“My command extends upon the frontiers from Givet to Bitche. I have sixty thousand men, and this number will be increased by young men who will come from all parts of the empire to complete the regiments. The voluntary recruits are animated by a spirit most patriotic. I go to make an entrenched camp with thirty thousand men, and with a detached corps of four to five thousand; the remainder of the troops will occupy strong places. The armies of the Maréchaux Luckner and Rochambeau are inferior to mine, because we have sent several regiments south; but in case of war we can gather respectable forces. “If we have yet some reasons for discontent, we can, however, hope to attain our just cause. License, under the mask of patriotism, is our greatest evil, because it menaces property, tranquillity, and even liberty. “Adieu, my dear General; think sometimes of your respectful, tender, and filial friend.” But La Fayette’s confidence in his countrymen was repaid by ingratitude; and he was yet to learn that few men were actuated by his unselfish loyalty and stern integrity. [Illustration: THE MOB INVADE THE TUILERIES.] His enemies now plotted his ruin. A treacherous plan was laid to draw off his expected re-enforcements, so that when he reached Givet, he would find himself at the mercy of the advancing foe. This disgraceful scheme was put into execution, and La Fayette, finding himself exposed to overwhelming dangers, wisely retreated to his former post to await further developments. But soon the direful rumors from Paris filled his patriotic heart with more painful concern than his own perilous position. “Would that he had trusted me!” exclaimed magnanimous La Fayette, as courier after courier brought news of the woes thickening around the helpless, weak king. In a letter to the Assembly, La Fayette boldly declared war against the defiant Jacobins, who were fast clutching the reins of government, or, rather, planning a counter-revolution, which should give up the city and the nation to the diabolical power of a wild anarchy and unbridled license. It was this memorable letter in which he said: “Can you dissemble even to yourselves that a faction—and to avoid all vague demonstrations, the _Jacobin faction_—have caused all these disorders? It is that society which I boldly denounce; organized in its affiliated societies like a separate empire in the metropolis, and blindly governed by some ambitious leaders, this society forms a totally distinct corporation in the midst of the French nation, whose power it usurps by tyrannizing over its representatives and constituted authorities. Let the royal authority be untouched, for it is guaranteed by the constitution; let it be independent, for its independence is one of the springs of our liberty; let the king be revered, for he is invested with the majesty of the nation; let him choose a ministry which wears the chain of no faction; and if traitors exist, let them perish under the sword of the law.”