ger." His last words prove that he distinctly foresaw, that at his death, France would become the prey of factious fury, and firmly believed, that had his life been spared he could have averted the evil. On this subject, M. De Lamartine is a skeptic, and his doubts rest on the fact, that as far as they are known, the means relied on by Mirabeau seem disproportioned to the end proposed. This may be,-yet the whole current of the world's story shows, that great effects arise from trifling causes; and we learn from the very narrative before us, that on more than one occasion, the Revolution might have been essentially modified by the action of a single determined will.

It was a part of Mirabeau's project, that the King should leave Paris secretly, join De Bouille's army, and put himself in a position to negotiate on equal terms with his refractory subjects, while the orator himself should remain in the capital, and so operate on the fears and hopes of the National Assembly, as to promote a reestablishment of law and order on a basis too solid to be afterwards shaken. The plan was feasible, yet before it could be executed, he who gave it was carried to the grave, and the King forced to seek counsel and assistance from men who could bring nought to his service, save personal courage and devotion. The project of a flight was, however, adhered to; and on the 20th of June, 1791, the royal family, eluding the guards at the palace, set forth on its adventurous journey. Ill-combined movements on the part of the Marquis De Bouillé, together with the concurrence of fortuitous events, led to the failure of this attempt. Louis was arrested at Varrennes, and carried back to Paris-a sovereign, yet a prisoner. It was then, that for the first time, the word "Republic" was spoken not by the National Assembly, for a majority of its members still clung to the constitution they had created-but by the Cordeliers and Jacobins, two political clubs, which, even at this date, may be said to have governed France, since in their bosom were engendered those doctrines which, through the medium of affiliated societies, were soon spread and adopted in every quarter of the kingdom.

The National Assembly was, at this period, divided into three parties: the Monarchists, who blindly clung to old abuses,

and thoroughly detested the Revolution and its works; the Constitutionalists, who, full of faith in the newly formed government, wished for this thing of their making a length of life proportioned to its supposed excellence; and the Republicans, few in number, but ardent in temper, who saw in what had been done only a ground-work for further change, and looked to time and exertion for the realization of their hopes. The first party was led by Maury, Montlozier, Montesquiou and De Pradt; the second by Barnave, the Lameths and Duport; and the third recognized among its chiefs, one whose name was destined to obtain a terrible celebrity,-MAXIMILIAN ROBESPIERRE.

Indignant at the King's captivity, (and there were circumstances attending the arrest of Louis, calculated to rouse indignation,) the Monarchists determined to remain in the Assembly silent witnesses of what was to ensue, and show their disapprobation only by a refusal to speak or vote. This was abandoning the field to the enemy; and the first effect of this ill-advised measure was, to encourage the Republicans to try how far the maxims prevalent in the clubs would find countenance and support in the National Assembly. On this occasion, Robespierre was the mouth-piece of his party, and was answered by Barnave, who, as leader of the Constitutionalists, held the doctrine, that the King's person was inviolable, and that his temporary absence could not justify, on the part of the Assembly, a measure so violent as that of deposition. This speech, the ablest that Barnave ever made, and which alone is sufficient to fix his reputation as a great orator, carried with it a large majority of votes, and for a time, all danger was averted of witnessing the death of a constitution which had just been called into life.

The Republicans were not dispirited by this check. The Press, that mighty engine of mischief as of good, enabled them to fill the public mind with angry suspicions. The King, the Queen, the most eminent members of the constitutional party, became objects of reiterated attack. sarcastic wit of Des Moulins, the subtle sophistry of Brissot, the crazy denunciations of Marat, found daily employment; and the result of these labors was soon visible in tumultuary meetings of the people, and

The

"Marat was born in Switzerland. A writer without talent, a man of learning without rep

We have named three men whose writgs were of much influence over the muble people of Paris. Brissot, eminent as journalist, soon rose to higher distinction, nd became in after years the acknowldged head of the Girondists. "He was," ays M. De Lamartine, "at the outset, a Constitutionalist, and by turns the friend f Necker and of Mirabeau; a hireling beore he became a statesman, he saw in the eople only a sovereign about beginning s reign. The Republic was his rising sun. He hailed its approach as the source of is fortune, but he hailed it with prudence, oking often around to see if public opinon justified his adoration." Camille Des Moulins was a man of different stamp, with nore talent, and less ambition, venality, or alculation. The following portrait of him >ears the impress of truth :

"This young student, who became a politiian by mounting a chair in the Palais Royal on the first outbreak of the people in July, 1789, reserved in his brilliant style something of his arly character. His was the sarcastic genius of Voltaire sunk from the saloon to the mountebank's bench. No man was ever in himself a nore striking personification of the people than Camille Des Moulins. He was the mob with is tumultuous, unexpected movements, its muability, its want of connected thought, its rage nterrupted by laughter, or suddenly changed o sympathy and pity for the very victims it mmolated. A man so ardent and yet so trifling, so common-place and yet so inspired, so undeided between blood or tears, so ready to drag in the dust what in his hour of enthusiasm he

had raised to heaven, must have had over a revolted people an authority proportioned to the resemblance which he bore to them. The part which he played was in conformity with his nature. He did not ape the people-he was the people. His journal, distributed by night in public places, or cried by day with coarse commentaries, has not been swept away with

the filth of the time. It remains, and will remain, a Menippean satire steeped in blood.”

received from nature or society the means of all that is great in society or in nature. To becoming illustrious; he avenged himself on him genius was not less odious than aristocracy. He pursued it like an enemy wherever it appeared. He would have levelled creation itself. Equality was his passion, because superiority caused his martyrdom. He loved the Revolution, since it brought all to his level. He loved it even unto blood, because blood washed out the stain of his long obscurity. He was the people's informer; he knew that denunciation was flattery to all that tremble, and that the people trembled. A prophet of dema gogism, inspired by insanity, he uttered his night-dreams as the revelations of day-conspiracies. The Seid of the people, he gained its favor by devotion to its interests. Like all oracles, he affected mystery. He lived in se clusion, and never went forth but by night. His communications with his fellow-men were guarded with sinister precautions. A cellar was his home and refuge against poison or the dagger."

Such were the apostles of the new faith, who found eager listeners among a people prepared by centuries of oppression to regard revolt as a duty, and vengeance as a right.

On the 17th of May, 1792, a general meeting of the citizens of Paris was held in the Champ de Mars; to give to it increased solemnity, an altar to Liberty had been erected, and it was proposed, that on that altar a last petition, similar in character to those which before had been presented in vain, should receive the signatures of citizens, and from thence be forwarded to the provinces for approval and concurrence. Such was the ostensible purpose of the meeting, but those who had been most active in promoting it-Danton, Des Moulins, Robespierre, and others-expect

ed from it a course of action far more vigorous. The experiment was to be tried, how far the firmness of the National Assembly would be found available against the force of a mob. On the morning of that day, however, an event sufficiently deplorable in itself, was followed by effects for which the demagogues were unprepared. Two invalid soldiers were discovered concealed under the frame-work of

the crowd, that they were emissaries of

if to give the world an early proof of frivolity and incapacity, the first two days of the session were employed in debating a question of etiquette-whether or no, the King should be addressed by the title of Majesty," and be received in the Chamber with covered or uncovered heads! Within the brief space of forty-eight hours, this important question was decided in two ways: even Vergniaud, the eagle of the Gironde, is said to have spoken on one side, and voted on the other.

: It was soon evident, that instead of coming together with the honest intention of supporting the constitution, a majority of the Assembly were busily engaged in preparing its overthrow. The Girondists and Mountaineers, far from regarding the King as equally with themselves, a representative of the nation, charged with the double duty of executing the laws, and of restraining within proper bounds legislative action, by the exercise of the veto power, looked upon him as an enemy to be watched and thwarted at every turn; as a dead weight on the progress of national freedom, to be thrown aside on the first occasion; and as that occasion might not occur as soon as wished, they conspired together to produce it. Such, in a few words, is the story of the second Assembly, as it may be gathered, not only from the pages of M. De Lamartine, but of every other author of reputation who has written of this eventful period. The most distinguished of the provincial deputations was, certainly, that from Bordeaux. It was composed of young men, many of them lawyers, and accustomed to speak in public. Though previous education had made them somewhat familiar with matters connected with the science of government, yet their knowledge was merely theoretical. From the philosophy of the age, they had learned that man has natural rights, but they had not learned from experience how far these rights can be claimed or exercised consistently with the public good. A French proverb says, "Parmi les aveugles, les borgnes sont rois;' and thus it fared with the deputies of the Gironde limited as was their knowledge, it sufficed, when combined with ardor and talent, to give them a decided influence over an Assembly composed of men more ignorant and equally inexperienced. One chief merits of M. De Lamartine's

work lies in the felicity of his delineations of individual character. His history is a gallery of portraits by the hand of a master. Before we proceed to examine the action of the Girondists as a party, it may not be amiss to make our readers acquainted with the moral characteristics of those men whom that party acknowledged as its leaders.

The first of the Bordeaux deputation in talent and fame was, undoubtedly, Vergniaud-a young man whose early cleverness had attracted the notice and patronage of the celebrated Turgot. Originally intended for the church, he had finished the course of preparatory studies, when, struck by the discordance between his tastes and habits of life, and those that would be required of him as a religious teacher, he withdrew from a profession which he could not conscientiously exercise. Returning home, he gave himself up to the cultivation of poesy and belles-lettres; but the spirit of the orator was strong within him, and having one day been overheard addressing with force and feeling an imaginary audience, it was resolved in family council that he should be a lawyer. Scarcely had he entered on this new career, when the Revolution came to open to his ambition the road of political honors. The little fortune he possessed had been exhausted in the payment of his father's debts; he arrived in Paris a pennyless deputy, and his private letters, filled with the details of petty, pecuniary embarrassments, show, that poverty was his companion, even at a time when his eloquence shook France like a reed.

"Vergniaud," says the historian, "born at Limoges, and by profession an advocate, was then thirty-three years old, and had early become a convert to the free doctrines of the day. His calm majestic features revealed the conscionsness of power. Facility, that concomitant of genius, pervaded his whole nature, moral and physical. Though a lover of ease, he could. whenever necessity required it, rise at once in the fullness of his strength. His brow was thoughtful, his look composed, and on his lips sat a grave, perhaps melancholy expression. The severe thoughts of antiquity had left their by the smiling carelessness of youth. impress on his countenance, though modified Men loved him at the base of the tribune; when he ascended it, they respected and admired him The first word that he spoke, the first glance