All was true in its work except royalty, which had but one wrong, which was making the monarchy the depository of its code.
We have seen that this very fault was an excess of virtue.

It receded before the deposing from the throne the family of its kings; it had the superstition of the past without having its faith, and desired to reconcile the republic and the monarchy.

It was a virtue in its intentions; it was a mistake in its results; for it is an error in politics to attempt the impossible.

Louis XVI.

was the only man in the nation to whom the constituent royalty could not be confided, since it was he from whom the absolute monarchy had just been snatched: the constitution was a shared royalty, and but a few days previously, and he had possessed it entire.