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238 LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

feeling that, without descending to manoeuvre and con-sultations, his energy, eloquence, and presence of mind,would place him in the van of war. He remained,therefore, independent; uneasy when others obtainedinfluence in the assembly, visiting Paris as a looker on,and waiting his time, which soon came. For it mustbe remembered, that, at this period, notwithstanding thedistinguished part he had acted, Mirabeau’s supremacywas by no means acknowledged. There was a largeparty against him, and Barnave was held up bv it asthe more eloquent and greater man. The errors of hisyouth were remembered, and a thousand calumniesspread abroad against him ; the people were even in-fluenced by them, and though, at one time they wereready to carry him in triumph, a moment after the hawk-ers cried about the great treason of count de Mirabeau.When his private conduct was attacked, Mirabeau wassilent; “ Because,” he says, with graceful dignity, “ astrict silence is the expiation of faults purely personal,however excusable they may be; and because I waitedtill time, and my services, should win for me the esteemof the worthy; because, also, the rod of censure hasalways seemed respectable to me, even in the hands ofmy enemies; and, above all, because I have never seenany thing but narrow egotism and ridiculous improprietyin occupying one’s fellow citizens in affairs not belongingto them.” But when his public conduct was attacked, hedefended it with an energy and truth that bore down allattack, and raised him higher than ever in the generalesteem.

To return to the epoch at which we are arrived. Toquell the capital and subdue the deputies, the king andhis counsellors summoned troops to surround Paris .Fifteen regiments, composed chiefly of foreigners, ad-vanced. It became evident that the design was formedof using the bayonet, to which Mirabeau had referred,as the only power to which they would submit. Henow again came forward to stop the progress of the evil.He proposed an address to the king, demanding that the