ust sovereign, which has preceded you, has declared you a
just and gracious prince. It says that you forget not that you are a
man; that you are sensible that the king was made for the people, not
the people for the king. From the rights of nations and of man, and from
that social compact whence states arose, it is incontestable that the
sovereignty originates from the people. This axiom, our parent Nature
has impressed on the hearts of all. It is one of those which a just
prince (and such we trust your majesty ever will be) can not dispute. It
is one of those inalienable imprescriptible rights which the people can
not forfeit by neglect or disuse. Our constitution places the
sovereignty jointly in the king and people, in such a manner that the
remedies necessary to be applied according to the ends of social life,
for the security of persons and property, are in the power of the
people.

"We are sure, therefore, that at the meeting of the ensuing diet, your
majesty will not confine yourself to the objects mentioned in your
rescript, but will also restore our freedom to us, in like manner as to
the Belgians, who have conquered theirs with the sword. It would be an
example big with danger, to teach the world that a people can only
protect or regain their liberties by the sword and not by obedience."

But Leopold, trembling at the progress which freedom was making in
France, determined to crush this spirit with an iron heel. Their
petition was rejected with scorn and menace.

With great splendor Leopold entered Presburg, and was crowned King of
Hungary on the 10th of November, 1790. Having thus silenced the murmurs
in Hungary, and established his authority there, he next turned his
attention to the recovery of the Netherlands. The people there,
breathing the spirit of French liberty, had, by a simultaneous rising,
thrown off the detestable Austrian yoke. Forty-five thousand men were
sent to effect their subjugation. On the 20th of November, the army
appeared before Brussels. In less than one year all the provinces were
again brought under subjection to the Austrian power.

Leopold, thus successful, now turned his attention to France. Maria
Antoinette was his sister. He had another sister in the infamous Queen
Caroline of Naples. The complaints which came incessantly from
Versailles and the Tuilleries filled his ear, touched his affections,
and roused his indignation. Twenty-five millions of people had ventured
to asser