HISTORY OF EUROPE. f 
their fpokefman to the affembly ; 
but they frequently, notwithftand- 
ing, interrupted him by their oaths 
and menaces. The orator inveighed 
againit the ariftocrates as the au- 
thors of the famine, and for infult- 
ing the national cockade; and he 
complained of thel\ ife guards, for 
avearing white cockades. ‘The af- 
fembly fenta deputation of the moft 
decent of the women, with their 
orator Maillard, accompanied by 
their own prefident, M. Mounier, 
to wait upon the king: the fubje& 
of the deputation being confined to 
_ the fearcity of provifions only. The 
king, who was juft returned from 
the chace, received them kindly, 
and iffued the ftrongeft orders in 
_ his power to give, for the imme- 
diate fupply of Paris with pro- 
vifions. 
__ In the mean time no words could 
-deferibe, if the recital of fuch a de- 
Meription could even be endured, the 
_ €xtravagance of the fcenes which 
_ the women exhibited at the national 
_affembly. They not only filled 
the galleries, and all the open parts 
of the hall, but in proportion as they 
Became intoxicated, which they 
‘were not at all flow in doing, they 
mixed with the members, crouded 
into their feats, overwhelmed them 
with their vociferation and noife, 
and at length, upon the abfence of 
the prefident with the king, in pro- 
curing the royal {anétion to the de- 
_ erees, they mounted into and took 
pofleffion of his chair. Such was 
the fcene of confufion, and fuch was 
e fociety, in which the moft awful 
| and momentous biufinefs that per- 
was ever tranfatted by any 
| dy of men, the eftablifhment of 
| i conftitution in a vaft country, 
whe went to the total overthrow 
| Of the old, and of all its appendant 
| | Vou. XXXII. 
| 
rights, laws, and inftitutions, which 
had been confirmed by the fanétion 
of untold ages, was completed and 
promulgated. It is reported, that 
Mounier, as an a&t of duty to his 
fovereign, and independent of his 
official fituation, advifed the king 
to fubmit fo far to the neceflity of 
the time, as to give his pure and 
fimple acceptation to the conftitu- 
tional articles, although he acknow- 
ledged that they were in {feveral 
parts extremely faulty, with refpect 
both to policy and to. juftice; but 
that he at the fame time advifed the 
king to refif’ courageoufly, and to 
the utmoft, the infolent and. violent 
attempts of the Parifians; and to call 
on the national affembly, that at the 
time he was facrificing every thing 
to their defire, they would exert 
themfelves in afferting their-own 
freedom and that of their foveréign: 
It is likewife faid, that the king wa 
difpofed to adopt this counfel, but 
that the danger to which the queen 
was expofed clogged his meafures 
and defigns; to remedy this evil he 
fent for the royal carriages, in order 
that fhe might be removed to fome 
place of greater fafety than the pre- 
{ent, but the carriages were ftopped 
and feized by the rabble... The 
queen, however, as foon as fhe heard 
of the defign, put an end to all far- 
ther thought of it, by nobly refuf= 
ing to abandon her hufband in the 
hour of danger ; declaring, with a 
magnanimity worthy the dadghter 
of Maria Therefa, that, * fhe would 
« ftay and die at the king’s feet.”” 
The events of this day, night, 
and the enfuing morning, could 
{carcely be more irregular and éon- 
fufed, than the narratives of thent 
which have been laid before the 
public. Scarcely any two of them 
agree, in time, fack, or Circume 
D By 
