floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock."

دو

It is astonishing that the king, amid the press and medley of an insurrection like this, escaped with life. The Marquis de Ferrieres relates, that while all these things were passing in the apartments of the palace, the leaders were felicitating themselves, as they stood at the outside in the garden of the Tuileries, on the success of their enterprise. "It must have a droll effect," said Manuel, the procureur of the commune, with a brutal laugh, “it must have a droll effect, that red bonnet which we have mounted on the head of the king.' "How fine," cried the painter David, fixing his eyes upon the mob, who were swarming through the windows and over the roofs, and making their way into the apartments, "howfine a sight is this," he cried; and then stretching out his hands, with fury in his gestures, "Tremble, tremble, ye tyrants!" he vociferated. "Well, well, they are going on well," repeated the ferocious Gorsas; "we shall see heads on pikes." The Marquis de Ferrieres here proceeds even to say, that there was an Orleans faction in the gardens that expected every moment the assassination of the king; that there was a false cry to that effect," Louis XVI. is dead; long live Philip!" and that the answer from the garden was, "It is over with them, then; throw us out the heads! down with the veto!" Certainly there were many during this dreadful day that took the chance, and would have been well pleased if in some way or other the king had been put to death. The Girondists wished to have him, at least, dethroned; and whoever contributed, positively or negatively, to an assembling of the populace like this, with an intent afterwards to let loose their ignorant and brutal fury upon the palace and person of their sovereign, must be considered as responsible for all the atrocities that did or might It is very awful to see such men as Vergniaud, men of eloquence and genius, to see them and others not struck back with horror at the very idea and possibility of scenes like these. The queen, while the king was thus exposed to the capricious passions of the multitude, had been left behind, surrounded by the ladies and gentlemen of the court, embracing her children, and with difficulty persuaded to remain where she was. d'Aubier had been sent to her by the Princess Elizabeth with secret orders, at all events to prevent her coming. "But I cannot stay here," said the queen; "it is my duty to die with the king; to prevent me thus from joining him is to cover my name with infamy." 'But, no, madam," said M. d'Aubier, "if the

ensue.

M.

king should see his queen in the midst of these men with their pikes, he will fly to her assistance, and he will perish." The queen shuddered: the moment was taken advantage of, and every representation was made to her, and every appeal, as a mother, who was to be responsible for the safety of her children. The faithful attendant on the dauphin, François Hue, then proceeds to recount the exertions he made to place the queen and her children in places of safety, and their narrow escape from the ruffians who were roaming about the palace, and who, breaking down and bursting through one door after another, were on the point of discovering the last asylum to which the queen had been induced to retire.

At last, it should seem, that one of the attendants of the king, M. Bligny, contrived to escape from the apartments, and looked about for some assistance: this assistance was found in the devotion and loyalty of the battalions of the Filles St. Thomas, conducted by M. Boscary de Villeplaine.

The grenadiers appeared in some force, got possession of the council chamber, and were not without their effect on the multitude. The queen was violently called for: with her children in her hands she appeared, surrounded by the persons of distinction, who had never left her. A large council table was pushed forward, behind which she was placed, and the grenadiers were ranged at each side; and whilst sitting within this sort of barrier, she saw defile before her the populace, under the conduct of their leader Santerre. "Princess," said Santerre, shaking the table with violence, " they deceive you; the people have no wish to shorten your days; I promise you this in their name.' "It is not from such as you," said the queen, "that

I judge of the French people; it is from brave men like these,' she cried, pointing to the grenadiers, who were ranged beside her. The compliment was deeply felt, and certainly had been well deserved.

But she had to allow the red cap, for the satisfaction of the mob, first to approach her own head, and then to be placed on the head of the dauphin.

It appears, too, that some little time before this sort of assistance was brought to the queen, the minister of war, M. Delafaire, seeing the extreme peril of the king, sitting as he did, in the window, with a few attendants between him and the mob, and the red cap on his head, had contrived to descend one of the staircases, and persuade about twenty grenadiers to return with him to the succour of their sovereign. It was with great diffi.

cuity they made their way through the crowd; but they did so, and were of great assistance while the mob was, if possible, to be kept off, during the sort of loitering and endless procession that they made for nearly four hours through the apartments. Some aid, too, however late, was procured from the Assembly.

When their armed petitioners had left the hall in the morning, an adjournment had taken place; but as the situation of the king had become known every where in Paris, the Assembly had, at five o'clock, resumed its sittings, and though remaining in the most disgraceful and culpable indifference, the members of it were at least at their post. They were actually, as if in mockery of all that they knew was passing at the Tuileries, occupying themselves with a report from the committee of the finances, when M. Beaucarm interrupted the reading of it, declaring aloud, that the life of the king was in danger, and that the whole Assembly must instantly go in a body to his assistance. "Bah! bah!" was all the reply from one side of the Assembly. "The king," said M. Thurot, "can be in no danger in the midst of his people: I do not, however, oppose the motion." "People!" replied M. Beugnot," it is not people, it is brigands he is in the midst of." The deputation was then voted. M. Dumas, with a few others of the constitutional party, now arrived from the Tuileries, and he made his appeal to the Assembly in the warmest terms. M. Charlier denied the danger of the king; "He can be in none." "He is, I tell you," said Dumas; "the king, I tell you, is surrounded by men, furious, lawless, and not sane; he is assailed and menaced, degraded by the symbol of a faction; he has the red cap upon his head.” "The cap of liberty can be no degradation to him," rejoined many of the deputies. But Dumas, and his friend Jarcourt, and Dumoulard, were not thus to be put down; and notwithstanding the murmurs of the tribunes, and the efforts of the Orleanists, they obtained an order, not only that a deputation of twenty-four members should be sent to the palace, but that this deputation should be renewed every halfhour. The king was thus probably saved from destruction. Santerre is said by the Marquis de Ferrieres to have cried out, when he saw the first deputation enter, "We have missed our blow, but we must be here again." And one of the deputies (the marquis adds), seeing men of ferocious aspect pressing forward upon the king, threw himself before them, crying aloud, that they should not reach the king without passing over his dead body. Of these deputations, part remained with the king, and part ranged themselves around the queen.

Pétion, whose conduct from the first was as unfeeling and as unworthy of the chief magistrate of a great city as it could possibly be, seems, during the peril of the king, to have deferred his visit to the Tuileries as long as decency could possibly admit. He at length appeared: the crowd opened to let him pass; he mounted on a chair; and though it may not be very prudent for a speaker to censure a mob, whom he means at the time to influence to better purposes, and though they must be flattered, it is not very easy to sympathize with the speaker, when he addressed them in the following manner:-" Friends and brothers! you have shown me every confidence and kindness; give not the ill-disposed an opportunity to put an unfavourable interpretation on this memorable day you have commenced it with dignity and wisdom; terminate it in like manner; and for this purpose let us retire. I now set you the example which I hope you will follow." No disciplined army could have been more obedient to the orders of their general.

They filed off immediately in a manner sufficiently composed. The emblems and inscriptions, however, of their banners were but too ominous and repulsive. "The sanction or death," was one; "Tremble, tyrant, thy hour is come,' was another; "Recall of the patriotic ministers," was a third. At the end of a pike was a bloody heart, with the words, "Heart of tyrants and aristocrats:" a piece of wood was cut into the shape of a gallows, from which was seen suspended a female form, the words, "Beware the Lanterne :" a guillotine was carried along, the words, "The justice of the nation for tyrants; Down with the Veto and his wife:" and at intervals were observed men that appeared to act as officers to this disorderly band.

Such are the particulars of this insurrection, and I mention them as descriptive of insurrections and of the times; yet some there were, in addition to the generous and gallant men we have already alluded to, even amid this frightful assemblage (it is some comfort to be told), not insensible to the spectacle before them; some there were, who were melted into tears at the sight of the queen and her children, thus fallen from their high estate; and they addressed to her the sentiments of their homage, intermingled with the warmest wishes for her happiness. demeanour of the queen was all this time affable to the populace, and courteous, nor did the scene before her appear to disturb her. Such was the power of self-control, and such the success with which she endeavoured to maintain the superiority of her high birth, and the tranquillity of an elevated mind. At

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length her internal anxieties and agonies were destined to be comparatively at an end, for the Princess Elizabeth came running to her, to say that all was now well; that the king was safe; that he was surrounded by the national guard, who would answer for his life and person. Soon after, the king was brought to her under the care of one of the deputations of the Assembly and of the national guard; and though exhausted with heat and fatigue, he was at last restored to the bosom of his family. What a contrast, what a happiness must it now have been to mingle together their embracings and thanksgivings, after five such lengthened hours of disgust, uncertainty, and terror; after the overpowering tumult and confusion of a brutal crowd like this, with their cries of insult and of menace; their pikes and symbols of revolutionary fury; at length to feel around them stillness, vacancy, repose; to see no objects but those that were dear to them, and to hear no sounds but those of mutual congratulation and love.

LECTURE XXVIII.

AFTER TWENTIETH OF JUNE.

On the 21st of June, Bertrand de Moleville had a conference with the king. "To my congratulations," says he, "on his having escaped the dangers of the preceding day, his majesty answered, My uneasiness was entirely on account of the queen and my sister; for myself I had no solicitude.' 'But it seems to me,' said I, that it was chiefly against your majesty that the insurrection was directed.' I know it very well,' answered he; I saw that their intention was to assassinate me, and I cannot conceive why they did not do it; but I shall not escape them another day, so that I am not the more fortunate; it is much the same whether I am murdered two months sooner

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or later.' My God!' cried I, 'does your majesty then really believe that you will be assassinated?'

"I am convinced of it,' replied he, I have long expected it, and I have made up my mind to it. Do you think I fear death?' 'No, certainly; but I wish to see your majesty less convinced that you are near it, and more disposed to adopt the vigorous measures from which alone you can expect safety.'

"There may be a possibility of my escaping,' said the king, 'but still there are many chances against it, and I am not lucky. I might risk another attempt, if I were alone! Oh, if my wife