wise, became morose and
monotonous when his cause was lost, until the Austrian statesmen with
whom he corresponded grew tired of his narrowing ideas. He settled in
England, and there he died. As he was not a man likely to propose a
foolish thing, he was heard with attention. He proposed that the
allies should declare that they were warring on Jacobinism, not on
liberty, and would make no terms until the king regained his rightful
power. If he was injured, they would inflict a terrible vengeance.

Whilst Mallet's text was being manipulated by European diplomacy at
Frankfort, Marie Antoinette, acting through Fersen, disturbed their
counsels. The queen understood how to control her pen, and to repress
the language of emotion. But after June 20 she could not doubt that
another and a more violent outrage was preparing, and that the
republicans aimed at the death of the king. The terms in which she
uttered her belief outweighed the advice of the sober Genevese. "Save
us," she wrote, "if it is yet time. But there is not a moment to
lose." And she required a declaration of intention so terrific that it
would crush the audacity of Paris. Montmorin and Mercy were convinced
that she was right. Malouet alone among royalist politicians expected
that the measure she proposed would do more harm than good. Fersen, to
whom her supplications were addressed, employed an _emigre_ named
Limon to draw up a manifesto equal to the occasion, and Limon, bearing
credentials from Mercy, submitted his composition to the allied
sovereigns. He announced that the Republicans would be exterminated,
and Paris destroyed. Already Burke had written: "If ever a foreign
prince enters into France, he must enter it as into a country of
assassins. The mode of civilised war will not be practised; nor are
the French, who act on the present system, entitled to expect it."
Mallet du Pan himself had declared that there ought to be no
pernicious mercy, and that humanity would be a crime. In reality, the
difference between his tone and the fanatic who superseded him was not
a wide one.

The manifesto, which proceeded from the queen, which had the sanction
of Fersen, of Mercy, of Bouille, was accepted at once by the emperor.
The Prussians introduced some alterations, and Brunswick signed it on
July 25. His mind misgave him at the time, and he regretted afterwards
that he had not died before he set his hand to it. Mercy, when it was
too late, wished to put another de