to England,
under the pretext of completing the mission she had so successfully
began; but it is very clear that neither the King or Queen had any
serious idea of her succeeding, and that their only object was to get her
away from the theatre of disaster. Circumstances had so completely
changed for the worst, that, though Her Highness was received with great
kindness, her mission was no longer listened to. The policy of England
shrunk from encouraging twenty thousand French troops to be sent in a
body to the West Indies, and France was left to its fate. A conversation
with Mr. Burke, in which the disinclination of England to interfere was
distinctly owned, created that deep-rooted grief and apprehension in the
mind of the Queen from which Her Majesty never recovered. The Princesse
de Lamballe was the only one in her confidence. It is well known that
the King of England greatly respected the personal virtues of Their
French Majesties; but upon the point of business, both King and Ministers
were now become ambiguous and evasive. Her Highness, therefore, resolved
to return. It had already been whispered that she had left France, only
to save herself, like the rest; and she would no longer remain under so
slanderous an imputation. She felt, too, the necessity of her friendship
to her royal mistress. Though the Queen of England, by whom Her Highness
was very much esteemed, and many other persons of the first consequence
in the British nation, foreseeing the inevitable fate of the Royal
Family, and of all their faithful adherents, anxiously entreated her not
to quit England, yet she became insensible to every consideration as to
her own situation and only felt the isolated one of her august Sovereign,
her friend, and benefactress.

SECTION XIV.

Editor in continuation:

Events seemed molded expressly to produce the state of feeling which
marked that disastrous day, the 20th of June, 1792. It frequently
happens that nations, like individuals, rush wildly upon the very dangers
they apprehend, and select such courses as invite what they are most
solicitous to avoid. So it was with everything preceding this dreadful
day. By a series of singular occurrences I did not witness its horrors,
though in some degree their victim. Not to detain my readers
unnecessarily, I will proceed directly to the accident which withdrew me
from the scene.

The apartment of the Princesse de Lamballe, in the Pavilion of Flora,