Paris 309 



court. She also was attended so closely by the gardes bourgeotse, 

 that she could not speak, but in a low voice, without being heard 

 by them. A mob followed her talking very loud, and paying 

 no other apparent respect than that of taking off their hat» 

 wherever she passed, which was indeed more than I expected. 

 Her majesty does not appear to be in health; she seems to be 

 much affected and shows it in her face ; but the king is as plump 

 as ease can render him. By his orders, there is a little garden 

 railed off for the Dauphin to amuse himself in, and a small room 

 is built in it to retire to in case of rain ; here he was at work with 

 his little hoe and rake, but not without a guard of two grenadiers. 

 He is a very pretty good-natured-looking boy of five or six years 

 old, with an agreeable countenance; wherever he goes, all hats 

 are taken off to him, which I was glad to observe. All the family 

 being kept thus close prisoners (for such they are in effect) afford, 

 at first view, a shocking spectacle; and is really so if the act 

 were not absolutely necessary to effect the revolution; this I 

 conceive to be impossible; but if it were necessary no one can 

 blame the people for taking every measure possible to secure 

 that liberty they had seized in the violence of a revolution. At 

 such a moment nothing is to be condemned but what endangers 

 the national freedom. I must, however, freely own that I have 

 my doubts whether this treatment of the royal family can be justly 

 esteemed any security to liberty; or, on the contrary, whether 

 it were not a very dangerous step that exposes to hazard what- 

 ever had been gained. I have spoken with several persons 

 to-day and have started objections to the present system, 

 stronger even than they appear tome, in order to learn their senti- 

 ments ; and it is evident they are at the present moment under 

 an apprehension of an attempt towards a counter-revolution. 

 The danger of it very much, if not absolutely, results from the 

 \iolence which has been used towards the royal family. The 

 National Assembly was, before that period, answerable only for 

 the permanent constitutional laws passed for the future: since 

 that moment it is equally answerable for the whole conduct of the 

 government of the state, executive as well as legislative. This 

 critical situation has made a constant spirit of exertion necessary 

 amongst the Paris militia. The great object of M. La Fayette, 

 and the other military leaders, is to improve their discipline and 

 to bring them into such a form as to allow a rational dependence 

 I on them in case of their being wanted in the field; but such is 

 the spirit of freedom, that even in the military there is so little 

 subordination that a man is an officer to-dav and in the ranks 



