républiques Grecques et Romains, pour les honneurs à décerner aux grands hommes. Les spectacles, les divertissemens publics, ont été fermés: tous les corps à l'envi ont décidé de porter le deuil et de se rendre à son convoi. L'Assemblée Nationale, les électeurs, la municipalité, le département, les ministres, plusieurs clubs, une grande parti de la garde nationale, &c., formoient le cortège le plus imposant et le plus lugubre; un concours innombrable de peuple était sur son passage; un morne et profond silence régnoit dans cette multitude immense, qui paroissoit frappée d'un sentiment nouveau et extraordinaire. C'était seulement grand dommage que quelques vertus ne pussent pas se trouver dans le nombre de choses qu'on regrettoit dans cet homme illustre, et qu'au contraire, le talent s'y trouve obscurci par tout ce qu'il y a de dégoûtant dans la nature humaine! Son corps a été présenté à St. Eustache, où s'est fait le service funèbre, et ensuite déposé à l'ancienne église de Ste. Geneviève, en attendant qu'il puisse être placé dans la nouvelle église à côté des grands hommes que l'Assemblée jugera digne d'y admettre. Mirabeau a conservé une très-grande présence d'esprit et un grand sang-froid jusques dans ses derniers momens. II fait par son testament un grand nombre de legs. Il pos

The

with respect to the honours to be decreed to great men. theatres and other places of public amusement were closed, and all public bodies vied with each other in their zeal to put on mourning and to attend the funeral. The National Assembly, the electors, the officers of the municipality and the department, the ministers, several clubs, and a large portion of the national guard, formed a most imposing and mournful procession; an immense concourse of people attended it on its passage; a deep and solemn silence reigned throughout the countless multitude, which seemed to be overwhelmed by some new and extraordinary feeling. What a pity it is that no virtues are to be found among the things for which this illustrious man is regretted; and that, on the contrary, talent was in him obscured by all that is most repulsive in human nature! His body was taken to St. Eustachius, where the funeral service was performed, and it was afterwards deposited at the old church of St. Geneviève, where it will remain till it can be placed in the new church, by the side of the other great men whom the Assembly may think fit to admit there. Mirabeau retained great presence of mind and composure up to the last moment. He leaves, by his will, a great number

VOL. I.

Y

sède une terre, une maison, et l'aperçu de sa fortune est d'environ un million, mais on croit qu'il en doit deux. M. de la Marck, son ami, a promis de suppléer à ce qui pourroit manquer, pour que ses dernières volontês puissent être remplies, mais M. de la Marck est endetté au-delà de ce qu'il possède. Il laisse quelque chose à Mad. le Jay, à ses enfans, puis à un fils naturel, ensuite à une de ses sœurs, et à ses nièces.

Mon mari n'a pas le temps de vous écrire; il vous adresse mille choses.

Agréez, &c.

LETTER LXXVIII.

FROM M. DUMONT.

Sacconex,1 9 Avril, 1791.

Voilà donc Mirabeau éteint au milieu de sa carrière ! Est-ce un malheur pour la révolution? Je le crois. Sa maison étoit un foyer de liberté. S'il ne travailloit pas lui-même, il faisoit travailler; il excitoit les talens, et donnoit un appui considérable au parti qu'il embrassoit. Il

of legacies. He possessed an estate and a house, and his fortune is estimated at about one million, but it is believed that he owes two. His friend, M. de la Marck, has promised to make good what may be wanting to carry into effect his last wishes; but M. de la Marck himself owes more than he is worth. He leaves something to Madame le Jay, to her children, to a natural son, to one of his sisters, and to his nieces.

My husband has not time to write to you. He desires many kind regards.

Believe me, &c.

So Mirabeau is extinguished in the midst of his career! Is it a misfortune for the revolution? I think it is. His house was a focus of liberty. If he did not work himself, he made others work: he stimulated men of talent, and was a strong prop to the party whose

1 Near Geneva.

était dangereux, sans doute, à cause de ses passions, qui le gouvernoient absolument; mais on pouvoit les diriger au bien, et il avoit l'amour de la gloire. J'ai senti, aux regrets que sa perte m'a fait éprouver, qu'il avoit bien plus gagné mon affection que je ne le savois moi-même. On ne pouvoit pas le connoître et n'être pas séduit par son esprit et ses manières caressantes. Combien de fois il m'a fait déplorer qu'il manquât à ses moyens la puissance que donne une réputation intacte! Il a été consumé par ses passions; s'il avoit su les modérer, il avoit pour cent ans de vie. Nos aristocrates le déchiroient, et ils le regrettent. C'est une perte pour eux que celle d'un homme qui soutenoit le crédit public.

Je compte partir du 20 au 25 de Mai pour Paris, et du 10 au 15 Juin pour Londres; ainsi j'arriverai vers le milieu de Juin et je me remettrai d'abord pour m'égayer et me distraire à la correspondance de Kirkerberg. Il faut renoncer à faire un nom Allemand, puisqu'on ne sauroit en imaginer un assez dur, assez barbare, assez Gothique pour qu'ils ne s'en soient pas déjà emparés. Je suis presque sûr que tout sera prêt pour le temps où nous l'avons pensé, et j'ai pris quelques mesures indirectes pour la cause he espoused. He was dangerous, no doubt, from his passions, which exerted absolute dominion over him; but even these might be directed to good ends, and he had a love of glory. I felt, from the grief that I experienced at his loss, that he had acquired a stronger hold on my affections than I had been myself aware of. It was impossible to know him, and not be fascinated by his talents and his engaging manners. How often have I lamented that his powers should have wanted the influence of an unsullied reputation! His passions have consumed him; if he had known how to control them, he might have lived for a hundred years. Our aristocrats tore him to pieces, and they regret him; the death of a man who sustained public credit is a real loss to them.

I propose to set off for Paris between the 20th and 25th of May, and to leave it for London between the 10th and 15th of June, so that I shall arrive towards the middle of June; and, by way of an agreeable diversion to my thoughts, I shall at once set to work on Kirkerberg. We must give up the idea of inventing a German name for our letters, since it is impossible to imagine one so harsh, barbarous, and Gothic, as not to have been already appropriated. Everything will be ready, I have little doubt, by the time we had anticipated, and I have indirectly taken some steps for the publication.

publication. Ne seroit-ce encore qu'un songe agréable? mieux vaudroit un joli songe qu'un mauvais réveil. Quoiqu'il en soit, je suis bien sûr qu'on ne perd rien pour attendre. L'intérêt ne diminue en aucune manière, et rien n'a paru qui doive décourager l'émulation de nos correspondans.

Madam,

LETTER LXXIX.

TO MADAME G

Gray's Inn, May 20, 1791.

I am very much ashamed of not having written to you sooner; and I am ashamed, too, of making you an apology, because you are so used to such kind of apologies from me. The best apology I could make would be to give you an account of the manner in which my time has been spent; but I shall spare you the pain of reading so uninteresting a diary, in which you would find me perpetually occupied in a way which, of all others, is least pleasant to me.

I am exceedingly obliged to you for the very interesting account you give me of Mirabeau's funeral. I sincerely regret his death. You certainly do not do him justice, when you suppose him destitute of all private virtues. I know that he was capable of very warm friendship, that he often exerted the greatest zeal, and made very considerable sacrifices to serve his friends. I know, too, that he has been very grossly calumniated in several instances which have come under my own immediate observation.1

You have before this time heard, and, I make no doubt, lamented, how the question respecting the abolition of

What though it should still be but an agreeable agreeable dream is better than a sad waking. be, I am sure that nothing is lost by delay. none of its interest, and our correspondents have couraged by anything that has yet appeared.

1 See antè, p. 59.

dream? and yet an However that may The subject loses no reason to be dis

the slave-trade has been decided in our House of Commons. Nothing can be more disgraceful to the nation than such a decision, after so long an inquiry too; and after that inquiry had shown the necessity of an immediate abolition in the strongest light possible, and had converted into well-authenticated facts what had before been only matter of conjecture, and the supposed and probable consequences of the trade. I believe the history of mankind cannot furnish another instance of a nation, calmly, and after long deliberation, giving its sanction to continual robberies and murders, because it conceives them to contribute to its riches. We have but one consolation under this disgrace; it is a consolation, however, which is itself the source of another species of disgrace. It is that our House of Commons is not a national assembly, and certainly does not speak the sense of the nation. It is remarkable that, though the question was carried by a great majority, not one man who has any character for abilities spoke on the side of the majority, and all the members who are most eminent for their talents took a very active part on the side of the abolition. But eloquence, humanity, policy, reason, and justice were easily defeated by the most stupid prejudices. The question, however, is not (as the West India planters flatter themselves) now at rest. It will be resumed in a future session, and must before long be carried. The arguments urged in the last debate, though they could not convince the House of Commons, have produced a very great effect on that large portion of the public whose hearts are not hardened by opulence, nor their understandings corrupted by commercial and political prejudices. Even the arguments for the trade have contributed to increase the public horror of it. One member, an alderman of London, to prove the advantage of slavery to this country, told the House that it afforded a market for the refuse fish and

1 On the 19th of April, 1791, Mr. Wilberforce's motion for leave to bring in a bill to prevent the further importation of slaves into the British colonies in the West Indies was lost in the House of Commons by a majority of 163 to 88.