made one of the accusations against him by the partisans of the Mountain. Madame Roland succeeded, however, later in obtaining her husband's transfer to the inspectorship of Lyons.
Before settling in the Beaujolais—where Roland's family still possessed a remnant of their property in the Clos de la Platière—Roland decided on taking his young wife on a trip to England. He himself, an accomplished traveller, would now enjoy giving her the benefit of his large experience.
England was at that time the political lode-star of almost every Frenchman with any share of public spirit in him. Our Constitution, our representative system, our liberty of the Press, our home life, were all studied with admiring envy by a nation which, through long-continued misgovernment, seemed almost on the verge of political dissolution. Towards England were turned the eyes of statesmen, ministers, pamphleteers, journalists. To England it was that political writers, in imminent peril of the Bastile—such men as Brissot and Linguet—came for safety and shelter. To England, too, came Marat, where, in 1774, he wrote and published his Chains of Slavery. Rousseau alone had not shared his countrymen's enthusiasm for this country, and under the trappings of liberty he beheld and pointed out horrible sores and social wrongs masked by a semblance of national prosperity.
Madame Roland was eager to see this native land of liberty. In her girlhood she had studied De Lolme's History of the English Constitution, and the book had made a lasting impression on her mind. She came prepared to admire everything, from the eloquence of the House of Commons to the powderless yellow curls of cherub-cheeked children in the parks.
