146 Jeanette Needham. 
Necker’s view, the crisis in affairs must have been perceived by 
king and court. The elements of the situation which Barentin 
brands as ‘‘specious”’ were very real, as has been shown. June 
25 was the date when the rankest insubordination appeared 
among the French guards. Apparently, it was also the date on 
which the body guards under the Duc de Guiche openly rebelled 
against patrol duty in Versailles and appealed to the king. 
According to Jallet, it was the evening of June 26 when the 
court learned that ten thousand troops, said to have been 
ordered from the camp at Givet, refused to march. At the 
same time, the Duc de Chatelet had assured the council that, 
while they could count upon the officers, no reliance could be 
placed upon the soldiers.’ It is hardly probable that the doings 
at the Palais Royal could have been unknown at the court. 
The electoral assembly as well as the Palais Royal itself bore to 
the assembly, on June 26, testimonials of the unflinching loyalty 
of the capital. A survey of these facts is sufficient to make it 
appear plausible that as early as June 26 the court must have 
felt the necessity of taking some steps to prevent a disastrous 
culmination of these circumstances. The statement of Count 
Mercy in his letter to Joseph II that, at this time, the court had 
already considered transferring itself to some place of safety, 
gives strong support to this idea.® 
It is natural to presume that the ministry held frequent con- 
ferences in the days after the royal session. A council in the 
evening of June 23, another in the evening of June 25 and again 
in the morning and in the evening of June 26 are mentioned by 
persons outside court circles.1° The one in the evening of — 
June 26 is said to have been very long and to have been attended 
by the princes. The inference is that it had to do with the 
crisis in public affairs which menaced the safety of the court and 
the upper orders.!! Early the next day, if we can credit the 
8 Jallet, 109. 
9 Arneth and Flammermont, Correspondance secréte, II, 252, letter of 
Mercy to Joseph II, July 4, 1789. 
10 Jallet, 109; Biauzat, II, 141, 143; Boullé, Documents inédits, Revue de la 
rév., XV, 27, Histotre de la rév., I, 234. 
11 fTistoire de la rév., I, 234. 
260 
