The Uprising of June 20, 17^2 75 



Gaudet took the floor. He said that when the sections of Paris 

 had before presented themselves armed and had asked the honor 

 of marching through the hall they had each time been accorded 

 the favor ; on this day the citizens of the faubourg Saint-Antoine 

 asked the same favor [interruption] but suddenly it was discov- 

 ered that this was a violation of the law and the demand was made 

 that this seditious gathering be repressed with all the rigor of the 

 law. (Several voices cried, " Not true, not true.") He said that 

 it seemed to him that in the minds of these gentlemen the opinion 

 of Dumolard did not deserve to be refuted, but that he thought it 

 did. He went on to say that the demand of Ramond to deposit 

 their arms was absolutely impractical and based upon what? A 

 violation of the decree of the directory of the department of Paris. 

 How could they speak of a decree of the directory, when they 

 knew that a former law of the nation forbids the march in arms, 

 and that the assembly has already permitted such processions. 

 [Applause from the galleries.] It would be a revolting injustice 

 to refuse them. He said this measure resembled that of a Roman 

 emxperor who had the laws written in such small letters that the 

 citizens could not read them that he might find many occasions for 

 punishment. Here there was violent agitation among the mem- 

 bers and applause in the galleries. Some cried to call Gaudet to 

 order ; others called for Ramond's motion, and one member 

 shouted that those who had brought the citizens here could not 

 weir send them away, but Gaudet added that the assembly had 

 led the citizens into error and had deceived them and so he de- 

 manded the admission of the petitioners. Many voices called for 

 the question and the galleries applauded wildly. The assembly 

 closed the discussion. ^^^ 



During the debate the procession, led by Santerre, Alex5,ndre 

 and Saint-Huruge, was waiting outside. It had approached the 

 manege through the rue Saint-Honore, going as far as the gate 

 of the Feuillants. There it passed into the narrow court of 

 the manege to the foot of the stairway leading to the hall of the 



^''Journal de I'assembUe rationale, XXI, 307-10; Journal des dchats et 

 dccrcts, No. 268, p. 267-69; Monitciir, XII, 716. 



271 



