twentieth part of the excesses took place that might have been expected at a time of such universal consternation.

On the following day it was proposed, that a regular body of militia should be immediately formed, as the best means of preventing a general pillage. This measure being approved, the execution was rendered easy by Paris having been divided into districts, on account of the late election of deputies for the states-general. Those electors assembled at their respective sections, classed the citizens, appointed commanders to each division, most of them officers retired from the service, and a body of 48,000 men was formed that very day, which entirely relieved the inhabitants from the fear of pillage in the ensuing night, and greatly diminished their apprehensions from the regular troops which surrounded them.*

A deputation from the committee assembled in the Hotel de Ville was sent to the national assembly at Versailles, acquainting them with the measures they had taken for restoring the public tranquillity. The assembly petitioned the king with more earnestness than ever to order the troops to be withdrawn, stating their presence as the cause of all the insurrections.

This circumstance of the capital having been divided into districts, and the electors in each ascertained, had more influence on the revolution than is generally imagined; for, when any danger was dreaded, the electors were ordered to assemble at their respective districts, who had all an intercourse with each other; an army was instantly formed, and in some measure, according to their phrase, organized. Whatever benefit may have arisen from this on the present occasion, it certainly had one baneful effect, namely, that of giving the department of Paris a control over all the other departments.

CHAPTER XII.

Reflections on the Influence of public Opinion-on GovernmentKing's Answer to the Assembly's Address occasions ill-humour -Formation of an armed Force by the Inhabitants of Paris― 30,000 Muskets found at the Invalides-Bastile attacked and taken-Murder of M. de Launay and others-Deputations from the Assembly to the King-Scene at the Orangerie― Speech of Mirabeau-The King changes his Measures—comes to the National Assembly-A Deputation sent to Paris-Rejoicings-The King visits Paris-Reflections.

It is highly probable from the character of Lewis XVI, that he was inclined to the suppression of many abuses of the ancient government, and sincerely wished the happiness of his subjects, even at the expense of a diminution. of his own authority; but it was difficult to persuade the nation, that such were his wishes and intentions from the moment that it was believed he had been prevailed on to employ military force. Those who persuaded him to have recourse to such an expedient acted not only contrary to justice and prudence, but also contrary to the nature and disposition of the prince they pretended to serve; for the most ignorant of them must have known, that in the actual state of France it was impossible to controul the national assembly, to dissolve them, and to reestablish the ancient government by force, without so much bloodshed as he would have thought infinitely too dear a purchase for the objects to be obtained. In prevailing on the too easy-tempered monarch to adopt this measure, therefore, it is plain, that, like the generality of those who affect to be in a peculiar manner the friends of kings, their own places and pensions, and offices which they saw in danger, were all they were anxious to preserve, and for which they were willing to risk all the horrors of war, and to sacrifice the glory, happiness, and even the life of the prince to whom they professed such wonderful attachment.

Indeed, it was evident, that the public opinion on the subject of government was so universally changed, and the minds of the people so heated with the idea of freedom, that double the military force that was sufficient to maintain the ancient government could not re-establish the same system, nor sustain it for any length of time in France, even if it could have been re-established, It is not possible for a government to subsist long in any country where knowledge is pretty generally diffused, against the decided opinion and wishes of a great majority of the inhabitants; and a great majority of such inhabitants are seldom or never brought to be decidedly against their government unless it is oppressive. For, although it occasionally happens that ignorant men, and those who are needy from idleness, may be induced by the ambitious and designing to make a clamour against oppressions which they never felt, and for rights which they do not value, it is fortunate for the peace of society, that unfounded clamours of this kind oftener end in the disgrace or destruction of those who make them, than of the government against which they are made: but when griev ances are felt by the most industrious, and acknowledged by a great majority of the most intelligent to proceed from the vices of the government, that government cannot exist long in the present state of men's minds all over Eu rope.

In Turkey, indeed, a very small military establishment in proportion to the population of the country is adequate to the purposes of government, and to keep the people in slavery; because they have no idea of any other kind of government but a despotic one. They are taught to believe, and in general they do believe, that it is the will of heaven that the descendants or successors of Mahomet should reign with uncontrolled sway over them; that it is their duty to submit to his orders as to the decrees of providence, however unaccountable or severe they may be; that resistance would be impious and fruitless in both cases, as in the one they would have the host of hea

ven against them, and in the other not only that, but also the janissaries of the sultan.

The same opinion prevails, and of course the same des potism exists, all over Asia and Africa. The time was, when the right divine of kings to govern wrong, the absurd and impious doctrine, that the crown is held by divine, hereditary, and indefeasible right, was taught with success in Europe. That doctrine was exploded in England; and the consequence was the admirable constitution established in the year 1688, which every Briton has so much reason to bless and maintain.

The immense armies which a jealousy of the neighbouring powers renders necessary to be constantly kept up by some nations of Europe, are not the only cause of the arbitrary nature of their governments. The peasants and a very large proportion of the other inhabitants of Russia and a great part of Germany never knew freedom, have no ideas on government, and are rather pleased with the supreme and unlimited power of their sovereign, because it is from that alone they expect relief from the more intolerable oppression of their immediate lords. But give the majority of the inhabitants of Russia and Germany the same opinions that prevail in Great Britain; and an annihilation of the oppression of the lords, with a limitation of the sovereign's power, would follow in spite of the efforts, but more probably with the concurrence, of the armies.

Ignorance and imposture have been the chief and lasting supports of every despotic government. When ignorance is removed from any country, imposture and abuses must fly also; and although standing armies may continue to be the defenders, they will refuse to be the enslavers of their country.'*

• This is believed and dreaded by many whose importance and wealth arise from the oppressive privileges granted in the days of ignorance, and by those who fatten on abuses and in the enjoyment of sinecure offices. They wish every abuse to remain sacred and untouched, and fear nothing só much as the diffusion of knowledge. They consider the exercise of

reason

However extraordinary it may appear, many circumstances evince, that, at the time when M. Necker was dismissed, the court of Versailles had no idea of the very critical state in which things were. The night of the 12th, which had spread such general terror at Paris, was spent by the courtiers at Versailles in dancing and revelry. The king's answer to this new address from the national assembly sufficiently shewed the small impression it had made. It imported, that he was the proper judge how to employ his troops, and where to place them; that, although some cities could maintain tranquillity within their walls by their own municipal force, the immense population of Paris rendered it impracticable there.'

The assembly were at no pains to conceal their ill-humour at this answer. They decreed, that M. Necker, and the other ministers who had been dismissed, retained the esteem and confidence of the assembly; that they considered the new ministers as responsible for the disasters that might attend the present measures, particularly that of advising the king not to send the troops away from Paris and Versailles, which the assembly persisted in requesting; finally, they put the public debt under the safeguard of the national honour, and ordered these resolutions to be presented to the king by the president, and with their former decrees to be printed, for the information of the public. The assembly continued sitting all the night.

reason as a curse to the lower classes of society; assert that ignorance is the greatest blessing that can befal them, and execrate philosophy and philosophers as the disturbers of the peace of mankind. In support of these assertions, they quote the crimes of those monsters of wickedness who have disgraced the French revolution and the cause of freedom. The question simply is, Whether it be expedient or not that rational creatures should improve and exercise their reason? If that is answered in the affirmative, it is to no purpose to say that some men use their reasoning powers to ill purposes: by the same train of reasoning they might endeavour to prove, that lamps and candles, and all the inventions by which men have contrived to obtain light and dissipate darkness, are pernicious to society, because house-breakers and murderers make use of dark lanterns.