gard him only as Louis Capet.

"The history of France presents little else than a long series of public
calamity, which takes its source from the vices of Kings; we have been
the wretched victims that have never ceased to suffer either for them
or by them. The catalogue of their oppressions was complete, but to
complete the sum of their crimes, treason was yet wanting. Now the
only vacancy is filled up, the dreadful list is full; the system is
exhausted; there are no remaining errors for them to commit; their reign
is consequently at an end.

"What kind of office must that be in a government which requires for its
execution neither experience nor ability, that may be abandoned to the
desperate chance of birth, that may be filled by an idiot, a madman, a
tyrant, with equal effect as by the good, the virtuous, and the wise? An
office of this nature is a mere nonentity; it is a place of show, not of
use. Let France then, arrived at the age of reason, no longer be deluded
by the sound of words, and let her deliberately examine, if a King,
however insignificant and contemptible in himself, may not at the same
time be extremely dangerous.

"The thirty millions which it costs to support a King in the eclat of
stupid brutal luxury, presents us with an easy method of reducing taxes,
which reduction would at once relieve the people, and stop the progress
of political corruption. The grandeur of nations consists, not, as Kings
pretend, in the splendour of thrones, but in a conspicuous sense of
their own dignity, and in a just disdain of those barbarous follies and
crimes which, under the sanction of Royalty, have hitherto desolated
Europe.

"As to the personal safety of Louis Capet, it is so much the more
confirmed, as France will not stoop to degrade herself by a spirit of
revenge against a wretch who has dishonoured himself. In defending
a just and glorious cause, it is not possible to degrade it, and the
universal tranquillity which prevails is an undeniable proof that a free
people know how to respect themselves."

II. TO THE AUTHORS OF "LE REPUBLICAIN."(1)

Gentlemen:

M. Duchatelet has mentioned to me the intention of some persons to
commence a work under the title of "The Republican."

As I am a Citizen of a country which knows no other Majesty than that of
the People; no other Government than that of the Representative body;
no other sovereignty than that of the Laws, and which is attached to
_France_ bot