> leaders were the Duc de +Beaufort, Cardinal de Retz, Prince de Conti, Duc de Bouillon, Mareschaux +Turenne and de la Motte. On the side of their opponents, called +<i>Mazarins</i>, were the Cardinal Mazarin himself, the Prince de Condé, +Maréchal de Grammont, and the Duc de Chatillon, while the Duc d'Orleans, +a vacillating man, wavered between the two parties. The successes of the +rival powers were alternate for a long time; eventually the <i>frondeurs</i> +were defeated, and De Retz escaping into Lorraine, Mazarin returned to +Paris triumphant in February 1653.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> If M. de Lamartine would convey the idea that Burke was a +partisan of the French Revolution, we must combat the assertion by a +reference to dates. Talleyrand was ambassador in England in 1792. In +October 1791, Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France" +appeared, to which Tom Paine's "Rights of Man" was one of the replies, +and Sir James Mackintosh's "Vindiciæ" another; and previously, in 1789 +and 1790, Burke had condemned the tendencies of the Revolution, and the +conduct of the Revolutionists.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> +</p><p><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">———— immedicabile vulnus</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Ense recidendum, ne pars sincera trahatur.</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Co-editor with Hébert of the disgusting "Père +Duchesne."—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "Dux fæmina facti."—<span class="smcap">Virg</span>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> This extract has been given before at <a href='#Page_247'><b>p. 247</b></a>.—<i>Translator.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Foulon was a contractor, who, odious to the populace, was +compelled to fly from Paris, but being discovered, was brought back, and +eventually murdered by the mob in July 1789. Berthier was his +son-in-law, and also incurring the displeasure of the people, was a few +days later stabbed by a hundred bayonets whilst on his way to +prison.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> See Michelet's History of the French Revolution, vol. i. +p.154.—<i>Standard Library.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> +</p><p><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Hail mighty triumph!—enter these our walls!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">Restore those soldiers, heroes of the day</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">When fell Désilles, pierced by their murderous balls,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2.5em;">And blood of citizens bedew'd the clay!"</span><br /> +</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> In Michelet's <i>History of the French Revolution</i>, +publishing contemporaneously with this work, the author acquits the Duc +d'Orleans of any participation in the riots and bloodshed at Versailles, +on the 4th and 5th of October; but says, page 280., "Depositions prove +that he was seen every where between Paris and Versailles, but that he +did nothing. Between eight and nine o'clock in the morning of the 6th, +so soon after the massacre that the court of the castle was still +stained with blood, he went and showed himself to the people, with an +enormous cockade in his hat, laughing, and flourishing a switch in his +hand."—<i>Standard Library.</i>—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> This passage is somewhat obscure in the original: +"<i>Dumouriez se trouva la génie d'une circonstance caché sous l'habit +d'un aventurier.</i>" We trust we have caught its spirit.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Madame Du Barry was the favourite mistress of Louis XV., +and her brother, as he was called, the Count Jean du Barry, had the +king's patronage, and preyed on the public to a great extent, to supply +his low habits and expensive tastes.—<i>Translator.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> The club of the Feuillants, of which La Fayette was the +leading member, was formed after the 17th July, 1791. It consisted +principally of Royalists, and was soon dissolved.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> The Marseillais trace their origin to a colony of Phocians +in the 1st year of the 43d Olympiad, 599 years <span class="smcap">b.c.</span> It was the +Massilia of the Romans, and called by Cicero the "mistress of Gaul," and +by Pliny, the "mistress of education."—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> M. Lamartine does not here refer to André Chénier, an +admirable lyric poet, from whom he has quoted at <a href='#Page_351'>page 351</a>.; +<i>he</i> was a Royalist, and as such condemned and guillotined in +July 1794, in his thirty-second year. He had a brother, Joseph Chénier, +his junior by two years, who was an enthusiastic republican, and wrote +and brought out, from 1785 to 1795, a great many tragedies, viz. +<i>Charles IX.</i>, <i>Calas</i>, <i>Henry VIII.</i>, <i>Timoleon</i>, <i>Tibère</i>, &c., and +was elected member of the legislative assemblies from 1792 to 1802. He +fell under Napoleon's displeasure, and he dismissed him from his +appointment as inspector-general of public instruction, in 1803. The +consul was becoming imperial in his aspirations. Joseph Chénier died in +1811, consistent to the last in his republican notions.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Editor of the infamous Père Duchesne.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Furor arma ministrat.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> It was on the 30th July, 1792, that the Marseillais +arrived in Paris.—H. T. R.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> M. Lamartine has not in his work given the verses 3, 4, +and 5; we have therefore supplied them, that "The Marseillaise" may be +complete. The Marseillais ruffians entered Paris on the 30th July, 1792, +by the Faubourg Saint-Antoine (the St. Giles's of Paris), and headed by +Santerre, went to the Champs Elysées, (thus traversing the whole city +from south to north,) where a banquet awaited them. Their arrival was +marked by riots and bloodshed—Duhamel was murdered. This celebrated +song was written by Rouget de Lisle, who also composed the air. On the +18th Nivose, an. iv.(8th January, 1795,) an order of the Directory +enjoined that at all theatres and sights the air of the "Marseillaise," +and those of "Ça Ira,—Veillons au Salut de l'Empire," and "Le Chant du +Depart," should be played. Rouget de Lisle was an officer of engineers +in 1790, and in spite of his republican opinions, incarcerated during +the reign of terror and only saved by the 9th Thermidor. He would +assuredly have been accompanied to the guillotine by his own song.—H. +T. R.</p></div></div> + +<p>PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE, LONDON</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Girondists, Volume I, by +Alphonse de Lamartine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS *** + +***** This file should be named 18094-h.htm or 18094-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/0/9/18094/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at +http://dp.rastko.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/18094-h/images/frontis.jpg b/18094-h/images/frontis.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af550e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/18094-h/images/frontis.jpg diff --git a/18094.txt b/18094.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ea7b72 --- /dev/null +++ b/18094.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19931 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Girondists, Volume I, by +Alphonse de Lamartine + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of the Girondists, Volume I + Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution + +Author: Alphonse de Lamartine + +Translator: H. T. Ryde + +Release Date: April 1, 2006 [EBook #18094] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at +http://dp.rastko.net + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Portrait of Robespierre] + + + + +HISTORY + +OF + +THE GIRONDISTS; + +OR + +_Personal Memoirs of the Patriots_ + +OF + +THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. + + +FROM UNPUBLISHED SOURCES. + +BY + +ALPHONSE DE LAMARTINE, + +Author of "Travels in the Holy Land," &c. + + * * * * * + +IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. + + * * * * * + +TRANSLATED BY H. T. RYDE. + + +LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1856. +LONDON PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. NEW-STREET SQUARE + ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's Note: You may notice some inconsistencies in | +|accentation. These have been left as they are in the original.| ++--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +We have not thought it necessary to preface this recital by any +introduction of the preceding epochs of the Revolution. + +We have not re-produced, with the minute elaboration of an annalist, the +numerous parliamentary and military details of all the events of these +forty months. Two or three times we have, in order to group men and +circumstances in masses, made unimportant anachronisms. + +We have written after having scrupulously investigated facts and +characters: we do not ask to be credited on our mere word only. Although +we have not encumbered our work with notes, quotations, and documentary +testimony, we have not made one assertion unauthorised by authentic +memoirs, by unpublished manuscripts, by autograph letters, which the +families of the most conspicuous persons have confided to our care, or +by oral and well confirmed statements gathered from the lips of the last +survivors of this great epoch. + +If some errors in fact or judgment have, notwithstanding, escaped us, we +shall be ready to acknowledge them, and repair them in sequent editions, +when the proofs have been transmitted to us. We shall not reply one by +one to such denials and contradictions as this book may give rise to; it +might be a tedious and unprofitable paper-war in the newspapers. But we +will make notes of every observation, and reply _en masse_, by our +proofs and tests, after a certain lapse of time. We seek the truth only, +and should blush to make our work a calumny of the dead. + +As to the title of this book, we have only assumed it, as being unable +to find any other which can so well define this recital, which has none +of the pretensions of history, and therefore should not affect its +gravity. It is an intermediate labour between history and memoirs. +Events do not herein occupy so much space as men and ideas. It is full +of private details, and details are the physiognomy of characters, and +by them they engrave themselves on the imagination. + +Great writers have already written the records of this memorable epoch, +and others still to follow will write them also. It would be an +injustice to compare us with them. They have produced, or will produce, +the history of an age. We have produced nothing more than a "study" of a +group of men and a few months of the Revolution. + + A. L. + + Paris, March 1. 1847. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + BOOK I. + + Introduction. Mirabeau. Marries. Enters the National Assembly. His + Master Mind. His Death and Character. Glance at the Revolution. The + New Idea. Revolution defined. Revolutions the Results of Printing. + Bossuet's Warnings. Rousseau. Fenelon. Voltaire. The Philosophers + of France. Louis XVI. The King's Ministers. The Queen. Her Conduct + and Plans. The National Assembly. Maury. Cazales. Barnave and the + Lameths. Rival Champions. Robespierre. His Personal Appearance. + Revolutionary Leaders. State of the Kingdom. Jacobin Club. Effects + of the Clubs. Club of the Cordeliers. La Fayette. His Popularity. + Characters of the Leaders. What the Revolution might have been 1 + + BOOK II. + + State of the Assembly. Discussions. The Periodical Press. The King + and his Brothers. He meditates Escape. Various Plans of Flight. The + King's embarrassed Position. Marquis de Bouille. The King and + Mirabeau. Preparations for the King's Escape. Fatal Alterations. + Anxiety. Rumours. Count de Fersen. A Faithless Servant suspicious. + Mode of Escape. Dangers of the Route. The Passport. Hopes of + Success. Drouet recognises the King. Narrowly saves his own Life. + Varennes. Capture of the Royal Family. Entreaties of the King and + Queen. Refusal of the Syndic and his Wife. Conduct of the Soldiers + and People. Effect on the Queen. Conduct of the Parisians. Their + Rage. La Fayette attacked. Defended by Barnave. Power assumed by La + Fayette. La Fayette's Proceedings. The King's Parting Address. + Manifesto. Proceedings of the Cordeliers and Jacobins. + Robespierre's Address. Its Effect. Danton's Oration. His Audacity + and Venality. Address of the Assembly. The King's Arrest known. His + Hopes. The Queen's Despair. The Royal Family depart for Paris. De + Bouille's unavailing Efforts. Indignation of the Populace. + Barnave's noble Interference. Barnave gained over. Drouet's + Declaration. The Entrance into Paris. Arrival at the Tuileries. + Barnave and Petion's report to the Assembly. La Fayette and the + Royal Family. The Queen's Courage. Effects of the Flight. The King + should have abdicated 42 + + BOOK III. + + The Interregnum. Barnave's Conversion. His Devotion. His Meetings + with the Queen. The King's Reply. Fatal Resolution of the "Right." + A Party that protests, abdicates. Address of the Cordeliers to the + National Assembly. Barnave's great Speech. Irresistible Advance of + the Revolution. The Press. Camille Desmoulins. Marat. Brissot. + Clamours for a Republic. Desmoulin's Attack on La Fayette. + Petitions of the People. Robespierre's Popularity. Popular Meeting + in the Champ de Mars. Absence of the Ringleaders. "The Altar of + the Country." The Remarkable Signatures. Advance of the National + Guard, preceded by the Red Flag. Fearful Massacre. The Day after. + The Jacobins take Courage. Schisms in the Clubs. Attempts of + Desmoulins and Petion to restore Unity. Malouet's Plan for amending + the Constitution. Power of the Assembly. The New Men. Condorcet. + Danton. Brissot disowned by Robespierre. Charges made against him. + Defended by Manuel. Girondist Leaders 100 + + BOOK IV. + + Revolutionary Press. High State of Excitement. Removal of + Voltaire's Remains to the Pantheon. The Procession. Voltaire's + Character. His War against Christianity. His Tact and Courage in + opposing the Priesthood. His Devotion. His Deficiencies. Barnave's + weakened Position. His momentary Success while addressing the + Assembly. Sillery's Defence of the Duc d'Orleans. Robespierre's + Alarm. Malouet's Speech in Defence of the Monarchy. Robespierre's + Remarks. Constitution presented to the King. His Reply and + Acceptance. Rejoicings. Universal Satisfaction. The King in Person + dissolves the Assembly 145 + + BOOK V. + + Opinions of the Revolution in Europe. + Austria--Prussia--Russia--England--Spain. State of + Italy--Venice--Genoa--Florence--Piedmont--Savoy--Sweden. Gustavus + III. Feelings of the People. Poets and Philosophers. England and + its Liberty. America. Holland. Germany. Freemasonry. German School. + French Emigration. Female Influence. Louis XIV.'s Letter. Conduct + of the Emigrant Princes unsatisfactory to the King. Attempts of the + Emigres. The German Sovereigns. Their Conference. The Revolt. The + Declaration. The Courts of Europe, The Princes disobey the King. + Desire for War in the Assembly. Madame de Staeel. Count Louis de + Narbonne. His Ambition. The Hero of Madame de Staeel. M. de Segur's + Mission. The Mission frustrated. The Duke of Brunswick 172 + + BOOK VI. + + The New Assembly. Juvenile Members. First Audience with the King. + Decrees of the Assembly. Vergniaud's Policy. Offensive Decree + repealed. Rage of the Clubs. Indifference of the People. The King's + Address to the Assembly. Momentary Calm. The Girondists. The + Clergy. The King's Religious Alarms. State of Religious Worship. + Fauchet's Speech. The Abbe Tourne's Reply. Advantages of + Toleration. Dacos. Gensonne. Isnard. Isnard's eloquent Address to + the Assembly. His severe Measures. Decree against the Priests. New + Policy of Louis XVI. Question of Emigration. Brissot advocates War. + His Arguments. Condorcet. Vergniaud. His Character and his Speech + against the Emigrants. Isnard's violent Harangue. Decision of the + Assembly. Andre Chenier. Camille Desmoulins. State of Parties. + Hopes of the Aristocracy. La Fayette's Letter. La Fayette in + Retirement. Candidates for Mayor of Paris. Petion and La Fayette. + La Fayette's Popularity. Petion elected Mayor 211 + + BOOK VII + + Character of Parties. France worked for the Universe. Mechanism of + the Constitution. The King's Veto. Defence of the Constitution. No + Balance of Power. All Odium falls upon the King. Order, the Life of + Monarchy. When a Republic is needful. The Will of the People. + Mistake of the Assembly. The King's Position. The Assembly + hesitates. Third Course open. The Republicans 257 + + + BOOK VIII. + + Madame Roland. Her Infancy. Her Personal Appearance. Early + Abilities. Habits. Her Father's House. Future Heloise. Influence of + Birth in Society. Her Impression of the Court. Has many Suitors. M. + Roland. His Career. Their Marriage. Mode of Life. La Platiere. + Country Life. Madame Roland's Love for Mankind. The Rolands in + Paris. Interview with Brissot. Reunion at Roland's. Madame Roland + and Robespierre. Her Opinion of him. Her Anxiety for his Safety 272 + + + BOOK IX. + + New Assembly. Roland's Position. De Molleville. M. de Narbonne. + Treachery of the Girondists. Narbonne's Policy and Success. His + Popularity. Robespierre his sole Opponent. Robespierre's Desire for + Peace. His Views. His Rupture with the Girondists. His Speech + against War. Louvet's Reply. Brissot's Efforts 296 + + + BOOK X. + + Committee of the Girondists. Its Report. Gensonne. His Reply. + Guadet. Vergniaud's Proclamation. Constitutionalists for War. + Narbonne's Report. The Pamphleteers. Unpopularity of the Veto. + Outbreak at Avignon. Jourdan. San Domingo. Negro Slavery. Men of + Colour. Oge. His Execution. Insurrection of the Blacks at San + Domingo. Increase of Disorder. The Abbe Fauchet. His Career. + Charges against him. Riot in Caen Cathedral. Insurrection at Mende. + National Guard drives out the Troops. Insubordination. Universal + Bloodshed. The Swiss Soldiers. Their Revolt pardoned. Chenier's + Remonstrance. Dupont de Nemours. Petion's Weakness. Robespierre's + Interference. Gouvion. Couthon. Triumph of the Swiss Soldiers 312 + + + BOOK XI + + Increasing Disturbances. Murder of Simoneau. Duc d'Orleans. His + peculiar Position. The Duchesse d'Orleans. Duc disliked at Court. + Forms the Palais Royal. Madame de Genlis. Her Talents. The Duke + Citizen. Mirabeau's Estimate of the Duke. La Fayette's Interference + with the Duc d'Orleans. Plans of the Girondists. Duc d'Orleans made + Admiral. His Declaration. Details. Avoided by the King's Friends. + Becomes a Jacobin. Vergniaud's great Eloquence. His powerful + Appeal. Its Effects 352 + + + BOOK XII. + + The Emperor Leopold. De Lessart's Despatch. His Impeachment. De + Narbonne's Dismissal. Death of Leopold. Supposed to be poisoned. + His Vices and Virtues. Conspiracy. Assassination. Ankastroem. Death + of Gustavus. Joy of the Jacobins. Brissot's Policy. Accusation of + M. de Lessart. Roland and the Girondist Ministry 377 + + + BOOK XIII. + + Dumouriez's Talent and Aptitude. Education and Acquirements. + Favier. Corsica. Paoli. Dumouriez sent to Poland. Stanislaus + Policy. Dumouriez at Cherbourg. His Tact; Appearance. Dumouriez and + Madame Roland. Roland's Vanity. His Opinion of the King. His Wife's + Sagacity. Dumouriez in favour with the King. His Interview with the + Queen. His Advice. Bonnet Rouge. Dumouriez and Robespierre. Petion + and the Bonnet Rouge. The King's Letter. Treachery of the + Girondists. Roland's Letter to the King. Letter of the Girondist + Chiefs. Dumouriez's Policy. Danton. Hatred of Robespierre and + Brissot. Camille Desmoulins. Brissot's Attack on Robespierre. + Guadet. Robespierre's Defence 396 + + + BOOK XIV. + + Quarrel between Girondists and Jacobins. Violence of the Journals. + Marat's atrocious Writings. Duke of Brunswick. Mirabeau's Opinion + of him. Dumouriez's Plan. The King himself proposes War. Slight + Opposition. Condorcet's Manifesto. War declared. State of Belgium. + Revolt. German Confederation. French Nobility and Emigres. Comte de + Provence. Comte d'Artois. Mallet-Dupan, the King's Confidant 436 + + + BOOK XV. + + Dumouriez's Tactics. Servan's Proposition. Change of Ministry. + Dumouriez's Infidelity. Another Change of Ministers. Dumouriez + quits Paris. Barbaroux. Madame Roland's Plans for a Republic. + Increase of the Girondists. Buzot. Danton: his Origin and Life. + Progress. Hostilities in Belgium. Duc de Lauzun. Luckner. State of + France 459 + + + BOOK XVI. + + King Petion. His Policy. Murder of De Brissac. Another Phase of the + Revolution. Santerre, Legendre, Instigators of 20th June. + Preparation. Disposition of Lower Orders. The Mobs excited. The + Alarm of the King. The Assembling of the People. St. Huruge. + Theroigne de Mericourt. Her Fate. The Procession. Roederer's + Courage. Huguenin's Declaration. The Mob admitted. Defence at the + Tuileries. Movement of the Populace. The Troops faithless. Fury of + the Mob. The King's Defenders. Madame Elizabeth. Legendre's + Insolence. The Bonnet Rouge. "Vive le Roi." The Dangers of the + Queen. Princesse de Lamballe. Queen and Royal Children. Santerre. + Deputation to the King. Petion's Duplicity. Retirement of the + Rebels. Merlin's brutal Remark. The Marseillaise. Its Origin and + Popularity: universally adopted 478 + + + + +HISTORY + +OF + +THE GIRONDISTS. + + + + +BOOK I. + + +I. + +INTRODUCTION. + +I now undertake to write the history of a small party of men who, cast +by Providence into the very centre of the greatest drama of modern +times, comprise in themselves the ideas, the passions, the faults, the +virtues of their epoch, and whose life and political acts forming, as we +may say, the nucleus of the French Revolution, perished by the same blow +which crushed the destinies of their country. + +This history, full of blood and tears, is full also of instruction for +the people. Never, perhaps, were so many tragical events crowded into so +short a space of time, never was the mysterious connexion which exists +between deeds and their consequences developed with greater rapidity. +Never did weaknesses more quickly engender faults,--faults +crimes,--crimes punishment. That retributive justice which God has +implanted in our very acts, as a conscience more sacred than the +fatalism of the ancients[1], never manifested itself more unequivocally; +never was the law of morality illustrated by a more ample testimony, or +avenged more mercilessly. Thus the simple recital of these two years is +the most luminous commentary of the whole Revolution; and blood, spilled +like water, not only shrieks in accents of terror and pity, but gives, +indeed, a lesson and an example to mankind. It is in this spirit I would +indite this work. The impartiality of history is not that of a mirror, +which merely reflects objects, it should be that of a judge who sees, +listens, and decides. Annals are not history; in order to deserve that +appellation it requires a conviction; for it becomes, in after times, +_that_ of the human race. + +Recital animated by the imagination, weighed and judged by wisdom,--such +is history as the ancients understood it; and of history conceived and +produced in such a spirit, I would, under the Divine guidance, leave a +fragment to my country. + + +II. + +HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS. + +Mirabeau had just died. The instinct of the people led them to press +around the house of his tribune, as if to demand inspiration even from +his coffin; but had Mirabeau been still living, he could no longer have +given it; his star had paled its fires before that of the Revolution; +hurried to the verge of an unavoidable precipice by the very chariot he +himself had set in motion, it was in vain that he clung to the tribune. +The last memorial he addressed to the king, which the Iron Chest has +surrendered to us, together with the secret of his venality, testify the +failure and dejection of his mind. His counsels are versatile, +incoherent, and almost childish:--now he will arrest the Revolution with +a grain of sand--now he places the salvation of the Monarchy in a +proclamation of the crown and a regal ceremony which shall revive the +popularity of the king,--.and now he is desirous of buying the +acclamations of the tribune, and believes the nation, like him, to be +purchasable at a price. The pettiness of his means of safety are in +contrast with the vast increase of perils; there is a vagueness in every +idea; we see that he is impelled by the very passions he has excited, +and that unable any longer to guide or control them, he betrays, whilst +he is yet unable to crush, them. The prime agitator is now but the +alarmed courtier seeking shelter beneath the throne, and though still +stuttering out terrible words in behalf of the nation and liberty, which +are in the part set down for him, has already in his soul all the +paltriness and the thoughts of vanity which are proper to a court. We +pity genius when we behold it struggling with impossibility. Mirabeau +was the most potent man of his time; but the greatest individual +contending with an enraged element appears but a madman. A fall is only +majestic when accompanied by virtue. + +Poets say that clouds assume the form of the countries over which they +have passed, and moulding themselves upon the valleys, plains, or +mountains, acquire their shapes and move with them over the skies. This +resembles certain men, whose genius being as it were acquisitive, models +itself upon the epoch in which it lives, and assumes all the +individuality of the nation to which it belongs. Mirabeau was a man of +this class: he did not invent the Revolution, but was its manifestation. +But for him it might perhaps have remained in a state of idea and +tendency. He was born, and it took in him the form, the passion, the +language which make a multitude say when they see a thing--There it is. + +He was born a gentleman and of ancient lineage, refugee and established +in Provence, but of Italian origin: the progenitors were Tuscan. The +family was one of those whom Florence had cast from her bosom in the +stormy excesses of her liberty, and for which Dante reproaches his +country in such bitter strains for her exiles and persecutions. The +blood of Machiavel and the earthquake genius of the Italian republics +were characteristics of all the individuals of this race. The +proportions of their souls exceed the height of their destiny: vices, +passions, virtues are all in excess. The women are all angelic or +perverse, the men sublime or depraved, and their language even is as +emphatic and lofty as their aspirations. There is in their most familiar +correspondence the colour and tone of the heroic tongues of Italy. + +The ancestors of Mirabeau speak of their domestic affairs as Plutarch of +the quarrels of Marius and Sylla, of Caesar and Pompey. We perceive the +great men descending to trifling matters. Mirabeau inspired this +domestic majesty and virility in his very cradle. I dwell on these +details, which may seem foreign to this history, but explain it. The +source of genius is often in ancestry, and the blood of descent is +sometimes the prophecy of destiny. + + +III. + +Mirabeau's education was as rough and rude as the hand of his father, +who was styled the _friend of man_, but whose restless spirit and +selfish vanity rendered him the persecutor of his wife and the tyrant of +all his family. The only virtue he was taught was honour, for by that +name in those days they dignified that ceremonious demeanour which was +too frequently but the show of probity and the elegance of vice. +Entering the army at an early age, he acquired nothing of military +habits except a love of licentiousness and play. The hand of his father +was constantly extended not to aid him in rising, but to depress him +still lower under the consequences of his errors: his youth was passed +in the prisons of the state; his passions, becoming envenomed by +solitude, and his intellect being rendered more acute by contact with +the irons of his dungeon, where his mind lost that modesty which rarely +survives the infamy of precocious punishments. + +Released from gaol, in order, by his father's command, to attempt to +form a marriage beset with difficulties with Mademoiselle De Marignan, a +rich heiress of one of the greatest families of Provence, he displayed, +like a wrestler, all kinds of stratagems and daring schemes of policy in +the small theatre of Aix. Cunning, seduction, courage, he used every +resource of his nature to succeed, and he succeeded; but he was hardly +married, before fresh persecutions beset him, and the stronghold of +Pontarlier gaped to enclose him. A love, which his _Lettres a Sophie_ +has rendered immortal, opened its gates and freed him. He carried off +Madame de Monier from her aged husband. The lovers, happy for some +months, took refuge in Holland; they were seized there, separated and +shut up, the one in a convent and the other in the dungeon of Vincennes. +Love, which, like fire in the veins of the earth, is always detected in +some crevice of man's destiny, lighted up in a single and ardent blaze +all Mirabeau's passions. In his vengeance it was outraged love that he +appeased; in liberty, it was love which he sought and which delivered +him; in study, it was love which still illustrated his path. Entering +obscure into his cell, he quitted it a writer, orator, statesman, but +perverted--ripe for any thing, even to sell himself, in order to buy +fortune and celebrity. The drama of life was conceived in his head, he +wanted but the stage, and that time was preparing for him. During the +few short years which elapsed for him between his leaving the keep of +Vincennes and the tribune of the National Assembly, he employed himself +with polemic labours, which would have weighed down another man, but +which only kept him in health. The Bank of Saint Charles, the +Institutions of Holland, the books on Prussia, the skirmish with +Beaumarchais, his style and character, his lengthened pleadings on +questions of warfare, the balance of European power, finance, those +biting invectives, that war of words with the ministers or men of the +hour, resembled the Roman forum in the days of Clodius and Cicero. We +discern the men of antiquity in even his most modern controversies. We +may fancy that we hear the first roarings of those popular tumults which +were so soon to burst forth, and which his voice was destined to +control. At the first election of Aix, rejected with contempt by the +_noblesse_, he cast himself into the arms of the people, certain of +making the balance incline to the side on which he should cast the +weight of his daring and his genius. Marseilles contended with Aix for +the great plebeian; his two elections, the discourses he then delivered, +the addresses he drew up, the energy he employed, commanded the +attention of all France. His sonorous phrases became the proverbs of the +Revolution; comparing himself, in his lofty language, to the men of +antiquity, he placed himself already in the public estimation in the +elevated position he aspired to reach. Men became accustomed to identify +him with the names he cited; he made a loud noise in order to prepare +minds for great commotions; he announced himself proudly to the nation +in that sublime apostrophe in his address to the Marseillais: "When the +last of the Gracchi expired, he flung dust towards heaven, and from this +dust sprung Marius! Marius, less great for having exterminated the +Cimbri than for having prostrated in Rome the aristocracy of the +nobility." + +From the moment of his entry into the National Assembly he filled it: he +was the whole people. His gestures were commands; his movements _coups +d'etat_. He placed himself on a level with the throne, and the nobility +felt itself subdued by a power emanating from its own body. The clergy, +which is the people, and desires to reconcile the democracy with the +church, lends him its influence, in order to destroy the double +aristocracy of the nobility and bishops. + +All that had been built by antiquity and cemented by ages fell in a few +months. Mirabeau alone preserved his presence of mind in the midst of +this ruin. His character of tribune ceases, that of the statesman +begins, and in this he is even greater than in the other. There, when +all else creep and crawl, he acts with firmness, advancing boldly. The +Revolution in his brain is no longer a momentary idea--it is a settled +plan. The philosophy of the eighteenth century, moderated by the +prudence of policy, flows easily, and modelled from his lips. His +eloquence, imperative as the law, is now the talent of giving force to +reason. His language lights and inspires every thing; and though almost +alone at this moment, he has the courage to remain alone. He braves +envy, hatred, murmurs, supported by the strong feeling of his +superiority. He dismisses with disdain the passions which have hitherto +beset him. He will no longer serve them when his cause no longer needs +them. He speaks to men now only in the name of his genius. This title is +enough to cause obedience to him. His power is based on the assent which +truth finds in all minds, and his strength again reverts to him. He +contests with all parties, and rises superior to one and all. All hate +him because he commands; and all seek him because he can serve or +destroy them. He does not give himself up to any one, but negotiates +with each: he lays down calmly on the tumultuous element of this +assembly, the basis of the reformed constitution: legislation, finance, +diplomacy, war, religion, political economy, balances of power, every +question he approaches and solves, not as an Utopian, but as a +politician. The solution he gives is always the precise mean between the +theoretical and the practical. He places reason on a level with manners, +and the institutions of the land in consonance with its habits. He +desires a throne to support the democracy, liberty in the chambers, and +in the will of the nation, one and irresistible in the government. The +characteristic of his genius, so well defined, so ill understood, was +less audacity than justness. Beneath the grandeur of his expression is +always to be found unfailing good sense. His very vices could not +repress the clearness, the sincerity of his understanding. At the foot +of the tribune he was a man devoid of shame or virtue: in the tribune he +was an honest man. Abandoned to private debauchery, bought over by +foreign powers, sold to the court in order to satisfy his lavish +expenditure, he preserved, amidst all this infamous traffic of his +powers, the incorruptibility of his genius. Of all the qualities of a +great man of his age, he was only wanting in honesty. The people were +not his devotees, but his instruments,--his own glory was the god of his +idolatry; his faith was posterity; his conscience existed but in his +thought; the fanaticism of his idea was quite human; the chilling +materialism of his age had crushed in his heart the expansion, force, +and craving for imperishable things. His dying words were "sprinkle me +with perfumes, crown me with flowers, that I may thus enter upon eternal +sleep." He was especially of his time, and his course bears no impress +of infinity. Neither his character, his acts, nor his thoughts have the +brand of immortality. If he had believed in God, he might have died a +martyr, but he would have left behind him the religion of reason and the +reign of democracy. Mirabeau, in a word, was the reason of the people; +and that is not yet the faith of humanity! + + +IV. + +Grand displays cast a veil of universal mourning over the secret +sentiments which his death inspired to all parties. Whilst the various +belfries tolled his knell, and minute guns were fired; whilst, in a +ceremony that had assembled two hundred thousand spectators, they +awarded to a citizen the funeral obsequies of a monarch; whilst the +Pantheon, to which they conveyed his remains, seemed scarcely a monument +worthy of such ashes,--what was passing in the depths of men's hearts? + +The king, who held Mirabeau's eloquence in pay, the queen, with whom he +had nocturnal conferences, regretted him, perhaps, as the last means of +safety: yet still he inspired them with more terror than confidence; and +the humiliation of a crowned head demanding succour from a subject must +have felt comforted at the removal of that destroying power which itself +fell before the throne did. The court was avenged by death for the +affronts which it had undergone. He was to the nobility merely an +apostate from his order. The climax of its shame must have been to be +one day raised by him who had abased it. The National Assembly had +grown weary of his superiority; the Duc d'Orleans felt that a word from +this man would unfold and crush his premature aspirations; M. de La +Fayette, the hero of the _bourgeoisie_, must have been in dread of the +orator of the people. Between the dictator of the city and the dictator +of the tribune there must have been a secret jealousy. Mirabeau, who had +never assailed M. de La Fayette in his discourses, had often in +conversation allowed words to escape with respect to his rival which +print themselves as they fall on a man. Mirabeau the less, and then M. +de La Fayette appeared the greater, and it was the same with all the +orators of the Assembly. There was no longer any rival, but there were +many envious. His eloquence, though popular in its style, was that of a +patrician. His democracy was delivered from a lofty position, and +comprised none of that covetousness and hate which excite the vilest +passions of the human heart, and which see in the good done for the +people nothing but an insult to the nobility. His popular sentiments +were in some sort but the liberality of his genius. The vast +expansiveness of his mighty soul had no resemblance with the paltry +impulses of demagogues. In acquiring rights for the people he seemed as +though he bestowed them. He was a volunteer of democracy. He recalled by +his part, and his bearing, to those democrats behind him, that from the +time of the Gracchi to his own, the tribunes who most served the people +had sprung from the ranks of the patricians. His talent, unequalled for +philosophy of thought, for depth of reflection, and loftiness of +expression, was another kind of aristocracy, which could never be +pardoned him. Nature placed him in the foremost rank; and death only +created a space around him for secondary minds. They all endeavoured to +acquire his position, and all endeavoured in vain. The tears they shed +upon his coffin were hypocritical. The people only wept in all +sincerity, because the people were too strong to be jealous, and they, +far from reproaching Mirabeau with his birth, loved in him that nobility +as though it were a spoil they had carried off from the aristocracy. +Moreover, the nation, disturbed at seeing its institutions crumbling +away one by one, and dreading a total destruction, felt instinctively +that the genius of a great man was the last stronghold left to them. +This genius quenched, it saw only darkness and precipices before the +monarchy. The Jacobins alone rejoiced loudly, for it was only he who +could outweigh them. + +It was on the 6th of April, 1791, that the National Assembly resumed its +sittings. Mirabeau's place, left vacant, reminded each gazer of the +impossibility of again filling it; consternation was impressed on every +countenance in the tribunes, and a profound silence pervaded the +meeting. M. de Talleyrand announced to the Assembly a posthumous address +of Mirabeau. They would hear him though dead. The weakened echo of his +voice seemed to return to his country from the depths of the vaults of +the Pantheon. The reading was mournful. Parties were burning to measure +their strength free from any counterpoise. Impatience and anxiety were +paramount, and the struggle was imminent. The arbitrator who controlled +them was no more. + + +V. + +Before we depict the state of these parties, let us throw a rapid glance +over the commencement of the Revolution, the progress it had made, and +the principal leaders who were about to attempt directing it in the way +they desired to see it advance. + +It was hardly two years since opinion had opened the breaches against +the monarchy, yet it had already accomplished immense results. The weak +and vacillating spirit of the government had convoked the Assembly of +Notables, whilst public spirit had placed its grasp on power and +convoked the States General. The States General being established, the +nation had felt its omnipotence, and from this feeling to a legal +insurrection there was but a word; that word Mirabeau had uttered. The +National Assembly had constituted itself in front of, and higher than, +the throne itself. The prodigious popularity of M. Necker was exhausted +by concessions, and utterly vanished when he no longer had any of the +spoils of monarchy to cast before the people. Minister of a monarch in +retirement, his own had been utter defeat. His last step conducted him +out of the kingdom. The disarmed king had remained the hostage of the +ancient _regime_ in the hands of the nation. The declaration of the +rights of man and citizen, the sole metaphysical act of the Revolution +to this time, had given it a social and universal signification. This +declaration had been much jeered; it certainly contained some errors, +and confused in terms the state of nature and the state of society; but +it was, notwithstanding, the very essence of the new dogma. + + +VI + +There are objects in nature, the forms of which can only be accurately +ascertained when contemplated afar off. Too near, as well as too far +off, prevents a correct view. Thus it is with great events. The hand of +God is visible in human things, but this hand itself has a shadow which +conceals what it accomplishes. All that could then be seen of the French +Revolution announced all that was great in this world, the advent of a +new idea in human kind, the democratic idea, and afterwards the +democratic government. + +This idea was an emanation of Christianity. Christianity finding men in +serfage and degraded all over the earth, had arisen on the fall of the +Roman Empire, like a mighty vengeance, though under the aspect of a +resignation. It had proclaimed the three words which 2000 years +afterwards was re-echoed by French philosophy--liberty, equality, +fraternity--amongst mankind. But it had for a time hidden this idea in +the recesses of the Christian heart. As yet too weak to attack civil +laws, it had said to the powers--"I leave you still for a short space of +time possession of the political world, confining myself to the moral +world. Continue if you can to enchain, class, keep in bondage, degrade +the people, I am engaged in the emancipation of souls. I shall occupy +2000 years, perchance, in renewing men's minds before I become apparent +in human institutions. But the day will come when my doctrines will +escape from the temple, and will enter into the councils of the people; +on that day the social world will be renewed." + +This day had now arrived; it had been prepared by an age of philosophy, +sceptical in appearance but in reality replete with belief. The +scepticism of the 18th century only affected exterior forms, and the +supernatural dogmata of Christianity, whilst it adopted with enthusiasm, +morality and the social sense. What Christianity called revelation, +philosophy called reason. The words were different, the meaning +identical. The emancipation of individuals, of castes, of people, were +alike derived from it. Only the ancient world had been enfranchised in +the name of Christ, whilst the modern world was freed in the name of the +rights which every human creature has received from the hand of God; and +from both flowed the enfranchisement of God or nature. The political +philosophy of the Revolution could not have invented a word more true, +more complete, more divine than Christianity, to reveal itself to +Europe, and it had adopted the dogma and the word of _fraternity_. Only +the French Revolution attacked the form of this ruling religion; because +it was incrusted in the forms of government, monarchical, theocratic, or +aristocratic, which they sought to destroy. It is the explanation of +that apparent contradiction of the mind of the 18th century, which +borrowed all from Christianity in policy, and denied, whilst it +despoiled, it. There was at one and the same time a violent attraction +and a violent repulsion in the two doctrines. They recognised whilst +they struggled against each other, and yearned to recognise each other +even more completely when the contest was terminated by the triumph of +liberty. + +Three things were then evident to reflecting minds from and after the +month of April, 1791; the one, that the march of the revolutionary +movement advanced from step to step to the complete restoration of all +the rights of suffering humanity--from those of the people by their +government, to those of citizens by castes, and of the workman by the +citizen; thus it assailed tyranny, privilege, inequality, selfishness, +not only on the throne, but in the civil law; in the administration, in +the legal distribution of property, in the conditions of industry, +labour, family, and in all the relations of man with man, and man with +woman: the second,--that this philosophic and social movement of +democracy would seek its natural form in a form of government analogous +to its principle, and its nature; that is to say, representing the +sovereignty of the people; republic with one or two heads: and, finally, +that the social and political emancipation would involve in it the +intellectual and religious emancipation of the human mind; that the +liberty of thought, of speaking and acting, should not pause before the +liberty of belief; that the idea of God confined in the sanctuaries, +should shine forth pouring into each free conscience the right of +liberty itself; that this light, a revelation for some, and reason for +others, would spread more and more with truth and justice, which emanate +from God to overspread the earth. + + +VII. + +Human thought, like God, makes the world in its own image. + +Thought was revived by a philosophical age. + +It had to transform the social world. + +The French Revolution was therefore in its essence a sublime and +impassioned spirituality. It had a divine and universal ideal. This is +the reason why its passion spread beyond the frontiers of France. Those +who limit, mutilate it. It was the accession of three moral +sovereignties:-- + +The sovereignty of right over force; + +The sovereignty of intelligence over prejudices; + +The sovereignty of people over governments. + +Revolution in rights; equality. + +Revolution in ideas; reasoning substituted for authority. + +Revolution in facts; the reign of the people. + +A Gospel of social rights. + +A Gospel of duties, a charter of humanity. + +France declared itself the apostle of this creed. In this war of ideas +France had allies every where, and even on thrones themselves. + + +VIII. + +There are epochs in the history of the human race, when the decayed +branches fall from the tree of humanity; and when institutions grown old +and exhausted, sink and leave space for fresh institutions full of sap, +which renew the youth and recast the ideas of a people. Antiquity is +replete with this transformation, of which we only catch a glimpse in +the relics of history. Each decadence of effete ideas carries with it an +old world, and gives its name to a new order of civilisation. The East. +China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, have seen these ruins and these renewals. +The West experienced them when the Druidical theocracy gave way to the +gods and government of the Romans. Byzantium, Rome, and the Empire +effected them rapidly, and as it were instinctively by themselves when, +wearied with, and blushing at, polytheism, they rose at the voice of +Constantine against their gods, and swept away, like an angry tempest, +those temples, those ideas and forms of worship, to which the people +still clung, but which the superior portion of human thought had already +abandoned. The Civilisation of Constantine and Charlemagne grew old in +its turn, and the beliefs which for eighteen centuries had supported +altars and thrones, menaced the religious world, as well as the +political world, with a catastrophe which rarely leaves power standing +when faith is staggered. Monarchical Europe was the handiwork of +catholicism; politics were fashioned after the image of the Church; +authority was founded on a mystery. Rights came to it from on high, and +power, like faith, was reputed divine. The obedience of the people was +consecrated to it, and from that very reason inquiry was a blasphemy, +and servitude a virtue. The spirit of philosophy, which had silently +revolted against this for three centuries, as a doctrine which the +scandals, tyrannies, and crimes of the two powers belied daily, refused +any longer to recognise a divine title in those authorities which deny +reason and subjugate a people. So long as catholicism had been the sole +legal doctrine in Europe, these murmuring revolts of mind had not +overset empires. They had been punished by the hands of rulers. +Dungeons, punishments, inquisitions, fire, and faggot, had intimidated +reason, and preserved erect the two-fold dogma on which the two +governments reposed. + +But printing, that unceasing outpouring of the human mind, was to the +people a second revelation. Employed at first exclusively for the +Church, for the propagation of ruling ideas, it had begun to sap them. +The dogmata of temporal power, and spiritual power, incessantly assailed +by these floods of light, could not be long without being shaken, first +in the human mind and afterwards in things, to the very foundations. +_Guttemberg_; without knowing it, was the mechanist of the New World. In +creating the communication of ideas, he had assured the independence of +reason. Every letter of this alphabet which left his fingers, contained +in it, more power than the armies of kings, and the thunders of +pontiffs. It was mind which he furnished with language. These two powers +were the mistresses of man, as they were hereafter of mankind. The +intellectual world was born of a material invention, and it had grown +rapidly. The reformed religion was one of its early offspring. + +The empire of catholic Christianity had undergone extensive +dismemberments. Switzerland, a part of Germany, Holland, England, whole +provinces of France, had been drawn away from the centre of religious +authority, and passed over to the doctrine of free examination. Divine +authority attacked and contested in catholicism, the authority of the +throne remained at the mercy of the people. Philosophy, more potent than +sedition, approached it more and more near, with less respect, less +fear. History had actually written of the weaknesses and crimes of +kings. Public writers had dared to comment upon it, and the people to +draw conclusions. Social institutions had been weighed by their real +value for humanity. Minds the most devoted to power had spoken to +sovereigns of duties, and to people of rights. The holy boldness of +Christianity had been heard even in the consecrated pulpit, in the +presence of Louis XIV. Bossuet, that sacerdotal genius of the ancient +synagogue, had mingled his proud adulations to Louis XIV. with some of +those austere warnings which console persons for their abasement. +Fenelon, that evangelical and tender genius, of the new law, had written +his instructions to princes, and his Telemachus, in the palace of the +king, and in the cabinet of an heir to the throne. The political +philosophy of Christianity, that insurrection of justice in favour of +the weak, had glided from the lips of Louis XIV. into the ear of his +grandson. Fenelon educated another revolution in the Duke of Burgundy. +This the king perceived when too late, and expelled the divine seduction +from his palace. But the revolutionary policy was born there; there the +people read the pages of the holy archbishop: Versailles was destined to +be, thanks to Louis XIV. and Fenelon, at once the palace of despotism +and the cradle of the Revolution. Montesquieu had sounded the +institutions, and analysed the laws of all people. By classing +governments, he had compared them, by comparing he passed judgment on +them; and this judgment brought out, in its bold relief, and contrast, +on every page, right and force, privilege and equality, tyranny and +liberty. + +Jean Jacques Rousseau, less ingenious, but more eloquent, had studied +politics, not in the laws, but in nature. A free but oppressed and +suffering mind, the palpitation of his noble heart had made every heart +beat that had been ulcerated by the odious inequality of social +conditions. It was the revolt of the ideal against the real. He had been +the tribune of nature, the Gracchus of philosophy--he had not produced +the history of institutions, only its vision--but that vision descended +from heaven and returned thither. There was to be seen the design of God +and the excess of his love--but there was not enough seen of the +infirmity of men. It was the Utopia of government; but by this Rousseau +led further astray. To impel the people to passion there must be some +slight illusion mingled with the truth; reality alone was too chilling +to fanaticise the human mind; it is only roused to enthusiasm by things +something out of nature. What is termed the ideal is the attraction and +force of religions, which always aspire higher than they mount; this is +how fanaticism is produced, that delirium of virtue. Rousseau was the +ideal of politics, as Fenelon was the ideal of Christianity. + +Voltaire had the genius of criticism, that power of raillery which +withers all it overthrows. He had made human nature laugh at itself, had +felled it low in order to raise it, had laid bare before it all errors, +prejudices, iniquities, and crimes of ignorance; he had urged it to +rebellion against consecrated ideas, not by the ideal but by sheer +contempt. Destiny gave him eighty years of existence, that he might +slowly decompose the decayed age; he had the time to combat against +time, and when he fell he was the conqueror. His disciples filled +courts, academies, and saloons; those of Rousseau grew splenetic and +visionary amongst the lower orders of society. The one had been the +fortunate and elegant advocate of the aristocracy, the other was the +secret consoler and beloved avenger of the democracy. His book was the +book of all oppressed and tender souls. Unhappy and devotee himself, he +had placed God by the side of the people; his doctrines sanctified the +mind, whilst they led the heart to rebellion. There was vengeance in his +very accent, but there was piety also. Voltaire's followers would have +overturned altars, those of Rousseau would have raised them. The one +could have done without virtues, and made arrangements with thrones; the +other had absolute need of a God, and could only have founded republics. + +Their numerous disciples progressed with their missions, and possessed +all the organs of public thought. From the seat of geometry to the +consecrated pulpit, the philosophy of the 18th century invaded or +altered every thing. D'Alembert, Diderot, Raynal, Buffon, Condorcet, +Bernardin Saint Pierre, Helvetius, Saint Lambert, La Harpe, were the +church of the new era. One sole thought animated these diverse +minds--the renovation of human ideas. Arithmetic, science, history, +economy, politics, the stage, morals, poetry, all served as the vehicle +of modern philosophy; it ran in all the veins of the times; it had +enlisted every genius, it spoke every language. Chance or Providence had +decided that this period, which elsewhere was almost barren, should be +the age of France. From the end of the reign of Louis XIV. to the +commencement of the reign of Louis XVI., nature had been prodigal of men +to France. This brilliancy continued by so many geniuses of the first +order, from Corneille to Voltaire, from Bossuet to Rousseau, from +Fenelon to Bernardin Saint Pierre, had accustomed the people to look on +this side. The focus of the ideas of the world shed thence its +brilliancy. The moral authority of the human mind was no longer at Rome. +The stir, light, direction, were from Paris; the European mind was +French. There was, and there always will be, in the French genius +something more potent than its potency, more luminous than its +splendour; and that is its warmth, its penetrating power of +communicating the attraction which it has, and which it inspires to +Europe. + +The genius of the Spain of Charles V. is high and adventurous, that of +Germany is profound and severe, that of England skilful and proud, that +of France is attractive,--it is in that it has its force. Easily seduced +itself, it easily seduces other people. The other great individualities +of the world of have only their genius. France for a second genius has +its heart, and is prodigal in its thoughts, in its writings, as well as +in its national acts. When Providence wills that one desire shall fire +the world, it is first kindled in a Frenchman's soul. This communicative +quality of the character of this race--this French attraction, as yet +unaltered by the ambition of conquest,--was then the precursory mark of +the age. It seems that a providential instinct turned all the attraction +of Europe towards this point, as if motion and light could only emanate +thence. The only real echoing point of the Continent was Paris. There +the smallest things made great noise, literature was the vehicle of +French influence; there intellectual monarchy had its books, its +theatre, its writings even before it had its heroes. + +Conquering by its intelligence, its printing-presses were its army. + + +IX. + +The parties who divided the country after the death of Mirabeau were +thus distributed; out of the Assembly, the Court, and the Jacobins; in +the Assembly the right side and the left side, and between these two +extreme parties--the one fanatic by its innovations, the other fanatic +from its resistance,--there was an intermediate party, consisting of the +men of substance and peace belonging to both these parties. Their views +moderate, and wavering between revolution and conservatism, desired that +the one should conquer without violence, and the other concede without +vindictiveness. These were the philosophers of the Revolution,--but it +was not the hour for philosophy, it was the hour of victory; the two +ideas required champions, not judges; they crushed men in their +encounter. Let us enumerate the principal chiefs of the contending +parties, and make them known before we bring them into action. + +King Louis XVI. was then only thirty-seven years of age; his features +resembled those of his race, rendered somewhat heavy by the German blood +of his mother, a princess of the house of Saxony. Fine blue eyes, very +wide open, and clear rather than dazzling, a round and retreating +forehead, a Roman nose, the nostrils flaccid and large, and somewhat +destroying the energy of the aquiline profile, a mouth smiling and +gracious in expression, lips thick, but well shaped, a fine skin, fresh +and high-coloured in tint, though rather loose; of short stature, stout +frame, timid carriage, irregular walk, and, when not moving, a +restlessness of body in shifting first one foot and then the other +without advancing--a habit contracted either from that impatience common +to princes compelled to undergo long audiences, or else the outward +token of the constant wavering of an undecided mind. In his person there +was an expression of _bonhommie_ more vulgar than royal, which at the +first glance inspired as much derision as veneration, and on which his +enemies seized with contemptuous perversity, in order to show to the +people in the features of their ruler the visible and personal sign of +those vices they sought to destroy in royalty; in the _tout ensemble_ +some resemblance to the imperial physiognomy of the later Caesars at the +period of the fall of things and races,--the mildness of Antoninus, with +the vast obesity of Vitellius;--this was precisely the man. + + +X. + +This young prince had been educated in complete solitude at the court of +Louis XV. The atmosphere which had infected the age had not touched his +heir. Whilst Louis XV. had changed his court into a place of ill-fame, +his grandson, educated in a corner of the palace of Meudon by pious and +enlightened masters, grew up in respect for his rank, in awe of the +throne, and in a real love for the people whom he was one day to be +called upon to govern. The soul of Fenelon seemed to have traversed two +generations of kings in the palace where he had brought up the Duke of +Burgundy, in order to inspire the education of his descendant. What was +nearest the crowned vice upon the throne was perhaps the most pure of +any thing in France. If the age had not been as dissolute as the king, +it would have directed his love in that direction. He had reached that +point of corruption in which purity appears ridiculous, and modesty was +treated with contempt. + +Married at twenty years of age to a daughter of Maria Theresa of +Austria, the young prince had continued until his accession to the +throne in his life of domestic retirement, study, and isolation. Europe +was slumbering in a disgraceful peace. War, that exercise of princes, +could not thus form him by contact with men and the custom of command. +Fields of battle, which are the theatre of great actors of his stamp, +had not brought him under the observation of his people. No _prestige_, +except the circumstance of birth, clung to him. His sole popularity was +derived from the disgust inspired by his grandfather. He occasionally +had the esteem of his people, but never their favour. Upright and +well-informed, he called to him sterling honesty and clear intelligence +in the person of Turgot. But with the philosophic sentiment of the +necessity of reforms, the prince had not the feeling of a reformer; he +had neither the genius nor the boldness; nor had his ministers more than +himself. They raised all questions without settling any, accumulated +storms, without giving them any impulse, and the tempests were doomed to +be eventually directed against themselves. From M. de Maurepas to M. +Turgot, from M. Turgot to M. de Calonne, from M. de Calonne to M. +Necker, from M. Necker to M. de Malesherbes, he floated from an honest +man to an _intriguant_, from a philosopher to a banker, whilst the +spirit of system and charlatanism ill supplied the spirit of government. +God, who had given many men of notoriety during this reign, had refused +it a statesman; all was promise and deception. The court clamoured, +impatience seized on the nation, and violent convulsions followed. The +Assembly of Notables, States General, National Assembly, had all burst +in the hands of royalty; a revolution emanated from his good intentions +more fierce and more irritable than if it had been the consequence of +his vices. At the time when the king had this revolution before him in +the National Assembly, he had not in his councils one man, not only +capable of resisting but even of comprehending it. Men really strong +prefer in such moments to be rather the popular ministers of the nation +than the bucklers of the king. + + +XI. + +M. de Montmorin was devoted to the king, but had no credit with the +nation. The ministry had neither the initiative nor opposition; the +initiative was in the hands of the Jacobins, and the executive power +with the mob. The king, without an organ, without privilege, without +force, had merely the odious responsibility of anarchy. He was the butt +against which all parties directed the hate or rage of the people. He +had the privilege of every accusation; whilst from the tribune Mirabeau, +Barnave, Petion, Lameth, and Robespierre, eloquently threatened the +throne; infamous pamphlets, factious journals painted the king in the +colours of a tyrant who was brutalised by wine, who lent himself to +every caprice of an abandoned woman, and who conspired in the recesses +of his palace with the enemies of the nation. In the sinister feeling of +his coming fall, the stoical virtue of this prince sufficed for the +calming of his conscience, but was not adequate to his resolutions. On +leaving the council of his ministers, where he loyally accomplished the +constitutional conditions of his character, he sought, sometimes in the +friendship of his devoted servants, sometimes from the very persons of +his enemies, admitted by stealth to his confidence, the most important +inspirations. Counsels succeeded to counsels, and contradicted one +another in the royal ear, as their results contradicted each other in +their operations. His enemies suggested concessions, promising him a +popularity, which escaped their hands just as they were about to ensure +it to him. The court counselled the resistance which it had only in its +dreams; the queen the courage she felt in her soul; intriguants, +corruption, the timid, flight; and in turns, and almost at the same +time, he tried all these expedients: not one was efficacious; the time +for useful resolutions had passed,--the crisis was without remedy. It +was necessary to choose between life and the throne. In endeavouring to +preserve the two, it was written that he should lose both. + +When we place ourselves in imagination in the position of Louis XVI., +and ask what could have saved him? we reply disheartened--nothing. There +are circumstances which enfold all a man's movements in such a snare, +that, whatever direction he may take, he falls into the fatality of his +faults or his virtues. This was the dilemma of Louis XVI. All the +unpopularity of royalty in France, all the faults of preceding +administrations, all the vices of kings, all the shame of courts, all +the griefs of the people, were as it were accumulated on his head, and +marked his innocent brow for the expiation of many ages. Epochs have +their sacrifices as well as their religions. When they desire to recast +an institution which no longer suits them, they pile upon the individual +who personifies this institution all the odium and all the condemnation +of the institution itself,--they make of this man a victim whom they +sacrifice to the time. Louis XVI. was this innocent sacrifice, +overwhelmed with all the iniquities of thrones, and destined to be +immolated as a chastisement for royalty. Such was the king. + + +XII. + +The queen seemed to be created by nature to contrast with the king, and +to attract for ever the interest and pity of ages to one of those state +dramas, which are incomplete unless the miseries and misfortunes of a +woman mingle in them. Daughter of Maria Theresa, she had commenced her +life in the storms of the Austrian monarchy. She was one of the children +whom the Empress held by the hand when she presented herself as a +supplicant before her faithful Hungarians, and the troops exclaimed, "We +will die for our king, Maria Theresa." Her daughter, too, had the heart +of a king. On her arrival in France, her beauty had dazzled the whole +kingdom,--a beauty then in all its splendour. The two children whom she +had given to the throne, far from impairing her good looks, added to the +attractions of her person that character of maternal majesty which so +well becomes the mother of a nation. The presentiment of her +misfortunes, the recollection of the tragic scenes of Versailles, the +uneasiness of each day somewhat diminished her youthful freshness. She +was tall, slim, and graceful,--a real daughter of Tyrol. Her naturally +majestic carriage in no way impaired the grace of her movements; her +neck rising elegantly and distinctly from her shoulders gave expression +to every attitude. The woman was perceptible beneath the queen, the +tenderness of heart was not lost in the elevation of her destiny. Her +light brown hair was long and silky, her forehead, high and rather +projecting, was united to her temples by those fine curves which give so +much delicacy and expression to that seat of thought or the soul in +women; her eyes of that clear blue which recall the skies of the North +or the waters of the Danube; an aquiline nose, with nostrils open and +slightly projecting, where emotions palpitate and courage is evidenced; +a large mouth, brilliant teeth, Austrian lips, that is, projecting and +well defined; an oval countenance, animated, varying, impassioned, and +the _ensemble_ of these features replete with that expression impossible +to describe which emanates from the look, the shades, the reflections of +the face, which encompasses it with an iris like that of the warm and +tinted vapour which bathes objects in full sunlight--the extreme +loveliness which the ideal conveys, and which by giving it life +increases its attraction. With all these charms, a soul yearning to +attach itself, a heart easily moved, but yet earnest in desire to fix +itself; a pensive and intelligent smile, with nothing of vacuity in it, +nothing of preference or mere acquaintanceship in it, because it felt +itself worthy of friendships. Such was Marie-Antoinette as a woman. + + +XIII. + +It was enough to form the happiness of a man and the ornament of a +court: to inspire a wavering monarch, and be the safeguard of a state +under trying circumstances, something more is requisite. The genius of +government is required, and the queen had it not. Nothing could have +prepared her for the regulation of the disordered elements which were +about her; misfortune had given her no time for reflection. Hailed with +enthusiasm by a perverse court and an ardent nation, she must have +believed in the eternity of such sentiments. She was lulled to sleep in +the dissipations of the Trianon. She had heard the first threatenings of +the tempest without believing in its dangers: she had trusted in the +love she inspired, and which she felt in her own heart. The court had +become exacting, the nation hostile. The instrument of the intrigues of +the court on the heart of the king, she had at first favoured and then +opposed all reforms which prevented or delayed the crises that arose. +Her policy was but infatuation; her system but the perpetual abandonment +of herself to every partisan who promised her the king's safety. The +Comte D'Artois, a youthful prince, chivalrous in etiquette, had much +influence with her. He relied greatly on the noblesse; made frequent +references to his sword. He laughed at the crises: he disdained this war +of words, caballed against ministers, and treated passing events with +levity. The queen, intoxicated with the adulation of those around her, +urged the king to recall the next day what he had conceded on the +previous evening. Her hand was felt in all the transactions of the +government: her apartments were the focus of a perpetual conspiracy +against the government; the nation detected it, and ultimately detested +her. + +Her name became for the people the phantom of all counter-revolution. We +are apt to calumniate what we fear. She was depicted under the features +of a Messalina. The most infamous pamphlets were in circulation; the +most scandalous anecdotes were credited. She may be accused of +tenderness, but never of depravity. Lovely, young, and adored, if her +heart did not remain insensible, her innermost feelings, innocent +perhaps, never gave just ground for open scandal. History has its +modesty, and we will not violate it. + + +XIV. + +On the days of the 5th and 6th of October the queen perceived (too late) +the enmity of the people; her heart must have been full of vengeance. +Emigration commenced, and she viewed it favourably. All her friends were +at Coblentz; she was believed to be in close connection with them, and +this belief was true. Stories of an Austrian committee were busily +spread amongst the people. The queen was accused of conspiring for the +destruction of the nation, who at every moment demanded her head. A +people in revolt must have some one to hate, and they handed over to her +the queen. Her name was the theme of their songs of rage. One woman was +the enemy of a whole nation, and her pride disdained to undeceive them. +She inclosed herself in her resentment and her terror. Imprisoned in the +palace of the Tuileries, she could not put her head out of window +without provoking an outrage and hearing insult. Every noise in the city +made her apprehensive of an insurrection. Her days were melancholy, her +nights disturbed: she underwent hourly agony for two years, and that +anguish was magnified in her heart by her love for her two children, and +her disquietude for the king. Her court was forsaken; she saw none but +the shadows of authority; the ministers forced on her by M. de La +Fayette, before whom she was compelled to mask her countenance in +smiles. Her apartments were watched by spies in the guise of servants. +It was necessary to mislead them, in order to have interviews with the +few friends who remained to her. Private staircases, dark corridors, +were the means by which at night her secret counsellors obtained access +to her. These meetings resembled conspiracies; she left them every time +with a different train of ideas, which she communicated to the king, +whose behaviour thus acquired the incoherence of a woman persecuted and +distressed. Measures of resistance, bribing the Assembly, an entire +surrender of the constitution, attempts by force, an assumption of royal +dignity, repentance, weakness, terror, and flight,--all were discussed, +planned, decided on, prepared and abandoned, on the same day. Women, so +sublime in their devotion, are seldom capable of the continuous firmness +of mind--the imperturbability requisite for a political plan. Their +politics are in their heart, their passions trench so closely on their +reason. Of all the virtues which a throne requires they have but +courage; often heroes, they are never statesmen. The queen was another +example of this: she did the king incredible mischief. With a mind +infinitely superior, with more soul, more character than he, her +superiority only served to inspire him with mischievous counsels. She +was at once the charm of his misfortunes and the genius of his +destruction; she conducted him step by step to the scaffold, but she +ascended it with him. + + +XV. + +The right side in the National Assembly consisted of men, the natural +opponents of the movement, the nobility and higher clergy. All, however, +were not of the same rank nor the same title. Seditions are found +amongst the lower rank, revolutions in the higher. Seditions are but the +angry workings of the people--revolutions are the ideas of the epoch. +Ideas begin in the head of the nation. The French Revolution was a +generous thought of the aristocracy. This thought fell into the hands of +the people, who framed of it a weapon against the _noblesse_, the +throne, and religion. The philosophy of the saloons became revolt in the +streets: nevertheless all the great houses of the kingdom had given +apostles to the first dogmata of the Revolution: the States General, the +ancient theatre of the importance and triumphs of the higher nobility, +had tempted the ambition of their heirs, and they had marched in the van +of the reformers. _Esprit de corps_ could not restrain them when the +question of uniting with the Tiers Etat had been invoked. The +Montmorencies, Noailles, La Rochefoucaulds, Clermont Tonnerres, Lally +Tollendals, Virieux, d'Aiguillons, Lauzans, Montesquieus, Lameths, +Mirabeaus, the Duc d'Orleans, first prince of the blood, the Count de +Provence, brother of the king, king himself afterwards as Louis XVIII., +had given an impulse to the boldest innovations. They had each borrowed +their momentary popularity from principles easier to enunciate than +restrain, and that popularity had nearly forsaken them all. So soon as +these theorists of speculative revolution saw that they were carried +away in the torrent, they attempted to ascend the stream from whose +source they had started; some again surrounded the throne, others had +emigrated after the days of the 5th and 6th of October. Others, more +firm, remained in their places in the National Assembly; they fought +without a hope, but still defended a fallen cause, gloriously resolute +to maintain at least a monarchical power, and abandoning to the people, +without a struggle, the spoils of the nobility and the church. Amongst +these are Cazales, the Abbe Maury, Malouet, and Clermont Tonnerre: they +were the distinguished orators of this expiring party. + +Clermont Tonnerre and Malouet were rather statesmen than orators; their +cautious and reflective language weighed only on the reason; they sought +for the mean between liberty and monarchy, and believed they had found +it in the system of the Two Houses of English Legislature. The _moderes_ +of the two parties listened to them respectfully; like all half parties +and half talents, they excited neither hatred nor anger; but events did +not listen to them, but thrusting them aside, advanced towards results +that were utterly absolute. Maury and Cazales, less philosophic, were +the two champions of the right side; different in character, their +oratorical powers were much on a par. Maury represented the clergy, of +which body he was a member; Cazales, the _noblesse_, to whom he +belonged. The one, Maury, early trained to struggles of polemical +theology, had sharpened and polished in the pulpit the eloquence he was +to bring into the tribune. Sprung from the lowest ranks of the people, +he only belonged to the _ancien regime_ by his garb, and defended +religion and the monarchy as two texts, imposed upon him as themes for +discourses. His conviction was the part he played; any other appointed +character would have suited equally well; yet he sustained with +unflinching courage and admirable consistency that which had been "set +down for him." + +Devoted from his youth to serious studies, endowed with abundant flow of +words, striking and vivid in his language, his harangues were perfect +treatises on the subjects he discussed. The only rival of Mirabeau, he +needed but a cause more natural and more sterling to have become his +equal: but sophistry could not deck abuses in colours more specious than +those with which Maury invested the _ancien regime_. + +Historical erudition and sacred learning supplied him with ample sources +of argument. The boldness of his character and language inspired words +which even avenge a defeat, and his fine countenance, his sonorous +voice, his commanding gesture, the defiance and good temper with which +he braved the tribunes, frequently drew down the applauses of his +enemies. The people, who recognised his invincible strength, were amused +at his impotent opposition. Maury was to them as one of those gladiators +whom they like to see fight, although well knowing that they must perish +in the strife. One thing was wanting to the Abbe Maury,--weight to his +eloquence; neither his birth, his faith, nor his life inspired respect +in those who listened. The actor was visible in the man, the advocate in +the cause, the orator and his language were not identified. Strip the +Abbe Maury of the habit of his order, and he might have changed sides +without a struggle, and have taken his seat amongst the innovators. Such +orators grace a party, they never save it. + + +XVI. + +Cazales was one of those men who are themselves ignorant of their own +powers until the hour arrives when circumstances call forth their +genius, and assign to them a duty. An obscure officer in the ranks of +the army, chance, which cast him into the tribune, revealed the orator. +He did not inquire which side he should defend; noble, the _noblesse_; +royalist, the king; a subject, the throne. His position made his creed; +he bore in the Assembly the character and qualities of his uniform. +Language to him was only another sword, and in all the spirit of +chivalry, he devoted it to the cause of Monarchy. Indolent and +ill-educated, his natural good sense supplied the place of study. His +monarchical faith was by no means fanaticism of the past: it admitted +the modifications conceded by the king himself, and which were +compatible with the inviolability of the throne and the working of the +executive power. From Mirabeau to him the difference of the first +principle was not wide apart, only one decried it as an aristocrat, and +the other as a democrat. The one flung himself headlong into the midst +of the people, the other attached himself to the steps of the throne. +The characteristic of Cazales' eloquence was that of a desperate cause. +He protested more than he discussed, and opposed to the triumphs of +violence on the _cote gauche_, his ironic defiance, his bursts of bitter +indignation, which for the moment acquired admiration, but never led to +victory. To him the _noblesse_ owed that it fell with glory; the throne, +with majesty: and his eloquence attained something that was heroic. + +Behind these two men there was only a party, soured by ill-fortune, +discouraged by its isolation from the nation, odious to the people, +useless to the throne, feeding on vain illusions, and only preserving of +its fallen power the resentment of injuries, and that insolence which +was perpetually provoking fresh humiliations. The hopes of this party +were entirely sustained by their reliance on the armed intervention of +foreign powers. Louis XVI. was in their eyes a prisoner king, whom +Europe would come and deliver from his thraldom. With them, patriotism +and honour were at Coblentz. Overcome by numbers, without skilful +leaders who understood how to gain immortal names by timely retreats; +with no strength to contend against the spirit of the age and refusing +to move with it, the _cote droit_ could only call for vengeance, its +political power was now confined to an imprecation. + +The left side lost at one blow its leader and controller; in Mirabeau +the national man had ceased to exist, and only the men of party +remained, and they were Barnave and the two Lameths. These men humbled, +rebuked, before the ascendency of Mirabeau, had attempted, long before +his death, to balance the sovereignty of his genius by the exaggeration +of their doctrines and harangues. Mirabeau was but the apostle--they +would fain have been the faction-leaders of the time. Jealous of his +influence, they would have crushed his talents beneath the superiority +of their popularity. Mediocrity thinks to equal genius by outraging +reason. A diminution of thirty or forty votes had taken place in the +left side. This was the work of Barnave and the Lameths. The club of the +friends of the constitution become the Jacobin Club, responded to them +from without. The popular agitation excited by them was restrained by +Mirabeau, who rallied against them the left, the centre, and the +intelligent members of the right side. They conspired, they caballed, +they fomented divisions in opinion all the more that they had not +control in the Assembly. + +Mirabeau was dead, and now the field was open to them. The +Lameths--courtiers, educated by the kindness of the royal family, +overwhelmed by the favours and pensions of the king, had the conspicuous +defection of Mirabeau without having the excuse of his wrongs against +the monarchy: this defection was one of their titles to popular favour. +Clever men, they carried with them into the national cause the conduct +of Courts in which they had been brought up: still their love of the +Revolution was disinterested and sincere. Their eminent talents did not +equal their ambition. Crushed by Mirabeau, they stirred up against him +all those whom the shadow of that great man eclipsed in common with +themselves. They sought for a rival to oppose to him, and found only men +who envied him. Barnave presented himself, and they surrounded him, +applauded him, intoxicated him with his self-importance. They persuaded +him for a moment that phrases were politics, and that a rhetorician was +a statesman. + +Mirabeau was great enough not to fear, and just enough not to despise +him. Barnave, a young barrister of Dauphine, had made his _debut_ with +much effect in the struggles between the parliament and the throne which +had agitated his province, and displayed on small theatres the eloquence +of men of the bar. Sent at thirty years of age to the States General, +with Mounier his patron and master, he had soon quitted Mounier and the +monarchical party, and made himself conspicuous amongst the democratic +division. A word of sinister import which escaped not from his heart, +but from his lips, weighed on his conscience with remorse. "Is then the +blood that flows so pure?" he exclaimed at the first murder of the +Revolution. This phrase had branded him on the brow with the mark of a +ringleader of faction. Barnave was not this, or only as much so as was +necessary for the success of his discourses; nothing in him was extreme +but the orator: the man was by no means so, neither was he at all cruel. +Studious, but without imagination; copious, but without warmth, his +intellect was mediocre, his mind honest, his will variable, his heart in +the right place. His talent, which they affected to compare with +Mirabeau's, was nothing more than a power of skilfully rivetting public +attention. His habit of pleading gave him, with its power of extempore +speaking, an apparent superiority which vanished before reflection, +Mirabeau's enemies had created him a pedestal on their hatred, and +magnified his importance to make the comparison closer. When reduced to +his actual stature, it was easy to recognise the distance that existed +between the man of the nation, and the man of the bar. + +Barnave had the misfortune to be the great man of a mediocre party, and +the hero of an envious faction: he deserved a better destiny, which he +subsequently acquired. + + +XVII. + +Still deeper in the shade, and behind the chief of the National +Assembly, a man almost unknown began to move, agitated by uneasy +thoughts which seemed to forbid him to be silent and unmoved; he spoke +on all occasions, and attacked all speakers indifferently, including +Mirabeau himself. Driven from the tribune, he ascended it next day: +overwhelmed with sarcasm, coughed down, disowned by all parties, lost +amongst the eminent champions who fixed public attention, he was +incessantly beaten, but never dispirited. It might have been said, that +an inward and prophetic genius revealed to him the vanity of all talent, +and the omnipotence of a firm will and unwearied patience, and that an +inward voice said to him, "These men who despise thee are thine: all the +changes of this Revolution which now will not deign to look upon thee, +will eventually terminate in thee, for thou hast placed thyself in the +way like the inevitable excess, in which all impulse ends." + +This man was Robespierre. + +There are abysses that we dare not sound, and characters we desire not +to fathom, for fear of finding in them too great darkness, too much +horror; but history, which has the unflinching eye of time, must not be +chilled by these terrors, she must understand whilst she undertakes to +recount. Maximilien Robespierre was born at Arras, of a poor family, +honest and respectable; his father, who died in Germany, was of English +origin. This may explain the shade of Puritanism in his character. The +bishop of Arras had defrayed the cost of his education. Young Maximilien +had distinguished himself on leaving college by a studious life, and +austere manners. Literature and the bar shared his time. The philosophy +of Jean Jacques Rousseau had made a profound impression on his +understanding; the philosophy, falling upon an active imagination, had +not remained a dead letter; it had become in him a leading principle, a +faith, a fanaticism. In the strong mind of a sectarian, all conviction +becomes a thing apart. Robespierre was the Luther of politics: and in +obscurity he brooded over the confused thoughts of a renovation of the +social world, and the religious world, as a dream which unavailingly +beset his youth, when the Revolution came to offer him what destiny +always offers to those who watch her progress, opportunity. He seized on +it. He was named deputy of the third estate in the States General. Alone +perhaps among all these men who opened at Versailles the first scene of +this vast drama, he foresaw the termination; like the soul, whose seat +in the human frame philosophers have not discovered, the thought of an +entire people sometimes concentrates itself in the individual, the least +known in the great mass. We should not despise any, for the finger of +Destiny marks in the soul and not upon the brow. Robespierre had +nothing: neither birth, nor genius nor exterior which should point him +out to men's notice. There was nothing conspicuous about him; his +limited talent had only shone at the bar or in provincial academies; a +few verbal harangues filled with a tame and almost rustic philosophy, +some bits of cold and affected poetry, had vainly displayed his name in +the insignificance of the literary productions of the day: he was more +than unknown, he was mediocre and contemned. His features presented +nothing which could attract attention, when gazing round in a large +assembly: there was no sign in visible characters of this power which +was all within; he was the last word of the Revolution, but no one could +read him. + +Robespierre's figure was small, his limbs feeble and angular, his step +irresolute, his attitudes affected, his gestures destitute of harmony or +grace; his voice, rather shrill, aimed at oratorical inflexions, but +only produced fatigue and monotony; his forehead was good, but small and +extremely projecting above the temples, as if the mass and embarrassed +movement of his thoughts had enlarged it by their efforts; his eyes, +much covered by their lids and very sharp at the extremities, were +deeply buried in the cavities of their orbits; they gave out a soft blue +hue, but it was vague and unfixed, like a steel reflector on which a +light glances; his nose straight and small was very wide at the +nostrils, which were high and too expanded; his mouth was large, his +lips thin and disagreeably contracted at each corner; his chin small and +pointed, his complexion yellow and livid, like that of an invalid or a +man worn out by vigils and meditations. The habitual expression of this +visage was that of superficial serenity on a serious mind, and a smile +wavering betwixt sarcasm and condescension. There was softness, but of a +sinister character. The prevailing characteristic of this countenance +was the prodigious and continual tension of brow, eyes, mouth, and all +the facial muscles; in regarding him it was perceptible that the whole +of his features, like the labour of his mind, converged incessantly on a +single point with such power that there was no waste of will in his +temperament, and he appeared to foresee all he desired to accomplish, as +though he had already the reality before his eyes. Such then was the man +destined to absorb in himself all those men, and make them his victims +after he had used them as his instruments. He was of no party, but of +all parties which in their turn served his ideal of the Revolution. In +this his power consisted, for parties paused but he never did. He placed +this ideal as an end to reach in every revolutionary movement, and +advanced towards it with those who sought to attain it; then, this goal +reached, he placed it still further off, and again marched forward with +other men, continually advancing without ever deviating, ever pausing, +ever retreating. The Revolution, decimated in its progress, must one day +or other inevitably arrive at a last stage, and he desired it +should end in himself. He was the entire incorporation of the +Revolution,--principles, thoughts, passions, impulses. Thus +incorporating himself wholly with it, he compelled it one day to +incorporate itself in him--that day was a distant one. + + +XVIII. + +Robespierre, who had often struggled against Mirabeau with Duport, the +Lameths, and Barnave, began to separate himself from them as soon as +they appeared to predominate in the Assembly. He formed, with Petion and +some others of small note, a small band of opposition, radically +democratic, who encouraged the Jacobins without, and menaced Barnave and +the Lameths whenever they ventured to pause. Petion and Robespierre in +the Assembly, Brissot and Danton at the Jacobin Club, formed the nucleus +of the new party which was destined to accelerate the movement and +speedily to convert it into convulsions and catastrophes. + +Petion was a popular Lafayette: popularity was his aim, and he acquired +it earlier than Robespierre. A barrister without talent but upright, he +had imbibed no more of philosophy than the Social Contract; young, good +looking and a patriot, he was destined to become one of those +complaisant idols of whom the people make what they please except a man; +his credit in the streets and amongst the Jacobins gave him a certain +amount of authority in the Assembly, where he was listened to as the +significant echo of the will out of doors. Robespierre affected to +respect him. + + +XIX. + +The constitution was completed, the regal power was but a mere name, the +king was but the executive of the orders of the national representation, +his ministers only responsible hostages in the hands of the Assembly. +The vices of this constitution were evident before it was entirely +finished. Voted in the rage of parties, it was not a constitution, it +was a vengeance of the people against the monarchy, the throne only +existing as the substitute of a unique power which was every where +instituted, but which no one yet dared to name. The people, parties, +trembled lest on removing the throne they should behold an abyss in +which the nation would be engulphed: it was thus tacitly agreed to +respect its forms, though they daily despoiled and insulted the +unfortunate monarch whom they kept chained to it. + +Things were at that point where they have no possible termination except +in a catastrophe. The army, without discipline, added but another +element to the popular ferment: forsaken by its officers, who emigrated +in masses, the subalterns seized upon democracy and propagated it in +their ranks. Affiliated in every garrison with the Jacobin Club, they +received from it their orders, and made of their troops soldiers of +anarchy, accomplices of faction. The people to whom they had cast as a +prey the feudal rights of the nobility and the tithes of the clergy, +feared to have wrested from it what it held with disquietude, and saw in +every direction plots which it anticipated by crimes. The sudden burst +of liberty, for which it was not prepared, agitated without +strengthening it: it evinced all the vices of enfranchised men without +having got the virtues of the free man. The whole of France was but one +vast sedition: anarchy swayed the state, and in order that it might be, +as it were, self-governed, it had created its government in as many +clubs as there were large municipalities in the kingdom. The dominant +club was that of the Jacobins: this club was the centralisation of +anarchy. So soon as a powerful and high passioned will moves a nation, +their common impulse brings men together; individuality ceases, and the +legal or illegal association organises the public prejudice. Popular +societies thus have birth. At the first menaces of the court against the +States General, certain Breton deputies had a meeting at Versailles, and +formed a society to detect the plots of the court and assure the +triumphs of liberty: its founders were Sieyes, Chapelier, Barnave, and +Lameth. After the 5th and 6th of October, the Breton Club, transported +to Paris in the train of the National Assembly, had there assumed the +more forcible name of "Society of the Friends of the Constitution." It +held its sittings in the old convent of the Jacobins Saint Honore, not +far from the Manege, where the National Assembly sat. The deputies, who +had founded it at the beginning for themselves, now opened their doors +to journalists, revolutionary writers, and finally to all citizens. The +presentation by two of its members, and an open scrutiny as to the moral +character of the person proposed, were the sole conditions of admission: +the public was admitted to the sittings by inspectors, who examined the +admission card. A set of rules, an office, a president, a corresponding +committee, secretaries, an order of the day, a tribune, and orators, +gave to these meetings all the forms of deliberative assemblies: they +were assemblies of the people only without elections and responsibility; +feeling alone gave them authority: instead of framing laws they formed +opinion. + +The sittings took place in the evening, so that the people should not be +prevented from attending in consequence of their daily labour: the acts +of the National Assembly, the events of the moment, the examination of +social questions, frequently accusations against the king, ministers, +the _cote droit_; were the texts of the debates. Of all the passions of +the people, there hatred was the most flattered; they made it suspicious +in order to subject it. Convinced that all was conspiring against +it,--king, queen, court, ministers, authorities, foreign powers,--it +threw itself headlong into the arms of its defenders. The most eloquent +in its eyes was he who inspired it with most dread--it had a parching +thirst for denunciations, and they were lavished on it with prodigal +hand. It was thus that Barnave, the Lameths, then Danton, Marat, +Brissot, Camille Desmoulins, Petion, Robespierre, had acquired their +authority over the people. These names had increased in reputation as +the anger of the people grew hotter; they cherished their wrath in order +to retain their greatness. The nightly sittings of the Jacobins and the +Cordeliers frequently stifled the echo of the sittings of the National +Assembly: the minority, beaten at the Manege, came to protest, accuse, +threaten at the Jacobins. + +Mirabeau himself, accused by Lameth on the subject of the law of +emigration, came a few days before his death to listen face to face to +the invectives of his denouncer, and had not disdained to justify +himself. The clubs were the exterior strength, where the factious of the +assembly gave the support of their names in order to intimidate the +national representation. The national representation had only the laws; +the club had the people, sedition, and even the army. + + +XX. + +This expression of public opinion, thus organised into a permanent +association at every point in the empire, gave an electric shock which +nothing could resist. A motion made in Paris was echoed from club to +club to the extremest provinces. The same spark lighted at once the same +passion in millions of souls. All the societies corresponded with one +another and with the mother society. The impulse was communicated and +the response was felt every day. It was the government of factions +enfolding in their nets the government of the law; but the law was mute +and invisible, whilst faction was erect and eloquent. Let us imagine one +of these sittings, at which the citizens, already agitated by the stormy +air of the period, took their places at the close of day in one of those +naves recently devoted to another worship. Some candles, brought by the +affiliated, scarcely lighted up the gloomy place; naked walls, wooden +benches, a tribune instead of an altar. Around this tribune some +favoured orators pressed in order to speak. A crowd of citizens of all +classes, of all costumes, rich, poor, soldiers, workpeople; women, to +create excitement, enthusiasm, tenderness, tears whenever they enter; +children, whom they raise in their arms as if to make them inspire, with +their earliest breath, the feelings of an irritated people: a gloomy +silence interrupted by shouts, applause, or hisses, just as the speaker +is loved or hated: then inflammatory discourses shaking to the very +centre by phrases of magical effect, the passions of this mob new to all +the effects of eloquence. The enthusiasm real in some, feigned in +others; stirring propositions, patriotic gifts, civic crowns, busts of +leading republicans paraded round, symbols of superstition, and +aristocracy burnt, songs loudly vociferated by demagogues in chorus at +the opening of each sitting. What people, even in a time of +tranquillity, could have resisted the pulsations of this fever, whose +throbbings were daily renewed from the end of 1790 in every city in the +kingdom? It was the rule of fanaticism preceding the reign of terror. + +Thus was the Jacobin Club organised. + + +XXI. + +The club of the Cordeliers, which is sometimes confounded with that of +the Jacobins, even surpassed it in turbulence and demagogism. Marat and +Danton ruled there. + +The moderate constitutional party had also attempted its clubs, but +passion is wanting to defensive societies; it is only the offensive that +groups in factions; and thus the former expired of themselves until the +establishment of the Club of Feuillants. The people drove away with a +shower of stones the first meeting of the deputies, at M. De Clermont +Tonnerres. Barnave reproached his colleagues in the tribune, and +devoted them to public execration with the same voice which had raised +and rallied the _Friends of the Constitution_. Liberty was as yet but a +partial arm, which was unblushingly broken in the hands of an opponent. + +What remained to the king thus pressed between an assembly, which had +usurped all the executive functions, and those factious clubs, which +usurped to themselves all the rights of representation? Placed without +adequate strength between two rival powers, he was only there to receive +the blows of each in the struggle, and to be cast as a daily sacrifice +to popularity by the National Assembly; one power alone still maintained +the shadow of the throne and exterior order, the national guard of +Paris. But the national guard, which as a neutral force, whose only law +was in public opinion, and was wavering itself between factions and the +monarchy, might very well maintain safety in a public place, was unable +to serve as a strong and independent support to political power. It was +itself of the people; every serious intervention against the will of the +people, appeared to it as sacrilege. It was a body of municipal police; +it could never again be the army of the throne or the constitution; it +was born of itself on the day after the 14th of July on the steps of the +Hotel de Ville, and it received no orders but from the municipality. The +municipality had assigned M. de La Fayette as its head--nor could it +have chosen better: an honest people, directed by its instinct, could +not have selected a man who would represent it more faithfully. + + +XXII. + +The marquis de La Fayette was a patrician, possessor of an immense +fortune, and allied, through his wife, daughter of the Duc d'Ayen, with +the greatest families of the court. Born at Chavaignac in Auvergne on +the 6th of September, 1757, married at sixteen years of age, a +precocious instinct of renown drove him in 1777 from his own country. It +was at the period of the war of Independence in America; the name of +Washington resounded throughout the two continents. A youth dreamed the +same destiny for himself in the delights of the effeminate court of +Louis XV.; that youth was La Fayette. He privately fitted out two +vessels with arms and provisions, and arrived at Boston. Washington +hailed him as he would have hailed the open succour of France. It was +France without its flag. La Fayette and the young officers who followed +him assured him of the secret wishes of a great people for the +independence of the new world. The American general employed M. de La +Fayette in this long war, the least of whose skirmishes assumed in +traversing the seas the importance of a great battle. The American war, +more remarkable for its results than its campaigns, was more fitted to +form republicans than warriors. M. de La Fayette joined in it with +heroism and devotion: he acquired the friendship of Washington. A French +name was written by him on the baptismal register of a transatlantic +nation. This name came back to France like the echo of liberty and +glory. That popularity which seizes on all that is brilliant, was +accorded to La Fayette on his return to his native land, and quite +intoxicated the young hero. Opinion adopted him, the opera applauded +him, actresses crowned him; the queen smiled upon him, the king created +him a general; Franklin, made him a citizen, and national enthusiasm +elevated him into its idol. This excess of public estimation decided his +life. La Fayette found this popularity so sweet that he could not +consent to lose it. Applause, however, is by no means glory, and +subsequently he deserved that which he acquired. He gave to democracy +that of which it was worthy, honesty. + +On the 14th of July M. de La Fayette was ready for elevation on the +shields of the _bourgeoisie_ of Paris. A _frondeur_ of the court, a +revolutionist of high family, an aristocrat by birth, a democrat in +principles, radiant with military renown acquired beyond seas, he united +in his own person many qualities for rallying around him a civic +militia, and for becoming the natural chief of an army of citizens. His +American glory shone forth brilliantly in Paris. Distance increases +every reputation--his was immense; it comprised and eclipsed all; +Necker, Mirabeau, the Duc d'Orleans, the three most popular men in +Paris,--all + + Paled their ineffectual fires + +before La Fayette, whose name was the nation's for three years. Supreme +arbiter, he carried into the Assembly his authority as commandant of the +national guard; his authority, as an influential member of the Assembly. +Of these two conjoined titles be made a real dictatorship of opinion. As +an orator he was but of slight consideration; his gentle style, though +witty and keen, had nothing of that firm and electric manner which +strikes the senses, makes the heart vibrate and communicates its vigour +and effects to all who listen. Elegant as the language of a drawing room +and overwhelmed in the mazes of diplomatic intrigues, he spoke of +liberty in court phrases. The only parliamentary act of M. La Fayette +was a proclamation of the _rights of man_, which was adopted by the +National Assembly. This decalogue of free men, formed in the forests of +America, contained more metaphysical phrases than sound policy. It +applied as ill to an old society as the nudity of the savage to the +complicated wants of civilised man: but it had the merit of placing man +bare for the moment, and, by showing him what he was and what he was +not, of setting him on the discovery of the real value of his duties and +his rights. It was the cry of the revolt of nature against all +tyrannies. This cry was destined to crumble into dust an old world used +up in servitude, and to produce another new and breathing. It was to La +Fayette's honour that he first proposed it. + +The federation of 1790 was the apogee of M. de La Fayette: on that day +he surpassed both king and assembly. The nation armed and reflective was +there in person, and he commanded it; he could have done every thing and +attempted nothing: the misfortune of that man was in his situation. A +man of transition, his life passed between two ideas; if he had had but +one he could have been master of the destinies of his country. The +monarchy or the republic were alike in his hand; he had but to open it +wide, he only half opened it, and it was only a semi-liberty that issued +from it. In inspiring his country with a desire for a republic, he +defended a constitution and a throne. His principles and his conduct +were in opposition; he was honest, and yet seemed to betray; whilst he +struggled with regret from duty to the monarchy, his heart was in the +republic. Protector of the throne, he was at the same time its bugbear. +One life can only be devoted to one cause. Monarchy and republicanism +had the same esteem, the same wrongs in his mind, and he served for and +against both. He died without having seen either of them triumphant, but +he died virtuous and popular. He had, beside his private virtues, a +public virtue, which will ever be a pardon to his faults, and +immortality to his name; he had before all, more than all, and after +all, the feeling, constancy, and moderation of the Revolution. + +Such was the man and such the army on which reposed the executive power, +the safety of Paris, the constitutional throne, and the life of the +king. + + +XXIII. + +Thus on the 1st of June, 1791, were parties situated, such the men and +things in the midst of which the irresistible spirit of a vast social +renovation advanced with occult and continuous impulse. What but +contention, anarchy, crime, and death, could emanate from such elements! +No party had the reason, no mind had the genius, no soul had the +virtue, no arm had the energy, to control this chaos, and extract from +it justice, truth, and strength. Things will only produce what they +contain. Louis XVI. was upright and devoted to well doing, but he had +not understood, from the very first symptoms of the Revolution, that +there was only one part for the leader of a people, and that was to +place himself in the van of the newly born idea, to forbear any struggle +for the past, and thus to combine in his own person the twofold power of +chief of the nation, and chief of a party. The character of moderation +is only possible on the condition of having already acquired the +unreserved confidence of the party whom it is desired to control. Henri +IV. assumed this character, but it was _after_ victory; had he attempted +it _before_ Ivry, he would have lost, not only the kingdom of France, +but also of Navarre. + +The court was venal, selfish, corrupt; it only defended in the king's +person the sources of its vanities,--profitable exactions. The clergy, +with Christian virtues, had no public virtues: a state within a state, +its life was apart from the life of the nation, its ecclesiastical +establishment seemed to be wholly independent of the monarchical +establishment. It had only rallied round the monarchy, on the day it had +beheld its own fortune compromised; and then it had appealed to the +faith of the people, in order to preserve its wealth; but the people now +only saw in the monks mendicants, and in the bishops extortioners. The +nobility, effeminate by lengthened peace, emigrated in masses, +abandoning their king to his besetting perils, and fully trusting in the +prompt and decisive intervention of foreign powers. The third estate, +jealous and envious, fiercely demanded their place and their rights +amongst the privileged castes; its justice appeared hatred. The Assembly +comprised in its bosom all these weaknesses, all this egotism, all these +vices. Mirabeau was venal, Barnave jealous, Robespierre fanatic, the +Jacobin Club blood-thirsty, the National Guard selfish, La Fayette a +waverer, the government a nullity. No one desired the Revolution but for +his own purpose, and according to his own scheme; and it must have been +wrecked on these shoals a hundred times, if there were not in human +crises something even stronger than the men who appear to guide +them--the will of the event itself. + +The Revolution in all its comprehensive bearings was not understood at +that period by any one except, perchance, Robespierre and the thorough +going democrats. The King viewed it only as a vast reform, the Duc +d'Orleans as a great faction, Mirabeau but in its political point of +view, La Fayette only in its constitutional aspect, the Jacobins as a +vengeance, the mob as the abasing of the higher orders, the nation as a +display of patriotism. None ventured as yet to contemplate its ultimate +consummation. + +All was thus blind, except the Revolution itself. The virtue of the +Revolution was in the idea which forced these men on to accomplish it, +and not in those who actually accomplished it; all its instruments were +vitiated, corrupt, or personal; but the idea was pure, incorruptible, +divine. The vices, passions, selfishness of men were inevitably doomed +to produce in the coming crises those shocks, those violences, those +perversities, and those crimes which are to human passions what +consequences are to principles. + +If each of the parties or men, mixed up from the first day with these +great events had taken their virtue, instead of their impulses as the +rule of their actions, all these disasters which eventually crushed +them, would have been saved to them and to their country. If the king +had been firm and sagacious, if the clergy had been free from a longing +for things temporal, and if the aristocracy had been good; if the people +had been moderate, if Mirabeau had been honest, if La Fayette had been +decided, if Robespierre had been humane, the Revolution would have +progressed, majestic and calm as a heavenly thought, through France, and +thence through Europe; it would have been installed like a philosophy in +facts, in laws, and in creeds. But it was otherwise decreed. The holiest +most just and virtuous thought, when it passes through the medium of +imperfect humanity, comes out in rags and in blood. Those very persons +who conceived it, no longer recognise, disavow it. Yet it is not +permitted, even to crime, to degrade the truth, that survives all, even +its victims. The blood which sullies men does not stain its idea; and +despite the selfishness which debases it, the infamies which trammel it, +the crimes which pollute it, the blood-stained Revolution purifies +itself, feels its own worth, triumphs, and will triumph. + + + + +BOOK II. + + +I. + +The National Assembly, wearied with two years of existence, relaxed in +its legislative movement: from the moment when it had nothing more to +destroy, it really was at a loss what to do. The Jacobins took umbrage +at it, its popularity was disappearing, the press inveighed against it, +the clubs insulted it; the worn-out tool by which the people had +acquired conquest, it felt the people were about to snap it asunder if +it did not dissolve of its own accord. Its sittings were inanimate, and +it was completing the constitution as a task inflicted on it, but at +which it was discouraged before completion. It had no belief in the +duration of that which it proclaimed imperishable. The lofty voices +which had shaken France so long were now no more, or were silent from +indifference. Maury, Cazales, Clermont Tonnerre seemed careless of +continuing a conflict in which honour was saved, and in which victory +was henceforth impossible. From time to time, indeed, some burst of +passion between parties interrupted the usual monotony of these +theoretical discussions. Such was the struggle of the 10th of June +between Cazales and Robespierre with respect to the disbanding the +officers of the army. "What is it," exclaimed Robespierre, "that the +committees propose to us? to trust to the oaths, to the honour of +officers, to defend a constitution which they detest! of what honour do +they talk to us? What is that honour more than virtue and love of +country? I take credit to myself for not believing in such honour." + +Cazales himself arose indignantly. "I could not listen tamely to such +calumniating language," he exclaimed. At these words violent murmurs +arose on the left, and cries (order! to the Abbaye! to the Abbaye!) +burst forth from the ranks of the revolution: "What," said the royalist +orator, "is it not enough to have restrained my indignation on hearing +two thousand citizens thus accused, who in all moments of peril have +presented an example of most heroic patience! I have listened to the +previous speaker, because I am, and I assert it, a partisan of the most +unlimited declaration of opinions; but it is beyond human endurance for +me to conceal the contempt I feel for such diatribes. If you adopt the +disbanding proposed you will no longer have an army, our frontiers will +be delivered up to foreign invasion, and the interior to excesses and +the pillage of an infuriated soldiery." These energetic words were the +funeral oration of the old army, the project of the committee was +adopted. + +The discussion on the abolition of the punishment of death presented to +Adrien Duport an opportunity to pronounce in favour of the abolition one +of those orations which survive time, and which protest, in the name of +reason and philosophy, against the blindness and atrocity of criminal +legislation. He demonstrated with the most profound logic that society, +by reserving to itself the right of homicide, justifies it to a certain +extent in the murderer, and that the means most efficacious for +preventing murder and making it infamous was to evince its own horror of +the crime. Robespierre, who subsequently was fated to allow of unlimited +immolation, demanded that society should be disarmed of the power of +putting to death. If the prejudices of jurists had not prevailed over +the wholesome doctrines of moral philosophy, who can say how much blood +might not have been spared in France. + +But these discussions confined to the interior of the Manege, occupied +less public attention than the fierce controversies of the periodical +press. Journalism, that universal and daily _forum_ of the people's +passions, had expanded with the progress of liberty. All ardent minds +had eagerly embraced it, Mirabeau himself having set the example when he +descended from the tribune. He wrote his letters to his constituents in +the _Courrier de Provence_. Camille Desmoulins, a young man of great +talent but weak reasoning powers, threw into his lucubrations for the +press the feverish tumult of his thoughts. Brissot, Gorsas, Carra, +Prudhomme, Freron, Danton, Fauchet, Condorcet, edited democratic +journals: they began by demanding the abolition of royalty, "the +greatest scourge," said the _Revolutions de Paris_, "which has ever +dishonoured the human species." Marat seemed to have concentrated in +himself all the evil passions which ferment in a society in a state of +decomposition: he constituted himself the permanent representative of +popular hate. By pretending this, he kept it up, writing all the while +with bitterness and ferocity. He became a cynic in order the more +intimately to know the masses. He assumed the language of the lowest +reprobates. Like the elder Brutus, he feigned idiocy, but it was not to +save his country, it was to urge it to the uttermost bounds of madness, +and then control it by its very insanity. All his pamphlets, echoes of +the Jacobins and Cordeliers, daily excited the uneasiness, suspicions, +and terrors of the people. + +"Citizens," said he, "watch closely around this palace: the inviolable +asylum of all plots against the nation, there a perverse queen lords it +over an imbecile king and rears the cubs of tyranny. Lawless priests +there consecrate the arms of insurrection against the people. They +prepare the Saint Bartholomew of patriots. The genius of Austria is +there, hidden in the committees over which Antoinette presides; they +correspond with foreigners, and by concealed means forward to them the +gold and arms of France, so that the tyrants who are assembling in arms +on your frontier may find you famished and disarmed. The +emigrants--d'Artois and Conde--there receive instructions of the coming +vengeance of despotism. A guard of Swiss stipendiaries is not enough for +the liberticide schemes of the Capets. Every night the good citizens who +watch around this den see the ancient nobility entering stealthily and +concealing arms beneath their clothes. Can knights of the poignard be +any thing but the enrolled assassins of the people? What is La Fayette +doing,--is he a dupe or an accomplice? Why does he leave free the +avenues of the palace, which is only opened for vengeance or flight? Why +do we leave the Revolution incomplete, and also leave in the hands of +our crowned enemy, still in the midst of us, the time to overcome and +destroy it? Do you not see that specie is disappearing and assignats are +discredited? What means the assemblings on your frontier of emigrants +and armed bodies, who are advancing to enclose you in a circle of iron? +What are your ministers doing? Why is not the property of emigrants +confiscated, their houses burnt, their heads set at a price? In whose +hands are arms? In the hands of traitors. Who command your troops? +traitors! Who hold the keys of your strong places? traitors, traitors, +traitors, everywhere traitors; and in this palace of treason, the king +of traitors! the inviolable traitor, the king! They tell you that he +loves the constitution,--humbug! he comes to the Assembly,--humbug; the +better he conceals his flight. Watch! watch! a great blow is preparing, +is ready to burst; if you do not prevent it by a counter-blow more +sudden, more terrible, the people and liberty are annihilated." + +These declarations were not wholly void of foundation. The king, honest +and good, did not conspire against his people, the queen did not think +of selling to the House of Austria the crown of her husband and her son. +If the constitution now completed had been able to restore order to the +country and security to the throne, no sacrifice of power would have +been felt by Louis XVI.: never did prince find more innate in his +character the conditions of his moderation: that passive resignation, +which is the character of constitutional sovereigns, was his virtue. He +neither desired to reconquer nor to avenge himself. All he desired was, +that his sincerity should be appreciated by the people, order +re-established within and power without; that the Assembly, receding +from the encroachments it had made on the executive power, should raise +the constitution, correct its errors, and restore to royalty that power +indispensable for the weal of the kingdom. + +The queen herself, although of a mind more powerful and absolute, was +convinced by necessity, and joined the king in his intentions; but the +king, who had not two wills, had nevertheless two administrations, and +two policies, one in France with his constitutional ministers, and +another without with his brothers, and his agents with other powers. +Baron de Breteuil, and M. de Calonne, rivals in intrigue, spake and +diplomatised in his name. The king disowned them, sometimes with, and +sometimes without, sincerity, in his official letters to ambassadors. +This was not hypocrisy, it was weakness; a captive king, who speaks +aloud to his jailers and in whispers to his friends, is excusable. These +two languages not always agreeing, gave to Louis XVI. the appearance of +disloyalty and treason: he did not betray, he hesitated. + +His brothers, and especially the Comte d'Artois, did violence from +without to his wishes, interpreting his silence according to their own +desires. This young prince went from court to court to solicit in his +brother's name the coalition of the monarchical powers against +principles which already threatened every throne. Received graciously at +Florence by the Emperor of Austria, Leopold, the queen's brother, he +obtained a few days afterwards at Mantua the promise of a force of +35,000 men. The King of Prussia, and Spain, the King of Sardinia, +Naples, and Switzerland, guaranteed equal forces. Louis XVI. sometimes +entertained the hope of an European intervention as a means of +intimidating the Assembly, and compelling it to a reconciliation with +him; at other times he repulsed it as a crime. The state of his mind in +this respect depended on the state of the kingdom; his understanding +followed the flux and reflux of interior events. If a good decree, a +cordial reconciliation with the Assembly, a return of popular applause +came to console his sorrows, he resumed his hopes, and wrote to his +agents to break up the hostile gatherings at Coblentz. If a new _emeute_ +disturbed the palace--if the Assembly degraded the royal power by some +indignity or some outrage--he again began to despair of the +Constitution, and to fortify himself against it. The incoherence of his +thoughts was rather the fault of his situation than his own; but it +compromised his cause equally within and without. Every thought which is +not at unity destroys itself. The thought of the king, although right in +the main, was too fluctuating not to vary with events, but those events +had but one direction--the destruction of the monarchy. + + +II. + +Nevertheless, in the midst of these vacillations of the royal will, it +is impossible for history to misunderstand that from the month of +November 1790 the king vaguely meditated a plan of escape from Paris in +collusion with the emperor. Louis XVI. had obtained from this prince the +promise of sending a body of troops on the French frontier at the moment +when he should desire it; but had the king the intention of quitting the +kingdom and returning at the head of a foreign force, or simply to +assemble round his person a portion of his own army in some point of the +frontier, and there to treat with the Assembly? This latter is the more +probable hypothesis. + +Louis XVI. had read much history, especially the history of England. +Like all unfortunate men, he sought, in the misfortunes of dethroned +princes, analogies with his own unhappy position. The portrait of +Charles I., by Van Dyck, was constantly before his eyes in his closet in +the Tuileries; his history continually open on his table. He had been +struck by two circumstances; that James II. had lost his throne because +he had left his kingdom, and that Charles I. had been beheaded for +having made war against his parliament and his people. These reflections +had inspired him with an instinctive repugnance against the idea of +leaving France, or of casting himself into the arms of the army. In +order to compel his decision one way or the other in favour of one of +these two extreme parties, his freedom of mind was completely oppressed +by the imminence of his present perils, and the dread which beset the +chateau of the Tuileries night and day had penetrated the very soul of +the king and queen. + +The atrocious threats which assailed them whenever they showed +themselves at the windows of their residence, the insults of the press, +the vociferations of the Jacobins, the riots and murders which +multiplied in the capital and the provinces, the violent obstacles which +had been opposed to their departure from St. Cloud, and then the +recollections of the daggers which had even pierced the queen's bed on +the evening of the 5th to the 6th of October, made their life one +continued scene of alarms. They began to comprehend that the insatiate +Revolution was irritated even by the concessions they had made; that the +blind fury of factions which had not paused before royalty surrounded by +its guards, would not hesitate before the illusory inviolability decreed +by a constitution; and that their lives, those of their children, and +those of the royal family which remained, had no longer any assurance of +safety but in flight. + +Flight was therefore resolved upon, and was frequently discussed before +the time when the king decided upon it. Mirabeau himself, bought by the +court, had proposed it in his mysterious interviews with the queen. One +of his plans presented to the king was, to escape from Paris, take +refuge in the midst of a camp, or in a frontier town, and there treat +with the baffled Assembly. Mirabeau remaining in Paris, and again +possessing himself of the public mind, would lead matters, as he +declared, to accommodation, and a voluntary restoration of the royal +authority. Mirabeau had carried these hopes away with him into the tomb. +The king himself, in his secret correspondence, testified his repugnance +to intrusting his fate into the hands of the ringleader of the factions. +Another cause of uneasiness troubled the king's mind, and gave the queen +great anxiety; they were not ignorant that it was a question without, +either at Coblentz or in the councils of Leopold and the King of +Prussia, to declare the throne of France virtually vacant by default of +the king's liberty, and to nominate as regent one of the emigrant +princes, in order that he might call around him with a show of legality +all his loyal subjects, and give to foreign troops an incontestible +right of intervention. A throne even in fragments will not admit of +participation. + +An uneasy jealousy still prevailed in the midst of so many other alarms +even in this palace, where sedition had already effected so many +breaches. "M. le Comte d'Artois will then become a hero," said the queen +ironically, who at one time was excessively fond of this young prince, +but now hated him. The king, on his part, feared that moral forfeiture +with which he was menaced, under pretence of delivering the monarchy. He +knew not which to fear the most, his friends or his enemies. Flight +only, to the centre of a faithful army, could remove him from both these +perils; but flight was also a peril. If he succeeded, civil war might +spring up, and the king had a horror of blood spilled in his defence; if +it did not succeed, it would be imputed to him as a crime, and then who +could say where the national fury would stop? Forfeiture, captivity, +death, might be the consequence of the slightest accident, or least +indiscretion. He was about to suspend by a slender thread his throne, +his liberty, his life, and the lives a thousand times more dear to +him--those of his wife, his two children, and his sister. + +His tormenting reflections were long and terrible, lasting for eight +months, during which time he had no confidants but the queen, Madame +Elizabeth, a few faithful servants within the palace, and the Marquis de +Bouille without. + + +III. + +The Marquis de Bouille, cousin of M. de La Fayette, was of a character +totally different to that of the hero of Paris. Severe and stern +soldier, attached to the monarchy by principle, to the king by an almost +religious devotion, his respect for his sovereign's orders had alone +prevented him from emigrating; he was one of the few general officers +popular amongst the soldiers who had remained faithful to their duty +amidst the storms and tempests of the last two years, and who, without +openly declaring for or against these innovations, had yet striven to +preserve that force which outlives, and not unfrequently supplies, the +deficiency of all others,--the force of discipline. He had served with +great distinction in America, in the colonies in India, and the +authority of his character and name had not as yet lost their influence +over the soldiery; the heroic repression of the famous outbreak amongst +the troops at Nancy in the preceding August had greatly contributed to +strengthen this authority; and he alone of all the French generals had +re-obtained the supreme command, and had crushed insubordination. The +Assembly, alarmed in the midst of its triumphs by the seditions amongst +the troops, had passed a vote of thanks to him as the saviour of his +country. La Fayette, who commanded the citizens, feared only this rival +who commanded regiments, he therefore watched and flattered M. de +Bouille. He constantly proposed to him a coalition of their forces, of +which they would be the commanders-in-chief, and by thus acting in +concert secure at once the revolution and the monarchy. M. de Bouille, +who doubted the loyalty of La Fayette, replied with a cold and sarcastic +civility, that but ill concealed his suspicions. These two characters +were incompatible,--the one was the representative of modern patriotism, +the other of ancient honour: they could not harmonise. + +The Marquis de Bouille commanded the troops of Loraine, Alsace, +Franche-Comte, and Champagne, and his government extended from +Switzerland to the Sambre. He had no less than ninety battalions of +foot, and a hundred and four squadrons of cavalry under his orders. Out +of this number the general could only rely upon twenty battalions of +German troops and a few cavalry regiments; the remainder were in favour +of the Revolution: and the influence of the clubs had spread amongst +them the spirit of insubordination and hatred for the king; the +regiments obeyed the municipalities rather than their generals. + + +IV. + +Since the month of February, 1791, the king, who had the most entire +confidence in M. de Bouille, had written to this general that he wished +him to make overtures to Mirabeau, and through the intervention of the +Count de Lamarck, a foreign nobleman, the intimate and confidential +friend of Mirabeau. "Although these persons are not over estimable," +said the king in his letter, "and although I have paid Mirabeau very +dearly, I yet think he has it in his power to serve me. Hear all he has +to say, without putting yourself too much in his hands." The Count de +Lamarck arrived soon after at Metz. He mentioned to M. de Bouille the +object of his mission, confessed to him that the king had recently given +Mirabeau 600,000f. (24,000_l._), and that he also allowed him 50,000f. a +month. He then revealed to him the plan of his counter-revolutionary +conspiracy, the first act of which was to be an address to Paris and the +Departments demanding the liberty of the king. Every thing in this +scheme depended upon the rhetoric of Mirabeau. Carried away by his own +eloquence, the salaried orator was ignorant that words, though +all-powerful to excite, are yet impotent to appease; they urge nations +forward, but nothing but the bayonet can arrest them. M. de Bouille, a +veteran soldier, smiled at these chimerical projects of the citizen +orator; but he did not, however, discourage him in his plans, and +promised him his assistance: he wrote to the king to repay largely the +desertion of Mirabeau; "A clever scoundrel," said he, "who perhaps has +it in his power to repair through cupidity the mischief he has done +through revenge;" and to mistrust La Fayette, "A chimerical enthusiast, +intoxicated with popularity, who might become the chief of a party, but +never the support of a monarchy." + +After the death of Mirabeau, the king adhered to the project with some +modification; he wrote in cypher to the Marquis de Bouille at the end +of April, to inform him that he should leave Paris almost immediately +with his family in one carriage, which he had ordered to be built +secretly and expressly for this purpose; and he also desired him to +establish a line of posts from Chalons to Montmedy, the frontier town he +had fixed upon. The nearest road from Paris to Montmedy was through +Rheims; but the king having been crowned there dreaded recognition. He +therefore determined, in spite of M. de Bouille's reiterated advice, to +pass through Varennes. The chief inconvenience of this road was, that +there were no relays of post-horses, and it would be therefore necessary +to send relays thither under different pretexts; the arrival of these +relays would naturally create suspicion amongst the inhabitants of the +small towns. The presence of detachments along a road not usually +frequented by troops was likewise dangerous, and M. de Bouille was +anxious to dissuade the king from taking this road. He pointed out to +him in his answer, that if the detachments were strong they would excite +the alarm and vigilance of the municipal authorities, and if they were +weak they would be unable to afford him protection: he also entreated +him not to travel in a berlin made expressly for him, and conspicuous by +its form, but to make use of two English carriages, then much in vogue, +and better fitted for such a purpose; he, moreover, dwelt on the +necessity of taking with him some man of firmness and energy to advise +and assist him in the unforeseen accidents that might happen on his +journey; he mentioned as the fittest person the Marquis d'Agoult, major +in the French guards; and he lastly besought the king to request the +Emperor to make a threatening movement of the Austrian troops on the +frontier near Montmedy, in order that the disquietude and alarm of the +population might serve as a pretext to justify the movements of the +different detachments and the presence of the different corps of cavalry +in the vicinity of the town. + +The king agreed to this, and also to take with him the Marquis d'Agoult; +to the rest he positively refused to accede. A few days prior to his +departure he sent a million in assignats (40,000_l._) to M. de Bouille, +to furnish the rations and forage, as well as to pay the faithful troops +who were destined to favour his flight. These arrangements made, the +Marquis de Bouille despatched a trusty officer of his staff, M. de +Guoguelas, with instructions to make a minute and accurate survey of the +road and country between Chalons and Montmedy, and to deliver an exact +report to the king. This officer saw the king, and brought back his +orders to M. de Bouille. + +In the meantime M. de Bouille held himself in readiness to execute all +that had been agreed upon; he had sent to a distance the disaffected +troops, and concentrated the twelve foreign battalions on which he could +rely. A train of sixteen pieces of artillery was sent towards Montmedy. +The regiment of _Royal Allemand_ arrived at Stenay, a squadron of +hussars was at Dun, another at Varennes; two squadrons of dragoons were +to be at Clermont on the day the king would pass through; they were +commanded by Count Charles de Damas, a bold and dashing officer, who had +instructions to send forward a detachment to Sainte Menehould, and fifty +hussars, detached from Varennes, were to march to Pont Sommeville +between Chalons and Sainte Menehould, under pretence of securing the +safe passage of a large sum of money sent from Paris to pay the troops. +Thus once through Chalons the king's carriage would be surrounded at +each relay by tried and faithful followers. The commanding officers of +these detachments had instructions to approach the window of the +carriage whilst they changed horses, and to receive any orders the king +might think proper to issue. In case his majesty wished to pursue his +journey without being recognised, these officers were to content +themselves with ascertaining that no obstacle existed to bar the road. +If it was his pleasure to be escorted, then they would mount their men +and escort him. Nothing could be better devised, and the most inviolable +secrecy enveloped all. + +The 27th of May the king wrote that he should set out the 19th of the +next month between twelve and one at night; that he should leave Paris +in a hired carriage, and at Bondy, the first stage out of Paris, he +should take his berlin; that one of his body guard, who was to serve as +courier, would await him at Bondy; that in case the king did not arrive +before two, it was because he had been arrested on his way; the courier +would then proceed alone to Pont Sommeville to inform M. de Bouille the +scheme had failed, and to warn the general, and those of his officers +engaged in the plot, to provide for their own safety. + + +V. + +After the receipt of these last orders, M. de Bouille despatched the +Duke de Choiseul to Paris, with orders to await the king's instructions, +and to precede his departure by twelve hours. M. de Choiseul was to +desire his servants to be at Varennes on the 18th with his own horses, +which would draw the king's carriage; the spot where the horses were +placed was to be clearly explained to the king, in order that they might +be changed without any loss of time. On his return M. de Choiseul had +instructions to take the command of the hussars posted at Pont +Sommeville, to await the king, to escort him with his hussars as far as +Sainte-Menehould, and to station his troopers there, with positive +orders to allow no one to pass on the road from Paris to Verdun, and +from Paris to Varennes, for four and twenty hours after the king's +arrival. M. de Choiseul received from M. de Bouille orders signed by the +king himself, enjoining him, as well as all the other commanding +officers of the detachments, to employ force, should it be necessary, to +rescue his majesty if the populace attempted to lay violent hands on +him. In case the carriage was stopped at Lyons, M. de Choiseul was to +give instant information to the general to assemble all the detachments, +and march to the king's rescue. He received six hundred louis in gold, +to distribute amongst the soldiers, and thus insure their fidelity, when +the king arrived and made himself known to them. + +M. de Guoguelas left at the same for Paris, to reconnoitre the roads a +second time, passing by Stenay, Dun, Varennes, and Sainte Menehould, and +to explain clearly to the king the topography of the country; he was +also to bring back the latest orders for M. de Bouille, and to return to +Montmedy by another route. The Marquis de Bouille left Metz himself, +under pretence of visiting the fortresses under his command, and drew +near Montmedy. The 15th he was at Longwy, where he received a message +from the king, informing him that they had put off their journey for +four and twenty hours, in consequence of the necessity of concealing +the preparations for their departure from a femme de chambre of the +queen, a fanatical democrat, who was fully capable of betraying them, +and whose duties only terminated on the 19th. His majesty added that the +Marquis d'Agoult would not accompany him, because Madame de Tourzel, the +governess of the royal children, had claimed the privileges of her post, +and wished to accompany them. + +This delay rendered necessary counter-orders of the most fatal nature; +all the arrangements as to time and place were thus thrown out. The +detachments were forced to remain at places they were only to have +marched through, and the relays stationed on the road might be +withdrawn. However, the Marquis de Bouille remedied all these evils as +far as was in his power; sent modified orders to the commanders of the +detachments, and advanced in person the 20th to Stenay, which was +garrisoned by the Royal Allemand regiment, on whose fidelity he could +rely. The 21st he assembled the generals under his orders, informed them +that the king would pass in the course of the night by Stenay, and would +be at Montmedy the next evening; he ordered General Klinglin to prepare +under the guns of the fortress a camp of twelve battalions and +twenty-four squadrons; the king was to reside in a chateau behind the +camp: this chateau would thus serve as head quarters, and the king's +position would be at once more secure and more dignified surrounded by +his army. The generals did not hesitate for an instant. M. de Bouille +left General de Hoffelizze at Stenay with the Royal Allemand regiment, +with orders to saddle the horses at night fall, to mount at daybreak and +to send at ten o'clock at night a detachment of fifty troopers between +Stenay and Dun, to await the king and escort him to Stenay. + +At night M. de Choiseul quitted Stenay with several officers on +horseback, and advanced to the very gate of Dun, but he would not enter +lest his presence might in any way work on the people. There he awaited, +in silence and obscurity, the courier who was to precede the carriages +by an hour. The destiny of the monarchy, the throne of a dynasty, the +lives of the royal family, king, queen, princess, children, all weighed +down his spirit and lay heavily on his heart. The night seemed +interminable, yet it passed without the sound of horses' feet +announcing to the group who so anxiously awaited the intelligence, that +the king of France was saved or lost. + + +VI. + +What passed at the Tuileries during these decisive hours? the secret of +the projected flight had been carefully confined to the king, the queen, +the princess Elizabeth, two or three faithful attendants, and the Count +de Fersen, a Swedish gentlemen who had the care of the exterior +arrangements confided to him. Some vague rumours, like presentiments of +coming events, had, it is true, been bruited amongst the people for some +days past, but these rumours originated rather in the state of popular +excitement than any actual disclosures of the intended departure. These +reports, however, which were constantly transmitted to M. de La Fayette +and his staff, occasioned a stricter _surveillance_ round the palace and +the king's apartments. Since the 5th and 6th of October the household +guards had been disbanded; the companies of the body guard, every +soldier of whom was a gentleman and whose honour, descent, ancient +traditions, and party feeling assured their fidelity, existed no longer; +that respectful vigilance that rendered their service a matter of duty +with them, had given place to the jealous watchfulness of the national +guard, who were rather spies on the king than guardians of the monarchy. +The Swiss guards still, it is true, surrounded the Tuileries, but they +only occupied the exterior posts; the interior of the Tuileries, the +staircases, the communications between the apartments, were guarded by +the national guards. M. de La Fayette was constantly going to and fro, +his officers at night were at every issue, and they had secret orders +not to allow even the king to quit the palace after midnight. To this +official vigilance was now joined the secret and close _espionage_ of +the numerous domestics of the palace, amongst whom revolutionary feeling +had crept in to encourage treachery, and sanction ingratitude: amongst +them, as amongst their superiors, betrayal was termed virtue, and +treason, patriotism. Within the walls of the palace of his fathers the +king could alone count on the queen, his sisters, and a few nobles still +faithful in his misfortunes, and even whose gestures were duly reported +to M. de La Fayette. This general had driven by violence from the +Tuileries many of the faithful gentlemen who had come to strengthen the +guard, on the day of the _emeute_ at Vincennes. The king had witnessed, +with tears in his eyes, his most faithful adherents ignominiously driven +from his palace and exposed by his official protector to the insults and +outrages of the populace. Thus the royal family could hope to find no +one disposed to aid their escape without the palace walls. + + +VII. + +The Count de Fersen was the principal agent and confidant of this +hazardous enterprise. Young, handsome, and accomplished, he had been +admitted during the happy years of Marie Antoinette's life to the +parties and fetes of Trianon. It was said, that a chivalrous admiration, +to which respect alone prevented his giving the name of love, had bound +him to the queen. And now this admiration had been changed into the most +passionate devotion to her in misfortune. The queen perceived this, and +when she reflected to whom she could confide the safety of the king and +her children, she thought of M. de Fersen--he instantly quitted +Stockholm, saw the king and queen, and undertook to prepare for the +flight the carriages, which were to meet them at Bondy. His position as +a foreigner favoured his plans, and he combined them with a skill only +equalled by his fidelity. Three soldiers of the body guard, MM. de +Valorg, de Moustier, et de Maldan, were taken into his confidence, and +the parts they were to play were fully explained to them; they were to +disguise themselves as servants, mount behind the carriages, and protect +the royal family at all risks. The names of three obscure gentlemen +effaced that day the names of the courtiers. Should they be discovered, +their fate was sealed; but in the hope of aiding the escape of their +king, they courageously offered themselves as a sacrifice to the popular +fury. + + +VIII. + +The queen had for many months entertained the project of escape. Since +the month of March she had commissioned one of her waiting-maids to +procure her from Brussels a complete wardrobe for Madame and the +Dauphin; she had sent most of her valuables to her sister, the +Archduchess Christina, the regent of the Low Countries, under pretence +of making her a present; her diamonds had been intrusted to her +hair-dresser, Leonard, who had started before herself with the Duke de +Choiseul. These slight indications of a projected flight had not +entirely escaped the vigilance of a waiting-maid; this woman had noticed +that whispered conversations were carried on; she had seen desks opened +on the table, and empty jewel boxes lying about; she denounced these +facts to M. de Gouvion, M. de La Fayette's _aide-de-camp_, whose +mistress she was, and M. de Gouvion reported all again to the mayor of +Paris and his general. But these denunciations had been so often made, +and by so many different persons, and had so often proved false, that +now but little importance was attached to them. However, in consequence +of the revelations of this woman, a stricter watch than usual was kept +around the chateau. M. de Gouvion detained several officers of the +national guard under various pretexts in the palace, he placed them at +the different doors, and he himself, with five _chefs-de-bataillon_, +passed part of the night at the door of the apartment formerly occupied +by the Duke de Villequier, which had been specially pointed out to him. +He had been told (which was the case) that there existed a secret +communication from the queen's cabinet to the apartment of the former +captain of the guard; and that the king, who it is well known was an +expert locksmith, had made false keys that opened all the doors; at last +these reports (that went the round of all the clubs) transformed every +patriot on that night into the king's gaoler. We read with surprise in +the journal of Camille Desmoulins of the 20th of June, 1791:--"The +evening passed most tranquilly at Paris; I returned at eleven o'clock +from the Jacobins' Club with Danton and several other patriots; we only +met a single patrole all the way. Paris appeared to me that night so +deserted, that I could not help remarking it. One of us, Freron, who had +in his pocket a letter warning him that the king would escape that +night, wished to observe the chateau; he saw M. de La Fayette enter it +at eleven." + +A little further on Camille Desmoulins relates the restless fears of +the people on the fatal night. "The night," says he "on which the family +of the Capets escaped, Busebi, a perruke-maker in the Rue de Bourbon, +called on Hucher, a baker and Sapeur in the Bataillon of the Theatins, +to communicate his fears on what he had just learnt relative to the +king's projected flight. They instantly aroused their neighbours, to the +number of thirty, and went to La Fayette to inform him of the fact, and +to summon him to take instant measures to prevent it. M. de La Fayette +laughed, and advised them to go home. In order to avoid being stopped by +the patrols, they asked for the pass-word, which he gave them. Armed +with this they hastened to the Tuileries, where nothing was visible +except several hackney coachman drinking round one of the small shops +near the wicket gate of the Carrousel. They inspected all the courts +until they came to the door of the Manege without perceiving anything +suspicious, but at their return they were surprised to find that every +hackney coach had disappeared, which made them conjecture that these +coaches had been used by some of the attendants of this unworthy +(_indigne_) family." + +It is too evident from the state of agitation of the public mind and the +severity of the king's captivity, how difficult it must have been. +However, either owing to the connivance of some of the national guards +who had on that day demanded the custody of the interior posts, and who +winking at this infraction of the orders,--to the skilful management of +the Count de Fersen,--or that providence afforded a last ray of hope and +safety to those whom she was so soon about to overwhelm with +misfortunes, all the watchfulness of the guardians was in vain, and the +Revolution suffered its prey for some time to escape. + + +IX. + +The king and queen received, as was their custom at their _coucher_, +those persons who were in the habit of paying their respects to them at +that time, nor did they dismiss their servants any earlier than was +their wont. But no sooner were they alone than they again dressed +themselves in plain travelling dress adapted to their supposed station. +They met Madame Elizabeth and their children, in the Queen's room, and +thence they passed by a secret communication into the apartment of the +Duke de Villequier, first gentleman of the bed-chamber, and left the +palace at intervals, in order that the attention of the sentinels in the +court might not be attracted by the appearance of groups of persons at +that late hour; owing to the bustle of the servants and workpeople +leaving the chateau, and which M. de Fersen had no doubt taken care +should on that evening be greater than usual, they arrived, without +having been recognised, at the Carrousel. The queen leaned on the arm of +one of the body guard, and led Madame Royal by the hand. As she crossed +the Carrousel she met M. La Fayette with one or two officers of his +staff proceeding to the Tuileries, in order to satisfy himself that the +measures ordered in consequence of the revelations made that day had +been strictly complied with. She shuddered as she recognised the man who +in her eyes was the representative of insurrection and captivity, but in +escaping him she fancied she had escaped the whole nation, and smiled as +she thought of his appearance the next day when he could no longer +produce his prisoners to the people. Madame Elizabeth also held the arm +of one of the guards, and followed them at some distance, whilst the +king, who had insisted upon being the last, held the Dauphin (who was in +his seventh year) by the hand. The Count de Fersen, disguised as a +coachman, walked a little ahead of the king to show him the way. The +meeting place of the royal family was on the Quai des Theatins, where +two hackney coaches awaited them; the queen's waiting women, and the +Marquise de Tourzel had preceded them. + +Amidst the confusion of so dangerous and complicated a flight, the queen +and her guide crossed the Pont Royal and entered the Rue de Bac, but +instantly perceiving their error, with hasty and faltering steps they +retraced their road. The king and his son, obliged to traverse the +darkest and least frequented streets to arrive at the rendezvous, were +delayed half an hour, which seemed to his wife and sister an age. At +last they arrived, sprang into the coach, the Count de Fersen seized the +reins and drove the royal family to Bondy, the first stage between Paris +and Chalons: there they found, ready harnessed for the journey, a berlin +and a small travelling carriage; the queen's women and one of the +disguised body-guard got into the smaller carriage, whilst the king, +the queen, and the Dauphin, Madame Royale, Madame Elizabeth, and the +Marquise de Tourville took their places in the berlin; one of the +body-guard sat on the box, and the other behind, the Count de Fersen +kissed the hands of the king and queen, and returned to Paris, from +whence he went, the same night to Brussels by another road, in order to +rejoin the royal family at a later period. At the same hour Monsieur the +king's brother, Count de Provence, left the Luxembourg palace, and +arrived safely at Brussels. + + +X. + +The king's carriage rolled on the road to Chalons, and relays of eight +horses were ordered at each post-house: this number of horses, the +remarkable size and build of the berlin, the number of travellers who +occupied the interior, the three body guards, whose livery formed a +strange contrast to their physiognomy and martial appearance, the +Bourbonian features of Louis XVI. seated in a corner of the carriage, +and which was totally out of character with the _role_ of valet de +chambre the king had taken on himself,--all these circumstances were +calculated to excite distrust and suspicion, and to compromise the +safety of the royal family. But their passport removed all +objections,--it was perfectly formal, and in these terms: "_De par le +roi. Mandons de laisser passer Madame la baronne de Korf, se rendant a +Franckfort avec ses deux enfants, une femme de chambre, un valet de +chambre, et trois domestiques_." And lower down, "_Le Ministre des +Affaires etrangeres_, MONTMORIN." + +This foreign name, the title of German Baroness, the proverbial wealth +of the bankers of Frankfort, to whom the people were accustomed to +attribute everything that was singular and bizarre, had been most +admirably combined by the Count de Fersen, to account for anything +strange or remarkable in the appearance of the royal equipages; nothing, +however, excited attention, and they arrived without interruption at +Montmirail, a little town between Meaux and Chalons: there some +necessary repairs to the berlin detained them an hour; this delay, +during which the king's flight might be discovered, and couriers +despatched to give information to all the country, threw them into the +greatest alarm. + +However the carriage was soon repaired, and they once more started on +their journey, ignorant that this hour's delay would ultimately cost the +lives of four out of five persons who composed the royal family. + +They were full of security and confidence; the success with which they +had escaped from the palace, the manner in which they had left Paris, +the punctuality with which the relays were furnished, the loneliness of +the roads, the absence of anything like suspicion or vigilance in the +towns they had passed through, the dangers they had left behind them, +the security they were so fast approaching, each turn of the wheel +bringing them nearer M. de Bouille and his faithful troops; the beauty +of the scene and the time, doubly beautiful to their eyes, that for two +years had looked on nought save the seditious mob that daily filled the +courts of the Tuileries, or the glittering bayonets of the armed +populace beneath their windows,--all this seemed to them as if +Providence had at last taken pity on them, that the fervent and touching +prayers of the babes that slept in their arms, and of the angelic Madame +Elizabeth had at last vanquished the fate that had so long pursued them. + +It was under the influence of these happy feelings that they entered +Chalons, the only large town through which they had to pass, at +half-past three in the afternoon. A few idlers gathered round the +carriage whilst the horses were being changed; the king somewhat +imprudently put his head out of the window, and was recognised by the +post-master; but this worthy man felt that his sovereign's life was in +his hands, and without manifesting the least surprise, he helped to put +to the horses, and ordered the postilions to drive on; he alone of this +people was free from the blood of his king. The carriage passed the +gates of Chalons, the king, the queen, and madame Elizabeth exclaimed, +with one voice, "We are saved." Chalons once passed, the king's security +no longer depended on chance, but on prudence and force. The first relay +was at Pont Sommeville. It will be remembered, that in obedience to the +orders of M. de Bouille, M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, at the head +of a detachment of fifty hussars, were to meet the king and follow in +his rear, and besides, as soon as the king's carriage appeared, to send +off an hussar to warn the troops at Sainte Menehould and at Clermont of +the vicinity of the royal family. The king felt thus certain of meeting +faithful and armed friends; but he found no one, M. de Choiseul, M. de +Guoguelas, and the fifty hussars had left half an hour before. The +populace seemed disturbed and restless; they looked suspiciously at the +travellers, and whispered from time to time in a low voice with each +other. However, no one ventured to oppose their departure, and the king +arrived at half past seven at Sainte Menehould; at this season of the +year, it was still broad daylight; and alarmed at having passed two of +the relays without meeting the friends he expected, the king by a +natural impulse put his head out of the window, in order to seek amidst +the crowd for some friend, some officer posted there to explain to him +the reason of the absence of the detachments: that action caused his +ruin. The son of the post-master, Drouet, recognised the king, whom he +had never seen, by his likeness to the effigy on the coins in +circulation. + +Nevertheless as the horses were harnessed, and the town occupied by a +troop of dragoons, who could force a passage, the young man did not +venture to attempt to detain the carriages at this spot. + + +XI. + +The officer commanding the detachment of dragoons in the town, was also, +under pretence of walking on the Grand Place, on the watch for the royal +carriages, which he recognised instantly, by the description of them +with which he was furnished. He ordered his soldiers to mount and follow +the king; but the national guards of Sainte Menehould, amongst whom the +rumour of the likeness between the travellers and the royal family had +been rapidly circulated, surrounded the barracks, closed the stables, +and opposed by force the departure of the soldiers. During this rapid +and instinctive movement of the people, the post-master's son saddled +his best horse, and galloped as fast as possible to Varennes, in order +to arrive before the carriages, inform the municipal authorities of his +suspicions, and arouse the patroles to arrest the monarch. Whilst this +man, who bore the king's fate, galloped on the road to Varennes, the +king himself, unconscious of danger, pursued his journey towards the +same town. Drouet was certain to arrive before the king; for the road +from Sainte Menehould to Varennes forms a considerable angle, and passes +through Clermont, where a relay of horses was stationed; whilst the +direct road, accessible only to horsemen, avoids Clermont, runs in a +straight line to Varennes, and thus lessens the distance between this +town and Menehould by four leagues. Drouet had thus two hours before +him, and danger far outstripped safety. Yet by a strange coincidence +death followed Drouet also, and threatened without his being aware of +it, the life of him who in his turn (and without _his_ knowledge) +threatened the life of his sovereign. + +A quarter-master (marechal des logis) of the dragoons shut up in the +barracks at Sainte Menehould, had alone found means to mount his horse, +and escape the vigilance of the people. He had learnt from his +commanding officer of Drouet's precipitate departure, and, suspecting +the cause, he followed him on the road to Varennes, resolved to overtake +and kill him; he kept within sight of him, but always at a distance, in +order that he might not arouse his suspicions, and with the intention of +overtaking and killing him at a favourable opportunity, and at a retired +spot. But Drouet, who had repeatedly looked round to ascertain whether +he were pursued, had conjectured his intentions; and, being a native of +the country, and knowing every path, he struck into some bye roads, and +at last under cover of a wood he escaped from the dragoon and pursued +his way to Varennes. + +On his arrival at Clermont the king was recognised by Count Charles de +Damas, who awaited his arrival at the head of two squadrons. Without +opposing the departure of the carriages, the municipal authorities, +whose suspicions had been in some measure aroused by the presence of the +troops, ordered the dragoons not to quit the town, and they obeyed these +orders. The Count de Damas alone, with a corporal and three dragoons, +found means to leave the town, and galloped towards Varennes at some +distance from the king, a too feeble or too tardy succour. The royal +family shut up in their berlin--and seeing that no opposition was +offered to their journey, was unacquainted with these sinister +occurrences. It was half past eleven at night, when the carriages +arrived at the first houses of the little town of Varennes; all were or +appeared to be asleep; all was silent and deserted. It will be +remembered, that Varennes not being on the direct line from Chalons to +Montmedy, the king would not find horses there. It had been arranged +between himself and M. de Bouille, that the horses of M. de Choiseul +should be stationed beforehand in a spot agreed upon in Varennes, and +should conduct the carriages to Dun and Stenay, where M. de Bouille +awaited them. It will also be borne in mind that in compliance with the +instructions of M. de Bouille, M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, who, +with the detachment of fifty hussars, were to await the king at Pont +Sommeville, and then follow in his rear, had not awaited him nor +followed him. Instead of reaching Varennes at the same time as the king, +these officers on leaving Pont Sommeville had taken a road that avoids +Sainte Menehould, and thus materially lengthens the distance between +Pont Sommeville and Varennes. Their object in this was to avoid Sainte +Menehould, in which the passage of the hussars had created some +excitement the day previous. The consequence was, that neither M. de +Guoguelas, nor M. de Choiseul, these two guides and confidants of the +king's flight, were at Varennes on his arrival, nor did they reach there +until an hour after. The carriages had stopped at the entrance of +Varennes. The king, surprised to meet neither M. de Choiseul nor M. de +Guoguelas, neither escort nor relays, hoped that the cracking of the +postilions' whips would procure them fresh horses to continue their +journey. The three body-guards went from door to door, to inquire where +the horses had been placed, but could obtain no information. + + +XII. + +The little town of Varennes is formed into two divisions, the upper and +lower town, separated by a river and bridge. M. Guoguelas had stationed +the fresh horses in the lower town on the other side of the bridge: the +measure was in itself prudent, because the carriages would cross the +bridge at full speed, and also, because in case of popular tumult, the +changing horses and departure would be more easy when the bridge was +once crossed; but the king should have been, but was not, informed of +it. The king and queen, greatly alarmed, left the carriage and wandered +about in the deserted streets of the upper town for half an hour, +seeking for the relays. In vain did they knock at the door of the houses +in which lights were burning, they could not hear of them. At last they +returned in despair to the carriages, from which the postilions, wearied +with waiting, threatened to unharness the horses: by dint of bribes and +promises, however, they persuaded them to remount and continue their +road: the carriages again were in motion, and the travellers reassured +themselves that this was nothing but a misunderstanding, and that in a +few moments they should be in the camp of M. de Bouille. They traversed +the upper town without any difficulty, all was buried in the most +perfect tranquillity,--a few men alone are on the watch, and they are +silent and concealed. + +Between the upper and lower town is a tower at the entrance of the +bridge that divides them; this tower is supported by a massive and +gloomy arch, which carriages are compelled to traverse with the greatest +care, and in which the least obstacle stops them; a relic of the feudal +system, in which the nobles captured the serfs, and in which by a +strange retribution the people were destined to capture the monarchy. +The carriages had hardly entered this dark arch than the horses, +frightened at a cart that was overturned, stopped, and five or six armed +men seizing their heads, ordered the travellers to alight and exhibit +their passports at the Municipality. The man who thus gave orders to his +sovereign was Drouet: scarcely had he arrived at Sainte Menehould than +he hastened to arouse the young _patriotes_ of the town, to communicate +to them his conjectures and his apprehensions. Uncertain as to how far +their suspicions were correct, or wishing to reserve for themselves the +glory of arresting the king of France, they had neither warned the +authorities nor aroused the populace. The plot awakened their +patriotism; they felt that they represented the whole of the nation. + +At this sudden apparition, at these shouts, and the aspect of the naked +swords and bayonets, the body-guard seized their arms and awaited the +king's orders; but the king forbade them to force the passage, the +horses were turned round, and the carriages, escorted by Drouet and his +companions, stopped before the door of a grocer named Sausse, who was +at the same time Procureur Syndic of Varennes. There the king and his +family were obliged to alight, in order that their passports might be +examined, and the truth of the people's suspicions ascertained. At the +same instant the friends of Drouet rushed into the town, knocked at the +doors, mounted the belfry, and rang the alarm-bell. The affrighted +inhabitants awoke, the national guards of the town and the adjacent +villages hastened one after another to M. Sausse's door; others went to +the quarters of the troops, to gain them over to their interest, or to +disarm them. In vain did the king deny his rank--his features and those +of the queen betrayed them. He at last discovered himself to the mayor +and the municipal officers, and taking M. de Sausse's hand, "Yes," said +he, "I am your king, and in your hands I place my destiny, and that of +my wife, of my sister, and of my children; our lives, the fate of the +empire, the peace of the kingdom, the safety of the constitution even, +depends upon you. Suffer me to continue my journey; I have no design of +leaving the country; I am going in the midst of a part of the army, and +in a French town, to regain my real liberty, of which the factions at +Paris deprive me, and from thence make terms with the Assembly, who, +like myself, are held in subjection through fear. I am not about to +destroy, but to save and secure the constitution; if you detain me, the +constitution, I myself, France, all are lost. I conjure you as a father, +as a husband, as a man, as a citizen, leave the road free to us; in an +hour we shall be saved, and with us France is saved; and if you guard in +your hearts that fidelity your words profess for him who was your +master, I order you as your king." + + +XIII. + +The men, touched by these words, respectful even in their violence, +hesitated, and seemed touched. It is evident, by the expression of their +features, by their tears, that they are wavering between their pity for +so terrible a reverse of fortune and their conscience as patriots. The +sight of their king, who pressed their hands in his, of their queen, by +turns suppliant and majestic, who strives by despair or entreaties to +wring from them permission to depart, unmanned them. They would have +yielded had they consulted the dictates of their heart alone; but they +began to fear for themselves the responsibility of their indulgence; the +people will demand from them their king, the nation its chief. Egotism +hardened their hearts; the wife of M. Sausse, with whom her husband +repeatedly exchanged glances, and in whose breast the queen hoped to +find pity and compassion, was the least moved of any. Whilst the king +harangued the municipal authorities, the queen, seated with her children +on her lap between two bales of goods in the shop, showed her infants to +Madame Sausse. "You are a mother, madame," said the queen; "you are a +wife; the fate of a wife and mother is in your hands--think what I must +suffer for these children, for my husband. At one word from you I shall +owe them to you; the queen of France will owe you more than her kingdom, +more than life." "Madame," returned the grocer's wife unmoved, with that +petty common sense of minds in which calculation stifles generosity, "I +wish it was in my power to serve you; you are thinking of the king; I am +thinking of M. Sausse. It is a wife's duty to think of her husband." All +hope is lost when no pity can be found in a woman's heart. The queen, +indignant and hurt, retired with Madame Elizabeth and the children into +two rooms at the top of the house, and there she burst into tears. The +king, surrounded by municipal officers and national guard, relinquished +all hope of softening them. He repeatedly mounted the wooden staircase +of the wretched shop; he went from the queen to his sister, from his +sister to his children; that which he had been unable to obtain from +pity she hoped to obtain from time and compulsion. He could not believe +that these men, who still showed something like feeling, and manifested +so much respect for him, would persist in their determination of +detaining him, and awaiting the orders of the Assembly. At all events he +felt certain that before the return of the couriers from Paris he should +be rescued by the forces of M. de Bouille, by which he knew he was +surrounded without the knowledge of the people. He was only astonished +that these succours should delay their appearance so long. Hour after +hour chimed, the night wore away, and yet they came not. + + +XIV. + +The officer who commanded the squadron of hussars stationed at Varennes +by M. de Bouille was not entirely acquainted with the plan of action, or +its nature; he had merely been told that a large sum in gold would pass +through, and that it would be his duty to escort it. No courier preceded +the king's carriage, no messenger had arrived from Sainte Menehould to +warn him to assemble his troopers; MM. de Choiseul and de Guoguelas, who +were to be at Varennes before the king's arrival, and communicate to +this officer the last secret orders relative to his duty, were not +there; thus the officer was left with nothing but his own conjectures to +guide him. Two other officers, who were informed by M. de Bouille of the +real facts, had been sent by the general to Varennes, but they remained +in the lower town at the same inn where the horses of M. de Choiseul had +been stationed; they were totally ignorant of all that was passing in +the upper town; they awaited, in compliance with their orders, the +arrival of M. de Choiseul, and were only aroused by the sound of the +alarm-bell. + +M. de Choiseul and M. de Guoguelas, with count Charles de Damas, and his +three faithful dragoons, galloped towards Varennes, having with the +greatest difficulty escaped the insurrection of the squadrons at +Clermont. On their arrival at the gates of the town, three quarters of +an hour after the king's arrest, they were recognised and stopped by the +national guard, who, before they would allow the little troop to enter, +compelled them to dismount. They demanded to see the king, and this they +were permitted to do. The king, however, forbade them to use any +violence, as he expected every instant the arrival of M. de Bouille's +superior force. M. de Guoguelas, however, left the house; and seeing the +hussars intermingled with the crowd that filled the streets, wished to +make trial of their fidelity. "Hussars," exclaimed he, imprudently, "are +you for the nation or the king?" "_Vive la nation_!" replied the +soldiers; "we are, and always shall be, in her favour." The people +applauded this declaration; and a sergeant of the national guard headed +them, whilst their commanding officer succeeded in making his escape, +and hastened to join the two officers, who, together with M. de +Choiseul's horses, had been stationed in the lower town, and they all +three quitted Varennes, and hastened to inform their general at Dun. + +These officers had been fired upon, when, learning the royal carriages +had been stopped, they endeavoured to gain access to the king. The whole +night passed in these different occurrences. Already had the national +guards of the neighbouring villages arrived at Varennes; barricades were +erected between the upper and lower town; and the authorities sent off +expresses to warn the inhabitants of Metz and Verdun, and to demand that +troops and cannon might be instantly sent, to prevent the king being +rescued by the approaching troops of M. de Bouille. + +The king, the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the children, lay down for a +short time, dressed as they were, in the rooms at M. Sausse's, amidst +the threatening murmurs of the people and the noise of footsteps, that +at each instant increased beneath their window. Such was the state of +affairs at Varennes at seven o'clock in the morning. The queen had not +slept; all her feelings as a wife, a mother, a queen--rage, terror, +despair,--waged so terrible a conflict in her mind, that her hair, which +had been auburn on the previous evening, was in the morning white as +snow. + + +XV. + +At Paris the most profound mystery had covered the king's departure. M. +de La Fayette, who had twice been to the Tuileries, to assure himself +with his own eyes that his orders had been strictly obeyed, quitted it +at midnight, perfectly convinced that its walls would securely guard the +people's hostages. It was only at seven o'clock in the morning of the +21st of June, that the servants of the chateau, on entering the +apartments of the king and queen, found the beds undisturbed and the +rooms deserted, and spread the alarm amongst the palace guard. The +fugitive family had thus ten or twelve hours' start of any attempt that +could be made to pursue them; and even supposing it could be ascertained +which road they had taken, they could be only stopped by couriers, and +the body guard who accompanied the king would arrest the couriers +without difficulty. Moreover, no attempt could be made to oppose their +flight by force before they had reached the town in which were stationed +the detachments of M. de Bouille. + +All Paris was in the greatest confusion. The report flew from the +chateau, and spread like wildfire into the neighbouring _quartiers_, and +from thence into the faubourgs. The words, "The king has escaped," were +in every body's mouth; yet no one could believe it. Crowds flocked to +the chateau, to assure themselves of the fact--they questioned the +guards--inveighed against the traitors--every one believed that some +conspiracy was on the point of breaking out. The name of M. de La +Fayette, coupled with invectives, was on every tongue. "Is he a fool--is +he a confederate? how is it possible that so many of the royal family +could have passed the gates--the guards--without connivance?" The doors +were forced open, to enable the people to visit the royal apartments. +Divided between stupor and insult, they avenged themselves on inanimate +objects, for the long respect with which these dwellings of kings had +inspired them--and they passed from awe to derision. A portrait of the +king was taken from the bed-chamber and hung up at the gate of the +chateau, as an article of furniture for sale. A fruit woman took +possession of the queen's bed, to sell her cherries in, saying, "It is +to-day the nation's turn to take their ease." + +A cap of the queen's was placed on the head of a young girl, but she +exclaimed it would sully her forehead, and trampled it under foot with +indignation and contempt. They entered the school-room of the young +dauphin--there the people were touched, and respected the books, the +maps, the toys of the baby king. The streets and public squares were +crowded with people; the national guards assembled; the drums beat to +arms; the alarm-gun thundered every minute. Men armed with pikes, and +wearing the _bonnet rouge_, reappeared, and eclipsed the uniforms. +Santerre, the brewer and agitator of the faubourgs, alone led a band of +2000 pikes. The people's indignation began to prevail over their terror, +and showed itself in satirical outcries and injurious actions against +royalty. On the Place de la Greve, the bust of Louis XVI., placed +beneath the fatal lantern, that had been the instrument of the first +crimes of the Revolution, was mutilated. "When," exclaimed the +demagogues, "will the people execute justice for themselves upon all +these kings of bronze and marble--shameful monuments of their slavery +and their idolatry?" The statues of the king were torn from the shops; +some broke them into pieces, others merely tied a bandage over the eyes, +to signify the blindness attributed to the king. The names of king, +queen, Bourbon, were effaced from all the signs. The Palais Royal lost +its name, and was now called Palais d'Orleans. The clubs, hastily +convoked, rang with the most frantic motions; that of the Cordeliers +decreed that the National Assembly had devoted France to slavery, by +declaring the crown hereditary; they demanded that the name of the king +should be for ever abolished, and that the kingdom should be constituted +into a republic. Danton gave it its audacity, and Marat its madness. + +The most singular reports were in circulation, and contradicted each +other at every moment. According to one, the king had taken the road to +Metz, to another, the royal family had escaped by a drain. Camille +Desmoulins excited the people's mirth as the most insulting mark of +their contempt. The walls of the Tuileries were placarded with offers of +a small reward to any one who would bring back the noxious or unclean +animals that had escaped from it. In the garden, in the open air, the +most extravagant proposals were made. "People," said one of these +orators, mounting on a chair, "it will be unfortunate, should this +perfidious king be brought back to us,--what should we do with him? He +would come to us like Thersites to pour forth those big tears, of which +Homer tells us; and we should be moved with pity. If he returns, I +propose that he be exposed for three days to public derision, with the +red handkerchief on his head, and that he be then conducted from stage +to stage to the frontier, and that he be then kicked out of the +kingdom." + +Freron caused his papers to be sold amongst the groups. "He is gone," +said one of them, "this imbecile king, this perjured monarch. She is +gone, this wretched queen, who, to the lasciviousness of Messalina, +unites the insatiable thirst of blood that devoured Medea. Execrable +woman, evil genius of France, thou wast the leader, the soul of this +conspiracy." The people repeating these words, circulated from street +to street these odious accusations, which fomented their hate, and +envenomed their alarm. + + +XVI. + +It was only at ten o'clock that three cannon shots proclaimed (by order +of the municipal and departmental authorities) the event of the night to +the people. The National Assembly had already met; the president +informed it that M. Bailly, the mayor of Paris, was come to acquaint +them that the king and his family had been carried off during the night +from the Tuileries by some enemies of the nation; the Assembly, who were +already individually aware of this fact, listened to the communication +with imposing gravity. It seemed as though at this moment the critical +juncture of public affairs gave them a majestic calmness, and that +all the wisdom of the great nation was concentrated in its +representatives--one feeling alone dictated every act, every thought, +every resolution,--to preserve and defend the constitution, even +although the king was absent, and the royalty virtually dead. To take +temporary possession of the regency of the kingdom, to summon the +ministers, to send couriers on every road, to arrest all individuals +leaving the kingdom; to visit the arsenal, to supply arms, to send the +generals to their posts, and to garrison the frontiers,--all this was +the work of an instant; there was no "right," no "left," no "centre;" +the "left" comprised all. The Assembly was informed that one of the +aides-de-camp of M. de La Fayette, sent by him on his own +responsibility, and previous to any orders from the Assembly, was in the +power of the people, who accused M. de La Fayette and his staff of +treason; and messengers were sent to free him. + +The aide-de-camp entered the chamber and announced the object of his +mission; the Assembly gave a second order, sanctioning that of M. de La +Fayette, and he departed. Barnave, who perceived in the popular +irritation against La Fayette a fresh peril, hastened to mount the +tribune; and although up to that period he had been opposed to the +popular general, he yet generously, or adroitly, defended him against +the suspicions of the people, who were ready to abandon him. It was +said that for some days past Lameth and Barnave, in succeeding Mirabeau +in the Assembly, felt, like himself, the necessity of some secret +intelligence with this remnant of the monarchy. Much was said of secret +relations between Barnave and the king, of a planned flight, of +concealed measures; but these rumours, accredited by La Fayette himself +in his Memoirs, had not then burst forth; and even at this present +period they are doubtful. "The object which ought to occupy us," said +Barnave, "is to re-establish the confidence in him to whom it belongs. +There is a man against whom popular movement would fain create distrust, +that I firmly believe is undeserved; let us throw ourselves between this +distrust and the people. We must have a concentrated, a central force, +an arm to act, when we have but one single head to reflect. M. de La +Fayette, since the commencement of the revolution, has evinced the +opinions and the conduct of a good citizen. It is absolutely necessary +that he should retain his credit with the nation. Force is necessary at +Paris, but tranquillity is equally so. It is you, who must direct this +force." + +These words of Barnave were voted to be the text of the proclamation. At +this moment information was brought that M. de Cazales, the orator of +the _cote droit_, was in the hands of the people, and exposed to the +greatest danger at the Tuileries. + +Six commissioners were appointed to go to his succour, and they +conducted him to the chamber. He mounted the tribune, irritated at once +against the people, from whose violence he had just escaped, and against +the king, who had abandoned his partisans without giving them any timely +information. + +"I have narrowly escaped being torn in pieces by the people," cried he; +"and without the assistance of the national guard, who displayed so much +attachment for me--." At these words which indicated the pretension to +personal popularity lurking in the mind of the royalist orator, the +Assembly gave marked signs of disapprobation, and the _cote gauche_ +murmured loudly. "I do not speak for myself," returned Cazales, "but for +the common interest. I will willingly sacrifice my petty existence, and +this sacrifice has long ago been made; but it is important to the whole +empire that your sittings be undisturbed by any popular tumult in the +critical state of affairs at present, and in consequence I second all +the measures for preserving order and tranquillity that have just been +proposed." At length, on the motion of several members, the Assembly +decided, that in the king's absence, all power should be vested in +themselves, and that their decrees should be immediately put in +execution by the ministers without any further sanction or acceptance. +The Assembly seized on the dictatorship with a prompt and firm grasp, +and declared themselves permanent. + + +XVII. + +Whilst the Assembly, by the rights alike of prudence and necessity, +seized on the supreme power, M. de La Fayette cast himself with calm +audacity amidst the people, to grasp again, at the peril of his life, +the confidence that he had lost. The first impulse of the people would +naturally be to massacre the perfidious general, who had answered for +the safe custody of the king with his life, and had yet suffered him to +escape. La Fayette saw his peril, and, by braving, averted the tempest. +One of the first to learn the king's flight, from his officers, he +hurried to the Tuileries, where he found the mayor of Paris, Bailly, and +the president of the Assembly, Beauharnais. Bailly and Beauharnais +lamented the number of hours that must be lost in the pursuit before the +Assembly could be convoked, and the decrees executed. "Is it your +opinion," asked La Fayette, "that the arrest of the king and the royal +family is absolutely essential to the public safety, and can alone +preserve us from civil war?" "No doubt can be entertained of that," +returned the mayor and the president. "Well then," returned La Fayette, +"I take on myself all the responsibility of this arrest;" and he +instantly wrote an order to all the national guards and citizens to +arrest the king. This was also a dictatorship, and the most personal of +all dictatorships, that a single man, taking the place of the Assembly, +and the whole nation, thus assumed. He, on his private authority and the +right of his civic foresight, struck at the liberty and perhaps the life +of the lawful ruler of the nation. This order led Louis XVI. to the +scaffold, for it restored to the people the victim who had escaped +their clutches. "Fortunately for him," he writes in his Memoirs, after +the atrocities committed on these august victims, "fortunately for him, +their arrest was not owing to his orders, but to the accident of being +recognised by a post-master, and to their ill arrangements." Thus the +citizen ordered that which the man trembled to see fulfilled; and tardy +sensibility protested against patriotism. + +Quitting the Tuileries, La Fayette went to the Hotel de Ville, on +horseback. The quays were crowded with persons whose anger vented itself +in reproaches against him, which he supported with the utmost apparent +serenity. On his arrival at the Place de Greve, almost unattended, he +found the duke d'Aumont, one of his officers, in the hands of the +populace, who were on the point of massacring him; and he instantly +mingled with the crowd, who were astonished at his audacity, and rescued +the duke d'Aumont. He thus recovered by courage the dominion, which he +would have lost (and with it his life) had he hesitated. + +"Why do you complain?" he asked of the crowd. "Does not every citizen +gain twenty sous by the suppression of the civil list? If you call the +flight of the king a misfortune, by what name would you then denominate +a counter-revolution that would deprive you of liberty?" He again +quitted the Hotel de Ville with an escort, and directed his steps with +more confidence towards the Assembly. As he entered the chamber, Camus, +near whom he seated himself, rose indignantly: "No uniforms here," cried +he; "in this place we should behold neither arms nor uniforms." Several +members of the left side rose with Camus, exclaiming to La Fayette, +"Quit the chamber!" and dismissing with a gesture the intimidated +general. Other members, friends of La Fayette, collected round him, and +sought to silence the threatening vociferations of Camus. M. de La +Fayette at last obtained a hearing at the bar. After uttering a few +common places about liberty and the people, he proposed that M. de +Gouvion, his second in command, to whom the guard of the Tuileries had +been intrusted, should be examined by the Assembly. "I will answer for +this officer," said he; "and take upon myself the responsibility." M. de +Gouvion was heard, and affirmed that all the outlets from the palace had +been strictly guarded, and that the king could not have escaped by any +of the doors. This statement was confirmed by M. Bailly, the mayor of +Paris. The intendant of the civil list, M. de Laporte, appeared, to +present to the Assembly the manifesto the king had left for his people. +He was asked, "How did you receive it?" "The king," replied M. de +Laporte, "had left it sealed, with a letter for me." "Read this letter," +said a member. "No, no," exclaimed the Assembly, "it is a confidential +letter, we have no right to read it." They equally refused to unseal a +letter for the queen that had been left on her table. The generosity of +the nation, even in this moment, predominated over their irritation. + +The king's manifesto was read amidst much laughter and loud murmurs. + +"Frenchmen," said the king in this address to his people, "so long as I +hoped to behold public happiness and tranquillity restored by the +measures concerted by myself and the Assembly, no sacrifice was too +great; calumnies, insult, injury, even the loss of liberty,--I have +suffered all without a murmur. But now that I behold the kingdom +destroyed, property violated, personal safety compromised, anarchy in +every part of my dominions, I feel it my duty to lay before my subjects +the motives of my conduct. In the month of July, 1789, I did not fear to +trust myself amongst the inhabitants of Paris. On the 5th and 6th of +October, although outraged in my own palace, and a witness of the +impunity with which all sorts of crimes were committed, I would not quit +France, lest I should be the cause of civil war. I came to reside in the +Tuileries, deprived of almost the necessaries of life; my body-guard was +torn from me, and many of these faithful gentlemen were massacred under +my very eyes. The most shameful calumnies have been heaped upon the +faithful and devoted wife, who participates in my affection for the +people, and who has generously taken her share of all the sacrifices I +have made for them. Convocation of the States-general, double +representation granted to the third estate (_le tiers etat_), reunion of +the orders, sacrifice of the 20th of June,--I have done all this for the +nation; and all these sacrifices have been lost, misinterpreted, turned +against me. I have been detained as a prisoner in my own palace; instead +of guards, jailers have been imposed on me. I have been rendered +responsible for a government that has been torn from my grasp. Though +charged to preserve the dignity of France in relation to foreign powers, +I have been deprived of the right of declaring peace or war. Your +constitution is a perpetual contradiction between the titles with which +it invests me, and the functions it denies me. I am only the responsible +chief of anarchy, and the seditious power of the clubs wrests from you +the power you have wrested from me. Frenchmen, was this the result you +looked for from your regeneration? Your attachment to your king was wont +to be reckoned amongst your virtues; this attachment is now changed into +hatred, and homage into insult. From M. Necker down to the lowest of the +rabble, every one has been king except the king himself. Threats have +been held out of depriving the king even of this empty title, and of +shutting up the queen in a convent. In the nights of October, when it +was proposed to the Assembly to go and protect the king by its presence, +they declared it was beneath their dignity to do so. The king's aunts +have been arrested, when from religious motives they wished to journey +to Rome. My conscience has been equally outraged; even my religious +principles have been constrained: when after my illness I wished to go +to St. Cloud, to complete my convalescence, it was feared that I was +going to this residence to perform my pious duties with priests who had +not taken the oaths; my horses were unharnessed, and I was compelled by +force to return to the Tuileries. M. de La Fayette himself could not +ensure obedience to the law, or the respect due to the king. I have been +forced to send away the very priests of my chapels, and even the adviser +of my conscience. In such a situation, all that is left me is to appeal +to the justice and affection of my people, to take refuge from the +attacks of the factions and the oppression of the Assembly and the +clubs, in a town of my kingdom, and to resolve there, in perfect +freedom, on the modifications the constitution requires; of the +restoration of our holy religion; of the strengthening of the royal +power, and the consolidation of true liberty." + +The Assembly, who had several times interrupted the reading of this +manifesto by bursts of laughter or murmurs of indignation, proceeded +with disdain to the order of the day, and received the oaths of the +generals employed at Paris. Numerous deputations from Paris and the +neighbouring departments came successively to the bar to assure the +Assembly that it would ever be considered as the rallying point by all +good citizens. + +The same evening the clubs of the Cordeliers and the Jacobins caused the +motions for the king's dethronement to be placarded about. The club of +the Cordeliers declared in one of its placards that every citizen who +belonged to it had sworn individually to poignard the tyrants. Marat, +one of its members, published and distributed in Paris an incendiary +proclamation. "People," said he, "behold the loyalty, the honour, the +religion of kings. Remember Henry III. and the duke de Guise: at the +same table as his enemy did Henry receive the sacrament, and swear on +the same altar eternal friendship; scarcely had he quitted the temple +than he distributed poignards to his followers, summoned the duke to his +cabinet, and there beheld him fall pierced with wounds. Trust then to +the oaths of princes! On the morning of the 19th, Louis XVI. laughed at +his oath, and enjoyed beforehand the alarm his flight would cause you. +The Austrian woman has seduced La Fayette last night. Louis XVI., +disguised in a priest's robe, fled with the dauphin, his wife, his +brother, and all the family. He now laughs at the folly of the +Parisians, and ere long he will swim in their blood. Citizens, this +escape has been long prepared by the traitors of the National Assembly. +You are on the brink of ruin; hasten to provide for your safety. +Instantly choose a dictator; let your choice fall on the citizen who has +up to the present displayed most zeal, activity, and intelligence; and +do all he bids you do to strike at your foes; this is the time to lop +off the heads of Bailly, La Fayette, all the scoundrels of the staff, +all the traitors of the Assembly. A tribune, a military tribune, or you +are lost without hope. At present I have done all that was in the power +of man to save you. If you neglect this last piece of advice, I have no +more to say to you, and take my farewell of you for ever. Louis XVI., at +the head of his satellites, will besiege you in Paris, and the friend of +the people will have a burning pile (_four ardent_) for his tomb, but +his last sigh shall be for his country, for liberty, and for you." + + +XVIII. + +The members of the constitutional party felt it their duty to attend the +sitting of the Jacobins on the 22d, in order to moderate its ardour. +Barnave, Sieyes, and La Fayette also appeared there, and took the oath +of fidelity to the nation. Camille Desmoulins thus relates the results +of this sitting: + +"Whilst the National Assembly was decreeing, decreeing, decreeing, the +people were acting. I went to the Jacobins, and on the Quai Voltaire I +met La Fayette. Barnave's words had begun to turn the current of popular +opinion, and some voices cried 'Vive La Fayette.' He had reviewed the +battalions on the quay. Convinced of the necessity of rallying round a +chief, I yielded to the impulse that drew me towards the white horse. +'Monsieur de La Fayette,' said I to him in the midst of the crowd, 'for +more than a year I have constantly spoken ill of you, this is the moment +to convict me of falsehood. Prove that I am a calumniator, render me +execrable, cover me with infamy, and save the state.' I spoke with the +utmost warmth, whilst he pressed my hand. 'I have always recognised you +as a good citizen,' returned he; 'you will see that you have been +deceived; our common oath is to live free, or to die--all goes +well--there's but one feeling amongst the National Assembly--the common +danger has united all parties.' 'But why,' I inquired, 'does your +Assembly affect to speak of the carrying off (_enlevement_) of the king +in all its decrees, when the king himself writes that he escaped of his +own free will? what baseness, or what treason, in the Assembly to employ +such language, when surrounded by three millions of bayonets.' 'The word +_carrying off_ is a mistake in dictation, that the Assembly will +correct,' replied La Fayette; then he added, 'this conduct of the king +is infamous.' La Fayette repeated this several times, and shook me +heartily by the hand. I left him, reflecting that possibly the vast +field that the king's flight opened to his ambition, might bring him +back to the party of the people. I arrived at the Jacobins, striving to +believe the sincerity of his demonstrations, of his patriotism, and +friendship; and to persuade myself of this, which, in spite of all my +efforts, escaped by a thousand recollections, and a thousand issues." + +When Camille Desmoulins entered Robespierre was in the tribune: the +immense credit that this young orator's perseverance and +incorruptibility had gained him with the people, made his hearers crowd +around him. + +"I am not one of those," said he, "who term this event a disaster; this +day would be the most glorious of the Revolution, did you but know how +to turn it to your advantage. The king has chosen to quit his post at +the moment of our most deadly perils, both at home and abroad. The +Assembly has lost its credit; all men's minds are excited by the +approaching elections. The emigres are at Coblentz. The emperor and the +king of Sweden are at Brussels; our harvests are ripe to feed their +troops; but three millions of men are under arms in France, and this +league of Europe may easily be vanquished. I fear neither Leopold, nor +the king of Sweden. That which alone terrifies me, seems to reassure all +others. It is the fact that since this morning all our enemies affect to +use the same language as ourselves. All men are united, and in +appearance wear the same aspect. It is impossible that all can feel the +same joy at the flight of a king who possessed a revenue of forty +millions of francs, and who distributed all the offices of state amongst +his adherents and our enemies; there are traitors, then, among us; there +is a secret understanding between the fugitive king and these traitors +who have remained at Paris. Read the king's manifesto, and the whole +plot will be there unveiled. The king, the emperor, the king of Sweden, +d'Artois, Conde, all the fugitives, all these brigands, are about to +march against us. A paternal manifesto will appear, in which the king +will talk of his love of peace, and even of liberty; whilst at the same +time the traitors in the capital and the departments will represent you, +on their part, as the leaders of the civil war. Thus the Revolution will +be stifled in the embraces of hypocritical despotism and intimidated +moderatism. + +"Look already at the Assembly: in twenty decrees the king's flight is +termed carrying off by force (_enlevement_). To whom does it intrust the +safety of the people? To a minister of foreign affairs, under the +inspection of diplomatic committee. Who is the minister? A traitor whom +I have unceasingly denounced to you, the persecutor of the patriot +soldiers, the upholder of the aristocrat officers. What is the +committee? A committee of traitors composed of all our enemies beneath +the garb of patriots. And the minister for foreign affairs, who is he? A +traitor, a Montmorin, who but a short month ago declared a perfidious +_adoration_ of the constitution. And Delissart, who is he? A traitor, to +whom Necker has bequeathed his mantle to cover his plots and +conspiracies. + +"Do you not see the coalition of these men with the king, and the king +with the European league? That will crush us! In an instant you will see +all the men of 1789--mayor, general, ministers, orators,--enter this +room. How can you escape Antony?" continued he, alluding to La Fayette. +"Antony commands the legions that are about to avenge Caesar; and +Octavius, Caesar's nephew, commands the legions of the republic. + +"How can the republic hope to avoid destruction? We are continually told +of the necessity of uniting ourselves; but when Antony encamped at the +side of Lepidus, and all the foes to freedom were united to those who +termed themselves its defenders, nought remained for Brutus and Cassius, +save to die. + +"It is to this point that this feigned unanimity, this perfidious +reconciliation of patriots, tends. Yes, this is the fate prepared for +you. I know that by daring to unveil these conspiracies I sharpen a +thousand daggers against my own life. I know the fate that awaits me; +but if, when almost unknown in the National Assembly, I, amongst the +earliest apostles of liberty, sacrificed my life to the cause of truth, +of humanity, of my country; to-day, when I have been so amply repaid for +this sacrifice, by such marks of universal goodwill, consideration, and +regard, I shall look at death as a mercy, if it prevents my witnessing +such misfortunes. I have tried the Assembly, let them in their turn try +me." + + +XIX. + +These words so artfully combined, and calculated to fill every breast +with suspicion, were hailed like the last speech of a martyr for +liberty. All eyes were suffused with tears. "We will die with you," +cried Camille Desmoulins, extending his arms towards Robespierre, as +though he would fain embrace him. His excitable and changeable spirit +was borne away by the breath of each new enthusiastic impulse. He passed +from the arms of La Fayette into those of Robespierre like a courtezan. +Eight hundred persons rose _en masse_; and by their attitudes, their +gestures, their spontaneous and unanimous inspiration, offered one of +those most imposing tableaux, that prove how great is the effect of +oratory, passion, and circumstance over an assembled people. After they +had all individually sworn to defend Robespierre's life, they were +informed of the arrival of the ministers and members of the Assembly who +had belonged to the club in '89, and who in this perilous state of their +country, had come to fraternise with the Jacobins. + +"Monsieur le President," cried Danton, "if the traitors venture to +present themselves, I undertake solemnly either that my head shall fall +on the scaffold, or to prove that their heads should roll at the feet of +the nation they have betrayed." + +The deputies entered: Danton, recognising La Fayette amongst them, +mounted the tribunal, and addressing the general, said:--"It is my turn +to speak, and I will speak as though I were writing a history for the +use of future ages. How do you dare, M. de La Fayette, to join the +friends of the constitution; you, who are a friend and partisan of the +system of the two chambers invented by the priest Sieyes, a system +destructive of the constitution and liberty? Did you not yourself tell +me that the project of M. Mounier was too execrable for any one to +venture to reproduce it, but that it was possible to cause an equivalent +to it to be accepted by the Assembly? I dare you to deny this fact--that +damns you. How comes it that the king in his proclamation uses the same +language as yourself? How have you dared to infringe an order of the day +on the circulation of the pamphlets of the defenders of the people, +whilst you grant the protection of your bayonets to cowardly writers, +the destroyers of the constitution? Why did you bring back prisoners, +and as it were in triumph, the inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Antoine, +who wished to destroy the last stronghold of tyranny at Vincennes? Why, +on the evening of this expedition to Vincennes, did you protect in the +Tuileries assassins armed with poignards to favour the king's escape? +Explain to me by what chance, on the 21st June, the Tuileries was +guarded by the company of the grenadiers of the Rue de l'Oratoire, that +you had punished on the 18th of April for having opposed the king's +departure? Let us not deceive ourselves: the king's flight is only the +result of a plot; there has been a secret understanding, and you, M. de +La Fayette, who lately staked your head for the king's safety, do you by +appearing in this assembly seek your own condemnation? The people must +have vengeance; they are wearied of being thus alternately braved or +deceived. If my voice is unheard here, if our weak indulgence for the +enemies of our country continually endanger it, I appeal to posterity, +and leave it to them to judge between us." + +M. de La Fayette, thus attacked, made no reply to these strong appeals; +he merely said that he had come to join the assembly, because it was +there that all good citizens should hasten in perilous times; and he +then left the place. The assembly having issued a decree next day +calling on the general to appear and justify himself, he wrote that he +would do so at a future period; he however never did so. But the motions +of Robespierre and Danton did not in the least injure his influence over +the national guard. Danton on that day displayed the greatest audacity. +M. de La Fayette had the proofs of the orator's venality in his +possession--he had received from M. de Montmorin 100,000 francs. Danton +knew that M. de La Fayette was well aware of this transaction; but he +also knew that La Fayette could not accuse him without naming M. de +Montmorin, and without also accusing himself of participation in this +shameful traffic, that supplied the funds of the civil list. This double +secret kept them mutually in check, and obliged the orator and general +to maintain a degree of reserve that lessened the fury of the contest. +Lameth replied to Danton, and spoke in favour of concord. The violent +resolutions proposed by Robespierre and Danton had no weight that day at +the Jacobins' Club. The peril that threatened them taught the people +wisdom, and their instinct forbade their dividing their force before +that which was unknown. + + +XX. + +The same evening the National Assembly discussed and adopted an address +to the French nation, in these terms:-- + +"A great crime has been committed. The king and his family have been +_carried off_, (the continuance of this pretended _enlevement_ of the +king excited loud murmurs,) but your representatives will triumph over +all these obstacles. France wishes to be free, and she shall be; the +Revolution will not retrograde. We have saved the law by resolving that +our decrees shall be the law. We have saved the nation by sending to the +army reinforcements of 300,000 men. We have saved public peace by +placing it under the safeguard of the zeal and patriotism of the armed +citizens. In this position we await our enemies. In a manifesto dictated +to the king by those who have offered violence to his affection for his +people, you are accused--the constitution is accused--the law of +impunity of the 6th of October is accused. The nation is more just, for +she does not accuse the king of the crimes of his ancestors. (Applause.) + +"But the king swore on the 14th of July to protect this constitution; he +has therefore consented to perjure himself. The changes made in the +constitution of the kingdom are laid to the charge of the _soidisant_ +factious. A few factious? that is not sufficient; we are 26,000,000 of +factious. (Loud applause.) We have re-constructed the power, we have +preserved the monarchy, because we believe it useful to France. We have +doubtless reformed it, but it was to save it from its abuses and its +excesses; we have granted a yearly sum of 50,000,000 of francs to +maintain the legitimate splendour of the throne. We have reserved to +ourselves the right of declaring war, because we would not that the +blood of the people should belong to the ministers. Frenchmen! all is +organised, every man is at his post. The Assembly watches over all. You +have nought to fear save from yourselves, should your just emotion lead +you to commit any violence or disorders. The people who seek to be free +should remain unmoved in great crises. + +"Behold Paris, and imitate the example of the capital. All goes on as +usual; the tyrants will be deceived. Before they can bend France beneath +their yoke, the whole nation must be annihilated. Should despotism +venture to attempt it, it will be vanquished; or even though it +triumph, it will triumph over nought save ruins!" (Loud and unanimous +applause followed the conclusion of the address.) + +The sitting which had been suspended during an hour, re-opened at +half-past nine. Much agitation prevailed in the chamber, and the words +_He is arrested! He is arrested!_ ran along the benches, and from the +benches to the tribune. The president announced that he had just +received a packet containing several letters which he would read; at the +same time recommending them to abstain from any marks of approbation or +disapprobation. He then opened the packet amidst a profound silence, and +read the letters of the municipal authorities at Varennes and of St. +Menehould brought by M. Mangin, surgeon, at Varennes. The Assembly then +nominated three commissioners out of the members to bring the king back +to Paris. These three commissioners were Barnave, Petion, and +Latour-Maubourg, and they instantly started off to fulfil their mission. +Let us now for a brief space leave Paris a prey to all the different +emotions of surprise, joy, and indignation excited by the flight and +arrest of the king. + + +XXI. + +The night at Varennes had been passed by the king, the queen, and the +people in alternate feelings of hope and terror. Whilst the children, +fatigued with a long day's journey, and the heat of the weather, slept +soundly, the king and queen, guarded by the municipal guards of +Varennes, discussed, in a low voice, the danger of their position, their +pious sister, Madame Elizabeth, prayed by their side; her kingdom was, +indeed, "in heaven." Nothing had induced her to remain at the court, +from which she was estranged, alike by her piety and her renouncement of +all worldly pleasure, but her affection for her brother, and she had +shared only the sorrows and sufferings of the throne. + +The prisoners were far from despairing yet; they had no doubt that M. de +Bouille, warned by one of the officers whom he had stationed on the +road, would march all night to their assistance; and they attributed his +delay to the necessity of collecting a sufficient force to overpower +the numerous troops of national guards whom the sound of the tocsin had +summoned to Varennes. But at each instant they expected to see him +appear, and the least movement of the populace, the slightest clash of +arms in the streets, seemed to announce his arrival; the courier +despatched to Paris by the authorities of Varennes to receive the orders +of the Assembly, only left at three o'clock in the morning. He could not +reach Paris in less than twenty hours, and would require as much more +for his return; and the Assembly would require, at least three or four +hours more to deliberate; thus M. de Bouille must have forty-eight +hours' start of any orders from Paris. + +Moreover, in what state would Paris be? what would have happened there +at the unexpected announcement of the king's departure? Had not terror +or repentance taken possession of every mind; would not anarchy have +destroyed the feeble barriers that an anarchical assembly might have +opposed to it? Would not the cry of treason have been the first signal +of alarm? La Fayette have been torn to pieces as a traitor, and the +national guard disbanded? Would not the well-intentioned and loyal +citizens have again obtained the mastery over the factious and turbulent +in the confusion and terror that would prevail? Who would give orders? +who would execute them? + +The nation trembling, and in disorder, would fall perhaps at the feet of +its king. Such were the chimaeras, the last fond hopes of this +unfortunate family, and on which they sustained their courage, during +this fatal night, in the small and suffocating room into which they were +all crowded. + +The king had been allowed to communicate with several officers: M. de +Guoguelas, M. de Damas, M. de Choiseul had seen him. The procureur +syndic, and the municipal officers of Varennes, showed both respect and +pity for their king, even in the execution of what they believed to be +their duty. The people do not pass at once from respect to outrage. +There is a moment of indecision in every sacrilegious act, in which they +seem yet to reverence that which they are about to destroy. The +authorities of Varennes and M. Sausse, although believing they were the +saviours of the nation, were yet far from wishing to offend the king, +and guarded him as much as their sovereign as their captive. This did +not escape the king's notice; he flattered himself that at the first +demand made by M. de Bouille, respect would prevail over patriotism, and +that he would be set at liberty, and he expressed this belief to his +officers. + +One of them, M. Derlons, who commanded the squadron of hussars stationed +at Dun, between Varennes and Stenay, had been informed of the king's +arrest at two o'clock in the morning by the commander of the detachment +at Varennes: having escaped this town, M. Derlons, without awaiting any +orders from the general, and anticipating them, he ordered his hussars +to mount, and galloped to Varennes, determined to rescue the king by +force. On his arrival at the gates of that town, he found them +barricaded and defended by a numerous body of national guards, who +refused to allow the hussars to enter the town. M. Derlons dismounted, +and leaving his men outside, demanded to see the king, which was +consented to. His aim was to inform the king that M. de Bouille was +about to march thither at the head of the royal Allemand regiment, and +also to assure himself, if it was impossible for his squadron to force +the obstacles, to break down the barricades in the upper town, and carry +off the king. The barricades appeared to him impregnable to cavalry, he +therefore gained admittance to the king, and asked him what were his +orders. "Tell M. de Bouille," returned the king, "that I am a prisoner, +and can give no orders. I much fear he can do no more for me, but I pray +him to do all he can." M. Derlons, who was an Alsatian, and spoke +German, wished to say a few words in that language to the queen, in +order that no person present might understand what passed. "Speak +French, sir," said the queen, "we are overheard." M. Derlons said no +more, but withdrew in despair; but he remained with his troop at the +gates of Varennes, awaiting the arrival of the superior forces of M. de +Bouille. + + +XXII. + +The aide-de-camp of M. de La Fayette, M. Romeuf, despatched by that +general, and bearer of the order of the Assembly, arrived at Varennes at +half-past seven. The queen, who knew him personally, reproached him in +the most pathetic manner with the odious mission with which his general +had charged him. M. Romeuf sought in vain to calm her indignation by +every mark of respect and devotion compatible with the rigour of his +orders. The queen then changing from invectives to tears, gave a free +vent to her grief. M. Romeuf having laid the order of the Assembly on +the Dauphin's bed, the queen seized the paper, threw it on the ground, +and trampled it under her feet, exclaiming, that such a paper would +sully her son's bed. "In the name of your safety, of your glory, madam," +said the young officer, "master your grief; would you suffer any one but +myself to witness such a fit of despair?" + +The preparations for their departure were hastened, through fear, lest +the troops of M. de Bouille might march on the town, or cut them off. +The king used every means in his power to delay them, for each minute +gained gave them a fresh hope of safety, and disputed them one by one. +At the moment they were entering the carriage, one of the queen's women +feigned a sudden and alarming illness. The queen refused to start +without her, and only yielded at last to threats of force, and the +shouts of the impatient populace. She would suffer no one to touch her +son, but carried him herself to the carriage; and the royal cortege +escorted by three or four thousand national guards, moved slowly towards +Paris. + + +XXIII. + +What was M. de Bouille doing during this long and agonising night the +king passed at Varennes? He had, as we have already seen, passed the +night at the gates of Dun, two leagues from Varennes, awaiting the +couriers who were to inform him of the king's approach. At four in the +morning, fearing to be discovered, and having seen no one, he regained +Stenay, in order to be nearer his troops, in case any accident had +happened to the king. At half-past four he was at the gates of Stenay, +when the two officers whom he had left there the previous evening, and +the commanding officer of the squadron that had abandoned him, arrived +and informed him that the king had been arrested since eleven o'clock at +night. Stupified and astonished at being informed so late he instantly +ordered the royal Allemand regiment, which was at Stenay, to mount and +follow him. The colonel of this regiment had received the previous +evening orders to keep the horses saddled. This order had not been +executed, and the regiment lost three quarters of an hour, in spite of +the repeated messages of M. de Bouille, who sent his own son to the +barracks. The general was powerless without this regiment, and no sooner +were they outside the town than M. de Bouille endeavoured to ascertain +its disposition towards the king. "Your king," said he, "who was +hastening hither to dwell amongst you, has been stopped by the +inhabitants of Varennes, within a few leagues. Will you let him remain a +prisoner, exposed to every insult at the hands of the national guards? +Here are his orders: he awaits you; he counts every moment. Let us march +to Varennes. Let us hasten to deliver him, and restore him to the nation +and liberty." + +Loud acclamations followed this speech. M. de Bouille distributed 500 or +600 louis amongst the soldiers, and the regiment marched forward. + +Stenay is at least nine leagues from Varennes, and the road very hilly +and bad. M. de Bouille, however, used all possible dispatch, and at a +little distance from Varennes he met the advanced guard of the regiment, +halted at the entrance of a little wood, defended by a body of the +national guard. M. de Bouille ordered them to charge, and putting +himself at the head of the troop, arrived at Varennes at a quarter to +nine, closely followed by the regiment. Whilst reconnoitring the town, +previous to an attack, he observed a troop of hussars, who appeared also +to watch the town. It was the squadron from Dun, commanded by M. +Derlons, who had passed the night here, awaiting reinforcements. M. +Derlons hastened to inform the general that the king had left the town +more than an hour and a half; he added, the bridge was broken, the +streets barricaded; that the hussars of Clermont and Varennes had +fraternised with the people, and the commanders of the detachments, MM. +de Choiseul, de Damas, and de Guoguelas, were prisoners. M. de Bouille, +baffled, but not discouraged, resolved to follow the king, and rescue +him from the hands of the national guard. He despatched officers to find +a ford by which they could pass the river; but, unfortunately, although +one existed, they were unable to find it. + +Whilst thus engaged, he learnt that the garrisons of Metz and Verdun +were advancing with a train of artillery to the aid of the people. The +country was swarming with troops and national guards. The troops began +to show symptoms of hesitation; the horses, fatigued by nine leagues +over a bad road, could not sustain the speed necessary to overtake the +king at Sainte Menehould. All energy deserted them with hope. The +regiment turned round, and M. de Bouille led them back in silence to +Stenay; thence, followed only by a few of the officers most implicated, +he gained Luxembourg, and passed the frontier amidst a shower of balls, +and wishing for death more than he shunned the punishment. + + +XXIV. + +The royal carriages, however, rolled rapidly along the road to Chalons, +attended by the national guard, who relieved each other in order to +escort them on; the whole population lined the road on either side, to +gaze upon a king brought back in triumph by the nation that believed +itself betrayed. The pikes and bayonets of the national guards could +scarcely force them a passage through this dense throng, that at each +instant grew more and more numerous, and who were never weary of +uttering cries of derision and menace, accompanied by the most furious +gestures. + +The carriages pursued their journey amidst a torrent of abuse, and the +clamour of the people recommenced at every turn of the wheel. It was a +Calvary of sixty leagues, every step of which was a torture. One +gentleman, M. de Dampierre, an old man, accustomed all his life to +venerate the king, having advanced towards the carriage to show some +marks of respectful compassion to his master, was instantly massacred +before their eyes, and the royal family narrowly escaped passing over +his bleeding corpse. Fidelity was the only unpardonable crime amongst +this band of savages. The king and queen, who had already made the +sacrifice of their lives, had summoned all their dignity and courage, in +order to die worthily. Passive courage was Louis XVI.'s virtue, as +though Heaven, who destined him to suffer martyrdom, had gifted him with +heroic endurance, that cannot resist, but can die. The queen found in +her blood and her pride sufficient hatred for the people, to return +with inward scorn the insults with which they profaned her. Madame +Elizabeth prayed mentally for divine assistance; and the two children +wondered at the hatred of the people they had been taught to love, and +whom they now saw only a prey to the most violent fury. The august +family would never have reached Paris alive, had not the commissioners +of the Assembly, who by their presence overawed the people, arrived in +time to subdue and control this growing sedition. + +The commissioners met the carriages between Dormans and Epernay, and +read to the king and people the order of the Assembly, giving them the +absolute command of the troops and national guards along the line; and +which enjoined them to watch not only over the king's security, but also +to maintain the respect due to royalty, represented in his person. +Barnave and Petion hastened to enter the king's carriage, to share his +danger, and shield him with their bodies. They succeeded in preserving +him from death, but not from outrage. The fury of the people, kept aloof +from the carriages, found vent further off; and all persons suspected of +feeling the least sympathy were brutally ill-treated. + +An ecclesiastic having approached the berlin, and exhibited some traces +of respect and sorrow on his features, was seized by the people, thrown +under the horses' feet, and was on the point of being massacred before +the queen's eyes, when Barnave, with a noble impulse, leant out of the +carriage. "Frenchmen," exclaimed he, "will you, a nation of brave men, +become a people of murderers?" Madame Elizabeth, struck with admiration +at his courageous interference, and fearing lest he might spring out, +and be in his turn torn to pieces by the people, held him by his coat +whilst he addressed the mob. From this moment the pious princess, the +queen, and the king himself conceived a secret esteem for Barnave. A +generous heart amidst so many cruel ones inspired them with a species of +confidence in the young _depute_. They had known him only as a leader of +faction, and by his voice heard amidst all their misfortunes; and they +were astonished to find a respectful protector in the man whom they had +hitherto looked upon as an insolent foe. + +Barnave's features were marked, yet attractive and open; his manners +polished, his language elegant; his bearing saddened by the aspect of +so much beauty, so much majesty, and so great a reverse of fortune. The +king in the intervals of calm and silence frequently spoke to him, and +discoursed of the events of the day. Barnave replied, with the tone of a +man devoted to liberty, but faithful still to the throne; and who in his +plans of regeneration, never separated the nation from the throne. Full +of attention to the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the royal children, he +strove by every means in his power to hide from them the perils and +humiliations of the journey. Constrained, no doubt, by the presence of +his rough colleague, Petion, if he did not openly avow the feeling of +pity, admiration, and respect which had conquered him during the +journey, he showed it in his actions, and a tacit treaty was concluded +by looks. The royal family felt that amidst this wreck of all their +hopes they had yet gained Barnave. All his subsequent conduct justified +the confidence of the queen. Audacious, when opposed to tyranny, he was +powerless against weakness, beauty, and misfortune; and this lost him +his life, but rendered his memory glorious. Until then he had been only +eloquent; he now showed that he possessed sensibility. Petion, on the +contrary, remained cold as a sectarian, and rude as a _parvenu_; he +affected a brusque familiarity with the royal family, eating in the +queen's presence, and throwing the rind of fruit out of the window, at +the risk of striking the king's face. When Madame Elizabeth poured him +out some wine, he raised his glass without thanking her to show that he +had enough. Louis XVI. having asked him if he was in favour of the +system of the two chambers, or for the republic--"I should be in favour +of a republic," returned Petion, "if I thought my country sufficiently +ripe for this form of government." The king, offended, made no reply, +and did not once speak until they arrived at Paris. + +The commissioners had written from Dormans to the Assembly, to inform +them what road the king would take, and at what day and hour he would +arrive. The approach to Paris offered increasing danger, owing to the +numbers and fury of the populace through which the king had to pass. The +Assembly redoubled its energy and precaution to assure the inviolability +of the king's person. The people, too, recovered the sentiment of their +own dignity before this great success fate granted them: they would not +dishonour their own triumph. Thousands of placards were stuck on the +walls--"_Whoever applauds the king shall be beaten; whoever insults him +shall be hung_." The king had slept at Meaux, and the commissioners +advised the Assembly to sit permanently, in order to be in readiness for +any unforeseen event that might take place on the king's arrival at +Paris; and the Assembly, consequently, did not dissolve. The hero of the +day, the author of the king's arrest, Drouet, son of the post-master of +Sainte Menehould, appeared before it, and gave the following +evidence:--"I have served in Conde's regiment of dragoons, and my +comrade, Guillaume, in the Queen's dragoons. The 21st of June, at seven +in the evening, two carriages and eleven horses arrived at Sainte +Menehould, and I recognised the king and queen; but, fearful of being +deceived, I resolved to ascertain the truth of this by arriving at +Varennes, by a bye-road, before the carriages. It was eleven o'clock, +and quite dark, when I reached Varennes; the carriages arrived also, and +were delayed by a dispute between the couriers and the postilions, who +refused to go any farther. I said to my comrade, 'Guillaume, are you a +good patriot?' 'Do not doubt it,' replied he. 'Well, then, the king is +here; let us arrest him.' We overturned a cart, filled with goods, under +the arch of the bridge; and when the carriage arrived, demanded their +passports. 'We are in a hurry, gentlemen,' said the queen. However, we +insisted, and made them alight at the house of the procureur of the +district; then, of his own accord, Louis XVI. said to us, 'Behold your +king--your queen--and my children! Treat us with that respect that +Frenchmen have always shown to their king.' We, however, detained him; +the national guards hastened to the town, and the hussars espoused our +cause; and after having done our duty, we returned home, amidst the +acclamations of our fellow-citizens, and to-day come to offer the homage +of our services to the National Assembly." + +Drouet and Guillaume were loudly applauded after this speech. + +The Assembly then decreed that immediately after the arrival of Louis +XVI. at the Tuileries, a guard should be given him, under the orders of +La Fayette, who should be responsible for his security. Malouet was the +only one who ventured to remonstrate against this captivity. "It at +once destroyed inviolability and the constitution; the legislative and +executive powers are now united." Alexandre Lameth opposed Malouet's +motion, and declared that it was the duty of the Assembly to assume and +retain, until the completion of the constitution, a dictatorship, forced +upon it by the state of affairs, but that the monarchy being the form of +government necessary to the concentration of the forces of so great a +nation, the Assembly would immediately afterwards resume a division of +powers, and return to the forms of a monarchy. + + +XXV. + +At this moment the captive king entered Paris. It was on the 25th of +June, at seven o'clock in the evening. From Meaux to the suburbs of +Paris, the crowd thickened in every place as the king passed. The +passions of the city, the Assembly, the press, and the clubs worked more +intensely, and even closer in this population of the environs of Paris. +These passions, written on every countenance, were repressed by their +very violence. Indignation and contempt controlled their rage. Insult +escaped them only in under tones; the populace was sinister, and not +furious. Thousands of glances darted death into the windows of the +carriages, but not one tongue uttered a threat. + +This calmness of hatred did not escape the king; the day was burning +hot. A scorching sun, reflected by the pavement and the bayonets, was +almost suffocating in the berlin, where ten persons were squeezed +together. Volumes of dust, raised by the trampling of two or three +hundred thousand spectators, was the only veil which from time to time +covered the humiliation of the king and queen from the triumph of the +people. The sweat of the horses, the feverish breath of this multitude +compact and excited, made the atmosphere dense and fetid. The travellers +panted for breath, the foreheads of the two children were bathed in +perspiration. The queen, trembling for them, let down one of the windows +of the carriage quickly, and addressing the crowd in an appeal to their +compassion, "See, gentlemen," she exclaimed, "in what a state my poor +children are--one is choking!" "We will choke you in another fashion," +replied these ferocious men in an under tone. + +From time to time violent attempts of the mob broke through the line, +pushed aside the horses, and men reaching the doors mounted on the +steps. Merciless ruffians, looking in silence on the king, the queen, +and the dauphin, seemed calculating on final crimes, and feeding on the +degradation of royalty. Bodies of _gendarmerie_ restored order from time +to time. The procession resumed its way in the midst of the clashing of +sabres, and the cries of men trampled under the horses' hoofs. La +Fayette, who feared attempts and surprises in the streets of Paris, +desired general Damas, the commandant of the escort, not to traverse the +city. He placed troops in deep line on the boulevard from the barrier De +l'Etoile to the Tuileries. The national guard bordered this line. The +Swiss guards were also drawn up, but their flags no longer lowered +before their master. No military honour was paid to the supreme head of +the army. The national guards, resting on their arms, did not salute +them, but saw the _cortege_ pass by in an attitude of force, +indifference, and contempt. + + +XXVI. + +The carriages entered in the garden of the Tuileries by the turning +bridge. La Fayette, on horseback at the head of his staff, had gone to +meet the procession, and now headed it. During his absence an immense +crowd had filled the garden, the terraces, and obstructed the gate of +the chateau. The escort had the greatest difficulty in forcing its way +through this tumultuous mass. They made every man keep his hat on. M. de +Guillermy, a member of the Assembly, alone remained uncovered, in spite +of the threats and insults which this mark of respect brought down upon +him. It was then that the queen, perceiving M. de La Fayette, and +fearing for her faithful body-guard sitting in the carriage, and +threatened by the people, exclaimed, "Monsieur de La Fayette, save the +_gardes du corps_." + +The royal family descended from the carriage at the end of the terrace. +La Fayette received them from the hands of Barnave and Petion. The +children were carried in the arms of the national guard. One of the +members of the left side of the Assembly, the vicomte de Noailles, +approached the queen with eagerness, and offered his arm. The queen +indignantly rejected it, and cast a look of contempt at the offer of +protection from an enemy, then perceiving a deputy of the right, +demanded his arm. So much degradation might depress, but could not +overcome her. The dignity of the empire displayed itself unabated in the +gesture and the heart of the woman. + +The prolonged clamours of the crowd at the entrance of the king at the +Tuileries announced to the Assembly its triumph. The excitement +suspended the sitting for nearly half an hour. A deputy, rushing into +the meeting, exclaimed that three _gardes du corps_ were in the hands of +the people, who would rend them in pieces. Twenty _commissaires_ went +out at the moment to rescue them. They entered some minutes afterwards. +The riot had been appeased by them. They stated that they had seen +Petion protecting with his person the door of the king's carriage. +Barnave entered, mounted the tribune, covered as he was with the dust of +his journey, and said, "We have fulfilled our mission to the honour of +France and the Assembly; we have assured the public tranquillity and the +safety of the king. The king has declared to us that he had no intention +of passing the boundaries of the kingdom. (Murmurs.) We advanced rapidly +as far as Meaux, in order to avoid the pursuit of M. de Bouille's +troops. The national guards and the troops have done their duty. The +king is at the Tuileries." + +Petion added, in order to flatter public opinion, that when the carriage +stopped some persons had attempted to lay hands on the _gardes du +corps_, that he himself had been seized by the collar and dragged from +his place by the carriage door, but that this movement by the people was +legal in its intention, and had no other object than to enforce the +execution of the law which had ordered the arrest of the accomplices of +the court. It was decreed that information should be drawn up by the +tribunal of the _arrondissement_ of the Tuileries concerning the king's +flight, and that three commissioners appointed by the Assembly should +receive the declarations of the king and queen. "What means this +obsequious exception?" exclaimed Robespierre. "Do you fear to degrade +royalty by handing over the king and queen to ordinary tribunals? A +citizen, a _citoyenne_, any man, any dignity, how elevated soever, can +never be degraded by the law." Buzot supported this opinion; Duport +opposed it. Respect prevailed over outrage. The commissioners named were +Tronchet, Dandre, and Duport. + + +XXVII. + +Once more in his own apartments, Louis XVI. measured with a glance the +depth of his fall. La Fayette presented himself with all the demeanour +of regret and respect, but with the reality of command. "Your majesty," +said he to the king, "knows my attachment for your royal person, but at +the same time you are not ignorant that if you separated yourself from +the cause of the people, I should side with the people." "That is true," +replied the king. "You follow your principles--this is a party matter, +and I tell you frankly, that until lately I had believed you had +surrounded me by a turbulent faction of persons of your own way of +thinking in order to mislead me, but that yours was not the real opinion +of France. I have learnt during my journey that I was deceived, and that +this was the general wish." "Has your majesty any orders to give me?" +replied La Fayette. "It seems to me," retorted the king with a smile, +"that I am more at your orders than you are at mine." + +The queen allowed the bitterness of her ill-restrained resentment to +display itself. She wished to force on M. de La Fayette the keys of her +caskets, which were in the carriages: he refused. She insisted; and when +he was firm in his refusal, she placed them in his hat with her own +hands. "Your majesty will have the goodness to take them back," said M. +de La Fayette, "for I shall not touch them." "Well, then," answered the +queen, "I shall find persons less delicate than you." The king entered +his closet, wrote several letters, and gave them to a footman, who +presented them to La Fayette for inspection. The general appeared +indignant that he should be deemed capable of such an unworthy office as +acting the spy over the king's acts; he was desirous that the thraldom +of the monarch should at least preserve the outward appearance of +liberty. + +The service of the chateau went on as usual; but La Fayette gave the +pass-word without first receiving it from the king. The iron gates of +the courts and gardens were locked. The royal family submitted to La +Fayette the list of persons whom they desired to receive. Sentinels were +placed at every door, in every passage, in the corridors between the +chambers of the king and queen. The doors of these chambers were +constantly kept open--even the queen's bed was inspected. Every place, +the most sacred, was suspected; female modesty was in no wise respected. +The gestures, looks, and words of the king and queen all were watched, +spied, and noted. They were obliged to manage by stealth some secret +interviews. An officer of the guard passed twenty-four hours at a time +at the end of a dark corridor, which was placed behind the apartment of +the queen's,--a single lamp lighted it, like the vault of a dungeon. +This post, detested by the officers on service, was sought after by the +devotion of some of them; they affected zeal, in order to cloak their +respect. Saint Prix, a celebrated actor of the Theatre Francais, +frequently accepted this post,--he favoured the hasty interviews of the +king, his wife, and sister. + +In the evening one of the queen's women moved her bed between that of +her mistress and the open door of the apartment, that she might thus +conceal her from the eyes of the sentinels. One night the commandant of +the guard, who watched between the two doors, seeing that this woman was +asleep, and the queen was awake, ventured to approach the couch of his +royal mistress, and gave her in a low tone some information and advice +as to her situation. This conversation aroused the sleeping attendant, +who, alarmed at seeing a man in uniform close to the royal bed, was +about to call aloud, when the queen desired her to be silent, saying, +"Do not alarm yourself; this is a good Frenchman, who is mistaken as to +the intentions of the king and myself, but whose conversation betokens a +sincere attachment to his masters." + +Providence thus made some of their persecutors to convey some +consolation to the victims. The king, so resigned, so unmoved, was bowed +for a moment beneath the weight of so many troubles--so much +humiliation. Such was his mental occupation, that he remained for ten +days without exchanging a word with one of his family. His last struggle +with misfortune seemed to have exhausted his strength. He felt himself +vanquished, and desired, it would almost seem, to die by anticipation. +The queen, throwing herself at his feet, and presenting to him his +children, forced him to break this mournful silence. "Let us," she +exclaimed, "preserve all our fortitude, in order to sustain this long +struggle with fortune. If our destruction be inevitable, there is still +left to us the choice of how we will perish; let us perish as +sovereigns, and do not let us wait without resistance, and without +vengeance, until they come and strangle us on the very floor of our own +apartments!" The queen had the heart of a hero; Louis XVI. had the soul +of a sage; but the genius which combines wisdom with valour was wanting +to both: the one knew how to struggle--the other knew how to +submit--neither knew how to reign. + + +XXVIII. + +The effect of this flight, had it succeeded, would have wholly changed +the aspect of the Revolution. Instead of having in the king, captive in +Paris, an instrument and a victim, the Revolution would have had in an +emancipated king, an enemy or a mediator; instead of being an anarchy, +she would have had a civil war; instead of having massacres, she would +have gained victories; she would have triumphed by arms, and not by +executions. + +Never did the fate of so many men and so many ideas depend so plainly on +a chance! And yet this was not a chance. Drouet was the means of the +king's destruction: if he had not recognised the monarch from his +resemblance with his portrait on the assignats--if he had not rode with +all speed, and reached Varennes before the carriages, in two hours more +the king and his family must have been saved. Drouet, this obscure son +of a post-master, sauntering and idle that evening before the door of a +cottage, decided the fate of a monarchy. He took the advice of no one +but himself--he set off, saying, "I will arrest the king." But Drouet +would not have had this decisive impulse if, at this moment, as it were, +he had not personified in himself all the agitation and all the +suspicions of the people. It was the fanaticism of his country which +impelled him, unknown to himself, to Varennes, and which urged him to +sacrifice a whole family of fugitives to what he believed to be the +safety of the nation. + +He had not received instructions from anyone; he took upon himself alone +the arrest and the death that ensued. His devotion to his country was +cruel: his silence and commiseration would have drawn down minor +calamities. + +As to the king himself, this flight was in him a fault if not a crime: +it was too soon or too late. Too late--for the king had already too far +sanctioned the Revolution, to turn suddenly against it without appearing +to betray his people and give himself the lie; too soon--for the +constitution which the National Assembly was drawing up was not yet +completed, the government was not yet pronounced powerless; and the foes +of the king and his family were not yet so decidedly menaced that the +care of his safety as a man should surpass his duties as a king. In case +of success, Louis XVI. had none but foreign forces to recover his +kingdom; in case of arrest, he found only a prison in his palace. On +which side soever we view it, flight was fatal--it was the road to shame +or to the scaffold. There is but one route by which to flee a throne and +not to die--abdication. On his return from Varennes, the king should +have abdicated. The Revolution would have adopted his son, and have +educated it in its own image. He did not abdicate--he consented to +accept the pardon of his people; he swore to execute a constitution from +which he had fled. He was a king in a state of amnesty. Europe beheld in +him but a fugitive from his throne led back to his punishment, the +nation but a traitor, and the Revolution but a plaything. + + + + +BOOK III + + +I. + +There is for a people, as for individuals, an instinct of conservation +which warns and "gives them pause," even under the impulses of the most +blind passions, before the dangers into which they are about to fling +themselves headlong. They seem suddenly to recede at the aspect of this +abyss, into which but now they were hastening precipitately. The +intermissions of human passions are short and fugitive, but they give +time to events, returns to wisdom, and opportunities to statesmen. These +are moments in which they seize the hesitating and intimidated spirit of +the people, in order to make them create a reaction against their own +excesses, and to lead them back by the very revulsion of the passions +that have already urged them too far. The day after the 25th of June, +1791, France experienced one of those throes of repentance which save a +people. There was only the statesman wanting. + +Never had the National Assembly presented a spectacle so imposing and so +calm as during the five days which had succeeded the king's departure. +It would appear as though it felt the weight of the whole empire resting +on it, and it sustained its attitude in order to bear it with dignity. +It accepted the power without desiring either to usurp or to retain it. +It covered with a respectful fiction the king's desertion--called the +flight a carrying off, and sought for the guilty around the +throne--regarding the throne itself as inviolable. The man disappeared, +for it, in Louis XVI.:--in the irresponsible chief of the state. These +three months may be considered as an interregnum, during which public +reason was her sole constitution. There was no longer a king, for he was +a captive, and his sanction was taken from him: there was no longer law, +for the constitution was incomplete: there was no longer a minister, for +the executive power was suspended; and yet the kingdom was standing +erect, was acting, organising, defending itself, preserving itself--and +what is still more marvellous, controlled itself. It held in reserve in +a palace the principal machinery of the constitution,--Royalty; and the +day when the work is accomplished, it puts the king in his place, and +says to him, "Be free and reign." + + +II. + +One thing only dishonours this majestic interregnum of the nation--the +temporary captivity of the king and his family. But we must remember +that the nation had the right to say to its chief; "If thou wilt reign +over us, thou shalt not quit the kingdom, thou shalt not convey the +royalty of France amongst our enemies." And as to the forms of that +captivity in the Tuileries, we must remember too that the National +Assembly had not prescribed them,--that in fact it had risen with +indignation at the word imprisonment,--that it had commanded a political +resistance and nothing more, and that the severity and odium of the +precautionary measures used were occasioned by the zealous +responsibility of the national guard, more than to the irreverence of +the Assembly. La Fayette guarded, in the person of the king, the +dynasty, its proper head, and the constitution--a hostage against the +republic and royalty at the same time. _Maire du palais_, he intimidated +by the presence of a weak and degraded monarch, the discouraged +royalists and the restrained republicans. Louis XVI. was his pledge. + +Barnave and the Lameths had within the Assembly the attitude of La +Fayette without. They required the king, in order to defend themselves +from their enemies. So long as there was a man (Mirabeau) between the +throne and themselves, they had played with the republic and sapped the +throne in order to crush a rival. But Mirabeau dead and the throne +shaken, they felt themselves weak against the very impulse they had +given. They sustained, therefore, this wreck of monarchy in order to be +sustained in their turn. Founders of the Jacobins, they trembled before +their own handiwork:--they took refuge in the constitution which they +themselves had dilapidated, and passed from the character of +destructives to that of statesmen. But for the first part there is only +violence needed; for the second genius is required. Barnave had talent +only. He had something more, however--he had a heart, and he was a good +man. The first excesses of his language were in him but the excitements +of the tribune; he was desirous of tasting the popular applause, and it +was showered upon him beyond his real merit. Hereafter it was not with +Mirabeau he was about to measure his strength; it was with the +Revolution in all its force. Jealousy took from him the pedestal which +it had lent, and he was about to appear as he really was. + + +III. + +But a sentiment more noble than that of his personal safety impelled +Barnave to side with the monarchical party. His heart had passed before +his ambition to the side of weakness, beauty, and misfortune. Nothing is +more dangerous than for a sensitive man to know those against whom he +contends. Hatred against the cause shrinks before the feeling for the +persons. We become partial unwittingly. Sensibility disarms the +understanding, and we soften instead of reasoning, whilst the +sensitiveness of a commiserating man soon usurps the place of his +opinion. + +It was thus that Barnave's mind was worked upon, after the return from +Varennes. The interest he had conceived for the queen had converted this +young republican into a royalist. Barnave had only previously known this +princess through a cloud of prejudice, amid which parties enshroud those +whom they wish to have detested. A sudden communication caused this +conventional atmosphere to dissipate, and he adored, when close, what he +had calumniated at a distance. The very character which fortune had cast +for him in the destiny of this woman had something unexpected and +romantic, capable of dazzling his lofty imagination, and deeply +affecting his generous disposition. Young, obscure, unknown but a few +months before, and now celebrated, popular, and powerful--thrown in the +name of a sovereign assembly between the people and the king--he became +the protector of those whose enemy he had been. Royal and suppliant +hands met his plebeian touch! He who opposed the popular royalty of +talent and eloquence to the royalty of the blood of the Bourbons! He +covered with his body the life of those who had been his masters. His +very devotion was a triumph; the object of that devotion was in his +queen. That queen was young, handsome, majestic; but brought to the +level of ordinary humanity by her alarm for her husband and his +children. Her tearful eyes besought their safety from Barnave's eyes. He +was the leading orator in that Assembly which held the fate of the +monarch in his house. He was the favourite of that people whom he +controlled by a gesture, and whose fury he averted during the long +journey between the throne and death. The queen had placed her son, the +young dauphin, between his knees. Barnave's fingers had played with the +fair hair of the child. The king, the queen, Madame Elizabeth, had +distinguished, with tact, Barnave from the inflexible and brutal Petion. +They had conversed with him as to their situation: they complained of +having been deceived as to the nature of the public mind in France. They +unveiled their repentance and constitutional inclinations. These +conversations, marred in the carriage by the presence of the other +commissioner and the eyes of the people, had been stealthily and more +intimately renewed in the meetings which the royal family nightly held. +Mysterious political correspondences and secret interviews in the +Tuileries were contrived. Barnave, the inflexible partisan, reached +Paris a devoted man. The nocturnal conference of Mirabeau with the +queen, in the park of Saint Cloud, was ambitioned by his rival; but +Mirabeau sold, Barnave gave, himself. Heaps of gold bought the man of +genius; a glance seduced the man of sentiment. + + +IV. + +Barnave had found Duport and the Lameths, his friends, in the most +monarchical moods, but from other motives than his own. This triumvirate +was in terms of good understanding at the Tuileries. Lameths and Duport +saw the king. Barnave, who at first dared not venture to visit the +chateau, subsequently went there secretly. The utmost precaution and +concealment attended these interviews. The king and queen sometimes +awaited the youthful orator in a small apartment on the _entre sol_ of +the palace, with a key in their hand, so as to open the door the moment +his footsteps were heard. When these meetings were utterly impossible, +Barnave wrote to the queen. He reckoned greatly on the strength of his +party in the Assembly, because he measured the power of their opinions +by the talent with which they expressed them. The queen did not feel a +similar confidence. "Take courage, madame," wrote Barnave; "it is true +our banner is torn, but the word _Constitution_ is still legible +thereon. This word will recover all its pristine force and _prestige_, +if the king will rally to it sincerely. The friends of this +constitution, retrieving past errors, may still raise and maintain it +firmly. The Jacobins alarm public reason; the emigrants threaten our +nationality. Do not fear the Jacobins--put no trust in the emigrants. +Throw yourself into the national party which now exists. Did not Henry +IV. ascend the throne of a Catholic nation at the head of a Protestant +party?" + +The queen with all sincerity adopted this tardy counsel, and arranged +with Barnave all her measures, and all her foreign correspondence. She +neither said nor did any thing which could thwart the plans he had +conceived for the restoration of royal authority. "A feeling of +legitimate pride," said the queen when speaking of him, "a feeling which +I am far from blaming in a young man of talent born in the obscure ranks +of the third estate, has made him desire a revolution which should +smooth the way to fame and influence. But his heart is loyal, and if +ever power is again in our hands, Barnave's pardon is already written on +our hearts." Madame Elizabeth partook of this regard of the king and +queen for Barnave. Defeated at all points, they had ended by believing +that the only persons capable of restoring the monarchy were those who +had destroyed it. This was a fatal superstition. They were induced to +adore that power of the Revolution which they could not bend. + + +V. + +The first acts of the king were too much imbued with the inspirations of +Barnave and the Lameths for the royal dignity. He addressed to the +commissioners of the Assembly charged with interrogating him as to the +circumstances of the 21st of June, a reply, the bad faith of which +called for the smile rather than the indulgence of his enemies. + +"Introduced into the king's chamber and alone with him," said the +commissioners of the Assembly, "the king made to us the following +declaration:--The motives of my departure were the insults and outrages +I underwent on the 18th of April, when I wished to go to St. Cloud. +These insults remained unpunished, and I thereupon believed that there +was neither safety nor decorum in my staying any longer in Paris. Unable +to quit publicly, I resolved to depart in the night, and without +attendants; my intention was never to leave the kingdom. I had no +concert with foreign powers, nor with the princes of my family who have +emigrated. My residence would have been at Montmedy, a place I had +chosen because it is fortified, and that being close to the frontier, I +was more ready to oppose every kind of invasion. I have learnt during my +journey that public opinion was decided in favour of the constitution, +and so soon as I learnt the general wish I have not hesitated, as I +never have hesitated, to make the sacrifice of what concerns myself for +the public good." + +"The king," added the queen, in her declaration, "desiring to depart +with his children, I declare that nothing in nature could prevent my +following him. I have sufficiently proved, during two years, and under +the most painful circumstances, that I will never separate from him." + +Not content with this inquiry into the motives and circumstances of the +king's flight, public opinion, much irritated, demanded that the hand of +the nation should be extended even to the paternal authority, and that +the Assembly should appoint a governor for the dauphin. Eighty names, +for the most part of obscure persons, were found in the division which +was openly taken. They were hailed with shouts of general derision. This +outrage to the king and father was spared him. The governor subsequently +named by Louis XVI., M. de Fleurieu, never entered upon his duties. The +governor of the heir to an empire was the gaoler of a prison of +malefactors. + +The Marquis de Bouille addressed from Luxembourg a threatening letter to +the Assembly, in order to turn from the king all popular indignation, +and to assume to himself the projection and execution of the king's +departure. "If," he added, "one hair of the head of Louis XVI. fall to +the ground, not one stone of Paris shall remain upon another. I know the +roads, and will guide the foreign armies thither." A laugh followed +these words. The Assembly was sufficiently wise not to require the +advice of M. de Bouille, and strong enough to despise the threats of a +proscribed man. + +M. de Cazales sent in his resignation, in order to _go and fight (aller +combattre)_. The most prominent members of the right side, amongst whom +were Maury, Montlozier, the abbe Montesquieu, the abbe de Pradt, Virieu, +&c. &c., to the number of two hundred and ninety, took a pernicious +resolution, which, by removing all counterpoise from the extreme party +of the Revolution, precipitated the fall of, and destroyed, the king, +under pretext of a sacred respect for royalty. They remained in the +Assembly, but they annulled their power, and would only be considered as +a living protest against the violation of the royal liberty and +authority. The Assembly refused to hear the reading of their protest, +which was itself a violation of their elective power; and they then +published it and circulated it profusely all over the kingdom. "The +decrees of the Assembly," they said, "have wholly absorbed the royal +power. The seal of state is on the president's table; the king's +sanction is annihilated. The king's name is erased from the oath which +is taken from the law. The commissioners convey the orders of the +committees direct to the armies. The king is a captive; a provisional +republic occupies the interregnum. Far be it from us to concur in such +acts; we would not even consent to be witnesses of it, if we had not +still the duty of watching over the preservation of the king. Excepting +this sole interest, we shall impose on ourselves the most absolute +silence. This silence will be the only expression of our constant +opposition to all your acts." + +These words were the abdication of an entire party, for any party that +protests abdicates. On this day there was emigration in the Assembly. +This mistaken fidelity, which deplored instead of combating, obtained +the applause of the nobility and clergy; it merited the utmost contempt +of politicians. Abandoning, in their struggle against the Jacobins, +Barnave and the monarchical constitutionalists, it gave the victory to +Robespierre, and by assuring the majority to his proposition for the non +re-election of the members of the National Assembly to the Legislative +Assembly, it sanctioned the convention. The royalists took away the +weight of one great opinion from the balance, which consequently then +leaned towards the disorders that ensued, and which in their progress +carried off the head of the king and their own heads. A great opinion +never lays down its arms with impunity for its country. + + +VI. + +The Jacobins perceived this great error, and rejoiced at it. On seeing +so large a body of the supporters of the constitutional monarchy +withdraw from the contest voluntarily, they at once foresaw what they +might dare, and they dared it. Their sittings became more significant in +proportion as those of the Assembly grew more dull and impotent. The +words of "forfeiture" and "republic" were heard there for the first +time. Retracted at first, they were afterwards again pronounced: uttered +at first like blasphemies, they were not long in being familiar as +principles. Parties did not at first know what they themselves +desired--they learnt it from success. The daring broached distempered +ideas; if repulsed, the sagacious disavowed them--if caught up, the +leaders resumed them. In conflicts of opinions _reconnaissances_ are +employed, as they are in the campaigns of armies. The Jacobins were the +advanced guard of the Revolution, who measured the opposing obstacles of +the monarchical feeling. + +The club of Cordeliers sent to the Jacobins a copy of a proposed address +to the National Assembly, in which the annihilation of royalty was +openly demanded. + +"We are _free and without a king,_" said the Cordeliers, "as the day +after the taking of the Bastille; it is only for us to decide whether or +no we shall name another. We are of opinion that the nation should do +every thing by itself or by agents removable by her. We think, that the +more important an employ, the more temporary should be its tenure. We +think that royalty, and especially hereditary royalty, is incompatible +with liberty; we anticipate the crowd of opponents such a declaration +will create, but has not the declaration of rights produced as many? In +leaving his post the king virtually abdicated,--let us profit by the +occasion and our right--let us swear that France is a republic." + +This address, read to the club of Jacobins on the 22d, at first excited +universal indignation. On the 23d, Danton mounted the tribune, demanded +the positive forfeiture of the throne (_la decheance_), and the +nomination of a council of regency. "Your king," he said, "is an idiot, +or a criminal. It would be a horrid spectacle to present to the world, +if, having the option of declaring a king criminal or idiotic, you did +not prefer the latter alternative." + +On the 27th, Girey Dupre, a young writer who awaited the Gironde, +mooted the judgment of Louis XVI. "We can punish a perjured king, and we +ought;" such was the text of his discourse. Brissot opened the question +as Petion had done at the preceding sitting, "_Can a perjured king be +brought to trial_ (_juge_)? + +"Why," asked Brissot "should we divide ourselves into dangerous +denominations? we are all of one opinion. What do they want who are here +hostile to the republicans? They detest the turbulent assemblies of +Athens and Rome; they fear the division of France into isolated +federations. They only want the representative constitution, and they +are right. What do they want who boast of the name of republicans? They +fear, they abhor equally, the turbulent assemblies of Rome and Athens, +and equally dread a federated republic. They desire a representative +constitution--nothing more, nothing less--and thus, we all concur. The +head of the executive power has betrayed his oath,--must we bring him to +judgment? This is the only point on which we differ. Inviolability will +else be impunity to all crimes, an encouragement for all treason--common +sense demands that the punishment should follow the offence. I do not +see an inviolable man governing the people, but a _God_ and 25,000,000 +of _brutes!_ If the king had on his return entered France at the head of +foreign forces, if he had ravaged our fairest provinces, and if, checked +in his career, you had made him prisoner, what would you then have done +with him? Would you have allowed his inviolability to have saved him? +Foreign powers are held up before you as a threat; do not fear them: +Europe in arms is impotent against a people who will be free." + +In the National Assembly Muguer, in the name of the joint committees, +brought up the report on the king's flight; he maintained the +inviolability of Louis XVI. and the accusation of his accomplices. +ROBESPIERRE opposed the inviolability; he avoided all show of +anger in his language; and was careful to veil all his conclusions +beneath the cover of mildness and humanity. "I will not pause to +inquire," he said, "whether the king fled voluntarily, of his own act, +or if from the extremity of the frontiers a citizen carried him off by +his advice: I will not inquire either, whether this flight is a +conspiracy against the public liberty. I shall speak of the king as of +an imaginary sovereign, and of inviolability as a principle." After +having combated the principle of inviolability by the same arguments +which Girey Dupre and Brissot had applied, Robespierre thus concluded. +"The measures you propose cannot but dishonour you; if you adopt them, I +demand to declare myself the advocate of all the accused. I will be the +defender of the three _gardes du corps_, the dauphine's governess, even +of Monsieur de Bouille. By the principles of your committees, there is +no crime; yet, invariably, where there is no crime there can be no +accomplices. Gentlemen, if it be a weakness to spare a culprit, +to visit the weaker culprit when the greater one escapes, is +cowardice--injustice. You must pass sentence on all the guilty alike, or +pronounce a general pardon." + +Gregoire supported the accusation party. Salles defended the +recommendation of the committee. + +Barnave at length spoke, and in support of Salles' opinion. He said: +"The French nation has just undergone a violent shock; but if we are to +believe all the auguries which are delivered, this recent event, like +all others which have preceded it, will only serve to advance the +period, to confirm the solidity of the revolution we have effected. I +will not dilate on the advantages of monarchical government: you have +proved your conviction by establishing it in your country: I will only +say that every government, to be good, should comprise within itself the +principles of its stability: for otherwise, instead of prosperity there +would be before us only the perspective of a series of changes. Some +men, whose motives I shall not impugn, seeking for examples to adduce, +have found, in America, a people occupying a vast territory with a +scanty population, nowhere surrounded by very powerful neighbours, +having forests for their boundaries, and having for customs the feelings +of a new race, and who are wholly ignorant of those factitious passions +and impulses which effect revolutions of government. They have seen a +republican government established in that land, and have thence drawn +the conclusion that a similar government was suitable for us. These men +are the same who at this moment are contesting the inviolability of the +king. But, if it be true that in our territory there is a vast +population spread,--if it be true that there are amongst them a +multitude of men exclusively given up to those intellectual speculations +which excite ambition and the love of fame,--if it be true that around +us powerful neighbours compel us to form but one compact body in order +to resist them,--if it be true that all these circumstances are +irresistible, and are wholly independent of ourselves, it is undeniable +that the sole existing remedy lies in a monarchical government. When a +country is populous and extensive, there are--and political experience +proves it--but two modes of assuring to it a solid and permanent +existence. Either you must organise those parts separately;--you must +place in each section of the empire a portion of the government, and +thus you will maintain security at the expense of unity, strength, and +all the advantages which result from a great and homogeneous +association:--or else you will be forced to centralise an unchangeable +power, which, never renewed by the law, presenting incessantly obstacles +to ambition, resists with advantage the shocks, rivalries, and rapid +vibrations of an immense population, agitated by all the passions +engendered by long established society. These facts decide our position. +We can only be strong through a federative government, which no one here +has the madness to propose, or by a monarchical government, such as you +have established; that is to say, by confiding the reins of the +executive power to a family having the right of hereditary succession. +You have intrusted to an inviolable king the exclusive function of +naming the agents of his power, but you have made those agents +responsible. To be independent the king must be inviolable: do not let +us set aside this axiom. We have never failed to observe this as regards +individuals, let us regard it as respects the monarch. Our principles, +the constitution, the law, declare that he has not forfeited (_qu'il +n'est pas dechu_): thus, then, we have to choose between our attachment +to the constitution and our resentment against an individual. Yes, I +demand at this moment from him amongst you all, who may have conceived +against the head of the executive power prejudices however strong, and +resentment however deep; I ask at his hands whether he is more irritated +against the king than he is attached to the laws of his country? I would +say to those who rage so furiously against an individual who has done +wrong,--I would say, Then you would be at his feet if you were content +with him? (Loud and lengthened applause.) Those who would thus sacrifice +the constitution to their anger against one man, seem to me too much +inclined to sacrifice liberty from their enthusiasm for some other man; +and since they love a republic, it is, indeed, the moment to say to +them, What, would you wish a republic in such a nation? How is it you do +not fear that the same variableness of the people, which to-day +manifests itself by hatred, may on another day be displayed by +enthusiasm in favour of some great man? Enthusiasm even more dangerous +than hatred: for the French nation, you know, understands better how to +love than to hate. I neither fear the attacks of foreign nations nor of +emigrants: I have already said so; but I now repeat it with the more +truth, as I fear the continuation of uneasiness and agitation, which +will not cease to exist and affect us until the Revolution be wholly and +pacifically concluded. We need fear no mischief from without; but vast +injury is done to us from within, when we are disturbed by painful +ideas--when chimerical dangers, excited around us, create with the +people some consistency and some credit for the men who use them as a +means of unceasing agitation. Immense damage is done to us when that +revolutionary impetus, which has destroyed every thing there was to +destroy, and which has urged us to the point where we must at last +pause, is perpetuated. If the Revolution advance one step further it +cannot do so without danger. In the line of liberty, the first act which +can follow is the annihilation of royalty; in the line of equality, the +first act which must follow is an attempt on all property. Revolutions +are not effected with metaphysical maxims--there must be an actual +tangible prey to offer to the multitude that is led astray. It is time, +therefore, to end the Revolution. It ought to stop at the moment when +the nation is free, and when all Frenchmen are equal. If it continue in +trouble, it is dishonoured, and we with it; yes, all the world ought to +agree that the common interest is involved in the close of the +Revolution. Those who have lost ought to perceive that it is impossible +to make it retrograde. Those who fashioned it must see that it is at its +consummation. Kings themselves--if from, time to time profound truths +can penetrate to the councils of kings--if occasionally the prejudices +which surround them will permit the sound views of a great and +philosophical policy to reach them--kings themselves must learn that +there is for them a wide difference between the example of a great +reform in the government and that of the abolition of royalty: that if +we pause here, where we are, they are still kings! but be their conduct +what it may, let the fault come from them and not from us. Regenerators +of the empire! follow straightly your undeviating line; you have been +courageous and potent--be to-day wise and moderate. In this will consist +the glorious termination of your efforts. Then, again returning to your +domestic hearths, you will obtain from all, if not blessings, at least +the silence of calumny." This address, the most eloquent ever delivered +by Barnave, carried the report in the affirmative; and for several days +checked all attempts at republic and forfeiture in the clubs of the +Cordeliers and Jacobins. The king's inviolability was consecrated in +fact as well as in principle. M. de Bouille, his accomplices and +adherents, were sent for trial to the high national court of Orleans. + + +VII. + +Whilst these men, exclusively political, each measuring the advance of +the Revolution, step by step, with their eyes, desired courageously to +stop it, or checked their own views, the Revolution was continually +progressing. Its own thought was too vast for any head of public man, +orator, or statesman to contain. Its breath was too powerful for any one +breast to respire it solely. Its end was too comprehensive to be +included in any of the successive views that the ambition of certain +factions, or the theories of certain statesmen could propound. Barnave, +the Lameths, and La Fayette, like Mirabeau and Necker, endeavoured, in +vain, to oppose to it the power and influence they had derived from it. +It was destined, before it was appeased or relaxed in its onward career, +to frustrate many other systems, make many other breasts pant in vain, +and outstrip a multitude of other aims. + +Independent of the national assemblies it had given to itself as a +government, and in which were, for the most part, concentrated the +political instruments of its impulse, it had also given birth to two +levers, still more potent and terrible to move and sweep away these +political bodies when they attempted to check her when she chose to +advance. These two levers were the press and the clubs. The clubs and +the press were, to the legal assemblies, what free air is to confined +air. Whilst the air of these assemblies became vitiated, and exhausted +itself in the circle of the established government, the air of +journalism and popular societies was impregnated and incessantly stirred +by an inexhaustible principle of vitality and movement. The stagnation +within was fully credited, but the current was without. + +The press, in the half century which had preceded the Revolution, had +been the echo, well organised and calm, of the thoughts of sages and +reformers. From the time when the Revolution burst forth, it had become +the turbulent and frequently cynical echo of the popular excitement. + +It had itself transformed the modes of communicating ideas; it no longer +produced books--it had not the time: at first it expended itself in +pamphlets, and subsequently in a multitude of flying and diurnal sheets, +which, published at a low price amongst the people, or gratuitously +placarded in the public thoroughfares, incited the multitude to read and +discuss them. The treasury of the national thought, whose pieces of gold +were too pure, or too bulky, for the use of the populace, it was, if we +may be allowed the expression, converted into a multitude of smaller +coins, struck with the impress of the passions of the hour, and often +tarnished with the foulest oxides. Journalism, like an irresistible +element of the life of a people in revolution, had made its own place, +without listening to the law which had been made to restrain it. + +Mirabeau, who required that his speeches should echo throughout the +departments, had given birth to this speaking trumpet of the Revolution, +(despite the orders in council) in his _Letters to my Constituents_, and +in the _Courrier de Provence_. At the opening of the States General, and +at the taking of the Bastille, other journals had appeared. At each new +insurrection there was a fresh inundation of newspapers. The leading +organs of public agitation were then the _Revolution of Paris_, edited +by Loustalot; a weekly paper, with a circulation of 200,000 copies; the +feeling of the man may be seen in the motto of his paper: "The great +appear great to us only because we are on our knees--let us rise!" The +_Discours de la Lanterne aux Parisiens_, subsequently called the +_Revolutions de France et de Brabant_, was the production of Camille +Desmoulins. This young student, who became suddenly a political +character on a chair in the garden of the Palais Royal, on the first +outbreak of the month of July, 1789, preserved in his style, which was +frequently very brilliant, something of his early character. It was the +sarcastic genius of Voltaire descended from the saloon to the pavement. +No man in himself ever personified the people better than did Camille +Desmoulins. He was the mob with his turbulent and unexpected movements, +his variableness, his unconnectedness, his rages interrupted by +laughter, or suddenly sinking into sympathy and sorrow for the very +victims he immolated. A man, at the same time so ardent and so trifling, +so trivial and so inspired, so indecisive between blood and tears, so +ready to crush what he had just deified with enthusiasm, must have the +more empire over a people in revolt, in proportion as he resembled them. +His character was his nature. He not only aped the people, he was the +people himself. His newspapers cried in the public streets, and their +sarcasm, bandied from mouth to mouth, has not been swept away with the +other impurities of the day. He remains, and will remain, a Menippus, +the satirist stained with blood. It was the popular chorus which led the +people to their most important movements, and which was frequently +stifled by the whistling of the cord of the street lamp, or in the +hatchet-stroke of the guillotine. Camille Desmoulins was the remorseless +offspring of the Revolution,--Marat was its fury; he had the clumsy +tumblings of the brute in his thought, and its gnashing of teeth in his +style. His journal (_L'Ami du Peuple_), the People's Friend, smelt of +blood in every line. + + +VIII. + +Marat was born in Switzerland. A writer without talent, a _savant_ +without reputation, with a desire for fame without having received from +society or nature the means of acquiring either, he revenged himself on +all that was great not only in society but in nature. Genius was as +hateful to him as aristocracy. Wherever he saw any thing elevated or +striking he hunted it down as though it were a deadly enemy. He would +have levelled creation. Equality was his mania, because superiority was +his martyrdom; he loved the Revolution because it brought down all to +his level; he loved it even to blood, because blood washed out the stain +of his long-during obscurity; he made himself a public denouncer by the +popular title; he knew that denouncement is flattery to all who tremble, +and the people are always trembling. A real prophet of demagogueism, +inspired by insanity, he gave his nightly dreams to daily conspiracies. +The Seid of the people, he interested it by his self-devotion to its +interests. He affected mystery like all oracles. He lived in obscurity, +and only went out at night; he only communicated with his fellows with +the most sinistrous precautions. A subterranean cell was his residence, +and there he took refuge safe from poignard and poison. His journal +affected the imagination like something supernatural. Marat was wrapped +in real fanaticism. The confidence reposed in him nearly amounted to +worship. The fumes of the blood he incessantly demanded had mounted to +his brain. He was the delirium of the Revolution, himself a living +delirium! + + +IX. + +Brissot, as yet obscure, wrote _Le Patriote Francais_. A politician, and +aspiring to leading parts, he only excited revolutionary passions in +proportion as he hoped one day to govern by them. At first a +constitutionalist and friend of Necker and Mirabeau, a hireling before +he became a _doctrinaire_, he saw in the people only a sovereign more +suitable to his own ambition. The republic was his rising sun; he +approached it as to his own fortune, but with prudence, and frequently +looking behind him to see if opinion followed his traces. + +Condorcet, an aristocrat by genius, although an aristocrat by birth, +became a democrat from philosophy. His passion was the transformation of +human reason. He wrote _La Chronique de Paris_. + +Carra, an obscure demagogue, had created for himself a name of fear in +the _Annales Patriotiques_. Freron, in the _Orateur du Peuple_, rivalled +Marat. Fauchet, in the _Bouche de Fer_, elevated democracy to a level +with religious philosophy. The "last not least," Laclos, an officer of +artillery, author of an obscene novel, and the confidant of the Duc +d'Orleans, edited the _Journal des Jacobins_, and stirred up through +France the flame of ideas and words of which the focus was in the clubs. + +All these men used their utmost efforts to impel the people beyond the +limits which Barnave had prescribed to the event of the 21st June. They +desired to avail themselves of the instant when the throne was left +empty to obliterate it from the constitution. They overwhelmed the king +with insults and objurgations, in order that the Assembly might not dare +to replace at the head of their institutions a prince whom they had +vilified. They clamoured for interrogatory, sentence, forfeiture, +abdication, imprisonment, and hoped to degrade royalty for ever by +degrading the king. The republic saw its hour for the first moment, and +trembled to allow it to escape. All these hands at once urged men's +minds towards a decisive movement. Articles in the journals provoked +motions, motions petitions, and petitions riots. The altar of the +country in the Champ-de-Mars, which remained erected for a new +federation, was the place which was already pointed out for the +assemblies of the people. It was the _Mons Aventinus_, whither it was to +retire, and whence it was to dictate to a timid and corrupt senate. + +"No more king,--let us be republicans," wrote Brissot in the _Patriote_. +"Such is the cry at the Palais Royal, and it does not gain ground fast +enough; it would seem as though it were blasphemy. This repugnance for +assuming the name of the condition in which the state _actually is_ is +very extraordinary in the eyes of philosophy." "No king! no protector! +no regent! Let us have done with man-eaters of every sort and kind," +re-echoed the _Bouche de Fer_. "Let the eighty-three departments enter +into a federation, and declare that they will no longer endure tyrants, +monarchs, or protectors. Their shade is as fatal to the people as that +of the Bohonupas is deadly to all that lives. If we nominate a regent we +shall soon fight for the choice of a master. Let us only contend for +liberty." + +Provoked by this reference to the regency, which appeared to point to +him, the Duc d'Orleans wrote to the journals that he was ready to serve +his country by land or by sea; but in respect to any question of +regency, he from that moment renounced, and for ever, any pretensions to +that title which the constitution might give him. "After having made so +many sacrifices to the cause of the people," he said, "I am no longer in +a condition to quit my position as a simple citizen. Ambition in me +would be an inexcusable inconsistency." + +Already discredited by all parties, this prince, henceforth incapable of +serving the throne, was equally incapable of serving the republic. +Odious to the royalists, put aside by the demagogues, suspected by the +constitutionalists, there only remained to him the stoical attitude in +which he took refuge. He had abdicated his rank, abdicated his own +faction; he had abdicated the favour of the people. His life was all +that remained to him. + +At the same moment Camille Desmoulins was thus satirically +apostrophising La Fayette, the first idol of the Revolution:--"Liberator +of two worlds, flower of Janissaries, phoenix of Alguazils-major, Don +Quixotte of Capet and the two chambers, constellation of the white +horse[2], my voice is too weak to raise itself above the clamour of your +thirty thousand spies, and as many more your satellites, above the noise +of your four hundred drums, and your cannons loaded with grape. I had +until now misrepresented your--more than--royal highness through the +allusions of Barnave, Lameth, and Duport. It was after them that I +denounced you to the eighty-three departments as an ambitious man who +only cared for parade, a slave of the court similar to those marshals of +the league to whom revolt had given the _baton_, and who, looking upon +themselves as bastards, were desirous of becoming legitimate; but all of +a sudden you embrace each other, and proclaim yourselves mutually +fathers of your country! You say to the nation, 'Confide in us; we are +the Cincinnati, the Washingtons, the Aristides.' Which of these two +testimonies are we to believe? Foolish people! The Parisians are like +those Athenians to whom Demosthenes said, 'Shall you always resemble +those athletes who struck in one place cover it with their hand,--struck +in another place they place their hand there, and thus always occupied +with the blows they receive, do not know either how to strike or defend +themselves!' They are beginning to doubt whether Louis XVI. could be +perjured since he is at Varennes. I think I see the same great eyes open +when they shall see La Fayette open the gates of the capital to +despotism and aristocracy. May I be deceived in my conjectures, for I am +going from Paris, as Camillus my patron departed from an ungrateful +country, wishing it every kind of prosperity. I have no occasion to have +been an emperor like Diocletian to know that the fine lettuces of +Salernum, which are far superior to the empire of the East, are quite +equal to the gay scarf which a municipal authority wears, and the +uneasiness with which a Jacobin journalist returns to his home in the +evening, fearing always lest he should fall into an ambuscade of the +cut-throats of the general. For me it was not to establish two chambers +that I first mounted the tricolour cockade!" + + +X. + +Such was the general tone of the press, such the exhaustless laughter +which this young man diffused, like the Aristophanes of an irritated +people. He accustomed it to revile men, majesty, misfortune, and worth. +The day came when he required for himself and for the young and lovely +woman whom he adored, that pity which he had destroyed in the people. He +found, in his turn, only the brutal derision of the multitude, and he +himself then became sad and sorry for the first and last time. + +The people, all whose political idea is from the senses, could not at +all comprehend why the statesmen of the Assembly should impose upon them +a fugitive king, out of respect for abstract royalty. The moderation of +Barnave and Lameth seemed to them full of suspicion; and cries of +treason were uttered at all their meetings. The decree of the Assembly +was the signal for increased ferment, which developed from and after the +13th of July, in zealous meetings, imprecations, and threats. Large +bodies of workmen, leaving their work, congregated in the public places, +and demanded bread of the municipal authorities. The commune, in order +to appease them, voted for distributions and supplies. Bailly, the mayor +of Paris, harangued them, and gave them extraordinary work. They went to +it for a moment, and then quitted it, being speedily attracted by the +mob becoming dense and uttering cries of hunger. + +The crowd betook itself from the Hotel-de-Ville to the Jacobins, from +the Jacobins to the National Assembly, clamorous for the forfeiture of +the crown and the republic. This popular gathering had no other leader +than the uneasiness that excited it. A spontaneous and unanimous +instinct assured it that the Assembly would be found wanting at the hour +of great resolutions. This mob desired to compel it again to seize the +opportunity. Its will was the more potent as it was wholly impossible to +trace it to its source--no chief gave it any visible impetus. It +advanced of itself, spake of itself, and wrote with its own hand in the +streets--on the corner stone--its threatening petitions. + +The first that the people presented to the Assembly, on the 14th, and +which was escorted by 4000 petitioners, was signed "_The People_." The +14th of July and the 6th of October had taught it its name. The +Assembly, firm and unmoved, passed to the order of the day. + +On quitting the Assembly, the crowd went to the Champ-de-Mars, where it +signed, in greater numbers, a second petition in still more imperative +terms. "Entrusted with the representation of a free people, will you +destroy the work we have perfected? Will you replace liberty by a reign +of tyranny? If, indeed, it were so, learn that the French people, which +has acquired its rights, will not again lose them." + +On quitting the Champ-de-Mars, the people thronged round the Tuileries, +the Assembly, and the Palais Royal. Of their own accord they shut up the +theatres, and proclaimed the suspension of all public entertainments, +until justice should be done to them. That evening 4000 persons went to +the Jacobins, as though to identify in the agitators who met there the +real assembly of the people. The chiefs in whom they reposed confidence +were there: the tribune was occupied by a member who was denouncing to +the meeting a citizen for having made a remark injurious to Robespierre; +the accused was justifying himself, and they drove him tumultuously from +the chamber. At this moment Robespierre appeared, and begged them to +pardon the citizen who had insulted him. His generous intercession was +hailed with applause, and enthusiasm for Robespierre was at its height. +"Sacred vaults of the Jacobins," were the words of an address from the +departments; "you guarantee to us Robespierre and Danton, these two +oracles of patriotism." Laclos proposed a petition to be sent into the +departments, and covered with ten millions of signatures. A member +opposes this proposition, from love of order and peace. Danton +rises,--"And I, too, love peace, but not the peace of slavery. If we +have energy, let us show it. Let those who do not feel courage to rise +and beard tyranny refrain from signing our petition: we want no better +proof by which to understand each other. Here it is to our hand." + +Robespierre next spoke, and demonstrated to the people that Barnave and +the Lameths were playing the same game as Mirabeau. "They concert with +our enemies, and then they call us factious!" More timid than Laclos and +Danton, he did not give any opinion as to the petition. A man of +calculation rather than of passion, he foresaw that the disorderly +movement would split against the organised resistance of the +_bourgeoisie_. He reserved to himself the power of falling back upon the +legality of the question, and kept on terms with the Assembly. Laclos +pressed his motion, and the people carried it. At midnight they +separated, after having agreed to meet the next day in the +Champ-de-Mars, there to sign the petition. + +The day following was lost to sedition, by disputes between the clubs as +to the terms of the petition. The Republicans negotiated with La +Fayette, to whom they offered the presidency of an American government. +Robespierre and Danton, who detested La Fayette--Laclos, who urged on +the Duc d'Orleans, concerted together, and impeded the impulse given by +the Cordeliers subservient to Danton. The Assembly watchful, Bailly on +his guard, La Fayette resolute, watched in unison for the repression of +all outbreak. On the 16th the Assembly summoned to its bar the +municipality and its officers, to make it responsible for the public +peace. It drew up an address to the French people, in order to rally +them around the constitution. Bailly, the same evening, issued a +proclamation against the agitators. The fluctuating Jacobins themselves +declared their submission to the decrees of the Assembly. At the moment +when the struggle was expected, the leaders of the projected movement +were invisible. The night was spent in military preparations against the +meeting on the morrow. + + +XI. + +On the 17th, very early in the morning, the people, without leaders, +began to collect in the Champ-de-Mars, and surround the altar of the +country, raised in the centre of the large square of the confederation. +A strange and melancholy chance opened the scenes of murder on this day. +When the multitude is excited, every thing becomes the occasion of +crime. A young painter, who, before the hour of meeting, was copying the +patriotic inscriptions engraved in front of the altar, heard a slight +noise at his feet; astonished, he looked around him and saw the point of +a gimlet, with which some men, concealed under the steps of the altar, +were piercing the planks of the pedestal. He hastened to the nearest +guard-house, and returned with some soldiers. They lifted up one of the +steps and found beneath two invalids, who had got under the altar in the +night, with no other design, as they declared, than a childish and +obscene curiosity. The report instantly spread that the altar of the +country was undermined, in order to blow up the people; that a barrel of +gunpowder had been discovered beside the conspirators; that the +invalids, surprised in the preliminaries to their criminal design, were +well known satellites of the aristocracy; that they had confessed their +deadly design, and the amount of reward promised on the success of their +wickedness. The mob mustered, and raging with fury, surrounded the +guard-house of the Gros-Caillou. The two invalids underwent an +interrogatory. The moment when they left the guard-house, to be conveyed +to the Hotel-de-Ville, the populace rushed upon them, tore them from the +soldiers who were escorting them, rent them in pieces, and their heads, +placed on the tops of pikes, were carried by a band of ferocious +children to the environs of the Palais Royal. + + +XII. + +The news of these murders, confusedly spread and variously interpreted +in the city, in the Assembly, among various groups, excited various +feelings, according as it was viewed as a crime of the people or a crime +of its enemies. The truth was only made apparent long after. The +agitation increased from the indignation of some and the suspicions of +others. Bailly, duly informed, sent three commissaries and a battalion. +Other commissaries traversed the quarters of the capital, reading to the +people the proclamation of the magistrates and the address of the +National Assembly. + +The ground of the Bastille was occupied by the national guard and the +patriotic societies, which were to go thence to the field of the +Federation. Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Freron, Brissot, and the +principal ringleaders of the people had disappeared; some said in order +to concert insurrectional measures, at Legendre's house in the country; +others, in order to escape the responsibility of the day. The former +version was the more generally accredited, from Robespierre's known +hatred to Danton, to whom Saint Just said, in his accusation--"Mirabeau, +who meditated a change of dynasty, appreciated the force of thy +audacity, and laid hands upon it. Thou didst startle him from the laws +of stern principle; we heard nothing more of thee until the massacres of +the Champ-de-Mars. Thou didst support that false measure of the people, +and the proposition of the law, which had no other object than to serve +for a pretext for unfolding the red banner, and an attempt at tyranny. +The patriots, not initiated in this treachery, had opposed thy +perfidious advice. Thou wast named in conjunction with Brissot to draw +up this petition. You both escaped the prey of La Fayette, who caused +the slaughter of ten thousand patriots. Brissot remained calmly in +Paris, and thou didst hasten to Arcis-sur-Aube, to pass some agreeable +days. Can one fancy thy tranquil joys--thou being one of the drawers up +of this petition, whilst those who signed the document were loaded with +irons, or weltering in their blood? You were then--thou and +Brissot--objects for the gratitude of tyranny; because, assuredly, you +could not be the objects of its detestation!" + +Camille Desmoulins thus justifies the absence of Danton, himself, and +Freron, by asserting that Danton had fled from proscription and +assassination to the house of his father-in-law, at Fontenay, on the +previous night, and was tracked thither by a band of La Fayette's spies; +and that Freron, whilst crossing the Pont Neuf, had been assailed, +trampled under foot, and wounded by fourteen hired ruffians; whilst +Camille himself, marked for the dagger, only escaped by a mistake in his +description. History has not put any faith in these pretended +assassinations of La Fayette. + +Camille, invisible all day, repaired in the evening to the Jacobins. + + +XIII. + +In the mean while the crowd began to congregate in vast masses in the +Champ-de-Mars--agitated, but inoffensive--the national guard, every +battalion of whom La Fayette had ordered out, were under arms. One of +the detachments which had arrived that morning in the Champ-de-Mars, +with a train of artillery, withdrew by the quays, in order that the +appearance of an armed force might not irritate the people. At twelve +o'clock the crowd assembled round the "altar of the country" (_autel de +la patrie_), not seeing the commissioners of the Jacobin club, who had +promised to bring the petition to be signed, of their own accord chose +four commissioners of their number to draw up one. One of the +commissioners took the pen, the citizens crowded round him, and he wrote +as follows:-- + +"On the altar of the country, July 13th, in the year III. +Representatives of the people, your labours are drawing to a close. A +great crime has been committed; Louis flies, and has unworthily +abandoned his post--the empire is on the verge of ruin--he has been +arrested, and has been brought back to Paris, where the people demand +that he be tried. You declare he shall be king. This is not the wish of +the people, and the decree is therefore annulled. He has been carried +off by the two hundred and ninety-two _aristocrates_, who have +themselves declared that they have no longer a voice in the National +Assembly. It is annulled because it is in opposition to the voice of the +people, your sovereign. Repeal your decree: the king has abdicated by +his crime: receive his abdication; convoke a fresh constitutive power; +point out the criminal, and organise a new executive power." + +This petition was laid on the altar of the country, and quires of paper, +placed at the four corners of the altar, received six thousand +autographs. + +This petition is still preserved in the archives of the Municipality, +and bears on it the indelible imprint of the hand of the people. It is +the medal of the Revolution struck on the spot in the fused metal of +popular agitation. Here and there on it are to be traced those sinister +names that for the first time emerged from obscurity. These names are +like the hieroglyphics of the ancient monuments. The acts of men now +famous, who signed names then unknown and obscure, give to these +signatures a retrospective signification, and the eye dwells with +curiosity on these characters that seem to contain in a few marks the +mystery of a long life--the whole horror of an epoch. Here is the name +of _Chaumette, then a medical student, Rue Mazarine, No. 9_. There +_Maillard_, the president of the fearful massacres of September. Further +on, _Hebert_; underneath it, _Hanriot_, Inspector Warden of the +condemned prisoners (_General des Supplicies_) during the reign of +terror. The small and scrawled signature of Hebert, who was afterwards +the "_Pere_ Duchesne," or le Peuple en colere, is like a spider that +extends its arms to seize its prey. Santerre has signed lower down: this +is the last name of note, the rest are alone those of the populace. It +is easy to discern how many a hasty and tremulous hand has traced the +witness of its fury or ignorance on this document. Many were even unable +to write. A circle of ink with a cross in the centre marks their +anonymous adhesion to the petition. Some female names are to be seen, +and numerous names of children are discernible, from the inaccuracy of +their hand, guided by another: poor babes, who professed the opinions of +their parents, without comprehending them; and who signed the +attestation of the passions of the people, ere their infant tongues +could utter a manly sound. + + +XIV. + +The municipal body had been informed at two o'clock of the murders +committed at the Champ-de-Mars, and of the insults offered to the body +of national guards sent to disperse the mob. M. de La Fayette himself, +who headed this detachment, had been struck by several stones hurled at +him by the populace. It was even reported that a man in the uniform of +the national guard had fired a pistol at him, and that he had generously +pardoned and released this man, who had been seized by the escort. This +popular report cast a halo of heroism around M. de La Fayette, and +animated anew the national guard, who were devoted to him. At this +recital Bailly did not hesitate to proclaim martial law, and to unfurl +the red flag, the last resource against sedition. On their side, the +mob, alarmed at the aspect of the red flag floating from the windows of +the Hotel-de-Ville, despatched twelve of their number as a deputation to +the municipality. These commissioners with difficulty made their way to +the audience-hall, through a forest of bayonets, and demanded that three +citizens who had been arrested should be given up to them. No attention +was paid to them, however, and the resolution of employing force was +adopted. The mayor and authorities descended the steps of the +Hotel-de-Ville, uttering threats of their intentions. At the sight of +Bailly preceded by the red flag a cry of enthusiasm burst from the +ranks, and the national guards clashed the butts of their muskets loudly +against the stones. The public force, indignant with the clubs, was in a +state of that nervous excitement that occasionally takes possession of +large bodies as well as individuals. + +La Fayette, Bailly, and the municipal authorities commenced their march +preceded by the red flag, and followed by 10,000 national guards, the +paid battalions of grenadiers of this army of citizens formed the +advanced guard. An immense concourse of people followed by a natural +impulse this mass of bayonets that slowly descended the quays and the +rue du Gros-Caillou, towards the Champ-de-Mars. During this march, the +people congregated around the altar of the country since the morning +continued to sign the petition in peace. They were aware that the troops +were called out, but did not believe any violence was intended; their +calm and lawful method of proceeding, and the impunity of their sedition +for two years, made them believe in a perpetual impunity, and they +looked on the red flag merely as a fresh law to be despised. + +On his arrival at the glacis of the Champ-de-Mars, La Fayette divided +his forces into three columns; the first debouched by the avenue of the +Ecole Militaire, the second and third by the two successive openings +that intersect the glacis between the Ecole Militaire and the Seine. +Bailly, La Fayette, and the municipal body with the red flag, marched at +the head of the first column. The _pas de charge_ beaten by 400 drums, +and the rolling of the cannon over the stones, announced the arrival of +the national army. These sounds drowned for an instant the hollow +murmurs and the shrill cries of 50,000 men, women, and children, who +filled the centre of the Champ-de-Mars, or crowded on the glacis. At the +moment when Bailly debouched between the glacis, the populace, who from +the top of the bank looked down on the mayor, the bayonets, and the +artillery, burst into threatening shouts and furious outcries against +the national guard. "_Down with the red flag! Shame to Bailly! Death to +La Fayette!_" The people in the Champ-de-Mars responded to these cries +with unanimous imprecations. Lumps of wet mud, the only arms at hand, +were cast at the national guard, and struck La Fayette's horse, the red +flag, and Bailly himself; and it is even said that several pistol shots +were fired from a distance; this however was by no means proved,--the +people had no intention of resisting, they wished only to intimidate. +Bailly summoned them to disperse legally, to which they replied by +shouts of derision; and he then, with the grave dignity of his office, +and the mute sorrow that formed part of his character, ordered them to +be dispersed by force. La Fayette first ordered the guard to fire in the +air; but the people, encouraged by this vain demonstration, formed into +line before the national guard, who then fired a discharge that killed +and wounded 600 persons, the republicans say 10,000. At the same moment +the ranks opened, the cavalry charged, and the artillerymen prepared to +open their fire; which, on this dense mass of people, would have taken +fearful effect. La Fayette, unable to restrain his soldiers by his +voice, placed himself before the cannon's mouth, and by this heroic act +saved the lives of thousands. In an instant the Champ-de-Mars was +cleared, and nought remained on it save the dead bodies of women, +children, trampled under foot, or flying before the cavalry; and a few +intrepid men on the steps of the altar of their country, who, amidst a +murderous fire and at the cannon's mouth, collected, in order to +preserve them, the sheets of the petition, as proofs of the wishes, or +bloody pledges of the future vengeance, of the people, and they only +retired when they had obtained them. + +The columns of the national guard, and particularly the cavalry, pursued +the fugitives into the neighbouring fields, and made two hundred +prisoners. Not a man was killed on the side of the national guard; the +loss of the people is unknown. The one side diminished it, in order to +extenuate the odium of an execution without resistance; the others +augmented it, in order to rouse the people's resentment. At night, which +was already fast approaching, the bodies were cast into the Seine. +Opinions were divided as to the nature and details of this execution, +some terming it a crime, and others a painful duty; but this day of +unresisting butchery still retains the name given it by the people, _The +Massacre of the Champ-de-Mars_. + + +XV. + +The national guard, headed by La Fayette, marched victorious, but +mournful, again into Paris: it was visible by their demeanour that they +hesitated between self-congratulation and shame, as though undecided on +the justice of what they had done. Amidst a few approving acclamations +that saluted them on their passage, they heard smothered imprecations; +and the words _murderers_ and _vengeance_ were substituted for +_patriotism_ and _obedience to the law_. They passed with a gloomy air +beneath the windows of that Assembly they had so lately protected; +still more sadly and more silently beneath the windows of the palace of +that monarchy, whose cause rather than whose king, they had just +defended. Bailly, calm and glacial as the law--La Fayette, resolute and +stern as a system, knew not how to awake any feeling beyond that of +imperious duty. They furled the red flag, stained with the first drops +of blood; and dispersed, battalion after battalion, in the dark streets +of Paris, more like gendarmes after an execution, than an army returning +from a victory. + +Such was this "_Day of the Champ-de-Mars_," which gave a reign of three +months to the Assembly, by which they did not profit; which intimidated +the clubs for a few days, but which did not restore to the monarchy or +to the public tranquillity the blood it had cost. La Fayette had on this +day the destiny of the monarchy and the republic in his hands: he merely +re-established order. + + +XVI. + +The next morning Bailly appeared before the Assembly to report to them +the triumph of the law. He displayed the heartfelt sorrow of his mind, +and the masculine energy that formed part of his duty. + +"The conspiracy had been formed," said he; "it was necessary to employ +force, and severe punishment has overtaken the crime." The president +approved, in the name of the Assembly, of the mayor's conduct, and +Barnave thanked the national guard in cold and weak language, whilst his +praises seemed near akin to excuses. The enthusiasm of the victors had +already subsided, and Petion perceiving this, rose and said a few words +concerning a _projet de decret_ that had just been proposed, against +those who should assemble the people in numbers. These words, in the +mouth of Petion, who was well known to be the friend of Brissot and the +conspirators, were at first received with sarcastic cries by the _cote +droit_, and then with loud applause from the _cote gauche_ and the +tribunes. The victory of the Champ-de-Mars was already contested in the +Assembly, and the clubs re-opened that evening. Robespierre, Brissot, +Danton, Camille Desmoulins, and Marat, who had for some days past +disappeared, now took fresh courage, for the hesitation of their enemies +reassured them,--by constantly attacking a power that was contented to +remain on the defensive, they could not fail to weary it out, and thus, +from accused they transformed themselves into accusers. Their papers +abandoned for a short time, became more malignant from their temporary +panic, and heaped ridicule and odium on Bailly and La Fayette. They +aroused the people to vengeance by displaying unceasingly before their +eyes the blood of the Champ-de-Mars. The red flag became the emblem of +the government and the winding-sheet of liberty. The conspirators +figured as victims, and constantly kept popular excitement on the rack, +by imaginary stories of the most odious persecutions. + + +XVII. + +"See," wrote Desmoulins, "see how the furious satellites of La Fayette +rush from their barracks, or rather from their taverns,--see, they +assemble and load their arms with ball, in the presence of the people, +whilst the battalions of _aristocrates_ mutually excite each other to +the massacre. It is chiefly in the eyes of the cavalry that you behold +the love of blood aroused by the double influence of wine and vengeance. +It was against women and babes that this army of butchers chiefly +directed their fury. The altar of the country is strewn with dead +bodies,--it is thus that La Fayette has dyed his hands in the gore of +citizens: those hands which, in my eyes, will ever appear to reek with +this innocent blood--this very spot where he had raised them to heaven +to swear to defend them. From this moment, the most worthy citizens are +proscribed; they are arrested in their beds, their papers are seized, +their presses broken, and lists of the names of those proscribed are +signed; the _moderes_ sign these lists, and then display them. 'Society +must be purged,' is their cry, 'of such men as _Brissot_, _Carra_, +_Petion_, _Bonneville_, _Freron_, _Danton_, and _Camille_.' Danton and I +found safety in flight alone from our assassins. The patriots are timid +factions." "And," added _Freron_, "there are men to be found, who +venture to justify these cowardly murders--these informations--these +_lettres de cachet_--these seizures of papers--these confiscations of +presses. The red flag floats for a week from the balcony of the +Hotel-de-Ville, like as in times of old, the banners torn from the grasp +of the dying foeman floated from the arched roof of our temples." In +another part he says, "Marat's presses have been seized--the name of the +author should have sufficed to protect the typographer. The press is +sacred, as sacred as the cradle of the first-born, which even the +officers of the law have orders to respect. The silence of the tomb +reigns in the city, the public places are deserted, and the theatres +re-echo alone with servile applause of royalism, that triumphs alike on +the stage and in our streets. You were impatient, Bailly, and you +treacherous, La Fayette, to employ that terrible weapon, martial law, so +dangerous, so difficult to be wielded. No, no, nought can ever efface +the indelible stain of the blood of your brethren, that has spurted over +your scarfs and your uniforms. It has sunk even to your heart--it is a +slow poison that will consume ye all." + +Whilst the revolutionary press thus infused the spirit of resentment +into the people, the clubs, reassured by the indolence of the Assembly, +and by the scrupulous legality of La Fayette, suffered but slightly the +effects of this body blow of the victory of the Champ-de-Mars. A schism +took place in the assembly of the Jacobins between the intolerant +members and its first founders, Barnave, Duport, and the two +Lameths. This schism took its rise in the great question of the +non-re-eligibility of the members of the National Assembly for the +Legislative Assembly which was so soon to succeed. The pure Jacobins, +together with Robespierre, wished that the National Assembly should +abdicate, _en masse_, and voluntarily sentence themselves to a political +ostracism, in order to make room for men of newer ideas and more imbued +with the spirit of the time. The moderate and constitutional Jacobins +looked upon this abdication as equally fatal to the monarch, as it dealt +a mortal blow to their ambition, for they wished to seize on the +direction of the power they had just created; they deemed themselves +alone competent to control the movement that they had excited, and they +sought to rule in the name of those laws of which they were the framers. +Robespierre, on the contrary, who felt his own weakness in an assembly +composed of the same elements, wished these elements to be excluded +from the new assembly: he himself suffered by the law that he laid down +for his colleagues; but with scarcely a rival to dispute his authority +at the Jacobins, they formed his assembly. His instinct or calculation +told him that the Jacobins must have supreme sway in a newly formed +assembly composed of men whose very names were unknown to the nation. +One of the faction himself, it was enough for him that the factions +reigned; and the tool he possessed in the Jacobins, and his immense +popularity, gave him the positive assurance that he should rule the +factions. + +This question, at the time of the events of the Champ-de-Mars, agitated, +and already tended to dissolve the Jacobins. The rival club of the +Feuillants, composed almost entirely of constitutionalists and members +of the National Assembly, had a more legal and monarchical appearance. +The irritation caused by the popular excesses, and their hatred for +Robespierre and Brissot, induced the ancient founders of the club to +join the Feuillants. The Jacobins trembled lest the empire of the +factions should escape them, and that division would weaken them. "It is +the court," said Camille Desmoulins, the friend of Robespierre, "it is +the court that foments this schism amongst us, and has invented this +perfidious stratagem to destroy the popular party. It knows the two +Lameths, La Fayette, Barnave, Duport, and the others who first figured +in the Jacobin assembly. 'What,' the court asked itself, 'is the aim of +all these men? their aim was to be elevated to rank and station, by the +voice of the people, and by the gales of popularity, of command of the +ministers, of gold: what they needed was court favour to serve as the +sails of their ambition; and, wanting these sails, they use the oars of +the people. Let us prove to Lameth and Barnave that they will not be +re-elected, that they cannot fill any important place before four years +have passed away. They will be indignant, and return to our party. I saw +Alexandre and Theodore Lameth the evening of the day on which +Robespierre's motion of the non-re-eligibility was carried. The Lameths +were then patriots, but the next day they were no longer the same. 'It +is impossible to submit to this,' said they,--'in concert with +Duport--we must quit France.' What! shall those who have been the +architects of the constitution undergo the mortification of witnessing +the downfall of the edifice they have reared, by this approaching system +of legislation? We shall be condemned to hear from the galleries of the +Assembly, some fool in the tribune attack our wisest enactments, which +we are denied the power of defending. Would to Heaven! that they would +quit France. Is it not enough to cause us to despise both the Assembly +and the people of Paris, when we see that the clue of this is, that the +supreme control was on the point of eluding the grasp of Lameth and La +Fayette, and that Duport and Barnave would not be again elected." + +Petion, alarmed at these symptoms of discord, addressed the tribune of +the Jacobins in conciliatory terms--"You are lost" said he, "should the +members of the Assembly quit your party, and betake themselves _en +masse_ to the Feuillants. The empire of public opinion is deserting you; +and these countless affiliated societies, imbued with your spirit, will +sever the bonds of fraternity, and unite them to you. Forestall the +designs of your enemies. Publish an address to the affiliated societies, +and reassure them of your constitutional intentions; tell them that you +have been belied to them, and that you are no promoters of faction. Tell +them that far from wishing to disturb public tranquillity, your sole +design is to avert those troubles entailed on you by the king's +departure. Tell them that we submit to the rapid and imposing influence +of opinion, and that respect for the Assembly, fidelity to the +constitution, devotion to the cause of your country and of liberty, form +your principles." This address, dictated by the hypocrisy of fear, was +adopted and sent to all the societies in the kingdom. This measure was +followed by a remodelling of the Jacobins; the primitive nucleus alone +was suffered to remain, which re-organised the rest by the ballot over +which Petion presided. + +On their side the Feuillants wrote to the patriotic societies of the +provinces, and for a brief space there was an interregnum of the +factions; but the societies of the provinces speedily declared _en +masse_, and with an almost unanimous and revolutionary enthusiasm, in +favour of the Jacobins. + +"Free and sincere union with our brothers in Paris:" such was the +rallying cry of the clubs. Six hundred clubs sent in their adherence to +the Jacobins; eighteen alone declared for the Feuillants. The factions +felt the importance of unity as fully as the nation, and the schism of +opinion was stifled by the enthusiasm for the grandeur of their work, +Petion, in a letter to his constituents which made a great sensation, +spoke of these fruitless attempts at dissension amongst the patriots, +and denounced those who dissented from it. "I tremble for my country," +said he; "the _moderes_ are meditating the reform of the constitution +already; and to place again in the king's hands the power the people +have scarcely acquired. My mind is overwhelmed by these gloomy +reflections, and I despond. I am ready to quit the post you have +confided to me. Oh, my country, be but thou saved, and I shall breathe +my last sigh in peace!" + +Such were Petion's words, and from that hour he became the idol of the +people. He possessed neither the abilities nor the audacity of +Robespierre; but he had hypocrisy, that shameless veil of doubtful +positions. The people believed him to be sincere, and his speeches had +the same influence over them as his reputation. + + +XVIII. + +The coalition which he denounced to the people was true. Barnave had an +understanding with the court. Malouet, an eloquent and able member of +the right, had an understanding with Barnave: a plan for modifying the +constitution had been concerted between these two men--yesterday foes, +to-day allies. The moment was come for uniting in one general measure +all these scattered laws valid during a revolution of thirty months. In +separating, on this review of the acts of the Assembly, what was +integral from that which was not, the occasion must arise for a revision +of every act of the constitution. It was, therefore, the moment to +profit (in order to amend them in a sense more monarchical), by the +reaction produced by La Fayette's victory. What impulse and anger had +too violently taken from the prerogatives of the crown, reason and +reflection could restore to it. The same men who had placed the +executive power in the hands of the Assembly, hoped to be able to +withdraw it from them. They believed they could effect every thing by +their eloquence and popularity. Like all who are descending the tide of +a revolution, they thought they were able to ascend the stream with +equal ease. They did not see that their strength, of which they were so +proud, was not in themselves, but in the current which bore them along. +Events were about to teach them that there is no opposing passions to +which concession has been once made. The strength of a statesman is his +power. One concession, how slight soever, to factions, is an irrevocable +engagement with them: when once we consent to become their instrument, +we may be made their idol and their victim, never their master. Barnave +was doomed to learn this when too late; and the Girondists were to learn +it after him. The plan was thus arranged:--Malouet was to ascend the +tribune, and in a vehement but well-reasoned discourse was to attack all +the errors of the constitution; he was to demonstrate that if these +vices were not amended by the Assembly before the constitution itself +should be presented to the king and the people to swear to, it would be +anarchy registered by an oath. The three hundred members of the _cote +droit_ were to support the charges of their spokesman by vehement +plaudits. Barnave was then to demand a reply, and in a discourse, +apparently much excited, was to have vindicated the constitution from +the invectives of Malouet, at the same time conceding that as this +constitution was suddenly produced by the enthusiastic ardour of the +Revolution, and under the impulse of desperately contending +circumstances, there might be some imperfections in a certain portion of +the construction; that the grave consideration and wisdom of the +Assembly might remedy these errors before it dissolved; and that, +amongst other ameliorations which might be applied to this work, they +might retouch two or three articles in which the power assigned to the +executive authority and the legislative authority had been ill defined, +so as to restore to the executive power the independence and scope +indispensable to their existence. The friends of Barnave, Lameth, and +Duport, as well as all the members of the left, would have clamorously +supported the speaker, except Robespierre, Petion, Buzot, and the +republicans. A commission would have been instantly named for the +special revision of the articles alluded to. This commission would have +made its report before the end of the meeting of the chambers; and the +three hundred votes of Malouet, united to the constitutional votes of +Barnave, would have assured to the monarchical amendments the majority +which was to restore royalty. + + +XIX. + +But the members of the right refused to give their unanimous concurrence +to this plan. "To amend the constitution was to sanction revolt. To +unite themselves with the factious, was to become factious themselves. +To restore royalty by the hands of a Barnave, was to degrade the king +even to gratitude towards a member of a faction. Their hopes had not +fallen so low that it was thus they had but the option of accepting a +character in a comedy of startled revolutionists. Their hopes were not +in any amelioration of present ill, but in its progress towards worse. +The very excess of disorder would punish disorder itself. The king was +at the Tuileries, but royalty was not there--it was at Coblentz, it was +on all the thrones of Europe. Monarchies were all in connection; they +knew very well how to restore the French monarchy without the fellowship +of those who had overturned it." + +Thus reasoned the members of the right. Feelings and resentments closed +their ears to the counsels of moderation and wisdom, and the monarchy +was not less systematically pushed towards its catastrophe by the hand +of its friends than that of its enemies. The plan was abortive. + +Whilst the captive king kept up a twofold understanding with his +emigrant brothers to learn the strength and inclination of foreign +powers, and with Barnave to attempt the conquest of the Assembly, the +Assembly itself lost its power; and the spirit of the Revolution, +quitting the place in which it had no longer any hopes, went to excite +the clubs and municipalities, and bestow its energies on the elections. +The Assembly had committed the fault of declaring its members not +re-eligible for the new legislature. This act of renunciation of itself, +which resembled the heroism of disinterestedness, was in reality the +sacrifice of the country; it was the ostracism of superior power, and an +assurance of triumph to mediocrity. A nation how rich soever in genius +and virtue, never possesses more than a definite number of great +citizens. Nature is chary of superiority. The social conditions +necessary to form a public man are rarely in combination. Intelligence, +clear-sightedness, virtue, character, independence, leisure, fortune, +consideration already acquired, and devotion,--all this is seldom united +in one individual. An entire society is not decapitated with impunity. +Nations are like their soil: after having pared off the vegetable earth, +we find only the sand beneath, and that is unproductive. The Constituent +Assembly had forgotten this truth, or rather its abdication had assumed +the form of a vengeance. The royalist party had voted the +non-re-eligibility, in order that the Revolution, thus eluding Barnave's +grasp, should fall into the clutch of the demagogues. The republican +party had voted in order to annihilate the constitutionalists. The +constitutionalists voted in order to chastise the ingratitude of the +people, and to make themselves regretted by the unworthy spectacle which +they expected their successors would present. It was a vote of +contending passions, all evil, and which could only produce a loss to +all parties. The king alone was averse from this measure. He perceived +repentance in the National Assembly--he was in communication with its +leading members--he had the key to many consciences. A new nation, +unknown and impatient, was about to present it before him in a new +Assembly. The reports of the press, the clubs, and places of popular +bruit told him, but too plainly, on what men the excited people would +bestow their confidence. He preferred known, exhausted, opponents, men +partly gained over, to new and ardent enemies who would surpass in +exactions those they replaced. To them there only remained his throne to +overthrow,--to him there was left to yield but his life. + + +XX. + +The principal names discussed in the public newspapers in Paris, were +those of Condorcet, Brissot, Danton;--in the departments, those of +Vergniaud, Guadet, Isnard, Louvet,--who were afterwards Girondists; and +those of Thuriot, Merlin, Carnot, Couthon, Danton, Saint Just, who, +subsequently united with Robespierre, were, by turns, his instruments or +his victims. Condorcet was a philosopher, as intrepid in his actions as +bold in his speculations. His political creed was a consequence of his +philosophy. He believed in the divinity of reason, and in the +omnipotence of the human understanding, with liberty as its handmaid. +Heaven, the abode of all ideal perfections, and in which man places his +most beautiful dreams, was limited by Condorcet to earth: his science +was his virtue; the human mind his deity. The intellect impregnated by +science, and multiplied by time, it appeared to him must triumph +necessarily over all the resistance of matter; must lay bare all the +creative powers of nature, and renew the face of creation. He had made +of this system a line of politics, whose first idea was to adore the +future and abhor the past. He had the cool fanaticism of logic, and the +reflective anger of conviction. A pupil of Voltaire, D'Alembert, and +Helvetius, he, like Bailly, was of that intermediate generation by which +philosophy was embodied with the Revolution. More ambitious than Bailly, +he had not his impassibility. Aristocrat by birth, he, like Mirabeau, +had passed over to the camp of the people. Hated by the court, he hated +it as do all renegades. He had become one of the people, in order to +convert the people into the army of philosophy. He wanted of the +republic no more than was sufficient to overturn its prejudices. Ideas +once become victorious,--he would willingly have confided it to the +control of a constitutional monarchy. He was rather a man for dispute +than a man of anarchy. Aristocrats always carry with them, into the +popular party, the desire of order and command. They would fain + + "Ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm." + +Real anarchists are those who are impatient of having always obeyed, and +feel themselves impotent to command. Condorcet had edited the _Chronique +de Paris_ from 1789. It was a journal of constitutional doctrines, but +in which the throbbings of anger were perceivable beneath the cool and +polished hand of the philosopher. Had Condorcet been endowed with warmth +and command of language, he might have been the Mirabeau of another +assembly. He had his earnestness and constancy, but had not the +resounding and energetic tone which made his own soul and feelings felt +by another. The club of electors of Paris, who met at La Sainte +Chapelle, elected Condorcet to the chamber. The same club returned +Danton. + + +XXI. + +Danton, whom the Revolution had found an obscure barrister at the +Chatelet, had increased with it in influence. He had already that +celebrity which the multitude easily assigns to him whom it sees every +where, and always listens to. He was one of those men who seem born of +the stir of revolutions, and which float on its surface until it +swallows them up. All in him was like the mass--athletic, rude, coarse. +He pleased them because he resembled them. His eloquence was like the +loud clamour of the mob. His brief and decisive phrases had the martial +curtness of command. His irresistible gestures gave impulse to his +plebeian auditories. Ambition was his sole line of politics. Devoid of +honour, principles, or morality, he only loved democracy because it was +exciting. It was his element, and he plunged into it. He sought there +not so much command as that voluptuous sensuality which man finds in the +rapid movement which bears him away with it. He was intoxicated with the +revolutionary vertigo as a man becomes drunken with wine; yet he bore +his intoxication well. He had that superiority of calmness in the +confusion he created, which enabled him to control it: preserving +_sangfroid_ in his excitement and his temper, even in a moment of +passion, he jested with the clubs in their stormiest moods. A burst of +laughter interrupted bitterest imprecations; and he amused the people +even whilst he impelled them to the uttermost pitch of fury. Satisfied +with his two-fold ascendency, he did not care to respect it himself, and +neither spoke to it of principles nor of virtue, but solely of force. +Himself, he adored force, and force only. His sole genius was contempt +for honesty; and he esteemed himself above all the world, because he had +trampled under foot all scruples. Every thing was to him a means. He was +a statesman of materialism, playing the popular game, with no end but +the terrible game itself, with no stake but his life, and with no +responsibility beyond nonentity. Such a man must be profoundly +indifferent either to despotism or to liberty. His contempt of the +people must incline him rather to the side of tyranny. When we can +detect nothing divine in men, the better part to play is to make use of +them. We can only serve well that which we respect. He was only with the +people because he was of the people, and thus the people ought to +triumph. He would have betrayed it, as he served it, unscrupulously. The +court well knew the tariff of his conscience. He threatened it in order +to make it desirous of buying him; he only opened his mouth in order to +have it stuffed with gold. His most revolutionary movements were but the +marked prices at which he was purchaseable. His hand was in every +intrigue, and his honesty was not checked by any offer of corruption. He +was bought daily, and next morning was again for sale. Mirabeau, La +Fayette, Montmorin, M. de Laporte, the intendant of the civil list, the +Duc d'Orleans, the king himself, all knew his price. Money had flowed +with him from all sources, even the most impure, without remaining with +him. Any other individual would have felt shame before men and parties +who had the secret of his dishonour; but he only was not ashamed, and +looked them in the face without a blush. His was the quietude of +vice.[3] He was the focus of all those men who seek in events nothing +but fortune and impunity. But others had only the baseness of +crime--Danton's vices partook of the heroic--his intellect was all but +genius. He had upon him the bright flash of circumstances, but it was as +sinister as his face. Immorality, which was the infirmity of his mind, +was in his eyes the essence of his ambition; he cultivated it in himself +as the element of future greatness. He pitied any body who respected any +thing. Such a man had of necessity a vast ascendency over the bad +passions of the multitude. He kept them in continual agitation, and +always boiling on the surface ready to flow into any torrent, even if it +were of blood. + + +XXII. + +Brissot de Warville was another of these popular candidates for the +representation. As this individual was the root of the Girondist party, +the first apostle and first martyr of the republic, we ought to know +him. Brissot was the son of a pastrycook at Chartres, and had received +his education in that city with Petion, his fellow countryman. An +adventurer in literature, he had begun by assuming the name of +_Warville_, which concealed his own. It is a plebeian nobility not to +blush at one's father's name. Brissot had not done so. He began by +furtively appropriating one of the titles of that aristocracy of races +against which he was about to raise equality. Like Rousseau in every +thing but his genius, he sought his fortune hither and thither, and +descended even lower than he into misery and intrigue, before he +acquired celebrity. Dispositions become weakened and stained by such a +struggle with the difficulties of life in the dregs of great corrupted +cities. Rousseau had paraded his indigence and his reveries in the bosom +of nature; and as its consideration calms and purifies everything he +quitted it a philosopher. Brissot had dragged his misery and vanity into +the heart of Paris and of London, and into those haunts of infamy in +which adventurers and pamphleteers drag on a filthy existence: he left +them an intriguer. Yet in the very midst of these vices which had +rendered his honesty dubious, and name bespotted, he nurtured in the +depths of his soul three virtues capable of again elevating him--an +unshaken love for a young girl, whom he married in spite of his family, +a love of occupation, and a courage against the difficulties of life, +which he had afterwards to display in the face of death. His philosophy +was identical with Rousseau's. He believed in God. He had faith in +liberty, truth, and virtue. He had in his soul that unqualified devotion +towards the human species which is the charity of philosophers. He +detested society, for in it there was no place awarded to him; but what +he hated with unmitigated hate was the state of society; its +prejudices--its falsehoods. He would have recast it, less for himself +than for the benefit of mankind. He would have consented to be crushed +beneath its ruins, provided those ruins were to give place to his ideal +plan of the government of reason. Brissot was one of those mercenary +scribes who write for those who pay best. He had written on all +subjects, for every minister; especially Turgot. Criminal laws, +political economy, diplomacy, literature, philosophy, even libels,--his +pen was at the hire of the first comer. Seeking the support of +celebrated and influential men, he had adulated all from Voltaire and +Franklin down to Marat. Known to Madame de Genlis, he had, through her, +some acquaintance with the Duc d'Orleans. Sent to London by the minister +on one of those missions which are nameless, he there became connected +with the editor of the _Courrier de l'Europe_, a French journal, printed +in London, and the boldness of whose style was offensive at the court of +the Tuileries. He engaged himself to Swinton, the proprietor of this +newspaper, and edited it in a manner favorable to the views of +Vergennes. He knew at Swinton's several writers, amongst others one +Morande. These libellers, outcasts of society, frequently then become +the refuse of the pen, and live at the same time on the disgraces of +vice and in the pay of spies. Their collision infected Brissot. He was +or appeared to be sometimes their accomplice. Hideous blotches thus +stain his life, and were cruelly revived by his enemies, when the time +came in which he was compelled to appeal to public esteem. + +Returning to France at the first symptoms of the Revolution, he watched +its successive phases, with the ambition of an impatient man, and with +the indecision of one not knowing what part to take. He was frequently +wrong. He compromised himself by his devotion, too early displayed, +towards certain men who had seemed to him for a moment to be all +powerful, especially towards La Fayette. Editor of the _Patriote +Francais_, he had occasionally put forth revolutionary feelers, and +flattered the future by going even faster than the factions themselves. +He had even been disowned by Robespierre. "Whilst I content myself," +said Robespierre, referring to him, "with defending the principles of +liberty, without opening any other question, what are you doing, Brissot +and Condorcet? Known until now by your great moderation and your +connection with La Fayette, for a long time followers of the +aristocratic club of '89, you suddenly blazon forth the word Republic. +You issue a journal entitled the _Republican_! Then minds become in a +ferment. The mere word Republic throws division amongst patriots, and +affords to our enemies a pretext which they seek for announcing that +there exists in France a party which conspires against the monarchy and +the constitution. Under this title we are persecuted, and peaceable +citizens are sacrificed on the altars of their country! At this name we +are transformed into factions, and the Revolution is made to recede, +perhaps, half a century. It was at the same moment that Brissot came to +the Jacobins, where he had never before appeared, to propose a republic +of which the simplest rules of prudence had forbidden us to speak in the +National Assembly. By what fatality did Brissot find himself there? I +would fain discover no craft in his conduct; I would prefer detecting +only imprudence and folly. But now that his connection with La Fayette +and Narbonne are no longer a mystery--now that he no longer dissimulates +his schemes of dangerous innovations, let him clearly understand that +the nation will at once and effectually break through all the plots +framed during so many years by pitiful intriguers." + +So spake Robespierre, jealous by anticipation, and yet just, on +Brissot's presenting himself as a candidate. The Revolution rejected +him, the Counter-revolution repudiated him no less. Brissot's old allies +in London, especially Morande, returned to Paris under cover of the +troublous times, revealed to the Parisians in the _Argus_, and in +placards, the secret intrigues and the disgraceful literary career of +their former associate. They quoted actual letters, in which Brissot had +lied unblushingly as to his name, the condition of his family, and his +father's fortune, in order to acquire Swinton's confidence, to gain +credit, and make dupes in England. The proofs were damning. A +considerable sum had been extorted from a man named Desforges, under +pretence of erecting an institution in London, and this sum had been +expended by Brissot on himself. This was but a trifle: Brissot, on +quitting England, had left in the hands of this Desforges twenty-four +letters, which but too plainly established his participation in the +infamous trade of libels carried on by his allies. It was proved to +demonstration that Brissot had connived at the sending into France, and +the propagation of, odious pamphlets by Morande. The journals hostile to +his election seized on these scandalous facts, and held them up to +public obloquy. He was, besides, accused of having extracted from the +funds of the district of the _Filles-Saint-Thomas_, of which he was +president, a sum for his own purse, long forgotten. His defence was +laboured and obscure; yet it was held by the club of the Rue de la +Michodiere sufficient proof of his innocence and integrity. Some +journals, solely occupied with the political bearing of his life, took +up his defence, and made loud complaints against his calumny. Manuel, +his friend, who edited a vile journal, wrote thus, to console +him:--"These ordures of calumny, spread abroad at the moment of +scrutiny, always end by leaving a dirty stain on those who scatter them. +But it is allowing a triumph to the enemies of the people, to repulse +thus a man who fearlessly attacks them. They give me votes, in spite of +my drivellings, and my love of the bottle. Leave 'Pere Duchesne'[4] +alone, and let us nominate Brissot; he is a better man than I am." + +Marat, in his _Ami du Peuple_, wrote thus ambiguously of +Brissot:--"Brissot," says the Friend of the People, "was never, in my +eyes, a thorough-going patriot. Either from ambition or baseness, he has +up to this time betrayed the duties of a good citizen. Why has he been +so tardy in leaving a system of hypocrisy? Poor Brissot, thou art the +victim of a court valet, of a base hypocrite!--why lend thy paw to La +Fayette? Why, thou must expect to experience the fate of all men of +indecision. Thou hast displeased every body; thou canst never make thy +way. If thou hast one atom of proper feeling left, hasten, and scratch +out thy name from the list of candidates for the approaching general +election." + +Thus appeared on the scene for the first time, in the midst of the +hootings of both parties, this man, who attempted in vain to escape from +the general contempt accumulated on his name from the faults of his +youth, in order to enter on the gravity of his political career--a +mingled character, half intrigue, half virtue. Brissot, destined to +serve as the centre of a rallying point to the party of the _Gironde_, +had, by anticipation in his character, all there was in after days, of +destiny in his party, of intrigue and patriotism, of faction and +martyrdom. The other marked candidates in Paris, were, Pastoret, a man +of the South, prudent and skilful as a Southron, steering ably betwixt +parties, giving sufficient guarantee to the Revolution to be accepted by +it, enough devotion to the court to retain its secret confidence; borne +hither and thither by the alternating favours of the two opinions, like +a man who seeks fortune for his talent in the Revolution, but never +looking for it beyond the limits of the just and honourable. Lacepede, +Cerutti, Heraut de Sechelles, and Gouvion, La Fayette's aide-de-camp. +The elections of the department occupied but little attention. The +National Assembly had exhausted the country of its characters and its +talents; the ostracism it had exercised had imposed on France but +secondary ability. There was but little enthusiasm for untried men: the +public eyes were only fixed on the names about to disappear. A country +cannot contain a twofold renown: that of France was departing with the +members of the dissolved Assembly--another France was about to rise. + + + + +BOOK IV. + + +I. + +At this juncture the germ of a new opinion began to display itself in +the south, and Bordeaux felt its full influence. The department of the +Gironde had given birth to a new political party in the twelve citizens +who formed its deputies. This department, far removed from the _centre_, +was at no distant period to seize on the empire alike of opinion and of +eloquence. The names (obscure and unknown up to this period) of _Ducos, +Guadet, Lafond-Ladebat, Grangeneuve, Gensonne, Vergniaud_, were about to +rise into notice and renown with the storms and the disasters of their +country; they were the men who were destined to give that impulse to the +Revolution that had hitherto remained in doubt and indecision, before +which it still trembled with apprehension, and which was to precipitate +it into a republic. Why was this impulse fated to have birth in the +department of the Gironde and not in Paris? Nought but conjectures can +be offered on this subject; and yet perhaps the republican spirit was +more likely to manifest itself at Bordeaux than at Paris, where the +presence and influence of a court had for ages past enervated the +independence of character, and enfeebled the austerity of principle that +form the basis of patriotism and liberty. The states of Languedoc, and +the habits that necessarily result from the administration of a province +governed by itself, could not fail to predispose the inclination of the +Gironde in favour of an elective and federative government. Bordeaux was +a parliamentary country; the parliaments had every where encouraged the +spirit of resistance, and had often created a factious feeling against +the king. Bordeaux was a commercial city, and commerce, which requires +liberty through interest, at last desires it through a love of freedom. +Bordeaux was the great commercial link between America and France, and +their constant intercourse with America had communicated to the Gironde +their love for free institutions. Moreover Bordeaux was more exposed to +the enlightening influence of the sun of philosophy than the centre of +France. Philosophy had germed there ere it arose in Paris, for Bordeaux +was the birthplace of Montaigne and Montesquieu, those two great +republicans of the French school. The one had deeply investigated the +religious dogmata, the other the political institutions; and the +president Dupaty had long after awakened there enthusiasm for the new +system of philosophy. Bordeaux, in addition, was a country where the +traditions of liberty and the _Roman Forum_ had been perpetuated in the +bar. A certain leaven of antiquity animated each heart, and lent vigour +to every tongue, and the town was still more republican by eloquence +than by opinion, though there was something of Latin emphasis in their +patriotism. It was in the birthplace of Montaigne and Montesquieu that +the republic was to take its origin. + + +II. + +The period of the elections was the signal for a still more obstinate +attack from the public press. The papers were insufficient: men sold +pamphlets in the streets, and the "_Journaux affiches_" were invented, +which were placarded against the walls of Paris, and around which groups +of people were constantly collected. Wandering orators, inspired or +hired by the different parties, took their stand there and commented +aloud on these impassioned productions:--Loustalot, in the _Revolutions +de Paris_, founded by Prudhomme, and continued alternately by Chaumette +and Fabre d'Eglantine; Marat, in the _Publiciste_ and the _Ami du +Peuple_; Brissot, in the _Patriote Francaise_; Gorsas, in the _Courier +de Versailles_; Condorcet, in the _Chronique de Paris_, Cerutti, in the +_Feuille Villageoise_; Camille Desmoulins, in the _Discours de la +Lanterne_, and the _Revolutions de Brabant_; Freron, in the _Orateur du +Peuple_; Hebert and Manuel, in the _Pere Duchesne_; Carra, in the +_Annales Patriotiques;_ Fleydel, in the _Observateur_; Laclos, in the +_Journal des Jacobins_; Fauchet, in the _Bouche de Fer_; Royon, in the +_Ami du Roi_; Champcenetz-Rivarol, in the _Actes des Apotres_; Suleau +and Andre Chenier, in several _royaliste_ or _moderee_ papers,--excited +and disputed dominion over the minds of the people. It was the ancient +tribune transported to the dwelling of each citizen, and adapting its +language to the comprehension of all men, even the most illiterate. +Anger, suspicion, hatred, envy, fanaticism, credulity, invective, thirst +of blood, sudden panics, madness and reflection, treason and fidelity, +eloquence and folly, had each their organ in this concert of every +passion and feeling in which the city revelled each night. All toil was +at an end; the only labour in their eyes was to watch the throne, to +frustrate the real or fancied plots of the aristocracy, and to save +their country. The hoarse bawling of the vendors of the public journals, +the patriotic chaunts of the Jacobins as they quitted their clubs, the +tumultuous assemblies, the convocations to the patriotic ceremonies, +fallacious fears as to the failure of provisions--kept the population of +the city and faubourgs in a perpetual state of excitement, which +suffered no one to remain inactive; indifference would have been +considered treason; and it was necessary to feign enthusiasm in order to +be in accordance with public opinion. Each fresh event quickened this +feverish excitement, which the press constantly instilled into the veins +of the people. Its language already bordered on delirium, and borrowed +from the population even their proverbs, their love of trifles, their +obscenity, their brutality, and even their oaths, with which the +articles were interlarded, as though to impress more forcibly its hatred +on the ear of its foes. Danton, Hebert, and Marat were the first to +adopt this tone, these gestures, and these exclamations of the populace, +as though to flatter them by imitating their vices. Robespierre never +condescended to this, and never sought to obtain ascendency over the +people by pandering to their brutality, but by appealing to their +reason; and the fanatical tone of his speeches possessed at least that +decency that attends great ideas--he ruled by respect, and scorned to +captivate them by familiarity. The more he gained the confidence of the +lower classes, the more did he affect the philosophical tone and austere +demeanour of the statesman. It was plainly perceptible in his most +radical propositions, that however he might wish to renew social order +he would not corrupt its elements, and that his eyes to emancipate the +people was not to degrade them. + + +III. + +It was at this period that the Assembly ordered the removal of +Voltaire's remains to the Pantheon: philosophy thus avenged itself on +the anathemas that had been thundered forth, even against the ashes of +the great innovator. The body of Voltaire, on his death, in Paris, +A.D. 1778, had been furtively removed by his nephew at night, +and interred in the church of the abbey of Sellieres in Champagne; and +when the nation sold this abbey, the cities of Troyes and Romilly +mutually contended for the honour of possessing the bones of the +greatest man of the age. The city of Paris, where he had breathed his +last, now claimed its privilege as the capital of France, and addressed +a petition to the National Assembly, praying that Voltaire's body might +be brought back to Paris and interred in the Pantheon, that cathedral of +philosophy. The Assembly eagerly hailed the idea of this homage, that +traced liberty back to its original source. "The people owe their +freedom to him," said Regnault de Saint Jean d'Angely; "for by +enlightening them, he gave them power; nations are enthralled by +ignorance alone, and when the torch of reason displays to them the +ignominy of bearing these chains, they blush to wear them, and snap them +asunder." + +On the 11th of July, the departmental and municipal authorities went in +state to the barrier of Charenton, to receive the mortal remains of +Voltaire, which were placed on the ancient site of the Bastille, like a +conqueror on his trophies; his coffin was exposed to public gaze, and a +pedestal was formed for it of stones torn from the foundations of this +ancient stronghold of tyranny; and thus Voltaire when dead triumphed +over those stones which had triumphed over and confined him when living. +On one of the blocks was the inscription, "_Receive on this spot, where +despotism once fettered thee, the honours decreed to thee by thy +country_." + + +IV. + +The next day, when the rays of a brilliant sun had dissipated the mists +of the night, an immense concourse of people followed the car that bore +Voltaire to the Pantheon. This car was drawn by twelve white horses, +harnessed four abreast; their manes plaited with flowers and golden +tassels, and the reins held by men dressed in antique costumes, like +those depicted on the medals of ancient triumphs. On the car was a +funeral couch, extended on which was a statue of the philosopher, +crowned with a wreath. The National Assembly, the departmental and +municipal bodies, the constituted authorities, the magistrates, and the +army, surrounded, preceded, and followed the sarcophagus. The +boulevards, the streets, the public places, the windows, the roofs of +houses, even the trees, were crowded with spectators; and the suppressed +murmurs of vanquished intolerance could not restrain this feeling of +enthusiasm. Every eye was riveted on the car; for the new school of +ideas felt that it was the proof of their victory that was passing +before them, and that philosophy remained mistress of the field of +battle. + +The details of this ceremony were magnificent; and in spite of its +profane and theatrical trappings, the features of every man that +followed the car wore the expression of joy, arising from an +intellectual triumph. A large body of cavalry, who seemed to have now +offered their arms at the shrine of intelligence, opened the march. Then +followed the muffled drums, to whose notes were added the roar of the +artillery that formed a part of the cortege. The scholars of the +colleges of Paris, the patriotic societies, the battalions of the +national guard, the workmen of the different public journals, the +persons employed to demolish the foundations of the Bastille, some +bearing a portable press, which struck off different inscriptions in +honour of Voltaire, as the procession moved on; others carrying the +chains, the collars and bolts, and bullets found in the dungeons and +arsenals of the state prisons; and lastly, busts of Voltaire, Rousseau, +and Mirabeau, marched between the troops and the populace. On a litter +was displayed the _proces-verbal_ of the electors of '89, that _Hegyra_ +of the insurrection. On another stand, the citizens of the Faubourg +Saint Antoine exhibited a plan in relief of the Bastille, the flag of +the donjon, and a young girl, in the costume of an Amazon, who had +fought at the siege of this fortress. Here and there, pikes surmounted +with the Phrygian cap of liberty arose above the crowd, and on one of +them was a scroll bearing the inscription, "_From this steel sprung +Liberty!_" + +All the actors and actresses of the theatres of Paris followed the +statue of him who for sixty years had inspired them; the titles of his +principal works were inscribed on the sides of a pyramid that +represented his immortality. His statue, formed of gold and crowned with +laurel, was borne on the shoulders of citizens, wearing the costumes of +the nations and the times whose manners and customs he had depicted; and +the seventy volumes of his works were contained in a casket, also of +gold. The members of the learned bodies, and of the principal academies +of the kingdom surrounded this ark of philosophy. Numerous bands of +music, some marching with the troops, others stationed along the road of +the procession, saluted the car as it passed with loud bursts of +harmony, and filled the air with the enthusiastic strains of liberty. +The procession stopped before the principal theatres, a hymn was sung in +honour of his genius, and the car then resumed its march. On their +arrival at the quai that bears his name, the car stopped before the +house of M. de Villette, where Voltaire had breathed his last, and where +his heart was preserved. Evergreen shrubs, garlands of leaves, and +wreaths of roses decorated the front of the house, which bore the +inscription, "_His fame is every where, and his heart is here_." Young +girls dressed in white, and wreaths of flowers on their heads, covered +the steps of an amphitheatre erected before the house. Madame de +Villette, to whom Voltaire had been a second father, in all the +splendour of her beauty, and the pathos of her tears, advanced and +placed the noblest of all his wreaths, the wreath of filial affection, +on the head of the great philosopher. + +At this moment the crowd burst into one of the hymns of the poet +Chenier, who, up to his death, most of all men cherished the memory of +Voltaire. Madame de Villette and the young girls of the amphitheatre +descended into the street, now strewed with flowers, and walked before +the car. The Theatre Francais, then situated in the Faubourg St. +Germain, had erected a triumphal arch on its peristyle. On each pillar a +medallion was fixed, bearing in letters of gilt bronze the title of the +principal dramas of the poet; on the pedestal of the statue erected +before the door of the theatre was written, "_He wrote Irene at +eighty-three years; at seventeen he wrote OEdipus_." + +The immense procession did not arrive at the Pantheon until ten o'clock +at night, for the day had not been sufficiently long for this triumph. +The coffin of Voltaire was deposited between those of Descartes and +Mirabeau,--the spot predestined for this intermediary genius between +philosophy and policy, between the design and the execution. This +apotheosis of modern philosophy, amidst the great events that agitated +the public mind, was a convincing proof that the Revolution comprehended +its own aim, and that it sought to be the inauguration of those two +principles represented by these cold ashes--Intelligence and Liberty. It +was intelligence that triumphantly entered the city of Louis XIV. over +the ruins of the prejudices of birth. It was philosophy taking +possession of the city and the temple of Sainte Genevieve. The remains +of two schools, of two ages, and two creeds were about to strive for the +mastery even in the tomb. Philosophy who, up to this hour, had timidly +shrunk from the contest, now revealed her latest inspiration--that of +transferring the veneration of the age from one great man to another. + + +V. + +Voltaire, the sceptical genius of France in modern ages, combined, in +himself, the double passion of this people at such a period--the passion +of destruction, and the desire of innovation, hatred of prejudices, and +love of knowledge: he was destined to be the standard-bearer of +destruction; his genius, although not the most elevated, yet the most +comprehensive in France, has hitherto been only judged by fanatics or +his enemies. Impiety deified his very vices; superstition anathematised +his very virtues; in a word, despotism, when it again seized on the +reins of government in France, felt that to reinstate tyranny it would +be necessary first to unseat Voltaire from his high position in the +national opinion. Napoleon, during fifteen years, paid writers who +degrade, vilify, and deny the genius of Voltaire; he hated his name, as +_might_ must ever hate _intellect_; and so long as men yet cherished the +memory of Voltaire, so long he felt his position was not secure, for +tyranny stands as much in need of prejudice to sustain it as falsehood +of uncertainty and darkness; the restored church could no longer suffer +his glory to shine with so great a lustre; she had the right to hate +Voltaire, not to deny his genius. + +If we judge of men by what they have _done_, then Voltaire is +incontestably the greatest writer of modern Europe. No one has caused, +through the powerful influence of his genius alone, and the perseverance +of his will, so great a commotion in the minds of men; his pen aroused a +world, and has shaken a far mightier empire than that of Charlemagne, +the European empire of a theocracy. His genius was not _force_ but +_light_. Heaven had destined him not to destroy but to illuminate, and +wherever he trod light followed him, for reason (which is _light_) had +destined him to be first her poet, then her apostle, and lastly her +idol. + + +VI. + +Voltaire was born a plebeian in an obscure street of old Paris.[5] +Whilst Louis XIV. and Bossuet reigned in all the pomp of absolute power +and Catholicism at Versailles, the child of the people, the Moses of +incredulity, grew up amidst them: the secrets of destiny seem thus to +sport with men, and are alone suspected when they have exploded. The +throne and the altar had attained their culminating point in France. The +Duc d'Orleans, as regent, governed during an interregnum,--one vice in +the room of another, weakness instead of pride. This life was easy and +agreeable, and corruption avenged itself for the monacal austerity of +the last years of Madame de Maintenon and Letellier. Voltaire, alike +precocious by audacity as by talent, began already to sport with those +weapons of the mind of which he was destined, after years, to make so +terrible a use. The regent, all unsuspicious of danger, suffered him to +continue, and repressed, for form's sake alone, some of the most +audacious of his outbreaks, at which he laughed even whilst he punished +them. The incredulity of the age took its rise in debauchery and not in +examination, and the independence of thought was rather a _libertinage_ +of manners, than a conclusion arising from reflection. There was vice in +irreligion, and of this Voltaire always savoured. His mission began by a +contempt and derision of holy things, which, even though doomed to +destruction, should be touched with respect. From thence arose that +mockery, that irony, that cynicism too often on the lips, and in the +heart, of the apostle of reason; his visit to England gave assurance and +gravity to his incredulity, for in France he had only known libertines, +in London he knew philosophers; he became passionately attached to +eternal reason, as we are all eager after what is new, and he felt the +enthusiasm of the discovery. In so active a nature as the French, this +enthusiasm and this hatred could not remain in mere speculation as in +the mind of a native of the north. Scarcely was he himself persuaded, +than he wished in his turn to persuade others; his whole life became a +multiplied action, tending to one end, the abolition of theocracy, and +the establishment of religious toleration and liberty. He toiled at this +with all the powers with which God had gifted him; he even employed +falsehood (_ruse_), aspersion, cynicism, and immorality: he used even +those arms that respect for God and man denies to the wise; he employed +his virtue, his honour, his renown, to aid in this overthrow; and his +apostleship of reason had too often the appearance of a profanation of +piety; he ravaged the temple instead of protecting it. + +From the day when he resolved upon this war against Christianity he +sought for allies also opposed to it. His intimacy with the king of +Prussia, Frederic II., had this sole inducement. He desired the support +of thrones against the priesthood. Frederic, who partook of his +philosophy, and pushed it still further, even to atheism and the +contempt of mankind, was the Dionysius of this modern Plato. Louis XV., +whose interest it was to keep up a good understanding with Prussia, +dared not to show his anger against a man whom the king considered as +his friend. Voltaire, thus protected by a sceptre, redoubled his +audacity. He put thrones on one side, whilst he affected to make their +interests mutual with his own, by pretending to emancipate them from the +domination of Rome. He handed over to kings the civil liberty of the +people, provided that they would aid him in acquiring the liberty of +consciences. He even affected--perhaps he felt--respect for the absolute +power of kings. He pushed that respect so far as even to worship their +weaknesses. He palliated the infamous vices of the great Frederic, and +brought philosophy on its knees before the mistresses of Louis XV. Like +the courtezan of Thebes, who built one of the pyramids of Egypt from the +fruits of her debaucheries, Voltaire did not blush at any prostitution +of genius, provided that the wages of his servility enabled him to +purchase enemies against Christ. He enrolled them by millions throughout +Europe, and especially in France. Kings were reminded of the middle +ages, and of the thrones outraged by the popes. They did not see, +without umbrage and secret hate, the clergy as powerful as themselves +with the people, and who under the name of cardinals, almoners, bishops +or confessors, spied, or dictated its creeds even to courts themselves. +The parliaments, that civil clergy, a body redoubtable to sovereigns +themselves, detested the mass of the clergy, although they protected its +faith and its decrees. The nobility, warlike, corrupted, and ignorant, +leaned entirely to the unbelief which freed it from all morality. +Finally, the _bourgeoisie_, well-informed or learned, prefaced the +emancipation of the third estate by the insurrection of the new +condition of ideas. + +Such were the elements of the revolution in religious matters. Voltaire +laid hold of them, at the precise moment, with that _coup d'oeil_ of +strong instinct which sees clearer than genius itself. To an age young, +fickle, and unreflecting, he did not present reason under the form of an +austere philosophy, but beneath the guise of a facile freedom of ideas +and a scoffing irony. He would not have succeeded in making his age +think, he did succeed in making it smile. He never attacked it in front, +nor with his face uncovered, in order that he might not set the laws in +array against him; and to avoid the fate of Servetius, he, the modern +AEsop, attacked under imaginary names the tyranny which he wished to +destroy. He concealed his hate in history, the drama, light poetry, +romance, and even in jests. His genius was a perpetual allusion, +comprehending all his age, but impossible to be seized on by his +enemies. He struck, but his hand was concealed. Yet the struggle of a +man against a priesthood, an individual against an institution, a life +against eighteen centuries, was by no means destitute of courage. + + +VII. + +There is an incalculable power of conviction and devotion of idea, in +the daring of one against all. To brave at once, with no other power +than individual reason, with no other support than conscience, human +consideration, that cowardice of the mind, masked under respect for +error; to dare the hatred of earth and the anathema of heaven, is the +heroism of the writer. Voltaire was not a martyr in his body, but he +consented to be one in his name, and devoted it during his life and +after his death. He condemned his own ashes to be thrown to the winds, +and not to have either an asylum or a tomb. He resigned himself even to +lengthened exile in exchange for the liberty of a free combat. He +isolated himself voluntarily from men, in order that their too close +contact might not interfere with his thoughts. + +At eighty years of age, feeble, and feeling his death nearly +approaching, he several times made his preparations hastily, in order to +go and struggle still, and die at a distance from the roof of his old +age. The unwearied activity of his mind was never checked for a moment. +He carried his gaiety even to genius, and under that pleasantry of his +whole life we may perceive a grave power of perseverance and +conviction. Such was the character of this great man. The enlightened +serenity of his mind concealed the depth of its workings: under the joke +and laugh his constancy of purpose was hardly sufficiently recognised. +He suffered all with a laugh, and was willing to endure all, even in +absence from his native land, in his lost friendships, in his refused +fame, in his blighted name, in his memory accursed. He took all--bore +all--for the sake of the triumph of the independence of human reason. +Devotion does not change its worth in changing its cause, and this was +his virtue in the eyes of posterity. He was not the truth, but he was +its precursor, and walked in advance of it. + +One thing was wanting to him--the love of a God. He saw him in mind, and +he detested those phantoms which ages of darkness had taken for him, and +adored in his stead. He rent away with rage those clouds which prevent +the divine idea from beaming purely on mankind; but his weakness was +rather hatred against error, than faith in the Divinity. The sentiment +of religion, that sublime _resume_ of human thought; that reason, which, +enlightened by enthusiasm, mounts to God as a flame, and unites itself +with him in the unity of the creation with the Creator, of the ray with +the focus--this, Voltaire never felt in his soul. Thence sprung the +results of his philosophy; it created neither morals, nor worship, nor +charity; it only decomposed--destroyed. Negative, cold, corrosive, +sneering, it operated like poison--it froze--it killed--it never gave +life. Thus, it never produced--even against the errors it assailed, +which were but the human alloy of a divine idea--the whole effect it +should have elicited. It made sceptics, instead of believers. The +theocratic reaction was prompt and universal, as it ought to have been. +Impiety clears the soul of its consecrated errors, but does not fill the +heart of man. Impiety alone will never ruin a human worship: a faith +destroyed must be replaced by a faith. It is not given to irreligion to +destroy a religion on earth. There is but a religion more enlightened +which can really triumph over a religion fallen into contempt, by +replacing it. The earth cannot remain without an altar, and God alone is +strong enough against God. + + +VIII. + +It was on the 5th of August, 1791, the first anniversary of the famous +night of the 4th of August, 1790, when feudality crumbled to atoms, that +the National Assembly commenced the revision of the constitution. It was +a solemn and imposing act, was this comprehensive _coup d'oeil_ cast +by legislators at the end of their career, over the ruins they had +scattered, and the foundations they had laid in their course. But how +different at this moment was the disposition of their mind from what +they felt in commencing this mighty work! They had begun it with an +enthusiasm of the ideal, they now contemplated it with the misgivings +and the sadness of reality. The National Assembly was opened amidst the +acclamations of a people unanimous in their hopes, and was about to +close amidst the clamorous recriminations of all parties. + +The king was captive, the princes emigrants, the clergy at feud, the +nobility in flight, the people seditious; Necker's popularity had +vanished, Mirabeau was dead, Maury silenced, Cazales, Lally, Mounier had +deserted from their work. Two years had carried off more men and things +than a generation removes in ordinary times. The great voices of '89, +inspired with philosophy and vast hopes, no longer resounded beneath +those vaults. The foremost ranks had fallen. The men of second order +were now to contend in their stead. Intimidated, discouraged, repentant, +they had neither the spirit to yield to the impulse of the people nor +the power to resist it. Barnave had recovered his virtue in his +sensibility; but virtue which comes late is like the experience which +follows the act, and only enables us to measure the extent of our +errors. In revolutions there is no repentance--there is only expiation. +Barnave, who might have saved the monarchy, had he only united with +Mirabeau, was just commencing his expiatory sentence. Robespierre was to +Barnave what Barnave had been to Mirabeau; but Robespierre, more +powerful than Barnave, instead of acting on the impulse of a passion as +fluctuating as jealousy, acted under the influence of a fixed idea, and +an unalterable theory. Robespierre had the whole people at his back. + + +IX. + +From the opening of the sittings Barnave attempted to consolidate around +the constitution the opinions so fiercely shaken by Robespierre and his +friends. He did it with a caution which bespoke but too well the +weakness of his position, notwithstanding the boldness of his language. +"The labours of your committee of the constitution are assailed," he +said. "There exist against our work but two kinds of opposition. Those +who, up to the present time, have constantly shown themselves inimical +to the Revolution--the enemies of equality, who hate our constitution +because it is the condemnation of their aristocracy. Yet there is +another class hostile also, and I will divide it into two distinct +species. One of these is the men who, in the opinion of their own +conscience, give the preference to another government which they +disguise more or less in their language, and seek to deprive our +monarchical government of all the strength which can retard the advent +of a republic. I declare that these persons I shall not attack. +Whosoever has a pure political opinion has a right to communicate it; +but we have another class of foes. They are the foes of all government. +If this class betrays its opposition, it is not because it prefers the +republic to the monarchy, democracy to aristocracy, it is because all +that concentrates the political machine, all that is order, all that +places in his right position the honest man and the rogue, the candid +man and the calumniator, is contrary and hateful to its system." (Long +and loud applause from the majority on the left.) "Yes, gentlemen," +continued Barnave, "such is the party which has the most strongly +opposed our labours. They have sought fresh sources of revolution +because the revolution as defined by us escaped them. These are the men +who, changing the name of things, by uttering sentiments apparently +patriotic, in the stead of sentiments of honour, probity, purity--by +sitting even in the most august places with a mask of virtue, have +believed that they would impose upon public opinion, and have coalesced +with certain writers. (The plaudits here redoubled, and all eyes were +turned towards Robespierre and Brissot.) If we desire to see our +constitution carried out, if you desire that the nation, after having +owed to you its hopes of liberty,--for as yet it is but hope (Murmurs of +dissent),--shall owe to you reality, prosperity, happiness, peace, let +us endeavour to simplify it, by giving to the government--by which I +mean all the powers established by this constitution--the amount of +simultaneous strength requisite to move the social machine, and to +preserve to the nation the liberty you have conferred upon it. If the +welfare of your country is dear to you, take care what you are about to +do. Above all, let us discard injurious mistrust, which can serve none +but our enemies, when they would believe that this national assembly, +this constant majority, at once bold and sagacious, which has so much +cast upon it since the king's departure, is ready to disappear before +the divisions so skilfully fomented by perfidious imputations. (Loud +cheering.) You will see renewed, do not doubt this, the disorders, the +convulsions of which you are weary, and to which the completion of the +Revolution ought also to be a completion. You will see renewed without +hopes, projects, temptations which we openly brave because we feel our +strength and are united--because we know that so long as we are united +they will not be attempted; and if extravagant ideas should dare to try +them it would always result in their shame. But the attempts would +succeed, and on the success of them they might, with some semblance +rely, if we were once divided amongst ourselves, not knowing in whom we +might believe. We suspect each other of different plans when we have but +the same idea--of contrary feelings, when every one of us has in his +heart the testimony of his colleagues' purity, during two years of +labour performed together--during consecutive proofs of courage--during +sacrifices which nothing can compensate but the approving voice of +conscience." + +Here Barnave's voice was lost in the applauses of the majority, and the +Assembly electrified, seemed for the moment unanimous in its monarchical +feeling. + + +X. + +At the sitting of the 25th of August, the Assembly discussed the article +of the constitution which declared that the members of the royal family +could not exercise the rights of citizens. The Duc d'Orleans ascended +the tribune to protest against this article, and declared, in the midst +of applauses and murmurs, that if it were adopted, there remained to him +the right of choosing between the title of a French citizen and his +eventual right to the throne; and that, in that case, he should renounce +the throne. Sillery, the friend and confidant of this prince, spoke +after him, and combated with much eloquence the conclusions of the +committee. This discourse, full of allusions to the position of the duc +d'Orleans, impossible to be misunderstood, was the only act of direct +ambition attempted by the Orleans party. Sillery began by boldly +replying to Barnave:--"Let me be allowed," he exclaimed, "to lament over +the deplorable abuse which some orators make of their talents. What +strange language! It is attempted to make you believe that you have here +men of faction and anarchy--enemies of order, as if order could only +exist by satisfying the ambition of certain individuals! It is proposed +to you to grant to all individuals of the royal family the title of +prince, and to deprive them of the rights of a citizen? What +incoherence, and what ingratitude! You declare the title of French +citizen to be the most admirable of titles, and you propose to exchange +it for the title of prince, which you have suppressed, as contrary to +equality! Have not the relatives of the king, who still remain in Paris, +constantly displayed the purest patriotism? What services have they not +rendered to the public cause by their example and their sacrifices! Have +they not themselves abjured all their titles for one only--that of +citizen? and yet you propose to despoil them of it! When you suppressed +the title of prince, what happened? The fugitive princes formed a league +against the country; the others ranged themselves with you. If to-day +the title of prince is re-established, we concede to the enemies of our +country all they covet; we deprive the patriotic relatives of the king +of all they esteem! I see the triumph and the recompence on the side of +the conspiring princes; I see the punishment of all sacrifices on the +side of the popular princes. It is said to be dangerous to admit the +members of the royal family into the legislative body. This hypothesis +would then be established, that every individual of the royal family +must be for the future a corrupt courtier or factious partisan! However, +is it not possible to suppose that there are patriots amongst them? Is +it those you would thus brand? You condemn the relatives of a king to +hate the constitution and conspire against a form of government which +does not leave them the choice between the character of courtiers or +that of conspirators. See, on the other hand, what may accrue if the +love of country inspire them! Cast your eyes on one of the branches of +that race, whom it is proposed to you to exile. Scarcely out of his +childhood, he had the happiness of saving the life of three citizens, at +the peril of his own. The city of Vendome decreed to him a civic crown. +Unhappy child! is that indeed the last which thy race shall obtain?" + +The applause which constantly interrupted, and for a long time followed +this discourse, after the orator had concluded, proved that the idea of +a revolutionary dynasty already tempted some imaginations, and that if +there existed no faction of Orleans, at least it was not without a +leader. Robespierre, who no less detested a dynastic faction than the +monarchy itself, saw with terror this symptom of a new power which +appeared in the distant horizon. "I remark," he replied, "that there is +too much reference to individuals, and not enough to the national +interest. It is not true that we seek to degrade the relations of the +king: there is no design to place them beneath other citizens--we wish +to separate them from the people by an honourable distinction. What is +the use of seeking titles for them? The relatives of the king will be +simply the relatives of the king. The splendour of the throne is not +derived from such vain denominations of rank. We cannot declare with +impunity that there exists in France any particular family above +another: it would be a nobility by itself. This family would remain in +the midst of us, like the indestructible root of that nobility which we +have destroyed--it would be the germ of a new aristocracy." Violent +murmurs hailed these remarks of Robespierre. He was obliged to break off +and apologise. "I see," he said in conclusion, "that we are no longer +allowed to utter here, without reproach, opinions which our adversaries +amongst the first have maintained in this assembly." + + +XI. + +The whole difficulty of the situation was in the question whether or +not, that constitution once completed, the nation would recognise in the +constitution the right to revise and alter itself. It was on this +occasion that Malouet, although abandoned by his party and hopeless, +endeavoured, single-handed, the restoration of the royal authority. His +discourse, worthy of the genius of Mirabeau, was a bill of terrible +accusation against the excesses of the people, and the inconsistencies +of the Assembly. Its moderation heightened its effect--the man of +integrity was seen beneath the orator, and the statesman in the +legislator. Something of the serene and stoical soul of Cato breathed in +his words; but political eloquence is rather in the people who listen, +than in the man who speaks. The voice is nothing without the +reverberation that multiplies its echo. Malouet, deserted by his party, +left by Barnave who listened with dismay, only spoke from his +conscience; he fought no longer for victory, he only struggled for +principle. Thus did he speak.-- + +"It is proposed to you to determine the epoch, and the conditions of the +use of a new constituent power; it is proposed to you to undergo +twenty-five years of disorder and anarchy before you have the right to +amend. Remark, in the first place, under what circumstances it is +proposed to you to impose silence on the appeals of the nation as to the +new laws; it is when you have not as yet heard the opinion of those +whose instincts and passions these new laws favour, when all contending +passions are subdued by terror or by force; it is when France is no +longer expounded but through the organ of her clubs. When it has been a +question of suspending the exercise of the royal authority itself, what +has been the language addressed to you from this tribune? You have been +told '_we should have begun the Revolution from thence; but we were not +aware of our strength_.' Thus it only remains for your successors to +measure their strength in order to attempt fresh enterprises. Such, in +effect, is the danger of making a violent revolution and a free +constitution march side by side. The one is only produced in tumultuous +periods, and by passions and weapons, the other is only established by +amicable arrangements between old interests and new. (Laughter, murmurs, +and 'that is the point.') We do not count voices, we do not discuss +opinions, to make a revolution. A revolution is a storm during which we +must furl our sails, or we sink. But after the tempest, those who have +been beaten by it, as well as those who have not suffered, enjoy in +common the serenity of the sky. All becomes calm, and the horizon is +cleared. Thus after a revolution, the constitution, if it be good, +rallies all its citizens. There should not be one man in the kingdom who +incurs danger of his life in expressing his free views of the +constitution. Without this security there is no free will, no expression +of opinion, no liberty; there will be only a predominant power, a +tyranny popular or otherwise, until you have separated the constitution +from the workings of the revolution. Behold all these principles of +justice, morality, and liberty which you have laid down, hailed with +joy, and oaths renewed, but violated immediately with unprecedented +audacity and rage. It is at a moment when the holiest or the freest of +constitutions has been proclaimed that the most infamous attempts +against liberty, against property,--nay, what do I say?--against +humanity and conscience, are multiplied and perpetuated! Does not this +contrast alarm you? I will tell you wherefore. Yourselves deceived as to +the mechanism of political society, you have sought its regeneration +without reflecting on its dissolution; you have considered as an +obstacle to your plans the discontent of some, and as a means the +enthusiasm of others. Only desirous to overcome obstacles you have +overturned principles, and taught the people to brave every thing. You +have taken the passions of the people for auxiliaries. It is to raise an +edifice by sapping the foundations. I repeat to you then, there is no +free and durable constitution out of despotism but that which terminates +a revolution, and which is proposed, accepted, and executed, by forms, +calm, free, and totally different from the forms of the Revolution. All +we do, all we seek for with excitement before we reach this point of +repose, whether we obey the people or are obeyed by them; whether we +would flatter, deceive, or serve them, is but the work of +folly,--madness. I demand, therefore, that the constitution be peaceably +and freely accepted by the majority of the nation and by the king. +(Violent murmurs.) I know we call the national will, all that we know of +proposed addresses, of assent, of oaths, agitations, menaces, and +violence. (Loud expressions of angry dissent.) Yes, we must close the +Revolution by beginning to destroy every tendency to violate it. Your +committees of inquiry, laws respecting emigrants, persecutions of +priests, despotic imprisonments, criminal proceedings against persons +accused without proofs, the fanaticism and domination of clubs; but this +is not all, licence has gone to such unbounded extent,--the dregs of the +nation ferment so tumultuously:--(Loud burst of indignation.) Do we then +pretend to be the first nation which has no dregs? The fearful +insubordination of troops, religious disturbances, the discontents of +the colonies, which already sound so ominously in our ports,--if the +Revolution does not stop here and give place to the constitution;--if +order be not re-established at once, and on all points, the shattered +state will be long agitated by the convulsions of anarchy. Do you +remember the history of the Greeks, where a first revolution not +terminated produced so many others during a period of only half a +century? Do you remember that Europe has her eyes fixed on your weakness +and agitations, and whilst she will respect you if you are free within +the limits of order, she will surely profit by your disorders if you +only know how to weaken yourself and alarm her by your anarchy?" + +Malouet demanded, therefore, that the constitution should be submitted +to the judgment of the people, and to the free acceptance of the king. + + +XII. + +This magnificent harangue only sounded as the voice of remorse in the +bosom of the Assembly. It was listened to with impatience, and then +forgotten with all speed. M. de La Fayette opposed, in a short speech, +the proposition of M. Dandre, who desired to adjourn for thirty years +the revision of the constitution. The Assembly neither adopted the +advice of Dandre nor of La Fayette, but contented itself with inviting +the nation not to make use for twenty-five years of its right to modify +the constitution. "Behold us, then," said Robespierre, "arrived at the +end of our long and painful career: it only remains for us to give it +stability and duration. Why are we asked to submit to the acceptance of +the king? The fate of the constitution is independent of the will of +Louis XVI. I do not doubt he will accept it with delight. An empire for +patrimony, all the attributes of the executive power, forty millions for +his personal pleasures,--such is our offer! Do not let us wait, before +we offer it, until he be away from the capital and environed by ill +advisers. Let us offer it to him in Paris. Let us say to him, Behold the +most powerful throne in the universe--will you accept it? Suspected +gatherings, the system of weakening your frontiers, threats of your +enemies without, manoeuvres of your enemies within,--all warns you to +hasten the establishment of an order of things which assures and +fortifies the citizens. If we deliberate, when we should swear, if our +constitution may be again attacked, after having been already twice +assailed, what remains for us to do? Either to resume our arms or our +fetters. We have been empowered," he added, looking towards the seats of +Barnave and the Lameths, "to constitute the nation, and not to raise the +fortunes of certain individuals, in order to favour the coalition of +court intriguers, and to assure to them the price of their complaisance +or their treason." + + +XIII. + +The constitutional act was presented to the king on the 3d of September, +1791. Thouret reported to the National Assembly in these words the +result of the solemn interview between the conquered will of the monarch +and the victorious will of his people:--"At nine o'clock in the evening +our deputation quitted this chamber, proceeding to the chateau escorted +by a guard of honour, consisting of various detachments of the national +guard and _gendarmerie_. It was invariably accompanied by the applauses +of the people. It was received in the council-chamber, where the king +was attended by his ministers and a great number of his servants. I said +to the king, 'Sire, the representatives of the nation come to present to +your majesty the constitutional act, which consecrates the indefeasible +rights of the French people--which gives to the throne its true +dignity, and regenerates the government of the empire.' The king +received the constitutional act, and thus replied: 'I receive the +constitution presented to me by the National Assembly. I will convey to +it my resolution after the shortest possible delay which the examination +of so important an act must require. I have resolved on remaining in +Paris. I will give orders to the commandant of the national Parisian +guard for the duties of my guard.' The king, during the whole time, +presented an aspect of satisfaction; and from all we saw and heard we +anticipate that the completion of the Constitution will be also the +termination of the Revolution." The Assembly and the tribunes applauded +several times. It was one of those days of public hope, when faction +retreats into the shade, to allow the serenity of good citizens to shine +forth. + +La Fayette removed the degrading _consignes_, which made the Tuileries a +jail to the royal family. The king ceased to be the hostage of the +nation, in order to become its ostensible head. He gave some days to the +apparent examination which he was supposed to bestow upon the +Constitution. On the 13th he addressed to the Assembly, by the minister +of justice, a message concerted with Barnave, thus conceived:--"I have +examined the constitutional act. I accept it, and will have it carried +into execution. I ought to make known the motives of my resolution. From +the commencement of my reign I have desired the reform of abuses, and in +all my acts I have taken for rule public opinion. I have conceived the +project of assuring the happiness of the people on permanent bases, and +of subjecting my own authority to settled rules. From these intentions I +have never varied. I have favoured the establishment of trials of your +work before it was even finished. I have done so in all sincerity; and, +if the disorders which have attended almost every epoch of the +Revolution have frequently affected my heart, I hoped that the law would +resume its force, and that on reaching the term of your labours, every +day would restore to it that respect, without which the people can have +no liberty, and a king no happiness. I have long entertained that hope; +and my resolution has only changed at the moment when I could hope no +longer. Remember the moment when I quitted Paris: disorder was at its +height--the licence of the press and the insolence of parties knew no +bounds. Then, I avow, if you had offered to me the constitution, I +should not have thought it my duty to accept it. + +"All has changed. You have manifested the desire to re-establish order; +you have revised many of the articles; the will of the people is no +longer doubtful to me, and therefore I accept the constitution under +better auspices. I freely renounce the co-operation I had claimed in +this work, and I declare that when I have renounced it no other but +myself has any right to claim it. Unquestionably I still see certain +points in the constitution in which more perfection might be attained; +but I agree to allow experience to be the judge. When I shall have +fairly and loyally put in action the powers of government confided to me +no reproach can be addressed to me, and the nation will make itself +known by the means which the constitution has reserved to it. +(Applause.) Let those who are restrained by the fear of persecutions and +troubles out of their country return to it in safety. In order to +extinguish hatreds let us consent to a mutual forgetfulness of the past. +(The tribunes and the left renewed their acclamations.) Let the +accusations and the prosecutions which have sprung solely from the +events of the constitution be obliterated in a general reconciliation. I +do not refer to those which have been caused by an attachment to me. Can +you see any guilt in them? As to those who from excess, in which I can +see personal insult, have drawn on themselves the visitation of the +laws, I prove with respect to them that I am the king of all the French. +I will swear to the constitution in the very place where it was drawn +up, and I will present myself to-morrow at noon to the National +Assembly." + +The Assembly adopted unanimously, on the proposition of La Fayette, the +general amnesty demanded by the king. A numerous deputation went to +carry to him this resolution. The queen was present. "My wife and +children, who are here," said the king to the deputation, "share my +sentiments." The queen, who desired to reconcile herself to public +opinion, advanced, and said, "Here are my children; we all agree to +participate in the sentiments of the king." These words reported to the +Assembly, prepared all hearts for the pardon which royalty was about to +implore. Next day the king went to the Assembly; he wore no decoration +but the cross of Saint Louis, from deference to a recent decree +suppressing the other orders of chivalry. He took his place beside the +president, the Assembly all standing. + +"I come," said the king, "to consecrate solemnly here the acceptance I +have given to the constitutional act. I swear to be faithful to the +nation and the law, and to employ all the power delegated to me for +maintaining the constitution, and carrying its decrees into effect. May +this great and memorable epoch be that of the re-establishment of peace, +and become the gage of the happiness of the people, and the prosperity +of the empire." The unanimous applauses of the chamber, and the tribunes +ardent for liberty, but kindly disposed towards the king, demonstrated +that the nation entered with enthusiasm into this conquest of the +constitution. + +"Old abuses," replied the president, "which had for a long time +triumphed over the good intentions of the best of kings, oppressed +France. The National Assembly has re-established the basis of public +prosperity. What it has desired the nation has willed. Your majesty no +longer desires in vain the happiness of Frenchmen. The National Assembly +has nothing more to wish, now that on this day in its presence you +consummate the constitution by accepting it. The attachment of Frenchmen +decrees to you the crown, and what assures it to you is the need that so +great a nation must always have of an hereditary power. How sublime, +sire, will be in the annals of history this regeneration, which gives +citizens to France, to Frenchmen a country, to the king a fresh title of +greatness and glory, and a new source of happiness!" + +The king then withdrew, being accompanied to the Tuileries by the entire +Assembly; the procession with difficulty making its way through the +immense throng of people which rent the air with acclamations of joy. +Military music and repeated salvos of artillery taught France that the +nation and the king, the throne and liberty, were reconciled in the +constitution, and that after three years of struggles, agitations, and +shocks, the day of concord had dawned. These acclamations of the people +in Paris spread throughout the empire. France had some days of delirium. +The hopes which softened men's hearts, brought back their old feelings +for its king. The prince and his family were incessantly called to the +windows of their palace to receive the applause of the crowds. They +sought to make them feel how sweet is the love of a people. + +The proclamation of the constitution on the 18th had the character of a +religious fete. The Champ-de-Mars was covered with battalions of the +national guard. Bailly, mayor of Paris, the municipal authorities, the +department, public functionaries, and all the people betook themselves +thither. One hundred and one cannon shots hailed the reading of the +constitutional act, made to the nation from the top of the altar of the +country. One cry of _Vive la Nation!_ uttered by 300,000 voices, was the +acceptation by the people. The citizens embraced, as members of one +family. Balloons, bearing patriotic inscriptions, rose in the evening in +the Champs Elysees, as if to bear to the skies the testimony of the joy +of a regenerated people. Those who went up in them threw out copies of +the book of the constitution. The night was splendid with illuminations. +Garlands of flames, running from tree to tree, formed, from the Arc de +l'Etoile to the Tuileries, a sparkling avenue, crowded with the +population of Paris. At intervals, orchestras filled with musicians +sounded forth the pealing notes of glory and public joy. M. de La +Fayette rode on horseback at the head of his staff. His presence seemed +to place the oaths of the people and the king under the guard of the +armed citizens. The king, the queen, and their children appeared in +their carriage at eleven o'clock in the evening. The immense crowd that +surrounded them as if in one popular embrace,--the cries of _Vive le +Roi! Vive la Reine! Vive le Dauphin!_--hats flung in the air, the +gestures of enthusiasm and respect, made for them a triumph on the very +spot over which they had passed two months previously in the midst of +the outrages of the multitude, and deep murmuring of the excited +populace. The nation seemed desirous of redeeming these threatening +days, and to prove to the king how easy it was to appease the people, +and how sweet to it was the reign of liberty! The national acceptance of +the laws of the Constituent Assembly was the counterproof of its work. +It had not the legality, but it had really the value, of an individual +acceptance by primary assemblies. It proved that the will of the public +mind was satisfied. The nation voted by acclamation, what the wisdom of +its Assembly had voted on reflection. Nothing but security was wanting +to the public feeling. It seemed as if it desired to intoxicate itself +by the delirium of its happiness; and that it compensated, by the very +excess of its manifestations of joy, for what it lacked in solidity and +duration. + +The king sincerely participated in this general joyous feeling. Placed +between the recollections of all he had suffered for three years, and +the lowering storms he foresaw in the future, he endeavoured to delude +himself, and to feel persuaded of his good fortune. He said to himself, +that perhaps he had mistaken the popular opinion; and that having at +least surrendered himself unconditionally to the mercy of his +people--that people would respect in him his own power and his own will: +he swore in his honest and good heart fidelity to the constitution and +love to the nation he really loved. + +The queen herself returned to the palace with more national thoughts: +she said to the king, "They are no longer the same people;" and, taking +her son in her arms, she presented him to the crowd who thronged the +terrace of the chateau, and seemed thus to invest herself in the eyes of +the people with the innocence of age and the interest of maternity. + +The king gave, some days afterwards, a fete to the people of Paris, and +distributed abundant alms to the indigent. He desired that even the +miserable should have his day of content, at the commencement of that +era of joy, which his reconciliation with his people promised to his +reign. The _Te Deum_ was sung in the cathedral of Paris, as on a day of +victory, to bless the cradle of the French constitution. On the 30th of +September, the king closed the Constituent Assembly. Before he entered +the chamber, Bailly, in the name of the municipality; Pastoret, in the +name of the departments, congratulated the Assembly on the conclusion of +its work:--"Legislators," said Bailly, "you have been armed with the +greatest power that men can require. To-morrow you will be nothing. It +is not, therefore interest or flattery which praises you--it is your +works. We announce to you the benedictions of posterity, which commence +for you from to-day!" "Liberty," said Pastoret, "had fled beyond the +seas, or taken refuge in the mountains,--you have raised her fallen +throne. Despotism had effaced every page of the book of nature; you have +re-established the decalogue of freemen!" + + +XIV. + +The king, surrounded by his ministers, entered the Assembly at three +o'clock: lengthened cries of _Vive le roi_ for a moment checked his +speaking. "Gentlemen," said Louis XVI., "after the completion of the +constitution, you have resolved on to-day terminating your labours. It +would have been desirable, perhaps, that your session should have been +prolonged in order that you, yourselves, should prove your work. But you +have wished, no doubt, to mark by this the difference which should exist +between the functions of a constituent body and ordinary legislators. I +will exercise all the power you have confided to me in assuring to the +constitution the respect and obedience due to it. For you, gentlemen, +who, during a long and painful career, have evinced an indefatigable +zeal in your labours, there remains a last duty to fulfil when you are +scattered over the face of the empire; it is to enlighten your fellow +citizens as to the spirit of the laws you have made; to purify and unite +opinions by the example you will give to the love of order and +submission to the laws. Be, on your return to your homes, the +interpreters of my sentiments to your fellow-citizens; tell them that +the king will always be their first and most faithful friend--that he +desires to be loved by them, and can only be happy with them and by +them." + +The president replied to the king:--"The National Assembly having +arrived at the termination of its career, enjoys, at this moment, the +first fruit of its labours. Convinced that the government best suited to +France is that which reconciles the respected prerogatives of the throne +with the inalienable rights of the people, it has given to the state a +constitution which equally guarantees royalty and liberty. Our +successors, charged with the onerous burden of the safety of the empire, +will not misunderstand their rights, nor the limits of the constitution: +and you, sire, you have almost completed every thing--by accepting the +Constitution, you have consummated the Revolution." + +The king departed amidst loud acclamations. It appeared that the +National Assembly was in haste to lay down the responsibility of events +which it no longer felt itself capable of controlling. "The National +Assembly declares," says Target, its president, "that its mission is +finished, and that, at this moment, it terminates its sittings." + +The people, who crowded round the Manege, and saw with pain the +Revolution abdicated into the hands of the king, insulted, as it +recognised them, the members of the Right--even Barnave. They +experienced even on the first day the ingratitude they had so often +fomented. They separated in sorrow and in discouragement. + +When Robespierre and Petion went out, the people crowned them with oaken +chaplets, and took the horses off their carriage in order to drag them +home in triumph. The power of these two men already proved the weakness +of the constitution, and presaged its fall. An amnestied king returned +powerless to his palace. Timid legislators abdicated in trouble. Two +triumphant tribunes were elevated by the people. In this was all the +future. The Constituent Assembly, begun in an insurrection of +principles, ended as a sedition. Was it the error of those +principles--was it the fault of the Constituent Assembly? We will +examine the question at the end of the last book of this volume, in +casting a retrospect over the acts of the Constituent Assembly; till +then we will delay this judgment, in order not to interfere with the +progress of the recital. + + + + +BOOK V. + + +I. + +Whilst an instant's breathing time was permitted to France between two +convulsive efforts, and the Revolution as yet knew not whether it should +maintain the constitution it had gained, or employ it as a weapon to +obtain a republic, Europe began to arouse itself; egotistical and +improvident, she merely beheld in the first movement in France a comedy +played at Paris on the stage of the States General and the constituent +Assembly--between popular genius, represented by Mirabeau, and the +vanquished genius of the aristocracy, personified in Louis XVI. and the +clergy. This grand spectacle had been in the eyes of the sovereigns and +their ministers merely the continuation of the struggle (in which they +had taken so much interest, and showed so much secret favour) between +Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau on one side, and the old +aristocratical and religious system on the other. To them the Revolution +was the philosophy of the eighteenth century, which had migrated from +the _salons_ into the public streets, and from books to speeches. This +earthquake in the moral world, and these shocks at Paris, the presages +of some unknown change in European destinies, attracted far more than +they affrighted them. They had not as yet learned that institutions are +but ideas, and that those ideas, when overthrown, involve in their fall +thrones and nations. Whatsoever the spirit of God wills, that also do +all mankind will, and are to accomplish, unperceived even by themselves. +Europe bestowed attention, time, and astonishment on the commencement of +the French Revolution, and that was all it needed to bring it to +maturity. The spark not having been extinguished at its outbreak was +fated to kindle and consume every thing before it. The moral and +political state of Europe was eminently favourable to the contagion of +new ideas. Time, men, and things, all lay at the mercy of France. + + +II. + +A long period of peace had softened the minds, and deadened those +hereditary hatreds that oppose the communication of feelings and the +similarity of ideas between different nations. Europe, since the treaty +of Westphalia, had become a republic of perfectly balanced powers, where +the general equilibrium of power resulting from each formed a +counterpoise to the other. One glance sufficed to show the solidity and +unity of this European _building_, every beam of which, opposing an +equal resistance to the others, afforded an equal support by the +pressure of all the states. + +Germany was a confederation presided over by Austria, the emperors were +the chiefs only of this ancient feudalism of kings, dukes, and electors. +The house of Austria was more powerful through itself and its vast +possessions than through the imperial dignity. The two crowns of Hungary +and Bohemia, the Tyrol, Italy, and the Low Countries, gave it an +ascendency, which the genius of Richelieu had been able to fetter, but +not to destroy. Powerful to resist, but not to impel, Austria was more +fitted to _sustain_ than to _act_; her force lies in her situation and +immobility, for she is like a block in the middle of Germany,--her power +is in her _weight_; she is the pivot of the balance of European power. +But the federative diet weakened and enervated its designs by those +secret influences all federations naturally possess. Two new states, +unperceived until the time of Louis XIV., had recently risen, out of +reach of the power, and the long rivalry of the houses of Bourbon and +Austria: the one in the north of Germany, Prussia; the other in the +east, Russia. The policy of England had encouraged the rise of these two +infant powers, in order to form the elements of political combinations +that would admit of her interests obtaining a firm footing. + + +III. + +A hundred years had hardly elapsed since an emperor of Austria had +conferred the title of king on a margrave of Prussia, a subordinate +sovereign of two millions of men, and yet Prussia already balanced in +Germany the influence of the house of Austria. The Machiavelian genius +of Frederic the Great had become the genius of Prussia. His monarchy, +composed of territories acquired by victory, required war to strengthen +itself, still more of agitation and intrigue to legitimise itself. +Prussia was in a ferment of dissolution amidst the German states. +Scarcely had it risen into existence than it abdicated all German +feeling by leaguing with England and Russia; and England, always on the +watch to widen these breaches, had used Prussia as her lever in Germany. +Russia, whose two-fold ambition already had designs on Asia on the one +hand, on Europe on the other, had made it an advanced guard on the west, +and used it as an advanced camp on the borders of the Rhine. Thus +Prussia was the point of the Russian sword in the very heart of France. +Military power was every thing; its government was only discipline, its +people only an army. As for its ideas, its policy was to place itself +at the head of the Protestant states, and offer protection, assistance, +and revenge to all those whose interest or whose ambition was threatened +by the house of Austria. Thus by its nature Prussia was a revolutionary +power. + +Russia, to whom nature had assigned a sterile yet immense place on the +globe, the ninth part of the habitable world, and a population of forty +millions of men, all compelled by the savage genius of Peter the Great +to unite themselves into one nation, seemed yet to waver between two +roads, one of which led to Germany, the other to the Ottoman empire. +Catherine II. governed it: a woman endowed with wondrous beauty, +passion, genius, and crime,--such are necessary in the ruler of a +barbarous nation, in order to add the _prestige_ of adoration to the +terror inspired by the sceptre. Each step she took in Asia awakened an +echo of surprise and admiration in Europe, and for her was revived the +name of Semiramis. Russia, Prussia, and France, intimidated by her fame, +applauded her victories over the Turks, and her conquests in the Black +Sea, without apparently comprehending that she weighed down the European +power, and that once mistress of Poland and Constantinople, nothing then +would prevent her from carrying out her designs on Germany, and +extending her arm over all the West. + + +IV. + +England, humiliated in her maritime pride by the brilliant rivalry of +the French fleet in the Indian Seas, irritated by the assistance given +by France to aid America in her struggle for independence, had secretly +allied herself in 1788 with Prussia and Holland, to counterbalance the +effect of the alliance of France with Austria, and to intimidate Russia +in her invasion of Turkey. England at this moment relied on the genius +of one man, Mr. Pitt, the greatest statesman of the age, son of Lord +Chatham, the only political orator of modern ages who equalled (if he +did not surpass) Demosthenes. Mr. Pitt, in a manner born in the council +of kings, and brought up at the tribune of his country, at the age of +twenty-three was launched in political life. At this age, when other men +have scarcely emerged from childhood, he was already the most eminent of +all that aristocracy that confided their cause to him as the most +worthy to uphold it, and when almost a boy he acquired the government of +his country from the admiration excited by his talents, and held it +almost without interruption up to his death by his enlightened views of +policy, and the energy of his resolution. He showed the House of Commons +what a great statesman, supported by the opinion of the nation, can dare +to attempt and accomplish, with the consent (and sometimes against it) +of a parliament. He was the despot of the constitution, if we may link +together those two words that can alone express his lawful omnipotence. +The struggle against the French Revolution was the continual act of his +twenty-five years of ministerial life; he became the antagonist of +France, and died vanquished. + +And yet it was not the Revolution that he hated, it was France, and in +France it was not liberty he hated, for at heart he loved freedom; it +was the destruction of this balance of Europe that, once destroyed, left +England isolated in its ocean. At this moment, England, hostile towards +America, at war with India, a coolness existing between itself and +Spain, secretly hating Russia, had on the Continent nothing but Prussia +and the Stadtholder; and observation and temporisation became a +necessary part of its policy. + + +V. + +Spain, enervated by the reign of Philip III. and Ferdinand VI., had +recovered some degree of internal vitality and external dignity during +the long reign of Charles III.; Campomanes, Florida Blanca, the Comte +d'Aranda, his ministers, had struggled against superstition, that second +nature of the Spaniards. A _coup d'etat_, meditated in silence, and +executed like a conspiracy by the court, had driven out of the kingdom +the Jesuits, who reigned under the name of the kings. The family +agreement between Louis XV. and Charles III., in 1761, had guaranteed +the thrones, and all the possessions of the different branches of the +house of Bourbon. But this political compact had been unable to +guarantee this many-branched dynasty against the decay of its root, and +that degeneracy that gives effeminate and weak princes as successors to +mighty kings. The Bourbons became satraps at Naples, and in Spain +crowned monks, and the very palace of the Escurial had assumed the +appearance and the gloom of a monastery. + +The _monacal_ system devoured Spain, and yet this unfortunate country +adored the evil that destroyed it. After having been subject to the +caliphs, Spain became the conquest of the popes; and their authority +reigned paramount there under every costume; whilst theocracy made its +last efforts there. Never had the sacerdotal system more completely +swayed a nation, and never had a nation been reduced to a more abject +state of degradation. The Inquisition was its government,--the +_auto-da-fes_ its triumphs,--bull-fights and processions its only +diversions. Had the inquisitorial reign lasted a few years more, this +people would have been no longer reckoned amongst the civilised +inhabitants of Europe. + +Charles III. had trembled at each new effort he made to emancipate his +government; his good intentions had all been frustrated and checked, and +he had been forced to sacrifice his ministers to the vengeance of +superstition. Florida Blanca and d'Aranda died in exile, to which they +had been condemned for the crime of having served their country. The +weak Charles IV. had mounted the throne and reigned for several years, +guided by a faithless wife, a confessor, and a favourite. The loves of +Godoy and the queen formed the whole of the Spanish policy, and to the +fortune of the favourite all the rest of the empire was sacrificed. What +mattered it that the fleet rotted in the unfinished ports of Charles +III.--that Spanish America asserted its independence--that Italy bent +beneath the yoke of Austria--that the house of Bourbon combated in vain +in France the progress of a new system--that the Inquisition and the +monks cast a gloom over and devoured the whole of the peninsula,--all +this was nothing to the court, provided the queen were but loved and +Godoy great. The palace of Aranjuez was like the walled tomb of Spain, +into which the active spirit that now agitated Europe could no longer +penetrate. + + +VI. + +The state of Italy was yet worse; for it was severed into pieces that, +unlike the snake, were unable to reunite. Naples was under the severe +sway of Spain, and the yoke of Austria pressed on Milan and Lombardy. +Rome was nought but the capital of an idea--her people had disappeared, +and she had now become the modern Ephesus, at which each cabinet sought +an oracle favourable to its own cause, and paid for this purpose the +members of the sacred college. Although the centre of all diplomatic +intrigue, and the spot where all worldly ambition humbled itself but to +increase its power,--although this court could shake Europe to its +foundations, it was yet unable to govern it. The elective aristocracy, +cardinals chosen by powers at variance with each other; the elective +monarchy, a pope whose qualifications were old age and feebleness, and +who was only crowned on condition of a speedy decease: such was the +_temporal_ government of the Roman States. This government combined in +itself all the weakness of anarchy, and all the vices of despotism. It +had produced its inevitable result, the servitude of the state, the +poverty of the government and the misery of the population; Rome was no +longer anything but the great Catholic municipality, and her government +nought save a republic of diplomatists. Rome possessed a temple enriched +with the offerings of the Christian world, a sovereign and ambassadors, +but neither population, treasure, nor army. It was the venerated shadow +of that universal monarchy to which the popes had pretended in the +golden age of Catholicism, and of which they had only preserved the +capital and the court. + + +VII. + +Venice drew near its fall, but the silence and mystery of its government +concealed even from the Venetians the decrepitude of the state. The +government was an aristocratic sovereignty, founded on the corruption of +the people and treachery, for the master sinew of the government was +_espionage_; its _prestige_, mystery; its power, the torture. It lived +on terror and voluptuousness; its police was a system of secret +confession, of each against the other. Its cells, termed the _Piombi_ +or _Leads_, and which were entered at night by the _Bridge of Sighs_, +were a hell that closed on the captive never to re-open. The wealth of +the East flowed in on Venice from the fall of the Lower Empire. She +became the refuge of Greek civilisation, and the Constantinople of the +Adriatic; and the arts had emigrated thither from Byzance, with +commerce. Its marvellous palaces, washed by the waves, were crowded +together on a narrow spot of ground, so that the city was like a vessel +at anchor, on board which a people driven from the land have taken +refuge with all their treasures. She was thus impregnable, but could not +exercise the least influence over Italy. + + +VIII. + +Genoa, a more popular and more turbulent republic, subsisted only by her +fleet and her commerce. Hemmed in between barren mountains and a gulf +without a shore, it was only a port peopled by sailors. The marble +palaces, built one above the other on the rocky banks, looked down on +the sea, their sole territory. The portraits of the doges and the statue +of Andrea Doria constantly reminded the Genoese that from the waves had +proceeded their riches and their renown, and that _there_ alone they +could hope to look for them. Its ramparts were impregnable, its arsenals +full; and thus Genoa formed the stronghold of armed commerce. + +The immense country of Tuscany, governed and rendered illustrious by the +_Medici_, those Pericles of Italy, was learned, agricultural, +industrious, but unwarlike. The house of Austria ruled it by its +archdukes, and these princes of the north, transported to the palaces of +the Pitti or the Como, contracted the mild and elegant manners of the +Tuscans; and the climate and serenity of the hills of Florence softened +there even tyranny, and these princes became voluptuaries or sages. +Florence, the city of Leo X., of philosophy, and the arts, had +transformed even religion. Catholicism, so ascetic in Spain, so gloomy +in the north, so austere and literal in France, so popular at Rome, had +become at Florence, under the _Medici_ and the Grecian philosophers, a +species of luminous and Platonic theory, whose dogmata were only sacred +symbols, and whose pomps were only pleasures that overpowered the mind +and the senses. The churches at Florence were more museums of Christ +than his sanctuaries; the colonies of all the arts and trades of Greece +had emigrated, on the entry of Mahomet II. into Constantinople, to +Florence, and there they had prospered; and a new Athens, enriched like +the ancient with temples, porticoes, and statues, beautified the banks +of the Arno. + +Leopold, the philosopher prince, awaited there, busied in learning the +art of governing men and putting in practice new theories of political +economy, the moment to mount the imperial throne of Austria, where his +destiny was not to leave him long. He was the Germanicus of Germany, and +philosophy could alone display him to the world, after having lent him +for a few years to Italy. + +Piedmont, whose frontiers reached to the heart of France by the Alpine +valleys, and on the other side the walls of Genoa and the Austrian +possessions on the Po, was governed by the house of Savoy, one of the +most ancient of the royal lines in Europe. This military monarchy had +its intrenched camp, rather than its capital, in Turin. The plains it +occupied in Italy had been, and were destined to be, the field of battle +for Austria and France; and her positions were the keys of Italy. + +This population, accustomed to war, was necessarily constantly under +arms to defend itself, or to unite with that one of the two powers whose +rivalry could alone assure its independence. Thus, military disposition +was its strength; its weakness lay in having half its possessions in +Italy, half in France. The whole of Savoy is French in language, +descent, and manners; and at any great commotion Savoy must detach +itself from Italy, and fall on this side of its own accord. The Alps are +too essential a frontier to two people to belong to only one; for if +their south side looks to Italy, their north looks to France. The snow, +the sun, and the torrents have thus willed this division of the Alps +between two nations. Policy does not long prevail against nature, and +the house of Savoy was not sufficiently powerful to preserve the +neutrality of the valleys of the Alps and the roads of Italy; and though +it increase in power in Italy, yet it must be worsted in a struggle +against France. The court of Turin was doubly allied to the house of +France by the marriage of the Comte d'Artois and the Comte de Provence, +brothers of Louis XVI., with two princesses of the house of Savoy. The +clergy had more influence at this court than at any other in Italy; and +hated instinctively all revolutions, because they threatened its +political influence. From religious feeling--from family feeling--from +political feeling, Savoy was destined to become the first scene of +conspiracy against the French Revolution. + + +IX. + +There was yet another in the north, and that was Sweden; but there it +was neither a superstitious attachment to Catholicism, nor family +feeling, nor even national interest, that excited the hostility of a +king against the Revolution; it was a more noble sentiment--the +disinterested glory of combating for the cause of kings; and, above all, +for a queen whose beauty and whose misfortunes had won the heart of +Gustavus III., in which blazed the last spark of that chivalrous feeling +that vowed to avenge the cause of ladies, to assist the oppressed, and +succour the right. Extinguished in the south, it burnt, for the last +time, in the north, and in the breast of a king. Gustavus III. had in +his policy something of the adventurous genius of Charles XII., for the +Sweden of the race of Wasa is the land of heroes. Heroism, when +disproportioned to genius and its resources, resembles folly: there was +a mixture of heroism and folly in the projects of Gustavus against +France; and yet this folly was noble, as its cause--and great, as his +own courage. Fortune had accustomed Gustavus to desperate and bold +enterprises; and success had taught him to believe nothing impossible. +Twice he had made a revolution in his kingdom, twice he had striven +single-handed against the gigantic power of Russia, and had he been +seconded by Prussia, Austria, and Turkey, Russia would have found a +rampart against her in the north. The first time, abandoned by his +troops, in his tent by his revolted generals, he had escaped, and alone, +made an appeal to his brave Dalecarlians. His eloquence, and his +magnanimous bearing had caused a new army to spring from the earth. He +had punished traitors, rallied cowards, concluded the war, and returned +triumphant to Stockholm, borne on the shoulders of his people, wrought +up to a pitch of enthusiasm. The second time, seeing his country torn by +the anarchical predominance of the nobility, he had resolved, in the +depths of his own palace, on the overthrow of the constitution. United +in feeling with the _bourgeoisie_ and the people, he had led on his +troops, sword in hand; imprisoned the senate in its chamber; dethroned +the nobility, and acquired for royalty the prerogatives it required in +order to defend and govern the country. In three days, and before one +drop of blood had been shed, Sweden under his sword had become a +monarchy. Gustavus's confidence in his own boldness was confirmed. The +monarchical feeling in him was strengthened by all the hatred which he +bore to the privileges of the orders he had overturned. The cause of the +king was identified with his own. + +He had embraced with enthusiasm that of Louis XVI. Peace, which he had +concluded with Russia, allowed him to direct his attention and his +forces towards France. His military genius dreamed of a triumphant +expedition to the banks of the Seine. It was there that he desired to +acquire glory. He had visited Paris in his youth; under the name of the +Count de Haga he had partaken of the hospitalities of Versailles. Marie +Antoinette, then in the brilliancy of her youth and beauty, now appeared +humiliated, and a captive in the hands of a pitiless people. To deliver +this woman, restore the throne, to make himself at once feared and +blessed by this capital, seemed to him one of those adventures formerly +sought by crowned chevaliers. His finances alone opposed the execution +of this bold design. He negotiated a loan with the court of Spain, +attached to him the French emigrants renowned for their military +talents, requested plans from the Marquis de Bouille, solicited the +courts of St. Petersburg and Berlin to unite with him in this crusade of +kings. He asked of England nothing but neutrality. Russia encouraged +him; Austria temporised; Spain trembled; England looked on. Each new +shock of the Revolution at Paris found Europe undecided and always +behind-hand in counsels and resolutions. Monarchical Europe, hesitating +and divided, did not know what it had to fear, nor what it ought to do. + +Such was the political situation of cabinets with respect to France. +But as to ideas, the feelings of the people were different. + +The movement of intelligence and philosophy at Paris was responded to by +the agitation of the rest of Europe, and especially in America. Spain, +under M. d'Aranda, was become alive to the general feeling; the Jesuits +had disappeared; the Inquisition had extinguished its fires; the Spanish +nobility blushed for the sacred theocracy of its monks. Voltaire had +correspondents at Cadiz and at Madrid. The forbidden produce of our +ideas was favoured even by those whose charge was to exclude it. Our +books crossed the snows of the Pyrenees. Fanaticism, tracked by the +light to its last den, felt Spain escaping from it. The excess of a +tyranny long undergone, prepared ardent minds for the excess of liberty. + +In Italy, and even at Rome, the sombre Catholicism of the middle age was +lighted up by the reflections of time. It played even with the dangerous +arms which philosophy was about to turn against it. It seemed to +consider itself as a weakened institution, which ought to have its long +duration pardoned in consequence of its complaisance towards princes and +the age. Benedict XIV. (Lambertini) received from Voltaire the +dedication of "Mahomet." The Cardinals _Passionei_ and _Quirini_, in +their correspondence with Ferney[6],--Rome, in its bulls, preached +tolerance for dissenters, and obedience to princes. The pope disavowed +and reformed the company of Jesus: he soothed the spirit of the age. +Clement XIV. (Ganganelli) shortly after secularised the Jesuits, +confiscated their possessions, and imprisoned their superior, Ricci, in +the castle of Saint Angelo, the Bastille of papacy. Severe only towards +exaggerated zealots, he enchanted the Christian world by the evangelical +sweetness, the grace of his understanding, and the poignancy of his wit; +but pleasantry is the first step to the profanation of dogmata. The +crowd of strangers and English whom his affability attracted to Italy +and retained at Rome, caused, with the circulation of gold and science, +the inflowing of scepticism and indifference, which destroy creeds +before they sap institutions. + +Naples, under a corrupt court, left fanaticism to the populace. +Florence, under a philosophical prince, was an experimental colony of +modern doctrines. The poet Alfieri, that Tyrtaeus of Italian liberty, +produced there his revolutionary dramas, and there sowed his maxims +against the two-fold tyranny of popes and kings in every theatre in +Italy. + +Milan, beneath the Austrian flag, had within its walls a republic of +poets and philosophers. Beccaria wrote there more daringly than +Montesquieu. His work on "Crimes and Punishments" was a bill of +accusation of all the laws of his native country. _Parini Monte, +Cesarotti, Pindemonte, Ugo Foscolo_ gay, serious, and heroic poets, then +satirised the absurdities of their tyrants, the baseness of their +fellow-countrymen, or sang, in patriotic odes, the virtues of their +ancestors, and the approaching deliverance of their country. + +Turin alone, attached to the house of Saxony, was silent, and proscribed +Alfieri. + +In England, the mind, a long time free, had produced sound morals. The +aristocracy felt itself sufficiently strong never to become persecuting. +Worship was there as independent as conscience. The dominant religion +was a political institution, which, whilst it bound the citizen, left +the believer to his free will. The government itself was popular, only +the people consisted of none but its leading citizens. The House of +Commons more resembled a senate of nobles than a democratic forum; but +this parliament was an open and resounding chamber, where they discussed +openly in face of the throne, as in the face of all Europe, the most +comprehensive measures of the government. Royalty, honoured in form, +whilst in fact it is excluded and powerless, merely presides over these +debates, and adds order to victory; it was, in reality, nothing more +than a perpetual consulate of this Britannic senate. The voices of the +leading orators, who contested the rule of the nation, echoed thence, +through and out of Europe. Liberty finds its level in the social world, +like the waves in the common bed of the ocean. One nation is not free +with impunity--one people is not in bondage with impunity--all finally +compares and equalises itself. + + +X. + +England had been intellectually the model of nations, and the envy of +the reflecting universe. Nature and its institutions had conferred upon +it men worthy of its laws. Lord Chatham, sometimes leading the +opposition, sometimes at the head of the government, had expanded the +space of parliament to the proportions of his own character and his own +language. Never did the manly liberty of a citizen before a +throne--never did the legal authority of a prime minister before a +people display themselves in such a voice to assembled citizens. He was +a public man in all the greatness of the phrase--the soul of a nation +personified in an individual--the inspiration of the nation in the heart +of a patrician. His oratory had something as grand as action--it was the +heroic in language. The echo of Lord Chatham's discourses were +heard--felt on the Continent. The stormy scenes of the Westminster +elections[7] shook to the very depths the feelings of the people, and +that love of turbulence which slumbers in every multitude, and which it +so often mistakes for the symptoms of true liberty. These words of +counterpoise to royal power, to ministerial responsibility, to laws in +operation, to the power of the people, explained at the present by a +constitution--explained in the past by the accusation of Strafford, the +tomb of Sidney, on the scaffold of a king, had resounded like old +recollections and strange novelties. + +The English drama had the whole world for audience. The great actors for +the moment were Pitt, the controller of these storms, the intrepid organ +of the throne, of order, and the laws of his country; Fox, the +precursory tribune of the French Revolution, who propagated the +doctrines by connecting them with the revolutions of England, in order +to sanctify them in the eyes of the English; Burke, the philosophical +orator, every one of whose orations was a treatise; then the Cicero of +the opposition party, and who was so speedily to turn against the +excesses of the French Revolution, and curse the new faith in the first +victim immolated by the people; and lastly, Sheridan, an eloquent +debauchee, liked by the populace for his levity and his vices, seducing +his country, instead of elevating it. The warmth of the debates on the +American war, and the Indian war, gave a more powerful interest to the +storms of the English parliament. + +The independence of America, effected by a newly-born people, the +republican maxims on which this new continent founded its government, +the reputation attached to the fresh names, which distance increased +more than their victories,--Washington, Franklin, La Fayette, the heroes +of public imagination; those dreams of ancient simplicity, of primitive +manners, of liberty at once heroic and pastoral, which the fashion and +illusion of the moment had transported from the other side of the +Atlantic,--all contributed to fascinate the spirit of the Continent, and +nourish in the mind of the people contempt for their own institutions, +and fanaticism for a social renovation. + +Holland was the workshop of innovators; it was there that, sheltered by +a complete toleration of religious dogmata, by an almost republican +liberty, and by an authorised system of contraband, all that could not +be uttered in Paris, in Italy, in Spain, in Germany, was printed. Since +Descartes, independent philosophy had selected Holland for its asylum: +Boyle had there rendered scepticism popular: it was the land sacred to +insurrection against all the abuses of power, and had subsequently +become the seat of conspiracy against kings. Every one who had a +suspicious idea to promulgate, an attack to make, a name to conceal, +went to borrow the presses of Holland. Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, +Diderot, Helvetius, Mirabeau himself--had gone there to naturalise their +writings in this land of publicity. The mask of concealment which these +writers assumed in Amsterdam deceived no one, but it effected their +security. All the crimes of thought were there inviolable; it was at the +same time the asylum and the arsenal of new ideas. An active and vast +trade in books made a speculation of the overthrow of religion and +thrones. The prodigious demand for prohibited works which were thus +circulated in the world, proved sufficiently the increasing alteration +of ancient beliefs in the mind of the people. + + +XI. + +In Germany, the country of phlegm and patience, minds apparently so slow +shared with serious and concentrated ardour in the general movement of +mind in Europe. Free thought there assumed the form of an universal +conspiracy. It was enveloped in mystery. Learned and formal Germany +liked to give even to its insurrection the appearances of science and +tradition. The Egyptian initiations, mystic ceremonies of the middle +age, were imitated by the adepts of new ideas. Men thought as they +conspired. Philosophy moved veiled in symbols; and that veil was torn +away only in secret societies, from which the profane were excluded. The +_prestiges_ of the imagination, so powerful in the ideal and dreamy +nature of Germany, served as a bait to the newly arisen truths. + +The great Frederic had made his court the centre of religious +incredulity. Sheltered by his power altogether military, contempt for +Christianity and of monarchical institutions was freely propagated. +Moral force was nothing to this materialist prince. Bayonets were in his +eyes the right of princes; insurrection the right of the people; +victories or defeats the public right. His constant run of good fortune +was the accomplice of his immorality. He had received the recompence of +every one of his vices, because his vices were great. Dying he had +bequeathed his perverse genius to Berlin. It was the corrupting city of +Germany. Military men educated in the school of Frederic, academies +modelled after the genius of Voltaire, colonies of Jews enriched by war, +and the French refugees, peopled Berlin and formed the public mind. This +mind, full of levity, sceptic, impertinent and sneering, intimidated the +rest of Germany. The weakened spirit of that land may be dated from the +period of Frederic II. He was the corrupter of the empire--he conquered +Germany in the French spirit--he was a hero of a falling destiny. + +Berlin continued it after his death; great men always bequeath the +impulse of their spirit to their country. The reign of Frederic had at +least one happy result: religious tolerance arose in Germany from the +very contempt in which Frederic had held religious creeds. Under the +wing of this toleration the spirit of philosophy had organised occult +associations, after the image of freemasonry. The German princes were +initiated. It was thought an act of superior mind to penetrate into +those shadows, which, in reality, included nothing beyond some general +principles of humanity and virtue, with no direct application to civil +institutions. Frederic in his youth had been initiated himself, at +Brunswick, by Major Bielfeld; the emperor Joseph II., the most bold +innovator of his time, had also desired to undergo these proofs at +Vienna, under the tutelage of the baron de Born, the chief of the +freemasons in Austria. These societies, which had no religious tendency +in England, because there liberty conspired openly in parliament and in +the press, had a wholly different sense on the Continent. They were the +secret council-chambers of independent thought: the thought, escaping +from books, passed into action. Between the initiated and established +institutions, the war was concealed, but the more deadly. + +The hidden agents of these societies had evidently for aim the creation +of a government of the opinion of the human race, in opposition to the +governments of prejudice. They desired to reform religious, political, +and civil society, beginning by the most refined classes. These lodges +were the catacombs of a new worship. The sect of _illumines_, founded +and guided by Weishaupt, was spreading in Germany in conjunction with +the _freemasons_ and the _rosicrucians_. The _theosophists_ in their turn +produced the symbols of supernatural perfection, and enrolled all +susceptible minds and ardent imaginations around dogmata full of love +and infinity. The theosophists, the Swedenborgians, disciples of the +sublime but obscure Swedenborg, the Saint Martin of Germany, pretended +to complete the Gospel, and to transform humanity by overcoming death +and the senses. All these dogmata were mingled in an equal contempt for +existing institutions in one same aspiration for the renewal of the mind +and things. All were democratic in their last conclusion, for all were +inspired by a love of mankind without distinction of classes. + +Affiliations were multiplied _ad infinitum_. Prejudice, as it always +occurs when zeal is ardent, was added fraudulently to truth, as if error +or falsehood were the inevitable alloy of truth, and even the virtues of +the human mind: they called up past ages, summoned spectres, and the +dead were heard to speak. They played upon the plastic imagination of +princes, by rapid transition from terror to enthusiasm. The knowledge of +the phantasmagoria, then but little known, served as an auxiliary in +these deceptions. On the death of Frederic II., his successor submitted +to such tests, and was worked upon by wonders. Kings conspired against +thrones. The princes of Gotha gave Weishaupt an asylum. Augustus of +Saxony, prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, the prince of Neuvied, even the +coadjutor of the ecclesiastical principalities on the banks of the +Rhine, those of Mayence, Worms, and Constance, signalised themselves by +their ardour for the mystic doctrines of freemasonry or the illuminati. +Cagliostro was astounding Strasburgh--Cardinal de Rohan ruined himself, +and bent before his voice. Like at the fall of great empires--like at +the cradle of great things--these signs appeared every where. The most +infallible was the general convulsion of human ideas. When a creed is +crumbling to atoms, all mankind trembles. + +The lofty geniuses of Germany and Italy were already singing the new era +to their offspring; Goeethe the sceptic poet, Schiller the republican +poet, Klopstock the sacred poet, intoxicated with their strophes the +universities and theatres; each shock of the events of Paris had its +_contre coup_ and sonorous echo, multiplied by these writers on the +borders of the Rhine. Poetry is the remembrance and anticipation of +things: what it celebrates is not yet dead, and what it sings already +hath existence. Poetry sang everywhere the unformed but impassioned +hopes of the people. It is a sure augury--it is full of enthusiasm, for +its voice is heard on all sides; science, poetry, history, philosophy, +the stage, mysticism, the arts, the genius of Europe under every form, +had passed over to the Revolution: not one name of a man of reputation +in all Europe could be cited who remained attached to the party of the +past. The past was overcome, because the mind of the human race had +withdrawn from it--when the spirit hath flown life is extinct. None but +mediocrities remain under the shelter of old forms and institutions: +There was a general mirage in the horizon of the future; and, whether +the small saw therein their safety, or the great an abyss, all went +headlong towards the novelty. + + +XII. + +Such was the tendency of minds in Europe, when the princes, brothers of +Louis XVI., and the emigrant gentlemen, spread themselves over Savoy, +Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, to demand succour and vengeance from +powers and principalities against the Revolution. Never, from the first +great emigrations of ancient people, fleeing from the Roman invasions, +had been seen such a movement of terror and perturbation as this, which +cast forth from the territory all the clergy and all the aristocracy of +a nation. An immense vacuum was created in France: first, in the steps +of the throne itself; next, in the court, in chateaux, in ecclesiastical +dignities; and finally in the ranks of the army. Officers, all noble, +emigrated in masses; the navy followed somewhat later, the example of +the army, which also abandoned the flag. It was not that the clergy, the +nobility, the land and sea officers were more pressed upon by the stir +of revolutionary ideas which had agitated the nation in 1789; on the +contrary, the movement commenced by them. Philosophy had in the first +place enlightened the apex of the nation. The thought of the age was +especially in the higher classes; but those classes who sought a reform +by no means desired a disorganisation. When they had seen the moral +agitation of ideas transform itself into an insurrection of the people, +they had trembled. The reins of government violently snatched from the +king by Mirabeau and La Fayette, at the Tennis court; the attempts of +the 5th and 6th of October; privileges suppressed without compensation, +titles abolished, the aristocracy handed over to execration, to pillage, +to fire, and even to murder, in the provinces; religion deposed, and +compelled to nationalise itself by a constitutional oath; and; finally +the king's flight, his imprisonment in his palace, the threats of death +vomited forth by the patriotic press, or the tribunes of popular clubs, +against all aristocracy, the triumphant riots in the provinces, the +defection of the French guards in Paris, the revolt of the Swiss of +Chateauvieux at Nancy, the excesses of the soldiery, mutinous and +unpunished, at Caen, Brest, and everywhere, had changed into horror and +hatred the favourable feeling of the noblesse for the progress of +opinion. It saw that the first act of the people was to degrade superior +authority. The _esprit de caste_ impelled the nobility to emigrate, the +_esprit de corps_ similarly influenced the officers, and the _esprit de +cour_ made it shameful to remain on a soil stained with so many outrages +to royalty. The women, who then formed public opinion in France, and +whose tender and easily excited imagination is soon transferred to the +side of their victims, all sided with the throne and the aristocracy. +They despised those who would not go and seek their avengers in foreign +lands. Young men departed at their desire; those who did not, dared not +show themselves. They sent them distaffs, as a token of their cowardice! + +But it was not shame alone that led the officers and the nobles to join +the ranks of the army, it was also the appearance of a duty; for the +last virtue that was left to the French nobility was a religious +fidelity to the throne: their honour, their second and almost only +religion, was to die for their king; and any design against the throne, +in their belief, was a design against heaven. Chivalry, that code of +aristocratic feeling, had preserved and disseminated this noble +prejudice throughout Europe; and, to the nobility, the king represented +their country. This feeling, eclipsed for a while by the debaucheries of +the regency, the scandalous vices of Louis XV., and the bold maxims of +Rousseau's philosophy, was awakened in the heart of the gentlemen at the +spectacle of the degradation and danger of the king and queen. In their +eyes, the Assembly was nothing but a band of revolutionary subjects, who +detained their sovereign a prisoner. The most voluntary acts of the king +were suspected by them, and beneath his constitutional speeches, they +imagined they discovered another and a contrary meaning; and the very +ministers of Louis XVI. were believed to be nothing but his gaolers. A +secret understanding existed between these gentlemen and the king, and +counsels were held in secluded apartments of the Tuileries, at which the +king alternately encouraged and forbade his friends to emigrate. And his +orders, varied at each day and each fresh occurrence, were sometimes +constitutional and patriotic when he hoped to re-establish and moderate +the constitution at home; at other times, despairing and blameable when +it seemed to him that the security of the queen and his children could +only proceed from another country. Whilst he addressed official letters +through his minister for foreign affairs to his brothers, and the Prince +de Conde, to recall them, and point out to them their duty as citizens, +the Baron de Breteuil, his confidential agent to the Foreign Powers, +transmitted to the king of Prussia letters that revealed the secret +thoughts of the king. The following letter to the king of Prussia, found +in the archives of the chancellorship of Berlin, dated December 3rd, +1790, leaves no doubt of this double diplomacy of the unfortunate +monarch. Louis XVI. wrote:-- + + "Monsieur mon Frere, + + "I have learnt from M. de Moustier how great an interest your + majesty has displayed, not only for my person but for the welfare + of my kingdom, and your majesty's determination to prove this + interest, whenever it can be for the good of my people, has deeply + touched me; and I confidently claim the fulfilment of it, at this + moment, when, in spite of my having accepted the new constitution, + the factious portion of my subjects openly manifest their intention + of destroying the remainder of the monarchy. I have addressed the + emperor, the empress of Russia, and the kings of Spain and Sweden, + and I have suggested to them the idea of a congress of the + principal powers of Europe, _supported by an armed force_, as the + best measure to check the progress of faction here, to afford the + means of establishing a better order of things, and preventing the + evil that devours this country from seizing on the other states of + Europe. I trust that your majesty will approve my ideas, _and + maintain the strictest secrecy respecting the step I have taken in + this matter_, as you will feel that the critical position in which + I am placed at present compels me to use the greatest + circumspection. It is for this reason that the Baron de Breteuil is + alone acquainted with my secret, and through him your majesty can + transmit me whatever you may think fit." + + +XIII. + +This letter, added to that addressed by Louis XVI. to M. de Bouille, +informing him that his brother-in-law the emperor Leopold was about to +march a body of troops on Longwi, in order to afford a pretext for the +concentration of the French troops on that frontier, and thus favour his +flight from Paris, are irrefragable proofs of the counter-revolutionary +understanding existing between the king and the foreign powers, no less +than between the king and the leaders of the emigres. The memoirs of the +emigres are full of proofs of this fact; and nature even attests them, +for the cause of the king, the aristocracy, and the religious +institutions was identical. The emperor Leopold was the brother of the +queen of France; the dangers of the king were the dangers of all the +other princes; for the example of the triumph of one people was +contagious to all nations. The emigres were the friends of the monarchy, +and the defenders of kings; had they not exchanged a word more on the +subject, they would have been united by the same feelings, the same +interests. But in addition to this, they had preconcerted communication +with each other, and the suspicions of the people were no empty +chimeras, but the presentiment of the plots of their enemies. + +The conspiracy of the court with all the courts and aristocracies +abroad, with all the aristocracies of the emigres, with their relations, +of the king with his brothers, had no need of being carried on in +writing. Louis XVI. himself, the most really revolutionary of all the +monarchs who have occupied the throne, had no thought of treachery to +the people or to the revolution, when he implored the armed succour of +the other powers. This idea of an appeal to foreign forces, or even the +emigrated forces, was not his real desire; for he dreaded the +intervention of the enemies of France, he disapproved of emigration, and +he was not without a feeling of offence at his brothers intriguing +abroad, sometimes in his name, but often against his wishes. He shrank +from the idea of passing in the eyes of Europe for a prince in +leading-strings, whose ambitious brothers seized upon his rights in +adopting his cause, and stipulated for his interests without his +intervention. At Coblentz a regency was openly spoken of, and bestowed +on the Comte de Provence, the brother of Louis XVI.; and this regency, +that had devolved on a prince of the blood by emigration, whilst the +king maintained a struggle at Paris, greatly humiliated Louis XVI. and +the queen. This usurpation of their rights, although clothed in the +dress of devotion and tenderness, was even more bitter to them than the +outrages of the Assembly and the people. We always dread most that which +is nearest to us, and the triumph of the emigration only promised them a +throne, disputed by the regent who had restored it. This gratitude +appeared to them a disgrace, and they knew not whether they had most to +hope or to apprehend from the emigres. + +The queen, in her conversations with her friends, spoke of them with +more bitterness than confidence. The king loudly complained of the +disobedience of his brothers, and dissuaded from flight all those who +demanded his advice; but his advice was as changeable as events; like +all men balancing between hope and fear, he alternately bent and stood +erect beneath the pressure of circumstances. His acts were culpable, but +not his intentions; it was not the king who conspired, but the man, the +husband, the father, who sought by foreign aid to ensure the safety of +his wife and children; and he alone became criminal when all seemed +desperate. The "tangled thread" of negotiation was incessantly broken +off and renewed: that which was resolved yesterday was to-morrow +disavowed; and the secret negotiators of these plots, armed with +credentials and powers which had been recalled, yet continued to employ +them, in spite of the king's orders, to carry on in his name those plans +of which he disapproved. The prince de Conde, the Comte de Provence, and +the Comte d'Artois had each his separate line of policy and court, and +abused the king's name in order to increase his own credit and interest. +Hence arises the difficulty, to those who write the history of that +period, of tracing the hand of the king in all these conspiracies, +carried on in his name, and to pronounce either his entire innocence or +his palpable treachery. He did not betray his country, or sell his +subjects; but he did not observe his oaths to the constitution or his +country. An upright man, but a persecuted king, he believed that oaths, +extorted by violence and eluded through fear, were no perjuries; and he +broke each day some of those to which he had bound himself, under the +belief, doubtless, that the excesses of the people freed him from his +oath. Educated with all the prejudices of personal sovereignty, he +sought with sincerity amidst this chaos of parties, who disputed with +each other the empire, to find the nation; and failing to discover the +object of his search, he fancied he had the right to find it in his own +person. His crime, if there be any in his actions, was less the crime of +his heart than the crime of his birth, his situation, and his +misfortunes. + + +XIV. + +The Baron de Breteuil, an old minister and ambassador, a man incapable +of making the least concession, and ever counselling strong and forcible +measures, had quitted France at the commencement of the year 1790, the +king's secret plenipotentiary to all the other powers. He alone was, to +all intents, and for all purposes, the sole minister of Louis XVI. He +was, moreover, absolute minister; for once invested with the confidence +and unlimited power of the king, who could not revoke, without betraying +the existence of his occult diplomacy, he was in a position to make any +use of it, and to interpret at will the intentions of Louis XVI. to his +own views. The Baron de Breteuil did abuse it; not, as it is said, from +personal ambition, but from excess of zeal for the welfare and dignity +of his master. His negotiations with Catherine, Gustavus, Frederic, and +Leopold were a constant incitement to a crusade against the Revolution +of France. + +The Count de Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII.), and the Count d'Artois +(afterwards Charles X.), after several visits to the different courts of +the South and North, had met at Coblentz, where Louis Venceslas, elector +of Treves, their maternal uncle, received them with a more kind than +politic welcome. Coblentz became the _Paris_ of Germany, the focus of +the counter-revolutionary conspiracy, the head quarters of all the +French nobles assembled round their natural leaders, the two brothers of +the captive king. Whilst they held there their wandering court, and +formed the first links of the coalition of Pilnitz, the Prince de Conde, +who, from inclination and descent, was of a more military disposition, +formed the army of the Princes, consisting of eight or ten thousand +officers, and no soldiers, and thus it was the head of the army severed +from the trunk. Names renowned in history's annals, fervent devotion, +youthful ardour, heroic bravery, fidelity, the conviction of +success,--nothing was wanting to this army at Coblentz save an +understanding with their country and time. Had the French _noblesse_ but +employed one half of the virtues and efforts they made to subdue the +Revolution, in regulating it, the Revolution, although it changed the +laws, would not have changed the monarchy. But it is useless to expect +that institutions can comprehend the means that transform them. The +king, the nobility, and the priests could not understand a revolution +that threatened to destroy the noblesse, the clergy, and the throne. A +contest became unavoidable; they had not space for the struggle in +France, and they took their stand on a foreign soil. + + +XV. + +Whilst the army of the princes thus increased in strength at Coblentz, +the counter-revolutionary diplomacy was on the eve of the first great +result it had been enabled to obtain in the actual state of Europe. The +conferences of Pilnitz had opened, and the Count de Provence had sent +the baron Roll from Coblentz to the king of Prussia, to demand in the +name of Louis XVI. the assistance of his troops to aid in the +re-establishment of order in France. The king of Prussia, before +deciding, wished to learn the state of France from a man whose military +talents and devoted attachment to the monarchy had gained him the +confidence of the foreign courts,--the Marquis de Bouille. He fixed the +Chateau de Pilnitz as the meeting place, and requested him to bring a +plan of operation for the foreign armies on the different French +frontiers; and on the 24th of August Frederic Willam, accompanied by his +son, his principal generals, and his ministers, arrived at the Chateau +de Pilnitz, the summer residence of the court of Saxony, where he had +been preceded by the emperor. + +The Archduke Francis, afterwards the emperor Francis II., the Marechal +de Lascy, the Baron de Spielman, and a numerous train of courtiers, +attended the emperor. The two sovereigns, the rivals of Germany, seemed +for a time to have laid aside their rivalry to occupy themselves solely +with the safety of the thrones of Europe; this fraternity of the great +family of monarchs prevailed over every other feeling, and they treated +each other more like brothers than sovereigns, whilst the elector of +Saxony, their entertainer, enlivened the conference by a succession of +splendid fetes. + +In the midst of a banquet the unexpected arrival of the Count d'Artois +at Dresden was announced, and the king of Prussia requested permission +from the emperor for the French prince to appear. The emperor consented, +but previous to admitting him to their official conferences the two +monarchs had a secret interview, at which two of their most confidential +agents only were present. The emperor inclined to peace, the inertness +of the Germanic body weighed down his resolve, for he felt the +difficulty of communicating to this vassal federation of the empire the +unity and energy necessary to attack France in the full enthusiasm of +her Revolution. The generals, and even the Marechal de Lascy himself, +hesitated before frontiers reputed to be impregnable, whilst the emperor +was apprehensive for the Low Countries and Italy. The French maxims had +passed the Rhine, and might explode in the German states at the moment +when the princes and people were called upon to take arms against +France, and the diet of the people might prove more powerful than the +diet of the kings. Dilatory measures would have the same intimidating +effect on the revolutionary genius, without presenting the same dangers +to Germany; and would it not be more prudent to form a general league of +all the European powers to surround France with a circle of bayonets, +and summon the triumphant party to restore liberty to the king, dignity +to the throne, and security to the Continent? "Should the French nation +refuse," added the emperor, "_then_ we will threaten her in a manifesto, +with a general invasion, and should it become necessary, we will crush +her beneath the irresistible weight of the united forces of all Europe." +Such were the counsels of that temporising genius of empires that awaits +necessity without ever forestalling, and would fain be assured of every +thing without the least risk. + + +XVI. + +The king of Prussia, more impatient and more threatening, confessed to +the emperor that he had no faith in the effect of these threats. +"Prudence," said he, "is a feeble defence against audacity, and the +defensive is but a timid position to assume in the face of the +Revolution. We must attack it in its infancy; for to give time to the +French principles, is to give them strength. To treat with the popular +insurrection, is to prove to them that we fear, and are disposed to form +a compact with them. We must surprise France in the very act of anarchy, +and publish a manifesto to Europe when the armies have crossed the +frontiers and success has given authority to our declaration." + +The emperor appeared moved; he, however, insisted on the dangers to +which a sudden invasion would inevitably expose Louis XVI., he showed +the letters of this prince, and intimated that the Marquis de Noailles +and M. de Montmorin--the one French ambassador at Vienna, the other +minister for Foreign Affairs at Paris, who were both devoted to the +king--held out hopes to the court of Vienna of the speedy +re-establishment of order and monarchical modifications of the +constitution in France; and he demanded the right of suspending his +decision until the month of September, although in the mean while +military preparations should be made by both powers. The scene was +changed the next morning by the Count d'Artois. This young prince had +received from the hand of nature all the exterior qualifications of a +chevalier: he spoke to the sovereigns in the name of the thrones; to the +emperor in the name of an outraged and dethroned sister. The whole +emigration, with its misfortunes, its nobility, its valour, its +illusions, seemed personified in him. The Marquis de Bouille and M. de +Calonne, the genius of war and the genius of intrigue, had followed him +to these conferences. He obtained several audiences of the two +sovereigns, he inveighed with respect and energy against the temporising +system of the emperor, and violently roused the Germanic sluggishness. +The emperor and the king of Prussia authorised the Baron de Spielman for +Austria, the Baron de Bischofswerden for Prussia, and M. de Calonne for +France, to meet the same evening, and draw up a declaration for the +signature of the monarchs. + +The Baron de Spielman, under the immediate dictation of the emperor, +drew up the document. M. de Calonne in vain combated, in the name of the +Count d'Artois, the hesitation that disconcerted the impatience of the +emigres. The next day, on their return from a visit to Dresden, the two +sovereigns, the Count d'Artois, M. de Calonne, the Marechal de Lascy, +and the two negotiators, met in the emperor's apartment, where the +declaration was read and discussed, every sentence weighed, and some +expressions modified; and at the proposal of M. de Calonne, and the +entreaties of the Count d'Artois, the emperor and the king of Prussia +consented to the insertion of the last phrase, that threatened the +Revolution with war. + +Subjoined is the document that was the date of a war of twenty-two +years' duration. + +"The emperor and the king of Prussia, having listened to the wishes and +representations of _Monsieur_ and _Monsieur le Comte d'Artois_, declare +conjointly that they look upon the present position of the king of +France as an object of common interest to all the sovereigns of Europe. +They trust that this interest cannot fail to be acknowledged by all the +powers whose assistance is claimed; and that, in consequence, they will +not refuse to employ, conjointly with the emperor and the king of +Prussia, the most efficacious means, proportioned to their forces, for +enabling the king of France to strengthen with the most perfect liberty +the bases of a monarchical government, equally conformable to the rights +of sovereigns and the welfare of the French nation. Then, and in that +case, their aforesaid majesties are resolved to act promptly and in +concert with the forces requisite to attain the end proposed and agreed +on. In the mean time they will issue all needful orders to their troops +to hold themselves in a state of readiness." + +This declaration, at once timid and threatening, was evidently too much +for peace, too little for war; for such words encourage the revolution, +without crushing it. They at once showed the impatience of the emigres, +the resolution of the king of Prussia, the hesitation of the powers, the +temporising policy of the emperor. It was a concession to force and +weakness, to peace and war; the whole state of Europe was there +unveiled, for it was the declaration of the uncertainty and anarchy of +its councils. + + +XVII. + +After this imprudent and useless act, the two sovereigns separated. +Leopold to go and be crowned at Prague, and the king of Prussia, +returning to Berlin, began to put his army on a war footing. The +emigrants, triumphing in the engagement they had entered into, increased +in numbers. The courts of Europe, with the exception of England, sent in +equivocal adhesions to the courts of Berlin and Vienna. The noise of the +declaration of Pilnitz burst forth, and died away in Paris in the midst +of the fetes in honour of the acceptance of the constitution. + +However, Leopold, after the conferences at Pilnitz, was more earnest +than ever in his attempts to find excuses for peace. The Prince de +Kaunitz, his minister, feared all violent shocks, which might derange +the old diplomatic mechanism, whose workings he so well knew. Louis XVI. +sent the Count de Fersen secretly to him, in order to disclose his real +motives in accepting the constitution, and to entreat him not to +provoke, by any preparation of arms, the bad feelings of the Revolution, +which seemed to be quieted by its triumph. + +The emigrant princes, on the contrary, filled all courts with the words +uttered in favour of their cause in the declaration of Pilnitz. They +wrote a letter to Louis XVI., in which they protested against the oath +of the king to the constitution, forced, as they declared, from his +weakness and his captivity. The king of Prussia, on receiving the +circular of the French cabinet, in which the acceptance of the +constitution was notified, exclaimed, "I see the peace of Europe +assured!" The courts of Vienna and Berlin feigned to believe that all +was concluded in France by the mutual concessions of the king and the +Assembly. They made up their minds to see the throne of Louis XVI. +abased, provided that the Revolution would consent to allow itself to be +controlled by the throne. + +Russia, Sweden, Spain, and Sardinia were not so easily appeased. +Catherine II. and Gustavus III., the one from a proud feeling of her +power, and the other from a generous devotion to the cause of kings, +arranged together, to send 40,000 Russians and Swedes to the aid of the +monarchy. This army, paid by a subsidy of 15,000,000f. of Spain, and +commanded by Gustavus in person, was to land upon the coast of France, +and march upon Paris, whilst the forces of the empire crossed the Rhine. + +These bold plans of the two northern courts were displeasing to Leopold +and the king of Prussia. They reproached Catherine with not keeping her +promises, and making peace with the Turks. Could the emperor march his +troops on the Rhine whilst the battles of the Russians and Ottomans +continued on the Danube and threatened the remoter provinces of his +empire? Catherine and Gustavus nevertheless did not abate in their open +protection to the emigration party. These two sovereigns accredited +ministers plenipotentiary to the French princes at Coblentz. This was +declaring the forfeiture of Louis XVI., and even the forfeiture of +France. It was recognising that the government of the kingdom was no +longer at Paris, but at Coblentz. Moreover, they contracted a treaty of +alliance, offensive and defensive, between Sweden and Russia in the +common interest of the re-establishment of the monarchy. + +Louis XVI. then earnestly desiring the disarming, sent to Coblentz the +Baron Viomenil and the Chevalier de Coigny to command his brothers and +the Prince de Conde to disarm and disperse the emigrants. They received +his orders as coming from a captive, and disobeyed without even sending +him a reply. Prussia and the empire showed more deference to the king's +intentions. These two courts disbanded the army collected by the +princes, and ordered to be punished in their states all insults offered +to the tricolour cockade; but at the very moment when the emperor thus +gave evidence of his desire to maintain peace, war was about to involve +him in spite of himself. What human wisdom sometimes refuses to the +greatest causes, it sees itself compelled to accord to the smallest. +Such was Leopold's situation. He had refused war to the great interests +of the monarchy, and the strong feelings of the family which asked it +from him, and yet was about to grant it to the insignificant interests +of certain princes of the empire, whose possessions were in Alsace and +Lorraine, and whose personal rights were violated by the new French +constitution. He had refused succour to his sister, and was about to +accord it to his vassals. The influence of the diet, and his duties as +head of the empire, led him on to steps to which his personal feelings +would never have urged him. By his letter of 3d December, 1791, he +announced to the cabinet of the Tuileries the formal resolution on his +part "of giving aid to the princes holding lands in France, if he did +not obtain their perfect restoration to all the rights which belonged to +them by treaty." + + +XVIII. + +This threatening letter, secretly communicated in Paris, (before it was +officially sent,) by the French ambassador in Vienna, was received by +the king with much alarm, and with joy by certain of his ministers, and +the political party of the Assembly. War cuts through every thing. They +hailed it as a solution to the difficulties which they felt were +crushing them. When there is no longer any hope in the regular order of +events, there is in what is unknown. War appeared to these adventurous +spirits a necessary diversion to the universal ferment; a career to the +Revolution; a means for the king again to seize on power by acquiring +the support of the army. They hoped to change the fanaticism of liberty +into the fanaticism of glory, and to deceive the spirit of the age by +intoxicating it with conquests instead of satisfying it with +institutions. + +The Girondist deputies were of this party. Brissot was their +inspiration. Flattered by the title of statesmen, which they already +assumed from vanity, and which was used towards them with irony, they +were desirous to justify their pretensions by a bold stroke, which would +change the scene, and disconcert, at the same time, the king, the +people, and Europe. They had studied Machiavel, and considered the +disdain of the just as a proof of genius. They little heeded the blood +of the people, provided that it cemented their ambition. + +The Jacobin party, with the exception of Robespierre, clamoured loudly +for war: his fanaticism deceived him as to his weakness. War was to +these men an armed apostleship, which was about to propagate their +social philosophy over the universe. The first cannon shot fired in the +name of the rights of man would shake thrones to their centre. Then +there was finally a third party which hoped for war, that of the +constitutional _moderes_, which flattered itself that it would restore +sound energy to the executive power, by the necessity of concentrating +the military authority in the hands of the king at the moment when the +nationality should be menaced. All extremity of war places the +dictatorship in the hands of the party which makes it, and they hoped, +on behalf of the king, and of themselves, for this dictatorship of +necessity. + + +XIX. + +A young, but already influential, female had lent to this latter party +the _prestige_ of her youth, her genius, and her enthusiasm--it was +Madame de Staeel. Necker's daughter, she had inspired politics from her +birth. Her mother's _salon_ had been the _coenaculum_ of the +philosophy of the 18th century. Voltaire, Rousseau, Buffon, D'Alembert, +Diderot, Raynal, Bernardin de Saint Pierre, Condorcet had played with +this child, and fostered her earliest ideas. Her cradle was that of the +Revolution. Her father's popularity had played about her lips, and left +there an inextinguishable thirst for fame. She sought it in the storms +of the populace, in calumny, and death. Her genius was great, her soul +pure, her heart deeply impassioned. A man in her energy, a woman in her +tenderness, that the ideal of her ambition should be satisfied, it was +necessary for her to associate in the same character genius, glory, and +love. + +Nature, education, and fortune rendered possible this triple dream of a +woman, a philosopher, and a hero. Born in a republic, educated in a +court, daughter of a minister, wife of an ambassador, belonging by birth +to the people, to the literary world by talent, to the aristocracy by +rank, the three elements of the Revolution mingled or contended in her. +Her genius was like the antique chorus, in which all the great voices of +the drama unite in one tumultuous concord. A deep thinker by +inspiration, a tribune by eloquence, a woman in attraction, her beauty, +unseen by the million, required intellect to be admired, and admiration +to be felt. Hers was not the beauty of form and features, but visible +inspiration and the manifestation of passionate impulse. Attitude, +gesture, tone of voice, look--all obeyed her mind, and created her +brilliancy. Her black eyes, flashing with fire, gave out from beneath +their long lids as much tenderness as pride. Her look, so often lost in +space, was followed by those who knew her, as if it were possible to +find with her the inspiration she sought. That gaze, open, yet profound +as her understanding, had as much serenity as penetration. We felt that +the light of her genius was only the reverberation of a mine of +tenderness of heart. Thus there was a secret love in all the admiration +she excited; and she, in admiration, cared only for love. Love with her +was but enlightened admiration. + +Events rapidly ripened; ideas and things were crowded into her life: she +had no infancy. At twenty-two years of age she had maturity of thought +with the grace and softness of youth. She wrote like Rousseau, and spoke +like Mirabeau. Capable of bold conceptions and complicated designs, she +could contain in her bosom at the same time a lofty idea and a deep +feeling. Like the women of old Rome who agitated the republic by the +impulses of their hearts, or who exalted or depressed the empire with +their love, she sought to mingle her feelings with her politics, and +desired that the elevation of her genius should elevate him she loved. +Her sex precluded her from that open action which public position, the +tribune, or the army only accord to men in public governments; and thus +she compulsorily remained unseen in the events she guided. To be the +hidden destiny of some great man, to act through and by him, to grow +with his greatness, be eminent in his name, was the sole ambition +permitted to her--an ambition tender and devoted, which seduces a woman +whilst it suffices to her disinterested genius. She could only be the +mind and inspiration of some political man; she sought such a one, and +in her delusion believed she had found him. + + +XX. + +There was then in Paris a young general officer of illustrious race, +excessively handsome, and with a mind full of attraction, varied in its +powers and brilliant in its display. Although he bore the name of one of +the most distinguished families at court, there was a cloud over his +birth. Royal blood ran in his veins, and his features recalled those of +Louis XV. The affection of Mesdames the aunts of Louis XVI. for this +youth, educated under their eyes, attached to their persons, and who +rose by their influence to the highest employments in the court and +army, gave credit to many mysterious rumours. + +This young man was the count Louis de Narbonne. Sprung from this origin, +brought up in this court, a courtier by birth; spoiled by the hands of +these females, only remarkable for his good looks, his levities, and his +hasty wit; it was not to be expected that such a person was imbued with +that ardent faith which casts a man headlong into the centre of +revolutions, or the stoical energy which produces and controls them. He +saw in the people only a sovereign, more exacting and more capricious +than any others, towards whom it was necessary to display more skill to +seduce, more policy to manage them. He believed himself sufficiently +plastic for the task, and resolved to attempt it. Without a lofty +imagination, he yet had ambition and courage, and he viewed the position +of affairs as a drama, similar to the Fronde[8], in which skilful actors +could enlarge their hopes in proportion to the facts, and direct the +catastrophe. He had not sufficient penetration to see, that in a +revolution there is but one serious actor--enthusiasm; and he had none. +He stammered out the words of a revolutionary tongue--he assumed the +costume, but had not the spirit of the times. + +The contrast of this nature and of this part, this court favourite +casting himself into the crowd to serve the nation, this aristocratic +elegance, masked in patriotism of the tribune, pleased public opinion +for the moment. They applauded this transformation as a difficulty +overcome. The people was flattered by having great lords with it. It was +a testimony of its power. It felt itself king, by seeing courtiers +bowing to it, and excused their rank by reason of their complaisance. + +Madame de Staeel was seduced as much by the heart as the intellect of M. +de Narbonne. Her masculine and sensitive imagination invested the young +soldier with all she desired to find in him. He was but a brilliant, +active, high-couraged man; she pictured him a politician and a hero. She +magnified him with all the endowments of her dreams, in order to bring +him up to her ideal standard. She found patrons for him; surrounded him +with a _prestige_; created a name for him, marked him out a course. She +made him the living type of her politics. To disdain the court, gain +over the people, command the army, intimidate Europe, carry away the +Assembly by his eloquence, to struggle for liberty, to save the nation, +and become, by his popularity alone, the arbiter between the throne and +the people, to reconcile them by a constitution, at once liberal and +monarchical; such was the perspective that she opened for herself and M. +de Narbonne. + +She but awakened his ambition, yet he believed himself capable of the +destinies which she dreamed of for him. The drama of the constitution +was concentrated in these two minds, and their conspiracy was for some +time the entire policy of Europe. + +Madame de Staeel, M. de Narbonne, and the constitutional party were for +war; but theirs was to be a partial and not a desperate war which, +shaking nationality to its foundations, would carry away the throne and +throw France into a Republic. They contrived by their influence to renew +all the personal staff of the diplomacy, exclusively devoted to the +emigrants or the king. They filled foreign courts with their adherents, +M. de Marbois was sent to the Diet of Ratisbon, M. Barthelemy to +Switzerland, M. de Talleyrand to London, M. de Segur to Berlin. The +mission of M. de Talleyrand was to endeavour to fraternise the +aristocratic principle of the English constitution with the democratic +principle of the French constitution, which they believed they could +effect and control by an Upper Chamber. They hoped to interest the +statesmen of Great Britain in a Revolution, imitated from their own, +which, after having convulsed the people, was now becoming moulded in +the hands of an intelligent aristocracy. This mission would be easy, if +the Revolution were in regular train for some months in Paris. French +ideas were popular in London. The opposition was revolutionary. Fox and +Burke, then friends, were most earnest in their desire for the liberty +of the Continent[9]. We must render this justice to England, that the +moral and popular principle concealed in the foundation of its +constitution, has never stultified itself by combating the efforts of +other nations to acquire a free government. It has everywhere accorded +the liberty similar to its own. + + +XXI. + +The mission of M. de Segur at Berlin was more delicate. Its object was +to detach the king of Prussia from his alliance with the emperor +Leopold, whose coronation was not yet known, and to persuade the cabinet +of Berlin into an alliance with revolutionary France. This alliance held +out to Prussia with its security on the Rhine the ascendency of the +new-sprung ideas in Germany: it was a Machiavelian idea, which would +smile at the agitating spirit of the great Frederic, who had made of +Prussia the corrosive influence (_la puissance corrosive_) of the +empire. + +These two words--seduce and corrupt--were all M. de Segur's +instructions. The king of Prussia had favourites and mistresses. +Mirabeau had written in 1786, "There can be at Berlin no secrets for the +ambassador of France, unless money and skill be wanting; the country is +poor and avaricious, and there is no state secret which may not be +purchased with three thousand louis." M. de Segur, imbued with these +ideas, made it his first object to buy over the two favourites. The one +was daughter of Elie Enka, who was a musician in the chapel of the late +king. Handsome and witty, she had at twelve years of age attracted the +notice of the king, then prince royal, and he had, at that early age, as +in anticipation of his amour, bestowed on her all the care and all the +cost of a royal education. She had travelled in France and in England, +and knew all the European languages; she had polished her natural genius +by contact with the lettered men and artists of Germany. A feigned +marriage with Rietz, valet de chambre of the king, was the pretext for +her residence at court, and gave her the opportunity for surrounding +herself with the leading men in politics and literature in the city of +Berlin. Spoiled by the precocity of her fortune, yet careless as to its +retention, she had allowed two rivals to dispute the king's heart. One, +the young Countess d'Ingenheim, had just died in the flower of her +youth; the other, the Countess d'Ashkof, had borne the king two +children, and flattered herself, in vain, with having extricated him +from the empire of Madame Rietz. + +The Baron de Roll, in the name of the Count d'Artois, and the Viscount +de Caraman, in the name of Louis XVI., had possessed themselves of all +the avenues to this cabinet. The Count de Goltz, ambassador from Prussia +to Paris, had informed his court of the object of M. de Segur's mission. +The report ran amongst well-informed persons that this envoy carried +with him several millions (francs), destined to pay the weakness or the +treason of the Berlin cabinet. + +A copy of the secret instructions of M. de Segur reached Berlin two +hours before him, which revealed to the king the whole plan of seduction +and venality that the agent of France was to practice on his favourites +and mistresses, whose character, ambition, rivalries, weaknesses, true +or feigned, the means of acting by them on the mind of the king, were +all and severally noted down with the security of confidence. There was +a tariff for all consciences,--a price for every treachery. The +favourite aide-de-camp of the king, Rischofwerder, then very powerful, +was to be assailed by irresistible offers, and in case his connivance +should be revealed, a splendid establishment in France was to guarantee +him against any eventuality. + +These instructions fell into the very hands of those whose fidelity was +thus priced, and they gave them to the king with all the innocence of +individuals shamefully calumniated. The king blushed for himself at the +empire over his politics thus ascribed to love and intrigue. He was +indignant at the fidelity of his subjects being thus assailed: all +negotiation was nipped in the bud before the arrival of the negotiator. +M. de Segur was received with coldness and all the irony of contempt. +Frederic Willam affected never to mention him in his circle, and asked +aloud before him, of the envoy of the elector of Mayence, news of the +Prince de Conde: the envoy replied that this prince was approaching the +frontiers of France with his army. "He is right," said the king, "for he +is on the point of entering there." M. de Segur, accustomed, from his +long residence and his familiar footing at the court of Catherine, to +take love for the intermediary of his affairs, induced, it is said, the +countess d'Ashkof and prince Henry of Prussia to join the peace party. +This success was but a snare for his negotiation. The king, arranging +with the emperor, affected for some time to lean towards France, to +complain of the exactions of emigration, and to make much of the +ambassador; who, thus cajoled, sent the warmest assurances to the French +cabinet as to the intentions of Prussia. But the sudden disgrace of the +countess d'Ashkof and the offer of alliance with France insultingly +repulsed, threw at once light and confusion into the plots of M. de +Segur: he demanded his recall. The humiliation of seeing his talents +played with, the hopes of his party annihilated, the prospect of his +country's misfortunes, and Europe in flames, had, it was reported, urged +his sadness to despair. The report ran that he had attempted his life. +This imputed suicide was but a brain fever occasioned by the anguish of +a proud mind deeply wounded. + + +XXII. + +The same party attempted, and at nearly the same time, to acquire for +France a sovereign whose renown weighed as heavily as a throne in the +opinion of Europe. This was the duke of Brunswick, a pupil of the great +Frederic, the presumed heir of his military fame and inspiration, and +proclaimed, by anticipation, by the public voice, generalissimo, in the +coming war against France. To carry off from the emperor and the king of +Prussia the chief of their armies, was to deprive Germany of confidence +and of victory. + +The name of the duke of Brunswick was a prestige which invested Germany +with a feeling of terror and inviolability. Madame de Staeel and her +party attempted it. This secret negotiation was concerted amongst Madame +de Staeel, M. de Narbonne, M. de La Fayette, and M. de Talleyrand. M. de +Custine, son of the general of that name, was chosen to convey to the +duke of Brunswick the wishes of the constitutional party. The young +negotiator was well prepared for his mission: witty, attractive, clever, +an intense admirer of Prussian tactics and the duke of Brunswick, from +whom he had had lessons in Berlin, he inspired confidence into this +prince beforehand. He offered to him the rank of generalissimo of the +French armies, an allowance of three millions of francs, and an +establishment in France equivalent to his possessions and rank in the +empire. The letter bearing these offers was signed by the minister of +war and Louis XVI. himself. + +M. de Custine set out from France in the month of January; on his +arrival he handed his letter to the duke. Four days elapsed before an +interview was accorded to him. On the fifth day, the duke admitted him +to a personal and private interview. He expressed to M. de Custine with +military frankness his pride and gratitude that the price attached to +his merits by France must inspire in him: "But," he added, "my blood is +German and my honour Prussia's; my ambition is satisfied with being the +second person in this monarchy, which has adopted me. I would not +exchange for an adventurous glory on the shifting stage of revolutions, +the high and firm position which my birth, my duty, and some reputation +already acquired have secured for me in my native land." + +After this conversation, M. de Custine, finding the prince immoveable, +disclosed his ultimatum, and held before his eyes the dazzling chance of +the crown of France, if it fell from the brow of Louis XVI. into the +hands of a conquering general. The duke appeared overwhelmed, and +dismissed M. de Custine without depriving him of all hope of his +accepting such an offer. But shortly afterwards, the duke, from +duplicity, repentance, or prudence, replied by a formal refusal to both +these propositions. He addressed his reply to Louis XVI., and not to his +minister; and this unhappy king thus learnt the last word of the +constitutional party, and how frail was the tenure on his brow of a +crown which was already offered perspectively to the ambition of a foe! + + + + +BOOK VI. + + +I. + +Such were the mutually threatening dispositions of France and Europe at +the moment when the Constituted Assembly, after having proclaimed its +principles, left to others to defend and apply them; like the legislator +who retires into private life, thence to watch the effect and the +working of his laws. The great idea of France abdicated, if we may use +the expression, with the Constituted Assembly; and the government fell +from its high position into the hands of the inexperience or the +impulses of a new people. From the 29th of September to the 1st of +October, there seemed to be a new reign: the Legislative Assembly found +themselves on that day face to face with a king who, destitute of +authority, ruled over a people destitute of moderation. They felt on +their first sitting the oscillation of a power without a counterpoise, +that seeks to balance itself by its own wisdom, and changing from insult +to repentance, wounds itself with the weapon that has been placed in its +grasp. + + +II. + +An immense crowd had attended the first sittings; the exterior aspect of +the Assembly had entirely changed; almost all the white heads had +disappeared, and it seemed as though France had become young again in +the course of a night. The expression of the physiognomies, the +gestures, the attire of the members of the Assembly were no longer the +same; that pride of the French noblesse, visible alike in the look and +bearing; that dignity of the clergy and the magistrates; that austere +gravity of the deputies of the _Tiers etat_ had suddenly given place to +the representatives of a new people, whose confusion and turbulence +announced rather the invasion of power than the custom and the +possession of supreme power. Many members were remarkable for their +youth; and when the president, by virtue of his age, summoned all the +deputies who had not yet attained their twenty-sixth year, in order to +form the provisional _bureau_, sixty young men presented themselves, and +disputed the office of secretary to the Assembly. This youth of the +representatives of the nation alarmed some, whilst it rejoiced others; +for if, on the one hand, such a representation did not possess that +mature calmness and that authority of age that the ancient legislators +sought in the council of the people; on the other, this sudden return to +youth of the representatives of the nation, seemed a symptom of the +regeneration of all the established institutions. It was visible to +every body that this new generation had discarded all the traditions and +prejudices of the old order of things; and its very age was a guarantee +opposite to established rule, and which required that every statesman +should by his age give pledges for the past, whilst from these was +required guarantees for the future. Their inexperience was made a merit, +their youth an oath. Old men are needed in times of tranquillity, young +ones in times of revolutions. + +Scarcely was the Assembly constituted, than the twofold feeling that was +destined to dispute and contest every act--the monarchical and +republican feeling--commenced upon a frivolous pretext, a struggle, +puerile in appearance, serious in reality, and in which each party in +the course of two days was alternately the conqueror and the conquered. +The deputation that had waited on the king to announce to him the +constitution of the Assembly, reported the result of its mission through +the medium of the _depute_ Ducastel, the president of this deputation. +"We deliberated," said he, "as to what form of words we should make use +of in addressing his majesty, as we feared to wound the national dignity +or the royal dignity, and we agreed to use these terms:--'Sire, the +Assembly is formed, and has deputed us to inform your majesty.' We +proceeded to the Tuileries; the minister of justice announced to us that +the king could not receive us before to-day at one o'clock. We, however, +thought that the public safety required that we should be instantly +admitted to the king's presence, and we therefore persisted. The king +then informed us he would give us audience at nine o'clock, at which +hour we again presented ourselves. At four paces distance from the king +I saluted him, and addressed him in the terms agreed upon; he inquired +the names of my colleagues, and I replied, 'I do not know them;' we were +about to withdraw, when he recalled us, saying, 'I cannot see you before +Friday.'" + +An ill-repressed agitation, which had hitherto pervaded the ranks of the +Assembly, now broke forth at these last words. "I demand," cried a +deputy, "that this title of Majesty be no longer employed." "I demand," +added another, "that this title of Sire be abolished; it is only an +abbreviation of Seigneur, which recognises a sovereignty in the man to +whom it is given." "I demand," said the deputy Bequet, "that we be no +longer treated as automata, obliged to sit down or stand, just as it +pleases the king to rise or to sit down." Couthon made his voice heard +for the first time, and his first speech was a threat against royalty. +"There is no other majesty here," said he, "than that of the law and the +people. Let us leave the king no other title than that of King of the +French. Let this scandalous chair be removed, the gilded seat brought +for his use the last time he appeared in this chamber, if he really is +anxious to fill the simple place of the president of a great people. Let +an equality exist between us as regards ceremony: when he is uncovered +and standing, let us stand and uncover our heads; when he is covered and +seated, let us sit and wear our hats." "The people," said Chabot, "has +sent you here to maintain its dignity; will you permit the king to say +'I will come at three o'clock,' as if you were unable to adjourn the +Assembly without awaiting him?" + +It was decreed that every member should have the right to sit covered +in the king's presence. "This decree," observed Garrau de Coulon, "is +calculated to create a degree of confusion in the Assembly; this +privilege, given indiscriminately, would enable some to display pride, +and others flattery." "So much the better," said a voice; "if there are +any flatterers, we shall know them." It was also decreed that there +should be only two chairs, placed in a line, one for the king, the other +for the president; and lastly, that the king should have no other title +than that of King of the French. + + +III. + +These decrees humiliated the king, spread consternation amongst the +constitutional party, and agitated the people. All had hoped that +harmony would be established between the powers, and yet this +understanding was destroyed at the outset, and the constitution tottered +at its first step. This deprivation of the titles of royalty seemed a +greater humiliation than the deprivation of the absolute power. Had we +alone kept our king to expose him to the insults and derision of the +people's representatives? how will a nation that does not respect its +hereditary chief, respect its elected representatives? and is it by such +outrages that liberty hopes to render herself acceptable to the throne? +Or, is it by infusing similar feelings of resentment in the breast of +the king, that he will be induced to protect the constitution, and to +aid the maintenance of the rights of the people? If the executive power +be a necessary reality, we must respect it, even in the king; if it be +but a shadow, still should we respect and honour it. The ministerial +council assembled, and the king declared that he was not forced by the +new constitution to expose the monarchical dignity represented in his +person to the outrages of the Assembly, and that he would order the +ministers to preside at the opening of the legislative body. + +This rumour created a reaction in Paris in favour of the king. The +Assembly, as yet undecided, felt the blow; and that the popularity it +sought was fast disappearing. "What has been the result of the decree of +yesterday?" said the deputy Vosgien, at the opening of the sitting of +the 6th of October. "Fresh hopes for the enemies of the public welfare, +agitation of the people, depreciation of our credit, general +disquietude. Let us pay to the hereditary representative of the people +the respect that is his due. Do not let him believe that he is destined +to be the mockery and the plaything of each fresh legislation; it is +time for the constitution to cast anchor, and fix itself with firmness +and stability." + +Vergniaud, the hitherto unknown orator of the Gironde, displayed in his +opening speech that audacious yet undecided character that was the type +of his policy. His speeches were uncertain as his mind; he spoke in +favour of one party, and voted for the other. "We all appear to agree," +said he, "that if this decree concerns our internal regulations, it +should be instantly put into execution; and it is evident to me that the +decree does concern our internal regulations, for there can be no +connection of authority between the legislative body and the king. It is +merely a question of those marks of respect which are demanded to be +shown to the royal dignity. I know not why the titles of Sire and +Majesty, which recall feudality, should be restored; for the king ought +to glory in the title of King of the French. I ask you, whether the king +demanded a decree to regulate the etiquette of his household when he +received your deputation? However, to speak my opinion without reserve, +I think that if the king, as a mark of respect to the Assembly, rises +and uncovers his head, the Assembly, as a mark of respect to the king, +should imitate his example." + +Herault de Sechelles demanded the repeal of the decree, and Champion, +deputy of the Jura, reproached his colleagues for employing their +meetings in such puerile debates. "I do not fear that the people will +worship a gilded chair," said he, "but I dread a struggle between the +two powers. You will not permit that the words _sire_ and _majesty_ be +used, you will not even permit us to applaud the king; as if it were +possible to forbid the people from manifesting their gratitude when the +king has merited it. Do not let us dishonour ourselves, gentlemen, by a +culpable ingratitude towards the National Assembly, who has retained +these marks of respect for the king. The founders of liberty were not +slaves; and previous to fixing the prerogatives of royalty, they +established the rights of the people. It is the nation that is honoured +in the person of its hereditary representative. It is the nation who, +after having created royalty, has invested it with a splendour that +remounts to the source from whence it sprung, and gives it a double +lustre." + +Ducastel, the president of the deputation sent to the king, spoke on the +same side, but having inadvertently used the expression _sovereign_, in +speaking of the king, and that the legislative power was vested in the +Assembly and the king, this blasphemy and involuntary heresy raised a +terrible storm in the chamber. Every word of this nature seemed to them +to threaten a counter-revolution; for they were still so near despotism, +that they feared at each step again to fall into its toils. The people +was a slave, freed but yesterday, and who still trembled at the clank of +his chains. However, the offensive decree was repealed, and this +retraction was rapturously hailed by the royalists and the national +guard. The constitutionalists saw in it the augury of renewed harmony +between the ruling powers of the state; the king saw in it the triumph +of a fidelity that had been deadened, but which blazed forth again on +the least appearance of outrage to his person. + +They were all deceived: it was but a movement of generosity, succeeding +one of brutality; the hesitation of a nation that dares not, at one +stroke, destroy the idol before which it has so long bowed the knee. + +The royalists, however, attacked this return to moderation in their +journals. "See," they cried, "how contemptible is this revolution--how +conscious of its own weakness! This feeling of its own feebleness is a +defeat already anticipated; see in two days how often it has given +itself the lie. The authority that concedes is lost unless it possess +the art of masking its retreat, of retreating by slow and imperceptible +steps, and of causing its laws to be rather forgotten than repealed. +Obedience arises from two causes, respect and fear. And both have been +alike snapped asunder by the sudden and violent retrograde movement of +the Assembly; for how can we respect or dread that power that trembles +at its own audacity? The Assembly has abdicated by not completing that +which it had dared to commence: the revolution that does not advance, +retreats; and the king has conquered without striking a blow." + +On their side the revolutionary party assembled that evening at the +Jacobins, deplored their defeat, accused every one, and mutually +recriminated on each other. "See," said their orators, "what underhand +work has been accomplished in one night; what a triumph of corruption +and fraud! The members of the former Assembly have mixed with the new +members in the chamber, and have infused into the ears of their +successors those concessions that have ruined them. After the sitting of +that evening they mingled with the groups in the Palais Royal, spread +alarm around, hinted of a second flight of the king, prognosticated +trouble and anarchy, and made the people of Paris, who prefer their own +private interests to the public weal, fear the utter destruction of +confidence and the depression of the public credit. Can this venal race +resist such arguments?" + +All the real feelings of Paris were infused the next day into the +attitude and discourses of the Assembly. "At the opening of the +sitting," says a Jacobin, "I took my place amongst the deputies who were +discussing the best means to obtain the repeal of the decree. I remarked +that the decree having been carried the previous evening almost +unanimously, it appeared impracticable to reckon upon so sudden and so +scandalous a change of opinion. 'We are sure of the majority,' was their +reply. I quitted my seat and took another, where precisely the same +conversation passed. I then took refuge in that part of the chamber that +had been so long the sanctuary of patriotism: there I heard the same +arguments, the same apostacy. All had been purchased in the course of +the night, and the best proof that this work of corruption had been +accomplished before the deliberation is, that all the orators who spoke +against the decree had their speeches ready written. Whence arises this +surprise of the patriots? Because the well-intentioned members of the +Assembly do not know each other; they have not met or reckoned their +numbers here. It is true that you have opened your doors to receive +them: they have entered this room to examine your countenance and +ascertain your forces; but they are not as yet associated and knit +together; nor have they acquired, by frequent visits here, and by +listening to your discourses, that confidence and patriotism that form +the great and good citizen." + +The people, who sighed for repose after so many exciting scenes, +destitute of work, money, and food, and intimidated by the approach of a +severe winter, saw with indifference the attempt and the retraction of +the Assembly, and suffered the deputies who had supported the decree to +be insulted with impunity. Goupilleau, Couthon, Basire, Chabot, were +threatened in the very Assembly by the officers of the national guard. +"Beware!" said these soldiers of the people, bought over to the cause of +the throne; "we will not suffer the Revolution to advance another step. +We know you--we will watch you--you shall be hewed to pieces by our +bayonets." These deputies, seconded by Barrere, came to the Jacobins' +club, to denounce these outrages; but no effect was produced, and they +gained nothing save expression of sterile indignation. + + +IV. + +The king, reassured by this state of public feeling, proceeded, on the +7th, to the Assembly, where his appearance was the signal for unanimous +acclamations. Some applauded _the king_, others applauded the +constitution, in the person of the king. It inspired with real +fanaticism that mass that judges of things by words alone, and believes +all that the law proclaims sacred to be imperishable. Not content with +crying _Vive le Roi_, they cried also _Vive sa Majeste;_ and the +acclamations of one part of the people thus avenged themselves on the +offences of the others, and revered those titles that a decree had +striven to efface. They even applauded the restoration of the royal +chair beside that of the president, and it seemed to the royalists that +this chair was a throne on which the people replaced the monarchy. The +king addressed them, standing and bareheaded; his speech reassured their +minds and touched their hearts; and if he lacked the language of +enthusiasm, he had at least the accent of sincerity. "In order," said +he, "that our labours may produce the beneficial results we have a right +to expect, it is necessary that a constant harmony and an unalterable +confidence should exist between the king and the legislative body. The +enemies of our repose will seek every opportunity to spread disunion +amongst us, but let the love of our country ally us, the public interest +render us inseparable. Thus, public power will unfold itself without +opposition, and the administration be harassed by no vain fears. The +property and the opinions of every man shall be protected, and no excuse +will remain for any one to live away from a country where the laws are +in force, and the rights of all respected." This allusion to the +emigres, and this indirect appeal to the king's brothers, caused a +sensation of joy and hope to pervade the ranks of the Assembly. + +The president Pastoret, a moderate constitutionalist, beloved alike by +the king and the people, because, with the doctrines of power, he +possessed the acuteness of the diplomatist and the language of the +constitution, replied,--"Sire, your presence in this assembly is a fresh +oath you take of fidelity to your country: the rights of the people were +forgotten and all power confused. A constitution is born, and with it +the liberty of France. As a citizen, it is your duty to cherish--as a +king, to strengthen and defend it. Far from shaking your power, it has +confirmed it, and has given you friends in those who formerly were +styled your subjects. You said a few days ago in this temple of our +country, that you have need of being beloved by all Frenchmen, and we +also have need of being beloved by you. The constitution has rendered +you the greatest monarch in the world; your attachment to it will place +your majesty amongst those kings most beloved by the people. Strong by +our union, we shall soon feel its salutary effects. To purify the +legislation, support public credit, and crush anarchy,--such is our +duty, such are our wishes. Such are yours, sire; and the blessing of the +French nation will be the recompence." + +This day awakened hope once more in the hearts of the king and queen. +They believed they had again found their subjects; and the people +believed that they had again found their king. All recollections of what +had passed at Varennes seemed buried in oblivion; and popularity had one +of those sudden blasts that drive away the clouds in the sky for a short +space, and deceive even those who have learnt to mistrust them. The +royal family wished to enjoy it, and to let Madame and the dauphin +profit by it; for these two infants knew nothing of the people save +their fury; they had alone seen the nation through the bayonets of the +6th of October,--the rags of the _emeute_,--of the dust of the return +from Varennes; the king wished they should now see them in a state of +tranquillity and affection for him, for he taught his son to love the +people, and not to avenge their offences towards him. In the pangs he +had suffered, the most bitter was rather the ingratitude of the nation, +than his own personal humiliations; for, to be misconstrued by the +nation, was, in his eyes, far more painful than to be persecuted by +them. One moment of justice on the part of public opinion made him +forget two years of outrage. He went that evening to the Theatre Italien +with the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and his children. The hopes to which +the events of the day had given rise--his words of that morning--the +expression of confidence and affection on his features--the beauty of +the two princesses--the infantine grace of his children, produced on the +spectators one of those impressions, where pity vies with respect, and +enthusiasm softens the heart into veneration. + +The theatre rang with applause mingled with sobs; every eye was fixed on +the royal box, as though in mute reparation for so many insults offered +to the king and his family. The populace can never resist the sight of +children, there are so many mothers in every crowd; the dauphin, a +lovely child, seated on the lap of his mother, and absorbed in the play, +repeated the gestures of the actors to his mother as though to explain +the piece to her. This careless tranquillity of innocence between the +two storms--this childish sport at the foot of a throne, so soon to +become a scaffold--this expansion of the heart of the queen, that had +been so long closed to joy and security, filled every eye with tears, +not excepting the king himself. + +There are moments in every revolution when the most furious and enraged +populace becomes gentle and compassionate; it is when it suffers nature +and not policy to sway it; and instead of being a people, it becomes a +man. Paris had such an instant: it was of short duration. + + +V. + +The Assembly was very anxious to re-acquire the public feeling of which +a momentary weakness had dispossessed it. It already blushed at its +moderation for a day, and was anxious to cast fresh jealousies between +the throne and the nation. A numerous party in the chamber was desirous +of pushing matters to extremities, and to tighten the cord of the +present posture of affairs until it snapped. For this purpose the party +required agitation; tranquillity by no means suited its designs. It had +ambitious desires as vast as its talents, ardent as its youth, impatient +as its thirst for advancement. The Constituent Assembly, composed of +reflective men of eminence in the state, and in the social hierarchy, +had but the ambition of advancing the ideas of liberty and fame; the new +Assembly had that of tumult, fortune, and power. Formed of obscure, +poor, and unknown men, it aspired to the acquisition of all in which it +was deficient. + +This latter party, of which Brissot was the journalist, Petion the +popular member, Vergniaud the genius, the party of the Girondists the +body, entered on the scene with the boldness and unity of a conspiracy. +It was the _bourgeoisie_ triumphant, envious, turbulent, eloquent, the +aristocracy of talent, desiring to acquire and control by itself alone +liberty, power, and the people. The Assembly was made up of unequal +portions of three elements; the constitutionalists, who formed the +aristocratic liberty and moderate monarchy party; the Girondists, the +party of the movement, sustained until the Revolution fell into their +hands; the Jacobins, the party of the people, and of philosophy in +action; the first arrangement and transition, the second boldness and +intrigue, the third fanaticism and devotion. Of these last two parties +the Jacobin was not the most hostile to the king. The aristocracy and +the clergy destroyed, that party had no repugnance to the throne; it +possessed in a high degree the instinct of the unity of power; it was +not the Jacobins who first demanded war, and who first uttered the word +republic, but it was the first who uttered and often repeated the word +_dictatorship_. The word _republic_ appertained to Brissot and the +Girondists. If the Girondists, on their coming in to the Assembly, had +united with the constitutional party in order to save the constitution +by moderate measures, and the Revolution by not urging it into war, they +would have saved their party and controlled the throne. The honesty in +which their leader was deficient was also wanting in their +conduct--they were all intrigue. They made themselves the agitators in +an assembly of which they might have been the statesmen. They had not +confidence in the republic, but feigned it. In revolutions sincere +characters are the only skilful characters. It is glorious to die the +victim of a faith; it is pitiful to die the dupe of one's ambition. + + +VI. + +Three causes of uneasiness agitated men's minds at the moment when the +Assembly opened its sittings--the clergy, emigration, and impending war. + +The Constituent Assembly had committed a gross error in stopping at a +half measure in reforming the clergy in France. Mirabeau himself had +been weak on this question. The Revolution was at the bottom only the +legitimate rising of political liberty against despotism, and of +religious liberty against the legal domination of Catholicism, because a +political institution. The constitution had emancipated the citizens, +and it was necessary to emancipate the faithful, and to claim +consciences for the state, in order to restore them to themselves, to +individual reason, and to God. This is what philosophy desired, which is +only the rational expression of the mind's impulses. + +The philosophers of the Constituent Assembly receded before the +difficulties of this labour. Instead of an emancipation, they made a +compact with the power of the clergy, the dreaded influences of the +court of Rome, and the inveterate habits of the people. They contented +themselves with relaxing the chain which bound the state to the church. +Their duty was to have snapped it asunder. The throne was chained to the +altar, they desired to chain the altar to the throne. It was only +displacing tyranny,--oppressing conscience by law instead of oppressing +the law by conscience. + +The civil constitution of the clergy was the expression of this +reciprocal false position. The clergy was deprived of these endowments +in landed estates, which decimated property and population in France. +They deprived it of its benefices, its abbeys, and its tithes--the +altar's feudality. It received in lieu an endowment in salaries levied +on the taxes. As the condition of this arrangement, which gave to the +working clergy an existence, influence, and a powerful body of ministers +of worship paid by the state, they required the clergy to take the oath +of the constitution. This constitution comprised articles which affected +the spiritual supremacy and administrative privileges of the court of +Rome. Catholicism became alarmed and protested; consciences were +disturbed. The Revolution, until then exclusively political, became +schism in the eyes of a portion of the clergy and the faithful. Amongst +the bishops and the priests, some took the civil oath, which was the +guarantee of their existence; others refused, or, after having taken it, +retracted. This gave rise to trouble in many minds, agitation in +consciences, division in the temples. The great majority of parishes had +two ministers,--the one a constitutional priest, salaried and protected +by the government, the other refractory, refusing the oath, deprived of +his income, driven from the church, and raising altar opposing altar in +some clandestine chapel, or in the open field. These two ministers of +the same worship excommunicated each other, the one in the name of the +constitution, and the other in the name of the Pope and of the church. +The population was also divided according to the greater or lesser +degree of revolutionary spirit prevailing in the province. In cities and +the more enlightened districts the constitutional worship was exercised +almost without dispute. In the open country and the less civilised +departments, the priest who had not taken the oath became a consecrated +tribune, who at the foot of the altar, or in the elevation of the +pulpit, agitated the people and inspired it, in all the horror of a +constitutional and schismatic priesthood, with hatred of the government +which protected it. This was not actually persecution or civil war, but +the sure prelude to both. + +The king had signed with repugnance and even constraint the civil +constitution of the clergy: but he had done so only as king, and +reserving to himself his liberty and the faith of his conscience. He was +Christian and Catholic in all the simplicity of the Gospel, and in all +the humility of obedience to the church. The reproaches he had received +from Rome for having ratified by his weakness the schism in France, +wounded his conscience and distracted his mind. He had never ceased to +negotiate officially or secretly with the pope, in order to obtain from +the head of the church either an indulgent concession to the necessities +of religion in France, or prudent temporising. It was on these terms +only that he could restore peace to his mind. Inexorable Rome had only +granted him its pity. Fulminating bulls were in circulation by the hands +of nonjuring priests, cast at the heads of the population, and only +stopping at the foot of the throne. The king trembled, to see them burst +one day on his own head. + +On the other hand, he felt that the nation, of which he was the +legitimate head, would never forgive him for sacrificing it to his +religious scruples. Placed thus between the menaces of Heaven and the +threats of his own people, he procrastinated with all his might the +denunciations of Rome and the votes of the Assembly. The Constitutional +Assembly understood this anxiety of the king's feelings and the dangers +of persecution. It had given time to the king, and displayed forbearance +to men's consciences: it had not intermeddled with the faith of the +simple believer, but left each at liberty to pray with the priest of his +choice. The king had been the first to avail himself of this liberty, +and had not thrown open the chapel of the Tuileries to the +constitutional worship. The choice of his confessor sufficiently +indicated the choice of his conscience. The man in him protested against +the political necessities which oppressed the monarch. The Girondists +wished to compel him to declare himself. If he yielded to them, he +infringed upon his dignity; if he resisted, he lost the remaining shreds +of his popularity. To compel him to decide was a great point for the +Girondists. + +The public feeling served their designs. Religious troubles began to +assume a political character. In ancient Brittany the conforming priests +became objects of the people's horror, and they fled from contact with +them. The nonjuring priests all retained their flocks. On Sundays large +bodies of many thousand souls were seen to follow their ancient pastors, +and go to chapels situated two or three leagues from any dwelling, or in +concealed hermitages, sanctuaries which had never been stained by the +ceremonies of a constitutional worship. At Caen blood had even flowed +in the very cathedral, where the nonjuring priest disputed the altar +with the conforming pastor. The same disorders threatened to spread over +all parts of the kingdom: every where were to be seen two pastors and a +divided flock. Resentment, which already displayed itself in insult, of +necessity soon arrived at bloodshed. The one half of the people, +disturbed in its faith, reverted to the aristocracy out of love for its +worship. The Assembly must thus alienate the popular element, which it +had so recently caused to triumph over royalty. It was highly necessary +to provide against this unexpected peril. + +There were only two means of extinguishing this flame at its source: +either by freedom of conscience, stoutly maintained by the executive +power, or persecution of the ministers of the ancient faith. The +undecided Assembly wavered between these two parties. On a report of +Gallois and Gensonne, sent as commissioners into the departments of the +west, to investigate the causes of the agitation and the feelings of the +people, the discussion commenced. Fauchet, a conforming priest and +celebrated preacher, subsequently constitutional bishop of Calvados, +opened the debate. He was one of those men who, beneath an +ecclesiastical garb, conceal the heart of a philosopher. Reformers from +feeling, priests by the state, sensible of the wide discrepancy between +their opinions and their character, a national religion, a revolutionary +Christianity, was the sole means remaining to them to reconcile their +interest and their policy: their faith, wholly academic, was only a +religious convenience. They desired to transform Catholicism insensibly +into a moral code, of which the dogma was now but a symbol, which, in +the people's eyes, comprised sacred truths; and which, gradually +stripped of holy fictions, would allow the human understanding to glide +insensibly into a symbolic deism, whose temple should be flesh, and +whose Christ should be hardly more than Plato rendered a divinity. +Fauchet had the daring mind of a sectarian and the intrepidity of a man +of resolution. + + +VII. + +"We are accused of a desire to persecute. It is calumny. No persecution. +Fanaticism is greedy of it, real religion repulses it, philosophy holds +it in horror. Let us beware of imprisoning the nonjurors; of exiling, +even of displacing them. Let them think, say, write all they please +against us. We will oppose our thoughts to their thoughts; our truths to +their errors; our charity to their hatred. Time will do the rest. But in +awaiting its infallible triumph we must find an efficacious and prompt +mode of hindering them from prevailing over weak minds, and propagating +ideas of a counter-revolution. A counter-revolution! This is not a +religion, gentlemen! Fanaticism is not compatible with liberty. Look +else at these ministers--they would have swum in the blood of patriots. +This is their own expression. Compared with these priests, atheists are +angels. (Applause.) However, I repeat, let us tolerate them, but do not +let us pay them. Let us not pay them to rend our country in pieces. It +is to this measure only that we should confine ourselves. Let us +suppress all salary from the national treasury to the nonjuring priests. +Nothing is due to them but in their clerical capacity. What service do +they render? They invoke ruin on our laws; and they say they follow +their consciences! Must we pay consciences which push them to the +extremity of crime against their country? The nation supports them: is +not that enough? They appeal to the article of the constitution, which +says, 'The salaries of the ministers of Catholic worship form a portion +of the national debt.' Are they ministers of the Catholic worship? Does +the state recognise any other Catholicity than its own? If they would +attempt any other it is open to them and their sectarians! The nation +allows all sorts of worship, but only pays one. And what a saving for +the nation to be freed from thirty millions (of francs), which she pays +annually to her most implacable enemies! (Bravo.) Why have we these +phalanx of priests, who have abjured their ministry? these legions of +canons and monks; these cohorts of abbes, friars, and beneficed clergy +of all sorts, who were not remarkable otherwise, except for their +pretensions, inutility, intrigues and licentious life; and are only so +to-day by their vindictive interference, their schemes, their unwearied +hatred of the Revolution? Why should we pay this army of dependents from +the funds of the nation? What do they do? They preach emigration, they +send coin from the realm, they foment conspiracies against us from +within and without. Go, say they to the nobility, and combine your +attacks with the foreigner; let blood flow in streams, provided that we +recover our privileges! This is their church! If hell had one on earth +it is thus that it would speak. Who shall say we ought to endow it?" + +Tourne, the constitutional bishop of Bourges, replied to the Abbe +Fauchet as Fenelon would have answered Bossuet. He proved that, in the +mouth of his adversary, toleration was fanatical and cruel. "You have +proposed to you violent remedies for the evils which anger can only +envenom; it is a sentence of starvation which is demanded of you against +our nonjuring brethren. Simple religious errors should be strangers to +the legislator. The priests are not guilty--they are only led astray. +When the eye of the law falls on these errors of the conscience, it +envenoms them. The best means of curing them is not to see them. To +punish by the pangs of hunger simple and venial errors, would be an +opprobrium to legislation--a horror in morals. The legislator leaves to +God the care of avenging his own glory, if he believe it violated by an +indecorous worship. Would you, in the name of tolerance, again create an +inquisition which would not have, like the other, the excuse of +fanaticism? What, gentlemen, would you transform into arbitrary +proscribers the founders of liberty? You will judge, you will exile, you +will imprison, _en masse_, men amongst whom, if there are some guilty, +there are still more innocent! Crimes are no longer individual, and +guilt would be decreed by category; but were they all and all equally +guilty, could you have the cruelty to strike, at the same time, this +multitude of heads; when under similar circumstances the most cruel +despots would be content with decimating them? What then have you to do? +One thing only: to be consistent, and found practical liberty and the +peaceable co-existence of different worships on the bases of tolerance. +Why do not our brethren of the priesthood enjoy the power of worshiping +beside us the same God--whilst in our cities, where we refuse them the +right of celebrating our holy mysteries, we allow heathens to celebrate +the mysteries of Iris and Osiris? Mahometans to invoke their prophet? +the rabbin to make his burnt-offerings? To what extent, I ask, shall +such strange tolerance be permissible? to what extent, I ask also, will +you push despotism and persecution? When the law shall have regulated +the civil arts, births, marriage, burial, with religious ceremonies, by +which Christians consecrate them; when the law will permit the same +sacrifice on two altars, with what consistency can it forbid the virtue +of the same sacraments? These temples, it will be repeated, are the +council-chambers of the factious. True, if they be rendered clandestine, +as the persecutors would make them; but if these temples be open and +free, the eye of the law will penetrate there and every where else: it +will be no longer religious worship, it will be crime they will watch +and detect--and what do you fear? Time is with you; this class of the +nonjurors will be extinct, and never renewed. A worship supported by +individuals, and not by the state, constantly tends to weaken itself; at +least, the factious, who are in their commencement animated by the +divinity of their faith, gradually become reconciled, and identify +themselves with the general freedom. Look at Germany--look at +Virginia--where opposite creeds mutually borrow the same sanctuaries, +and where different sects fraternise in the same patriotism. This is +what we should tend to; these are the principles which ought gradually +to implant themselves widely amongst a people: light ought to be the +great precursor of the law. Let us leave to despotism to prepare its +slaves for its commands by ignorance." + + +VIII. + +Ducos, a young and generous-hearted Girondist, with whom enthusiasm for +the honest carried him beyond the policy of his party, moved for the +printing of this speech. His voice was drowned amidst the applause and +murmurs which followed--a testimony of the indecision and impartiality +of men's minds. Fauchet replied at the next sitting, and pointed out the +connection between civil troubles and religious quarrels. "The priests," +he said, "are of unreasonable tyranny, which still maintains its hold on +consciences by the ill-broken thread of its power. It is a faction +'scotched, not killed'--it is the most dangerous of factions." + +Gensonne spake like a statesman, and counselled toleration towards +conscientious priests, and the repulsion by force of law of the +turbulent clergy. During this discussion, couriers daily arriving from +the country, brought news of fresh disorders. Every where the +constitutional priests were insulted, driven away, massacred at the foot +of the altars. The country churches, closed by order of the National +Assembly, were burst open by axes, the nonjuring priests returned to +them, urged by the fanaticism of the people. Three cities were besieged +and on the point of being burnt down by the country people. The +threatened civil war seemed the prelude to the counter-revolution. +"See," exclaimed Isnard, "whither the toleration and impunity you have +preached, conduct you!" + +Isnard, deputy of Provence, was the son of a perfumer of Grasse. His +father had educated him for a literary life, and not for business. He +had studied politics in the antiquities of Greece and Rome. He had in +his mind the idea of one of the Gracchi; he had his courage in his soul +and his tone in his voice. Still very young, his eloquence was as +fervent as his blood; his language was but the fire of his passion, +coloured by a southern imagination; his words poured forth like the +rapid bursts of impatience. He was the revolutionary impetus +personified. The Assembly followed him breathless, and with him arrived +at fury before it attained conviction. His discourses were magnificent +odes, which elevated discussion to lyric poetry, and enthusiasm to +convulsion; his action bespoke the tripod rather than the tribune. He +was the Danton of the Gironde, as Vergniaud was to become its Mirabeau. + + +IX. + +It was his maiden speech in the Assembly. "Yes," he said, "look at the +point to which impunity conducts us! It is always the source of great +crimes, and is now the sole cause of the disorganised state into which +society is plunged. The plans of toleration proposed to you are very +well for tranquil times; but can we tolerate those who will neither +tolerate the constitution nor the laws? Will it be when French blood has +at last stained the waves of the sea, that you will become sensible of +the dangers of indulgence? It is time that every thing is submitted to +the will of the nation; that tiaras, diadems, and censers should yield +to the sceptre of the laws. The facts you have just heard are but the +prelude of what is about to occur in the rest of the kingdom. Consider +the circumstances of these troubles, and you will see that they have the +effect of a disorganised system contemporary with the constitution. This +system was born there! (the orator pointed to the right) it is +sanctioned at the court of Rome. It is but a real fanaticism we have to +unmask--it is but hypocrisy! The priests are the privileged brawlers, +who ought to be punished by penalties more severe than mere private +individuals. Religion is an all-powerful weapon. 'The priest,' says +Montesquieu, 'takes the man from the cradle, and accompanies him to the +tomb;' is it then astonishing that he should have so much control over +the mind of the people, and that it is requisite to make laws, in order +that under a pretence of religion it should not trouble the public +peace? What should be the nature of such a law? I maintain that one only +can be efficacious, and that is banishment from the realm. (The tribunes +hailed this with loud applause.) Do you not see that it is necessary to +separate the factious priest from the people whom he misleads, and send +away these plague-spotted men to the lazarettos of Italy and Rome? I am +told that the measure is too severe. What!--you are then blind and mute +at all that occurs! Are you then ignorant that a priest can effect more +mischief than all your enemies? I am answered, 'Ah! you should not +persecute.' My answer is, that to punish is not to persecute. I answer +thus to those who repeat what I heard retorted here on the Abbe Maury, +that nothing is more dangerous than to make martyrs. This danger only +exists when you have to strike fanatics in earnest, or men really pious, +who believe the scaffold to be the nearest footstool to heaven. This is +not the present case; for if there be priests who earnestly reject the +constitution, they will not give any trouble to public order. Those who +really trouble it, are men who only weep over religion in order to +recover their lost privileges; those who should be punished without +pity; and be assured that you will not thereby augment the strength of +the emigrants: for we know that the priest is cowardly--as cowardly as +vindictive--that he knows no other weapon but superstition; and that, +accustomed to combat in the mysterious arena of confession, he is a +nullity in every other battle-field. The thunders of Rome will fall +harmless on the bucklers of liberty. The foes to your regeneration will +never grow weary; no, they will never grow weary of crimes, so long as +you leave them the means! You must overcome them, or be overcome by +them; and whosoever sees not this is blind. Open the page of history; +you will see the English sustaining for fifty years a disastrous war, in +order to maintain their revolution. You will see in Holland seas of +blood flowing in the war against Philip of Spain. When, in our times, +the Philadelphians would be free, have we not also seen war in the two +hemispheres? You have been witnesses of the recent outbreaks in Brabant, +and do you believe that your Revolution, which has snatched the sceptre +from despotism, and from aristocracy its privileges, from nobility its +pride, from the clergy its fanaticism--a Revolution which has dried up +so many golden sources from the grasp of the priesthood, torn so many +frocks, crushed so many theories--do you believe that such a Revolution +will absolve you? No--no!--this Revolution will have a _denouement_, and +I say--and with no intention of provocation--that we must advance boldly +towards this _denouement_. The more you delay, the more difficult and +blood-stained will be that triumph!" (Violent murmurs.) + +"But do you not see," resumed Isnard; "that all counter-revolutionists +are obstinate, and leave you no other part than that of vanquishing +them? It is better to have to contend against them, whilst the citizens +are still up and stirring, and well remember the perils they have +encountered, than to allow patriotism to grow cold! Is it not true that +already we are no longer what we were in the first year of liberty; +(some of the chamber applaud, whilst others disapprove). If fanaticism +had then raised its head, the law would have been subjected! Your policy +should be to compel victory to declare itself; drive your enemies to +extremities, and you Will have them return to you from fear, or you will +subdue them by the sword. Under important circumstances, prudence is a +weakness. It is especially with respect to rebels that you should be +decisive and severe; they should be hewn down as they rise. If time be +permitted to them to have meetings and earnest partisans, then they +spread over the empire like an irresistible torrent. It is thus that +despotism acts, and it was thus that one individual kept beneath his +yoke a whole nation. If Louis XVI. had employed this great means whilst +the Revolution was but yet in its cradle, we should not now be here! +This rigour, the vice of a despot, is the virtue of a nation. +Legislators, who shrink from such extreme means, are cowards--criminals: +for when the public liberty is assailed, to pardon is to share the +crime. (Great applause.) + +"Such rigour might perchance cost an effusion of blood? I know it! But +if you do not make use of it, will not more blood flow? Is not civil war +a still greater misfortune? Cut off the gangrened member to save the +whole frame.[10] Indulgence is the snare into which you are tempted. You +will find yourselves abandoned by the nation for not having dared to +sustain, nor known how to defend, it. Your enemies will hate you no +less. Your friends will lose confidence in you. The law is my God: I +have no other--the public good, that is my worship! You have already +struck the emigrants--again a decree against the refractory priests, and +you will have gained over ten millions of arms! My decree would be +comprised in two words: compel every Frenchman, priest or not, to take +the civil oath, and ordain that every man who will not sign shall be +deprived of all salary or pension. Sound policy would decree that every +one who does not sign the contract should leave the kingdom. What proofs +against the priest do we require? If there be but a complaint lodged +against the priest by the citizen with whom he lives, let him be at once +expelled! As to those against whom the penal code shall pronounce +punishment more severe than exile, there is but one sentence left: +_Death!_!" + + +X. + +This oration, which pushed patriotism even to impiety, and made of the +public safety an implacable deity, to which even the innocent were to be +sacrificed, excited a frantic enthusiasm in the ranks of the Girondist +party, a bitter indignation amongst the moderate party. "To propose the +printing of such a speech," said Lecos, a constitutional bishop, "is to +propose the printing of a code of atheism. It is impossible that a +society can exist, if it have not an immutable morality derived from the +idea of a God." Derisive sneers and murmurings hailed this religious +protest. The decree against the priests, presented by Francois de +Neufchateau, and adopted by the legislative committee, was couched in +these terms:--"Every ecclesiastic not taking the oaths is required to +present himself before the expiration of the week at his municipality, +and there take the civil oath. + +"Those who shall refuse are not entitled in future to receive any +allowance or pension from the public treasury. + +"Every year there shall be an aggregate made of those pensions which the +priests have forfeited, and this sum shall be divided amongst the +eighty-three departments, to be employed in charitable works, and in +giving succour to the indigent. + +"These priests shall be, moreover, from their simple refusal of the +oath, reputed as suspected of rebellion and specially _surveilles_. + +"They may in consequence thereof be sent from their domicile, and +another be assigned to them. + +"If they refuse to change their domicile when called upon to do so, they +shall be imprisoned. + +"The churches employed for the paid worship of the state, cannot be +devoted to any other service. Citizens may hire other churches or +chapels, and exercise their worship therein. But this permission is +forbidden to nonjuring priests suspected of revolt." + + +XI. + +This decree, which created more fanaticism than it repressed, and which +accorded freedom of worship not as a right but as a favour, saddened +the heart of the faithful; and the revolt in La Vendee, and persecution +every where, followed. Suspended as a fearful weapon over the conscience +of the king, it was sent for his assent. + +The Girondists were delighted at thus keeping the wretched monarch +between their law and his own faith--schismatic if he recognised the +decree, and a traitor to the nation if he refused it. Conquerors in this +victory, they advanced towards another. + +After having forced the king to strike at the religion of his +conscience, they wished to force him to deal a blow at the nobility and +his own brothers. They renewed the question of the emigrants. The king +and his ministers had anticipated them. Immediately after the acceptance +of the constitution, Louis XVI. had formally renounced all conspiracy, +interior or exterior, in order to recover his power. The omnipotence of +opinion had convinced him of the vanity of all the plans submitted to +him for crushing it. The momentary tranquillity of spirits after so many +shocks, the reception he had met with in the Assembly, the +Champ-de-Mars, in the theatre,--the freedom and honours restored to him +in his palace, had persuaded him that, if the constitution had some +fanatics, royalty had no implacable enemies in his kingdom. He believed +the constitution easy of execution in many of its provisions, and +impracticable in others. The government which they imposed on him seemed +to him as a philosophical experiment which they desired to make with +their king. He only forgot one thing, and that is, the experiments of a +people are catastrophes. A king who accepts the terms of a government +which are impossible, accepts his own overthrow by anticipation. A +well-considered and voluntary abdication is more regal than that daily +abdication which is undergone in the degradation of power. A king saves, +if not his life, at least his dignity. It is more suitable to majesty +royal to descend by its own will, than to be cast down headlong. From +the moment when the king is king no longer, the throne becomes the last +place in the kingdom. + +Be this as it may, the king frankly declared to his ministers his +intention of legally executing the constitution, and of associating +himself unreservedly and without guile to the will and destiny of the +nation. The queen, by one of those sudden and inexplicable changes in +the heart of woman, threw herself, with the trust of despair, into the +party of the constitution. "Courage," she said to M. Bertrand de +Molleville, minister and confidant of the king: "Courage! I hope, with +patience, firmness, and perseverance, that all is not lost." + +The minister of marine, Bertrand de Molleville, wrote, by the king's +orders, to the commandants of the ports a letter, signed by the +king:--"I am informed," he said, in this circular, "that emigrations in +the navy are fast increasing. How is it that the officers of a service +always so dear to me, and which has invariably given me proofs of its +attachment, are so mistaken at what is due to their country, to me, and +to themselves! This extreme step would have seemed to me less surprising +some time since, when anarchy was at its height, and when its +termination was unseen; but now, when the nation desires to return to +order and submission to the laws, is it possible that generous and +faithful sailors can think of separating from their king? Tell them to +remain where their country calls them. The precise execution of the +constitution is to-day the surest means of appreciating its advantages, +and of ascertaining what is wanting to make it perfect. It is your king +who desires you to remain at your posts as he remains at his. You would +have considered it a crime to resist his orders, you will not refuse his +prayers." + +He wrote to general officers, and to commandants of the land +forces:--"In accepting the constitution, I have promised to maintain it +within, and defend it against enemies without; this solemn act should +banish all uncertainty. The law and the king are henceforth identified. +The enemy of the law becomes that of the king. I cannot consider those +sincerely devoted to my person who abandon their country at the moment +when it has the greatest need of their services. Those only are attached +to me who follow my example and unite with me for the public weal, and +remain inseparable from the destiny of the empire!" + +Finally, he ordered M. de Lessart, the minister for foreign affairs, to +publish the following proclamation, addressed to the French +emigrants:--"The king," thus it ran, "informed that a great number of +French emigrants are withdrawing to foreign lands, cannot see without +much grief such an emigration. Although the law permits to all citizens +a free power to quit the kingdom, the king is anxious to enlighten them +as to their duties, and the distress they are preparing for themselves. +If they think, by such means, to give me a proof of their affection, let +them be undeceived; my real friends are those who unite with me in order +to put the laws in execution, and re-establish order and peace in the +kingdom. When I accepted the constitution, I was desirous of putting an +end to civil discord--I believed that all Frenchmen would second my +intentions. However, it is at this moment that emigration is increasing: +some depart because of the disturbances which have threatened their +lives and property. Ought we not to pardon the circumstances? Have not I +too my sorrows? And when I forget mine, can any one remember his perils? +How can order be again established if those interested in it abandon it +by abandoning themselves? Return, then, to the bosom of your country: +come and give to the laws the support of good citizens. Think of the +grief your obstinacy will give to the king's heart; they would be the +most painful he could experience." + +The Assembly was not blinded by these manifestations; it saw beneath a +secret design of escaping from the severest measures; it was desirous of +compelling the king to carry them out, and, let us add, the nation and +the public safety also required it. + + +XII. + +Mirabeau had treated the question of the emigration of the Constituent +Assembly rather as a philosopher than a statesman. He had disputed with +the legislator the right of making laws against emigration: he was +mistaken. Whenever a theory is in contradiction to the welfare of +society it is because that theory is false, for society is the supreme +truth. + +Unquestionably in ordinary times, man is not imprisoned by nature, and +ought not to be by the law, within the frontiers of his native land; +and, with this view, the laws against emigration should only be +exceptional laws. But, because exceptional, are these laws therefore +unjust? Evidently not. The public danger has its peculiar laws, as +necessary and as just as laws made in a time of security. A state of war +is not a state of peace. You shut your frontiers to strangers in war +time; you may close them to your citizens. A city is legally put in a +state of siege during a sedition. We can put the nation in a state of +siege in case of external danger co-existent with internal conspiracy. +By what absurd abuse of liberty can a state be constrained to tolerate +on a foreign soil gatherings of citizens armed against itself, which it +would not tolerate in its own land? And if these gatherings should be +culpable without, why should the state be interdicted from shutting up +those roads which lead emigrants to these gatherings? A nation defends +itself from its foreign enemies by arms, from its internal foes by its +laws. To act otherwise would be to consecrate without the country the +inviolability of conspiracies which were punished within: it would be to +proclaim the legality of civil war, provided it was mixed up with +foreign war, and that sedition was covered by treason. Such maxims ruin +a whole people's nationality, in order to protect abuse of liberty by +certain citizens. The Constituent Assembly was so wrong as to sanction +such. Had it proclaimed from the beginning the laws repressive of +emigration in troubled times, during revolutions, or on the eve of war, +it would have proclaimed a national truth, and prevented one of the +great dangers and principal causes of the excesses of the Revolution. +The question now was no longer to be treated with reason, but by +vindictive feelings. The imprudence of the Constituent Assembly had left +this dangerous weapon in the hands of parties who were about to turn it +against the king. + + +XIII. + +Brissot, the inspirer of the Gironde, the dogmatic statesman of a party +which needed ideas and a leader, ascended the tribune in the midst of +anticipated plaudits, which betokened his importance in the new +Assembly. His voice was for war, as the most efficacious of laws. + +"If," said he, "it be really desired to check the tide of emigration, we +must more particularly punish the more elevated offenders, who establish +in foreign lands a centre of counter-revolution. We should distinguish +three classes of emigrants; the brothers of the king, unworthy of +belonging to him,--the public functionaries, deserting their posts and +deluding citizens,--and finally, the simple citizens, who follow example +from imitation, weakness, or fear. You owe hate and banishment to the +first, pity and indulgence to the others. How can the citizens fear you, +when the impunity of their chiefs insures their own? Have you then two +scales of weights and measures? What can the emigrants think, when they +see a prince, after having squandered 40,000,000 (of francs) in ten +years, still receive from the National Assembly more millions, in order +to provide for his extravagance and pay his debts? + +"Divide the interests of the rebellious by alarming the prime criminals. +Patriots are still amused by paltry palliatives against emigration; the +partisans of the court have thus trifled with the credulity of the +people, and you have seen even Mirabeau deriding those laws, and telling +you they would never be put into execution, because a king would not +himself become the accuser of his own family. Three years without +success, a wandering and unhappy life, their intrigues frustrated, their +conspiracies overthrown, all these defeats have not cured the emigrants; +their hearts were corrupted from the cradle. Would you check this +revolt? then strike the blow on the other side of the Rhine: it is not +in France. It was by such decided steps that the English prevented James +II. from impeding the establishment of their liberty. They did not amuse +themselves with framing petty laws against emigration, but demanded that +foreign princes should drive the English princes from their dominions. +(Applause.) The necessity of this measure was seen here from the first. +Ministers will talk to you of considerations of state, family reasons; +these considerations, these weaknesses cover a crime against liberty. +The king of a free people has no family. Again, I counsel you attack the +leaders only; let it no longer be said, 'These malcontents are then very +strong; these 25,000,000 of men must then be very weak thus to consider +them.' + +"It is to foreign powers especially that you should address your demands +and your menaces. It is time to show to Europe what you are, and to +demand of it an account of the outrages you have received from it. I say +it is necessary to compel those powers to reply to us, one of two +things; either they will render homage to our constitution, or they +will declare against it. In the first place, you have not to balance, it +is necessary that you should assail the powers that dare to threaten +you. In the last century when Portugal and Spain lent an asylum to James +II., England attacked both. Have no fears--the image of liberty, like +the head of Medusa, will affright the armies of our enemies; they fear +to be abandoned by their soldiers, and that is why they prefer the line +of expectation, and an armed mediation. The English constitution and an +aristocratic liberty will be the basis of the reforms they will propose +to you, but you will be unworthy of all liberty if you accept yours at +the hands of your enemies. The English people love your Revolution; the +emperor fears the force of your arms: as to this empress of Russia, +whose aversion to the French constitution is well known, and who in some +degree resembles Elizabeth, she cannot hope for success more brilliant +than had Elizabeth against Holland. It is with difficulty that slaves +are subjugated fifteen hundred leagues off; they cannot enslave free men +at this distance. I will not condescend to speak of other princes; they +are not worthy of being included in the number of your serious enemies. +I believe then that France ought to elevate its hopes and its attitude. +Unquestionably you have declared to Europe that you will not attempt any +more conquests, but you have a right to say to it, 'Choose between +certain rebels and a nation.'" + + +XIV. + +This discourse, although in several parts very contradictory, proved +that Brissot had the intention of playing three parts in one, and of +captivating at once the three parties in the Assembly. In his +philosophical principles he affected the tone of a moderator, and +repeated the axioms of Mirabeau against the laws relative to +expatriation; in his attack on the princes he included the king, and +held him up to the people as an object of suspicion; and lastly, in his +denunciation of the diplomacy of the ministers, he urged them to a war +_a l'outrance_, and displayed in this measure the energy of a patriot +and the foresight of a statesman; for in case war should be the result, +he did not conceal from himself the jealousy of the nation against the +court, and he knew that the first act of open war would be to declare +the king a traitor to his country. + +This speech placed Brissot at the head of the conspirators of the +Assembly; he brought to the young and untried party of the Gironde his +reputation as a public writer, and a man who had had ten years' +experience of the factions; the audacity of his policy flattered their +impatience, and the austerity of his language made them believe in the +depth of his designs. Condorcet, the friend of Brissot, and, like him, +devoured by insatiable and unscrupulous ambition, mounting the tribune, +merely commented on the preceding discourse, and concluded, like +Brissot, by summoning the powers to pronounce for or against the +constitution, and demanded the renewal of the _corps diplomatique_. + +This discourse was visibly concerted, and it was evident that a party, +already formed, took possession of the tribune, and was about to +arrogate to itself the dominion of the Assembly. Brissot was its +conspirator, Condorcet its philosopher, Vergniaud its orator. Vergniaud +mounted the tribune, with all the _prestige_ of his marvellous +eloquence, the fame of which had long preceded him. The eager looks of +the Assembly, the silence that prevailed, announced in him one of the +great actors of the revolutionary drama, who only appear on the stage to +win themselves popularity, to intoxicate themselves with applause, +and--to die. + + +XV. + +Vergniaud, born at Limoges, and an advocate at the bar of Bordeaux, was +now in his thirty-third year, for the revolutionary movement had seized +on and borne him along with its currents when very young. His dignified, +calm, and unaffected features announced the conviction of his power. +Facility, that agreeable concomitant of genius, had rendered alike +pliable his talents, his character, and even the position he assumed. A +certain _nonchalance_ announced that he easily laid aside these +faculties from the conviction of his ability to recover all his forces +at the moment when he should require them. His brow was contemplative, +his look composed, his mouth serious and somewhat sad; the deep +inspiration of antiquity was mingled in his physiognomy with the smiles +and the carelessness of youth. At the foot of the tribune he was loved +with familiarity; as he ascended it each man was surprised to find that +he inspired him with admiration and respect; but at the first words that +fell from the speaker's lips they felt the immense distance between the +man and the orator. He was an instrument of enthusiasm, whose value and +whose place was in his inspiration. This inspiration, heightened by the +deep musical tones of his voice, and an extraordinary power of language, +had drunk in deep draughts at the purest sources of antiquity; his +sentences had all the images and harmony of poesy, and if he had not +been the orator of a democracy he would have been its philosopher and +its poet. His genius, devoted to the people, yet forbade him to descend +to the language of the people, even to flatter them. All his passions +were noble as his words, and he adored the Revolution as a sublime +philosophy destined to ennoble the nation without immolating on its +altars other victims than prejudices and tyranny. He had doctrines, and +no hatreds; the thirst of glory, and not of ambition,--nay, power +itself, was in his eyes, too real, too vulgar a thing for him to aim at, +and he disdained it for himself, and alone sought it for his ideas. +Glory and posthumous fame were his objects alone; he mounted the tribune +to behold them, and he beheld them later from the scaffold; and he +plunged into the future, young, handsome, immortal in the annals of +France, with all his enthusiasm, and some few stains, already effaced in +his generous blood. Such was the man whom nature had given to the +Girondists as their chief. He disdained the office, although he +possessed all the qualities and the views, of a statesman; too careless +to be the leader of a party, too great to be second to any one. Such was +Vergniaud,--more illustrious than useful to his friends; he would not +lead, but immortalised, them. + +We will describe this great man more in detail at the period when his +talent places him in a more conspicuous situation. "Are there +circumstances," said he "in which the natural rights of man can permit a +nation to adopt any measure against emigrations?" Vergniaud spoke +against those pretended natural rights, and recognised, above all +individual rights, the right of society, which comprises and dominates +over all, just as the whole predominates over a portion: he compared +political liberty to the right of a citizen to do what he pleases, +provided he do nothing injurious to his country; but there he stops. Man +can, no doubt, materially use this right to abdicate the country in +which he was born and to which he belongs, as the limb belongs to the +body, but this abdication is treason; for it severs the union between +the nation and himself, and the nation no longer owes him or his +property any protection. After having on this principle destroyed the +puerile distinction between the functionary and the mere emigrant, he +proved that society falls into decay if she refuse herself the right of +retaining those who forsake her in her hour of danger and difficulty. +When she gave him all the universe for his country, she refused him that +which gave him birth. But what will be the consequence if this emigrant, +ceasing to play merely the part of a cowardly fugitive, becomes a foe, +and, assembling with his fellow-traitors, surrounds the nation with a +band of conspirators? What, shall attack be permitted to the emigres, +and good citizens forbidden to defend themselves? + + +XVI. + +"But," continued he, "is France in this situation that she ought to fear +from these men, who are about to excite all the ancient hatreds of the +foreign courts against us? No; we shall soon see these proud mendicants, +who are now receiving the roubles of Catherine and the millions of +Holland, expiate in shame and misery the crimes their pride has entailed +on them. Moreover these kings hesitate to attack us; they know that, to +the spirit of philosophy that has infused into us the breath of liberty, +there are no Pyrenees; they dread that the foot of their soldiers should +touch a soil that blazes with this holy flame; they tremble, lest on the +day of battle the patriots of every country should recognise each other, +and two armies ready to combat be converted into a band of brethren, +united against their tyrants. But should it be necessary to appeal to +arms, we well remember that a thousand Greeks, combating for liberty, +trampled on a million of Persians. + +"We are told 'the emigres have no evil designs against their country; it +is only a temporary absence: where are the legal proofs of what you +assert? when you produce them it be time enough to punish the guilty.' +Oh you who use such language, why were you not in the Roman senate when +Cicero denounced Catiline? You would have asked him for the legal proof. +I can picture his astonishment to myself: whilst he sought for proofs +Rome would have been sacked, and you and Catiline have reigned over a +heap of ruins. Legal proofs! And have you calculated the blood they will +cost you to obtain? Now let us forestall our enemies, by adopting +rigorous measures; let us rid the nation of this swarm of insects, +greedy of its blood,--by whom it is pursued and tormented. But what +should these measures be? In the first place seize on the property of +the absentees. This is but a petty measure you will say. What matter its +importance or its insignificancy, so that it be just. As for the +officers who have deserted, the _Code penal_ prescribes their +fate--death and infamy. The French princes are even more culpable; and +the summons to return to their country, which it is proposed to address +to them, is neither sufficient for your honour nor your safety. Their +attempts are openly made; either they must tremble before you, or you +must tremble before them; you must choose. Men talk of the profound +grief this will cause the king: Brutus immolated his guilty offspring at +the shrine of his country, but the heart of Louis XVI. shall not be put +to so severe a trial. If these princes, alike bad brothers and citizens, +refuse to obey, let him turn to the hearts of the French nation, and +they will amply repay his losses." (Loud applause.) + +Pastoret, who spoke after Vergniaud, quoted the saying of Montesquieu, +"_There is a time when it is necessary to cast a veil over the statue of +Liberty, as we conceal the statues of the Gods_." To be ever on the +watch, and to fear nothing, should be the maxim of every free people. He +concluded by proposing repressive, but moderate and gradual measures, +against the absentees. + + +XVII. + +Isnard declared that the measures proposed until then were satisfactory +to prudence, but not to justice, and the vengeance which an outraged +nation owed to itself; and he thus continued:-- + +"If I am allowed to speak the truth, I shall say, that if we do not +punish all these heads of the rebellion, it is not that we do not know, +at the bottom of our hearts, that they are guilty, but because they are +princes; and, although we have destroyed the nobility and distinctions +of blood, these vain phantoms still affect our minds. Ah! it is time +that this great level of equality, which has passed over France, should +at length take its full effect. Then only will they believe in our +equality. You should fear by this evidence of impunity that you may urge +the people to excesses. The anger of the people is but too often the +sequel to the silence of the laws. The law should enter the palaces of +the great, as well as in the hovel of the poor, and as inexorable as +death, when it falls upon the guilty, should make no distinction between +ranks and titles. They try to lull you to sleep. I tell you that the +nation should watch incessantly. Despotism and aristocracy do not sleep; +and if nations doze but for a moment, they awake in fetters. If the fire +of heaven was in the power of men, it should be darted at those who +attempt the liberties of the people: thus, the people never pardon +conspirators against their liberties. When the Gauls scaled the walls of +the capital, Manlius awoke, hastened to the breach, and saved the +republic. That same Manlius, subsequently accused of conspiring against +public liberty, was cited before the tribunes. He presented bracelets, +javelins, twelve civic crowns, thirty spoils torn from conquered +enemies, and his breast scarred with cicatrices; he reminded them that +he had saved Rome, and yet the sole reply was to cast him headlong from +the same rock whence he had precipitated the Gauls. These, sirs, were a +free people. + +"And we, since the day we acquired our liberty, have not ceased to +pardon our patricians their conspiracies, have not ceased to recompense +their crimes by sending them chariots of gold: as for me, if I voted +such gifts, I should die of remorse. The people contemplate and judge +us, and on their sentence depends the destiny of our labours. Cowards, +we lose the public confidence; firm, our enemies would be disconcerted. +Do not then sully the sanctity of the oath, by making it pause in +deference before mouths thirsting for our blood. Our enemies will swear +with one hand, whilst with the other they will sharpen their swords +against us." + +Each violent sentence in this harangue excited in the Assembly and the +tribunes those displays of public feeling which found expression in loud +applause. It was felt that, for the future, the only line of policy +would be in the anger of the nation; that the time for philosophy in the +tribune was passed, and that the Assembly would not be slow in throwing +aside principles in order to take up arms. + +The Girondists, who did not wish that Isnard should have gone so far, +felt that it was necessary to follow him whithersoever popularity should +lead him. In vain did Condorcet defend his proposition for a delay of +the decree. The Assembly, in a report brought up by Ducastel, adopted +the decree of its legislative committee. The principal clauses were, +that the French, assembled on the other side of the frontiers, should +be, from that moment, declared actuated by conspiracy towards France; +that they should be declared actual conspirators, if they did not return +before the 1st of January, 1792, and as such punished with death; that +the French princes, brothers of the king, should be punishable with +death, like other emigrants, if they did not obey the summons thus sent +to them; that, for the present, their revenues should be sequestrated; +and, finally, that those military and naval officers who abandoned their +posts without leave, or their resignation being accepted, should be +considered as deserters, and punished with death. + + +XVIII. + +These two decrees struck terror to the heart of the king, and +consternation to his council. The constitution gave him the right of +suspending them by the royal _veto_; but to suspend the effects of the +national indignation against the armed enemies of the Revolution, was to +invoke it on his own head. The Girondists artfully fomented these +elements of discord between the Assembly and the king. They impatiently +awaited until the refusal to sanction the decrees should urge irritation +to its height, and force the king to fly or place himself in their +hands. + +The most monarchical spirit of the Constituent Assembly still reigned in +the Directory of the department of Paris. Desmeuniers, Baumetz, +Talleyrand-Perigord, Larochefoucauld, were the principal members. They +drew up an address to the king, entreating him to refuse his sanction to +the decree against the nonjuring priests. This address, in which the +Legislative Assembly was treated with much disdain, breathes the true +spirit of government as regards religious matters. It is comprised in +the axiom which is or ought to be the code of all consciences, "Since no +religion is a law, let no religion be a crime!" + +A young writer whose name, already celebrated, was to be hereafter +consecrated by martyrdom, Andre Chenier, considering the question in the +highest strain of philosophy, published on the same subject a letter +worthy of posterity. It is the property of genius not to allow its views +to be obscured by the prejudices of the moment. Its gaze is too lofty +for vulgar errors to deprive it of the ever-during light of truth. It +has by anticipation in its decisions the impartiality of the future. + +"All those," says Andre Chenier, "who have preserved the liberty of +their reason, and in whom patriotism is not a violent desire for rule, +see with much pain that the dissensions of the priests have of necessity +occupied the first sittings of the Assembly. It is true that the public +mind is enlightened on this point, on which even the Constituent +Assembly itself is deceived. It has pretended to form a civil code of +religion, that is to say, it had the idea of creating one priesthood +after having destroyed another. Of what consequence is it that one +religion differs from another? Is it for the National Assembly to +reunite the divided sects, and weigh all their differences? Are +politicians theologians? We shall only be delivered from the influence +of these men when the National Assembly shall have maintained for each +the perfect liberty of following or inventing whatsoever religion may +please it; when every one shall pay for the worship he prefers to adopt, +and pays for no other; and when the impartiality of tribunals, in such +cases, shall punish alike the persecutors or the seditious of all forms +of worship: and the members of the National Assembly say also, that all +the French people are not yet sufficiently ripe for this doctrine. We +must reply to them,--this may be, but it is for you to ripen us by your +words, your acts, your laws! Priests do not trouble states when states +do not disturb them. Let us remember that eighteen centuries have seen +all the Christian sects, torn and bleeding from theological absurdities +and sacerdotal hatreds, always terminate by arming themselves with +popular power." + +This letter passed over the heads of the parties who disputed the +conscience of the people; but the petition of the Directory of Paris, +which demanded the _veto_ of the king against the decrees of the +Assembly, produced violent opposition petitions. For the first time, +Legendre, a butcher of Paris, appeared at the bar of the Assembly, where +he vociferated in oratorical strain the imprecations of the people +against the enemies of the nation and crowned traitors. Legendre decked +his trivial ideas in high-sounding language. From this junction of +vulgar ideas with the ambitious expressions of the tribune sprung that +strange language in which the fragments of thought are mingled with the +tinsel of words, and thus the popular eloquence of the period resembles +the ill-combined display at an extravagant _parvenu_. The populace was +proud at robbing the aristocracy of its language, even to turn it +against them; but whilst it filched, it soiled it. "Representatives," +said Legendre, "bid the eagle of victory and fame to soar over your +heads and ours; say to the ministers, We love the people,--let your +punishment begin: the tyrants must die!" + + +XIX. + +Camille Desmoulins, the Aristophanes of the Revolution, then borrowed +the sonorous voice of the Abbe Fauchet, in order to make himself heard. +Camille Desmoulins was the Voltaire of the streets; he struck on the +chord of passion by his sarcasms. "Representatives," said he, "the +applauses of the people are its civil list: the inviolability of the +king is a thing most infinitely just, for he ought, by nature, to be +always in opposition to the general will and our interest. One does not +voluntarily fall from so great a height. Let us take example from God, +whose _commandments are never impossible_; let us not require from the +_ci-devant_ sovereign an _impossible love_ of the national sovereignty; +is it not very natural that he should give his _veto_ to the best +decrees? But let the magistrates of the people--let the Directory of +Paris--let the same men, who, four months since, in the Champ-de-Mars, +fired upon the citizens who were signing a petition against one decree, +inundate the empire with a petition, which is evidently but the first +page of a vast register of counter-revolution, a subscription to civil +war, sent by them for signature to all the fanatics, all the idiots, all +the slaves, all the robbers of the eighty-three departments, at the head +of which are the exemplary names of the members of the Directory of +Paris--fathers of their country! There is in this such a complication of +ingratitude and fraud, prevarication and perverseness, philosophical +hypocrisy and perfidious moderation, that on the instant we rally round +the decrees and around yourselves. Continue faithful, mandatories, and +if they obstinately persist in not permitting you to save the nation, +well, then, we will save it ourselves! For at last the power of the +royal _veto_ will have a term, and the taking of the Bastille is not +prevented by a _veto_. + +"For a long while we have been in possession of the civism of our +Directory, when we saw it in an incendiary proclamation, not only again +open the evangelical pulpits to the priests, but the seditious tribunes +to conspirators in surplices! Their address is a manifesto tending to +degrade the constitutional powers: it is a collective petition--it is an +incentive to civil war, and the overthrow of the constitution. Assuredly +we are no admirers of the representative government, of which we think +with J. J. Rousseau; and if we like certain articles but little, still +less do we like civil war. So many grounds of accusation! The crime of +these men is settled. Strike, then! If the head sleeps, shall the arm +act? Raise not that arm again; do not rouse the national club only to +crush insects. A Varnier or De Latre! Did Cato and Cicero accuse +Cethegus or Catiline? It is the leaders we should assail. Strike at the +head." + +This strain of irony and boldness, less applauded by the clapping of +hands than by shouts of laughter, delighted the tribunes. They voted the +sending of the _proces verbal_ of the meeting into every department. It +was legislatively elevating a pamphlet to the dignity of a public act, +and to distribute ready-made insult to the citizens, that they might +have a supply to vent against public authority. The king trembled before +the pamphleteer; he felt from this first treatment of his baffled +prerogative that the constitution would crumble in his hands each time +that he dared to make use of it. + +The next day the constitutional party in greater force at the meeting +recalled the sending of this pamphlet to the departments. Brissot was +angry in his journal, the _Patriote Francais_. It was there and at the +Jacobins more than in the tribune, that he gave instructions to his +party, and allowed the idea of a republic to escape him. Brissot had not +the properties of an orator: his dogged spirit, sectarian and arbitrary, +was fitter for conspiracy than action: the ardour of his mind was +excessive, but concentrated. He shed neither those lights nor those +flames which kindle enthusiasm--that explosion of ideas. It was the lamp +of the Gironde party; it was neither its beacon nor its torch. + + +XX. + +The Jacobins, weakened for a time by the great number of their members +elected to the Legislative Assembly, remained for a brief space without +a fixed course to pursue, like an army disbanded after victory. The club +of the Feuillants, composed of the remains of the constitutional party +in the Constituted Assembly, strove to resume the ascendency over the +mind of the people. Barnave, Lameth, and Duport were the leaders of this +party. Fearful of the people, and convinced that an Assembly without any +thing to counterbalance it would inevitably absorb the poor remnant of +the monarchy, this party wished to have two chambers and an equally +poised constitution. Barnave, whose repentance had led him to join this +party, remained at Paris, and had secret interviews with Louis XVI.; but +his counsels, like those of Mirabeau in his latter days, were but vain +regrets, for the Revolution was beyond their power to control, and no +longer obeyed them. They yet, however, maintained some influence over +the constituted bodies of Paris, and the resolutions of the king, who +could not bring himself to believe that these men, who yesterday were +so powerful against it, were to-day destitute of influence; and they +formed his last hope against the new enemies he saw in the Girondists. + +The national guard, the directory of the department of Paris! the mayor +of Paris himself, Bailly, and all that party in the nation who wished to +maintain order, still supported them--theirs was the party of repentance +and terror. M. de La Fayette, Madame de Staeel, and M. de Narbonne, had a +secret understanding with the Feuillants, and a part of the press was on +their side. These papers sought to render M. de Narbonne popular, and to +obtain for him the post of minister of war. The Girondist papers already +excited the anger of the people against this party. Brissot sowed the +seeds of calumny and suspicion: he denounced them to the hatred of the +nation. "Number them--name them," said he; "their names denounce them; +they are the relics of the dethroned aristocracy, who would fain +resuscitate a constitutional nobility, establish a second legislative +chamber and a senate of nobles, and who implore, in order to gain their +ends, the armed intervention of the powers. They have sold themselves to +the Chateau de Tuileries, and sell there a great portion of the members +of the Assembly; they have amongst them neither men of genius nor men of +resolution; their talent is but treason, their genius but intrigue." + +It was thus that the Girondists and the Jacobins, though at this moment +beaten, prepared those enmities against the Feuillants that, at no +remote period, were destined to disperse the club. Whilst the Girondists +followed this course, the royalists continually urged the people to +excesses through the medium of their papers, in order, as they said, to +find a remedy for the evil in the evil itself. Thus they encouraged the +Jacobins against the Feuillants, and heaped ridicule and insult on those +leaders of the constitutional party who sought to save a remnant of the +monarchy; for that which they detested most was the success of the +revolution. Their doctrine of absolute power was less humiliatingly +contradicted in their eyes by the overthrow of the empire and throne, +than in the constitutional monarchy that preserved at once the king and +liberty. Since the aristocracy lost the possession of the supreme power, +its sole ambition--its only aim--was to see it fall into the hands of +those most unworthy to hold it. Incapable of again rising by its own +force, it sought to find in disorder the means of so doing; and from the +first day of the Revolution to the last, this party had no other +instinct, and it was thus that it ruined itself whilst it ruined the +monarchy. It carried the hatred of the Revolution even to posterity; and +though they did not take an active part in the crimes of the Revolution, +yet their best wishes were with it. Every fresh excess of the people +gave a new ray of hope to its enemies: such is the policy of despair, +blind and criminal as herself. + + +XXI. + +An example of this at this moment occurred. La Fayette resigned the +command of the national guard into the hands of the council general of +the commune. At this meeting blazed the last faint spark of popular +favour. After he quitted the chamber a deliberation was held as to what +mark of gratitude and regard the city of Paris should offer him. The +general addressed a farewell letter to the civic force, and affected to +believe that the formation of the constitution was the era of the +Revolution, and reduced him, like Washington, to the rank of a simple +citizen of a free country. "The time of revolution," said he, in this +letter, "has given place to a regular organisation, owing to the liberty +and prosperity it assures us. I feel it is now my duty to my country to +return unreservedly into her hands all the force and influence with +which I was intrusted for her defence during the tempests that convulsed +her--such is my only ambition. Beware how you believe," added he, in +conclusion, "that every species of despotism, is extinct!" And he then +proceeded to point out some of those perils and excesses into which +liberty might fall at her first outset. + +This letter was received by the national guard with an enthusiasm rather +feigned than sincere. They wished to strike a last blow against the +factious by adhering to the principles of their general, and voted to +him a sword forged from the bolts of the Bastille, and a marble statue +of Washington. La Fayette hastened to enjoy this premature triumph, and +resigned the dictatorship at the moment when a dictatorship was most +necessary to his country. On his retirement to his estates in Auvergne, +he received the deputation of the national guard, who brought him the +_proces verbal_ of the debate. "You behold me once more amidst the +scenes where I was born," said he; "I shall not again quit them, save to +defend and confirm our new-formed liberty should it be menaced." + +The different opinions of parties followed him in his retirement. "Now," +said the _Journal de la Revolution_, "that the hero of two worlds has +played out his part at Paris, we are curious to know if the ex-general +has done more harm than good to the Revolution. In order to solve the +problem, let us examine his acts. We shall first see that the founder of +American liberty does not dare comply with the wishes of the people in +Europe, until he had asked permission from the monarch. We shall see +that he grew pale at the sight of the Parisian army on its road to +Versailles--alike deceiving the people and the king; to the one he said, +'I deliver the king into your power,' to the other, 'I bring you my +army.' We should have seen him return to Paris, dragging in his train +those brave citizens who were alone guilty of having sought to destroy +the keep of Vincennes as they had destroyed the Bastille, their hands +bound behind their backs. We see him on he morrow of the _journee des +poignards_, touch the hands of those whom he had denounced to public +indignation the yesterday. And now we behold him quit the cause of +liberty, by a decree which he himself had secretly solicited, and +disappear for a moment in Auvergne to re-appear on our frontiers. Yet he +has done us some service, let us acknowledge it. We owe to him to have +accustomed our national guards to go through the civic and religious +ceremonies; to bear the fatigue of the morning drill in the Champs +Elysees; to take patriotic oaths and to give suppers. Let us then bid +him adieu! La Fayette, to consummate the greatest revolution that a +nation ever attempted, we required a leader, whose mind was on an +equality with so great an event. We accepted you; the pliability of your +features, your studied orations, your premeditated axioms--all those +productions of art that nature disavows, seemed suspicious to the more +clear-sighted patriots. The boldest of them followed you, tore the mask +from your visage, and cried--Citizens, this hero is but a courtier, +this sage but an impostor. Now, thanks to you, the Revolution can no +longer bite, you have cut the lion's claws; the people is more +formidable to its conductors; they have reassumed the whip and spur, and +you fly. Let civic crowns strew your paths, though we remain; but where +shall we find a Brutus?" + + +XXII. + +Bailly, mayor of Paris, withdrew at the same time, abandoned by that +party of whom he had been the idol, and whose victim he began to be; but +his philosophic mind rated more highly the good done to the people than +its favour, and more ambitious of being useful than of governing it, he +already testified that heroic contempt for the calumnies of his enemies +he afterwards displayed for death. + +His voice was, however, lost in the tumult of the approaching municipal +elections; two men already disputed the dignity of mayor of Paris, for +in proportion as the royal authority declined, and that of the +constitution was absorbed in the troubles of the kingdom, the mayor of +Paris would become the real dictator of the capital. + +These two men were La Fayette and Petion. La Fayette supported by the +constitutionalists and the national guard, Petion by the Girondists and +the Jacobins. The royalist party, by pronouncing for or against one of +them, would decide the election. The king had no longer the influence of +the government, which he had suffered to escape from his grasp, but he +still possessed the occult powers of corruption over the leaders of the +different parties. A portion of the twenty-five millions of francs +(1,000,000_l._) was applied by M. de Laporte, the intendant de la liste +civile, and by MM. Bertrand de Molleville and Montmorin, his ministers, +in purchasing votes at the elections, motions at the clubs, applause or +hisses in the Assembly. These subsidies, which had commenced with +Mirabeau, now descended to the lowest dregs of the factions; they bribed +the royalist press, and found their way into the hands of the orators +and writers apparently most inveterate against the court; and many false +manoeuvres, to which the people were urged, arose from no other +source. There was a ministry of corruption, over which perfidy +presided. Many obtained from this source, under pretence of aiding the +court, the power of moderating or betraying the people; then fearing +lest their treachery should be discovered, they hid it by a second +betrayal, and turned against the king his own motions. Danton was of +this number. Sometimes, through motives of charity or peace, the king +gave a monthly sum to be distributed amongst the national guard, and the +_quartiers_ in which insurrection was most to be apprehended. M. de La +Fayette, and Petion himself, often drew money from this source. Thus the +king could, by employing those means, ensure the election, and by +joining the constitutionalist party determine the choice of Paris in +favour of M. de La Fayette. M. de La Fayette was one of the first +originators of this revolution which humbled the throne; his name was +associated with every humiliation of the court, with all the resentment +of the queen, all the terrors of the king; he had been first their +dread, then their protector, and, lastly, their guardian: could he be +now their hope? Would not this post of mayor of Paris, this vast, civil, +and popular dignity, after this long-armed dictatorship in the capital, +be to La Fayette but a second stepping-stone that would raise him higher +than the throne, and cast the king and constitution into the shade? This +man, with his theoretically liberal ideas, was well-intentioned, and +wished rather to dominate than to reign; but could any reliance be +placed on these good intentions that had been so often overcome? Was it +not full of these good intentions that he had usurped the command of the +civic force--captured the Bastille with the insurgent Gardes +Francaises--marched to Versailles at the head of the populace of +Paris--suffered the chateau to be forced on the 6th of October--arrested +the royal family at Varennes, and retained the king a prisoner in his +own palace? Would he now resist should the people again command him? +Would he abandon the _role_ of the French Washington when he had half +fulfilled it? The human heart is so constituted that we rather prefer to +cast ourselves into the power of those who would destroy us than seek +safety from those who humiliate us. La Fayette humiliated the king, and +more especially the queen. + +A respectful independence was the habitual expression of La Fayette's +countenance in presence of Marie Antoinette. There was perceptible in +the general's attitude, it was to be seen in his words, distinguishable +in his accent, beneath the cold and polished forms of the courtier, the +inflexibility of the citizen. The queen preferred the factions. She thus +plainly spoke to her confidents. "M. de La Fayette," she said, "will not +be the mayor of Paris in order that he may the sooner become the _maire +du Palais_. Petion is a Jacobin, a republican; but he is a fool, +incapable of ever becoming the leader of a party: he would be a nullity +as _maire_, and, besides, the very interest he knows we should take in +his nomination might bind him to the king." + +Petion was the son of a _procureur_ at Chartres, and a townsman of +Brissot; was brought up in the same way as he,--in the same studies, +same philosophy, same hatreds. They were two men of the same mind. The +Revolution, which had been the ideal of their youth, had called them on +the scene the same day, but to play very different parts. Brissot, the +scribe, political adventurer, journalist, was the man of theory; Petion, +the practical man. He had in his countenance, in his character, and his +talents, that solemn mediocrity which is of the multitude, and charms +it; at least he was a sincere man, a virtue which the people appreciate +beyond all others in those who are concerned in public affairs. Called +by his fellow citizens to the National Assembly, he acquired there a +name rather from his efforts than his success. The fortunate compeer of +Robespierre, and then his friend, they had formed by themselves that +popular party, scarcely visible at the beginning, which professed pure +democracy and the philosophy of J. J. Rousseau; whilst Cazales, +Mirabeau, and Maury, the nobility, clergy, and _bourgeoisie_, alone +disputed the government. The despotism of a class appeared to +Robespierre and Petion as odious as the despotism of a king. The triumph +of the _tiers etat_ was of little consequence, so long as the people, +that is to say, all human kind in its widest acceptation, did not +prevail. They had given themselves as a task, not victory to one class +over another, but the victory and organisation of a divine and absolute +principle--humanity. This was their weakness in the first days of the +Revolution, and subsequently their strength. Petion was beginning to +gather in its harvest. + +He had gradually, by his doctrines and his speeches, insinuated himself +into the confidence of the people of Paris; he connected himself with +literary men by the cultivation of his mind; with the Orleans party by +his intimacy with Madame de Genlis, the favourite of the prince, and +governess to his children. He was spoken of in one place as a sage, who +sought to embody philosophy in the constitution; in another as a +sagacious conspirator, who desired to sap the throne, or to place upon +it the Duc D'Orleans, embodying the interests and dynasty of the people. +This two-fold reputation was equally advantageous to him. Honest men +believed him to be an honest man,--malcontents to be a malcontent: the +court disdained to fear him; it saw in him only an innocent Utopian, and +had for him that contemptuous indulgence which aristocrats have +invariably for men of political creed; besides, Petion ridded it of La +Fayette. To change its foe was to give it breathing time. + +These three elements of success gave Petion an immense majority; he was +nominated mayor of Paris by more than 6000 votes. La Fayette had but +3000. He might at this moment, from the depth of his retreat, have +fairly measured by these figures the decline of his popularity. La +Fayette represented the city, Petion the nation. The armed _bourgeoisie_ +quitted public affairs with the one, and the people assumed them with +the other. The Revolution marked with a proper name the fresh step she +had made. + +Petion, scarcely elected, went in triumph to the Jacobins, and was thus +carried in the arms of patriots into the tribune. Old Dusault, who +occupied it at the moment, stammered out a few words, interrupted by his +sobs, in honour of his pupil. "I look on M. Petion," said he, "as my +son; it is very bold no doubt." Petion overcome, embraced the old man +with ardour; the tribunes applauded and wept. + +The other nominations were made in the same spirit. Manuel[11] was named +_procureur de la commune_;--Danton, his deputy, which was his first step +in popularity; he did not owe it, like Petion, to the public esteem, but +to his own intriguing. He was appointed in spite of his reputation. The +people are apt to excuse the vices they find useful. + +The nomination of Petion to the office of _maire_ of Paris gave the +Girondists a constant _point d'appui_ in the capital. Paris, as well as +the Assembly, escaped from the king's hands. The work of the Constituent +Assembly crumbled away in three months. The wheels gave way before they +were set in motion. All presaged an approaching collision between the +executive power and the power of the Assembly. Whence arose this sudden +decomposition? It is now the moment for throwing a glance over this +labour of the Constituent Assembly and its framers. + + + + +BOOK VII. + + +I. + +The Constituent Assembly had abdicated in a storm. + +This assembly had consisted of the most imposing body of men that had +ever represented, not only France, but the human race. It was in fact +the oecumenical council of modern reason and philosophy. Nature seemed +to have created expressly, and the different orders of society to have +reserved, for this work, the geniuses, characters, and even vices most +requisite to give to this focus of the lights of the age the greatness, +_eclat_, and movement of a fire destined to consume the remnants of an +old society, and to illumine a new one. There were sages, like Bailly +and Mounier; thinkers, like Sieyes; factious partisans, like Barnave; +statesmen like Talleyrand; men, epochs, like Mirabeau, and men, +principles like Robespierre. Each cause was personified by what most +distinguished each party. The very victims were illustrious. Cazales, +Malouet, Maury, sounded forth in bursts of grief and eloquence the +successive falls of the throne, the aristocracy, and the clergy. This +active centre of the thoughts of a century, was sustained during the +whole time by the storm of perpetual political conflict. Whilst they +were deliberating within, the people were acting without, and struck at +the doors. These twenty-six months of consultations were one +uninterrupted sedition. Scarcely had one institution crumbled to pieces +in the tribune, than the nation swept it away to clear the space for +another institution. The anger of the people was only its impatience of +obstacles, its madness was only the excitement of its reason. Even in +its fury it was always a truth that agitated it. The tribunes only +blinded, by dazzling it. The unique characteristic of this Assembly was +that passion for the ideal which it always felt itself irresistibly +urged on to accomplish. An act of perpetual faith in reason and justice: +a holy passion for the good and right, which possessed it, and made it +devote itself to its work; like the statuary who seeing the fire in the +furnace, where he was casting his bronze, on the point of being +extinguished, threw his furniture, his children's bed, and even his +house into the flame, preferring rather that all should perish than that +his work should be lost. + +Thus it is that the Revolution has become a date in the human mind, and +not merely an event in the history of the people. The men of the +Constituent Assembly were not Frenchmen, they were universal men. We +mistake, we vilify them when we consider them only as priests, +aristocrats, plebeians, faithful subjects, malcontents or demagogues. +They were, and they felt themselves to be, better than that,--workmen of +God; called by him to restore social reason, and found right and justice +throughout the universe. None of them, except those who opposed the +Revolution, limited the extent of its thought to the boundaries of +France. The declaration of the Rights of Man proves this. It was the +decalogue of the human race in all languages. The modern Revolution +called the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, to partake of the light and +reign of Fraternity. + + +II. + +Thus, not one of its apostles who did not proclaim peace amongst +nations. Mirabeau, La Fayette, Robespierre himself erased war from the +symbol which they presented to the nation. It was the malcontent and +ambitious who subsequently demanded it, and not the leading +Revolutionists. When war burst out the Revolution had degenerated. The +Constituent Assembly took care not to place on the frontiers of France +the boundaries of its truths, and to limit the sympathising soul of the +French Revolution to a narrow patriotism. The globe was the country of +its dogmata. France was only the workshop; it worked for all other +people. Respectful of, or indifferent to, the question of national +territories, from the first moment it forbade conquest. It only reserved +to itself the property, or rather the invention of universal truths +which it brought to light. As vast as humanity, it had not the +selfishness to isolate itself. It desired to give, and not to deprive. +It sought to spread itself by right, and not by force. Essentially +spiritual, it sought no other empire for France than the voluntary +empire which imitation by the human mind conferred upon it. + +Its work was prodigious, its means a nullity; all that enthusiasm can +inspire, the Assembly undertook and perfected, without a king, without a +military leader, without a dictator, without an army, without any other +strength than deep conviction. Alone, in the midst of an amazed people, +with a disbanded army, an emigrating aristocracy, a despoiled clergy, a +conspiring court, a seditious city, hostile Europe--it did what it +designed. Such is the will, such the real power of a people--and such is +truth, the irresistible auxiliary of the men who agitate themselves for +God. If ever inspiration was visible in the prophet or ancient +legislator, it may be asserted that the Constituent Assembly had two +years of sustained inspiration. France was the inspired of civilisation. + + +III. + +Let us examine its work. The principle of power was entirely displaced: +royalty had ended by believing that it was the exclusive depositary of +power. It had demanded of religion to consummate this robbery in the +eyes of the people, by telling them that tyranny came from God, and was +responsible to God only. The long heirship of throned races had made it +believed that there was a right of reigning in the blood of crowned +families. Government instead of being a function had become a +possession; the king master instead of being chief. This misplaced +principle displaced everything. The people became a nation, the king a +crowned magistrate. Feudality, subaltern royalty, assumed the rank of +actual property. The clergy, which had had institutions and inviolable +property, was now only a body paid by the state for a sacred service. It +was from this only one step to receiving a voluntary salary for an +individual service. The magistracy ceased to be hereditary. They left it +its unremoveability to confirm its independence. It was an exception to +the principle of offices when a dismissal was possible, a +semi-sovereignty of justice--but it was one step towards the truth. The +legislative power was distinct from the executive power. The nation in +an assembly freely chosen, declared its will, and the hereditary and +irresponsible king executed it. Such was the whole mechanism of the +Constitution--a people--a king--a minister. But the king irresponsible, +and consequently passive, was evidently a concession to custom, the +respectful fiction of suppressed royalty. + + +IV. + +He was no longer will; for to will is to do. He was not a functionary; +for the functionary acts and replies. The king did not reply. He was but +a majestic inutility in the constitution. The functions destroyed, they +left the functionary. He had but one attribute, the _suspensive veto_, +which consisted of his right to suspend, for three years, the execution +of the Assembly's decrees. He was an obstacle; legal, but impotent for +the wishes of the nation. It was evident that the Constituent Assembly, +perfectly convinced of the superfluity of the throne in a national +government, had only placed a king at the summit of its institutions to +check ambition, and that the kingdom should not be called a republic. +The only part of such a king was to prevent the truth from appearing, +and to make a show in the eyes of a people accustomed to a sceptre. This +fiction, or this nullity cost the people 30,000,000 (of francs) a year +in the civil list, a court, continual jealousies, and the interminable +corruption practised by the court on the organs of the nation. This was +the real vice of the constitution of 1791: it was not consistent. +Royalty embarrassed the constitution; and all that embarrasses injures. +The motive of this inconsistency was less an error of its reason than a +respectful piety for an ancient prejudice, and a generous tenderness +towards a race which had long worn the crown. If the race of the +Bourbons had been extinct in the month of September 1791, certainly the +Constituent Assembly would not have invented a king. + + +V. + +However, the royalty of '91, very little different from the royalty of +to-day, could work for a century, as well as a day. The error of all +historians is to attribute to the vices of the constitution the brief +duration of the work of the Constituent Assembly. In the first place, +the work of the Constituent Assembly was not principally to perpetuate +this wheelwork of useless royalty, placed out of complaisance to the +people's eyes, in machinery which did not regulate it. The work of the +Constituent Assembly was the regeneration of ideas and government, the +displacing of power, the restoration of right, the abolition of all +subjugation even of the mind, the freedom of consciences, the formation +of an administration; and this work lasts, and will endure as long as +the name of France. The vice of the institution of 1791 was not in any +one particular point. It has not perished because the _veto_ of the king +was suspensive instead of absolute; it has not perished, because the +right of peace or war was taken from the king, and reserved to the +nation; it has not perished, because it did not place the legislative +power in one chamber only instead of in two: these asserted vices are to +be found in many other constitutions, which still endure. The diminution +of the royal power was not the main danger to royalty in '91; it was +rather its salvation, if it could have been saved. + + +VI. + +The more power was given to the king, and action to the monarchical +principle, the quicker the king and the principle would have fallen; for +the greater would have been the distrust and hatred against him. Two +chambers, instead of one, would not have preserved any thing. Such +divisions of power would have no value, but in proportion as they are +sacred. They are only sacred in proportion as they are the +representatives of real existing force in the nation. Would a revolution +which had not paused before the iron gates of the Chateau of Versailles +have respected the metaphysical distinction of power of two kinds! + +Besides, where were, and where would be now, the constitutive elements +of two chambers, in a nation whose entire revolution is but a convulsion +towards unity? If the second chamber be democratic and temporary, it is +but a twofold democracy with but one common impulse. It can only serve +to retard the common impulse, or destroy the unity of the public will. +If it be hereditary and aristocratic, it supposes an aristocracy +pre-existent in, and acknowledged by, the state. Where was this +aristocracy in 1791? Where is it now? A modern historian says, "In the +nobility, in the presence of social inequalities." But the Revolution +was made against the nobility, and in order to level social hereditary +inequalities. It was to ask of the Revolution itself to make a +counter-revolution. Besides, these pretended divisions of power are +always fictions; power is never really divided. It is always here or +there, in reality and in its integrity,--it is not to be divided. It is +like the will, it is _one_ or it is not. If there be two chambers, it is +in one of the two; the other complies or is dissolved. If there be one +chamber and a king, it is in the king or the chamber. In the king, if he +subjugates the Assembly by force, or if he buys it by corruption; in the +chamber if it agitates the public mind, and intimidates the court and +the army by the power of its language, and the superiority of its +opinions. Those who do not see this have no eyes. In this _soidisant_ +balance of power there is always a controlling weight; equilibrium is a +chimera. If it did exist, it would produce mere immobility. + + +VII. + +The Constituent Assembly had then done a good work; wise, and as durable +as are the institutions of a people in travail, in an age of transition. +The constitution of '91 had written all the truths of the times, and +reduced all human reason to its epoch. All was true in its work except +royalty, which had but one wrong, which was making the monarchy the +depository of its code. + +We have seen that this very fault was an excess of virtue. It receded +before the deposing from the throne the family of its kings; it had the +superstition of the past without having its faith, and desired to +reconcile the republic and the monarchy. It was a virtue in its +intentions; it was a mistake in its results; for it is an error in +politics to attempt the impossible. Louis XVI. was the only man in the +nation to whom the constituent royalty could not be confided, since it +was he from whom the absolute monarchy had just been snatched: the +constitution was a shared royalty, and but a few days previously, and he +had possessed it entire. With any other person this royalty would have +been a gift, for him alone it was an insult. If Louis XVI. had been +capable of this abnegation of supreme power which makes disinterested +heroes (and he was one), the deposed party, of which he was the natural +head, was not like him; we may expect an act of sublime +disinterestedness from a virtuous man, never from a party _en masse_. +Party is never magnanimous; they never abdicate, they are extirpated. +Heroic acts come from the heart, and party has no heart; they have only +interests and ambition. A body is a thing of unvarying selfishness. + +Clergy, nobility, court, magistracy, all abuses, all falsehoods, all +contumelies, every injustice of a monarchy, are personified, in spite of +Louis XVI., in the king. Degraded with him, they must desire to rise +with him. The nation, which well perceived this fatal connection between +the king and the counter-revolution, could not confide in the king, +however it might venerate the man; it saw, in him, of necessity, the +accomplice of every conspiracy against itself. The _parvenus_ of liberty +are as thinskinned as the _parvenus_ of fortune. Jealousies must arise, +suspicions would produce insults, insults resentments, resentments +factions, factions shocks and overthrows: the momentary enthusiasm of +the people, the sincere concessions of the king, avert nothing. The +situations were false on both sides. + +If there were in the Constituent Assembly more statesmen than +philosophers, it must have perceived that an intermediate state was +impossible, under the guardianship of a half-dethroned king. We do not +confide to the vanquished the care and management of the conquests. To +act as she acts, was to drive the king, without redemption, to treason +or the scaffold. An absolute party is the only safe party in great +crises. The tact consists in knowing when to have recourse to extreme +measures at the critical minute. We say it unhesitatingly--history will +hereafter say as we do. Then came a moment when the Constituent Assembly +had the right to choose between the monarchy and the republic, and when +she had to choose the republic. There was the safety of the Revolution +and its legitimacy. In wanting resolution it failed in prudence. + + +VIII. + +But, they say with Barnave, France is monarchical by its geography as by +its character, and the contest arises in minds directly between the +monarchy and the republic. Let us make ourselves understood:-- + +Geography is of no party; Rome and Carthage had no frontiers; Genoa and +Venice had no territories. It is not the soil which determines the +nature of the constitutions of people, it is time. The geographical +objection of Barnave fell to the ground a year afterwards, before the +prodigies in France in 1792. It proved that if a republic fails in unity +and centralisation, it is unable to defend a continental nationality. +Waves and mountains are the frontiers of the weak--men are the frontiers +of a people. Let us then have done with geography. It is not +geometricians but statesmen who form social constitutions. + +Nations have two great interests which reveal to them the form they +should take, according to the hour of the national life which they have +attained--the instinct of their conservation, and the instinct of their +growth. To act, or be idle, to walk, or sit down, are two acts wholly +different, which compel men to assume attitudes wholly diverse. It is +the same with nations. The monarchy or the republic correspond exactly +amongst a people to the necessities of these two opposite conditions of +society--repose or action. We here understand two words; these two +words, repose and action, in their most absolute acceptation; for there +is repose in republics, as there is action in monarchies. + +Is it a question of preservation, of reproduction, of development in +that kind of slow and insensible growth which people have like vast +vegetables? Is it a question of keeping in harmony with the European +balance of preserving its laws and manners; of maintaining its +traditions, perpetuating opinions and worship, of guaranteeing +properties and right conduct, of preventing troubles, agitation, +factions? The monarchy is evidently more proper for this than any other +state of society. It protects in lower classes that security which it +desires for its own elevated condition. It is order in essence and +selfishness: order is its life--tradition its dogma, the nation is its +heritage, religion its ally, aristocracies are its barrier against the +invasions of the people. It must preserve all this or perish. It is the +government of prudence, because it is also that of great responsibility. +An empire is the stake of a monarch--the throne is everywhere a +guarantee of immobility. When we are placed on high we fear every shake, +for we have but to lose or to fall. + +When then a nation is placed in a sufficing territory, with settled +laws, fixed interests, sacred creeds, its worship in full force, its +social classes graduated, its administration organised, it is +monarchical in spite of seas, rivers, or mountains. It abdicates and +empowers the monarchy to foresee, to will, to act for it. It is the most +perfect of governments for such functions. It calls itself by the two +names of society itself, _unity_ and _hereditary right_. + + +IX. + +If a people, on the contrary, is at one of those epochs when it is +necessary to act with all the intensity of its strength in order to +operate within and without one of those organic transformations which +are as necessary to people as is a current to waves or explosion to +compressed powers--a republic is the obligatory and fated form of a +nation at such a moment. + +For a sudden, irresistible, convulsive action of the social body, the +arm and will of all is needed; the people become a mob, and rush +headlong to danger. It can alone suffice to its own danger. What other +arm but that of the whole people could stir what it has to +stir?--displace what it has to displace?--install what it desires to +found? The monarch would break his sceptre into fragments on it. There +must be a lever capable of raising thirty millions of wills--this lever +the nation alone possesses. It is in itself the moving power, the +fulcrum and the lever. + + +X. + +We cannot ask of the law to act against the law, of tradition to act +against tradition, of established order to act against established +order. It would be to require strength from weakness, life from suicide; +and, besides, we should ask in vain of the monarchical power to +accomplish these changes, in which very often all perish, and the king +foremost. Such a course would be the contradiction to the monarchy: how +could it attempt it? + +To ask a king to destroy the empire of a religion which consecrates him; +to despoil of their riches a clergy who has them by the same divine +title as that by which he has tenure of his kingdom; to degrade an +aristocracy which is the first step of his throne; to throw down social +hierarchies of which he is the head and crown; to undermine laws of +which he is the highest,--is to ask of the vaults of an edifice to sap +the foundation. The king could not do so, and would not. In thus +overthrowing all that serves him for support, he feels that he would be +rendered wholly destitute. He would be playing with his throne and +dynasty. He is responsible for his race. He is prudent by nature, and a +temporiser from necessity. He must soothe, please, manage, and be on +terms with all constituted interests. He is the king of the worship, +aristocracy, laws, manners, abuses, and falsehoods of the empire. Even +the vices of the constitution form a portion of his strength. To +threaten them is to destroy himself. He may hate them: he dares not to +attack them. + + +XI. + +A republic alone can suffice for such crises: nations know this, and +cling to it as their sole hope of preservation. The will of the people +becomes the ruling power. It drives from its presence the timid, seeks +the bold and the determined, summons all men to aid in the great work, +makes trial of, employs, and combines the force, the devotion, the +heroism of every man. It is the populace that holds the helm of the +vessel, on which the most prompt, or the most firm seizes, until it is +again torn from him by a stronger hand. But every one governs in the +common name. Private consideration, timidity of situation, difference of +rank, all disappears. No one is responsible--to-day he rises to +power--to-morrow he descends to exile or the scaffold--there is no +_morrow_, all is _to-day_--resistance is crushed by the irresistible +power of movement. All bends--all yields before the people. The +resentments of castes--the abolished forms of worship--the decimation of +property--the extirpated abuses--the humiliated aristocracies--all are +lost in the thundering sound of the overthrow of ancient ideas and +things. On whom can we demand revenge? The nation answers for all to +all, and no man has aught to require from it. It does not survive +itself, it braves recrimination and vengeance--it is absolute as an +element--anonymous, as fatality--it completes its work, and when that is +ended, says, "Let us rest; and let us assume monarchy." + + +XII. + +Such a plan of action is the republic--the only one that befits the +trying period of transformation. It is the government of passion, the +government of crises, the government of revolutions. So long as +revolutions are unfinished, so long does the instinct of the people urge +them to a republic; for they feel that every other hand is too feeble to +give that onward and violent impulse necessary to the Revolution. The +people (and they act wisely), will not trust an irresponsible, +perpetual, and hereditary power to fulfil the commands of the epochs of +creation--they will perform them themselves. Their dictatorship appears +to them indispensable to save the nation; and what is a dictatorship but +a republic? It cannot resign its power until every crisis be over, and +the great work of revolution completed and consolidated. Then it can +again resume the monarchy, and say, "Reign in the name of the ideas I +have given thee!" + + +XIII. + +The Constituent Assembly was then blind and weak, not to create a +republic as the natural instrument of the Revolution. Mirabeau, Bailly, +La Fayette, Sieyes, Barnave, Talleyrand, and Lameth acted in this +respect like philosophers, and not great politicians, as events have +amply proved. They believed the Revolution finished as soon as it was +written, and the monarchy converted as soon as it had sworn to preserve +the constitution. The Revolution was but begun, and the oath of royalty +to the Revolution as futile as the oath of the Revolution to royalty. +These two elements could not mingle until after an interval of an +age--this interval was the republic. A nation does not change in a day, +or in fifty years, from revolutionary excitements to monarchical repose. +It is because we forgot it at the hour when we should have remembered +it, that the crisis was so terrible, and that we yet feel its effects. +If the Revolution, which perpetually follows itself, had had its own +natural and fitting government, the republic--this republic would have +been less tumultuous and less perturbed than the five attempts we made +for a monarchy. The nature of the age in which we live protests against +the traditional forms of power: at an epoch of movement--a government of +movement--such is the law. + + +XIV. + +The National Assembly, it is said, had not the right to act thus; for it +had sworn allegiance to the monarchy and recognised Louis XVI., and +could not dethrone him without a crime. The objection is puerile, if it +originates in minds who do not believe in the possession of the people +by dynasties. The Assembly at its outset had proclaimed the inalienable +right of the people; and the lawfulness of necessary insurrection, and +the oath of the Tennis Court (_Serment du Jeu de Paume_), were nought +but an oath of disobedience to the king and of fidelity to the nation. +The Assembly had afterwards proclaimed Louis XVI. king of the French. If +they possessed the power of proclaiming him king, they also possessed +that of proclaiming him a simple citizen. Forfeiture for the national +utility, and that of the human race, was evidently one of its +principles, and yet how did it act? It leaves Louis XVI. king, or makes +him king, not through respect for that institution, but out of respect +for his person, and pity for so great a downfall. Such was the truth; it +feared sacrilege, and fell into anarchy. It was clement, noble, and +generous. Louis XVI. had deserved well from his people; who well can +dare to censure so magnanimous a condescension? Before the king's +departure for Varennes, the absolute right of the nation was but an +abstract fiction, the _summum jus_ of the Assembly. The royalty of Louis +XVI. was respectable and respected, once again it was established. + + +XV. + +But a moment arrived, and this moment was when the king fled his +kingdom, protesting against the will of the nation, and sought the +assistance of the army, and the intervention of foreign powers, when the +Assembly legitimately possessed the rigorous right of disposing of the +power, thus abandoned or betrayed. Three courses were open: to declare +the downfall of the monarchy, and proclaim a republican revolution; the +temporary suspension of the royalty, and govern in its name during its +moral eclipse; and, lastly, to restore the monarchy. + +The Assembly chose the worst alternative of the three. It feared to be +harsh, and was cruel; for by retaining the supreme rank for the king, it +condemned him to the torture of the hatred and contempt of the people; +it crowned him with suspicions and outrages; and nailed him to the +throne, in order that the throne might prove the instrument of his +torture and his death. + +Of the two other courses, the first was the most logical, to proclaim +the downfall of the monarchy and the formation of a republic. + +The republic, had it been properly established by the Assembly, would +have been far different from the republic traitorously and atrociously +extorted nine months after by the insurrection of the 10th of August. It +would have doubtless suffered the commotion, inseparable from the birth +of a new order of things. It would not have escaped the disorders of +nature in a country where every thing was done by first impulse, and +impassioned by the magnitude of its perils. But it would have originated +in law and not in sedition--in right, and not in violence--in +deliberation, and not in insurrection. This alone could have changed the +sinister conditions of its birth and its future fate; it might become an +agitating power, but it would remain pure and unsullied. + +Only reflect for a moment how entirely its legal and premeditated +proclamation would have altered the course of events. The 10th of August +would not have taken place--the perfidy and tyranny of the commune of +Paris--the massacre of the guards--the assault on the palace--the flight +of the king to the Assembly--the outrages heaped on him there--and his +imprisonment in the temple--would have never occurred. + +The republic would not have killed a king, a queen, an innocent babe, +and a virtuous princess; it would not have had the massacres of +September, those St. Bartholomews of the people--that have left an +indelible stain on the whole robes of liberty. It would not have been +baptized in the blood of three hundred thousand human beings--it would +not have armed the revolutionary tribunal with the axe of the people, +with which it immolated a generation to make way for an idea,--it would +not have had the 31st of May. The Girondists arriving at the supreme +power, unsullied by crime, would have possessed more force with which to +combat the demagogues; and the republic calmly and deliberately +instituted, would have intimidated Europe far more than an _emeute_ +legitimised by bloodshed and assassination. War might have been avoided, +or, if it was inevitable, have been more unanimous and more triumphant; +our generals would not have been massacred by their soldiers amidst +cries of treason. The spirit of the people would have combated with us, +and the horror of our days of August, September, and January would not +have alienated from our standards the nations attracted thither by our +doctrines. Thus a single change in the origin of the republic changed +the fate of the Revolution. + + +XVI. + +But if this rigorous resolution was yet repugnant to the feelings of +France, and if the Assembly had feared they had given birth to a +republic prematurely, the third course was yet open, to proclaim the +temporary cessation of royalty during ten years, and govern in a +republican form in its name until the constitution was firmly and +securely established. This course would have saved all the respect due +to royalty; the life of the king--the life of the royal family--the +rights of the people--the purity of the Revolution--it was at once firm +and calm, efficacious and legitimate. It was such a dictatorship as the +people had instinctively figured in the critical times of their +existence. But instead of a short, fugitive, disturbed, and ambitious +dictatorship of one man, it was the dictatorship of the nation, +governing itself through its National Assembly. The nation might have +respectfully laid by royalty during ten years, in order itself to carry +out a work above the power of the king. This accomplished, resentment +extinguished, habits formed, the laws in operation, the frontiers +protected, the clergy secularised, the aristocracy humbled, the +dictatorship could terminate. The king or his dynasty could ascend +without danger a throne from which all danger was now averted. This +veritable republic would have thus resumed the name of a constitutional +monarchy, without changing any thing, and the statue of royalty would +have been replaced on its pedestal when the base had been consolidated. +Such would have been the consulate of the people, far superior to that +consulate of a man who was to finish by ravaging Europe, and by the +double usurpation of a throne and a revolution. + +Or, if at the expiration of this national dictatorship, the nation, well +governed and guided, found it dangerous or useless to re-establish the +throne, what prevented it from saying, I now assume as a definitive +government that which I assumed as a dictatorship: I proclaim the French +republic as the only government befitting the excitement and energy of a +regenerative epoch; for the republic is a dictatorship perpetuated and +constituted by the people. What avails a throne? I remain erect: it is +the attitude of a people in travail! + +In a word, the Constituent Assembly, whose light illumined the +globe--whose audacity in two years transformed an empire, had but one +fault, that of coming to a close. It should have perpetuated itself: it +abdicated. A nation that abdicates after a reign of two years, and on +heaps of ruins, bequeaths the sceptre to anarchy. The king _could_ reign +no longer, the nation _would not_. Thus faction reigned, and the +Revolution perished; not because it had gone too far, but because it had +not been sufficiently bold. So true is it that the timidity of nations +is not less disastrous than the weakness of kings; and that a people who +knows not how to seize and guard all that which pertains to it, falls at +once into tyranny and anarchy. The Assembly dared to do every thing save +to reign: the reign of the Revolution was nought but a republic: and the +Assembly left this name to factions, and this form to terror. Such was +its fault--it expiated it: and the expiation is not yet ended for +France. + + + + +BOOK VIII. + + +I. + +Whilst the king, isolated at the summit of the constitution, sought +support, sometimes by hazardous negotiations with foreigners, sometimes +by rash attempts at corruption in the capital, a body, some Girondists +and other Jacobins, but as yet confounded under the common denomination +of patriots, began to unite and form the nucleus of a great republican +idea: they were Petion, Robespierre, Brissot, Buzot, Vergniaud, Guadet, +Gensonne, Carra, Louvet, Ducos, Fonfrede, Duperret, Sillery-Genlis, and +many others, whose names have scarcely emerged from obscurity. The home +of a young woman, daughter of an engraver of the Quai des Orfevres, was +the meeting place of this union. It was there that the two great parties +of the _Gironde_ and the _Montagne_ assembled, united, separated, and +after having acquired power, and overturned the monarchy in company, +tore the bosom of their country with their dissensions, and destroyed +liberty whilst they destroyed each other. It was neither ambition, nor +fortune, nor celebrity which had successively attracted these men to +this woman's residence, then without credit, name, or comforts: it was +conformity of opinion; it was that devoted worship which chosen spirits +like to render in secret as in public to a new truth which promises +happiness to mankind; it was the invisible attraction of a common faith, +that communion of the first neophytes in the religion of philosophy, +where the necessity for souls to unite before they associate by deeds, +is felt. So long as the thoughts common to political men have not +reached that point where they become fruitful, and are organised by +contact, nothing is accomplished. Revolutions are ideas, and it is this +communion which creates parties. + +The ardent and pure mind of a female was worthy of becoming the focus to +which converged all the rays of the new truth, in order to become +prolific in the warmth of the heart, and to light the pile of old +institutions. Men have the spirit of truth, women only its passion. +There must be love in the essence of all creations; it would seem as +though truth, like nature, has two sexes. There is invariably a woman at +the beginning of all great undertakings; one was requisite to the +principle of the French Revolution.[12] We may say that philosophy found +this woman in Madame Roland. + +The historian, led away by the movement of the events which he retraces, +should pause in the presence of this serious and touching figure, as +passengers stopped to contemplate her sublime features and white dress +on the tumbril which conveyed thousands of victims to death. To +understand her we must trace her career from the _atelier_ of her father +to the scaffold. It is in a woman's heart that the germ of virtue lies; +it is almost always in private life that the secret of public life is +reposed. + + +II. + +Young, lovely, radiant with genius, recently married to a man of serious +mind, who was touching on old age, and but recently mother of her first +child, Madame Roland was born in that intermediary condition in which +families scarcely emancipated from manual labour are, it may be said, +amphibious between the labourer and the tradesman, and retain in their +manners the virtues and simplicity of the people, whilst they already +participate in the lights of society. The period in which aristocracies +fall is that in which nations regenerate. The sap of the people is +there. In this was born Jean Jacques Rousseau, the virile type of Madame +Roland. A portrait of her when a child represents a young girl in her +father's workshop, holding in one hand a book, and in the other an +engraving tool. This picture is the symbolic definition of the social +condition in which Madame Roland was born, and the precise moment +between the labour of her hands and her mind. + +Her father, Gratien Phlippon, was an engraver and painter in enamel. He +joined to these two professions that of a trade in diamonds and jewels. +He was a man always aspiring higher than his abilities allowed, and a +restless speculator, who incessantly destroyed his modest fortune in his +efforts to extend it in proportion to his ambitious yearnings. He adored +his daughter, and could not, for her sake, content himself with the +perspective of the workshop. He gave her an education of the highest +degree, and nature had conferred upon her a heart for the most elevated +destinies. We need not say what dreams, misery, and misfortunes men with +such characters invariably bring upon their honest families. + +The young girl grew up in this atmosphere of luxuriant imagination and +actual wretchedness. Endowed with a premature judgment, she early +detected these domestic miseries, and took refuge in the good sense of +her mother from the illusions of her father and her own presentiments of +the future. + +Marguerite Bimont (her mother's name) had brought her husband a calm +beauty, and a mind very superior to her destiny, but angelic piety and +resignation armed her equally against ambition and despair. The mother +of seven children, who had all died in the birth, she concentrated in +her only child all the love of her soul. Yet this very love guarded her +from any weakness in the education of her daughter. She preserved the +nice balance of her heart and her mind; of her imagination and her +reason. The mould in which she formed this youthful mind was graceful; +but it was of brass. It might have been said that she foresaw the +destinies of her child, and infused into the mind of the young girl that +masculine spirit which forms heroes and inspires martyrs. + +Nature lent herself admirably to the task, and had endowed her pupil +with an understanding even superior to her dazzling beauty. This beauty +of her earlier years, of which she has herself traced the principal +features with infinite ingenuousness in the more sprightly pages of her +memoirs, was far from having gained the energy, the melancholy, and the +majesty which she subsequently acquired from repressed love, high +thought, and misfortune. + +A tall and supple figure, flat shoulders, a prominent bust, raised by a +free and strong respiration, a modest and most becoming demeanour, that +carriage of the neck which bespeaks intrepidity, black and soft hair, +blue eyes, which appeared brown in the depth of their reflection, a look +which like her soul passed rapidly from tenderness to energy, the nose +of a Grecian statue, a rather large mouth, opened by a smile as well as +speech, splendid teeth, a turned and well rounded chin gave to the oval +of her features that voluptuous and feminine grace without which even +beauty does not elicit love, a skin marbled with the animation of life, +and veined by blood which the least impression sent mounting to her +cheeks, a tone of voice which borrowed its vibrations from the deepest +fibres of her heart, and which was deeply modulated to its finest +movements (a precious gift, for the tone of the voice, which is the +channel of emotion in a woman, is the medium of persuasion in the +orator, and by both these titles nature owed her the charm of voice, and +had bestowed it on her freely). Such at eighteen years of age was the +portrait of this young girl, whom obscurity long kept in the shade, as +if to prepare for life or death a soul more strong, and a victim more +perfect. + + +III. + +Her understanding lightened this beauteous frame-work with a precocious +and flashing intelligence, which was already inspiration. She acquired, +as it were, the most difficult accomplishments even from looking into +their very elements. What is taught to her age and sex was not +sufficient for her. The masculine education of men was a want and sport +to her. Her powerful mind had need of all the means of thought for its +due exercise. Theology, history, philosophy, music, painting, dancing, +the exact sciences, chemistry, foreign tongues and learned languages, +she learned all and desired more. She herself formed her ideas from all +the rays which the obscurity of her condition allowed to penetrate into +the laboratory of her father. She even secreted the books which the +young apprentices brought and forgot for her in the workshop. Jean +Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, and the English philosophers, +fell into her hands; but her real food was Plutarch. + +"I shall never forget," she said, "the Lent of 1763, during which I +every day carried that book to church, instead of the book of prayers: +it was from this moment that I date the impressions and ideas which made +me republican, when I had never formed a thought on the subject." After +Plutarch, Fenelon made the deepest impression upon her. Tasso and the +poets followed. Heroism, virtue, and love were destined to pour from +their three vases at once into the soul of a woman destined to this +triple palpitation of grand impressions. + +In the midst of this fire in her soul her reason remained calm, and her +purity spotless. She scarcely owns to the slightest and fugitive +emotions of the heart and senses. "When as I read behind the screen +which closed up my chamber from my father's apartment," she writes, "my +breathing was at all loud, I felt a burning blush overspread my cheek, +and my altered voice would have betrayed my agitation. I was Eucharis to +Telemachus, and Herminia to Tancred. Yet, transformed as I was into +them, I never thought myself of becoming anything to any body. I made no +reflection that individually affected me; I sought nothing around me: it +was a dream without awaking. Yet I remember having beheld with much +agitation a young painter named Taboral, who called on my father +occasionally. He was about twenty years of age, with a sweet voice, +intelligent countenance, and blushed like a girl. When I heard him in +the _atelier_, I had always a pencil or something to look after; but as +his presence embarrassed as much as it pleased me, I went away quicker +than I entered, with a palpitating heart, a tremor that made me run and +hide myself in my little room." + +Although her mother was very pious, she did not forbid her daughter from +reading. She wished to inspire her with religion, and not enforce it +upon her. Full of good sense and toleration, she left her with +confidence to her reason, and sought neither to repress nor dry up the +sap which would hereafter produce its fruit in her heart. A servile, not +voluntary religion, appeared to her degradation and slavery which God +could not accept as a tribute worthy of him. The pensive mind of her +daughter naturally tended towards the great objects of eternal happiness +or misery, and she was sure, at an earlier age than any other, to plunge +deeply into their mysteries. The reign of sentiment began in her through +the love of God. The sublime delirium of her pious contemplations +embellished and preserved the first years of her youth, composed the +rest by her philosophy, and seemed as if it must preserve her for ever +from the tempests of passion. Her devotion was ardent; it took the tints +of her soul, and she aspired to the cloister, and dreamed of martyrdom. +Entering a convent, she found there propitious moments, surrendering her +thoughts to mysticism and her heart to first friendships. The monotonous +regularity of this life gently soothed the activity of her meditations. +In the hours of relaxation she did not play with her companions, but +retired beneath some tree to read and muse. As sensitive as Rousseau to +the beauty of foliage, the rustling of the grass, the odour of the +herbs, she admired the hand of God, and kissed it in his works. +Overflowing with gratitude and inward delight, she went to adore him at +church. There the sonorous organ's lengthened peal, uniting with the +voices of the youthful nuns, completed the excess of her ecstacy. The +Catholic religion has every mysterious fascination for the senses, and +pleasure for the imagination. A novice took the veil during her +residence in the convent. Her presentation at the entrance, her white +veil, her crown of roses, the sweet and soothing hymns which directed +her from earth to heaven, the mortuary cloth cast over her youthful and +buried beauty, and over her palpitating heart, made the young artist +shudder, and overwhelmed her with tears. Her destiny opened to her the +image of great sacrifices, and she felt within herself by anticipation +all the courage and the suffering. + + +IV. + +The charm and custom of these religious feelings were never effaced from +her mind. Philosophy, which soon became her worship, dissipated her +faith, but left the impression it had created. She could not assist at +the ceremonies of a worship whose mysteries her reason had repudiated, +without feeling their attraction and respect. The sight of weak men +united to adore and pray to the Father of the human race affected her +sensibly. The music raised her to the skies. She quitted these Christian +temples happier and better; so much are the recollections of infancy +reflected and prolonged even in the most troubled existence. + +This impassioned taste for infinity and pious sentiment continued their +influences over her after her return to her father's house. "My father's +house had not," she writes, "the solitary tranquillity of the convent, +still plenty of air, and a wide space on the roof of our house near the +_Pont Neuf_, were before my dreamy and romantic imagination. How many +times from my window, which looked northward, have I contemplated with +emotions the vast deserts of heaven, its glorious azure vault, so +splendidly framed from the blue dawn of morning, behind the +_Pont-du-Change_, until the golden sunset, when the glorious purple +faded away behind the trees of the Champs Elysees and the houses of +Chaillot. I did not fail thus to employ some moments at the close of a +fine day; and quiet tears frequently stole deliciously from my eyes, +whilst my heart, throbbing with an inexpressible sentiment, happy thus +to beat, and grateful to exist, offered to the Being of beings a homage +pure and worthy of him." + +Alas! when she wrote these lines, she no longer saw but in her mind that +narrow strip of the heaven of Paris, and the remembrance of those +glorious evenings only illumined with a fugitive gleam the walls of her +dungeon. + + +V. + +But she was then happy, between her aunt Angelique and her mother, in +what she calls the beautiful quarter of the Isle Saint Louis. On these +straight quays, on this tranquil bank, she took the air on summer +evenings, watching the graceful course of the river, and the distant +landscape. In the morning she traversed these quays with holy zeal, in +order to go to church, and that she might not meet in this lone road any +thing to distract her attention. Her father, who liked her lofty +studies, and was intoxicated at his daughter's success, was still +desirous of initiating her in his own craft, and made her begin to +engrave. She learned to handle the _burin_, and succeeded in this as in +every thing else. As yet she did not derive any salary from it; but at +the fete of her grandfather and grandmother, she presented to them as +her offering, sometimes a head, which she had applied herself to execute +for this express purpose, sometimes a small brass plate, highly +polished, on which she had engraved emblems or flowers; and they in +return gave her ornaments or something for her toilette, for which she +confesses always to have been anxious. + +This taste, natural to her age and sex, did not, however, distract her +from the more humble domestic duties. She was not ashamed, after +appearing on Sundays at church, or walking out elegantly dressed, to put +on during the week a cotton gown, and go to market with her mother. She +used even to go out to shops in their neighbourhood to buy parsley or +salad, which had been forgotten. Although she felt herself somewhat +humiliated by these domestic cares, which brought her down from the +eminence of her Plutarch, and her visionary wanderings, she combined so +much grace, and so much natural dignity, that the fruit-woman used to +take pleasure in serving her before her other customers; and the first +comers took no offence at this preference. This young girl, this future +Heloise of the eighteenth century, who read serious books, who expounded +the circles of the celestial globe, handled the pencil and _burin_, and +in whose soul-aspiring thoughts and impassioned feelings already found +space, was often called into the kitchen to prepare the vegetables for +dinner. This mixture of serious shades, elegant research, and domestic +occupations, ordered and sensibly mingled by her mother's sagacity, +seemed to prepare her already for the vicissitudes of fortune, and in +after days helped her to support them. It was Rousseau at Charmettes +piling up the woodstack of Madame de Warens with the hand which was to +write the _Contrat Social_, or Philopoemen chopping his wood. + + +VI. + +From the retirement of such secluded life, she sometimes perceived the +higher world which shone above her. The lights which displayed to her +this great world offended, more than they dazzled, her sight. The pride +of this aristocratic society, which saw without valuing her, weighed on +her sensitive mind--a society in which her position was not assigned to +her, seemed badly framed. It was less envy than justice that revolted in +her. Superior beings have their places marked out by nature, and every +thing that keeps them from occupying them, seems to them an usurpation. +They find society frequently the reverse of nature, and take their +revenge by despising it: from this arises the hatred of genius against +power. Genius dreams of an order of things, in which the ranks should be +marked out by nature and virtue; whilst in reality they are almost +always derived from birth--that blind allotment of fate. There are few +great minds which do not feel in their earliest progress the persecution +of fortune, and who do not begin by an internal revolt against society. +They are only quieted by their own discouragement. Some are resigned +from a more lofty feeling to the place which God assigns to them. To put +up with the world humbly is still more beautiful than to control it. +This is the very acme of virtue. Religion leads to it in a day; +philosophy only conducts to it by a lengthened life, misery, or death. +These are days when the most elevated place in the world is a scaffold. + + +VII. + +The young maiden once conducted by her grandmother to an aristocratic +house, of which her humble parents were _free_, was deeply hurt at the +tone of condescending superiority with which her grandmother and herself +were treated. "My pride took alarm," she writes, "my blood boiled more +than usual, and I blushed violently. I no longer inquired of myself why +this lady was seated on a sofa, and my grandmother on a low stool; but +my feelings led to such reflection, and I saw the end of the visit with +satisfaction as if a weight was taken off my mind." + +Another time she was taken to pass eight days at Versailles, in the +palace of that king and queen whose throne she was one day to sap. +Lodged in the attics with one of the female domestics of the Chateau, +she was a close observer of this royal luxury, which she believed was +paid for by the misery of the people, and that grandeur of things +founded on the servility of courtiers. The lavishly spread tables, the +walks, the play, presentations--all passed before her eyes in the pomp +and vanity of the world. These ceremonious details of power were +repugnant to her mind, which fed on philosophy, truth, liberty, and the +virtue of the olden time. The obscure names, the humble attire, of the +relatives who took her to see all this, only procured for her mere +passing looks and a few words, which meant more protection than favour. +The feeling that her youth, beauty, and merit, were unperceived by this +crowd, who only adored favour or etiquette, oppressed her mind. The +philosophy, natural pride, imagination, and fixedness of her soul were +all wounded during this sojourn. "I preferred," she says, "the statues +in the gardens to the personages of the palace." And her mother +inquiring if she were pleased with her visit--"Yes," was her reply, "if +it be soon ended; for else, in a few more days I shall so much detest +all the persons I see, that I should not know what to do with my +hatred." "What harm have they done you?" inquired her mother. "To make +me feel injustice, and look upon absurdity." As she contemplated these +splendours of the despotism of Louis XIV., which were drooping into +corruption, she thought of Athens, but forgot the death of Socrates, the +exile of Aristides, the condemnation of Phocion. "I did not then +foresee," she writes, in melancholy mood, as she pens these lines--"that +destiny reserved me to be the witness of crimes such as those of which +they were the victims, and to participate in the glory of their +martyrs, after having professed their principles." + +Thus, the imagination, character, and studies of this girl prepared her, +unknown to herself, for the republic. Her religion alone, then so +powerful over her, restrained her within the bounds of that resignation +which submits the thoughts to the will of God. But philosophy became her +creed, and this creed formed a portion of her politics. The emancipation +of the people united itself in her mind with the emancipation of ideas. +She believed, by overturning thrones, that she was working for man; and, +by overthrowing altars, that she was labouring for God. Such is the +confession which she herself made of her change. + + +VIII. + +However, the young girl had already attracted many suitors for her hand. +Her father wished to marry her in the class to which he himself +belonged. He loved, esteemed commerce, because he considered it the +source of wealth. His daughter despised it because it was, in her eyes, +the source of avarice and the food of cupidity. Men in this condition of +life were repugnant to her. She desired in a husband ideas and feelings +sympathising with her own. Her ideal was a soul and not a fortune. +"Brought up from my infancy in connexion with the great men of all ages, +familiar with lofty ideas and illustrious examples--had I lived with +Plato, with all the philosophers, all the poets, all the politicians of +antiquity, merely to unite myself with a shopkeeper, who would neither +appreciate nor feel any thing as I did?" + +She who wrote these lines was at that moment demanded in marriage of her +parents by a rich butcher of the neighbourhood. She refused every offer. +"I will not descend from the world of my noble chimeras," she replied to +the incessant remonstrances of her father; "what I want is not a +position but a mind. I will die single rather than prostitute my own +mind in an union with a being with whom I have no sympathies." + +Deprived of her mother by an early death, alone in the house of a father +where disorder was the consequence of a second _amour_, melancholy +gained possession of her mind, though it did not overcome it. She +became more collected and reserved, in order to strengthen her feelings +against isolation and misfortune. The perusal of the _Heloise_ of +Rousseau, which was lent to her about that time, made on her heart the +same impression that Plutarch had made on her mind. Plutarch had shown +her liberty; Rousseau made her dream of happiness: the one fortified, +the other weakened her. She found the earnest desire of pouring forth +her feelings. Melancholy was her rigid muse. She began to write, in +order to console herself in the nurture of her own thoughts. Without any +intention of becoming an authoress, she acquired by these solitary +trials that eloquence with which she subsequently animated her friends. + + +IX. + +Thus gradually ripened this patient and resolute mind, working on +towards its destiny, when she believed she had found the man of the +olden time of whom she had so long dreamed. This man was Roland de la +Platiere. + +He was introduced to her by one of her early friends, married at Amiens, +where Roland then carried on the functions of inspector of manufactures. +"You will receive this letter," wrote her friend, "by the hand of the +philosopher of whom I have spoken to you already, M. Roland, an +enlightened man, of antique manners; without reproach, except for his +passion for the ancients, his contempt of his age, and his too high +estimation of his own virtue. This portrait," she adds, "was just and +well depicted. I saw a man nearly fifty years of age, tall, careless in +his attitude, with that kind of awkwardness which a solitary life always +produces; but his manners were easy and winning, and without possessing +the elegance of the world, they united the politeness of the well-bred +man to the seriousness of the philosopher. He was very thin, with a +complexion much tanned; his brow, already covered by very little hair, +and very broad, did not detract from his regular but unattractive +features. He had, however, a pleasing smile, and his features an +animated play, which gave them a totally different appearance when he +was excited in speaking or listening. His voice was manly, his mode of +speech brief, like a man with shortened breath; his conversation, full +of matter, because his head was full of ideas, occupied the mind more +than it flattered the ear. His language was sometimes striking, but +harsh and inharmonious. This charm of the voice is a gift very rare, and +most powerful over the senses," she adds, "and does not merely depend on +the quality of the sound, but equally upon that delicate sensibility +which varies the expression by modifying the accent." This is enough to +assure us that Roland had not this charming gift. + + +X. + +Roland, born of an honest tradesman's family, which had held magisterial +offices and asserted claims to nobility, was the youngest of five +brothers, and intended for the church. To avoid this destiny, which +disgusted him, he fled from his father's roof at nineteen, and went to +Nantes. Procuring a situation with a ship-builder, he was about to +embark for India in trade, when an illness at the moment he was to +embark prevented him. One of his relations, a superintendent of a +factory, received him at Rouen, and gave him a situation in his office. +This house, animated by the spirit of Turgot, made experiments in the +details of its business with all the sciences, and by political economy +with the loftiest problems of governments. It was peopled by +philosophers, amongst whom Roland distinguished himself, and the +government sent him to Italy to watch the progress of commerce there. + +He left his young friend with reluctance, and forwarded to her regularly +scientific letters, intended as notes to the work which he proposed to +write on Italy--letters in which the sentiment that displayed itself +beneath science, more resembled the studies of a philosopher than the +conversations of a lover. + +On his return she saw in him a friend. His age, gravity, manners, +laborious habits, made her consider him as a sage who existed solely on +his reason. In the union they contemplated, and which less resembled +love, than the ancient associations of the days of Socrates and +Plato--the one sought a disciple rather than a wife, and the other +married a master rather than a husband. M. Roland returned to Amiens, +and thence wrote to the father to demand his daughter's hand, which was +bluntly denied to him. He feared in Roland, whose austerity displeased +him, a censor for himself, and a tyrant for his child. Informed of her +father's refusal, she grew indignant, and went to a convent destitute of +every thing. There she lived on the coarsest food, prepared by her own +hands. She plunged into deep study, and strengthened her heart against +adversity. _She revenged herself by deserving the happiness of a lot +which was not accorded to her_. In the evening she visited her friends; +in the day an hour's walk in a garden surrounded with high walls. That +feeling of strength which steels against fate--that melancholy which +softens the soul, and feeds it on its own sensibility,--helped her to +pass long winter months in her voluntary captivity. + +A feeling of internal bitterness, however, poisoned even this sacrifice. +She said to herself that this sensibility was not recompensed. She had +flattered herself that M. Roland, on learning of her resolution and +retreat, would hasten to take her from this convent and unite their +destinies. Time passed on. Roland came not, and scarcely wrote. At the +end of six months he arrived, and was again deeply enamoured on seeing +his beloved behind a grating. He resolved on offering her his hand, +which she accepted. However, so much calculation, hesitation, and +coldness had dissipated the little illusion which the young captive had +left, and reduced her feelings to deep esteem. She devoted rather than +gave herself. It appeared to her sublime to immolate herself for the +happiness of a worthy man; and she consummated this sacrifice with all +the seriousness of reason and without a grain of heartfelt enthusiasm. +Her marriage was to her an act of virtue, which she performed, not +because it was agreeable to her, but because she deemed it sublime. + +The pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau is seen again at this decisive moment +of her existence. The marriage of Madame Roland is a palpable imitation +of that of Heloise with M. de Volmar. But the bitterness of reality was +not slow in developing itself beneath the heroism of her devotion. "By +dint," she herself says, "of occupying myself with the happiness of the +man with whom I was associated, I felt that something was wanting to my +own. I have not for a moment ceased to see in my husband one of the +most estimable persons that exists, and to whom it was an honour to me +to belong; but I often felt that similarity was wanting between +us,--that the ascendency of a dominating temper, united to that of +twenty years more of age, made one of these superiorities too much. If +we lived in solitude, I had sometimes very painful hours to pass: if we +went into the world, I was liked by persons, some one of whom I was +fearful might affect me too closely. I plunged into my husband's +occupations, became his copying clerk, corrected his proofs, and +fulfilled the task with an unrepining humility, which contrasted +strongly with a spirit as free and tried as mine. But this humility +proceeded from my heart: I respected my husband so much, that I always +liked to suppose that he was superior to myself. I had such a dread of +seeing a shade over his countenance, he was so tenacious of his own +opinions, that it was a long time before I ventured to contradict him. +To this labour I joined that of my house; and observing that his +delicate health could not endure every kind of diet, I always prepared +his meals with my own hands. I remained with him four years at Amiens, +and became there a mother and nurse. We worked together at the +_Encyclopedie Nouvelle_, in which the articles relative to commerce had +been confided to him. We only quitted this occupation for our walks in +the vicinity of the town." + +Roland, dictatorial and exacting, had insisted from the beginning of +their marriage, that his wife should refrain from seeing her young and +attached friends whom she had loved in the convent, and who lived at +Amiens. He dreaded the least participation of affection. His prudence +outstepped the bounds of reason. To an union as solemn as marriage, the +pleasure of friendship was necessary. This tyranny of an exclusive +feeling was not compensated by love. Roland demanded every thing from +his wife's compliance. If there was no faltering in her conduct, still +she felt these sacrifices, and joyed over the accomplishment of her +duties as the stoic enjoys his sufferings. + + +XI. + +After some years passed at Amiens, Roland was promoted to the same +duties at Lyons, his native place. In winter he dwelt in the town, and +the rest of the year was passed in the country in his paternal home, +where his mother still lived, a respectable old woman, but meddlesome +and overbearing in her household. Madame Roland, in all the flower of +youth, beauty, and genius, thus found herself tormented and beset by a +domineering mother-in-law, a rough brother-in-law, and an exacting +husband. The most passionate love could scarcely have been proof against +so trying and painful a position. To soothe her she had the +consciousness of discharging her duties, her occupation, her philosophy, +and her child. It was sufficing, and eventually transformed this gloomy +retreat into the abode of harmony and peace. We love to follow her into +that solitude, when her mind was becoming tempered for her struggle, as +we go to seek at Charmettes the still fresh and sparkling source of the +life and genius of Jean Jacques Rousseau. + + +XII. + +At the foot of the mountains of Beaujolais, in the large basin of the +Saone, in face of the Alps, there is a series of small hills scattered +like the sea sands, which the patient vine-dresser has planted with +vines, and which form amongst themselves, at their base, oblique +valleys, narrow and sinuous ravines, interspersed with small verdant +meads. These meadows have each their thread of water, which filters down +from the mountains: willows, weeping birch, and poplars, show the course +and conceal the bed of the streams. The sides and tops of these hills +only bear above the lowly vines a few wild peach trees, which do not +shade the grapes and large walnut trees in the orchards near the houses. +On the declivity of one of these sandy protuberances was _La Platiere_, +the paternal inheritance of M. Roland, a low farm-house, with regular +windows, covered with a roof of red tiles nearly flat; the eaves of this +roof project a little beyond the wall, in order to protect the windows +from the rain of winter and the summer's sun. The walls, straight and +wholly unornamented, were covered with a coating of white plaister, +which time had soiled and cracked. The vestibule was reached by +ascending five stone steps, surmounted by a rustic balustrade of rusty +iron. A yard surrounded by outhouses, where the harvest was gathered +in, presses for the vintage, cellars for the wine, and a dove-cote, +abutted on the house. Behind was levelled a small kitchen-garden, whose +beds were bordered with box, pinks, and fruit trees, pruned close down +to the ground. An arbour was formed at the extremity of each walk. A +little further on was an orchard, where the trees inclining in a +thousand attitudes, cast a degree of shade over an acre of cropped +grass; then a large enclosure of low vines, cut in right lines by small +green sward paths. Such is this spot. The gaze is turned from the gloomy +and lowering horizon to the mountains of Beaujeu, spotted on their sides +by black pines, and severed by large inclined meadows, where the oxen of +Charolais fatten, and to the valley of the Saone, that immense ocean of +verdure, here and there topped by high steeples. The belt of the higher +Alps, covered with snow and the apex of Mont Blanc, which overhangs the +whole, frame this extensive landscape. There is in this something of the +vastness of the infinite sea: and if on its bounded side it may inspire +recollection and resignation, in its open part it seems to solicit +thought to expand, and to convey the soul to far off hopes and to the +eminences of imagination. + +Such was, for five years, the bounded horizon of this young woman. It +was there that she plunged into the plenitude of that nature of which, +in her infancy, she had so frequently dreamed, and in which she had +perceived only some small bits of sky, and some confused perspectives of +royal forests, from the height of her window over the roofs of Paris. It +was there that her simple tastes and loving soul found nutriment and +scope for her sensibility. + +Her life was there divided between household cares, the improvement of +her mind, and active charity--that cultivator of the heart. Adored by +the peasants, whose protectress she was, she applied to the consolation +of their miseries the little to spare which a rigid economy left to her, +and to the cure of their maladies the knowledge she had acquired in +medicine. She was fetched from three and four leagues' distance to visit +a sick person. On Sunday the steps of her court-yard were covered with +invalids, who came to seek relief, or convalescents, who came to bring +her proofs of their gratitude; baskets of chestnuts, goats' milk +cheeses, or apples from their orchards. She was delighted at finding the +country people grateful and sensible of kindness. She had drawn her own +picture of the people residing in the vicinity of large cities. The +burning of chateaux, during the outbreak and massacres of September, +taught her subsequently that these seas of men, then so calm, have +tempests more terrible than those of the ocean, and that society +requires institutions, just as the waves require a bed, and strength is +as indispensable as justice to the government of a people. + + +XIII. + +The hour of the Revolution of '89 had struck, and came upon her in the +bosom of this retreat. Intoxicated with philosophy, passionately devoted +to the ideal of humanity, an adorer of antique liberty, she became on +fire at the first spark of this focus of new ideas;--she believed with +all her faith, that this revolution, like a child born without a +mother's sufferings, must regenerate the human race, destroy the misery +of the working classes, for whom she felt the deepest sympathy, and +renew the face of the earth. Even the piety of great souls has its +imagination. The generous illusion of France at this epoch was equal to +the work which France had to accomplish. If she had not dared to hope so +much, she would have dared nothing: her faith was her strength. + +From this day, Madame Roland felt a fire kindled within her which was +never to be quenched but in her blood. All the love which lay slumbering +in her soul was converted into enthusiasm and devotion for the human +race. Her sensibility deceived--too ardent, unquestionably, for one +man--spread over a nation. She adored the Revolution like a lover. She +communicated this flame to her husband and to all her friends. All her +repressed feelings were poured forth in her opinions; she avenged +herself on her destiny, which refused her individual happiness, by +sacrificing herself for the happiness of others. Happy and beloved, she +would have been but a woman; unhappy and isolated, she became the leader +of a party. + + +XIV. + +The opinions of M. and Madame Roland excited against them all the +commercial aristocracy of Lyons, an honest right-minded city, but one of +money, where all becomes a calculation, and where ideas have the weight +and immobility of interests. Ideas have an irresistible current, which +attract even the most stagnant populations; Lyons was led on and +overwhelmed by the opinions of the epoch. M. Roland was raised to the +municipality at the first election, and spoke out with all the +earnestness of his principles, and the energy inspired by his wife. +Feared by the timid, adored by the eager, his name, at first a byeword, +became a rallying point;--public favour recompensed him for the insults +of the rich. He was deputed to Paris by the municipal council, there to +defend the commercial interests of Lyons, in the committees of the +Constituent Assembly. + +The connection of Roland with philosophers and economists who formed the +practical party of philosophy, his necessary intercourse with +influential members of the Assembly, his literary tastes, and, above +all, the attraction and natural temptation which drew and retained +eminent men around a young, eloquent, and impassioned woman, soon made +the _salon_ of Madame Roland an ardent, though not as yet noted, focus +of the Revolution. The names which were found there reveal, from the +first days, extreme opinions. For these opinions, the constitution of +1791 was only a halt. + +It was on the 20th February, 1791, that Madame Roland returned to that +Paris which she had quitted five years before, a young girl, unknown and +nameless, and whither she came as a flame to animate an entire party, +found a republic, reign for a moment, and--die! She had in her mind a +confused presentiment of this destiny. Genius and Will know their +strength,--they feel before others and prophesy their mission. Madame +Roland had beforehand seemed carried on by hers to the heart of action. +She hastened on the day after her arrival to the sittings of the +Assembly. She saw the powerful Mirabeau, the dazzling Cazales, the +daring Maury, the crafty Lameth, the impassive Barnave. She remarked +with annoyance and intense hate, in the attitude and language of the +right side, that superiority conferred by the habit of command and +confidence in the respect of the million; on the left side, she saw +inferiority of manners, and the insolence that mingles with low +breeding. And thus did the antique aristocracy survive in blood, and +avenge itself, even after its defeat on the democracy, which envied, +whilst it beat it to the earth. Equality is written in the laws long +before it is established in races. Nature is an aristocrat, and it +requires a long use of independence to give to a republican people the +noble attitude and polished dignity of the citizen. Even in revolutions, +the _parvenu_ of liberty is long seen in the vanquisher. Women's tact is +very sensitive to these nice shades. Madame Roland understood them, but, +so far from allowing herself to be seduced by this superiority of +aristocracy, she was but the more indignant, and felt her hatred +redoubled against a party which it was possible to overcome but +impossible to humble. + + +XV. + +It was at this period that she and her husband united with some of the +most ardent amongst the apostles of popular ideas. It was not they who, +as yet, were foremost in the favour of the people, and the _eclat_ of +talent,--it was they who appeared to it, to love the Revolution for the +Revolution itself, and to devote themselves, with sublime +disinterestedness, not to the success of their fortune, but to the +progress of humanity. Brissot was one of the first. M. and Madame Roland +had been, for a long time, in correspondence with him on matters of +public economy, and the more important problems of liberty. Their ideas +had fraternised and expanded together. They were united beforehand by +all the fibres of their revolutionary hearts, but, as yet, did not know +it. Brissot, whose adventurous life, and unwearied contentions were +allied to the youth of Mirabeau, had already acquired a name in +journalism and the clubs. Madame Roland awaited him with respect; she +was curious to judge if his features resembled the physiognomy of his +mind. She believed that nature revealed herself by all forms, and that +the understanding and virtue modelled the external senses of men just +as the statuary impresses on the clay the outward forms of his +conception. The first appearance undeceived, without discouraging her in +her admiration of Brissot. He wanted that dignity of aspect, and that +gravity of character which seem like a reflection of the dignity, life, +and seriousness of his doctrines. There was something in the man +political, which recalled the pamphleteer. His levity shocked her; even +his gaiety seemed to her a profanation of the grave ideas of which he +was the organ. The Revolution, which gave passion to his style, did not +throw any passion into his countenance. She did not find in him enough +hatred against the enemies of the people. The mobile mind of Brissot did +not appear to have sufficient consistency for a feeling of devotion. His +activity, directed upon all matters, gave him the appearance of a novice +in ideas rather than an apostle. They called him an intriguer. + +Brissot brought Petion, his fellow-student and friend. Petion, already +member of the Constituent Assembly, and whose harangues in two or three +cases had excited interest. Brissot was reputed to have inspired these +orations. Buzot and Robespierre, both members of the same Assembly, were +introduced there. Buzot, whose pensive beauty, intrepidity, and +eloquence were destined hereafter to agitate the heart and soften the +imagination of Madame Roland; and Robespierre, whose disquiet mind and +fanatic hatred cast him henceforward into all meetings where +conspiracies were formed in the name of the people. Some others, too, +came, whose names will subsequently appear in the annals of this period. +Brissot, Petion, Buzot, Robespierre, agreed to meet four evenings in +each week in the _salon_ of Madame Roland. + + +XVI. + +The motive of these meetings was to confer secretly as to the weakness +of the Constituent Assembly, on the plots laid by the aristocracy to +fetter the Revolution, and on the impulse necessary to impress on the +lukewarm opinions, in order to consolidate the triumph. They chose the +house of Madame Roland, because this house was situated in a quarter +equi-distant from the homes of all the members who were to assemble +there. As in the conspiracy of Harmodius, it was a woman who held the +torch to light the conspirators. + +Madame Roland thus found herself cast, from the first, in the midst of +the movement party. Her invisible hand touched the first threads of the +still entangled plot which was to disclose such great events. This part, +the only one that could be assigned to her sex, equally flattered her +woman's pride and passion for politics. She went through it with that +modesty which would have been in her a _chef d'oeuvre_ of skill if it +had not been a natural endowment. Seated out of the circle near a work +table, she worked or wrote letters, listening all the time with apparent +indifference to the discussions of her friends. Frequently tempted to +take a share in the conversation, she bit her lips in order to check her +desire. Her soul of energy and action was inspired with secret contempt +for the tedious and verbose debates which led to nothing. Action was +expended in words, and the hour passed away taking with it the +opportunity which never returns. + +The conquests of the National Assembly soon enervated the conquerors. +The leaders of this Assembly retreated from their own handiwork, and +covenanted with the aristocracy and the throne to grant the king the +revision of the constitution in a more monarchical spirit. The deputies +who met at Madame Roland's lost heart and dispersed, until, at length, +there only remained that small knot of unshaken men who attach +themselves to principles regardless of their success, and who are +attached to desperate causes with the more fervour in proportion as +fortune seems to forsake them. Of this number were Buzot, Petion, and +Robespierre. + + +XVII. + +History must have a sinister curiosity in ascertaining the first +impression made on Madame Roland, by the man who, warmed at her hearth, +and then conspiring with her, was one day to overthrow the power of his +friends, immolate them _en masse_, and send her to the scaffold. No +repulsive feeling seems, at this period, to have warned her that in +conspiring to advance Robespierre's fortune, she conspired for her own +death. If she have any vague fear, that fear is instantly cloaked by a +pity which is akin to contempt. Robespierre appeared to her an honest +man; she forgave him his evil tongue and affected utterance. +Robespierre, like all men with one idea, appeared overcome with _ennui_. +Still she had remarked that he was always deeply attentive at these +committees, that he never spoke freely, listened to all other opinions +before he delivered his own, and then never took the pains to explain +his motives. Like men of imperious temper, his conviction was to him +always a sufficing reason. The next day he entered the tribune, and +profiting, for his reputation's sake, by the confidential discussions to +which he had listened in the previous evening, he anticipated the hour +of action agreed upon with his allies, and thus divulged the plan +concerted. When blamed for this at Madame Roland's, he made but slight +excuse. This wilfulness was attributed to his youth, and the impatience +of his _amour-propre_. Madame Roland, persuaded that this young man was +passionately attached to liberty, took his reserve for timidity, and +these petty treasons for independence. The common cause was a cover for +all. Partiality transforms the most sinister tokens into favour or +indulgence. "He defends his principles," said she, "with warmth and +pertinacity--he has the courage to stand up singly in their defence at +the time when the number of the people's champions is vastly reduced. +The court hates him, therefore we should like him. I esteem Robespierre +for this, and show him that I do; and then too, though he is not very +attentive at the evening meetings, he comes occasionally and asks me to +give him a dinner. I was much struck with the affright with which he was +agitated on the day of the king's flight to Varennes. He said the same +evening at Petion's that the Royal Family had not taken such a step +without preparing in Paris a Saint Bartholomew for the patriots, and +that he expected to die before he was twenty-four hours older. Petion, +Buzot, Roland, on the contrary, said that this flight of the king's was +his abdication, that it was necessary to profit by it in order to +prepare men's minds for the republic. Robespierre, sneering and biting +his nails, as usual, asked what a republic was." + +It was on this day that the plan of a journal, called the _Republican_, +was arranged between Brissot, Condorcet, Dumont of Geneva, and +Duchatelet. We thus see that the idea of a republic was born in the +cradle of the Girondists before it emanated from Robespierre, and that +the 10th of August was no chance, but a plot. + +At the same epoch, Madame Roland had given way, in order to save +Robespierre's life, to one of those impulses which reveal a courageous +friendship, and leave their traces even in the memory of the ungrateful. +After the massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, accused of having conspired +with the originators of the petition of forfeiture, and threatened with +vengeance by the National Guard, Robespierre was obliged to conceal +himself. Madame Roland, accompanied by her husband, went at 11 o'clock +at night to his retreat in the Marais, to offer him a safer asylum in +their own house. He had already quitted his domicile. Madame Roland then +went to their common friend Buzot, and entreated him to go to the +Feuillants, where he still retained influence, and with all speed to +exculpate Robespierre before any act of accusation was issued against +him. + +Buzot hesitated for a moment, then replied,--"I will do all in my power +to save this unfortunate young man, although I am far from partaking the +opinion of many respecting him. He thinks too much of himself to love +liberty; but he serves it, and that is enough for me. I shall be there +to defend him." Thus, three of Robespierre's subsequent victims combined +that night, and unknown to him, for the safety of the man by whom they +were eventually to die. Destiny is a mystery whence spring the most +remarkable coincidences, and which tend no less to offer snares to men +through their virtues than their crimes. Death is everywhere: but, +whatever the fate may be, virtue alone never repents. Beneath the +dungeons of the Conciergerie Madame Roland remembered that night with +satisfaction. If Robespierre recalled it in his power, this memory must +have fallen colder on his heart than the axe of the headsman. + + + + +BOOK IX. + + +I. + +After the dispersion of the Constituent Assembly, the mission of M. and +Madame Roland having terminated, they quitted Paris. This woman, who had +just left the centre of faction and business, returned to La Platiere to +resume the cares of her rustic household and the pruning of her vines. +But she had quaffed of the intoxicating cup of the Revolution. The +movement in which she had participated for a moment impelled her still, +though at a distance. She carried on a correspondence with Robespierre +and Buzot; political and formal with Robespierre, pathetic and tender +with Buzot. Her mind, her soul, her heart, all recalled it. Then took +place between herself and her husband a deliberation, apparently +impartial, in order to decide whether they should bury themselves in the +country, or should return to Paris. But the ambition of the one, and the +ardent desire of the other, had decided, unknown to, and before, either. +The most trifling pretext was sufficient for their impatience. In the +month of December they were again installed in Paris. + +It was the period when all their friends arrived. Petion had just been +elected _maire_, and was creating a republic in the _commune_. +Robespierre, excluded from the Legislative Assembly by the law which +forbade the re-election of the members of the Constituent Assembly, +found a tribune in the Jacobins. Brissot assumed Buzot's place in the +new Assembly, and his reputation, as a public writer and statesman, +brought around him and his doctrines the young Girondists, who had +arrived from their department, with the ardour of their age, and the +impulse of a second revolutionary tide. They cast themselves, on their +arrival, into the places which Robespierre, Buzot, Laclos, Danton, and +Brissot had marked out for them. + +Roland, the friend of all these men, but in the back ground, and +concealed in their shadow, had one of those peculiar reputations, the +more potent over opinion, as it made but little display: it was spoken +of as though an antique virtue, beneath the simple appearance of a +rustic: he was the Sieyes of his party. Beneath his taciturnity his deep +thought was assured, and in his mystery the oracle was accredited. The +brilliancy and genius of his wife attracted all eyes towards him: his +very mediocrity, the only power that has the virtue of neutralising +envy, was of service to him. As no one feared him, every body thrust him +forward--Petion as a cover for himself--Robespierre to undermine +him--Brissot to put his own villanous reputation under the shelter of +proverbial probity--Buzot, Vergniaud, Louvet, Gensonne, and the +Girondists, from respect for his science, and the attraction towards +Madame Roland; even the Court, from confidence in his honesty and +contempt for his influence. This man advanced to power without any +effort on his own part, borne onwards by the favour of a party, by the +_prestige_ which the unknown has over opinion, by the disdain of his +opponents and the genius of his wife. + + +II. + +The king had for some time hoped that the wrath of the Revolution would +be softened down by its triumph. Those violent acts, those stormy +oscillations between insolence and repentance, which had marked the +inauguration of the Assembly, had painfully undeceived him. His +astonished ministry already trembled before so much audacity, and in the +council avowed their incompetency. The king was desirous of retaining +men who had given him such proofs of devotion to his person. Some of +them, confidants or accomplices, served the king and queen, either by +keeping up communications with the emigrants or by their intrigues in +the interior. + +M. de Montmorin, an able man, but unequal to the difficulties of the +crisis, had retired. The two principal men of the ministry were M. de +Lessart for Foreign Affairs; M. Bertrand de Molleville in the Marine +Department. M. de Lessart, placed by his position between the armed +emigrants, the impatient Assembly, undecided Europe, and the inculpated +king, could not fail to fall under his own good intentions. His plan was +to avoid war in his own country by temporising and negotiations--to +suspend the hostile demonstration of foreign power: to present to the +intimidated Assembly the king, as sole arbiter and negotiator of peace +between his people and the foreigner; and he trusted thus to adjourn the +final collisions between the Assembly and the throne, and to +re-establish the regular authority of the king by preserving peace. The +personal arrangements of the emperor Leopold aided him in his plans; he +had only to contend against the fatality which urges men and things to +their _denouement_. The Girondists, and Brissot especially, overwhelmed +him with accusations, inasmuch as he was the man who could most retard +their triumph. By sacrificing him they could sacrifice a whole system: +their press and their harangues pointed him out to the fury of the +people;--the partisans of war marked him down as their victim. He was no +traitor--but with them to negotiate was to betray. The king, who knew he +was irreproachable and confided all his plans to him, refused to +sacrifice him to his enemies, and thus accumulated resentments against +the minister. As to M. de Molleville, he was a secret enemy of the +constitution. He advised the king to play the hypocrite, acting in the +letter, and thus to destroy the spirit, of the law,--advancing by +subterranean ways to a violent catastrophe,--when, according to him the +monarchical cause must come out victorious. Confiding in the power of +intrigue more than in the influence of opinion, seeking everywhere +traitors to the popular cause, paying spies, bargaining for consciences, +believing in no one's incorruptibility, keeping up secret intelligence +with the most violent demagogues, paying in hard money for the most +incendiary propositions under the idea of making the Revolution +unpopular from its very excesses, and filling the tribunes of the +Assembly with his agents in order to choke down with their hootings, or +render effective by their applause, the discourses of certain orators, +and thus to feign in the tribunes a false people and a false opinion; +men of small means in great matters presuming that it is possible to +deceive a nation as if it were an individual. The king, to whom he was +devoted, liked him as the depositary of his troubles, the confidant of +his relations with foreign powers, and the skilful mediator of his +negotiation with all parties. M. de Molleville thus kept himself in +well-managed balance between his favour with the king, and his +intrigues with the revolutionary party He spoke the language of the +constitution well--he had the secret of many consciences bought and paid +for. + +It was between these two men that the king, in order to comply with +popular opinion, called M. de Narbonne to the ministry of war. Madame de +Staeel and the constitutional party sought the aid of the Girondists. +Condorcet, was the mediator between the two parties. Madame de +Condorcet, an exceedingly lovely woman, united with Madame de Staeel in +enthusiasm for the young minister. The one lent him the brilliancy of +her genius, the other the influence of her beauty. These two females +appeared to fuse their feelings in one common devotion for the man +honoured by their preference. Rivalry was sacrificed at the shrine of +ambition. + + +III. + +The point of union of the Girondist party with the constitutional party, +in that combination of which M. de Narbonne's elevation was the +guarantee, was the thirst of both parties for war. The constitutional +party desired it, in order to divert internal anarchy, and dispel those +fermentations of agitation which threatened the throne. The Girondist +party desired it in order to push men's minds to extremities. It hoped +that the dangers of the country would give it strength enough to shake +the throne and produce the republican regime. + +It was under these auspices that M. de Narbonne took office. He also was +desirous of war; not to overthrow the throne in whose shadow he was +born, but to dazzle and shake the nation, to hazard fortune by desperate +casts, and to replace at the head of the people under the arms of the +high military aristocracy of the country, La Fayette, Biron, Rochambeau, +the Lameths, Dillon, Custines, and himself. If victory favoured the +French flag, the victorious army, under constituent chiefs, would +control the Jacobins, strengthen the reformed monarchy, and maintain the +establishment of the two chambers; if France was destined to reverses, +unquestionably the throne and aristocracy must fall, but better to fall +nobly in a national contest of France against her enemies, than to +tremble perpetually and to perish at last in a riot by the pikes of the +Jacobins. This was the adventurous and chivalrous policy which pleased +the young men by its heroism, and the women by its _prestige_. It +betokened the high courage of France. M. de Narbonne personified it in +the council. His colleagues, MM. de Lessart and Bertrand de Molleville, +saw in him the total overthrow of all their plans. The king, as usual, +was all indecision; one step forward and one backwards; surprised by the +event in his hesitation, and thus unable to resist a shock, or himself +to give any impulse. + +Beside these official councillors, certain constituents not in the +Assembly, especially the Lameths, Duport, and Barnave, were consulted by +the king. Barnave had remained in Paris some months after the +dissolution of the Constituent Assembly. He redeemed by sincere devotion +to the monarchy the blows he had previously dealt upon it. He had +measured with an eye of judgment, the rapid declivity down which the +love of popular favour had impelled him. Like Mirabeau, he wished to +pause when it was too late. Henceforth, remaining on the brink of +events, he was besieged with terror and remorse. If his intrepid heart +did not tremble for himself, the sympathy he experienced for the queen +and royal family urged him to give the king advice which had but one +fault,--it was impossible now to follow it. + +These consultations, held at Adrien Duport's, the friend of Barnave and +the oracle of the party, only served to embarrass the mind of the king +with another element of hesitation. La Fayette and his friends also +added their imperious counsel. La Fayette could not believe that he was +supplanted. The national guard, which yet remained attached to him, +still credited his omnipotence,--all these men and all these parties +lent M. de Narbonne secret support. A courtier in the eyes of the court, +an aristocrat in the eyes of the nobility, a soldier in the eyes of the +army, one of the people in the eyes of the people, irresistible in the +eyes of the women, he was the minister of public hope. The Girondists +alone had an _arriere-pensee_ in their apparent favour towards him. They +elevated him to make his fall the more conspicuous: M. de Narbonne was +to them but the hand which prepared the way for their advent. + + +IV. + +Scarcely had he taken his place in the cabinet, than this young minister +displayed all the activity, frankness, and grace of his character in the +discussion of affairs, and his intercourse with the Assembly. He +employed the system of confidence, and surprised the Assembly by his +_abandon_, and these austere and suspicious men, who had hitherto seen +nothing but deceit in the language of ministers, now yielded to the +charm of his speeches. He addressed them, not in the official and cold +language of diplomacy, but in the open and cordial tone of a patriot. He +brought the dignity of his office to the tribune; he generously assumed +all responsibility, and he professed the most cherished principles of +the people with a sincerity that precluded the possibility of suspicion. +He openly disclosed his projects, and the energy of his mind +communicated itself to those men who were the most difficult to be won +over. The nation too saw with delight an _aristocrate_ so well adapt +himself to their costume, their principles, and their passions. The +ardour of his patriotism did not suffer the impulse, that confounded in +him the king and the people, to slacken; and in the course of his short +administration he did wonders of activity. He visited and put in a state +of defence all the fortified places; raised an army, harangued the +troops; arrested the emigration of the nobility, in the name of the +common danger; nominated the generals, and summoned La Fayette, +Rochambeau, and Luckner. A patriotic sentiment, of which he was the +soul, pervaded France; by rendering the throne the centre of the +national defence, he rendered the king again popular for a short time, +and in the enthusiasm felt for their country, all parties became +reconciled. His eloquence was rapid, brilliant, and sonorous as the +clash and din of arms. This expansion of his heart was a part of his +character; he bared his breast to the eyes of his adversaries, and by +this confidence won them to his side. + +The first day of his appointment to office, instead of announcing his +nomination by a letter to the president, as was customary with the other +ministers, he proceeded to the Assembly, and mounted the tribune. "I +come to offer you," said he, "the profoundest respect for the authority +with which the people have invested you; from attachment for the +constitution, to which I have sworn; a courageous love for liberty and +equality--yes, for equality, which has no longer any opponents, but +which should nevertheless possess no less energetic supporters." Two +days afterwards he gained the entire confidence of the Assembly, when +speaking of the responsibility of the ministers. "I accept," cried he, +"the definition of the situation of ministers just made, that tells us +responsibility is death. Spare no threats, no dangers. Load us with +personal fetters, but afford us the means of aiding the constitution to +progress. For my own part, I embrace this opportunity of entreating the +members of this Assembly to inform me of every thing which they deem +useful to the welfare of the nation, during my administration. Our +interests, our enemies are the same; and it is not the letter of the +constitution only that we should seek to enforce, but the spirit; we +must not seek merely to acquit ourselves, but to succeed. You will see +that the minister is convinced that there is no hope for liberty unless +it proceed through you and from you: cease then for awhile to mistrust +us, condemn us afterwards if we have merited it; but first give us with +confidence the means of serving you." + +Such words as these touched even the most prejudiced, and it was +unanimously voted that the speech should be printed, and sent to all the +departments. In order to cement the reconciliation of the king and the +nation, M. de Narbonne went to the committees of the Assembly, +communicated to them his plans, discussed his measures, and won over all +to his resolutions. This government in common was the spirit of the +constitution; the other ministers saw in this the abasement of the +executive power and an abdication of royalty, whilst M. de Narbonne saw +in it the sole means of winning back public feeling to the king. Opinion +had dethroned the royalty; it was to opinion that he looked to +strengthen it, and therefore he made himself the minister of public +opinion. + +At the moment when the emperor sent to the king a communication +threatening the frontiers, and the king personally informed the Assembly +of the energetic measures he had adopted, M. de Narbonne, re-entering +the Assembly after the king's departure, mounted the tribune. "I am on +the eve of quitting Paris," said he, "in order to visit our frontiers; +not that I believe the mistrust felt by the soldiers for their officers +has any foundation, but because I hope to dissipate them by addressing +all in the name of their king and their country. I will say to the +officers, that ancient prejudices and an affection for their king +carried to an excess for a time, may have excused their conduct, but +that the word treason is unknown amongst nations of honourable men. To +the soldiers, your officers who remain at the head of the army are bound +by their oath and their honour to the Revolution. The safety of the +state depends on the discipline of the army. I confide my post to the +minister of foreign affairs, and such is my confidence, such should be +the confidence of the nation in his patriotism, that I take on myself +the responsibility of all the orders that he may give in my name." M. de +Narbonne displayed on this occasion as much skill as magnanimity; he +felt that he had sufficient credit with the nation to cover the +unpopularity of his colleague, M. de Lessart, already denounced by the +Girondists, and thus placed himself between them and their victim. The +Assembly was carried away by his enthusiasm; he obtained 20,000,000 of +francs for the preparations for war, and the grade of marshal of France +for the aged Luckner. The press and the clubs themselves applauded him, +for the general eagerness for war swept away all before it, even the +resentments of faction. + +One man alone of the Jacobins resisted the influence of this enthusiasm: +this man was Robespierre. Up to this time Robespierre had been merely a +discusser of ideas, a subaltern agitator, indefatigable and intrepid, +but eclipsed by other and greater names. From this day he became a +statesman; he felt his own mental strength; he based this strength on a +principle, and alone and unaided ventured to cope with the truth. He +devoted himself without regarding even the number of his adversaries, +and by exercising he doubled his force. + +All the cabinets of the princes threatened by the Revolution still +debated the question of peace or war. It was discussed alike in the +councils of Louis XVI., in the meetings of parties in the Assembly, at +the Jacobins, and in the public journals. The moment was decisive, for +it was evident that the negotiation between the emperor Leopold and +France on the subject of the reception of emigrants in the states +dependent on the empire was fast drawing to a close, and that before +long the emperor would have given satisfaction to France by dispersing +these bodies of emigres, or that France would declare war against him, +and by this declaration draw on herself the hostilities of all her +enemies at the same time. France thus would defy them all. + +We have already seen that the Statesmen, and Revolutionists, +Constitutionalists, and Girondists, Aristocrats, and Jacobins, were all +in favour of war. War was, in the eyes of all, an appeal to destiny, and +the impatient spirit of France wished that it would pronounce at once, +either by victory or defeat. Victory seemed to France the sole issue by +which she could extricate herself from her difficulties at home, and +even defeat did not terrify her. She believed in the necessity of war, +and defied even death. Robespierre thought otherwise, and it is for that +reason that he was Robespierre. + +He clearly comprehended two things; the first, that war was a gratuitous +crime against the people; the second, that a war, even though +successful, would ruin the cause of democracy. Robespierre looked on the +Revolution as the rigorous application of the principles of philosophy +to society. A passionate and devoted pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the +_Contrat Social_ was his gospel; war, made with the blood of the people, +was in the eyes of this philosopher--what it must ever be in the eyes of +the wise--wholesale slaughter to gratify the ambition of a few, glorious +only when it is defensive. Robespierre did not consider France placed in +such a position as to render it absolutely necessary for her safety that +the human vein should be opened, whence would flow such torrents of +blood. Embued with a firm conviction of the omnipotence of the new ideas +on which he nourished faith and fanaticism within a heart closed against +intrigue, he did not fear that a few fugitive princes, destitute of +credit, and some thousand aristocratic emigres, would impose laws or +conditions on a nation whose first struggle for liberty had shaken the +throne, the nobility, and the clergy. Neither did he think that the +disunited and wavering powers of Europe would venture to declare war +against a nation that proclaimed peace so long as we did not attack +them. But should the European cabinets be sufficiently mad to attempt +this new crusade against human reason, then Robespierre fully believed +they would be defeated, for he knew that there lies invincible force in, +the justice of a cause--that right doubles the energy of a nation, that +despair often supplies the want of weapons, and that God and men were +for the people. + +He thought, moreover, that if it was the duty of France to propagate the +advantages and the light of reason and liberty, the natural and peaceful +extension of the French Revolution in the world would prove far more +infallible than our arms,--that the Revolution should be a doctrine and +not an universal monarchy realised by the sword, and that the patriotism +of nations should not coalesce against his dogmata. Their strength was +in their minds, for in his eyes the power of the Revolution lay in its +enlightenment. But he understood more: he understood that an offensive +war would inevitably ruin the Revolution, and annihilate that premature +republic of which the Girondists had already spoken to him, but which he +himself could not as yet define. Should the war be unfortunate, thought +he, Europe will crush without difficulty beneath the tread of its armies +the earliest germs of this new government, to the truth of which perhaps +a few martyrs might testify, but which would find no soil from whence to +spring anew. If fortunate, military feeling, the invariable companion of +aristocratic feeling, honour, that religion that binds the soldier to +the throne; discipline, that despotism of glory, would usurp the place +of those stern virtues to which the exercise of the constitution would +have accustomed the people,--then they would forgive every thing, even +despotism, in those who had saved them. The gratitude of a nation to +those who have led its children to victory is a pitfall in which the +people will ever be ensnared,--nay, they even offer their necks to the +yoke; civil virtues must ever fade before the brilliancy of military +exploits. Either the army would return to surround the ancient royalty +with all its strength, and France would have her Monk, or the army would +crown the most successful of its generals, and liberty would have her +Cromwell. In either case the Revolution escaped from the people, and +lay at the mercy of the soldiery, and thus to save it from war was to +save it from a snare. These reflections decided him; as yet he meditated +no violence; he but saw into the future, and read it aright. This was +the original cause of his rupture with the Girondists; their justice was +but policy, and war appeared to them politic. Just or unjust, they +wished for it as a means of destruction to the throne, of aggrandisement +for themselves. Posterity must decide, if in this great quarrel the +first blame lies on the side of the democrat, or the ambitious +Girondists. This fierce contest, destined to terminate in the death of +both parties, began on the 12th of December at a meeting of the Jacobin +Club. + + +V. + +"I have meditated during six months, and even from the first day of the +Revolution," said Brissot, the leader of the Gironde, "to what party I +should give my support. It is by the force of reason, and by considering +facts, that I have come to the conviction that a people, who, after ten +centuries of slavery, have re-conquered liberty, have need of war. War +is necessary to consolidate liberty, and to purge the constitution from +all taint of despotism. War is necessary to drive from amongst us those +men whose example might corrupt us. You have the power of chastising the +rebels, and intimidating the world; have the courage to do so. The +emigres persist in their rebellion, the sovereigns persist in supporting +them. Can we hesitate to attack them? Our honour, our public credit, the +necessity of strengthening our revolution, all make it imperative on us. +France would be dishonoured, did she tamely suffer the insolence and +revolt of a few factions, and outrages that a despot would not bear for +a fortnight. How shall we be looked upon? No! we must avenge ourselves, +or become the opprobrium of all the other nations. We must avenge +ourselves by destroying these herds of _brigands_, or consent to behold +faction, conspiracy, and rebellion perpetuated, and the insolence of the +aristocrats greater than ever. They rely on the army at Coblentz,--in +that they put their trust. If you would at one blow destroy the +aristocracy, destroy Coblentz, and the chief of the nation will be +compelled to reign, according to the Constitution, with us and through +us." + +These words, pronounced by the statesman of the Gironde, awakened an +echo in the breast of every man, from the Jacobin Club to the extremity +of the country. The vehement applause of the tribunes was merely the +expression of that impatience to know the final decision that pervaded +all parties. Robespierre needed iron nerve and determination to confront +his friends, his enemies, and public opinion; and yet he sustained this +struggle of a single idea against all this passion for weeks. Great +convictions are indefatigable; and Robespierre, by his own unaided +exertions, balanced all France during a month. His very enemies spoke +with respect of his firmness, and those who had not the courage to +follow him, yet would have been ashamed not to esteem him. His +eloquence, which had been dry, verbose, and dialectic, now became more +elegant and more imposing. The public journals printed his speeches. +"You, O people, who do not possess the means of procuring the speeches +of Robespierre, I promise them to you," said the _Orateur du Peuple_, +the Jacobin paper. "Preserve carefully the numbers that contain these +speeches; they are masterpieces of eloquence, that should be preserved +in every family, in order to teach future generations that Robespierre +existed for the public good and the preservation of liberty." + +After having exhausted every argument that philosophy, policy, and +patriotism could suggest against an offensive war, commenced by the +Gironde, and secretly fomented by the ministers, and carried on by the +generals most suspected by the people, he mounted the tribune for the +last time, against Brissot, on the night of the 13th January, and +declared his conviction against war, in a speech as admirable as it was +pathetic. + + +VI. + +"Yes, I am vanquished; I yield to you," cried he, in a broken voice, "I +also demand war. What do I say?--I demand a war, more terrible, more +implacable than you demand. I do not demand it as an act of prudence, an +act of reason, an act of policy, but as the resource of despair. I +demand it on one condition, which doubtless you have anticipated,--for I +do not think that the advocates of war have sought to deceive us. I +demand it deadly--I demand it heroic--I demand it such as the genius of +Liberty would declare against all despotism--such as the people of the +Revolution, under their own leaders, would render it;--not such as +intriguing cowards would have it, or as the ambitious and traitorous +ministers and generals would carry it on. + +"Frenchmen, heroes of the 14th of July, who, without guide or leader, +yet acquired your liberty, come forth, and let us form that army which +you tell us is destined to conquer the universe. But where is the +general, who, imperturbable defender of the rights of the people, and +born with a hatred to tyrants, has never breathed the poisonous air of +the courts, and whose virtue is attested by the hatred and disgrace of +the court; this general, whose hands, guiltless of our blood, are worthy +to bear before us the banner of freedom; where is he, this new Cato, +this third Brutus, this unknown hero? let him appear and disclose +himself, he shall be our leader. But where is he? Where are these +soldiers of the 14th of July, who laid down, in the presence of the +people, the arms furnished them by despotism. Soldiers of Chateauvieux, +where are you? Come and direct our efforts. Alas! it is easier to rob +death of its prey, than despotism of its victims. Citizens! Conquerors +of the Bastille, come! Liberty summons you, and assigns you the honour +of the first rank! They are mute. Misery, ingratitude, and the hatred of +the aristocracy, have dispersed them. And you, citizens, immolated at +the Champ-de-Mars, in the very act of a patriotic confederation, you +will not be with us. Ah, what crime had these females, these massacred +babes, committed? Good God! how many victims, and all amongst the +people--all amongst the patriots, whilst the powerful conspirators live +and triumph. Rally round us, at least you national guards, who have +especially devoted yourselves to the defence of our frontiers in this +war with which a perfidious court threatens us. Come--but how?--you are +not yet armed. During two whole years you have demanded arms, and yet +have them not. What do I say? You have been refused even uniforms, and +condemned to wander from department to department, objects of contempt +to the minister, and of derision to the patricians, who receive you +only to enjoy the spectacle of your distress. No matter; come, we will +combat naked like the American savages. + +"But shall we await the orders of the war office to destroy thrones? +Shall we await the signal of the court? Shall we be commanded by these +patricians, these eternal favourites of despotism, in this war against +aristocrats and kings? No--let us march forward alone; let us be our own +leaders. But see, the orators of war stop me! Here is Monsieur Brissot, +who tells me that Monsieur le Comte de Narbonne must conduct this +affair; that we must march under the orders of Monsieur le Marquis de La +Fayette; that the executive power alone possesses the right of leading +the nation to victory and freedom. Ah, citizens, this word has dispelled +all the charm! Adieu, victory and the independence of the people; if the +sceptres of Europe ever be broken, it will not be by such hands. Spain +will continue for some time the degraded slave of superstition and +royalism. Leopold will continue the tyrant of Germany and Italy, and we +shall not speedily behold Catos or Ciceros replace the pope and the +cardinals in the conclave. I declare openly, that war, as I understand +the term--war, such as I have proposed, is impracticable. And if it be +the war of the court, of the ministers, of the patricians who affect +patriotism, that we must accept--oh, then, far from believing in the +freedom of the world, I despair of your liberty. The wisest course left +us is to defend it against the perfidy of those enemies at home who lull +you with these heroic illusions. + +"I continue calmly and sorrowfully. I have proved that liberty possesses +no more deadly foe than war; I have proved that war, advised by men +already objects of suspicion, was, in the hands of the executive power, +nought save a means of annihilating the constitution, only the end of a +plot against the Revolution. Thus to favour these plans of war, under +what pretext soever, is to associate ourselves with these treasonable +plots against the Revolution. All the patriotism in the world, all the +pretended political commonplaces, cannot change the nature of things. To +inculcate, like M. Brissot and his friends, confidence in the executive +power, and to call down public favour on the generals, is to disarm the +Revolution of its last hope--the vigilance and energy of the nation. In +the horrible position in which despotism, intrigue, treason, and the +general blindness have placed us, I consult alone my head and my heart. +I respect nothing, save my country; I obey nought, save truth. I know +that some patriots blame the frankness with which I present this +discouraging future of our situation. I do not conceal my fault from +myself. Is not the truth already sufficiently guilty because it is the +truth? Ah! so that our slumbers be light, what matter, though we be +awakened by the clash of chains?--and in the quietude of slavery let us +no longer disturb the repose of these fortunate patriots. No, but let +them know that we can measure with a firm eye and steady heart the depth +of the abyss. Let us adopt the device of the palatine of Posnania--'_I +prefer the storms of liberty to the serenity of slavery_.' + +"If the moment of emancipation be not yet arrived, at least we should +have the patience to await it. If this generation was but destined to +struggle in the quicksand of vice, into which despotism had plunged it; +if the theatre of our revolution was destined but to present to the eyes +of the universe a struggle between perfidy and weakness, egotism and +ambition;--the rising generation would commence the task of purifying +this earth, so sullied by vice. It would bring, not the peace of +despotism or the sterile agitations of intrigue, but fire and sword to +lay low the thrones and exterminate the oppressors. O more fortunate +posterity, thou art not stranger to us! It is for thee that we brave the +storms and the intrigues of tyranny. Often discouraged by the obstacles +that environ us, we feel the necessity of struggling for thee. Thou +shalt complete our work. Retain on thy memory the names of the martyrs +of liberty." The sentiments of Rousseau were to be traced in these +words. + + +VII. + +Louvet, one of the friends of Brissot, felt their power, and mounted the +tribune in order to move the man who alone arrested the progress of the +Gironde. "Robespierre," said he, apostrophising him directly; +"Robespierre--you alone keep the public mind in suspense--doubtless this +excess of glory was reserved for you. Your speeches belong to +posterity, and posterity will come to judge between you and me. But you +Will mar a great responsibility by persisting in your opinions; you are +accountable to your contemporaries, and even to future generations--yes, +posterity will judge between us, unworthy as I may be of it. It will +say, a man appeared in the Constituent Assembly--inaccessible to all +passions, one of the most faithful defenders of the people--it was +impossible not to esteem and cherish his virtues--not to admire his +courage--he was adored by the people, whom he had constantly served, and +he was worthy of it. A precipice opens. Fatigued by too much labour, +this man imagined he saw peril where there was none, and did not see it +where it really was. A man of no note was present, entirely occupied +with the present moment, aided by other citizens, he perceived the +danger, and could not remain silent. He went to Robespierre, and sought +to make him touch it with his finger. Robespierre turned away his eyes, +and withdrew his hand, the stranger persisted, and saved his country." + +Robespierre smiled with disdain and incredulity at these words. The +suppliant gestures of Louvet, and the adjurations of the tribunes +found-him the next morning firm and unmoved. Brissot resumed the debate +on war;--"I implore Monsieur Robespierre," said he, in conclusion, "to +terminate so unworthy a struggle, which profits alone the enemies of the +public welfare." "My surprise was extreme," cried Robespierre, "at +seeing this morning, in the journal edited by M. Brissot, the most +pompous eulogium on M. de La Fayette." "I declare," replied Brissot, +"that I am utterly ignorant of the insertion of this letter in '_Le +Patriots Francais_.'" "So much the better," returned Robespierre. "I am +delighted to find that M. Brissot is not a party to any such apologies." +Their words became as bitter as their hearts, and hate became more +perceptible at every reply. The aged Dusaulx interfered, made a touching +appeal to the patriots, and entreated them to embrace. They complied. "I +have now fulfilled a duty of fraternity, and satisfied my heart," cried +Robespierre. "I have yet a more sacred debt to pay my country. All +personal regard must give place to the sacred interests of liberty and +humanity. I can easily reconcile them here with the regard and respect I +have promised to those who serve them; I have embraced M. Brissot, but +I persist in opposing him: let our peace repose only on the basis of +patriotism and virtue." Robespierre, by his very isolation, proved his +force, and obtained fresh influence over the minds of the waverers. The +papers began to side with him. Marat heaped invectives on Brissot; +Camille Desmoulins, in his pamphlets, exposed the shameful association +of Brissot, in London, with Morande, the dishonoured libellist. Danton +himself, the orator of success, fearing to be deceived by fortune, +hesitated between the Girondists and Robespierre. He remained silent for +a long time, and then made a speech full of high-sounding words, beneath +which was visible the hesitation of his convictions, and the +embarrassment of his mind. + + + + +BOOK X. + + +I. + +Whilst this was passing at the Jacobins, and the journals--those echoes +of the clubs--excited in the people the same anxiety and the same +hesitation, the underhand diplomacy of the cabinet of the Tuileries, and +the emperor Leopold, who sought in vain to postpone the termination, +were about to behold all their schemes thwarted by the impatience of the +Gironde and the death of Leopold. This philosophic prince was destined +to bear away with him all desire of reconciliation and every hope of +peace, for he alone restrained Germany. M. de Narbonne, thwarted by +public demonstrations the secret negotiations of his colleague M. de +Lessart, who strove to temporise, and to refer all the differences of +France and Europe to a congress. + +The diplomatic committee of the Assembly, urged by Narbonne, and +composed of Girondists, proposed decisive resolutions. This committee, +established by the Assembly, and influenced by the ideas of Mirabeau, +called the ministers to account for every thing that occurred: out of +the kingdom diplomacy was thus unmasked--the negotiations broken +off--all combination rendered impossible, for the cabinets of Europe +were continually cited before the tribune of Paris. The Girondists, the +actual leaders of this committee, possessed neither the skill nor the +prudence necessary to handle without breaking the fine threads of +diplomacy. A speech was in their eyes far more meritorious than a +negotiation; and they cared not that their words should re-echo in +foreign cabinets, provided they sounded well in the chamber or the +tribune. Moreover, they were desirous of war, and looked on themselves +as statesmen, because at one stroke they had disturbed the peace of +Europe. Ignorant of politics, they yet deemed themselves masters of it, +because they were unscrupulous; and because they affected the +indifference of Machiavel, they deemed they possessed his depth. + +The emperor Leopold, by a proclamation, on the 21st of December, +furnished the Assembly with a pretext for an outbreak. "The sovereigns +united," said the emperor, "for the maintenance of public tranquillity +and the honour and safety of the crowns." These words excited the minds +of all to know what could be their meaning; they asked each other how +the emperor, the brother-in-law, and ally of Louis XVI., could speak to +him for the first time of the sovereigns acting in concert? and against +what, if not against the Revolution? And how could the ministers and +ambassadors of the Revolution have been ignorant of its existence? Why +had they concealed from the nation their knowledge, if they had known +it? There was, then, a double diplomacy, each striving to outwit the +other. The Austrian Alliance was, then, no dream of faction; there was +either incompetence or treason in official diplomacy, perhaps both. A +projected congress was spoken of--could it have any other object than +that of imposing modifications on the constitution of France?--And all +felt indignant at the idea of ceding even one tittle of the constitution +to the demand of monarchical Europe. + + +II. + +It was whilst the public mind was thus agitated that the diplomatic +committee presented, through the Girondist Gensonne, its report on the +existing state of affairs with the emperor. Gensonne, an advocate of +Bordeaux, elected to the Legislative Assembly on the same day as Guadet +and Vergniaud, his friends and countrymen, composed, with these +deputies, that triumvirate of talent, opinion, and eloquence, afterwards +termed the Gironde. An obstinate and dialectic style of oratory, bitter +and keen irony, were the characteristics of the talents of the Gironde; +it did not carry away by its eloquence, it constrained; and its +revolutionary passions were strong, yet under the control of reason. + +Before entering the Assembly, he had been sent as a commissioner with +Dumouriez, afterwards so celebrated, to study the state of the popular +feeling in the department of the west, and to propose measures likely to +tend to the pacification of these countries, then distracted by +religious differences. His clear and enlightened report had been in +favour of tolerance and liberty--those two topics of all consciences. He +was then, in common with the other Girondists, resolved to carry out the +Revolution to its extreme and definite form--a republic, without, +however, too soon destroying the constitutional throne, provided the +constitution was in the hands of his party. + +The intimate friend of the minister Narbonne, his calumniators accused +him of having sold himself to him. Nothing, however, bears out this +suspicion; for if the soul of the Girondists was not free from ambition +and intrigue, their hands at least were pure from corruption. + +Gensonne, in his report in the name of the diplomatic committee, asked +two questions; first, what was our political situation with regard to +the emperor; secondly, should his last _office_ be regarded as an act of +hostility; and in this case was it advisable to accelerate this +inevitable rupture by commencing the attack. + +"Our situation with regard to the emperor," replied he to himself, "is, +that the French interests are sacrificed to the house of Austria; our +finances and our armies wasted in her service--our alliances broken, and +what mark of reciprocity do we receive? The Revolution insulted; our +cockade profaned; the emigres permitted to congregate in the states +dependent on Austria; and, lastly, the avowal of the coalition of the +powers against us. When from the heart of Luxembourg our princes +threaten us with an invasion, and boast of the support of the other +powers, Austria remains silent, and thus tacitly sanctions the threats +of our enemies. It is true she affects from time to time to blame the +hostile demonstrations against France, but this was but an hypocritical +peace. The white cockade and the counter-revolutionary uniform are +openly worn in her states, whilst our national colours are proscribed. +When the king threatened the elector of Treves that he would march into +his territories and disperse the emigres by force, the emperor ordered +general Bender to advance to the assistance of the elector of Treves. +This is but a slight matter: in the report drawn up at Pilnitz, the +emperor declares, in concert with the king of Prussia, that the two +powers would consider the steps to be taken, with regard to France, by +the other European courts; and that should war ensue, they would +mutually assist each other. Thus it is manifest that the emperor had +violated the treaty of 1756, by contracting alliances without the +knowledge of France; and that he has made himself the promoter and pivot +of an anti-French system. What can be his aim but to intimidate and +subdue us, in order to bring us to accept a congress, and the +introduction of shameful modifications in our new institutions? + +"Perhaps," added Gensonne, "this idea has germinated in France? Perhaps +secret information induces the emperor to hope that peace may be +maintained on such conditions. He is deceived: it is not at the moment +when the flame of liberty is first kindled in a nation of twenty-four +millions, that Frenchmen would consent to a capitulation, to which they +would prefer death. Such is our situation, that war, which in other +times would be a scourge to the human race, would now be useful to the +public welfare. This salutary crisis would elevate the people to the +level of their destiny; it would restore to them their pristine +energy--it would re-establish our finances, and stifle the germ of +intestine dissension. In a similar situation Frederic the Great broke +the league formed against him by the court of Vienna, by forestalling +it. Your committee propose that the preparations for war be accelerated. +A congress would be a disgrace--war is necessary--public opinion wishes +for it--and public safety demands it." + +The committee concluded, by demanding clear and satisfactory +explanations from the emperor; and that in case these explanations +should not be given before the 10th of February, this refusal to reply +should be considered as an act of hostility. + + +III. + +Scarcely was the report terminated than Guadet, who presided that day at +the Assembly, mounted the tribune, and began to comment on the report of +his friend and colleague. Guadet, born at Saint Emelion, near Bordeaux, +already celebrated as an advocate before the age at which men have +generally made themselves a reputation, impatiently expected by the +political tribunes, had at last arrived at the Legislative Assembly. A +disciple of Brissot, less profound, but equally courageous and more +eloquent than his master, he was intimately connected with Gensonne, +Vergniaud, to whom he was bound by being of the same age, the same +passions, and the same country; endowed with an undaunted and energetic +mind and winning powers of oratory, equally fitted to resist the +movement of a popular assembly, or to precipitate them to a termination; +all these natural advantages were heightened by one of those southern +casts of face and feature that serve so well to illustrate the working +of the mind within. + +"A congress has just been spoken of," said he; "what, then, is this +conspiracy formed against us? How long shall we suffer ourselves to be +fatigued by these manoeuvres--to be outraged by these hopes? Have +those who have planned them, well weighed this? The bare idea of the +possibility of a capitulation of liberty might hurry into crime those +malcontents who cherish the hope; and these are the crimes we should +crush in the bud. Let us teach these princes that the nation is resolved +to preserve its constitution pure and unchanged, or to perish with it. +In one word, let us mark out the place for these traitors, and let that +place be the scaffold. I propose that the decree pass at this instant; +That the nation regards as infamous, as traitors to their country, and +as guilty of _leze-majeste_, every agent of the executive power, every +Frenchman (several voices, 'every _legislator_') who shall take part, +directly or indirectly, at this congress, whose object is to obtain +modifications in the constitution, or a mediation between France and the +rebels." + +At these words the Assembly rose as if by common consent. Every hand was +raised in the attitude of men ready to take a solemn oath; the tribunes +and the chamber confounded their applause, and the decree was passed. + +M. de Lessart, whom the gesture and the allusion of Guadet seemed to +have already designated as the victim to the suspicions of the people, +could not remain silent under the weight of these terrible allusions. +"Mention has been made," said he, "of the political agents of the +executive power: I declare that I know nothing which can authorise us to +suspect their fidelity. For my own part, I will repeat the declaration +of my colleagues in the ministry, and adopt it for my own--the +constitution or death." + +Whilst Gensonne and Guadet aroused the Assembly by this preconcerted +scene, Vergniaud aroused the crowd by the copy of an address to the +French people, which had been spread abroad for the last few days +amongst the masses. The Girondists remembered the effect produced two +years previously by the proposed address to the king to dismiss the +troops. + +"Frenchmen," said Vergniaud, "war threatens your frontiers; conspiracies +against liberty are rife. Your armies are assembling: mighty movements +agitate the empire. Seditious priests prepare in the confessional, and +even in the pulpit, a rising against the constitution; martial law +becomes essential. Thus it appeared to us just. But we only succeeded in +brandishing the thunderbolts for a moment before the eyes of the +rebels--the king has refused to sanction our decrees; the German princes +make their territories a stronghold for the conspirators against us. +They favour the plots of the emigres, and furnish them with an asylum, +arms, horses, and provisions. Can patience endure this without becoming +guilty of suicide? Doubtless you have renounced the desire of conquest; +but you have not promised to suffer insolent provocation. You have +shaken off the yoke of tyrants; surely, then, you will not bow the knee +to foreign despots? Beware! you are surrounded by snares; traitors seek +to reduce you through disgust or fatigue to a state of languor that +enervates your courage; and soon perhaps they will strive to lead it +astray. They seek to separate you from us; they pursue a system of +calumny against the National Assembly to criminate the Revolution in +your eyes. Oh, beware of these excessive terrors! Repulse indignantly +these impostors, who, whilst they affect an hypocritical zeal for the +constitution, yet unceasingly speak of the _monarchy_. The _monarchy_ is +to them the counter-revolution. The _monarchy_ is the _nobility_; the +counter-revolution--that is taxation, the feudal system, the Bastille, +chains, and executions, to punish the sublime impulses of liberty. +Foreign satellites in the interior of the state--bankruptcy, engulphing +with your _assignats_ your private fortunes and the national wealth--the +fury of fanaticism, of vengeance, murder, rapine, conflagration, +despotism, and slaughter, contending, in rivers of blood and over the +heaps of dead, for the mastery of your unhappy country. Nobility; that +is, two classes of men, one for greatness, the other for poverty; one +for tyranny, the other for slavery. Nobility; ah! the very word is an +insult to the human race. + +"And yet it is to ensure the success of this conspiracy against you that +all Europe is in arms.--You must annihilate these guilty hopes by a +solemn declaration. Yes, the representatives of France, free, and deeply +attached to the constitution, will be buried beneath her ruins, rather +than suffer a capitulation unworthy of them to be wrung from them. Rally +yourselves, take courage! In vain do they strive to excite the nations +against you, they will only excite the princes, for the hearts of the +people are with you, and you embrace their cause by defending your own. +Hate war: it is the greatest crime of mankind, and the most fearful +scourge of humanity; but since it is forced on you, follow the course of +your destiny. Who can foresee how far will extend the punishment of +those tyrants who have forced you to take arms?" Thus, these three +statesmen joined their voices to impel the nation to war. + + +IV. + +The last words of Vergniaud gave the people a tolerably clear prospect +of an universal republic. Nor were the constitutionalists less eager in +directing the ideas of the nation towards war. M. de Narbonne, on his +return from his hasty journey, presented a most encouraging report to +the Assembly, of the state of the fortified towns.--He praised every +one. He presented to the country the young Mathieu de Montmorency, one +of the most illustrious names of France, and whose character was even +more noble than his name, as the representative of the aristocracy +devoting itself to liberty. He declared that the army, in its attachment +to its country did not separate the King from the Assembly. He praised +the commanders of the troops, nominated Rochambeau general-in-chief of +the army of the north, Berthier at Metz, Biron at Lisle, Luckner and La +Fayette on the Rhine. He spoke of plans for the campaign, concerted +between the king and these officers; he enumerated the national guards, +ready to serve as a second line to the active army, and solicited that +they should be promptly armed; he described these volunteers, as giving +the army the most imposing of all characters--that of national feeling; +he vouched for the officers, who had sworn fidelity to the constitution, +and exonerated from the charge of treason those who had not done so; he +encouraged the Assembly to mistrust those that hesitated. "Mistrust," +said he, "is, in these stormy times, the most natural, but the most +dangerous feeling; confidence wins men's hearts, and it is important +that the people should show they have friends only." He ended by +announcing that the active force of the army was 110,000 foot, and +20,000 cavalry, ready to take the field. + +This report, praised by Brissot in his journal, and by the Girondists in +the Assembly, afforded no longer any pretext for delaying the war. +France felt that her strength was equal to her indignation, and she +could be restrained no longer. The increasing unpopularity of the king +augmented the popular excitement. Twice had he already arrested, by his +royal _veto_, the energetic measures of the Assembly--the decree against +the emigres, and the decree against the priests who had not taken the +oath. These two _vetos_, the one dictated by his honour, the other by +his conscience, were two terrible weapons, placed in his hand by the +constitution, yet which he could not wield without wounding himself. The +Girondists revenged themselves for this resistance by compelling him to +make war on the princes, who were his brothers, and the emperor, whom +they believed to be his accomplice. + +The pamphleteers and the Jacobin journalists constantly spoke of these +two _vetos_ as acts of treason. The disturbances in Vendee were +attributed to a secret understanding between the king and the rebellious +clergy. In vain did the department of Paris, composed of men who +respected the conscience of others, such as M. de Talleyrand, M. de la +Rochefoucauld, and M. de Beaumetz, present to the king a petition in +which the true principles of liberty protested against the revolutionary +inquisition: counter-petitions poured in from the departments. + + +V. + +Camille Desmoulins, the Voltaire of the clubs, lent to the petition of +the citizens of Paris that insolent raillery, which made the success of +his talent. + +"Worthy representatives," ran the petition[13], "applauses are the civil +list of the people, therefore do not reject ours. To collect the homages +of good citizens, and the insults of the bad, is, to a National +Assembly, to have combined all suffrages. The king has put his _veto_ to +your decree against the emigrants, a decree equally worthy of the +majesty of the Roman people and the clemency of the French people. We do +not complain of this act of the king, because we remember the maxim of +the great politician Machiavel, which we beg of you to meditate upon +profoundly--_It is against nature to fall voluntarily from such a +height_. Penetrated with this truth, we do not then require from the +king an impossible love for the constitution, nor do we find fault that +he is opposed to your best decisions. But let public functionaries +foresee the royal veto, and declare their rebellion against your decree, +against the priests; let them carry off public opinion; let these men be +precisely the same who caused to be shot in the Champ-de-Mars the +citizens who were signing a petition against a decree which was not yet +decided upon; let them inundate the empire with copies of this +petition, which is nothing more than the first leaf of a great +counter-revolutionary register and a subscription for civil war sent for +signature to all the fanatics, all the idiots, all permanent slaves. +Fathers of the country! there is here such complicated ingratitude and +abuse of confidence, of contradiction and chicanery, of prevarication +and treason, that profoundly indignant at so much wickedness concealed +beneath the cloak of philosophy and hypocritical civism, we say to +you--Your decree has saved the country, and if they are obstinate in +refusing you permission to save the country, well, the nation will save +itself, for, after all, the power of a _veto_ has a termination--a veto +does not prevent the taking of the Bastille. + +"You are told that the salary of the priests was a national debt. But +when you only request the priests to declare that they will not be +seditious--are not they who refuse this declaration already seditious in +their hearts? And these seditious priests, who have never lent anything +to the state--who are only creditors of the state in the name of +benevolence--have they not a thousand times forfeited the donation +through their ingratitude? Away, then, with these miserable sophisms, +fathers of the country, and have no more doubt of the omnipotence of a +free people. If liberty slumbers, how can the arm act? Do not raise this +arm again, do not again lift the national club to crush insects. Did +Cato and Cicero proceed against Cethegus or Catiline? It is the chiefs +we should assail: strike at the head." + +A scornful laugh echoed from the tribunes of the Assembly to the +populace. The _proces-verbal_ of this sitting was ordered to be sent to +the eighty-three departments. Next day the Assembly reconsidered this, +and negatived its vote of the previous evening; but publicity was still +given to it, and it echoed through the provinces, carrying with it the +disquietude, derision, and hatred attached to the _Royal Veto_. The +constitution, handed over to ridicule and hooted in full assembly, had +now become the plaything of the populace. + +For many months the state of the kingdom resembled the state of Paris. +All was uproar, confusion, denunciation, disturbance in the departments. +Each courier brought his riots, seditions, petitions, outbreaks, and +assassinations. The clubs established as many points of resistance to +the constitution as there were communes in the empire. The civil war +hatching in La Vendee burst out by massacres at Avignon. + + +VI. + +This city and comtal, united to France by the recent decree of the +Constituent Assembly, had remained from this period in an intermediary +state between two dominations, so favourable to anarchy. The partisans +of the papal government, and the partisans of the reunion with France, +struggled there in alternations of hope and fear, which prolonged and +envenomed their hate. The king, from a religious scruple, had for too +long suspended the execution of the decree of reunion. Trembling to +infringe upon the domain of the church, he deferred his decision, and +his impolitic delays gave time for crimes. + +France was represented in Avignon by mediators. The provisional +authority of these mediators was supported by a detachment of troops of +the line. The power, entirely municipal, was confided to the +dictatorship of the municipality. The populace, excited and agitated, +was divided into the French or revolutionary party, and the party +opposed to the reunion by France and the Revolution. The fanaticism of +religion with one, the fanaticism of liberty with the other, impelled +the two parties even to crimes. The warmth of blood, the thirst of +private vengeance, the heat of the climate, all added to civil passions. +The violences of Italian republics were all to be seen in the manners of +this Italian colony, of this branch establishment of Rome on the banks +of the Rhone. The smaller states are, the more atrocious are their civil +wars. There opposite opinions become personal hatreds; contests are but +assassinations. Avignon commenced these wholesale assassinations by +private murders. + +On the 16th of October a gloomy agitation betrayed itself by the mobs of +people collecting on various points, particularly consisting of persons +enemies of the Revolution. The walls of the church were covered with +placards, calling on the people to revolt against the provisional +authority of the municipality. There were bruited about rumours of +absurd miracles, which demanded in the name of Heaven vengeance for the +assaults made against religion. A statue of the Virgin worshipped by the +people in the church of the Cordeliers had blushed at the profanations +of her temple. She had been seen to shed tears of indignation and grief. +The people, educated under the papal government in such superstitious +credulities, had gone in a body to the Cordeliers to avenge the cause of +their protectress. Animated by fanatical exhortations, confiding in the +divine interposition, the mob, on quitting the Cordeliers, and +increasing as it went, hurried to the ramparts, closed the doors, turned +the cannon on the city, and then spread themselves through the streets, +demanding with loud clamours the overthrow of the government. The +unfortunate Lescuyer, notary of Avignon, secretary (_greffier_) of the +municipality, more particularly pointed out to the fury of the mob, was +dragged violently from his residence, and along the pavement to the +altar of the Cordeliers, where he was murdered by sabre-strokes and +blows from bludgeons, trampled under foot, his dead body outraged and +cast as an expiatory victim at the feet of the offended statue. The +national guard, having despatched a detachment with two pieces of cannon +from the fort, drove back the infuriated populace, and picked from the +pavement the naked and lifeless carcase of Lescuyer. The prisons of the +city had been broken open, and the miscreants they contained came to +offer their assistance for other murders. Horrible reprisals were +feared, and yet the mediators, absent from the city, were asleep, or +closed their eyes upon the actual danger. The understanding between the +leaders of the Paris clubs and the rioters of Avignon became more +fearfully intimate. + + +VII. + +One of those sinister persons who seem to smell blood and presage crime, +reached Avignon from Versailles: his name was Jourdan. He is not to be +confounded with another revolutionist of the same name, born at Avignon. +Sprung from the arid and calcined mountains of the south, where the very +brutes are more ferocious; by turns butcher, farrier, and smuggler, in +the gorges which separate Savoy from France; a soldier, deserter, +horse-jobber, and then a keeper of a low wine shop in the suburbs of +Paris; he had wallowed in all the lowest vices of the dregs of a +metropolis. The first murders committed by the people in the streets of +Paris had disclosed his real character. It was not that of contest but +of murder. He appeared after the carnage to mangle the victims, and +render the assassination fouler. He was a butcher of men, and he boasted +of it. It was he who had thrust his hands into the open breasts and +plucked forth the hearts of Foulon and Berthier.[14] It was he who had +cut off the head of the two _gardes-du-corps_, de Varicourt and des +Huttes, at Versailles, on the 6th of October. It was he who, entering +Paris, bearing the two heads at the end of a pike, reproached the people +with being content with so little, and having made him go so far to cut +off only two heads! He hoped for better things at Avignon, and went +thither. + +There was at Avignon a body of volunteers called the army of Vaucluse, +formed of the dregs of that country, and commanded by one Patrix. This +Patrix having been assassinated by his troop, whose excesses he desired +to moderate, Jourdan was elevated to the command by the claims of +sedition and wickedness. The soldiers, when reproached with their +robberies and murders, similar to those of the _Gueux_ of Belgium, and +the _sans-culottes_ of Paris, received the reproach as an honour, and +called themselves the _brave brigands_ of Avignon. Jourdan at the head +of this band, ravaged and fired le Comtal, laid siege to Carpentras, was +repulsed, lost five hundred men, and fell back upon Avignon, still +shuddering at the murder of Lescuyer. He resolved on lending his arm and +his troop to the vengeance of the French party. On the 30th of August +Jourdan and his myrmidons closed the city-gates, dispersed through the +streets, going to the houses noted as containing enemies to the +Revolution, dragging out the inhabitants--men, women, aged persons, and +children,--all, without distinction of age, sex or innocence, and shut +them up in the palace. When night came, the assassins broke down the +doors and murdered with iron crow-bars these disarmed and supplicating +victims. In vain did they shriek to the national guard for aid: the city +hears the massacre without daring to give any signs of animation. The +daring of the crime chilled and paralysed every citizen. The murderers +preluded the death of the females by derision and insults which added +shame to terror, and the agonies of modesty to the pangs of murder. When +there were no more to be slain they mutilated the carcases, and swept +the blood into the sewer of the palace. They dragged the mutilated +corpses to La Glaciere, walled them up, and the vengeance of the people +was stamped upon them. Jourdan and his satellites offered the homage of +this night to the French mediators and the National Assembly. The +scoundrels of Paris admired--the Assembly shook with indignation, and +considered this crime as an outrage; whilst the president fainted on +reading the recital of this night at Avignon. The arrest of Jourdan and +his accomplices was commanded. Jourdan fled from Avignon, pursued by the +French; he dashed his horse in to the river of the Sargue: caught in the +middle of the river, by a soldier, he fired at him and missed. He was +seized and bound, and punishment awarded him, but the Jacobins compelled +the Girondists to agree to an amnesty for the crimes of Avignon. Jourdan +making sure of impunity, and proud of his iniquities, went thither to be +revenged on his denouncers. + +The Assembly shuddered for a moment at the sight of this blood, and then +hastily turned its eyes away. In its impatience to reign alone, it had +not the time to display pity. There was, besides, between the Girondists +and the Jacobins a contest for leadership, and a rivalry in going a-head +of the Revolution, which made each of the two factions afraid that the +other should be in advance. Dead bodies did not make them pause, and +tears shed for too long a time might have been taken for weakness. + + +VIII. + +However, victims multiplied daily, and disasters followed disasters. The +whole empire seemed ready to fall and crush its founders. San Domingo, +the richest of the French colonies, was swimming in blood. France was +punished for its egotism. The Constituent Assembly had proclaimed, in +principle, the liberty of the blacks, but, in fact, slavery still +existed. Two hundred thousand slaves served as human cattle to some +thousands of colonists. They were bought and sold, and cut and maimed, +as if they were inanimate objects. They were kept by speculation out of +the civil law, and out of the religious law. Property, family, marriage, +all was forbidden to them. Care was taken to degrade them below men, to +preserve the right of treating them as brutes. If some unions furtive, +or favoured by cupidity, were formed amongst them, the wife and children +belonged to the master. They were sold separately, without any regard to +the ties of nature, all the attachments with which God has formed the +chain of human sympathies were rent asunder without commiseration. + +This crime _en masse_, this systematic brutality, had its theorists and +apologists; human faculties were denied to the blacks. They were classed +as a race between the flesh and the spirit. Thus the infamous abuse of +power, which was exercised over this inert and servile race, was called +necessary guardianship. Tyrants have never wanted sophists: on the other +hand, men of right feeling towards their fellows, who had, like +Gregoire, Raynal, Barnave, Brissot, Condorcet, La Fayette, embraced the +cause of humanity, and formed the "_Society of the Friends of the +Blacks_" had circulated their principles in the colonies, like a +vengeance rather than as justice. These principles had burst forth +without preparation, and unanticipated in colonial society, where truth +had no organ but insurrection. Philosophy proclaims principles; politics +administer them; the friends of the blacks were contented with +proclaiming them. France had not had courage to dispossess and indemnify +her colonists: she had acquired liberty for herself alone: she +adjourned, as she still adjourns at the moment I write these lines, the +reparation for the crime of slavery in her colonies: could she be +astonished that slavery should seek to avenge herself, and that liberty, +warmly proclaimed in Paris, should not become an insurrection at San +Domingo? Every iniquity that a free society allows to subsist for the +profit of the oppressor, is a sword with which she herself arms the +oppressed. Right is the most dangerous of weapons; woe to him who leaves +it to his enemies! + + +IX. + +San Domingo proved this. Fifty thousand black slaves rose in one night +at the instigation, and under the command, of the mulattoes, or men of +colour. The men of colour, the intermediary race, springing from white +colonists and black slaves, were not slaves, neither were they citizens. +They were a kind of freedmen, with the defects and virtues of the two +races; the pride of the whites, the degradation of the blacks: a +fluctuating race who, by turning sometimes to the side of the slaves, +sometimes to that of the masters, inevitably produced those terrible +oscillations which inevitably superinduce the overthrow of society. + +The mulattoes, who themselves possessed slaves, had begun by making +common cause with the colonists, and by opposing the emancipation of the +blacks more obstinately than even the whites themselves. The nearer they +were to slavery, the more doggedly did they defend their share in +tyranny. Man is thus made: none is more ready to abuse his right than he +who, with difficulty, has acquired it; there are no tyrants worse than +slaves, and no men prouder than _parvenus_. + +The men of colour had all the vices of _parvenus_ of liberty. But when +they perceived that the whites despised them as a mingled race, that the +Revolution had not effaced the tinge of their skin, and the injurious +prejudices which were attached to their colour; when they in vain +claimed for themselves the exercise of civil rights, which the colonists +opposed, they passed with the impetuosity and levity of their conduct +from one passion to another, from one party to the other, and made +common cause with the oppressed race. Their habits of command, fortune, +intelligence, energy, boldness, naturally pointed them out as the +leaders of the blacks. They fraternised with them, they became popular +amongst the blacks, from the very tinge of skin for which they had +recently blushed, when in company with the whites. They secretly +fomented the germs of insurrection at the nightly meetings of the +slaves. They kept up a clandestine correspondence with the friends of +the blacks in Paris. They spread widely in the huts, speeches and papers +from Paris, which instructed the colonists in their duties and informed +the slaves of their indefeasible rights. The rights of man, commented +upon by vengeance, became the catechism of all dwellings. + +The whites trembled; terror urged them to violence. The blood of the +mulatto Oge and his accomplices, shed by M. de Blanchelande, governor of +San Domingo and the colonial council, sowed every where despair and +conspiracy. + + +X. + +Oge, deputed to Paris by the men of colour to assert their rights in the +Constituent Assembly, had become known to Brissot, Raynal, Gregoire, and +was affiliated with them to the Society of the Friends of the Blacks. +Passing thence into England, he became known to the admirable +philanthropist, Clarkson. Clarkson and his friend at this time were +pleading the cause of the emancipation of the negroes: they were the +first apostles of that religion of humanity who believed that they could +not raise their hands purely towards God, so long as those hands +retained a link of that chain which holds a race of human beings in +degradation and in slavery. The association with these men of worth +expanded Oge's mind. He had come to Europe only to defend the interest +of the mulattoes; he now took up with warmth the more liberal and holy +cause of all the blacks; he devoted himself to the liberty of all his +brethren. He returned to France, and became very intimate with Barnave; +he entreated the Constituent Assembly to apply the principles of liberty +to the colonies, and not to make any exception to Divine law, by leaving +the slaves to their masters; excited and irritated by the hesitation of +the committee, who withdrew with one hand what it gave with the other, +he declared that if justice could not suffice for their cause, he would +appeal to force. Barnave had said, "_Perish the colonies rather than a +principle!_" The men of the 14th of July had no right to condemn, in the +heart of Oge, that revolt which was their own title to independence. We +may believe that the secret wishes of the friends of the blacks followed +Oge, who returned to San Domingo. He found there the rights of men of +colour and the principles of liberty of the blacks more denied and more +profaned than ever. He raised the standard of insurrection, but with the +forms and rights of legality. At the head of a body of two hundred men +of colour, he demanded the promulgation in the colonies of the decrees +of the National Assembly, despotically delayed until that time. He wrote +to the military commandant at the Cape, "We require the proclamation of +the law which makes us free citizens. If you oppose this, we will repair +to Leogane, we will nominate electors, and repel force by force. The +pride of the colonists revolts at sitting beside us: was the pride of +the nobility and clergy consulted when the equality of citizens was +proclaimed in France?" + +The government replied to this eloquent demand for liberty by sending a +body of troops to disperse the persons assembled, and Oge drove them +back. + + +XI. + +A larger body of troops being despatched, they contrived, after a +desperate resistance, to disperse the mulattoes. Oge escaped, and found +refuge in the Spanish part of the island. A price was set upon his head. +M. de Blanchelande in his proclamations imputed it as a crime to him +that he had claimed the rights of nature in the name of the Assembly, +which had so loudly proclaimed the rights of the citizen. They applied +to the Spanish authorities to surrender this Spartacus, equally +dangerous to the safety of the whites in both countries. Oge was +delivered up to the French by the Spaniards, and sent for trial to the +Cape. His trial was protracted for two months, in order to afford time +to cut asunder all the threads of the plot of independence, and +intimidate his accomplices. The whites, in great excitement, complained +of these delays, and demanded his head with loud vociferations. The +judges condemned him to death for a crime which in the mother-country +had constituted the glory of La Fayette and Mirabeau. + +He underwent torture in his dungeon. The rights of his race, centred and +persecuted in him, raised his soul above the torments of his +executioners. "Give up all hope," he exclaimed, with unflinching daring; +"give up all hope of extracting from me the name of even one of my +accomplices. My accomplices are everywhere where the heart of a man is +raised against the oppressors of men." From that moment he pronounced +but two words, which sounded like a remorse in the ears of his +persecutors--_Liberty! Equality_! He walked composedly to his death; +listened with indignation to the sentence which condemned him to the +lingering and infamous death of the vilest criminals. "What!" he +exclaimed; "do you confound me with criminals because I have desired to +restore to my fellow-creatures the rights and titles of men which I feel +in myself! Well! you have my blood, but an avenger will arise from it!" +He died on the wheel, and his mutilated carcase was left on the highway. +This heroic death reached even to the National Assembly, and gave rise +to various opinions. "He deserved it," said Malouet; "Oge was a criminal +and an assassin." "If Oge be guilty," replied Gregoire, "so are we all; +if he who claimed liberty for his brothers perished justly on the +scaffold, then all Frenchmen who resemble us should mount there also." + + +XII. + +Oge's blood bubbled silently in the hearts of all the mulatto race. They +swore to avenge him. The blacks were an army all ready for the massacre; +the signal was given to them by the men of colour. In one night 60,000 +slaves, armed with torches and their working tools, burnt down all their +masters' houses in a circuit of six leagues round the Cape. The whites +were murdered; women, children, old men--nothing escaped the +long-repressed fury of the blacks. It was the annihilation of one race +by the other. The bleeding heads of the whites, carried on the tops of +sugar canes, were the standards which guided these hordes, not to +combat, but to carnage. The outrages of so many centuries, committed by +the whites on the blacks, were avenged in one night. A rivalry of +cruelty seemed to arise between the two colours. The negroes imitated +the tortures so long used upon them, and invented new ones. If certain +noble and faithful slaves placed themselves between their old masters +and death, they were sacrificed together. Gratitude and pity are virtues +which civil war never recognises. Colour was a sentence of death without +exception of persons; the war was between the races, and no longer +between men. The one must perish for the other to live! Since justice +could not make itself understood by them, there was nothing but death +left for them. Every gift of life to a white was a treason which would +cost a black man's life. The negroes had no longer any pity: they were +men no longer, they were no longer a people, but a destroying element +which spread over the land, annihilating every thing. + +In a few hours eight hundred habitations, sugar and coffee stores, +representing an immense capital, were destroyed. The mills, magazines, +utensils, and even the very plant which reminded them of their servitude +and their compulsory labour, were cast into the flames. The whole plain, +as far as eye could reach, was covered with nothing but the smoke and +the ashes of conflagration. The dead bodies of whites, piled in hideous +trophies of heads and limbs, of men, women, and infants assassinated, +alone marked the spot of the rich residences, where they were supreme on +the previous night. It was the revenge of slavery: all tyranny has such +fearful reverses. + +Some whites, warned in time of the insurrection by the generous +indiscretion of the blacks, or protected in their flight by the forests +and the darkness, had taken refuge at the Cape Town; others, concealed +with their wives and children in caves, were fed and attended to by +attached slaves, at the peril of their lives. The army of blacks +increased without the walls of the Cape Town, where they formed and +disciplined a fortified camp. Guns and cannons arrived by the aid of +invisible auxiliaries. Some accused the English, others the Spaniards; +others, the "friends of the blacks," with being accomplices of this +insurrection. The Spaniards, however, were at peace with France; the +revolt of the blacks menaced them equally with ourselves. The English +themselves possessed three times as many slaves as the French: the +principle of the insurrection, excited by success, and spreading with +them, would have ruined their establishments, and compromised the lives +of their colonists. These suspicions were absurd; there was no one +culpable but liberty itself, which is not to be repressed with impunity +in a portion of the human race. It had accomplices in the very heart of +the French themselves. + +The weakness of the resolutions of the Assembly on the reception of this +news proved this. M. Bertrand de Molleville, minister of marine, +ordered the immediate departure of 6000 men as reinforcement for the +isle of San Domingo. + +Brissot attacked these repressive measures in a discourse in which he +did not hesitate to cast the odium of the crime on the victims, and to +accuse the government of complicity with the aristocracy of the +colonists. + +"By what fatality does this news coincide with a moment when emigrations +are redoubled? when the rebels assembled on our frontiers warn us of an +approaching outbreak? when, in fact, the colonies threaten us, through +an illegal deputation, with withdrawing from the rule of the +mother-country? Has not this the appearance of a vast plan combined by +treason?" + +The repugnance of the friends of the blacks, numerous in the Assembly, +to take energetic measures in favour of the colonists, the distance from +the scene of action, which weakens pity, and then the interior movement +which attracted into its sphere minds and things, soon effaced these +impressions, and allowed the spirit of independence amongst the blacks +to form and expand at San Domingo, which showed itself in the distance +in the form of a poor old slave--Toussaint-Louverture. + + +XIII. + +The internal disorder multiplied at every point of the empire. Religious +liberty, which was desire of the Constituent Assembly, and the most +important conquest of the Revolution, could not be established without +this struggle in face of a displaced worship, and a schism which spread +far and wide amongst the people. The counter-revolutionary party was +allied every where with the clergy. They had the same enemies, and +conspired against the same cause. The nonjuring priests had assumed the +character of victims, and the interest of a portion of the people, +especially in the country, attached to them. Persecution is so odious to +the public feeling that its very appearance raises generous indignation +against it. The human mind has an inclination to believe that justice is +on the side of the proscribed. The priests were not as yet persecuted, +but from the moment that they were no longer paramount they believed +themselves humiliated. The ill-repressed irritation of the clergy has +been more injurious to the Revolution than all the conspiracies of the +emigrated aristocracy. Conscience is man's most sensitive point. A +superstition attacked, or a faith disturbed in the mind of a people, is +the fellest of conspiracies. It was by the hand of God, invisible in the +hand of the priesthood, that the aristocracy roused La Vendee. Frequent +and bloody symptoms already betrayed themselves in the west, and in +Normandy, that concealed focus of religious war. + +The most fearful of these symptoms burst out at Caen. The Abbe Fauchet +was constitutional bishop of Calvados. The celebrity of his name, the +elevated patriotism of his opinions, the _eclat_ of his revolutionary +renown, his eloquence, and his writings, disseminated widely in his +diocese, were the causes of greater excitement throughout Calvados than +elsewhere. + +Fauchet, whose conformity of opinions, honesty of feelings for +renovation, and even whose somewhat fanciful imagination, which were +subsequently destined to associate him in acts, and even on the +scaffold, with the Girondists, was born at Domes, in the ancient +province of Nivernais. He embraced the Catholic faith, entered into the +free community of the priests of Saint Roch, at Paris, and was for some +time preceptor to the children of the marquis de Choiseul, brother of +the famous duke de Choiseul, the last minister of the school of +Richelieu and Mazarin. A remarkable talent for speaking gave him a +distinguished reputation in the pulpit. He was appointed preacher to the +king, abbe of Montfort, and grand-vicaire of Bourges. He advanced +rapidly towards the first dignities of the church; but his mind had +imbibed the spirit of the times. He was not a destructive, but a +reformer of the church, in whose bosom he was born. His work, entitled +_De l'Eglise Nationale_, proves in him as much respect for the +principles of the Christian faith as boldness of desire to change its +discipline. This philosophic faith, which so closely resembles the +Christian Platonism which was paramount in Italy under the Medici, and +even in the palace of the popes themselves under Leo X., breathed +throughout his sacred discourses. The clergy was alarmed at these lights +of the age shining in the very sanctuary. The Abbe Fauchet was +interdicted, and, struck off the list of the king's preachers. + +But the Revolution already opened other tribunes to him. It burst forth, +and he rushed headlong into it, as imagination rushes towards hope. He +fought for it from the day of its birth, and with every kind of weapon. +He shook the people in the primary assemblies, and in the sections; he +urged with voice and gesture the insurgent masses under the cannon of +the Bastille. He was seen, sword in hand, to lead on the assailants. +Thrice did he advance, under fire of the cannon, at the head of the +deputation which summoned the governor to spare the lives of the +citizens, and to surrender.[15] He did not soil his revolutionary zeal +with any blood or crime. He inflamed the mind of the people for liberty; +but with him liberty was virtue; nature had endowed him with this +twofold character. There were in his features the high-priest and the +hero. His exterior pleased and attracted the populace. He was tall and +slender, with a wide chest, oval countenance, black eyes, and his dark +brown hair set off the paleness of his brow. His imposing but modest +appearance inspired at the first glance favour and respect. His voice +clear, impressive, and full-toned; his majestic carriage, his somewhat +mystical style, commanded the reflection, as well as the admiration, of +his auditors. Equally adapted to the popular tribune or the pulpit, +electoral assemblies or cathedral were alike too circumscribed in limits +for the crowds who flocked to hear him. It seemed as though he were a +revolutionary saint--Bernard preaching political charity, or the crusade +of reason. + +His manners were neither severe nor hypocritical. He; himself confessed +that he loved with legitimate and pure; affection Madame Carron, who +followed him every where, even to churches and clubs. "They calumniated +me with respect to her," he said, "and I attached myself the more +strongly to her, and yet I am pure. You have seen her, even more lovely +in mind than face, and who for the ten years I have known her seems to +me daily more worthy of being loved. She would lay down her life for me; +I would resign my life for her; but I would never sacrifice my duty to +her. In spite of the malignant libels of the aristocrats, I shall go +every day at breakfast-time to taste the charms of the purest friendship +in her society. She comes to hear me preach! Yes, no doubt of it; no one +knows better than herself the sincerity with which I believe in the +truths I profess. She comes to the assemblies of the Hotel-de-Ville! +Yes, no doubt of it: it is because she is convinced that patriotism is a +second religion, that no hypocrisy is in my soul, and that my life is +really devoted to God, to my country, and friendship." + +"And you dare to assert that you are chaste," retorted the faithful and +indignant priests, by the Abbe de Valmeron. "How absurd! Chaste, at the +moment when you confess the most unpardonable inclinations; when you +attract a woman from the bed of her husband--her duties as a +mother--when you take about every where this infatuated female, attached +to your footsteps, in order to display her ostentatiously to the public +gaze! And who follow, sir! A troop of ruffians and abandoned women. +Worthy pastor of this foul populace, which celebrates your pastoral +visit by the only rejoicings that can give you pleasure--your progress +is marked by every excess of rapine and debauchery." These bitter +reproaches resounded in the provinces, and caused great excitement. The +conforming and nonconforming priests were disputing the altars. A letter +from the minister of the interior came to authorise the nonjuring +priests to celebrate the holy sacrifice in the churches where they had +previously done duty. Obedient to the law, the constitutional priests +opened to them their chapels, supplied them with the ornaments necessary +for divine worship; but the multitude, faithful to their ancient +pastors, threatened and insulted the new clergy. Bloody struggles took +place between the two creeds on the very threshold of God's house. On +Friday, November the 4th, the former _cure_ of the parish of Saint Jean, +at Caen, came to perform the mass. The church was full of Catholics. +This meeting offended the constitutionalists and excited the other +party. The _Te Deum_, as a thanksgiving, was demanded and sung by the +adherents of the ancient _cure_, who, encouraged by this success, +announced to the faithful that he should come again the next day at the +same hour to celebrate the sacrament. "Patience!" he added; "let us be +prudent, and all will be well." + +The municipality, informed of these circumstances, entreated the _cure_ +to abstain from celebrating the mass the next day, as he had announced; +and he complied with their wishes. The multitude, not informed of this, +filled the church, and clamoured for the priest and the promised _Te +Deum_. The gentry of the neighbourhood, the aristocracy of Caen, the +clients and numerous domestics of the leading families in the +neighbourhood, had arms under their clothes. They insulted the +grenadiers; an officer of the national guard reprimanded them. "You come +to seek what you shall get," replied the aristocrats: "we are the +stronger, and will drive you from the church." At these words some young +men rushed on the national guards to disarm them: a struggle ensued, +bayonets glittered, pistol shots resounded in the cathedral, and they +made a charge, sword in hand. Companies of chasseurs and grenadiers +entered the church, cleared it, and followed the crowd, step by step, +who fired again upon them when in the street. Some killed and others +wounded, were the sad results of the day. Tranquillity seemed restored. +Eighty-two persons were arrested, and on one of them was found a +pretended plan of counter-revolution, the signal for which was to be +given on the following Monday. These documents were forwarded to Paris. +The nonjuring priests were suspended from the celebration of the holy +mysteries in the churches of Caen until the decision of the National +Assembly. The Assembly heard with indignation the recital of these +troubles, occasioned by the enemies of the constitution, and the +adherents of fanaticism and the aristocracy. "The only part we have to +take," said Cambon, "is to convoke the high national court, and send the +accused before it." They deferred pronouncing on this proposition until +the moment when they should be in possession of all the papers relative +to the troubles in Caen. + +Gensonne detailed the particulars of similar disturbances in La Vendee: +the mountains of the south, La Lozere, l'Herault, l'Ardeche, which were +but ill repressed by the recent dispersion of the camp of Jales, the +first act of the counter-revolutionary army, were now greatly agitated +by the two-fold impulse of their priests and gentry. The plains, +furnished with streams, roads, towns, and easily kept down by the +central force, submitted without resistance to the _contre-coups_ of +Paris. The mountains preserve their customs longer, and resist the +influence of new ideas as to a conquest by armed strangers. It seems as +though the appearance of these natural ramparts gave their inhabitants +confidence in their strength, and a solid conviction of the +unchangeableness of things, which prevents them from being so easily +carried away by the rapid currents of alteration. + +The mountaineers of these countries felt for their nobles that voluntary +and traditional devotion which the Arabs have for their sheiks, and the +Scots for the chieftains of their clans. This respect and this +attachment form part of the national honour in these rural districts. +Religion, more fervent in the south, was in the eyes of these people a +sacred liberty, on which revolution made attempts in the name of +political liberty. They preferred the liberty of conscience to the +liberty as citizens. Under all these titles the new institutions were +odious: faithful priests nourished this hatred, and sanctified it in the +hearts of the peasantry, whilst the nobility kept up a royalism, which +pity for the king's misfortunes and the royal family made more full of +sympathy at the daily recital of fresh outrages. + +Mende, a small village hidden at the bottom of deep valleys, half way +between the plains of the south and those of the Lyonnais, was the +centre of counter-revolutionary spirit. The _bourgeoisie_ and the +nobility, mingled together from the smallness of their fortunes, the +familiarity of their manners, and the frequent unions of their families, +did not entertain towards each other that intestine envy, hatred, and +malice, which was favourable to the Revolution. There was neither pride +in the one nor jealousy in the other: it was as it is in Spain, one +single people, where nobility is only, if we may say so, but a right of +first birth of the same blood. These people had, it is true, laid down +their arms after the insurrection of the preceding year in the camp of +Jales: but hearts were far from being disarmed. These provinces watched +with an attentive eye for the favourable moment in which they might rise +_en masse_ against Paris. The insults to the dignity of the king, and +the violence done to religion by the Legislative Assembly, excited +their minds even to fanaticism. They burst out again, as though +involuntarily, on the occasion of a movement of troops across their +valleys. The tricoloured cockade, emblem of infidelity to God and the +king, had entirely disappeared for several months in the town of Mende, +and they put up the white cockade, as a _souvenir_ and a hope of that +order of things to which they were secretly devoted. + +The directory of the department, consisting of men strangers to the +country, resolved on having the emblem of the constitution respected, +and applied for some troops of the line. This the municipality opposed, +in a resolution addressed to the directory, and made an insurrectional +appeal to the neighbouring municipalities, and a kind of federation with +them to resist together the sending of any troops into their districts. +However, the troops sent from Lyons at the request of the directory +approached; on their appearance, the municipality dissolved the ancient +national guard, composed of a few friends of liberty, and formed a fresh +national guard, of which the officers were chosen by itself from amongst +the gentry and most devoted royalists of the neighbourhood. Armed with +this force, the municipality compelled the directory of the department +to supply them with arms and ammunition. + +Such were the movements of the town of Mende, when the troops entered +the place. The national guard, under arms, replied to the cry of _Vive +la nation_, uttered by the troops, by the cry of _Vive le roi_. Then +they followed the soldiers to the principal square in the city, and +there took, in presence of the defenders of the constitution, an oath to +obey the king only, and to recognise no one but the king. After this +audacious display, the national guard, in parties, paraded the town, +insulting, braving the soldiers: swords were drawn, and blood flowed. +The troops pursued made a stand, and took to their weapons. The +municipality, having the directory in check, and holding it as hostage, +compelled it to send the troops orders to withdraw to their quarters. +The commandant of the forces obeyed. This victory emboldened the +national guard; and during the night it compelled the directory to send +the troops an order to leave the city and evacuate the department. The +national guard, drawn up in a line of battle in the square of Mende, +saw hourly its ranks increase by detachments of the neighbouring +municipalities, who came down from the mountains, armed with fowling +pieces, scythes, and ploughshares. The troops would have been massacred +if they had not retired under cover of the night. They retreated from +the city amidst victorious cries from the royalists. The following day +was a series of fetes, in which the royalists of the town and those of +the city celebrated their common triumph, and fraternised together. They +insulted all the emblems of the Revolution; hooted the constitution; +plundered the hall of the Jacobins; burnt down the houses of the +principal members of this hateful club--put some in prison. But their +vengeance confined itself to outrage. The people, controlled by the +gentlemen and the _cures_, spared the blood of their enemies. + + +XIV. + +Whilst humiliated liberty was threatened by fanaticism in the south, it, +in its turn, carried on the work of assassination in the north. Brest +was the very focus of Jacobinism--the close proximity of La Vendee gave +this city reason to apprehend the counter-revolution that constantly +threatened them--the presence of the fleet, commanded by officers +suspected of favouring the aristocratic part--a population greatly +composed of strangers and sailors, accessible to corruption, and capable +of being readily excited to crime--rendered this city more turbulent and +more agitated than any other port in the kingdom. The clubs constantly +strove to work on the sailors to mutiny against their officers, whilst +the revolutionists mistrusted the navy, as that was far more independent +of the people than the army, for the court could at a moment change the +station of the fleet, and turn their cannon against the constitution, +and the feeling of discipline, of aristocracy, and of the colonies, were +all contrary to the new school of ideas; and for this reason the +Jacobins had for some time striven to disorganise the fleet. The +appointment of M. de Lajaille to the command of one of the vessels +destined to carry assistance to San Domingo, caused an outbreak of the +suspicions infused into the minds of the inhabitants of Brest, and of +the officers of the navy. M. de Lajaille was designated by the clubs as +a traitor to the nation, who was about to introduce the +counter-revolutionary feeling in the colonies. Attacked at the moment he +was about to embark, by a crowd of nearly three thousand persons, he was +covered with wounds, stretched senseless on the ground, and would have +been killed, but for the heroic devotion of a workman, who shielded him +with his own body, and defended him until the arrival of the civic +guard. M. de Lajaille was, however, to appease popular feeling, +imprisoned: in vain did the king order the municipal authorities of +Brest to set this innocent and valuable officer free; in vain did the +minister of justice demand chastisement for this attempted murder, +committed in broad daylight, in the presence of the whole town; in vain +was a sabre and a gold medal voted to the courageous LANVERGENT, who had +saved de Lajaille; the dread of a more formidable outbreak assured the +guilty of impunity, and detained the innocent in prison. On the eve of +war the naval officers, threatened with mutiny on board their vessels, +and assassination on shore, had as much to apprehend from their crews as +from the enemy. + + +XV. + +The same discords were fomented in all the garrisons between the +soldiers and the officers, and the insubordination of the troops was, in +the eyes of the clubs, the chief virtue of the army. The people every +where sided with the soldiers, and the officers were constantly +disturbed by conspiracies and revolts in the regiments. The fortified +towns were the theatres of military outbreaks, which invariably +terminated in the impunity of the soldier, and the imprisonment or the +forced emigration of the officers. The Assembly, the supreme and partial +judge, always decided in favour of insubordination: unable to restrain +the people, it flattered their excesses. Perpignan was a new proof of +this. + +In the night of the 6th of December, the officers of the regiment of +Cambresis, in garrison in this town, went in a body to M. de Chollet, +the general who commanded the division, and urged him to retire into the +citadel, as they had learnt that a conspiracy was formed in the +regiment, which threatened alike his and their lives. M. de Chollet +complied with their earnest request, whilst they went to the barracks, +and ordered the men to follow them to the citadel. The soldiers replied +that they would only obey M. Desbordes, their lieutenant-colonel, in +whose patriotism they had the greatest confidence. M. Desbordes came, +and read to the soldiers the order of the general; but the inflexion of +his voice, the expression of his face, his glance, alike seemed to +protest against the order which his duty as a soldier compelled him to +communicate to them. The troops understood this mute appeal, and +declared that they would not quit their quarters, because the municipal +authorities had forbidden them: the national guard joined them and +patrolled the streets: the officers shut themselves up in the citadel, +and shots were fired from the ramparts. Lieutenant-Colonel Desbordes, +the national guard, the _gendarmerie_, and the regiments, stormed the +citadel. The officers of the regiment of Cambresis were imprisoned by +their soldiers; one, however, escaped, and committed suicide on the +frontiers of Spain. The unfortunate general, Chollet, victim of the +violence of the officers and soldiers, was impeached with fifty +officers, or inhabitants of Perpignan. They were ordered before the high +national court of Orleans; and thus were fifty victims predestined to +perish in the massacre at Versailles. + + +XVI. + +Blood flowed every where. The clubs seduced the regiments; patriotic +motions, denunciations against the generals, perfidious insinuations +against the fidelity of the officers, were constantly instilled into the +minds of the army by the people. The officer was a prey to terror, the +soldier to mistrust. The premeditated plan of the Jacobins and +Girondists was to destroy in concert this body that was yet attached to +the king, deprive the nobility of their command, substitute plebeians +for nobles as officers, and thus give the army to the nation. In the +meantime they surrendered it to anarchy and sedition; but these two +parties finding that the disorganisation was not sufficiently rapid, +wished to sum up in one act the systematic corruption of the army, the +ruin of all military discipline, and the legal triumph of the +insurrection. + +We have already mentioned how prominent a part the Swiss regiment of +Chateauvieux had taken in the famous insurrection of Nancy during the +latter period of the existence of the Constituent Assembly. An army +under M. de Bouille had been necessary to repress the armed revolt of +several regiments that threatened all France with the rule of the +tyrannical soldiery. M. de Bouille, at the head of a body of troops from +Metz, and the battalions of the national guard, had surrounded Nancy, +and after a desperate contest at the gates, and in the streets of the +town, forced the rebels to lay down their arms. These vigorous measures +for the restoration of order were applauded by all parties, and +reflected equal glory on M. de Bouille and disgrace on the soldiers. +Switzerland, by virtue of her treaties with France, preserved her right +of federal justice over the regiments of her nation, and this +essentially military country had tried by court-martial the regiment of +Chateauvieux. Twenty-four of the ringleaders had been condemned and +executed in expiation of the blood they had shed, and the fidelity they +had violated, the remainder had been decimated, and forty-one soldiers +now were undergoing their sentence on board the galleys at Brest. The +amnesty proclaimed by the king for the crimes committed during the civil +troubles, when he accepted the constitution, could not be applied to +these foreign soldiers, for the right to pardon belongs alone to those +who have the right to punish. + +Sentenced by the judgment of the Helvetian jurisdiction, neither the +king nor the Assembly could invalidate the judgment, or annul its +effects. The king had, at the entreaty of the Constituent Assembly, in +vain attempted to obtain the pardon of these soldiers from the Swiss +confederation. + +These fruitless negotiations served the Jacobins and the National +Assembly as food for accusation against M. de Montmorin. In vain did he +justify himself by alleging the impossibility of obtaining such an +amnesty from Switzerland, at a moment when this country, who had +suffered from civil commotions, sought to restore order by the laws of +Draco. "We shall be then the compulsory gaolers of this ferocious +people," cried Guadet and Collot d'Herbois. "France must then degrade +herself so far as to punish in her very ports those heroes who have +gained the people a triumph over the aristocratic officers, and shed +their blood for the nation instead of pouring it out in the cause of +despotism." + +Pastoret, an influential member of the moderate party, and who was said +to concert all his measures with the king, supported Guadet's motion, in +order to give the king popularity by an act agreeable to the nation; and +the freedom of the soldiers of Chateauvieux was voted by the Assembly. +The king, having delayed his sanction for some time, in order not to +wound the cantons by this violent usurpation of their rights over their +own countrymen, afforded the Jacobins fresh ground for imprecation and +invective against the court and the ministers. "The moment is come when +one man must perish for the safety of all," cried Manuel, "and this man +must be a minister; they all appear to me so guilty, that I firmly +believe the Assembly would be free from crime did it cause them to draw +lots for who should perish on the scaffold," "All, all," vociferated the +tribunes. But at this very moment Collot d'Herbois mounted the tribune, +and announced, amidst loud applause, that the royal assent to the decree +for their liberation had been given the previous evening, and that in a +few days he should present to his brother deputies these victims of +discipline. + +The soldiers of Chateauvieux were in reality advancing to Paris, having +been liberated from the galleys at Brest, and their march was one +continued triumph, but Paris prepared for them a still more brilliant +one through the exertions of the Jacobins. In vain did the Feuillants +and the Constitutionalists energetically protest, through the mouth of +Andre Chenier, the Tyrtaeus of moderation and good sense, of Dupont de +Nemours, and the poet Roucher, against the insolent oration of the +assassins of the generous Desilles. Collot d'Herbois, Robespierre, the +Jacobins, the Cordeliers, and the very commune of Paris, clung to the +idea of this triumph, which, according to them, would cover with +opprobium the court and La Fayette. The feeble interposition of Petion, +who appeared as though he wished to moderate the scandal, served only to +encourage it, for he of all men was most fitted to plunge the people +into the last degree of excess. His affected virtue served only to cloak +violence, and to cover with an hypocritical appearance of legality the +outbreaks he dared not punish; and had a representative of anarchy been +sought to be placed at the head of the commune of Paris, it could have +found no fitter type than Petion. His paternal reprimands to the people +were but promises of impunity. The public force always arrived too late +to punish; excuse was always to be found for sedition, amnesty for +crime. The people felt that their magistrate was their accomplice and +their slave, and yet whilst they despised they loved him. + + +XVII. + +"This _fete_ that is preparing for these soldiers," wrote Chenier, "is +attributed to enthusiasm. For my part, I confess I do not perceive this +enthusiasm. I see a few men who create a degree of agitation, but the +rest are alarmed or indifferent. We are told that the national honour is +interested in this reparation,--I can scarcely comprehend this; for, +either the national guards of Metz, who put down the revolt of Nancy, +are enemies of the public weal, or the soldiers of Chateauvieux are +assassins: there is no medium. How, then, is the honour of Paris +interested in _feting_ the murderers of our brothers? Other profound +politicians say, this _fete_ will humiliate those who have sought to +fetter the nation. What! in order to humiliate, according to their +judgment, a bad government, it is necessary to invent extravagances +capable of destroying every species of government--recompense rebellion +against the laws--crown foreign satellites for having shot French +citizens in an _emeute_. It is said, that in every place where this +procession passes, the statues will be veiled:--Ah! they will do well to +veil the whole city, if this hideous orgy takes place; but it is not +alone the statues of despots that should be veiled, but the face of +every good citizen. It will be the duty of every youth in the kingdom, +of every national guard in the kingdom to assume mourning on the day +when the murder of their brothers confers a title of glory on foreign +and seditious soldiers; it is the eyes of the army that should be +veiled, that they may not behold the reward of insubordination and +revolt; it is the National Assembly--the king--the administrators--the +country--that should veil their faces, in order that they may not +become complaisant or silent witnesses of the outrages offered to the +authorities and the country. The book of the law must be covered, when +those who have torn and stained its pages by musket-balls and sabre-cuts +receive the civic honours. Citizens of Paris, honest yet weak men, there +is not one of you who, when he interrogates his own heart, does not feel +how much the country--how much he its child--are insulted by these +outrages offered to the laws,--to those who execute them, and those who +are for them. Do you not blush that a handful of turbulent men, who +appear numerous because they are united and make a noise, should +constrain you to do their pleasure, by telling you it is your own, and +by amusing your puerile curiosity by unworthy spectacles? In a city that +respected itself, such a _fete_ would find before it silence and +solitude, the streets and public places abandoned, the houses shut up, +the windows deserted, and the flight and scorn of the passers-by would +tell history what share honest and well-disposed men took in this +scandalous and bacchanalian procession." + + +XVIII. + +Collot d'Herbois insulted Andre Chenier and Roucher in his reply. +Roucher replied by a letter full of sarcasm, in which he reminded Collot +d'Herbois of his falls on the stage and his misadventures as an actor. +"This personage of comic romance," said he, "who has leapt from the +trestles of Punch to the tribune of the Jacobins, rushes at me, as +though to strike me with the oar the Swiss have brought him from the +galleys." + +Placards for or against the _fete_ covered the walls of the Palais +Royal, and were alternately torn down by groups of young men or +Jacobins. + +Dupont de Nemours, the friend and master of Mirabeau, laid aside his +philosophical calm, to address a letter on the same subject to Petion, +in which his conscience, as an honest man, braved the popularity of the +tribune. "When the danger is imminent, it is the duty of all honest men +to warn the magistrates of it. More particularly, when the magistrates +themselves create it. You told a falsehood when you asserted that these +soldiers had aided the Revolution on the 14th of July, and that they had +refused to combat against the people of Paris. It is untrue that the +Swiss refused to combat against the people of Paris, and it is true that +they assassinated the national guards of Nancy. You have the audacity to +term those men patriots who dare command the legislative body to send a +deputation to the _fete_ prepared for these rebels; these are the men +whom you adopt as your friends; it is with them that you dine at _la +Rapee_, so that the general of the national guard is obliged to gallop +about for two hours to receive your orders before he can find you, and +you seek in vain to conceal your embarrassment by high-flown phrases. +You seek in vain to conceal this banquet given to assassins beneath the +pretext of a banquet in honour of liberty. But these subterfuges are no +longer available; the moment is urgent, and you will no longer deceive +the sections, the army, or the eighty-three departments. Those who rule +you, as they would a child, have agreed to surrender Paris to ten +thousand pikes, to whom the bar of the Assembly will be thrown open the +day the national guard is disarmed; the men destined to bear them arrive +every day, and Paris receives an accession of twelve or fifteen hundred +bandits every twenty-four hours, and beg, until the day of pillage +arrives, which they await as ravens await their prey.--I have not told +all;--generals are prepared for this hideous army. The friends of +Jourdan, impatient to behold the man whom the amnesty had not delivered +sufficiently soon, have broken open his prison at Avignon. Already, he +has been received in triumph in several cities of the south, like the +Swiss of the Chateauvieux, and will arrive at Paris to-morrow; Sunday he +will be present at the _fete_ with his companions--with the two +Mainvielle--with Pegtavin;--with all those cold-blooded scoundrels who +have killed in one night sixty-eight defenceless persons, and violated +females before they murdered them. Catiline!--Cethegus!--march forward, +the soldiers of Sylla are in the city, and the consul himself undertakes +to disarm the Romans. The measure is full,--it overflows!" + +Petion strove miserably to justify himself in a letter in which his +weakness and connivance revealed themselves beneath the multiplicity of +excuses. At the same time Robespierre, mounting the tribune of the +Jacobins, exclaimed, "You do not trace to their source the obstacles +that oppose the expansion of the sentiments of the people. Against whom +think you that you have to strive? against the aristocracy?--No. Against +the court?--No. Against a general who has long entertained great designs +against the people. It is not the national guard that views these +preparations with alarm; it is the genius of La Fayette that conspires +in the staff; it is the genius of La Fayette that conspires in the +directory of the department; it is the genius of La Fayette that +perverts the minds of so many good citizens in the capital who would but +for him be with us. + +"La Fayette is the most dangerous of the enemies of liberty, because he +wears the mask of patriotism; it is he who, after having wrought all the +evil in his power in the Constituent Assembly, has affected to withdraw +to his estates, and then comes to strive for this post of mayor of +Paris, not to obtain it, but to refuse it, in order to affect +disinterestedness; it is he who has been appointed to the command of the +French armies, in order to turn them against the Revolution. The +national guards of Metz were as innocent as those of Paris, they can be +nothing but patriots; it is La Fayette who, through the medium of +Bouille his relation and accomplice, has deceived them. How can we +inscribe on the banners of this fete, _Bouille is alone guilty_? Who +sought to stifle the revolt at Nancy, and cover it with an impenetrable +veil? Who demands crowns for the assassins of the soldiers of +Chateauvieux? La Fayette. Who prevented me from speaking? La Fayette. +Who are those who now dart such threatening glances at me? La Fayette +and his accomplices." (Loud applause.) + + +XIX. + +The preparations for this ceremony gave rise to a still more exciting +drama at the National Assembly. At the opening of the sitting, a member +demanded that the forty soldiers of Chateauvieux should be admitted to +pay their respects to the legislative body. M. de Jaucourt opposed it: +"If these soldiers," said he, "are only admitted to express their +gratitude, I consent to their being admitted to the bar; but I demand +that afterwards they be not allowed to remain during the debate." The +speaker was interrupted by loud murmurs, and cries of _a bas! a bas!_ +from the tribunes. "An amnesty is neither a triumph nor a civic crown," +continued he; "you cannot dishonour the names of the brave Desilles, or +of those generous citizens who perished defending the laws against them; +you cannot lacerate by this triumph the hearts of those among you who +took part in the expedition of Nancy. Allow a soldier, who was ordered +on this expedition with his regiment, to point out to you the effects +this decision would have on the army. (The murmurs redouble.) The army +will see in your conduct only an encouragement to insurrection; and +these honours will lead the soldiers to believe that you look on these +men, whom an amnesty has freed, not as men whose punishment was too +severe, but as innocent victims." The tumult here became so great that +M. de Jaucourt was forced to descend. But one of the members, who, it is +evident to all, was almost overpowered by emotion, took his place. It +was M. de Gouvion, a young officer, whose name was already gloriously +inscribed in the early pages of the annals of our wars. He was clothed +in deep black, and every feature of his face wore an expression of +intense grief, which inspired the Assembly with involuntary interest, +and the tumult was instantly changed into attention. His voice was +tremulous and scarcely audible at first; it was evident that indignation +as much as sorrow choked his utterance. + +"Gentlemen," said he, "I had a brother, a good patriot, who, through the +estimation in which he was held by his fellow citizens, had been +successively elected commandant of the national guard, and member for +the department. Ever ready to sacrifice himself for the revolution and +the law, it was in the name of the revolution and the law that he was +called upon to march to Nancy at the head of the brave national guards, +and there he fell pierced by five bayonet-wounds, and by the hand of +those who, ... I demand, if I am condemned to behold here the assassins +of my brother." "Well, then, leave the chamber," cried a stern voice. +The tribunes applauded this speech, more cruel and poignant than the +thrust of a dagger. Indignation enabled M. de Gouvion to overcome his +contempt. "Who is the dastard who himself in order to insult the grief +of a brother?" cried he, glancing around to discover the speaker. "I +will tell my name--'tis I," replied the deputy Choudieu, rising from his +seat. Loud applause from the tribunes followed this insult of +Choudieu's; it would seem as though this crowd had no longer any +feeling, and that passion triumphed over nature. But M. de Gouvion was +sustained by a sentiment stronger than popular fury--that of generous +despair; he continued: "As a man, I applauded the clemency of the +National Assembly when it burst the fetters of these unhappy soldiers +who were misled." He was again interrupted, but continued: "the decrees +of the Constituent Assembly, the orders of the king, the voice of their +officers, the cries of their country, all were unavailing; without +provocation on the part of the national guards of the two departments, +they fired on Frenchmen, and my brother fell a victim to his obedience +to the laws. No, I cannot remain silent, so long as the memory of the +national guards is disgraced by the honours decreed to these men who +murdered them." + +Couthon, a young Jacobin, seated not far from Robespierre, from whose +eyes he seemed to gain his secret inspirations, rose and replied to +Gouvion, without insulting him. "Who is the slave of prejudices that +would venture to dishonour men whom the law has absolved; who would not +repress his personal grief in the interest and the triumph of liberty?" +But Gouvion's voice touched that chord of justice and natural emotion +that always vibrates beneath the insensibility of opinion. Twice did the +Assembly, summoned by the president to vote for or against their +admission to the debate, rise in an even number for and against this +motion. And the secretaries, the judges of these decisions, hesitated to +pronounce on which side the majority was; they at length, after two +attempts, declared that the majority was in favour of the admission of +the Swiss; but the minority protested, and the _appel nominal_ was +demanded. This pronounced a feeble majority that the Swiss should be +admitted; and they instantly entered, amidst the applause of the +tribunes, whilst the unfortunate Gouvion left the chamber by the +opposite door, his forehead scarlet with indignation, and vowing never +to set foot in that Assembly, where he was forced to behold and welcome +the murderers of his brother. He instantly applied to the minister of +war to join the army of the north, and fell there. + + +XX. + +The soldiers were introduced, and Collot d'Herbois presented them to the +admiring tribunes. The national guard of Versailles, who had followed +them to the Assembly, defiled in the hall amidst the sound of drums, and +cries of "_Vive la Nation!_" Groups of citizens and females of Paris, +with tricoloured flags and pikes brandished over their heads, followed +them; then the members of the popular societies of Paris presented to +the president flags of honour given to the Swiss by the departments +which these conquerors had just traversed. The men of the 14th of July, +with Gouchon, the agitator of the faubourg St. Antoine, as their +spokesman, announced that this faubourg had fabricated 10,000 pikes to +defend their liberties and their country. This legitimate ovation, +offered by the Girondists and Jacobins to undisciplined soldiers, +authorised the people of Paris to decree to them the triumph of such an +infamous proceeding (_le triomphe du scandale_). + +It was no longer the people of liberty, but the people of anarchy; the +day of the 15th of April combined all its emblems. Revolt armed against +the laws, for instance, mutinous soldiers as conquerors; a colossal +galley, an instrument of punishment and shame, crowned with flowers as +an emblem; abandoned women and girls, collected from the lowest haunts +of infamy, carrying and kissing the broken fetters of these +galley-slaves; forty trophies, bearing the forty names of these Swiss; +civic crowns on the names of these murderers of citizens; busts of +Voltaire, Rousseau, Franklin, Sidney, the greatest philosophers and most +virtuous patriots, mingled with the ignoble busts of these malefactors, +and sullied by the contact; these soldiers themselves, astonished if not +ashamed of their glory, advancing in the midst of a group of rebellious +French-guard, in all the glorification of the forsaking of flags and +want of discipline; the march closed by a car imitating in its form the +prow of a galley, in this car the statue of Liberty armed in +anticipation with the bludgeon of September, and wearing the _bonnet +rouge_, an emblem borrowed from Phrygia by some, from the galleys by +others; the book of the constitution carried processionally in this +fete, as if to be present at the homage decreed to those who were armed +against the laws; bands of male and female citizens, the pikes of the +faubourg, the absence of the civic bayonets, fierce threats, theatrical +music, demagogic hymns, derisive halts at the Bastille, the +Hotel-de-Ville, the Champ-de-Mars; at the altar of the country the vast +and tumultuous rounds danced several times by chains of men and women +round the triumphal galley, amidst the foul chorus of the air of the +_Carmagnole_; embraces, more obscene than patriotic, between these women +and the soldiers, who threw themselves into each others' arms; and in +order to put the cope-stone on this debasement of the laws, Petion the +Maire of Paris, the magistrates of the people assisting personally at +this fete, and sanctioning this insolent triumph over the laws by their +weakness or their complicity. Such was this fete: an humiliating copy of +the 14th of July, an infamous parody of an insurrection, which parodied +a revolution! + +France blushed; good citizens were alarmed; the national guard began to +be afraid of pikes; the city to fear the faubourgs, and the army herein +received the signal of the most entire disorganisation. + +The indignation of the constitutional party burst forth in ironical +strophes in a hymn of Andre Chenier, in which that young poet avenged +the laws, and marked himself out for the scaffold. + + "Salut divin triomphe! Entre dans nos murailles! + Rends nous ces soldats, illustres + Par le sang de Desilles et par les funerailles + De nos citoyens massacres!"[16] + + + + +BOOK XI. + + +I. + +The echo of these triumphs of insubordination and murder was felt every +where in the mutinous conduct of the troops, the disobedience of the +national guard, and the risings of the populace; whilst at Paris they +_feted_ the Swiss of Chateauvieux, the mob of Marseilles demanded with +much violence that the Swiss regiment of _Ernst_ should be expelled from +the garrison at Aix, under pretext that they favoured the aristocracy, +and that the security of Provence was thereby menaced. On the refusal of +this regiment to quit the city, the Marseillaise marched upon Aix as the +Parisians had marched upon Versailles in the days of October. They by +violence compelled the national guard to accompany them, who had been +destined to repress them; they surrounded the regiment of Ernst with +cannon, made them lay down their arms, and shamefully drove them before +sedition. The national guard, a force essentially revolutionary, because +it participates, like the people, in the opinions, feelings, and +passions, which, as a civic guard, it ought to repress, followed in +every direction, from weakness or example, the fickle impressions of the +mob. How could men, just leaving clubs, where they had been listening +to, applauding, and frequently exciting sedition in patriotic +discourses,--how could they, changing their feelings and part at the +door of popular societies, take arms against the seditious? Thus they +remained spectators, when they were not accomplices, of insurrections. +The scarcity of colonial produce, the dearness of grain, the rigour of a +hard winter, all contributed to disturb the people: the agitators turned +all these misfortunes of the times into accusations and grounds of +hatred against royalty. + + +II. + +The government, powerless and disarmed, was rendered responsible for the +severities of nature. Secret emissaries, armed bands, went amongst the +towns and cities where markets were held, and there disseminated the +most alarming reports, provoking the people to tax grain and flour, +stigmatising the corn-dealers as monopolists--the perfidious charge of +monopoly being a sure sentence of death. The fear of being accused of +starving the people checked every speculation of business, and tended +much more than actual want to the dearth of the markets. Nothing is so +scarce as a commodity which is concealed. The corn-stores were crimes in +the eyes of consumers of bread. The Maire of Etampes, Simoneau, an +honest man, and an intrepid magistrate, was one victim sacrificed to the +people's suspicions. Etampes was one of the great markets that supplied +Paris. It was therefore necessary for it to preserve the liberty of +commerce and the supply of flour. A mob, composed of men and women of +the adjacent villages, assembling at the sound of the tocsin, marched +upon the city one market-day, preceded by drums, armed with guns and +pitchforks, in order to carry off the grain by force from the +proprietors, divide it amongst themselves, and to exterminate, as they +declared, the monopolists, amongst whom sinister voices mingled in low +tones the name of Simoneau. The national guard disappeared, a detachment +of one hundred men of the eighteenth regiment of cavalry were at +Etampes, and the sole force at the Maire's disposal. + +The officer answered for these soldiers _as for himself_. After long +conversations with the seditious, to bring them back to reason and the +law, Simoneau returned to the _maison commune_, ordered the red flag to +be unfurled, proclaimed martial law, and then advanced upon the rebels, +surrounded by the municipal body, and in the centre of the armed force; +on reaching the square of the town, the crowd surrounded and cut off the +detachment. The troopers left the Maire exposed--not one drew his sword +in his defence. In vain did he summon them, in the name of the law, and +by the weapons they wore, to render aid to the magistrate against +assassins--in vain did he seize the bridle of one of the horsemen near +him, crying, "_Help, my friends_." + +Struck by blows of pitchforks and guns, at the moment when he appealed +to the soldiery, he fell, shot, grasping in his hands the bridle of the +cowardly trooper whom he was entreating: the fellow, in order to +disengage himself, struck with the back of his sabre the arm of the +Maire already dead, and left his body to the insults of the people. The +miscreants, remaining in possession of the carcase, brutally mangled the +palpitating limbs, and deliberated together as to cutting off the head. +The leaders made their followers defile passing over the body of the +Maire, and trampling in his blood. Then they went away beating their +drums, and went to get drunk in the suburbs; and the taking away the +grain, the apparent motive of the riot, was neglected in the moment of +triumph. There was no pillage--either the blood made the people forget +their hunger, or their hunger was but the pretext for assassination. + + +III. + +At the moment when all was thus crumbling to pieces round the throne, a +man, celebrated by the vast part attributed to him in the common ruin, +sought to reconcile himself with the king: this was Louis-Philippe +Joseph, Duc d'Orleans, first prince of the blood. I pause for this man, +before whom history has hitherto paused, without being able to discover +the real place which should be assigned to him amongst the passing +events. An enigma to himself, he remains an enigma for posterity. Was +the real solution of this enigma ambition or patriotism, weakness or +conspiracy? Let facts reply. + +Public opinion has its prejudices. Struck by the immensity of the work +it accomplishes; giddy, as it were, by the rapidity of the movement +which urges things on, it cannot believe that a series of natural +causes, combined by Providence with the rise of certain ideas in the +human mind, and aided by the coincidence of the times, can of itself +produce such vast commotions. It seeks, then, the supernatural--the +wonderful--fatality. It takes pleasure in imagining latent causes acting +with mystery, and compelling with hidden hand men and events. It takes, +in a word, every revolution for a conspiracy; and if it meets at +starting, in the middle, or at the end of such crises some leading man, +to whose interest these events may tend, it supposes itself the author, +attributes to itself all the action of these revolutions, and all the +scope of idea that accomplishes them; and, fortunate or unfortunate, +innocent or guilty, claims for itself all the glory or demerit of the +result. It renders its name divine, or its memory accursed. Such, for +fifty years, was the destiny of the Duc d'Orleans. + + +IV. + +It is a historic tradition amongst people from the highest antiquity, +that the throne wears out royal races, and that whilst the reigning +branches grow enervated by the possession of empire, younger branches +become stronger and greater, by nourishing the ambition of becoming more +powerful, and inspiring more closely to the people an air less corrupt +than that which pervades courts. Thus, whilst primogeniture gives power +to the elder, the people confer popularity on the juniors. + +This singularity of a handsomer and more popular family than the +reigning family, increasing near the throne, and having a dangerous +rivalry with the throne in the mind of the nation, had always existed in +the house of Orleans, since the time of Louis XIV. If this equivocal +situation gave to the princes of this family some virtues, it gave them +also corresponding vices. More intelligent and more ambitious than the +king's sons, they were also more restless. The very restraint in which +the policy of the reigning house kept them, condemned their idea or +their courage to inaction, and forced them to misapply, in +irregularities or indolence, the faculties with which nature had endowed +them, and the immense fortune for which they had no other occupation: +too great for citizens, too dangerous at the head of armies or in +affairs, they had no place either amongst the people or at court; and +thus they assumed it in opinion. + +The Regent, a very superior man, long kept down by the inferiority of +his part, had been the most brilliant example of all the virtues and all +the vices of the blood of Orleans. Since the Regent, the princes +endowed, like himself, with natural wit and courage, had felt the glory +of great actions in their early youth. They had then again fallen back +into obscurity, pleasures or devotion, by the jealousy of the reigning +house. At the first show of brilliancy attached to their name, it had +been darkened. Guilty by their very merit, their name urged them on to +glory; and as soon as they proved themselves deserving, it was +forbidden to them. These princes were destined to transmit with their +family honours that impatience of a change of government which allows +them to be men. + +Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duc d'Orleans, was born at the precise epoch, +when his rank, fortune, and character were to throw him into a current +of new ideas, which his family passions called on him to favour, and +into which, once drawn, it would be impossible for him to pause except +at the throne or the scaffold. He was twenty when the first symptoms of +the Revolution manifested themselves. + +He was handsome, like all his race. Slender figure, firm step, smiling +countenance, piercing glance, limbs made supple by all bodily exercises, +with a heart disposed to love, and a splendid horseman, that great +accomplishment of princes; a condescension void of familiarity, a ready +eloquence, unquestionable courage, liberal to the arts, even to +extravagance; those faults which are only due to the luxuries of the +age, all marked him out as a popular favourite. He took every advantage +of it; and, perhaps, his early intoxication with it somewhat affected +his natural good sense. The love of the people appeared to him a means +of avenging himself for the contempt in which the court neglected him. +In his mind he braved the king of Versailles, feeling himself king of +Paris. + +He had married a princess of a race as beloved by the people; the only +daughter of the Duc de Penthievre. Lovely, amiable, and virtuous, she +brought to her husband as dowry, with the vast fortune of the Duc de +Penthievre, that amount of consideration and public esteem which +belonged to her house. The first political act of the Duc d'Orleans was +a bold resistance to the wishes of the court, at the period of the +exile of the parliaments. Exiled himself in his chateau of +_Villars-Cotterets_, the esteem and interest of the people followed him. +The applauses of France sweetened the disgrace of the court. He believed +that he comprehended the part of a great citizen in a free country; he +desired to do so. He forgot too easily, in the atmosphere of adulation +which surrounded him, that a man is not a great citizen only to please +the people, but to defend--serve--and frequently to resist them. + +Returned to Paris, he was desirous of joining the _prestige_ of glory of +arms to the civic crowns, with which his name was already decorated. He +solicited of the court the dignity of _grand-admiral_ of France, the +survivorship of which belonged to him, after the Duc de Penthievre, his +father-in-law. He was refused. He embarked as a volunteer on board the +fleet, commanded by the Comte d'Orvilliers, and was at the battle of +Ouessant on the 17th of July, 1778. The results of this fight, when +victory remained without conquest, in consequence of a false +manoeuvre, were imputed to the weakness of Duc d'Orleans, who wished +to check the pursuit of the enemy. This dishonouring report, invented +and disseminated by court hatred, soured the resentments of the young +prince, but could not hide the brilliancy of his courage, which he +displayed in caprices unworthy of his rank. At St. Cloud he sprang into +the first balloon that carried aerial navigators into space. Calumny +followed him even there, and a report was spread that he had burst the +balloon with a thrust of his sword, in order to compel his companions to +descend. Then arose between the court and himself a continual struggle +of boldness on the one hand and slander on the other. The king treated +him, however, with the indulgence which virtue testifies for youth's +follies. The Comte d'Artois took him as the constant companion of his +pleasures. The queen, who liked the Comte d'Artois, feared for him the +contagion of the disorders and amours of the Duc d'Orleans. She hated +equally in this young prince the favourite of the people of Paris and +the corrupter of the Comte d'Artois. She made the king purchase the +almost royal palace of St. Cloud, the favourite seat of the Duc +d'Orleans. Infamous insinuations against him were incessantly +transpiring from the half confidences of courtiers. He was accused of +having induced courtezans to poison the blood of the Prince de Lamballe, +his brother-in-law, and of having enervated him in debauches, in order +that he might be the sole heir of the immense property of the house of +Penthievre. This crime was the pure invention of malice. + +Thus persecuted by the animosity of the court, the Duc d'Orleans was +more and more driven to retirement. In his frequent visits to England he +formed a close intimacy with the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne, +who took for his friends all the enemies of his father; playing with +sedition, dishonoured by debts, of scandalous life, prolonging beyond +the usual term those excesses of princes--horses, pleasure of the table, +gaming, women; abetting the intrigues of Fox, Sheridan and Burke, and +prefacing his advent to royal power by all the audacity of a refractory +son and a factious citizen. + +The Duc d'Orleans thus tasted of the joys of liberty in a London life. +He brought back to France habits of insolence against the court, a taste +for popular disturbances, contempt for his own rank, familiarity with +the multitude, a citizen's life in a palace, and that simple style of +dress, which by abandoning the uniform of the French nobility, and +blending attire generally, soon destroyed all inequalities of costume +amongst citizens. + +Then given up entirely to the exclusive care of repairing his impaired +fortune, the Duc d'Orleans constructed the _Palais Royal_. He changed +the noble and spacious gardens of his palace into a market of luxury, +devoted by day to traffic, and by night to play and debauchery--a +complete sink of iniquities, built in the heart of the capital--a work +of cupidity which antique manners never could forgive this prince; and +which, being gradually adopted like the forum by the indolence of the +Parisian population, was destined to become the cradle of the +Revolution. This Revolution was striding onwards. The prince awaited it +in supineness, as if liberty of the world had been but one more +mistress. + +His well-known hatred against the court had naturally drawn into his +acquaintance all who desired a change. The Palais Royal was the elegant +centre of a conspiracy with open doors, for the reform of government: +the philosophy of the age there encountered politics and literature: it +was the palace of opinion. Buffon came there constantly to pass the +latter evenings of his life. Rousseau there received at a distance the +only worship which his proud sensitiveness would accept even from +princes. Franklin and the American republicans; Gibbon and the orators +of the English opposition, Grimm and the German philosophers, Diderot, +Sieyes, Sillery, Laclos, Suard, Florian, Raynal, La Harpe, and all the +thinkers or writers who anticipated the new mind, met there with +celebrated artists and _savans_. Voltaire himself, proscribed from +Versailles by the human respect of a court, which admired his genius, +had arrived thither on his last journey. The prince presented to him his +children, one of whom reigns to-day over France. The dying philosopher +blessed them, as he did those of Franklin, in the name of reason and +liberty. + + +V. + +If the prince himself had not a love of literature and a highly refined +mind, he had sufficiently cultivated his mind to appreciate perfectly +the pleasures of the understanding; but the revolutionary feeling +instinctively counselled him to surround himself with all the strength +that might one day serve liberty. Early tired of the beauty and virtue +of the Duchesse d'Orleans, he had conceived for a lovely, witty, +insinuating woman a sentiment which did not enchain the caprices of his +heart, but which controlled his inconsistency and directed his mind. +This woman, then seducing and since celebrated, was the Comtesse de +Sillery-Genlis, daughter of the Marquis Ducret de Saint Aubin, a +gentleman of Charolais, without fortune. Her mother, who was still young +and handsome, had brought her to Paris, to the house of M. de la +Popeliniere, a celebrated financier, whose old age she had taken +captive. She educated her daughter for that doubtful destiny which +awaits women on whom nature has lavished beauty and mind, and to whom +society has refused their right position--adventuresses in society, +sometimes raised, sometimes degraded. + +The first masters formed this child by all the arts of mind and +hand--her mother directed her to ambition. The second-rate position of +this mother at the house of her opulent protector, formed the child to +the plasticity and adulation which her mother's domestic condition +required and illustrated. At sixteen years of age her precocious beauty +and musical talent caused her to be already sought in the _salons_. Her +mother produced her there in the dubious publicity between the theatre +and the world. An _artiste_ for some, she was, with others, a well +educated girl; all were attracted by her: old men forgot their age. +Buffon called her "_ma fille_." Her relationship with Madame de +Montesson, widow of the Duc d'Orleans, gave her a footing in the house +of the young prince. The Comte de Sillery-Genlis fell in love with her, +and married her in spite of his family's opposition. Friend and +confidant of the Duc d'Orleans, the Comte de Sillery obtained for his +wife a place at the court of the Duchesse d'Orleans. Time and her +ability did the rest. + +The duke attached himself to her with the twofold power of admiration +for her beauty and admiration of her superior understanding--the one +empire confirmed the other. The complaints of the insulted duchess only +made the duke more obstinate in his liking. He was governed, and +desirous of having his feelings honoured, he announced it openly, merely +seeking to colour it under the pretext of the education of his children. +The Comtesse de Genlis followed at the same time the ambition of courts +and the reputation of literature. She wrote with elegance those light +works which amuse a woman's idle hours, whilst they lead their hearts +astray into imaginary amours. Romances, which are to the west what opium +is to the Orientals, waking day-dreams, had become necessities and +events for the _salons_. Madame de Genlis wrote in a graceful style, and +clothed her characters and ideas with a certain affectation of austerity +which gave a becomingness to love: she moreover affected an universal +acquaintance with the sciences, which made her sex disappear before the +pretensions of her mind, and which recalled in her person those women of +Italy who profess philosophy with a veil over their countenances. + +The Duc d'Orleans, an innovator in every thing, believed he had found in +a woman the Mentor for his sons. He nominated her governor of his +children. The duchess, greatly annoyed, protested against this; the +court laughed, and the people were amazed. Opinion, which yields to all +who brave it, murmured, and then was silent. The future proved that the +father was right: the pupils of this lady were not princes but men. She +attracted to the Palais Royal all the dictators of public opinion. The +first club in France was thus held in the very apartments of a prince of +the blood. Literature, concealed from without these meetings as the +madness of the first Brutus concealed his vengeance. The duke was not, +perhaps, a conspirator, but henceforth there was an Orleans party. +Sieyes, the mystic oracle of the Revolution, who seemed to carry it on +his pensive front, and brood over it in silence; the Duc de Lauzun, +passing from the confidence of Trianon to the consultations of the +Palais Royal; Laclos, a young officer of artillery, author of an obscene +romance, capable at need of elevating romantic intrigue to a political +conspiracy; Sillery, soured against his order, at enmity with the court, +an ambitious malcontent, awaiting nothing but what the future might +bring forth; and others more obscure, but not less active, and serving +as unknown guides for descending from the _salons_ of a prince into the +depths of the people: some the head, others the arms, of the duke's +ambition, attended these meetings. Perhaps they might be ignorant of the +aim, but they placed themselves on the declivity, and allowed Fortune to +do as she pleased. Fortune was a revolution. The wonderful, that marvel +of the masses, which is to the imagination what calculation is to +reason, was not wanting to the Orleans party. Prophecies, those popular +presentiments of destiny, domestic prodigies, admitted by the interested +credulity of numerous clients of this house, announced the throne +shortly to one of these princes. These rumours were rife amongst the +people, from themselves, or the skilful insinuations of the partisans of +the house of Orleans. In the convocation of States-General, the duke had +not hesitated to pronounce in favour of the most popular reforms. The +instructions which he had drawn up for the electors of his dominions +were the work of the abbe Sieyes. The prince himself intrigued for the +name and style of _Citoyen_. Elected deputy of the noblesse of Paris at +Crespy and at Villars-Cotterets, he selected Crespy, because the +electors of this bailiwick were the more patriotic. At the procession of +the States-General he left his own place vacant amongst the princes, and +walked in the midst of the deputies. This abdication of his dignity near +the throne to assume the dignity of a citizen, procured him the +applauses of the nation. + + +VI. + +Public favour towards him was such that had he been a Duc de Guise, and +Louis XVI. a Henry III., the States-General would have finished, as did +those of Blois, by an assassination or usurpation. Uniting with the +_tiers etat_, to obtain equality and the friendship of the nation +against the nobility, he took the oath of the Tennis Court. He took his +place behind Mirabeau, to disobey the king. Nominated president by the +National Assembly, he refused this honour in order to remain a citizen. +The day on which the dismissal of Necker betrayed the hostile projects +of the court, and when the people of Paris named its leaders and +defenders by acclamation, the name of the Duc d'Orleans was the first +uttered. France took in the gardens of the palace the colours of his +livery for a cockade. At the voice of Camille Desmoulins, who uttered +the cry of alarm in the Palais Royal, the populace gathered, Legendre +and Freron led them; they placed the bust of the Duc d'Orleans beside +that of Necker, covered them with black crape, and promenaded them, +bareheaded themselves, in the presence of the silent citizens. Blood +flowed; the dead body of one of the citizens who carried the busts, +killed by the mob, serving as a standard to the people. The Duc +d'Orleans was thus mixed up from his palace--his name and his +image--with the first struggle and first murder of liberty. This was +enough to make it believed that his hand moved all the threads of +events. Whether from lack of boldness or ambition, he never assumed the +appearance of the part which public opinion assigned to him. He did not +then appear to push things beyond the conquest of a constitution for his +country, and the character of a great patriot for himself. He respected +or despised the throne. One or other of these feelings gave him +importance in the eyes of history. All the world was of his party except +himself. + +Impartial men did honour to his moderation, the revolutionists imputed +shame to his character. Mirabeau, who was seeking a pretender to +personify the revolt, had had secret interviews with the Duc d'Orleans; +had tested his ambition, to judge if it aspired to the throne. He had +left him dissatisfied; he had even betrayed his dissatisfaction by angry +phrases. Mirabeau required a conspirator; he had only found a patriot. +What he despised in the Duc d'Orleans was not the meditation of a crime, +but the refusal to be his accomplice. He had not anticipated such +scruples; he revenged himself by terming this carelessness about the +throne the cowardice of an ambitious man. + +La Fayette instinctively hated in the Duc d'Orleans an influential +rival. He accused the prince of fomenting troubles which he felt himself +powerless to repress. It was asserted that the Duc d'Orleans and +Mirabeau had been seen mingled with groups of men and women, and +pointing to the chateau. Mirabeau defended himself by a smile of +contempt. The Duc d'Orleans proved his innocence in a more serious +manner. An assassination which should kill the king or queen would still +leave the monarchy, the laws of the kingdom, and the princes inheritors +of the throne. He could not mount to it except over the dead bodies of +five persons placed by nature between himself and his ambition. These +steps of crime could only have incurred the execrations of the nation, +and must have even wearied the assassins themselves. Besides, he proved +by numerous and undeniable witnesses that he had not gone to Versailles +either on the 4th or 5th of October. Quitting Versailles on the 3rd, +after the sitting of the National Assembly, he had returned to Paris. He +had passed the day of the 4th in his palace and gardens at Mousseaux. On +the 5th, he again was at Mousseaux; his cabriolet having broken down on +the boulevard, he had gone on foot by the Champs Elysees. He had passed +the day at Passy with his children and Madame de Genlis. He had supped +at Mousseaux with some intimate friends, and slept again in Paris. It +was not until the 6th, in the morning, that, informed of the events of +the previous evening, he had gone to Versailles, and that his carriage +had been stopped at the bridge of Sevres, by the mob carrying the +bleeding heads of the king's guard.[17] If this was not the conduct of a +prince of the blood, who flies to the succour of his king and places +himself at the foot of the throne, between the threatened sovereign and +the people, neither was it that of an audacious usurper who tempts +revolt by occasion, and at least presents to the people a completed +crime. + +The conduct of this prince was but that of one who looks to a contingent +reversion: either that he would not receive the crown except by a +fatality of events, and without thrusting forth his hand to fortune, or +that he had more indifference than ambition for supreme power, or that +he would not place his royalty as a check upon the way of liberty; that +he sincerely desired a republic, and that the title of first citizen of +a free nation appeared to him greater than that of king. + + +VII. + +However, a short time after the days of the 5th and 6th October, La +Fayette desired to break off the intimacy between the Duc d'Orleans and +Mirabeau. He resolved at all risks to compel the prince to remove from +the scene, and by an exercise of moral restraint or the fear of a state +prosecution, to absent himself and go to London. He made the king and +queen enter into his plans, by alarming them as to the prince's +intrigues, and designating him as a competitor for the throne. La +Fayette said one day to the queen, that this prince was the only man +upon whom the suspicion of so lofty an ambition could fall. "Sir," +replied the queen, with a look of incredulity, "is it necessary then to +be a prince in order to pretend to the throne?" "At least, madam," +replied the general, "I only know the Duc d'Orleans who aspires to it." +La Fayette presumed too much on the prince's ambition. + + +VIII. + +Mirabeau, discouraged at the hesitations and scruples of the Duc +d'Orleans, and finding him above or below crime, cast him off like a +despised accomplice of ambition, and tried to ally himself with La +Fayette, who, possessed of the armed force, and who saw in Mirabeau the +whole of the moral force, smiled at the idea of a duumvirate, which +could assume to themselves empire. There were secret interviews at Paris +and at Passy between these two rivals. La Fayette rejecting every idea +of an usurpation profitable to the prince, declared to Mirabeau that he +must renounce every conceived plot against the queen if he would come +to an understanding with him. "Well, general," replied Mirabeau, "since +you will have it so, let her live! A humbled queen may be fit for +something, but a queen with her throat cut is only good as the subject +of a bad tragedy!" This atrocious remark, which treated the bloodshed of +a woman as a jest, was subsequently known by the queen, who however +forgave Mirabeau, and did not allow it to interfere with her _liaisons_ +with the great orator. But the cold-blooded infamy must have found its +way to her heart as an ominous warning of what she might fear hereafter. + +La Fayette, sure of the consent of the king and queen, supported by the +feelings of the national guard, who were growing weary of factions and +the factious, ventured to assume quietly towards the prince the tone of +a dictator, and to pronounce against him an arbitrary exile under the +appearance of a mission freely accepted. He sent to request of the Duc +d'Orleans a meeting at the Marquise de Coigny's, a noble intelligent +lady attached to La Fayette, and in whose _salon_ the Duc d'Orleans +occasionally met him. After a conversation, heard by the walls alone, +but the result of which showed its tenor, and which Mirabeau, to whom it +was communicated, termed _very imperious on the one side, and very +resigned on the other_, it was agreed that the Duc d'Orleans should +forthwith set out for London. The friends of the prince induced him to +change his resolution that same night, and he sent La Fayette a note to +this effect. La Fayette requested another interview, in which he called +upon him to keep his word, enjoined him to depart in twenty-four hours, +and then conducted him to the king. There the prince accepted the +feigned mission, and promised to leave nothing neglected to expose in +England the plots of the conspirators of the kingdom. "You are more +interested than any one," said La Fayette in the king's presence, "for +no one is more compromised than yourself." Mirabeau, cognisant of this +oppression of La Fayette and the court over the mind of the Duc +d'Orleans, offered his services to the duke, and tempted him with the +last offers of supreme power. The subject of his address to the Assembly +was already prepared: he intended to denounce, as a conspiracy of +despotism, this _coup d'etat_ against one citizen, in which the liberty +of all citizens was attempted. "This violation of the inviolability of +the representatives of the nation in the palpable exile of a prince of +the blood; he was to point out La Fayette, making use of the royal hand +to strike the rivals of his popularity, and to cover his own insolent +dictatorship under the venerated sanction of the chief of the nation and +the head of the family." Mirabeau had no doubt of the resentment of the +Assembly against so odious an attempt, and promised the friends of the +Duc d'Orleans one of those returns of opinion which raise a man to a +higher elevation than that from which he has fallen. This language, +backed by the entreaties of Laclos, Sillery, Lauzun, a second time shook +the prince's resolution. He saw now disgrace in this voluntary exile, +where at first he had only seen magnanimity. At the break of day he +wrote that he declined the mission. La Fayette then sent for him to the +minister for foreign affairs. There the prince, again overcome, wrote to +the Assembly a letter, which destroyed beforehand all the denunciation +of Mirabeau. "My enemies pretend," said the duke to La Fayette, "that +you boast of having against me proofs of my share in the attempts of the +5th of October." "They are rather my enemies who say so," replied La +Fayette: "if I had proofs against you I should already have arrested +you. I have none, but I am seeking for them." The Duc d'Orleans went. +Nine months had passed away since his return. The Constituent Assembly +had left, without any other defence than anarchy, the constitution it +had so lately voted. Disorder prevailed throughout the kingdom: the +first acts of the Legislative Assembly announced the hesitation of a +people which halts on a declivity, but is doomed to descend to the very +bottom. + + +IX. + +The Girondists, at the first step going a-head of the Barnaves and +Lameths, showed a disposition to push France, all unprepared, into a +republic. The Duc d'Orleans, whose long residence in England had allowed +him to reflect at a distance from the attractions of events and +factions, felt his Bourbon blood rise within him. He did not cease to be +a patriot, but he understood that the safety of the country on the brink +of a war was not in the destruction of the executive power. +Unquestionably pity for the king and queen awakened in a heart in which +hatred had not stifled every generous feeling. He felt himself too much +avenged by the days of 5th and 6th October, by the humiliation of the +king before the Assembly, by the daily insults of the populace under the +windows of Marie Antoinette, and by the fearful nights of this family, +whose palace was but a prison; and perhaps also he feared for himself +the ingratitude of revolutions. + +He had gone to England on compulsion, and had remained there under the +idea, which was perfectly just, that his name might be used as a pretext +for agitation in Paris. Laclos had gone to him in London from time to +time to try again to tempt the exile's ambition, and make him ashamed of +a deference for La Fayette, which France took to be cowardice. The +prince's pride was roused at this, and he threatened to return; but the +representations of M. de la Luzerne, minister of France in England, +those of M. de Boinville, one of La Fayette's aides-de-camp, and his own +reflections, had prevailed over the incitements of Laclos. Proof of this +is found in a note of M. de la Luzerne's, found in an iron chest amongst +the king's secret papers. "I attest," says M. de la Luzerne, "that I +have presented to M. the Duc d'Orleans, M. de Boinville, aide-de-camp of +M. de La Fayette, that M. de Boinville declared to the Duc d'Orleans +that they were very uneasy as to the troubles which might at this moment +be excited in Paris by malcontents, who would not scruple to make use of +his name to disturb the capital, and perhaps the kingdom; and he was +urged on these grounds to protract the time of his departure. The Duc +d'Orleans, unwilling in any way to afford plea or pretext for any +disturbance of public tranquillity, consented to delay his return." + + +X. + +He at last left England, and on his return made several fruitless +attempts to be again employed in the navy. Whilst his mind was thus +wavering, he received the intelligence, through M. Bertrand de +Molleville, that the king had nominated him to the rank of admiral. The +Duc d'Orleans went to thank the minister, and added that, "He was +rejoiced at the honour the king conferred on him, as it would give him +an opportunity of communicating to the king his real sentiments, which +had been odiously calumniated. I am very unfortunate," continued he; "my +name has been involved in all the crimes imputed to me, and I have been +deemed guilty, because I disdained to justify myself; but time will show +whether my conduct belies my words." + +The air of frankness and good faith, and the significant tone with which +the Duc d'Orleans uttered these words, struck the minister, who until +then had been greatly prejudiced against his innocence. He inquired if +his royal highness would consent to repeat these expressions to the +king, as they would rejoice his majesty, and he feared that they might +lose some of their force if repeated by himself. The duke eagerly +embraced the idea of seeing the king, if the king would receive him, and +expressed his intention of presenting himself at the chateau the next +day. The king, informed of this by his minister, awaited the prince, and +had a long and private conference with him. + +A confidential document, written with the prince's own hand, and drawn +up in order to justify his memory in the eyes of his children and his +friends, informs us of what passed at this interview. "The +ultra-democrats," said the Duc d'Orleans, "deemed that I wished to make +France a republic; the ambitious, that I wished, by my popularity, to +force the king to resign the administration of the kingdom into my +hands; lastly, the virtuous and patriotic had the illusion of their own +virtue concerning me, for they deemed that I sacrificed myself entirely +to the public good. The one party deemed me worse than I was; the +others, better. I have merely followed my nature, and that impelled me, +above all, to liberty. I fancied I saw her image in the parliaments, +which at least possessed her tone and forms, and I embraced this phantom +of representative freedom. Thrice did I sacrifice myself for those +parliaments; twice from a conviction on my part; the third, not to belie +what I had previously done. I had been in England; I had there seen true +liberty, and I doubted not that the States-General, and France also, +wished to obtain freedom. Scarcely had I foreseen that France would +possess citizens, than I wished to be one of these citizens myself, and +I made unhesitatingly the sacrifice of all the rank and privileges that +separated me from the nation: they cost me nothing; I aspired to be a +deputy--I was one. I sided with the _tiers etat_, not from factious +feeling, but from justice. In my opinion, it was impossible to prevent +the completion of the Revolution, although some persons around the king +thought otherwise. The troops were assembled, and surrounded the +National Assembly. Paris imagined it was threatened, and rose _en +masse_; the Gardes Francaises, who lived amongst the people, followed +the stream, and the report was circulated that I had bribed this +regiment with my gold. I will frankly declare my opinion: if the Gardes +Francaises had acted differently, I should in that case have deemed they +had been bought over; for their hostility against the people of Paris +would have been unnatural. My bust was earned with that of M. Necker on +the 14th of July. Why? because this minister, on whom every public hope +reposed, was the idol of the nation, and because my name was amongst the +list of those deputies of the Assembly, who, it was said, were to have +been arrested by the troops summoned to Versailles. Amidst all these +events, so favourable to a factious man, what was my behaviour? I +withdrew from the eyes of the people: I did not flatter their excesses, +but retired to my house at Mousseaux, where I passed the night; and the +next morning I went, unattended, to the National Assembly at Versailles. +At the fortunate moment when the king resolved to cast himself into the +arms of the Assembly, I refused to form one of the deputation of members +despatched to Paris to announce these tidings to the capital, for I +feared lest some of the homages which the city owed to the king alone +might be paid to me. And such was again my conduct on the days of +October; I again absented myself, not to add fresh fuel to the +excitement of the people; and I only reappeared when calm again +prevailed. I was met at Sevres by the bands of straggling assassins, who +bore back the bleeding heads of the king's guards: these men stopped my +carriage, and fired on the postilion. Thus I, who was the pretended +leader of these men, narrowly escaped being their victim, and owed my +safety to a body of the national guard, who escorted me to Versailles; +and as I went to wait on the king I repressed the last murmurs of the +people in the Cour des Ministres I signed the decree which declared the +Assembly inseparable from the person of the king. It was at this time +that M. de La Fayette called on me, and informed me of the king's desire +that I should quit Paris, in order to afford no pretext for popular +tumult. Convinced now, that the Revolution was accomplished, and only +fearing the troubles with which attempts might be made to fetter its +onward progress, I unhesitatingly obeyed, only demanding the consent of +the National Assembly to my departure; this they granted, and I left +Paris. The inhabitants of Boulogne, who had been worked upon by an +intrigue which may be laid to my charge, but to which I was a stranger, +since I would not yield to it, wished forcibly to detain me, and opposed +my embarkation. I confess I was much touched, but I did not yield to +this violent manifestation of public favour, and I myself persuaded them +to return to their allegiance. Advantage has been taken of this voyage +and my absence to impute to me, without refutation on my part, the most +odious crimes. It was I who wished to force the king to fly with the +Dauphin from Versailles,--but Versailles is not France; the king would +have found his army and the nation when once he left this town, and the +only result of my ambition would be civil war, and, a military +dictatorship given to the king. But the Count de Provence was alive; he +was the natural heir to the throne thus abandoned. He was popular; he +had, like myself, joined the commons,--thus I should only have laboured +for him. But the Count d'Artois was in safety in another country, his +children were secure from my pretended murders, they were nearer the +throne than myself. What a series of follies, absurdities, or useless +crimes! The French nation, amidst the Revolution, have neither changed +their character nor their sentiments. I fully believe that the Count +d'Artois, whom I have myself loved, will prove this. I believe that by +drawing nearer to a monarch whom he loves, and by whom he is loved, and +to a people to whose love his brilliant qualities give him so great a +right, he will, when these troubles have ceased, enjoy this portion of +his inheritance, the love which the most sensible and affectionate of +nations has vowed to the descendants of HENRI IV." + + +XI. + +These excuses, mingled doubtless with expressions of repentance and +tears, and heightened by those attitudes and gestures, more eloquent +than words, that add so much pathos to solemn explanations, convinced +the heart if not the mind of the king; and he forgave--he excused, and +he trusted. "I am of your opinion," said he to his minister, yet a prey +to the emotion of this scene, "that the Duc d'Orleans really regrets his +past errors, and that he will do all in his power to repair the evil he +has done, and in which perhaps he has not had so great a share as we +believed." + +The prince left the king's apartments reconciled with himself, and more +than ever resolved to withdraw himself from the factious party. It had +cost him but little to sacrifice his ambition, for he had none; and his +popularity of her own accord had quitted him for other men of inferior +rank and station than his own, and he could only hope to find security +and an honourable refuge at the foot of the throne, to which he was +alike guided by inclination and duty. Louis XVI. as a man had far more +influence over him than as a king, but the adulation and resentment of +the court ruined all. + +The Sunday following this reconciliation, the Duc d'Orleans presented +himself at the Tuileries to pay his respects to the king and queen. It +was the day and hour of the _grandes receptions_, and crowds of +courtiers thronged the courts, the staircases, the corridors, some +hoping that fortune might yet be propitious; others, come from the +provinces to the court of their unfortunate master, drawn thither by the +double tie of misfortune and fidelity. At the sight of the Duc +d'Orleans, whose reconciliation with the king had not as yet transpired, +astonishment and horror appeared on every face, and an indignant murmur +followed the announcement of his name. The crowd opened and shrank from +him, as though his touch was odious to them. In vain did he seek one +glance of respect or welcome amongst all these gloomy visages. As be +approached the king's chamber, the courtiers and guards barred his +entrance by turning their backs, and crowding together as if by +accident, repulsed him: he entered the apartments of the queen, where +the royal family's dinner was prepared. "Look to the dishes," cried +voices, as though some public and well-known poisoner had been seen to +enter. The indignant prince turned alternately pale and red, and +imagined that these insults were offered him, at the instigation of the +queen, and the order of the king. As he descended the stairs to quit the +palace, fresh cries and outrages followed him; some even spat on his +coat and head. A poignard stab would have been far less painful to bear +than these withering marks of hatred and contempt. He had entered the +palace appeased, he quitted it implacable; he felt that his only refuge +against the court was in the last ranks of democracy, and he enrolled +himself resolutely in them to find safety or vengeance. + +The king and queen, who were soon informed of these insults, of which, +however, they were utterly innocent, took no steps to make any +reparation for them; possibly they were secretly flattered by the wrath +of their adherents, and the humiliation of their enemy. The queen was +too prodigal of her favour, and too hasty in her displeasure; the king +did not want kindness, but grace; one word, such as Henri IV. knew so +well how to employ, would have punished these insulters, and have +brought the prince to his feet, yet he knew not how to say it; +resentment brooded over her wrongs in silence, and destiny took its +course. + + +XII. + +The Duc d'Orleans severed himself on that day from the Girondists, to +whom he was alone held by Petion and Brissot, and passed over to the +side of the Jacobins; he opened his palace to Danton and Barrere, and no +longer followed any but the extreme party, which he adopted without +hesitation in silence, even to the republic, to regicide, to death. + + +XIII. + +However, the alarm with which the preparations of the emperor inspired +the people, and the mischief excited by the speeches of the Girondists +against the court and the ministers, agitated the capital more and more +every day. At each fresh communication from M. de Lessart, minister of +foreign affairs, the party of the Gironde raised a fresh cry of war and +treason. Fauchet denounced the minister. Brissot exclaimed, "The mask +has fallen,--our enemy is now known,--it is the emperor. The princes, +who hold possessions in Alsace, whose cause he affects to espouse, are +but the pretexts of his hate; and the _emigres_ themselves are but his +instruments. Let us despise these _emigres_: it is the duty of the high +national court to execute justice on these mendicant princes. The +electors of the empire are not worthy of your anger; fear causes them +beforehand to prostrate themselves at your feet--a free people does not +crush a fallen foe: strike at the head--this head is the emperor." + +He communicated his own ardour to the Assembly; but Brissot, although a +skilful politician, and the able counsellor of his party, did not +possess that sonorous oratory that elevates an opinion to the level of +the voice of a nation. Vergniaud alone was gifted with a soul, in which +was combined all the passion and eloquence of a party: by meditating on +the annals of the past, he elevated his mind to scenes that passed then +analogous to those in which he was an actor, and communicated an +importance and solemnity to every word. "Our revolution," said he at the +same sitting, "has spread alarm amongst every throne, for it has given +an example of the destruction of the despotism that sustains them. Kings +hate our constitution because it renders men free, and because they +would reign over slaves. This hate has been manifested on the part of +the emperor by all the measures he has adopted, to disturb us or to +strengthen our enemies, and encourage those Frenchmen who have rebelled +against the laws of their country. We must not believe that this hate +has ceased to exist, but it must cease to work. The genius of Liberty +watches over our frontiers, which are less defended by our troops and +our national guards than by the enthusiasm of freedom. Liberty, since +its birth, has been the object of a shameful and secret war, waged +against it even in its very cradle. What is this war? Three armies of +reptiles and venomous insects breed and creep in your own breast: one is +composed of paid libellists and hired calumniators, who strive to arm +the two powers against each other by inspiring them with mutual +distrust; the other army, equally dangerous, is composed of seditious +priests, who feel that their God is forsaking them, and that their power +is crumbling away with their _prestige_, and who, to retain their +empire, term vengeance religion, and crime virtue. The third is composed +of greedy speculators and financiers, who can grow rich only on our +ruin: national prosperity would be destruction to their egotistical +speculations; and our death would be their life. They are like those +beasts of prey, who wait the issue of the battle that they may batten +and feast on the corpses of the slain. (Loud applause.) + +"They know that the expenses of your preparations for defence are +numerous; and they reckon upon the failure of the credit of the +treasury, and the scarcity of specie; they reckon upon the weariness of +those citizens who have abandoned their wives, their babes, to hasten to +the frontiers, and who will abandon them, whilst millions, distributed +at home, will arouse insurrections, in which the people, armed by +madness, will themselves destroy their rights, whilst they imagine they +are defending them; then the emperor will advance at the head of a +powerful army to rivet your fetters. Such is the war that they make on +you, and that they seek to make. (Loud applause.) + +"The people has sworn to maintain the constitution, because in that lies +its honour and its liberty; but if you suffer it to remain in a state of +troubled immobility, that weakens its force and exhausts all our +resources, will not the day of this exhaustion be the last of the +constitution? The state in which we are kept is one of annihilation that +may lead us to disgrace or to death. (Applause.) To arms, citizens! to +arms, freemen! defend your liberty! assure the hope of that liberty to +the whole human race, or you will not deserve even pity in your +misfortunes. (Applause.) We have no other allies than the eternal +justice, whose rights we defend: but is it forbidden us to seek others, +and to interest those powers who, like ourselves are threatened by the +rupture of the equilibrium in Europe? No, doubtless, let us declare to +the emperor, that from this moment all treaties are broken. (Vehement +applause.) The emperor has himself violated them; and if he does not +attack us, it is because he is not yet prepared; but he is unmasked; +felicitate yourselves upon this. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon you, +show them what is really the National Assembly of France. If you display +the dignity that befits the representatives of a great nation, you will +gain esteem, applause, and assistance. If you evince weakness, if you do +not avail yourselves of the occasion offered you by Providence, of +freeing yourselves from a situation that fetters you, dread the +degradation that is prepared for you by the hatred of Europe, of France, +of your own time and of posterity. (Applause.) Do more; demand that your +flag be respected beyond the Rhine; demand that the _emigres_ be +dispersed. I might demand that they be given up to the country they +insult, and to punishment. But no. If they have been greedy for our +blood, let us not show ourselves greedy for theirs; their crime is +having wished to destroy their country; let them be vagrants and +wanderers on the face of the earth, and let their punishment be never to +find a country. (Applause.) If the emperor delays to answer your +demands, let all delay be deemed a refusal, and every refusal on his +part to explain, a declaration of war. Attack whilst you yet may. If, in +the Saxon wars, Frederic had temporised, the king of Prussia would at +this moment be marquis of Brandenbourg, instead of disputing with +Austria the balance of power in Germany which has escaped from your +grasp. + +"Up to this period you have only adopted half measures and I may well +apply to you the language which Demosthenes addressed to the Athenians, +under similar circumstances: 'You act towards the Macedonians,' said he, +'like the barbarians, who combat in our games, towards their +adversaries; when they are struck on the arm they raise their hand to +their arm; if struck on the head, they raise their hand to their head; +they never dream of defending themselves when they are wounded, nor of +parrying the blows dealt them. Does Philip take up arms, you do the +same; does he lay them down, you also lay down yours. If he attack one +of your allies, you immediately despatch a numerous army to the +assistance of your ally. If he attack a city, you despatch a numerous +army to the relief of the city. Does he again lay down his arms, you do +the same, without thinking of any means of forestalling his ambition; +and placing yourself beyond the reach of his attacks. Thus you are at +the orders of your enemy, and he it is who commands your army.' + +"And I, I tell you the same of the _emigres_. Do you hear that they are +at Coblentz,--the citizens hasten to combat them; are they assembled on +the banks of the Rhine,--two _corps d'armee_ are despatched thither; do +foreign powers afford them shelter,--you propose to attack them; do you +learn, on the contrary, that they have withdrawn to the north of +Germany,--you lay down your arms; do they again offend you,--your +indignation is again aroused; do they make you specious promises,--you +are again appeased. Thus, it is the _emigres_ and the cabinets that +support them--who are your leaders, and who dispose of your counsels, +your treasures, and your armies. (Applause.) It is for you to consider +whether this humiliating part be worthy of a great nation. A thought +flashes across my mind, and with that I will terminate. It appears to +me, that the manes of past generations arise, to conjure you, in the +name of all the evils that slavery has inflicted on them, to preserve +from it future generations, whose destinies are in your hands; fulfil +this prayer, and be for the future a second providence. Associate +yourself with the eternal justice that protects the people. By meriting +the title of benefactors of your country, you will also merit that of +benefactors of the human race." + +Loud and prolonged applause succeeded the different emotions that had +been excited by this speech in every heart; for Vergniaud, following the +example of the ancient orators, instead of suffering his eloquence to +grow cold in political combinations, heated it at the flame of his +daring genius. The people comprehends only that which it feels; its sole +orators are those who excite it, and emotion is the conviction of the +populace. Vergniaud felt this, and knew how to communicate it. The +knowledge that they laboured for universal good, and the prospect of the +gratitude of future ages shed a halo--a noble pride around France, and +of sanctity around liberty. It was one of the characteristics of this +orator, that he almost invariably elevated the Revolution to the dignity +of an apostleship, that he extended his humanity to all mankind, and +that he only impassioned and worked upon the people by his virtues; such +words produced an effect over all the empire, against which neither the +king nor his ministers could strive. + + +XIV. + +Moreover, as has been shown, Vergniaud and his party had friends in the +council. M. de Narbonne and the Girondists met and concerted their plans +at Madame de Staeel's, whose _salon_, in which some warlike measure was +always being discussed, was called the camp of the Revolution: the Abbe +Fauchet, the denouncer of M. de Lessart, here imbibed fresh ardour for +the overthrow of this minister. M. de Lessart, by weakening as much as +possible the threats of the court of Vienna and the anger of the +Assembly, sought to gain time for better and wiser resolutions. His +loyal attachment to Louis XVI., and his wise and prudent foresight, +showed him that war would not restore, but shake the throne; and in this +shock of Europe and France, the king would inevitably be crushed. The +attachment of M. de Lessart to his master supplied the place of genius; +he was the only obstacle in the path of the three parties who wished for +war; it was necessary, at all risks, to remove him. He might have +shielded himself by withdrawing from the contest, or by yielding to the +impatience of the Assembly. But, though fully aware of the terrible +responsibility that rested on him, and that this responsibility was +death, he braved all, to afford the king a few days more for +negotiation.--These days were numbered. + + + + +BOOK XII. + + +I. + +Leopold, a pacific and philosophic prince, who had he not been an +emperor, would have been a revolutionist, had sought by every means in +his power to adjourn the concussion between the two principles; he only +demanded from France such concessions as would enable him to repress the +ardour of Prussia, Germany, and Russia. The prince de Kaunitz, his +minister, continually wrote to M. de Lessart in this strain; and the +private communications which the king received from his ambassador at +the court of Vienna, the Marquis de Noailles, breathed the same spirit +of conciliation. Leopold only desired that guarantees should be given to +the monarchical powers for the establishment of order in France, and +that the constitution should be vigorously enforced by the executive +power. But the last sittings of the Assembly, the armaments of M. de +Narbonne, the accusations of Brissot, the fiery speeches of Vergniaud, +and the applause he had gained, began to weary his patience; and the +desire for war, so long repressed, now, in spite of himself, took +possession of him. "The French wish for war," said he one day; "they +shall have it--they shall see that the peaceful Leopold can be warlike +when the interest of his people demands it." + +The cabinet councils at Vienna became more frequent, in presence of the +emperor. Russia had just concluded peace with the Ottoman empire, and +was thus enabled to turn her eyes to France; Sweden fanned the flame of +all the princes; Prussia yielded to the advice of Leopold; England +observed, but pledged herself to nothing, for the struggle on the +Continent would increase her importance. The armaments were decided +upon, and on the 7th of February, 1792, the definitive treaty of +alliance between Austria and Prussia was signed at Berlin. "Now," wrote +Leopold to Frederic William, "it is France who menaces--who arms--who +provokes: Europe must arm." + +The party in favour of war in Germany triumphed. "It is very fortunate +for you," said the elector of Mayence to the Marquis de Bouille, "that +the French were the aggressors; but for that we should never have had a +war." War was resolved upon in the councils, yet Leopold still hoped. In +an official note, which the prince de Kaunitz transmitted to the Marquis +de Noailles, for the king, Leopold yet showed himself willing to be +reconciled. M. de Lessart replied confidentially to these last +overtures, in a despatch which he had the honesty to communicate to the +diplomatic committee of the Assembly, composed of Girondists. In this +reply the minister palliated the charges made against the Assembly by +the emperor, and seemed rather to excuse France than justify. He +acknowledged that there were some disturbances in the kingdom, some +excesses in the clubs, some licence in the press; but he attributed +these disorders to the excitement produced by the movements of the +_emigres_, and the inexperience of a people who essay their constitution +and wound themselves with it. + +"Indifference and contempt," said he, "are the fittest weapons with +which to combat this pest. Could Europe stoop so low, as to quarrel with +the French nation, because some few demagogues and madmen dwell amongst +them, and would honour them so far as to reply to them by cannon balls?" + +In a despatch of the prince de Kaunitz, addressed to all the European +cabinets, was this phrase,--"Latest events give us cause to hope, for it +is evident that the majority of the French nation, struck by the evils +they are preparing for themselves, are returning to more moderate +principles, and are inclined to restore to the throne the dignity and +authority which form the bases of monarchical government." The Assembly +remained silent from suspicion, and this suspicion was awakened whilst +diplomatic notes and counter notes were exchanged between the cabinet of +the Tuileries and the cabinet of Vienna. But no sooner had M. de Lessart +descended from the tribune, and the Assembly closed the sitting, than +the murmurs of mistrust were changed into loud and sullen exclamations +of indignation. + + +II. + +The Jacobins burst out into threats against the perfidious minister and +the court, who united in a treasonable combination, called the Austrian +Committee, concerted counter-revolutionary plans in the Tuileries, made +signals to the enemies of the nation from the very foot of the throne, +and secretly communicated with the court of Vienna, and dictated the +language necessary to intimidate France. The Memoirs of Hardenberg, the +Prussian minister, which have since been published, prove that these +accusations were not entirely the dreams of the demagogues; and that in +order to promote peace the two courts did all in their power to adopt +the same tone with each other. It was resolved that M. de Lessart should +be impeached, and Brissot, the leader of the diplomatic committee, the +advocate of war, undertook to prove his pretended crimes. + +The constitutional party abandoned M. de Lessart, without any defence, +to the hatred of the Jacobins; this party had no suspicions, but +vengeance to wreak upon M. de Lessart. The king had suddenly dismissed +M. de Narbonne, the rival of this minister in the council. M. de +Narbonne, feeling himself menaced, caused La Fayette to write a letter, +in which he conjured him to remain at his post so long as the perils of +his country rendered it necessary. + +This step, of which M. de Narbonne was cognisant, appeared to the king +an insolent act of oppression against his liberty and that of the +constitution. The popularity of M. de Narbonne diminished +proportionately as that of the Girondists became greater and inspired +them with more audacity. The Assembly began to change its applause into +murmurs when he mounted the tribune, whence a short time before he had +been shamefully forced to withdraw, because he had wounded the plebeian +susceptibility by appealing to the _most distinguished_ members of the +Assembly. The aristocracy of his rank showed itself beneath his uniform, +whilst the people wished for members of its own stamp in the councils; +and thus between the offended king and the suspicious Girondists, M. de +Narbonne fell. The king dismissed him, and he went to serve in the army +he had organised. His friends did not conceal their resentment. Madame +de Staeel lost in him her ambition and her ideal at the same time; but +she did not abandon all hope of regaining for M. de Narbonne the +confidence of the king, and of seeing him play a great political part. +She had sought to render him a Mirabeau, she now dreamed of making him a +Monk. From this day she conceived the idea of rescuing the king from the +power of the Jacobins and Girondists--of carrying him off through the +agency of M. de Narbonne and the constitutionalists--of re-seating him +on the throne--of crushing the extreme parties, and establishing her +ideal government--a liberal aristocracy. A woman of genius, her genius +had the prejudices of her birth; a plebeian, who had found her way to +court, it was necessary for her to have patricians between the throne +and the people. The first blow at M. de Lessart was dealt by a man who +frequented the _salon_ of Madame de Staeel. + + +III. + +But a more terrible and more unexpected blow fell on M. de Lessart: the +very day on which he thus surrendered himself to his enemies, the +unexpected death of the emperor Leopold was known at Paris, and with +this prince expired the last faint hope of peace, for his wisdom died +with him; and who could tell what new policy would arise from his tomb? +The agitation that prevailed filled every one with terror, and this was +soon changed into hatred against the unfortunate minister of Louis XVI. +He had neither known, it was said, how to profit by the pacific +disposition of Leopold whilst this prince yet lived, nor to forestall +the hostile designs of those who succeeded him in the dominion of +Germany. Every thing furnished fresh accusation against him, even +fatality and death. + +At the moment of his decease all was ready for hostility. Two hundred +thousand men formed a line from Bale to the Scheldt. The duke of +Brunswick, on whom rested every hope of the coalition, was at Berlin, +giving his last advice to the king of Prussia, and receiving his final +orders. Beschoffwerder, the general and confidant of the king of +Prussia, arrived at Vienna to concert with the emperor the point and +time of attack. On his arrival the prince de Kaunitz hastily informed +him of the sudden illness of the emperor. The 27th Leopold was in +perfect health, and received the Turkish envoy; on the 28th he was in +the agonies of death. His stomach swelled, and convulsive vomitings put +him to intense torture. The doctors, alarmed at these symptoms, ordered +copious bleeding, which appeared to allay his sufferings; but they +enervated the vital force of the prince, who had weakened himself by +debauchery. He fell asleep for a short time, and the doctors and +ministers withdrew; but he soon awoke in fresh convulsions, and died in +the presence of a valet de chambre, named Brunetti, in the arms of the +empress, who had just arrived. + +The intelligence of the death of the emperor, the more terrible as it +was so unexpected, spread abroad instantly, and surprised Germany at +the very moment of a crisis. Terror for the future destiny of Germany +was joined to pity for the empress and her children: the palace was all +confusion and despair; the ministers felt power snatched from their +grasp; the grandees of the court, without waiting for their carriages, +hurried to the court, in the disorder of astonishment, and grief and +sobs were heard in the vestibules and staircases that led to the +apartments of the empress. At this moment, this princess, without having +time to assume black, appeared, bathed in tears, surrounded by her +numerous children, and leading them to the new king of the Romans, the +eldest son of Leopold, she threw herself at his feet, and implored his +protection for these orphans. Francis I., mingling his tears with those +of his mother and brothers, one of whom was only four years old, raised +the empress, and embracing the children, vowed to be a second father to +them. + + +IV. + +This catastrophe was inexplicable to scientific men; politicians +suspected some mystery; the people poison. These reports of poison, +however, have neither been confirmed nor disproved by time. The most +probable opinion is that this prince had made an immoderate use of drugs +which he compounded himself, in order to recruit his constitution, +shattered by debauchery and excess. Lagusius, his chief physician, who +had assisted at the autopsy of the body, declared he discovered traces +of poison. Who had administered it? The Jacobins and _emigres_ mutually +accused each other, the one party to disembarrass themselves of the +armed chief of the empire, and thus spread anarchy amongst the +federation of Germany, of which the emperor was the bond that united +them; the others had slain in Leopold the philosopher prince, who +temporised with France, and who retarded the war. A female was spoken of +who had attracted the notice of the emperor at the last _bal masque_ at +the court, and it was said that this stranger, favoured by her disguise, +had given him poisoned sweetmeats, without its being possible to +discover from whose hand they came. Others accused the beautiful +Florentine, Donna Livia, his mistress, who, according to them, was the +fanatical instrument of a few priests. These anecdotes are the mere +chimeras of surprise and sorrow, for the people can never believe that +the events which have had so vast an influence over their destiny are +merely natural. But crimes, universally approved, are rare; opinion may +desire, but never commits them. Crime, like ambition or vengeance, is +personal: there was neither ambition nor vengeance around +Leopold,--nought but a few female jealousies; and his attachments were +too numerous and too fugitive to kindle in the heart of a mistress that +love that arms the hand with poison or poignard. He loved at the same +time Donna Livia, whom he had brought with him from Tuscany, and who was +known in Europe as "La belle Florentine," Prokache, a young Polish girl, +the charming countess of Walkenstein, and others of an inferior rank. +The countess of Walkenstein had for some time past been his avowed +mistress; he had given her a million (francs) in drafts on the bank of +Vienna, and he had even presented her to the empress, who forgave him +his weaknesses, on condition that he gave no one his political +confidence, which up to that time he had confided to her alone. He was a +devoted admirer of the fair sex, and it would be necessary to refer to +the most shameful epochs of Roman history to find any emperor whose life +was as scandalous as his own; his cabinet was found after his death to +be filled with valuable stuffs, rings, fans, trinkets, and even a +quantity of rouge. These traces of debauch made the empress blush when +she visited them with the new emperor. "My son," said she, "you have +before you the sad proof of your father's disorderly life, and of my +long afflictions: remember nothing of them except my forgiveness and his +virtues. Imitate his great qualities, but beware lest you fall into the +same vices, in order that you may not, in your turn, put to the blush +those who scrutinise your life." + +The prince in Leopold was superior to the man: he had made trial of a +philosophical government in Tuscany, and this happy country yet blesses +his memory; but his genius was not suited for a more enlarged field. The +struggle, forced on him by the French Revolution, compelled him to seize +on the helm in Germany; but he did so without energy. He opposed the +temporising policy of diplomacy to the contagion of new ideas; he was +the Fabius of kings. To afford the Revolution time was to ensure it the +victory. It could be only vanquished by surprise, and stifled in its own +stronghold; the genius of the people was its negotiator and accomplice, +and its increasing popularity was its army. Its ideas found new +adherents in princes, people, and cabinets. Leopold would have given it +a share, but the share of the Revolution is the conquest of every thing +that opposes its principles. The principles of Leopold could conciliate +the Revolution, but his power as the arbitrator of Germany could not +conciliate the conquering power of France. His part was a double one, +and his position false. He died at a right moment for his renown; he +paralysed Germany, and checked the impetus of France, and, by +disappearing between the two, he left the two principles to clash +together, and destiny to take its course. + + +V. + +Opinion, already agitated by the death of Leopold, received another +shock from the news of the tragical death of the king of Sweden, who was +assassinated on the night of the 16th of March, 1792, at a masked ball. +Death seemed to strike, one after another, all the enemies of France. +The Jacobins saw its hand in all these catastrophes, and even boasted of +them through their most audacious demagogues; but they proclaimed more +crimes than they committed, and their wishes alone shared in these +assassinations. + +Gustavus, this hero of the counter-revolution, this chevalier of +aristocracy, fell by the blows of his nobility. When he was ready to set +forth on the expedition he projected against France, he had assembled +his diet to ensure the tranquillity of the kingdom during his absence. +His vigorous measures had put down the malcontents; yet it was foretold +to him, like Caesar, that the ides of March would be a critical period of +his destiny. A thousand traces revealed a plot, and his intended +assassination was rumoured over all Germany before the blow was struck. +These rumours are the forerunners of projected crimes: some indication +escapes the heart of the conspirator, and it is by this means that the +event is predicted before it happens. + +The king of Sweden, warned by his numerous friends, who entreated him to +be upon his guard, replied, like Caesar, that the stroke when once +received was less painful than the perpetual dread of receiving it, and +that if he listened to all these warnings, he could no longer drink a +glass of water without trembling. He braved danger, and showed himself +more than ever to the people. The conspirators had made several +fruitless attempts during the Diet, but chance had preserved the king. +Since his return to Stockholm, the king frequently went to pass the day +alone at his chateau at Haga, a league from the capital. Three of the +conspirators had approached the chateau, at five o'clock on a dark +winter's evening, armed with carbines, and ready to fire on the king. +The apartment he occupied was on the ground floor, and the lighted +candles in the library enabled them to see their victim. Gustavus, on +his return from hunting, undressed, and fell asleep in an arm chair, +within a few feet of the assassins. Whether it was that they were +alarmed by the sound of footsteps, or that the solemn contrast of the +peaceful slumber of this prince with the death that threatened him, +softened their hearts, they again abandoned their project, and only +revealed this circumstance on their trial after the assassination, when +the king acknowledged the truth and precision of their details. They +were ready to renounce their intention, discouraged by a sort of divine +intervention, and by the fatigue of having so long meditated this design +in vain, when a fatal occasion tempted them too strongly, and made them +resolve on the murder of the king. + + +VI. + +A masked ball was given at the opera, which the king was to attend, and +the conspirators resolved to take advantage of the mystery of the +disguise and tumult of the fete to strike the blow, without allowing the +hand to appear. A short time before the ball the king supped with a few +of his most intimate courtiers. A letter was brought to him, which he +opened, and reading it jestingly, then threw it on the table. The +anonymous writer informed him that he was neither a friend to his person +nor an approver of his policy, but that as a loyal enemy he desired to +inform him of the death that menaced him. He counselled him not to go +to the ball; or, if he persisted, he advised him to mistrust the crowd +that might press around him, for that was the signal for the blow to be +aimed at him. That the king might not doubt the warning thus given, he +recalled to his memory his dress, gesture, his sleep in his apartment of +Haga in the evening that he had believed himself quite alone. Such +convincing proofs must have struck and intimidated the mind of the +prince, but his intrepid soul made him brave, not only the warning, but +death: he rose and went to the ball. + + +VII. + +Scarcely had he reached the apartment, when he was surrounded, as he had +been warned, by a group of masks, and separated, as if by preconcerted +movement, from the body of officers who were in attendance. At this +moment an invisible hand fired at his back a pistol loaded with slugs. +The blow struck him in the left flank above the hip. Gustavus fell into +the arms of Count d'Armsfeld, his favourite. The report of the fire arm, +the smell of powder, the cries of "_fire_," which resounded through the +apartment, the confusion which followed the king's fall, the real or +feigned anxiety of persons who hurried forward to save him, favoured the +escape of the assassins: the pistol had been dropped on the ground. +Gustavus did not lose his presence of mind for a moment. He ordered the +doors to be immediately closed, and desired all to unmask. Carried by +his guards into an apartment in the opera-house, he was confided to his +surgeons. He admitted some of the foreign ministers into his presence, +and spoke to them with all the calmness of a strong mind. Even his pain +did not inspire him with any feeling of vengeance. Generous even in +death, he demanded anxiously if the assassin had been apprehended. He +was told that he was unknown. "Oh God, grant," he said, "that he may not +be discovered." + +Whilst the king was receiving the first attentions, and being conveyed +to the palace, the guards stationed at the doors of the ball-room +compelled all to take off their masks, asked their names, and searched +their persons: nothing suspicious was discovered. Four of the chief +conspirators, men of the highest nobility in Stockholm, had succeeded +in escaping from the apartment in the first confusion produced by the +report of the pistol, and before the doors had been closed. Of nine +confidants or accomplices in the crime, eight had already gone away +without exciting any suspicion: only one was left in the apartment, who +affected a slow step and calm demeanour as guarantees of his innocence. + +He left the apartment last of all, raising his mask before the officer +of police, and saying, as he looked steadfastly at him, "As for me, sir, +I hope you do not suspect me." This man was the assassin. + +They allowed him to pass; the crime had no other evidence than itself, a +pistol, and a knife, sharpened as a poignard, found beneath the masks +and flowers on the floor of the opera. The weapon revealed the hand. A +gunsmith at Stockholm identified the pistol, and declared he had +recently sold it to a Swedish gentleman, formerly an officer in the +guards, named Ankastroem. They found Ankastroem at his house, neither +thinking of exculpation nor of flight. He confessed the weapon and the +crime. An unjust judgment, he averred, in which however the king spared +his life, the wearisomeness of an existence which he had cherished to +employ and make illustrious at its close for his country's advantage, +the hope, if he succeeded, of a national recompence worthy of the deed, +had, he declared, inspired this project; and he claimed to himself alone +the glory or disgrace. He denied all plot and all accomplices. Beneath +the fanatic he masked the conspirator. + +He failed in his part, after a few days, beneath the truth and his +remorse. He avowed the conspiracy, named the guilty, and the reward of +his crime. It was a sum of money, that had been weighed, rix-dollar by +rix-dollar, against the blood of Gustavus. The plot, planned six months +before, had been thrice frustrated, by chance or destiny--at the diet of +Jessen, at Stockholm, and at Haga. The king killed, all his +favourites--all the instruments of his government--must be sacrificed to +the vengeance of the senate and the restoration of the aristocracy. +Their heads were to have been carried at the tops of pikes, in the +streets of the capital, in imitation of the popular punishments of +Paris. The duke of Sudermania, the king's brother, was to be +sacrificed. The young monarch, handed over to the conspirators, was to +serve as a passive instrument to re-establish the ancient constitution, +and legitimate their crime. The principal conspirators belonged to the +first families in Sweden; the shame of their lost power had debased +their ambition, even to crime. They were the Count de Bibbing, Count de +Horn, Baron d'Erensward, and Colonel Lilienhorn. Lilienhorn, commandant +of the guards, drawn from misery and obscurity by the king's favour, +promoted to the first rank in the army, and admitted to closest intimacy +in the palace, confessed his ingratitude and his crime; seduced, he +declared, by the ambition of commanding, during the trouble, the +national guard of Stockholm. The part played by La Fayette in Paris +seemed to him the ideal of the citizen and the soldier. He could not +resist the fascination of the perspective; half-way in the conspiracy, +he had endeavoured to render it impossible, even whilst he meditated it. +It was he who had written the anonymous letter to the king, in which the +king was warned of the failure in the attempt at Haga, and that which +threatened him at this fete; with one hand he thrust forward the +assassin--with the other he held back the victim, as though he had thus +prepared for himself an excuse for his remorse after the deed was done. + +On the fatal day he had passed the evening in the king's apartments--had +seen him read the letter--had followed him to the ball. Enigma of +crime--a pitying assassin! the mind thus divided between the thirst for, +and horror of, his benefactor's blood. + + +VIII. + +Gustavus died slowly: he saw death approach and recede with the same +indifference, or the same resignation; received his court, conversed +with his friends, even reconciled himself to the opponents of his +government, who did not conceal their opposition, but did not push their +aristocratic resentment to assassination. "I am consoled," he said, to +the Count de Brahe, one of the greatest of the nobility and chief of the +malcontents, "since death enables me to recover an old friend in you." + +He watched to the very last over his kingdom; nominated the Duke of +Sudermania regent, instituted a council of regency, made his friend +Armsfeld military governor of Stockholm, surrounded the young king, only +thirteen years of age, with all that could strengthen his position +during his minority. He prepared his passage from one world to another, +awaiting his death, so that it should be an event to himself alone. "My +son," he wrote, a few hours before he died, "will not come of age before +he is eighteen, but I hope he will be king at sixteen;" thus predicting +for his successor that precocity of courage and genius which had enabled +him to reign and govern before the time. He said to his grand almoner, +in confessing himself, "I do not think I shall take with me great merits +before God, but at least I shall have the consciousness of never having +willingly done harm to any person." Then, having requested a moment's +repose to acquire strength, in order to embrace his family for the last +time, he bid adieu, with a smile, to his friend Bergenstiern, and, +falling asleep, never waked again. + +The prince royal, proclaimed king, mounted the throne the same day. The +people, whom Gustavus had emancipated from the yoke of the senate, swore +spontaneously to defend his institutions in his son. He had so well +employed the day, which God had allowed him between assassination and +death, that nothing perished but himself, and his shade seemed to +continue to reign over Sweden. + +This prince had nothing great but his soul, nor handsome but his eyes. +Small in size, with broad shoulders, his haunches badly set on, his +forehead singularly shaped, long nose, large mouth, the grace and +animation of his countenance overcame every imperfection of figure, and +rendered Gustavus one of the most attractive men in his dominions; +intelligence, goodness, courage, beamed from his eyes, and pervaded his +features. You felt the man, admired the king, appreciated the hero. +There was heart in his genius, as there is in all really great men. Well +informed, deeply read, eloquent, he applied all his endowments to the +empire; those whom he had conquered by his courage, he vanquished by his +generosity, and charmed by his language. His faults were display and +pleasure; he liked the glory of those enjoyments and amours which are +found and pardoned in heroes; his vices were those of Alexander, Caesar, +and Henri IV. The revenge of a disgraceful amour had something to do +with the conspiracy which destroyed him; to resemble these great men, he +only wanted their destiny. + +When almost a child, he had rescued himself from the tutelage of the +aristocracy; in emancipating the throne, he had emancipated the people. +At the head of an army, recruited without money, and which he +disciplined by its enthusiasm, he conquered Finland, and went on from +victory to victory to St. Petersburgh. Checked in his greatness by a +revolt of his officers, surrounded in his tent by his guards, he had +escaped by flight, and had gone to the succour of another portion of his +kingdom, invaded by the Danes. Again a victor against these deadly +enemies of Sweden, the gratitude of the nation had restored to him his +repentant army; and his sole vengeance was in again leading them to +conquest. + +He had subdued all without, tranquillised all within, and had only one +ambition left--disinterested from every consideration but fame--to +avenge the forsaken cause of Louis XVI., and to secure from her +persecutors a queen whom he adored at a distance. This was the vision of +a hero; it had but one mistake--his genius was vaster than his empire. +Heroism with disproportioned means makes the great man resemble an +adventurer, and transforms gigantic designs into follies. But history +does not judge like fortune, and it is the heart rather than success +that makes the hero. The romantic and adventurous character of Gustavus +is still the greatness of a restless and struggling soul in the +pettiness of its destiny. His death excited a shriek of joy amongst the +Jacobins, who deified Ankastroem; but their burst of delight on learning +the end of Gustavus, proved how insincere was their affected contempt +for this enemy of the constitution. + + +IX. + +These two obstacles removed, nothing now kept France and Europe on terms +but the feeble cabinet of Louis XVI. The impatience of the nation, the +ambition of the Girondists, and the resentment of the constitutionalists +wounded through M. de Narbonne, united them to overthrow this cabinet. +Brissot, Vergniaud, Guadet, Condorcet, Gensonne, Petion, their friends +in the Assembly, the council-chamber of Madame Roland, their Seids +amongst the Jacobins balanced between two ambitions--equally open to +their abilities--to destroy power or seize on it. Brissot counselled +this latter measure. More conversant with politics than the young +orators of the Gironde, he did not comprehend the Revolution without +government; anarchy, in his opinion, did not destroy the monarchy more +than it did liberty. The greater were events, the more necessary was the +direction of them. Placed disarmed in the foremost rank of the Assembly +and of opinion, power presented itself, and it was necessary to lay +hands upon it. Once in their grasp, they would make of it, according to +the dictates of fortune and the will of the people, a monarchy or a +republic. Ready for any thing that would allow them to reign in the name +of the king or of the people, this counsel was pleasing to men who had +scarcely emerged from obscurity, and who, seduced by the facility of +their good fortune, seized on it at its first smile. Men who ascend +quickly, easily become giddy. + +Still a very profound line of policy was disclosed in the secret council +of the Girondists, in the choice of the men whom they put forward, and +whom they presented for ministers to the king. + +Brissot in this gave evidence of the patience of consummate ambition. He +inspired Vergniaud, Petion, Guadet, Gensonne, as well as all the leading +men of his party, with similar patience. He remained with them in the +twilight close to power, but not included in the projected ministry, +being desirous of feeling the pulse of popular opinion through secondary +men, who could be disavowed or sacrificed at need, and keeping in +reserve himself and the leaders of the Girondists, either to support or +overthrow this weak and transitory ministry, if the nation should +resolve upon more decisive measures. Brissot, and those who acted with +him, were thus ready at all points, as well to direct as to replace +power--they were masters without any responsibility. The doctrines of +Machiavel were very perceptible in this tactic of statesmen. Besides, by +abstaining from entering into the first cabinet, they would remain +popular, and maintain, in the Assembly and Jacobins, those voices of +power which would have been stifled in an administration. Popularity was +requisite for their contest with Robespierre, who was treading so +closely on their heels, and who would soon be at the head of opinion if +they abandoned it to him. On entering upon their course they affected +for this rival more contempt than they really felt. Robespierre, +single-handed, balanced their influence with the Jacobins. The +vociferations of Billaud, Varennes, Danton, Collot d'Herbois, did not in +the least alarm them. Robespierre's silence gave them considerable +uneasiness. They had been successful in the question of war; but the +stoical opposition of Robespierre, and the desire of the people for war, +had not affected his reputation. This man had redoubled his power in his +isolation. The inspiration of a mind alone and incorruptible was more +powerful than the enthusiasm of a whole party. Those who did not +approve, still admired him. He had stood aside to allow war to pass by +him, but opinion always had its eyes on him, and it might have been said +that a secret instinct revealed to the people that in this man was the +destiny of the future. When he advanced, they followed him; when he did +not move, they waited for him. The Girondists, therefore, were +compelled, from prudential motives, to distrust this man, and to remain +in the Assembly between their own course and him. These precautions +taken, they looked about them for the men who were nullities by +themselves, and yet, engrafted on their party, of whom they could make +ministers. They required instruments, and not masters,--Seids attached +to their fortune, whom they could direct at will either against the king +or against the Jacobins--could elevate without fear, or reject without +compunction. They sought them in obscurity, and believed they had found +them in Claviere, Roland, Dumouriez, Lacoste, and Duranton,--they made +only one mistake: Dumouriez, under the guise of an adventurer, had +talents equal to any emergency.[18] + + +X. + +The party thus distributed, and Madame Roland informed of the proposed +elevation of her husband, the Girondists attacked the ministry in the +person of M. de Lessart, at the sitting of the 10th of March. Brissot +read against this minister a bill of accusation, skilfully and +perfidiously fabricated, in which the appearance presented by facts and +the conjecture derived from proofs, cast on the negotiation of M. de +Lessart all the odium and criminality of treason. He proposed that a +decree of accusation should proceed against the minister for foreign +affairs. The Assembly was silent or applauded. Some members, with a view +of defending the minister, demanded time in order that the Assembly +might reflect on the charge, and thus, at least, affect the impartiality +of justice. "Hasten!" exclaimed Isnard; "whilst you are deliberating +perhaps the traitor will flee." "I have been a long time judge," replied +Boulanger, "and never did I decree capital punishment so lightly." +Vergniaud, who saw the indecision of the Assembly, rushed twice into the +tribune to combat the excuses and the delays of the right side. Becquet, +whose coolness was equal to his courage, desirous of averting the peril, +proposed that it should be sent to the diplomatic committee. Vergniaud +began to fear that the moment would escape his party, and said, "No, no +we do not require actual proofs for a criminal accusation--presumptive +proofs are sufficient. There is not one of us in whose minds the +cowardice and perfidy which characterises the acts of the minister have +not produced the most lively indignation. Is it not he who has for two +months kept in his portfolio the decree of the reunion of Avignon with +France? and the blood spilled in that city, the mutilated carcases of so +many victims, do they not cry to us for vengeance against him? I see +from this tribune the palace in which evil counsellors deceive the king +whom the constitution gives to us, forge the fetters which enchain us, +and plot the stratagems which are to deliver us to the house of Austria. +(Loud acclamations.) The day has arrived to put an end to such audacity +and insolence, and to crush such conspirators. Dread and terror have +frequently, in the ancient times, come forth from this palace in the +name of despotism: let them return thither to-day in the name of the law +(loud applauses); let them penetrate all hearts; let all those who +inhabit it know that the constitution promises inviolability to the king +alone; let them learn that the law will reach all the guilty, and that +not one head convicted of criminality can escape its sword." + +These allusions to the queen, who was accused of directing the Austrian +committee, this threatening language, addressed to the king, went +echoing into the king's cabinet, and forced his hand to sign the +nomination of a Girondist ministry. This was a party manoeuvre, +executed beneath the appearance of sudden indignation in the tribune--it +was more, it was the first signal made by the Girondists to the men of +the 20th of June and the 10th of August. The act of accusation was +carried, and De Lessart sent to the court of Orleans, which only yielded +him up to the cut-throats of Versailles. He might have fled, but his +flight would have been interpreted against the king. He placed himself +generously between death and his master, innocent of every crime except +his love for him. + +The king felt that there was but one step between himself and +abdication: that was, by taking his ministry from amongst his enemies, +and giving them an interest in power, by placing it in their hands. He +yielded to the times, embraced his minister, and requested the +Girondists to supply him with another. The Girondists were already +silently occupied in so doing. They had previously made, in the name of +the party, overtures to Roland at the end of February. "The court," they +said to him, "is not very far off from taking Jacobin ministers: not +from inclination, but through treachery. The confidence it will feign to +bestow will be a snare. It requires violent men in order to impute to +them the excesses of the people and the disorders of the kingdom: we +must deceive its perfidious hopes, and give to it firm and sagacious +patriots. We think of you." + + +XI. + +Roland, whose ambition had soured in obscurity, had smiled at the power +which came to avenge his old age. Brissot, himself, had gone to Madame +Roland on the 21st of the same month, and repeating the same words, had +requested from her the formal consent of her husband. Madame Roland was +ambitious, not of power but of fame. Fame lightens up the higher places +only, and she ardently desired to see her husband elevated to this +eminence. She spoke like a woman who had predicted the event, and whom +fortune does not surprise. "The burden is heavy," she said to Brissot, +"but Roland has a great consciousness of his own powers, and would +derive fresh strength from the feeling of being useful to liberty and +his country." + +This choice being made, the Girondists cast their eyes on Lacoste, an +active commissioner of the navy, a working man, his mind limited by his +duties, but honest and upright; his very candour of nature preserving +him from faction. Put into council to watch over his master, he +naturally became his friend. Duranton, an advocate of Bordeaux, was +called to the bureau of justice. The Girondists, who knew him, boasted +of his honesty, and relied on his plasticity and weakness. Brissot +intended for the finance department Claviere, a Genevese economist, +driven from his native land, a relation and friend of his own; used to +intrigue; rival of Necker; brought up in the cabinet of Mirabeau, in +order to bring forward a rival against this finance minister, so hateful +to Mirabeau: a man without republican prejudices or monarchical +principles, only seeking in the Revolution a part, and with whom the +great aim and end was--to get on. His mind, indifferent to all scruples, +was on a level with every situation, and at the height of all parties. +The Girondists, new to state affairs, required men well conversant in +the details of war and finance departments, and who yet were the mere +tools of their government: Claviere was one of these. In the war office +they had De Grave, by whom the king had replaced Narbonne. De Grave, who +from the subaltern ranks of the army had been raised to the post of +minister of war, had declared relations with the Girondists. The friends +of Gensonne, Vergniaud, Guadet, Brissot, and even Danton, hoped, through +their instrumentality, to save at the same time the constitution and the +king. Devoted to both, he was the link by which he hoped to unite the +Girondists to royalty. Young, he had the illusions of his age: +constitutional, he had the sincerity of his conviction; but weak, in ill +health, more ready to undertake than firm to execute, he was one of +those men of the moment who help events to their accomplishment, and do +not disturb them when they are accomplished. + +The principal minister, however, he to whose hands was to be confided +the fate of his country, and who was to comprise in himself all the +policy of the Girondists, was the minister for foreign affairs, destined +to replace the unfortunate De Lessart. The rupture with Europe was the +most pressing matter with the party, and they required a man who would +control the king, detect the secret intrigues of the court, cognisant of +the mysteries of European cabinets, and who knew how, by his skill and +resolution, at the same time to force our enemies into a war,--our +dubious friends into neutrality,--our secret partisans to an alliance. +They sought such a man: he was close at hand. + + + + +BOOK XIII. + + +I. + +Dumouriez combined all the requisites of boldness, devotion to the +cause, and talent that the Girondists required, and yet, until then, a +second-rate man, and almost unknown, had no fortune to hope for but as +theirs culminated. His name would not give umbrage to their genius, and +if he proved incompetent, or rebelled against their projects, they would +remove him without fear, or crush him without pity. Brissot, the +diplomatic oracle of the Gironde, was evidently to be the minister who +was one day to control our foreign relations, and who _en attendant_ was +to govern for the moment under the name of Dumouriez. + +The Girondists had discovered Dumouriez in the obscurity of an +existence, until then very insignificant, through Gensonne, whose +colleague Dumouriez had been in the mission which the Constituent +Assembly had given him to visit and examine the position of the western +departments, already agitated by the secret presentiment of civil war +and the early religious troubles. During this inquiry, which lasted +several months, the two commissioners had frequent opportunities for an +interchange of their most private thoughts on the great events which at +this moment agitated men's minds. They became much attached to each +other. Gensonne detected with much tact in his colleague one of those +intellects repressed by circumstances, and weighed down by the +obscurity of their lot, which it is enough to expose to the open +daylight of public action, in order to shine forth with all the +brilliancy with which nature and study had endowed it: he had too found +in this mind the spring of character strong enough to bear the movements +of a revolution, and sufficiently elastic to bend to all the +difficulties of affairs. In a word, Dumouriez had on the first contact +exercised over Gensonne that influence, that ascendency, that empire +which superiority, when it displays and humbles itself, never fails to +acquire over minds to which it condescends to disclose itself. + +This attractive power, the confidence of genius, was one of the +characteristics of Dumouriez, and by that he subsequently made a +conquest of the Girondists, the king, the queen, his army, the Jacobins, +Danton,--Robespierre himself. It was what great men call their star,--a +star which precedes them, and prepares their way. Dumouriez's star was +fascination of manner; but this fascination was but the attraction of +his just, rapid, quick ideas, into whose orbit the incredible activity +of his mind carried away the mind of those who heard his thoughts or +witnessed his actions. Gensonne, on his return from his mission, had +desired to enrich his party with this unknown man, whose eminence he +foresaw from afar. He presented Dumouriez to his friends of the +Assembly, to Guadet, Vergniaud, Roland, Brissot, and De Grave: +communicated to them his own astonishment at, and confidence in, the +twofold faculties of Dumouriez as diplomatist and soldier. He spoke of +him as of a concealed saviour, whom fate had reserved for liberty. He +conjured them to attach to themselves a man whose greatness would +enhance their own. + +They had scarcely seen Dumouriez before they were convinced. His +intellect was electrical: it struck before they had time to anatomise +it. The Girondists presented him to De Grave, and De Grave to the king, +who offered him the temporary management of foreign affairs, until M. de +Lessart, sent before the _Haute Cour_, had proved his innocence to his +judges, and could resume the place reserved for him in the council. +Dumouriez refused the post of minister _pro tempore_, which would injure +and weaken his position before all parties by rendering him suspected +by all. The king yielded, and Dumouriez was appointed. + + +II. + +History should pause a moment before this man, who, without having +assumed the name of Dictator, concentrated in himself during two years +all expiring France, and exercised over his country the most +incontestible of dictatorships--that of genius. Dumouriez was of the +number of men who are not to be painted by merely naming them, but of +those whose previous life explains their nature; who have in the past +the secret of their future; who have, like Mirabeau, their existence +spread over two epochs; who have their roots in two soils, and are only +known by the perusal of every detail. + +Dumouriez, son of a commissioner in the war department, was born at +Cambrai in 1739; and although his family lived in the north, his blood +was southern by extraction. His family, originally from Aix, in +Provence, evinced itself in the light, warmth, and sensibility of his +nature; there was perceptible the same sky that had rendered so prolific +the genius of Mirabeau. His father, a military and well-read man, +educated him equally for war and literature. One of his uncles, employed +in the foreign office, made him early a diplomatist. A mind equally +powerful and supple, he lent himself equally to all--as fitted for +action as for thought, he passed from one to the other with facility, +according to the phases of his destiny. There was in him the flexibility +of the Greek mind in the stirring periods of the democracy in Athens. +His deep study early directed his mind to history, that poem of men of +action. Plutarch nourished him with his manly diet. He moulded on the +antique figures drawn from life by the historian the ideal of his own +life, only all the parts of every great man suited him alike: he assumed +them by turns, realised them in his reveries, as suited to reproduce In +him the voluptuary as the sage, the malcontent as the patriot; +Aristippus as Themistocles; Scipio as Coriolanus. He mingled with his +studies the exercises of a military life, formed his body to fatigue, at +the same time that he fashioned his mind to lofty ideas; equally skilled +in handling a sword and daring in subduing a horse. + +Demosthenes, by patience, formed a sonorous voice from a stammering +tongue. Dumouriez, with a weak and ailing constitution in his childhood, +enured his body for war. The stirring ambition of his soul required that +the frame which encased it should be of endurance. + + +III. + +Opposing the desires of his father, who destined him for the war +office, the pen was his abhorrence, and he obtained a sub-lieutenancy in +the cavalry. As aide-de-camp of marshal d'Armentieres, he made the +campaign of Hanover. In a retreat he seized the standard from the hands +of a fugitive, rallied two hundred troopers round him, saved a battery +of five pieces of cannon, and covered the passage of the army. Remaining +almost alone in the rear, he made himself a rampart of his dead horse, +and wounded three of the enemy's hussars. Wounded in many places by +gun-shot and sabre wounds--his thigh entangled beneath a fallen +horse--two fingers of his right hand severed--his forehead cut open--his +eyes literally singed by a discharge of powder, he still fought, and +only surrendered prisoner to the Baron de Beker, who saved his life, and +conveyed him to the camp of the English. + +His youth and good constitution restored him to health at the end of two +months. Destined to form himself to victory by the example of defeats, +and want of experience in our generals, he rejoined marshal de Soubise +and marshal de Broglie; and was present at the routs which the French +owe to their enmity and rivalry. + +At the peace he went to rejoin his regiment in garrison at Saint Lo. +Passing by Pont Audemer, he stopped at the house of his father's sister. +A passionate love for one of his uncle's daughters kept him there. This +love, shared by his cousin, and favoured by his aunt, was opposed by his +father. The young girl, in despair, took refuge in a convent. Dumouriez +swore to take her thence, and went away. On his road, overcome by his +grief, he bought some opium at Dieppe, shut himself up in his apartment, +wrote his adieus to his beloved, a letter of reproaches to his father, +and took the poison. Nature saved him, and repentance ensued--he went, +and, throwing himself at his father's feet, they were reconciled. + +At four and twenty years of age, after seven campaigns, he brought from +the wars only twenty-two wounds, a decoration, the rank of captain, a +pension of 600 livres, debts contracted in the service, and a hopeless +love, which preyed upon his mind. His ambition, spurred by his love, +made him seek in politics that success which war had hitherto refused +him. + +There was then in Paris one of those enigmatic men who are at the same +time intriguers and statesmen. Unknown and unconsidered, they play under +some name parts hidden, but important in affairs. Men of police, as well +as of politics, the governments that employ and despise them pay their +services, not in appointments, but in subsidies. Manoeuvrers in +politics, they are paid from day to day--they are urged onwards, +compromised, and then disavowed, and sometimes even imprisoned. They +suffer all, even captivity and dishonour, for money. Such men are things +to buy and sell, and their talent and utility stamp their price. Of this +class were Linguet, Brissot, even Mirabeau in his youth. Such at this +period was one Favier. + +This man, employed in turns by the duc de Choiseul and M. d'Argenson, to +draw up diplomatic memoranda, had an infinite knowledge of Europe; he +was the vigilant spy of every cabinet, knew their back-games, guessed +their intrigues, and kept them in play by counter-mines, of which the +minister for foreign affairs did not always know the secret. Louis XV., +a king of small ideas and petty resources, was not ashamed to take into +his confidence Favier, as an instrument in the schemes he contemplated +against his own ministers. Favier was the go-between in the political +correspondence which this monarch kept up with the count de Broglie, +unknown to, and against the policy of, his own ministers. This +confidence, suspected by, rather than known to, his ministers, talent as +a very able writer, deep knowledge of national eras, of history, and +diplomacy, gave Favier a credit with the administration, and an +influence over affairs very much beyond his obscure position and dubious +character; he was, in some sort, the minister of the intrigues of high +life of his time. + + +IV. + +Dumouriez seeing the high roads to fortune closed before him, resolved +to cast himself into them by indirect ways; and with this view attached +himself to Favier. Favier attached himself to him, and in this +connection of his earlier years, Dumouriez acquired that character for +adventure and audacity which gave, during all his life, something +skilful as intrigue and as rash as a _coup de main_ to his heroism and +his policy. Favier initiated him into the secrets of courts, and engaged +Louis XV. and the Duc de Choiseul to employ Dumouriez in diplomacy and +war at the same time. + +It was at this moment that the great Corsican patriot, Paoli, was making +gigantic efforts to rescue his country from the tyranny of the republic +of Genoa, and to assure to this people an independence, of which he by +turns offered the patronage to England and to France. On reaching Genoa, +Dumouriez undertook to deceive at the same time the Republic, England, +and Paoli, united himself with Corsican adventurers, conspired against +Paoli, made a descent upon the island, which he summoned to +independence, and was partially successful. He threw himself into a +felucca, to bring to the Duc de Choiseul information as to the new state +of Corsica, and to implore the succour of France. Delayed by a tempest, +tossed for several weeks on the coast of Africa, he reached Marseilles +too late; the treaty between France and Genoa was signed. He hastened to +Favier, his friend in Paris. + +Favier informed him confidentially, that he was employed to draw up a +memorial to prove to the king and his ministers the necessity of +supporting the republic of Genoa against the independent Corsicans; that +this memorial had been demanded of him secretly by the Genoese +ambassador, and by a _femme de chambre_ of the Duchesse de Grammont, +favourite sister of the Duc de Choiseul, interested, like the brothers +of the Du Barry[19], in supplying the army: that 500 louis were the +price of this memorial and the blood of the Corsicans; and he offered a +portion of this intrigue and its profits to Dumouriez who pretended to +accept this, and then hastening to the Duc de Choiseul, revealed the +manoeuvre, was well received, believed he had convinced the minister, +and was preparing to return, conveying to the Corsicans the subsidies +and arms they expected. Next day, he found the minister changed, and was +sent from the audience with harsh language. Dumouriez retired, and made +his way unmolested to Spain. Aided by Favier, who was satisfied with +having jockeyed him, and pitied his candour; assisted by the Duc de +Choiseul, he conspired with the Spanish minister and French ambassador +to effect the conquest of Portugal, whose topography he was empowered to +study in a military point of view, as well as its means of defence. The +Marquis de Pombal, first minister of Portugal, conceived suspicions as +to Dumouriez's mission, and forced him to leave Lisbon. The young +diplomatist returned to Madrid, learned that his cousin, over-persuaded +by the priests, had abandoned him, and meant to take the veil. He then +attached himself to another mistress, a young Frenchwoman, daughter of +an architect established at Madrid, and for some years his activity +reposed in the happiness of a participated love. An order of the Duc de +Choiseul recalled him to Paris,--he hesitated: his beloved herself +compelled him, and sacrificed him as if she had from afar anticipated +his fame. He reached Paris, and was named quartermaster-general of the +French army in Corsica, where, as everywhere else, he greatly +distinguished himself. At the head of a detachment of volunteers, he +seized on the Chateau de Corte, the last asylum and home of Paoli. He +retained for himself the library of this unfortunate patriot. The choice +of these books, and the notes with which they were covered in Paoli's +hand, revealed one of those characters which seek their fellows in the +finest models of antiquity. Dumouriez was worthy of this spoil, since he +appreciated it above gold. The great Frederic called Paoli the first +captain of Europe: Voltaire declared him the conqueror and lawgiver of +his country. The French blushed at conquering him--fortune at forsaking +him. If he did not emancipate his country, he deserved that his struggle +should be immortalised. Too great a citizen for so small a people, he +did not bear a reputation in proportion to his country, but to his +virtues. Corsica remains in the ranks of conquered provinces; but Paoli +must always be in the ranks of great men. + + +V. + +After his return to Paris, Dumouriez passed a year in the society of the +literary men and women of light fame who gave to the society of the +period the spirit and the tone of a constant orgy. Forming an attachment +with an old acquaintance of Madame Du Barry, he knew this _parvenue_ +courtezan, whom libertinism had elevated nearly to the throne. Devoted +to the Duc de Choiseul, the enemy of this mistress of the king, and +retaining that remnant of virtue which amongst the French is called +honour, he did not prostitute his uniform to the court, and blushed to +see the old monarch, at the reviews of Fontainebleau, walk on foot with +his hat off before his army, beside a carriage in which this woman +displayed her beauty and her empire. Madame Du Barry took offence at the +forgetfulness of the young officer, and divined the cause of his +absence. Dumouriez was sent to Poland on the same errand that had before +despatched him to Portugal. His mission, half diplomatic, half military, +was, in consequence of a secret idea of the king, approved by his +confidant, the Count de Broglie, and by Favier, the count's adviser. + +It was at the moment when Poland, menaced and half-occupied by the +Russians, devoured by Prussia, forsaken by Austria, was attempting some +ill-considered movements, in order to repair its scattered limbs, and to +dispute, at least, in fragments, its nationality with its +oppressors--the last sigh of liberty which moved the corpse of a people. +The king, who feared to come into collision with the Empress of Russia, +Catherine, to give excuses to the hostilities of Frederic and umbrage to +the court of Vienna, was still desirous of extending to expiring Poland +the hand of France; but concealing that hand, and reserving to himself +the power even to cut it off, if it became necessary. Dumouriez was the +intermediary selected for this part; the secret minister of France, +amongst the Polish confederates; a general, if necessary--but a general +adventurer and disowned--to rally and direct their efforts. + +The Duc de Choiseul, indignant at the debasement of France, was +secretly preparing war against Prussia and England. This powerful +diversion in Poland was necessary for his plan of campaign, and he gave +his confidential instructions to Dumouriez; but, thrown out of the +administration by the intrigues of Madame Du Barry and M. d'Argenson, +the Duc de Choiseul was suddenly exiled to Versailles before Dumouriez +reached Poland. The policy of France, changing with the minister, at +once destroyed Dumouriez's plans. Still he followed them up with an +ardour and perseverance worthy of better success. He found the Poles +debased by misery, slavery, and the custom of bearing a foreign yoke. He +found the Polish aristocrats corrupted by luxury, enervated by +pleasures, employing in intrigues and language the warmth of their +patriotism in the conferences and confederation of _Eperies_. A female +of remarkable beauty, high rank, and eastern genius, the Countess of +Mnizeck, stirred up, destroyed, or combined different parties, according +to the taste of her ambition or her amours. Certain patriot orators +caused the last accents of independence to resound again in vain. +Certain princes and gentlemen formed meetings without any understanding +with each other, who contended as partisans rather than as citizens, and +who boasted of personal fame, without any reference to the safety of +their country. Dumouriez availed himself of the ascendency of the +countess, and endeavoured to unite these isolated effects, formed an +infantry, an artillery, seized upon two fortresses, threatened in all +directions the Russians, scattered in small bodies over the wide plains +of Poland, prepared for war, disciplined the insubordinate patriotism of +the insurgents, and contended successfully against Souwarow, the Russian +general, subsequently destined to threaten the republic so closely. + +But Stanislaus, the king of Poland, the crowned creature of Catherine, +saw the danger of a national insurrection, which, by drawing out the +Russians, would endanger his throne; and he paralysed it by offering to +the federates to adhere, in his own person, to the confederation. One of +them, Bohuez, the last great orator of Polish liberty, returned to the +king, in a sublime oration, his perfidious succour, and then combined +the unanimity of the conspirators into the last resource of the +oppressed--insurrection. It burst forth. Dumouriez is its life and soul, +flies from one camp to the other, giving a spirit of unity to the plan +of attack. Cracovis was ready to fall into his hands; the Russians +regain the frontier in disorder; but anarchy, that fatal genius of +Poland, suddenly dissolves the union of the chiefs, and they surrender +one another to the united efforts of the Russians. All desire to have +the exclusive honour of delivering their country, and prefer to lose it +rather than owe their success to a rival. + +Sapieha, the principal leader, was massacred by his nobles. Pulauwski +and Micksenski were delivered up, wounded, to the Russians; Zaremba +betrayed his country; Oginski, the last of these great patriots, roused +Lithuania at the moment when Lesser Poland had laid down its arms. +Abandoned and fugitive, he escaped to Dantzig, and wandered for thirty +years over Europe and America, carrying in his heart the memory of his +country. The lovely Countess of Mnizeck languished and died of grief +with Poland. Dumouriez wept for this heroine, adored in a country +wherein he said the women are more men than the men. He brake his sword, +despairing for ever of this aristocracy without a people, bestowing on +it, as he quitted it, the name of _Asiatic Nation of Europe_. + + +VI. + +He returned to Paris. The king and M. d'Argenson, to save appearances +with Russia and Prussia, threw him and Favier into the Bastille, and he +there passed a year in cursing the ingratitude of courts and the +weakness of kings, and recovered his natural energy in retreat and +study. The king changed his prison into exile to the citadel of Caen; +there Dumouriez found again, in a convent, the cousin he had loved. +Free, and weary of a monastic life, she became softened on again +beholding her former lover, and they were married. He was then appointed +commandant of Cherbourg, and his indefatigable mind contended with the +elements as if it were opposing men. He conceived the plan of fortifying +this harbour, which was to imprison a stormy sea in a granite basin, and +give the French navy a halting place in the channel. Here he passed +fifteen years in domestic life, much troubled by the ill humour and +ascetic devotion of his wife; in military studies constant, but without +application, and in the dissipation of the philosophic and voluptuous +society of his time. + +The Revolution, which was drawing nigh, found him indifferent to its +principles, and prepared for its vicissitudes. The justness of his +penetration enabled him at a glance to measure the tendency of events. +He soon comprehended that a revolution in ideas must undermine +institutions, unless institutions modelled themselves on the new ideas. +He gave himself to the constitution without enthusiasm; he desired the +maintenance of the throne, had no faith in a republic, foresaw a change +in the dynasty; and was even accused of meditating it. The emigration, +by decimating the upper ranks of the army, left space for him, and he +was named general, by length of service. He preserved a firm and +well-devised conduct, equi-distant from the throne and the people, from +the counter-revolutionist and the malcontent, ready to go with the +opinion of the court or of the nation, according as events might +transpire. By turns he was in communication with all parties, as if to +sound the growing power of Mirabeau and de Montmorin, the Duc d'Orleans +and the Jacobins, La Fayette and the Girondists. In his various commands +during these days of crises, he maintained discipline by his popularity, +was on terms with the insurgent people, and placed himself at their +head, in order to restrain them. The people believed him certainly on +their side; the soldiery adored him; he detested anarchy, but flattered +the demagogues. He applied very skilfully to his popularity those able +tactics which Favier had taught him. He viewed the Revolution as an +heroic intrigue. He manoeuvred his patriotism as he would have +manoeuvred his battalions on the field of battle. He considered the +coming war with much delight, knowing already all of a hero's part. He +foresaw that the Revolution, deserted by the nobility, and assailed by +all Europe, would require a general ready formed to direct the +undisciplined efforts of the masses it had excited. He prepared himself +for that post. The long subordination of his genius fatigued him. At +fifty-six years of age he had the fire of youth with all the coolness of +age; his earnest desire was advancement; the yearning of his soul for +fame was the more intense in proportion to the years he had already +unavailingly passed. His frame, fortified by climates and voyages, lent +itself, like a passive instrument, to his activity: all was young in him +except his amount of years; they were expended, but not by energy. He +had the youth of Caesar, an impatient desire for fortune, and the +certainty of acquiring it. With great men, to live is to rise in renown; +he had not lived, because his reputation was not equivalent to his +ambition. + + +VII. + +Dumouriez was of that middle stature of the French soldier who wears his +uniform gracefully, his havresac lightly, and his musket and sabre as if +he did not feel their weight. Equally agile and compact, his body had +the cast of those statues of warriors who repose on their expanded +muscles, and yet seem ready to advance. His attitude was confident and +proud; all his motions were as rapid as his mind. He vaulted into the +saddle without touching the stirrup, holding the mane by his left hand. +He sprung to the ground with one effort, and handled the bayonet of the +soldier as vigorously as the sword of the general. His head, rather +thrown backwards, rose well from his shoulders, and turned on his neck +with ease and grace, like all elegant men. These haughty motions of his +head made him look taller under the tricoloured cockade. His brow was +lofty, well-turned, flat at the temples, and well displayed; his muscles +set in play by his reflection and resolution. The salient and +well-defined angles announced sensibility of mind beneath delicacy of +understanding and the most exquisite tact. His eyes were black, large, +and full of fire; his long lids, beginning to turn grey, increased their +brilliancy, though sometimes they were very soft; his nose, and the oval +of his countenance, were of that aquiline type which reveals races +ennobled by war and empire; his mouth, flexible and handsome, was almost +always smiling; no tension of the lips betrayed the effort of this +plastic mind--this master mind, which played with difficulties, overcame +obstacles; his chin, turned and decided, bore his face, as it were, on a +firm and square base, whilst the habitual expression of his countenance +was calm and expansive cheerfulness. It was evident that no pressure of +affairs was too heavy for him, and that he constantly preserved so much +liberty of mind as enabled him to jest alike with good or bad fortune. +He treated politics, war, and government with gaiety. The tone of his +voice was sonorous, manly, and vibrating; and was distinctly heard above +the noise of the drum, and the clash of the bayonet. His oratory was +straightforward, clever, striking; his words were effective in council, +in confidence, and intimacy: they soothed and insinuated themselves like +those of a woman. He was persuasive, for his soul, mobile and sensitive, +had always in its accent the truth and impression of the moment. Devoted +to the sex, and easily enamoured, his experience with them had imbued +him with one of their highest qualities--pity. He could not resist +tears, and those of the queen would have made him a Seid of the throne; +there was no position or opinion he would not have sacrificed to a +generous impulse; his greatness of soul was not calculation, it was +excessive feeling. He had no political principles; the Revolution was to +him nothing more than a fine drama, which was to furnish a grand scene +for his abilities, and a part for his genius. A great man for the +service of events, if the Revolution had not beheld him as its general +and preserver, he would equally have been the general and preserver of +the Coalition. Dumouriez was not the hero of a principle, but of the +occasion. + + +VIII. + +The new ministers met at Madame Roland's, the soul of the Girondist +ministry: Duranton, Lacoste, Cahier-Gerville received there, in all +passiveness, their instructions from the men whose shadows only they +were in the council. Dumouriez affected, like them, at first, a full +compliance with the interests and will of the party, which, personified +at Roland's by a young, lovely, and eloquent woman, must have had an +additional attraction for the general. He hoped to rule by ruling the +heart of this female. He employed with her all the plasticity of his +character, all the graces of his nature, all the fascinations of his +genius; but Madame Roland had a preservative against the warrior's +seductions that Dumouriez had not been accustomed to find in the women +he had loved--austere virtue and a strong will. There was but one means +of captivating her admiration, and that was by surpassing her in +patriotic devotion. These two characters could not meet without +contrasting themselves, nor understand without despising each other. +Very soon, therefore, Dumouriez considered Madame Roland as a stubborn +bigot, and she estimated Dumouriez as a frivolous presuming man, finding +in his look, smile, and tone of voice that audacity of success towards +her sex which betrayed, according to her estimation, the free conduct of +the females amongst whom he had lived, and which offended her decorum. +There was more of the courtier than the patriot in Dumouriez. This +French aristocracy of manners displeased the engraver's humble daughter; +perhaps it reminded her of her lowly condition, and the humiliations of +her childhood at Versailles. Her ideal was not the military, but the +citizen; a republican mind alone could acquire her love. Besides, she +saw at a glance that this man was too great to remain long on the level +of her party; she suspected his genius in his politeness, and his +ambition beneath his familiarity. "Have an eye to that man," she said to +her husband after their first interview; "he may conceal a master +beneath the colleague, and drive from the cabinet those who introduced +him there." + + +IX. + +Roland, too happy at being in power, did not foresee his disgrace, and +encouraging his wife, trusted more and more to the admiration which +Dumouriez feigned for him. He thought himself the statesman of the +cabinet, and his gratified vanity lent itself credulously to the +advances of Dumouriez, and even made him better disposed towards the +king. On his entry to the ministry Roland had affected in his costume +the bluntness of his principles, and in his manners the rudeness of his +republicanism. He presented himself at the Tuileries in a black coat, +with a round hat, and nailed shoes covered with dust. He wished to show +in himself the man of the people, entering the palace in the plain garb +of the citizen, and thus meeting the man of the throne. This tacit +insolence he thought would flatter the nation and humiliate the king. +The courtiers were indignant; the king groaned over it; Dumouriez +laughed at it. "Ah, well then, really, gentlemen," he said to the +courtiers, "since there is no more etiquette there is no more monarchy." +This jocose mode of treating the thing had at once removed all the anger +of the court, and all the effect of the Spartan pretensions of Roland. + +The king no longer regarded the discourtesy, and treated Roland with +that cordiality which unlocks men's hearts. The new ministers were +astonished to feel themselves confiding and moved in the presence of the +monarch. Having arrived suspicious and republican to their seats in the +cabinet, they quitted it almost royalists. + +"The king is not known," said Roland to his wife: "a weak prince, he is +one of the best of men; he does not want good intentions, but good +advice: he does not like the aristocracy, and has strong affection for +the people: perhaps he was born to serve as the medium between republic +and monarchy. By rendering the constitution easy to him we shall make +him like it, and the popularity he will re-acquire by following our +counsels will render government easy to ourselves. His nature is so +great that the throne has been unable to corrupt it, and he is equally +remote from the silly brute which has been held up to the laughter of +the people as from the sensitive and highly accomplished man his +courtiers pretend to adore in him; his mind, without being superior, is +expansive and reflecting; in a humble position his abilities would have +provided for him; he has a general and occasionally sound knowledge, +knows the details of business, and acts towards men with that simple but +persuasive ability which gives kings the precocious necessity of +governing their impressions; his prodigious memory always recalls to him +at the right time things, names, and faces; he likes work, and reads +every thing; he is never idle for a moment; a tender parent, a model of +a husband: chaste in feeling, he has done away with all those scandals +which disgraced the courts of his predecessors; he loves none but the +queen, and his condescension, which is occasionally injurious to his +politics, is at least a weakness 'which leans to virtue's side.' Had he +been born two centuries earlier his peaceable reign would have been +counted amongst the number of happy years of the monarchy. Circumstances +appear to have influenced his mind. The Revolution has convinced him of +its necessity, and we must convince him of its possibility. In our +hands the king may better serve it than any other citizen in the +kingdom; by enlightening this prince we may be faithful alike to his +interests and those of the nation--the king and Revolution must be with +us as one." + + +X. + +Thus said Roland in the first dazzling of power; his wife listened with +a smile of incredulity on her lips. Her keener glance had at the instant +measured a career more vast and a termination more decisive than the +timid and transitory compromise between a degraded royalty and an +imperfect revolution. It would have cost her too much to renounce the +ideal of her ardent soul; all her wishes tended to a republic; all her +exertions, all her words, all her aspirations, were destined, +unconsciously to herself, to urge thither her husband and his +associates. + +"Mistrust every man's perfidy, and more especially your own virtue," was +her reply to the weak and vain Roland. "You see in this world but +courts, where all is unreal, and where the most polished surfaces +conceal the most sinister combinations. You are only an honest +countryman wandering amongst a crowd of courtiers,--virtue in danger +amidst a myriad of vices: they speak our language, and we do not know +theirs. Would it be possible that they should not deceive us? Louis +XVI., of a degenerate race, without elevation of mind, or energy of +will, allowed himself to be enthralled early in life by religious +prejudices, which have even lessened his intellect; fascinated by a +giddy queen, who unites to Austrian insolence the enchantment of beauty +and the highest rank, and who makes of her secret and corrupt court the +sanctuary of her pleasures and the focus of her vices, this prince, +blinded on the one hand by the priests, and on the other by love, holds +at random the loose reins of an empire which is escaping from his grasp. +France, exhausted of men, does not give to him, either in Maurepas, +Necker, or Calonne, a minister capable of supporting him. The +aristocracy is barren, and produces nothing but to its shame; the +government must be renewed in the holier and deeper fount of the nation; +the time for a democracy is here,--why delay it! You are its men, its +virtues, its characters, its intelligence. The Revolution is behind you, +it hails you, urges you onward, and would you surrender it to the first +smile from the king because he has the condescension of a man of the +people? No: Louis XVI., half dethroned by the nation, cannot love the +nation that fetters him; he may feign to caress his chains, but all his +thoughts are devoted to the idea of how he can spurn them. His only +resource at this moment is to protest his attachment to the Revolution, +and to lull the ministers whom the Revolution empowers to watch over his +intrigues. But this pretence is the last and most dangerous of the +conspiracies of the throne. The constitution is the forfeiture of Louis +XVI., and the patriot ministers are his superintendents. Fallen +greatness cannot love the cause of its decadence; no man likes his +humiliation. Trust in human nature, Roland--that alone never deceives, +and mistrust courts. Your virtue is too elevated to see the snares which +courtiers spread beneath your feet." + + +XI. + +Such language amazed Roland. Brissot, Condorcet, Vergniaud, Gensonne, +Guadet, and especially Buzot, the friend and most intimate confidant of +Madame Roland, strengthened at their evening meetings the mistrust of +the minister. He armed himself with fresh distrust from their +conversations, and entered the council with a more frowning brow and +more resolute determination: the king's frankness disarmed +him--Dumouriez discouraged him by his gaiety--power softened him by its +influence. He wavered between the two great difficulties of the moment, +the double sanction required from the king for the decrees which were +most repugnant to his heart and conscience, the decree against the +emigrants, and the decree against the nonjuring priests; and he wavered +as to war. + +During this tergiversation of Roland and his colleagues, Dumouriez +acquired the favour of the king and the people, the secret of his +conduct being comprised in what he had said a short time before to M. de +Montmorin, in a secret conversation he had with that minister. "If I +were king of France, I would disconcert all parties by placing myself +at the head of the Revolution." + +This sentence contained the sole line of policy capable of saving Louis +XVI. In a time of revolution every king who is not revolutionary must be +inevitably crushed between the two parties: a neutral king no longer +reigns--a pardoned king degrades the throne--a king conquered by his own +people has for refuge only exile or the scaffold. Dumouriez felt that +his first step was to convince the king of his personal attachment, and +take him into his confidence, or indeed make him his accomplice in the +patriotic part he proposed to play; constitute himself the secret +mediator between the will of the monarch and the exactions of the +cabinet, to control the king by his influence over the Girondists, and +the Girondists by his influence over the king; the part of the favourite +of misfortune and protector of a persecuted queen pleased alike his +ambition and his heart. A soldier, diplomatist, gentleman, there was in +his soul a wholly different feeling for degraded royalty than the +sentiment of satisfied jealousy which filled the minds of the +Girondists. The _prestige_ of the throne existed for Dumouriez; the +_prestige_ of liberty only existed for the Girondists. This feeling, +revealed in his attitude, language, gestures, could not long escape the +observation of Louis XVI. Kings have twofold tact, misfortune makes them +more nice; the unfortunate perceive pity in a look; it is the only +homage they are allowed to receive, and they are the more jealous of it. +In a secret conversation the king and Dumouriez came to an +understanding. + + +XII. + +Dumouriez's restless conduct in his commands in Normandy, the friendship +of Gensonne, the favour of the Jacobins for him, had prejudiced Louis +XVI. against his new minister. The minister, on his side, expected to +find in the king a spirit opposed to the constitution, a mind trammelled +by routine, a violent temper, an abrupt manner, and using language +imperious and offensive to all who approached him. Such was the +caricature of this unfortunate prince. It was necessary to disfigure him +in order to make the nation hate him. + +Dumouriez found in him at this moment, and during the three months of +his ministry, an upright mind, a heart open to every benevolent +sentiment, unvarying politeness, endurance and patience which defied the +calamities of his situation. Extreme timidity, the result of the long +seclusion in which his youth had been passed, repressed the feelings of +his heart, and gave to his language and his intercourse with men a +stiffness and embarrassment which destroyed his better qualities of +decided and calm courage; he frequently spoke to Dumouriez of his death +as an event probable and doomed, the prospect of which did not affect +his serenity nor preclude him from doing his duty to the last as a +father and a king. + +"Sire," said Dumouriez to him, with the chivalric sympathy which +compassion adds to respect, and with that aspect in which the heart says +more than language; "you have overcome your prejudices against myself; +you have commanded me by M. de Laporte to accept the post he had +refused." "Yes," replied the king. "Well, I come now to devote myself +wholly to your service, to your protection. But the part of a minister +is no longer what it was in former days: without ceasing to be the +servant of the king, I am the man of the nation. I will speak to you +always in the language of liberty and the constitution. Allow me then, +in order to serve you better, that in public and in the council I appear +in my character as a constitutionalist, and that I avoid every thing +that may at all reveal my personal attachment towards you. In this +respect I must break through all etiquette, and avoid attending the +court. In the council, I shall oppose your views, and shall propose as +our representatives in foreign courts men devoted to the nation. When +your repugnance to my choice shall be invincible and on good grounds, I +shall comply; if this repugnance shall tend to compromise the safety of +the country and yourself, I shall beg you to allow me to resign, and +nominate my successor. Think of the terrible dangers which beset your +throne--it must be consolidated by the confidence of the nation in your +sincere attachment to the Revolution. It is a conquest which it depends +on you to make. I have prepared four despatches to ambassadors in this +sense. In these I have used language to which they are unused from +courts, the language of an offended and resolute nation. I shall read +them this morning before the council: if you approve my labour, I shall +continue to speak thus, and act in accordance with my language; if not, +my carriage is ready, and, unable to serve you in the council, I shall +depart whither my tastes and studies for thirty years call me, to serve +my country in the field." + +The king, astonished and much moved, said to him, "I like your +frankness; I know you are attached to me, and I anticipate all from your +services. They had created many prejudices against you, but this moment +effaces them all. Go and do as your heart directs you, and according to +the best interests of the nation, which are also mine." Dumouriez +retired; but he knew that the queen, adored by her husband, clung to the +policy of her husband with all the passion and excitement of her soul. +He desired and feared at the same time an interview with this princess: +one word from her would accomplish or destroy the bold enterprise he had +dared to meditate, of reconciling the king with the people. + + +XIII. + +The queen sent for the general into her most private apartments. +Dumouriez found her alone, her cheeks flushed by the emotion of an +internal struggle, and walking rapidly up and down the room, like a +person whose agitated thoughts require corresponding activity of body. +Dumouriez placed himself in silence near the fireplace, in the attitude +of respect and sorrow, inspired by the presence of so august, so +beautiful, and so miserable a princess. She advanced towards him with a +mingled air of majesty and anger. + +"Monsieur," said she, with that accent that reveals at once resentment +against fortune, and contempt for fate; "you are all-powerful at this +moment; but it is through popular favour, and that soon destroys its +idols." She did not await his reply, but continued, "Your existence +depends upon your conduct; it is said that you possess great talents, +and you must imagine that neither the king nor myself can suffer all +these innovations of the constitution. I tell you thus much frankly, so +make your decision." "Madame," returned Dumouriez, "I am confounded by +the dangerous disclosure your Majesty has thought fit to make me; I +will not betray your confidence, but I am placed between the king and +the nation, and I belong to my country. Permit me," continued Dumouriez, +with respectful earnestness, "to represent to you that the safety of the +king--your own--and that of your children, and the very re-establishment +of the royal authority--is bound up with the constitution. You are +surrounded by enemies, who sacrifice you to their own interests. The +constitution alone can, by strengthening itself, protect you and assure +the happiness and glory of the king." "It cannot last long, beware of +yourself," returned the queen, with a look of anger and menace. +Dumouriez imagined that he saw in this look and speech an allusion to +personal danger and an insinuation of alarm. "I am more than fifty years +old, madame," replied he, in a low tone, in which the firmness of the +soldier was mingled with the pity of the man; "I have braved many perils +in my life; and when I accepted the ministry, I well knew that my +responsibility was not the greatest of my dangers." "Ah," cried the +queen, with a gesture of horror, "this calumny and disgrace was alone +wanting! You appear to believe me capable of causing you to be +assassinated." Tears of indignation checked her utterance. Dumouriez, +equally moved with herself, disclaimed the injurious interpretation +given to his reply. "Far be it from me, madame, to offer you so cruel an +insult; your soul is great and noble, and the heroism you have displayed +in so many circumstances, has for ever attached me to you." She was +appeased in a moment, and laid her hand on Dumouriez's arm, in token of +reconciliation. + +The minister profited by this return to serenity and confidence to give +Marie Antoinette advice, of which the emotion of his features and voice +sufficiently attested the sincerity. "Trust me, madame, I have no motive +for deceiving you; I abhor anarchy and its crimes equally with yourself. +But I have experience; I live in the centre of the different parties, +and I take part in opinion. I am connected with the people, and I am +better placed than your majesty for judging the extent and the direction +of events. This is not, as you deem it, a popular movement; but the +almost unanimous insurrection of a great nation against an old and +decaying order of things. Mighty factions feed the flame, and in every +one of them are scoundrels or madmen. I alone see in the Revolution the +king and the nation, and that which tends to separate them, ruins them +both. I seek to unite them, and it is for you to aid me. If I am an +obstacle to your designs, and if you persist in them, tell me instantly, +and I will retire, and mourn in obscurity the fate of my country and +your own." The queen was touched and convinced; the frankness of +Dumouriez at once pleased and won her. The heart of the soldier was a +guarantee to her of the conduct of the statesman. Firm, brave, and +heroic, she preferred to have the weight of his sword in the councils of +his king, rather than those politicians, and specious orators, who, +nevertheless, bent before every blast of opinion or sedition; and an +intimate understanding soon existed between the queen and the general. + +The queen was for some time faithful to her promises, but the repeated +outrages of the people again moved her, in spite of herself, to anger +and conspiracy. "See," said she to the king before Dumouriez, one day, +pointing to the tops of the trees in the Tuileries; "a prisoner in this +palace, I do not venture to show myself at the windows that look on to +the garden. The crowd collected there, and who watch even my tears, hoot +me. Yesterday, to breathe the air, I showed myself at a window that +looks at the court; an artillery-man on guard addressed the most +revolting language to me. 'How I should like,' added he, 'to see your +head on the point of my bayonet!' In this frightful garden I see on one +side a man mounted on a chair, and vociferating the most odious insults +against us, whilst he threatens, by his gestures, the inhabitants of the +palace; on the other, the populace is dragging to the basin some priest +or soldier, whom they overwhelm with blows and outrages, whilst, at the +same time, and close to these terrible scenes, persons are playing at +ball or walking about in the _allees_. What a residence--what a +life--what a people!" Dumouriez could but lament with the royal family, +and exhort them to be patient. But the endurance of the victims is +exhausted sooner than the cruelty of the executioner. How could it be +expected that a courageous and proud princess, who had been constantly +surrounded by the adulation of the court, could love the Revolution that +was the instrument of her humiliation and her torture? or see in this +indifferent and cruel nation a people worthy of empire and of liberty? + + +XIV. + +When all his measures with the court were concerted, Dumouriez no longer +hesitated to leap over the space that divided the king and the extreme +party, and to give the government the form of pure patriotism. He made +overtures to the Jacobins, and boldly presented himself at their sitting +the next day. The chamber was thronged, and the apparition of Dumouriez +struck the tribunes with mute astonishment. His martial figure and the +impetuosity of his conduct won for him at once the favour of the +Assembly; for no one suspected that so much audacity concealed so much +stratagem, and they saw in him only the minister who threw himself into +the arms of the people, and every one hastened to receive him. + +It was the moment when the _bonnet rouge_, the symbol of extreme +opinion, a species of livery worn by the demagogues and flatterers of +the people, had been almost unanimously adopted by the Jacobins. This +emblem, like many similar ones received by the revolutions from the hand +of chance, was a mystery even to those who wore it. It had been adopted +for the first time on the day of the triumph of the soldiers of +Chateauvieux. Some said it was the _coiffure_ of the galley-slaves, once +infamous, but glorious since it had covered the brows of these martyrs +of the insurrection; and they added that the people wished to purify +this head-dress from every stain by wearing it themselves. Others only +saw in it the Phrygian bonnet, a symbol of freedom for slaves. + +The _bonnet rouge_ had from its first appearance been the subject of +dispute and dissension amongst the Jacobins; the _exaltes_ wore it, +whilst the _moderes_ yet abstained from adopting it. Dumouriez did not +hesitate, but mounted the tribune, placed this sign of patriotism on his +head, and at once assumed the emblem of the most prominent party, whilst +this mute yet significant eloquence awakened a burst of enthusiasm on +every side of the _Salle_. "Brothers and friends," said Dumouriez, +"every instant of my life shall be devoted to carrying out the wishes of +the people, and to justifying the king's choice. I will employ in all +negotiations the force of a free people, and before long these +negotiations will produce a lasting peace or a decisive war. (Applause.) +If we have this war I will abandon my political post, and I will assume +my rank in the army to triumph, or perish a free man with my brethren. A +heavy weight presses on me, aid me to bear it; I require your counsels, +transmit them to me through your journals. Tell me truth, even the most +unpalatable; but repel calumny, and do not repulse a citizen whom you +know to be sincere and intrepid, and who devotes himself to the cause of +the Revolution and the nation." + +The president replied to the minister that the society gloried in +counting him amongst its brethren. These words occasioned some murmurs, +which were stifled by the acclamations that followed Dumouriez to his +place. It was proposed that the two speeches should be printed. Legendre +opposed the motion from economical motives, but was hissed by the +tribunes. "Why these unusual honours, and this reply of the president to +the minister?" said Collot d'Herbois. "If he comes here as a minister, +there is no reply to make him. If he comes here as an associate and a +brother, he does no more than his duty; he only raises himself to the +level of our opinions. There is but one answer to be made,--let him act +as he has spoken." Dumouriez raised his hand, and gesticulated to Collot +d'Herbois. + +Robespierre rose, smiled sternly on Dumouriez, and said, "I am not one +of those who believe it is utterly impossible for a minister to be a +patriot, and I accept with pleasure the promises that M. Dumouriez has +just given us. When he shall have verified these promises, when he has +dissipated the foes armed against us by his predecessors, and by the +conspirators who even now hold the reins of government, spite of the +expulsion of several ministers, then, and then only, I shall be inclined +to bestow on him the praises he will have merited, and I shall even in +that case deem that every good citizen in this assembly is his equal. +The people only is great, is worthy in my eyes; the toys of ministerial +power fade into insignificance before it. It is out of respect for +people, for the minister himself, that I demand that his presence here +be not marked by any of those homages that mark the decay of public +feeling. He asks us to counsel the ministers; I promise him, on my +part, to give him advice which will be useful to them and to the country +at large. So long as M. Dumouriez shall prove by acts of pure +patriotism, and by real services to his country, that he is the brother +of all good citizens, and the defender of the people, he shall find none +but supporters here. I do not dread the presence of any minister in this +society, but I declare that the instant a minister possesses more +ascendency here than a citizen, I will demand his ostracism. But this +will never happen." + +Robespierre left the tribune, and Dumouriez cast himself into his arms; +the Assembly rose, and sealed by its applause their fraternal embrace, +in which all saw the augury of the union of power and the people. The +president Doppet read (the _bonnet rouge_ on his head) a letter from +Petion to the society, on the subject of this new head-dress adopted by +the patriots, and on which Petion spoke against this superfluous mark of +_civisme_. + +"This sign," said he, "instead of increasing your popularity, alarms the +public mind, and affords a pretext for calumnies against you. The moment +is serious, the demonstrations of patriotism should be serious as the +times. It is the enemies of the Revolution who urge it to these +frivolities in order that they may have the right to accuse it of +frivolity and thoughtlessness. They thus give patriotism the appearance +of faction, and these emblems divide those they should rally. However +great the vogue that counsels them to-day, they will never be +universally adopted, for every man really devoted to the public welfare +will be quite indifferent to a _bonnet rouge_. Liberty will neither be +more majestic nor more glorious in this garb, but the very signs with +which you adorn her will serve as a pretext for dissension amongst her +children. A civil war, commencing in sarcasm and ending in bloodshed, +may be caused by a ridiculous manifestation. I leave you to meditate on +these ideas." + + +XV. + +Whilst this letter was being read, the president, a timorous man, who +perceived the agency of Robespierre in the advice of Petion, had quietly +removed from his head the repudiated _bonnet rouge_, and the members of +the society, one after another, followed his example. Robespierre alone, +who had never adopted this bauble of the fashion, and with whom Petion +had concerted his letter, mounted the tribune, and said, "I, in common +with the major of Paris, respect every thing that bears the image of +liberty; but we have a sign which recalls to us constantly our oath to +live and die free, and here is this sign. (He showed his cockade.) The +citizens, who have adopted the _bonnet rouge_ through a laudable +patriotism, will lose nothing by laying it aside. The friends of the +Revolution will continue to recognise each other by the sign of virtue +and of reason. These emblems are ours alone; all those may be imitated +by traitors and aristocrats. In the name of France, I rally you again to +the only standard that strikes terror into her foes. Let us alone retain +the cockade and the banner, beneath which the constitution was born." + +The _bonnet rouge_ instantly disappeared in the Assembly; but even the +voice of Robespierre, and the resolutions of the Jacobins, could not +arrest the outbreak of enthusiasm that had placed the sign of _avenging +equality_ ("_l'egalite vengeresse_") on every head; and the evening +of the day on which it was repudiated at the Jacobins saw it inaugurated +at all the theatres. The bust of Voltaire, the destroyer of prejudice, +was adorned with the Phrygian cap of liberty, amidst the shouts of the +spectators, whilst the cap and pike became the uniform and weapon of the +citizen soldier. The Girondists, who had attacked this sign as long as +it appeared to them the livery of Robespierre, began to excuse it as +soon as Robespierre repulsed it. Brissot himself, in his report of what +passed at this sitting, regrets this symbol, because, "adopted by the +most indignant portion of the people, it humiliated the rich, and became +the terror of the aristocracy." The breach between these two men became +wider every day, and there was not sufficient space in the Jacobins, the +Assembly, and the supreme power for these rival ambitions, which strove +for the dictatorship of opinion. + +The nomination of the ministers, which was entirely under the influence +of Girondists, the councils held at Madame Roland's, the presence of +Brissot, of Guadet, of Vergniaud at the deliberations of the ministers, +the appointment of all their friends to the government offices, served +as themes for the clamours of the _exaltes_ of the Jacobins. These +Jacobins were termed Montagnards, from the high benches occupied in the +Assembly by the friends of Robespierre and Danton. "Remember," they +said, "the almost prophetic sagacity of Robespierre, when, in answer to +Brissot, who attacked the former minister De Lessart, he made this +allusion to the Girondist leader, which has been so speedily +justified,--'For me, who do not aim at the ministry either for myself or +my friends.'" On their side the Girondist journals heaped opprobrium on +this handful of calumniators and petty tyrants, who resembled Catiline +in crimes if not in courage; thus war commenced by sarcasm. + +The king, however, when the ministry was completed, wrote the Assembly a +letter, more resembling an abdication into the hands of opinion than the +constitutional act of a free power. Was this humiliating resignation an +affectation of slavery, or a sign of restraint and degradation made from +the throne to the armed powers, in order that they might comprehend that +he was no longer free, and only see in him the crowned automaton of the +Jacobins? The letter was in these terms: + +"Profoundly touched by the disorders that afflict the French nation, and +by the duty imposed on me by the constitution of watching over the +maintenance of order and public tranquillity, I have not ceased to +employ every means that it places at my disposal to execute the laws. I +had selected as my prime agents men recommended by the purity of their +principles and their opinions. They have quitted the ministry; and I +have felt it my duty to replace them by men who hold a high position in +public favour. You have so often repeated that this measure was the only +means of ensuring the re-establishment of order and the enforcement of +the laws, that I have deemed it fitting to adopt it, that no pretext may +be afforded for doubting my sincere desire to add to the prosperity and +happiness of my country. I have appointed M. Claviere minister of the +contributions, and M. Roland minister of the interior. The person whom I +had chosen as the minister of justice has prayed me to make another +choice: when I shall have again made it the Assembly shall be duly +informed. (Signed) Louis." + +The Assembly received this message with loud applause: for with the king +once in its power, it could employ him in the works of regeneration. The +most perfect harmony appeared to reign in the council. The king +astonished his new ministers by his assiduity and his aptitude for +business. He conversed with everyone on the subject that most interested +him. He questioned Roland on his works, Dumouriez on his adventures, and +Claviere on the finances, whilst he avoided the irritating topics of +general policy. Madame Roland reproached her husband with these +conversations, and besought him to make use of his time, to take +abstracts of these conversations, and to keep an authentic register, +which would one day cover his responsibility. The ministers appeared to +dine four times a week together, in order to concert their acts and +language in the king's presence. It was at these private meetings that +Buzot, Guadet, Vergniaud, Geneveive and Brissot infused into the +ministers the feelings of their party and reigned unseen over the +Assembly and the king. Dumouriez soon became an object of suspicion to +them for his mind escaped their dominion by its greatness, and his +character escaped fanaticism by its pliability. Madame Roland, seduced +by his eloquence, yet experienced remorse for her admiration; she felt +that the genius of this man was necessary to her party, but that genius +without virtue would be fatal to the republic; and she infused distrust +of Dumouriez into the mind of her allies. The king invariably adjourned +the sanction which the Girondists demanded from him to the crimes +against the priests and _emigres_. Foreseeing that they would be called +upon, sooner or later, to give an account of their responsibility to the +nation, Madame Roland wished to take precautionary measures. She +persuaded her husband to write a confidential letter to the king, full +of the most strict lessons of patriotism; to read it himself in council +to loyal princes; and to keep a copy, which he would publish at the +proper time as an accusation against Louis XVI. and a justification of +himself. This treacherous precaution against the perfidy of the court +was odious as a snare and cowardly a denunciation. Passion only, which +disturbs the sight of the soul, could blind a generous-minded woman as +to the meaning of such an act; but party feeling supplies the place of +generosity, justice, and even of virtue. This letter was a concealed +weapon, with which Roland reserved to himself the power of mortally +wounding the reputation of the king whilst he saved his own. This was +his only crime, or rather the only error of his hate; and this was the +only cause for remorse he felt at the foot of the scaffold. + + +XVI. + +"Sire," said Roland in this celebrated letter, "things cannot remain in +their present state; it is a state of crises, and we must be extricated +from it by some extreme measure (_une explosion quelconque_). France has +given itself a constitution; the minority are undermining, the majority +are defending, it. There arises a fierce internal struggle in which no +person remains neuter. You enjoyed supreme power, and could not have +laid it down without regret. The enemies of the Revolution took into +calculation the sentiments they presume you entertain. Your secret +favour is their strength. Ought you now to ally yourself to the enemies +or the friends of the constitution? Pronounce once for all. Royalty, +clergy, nobility, aristocracy, must abhor these changes, which destroy +them: on the other hand, the people see the triumph of their rights in +the Revolution and will not allow themselves to be despoiled. The +declaration of rights has become their new Gospel: liberty is henceforth +the religion of the people. In this shock of opposing interests, all +sentiments have become extreme--opinions have assumed the accent of +enthusiasm. The country is no longer an abstraction, but a real being, +to which we are attached by the happiness it promises to us, and the +sacrifices we have made for it. To what point will this patriotism be +exalted at the moment now imminent, when the enemies' forces without are +about to combine with the intrigues within to assail it? The rage of the +nation will be terrible if it have not confidence in you. But this +confidence is not to be acquired by words, but by acts. Give +unquestionable proofs of your sincerity. For instance, two important +decrees have been passed, both deeply important for the security of the +state, and the delay of your sanction excites distrust. Be on your +guard: distrust is not very wide from hatred, and hatred does not +hesitate at crime. If you do not give satisfaction to the Revolution, +it will be cemented by blood. Desperate measures, which you may be +advised to adopt to intimidate Paris, to control the Assembly, would +only cause the development of that sullen energy, the mother of great +devotions and great attempts (this was meant indirectly for Dumouriez, +who had advised firm measures). You are deceived, Sire, when the nation +is represented to you as hostile to the throne, and to yourself. Love, +serve the Revolution, and the people will love it in you. Deposed +priests are agitating the provinces: ratify the measures requisite to +put down their fanaticism. Paris is uneasy as to its security: sanction +the measures which summon a camp of citizens beneath its walls. Still +more delays, and you will be considered as a conspirator and an +accomplice. Just heaven! hast thou stricken kings with blindness? I know +that the language of truth is rarely welcomed at the foot of thrones: I +know, too, that it is the withholding the truth from the councils of +kings which renders revolutions so often necessary. As a citizen, and as +a minister, I owe the truth to the king, and nothing shall prevent my +making it reach his ear. I demand that we should have here a secretary +of council to register our deliberations. Responsible ministers should +have a witness of their opinions. If this witness existed, I should not +now address your majesty in writing." + +The threat was no less evident than the treachery of this letter; and +the last sentence indicated, in equivocal terms, the odious use which +Roland meant one day to make of it. The magnanimity of Vergniaud was +excited against this step of the powerful Girondist minister: +Dumouriez's military loyalty was roused by it: the king listened to the +reading of it with the calmness of a man accustomed to put up with +insult. The Girondists were informed of it in the secret councils at +Madame Roland's, and Roland kept a copy to cover himself at the hour of +his fall. + + +XVII. + +At this moment secret understandings, unknown to Roland himself, were +formed by the three Girondist chiefs, Vergniaud, Guadet, and Gensonne +and the chateau, through Boze, the king's painter. A letter, intended +for the monarch's perusal, was written by them. The iron chest guarded +it for the day of accusation. + +"You ask of us," runs this epistle, "what is our opinion as to the state +of France, and the choice of measures fit to save the public weal. +Questioned by you concerning such important interests, we do not +hesitate to reply. The conduct of the executive power is the cause of +all the evil. The king is deceived by persuading him that it is the +clubs and factions which foment public agitation. This is placing the +cause of the evil in its symptoms. If the people was reassured of the +loyalty of the king, it would grow tranquil, and factions die a natural +death. But so long as conspiracies, internal and external, appear +favoured by the king, troubles will perpetually spring up, and +continually increase the mistrust of the citizens. The present tendency +of things is evidently towards a crisis, all the chances of which are +opposed to royalty. They are making of the chief of a free nation, the +chief of a party. The opposite party ought to consider him, not as a +king, but as an enemy. What is to be hoped from the success of +manoeuvres carried on with foreigners, in order to restore the +authority of the throne? They will give to the king the appearance of a +violent usurpation of the rights of the nation. The same force which +would have served this violent restoration would be necessary to +maintain it. It would produce a permanent civil war. Attached as we are +to the interests of the nation, from which we shall never separate those +of the king, we think that the sole means by which he can alleviate the +evils that threaten the empire and the throne, is to identify himself +with the nation. Renewed protestations are useless; we must have deeds. +Let the king abandon every idea of increased power offered to him by the +succour of foreigners. Let him obtain from cabinets hostile to the +Revolution the withdrawal of the troops who press upon our frontiers. If +that be impossible, let him arm the nation himself, and direct it +against the enemies of the constitution. Let him choose his ministers +amongst the leading men of the Revolution. Let him offer the muskets and +horses of his own guard. Let him publish the documents connected with +the civil list, and thus prove that the secret treasury is not the +source of counter-revolutionary plots. Let him apply himself for a law +respecting the education of the prince royal, and let him be brought up +in the spirit of the constitution. Finally, let him withdraw from M. de +La Fayette the command of the army. If the king shall adopt these +determinations, and persist in them with firmness, the constitution is +saved!" + +This letter, conveyed to the king by Thierri, had not been sought by +him. He was annoyed at the many plans of succour sent to him. "What do +these men mean?" he inquired of Boze; "Have I not done all that they +advise? Have I not chosen patriots for ministers? Have I not rejected +succour from without? Have I not repudiated my brothers, and hindered, +as far as in me lies, the coalition, and armed the frontiers? Have I not +been, since my acceptance of the constitution, more faithful than the +malcontents themselves to my oath?" + +The Girondist leaders, still undecided between the republic and the +monarchy, thus felt the pulse of power--sometimes of the Assembly, +sometimes of the king; ready to seize it wherever they should find it; +but discovering it on the side of the king, they judged that there was +more certainty in sapping than in consolidating the throne, and they +inclined more than ever to a factious policy. + + +XVIII. + +Still, half-masters of the council through Roland, Claviere, and Servan, +who had succeeded De Grave, they bore to a certain extent the +responsibility of these three ministers. The Jacobins began to require +from them an account of the acts of a ministry which was in their hands, +and bore their name. Dumouriez, placed between the king and the +Girondists, saw daily the increasing want of confidence between his +colleagues and himself; they suspected his probity equally with his +patriotism. He had profited by his popularity and ascendency over the +Jacobins to demand of the Assembly a sum of 6,000,000 (240,000_l._) of +secret service money on his accession to the ministry. The apparent +destination of this money was to bribe foreign cabinets, and to detach +venal powers from the coalition, and to foment revolutionary symptoms in +Belgium. Dumouriez alone knew the channels by which this money was to +flow. His exhausted personal fortune, his costly tastes, his attachment +to a seductive woman, Madame de Beauvert, sister to Rivarol; his +intimacy with men of unprincipled character and irregular +habits,--reports of extortion charged on his ministry, and falling, if +not on him on those he trusted, tarnished his character in the eyes of +Madame Roland and her husband. Probity is the virtue of democrats, for +the people look first at the hands of those who govern them. The +Girondists, pure as men of the ancient time, feared the shadow of a +suspicion of this nature on their characters, and Dumouriez's +carelessness on this point annoyed them. They complained. Gensonne and +Brissot insinuated their feelings to him on this point at Roland's. +Roland himself, authorised by his age and austerity of manners, took +upon himself to remind Dumouriez that a public man owes respect to +decorum and revolutionary manners. The warrior turned the remonstrance +into pleasantry, replied to Roland that he owed his blood to the nation, +but neither owed it the sacrifice of his tastes nor his amours; that he +understood patriotism as a hero, and not as a puritan. The bitterness of +his language left venom behind, and they separated with mutual +ill-feeling. + +From this day forth he no longer visited at Roland's evening meetings. +Madame Roland, who understood the human heart by the superior instinct +of her genius and her sex, was not deceived by the general's tactics. +"The hour is come to destroy Dumouriez," she said boldly to her friends. +"I know very well," she added, addressing Roland, "that you are +incapable of descending either to intrigue or revenge; but remember that +Dumouriez must conspire in his heart against those who have wounded him. +When such daring remonstrances have been made to such a man, and +uselessly made, it is necessary to strike the blow if we would not be +struck ourselves." She felt truly, and spoke sagaciously. Dumouriez, +whose rapid glance had seen behind the Girondists a party stronger and +bolder than their own, began from this time to connect himself with the +leaders of the Jacobins. He thought, and with reason, that party hatred +would be more potent than patriotism, and that by flattering the rivalry +of Robespierre and Danton against Brissot, Petion, and Roland, he should +find in the Jacobins themselves a support for the government. He liked +the king, pitied the queen, and all his prejudices were in favour of +the monarchy. He would have been as proud to restore the throne as to +save the republic. Skilful in handling men, every instrument was good +that was available; to get rid of the Girondists, who, by oppressing the +king menaced himself, and to go and seek further off and lower than +these rhetoricians, that popularity which was necessary to him when +opposed to them, was a master-stroke of genius: he tried it, and +succeeded. From this epoch may be dated his connection with Camille +Desmoulins and Danton. + +Danton and Dumouriez came to an understanding the sooner, because in +their vices, like their good qualities, they closely resembled each +other. Danton, like Dumouriez, only wanted the impulse of the +Revolution. Principles were trifles with him; what suited his energy and +his ambition was that tumultuous turmoil which cast down and elevated +men, from the throne to nothing, from nothing to fortune and power. The +intoxication of movement was to Danton, as to Dumouriez, the continual +need of their disposition: the Revolution was to them a battle field, +whose whirl charmed and promoted them. + +Yet any other revolution would have suited them as well; despotism or +liberty, king or people. There are men whose atmosphere is the whirlwind +of events--who only breathe easily in a storm of agitation. Moreover, if +Dumouriez had the vices or levities of courts, Danton had the vices and +licentiousness of the mob. These vices, how different soever in form, +are the same at bottom; they understand each other, they are a point of +contact between the weaknesses of the great and the corruption of the +small. Dumouriez understood Danton at the first glance, and Danton +allowed himself to be approached and tamed by Dumouriez. Their +connection, often suspected of bribery on the one hand, and venality on +the other, subsisted secretly or publicly until the exile of Dumouriez +and the death of Danton. Camille Desmoulins, freed of Danton and +Robespierre, attached himself also to Dumouriez, and brought his name +constantly forward in his pamphlets. The Orleans party, who held on with +the Jacobins by Sillery, Laclos, and Madame de Genlis, also sought the +friendship of the new minister. As to Robespierre, whose policy was +perpetual reserve with all parties, he affected neither liking nor +dislike towards Dumouriez, but was secretly delighted at seeing him +become a rival to his enemies. At least he never accused him. It is +difficult long to hate the enemy of those whom we hate. + + +XIX. + +The growing hatred of Robespierre and Brissot became daily more deadly. +The sittings of the Jacobins and the newspapers were the continual +theatre of the struggles and reconciliations of these two men. Equal in +strength in the nation--equal in talent in the tribune--it was evident +that they were afraid of each other in their attacks. They affected +mutual respect, even when most offensive; but this repressed animosity +only corroded their hearts more deeply, and it burst forth occasionally +beneath the politeness of their language, like death beneath the glance +of steel. + +All these fermentations of division, rivalry, and resentment, boiled +over in the April sittings. They were like a general review of two great +parties who were about to destroy the empire in disputing their own +ascendency. The Feuillants or moderate constitutionalists were the +victims, that each of the two popular parties mutually immolated to the +suspicions and rage of parties. Raederer, a moderate Jacobin, was accused +of having dined with the Feuillants, friends of La Fayette. "I do not +only inculpate Raederer," exclaimed Tallien, "I denounce Condorcet and +Brissot. Let us drive from our society the ambitious and the +Cromwellites." + +"The moment for unmasking traitors will soon arrive," said Robespierre +in his turn. "I do not desire to unmask them to-day. The blow when +struck must be decisive. I wish that all France heard me now. I wish +that the culpable chief of these factions, La Fayette, was here with all +his army; I would say to his soldiers, whilst I presented my +breast,--Strike! That moment would be the last of La Fayette and the +_intrigants_" (this name had been invented by Robespierre for the +Girondists). Fauchet excused himself for having said that Guadet, +Vergniaud, Gensonne, and Brissot might be, advantageously for the +country, placed at the head of the government. The Girondists were +accused of dreaming of a _protector_, the Jacobins a _tribune_ of the +people. + +At last, Brissot rose to reply. "I am here to defend myself," he said. +"What are my crimes? I am said to have made seven ministers--I keep up a +connection with La Fayette--I desire to make a protector of him. +Certainly great power is thus assigned to me by those who think that +from my fourth story I have dictated laws to the Chateau of the +Tuileries. But if it even were true that I had made ministers, how long +has it been a crime to have confided the interests of the people to the +hands of the people? This minister is about, it is said, to distribute +all his favours to the Jacobins! Ah! would to heaven that all the places +were filled by Jacobins!" + +At these words Camille Desmoulins, Brissot's enemy, concealed in the +chamber, bowing towards his neighbour, said aloud with a sneering laugh, +"What a cunning rogue! Cicero and Demosthenes never uttered more +eloquent insinuations." Cries of angry feeling burst from the ranks of +Brissot's friends, who clamoured for Camille Desmoulins' expulsion. A +censor of the chamber declared that the remarks of the pamphleteer were +disgraceful, and order was restored. Brissot proceeded. "Denunciation is +the weapon of the people: I do not complain of this. Do you know who are +its bitterest enemies? Those who prostitute denunciation. Yes; but where +are the proofs? Treat with the deepest contempt him who denounces, but +does not prove. How long have a protector or a protectorate been talked +of? Do you know why? Is it to accustom the ear to the name of +tribuneship and tribune. They do not see that a tribuneship can never +exist. Who would dare to dethrone the constitutional king? Who would +dare to place the crown on his head? Who can imagine that the race of +Brutus is extinct? And if there were no Brutus, where is the man who has +ten times the ability of Cromwell? Do you believe that Cromwell himself +would have succeeded in a revolution like ours? There were for him two +easy roads to usurpation, which are to-day closed--ignorance and +fanaticism. You think you see a Cromwell in a La Fayette. You neither +know La Fayette nor your times. Cromwell had character--La Fayette has +none. A man does not become protector without boldness and decision; +and when he has both, this society comprises a crowd of friends of +liberty, who would rather perish than support him. I first make the +oath, that either equality shall reign, or I will die contending against +protectors and tribunes. Tribunes! they are the worst enemies of the +people. They flatter to enchain it. They spread suspicions of virtue, +which will not debase itself. Remember who were Aristides and +Phocion,--they did not always sit in the tribune." + +Brissot, as he darted this sarcasm, looked towards Robespierre, for whom +he meant it. Robespierre turned pale, and raised his head suddenly. +"They did not always sit in the tribune," continued Brissot; "they were +at their posts in the camp, or at the tribunals," (a sneering laugh came +from the Girondist benches, accusing Robespierre of abandoning his post +at the moment of danger). "They did not disdain any charge, however +humble it might be, when it was assigned them by the people: they spoke +seldom; they did not flatter demagogues; they never denounced without +proofs! The calumniators did not spare Phocion. He was the victim of an +adulator of the people! Ah! this reminds me of the horrible calumny +uttered against Condorcet! Who are you who dare to slander this great +man? What have you done? What are your labours, your writings? Can you +quote, as he can, so many assaults during three years by himself with +Voltaire and D'Alembert against the throne, superstition, prejudices, +and the aristocracy? Where would you be, where this tribune, were it not +for these gentlemen? They are your masters; and you insult those who +gain you the voices of the people. You assail Condorcet, as though his +life had not been a series of sacrifices! A philosopher, he became a +politician; academician, he became a newspaper writer; a courtier, he +became one of the people; noble, he became a Jacobin! Beware! you are +following the concealed impulses of the court. Ah, I will not imitate my +adversaries, I would not repeat those rumours which assert they are paid +by the civil list." (There was a report that Robespierre had been gained +over to oppose the war.) "I shall not say a word of a secret committee +which they frequent, and in which are concerted the means of influencing +this society; but I will say that they follow in the track of the +promoters of civil war. I will say, that without meaning it, they do +more harm to the patriots than the court. And at what moment do they +throw division amongst us? At the moment when we have a foreign war, and +when an intestine war threatens us. Let us put an end to these disputes, +and let us go to the order of the day, leaving our contempt for odious +and injurious denunciations." + + +XX. + +At this, Robespierre and Guadet, equally provoked, wished to enter the +tribune. "It is forty-eight hours," said Guadet, "that the desire of +justifying myself has weighed upon my heart; it is only a few minutes +that this want has affected Robespierre. I request to be heard." Leave +was accorded, and he briefly exculpated himself. "Be especially on your +guard," he said, as he concluded, and pointed to Robespierre, "against +empirical orators, who have incessantly in their mouths the words of +liberty, tyranny, conspiracy--always mixing up their own praises with +the deceit they impose upon the people. Do justice to such men!" +"Order!" cried Freron, Robespierre's friend; "this is insult and +sarcasm." The tribune resounded with applause and hooting. The chamber +itself was divided into two camps, separated by a wide space. Harsh +names were exchanged, threatening gesticulations used, and hats were +raised and shaken about on the tops of canes. "I am called a wretch," +(_scelerat_) continued Guadet, "and yet I am not allowed to denounce a +man who invariably thrusts his personal pride in advance of the public +welfare. A man who, incessantly talking of patriotism, abandons the post +to which he was called! Yes, I denounce to you a man who, either from +ambition or misfortune, has become the idol of the people!" Here the +tumult reached its height, and drowned the voice of Guadet. + +Robespierre himself requested silence for his enemy. "Well," added +Guadet, alarmed or softened by Robespierre's feigned generosity, "I +denounce to you a man who, from love of the liberty of his country, +ought perhaps to impose upon himself the law of ostracism; for to remove +him from his own idolatry is to serve the people!" These words were +smothered under peals of affected laughter. Robespierre ascended the +steps of the tribune with studied calmness. His impassive brow +involuntarily brightened at the smiles and applauses of the Jacobins. +"This speech meets all my wishes," said he, looking towards Brissot and +his friends; "it includes in itself all the inculpations which the +enemies by whom I am surrounded have brought against me. In replying to +M. Guadet, I shall reply to all. I am invited to have recourse to +ostracism; there would, no doubt, be some excess of vanity in my +condemning myself--that is the punishment of great men, and it is only +for M. Brissot to class them. I am reproached for being so constantly in +the tribune. Ah! let liberty be assured, let equality be confirmed; let +the _Intrigants_ disappear, and you will see me as anxious to fly from +this tribune, and even this place, as you now see me desirous to be in +them. Thus, in effect, my dearest wishes will be accomplished. Happy in +the public liberty, I shall pass my peaceful days in the delights of a +sweet and obscure privacy." + +Robespierre confined himself to these few words, frequently interrupted +by the murmurs of fanatical enthusiasm, and then adjourned his answer to +the following sittings, when Danton was seated in the arm-chair, and +presided over this struggle between his enemies and his rival. +Robespierre began by elevating his own cause to the height of a national +one. He defended himself for having first provoked his adversaries. He +quoted the accusations made, and the injurious things uttered against +him, by the Brissot party. "Chief of a party, agitator of the people, +secret agent of the Austrian committee," he said, "these are the names +thrown in my teeth, and to which they urge me to reply! I shall not make +the answer of Scipio or La Fayette, who, when accused in the tribune of +the crime of _leze-nation_, only replied by their silence. I shall reply +by my life. + +"A pupil of Jean Jacques Rousseau, his doctrines have inspired my soul +for the people. The spectacles of the great assemblies in the first days +of our Revolution have filled me with hope. I soon understood the +difference that exists between those limited assemblies, composed of men +of ambitious views, or egotists, and the nation itself. My voice was +stifled there; but I preferred rather to excite the murmurs of the +enemies of truth, than to obtain applauses that were disgraceful. I +threw my glance beyond this limited circle, and my aim was to make +myself heard by the nation and the whole human race. It is for this that +I have so much frequented the tribune. I have done more than this--it +was I who gave Brissot and Condorcet to France. These great philosophers +have unquestionably ridiculed and opposed the priests; but they have not +the less courted kings and grandees, out of whom they have made a pretty +good thing. (Laughter). You do not forget with what eagerness they +persecuted the genius of liberty in the person of Jean Jacques Rousseau, +the only philosopher who, in my opinion, has deserved the public honours +lavished for a long time on so many political charlatans and so many +contemptible heroes. Brissot, at least, should feel well inclined +towards me. Where was he when I was defending this society from the +Jacobins against the Constituent Assembly itself? But for what I did at +this epoch, you would not have insulted me in this tribune; for it would +not have existed. I the corrupter, the agitator, the tribune of the +people! I am none of these, I am the people myself. You reproach me for +having quitted my place as public accuser. I did so when I saw that that +place gave me no other right than that of accusing citizens for civil +offences, and would deprive me of the right of accusing political +enemies. And it is for this that the people love me; and yet you desire +that I sentence myself to ostracism, in order to withdraw myself from +its confidence. Exile! how can you dare to propose it to me? Whither +would you have me retire? Amongst what people should I be received? Who +is the tyrant who would give me asylum?--Ah! we may abandon a happy, +free, and triumphant country; but a country threatened, rent by +convulsions, oppressed; we do not flee from that, we save, or perish +with it! Heaven, which gave me a soul impassioned for liberty, and gave +me birth in a land trampled on by tyrants--Heaven, which placed my life +in the midst of the reign of factions and crimes, perhaps calls me to +trace with my blood the road to happiness, and the liberty of my fellow +men! Do you require from me any other sacrifice? If you would have my +good name, I surrender it to you; I only wish for reputation in order to +do good to my fellow-creatures. If to preserve it, it be necessary to +betray by a cowardly silence the cause of the truth and of the people, +take it, sully it,--I will no longer defend it. Now that I have defended +myself, I may attack you. I will not do it; I offer you peace. I forget +your injuries; I put up with your insults; but on one condition, that +is, you join me in opposing the factions which distract our country, +and, the most dangerous of all, that of La Fayette: this pseudo-hero of +the two worlds, who, after having been present at the revolution of the +New World, has only exerted himself here in arresting the progress of +liberty in the old hemisphere. You, Brissot, did not you agree with me +that this chief was the executioner and assassin of the people, that the +massacre of the Champ-de-Mars had caused the Revolution to retrograde +for twenty years? Is this man less redoubtable because he is at this +time at the head of the army? No. Hasten then! Let the sword of the laws +strike horizontally at the heads of great conspirators. The news which +has arrived to us from the army is of threatening import. Already it +sows division amongst the national guards and the troops of the line; +already the blood of citizens has flowed at Metz; already the best +patriots are incarcerated at Strasbourg. I tell you, you are accused of +all these evils: wipe out these suspicions by uniting with us, and let +us be reconciled; but let it be for the sake of saving our common +country." + + + + +BOOK XIV. + + +I. + +Night was far advanced at the moment when Robespierre concluded his +eloquent discourse in the midst of the enthusiasm of the Jacobins. The +Jacobins and the Girondists then separated more exasperated than ever. +They hesitated before this important severance, which, by weakening the +patriotic party, might deliver the army over to La Fayette, and the +Assembly to the Feuillants.[20] Petion, friend of Robespierre and +Brissot, at the same time closely allied to the Jacobins and with Madame +Roland, kept his popularity in equilibrium for fear of losing half of it +if he decided positively for one side or the other. He tried next day to +effect a general reconciliation. "On both sides," he said, with a +tremulous voice, "I see my friends." There was an apparent truce; but +Guadet and Brissot printed their speeches, with offensive additions, +against Robespierre. They doggedly sapped his reputation by fresh +calumnies. On the 30th of April another storm broke out. + +It was proposed to interdict all denunciations unaccompanied by proofs. +"Reflect on what is proposed to you," said Robespierre: "the majority +here belongs to a faction, which desires by this means to calumniate us +freely, and stifle our accusations by silence. If you decree that I am +prohibited from defending myself from the libellers who conspire against +me, I shall quit this place, and will bury myself in retreat." "We will +follow you, Robespierre," exclaimed the women in the tribunes. "They +have profited by the discourse of Petion," he continued, "to disseminate +infamous libels against me. Petion himself is insulted. His heart beats +in sympathy with mine; he groans over the insults with which I am +assailed. Read Brissot's journal, and you will there see that I am +invited not always to be apostrophising the people in my discourses. +Yes, it is to be forbidden to pronounce the name of the people under +pain of passing for a malcontent,--a tribune. I am compared to the +Gracchi: they are right so to compare me. What may be perhaps common +between us is their tragical end. That is little: they make me +responsible for a writing of Marat, who points me out as a tribune by +preaching blood and slaughter. Have I ever professed such principles? Am +I guilty of the extravagance of such an excited writer as Marat?" + +At these words, Lasource, the friend of Brissot, wished to speak, and +was refused. Merlin demanded if the peace sworn yesterday ought to bind +only one of two parties, and to authorise the other to spread calumnies +against Robespierre? The Assembly tumultuously insisted on the orators +being silent. Legendre declared that the chamber was partial. +Robespierre quitted the tribune, approached the president, and addressed +him with menacing gestures, and in language impossible to be heard in +the noise of the chamber, and the taunts and sneers profusely scattered +by the opposing factions. + +"Why do we see this ferocity among the _intrigants_ against +Robespierre?" exclaimed one of the partisans when tranquillity was +re-established. "Because he is the only man capable of making head +against their party, if they should succeed in forming it. Yes, in +revolutions we require those men, who, full of self-denial, deliver +themselves as voluntary victims to factions. The people should support +them. You have found those men--Robespierre and Petion. Will you abandon +them to their enemies?" "No! no!" exclaimed a thousand voices, and a +motion, proposed by the president (Danton), declaring that Brissot had +calumniated Robespierre, was carried in the affirmative. + + +II. + +The journals took part, according to their politics, in these intestine +wars of the patriots. "Robespierre," said the _Revolution de Paris_, +"how is it that this man, whom the people bore in triumph to his house +when he left the Constituent Assembly, has now become a problem? For a +long while you believed yourself the only column of French liberty. Your +name was like the holy ark, no one could touch it without being struck +with death. You sought to be the man of the people. You have neither the +exterior of the orator, nor the genius which disposes of the will of +men. You have stirred up the clubs with your language; the incense burnt +in your honour has intoxicated you. The God of patriotism hath become a +man. The apogee of your glory was on the 17th July, 1791. From that day +your star declined. Robespierre, the patriots do not like that you +should present such a spectacle to them. When the people press around +the tribune to which you ascend, it is not to hear your self-eulogies, +but to hear you enlighten popular opinion. You are incorruptible--true; +but yet there are better citizens than you: there are those who are as +good, and do not boast of it. Why have you not the simplicity which is +ignorant of itself, and that right quality of the ancient times which +you sometimes refer to as possessed by you? + +"You are accused, Robespierre, of having been present at a secret +conference, held some time since at the Princesse de Lamballe's, at +which the queen Marie Antoinette was present. No mention is made of the +terms of the bargain between you and these two women, who would corrupt +you. Since then some changes have been seen in your domestic +arrangements, and you have had the money requisite to start a newspaper. +Could there have been such injurious suspicions against you in July, +1791? We believe nothing of these infamies: we do not think you the +accomplice of Marat, who offers you the dictatorship. We do not accuse +you of imitating Caesar when Anthony presented to him the diadem. No: but +be on your guard! Speak of yourself with less egotism. We have in our +time warned both La Fayette and Mirabeau, and pointed out the Tarpeian +rock for citizens who think themselves greater than their country." + + +III. + +"The wretches," replied Marat, who was then sheltered beneath the +patronage of Robespierre, "they cast a shade upon the purest virtues! +His genius is offensive to them. They punish him for his sacrifices. His +inclinations lead him to retirement. He only remained in the tumult of +the Jacobins from devotion to his country; but men of mediocre +understanding are not accustomed to the eulogiums of another, and the +mob likes to change its hero. + +"The faction of the La Fayettes, Guadets, Brissots circumvent him. They +call him the leader of a party! Robespierre chief of a party! They show +his hand in the disgraceful columns of the Civil List. They make the +people's confidence in him a crime, as if a simple citizen without +fortune and power had any other means of acquiring the love of his +fellow-countrymen but from his deserts! as if a man who has only his +isolated voice in the midst of a society of _intrigants_, hypocrites, +and knaves, could ever be feared! But this incorruptible censor annoys +them. They say he has an understanding with me to offer him the +dictatorship. This is my affair, and I declare that Robespierre is so +far from controlling my pen, that I never had the slightest connection +with him. I have seen him but once, and the sole conversation has +convinced me that he was not the man whom I sought for the supreme and +energetic power demanded by the Revolution. + +"The first word he addressed to me was a reproach for having dipped my +pen in the blood of the enemies of liberty,--for always speaking of the +cord, the axe, and the poignard; cruel words, which unquestionably my +heart would disavow, and my principles discredit. I undeceived him. +'Learn,' I replied to him, 'that my credit with the people does not +depend on my ideas, but on my audacity, the daring impetuosity of my +mind, my cries of rage, despair, and fury against the wretches who +impede the action of the Revolution. I know the anger, the just anger, +of the people, and that is why it listens to, and believes in, me. Those +cries of alarm and fury, that you take for words in the air, are the +most simple and sincere expression of the passions which devour my mind. +Yes, if I had had in my hand the arms of the people after the decree +against the garrison of Nancy, I would have decimated the deputies who +confirmed it. After the information of the events of the 5th and 6th +October, I would have immolated every judge on the pile; after the +massacre of the Champ-de-Mars, had I but had 2000 men, animated with the +same resentment as myself, I would have gone at their head to stab La +Fayette in the midst of his battalion of brigands, burnt the king in his +palace, and cut the throats of our atrocious representatives on their +very seats!' Robespierre listened to me with affright, turned pale, and +was for a long time silent. I left him. I had seen an honest man, but +not a man of the state." + +Thus the wretch had excited horror in the fanatic: Robespierre had +obtained Marat's pity. + + +IV. + +The first struggle between the Jacobins and the Girondists gave the +skilful Dumouriez a double _point d'appui_ for his policy. The enmity of +Roland, Claviere, and Servan no longer disturbed him in council. He +balanced their influence by his alliance with their enemies. But the +Jacobins demanded wages; he proffered them in war. Danton, as violent +but more politic than Marat, did not cease to repeat that the +revolutionists and the despots were irreconcileable, and that France had +no safety to expect except from its audacity and despair. War, according +to Danton, was the baptism or the martyrdom which liberty was to +undergo, like a new religion. It was necessary to replunge France into +the fire, in order to purify it from the stains and shame of its past. + +Dumouriez, agreeing with La Fayette and the Feuillants, was also anxious +for war; but it was as a soldier, to acquire glory, and thus crush +faction. From the first day of his ministry he negotiated so as to +obtain from Austria a decisive answer. He had removed nearly all the +members of the diplomatic body; he had replaced them by energetic men. +His despatches had a martial accent, which sounded like the voice of an +armed people. He summoned the princes of the Rhine, the emperor, the +king of Russia, the king of Sardinia, and Spain, to recognise or oppose +the constitutional king of France. But whilst these official envoys +demanded from the various courts prompt and categorical replies, the +secret agents of Dumouriez insinuated themselves into the cabinets of +princes, and compelled some states to detach themselves from the +coalition that was forming. They pointed out to them the advantages of +neutrality for their aggrandisement: they promised them the patronage of +France after victory. Not daring to hope for allies, the minister at +least contrived for France secret understanding: he corrupted by +ambition the states that he could not move by terror: he benumbed the +coalition, which he trusted subsequently to crush. + + +V. + +The prince on whose mind he operated most powerfully was the Duke of +Brunswick, whom the emperor and the king of Prussia alike destined for +the command of the combined armies against the French. This prince was +in their hopes the Agamemnon of Germany. + +Charles-Frederic-Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, bred in combats +and in pleasures, had inspired in the camps of the great Frederic the +genius of war, the spirit of French philosophy, and the Machiavellianism +of his master. He had accompanied this philosopher and soldier-king in +all the campaigns of the seven years' war. At the peace he travelled in +France and Italy. Received everywhere as the hero of Germany, and as the +heir to the genius of Frederic, he had married a sister of George III., +king of England. His capital, where his mistresses shone or philosophers +harangued, united the epicureism of the court to the austerity of the +camp. He reigned according to the precepts of sages; he lived after the +example of the Sybarites. But his soldier's mind, which was but too +easily given up to beauty, was not quenched in love; he only gave his +heart to women, he reserved his head for glory, war, and the government +of his states. Mirabeau, then a young man, had stayed at his court, on +his way to Berlin, to catch the last glimpses of the shining genius of +the great Frederic. The Duke of Brunswick had favourably received and +appreciated Mirabeau. These two men, placed in such different ranks, +resembled each other by their qualities and defects. They were two +revolutionary spirits; but from their difference of situations and +countries, the one was destined to create, and the other to oppose, a +revolution. + +Be this as it may, Mirabeau was seduced by the sovereign, whom he was +sent to seduce. + +"This prince's countenance," he writes in his secret correspondence, +"betokens depth and finesse. He speaks with eloquence and precision: he +is prodigiously well-informed, industrious, and clear-sighted: he has a +vast correspondence, which he owes to his merit alone: he is even +economical of his amours. His mistress, Madame de Hartfeld, is the most +sensible woman of his court. A real Alcibiades, he loves pleasure, but +never allows it to intrude on business. When acting as the Prussian +general, no one so early, so active, so precisely exact as he. Under a +calm aspect, which arises from the absolute control he has over his +mind, his brilliant imagination and ambitious aspirations often carry +him away; but the circumspection which he imposes on himself, and the +satisfactory reflection of his fame, restrain him and lead him to +doubts, which, perhaps, constitute his sole defect." + +Mirabeau predicted to the Duke of Brunswick, from this moment, leading +influence in the affairs of Germany after the death of the king of +Prussia, whom Germany called the Great King. + +The duke was then fifty years of age. He defended himself, in his +conversations with Mirabeau, from the charge of loving war. "Battles are +games of chance," said he to the French traveller: "up to this time I +have been fortunate. Who knows if to-day, although more lucky, I should +be as well used by fortune?" A year after this remark he made the +triumphant invasion of Holland, at the head of the troops of England. +Some years later Germany nominated him generalissimo. + +But war with France, however it might be grateful to his ambition as a +soldier, was repugnant to his mind as a philosopher. He felt he should +but ill carry out the ideas in which he had been educated. Mirabeau had +made that profound remark, which prophesied the weaknesses and defects +of a coalition guided by that prince: "This man is of a rare stamp, but +he is too much of a sage to be feared by sages." + +This phrase explains the offer of the crown of France made to the Duke +of Brunswick by Custine, in the name of the monarchical portion of the +Assembly. Freemasonry, that underground religion, into which nearly all +the reigning princes of Germany had entered, concealed beneath its +mysteries secret understandings between French philosophy and the +sovereigns on the banks of the Rhine. Brothers in a religious +conspiracy, they could not be very bitter enemies in politics. The Duke +of Brunswick was in the depth of his heart more the citizen than the +prince--more the Frenchman than the German. The offer of a throne at +Paris had pleased his fancy. He fights not against a people, whose king +he hopes to be, and against a cause, which he desires to conquer, but +not to destroy. Such was the state of the Duke of Brunswick's +mind;--consulted by the king of Prussia, he advised this monarch to turn +his forces to the Polish frontier and conquer provinces there, instead +of principles in France. + + +VI. + +Dumouriez's plan was to separate, as much as possible, Prussia from +Austria, in order to have but one enemy at a time to cope with; and the +union of these two powers, natural and jealous rivals of each other, +appeared to him so totally unnatural, that he flattered himself he could +prevent or sever it. The instinctive hatred of despotism for liberty, +however, overthrew all his schemes. Russia, through the ascendency of +Catherine, forced Prussia and Austria to make common cause against the +Revolution. At Vienna, the young Emperor Francis I. made far greater +preparations for war than for negotiation. The Prince de Kaunitz, his +principal minister, replied to the notes of Dumouriez in language that +seemed a defiance of the Assembly. Dumouriez laid these documents before +the Assembly, and forestalled the expressions of their just indignation, +by bursting himself into patriotic anger. The _contre coup_ of these +scenes was felt even in the cabinet of the emperor at Vienna, where +Francis I., pale and trembling with rage, censured the tardiness of his +minister. He was present every day at the conferences held at the +bedside of the veteran Prince de Kaunitz and the Prussian and Russian +envoys charged by their sovereigns to foment the war. The king of +Prussia demanded to have the whole direction of the war in his hands, +and he proposed the sudden invasion of the French territory as the most +efficacious means of preventing the effusion of blood, by striking +terror into the Revolution, and causing a counter-revolution, with the +hope of which the _emigres_ flattered him, to break out in France. An +interview to concert the measures of Austria and Prussia, was fixed +between the Duke of Brunswick and the Prince de Hohenlohe, general of +the emperor's army. For form's sake, however, conferences were still +carried on at Vienna between M. de Noailles, the French ambassador, and +Count Philippe de Cobentzel, vice-chancellor of the court. These +conferences, in which the liberty of the people and the absolute +sovereignty of monarchs continually strove to conciliate two +irreconcileable principles, ended invariably in mutual reproaches. A +speech of M. de Cobentzel broke off all negotiations, and this speech, +made public at Paris, caused the final declaration of war. Dumouriez +proposed it at the council, and induced the king, as if by the hand of +fatality, himself to propose the war to his people. "The people," said +he, "will credit your attachment when they behold you embrace their +cause, and combat kings in its defence." + +The king, surrounded by his ministers, appeared unexpectedly at the +Assembly on the 20th of April, at the conclusion of the council. A +solemn silence reigned in the Assembly, for every one felt that the +decisive word was now about to be pronounced--and they were not +deceived. After a full report of the negotiations with the house of +Austria had been read by Dumouriez, the king added in a low but firm +voice, "You have just heard the report which has been made to my +council; these conclusions have been unanimously adopted, and I myself +have taken the same resolution. I have exhausted every means of +maintaining peace, and I now come, in conformity with the terms of the +constitution, to propose to you, formally, war with the king of Hungary +and Bohemia." + +The king, after this speech, quitted the Assembly amidst cries and +gestures of enthusiasm, which burst forth in the salle and the tribunes: +the people followed their example. France felt certain of herself when +she was the first to attack all Europe armed against her. It seemed to +all good citizens that domestic troubles would cease before this mighty +external excitement of a people who defend their frontiers. That the +cause of liberty would be judged in a few hours on the field of battle, +and that the constitution needed only a victory, in order to render the +nation free at home, and triumphant abroad. The king himself re-entered +his palace relieved from the cruel weight of irresolution which had so +long oppressed him. War against his allies and his brothers had cost him +many a pang. This sacrifice of his feelings to the constitution seemed +to him to merit the gratitude of the Assembly, and by thus identifying +himself with the cause of his country, he flattered himself that he +should at least recover the good opinion and the love of his people. The +Assembly separated without deliberating, and gave a few hours up to +enthusiasm rather than to reflection. + + +VII. + +At the sitting in the evening, Pastoret, one of the principal +Feuillants, was the first to support the war. "We are reproached with +having voted the effusion of human blood in a moment of enthusiasm; but +is it to-day only that we are provoked? During four hundred years the +house of Austria has violated every treaty with France. Such are our +motives; let us no longer hesitate. Victory will adhere faithfully to +the cause of liberty." + +Becquet, a constitutional royalist, a profound and courageous orator, +alone ventured to speak against the declaration of war. "In a free +country," said he, "war is alone made to defend the constitution or the +nation. Our constitution is but of yesterday, and it requires calm to +take root. A state of crisis, such as war, opposes all regular movements +of political bodies. If your armies combat abroad, who will repress +faction at home? You are flattered with the belief that you have only +Austria to cope against. You are promised that the other northern powers +will not interfere; do not rely on this. Even England cannot remain +neuter: if the exigencies of the war lead you to revolutionise Belgium, +or to invade Holland, she will join Prussia to support the stadtholder +against you. Doubtless England loves the liberty which is now taking +root amongst you; but her life is commercial, she cannot abandon her +trade in the Low Countries. Wait until you are attacked, and then the +spirit of the people will fight in your cause. The justice of a cause is +worth armies. But if you can be represented to other nations as a +restless and conquering people, who can only exist in a vortex of +turmoil and war, the nations will shun and dread you. Besides, is not +war the hope of the enemies of the Revolution? Why give them cause to +rejoice by offering it to them. The _emigres_, now only despicable, will +become dangerous on that day when foreign armies lend them their +assistance." + +This sensible and profound speech, interrupted repeatedly by the +ironical laughter and the insults of the Assembly, was concluded amidst +the outcries of the tribunes. It required no small degree of heroism to +combat the proposed war in the French chambers. Bazire alone, the friend +of Robespierre, ventured, like Becquet, the king's friend, to demand a +few days' reflection, before giving a vote that would shed so much human +gore. "If you decide upon war, do so in such a manner that treason +cannot envelope it," said he. Feeble applause showed that the republican +allusion of Bazire had been comprehended, and that above all, it was +necessary to remove a king and generals whose fidelity was suspected. +"No, no," returned Mailhe, "do not lose an hour in decreeing the liberty +of the whole world." "Extinguish the torches of your disagreements in +the blaze of your cannon, and the glitter of your bayonets," added +Dubayet. "Let the report be made instantly," demanded Brissot. "Declare +war against kings, and peace to all nations," cried Merlin. The war was +voted. + +Condorcet, who had been informed already of this by the Girondists of +the council, read in the tribune a proposed manifesto to the nations. +The following was its substance: "Every nation has the right of giving +itself laws, and of altering them at pleasure. The French nation had +every reason to believe that these simple truths would obtain the assent +of all princes. This hope has not been fulfilled. A league has been +formed against its independence; and never did the pride of thrones more +audaciously insult the majesty of nations. The motives alleged by +despots against France are but an outrage to her liberty. This insulting +pride, far from intimidating her, serves only to excite her courage. It +requires time to discipline the slaves of despotism; every man is a +soldier when he combats against tyranny." + + +VIII. + +But the principal orator of the Gironde mounted the tribune the last. +"You owe it to the nation," said Vergniaud, "to employ every means to +assure the success of the great and terrible determination by which you +have signalised this memorable day. Remember the hour of that general +federation when all Frenchmen devoted their life to the defence of +liberty and the constitution. Remember the oath which you have taken on +the 14th of January, to bury yourselves beneath the ruins of the temple +rather than consent to a capitulation, or to the least modification in +the constitution. Where is the icy heart that does not palpitate in +these important moments--the grovelling soul that does not elevate +itself (I venture to utter the words) to heaven amidst these +acclamations of universal joy; the apathetic man who does not feel his +whole being penetrated and his forces raised by a noble enthusiasm far +above the common force of the human race? Give to France, to Europe, +the imposing spectacle of these national fetes. Reanimate that energy +before which the Bastille fell. Let every part of the empire resound +with these sublime words: '_To live free or die! The entire constitution +without any modification, or death!_' Let these cries reach even the +thrones that have leagued against you; let them learn that it is useless +to reckon upon our internal dissensions; that when our country is in +danger, we are animated by one passion alone--that of saving her, or of +perishing for her; in a word, should fortune prove false to so just a +cause as ours, our enemies might insult our lifeless corpses, but never +shall one Frenchman wear their fetters." + + +IX. + +These lyrical words of Vergniaud re-echoed at Berlin and at Vienna. "War +has been declared against us," said the Prince de Kaunitz to the Russian +ambassador, the Prince de Galitzin, "it is the same thing as if it had +been declared against you." The command of the Prussian and Austrian +forces was given to the Duke of Brunswick. The two princes by this act +only ratified the choice of all Germany, for opinion had already +nominated him. Germany moves but slowly: federations are but ill fitted +for sudden wars. The campaign was opened by the French before Prussia +and Austria had prepared their armaments. + +Dumouriez had reckoned upon this sluggishness and inactivity of the two +German monarchies. His skilful plan was to sever the coalition, and +suddenly invade Belgium before Prussia could take the field. Had +Dumouriez alone framed and carried out his own plan, the fate of Belgium +and Holland was sealed; but La Fayette, who was charged to invade them +at the head of 40,000 men, had neither the temerity nor the rapidity of +this veteran soldier. A general of opinion rather than the general of an +army, he was more accustomed to command citizens in the public square, +than soldiers in a campaign. Personally brave, beloved by his troops, +but more of a citizen than a soldier, he had, during the American war, +headed small bodies of free men, but not undisciplined masses. Not to +peril his soldiers; defend the frontiers with intrepidity; die bravely +at a Thermopylae; harangue the national guard; and excite his troops for +or against opinions; such was the nature of La Fayette. The daring +schemes of great wars, that risk much to save every thing, and which +expose the frontiers for a moment to strike at the heart of an empire, +accorded but ill with his habits, much less with his situation. + +By becoming a general, La Fayette had become the chief of a party; and +whilst he was opposing foreign powers, his eyes were constantly turned +towards the interior. Doubtless he needed glory to nourish his +influence, and to regain the _role_ of arbitrator of the Revolution, +which now began to escape his grasp; but before every thing, it was +necessary that he should not compromise himself; one defeat would have +ruined all, and he knew it. He who never risks a loss, will never gain a +victory. La Fayette was the general of temporisation; and to waste the +time of the Revolution, was to destroy its force. The strength of +undisciplined forces is their impetuosity, and every thing that slackens +that ruins them. + +Dumouriez, impetuous as the volcano, instinctively felt this, and +strove, in the conferences that preceded the nomination of the generals, +to infuse some portion of his own fire into La Fayette. He placed him at +the head of the principal _corps d'armee_, destined to penetrate into +Belgium, as the general most fitted to foment popular insurrection, and +convert the war on the Belgian provinces into revolution; for to rouse +Belgium in favour of French liberty, and to render its independence +dependent on ours, was to wrest it from the power of Austria, and turn +it against our foes. The Belgians, according to Dumouriez's plan, were +to conquer Belgium for us; for the germs of revolt had been but +imperfectly stifled in these provinces, and were destined to bud again +at the step of the first French soldier. + + +X. + +Belgium, which had been long dominated over by Spain, had contracted its +jealous and superstitious Catholicism. The nation pertains to the +priests, and the privileges of the priests appear to it the privileges +of the people. Joseph II., a premature but an armed philosopher, sought +to emancipate the people from sacerdotal despotism. Belgium had risen in +arms against the liberty offered to her, and had sided with her +oppressors. The fanaticism of the priests, and of the municipal +privileges, united in a feeling of resistance to Joseph II., had set all +Belgium in a flame. The rebels had captured GHENT and BRUSSELS, +and proclaimed the downfall of the house of Austria, and the sovereignty +of the Pays Bas. Scarcely had they triumphed, than the Belgians became +divided amongst themselves. The sacerdotal and aristocratic party +demanded an oligarchical constitution, whilst the popular party demanded +a democracy, modelled on the French revolution. + +VAN-DER-NOOT, an eloquent and cruel tribune, was the leader of the first +party; VAN-DER-MERSH, a brave soldier, of the people. Civil war broke +out amidst a struggle for independence. VAN-DER-MERSH, made +prisoner by the aristocratic party, was immured in a gloomy dungeon +until Leopold, the successor of Joseph II., profited by these domestic +feuds, again to subjugate Belgium. Weary of liberty, after having tasted +it, she submitted without resistance. Van-der-noot took refuge in +Holland. Van-der-mersh, freed by the Austrians, was generously pardoned, +and again became an obscure citizen. + +All attempts at independence were repressed by strong Austrian +garrisons, and could not fail to be awakened at the approach of the +French armies. La Fayette appeared to comprehend and approve of this +plan. It was agreed that the Marechal de Rochambeau should be appointed +commander-in-chief of the army that threatened Belgium, that La Fayette +should have under his orders a considerable _corps_ that would invade +the country, and then La Fayette would command alone in the Netherlands. +Rochambeau, old and worn out by inactivity, would thus only receive the +honour due to his rank. La Fayette would in reality direct the whole of +the campaign and of the armed propaganda of the revolution. "This _role_ +suits him," said the old marechal. "I do not understand this war of +cities." To cause La Fayette to march on Namur, which was but ill +defended, capture it, march from thence on Brussels and Liege, the two +capitals of the Pays Bas, and the focus of Belgian independence--send +General Biron forward at the head of ten thousand men on Mons, to oppose +the Austrian General Beaulieu, whose force was only two or three +thousand men--detach from the garrison at Lille another corps of three +thousand men, who would occupy Tournay, and who, after having left a +garrison in this town, would swell the corps of Biron--send twelve +hundred men from Dunkirk to surprise Furnes, and then advance by +converging into the heart of the Belgian provinces with these forty +thousand men under the command of La Fayette--attack, on every side, in +ten days an enemy ill prepared to resist--to rouse the populations to +revolt, and then increase the attacking army to eighty thousand troops, +and join to it the Belgian battalions raised in the name of freedom, to +combat the emperor's army as it arrived from Germany:--such was +Dumouriez's bold idea of the campaign. Nothing was wanting to ensure its +success but a man capable of executing it. Dumouriez disposed of the +troops and the generals in conformity with this plan. + + +XI. + +The impulse of France responded to the impulse of her genius. + +On the other side of the Rhine the preparations were making with +promptitude and energy. The emperor and the king of Prussia met at +Frankfort, where they were joined by the Duke of Brunswick. The empress +of Russia adhered to the aggression of the powers against France, and +marched her troops into Poland, to repress the germs of the same +principles that were to be combated at Paris. Germany yielded, in spite +of herself, to the impulse of the three cabinets, and poured her masses +towards the Rhine. The emperor preluded this war of thrones against +people by his coronation at Frankfort. The head-quarters of the Duke of +Brunswick were at Coblentz, the capital of the emigration. The +generalissimo of the confederation had an interview there with the two +brothers of Louis XVI., and promised to restore to them, ere long, their +country and their rank, whilst they, in their turn, styled him the _Hero +of the Rhine_, and the _Right arm of kings_. + +Every thing wore a military aspect. The two princes of Prussia, +quartered in a village near Coblentz, had but one room, and slept on the +floor. The king of Prussia was welcomed on every bank of the Rhine by +the salvos of his artillery. In every town through which he passed the +_emigres_, the population, and the troops, proclaimed him beforehand the +preserver of Germany. His name, written in letters of fire at the +illuminations, was surrounded by this adulatory device, "_Vivat +Villelmus, Francos deleat, jura regis restituat!"--"Long live William, +the exterminator of the French, the restorer of royalty._" + + +XII. + +Coblentz, a town situated on the confluence of the Moselle and the +Rhine, in the states of the Elector of Treves, had become the capital of +the French _emigres_. A constantly increasing body of gentlemen, to the +number of twenty-two thousand, assembled there, around the seven +fugitive princes of the house of Bourbon. These princes were, the Comte +de Provence and the Comte d'Artois, the king's brothers; the two sons of +the Comte d'Artois, the Duc de Berri and the Duc d'Angouleme; the Prince +de Conde, the king's cousin, the Duke de Bourbon, his son, and the Duc +d'Enghien, his grandson. All the military noblesse of the kingdom, with +the exception of the partisans of the constitution, had quitted their +garrisons or their Chateaus to join this crusade of kings against the +French revolution. This movement--which now appears sacrilegious, since +it armed citizens against their country, and led them to implore the +assistance of foreign powers to combat France--did not at that time +possess in the eyes of the French noblesse that parricidal character +with which the more enlightened patriotism of the present age invests +it. Culpable in the eyes of reason, it could at least explain itself +before feeling. Infidelity to their country was termed fidelity to their +king, and desertion, honour. + +Allegiance to the throne was the religion of the French nobles; and the +sovereignty of the people appeared to them an insolent dogma, against +which it was imperative to take arms, unless they wished to be partakers +of the crime. The noblesse had patiently supported the humiliation and +the personal spoliation of title and fortune which the National Assembly +had imposed on them by the destruction of the last vestiges of the +feudal system; or rather, they had generously sacrificed them to their +country on the night of the 6th of August. But these outrages on the +king appeared more intolerable to them than those inflicted on +themselves. To deliver him from his captivity--rescue him from impending +danger--save the queen and her children--restore royalty--or perish +fighting for this sacred cause, appeared to them the duty of their +situation and their birth. On one side was honour, on the other their +country: they had not hesitated, but had followed honour; and this was +sanctified even more in their eyes by the magic word devotion. There was +real devotion in the feeling that induced these young and these old men +to abandon their rank in the army--their fortune--their country--their +families, to rally around the white flag in a foreign land, to perform +the duty of private soldiers, and brave eternal exile, the spoliation +pronounced against them by the laws of their country, the fatigues of +the camp, and death and danger on the battle-field. If the devotion of +the patriots to the Revolution was sublime as hope, that of the emigrant +nobles was generous as despair. In civil wars we should ever judge each +party by its own ideas, for civil wars are almost invariably the +expression of two duties in opposition to each other. The duty of the +patriots was their country; of the _emigres_, the throne: one of the two +parties was deceived as to its duty, but each believed it fulfilled it. + + +XIII. + +The emigration was composed of two entirely distinct parties--the +politicians and the combatants. The politicians, who crowded round the +Comte de Provence and the Comte d'Artois, and poured forth idle +invectives against the truths of philosophy and the principles of +democracy. They wrote books and supported papers, in which the French +Revolution was represented to the foreign sovereigns as an infernal +conspiracy of a few scoundrels against kings, and even against heaven. +They formed the councils of an imaginary government--they sought to +obtain missions--they formed plans--renewed intrigues--visited every +court--stirred up the sovereigns and their ministers against +France--disputed the favour of the French princes--devoured their +subsidies--and transported to this foreign soil the ambitions, the +rivalries, and the cupidity of a court. + +The military men had brought nothing but the bravery, the _insouciance_, +the recklessness, and the polish of their nation and profession. +Coblentz became the camp of illusion and devotion. This handful of brave +men deemed themselves a nation; and prepared, by accustoming themselves +to the manoeuvres and fatigues of war, to conquer in a few days a +whole monarchy. The emigrants of every country and every age have +presented this spectacle; for emigration, like the desert, has its +mirage. The emigrants believe that they have borne away their country on +the soles of their shoes, to employ the language of Danton, but they +carry away nought but its shadow, accumulate nothing but its anger, and +find nothing but its pity. + + +XIV. + +Amongst the first _emigres_, three factions corresponded to these +different parties in the emigration itself. + +The Comte de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII., was a philosophic +prince--a politician and a diplomatist somewhat inclined towards +innovation; an enemy of the nobility, of the priesthood; favourable to +the aristocracy; and who would have pardoned the Revolution, if the +Revolution itself would have pardoned royalty. His early infirmities +closing the career of arms to him, he became addicted to politics--he +cultivated his mind--he studied history--he wrote well, and foreseeing +the approaching downfall, he predicted the probable death of Louis +XVI.--he believed in the vicissitudes of the Revolution, and prepared +himself to become the pacificator of his country, and the conciliator of +the throne and liberty. His heart possessed all the qualities and all +the faults of a woman--he needed friendship, and he gave himself +favourites; but he chose them rather for their elegance than their +merit, and saw men and things only through books and the hearts of +courtiers. Somewhat theatrical, he exhibited himself as a statue of +right and misfortune to all Europe; studied his attitudes; spoke +learnedly of his adversaries; and assumed the position of a victim and a +sage: he was, however, unpopular with the army. + +XV. + +The Comte d'Artois, his junior, spoiled by nature, by the court, and by +the fair sex, had taken on himself the _role_ of a hero. He represented +at Coblentz antique honour, chivalrous devotion, and the French +character; he was adored by the court, whose grace, elegance, and pride +were personified in him: his heart was good, his mind apt, but not well +informed, and of limited comprehension. A philosopher, through indolence +and carelessness before the Revolution, superstitious afterwards, +through weakness and _entrainment_, he threatened the Revolution with +his sword from a distance. He appeared more fitted to irritate than to +conquer, and at this early period he already manifested that unbridled +rashness and that useless spirit of provocation which was one day to +cost him a throne. But his personal beauty, his grace, and his +cordiality, covered all these defects, and he seemed destined never to +die. Old in years, he was fated to reign, and die, eternally young. He +was the prince of youth: at another epoch he would have been Francis I., +in his own he was Charles X. + +The Prince de Conde was a soldier by birth, inclination, and profession. +He despised these two courts, transposed to the banks of the Rhine, for +his court was his camp. His son, the Duc de Bourbon, served his first +campaign under his orders, and his grandson, the Duc d'Enghien, in his +seventeenth year, acted as his aide-de-camp. This young prince was the +representative of manly grace in the camp of the _emigres_; his bravery, +his enthusiasm, his generosity, all seemed to promise another hero to +the heroic race of Conde. He was worthy of conquering in a cause not +doomed, of dying sword in hand on the battle field, and not to fall, +some years later, in the fosse at Vincennes, by the "lantern dimly +burning," with no other friend than his dog, by the balls of a platoon +of soldiers, ordered out at dead of night, as if for an assassination. + + +XVI. + +Louis XVI. trembled in his palace at the shock of this war which he +himself had proclaimed, and which loured on the frontiers. He did not +conceal from himself that he was less the chief than the hostage of +France, and that his head and that of his children would be forfeited to +the nation on the first reverse or peril. Danger sees treason on every +side, and the public journals and the clubs denounced more vehemently +than ever the existence of the _comite Autrichien_, of which the queen +was the centre. This report was universally believed by the nation, and +only cost the queen her popularity during the peace, but during the war +it might cost her her life. Thus, formerly accused of betraying the +peace, this unfortunate family was now accused of betraying the war. In +false positions every thing is a danger; the king comprehended the +extent of his perils, and hastened to avert the most impending. + +He despatched a secret emissary to the king of Prussia and the emperor, +to entreat them, as they valued his safety, to suspend hostilities, and +to precede the invasion by a conciliating manifesto, which might allow +France to retire from the contest without disgrace, and would place the +life of the royal family under the safeguard of the nation. This secret +agent was Mallet-Dupan, a young journalist of Geneva, established in +France, and mixed up with the counter-revolutionary movement. +Mallet-Dupan was attached to the monarchy by principle, and to the king +by personal devotion. He left Paris under pretext of returning to +Geneva, and from thence went to Germany, where he had an interview with +the Marechal de Castries, the foreign confidant of Louis XVI., and one +of the leaders of the _emigres_. Accredited by the Duc de Castries, he +presented himself at Coblentz to the Duke of Brunswick, at Frankfort to +the ministers of the king of Prussia and the emperor; they however +refused to place any faith in his communications, unless he produced a +letter in the king's own hand. On this the king transmitted him a slip +of paper, about two inches long, on which was written: "_The person who +will produce this note knows my intentions; implicit credence may be +given to all he says in my name._" This royal sign of recognition gave +Mallet-Dupan access to the cabinets of the coalition. + +Conferences were opened between the French negotiator, the Comte de +Cobentzel, the Comte d'Haugwitz, and general Heyman, the +plenipotentiaries of the emperor, and the king of Prussia. These +ministers, after having examined the credentials of Mallet-Dupan, +listened to his communications. They were to the effect that "the king +alike prayed and exhorted the _emigres_ not to cause the approaching war +to lose its appearance of power against power, by taking part in it, in +the name of the re-establishment of the monarchy. Any other line of +conduct would produce a civil war, endanger the lives of the king and +queen, destroy the throne, and occasion a general massacre of the +royalists. The king added, that he besought the sovereigns who had taken +up arms in his cause, to separate, in their manifesto, the faction of +the Jacobins from the nation, and the liberty of the people from the +anarchy that convulsed them; to declare formally and energetically to +the Assembly, the administrative and municipal bodies, that their lives +should be answerable for all and every attempt against the sacred +persons of the king, the queen, and their children; and to announce to +the nation that no dismemberment would follow the war, that they would +treat for peace with the king alone, and that in consequence the +Assembly should hasten to give him the most perfect liberty, in order to +enable him to negotiate in the name of his people with the allied +powers." + +Mallet-Dupan explained the sense of these instructions with that +enlightened good sense, and that devoted attachment to the king that +marked him; he painted in the most lively colours the interior of the +Tuileries, and the terror to which the royal family was a prey. + +The negotiators were moved almost to tears, and promised to communicate +these impressions to their sovereigns, and gave Mallet-Dupan the +assurance that the intentions of the king should be the measure of the +language which the manifesto of the coalition would address to the +French nation. + +They did not however dissimulate their astonishment at the fact that the +language of the emigrant princes at Coblentz was so opposed to the views +of the king at Paris. "They openly manifest," said they, "the intention +of re-conquering the kingdom for the counter-revolution, of rendering +themselves independent, of dethroning their brother and proclaiming a +regency." The confidant of Louis XVI. left for Geneva after this +conference; whilst the emperor, the king of Prussia, the principal +princes of the confederation, the ministers, the generals, and the Duke +of Brunswick went to Mayence. Mayence, where the fetes were interrupted +by the councils, became for some days the head-quarters of the monarchs, +and there, at the instigation of the _emigres_, extreme resolutions were +adopted. It was resolved to combat a revolution that but increased in +proportion as it received indulgence. The supplications of Louis XVI., +and the warnings of Dupan were forgotten, and the plan of the campaign +was fixed. + + +XVII. + +The emperor was to have the supreme control of the war in Belgium, where +his army was to be commanded by the Duke of Saxe-Teschen. Fifteen +thousand men were to cover the right of the Prussians, and affect a +junction with them at Longwy. Twenty thousand more of the emperor's +troops, commanded by the Prince de Hohenlohe, were to establish +themselves between the Rhine and the Moselle, cover the Prussian left, +and operate upon Landau, Sarrelouis, and Thionville. A third corps, +under Prince Esterhazy, and strengthened by five thousand _emigres_ +under the Prince de Conde, would threaten the frontiers from Switzerland +to Philipsbourg, and the king of Sardinia would have an army of +observation on the Var and the Isere. These dispositions made, it was +resolved to reply to terror by terror, and to publish in the name of the +generalissimo the Duke of Brunswick, a manifesto, which would leave the +French revolution no other alternative than submission or death. + +M. de Calonne proposed it, and the Marquis de Limon, formerly intendant +des finances to the Duke of Orleans, first an ardent revolutionist like +his master, then an _emigre_ and an implacable royalist, wrote the +manifesto and submitted it to the emperor, who in his turn submitted it +to the king of Prussia. The king of Prussia sent it to the Duke of +Brunswick, who murmured, and demanded a modification of some of the +expressions, which was accorded. The Marquis de Limon, however, +supported by the French princes, again restored the text. The Duke of +Brunswick became indignant, and tore the manifesto to pieces, without +however daring to disavow it, and the manifesto appeared, with all its +insults and threats, to the French nation. + +The emperor and the king of Prussia, informed of the secret leaning of +the Duke of Brunswick to France, and of the offer of the crown made to +him by the factions, caused him to undertake the responsibility of this +proclamation either as a vengeance or a disavowal. This imperious +defiance of the kings to freedom threatened with death every national +guard taken with arms in his hand, protecting the independence of his +country, and that in case the least outrage was offered by the factions +to the king, Paris should be razed to the ground. + + + + +BOOK XV. + + +I. + +Whilst a war to the death impended over the people, and menaced the +king, discord continued to reign in the councils of the ministers. The +minister of war, Servan, was accused by Dumouriez with obeying with +servility, which resembled love rather than complaisance, the influence +of Madame Roland, and of having wholly defeated the plans for the +invasion of Belgium. The friends of Madame Roland, on their side, +threatened Dumouriez that they would make the Assembly demand of him an +account of the six millions of secret expenses, whose destination they +suspected. Already Guadet and Vergniaud had prepared discourses and a +project of a decree to demand a public reckoning for these sums. +Dumouriez, who had bought friends and accomplices with this gold amongst +the Jacobins and the Feuillants, revolted against the suspicion, +refused, in the name of his outraged honour, to make any return of this +expenditure, and boldly offered his resignation. Upon this a great +number of members of the Assembly, Feuillants and Jacobins, Petion +himself, called at the residence of the insulted minister, and conjured +him to return to his post. He consented, on condition that they would +leave the disposal of these funds to his conscience alone. The +Girondists themselves, intimidated by his retirement, and feeling that a +man of his character was indispensable to their weakness, withdrew their +motion, and passed a vote of public confidence in him. The people +applauded him as he quitted the Assembly. These applauses sounded +gloomily in the council-chamber of Madame Roland. The popularity of +Dumouriez renders her jealous. It was not in her eyes the popularity of +virtue, and she coveted it all for her husband and her party. Roland and +his Girondist colleagues, Servan, Claviere, redoubled their efforts to +influence the mind of the king, and used threats in order to acquire it. +To flatter the Assembly, court the people; irritate the Jacobins against +the court; beset the king by the imperious demand of sacrifices which +they knew were impossible; to injure him silently in opinion as the +cause of all evil, or the obstacle to all good; to compel him, in fact, +by insolence and outrage, to dismiss them that they might afterwards +accuse him of betraying in them the Revolution: such were their tactics, +resulting from their weakness rather than from their ambition. + +This feeling of backing the king, whose ministers they were, was the +basis of a conspiracy of which Madame Roland was the origin. At Roland's +there was nothing but ill humour; amongst his colleagues it was a +rivalry of patriotism with Robespierre. At Madame Roland's it was that +passion for a republic which was impatient of any remnant of a throne, +and which smiled complacently at the factions ready to overturn the +monarchy. When factions had arms no longer, Madame Roland and her +friends hastened to lead them. + + +II. + +We see a fatal example in the step of the minister of war, Servan. He, +entirely controlled by Madame Roland, proposed to the National Assembly, +without authority from the king, or the consent of the council, to +assemble round Paris a camp of 20,000 troops. This army, composed of +_federes_ chosen from amongst the most enthusiastic persons of the +provinces, would be, as the Girondists believed, a kind of central army +of opinions devoted to the Assembly, counter-balancing the king's guard, +repressing the national guard, and recalling to mind that army of the +parliament which, under the orders of Cromwell, had conducted Charles I. +to the scaffold. + +The Assembly, with the exception of the constitutional party, seized on +this idea as hatred seizes the arm which is offered to it. The king felt +the blow; Dumouriez saw through the perfidy, and could not repress his +choler against Servan in the council-chamber. His reproaches were those +of a loyal defender of his king. The replies of Servan were evasive, but +full of provocation. The two ministers laid their hands upon their +swords, and but for the presence of the king, and the intervention of +their colleagues, blood would have flowed in the council-chamber. + +The king was desirous of refusing his sanction to the decree for the +20,000 men. "It is too late," said Dumouriez: "your refusal would +display fears too well founded, but which we must take care not to +betray to our enemies. Sanction the decree, I will undertake to +neutralise the danger of the concentration." The king requested time for +consideration. + +Next day the Girondists called upon the king to sanction the decree +against the nonjuring priests. They came into direct contact with the +religious conscience of Louis XVI. Supported by that, this prince +declared that he would rather die than sign the persecution of the +church. Dumouriez insisted as much as the Girondists in obtaining this +sanction. The king was inflexible. In vain did Dumouriez represent to +him that by refusing legal measures against the nonjuring priests he +exposed the priests to massacre, and thus made himself responsible for +all the blood that might be shed. In vain did they represent to him that +this refusal would render the ministry unpopular, and thus deprive them +of all hope of saving the monarchy. In vain did they appeal to the +queen, and implore her, by her feelings as a mother, to bend the king to +their wishes. The queen herself was for a long time powerless. At last +the king seemed to hesitate, and gave Dumouriez a private meeting in the +evening. In this conversation he ordered Dumouriez to present to him +three ministers, to succeed Roland, Claviere, and Servan. Dumouriez at +once named Vergennes for finance, Naillac for foreign affairs, Mourgues +for the interior. He reserved the war department for himself: +dictatorial minister at the moment when France was becoming an army. +Roland, Claviere, and Servan, stung to the quick at a dismissal they had +provoked the more because they had not anticipated it, hastened to carry +their complaints and accusations to the Assembly. They were received +there as martyrs to their patriotism; they had filled the tribunes with +their partisans. + + +III. + +Roland, Claviere, and Servan were present, under pretence of rendering +an account of the grounds of their dismissal. Roland laid before the +Assembly the celebrated confidential letter dictated by his wife, and +which he had read to the king in his cabinet. He affected to believe +that the dismissal of ministers was the punishment of his own courage. +The advice he gave to the king in this letter thus turned into +accusations of this unfortunate prince. Louis XVI. had never received +from the malcontents a more terrible blow than that now given by his +minister. Passions trouble the conscience of the people, and there are +days when treachery passes current for heroism. The Girondists made a +hero of Roland. They had his letter printed, and circulated it in the +eighty-three departments. + +Roland left the chamber amidst loud applauses. Dumouriez entered it in +the midst of uproar. He displayed in the tribune the same calmness as in +the field of battle. He began by announcing to the Assembly the death of +General Gouvion. "He is happy," he said, with sadness, "to have died +fighting against the enemy, and not to have been the witness of the +discords which rend us to pieces. I envy his death." The deep serenity +of a powerful mind was felt in his every tone--a mind resolute to +contend against factions unto death. He then read a memorial relating to +the ministry of war. His exordium was an attack upon the Jacobins, and a +claim for the respect due to the ministers of the executive power. "Do +you hear Cromwell!" exclaimed Guadet, in a voice of thunder. "He thinks +himself already so sure of empire, that he dares to inflict his commands +upon us." "And why not?" retorted Dumouriez, proudly, and turning +towards the Mountain. His daring imposed on the Assembly. The Feuillant +deputies went out with him to the Tuileries. The king announced to him +his intention to give his sanction to the decree for the 20,000 men. As +to the decree of the priests, he repeated to the ministers that he had +resolved, and begged them to take to the president of the Assembly a +letter in his own writing, which contained the motives for his _veto_. +The ministers bowed, and separated in consternation. + + +IV. + +When Dumouriez reached his house, he learnt that there had been +gatherings of the populace in the Faubourg St. Antoine, and he informed +the king, who believing that he intended to alarm him, lost his +confidence in Dumouriez, who instantly offered his resignation, which +the king accepted. The portfolio of the ministry of foreign affairs was +confided to Chambonas; that of war to Lajard, a soldier of La Fayette's +party; that of the interior to M. de Monciel, a constitutional Feuillant +and friend of the king. This was on the 17th of June. The Jacobins, the +people incited by the Girondists, were already disturbing the capital: +all announced a coming insurrection. These ministers, without any armed +force, without popularity, without party, thus accepted the +responsibility of the perils accumulated by their predecessors. The king +saw Dumouriez once again--it was the last time. The farewell between the +monarch and his minister was affecting. + +"You are going to the army?" said the king. "Yes, sire," replied +Dumouriez, "and I should leave with joy this fearful city, if I had not +a feeling of the dangers impending over your majesty. Deign to listen to +me, sire; I am never destined to see you again. I am fifty-three years +of age, and have much experience. They abuse your conscience with +respect to the decree against the priests, and are pushing you on to +civil war. You are without strength, defenceless, and you will sink +under it, whilst History, though full of commiseration for you, will +accuse you of the misfortunes of your people." + +The king was seated near a table where he had just signed the general's +accounts. Dumouriez was standing beside him with clasped hands. The king +took his hands in his own, and said to him, in a voice sorrowful but +resigned, "God is my witness, that I only think of the happiness of +France." "I never doubted it, sire," responded Dumouriez, deeply +affected. "You owe an account to God, not only for the purity, but also +for the enlightened use, of your intentions. You think to save religion: +you destroy it. The priests will be massacred: your crown will be taken +from you; perhaps even your queen and children--." He did not finish, +but pressed his lips to the king's hand, who shed tears. + +"I await--expect death," replied the king, sorrowfully; "and I pardon my +enemies already. I am grateful to you for your sensibility. You have +served me well, and I esteem you. Adieu--be more happy than I am!" And +on saying these words Louis XVI. went to a recess in a window at the end +of the chamber, in order to conceal the trouble he felt. Dumouriez never +saw him again. He shut himself up for several days in retirement, in a +lonely quarter of Paris. Looking upon the army as the only refuge for a +citizen still capable of serving his country, he set out for Douai, the +head quarters of Luckner. + + +V. + +The Girondists remained a moment overwhelmed by the humiliation of their +fall and the joy of their coming vengeance. "Here I am dismissed," was +Roland's exclamation to his wife, on his return home. "I have but one +regret, and that is, that our delays have prevented us from taking the +initiative." Madame Roland retired to a humble apartment, without losing +any of her influence and without regretting power, since she carried +with her into her retreat, her genius, her patriotism, and her friends. +With her the conspiracy only changed place; from the ministry of the +interior she passed at once into the small council which she gathered +about her, and inspired with her own earnest enthusiasm. + +This circle daily increased. The admiration for the woman mingled in the +hearts of her friends with the attraction of liberty. They adored in her +the future Republic. The love which these young men did not avow for her +made, unknown to her, a portion of their politics. Ideas only become +active and powerful when vivified by sentiment. She was the sentiment of +her party. + +This party was joined about this time by a man unconnected with the +Gironde; but his youth, his remarkable beauty, and his energy naturally +threw him into this faction of illusion and love, controlled by a woman. +This young man was Barbaroux. + +At this time he was only twenty-six years of age. Born at Marseilles, of +a sea-faring family, who preserved in their manners and features +something of the boldness of their life and the agitation of their +element. The elegance of his stature, the poetic grace of his +countenance, recalled the accomplished forms which antiquity adored in +the statues of Antinous. The blood of that Asiatic Greece of which +Marseilles is a colony revealed itself in the purity of the young +Phocian's profile.[21] As richly endowed with the gifts of the mind as +those of the body, Barbaroux early used himself to public oratory, that +gift of the men of the south. He became a barrister, and pleaded several +causes with success; but the power and honesty of his mind revolted from +that exercise of eloquence, so often mercenary, which simulates +earnestness. He required a national cause, to which a man should give +with language his soul and blood. The Revolution with which he was born +offered this to him. He awaited with impatience the occasion and the +hour to make use of it. + +His youth still kept him away from the scene into which he ardently +longed to cast himself. He passed his time near the village of +Ollioules, on a small family estate, concealed beneath tall cork-trees, +which threw their slight shade over the calcined declivities of this +valley. He there attended to the cultivated patches which the aridity of +the soil and the burning sun dispute with the rocks. In his leisure he +studied natural sciences, and kept up a correspondence with two Swiss, +whose systems of physics then occupied the learned world--M. de Saussure +and Marat. But science was not sufficient for his mind, which overflowed +with sensitiveness, and which Barbaroux poured forth in elegiac poetry +as burning as the noonday, and vague as the horizon of the sea beneath +his view. There is felt that southern melancholy whose languor, is +closer allied to pleasure than weakness, and which resembles the songs +of man seated in the broad sunshine, before or after labour. Mirabeau +had thus begun his life. The most energetic lives frequently open in +gloom, as if they had in their very germ presentiments of their contrary +destiny. It would seem as though we read in the verses of this young man +that through his tears he contemplated his faults, his expiation, and +his scaffold. + + +VI. + +After Mirabeau's election, and the agitations which followed, Barbaroux +was named secretary of the municipality of Marseilles. At the troubles +of Aries he took arms, and marched at the head of the young Marseillais +against the rulers of the Comtal. His martial figure, his gestures, his +ardour, his voice, made him conspicuous everywhere: he fascinated all. +Being deputed to Paris in order to give an account of the events of the +south to the National Assembly, the Girondists, Vergniaud and Guadet, +who were desirous of obtaining an amnesty for the crimes of Avignon, did +all in their power to attach this young man to their party. Barbaroux, +impetuous as he was, did not justify the butchers of Avignon; but +detested the victims. He was a man requisite to the Girondists. Struck +by his eloquence and his enthusiasm, they presented him to Madame +Roland: no woman was more formed to seduce, no man more formed to be +seduced. Madame Roland--in all the freshness of her youth, in all the +brilliancy of her beauty, and also in all the fulness of sensibility, +which all the purity of her life could not stifle in her unoccupied +heart--speaks thus tenderly of Barbaroux: "I had read," she says, "in +the cabinet of my husband, the letters of Barbaroux, full of sense and +premature wisdom. When I saw him I was astonished at his youth. He +attached himself to my husband. We saw more of him after we left the +ministry; and it was then, that reasoning on the miserable state of +things, and the fear of a triumph of despotism in the north of France, +we formed the plan of a republic in the south. This will be our _pis +aller_, said Barbaroux, with a smile; but the Marseillais army here will +dispense with our attempting it." + + +VII. + +Roland then lived in a gloomy house of the Rue St. Jaques, almost in the +garrets: it was a philosopher's retreat, and his wife illumined it. +Present at all the conversations of Roland, she witnessed the +conferences between her husband and the young Marseillais. Barbaroux +thus relates the interview in which the first idea of a republic was +mooted: "That astonishing woman was there," said he. "Roland asked me +what I thought the best means of saving France. I opened my heart to +him: my confidence called for his. 'Liberty is gone,' he replied, 'if we +do not speedily disconcert the plots of the court. La Fayette is +meditating treason in the north: the army of the centre is +systematically disorganised: in six weeks the Austrians will be at +Paris. Have we then laboured at the most glorious of revolutions for so +many years to see it overthrown in a single day? If Liberty dies in +France, it is lost for ever to the rest of the world!--all the hopes of +philosophy are deceived--prejudices and tyranny will again grasp the +world. Let us prevent this misfortune, and if the north is subjected, +let us take Liberty with us into the south, and there form a colony of +free men.' His wife wept as she listened to him, and I myself wept as I +looked at her. Oh! how much the outpourings of confidence console and +fortify minds that are in desolation. I drew a rapid sketch of the +resources and hopes of Liberty in the south. A serene expression of joy +spread over Roland's brow: he squeezed my hand, and we traced on a map +of France the limits of this empire of Liberty, which extended from the +Doubs, the Ain, and the Rhone to La Dordogne, and from the inaccessible +mountains of Auvergne to Durance and the sea. I wrote, by dictation of +Roland, to request from Marseilles a battalion and two pieces of cannon. +These preliminaries agreed upon, I left Roland with feelings of deep +respect for himself and his wife. I have seen them subsequently, during +their second ministry, as simple minded as in their humble retreat. Of +all the men of modern times, Roland seems to me most to resemble Cato; +but it must be owned that it is to his wife that his courage and talents +are due." + +Thus did the original idea of a federative republic arise in the first +interview between Barbaroux and Madame Roland. What they dreamed of as a +desperate measure of Liberty, was afterwards made a reproach to them for +having conspired as a plot. This first sigh of patriotism of two young +minds who met and understood each other, was their attraction and their +crime. + + +VIII. + +From this day the Girondists, disengaged from every obligation with the +king and ministers, conspired secretly with Madame Roland, and publicly +in the tribune, for the suppression of the monarchy. They appeared to +envy the Jacobins the honour of giving the throne the most deadly blows. +Robespierre as yet spoke only of the constitution, limiting himself +within the law, and not going a-head of the people. The Girondists +already spoke in the name of the republic, and motioned with gesture and +eye the republican _coup d'etat_, which every day drew nearer. The +meetings at Roland's multiplied and enlarged: new men joined their +ranks. Roland, Brissot, Vergniaud, Guadet, Gensonne, Condorcet, Petion, +Lanthenas, who in the hour of danger betrayed them; Valaze, Pache, who +persecuted and decimated his friends; Grangeneuve, Louvet, who beneath +levity of manners and gaiety of mind veiled undaunted courage; Chamfort, +the intimate of the great, a vivid intellect, heart full of venom, +discouraged by the people before he had served it; Carra, the popular +journalist, enthusiastic for a republic, mad with desire for liberty; +Chenier[22], the poet of the revolution, destined to survive it, and +preserving his worship of it until death, even under the tyranny of the +empire; Dusaulx, who had beneath his gray hairs the enthusiasm of youth +for philosophy--the Nestor of all the young men, whom he moderated by +his sage exhortations; Mercier, who took all as a jest, even in the +dungeon and death. + + +IX. + +But of the men whom enthusiasm for the Revolution brought around her, he +whom Madame Roland preferred to all was Buzot. More attached to this +young female than to his party, Buzot was to her a friend, whilst the +others were but tools or accomplices. She had quickly passed her +judgment on Barbaroux, and this judgment, impressed with a certain +bitterness, was like a repentance for the secret impression which the +favourable exterior of this young man had at first inspired. She accuses +herself with finding him so handsome, and seems to fortify her heart +against the fascination of his looks. "Barbaroux is volatile," she said; +"the adoration he receives from worthless women destroys the seriousness +of his feelings. When I see such fine young men too conceited at the +impression they make, like Barbaroux and Herault de Sechelles, I cannot +help thinking that they adore themselves too much to have a great deal +of adoration left for their country." + +If we may lift the veil from the heart of this virtuous woman, who does +not raise it herself for fear of developing a sentiment contrary to her +duties, we must be convinced that her instinctive inclination had been +one moment for Barbaroux, but her reflecting tenderness was for Buzot. +It is neither given to duty nor liberty to fill completely the soul of a +woman as lovely and impassioned as she: duty chills, politics deceive, +virtue retains, love fills the heart. Madame Roland loved Buzot. He +adored in her his inspiration and his idol. Perchance they never +disclosed to each other in words a sentiment which would have been the +less sacred to them from the hour in which it had become guilty. But +what they concealed from one another they have involuntarily revealed at +their death. There are in the last days and last hours of this man and +this woman, sighs, gestures, and words, which allow the secret preserved +during life to escape in the presence of death; but the secret thus +disclosed keeps its mystery. Posterity may have the right to detect, +but none to accuse, this sentiment. + +Roland, an estimable but morose old man, had the exactions of weakness +without having its gratitude or indulgence towards his partner. She +remained faithful to him, more from respect to herself than from +affection to him. They loved the same cause--Liberty; but Roland's +fanaticism was as cold as pride, whilst his wife's was as glowing as +love. She sacrificed herself daily at the shrine of her husband's +reputation, and scarcely perceived her own self-devotion. He read in her +heart that she bore the yoke with pride, and yet the yoke galled her. +She paints Buzot with complacency, and as the ideal of domestic +happiness. "Sensible, ardent, melancholy," she writes, "a passionate +admirer of nature, he seems born to give and share happiness. This man +would forget the universe in the sweetness of private virtues. Capable +of sublime impulses and unvarying affections, the vulgar, who like to +depreciate what it cannot equal, accuse him of being a dreamer. Of sweet +countenance, elegant figure, there is always in his attire that care, +neatness, and propriety, which announce respect of self as well as of +others. Whilst the dregs of the nation elevate the flatterers and +corrupters of the people to station--whilst cut-throats swear, drink, +and clothe themselves in rags, in order to fraternise with the populace, +Buzot possesses the morality of Socrates, and maintains the decorum of +Scipio: so they pull down his house and banish him, as they did +Aristides. I am astonished they have not issued a decree that his name +should be forgotten." The man of whom she speaks in such terms from the +depths of her dungeon, on the evening before her death, exiled, +wandering, concealed in the caves of St. Emilion, fell as though struck +by lightning, and remained several days in a state of phrenzy, on +learning the death of Madame Roland. + +Danton, whose name began to rise above the crowd, when his fame was but +slight until now, sought at this period Madame Roland's acquaintance. +All inquired what was the secret of the growing ascendency of this man? +Where he came from? Who he was? Whither he was advancing? They sought +his origin; his first appearance on the stage of the people; his first +connection with the celebrated personages of his time. They sought in +mysteries the cause of his prodigious popularity. It was pre-eminently +in his nature. + + +X. + +Danton was not merely one of those adventurers of demagogism who rise, +like _Masaniello_, or like Hebert,[23] from the boiling scum of the +masses. He was one of the middle classes, the heart of the nation. His +family, pure, honest, of property, and industrious, ancient in name, +honourable in manners, was established at Arcis-sur-Aube, and possessed +a rural domain in the environs of that small town. It was of the number +of those modest but well-esteemed families, who have the soil for their +basis, and agriculture as their main occupation, but who give their sons +the most complete moral and literary education, and who thus prepare +them for the liberal professions of society. Danton's father died young. +His mother had married again to a manufacturer of Arcis-sur-Aube, who +had (and himself managed), a small cotton mill. There is still to be +seen near the river, without the city, in a pleasant spot, the house, +half rustic half town built, and the garden on the banks of the Aube, +where Danton's infancy was passed. + +His step-father, M. Ricordin, attended to his education as he would have +done that of his own child. He was of an open communicative disposition, +and was beloved in spite of his ugliness and turbulence; for his +ugliness was radiant with intellect, and his turbulence was calmed and +repented of at the least caress of his mother. He pursued his studies at +Troyes, the capital of Champagne. Rebellious against discipline, idle at +study, beloved by his masters and fellow pupils, his rapid comprehension +kept him on an equality with the most assiduous. His instinct sufficed +without reflection. He learned nothing; he acquired all. His companions +called him Catiline--he accepted the name, and sometimes played with +them at getting up rebellions and riots, which he excited or calmed by +his harangues--as if he were repeating at school the characters of his +after life. + + +XI. + +M. and Madame Ricordin, already advanced in years, gave him, after his +education was finished, the small fortune of his father. He came to +finish his studies in law at Paris, and bought a place in parliament as +a barrister, where he practised little and without any notoriety. He +despised chicanery; his mind and language had the proportions of the +great causes of the people and the throne. The Constituent Assembly +began to stir them. Danton, watchful and impassioned, was anxious to +mingle with them: he sought the leading men, whose eloquence resounded +throughout France. He attached himself to Mirabeau; became connected +with Camille Desmoulins, Marat, Robespierre, Petion, Brune (afterwards +the marshal), Fabre d'Eglantine, the Duc d'Orleans, Laclos, Lacroix, and +all the illustrious and second class orators who then "fulmined over" +Paris. He passed his whole time in the tribunes of the Assembly, in the +walks, and the coffee-houses, and his nights in the clubs. A few +well-seasoned words, some brief harangues, some bursts of mysterious +lightning: and above all, his hair like a horse's mane, his gigantic +stature, and his powerful voice, made him universally remarked. Yet +beneath the purely physical qualities of the orator men of intelligence +remarked great good sense and an instinctive knowledge of the human +heart. Beneath the agitator they discerned the statesman. Danton in +truth read history, studied the ancient orators, practised himself in +real eloquence, that which enlightens in its passion, and beneath his +actual part was preparing another much superior. He only asked the +movement to raise him so high that he might subsequently control it. + +He married Mademoiselle Charpentier, daughter of a lemonade-seller on +the Quai de l'Ecole. This young lady controlled him by her affection, +and insensibly reformed him from the disorders of his youth to more +regular domestic habits. She extinguished the violence of his passions, +but without being able to quench that which survived all +others--ambition of a great destiny. + +Danton lived in a small apartment in the Cour de Commerce, near his +father-in-law, in rigid economy, receiving but a very few friends, who +admired his talent and attached themselves to his fortunes. The most +constant were Camille Desmoulins, Petion, and Brune. From these meetings +went forth signals of extensive sedition. The secret subsidies of the +court came there to tempt the cupidity of the head of the young +revolutionists. He did not reject them, but used them sometimes to +excite and sometimes to control the agitations of opinion. + +He had by this marriage two sons, whom his death left orphans in their +cradle, and who succeeded to his small inheritance at Arcis-sur-Aube. +These two sons of Danton, alarmed at the effects of their name, retired +to their family domain, and cultivated it with their own hands, and in +an honest and industrious obscurity limited to themselves all their +father's notoriety. Like the son of Cromwell, they preferred the shade +and silence the more, as their name had a too sinister reputation, and +too wide an extension in the world. They remained unmarried, that the +name might die with them. + +At this moment Danton, whose ambitious instincts revealed the close +return to fortune of the Girondists, sought to attach himself to this +rising party, and give them the weight of his worth and importance. +Madame Roland flattered him, but with fear and repugnance, as a woman +would pat a lion. + + +XII. + +Whilst the Girondists were exciting the anger of the people against the +king, hostilities were beginning in Belgium, in consequence of reverses, +which were attributed to treasons of the court: these were produced by +three causes; the hesitation of the generals, who did not understand how +to impart to their troops that ardour which impels the masses, and bears +down resistance; the disorganisation of the armies, which emigration had +deprived of their ancient officers, and who had no confidence in the +new; and finally, the want of discipline, that element of revolutions, +which clubs and Jacobinism had spread amongst the troops. An army that +discusses is like a hand which would think. + +La Fayette, instead of advancing at once on Namur according to +Dumouriez's plan, lost a good deal of precious time in assembling and +organising at Givet, and the camp of Ransenne. Instead of giving the +other generals in line with him, the example and the signal of invasion +and victory, by at once occupying Namur, he moved about the country with +10,000 men, leaving the remainder of his forces encamped in France, and +fell back at the first news of the checks sustained by the detachments +of Biron and Theobald Dillon. These checks, though partial and slight, +were disgraceful for our troops. It was the astonishment of an army +unaccustomed to war, and fearful of entering the lists, but which, like +a soldier at his first campaign, would soon grow used to battles. + +The Duc de Lauzun commanded under La Fayette, and was called general +Biron. He was a man of the court, who had gone over in all sincerity to +the side of the people. Young, handsome, chivalrous, with that intrepid +gaiety which plays with death, he carried aristocratic honour into +republican ranks. Loved by the soldiers, adored by the women, at his +ease in camps, a roue in courts, he was of that school of sparkling +vices of which the Marshal de Richelieu had been the type in France. It +was said that the queen herself had been enamoured of him, without being +able to fix his inconstancy. Friend of the Duc d'Orleans, companion of +his debaucheries, still he had never conspired with him. All treachery +was abhorrent to him, all baseness of heart roused his utmost +indignation. He adopted the Revolution as a noble idea, of which he was +always ready to be the soldier, but never the accomplice. He did not +betray the king, and always preserved a deep feeling of pity and +sympathy for the queen; with an intense love for philosophy and liberty, +instead of fomenting them by sedition, he defended them by war. He +changed devotion to kings into devotion to his country. This noble +cause, and the sorrows of the Revolution gave to his character a more +manly stamp, and made him fight and die with the conscience of a hero. + +He was encamped at Quievrain with 10,000 men, and advanced against the +Austrian general Beaulieu, who occupied the heights of Mons, with a very +weak army. Two regiments of dragoons, who formed Biron's advanced guard, +were seized with a sudden panic on beholding Beaulieu's troops. The +soldiers cried out treachery, and in vain did their officers attempt to +rally them; they turned bridle and scattered disorder and fear +throughout the ranks. The army gave way and mechanically followed the +current of flight. Biron and his aides-de-camp threw themselves into the +centre of the troops to stay and to rally them. They struck at them with +their swords, and fired at them. The camp of Quievrain, the military +chest, the carriage of Biron himself, were plundered by the fugitives. + +Whilst this defeat, without a battle, humiliated the French army, in its +first step, at Quievrain, bloody assassinations stained our flag at +Lille. General Dillon had left that city, the enemy showed itself on the +plain to the number of nine hundred men. At its appearance only, the +French cavalry uttered treacherous cries, and passing by the infantry, +fled to Lille, without being followed, abandoning its artillery, +carriages, and baggage. Dillon, hurried along by his squadrons to Lille, +was there massacred by his own soldiers. His colonel of engineers, +Berthois, fell beside his general, beneath the bayonets of the cowards +who abandoned him. The dead bodies of these two victims of fear were +hung up in the _Place d'Armes_, and then delivered up by the malcontents +to the insults of the populace of Lille, who dragged their mutilated +carcases along the streets. Thus commenced in shame and crime those wars +of the Revolution which were destined to produce, during twenty years, +so much heroism, and so much military virtue. Anarchy had penetrated to +the camps, honour was there no longer: order and honour are the two +necessities of an army. In anarchy there is still a nation--without +discipline there is no longer an army. + + +XIII. + +Paris was in consternation at this news; the Assembly greatly troubled, +the Girondists trembled, the Jacobins were vociferous in their +imprecations against the traitors. Foreign courts and the emigrants had +no doubt of an easy triumph in a few marches over a revolution which was +afraid of its very shadow. La Fayette, without having been attacked, +fell back, very prudently, on Givet. Rochambeau sent in his resignation +as commandant of the army of the north. Marshal Luckner was nominated +in his place. La Fayette, much dissatisfied, kept the command of the +central army. + +Luckner was upwards of seventy years of age, but retained all the fire +and activity of the warrior; he only required genius to have been a +great general. He had a reputation for complaisance, which sufficed for +every thing. It is a great advantage for a general to be a stranger in +the country in which he is serving. He has no one jealous of him: his +superiority is pardoned, and presumed if it do not exist, in order to +crush his rivals: such was old Luckner's position. He was a +German,--pupil of the great Frederic, with whom he had served with +_eclat_ during the seven years' war as commandant of the vanguard, at +the moment when Frederic changed the war, and commenced its tactics. The +Duc de Choiseul was desirous of depriving Prussia of a general of this +great school, to teach the modern art of battles to French generals. He +had attracted Luckner from his country by force of temptations, fortune, +and honours. The national Assembly, from respect to the memory of the +philosopher king, had preserved to Luckner the pension of 60,000 francs +which had been paid to him during the Revolution. Luckner, indifferent +to constitutions, believed himself a revolutionist from gratitude. He +was almost the only one amongst the ancient general officers who had not +emigrated. Surrounded by a brilliant staff of young officers of the +party of La Fayette, Charles Lameth, du Jarri, Mathieu de Montmorency, +he believed he had the opinions which they instilled into him. The king +caressed, the Assembly flattered, the army respected, him. The nation +saw in him the mysterious genius of the old war coming to give lessons +of victory to the untried patriotism of the Revolution, and concealing +its infinite resources under the bluntness of his exterior, and the +obscure Germanism of his language. They addressed to him, from all +sides, homage as though he were an unknown God. He did not deserve +either this adoration, or the outrages with which he was soon after +overwhelmed. He was a brave and coarse soldier, as misplaced in courts +as in clubs. For some days he was an idol, then the plaything of the +Jacobins, who, at last, threw him to the guillotine, without his being +able to comprehend either his popularity or his crime. + + +XIV. + +Berthier, who afterwards became Napoleon's right hand, was then the head +of Luckner's staff. The old general seized, with warlike instinct, on +Dumouriez's bold plan. He had entered at the head of 22,000 men on the +Austrian territory at Courtray and Menin. Biron and Valence, his two +seconds in command, entreated him to remain there, and Dumouriez, in his +letters, urged him in similar manner. On arriving at Lille, Dumouriez +learnt that Luckner had suddenly retreated on Valenciennes, after having +burnt the suburbs of Courtray; thus giving, on our frontier, the signal +of hesitation and retreat. + +The Belgian population, their impulses thus checked by the disasters or +timidity of France, lost all hope, and bent beneath the Austrian yoke. +General Montesquiou collected the army of the south with difficulty. The +king of the Sardinians concentrated a large force on the Var. The +advanced guard of La Fayette, posted at Gliswel, at a league from +Maubeuge, was beaten by the Duke of Saxe-Teschen, at the head of 12,000 +men. The great invasion of the Duke of Brunswick, in Champagne, was +preparing. The emigration took off the officers, desertion diminished +our soldiery. The clubs disseminated distrust against the commanders of +our strong places. + +The Girondists were urging on rebellion, the Jacobins were exciting the +army to anarchy, the volunteers did not rise, the ministry was null, the +Austrian committee of the Tuileries corresponded with various powers, +not to deceive the nation, but to save the lives of the king and his +family. A suspected government, hostile assembly, seditious clubs, a +national guard intimidated and deprived of its chief, incendiary +journalism, dark conspiracies, factious municipality, a +conspirator-mayor, people distrustful and starving, Robespierre and +Brissot, Vergniaud and Danton, Girondists and Jacobins, face to face, +having the same spoil to contend for--the monarchy, and struggling for +pre-eminence in demagogism in order to acquire the favour of the people; +such was the state of France, within and without, at the moment when +exterior war was pressing France on all sides, and causing it to burst +forth with disasters and crimes. The Girondists and Jacobins united for +a moment, suspended their personal animosity, as if to see which could +best destroy the powerless constitution which separated them. The +_bourgeoisie_ personified by the Feuillants, the National Guard, and La +Fayette, alone remained attached to the constitution. The Gironde, from +the tribune itself, made that appeal to the people against the king +which it was subsequently doomed to make in vain in favour of the king +against the Jacobins. In order to control the city, Brissot, Roland, +Petion, excited the suburbs, those capitals of miseries and seditions. +Every time that a people which has long crouched in slavery and +ignorance is moved to its lowest depths, then appear monsters and +heroes, prodigies of crime and prodigies of virtue; such were about to +appear under the conspiring hand of the Girondists and demagogues. + + + + +BOOK XVI + + +I. + +In proportion as power snatched from the hands of the king by the +Assembly disappeared, it passed into the commune of Paris. The +municipality, that first element of nations which are forming +themselves, is also the last asylum of authority when they are crumbling +to pieces. Before it falls quite to the people, power pauses for a +moment in the council-chamber of the magistrates of the city. The Hotel +de Ville had become the Tuileries of the people; after La Fayette and +Bailly, Petion reigned there: this man was the king of Paris. The +populace (which has always the instinct of position) called him _King +Petion_. He had purchased his popularity, first by his private virtues, +which the people almost always confound with public virtues, and +subsequently by his democratic speeches in the Constituent Assembly. The +skilful balance which he preserved at the Jacobins between the +Girondists and Robespierre had rendered him respectable and important. +Friend of Roland, Robespierre, Danton, and Brissot, at the same time +suspected of too close connection with Madame de Genlis and the Duc +d'Orleans' party, he still always covered himself with the mantle of +proper devotion to order and a superstitious reverence for the +constitution. He had thus all the apparent titles to the esteem of +honest men and the respect of factions; but the greatest of all was in +his mediocrity. Mediocrity, it must be confessed, is almost always the +brand of these idols of the people: either that the mob, mediocre +itself, has only a taste for what resembles it; or that jealous +contemporaries can never elevate themselves sufficiently high towards +great characters and great virtues; or that Providence, which +distributes gifts and faculties in proportion, will not allow that one +man should unite in himself, amidst a free people, these three +irresistible powers, virtue, genius, and popularity; or rather, that the +constant favour of the multitude is a thing of such a nature that its +price is beyond its worth in the eyes of really virtuous men, and that +it is necessary to stoop too low to pick it up, and become too weak to +retain it. Petion was only king of the people on condition of being +complaisant to its excesses. His functions as mayor of Paris, in a time +of trouble, placed him constantly between the king, the Assembly, and +the revolts. He bearded the king, flattered the Assembly, and pardoned +crime. Inviolable as the capital which he personified in his position of +first magistrate of the commune, his unseen dictatorship had no other +title than his inviolability, and he used it with respectful boldness +towards the king, bowed before the Assembly, and knelt to the +malcontents. To his official reproaches to the rioters, he always added +an excuse for crime, a smile for the culprits, encouragement to the +misled citizens. The people loved him as anarchy loves weakness; it knew +it could do as it pleased with him. As mayor, he had the law in his +hand; as a man, he had indulgence on his lips and connivance in his +heart: he was just the magistrate required in times of the _coups +d'etat_ of the faubourgs. + +Petion allowed them to make all their preparations without appearing to +see them, and legalised them whenever they were completed. + + +II. + +His early connection with Brissot had drawn him towards Madame Roland. +The ministry of Roland, Claviere, and Servan obeyed him more than even +the king, he was present at all their consultations, and although their +fall did not involve him, it wrested the executive power from his grasp. +The expelled Girondists had no need to infuse their thirst of vengeance +into the mind of Petion. Unable any longer to conspire legally against +the king, with his ministers, he yet could conspire with the factions +against the Tuileries. The national guards, the people, the Jacobins, +the faubourgs, the whole city, were in his hands; thus he could give +sedition to the Girondists to aid this party to regain the ministry; and +he gave it them with all the hazards--all the crimes that sedition +carries with it. Amongst these hazards was the assassination of the king +and his family: this event was beforehand accepted by those who provoked +the assembly of the populace, and their invasion of the king's palace. +Girondists, Orleanists, Republicans, Anarchists, none of these parties +perhaps actually meditated this crime, but they looked upon it as an +eventuality of their fortune. Petion, who doubtless did not desire it, +at least risked it; and if his intention was innocent, his temerity was +a murder. What distance was there between the steel of twenty thousand +pikes and the heart of Louis XVI.? Petion did not betray the lives of +the king, the queen, and the children, but he placed them at stake. The +constitutional guard of the king had been ignominiously disbanded by the +Girondists; the Duc de Brissac, its commander, was sent to the high +court of Orleans, for imaginary conspiracies,--his only conspiracy was +his honour; and he had sworn to die bravely in defence of his master and +his friend. He could have escaped, but though even the king advised him +to fly, he refused. "If I fly," replied he, to the king's entreaties, +"it will be said that I am guilty, and that you are my accomplice; my +flight will accuse you: I prefer to die." He left Paris for the national +court of Orleans: he was not tried, but massacred at Versailles, on the +6th of September, and his head with its white hairs was planted on one +of the palisades of the palace gates, as if in atrocious mockery of +that chivalrous honour that even in death guarded the gate of the +residence of his king. + + +III. + +The first insurrections of the Revolution were the spontaneous impulses +of the people: on one side was the king, the court and the nobility; on +the other the nation. These two parties clashed by the mere impulse of +conflicting ideas and interests. A word--a gesture--a chance--the +assembling a body of troops--a day's scarcity--the vehement address of +an orator in the Palais Royal, sufficed to excite the populace to +revolt, or to march on Versailles. The spirit of sedition was confounded +with the spirit of the Revolution. Every one was factious--every one was +a soldier--every one was a leader. Public passion gave the signal, and +chance commanded. + +Since the Revolution was accomplished, and the constitution had imposed +on each party legal order, it was different. The insurrections of the +people were no longer agitations, but plans. The organised factions had +their partisans--their clubs--their assemblies--their army and their +pass-word. Amongst the citizens, anarchy had disciplined itself, and its +disorder was only external, for a secret influence animated and directed +it unknown even to itself. In the same manner as an army possesses +chiefs on whose intelligence and courage they rely; so the _quartiers_ +and sections of Paris had leaders whose orders they obeyed. Secondary +popularities, already rooted in the city and faubourgs, had been founded +behind those mighty national popularities of Mirabeau, La Fayette, and +Bailly. The people felt confidence in such a name, reliance in such an +arm, favour for such a face; and when these men showed themselves, +spoke, or moved, the multitude followed them without even knowing +whither the current of the crowd would lead; it was sufficient for the +chiefs to indicate a spot on which to assemble, to spread abroad a panic +terror, infuse a sudden rage, or indicate a purpose, to cause the blind +masses of the people to assemble on the appointed spot ready for +action. + + +IV. + +The spot chosen was most frequently the site of the Bastille, the Mons +Aventinus of the people, the national camp, where the place and the +stones reminded them of their servitude and their strength. Of all the +men who governed the agitators of the faubourgs, Danton was the most +redoubtable. Camille Desmoulins, equally bold to plan, possessed less +courage to execute. Nature, which had given this young man the +restlessness of the leaders of the mob, had denied him the exterior and +the power of voice necessary to captivate them; for the people do not +comprehend intellectual force. A colossal stature and a sonorous voice +are two indispensable requisites for the favourites of the people: +Camille Desmoulins was small, thin, and had but a feeble voice, that +seemed to "pipe and whistle in the wind" after the tones of Danton, who +possessed the roar of the populace. + +Petion enjoyed the highest esteem of the anarchists, but his official +legality excused him from openly fomenting the disorder, which it was +sufficient that he desired. Nothing could be done without him, and he +was an accomplice. After them came Santerre, the commander of the +battalion of the faubourg St. Antoine. Santerre, son of a Flemish +brewer, and himself a brewer, was one of those men that the people +respect because they are of themselves, and whose large fortune is +forgiven them on account of their familiarity. Well known to the +workmen, of whom he employed great numbers in his brewery; and +by the populace, who on Sundays frequented his wine and beer +establishments--Santerre distributed large sums of money, as well as +quantities of provisions, to the poor; and, at a moment of famine, had +distributed three hundred thousand francs' worth of bread (12,000_l_.). +He purchased his popularity by his beneficence; he had conquered it, by +his courage, at the storming of the Bastille; and he increased it by his +presence at every popular tumult. He was of the race of those Belgian +brewers who intoxicated the people of Ghent to rouse them to revolt. + +The butcher, Legendre, was to Danton what Danton was to Mirabeau, a step +lower in the abyss of sedition. Legendre had been a sailor during ten +years of his life, and had the rough and brutal manners of his two +callings, a savage look, his arms covered with blood, his language +merciless, yet his heart naturally good. Involved since '89 in all the +Revolutionary movements, the waves of this agitation had elevated him to +a certain degree of authority. He had founded, under Danton, the +Cordeliers club, the club of _coups de main_, as the Jacobins was the +club of radical theories; and he convulsed it to its very centre, by his +eloquence untaught and unpolished. He compared himself to the peasant of +the Danube. Always more ready to strike than to speak, Legendre's +gesture crushed before he spoke. He was the mace of Danton. Huguenin, +one of those men who roll from profession to profession, on the +acclivity of troublous times, without the power to arrest his course; an +advocate expelled from the body to which he belonged; then a soldier, +and a clerk at the barriere; always disliked, aspiring for power to +recover his fortune, and suspected of pillage. Alexandre, the commandant +of the battalion of the Gobelins, the hero of the faubourg, the friend +of Legendre. Marat, a living conspiracy, who had quitted his +subterranean abode in the night; a living martyr of demagogism, +revelling in excitement, carrying his hatred of society to madness, +exulting in it, and voluntarily playing the part of the fool of the +people as so many others had played at the courts the part of the king's +fool. Dubois Crance, a brave and educated soldier. Brune, a sabre, at +the service of all conspiracies. Mormoro, a printer, intoxicated with +philosophy. Dubuisson, an obscure writer, whom the hisses of the theatre +had forced to take refuge in intrigue. Fabre d'Eglantine, a comic poet, +ambitious of another field for his powers. Chabot, a capuchin monk, +embittered by the cloister, and eager to avenge himself on the +superstition which had imprisoned him. Lareynie, a soldier-priest. +Gonchon, Duquesnois, friends of Robespierre. Carra, a Girondist +journalist. An Italian, named Rotondo. Henriot, Sillery, Louvet, Laclos, +and Barbaroux, the emissary of Roland and Brissot, were the principal +instigators of the _emeute_ of the 20th of June. + + +V. + +All these men met in an isolated house at Charenton, to concert in the +stillness and secrecy of the night on the pretext, the plan, and the +hour of the insurrection. The passions of these men were different, but +their impatience was the same; some wished to terrify, others to strike, +but all wished to act; when once the people were let loose, they would +stop where destiny willed. There were no scruples at a meeting at which +Danton presided; speeches were superfluous where but one feeling +prevailed; propositions were sufficient, and a look was enough to convey +all their meaning. A pressure of the hand, a glance, a significant +gesture, are the eloquence of men of action. In a few words, Danton +dictated the purpose, Santerre the means, Marat the atrocious energy, +Camilla Desmoulins the cynical gaiety of the projected movement, and all +decided on the resolution of urging the people to this act. A +revolutionary map of Paris was laid on the table, and on it Danton +traced the sources, the tributary streams, the course, and the +meeting-place of these gatherings of the people. + +The Place de la Bastille, an immense square into which opened, like the +mouths of so many rivers, the numerous streets of the faubourg St. +Antoine, which joins, by the quartier de l'Arsenale and a bridge, the +faubourg St. Marceau, and which, by the boulevard, opened before the +ancient fortress, has a large opening to the centre of the city and the +Tuileries, was the rendezvous assigned, and the place whence the columns +were to depart. They were to be divided into three bodies, and a +petition to present to the king and the Assembly against the _veto_ to +the decree against the priests and the camp of 20,000 men, was the +ostensible purpose of the movement; the recall of the patriot ministers, +Roland, Servan, and Claviere, the countersign; and the terror of the +people, disseminated in Paris and the chateau of the Tuileries the +effect of this day. Paris expected this visit of the faubourgs, for five +hundred persons had dined together the previous day on the Champs +Elysees. + +The chief of the _federes_ of Marseilles and the agitators of the +central quarters had fraternised there with the Girondists. The actor +Dugazon had sung verses, denunciatory of the inhabitants of the Chateau; +and at his window in the Tuileries the king had heard the applause and +these menacing strains, that reached even to his palace. As for the +order of the march, the grotesque emblems, the strange weapons, the +hideous costumes, the horrible banners and the obscene language, +destined to signal the apparition of this army of the faubourgs in the +streets of the capital, the conspirators prescribed nothing, for +disorder and horror formed a part of the programme, and they left all to +the disordered imagination of the populace, and to that rivalry of +cynicism which invariably takes place in such masses of men. Danton +relied on this fact. + + +VI. + +Although the presence of Panis and Sergent, two members of the +municipality, gave a tacit sanction to the plan, the leaders undertook +to recruit the sedition in silence, by small groups during the night, +and to collect the fiercest _rassemblements_ of the quartier Saint +Marceau and the Jardin des Plantes, on the bank of the Arsenale, by +means of a ferry, then the only means of communication between the two +faubourgs. Lareynie was to arouse the faubourg St. Jacques and the market +of the place Maubert, where the women of the lower classes came daily to +make their household purchases. To sell and to buy is the life of the +lower orders, and money and famine are their two leading passions. They +are always ready for tumult in those places where these two passions +concentrate, and no where is sedition more readily excited, or in +greater masses of people. + +The dyer Malard, the shoemaker Isambert, the tanner Gibon, rich and +influential artizans, were to pour from the sombre and foetid streets +of the faubourg Saint Marceau their indigent population, who but rarely +show themselves in the principal quartiers. Alexandre, the military +tribune of this quarter of Paris, in which he commanded a battalion, was +to place himself at its head on the place, before daybreak, to +concentrate the people, and then give them the impulse that should lead +them to the quays and the Tuileries. Varlet, Gonchon, Ronsin, and Siret, +the lieutenants of Santerre, who had been employed in this system of +tactics since the first agitations of '89, were charged with the +execution of similar manoeuvres in the faubourg St. Antoine. The +streets of this quarter, full of manufactories and wine and beer shops, +the abiding place of misery, toil, and sedition, which extend from the +Bastille to la Roquette and Charenton, contained in themselves alone an +army that could invade Paris. + + +VII. + +This army had known its leaders for four years. They posted themselves +at the openings of the principal streets, at the hour when the workmen +leave the _ateliers_; they procured a chair and table from the nearest +and best _cabaret_, and mounting on these wine-stained tribunes, they +called by name some of the passers by, who grouped round them; these +stopped others, the street was blocked up by them, and this crowd was +increased by all the men, women, and children, attracted by the noise. +The orator addressed this motley assemblage, whilst wine or beer were +gratuitously handed round. The cessation of work, the scarcity of money, +the dearth of food, the manoeuvres of the aristocrats to starve Paris, +the treacheries of the king, the orgies of the queen, the necessity of +the nation's defeating the plots of an Austrian court, were the usual +themes of their addresses. When once the agitation rose to fever heat, +the cry of "_Marchons_" was heard, and the mob set itself in motion down +every street. A few hours afterwards masses of workmen from the +quartiers Popincourt, Quinze-Vingts de la Greve, Port au Ble, and the +Marche St. Jean, poured from the rues du Faubourg St. Antoine, and +covered the Place de la Bastille. There the tumult of the meeting of all +these tributaries of sedition for a moment stayed the progress of this +living torrent; but the impulse soon carried them on, and the columns +instinctively divided themselves, and plunged into the vast outlets and +main streets of Paris. Some took the line of the boulevards, others +marched along the quays to the Pont Neuf, there encountered the column +of the Place Maubert, and poured, in constantly increasing masses, on +the Palais Royal, and the gardens of the Tuileries. + +Such were the plans ordered on the night of the 19th of June, to be +executed by the agitators in the different quartiers, and who separated +with a rallying word, which gave the movement of the morrow the +excitement and uncertainty of hope, and which, without commanding the +consummation of crime, yet authorised the last excesses, "_To make an +end of the Chateau_." + + +VIII. + +Such was the meeting of Charenton, such were the unseen actors who were +to set in motion a million of citizens. Did Laclos and Sillery, who were +about to seek a throne for the Duc d'Orleans their master, in the +faubourgs, distribute his gold there? It has been asserted and believed, +but never proved, and yet their presence at this meeting is suspicious. +History has the right of suspecting without evidence, but never of +accusing without proof. The assassination of the king would give the +crown, the next day, to the Duc d'Orleans; Louis XVI. might be +assassinated by the weapon of some drunken man--he was not. This is the +only justification of the Orleans' faction. Some of these men were +disaffected, like Marat and Hebert; others, like Barbaroux, Sillery, +Laclos, and Carra, were impatient malcontents; and others, like +Santerre, were but citizens, whose love of liberty became fanaticism. +The conspirators concerted together, and disciplined and organised the +city. Individual and distorted passions kindled the mighty and virtuous +love of the people for the triumph of democracy. It is thus that in a +conflagration the most tainted substances oft light the fire; the +combustible matter is foul, but the flames pure; the flame of the +Revolution was liberty; the factious might dim, they could not stain, +its brightness. + +Whilst the conspirators of Charenton distributed their _roles_ and +recruited their forces, the king trembled for his wife and children at +the Tuileries. "Who knows," said he, to M. de Malesherbes, with a +melancholy smile, "whether I shall behold the sun set to-morrow?" + +Petion, by ordering the municipal forces and the national guards under +his orders to resist, could have entirely put down the sedition. The +directory of the department presided over by the unfortunate Duc de la +Rochefoucauld, summoned Petion in the most energetic terms to perform +his duty. Petion smiled, took all on himself, and justified the legality +of the proposed meetings and the petitions presented _en masse_ to the +Assembly. + +Vergniaud in the tribune repelled the alarm felt by the +constitutionalists, as calumnies against the innocence of the people. +Condorcet laughed at the disquietude manifested by the ministers, and +the demands for armed force they addressed to the Assembly. "Is it not +amusing," said he, addressing his colleagues, "to see the executive +power demanding the means of action from the legislators? let them save +themselves, it is their trade." Thus derision was united to the plots +against the unfortunate monarch; the legislators derided the power their +hands had disarmed, and applauded the factious. + + +IX. + +It was under these auspices that the 20th of June dawned. A second +council, more secret and less numerous than the former, had assembled +the men destined to put these designs into execution, and they only +separated at midnight. Each of them went to his post, awoke his most +trusty followers, and stationed them in small groups, to stop and +assemble together the workmen, as they quitted their homes. Santerre +answered for the neutrality of the national guard. "Do not fear," said +he; "Petion will be there." Petion in reality had on the previous +evening ordered the battalions of the national guard to get under arms, +not to oppose the columns of the people, but to fraternise with the +petitioners and swell the cortege of sedition. This equivocal measure at +once saved the responsibility of Petion to the department, and his +complicity before the assembled people; to the one he said I watch; to +the other, I march with you. + +At daybreak the battalions were assembled, and their arms piled on all +the _grandes places_. Santerre harangued his on the Place de la +Bastille, whilst around him flocked an immense throng, agitated, +impatient, ready to rush upon the city at his signal. Uniforms and rags +were blended, and detachments of invalides, gendarmes, national guards, +and volunteers, received the orders of Santerre, and repeated them to +the crowd. An instinctive discipline prevailed amidst this disorder, and +the half military half civil appearance of this camp of the people gave +the Assembly rather the character of a warlike expedition than an +_emeute_. This throng recognised leaders, manoeuvred at their command, +followed their flags, obeyed their voice, and even controlled their +impatience to await reinforcements and give detached bodies the +appearance of a simultaneous movement. Santerre on horseback, surrounded +by a staff of men of the faubourgs, issued his orders, fraternised with +the citizens and insurgents, recommended the people to remain silent and +dignified, and slowly formed the columns, ready for the signal to march. + + +X. + +At eleven o'clock the people set out for the quartier of the Tuileries. +The number of men who left the Place de la Bastille was estimated at +twenty thousand; they were divided into three bodies, the first composed +of the battalions of the faubourg, armed with sabres and bayonets, +obeyed Santerre; the second, composed of the lowest rabble, without arms +or only armed with pikes and sticks, was under the orders of the +demagogue Saint-Huruge; the third, a confused mass of squalid men, +women, and children, followed, in a disorderly march, a young and +beautiful woman in male attire, a sabre in her hand, a musket on her +shoulder, and seated on a cannon drawn by a number of workmen. This was +Theroigne de Mericourt. + +Santerre was well known: he was the king of the faubourgs. Saint-Huruge +had been, since '89, the great agitator of the Palais Royal. + +The Marquis de Saint-Huruge, born at Macon of a rich and noble family, +was one of those men of tumult and disturbances who seem to personify +the masses. Gifted by nature with a towering stature and a martial +figure, his voice thundered above the roars of the crowd. He had his +agitations, his fury, his moments of repentance, and sometimes even of +cowardice; his heart was not cruel, but his brain was disturbed. Too +aristocratic to be envious, too rich to be a spoliator, too frivolous to +be a fanatic by principle, the Revolution turned his brain in the same +manner as a rapidly flowing river carries with it the eye that in vain +strives to gaze fixedly on it. His life seemed that of a maniac; he +loved the Revolution when in motion because it was akin to madness. When +yet very young he had sullied his name, ruined his fortune, and +forfeited his honours by debauchery, women, and gaming. At the Palais +Royal and the neighbouring quartiers, the scene of every disorder, he +possessed the infamous celebrity of scandal and shame. All the world had +heard of him; his family had procured his incarceration in the Bastille, +from which the 14th of July had freed him. He had sworn to be avenged, +and he kept his oath; a voluntary and indefatigable accomplice of every +faction, he had offered his unpaid services to the Duc d'Orleans, +Mirabeau, Danton, Camille Desmoulins, the Girondists, and Robespierre: +always an adherent of the party who went the greatest lengths; always a +leader of those _emeutes_ that promised the most havoc and ruin. Awake +before daybreak, present at every club, he hastened at the slightest +noise to swell the crowd; at the smallest tumult to stir men up to more +violence. He himself was consumed by the common passion, ere he +comprehended its nature; and his voice, his gestures, the expression of +his features communicated it to others. He vociferated tales of terror; +he disseminated the fever; he electrified the wavering masses; he urged +on the current; he was in himself a sedition. + + +XI. + +After Saint Huruge, marched Theroigne de Mericourt. Theroigne, or +Lambertine de Mericourt, who commanded the third corps of the army of +the faubourgs, was known among the people by the name of _La Belle +Liegoise_. The French Revolution had drawn her to Paris, as the +whirlwind attracts things of no weight. She was the impure Joan of Arc +of the public streets. Outraged love had plunged her into disorder, and +the vice, at which she herself blushed, only made her thirst for +vengeance. In destroying the aristocrats she fancied she purified her +honour, and washed out her shame in blood. + +She was born at the village of Mericourt, near Liege, of a family of +wealthy farmers, and had received a finished education. At the age of +seventeen her singular loveliness had attracted the attention of a young +_seigneur_, whose chateau was close to her residence. Beloved, seduced, +and deserted, she had fled from her father's roof and taken refuge in +England, from whence, after a residence of some months, she proceeded to +France. Introduced to Mirabeau, she knew through him Sieyes, Joseph +Chenier, Danton, Ronsin, Brissot, and Camille Desmoulins. Romme, a +mystical republican, infused into her mind the German spirit of +illumination. Youth, love, revenge, and the contact with this furnace of +a revolution, had turned her head, and she lived in the intoxication of +passions, ideas, and pleasures. Connected at first with the great +innovators of '89, she had passed from their arms into those of rich +voluptuaries, who purchased her charms dearly. Courtezan of opulence, +she became the voluntary prostitute of the people; and like her +celebrated prototypes of Egypt or of Rome, she lavished upon liberty the +wealth she derived from vice. + +On the first assemblage of the people she appeared in the streets, and +devoted her beauty to serve as an ensign to the people. Dressed in a +riding habit of the colour of blood, a plume of feathers in her hat, a +sabre at her side, and two pistols in her belt, she hastened to join +every insurrection. She was the first of those who burst open the gates +of the Invalides and took the cannon from thence. She was also one of +the first to attack the Bastille; and a sabre d'homme was voted her on +the breach by the victors. On the days of October, she had led the women +of Paris to Versailles, on horseback, by the side of the ferocious +Jourdan, called "_the man with the long beard_." She had brought back +the king to Paris: she had followed, without emotion, the heads of the +gardes du corps, stuck on pikes as trophies. Her language, although +marked by a foreign accent, had yet the eloquence of tumult. She +elevated her voice amidst the stormy meetings of the clubs, and from the +galleries blamed their conduct. Sometimes she spoke at the Cordeliers. +Camille Desmoulins mentions the enthusiasm which her harangues created. +"Her similes," says he, "were drawn from the Bible and Pindar,--it was +the eloquence of a Judith." She proposed to build the palace of the +representative body on the site of the Bastille. "To found and embellish +this edifice," said she, "let us strip ourselves of our ornaments, our +gold, our jewels. I will be the first to set the example." And with +these words she tore off her ornaments in the tribune. Her ascendency +during the _emeutes_ was so great, that with a single sign she condemned +or acquitted a victim; and the royalists trembled to meet her. + +During this period, by one of those chances that appear like the +premeditated vengeances of destiny, she recognised in Paris the young +Belgian gentleman who had seduced and abandoned her. Her look told him +how great was his danger, and he sought to avert it by imploring her +pardon. "My pardon," said she; "at what price can you purchase it? My +innocence gone--my family lost to me--my brothers and sisters pursued in +their own country by the jeers and sarcasms of their kindred; the +malediction of my father--my exile from my native land--my enrolment +amongst the infamous caste of courtezans; the blood with which my days +have been and will be stained; that imperishable curse attached to my +name, instead of that immortality of virtue which you have taught me to +doubt. It is for this that you would purchase my forgiveness. Do you +know any price on earth capable of purchasing it?" The young man made no +reply. Theroigne had not the generosity to forgive him, and he perished +in the massacres of September. In proportion as the Revolution became +more bloody, she plunged deeper into it. She could no longer exist, +without the feverish excitement of public emotion. However, her early +leaning to the Girondist party again displayed itself, and she also +wished to stay the progress of the Revolution. But there were women +whose power was superior even to her own. These women, called the +_furies_ of the guillotine, stripped the belle Liegoise of her attire, +and publicly flogged her on the terrace of the Tuileries, on the 31st of +May. This punishment, more terrible than death, turned her brain, and +she was conveyed to a mad-house, where she lived twenty years, which +were but one long paroxysm of fury. Shameless and blood-thirsty in her +delirium, she refused to wear any garments, as a souvenir of the outrage +she had undergone. She dragged herself, only covered by her long white +hair, along the flags of her cell, or clung with her wasted hands to the +bars of the window, from whence she addressed an imaginary people, and +demanded the blood of Suleau. + + +XII. + +After Theroigne de Mericourt came other demagogues, less widely known, +but already celebrated in their own quartiers, such as Rossignol, the +working goldsmith; Brierre, a wine-seller; Gonor, the conqueror of the +Bastille; Jourdan, surnamed _Coupe-tete_; the famous Polish Jacobin, +Lozouski, afterwards buried by the people at the Carrousel; and Henriot, +afterwards the confidential general of the convention. As the columns +penetrated into Paris, they were swelled by new groups, that poured +forth from the crowded streets that open on the boulevards and the +quays. At each influx of these new recruits, a shout of joy burst from +the columns, the military bands struck up the air of the _Ca Ira_, the +Marseillaise of assassins, whilst the insurgents sang the chorus, and +brandished their arms threateningly at the windows of those suspected of +being aristocrates. + +These weapons did not resemble the arms of regular troops, which excite +at once terror and admiration; they were strange and uncouth arms, +caught up by the people in the first impulse of fury or defence.[24] +Pikes, lances, spits, cutlasses, carpenters' axes, masons' hammers, +shoemakers' knives, paviours' levers, saws, wedges, mattocks, crow-bars, +the commonest household utensils of the poor, and the rusty iron exposed +for sale on the quays, were alike seized upon by the people; and these +different weapons, rusted, black, hideous, each of which presented a +different manner of inflicting a wound, seemed to increase the horror of +death by displaying it in a thousand terrible and unwonted forms. The +mixture of all sexes, ages, and conditions; the confusion of costumes +and rags beside uniforms, old men beside young; even children, some +carried in their mothers' arms, others holding their father's hand or +his garments; common prostitutes, their silken dresses soiled and torn, +indecency on their brow, and insult on their lips, hundreds of women of +the lowest description, and from the dregs of the people, recruited to +swell the cortege, and excite commiseration from the garrets of the +faubourgs, clothed in tattered finery, pale, emaciated, their eyes +hollow, and their cheeks sunken from misery, the personifications of +want, in fact the people, in all the disorder, the confusion, the +exposure of a city suddenly summoned from its houses, its workshops, its +garrets, its scenes and haunts of debauch and infamy; such was the +aspect of intimidation which the conspirators wished to give to this +scene. + +Here and there flags waved above the heads of the multitude. On one was +written _Sanction or death_; on another, _The recall of the patriot +ministers_; on the third, _Tremble tyrant, thine hour is come_. A man, +his arms bared to the shoulders, bore a gibbet, from which hung the +effigy of a crowned female, with the inscription, _Beware the lantern_. +Farther on a group of hags raised a _guillotine_, with a card bearing +the words, _National Justice on tyrants; death for Veto and his wife_. +Amidst all this apparent disorder, a secret system of order was visible. +Men in rags, yet whose white hands and shirts of the finest linen +pointed them out as of superior rank, wore hats, on which signs of +recognition were drawn with white chalk; the crowd regulated their march +by them, and followed wherever they went. + +The principal body thus marched by the Rue Saint Antoine, and the dark +and central avenues of Paris, to the Rue Saint Honore, the population of +these quartiers swelling its numbers at each instant. The more this +living torrent increased the more furious it became. Now a band of +butchers joined it, each bearing a pike, on which was stuck the bleeding +heart of a calf, with the words, _Coeur d'aristocrate_. Next came a +band of Chiffoniers dressed in rags, and displaying a lance, from which +floated a tattered garment, with the inscription, _Tremble tyrants, here +are the sans culottes_. The insult which the aristocracy had cast at +poverty, now, when adopted by the people, became the weapon of the +nation against the rich. + +This army defiled during three hours along the Rue Saint Honore. +Sometimes a terrible silence, only broken by the sound of thousands of +feet on the pavement, oppressed the imagination, as the sign of +concentrated rage of this multitude; then solitary voices, insulting +speeches, and atrocious sarcasms, were mingled with the laughter of the +crowd; then sudden and confused murmurs burst from this human sea, and +rising to the roofs of the houses, left only the last syllables of +their prolonged acclamations audible: _Long live the nation! Long live +the sans culottes! Down with the veto!_ This tumult reached the salle du +Manege, where the Legislative Assembly was then sitting. The head of the +cortege stopped at the doors, the columns inundated the court of the +Feuillants, the court of the Manege, and all the openings of the salle. +These courts, these avenues, these passages, which then masked the +terrace of the garden, occupied the space which now extends between the +garden of the Tuileries and the Rue Saint Honore--that central artery of +Paris. It was mid-day. + + +XIII. + +Roederer, the procureur syndic of the directory of the department, a +post which in '92 corresponded with that of prefect de Paris, was at +this moment at the bar of the Assembly. Roederer, a partisan of the +constitution, of the school of Mirabeau and Talleyrand, was a courageous +enemy of anarchy. He found in the constitution the point of +reconciliation between his fidelity to the people and his loyalty to the +king; and he sought to defend this constitution with every weapon of the +law which sedition had not broken in his grasp. "Armed mobs threaten to +violate the constitution, the Chamber of Representatives, and the +dwelling of the king," said Roederer at the bar; "the reports of the +night are alarming; the minister of the interior calls on us to march +troops immediately to defend the chateau. The law forbids armed +assemblies, and yet they advance--they demand admittance; but if you +yourselves set an example by suffering them to enter, what will become +of the force of the law in our hands? your indulgence will destroy all +public force in the hands of the magistrates. We demand to be charged +with the fulfilment of all our duties: let the responsibility also be +ours, and let nothing diminish the obligation we are under of dying to +preserve and defend public tranquillity." These words, worthy the +chancellor L'Hopital, or Mathieu Mole, were coldly listened to by the +Assembly, and saluted by ironical laughter from the tribunes. Vergniaud +affected to bow to them, and weakened their effect. "Yes, doubtless," +said this orator, destined to be torn from the tribune, a year later, by +an armed mob,--"Doubtless, we should have done better never to have +received armed men, for if to-day patriotism brings good citizens +hither, aristocracy may to-morrow bring its janissaries. But the error +we have committed authorises that of the people. The Assembly, formed up +to the present time, appears sanctioned by the silence of the law. It is +true that the magistrates demand force to put them down: but what should +you do in such circumstances? I think that it would be an excess of +severity to be inflexible to a fault, the origin of which is in your +decrees: it would be an insult to the citizens to imagine they had any +evil designs. It is said that this Assembly wishes to present an address +at the chateau: I do not believe that the citizens who compose it will +demand to be presented with arms in their hands to the king: I think +that they will obey the laws, and that they will go unarmed, and like +simple petitioners. I demand that these citizens be instantly permitted, +to defile before us." Dumolard and Raymond, indignant at the perfidy or +the cowardice of these words, energetically opposed this weakness or +complicity of the Assembly. "The best homage to pay the people of +Paris," cried Raymond, "is to make them obey their own laws. I demand +that before these citizens are introduced they lay down their arms." +"Why," returned Guadet, "do you talk of disobedience to the law, when +you have so often disobeyed it yourself? you would commit a revolting +injustice; you would resemble that Roman emperor who, in order to find +more guilty persons, caused the laws to be written in letters so obscure +that no one could read them." + +The deputation of the insurgents entered at these last words, amidst the +bursts of applause and the indignant murmurs of the Assembly. + + +XIV. + +The orator of the deputation, Huguenin, read the petition concerted at +Charenton. He declared that the city had risen ready to employ every +means of avenging the majesty of the people, whilst he deplored the +necessity of staining their hands with the blood of the conspirators. +"But," said he, with apparent resignation, "the hour has come; blood +must be shed. The men of the 14th of July are not asleep, they only +appeared to be; their awakening is terrible: speak, and we will act. The +people is there to judge its enemies: let them choose between Coblentz +and ourselves; let them purge the land of their enemies--the tyrants; +you know them. The king is not with you: we need no other proof of it +than the dismissal of the patriot ministers and the inaction of the +armies. Is not the head of the people worth that of kings? Must the +blood of patriots flow with impunity to satisfy the pride and ambition +of the perfidious chateau of the Tuileries? If the king does not act, +suspend him from his functions: one man cannot fetter the will of +twenty-five millions of men. If through respect we suffer him to retain +the throne, it is on condition that he observe the constitution. If he +depart from this he is no longer anything. And the high court of +Orleans," continued Huguenin, "what is that doing?--where are the heads +of those it should have doomed to death?" These sinister expressions +threw the constitutionalists into alarm, and caused the Girondists to +smile. The president, however, replied with a firmness which was not +sustained by the attitude of his colleagues. It was decided that the +people of the faubourgs should be allowed to defile before them under +arms. + + +XV. + +Immediately after this decree was voted, the doors, besieged by the +multitude opened, and admitted thirty thousand petitioners. During this +long procession the band played the demagogical airs of the _Carmagnole_ +and the _Ca Ira_, those _pas de charge_ of revolts. Females, armed with +sabres, brandished them at the tribunes, who loudly applauded, and +danced before a table of stone, on which were engraved the rights of +man, like the Israelites before the Ark. The same flags and the same +obscene inscriptions visible in the streets, disgraced the temple of the +law. The tattered garments, hanging from their lances, the guillotine, +and the _potence_, with the effigy of the queen suspended from it, +traversed the Assembly with impunity. Some of the deputies applauded, +others turned away their heads or hid their faces in their hands; some +more courageous, forced the wretch who bore the _coeur saignant_, +partly by entreaties, partly by threats, to retire with his emblem of +assassination. Part of the people regarded with a respectful eye the +salle they profaned; others addressed the representatives as they +passed, and seemed to exult in their degradation. The rattling of the +strange weapons of the crowd, the clatter of their nailed shoes and +sabots on the pavement, the shrill shouts of the women, the voices of +the children, the cries of _Vive la nation_, patriotic songs, and the +sound of instruments, deafened the ear, whilst to the eye, these rags +contrasted strangely with the marbles, the statues, and the decorations +of the salle. The miasmas of this horde set in motion tainted the air, +and stifled respiration. Three hours elapsed ere all the troop had +defiled. The president hastened to adjourn the sitting, in the +expectation of approaching excesses. + + +XVI. + +But an imposing force was drawn up in the courts of the Tuileries and +the garden, to defend the dwelling of the king against the invasion of +the people. Three regiments of the line, two squadrons of gendarmes, +several battalions of the national guard, and several pieces of cannon, +composed the means of resistance; but the troops, undecided, and acted +upon by sedition, were but an appearance of force. The cries of _Vive la +nation_, the friendly gestures of the insurgents, the appearance of the +women extending their arms towards the soldiers through the palisades, +and the presence of the municipal officers, who displayed a disdainful +neutrality towards the king, shook the feeling of resistance amongst the +troops, who beheld on either side the uniform of the national guard; and +between the population of Paris, in whose sentiments they participated, +and the chateau, which was represented to them as full of treason, they +no longer knew which it was their duty to obey. In vain did M. +Roederer, a firm organ of the constitution, and the superior officers +of the national guard, such as MM. Acloque and De Romainvilliers, +present the text of the law, ordering them to repel force by force. The +Assembly set the example of complicity; and the mayor, Petion, by his +absence avoided responsibility. The king took refuge in his +inviolability; and the troops, abandoned to themselves, could not fail +to yield to threats or seduction. + +In the interior of the palace, two hundred gentlemen, at the head of +whom was the old marshal De Mouchy, had hastened together at the first +news of the king's danger. They were rather the voluntary victims of +ancient French honour, than useful defenders of the monarchy. Fearing to +excite the jealousy of the national guard and the troops, these +gentlemen concealed themselves in the remote apartments of the palace, +ready rather to die than to combat: they wore no uniform, and their arms +were concealed under their coats--hence the name by which they were +pointed out to the people of _Chevaliers du poignard_. Arriving secretly +from their provinces to offer their services to the king unknown to each +other; and only furnished with a card of entrance to the palace, they +hastened thither whenever there was danger. They should have been ten +thousand, and were but two hundred--the last reserve of fidelity; but +they did their duty without counting their number, and avenged the +French nobility for the faults and the desertion of the emigration. + + +XVII. + +The mob, on quitting the Assembly, had marched in close columns to the +Carrousel. Santerre and Alexandre, at the head of their battalions, +directed the movement. A compact mass of the insurgents, followed by the +Rue St. Honore. The other branches of the populace, cut off from the +main body, thronged the courts of the Manege and the Feuillants, and +tried to make room for themselves by issuing violently by one of the +avenues which communicated with the garden from these courts. A +battalion of the national guard defended the approach to this iron gate. +The weakness or complaisance of a municipal officer freed the passage, +and the battalion fell back, and took up its ground beneath the windows +of the Chateau. The crowd traversed the garden in an oblique direction, +and passing before the battalions, saluted them with cries of _Vive la +nation!_ bidding them take their bayonets from their muskets. The +bayonets were removed, and the mob then passed out by the entrance of +the Port Royal, and fell back upon the gates of the Carrousel, which +shut off this place from the Seine. The guards at these wickets again +gave way, to allow a certain number of the malcontents to enter, and +then shut the doors. These men, excited by their march, songs, the +acclamations of the Assembly, and by intoxication, rushed with furious +clamours into the court-yards of the Chateau. They ran to the principal +doors, pressed upon the soldiers on guard, called their comrades without +to come to them, and forced the hinges of the royal entrance gate. The +municipal officer, Panis, gave orders that it should be opened. The +Carrousel was forced, and the mob seemed for a moment to hesitate before +the cannon pointed against them, and some squadrons of _gendarmerie_, +drawn up in a line of battle. Saint Prix, who commanded the artillery, +separated from his guns by a movement of the crowd, sent to the second +in command an order to let them fall back in the door of the Chateau. He +refused to obey: "_The Carrousel is forced_," he said in a loud voice, +"_and so must be the Chateau. Here, artillery men, here is the enemy!_" +And he pointed to the king's windows, turned his guns, and levelled them +at the palace. The troops following this desertion of the artillery, +remained in line, but took the powder from the pans of their muskets in +sight of the people, in sign of fraternity, and allowed a free passage +to the malcontents. + +At this movement of the soldiers, the commandant of the national guard, +who witnessed it, called from the court to the grenadiers, whom he saw +at the windows of the _Salle des Gardes_, to take their arms, and defend +the staircase. The grenadiers, instead of obeying, left the palace by +the gallery leading to the garden. + +Santerre, Theroigne, and Saint-Huruge hastened by the gate of the +palace. The boldest and stoutest of the men in the mob went under the +vault which leads from the Carrousel to the garden, dashed the +artillerymen on one side, and seizing one of the guns, unlimbered it, +and carried it in their arms to the _Salle des Gardes_, on the top of +the grand staircase. The crowd, emboldened by this feat of strength and +audacity, poured into the apartment and spread like a torrent throughout +the staircase and corridors of the Chateau. All the doors were burst in, +or fell beneath the shoulders and axes of the multitude. They shouted +loudly for the king; only one door separated them, and this door was +already yielding beneath the efforts of levers and blows of pikes from +the assailants. + + +XVIII. + +The king, relying on Petion's promises, and the number of troops with +which the palace was surrounded, had seen the assemblage of the mob +without uneasiness. + +The assault suddenly made on his abode had surprised him in complete +security. Retired with the queen, Madame Elizabeth, and his children to +the interior apartments on the side of the garden, he had heard the +distant thunder of the crowd without expecting that it was so soon to +burst on him. The voices of his frightened servants, flying in all +directions, the noise of doors burst open and falling on the floors, the +shouts of the people as they approached, threw alarm suddenly amongst +the family party, which had met in the king's bed-chamber. The prince, +confiding, by his look, his wife, sister, and children to the officers +and women of the household who surrounded them, went alone to the _Salle +du Conseil_. He there found the faithful Marshal de Mouchy, who did not +hesitate to offer the last days of his long life to his master; M. +d'Hervilly, the commandant of the Constitutional Horse Guard, disbanded +a few days previously; the governor Acloque, commandant of the battalion +of the faubourg St. Marceau, at first a moderate republican, then, +overcome by the private virtues of Louis XVI., was his friend, and ready +to die for him; three brave grenadiers of the battalion of the faubourg +St. Martin, Lecrosnier, Bridau, and Gosse, who alone remained at their +post of the interior on the general defection, and ready to protect the +king with their bayonets, men of the people, strangers at court, rallied +round him by the sole sentiment of duty and affection, only defending +the man in the king. + +At the moment the king entered this apartment, the doors of the adjacent +room, called the _Salle des Nobles_, were dashed in by the blows of the +assailants. The king rushed forward to meet the danger. The door-panels +fell at his feet, lance heads, iron-shod sticks, spikes were thrust +through the opening. Cries of fury, oaths, imprecations accompanied the +blows of the axe. The king, in a firm voice, ordered two devoted _valets +de chambre_, who accompanied him, Hue, and de Marchais, to open the +doors. "What have I to fear in the midst of my people?" said the prince, +boldly advancing towards the assailants. + +These words, his advancing step, the serenity of his brow, the respect +of so many ages for the sacred person of the king, suspended the +impetuosity of the ringleaders, and they appeared to hesitate in +crossing the threshold they had burst open. During this doubtful moment, +the Marshal de Mouchy, Acloque, the three grenadiers and two servants, +made the king retreat a few paces, and then placed themselves between +him and the populace. The grenadiers presented their bayonets, and for a +moment kept the crowd at bay. But the increasing mob pushed forward the +first ranks. The first who pressed in was a man in rags, with naked +arms, haggard eyes, and foaming at the mouth. "Where is the _veto_?" he +said, thrusting in the direction of the king's breast a long stick with +an iron dart at the end. One of the grenadiers pressed down this stick +with his bayonet, and thrust aside the arm of this infuriated creature. +The brigand fell at the feet of the citizen, and this act of energy +imposed on his companions, and they trampled upon the man as he lay. +Pikes, hatchets, and knives were lowered or withdrawn. The majesty of +royalty resumed its empire for a moment, and this mob restrained itself +at a certain distance from the king, in an attitude rather of brutal +curiosity than of ferocity. + + +XIX. + +Several officers of the National Guard, roused by the report of the +king's danger, had hastened to join the brave grenadiers, and made a +space round Louis XVI. The king, who had but one thought, which was to +keep the people away from the apartment in which he had left the queen, +ordered the door of the _Salle de Conseil_ to be closed behind him. He +was followed by the multitude into the salon of the _OEil de Boeuf_, +under pretence that this apartment, from its extent, would allow a +greater quantity of citizens to see and speak with him. He reached the +room surrounded by a vast and turbulent crowd, and was happy at finding +that only himself was exposed to blows from weapons of all kinds, which +thousands of hands brandished over his head; but as he turned his head +he saw his sister, Madame Elizabeth, who extended her arms, and was +anxious to rush towards him. + +She had escaped from the women who retained the queen and children in +the bed-chamber. She adored her brother, and wished to die with him. +Young, excessively beautiful, and deeply respected at court, for the +piety of her life and her passionate devotion to the king, she had +renounced all love from her intense affection for her family. Her +dishevelled hair, her eyes swimming with tears, her arms extended +towards the king, gave to her a despairing and sublime expression. "It +is the queen!" exclaimed several women of the faubourgs. This name, at +such a moment, was a sentence of death. Some miscreants rushed towards +the king's sister with uplifted arms, and were about to strike her, when +the officers of the palace undeceived them. The venerated name of Madame +Elizabeth made them drop their arms. "Ah! what are you doing?" exclaimed +the princess sorrowfully; "let them suppose I am the queen; dying in her +place, I might perhaps have saved her." At these words an irresistible +movement of the crowd thrust Madame Elizabeth violently from her +brother, and drove her into the opening of one of the windows of the +_salle_, where the crowd which hemmed her in still contemplated her with +respect. + + +XX. + +The king was in a deep recess of the centre window; Acloque, Vaunot, +d'Hervilly, twenty volunteers and national guards, made him a rampart +with their bodies. Some of the officers drew their swords. "Put your +swords into their scabbards," said the king, calmly, "this multitude is +more excited than guilty." He got upon a bench in the window, the +grenadiers mounted beside him, the others in front of him; they thrust +aside, parried, and lowered the sticks, scythes, and pikes lifted above +the heads of the people. Ferocious vociferations now rose confusedly +from this irritated mass. "_Down with the veto!--the camp of Paris! give +us back our patriotic ministers! where is the Austrian woman?_" Some +ringleaders advanced from the ranks every moment to utter louder +threats and menaces of death to the king. Unable to reach him through +the hedge of bayonets crossed in front of him, they waved beneath his +eyes and over his head hideous flags, with sinister inscriptions, ragged +breeches, the guillotine, the bleeding heart, the gibbet. One of them +tried perpetually to reach the king with his lance in his hand; it was +the same cut-throat who, two years before, had washed with his own hands +in a pail of water the heads of Berthier and Foulon, and, carrying them +by the hair to the Quai de la Ferraille, had thrown them amongst the +people for symbols of carnage, and incentives to fresh murders. + +A fair young man, elegantly dressed, with menacing gesture continually +attacked the grenadiers, and cut his fingers with their bayonets in +order to move them aside and make a clear passage. "Sire--Sire!" he +shouted, "I summon you in the name of one hundred thousand souls who +surround me, to sanction the decree against the priests: that is death!" +Other persons in the crowd, although armed with drawn swords, pistols, +and pikes, made no violent gestures, and warded off every attempt on the +life of the king. There were even seen expressions of respect and grief +in the countenances of a great many. In this review of the Revolution, +the people displayed themselves as very terrible, but did not identify +themselves with assassins. A certain order began to establish itself in +the staircases and apartments: the crowd, pressed by the crowd, after +having seen the king, and uttered threats against him, wandered into +other apartments, and went triumphantly over this _palace of despotism_. + +Legendre the butcher drove before him, in order to find room, these +hordes of women and children accustomed to tremble at his voice. He made +signs that he desired to speak, and silence being established, the +national guard separated a little in order to allow him to address the +king. "Monsieur!" he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder: the king, at this +word, which was a degradation, made a movement of offended dignity; +"yes, Sir," continued Legendre, with more emphasis on the word, "listen +to us; you were made to listen to us! you are a traitor! you have +deceived us always--you deceive us again; but beware! the measure is +heaped up. The people are weary of being your plaything and your +victim." Legendre, after these threatening words, read a petition in +language as imperious, in which he demanded, in the name of the people, +the restitution of the Girondist ministers and the immediate sanction of +their decrees. The king replied with intrepid dignity, "I will do what +the constitution orders me to do." + + +XXI. + +Scarcely had one sea of people gone away, than another succeeded. At +each new invasion of the mob, the strength of the king and the small +number of his defenders was exhausted in the renewed struggles with a +crowd which never wearied. The doors no longer sufficed to the impatient +curiosity of these thousands of men assembled in this pillory of +royalty; they entered by the roof, the windows, and the high balconies +which open on to the terraces. Their climbing up amused the multitude of +spectators crowded in the gardens. The clapping of hands, the cheers of +laughter of this multitude without encouraged the assailants. Menacing +dialogues in loud tones took place between the malcontents above and the +impatient who were below. "Have they struck him?--is he dead?--throw us +the heads!" they shouted. Members of the Assembly, Girondist +journalists, political characters, Garat, Gorsas, Marat, mingled in this +crowd, and uttered their jokes as to this martyrdom of shame to which +the king was being subjected. There was for a moment a report of his +assassination. + +There was no cry of horror thereat among the populace, which raised its +eyes towards the balcony, expecting to see the carcase. Still, in the +very whirlwind of its passion, the multitude appeared to require +reconciliation. One of the multitude handed a _bonnet rouge_ to Louis +XVI. at the end of a pike. "Let him put it on! let him put it on!" +exclaimed the mob, "it is the sign of patriotism, if he puts it on we +will believe in his good faith." The king made a signal to one of his +grenadiers to hand him the _bonnet rouge_, and smiling, he put it on his +head; and then arose shouts of _Vive le Roi!_ The people had crowned its +chief with the symbol of liberty, the cap of democracy replaced the +bandeau of Rheims. The people were conquerors, and felt appeased. + +However, fresh orators, mounting on the shoulders of their comrades, +demanded incessantly of the king, sometimes by entreaties, sometimes +with threats, to promise the recall of Roland, and the sanction of the +decrees. Louis XVI., invincible in his constitutional resistance, +eluded, or refused to acquiesce in the injunctions of the malcontents. +"Guardian of the prerogative of the executive power, I will not +surrender to violence," he answered: "this is not the moment for +deliberation, when it is impossible to deliberate freely." "Do not fear, +sire," said a grenadier of the national guard to him. "My friend," was +the king's reply, taking his hand, and placing it on his breast, "place +your hand there, and see if my heart beats quicker than usual." This +action, and the language of unshaken intrepidity, seen and heard in the +crowd, had its effect on the rebels. + +A fellow in tatters, holding a bottle in his hand, came towards the +king, and said, "if you love the people, drink to their health!" Those +who surrounded the prince, afraid of poison as much as the poignard, +entreated the king not to drink. Louis XVI., extending his arm, took the +bottle, raised it to his lips, and drank "to the nation!" This +familiarity with the multitude, represented by a beggar, consummated the +king's popularity. Renewed cries of _Vive le Roi!_ burst from all +tongues and reached even the staircases: these cries created +consternation in the terrace of the garden amongst the groups who were +expecting a victim, and thus learnt that his executioners were softened. + + +XXII. + +Whilst the unfortunate prince thus contended alone against a whole +people, the queen, in another apartment, was undergoing the same +outrages and the same torments; more hated than the king, she ran more +risks. Agitated nations require to have their hatreds personified as +well as their love. Marie Antoinette represented in the eyes of the +nation all the corruptions of courts, all the pride of despotism, and +all the infamies of treason. Her beauty, her youthful inclination for +pleasure, tenderness of heart provoked by calumny into excesses, the +blood of the house of Austria, her pride, which she derived from her +nature even more than from her blood, her close connection with the +Comte D'Artois, her intrigues with the emigrants, her presumed +complicity with the coalition, the scandalous or infamous libels +disseminated against her for four years--made this princess the spied +victim of public opinion. The women despised her as a guilty wife, the +patriots detested her as a conspirator, political men feared her as the +counsellor of the king. The name of _Autrichienne_ which the people gave +her, summed up all their alleged wrongs against her. She was the +unpopularity of a throne of which she should have been the grace and +forgiveness. + +Marie Antoinette was aware of this hatred of the people to her person. +She knew that her presence beside the king would be a provocation to +assassination. This was the motive that restrained her to remain alone +with her children in the bed-chamber. The king hoped that she was +forgotten, but it was the queen particularly the women of this mob +sought and called for in terms the most offensive for a wife, a woman, +and a queen. + +The king was scarcely surrounded by the masses of people in the _OEil +de Boeuf_ than the doors of the sleeping apartment were beset with the +same uproar and violence. But this party was principally composed of +women. Their weaker arms were not so efficient against oaken panels and +stout hinges. They called to their assistance the men who had carried +the piece of ordnance into the _Salle des Gardes_, and they hastened to +them. The queen was standing up, pressing her two children to her bosom, +and listening with mortal anxiety to the vociferations at her door. She +had near her no one but M. de Lajard, minister of war,--alone, +powerless, but devoted; a few ladies of her suite, and the Princesse de +Lamballe, that friend of her happy and unhappy hours. Daughter-in-law of +the Duc de Penthievre, and sister-in-law of the Duc d'Orleans, the +Princesse de Lamballe had succeeded in the queen's heart to that deep +affection which Marie Antoinette had long entertained for the Comtesse +de Polignac. The friendship of Marie Antoinette was adoration. Chilled +by the coldness of the king, who had the virtues only, and not the +graces of a husband; detested by the people, weary of the throne, she +gave vent in private predilections to the overflow of a heart equally +desirous and void of sentiment. This favouritism was even accused; the +queen was calumniated in her very friendships. + +The Princesse de Lamballe, a widow at eighteen, free from any suspicion +of levity, above all ambition and every interest from her rank and +fortune, loved the queen as a friend. The more adverse were the fortunes +of Marie Antoinette, the more did her young favourite desire to share +them with her. It was not greatness, but misfortune, that attracted her. +_Surintendante_ of the household, she lodged in the Tuileries, in an +apartment adjacent to the queen, to share with her her tears and her +dangers. She was sometimes obliged to be absent in order to go to the +Chateau de Vernon to watch over the old Duc de Penthievre. The queen, +who foresaw the coming storm, had written to her some days before the +20th of June a touching letter, entreating her not to return. This +letter, found in the hair of the Princesse de Lamballe after her +assassination, and _unknown until now_, discloses the tenderness of the +one and the devotion of the other. + +"Do not leave Vernon, my dear Lamballe, before you are perfectly +recovered. The good Duc de Penthievre would be sorry and distressed, and +we must all take care of his advanced age, and respect his virtues. I +have so often told you to take heed of yourself, that if you love me you +must think of yourself; we shall require all our strength in the times +in which we live. Oh do not return, or return as late as possible. Your +heart would be too deeply wounded; you would have too many tears to shed +over my misfortunes, you who love me so tenderly. This race of tigers +which infests the kingdom would cruelly enjoy itself if it knew all the +sufferings we undergo. Adieu, my dear Lamballe; I am always thinking of +you, and you know I never change." + +Madame Lamballe, contrary to this advice, made all haste to return, and +clung to the queen as though she sought to be struck with the same blow. +By her side were also other courageous women,--the Princesse de Tarente, +Latremouille, Mesdames de Tourzel, de Mackau, de La Roche-Aymon. + +M. de Lajard, a cool soldier, responsible to the king and himself for so +many dear and sacred lives, collected in haste by the secret passages +which communicated with the sleeping chamber and the interior of the +palace, several officers and national guards wandering about in the +tumult. He had the queen's children brought to her, in order that their +presence and appearance, by softening the mob, might serve as a buckler +to their mother. He himself opened the doors. He placed the queen and +her ladies in the depth of the window. They wheeled in front of this the +massive council-table, in order to interpose a barrier between the +weapons of the malcontents and the lives of the royal family. Some +national guards were around the table on each side, and rather in +advance of it. The queen, standing up, held by the hand her daughter, +then fourteen years of age. + +A child of noble beauty and precocious maturity, the anxieties of the +family in the midst of whom she had grown up had already reflected their +weight and sorrow in her features. Her blue eyes, her lofty brow, +aquiline nose, light brown hair, floating in long waves down her +shoulders, recalled at the decline of the monarchy those young girls of +the Gauls who graced the throne of the earlier races. The young daughter +pressed closely against her mother's bosom, as though to shield her with +her innocence. Born amidst the early tumults of the Revolution, dragged +to Paris captive amidst the blood of the 6th of October, she only knew +the people by its turbulence and rage. The Dauphin, a child of seven +years old, was seated on the table in front of the queen. His innocent +face, radiant with all the beauty of the Bourbons, expressed more +surprise than fear. He turned to his mother at every moment, raising his +eyes towards her as though to read through her tears whether he should +have confidence or alarm. It was thus that the mob found the queen as it +entered and defiled triumphantly before her. The calming produced by the +firmness and confidence of the king was already perceptible in the faces +of the multitude. The most ferocious of the men were softened in the +presence of weakness--beauty--childhood. A lovely woman, a queen, +humiliated,--a young innocent girl,--a child, smiling at his father's +enemies, could not fail to awaken sensibility even in hatred. The men of +the suburbs moved on silent, and as if ashamed, before this group of +humiliated greatness. Some of them the more cowardly made as they passed +derisive or vulgar gestures, which were a dishonour to the +insurrection. Their indignant accomplices checked them in their +insolence, and made these dastards quit the room as speedily as +possible. Some even addressed looks of sympathy and compassion, others +smiles, and others a few familiar words to the dauphin. Conversations, +half menacing, half respectful, were exchanged between the child and the +throng. "If you love the nation," said a volunteer to the queen, "put +the _bonnet rouge_ on your son's head." The queen took the _bonnet +rouge_ from this man's hands, and placed it herself on the dauphin's +head. The astonished child took these insults as play. The men +applauded, but the women, more implacable towards a woman, never ceased +their invectives. Obscene words, borrowed from the sinks of the +fish-market, for the first time echoed in the vaults of the palace, and +in the ears of these children. Their ignorance in not comprehending +their meaning saved them from this horror. The queen, whilst she blushed +to the eyes, did not allow her offended modesty to lessen her lofty +dignity. It was evident that she blushed for the people, for her +children, and not for herself. A young girl, of pleasing appearance and +respectably attired, came forward and bitterly reviled in coarsest terms +_l'Autrichienne_. The queen, struck by the contrast between the rage of +this young girl and the gentleness of her face, said to her in a kind +tone, "Why do you hate me? Have I ever unknowingly done you any injury +or offence?" "No, not to me," replied the pretty patriot; "but it is you +who cause the misery of the nation." "Poor child!" replied the queen; +"some one has told you so, and deceived you. What interest can I have in +making the people miserable? The wife of the king, mother of the +dauphin, I am a Frenchwoman by all the feelings of my heart as a wife +and mother. I shall never again see my own country. I can only be happy +or unhappy in France. I was happy when you loved me." + +This gentle reproach affected the heart of the young girl, and her anger +was effaced in a flood of tears. She asked the queen's pardon, saying, +"I did not know you, but I see that you are good." At this moment +Santerre made his way through the crowd. Easily moved, and sensitive +though coarse, Santerre had roughness, impetuosity, and feelings easily +affected. The faubourgs opened before him and trembled at his voice. He +made an imperious sign for them to leave the apartment, and thrust +these men and women by the shoulders towards the door in front of the +_OEil de Boeuf_. The current advanced by opposite issues of the +palace, and the heat was suffocating. The dauphin's brow reeked with +perspiration beneath the _bonnet rouge_. "Take the cap off the child," +shouted Santerre; "don't you see he is half stifled." The queen darted a +mother's glance at Santerre, who came towards her, and placing his hand +on the table, he leaned towards Marie Antoinette and said, in an under +tone, "You have some very awkward friends, madame; I know those who +would serve you better!" The queen looked down, and was silent. It was +from this moment that may be dated the secret understanding which she +established with the agitators of the faubourgs. The leading malcontents +received the queen's entreaties with complacency. Their pride was +flattered in raising the woman whom they had degraded. Mirabeau, +Barnave, Danton had in turns sold or offered to sell the influence of +their popularity. Santerre merely offered his compassion. + + +XXIII. + +The Assembly had again resumed its sitting on the news of the invasion +of the Chateau. A deputation of twenty-four members was sent as a +safeguard for the king. Arriving too late, these deputies wandered in +the crowded court-yard, vestibules, and staircases of the palace. +Although they felt repugnance at the idea of the last crime being +committed on the person of the king, they were not very grievously +afflicted in their hearts at this long-threatened insult to the court. +Their steps were lost in the crowd, their words in the uproar. Vergniaud +himself, from a top step of the grand staircase, vainly appealed to +order, legality, and the constitution. The eloquence, so powerful to +incite the masses, is powerless to check them. From time to time the +royalist deputies, highly indignant, returned to the chamber, and, +mounting the tribune, with their clothes all in disorder, reproached the +Assembly with its indifference. Amongst these more conspicuously, +Vaublanc, Ramond, Becquet, Girardin. Mathieu Dumas, La Fayette's friend, +exclaimed, as he pointed to the windows of the Chateau, "I am just come +from there; the king is in danger! I have this moment seen him, and can +bear witness to the testimony of my colleagues MM. Isnard and Vergniaud +in their unavailing efforts to restrain the people. Yes, I have seen the +hereditary representative of the nation insulted, menaced, degraded! I +have seen the _bonnet rouge_ on his head. You are responsible for this +to posterity!" They replied to him by ironical laughter and uproarious +shouts. "Would you imply that the _bonnet_ of patriots is a disgraceful +mark for a king's brow?" said the Girondist, Lasource; "will it not be +believed that we are uneasy as to the king's safety? Let us not insult +the people by lending it sentiments which it does not possess. The +people do not menace either the person of Louis XVI. or the prince +royal. They will not commit excess or violence. Let us adopt measures of +mildness and conciliation." This was the perfidious lulling of Petion, +and the Assembly was put to sleep by such language. + + +XXIV. + +Petion himself could not for any length of time feign ignorance of the +gathering of 40,000 persons in Paris since the morning, and the entry of +this armed mob into the Assembly and the Maison of the Tuileries. His +prolonged absence recalled to mind the sleep of La Fayette on the 6th of +October; but the one was an accomplice, and the other innocent. Night +approached, and might conceal in its shades the disorders and attempts +which would go even beyond the views of the Girondists. Petion appeared +in the court-yard, amidst shouts of _Vive Petion!_ They carried him in +their arms to the lowest steps of the staircase, and he entered the +apartment where for three hours Louis XVI. had been undergoing these +outrages. "I have only just learned the situation of your majesty," said +Petion. "That is very astonishing," replied the king, in a tone of deep +indignation, "for it is a long time that it has lasted." + +Petion, mounted on a chair, then made several addresses to the mob, +without inducing it to move in the least. At length, being put on the +shoulders of four grenadiers, he said, "Citizens, male and female, you +have used with moderation and dignity your right of petition; you will +finish this day as you began it. Hitherto your conduct has been in +conformity with the law, and now in the name of the law I call upon you +to follow my example and to retire." + +The crowd obeyed Petion, and moved off slowly through the long avenue of +apartments of the chateau. Scarcely had the mass begun to grow +perceptibly less, than the king, released by the grenadiers from the +recess in which he had been imprisoned, went to his sister, who threw +herself into his arms: he went out of the apartment with her by a side +door, and hastened to join the queen in her apartment. Marie Antoinette, +sustained until then by her pride against showing her tears, gave way to +the excess of her tenderness and emotion on again beholding the king. +She threw herself at his feet, and clasping his knees, sobbed bitterly +but not loudly. Madame Elizabeth and the children, locked in each +other's arms, and all embraced by the king, who wept over them, rejoiced +at finding each other as if after a shipwreck, and their mute joy was +raised to heaven with astonishment and gratitude for their safety. The +faithful national guard, the generals attached to the king, Marshal de +Mouchy, M. d'Aubier, Acloque, congratulated the king on the courage and +presence of mind he had displayed. They mutually related the perils +which they had escaped, the infamous remarks, gestures, looks, arms, +costumes, and sudden repentance of this multitude. The king at this +moment having accidently passed a mirror, saw on his head the _bonnet +rouge_, which had not been taken off; he turned very red, and threw it +at his feet, then casting himself into an arm-chair, he raised his +handkerchief to his eyes, and looking at the queen, exclaimed, "Ah, +madame! why did I take you from your country to associate you with the +ignominy of such a day?" + + +XXV. + +It was eight o'clock in the evening. The agony of the royal family had +lasted for five hours. The national guard of the neighbouring quarters, +assembling by themselves, arrived singly, in order to lend their aid to +the constitution. There were still heard from the king's apartment +tumultuous footsteps, and the sinister cries of the columns of people, +who were slowly filing off by the courts and garden. The constitutional +deputies ran about in indignation, uttering imprecations against Petion +and the Gironde. A deputation of the Assembly went over the chateau in +order to take cognisance of the violence and disorder resulting from +this visitation of the faubourgs. The queen pointed out to them the +forced locks, the bursten hinges, the bludgeons, pike irons, panels, and +the piece of cannon loaded with small shot, placed on the threshold of +the apartments. The disorder of the attire of the king, his sister, the +children, the _bonnets rouges_, the cockades forcibly placed on their +heads; the dishevelled hair of the queen, her pale features, the +tremulousness of her lips, her eyes streaming with tears, were tokens +more evident than these spoils left by the people on the battle ground +of sedition. This spectacle moistened the eyes, and excited the +indignation, even of the deputies most hostile to the court. The queen +saw this: "You weep, sir?" she said to Merlin. "Yes, madame," replied +the stoic deputy; "I weep over the misfortunes of the woman, the wife, +and the mother; but my sympathy goes no further. I hate kings and +queens!" + +Such was the day of the 20th of June. The people displayed discipline in +disorder, and forbearance in violence: the king, heroic intrepidity in +his resignation; and some of the Girondists, a cold brutality which +gives to ambition the mask of patriotism. + + +XXVI. + +Every thing was preparing in the departments to send to Paris the 20,000 +troops ordered by the Assembly. The Marseillais, summoned by Barbaroux +at the instigation of Madame Roland, were approaching the capital. It +was the fire of the soul in the south coming to rekindle the +revolutionary hearth, which, as the Girondists believed, was failing in +Paris. This body of twelve or fifteen hundred men was composed of +Genoese, Ligurians, Corsicans, Piedmontese, banished from their country +and recruited suddenly on the shores of the Mediterranean; the majority +sailors or soldiers accustomed to warfare, and some bandits, hardened in +crime. They were commanded by young men of Marseilles, friends of +Barbaroux and Isnard. Rendered fanatic by the climate and the eloquence +of the provincial clubs, they came on amidst the applauses of the +population of central France, received, feted, overcome by enthusiasm +and wine at the patriotic banquets which hailed them in constant +succession on their way. The pretext of their march was to fraternise, +at the federation of the 14th of July[25], with the other _federes_ of +the kingdom. The secret motive was to intimidate the Parisian national +guard, to revive the energy of the faubourgs, and to be the vanguard of +that camp of 20,000 men which the Girondists had made the Assembly vote, +in order at the same time to control the Feuillants, the Jacobins, the +king, and the Assembly itself, with an army from the departments wholly +composed of their creatures. The sea of people was violently agitated on +their approach. The national guard, the _federes_, the popular +societies, children, women, all that portion of the population which +lives on excitement of the streets, and runs after public spectacles, +flew to meet the Marseillais. Their bronzed faces, martial appearance, +eyes of fire, uniforms covered with the dust of their journey, their +Phrygian head-dress, their strange weapons, the guns they dragged after +them, the green branches which shaded their _bonnets rouges_, their +strange language mingled with oaths, and accentuated by savage gestures, +all struck the imagination of the multitude with great force. The +revolutionary idea appeared to have assumed the guise of a mortal, and +to be marching under the aspect of this horde, to the assault of the +last remnant of royalty. They entered the cities and villages beneath +triumphal arches. They sang terrible songs as they progressed. Couplets, +alternated by the regular noise of their feet on the road, and by the +sound of drums, resembled chorusses of the country and war, answering at +intervals to the clash of arms and weapons of death in a march to +combat. This song is graven on the soul of France. + + + + +XXVII. + +THE MARSEILLAISE. + + +I. + + Allons, enfants de la Patrie, + Le jour de gloire est arrive! + Contre nous, de la tyrannie + L'etendart sanglant est leve. + Entendez-vous dans ces campagnes + Mugir ces feroces soldats! + Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras + Egorger vos fils et vos compagnes!-- + Aux armes, citoyens! formez vos bataillons! + Marchons! qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons! + + + II. + + Que veut cette horde d'esclaves, + De traitres, de rois conjures? + Pour qui ces ignobles entraves + Ces fers des longtemps prepares? + Francais, pour nous ah! quel outrage, + Quels transports il doit exciter! + C'est nous qu'on ose mediter + De rendre a l'antique esclavage; + Aux armes, &c. + + + III. + + Quoi! des cohortes etrangeres + Feraient la loi dans nos foyers? + Quoi! ces phalanges mercenaires + Terrasseraient nos fiers guerriers? + Grand Dieu! par des mains enchainees, + Nos fronts sous le joug se ploieraient; + De vils despotes deviendraient + Les maitres de nos destinees! + Aux armes, &c. + + + IV. + + Tremblez, tyrans! et vous, perfides, + L'opprobre de tous les partis! + Tremblez, vos projets parricides + Vont enfin recevoir leur prix! + Tout est soldat pour vous combattre: + S'ils tombent nos jeunes heros, + La terre en produit les nouveaux, + Contre vous tout prets a se battre. + Aux armes, &c. + + + V. + + Francais, en guerriers magnanimes, + Portez ou retenez vos coups; + Epargnez ces tristes victimes + A regret s'armant contre nous. + Mais ces despotes sanguinaires, + Mais les complices de Bouille, + Tous ces tigres sans pitie + Dechirent le sein de leur mere. + Aux armes, &c. + + VI. + + Amour sacre de la patrie, + Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs! + Liberte, liberte cherie, + Combats avec tes defenseurs! + Sous nos drapeaux que la Victoire + Accoure a tes males accents; + Que tes ennemis expirants + Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire! + Aux armes, &c. + + + VERSE SUNG BY CHILDREN. + + + Nous entrerons dans la carriere, + Quand nos aines n'y seront plus; + Nous y trouverons leur poussiere, + Et la trace de leurs vertus! + Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre + Que de partager leur cercueil, + Nous aurons le sublime orgueil + De les venger ou de les suivre! + Aux armes, &c.[26] + + +XXVIII. + +These words were sung in notes alternately flat and sharp, which seemed +to come from the breast with sullen mutterings of national anger, and +then with the joy of victory. They had something as solemn as death, but +as serene as the undying confidence of patriotism. It seemed a recovered +echo of Thermopylae--it was heroism sung. + +There was heard the regular footfall of thousands of men walking +together to defend the frontiers over the resounding soil of their +country, the plaintive notes of women, the wailing of children, the +neighing of horses, the hissing of flames as they devoured palaces and +huts; then gloomy strokes of vengeance, striking again and again with +the hatchet, and immolating the enemies of the people, and the profaners +of the soil. The notes of this air rustled like a flag dipped in gore, +still reeking in the battle plain. It made one tremble--but it was the +shudder of intrepidity which passed over the heart, and gave an +impulse--redoubled strength--veiled death. It was the "fire-water" of +the Revolution, which instilled into the senses and the soul of the +people the intoxication of battle. There are times when all people find +thus gushing into their national mind accents which no man hath written +down, and which all the world feels. All the senses desire to present +their tribute to patriotism, and eventually to encourage each other. The +foot advances--gesture animates--the voice intoxicates the ear--the ear +shakes the heart. The whole heart is inspired like an instrument of +enthusiasm. Art becomes divine; dancing, heroic; music, martial; poetry, +popular. The hymn which was at that moment in all mouths will never +perish. It is not profaned on common occasions. Like those sacred +banners suspended from the roofs of holy edifices, and which are only +allowed to leave them on certain days, we keep the national song as an +extreme arm for the great necessities of the country. Ours was +illustrated by circumstances, whence issued a peculiar character, which +made it at the same time more solemn and more sinister: glory and crime, +victory and death, seemed intertwined in its chorus. It was the song of +patriotism, but it was also the imprecation of rage. It conducted our +soldiers to the frontier, but it also accompanied our victims to the +scaffold. The same blade defends the heart of the country in the hand of +the soldier, and sacrifices victims in the hand of the executioner. + + +XXIX. + +The _Marseillaise_ preserves notes of the song of glory and the shriek +of death: glorious as the one, funereal like the other, it assures the +country, whilst it makes the citizen turn pale. This is its history. + +There was then a young officer of artillery in garrison at Strasbourg, +named Rouget de Lisle. He was born at Lons-le-Saunier, in the _Jura_, +that country of reverie and energy, as mountainous countries always +are. This young man loved war like a soldier--the Revolution like a +thinker. He charmed with his verses and music the slow dull garrison +life. Much in request from his twofold talent as musician and poet, he +visited the house of Dietrick, an Alsatian patriot (_maire of +Strasbourg_), on intimate terms. Dietrick's wife and young daughters +shared in his patriotic feelings, for the Revolution was advancing +towards the frontiers, just as the affections of the body always +commence at the extremities. They were very partial to the young +officer, and inspired his heart, his poetry, and his music. They +executed the first of his ideas hardly developed, confidantes of the +earliest flights of his genius. + +It was in the winter of 1792, and there was a scarcity in Strasbourg. +The house of Dietrick was poor, and the table humble; but there was +always a welcome for Rouget de Lisle. This young officer was there from +morning to night, like a son or brother of the family. One day, when +there was only some coarse bread and slices of ham on the table, +Dietrick, looking with calm sadness at De Lisle, said to him, "Plenty is +not seen at our feasts; but what matter if enthusiasm is not wanting at +our civic fetes, and courage in our soldiers' hearts. I have still a +bottle of wine left in my cellar. Bring it," he added, addressing one of +his daughters, "and we will drink to liberty and our country. Strasbourg +is shortly to have a patriotic ceremony, and De Lisle must be inspired +by these last drops to produce one of those hymns which convey to the +soul of the people the enthusiasm which suggested it." The young girls +applauded, fetched the wine, filled the glasses of their old father and +the young officer until the wine was exhausted. It was midnight, and +very cold. De Lisle was a dreamer; his heart was moved, his head heated. +The cold seized on him, and he went staggering to his lonely chamber, +endeavouring, by degrees, to find inspiration in the palpitations of his +citizen heart; and on his small clavicord, now composing the air before +the words, and now the words before the air, combined them so intimately +in his mind, that he could never tell which was first produced, the air +or the words, so impossible did he find it to separate the poetry from +the music, and the feeling from the impression. He sung every +thing--wrote nothing. + + +XXX. + +Overcome by this divine inspiration, his head fell sleeping on his +instrument, and he did not awake until daylight. The song of the over +night returned to his memory with difficulty, like the recollections of +a dream. He wrote it down, and then ran to Dietrick. He found him in his +garden. His wife and daughters had not yet risen. Dietrick aroused them, +called together some friends as fond as himself of music, and capable of +executing De Lisle's composition. Dietrick's eldest daughter accompanied +them, Rouget sang. At the first verse all countenances turned pale, at +the second tears flowed, at the last enthusiasm burst forth. The hymn of +the country was found. Alas! it was also destined to be the hymn of +terror. The unfortunate Dietrick went a few months afterwards to the +scaffold to the sound of the notes produced at his own fireside, from +the heart of his friend, and the voices of his daughters. + +The new song, executed some days afterwards at Strasbourg, flew from +city to city, in every public orchestra. Marseilles adopted it to be +sung at the opening and the close of the sittings of its clubs. The +Marseillais spread it all over France, by singing it every where on +their way. Whence the name of _Marseillaise_. De Lisle's old mother, a +royalist and religious, alarmed at the effect of her son's voice, wrote +to him: "What is this revolutionary hymn, sung by bands of brigands, who +are traversing France, and with which our name is mingled?" De Lisle +himself, proscribed as a royalist, heard it and shuddered, as it sounded +on his ears, whilst escaping by some of the wild passes of the Alps. +"What do they call that hymn?" he inquired of his guide. "The +_Marseillaise_," replied the peasant. It was thus he learnt the name of +his own work. The arm turned against the hand that forged it. The +Revolution, insane, no longer recognised its own voice! + +END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] See an elegant exposition of this idea in Schlegel's Dramatic +Literature (Standard Library Edition, page 67.). + +[2] La Fayette rode a favourite white horse on public occasions during +this period.--H. T. R. + +[3] "Infamous and contented."--_Junius_. + +[4] "Pere Duchesne" was one of the most virulent, gross, and +blood-thirsty productions of the Revolution. It was edited by Manuel and +Hebert. Its success and profit were so great, that it had many +imitators. It was rather a pamphlet than a newspaper, the price fifty +sous a month--H. T. R. + +[5] It has been generally understood that Voltaire was born at Chatenay, +_near_ Paris, in February, 1694.--H. T. R. + +[6] Voltaire's residence in Switzerland, where he lived nearly twenty +years.--H. T. R. + +[7] Qu. Middlesex in 1769?--H. T. R. + +[8] This appellation is given to a period of French history extending +from 1643 to 1655. By some it is styled an attempt to establish a +balanced constitution in the state,--by others, the last essay of +expiring feudality. The _frondeur_ leaders were the Duc de Beaufort, +Cardinal de Retz, Prince de Conti, Duc de Bouillon, Mareschaux Turenne +and de la Motte. On the side of their opponents, called _Mazarins_, were +the Cardinal Mazarin himself, the Prince de Conde, Marechal de Grammont, +and the Duc de Chatillon, while the Duc d'Orleans, a vacillating man, +wavered between the two parties. The successes of the rival powers were +alternate for a long time; eventually the _frondeurs_ were defeated, and +De Retz escaping into Lorraine, Mazarin returned to Paris triumphant in +February 1653.--H. T. R. + +[9] If M. de Lamartine would convey the idea that Burke was a partisan +of the French Revolution, we must combat the assertion by a reference to +dates. Talleyrand was ambassador in England in 1792. In October 1791, +Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France" appeared, to which Tom +Paine's "Rights of Man" was one of the replies, and Sir James +Mackintosh's "Vindiciae" another; and previously, in 1789 and 1790, Burke +had condemned the tendencies of the Revolution, and the conduct of the +Revolutionists.--H. T. R. + +[10] + + -------- immedicabile vulnus + Ense recidendum, ne pars sincera trahatur. + + +[11] Co-editor with Hebert of the disgusting "Pere Duchesne."--H. T. R. + +[12] "Dux faemina facti."--VIRG. + +[13] This extract has been given before at p. 247.--_Translator._ + +[14] Foulon was a contractor, who, odious to the populace, was compelled +to fly from Paris, but being discovered, was brought back, and +eventually murdered by the mob in July 1789. Berthier was his +son-in-law, and also incurring the displeasure of the people, was a few +days later stabbed by a hundred bayonets whilst on his way to +prison.--H. T. R. + +[15] See Michelet's History of the French Revolution, vol. i. +p.154.--_Standard Library._ + +[16] + + "Hail mighty triumph!--enter these our walls! + Restore those soldiers, heroes of the day + When fell Desilles, pierced by their murderous balls, + And blood of citizens bedew'd the clay!" + + +[17] In Michelet's _History of the French Revolution_, publishing +contemporaneously with this work, the author acquits the Duc d'Orleans +of any participation in the riots and bloodshed at Versailles, on the +4th and 5th of October; but says, page 280., "Depositions prove that he +was seen every where between Paris and Versailles, but that he did +nothing. Between eight and nine o'clock in the morning of the 6th, so +soon after the massacre that the court of the castle was still stained +with blood, he went and showed himself to the people, with an enormous +cockade in his hat, laughing, and flourishing a switch in his +hand."--_Standard Library._--H. T. R. + +[18] This passage is somewhat obscure in the original: "_Dumouriez se +trouva la genie d'une circonstance cache sous l'habit d'un aventurier._" +We trust we have caught its spirit.--H. T. H. + +[19] Madame Du Barry was the favourite mistress of Louis XV., and her +brother, as he was called, the Count Jean du Barry, had the king's +patronage, and preyed on the public to a great extent, to supply his low +habits and expensive tastes.--_Translator._ + +[20] The club of the Feuillants, of which La Fayette was the leading +member, was formed after the 17th July, 1791. It consisted principally +of Royalists, and was soon dissolved.--H. T. R. + +[21] The Marseillais trace their origin to a colony of Phocians in the +1st year of the 43d Olympiad, 599 years B.C. It was the +Massilia of the Romans, and called by Cicero the "mistress of Gaul," and +by Pliny, the "mistress of education."--H. T. R. + +[22] M. Lamartine does not here refer to Andre Chenier, an admirable +lyric poet, from whom he has quoted at page 351.; _he_ was a Royalist, +and as such condemned and guillotined in July 1794, in his thirty-second +year. He had a brother, Joseph Chenier, his junior by two years, who was +an enthusiastic republican, and wrote and brought out, from 1785 to +1795, a great many tragedies, viz. _Charles IX._, _Calas_, _Henry +VIII._, _Timoleon_, _Tibere_, &c., and was elected member of the +legislative assemblies from 1792 to 1802. He fell under Napoleon's +displeasure, and he dismissed him from his appointment as +inspector-general of public instruction, in 1803. The consul was +becoming imperial in his aspirations. Joseph Chenier died in 1811, +consistent to the last in his republican notions.--H. T. R. + +[23] Editor of the infamous Pere Duchesne.--H. T. R. + +[24] Furor arma ministrat.--H. T. H. + +[25] It was on the 30th July, 1792, that the Marseillais arrived in +Paris.--H. T. R. + +[26] M. Lamartine has not in his work given the verses 3, 4, and 5; we +have therefore supplied them, that "The Marseillaise" may be complete. +The Marseillais ruffians entered Paris on the 30th July, 1792, by the +Faubourg Saint-Antoine (the St. Giles's of Paris), and headed by +Santerre, went to the Champs Elysees, (thus traversing the whole city +from south to north,) where a banquet awaited them. Their arrival was +marked by riots and bloodshed--Duhamel was murdered. This celebrated +song was written by Rouget de Lisle, who also composed the air. On the +18th Nivose, an. iv.(8th January, 1795,) an order of the Directory +enjoined that at all theatres and sights the air of the "Marseillaise," +and those of "Ca Ira,--Veillons au Salut de l'Empire," and "Le Chant du +Depart," should be played. Rouget de Lisle was an officer of engineers +in 1790, and in spite of his republican opinions, incarcerated during +the reign of terror and only saved by the 9th Thermidor. He would +assuredly have been accompanied to the guillotine by his own +song.--H. T. R. + +PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE, LONDON + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Girondists, Volume I, by +Alphonse de Lamartine + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE GIRONDISTS *** + +***** This file should be named 18094.txt or 18094.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/0/9/18094/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Janet Blenkinship and the +Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe at +http://dp.rastko.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/18094.zip b/18094.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..05483aa --- /dev/null +++ b/18094.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..48a756c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #18094 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18094) |
