Excerpt from The History of the French Revolution, Vol. 1 of 5: 1789 1800 I Purpose writing the history of a memorable Revolution, which has profoundly agitated the minds of men, and which still continues to divide them. I disguise not from myself the difficulties of the undertaking; for passions which were supposed to have been stifled under the sway of military despotism have recently revived. All at once men bowed down by age and toil have felt resentments which, according to appearance, were appeased, awaken within them, and they have communicated them to us, their sons and heirs. But if we have to uphold the same cause, we have not to defend their conduct, for we can separate liberty from those who have rendered it service or disservice; whilst we possess the advantage of having observed those veterans, who, still full of their recollections, still agitated by their impressions, reveal to us the spirit and the character of parties, and teach us to comprehend them. Perhaps the moment when the actors are about to expire is the most proper for writing this history; we can collect their evidence without participating in all their passions. Be this as it may, I have endeavoured to stifle within my. own bosom every feeling of animosity: I alternately figured to myself that, born in a cottage, animated with a just ambition, I was resolved to acquire what the pride of the higher classes had unjustly refused me; or that, bred in palaces, the heir to ancient privileges, it was painful to me to renounce a possession which I regarded as a legitimate property. Thenceforward I could not harbour enmity against either party;1 pitied the combatants, and I indemnified myself by admiring generous deeds wherever I found them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.