but yesterday I did so, and to get a little air, when one of the cannoniers, after a gross insult, told me, it would be a pleasure to him to have my head on the point of his bayonet. That terrible garden there: on one side I see a man mounted in a chair, reading aloud all sorts of terrible things against us; on the other, some officer or abbé dragged into one of the basins in the midst of abuse and blows; and all this time you see others playing at football, quite unconcerned. What a residence to be placed in! and what a people!" Dumourier had nothing to answer; what could he answer? but still he returned always to the same point, and advised that a common cause should be made with the Assembly, always looking upon a counter-revolution as impossible. Now for Dumourier to think thus, and to act upon his opinions so early as the spring of 1792, was to show great sagacity and firmness.

The great question was, as you have already seen, what was the king to do on the subject of the two decrees; and Dumourier seems to have fought the battle of his unhappy master with great spirit and ability at the council board. He reproached the minister Servan for having proposed the decree of the camp, without having first taken the pleasure of the king, without having received even the sanction of his own colleagues; and he startled even the Girondists themselves, by remonstrating with them on their folly in attempting to bring twenty thousand federés to form a camp near Paris, nineteen thousand of whom would be Jacobins, of whom the first daring, ambitious man, would be able to avail himself, and probably destroy the authors of the decree themselves; and this troop too to be brought to Paris, while the armies were weak and the frontiers bare.

Such were the terms in which Dumourier expressed himself at the council board; and the result at last was, that Dumourier was summoned to the palace, and requested, both by the king and queen, to rid them, if possible, of their three insolent and factious ministers, Roland, Servan, and Clavière. Dumourier had not been on good terms with them for some time before, and they were now dismissed.

But Dumourier, as well as the ministers that succeeded, thought the sanction of the two decrees necessary, not only

to the king's safety but to their own, and indeed to their character, that they might not appear to have sacrificed their principles to their elevation.

am.

Speak "Ah,

But the king afterwards, though he would have sanctioned the decree for the camp, could not reconcile his conscience to the decree against the priests. Dumourier had to resign, and at length to render in his accounts to the king and take his leave. "You go then to join the army of Luckner?” said the king. "Yes, sire," replied Dumourier, " I am delighted to quit this frightful city. I have but one regret; you are in danger." "Yes," replied Louis with a sigh, "I certainly "Ah, sire," returned the minister, "you can no longer suppose that I speak from any interested motive; let me implore you not to persist in your fatal resolution." no more of it," said the king; "my part is taken." sire, you said the same, when in this very chamber, in presence of the queen, you gave me your word." "I was wrong then," said the king, "and I repent that I did so.' "It is now, sire, that you are wrong, not then. I shall see you no more. They abuse your religious scruples; they are leading you on to a civil war; you are without force, and you will be overpowered. History will accuse you of having caused the calamities of France: observe the ridicule attached to the character of James II." "God is my witness," said Louis, putting his hands on those of Dumourier, and in a tone of the deepest affliction, "God is my witness that I wish the happiness of France." "I doubt it not, sire," said Dumourier, the tears in his eyes, and overcome with his feelings, "but you are answerable to God, not only for the purity, but for the enlightened direction of your intentions. Youthink you are protecting religion, and you are destroying it. The priests will be massacred; you will lose your crown, perhaps your wife, your children." A short silence for a moment ensued; the king pressed his hand. "Sire, if all the French knew you, as I know you, our calamities would soon be at an end. You wish the happiness of France; it requires then the sacrifice of your scruples. You have been sacrificing yourself to the nation ever since 1789; continue to do so, and our troubles will at length cease; the Constitution be accomplished, the French return

to their natural character, and the rest of your reign be happy."

"I expect my death," said the king with a mournful air, " and I already forgive them. You I thank for the sensibility you have shown. You have served me well, and you have my esteem. If I am ever to see a better day, you shall have proofs of it." The king then rose hastily and went to a window. Dumourier gathered up his papers slowly, that he might have time to compose himself before he left the room, and as he opened the door, the king made an approach to it, and addressing him with great feeling, "Adieu,” he said, "all happiness attend you!"

THE

LECTURE XXVI.

KING'S MISSION BY MALLET DU PAN.

HE king might be sensibly affected by the generous devotion of Dumourier to his cause, but it was no longer in his power to adopt his counsels. He had taken other views of his own situation, and had of late hoped for relief under his misfortunes from another source. He had been led to consider what assistance could be derived from without. The armies of the German courts were in motion; war had been declared; every calamity was impending over himself and his country; and though Dumourier could see no alter native but resistance to all invaders, the king had entertained other hopes, and had thought, by a communication to the emperor and the king of Prussia, not only to prevent the horrors of war, but procure a situation of more dignity and repose for himself. But this was a strong measure, and one of doubtful policy; and the question that we have now therefore arrived at, is the conduct of the king with respect to foreign powers.

There can be no doubt, that the court and its adherents never could endure the Revolution from the first; and that they were always looking for assistance from the emperor and the German princes. But we have all through these lectures made a distinction between the king and his court, and we have continued this distinction down to the period before us. The Girondists, indeed, made no such distinction, at least never acted upon it; and the Convention afterwards put the king to death, on the plea, that he had intrigued with foreign powers, and been a traitor to the liberties of his country.

It is therefore a point of great curiosity and importance to determine, what were really the views and the conduct of this

unfortunate monarch at this particular period, the first half of the year 1792.

I consider Bertrand de Moleville as sufficient authority on a subject of this nature. He held the Revolution, and all its abettors, in such abhorrence, that he thought he could not do greater honour to any man, than by representing him as unfavourable to it; as endeavouring to stay its progress; as ready to restore the old régime by any means in his power; by force, if necessary, or even by calling for the invasion of foreign powers. He seems to me to disguise no project of this sort, that we can suppose to have been formed; and we need look no further than the account he gives for information of this kind. All through his work you will see the distinction exist which we have set up between the king and those around him. It was evidently a subject of much secret lamentation, that the king had such a horror of a civil war, and of shedding the blood of his subjects; and Bertrand de Moleville would have considered himself as adding to the respectability of the character of his royal master, if he could have described him as more indignant, than he appeared to be, with the patriots, as more shocked with the diminutions of his prerogatives, as more ready to call for assistance from whatever quarter it could be procured.

He says however positively, that the king, on being confidentially asked, gave his ministers to understand, on the opening of the Legislative Assembly, that he had adopted and meant to be faithful to the constitution; and in this frame of mind we must have supposed him to have remained at any period of time, during which Bertrand de Moleville says nothing to the contrary.

I hasten therefore to the period now more immediately before us.

Writing the history of March, 1792, "The king," says Bertrand de Moleville, "reduced to the fatal necessity of forming a new ministry (the Girondist ministry) at a moment, when it was impossible for him to call upon a single individual on whose attachment he could depend, appeared more affected and uneasy than ever, at the danger of his situation. Instead of the air of contempt and indifference with which he had till then borne the insults and outrages he had been exposed to,