History of the Girondists: Or, Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution, Volume 1Harper & brothers, 1849 - France |
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abdication accused agitation ambition amongst applause aristocracy arms army Bailly Barnave beneath blood Bouillé Brissot Camille Desmoulins Champ-de-Mars citizens clergy clubs command confidence conspiracy conspirators Constituent Assembly constitution court crime Danton death declared decree defend desired despotism destined devotion Duc d'Orleans Dumouriez eloquence emigrants emperor empire enemies enthusiasm Europe excited eyes factions favour Fayette fear feeling felt Feuillants force France French friends gave genius Gironde Girondists hand hatred head heart honour ideas inspired insults Jacobins king of Prussia king's La Fayette Lameths liberty Louis XVI Madame Roland mind minister Mirabeau monarchy Narbonne National Assembly national guard never nobility opinion orator palace Paris party passions patriotism Pétion philosophy political popular priests prince queen reign replied republic respect Revolution Robespierre royal royalty secret soldiers soul throne tion tribune triumph troops Tuileries Varennes Vergniaud virtue voice Voltaire whilst words young
Popular passages
Page 30 - Robespierre was the Luther of politics : and in obscurity he brooded over the confused thoughts of a renovation of the social world, and the religious world, as a dream which unavailingly beset his youth, when the Revolution came to offer him what destiny always offers to those who watch her progress, opportunity. He seized on it. He was named deputy of the third estate in the States General.
Page 517 - Nous entrerons dans la carrière Quand nos aînés n'y seront plus ; Nous y trouverons leur poussière Et la trace de leurs vertus ! Bien moins jaloux de leur survivre Que de partager leur cercueil, Nous aurons le sublime orgueil De les venger ou de les suivre...
Page 417 - This is not, as you deem it, a popular movement ; but the almost unanimous insurrection of a great nation against an old and decaying order of things. Mighty factions feed the flame, and in every one of them are scoundrels or madmen. I alone see in the Revolution the king and the nation, and that which tends to separate them, ruins them both. I seek to unite them, and it is for you to aid me. If I am an obstacle to your designs, and if you persist in them, tell me instantly, and I will retire, and...
Page 517 - Sous nos drapeaux, que la victoire Accoure à tes mâles accents ! Que tes ennemis expirants Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire ! Aux armes, etc.
Page 510 - Frenchwoman by all the feelings of my heart as a wife and mother. I shall never again see my own country. I can only be happy or unhappy in France. I was happy when you loved me.
Page 255 - will not be the mayor of Paris in order that he may the sooner become the maire du Palais. Petion is a Jacobin, a republican ; but he is a fool, incapable of ever becoming the leader of a party : he would be a nullity as maire, and, besides, the very interest he knows we should take in his nomination might bind him to the king.
Page 491 - Brisfsot, and Camille Desmoulins. Romme, a mystical republican, infused into her mind the German spirit of illuminatism. Youth, love, revenge, and the contact with this furnace of a revolution, had turned her head, and she lived in the intoxication of passions, ideas, and pleasures. Connected at first with the great innovators of '89, she had passed from their arms into those of rich voluptuaries, who purchased her charms dearly. Courtezan of opulence, she became the voluntary prostitute of the people...
Page 508 - ... me so tenderly. This race of tigers which infests the kingdom would cruelly enjoy itself if it knew all the sufferings we undergo. Adieu, my dear Lamballe ; I am always thinking of you, and you know I never change.
Page 519 - ... humble ; but there was always a welcome for Rouget de Lisle. This young officer was there from morning to night, like a son or brother of the family. One day, when there was only some coarse bread and slices of ham on the table, Dietrick, looking with calm sadness at De Lisle, said to him, " Plenty is not seen at our feasts ; but what matter if enthusiasm is not wanting at our civic fetes, and courage in our soldiers' hearts. I have still a bottle of wine left in my cellar. Bring it," he added,...
Page 518 - Ours was illustrated by circumstances, whence issued a peculiar character, which made it at the same time more solemn and more sinister : glory and crime, victory and death, seemed intertwined in its chorus. It was the song of patriotism, but it was also the imprecation of rage. It conducted our soldiers to the frontier, but it also accompanied our victims to the scaffold. The same blade defends the heart of the country in the hand of the soldier, and sacrifices victims in the hand of the executioner.