THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

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and of the flattering attentions bestowed upon her even in childhood, are too well- known to need repeating. Madame de Stael has been severely criticised for her exces­sive fondness for society and for admiration. The marvel is that she was not utterly spoiled by the adulation lavished upon her in her youth. It was a remarkable char­acter that could withstand such flattery and develop into so generous and radiant a life. When Germaine was twenty years of age a marriage was arranged for her with the Baron de Stael, Holstein, Swedish ambassador. It is not counted a happy mar­riage, but there was no open rupture. At the time of her marriage she was already known through Paris as a brilliant talker, and this fact, combined with her social posi­tion as ambassadress and daughter of the most popular man in France, made the Necker salon, where she presided with her mother, the most brilliant and influential salon in Paris. Not only literature and art were discussed there, but politics became an absorbing theme. There were no absurd pen-portraits of each other, no sentimen­tal verses of these earlier salons, but the talk was of the alarming condition of France, its bankrupt treasury and its masses taxed to starvation; of the American Revolution and the republic beyond the sea; of the wisdom of representative government and of the future of France; and no man in France was more keenly alive to these great questions than Madame de Stael. She had an aptitude for politics, which she considered a sacred subject. If she were living today she would be one of the foremost women in demanding political equality for women. Her marvelous gift of speech, combined with her remarkable dramatic power, would have made her a world renowned orator, but in that day women had not yet ventured to address the public from the platform.

France was already feeling the premonitions of the approaching »-evolution. A flash from the gathering storm entered the Necker household one evening when a lettre de cachet was received from the king commanding Monsieur Necker to leave Paris immediately and secretly. Once before he had been dismissed from the ministry and recalled, but this dismissal had a darker look. The king disliked Necker, Marie Antoinette hated him, but the people believed in him and were furious at his dismissal, and demanded his recall; and he was recalled within forty-eight hours after his departure from Paris, even before he could reach Switzerland. Within those forty-eight hours the bastile had fallen, blood had been shed, and the nobles were fleeing over the boarders. Out of the revolution which was breaking over France Madame de Stael hoped to see evolved a constitutional monarchy, a government similar to that of England. Her salon was the rallying place of the “ Constitutionals,” as they were called, among whom was Lafayette, Count de Narbonne and M. de Mont­morency. But all such hope was swept away by the fury of the revolution. Terrorism prevailed in Paris. Those suspected of sympathy with the king were seized and imprisoned. The Baron de Stael was recalled to Sweden, Necker was again dis­missed and sought refuge in Coppet. He entreated his daughter to save herself by flight. But Paris held her. The very terror of events fascinated her. More than that, she felt she had influence that might save some dear friend from destruction. But the hour soon came when it was no longer safe for her to remain. She attempted to leave, but in her efforts to assist in the escape of the old Abbe Montesquion, she came near losing her own life. She was seized and carried to the Hotel de Ville and into the presence of Robespierre. She protested against her arrest, asserting her privilege as the wife of an ambassador to depart. It was only after ten hours’ deliberation that the commune decided to spare her life, and Tallien was appointed to accompany her beyond the borders. While at Coppet she was continually devising schemes to get her proscribed friends in Paris out of danger. Coppet became in those days and years the home of many of the proscribed whose escape she had effected. She did not return to Paris for three years—the years of the “ reign of terror.” It was during these years that she made her first visit to England, and joined that famous colony of French refugees at Michleham in Surrey.

During those three years of her absence what tragic events had transpired. The king and queen had been executed. Thousands of noble men and women had fallen