The federation of 1790 was the apogee of M. de La Fayette:  on that day he surpassed both king and assembly.  The nation armed and reflective was there in person, and he commanded it; he could have done every thing and attempted nothing:  the misfortune of that man was in his situation.  A man of transition, his life passed between two ideas; if he had had but one he could have been master of the destinies of his country.  The monarchy or the republic were alike in his hand; he had but to open it wide, he only half opened it, and it was only a semi-liberty that issued from it.  In inspiring his country with a desire for a republic, he defended a constitution and a throne.  His principles and his conduct were in opposition; he was honest, and yet seemed to betray; whilst he struggled with regret from duty to the monarchy, his heart was in the republic.  Protector of the throne, he was at the same time its bugbear.  One life can only be devoted to one cause.  Monarchy and republicanism had the same esteem, the same wrongs in his mind, and he served for and against both.  He died without having seen either of them triumphant, but he died virtuous and popular.  He had, beside his private virtues, a public virtue, which will ever be a pardon to his faults, and immortality to his name; he had before all, more than all, and after all, the feeling, constancy, and moderation of the Revolution.

Such was the man and such the army on which reposed the executive power, the safety of Paris, the constitutional throne, and the life of the king.

XXIII.

Thus on the 1st of June, 1791, were parties situated, such the men and things in the midst of which the irresistible spirit of a vast social renovation advanced with occult and continuous impulse.  What but contention, anarchy, crime, and death, could emanate from such elements!  No party had the reason, no mind had the genius, no soul had the virtue, no arm had the energy, to control this chaos, and extract from it justice, truth, and strength.  Things will only produce what they contain.  Louis XVI. was upright and devoted to well doing, but he had not understood, from the very first symptoms of the Revolution, that there was only one part for the leader of a people, and that was to place himself in the van of the newly born idea, to forbear any struggle for the past, and thus to combine in his own person the twofold power of chief of the nation, and chief of a party.  The character of moderation is only possible on the condition of having already acquired the unreserved confidence of the party whom it is desired to control.  Henri IV. assumed this character, but it was after victory; had he attempted it before Ivry, he would have lost, not only the kingdom of France, but also of Navarre.