ned that he saw in this look and speech an allusion to
personal danger and an insinuation of alarm. "I am more than fifty years
old, madame," replied he, in a low tone, in which the firmness of the
soldier was mingled with the pity of the man; "I have braved many perils
in my life; and when I accepted the ministry, I well knew that my
responsibility was not the greatest of my dangers." "Ah," cried the
queen, with a gesture of horror, "this calumny and disgrace was alone
wanting! You appear to believe me capable of causing you to be
assassinated." Tears of indignation checked her utterance. Dumouriez,
equally moved with herself, disclaimed the injurious interpretation
given to his reply. "Far be it from me, madame, to offer you so cruel an
insult; your soul is great and noble, and the heroism you have displayed
in so many circumstances, has for ever attached me to you." She was
appeased in a moment, and laid her hand on Dumouriez's arm, in token of
reconciliation.

The minister profited by this return to serenity and confidence to give
Marie Antoinette advice, of which the emotion of his features and voice
sufficiently attested the sincerity. "Trust me, madame, I have no motive
for deceiving you; I abhor anarchy and its crimes equally with yourself.
But I have experience; I live in the centre of the different parties,
and I take part in opinion. I am connected with the people, and I am
better placed than your majesty for judging the extent and the direction
of events. This is not, as you deem it, a popular movement; but the
almost unanimous insurrection of a great nation against an old and
decaying order of things. Mighty factions feed the flame, and in every
one of them are scoundrels or madmen. I alone see in the Revolution the
king and the nation, and that which tends to separate them, ruins them
both. I seek to unite them, and it is for you to aid me. If I am an
obstacle to your designs, and if you persist in them, tell me instantly,
and I will retire, and mourn in obscurity the fate of my country and
your own." The queen was touched and convinced; the frankness of
Dumouriez at once pleased and won her. The heart of the soldier was a
guarantee to her of the conduct of the statesman. Firm, brave, and
heroic, she preferred to have the weight of his sword in the councils of
his king, rather than those politicians, and specious orators, who,
nevertheless, bent before every blast of opinion or sedition; and an
intimate un