VII. fluence of his journal, the Patriote, in which he daily CHAP. published to France the ideas which his prodigious mental activity had the preceding evening developed in 1791. the meetings of the municipality, in the National Assembly, or in the club of the Jacobins. Condorcet exercised the ascendant of a philosophic mind, which gave him nearly the place which Sièyes had held in the Constituent Assembly; while Pétion, calm and resolute, and wholly unfettered by scruples, was the man of action of his party, and rapidly acquired the same dominion in the municipality of Paris, of which he was a member, which Bailly had obtained over the middle classes in the commencement of the Revolution. They flattered themselves that they had preserved republican virtue, because they were neither addicted to the frivolities, nor shared in the expenses or the vices of the court; forgetting that the zeal of party, the love of power, and the ambition of popularity, may produce consequences more disastrous, and corruption as great, as the love of pleasure, the thirst of gold, or the ambition of kings. They were never able, when in power, to get the better of the reproach continually urged against them by the popular party, that they had abandoned their principles, and now, yielding to the seductions of the court, not only embraced the doctrines, but occupied the very places, which had 1 Deux been hitherto held by their antagonists in the Revolution. 342, 343. They fell at last under the attacks of a party composed 13. "Hist. Th. 11, of men more revolutionary and less humane than them- Parl. xii. 34, selves, who, disregarding the graces of composition and 151. Dum. the principles of philosophy, were now assiduously em- 12. ployed in the arts of popularity, and becoming adepts in Gir. i. 341. the infernal means of exciting the multitude.1 Amis, vi. 36. Mig. i. 381. Th. ii. Lam. Hist. des ciples and A passion for general equality, a repugnance for vio- 13. lent governments, distinguished the speeches of the Their prinGirondists. Their ideas were often grand and generous, errors. drawn from the heroism of Greece and Rome, or the more enlarged philanthropy of modern times; their language VII. 1791. CHAP. was ever flattering and seductive to the people; their principles were those which had given its early popularity and immense celebrity to the Revolution. But yet from their innovations sprang the most oppressive tyranny of modern times, and they were at last found joining in many measures of flagrant iniquity. The dreadful war which ravaged Europe for twenty years was provoked by their declamations; the death of the King, the overthrow of the throne, the Reign of Terror, flowed from the insurrections which they fomented, or the principles which they promulgated. They were too often, in their political career, reckless and inconsiderate. Ambition and self-advancement were their ruling motives; and hence their eloquence and genius only rendered them the more dangerous, from the multitudes who were influenced by the charm of their language. But they were by no means insensible to less worthy motives, and we have the authority of Bertrand de Molleville for the assertion, that Vergniaud, Brissot, Isnard, Guadet, and the Abbé Fauchet, had all agreed to sell themselves to the court for 6000 francs a-month (£240) to each; and that the agreement only broke off from the crown being unable or unwilling to purchase their services at so high a price.* Disappointed thus in their hopes of advancement from the court, the Girondist leaders threw themselves without reserve into the arms of the people, and their influence in that quarter ere long proved fatal both to the King and to themselves. Powerful in raising the tempest, they were feeble and irresolute in allaying it; invincible "Ce même Sieur Durant avait été chargé par M. de Lessart, vers la fin de Novembre 1791, de faire des propositions pécuniaires aux députés Brissot, Isnard, Vergniaud, Guadet, et l'Abbé Fauchet; et ils avaient tous consenti à vendre au Ministère leur influence dans l'Assemblée à raison de 6000 francs par mois pour chacun d'eux. Mais M. de Lessart trouva que c'était les payer bien cher; et comme ils ne voulurent rien rabattre de leur demande, cette négociation n'eut aucune suite, et ne produisit d'autre effet que d'aigrir davantage ces cinq deputés contre le Ministère."-Mémoires de BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, ii. 355, 356. VII. 14. mistake as man. in suffering, heroic in death, they were destitute of the CHAP. energy and practical experience requisite to avert disaster. The democrats supported them as long as they urged 1791. forward the Revolution, and became their bitterest ene- Their fatal mies as soon as they strove to allay its fury. They to the chawere constantly misled, by expecting that intelligence was racter of to be found among the lower orders, that reason and justice would prevail with the multitude; and as constantly disappointed by experiencing the invariable ascendant of passion or interest among their popular supporters, the usual error of elevated and generous minds, and which so generally unfits them for the actual administration of affairs. Their tenets would have led them to support the constitutional throne, but they were too ambitious to forego elevation for the sake of duty: unable to stem the torrent of democratic fury which they themselves had excited, they were compelled, to avert still greater disasters, to concur in many cruel measures, alike contrary to their wishes and their principles. The leaders of this party were Vergniaud, Brissot, and Roland-men of powerful eloquence, generous philanthropy, and Roman firmness; who knew how to die, but not to live; who perished because they had the passions and ambition to commence, and wanted the Mig.i.213, audacity and wickedness requisite to complete, a Revolu- 84. tion. 1 1 Madame The Girondists had no point of assemblage, like the 15. well-disciplined forces of their adversaries; but their Character of leaders frequently met at the parties of Madame Roland,* Roland. where all the elegance which the Revolution had left, and all the talent which it had developed, were wont to * Manon Jeanne Phlipon, afterwards Madame Roland, was born in Paris in 1754, the daughter of an obscure engraver. She received, nevertheless, like many other women in her rank of life at that period in France, a highly finished education; at four years of age she could read with facility, and she soon after made rapid progress in drawing, music, and history. From the very first she evinced a decided and energetic character, refused to embrace dogmas which did not convince her reason, and hence became early sceptical on many points of the Romish faith in which she was brought up. VII. 1791. CHAP. assemble. Impassioned in disposition, captivating in manner, unrivalled in conversation, but masculine in ambition and feminine in temper, this remarkable woman united the graces of the French to the elevation of the Roman character. Born in the middle ranks, her manners, though without the ease of dignified birth, yet conferred distinction on an elevated station; surrounded by the most fascinating society in France, she preserved unsullied the simplicity of domestic life. She had as much virtue as pride, as much public ambition as private integrity. But she had all a woman's warmth of feeling 1 Roland's in her disposition, and wanted the calm judgment requiMemoirs, site for the right direction of public affairs. Her sensitive 165. Th. ii. temperament could not endure the constant attacks made i. 225. Hist. on her husband at the tribune. She interfered too i. 32. Mig. i. 63, 64. Lac. de la Conv. i. 38. 1 much with his administration, and replied, often with undue warmth, by articles in pamphlets and public She never, however, became irreligious, and retained to the close of life a devout sense both of an all-powerful Creator, and of the fundamental principles of Christianity. Her ardent mind, deeply imbued with liberal principles, at first reverted with enthusiasm to the brilliant pictures of antiquity contained in the ancient writers. She wept that she had not been born a Greek or Roman citizen, and carried Plutarch's Lives, instead of her breviary, to mass. Religious ardour soon after got possession of her mind; and she entreated her mother to be allowed to take the veil in a convent in the Faubourg St Marceau. Though this was not acceded to by her parents, she entered the convent as a pensionary, and returned from it with a mind enlarged and a heart softened. The elevated reasoning of Bossuet, as she has herself told us, first arrested her attention, and roused her reason; the eloquence of the Nouvelle Heloïse soon after captivated her imagination. Indefatigable in study, ardent in pursuit, she devoured alternately books on theology, philosophy, oratory, poetry, and romance; and became successively a Cartesian, a Jansenist, and a Stoic. She even wrote an essay on a question proposed by the academy of Besançon. In 1780, at the age of twenty-six, she married M. Roland, then an inspector of arts and manufactures at Rouen, who subsequently became Minister of the Interior. She was now in possession of wealth and independence; and though her marriage with him was a union founded on esteem only, as he was twenty-four years her senior, yet she proved a faithful and affectionate wife. Partly in the line of his profession, and to gain information on the manufactures of foreign countries, partly for pleasure, she travelled much with him in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and England; and she there entered warmly into her husband's pursuits, and gave him not a little assistance in them by her skill in drawing. He was inspector at Lyons when the Revolution broke out, and, in common with Madame Roland, immediately and warmly embraced its principles. It was the general indignation of the class of society to which they belonged at the invidious exclusions to which they were subjected-exclu VII. 1791. journals, which bore his name. An ardent admirer CHAP. of antiquity, she wept, while yet a child, that she had not been born a Roman citizen. She lived to witness misfortunes greater than were known to ancient states, and to bear them with more than Roman constancy.* influence This remarkable woman, by the concurring testimony 16. of all her contemporaries, exercised a powerful influence Her great over the fortunes of her country. More than her hus- in the Asband, even when he was minister of the interior, she sembly. directed the royal counsels while he held office, and led the bright band of gifted intellects which assembled in her saloons. The fire of her genius, the warmth of her feelings, the eloquence of her language, enabled her to maintain an undisputed ascendancy even over the greatest men in France. But she was by no means a perfect character. The consciousness of talents tempted her to sions which they were conscious were undeserved-which gave that convulsion its early and irresistible strength. The first occasion on which she openly espoused the popular cause, was in a description of the Federation of Lyons on 30th May 1790, which, from its energy and talent, acquired great celebrity. Attracted by the Revolution, she came to Paris in 1791, and immediately became a constant attender of the debates of the Assembly and at the Jacobin club. Four times a-week a small circle of liberal deputies, consisting of Brissot, Pétion, Buzot, Barbaroux, and others, met at her house, and there, as at cabinet dinners in English administrations, the whole measures of their party were arranged. It was chiefly owing to the sway she thus acquired among the Girondists that her husband was soon after made minister of the interior. Her influence over the minister, however, then appeared excessive, and exposed him to ridicule, her to obloquy. "If you send an invitation," Baid Danton, "to Monsieur, you must also send one to Madame: I know the virtues of the minister; but we have need of men who can see otherwise than by the eyes of their wives."-See ROLAND'S Memoirs, i. 272; and Biographie Universelle, xxxviii. 460-463. "When I She was too active and enterprising for a statesman's wife. wish to see the minister of the interior," said Condorcet, “I can never get a glimpse of anything but the petticoats of his wife."-Hist. de la Convention, i. 38. It is a curious proof of the manners of the times, that though Madame Roland's deportment as a woman was never suspected, and she died the victim of conjugal fidelity to her husband, who was twenty-four years older than herself, she has left in her memoirs, written in prison, and in the hourly expectation of death, details of her feelings and desires when a young woman -"les besoins," as she called it, "d'une physique bien organisée "—with which, as Sir Walter Scott has justly observed, a courtesan of the higher class would hardly season her private conversation to her most favoured lover.— See ROLAND'S Memoirs, 78-82. |