The Uprising of June 20, i'/Q2 73 



you about their object, the inhabitants of the faubourg Saint- 

 Antoine will always be the firmest defenders of the law." He 

 then asked that these petitioners already assembled be allowed to 

 pass through their midst, but asked the assembly to pass a decree 

 prohibiting all future admission of armed men. He closed with 

 the applause of the galleries and a part of the assembly."^ 



Then there was a real tumult in which some members called 

 for the question, others tried to get the floor and others accused 

 the president of unfairness in wishing to close the discussion. 



Ramond, member of the Right, was allowed by a vote of the 

 assembly to speak. He said Vergniaud had alleged justly that, 

 having up to the present time admitted armed men to march be- 

 fore it, the assembly could not now refuse those who asked the 

 same favor, but that he had omitted one essential difiference be- 

 tween the present case and former ones. He said that up to the 

 present time no one had warned the citizens that they were break- 

 ing the law, that no constituted authority had shown them their 

 error and so they had not violated a law of the realm and that 

 this case was essentially different. Here murmurs were heard. 

 But he continued that he thought better of the dispositions of the 

 citizens than Vergniaud did and having mingled with them since 

 the beginning of the revolution he had a right to speak of their in- 

 tentions. He said that when Vergniaud feared that the execu- 

 tion of the law would cause bloodshed he did not know to what 

 degree the respect for law was graven on the hearts of all the 

 citizens. ^^* 



Here the president interrupted the discussion and announced 

 that the commandant of the national guard had informed him that 

 the petitioners to the number of eight thousand were at the door 

 and asked to be admitted. In the tumult which this occasioned, 

 Calvet cried, " They are eight thousand and we are only seven 



^^^ Journal de I'assemblce nationale, XXI, 304; Journal des dehats et de- 

 crets. No. 268, p. 265; Moniteur, XII, 715. All the points in these two 

 speeches are supported by these three papers except the last point in 

 Vergniaud's speech which is not made clear in the Journal de I'assemblee 

 nationale. 



"' Ibid. 



269 



