82 Laura B. Pfeiffer 



for the permanence of the armies until the constitution should be 

 carried into effect. He closed by saying, " This petition is not 

 only that of the inhabitants of the faubourg Saint-Antoine, but 

 of all sections of the capital and of the environs of Paris. The 

 petitioners ask the honor of marching before you.'"^'*^ 



The reading of this petition, which has been called " a veritable 

 declaration of war on royalty,"^^^ was frequently interrupted by 

 applause and at the close there was applause from the galleries 

 and members attempted to speak, but the president, Frangaise de 

 Nantes, responded : " Citizens, the national assembly and the 

 people are one ; we desire your interests, your welfare and your 

 liberty, but we also desire the law and the constitution. The 

 representatives of twenty-four million men assure you through 

 me that we will baffle the plots of conspirators, that we will 

 deliver ourselves to the sword of the law, but that the laws alone 

 have the right to avenge the nation and that it is only in them 

 that you will find the constitution and the liberty that you seek. The 

 assembly invites you in the name of respect for the laws and the 

 administrative bodies, in the name of the country and of liberty, 

 which we cherish and which we have resolved to defend at the 

 peril of our lives, ... to attend its session."^^" The petitioners 

 crossed the hall amid applause of the galleries and a part of the 

 assembly. 



It was now a question of admitting the procession. Dubayet 

 tried to get the floor, but the assembly refused to hear him. The 

 president tried several tjmes to put the question, but there were 

 protests from members who did not wish to admit the crowd. 

 Finally Dumas said, " Out of respect for our oath and for the 



"*The identical text of this petition is found in the Moniteur, XII, 717, 

 Revolutions de Paris, XII, 550-52, Journal de I'asseinblee nationale, XXI, 

 310-14, and Journal des dcbats et dccrets, No. 267, p. 269. 



"'Ternaux, I, 180. 



^^ Journal de I'assemblee nationale, XXI, 314; Moniteur, XII, 717. The 

 Journal des debats et dccrets is not quite so full as the first two. It also 

 mentions interruptions by some members who did not want the deputation 

 admitted. But since the first two named are daily newspapers and there- 

 fore probably independent and agree in the fuller account, I have followed 

 them. 



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