The Uprising of June 20, lygz 41 



of the council together with a letter reminding the mayor of the 

 provisions of the decree for its communication. A third copy 

 was addressed by the secretary to the department of police.^'' 

 Petion seems to have been absent from his office when this letter 

 reached it on June 18. His chief secretary, because of the 

 urgency of the case, sent an unsigned letter to Roederer enclosing 

 a copy of the decree, adding that the same letter, officially signed, 

 would be sent him tomorrow.'^ Later, on the same day, Petion 

 sent a letter to Roederer informing him of the proceedings of the 

 commune on the i6th, enclosing a copy of the decree and asking 

 him to communicate it to the directory.^® But he gave no orders 

 for the suppression of the movement. 



Later, when the mayor was accused of failing in the discharge 

 of his duties on this occasion, he justified his inaction by saying 

 that this request of the i6th was one of individuals wdio desired 

 to march without being assembled under the flag of the military 

 force or without being directed by the officers recognized by law.'*" 

 Plainly the mayor of Paris was not disposed to make any efifort 

 to allay the fermentation. 



The directory, although it had no legal right to act directly in 

 this case, was much concerned for the public peace. It spared 

 no efforts to maintain the peace and by means of letters, decrees 

 and conferences tried to force the mayor and the municipal 

 officers to repress the uprising.*^ After having received a com- 



" See the letter from the secretary of the council of the commune to 

 Petion, (Ternaux, I, 139), enclosing copies of the decree. 



** Letter from Petion's office to Roederer, June 18, 1792, in Revue retro- 

 spective, 2 serie, I, 162-63. 



''Letter of Petion to Roederer, June 18, 1792, in Proclamation du roi.et 

 recueil de pieces, No. i. 



■" " Conduite tenue par M. le Maire." 



" The administrators composing the directory of the department of 

 Paris were La Rochefoucauld, president, Anson, vice president, Garnier 

 (Germain), substitute for the procureur, Davous, Talleyrand, Brousse des 

 Faucherets, Trion de Chaume, Demeunier, and Briois. Of this organiza- 

 tion. Blonde! was secretary and Roederer, prosecuting attorney. It was 

 an essentially aristocratic body. The list of names of all the members of 

 the department is found in Lacroix, Le departement de Paris et de la 

 Seine pendant la revolution, 212. 



