oses its principles. The principles of Leopold could conciliate
the Revolution, but his power as the arbitrator of Germany could not
conciliate the conquering power of France. His part was a double one,
and his position false. He died at a right moment for his renown; he
paralysed Germany, and checked the impetus of France, and, by
disappearing between the two, he left the two principles to clash
together, and destiny to take its course.

V.

Opinion, already agitated by the death of Leopold, received another
shock from the news of the tragical death of the king of Sweden, who was
assassinated on the night of the 16th of March, 1792, at a masked ball.
Death seemed to strike, one after another, all the enemies of France.
The Jacobins saw its hand in all these catastrophes, and even boasted of
them through their most audacious demagogues; but they proclaimed more
crimes than they committed, and their wishes alone shared in these
assassinations.

Gustavus, this hero of the counter-revolution, this chevalier of
aristocracy, fell by the blows of his nobility. When he was ready to set
forth on the expedition he projected against France, he had assembled
his diet to ensure the tranquillity of the kingdom during his absence.
His vigorous measures had put down the malcontents; yet it was foretold
to him, like Caesar, that the ides of March would be a critical period of
his destiny. A thousand traces revealed a plot, and his intended
assassination was rumoured over all Germany before the blow was struck.
These rumours are the forerunners of projected crimes: some indication
escapes the heart of the conspirator, and it is by this means that the
event is predicted before it happens.

The king of Sweden, warned by his numerous friends, who entreated him to
be upon his guard, replied, like Caesar, that the stroke when once
received was less painful than the perpetual dread of receiving it, and
that if he listened to all these warnings, he could no longer drink a
glass of water without trembling. He braved danger, and showed himself
more than ever to the people. The conspirators had made several
fruitless attempts during the Diet, but chance had preserved the king.
Since his return to Stockholm, the king frequently went to pass the day
alone at his chateau at Haga, a league from the capital. Three of the
conspirators had approached the chateau, at five o'clock on a dark
winter's evening, armed with carbines, and ready to fire on