YOTJNCi’s TRAVELS IN TRANCE.

J 84

The 27th. The whole bufmefs now feems over, and the revolution complete. TheKing has been frightened by the mobs into overturning his own ad of the feance royale,by writing to the prefidents of the orders of the nobility and clergy, requiring them tojoin the commons,—in dired contradidion to what he had ordained before. It wasreprefented to him, that the want of bread was fo great in every part of the kingdom,that there was no extremity to which the people might not be driven: that they werenearly ftarving, and confequently ready to liften to any fuggeftions, and on the quivive for all forts of mifehief: that Paris and Verfailles would inevitably be burnt; andin a word, that all forts of mifery and confufion w’ould follow his adherence to the fyf-tem announced in the feance royale. His apprehenfions got the better of the partywho had for fome days guided him; and he was thus induced to take this Hep, whichis of fuch importance, that he will never more know where to flop, or what to re-fufe ; or rather he will find, that in the future arrangement of the kingdom, his fitua-tion will be very nearly that of Charles I. a fpedator, without pow'er, of the effe fiverefolutions of a long parliament. The joy this ftep occafioned w'as infinite ; the wholealfembly, uniting with the people, hurried to the chateau. Vive le Roy might havebeen heard at Marly : the King and Queen appeared in the balcony, and were receivedwith the loudeft fhouts of applaufe; the leaders, who governed thefe motions, knew4 he value of the conceffion much better than thofe who made it. I have to-day hadconverfation with many perfons on this bufinefs; and to my amazement, there is anidea, and even among many of the nobility, that this union of the orders is only forthe verification of their powers, and for making the conftitution, which is a new termthey have adopted ; and which they ufe as if a conftitution were a pudding to be made■by a receipt. In vain I have alked, where is the power that can leparate them here-after, if the commons infill on remaining together, which may be fuppofed, as fuchan arrangement will leave all the power in their hands ? And in vain I appeal to theevidence of the pamphlets written by the leaders of that alfembly, in which they holdthe Englilh conftitution cheap, becaufe the people have not power enough, on accountof that of the Crown and the Houfe of Lords. The event now appears fo clear, asnot to be difficult to predid: all real power will be henceforward in the commons;having fo much inflamed the people in the exercife of it, they will find themfelves un-able to ufe it temperately ; the court cannot fit to have their hands tied behind them;the clergy, nobility, parliaments, and army, will, when they find themfelves in dangerof annihilation, unite in their mutual defence; but as fuch an union will demand time,they will find the people armed, and a bloody civil war muft be the refult. I have morethan once declared this as my opinion, but do not find that others unite in itAt allevents, however, the tide now runs fo ftrongly in favour of the people, and the condudof the court fo weak, divided, and blind, that little can happen that will not clearly bedated from the prefent moment. Vigour and abilities would have turned everythingon the fide of the court; for the great mafs of nobility in the kingdom, the higherclergy, the parliaments, and the army, were with the crown ; but this defertion of thecondud which was neceffary to fecure its power, at a moment fo critical, mull lead to

* I may remark at prefent, long after this was written, that, although I was totally miftaken in myprediction, yet, on a revilion, I think I had a reafonable ground for it, and that the common courfe ofevents would have produced fuch a civil war, to which every thing tended,from the moment the Commonsrejected the King’s propolitions of the feance royale, which I now think, more than ever, they ought, with.qualifications, to have accepted. The eyents that followed were as little to be thought* of as of myfelf-being made King of France ,

all