The Uprising of June 20, ijc)2 29 



The ofificial announcement of the king's veto was made on 

 June 19. A letter from the minister of justice was read in the 

 assembly stating that the king had vetoed, first the decree of May 

 27, regarding the deportation of priests ; and second, that of June 

 8, regarding the increase of the armed force by 20,000 fedcrcs 

 to be assembled near Paris, July 14.-'' 



This public announcement was the occasion for offensive action. 

 Discontent was general.-^ The storm was gathering. A civic 

 banquet held on the Champs Elysees, June 19, and attended by 

 many citizens was variously interpreted. Royalist newspapers re- 

 ported it as an orgy attended by five hundred people where 

 anarchists and deputies alike took part. They ascribed to it an 

 evil purpose.-- More moderate writers spoke of it as a very 

 proper banquet attended by many good citizens, celebrating the 

 anniversary of the decree which destroyed the titles of nobility. 

 But they said it added excitement to that which was already 

 aroused by the publication of the king's veto.-' Everybody un- 

 derstood that something was about to happen, yet feared to speak 

 of what really threatened.^* A writer of the time said, " On the 

 whole, sir, we stand on a vast volcano. We feel it tremble, we 

 hear it roar, but how and when and where it will burst, and who 

 may be destroyed by its eruptions, it is beyond the ken of mortal 

 foresight to discover. "^^ The people of the faubourgs believed 



of the support of the minister of war and of his desire to keep in touch 

 with him. Lafayette was called out from the interview by a messenger 

 who brought him the news of the dismissal of the ministers. On hearing 

 this he uttered a cry of joy. Roederer, Chronique de cinquante jours, 9. 



"'Moniteur, XII, 703. 



^' Chaumette, Memoires, 8-13; Lescure, Correspondance secrete, 601-03, 

 lettre 20; Gorsas, Recit gencrale (Extrait du courrier des 83 departe- 

 ments). 



''^Correspondance politique, June 21, 1792, LXIII, 2; Nouvelle corre- 

 spondance politique, June 22, 1792, XII, 2. This account is published in 

 pamphlet form under title of Le cri de douleur. 



^Courrier des 83 departements, June 22, 1792, IX. This account is 

 also found in the pamphlet, Recit gencrale et circonstancic des evenemens 

 du vingt juin; Le mercure unii'ersel, June 22, 1792. 



" Oelsner in Revue historique, LXXXIV, 71. 



^' Morris, Diary and Letters, I, 545. 



225 



