The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 67
more fatal proscription of the jacobins, was sure to been early enough sent to Avignon, the dissensions
be the reward of their labours. So, however, it would not have taken place; and he charged upon
was, and the fact serves to show, that a day of the unhappy De Lessart, that he had not instantly
power is more valuable in the eyes of ambition transmitted the official intelligence. Now the
than a life-time of ease and safety. decree of reunion was, as the orator knew, delayed
De Lessart, the minister of fobleign affairs already on account of the king's scruples to accede to what
mnentioned, had wished to avoid war, and had fed seemed an invasion of the territory of the church;
Leopold and hiis ministers with hopes, that the king and, at any rate, it could no more have prevented'would be able to establish a constitutional power the massacre of Avignon, which was conducted by
superior to that of the dreadful jacobins. The that same Jourdan, called Coupe-t6te, the Bearded
Count de Narbonne, on'the other side, being mi- Man of the march to Versailles, than tile subsequent
nister of war, was desirous to forward the views massacre of Paris, perpetrated by similar agents.
of La Fayette, who, as we have said, longed to be The orator well knew this; yet, with eloquence as
at the head of the army. To obtain his rival's dis- false as his logic, he summoned the ghosts of the
grace, Narbonne combined with La Fayette and murdered from the glaciere, in which their mangled
other generals to make public the opposition which remains had been piled, to bear witness against the
De Lessart and a majority of the cabinet ministers minister, to whose culpable neglect they owed their
had opposed to the declaration of hostilities. Louis, untimely fate. All the while he was imploring for
justly incensed at an appeal to the public from the justice on the head of a man, who was undeniably
interior of his own cabinet, displaced Narbonne. ignorant and innocent of the crime, Vergniaud and
The legislative body immediately fell on De Les- his friends secretly meditated extending the mantle
sart. lie was called to stand on his defence, and of safety over the actual perpetrators of the masimprudently laid before the assembly his correspond- sacre, by a decree of amnesty; so that the whole
ence with Kaunitz, the Austrian minister. In their charge against De Lessart can only he termed a
communications De Lessart and Kaunitz had spoken mixture of hypocrisy and cruelty. In the course of
with respect of the constitution, and with modera- the same discussion, Gonchon, an orator of the
tion even of their most obnoxious measures; but suburb of St-Antoine, in which lay the strength
they had reprobated the violence of the jacobins of the jacobin interest, had already pronounced senand cordeliers, and stigmatized the usurpations of tence in the cause, at the very bar of the assembly
those clubs over the constitutional authorities of the which was engaged in trying it. " Royalty may be
state, whom they openly insulted and controled. struck out of the constitution," said the demagogue,
These moderate sentiments formed the real source but the unity of the legislative body defies the touch
of De Lessart's fall. Ile was attacked on all sides of time. Courtiers, ministers, kings, and their civil
-by the' party of Narbonne and his friends from lists, may pass away; but the sovereignty of the
rivalry-by Brissot and his followers from policy, people, and the pikes which enforce it, are perand in order to remove a minister too much of a petual."
royalist for their purpose-by the jacobins, from This was touching the root of the matter. De
hatred and revenge. Yet when Brissot conde- Lessart was a royalist, though a timid and cautious
scended upon the following evidence of his guilt, one, and he was to be punished as an example to
argument and testimony against him must have such ministers as should dare to attach themselves
indeed been scarce. De Lessart, with the view of to their sovereign and his personal interest. A
representing the present affairs of France under the decree of accusation was passed against him, and
most softened point of view to the emperor, had he was sent to Orleans to be tried before the high
assured him that the constitution of 1791 was firmly court there. Other royalists of distinction were
adhered to by a majority of the nation. "E Hear committed to the same prison, and, in the fatal
the atrocious calumniator I" said the accuser. "The month of September, 1792, were involved in the
inference is plain. He dares to insinuate the exist- same dreadful fate.
ence of a minority, which is not attached to the P6tion, the Mayor of Paris, appeared next day at
constitution."+ Another accusation, which in like the bar, at the head of the municipality, to congramanner was adopted as valid by the acclamation of: tulate the assembly on a great act of.justice, which
the assembly, was formed thus. A most horrible he declared resembled one of those thulnder-storms
massacre had taken place during the tumults which by which nature purifies the atmosphere from noxious
attended the union of Avignon with the kingdom of vapours. The ministry was dissolved by this severe
France. Vergniaud, the friend and colleague of blow on one of the wisest, at least one of the most
Brissot, alleged, that if the decree of union had moderate, of its members. Narbonne, and the
constitutional party who had espoused his cause,
* This strange argument reminds us of an essay read were soon made sensible that he or they were to
before a literary society in dispraise of the east wind, which their ingain nothing by tie impeachment, to which their intihe author supported by quotations from every poem or trigues led the way. Their claims to share the spoils
popular work, in which Eurus is the subject of invective.
The learned auditors sustained the first part of this infliction with becoming fortitude, but declined submitting to contempt and the king was compelled, in order to
the second, understanding that the accomplished author have the least chance of obtaining a hearing from
had there 1rtifled himself by the numerous testimonies of the assembly, to select his ministers from the brisalmost all poets in favour of the west, and which, with sotin, or girondist faction, who, though averse to
logic similar to that of Monsieur Brissot in the text, he re- the existence of a monarchy, and desiring a regarded as indirect testimony against the east wind. public instead, had still somewhat more of principle