HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
mined to support the decrees of 
the assembly, he withdrew, with 
a few of his principal officers, in the 
night, into the territory of Liege, 
where he fell into the hands of an 
advanced post of the enemy, who 
were now on their march towards 
France. On his refusing to join 
the standard of the French princes, 
‘he was, with three of his com- 
panions, members like himself of 
the first assembly, sent as a prisoner 
to Namur. 
_ The Jacobinical party contemn- 
‘ed the feeble and imprudent step 
taken by la Fayette; and all the 
papers devoted to their cause, 
now poured forth accusations and 
calumnies against the General, more 
abundantly than ever. 
During the suspension of Petion 
from the office of mayor, he em- 
loyed himself in writing a pamph- 
fe entitled, ‘General Rules of 
my Conduct towards the People.” 
In this production, he declared 
that it had been his constant deter- 
mination never to suffer any effu- 
_ sion of the blood of the people. 
No distinction was made between 
the peaceable and the seditious. 
Such a declaration was little less 
ie to say, that turbulent and fac- 
ous men might do any thing they 
leased, provided they did it in a 
od . An infinite number of 
journalists and pamphleteers daily 
assailed the public ear, with a thou- 
“sand crude notions on_ political 
subjects; and too many of them 
held the same doctrine. The press, 
with the auxiliary declamations of 
orators in coffee-houses, squares, 
d all public places, beeame the 
ia on which the great af- 
% of the nation were debated 
and decided. It was a singular 
and awful object of contemplation, 
ts 
[29 
to behold the refinements of me- 
taphysics, armed with the fury of 
popular passion and the point of the 
bayonet, while the popular pamphle- 
teers and orators, both stationary 
and itinerary, laboured with too 
much success to inflame the public 
mind against the court, and all ranks 
and classes of men connected with 
itor dependent upon it. The con- 
federate armies of the Austrians 
and Prussians were in the field; 
and that of the Prussians, under the 
command of the Duke of Bruns- 
wick, had penetrated into Cham- 
pagne. In proportion, as he ad- 
vanced towards Paris, the fears of 
men were heightened; and, with 
their fears, their suspicion, credu- 
lity, and vengeance. It was now 
almost universally believed in Paris, 
and the other great cities of France, 
that the King was in correspon- 
dence with the emigrant princes ; 
and that the refusal of his sanction 
to the decrees, with many other 
circumstances which Jealousy re- 
ported, and Fame magnified and 
increased, were clear proofs of a 
design to betray the country into 
the hands of the enemy. A decree 
was passed, declaring the country 
to be in danger. The national 
assembly then decreed two ad- 
dresses; one to the army, the other 
to the French people. In the ad- 
dress to the latter, they spoke 
thus :— * Your constitution relies 
upon the principles of eternal jus- 
tice: a league of kings is formed 
to destroy it. Their battalions 
advance, they are numerous, sub- 
jected to a rigorous discipline, and 
for a long time exercised in the 
arts of war. Do you not feel noe 
ble ardour inflame your courage? 
Will you suffer that foreign hordes 
shall spread, like a destructive tor- 
rent, 
