XXIV. 1792. BOOK that they would remember the safety of the king depended on his regaining the confidence of the nation; that they would contemplate the certainty of his ruin and that of his august house, of the monarchy, and of all France, if he relapsed into his former conduct. He was persuaded that the terrible fault committed by Louis, after having twice perjured himself, would serve as a lesson to him; and that his heart would be melted with the generosity of the French nation, who had restored to him a crown which he had forfeited by the letter and spirit of that constitution which he had sworn to obey. But soon the court resumed its former habits, its secret correspondence in foreign countries, and its corruptions, which only laid it at the mercy of the traitors thus corrupted. It recommenced its intrigues, its petty conspiracies at Paris and in the provinces, its useless complaints, its satirical attacks upon the Assembly and their labors, which produced incendiary replications on the part of the Jacobins." Being on a certain day, after his appointment as minister, ordered to wait upon the queen an hour before the council met, he found her alone, walking backwards and forwards with hasty steps. Advancing towards him at length with an irritated and majestic air she spoke as follows: "Sir, you are all powerful at this moment, but it is through the favor of the people, who soon XXIV. 1792. demolish their idols. Your situation depends BOOK upon your conduct. It is said that you possess great talents. You ought to know that neither the king nor myself will suffer either these novel. ties or the constitution. I declare it frankly to you. Choose therefore the part you are to act." -M. Dumouriez representing the necessity of a cordial concurrence on the part of the king, in establishing the constitution solidly and quietly, the queen rejoined in a louder and more passionate tone of voice: "It will not last; therefore take care of yourself." Thus blindly and precipitately did this devoted woman press forward in the path to destruction. Accession peror Fran On the 1st of March, 1792, died suddenly, of a Death of the emperor malignant fever, the emperor Leopold II. a prince Leopold II. whose passions had never wholly shaken off the of the emrestraints of prudence. He was succeeded by his cis II. son Francis II. under the title of King of Hungary; but he was, after a short interval, elected emperor of the Romans. This event made not the least change, except by a fresh infusion of violence in the system of Austrian policy. Scarcely was the new monarch seated on his throne when he communicated to the court of Berlin his determination strictly and literally to adhere to the terms of the treaty or convention of Pilnitz. At this period the king of France, naturally void of constancy and resolution, weak and XXIV. 1792. BOOK wavering in his temper, was induced to obey the voice of the public, by nominating, (March 23) after various unpopular dismissions and appointments, M. Roland to the interior department, M. Clavière to that of finance, and, soon after, M. Servan to be minister of war-men who deservedly possessed the general esteem and confidence. But no real advantage resulted from this change. "All the trouble (says M. Dumouriez) taken by the ministers to recover the love and confidence of the nation was rendered ineffectual by the activity of intrigues. It was Penelope's web-the court undid during the night all the labors of the day." The negotiation between the two powers of France and Austria, notwithstanding the efforts of the new ministry, proceeded slowly and heavily. "Peace or war," says M. Dumouriez in his dispatch, March 19th, to M. Noailles, ambassador at the Imperial court, "depends entirely on the ca binet of Vienna."—" What can be the motives of such a war? The claims upon Alsace and Lorraine? These may be adjusted by negotiation.The cause of the emigrants? They are acting in open disobedience to his majesty, and are traitors to their country.-Our armament? It was provoked by the treaty of Pilnitz, and by the asylum granted to the emigrants on the frontiers." The ambassador, M. Noailles, was at length ordered to require from the Imperial court a distinct XXIV. 1792. specification of its ultimate objects. The reply of BOOK that court to this categorical demand was contain-n ed in a short note from M. Cobentzel. The con--His arroditions were the re-establishment of the monarchy mands. gant deon the basis of the royal session of Louis XVI. held June 23, 1789-consequently the re-establishment of the nobility and clergy as orders: the restitution of the property of the clergy, and of the lands in Alsace to the German princes, with all the rights of sovereignty and feudality; and also of Avignon and the Venaissin. In truth, says M. Dumouriez, if the court of Vienna had been asleep during the whole of the thirty-three months which had elapsed since the royal session, and at its awakening from itsslumbers had dictated this note, it could not have proposed any conditions more inconsistent with the spirit of the revolution."* All hope of reconciliation being now apparently at an end, the new administration, notwithstanding their sincere desire of peace, deemed it necessary to yield to the loud and angry clamors of the Conventional Assembly; and WAR was, in conse-War bequence of a message from the king, on the 20th of tria and April, formally declared against Austria. tween Aus France. of France At this crisis a very remarkable letter was Overtures written by the king of France to the king England, doubtless by advice of his present "Memoirs of Dumouriez," vol. II. p. 227. of rejected by po-lish court. the Eng XXIV. 1792. BOOK pular ministers, expressing in the most flattering terms his obligations to his Britannic majesty for his impartial conduct, and making the most eager advances to the formation of a treaty of amity and alliance. "Between our two countries (says the French monarch) new connections ought to take place. I think I see the remains of that rivalship which has done so much mischief to both daily wearing away. It becomes two kings who have distinguished their reigns by a constant desire to promote the happiness of their people to connect themselves by such ties as will appear to be dura. ble in proportion as the two nations shall have clearer views of their own interests. I consider the success of the alliance, in which I wish you to concur with as much zeal as I do, as of the highest importance; I consider it as necessary to the stability of the respective constitutions, and the internal tranquillity of our two kingdoms; and I will add, that our union ought to COMMAND PEACE to EUROPE." It was indeed evident that at this period England might have commanded peace upon her own terms. Never did this country appear in a higher and more exalted point of view than at this moment; but, from that fatality which has governed almost invariably the counsels of the present reign, she suffered the glorious golden opportunity to pass by unnoticed and unimproved. The letter |