a fearless friend. What did he know of insurgents—but to shoot them down? Or of the hearts and desires and wills of men—he who had fondly believed himself to be the state? (A delusion still prevalent in certain quarters.)
An assembly of lunatics, in national conclave, demanded a constitution. The Secretary for Foreign Affairs, the Comte de Montmorin de Saint-Hérem, repaired in haste to No. 488 Rue de la Planche, Faubourg, St. Germain. "Your Excellency, the American Minister, what is this demand for a constitution? Pray what is His Majesty to do about this?"
Wise Majesty to ask. The humorous and sturdy American, veteran of revolutions, dictated a memorandum. He also dictated a speech to be made by the King. It is not at all impossible that Carlyle would never have had occasion to write his immortal record, or the Scarlet Pimpernel to rescue the fair daughters of the ancient nobility from the fury of Robespierre, if the King had made use of Morris's document.
