The Uprising of June 20, iyg2 ii 



II 



The Decrees of the Assembly 



In the spring of 1792, the ministry of Louis XVI was divided. 

 The minority, supported by the Feuillants, led by the Lameths 

 and by the minority of the assembly, were opposed to war with 

 Austria and were secretly plotting a reconstruction of the con- 

 stitution in the interest of the monarch and the aristocracy.^ In 

 this work they counted on the support of Austria. The Girond- 

 ist majority in the assembly compelled the retirement of the 

 ministry representing this policy and on March 12, a new minis- 

 try, in sympathy with the dominant party in the assembly, was 

 forced upon the king.- This Girondist ministry stood for the 

 vigorous prosecution of the war, for the maintenance of consti- 

 tutional government, and for the restoration of order in France.^ 

 It was not, however, a harmonious ministry, Dumouriez being 

 the disturbing element. He was at variance with his colleagues, 

 selfishly ambitious, and suspected of far-reaching designs.* 



In the effort to carry out its policy, the new ministry naturally 

 found itself in opposition to the king who by the use of his con- 

 stitutional veto was endeavoring to control the situation until the 

 allies should reach Paris. The clash came as the result of the 

 assembly's decrees concerning the clergy, the king's guard and 



^ Mercy states that the party of the Lameths and Duport wished to es- 

 tablish two chambers similar to the English form of government but that 

 the queen objected to this arrangement. She engaged him to present her 

 objections to the Abbe Louis who had been employed by the Lameths to 

 influence her through Mercy. Glagau, Die franzosische Legislative, 320, 

 Mercy to Kaunitz, Brussels, May 30, 1792. 



- The members of this ministry were Roland, minister of interior, 

 Servan, minister of war, Claviere, minister of finance. Duranthon, La- 

 coste and Dumouriez were the other members, but the first three named 

 were regarded as representatives of the Girondist majority. 



* Sorel, L'Europe et la rcz'olution frangaise, H, 299-403; Von Sybel, 

 History of the French Revolution, I, 405-70. 



* Revolutions de Paris, XII, 522; Memoires de Madame Roland, 1, 395 ff ; 

 Oelsner in Revue Historique, LXXXIII, 308. 



207 



