[6] _Boston Gazette_, Sept. 7 and Nov. 30, 1789; as quoted in Hazen; and see Hazen, 142-43.
[7] Gouverneur Morris to Washington, Paris, April 29, 1789; _Cor. Rev._: Sparks, iv, 256. Even Jefferson had doubted French capacity for self-government because of what he described as French light-mindedness. (Jefferson to Mrs. Adams, Feb. 22, 1787; _Works_: Ford, v, 263; also see vol. I, chap. VIII, of this work.)
[8] Morris to Washington, July 31, 1789; _Cor. Rev._: Sparks, iv, 270.
[9] Lafayette to Washington, May 25, 1788; _Cor. Rev._: Sparks, iv, 216. Lafayette's letters to Washington, from the beginning of the French Revolution down to his humiliating expulsion from France, constitute a thermometer of French temperature, all the more trustworthy because his letters are so naïve. For example, in March, 1790: "Our revolution is getting on as well as it can, with a nation that has swallowed liberty at once, and is still liable to mistake licentiousness for freedom." Or, in August of the same year: "I have lately lost some of my favor with the mob, and displeased the frantic lovers of licentiousness, as I am bent on establishing a legal subordination." Or, six months later: "I still am tossed about in the ocean of factions and commotions of every kind." Or, two months afterwards: "There appears a kind of phenomenon in my situation; all parties against me, and a national popularity which, in spite of every effort, has been unshakable." (Lafayette to Washington, March 17, 1790; _ib._, 321; Aug. 28, _ib._, 345; March 7, 1791, _ib._, 361; May 3, 1791, _ib._, 372.)
[10] G. Morris to R. Morris, Dec. 24, 1792; Morris, ii, 15.
[12] Louis Otto to De Montmorin, March 10, 1792; _Writings_: Conway, iii, 153.
[14] Morris associated with the nobility in France and accepted the aristocratic view. (_Ib._; and see A. Esmein, Membre de l'Institut: _Gouverneur Morris, un témoin américain de la révolution française_, Paris, 1906.)
[16] Recent investigation establishes the fact that the inmates of the Bastille generally found themselves very well off indeed. The records of this celebrated prison show that even prisoners of mean station, when incarcerated for so grave a crime as conspiracy against the King's life, had, in addition to remarkably abundant meals, an astonishing amount of extra viands and refreshments including comfortable quantities of wine, brandy, and beer. Prisoners of higher station fared still more generously, of course. (Funck-Brentano: _Legends of the Bastille_, 85-113; see also _ib._, introduction.) It should be said, however, that the _lettres de cachet_ were a chief cause of complaint, although the stories, generally exaggerated, concerning the cruel treatment of prisoners came to be the principal count of the public indictment of the Bastille.