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    An attempt has been made to calumniate Mirabeau , with regard to his relations with the court * Mirabeau , after seconding with all the powers of his eloquence the revolutionary movement of 1789 , being older than his colleagues , the Bar naves , the Pet ions , the Gregoires , and brought up in another sphere , could not ao com mod ate himself like them to new exigencies . He therefore

    sought to modify the democratic fury which he had so powerfully cherished . For this end he negociated with the court , not like a vile hireling , but like a man who feels his powers and who stipulates on behalf of a nation . We see , in Dumont ' s Memoires , that Mirabeau was far above the miserable traffic of vanity or of venality . It was correctly said , These men are not to be sold ; ' and when Mirabeau received pensions from princes , it was to

    govern them , and not to be governed by them . * What we see of this affair , ' says the conscientious Dumont , ' gives us no right to consider Mirabeau as a man who betrayed the cause of the people ; we might even say that he knew his own interest too well ; he knew that his power was dependant upon public opinion , and that , by rendering the king absolute , he would be annihilating himself . He concentrated all his ambition upon the ministry of France , and wished to transcend all former ministers / p . 219 .

    Mirabeau ' s death was seasonable ; he had done enough for his glory . To him it was given to proclaim in the face of day the new revolution ; and for this end was he endowed with a voice that penetrated to the ends of the earth ; to him was it given also to display his dignity at the head of a new class of society ( the bourgeoisie ) , and to proclaim the enfranchisement of the people ; it was left for others to stifle civil wars , to protect the revolution against the coalition of kings , and to compel them by arms to the recognition of revolutionary France .

    There is a charm in the contemplation of an existence thus crowded with action , —a nature thus energetic and sublime , gifted with the power of commanding , of fascinating , of exciting enthusiasm . Mirabeau had such powers of observation , that he described men by a stroke , and pronounced upon things by a word . This is the gift of superior minds . He characterized , says Dumont , the rigid Camus as the ' red flag * ( in allusion to the flag of martial law ") : Camus had a red face and fierv nose . * He aspires to

    be a Grandison Cromwell , ' said he of La Fayette , whom he considered as a weak , but ambitious man , desirous of supreme power without daring to seize it . * He is a watch which loses , ' said he of Necker . Mallebranche saw every thing in God , and M . Necker sees every thing in Necker . He accused him of seeing all the nation in the Rue Vivjenne , that is to say , the stockexchange and the treasury . ' If M . Casimir Perrier were still alive , would not he start to see himself so well described ? Madame Roland is mentioned by Dumont , He says , * She was

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    Mirabeau . 535

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  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1832, page 535, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1818/page/31/