We have commented elsewhere on the efforts making in Paris
to bring M. Ferry once more to the front, and on his speech of Monday night to the National Republican Associa- tion, in which he declared that France needed religious peace, and steady adherence to the Constitution, the only change made being a reduction in the size of the Chamber. M. Ferry, however, made one astounding statement, which shows that even he is bitten by the modern spirit of sentimentality. He said that the beginning of the French Revolution was a triumph of moral force, the monarchy, clergy, and aristocracy being all on the other side. Moral force ! Why, the Revolu- tion was carried through by the armed mob of Paris, on which the Gardes Franeaises refused to fire. The moment the soldiers obeyed, under Major Bonaparte, the Revolution ended. It was fear of this mob, not moral force, which pre- vented the King from exiling the Tiers Etat, and had Paris been really garrisoned as Marie Antoinette afterwards tried to garrison it, Louis XVI. would never have given way. The usurpation of the Tiers Etat, for it was legally a usurpation, though justified by constitutional principle, was condoned because there was no money in the Treasury, and no dependable bayonets in the streets.
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