Reflections on the Revolution in France causes and sided with the Americans in their war for independence; opponents and allies alike were surprised at the strength of his conviction that the French Revolution was a disaster and the revolutionists 'a swinish multitude.'". In 1789, soon after the fall of the Bastille, the French aristocrat Charles-Jean-François Depont asked his impressions of the Revolution; Burke replied with two letters. The longer, second letter, drafted after he read Richard Price's speech "A Discourse on the Love of Our Country" in January 1790, became "Reflections on the Revolution in France". Published in November 1790, the work was an instant bestseller:
French emigration (1789–1815) In Alsace, minorities such as the Jews and Protestants were pro-revolution, while the Catholic majority was not. Despite these facts, as Zosa Szajkowski states in the text "Jews and the French Revolutions of 1789, 1830, and 1848" it was still a widely held belief that "the Jews wanted to bring about a counter-revolution with all its destruction and death". Thus, the Jews were continuously unfairly suspected of fraud, although rarely ever convicted for it. Also, their correspondence in Hebrew with those living outside France was restricted. August Mauger, the leader of the terror in Nancy, refused to give Jews passports.