before La Fayette, whose name was the nation's for three years. Supreme
arbiter, he carried into the Assembly his authority as commandant of the
national guard; his authority, as an influential member of the Assembly.
Of these two conjoined titles be made a real dictatorship of opinion. As
an orator he was but of slight consideration; his gentle style, though
witty and keen, had nothing of that firm and electric manner which
strikes the senses, makes the heart vibrate and communicates its vigour
and effects to all who listen. Elegant as the language of a drawing room
and overwhelmed in the mazes of diplomatic intrigues, he spoke of
liberty in court phrases. The only parliamentary act of M. La Fayette
was a proclamation of the _rights of man_, which was adopted by the
National Assembly. This decalogue of free men, formed in the forests of
America, contained more metaphysical phrases than sound policy. It
applied as ill to an old society as the nudity of the savage to the
complicated wants of civilised man: but it had the merit of placing man
bare for the moment, and, by showing him what he was and what he was
not, of setting him on the discovery of the real value of his duties and
his rights. It was the cry of the revolt of nature against all
tyrannies. This cry was destined to crumble into dust an old world used
up in servitude, and to produce another new and breathing. It was to La
Fayette's honour that he first proposed it.

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