6 Jeanette Needham. 
the royal decree of June 23 that the public should be excluded 
from every session and the command that deliberation should 
be by separate order. But just how far would the vacillating 
king, under the influence of his reactionary entourage, presume 
to go in the conflict with the nation’s representatives? Would 
he dare to use force against them? These were the impending 
questions. There was a certain assurance for the commons in 
the fact that the king had not evicted them on the previous 
day, although he had been challenged to do so, and that no- | 
attempt had been made to seize the leaders of the assembly 
during the night, as doubtless had been feared. 
It is clear that excitement, indignation, and apprehension as 
to what the results might be were rife among the deputies at 
the military investment of the hall.* The probable effect of the 
presence of troops upon the excited populace, it may well be 
believed, was not the least of their fears. Duquesnoy, in his 
view of the situation, definitely expressed this feeling when he 
said: ‘‘This measure, which is infinitely vicious in itself, was 
still more so under the circumstances when excited spirits were 
not able to witness, without indignation, such an attempt against 
the public liberty. ... In order to justify it, it is said that it 
was necessary to give protection to citizens threatened by the 
people, but’. . . the sight of troops served only to irritate the — 
people and to furnish excellent pretexts to those who are able to 
excite them.’’4 
- But despite the unwisdom of such a measure and the threat 
implied against free deliberation, there was no retreating on the 
part of the men who had assumed the sovereign power. Every 
3 Point du jour, 1, 44-45. The additional precautions taken to protect the 
deputies by Target’s motion would indicate such fears. Duquesnoy, I, 125- 
26; Bailly (I, 223-24) gives some account of what he himself did in the matter. 
Although Bailly is dependent, mostly upon the Point du jour, Courrier de 
Provence, and Procés-verbal, the fact that he corroborates what they state 
adds somewhat to the value, for he saw the events. In this instance, he 
gives material that seems to be what he remembered. Lettre d’un membre de 
Vassembleé nationale, 38. 
4 Duquesnoy, I, 124-125. The action of the crowd on the morning of 
June 23 and the Necker incident of the evening of the royal session were 
enough to indicate what a popular demonstration might mean if it were 
hostile. 
120 
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