The
demonstration that ensued meant more than the cold and decent respect
with which men regard a functionary holding delegated and not
irrevocable powers. It was easy to catch the note of personal devotion
and loyalty and the religion of the Cavalier, in the cries of these
armed and excited royalists. The managers at Paris had their
opportunity, and resolved at once to execute the plot they had long
meditated.

Whilst the Executive, which alone upheld the division of powers and
the principle of freedom, was daily losing ground at the hands of its
enemies, of its friends, and at its own, a gleam of hope visited the
forlorn precincts of the Court. Necker had informed the Assembly that
he could not obtain a loan, and he asked for a very large increase of
direct taxation. He was heard with impatience, and Mirabeau, who spoke
for him, made no impression. On September 26 he made another effort,
and gained the supreme triumph of his career. In a speech that was
evidently unprepared, he drew an appalling picture of the coming
bankruptcy; and as he ended with the words "These dangers are before
you, and you deliberate!" the Assembly, convulsed with emotion, passed
the vote unanimously, and Necker was saved. None knew that there could
be such power in man.

In the eighteen months of life that remained to him, Mirabeau
underwent many vicissitudes of influence and favour; but he was able,
in an emergency, to dominate parties. From that day the Court knew
what he was, and what he could do; and they knew how his imperious
spirit longed to serve the royal cause, and we shall presently see who
it was that attempted to flatter and to win him when it was too late,
and who had repelled him when it might yet have been time.

We have reached the point at which the first part of the Revolution
terminates, and the captivity of the monarch is about to begin. The
events of the next two days, October 5 and 6, form a complete and
coherent drama, that will not bear partition, and must occupy the
whole of our attention next week.

IX

THE MARCH TO VERSAILLES

The French Revolution was approved at first by the common judgment of
mankind. Kaunitz, the most experienced statesman in Europe, declared
that it would last for long, and perhaps for ever. Speaking less
cautiously, Klopstock said: "I see generations crushed in the
struggle; I see perhaps centuries of war and desolation; but at last,
in the remote horizon, I see the victory o