FRANCE. $$? 



June, their majesties, with the dauphin and madame royale, arrived 

 at the Thuilleries. 



The new constitution was pi'esented to the king on the 3d of Sep- 

 tember, 1791 : who, on tiie 13th, signified his acceptance of it in writ- 

 ing ; and the following day appeared in the assembly, introduced by a 

 deputation of sixty members, and solemnly consecrated the assent 

 which he had already given, and concluded with an oath " to be faith- 

 ful to the nation and to the law, ana to employ the powers vested in 

 him for the maintenance of the constitution, and the due execution of 

 the law." Soon after this, the second national council assembled, 

 with abilities far inferior to the first. 



The dubious and undecided conduct of the emperor, and the refuge 

 and protection found in the German empire by the emigrant princes, 

 excited France to vigorous resolutions ; and a manifesto, addressed 

 to all states and nations, made its appearance. The forcible mea- 

 sures pursued, had the effect of intimidating the German princes ; 

 and the emigrants were constrained to an ignominious dispersion 

 from the frontiers. But the protection of the emperor and the Prus- 

 sian king afforded them asylums more remote and less obtrusive. 

 Irresolution seemed to preside in the councils of the emperor ; a 

 monarch more eminent for the mild virtues of peace, than for the 

 exertions of war. He had acknowledged the national flag ; he had 

 declared that he regarded the king of the French as absolutely free ; 

 ' — while the league of Pilnitz (which, as was avowed by the court of 

 Vienna, was not only intended to secure Germany from such a revo- 

 lution as France had experienced, but even to extinguish the dreaded 

 source), and the protection afforded to the emigrants, were infallible 

 proofs that the emperor, could not be regarded as a friend. His 

 sudden death, on the 1st of March, 1792, excited great consterna- 

 tion among the aristocrats, and afforded joy and exultation to the sup- 

 porters of the constitution. Another event, no less unexpected, hap- 

 pened in the death of the Swedish monarch, on the 29th of the same 

 month ; and the superstitious vulgar imagined that they beheld the 

 peculiar protection of heaven in the removal of the two chief foes of 

 France in so short a time. 



In the progress of the negotiations between the national assembly 

 and the court of Vienna, the young king of Hungary, excited by the 

 influence of Prussia, began to exhibit more enmity, and to use severer 

 language. At length, on the 5th of April, M. de Noailles, in his dis- 

 patches to the French minister for foreign affairs, explained the pro- 

 positions of the Imperial court — that satisfaction should be given to 

 the German princes, proprietors of ALace ; that Avignon, which had 

 been appropriated by France, should be restored to the pope ; and 

 that the internal government of France should be invested with 

 sufficient efficiency, that the other powers might have no apprehen- 

 sions of being troubled by France. These terms produced a declara- 

 tion of war against Francis" I., king of Hungary and Bohemia ; de- 

 creed by the assembly, and ratified by the French king, on the 24th 

 of April. 



The first movement of the French was stained with defeat ; and 

 with the unpropitious murder of Theobald Dillon, their leader, who 

 fell a prey to the suspicious and savage ferocity of some of his sol- 

 diers, who fled from the enemy, but attacked their general. The 

 i.'jnvt of Vienna had, in the beginning of July, published a declara- 

 tion, explaining the cause of the war, and retorting on the French 



