ty, of the passions which they themselves had let loose, of the
injustice of which they had given the first example to others The
Constitutionalists overthrew the ancient monarchy, and formed a limited
government; but their imprudence in raising popular ambition paved the
way for the tenth of August, and speedily brought themselves to the
scaffold; the Girondists established their favored dream of a republic,
and were the first victims of the fury which it excited; the Dantonists
roused the populace against the Gironde, and soon fell under the axe
which they had prepared for their rivals; the anarchists defied the
power of 'heaven itself,' but scarce were their blasphemies uttered,
when they were swept off by the partners of their bloody triumphs. One
only power remained, alone, terrible, irresistible. This was the power
of Death, wielded by a faction steeled against every feeling of
humanity, dead to every principle of justice. In their iron hands, order
resumed its sway from the influence of terror; obedience became
universal, from the extinction of hope. Silent and unresisted, they led
their victims to the scaffold, dreaded alike by the soldiers who
crouched, the people who trembled, and the victims who suffered. The
history of the world _has no parallel_ to that long night of suffering,
because _it has none to the guilt which preceded it_; tyranny never
assumed so hideous a form, because licentiousness never required so
severe a punishment."

Prom this awful description, which might be carried to almost any
extent, the reader will understand the force of the prophecy which
declared that the "sea became as the blood of a dead man, and every
living soul died in the sea."

4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and
fountains of waters; and they became blood.

5. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous,
O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast
judged thus.

6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou
hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

7. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God
Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

Fountains and rivers are tributaries to the sea, and thus, they
symbolize the inferior communities and nations belonging to the
Apocalyptic earth. France was the great central power and the sea of
revolution upon which the second vial desc