The Uprising of June 20, tj(j2 91 



As the gate closed, Boucher-Rene says he was pushed inside 

 and separated from his colleagues. ATouchet outside now mingled 

 with the crowd. Tie heard cries and noticed a commotion at the 

 side of the Hotel d'Elbeuf. It was reported that cannon were 

 pointed at the people. Mouchet tells us that he rushed to the 

 place and assured the people that this was a false alarm. He 

 said the cannoneers were incapable of such a hostile act and that 

 he had heard them express very patriotic sentiments and that they 

 were devoted to the cause of the people. He said he would 

 guarantee upon his life that the report was false. Thus the 

 people were reassured.'"" But there were cannon at the door of 

 the chateau and also at the Hotel de Longueville opposite and 

 there were chests of ammunition on the Carrousel. ^^^ 



Romainvilliers seems to have remained wholly inactive during 

 all this movement. His inactivity is attested by all his subordi- 

 nates. He was on the terrace, in the Carrousel, or wherever the 

 crowd was. The chiefs of the legions, Aclocq, Mandat and Pinon 

 and Vanot, commandant of the battalion Saint-Opportune, either 

 could not find him or, if they found him, could get no orders 

 from him. Nor could the commandant at the Tuileries get 

 orders.^®^ These men, however, showed great activity in pre- 

 venting entrance to tlic chateau anrl so did some of their sub- 

 ordinates, who were also unable to get orders from the com- 

 mandant. All were equally powerless to enforcetheir own orders. 

 When Lassus, a captain of gendarmerie, asked his colonel, 

 Rulhiere, for orders, he replied, " I have no orders, but I believe 

 that the troops are here to support the national guard." Carle, 

 a lieutenant colonel, says he asked Romainvilliers what he should 

 do with his two hundred men. The commandant replied, " It 

 is necessary to take away their bayonets." Carle retorted, " Why 

 do you not order me to give up my sword and my clothes ? " and 



"' " Proces-verbal dresse par Boucher-Rene ; " " Rapport de Lagarde " ; 

 " Proces-verbal dresse par Mouchet." 



'*"" Rapport deM. Lassus"; Poullenot to Petion, June 23, 1792; "Rapport 

 de Lagarde"; "Declaration de Mussery"; Oelsner in Revue historique, 

 No. 87, p. 81. 



'""Rapport de Aclocq"; "Rapport de Pinon"; "Rapport de Mandat " ; 

 " Proces-verbal de Wittinghof," Ternaux, I, 404. 



287 



