seek for safety in flight. Count d'Artois, one of the king's brothers, having been informed that a price was set upon his head, made his escape during the night, with his two sons. The same prudence that induced the king to visit the national assembly, prompted him to visit the capital, and he made his triumphal entry into Paris on the 17th of July. The conduct of Louis, on this occasion, displayed considerable prudence and benevolence; he seemed to indulge all the wishes of the people; and his conciliatory manners produced such an effect upon the multitude, that, when he appeared at one of the windows, a general acclamation of "Vive le Roi" resounded from all quarters, notwithstanding the petty efforts of some malignant beings, who mixed with the crowd for the purpose of exciting hatred against him.

The national assembly now pursued their la bors without interruption, and in a short time several very important decrees, containing the first principles of the new constitution, importing the subordination of the executive, the supremacy of the legislative, and the independency of the judicial powers, were presented for the royal acceptance. The general principles on which the government of the kingdom was modelled, were comprehended in the following declaration of rights:-

"The representatives of the French people, formed into a national assembly, considering that ignorance, forgetfulness, or contempt of the rights of men, are the sole causes of public grievances, and of the corruption of government, have resolved to exhibit in a solemn declaration, the natural, unalienable, and sacred rights of man, in order that this declaration, ever present to all the members of the sÓCIAL BODY, may incessantly remind them of their rights and of their duties; to the end, that the acts of the legislative power and those of the executive power, being able to be every moment compared with the end of all political institutions, may acquire the more respect; in order also, that the remonstrances of the citizens, founded henceforward on simple and incontestible principles, may ever tend to maintain the constitution, and to promote the general good.

"For this reason, the national assembly recognizes, and declares, in the presence of, and under the auspices of, the Supreme Being, the following rights of men and of citizens:

1. Men were born, and always continue, free, and equal in respect to their rights; civil dis tinctions, therefore, can be only founded on public utility.

2. The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man: and these rights are liberty,

property, security, and the resistance of op- BOOK I pression.

3. The nation is essentially the source of all CHAP. II. sovereignty; nor can any individual, or any body of men, be entitled to any authority which is not expressly derived from it.

4. Political liberty consists in the power of doing whatever doth not injure another. The exercise of the natural rights of every man, has no other limits than those which are necessary to secure to every other man the free exercise of the same rights; and these limits are determina ble alone by the law.

5. The law ought only to prohibit actions hurtful to society. What is not prohibited by the law should not be hindered; nor should any one be compelled to that which the law does not require.

6. The law is an expression of the will of the community. All citizens have a right to concur, either personally or by their representatives, in its formation. It should be the same to all, whether it protects or punishes; and all being equal in its sight, are equally eligible to honors, places, and employments, according to their different abilities, without any other distinction than that created by their virtues and talents.

7. No man should be accused, arrested; or held in confinement, except in cases determined by the law, and according to the forms which it has prescribed. All who promote, solicit, execute, or cause to be executed, arbitrary orders, ought to be punished: and every citizen called upon or apprehended by virtue of the law, ought immediately to obey, and he renders himself culpable by resistance.

8. The law ought to impose no other penalties than such as are absolutely and evidently necessary; and no one ought to be punished but in virtue of a law promulgated before the offence,, and legally applied.

9. Every man being presumed innocent until he has been convicted, whenever his detention becomes indispensable, all rigor to him, more than is necessary to secure his person, ought to be provided against by the law.

10. No man ought to be molested on account of his opinions, not even on account of his religious opinions, provided his avowal of them does not disturb the public order established by the law.

11. The unrestrained communication of thoughts: and opinious being one of the most precious rights of man, every citizen may speak, write, and publish freely, provided he is responsible for the abuse of his liberty, in cases determined by the law..

12. A public force being necessary to give se-curity to the rights of men and citizens, that force is instituted for the benefit of the community, and

1789.

BOOK I. not for the particular benefit of the persons to whom it is intrusted.

CHAP. II.

1790.

13. A common contribution being necessary for the support of the public force, and for defraying the other expences of government, it ought to be divided equally among the members of the community, according to their abilities.

14. Every citizen has a right, either by himself or his representative, to a free voice in determining the necessity of public contributions, the appropriation of them, and their amount, mode of assessment, and duration.

15. Every community has a right to demand of all its agents an account of their conduct.

16. Every community, in which a separation of powers, and a security of rights is not provided for, wants a constitution.

17. The right to property being inviolable and sacred, no one ought to be deprived of it, except in cases of evident public necessity, legally ascertained, and on condition of a previous just indemnity.

The national assembly, desirous of establishing the French constitution on the principles which it has just now recognised and declared, abolishes irrevocably those institutions which are injurious to liberty, and equality of rights.

"There is no longer any nobility, nor peerage, nor hereditary distinctions, nor difference of orders, nor feudal governments, nor patrimonial jurisdiction, nor any of the titles, denominations, and prerogatives, which are derived from them; nor any of the orders of chivalry, corporations, or decorations, for which proofs of nobility were required; nor any kind of superiority but that of public functionaries, in the exercise of their func

tions.

"No public office is henceforth hereditary or purchaseable.

"No part of the nation, nor any individual, can henceforth possess any privilege or exception from the common rights of all Frenchmen.

"There are no more wardenships or corporations in professions, arts, or trades.

"The law recognizes no longer any religious vows, nor any other engagement which would be contrary to natural rights, or to the constitution." After a delay of some weeks, the royal assent was given to the new constitution, with an express salvo for the ancient, essential, and constitutional prerogatives of the crown.

Another popular insurrection took place, no less extraordinary than the former. The friends of the court had been unfortunate enough to afford the factious leaders an opportunity of exciting a great degree of agitation amongst their followers, by a feast that was given at Versailles to the officers of a regiment lately arrived, at which, in the hours of merriment, they expressed a strong aversion to the conduct of the revolu

tion. The king and queen were prevailed upon to present the dauphin to this party, and the visit was received with such raptures of enthusiastic loyalty, that some improper words and actions took place, which, no doubt, in the hours of sobriety, they would themselves have condemned. The members of the assembly reprobated these proceedings; they declared the national cockade had been trampled on; and Mirabeau accused the queen of encouraging these outrages. A sudden nocturnal attack was, on the 6th of October, made on the palace of Versailles, by a furious mob. The queen was attacked in her bedchamber, which was only defended by a single centinel, who had scarcely time to call out "Save the queen!" before he was trampled under foot. The streaming heads of two of the lifeguards were carried on pikes before the royal coach; and, with wanton cries of "Give us bread!" they assailed their majesties' ears. The king and queen, thus made captives, were conducted to Paris, where the palace of the Thuilleries, secured by a strong military guard, was assigned them for their future residence. The royal family looked upon themselves as splendid prisoners, and it was owing to this violence that the articles of the constitution were immediately and unconditionally accepted. The national assembly removed their sittings to Paris, and prosecuted their labors with unwearied diligence.

The first step ministers took was the abolition of a duty of nearly sixpence on a single pound of salt, a tax which was abhorred by the people, and which the king had been anxious to repeal.

the new

A decree had passed the assembly, imposing an oath upon the whole body of the clergy" to maintain, to the utmost of their power, constitution of France, and particularly the decrees relative to the civic constitution of the clergy.' The pope, by a bull, denounced the sentence of excommunication against those of the clergy who took the civic oath, which was not only obnoxious but productive of the most pernicious consequences. The decree itself had been opposed in the assembly by the principal speakers of the coté droit with considerable ability and eloquence. The nonjuring clergy were not only deprived of their benefices, but subjected to heavy penalties for non-compliance, and numerous emigrations of this unfortunate class of men consequently took place.

M. Necker having applied in vain for the loan of thirty millions of livres, finding his measures thwarted and opposed by the more popular leaders of the assembly; and equally destitute of the confidence of the court, sent in his resignation, September, 1790, and, such was the inconstancy of popular regard, that he was suffered to depart without a single expression of regret.

On the 22d of Jan. 1791, the king commu

nicated to the assembly a letter from Leopold, king of Hungary, now advanced to the dignity of emperor, containing strong protestations of amity towards France; but intimating, that to consolidate that friendship, the revocation of the decree of August, 1790, which annihilated all feudal and seignorial rights, would be necessary. The assembly, on this occasion, voted a large augmentation of military force, regardless of the king's declaration, that the emperor had, in this instance, merely acted officially. At the latter end of this month the king notified to M. Boullé, that he hoped to accomplish his departure from Paris in the course of two or three months.

On the 18th of April, 1791, the king undertook to reside with his family at St. Cloud, a palace at a short distance, to spend the easter holidays. The monarch was, perhaps, desirous of ascertaining whether he was a prisoner or not; and, if a prisoner, of seeing the length of his chain.Scarcely was the journey begun, when the royal travellers were stopped by the mob, and forced to return. The king repaired to the assembly on the following day, to complain of this outrage. They heard him with apparent respect, and tacitly censured the proceeding, by passing a decree to authorize the prosecution of his journey.

On the night of June 20, the king, queen, dauphin, and princess Elizabeth, sister to the king, also the count and countess de Provence, suddenly disappeared. Monsieur and madame took the road to Mons; the rest of the royal family that of Montmedi, Louis left behind him a paper, in which he revoked all his past oaths and declarations, as the effect of compulsion. This paper also prohibited the ministers from signing any order; and enjoined the keeper of the seals to send them to him, when required in his behalf. About nine o'clock in the morning of the next day the news was publicly known, and all Paris was in the greatest confusion. The national assembly met early, and the president delivered the intelligence; upon which M. Montmorin, the minister for foreign affairs, was ordered under arrest, upon suspicion of having assisted the escape of the family. Couriers were dispatched to all the departments, with orders to arrest every one who should attempt to quit the kingdom, and to seize property of every kind that might be found crossing the frontiers. Very severe decrees were passed against those who had assisted in rescuing the king; and an address was got ready, to assure the country at large that the assembly would maintain their posts with firmness and energy.

Two days having been spent in fruitless conjecture, a messenger arrived at the bar of the assembly, with news that the royal family had been arrested at Varennes, and were detained in custody there, till the orders of the representatives of the people should be known,

CHAP. II.

1791.

The assembly thought it necessary to have the BOOK I. chief instrument of the detention of the royal fugitives brought before them, by a deputation of the municipality of Paris. He began his recital by stating that his name was Drouet, that he was formerly a dragoon in the regiment of Condé, but was actually post-master of St. Menehould. On the 21st of June, at half-past seven in the evening, two carriages, and eleven horses, stopped to bait at his house. He thought he recognized the queen; and, seeing a man at the back part of the carriage, his curiosity led him to examine him closely, when the resemblance of the countenance, with the effigy of the king on an assignat of fifty livres, was so apparent, that he no longer doubted. These carriages were escorted by a detachment of dragoons, which succeeded a detachment of hussars, under the idea of protecting treasure. The escort excited his suspicion; but, being alone, and fearful of causing a premature alarm, he suffered the carriages to depart, and then, by a cross road, arrived at the next stage before them, and had the national guard called out, to stop the carriages.

Three commissioners were appointed to escort the prisoners to Paris; and they took every proper means, upon this occasion, to prevent their majesties being exposed to the brutal attacks of the multitude.

When measures were taken for guarding the palace with greater strictness, a commission was appointed to examine the royal fugitives as to the motives of their flight; upon which Louis declared that he did not desire to conceal them. The king stated, that his reasons for undertaking the journey arose from the insults to which he and his family had been constantly exposed, not only on the 18th of April, but since that period, which led him to judge that he could not safely continue in Paris, where every branch of his house, and particularly the queen, was daily insulted. He chose to leave it at midnight, to avoid interruption, but he had no intention of passing the frontiers. He meant to reside for a short time at Montmedi; because, being a fortified place, he could have been visited by his family without molestation.

The queen's vindication was simple and natural; she declared, that as her husband had resolved to remove himself and family, she could not possibly admit the thought of separating from him and her children; and, both added, that their attendants knew not of their intention till they had got their orders to depart.

When the constitution was completed, it was given to the king for his acceptance; and he not only accepted it as it stood, but entered into its merits, and pointed out deficiencies, anxious to see those parts which he approved accompanied by others that should be worthy of them. He stated a variety of reasons that had induced him

BOOK I. to desire a reform of abuses, which he had discovered soon after the commencement of his reign; CHAP. II. and concluded his address with the following manly and paternal observation, for the consideration of the assembly :

1792.

66

"I accept then the constitution: I engage to maintain it at home, to defend it against attacks from abroad, and to cause it to be executed by all the means which it puts into my power.

"While I shall faithfully employ all the means that are entrusted to me, no reproach can be laid on me; and the nation, whose interest alone ought to be the supreme rule, will explain itself by those means which the constitution has reserved to it. "But, gentlemen, for the security of liberty, for the individual happiness of all Frenchmen, there are interests in which an imperious duty prescribes to us to combine all our efforts; these interests are-respect for the laws, the re-establishment of order, and the re-union of all the citizens. Now that the constitution is definitively settled, Frenchmen living under the same laws ought to know no enemies but those who infringe them. Discord and anarchy are our common enemies: I will oppose them with all my power. It is necessary that you, and your successors, second me with energy, that the law may equally protect all those who submit their conduct to it; that all those, whom the fears of persecution and trouble have driven from their country, may be assured of finding, at their return, safety and tranquillity. I speak not of those who have been solely influenced by their attachment to me. Can you regard them as criminals? As to those who, by personal injuries, have brought upon themselves the prosecution of the laws, I shall prove, in my conduct to them, that I am the king of all the French.

(Signed) "LOUIS."

"P.S. I was of opinion, gentlemen, that I ought to pronounce my solemn acceptance of the constitution in the very place in which it was formed; in consequence I shall come in person to-morrow, at noon, to the national assembly."

This address was received by the assembly with great satisfaction. The reading was followed by the most lively and enthusiastic plaudits, and the shouts of "Vive le roi!" were as general and as loud as in the most splendid times of the monarchy. The intoxication had hardly ceased, when the assembly decreed that all persons under arrest should be immediately released; that all prosecutions carried on against persons for acts committed in consequence of the revolution, should be immediately superseded; that passports should be no longer necessary to enable French citizens to enter or go out of the kingdom; and that a deputation of sixty members should wait upon the king with the decree, and express the satisfaction which his acceptance of the constitution had diffused.

An act had been passed by the first national assembly (no doubt with patriotic views, but which was certainly of a pernicious tendency, on account of its infancy), that no person should be eligible to two successive legislatures. Accordingly, the second national assembly, which met October 1, 1791, did not boast of the talents and experience which had been displayed in the first; the members being also chosen at a time when the national resentment was at the highest pitch, were, consequently, of a more anti-monarchical disposition. The opening speech of the king was received with great approbation; and the president, in his reply, most respectfully expressed the united wish of the assembly to comply with all the patriotic and benevolent views of his majesty; adding, "Such, sire, is our duty, such are our hopes, and the gratitude and blessings of the people will be our reward."

Circumstances however occurred, which prevented the monarch from continuing in amity with the assembly. When the constitutional act had received the royal acceptance, a decree had passed, agreeable to the king's desire, respecting the emigrants, without any exception whatever, on condition of their returning within a limited time to their country. The agent, who had been deputed on this commission to the refugee princes at Coblentz, in the electorate of Treves, was not only contemptuously and insolently treated, but absolutely imprisoned on pretence of his want of a passport. This outrage, and the hostile preparations of the emigrants, occasioned a decree which the assembly passed early in November, declaring Prince Louis Stanislaus Xavier to have forfeited his eventual claim to the regency, if not in the kingdom before the expiration of two months. The assembly, by a subsequent decree, pronounced the French hostilely assembled on the frontier, guilty of a conspiracy against their country, in case they did not return before January 1, 1792, incurring thereby the forfeiture of their estates during their lives, but without prejudice to their children. A severe decree also passed the assembly, November 18, against the non-juring clergy, who were accused of seditious and incivic practices. To these decrees the monarch opposed his royal veto, and this resistance was the occasion of much disorder and discontent. The assembly addressed the king, conjuring him to take effectual measures to prevent the dangers with which the country was menaced. Louis, in his reply, assured the assembly that the emperor had done all that could be expected, by dispersing the emigrants within his states, and refusing them an asylum. Moreover, that he had acquainted the elector of Treves, that if he did not, before January 15, put an end to all hostile dispositions, he should be considered as the enemy of France.