hortly after, a miniature, with
something written on it, was found amid the refuse of a greengrocer's
shop. They were the letters of Madame Roland, which Buzot had sent to
a place of safety before he went out and shot himself; and the
miniature was her portrait, which he had worn in his flight.

Bertrand, the Minister of Marine, relates that the queen sent to the
emperor to learn what he would do for their deliverance, and he
publishes the text of the reply which came back. For a hundred years
that document has been accepted as the authentic statement of
Leopold's intentions. It was the document which the messenger brought
back, but not the reply which the emperor gave. That reply, very
different from the one that has misled every historian, was discovered
by Arneth, and was published two years ago by Professor Lenz, who
lectures on the Revolution to the fortunate students of Berlin. Sybel
inserted it in his review, and rewrote Lenz's article, which upset an
essential part of his own structure.

The Marquis de Bouille wrote his recollections in 1797, to clear
himself from responsibility for the catastrophe of Varennes. The
correspondence, preserved among Fersen's papers, shows that the
statements in his _Memoirs_ are untrue. He says that he wished the
king to depart openly, as Mirabeau had advised; that he recommended
the route by Rheims, which the king rejected; and that he opposed the
line of military posts, which led to disaster. The letters prove that
he advised secret departure, the route of Varennes, and the cavalry
escort.

* * * * *

The general characteristic of the period I am describing has been the
breakdown of the Memoirs, and our emancipation from the authority of
the writers who depended on them. That phase is represented by the
three historians, Sybel, Taine, and Sorel. They distanced their
predecessors, because they were able to consult much personal, and
much diplomatic, correspondence. They fell short of those who were to
come, because they were wanting in official information.

Sybel was Ranke's pupil, and he had learnt in the study of the Middle
Ages, which he disliked, to root out the legend and the fable and the
lie, and to bring history within the limits of evidence. In early life
he exploded the story of Peter the Hermit and his influence on the
Crusades, and in the same capacity it was he who exposed the
fabrication of the queen's letters. Indeed he was so s