There is something miraculous in this, and which does not appear in the history of any other country.
And that is, the spontaneous organization of France by itself. The Assembly was only a secretary. France did the deed; the Assembly registered it.
Before that, the division of old France into provinces was abolished; the boundaries had been already changed; there were no longer Provençals, Bretons, Alsaciens, Picards, or French.
The Champ de Mars was Mount Tabor, transfigured by the sun of June.
Valence gave, on the 29th of November, 1789, the example of the first federation; and each strove to follow the example given by the zealous Dauphin, our vanguard against the great enemy, the Savoyard King.
From anterior ages, the eldest man has always presided, whether noble or not. His age makes his right—his white locks his crown.
Rouen searched for an old Chevalier of Malta, eighty-five years of age, to preside at its federation.
In St. Audeol, there were two old men, respectively ninety-three and ninety-four years of age, the one a noble, and the other a plebeian—the one a colonel, the other a laborer. These two embraced at the altar, and the spectators embraced each other, crying, “There is no longer an aristocracy, no longer a working-class—there are only Frenchmen!”
At Lous le Lauheur, a citizen, whose name is forgotten, gave this toast:—