This sentence contained the sole line of policy capable of saving Louis XVI.  In a time of revolution every king who is not revolutionary must be inevitably crushed between the two parties:  a neutral king no longer reigns—­a pardoned king degrades the throne—­a king conquered by his own people has for refuge only exile or the scaffold.  Dumouriez felt that his first step was to convince the king of his personal attachment, and take him into his confidence, or indeed make him his accomplice in the patriotic part he proposed to play; constitute himself the secret mediator between the will of the monarch and the exactions of the cabinet, to control the king by his influence over the Girondists, and the Girondists by his influence over the king; the part of the favourite of misfortune and protector of a persecuted queen pleased alike his ambition and his heart.  A soldier, diplomatist, gentleman, there was in his soul a wholly different feeling for degraded royalty than the sentiment of satisfied jealousy which filled the minds of the Girondists.  The prestige of the throne existed for Dumouriez; the prestige of liberty only existed for the Girondists.  This feeling, revealed in his attitude, language, gestures, could not long escape the observation of Louis XVI.  Kings have twofold tact, misfortune makes them more nice; the unfortunate perceive pity in a look; it is the only homage they are allowed to receive, and they are the more jealous of it.  In a secret conversation the king and Dumouriez came to an understanding.

XII.

Dumouriez’s restless conduct in his commands in Normandy, the friendship of Gensonne, the favour of the Jacobins for him, had prejudiced Louis XVI. against his new minister.  The minister, on his side, expected to find in the king a spirit opposed to the constitution, a mind trammelled by routine, a violent temper, an abrupt manner, and using language imperious and offensive to all who approached him.  Such was the caricature of this unfortunate prince.  It was necessary to disfigure him in order to make the nation hate him.

Dumouriez found in him at this moment, and during the three months of his ministry, an upright mind, a heart open to every benevolent sentiment, unvarying politeness, endurance and patience which defied the calamities of his situation.  Extreme timidity, the result of the long seclusion in which his youth had been passed, repressed the feelings of his heart, and gave to his language and his intercourse with men a stiffness and embarrassment which destroyed his better qualities of decided and calm courage; he frequently spoke to Dumouriez of his death as an event probable and doomed, the prospect of which did not affect his serenity nor preclude him from doing his duty to the last as a father and a king.