Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Life Of Philip Egalite, Late Duke Of Orleans.
not belong to him , and only stripped himself of his own rank , in order to obtain the first dignity in the state . The flight and subsequent arrest of the king became new subjects for triumph to the Duke of Orleans . On the acceptance of the constitution by a prince no longer free , his unworthy relation , who at that period held the balance of the two rival parties in his own hands , threw all his wei
ght into the scale of the jacobins , a circumstance which enabled them to triumph first over . the feuillants , and soon after over La Fayette , ¦ who lost his " character in the estimation of all good citizens , by the inconstancy of his temper . The legislative was still more favourable than the constituent assembl y to the views of Philipfor his influence having risenin the ratio
, express of the preponderance of the jacobins , he was enabled to nominate a prodigious number of his creatures to the representative body . The people , of whom a great portion was led astray , and the remainder- intimidated , subscribed to all the innovations proposed , and thinking themselves free because they were taught to believe so , waited patiently in expectation of the moment when they were to be rendered happy .
But it . was not enough to sap the throne , it was also deemed necessary to overturn the monarchy , and take away the . life of a constitutional sovereign . Lewis XVI . was at this very moment merel y a king by courtesy . "Forced to repair to the capital , and to reside in the midst of his enemies , his authority was at first illusory , and from the moment of ' his arrest he was detained in a state of the most deplorable captivity . Orleans , who
had already influenced the public opinion to such a degree as to r . ender the two most august personages in France' odious to the people , the monster Orleans left nothing untried to augment the hatred of their subjects ; and the king-was soon after first deposed and then murdered .. ! If the duke had possessed the talents of a great man , he would mir doubtedly have feized the vacant throne ; but , " impeded in his ambitious projects by the natural pusillanimity of his temperhe was incapable
, of taking due advantage . of such an . auspicious , event . A bold ' and daring usurper , in such-a case as this , would have acquired either a crown ox a grave ; but the cowardly Egalite , although he wished to reign , did not know how to die ! ' - Even after r ' ra ' nce had been converted into a republic Phili p did not despair of becoming a king . He was " , in appearance , a most zealous
partisan of the levelling doctrines of democracy , and " cunningly endeavoured to g ive all possible extension to the reigning system ' : that isj he . wished to make liberty degenerate into licentiousness , and to substitute anarchy to' the rule of the laws . - . Orleans , who had vpted for , the de ^ . th of his sovereign , and glutted his eyes with his blood , also incited the populace to the unnecessary
and ferocious massacre of ' the first and second of September . But the career " of this illustrious ruffian washbt . pf-long duration , for he himself fell a victim to the animosities of Bfissot , and Roberspierre , and was soon after actually transferred as a state prisoner from Paris to Marseilles . ' He revisited the capital only to experience greater humili-i stions . The dispute between the girondists and the mountain tarty was
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Life Of Philip Egalite, Late Duke Of Orleans.
not belong to him , and only stripped himself of his own rank , in order to obtain the first dignity in the state . The flight and subsequent arrest of the king became new subjects for triumph to the Duke of Orleans . On the acceptance of the constitution by a prince no longer free , his unworthy relation , who at that period held the balance of the two rival parties in his own hands , threw all his wei
ght into the scale of the jacobins , a circumstance which enabled them to triumph first over . the feuillants , and soon after over La Fayette , ¦ who lost his " character in the estimation of all good citizens , by the inconstancy of his temper . The legislative was still more favourable than the constituent assembl y to the views of Philipfor his influence having risenin the ratio
, express of the preponderance of the jacobins , he was enabled to nominate a prodigious number of his creatures to the representative body . The people , of whom a great portion was led astray , and the remainder- intimidated , subscribed to all the innovations proposed , and thinking themselves free because they were taught to believe so , waited patiently in expectation of the moment when they were to be rendered happy .
But it . was not enough to sap the throne , it was also deemed necessary to overturn the monarchy , and take away the . life of a constitutional sovereign . Lewis XVI . was at this very moment merel y a king by courtesy . "Forced to repair to the capital , and to reside in the midst of his enemies , his authority was at first illusory , and from the moment of ' his arrest he was detained in a state of the most deplorable captivity . Orleans , who
had already influenced the public opinion to such a degree as to r . ender the two most august personages in France' odious to the people , the monster Orleans left nothing untried to augment the hatred of their subjects ; and the king-was soon after first deposed and then murdered .. ! If the duke had possessed the talents of a great man , he would mir doubtedly have feized the vacant throne ; but , " impeded in his ambitious projects by the natural pusillanimity of his temperhe was incapable
, of taking due advantage . of such an . auspicious , event . A bold ' and daring usurper , in such-a case as this , would have acquired either a crown ox a grave ; but the cowardly Egalite , although he wished to reign , did not know how to die ! ' - Even after r ' ra ' nce had been converted into a republic Phili p did not despair of becoming a king . He was " , in appearance , a most zealous
partisan of the levelling doctrines of democracy , and " cunningly endeavoured to g ive all possible extension to the reigning system ' : that isj he . wished to make liberty degenerate into licentiousness , and to substitute anarchy to' the rule of the laws . - . Orleans , who had vpted for , the de ^ . th of his sovereign , and glutted his eyes with his blood , also incited the populace to the unnecessary
and ferocious massacre of ' the first and second of September . But the career " of this illustrious ruffian washbt . pf-long duration , for he himself fell a victim to the animosities of Bfissot , and Roberspierre , and was soon after actually transferred as a state prisoner from Paris to Marseilles . ' He revisited the capital only to experience greater humili-i stions . The dispute between the girondists and the mountain tarty was