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tumultuous groups, and a resolution was taken to bring the king by force to the capital. A multitude of both sexes set out for Versailles; the women to make a representation to the king of the famine which prevailed in Paris; the men to be revenged on the royal guards for an insult said to have been offered to the national cockade. These were followed by the national guard under the command of La Fayette, whose professed design was to request of the king to come with them to Paris, but they were silent as to their intentions in case of a refusal. 22. On the morning of the sixth, the palace was attacked by a fierce mob, several of the royal guards murder d, the queen obliged to fly half naked to the king's apartments, and the whole royal family on the very brink of being mur dered. At this moment La Fayette appeared, but found that he had overrated his influence; nothing would satisfy the mob but the king's immediately setting out for Paris, and with a heavy heart he found himself forced to obey. Nothing can be conceived more humiliating than this journey, which lasted six hours, though the distance is but twelve miles; the royal carriages were surrounded by an infuriate mob, red with slaughter and maddened with success; the heads of the murdered soldiers who had fallen victims to their loyalty were borne on pikes, and even held before the windows of the king's coach with cruel insult. The king was lodged in the Tuilleries, the city was brilliantly illuminated, and the Parisians spent the night in extravagant joy. The national assembly followed the king, and for the future held their sittings in Paris.

Forced to reside in Paris, the king invited the national assembly to transfer their sittings to the capital, which they did. The duke of Orleans waited on the king, who received him without bitterness; but called his attention to the various sinister acts imputed to him. He accepted his submission; but, in order to tranquillize the city, ordered him to proceed to England; and, under the pretext of being charged with a special mission, the duke set out for London. Some of the emissaries of his faction, however, were stationed at Boulogne, where he was to embark, in order to compel him to return to Paris; and the positive orders of the king and the national assembly were necessary to make him continue his journey.

The first care of the king was to endeavour to provide for the capital being properly supplied with provisions; and the queen, to relieve the suffering poor, engaged to redeem from the Monte de Piété all articles, such as linen and house

hold goods, which had been pledged for sums not exceeding twenty-four livres. But the most outrageous calumnies continued to be daily circulated against the king, and more especially against the queen. They were exposed to a series of wanton insults; and, confined within the walls of Paris, it was only during certain hours in the day that they were allowed to promenade the gardens of the Tuilleries. This restraint was so long continued, that at length the royal sufferers became objects of pity; and a deputation from the municipality, with the mayor at their head, petitioned the assembly that the king might be allowed the indulgence of the chase, which, from his being long accustomed to it, had become necessary to his health; but Louis expressed himself content to give it up, in the then state of public affairs.

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The senate weak, divided and irresolute,
Want power to succour the afflicted state;
Vainly in words and long debate they're wise,
While the fierce factions scorn their peaceful orders,
And drown the voice of law in noise and anarchy.

ROWE.

1. THE king of France was now a prisoner in his A. D. own capital, and had no other choice but to assent to 1789. the changes proposed by the national assembly or resign his crown. The first and most important of the proposed alterations was the confiscation of the church property, which was ordered to be sold for the advantage of the nation, but at the same time it was agreed that a sufficient portion of the revenue should be applied to the maintenance of the clergy, and other ecclesiastical purposes. On the same day that this decree was passed, another law was enacted, sweeping away all distinctions of rank whatever, coats of arms, titles of honour, &c.; Necker had the courage to oppose the latter decree, but his resistance was vain, and finding his popularity

on the wane, he had the good sense to withdraw from public life, and spend the remainder of his days in literary retirement. 2. The character of Necker has suffered equally from his friends and enemies, the injudicious and unmerited praises bestowed on him by the former, have induced the world to lend a more ready ear to the calumnies of the latter; his intentions appear to have been always honest, but he had not sufficient firmness to put them into execution; his abilities as a financier would have made him a valuable auxiliary to a clever statesman, but his want of political wisdom unfitted him for the situation of premier, especially in such a troublous period as the reign of Louis XVI.

A. D.

3. The greater part of the nobility and the royal family had emigrated, and formed a small army on the 1790. frontiers. They declared that the king being under

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duresse, no act of his would be valid. The king perceiving the dangers to which he was exposed by such injudicious conduct on the part of his friends, went voluntarily to the national assembly, took an oath of fidelity to the new constitution, and repeated it afterwards at a solemn act of federation held in the Champ de Mars. This was a very imposing spectacle, but it was merely a spectacle; the revolutionists, or at least a large portion of them, seem now to have resolved on the establishment of a republic, while the friends of the old regime contemplated nothing less than the establishment of the ancient despotism. The monarchs of Europe, who at first looked on with apathy, began to take a lively interest in the affairs of France, especially the court of Austria, so nearly connected with the hapless Marie Antoinette. All these circumstances made the friends of the revolution look with a suspicious eye on their monarch, while the indignities to which he was daily subjected, naturally disgusted him with the freedom which repaid all his sacrifices with sufferings and with sorrow. 4. The prince of Condé assumed the command of the little army of emigrants, too small to produce any 1791. impression on France, but sufficiently numerous to inspire a vindictive jealousy, which was visited on the head of the unfortunate monarch. The only persons of the royal family now remaining in France were the king and queen with their children; monsieur, the king's brother, and his wife, madame; and the princess Elizabeth, the king's sister. Worn out by the persecutions to which they were exposed, they me

*Duresse, a force that prevents the exercise of the will.

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ditated their escape to the frontiers, an attempt in which Mon-` sieur and Madame fortunately succeeded. 5. A strange fatality seems to have disconcerted every arrangement made for the rescue of Louis XVI. Never was there a plan better formed, nor with greater chances of success than that for the escape of the king; passports were procured for the royal family under fictitious names, a body of faithful troops were ready to meet them at the pont de Sommerville, and the army at Longuy, under the command of M. de Bouillé, was ready to restore the falling throne. But an accidental delay ruined every thing, the escort having waited long beyond the appointed time, rode off from the place of rendezvous, the king having imprudently put his head out of the coach-window was recognized by Drouet, son to the postmaster of Varennes; the escort coming up too late found that they could not advance farther without a fierce struggle; and Louis, ever desirous to prevent the effusion of blood, surrendered himself a prisoner. He was brought back to Paris by a tumultuous mob, and detained in honourable captivity at the palace of the Tuilleries. 6. The emigration continually augmented; the nobility with their dependants flocked to Coblentz, and scarcely disguised their intention of checking the progress of the revolution by force of arms. The national assembly having completed their projected outline of a constitution, presented it to the king for acceptance; the monarch publicly swore to its observance, and the event was celebrated by a public fête in the Champ de Mars.

7. The national assembly having, as they fondly supposed, placed the liberty and tranquillity of France on a sure basis, dissolved themselves, after having declared themselves incapable of being elected members of the legislative assembly by which they were succeeded. This exclusion of all who might have learned wisdom from experience was a fatal measure; the legislative assembly, consisting principally of men chiefly remarkable for violence and enthusiasm, soon gave the most lamentable proofs of their utter unfitness for managing the affairs of the nation. The most violent decrees were issued against the emigrants, and at length war 1792. was declared against the emperor of Austria for having given them his protection. Every thing seemed to threaten the speedy downfall of the monarchy, and the injudicious conduct of the king's friends hastened the fatal consummation.

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8. The duke of Brunswick having been appointed to the command of the allied army of Austrians, Prussians, and emigrants, issued a proclamation at Coblentz, couched in language

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