72 Laura B. Pfeiffer 



bar; they will a second time confound their cowardly detractors, they 

 will prove today that they are the friends of law and of liberty, the men 

 of the 14th of July. I am with respect, Mr. President, your very humble 

 and very obedient servant. Santerre, commandant of battalion.""' 



The reading of this letter called forth much applause from 

 the assembly and the galleries. There was great excitement, and 

 amidst applause, murmurs and cries, Lasource finally got the 

 floor. He said that he had some information that would quiet 

 their fears; that the orator of the citizens had just been in one 

 of the offices of the assembly and had asked him to say to the 

 assembly that they had no other object than to present their 

 respectful homage; that they asked to march before them; that 

 in truth they had an address to present to the king but that they 

 did not intend to go to the chateau ; that they wished to leave this 

 address on the desk of the assembly for it to make use of as it 

 saw fit and that they would make a formal agreement not to go 

 to the chateau. 



Vergniaud spoke next. He said he shared the opinion of Dumo- 

 lard that the constitution ought to be put upon a firm basis and 

 the laws executed. He thought, if the people had violated the 

 law, it was because both the constituent and the present assembly 

 had favored such a violation by allowing similar gatherings ; 

 that if they ordered the directory and the municipality to execute 

 the law rigorously they would be renewing the bloody scenes of 

 the Champ-de-Mars. Here were heard applause from the gal- 

 leries and murmurs from one side of the house. He continued, 

 " If you take this action which is not in your hearts, the assembly 

 will place an inefTaceable blot upon its history." [Applause from 

 the galleries.] Again he pleaded precedent for the error of the 

 citizens and said that they could not believe that they would be 

 denied admission. He insisted that since they had been assured 

 of the purity of the motives of the citizens they could not refuse 

 them because — and this, he said, was a very important point — 

 " the people have been justly restless and they wish to prove to 

 you that whatever intrigue or manoeuver may be used to frighten 



"' Ternaux I, 169; Journal de I'assemhlee nationale, XXI, 303; Recti 

 general, 10. 



268 



