tional Assembly, and edicts in that of the King, exhorting the peasantry to destroy the patents and pedigrees of the nobility, and to burn their castles; and the result was, that some of the finest buildings in several of the provinces were reduced to ashes.* The Queen was accused of a plot for destroying the National Assembly by means of a mine; and of another for blowing up the town of Clermont, in which the celebrated traveller, Arthur Young, was implicated as her Majesty's agent; and he was actually seized in bed at midnight by a party of militia, though he was afterwards happily extricated from his perilous situation.

The revolutionists found a most powerful auxiliary, in the unbounded licentiousness of the press, which had arrived to an extreme, unknown before under any government. Not less than 20,000 writers, of every description, were computed to be at that time in Paris, who furnished the press with an inexhaustible supply of the most inflammatory and dangerous matter, subversive of all order, religion, and government. From thirteen to sixteen new pamphlets were issued daily, and not less than ninety-two were published in one week.These were circulated with extraordinary despatch through every part of the kingdom; and, as they were distributed gratis amongst the great body of the people, the expense must have been enormous.

* Groenvelt's Letters.

There can be little doubt, that the funds for this purpose, were supplied from the immense revenues of the Duke of Orleans, and from the same source were drawn the stipends of the street-orators, the ladies of the market, and other female furies, and of the crowds of ruffians from various parts of the kingdom, with which the capital was thronged.

Reports widely disseminated throughout the country, by numerous couriers, that the aristocrats were raising troops of brigands to destroy the peasants, excited the latter to commit the most dreadful outrages. The nobility were hunted like wild beasts, their wives and daughters violated; and their family seats, title-deeds, and records destroyed. As galley-slaves, robbers, and murderers, mixed with the peasants in the commission of these atrocities, little discrimination was observed between the most humane and benevolent landlords and masters, and those who had rendered themselves odious to the people by their arrogance and oppression. In the Lyonnois, Dauphiné, Franche Compté, and part of Burgundy, these enormities were carried to a most dreadful pitch. In Britanny, the people were in a state of open rebellion; and at Strasbourg, the Hotel de Ville, or Town House, was demolished by the mob, and all the records and public archives destroyed. In some places the gentlemen made a successful stand against the insurgents, as in the Maconnois and Beaujolois, where they defeated six or seven thousand of them, headed by a village attorney, who had spread ruin and desolation along the

fertile banks of the Saone, having, in a few days, burnt seventy-two gentlemen's seats, and plundered all the churches and small towns in their way. Twenty or thirty of the banditti were executed, but the democratic publications at Paris declaimed so loudly against the measure, that the National Assembly thought proper to put a stop to any further proceedings against these criminals.

The factious, alarmed at the too great success of their own machinations, and fearing lest they should be discovered, caused a report to be spread at this time, that the commotions which agitated France, were fomented by the agents of the English government. The atrocious calumny was immediately refuted by the Duke of Dorset, the English Ambassador, in a spirited memorial addressed to M. de Montmorin. After treating with merited contempt the insinuations thrown out in one of the Paris journals, that the English court had fomented the disturbances in the capital, and even fitted out a fleet to assist the mal-contents on the coast, his excellency adduced as a proof of the sincerity and good faith of his government, its recent rejection of a proposal from some traitors for delivering up to the British the port of Brest. M. de Montmorin sent this letter to the National Assembly, accompanied by another of his own, confirming the statements of the English Ambassador. Both letters were highly applauded, and the Assembly expressed the warmest satisfaction at the conduct of M. de Montmorin.

CHAP. V.

Appointment of a New Ministry, under the auspices of M. Nec-" kár.Alarming report made to the Assembly on the state of the Nation. Declaration proposed on this subject, rejected. Memorable occurrences at the Evening Sitting of the 4th of August.----The Nobility renounce, witli enthusiasm, all their Feudal Rights. Their 'example followed by the Clergy, who give up their Pluralities, Fees, &c.-Many Members of the Commons relinquish the peculiar privileges of the Provinces and Towns which they represented.-Te Deum "sung in the King's Chapel upon the occasion.-Louis XVI, proclaimed the RESTORER OF FRENCH LIBERTY.-Effect of these proceedings on the Peasantry.Decree for the abolition of Titlies passed, though warmly opposed by the Abbé Sieyes.-Report of the Ministers on the Disorders of the Country, and the deplorable state of the Finances.-Proposed Loan of Thirty Millions of Livres fails.-Patriotic Contributions.-King, Queen, 'and Clergy send their Plate to the Mint.--Second Loan fails.—Bold project of Neckar, for demanding a fourth of every man's income, under the name of a Voluntary Contribution--Supported by Mirabeau, and decreed.-Debates on the Constitution.--Declaration of the Rights of Man-The project of the two Chambers rejected. The suspensive VETO granted to the King.

ONE of the first objects to which M. Neckar

directed his attention, after his return, was the filling up the vacant places in the administration. When this was completed, the King wrote to the Assembly, that in order to evince his desire of maintaining the most constant harmony with it, he had nominated his ministers from amongst them--VOL. I CHAP. V.

selves, having given the seals to the Archbishop of Bourdeaux, and the list of Benefices to the Archbishop of Vienne; and appointed M. de la Tour du Pin Paulin, Minister of the war department, and Marshal Beauveau one of his Council. An address of thanks was voted to his Majesty for these marks of his confidence.

The Assembly had been for some time engaged in the discussion of a declaration of rights, which was intended to be the basis of the new constitution, but they were suddenly interrupted in their labours on the 3d of August, by some letters from the provinces of an alarming nature, which were presented by the committee of report and inquiry. They stated, that property of all kinds was every where the prey of the most atrocious plunderers, and that throughout the country the houses were burnt, the convents destroyed, and the farms given up to pillage. "In short, seignorial rights, all,” added the reporter, "all is annihilated; the laws are without force, the magistrates without authority; and justice is no longer but a phantom, which it is vain to seek in the courts." The Assembly, upon hearing this report, ordered a declaration to be drawn up, and presented to them on the following day.

The evening sitting of the 4th commenced at eight o'clock, with hearing this declaration read. It referred to the ancient laws as still subsisting, and to be adhered to, until the authority of the nation should have abrogated or modified them: