Beacon Lights of History, Volume 09 | Page 8

men are not "born free," but in a state of
dependence and weakness; nor "equal," either in regard to fortune, or
talents, or virtue, or rank: but in another sense a great truth, so far as
men are entitled by nature to equal privileges, and freedom of the
person, and unrestricted liberty to get a living according to their choice.
The Assembly at last set itself in earnest to the work of legislation. In
one night, the ever memorable 4th of August, it decreed the total

abolition of feudalism. In one night it abolished tithes to the church,
provincial privileges, feudal rights, serfdom, the law of primogeniture,
seigniorial dues, and the gabelle, or tax on salt. Mirabeau was not
present, being absent on his pleasures. These, however, seldom
interfered with his labors, which were herculean, from seven in the
morning till eleven at night. He had two sides to his character,--one
exciting abhorrence and disgust, for his pleasures were miscellaneous
and coarse; a man truly abandoned to the most violent passions: the
other side pleasing, exciting admiration; a man with an enormous
power of work, affable, dignified, with courtly manners, and
enchanting conversation, making friends with everybody, out of real
kindness of heart, because he really loved the people, and sought their
highest good; a truly patriotic man, and as wise as he was enthusiastic.
This great orator and statesman was outraged and alarmed at the
indecent haste of the Assembly, and stigmatized its proceedings as
"nocturnal orgies." The Assembly on that memorable night swept away
the whole feudal edifice, and in less time than the English Parliament
would take to decide upon the first reading of any bill of importance.
The following day brought reflection and discontent. "That is just the
character of our Frenchmen," exclaimed Mirabeau; "they are three
months disputing about syllables, and in a single night they overturn
the whole venerable edifice of the monarchy." Sieyès was equally
disgusted, and made a speech of great force to show that to abolish
tithes without an indemnity was spoliating the clergy to enrich the
land-owners. He concluded, "You know how to be free; you do not
know how to be just." But he was regarded as an ecclesiastic, unable to
forego his personal interests. He gave vent to his irritated feelings in a
conversation with Mirabeau, when the latter said, "My dear Abbé, you
have let loose the bull, and you now complain that he gores you." It
was this political priest who had made the first assault on the
constitution, when he urged the Third Estate to decree itself the nation.
The National Assembly had destroyed feudal institutions; but it had not
yet made a constitution, or restored order. Violence and anarchy still
reigned. Then the clubs began to make themselves a power. "Come,"
said the lawyer Danton to a friend, in the district of the Cordéliers,

"come and howl with us; you will earn much money, and you can still
choose your party afterwards." But it was in the garden of the Palais
Royal, and in the old church of the Jacobins that the most violent
attacks were made on all existing institutions. "A Fourth Estate (of able
editors) also springs up, increases, multiplies; irrepressible,
incalculable." Then from the lowest quarters of Paris surge up an
insurrection of women, who march to Versailles in disorder, penetrate
the Assembly, and invade the palace. On the 5th of October a mob
joins them, of the lowest rabble, and succeed in forcing their way into
the precincts of the palace. "The King to Paris!" was now the general
cry, and Louis XVI. appears upon the balcony and announces by
gestures his subjection to their will. A few hours after, the King is on
his way to Paris, under the protection of the National Guard, really a
prisoner in the hands of the people. In fourteen days the National
Assembly also follows, to be now dictated to by the clubs.
In this state of anarchy and incipient violence, Mirabeau, whose power
in the Assembly was still unimpaired, wished to halt. He foresaw the
future. No man in France had such clear insight and sagacity as he. He
saw the State drifting into dissolution, and put forth his hand and raised
his voice to arrest the catastrophe which he lamented. "The mob of
Paris," said he, "will scourge the corpses of the King and Queen." It
was then that he gave but feeble support to the "Rights of Man," and
contended for the unlimited veto of the King on the proceedings of the
Assembly. He also brought forward a motion to allow the King's
ministers to take part in the debates. "On the 7th of October he exhorted
the Count de Marck to tell the King that his throne and kingdom were
lost,