THE METHODIST

NEW CONNEXION MAGAZINE.

DECEMBER, 1864.

Theology and General Literature.

EUROPEAN SKETCHES:-HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, AND SOCIAL.-FRANCE.

PART VI.'

NOTWITHSTANDING the furious uproar and the shouting down at the Champ-de-Mars consequent on the flight of the King, matters got square once more, and by the 14th of September, there was plenty of rejoicing, cannon-salvoes, Vive le Roi and even vivats for the queen. On that day the King again swore to the Constitution, and swore to it too after it had been finished and revised. Surely this would be genuine and lasting, and a New Era would start this time. Louis and his wife believed it too, and probably always meant to act like honest folks, but for their "schemers" and "managers." They went to the Opera, tried to smile and look glad, and gave money to the poor; and even the noisy hawkers went about shouting, "Grande Acceptation, Constitution Monarchique." The Jacobins looked somewhat chagrined, and the Feuillants even became brave and denunciatory. Having now finished and made perfect the Constitution, after twentynine months' labour, and having settled that another Assembly of 745 members should be convoked, to be elected again by "active citizens;" and having decreed that no member of the National Assembly shall sit in the new one, nor take royal nor Court appointments for two years-the last moved by Robespierre-the National Constituent Assembly dissolved itself on the last day of September, 1791, and gave place to the "Legislative Assembly"-Assemblée Législative which met on the next day. Lafayette had moved for a general amnesty, so that at this new beginning all might be soldered up and made sound, and a statue had been voted to the mad socialist, Jean Jacques Rousseau, who had given them a new Gospel in his "Contract Social." At the breaking up of the Assembly, Robespierre was carried shoulder-high, with vivats which

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rent the air. These dispersed men of the National Assembly had seen something and done somewhat in their day. Cannon pointed at them, and turned away again, Tennis-Court Oath and much rain, Bastille demolishing and Women Insurrections; a King and Queen rushing to them for shelter and safety, and grand things at the Champ-de-Mars. Besides these sights they had passed “twentyfive hundred Decrees," enough to set up all the States of Europe with new Constitutions. Bishop Talleyrand went to London to act as Ambassador, but another nominally held the office to evade the recent decree, and Robespierre started home-to Arras-for a little rest, where, remaining seven weeks, he sold his small property, and then came back to his lodgings at a Cabinet-maker's in the Rue St. Honoré, never to have rest again till the great knife brought it for him. Many others went home-Lafayette only for a short time— and some remained in Paris; amongst the rest Barnarve and the Lameths. Old Mirabeau slumbered in the Pantheon, fast going to dust.

This Legislative Assembly numbered many men of ability, but it was not comparable in this respect with the National Assembly, many of whose members, who remained in Paris, used to go and watch the men and sneer at their ignorance and incapacity. Of the 745 there were again not less than 400 attorneys or advocates, a species of the genus homo which grew remarkably well in France. In the whole Assembly it is said there were not more than 50 men worth £100 a year. The new Deputies, however, made a good start, for all seemed to promise peace and prosperity. The King had got right again, the Queen was bearable, the people were pleased and contented; all traces of despotism had been cleared away, and there was nothing left to plague anybody, but plenty to make them happy, amongst which everybody reckoned a span new, complete, and revised Constitution, which they said would last at least through all time, and perhaps a little longer. The only thing wanted was that this new and revised Constitution should make a start. But Carlyle says it would not go easily; it would not "march," because it was lame and rheumatic; "alas! the Constitution will not stir. It falls on its face; they tremblingly lift it on end again" but there is no "marching." For a while there was no explosion, and all parties seemed to think there should be none till a Deputation to the King thought that the latter received them rather coldly, and told the Assembly so. This soon showed that there was fire amongst these new men, and that only a little friction was necessary to bring it forth. For one day sparks flew and smoke rose, and a little flame flashed out, but the next it was smothered and damped down, as these new men really did not mean to fight.

Still, among these 715 men, there was a good deal of combustible material. There was a Mountain, so called from those members who seated themselves high up on the top benches-igneous as Vesuvius, and holding as much lava, but as yet hardly smoking. Jacobins and Cordeliers, growing now into importance, but yet not fairly organized, huddled here, making ready for sharp work, but at present only crossing and twisting, "haggling" and "braggiling," as it is well expressed in Staffordshire. Their shout was all for the " People"

and "no King," and their leaders in the Legislative Assembly being Merlin, Chabot-an ex-Capuchin-Bazire, Lacroix, Couthon, Cambon, Lecointre-a draper-Thuriot and Ruhl. "Such lava welters redhot in the bowels of this Mountain." But there was a party favourable to the King and a limited Monarchy, and called Constitutionalists. These men who sat on the right of the Tribune might have done something, but they were short of fire and lava, having little else but smoke and scorice. The magistrates and National Guards were generally with them, and they represented the Feuillants, their leaders being Dumas, Ramond, Jaucourt, and others. Then there was a left side of the Tribune, where sat the Girondists, so called from the word Gironde, the name of the Department whence most of their leaders came. These men were moderate Republicans, and were willing to do things lawfully and peaceably. Strong in numbers, these might, a little later have done wonders, but their fire had not heat enough, nor was their lava fairly molten. They wanted unity, bravery, and resolution. As a party they were led now, or soon after, by Isnard, Brissot, Condorcet,-Marquis, and Philosopher Guadet, Vergniaud,-a man unfortunately of indolent habits, who would sit playing with your children when he ought "to have been at work," Gensonné, Ducos, Valazé, and many others. Such was the make-up of the Legislative Assembly.

Though matters looked tolerable for awhile in Paris, there were, and had been for many months, frightful disorder, riot and war, in the Southern provinces. On the banks of the Rhone and near Avignon, claimed by the Pope, the framework of society seemed to be falling together, as do the rotten wood and rickety joints of an old chair. In the conflicts going on there, the Papal religious element had a large share, and made the battle fiercer and more unreasoning. It is not often of service to parley with Popery; it will have the Pope, and beads, little metal Virgins, or stone ones which cannot cry-though they are said to do-or else violence and blood. Early in 1790 these Papists had set up gibbets, on which, however, they themselves were slung ere the summer closed. Town was against town, neighbour against neighbour, and all was confusion and terror. Sieges, battles, and assassinations were quite common. Gibbets ornamented streets, and carcasses swung from them by dozens in a row. One poor man-the Mayor Vaisen-was buried alive, and amid the general madness corn-fields went uncut, vineyards were trampled down, and hunger had to satisfy its cravings as best it could. What a condition this for a great nation like France to be reduced to! It came to a large extent from the new Philosophies of Voltaire, Rousseau and Diderot. They proclaimed they should do something, and here, while they rot in their graves, are their own seedlings shooting up and sprouting a little in their natural way of generation, but not yet, by many months, shot into full foliage. We shall see the full-grown trees soon overshadowing the whole land, laden with bright green, and red with ripe fruit as the sewers of a slaughter-house, with Marat, Danton, and Robespierre, using axe and cleaver, and sending away baskets of human heads, as men send baskets of red cherries to the market.

With all this, the Legislative Assembly did not work well.