with
Waterloo and Gettysburg, among the decisive battles of history; and
Goethe was not the only man there who knew that the scene before him
was the beginning of a new epoch for mankind. With 36,000 men and 40
guns the French had arrested the advance of Europe, not by skilful
tactics or the touch of steel, but by the moral effect of their
solidity when they met the best of existing armies. The nation
discovered that the Continent was at its mercy, and the war begun for
the salvation of monarchy became a war for the expansion of the
Republic. It was founded at Paris, and consolidated at Valmy. Yet no
military event was less decisive. The French stood their ground
because nobody attacked them, and they were not attacked because they
stood their ground. The Prussians suffered a strategic, though not a
tactical defeat. By retiring to their encampment they renounced the
purposes for which they went to war, the province they occupied, and
the prestige of Frederic. They no longer possessed the advantage of
numbers, and without superior numbers there could be no dash for
Paris.

The object of the invasion was unattainable by force, but something
might be got by negotiation, if it was undertaken before force had
definitely failed. They were losing heavily, by disease and want,
while French recruits were pouring in. Therefore Dumouriez wished for
time. The king's secretary had been captured, and he sent him with
overtures, representing that the intended advance upon Paris was
hopeless, and that Prussia had more interests in common with France
than with Austria. Frederic William at once surrendered the original
demands. He made no stipulations now regarding the future government
of France or the treatment of the _emigres_. He only demanded that
Lewis should be restored, in such manner as might seem good to France,
and that the propaganda of revolution should be put an end to. That
propaganda was one of the weapons by which the French checked and
embarrassed the champions of European absolutism, and it was obvious
that it would receive encouragement from their success at Valmy. And
it was a point of honour to speak for the imprisoned monarch. But it
had become a vain thing. Dumouriez produced a newspaper with the
decree of the new Assembly abolishing monarchy. It was hard to say
what the allies were now doing on French soil. "Only do something for
the king," said Brunswick, "and we will go." The Austrians would be
satisfied if