14 Laura B. Pfeiffer 



assembly.^" It was believed to be royalist in its sympathies and 

 wholly devoted to the person of the king, pervaded with the 

 spirit of incivism and wholly lacking in esprit dc corps. On ]\Iay 

 28, Bazire proposed its dissolution, charging orgies of its officers 

 and a plan for carrying away the king and asked that he be 

 allowed to give his proofs the following day.^" Chabot declared 

 on the same day that he had one hundred and eighty-two docu- 

 ments which proved the existence of a plot to dissolve the assem- 

 bly.^^ Following a report of a counterplot, set for May 27, the 

 assembly decreed that its sessions should be permanent, that the 

 Paris guard should be doubled, and that Petion should be re- 

 quired to report upon the state of the capital daily. ^^ 



At nine o'clock on the morning of May 29, Petion reported 

 that the night had been calm and nothing announced a disturb- 

 ance. He had scarcely finished his report when with a great 

 uproar, a crowd from the section of the Gobelins demanded 

 admission to the hall. Armed with pikes, guns, and forks, 

 dressed in sans-culottes and red caps, and preceded by grena- 

 diers, they crossed the hall with drums beating and ranged 

 themselves around the assembly, swearing to sacrifice themselves 

 to defend it.-" 



Bazire thereupon presented his report for the dissolution of 

 the king's guard. He pointed out that the greatest irregularities 

 existed in its organization, that a large number of its members 

 were ineligible, its ranks being filled with youths, priests, men 

 from Coblentz, and some former Swiss guards. He showed that 

 these defenders of the chateau were possessed by a spirit of 

 counter-revolution which might overturn the actual regime. He 

 charged orgies of officers in which the troopers had joined in 

 drinking the health of the king, the queen and the prince. 



" Oelsner in Revue historique, LXXXIII, 305. 



^' Moiiiteur, XII, 508. 



^^Moniteur, XII, 513; Revolutions de Paris, XII, 418. 



^* Histoire parlementaire, XIV, 297 flf. 



'" Mottiteur, XII, 508; Revolutions de Paris, XII, 378; Lindet, Corres- 

 pondance, IV. The assembly held an uninterrupted session May 28, 29, 

 30, 31, indicating the critical state of public affairs. 



210 



