^srie/ ^l6uwenU^.Sf vUufi™* a/ ^^^&bfy/i^^ '2lniw*tfa/t/om*'o> Text Books for Colleges HARPER'S PARALLEL SOURCE PROBLEMS Parallel Source Problems in Mediaeval History. By Frederic Duncalf, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Univer- sity of Texas, and August C. Krey, M.A., Instructor, University of Illinois. " This volume has grown out of the experience of two of my former students. . . . The apparatus which accom- panies the sources is amply sufficient for the guidance of either teachers or students, and makes it possible to use this work in private study or in correspondence courses." — From the Introduction by Prof. Dana Carleton Munroe. Source Problems on the French Revolution. By Dr. Fred Morrow Fling, Professor of History, University of Nebraska, and Helene Dresser Fling, M.A. Like the first volume in this series this book embodies a new point of view in the teaching of history. That this is certain of appreciation is indicated by the prompt adoption of the former book in university work, and also by the fact that instructors who have been made acquainted with the plan of Professor Fling's book on the French Revolution in the Parallel Sources series have already expressed their desire to use it in their classes. Each $1.10, School. (Others in preparation.) The American Nation: A History. By Associated Scholars. Edited by Albert Bushnell Hart, LL.D., Professor of Government in Harvard University. A few of the universities and colleges which are using volumes of "The American Nation" in class-room work are as follows: — Yale, Smith, Iowa State College, West Virginia University, Nebraska State Normal School, Princeton, Oberlin, Indiana University, University of Mississippi, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. 27 volumes. $2.00 net per volume; if bought in groups, $1.80 per volume Circulars on application. Correspondence invited re- garding these and other books for college use. HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. NEW YORK harper's parallel sO.u^'cJEv.JKfc'ofex'.riMs , SOURCE PROBLEMS ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION BY FRED MORROW FLING, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF EUROPEAN HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AND HELENE DRESSER FLING, M.A. HARPER fcf BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON M CMX II I :.:: ;. ..- ; V COPYRIGHT, 1913. BY HARPER & BROTHERS PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER. 1913 ■T-HS w'JU^caL* 6 0*1 p.. I-N CONTENTS PAGE Preface vii I. THE OATH OF THE TENNIS COURT, JUNE 20, 1789 A. The Historic Setting of the Problem 3 B. Critical Bibliography of the Sources 12 C. Questions for Study 15 D. The Sources 18 1. Prods-verbal de Vassemblee nationale 18 2. Le point du jour 23 3. Vassemblee nationale 29 4. Bailly, Memoires 37 5. Duquesnoy, Journal 49 6. Young, Arthur. Travels in France 52 7. Mounier, Recherches sur les causes qui ont emptche les Francais de devenir libres 55 8. Malouet, Memoires 57 9. Biauzat, Gaultier, Vie et correspondance .... 58 10. Rabaut de Saint-fitienne. Precis historique de la revolution francaise 59 11. Dorset, Despatches from Paris 61 12. Bailli de Virieu, Correspondance 62 II. THE ROYAL SESSION OF JUNE 23, 1789 A. The Historic Setting of the Problem 67 B. Critical Bibliography of the Sources 71 iii .•Contents PAGE C. Questions for Study . . . . . 76 D. The Sources 79 1. (a) Necker, Sur V administration de M. Necker par lui-mlme 79 (b) Necker, De la revolution francaise .... 84 (c) Necker, Letter to Louis XVI 88 2. Barentin, Memoir e autographe 88 3. Saint-Priest, Letter to Louis XVI 94 4. Montmorin, Letter to the King 95 5. Prods-verbal de Vassemblee nationale .... 96 6. Seance tenue par le roi aux Stats generaux ... 98 7. Le point de jour 116 8. Vassemblee nationale . . . .- 121 9. Courrier de Provence 124 10. Biauzat, Correspondance 130 11. Bailly, Memoires 134 12. Duquesnoy, Journal 141 13. Jallet, Journal 148 14. Stael-Holstein, Correspondance 149 15. Bailli de Virieu, Correspondance 152 16. Jefferson, Correspondence 155 17. Barante, Lettres et instructions de Louis XVIII. . 159 III. THE INSURRECTION OF OCTOBER 5 AND 6, 1789 A. The Historic Setting of the Problem 163 B. Critical Bibliography of the Sources 171 C. Questions for Study 174 D. The Sources 177 1. Prods-verbal de Vassemblee nationale 177 2. Saint-Priest, Abrege 182 3. Necker, Be la revolution 185 iv Contents PAGE 4. Lafayette, Marquis de, Memoires 187 5. Procedure criminelle 191 6. Salmour, Comte de, Correspondance 235 7. Bailli de Virieu, Correspondance 246 IV. THE FLIGHT OF THE KING, JUNE 20, 1791 A. The Historic Setting of the Problem 251 B. Critical Bibliography of the Sources 262 C. Questions for Study 264 D. The Sources 267 1. Prods-verbal de V assemblee nationale 267 2. Rapport du sieu Drouet 282 3. Extract from the register of the deliberations of the commune of Varennes 285 4. Examination of Maldent 289 5. Letter of the Municipality [of Siante-Menehould] to the president of the national assembly . . 294 6. Prods-verbal of the general assembly of the com- mune of Varennes 295 7. Tourzel, La Duchesse de, Memoires 297 8. Relation du voyage de Varennes, in Memoires de Weber 311 Appendix 327 Notes 337 PREFACE THE evolution of history teaching from the stage characterized by the memorizing of a text to that distinguished by a critical study of evidence forms one of the most interesting chapters of the pedagogic history of the past twenty-five years. The steps in this evolution were: (i) The addition of "library work," collateral reading in secondary histories; (2) the preparation of a topic based upon secondary works; (3) the use of the sources as col- lateral reading; (4) the interpretation of documents and narrative sources, little or no attention being paid to criticism, namely, to localization, evaluation, independence, and the establishment of the fact by the agreement of two or more independent affirma- tions. A single source was sufficient, the main pur- pose in dealing with narrative sources was to get the contemporary color and sentiment; (5) prepara- tion of a paper based indiscriminately upon sources and secondary works, no attempt being made to distinguish the two classes of material or to use the sources critically; (6) finally, a study based upon a collection of sources, dealing with a limited topic vii Preface and containing two or more affirmations by inde- pendent witnesses to the same fact. Here for the first time history teaching had reached a scientific basis. The use of collateral secondary reading, al- though tending to break up the practice of memor- izing and to give a fuller knowledge of the topic studied, supplied neither the material nor the method for scientific historical training. Later, the reading of the sources supplied the material; but, as they were not studied intensively and criti- cally, nor more than one source used for the same fact, the indispensable method was still lacking. Nor could the preparation of a paper, even when based upon sources and secondary works, yield that discipline so long as the primary importance of the sources and the fundamental character of source criticism were not understood or were not made a vital part of historical instruction. Up to the pres- ent time the chief aim — practically the only aim — of the instructor has been to interest the pupil and to aid him in obtaining historical information. This certainly is important, always will be important, but it cannot be the sole aim of history teaching. Should not an educated man or woman know something of the process by which historical truth is distin- guished from fable or falsehood? Should they not understand something of the logic that underlies historical synthesis and justifies a synthesis in history different from that in the natural sciences? Should viii Preface they not know that history, unique evolution, can- not repeat itself, and that historical laws — the terms are contradictory, law implying repetition — are im- possible ? There are cogent reasons, it has long seemed to me, for answering all of these questions in the affirmative. How, then, shall these things be taught? By putting into the hands of the pupil a collection of sources, dealing with a limited topic, containing parallel accounts of the same facts and making this material the basis for classroom instruction in his- torical method. These studies should take the place of the semester's paper; they will do what the semester's paper, as now written, cannot do — namely, acquaint the pupil in a practical way with the critical historical process and awaken and develop the criti- cal faculty. It is laboratory work in history, and has the same justification as laboratory work in the natural sciences. The justification of laboratory work in the natural sciences is not found in the amount of information acquired, but in the training in the process by which we attain to truth. The same justification is found for the study of mathe- matics. It will hardly be maintained that the justification for teaching the historical process is not as great, even greater, than for teaching the processes in natural science. Every day and every hour we are all of us called upon to pass upon the truth or falsity of historical facts and to act upon ix Preface our judgments. We use the process, but we use it unconsciously and to little purpose. To those who recall the notorious Dr. Cook and the extent to which he fooled a credulous public, even an educated public, nothing more need be said of the necessity of training our boys and girls in the method of his- torical proof. But, it has been objected, the process cannot be taught to boys and girls of high-school age or even of college age ; it should be reserved for the graduate school. "The proof of the pudding is the eating." The thing can be done, because it has been done. The work may even begin in the grammar school. It may begin just as soon as the boy or girl is desirous of knowing "if it is true" and "how do we know that it is true." That is, it may be begun if we know how to begin it. The great obstacle to-day to the improving of history teaching is that the most of the teachers — even some of the college teachers — are not acquainted with the method and do not know how to teach it. What would we think of a science teacher who could not prove by experiment that water is composed of two gases, hydrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of two to one ? How many history teachers could prove any of the thousands of facts taught each day in the classroom? Why should this ignorance be tolerated in the one case and not in the other? If the teacher is capable of teaching the method, of adapting it to the different Preface stages of mental growth in the classes taught, there will be no lack of interest nor ability to apply it noticeable among the pupils. In my own work I have given one classroom hour a week out of three to intensive work. The mem- bers of the class give two hours each week to prep- aration, and the work is examined each week. In the Appendix will be found a brief outline of his- torical method, and an illustration of its application. It is a reproduction of a pamphlet I put into the hands of my class. In an opening exercise I ex- plain the outline to them, and they are afterward quizzed upon it. The subject matter of the topical study is then taken up and the problem set for them. In chronological order, what is the first group of facts to be determined? How many of the sources contain any information upon these facts, and what is this information ? These questions being answered in writing, the next questions are "What is the value of these sources" and "Are they independent?" The class exercise is devoted to the explanation of the illustration of criticism found in the Appendix, and the class is requested to work it over. Then follows the assignment of the other sources, one or more — depending on difficulty — being assigned for an exercise. Each source is criticized independently, and then an exercise is devoted to the study of in- dependence. After the criticism of the sources and the study of their relationship the pupil is in a xi Preface position to compare the different affirmations and to establish the facts. The affirmations treating of the same fact are brought together on the same page, compared, and a conclusion reached as to whether the evidence gives certainty or probability, and the conclusion is written down. When the facts for the first topic have been established, the class is given a talk on synthesis and required to outline the data they have secured, inserting references in the margin. The outline completed, the writing of the narrative and notes is explained and illustrated and the instructions are utilized in writing a narrative based on the outline. The class is taught how to make the narrative reflect the quantity and quality of the sources. Very important indirect benefits are derived from this training: (i) The pupil is taught that knowledge grows and certainty is attained through question and answer, and that the questioning must go on until no more questions can be asked or answered; (2) the application of this theory develops scientific skepticism and plays havoc with credulity. The pupil demands proof and begins to understand what the word means; (3) he learns how difficult it is to arrive at certainty and he becomes conscious and cautious in his own affirmations ; (4) a high standard is set in the organization of knowledge and in the careful formulation of it, that the statement may correspond to the evidence; (5) finally, the practical xii Preface training in historical proof supplies the pupil with the means of distinguishing between good and bad, scientific and popular secondary works. One who has had a good, stiff course in historical proof will have no great difficulty in evaluating correctly the life of Napoleon by Watson and the same life written by Fournier. The intensive critical study does not in any sense render antiquated the short narrative text, col- lateral readings in secondary works and sources, or the use of any other scholarly means of acquiring knowledge of historical data; it makes it possible to use them more safely and more effectively. The translation of the sources fell, as usual, to Mrs. Fling. The shortness of the time allowed for the completion of the work did not permit her, unfortunately, to extend her collaboration to the sources of the last problem. The acknowledgment of her important share in the preparation of the volume is a most grateful task and a fitting close to this preface. Fred Morrow Fling. The University of Nebraska, May 25, 1913. PROBLEM I I. — The Oath of the Tennis Court PARALLEL SOURCE PROBLEMS ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION The Oath of the Tennis Court A. THE HISTORIC SETTING OF THE PROBLEM THE French Revolution may be characterized in a general way as a struggle against arbitrary govern- ment and privilege. As a revolt against arbitrary gov- ernment, it united all classes in France against the abso- lute monarchy; as an attack upon privileges, it divided France into two hostile camps — the clergy and nobility, on the one hand, the rest of the nation on the other. Class rivalry did not manifest itself until the united at- tack of the three orders had forced Louis XVI. to summon the states general. The parliament of Paris was the leader of the revolt against arbitrary government. The peculiar right it pos- sessed of remonstrating against the inscription upon its register of royal edicts in reality associated it with the king in the work of legislation. The practice of the parlia- ment of amending, and even of vetoing, the royal edicts presented to it was looked upon by the king and his ministers as an encroachment upon royal authority; the king was supposed to be the sole legislator. The parlia- 3 7. : :/: :•: 0^3 .?rehch Revolution ment refused to subscribe to this political dogma, and, al- though in no sense a representative body, it aspired to play the rdle of the English parliament, and to limit the power of the crown in the interest of the aristocracy. In June, 1787, posing as a defender of the interests of the common people, it resisted an increase of taxes and re- fused to register new tax edicts until it had been con- vinced by a statement of receipts and expenses that it was impossible for the government to escape from the financial straits in which it found itself by a resort to thorough economy. When the government insisted, and its need was evident, the parliament avoided registration and in- creased taxes by declaring that the states general, com- posed of the representatives of all France, alone had the right to grant new taxes, and the king was invited to call that body together. The king had no desire to convoke the states general, fearing a limitation of his power; the parliament, it would appear, used the idea of a convocation of the states general as a means of escaping the necessity of registering tax edicts which would have diminished their own revenues. If the parliament really desired the calling of the estates, it was in the old form which would have enabled them to play a leading r61e in the assembly, and to increase the authority of the privileged classes at the expense of the monarchy. The king enforced the registration of the tax edicts in a lit de justice, but the parliament refused to recognize this act as legal and the whole parliament was exiled to Troyes. This did not give permanent relief to the royal treasury, and a compromise was effected, the parliament agreeing to the continuance of a tax which was about to expire, and the king consent- ing to recall the new tax edicts. This gave the king breathing space and enabled him to enter into negotia- tions with some of the members of the parliament for the 4 The Oath of the Tennis -Court registration of a large loan, to extend over several years, which would enable the government to put its house in order. In return for the favor of registration the minis- try evidently promised to call the states general. In the royal session held for the registration of the loans the government presented a program which contained no satisfactory statement touching the meeting of the states general. Some of the members of the parliament appealed to the king to set an early date for the estates, but he made no response, and the session ended with the regis- tration of the edicts according to the forms of a lit de justice. The parliament protested, and some of its mem- bers were exiled or imprisoned. This was in November, 1787. The parliament had stirred up the nation by its call for the states general, but it showed no desire to press the matter. There was strife between the king and the parliament from November, 1787, to August, 1788; but the point at issue was not the calling of the estates. The parliament presented petition after petition to the king asking the release of its members and protesting against the use of lettres de cachet. The king did not yield; he even prepared to escape from the tutelage of the parliaments by reorganizing them and de- priving them of the right to register edicts. This power was to be placed in the hands of a body called the cour pleniere the members of which were to be appointed by the king. The reorganization of the parliament was coupled with an excellent program of judicial reform. In May, 1788, the government held lits de justice in all the parliaments of the kingdom for the purpose of registering the reform edicts. The resistance of all classes was so pronounced — the parliaments being looked upon as the last bulwark against despotism — that, although the regis- tration was effected, the reform of the courts was not 2 5 . . . .. ... ...-Thej French Revolution *•.::•* :. V :V *::•.:••••.••• successfully carried out, nor did the cour pleniere ever become active. In the summer of 1788 it was clear to keen observers that France was in the midst of a crisis, and that the convocation of the estates, demanded by all classes, could not be avoided. The treasury was almost empty, credit was declining, and the minister of finance, by an unwise measure, precipitated a financial crisis. The king yielded to the inevitable by promising the es- tates for May, 1789. With the definite promise of a national assembly for 1789, the struggle against arbitrary power had ended in a great victory; it was said that by yielding to this demand the king had abdicated. But who was to profit by the victory ? The organization of the estates would be the answer to that question. France could be reformed, privileges abolished only in a single assembly governed by majority rule, an assembly in which the third estate had a representation equal at least to that of the clergy and nobility combined. The questions of the double representation for the third estate and the vote by head, instead of by order, divided France into two hostile camps. They were discussed in the press with ever- growing bitterness, and in some of the provinces the parties even came to blows. What attitude would the government take toward the questions? Necker had been recalled, but showed no inclination to lose his popu- larity with one group by deciding in favor of its opponents. He hoped to save himself by throwing the responsibility of making a decision upon some one else. The edicts of May were withdrawn, the parliaments recalled in Septem- ber, and the edict summoning the estates in 1789 was laid before the parliament of Paris for registration. In transcribing it upon its registers the parliament declared itself in favor of estates organized in the form of 1614 — 6 The Oath of the Tennis Court that is to say, it opposed double representation for the third estate and .vote by head. The other parliaments of France took the same view. Their popularity vanished as if by magic. The form of 1614 was not satisfactory to Necker. He hoped for a compromise between the views of the third estate and of the two other orders. The estates, he be- lieved, should be made up of representatives of the three orders, with double representation for the third estate. In dealing with questions of finance and of general in- terest the representatives should sit in a single assembly and the majority should rule ; in other cases there should be three assemblies, and each should have the power to veto the acts of the others. Hoping to get support for this view, he summoned, in November, 1788, the old assembly of the nobles called into existence the preceding year by Calonne. The assembly sat for several weeks, and finally decided against double representation and vote by head. Before, however, this decision had been reached the parliament of Paris had attempted to regain its popu- larity by interpreting its action of September. It de- clared that the number of representatives of the different orders had never been definitely fixed, and even if double representation were granted to the third estate the con- stitution would not be changed so long as the three es- tates sat in different halls and each possessed the veto power. That the double representation without the single assembly was valueless and harmless was under- stood by the leaders of the third estate from the very outset. The parliament gained nothing by its action. It was asserted that the action of the parliament was due to the influence of Necker, trying to find support in some group for the course he had decided to follow. Decem- ber 27, 1788, the king in council, on the recommendation 7 The French Revolution of Necker, declared in favor of double representation for the third estate, but left the question of vote by head in suspense. The first bitter struggle of the revolution was to center around this important question. In the instructions given to the representatives to the estates by their constituents it is easy to see how clearly the deep significance of the issue was understood; a single assembly meant the reformation of France, three assem- blies the preservation of the ancien regime. The great mass of the deputies of the third estate were instructed to sit only in a single assembly and vote by head; the great majority of the clergy and nobility were instructed not to sit in a single assembly and not to vote by head. At the opening of the estates on May 5, 1789, neither the king nor his two ministers — one of them Necker — uttered anything definite on the vexed question. Even in the matter of the verification of the credentials of the deputies the government took no action, leaving the whole problem to the deputies themselves. It proved to be an apple of discord. For more than five weeks the question of how shall the credentials of the estates be verified occupied the atten- tion of France. Why did the discord break out over a matter so trivial in appearance? Both parties, those favoring a single assembly and those advocating the old form with three, looked upon the form of verification as fundamentally important; the settlement of that ques- tion might at the same time dispose of the larger ques- tion lying back of it. Verification of all the credentials in a single assembly would be a victory for the third estate, and would create a precedent in favor of a per- manent single legislative body. If the deputies once sat together in a single hall, it was feared they could not be separated again into three chambers. The question of 8 The Oath of the Tennis Court the verification of credentials, then, meant a preliminary skirmish for position, which might decide the fate of the great battle. The nobility verified its own credentials and organized as a separate body, a chamber of the estates; the cbrgy began to verify its credentials, but when it learned that the third estate was doing nothing, showed a readiness to negotiate; the third estate did not organ- ize, but waited for the other orders to join them for com- mon verification, even invited them informally to do so. The clergy replied by proposing the appointment of a committee composed of members of the three orders to consider in a conference the matter in dispute. This proposition was finally accepted by both the other orders, although there was little possibility of any good coming from such discussions. The nobility entered the confer- ence insisting that they were organized as an indepen- dent chamber; and the commons, as the third estate called themselves, instructed their delegates to discuss nothing but the verification of credentials. The discussion in the conferences, conducted chiefly by the nobility and com-, mons, was fruitless. Both sides realized the greatness of the interests at stake, and would make no concessions. The conferences ended, and the commons appealed to the clergy, "in the name of the God of peace," to bring their credentials into the common hall. The majority of the clergy would doubtless have accepted this invitation had not the king been induced to interfere and to ask for a renewal of the conferences in the presence of his ministers. The conferences were renewed, and after several meetings, in which the nobility and the commons repeated their old arguments, Necker presented a plan for verification which recognized the existence of the separate chambers and paved the way for the adoption of his plan of general and separate assemblies. The plan 9 The French Revolution was accepted by the clergy, but such restrictions were made by the nobility that it was practically nullified. The commons took advantage of this situation to escape the necessity of expressing their opinion. The plan never had any chance of success and was never debated. For several days before the second series of conferences closed it was evident that the commons were preparing to act. They introduced enough organization into their assembly to make it possible for them to act as a deliber- ative body. On June ioth they voted to summon the clergy and the nobility to bring their credentials at once into the common hall for verification, and announced their intention of proceeding with the verification if the other deputies did not appear. The summons was delivered on the twelfth — the eleventh being a holiday — and in the afternoon of the same day the roll call of deputies began in the general hall. The names of the clergy and nobility were read, and when they failed to respond they were treated as absent. On the morning of June 15th the roll call had been finished, the credentials had been exam- ined and favorably reported upon. The next question for the commons to consider was what they should call themselves? Were they the states general? That could hardly be true in the absence of the other two estates. Some expression must be found that would enable the commons to organize as the majority of the deputies representing the nation, but which at the same time would be elastic enough to embrace the deputies of the other two orders when they finally joined the third estate. Several such titles were proposed, and for two days, in the presence of crowded galleries, the commons engaged in one of the most important debates of the early revolution. The title national assembly was proposed, but attracted little attention at the outset. 10 The Oath of the Tennis Court When Sieyes, who had advocated a more conservative title, adopted the shorter and more revolutionary one, its success was assured. On the morning of June 17th the commons declared themselves the national assembly. It was the first revolutionary step. It was a declaration of the existence of a single assembly, made up of the rep- resentatives of the French people, without distinction of order, having the right to make a constitution for France, and recognizing the existence of no veto power between it and the king. If this act were allowed to go unchallenged, the old constitution, with its political and civil inequalities, was doomed. The representatives of the middle class would sweep away the ancien regime and create a new France. The king could not look with unconcern upon this bold act of the commons. The assumption of the "power to make a constitution threatened not only the privileges of the clergy and nobility, but his own unrestricted authority. In the presence of a common danger the monarchy and the privileged classes drew near to each other. Urged on by the court, the parliaments, the clergy, and the nobility, the ministry decided to abandon its policy of inaction, to gather up the reins which were slipping from its grasp, and to save the old constitution. A royal session of the estates should be held, and the king should announce his wishes. But what were these wishes? Should Louis XVI. place himself at the head of the commons and be- come the king of the revolution? Should he annul the action of the commons and defend the ancien regime as a whole? Or, while annulling the action of June 17th, should he propose a reform program, representing the policy of his reign previous to the meeting of the estates ? The plan proposed by Necker was opposed by some of the ministers. On the same day that Necker presented u The French Revolution his plan the majority of the clergy voted to verify their credentials in common with the third estate. Unless something were done, the union of the clergy with the commons would take place the next day, and a situation would be created far more difficult for the government 'to deal with than that resulting from the vote of June 17th. The ministers decided to prevent the union by closing the hall and suspending the estates until the royal session" of June 2 2d. This action on the part of the government led the commons, on June 20th, to take the famous "Oath of the Tennis Court." B. CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY i. Proces-verbal de Vassemblee nationale. Paris, 1789. This is the official minutes of the assembly, written by the secretaries of the assembly, read before the assembly for correction, and printed by the official printer. The official manuscript account from which the printed account was taken is in the national archives in Paris. It is in the handwriting of Camus. 2. Le point du jour. This was a daily edited by Bar&re, a member of the third estate. It contained nothing but an account of the debates of the assembly, an account without comment, full of detail, and remarkably free from prejudice. Barere was born in 1755, was a practising lawyer at the bar of Bordeaux before 1789, and was elected deputy to the national assembly from Bigorre. 3. Vassemblee nationale. This paper was a daily written by Lehodey, a professional journalist. Its name changed several times, the first numbers bearing the title of the Etats-generaux. It contained little but the debates of the assembly. The accounts of the debates were full, 12 The Oath of the Tennis Court but there was considerable comment, and it was not diffi- cult to tell what the sentiments of Lehodey were. 4. Bailly, Memoires, 3 vols., Paris, 1804. Bailly was born in Paris in 1736. He was already celebrated as an astronomer and a member of the three French academies when he was elected to the states general by the third estate of Paris. He was president of the national assem- bly on June 20th. His Memoires, describing the events of 1789, were written in 1792, between January and June, while he was residing at his country place near Nantes. The original manuscript, in Bailly's handwriting, is in the library of the chamber of deputies in Paris. 5. Duquesnoy, Journal, 2 vols., Paris, 1894. This work is not a journal, but a series of letters, or bulletins, written by Duquesnoy to his constituents. Duquesnoy, born in 1759, represented the third estate of Bar-le-Duc. The manuscript from which the two volumes were printed — now in the manuscript section of the national library in Paris — was not in the handwriting of Duquesnoy, but there is sufficient internal evidence to prove conclusively that he was the author of the bulletins. 6. Young, Arthur, Travels in France, fourth edition, London, 1892. Arthur Young, the English agriculturist, born in 1741, made three journeys across France, the last in 1789. In June, 1789, he was in Paris, watching the revolution with the deepest interest and making notes in his journal. He was a well-informed man, used the French language well, and was in social touch with all the distinguished Frenchmen of his day. 7. Mounier, Recherches sur les causes qui ont empeche les Francois de devenir libres, 2 vols., Geneva, 1792. Mounier was a member of the third estate from Dauphine. He was born at Grenoble in 1758, was an advocate at the bar of his native city, and later a judge royal. He had 13 The French Revolution been a leader in the revolution in the Dauphine" in 1788. His pamphlets on the organization of the states general made him famous throughout France. When the assem- bly followed the king to Paris in October, Mounier, feel- ing that the assembly had gone too far in depriving the king of his power, retired to Dauphine and tried to call the provincial estates together to protest against the ac- tion of the national assembly. When this action was pro- hibited by the assembly, he left France for Switzerland, and there wrote the work from which the extract was taken. It was a description and criticism of the revo- lution up to the time of writing. In June, 1789, he was one of the most prominent men of the third estate at Versailles. 8. Malouet, Memoires, 2 vols., Paris, 1868. Malouet was born in 1740, and had passed the most of his life in the government service. He was intendant of marine in 1788. In 1789 he was elected to the national assembly by the third estate of Riom. He was a conservative, and on account of his position as a government official was suspected of acting in the interest of the ministry, and was distrusted by the liberal members of the assembly. Malouet wrote his Memoires in 1808, six years before his death. 9. Biauzat, Vie et correspondence, 2 vols., Paris, 1890. Gaultier de Biauzat was born in 1739. He was a member of the bar of Clermont-Ferrand, and in 1789 was elected to the states general by the third estate of Clermont. While in Versailles he wrote letters to his constituents. The originals are found in the library of Clermont. 10. Rabaut, Precis historique de la revolution /ran- caise, Paris, 18 13. Rabaut de Saint-Etienne was born in 1743. A protestant pastor, leader of the French protes- tants, he was elected to the states general by the third H The Oath of the Tennis Court estate of Nimes. His Precis was written in the latter part of I79 1 - ii. Dorset, Despatches from Paris, 2 vols., London, 1909, 1 9 10. Dorset was the English ambassador to France in 1789. The original despatches from which this collection was made are found in the Record Office in London. 12. Bailli de Virieu, Correspondance, Paris, 1903. The Bailli de Virieu was the minister of Parma to the court of Versailles. The original of the letters, written in Italian, to his home government, are found in the archives of Parma. They are among the most valuable of the correspondence of the foreign ministers at that time in Paris. The Marquis de Virieu, in 1884, copied the Italian letters in the archives of Parma and made a French translation of them. The English text in the extract given below is, then, a translation of a French translation of an Italian original. C. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY 1. How many of the writers of the sources contained in this study were eye-witnesses of the events they de- scribed ? 2. How many of the sources describing the events of June 20th at Versailles are independent? 3. Upon what sources are the dependent ones dependent? 4. Are all the sources in this study, written by eye-witnesses, equally valuable? Give the reasons for thinking some less valuable than others. 5. Some eye-witnesses reproduce the accounts of other eye- witnesses, thus placing their stamp of approval upon them. Does that increase the value of these accounts? Cite cases and give reasons. 6. Prove that there were two sessions of the national assembly on June 20th. 15 The French Revolution 7. When and where was the Proces-verbal of the first session written? 8. Why did not the first Proces-verbal contain copies of the letters which passed between Bailly and De Breze? 9. For what hour had the opening of the session of the twentieth been fixed? 10. At what hour did it open? 11. At what time did the deputies begin to gather at the hall? 12. At what hour did the heralds announce the suspension of the session? What two forms did this announcement take? 13. How long was Bailly in conference with the secretaries? What inference would you draw from this? 14. What did Bailly mean by saying he had "received no order from the king," when he had just received orders from the grand master of ceremonies? 15. Why did Bailly not answer the second letter of De Br6ze? 16. Where was the first session of the twentieth held, how long did it last, and what was done in the session? 17. Why was the situation in the avenue before the hall a seri- ous one on the morning of the twentieth between nine and ten o'clock? 18. Why were the members of the assembly so disturbed over the closing of their hall? 19. Why did they take an oath? 20. What was the significance of the oath? 21. Why did the members take the oath orally and also sign their names to documents upon which the oath had been transcribed? 22. Why were the deputies so indignant at the action of Martin d'Auch? 23. Is the Assemblee nationale right in saying that Guilhermy retired without signing? 24. What proof do you find in the sources that the deputies and the crowd were very desirous of retaining the good will of the king? 16 The Oath of the Tennis Court 25. How do you reconcile such an attitude with the taking of the oath? 26. Why did the session of June 20th last so long? 27. What other action on June 20th proves that the assembly intended to defend its decree of June 20th even against the king? 28. What did contemporaries think of the action of June 20th and its probable consequences? 29. Was the "Oath of the Tennis Court" really a very impor- tant act in the history of the revolution? 30. Establish the facts for June 20th, make a synthesis, citing the proof, and write a narrative with notes. D. The Sources i. Procds-verbal de VassembUe nationale, No. J, Saturday, June 20, 1789. At nine o'clock in the morning, the hour indicated for the session of the national assembly, 1 the presi- s dent and the two secretaries presented themselves at the door of the principal entrance; they found it guarded by soldiers and saw a large number of deputies who could not enter. The president asked for the officer of the guard. The Comte de Vassan 10 presented himself and said he had been ordered to prevent any one from entering the hall on ac- count of preparations which were being made for a royal session. The president told him that he protested against the obstacles put in the way is of holding the session fixed yesterday for this hour, and he declared it open. The Comte de Vassan having added that he was authorized to allow the officers of the assembly to enter to get the papers they might need, the president and the 20 1 At the close of the Prods-verbal, No. 2, is the statement, "The president adjourned the session until to-morrow at eight o'clock instead of nine." Nine was the regular hour. 18 The Oath of the Tennis Court secretaries entered and saw in truth that the most of the benches in the hall had been removed, and that all the passageways were guarded by a large number of soldiers. They noticed in the court and s on the outside door several placards conceived in these terms: THE STATES GENERAL. BY ORDER OF THE KING "The king having resolved to hold a royal session of the states general on Monday the 2 2d of June, 10 the preparations to be made in the three halls which serve for the meetings of the orders make it neces- sary to suspend these meetings until after the hold- ing of the said session. His Majesty will make known by a fresh proclamation the hour at which is on Monday he will betake himself to the assembly of the estates. Versailles, at the Royal Printing- house, 1789." The president and the two secretaries having gone out, they betook themselves to the tennis court in 20 Tennis Court Street, where the members of the assembly successively gathered. Signed: Bailly, President; Camus, Secretary; Pison du Galland, Jr., Secretary. On the same day at half past ten in the morning, as in the hall of the tennis court, street of the Tennis Court, the assembly being complete, the president 19 The French Revolution gave an account of two letters which he had received this morning from the Marquis de Breze, grand master of ceremonies. The first is of the following tenor : 5 "Versailles, June 20 , 1789. "The King having ordered me, Sir, to make public by heralds his intention to hold on Monday the twenty-second of this month a royal session, and at the same time his purpose to suspend the assemblies, 10 which the preparations to be made in the three halls of the orders render necessary, I have the honor to inform you of it. I am with respect, Sir, your very humble and very obedient servant, the Marquis de Breze. is " P. S. — I believe it would be well, Sir, if you would charge the secretaries with the responsibility of gathering up the papers for fear they might be lost. Would you also, Sir, have the kindness to have the names of the secretaries sent to me, that I may give 20 instructions permitting them to enter, the necessity of not interrupting the task of the workmen, who have no time to spare, not making it possible to ad- mit everybody to the halls.' ' The president said he had replied to this letter ,25 in the following terms: "I have not yet received any order from the King, Sir, for the royal session, nor for the suspension of the assemblies; and it is my duty to go to the 20 The Oath of the Tennis Court one I set for this morning at eight o'clock. I am," etc. In reply to this letter, the Marquis de Breze wrote him the second, the tenor of which is as follows: s "Versailles, June 20 , ijSg. "It was by positive orders of the King that I had the honor to write to you this morning, Sir, and to inform you that His Majesty, wishing to hold a royal session on Monday, which calls for prepara- 10 tions in the three assembly halls of the orders, his intention was that no one shall be allowed to enter there, that the sessions should be suspended until after the one His Majesty will hold. I am with respect, Sir, your most humble and most obedient is servant, the Marquis de Breze." After the reading of these letters the president gave an account of the facts recorded in the minutes of this day and had the minutes read. The assembly, having deliberated, passed the 20 following decree by a unanimous , vote, lacking one: "The national assembly, considering itself called to establish the constitution of the kingdom, to work for the regeneration of public order, and to maintain as the true principles of the monarchy, cannot be pre- vented in any way from continuing its deliberations, in whatever place it may be forced to establish it- 3 21 The French Revolution self, and, finally, wherever its members are gathered, there is the national assembly; " Resolves that all the members of this assembly immediately take a solemn oath never to separate, s and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom shall be es- tablished and fixed on solid foundations; and that, the said oath being taken, all the members and each one of them in particular, shall confirm by their io signatures this unshakable resolution." The decree having been read, the president re- quested that he and the secretaries might take the oath first, which they did at once; thereupon the assembly took the same oath at the dictation of its is president. The president having reported to the assembly that the Bureau of Verifications had been unani- mously in favor of the provisional admittance of the deputies of Saint- Domingo, the national as- 20 sembly voted that the said deputies should be ad- mitted provisionally, for which they expressed their deep appreciation. Consequently, they took the oath and were admitted to sign the decree. The taking of the oath was followed by reiterated 25 and universal cries of "Long live the King!" and at once the roll was called by baillages, senechaus- sees, provinces, and cities, in alphabetical order, and each of the members present, upon responding to the call, approached the desk and signed. . . . 22 The Oath of the Tennis Court [List of signers follows here.] After the deputies had affixed their signatures some of the deputies whose credentials had not yet been verified and the substitutes presented them- 5 selves and requested to be permitted to give their adhesion to the decree passed by the assembly and to affix their signatures to it. This having been accorded by the assembly, they signed. . . . [List of signers follows here.] io In the name of the assembly, the president noti- fied the committee on food supply to meet to-mor- row at the lodgings of the oldest member among those composing it. The assembly voted that the minutes of this day shall be printed by the printer is of the national assembly. The session was ad- journed to Monday, the 2 2d of this month, in the hall and at the usual hour. The president and the secretaries signed: Bailly, President; Camus, Sec- retary; Pison du Galland, Jr., Secretary. 20 2 . Le point du jour, No. 4. After the vote passed by the clergy, an immense crowd of spectators betook themselves Saturday at a very early hour to the hall of the national assem- bly. They wished to witness a union so much the as more remarkable, as the majority was constantly in- creasing through the addition of new signers; but the military force already prohibited entrance and arrested this patriotic curiosity. 23 The French Revolution About nine o'clock the president of the assembly and the two secretaries presented themselves at the principal door; entrance having been refused to them as well as to a large number of deputies, the s president asked for the officer of the guard. The Comte de Vassan presented himself and said he had been ordered to prevent any one entering the hall, because of preparations which were being made for a royal session. M. Bailly declared to him with io firmness that he protested against the obstacles put in the way of the holding of the session fixed yesterday for to-day, and which he declared open. The Comte de Vassan having added that he was authorized to allow the officers to enter to get the 15 papers they might need, the president and the secretaries entered. They saw, in truth, that the most of the benches had been removed, and that all the passageways of the hall were guarded by sol- diers. They noticed at the same time in the court 20 and on the outside door several placards, the tenor of which we have given in the last number. The president and the two secretaries betook themselves soon after to the tennis court near Saint- Francis Street, where the members of the assembly 25 went also ; and, finding that nearly all of them had gathered there, they held their session and continued to deliberate upon public questions, perfectly con- vinced that the national assembly existed in any place where its members had come together. 24 The Oath of the Tennis Court At about half past ten, the assembly being com- plete, the president gave an account of two letters which he had received in the morning from the Marquis de Breze, grand master of ceremonies, and s of the reply he had made to them. First letter of M. de Breze* "The King having ordered me, Sir, to make public by heralds his intention to hold on Monday, the twenty-second of this month, a royal session, and at io the same time his purpose to suspend the assem- blies, which the preparations to be made in the three halls of the orders render necessary, I have the honor to inform you of it. I am with respect, Sir," etc. " P. S. — I believe it would be well, Sir, if you would is charge the secretary with the responsibility of gath- ering up the papers for fear they might be lost. Would you also have the kindness to have the names of the secretaries sent to me, that I may give in- structions permitting them to enter, the necessity 20 of not interrupting the task of the workmen, who have no time to spare, not making it possible to admit everybody to the halls." Reply of the president of the national assembly "I have not yet received any order from the King, as Sir, for the royal session, nor for the suspension of the assemblies, and it is my duty to go to the one I set for this morning at eight o'clock." 25 The French Revolution Second letter of M. de Breze "It was by positive orders of the King that I had the honor to write to you this morning, Sir, and in- form you that His Majesty, wishing to hold a royal s session on Monday, which calls for preparations in the three assembly halls of the orders, his intention was that no one should be allowed to enter, and that the sessions should be suspended until after the one His Majesty will hold. I am with respect," etc. io After the reading of these letters, the assembly, having deliberated, passed unanimously the follow- ing decree : "The national assembly, considering itself called to establish the constitution of the kingdom, to work is for the regeneration of public order, and to maintain the true principles of the monarchy, cannot be pre- vented in any way from continuing its deliberations in whatever place it may be forced to establish itself, and, finally, wherever its members are gathered, 20 there is the national assembly ; resolved that all the members of this assembly immediately take the solemn oath never to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require until the constitu- tion of the kingdom shall be established and fixed 25 on solid bases ; and, that the oath being taken, all the members and each one of them in particular shall con- firm by their signatures this unshakable resolution." 26 The Oath of the Tennis Court After the reading of this decree the president re- quested that he and the secretaries might take the oath first. The president took the oath alone, and he had the secretaries take the oath after the fol- s lowing formula: "We swear never to separate from the national assembly, and to reassemble where cir- cumstances may require until the constitution of the kingdom shall be established and fixed on solid foundations." Then the assembly took the same io oath at the dictation of its president. A minute before, the deputies of the colony of Saint-Domingo had presented themselves to ask permission to asso- ciate themselves provisionally with the nation by taking the same oath. The report of the committee 15 on credentials having been favorable to this provi- sional request, the assembly granted it, and they took the same oath. This ceremony formed the most imposing spectacle. It was followed by applause and reiterated and universal cries of "Long live the 20 King!" The oath taken, the Marquis de Gouy ad- dressed the assembly, saying: "The colony of Saint- Domingo was very young when it gave itself to Louis XIV.; to-day, richer and more brilliant, it puts itself under the protection of the national as assembly, and declares that it will henceforth call itself a national colony." The roll call of the deputies of the baillages, the s£n6chaussees, the provinces, and cities took place according to alphabetical order, and each one of the 27 The French Revolution members, on responding, approached the desk and signed. During the roll call, and in his turn, a deputy of the senechaussee of Castelnaudary signed opposed. s Camus, one of the secretaries, announced it to the assembly, and there arose a general cry of indigna- tion. The president having first asked that the reasons of the one opposed be heard, the latter de- clared that he did not believe he could swear to exe- io cute deliberations which had not been sanctioned by the king. The president replied to him that the assembly had already made public the same prin- ciples in its addresses and deliberations, and that it was in the hearts and minds of all the members of is the assembly to recognize the necessity of the royal sanction for all resolutions passed upon the constitu- tion and legislation. The deputy in opposition hav- ing persisted in his opinion, it was voted that his signature should be left on the document to prove 20 the liberty of opinion. The roll call of the deputies and the signing of the decree having been finished at about half past four, the question came up of preparing an address to the king to inform him of this decree. Chapelier, De Gouy, and some others as improvised addresses, but the assembly did not make use of them, and it resolved that the president should simply present to the king the above decree, at the same time testifying to his majesty its astonish- ment and its grief at having been interrupted in the 28 The Oath of the Tennis Court holding of its sessions without having been previous- ly notified. Before the end of this session, which lasted until six o'clock, it was decided that that of the assembly was adjourned and continued on Mon- s day at the usual hour. It was also decided that if the royal session took place in the national hall all the members would remain there after the adjourn- ment of the session to take up their deliberations and usual tasks. Finally the printing of the min- io utes and the decree of this day was ordered, that they might be made public the next day. \Yesterday, Sunday, no session. 3. Uassemblee nationale, I, 160. The 20th. They were on their way to the hall of the estates, is as usual, and at the hour indicated, when they heard announced in the streets by heralds at arms that which follows: "The King having resolved to hold a royal session of the states general, Monday, June 2 2d, the preparations to be made in the three halls 20 which serve for the meetings of the orders make it necessary that these assemblies should be suspended until after the holding of the said session. His Majesty will make known by a new proclamation the hour at which he will betake himself on Monday 2s to the assembly of the estates." The deputies, seeing in this proclamation no particular order not to go to the hall, seeing in it only an exhibition of authority, only an outrage upon the liberty of the entire nation, and which it is always glorious to repulse with all 29 The French Revolution one's power, took one and all the road to the usual place of their session. Having arrived at the gate of the Menus, what a novel spectacle! The deputies found there French guards, officers of the guards, s who with fixed bayonets and drawn swords would have plunged like vile assassins the sword of despot- ism into the breast of the citizen, of the representa- tive of the nation, whom the profound sense of in- justice would have cast into the midst of these io sacrilegious battalions. And who would believe it ? It is a deputy who commands these French Guards, it is the Due du Chatelet, it is he who figures among the representatives of the nobility, and who is the leading fanatic on the side of the majority. is I cannot express here the sentiments the deputies experienced: some, filled with the keenest sorrow, saw in the future nothing but the dissolution of the estates; others were filled with indignation at seeing the majesty of the nation thus profaned, vilified by 20 an exhibition of authority which since the monarchy reposes upon unshakable foundations and in the most oppressive reigns has never seen the like. But no deputy was frightened; the love of the public welfare, devotion to country, bolstered up their as courage and inspired them with resolutions, one after the other, worthy of the finest ages of Rome or Sparta. Gathered in groups in the Avenue de Versailles, they asked one another reciprocally what should be 30 The Oath of the Tennis Court done in such trying circumstances. Here some one cried out in a loud voice: "Let us all go to Marly. Let us go there, right in front of the chateau, and hold our session; let us force into the hearts of our s enemies the fear with which they have filled ours ; let them tremble in their turn. The king announces a royal session, he has postponed it [the session] until next Monday. This delay is too long; he shall hold it immediately; he shall come down io from his chateau and will only have to place himself in the midst of his people." There some one said: "What! Do they want to dissolve the estates? Does the government want to plunge the country into the horrors of civil war? is Everywhere there is lack of food; everywhere fears of famine exist. For two years French blood has been reddening the ground; we were going to put an end to these misfortunes, to raise the thick veil with which the activities of the monopolists were 20 covered, to free the government itself from the charge of having starved the people, to prove that the two hundred millions which are in the royal treasury do not come from this crime, and it stopped us in our course!" as " Let them open our annals; the Louis XL's, the Mazarins, the Richelieus, the Briennes have at- tacked, rended, oppressed corporations, individuals; but does one believe that twelve hundred deputies of the nation are subject to the caprices, to the chang- 3i The French Revolution ing, momentary whim of a despotic ministry?" Such were the different emotions of the deputies who in the midst of those who surrounded them, of travel- ers who stopped to contemplate this spectacle, of s the people who gathered in crowds, expressed the sentiments of their hearts with that frankness, that liberty which formerly animated those ancient Romans in the public places. Some wished to assemble in the Place d'Armes. io It is there, they said, that we must revive those beautiful days of our history; it is there we will hold the Champ de Mai. Others wished to gather in the gallery [of the chateau] and there give the novel spectacle of speaking the language of liberty by is the side of that sinister hall in which, a short time since, was designated for the executioner the head of him who had pronounced this sacred word ; when it was announced to the assembly that M. Bailly had just entered the hall with two commissioners 20 and twenty deputies to take away the papers left there the evening before; that M. Bailly had then fixed the place of assembly in the tennis court, Rue Saint-Francois. Groups of deputies united to go to the place in- 25 dicated by the president. At the opening of the meeting M. Bailly announced that he had received this morning a letter from the Marquis de Breze of the following content: "The King having ordered me, Sir, to make public 32 The Oath of the Tennis Court by the heralds at arms that he was going to hold a royal session next Monday, June 2 2d, and to pre- pare in consequence the halls of the states general, I have the honor to inform you of it. I am with s respect," etc. M. Bailly added that he had replied in the follow- ing terms: "Not having yet received orders of the King, Sir, the assembly being announced for eight o'clock, I shall go where duty calls me." 10 Hardly had the reading of this reply ended when a second letter of M. de Breze to the president was announced. The Marquis de Breze excused him- self by saying that he had been charged by the king to notify the president, and that it was equally by is the orders of his majesty that he had placed sentinels at the doors of the estates. It appeared from this letter that it was the Mar- quis de Brez6 who had rendered himself guilty of high treason against the nation by placing troops 20 at the door of the national hall. It appeared also that he should be charged with this crime if he could not justify himself by an order in the handwriting of the king. The assembly made some observations upon the criminal conduct of the grand master, but 25 it had other causes of alarm which did not permit it to fix its attention upon a single individual. M. Bailly described with force and energy the frightful situation of the national assembly; he sug- gested the discussion of the question of what course 33 The French Revolution the assembly should take at such a stormy moment. There was but one opinion, adopted unanimously; it was due to M. Mounier. In truth, some changes were made in it. M. Target, M. le Chapelier, M. s Barnave supported the measure he proposed with that eloquence of the moment which difficulties arouse, which the sentiment of liberty animates, and that courage which struggles against danger and turns to steel against obstacles. One would have io imagined that he was listening to Cicero thundering from the tribune against the faction of Catiline. Here is the decree as it was passed: DECREE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, JUNE 20TH " The national assembly considering that, called to is fix the constitution of the kingdom, effect the regener- ation of public order, and maintain the true prin- ciples of the monarchy, nothing can prevent it from continuing its deliberations and consummating the important work for which it has assembled, in what- 20 soever place it may be forced to establish itself, and that, finally, wherever its members may meet, there is the national assembly; decrees that all its members shall take at once a solemn oath never to separate, and to assemble wherever circumstances as may demand until the constitution of the kingdom and the regeneration of public order shall be estab- lished on solid bases, and that, the oath being taken by all the members and by each one in particular, 34 The Oath of the Tennis Court they shall confirm, by their signatures, this unshak- able resolution." As soon as it was approved, applauded, each one took the solemn oath just given. It is thus that s these virtuous citizens devote themselves, for the love of country, to all the dangers which despotism, persecution, and calumny prepare around them; it is thus that they bind themselves in a holy con- spiracy for promoting the welfare of their fellow- io citizens, to respect the fundamental laws of the monarchy, by annihilating the abuses which violate them every day and by posing upon eternal founda- tions the happiness of the country and the splendor of the state. It was not sufficient to pronounce it; is the national assembly wished to sign it and bind itself by the strongest possible chains. That each deputy might come in his turn, there was a general roll call by baillages. All the deputies signed with the enthusiasm of liberty. There were 20 but two men who, incapable of responding to the call of duty, feared to submit to the oath. Two deputies of Castelnaudary, M. Guilhermy, procurer of the king in the presidial, withdrew without sign- ing, 1 M. Martin d'Auch, advocate, signed it, it is as true, but added a protestation to it. No one at the 1 In the facsimiles of the signatures of the oath, published by Brette in his u Serment du Jeu de Paume," the name of Guilhermy is found. 35 The French Revolution time noticed it ; it was only at the end of the signing. M. Bailly asked the assembly if it would consent to have these protests remain in the minutes. Opinions were divided, and it was only after a long debate s that they agreed upon one opinion, which was unani- mously approved. The procd s-verbal, it said, will be printed, and those protests of M. Martin will prove his devotion to the country. M. Martin realized fully the mistake he had allowed himself io to make; he wished to justify himself, advanced to the table, talked some time, but without success. The deputation of Saint-Domingo, which had been admitted to the sessions of the assembly, but with- out having any right to be there, asked to be defi- is nitely admitted in order to sign the oath. M. Bailly said that he had in hand an opinion pronounced by the bureau of verification, which stated that the deputation should be received to the number of twelve. This opinion was followed in the assem- 2obly; the deputies of Saint-Domingo were admitted into the assembly to the number of twelve and took and signed the oath. M. Chapelier proposed, thereupon, to prepare an address to the king; he read a sketch of one, M. 25 Barnave another. But the assembly, while approv- ing them, believed it was not the fitting moment to send an address to the king, as that would be to multiply them, since the assembly some time be- fore had asked the king to fix the time when it could 36 The Oath of the Tennis Court present one to him and it had not yet been indicated. The session closed at six o'clock in the evening, it being voted that next Monday, at eight o'clock in the morning, the assembly should betake itself to 5 the usual place of its session. It was proposed that an orator should be named, but it was replied that it would be useless; that if it was necessary to reply to the king, M. Bailly, the president, would acquit himself of the task with the prudence, the sagacity, io and the respectful courage he has manifested since he had the honor to preside over the assembly. 4. Bailly, M6moires, I, 230. At half past six in the morning, one of my friends, the Chevalier de Panges, who was very much in- 15 terested in the debates of the assembly and who, to follow their course attentively, had established him- self at Versailles and attended every session, came to me and announced that, having gone to the hall, as he did every day, he had been refused entrance. 20 He asked me if I had given orders, and I replied in the negative. ... I sent a messenger to the hall. I was informed that it was surrounded by French guards. I was shown a placard conceived in these terms: "By Order of the King. . . . The King having 35 resolved to hold a royal session of the states general, on the 22d of June, the preparations to be made in the three halls which serve for the meetings of the orders make it necessary to suspend these meetings until after the holding of the said session. His Majesty will 4 37 The French Revolution make known by a fresh proclamation the hour at which on Monday he will betake himself to the assembly of the estates. . . ." A quarter of an hour later I received the following letter from M. le Marquis de Brez6, s grand master of ceremonies : "Versailles, June 20, 1789. "The King having ordered me, Sir, to make public by heralds his intention to hold on Monday, the twenty- second of this month, a royal session, and at the same 10 time his intention to suspend the assemblies, which the preparations to be made in the halls of the three orders render necessary, I have the honor to inform you of it. I am,' 1 etc. This official knowledge came too late, because we 15 had already learned of it by the public rumor and by the occupation of the hall. It was not sufficient, because it should have been made known not only to me, but also to the assembly, and, the hall being closed and the session suspended, I no longer had 20 any means of communicating with the members. . . . After having weighed all the difficulties of the crit- ical situation in which I found myself I felt that the letter of M. de Breze did not exempt me from my duties toward the assembly. Friday evening I 25 had set the hour of the session for the next day at eight o'clock. Nothing could release me from this engagement contracted with it and the session ought 38 * The Oath of the Tennis Court to take place, permitting the assembly, when it had knowledge of the letter, to take, in its wisdom, the course it might judge proper. I wrote immediately to M. de Breze : "I have not yet received any order from 5 the King, Sir, for the royal session, nor for the suspension oj the assemblies; and it is my duty to go to the one I set for this morning at eight o'clock. I have the honor to be" etc. I dressed quickly and called the secretaries to- io gether to consult them upon what we should do. We agreed that we ought to ignore the fact that the hall was closed, to go there as usual and draw up an official statement of the refusal to allow us to enter. In fact, we presented ourselves at the prin- is cipal entrance in the Avenue de Paris, which we found surrounded by a great crowd in which were many deputies. The sentinel stopped us and for- bade us to pass. I asked for the officer of the guard, M. le comte de Vassan, who told me that, the king 20 intending to hold a royal session Monday, the in- dispensable preparations had made it necessary to order the closing of the hall. I replied to him, ac- cording to what had been agreed upon, that I pro- tested against the obstacles put in the way of the 25 holding of the session fixed yesterday for to-day, and which I declared open. After this precaution — necessary in order to safeguard the rights of the legitimately constituted assembly — M. de Vassan had us enter the court in order to get us away from 39 The French Revolution the crowd; in every way he conducted himself tow- ard us with the greatest consideration. As we were getting ready to draw up the minutes, and as it was raining a little, he invited us to enter the building s and to see the hall and convince ourselves that, oc- cupied as it was, it was impossible to hold the session there. As we were about to enter, the crowd of deputies who were outside the grating in the avenue made a movement to follow us. M. de Vassan called io to arms and ran after me to ask me to use my au- thority as president to prevent an attempt to force an entrance; he called my attention to the embar- rassing position in which he found himself between the respect he owed the deputies and his office, is which, according to military law, did not permit him in any case to allow his post to be forced. I trem- bled at the danger; I ran to the grating; I implored the deputies who were without to make no attempt to force the guard and the gate; I assured them that 20 we were coming out to join them. At my voice the movement ceased and everything remained quiet. It was at this moment that a young deputy said to me: "Why do you interfere in this matter? Let it alone.' ' I replied to him, "Sir, you give the advice 2s of a young man." And, in truth, what would have happened if armed force had been opposed to the movement of the deputies, if some of them had been killed and wounded, even if they had been only roughly treated by laying violent hands upon per- 40 The Oath of the Tennis Court sons inviolable and almost sacred on account of their office? It would have produced a general conflagration. We attained our end and succeeded by wiser and more legal means. We entered one s of the offices of the building, and there I received a second letter from M. de Breze, who, not having understood me, explained to me that his letter con- tained the orders of the king: " Versailles, June 20, 178Q. 10 "It was by positive orders of the King that I had the honor to write to you this morning, Sir, and to inform you that, His Majesty wishing to hold a royal session, which calls for preparations in the three assembly halls of the orders, his intention was that no one 15 should be allowed to enter; that the sessions should be suspended until after the one His Majesty will hold. I am," etc. It was not possible for me alone to decide what action should be taken upon the declared intentions 20 of the king, nor even upon orders, because I had no right to bind the assembly. It was its business to deliberate upon what it should do ; I was responsible to it for my actions as it was responsible for its own to the nation. We were in this office with the 25 secretaries and a dozen deputies who had been al- lowed to come in with us. M. de Vassan came and explained to us that longer delay in the interior of 41 The French Revolution the building would compromise him. We saw that he had realized that a document we might draw up and which would be dated from the inside of the building would be in contradiction with his orders, s and would show he had not exactly carried them out. We did not wish to run the risk of embarrassing a man who had comported himself with so much kind- ness and politeness, and we went out. We rejoined the large gathering of deputies in the avenue. All io were of the opinion that it was necessary to call the assembly to order that it might deliberate in so delicate a crisis and, accordingly, to find a suitable hall. M. Guillotin proposed the tennis court. It was voted to go there. I walked at the head of this 15 crowd of deputies, and, for fear that the place might be closed to us for political reasons, asked five or six of the deputies to go ahead and take possession of it. The owner of the tennis court received us with pleasure and hastened to procure for us the 20 greatest number of conveniences possible. Not hav- ing a guard, I asked two deputies to place themselves at the door to prevent strangers from entering. But very soon the guard of the city hall came to ask per- mission to continue their regular service as at the 25 hall, which was granted them with pleasure. Behold, then, the national assembly of France in a tennis court, in a place witness of exercises and games, and which was about to become the witness of the destinies of the empire, in a place where the walls 42 The Oath of the Tennis Court were somber and bare, where there was not a seat to sit upon. An arm-chair was offered to me, but I refused it; I did not wish to be seated before a standing assembly. I remained thus all this tire- s some day. During the whole session we had only five or six benches and one table for writing. But this place was exalted by the majesty which it con- tained; the galleries were filled with spectators, a crowd of people surrounded the door and extended io for a great distance into the streets, and everything announced that it was the nation which honored the tennis court by its presence. The deputies arrived one after another, and each one, suspecting what the ministry was trying to do, is congratulated himself on seeing the others again and on being united with them. As soon as the assembly could be called to order and silence se- cured I reported on the two letters I had received from M. de Breze and on all the steps the secretaries 20 and I had taken. Our conduct was universally approved. They thought that a letter from the grand master of ceremonies was not sufficient, and that a letter from the king himself to the president of the assembly was necessary to communicate di- ss rectly to him his intentions. In short, when the king had something to communicate to the parlia- ment, he wrote to the first president; for matters touching religion he wrote to the Archbishop of Paris. The assembly, even in its incipiency, had a 43 The French Revolution right to ask to be treated as well as the parliament. The maladroitness of the ministry was, then, incon- ceivable, but it helped the national assembly, and its wisdom profited by all the false measures employed s against it. The question as to whether the king had the right to suspend the sessions of the assembly was not treated openly, but the opinion was that it would be very dangerous if the king had this right. It was thought the session could not be suspended, io at least in this manner. The principal and funda- mental question was not ripe; it was sufficient for the present to have avoided the dangers of separa- tion. It was necessary to occupy ourselves with measures to prevent it from coming up again. The is members were excited, and some of them were in- clined toward extreme measures, and were of the opin- ion that the assembly should change its meeting place to Paris, and should depart immediately on foot and in a body. A member wrote out the mo- 20 tion for it ; everything would have been lost if this violent step had been taken. Perhaps a troop of cavalry would have been called out to stop the march. At any rate, they would have separated themselves from the king, and this step would have as had serious consequences. If the motion had been made, it is to be feared that the effervescence of the moment would have led to its adoption by accla- mation and without examination. Another mem- ber had the idea of the oath. A general cry of 44 The Oath of the Tennis Court approbation arose at once, and after a very short dis- cussion the assembly passed the following decree, so simple but so firm: 4 'The national assembly, considering itself called s to establish the constitution of the kingdom, to work for the regeneration of public order, and to maintain the true principles of the monarchy, can- not be prevented in any way from continuing its deliberations, in whatever place it may be forced io to establish itself, and, finally, wherever its members are gathered, there is the national assembly. "Resolved that all the members of this assembly immediately take a solemn oath never to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, is until the constitution of the kingdom shall be estab- lished and fixed upon solid foundations; and that, the said oath being taken, all the members and each one of them in particular shall confirm by their signature this unshakable resolution." 20 The resolution having been passed, I asked, on account of my rank as president, to take the oath first; the secretaries made the same request. When we had taken this solemn oath, the entire assembly took it at my dictation. I pronounced the formula as in a voice so loud and so intelligible that my words were understood by all the people who were in the street, and immediately in the midst of the applause there arose from the assembly and from the crowd of citizens who were without, reiterated and uni- 45 The French Revolution versal cries of "Long live the. King!" The assem- bly, in its firm and courageous conduct, if it took useful precautions against the ministry, if it armed itself against its despotism, was still united heart s and soul with the king, and had no intention of doing anything against his legitimate authority; it had even taken care to declare in its resolution that one of its duties was to maintain the true principles of the monarchy, in order to thoroughly prove to all io that whatever hostility there might be in its meas- ures was directed against despotism and not against the monarchy. This resolution is still one of the monuments of the wisdom of the national assembly. It secured its is safety, it protected the interests of France, and it assured the making of a constitution not yet com- menced. There is no doubt but that there was a desire and a plan to dissolve this assembly which promised to be too formidable; preparations were 20 being made, and without doubt troops were gath- ered in quite large numbers around Paris and Ver- sailles with the intention of making a big change in the ministry and of doing violence to the assembly. It is certain that by the act which the assembly 25 had just passed separation became impossible. If orders had been given they could not have been executed. The experience of the day proved that if the hall were closed the assembly would gather elsewhere; if a meeting place had not been found at 46 The Oath of the Tennis Court Versailles, the members would have gone to Paris or to another city. How could it have been pre- vented? A few deputies could, indeed, have been arrested, but how could six hundred have been im- s prisoned ? Those who remained would still have been the national assembly, wherever they were, and the employment of violence would have roused and armed the kingdom. Immediately after the taking of the oath the roll io was called by baillages, senechaussees, provinces, and cities; and each of the members present, on responding to the call, approached the desk and signed. One member alone, M. Martin d'Auch, had the is temerity to add to his signature the word opposed. Instantly a great tumult arose. The assembly was profoundly moved by this defection from the unanimity of the deliberation ; indignation followed, and rage took possession of the greater part of the 20 members of the assembly. During this clamor I rushed into the midst of the crowd and mounted upon the table, in order to dominate and be under- stood. After having the fact explained to me, of which I had been vaguely informed, I had M. Martin 2s d'Auch come forward. He repeated to me what he had already said, that he did not believe that he could swear to execute decrees which had not been sanctioned by the king. I replied to him that the assembly believed in the same principles, that it 47 The French Revolution would always recognize the necessity of the royal sanction. (Point du jour, I, page 25.) I explained to him that the resolutions touching the internal affairs of the assembly and the present oath did not s appear to be susceptible of sanction. He persisted. I made some fitting remarks on his stubbornness and reproached him as he deserved; I even spoke with very great severity to satisfy the general discon- tent and quiet the assembly. I said to him that each 10 deputy had his own conscience and was master of his own opinion, but it was not permissible for him to associate his individual opinion with that of the assembly; he could refuse his support to an opinion with which he did not agree, but he could not explain is his action in the minutes ; that the protest of an individual could be inserted there only by an express vote. That said, I had him withdraw that he might not be exposed to the results of a very legiti- mate indignation, and I had him pass out by a back 20 door to protect him from an indignation much more redoubtable — that of the people to whom the news had already been carried. The assembly deliberated upon the kind of protest he had indulged in and the word opposed, which he had inserted in the minutes. 25 Some wished to erase the signature and the word, but, the excitement having subsided and good sense having once more taken possession of the delibera- tions of the assembly, it was decided that the word opposed should be allowed to stand, and that at the 48 The Oath of the Tennis Court beginning of the decree it should be stated that it had lacked one vote of passing unanimously. If this defection had vexed the assembly, it found consolation in the general eagerness of those who s asked to be permitted to add their signatures to those of the deputies whose credentials had already been verified. The deputies of Saint-Domingo begged to be admitted immediately that they might sign, and this was granted them provisionally. The deputies io whose credentials had not been verified, the substi- tutes present asked and obtained the same favor. Thus ended this great and glorious day, and the assembly adjourned its session to Monday, the twenty-second, which was to be at the same time is the royal session. 5. Duquesnoy, Journal, I, in, No. 28, June 21st. Yesterday, at the moment when the president presented himself at the assembly hall, he found it guarded by soldiers who refused him entrance. 20 They gave as a reason that the king was to hold a session Monday and that preparations to be made in the hall required a great deal of time. He insisted and gained access to the hall ; he saw that in truth every- thing was topsy-turvy. Then, by a sudden and al- 25 most involuntary movement of all the deputies who were on the spot, it was agreed to assemble in the tennis court. All the members arrived there suc- cessively, and after much indignation and many complaints it was proposed to draw up minutes of 49 The French Revolution these facts and to bind themselves by an oath never to separate, in whatever place they should be forced to assemble and for whatever cause it might be. The minutes were drawn up, the oath taken and s signed by all the members after a very slight discus- sion on the form of the oath. The signing took a very long time, and was finished only at six o'clock in the evening. Then different motions were made. M. le Chapelier proposed one which had for its object io an address to the king for the purpose of presenting to him the minutes just drawn up as a proof of the love and fidelity of the assembly. It contained bit- ter complaints against the besetters of the throne who wish to detach the nation from its august chief is to make of him a party leader. This motion ap- peared both too violent and too dangerous, as it is not known whether the royal session is for or against the commons; it is necessary to await the outcome before deciding what course to follow. 20 It was then proposed that the president should make a speech at the royal session; divers opinions were expressed in the debate which followed, after which it appears to me that it was voted there would not be any. It was agreed that immediately after as the royal session the national assembly would re- main in place to deliberate. It is asserted that the majority of the nobility has just passed a decree in which it binds itself to shed the last drop of its blood rather than yield. 50 The Oath of the Tennis Court Such is our position to-day: one can only form conjectures concerning the object of the royal session, but in fact it is evident that agreement, union are impossible. There exists such animosity s on all sides, so firm a determination to make one's opinion prevail, such solemn pledges, that nothing less than Providence can save the kingdom from the horrible crisis which menaces it. The extreme facility with which the oath never to separate was taken and io signed is an inconceivable thing. It is evident that it is equivalent to taking possession of authority, to taking away from the king the right to dissolve or suspend the estates, to making itself master from that time on of the executive power. It is is evident that each one of the members exposes him- self personally to the greatest dangers, either from the irritated king or from the people, tired of bear- ing the burden the commons are going to impose upon them, and desperate at not gathering from the 20 estates the fruits they had expected from them. It is impossible to imagine with what levity, what inconsideration, this pledge was taken; few people, without doubt, saw its consequences. What side, then, can the king take? If that of as the nobility, the kingdom is inundated with blood; if that of the commons, he ceases to be king, and one cannot tell where they will stop. It is a frightful thing to say, but, unfortunately, it is only too true, the most exaggerated ideas, the most incendiary Si The French Revolution propositions, nothing astonishes one to-day in the hall. It appears evident to me that the assembly- is conducted by a half score of persons devoured by a profound and secret ambition, hungry for notoriety, s and determined to acquire it at any price whatever. These men have no kind of morals and principles; nothing stops them; no right, no property will ap- pear sacred to them, and natural equality, the natural law are the words they make use of to seduce and to draw to them certain feeble minds which they have illuminated. Many through timidity do not dare oppose their frenzy, and the very exaggeration of their audacity, the boldness with which they slan- der, defame, insures their safety. Thus an assem- is bly of six hundred persons, among whom there are many enlightened individuals, the entire kingdom are at the mercy of a few rascals to whom the greatest crimes are only a play. It would be hard to believe, perhaps, that I have 20 heard in the hall words like the following: "It is only by swimming across rivers of blood that one can become free." " My orders are given; to-morrow all the windows of the magistrates are broken." as "What can happen to us worse than death?" " Perish if necessary, but perish with glory." 6. Young, Arthur. Travels in France, 170. The 20th. News! News! Every one stares at what every one might have expected — a message 52 The Oath of the Tennis Court from the king to the president of the three orders, that he should meet them on Monday; and, under pretense of preparing the hall for the seance royale, the French guards were placed with bayonets to s prevent any of the deputies entering the room. The circumstances of doing this ill-judged act of violence have been as ill-advised as the act itself. Mons. Bailly received no other notice of it than by a letter from the Marquis de Breze, and the io deputies met at the door of the hall without knowing that it was shut. Thus the seeds of disgust were sown wantonly in the manner of doing a thing, which in itself was equally impalatable and unconstitu- tional. The resolution taken on the spot was a is noble and firm one ; it was to assemble instantly at the jeu de paume, and then the whole assembly took a solemn oath never to be dissolved but by their own consent, and consider themselves and act as the national assembly, let them be wherever vio- 20 lence or fortune might drive them, and their expecta- tions were so little favorable that expresses were sent off to Nantes, intimating that the national assembly might possibly find it necessary to take refuge in some distant city. This message, and as placing guards at the hall of the states, are the re- sults of long and repeated councils, held in the king's presence at Marly, where he had been shut up for several days, seeing nobody; and no person admitted, even to the officers of the court, without 5 53 The French Revolution jealousy and inspection. The king's brothers have no seat in the council, but the Comte d'Artois in- cessantly attends the resolutions, conveys them to the queen, and has long conferences with her. When s this news arrived at Paris, the Palais Royal was in a flame, the coffee-houses, pamphlet shops, corri- dors, and gardens were crowded — alarm and appre- hension sat in every eye — and reports that were circulated eagerly, tending to show the violent in- io tentions of the court, as it were bent on the entire extirpation of the French nation, except the party of the queen, are perfectly incredible for their gross absurdity; but nothing was so glaringly ridiculous, but the mob swallowed it with undiscriminating is faith. It was, however, curious to remark, among people of another description (for I was in several parties after the news arrived), that the balance of opinions was clearly that the national assembly, as it called itself, had gone too far — had been too precipi- 20 tate and too violent — had taken steps that the mass of the people would not support. From which we may conclude that if the court, having seen the ten- dency of their late proceedings, shall pursue a firm and politic plan, the popular cause will have little to boast. 25 The 2 1 st. It is impossible to have any other em- ployment at so critical a moment than going from house to house demanding news, and remarking the opinions and ideas most current. The present moment is, of all others, perhaps that which is most 54 The Oath of the Tennis Court pregnant with the future destiny of France. The step the commons have taken of declaring them- selves the national assembly independent of the other orders, and of the king himself, precluding a s dissolution, is in fact an assumption of all the au- thority in the kingdom. They have at one stroke converted themselves into the long parliament of Charles I. It needs not the assistance of much penetration to see that if such a pretension and io declaration are not done away, king, lords, and clergy are deprived of their shares in the legislation of France. So bold and apparently desperate a step, full in the teeth of every other interest in the realm, equally destructive to royal authority, by 15 parliaments and the army, can never be allowed. If it is not opposed, all other powers will lie in ruins around that of the common. 7. Mounier, Recherches sur les causes qui ont empicki les Francais de devenir libres, I, 294. 20 June 20th. A short time before the hour fixed for the meeting, the deputy who was the presiding officer received a letter from the grand master of ceremonies; he would not have had time to notify all the members of the assembly at their lodgings. 25 He [Bailly] replied that he had received no order from the king, and that he was going to the meeting of the assembly. The grand master of ceremonies wrote him a second letter to inform him that he acted only in accordance with the orders of the 55 The French Revolution monarch. But did they not know that the deputies were going to gather at the door of their hall ; that, repulsed by armed men, they would not fail to con- sider this act as an outrage; that their indignation s would quickly spread to the multitude? Is it not indeed surprising that the populace, irritated by the gathering of the deputies, hurrying in crowds through the streets of Versailles, complaining with loud cries because their assembly hall had been closed by mili- io tary force — is it not surprising that at the very in- stant it did not break out into fierce revolt? Doubt- less these measures had not been contemplated by the king; they were due to the blunders of second- ary officials. But, none the less, they led to the is most deplorable consequences; they gave birth to the fear that the states general were to be dissolved, that it would be necessary to renounce all hopes born at the time of their convocation. The mem- bers of the commons took refuge in a tennis court, 20 and there they took an oath never to separate until the constitution had been made. Sharing the general indignation; fearing to see this great opportunity, so long awaited, of reform- ing abuses and improving the lot of the people, 2s vanish ; hearing around me the assertion that we must choose between taking the oath or going at once to the capital in the midst of the fermentation this scandalous scene would create; yielding to the desire of recovering the credit with the popular 56 The Oath of the Tennis Court party I had lost, and which I wished to recover only that I might use it for the good of my country; hop- ing that the union of the orders, which appeared to me inevitable and not remote, would create a ma- s jority favorable to the royal authority, I believed this oath less dangerous, I believed that it was jus- tified by the circumstances, I charged myself im- prudently with putting it before the assembly. This fatal oath was an infringement of the rights io of the monarch ; it was equivalent to saying to him that he had not the right to dissolve the as- sembly; it rendered the assembly independent of him, whatever use it might make of its authority. How I reproach myself to-day with having proposed is it ! What lessens the bitterness of these recollec- tions is that a hundred voices would have been raised to present this measure had I not presented it myself; or, what was worse still, the assembly would have set the capital on fire and, supported by 20 the whole force of the people, would have put itself in a state of war with the king. But what intrepid firmness was shown by M. Martin, deputy of Auch, who alone in that impassioned crowd dared to speak of the fidelity he owed his prince, braved injuries as and menaces, and asked to be permitted to protest. 1 8. Malouet, M&moires, I, 321. The meeting of the tennis court was the natural ir This second paragraph appears as a footnote in the French text, page 296. 57 The French Revolution consequence of the half measures opposed to the audacious enterprises of the commons. I persist in maintaining that we should not have been refused entrance to our hall without being sent back to our s baillages, and with the very clear announcement to the nation that the purpose of the adjournment was only to assure the full and entire execution of the national wishes, already changed and violated by the present assembly of the commons. io The oath of the tennis court was a signal of in- surrection. I proposed uselessly an amendment to the effect that we should never separate from the king; my proposition was received with hoots. The general opinion then was that the king, the is court, and the first two orders wished to annul the estates, arrest the patriotic deputies, and establish despotism by an armed force. The scene of the tennis court is still exaggerated. When I advanced to the table to propose as an 20 amendment to make the constitution in concert with the king, M. Bailly said, "That is just, but I shall not put it to the vote that it may not be rejected.' 1 I insisted. I proposed especially the oath with a condition and several deputies supported me. 1 Malouet, Opinions, 25 III, 209. 9. Biauzat, Gaultier, Vie et correspondance, II, 132 (June 23, 1789). 1 Paragraph three appears as a footnote in the Memoires, page 321. 58 The Oath of the Tennis Court agents who had acted so inconsiderately might pro- duce some bad effect in Paris gave rise to a letter of M. Necker to M. de Crosne, lieutenant general of police, in which the minister declared that the in- s tention of the king was not to interrupt the sessions of the states general, and requested M. de Crosne to make this letter public. It was printed and dis- tributed gratis. I saw copies of it in Paris last Sunday, but I find none here to send you. io M. le marquis de Breze betook himself Saturday to the halting place of the hunt to inform the king of what had taken place in the morning. He could speak of it as an eye-witness, for I saw him in the court of the Menus 1 ask our president, with whom is I and twenty-five or thirty others had entered, if our president had received the second letter he had written him a half hour before, and to which the president had made no reply. M. de Breze communicated to the king the public 20 intention of the clergy to unite with us. The king replied : ' 'It is a good example to follow. ' ' The person who informed me of this fact is very sure of it ; you can count upon it. io. Rabaut de Saint-fitienne. Precis historique de la as revolution frangaise, 132. The twentieth of June, after the national assembly had constituted itself, the members of the clergy 1 A portion of the building occupied by the estates was called the Menus. 59 The French Revolution were expected to join it. But while the deputies were going to the hall a proclamation was made by heralds at arms and posted everywhere, announcing that the sessions were suspended, and that the king s would hold a royal session on the 2 2d. The reason given for the closing of the hall for three days was the necessity of work in the interior in the decora- tion of the throne. This puerile reason served to prove that they only wished to prevent the union 10 of the clergy, the majority of which had adopted the system of the commons. However, the deputies ar- rived one after another, and they felt the deepest indignation on finding the doors closed and guarded by soldiers. They asked each other what power is had the right to suspend the deliberations of the representatives of the nation. They talked of hold- ing their meeting in the street, of going to the terrace of Marly to offer the king the spectacle of the deputies of the people, to invite him to unite with 20 them in a truly royal and paternal session more worthy of his heart than that with which he menaced' them. M. Bailly, their president, was permitted to enter the hall with some members to get their papers; and there he protested against the arbi- 2s trary orders which kept the hall closed. Finally he assembled the deputies in the tennis court of Ver- sailles, become famous forever on account of the courageous resistance of the first representatives of the French nation. They encouraged one another 60 The Oath of the Tennis Court as they went along; they promised never to separate from one another, and to resist to the death. They arrived there; they sent out a call for the deputies who were not informed of what was going on. A sick s deputy had himself taken to the hall. The people, who besieged the door, covered their representatives with benedictions. Soldiers disobeyed orders to come and guard the entrance to this new sanctuary of liberty. A voice was heard; it asked that each one should take io the oath never to separate from the others, to assem- ble in any place whatsoever until the constitution of the monarchy and public reforms had been secured. All took the oath, all signed except one; and the minutes make mention of this remarkable circum- is stance. ii. Dorset, Despatches from Paris, II, 220 (June 25, 1789). On Sunday last only the nobility assembled in their own court; Monday had been fixed for a 20 stance royale, which for particular reasons was put off till the next day; in the mean time M. Necker, it having been apprehended that the people in this capital might be alarmed at such an appearance of arbitrary exertion on the part of the king, wrote the as following letter to M. de Crosne, the lieutenant general of the police : "June 20th, five o'clock in the evening. "The hall of the states general having been closed as a matter of absolute necessity, the deputies of 61 The French Revolution the third estate having assembled in another place, the public might believe that the intention of the king was to dissolve the states general. It is essential, Sir, that you should make it understood everywhere s in Paris that His Majesty is still engaged in bringing about union and harmony for the good of his people, and that the sessions will begin again next Monday.' ' Everything has been perfectly quiet in this city, but the consternation which visibly prevails, and ro the number of persons who assemble daily in the coffee-houses and all places of public resort, especial- ly in the garden of the Palais Royal, where they dis- cuss with a marked anxiety and interest the impor- tant business of the moment, far exceeds anything 15 of the kind I have ever seen in this country. 12. Bailli de Virieu, Correspondance, 98 (June 22, 1789). The deputies of the third estate, having found the door of the hall of the estates barred by French 20 and Swiss guards, not having been notified, they feared that the remonstrances of the other chambers had decided the king to suspend, even to dissolve, the states general. They betook themselves, ac- cordingly, to a neighboring tennis court, and there 25 took oath never to separate until the constitution had been formed. This alarm was not well founded, the doors having been closed to give opportunity for the preparations 62 The Oath of the Tennis Court necessary for the royal session which will take place Monday, and in which the king will endeavor to bring the orders together. Last evening M. de Crosne, lieutenant of police, received a letter from 5 the king requesting him to reassure the people of Paris upon his intentions. PROBLEM II II. — The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 A. THE HISTORIC SETTING OF THE PROBLEM THE royal session followed so closely upon the oath of the tennis court, separated from it by only three days, that it is necessary to add but little to what has been said in the historic setting of the first problem. The time from June 19th to June 23d was occupied by the king and his council in the discussion of the plan for the royal session. The nature and outcome of this dis- cussion forms a part of the problem, and need not be treated here. Something, however, should be said con- cerning the events of June 2 2d, when the majority of the clergy joined the national assembly for the purpose of verifying credentials in common. This question had been debated in the order of the clergy from June 12th, when the summons was received from the commons to bring their credentials into the common hall, until June 19th, when the clergy voted to accept the invitation. The closing of the hall on June 20th prevented the union on that day, and the national assembly adjourned to meet after the royal session. The failure of the king and his council to arrive at any understanding on June 21st, touching the plan for the session of the next day, made it necessary to postpone the session until June 2 2d. Again on the morning of June 2 2d the voice of the herald was heard in the streets of Versailles, and again the 67 The French Revolution deputies tried in vain to get access to their hall. The assembly had adjourned on the twentieth to meet on the twenty-second, and the meeting must be held; the oath required it. But where should the deputies meet? The tennis court was not seriously considered. There was a tradition that the Comte d'Artois had engaged the court for tennis to prevent the deputies from meeting there, and the tradition has been repeated, without examina- tion, by many writers. The truth is the deputies did not wish to occupy the tennis court on the twenty-second. The court was already occupied by spectators, there were no seats, and it was understood that the clergy would unite with the commons on this day. Some other place must be found. The order of the Recollets occupied buildings in the same street with the court, and an attempt was made to secure their church for the assembly. The brothers were fearful of the royal displeasure, and declined to allow the buildings to be used. This inci- dent may have given rise to the false tradition concern- ing the Comte d'Artois and the tennis court. Finally the curate of the church of Saint-Louis offered the use of his church. The deputies gathered there, and were called to order by Bailly. He read a letter from the Marquis de Breze* including one from the king to Bailly informing him of the postponement of the royal session and stating that the hall would be open only on the next day. The letter was addressed to "Monsieur Bailly, President of the Order of the Third Estate." It was evident that the king did not recognize the existence of a national assem- bly. There was no chance here for the subterfuge of June 20th. Here was a letter signed by the king him- self, announcing the closing of the hall, but it did not for- bid the meeting of the commons. The assembly prac- 68 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 tically reaffirmed its action of June 20th. Several depu- ties who had been absent on that day, and some substi- tutes, asked to be permitted to take the oath. The oath was read again, and the deputies signed. A contesting delegation of nobles of Guyenne entered the hall and asked permission to lay their credentials before the assembly. It was voted that the credentials should be referred to the committee on verification, who should make a report to the assembly. At this point a delegation from the clergy was an- nounced, and the assembly sent a delegation to meet them. The clergy had assembled in another part of the church, and were desirous of knowing how they would be received before appearing as a body. This was the natural result of the vote of June 19th, in which the rights of the order had been reserved. The Bishop of Chartres, spokesman of the delegation, announced that, "The majority of the order of the clergy has voted to unite for the common verification of credentials, and we have come to notify you of it and to ask for its place in the assembly." The president replied: "The deputies of the order of the clergy to the states general will be re- ceived with all the cordiality and respect which is due them. Their ordinary place of distinction is free to re- ceive them." In other words, although the commons had abolished the political distinction of the orders on June 17th, it was ready to receive the clergy as the first estate, to allow them to occupy seats which indicated precedence over the other two orders, and the president even referred to the clergy as deputies to the states general, as if the states general might even yet come into exist- ence, and the term national assembly cease to have its revolutionary significance. The delegation returned to report, and soon the entrance of the clergy was announced. 6 69 The French Revolution The commons sent a delegation of sixteen members to receive them. As the clergy entered and passed to their seats on the right of the president they were received by vigorous applause from the commons and the spectators who crowded the church. The action of the clergy on the eve of the royal session strengthened the cause of the commons and gave presage of victory. The great assem- bly was deeply moved, many shedding tears. "The spectacle of this meeting," wrote Arthur Young, on the same day, "was singular — the crowd that attended in and around the church was great — and the anxiety and suspense in every [eye, with the variety of expression that flowed from different views and different char- acters, gave to the countenances of all the world an expression I had never witnessed before." The Arch- bishop of Vienne, who acted as president of the clergy, explained the meaning of their action: "This union," he said, "which has for its object to-day only the common verification of credentials, is the signal and, I may say, the prelude of the constant union they [the clergy] desire with all the orders, and particularly with that of the deputies of the commons." Bailly, in reply, voiced the satisfaction of the assembly, but remarked that there were still wishes to be realized. "I see with regret," he explained, "that the brothers of another order are missing from this august family." The archbishop had taken a seat by the side of the president, and, speaking in the name of the clergy, had asked that the minutes of the verification of the creden- tials of the commons be submitted to them. The clergy were requested to name sixteen of their number to serve as members of the committee on verification. The sig- nificance of all this should not be overlooked. The clergy had not declared in favor of a single assembly and 70 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 vote by head; they had not abandoned their indepen- dence as an order. ' ' One should be careful not to believe, ' ' wrote Duquesnoy, "that the majority of the clergy are in favor of voting by head; they are for verifying cre- dentials in common, and nothing more." At the close of the session the members of the nobility from Dauphine" entered and were received with great applause. "The majority of the clergy," said the spokes- man, the Marquis de Blacons, "having put an end to all the difficulties contained in our instructions, we come to commit to you the verification of our credentials, and to ask to be permitted to examine the record of your veri- fication." The delegation laid their credentials on the table, and they were referred to the committee on veri- fication. The .assembly was then adjourned "until the next morning at nine o'clock, in the usual meeting place." Thus, on the evening of the royal session it was clear that the commons had the support of the majority of the clergy in the matter of common verification, and that it was the intention of the commons, acting as the national assembly, to hold a meeting after the royal session, what- ever might be the nature of that session. They were a national assembly, elected to make a constitution, and no one, not even the king himself, had the right to dis- solve the assembly. B. CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SOURCES i. Necker. (a) Sur V administration de M. Necker par lui-meme. Paris, 1791. Necker was born in Geneva in 1732, and died at Coppet, Switzerland, in 1804. Early in life he entered a Paris banking house as clerk. In time he built up a large banking business of his own, made his fortune, and acquired a great reputation as a 7i The French Revolution financier. In 1776 he was made minister of finance by Louis XVI., and held office until 1781. After his retire- ment matters went from bad to worse, and in 1788, when France was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the states general had been promised for 1789, Necker was recalled to office. He was, however, only a banker, and a states- man was needed to guide France through the great crisis of revolution. After a pitiful display of his inability to master the situation, in September, 1790, Necker resigned and left France, a disappointed man, his reputation wrecked and his popularity so completely gone that his departure was scarcely noticed. The following year he published an account of his two ministries. It was the statement of a man who tried to justify his acts and to throw the responsibility for his failure upon others. In previous writings he had spoken with great respect of public opin- ion. "I do not quite understand," he remarked, naively, in this volume, "why public opinion no longer occupies in my eyes the place that it did." (b) De la revolution franfaise. 4 vols. Paris, 1797. This work was completed in October, 1795. In a note in the first volume (p. xii.) Necker writes: "It will be noted that this work was finished at the end of 1795. Indecision on my part and some difficulty with the pub- lishers retarded its appearance." This work, like the one published in 1791, was an apology for Necker's ad- ministration. The treatment of the royal session is fuller than in the first work, but the point of view is quite different. (c) Letter of Necker to Louis XVI., Archives nationales, Paris, K, 162. Published by Lomenie, Les Mirabeau, v, 411- 2. Barentin, Memoire autographe de M. de Barentin. Paris, 1844. Barentin was born in 1738. He was guard 72 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 of the seals and Necker's chief opponent in the ministry. After the appearance of Necker's work, De la revolution franfaise, Barentin wrote his volume to correct the in- correct statements concerning the royal session. It was not his intention to publish the work at the time of writing, but he wished to leave to the historian of the revolution material which would enable him to refute Necker's account. He charges that Necker knowingly falsified the facts. Necker and Barentin are the two prin- cipal, practically the only witnesses concerning what took place in the council meetings preceding the royal session. On many points they flatly contradict each other. 3. Saint-Priest. Letter to Louis XVI., Archives na- tionals, Paris, Musee, No. 1072. Published (by Flam- mermont, Revue historique, XLVI, Mai-Juin, 1891. Saint-Priest was one of the ministers favorable to Necker. 4. Montmorin. Letter to Louis XVI., Archives na- tionales, Paris, Musee, No. 1088. Montmorin was min- ister of foreign affairs and belonged to Necker's party. He had been in office since the death of Vergennes in 1786. Published by Flammermont, Revue historique, XLVI. 5. Prod s-verbal, No. 5. The official record of the meeting of the national assembly held after the royal session on June 23d. 6. Seance tenue par le roi aux etats generaux, le 23 Juin, 1789. The official text of the speeches and declarations of the king delivered at the royal session. It was printed at the time by Baudoin, printer to the national assembly, and forms a pamphlet of sixteen pages. 7. Point du jour. See same title in the bibliography of Problem I. 8. Assemblee nationale. See same title in the bibliog- raphy of Problem I. 73 The French Revolution 9. Courrier de Provence. This newspaper was for a few numbers edited by Mirabeau. This is the title by which it is generally known. It had two others ; the first two numbers were called J^tats-generaux, but when this paper had been suppressed by the government, the new paper, which began to appear the latter part of May, bore the title, Lettres de M. le comte de Mirabeau a ses commettants. At the end of July the title changed to Courrier de Provence. The paper appeared twice a week. Early in the history of the enterprise Mirabeau employed two men of ability, Swiss exiles from Geneva. They were Dumont and Duroveray. Dumont states {Souvenirs sur Mirabeau, 102) that, "beginning with the eleventh letter of Mirabeau to his constituents, it was always Duroveray or myself who edited them." The letter containing the account of the royal session is the thirteenth, but neither Dumont nor Duroveray could have supplied the material for it, as they were not members of the assembly, and no spectators were allowed to enter the hall on June 23d. The Comte de Mirabeau, representative of the third estate of Aix en Provence, was born in 1749. He was the most distinguished statesman and orator of the national assembly. 10. Biauzat, Vie et correspondence. See bibliography of Problem I. 11. Bailly, Memoir es. See bibliography of Problem I. 12. Duquesnoy, Adrien, Journal. See bibliography of Problem I. 13. Jallet, Journal inedit. Fontenay-le-comte, 187 1. Jallet was a representative of the clergy of Poitou, and one of the cures who joined the third estate in response to the summons of June 10th. He wrote his journal from day to day, as shown by the expressions, "At the confer- ence of yesterday" (p. 79) and "all that will be printed" 74 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 (speaking of the declarations of the royal session). Jallet died in August, 1791. Another member of the clergy, Gr6goire, had made a copy of the journal, and it was from a copy of this copy — the property of M. Carnot — that the text was printed from which this translation was made. 14. Stael-Holstein, Baron de, Correspondance diplo- matique. Paris, 1 88 1. Stael-Holstein was the Swedish ambassador at the French court in 1789. He was the son-in-law of Necker, his wife being the famous Madame de Stael. On account of his wife, he was naturally a partisan of Necker's and not in sympathy with the court intrigues against him. The extract is from a letter written by the ambassador to the king of Sweden. The original of the letter is in the archives in Stockholm. 15. Bailli de Virieu, Correspondance. See bibliography of Problem I. 16. Jefferson, Thomas, Memoirs \ Correspondence, and Miscellanies from the Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Thomas Jefferson Randolph. Second edition, Boston, 1830. Jefferson was the minister of the United States of America to the French court in 1789. He was in touch with the leading members of the assembly and in position to secure reliable information. 17. Barante, Lettres et instructions de Louis XVIII. au Comte de Saint-Priest, precedees d'une notice par M. de Barante. Paris, 1845. Concerning the material upon which this notice was based, Barante wrote: "In the last years of his life M. de Saint-Priest (died 182 1) began to write his Memoires. He was not able to finish them nor to revise what he had written. His family did not con- sider these fragments in form for publication; we have them before us and cannot do better than utilize them in writing this notice." Nothing in Barante's notice in- 75' The French Revolution dicates that the particular passage which we quote was taken from the notes of Saint-Priest; it is, however, a natural inference. C. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY i. How many of the witnesses quoted in this study had first- hand information touching the council meetings which preceded the royal session? Concerning the events of June 23d? 2. How many independent witnesses have we upon the council meetings ? Upon the royal session of June 23d ? 3. Compare Necker's account of 1791 with that of 1795, and show how they differ. Which account should be given the preference, and why? 4. What was the date (day of the month) of Necker's letter to the king? Of Saint-Priest's letter to the king? 5. Compare Necker's account of the councils with Barentin, and show how they differ. Which is the more reliable, and why? 6. How does the contents of Necker's letter to the king harmonize with the account of the council meetings found in the work written in 1795? With that written in 1791? 7. What is the relation of Bailly's Memoires to the other sources? What is its value? 8. If Barante used nothing besides the notes of Saint-Priest in writing his notice upon Saint-Priest, how valuable would the notice be? 9. Is the Counter de Provence dependent upon any of the other sources? 10. Are the accounts of Necker and Barentin independent of each other? 11. When did Necker make up his mind to propose a royal session to the king? 12. Were there any committee meetings before the council meetings? 76 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 13. How many council meetings were there, when and where were they held, who was present, and what was done? 14. What was the nature of Necker's original plan? 15. Who supported it and who opposed it? 16. What do you know of the state of Versailles on the morning of June 23d — that is, of the external setting of the royal session 17. At what time did the session open, and how long did it last? 18. What were some of the significant things that happened at the hall before the arrival of the king? 19. How was the king received on his arrival? 20. Make an analysis of the speeches and declarations showing the attitude of the king toward the action of the com- mons, on June 17th, toward the old constitution, tow- ard the privileges of the clergy and nobility, toward the control of the government by the estates general, toward the right of the estates to make laws, toward the annual or periodical meeting of the estates, toward publicity of debate, freedom of the press and of the individual. 21. What parts of the speeches and declarations would be ac- ceptable to the conservatives, and why? 22. What parts would not be acceptable to the commons, and why? 23. What parts would be acceptable to all progressive men? 24. Upon what important matter are the declarations silent? 25. What was the criticism of the members of the commons on the session? 26. After the retirement of the king, who remained in the hall, and why? 27. Why did not the delegates in the hall at once open their session? 28. Determine, if you can, the truth about the workmen in the hall. 29. Describe the De Br6z6 incident: (a) when he entered; (b) to whom he spoke; (c) what he said; (d) what Bailly said to him; (e) whether Bailly or De Br£ze* or both 77 The French Revolution spoke to the assembly; (/) what they said; (g) when Mirabeau spoke; (h) what he said; (j) what De Breze finally did. P30. When the assembly finally went into session: (a) what motions were made; (b) by whom; (c) in what order; (d) what was said in debate, and by whom; and (e) what was the final action of the assembly? 31. Work out carefully the incident of Necker's resignation: (a) did he resign; (b) did he intend to be present at the royal session; (c) what effect had the report of his resignation; (d) what did the king do; (e) what advan- tage did Necker draw from the action of the king; (/) how was the action received by the crowd and the deputies? 32. Was the royal session a success? 33. Make an outline and write a narrative on the royal session. D. The Sources i. (a) Necker, Sur V administration de M. Necker par lui-rneme, 107-115. The debate upon the verification of credentials continued to divide the three orders, and now there s was added to this contest a still more violent con- flict born of the wish of the commons for a single national assembly, and of the demands of the nobility and clergy for the maintenance of the de- liberations by separate orders. All hopes of con- 10 ciliation were lost, opinions grew ever more bitter, and the affairs of the state were at a standstill. Good citizens grew anxious over such a state of stagnation, and among partisans some hoped that the piling up of difficulties would lead to the dis- is solution of the states general ; others that this state of confusion would serve as a pretext for the de- cisive measures which they were impatient to em- ploy to change the constitution in its entirety. The silence and inaction of the monarch in such 20 circumstances would have shown a disregard of propriety and dignity. The king could not remain 79 The French Revolution indifferent to the dangers with which the state was menaced. He had unavailingly employed the media- tion of his ministers to open the road to conciliation, and it was time for him to appear in some other way. s I believed that he could do it with wisdom if, while reserving to the two first orders the right to deliber- ate separately upon matters peculiar and personal to them, he obliged them to unite with the commons in order to treat as a single body the general interests io of the nation, and especially the future organization of national assemblies. I thought that at the same time the king ought, both for the good of the state and for his own policy, to confirm in an authentic manner his acquiescence in all the important mat- 15 ters announced in the Resultat du conseil of Decem- ber 27, 1788, that he should extend his declaration still further and thus anticipate the wishes of the nation. I had included among other things, in this new profession of his beneficent views, the admis- 20 sion of all citizens to civil and military employment, the destruction of the rights of servitude, in imita- tion of what he had ordered in his own domains, the authorization of their purchase for money and some other objects of a similar nature, but always observ- 25 ing the rules of the most exact justice toward the proprietors. Finally the king, in speaking of the new constitution, should express himself solely upon the propriety and necessity of the maintenance of two chambers, and in other respects he would abide 80 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 by the views which were presented to him by the national assembly. It followed from the ensemble of my ideas that the king, while preserving everything which pertained s to his dignity and anticipating with prudence the law of necessity, would render the states general active, would serve the first two orders by giving them the means of renouncing honorably the abso- lute system they had embraced, and which circum- 10 stances did not permit them to maintain. The plan which I advised was without doubt difficult, but one was necessary, and above all one which would finally unite the orders in a single assembly and put an end in a regular or, at least, in a peaceable way to 15 the state of division which at any moment might lead to the gravest misfortunes. Finally, I had accompanied the suggested articles making up this project by everything which might favor the success of them in public opinion; but to form a correct 20 opinion of them to - day it would be necessary to be able to transport oneself by memory to the period at the beginning of June, 1789; it would be necessary to recall to mind exactly the uncertainty and the agitation, the fears and the hopes, finally 25 the general state of opinion at this period, not far removed from the opening of the states general; but it would be difficult to draw the picture of it at the moment when a series of events has carried things much farther than the first step which I ad- 81 The French Revolution vised would have done. It is necessary to pardon the two first orders, or those who acted for them at court, for having shown so much irritation against a project which, with more foresight, they would 5 have found very wise. I had only one moment of hope; it was when I presented to the council the ensemble of my ideas, and when the king listened favorably to them, for soon I was attacked from every point of view. The necessity of some action io on the part of the king was universally agreed to, but it was desired that he should act in an entirely different spirit ; and little by little, while appearing to retain a part of my plan, everything composing its essence was cut out, everything which might render is it agreeable to the commons. They took here and there some of my phrases, at the beginning and at the end; but by a remarkable singularity the firm and lofty tone which was fitting when the monarch instructed the first two orders to unite with the 20 commons to work for the welfare of the public, they believed equally applicable to a plan the spirit of which was absolutely different, and that was a great blunder. I defended my idea, and I combated the new ones 25 with the greatest force; I resisted courageously the opinions of the princes called to this discussion, and after having conserved to the last moment the hope of making reason triumph I finally considered the part remaining for me to take personally; and after 82 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 mature examination, after many mental struggles, which the gravity of the circumstances authorized, I did not believe that I could honorably either go to the session of June 23d or remain longer in the s ministry. The position in which I found myself was quite as painful as it was embarrassing, and I must confess that on the morning of that memorable day my uneasiness still continued, and if I did not inform the king of my final determination it was 10 because I feared to receive positive orders which I could not possibly have obeyed. . . . I resisted the advice of many enlightened persons who, more in touch than I with the court and its intrigues, urged me to retire, assuring me that it is would not be long before I would be the victim of the influence of the persons whose counsels had pre- vailed over mine on so grave and important an occasion. I resisted likewise the insinuations of those who 20 considered my retirement as the epoch of a great revolution and tried to make me understand that such a determination on my part could not fail to be followed by a brilliant triumph. These same efforts were repeated with me, but in 25 vain, when the inutility of my efforts to force the retirement of the ministers, whose opposition to my projects was openly pronounced, became known. My intimate friends will do me the justice to recog- nize that I was perfectly conscious of the dangers 83 The French Revolution by which I was surrounded. These dangers even were not new, as for a long time I had lived in the midst of disturbing circumstances of every kind. I saw also the extreme crisis in which we found our- s selves in the matter of food supply, and I saw it so clearly that on returning to my lodgings, in the evening of June 23 d, followed by the applause of the multitude, I said with emotion to the little group of friends gathered in my study : " I remain. . . . But you 10 see these people and the benedictions they shower upon me; very well, before two weeks, perhaps, they will shower me with stones." (b) Necker, De la revolution frangaise, I, 284-290. It was, as I have said, at a time when the inter- 15 ference of the monarch in the states general appeared indispensable, and at a time when all ideas, still vacillating, kept the government in anxiety, that formed the project of a royal session. I hastened to communicate my ideas to the ministers who voted 20 in the most intelligent manner, and they gave them a support which bordered upon enthusiasm. They found the idea courageous, the procedure prudent, and they told me so, they repeated it to me in a hun- dred different ways. There were afterward regu- 2s lar committee meetings with the king, where the whole affair was discussed, and a full and entire approbation on the part of the prince was joined to the then unanimous opinion of his ministers. A council of state was fixed for the last reading, and 84 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 this council was held at Marly, whither the king had just gone. The reading took place; one or two ministers made observations upon details of the plan, but without importance; and, an almost per- s feet agreement of opinions having reigned during the sitting of the council, it occupied itself with meas- ures of execution, considered whether there would be need for more than twenty-four hours for the prep- aration of the hall where the royal majesty was to 10 be displayed, and the absolute necessity of great haste was unanimously agreed upon. It only re- mained to fix the day, and the next day but one was almost agreed upon. A last word of the king was ending the council, and the portfolios were already is being closed, when an officer of the king's household entered unexpectedly; he approached the seat of the king, spoke to him in a low tone, and his majesty immediately arose, commanding his ministers to remain in their places and await his return. This 20 message, at the moment when the council was nearly at an end, could not but surprise us all. M. de Montmorin, seated by me, said to me immediately: "We have accomplished nothing; the queen alone would be permitted to interrupt the council of state ; as the princes have apparently won her over and wish to put off the decision of the king through her media- tion." This presumption of M. de Montmorin was only too natural, for already confused rumors had announced that the journey to Marly had been de- 7 85 The French Revolution cided upon that the king might be controlled more easily and the plans of the ministry combated in his mind. Yet I doubted these reports, and, as had often happened to me, trusted to the force of reason s the care of combating and obviating all these efforts of the court, that others called intrigues, believing that I knew well both their first causes and their first motives. The king re-entered the council chamber after a io half -hour's absence, and, postponing the deliberation with which we had just been occupied until a first meeting of the council of state, he suspended his de- cision, his orders, and everything was at a standstill. He was, however, told of the difficulties that would is arise without fail from this delay ; it was represented to him that the rumor of a division among the persons admitted to his confidence would weaken the ascend- ency of his authority; [we even] ventured to warn him that in the midst of the public fermentation ;o hesitations and uncertainties would multiply sus- picions and would also give to party leaders all the time necessary to prepare a redoubtable opposition. The king persisted in his determination. The new council of state was held two days after at Versailles, 25 and his majesty judged it fitting to call there not only his ordinary ministers, but also the two princes, his brothers, and four magistrates who had never had a seat in the council. We saw at once that a plan had been formed to 86 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 defeat our measures and to attack the project adopted by the ministry and approved by his maj- esty. Secret conferences had been held, the king had been worked upon, and already his opinion ap- s peared changed. It was principally the union of the orders that they wished to prevent. I believe that I have shown its expediency and necessity, so I will not recall the arguments that I employed to plead this cause. The ministers then in office, most dis- 10 tinguished by their intellect and wisdom, sustained me with firmness, and at first only an uncertain advantage was gained over us. The king decided only, that to find a means of conciliating the different views discussed in his presence they should reassem- is ble at the house of the guard of the seals, and one of the magistrates called to the council by way of exception was charged to consult with me more par- ticularly. We saw one another. I yielded upon everything that was not an absolute necessity in my 20 eyes ; and yet each one of these compliances was painful to me, although I was persuaded that the fault of my project was its too great boldness under the circumstances. We separated after a detailed discussion, which ended by an entire accord. He 25 appeared to me fully persuaded that no other change could be asked without changing the nature of the project, and I believed for the second time that everything was ended. I was mistaken. So much was done, and always on the same side, that in a 87 The French Revolution period of twice twenty-four hours, and on the eve of the royal session, the king was prevailed upon not to require the reunion of the orders, not to require it under any condition, and to adopt a system abso- s lutely opposed. (c) Necker, Letter to Louis XVI. Sire, — I have the honor to address to your Maj- esty a note by the person whom I named to the King yesterday under the seal of secrecy. I have io been led to see some inconveniences connected with a royal session which I had not noted before, and it is believed that a simple letter of invitation (a letter inviting the orders to unite for the purpose of deliberating in common, at least on some matters) 15 would be better; but there is not a moment to lose. I will explain myself more in detail to his Majesty, if he sees fit to give me his orders. I have the honor, etc., e J j Signed: Necker. 20 Saturday. 2. Barentin, Memoir e autographe, 175-230. His majesty, then at Marly, where he was to re- main, as well as the queen, until the following Sun- day morning, notified the ministers, Thursday, the 25 1 8th, of a council to be held the next day at noon. He ordered me to notify the four councilors of state, composing the commission of the states general, to be present. . , . All being assembled at Marly in the 88 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 king's study, the decree of the 17th was read. It was generally disapproved of, and it was agreed that it was impossible to let it stand. While we were considering means of action M. Necker, always s desirous of taking the initiative, asked permission of the king to present two projects of declarations that he had prepared in advance, in case that his maj- esty should judge proper to hold a session; he had added the different speeches that he proposed to 10 have the king deliver. . . . The time passed in the midst of these animated discussions; it was four o'clock; the matter called for the most mature con- sideration. His majesty adjourned the council until the next day, Saturday, at five o'clock, and in- 15 structed M. de la Galaisiere to give an account in the council of the two projects, which he turned over to him. It was simply decided that the king should hold a session Monday, the 2 2d, in the large hall. . . . M. de la Galaisiere, in preparing his report, dis- ao covered a pitfall adroitly arranged to prepare the destruction of the orders. In the grouping of his plan the minister had divided the objects into two classes. The first contained those susceptible of deliberation by order; the second embraced those 25 upon which the deliberation would be in common. He had placed in this last, in few words and in a way not to attract attention, the organization of the future states general. . . . The reporter made known to me Saturday morning his discovery. ... It ap- 89 The French Revolution peared too important to us to allow him not to men- tion it that evening at the council meeting. He spoke of it calmly, furnishing M. Necker the means of escaping from the bad position which he had s taken. In fact, M. de la Galaisiere assumed that the place assigned to this article in the list of com- mon deliberations, when it evidently pertained to those by order, could be due only to a mistake of the copyist which had escaped the eye of the minister, io an error easily repaired by putting the article where it belonged. The turn was ingenious, and the king caught it without, however, being deceived as to the intention of the redacteur of the project, for he made a movement of impatience and discontent. The 15 director general noted it, and was on the point of making use of the subterfuge offered him, but a sudden second thought made him see that in yield- ing his plan, based upon the confusion of the orders, would be ruined completely. He insisted, with a 20 tenacity which astonished us, that the place of the article should not be changed. This insistence dis- pleased the king. With a display of vivacity he took the paper from the hands of the reporter, struck out the article, and wrote it in the list of those rela- 25 tive to vote by order. . . . M. Necker proposed "for this time, and without establishing a precedent, to prescribe deliberation by head." I asserted that such a disposition, even for one time and without establishing a precedent, would violate the forms go The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 introduced at the birth of the monarchy. ... I was supported by MM. de Villedeuil, de Puysegur, and by the councilors of state. Another article stated "that one could attain to all civil and military em- s ployments without regard to class distinction." . . . The king himself on hearing this article had blamed M. Necker with firmness for having spoken of the army of which he was the sole master, and of which he could dispose at pleasure. ... It should not be 10 forgotten that the motive of the meeting of the coun- cil, the determination to hold a royal session, the content of the two groups of laws we were consider- ing, were due to the deliberation of June 17th, by which the third estate had declared itself a national 15 assembly. It ought to be expected, then, that the king, being no longer able to mistake the veritable intentions of this culpable order, would recall them to obedience, would scourge with merited qualifica- tions a bold, illegal, and unconstitutional act. No, 20 M. Necker, always inclined to partiality, always de- cided not to displease men emboldened by his pro- tection, forgot himself to the extent of attempting to palliate, to excuse their crimes. He did not go to the extent of annulling their decree, he contented 25 himself with proposing "to declare [the royal pur- pose], overlooking the acts of June 17th." [Baren- tin took the other side. He described the meeting of the tennis court, then taking place.] The session was not over when I left Versailles; if we are igno- 91 The French Revolution rant of the end of it, it is only too probable that it will be a new outrage for the royal majesty Every- thing, then, commands to annul, with fitting quali- fications, the deliberation of June 17 th and that s which has followed it. . . . The king, calm during the whole of this discussion, did not lose a word of it. It was so prolonged that at ten o'clock his majesty had not yet begun to get the expression of opinion which decided him to postpone the council until 10 the next day, Sunday, at five o'clock, at Versailles, to which he was to transfer his residence. He ob- served that, as nothing was settled, it was necessary to postpone the session twenty-four hours, and set it for Tuesday, the 23d, in order to give more exact 15 form and more attention to the redaction [of the declarations]. When we met Sunday in the king's apartments, we learned that he had just summoned his brothers and that he was with them in his room. After a 20 conference of half an hour they all came in together, and the king announced that the two princes would take part in the council. M. Lambert, councilor of state and member of the council of despatches, was also called. He had not been present at Marly. 25 The princes had not been present at the previous councils. . . . The princes not having been present at the previ- ous councils, it became necessary to repeat all that had been said and done. The reporter made a very 92 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 clear resume of it; on both sides each defended his opinion with that force inspired by the strong con- viction of the peril involved in adopting any other. . . . M. Necker ended by testifying his fear touching s the proposed changes. ' ' It will change the laws to such an extent," he cried, ''that it would be better to reject them than to adopt them disfigured and mutilated." M. de Montmorin, . . . closely allied with M. Necker, thought only of flying to his aid. 10 MM. de la Luzerne and de Saint-Priest seconded, it is true, the errors of the minister of finance, but they did it dispassionately and in very gentlemanly language. . . . With the exception of M. Necker and the three ministers who thought as he did, all the is members of the council were of one opinion. The king adopted that of the majority. . . . Before adjourn- ing the council the king instructed me to reformulate the matter, with the aid of the four councilors, and, for the purpose of listening to the reading of it, set 20 a council meeting for the next day at five o'clock. The royal session was definitely set for June 23d. . . . Our work was finished Monday morning. I wanted M. Necker to see it before it was presented to the council. . . . [M. Vidaud de la Tour, one of 25 the councilors, was sent to lay the reorganized ma- terial before Necker.] M. Necker received him haughtily and treated him coldly. He hardly lis- tened to the two declarations, and made no observa- tions. At the opening of the council (June 2 2d) I 93 The French Revolution presented a summary of the original projects and the changes ordered by the king, and the manner in which we had executed his orders. The two laws were read and approved by his majesty. M. Necker 5 said nothing or very little. . . . He [Necker] insisted that the meetings of states general should be periodic ; we insisted with equal force that they should not be. Assemblies at fixed periods amounted to the abandon- ment, on the part of the monarch, of the royal io prerogative to convoke and dissolve the states gen- eral; we considered it indispensable to conserve it. . . . The councils at Marly were not preceded by committee meetings relative to the declarations of June 23d. . . . The council was nearing its end when is his majesty, who had received a whispered message, withdrew, asking us to wait. . . . When the king with- drew he had not yet reached a decision. . . . His majesty, on his return, adjourned the council until the next day, Sunday, and not for two days, as is 20 alleged by the minister of finance. At the same time the royal session was changed from the 2 2d to the 23d. . . . M. Necker had intended to be present at the session, and his carriage waited a long time in the court. . . . Madame Necker dismissed the ear- as riage, and Necker did not go out. 3. Saint-Priest, Letter to Louis XVI., without place or date. Sire, — Your Majesty deigned to ask me yester- day my opinion upon the project presented by M. 94 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 Necker, and more especially upon the proposition to order the first two orders to unite with the third to vote by head upon matters that do not interest each order in particular, and upon some other re- s served points. Your brothers were of a contrary opinion, and held that the constitution of the king- dom should not be altered in any way, a principle that they applied to the form of voting under dis- cussion. ... I will not conceal from Your Majesty 10 the fear that I have that the third estate, aroused as it is, will reject, for the vote by head, these reserva- tions, so just, that are placed upon it; I fear even that they will murmur at the sovereign interference of Your Majesty at this time, such appears to me to is be the feeling of the third estate, which has already led it to exceed the limits of its instructions and of justice. . . . We are only four ministers of state, men of age and experience, trained in considering both the domestic and the foreign affairs of the kingdom, 20 and our opinions are unanimous in favor of the prop- osition made by one of us. 4. Montmorin, Letter to the king. Versailles, June 22, 1789. Sire, — The object upon which Your Majesty is 25 going to decide finally this morning is so important, the decision He is going to take may have such far- reaching consequences, that my attachment for the person of Your Majesty forces me to place them again before his eyes in advance of the moment 95 The French Revolution when He is to make his final decision. ... It is un- der these circumstances that it is proposed to Your Majesty to maintain with a firm hand the old con- stitution. ... I am certainly very far from approving s or excusing the conduct of the third estate; no one in the world condemns it more than I do and is more afflicted by it; but, however extravagant and however condemnable it may be, the public judges it quite differently. Supported by this opinion, the io third estate will not abandon the defense it has constructed ; it will grow more bitter against the first two orders; it will disobey the orders of Your Maj- esty, and He will have compromised his authority uselessly. He will be forced to dissolve the states is general, and Your Majesty has seen what would be the consequences of it; perhaps, even, the third es- tate would not allow itself to be dissolved. From that time disorder and trouble would be at their height, and Your Majesty has seen what means re- 20 main with which to repress them. The plan that has been proposed to Your Majesty is noble, grand, and it seems to me the only one worthy of the char- acter and kindness of Your Majesty. 5. Procds-verbal, No. 5. 25 CONTINUATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY Tuesday, June 23, i78g, eleven A.M. The session held in the presence of the king, the 96 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 clergy, and the nobility being united in the nation- al hall. The king having entered, delivered a discourse announcing the object of the session. He then had 5 read by one of the secretaries of state a declaration, containing various provisions, in fifteen articles, given at Versailles, the 23d of June. After the reading of this declaration the king de- livered a second discourse, which was followed by 10 the reading, by one of the secretaries of state, of a second declaration, announced as the M Declaration of the Wishes of the King." It contained thirty- five articles, and was likewise given at Versailles, the 23d of June. is The king delivered a third discourse and retired. A short time after the withdrawal of the king, a part of the clergy and nobility having retired, the grand master of ceremonies approached the presi- dent and told him that he had heard the order of 20 the king to retire. The president replied to him that he could not separate the assembly, as it had not deliberated freely upon the subject. The grand master of ceremonies said that he was going to give an account of this reply to the king. as The assembly, deliberating after the royal session, passed the following resolutions: "The national assembly unanimously declares its intention to persist in its preceding resolutions." "The national assembly declares that the person 97 The French Revolution of each of the deputies is inviolable; that all in- dividuals, all corporations, tribunal, court, or com- mission that shall dare, during or after the present session, to pursue, to seek for, to arrest or have s arrested, detain or have detained, a deputy, by rea- son of any propositions, advice, opinions, or discourse made by him in the states general; as well as all persons who shall lend their aid to any of the said attempts, by whomsoever they may be ordered, are in- io famous and traitors to the nation, and guilty of capital crime. The national assembly decrees that in the aforesaid cases it will take all the necessary meas- ures to have sought out, pursued, and punished those who may be its authors, instigators, or executors." 15 Moreover, the assembly adjourned the session until to-morrow at nine o'clock. These resolutions were passed in the presence of several of the clergy. Those whose credentials were verified gave their votes and their opinions ; and the 20 others asked that mention be made of their presence. Bailly, President; Camus, Secretary; Pison du Galland, Jr., Secretary. 6. Seance tenue par le rot aux Mats g£neraux, le 23 Juin, 178Q. 25 DISCOURSE OF THE KING Gentlemen, — I believed that I had done every- thing in my power for the good of my people, when I had taken the resolution to call you together; when 98 The Royal Session of June 23, 1789 I had surmounted all the difficulties with which your convocation was surrounded ; when I had gone half-way, as But a member having observed that the deputies of the Vicomte, and those of the city of Paris, in the national assembly had assembled in the course of the morning to consider means of remedying the alarming scarcity of flour in Paris, and a great num- 178 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 ber of the citizenesses and some citizens having been admitted at this moment to the bar, where they stated that it was urgently necessary to occupy themselves with the food supply of this city, the s assembly decided immediately to send the president to the king with those of the deputies who cared to accompany him to ask him not only for a pure and simple consent to the declaration of rights and the nineteen decreed articles of the constitution, but 10 to request the use of the entire executive power in the employment of means to supply the capital with the grain and flour of which it has need. The presi- dent went to the king with the deputation at about five o'clock, and, the session continuing, the Bishop 15 of Langres, one of the ex-presidents, replaced him The citizens and the citizenesses of Paris, awaiting at the bar the reply of the king as to the scarcity of floqr experienced in Paris, one of the members of the deputation reported, at about eight o'clock, the 20 reply of his majesty on this particular matter. It is conceived in these terms : "I am keenly affected by the insufficiency of the provisioning of Paris. I will continue to second the zeal and the efforts of the municipality with all the 25 means and all the resources which are in my power, and I have given the most positive orders for the free circulation of grain on all the routes and the transportation of that destined for the use of my good city of Paris. Signed, Louis." 179 The French Revolution In addition, the following order was read which the king had just signed, and that M. de Saint-Priest, secretary of state, had countersigned. [The order was addressed to military and municipal officers, s instructing them to see to it that the supplies for Paris were not interfered with.] The assembly, wishing to co-operate as far as it is able in the effort to put an end to the scarcity of bread experienced by Paris, after the reading of io the reply of the king, decrees as follows : [A decree concerning food supply]. Finally, in order not to neglect any of the means fit to quiet the popular agitation caused by the scarcity of bread in Paris, the assembly presented 15 through its secretaries to the citizens and citizenesses of the capital, who were at the bar, collated copies of its decrees concerning the bread supply of August 29th and of September 18th, that of the reply of the king and of the orders sent out by his majesty in 20 the evening of that day, and finally the new decree relative to the supply of bread which had just been passed. The session having been prolonged from nine o'clock until half past nine in the evening, the vice- *5 president adjourned it, after having set the hour for to-morrow at nine o'clock in the morning. The majority of the deputies had left the hall, after the adjournment by the vice-president, when the presi- dent returned from the chateau and the crisis in 180 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 which they found themselves determined him to continue the session. He read the reply of the king, who, upon the representations of the assembly, ac- cepted purely and simply the declaration of rights s as well as the nineteen articles of the constitution. The reply of his majesty was thus conceived: "I accept purely and simply the articles of con- stitution and the declaration of the rights of man which the national assembly has presented to me." xo A numerous detachment of the national guard of Paris having arrived at ten o'clock in the evening, the king called into his presence the president who had just left his majesty. The king likewise called to him those of the deputies who were in the hall. is The president went to his majesty with a very great number of members. The king said: "I have called you because I wished to surround myself with the representatives of the nation, and to enlighten my- self with their advice in these difficult circumstances, 20 but M. de Lafayette arrived before you, and I have already seen him. Assure the national assembly that I have never thought of separating from it, that I never will separate from it." The agitation in Paris and the great number of as inhabitants of the capital who went to Versailles influenced the president at one o'clock to call the deputies together by the beating of drums. The assembly was well attended at half past one. . . . 13 181 The French Revolution The president adjourned the session at three o'clock in the morning, after having set the hour of meeting for eleven o'clock of that day. 2. Saint-Priest, Abrege, in Campan, II, 297-304. 5 The fifth of October, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, one of my valets came from Paris to warn me that the national guard of Paris, paid and unpaid, followed by a numerous populace of men and women, had set out for Versailles. The king 10 was hunting on the heights of Meudon, and I wrote to him to inform him of it. His majesty returned quite promptly and called a council of state for half past three. This council was then composed of eight ministers, the Marshal of Beauveau, the arch- is bishops of Vienne and of Bordeaux, guard of the seals, Necker, minister of finance, and the comtes de Montmorin, de La Luzerne, de La Tour-du-Pin, and de Saint-Priest, secretaries of state. I gave an account to the council of the information I had re- 20 ceived, and which had been confirmed since by many other reports. I described the danger there would be in awaiting this multitude in Versailles, and I proposed a plan to be executed in these circumstances. [The plan was to guard the bridges over the Seine as and check the advance of the Parisians. If this were not successful the king could fall back on Versailles and retreat to Rambouillet.] My plan was approved by the Marshal of Beauveau, MM. de La Luzerne and La Tour-du-Pin, and vigorously combated by 182 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 M. Necker, seconded by the Comte de Montmorin, the archbishops of Vienne and Bordeaux. M. Necker maintained there was no danger in allowing this multitude to arrive at Versailles, where it prob- 5 ably came only to present a petition to the king; that at the worst, should his majesty judge it neces- sary to establish himself at Paris, he would be vener- ated and respected there by his people who adored him. I replied by opposing to that both the form 10 and the substance of my plan, which contradicted all these pretended inclinations of the people of Paris. The king did not explain himself upon the course he would follow. He ended the council, and we knew he had gone to consult the queen. She is declared to him that she would not for any motive separate herself from him and from her children. This would render impossible the plan I suggested. . . . Toward seven o'clock in the evening a sort of Parisian advance guard, composed of men badly 20 clothed and women of the populace, arrived at the grating of the court of ministers, where they were refused entrance. These people then asked that some women be permitted to go to present a request to the king. His majesty ordered that six of them as be allowed to enter, and told me to go and give them a hearing in the Oeil-de-Boeuf. I went there. One of the women, who, as I have since learned, was a woman of the street, acting as spokesman repre- sented to me that there was a scarcity of bread in 183 The French Revolution Paris, and that the people came to ask some of his majesty. I replied that the king had taken all the steps he could to make good the deficiency of the last crop; I added that calamities of this nature ought s to be supported with patience as one supports the drought when the rain fails. I dismissed these women, telling them to return to Paris and assure their fellow citizens of the love of the king for the people of the capital. [That night the king called io a council. Hardly were the members seated when Saint-Priest received a letter from Lafayette, written from Auteuil, saying he was coming, that there would be no disorder, and he would be responsible for every- thing.] After having read M. de Lafayette's letter is to the council I presented again my suggestion made after dinner, observing, however, that there was no longer time to return to the measures proposed then; but that it was urgently necessary for the king with his family and his regular troops to set 20 out for Rambouillet. The controversy between M. Necker and myself became more lively than on the first occasion. I described the risks the king and his family were going to run, if they hesitated to leave. I dwelt upon the resources they would have as if they quit Versailles for Rambouillet, and I ended by saying to the king: "Sire, if you are taken to Paris to-morrow, your crown is lost." The king was affected and went to speak to the queen, who, this time, consented to go. M. Necker says in one of 184 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 his works: "He alone had to decide what course to follow, and he resolved to remain. In a great num- ber of persons, just one, so far as I can remember, voted for going without any modification. " It is s probably to myself that M. Necker attributes this isolated opinion, but his memory serves him badly, for it is a fact that MM. de Beauveau, de La Luzerne, and de La Tour-du-Pin were constantly of the same opinion as myself. 10 M. Necker passes over in silence the order which the king on entering the council gave me to make ready the carriages, which terminated the session. I told his majesty that I was going to execute his orders, to have my wife and children start for Ram- is bouillet, and I was going there myself in order to be there at his arrival. I ordered M. le chevalier de Cubieres, equerry, to take to the stables the order to prepare the carriages and went home to make my personal arrangements. After having 30 agreed with Madame de Saint-Priest about her de- parture, I mounted a horse, enveloped myself in a mantle in order not to be recognized, in which I was successful. I had gone hardly a half-league before the carriage of my wife overtook me. She informed 25 me that M. de Montmorin had sent word to her that the king was not going to leave. 3. Necker, De la revolution, II, 71-74, 84. The king was hunting [October 5 th]. He was in- formed immediately of the news which had been 185 The French Revolution received, and on his return to Versailles he had to decide what course to follow in a difficult situation. His personal sentiment did not incline him to take to flight, and if in the early days there had been an s intention to conceal this fact, the officers in service about the king should have been forbidden to say and to repeat that they had heard him, walking with long strides in his room, repeat several times, with a sentiment of repugnance and indignation: "A io fugitive king! A fugitive king!" He decided, however, to order his carriages, but the traces having been cut or detached by the people of Versailles, who wished, it was said, at any risk to prevent the departure of the court, there were new is doubts and a second deliberation. The excitement was general within the chateau, and the queen, within a period of a few hours, held two absolutely different opinions. The monarch, surrounded, environed by his guards, would have conquered, I believe, the re- 20 sistance of the people, but the excellent goodness of the prince made him hesitate to be the occasion and the witness of a tumult where the shedding of blood would have been, perhaps, inevitable. Yet at the moment and in a situation where the person even as of the king might be exposed, it is evident that he alone ought to decide the matter, and he resolved to remain at Versailles. The political question was the only one that his ministers and other persons with whom he took council were called upon to treat, 186 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 and this question was then second in order. I heard only the opinions given in the king's study, so I did not know the opinion of the princes, but in a great number of persons, just one, so far as I can remem- s ber, voted for the king to go without any modifica- tion. . . . The morning of October 6th the king did not hesitate to promise to go to establish himself in Paris. He set out surrounded by the national guards and followed, preceded by an immense throng 10 of people. His soul was sorrowful at the thought of the fate of many of his faithful guards, who had just perished by the assassin's hand; and his eyes could distinguish in the midst of the crowd monsters in human form, who bore as a trophy the frightful is signs of their sanguinary ferocity. What a journey ! What an inauguration of the future! 4. Lafayette, Marquis de, Mtmoires, II, 337-343. Between four and five o'clock word was received that they [the first troop of women] were to be followed 20 by several thousand men and women armed with guns, pikes, and two or three cannon. Then Lafayette, after having received from the city government an order and two commissioners, quickly provided for the protection of Paris, and at the head of several 25 battalions took the road to Versailles. Such was the general sentiment of indignation which animated Paris and the national guard against the first in- stigators of these disorders, that when he had given the order to march, he was covered with applause 187 The French Revolution along the way and notably by the crowd of well- dressed people who lined the terrace of the Tuileries. . . . Lafayette, before reaching Versailles, halted the column for a few minutes at the bridge of Sevres ; but s this Rubicon once passed, he ordered his troops to drive back any who opposed them. There was no need of it. The regiment of Flanders, minus its officers, sent to ask for orders, and were instructed to remain in their barracks. He [Lafayette] sent io the commandant of the city artillery and a general officer to announce to the chateau his intentions and the orders of the magistrates of Paris. The king sent word to him by another officer, sent in advance, that "he saw him approach with pleasure and that is he had just accepted his declaration of rights." Two patrols of the body guard, after the first, "Who goes there?" fell back on the chateau. Nobody ap- peared, and if a few shots, to which there was no reply, were fired on the arrival of the advance guard, 20 it was evidently with the intention of engaging an unequal contest which might have become bloody. Near the meeting place of the assembly, Lafayette again halted his troops, spoke to them, and had them renew the civic oath to the nation, the law, and the as king. Before again giving the order to advance, he wished to pay his respects to the president and to receive the orders of the king. He presented him- self alone with the two commissioners of the com- mune at the closed and locked grating of the court 188 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 of the chateau, full of Swiss guards. They refused to open the gate, and when Lafayette had announced his intention to enter solely with his two companions, the captain who parleyed with him expressed his s astonishment, to which he replied in a loud voice : "Yes, sir, it would always be with a feeling of con- fidence that I would find myself in the midst of the brave regiment of Swiss guards.' ' The gate was finally opened. The apartments were full of people. 10 When Lafayette crossed the CEil de Bceuf , a man cried out : " There is Cromwell !" M Sir, ' ' replied La- fayette, "Cromwell would not have entered alone." It was considered that, in view of the circumstances, he talked well to the king, who received him in pub- is lie and confided to him the old posts of the French guards. At daybreak he went to call upon M. Montmorin, within reach of his grenadiers, then very close to the chateau, to the h6tel de Noailles, his headquarters, when the alarm was given by his 20 sentinels and by the officer on duty. The irruption of the brigands, which had taken place suddenly, was soon checked by a company of grenadiers under the orders of Cadigan and by another volunteer company having at its head Captain Gondran. . . . 25 While Lafayette sent rapidly these first succors, he was able, by going quickly to the king, to save a group of body guards. He found the apartments occupied by the national guards, praised their fine conduct, and confided anew the royal family and its 189 The French Revolution guards to their loyalty. He harangued with warmth and even with violence from the balcony the multi- tude which filled the court of marble, and when the king and his family, after having promised to go to s Paris, had retired from this balcony, he said to the queen: "Madam, what is your personal intention ?" "I know the fate which awaits me," she replied, with magnanimity, "but my duty is to die at the feet of the king and in the arms of my children.'* "Very io well, Madam, come with me." "What! Alone on the balcony? Have you not seen the signs they made at me?" In fact, they were terrible. "Yes, Madam, let us go there." And in appearing with her, in face of those waves which roared still is in the midst of a fringe of national guards which bordered three sides of the court, but could not re- press the center of it, Lafayette, not being able to make himself heard, had recourse to a hazardous but decisive sign; he kissed the hand of the queen. 20 The multitude, struck by this act, cried: "Long live the general ! Long live the queen!" The king, who stood a few paces behind, advanced upon the balcony and said, in an affected and grateful tone: "Now, what can you do for my guards?" "Bring 25 me one of them," replied Lafayette. Then giving his cockade to the guard, he embraced him, and the people cried: "Long live the body guards!" From this moment the peace was made. The national guards and the body guards marched to Paris arm 190 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 in arm. ... He [Lafayette] took care to engage the people to march ahead, to have them followed by several battalions, and to retain only the escort necessary for the security of the royal family. In s spite of these precautions, they got on slowly. The place of Lafayette was by the side of the carriage of the king, which he accompanied on horseback. He could not go to all the different points to prevent embarrassment and oppose frequent halts. They 10 reached the city hall through an immense crowd. It was night, and there was reason to fear that the fermentation had not yet subsided. But the royal family was received by the representative of the com- mune with all the marks of respect that one might is expect from these excellent citizens. It is known that Bailly, charged by the king to express a few words of attachment for the city, forgot the word confidence. The queen called his attention to it, and Bailly, gracefully seizing the opportunity to put 20 her in a favorable light, said : ' ' Gentlemen, in hearing it from the mouth of the queen you are more for- tunate than if I had not made the mistake." La- fayette led the cortege to the palace of the Tuileries, which became the residence of the royal family as until August, 1792. 5. Procedure criminelle, Premier e partie, No. XXX, 58- a. Jean-Louis Brousse des Faucherets, forty-three years old, advocate of parliament, lieutenant of the 191 The French Revolution mayor in the department of public buildings, dwell- ing in Paris, Rue de Paradis, in the Marais, deposes that Monday, October 5th last, at half past nine or thereabout in the morning, going to the city hall s to perform his functions as secretary of the com- mune, he saw the Place de Greve filled by an enor- mous crowd of people, who, after having lowered the lantern, cried that they needed bread and demanded the punishment of the authors of the famine they 10 were suffering. Having gone a few steps, he en- countered the troops who were on duty to defend the square retiring in confusion, having the butts of their muskets in the air. Among the troops he recognized soldiers of the central troop of his dis- 15 trict, of whom he demanded the reason of their de- parture. These soldiers replied that they were sent away, and when he asked them who had done it, they added, while still retreating, that it was the people. [Finding it impossible to get into the city 20 hall, Brousse returned to his district and remained there until one o'clock.] Then he went to the city hall. He found the large hall, where the general assemblies are usually held, entirely vacant. They told him that the few representatives who were 25 then in the city hall were assembled in the room where the police committee usually meets. He went there. On reaching the antechamber he found the door crowded with four or five grenadiers of the French guards, one of whom was .speaking, but he 192 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 could not hear what he said. When he came near one of them, he heard silence imposed upon the sol- dier near him, who was trying to speak. They said to him: "Let him speak; he speaks well." Then he s saw M. de Lafayette come out and try to appease these soldiers, who said to him all together: "It is useless to convince us, for all our comrades think the same way, and even if you convinced us you would not change them." M. de Lafayette followed them 10 into the square, and he went with him. . . . He saw the useless efforts made by the commanding general to appease the cries and impetuosity of the soldiers united with the people. There was but one cry: "Let us go to Versailles!" Seeing that he could do is no good, and as his duty called him elsewhere, he re- entered the city hall, where he encountered a repre- sentative whose name he cannot recall, who told him that the grenadiers, who talked at the moment he presented himself at the door of the room of the 20 police committee, had said to M. de Lafayette: "General, the people lack bread; the committee on food either deceive you or they are themselves de- ceived. We are in a position which cannot last. There is only one way to put an end to it. Let us as go to Versailles. They say the king is an imbecile; we will place the crown on the head of his son; a council of regency will be named, and France will be better governed." The person who told him this said that this soldier had a very fine face and a 193 The French Revolution choice of language which surprised everybody who heard him, and a coolness which astonished still more. [Brousse left the city hall at half past three.] He returned an hour later to the city hall and learned s that M. de Lafayette had been compelled by the ab- solute violence of his troops to march at their head to Versailles, after having obtained an order of the commune which enjoined him to do so. [December 23, 1789-] 10 5 . Procedure criminelle, Premidre partie, No. XXXVIII, 7i. b. Jean-Baptiste Lourdet de Santerre, fifty-seven years of age, counselor of the king in his councils, master in ordinary in his chamber of accounts, 15 dwelling in Paris, Rue Chapon, parish Saint-Nicolas- des-Champs, deposes that the fifth of October last, he betook himself to the city hall at six o'clock in the morning in his character as deputy, to relieve the commissioners who had passed the night there, 20 and who were in the room used for the delivery of passports. Being installed in their place with five of his colleagues, they had scarcely begun to occupy themselves with their affairs when a baker was brought in who was accused of selling bread under 25 weight. This affair concerned the police com- mission; but as it was not yet assembled, he and his colleagues decided to send the delinquent to a com- missioner at the Chatelet. But on the statement made to them by the national guard, who had 194 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 brought him in, that it would be difficult to save him from the fury of the people assembled in the Place de Greve, he and his colleagues sent him with the guard who had arrested him to wait the com- s missioners in the room of the police commission. At nine o'clock in the morning of this same day he heard in the court confused cries. He ran to the window and saw many women, who appeared to be disputing among themselves, whose words he 10 could not hear. In less than half an hour the city hall was filled with a very great number of women, who ran through all the rooms of the city hall. A group of them entered the room where he was and withdrew, saying they had no desire to harm any- is body. Four of the deputies had been obliged to leave on account of business of various kinds, and he remained alone with one of his colleagues. A few moments afterward redoubled blows, which he heard rained upon a door, made him think they were trying 20 to force the city hall, and, in fact, they did so, and all the city hall was rilled with brigands armed with axes, muskets, sabers, and pikes, who joined the women in forcing all the rooms of the city hall. In the midst of the inhuman cries of this wild troop 25 he still continued his work with his colleague. Finally prudence forced him to withdraw. . . . Toward half past twelve or one o'clock he learned in his district, where he had gone, that the national guard had gained control of the Place de Gr&ve and i95 The French Revolution the city hall. He went to the assembly of the repre- sentatives of the commune and remained there until three o'clock to deliberate on the different courses that might be followed in this moment of efferves- s cence of the inhabitants of Paris, and especially of the immense throng of people which inundated the streets in the vicinity of the city hall. He left at four o'clock to go to dinner. Upon his return at five he found the commanding general and mayor io surrounded by a great number of deputies and by a score of grenadiers, former French guards, who cried with vehemence: "General, to Versailles! Hang it! You will not abandon us!" The commanding general employed his affability and eloquence to is calm the frenzy of these excited individuals, who constantly repeated: "To Versailles! To Ver- sailles !" Finally he was forced to go out with them, still haranguing them with admirable calmness. He [Lourdet] then followed the mayor and the deputies ao to the assembly of the commune to take such action as the critical circumstances demanded. A little later some one came to announce that the general had departed for Versailles with a great number of national troops, and that all the armed brigands 2s who had forced the city hall in the morning had also departed for Versailles at about two o'clock in the afternoon with an innumerable throng of women. [December 29, 1789.] 196 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 5. Procedure criminelle, Suite de la, No. CLXXXV, 26. c. Gerard-Henri de Blois, forty-two years old, advo- cate of parliament, dwelling in Paris, Rue du Battoir, parish Saint-C6me, deposes that as representative s of the commune he went to the city hall for the night service, the night of Sunday, the fourth, to Monday, the fifth, of October last. Toward seven o'clock on the morning of Monday he was alone in the police room. The first indication of a riot was 10 the arrest of a baker, near Saint-Eustache, charged with having sold a two-pound loaf of bread seven ounces under weight. A detachment of the national guard brought him in. M. de Gouvion, major gen- eral, came to inform him of the matter, saying that is the people who were in the square demanded that the baker be strung up to the lantern. After he had questioned the baker, who acknowledged his guilt, he said to M. de Gouvion, who feared that the people would come and seize the baker, that they ought, 20 both of them, to do all they could to prevent this assassination. The baker, whom he had concealed, had the good fortune to escape before the city hall was surrounded, a movement which commenced a few minutes later. About eight o'clock in the morn- 25 ing, informed by M. de Gouvion that it was the in- tention to lay siege to the city hall, he saw, in fact, the first group of women enter the court of the city hall. They were for the most part young, dressed in white, their hair dressed and faces powdered, H 197 The French Revolution having a merry air and showing no bad intentions. They entered the different halls, and notably that where the police committee met, and another near by where passports are distributed. He talked with s them. They were very polite, and he replied to all their questions which had no other object than to know the use of the halls. . . . The number of women increased considerably until eleven in the morning. He saw one group mount the staircase which led io to the belfry and ring the bell. Another laughed, sang, and danced in the court, asking from time to time: "Where is M. Bailly? Where is M. de Lafayette?" He also saw women force the con- cierge of the jail to set the prisoners at liberty. . . . 15 Having examined the dress, the figures, and the faces of these women, he saw very few who would be classed with the vile populace. Having expressed his astonishment to some persons that only women entered the city hall, while the Place de Greve was 20 full of men and nobody prevented them from enter- ing, the reply was that the women had forbidden them to enter. About half past eleven he heard a great uproar on the side of the Saint- Jean arcade. Going to this side, he saw a considerable number of 25 men force the doors which are under this arcade, with logs, hammers, and other instruments. Soon the doors were broken in and a very numerous popu- lace spread in every direction through the city hall, without at this time, however, entering by the grand 198 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 staircase. At the sight of all these people, not doubting that they had evil intentions, he left the city hall, because there were few representatives of the commune there and as the heads of the munic- s ipality were not present. Toward two o'clock he returned with M. de Vauvilliers, whom he met in the Cordeliers district. Both of them went to the room of the police committee. There he saw M. de Lafayette surrounded by two grenadiers, former 10 French guards. One, with a very excited air, was saying to M. de Lafayette: " General, they are de- ceiving you." When he asked him to name the per- sons who were abusing his confidence, he [the grena- dier] replied: "We will name them for you, but we is must go to Versailles." At this remark M. de Lafayette walked off, still accompanied by the two grenadiers. Then he could hear only very imper- fectly what was said, but shortly afterward some one, whose name he does not recall, said to him: "The 20 grenadiers are forcing M. de Lafayette to go to Versailles; he is opposed to it, saying that the king might leave his usual residence; one of the grena- diers replied: 'If the king leaves Versailles we will put his son on the throne.' " This same remark was 25 heard, no doubt, by other persons, as he heard it repeated in the hall of the commune by M. Brousse de Faucherets, among other people. The repre- sentatives of the commune being then assembled in the great hall, he saw several of the aides of M. 199 The French Revolution de Lafayette arrive, one after the other, announcing that his life was in danger, that they threatened him with the lantern, that on all sides were heard the cries: "To Versailles! To Versailles!" Then the s assembly thought it ought to yield to force and give the order to the general to set out for Versailles. [December 24, 1789.] 5. Procedure criminelle, Premidre partie. No. LXXXI, 117. 10 d. Stanislas-Marie Maillard, twenty-six years old, captain of the volunteers of the Bastile, living in Paris, Rue de Bethizi, parish Saint-Germain-l'Aux- errois, deposes that Monday, the fifth of last October, at seven o'clock in the morning, he went to the city is hall to make a claim upon the commune in the name of the volunteers; but the commune not being as- sembled, the halls were, on the contrary, filled with women who tried to break in, and who broke in the doors of the city hall, which led him to descend into 20 the guard room for the purpose of asking orders of M. de Gouvion [Lafayette's aide] in order to remedy and prevent the damage these women might com- mit. M. de Gouvion begged him earnestly not to leave him and to aid in quieting the people. [An as uprising is reported in the Saint- Ant oine section. After restoring order there, Maillard returns to the city hall.] At this time he was not able to enter the city hall. It was occupied by a crowd of women who would have no men among them, and who 200 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 repeated without ceasing that the city government was composed of aristocrats. He was taken for a member of the government because he was dressed in black, and they refused him entrance, which s obliged him to change his clothes. But in descend- ing the steps of the city hall he was stopped by five or six women who made him return, crying to all the others that it was a volunteer of the Bastile, and that there was nothing to be feared from him; 10 that then, having penetrated into the midst of them, he found some of them forcing the doors down- stairs, others seizing the papers in the halls, saying that it [writing] was all that had been done since the beginning of the revolution, and that they were going is to burn them. He, with the aid of a person named Richard Maillard Dupin, invited them to keep quiet. These women repeated that the men did not have nerve enough to avenge themselves, and that they would show themselves better than the men. Hav- 20 ing gone for a moment to the court, on returning he saw a crowd of men going up the steps, armed with pikes, lances, forks, and other weapons, having forced the women to let them enter. These men cast themselves upon the doors which the women had as attacked, and forced them by means of heavy ham- mers they had and crowbars which they found in the city hall. They took all the arms they found and gave some of them to the women. He was told that women were coming with torches to burn the papers 201 The French Revolution which remained in the city hall. He went out, threw himself upon these women, to the number of two, who bore each a lighted torch and were just entering the city hall. He took the torches from them, which s nearly cost him his life because he opposed their project. He remarked to them that they could send a delegation to the commune for the purpose of ask- ing justice and describing the situation in which they found themselves, as all asked for bread. But io they replied that the whole commune was composed of bad citizens, all of whom deserved to be hung to the lantern, and first of all M. Bailly and M. de Lafayette. [February 27, 1790.] [Maillard consulted with M. Derminy, adjutant is major general of the militia, with headquarters at the city hall, as to what should be done. The women were planning to go to Versailles; Maillard suggested that he become their leader.] The said M. Derminy replied he could give no orders of this nature, that 20 it would be contrary to the interest of the citizens, that he [Maillard] might do everything which seemed best to him, provided that it did not disturb the public peace. He replied to the said M. Derminy that it could do no harm, and that it was the sole 25 means of freeing the city hall and the capital; that by this same means one would succeed in getting the districts under arms, that in the time they [the women] were making four leagues the army could anticipate the evil these women proposed to do. 202 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 He then got a drummer at the door of the city hall, where the women were gathered in very large num- bers. Detachments of them set out into different quarters to make recruits and arranged a rendezvous s in the Square Louis XV. He saw several men place themselves at their head and harangue them in a way likely to arouse sedition. He believed it his duty to make known to these women that these men would lead them into trouble. ... To the first drum- 10 mer, mentioned above, two others had been added, and they followed the street along the quay of the Orfevres, of l'Ecole, up to the last gate of the Louvre, where, in the midst of the square, a lady with her husband being encountered in a carriage, several of is these women went to the carriage and made the lady descend. Her husband did not abandon her, and begged him to use his influence with the women that they might go free, which he was not able to do in spite of all the civilities he made use of. He halted 20 the women. He told them that this woman would probably not refuse to go to Versailles with them, but that at least they ought to permit her to go in her carriage with her husband. They refused this proposition, and it was only the tears of the lady as which affected some of the women. Others were inexorable, which caused a disturbance among them, and they struck one another. During this time he begged the women who held this lady to let her go, and obtained her liberty. These women continued 203 The French Revolution their route and forced him to pass through the gar- den of the Tuileries. He objected that it was im- possible, that the Swiss would oppose them, and that it would be an insult to his majesty to cross his s gardens in this way, and especially in such large numbers. [The women gave Maillard the choice between crossing the garden or abandoning the leadership. They crossed, having a melee with the Swiss]. They reached the Square Louis XV., as- io signed by these women as rendezvous, but as the people had gathered in large numbers, this square did not seem a fitting place to meet in, and they de- cided to go to the midst of the Champs-Elysees, the Place d'Armes, where he saw groups of women ar- is rive from all sides armed with broom handles, lances, forks, swords, pistols, and guns, none of them, how- ever, having any ammunition, as they wished to force him to go to seek powder at the arsenal with a detachment of them. [Maillard] pretended there 20 was no powder at the arsenal, although he knew better; but he believed it prudent, as they wished to go to the national assembly only to ask justice and bread, that they should go there without arms, and that they would soften the assembly sooner in as presenting themselves without arms than in employ- ing force. By means of prayers and protestations he succeeded in making the women abandon their arms, except a few who refused, but whom others, more wise, forced to yield. . . . They took the route to 204 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 Versailles, having at their head eight or ten drum- mers. These women at that time might have amounted to six or seven thousand. They passed through Chaillot, along the river. All the houses s were closed, through fear of pillage, no doubt. These women, in spite of that, went to knock at all the doors, and when they were refused entrance they wished to break them down, and made a business of taking away the signs. Seeing this, and wishing 10 to prevent the ruin of the inhabitants, he halted all the women and told them that it would not reflect honor upon them to comport themselves in this way, and that he would abandon the leadership if they went on in this way, and their actions might be is looked upon in an unfavorable light. On the con- trary, if they went along peacefully, all the citizens of the capital would appreciate it. They finally yield- ed to his remonstrances and advice and continued their route in an orderly manner to Sevres. Mean- 20 while, at intervals along the road, they intercepted various couriers and carriages of the court going to Versailles, because of the fear, they said, that the bridge of S&vres might be closed to prevent them from passing without doing any harm to anybody. as Arrived at the Sevres bridge, he halted them. [A group of seven armed men, chosen from those fol- lowing the women, were sent forward to S&vres. Their instructions were] to discover where the bakers were and to request them to give and distribute 205 The French Revolution what bread they might have on hand, assuring them that no harm or wrong would be done them, the women having promised him this. After having given this order, he and the women continued their s route without encountering any obstacle as far as Sevres, not even a guard. Arrived at Sevres, they found, in fact, all the refreshment places and wine shops closed. A messenger from those sent ahead came to inform him that all the bakers had been io visited, and that only eight loaves of bread of four pounds had been found; that the bakers cut it up into small pieces to distribute to the women. . . . He was obliged to report to the women what he had just heard, which excited murmurs among them and made is them scatter here and there to hatch plots which made him fear for the inhabitants of Sevres. [Mail- lard had the drums beaten, and made use of the well-disposed women in the effort to influence the others. He was not successful.] The women went 20 to all the doors and shops of the wine merchants, tavern keepers, and other citizens, even entered the courts and took the benches and other pieces of wood, and set to work to break down the doors and tear down the signs of all the merchants. He had as the drums beaten to call together the citizens of Sevres, and put in a state of defense against the evils which threatened them. But instead of these citi- zens there arrived a crowd of armed men whom he believed at first to be the citizens of the place; on 206 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 the contrary, they were men famished by the loss of the citizens of Sevres, and who, with their wives, attacked furiously all the doors near them. Then he followed the course of having the drums s beaten, assembled all the men and women, and made them understand that they would be taken for bandits rather than citizens, for which they an- nounced themselves. It would avail much more to remain quiet; that he was going to knock at differ- 10 ent doors to get food and wine, if there was any. In fact, he went to one in front of the gate in the park. A sick man presented himself and said, in response to his request to give wine and bread, if he had any, that he had no bread, but he had wine. He had him is draw ten or twelve jugs, which he had distributed among all the women by armed men. Some paid, others did not pay. He told this individual to give as much of it as the women wanted, that he would pay with his own money, and if he did not have 20 enough he would give him an order on the city. But this individual said he regretted he did not have more, and that he would make the sacrifice of it without retribution. Several women thanked him. They set out, the men following behind, which did as not cause him any less fear. . . . Accompanied by the women, he continued his route to reach Versailles, and having passed VirofHay, they encountered sev- eral individuals on horseback, who appeared to be bourgeois, having black cockades in their hats. 207 The French Revolution They stopped them and were inclined to take extreme measures against them, saying they ought to perish be- cause of the insult they had offered and were offering to the national cockade. They struck one, dragging him s from his horse, tearing from him his black cockade, which one of the women gave to him [Maillard]. . . . He obtained his pardon on condition that he would surrender his horse, march behind them, and at the first place [they reached] they would place a io placard on his back (as having insulted the national cockade). This individual consented to every- thing, provided they left him his life. One of the women mounted the horse and set off to notify Ver- sailles that they were coming. A little farther on is they encountered two more bourgeois on horseback wearing black cockades. The horses and cockades were confiscated. As they approached Versailles [Maillard] arranged the women in three rows as well as he could and formed a circle. He said to them 20 that the three pieces of cannon they had could not be dragged at the head of the column. In spite of the fact that they had no powder, it might be sus- pected that their intentions were bad. They ought rather to make a show of gayety than to cause a 2s riot in Versailles. This city not being informed of their action, the inhabitants might suspect them of other views, and they would be the victims of their devotion. They consented to do what he wished. Consequently the cannon were placed behind them, 208 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 and he invited the women to sing,' 'Long live Henry IV.!" on entering Versailles, and to cry, "Long live the king!" which they did not cease to repeat in the midst of this people who awaited them, and who s cried, "Long live our Parisians!" They arrived at the door of the national assembly, where he said it would be imprudent for more than five or six women to present themselves. They refused, and all wanted to enter. An officer of the guard, who was at the 10 assembly, joined him and invited them not to send more than a dozen. [March 3, 1790.] After much discussion with his women, there were found fifteen among them who went with him to the bar of the national assembly. Of these fifteen is women he knew only the woman Varennes, of whom he had previously spoken. . . . Having arrived there, he engaged the said women to remain silent and to let him present to the assembly their requests, which they had communicated to him on the way. To 20 this they consented. Then he asked the president for the floor. M. Mounier, then president, gave it to him. He said that two or three persons in a court carriage, whom he had met on the way, had told him that they were informed that an abbe connected as with the assembly had given to a miller two hundred livres to prevent him from grinding — with a promise to give him as much each week. The national as- sembly loudly demanded that he [Maillard] should name him. He was unable to satisfy their request, 209 The French Revolution inasmuch as he remembered neither the names of those whom these people had denounced to him, nor those of the denunciators even. That what he could say was that he remembered that they lived 5 in the Rue du Platre Ste.-Avoye. The assembly still persisting in the desire to know the name of the person denounced, M. de Robespierre, deputy from Artois, took the floor. He said that the stranger introduced into the august diet was quite io right, and that he believed the matter had been mentioned that morning; that the Abbe Gregoire could throw some light on the subject, which freed him [Maillard] from giving it himself. He having the floor, said that to establish tranquillity, to re- is store quiet, and prevent disorders, he begged the gentlemen of the assembly to name a delegation which should go to the body guards for the purpose of requesting them to take the national cockade, and to make reparation for the injury it was said they 20 had done to this cockade. Several members of the assembly raised their voices and said it was false, that the guards of the king had never insulted the national cockade; that all those who wished to be citizens could be it of their own free will, and that 25 no one could be forced to do it. He took the floor and, showing three black cockades, which were those of which he had previously spoken, said that there should be no person in existence who did not feel it was an honor to be [a citizen] ; that if there were 2IO The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 in this august assembly members who considered themselves dishonored by the title, they should be expelled at once. There was much applause and the hall resounded with cries of, "Yes, all ought to be, s and we are all citizens!" During the applause a national cockade was brought to him from the body guards, which he showed to all the women that they might know of the submission of these first. All the women cried: "Long live the king! Long the 10 gentlemen of the body guards!" He then asked the president for the floor, and said that it was also essential to prevent disorder and settle the doubts which prevailed in the capital upon the arrival of the regiment of Flanders at Versailles, that this is regiment should be sent away, because the citizens feared a revolution by means of them. M. Mounier replied that he would instruct the king that evening on his return from the chase, where it was said he was. He replied that he would be glad to believe 20 the contrary of the suspicions and cries which cir- culated and agitated the capital, that, however, he believed for the good of the citizens the king should be induced to declare that he would send the regi- ment away, by giving him the idea that it meant 25 always one thousand mouths to feed, and that in a time of distress and of lack of bread, in which we found ourselves, that this regiment could be more easily fed in a provincial city than close to the capital, where bread was worth three livres, twelve 211 The French Revolution sous for four pounds. A member, a chevalier de Saint-Louis, took the floor and charged that it was false; that he came from Paris; that he knew there was difficulty in getting bread, but it was not worth s more than twelve and a half sous, and that he [Maillard] was imposing on the assembly. He re- plied that he was going to give proof of what he had stated, and said that no woman could stand in the crowd at the baker's door, that only a man could io do so; that in this way, this man, in losing his day, lost three livres and twelve sous, which the bread cost him ; that made a total of three livres and twelve sous for him. That it was necessary to prevent such disorders as were caused by provincial cities is which allowed themselves to intercept wagons of grain or meal destined for the capital, on the ground that they were in want in their cities, and a decree should be issued against all persons who permitted themselves to do these things without legitimate 20 cause. The president replied that a deputation would be sent to his majesty to get his approval of all he [Maillard] had just requested, but that it could not go until evening inasmuch as the king had just returned from the hunt. He [Maillard] said as that if they did not wish to go immediately to his majesty he would consider himself under obligations to go himself to warn him of the dangers which menaced the capital at the time of their departure; that, without doubt, his majesty would not refuse 212 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 to receive the delegation of deputies; that his maj- esty had, probably, seen or could learn that the women of Paris were in Versailles in very large num- bers, which ought to cause him some uneasiness. s The president said he was going to name the deputa- tion immediately, that he would be a member of it, and that they would then go to his majesty. They departed, in truth, telling him to induce the women to be patient, that time was necessary to assemble 10 the ministers of the king, and we could be sure that he would do all in his power to fulfil our wishes. When they were gone he felt he ought to stop the remarks the women were making, and prevent them from getting worked up against the clergy. The is proof he had of it at this time was that an abbe, wearing a cross, came to propose to one of these women, in order to keep her quiet, that she should kiss his hand. This woman struck it and replied that she was no drab to kiss the paw of a dog. The 20 abbe retired, and all the women shouted: "Down with the calotte! It's the entire clergy that causes our trouble!" To prevent the fury of these women from giving vent to itself, he asked the president for the floor, which was granted him. He said, in order 25 to restrain and satisfy these women, that all the citizens of the capital were assured that they occu- pied themselves seriously in this august assembly with forming a good constitution, but he had heard, and it was the general cry in the capital, that it is 15 213 The French Revolution the clergy who thwarted it without ceasing. A mem- ber on the left of the president, a chevalier of Saint- Louis, took the floor and said that when a stranger, introduced into an august diet, permits himself to s inculpate members of the assembly, he should un- dergo exemplary punishment on the spot. But he [Maillard] asked the president that he might be heard, and said that he had never intended to in- culpate anybody ; that he believed, on the contrary, io he rendered a service to the members of the clergy, who did not believe themselves culpable, but that he imagined that when the one who was denounced did not know the motive of his accusation, he could not justify himself. He begged the gentlemen of is the clergy not to harbor any ill-will against him ; that he had said what he did say only with the intention of preventing disorders with which the clergy were not acquainted. . . . M. de Robespierre delivered, then, a speech full of patriotism which 20 quieted all the women for the moment. ... A dozen women entered the national assembly and said that the body guards had just fired upon them ; that one of them had been seized, and they waited for him [Maillard] to come outside to decide the kind of 25 death he deserved. At the same moment a dis- charge of musketry was heard, which caused alarm in the assembly, and he was requested by several deputies to take steps at once to prevent trouble. He went out to the women. He saw a body guard 214 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 who was being detained by the bridle of his horse. He wished to dismount, but the women would not let him, doing him no harm, only making injurious remarks. When the body guard saw him approach 5 to speak to him, he drew his saber, cut the reins of his horse, the point striking the shoulder of a woman, and saved himself. He attempted to run after him, but could not catch him. The body guard in escap- ing discharged a pistol behind, but did not strike 10 him. He [Maillard] re-entered the national assem- bly, after having bound all these women not to go nearer the chateau. At about eight o'clock in the evening the president, accompanied by the depu- tation, returned from his visit to the king. He re- is ported the words of the king, which all the assembly heard and the people appeared to respect, as they tended only to restore tranquillity among his people. Then he read five documents relative to the request the national guard had made of the national assembly 20 and of the king concerning food supply. His maj- esty had ordered that two officers should accom- pany him [Maillard] on his return to Paris, but the women opposed this, and said that they alone would escort him. They [the documents] were 25 transcribed upon the registers of the assembly, and copies of them delivered to him by Vicomte de Mirabeau, and immediately afterward he re- turned to Paris with some of these women in a court carriage and encountered in the Avenue de 21S The French Revolution Versailles the national guard of Paris. [March 4, 1790.] 5. Procedure criminelle, Premiere partie, No. LXXXII, 132. 5 e. Jeanne Martin, age forty-nine years, nurse, wife of Jean Lavarenne, porter of the little Hotel d'Aligre, with whom she lives in the Rue Bailleul, in the parish of Saint-Germain-rAuxerrois, deposes that on Monday, the fifth of last October, she was forced 10 by about twoscore of women, in the passage of the Louvre, near the garden of 1- Infant, to go with them to Versailles; that they put a cudgel in her hand, threatening to maltreat her if she did not march. She observed to them that she had not lunched, that is she had not a sou. They replied to her : ' ' March ! March! You shall lack nothing!" To avoid the rough usage with which she was menaced she fol- lowed these women. Having reached the Tuileries, and having attempted to pass through the garden, 20 the Swiss Frederic objecting to it gave rise to a brawl between this Swiss and M. Maillard, who was with them and at their head. Seeing two swords drawn and fearing a mishap, she delivered upon the swords a blow with the club she carried, by which 25 blow the combatants were disarmed. A man armed with a bayonet having attempted to fall upon the Swiss, a woman quite poorly dressed, having in her hand the blade of a rusty sword without a hilt, having attempted to strike a blow at this Swiss, she 216 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 [Jeanne Martin] and some other women opposed them, and in the scuffle she [Jeanne Martin] was wounded in the hand. They all passed through the Tuileries and continued their route to Versailles, s with some other women who joined them in the Square Louis XV., in the Cour la Reine, and outside the barrier. Arrived at Sevres, near the porcelain manufactory, they encountered two gentlemen, one of whom had a cordon noir, the other wore a green 10 coat, who said to them: "Where are you going, ladies?" They replied: "We are going to Versailles to ask from the king bread for ourselves, for our hus- bands and our children, and the provisioning of the capital." These individuals said: "Go, my chil- is dren, comport yourselves well, don't insult anybody. Peace be with you." Then a woman, whom she [Jeanne Martin] did not know, but who was armed with a sword, said: "Yes, yes, we are going to Ver- sailles. We are going to carry the head of the queen 20 on the point of a sword. ' ' The other women imposed silence upon her. The deponent observed that along the route she had observed the passage of various couriers; that one among others whom the women tried to stop had escaped them, after having thrown as into the river a portfolio with which he was bur- dened. Another courier, belonging to the Due d'Orleans, was allowed to pass freely, starting from Passy to go to Versailles. All along the route they had seen other couriers. When they arrived at 217 The French Revolution Versailles the regiment of Flanders was under arms on the left of the chateau, and the body guard in front of the grating. They sought to enter the court, but were prevented from doing so. A man s clothed in the uniform of the Parisian guard, armed with a saber, having traversed the ranks of the king's guard, a guard separated himself from the others, ran upon him, saber in hand, and gave him a blow which knocked his hat off. Three other io guards of the king likewise left the ranks with drawn sabers, ran after this man on the side of the barracks. Then she lost sight of them. The women, not hav- ing been able to get into the courts of the chateau, went, she likewise, to the national assembly. M. is Maillard was still at their head. A score of women, of whom she [Jeanne Martin] was one, were taken to the bar of the national assembly. They were received with great joy and affability. They were seated upon a bench. It was the said Maillard who, 20 alone at first, spoke, asking for bread for them, their husbands and their children, and the provisioning of the capital. Two members of the assembly were delegated with nine women to call upon the king. Seven only entered, so they told her. She remained as at the bar of the assembly. The deputation re- turned from its call upon the king only at ten o'clock. The reply of the king was read. It was then given to the Vicomte de Mirabeau, from whose hands she received it to remit it to Maillard, who was to carry 218 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 it promptly to the city hall. The session of the as- sembly having closed at about one o'clock, she and many other women slept in the hall. She saw no man disguised as a woman. Nothing occurred offen- s sive to honesty and decency. At five o'clock, on the morning of the 6th, she and two other women, whose names and residences are unknown to her, left the hall and went to the Place d'Armes and then to the chateau, where they saw a great crowd gather 10 which clambered upon the gratings to get into the chateau, the gates not yet being open. At this moment several guards of the king, from the in- terior of the chateau, fired upon the people with their muskets. She noted and recognized three or four is of them by their dress and cross-belts. By this discharge a citizen was killed in the court of marble. The guard of the king who had killed this citizen was led to the Place d'Armes, where he lost his life. Another guard of the king, having driven a poignard 20 into the arm of a citizen, who was severely wounded and taken to the hospital, this guard of the king was at once wounded by a blow of an ax, which cut off half his face, and he was then taken to the Place d'Armes, where he was killed by the side of the first. as A man of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, having a long beard and armed with an ax, had cut off the heads of the said guards of the king. Several guards of the king, likewise menaced by the women, were saved by the grenadiers of the national guard. She her- 219 The French Revolution self helped one of them by parrying a blow aimed at him with a lance, which blow she received on her right arm, and from which she was dangerously wounded. s Shortly after M. de Lafayette announced that the king was going to appear. In fact, the king and the royal family appeared on the balcony. Then the people cried: "Long live the king! Long live the nation! Long live the dauphin!" She and some io other women having cried: "Long live the queen!" women of the people struck them to make them keep silent. The people cried: "Long live the king! The king to Paris ! The king to Paris !" The king having consented to this, other cries of, "Long live is the king!" were heard. The queen, accompanied by M. de Lafayette, appeared on the balcony, and the latter speaking, said: "The queen feels badly to see what she sees before her eyes. She has been de- ceived. She promises that she will be no longer. 20 She promises to love her people and be attached to them as Jesus Christ is to his church." In sign of approbation the queen, weeping, raised her hand twice. The king asked pardon for his guards, and the people repeated his words. The guards of the 2s king, on their side, cried : ' ' Long live the king ! Long live the nation!" and threw their hats and cross-belts, and some even money, from the win- dows. The grenadiers put their bonnets on the guards of the king, and also cried: "Long live the 220 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 king! Long live the nation!" At this moment the king declared that at noon he would set out for Paris. After that she set out alone to return. On her way, having reached the hamlet of Point du s Jour, certain individuals recognized her, made her get into their carriage, and brought her home. [March 5, 1790.] 5. Procedure criminelle, Premidre partie, No. LXXIII, 109. to f . Alexis Grincourt, about forty-two years of age, master upholsterer, living at Versailles, Rue de la Paroisse Notre Dame, deposes that, the same day [October 5th], at about five o'clock in the evening, he being in the Place d'Armes, saw some women is of the lower class come from Paris. Their arrival caused some uneasiness. The guards of the king assembled in the above mentioned square. An in- dividual clothed in the coat of the Parisian national guard, having traversed the ranks of the guards of 20 the king, one of them ran upon him with a drawn saber in his hand, seeking to strike him. The blows were parried by the individual with his saber, who then took refuge in the barracks. Two other guards of the king went after this individual, either to 25 arrest him or to prevent unpleasant consequences. It was at this moment that M. de Savonnieres was struck by a shot from a gun fired at him by an in- dividual miserably dressed. The drums beat to arms. Then the national soldiers of Versailles were 221 The French Revolution called to arms, and assembled at the main guard house in the Place d'Armes. At about eight o'clock the order was given them to retire, which they did. The guards of the king were likewise withdrawn, and 5 as they retired they were hissed by some of the peo- ple of the lower class. The rear of the column hav- ing fired some pistol shots, no doubt to intimidate the people — for no one was wounded, at least to his [Grincourt's] knowledge — a discharge of about sixty io gtfns was made upon the guards of the king. He did not know whether any of them were wounded, not having any acquaintance with them. Tuesday, the sixth of October, at seven or thereabouts, he saw two heads carried at the ends of pikes. He went to 15 the marble court, where he saw the corpse of a per- son who had his head broken. Two persons clad in the uniform of the national guard of Paris held by the collar a guard of the king who appeared to have come from the apartments, to whom they showed 20 this corpse and attributed his death to him. This guard of the king protested his innocence of the unhappy deed. Notwithstanding his protestations, the people shouted: "He must be hung! He must be hung!" He and some other persons having be- 25 gun to shout : "He must be taken to Paris ! to Paris !" they succeeded in taking him to the main guard house, where, on the arrival of M. de Lafayette, this guard of the king was taken from the hands of those who were seeking to sacrifice him. [February 2 6 , 1 7 90.] 222 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 5. Procedure criminelle, Suite, No. CCLXIX, 136. g. Simon- Louis-Pierre de Cubi&res, forty-one years of age, equerry of the king, living in Versailles at the little stables, deposes that Monday, fifth of s October last, at half past two, being at the little stables of the king in Versailles, a letter was brought to him to be sent to the king. Through zeal, he asked to be permitted to carry it, knowing the place where the king was hunting. He set out at once 10 and overtook the king, who was shooting in the woods of Meudon. Having given the king the let- ter, he read it and had the goodness to say to him that there had been a disturbance the night before at the grain market; that they informed him that 15 women were coming from Paris to ask for bread. The king added, in a voice touched by emotion: ''Alas! if I had it, they would not need to come to ask me for it." Shortly after the king decided to mount his horse to return to Versailles. As he was 20 putting his foot in the stirrup, a chevalier of Saint- Louis, unknown to him [Simon- Louis-Pierre] came to say to the king that he arrived from Paris; that he came to off er his services to his majesty; that he was ready to defend him even to the last drop of his blood. 25 To which the king replied to this officer that he was touched by his zeal, but that he had no need of his services. When the king had mounted, he charged M. de Briges to go back to ask the name of the officer. M. de Briges returned and said to the king 223 The French Revolution that this officer refused to tell his name. He re- turned to Versailles with the king, conducted him to his cabinet, and knows nothing further, as a witness, of what took place. [May 21, 1790.] s 5. Procedure criminelle, Premiere partie, No. LXI, 98. h. Jean-Jacques de Tergat, almost fifty years of age, captain of infantry, lieutenant of the company of the guards of the provost of the city and of the grand provost of France, living at Versailles, Place Dau- 10 phine, and at Paris, Rue Saint-Honore, No. 614, de- poses that all he knows of the events in question is that being on duty at the national assembly at Ver- sailles on the fifth of October last, warned by what he had heard the evening before, that women and is men of Paris, in very great number, were coming to carry off the king, the royal family, and the national assembly, and informed at eleven o'clock in the morning that men and women had been seen in the plain of Sevres armed with pikes, guns, and other 20 arms, who were dragging cannon, he saw them arrive about half past four in the Avenue de Paris and enter the national assembly. The first group was nearly all women. They had at their head an in- dividual whom they called Maillard, and in whom 25 they appeared to have great confidence. The matter having been reported to the president, he ordered that a dozen of them should be allowed to enter. In accordance with this order, about a score of these women entered, having at their head the said Mail- 224 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 lard and another individual, who they said was a former French guard, and from whose neck they had taken away the cord as he was about to be hung for having sounded the alarm bell. Maillard, who s was spokesman, said they had come to ask for bread, and that they were certain money had been distributed to the millers to keep them from grinding, but they could furnish no proof of this fact. The assembly continued its session and passed a decree upon food 10 supply, and carried it at once to the king, who sanc- tioned it. In the midst of all this, some one came to inform him [Tergat] that the court was filling again with people. Having gone out, he found a considerable number of women who asked to enter is to see Maillard. M. Gaudron Dutilloy, major of his company, who had been notified in advance of the arrival of these women, who had gone to the assembly hall with a detachment of sixty men, did everything possible in concert with him to insure 20 the tranquillity of the assembly. In the midst of these people he had heard uttered, he does not know by whom, a great mass of remarks and horrors against the queen, which made clear the design they had of subjecting her to the most atrocious as treatment. These things he and M. Dutilloy, who ran the risk of losing their lives at this moment, heard very clearly, and they were repeated several times. Seeing the court full of these people, and on account of the bad weather, he made them enter a 225 The French Revolution wooden house recently constructed for a committee room. The court having filled again with men and women, he asked those who were in the public gal- leries of the assembly to retire, which they did, and s he put in their places the people who had recently arrived in the court. Having noted many people armed with pikes, and others who wished to enter into the court in spite of the guard, he called Mail- lard, who, having come, spoke to the people, re- 10 strained them, and succeeded in inducing them to abandon their arms before entering. The court having filled a third time, at his suggestion the president and the members of the assembly consented to let everybody enter the hall. After the last ses- 15 sion of the assembly had ended, as far as possible food and drink were supplied to everybody. About eight, nine or ten hundred passed the night in the hall. As they were spattered with mud and wet, some took off the skirts they had over their trousers, 20 and others the trousers and stockings they had under their skirts, to dry them. During the night there passed among these people indecent scenes which he considers useless to recount. During the course of the same night, on visiting the posts and having 2s arrived at that one near the treasury and the ar- chives, he heard the grenadiers talking together, and one of them said to his companions that the report was going about that they ought to force the body guards to defile before the national guard, hats in 226 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 hand, and bend the knee. This report was so dis- tasteful to one of the grenadiers that he said he would prefer to be cut to pieces rather than suffer such humiliation. A man dressed in a uniform, s with the epaulets of a Parisian national guard, said that it was necessary to kill them all, even to the last one, to tear out their hearts, to fricassee them and dine upon them. These remarks, he had heard, had so exasperated the people present, this in- 10 dividual had barely time to escape, for without this flight he would have fared ill. Toward five o'clock in the morning, as only a hundred and fifty people remained in the hall, he made clear to them that it was necessary for them to withdraw, as the deputies 15 were to sit at an early hour. They all agreed to do so, and withdrew in a friendly way. [February 23, 1790.] 5. Procedure criminelle, Suite, No. CCCLXXIII, 28. j. Felix Alandre Gallemand, twenty years of age, 20 secretary in the committee of the constitution of the national assembly, living in Paris, Place Vendome, No. 4, deposes that, about six o'clock [the morning of the sixth], he saw a very large troop of people of both sexes armed with pikes, cudgels, and other arms 25 enter the court of the ministers by the iron gate, which was open according to custom, and advance as far as the iron gate of the royal court, which they refused to open for them. Then this troop divided into two bands; the one went to the court of the 227 The French Revolution chapel, and the other to the court of the princes. This last one reached the royal court by the passage which connects it with that of the princes. It pre- sented itself at the foot of the grand staircase, where s entrance was refused by the Cent-Suisses, who were there on guard. A former French guard, having taken the post, let a very small number pass. Dur- ing this time a body guard, who was on the balcony, was fired at by a Parisian national guard, who was io alone among this troop of people armed with pikes and cudgels. The guard of the king was not struck by the shot, and replied to it by a pistol shot which blew out the brains of the national guard. Then the people with pikes rushed forward in a crowd and is furiously mounted the staircase and threw them- selves upon several guards of the king, who were over- powered. This same troop went immediately to the apartment of the queen, led by a man poorly dressed. The guard of the king, who was on duty at the door ao of this apartment, was killed while defending the entrance, but yet he had time to cry through the keyhole, "Save the queen!" One of his comrades came to take his place, to defend the entrance to the apartment. He got a blow on the head from 25 the butt of a musket, given him by a soldier of the guard of Versailles, who, he had since been told, was a carpenter employed by the royal government. This man, believing the body guard to be dead, took his two watches and money away from him, and left 228 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 him and entered the apartment of the queen, with others of the pikemen in large numbers. [July 3, 1790.] 5. Procedure criminelle, Suite, 60. s k. Nicolas la Roque de Saint- Virieu, twenty-one years of age, king's body guard, Scotch company, living at Port-Audemer, Rue aux Juifs, parish Saint- Ouen, deposes that, the sixth of the same month of October, at six o'clock in the morning, he relieved 10 the sentinel of the queen's hall. At a quarter after six he learned that the court of the chateau was filled with people armed with pikes, sabers, and guns, and he soon heard them moving with frightful cries tow- ard the grand staircase. Five or six of his com- 15 rades, who were with him in the hall of the queen, went quickly to the head of the staircase to attempt to appease the people mentioned, and to ask them to descend. As soon as these last saw them they cried: "Down with your arms!" and fell at once 20 upon his comrades, which caused them to re-enter the hall as quickly as possible and close the door promptly. At the same moment he and his com- rades decided to go to the queen, persuaded that it was her majesty they were after and that they had 25 no time to lose in saving her. They had, in fact, hardly entered the first apartment when the door opening on the staircase was broken in, but a screen which was before them gave them time to close the door of the apartment after they had entered, and 16 229 The French Revolution prevented them from being seen by anybody. They penetrated to the antechamber of the queen, but could not enter, the door being barred on the inside. One of the queen's women, who did not take them s for body guards, refused to open the door of the antechamber, or, at least, she did not at first reply to the urgent requests that it be opened for them. This woman made a great lament. He spoke to her through the keyhole, and having made her io understand that they were really body guards, and that the queen was in the greatest danger if they were not permitted to enter the antechamber, this woman decided at last to open the door. He called attention to the fact that in speaking to this woman he made is no more noise than was necessary for her to hear him. The door of the antechamber being opened, the woman of whom he had just spoken cast herself at their feet and conjured them not to abandon the queen. They replied they would save her majesty 20 even at the peril of their lives and that there were enough of them to resist as long as it would be neces- sary to enable her majesty to arise and withdraw. He and two or three of his comrades were at once introduced into the very chamber of the queen. 25 One of her majesty's women came to say to them that the queen was about to rise. They retired at once and drew up at the door outside the apartment. When the queen had risen, she went to the room of the king, who shortly after entered the queen's 230 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 chamber from the opposite side. The king asked eagerly and with a look of concern where the queen was. They assured the king that the queen had gone to his room. The king left them promptly to s go to join the queen. He and his comrades wished to follow to protect his royal person, but his majesty prevented them from doing so, telling them to re- main and that he would not delay to send them orders. They received, in fact, shortly afterward, 10 instructions to betake themselves to the Oeil-de- Boeuf, where they found many of their comrades. They remained about an hour in this last apart- ment, on the door of which blows were rained, as if the intention was to break it in. This door had been is barricaded inside with benches, stools, and every- thing he and his comrades could find. It was not entirely broken in, only splintered. The moment came when he and his comrades were about to be taken ; but they were delivered by the former French 20 guards, at that time national guards. [June 26, 1 790.] 5 . Procedure criminelle, Premidre partie, No. LXXXVI, 139. 1. Marie-Elizabeth Nolle, sixty-one years of age, widow of M. Pierre Thibault, first chambermaid of 25 the queen, living in Paris, Rue des Petits-Augustins, No. 16, deposes that, the fifth of last October, she was in service with the queen. She did not leave the apartment of her majesty on that day, and knows only by hearsay what took place in Versailles on 331 The French Revolution that day. Her majesty having retired, she [Nolle] threw herself on her bed in a small room which pre- cedes the sleeping - room of the queen. Tuesday, the sixth of October, at a quarter after six in the s morning, she heard a great noise. She rose to find out where this noise came from and what caused it. She saw that it was some women of the lower class who were upon the terrace. The queen having rung at this moment, she entered the sleeping-room. io The queen having asked her what the noise was, she replied to her that it was those women from Paris, who, probably having no place to sleep, were walking about. This reply appeared to quiet the queen, and she withdrew. In about a quarter of an is hour she heard a much greater noise, which came from the guard room. She and Madame Augue, another chambermaid of the queen, opened the door of the room where they were and saw that some brigands were trying to force the guard in order to 20 enter, which the guard prevented by forming a bar- rier with their guns placed across the door. She, frightened, entered precipitately into the room where the queen was lying. She had her get up, slipped on a skirt and stockings, and by a secret passage she, as with the said Augue, took her to the king, and from that time did not leave her. [March 9, 1790.] 5. Procedure criminelle, Suite, No. CCCLXXXVI, 51. m. Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Prieur, forty-six years of age, servant of king's chamber, living at Versailles, 232 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 Rue d'Anjou, parish Saint-Louis, deposes that he was at Versailles the fifth of last October. At about four o'clock, the king having returned from the chase, they saw from the windows of the chamber of his s majesty a multitude of women approach the grating of the chateau. It was closed. These women named a delegation of four or five from among them who were conducted by a sentinel to the door of the Oeil-de-Boeuf, where they were introduced. They 10 were received by the ministers of the king. They asked for bread. The ministers replied that the king had made all the sacrifices in his power to ob- tain it for them; that they ought to know that the farmers were occupied in sowing and could not is thresh. ... He was with the ministers, who were MM. Necker and Saint-Priest, and who said nothing else to these women. These last asked to speak to the king. His majesty came and spoke to them with great kindness. He said to them, with tears in his 20 eyes: "You ought to know my heart. I am going to have all the bread in Versailles collected and given to you." These women retired satisfied. A quarter of an hour later these same women, followed by a great number of others, presented themselves 25 in a tumult at the Oeil-de-Boeuf. They pretended that their comrades were not contented with the word of the king; they wanted a paper signed by him. They gave the assurance that they wanted only bread, that they were not followed by any 233 The French Revolution armed band. These women were introduced into the council chamber. It appeared to all present that they were not women from the markets, but courtezans from the Palais Royal and the Rue Saint- s Honore and the Rue Richelieu and adjacent places, disguised, having only mob-caps on their heads. Some of them were very pretty. Several persons, having taken some of them by the hand, found these women had a very white and soft skin. The guard io of the seals drew up hastily an order which the king signed ordering grain to be brought from Lagni and other neighboring places. This order was given to the women, who retired contented. [July 26, 1790.] is 5. Procedure criminelle, Suite y No. CLXXXV, 26. n. Jules-Marie-Henri, Comte de Farel, Marquis de Fournes, colonel of the regiment Royal-Champagne, cavalry, deputy to the national assembly, thirty-six years old, living in Paris, Rue de Bellechasse, corner 20 of that of the University, deposes that, the next day, Tuesday, he set out from here at daybreak to go to Versailles. He passed the Vaugirard barrier, where he had been stopped the evening before because of the lack of a passport from the commune or the dis- 25 tricts. On the route he encountered, near Virofflay, two heads on the ends of pikes, borne by two men and followed by about a dozen. These heads were even presented at the door of his carriage. [April 23, 1790.] 234 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 6. Salmour, Comte de, Correspondance in Flammer- mont, 264. Paris, October g, 1789. The king returned from the chase at about seven s o'clock, entering, as he had always done since the beginning of the revolution, by the gates at the back of the park. The president of the national assembly was at once introduced, and with him a deputation of fifteen women, who complained to the king of the 10 bad police and of the lack of food. The king an- swered them that he loved his good city of Paris too well to ever let it lack anything; that as long as he had charge of the food supply it had never lacked anything, but since these gentlemen (pointing to the is deputies of the assembly) had bound his hands, it was not his fault; that he did not believe it was possible at once to reduce bread to eight sous and meat to six, as they wished, but he was going to give orders and co-operate with the national assembly in 20 order that the next day they might be satisfied as far as possible. As soon as they came to report this satisfying re- sponse to their comrades they declared it could not be true, that they had surely been corrupted by 25 money. They were going to hang them, but by the intercession of the deputies they were permitted to go and obtain in writing the confirmation of what they had asserted. Introduced again into the king's presence, his majesty wrote himself and signed what 235 The French Revolution they had just said. Calmed by this assurance, all these women followed the deputies to the national assembly, assuring the body guards that some people were going to come from Paris who would avenge s them for the ill treatment they pretended they had experienced at their hands. Arrived at the assem- bly, they filled the whole room, established them- selves upon the benches, asked to have M. de Mira- beau speak, who protested with much dignity against 10 the indecency of this assembly. These women fin- ished by getting what they wanted. Nothing could be discussed. The Bishop of Langres presided in the absence of Mounier, who, having been to see the king, finally came to announce the acceptance is pure and simple of the rights of man, and of the constitution. There was no member of the clergy, very few of the ancient party of the aristocrats, who had all concealed themselves, since the people had named several of them as being the actual cause of 20 their misfortunes, whom they sought to immolate to their resentment. The session was adjourned at half past ten. It rained in torrents all day. At nine o'clock, nothing having happened, the king ordered the body guard to go to its quarters. It as made a movement by half squadrons to form a column. The people, believing they were going td charge, put themselves on the defensive. The militia of Versailles and its guard house fired volleys into them, which wounded fifteen or sixteen of them 236 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 and put them to flight, so that they were not able to rally before they had reached the park on the other side of the terrace, in front of the apartments of the dauphin. Some one came at eleven o'clock s to announce that the troops of Paris were arriving. The king then wished to carry out a plan for flight, and M. de Cubieres, his equerry, gave orders for six hunting carriages to be harnessed to go at a walk to the gate of the orangery, from there, under the 10 escort of the body guards, to reach the open country. As soon as the horses were harnessed the gates of the stables were opened, but the carriages, which, according to the description of the locality which I have given your Eminence, were obliged to cross the 15 Place d'Armes, were stopped by the people, who cried, "The king is going away!" The first two, which by the rapidity of their movement had made an opening through the crowd, arrived at the gate of the orangery, found it closed, were stopped in the 20 name of the nation by some men, who cut the traces. M. Necker during this time had reached the apartments of the king through the interior of the palace, and with the Comte de Montmorin influenced the king, contrary to the advice of the other ministers, as not to go away. M. de Lafayette had meanwhile halted at Petit Montreuil, at the end of the Avenue de Paris. There he drew up his troops in order of battle, and after having reminded them of the oath of fidelity to the nation and to the king he divided 237 The French Revolution them into two columns, which, with the artillery at the head, arrived by the two avenues of Paris and Saint- Cloud. Many deputies had gone to the chateau. The king asked to have them all called, and those in s the city were called by the beating of drums. M. de Lafayette arrived alone with four officers. The iron gates of the chateau were opened to him. He ascended to the apartments of the king with those who accompanied him. The crowd, which was in io the Oeil-de-Boeuf, followed him into the room and heard him pronounce these words: "Sire, you see before you the most unhappy of men to be obliged to appear here in these circumstances and in this manner. If I had believed I could have served 15 more usefully Your Majesty by placing my head on the block, Your Majesty would not see me here." The king replied to him: "You should not doubt, M. de Lafayette, the pleasure I always have in seeing you as well as my good Parisians. Go testify to 20 them of these sentiments on my part." The gen- eral went out immediately to present himself to his troops, which he drew up in order of battle in the Place d'Armes and the region round about. As soon as the troops of Paris arrived, the regiment of Flanders, 25 which had retired to the stables to shelter itself from the bad weather, lowered their guns and opened the pans to show that they were not loaded. After which they placed their guns on the ground and the car- tridges beside them, and the soldiers made a right 238 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 face to enter again. Their arms were immediately returned to them, and fraternity was established be- tween them and the national militia. M. Mounier went to the king's apartments a short time after s the exit of M. de Lafayette. The king said to him: "I had you come to surround me with representa- tives of the nation, but I have already seen M. de Lafayette." As soon as the general had made the necessary dispositions outside he returned to the 10 king, where he remained until half past one. He said, in going out, to the crowd which was in the Oeil-de-Boeuf : "Gentlemen, I have just induced the king to make painful sacrifices. His majesty no longer has any guards except those of the nation. is He has permitted me to occupy the chateau with two thousand men. I am going out to take measures for the general security and to send back the rest of the troops to Paris." In fact, the chateau was occupied immediately, sentinels placed everywhere; 30 the posts of the body guards in the interior, however, were left, as well as those of the Swiss, who had been constantly under arms without ever receiving orders, without ever leaving the place which had been assigned them behind the grating. The rest as of the troops of Paris had been lodged by battalions in the principal houses. The women, who had taken possession of the assembly hall, remained there all night. Everything appeared so quiet their majesties retired at about two o'clock. 239 The French Revolution The people of Versailles, however, and a part of this populace which had come with the women harbored ill will against the body guards. It was not known what had become of them, as they re- 5 mained all the time in the park. Toward four o'clock in the morning part of them decided to re- turn to the stables, while another, preferring a re- treat in the open country, quit Versailles without knowing any too clearly where they were going. io The people, who rummaged everywhere in hunting for them, noted their return, ran to the stables. These unhappy beings took refuge in the riding school, where they defended themselves with their carbines and wounded some, until, not being able to is offer resistance to numbers, they sought to escape through the park, in which they were successful, except ten or a dozen who were made prisoners. During this time a part of the people, piqued by the resistance in the riding school, filled the courts of the chateau 20 and wanted to get possession of those in the apart- ments. The courts, which all the night had not been completely cleared, were all at once filled, without any one attributing a bad intention to this multitude. Day began to break. The sentinel on duty at the 25 foot of the marble staircase, insulted by the popu- lace, instead of calling the national guard to his aid, called to his brigadier to come to him. This one, as soon as he saw from the top of the staircase what was going on, fired his carbine and killed a man. 240 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 The sentinel did the same. The people at once seized them and mounted the staircase to force the apartments. The guards of the interior hardly had time to barricade the doors. Fortunately, M. de s Lafayette, awakened by the firing at the riding school, hastened to the place with what Paris troops he could get together. The grenadiers scattered the people, who were on the point of breaking in the doors of the guard room, the guards having abso- 10 lutely determined not to open them. Having made themselves known to the body guard, these latter cried from the inside: " Swear to us by your God that you will defend the life of the king." "We swear to you on the honor of a grenadier that we will is all perish rather than let anything happen to the king." The doors were at once opened, and the grenadiers, entering in a crowd, followed by the en- tire national guard of Paris as it arrived, surrounded the body guards and filled the gallery, the apart- 20 ments, penetrating even to the king's bedchamber, where, at the same minute, the queen arrived out of breath. She had escaped from her apartment, into which, at the time of the invasion, by a passage ap- parently badly guarded, women had penetrated who as evidently had designs upon her. The Paris troops, as they came up, filled the court of marble, the royal court, and the people were obliged to fall back into the court of the ministers, where they dragged the two unhappy victims seized at the foot of the stair- 241 The French Revolution case and executed them, the one on the steps of the Comte de Luzerne, and the other at the door of M. de Saint-Priest. Their heads were carried in triumph through all the streets of Versailles, taken then to Paris, s and promenaded through the streets of the capital. M. de Lafayette, after having rendered secure the apartments of the king, descended to put his troops in order, found in the marble court, under the bal- cony of his majesty, the ten body guards whom the io national guard had taken from the people, and whom the people were preparing to execute under the windows of the king for having fired upon the citi- zens, as they said. M. de Lafayette, not being able by any means to obtain their pardon, threw his hat 15 on the ground, and, opening his coat, said to his troops that he did not care to command cannibals, that he would return to them their cockade, their sword, and their uniform ; that if they wished to take the lives of these unhappy people, they could take 20 his also. This firmness saved these unfortunate ones, and it was decided that they should be conducted prisoners to Paris. M, de Lafayette, going up-stairs at once, induced the king to appear with the queen and the dauphin upon the balcony. They were 25 applauded, and as soon as his majesty had retired, they cried to him to come to Paris. There were no ministers with the king at the time. After a mo- ment's reflection: "Very well, yes," he said, "I will go with them." And at once, without listening to 24a The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 anybody, going out upon the balcony, he cried to them : "My children, I am going to live in the midst of you with my wife and my son, but I am going to ask you as a proof of your attachment that you par- s don my body guards/' At once they appeared at all the windows of the apartments, throwing into the court their cross-belts, which are their mark of ser- vice, and M. de Lafayette, appearing with one of them upon the king's balcony, embraced him, cry- 10 ing: "My friends, peace is made." Those who were nearest having alone been able to hear the promise the king had made to come to Paris, the others wished to be assured personally of the intention of his majesty; the entire troop passing successively in is disorder under this same balcony, the king had the kindness to repeat his words through MM. de Lafayette and d'Estaing, to each troop which passed, and accompanied them with gestures of assurance. At once there was a general salvo of all the cannon 20 and small arms, which might have been very danger- ous, as they were all loaded with ball. A guard had been sent from Paris to relieve the troops at Versailles before it was known that their majesties would go to Paris. United with the others, 25 a thousand of them were chosen to remain to guard the chateau, and the rest began to defile in a manner one must have seen in order to have any idea of it; a description of the saturnalia of the ancients alone could furnish a feeble image of this disorder. Im- 243 The French Revolution agine a column defiling, almost without interrup- tion, from noon until seven in the evening, in which marched, pell-mell, troops, blackguards, all the women drunk — a mixture of all kinds of arms, women 5 astride of the cannon, others bearing the flags, the vilest populace by the side of the most distinguished officers. You could see women wearing the bonnets of grenadiers, others with muskets on their shoulders, and soldiers with cudgels in their hands. Horses io from the stables of the king and monsieur attached to wagons of grain; bread, sausages fixed upon the points of bayonets; the vilest populace mounted on horses taken from the body guard, galloping like mad; others armed with their carbines or with the 15 halberds of the Cent-Suisses ; women and soldiers, half drunk, lying in indecent postures on the wagons of grain, while the carters who drove them wore themselves and had decorated their horses with the cross-belts of the body guards in the form 20 of collars. The king arrived at seven at the barrier of the conference. His carriage was immediately pre- ceded by the same troop with as little choice. The guards of the provost preceded it, mixed with armed 25 women surrounding the horse of M. de Tourzel, the grand provost ; body guards on foot, confounded with the national guard, followed; then came the Cent- Suisses of the guard with their flags; in a similar order the national guard — mounted on horses of the 244 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 body guard, while some guards were mounted on theirs and others rode behind the cavaliers — were nearer the coach of their majesties, immediately preceded by M. d'Estaing, M. de Lafayette, and M. s de Montmorin, cousin of the minister, second major in command of the regiment of Flanders. He was surrounded by the grenadiers of Paris, of Flanders, and by sergeants of different corps, by women mounted behind and before in the guise of pages. io The heavy artillery followed the convoy. The king, the queen, the dauphin, madame, daughter of the king, Madame Elizabeth and Madame de Tourzel, governesses, were in the same carriage. M. Bailly presented the keys of the city to the king is on a porcelain plate, the silver being at the mint, and made to him the inclosed speech. When they arrived at the city hall, M. Bailly gave an account of what the king said to him, that he always found himself with pleasure in the midst of the inhabitants 20 of his good city of Paris. The queen then said : "You have forgotten that he added to that, with confidence." They cried: "Long live the Queen!" "Gentlemen," replied the mayor, "you hear it from her mouth; you are more fortunate than if I had 25 told it to you." And then: "Long live M. Bailly!" Their majesties then went to pass the night at the Tuileries, where, by the way, the king found him- self for the first time in his life. . . . At the moment of leaving in the morning [for " 245 The French Revolution Versailles, October 6th] my people came to beg me on their knees not to depart. The valet of M. de Saint-Priest had just come to Paris and gave me a very exaggerated account of heads cut off, the s massacring of the body guards, and of the whole tumult, to which we were commencing to become accustomed, but truly frightful to a cool-blooded man. . . . Obliged to move slowly, following a battal- ion of three hundred men of the national guard, who io were going to relieve their comrades at Versailles, I saw coming toward me a score of ragamuffins, preceded by a man with a long beard, behind whom marched two others carrying bleeding heads at the end of pikes. The sight of a decorated man always is exciting the rage of the populace, I saw them ap- proach my carriage and offer me in the guise of a bouquet these fruits of their barbarism. Fearing their insults if I appeared to refuse this presentation, I lowered the window on their side and by means 20 of two signs of approbation of the head these exe- cutioners appeared to be well satisfied with me, and left the road free to me while continuing their route. 7. Bailli de Virieu, Correspondance, 144. as The news of the arrival of the king and the royal family was known in Paris long before noon. All the population betook itself to the road to Versailles, in spite of the mud and the rain, to greet its sover- eign the sooner. First of all there came into sight 246 The Insurrection of October 5 and 6, 1789 an enormous number of carts, upon which lolled fish- wives pell-mell with soldiers, bearing in their hands branches of trees from which hung tri-colored ribbons. Discharges of musketry were heard all s along the road. Then came many wagons loaded with sacks of flour, then soldiers on horseback, etc. The king arrived in person at eight o'clock in the evening. The streets were illuminated, and his march was similar to that of Friday, July 17 [1789]. 10 The body guard marched with the other soldiers and no longer wore their cross-belts; many had on their heads the bonnets of the grenadiers ; some were on horseback, the others on foot; all shouted, "Long live the nation!" and brandished their swords 15 and their hats in salutation. They would have been torn in pieces if the king had not required them to take the oath of fidelity to the nation. There were in the royal coach the king, the queen, the dauphin, madame (his sister), the Count and the Countess of 20 Provence. Around them the cry was raised: "Here is the baker and the baker's wife and the little baker's boy! We shall no longer lack bread!" The mayor, who had gone to the barrier of the conference to present to the king the keys of the city of Paris, as marched before the carriage of their majesties. The latter having gone into the city hall, M. Bailly spoke to the members of the commune in the names of the royal persons, and assured them that the king and the queen, as well as their family, came to 247 The French Revolution put themselves in the hands of the people with pleas- ure. "And confidence," immediately cried out the sovereigns. "It is fortunate I forgot this word," added the mayor, immediately, "because, coming s from the mouth of the king, it ought to be still more dear to his subjects." PROBLEM IV IV.— The Flight of the King, June 20, 1791 The Flight of the King A. THE HISTORIC SETTING OF THE PROBLEM IN the two years between the insurrection of October, 1789, and the flight of Louis XVI. in June, 1791, lies the period of the complete transformation of French society, of its economic, political, judicial, and ecclesiastical reorganization. Poor in dramatic epi- sodes — the federation of July 14, 1790, alone comparing in significance with the events of June 20th and 23d, July 14th, August 4th, and October 5, 1789 — it seems to lack unity, and does not appeal at once to the im- agination. Although Paris holds the center of the stage through the whole period, the revolution has be- come a French affair, the theater embracing the entire territory of France, from the Atlantic to the Rhine, and from the North Sea to the Pyrenees. The revolu- tion even promises to become a European affair, and we notice from time to time the European actors wait- ing at the wings ready to make their entrance, To give a vital unity to thlTperiod, to trace the chronological development of this unity is an extremely difficult task, but one of fundamental importance. For, after all, here is the real revolution; the realization of the desires of the French people expressed in their cahiers; the execution of the instructions given to the represen- tatives sent to Versailles; the culmination of nearly a century of agitation and discussion. 251 The French Revolution What legislative body, working under like conditions, ever made a larger, more permanent, or more valuable contribution to the reconstruction of a society than the first national assembly of France? And it was not simply a paper constitution these men gave to their country. In fact the constitution as an organized whole did not exist until the summer of 179 1, when the decrees of which it consisted were already in force, had already created working institutions. It was a new France across which Louis XVI. fled in the summer of 1 79 1. The national assembly did not simply destroy the old institutions, the institutions of an outgrown social organization; it actually created new institutions in the last two years of its existence. To understand the period, then, is to know when and how the assembly modified or destroyed the old institutions, when and how it called new institutions into existence, what these new institutions were, and, finally, how these legislative creations became vital, active institutions on the soil of France. But to know all this even would not be to know the period fully. The destruction of the old institutions did not take place without the opposition of the classes that had profited by them. As the re- construction went on, as it advanced from legislative acts to the application of legislative acts, as group after group suffered from the labors of readjustment, the opposition grew more marked, more serious, and the different groups were more inclined to make common cause, to form two great hostile groups, the friends and the foes of the revolution. France armed itself that the national assembly might live and do its work; it remained armed to defend the new France against the old. This struggle between the old and the new, gradually producing a situation which led first to civil 252 The Flight of the King and later to foreign war, must be given adequate treat- ment if the period as a whole is to be rendered intel- ligible. The two most important economic events of the revolution were the destruction of feudal rights and the confiscation and sale of the property of the church. The abolition of feudal rights, the work of the armed peasants of France, legalized by the national assembly on the night of August 4, 1789, fell in the period before October, 1789, but the execution of the decree of the assembly, the determination of what feudal rights were property rights and must be purchased, what were per- sonal and must be abolished without compensation, the problem of forcing the payment of feudal dues until a settlement had been made — all these matters fell within the two years we are dealing with. A com- mittee on feudal rights attempted to bring order out of chaos, to separate things that were inseparable, and the assembly passed laws recommended by the com- mittee, but nothing was settled. The feudal dues were not paid, even when they were property rights, and not a small part of the disturbances in different parts of France during these two years was due to the strife over feudal dues, the attempts of the owners of feudal rights either to collect them or to obtain compensation. The seizure of the property of the church was the work of the assembly, and due to the financial distress of the government, the immediate cause for the con- vocation of the states general. The assembly had been called by the government in the hope that it would increase the governmental revenues by submitting all classes to taxation. The representatives, on the other hand, had instructions to grant no financial aid to the government until the constitution had been made. 253 The French Revolution "The blessed deficit" was regarded as the most power- ful ally of the revolution. To abide literally by these instructions in the summer of 1789 was not practicable, nor did it seem necessary after the revolution of July. The treasury was in distress, and the assembly per- mitted Necker to make two loans in August, neither of which was fully taken. As the distress increased and heroic measures became necessary, Necker was allowed to levy a tax of twenty-five per cent, upon net revenues. When this also was unsuccessful the assembly resorted to a measure that had been suggested several times al- ready but had not been seriously considered; it was nothing less than the confiscation of the buildings and lands of the church and the sale of these to pay the debts of the state. The measure was proposed in Oc- tober, 1789, and became a law November 2, 1789. It "placed the property of the church at the disposition of the state"; in other words, the state did not at once take possession of the property. Other decrees, the natural consequence of this one, were passed in the last month of 1789 and the first months of 1790. A paper money, drawing interest and secured by the property of the church, was created to the amount of four hundred million francs; property of the church to the same amount was placed in the hands of the municipal gov- ernments for sale, the national government agreeing to receive its own paper in payment for the property; decrees providing for the care of the debts of the clergy and freeing the lands from all feudal dues were passed, thus rendering the titles to the property unencumbered, and purchasers appeared in large numbers. The financial question was temporarily settled, and the revolution struck root in the soil of France, being assured of the support of the purchasers of the church lands. The 254 The Flight of the King clergy, deprived of the revenues from their great prop- erties, as they had previously been stripped of their tithes, were made financially dependent upon the state, a body of public servants without political indepen- dence. Here is found, probably, the chief cause of the hostility of the upper orders in the church — the church aristocracy — to the revolution. The judicial reforms, proposed in the fall of 1789, passed by the assembly and put into effect in the fall of 1790, swept away the old courts with their privileges and abuses and substituted for them a system of courts extending from the court of the justice of the peace to the supreme courts of the districts, presided over by judges elected by the people and administering justice gratuitously. The old parliaments were suspended in the fall of 1789 and abolished in the summer of 1790. Some of them protested against their suspension, but the summary treatment they received at the hands of the assembly, convincing them that a new day had dawned, put an end to their open opposition. The political decrees passed by the assembly in No- vember and December, 1789, and put in effect in 1790, were no less revolutionary than the economic measures just described. The foundations of the constitution — the limitation of the king's power, the creation of a single representative assembly, meeting annually, and the establishment of ministerial responsibility — had been laid in September. In November the assembly passed a law excluding its members from the ministry, thus rendering impossible a ministry supported by the majority of the assembly and capable of forming and executing a governmental program. In December it passed laws creating municipalities, departments, and districts, administered by representatives elected by 255 The French Revolution the people. All the administrative bodies of the ancien regime, composed of officials who had purchased their offices from the government or owed them to royal appointment, disappeared in the summer of 1790 when these new administrative bodies came into existence. In the fall of 1790 there were no more provinces, no more provincial assemblies, only eighty-three depart- ments administering their own affairs. The closing of the monasteries and the reorganization of the church were the natural consequences of the economic legislation already mentioned. A large part of the church property was in the hands of the monastic orders. The assembly passed decrees forbidding the taking of permanent monastic vows, closing up many of the houses, and providing the monks and nuns with a living pension if they wished to leave the monastery or convent. At a later period in the revolution all the orders were abolished. In the period of the constituent assembly a distinction was made between the orders engaged in teaching, nursing, and industrial pursuits, and those made up of members who passed their lives in retirement; the former, as engaged in social activi- ties, were treated with consideration and allowed to con- tinue their work. The abolition of church revenues and the formation of departments made it necessary for the assembly to adapt the organization of the church to the new social framework, to realize the reforms called for by the cahiers, and to provide for the support of the clergy. A committee had been chosen in the fall of 1789, and after a report made by this committee and discussed by the assembly, the "civil constitution of the clergy" be- came a law on July 12, 1790. The new dioceses were formed corresponding to the limits of the departments. At the head of each diocese was a bishop, and under him 256 The Flight of the King were curates. Both were elected; the bishops by the electors who chose the members of the departmental organizations, the curates by the electors for the district. There were ten metropolitan districts in France, presided over by metropolitan bishops. The salaries of the bish- ops in many cases were largely decreased, those of the curates increased. Provision was made for the reor- ganization of the parishes. All this was done without consultation with the pope, and no place was left for the interference of papal authority in what was clearly the constitution of a national church. It was provided that each bishop and curate should take an oath "in the presence of the municipal officers, the people, and the clergy to guard with care the faithful of his diocese who were confided to him, to be loyal to the nation, the law, and the king, and to support with all his power the con- stitution decreed by the national assembly and accepted by the king." If they failed to do this, the bishopric or curacy "would be looked upon as vacant." The king did not make public the civil constitution until August 26, 1790. When it became clear that a large majority of the higher clergy would not conform to the requirements of the new system unless it were approved by the pope, the assembly passed a decree ordering the clergy to take the prescribed oath. This decree was also sanctioned by the king, although very unwillingly, and in the spring of 1 791 the clergy were forced to choose between taking the oath and resignation. When they refused to take the oath — almost all the archbishops and bishops refused, but the majority of the curates took it — the electors were called together and elected their successors. The recal- citrant bishops and curates refused to recognize their successors, and the church of France was torn by a schism which was to develop into civil war. 257 The French Revolution To trace the course of the opposition to the revolution and that of the supporters of it during the two years from October, 1789, to June, 1791, is a much more difficult task than the description of the work of reorganization during this period. The most striking manifestation of the existence of a new France and of a determination to defend it against all comers is found in the series of federations beginning in the fall of 1789 and culminating on July 14, 1790, in the spectacular demonstration on the Champ de Mars. The significance of this event cannot be understood until it is viewed as the last of a series of federations, originating independently of Paris and the assembly, celebrated now in the east, now in the south, and now in the west of France, increasing in size and im- portance with each repetition, and finally sweeping in upon the capital in a great wave of national enthusiasm. The federations had two features in common: the mem- bers were delegates of the national guards from the region represented; they gathered around an altar and took an oath to defend the constitution and the work of the na- tional assembly. The oath was taken on July 14th by a vast assemblage of several hundred thousand composed of the inhabitants of Paris and of armed delegates from all parts of France. "We swear," it ran, "to be forever faithful to the nation, to the law, and to the king; to maintain with all our might the constitution decreed by the national assembly and accepted by the king; to pro- tect, in conformity with the laws, the security of persons and property, the free circulation of grain and food in the interior of the kingdom, and the collection of public contributions, under whatever form they may exist; to remain united to all Frenchmen by the indissoluble bonds of fraternity." At a signal given by a tricolored flame all, raising their hands, cried, "We swear it." As with 258 The Flight of the King faces turned toward the altar of the country, erected in the center of the great plain, and with hands raised to heaven the multitude took this solemn oath, it was not simply the new France crying defiance at the old, it was the outward expression of French unity, of the culmina- tion of more than a thousand years of history. The sig- nificance of the act is heightened when it is remembered that at the same hour, through the length and breadth of the land, the same oath was being taken. "0 age! O memory!" exclaimed an enthusiastic witness of the federation, "we have heard this sublime oath which will be soon, we hope, the oath of all the peoples of the earth. Twenty-five millions of peoples have repeated it at the same hour in all the parts of this empire. The echoes of the Alps, of the Pyrenees, of the vast caverns of the Rhine and the Meuse have repeated it afar; they will transmit it without doubt to the most remote limits of Europe and Asia." Unfortunately for France, the oath found no friendly echoes in the hearts of those who had been stripped of honor, privilege, power, or wealth by the revolution. To them the revolution meant disaster and must be resisted by every means. In this resistance there was no common purpose and no unity of plan. The parliaments pro- tested, and were severely reprimanded by the assembly; the minority of the clergy and the nobility in the assembly harassed and hampered its action, but only irritated the majority, and were responsible for more radical action than would otherwise have been taken; protests against the decrees of the assembly, printed and circulated about the country, simply helped to widen the breach between the parties, but did not check the revolution nor render it more conservative; the attempt of Mounier, after abandoning Paris in October, to raise the Dauphine* 259 The French Revolution against the assembly was wrecked on a decree of the assembly; the emigres on the frontiers were noisy but harmless; a threatened revolt of the east of France and an invasion from Piedmont came to naught; the armed camp of Jales, that for a short time took on serious pro- portions and threatened to light up a religious war, van- ished after a brief and ineffective existence. The most dangerous and the most effective opposition was to come from the members of the clergy, who remained in their dioceses and parishes, refused to take the oath, and stirred up their parishioners against the revolution, declaring it was a revolt against religion. It was the clash between the revolution and the church which influenced Louis XVI. the most profoundly. Had it been possible to reconcile the church to the changes, the whole history of the revolution would have been dif- ferent. That such a reconciliation did not take place was due to Pius VI. In the spring of 1790 he secretly denounced the acts of the assembly, but did not make his declaration public. He did not even pronounce publicly against the civil constitution, but threw the responsibility for action upon Louis XVI. and his advisers. It was not until Avignon had been lost to him, until nothing more could be gained from the assembly by withholding his condemnation of its work, that the pope finally declared himself publicly in a brief of March 10, 1791. He passed in review the civil, political, and religious work of the constituent assembly, condemning it in its entirety. "The end of the assembly," he affirmed, "was to destroy the Catholic religion, and with it the obedience due to kings. The proof of it was that all its decrees were in- spired by that sacrilegious declaration of the rights of man which proclaimed these monstrosities: freedom of thought and of the press, the equality of all men. These 260 The Flight of the King pretended imprescriptible rights are so many revolts against the authority of the Creator, and the assembly in proclaiming them renewed the heresies of the Vaudois, the Bdgards, of Wyclif and Luther. The so much vaunted liberty and equality are only a means of overthrowing Catholicism." It was a declaration of war upon the revolution. Long before the appearance of this brief Louis XVI. had decided not to accept the revolution, not to remain a constitutional king of France. It is true that in Feb- ruary, 1790, he had appeared before the assembly, had publicly sworn to "defend and maintain constitutional liberty," and "in concert with the queen ... to prepare, at an early hour, the mind and heart of his son for the new order of things, which circumstances have brought about." On the Champ de Mars, before the assembled people, he had taken the oath of the federation. But the civil constitution, the decree of November 27, 1790, requiring the clergy to take the oath, the schism in the church, the secret condemnation of the pope — all this had affected him more than the encroachment upon his polit- ical rights. He was profoundly pious. He determined to escape from Paris, to take refuge in the midst of loyal troops on the eastern frontier and within reach of Austrian assistance, for Marie Antoinette had been promised aid by her brother when she had escaped to the frontier. The preparation of the plans began in the fall of 1790, and were completed in June, 1791. Bouille was in charge of the troops, and Montm^dy the objective point. De- tachments of troops were to be placed along the route to be followed from Chalons to Montmedy. At Varennes, through which the fugitives were to pass, there was no post-house and horses must be sent in advance and left at the entrance to town, that the changes might be made 18 261 The French Revolution before entering Varennes. A commodious and luxurious traveling carriage was built, passports were obtained, and after a final postponement the royal family actually set out on the night of June 20th, aided in their final arrange- ments by the young Swedish officer the Comte de Fersen, whom contemporary scandal described as a lover of the queen. It is not without reason that the historian has always regarded the flight of the king as one of the critical events of the revolution. His escape would have meant civil and foreign war. He was brought back to Paris a dis- credited, a perjured monarch. Deprived of his power, placed under guard in the Tuileries, he was for nearly three months a silent spectator of the activities of the first French republic. It was but natural that the idea of sub- stituting a republic for the monarchy should have been publicly advocated at this time. Could a constitutional monarchy with Louis XVI. on the throne ever be success- ful? Would he ever act in good faith? Could he again be trusted? These were the questions raised by his flight, and upon the answer to them rested the fate of the great work of the national assembly. B. CRITICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY i. Proces-verbal de Vassemblee nationale. See critical bibliography for Problem I. The Proces-verbal for June 21, 1 79 1, bears no number. It is inserted between Nos. 686 and 687, the latter number being the Proces-verbal for June 27th. The Proces-verbal for June 21st appeared in three parts of 21, 24, and 24 pages each. The first part had a title page with the title, "Proces-verbal de Vassemblee nationale, du mardi, 21 Juin 1791. A Paris, de Vimprimerie nationale, 1791" and in the center of 262 The Flight of the King the page the seal with the words, " Assemble nationale. La lot et le roi, 1789" The second and third parts had no title page, simply a heading with the words, "Ire suite du proces-verbal de la seance permanente" "lime suite," etc. The Proces-verbal for June 26th was the "IOme et derniere suite" etc. 2. Rapport du sieur Drouet in Relation du depart de Louis XVI., par le Due de Choiseul, 139. Paris, 1822. This is a reprint of the statement made by Drouet on June 24th before the general council of the commune of Paris and dictated by him in the office of the Journal des Clubs. A somewhat different account is given in the Proces-verbal of the national assembly, before which Drouet made a statement on the same day. 3. Extraits du registre des deliberations de la commune de la ville de Varennes, June 23, 1791, in Bimbenet, Fuite de Louis XVI., 203. Deuxieme edition. Paris (n.d.). 4. Examination of Maldent in the Abbey prison, July 7, 1791, in Bimbenet, La Fuite de Louis XVI., 92. On his return to Paris, after his arrest at Varennes, Mal- dent, one of the body guards, was thrown into prison and examined there on July 7th, in accordance with a decree of the national assembly dated June 26, 1791. Bim- benet reproduced the examination from the original record. 5. Lettre de la municipality de Sainte-Menehould aM.le president de Vassemblee nationale, le 21 Juin, 1791, in Ancelon, La veriU sur la fuite et Varrestation de Louis XVI. a Varennes, 188. Paris, 1866. 6. Proces-verbal of the general assembly of the com- mune of Varennes, June 27, 1791, in Bimbenet, La fuite de Louis XVI. a Varennes, 193. 7. Tourzel, Madame la duchesse de, Memoires, 2 vols., Paris, 1883. Madame de Tourzel was the governess of 263 The French Revolution the royal children, and accompanied the royal family on their flight. She was born in 1749, and died in 1832. Her Memoir es were written after 1797, as she refers (I, 302, note) to the Memoires of the Marquis de Bouille' published in that year. They were probably written some time later. 8. Relation du voyage de Varennes, adressee par un pre- lat, membre de Vassemblee constituante, a un ministre en pays etranger, in Weber, Memoires, 2 vols., Paris, 1822. The writer was probably the Archbishop of Toulouse, M. de Fontanges. The account was written after 1797, as the Memoires of Bouille\ published on that date, are mentioned (I, 76). Concerning the sources of his in- formation the writer says: "I have simply the intention of retracing for you faithfully and without partiality what has remained graven upon my memory of conversa- tions I have had with the queen herself, later with M. de Bouill£, and with other persons who appeared to me very well informed concerning all the details of this event." C QUESTIONS FOR STUDY 1. Which of these sources contain the testimony of eye- witnesses? 2. Is any account made up entirely of what the witness saw or heard? 3. What is the value of the account of M. de Fontanges? 4. How does it compare in value with the Memoires of Madame de Tourzel? 5. In what respect are the examination of Maldent, the state- ment of Drouet, the extract from the Proces-verbal of the council of Sainte-Menehould, and the letter of the commune of Varennes more valuable than the Memoires of Madame de Tourzel? 6. In what respect would the value of these sources be affected 264 The Flight of the King by their character — that is, by the fact that Maldent's statement was forced from him in court, that Drouet was recounting his deeds before a public assembly, etc.? 7. Are any of these sources dependent? 8. Establish the facts relating to the escape from Paris: (1) When did it take place, day and hour? (2) Who were the members of the royal party? (3) Who assisted them in their escape from Paris? (4) How did the royal family escape unnoticed from the chateau? (5) Describe the incidents connected with the passage from the chateau to the fiacre. (6) What do you know of the passage from the Carrousel to the bar- rier? (7) What happened outside the barrier? (8) Give an account of the flight to the first relay station. (9) How much of what you have stated is certainty? (10) What would you like to know that cannot be answered by the evidence? 9. Give an account of the action of the assembly on June 21st and explain the significance of each decree. 10. What kind of a government existed in France on the even- ing of June 2 1 st? 11. To obtain this form of government, how many changes did the assembly make? 12. Why did the French people wish to prevent the escape of the king? 13. Describe the flight up to Varennes: (1) Did the presence of troops help or hinder the flight? (2) Up to Sainte- Menehould had anything happened to make the out- come uncertain? (3) What happened of a critical nature at Sainte-Menehould? (4) Was success impos- sible after Sainte-Menehould? 14. Describe the events in Varennes: (1) Why was the passage through Varennes of so much importance? (2) Who was responsible for the failure of the flight? (3) Who stopped the king's carriage at Varennes? (4) Did the town government of Sainte-Menehould send Drouet to Varennes? (5) At what time was the king arrested at 265 The French Revolution Varennes? (6) Why was such a large body of militia summoned to Varennes? (7) At what time did the king leave Varennes for Paris? (8) Why did he not start earlier? (9) Why did the king leave Paris? (10) What did he intend to do? 15. Establish the facts, make an outline, and write a narrative dealing with "The Flight of the King, June 20, 1791." D. The Sources i. Procds-verbal de VassembUe nationale, Tuesday, June 21, 1 791. The president, having arrived, said that the mayor of Paris had just informed him of the departure of s the king, and that the assembly would, without doubt, wish to take some action and give some orders in a conjuncture so unforeseen and so important. [After several motions had been made and discussed] the national assembly decreed: 10 "That the minister of the interior should expedite couriers at once into all the departments with an order to all public functionaries, national guards, and troops of the line, to arrest or have arrested all per- sons whomsoever leaving the kingdom, as well as to is prevent all exportation of effects, arms, munitions, specie in gold or silver, carriages and horses; and in the case in which the said couriers should overtake any individuals of the royal family, and those who may have aided in their abduction, the said public 20 functionaries or national guards and troops of the line are required to take all measures necessary to check the effects of said abduction by opposing the 267 The French Revolution prosecution of the journey, and to give an account of everything to the national assembly." A member asked that the place of the sessions of the assembly be carefully guarded, and that no s stranger be allowed to enter there. The national assembly adopted this proposition. It was there- upon proposed and decreed to order the minister of war to have M. de Rochambeau depart at once with the necessary orders to have put in a state of defense io the frontiers of the departments in which the com- mand of the troops of the line is intrusted to him. The president announced that the ministers were going to come to the assembly. The minister of justice was introduced first. . . . [The aide de camp is of Lafayette, sent with a companion to follow the king, came to the assembly to announce that they had been arrested by the people. Two members of the assembly were named as commissioners] to secure for these aides de camp full liberty to execute 20 their orders. A member having announced that M. de Lafayette had been arrested by the people in front of the city hall, the president was authorized to name six commissioners to call to the assembly the mayor of Paris and the commandant of the as national guard. . . . The minister of finance was in- troduced into the assembly. . . . "The national assembly declares to the citizens of Paris and to all the inhabitants of the empire that the same firmness which it has shown in the 268 The Flight of the King midst of all the difficulties which have accompanied its labors is going to direct its deliberations on the occasion of the abduction of the king and a part of the royal family; s "That it has taken the most effective steps to fol- low the traces of those who were culpable of this crime; "That without any interruption in its sessions it is going to employ all possible means that public io affairs may not suffer from this event ; "That all citizens ought to have full confidence that it would take such measures as the public wel- fare demanded; that it warned them that the public welfare never demanded more imperiously the con- is servation of order; and that whatever might excite trouble, injure persons, or menace property would be so much the more culpable, as thereby both liberty and the constitution would be compromised. "It orders that citizens hold themselves ready to 20 maintain public order and defend the country ac- cording to the orders that shall be given to them by the national assembly. "It orders administrators of departments and municipal officers throughout the entire kingdom to as have the present decree published at once and to look carefully after public peace." The minister of marine was introduced into the assembly. . . . "The national assembly, wishing to prevent the 269 The French Revolution evils which might result from expediting into the departments and districts of decrees, opinions, and other matters which might be circulated there in the name of the assembly, declares that the only s authentic seal of its decrees and expeditions is that one applied to the decree which bears the words, The Law and the King. National Assembly, 1789, and the seal of its archives for packages delivered there, bearing the words, The Nation, the Law, and 10 the King. National Archives; it instructs adminis- trative assemblies and public functionaries to exer- cise the most careful supervision over copies of the decrees which may be circulated among the people in order to be sure of the authenticity of them as is well as of the correctness of the signatures and the seals; and to prevent the abuse of the seal bearing the words, National Assembly 1789, The Law and the King, it decrees that all the seals bearing only these words shall be deposited in one place through the 20 care of the archivist and intrusted to commissioners who shall watch over the application of the seal to the decrees. ..." The minister of the interior was introduced into the assembly. . . . Upon a motion made and seconded as by several members the assembly decreed that the ministers should be admitted provisionally to its sessions, in order to be always ready to receive orders and to give necessary information. At the same time it ordered its diplomatic com- 270 The Flight of the King mittee to arrange with the minister of foreign affairs measures it might be fitting to propose to the assem- bly relative to the foreign powers. The minister of justice asked to be heard, which s was granted. He observed that the state seal hav- ing been confided to him by the king, and M. de la Porte having shown him this morning a M^moire written, and signed by the hand of the king, at the bottom of which was a note containing the prohibi- io tion to sign anything as minister until he had received further orders, and even the order to send him the seal as soon as he should require it, he could not, without an express injunction of the assembly, apply the state seal to their decrees. He added that 15 he had advised M. de la Porte to carry the M^moire to the president. . . . The national assembly decrees as follows: 11 1. The decrees of the national assembly already rendered, which have not been sanctioned nor ac- 20 cepted by the king, as well as the decrees which may be rendered and cannot be sanctioned nor accepted on account of the absence of the king, shall bear, nevertheless, the name and shall have in the length and breadth of the land the force of law, and the as usual formula shall continue to be employed there. "2. It is enjoined upon the minister of justice to apply the seal of state, without the need of the sanc- tion or acceptance of the king, and to sign both the minutes of the decrees which are to be deposited in 271 The French Revolution the national archives and in those of the chancellery and the copies of the laws to be sent to the tribunals and the administrative bodies. "3. The ministers are authorized to assemble, to 5 make and sign together proclamations and other acts of a similar nature." The ministers retired to see to the execution of the decrees. A member of the military committee observed that, 10 the national assembly having passed the laws called for by the internal situation, it was important to take thought of what was needed for the security of the frontiers. He proposed, in consequence, that this committee meet to consider measures to be is taken touching the public force and thereupon give an account to the assembly. This proposition was adopted. Another member made a motion relative to M. d'Affry, commandant of the troops of the line in the department of Paris and in the neighbor- 20 ing departments, which was passed as follows: "The national assembly decrees that M. d'Affry, commandant of the troops of the line in the depart- ment of Paris and the neighboring departments, shall be summoned to give to the assembly an ac- 25 count of the measures he has taken to secure public tranquillity in the departments in which he com- mands as well as the dispositions relative to the regiment of Swiss guards which are in the service of the nation. . . ." 272 The Flight of the King A deputation of the department of Paris presented itself at the bar and gave an account of the decree the department had rendered, conceived in these terms: s Extract from the Register of the Department of Paris, June 21, i?qi li Department of Paris. "On the proposition of one of its members, the department, in consideration of the departure of the io king and the entire royal family, has decreed that the municipality of Paris shall at once place seals upon the apartments of the chateau of the Tuileries and the Luxembourg; that it shall make the in- vestigations which may be necessary to learn by is what exits the royal family was abducted; that it shall hold under arrest until further orders all those who dwell in the interior of the chateau of the Tuileries and shall have them questioned; that the municipality shall give the necessary orders to have 20 all the exits of Paris closed and see to it that no one goes out to-day. " Decrees, further, that one of its members shall go at once to the national assembly to inform it of this action." as The national assembly gave its approval to this decree, and, a member having proposed that the department of Paris should come and hold its sessions 2 73 The French Revolution in one of the offices contiguous to the hall of the national assembly, to be nearer for the purpose of receiving its orders, this disposition was ordered. . . . [The minister of foreign affairs] was introduced s into the assembly, and after he had been heard the preceding motion was amended and passed in the following form : "The national assembly decrees as follows: "The minister of the interior is ordered to estab- io lish at once a strong guard at the depots of foreign affairs at Paris and at the depots of foreign affairs, war, marine, and others at Versailles, with orders not to allow papers, ciphers, or packages to leave the place where they are otherwise than by an order is of the minister and upon his responsibility. Similar orders will be executed as to the lodging occupied at Paris by the minister of foreign affairs." Upon an order to add some members to the com- mittee on investigations, it was proposed to unite 20 the committee on reports to that on investigation, that they might occupy themselves with the exist- ing situation. This last motion was passed. . . . M. d'Affry was brought to the bar with several officers of the staff of the Swiss guards. He ex- 25 pressed his sentiments of fidelity and attachment to the nation. He begged that they would not re- gard the Swiss as foreign auxiliaries, but as French- men who loved their country. He said he would consecrate to it his last efforts. . . . 274 The Flight of the King On a motion made to that purpose the president, authorized by the assembly, named commissioners to be added to the secretaries, for the redaction of the Prods-verbal and the classification of the decrees s passed in this session. . . * They retired at once with one of the secretaries to do this work. It was proposed to issue a proclamation or address to the French people relative to the present circum- stances. This was voted, and the committee on the io constitution was charged to draw it up. [It was proposed that a report should be made to the assembly of the state of the treasury and the reserve fund] as a result of which the assembly decreed as follows: is "The national assembly, the king being absent, orders that its commissioners at the national treas- ury and the reserve fund, acting in concert with the commissioners of the king for the said treasury and fund, shall draw up a Proems-verbal of the present 20 state of the said fund and treasury, which Procks- verbal shall be brought at once to the national as- sembly." Thereupon the national assembly passed to the order of the day, which was the continuation of the as reading of the minutes of the previous day and the discussion upon the penal code. . . . At half past one, before passing to the order of the day, a member asked that it be decreed that the assembly would not separate until a new decree had 275 The French Revolution suspended the session. The assembly adopted the proposition. . . . [M. de la Porte, intendant of the civil list, was called to the bar, and stated how the Memoire s written by the king had been handed him that morning by a servant attached to one of the royal valets. He presented the Memoire to the assembly, and it was read. The opening passage was as fol- lows :] 10 "So long as the king could hope to see a new birth of order and business in the kingdom through the means employed by the national assembly, and by his residence near this assembly in the capital of the kingdom, no personal sacrifice was too great is for him ; he would not even have discussed the null- ity with which all his acts, since the month of October, 1789, were struck because of his absolute lack of liberty, if this hope had been realized. But now that the sole recompense of so many sacrifices *o is to see the destruction of the kingdom, to see all authorities disregarded, all property violated, the security of persons everywhere endangered, crime unpunished, complete anarchy established above the laws, without the appearance of authority given 25 him by the new constitution being sufficient to re- pair a single one of the ills which afflict the kingdom, the king, after having solemnly protested against all the acts emanating from him during his captivity, believes he ought to place before the eyes of the 276 The Flight of the King French and of the whole world a picture of his con- duct and that of the government which has estab- lished itself in the kingdom." [The king then reviewed the events of 1789 and s 1790, notably those of July and October, 1789, the federation of 1790, the arrest of his aunts, and the opposition to his departure for Saint-Cloud in 1791. The review of events was accompanied by a criticism of the constitution under the heads of Justice, In- to ternal Administration , Foreign Affairs, and Finance. The document fills twenty-two pages of the Proces- verbal. It concludes in the following words:] "Frenchmen, and above all you people of Paris, you inhabitants of a city whom the ancestors of His 15 Majesty were pleased to call the good city of Paris, beware of the lies and suggestions of your false friends. Return to your king; he will always be your father, your best friend. What pleasure will he not take in forgetting all his personal injuries 20 and seeing himself again in the midst of you when a constitution, which he will have accepted freely, will be so effective that our holy religion will be respected, the government established on a firm footing and useful through its action, property and 25 the status of each no longer troubled, the laws no longer violated with impunity, and finally liberty placed on firm and unshakable bases. (Signed) Louis. "At Paris, June 20, 1791." 19 277 The French Revolution "The King forbids his ministers to sign any order in his name until they have received further orders from him. He enjoins the guard of the seal of the state to send it to him as soon as he shall require s him to do so. (Signed) Louis. "At Paris, June 20, 1791." At the close of the reading the motion was made to pass to the order of the day, and a second to send the Memoire to the committee on the constitution 10 to prepare, in consequence, a proclamation. The two motions were put to vote and passed at the same time. . . . lime suite du proems-verbal de la seance permanente Tuesday, June 21 , 1791, six o'clock in the evening. is M. Dauchy, ex-president, took the chair and an- nounced that the committee, charged with editing the different decrees passed this morning, would not delay the presentation of its work. . , . [After several motions relating to foreign affairs 20 the following decree was passed :] "The national assembly, the king being absent, orders that the minister of foreign affairs shall make known to the ambassadors and ministers of the powers at present residing in Paris, as well as to the 25 ambassadors of France in foreign states and king- doms, the wish of the French nation to continue with the said states and kingdoms the correspon- 278 The Flight of the King dence of amity and good intelligence which has existed up to the present time, and to instruct the said ambassadors and residents for the powers that they should remit to M. de Montmorin the official s notes with which they may be charged on the part of the respective princes and estates. ..." One of the commissioners of the assembly, charged to supervise the reserve fund, made a report on the condition of that fund. ... In consequence he pro- io posed the following decree : "The national assembly decrees that the com- missioner-administrator of the reserve fund be alone authorized to sign ordinances mentioned in Article IV of the law of December 6th last, sanctioned the is 15th of this month, until further orders; and the said commissioner of the king shall be responsible for the said ordinances, in conformity with the said article." . . . The assembly voted the proposition of the committee. 20 A member of the committee of finance gave an ac- count to the assembly of the state of the public treasury. The result was that there was found in the treasury, namely: In gold 2,908, 200 livres 25 In silver * , . 6,559,700 livres In paper money 18,631,000 livres In notes due during the month . 3,437,428 livres Total 3i,536,3 28 livres 379 The French Revolution A member of the military committee, in the exe- cution of a decree rendered this morning, presented a project upon the means of providing in these cir- cumstances for the external and internal security 5 of the state and the maintenance of the constitu- tion. . . . This amendment was adopted and the project of the committee passed in the following terms: "The national assembly, wishing to provide in 10 the circumstances for the external and internal se- curity of the state and the maintenance of the con- stitution, decrees as follows: "article i "The national guard of the kingdom shall be called is to arms according to the dispositions announced in the following articles : . . . "article IX "From the day of the assembling of these com- panies, all the citizens who compose them shall re- 20 ceive — namely , the national guard 1 5 sous a day. . . . "article x "When the situation of the state shall no longer demand the extraordinary services of these com- panies the citizens who compose them shall cease as to be paid, and shall re-enter their companies of the national guard without any distinction being made." 280 The Flight of the King The assembly suspended its deliberations at eleven o'clock in the evening. At midnight the debates be- gan again. M. Dauchy, ex-president, having taken the chair, announced that the commissioners had 5 edited the first part of the Prods-verbal of that day's session. The assembly, after having heard the read- ing of it, referred it back to the commissioners to have the corrections made which seemed fitting. . . . A member observed that it was of the greatest io importance to send the Prods - verbal to all of the departments, to maintain public peace there, and to inform the citizens of the measures taken by the assembly to assure the defense of the state. . . . is The assembly suspended its deliberations a second time at an hour and a half after midnight, and re- newed them at three o'clock on the morning of the 2 2d of the current month. One of the commissioners who acted as editor brought in a corrected redaction 20 of the Prods-verbal of yesterday morning. After the reading the national assembly ordered "that the Prods-verbal should be printed at once and sent without delay to all the administrations of the de- partments and districts of the kingdom." The de- 25 liberations were suspended for the third time at four o'clock in the morning. (Signed) Alexandre Beau- harnais, President; Dauchy, Jacques, Menou, ex- Presidents ; Mauriet, Grenot, Regnier, Le Carlier, Merle, Fricaud, Secretaries. 281 The French Revolution 2. Rapport du sieur Drouet in Relation du depart de Louis XVI., 139. M. Drouet: Gentlemen, here is an account of the facts. My name is Drouet, postmaster at Sainte- 5 Menehould, formerly dragoon in the regiment of Conde. My comrade's name is Guillaume, employee of the directorate of Sainte-Menehould, formerly dragoon in the regiment of the queen. In the year 1791, June 21, at about a quarter after 10 seven in the evening, an equipage of two carriages and eleven horses arrived at the post of Sainte- Menehould. I thought I recognized in one of the carriages the face of the queen, whom I had already seen. Noticing, thereupon, on the front seat a is rather stout man, I was struck by his resemblance to the effigy of the king printed on a government note of fifty livres. The sudden arrival of a de- tachment of dragoons, which had succeeded a de- tachment of hussars, both of them destined to protect 20 the passage of a treasure, as they told me, confirmed more and more my suspicions, especially when I saw the man whom I believed was the king speak with an air of animation and in a low voice to a courier who preceded the equipage. The eagerness of the 25 couriers to have the horses harnessed, ordered in the morning by an aide de camp, M. Goguelat, added further to the evidence. However, fearing to be the author of a false alarm and being then alone, without chance to consult anybody — I have 282 The Flight of the King the honor to remark to the assembly that my house is outside Sainte-Menehould — I allowed the carriage to depart. But, seeing at once the dragoons ready to mount to accompany it, I ran to the guard house; s I had the drums beat to arms; the national guard opposed the departure of the dragoons, and, being by that time sufficiently convinced, I set out, accom- panied by M. Guillaume, in pursuit of the king. Arrived near Clermont, we were informed by the io postilion who drove the king's carriage that the king had just passed there. Then we passed behind Clermont, and we gained by taking short cuts, so that we arrived at Varennes soon enough to catch the king before he had left. It was then eleven is o'clock at night. It was very dark. The carriages were halted before the houses, and there was a dis- pute between the postilions and the conductors of the carriages. The postmaster of Clermont had for- bidden his postilions to leave Varennes before the 20 horses had been refreshed. The king, fearing he was pursued, wished to hasten his departure, and would listen to no talk of resting, so that while they disputed we hurried at once to the town and put our horses in a tavern we found open. I talked 2s to the tavern keeper. I took him aside, because there were many persons there, and I did not wish to be heard. I said to him: "Comrade, are you a good patriot ? " " Yes , make no mistake about that , ' ' he answered. "Very well, my friend; if that is so, 283 The French Revolution run quickly and inform all the honest people you know. Tell them the king is in the upper town in Varennes; that he is going to go down; that it is necessary to arrest him." Then he went out and s spread the news. We, on our side, descended into the town, reflecting that we ought not to call to arms or sound the alarm before we had barricaded the streets and bridge by which the king would pass. Consequently we betook ourselves, my comrade and io I, to the bridge of Varennes. Close to the bridge was a big cart loaded with furniture. We placed it across the bridge. Then we went and sought several other carts, so that the bridge was blocked to the point that it was impossible to pass. Then we is rushed to the house of the mayor and the command- ant of the national guards. Inside of ten minutes we had eight or ten trustworthy men, whose names I shall give in the proper time and place. We ar- rived just as the king was descending. Then the 20 procureur of the commune and the commandant of the national guard approached the carriage and questioned the travelers as to who they were. The queen replied that they were in a great hurry; they requested earnestly to be allowed to pass. They 25 [officers] were insistent; they said it was necessary to see if they were supplied with passports. They did, in fact, show a passport, saying, however, that was not especially necessary. She finally gave her passport to two ladies of honor, who descended and 284 The Flight of the King came to the tavern to have it read. Here in a few words is the substance of the passport: "You will allow to pass the Duchesse, or Comtesse, or Baronne de KorrT," etc. Those who heard it read or saw it s said it was all right. We answered no, because it was signed only by the king, and that it should be signed by the president of the national assembly. I made various objections. "Ladies," I said to them, "if you are strangers, how have you had sufficient in- io fluence to have a detachment of fifty dragoons, who were at Sainte-Menehould, leave immediately after you? How, when you passed Clermont, did you have the same influence in causing the departure of the detachment which was at Clermont? Why, is at the moment in which I am speaking, is there a detachment of hussars [here]?" After these ob- servations it was decided they would not leave until morning. They got out and went up into the apart- ment. 20 3. Extract from the register of the deliberations of the commune of Varennes. To-day, June 23, 1791, the municipality and the general council of the commune of Varennes assem- bled have deliberated and redacted the following 25 Proces-verbal, to be addressed to the national as- sembly. . . . Tuesday, June 21st, at eleven o'clock at night, the procureur of the commune was suddenly informed by a courier of Sainte-Menehould that two car- 285 The French Revolution riages, which they had attempted in vain to stop at Clermont, were going to arrive at Varennes, and that he believed they carried a burden dear to all French hearts. These carriages having arrived, al- s most at that instant the procureur of the commune appeared and asked for the passports. One was presented to him signed Montmorin, and given in the name of the Baronne de Korff and her family going to Frankfort. The night was dark, and the io citizens were already on foot. To defer to the public uneasiness, the procureur of the commune observed to these persons, still unknown, who were in the two carriages, that the excitement of the moment, the darkness of the night, and even their safety is forbade that they should continue their route, and at the same time he invited them to enter his house. These persons were eleven in number, five of whom were in one carriage, two in another, and four on horseback escorting them. 20 Having dismounted at the house of the procureur of the commune, they declared that their intention was not to go to Frankfort, but to Montmedy; and as if French hearts habituated to cherish their king naturally divined him, at the demonstration of love 25 and respect we showered upon him, he said: "Yes, I am the king. There are the queen and the royal family. I come to live among you, in the midst of my children, whom I do not abandon." All the per- sons, including the king, being visibly affected, the 286 The Flight of the King monarch and his august family deigned to press in their arms all the citizens who were present in the apartment, and to receive from them the same marks of warm affection. 5 At this moment an individual calling himself the aide de camp of M. de Bouille arrived and asked to speak to the king. Introduced by the procureur of the commune and interrogated by the king as to his name, he said, "I am Coglas." "Good!" said io the king. "When do we leave?" "I await your orders, Sire." And the orders were given in con- cert with the procureur of the commune and this officer. The king meanwhile testified his eagerness to depart, and asked several times if the horses were is ready. A crowd of citizens from all the neighbor- ing towns had betaken themselves to Varennes in the interval; and at the news of the arrival of the king, carried rapidly into the most remote canton, all hurried toward him with all the joy, the eager- 20 ness, tender but at the same time uneasy and noisy, of a great family which comes to find its father and fears to lose him again. The municipal officers had only to attract the attention of the king to this scene of sentiment and 2s unrest to move the sensibility of his heart. They explained to him that, loved by the people, his throne was in all hearts, his name in all mouths, but that his residence was at Paris. To Paris he was called by the fearful and urgent desires of the provinces 287 The French Revolution even; that in this time of discord and alarm, the nation called for its chief, and the people for their father; that the safety of the state was dependent upon the achievement of the constitution, and the s constitution itself upon his return; that, fortunate on account of his virtues, the French people wished to be more so on account of his personal happiness, and that his good and tender heart could find the assurance of it only in the enjoyment of it in com- io mon with them. In the interval there arrived a detachment of the hussars of the regiment of Lauzun, falling back upon Varennes; and, we are glad to say it, these citizen- soldiers testified for their brothers in arms only the is most peaceable and friendly dispositions. . . . Upon the reiterated request of the king, the munic- ipality was deliberating in general council, when two aides de camp of M. de Lafayette arrived, bearers of the decree of the national assembly, or rather of the 20 wishes of entire France for the return of the monarch. All the citizens then, redoubling their pleas and sup- plications to the monarch, succeeded in moving him by the account of the sanguinary misfortunes of which his departure was going to be the signal, of as the happiness of which his return would be the pledge and of the tribute of love with which Paris, the national assembly, all France would repay with enthusiasm this new act of love for his people. Yielding finally to these gentle and pressing emotions, 288 The Flight of the King the king and the royal family consented to depart, and at about half past six in the morning, in the midst of public acclamations which are so pleasant to receive when they are at the same time the cry s of liberty and of love, the king set out accompanied by a large crowd of citizens and of national guards destined much less to protect his march than to honor the triumph of his feelings. The municipal officers accompanied him as far as Clermont. 10 4. Examination of Maldent. Thursday, July 7, 1791, in the morning. Had brought from his prison M. Maldent, who said he was called Jean Francois Maldent, thirty- seven years of age, former body guard, born at Etain is in Limousin, dwelling in the said Limousin, electing domicile in the clerk's office of the prison. . . . What day, how, and by whom had he been in- structed of the departure of the king, the queen, and the royal family? 20 He said by nobody. Observes that being in the court, Monday, June 21st last, at nine o'clock, or thereabout, as he had received orders to do from M. Dumoustier, a person he did not know came to tell him to go upstairs in the chateau. He followed this 25 person. They shut him up in a cabinet or between two doors, where he remained until the departure of the king. He came himself to open the door and to tell him to follow him, which he did as far as a car- riage. The king told him to get up behind. He 289 The French Revolution followed his orders as far as the Porte Saint-Martin, where the king changed to another carriage, behind which he mounted [remaining there], according to the order of the king, as far as Bondy. He took the 5 post with the king. . . . What hour was it when he left the chateau with the king? Replied he could not tell the precise hour; that he knew only that it was after the coucher of the io king. . . . There were sentinels at all the posts, as usual, and there were national guards walking about in the court when the king passed there with him. . . . The king wore a round hat, a coat over a suit which he believed was brown, overcoat of a green is mixture, as far as he could remember, and he had no outward marks of distinction, such as he ordinarily wore. Added that the king carried a cane in his hand. . . . They had gone out in the darkness, he following the king, who guided him. [On leaving 20 the chateau] he had gone to the Little Carrousel, where the king's carriage was. [In crossing the Court of the Princes] he said he had seen various national guards who were moving about without being able to say whether they were officers or 25 not. Was it he who opened the door when the king got into the carriage? He said no. Who did open it? Said it was the coachman who was there, 2QQ The Flight of the King Who was in the carriage ? Said he did not see any- body in the carriage at that moment. What kind of a carriage was it? Said he believed it was a very shabby, hired carriage. 5 Did they depart at once? He said yes, as soon as the king got into the carriage. Did he know the people who accompanied the queen and Madame Elizabeth from the chateau? He said no. io Did they reach the carriage before the king? Said yes. Was he alone behind the carriage? He said yes. Were the dauphin, madame, the daughter of the king, and Madame de Tourzel in the carriage? He is said yes. How many horses were there to this carriage? Said there were two. Who paid for this carriage when they took the one at the Porte Saint-Martin? Said nobody, and 20 that they had left the carriage there, one of the horses having fallen into the ditch, and that the same coachman who had driven this carriage got upon the seat of the one the travelers had entered. Having made certain that everybody was in the 25 carriage, he got up behind. What is the name of the coachman? Said he did not know. If from the Porte Saint- Martin they went directly to Bondy? Said yes. 291 The French Revolution Was it there they changed horses? Said yes. M. Valory had had the horses prepared to await the king. Did they take post-horses there, and how many of s them did they put to the king's carriage? Said they put six post-horses to the carriage. There were two couriers, one before, who was M. Valory, and one behind, who was himself. M. Dumoustier was on the seat of the carriage. 10 Where did M. Dumoustier join the carriage? Said that he was at the Porte Saint-Martin with the car- riage which awaited the king on the seat of which he had mounted to go to Bondy. Was M. Dumoustier by the side of the coach- is man? Said yes. . . . How far did they go from Bondy before changing horses? He said they changed at all the posts, with- out being able to tell the name of the next post after Bondy, as he was not acquainted with this route. 20 At the post after Bondy, was there a carriage waiting? Said he could not tell whether it was at the post after Bondy or at another that they had met a chaise or cabriolet, in which were two ladies of the chamber whose names he did not know. . . . as Did they hurry in making the changes at each post? Said that M. Valory, who went ahead, was charged with the care of having the horses ready. Did they travel at a high rate of speed on the road? Said no. 292 The Flight of the King Did he know there was a passport, when did he know it, and in what names it was [made out]? Said the one who had given him orders said there was need of nothing, and he had not known whether s there was a passport. Had anybody orders to protect the passage? Said he knew nothing of that. Were they stopped upon the way, and did they en- counter anybody ? Said they had not been stopped io upon the way, and that they saw no one. . . . Was asked who had stopped the carriage of the king, in what place it took place, and at what time? Said it was the national guard of Varennes, and that it took place between half past nine and ten o'clock is in the evening. . . . Was there much difficulty when the king's car- riage was stopped, was there any resistance? Said there was no resistance at all; that a great noise had been made to stir the people up, and that the ao king said, showing his passport, that he did not in- tend to leave the kingdom, but was going to the place indicated by him. That he did not wish to remain in Paris at the present time for reasons known to himself; that he had made this remark when he as was taken to the house of the procureur of the com- mune, and that, furthermore, they could take him where they pleased. Did he know what the passport contained? Said he had not seen it. Was stated to him that hussars 20 293 The French Revolution and dragoons had presented themselves at the time of the arrest to protect the passage [of the king]. They did not lay down their arms until they had seen deployed a force strong enough to hold them in s check. Said he had seen neither hussars nor dra- goons at the time of the king's arrest; that after going up into the apartments of the procureur of the commune he had seen hussars, but a long time afterward. io 5. Letter of the municipality [of Sainte-Menehould] to the president of the national assembly, June 21 [1791]. . . . Between seven and half past eight in the afternoon there passed through this city, going is from west to east, two carriages. They were pre- ceded by a courier and followed by another, both dressed in chamois-colored stuff, and they departed after having changed horses without imagining that anybody had suspected who was inside. 20 Hardly were the two carriages lost to sight than M. Drouet, postmaster, suspecting some mystery, believed he ought to inform the city government. We at once assembled in the common hall, and all the inhabitants armed themselves. Meanwhile the 25 dragoons had remained quiet; but, the people having demanded the disarmament of the soldiers, we in- vited M. d'Andoins, who commanded them, to come to the city hall. Shortly after, we had been con- firmed in our fears by an express sent to us by the 294 The Flight of the King directorate of the department of the Marne. We had already charged M. Drouet, postmaster, and M. Guillaume, one of the inhabitants, to ride after the carriages and to have them stopped, if they could s overtake them. It is two o'clock in the morning, and they have not yet returned. 6. Prods-verbal of the general assembly of the com- mune of Varennes, June 27, 1791. The same day, the twenty-first, about a quarter 10 after eleven at night, there arrived at the tavern Bras d'Or, M. Drouet, of the horse-post at Sainte- Menehould, accompanied by M. Guillaume, in- habitant of the same town, both on horses, and who, without stopping to get their breath, informed M. 15 Blan, the tavern keeper, that two carriages were coming down behind them and were going to pass at once, and that they suspected that the king was in one. The tavern keeper, an officer of the national guard, ran to the house of M. Sauce, procureur of 20 the commune, whom he aroused at once and told him what he came to announce. He then returned home, armed himself and his brother, and went on guard. The procureur of the commune notified the municipal officer who represents the mayor, deputy as at the national assembly. Having met M. Regnier, a lawyer, who was equally informed, he begged him to go quickly and inform the other officers. The procureur of the commune, returning home, made his children get up, and told them to run into the 295 The French Revolution street and cry "Fire!" in order to give the alarm. He took a lantern and went to the passage. Mean- while MM. Regnier and Drouet dragged up a loaded wagon and barred the bridge. It was at s this moment that the carriages appeared. The two brothers Blan had stopped the first, which was a cabriolet, in which were two ladies. The procureur of the commune, having approached the carriage, asked for the passports; they replied to him that io the second carriage had them. He went to that. This carriage was loaded in an extraordinary way, was drawn by six horses, with three riders on three of the horses, and three persons dressed in yellow on the seat. The two brothers Le Blan, together is with MM. Regnier, Coquillard, Justin George, Pousin, all national guards, Thenevin des Ilettes, and Deslion de Monfaucon, who were lodged at the tavern Bras d'Or and armed, put on a firm and brave front. The procureur of the commune, going 20 up to the door, asked the persons in the carriage where they were going and raised his lantern to look at them. They replied they were going to Frankfort. ... The procureur of the commune, who had lodged these strangers in an upper chamber in 25 the rear of his house, already well surrounded, ran to M. Detez, judge of the tribunal, that he might come down and see if it really was the king and his family. . . . He returned to his house with the said M. Detez and went up into the apartment where 296 The Flight of the King the king, the queen, the dauphin, Madame Royal, Madame Elizabeth, and other persons of their suite were, and they were recognized by the said M. Detez. 7. Tourzel, La Duchesse de, M6moires, I, 304-327. s We descended to the entresol of the queen, where the king had already come from his side [of the chateau]. Their majesties told me that they would be followed by three of the body guards, one of whom would give his arm to the queen to conduct 10 her on foot to the carriage; that the two others would drive the traveling carriage, which was to wait for the king at some distance from the bar- rier (for all the royal family went out on foot, ex- cept the dauphin and madame). The carriages is having arrived, the queen went herself to see if all were quiet in the court, and, seeing nobody, she em- braced me, saying, "The king and I place in your hands, Madame, with the greatest confidence, all we hold most dear in the world. Everything is 20 ready. Go!" We descended through the apart- ment of M. de Villequier, where there was no sen- tinel; we passed through a door that was seldom used and got into an old and dilapidated carriage, resembling much a fiacre, which was driven by the 25 Comte de Fersen. In order to give the king time to arrive we took a little drive on the quays and returned by way of the Rue Saint-Honor6, to await the royal family in front of the house then called the H6tel de Gaillar- 297 The French Revolution bois. I waited three-quarters of an hour without seeing any member of the royal family arrive. M. de Fersen played perfectly the r61e of driver of a fiacre, whistling, gossiping with another driver who s happened to be there, and taking snuff from his snuff box. I was upon thorns, although I did not allow my uneasiness to appear, when madame said to me, "There is M. de Lafayette." I hid the dau- phin under my skirts, assuring both of them that io they need not be frightened. I was, however. M. Bailly followed him at a short distance. They both passed and suspected nothing, and after three- quarters of an hour of anxiety I had the consolation of seeing Madame Elizabeth arrive. It was, how- is ever, the beginning of hope. It was half past eleven, and it was only after midnight that we saw the king arrive. MM. Bailly and Lafayette, who had come to the coucher, began to converse; and, to give no cause for suspicion, the prince did not wish to ap- 20 pear in a hurry to retire. It was necessary, after that, for the king to undress himself, get into bed, make a new toilet, put on a wig to disguise himself, and come on foot from the Tuileries to the carriage. The queen was to leave only after the king, and the 25 extreme affection he felt for her showed itself vividly upon this occasion by the manner in which he ex- pressed his uneasiness. As soon as she got into the carriage he took her in his arms, kissed her, and said to her, "How glad I am to see you here!" They 298 The Flight of the King kissed each other. All the royal family did me the same honor, and, convinced that we had passed the obstacle the most difficult to surmount, we began to hope that Heaven would favor our journey, s The king told us that after having gotten rid of MM. Bailly and de Lafayette he went out alone through the great door of the Tuileries in great tranquillity, as he felt perfectly certain that by the precaution he had taken to have the Chevalier io de Coigny, whose shape so perfectly resembled his own, go out by this same door, he had prepared the sentinels at this gate for two weeks to permit him to go out with entire security. So great was it that his shoe, having come unfastened, he refastened is it without anybody paying attention to it, and he had not experienced the least trouble. . . . M. de Fersen, fearing that the body guards might take another road than the one indicated to them, and that if he took the shorter we might have to 20 repass the barrier to meet them, preferred to take the longest, which cost us a half hour, and this, added to the half hour more the coucher of the king had lasted, made us an hour and a half late. We found a wedding ceremony going on at the house of 25 the official at the barrier, a crowd of people and lights at the doors; but, fortunately, we were not recog- nized, and passed without difficulty. To complete the bad luck, the horses of the king's carriage fell twice between Nintr6 [Chaintrix] and Chalons, 299 The French Revolution broke all the traces, and forced us to lose more than an hour in repairing the disaster. . . . We found, at some distance from the barrier of Clichy, the carriage awaiting us, and we abandoned 5 the old carriage and horses without caring what became of them. M. de Fersen drove the king's coach as far as Laye [Claye], where we took the post. The king, on leaving him, expressed his gratitude in the most affectionate manner, hoping that he io would be able to prove it otherwise than in words, and flattering himself that he would see him again soon. We traveled in a large and very comfortable coach, but which had nothing extraordinary about 15 it, as has been repeated since the sad outcome of this unhappy journey. I was supposed to be the mistress under the name of the Baronne de Korfl; the king passed for my valet de chambre, the queen for my lady's maid, and Madame Elizabeth for the 20 children's nurse. The Baronne de Korff, whose name I bore, had made a rapid journey from Paris to Montmedy, by the same route we took, in a carriage similar to our own, with the same number of persons, and nowhere had she been asked for her 25 passport. The observation had been carried to the point of calculating how many hours she had taken to reach Montmedy, and the sad result of this last precaution will be seen. When the barrier was passed, the king began to 300 The Flight of the King augur well for the journey and to talk about his plans: "Here I am," said this good prince, "out- side of this city of Paris, where I have swallowed so many bitter potions. You may be certain that once s in the saddle, I shall be very different from what you have known me up to the present time." He then read to us the Memoire he had left at Paris to be carried to the assembly, and he enjoyed by anticipation the happiness he might cause France io to experience from the return of the princes, his brothers, and of his faithful servants, and from the possibility of re-establishing religion and repairing the ills which his forced sanctions had brought upon it [France]. Then, looking at his watch, which in- 13 dicated eight o'clock, he said: "Lafayette is just now a very much disturbed gentleman!" It was hard to share the anxiety of the general and feel any other sentiment than that of joy at having shaken him off. . . . The farther we advanced on our 20 way, the more we abandoned ourselves to hope. "When we shall have passed Chalons we shall have nothing more to fear," said the king. "At Pont-de- Sommevesle we shall find the first detachment of troops, and the success of our journey is assured. ..." 25 Arrived at Pont-de-Sommevesle, what was our grief and uneasiness when the couriers reported to us that they had found no trace of the troop, nor any one who could tell them anything about it; that they did not dare to ask questions for fear they 301 The French Revolution might arouse suspicion; and we could only hope that at Orbeval, which was the next post, we would be more fortunate. But our happiness was at an end. Heaven, which wished to test to the extreme s our august and unhappy sovereigns, permitted that the Due de Choiseul should absolutely lose his head. The task was too great for him. . . . M. de Choiseul, on taking leave of the king, had given him an itin- erary of the route as far as Pont-de-Sommevesle, 10 where he was to find him at the head of the first detachment of troops charged to escort his majesty. Furnished with all the instructions necessary to ar- rive surely at the end of the journey, he had indi- cated where the king should be very careful not to 15 be recognized, had calculated, as I have already said, the time it would take for the journey, and conse- quently when he ought to reach Pont-de-Sommevesle. But, unfortunately, he had made no allowance for accidents which might happen, and that was the 20 cause of our destruction. To avoid suspicion on the part of the troops, who had been placed by detachments from Pont-de- Sommevesle to Clermont, they had been told that they were destined to escort a treasure, the arrival as of which had been delayed until Monday, the 21st. Some remarks made upon the delay of the arrival of the treasure disturbed M. de Choiseul, who, noting that it was already two hours beyond the time fixed for the king's arrival, decided that he had 302 The Flight of the King changed his mind and that the plan had failed. He gave then, as I have been told, his cabriolet to Leo- nard, hair-dresser of the queen, whom he had brought from Paris with him, that he might inform the troops s stationed along the route that the journey was abandoned, that the king had not appeared, en- joining him further to go as far as Montm6dy to carry the same news. He then mounted his horse, saying to the detachment which was at Pont-de- io Sommevesle that he had just received word that the treasure would not go through, and that he was going to Montmedy by the shortest route. . . . We were no more fortunate at Orbeval than at Pont-de-Sommevesle. The same silence, the same is uncertainty. We reached Sainte-Menehould in a vio- lent agitation. It was still further augmented when M. d'Andoins, captain in the regiment of M. de Choiseul, approached the carriage for an instant and said very low: "The plan has miscarried. I am 20 going to withdraw in order not to arouse suspicion." These few words pierced us to the heart; but there was nothing else to do than continue our journey, and no appearance of uncertainty was permitted. As bad luck would have it, the infamous Drouet, 25 son of the master of the post at Sainte-Menehould, a furious patriot, was at the door at that moment, and, having had the curiosity to look into the carriage, he thought he recognized the king, and made sure of it by comparing the face of that prince with some 303 The French Revolution paper money he had in his pocket. This unhappy man got a horse and followed the carriage of the king to Clermont; and, having heard that he was going to Varennes, he judged it would be easy to have him s arrested by getting ahead and informing the au- thorities and the inhabitants, upon whom he could count, of the passage of his majesty. We reached Clermont without any inconvenience, but on our arrival in that city Comte Charles de io Damas, colonel of the dragoons of Monsieur, and who had left his post, in spite of the notice from the Due de Choiseul, told us there was excitement in that region, and that he was going to attempt the impossible by trying to withdraw his regiment and is escort his majesty's carriage. He did try it, in fact, but without success. The authorities joined with the inhabitants to prevent the regiment from leav- ing the village, and the troops refused to obey M. de Damas. He was tempted to move them by say- 20 ing to them that he was going to escort the king and his family, but he did not dare to, fearing to meet with a refusal, the consequences of which would have been the arrest of the king. He contented himself with sending an officer post-haste to Var- 2s ennes to inform MM. de Bouille and de Raigecourt that the king was coming, but the fatality which accompanied all these attempts of the king to es- cape from his cruel situation decreed that this officer, who was not well acquainted with the road, took the 304 The Flight of the King road to Verdun instead of that to Varennes, and did not get there in time to fulfil his mission. We saw on the heights of this last city a man who seemed to want to conceal himself. Our uneasiness increased. s We believed we had been betrayed, and we drove on rilled with trouble and sadness easier to imagine than to describe. Our position was frightful. It became even more so when, on our arrival at Varennes, we found no 10 fresh horses and no one who could tell us what had become of them. We knocked on a door; we en- deavored to discover if they knew anything of the relay that should be waiting for us. We could learn nothing of the matter which interested us, and we is attempted to follow the only course open to us by proposing to the postilions to double the distance, offering them money for it. They refused, saying their horses were too tired ; we told them to take us to the nearest tavern in the town, to set out as soon 20 as their horses should be rested. There was no longer any means of doing that, and the infamous Drouet had already executed his measures to prevent the passage of their majesties. He had barred the bridge over which it was necessary to pass on leav- 25 ing the town by having overturned a wagon there loaded with furniture which happened to be at hand, and he had warned the national guard of the town and Sauce, procureur of the commune, of the arrival of the king and the necessity of stop- 305 The French Revolution ping him. He had, moreover, associated him with one named Mangin, an ardent patriot, who seconded him perfectly. He had drink given to the national guards and to the soldiers who were in the town, and s he had the dragoons of the regiment of Monsieur, at Clermont, warned to oppose the demand of their colonel to protect the journey of the king. Meanwhile the carriages rolled on, but as soon as that of the women, which preceded that of the io king, passed in front of the house of Sauce, it was stopped, and they were obliged to dismount to have their passports vis6ed. It was then half past eleven at night. We were informed of what was going on by the body guards, but we had gone too far into is the city to retreat, and we continued our route. A minute later, as we passed under an arcade which led to the bridge of Varennes, two individuals named Le Blan and Poucin stopped the carriage and threat- ened to fire upon it if the least resistance was made. 20 I learned this last circumstance only after my ar- rival in Paris. I know only that the body guards offered to employ force to make a passage for the king, but that this prince refused to allow it. The passports were called for; but, although they were 25 correct in form, and although the queen begged them to make haste as they were pressed for time, they made all sorts of excuses to give the patriots of the city and the environs time to assemble. An officer approached the king's carriage and said 306 The Flight of the King in a low tone that there was a ford, and offered .to attempt to get him over it; but the king, who saw the number of those surrounding the carriage in- crease each minute, and noticed to what a point s they were exasperated, fearing he did not have force enough, and that he might uselessly cause a mas- sacre, did not dare to give the order. He simply told him to press M. de Bouille to use every effort to rescue him from his critical position. io The alarm bells were rung in and around Varennes, and it was impossible to dissimulate the fact that we were recognized. For a long time the king would not acknowledge who he was nor leave the carriage ; but the insistence became so pressing, coupled with is the promise of letting us go if everything was cor- rect after the examination of our passports, that there was no further way of avoiding it. The king en- tered into the house of Sauce, procureur of the com- mune, and went upstairs into a chamber, where 20 they placed the children upon a bed that was there. Overcome by fatigue, they went to sleep at once. Their sleep was calm and tranquil, and the con- trast of this situation with that of their unhappy parents was truly heartbreaking. 25 They were not yet quite sure at Varennes that it was the king and the royal family who were in the house of Sauce, but Mangin, who knew them, went up into the chamber to make sure of it, and de- clared positively that it was the king and his family, 307 The French Revolution and that there was no further room for doubt. This Mangin, a great patriot, and others like him, had hurried to all the neighboring villages and had assembled in less than an hour four thousand national s guards, both of the town and the environs. The king, seeing that dissimulation was useless, declared that he was the king, that he had quit Paris to escape the daily insults they took pleasure in heaping upon him; that he did not intend to leave the kingdom, io but that he wished only to go to Montmedy to be in a better position to keep an eye on the move- ments across the border; that if the authorities of Varennes doubted his word, he would consent to be accompanied by such persons as they might is designate. The king and the queen employed all possible means to touch their hearts and to arouse the ancient love of the French for their king. They were hearts of bronze which fear alone could move. From time to time they were seized by the fear of 20 the arrival of Bouille, and then begged the king to protect them, and left it uncertain as to whether they would allow him to continue his journey ; these dispositions changed as soon as they were given reasons for feeling safe. . . . 25 MM. Baillon [Bayon] and de Romeuf, the first commandant of a battalion of the national guard of Paris, and the second aide de camp of M. de La- fayette, arrived at Varennes between three and four o'clock in the morning. They were bearers of a 308 The Flight of the King decree of the assembly which ordered the most prompt and active measures to protect the security of the person of the king, of the dauphin, of the royal family, of the persons by which they were s accompanied, and to secure their return to Paris with the regard due to the royal majesty. This same decree named as commissioners of the assembly to execute these measures MM. Petion, Barnave, and de La Tour-Maubourg, giving them power to employ io the national guards, the troops of the line, and the administrative bodies in the execution of their mission, requiring of them entire obedience to the commissioners in the execution of this decree. It enjoined, furthermore, the arrest of M. de Bouille 15 and the most absolute prohibition to any body of troops whatsoever to execute any of his orders, and named M. Dumas, adjutant of the army, to com- mand the troops which should escort the king to Paris and to execute the orders he might receive 20 from the commissioners. When the queen saw the two bearers of the decree arrive, who had always posed as being entirely de- voted to the royal family, she could not control her indignation, and reproached them with the contrast as between their conduct and their daily protestations. She snatched the decree from their hands without wishing to listen to the reading of it, and would even have torn it up had the king not interfered ; she con- tented herself with throwing it scornfully on the 21 309 The French Revolution floor. Romeuf, who still had a remnant of shame which made him blush at the r61e he was playing at the moment, remained silent. But Baillon [Bay on], who had in mind only the recompense he 5 expected as the price of his mission, only sought to deceive the king: "Have a care," he said, "not to create a feeling of uneasiness by remaining too long in this town." And when the king objected that, as the children needed rest, he would remain some io time, he replied, in a hypocritical tone: "Although your Majesty does not do me the justice to believe that I accepted the mission with which I am charged only with the hope of being useful to him, I am going to do all I can to induce this crowd to respect the is sleep of the dauphin and madame." And he stirred them up, on the contrary, to hasten the departure of the king, by communicating to them his excessive fear of the danger they would run if M. de Bouille succeeded in rescuing the king. The night passed 20 very sadly, the king not daring to adopt the plan of employing force to escape from his cruel situation, and the officers, who would have obeyed at peril of their lives, not thinking they could take any decisive action without his authorization. It might have 25 been successful when he was first arrested, but each instant added new difficulties. The effervescence augmented in proportion as the crowd increased in size, to which the most improbable news was re- ported in order to excite its terror and fury. 310 The Flight of the King They did not cease to press the king to depart. The horses were put to the coach; the clamors re- doubled and were excited by the fear of the arrival of M. de Bouille. In vain the queen pointed to her s sleeping children and urged the need they had of a little rest. They would not listen to reason, and from the chamber where the royal family was one heard this frightful populace demand with loud cries their departure. io After eight mortal hours of waiting at Varennes M. de Bouille did not arrive, and we had no news from him. The king, seeing no possibility of escap- ing from the hands of this multitude, which visibly increased in numbers, did not believe he could put is off his departure longer, and decided to return to Paris. 8. Relation du voyage de Varennes, adressie par un prtlat, membre de VassembUe constituante, d un ministre en pays Granger; in Mtmoires de Weber, 20 II, 62-151. Finally, all the obstacles having been overcome and the preparations made, the night of the twentieth to the twenty-first of June, the king and the royal family, having supped as usual, retired about half 25 past ten, as if they were going to bed. Shortly after they betook themselves to the apartments of Madame Royale, where Madame de Tourzel brought the young prince, and they prepared to leave by the chamber of which I have spoken, from which the 3" The French Revolution queen had secretly opened a door into the unoccu- pied apartment of M. le Due de Villequier. The king, who was to pass for the valet de chambre of Madame de KorfT, had a gray suit and a peruke s which disguised him very well ; the others were dressed very simply. I have heard it said, but I cannot recall by whom, that for several days before they had the Chevalier de Coigny go out at night by the gate of the court opening near the apartment io of M. de Villequier. He had the same peruke and the same suit the king had at his departure; as his figure resembled very much that of the king, this could serve to prevent the king from being recog- nized in crossing the court on June 20th. is Madame Elizabeth went out first with Madame Royale, followed at a short distance by Madame de Tourzel leading the dauphin. One of the three body guards accompanied her. Either accidentally or purposely one of the sentinels of the court who 20 in pacing his round crossed the path the two prin- cesses would be obliged to take turned his back at the moment he was near them and was going to meet them. Madame Royale noticed it and said in a low tone to Madame Elizabeth, "Aunt, we have 25 been recognized." Yet they got out of the court without being noticed and went, followed, as I have already said, by Madame de Tourzel, across the Petit Carrousel to the corner of the Rue de l'Echelle, where M. de Fersen awaited them with a 312 The Flight of the King carriage. It was a livery carriage, resembling very much in form, and in the horses which drew it, what is called a fiacre in Paris. He had hired it in a re- mote quarter, and he himself served as coachman, s dressed as coachmen of that class dress. He was so well disguised that while he waited, having in his carriage the two princesses, the dauphin and Madame de Tourzel, an empty fiacre having stopped near him, the coachman, who thought he was talking to one io of his comrades, opened a conversation with him upon matters people of that class would talk about. It lasted quite a long time, and M. de Fersen did his part with great presence of mind, talking in the jargon of coachmen in order not to make his fellow is driver suspicious. He got rid of him after having given him a pinch of snuff from a very shabby snuff- box he had. Shortly after that the king arrived accompanied by the second body guard. There was quite a long interval between his exit and that of 20 the first group, but it was not less fortunate, although, one of the buckles of his shoe having broken, very close to the sentinel of the gate of the Carrousel, he was obliged to fix it almost under his eyes. The queen, who was to come out last, made them wait 25 more than a half hour and rendered the travelers very uneasy. They had given her the third body guard to accompany her, and he gave her his arm. All went well up to the great gate of the Royal Court, but as they were about to leave it they saw 3^3 The French Revolution the carriage of M. de Lafayette coming with torches and his usual guards. He was going home and was crossing the Royal Court to reach the Pont Royal. The queen had a hat which covered her face. The s night was very dark. She stood close to the wall to let the carriage of M. de Lafayette pass. After having escaped this danger she told the body guard to take her across to the Petit Carrousel to the corner of the Rue de l'Echelle — that is to say, two hundred io feet from the place where she was. Her guide was even less acquainted with Paris than she was. It was too dangerous to ask the way so close to the door of the Tuileries. They turned by chance to the right, when they should have turned to the is left, passed the wickets of the Louvre, crossed the Pont Royal, and wandered a long time along the quays and in the Rue de Bac. They were at last forced to ask their way. A sentinel on the bridge told them. They were obliged to retrace their 20 steps, repass the wickets of the Louvre, cross the courts of the Tuileries to reach the Rue de l'Echelle. They finally got to the carriage without any other accident than the time lost, but that was a real one, for the value of each minute was incalculable. as All the illustrious caravan being united, they set out to join the carriage which awaited them beyond the barrier Saint-Martin. It was drawn by six horses with a postilion of M. de Fersen who was a stranger, not knowing a word of French and igno- 3H The Flight of the King rant concerning whom he was going to conduct. M. de Fersen did not dare to drive his livery car- riage by the shortest route because he did not know Paris well enough to run the risk of passing through s the center of this immense city at night. He thought it safer to go down the Rue Saint-Honore and to make the tour of the boulevards. He ar- rived safely at the rendezvous. All passed from the hired carriage into the traveling coach, the body 10 guards mounting upon the seat or behind. M. de Fersen continued to serve as coachman, the first two horses being guided by his postilion. As to the hired carriage, it was left all harnessed in the high- way, with nobody to watch it or take it back to its is owner. In less than two hours they reached Claye, which is the second post house on the route to Chalons, about six leagues from Paris. There one of the ser- vants of M. de Fersen waited for him with a cabriolet 20 and two horses to take him back to Paris. Although the carriage of the king was new, it was necessary to make some repairs at Claye, with further loss of time. It will be seen later what the consequence of of all these delays was. . . . 25 Meanwhile the king and the royal family continued their route toward Chalons without obstacle and with- out stopping even to eat, having brought in the car- riage everything necessary for that. Their passports were called for nowhere, and there was no objection 3i5 The French Revolution to furnishing them horses. Thus they arrived at Chalons about four or five o'clock in the afternoon of the twenty-first. [There a man who thought he recognized the king reported the matter to the s mayor, and suggested that the carriage be stopped. The mayor pointed out the consequences that would follow if he were mistaken, and the man, acknowl- edging that he might be wrong, decided to keep silent.] Escaped from this danger, the king had io passed Chalons when, the carriage having stopped for a moment on the highway, an unknown person, clothed like a bourgeois, drew near, put his head in at the door next to Madame de Tourzel, and said quite loud: "Your plan has miscarried. You will is be stopped." He went off at once without giving time to learn his name or who he was. . . . Everything had been calculated to the minute in the journey of the king, and his passage at Pont-de- Sommevesle was set down for three o'clock in the 20 afternoon. It was long past this hour, and not only had the king not passed, but one of the three cour- iers who ought always, in the arrangements agreed upon, to precede the carriage by two hours had not appeared. According to this circumstance, a delay as of an hour in the appearance of the king represented a delay of three in the journey. Between five and six o'clock he was four or five hours late, and could not be expected before eight. MM. de Choiseul and Goguelat were not only very uneasy, but they 316 The Flight of the King found themselves in a terrible position. The sight of these hussars, waiting so long at their post, had caused a crowd to gather at Pont-de-Sommevesle. The report went about that the arrival of a pre- s tended treasure they were to escort was only a pre- text. Chalons, which was below Pont-de-Som- mevesle, sent national guards to inquire the cause of these detachments. Sainte-Menehould, which was above it, and where the excitement had increased io since the previous evening, sent its deputation. There was talk of ringing the alarm bell to call in the country people, and already some bells had sounded their first note. MM. de Choiseul and Goguelat talked together in a low tone in the pres- is ence of the crowd which watched all their movements. Had the king, who had already once postponed his departure from Paris for twenty-four hours, post- poned it again? Had he set out and been stopped on the way? In that case it was useless to incite a 20 sedition to no purpose and cause the loss of a de- tachment. Was it possible he might still arrive that evening? In that case it would render his arrest certain, it would be a matter of giving him up instead of escorting him, to call together upon his 25 route all the communes of the environs, summoned by the alarm bell and filled with a suspicion that would soon degenerate into fury. As the two leaders were struck by this idea a man in the crowd which surrounded their horses observed that that morn- 3i7 The French Revolution ing a diligence had passed which seemed very heavily loaded. Another replied that it carried a lot of money. M. de Choiseul picked up this remark and asked of the one who had just made it if he was sure 5 of what he said. He replied in the affirmative. "Why did you not tell me that three hours ago?" replied M. de Choiseul. Then addressing M. de Goguelat, still in a loud voice, he said : "It is clear that the diligence has got ahead of us. The money 10 we were to escort has passed. We have nothing more to do here." These words had a magical effect. The excitement died out, the alarm bell ceased, the crowd scattered. MM. de Choiseul and Goguelat withdrew peaceably from Pont-de-Som- is mevesle with their troops. They went as slowly as possible, halting frequent- ly in order to conserve all their chances to the last moment. Finally, having marched thus for a long time without being overtaken by the king's coach 20 or by his courier, they did not doubt that the proj- ect had been at least put off till the next day. Then, fearing to renew the tumult excited the previous evening by their presence at Sainte-Menehould, knowing, furthermore, that this post and that of 25 Clermont were sufficiently guarded, unless an ex- traordinary crisis arose, they decided to go around this city, instead of passing through it, and reach Varennes by the shortest road across the woods of Clermont. . . . 3i8 The Flight of the King About an hour after the detachment of Pont-de- Sommevesle had set out, the coach of the king ar- rived there almost at the same time as his courier, who along the entire route did not precede him more s than five minutes ; a capital fault. The king changed horses peaceably and reached Sainte-Menehould. The courier, generally too late, arrived too soon in this last town. For during the five minutes he was there before the king he blundered about the io location of the post, was obliged to retrace his steps into the town, to question on this side and that to find his way, and excited public attention, already too wide awake. The people of Sainte-Menehould were in a bad humor. [The presence of the dra- 15 goons, the fact that they saluted the king's carriage as it passed, and the queen returned the salute "with her usual air of grace and kindness," aroused their suspicions.] A few moments more and the king would have had difficulty in getting out of the 20 town. But the presence of the dragoons still had a restraining influence; the horses were changed; the carriage departed. It was while it stopped that the king, putting his head out of the door too frequently, was noticed by 25 the son of the postmaster, a very warm patriot named Drouet. This Drouet had seen the king at the federation the preceding year. To satisfy himself that he was not mistaken, he took a piece of paper money bearing a very good portrait of the king and 3i9 The French Revolution compared it for some time with the face he had be- fore his eyes. The attention he was giving the matter was so marked that it attracted the notice of the queen and redoubled her uneasiness. It was s a quarter to eight. However certain Drouet was that the king was in the carriage, he did not dare to give the alarm at Sainte-Menehould, either on account of the fear of the dragoons or because the departure of the coach io prevented it. But he made up his mind to follow it, to have it stopped when he should find it possible. He communicated his discovery and his resolution to his wife, who said and did all she could do to dis- suade him, but in vain. He mounted his horse and is followed the coach. . . . At a certain distance from Clermont, where the road divides into two, one of which leads to Verdun and the other to Varennes, the king gave the order to take the second. He had been gone some time 20 when Drouet arrived at the same place. Not doubt- ing that the king was going to Verdun, he took with- out hesitation the road which goes there. Prob- ably he would not have noticed his mistake in time if he had not encountered by accident a postilion as who was returning from conducting a courier to Verdun. He asked him if he had not seen a coach with six horses going to Verdun, and if it was far ahead. Upon the reply of the postilion that he had seen nothing, he did not doubt that it had taken 320 The Flight of the King the road to Varennes and he must endeavor to arrive there before it. Instead of retracing his steps he took a cross-road which led very directly to Varennes, and he rode so rapidly he arrived there before the s king. . . . The king arrived at about eleven o'clock at night. The house where the post horses were to be had been so well described to him that he found it easily. He knocked on the door and asked for his horses. They could give him no information 10 about them. Seeing nobody who could give him any information, he entered the upper city and got out with the queen. She knocked at several doors on the pretext of asking information about the re- lay, but in reality to see if by accident she might not is encounter some of the people who were to meet her at Varennes. All her investigations were in vain. No one of those employed in this little town had thought of having somebody on the side by which the king would enter in order to inform him. Their 20 majesties, after having walked about in the upper city for some time, proposed to the postilions to go on. They objected on the ground that their horses were worn out and could not go farther without food and rest. After this discussion, which lasted some 25 time, the king succeeded in getting them to consent to take him to the other side of the bridge. He got into the coach with the queen. Meanwhile Drouet, who reached Varennes a little before the carriage, had not lost a moment in put- 321 The French Revolution ting obstacles in the way of their passage. His first care had been to instruct the procureur of the com- mune, named Sauce, and to induce him to have the king stopped. He had no difficulty in persuading s him. This Sauce was a kind of revolutionary fanatic, but was not lacking in ability. He sent at once orders to assemble the national guard of Varennes and to surround the convent of the Cor- deliers where the sixty hussars were. He sent at the io same time emissaries to notify the towns and vil- lages round about, in order to bring the national guards of these places to Varennes, and despatched couriers to Verdun and Sedan for the same purpose. Meanwhile Drouet, aided by two or three deter- is mined men, one of whom was named Billaud, the same who was so well known later for his fury in the convention, overturned heavy wagons to bar the bridge and thus place an invincible obstacle in the way of the passage of the king if he attempted 20 to force it. That done, he and his comrades, well armed, placed themselves in ambuscade under an archway by which it was necessary to pass before reaching the bridge and in a place most suitable for stopping the coach. All these steps were taken in 25 such profound silence that neither the hussars nor their officers nor the persons sent by M. de Bouille knew anything about it. When the carriage was under the archway it was stopped by Drouet and his people on the pretext 322 The Flight of the King of having the passports of the travelers viseed by the municipality of Varennes and of having their persons identified. Drouet did not let a word es- cape him which could let it be known that it was the 5 king ; two loaded muskets were crossed at each of the doors of the coach. Drouet enjoined the travelers very brutally to go to the procureur of the commune, whose house was near by. It is even said that he laid hands on the king. His majesty believed that io all resistance was useless, and, hoping still that he was not or would not be recognized, or at least could be rescued by force from the danger in which he and his family found themselves, he consented to follow Drouet. Sauce had the air of taking them is for simple travelers, asked for their passports, and appeared to find them perfectly regular. He then said to them that their horses could not go farther without food, but as that would take some time, he begged them to rest themselves in his house, where 20 they would be more comfortable than in the coach. There was no way of escape. All the family were received in a room on the ground floor, through the door of which they could see everything passing in the street. It was there the queen placed herself. as It did not take her long to discover that each minute the crowd was increasing outside and that the house was invested. She no longer doubted, then, that they had been arrested and recognized. . . . When Sauce felt sure that the national guards were numer- 323 The French Revolution ous enough not to let their prey escape he raised the mask and said aloud to the king that he knew who he was. He reproached him very bitterly for his flight, against his word, he said, to go into a 5 foreign country and to make war upon his people. He then declared he arrested him in the name of the nation, and that he was going to have him con- ducted to Paris under a strong guard. The king sought at first to deny that he was king, which led 10 to an altercation in which Sauce and those with him overstepped more and more the bounds of re- spect. The queen then approached and put an end to it, saying in a firm tone, "If you recognize him as your king, speak to him with the respect which is is due him." . . . It was only then that the aide de camp, Romeuf, reached Varennes, at six in the morning, conse- quently seven hours after the arrest of the king. He entered the town, passing between two rows of 20 national guards drawn up on both sides of the road and which extended each minute on account of the arrival of new reinforcements. At Sauce's door he found the coach with six horses harnessed to it, turned toward the Avenue de Paris and surrounded as by an escort which was to conduct the prisoner monarch. Entering the house with shame and grief, he placed in the hands of Sauce the decree of the national assembly. . . . [Romeuf tried to justify his conduct and to defend Lafayette, saying that he 3 2 4 The Flight of the King was not the enemy of the king and his family.] "He is," said the queen; "he has in his head only his United States and the American republic. He will see what a French republic is. Well, sir," she 5 continued, "show me this decree of which you are the bearer." Romeuf gave her a copy of it. "The insolent [creatures]," said the queen, while reading it; and without having read to the end she cast it from her. The paper fell on the bed where the io dauphin and his sister were sleeping. The queen snatched it up and threw it on the floor, saying, "It would soil the bed of my children." 22 APPENDIX DEFINITIONS A. History is the science of the unique evolution of man in his activities as a social being. B. Historical sources are the results of man's social activities. They are subdivided into remains and tradi- tions. Remains are the material products of man's activities — weapons, instruments, food, clothing, build- ings, etc. — fitted because of their origin to be used as evidence concerning man's social past, but not intended for such use at the time of their origin. Tradition is the record by an eye or ear witness of what he has seen or heard. It may take an oral, a written, or a pictorial form. The record does not contain the fact, but the affirmation of the witness concerning what he believed the fact to be. Between every historical fact and every tradition stands at least one human brain. How far the affirmation differs from the fact depends upon the char- acter of the brain through which it has passed. C. An affirmation is a statement by a single source con- cerning a fact. It may be true, it may be false. D. A fact is established by the agreement of two or more independent sources, provided the witnesses are not self -deceived. 327 The French Revolution E. Historical method is the system of rules and artifices employed by the historian in his attempt to trace the unique evolution of man in his activities as a social being by a study of the sources. II OUTLINE OF HISTORICAL METHOD A. Choice of a Subject for Investigation. i. Choose a subject that has not been investigated; or 2. That needs to be investigated anew because of a. The discovery of new sources; or because b. The old construction was uncritical; or be- cause of c. The possibility of a new grouping of the facts. B. The Material. i. Bibliography. a. Sources, (i) Printed. (2) Manuscript. b. Secondary works based on sources. 2. Classification of the sources. a. Remains. b. Tradition. (1) Oral. (2) Written. (3) Pictorial. C. The Reconstruction of the Past from the Sources. 1. Reading secondary works and sources. 2. Establishment of the facts, a. Criticism of the sources. (1) Proof of genuineness. 328 Appendix (2) Localization. (a) Who was the writer? (b) When was the source written? (c) Where was it written? (3) Evaluation of the sources. (4) Proof that the sources are independent, b. Comparison of affirmations to establish facts. (1) Gathering affirmations on same fact. (2) Interpreting and comparing independent affirmations to determine what the fact is. 3. Synthesis. Outline or grouping of the facts. 4. Exposition or narrative based on outline. a. The text. b. The notes. Ill ILLUSTRATION OF THE APPLICATION OF METHOD A. The subject selected for investigation is "The Oath of the Tennis Court," one of the most important events of the early French revolution, and calling for investiga- tion on all three of the grounds given in the outline of method. B. The sources for the study are given in the critical bibliography. Although comprising more material than has ever yet been used by any writer on this subject, it is not exhaustive. More material could doubtless be found in the manuscript letters of deputies, preserved in departmental and city archives in France, and in the manuscript letters of the Austrian, Saxon, Prussian, Neapolitan and Spanish ambassadors preserved in the archives of the respective countries. Something could 329 The French Revolution probably be found also in pamphlets and in the Paris letter of the foreign newspaper, the Gazette de Leyde. An examination of London papers might bring to light letters from Paris correspondents. The sources in our collection are wholly written tradition and twelve in num- ber: one is an official document — Proce s-verbal; two are daily papers; four are letters — two by members of the assembly and two by ambassadors; one is a journal or diary; two are Memoir es; and two are contemporary his- tories. All were written by men who were in Paris or Versailles on June 20, 1789. C. 1. Reading secondary works and sources. A general conception of the whole topic can be ob- tained by reading the sources, one after another, taking notes upon them, and by reading one or more secondary accounts. The secondary accounts may be read first. As but little has been written in English on the subject, little time need be given to the secondary works. The Cambridge Modern History (VIII, 155) contains the fol- lowing account of the event we are studying: "He [Louis XVL] resolved to hold a "royal session" and to command the estates to lose no further time in con- troversy. For this purpose preparations in the Salle des Menus Plaisirs were needful, and the sittings of the assembly would have to be interrupted. But instead of giving formal notice to Bailly as president, the ministers, with discourteous folly, sent the workmen into the hall on June 20th and caused placards to be posted announcing the 2 2d as the day of the royal session. Only at the last moment did De Br£ze\ Grand Master of the Ceremonies, inform Bailly by letter that he was about to proclaim the royal session by the voice of heralds. Bailly took no heed, but went with the deputies to their accustomed hall, and, finding the doors shut, adjourned with them to 33o Appendix a neighboring tennis court. There the deputies, incensed at the discourtesy with which they had been treated, and suspecting a revolution on the part of the government to interrupt their sittings or even to dissolve their assembly, acclaimed Mourner's proposal that they should take a solemn oath not to separate until the constitution had been established. Only a single deputy, a certain Martin of Auch, refused to swear; and the Oath of the Tennis Court became one of the most memorable incidents of the French Revolution." 2. Establishment of the facts. a. Criticism of the sources. Each source should be criticized. Let the Proces-verbal serve as an example: ( i ) Genuineness. The original manuscript of the Proces- verbal, in the handwriting of the secretary Camus, is in the national archives in Paris. (2) Localization, (a) Writer. The Proces-verbal was written by Camus, one of the secretaries of the assembly, an eye-witness whose business it was to take notes on the spot and give a faithful account of what took place, (b) Time of writing. The first part was written before 10.30 on the morning of June 20th. The proof is found in the statement on page 21, lines 15-18: "The president gave an account of the facts recorded in the minutes of this day and had the minutes read." The minutes must have been written at the time, otherwise they could not have been read. The second part must have been completed after the adjournment at six o'clock, (c) Where written. This first part, probably in the tennis court, as on page 19, lines 18-21, of the Proces-verbal, is the statement that "the president and the two secretaries having gone out, they betook themselves to the tennis court in Tennis Court Street, where the members of the assembly suc- cessively gathered," and this must have been written 33i The French Revolution after they reached the tennis court. The part preceding that may have been written before going there, but it is not probable. See what Bailly says, page 40, line 3, and page 42, lines 1-4. The second Prod s-verbal for the 20th was, doubtless, written in the same place. (3) Evaluation of the source. The source is valuable as a whole because: (a) it is the official minutes of the assem- bly; (b) the writer was the secretary, Camus, a man of good natural ability and training: and (c) it was written where the events occurred and at the time of the occurrence. (4) Independence. A comparison of the text of the Proces-verbal with that of the Point du jour and of the Memoires of Bailly will show that the account of the Point du jour has, with some exceptions, the same facts in the same order and generally in the same language, and that this is also true of a part of Bailly's account. Compare the text of the Proces-verbal and the Point du jour line by line, writing down the passages found in the same form, or nearly the same form, in both. Do the same thing for the Proces-verbal and Bailly. Here are clear examples of dependence. Which is the original and which the copies? We can dispose of Bailly at once. He did not write until 1792; the Proces-verbal could not have copied his Memoires, hence he must have copied the Proces-verbal. It must be remembered, however, that, although Bailly copied portions of the Proces-verbal, he was president of the assembly and an eye-witness, and his account contains matter not found in the other sources, probably drawn from memory. The Point du jour must have copied the Proces-verbal, for the Proces- verbal was in print and accessible to the public on June 21st (see page 29, line 9, "Finally the printing of the minutes and the decree of this day was ordered, that they might be made public the next day "), and the Point du 332 Appendix jour was not in print before June 2 2d (see page 29, line 12, at the end of the Point du jour, "Yesterday, Sunday, no session." Sunday was the 21st, hence Monday, the day on which the Point du jour was written, must have been the 22d). The Prods-verbal, then, is independent of the other sources, but portions of the Point du jour and of the M&moires of Bailly are drawn from the Proces-verbal, although Bailly and Bar£re are witnesses and report matter not found in the Proces-verbal. It should be noted, further, that Young and the Bailli de Virieu were prob- ably not in Versailles on June 20th, and simply repeated what they learned in Paris. All the other seven were in Versailles, and all except Lehodey, editor of the Assem- ble nationale, were members of the assembly. b. Comparison of affirmations. (1) Gathering affirmations. As an illustration of the gathering of affirmations let us take the episode of the closing of the hall on the morning of June 20th and the guarding of it by soldiers. How many of the sources mention this episode, and what do they say? There are nine of them, and they say: • Proces-verbal (page 18, lines 3-7), "At nine o'clock in the morning . . . they found it guarded by soldiers." Point du jour (page 23, lines 2 1-27), " At a very early hour . . . but the military force already prohibited entrance." Assemblee nationale (page 29, line 14; page 30, line 4), "They were on their way ... at the hour indicated. . . . The deputies found there French guards." Bailly, Memoir es (page 37, line 21), "I was informed that it was surrounded by French guards." Duquesnoy, journal (page 49, line 15), "Yesterday . . . he found it guarded by soldiers." Young, Travels in France (page 53, line 4), "The French guards were placed with bayonets." 333 The French Revolution Mourner, Recherches (page 56, lines 4, 10), "Repulsed by armed men . . . closed by military force." Rabaut, Precis (page 60, line 14), "The doors closed and guarded by soldiers." Bailli de Virieu, Correspondance (page 62, line 2), "The door of the hall of the estates barred by French and Swiss guards." (2) Interpreting and comparing affirmations. Keeping in mind how many of these affirmations were made by eye-witnesses, and how many of them by independent witnesses, we compare them to determine what the facts were with the following results: (a) The hall was guarded by troops. This is affirmed by all the seven witnesses and by the two — Young and Virieu — who evidently reported what they had heard. Three, at least, of the sources — Proce s-verbal, Assemblee nationale, and Duquesnoy — are independent, and the others are probably drawing upon their memories. This gives us certainty. (b) The troops were French guards. This is affirmed by the Assemblee nationale, Bailly, Young, and Virieu; the first two witnesses, the last two probably not in Versailles at the time. There is no indication that Bailly was dependent upon the Assemblee nationale at this point, and it is highly probable that Young and Virieu, moving in different circles, would draw their information from different sources, none of which, it is probable, was Bailly or the Assemblee nationale. The balance here trembles uncertainly between high probability and cer- tainty, inclining toward certainty. (c) Some of the guards were Swiss, affirmed by Virieu, who was not a witness. It may be true that there were Swiss guards in Versailles, but we can only say "it is probable that some of the guards were Swiss." 334 Appendix (d) No statement as to numbers. (e) Hall probably guarded by troops before eight in the morning. Four of the sources make affirmations concern- ing the time when the troops were in position before the hall. The Proces-verbal affirms they were there when the president and deputies arrived at nine o'clock; the Point du jour states that it was "a very early hour," evidently earlier than nine; the Assemblee nationale as- serts that the deputies "on their way ... at the hour in- dicated," found the troops at the hall, or as early as eight, the hour indicated the day before; Bailly (page 37, lines 13-23) says he learned at half past six that the hall was closed, and having sent a messenger to the hall, he was told, on his return, probably half an hour later — Bailly lodged about ten minutes walk from the hall — that the hall "was surrounded by French guards." In addition to these affirmations, which point to an hour as early as seven o'clock, at least, it should be remembered that the assembly adjourned the day before to meet at eight on the 20th. This fact would be known to the govern- ment, and it would certainly get its troops to the hall before the deputies got there — that is, some time before eight. Here is another case of high degree of probability without absolute certainty. (f) The hall was closed to the public and deputies, affirmed or implied by all the witnesses and by Young and Virieu. 3. Grouping the facts. Synthesis. I. Deputies excluded from their hall. A. Hall closed. Point du jour, 23, 27; Mounier, 56, 10; Rabaut, 60, 14; Virieu, 62, 2. B. Guarded by troops. Proces-verbal, 18, 7; Point du jour, 23, 27; Assemblee nationale, 30, 4; Bailly, 37, 21; Duquesnoy, 49, 15; Young, 53, 4; Mounier, 56, 4; Ra- baut, 60, 14; Virieu, 62, 2. 335 The French Revolution i. No statement of number. 2. French guards. Assemblee nationale, 30, 4; Bailly, 37, 21; Young, 53, 4; Virieu, 62, 2. 3. Swiss guards. Virieu, 62, 2. C. Troops in position before eight in the morning. 1. In position early. Bailly, 37, 13-22; Point dujour, 23, 21. 2. Before eight. Assemblee nationale, 29, 14; Bailly, 37, 13-23- 3. Probably as early as Bailly, 37, 13-23; Point du jour, seven. 23, 21. 4. Exposition. The exposition expresses in connected narrative what has already been displayed in the outline. It differs from pure literature in two ways: (1) It must always reflect the value of the evidence and (2) it must be accompanied by notes containing references to the sources and discussions of critical points in the evidence. Better re- sults have been obtained by developing the study episode by episode than by writing the narrative only after the whole outline has been made. Unity and continuity can be ob- tained by keeping the growing outline constantly in view and by rereading the parts of the exposition already written before adding to them. After the entire subject has been written up chronologically, it should be copied. This gives an opportunity for improvement in form, when the pupil has the whole subject before him and is thorough- ly familiar with the matter. In the following paragraph is an example of exposition, showing (1) the distinction that should be made between certainty and probability — making the text "reflect the value of the evidence "; (2) the position of the figures in the text referring to notes ; (3) the arrangement of the notes on the page facing the narrative; and (4) the discussion of the evidence in the notes. It is wise to leave the back of these sheets blank. NOTES The French Revolution NOTES i. Point du jour, 23, 27; Mounier, 56, 10; Rabaut, 60, 14; Virieu, 62, 2; implied by the other witnesses. 2. Proces-verbal, 18, 7; Point du jour, 23, 27; Assem- ble nationale, 30, 4; Bailly, 37, 21; Duquesnoy, 49, 15; Young, 53, 4; Mounier, 56, 4; Rabaut, 60, 14; Virieu, 62, 2. The Proces-verbal, AssembUe nationale, and Du- quesnoy are independent. 3. Assemblee nationale, 30, 4; Bailly, 37, 21; Young, 53, 4; Virieu, 62, 2. Bailly and the Assemblee nationale are evidently independent here. 4. Virieu, 62, 2. 5. Bailly, 37, 13-22; Point du jour, 23, 21. Evidently independent on this point. 6. Assemblee nationale, 29, 14; Bailly, 37, 13-23. Inde- pendent here. 7. Proces-verbal, 18, 20; Bailly, 39, 7. The Proces- verbal of the 19th and Bailly's note of the morning of the 20th, copied by Bailly from the Proces-verbal of the 20th, are independent. 8. Bailly, 37, 13-23. If Bailly's memory is to be trust- ed, he knew at about seven o'clock that there were troops at the hall. It should be remembered that the assembly adjourned the day before to meet at eight on the 20th. This fact would be known to the government, and it would certainly get its troops to the hall "at an early hour," some time before the deputies arrived. 338 Appendix EXPOSITION On the morning of June 20th the hall of the estates was closed to the public and to the deputies. 1 The en- trance was guarded by troops 2 composed of French 3 and, probably, some Swiss guards. 4 How large a body of troops was employed it is impossible to state. They were evidently in position early in the morning, 5 be- fore eight o'clock, 6 the hour when the assembly was to open, 7 and probably as early as seven. 8 ^^» I f IU JUIDf UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY