reading to Belgium, and no reason
why other princes should be less easily satisfied than Lewis himself.
"The king," said Kaunitz, "the king, good man, has helped us out of
our difficulty himself." Still more, when he obtained a revival of
popularity which seemed a marvel after the events of June, when he
freely vetoed acts which he disapproved, and appeared to be acting in
full agreement with a powerful and still dominant party, the imperial
government hoped that the crisis was over. And this was the state of
things in October and November.

The _emigres_, conscious of their repulse at Pilnitz, made it their
business to undeceive the emperor, and to bring him back to the scheme
of intervention. The Spanish Bourbons were with them, and had recalled
their ambassador, and fitted out a fleet in the Mediterranean.
Gustavus of Sweden was eager to invade France with a Swedish army to
be conveyed in Russian ships, and paid for in Mexican piastres, and
with Bouille by his side. Catherine II. gave every encouragement to
the German Powers to embroil themselves with France, and to leave her
to deal uncontrolled with Poland and Turkey. The first to emigrate had
been the Comte d'Artois and his friends, who had conspired against
Necker and the new Constitution. They fled, because their lives were
in danger. Others followed, after the rising of the peasants and the
spoliation of August. As things grew more acute, and the settlement of
feudal claims was carried out with unsparing hostility, the movement
spread to the inferior _noblesse_. After the breach with the clergy
and the secularisation of Church property, the prelates went into
exile, and were followed by their friends. In the winter of 1790-1791
they began to organise themselves on the Rhine, and to negotiate with
some of the smaller Powers, especially Sardinia, for an invasion. The
later arrivals were not welcomed, for they were men who had accepted
constitutional government. The purpose of the true _emigres_ was the
restoration of the old order, of the ancient principles and
institutions, not without reform, but without subversion. That was the
bond between them, and the basis on which they sought the aid of
absolute princes. They denied that the king himself, writhing in the
grip of democracy, had the right to alter the fundamental laws. Some
of the best and ablest and most honourable men had joined their ranks,
and they were instructed and inflamed by the greatest writer in