sion, were not only exposed to the clamorous insults of the people as they went to and returned from it, but they were obliged to use address at the beginning of their speeches to engage the audience to allow them quietly to proceed. It had been proposed that a manifesto or declaration should be made by the assembly to all the nations in Europe, that France was determined against all augmentation of territory; never to attack her neighbours, nor to wage any war unless forced to it in self-defence, and for the purpose of repelling aggression. It was asserted that this declaration would prevent their being attacked by Great Britain or any of the neighbouring nations; of course, that there was no need of assigning the prerogative of declaring war to the executive rather than the legislative power, on account of the superior secrecy of the former; since, if they had no war, there would be no need of secrecy.

M. Malouet, who spoke with uncommon penetration in favour of the royal prerogative on this occasion, observed, 'that similar professions had often been made by other powers; and therefore, however much he approved of the manifesto which was proposed, he had great doubts of its being relied on by the other powers of Europe as a security for the continuation of the pacific conduct of France." He observed, that we were informed by history, that free states were as liable to make wars of ambition as the most despotic. He asserted, that the only power in Europe who, during the present century, had made no wars but of a defensive nature, was the grand signior; that the kings of England, since the year 1688, had never begun a single war but in consequence of the declared wishes of the nation; and in some instances the inclination of the king and his ministers for the continuation of peace was reluctantly broken on account of the clamour of the merchants for war that though it was true that the late American war was put an end to by a vote of the House of Commons, it was equally true, that it had been begun in consequence of an act of parliament to which the Ame

ricans refused to submit. He added, that France had not entered into the late American war in obedience to the will of the king, though he was then absolute; but in consequence of the minister's being pushed to it by the general wish of the people. And, on the whole, he concluded, that it was clear, that, since the Roman republic until the moment he was speaking, free states were as fond of war as despotic ones, and subjects as eager for it as their sovereigns, very little benefit was to be expected from the proposed manifesto.

This consideration, that a disposition for war has existed in all nations and in every form of government, notwithstanding of all mankind being convinced that war is a losing game even to conquerors, inclines some people to think that man is by nature a fighting animal, who takes pleasure in war for its own sake. If this be the case, we need not be surprised that all the reasonings of philoso phers, and all the sermons of preachers against it, have had no more effect than the same means when employed to convince men of the hurtful tendency of some of their other pleasures, and to persuade them to relinquish them.

As Mirabeau generally took the popular side of a question, and Malouet that which his understanding approv ed, without regarding whether it was popular or not, they were often in opposition to each other. On the occasion above mentioned, however, Mirabeau joined Malouet, assisted him against the torrent of prejudice, and with manly eloquence unfolded the mischief which he was persuaded would arise from depriving the executive power of the prerogatives of declaring war and making peace. They were, after all, obliged to acquiesce in a kind of middle plan, proposed by M. Alexander Lameth; which, after being amended by M. Freteau and M. Desmeunier, was decreed in the following words. Le droit de la paix et de la guerre appartient à la nation: la guerre ne pourra être decidée que par un décret du corps législatif, qui sera

rendu sur la proposition formelle et nécessaire du roi, et ensuite sanctionné par sa majesté.' *

As this decree left to the king the prerogative of an nouncing to the national assembly the necessity of war and peace, which could not be at all deliberated on by them until he laid it before them; and as, after the government came to be in some degree settled, it was naturally supposed that his majesty would have considerable influence on the decision of the question; those who supported the royal prerogative were not so completely defeated on this occasion as the populace imagined; who, as soon as the decree was passed, celebrated it as a victory with all their usual demonstrations of joy. Some thought the joy ridiculous, and considered those as a parcel of dupes who looked on this as a triumph.

Without examining whether the popular party had gained a victory or not, we cannot think the people were duped who rejoiced as if they had; for, as the only enjoyment which the people of any nation derive from the most indisputed victories they ever obtain consists in the exultation, illumination, and intoxication of a public rejoicing, it does not seem to be ill judged in them to secure these at all events.

Even the English people, though not so apt as the French to be thrown into transports of joy, are sensible of this, and never allow any thing that can be construed into a victory to escape without a public rejoicing. And as real victories have not occurred of late so often as could be wished, if such an account has sometimes been given of defeats that they passed for victories, and made the people rejoice, who can blame the fabricators of so benevolent a fraud?

The right of declaring war and concluding peace belongs to the nation; war cannot be decided on but by a decree of the legislative body, in consequence of a formal and necessary proposition made to them by the king, which must be afterwards sanctioned by him

CHAPTER XX.

Preparations for the Ceremony of the Confederation-Duke of Orleans returns to Paris-Offence taken at the manner of distributing Tickets-Ceremony-Jealousy and Misunderstanding between the Officers of the Troops of the Line and the National Guards-An Insurrection at Nancy-M. de Bouillé ordered to march to that Town-Heroic Action of a young Officer-Dreadful Scene of Slaughter-Effect it produced at the Capital.

WITH a view to make a deep and lasting impression on the public mind, and to connect the revolution with agree. able, magnificent, and religious sentiments, a great public ceremony had been in preparation for some time. On this occasion the king, the national assembly, and the people were to take an oath to maintain the cause of liberty and the constitution, of which the chief articles were already known.

Another reason for this ceremony was, that those provinces which had enjoyed peculiar privileges were supposed to be irritated at their being deprived of them, and in hopes of having them restored provided the new division of France into departments could be overset: it was therefore thought that so remarkable a ceremony, being performed in each separate department, would mark the division with force in the minds of the people; while making them all take the oaths to maintain the constitution, of which the division into departments was an article, would render them averse to any attempt that might be made to alter that arrangement.

The 14th of July 1790, on account of its being the anniversary of the taking of the Bastile, was fixed upon for the day of this ceremony, and the extensive plain of the Champ-de-Mars for the place in which it was to be celebrated. It was thought expedient to shape the ground into an amphitheatre of such prodigious extent as should admit the multitude who were to be spectators of, or, ac

cording to the French phrase, to assist at, the ceremony.

Expectation was wound up to a height that attracted numbers not only from the distant provinces of France, but strangers from many other countries of Europe: among others the duke of Orleans, to whom a spectacle of this kind was a matter of the first importance. The idea of being absent from such an exhibition becoming insupportable, he wrote a letter to the president, which was read in the national assembly, announcing that, the object of his mission to England being now ended, he had informed the king of his intention to return-that he had thought it proper to give the assembly the same notice adding that, if they should not think it necessary to deliberate on the subject, he should consider that as a permission for him to return. The assembly threw their eyes on M. La Fayette; but although he had privately used means to prevent the duke from this step, he did not think proper to oppose it openly, and therefore he declared that the reasons which had rendered the duke's absence from France expedient did not any longer exist.

The partisans of the duke of Orleans had been for some time pressing him to return, and were prepared to raise an outcry if it should be resisted the court therefore declined any contest which might be attended with more troublesome consequences than could result from the duke's presence, especially as his popularity was considerably diminished; and many believed that the eagerness he shewed for returning had no motive more profound or dangerous than his passion for seeing a fine show. No objection being made, the assembly passed to the order ``of the day, which was construed into a permission for his returning to Paris, and he returned accordingly.

But the formation of the amphitheatre for the confedertion being a work of immense labour, the Parisians began to be afraid, a month or three weeks previous to the 14th of July, that it would not be ready so soon. inhabitants of Vienna or London might have been con

The