IV. 1789. replied he, "but that we should have taken-not he given CHAP. them." Such, in truth, was the feeling which produced the most fatal act of the Assembly-their refusal to close with the proposals of the King. They were resolved to have the credit of every thing-to make, not receive a constitution; and, by so doing, they destroyed the Dum. 87. freedom of France.1 On that day the royal authority was annihilated in 70. France. The Assembly had openly bid defiance to the Royal authority mandates of the throne; and public opinion supported overthrown. them in the attempt. The initiative of laws, the moral influence arising from the idea of supremacy, had passed from the crown to the people. M. Necker was not present at this memorable meeting; the evening before he had tendered his resignation, as the measures adopted by the court were not such as he thoroughly approved, but the King prevailed on him to continue a little longer in office. He was discovered in Versailles by the crowd, and conducted home amidst the loudest acclamations, across the court-yard of the palace, which he might have avoided by withdrawing a back way. By his conduct he had evinced the sincerity of his intentions, and his dis- 47. Mig. i. approval of the measures of the crown; and he was, for 70, 74. a brief space, thenceforward considered as the leader of the popular party.2* The effects of this decisive victory were soon apparent. On the following day the Duke of Orleans and forty-six * The alterations in the royal speech of 23d June, of which M. Necker complained, were for the most part verbal and unimportant; but in one particular they were material, and he regarded the change as vital. "In the all-important article," says he, "of the union of the orders, the King, in the project which he at first had adopted, had enjoined the three orders to deliberate in common on all general affairs-it was the principal object of the séance royale to establish that; while in the speech, as finally amended and delivered, he only exhorted them to do this, and concluded by commanding them in the mean time to separate, and meet in their respective chambers. This left the question where it found it, and perpetuated that contest which it was the object of the royal speech to terminate."-NECKER, Révolution Française, i. 246, 248. Thus it was the want of an express command on the three orders to unite on all subjects of general import, that is, on the reconstruction of the monarchy, which made Necker resign. 2 Lac. vii. 44. Th. i. IV. 1789. 71. Duke of forty-six of join the commons. June 24. CHAP. of the nobility joined the Tiers Etat in great state, in the common hall. They were received with transport but the duke was so strongly moved on leaving the order of his fathers that he fainted on rising from his seat. He Orleans and was impelled into conspiracy and revolution by his needy the nobility and guilty followers, rather than attracted by his inclination or ambition. The days were past when he rode naked from Paris to Versailles for a bet he and his mistresses had alike become conspirators. Individually he had little faith in the support of the mob. "I could give," said he, "all your public opinion for a crown piece." But he was so surrounded by conspirators that he literally breathed the air of revolution. They went so far as to send his daughter Pamela, the accomplished pupil of Madame Genlis, alone into a crowd on horseback, attended only by a servant in the Orleans livery.* He was so apprehensive of his life that he wore, on this occasion, five or six waistcoats around his person. + Among his followers were to be found the heads of the greatest families, as well as the ablest men of the French nobility the Duke of Rochefoucauld, the Duke of Liancourt, Count Lally Tollendal, Count Clermont Tonnerre, the two brothers Lameth, and the Marquis Lafayette. They were almost all guillotined, exiled, or ruined during the progress of the Revolution-a memorable example of the inability of the higher ranks ultimately to coerce a movement which Amis,i.229. they themselves put in motion; and of the futility of the 26,29. Th. idea, so commonly entertained by the inexperienced in i. 76. public affairs, that no innovations are dangerous if they are headed by the great proprietors in the state.1 1 Deux Hist. Parl. i. i. 65. Mich. Overwhelmed with the difficulties by which he was * See Souvenirs of MADAME LEBRUN, i. 189, who witnessed that scene. IV. 1789. 72. Great diffi the King's troops, whether he had any means of coercing, the King CHAP. saw no resource but in concession. He thus hoped that he would obtain what he above all things desired - the love of his people and regain from their gratitude what he could no longer compel from their obedience. cuties of In truth, such was the fermentation in the capital, and situation. the manner in which the troops were reeling under the varied temptations of money, wine, and women, with which they were plied, that stronger heads than any which now directed the royal councils in France might have yielded to the tumult. The capital, already labouring under severe scarcity, and teeming with the famished and ferocious bands which had poured in from all quarters in quest of subsistence or plunder, was in the most violent state of agitation. Nor was this effervescence confined to any one class—all, from various motives, were equally excited; and no one thought either Moll. i. 218, of rallying round the throne, or attempting the slightest iii. 126. restraint either upon its own delusions or those by which it was surrounded.1 1 Bert. de 219. Lab. efferves Paris. The young, the ardent, the visionary, believed a second 73. golden age was arriving-that the regeneration of the Immense social body would purify all its sins, extirpate all its suf- cence in ferings. The selfish and corrupt, a numerous and formidable party, paid little attention to such empty speculations, but fixed their desires on the more substantial objects of plunder, intoxication, and licentiousness. The Palais Royal, recently constructed at an immense expense by the Duke of Orleans, was the focus of their agitation ; in its splendid gardens the groups of the disaffected were assembled; under its gorgeous galleries the democratic coffee-hoyses were to be found. It was amidst the din of gambling, and the glitter of prostitution, that liberty was nurtured in France; it must be owned it could not have had a cradle more impure. The enlightened, from a principle of patriotism; the capitalists, from anxiety about their fortunes; the people, from the pressure of IV. 1789. CHAP. their necessities, which they expected immediately to find relieved; the shopkeepers, from ambition; the young, from enthusiasm; the old, from apprehension - all were actuated by the most violent emotions. Business was at a stand. Instead of pursuing their usual avocations, multitudes belonging to all ranks filled the streets, anxiously discussing the public events, and crowding round every one who had recently arrived from Versailles. In one depraved class the fever of revolution was peculiarly powerful. The numerous body of courtesans unanimously supported the popular cause, and by the seduction of their charms contributed not a little to the defection of the military, which shortly afterwards took place.1* 1 Riv. 43. Mig. i. 47. Lac. vii. 58, 61. Th. i. 61. La Lab. Bert. de Moll. i. 219, 256. 74. the King Luxem bourg. June 27. Meanwhile the noblesse, seeing the royal power in a Interview of manner annulled, and the excitement in the capital with M. de increasing to the very verge of open revolt, made a last effort to raise the throne from the dust. The majority, who had remained in the chamber of the nobles after the secession of the Duke of Orleans and his adherents, sent a deputation, headed by the Duke of Luxembourg, their president, to remonstrate with the King against the union of the orders, which it was known was in contemplation. Their interview, which was committed to paper the same day by the duke, was in the highest degree interesting. "M. de Luxembourg," said the King when he entered, "I expect from your fidelity, and the affection for my person of the order over which you preside, that you will unite with the other orders." "Sire!" replied the duke, "the order of the noblesse will be always ready to give to your majesty every proof of its devotion to your person, and it has never given a more striking one than on this occasion-for * "On ne peut peindre le frissonnement qu'éprouva la capitale à ce seul mot 'Le Roi a tout cassé.' Je sentais du feu qui courait sous mes pieds: il ne fallait qu'un signe, et la guerre civile éclatait. Toutes les provinces sont sans commerce, et presque sans pain: et qu'a-t-on de mieux à faire, que de se battre, quand on meure de faim?" - Lettre au COMTE D'ARTOIS, 27th June 1789, p. 41. IV. 1789. it is not its own cause, but that of your majesty, which CHAP. it defends." "The cause of the crown!" said Louis with surprise." Yes, sire! the cause of the crown. The noblesse has nothing to lose from the union which your majesty desires: a consideration established by ages of glory, and transmitted from generation to generation, immense riches, and the talents and virtues of many of its members, secure for it, in the National Assembly, all the influence which it desires. But is your majesty aware of the consequences which this union may have on the powers of the crown? The noblesse, sire! will obey, if your majesty desires it; but as their president, as the faithful servant of your majesty, I venture to portray to you the consequences of such a step to the royal authority. Your majesty cannot be ignorant what a degree of power public opinion, and the rights of the nation, have awarded to its representatives; it is such, that even the sovereign authority with which you are clothed is mute in its presence. That unlimited power exists in all its plenitude in the States-general, however it may be composed; but the division into three chambers fetters their actions, and preserves your authority. United, they will no longer acknowledge a master; divided, they are your subjects. The deficit in your finances, and the spirit of insubordination which has infected your army, have paralysed, I am aware, the deliberations of your councils; but there still remains your faithful noblesse. It has now the option to go, in obedience to your mandates, to share with the other deputies the legislative power, or to die in defence of the prerogatives of the throne. Its choice is not doubtful; and it demands no recompense-it is its duty.1 But in dying it will save the independence of Deux the crown, and nullify the operations of the National 239. Bert." Assembly, which can never have the stamp of legality 244, 245. when a third of its members shall have been delivered 264. over to the fury of the populace or the dagger of assas 1 Amis,i. 236, de Moll. i. De Stael, i. |