driven to comparison, surely I cannot hesitate for a moment to prefer to such men as are common those heroes who in the midst of despair perform all the tasks of hope,—­who subdue their feelings to their duties,—­who, in the cause of humanity, liberty, and honor, abandon all the satisfactions of life, and every day incur a fresh risk of life itself.  Do me the justice to believe that I never can prefer any fastidious virtue (virtue still) to the unconquered perseverance, to the affectionate patience, of those who watch day and night by the bedside of their delirious country,—­who, for their love to that dear and venerable name, bear all the disgusts and all the buffets they receive from their frantic mother.  Sir, I do look on you as true martyrs; I regard you as soldiers who act far more in the spirit of our Commander-in-Chief and the Captain of our Salvation than those who have left you:  though I must first bolt myself very thoroughly, and know that I could do better, before I can censure them.  I assure you, Sir, that, when I consider your unconquerable fidelity to your sovereign and to your country,—­the courage, fortitude, magnanimity, and long-suffering of yourself, and the Abbe Maury, and of M. Cazales, and of many worthy persons of all orders in your Assembly,—­I forget, in the lustre of these great qualities, that on your side has been displayed an eloquence so rational, manly, and convincing, that no time or country, perhaps, has ever excelled.  But your talents disappear in my admiration of your virtues.

As to M. Mounier and M. Lally, I have always wished to do justice to their parts, and their eloquence, and the general purity of their motives.  Indeed, I saw very well, from the beginning, the mischiefs which, with all these talents and good intentions, they would do their country, through their confidence in systems.  But their distemper was an epidemic malady.  They were young and inexperienced; and when will young and inexperienced men learn caution and distrust of themselves?  And when will men, young or old, if suddenly raised to far higher power than that which absolute kings and emperors commonly enjoy, learn anything like moderation?  Monarchs, in general, respect some settled order of things, which they find it difficult to move from its basis, and to which they are obliged to conform, even when there are no positive limitations to their power.  These gentlemen conceived that they were chosen to new-model the state, and even the whole order of civil society itself.  No wonder that they entertained dangerous visions, when the king’s ministers, trustees for the sacred deposit of the monarchy, were so infected with the contagion of project and system (I can hardly think it black premeditated treachery) that they publicly advertised for plans and schemes of government, as if they were to provide for the rebuilding of an hospital that had been burned down.  What was this, but to unchain the fury of rash speculation amongst a people of itself but too apt to be guided by a heated imagination and a wild spirit of adventure?