sm. Of the great
public men of the day, Burke was perhaps the first to discern the true
character of this movement in France. The letters which he wrote during
its progress all show that he looked upon it with the utmost suspicion:
arguing from the bloody deeds with which it was consummated, deeds still
more bloody and fearful. But the keen insight into the French character
which Burke possessed was not common to the public at large, or even to
his own party and the friends of his bosom: the general impression was,
that the French people, after the first ebullitions of vengeance, would
return to their senses; and that then they would build up a fabric of
freedom on the ruins of tyranny, which might serve for a model to all
Europe: a bulwark of liberty which the iron foot of despotism should
never be able to throw down.

"But history, time's slavish scribe, will tell
How rapidly the zealots of the cause
Disbanded--or in hostile ranks appeared:
Some, tired of honest service; these outdone,
Disgusted, therefore, or appalled, by aims
Of fiercer zealots--so confusion reigned,
And the more faithful were compelled to exclaim,
As Brutus did to virtue: 'Liberty,
I worshipped thee, and find thee but a shade.'"
--Wordsworth.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

{A.D. 1790}

The British parliament met on the 21st of January. The king, who had
now recovered from his malady, attended in person, and in his speech he
slightly glanced at the affairs of the continent, by observing that they
had engaged his most serious attention; paid an appropriate tribute
to the excellence of the British constitution; and congratulated the
country on the increase of the public revenue, the extension of commerce
and manufactures, and the general prosperity. The addresses in both
houses were voted without opposition or division. In moving that in
the commons, Lord Valletort took occasion to contrast the tranquil and
prosperous situation of England with the anarchy and licentiousness
prevailing in France, and to stigmatize the revolution as an event the
most disastrous and the most fatal that had ever taken place since
the foundation of the French monarchy. Nearly all who followed Lord
Valletort coincided in his sentiments, attributing the prosperity and
tranquillity of England to the superior excellence of its constitution,
and to the prudent administration of the executive g