СНАР. 1791. The King's aunts go to Rome. plied, named Laudrin; and the rest were ejected from their livings. All the bishops, except three*, and many thousands of parish priests and curés, were thus to be suddenly replaced. A new decree shortened the term required by law for enabling clergymen to hold benefices, and the vacancies were filled by men unqualified by education, habits, or principles, for the sacred functions. An ordination could not take place but at the hands of three bishops; and, as only three remained, some difficulties were apprehended on that point; but Talleyrand removed all obstacles. His two colleagues expressed great hesitation, but he urged the fear of violence from the mob, talked significantly of self-destruction, and displayed, at the same time, a pocket pistol,-arguments which proved infallible, and surmounted all obligations of oaths, of character, and of duty to the head of the churcht. The recusant clergy, by their heroic conduct, greatly elevated their character‡. Disgusted at such injuries and insults to the ecclesiastical body, the King's aunts, Mesdames Adelaide and Victoire, who had lived uncorrupted in the court of their father, Louis the Fifteenth, and had since been distinguished only by their virtue, benevolence, and piety, resolved to depart for Rome. The King regretted their determination, but would not interpose his authority. The clubs and the populace made it a pretext for requiring a law to settle the particular mode of existence of the reigning family, and all its branches; and Monsieur, the King's brother, was obliged personally to assure an immense mob, assembled at his residence, the Luxembourg, that he entertained no intention to quit the kingdom. Ano The three exceptions were, De Lomenie, Bishop of Sens; De Jarente, Bishop of Orléans; and Talleyrand Perigord, Bishop of Autun. To these the Bishop of Viviers might be added, but he was insane. + Dumont. Souvenirs sur Mirabeau, p. 258. For these particulars, see the debates on the days alluded to, the histories of the revolution, Bertrand's Annals, vol. iii. pages 197, 262, 277, and the Abbé Barruel's History of the Clergy. The principal professors and masters of the University of Paris did not emulate this heroic example, but, to retain their emoluments, took the oaths. CHAP. LXX. 1791. ther party prepared to compel the Princesses to give up their intention; but fortunately they escaped from Paris in the night. They were arrested at Arnay le Duc; but a decree of the Assembly, procured after Feb. 19th. long and tumultuous altercations, gave them liberty. 24th. duct of In this debate, Mirabeau shewed his admirable Altered conskill in availing himself of the degraded manners of Miraber those whom he had to address. Instead of resorting to useless arguments of reason and justice, he carried his point by asking contemptuously, of what consequence it could be to the nation, whether two old women counted their beads in Paris or Rome? For some time past, the conduct of this demagogue had been a problem which none of his old adherents, and few of the King's friends, were able to solve. His speeches, at some times, appeared to favour the court, and at others he proposed measures, attended with explanations, which, although in the genuine sense of the revolutionists, seemed, even to them, to afford too extensive and candid disclosures. In fact, a negotiation between him and the Court had been successfully renewed; and, in consideration of six hundred thousand livres (£26,250) in present payment, and a monthly stipend of fifty thousand livres (£2,187), he had engaged with earnest zeal in the cause of monarchy, and gained the entire confidence of the King and his most intimate advisers. But, as Mirabeau was sensible that, in the degraded and enfeebled state to which he had reduced the royal authority, no effort of force would be attended with the desired consequences, he still proposed to forward his new measures by means of his popularity; to awe the most frantic of the revolutionists, by threatening to disclose their crimes; to combine others in his cause by a judicious mixture of force promises and arguments: to secure the fidelity of the army to the sovereign, and engage the people to petition for the dissolution of the present and the convocation of a new Assembly, on the well-founded allegation that the existing legislature had exceeded the authorities with which it was originally invested, and, consequently, that its abolitions, resumptions, and regula Mirabeau. СНАР. 1791. Riot in Paris Feb. 24th. 25th. public func tionaries decreed. tions were not valid. It was also a part of this project that the King should quit Paris, where he was, in fact, a captive, and, putting himself at the head of his troops, commanded by the Marquis de Bouillé, fix his abode at Montmedi, proclaiming himself the protector of his people, and defender of their rights and liberties. The plan embraced no violence against the Assembly. The permission afforded to the King's aunts to travel to Rome, formed the pretext for a popular commotion; a large mob, headed by Theroigne de Mericourt, rushed toward the palace. Bailly, pale and trembling, professed an inclination, but wanted spirit, to act against the insurgents; they were not dispersed till a detachment of the national guards arrived with their cannon. A party of gentlemen, slightly armed, attended on this occasion, to protect the persons of the King and Queen. They had often acted in the same manner before, and their conduct had received public approbation; but they were now selected as objects of popular fury, and distinguished by the name of Chevaliers du poignard. Barnave took advantage of the heated state of the Residence of public mind to introduce a motion on the residence of public functionaries; the King being designated as the first of them. On the motion of Mirabeau, this question was adjourned until the committees should present an entire code of laws respecting the royal family. All means were now resorted to for inflaming the people. Rumours were spread of an approaching invasion by the emigrants; clamours were vented against the Chevaliers du poignard; and the Chateau de Vincennes, situate a few miles from Paris, was indicated as a new Bastille, undergoing repair as a prison for the enemies of the Court. 28th. A debate founded on these circumstances being announced, the galleries were, at an early hour, filled with a screaming mob. Chapelier, who had hitherto been a strenuous agent in the cause of sedition, and a founder of the Jacobin club, proposed a law against tumults, which passed with little opposition, because the parties knew very well that a decree of the legisla ture would avail little against the unruly will of the all-powerful clubs. CHAP. LXX. 1791. emigrants. Opposed by Chapelier, as reporter from the committee on the constitution, then proposed a decree against emigra- Decree against tion. This measure was opposed by Mirabeau, as inconsistent with freedom, and fitted only to those states Mirabeau. where the sovereign wished to convert his dominions into a prison. In support of these opinions, he read a passage from a letter which, eight years before, he had addressed to Frederick William, King of Prussia. The decree proposed to establish a council of three members of the Assembly, invested with a dictatorial power, and authorized, in times of commotion, to point out absentees, who should be obliged to return on pain of being treated as rebels; this triumvirate was alone to be invested with the power of issuing authorities to quit the country; and those who refused obedience were to forego all the rights of French citizens; to be declared incapable of holding any office, and their whole property forfeited. Mirabeau exclaimed vehemently against this decree, declaring that, if it passed, he would never obey it. He moved the order of the day, with a declaration that the proposed law was incompatible with the principles of the constitution. Rewbell and Merlin, aided by Vernier, evaded the decision of this question, by moving an adjournment, and thus was a basis laid for the subsequent decrees which reduced so many families to poverty and despair. Vincennes, While these discussions agitated the Assembly, a Attack on the detachment of the lower order of Parisians proceeded castle of to demolish the castle of Vincennes*, although the legislature had authorised, and the municipality of Paris had commenced the repairs. They departed about ten o'clock, and although their intention had been previously announced, Lafayette did not begin to Conduct of collect the national guards, for the purpose of opposing Lafayette. them, till noon. The battalion of the faubourg St. It may be worth while to call to the recollection of the reader that this was the state prison in which Mirabeau was confined from May 1777, to December 1780. CHAP. 1791. The King's friends maltreated. Perseverance of Mirabeau. Antoine were reluctant to act, and loud in complaints, in which they were encouraged by their colonel, Santerre, a brewer, who was patronized and employed by the Duke of Orléans to destroy the popularity of Lafayette. On his arrival at Vincennes, the General easily expelled a mob of four thousand from the court-yard; but when he was proceeding to drive them from the apartments, he was surprised to hear from his own troops a cry of down with Lafayette! By an exertion of firmness he brought them to their duty, and arrested sixty-four of the mutineers, whom he carried prisoners to the capital. The tumult and agitation which prevailed, during this whole day, gave considerable alarm to the faithful friends of the King; about three hundred, armed as usual, collected in one of the apartments; but on an application to the King, he reluctantly ordered them to deposit their arms in a place of safety. Lafayette now arrived, vociferating the song of sedition, ça-ira! tous les aristocrats à la lanterne!" and, after grossly insulting the officers of the household, expressing great indignation at the supposition that a constitutional King could want additional protection when surrounded by his national guards, and swearing such an event should never again occur, he snatched the arms of the royalists from their deposit, and gave them to his troops, who immediately thrust the unfortunate proprietors down stairs, beating and wounding them, and conveyed six to prison, where they were confined twelve days. Not content with these base indignities, Lafayette extorted from the King an order, that, in future, only the national guards on duty, and the persons belonging to his household and that of the royal family, should be admitted. Although the general events of this day were unfavourable to Mirabeau's intended appeal to the people, he bent the whole energy of his genius to the formation of new connexions, and the establishment of a firm and powerful party. The exertions of such a man could never be ineffectual, and he found his importance daily augmenting, although his personal opponents in |