It was between these two men that the king, in order to comply with popular opinion, called M. de Narbonne to the ministry of war.  Madame de Staeel and the constitutional party sought the aid of the Girondists.  Condorcet, was the mediator between the two parties.  Madame de Condorcet, an exceedingly lovely woman, united with Madame de Staeel in enthusiasm for the young minister.  The one lent him the brilliancy of her genius, the other the influence of her beauty.  These two females appeared to fuse their feelings in one common devotion for the man honoured by their preference.  Rivalry was sacrificed at the shrine of ambition.

III.

The point of union of the Girondist party with the constitutional party, in that combination of which M. de Narbonne’s elevation was the guarantee, was the thirst of both parties for war.  The constitutional party desired it, in order to divert internal anarchy, and dispel those fermentations of agitation which threatened the throne.  The Girondist party desired it in order to push men’s minds to extremities.  It hoped that the dangers of the country would give it strength enough to shake the throne and produce the republican regime.

It was under these auspices that M. de Narbonne took office.  He also was desirous of war; not to overthrow the throne in whose shadow he was born, but to dazzle and shake the nation, to hazard fortune by desperate casts, and to replace at the head of the people under the arms of the high military aristocracy of the country, La Fayette, Biron, Rochambeau, the Lameths, Dillon, Custines, and himself.  If victory favoured the French flag, the victorious army, under constituent chiefs, would control the Jacobins, strengthen the reformed monarchy, and maintain the establishment of the two chambers; if France was destined to reverses, unquestionably the throne and aristocracy must fall, but better to fall nobly in a national contest of France against her enemies, than to tremble perpetually and to perish at last in a riot by the pikes of the Jacobins.  This was the adventurous and chivalrous policy which pleased the young men by its heroism, and the women by its prestige.  It betokened the high courage of France.  M. de Narbonne personified it in the council.  His colleagues, MM. de Lessart and Bertrand de Molleville, saw in him the total overthrow of all their plans.  The king, as usual, was all indecision; one step forward and one backwards; surprised by the event in his hesitation, and thus unable to resist a shock, or himself to give any impulse.