among the majority of the representatives.  But, unfortunately, the Assembly refused to follow his lead; nor would the King take his advice to make a separate appeal to the people.  In the midst of the negotiations Mirabeau died, and the last chance of establishing a constitutional monarchy disappeared.  The King realized this, and tried to escape to the German frontier but was brought back.  He then accepted the new Constitution, and the Legislative Assembly was elected in 1791.  From the first it had no elements of stability, being split up into groups, and subject to the fear of the Paris mob.  The King continued to plot with the emigrant nobles against the Constitution, and the foreign armies massed on the frontier.  The danger brought on the triumph of the revolutionary spirit in 1792.  The Paris commune overwhelmed both the King and the Assembly, and the republic was proclaimed.  Then followed the execution of the King, the Reign of Terror, the control of the Committee of Public Safety, till finally the anarchy was ended by the military despotism of Bonaparte, who became First Consul and afterwards Emperor.

What is the significance of these events in the light of our previous examination of English history?  Simply this:  That the French, in passing at once from absolutism and feudalism to complete self-government, were trying to jump to the Second stage of representation without passing through the first stage.  Mirabeau was right; the republic was foredoomed to failure because the people had learned neither the power of nor the necessity for organization.

In many respects the French Revolution parallels the English Revolution.  In each case the King was beheaded; in each case the anarchy of a disorganized representative body was succeeded by a military despotism; and in each case the monarchy was restored.

It was after the restoration that the English system of party government was developed.  Why did this system not now take root in France?  Partly because France was not blessed with a king like William of Orange, and partly because the new systeme de bascule, the balance system, in which the king allows each faction in turn to hold the reins of power, was discovered.  So, instead of the gradual growth of constitutional liberty which took place in England, the tendency in France was back to absolutism.  In 1830 Charles X., finding that he could not manage the Chamber of Deputies, issued the ordinances of St. Cloud, suspending the liberty of the press and dissolving the Legislature.  Paris immediately broke out into insurrection, and the King was forced to abdicate.  The crown was offered to Louis Philippe, and a second attempt at constitutional monarchy was made.  But France was too divided by her unfortunate legacy of faction to maintain a continuous policy.  The Legitimists, the Republicans, and the Bonapartists were all awaiting their opportunity.  In 1848 the second revolution broke out in Paris; the king fled to England, and