XXIV. 1792. ceitful conduct in relation to the famous expedition BOOK to Varennes during the preceding summer was lost, this indignant language was strangely misapplied. The correspondence between the courts of Paris and Vienna being laid before the Assembly on the 2d of March, it appeared that the Imperial troops in the Netherlands would shortly amount to 90,000 men. Kaunitz (February 17) openly avowed the con cert formed with other powers for preserving unimpaired the monarchy of France; and was throughout expressed in terms of menace and hostility, which left no doubt as to the ultimate determina tion of the Imperial court. The Assembly, inflamed with this intelligence, rashly and precipi tately, without any previous or regular investiga tion of facts, impeached M. de Lessart for criminal concealment and unconstitutional practices, of which nevertheless he appears from subsequent evidence most assuredly guilty.* He was succeeded by the celebrated M. Dumouriez. And the dispatch of prince This able minister, who was firmly attached to the new order of things, tells us in his Memoirs, "that, on the return of the king and court to Paris, after the expedition to Varennes, he hoped they would reflect on their situation, and the impossibility of any longer opposing the constitution; * Vide Memoirs of BERTRAND de MOLEVILLE." 1792. BOOK that they would remember the safety of the king XXIV. 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 demolish their idols. Your situation depends BOOK XXIV. upon your conduct. It is said that you possess 1792, great talents. You ought to know that neither the king nor myself will suffer seither 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 Hungarys 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 com municated 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 BOOK wavering in his temper, was induced to obey the XXIV. voice of the public, by nominating, (March 23) 1792. after various unpopular dismissions and appoint. ments, 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 cabinet 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. gant de specification of its ultimate objects. The reply of BOOK. that court to this categorical demand was contained in a short note from M. Cobentzel. The con-His arroditions were the re-establishment of the monarchy mands. on 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 restitu tion 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 its slumbers 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 of rejected by England, doubtless by advice of his present po-lish court. "Memoirs of Dumouriez," vol. II. p. 227. the Eng |