of the Bastille-had been the triumph of the middle class, though it was won by the very lowest. The constituency was its assembly; the national guard its armed force; the mayoralty its popular power. There was another party equally monarchical, differing essentially from Mirabeau, in that it would maintain a reformed aristocracy, in a second chamber. The heads of this party were Mounier, LallyTollendal, Duport, Barnave, and Alexander Lamethe. Duport planned their measures, and Barnave and Lamethe supported them in the assembly. Such now was the state of parties. On the royal side were the emigrants, the queen looking to Austria, and hoping to escape to the army under Bouillé, in the Austrian Netherlands; the king with no determinate views; and Necker struggling to carry on the government, but, as a statesman, wholly incompetent to the crisis. On the revolutionary side, ranged, in various ranks, and with various views, Mirabeau, La Fayette, Barnave, Lamethe, &c.; and beyond them the vast mass of the lowest people, incited by such men as Robespierre, Marat, Danton, Desmoulins, and others, soon destined to assume a more hideous and gigantic shape. from being impeded in its course, would rush forward more rapidly than ever to regeneration; M. Barnave laughing with him whilst streams of blood were flowing around us; the virtuous Mounier miraculously escaping from twenty assassins who were anxious to make an additional trophy of his head. These were they which made me swear never more to set foot in that cavern of anthropophagi, where I had no longer strength to raise my voice; where, for the last six weeks, I had raised it in vain. I, Mounier, and all virtuous men, were of opinion that the last effort we had to make for the public welfare was to leave that assembly. A man may brave death once he may face it many times when his courage can be of use to his country-but no power under heaven, no public or private opinion, shall condemn me to suffer uselessly a thousand deaths a minute, and to perish of despair and rage in the midst of triumphs and curses which I have been unable to prevent. They will proscribe me; they will confiscate my property; but I will dig the earth for my bread, and will see them no more!" These noble and honourable men have been blamed for their desertion of the cause of the revolution; but what reason could be advanced for this contrary to that which they gave? Their efforts were useless, and history confirms this assertion by showing that, had they remained, it would only have been to perish under the guillotine, as so many of their compeers did, in the general and mutual butchery which followed. La Fayette, spite of the scenes of the 5th and 6th of August, which had driven away these patriots, spite of his having seen himself compelled to follow the ferocious and almost cannibal mob, still blinded by his vanity, flattered himself that he could divert the storm of the revolution. Two days after the bringing of the king to Paris, Governeur Morris, the American, who was watching the revolution as a spectator, and therefore saw more of its tendency than the actors themselves, wrote to La Fayette to warn him against aiming at too much by his own exertions, and to induce him to try and unite the greatest number of men of talent and virtue in the affairs of government, and in defence of the king and constitution. He warned him that the men he was proposing to put into the ministry— Malesherbes, as keeper of the seals, and La Rochefoucauld, as minister of Paris-though virtuous men, were incapable of the duties of those offices. There was one man of talent against whom he warned him, on account of his bad character, Mirabeau; but he assured him that he must have talent, and must not expect altogether faultless possessors of it. He afterwards wrote to him a letter of very excellent advice. With a remarkable foresight, he told him what would be the fate of the assembly and of himself, unless great and immediate measures were used. But could any measures have prevented the frightful course of the revolution, urged on by such a people? "I am convinced," he The assembly having received repeated assurances of the tranquillity of the city, and that it could exercise perfect independence of vote, had removed to Paris, and taken up its sittings for the time in the abandoned palace of the archbishop of Paris. But in this locale it showed but as a fragment of its former self. There was a great diminution of the noblesse and the clergy, who had withdrawn after the scenes they had witnessed, and especially the last. Mounier, Lally-Tollendal, the abbé Maury, and Cazalés, a captain of dragoons, but one of the most eloquent men of the assembly, had disappeared. Cazalés and Maury had retired soon after the 14th of July, but they soon resumed their places again; but Mounier and Lally-Tollendal never more. Mounier retired to his native Dauphiny, horrified at the sanguinary scenes of the 5th and 6th of August. He assembled the states of the province, but a decree of the assembly caused it to be dissolved without resistance. Mounier, however, had henceforth lost the confidence of the people; and, being suspected by the assembly of fresh designs against it, he was compelled to quit France, and became a teacher of French in Germany. He wrote a book "On the Causes which have prevented the French becoming a free People," in which it has been well observed that he omitted the chief, if not the only, cause-the character of the nation. LallyTollendal sought safety in England, and there published a "Letter to a Friend," in which he also enumerated the causes of his abandoning that revolution of which he had been so effectual a promoter. "I was no longer able," he wrote, "to endure the horror I felt at the sight of that blood in Versailles- those heads-that queen nearly assassinated; that king carried off as a slave, entering Paris in the midst of his assassins; that cry of All the bishops to the lanterne !' at the moment the king was entering his capital with two pre-said, "that the proposed constitution cannot serve for the lates of his council with him; that musket which I saw fired into one of the queen's carriages, and then M. Bailly calling that a glorious day; the assembly having coolly declared in the morning that it was incompatible with its dignity to go and surround the king; M. Mirabeau observing, with impunity, in that assembly, that the vessel of the state, far government of this country; that the national assembly, late the object of enthusiastic attachment, will soon be treated with disrespect; that the extreme licentiousness of your people will render it indispensable to increase the royal authority; that, under such circumstances, the freedom and happiness of France must depend on the wisdom, A.D. 1789.j WITHDRAWAL OF THE DUKE OF ORLEANS TO ENGLAND. integrity, and firmness of his majesty's councils, and, consequently, that the ablest and best men should be added to the present administration." He added that the moment was critical, and, if not seized, would produce the most irreparable mischiefs. For himself, he warned him to keep out of the ministry, but to keep himself to his command, which was almost more than enough for one man. "Your present command," he said, "must, of necessity, engross your time, and require undisputed attention, and, in consequence, you must fail in the duty either of minister or general." After showing him the embarrassments such a double appointment must inevitably bring, he added, "The jealousy and suspicion inseparable from tumultuous revolutions, and which have already been maliciously pointed against you, will certainly follow all your future steps, if you appear to be too strictly connected with the court. The foundation of your authority will thus crumble away, and you will fall, the object of your own astonishment." How wise must these counsels have appeared to La Fayette years afterwards, when he was overwhelmed with calumnies, and driven from his country for his best exertions! Now, La Fayette seems to have taken the advice so far as to refrain from being in the ministry, but ever after growing distant to the adviser. The party of the duke of Orleans was strongly suspected of having excited the late march to Versalles, with the design of getting the king into their hands; some said to have the king assassinated, and out of the way. This party of the duke was always one of the mysteries of the revolution, much talked about, but little or nothing known of it. The duke had, indeed, his particular knot of friends, amongst whom was the marquis de Sillery Genlis, the husband of madame de Genlis, the well-known novelist; and Laclos, who was the duke's secretary, a man of infamous character, and author of a most infamous and obscene book, "Liaisons Dangereuses; " and other men of a like stamp. This man probably flattered Orleans with the idea that, were the royal family exiled or deposed, he, as next of blood, would succeed; but that the duke or his party coutemplated or did a tithe of the things attributed to them, is wholly unproved. On every occasion when a mob was raised, or a monstrous thing done, it was whispered about that it was through the agency of the duke and his party. Because he was rich, and had shown himself ready to take the side of the people, it was believed that the duke's money was employed to fire and stimulate all the agents and incendiaries of ntischief. There is no doubt that the duke was an unprincipled debauchee, and would have been ready enough to reap advantage at the expense of the royal family; but there is no ground for believing that he or his party had the power or ability to concert and do a hundredth part of what was continually attributed to them. Orleans, having a bad reputation, and being wealthy, and a stickler for the revolution, may be said to have been the stalking-horse of all its movements; the truth being, that there needed no other Orleans than the ignorance, ferocity, and lawless passions of the French mob to accomplish all the horrors that were perpetrated. At this time, Mirabeau was said to be in league with Orleans, and to have been seen at the attack on Versailles, at four o'clock in the morning, in the 473 Others thickest of the mob, with a sabre in his hand. declared that he had been recognised in the marble court, in a great riding-coat, and with his hat slouched over his face, directing the mob the way to the staircase leading to the queen's chamber. These stories were, no doubt, merely myths, but were believed for a time. It was said that it had been agreed betwixt them, that Orleans should be lieutenant of the kingdom and Mirabeau minister. La Fayette, though probably aware of the falsehood of these rumours, yet regarded the duke of Orleans as dangerous to the royal cause, and, if in nothing more, yet in giving occasion to so many reports, and thus furnishing pretexts for disturbances. He therefore resolved to have him away from Paris. He had an interview with him, and insisted on the necessity of his withdrawing from the kingdom for a time. The king, who was equally desirous that Orleans should absent himself, pretended to be forced into the measure, and wrote to the duke, saying it was absolutely necessary for him or La Fayette to withdraw; that the people would not consent to La Fayette retiring, and therefore he must, and he gave him a commission to England. The duke's friends, incensed at being deprived of their head, went to Mirabeau, and entreated him to denounce the force thus put upon Orleans by La Fayette. Mirabeau was about to consent, for he hated La Fayette, but his friends showed him the folly of meddling in the matter, by which he would, more than ever, be charged with being in league with Orleans. Mirabeau, therefore, remained silent, and the next morning, hearing that Orleans had agreed to go, exclaimed, "The fool is not worth the trouble that is taken about him!" Orleans withdrew to England. Mirabeau, disgusted, like Mounier, Lally-Tollendal, and others, with the excesses of the people, had too much personal ambition and necessities too pressing to withdraw from the conflict. He must have his pleasures and the means of procuring them, and, though he would not sell himself to the duke of Orleans, or to any party contrary to his principles, he was ready enough to sell his services, in accordance with his own views, for a very good price. The court was aware of this, and took measures to secure him. Hopes were held out through certain persons that, if he would give all the support that he could by his eloquence in the assembly to the king, he might become minister. Mirabeau listened eagerly to these hints. These proposals were equally acceptable on account of his ambition and his need of money. As a minister, deprived of his opportunies for oratorical display, Mirabeau would have been ruined for ever; for there is every reason to believe that he would have made as indifferent a minister as he was eminent as an orator. He was an orator by nature, but he had not the careful calculation and the many qualities necessary for a successful minister. The court, however, soon made advances, and Mirabeau immediately projected the abrogation of the bill which excluded ministers from the assembly. The first act towards the introduction of Mirabeau into the service of the court was put in motion by Malouet, a friend of Necker, who introduced Mirabeau to the minister. Mirabeau met Necker with the full expectation that he was to receive some proposal from him; but either Necker was not fully instructed in the object of the introduction, or did Mirabeau endeavoured to procure the alteration of the law not feel disposed, on closer acquaintance, to contribute to excluding ministers from the assembly. The popular party Mirabeau's elevation. He made no overture, and Mirabeau immediately took the alarm; the motion of Mirabeau was retired, indignantly muttering, "The minister shall hear of rejected, and Lanjuinis seized the opportunity to push the me." But the court now employed a more adroit agent. restriction further, and to make it illegal for any existing This was a foreign prince, connected with men of all parties. deputy to become minister. Mirabeau saw that the measure Mirabeau made it clearly known that he would make no was aimed directly at him, and proposed, as an amendment, sacrifice of principles; that, in fact, it would be ruinous to that the restriction should apply to no deputy but himself. himself to do so, and useless to the king; but that, if the This extraordinary mode of showing the assembly that he government would adhere to the constitution-which was understood the drift of the proposal, did not prevent the every way the best thing for both court and peopleMirabeau would stanchly support these objects, and through them the security and best interests of the crown. He made it, at the same time, plain that, for him to be able to do this effectively, he must be placed at his ease; his debts must be paid, and he must receive a handsome salary. It was therefore arranged that his conditions should be accepted, and that his pension should be twenty thousand francs, or eight hundred pounds a-month; but these terms were not finally settled till a few months later, that is, at the commencement of the year 1790. passing of the decree, and thus Mirabeau had only more completely closed the way to his ministry, except by the forfeiture of his place in the assembly, which was to ruin himself utterly with the people; in fact, the object of his attempt in the assembly becoming soon known, did him infinite mischief with the public. The idea of his becoming minister could not be endured. It appeared to the people sheer treason against their cause, and Mirabeau fell greatly, in consequence, in their opinion. The assembly now settled at Paris, and strengthened in its popular unity by the flight or retirement of so many Meantime, while still appearing to oppose the court, aristocrats, prosecuted the formation of the constitution entertain a very different opinion of him. Mignet says, with increased rapidity. All the financial schemes of Necker as a formal dreamer and fanatic; but the historians of France had failed. The state was destitute of funds; but it could not be considered bankrupt, for it had large assets not only in the right of taxation, but in crown and church lands. The assembly had abolished the feudal system; it determined now to sell the church property, and give salaries instead to the clergy. It is remarkable that the proposition came from a churchman and a bishop-from Talleyrand, bishop of Autun-but what a bishop! Talleyrand was of an old and illustrious house, and had already displayed the shrewdness and sagacity which afterwards led him to the highest place in the diplomacy of the age, and terminated in his receiving rank as a prince, after having been alternately bishop, representative in the assembly, and merchant in America. Mirabeau had already discovered his profound talents, and his instinctive insight into character, and had foretold his diplomatic eminence. Talleyrand was the only bishop ever appointed by the choice and at the request of the clergy of France. Notwithstanding his high birth, Louis XVI. hesitated to make him a bishop; but the general assembly of the clergy made a direct request to the king, and the then abbé of Perigord became the bishop of Autun. Little did the clergy foresee what he would do. The outcry of the clergy at Talleyrand's proposition was wild and fierce. The abbé Maury denounced what he termed this sacrilegious robbery with all his eloquence, and warned the aristocracy that it was but the prelude to their destruction. Talleyrand, on the other hand, proved the justice and propriety of the measure, and showed the great advantages that would result from it to the state. clergy made a vigorous resistance, but in vain; Talleyrand, Thouret, and Mirabeau demolished all their arguments, and the assembly, on the 2nd of December, decreed the appropriation and sale of all ecclesiastical property. From that moment the hatred of the clergy, hitherto partly concealed, in the hope of preserving its wealth, broke forth in full display against the new régime. Salaries were appointed to the curés, which were not to be less than twelve hundred francs, with a parsonage and garden. All conventual vows were declared null, the property of all monastic establishments confiscated, and the inmates were to be pensioned. Political pensions were also reduced to a low standard, and many abolished. The Another churchman, the abbé Sieyes, then proposed a very important topographical alteration. This was to abolish the ancient names and boundaries of provinces which were associated with old feudal principles, and with laws, privileges, and customs contrary to each other, and to the new ideas and constitution. This was to annihilate all the ancient demarcations of the provinces, and re-divide the kingdom into departments, which should all have the same laws, the departments being subdivided into districts, and the districts into municipalities. Each of these divisions was to be governed by their councils, which were to be elective, and subordinate one to the other. The department was to make the assessment of taxes upon the districts, the districts on the municipalities or communes, and the communes on individuals. This was carried, and was one of the many benefits conferred by Sieyes on his country through the revolution. Some of our historians have represented Sieyes The assembly determined next the franchise, and all political rights of the citizen. These were included in the simple payment of one silver mark on arriving at the age of twenty-five. This payment made, a man of full age was qualified to vote for a member of any body, from the commune to the national assembly, and he was equally eligible as a candidate. Such was the basis laid for all political action; and the nobles and clergy now exercised their liberty in obstructing the business of the assembly. They supported the military commandants against the people, the slave-traders against the negro slaves; they opposed the admission of protestants and Jews to the enjoyment of equal rights. We cannot give a more lively picture of the state of parties in the national assembly, and of the conduct of the clergy, at the close of the year 1789, than that drawn by M. Ferrieres: "In the national assembly there were not more than about three hundred really upright men exempt from party spirit, not belonging to any club, wishing what was right, wishing it for its own sake, independently of the interest of orders or of bodies, always ready to embrace the most just and the most beneficial proposal, no matter from what quarter it came, or by whom it was supported. These were the men worthy of the honourable function to which they had been called, who made the few good laws that proceeded from the constituent assembly; it was they who prevented all the mischief which was not done by it. As for the nobles and clergy, they aimed only to dissolve the assembly, to throw discredit on its operations; instead of opposing mischievous measures, they manifested an indifference on this point which is inconceivable. When the president stated the question they |