This primary office afterwards led to his appointment to the definitive deputation; and as the friend of Paoli, a circumstance which at that time conferred the greatest popularity, young Pozzo took his seat in that insane convocation, which, under the name of the Legislative Assembly, and in the midst of tumults and massacres, soon made an end of the French monarchy. He was appointed one of the diplomatic committee, at the time their proceedings were conducted in so singular a manner by Brissot, under whose management despatches to foreign powers consisted of speeches borrowed from the tragedy of "Brutus," and directed against Austria and Prussia. Such language ought to have been backed by victories, but the Legislative Assembly had not as yet the internal strength of which, at a later period, the convocation became possessed, through the energy of its committee of public safety. The Legislative Assembly threw every thing into disorder: at war with the ministers of the king, governed by the idea of a republic, yet without daring openly to proclaim it, they permitted the horrors of the 10th of August, and the 7th of September, to take place before their eyes. This wretched meeting possessed neither the brilliancy of the Constituent Assembly nor the terrible authority of the Convention, but always represented a state of transition, which is invariably one of mediocrity, because men dare not undertake any thing, nor, indeed, are they capable of doing so. Pozzo very rarely appeared in the tribune, but whenever he had occasion so to do, for the purpose of expressing the opinions of the committee, he had recourse to the favourite phraseology of the period, for which less blame is due to the orators than to the general bent of the public mind: it was the pleasure of society to be governed after that fashion. I have preserved some fragments of a speech made by him on the 16th July, 1792, with the object of inducing the assembly to declare war against Germany. It is well known that two different parties were at that time equally desirous of commencing hostilities in Europe--the court party, who, being desirous of placing Louis at the head of an overpowering public force, considered war as the most probable means of attaining a military dictatorship; while, on the other hand, the republican faction, headed by the Girondists, entertained hopes that the democratic principle would be more easily rendered triumphant in the midst of tumults and excesses. Pozzo di Borgo was the willing representative of the Girondist party at the tribune. "The German confederation," said he, "whose independence is naturally protected by France, the only power capable of preserving it from the insatiable ambition of Austria, has beheld with joy the formation of that formidable league intended to overturn your constitution: their territory is already overrun by the enemy's troops, the northern league seeks to reduce the whole of Europe into a state of