The revolution had progressed rapidly, had obtained great results in a
very short time; it would have been less prompt, less complete, had it not
been attacked. Every refusal became for it the cause of a new success; it
foiled intrigue, resisted authority, triumphed over force; and at the
point of time we have reached, the whole edifice of absolute monarchy had
fallen to the ground, through the errors of its chiefs. The 17th of June
had witnessed the disappearance of the three orders, and the states-
general changed into the national assembly; with the 23rd of June
terminated the moral influence of royalty; with the 14th of July its
physical power; the assembly inherited the one, the people the other;
finally, the 4th of August completed this first revolution. The period we
have just gone over stands prominently out from the rest; in its brief
course force was displaced, and all the preliminary changes were
accomplished. The following period is that in which the new system is
discussed, becomes established, and in which the assembly, after having
been destructive, becomes constructive.




CHAPTER II

FROM THE NIGHT OF THE 4TH OF AUGUST TO THE 5TH AND 6TH OF OCTOBER, 1789


The national assembly, composed of the elite of the nation, was full of
intelligence, pure intentions, and projects for the public good. It was
not, indeed, free from parties, or wholly unanimous; but the mass was not
dominated by any man or idea; and it was the mass which, upon a conviction
ever untrammelled and often entirely spontaneous, decided the