immediately paffed the ftrongeft refolutions that could be framed, refpecting the facredness and inviolability of their perfons. But thefe being in no degree fufficient to remove the general impreffion of danger which had taken place, fo great a number of members were continually applying for leave of abfence, that it feemed at length as if the affembly would be entirely deferted; and it was found neceffary, as a remedy for the evil, to país an order or refolution, that no farther applications for leave fhould be received. founded in his ears, he was, at noon day, dragged out of his own house, and inftantly hanged before the door, in the fight of his wife and family. While the affembly were at a diftance, matters of this fort were paffed over without concern or notice; but this tumult taking place under their eyes, and the danger feeming already at their own doors, the alarm and apprehenfion excited by it were beyond defcription. This paroxyfm of terror, however, pro"duced an excellent effect, it rouzed the affembly into a degree of exertion, the want of which had been long and lamentably felt; and its very excefs proved the means of infpiring them with courage. They likewife could not but feel how much their authority and dignity were fet at nought and degraded, and that public opinion, upon which every thing depended, would be fhaken, if fo violent an outrage, committed almoft in their prefence, and as if it had been to fhew who were in future to be their mafters, had been fuffered to pass with impunity. Under these, and fimilar impreffions, the affembly immediately paffed a very effective and fevere law, founded much upon the principle of the English riot act, by which the municipal magiftrates were obliged to proclaim martial law whenever the mob proceeded to outrage; and were befides furnished with a red, or, as it is called by feamen, a bloody flag, which, upon fuch occafions, was to be displayed from the town houfe, as a formidable emblem of the confequences which would enfue. In the fame fpirit, the Parifian rabble were condemned to the inexpreffible mortification of beholding two or three of Thefe apprehenfions had not, however, time to wear off before an event took place which fufficiently fhewed that they were by no means ill-founded. For the affembly had Tot been long in Paris, when thofe loyal and peaceable citizens, being perhaps apprehenfive that their rights and authority might, with out frequent exertion, become dormant, and lapfe into what the lawyers call a ftate of defuetude, determined to give their new vifitants of the affembly an early fpecimen of what thofe rights and that authority were, fo as to prevent all future mistakes about their nature and extent, and at the fame time to afford a ftriking inftance of their own due qualification, from the eafe and facility with which they adminiftered fummary juftice. There could be no want of an object on which to difplay their justice and dexterity, while there remained a baker ftill in exiftence. The lot accordingly fell upon an unfortunate member of that fraternity, who happened to be totally innocent of any known crime, or of any breach whatever of the laws; but the pithy death-term of monopolizer' being fuddenly the. the most notorious of their brethren, who were concerned in the late tumult and murder, publicly hanged. Thefe vigorous meafures produced an immediate happy effect; and order and quiet were for fome time eftablished. enmity; that the views of the cabal were thoroughly feen through, and they had confequently loft all in. fluence, weight, and confidence, in the affembly; that Mirabeau had not been more unfortunate in his views to aggrandize his principal than himself; and that his late defign of forcing himself into the royal adminiftration, was fo weil understood, that his preparatory motion was rejected, with every mark not only of disgust but abhor rence. An event now took place which could not fail to astonish all thofe who were not admitted deeply into the fecrets of affairs. This was the extraordinary measure of fending the duke of Orleans out of the kingdom. To underftand this we are to obferve, that nothing could exIt is faid, that the leading party ceed the indignation of La Fayette in the affembly had already derived at the unexpected difobedience all the benefits from the duke which which he experienced from his they wished, or at any time in. troops on the 5th of October. All tended: his pecuniary aid had from the mutual ties which fhould unite the beginning been indifpenfably a general and his army feemed at neceffary to their fuccefs, without once diffolved; and, befides the dif- it they could have done nothing; appointment, and wound to his but now things were totally chang pride, the perfonal fecurity of aed: if his treasures had not even commander feemed in a very precarious ftate, whose troops difdained to obey, and who made no fcruple of flying in the face of his authority, and command. He well knew that their difobedience and mutiny did not originate with themselves, but were produced by the machinations of the cabal; and he directed all his indignation and refentment to their proper object, the fuppofed father of that faction. For, what ever La Fayette's private political views might have been, there certainly was nothing farther removed from them, or which he abhorred more, even in idea, than that the duke of Orleans, through any convulfion, or change of circumftances, or under any denomination, of regent or otherwife, fhould ever be placed at the head of public affairs. He saw that the feafon was highly favourable to the gratification of his been pretty well exhaufted, they were not, however, in that fate of neceffity which rendered them once indifpenfable; he had been as long the inftrument to their purposes as was neceflary, to continue it longer would be folly. Befides that his fervices were no longer wanted, his prefence was becoming trouble. fome; and might, under certain circumftances, through his influence with the rabble, poffibly prove dan. gerous. Whether the opinion that thefe motives operated upon the affembly be well founded or not, it seems evident that La Fayette must have had a certainty of being well fupported when he ventured upon fo bold, and feemingly fo dangerous a measure. He fettled the bufinefs like a foldier, with little ceremony but peremptory effect. In a fhort and fudden conference with the dake, duke, he informed him in a few and accompanied with an air of fuch decifive authority, that the duke, furprized and fubdued, fhrunk under its effect; and, every thing being prepared, was dispatched to England. Mirabeau's rage was unbounded at this cowardly fubmiflion, as he termed it, of the duke. It was given. in evidence before the chatelet, that he concluded a torrent of the groffeft abute by exclaiming, "He does "not deferve the trouble that has "been taken for his fake!" Effects of the tranfactions in France upon the minds of the people of GreatBritain. General difpofition in their favour at the commencement of the revolution. Various political fpeculations thereon. The evils which followed forefeen by more accurate objervers, and particularly foretold in the celebrated work of Mr. Burke. The interest which the French leaders had in involving the furrounding states in the fame diftractions. Their attempts, and the effects of them, particularly in Great-Britain and Ireland. Meeting of parliament. Speech from the throne. Address voted in both houses without debate. At of indemnity relative to the order of council for flopping the exportation of corn. Military estimates animadverted upon by Sir Grey Cooper, Mr. Marbam, and Mr. Fox; and defended by Mr. Grenville and Mr. Pitt. Some expreffions of Mr. Fox, applauding the French revolution, and the conduct of the French army on that occafion, cenfured by Col. Phipps. The fame fubject taken up by Mr. Burke. His speech upon the spirit and confequences of that event, and bis regret at differing in opinion from Mr. Fox. His opinion concerning the conduct of the French army, and concerning the comparison between the French revolution, and the revolution of 1688. His speech received with general applaufe. Mr. Fox, in reply, laments the difference of opinion between them. His encomium upon Mr. Burke. Explains his own fentiments refpecting the French revolution. Profefes his political principles. His opinion of the revolution of 1688. His apology for the excefjes of the French patriots. Mr. Sheridan's Speech upon the jame occafion. Declares his entire difference of opinion from Mr. Burke. Defends the French revolution. Apologizes for its exceffes. Charges Mr. Burke with being an advocate for dejpetifm. Compliments the marquis de la Fayette, and other French patriots. "His opinion of the revolution of 1688. Mr. Pitt, and other members, rife to express their obligations and gratitude to Mr. Burke for the fentiments he had expreffed during the debate. I' was impoffible that tranfactions of the kind we have just been relating, fhould not, in every point of view, forcibly attract the attention of all the furrounding nations of Europe. But, to the people of thefe kingdoms, they became, at an early period, from feveral peculiar circumitances, a fubject matter of a more direct, as well as ferious intereft. Before we proceed, therefore, to the detail of our parliamentary proceedings, it will be neceflary to give a fhort account of the general impreffion which the transactions of France made upon the public mind; to point out the different views they fuggefted to political parties, and the first appearance of a defign to form a common cause between the fpeculative reformers of our own nation, and the levelling party, which foon became all-powerful, in France. The reader will have remarked the many favourable circumftances, under which the ftates-general of France were at firft affembled, and which feemed to require but an ordinary degree of public virtue and political prudence to improve them into the most important advantages. With a fpirit of conceffion tending to facility, the reprefentatives of the two firt orders, the clergy and the nobility, were empowered, by the inftructions of their respective conftituents, to concede upon almoft all the points, which had ever been confidered as invidious, or were then in difpute, and particularly thofe of pecuniary privileges. Every thing that could be required from a prince, to whom the happiness of his people had ever been the object nearest his heart, was to be reckoned upon as certain; and, amongst the rest, the future periodical meetings of the ftates, by which the gradual improvement of the conftitution, without convulfion, perhaps without contest, was almost a neceffary confequence. Whilft the affairs of France wore this promifing afpect, the English nation teemed difpofed to congratulate, with fincerity, its ancient rival upon the dawn of its liberty. A laudable partiality for their own country had, indeed, excited appre-` henfions in fome, that France, by availing itfelf of the advantages of a free conftitution, might become a more powerful, and confequently a more dangerous neighbour: whilft others, led away by the fashionable theories of the day, conceived, that whatever temptations to ambition France might derive from its future profperity, they would be more than counterbalanced by thofe principles of equity and moderation, which might be expected to prevail under its new fyftem of government, in proportion to the predominance of the popular interefts in it. This latter opinion had its advocates particularly among it thofe, who were admirers of republican forms of government, and willing to caft an odium upon monarchy by attributing all the wars which have defolated the world, to the ambition and avarice of princes. Such, in general, were the opinions which Hoated upon the public mind; and rather as matter of curious fpeculation, than of national concern. But upon what a fuperfi cial view of things there opinions were formed, in all their parts, thẻ events, that have fince happened, have fully evinced. The evils, however, which at that time existed only in their principles, or in fuch effects as might be fuppofed occafional or collateral, did not even then efcape more experienced obfervers. They were developed and puriued purfued to the dreadful confequences, which have fince enfued. Before the clofe of the year 1789, a celebrated member of the British parliament, in a work, which will remain to the latest pofterity as a monument of enlightened patriotifm and unrivalled political judgment, not only warned the French nation of the dreadful precipice, upon which it stood, but foretold, with a circumftantial exactnefs, thefe horrors, which, though fince acted almost under our eyes, we hesitate to believe. At the fame time, he laid open to the view of all Europe, the defigns of a faction, which aimed directly, both from policy and upon principle, at the total fubverfion of all its established governments. It was evident to the projectors of the French revolution, that their plan must neceffarily exceed the limits of their own territory. Confcious of the defperate lengths to which their fyftem led, and refolved to push it to its utmost extent, they could not expect, that either the policy or generofity of the neighbouring fates would fuffer them to remain unconcerned spectators of the fcenes they were preparing to act, or inattentive to the principles eftablished, in order to justify or produce them. They faw, that it was not lefs neceffary to the fuccefs of the general plan, than to the execution of that part, in which they were immediately engaged, to involve the other nations, without delay, in the fame diftractions. And notwithftanding they failed, for the moft part, in this attempt, yet it is not to be doubted, but that the countenance they received amongst individuals in foreign countries, though not at tended with fatal confequences to thofe countries themfelves, yet by the credit it gave to the exaggerated accounts given by their journalists of the general prevalence of their principles, contributed, in no finall degree, to encourage the prevalent faction to the perpetration of thofe dreadful exceffes, which they were afterwards wrought up to commit. Such were the zeal and activity of the French agitators, and fuch the extent and boldness of their plans, that it is notorious, that there was no part of Europe in which their agents were not established for the purpofe of diffeminating their pernicious principles. Great-Britain and Ireland offered, upon many obvious accounts, the fairest field to the induftry of these democratic miffionaries. It was not neglected, and was cultivated not without fuccefs. Active and zealous partizans were found ready to co-operate with them. Nor was this confined to individuals: but various political focieties, of more or lefs ancient denomination, made it their business to propagate their principles, and recommend their example. The nobility of France had not been long profcribed and the church plundered, nor the king many days led captive to Paris, before letters of congratulation were fent from several of thele focieties in both kingdoms, and a regular official correfpondence opened between them and the leaders in France. In the tranfactions of thefe focieties, the means by which the revolution was carried on and effected, if not always praifed, were yet pronounced to be fanctified by the end; the example was recommended as a glorious pattern for the imitation of mankind, and fanguine expectations were held out, that it was but the first, though an effential and leading ftep to the gene ral |