you do the same; does he lay them down, you also lay down yours.  If he attack one of your allies, you immediately despatch a numerous army to the assistance of your ally.  If he attack a city, you despatch a numerous army to the relief of the city.  Does he again lay down his arms, you do the same, without thinking of any means of forestalling his ambition; and placing yourself beyond the reach of his attacks.  Thus you are at the orders of your enemy, and he it is who commands your army.’

“And I, I tell you the same of the emigres.  Do you hear that they are at Coblentz,—­the citizens hasten to combat them; are they assembled on the banks of the Rhine,—­two corps d’armee are despatched thither; do foreign powers afford them shelter,—­you propose to attack them; do you learn, on the contrary, that they have withdrawn to the north of Germany,—­you lay down your arms; do they again offend you,—­your indignation is again aroused; do they make you specious promises,—­you are again appeased.  Thus, it is the emigres and the cabinets that support them—­who are your leaders, and who dispose of your counsels, your treasures, and your armies. (Applause.) It is for you to consider whether this humiliating part be worthy of a great nation.  A thought flashes across my mind, and with that I will terminate.  It appears to me, that the manes of past generations arise, to conjure you, in the name of all the evils that slavery has inflicted on them, to preserve from it future generations, whose destinies are in your hands; fulfil this prayer, and be for the future a second providence.  Associate yourself with the eternal justice that protects the people.  By meriting the title of benefactors of your country, you will also merit that of benefactors of the human race.”

Loud and prolonged applause succeeded the different emotions that had been excited by this speech in every heart; for Vergniaud, following the example of the ancient orators, instead of suffering his eloquence to grow cold in political combinations, heated it at the flame of his daring genius.  The people comprehends only that which it feels; its sole orators are those who excite it, and emotion is the conviction of the populace.  Vergniaud felt this, and knew how to communicate it.  The knowledge that they laboured for universal good, and the prospect of the gratitude of future ages shed a halo—­a noble pride around France, and of sanctity around liberty.  It was one of the characteristics of this orator, that he almost invariably elevated the Revolution to the dignity of an apostleship, that he extended his humanity to all mankind, and that he only impassioned and worked upon the people by his virtues; such words produced an effect over all the empire, against which neither the king nor his ministers could strive.

XIV.