The Uprising of June 20, T/(j2 77 



caused by ihc ever-increasing crowd aroused the head of the 

 column to a state of fury and they struck violent blows at the 

 gate, determined to break it down.^*^ 



Three municipal officers, Boucher-Rene, Eoucher-Saint-Sau- 

 vcur anrl Mouchet, who had been sent to the chateau by the mayor, 

 were in the garden of the Tuileries at this time and seeing the 

 danger from the press anrl hearing the blows and threats of break- 

 ing the gate, rushed to the head of the procession to calm the 

 crowd. The people asked the officers to open the gate. They re- 

 plied that they could not give orders to the chateau, but they would 

 go there and try to get an order to have the gate opened. They first 

 asked a commandant on the terrace who in turn directed them to 

 the general commandant. But just at this time the noise redoubled 

 and the officers saw that a cannon had been placed before the gate 

 and directed against the citizens. They succeeded in having the 

 cannon withdrawn. They asked the people to be patient until they 

 returned and went to the Tuileries. On reaching the chateau, 

 they asked for Romainvilliers, the commandant of the national 

 guard, but he could not be found. They then called for M. de 

 Wittinghof, commandant at the Tuileries. They were shown into 

 the apartments where they said they saw a large number of people 

 clothed in black. These men, whose presence and manner were 

 mysterious and therefore a source of irritation and suspicion, were 

 the king's personal guards. The king sent them away before 

 the crowd entered to avoid serious trouble.'*- The king appeared. 

 He asked what the situation in Paris was. Boucher-Rene re- 



'" " Proces-verbal dresse par MM. Mouchet et Boucher Saint-Sauveur" ; 

 Roederer, Chronique de cinquante jours, 35 ; " Copie du rapport du chef 

 de la quatrieme legion" [Mandat]. 



'" PouUenot to Petion, June 23, 1792, Archives nationales 1^4774; Addi- 

 tion to " Proces-verbal dresse par Mouchet " ; " Declaration de Jaladon " 

 says they came to him to ask for more guards for the king's apartment; 

 Nouvelle correspondance politique, XII, 9, says there were 150 of them 

 ready to form a rampart with their bodies for the king. According to 

 this newspaper the king feared a renewal of the scenes of the 20th of Feb- 

 ruary and to prevent it, sent them away. This same statement is made 

 Ijy Bourcet, {Revolution frangaise, XVII, 74). See also Klinckowstrom, 

 H, 307. 



