to furround all the avenues of the Thuilleries, which had been only defended, during the night, by a common guard. A thousand troops were immediately ordered on that duty, and all the gates of the palace were fecured by a train of artillery,, to prevent the poffibility of furprize or efcape. In the evening, the diftricts of Paris, by a daring affumption of power, which deferved to incur the fevereft reprobation, paffed a refolution, that the regiment of the king's body-guards fhould be broken, and never more revived; and that in future his majefty fhould be guarded by citizens, instead of foldiers. After the king's departure from Verfailles, the national aflembly entered into a debate on the propriety of following him to Paris; when it was refolved to adjourn to that city as foon as a convenient place could be prepared for their reception. Accordingly, on the nineteenth of October, they repaired thither, and opened the feffion in the great hall of the archevêchè (the archbishop's palace). That we might not interrupt our narrative of that violent tumult which forced the fovereign from his family manfion, and brought him, in a ftate of captivity, to the capital, we omitted to notice fome important debates which occurred in the national affembly the preceding month. In addition to thofe refolutions which we have before mentioned, it has been further refolved, that the perfon of the king fhould be facred; that the throne fhould be indivifible and hereditary, from male to male, in the houfe of Bourbon; and the long lift of refolves was concluded by a determination to examine into court penfions. Thefe, having been prefented to the king for his fanétion, were returned with fuch obfervations and VOL. IL exceptions as his majefty, with the advice of his privy-council, thought neceffary to be made. With regard to the article of penfions, he pledged himfelf not to object to their examination; but expreffed an opinion, that fuch an inquifition might, at that time, tend to the creation of alarms; wherefore he propofed to the national affembly, to confider whether a reduction on general principles would not be preferable. The king's obfervations, however, experienced a very unfavourable reception from the affembly, who regarded any objections to their de crees as a dangerous infringement on their power. This confideration led them to a difcuffion of the following interefting quction, (which appeared to have been already determined by the veto granted to the king) viz. "Whether the king may refufe his affent to the acts of the le gislative body?" But before any decifion could take place, another was propofed-"That in cafe the king fhall refufe his affent, fhall his refufal be final, or fufpenfive only?” The first of thefe questions, after a long debate, was decided in the af firmative; but the king's refufal was determined to be fufpenfive only. A third queftion was then put"Whether the fufpenfive veto of the king fhall ceafe at the commencement of the first legiflature which fhall follow the one in which the law is paffed, or of the fecond ?” On a divifion, its ceffation was agreed to take place on the commencement of the fecond legiflature. Hence it is determined, that the king's negative, put on any bill, fhall defeat its effect for the term of the feffion in which it is first paffed, and alfo for the whole term of the next feflion; but being paffed a third time, it fhall have the full force of law without the royal affent. Thus the power of the kings of S. France France will, in future, be fubject to greater limitations than that of the English monarchs. During the debates, the prefident of the affembly had waited on the king to entreat his immediate promulgation of the decrees agreed to by the affembly, without alteration; and they accordingly received the force of laws on the twenty-first of September. On the fubfequent day the king and queen, deeply diftreffed at the embarraffed itate of the finances, gave orders for their plate to be fent to the mint; a patriotic example which was followed by many of their fubjects. The The next important objects of difcuffion were, permanence of the national affembly," and "the number of chambers of which it fhould confift." The first paffed unanimoufly as foon as it was generally understood. At first fight, it feemed to convey an idea, that the intention was to perpetuate the prefent affembly; but an explanation proved its real meaning to be, that the nation fhould never remain without reprefentatives, and that the functions of the old members fhould not ceafe till the election of new had taken place. It was alfo determined, that the affembly fhould remain united in one chamber. After thefe refolutions had been adopted, M. Neckar read a long memorial to the affembly, the purport of which was to exhibit, in its true light, the deplorable ftate of the finances, and to point fuch remedies as he judged moft conducive to their relief. The principal of thefe was, a tax to be impofed indifcriminately on all the inhabitants of the kingdom, of a nett fourth of their annual income. Af ter much confideration, M. Neckar's propofai was embraced; and a preparatory decree paffed the affembly on the fecond of October, ordering every person to make a declaration of the amount of his income before the first of January, one thoufand feven hundred and ninety. All further difcuffions, however, on the interefting fubject of finance were deferred, till the king's fanction fhould be obtained to the declaration of rights, and the fundamental articles of the conftitution, which had been feparated from the other articles that had already received his affent. Accordingly, on the fifth of October, a letter from his majefty was read to the affembly, in which he obferved, that no proper opinion could be formed of the new conftitutional laws, but when they were viewed all together; the parts being neceffarily allied to each other, Yet, that he thought, in a moment when they invited the nation to come to the fuccour of the state, by a fignal act of confidence and patriotifm, they fhould fecure the principal object of its intereft; thus, in the confidence that the first conftitutional articles they had prefented to him, united to the fequel of their labours, would accomplish the wifli of his people, and fecure the happinefs and profperity of his realm, he gave his confent to them, in compliance with their defire; but upon one pofitive condition, from which he would never depart, that, by the general refult of their deliberations, the executive power fhould have its entire effect in the hands of the monarch. He added, that he fhould frankly avow, his confent to the articles fent him, was not given because they all, without diftinction, prefented him with an idea of perfection, but because he thought it laudable, in his place, not to delay paying attention to the prefent wifhes of the reprefentatives of the people, and to the alarming circumstances which invited them fo rongly to wifh, above all things, the the fpeedy re-establishment of peace, order, and confidence. He con cluded by faying, that he fhould not explain himfelf on the declaration of the rights of men and citi zens; it contained very good maxims, proper to direct their labours; but principles fufceptible of different applications, and even different interpretations, could not be justly appreciated, nor was there, indeed, any occafion to appreciate them at all, till the moment when their true fenfe fhould be fixed by the laws, of which they were to conftitute the bafis. This fpirited reply, in many parts fenfible and juft,, caufed the greatest discontent in the affembly; where an animated debate took place, which was terminated by that memorable tumult, of which we have given an account. It was now a proper time (when the king, forced from his habitation by a factious mob, was confined to the precincts of that palace which he had been compelled to accept for his refidence) for the national affembly to display, in a manner becoming their dignity and importance, that fpirit of independence which they had been hitherto fo anxious to affert. The fhackles impofed by a democratic faction are probably more dangerous, and certainly more difgraceful, than thofe of a defpotic fovereign. Hence it became the affembly to refift, with determined refolution, the unconftitutional efforts of the Parifians; and boldly to demand the immediate release of their monarch. By fuch conduct they would have rendered themselves refpectable in the eyes of all Europe, and have proved themselves worthy to be the champions of freedom; but though their courage was fufficient to withstand the oppofition of an impotent king, it vanished before the threats of an armed multitude. Thus awed, they prudently determined to repair to Paris themselves; and the great hall of the archbishop's palace having been prepared for their reception, they there affembled on the nineteenth of October. The first step they took, after their arrival in the metropolis, was to fend a deputation to the king, headed by the prefident, who addreffed his majesty in a curious speech, in which he told him,, that the national affembly, having voted themselves infeparable from his auguft perfon, were now led by their affection to approach him, and offer him the homage of their immutable love and refpect; he obferved, that the love of the French people to their monarch had been unbounded (it must be confeffed they had recently exhibited a fingular proof of their affection!) ever fince that day when the public voice hailed him the restorer of liberty, to which it only remained for him to add the endearing title of the best friend to the nation; a title to which his claim was indifputable, as the whole nation had feen his majesty firm and tranquil in the midst of danger, running every risk for the good of the ftate, and fupporting and encouraging a beloved people by his prefence and protection. The fpeech contained many fimilar declarations equally deftitute of fenfe and meaning.-The Parifians, in the mean time, finding themselves wholly exempt from restraint, continued their riots in the metropolis, where the frequent commiffion of cool and deliberate murders induced the magistracy to apply for relief to the national affembly. The alarming ftate of the capital was accordingly taken into immediate confi deration; and, after a warm and tedious difcuffion, a law was framed, authorizing the magiftrates to cmploy military force for the fuppreffion of tumults in cafes of neceffity. In confequence of this decree, which a more early exertion of vigour on Sz the law. Having thus noticed every event of importance which has hitherto occurred in the progrefs of this furprizing revolution, we have only to offer fome few reflections on the conduct of the king, and the behaviour of the regular troops. 1 1 the part of the affembly would have them by the original constitution of rendered fuperfluous, feveral of the the country; and had life of rioters were executed by martial' that monarch been prolonged but for a very short time, it is well known that the parliaments of France would have been wholly abolished. There can be no poffible doubt, therefore, that the heir to the monarchy was early inftructed in thofe principles of defpotifm, which had governed the minds, and marked the adminiftration, of his ancestors; at that age, too, when the mind is most fufceptible of impreffions, he had witneffed, and had certainly been taught to refpect, the arbitrary conduct of his grandfather. Having thus imbibed the moft lofty ideas of regal authority, he afcended the throne, ere he had attained his twenty-first year; and from his acceffion till the approach of the prefent interefting period, had met with nothing which could poffibly expose to him the fallacy of his principles, Fully impreffed with the opinion that he poffeffed the right of enforcing implicit obedience from his fubjects, he regarded a compliance, on his part, with ith claims, however founded in juftice, as a strong mark of indulgence; and though reading or obfervation might have convinced him that a material change had been effected in the minds of his people within the last few years, his courtiers had been fo ftudious to divert his attention from circumftances which might eventually lead to a diminution of their own power, that on the meeting of the ftates general, he firmly expected, and believed, that his expectations were founded on a right to command, from that affembly, the fame paffive obedience which his grandfather had experienced from the different lits de juftice which had met during his reign. The king acting on this principle, his conduct is not only to be accounted for, but even to be juftified. It was natural for him to To form a just opinion of the conduct of Lewis the Sixteenth, at this trying conjuncture, we must not judge like mere Englifhmen, who, brought up in the habits of freedom, are accustomed to view the fmalleft violation of civil liberty with an eye of indignation; we fhould confider with attention the principles infilled into the mind of that monarch in his early infancy; principles impreffed by education, ftrengthened by example, and confirmed by practice. From the reign of Lewis the Eleventh, the monarchs of France had enjoyed authority unlimited, except in one particular inftance; which was, that no royal edict could have the force of law till it had been registered by the parliament of Paris (the fupreme court of judicature). This reftraint, how ever, was of little confequence, as, when the judges proved refractory, recourfe was had to lettres de cachet, and other fimilar inftruments of ty ranny, in order to enforce their compliance. But none of the Gallic princes had made more frequent and more violent exertions of arbitrary power than the immediate predece fors of the prefent king; Lewis the Fifteenth, in particular, had extinguifhed every fpark of liberty, had removed every poffible barrier to the eftablishment of defpotifm, by firft refraining the parliament to the fimple difcharge of their judicial func tions, and then condemning them to exile for daring to affert thofe prerogatives which had been vefted in oppofe treated them as rebels; war was declared; and the conteft was fupported with vigour on both fides: fortunately for the nation, the champions of liberty prevailed. But though the endeavours of the king to maintain the defpotic fway eftablished by his ancestors, will excite unfavourable impreffions in the breast of every friend to freedom, and even forcibly extort reprobation, yet, on cool reflection, the head muft difavow the impulfe of the heart; and candour compel us to abfolve him from that heavy weight of cenfure with which he has been haftily and inconfiderately loaded. On the whole, though we must withhold our affent from the indifcriminate panegyric of a certain marquis, we muft afcribe the errors and vices of Lewis the Sixteenth, to weaknefs of mind, prejudice of education, bad example, and evil counfels. important augmentation of pay which the national affembly had the wifdom to propofe at the commencement of the feffion; a fagacious and effectual measure, which contributed more to enfure their fuccefs, than any fingle ftep they have adopted from their first meeting and that it was done with this view, will not admit of a doubt, when we reflect on that rigid fyftem of economy which they have enforced in every department of the state, and from which no deviation would have been fuffered, but for the attainment of fome important object. We are the more anxious to defpoil thefe interefted heroes of thofe vain ornaments with which Ignorance or Enthufiafın has clothed them, as from a thorough knowledge of their difpofitions, acquired from a long refidence among them, we are enabled to pronounce the French army (that is, the fur We thould have thought it need- balterns and privates) as profligate lefs to add a fingle remark on the and tyrannical a body of men, as conduct of the troops, had they not ever difgraced a nation; always eager been held up as objects of admira- to exert their authority over the tion, as well by the English, as by lower clafs of citizens and people, the French themfelves. Their re- with a degree of infolence and bru fufal to fire on their fellow-citizens tality that makes an Englishman that is, on the Parifian mob-has fhudder. The fame arbitrary conbeen imputed to fentiments of pa- duct is, indeed, obfervable in all triotifm, which would have done abfolute monarchies, where every honour to the citizens of Rome, in clafs of men, entrusted with the the most virtuous days of the Ro- finalleft portion of power, are apt man republic. An ardent zeal for liberty is too apt to extort commendation from her votaries, on those who contribute to fupport her * Vide lord Shelburne's panegyric on the French, in his fpeech on the Commer to tyrannize over their inferiors, by way of making themselves amends for the fervility they are obliged to evince to thofe whom Nature or Fortune has placed above them. We fhall conclude this article wither that the laboure |