Indignant at the accord which seemed to
exist between Louis XVI. and his counsellors, she dreamed of nothing
but discussions and conflicts. All that wore the appearance of
reconciliation was repugnant to her. She made her obedient spouse
recount to her the smallest details of the sessions of the Council,
meddling with and criticising all. During the first three weeks,
Roland and Claviere, enchanted with the King's dispositions, flattered
themselves that the Revolution was at an end. Madame Roland scoffed at
their confidence. "_Bon Dieu_," she said to them, "every time I see
you start for the Council with this charming confidence, it seems to me
you are ready to commit some folly."--"I assure you," replied Claviere,
"that the King is perfectly aware that his interests are bound up with
the observance of the laws just established; he reasons too pertinently
not to be convinced of this truth."--"Well," added Roland, "if he is
not an honest man, he is the greatest rascal in the kingdom; nobody can
dissimulate {107} like that." Madame Roland rejoined that she could
not believe in love for the Constitution on the part of a man nourished
in the prejudices and accustomed to the use of despotic power. She,
who doubtless thought herself the only person capable of presiding well
at the council of ministers, treated it as a "cafe where they amused
themselves with idle gossip." "There was no record of their
deliberations," says she, "nor a secretary to take them down; after
sitting three or four hours, they went away without having accomplished
anything but a few signatures; it was like this three times a
week."--"This is pitiable!" she would exclaim impatiently when, on his
return, she asked her husband what had passed. "You are all in very
good humor because there have been no disputes or vexations, and you
have even been treated with civility; each of you seems to be doing
pretty much as he pleases in his own department. I am afraid you are
being made game of."--"Nevertheless, business is getting on."--"Yes,
and time is wasted, for in the torrent that is carrying you away, I
should be much better pleased to have you employ three hours in solid
meditation on great combinations than to see you spend them in useless
chatter."

It must needs be said that no person contributed more to the downfall
of royalty than Madame Roland. At the moment when the good temper and
gentleness of Louis XVI. began to gain upon his minister