stood the latter better than the great masters who are to-day still busy at the work. In the writings of Mirabeau we find the chief ideas of constitutional monarchy such as France needed; we discover the plan, though it be sketched hastily in mere outlines—and I sincerely commend unto all the wise and anxious rulers of Europe the study of these lines—lines of state which the greatest political genius of our age drew beforehand with prophetic insight and mathematical accuracy. It would be an important matter should any one make a serious study of adapting Mirabeau's works in this respect to Germany. His revolutionary and negative (negierenden) thoughts have found quick appreciation and promptly applied action; but his quite as powerful, positive, and constructive thoughts are less understood or applied.
Least of all did the world understand Mirabeau's predilection for the monarchy. What he would take from this of absolute power he helped to restore by means of constitutional security. Yes, he even thought of increasing and strengthening royal power by boldly tearing the king from the hands of the higher orders, who practically gov-
in Voltaire's time there was everything to destroy ere the building could begin. It is not improbable that this work of Heine suggested "The French Revolution."
