n properly established by the Assembly, would
have been far different from the republic traitorously and atrociously
extorted nine months after by the insurrection of the 10th of August. It
would have doubtless suffered the commotion, inseparable from the birth
of a new order of things. It would not have escaped the disorders of
nature in a country where every thing was done by first impulse, and
impassioned by the magnitude of its perils. But it would have originated
in law and not in sedition--in right, and not in violence--in
deliberation, and not in insurrection. This alone could have changed the
sinister conditions of its birth and its future fate; it might become an
agitating power, but it would remain pure and unsullied.

Only reflect for a moment how entirely its legal and premeditated
proclamation would have altered the course of events. The 10th of August
would not have taken place--the perfidy and tyranny of the commune of
Paris--the massacre of the guards--the assault on the palace--the flight
of the king to the Assembly--the outrages heaped on him there--and his
imprisonment in the temple--would have never occurred.

The republic would not have killed a king, a queen, an innocent babe,
and a virtuous princess; it would not have had the massacres of
September, those St. Bartholomews of the people--that have left an
indelible stain on the whole robes of liberty. It would not have been
baptized in the blood of three hundred thousand human beings--it would
not have armed the revolutionary tribunal with the axe of the people,
with which it immolated a generation to make way for an idea,--it would
not have had the 31st of May. The Girondists arriving at the supreme
power, unsullied by crime, would have possessed more force with which to
combat the demagogues; and the republic calmly and deliberately
instituted, would have intimidated Europe far more than an _emeute_
legitimised by bloodshed and assassination. War might have been avoided,
or, if it was inevitable, have been more unanimous and more triumphant;
our generals would not have been massacred by their soldiers amidst
cries of treason. The spirit of the people would have combated with us,
and the horror of our days of August, September, and January would not
have alienated from our standards the nations attracted thither by our
doctrines. Thus a single change in the origin of the republic changed
the fate of the Revolution.

XVI.

But if this rigorou