Mirabeau and royalist support

• Two heroes of 1789: Mirabeau and Lafayette.
• Mirabeau opposed the traditions of the ancien regime.

  Before the revolution he was imprisoned twice through the lettres de cachet. He wrote a number of texts whilst he was in prison and focused on political issues.
• After imprisonment, he spent a number of years working as a pamphleteer, distributing enlightened ideas. He also visited England and saw their political and social systems as desirable.
• He opposed despotism and believed that the monarchy should remain, sharing power with an elected assembly.
• He worked closely with the royal family, which gave his opponents ammunition to attack him. It was also rumoured that the royal family in France paid him to support them.
• He also denounced violence in Paris, fearing civil chaos. He also opposed the August Decrees and Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen due to seeing them as radical.