tom of the hall. Pompous ceremonies and processions, when the minds of the spectators are averse to the occa sion of them and alienated from the performers, instead of veneration excite disgust or contempt. It is performing high mass with Romish splendour before a congregation of presbyterians.

After the declaration was read, no mark of approbation or discontent, except that of profound silence, was given. The king then rose, and addressing the assembly once more said, Vous venes, messieurs, d'entendre le résultat de mes dispositions, et de mes vues; elles sont conformes au vif desir que j'ai d'opérer le bien public; et si par une fatalité loin de ma pensée vous m'abandonniez dans une si belle entreprise, seul, je ferai le bien de mes peuples, &c. &c.

Refléchissez, messieurs, qu'aucun de vos projets ne peut avoir force de loi sans mon approbation speciale. Ainsi je suis le garant naturel de vos droits respectifs, et tous les ordres de l'etat peuvent se reposer sur mon equitable impartialité. Tout défiance de votre part seroit une grande injustice. C'est moijusqu'à present qui fais tout pour le bonheur de mes peuples; et il est rare, peut-être, que l'unique ambition d'un souverain soit d'obtenir de ses su jets qu'ils s'entendent enfin pour accepter ses bienfaits.'*

He concluded by ordering them to separate directly, and to assemble the following day, each in the chamber appropriated to the order to which he belonged.

* You have heard, gentlemen, the result of my intentions or views they are conformable to the lively desire I have for the public good; and if you, by some fatality far from my thoughts, should abandon me in so praiseworthy an enterprise-I alone will accomplish thé happiness of my subjects, &c.

Recollect, gentlemen, that none of your projects can have the force of law without my particular approbation. Thus I am the natural guarantee of your respective rights, and all the orders of the state may rely upon my justice and impartiality-all diffidence on your part would be doing me great injustice: it is I who have hitherto done all for the good of my people; and it is perhaps a little singular, that the sole ambition of a sovereign should be to prevail on his subjects to agree with each other, that they may receive his favours to the greater advantage.

If it were not known, that no part of the speeches pronounced by the king on this occasion, nor of the declaration read in his name, were of his composition, the selfsufficiency and loftiness of this speech are so contrary to the natural diffidence of his character, that it would be quite apparent that this at least could not be his. It is certainly not unusual for ministers to regale the sovereigns, in whose service they are, with occasional treats of panegyric; but they generally contrive to have them pronounced by some other orator than the sovereign himself; and the ministers of Lewis XVI were blameable for having deviated from the established custom in the present instance; but they were still more blameable for placing their master in the awkward situation of giving commands, without having secured the means of enforcing obedi

ence.

As soon as the king had pronounced this peremptory order, he retired, and was followed by the nobility and the majority of the clergy. The deputies of the commons remained. They seemed indignant, but not intimidated, As a hint to them to withdraw, workmen were sent into the hall to remove the throne and the benches near it. More respectful than those who sent them, the workmen suspended their labour, on perceiving that the deputies did not retire. When their perseverance was known at the court, M. de Brézé, an officer, was sent to remind them of the king's orders. To this admonition M. Bailly, the president, replied, that the national assembly received orders from no person. An interval of silence followed, during which it was doubtful whether all the deputies approved the president's answer or not. Mirabeau seizing the critical moment exclaimed, Nous avons entendu les intentions qu'on a suggerées au roi;' and then, addressing the officer of the court, continued, et vous qui ne sauriez être son organe auprès des etats generaux, vous qui n'avez ici ni place, ni voix, ni droit de parler, vous n'êtes pas fait pour nous rappeller son discours; allez dire à ceux qui yous envoient que nous sommes ici par la volonté du peu

ple, et qu'on ne nous en arrachera que par la puissance des bayonettes.'*

The immediate effect of this speech of Mirabeau was, that the deputies, by a general acclamation, announced their assent to what he had pronounced. The president then addressing himself to M. de Brézé said, The as sembly decreed yesterday, that they would continue their meeting after the royal session; I can make no alteration in this decree. Shall I carry that answer to the king?' said M. de Brézé.— Yes, sir,' rejoined the presi dent.

When de Brézé was withdrawn, Mirabeau proposed, that the persons of the deputies should be declared inviolable, and that whoever should make any attempt against their liberty should be deemed traitors to the country, and guilty of a capital crime; which passed into a decree immediately. The abbé Sieyes made an harangue, the tendency of which was to encourage them to adhere to their purpose of re-establishing the nation in its rights, and forming a free constitution, which no power on earth, he said, had a right to do for them; and he used an expression, which was admired at the time, and has been often quoted since. Do you not feel, gentlemen, that you are to-day what you were yesterday?' He finished his speech by moving, that their assemblies should be public. No authority, he added, should prevail on them to exclude the people from hearing their debates. This also was agreed to, and the assembly soon after broke

up.

When M. le marquis de Brézé made his report to the council of the manner in which the king's orders had been obeyed, they seemed in a greater dilemma and much more

* Yes, we have heard what the king has been prevailed on to express, But you, who cannot be his organ in this assembly; you, who have here neither seat nor vote, nor any right whatever, are not the proper person to remind us of his discourse. Go and tell those who sent you, that we are here assembled by the will of the French people, and nothing will make us retire but the bayonet.

alarmed than the assembly had been when they heard them delivered.*

As there were four thousand guards under arms on the day of the royal session, and seven or eight regiments in the neighbourhood of Versailles, the passive timidity of the council may seem extraordinary. The following circumstances are said to have made a strong impression, and to have contributed to an alteration in their measures. At the ceremony in the tennis-court on the 20th, several of the guards had appeared greatly affected; and it was believed, that none but the foreign troops would have obeyed, if any violence had been ordered to be used to the deputies. When the king returned from the assembly to the palace on the 23d, although the streets were crowded with people, they maintained a sullen silence. No sign of applause, not so much as a single Vive le Roi! was heard an event without a precedent in the annals of the French monarchy; for the French populace hitherto had been as much accustomed to applaud their king, whatever his character was, as often as he appeared in public, as the ancient Egyptians werę to worship what, ever the priests presented to them, whether in the form of a crocodile or a calf.

* Those who suggested these peremptory orders given by the king on the present occasion, seem to have acted on the same principle with Bays in the duke of Buckingham's Rehearsal-who, to make sure of the suc cess of his piece, said, that he would appear on the stage in mourning, attended by an executioner, and roundly tell the audience, that if they did not immediately applaud his play, he would order the executioner to cut off his head before their faces; on which, adds he, they will all applaud. But on its being suggested, that possibly the audience might not applaud, Bays had thought of no subterfage, by which he might avoid the other alternative.

CHAPTER X.

Great Popularity of M. Necker-Disorders in Paris-Part of the Order of Nobles join the National Assembly-Reflections on that event-Populace demand to be admitted, contrary to the King's Orders-Deputation to the King on that subjectThe King desires the Nobles and Clergy to unite with the TiersEtat-Debates on that Subject-The two superior Orders join the National Assembly-Universal Joy-Discourse of Mirabeau-Reflections.

GREAT numbers of the deputies, after the breaking up of the assembly, went directly to M. Necker's hotel; but he, on the pretext of being indisposed, saw very few of them. It was soon after rumoured, that the king was displeased with the minister, because he had not attend ed the royal session, and that he was to be dismissed from the administration. In the evening, however, he went to wait on his majesty. This was no sooner known, and it was known immediately, than the courts of the palace were crowded with the populace, who from time to time exclaimed, Vive M. Necker! Point de demission! of Vive le Roi! was heard.

but no cry

After his conference with the king, as M. Necker re turned to his own house, the multitude surrounding him insisted on his giving his promise not to resign his situa tion. This they obtained without much difficulty. The assurance was heard with transport; those nearest him held him up in their arms to gratify their fellow-citizens with a sight of this favourite minister, and then actually carried him in this triumphant manner to his hotel.

The nobles, and the minority of the clergy who had not united with the tiers-etat, met the day after the royal session in their respective chambers, as the king had enjoined; but the other deputies, still retaining the name of the national assembly, met in the old hall, and deliberated as a complete legislative body. Nothing can be a stronger proof how much all the king's injunctions were