92 Laura B. Pfciffer 



the commandant said, " Take what I say only as an opinion. "^^- 

 RomainvilHers justified himself afterward by saying that the 

 mayor having permitted, and the king not having refused a request 

 for twenty unarmed ])etiti(Miers to enter the chateau and he having 

 received this assurance from six municipal ofificers in the garden, 

 he did not think he ought to oppose their escorts.^**'' 



Besides national guards, there were also some regular troops 

 on the Carrousel at this time. These had been ordered by the 

 commandant of war to the Place Vendome in the morning to be 

 reviewed. About eleven o'clock two detachments were led by 

 Wittinghof, commandant at the Tuileries, to the Carrousel. ^^* 



Within the court there was anxiety among some of the national 

 guards and when the royal gate was menaced there was a cry, 

 " To arms," and the troops formed in line.^®^ 



This sudden movement toward the chateau seems to have been 

 caused by the actions of its leaders. Saint-Prix, on setting out 

 from the assembly where the battalion Val-de-Grace had taken 

 him by force, attempted to rally his men and to take back from 

 the Carrousel the cannon which were ranged along the Hotel de 

 Longueville. His cannoneers refused to obey his order. Leclerc, 

 the second in command, repeated the order. Again they refused. 

 The battalion dragged its chief before the Carrousel, and took a 

 position near the cannon. Saint-Prix tried to calm them. He 

 gave orders to the cannoneer to take the pieces in front of the 

 column and march back to the Gobelins. He refused, crying, 

 " We will not go away, we have not come here for nothing, the 



Rapport de Lagarde " ; " Rapport de Saint-Prix " ; Carle, " Evene- 

 ments de la 20 juin, 1792"^ "Rapport de Lassus." 



^** " Rapport que fait M. de Romainvilliers " ; Montmorin writing to La 

 Marck, June 21, {Correspondance, Mirabeau et La Marck) says Romain- 

 villiers was sold to a faction. There was a good deal of sentiment against 

 Romainvilliers for his inactivity on this occasion. On June 28 the section 

 of the Tuileries passed a decree asking the national assembly to dismiss 

 him from service because he had forfeited the public confidence. The 

 decree is found in Archives nationales, F'4590. 



^""Rapport de Lassus"; Rulhiere, " Evenements de la journee de 20 

 juin, 1792." 



'*° " Declaration de Guibout"; Bourcet in Revolution frangaise, XVII, 7Z. 



288 



