The most beautiful dancer of Versailles had become the president of
the National Assembly, which made so many tears run, and awoke so
much anger and hatred in the king's palace of Versailles. He at
least belonged to the constitutional fraction of the National
Assembly; he was the friend and guest of Mirabeau and of Lafayette;
he was the opponent of Robespierre, Marat, and Danton, and of all
the fanatics of the Mountain party, who already announced their
bloody views, and claimed a republic as the object of their
conflicts.
Alexandre de Beauharnais was no republican, however enthusiastic he
might have been in favor of America's struggle for freedom, however
deeply he had longed to go like Lafayette to America, for the sake
of assisting the Americans to break the chains which yoked them to
England, so as to build a republic for themselves. The enthusiasm of
that day, the enthusiasm for France had driven him upon the path of
the opposition; but while desiring freedom for the people, he still
hoped that the people's freedom was compatible with the power and
dignity of the crown; that at the head of constitutional France the
throne of a constitutional king would he maintained.
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