New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-20
MARIE ANTOINETTE.
THE BEGINNING OF TIE END.

~ hso F,abeth Gilbert Martin With Portrait. 12mo,
PIP. 206 Charles Scrbners sons .--i
NJ dc Saint-Amand's last volume is IN some re-
spects more interesting than any OF It's preueceS
sors. There is indeed no phase or period oil the
French Revolution which is not full Of attracuon
for every student Of human nature and Of social
evolution nor is il credible that this grcat anu
portentous drama can ever cease to be q fasclna~
ing subject of study But peculiar grim interest,"
attaches TO the years during which an at'enpU
was being made TO establish counter revoluuoh'
and when the fortunes of the monarchy, now seen
TO have been hopelessly wrecked. were looked upon
even by men like Mirabeau as not beyond IT,
covery There is not the least reason to DeneFe
that Mlrabeau could have saved the situation nau
he lived. The only rational presumption Is tIiV
in that event he would have ruined himself
Even az the time of his fatal illness his starding
was becoming uncertain His reckless eHpendi-
lures had convinced his enemies that he was IN
the pay OF the court, and the man himseif was 50
imprudent that little trouble would have peen eA-
perienced in bringing the suspected treason none
to him. But events were marching far 100 raploy
20 be controlled by any man, and, as events al
ways do in time of great excitement, tey "eie
day by day Transforming mons opinions, forcing
their hands, impelling them from conservative
ID radical positions and sweeping away parriers
in every direction.
lowance for this potent influence, which at such
times seems TO charge the very air with revOiu-
tjon and which rnhalances the most equable mines
and makes them prey TO the prevailing unrest
and passion of extreme measures. II is one tmnS
for the student OF history TO sit down years alef
the event AMI estimate in cold blood the signi-
cance the wisdom, the moral character, Of revolt
tionary acts and policies. 1t is quite another
thing ~ he involved In tEe furious torrent
that plunges forward with cver-acceerat-
ing speed toward some mysterious cataract
of which nothing is known but the roar arising
out of the mist clouds that veil it. Even Robes
pierre was in 1890 royalist by conviction. 10
become regicide he had but to yield to current
which few were able to withstand In truth, no
man in those dreadful years pursued calculated
policy. The first steps toward eXtremiSm were
prompted by the desire of politicians TO please the
unthinking populace. The subsequent and more
reckless measures were the result mainly OF fear.
To protect their own heads the leaders thought IL
necessary strike off the heads of others, and TINS
frantic course once entered upon the Reign of Ter
ror followed logically and inevitably. For fero-
city engenders ferocity always and everywhere
In savagery it tends TO become systematzed. as
in the practices of the King of Dahomey In civ
ilization il produces abnormal outbreaks. such as
the Terror whose excuses bring about their own
cessation by exhausng the patience of society and
calling in the one-man power as protection against
anarchy individuals. however, are often credited
with more influence than they really exercise In
such crises AS rule, they are themselves the
sport of circumstance, and frequently but blind
and helpless agents of the dominant inscrutabe
force.
NJ de Saint-Amand perhaps carries this view
TOO far when he represents the Duke of Orleans as
being borne away by the tide. NJ. Tane's esti.
IN nf
Duke was O very bad man and very energetic
one. OF course he saw more clearly than his
contemporaries the issue of his actions. Probably
he was made use of by crafty men among
his following. But there is every reason for be-
leving that he set out deliberately to pull down
the monarchy if he did not intend to put the
Revolution in its place. and his character was GER
tainly not such as to justify the suggestion that
even the vote for the Kings death caused him
much conjunction, If any. Personal malice was
at the bottom of his proceedings, and personal am
bition had its share in them. But general
view it appears most probable that he was, at
least until the catastrophe was in sight, more
voluntary and purposeful performer than most
Of his contemporaries, and it may even be con-
ceived that he foresaw more than most. and pos
sibly everything but his own fate lie does
not enter much into the present work. though
Lis malignant activity FASTENED the climax. The
disaster which befell Louis the Sixteenth and Ma
RE AntOinette may be said to have been largely
due to the emigration. Had that insensate step not
been taken; had the nobility, instead Of running
away and leaving their King and Queen in the
gravest danger. done their plain duty and
manned in France to support their Government by
counsel and action. the Revolution might not have
been aferted but it is difficult TO believe that it
would have taken the sanguinary form it did.
The emigrant mobiles really did everything they
ought not TO have done. and left undone all that
they should have done. Their windy menaceS
from CoblentZ, their bOastful declarations of com
ing foreign invasion tended from the first to
drive TO desperation the revolutionary leaders,
who knew that the only way to maintain their
popularity to represent the Revolution at
once sacred and invincible From day to day the
emigrants thus grew more hateful to the people
and this hatred fed by the very outragcs and
ep0latons which sought color of Just retaliation
from the attitude of the prescribed class All the
hostility reused by the emigrants reacted against
the King and Queen, and after the abortve fight
which was stopped at VarenneS these two were
regarded as emigrants also and as meriting the
same fate. Nothing. however. is more clear than
that the eni2rant mobiles had completely lost
touch with the realities of their time This is not
TO be wondered at in the circumstances. Louis
the Fourteenth had Systematically destroyed the
usefulness to the state Of his aristocracy. and
had degraded it into a mere appendage of his own
splerdor. The nobility had never recovered from
that experience, and when the first breath of the
Revolution stirred in the land it found those who
should have been the defenders of the throne lost
in dreams Of phosOphic reform stepped in frivo-
lous dssipations. The intellectual aspect Of the
Revolution appealed TO many of them. but the
practical aspect was ignored. The result was that
they lost their heads and behaved like children
at the supreme moment N. de Saint-Amand
has some just observations upon the default of the
emigration. and those who feel most sympathy
for the victims must perceive the truth of his
structures. 1t would hardly be too much to saw
that the sentences Of deafh nnon Innis and Marin