224

PETITION FOR THE KING'S DEPOSITION.

[1792. peasants dancing on a green plain, without any fear of Austrians or Prussians. He met people in carriages flying from Paris, who seemed to be impressed with a notion that some important event was about to happen; and one person said that a conspiracy would break out on the 9th of the month. Moore and his friend laughed at the notion of a conspiracy so well known beforehand. There were certainly grounds for apprehension; for Pétion had been, on the 3rd of August, at the bar of the Assembly, at the head of a deputation of the Commune, who demanded the deposition of the king. Louis had sent a message to the Assembly, disavowing the proclamation of the duke of Brunswick, and expressing doubts of its authenticity. The friends of the king were in serious alarm, and were concerting measures for his flight. The Court apprehended an attack upon the Tuileries, and were bribing Danton, Santerre, and others of the Jacobin faction, to avert the dreaded insurrection. The decrees of the Assembly were wholly in the power of the Girondins, who desired a Republic, and of the Mountain, who would not scruple to destroy the Monarchy whatever amount of butchery the attempt might involve. The real hope of the Court was that the duke of Brunswick might be able to reach Paris before any serious outbreak. There were men there who had the absolute command of a fierce multitude, who would do their bidding with terrible promptitude, whilst the allied troops were slowly advancing towards the French frontier. There was an insurrectional Committee ready to strike a blow whenever the time came. The faubourg Saint Marceau, and the faubourg Saint Antoine, and the Club of the Cordeliers, were their three centres of action. On the evening of the 9th of August, Danton was crying "to arms." The Marseillais

were forming their ranks at the entrance of that Club of which Danton was the leading mover. The Sections assembled, and sent their Commissioners to assume the municipal authority at the Hôtel de Ville, and to displace the Council. At midnight the tocsin was sounded in every quarter. Drums were beating to arms. The National Guards were rushing to the posts of their several departments. The streets were illuminated by order of the

* "Journal of 1792," August 6.

1792.]

INSURRECTION OF THE TENTH OF AUGUST.

225

municipality. It was a night of terror; but it was more especially terrible to the king and the royal family, who had heard the dreadful note of the tocsin. They were surrounded by faithful servants who were resolved to share their perils. The National Guards, who were bound to defend the palace, had assembled very slowly at the beat of the rappel. The protection of the king almost wholly fell upon the Swiss guards. Mandat, a constitutionalist, then commanding the National Guard, made the best preparations in his power to resist an attack. He had given orders to the gendarmerie about the Tuileries, and at the Hôtel de Ville; which had the sanction of the Council that had been superseded in the night by the Sections. Mandat was sent for to the Hôtel de Ville, as the morning was approaching. He went, and was murdered. There was now no plan of defence for the Tuileries, which, as the sun rose, was surrounded by thousands of insurgents. There were National Guards sufficient to have driven back the multitude, if the men had done the duty to which they had been sworn. The king was advised to go into the courts and the gardens of the palace and review these troops. He was received with cries of "Down with the Veto." Battalions left their positions, and joined the assailants in the Place du Carrousel. The Assembly had hastily met during the night; and continued their sitting whilst this hurricane of popular violence was raging around them. They were debating some unimportant law, having no reference to the crisis whose development they were quietly expecting. The king and his family were strongly urged to place themselves under the protection of the Assembly. They at last consented; and when he entered the Hall, Louis said, "I am come here to prevent a great crime. I believe myself in safety in the midst of you, gentlemen." It was then about nine o'clock.

The royal family were placed in the logographe, a small box used by the reporters. Soon the sound of cannon was heard. No orders were given when the king left the palace. It was known to the leaders of the insurgents that he was gone. The great crime, the murder of the royal family, was averted by their leaving the Tuileries; but a wholesale butchery was to manifest the devotion to liberty and patriotism of the mobs of Paris. All the troops in the courts were received into the interior of the palace. Domestics, male and female; gentlemen of the household; priests; National Guards and Swiss guards, filled the apartments. The king had told the Assembly that he had given orders to the Swiss not to fire. The insurgents had obtained possession of the Cour Royale, and they called to the Swiss at the windows to deliver up the palace. The Swiss manifested no disposition to fire upon them. Some of the most furious of the rabble reached the vestibule. There was a barricade at the foot of the stairs; and when it was attempted to be forced, a combat began. The insurgents were driven back. The Swiss, boldly headed by two officers, marched into the court, and drove out the crowd. They even penetrated to the Carrousel, and the multitude fled before them. Had they been supported by the gendarmerie, the contest might have ended differently. An order had been sent by the king that the Swiss should repair to the Assembly. About two hundred marched thither, fired upon by the National Guards. The insurgents returned to the attack; obtained possession of the vestibule; rushed up the staircase, which was defended by eighty Swiss against the furious Marseillais and the pikemen of

226

ATTACK ON THE TUILERIES.

[1792.

the faubourgs, till not a Swiss on the staircase was left alive. A general massacre of all within the walls, with the exception of the women, then ensued. A large number of the Swiss and National Guards, who were in the courts, attempted to make their way to the Hall of the Assembly, but the Swiss were all picked out and murdered.

By eleven o'clock on that morning of the 10th of August, the Tuileries was in the complete possession of the rabble of Paris; the greater number of its inmates slaughtered; all its luxurious furniture, and works of art, broken to pieces or burnt. For sixteen hours the king sat in the logographe; and he and his family witnessed those proceedings of the Assembly which accomplished another Revolution. There was no constitutional party here now to control the Jacobins and the Girondins. A body of citizens appeared at the bar to demand the deposition of the king. Vergniaud retired; and soon returned with the draft of a decree by which a National Convention was to be formed; and the chief of the Executive was suspended, until the decision of the Convention. The decree was put and adopted without discussion. A new ministry was appointed. Roland, Clavière, and Servan resumed their offices. Danton was chosen minister of justice. The Assembly sate till one o'clock in the morning, the royal family continuing in their close box all the time. A lodging was provided for them. The next morning they were brought back to the Assembly, to listen to other decrees of their masters. Dr. Moore has described the scene, at which he was present: "From the place in which I sat I could not see the king, but I had a full view of the queen, and the rest of the royal family. Her beauty is gone

1792.]

ROYAL FAMILY REMOVED TO THE TEMPLE.

227

No wonder. She seemed to listen with an undisturbed air to the speakers. Sometimes she whispered to her sister-in-law, and to Madame de Lamballe; once or twice she stood up, and, leaning forward, surveyed every part of the hall. A person near me remarked, that her face indicated rage and the most provoking arrogance. I perceived nothing of that nature; although the turn of the debate, as well as the remarks which were made by some of the members, must have appeared to her highly insolent and provoking. On the whole, her behaviour in this trying situation seemed full of propriety and dignified composure." *

It was decided on that day that the king and the royal family should be placed in the Temple-an isolated building surrounded by high walls. On the 13th of August they were removed to this, their prison abode. On the 17th of August, carl Gower, the British ambassador at Paris, was recalled by

Louis XVI. conveyed Prisoner to the Temple. Tableaux Historiques de la Révolution Française.

a letter from Mr. Dundas. A writer of great ability says, "In defiance of every maxim of sound policy, the English ambassador was recalled from France, simply because that country chose to do away with the monarchy, and substitute a republic in its place." This strong opinion seems scarcely to be borne out by the letter of recall, signed by Mr. Dundas, which is referred to, but not quoted. "Under the present circumstances, as it appears that the exercise of the executive power has been withdrawn from his Most Christian Majesty, the credential, under which your excellency has hitherto acted, can be no longer available. And his majesty judges it proper, on this account, as well as most conformable to the principles of neutrality which his majesty has hitherto observed, that you should no longer remain at Paris. It is therefore his majesty's pleasure that you should quit it, and repair to England, as soon as you conveniently can, after procuring the necessary

"Journal," August 11.

+ Buckle-"History of Civilization," vol. i. p. 440.

228

BRITISH AMBASSADOR RECALLED-LONGWY TAKEN.

[1792. passports. In any conversation which you may have occasion to hold previous to your departure, you will take care to make your language conformable to the sentiments which are now conveyed to you; and you will particularly take every opportunity of expressing that, while his majesty intends strictly to adhere to the principles of neutrality, with respect to the settlement of the internal government of France, he, at the same time, considers it as no deviation from those principles, to manifest, by all the means in his power, his solicitude for the personal situation of their Most Christian Majesties, and their royal family; and he earnestly and anxiously hopes that they will, at least, be secure from any acts of violence, which could not fail to produce one universal sentiment of indignation through every country of Europe."*

La Fayette, with his army, was at Sedan, when the Assembly, after the 10th of August, sent three commissioners to him with their decrees. La Fayette caused them to be arrested; refused to administer to his troops the new oath which the Assembly had sent; and called upon his soldiers to repeat the constitutional oath of obedience to the laws and the king. On the 17th, when the conduct of La Fayette was known in Paris, he was declared a traitor by the Assembly, and ordered to be arrested. New commissioners arrived at Sedan. The troops of La Fayette, beloved as he was by them, began to waver; and he thought it prudent to quit his camp with a few of his officers, and pass into the Austrian Netherlands. The Austrians arrested him and his companions, as prisoners of war; and for five years he was confined in a castle in Moravia. The Prussian army continued to advance. On the 22nd of August, Longwy was taken by them, after a cannonade of a few hours. They blockaded Thionville; and were advancing towards Verdun. Paris was in great alarm; and it was decreed that thirty thousand men should be immediately raised and equipped, and go forth to meet the invader. The patriotic spirit of the people was honourably excited by the orators of the Assembly. Let the entrenchments round Paris be completed by the voluntary labour of very citizen. Let a deputation of the members of the Assembly go daily to stimulate the labourers and work with them. So spake the fervid eloquence of Vergniaud. But there were other orators who were preparing the ferocious bands whom they swayed, for deeds of bloodshed surpassing in atrocity any which had gone before. On the 29th of August, by order of the Commune, every citizen was required to be in his house by six o'clock in the evening. The barriers were closed. What was to happen no one knew. At one o'clock in the morning, patrols of pikemen were going through the streets, for the purpose of entering every house, under the pretence of searching for arms, but really to carry off every suspected royalist. That night the prisons were filled with hundreds of destined victims.

On the morning of the 2nd of September, Paris was in great agitation. It was reported that Verdun had been betrayed by treachery into the hands of the Prussians. Some who mixed with the crowd shook their heads, saying, that the traitors within Paris were most to be feared. At noon, the people were startled by the firing of cannon, and by the peals of the tocsin.