CHAP. sins. I implore your majesty to deign to reflect on the considerations I have the honour of submitting to you." IV. 1789. 75. The King's answer to the repre the Duke. "M. de Luxembourg," replied the King firmly, "my mind is made up; I am prepared for all sacrifices; I will not have a single person perish on my account. Tell sentations of the order of the nobles, then, that I entreat them to unite themselves to the other orders; if that is not sufficient, as their sovereign I command them. If there is one of its members who conceives himself bound by his mandate, his oath, or his honour, to remain in the chamber, let them tell me; I will go and sit by his side, and die with him if necessary." The Cardinal Rochefoucauld was soon after admitted with a deputation from the clergy who had remained in the hall of their order, and received a similar answer. Both returned with a letter from the sovereign, absolutely enjoining the union of the orders.* This order was the work of Necker; it was the condition of his remaining in office that the King should issue it. 76. the King with the la Rochefoucauld. The real motives which induced the King to take Interview of this decisive step were more fully and openly stated in his interview with the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, and Cardinal de the Archbishops of Rheims and Aix, who presented the address from the clergy. "My troops," said the King, when the address was read, "are in a state of defection.' I am obliged to yield to the National Assembly."-"Your troops are in defection!" replied the Archbishop of Aix, in surprise; "since when, and * The King's letter was in these terms:-"My Cousin, Solely intent upon the general good of my kingdom, and, above all, with the desire that the Statesgeneral should occupy themselves with the objects which interest the nation, according to the voluntary acceptation of my declaration of the 23d of this month, I entreat my faithful clergy (or noblesse) to reunite themselves without delay to the two other orders, to hasten the accomplishment of my paternal views. Those who are prevented by their instructions from doing so, may abstain from voting until they receive new powers from their constituents. This will be a new mark of attachment on the part of my faithful clergy (or noblesse.) I pray God, my Cousin, to keep you in his holy keeping."-LOUIS to the CARDINAL DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD, 27th June 1789; BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, Histoire de la Révolution, i. 246, 247. IV. 1789. in what place? Is it the Gardes Françaises? Is it 'CHAP. the Swiss? Your majesty was not aware of it yesterday. It could not be the work of a day. Were the officers ignorant of the plot? Be assured, sire! your ministers have made you believe this in order to work out the views which made them double the Tiers Etat, and will infallibly lead to the overthrow of the throne." The King, instead of making any answer, requested the archbishops to pass into the adjoining apartment, where they received the same answer from the Queen, the Comte d'Artois, and the other princes, whose desire Moll. Hist. for vigorous measures was well known; and the event i. 245. soon proved that their information as to the disposition of the troops was too well founded.1 1 Bert. de de la Rév. with great mandate, with the The minority of the clergy, who had remained in the 77. chamber, yielded an immediate and implicit obedience The nobles to the mandates of the sovereign. But, notwithstanding reluctance the earnest entreaty and express command of Louis, the obey the noblesse were so alive to the imminent hazard of their and unite being lost in the democratic majority of the commons, Tiers Etat. that a great proportion of them were still resolute to hold out, and maintain, with mournful constancy, that barrier against revolution which the veto that the law still gave to their order seemed to afford. Cazalès, in eloquent terms, and with magnanimous constancy, insisted that the only security for a monarchical government was to be found in the separation of the orders, which must be maintained at all hazards. In the midst of the general agitation, the Marquis de la Queuille read a letter from the Comte d'Artois, who entreated the nobles, in the most earnest manner, no longer to defer the union, intimating that, if they did so, they put the life of the King in danger. "The King is in danger!" exclaimed the Count de St Simon; "let us hasten to the palace, there is our place". "If the King is in danger," interrupted M. de Cazalès, "our first duty is to save the monarchy; our next, to form a rampart with VOL. I. 2 K CHAP. IV. 1789. our bodies for his person." The discussion upon this was beginning anew amidst the most violent agitation; but M. de Luxembourg, rising in the president's chair, exclaimed, "There is no time to deliberate, gentlemen! The King is in danger-who can hesitate a moment where he ought to be?" The generous flame caught every breast. The nobles, believing the life of their 1 Bert. de Sovereign really in peril, rose tumultuously; some laid Moll. i. 247, their hands on their swords, and all hastened in a body, Amis, i. 240. headed by the Duke of Luxembourg, into the hall of the 248. Deux 78. the orders. June 27. commons.1 66 It was four o'clock in the afternoon of the 27th Junction of June, when the two orders of the noblesse and clergy, led by their respective presidents, with slow step and downcast looks, advanced up the great hall of the Menus, where the commons were assembled, the clergy on the right, the nobles on the left. A profound silence pervaded the assembly: every one felt the decisive moment of the Revolution had arrived. "Gentlemen, Isaid the Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, "we have been led here by our love and respect for the King, our wishes for the country, and our zeal for the public good." "Gentlemen," said M. de Luxembourg, the order of the noblesse has determined this morning to join you in this national hall, to give to the King marks of its respect, to the nation of its devotion." "Gentlemen," answered M. Bailly, the president of the Tiers Etat, "the felicity of this day, which unites the three orders, is such, that the agitation consequent on it almost deprives me of the power of utterance but that very agitation is my best answer. Already we possess the order of the clergy; now the order of the noblesse unites itself to us. This day will be celebrated in our annals: it renders the family complete; it for ever closes the divisions which have so profoundly afflicted us; it fulfils the desires of the King; and now the National Assembly, or rather the IV. 1789. States-general, will occupy themselves without distrac- CHAP. tion or intermission in the great work of national regeneration and the public weal." Universal joy was diffused over Versailles by the announcement of the long wished-for union of the orders; the Assembly was adjourned to the 3d July, to afford leisure for the general congratulation; immense crowds hastened to the palace, and, loudly calling for the King, the Queen, and the dauphin, made the air resound with acclamations, when they appeared at the balcony. Without any order, Versailles was illuminated that Deux night; for three days the rejoicings were continued 243. Droz, at Paris, and the people universally indulged in the Bert. de most sanguine anticipations. The Revolution is 250. Hist. finished!" said they "it is the work of the philoso- 35. phers, and will not have cost a drop of blood." 1 Amis,i.241, ii. 263, 264. Moll. i. 249, Parl. ii. 33, 79. treason of July 1. Rapid as was the march of events in the Assembly, it was outstripped at the same period by that of Revolt and extraneous agitation. Already, indeed, it had become the French apparent that the direction of the Revolution had guards. escaped from the hands, not only of the King, but even of the Assembly, which had usurped the supreme power. The MILITARY, thus early in its progress, took upon them to act for themselves; and, forgetting their duty and their oaths, to fraternise with the insurgent people. The regiment of the Gardes Françaises, three thousand six hundred strong, in the highest state of discipline and equipment, had for some time given alarming symptoms of disaffection. Their colonel had ordered them, in consequence, to be confined to their barracks, when three hundred of them broke out of their bounds, and repaired instantly to the Palais Royal. They were received with enthusiasm, and liberally plied with money by the Orleans party; and to such a height did the transports rise that, how incredible soever it may appear, as is proved by the testimony of numerous witnesses above all suspicion, women of IV. 1789. CHAP. family and distinction openly embraced the soldiers as they walked in the gardens with their mistresses. After these disorders had continued for some time, eleven of the ringleaders in the mutiny were seized, and thrown into the prison of the Abbey; a mob of six thousand men immediately assembled, forced the gates of the prison, and brought them back in triumph to the Palais Royal. The King, upon the petition of the 60,63. Mig. Assembly, pardoned the prisoners, and on the following day they were walking in triumph through the streets of Paris.1 1 Lac. vii. i. 47. Th. i. 82, 83. 80. Vigorous measures on by the court. These alarming events rendered it evident that some decisive step had become indispensable to prop up the are resolved declining authority of the throne. The noblesse recovered from their stupor; even the King became convinced that vigorous measures were called for, to arrest the progress of the Revolution. For some time after their union with the commons, the nobles still met at a different house, and were preparing a protest against the ambition of the National Assembly, which subsequent events rendered nugatory; but the daily diminution of their numbers proved how hopeless, in public estimation, their cause had become. In this extremity the King, as a last resource, threw himself upon the military. The old Marshal de Broglie was appointed general of the royal army, and all the troops on whom most reliance could be placed were collected in the neighbourhood of Versailles; as many foreign regiments as possible were brought up; and by the first week of July thirty thousand men and a hundred pieces of cannon were assembled between Versailles and Paris. "Marshal," said the King, when he first received him, "you are come to assist a King without money, without forces; for I cannot disguise from you that the spirit of revolt has made great progress in my armies. My last hope is in your honour and fidelity. You will fulfil the dearest wishes of my heart if you can succeed, without |