10 Laura B. Pfeiffcr 



fear of his body guard, which was hostile to the assembly, led to 

 the decrees for the dismissal of the body guard, ]\Iay 29, 1792, 

 and for the formation of the camp of fcdcrcs, J"ne 8.-* The 

 purpose of the latter decree was to intimidate the king and to 

 protect the assembly. 



While the king hesitated to accept these decrees, Roland pre- 

 sented him a letter urging him to sign them. The king's deter- 

 mination to veto them led to the dismissal of the Girondist 

 ministry. June 12.-^ 



This action precipitated a crisis. When the king vetoed the 

 decree against the clergy and that providing for the camp of 

 fcdcrcs, he was acting within his constitutional rights, but the 

 assembly believed he was using this technical right to deliver 

 France into the hands of her enemies. The French people, then, 

 must either submit to the indignity of being delivered over to 

 Austria and Prussia and suffer the loss of constitutional govern- 

 ment, or violate the very constitution that they had created. 



The uprising of June 20 was the last peaceful attempt made by 

 the people of Paris to induce the king to abandon his policy of 

 duplicity and to govern in sympathy with the revolution, in 

 accordance with the wishes of the assembly, to defend France 

 against foreign invasion and to save the constitution. They hoped 

 to induce him to withdraw his veto and recall the Girondist 

 ministers, but the plan failed.-'' The people's answer was the 

 loth of August and the suspension of the king.-' Examined thus 

 in its connection with the revolution as a whole, the action of the 

 people of Paris on June 20 becomes intelligible and its profound 

 significance stands revealed. 



^ Roederer. Chroniqite de cinquante jours, 5; Chaumette, Memoires, 4. 

 ^Madame Roland, Memoires, I, 450; x\ulard in Revolution frangaise, 

 XXX\', 525; Chaumette, Memoires, 5. 

 ^ Clapham, Causes of the War of 1792, 212. 

 ^ Roederer, Chrouique de cinquante jours, 7. 



206 



