Page:Englishmen in the French Revolution.djvu/56

36 month the Convention prescribed that English residents should find six citizens to vouch for their "civisme," and if not in business nor landowners, should deposit their property in pledge, but until October 1793 they were not seriously molested.

Though he was not at the Embassy, and was ostensibly a mere visitor, Hugh Elliot may here be mentioned. Ex-Ambassador at Copenhagen, he had, with his brother Gilbert (Lord Minto), been at a military college with Mirabeau, and Pitt sent him over in October 1790 to ensure French neutrality in the event of an Anglo-Spanish war. Mirabeau, Barnave, and the other members of the diplomatic committee of the Assembly, gave him satisfactory assurances, and he returned to London at the end of October. Mirabeau had prepared, but not delivered, a long speech in favour of Spain, and threatening England with war if she attacked that country. His sudden change of tone reminds one of Rivarol's epigram, "Mirabeau is capable of anything for money, even of a good action."