50 Laura B. Pfeiffer 



not such positive knowledge but all said that there was much fer- 

 mentation.*'^ Saint-Prix told the mayor that six weeks before, 

 all was peaceable but that since then a club had been formed at 

 the Porte Saint-Marcel, which had excited the people and in- 

 duced them to carry a petition under arms to the national assem- 

 bly and to the king and that this club had been invited by a letter 

 from Santerre to join his battalion. Santerre admitted the cor- 

 respondence, but denied that he had taken the initiative. Saint- 

 Prix then advised the mayor to follow what he considered a 

 policy of prudence. He said that since he could not prevent the 

 procession, he had better legalize it. He advised him to go with 

 the municipality to the place of assembling and read the decree of 

 the department and state to the people in a proclamation that a 

 petition presented under arms is illegal and request them to lay 

 down their arms before entering the assembly and the king's 

 palace. He suggested that Petion precede the petitioners accom- 

 panied by officers of the municipality and that he order the com- 

 mandant to furnish a number of volunteers from the battalions 

 to protect the march of the petitioners and so give it a legal 

 character. '° 



This suggestion struck Petion as a means of escape from his 

 dilemma, for he and his colleagues feared lest they should be re- 

 duced to the necessity of using force against a great multitude of 

 citizens. They withdrew from the conference into an adjoining 

 apartment and consulted together in regard to some means of in- 

 fluencing the department to change its decree.'^^ At about mid- 

 night Vigner was sent to Roederer with a letter signed by Petion 

 and the four administrators of police stating the situation in the 

 faubourgs as they had learned it from the commandants and 

 proposing that the directory adopt some means that would be at 

 the same time prudent and legal. They suggested that the armed 

 citizens be grouped around the national guard under the authority 



"^ " Conduite tenue par M. le maire." 



"' " Rapport de ce qui s'est passe dans le bataillon du Val-de-Grace." 



" " Rapport d' Alexandre," " Conduite tenue par M. le maire." 



246 



