consented to deprive himself of every minister in whom he placed his confidence. But the effects of these sacrifices were lost in the eyes of the nation, who were more strongly impressed by the suggestions of his enemies than by his professions of attachment to the constitution, and would probably have respected him more for his firm and intrepid resistance than for his temporizing policy. Deserted by those on whom he had heaped his favors, deprived of his faithful guards, and insulted by the populace, this virtuous and benevolent monarch exhibited a striking example of the unhappy effects arising from the want of firmness, vigor, and decision.

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After Dumouriez was chosen minister, he received orders to wait upon the queen. He found her majesty alone, and in a state of great agitation. Approaching the minis ter she appeared to be much irritated, and addressed him in the following words. Sir, you are all-powerful at this moment, but it is through the favor of the people who soon demolish their idols. Your situation depends upon your conduct. It is said that you possess great talents. You ought to know that neither the king nor myself will suffer the prevailing novelties, or the constitution. I declare it frankly to you. Choose therefore the part you are to act." M. Dumouriez represented how necessary it was that the king should give his cordial concurrence in establishing the constitution; to which the queen passionately replied, in a still louder tone," It will not last, therefore take care of yourself." Thus did the infatuated Marie Antoinette rush on with blindness and precipitation in the very path which led to destruction.

The emperor Leopold II. died suddenly on the 1st of March, 1792, of a malignant fever, and was succeeded by his son Francis II. under the appellation of king of Hungary. No sooner had he ascended the throne, than he informed the court of Berlin, that he was fully resolved to adhere most scrupulously to the terms of the convention of Pilnitz, so that his coronation produced no change, except by adding fresh violence to the system of Austrian policy.

The ultimate objects of the court of Vienna were the establishment of monarchy, in conformity to the royal session of Lewis XVI. which was held on the 23rd of June, 1789, and the re-establishment of the nobility and clergy as distinct orders. The restitution of the property of the clergy, of the lands in Alsace to the German princes, and of every right of sovereignty and feudal power, as well as the possession of Avignon and the Vendissin. It is remarked by M. Dumouriez, that if the court of Vienna had remained in a torpid state during the thirty-three months which had passed away since the royal session, and dictated this note on the resumption of activity, it could not have proposed any terms more inimical to the spirit of the revolution. Every hope of reconciliation appeared to be terminated; and, although the new administration were sincere lovers of peace, they found it prudent to yield to the clamours of their friends the demoerats, and in virtue of a message from the king, war was declared against Austria on the 20th of April. They found it necessary to employ all their efforts in rendering an accommodation with Francis, the successor of Leopold, impossible; they treated his dispatches as evasive, and submitting them, without discrimination, to the assembly, and through them to the press, occasioned such a series of intemperate reflections on his conduct and sentiments, that they found themselves, in a month after their nomination, enabled to issue a declaration of war with the approbation of the people and the enthusiastic support of their adherents.

This measure was utterly repugnant to the inclinations of the king. He had issued his orders and employed his entreaties to prevent the emigrants from committing any act of hostility, and expressed, in the strongest terms, his disapprobation at the arming of the French nobles. Even after the declaration of war, he was so apprehensive that his subjects should suffer from the incursions of the enemy, that he sent a message to the emperor and the king of Prussia, requesting that they would not act offensively against France, without the most imperious necessity, and that even

then they would not invade the country without publishing an auxiliary manifesto, distinguishing the king and the people from a faction who were careless about the ruin of both.

At the period when France was thus eager to rush into war, without any immediate motive or ulterior object, the state of the kingdom required the utmost caution and prudence, to prevent the total dissolut on of all social order. Anarchy prevailed in every department of the state and every class of society. The members of the assembly disgraced their sittings by tumultuous debates, unmanly reproaches, and manual contentions. Unaccustomed to the manners or feelings of polished life, they indulged in the unlimitted licence of vulgar brutality; and, " Silence that bell!" "Off with your hat, Mr. President!" were among the frequent exclamations in the hall. The tumultuous senators were themselves beneath the influence of the galleries; for, as they aimed only at popular acclamation, without any expectation of respect, they were obliged to submit, without resistance, to all the caprices of the mob, who, without ceremony or constraint, overawed, controlled, and interrupted their proceedings. The clubs and the multitude, knowing themselves to be the sources of political influence and

popularity, and dignified by the ludicrous epithet of the sovereign people, knew no bounds to their insolence. They were subject only to the mandates of a few factious leaders, who, by the distribution of money and liquor, knew how to move, impel, and govern them. The payment of taxes was entirely superseded, convoys of grain and specie destined for the supply of distant parts were stopped and plundered, to satisfy the exigencies of those who had been formerly relieved by the bounty of the great. The freedom of worship was every where violated; several constituted authorities shut up the churches, though the king had not sanctioned the decree against the priests, while the injured individuals, who applied to the constitution for protection, found no resource but in flight, and numbers were daily added to the list of emigrants. The assignants or government securities issued on the credit of the lands of the church, already circulated at a loss of forty per cent; business stagnated for want of capital and encouragement, and every impartial observer, who speculated on the state of France, was convinced that nothing less than madness could impel a declaration of war amidst domestic weakness, insolvency, and distress.

IM

MMEDIATELY after the declaration of war the troops of France proceeded to their respective places of destination. Of four armies, the first was assembled on the northern confines of France, under the command of the marshal de Rochambeau, an experienced officer, who had served in the French armies during the American war, This force was destined to cover the fron tier towards the Austrian Netherlands, from the German Ocean at Dunkirk, to Maubeuge in French Hainault, with their right extending to the Meuse. The marquis de la Fayette, appointed to command the second army, fixed his head quarters at Metz, and occupied Nancy, Thionville, and Luneville. The cordon, or line of communication, was thus extended from the banks of the Meuse to the Moselle, and retained in check the important fortress of Luxemburgh. The third army was formed on the Rhine under Luckner, and extended from Landau by Strasburg, towards Mont Belliard, and the pass of Porentrui into Switzerland. The possession of this important defile, aided by the favourable positions of the mountains of Jura, rendered the extensive frontier of Franche Compte perfectly secure. A fourth army was as sembled on the side of Savoy, to watch the motions of the king of Sardinia, who was expected to join the hostile confederacy. The army of the north, commanded by

Rochambeau, amounted to 15,000 men ; the army of the centre, commanded by la Fayette, to 17,000; the army of the Rhine, under Luckner, to 22,000; and the army of observation to 12,000 men. The plan f the campaign was to penetrate into the Austrian Low Countries, before the em neror was prepared for defence, and capture his fortresses by surprise. The war was begun by an attack on the cities of Mons and Tournay, but the soldiers being impressed with a persuasion that they were betrayed by their generals, retreated in great confusion; in the blindness of their rage they murdered several officers, and among the rest Dillon, their heutenantgeneral. They trampled upon his body, and, having lighted a fire, threw the corpse into the flames. The infuriated soldiers danced around the remains of their com mander, so ferocious and brutal had they become; Rochambeau resigned in disgust, and Luckner, removed to the command of the army of the north, found the troops in a situation much more turbulent and insubordinate than they had been represented by his predecessor. La Fayette made the same complaints of the unprovided state of the forces, as deficient in camp-equipage, stores, ammunition, and artillery. equipment of the armies was so incomplete that their distresses were attributed to the treachery of the government, an-imputation

The

which the ministers endeavoured to efface, by the promptitude of their exertions in the transmission of supplies and the formation of magazines. It was found necessary, in the mean time, to postpone the operations of the campaign till these arrangements were completed; and the weakness and tardiness of the Austrians permitted them to extend and mature their preparations for decisive hostility.

While the war against foreign powers was conducted with such conspicuous imbecility, that which the Jacobins were waging against the king and constitution was attended with more encouraging results. A fiction was invented of a secret committee, composed of members of the royal family, priests, and ex-nobles, to concert the ruin of the constitution, and the reestablishment of the antient system. These calumnies continually exasperated the fury of the populace; execration of the king and queen was not confined to select parties, or even to promiscuous meetings, but their very residence was selected as the fittest spot for the utterance of the grossest abuse, and for insulting the adherents of the royal family. These atrocities were feelingly described by the queen in conversation with Dumouriez. “I am," said she, "quite «queer disconsolate. I dare no longer approach the windows that look into the garden. Yesterday evening when I appeared at that opposite court, to breathe a little fresh air, a cannonier of the national guard seized the opportunity to overwhelm me with insults; adding, by way of conclusion, What pleasure would it give me to have your head stuck upon the point of my bayonet." In this frightful garden you see in one place a man mounted on a chair, and reading the most horrible calumnies against us in a loud voice; in another you perceive an officer or an abbé dragged towards a dragged towards a bason of water, and overwhelmed with injuries and blows, while the spectators play at foot-ball, or walk about without the least concern. What a habitation! What a people!" Prud'homme, a Jacobin journalist and bookseller, after disseminating the most profane and insulting libels, under the title of the Crimes of Sovereigns and

the Crimes of Popes, announced, by posting bills at the entrance of the legislative assembly, that he would speedily publish a work entitled, “The Crimes of the Queens of France, from the earliest times down to Marie Antoinette inclusive." A complaint against this audacious advertisement met with little notice from the assembly. The sufferings of the royal family were not confined to insults from the savage licentiousness of the multitude: they were prevented from receiving, in their own apartments, the visits of their most welcome friends, and compelled to endure the presence of persons employed as spies, who were not even endowed with sufficient address to conceal their odious mission.

Nor were the inferior orders of society less exhorbitant in their demands, than ferocious in their habits. The meanest citizens sought a more general equalization of property, and assumed the supreme executive authority. A ragged coat was deemed an honourable testimony of the wearer's political principles, and the lowest rabble, denominated, from their want of decent covering, sans culottes, took a lead in public affairs. The turbulence and malignity of the people were gratified by a new and more severe decree against the nonjuring priests. The national guards having lately displayed unusual moderation; the Jacobin club, the sans culottes, and the Jacobins of every kind, determined that an army should be formed, composed of 20,000 men, under the walls of Paris. Their wishes were gratified by the assembly. It would have been prudent on the part of the king, to have yielded to a stream which he had not strength to resist; but on this occasion he did not choose to temporize. From motives of honour and conscience he refused his sanction to the decree for banishing the ecclesiastics who had adhered to him, and to that for assembling an army near the capital, which was justly termed by the queen, A decree for embodying an army of 20,000 banditti to govern Paris. The clamour excited by the firm ness of the king, could no longer be repressed by the utmost exertions of the ministry; and madame Roland, in Ler zeal

for liberty, having composed a letter to his majesty in her husband's name, admonishing him to withdraw his veto, it was regarded as a menace rather than an admonition, and was immediately followed by the dismission of Roland, Servan, and Claviere. Dumouriez, who had incurred disgrace by the councils, which he was supposed to have given to his majesty, ostensibly advised him at this moment to yield to a torrent, which must otherwise overwhelm himself and his family, and by this manœuvre he for awhile defeated the purposes of his opponents, being continued in office as minister of war and prime minister.

In the mean time general Luckner endeavoured to re-establish the offensive system of warfare in the Low Countries. He advanced into the Austrian territories, and seized on Apres, Courtrai, and Menin; but having heard that Dumouriez himself had resigned 'his office, he determined to return. Previously to his departure, he ordered, without provocation or necessity, the town of Courtrai to be burnt, within an hour before its evacuation. As it was the obvious interest of France to conciliate the good opinion of the inhabitants of the Austrian Netherlands, this act of imprudence was formally reprobated by the assembly, and the commander-in-chief was consigned, first to obscurity, and afterwards to punishment, while an adequate compensation was voted to the sufferers.

A defensive system was once more adopted, and the army of the north having returned to its former station, occupied the entrenched camp of Famars. This position was objectionable in many points of view, and its proximity to Valenciennes facilitated the debauchery of the troops; nor was it adapted to a formidable defence, or an expeditious and secure retreat. In front was the Ronelle, which might be crossed with facility, while its elevated bank presented a formal position to the enemy's artillery; in the rear flowed the Scheldt, which could not be forded, and was only to be passed by three bridges, two of which might have been seized upon

by a judicious assailant. There were two other entrenched camps, one at Maubeuge and the other at Maulde; the former was commanded by lieutenant-general Lanoue, the latter by Dumouriez, who, immediately after his resignation, had resumed the profession of arms.

The approach of the allies to the frontiers of France, was at this moment announced to the French people, and contributed to favor the designs of the republicans by the alarm which it excited. While the friends of the king determined to support his prerogatives, the various factions in opposition forgetting their private quarrels, united their efforts to accelerate the crisis of popular violence. The irritation of all parties was still further inflamed by a letter from de la Fayette to the assembly, dictated by ill-directed zeal, in which he unveiled the criminal designs of the Jacobin club, and imputed to them a great part of the public calamities. Headed by Santerre and St. Hurugne, their revolutionary chiefs, an armed multitude presented themselves in the hall of the assembly on the. 20th of June, 1792, and peremptorily called upon the deputies to enforce their decrees. They were a motley and squalid band, drawn from all the receptacles of infamy and idleness in Paris; armed with pikes, rusty swords, scythes, pitchforks, bludgeons, pickaxes, and clubs. They carried ensigns with these inscriptions, "Tyrants tremble or be just, and restore the liberties of the people!" "Lewis! the people are tired of suffering!" "Tremble tyrant! thy hour is come!" One man supported a reeking heart stuck on a pike, inscribed, "The heart of an aristocrat." Ragged breeches were suspended with the inscription," Libre and suns culottes." After a tumultuous debate they were admitted. The orator at the head of the deputation indulged in a long and violent speech against the king and the conduct of the court, and as soon as he had concluded, the whole party marched through the hall. The procession lasted two hours; and at its conclusion M. Santerre presented the president with a banner, which was graciously received.

Proceeding to the Thuilleries, this motley