The outbreak in Paris was followed by similar outbreaks elsewhere.
But the sequel of the massacre showed the Jacobin leaders in a better
light. Under the guidance of Danton, a new spirit was infused into
the Government. Thousands of recruits poured into the French camp, and
the Assembly appointed to the chief command a soldier of genius in the
person of Dumouriez. The rapid success of the invaders had been largely
delusive. The fall of the French fortresses was due less to the prowess
of the enemy than to treachery among the defenders. The Allied Powers
were by no means at one upon all points. Their generals and counsellors
had neither brilliancy nor dash. The Duke of Brunswick was already
weary of the campaign. Distinguished as he was, he belonged to an old
school of soldiers, and he had never wished to march direct on Paris,
leaving his communications unprotected. He had little sympathy with
the Emigrants. He was in bad health and half-hearted in the war. The
Austrians had not supported him as strongly as they had promised to do.
His troops had suffered severely from illness and bad weather. Even
after the fall of Verdun, he was disinclined to persevere. Accordingly,
when Dumouriez gathered his forces at Valmy, and risking an engagement
on the 20th September, succeeding in checking the enemy's advance, the
Duke took the opportunity to retire, the campaign was abandoned, and
Paris was saved.
From Valmy the tide of victory rolled on. Dumouriez followed up his
success by the battle of Jemappes and the conquest of Belgium. But in
the spring of 1793, fortune turned against him, and Dumouriez, like
Lafayette, threw up his post and fled. Once again, in the summer of
1793, the Allies threatened to advance on Paris. Once again the fear
of invasion strengthened the hands of the Terrorist party. Once
again a new general was discovered, and the vigour of the Jacobins
carried the day. Once again the young Republic triumphed, and after
the winter of 1793 all danger from the frontiers disappeared. The war
assumed a new character. It became a war of propaganda, and swept
over Europe. It found upon its borders an ancient society, already in
a state of dissolution, which, devoid of patriotism, enthusiasm or
popularity, fell to pieces before its attack. Then, forgetting its
philanthropic principles, it returned to the practices of the past, and
in its dealings with Europe, adopted the spirit of the system which
it assailed. In the end, the French Revolutionary war did not abolish
tyrants or unite the human race. It obliterated many old landmarks. It
broke down many feudal barriers. It swept many little despotisms away.
It drew more sharply the divisions between the different nations. It
rallied them more closely round their sovereigns. It cleared the ground
for modern Europe to grow up. Unconsciously, and cruelly, it laid the
foundations of that united German Empire, which was one day to take
a terrible revenge on France. But the old order, thus improved and
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