206 BAILLY. 
THE KING’S FLIGHT.—EVENTS ON THE CHAMP 
DE MARS. 
In the month of April, 1791, Bailly perceived that his 
influence over the Parisian population was decreasing. 
The king had announced that he should depart on the 
18th, and would remain some days at St. Cloud. The 
state of his health was the ostensible cause of his de- 
parture. Some religious scruples were probably the 
real cause; the holy week was approaching, and the 
king would have no communications with the ecclesi- 
astics sworn in for his parish. Bailly was not discom- 
posed at this projected journey; he regarded it even 
with satisfaction. Foreign courts, said our colleague, 
looked upon him asa prisoner. The sanction he gives 
to various decrees, appears to them extorted by violence ; 
the visit of Louis XVI. to Saint Cloud will dissipate all 
these false reports. Bailly therefore concerted measures 
with La Fayette for the departure of the royal family ;_ 
but the inhabitants of Paris, less confiding than their 
mayor, already saw the king escaping from St. Cloud, 
and seeking refuge amidst foreign armies. They there- 
fore rushed to the Tuileries, and notwithstanding all the 
efforts of Bailly and his colleague, the court carriages 
could not advance a step. The king and queen there- 
fore, after waiting for an hour and a half in their carriage, 
reascended into the palace. 
To remain in power after such a check, was giving to 
the country the most admirable proof of devotion. 
In the night of the 20th to the 21st of June, 1791, the 
king quitted the Tuileries. This flight, so fatal to the 
monarchy, irretrievably destroyed the ascendency that. 
Bailly had exercised over the capital. The populace 
