d maxims
of public right." The Comtesse d'Egmont, a correspondent of the King of
Sweden, sends him a paper on the fundamental law of France, favoring
the Parliament, the last defender of national liberty, against the
encroachments of Chancellor Maupeou. "The Chancellor," she says,[4239]
"within the last six months has brought people to know the history of
France who would have died without any knowledge of it. . . . I have
no doubt, sire," she adds, "that you never will abuse the power an
enraptured people have entrusted to you without limitation. . . .
May your reign prove the epoch of the re-establishment of a free and
independent government, but never the source of absolute authority."
Numbers of women of the first rank, Mesdames de la Marck, de Boufflers,
de Brienne, de Mesmes, de Luxembourg, de Croy, think and write in the
same style. "Absolute power," says one of these, "is a mortal malady
which, insensibly corrupting moral qualities, ends in the destruction
of states. . . . The actions of sovereigns are subject to the censure of
their subjects as to that of the universe. . . . France is undone if
the present administration lasts."[4240]--When, under Louis XVI, a new
administration proposes and withdraws feeble measures of reform, their
criticism shows the same firmness: "Childishness, weakness, constant
inconsistency," writes another,[4241] "incessant change; and always
worse off than we were before. Monsieur and M. le Comte d'Artois have
just made a journey through the provinces, but only as people of that
kind travel, with a frightful expenditure and devastation along the
whole road, coming back extraordinarily fat; Monsieur is as big as a
hogshead; as to M. le Comte d'Artois he is bringing about order by the
life he leads."--An inspiration of humanity animates these feminine
breasts along with that of liberty. They interest themselves in the
poor, in children, in the people; Madame d'Egmont recommends Gustavus
III to plant Dalecarlia with potatoes. On the appearance of the
engraving published for the benefit of Calas[4242] "all France and even
all Europe, hastens to subscribe for it, the Empress of Russia giving
5,000 livres[4243]. "Agriculture, economy, reform, philosophy," writes
Walpole, "are bon ton, even at the court."--President Dupaty having
drawn up a memorandum in behalf of three innocent persons, sentenced "to
be broken on the wheel, everybody in society is talking about it;" "idle
conversation no lon