In the events of October 1789, when the mob of Paris marched out to Versailles and marched back again with the king and queen in triumphal procession, Burke felt in his heart that the beginning of the end had come, and that the catastrophe was already at hand.

In October he wrote a long letter to the French gentleman to whom he afterwards addressed the _Reflections_.

"You hope, sir," he said, "that I think the French deserving of liberty.

I certainly do.

I certainly think that all men who desire it deserve it.
We cannot forfeit our right to it, but by what forfeits our title to the privileges of our kind.