be helpless;
Paris will be the sovereign, and Paris itself will have the mob for its
master. And by her third step, the ruin of the church, she has given the
death-blow to the few and feeble feelings which acknowledged higher
objects than those of the hour. The pressing point for us, is, how the
Revolution will act upon the military spirit of the nation. The French nay
succumb; but they make good soldiers, they are the only nation in Europe
who have an actual fondness for war, who contemplate it as a pastime, and,
in spite of all their defeats, regard it as their natural path to power."

"But they fly before our squadrons," observed the duke.

"Yes, as schoolboys fly before their master, until they are strong enough
to rebel; or as the Indians fled before the lances and horses of Cortes,
until they became accustomed to them. It would be infinitely wiser to
leave the republicans to struggle with each other, than unite them by a
national attack. Mobs, like the wolves, always fall upon the first wounded.
The first faction that receives a blow in those campaigns of the Palais
Royal, will have all the others tearing it to fragments. The custom will
spread; every new drop of blood will let loose a torrent in retaliation;
and when France has thus been drained of her fever, will be the time,
either to restore her, or to paralyse for ever her power of disturbing the
world."

The sound of a gun from either flank of the army, reminded us that the
hour of the evening hymn had come. It broke up our council. The
incomparable harmony of so many thousand voices ascended into the air; and
at the discharge of another gun, all was still once more. The night had
now fallen, and the fatigues of the day made repose welcome. But the
conversation of the last hour made me anxious to obtain all the knowledge
of the actual state of the country, and the prospects of the campaign,
which could be obtained from Guiscard. Varnhorst, full of a soldier's
impetuosity, was gone to the quarters of his grenadiers, and was busy with
hurried preparations for the morrow. The duke had retired, and, through
the curtains of his tent, I could see the lamps by whose light his
secretaries were in attendance, and with whom he would probably pass the
greater part of the next twelve hours. With Guiscard I continued pacing up
and down in front of our quarters, listening to the observations of a mind
as richly stored, and as original, as I have ever met. He still persi