vernment was virtually paralysed.

But the question was now decided; the scene which I had just witnessed
unhappily left no room for doubt, and I determined to set off for the
metropolis without delay. I had no sooner expressed my intention, than I
was assailed on all hands with advice, and even with entreaties, to
postpone my journey until the flight of the rebels was fully ascertained,
or at least till daylight gave me a better chance of personal safety. But
every moment now seemed to me more precious than the last; and, breaking
through a circle of the noble and the fair, I threw myself on my horse,
and with the aide-de-camp and a couple of dragoons for my escort, soon
left the whole scene of entreaty and terror, sorrow and triumph, behind.

We rode hard through the night, observing frequent signs of the extended
insurrection, in fires on the mountains, and the gatherings of peasantry
on the roads--sometimes compelled to turn out of our way, by the evidence
of their being armed and in military organization; and at others dashing
through the groups, and taking them by surprise. A few shots fired at
random, or the rage and roar of the crowd as we scattered them right and
left in our gallop, were all that belonged to personal adventure; and when
the dawn showed us from one of the hills round the capital the quiet city
glittering in the first sunshine, all looked so lovely and so tranquil,
that it required the desperate recollections of the night to believe in
the existence of a vast and powerful combination, prepared to cover the
land with burning and blood.

Within a few hours after my arrival, the privy council assembled; my
intelligence was received as it deserved; it decided the wavering, and
gave increased determination to the bold. Still, our sitting was long and
anxious. The peril was now undeniable, but the extent, the object, and
the remedy, were alike obscure. It is not, of course, within my purpose to
reveal the secrets of councils, in which all is transacted under the
deepest bond of confidence; but it may be fairly told, that our
deliberations often completely reversed the proverb, that "In the
multitude of councillors there is safety," if by safety is meant either
promptitude or penetration.

But there was one man among them, who would have distinguished himself in
any council upon earth. He was a lawyer, and holding the highest office of
his profession. But his ambition was still higher than his office,