If anything was to be expected from them on account of personal ill-will, there was no fear of their armed intervention .-- In France it is not the King who urges a rupture; he knows too well that the hazards of war will place him and his dependents in mortal danger.

Secretly as well as publicly, in writing to the emigres, his wishes are to bring them back or to restrain them.

In his private correspondence he asks of the European powers not physical but moral aid, the external support of a congress which will permit moderate men, the partisans of order, all owners of property, to raise their heads and rally around the throne and the laws against anarchy.

In his ministerial correspondence every precaution is taken not to touch off or let someone touch off an explosion.

At the critical moment of the discussion[2344] he entreats the deputies, through M.Delessart, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, to weigh their words and especially not to send a demand containing a "dead line." He resists, as far as his passive nature allows him, to the very last.