Lectures on the French Revolution

XIV. DuMOURIEZ

LectFrRevol_151-200.indd 182 4/27/12 10:05 AM XIV DuMOURIEZ As the war was more often a cause of political events than a consequence , it will be convenient to follow up the progress ofmilitary affairs to the fall ofDumouriez, postponing the catastrophe ofmonarchy to next week. On the 17th of February 1792 Pitt informed the House of Commons that the situation of Europe had never afforded such assurance of continued peace. He did not yet recognise the peril that lay in the new French Constitution. Under that Constitution, no government could be deemed legitimate unless it aimed at liberty, and derived its powers from the national will. All else is usurpation; and against usurped authority, insurrection is a duty. The Rights ofMan were meant for general application, and were no more specifically French than the multiplication table. They were not founded on national character and history, but on Reason, which is the same for all men. The Revolution was essentially universal and aggressive; and although these consequences of its original principle were assiduously repressed by the First Assembly, they were proclaimed by the Second, and roused the threatened Powers to intervene. Apart from this inflaming cause the motives of the international conflict were indecisive. The emperor urged the affair of Avignon, the injury to German potentates who had possessions in Alsace, the complicity of France in the Belgian troubles, and the need of European concert while the French denied the foundations of European polity. Dumouriez offered to withdraw the French troops from the frontier, ifAustria would send no more reinforcements, but at that 182 LectFrRevol_151-200.indd 183 4/27/12 10:05 AM 0UMOURIEZ moment the queen sent word ofan intended attack on Liege. The offer seemed perfidious, and envenomed the quarrel. Marie Antoinette despatched Goguelat, the man who was not at his post on the flight to Varennes, to implore intervention. She also gave Mercy her notions as to an Austrian manifesto; and in this letter, dated April3o, there is no sign ofalarm, and no suggestion yet that France might be cowed by the use ofexorbitant menaces. Dumouriez, who desired war with Austria, endeavoured to detach Prussia from the alliance. He invited the king to arbitrate in the Alsatian dispute, and promised deference to his award. He proposed that the prerogative should be enlarged, the princes indemnified, the emigres permitted to return. Frederic William was unmoved by these advances. He relied on the annexation ofAlsace and Lorraine to compensate both allies, and he expected to succeed, because his army was the most illustrious ofall armies in Europe. He wished to restore the emigres, who would support him against Austria, and the emigres looked to him to set up the order of society that had fallen. "Better to lose a province," they said, "than to live under a constitution." The allied army was commanded by the Duke of Brunswick, the most admired and popular prince ofhis time. His own celebrity disabled him. Many years ago Marshall Macmahon said to an officer , since in high command at Berlin, that an army is best when it is composed of soldiers who have never smelt gunpowder, of experienced non-commissioned officers, and of generals with their reputation to make. Brunswick had made his reputation under the great king, and he feared to compromise it. Want ofenterprise made him unfit for his position, although nobody doubted his capacity. In France, they thought of him for the command of their armies, and even for a still higher post. In spite of the disasters I am about to describe, the Prussians believed in him, and he was again their leader when they met Napoleon. The army which he led across the Rhine fell short of the stipulated number by 35,000 men. Francis, the new emperor, did not fulfil his engagements, and entered on the expedition with divided counsels. Kaunitz, who was eighty-two years ofage, and knew the affairs ofEurope better than any other man, condemned the policy ofhis new master. He represented that they did not know what they were going to fight for; that Lewis had never explained what changes in the Constitution would satisfy him; that nothing could be expected LectFrRevol_151-200.indd 184 4/27/12 10:05 AM THE FRENCH REVOLUTION from disaffection, and nothing could be done for a system which was extinct. On August 2 he resigned office, and made way for men...