Such was in outline the condition of Germany at the moment when it was brought into collision with the new and unknown forces of the French Revolution. A system of small States, which in the past of Greece and Italy had produced the finest types of energy and genius, had in Germany resulted in the extinction of all vigorous life, and in the ascendancy of all that was stagnant, little, and corrupt. If political disorganisation, the decay of public spirit, and the absence of a national idea, are the signs of impending downfall, Germany was ripe for foreign conquest. The obsolete and dilapidated fabric of the Empire had for a century past been sustained only by the European tradition of the Balance of Power, or by the absence of serious attack from without. Austria once overpowered, the Empire was ready to fall to pieces by itself: and where, among the princes or the people of Germany, were the elements that gave hope of its renovation in any better form of national life? CHAPTER II. French and Austrian armies on the Flemish frontier--Prussia enters the war--Brunswick invades France--His Proclamation--Insurrection of Aug. 10 at Paris--Massacres of September--Character of the war--Brunswick, checked at Valmy, retreats--The War becomes a Crusade of France--Neighbours of France--Custine enters Mainz--Dumouriez conquers the Austrian Netherlands --Nice and Savoy annexed--Decree of the Convention against all Governments --Execution of Louis XVI.--War with England, followed by war with the Mediterranean States--Condition of England--English Parties, how affected by the Revolution--The Gironde and the Mountain--Austria recovers the Netherlands--The Allies invade France--La Vendée--Revolutionary System of 1793--Errors of the Allies--New French Commanders and Democratic Army-- Victories of Jourdan, Hoche, and Pichegru--Prussia withdrawing from the War --Polish Affairs--Austria abandons the Netherlands--Treaties of Basle--France in 1795--Insurrection of 13 Vendémiaire--Constitution of 1795--The Directory--Effect of the Revolution on the spirit of Europe up to 1795. [Fighting on Flemish frontier, April, 1792.] [Prussian army invades France, July, 1792. Proclamation.]