South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1835-02-14

the nOydl dutnotHy icp. Ancy iCit
that the power ofthe Nation was 10
their hands, and they were not sparing
in the use oft. The Representatives
Of the Third Estate, double in numbers
to those ofthe Clergy and the Nobility,
constituted themselves National As
sembIy, and, as signal for the de-
moli,ion Of all privileged orders refused
to deliberate 10 separate Chambers,
and thus compelled the Representa-
,ives Of the Clergy and Nobility to
merge their separate existence in the
general mass Of the popular Represen-
tation.
Thus the edifce Of society was to be
reconstructed in France as it had been
in America. The King made feeble
a,ttemp, to overawe the Assembly, by
calling regiments Of troops TO Yer
sailles, and surrounding with them the
hall of their meeting. But there was
detection in the army itself and even
the person Of the King soon ceased to
be at his own disposal. On the 11,h
of July, 1889, in the midst Of the fer.
mentaiion which had succeeded the fall
Of the Monarchy, and while the As
sembly vas surrounded by armed SOL
diers, Lafayette presented to them his
Declaration Of Rights-the FIRST decla-
ration Of human rights ever proclaimed
in Europe. |. was adopted, and be-
came the basis Of that which the As
sembly promulgated with their Cons,i-
tuition.
1t was in this hemisphere, and in our
own country, that all its principles
had been imbibed. At the very mo-
ment when the Declaration was pre-
sented the convulsive struggle between
the expiring Monarchy and the new
born but portenious anarchy Of the
Partisan populace was taken place.
The Royal Palace and the Hall Of the
Assembly weresurrounded with troops,
aad insurfection was kindling at Paris.
In the midst ofthe popular commotion
dsputation of sixty members, with
Lafayette a. their head, was sent from
the Assembly to tranquilize the Peo-
pie Of Paris and that incident was the
occasion Of the institution of the Ma
tional Guard throughout the Realm and
OF the appointment, with the approba-
lion Of the King, Of Lafayette as their
General Commander-in- Chief.
This event, without vacating his seat
in the National Assembly, connected
him at once with the military and the
popular movement OF the Revolution.
The National Guard was the armed
militia oflhe whole kingdom, embodied
for the preservation of order, and the
protection Of persons and property, as
we'll as for the establishment of the lib.
critics of the People. In his double
capacity Of Commander General of
this force, and of Representative in
the Constituent Assembly, his career
for period Of more than three years,
was beset with the most imminen,
dangers, and with difficulties beyond
all human power to surmount.
The ancient Monarchy Of France
had crumbled into ruins. A National
Assembly, formed by an irregular
Representation Of Clergy, Mobiles, and
Third Estate, after melting at the fire
of revolution into one body, had
transformed itself into a Constituent
Assembly representing the People, had
assumed the exercise OF all the powers
of Government, extorted from the
hands Of the King, and undertaken to
form Constitution for the French Ma
ton, founded at once upon the theory
Of human rights, and upon the preser-
walton of a royal hereditary Grown
upon the head of Louis the Sixteenth.
Lafayette sincerely believed that such
a system would not be absolutely in
compatible with the nature Of things.
An hereditary Monarchy, surrounded
by popular institutions, presented itself
10 his imagination as practicable form
of government nor is it certain that g.
ven to his last days he ever abandoned
this persuasion. The element Of here
ditary Monarchy in this Constitution
was indeed not congenial with it. The
prototype from which the whole fabric
had been drawn, had no such element
in its composition. A feeling of gen.
erosiiy, of compassion, Of commisera-
ton with the unfortunate Prince then
upon the throne, who had been his SOW
ereign, and for his Inflated family,
mingled itself perhaps unconsciousiy
TO himself with, his well.reasoned faith
in the abstract principles of republi-
can creed. The total abolition Of The
monarchial feature undoubtedly b belong