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pervaded the whole kingdom. Towns, cities, provinces, all considered their privileges as odious distinctions, and aspired to the honor of sacrificing them to enrich their country. You well know that there was not time to draw up a separate decree for each sacrifice, which a truly pure and patriotic sentiment dictated to all classes of citizens, who voluntarily restored to the great family that which was exclusively enjoyed by the few to the prejudice of the many.

Patriotic gifts have been singularly multiplied during the present crisis in the finances. The most noble examples have emanated from the throne, whose majesty is elevated by the virtue of the prince who sits upon it. O prince, so justly beloved by your people! King, honest man, and good citizen! You glanced at the magnificence which surrounded you, and the riches of ostentation were forthwith converted into national resources! By foregoing the embellishments of luxury, your royal dignity received new splendor; and while the affection of your people makes them murmur at your privations, their sensibility applauds your noble courage, and their generosity will return your benefactions, as you wish them to be returned, by imitating your virtue and affording you the delight of having guided them through the difficult paths of public sacrifice.

How vast is the wealth which ostentation and vanity have made their prey, and which might become the active agent of prosperity! To what an extent might individual economy concur with the most noble views in restoring happiness to the kingdom! The immense riches accumulated by the piety of our forefathers for the service of the altar would not change their religious destination by being brought from their obscurity and devoted to the public service! "These are the hoards which I collected in the days of prosperity," says our holy religion; "I add them to the general mass in the present times of public calamity. I required them not; no borrowed splendor can add to my greatness. It was for you, and for the State, that I levied this tribute upon the piety of your ancestors."

Oh! who would reject such examples as these? How favorable is the present moment for the development of our

resources, and for claiming assistance from all parts of the empire! Let us prevent the opprobrium of violating our most sacred engagements, which would prove a foul blot upon the infancy of our freedom. Let us prevent those dreadful shocks which, by overthrowing the most solid institutions, would affect, far and near, the fortune of all classes of citizens, and present throughout the kingdom the sad spectacle of a disgraceful ruin. How do they deceive themselves who, at a distance from the metropolis, consider not the public faith, either in its inseparable connection with the national prosperity, or as the primary condition of our social compact! Do they who pronounce the infamous word BANKRUPTCY, desire that we should form a community of wild beasts, instead of equitable and free men? What Frenchman would dare look upon one of his unfortunate brethren, if his conscience should whisper to him that he had contributed his share towards poisoning the existence of millions of his fellow-creatures? Should we be any longer that nation whose very enemies grant us the pride of honor, if foreigners could degrade us with the title of BANKRUPT NATION, and accuse us of having assumed our freedom and our strength only to commit crimes at which even despotism herself would shudder?

Our protesting that our execrable crime was not premeditated, would avail us nothing. The cries of our victims, disseminated all over Europe, would be a louder and a more effective protestation than ours. We must act without loss of time; prompt, efficacious and certain measures must be adopted, and that cloud must disappear which has been so long suspended over our heads, and, from one end of Europe to the other, has thrown consternation into the minds of the creditors of France, for it may, at length, become more fatal to our national resources than the dreadful scourge which has ravaged our provinces.

What courage would the adoption of this plan give us in the functions you have confided to our zeal! And how could we proceed with safety in the constitution of a State whose very existence is in danger? We promised-nay, we solemnly swore to save the country; judge, then, of our anguish, when we fear that it will perish in our hands. A momentary

sacrifice is all that is required; but it must be frankly made to the public good, and not to the depredations of cupidity. And is this slight expiation of the faults and errors of the period marked by our political servitude, beyond our courage? God forbid! Let us remember the price paid for freedom, by every people who have showed themselves worthy of it. Torrents of blood, lengthened misfortunes, and dreadful civil wars have everywhere marked her birth. She only requires of us a pecuniary sacrifice, and this vulgar offering is not a gift that will impoverish us, for she will return to enrich us, and shine upon our cities and our fields to increase their glory and prosperity.-COMTE DE MIRABEAU.

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MADAME ROLAND has been called the Soul of the Gironde, the inspirer of that moderate party which aimed at real liberty in the crisis of the French Revolution. Her maiden name was Marie-Jeanne Phlipon, and she was born in Paris, March 17th, 1754. Her father was an artist; her mother was a woman of superior understanding, having a retiring disposition and a singular amiability of temper; her life was almost of saintly purity. Marie-Jeanne learned to read when only four years of age, and soon showed a great fondness for reading everything that came in her way. A word from her mother was always sufficient to command obedience; but her father, having but little command over his temper, would sometimes resort to corporal punishment, which never failed to bring out in the child a spirit of intense resistance. Whilst yet a girl, she was placed for one year in a conventual school, where she exhibited extreme religious enthusiasm. In after years, however, her feelings underwent a thorough change, until they rested in skepticism. Her favorite authors at this period were Plutarch, Tasso and Voltaire. The history of Greece and Rome made a deep impression on the youthful mind, and when but fourteen years of age, she is said to have shed tears to think that she was not a Spartan or a Roman woman. She writes, "I ought to have been a Spartan or a Roman woman, or at least a Frenchman."

At the age of five and twenty, Mademoiselle Phlipon became the wife of M. Jean Marie Roland de la Platière, who

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