next day to the Assembly, threw himself upon its wisdom, and declared that he had given orders to withdraw his troops. The day following the king visited the capital and accepted the tricolour cockade, the union of the Bourbon white with the blue and red of the Paris municipality. Paris had conquered the king, a great revolution had been already consummated.

The submission of the monarchy involved the exile of its staunchest defenders. The Comte d'Artois left France by the advice of his brother, and became the first fruits of the emigration. It might have been thought that the crown, emancipated from the fetters of the nobles and the clergy, stood in closer union with the people. The sacrifice of feudal rights on the night of August 4 contributed to strengthen this view. But the growth of ages could not be torn up in a moment, and the wilful disregard of public law carried in it the germs of future war. The king and the Assembly left face to face with each other began to quarrel at the bidding of divergent interests. Who should command the army, the crown or the parliament? The king sought to defend himself with the troops whom he trusted. A dinner in the theatre of Versailles led to a scene which widened the chasm between the court and the people. The capital saw no remedy but to bring both king and Assembly within its walls. Hence came the disgraceful events of October 5, and the forced transference of the king to Paris. Louis XVI. exchanged the palace-temple of Versailles, where his ancestors had been worshipped as divinities, for the unfurnished barrack of the Tuilleries. The king was virtually a prisoner. The Assembly instead of being free to deliberate at leisure had to frame a constitution amidst the surging passions of a wavering mob. The royal authority was already doomed, although few had declared themselves republicans. The creation of departments in place of the ancient provinces upset the administration of the old régime. The election of the judges and of the clergy made a strong executive difficult. The throne was deprived of some of its most necessary attributes.

INTRODUCTION.

xvii The emigration had attained large dimensions, the idea of revolution was exalted with growing enthusiasm. Yet at this time a war was imminent between England and Spain, and France, if she was to preserve her honour and execute engagements made only thirty years before, needed to speak in Europe with a decisive voice.

Into this tumult of interests Lord Gower found himself plunged. His predecessor, the Duke of Dorset, a fine gentleman in mind and manners, an ornament of the inner circle at Versailles, was recalled because his liveried servant had been seized by the mob and a letter from the Duke to the Comte d'Artois found in his pockets. His first despatch introduces us to the difficulties of the army, the approaching fête of the revolution, the anniversary of the fall of the Bastille. The market women who brought the king to Paris have the impertinence to invite the Comte d'Artois to return from Turin, and are received at Lyons with almost royal honours; couriers are passing to and fro between Spain and England; the family compact is still a matter of discussion. An Abbé, mistaken for the Sardinian Ambassador, is stript naked to see if he carries letters with him. Notwithstanding this, the diplomatic body think it well to assist at the fête of the federation, which goes off prosperously in the Champ de Mars. English histories of this period do not make us understand how near we were to a war with France in the autumn of 1790. In August the French are increasing their fleet and army to meet a similar increase on the part of England, the Spanish Ambassador asks 'explicitly whether France intends to perform the stipulations of the family compact of 1761 or not. On the 27th of that month Mirabeau, the president of the Comité diplomatique of the Assembly, reports that all existing treaties ought to be maintained by the French nation until they are revised or modified, that the king is requested to abide by his engagements with Spain, and that thirty ships of the line are to be commissioned. The Assembly goes beyond this request and orders the equip

ment of forty-five ships of the line besides smaller vessels. All parties, Lord Gower says, are agreed on this measure. Two days later Lord Gower reports that although the king and his ministers desire peace a large party in the country is in favour of war. The aristocrats hope to fish in troubled waters, others desire to violate the commercial treaty. Perhaps some members of the Assembly were influenced by Spanish gold. We do not exactly know by what means this danger was conjured. Lord Gower gives assurance of the friendly feeling of England towards France, but Pitt was able to engage in a more direct negotiation with the leading members of the Assembly. Hugh Elliot, a diplomatist of great, though erratic genius, had been a friend of Mirabeau from boyhood. Lord Gower affords glimpses of the mysterious mission with which he was intrusted. Pitt's instructions to Elliot have been lost, and we do not know what arguments he used. Perhaps English gold proved a counterpoise to Spanish gold. But the result of his persuasion was an entire change of front. Towards the end of October the "popular" party declares itself in favour of peace, and prefers an English alliance to a Spanish compact. Elliot is able to announce his triumph on October 26, and two days later in his private advice to the court Mirabeau says that England is desirous of peace, and that the armaments have reference to the Northern war then going on between Sweden and Russia, a statement for which there is very little foundation, but which may have rested on the authority of Elliot, who had himself so much to do with it. In November Lord Gower states that the prospect of peace has damped the spirit of the aristocrats, but pleased the rest of the nation.

A letter of December 3, 1790, informs us of one of the most important moments of the Revolution. The National Assembly has passed a decree obliging the clergy to take the civic oath, and all those who do not comply are to lose their rights as French citizens. The Pope was at that time expected to sanction the decree. This measure caused a breach between the

Revolution and the Church which prevented it from being accepted by the nation as a beneficial reform, and rendered futile the plans of Mirabeau for a constitutional government. The king at first expected the Pope would not object to the decree and then waited for his decision, but at the close of the year he gave his consent. The Pope eventually declared against the oath, only four bishops were found willing to take it, the greater part of the inferior clergy refused it.

As Lent and Easter approached the desire of the Royal family to perform their usual devotions with priests who had not taken the oath became stronger. This could not be done in Paris, and hence preparations were made for removal. At the beginning of Feb. 1791 the stables at Versailles are inspected to see that the king has made no preparations for flight. The king's aunts determined to spend their Easter at Rome (Feb. 18), their luggage is stopped (Feb. 20), they are themselves detained at Arnay le duc (March 4), but are suffered to proceed, by the intervention of Mirabeau. The king begins to suffer seriously from his confinement in the Tuileries, being debarred of his usual exercise (March 11), the ambassadors are not allowed to see him, and there is considerable anxiety. His recovery is celebrated by illuminations and by a Te Deum (March 18). Notwithstanding this, a month later, the King and Queen are prevented by the mob from going to St Cloud for the Holy Week (April 22). They sat for an hour and three-quarters in their carriages, subject to every insult, and were compelled to return to their prison. This might have been prevented by Mirabeau had he been alive, but he had died a fortnight before (April 8). His funeral was followed by 28,000 people and three-fourths of the population of Paris were present as spectators.

We read in the correspondence many signs of growing disorder. The language in the Assembly resembles that of the Dames de la Halle (Jan. 28), the bust of Desilles is carried round the hall to the tune of Ça ira (Feb. 4), when Lord Gower hears

the abbé Maury exclaim Voilà comme les Français font des lois. Lord Gower goes to dine with Monsieur, afterwards Louis XVIII., and while they are at coffee a number of fish-women are admitted into the court of the Petit Luxembourg. The Prince assures them that he does not intend to quit Paris (Feb. 25), but they attend him even to the Tuilleries. The dropping of a hunting knife causes a disturbance in the Queen's apartments (March 4); Lord Gower finds a number of fish-women cordially embracing M. de Montmorin in his own drawing room (April 1); the same women punish several hundred nuns by a general flogging because they will not hear mass said by a priest who has taken the oath (April 15). The outrage offered to the king shewed that Bailly, the mayor of Paris, and Lafayette, the commander of national guards, had no longer any power over the mob. The king's household resign, the ambassadors see him go to mass celebrated by a single priest, Lafayette surrenders his command and takes his place in the ranks of the army (April 22). He is however persuaded to accept the command again, and thus disappoint the Jacobins who had hoped to have the nomination of his successor (April 29).

Lord Gower mentions on May 6 and on subsequent dates the discussions about Avignon and the Venaissin, which had belonged to the Pope but which had been absorbed into France by the Assembly. This was only one of the events which embroiled revolutionary France with Europe. The jealousy of other powers may have at first welcomed the Revolution as tending to weaken the power of France for mischief. But the abolition of feudal rights on August 4, 1789, struck a vital blow at the princes of the Empire. One of the first to feel it was the Elector Archbishop of Mainz, the Arch-Chancellor of the German Empire. He had metropolitan rights in Alsace which were seriously threatened. Mirabeau was one of the few members of the National Assembly who understood the relations of France to Europe. He desired to maintain existing alliances, but while the connection with Spain was not unpopular with the nation,