CHAP. 1789. 53. Necker's picture of the public distress. Sept. 24. Necker, in this debate, drew a graphic and memorable picture of the state of bankruptcy to which a successful and almost bloodless revolution had, in two months, reduced the finances of so great and flourishing a kingdom. "The finances," said he, "are daily falling into a worse condition. Since August last every species of credit has disappeared. During the same time every imaginable difficulty has accumulated round the sinking exchequer. The lessened supply of grain, the necessity of making purchases of food at the royal expense in foreign countries, have gone far to diminish the circulation. Distrust has augmented with fearful rapidity, and political events have carried to the utmost point the contraction of the currency. Money has disappeared: every one is hoarding. For a brief period I indulged the hope that the loan of 30,000,000 francs might succeed; but my expectations were disappointed. I next flattered myself that the second loan, at an advanced rate of interest, would be more successful; but here, too, lenders have come in so slowly, that it has become indispensable to have recourse to some extraordinary resources. Alarm is continually increasing: distress is universal : the demands on the treasury increase, its receipts disappear. The discounting office (Caisse d'Escompte) is labouring under the utmost difficulties; the distress of the royal treasury is at its height; it has become such that it is no longer possible to conceal it under the veil of mystery. The King prefers making a full disclosure; he and the Queen have sent their whole plate to be melted down; the ministers have all followed their example; but it is not an extraordinary supply of Rapport de 900,000 francs, (£36,000,) thus obtained, which will Moniteur, relieve the public distress. The pay of the troops, the 25,1789, pp. interest due to the public creditors, the service of the court, will all be stopped, if an immediate and effectual supply is not obtained for the public exchequer."1 Sept. 23 and 254, 255, 258. This project, like all proposals for taxation in a popular V. 1789. 54. proposal for tax. body, was coldly received in the National Assembly; and CHAP. it was strongly insisted by the democratic orators, that no contributions were necessary, as the funds of the church, after providing for the whole ecclesiastical establishments Mirabeau and the wants of the colleges and the poor, would yield supports the a clear surplus of 60,000,000 francs (£2,400,000) yearly, a propertywhich might be applied to the public service. To the surprise of all, however, Mirabeau, in a speech of unequalled power, supported it. "Two centuries of depredation and abuse," said he, "have created the gulf in which the kingdom is in peril of being lost. It must be filled up: take the list of the French proprietors, choose among them those whose fortune is adequate to supply the deficiency; let two thousand be sacrificed to the good of the whole. You recoil at the barbarous proposal; alas! do you not see that if you proclaim a bankruptcy, or, what is the same thing, refuse this impost, you commit an action not less unjust, and still more destructive? Do you believe that the millions of men who will instantly be ruined by such a step, or by its necessary consequences, will allow you to enjoy the fruits of your villainy? that, starving for food, they will suffer you to indulge in your detestable enjoyments? Shall we be the first to give to the world the example of an assembled people being wanting in public faith? Shall the first apostles of freedom sully their hands by an action which will surpass in turpitude those of the most corrupt governments? The other day, on occasion of a ridiculous movement in the Palais Royal, they exclaimed, 'Catiline is at the gates of Rome, and you deliberate!' With truth may it be said now, hideous bankruptcy is there; it threatens to consume 1 Bert. de yourselves, your honours, and your fortunes; and you Moniteur, deliberate!" Carried away by this reasoning, the Assem- Sept. 23 and bly voted the supply; but the relief to the treasury was 255, 260. inconsiderable, for the distracted state of the kingdom 178. prevented the decree from being carried into execution.1 But while the Assembly was occupied with these dis Moll. ii. 16. 25, 1789, p. Lac. vii. V. 1789. 55. Famine in 10 to 30. CHAP. cussions, a still more pressing evil began to be felt in the capital. Famine, the natural consequence of the public convulsions-want of employment, the inevitable result of the suspension of credit-pressed severely upon the Paris. Aug. labouring classes. Mobs became frequent in the streets; the bakers' shops were surrounded by clamorous multitudes demanding food. The most extravagant reports were circulated by the press, and greedily swallowed by the populace, in regard to the causes of the distress. It was the aristocrats who caused the corn to be cut green; they paid the bakers to suspend their labours; they turned aside commerce; they threw the grain into the river; in a word, there was no absurdity or falsehood which was not implicitly believed. The cry soon became universal, that the measures of the court were the cause of the public suffering, and that the only way to provide for the subsistence of the people was to secure the person of the King. An attack upon the palace was openly discussed in the clubs, and recommended by the orators of the Palais Royal; while the agitated state of the public mind, and the number of unemployed artisans who filled the streets, rendered it but too probable that these threats would speedily be carried into execution. Alarmed at these dangers, the court deemed it indispensable to provide for its own security, which hitherto had depended entirely on the fidelity of four hundred of the Gardes du Corps, who remained on guard at the palace. For this purpose, the regiment of Flanders, and some squadrons of horse, were brought to Versailles. The arrival of these 1 Bert. de troops renewed the alarm of the people; the King, at the head of fifteen hundred soldiers, was supposed to be ready Deux Amis, to fall upon the insurgent capital, containing a hundred Dumont, thousand armed men.1 And it was alleged with more probability by the better informed, that the design of the Mig. i. 87. court was to retire, with such of the troops as remained faithful, to Metz, where the Marquis de Bouillé, at the head of his army, was to join them, and there declare Moll. ii. 173, 175. iii. 143, 147. 176. Lac. vii. 184. Toul. i. 130. Th. i. 164, 166. the States-general rebellious, and revert to the royal CHAP. declaration of the 23d June. V. 1789. the Orlean The Orleans conspirators, with Mirabeau at their head, 56. took immediate advantage of this agitation to attempt Designs of bringing to maturity their long-cherished design of sup-ist conspiraplanting, by the younger, the elder branch of the House of tors. Bourbon. The partisans of this ambitious and wicked, but irresolute prince, had important purposes in view in fomenting this burst of popular fury, and directing it against the royal family at Versailles. Their object was to produce such consternation at the court as would induce the King and all the royal family to follow the example of the Comte d'Artois, and leave the kingdom. The moment this took place, they intended to declare the throne vacant, and offer it, with the title of lieutenant-general, to the Duke of Orleans. But the firmness of the King and his brother, afterwards Louis XVIII., who saw through the design, caused the plot to fail; and the multitude, who were to be the instruments in producing the alarm, but could not, of course, be let into the secret, rendered it totally abortive, by insisting, at the close of the tumult, that the King and royal family should be brought to Paris -the event of all others which the Orleans party most 1 Bert. de ardently desired to avoid. So little anxious were they to 173, 174. conceal their schemes, that Mirabeau spoke openly of them 474. Moniteur, Sept. in public, and even warned some of his friends at Versailles 28, 1789. not to be alarmed when the storm burst there, for it would roll over their heads.1* The ministers of Louis were warned by their friends in Paris of the designs which were in agitation, and a * On the 24th September Mirabeau said to Blaizot, the librarian of the court, "Mon ami, je prévois de malheureux évènemens ici dans dix à douze jours. Mais que tous les honnêtes gens, et tous ceux qui ressemblent à Blaizot, ne s'alarment point: l'orage ne crèvera pas sur eux;" and about the same time he said, "Qu'importe, après tout, à la chose publique, un Louis XVI. ou un Louis XVII.? Voulez-vous que ce soit toujours ce bambin qui nous gouverne!" And to Mr Jefferson, the American minister, he said, "Qu'on ne se flatte pas d'atteindre à la liberté sans opérer une révolution au sein même des salons. La gangrène est là; à tout prix il faut l'extirper."-PRUDHOMME, Crimes de la Révolution, ii. 162. Moll. ii. Lab. iii. V. 1789. Views of the CHAP. royal council was in consequence held at the hotel of M. Malouet on the 15th September, in which the project of the Orleans conspirators was disclosed, and it was pro57. posed that, to defeat it, the King should transfer the King at this court to Tours, where they would be beyond the reach period. Sept. 15. of the mobs of Paris, and where they had reason to believe they would be followed by a majority of the Assembly. After much deliberation, it was agreed to recommend this to the King; but Louis could not be brought to agree to it, although he acquiesced in the necessity of doing something to put the Assembly and himself in a state of safety. But nothing definitive was arranged; and, meanwhile, the Orleans conspirators, to inflame the populace, spread abroad the report of the discovery of a conspiracy for the flight of the King and Montjoye, the overthrow of the Assembly, which speedily appeared Consp. d'Orléans, in the columns of the Moniteur, and diffused universal consternation. At the same time, a letter, imprudently Sept. 28 and written by the Count d'Estaign, commander of the 261. Lab. national guard of Versailles, to the Queen, warning her of the danger of such a project, and requesting an audience, which appeared in the same journal, augmented the general alarm.1 1 Bert. de Moll. ii. 173, 174. i. 174, 181. Moniteur, 29, 1789, p. iii. 474. Ferrières, Mém. i. 263, 267. 58. Versailles. The minds of the populace were in the highest state of Banquet at excitement from these causes, when an accidental incident fired the train. A public dinner, according to an old custom in the French army, was given upon their arrival, by the Gardes du Corps, to the officers of the regiment of Flanders, and of the urban guard of Versailles. The banquet was held in the saloon of the opera, while the boxes were filled with illustrious spectators, and all the * "Il est douteux,' dit-il, 'que mon évasion pût me mettre en sûreté, et il est hors de doute qu'elle serait le signal d'une guerre qui ferait verser des torrens de sang.'"-Note de MALOUET, Sept. 14, 1789; LABAUME, iii. 475. +"On résolut d'investir encore une fois la capitale et Versailles, de dissoudre l'Assemblée les armes à la main, d'allumer dans tout l'empire la guerre civile, et d'ensevelir dans les flammes la constitution, les droits de l'homme, et jusqu'au nom de patrie et de citoyen. La ville de Metz fut choisie pour la scène de l'entreprise et le centre d'opérations.”—Moniteur, 28th Sept. 1789, p. 261. |