The Uprising of June 20, I/92 115 



hours."-'" The mayor then assured him that he had nothing to 

 fear in the midst of the people.^'^ 



Petion was raised on the shoulders of several citizens and 

 tried to speak.-"- The noise was frightful and he had much difiB- 

 culty in making himself heard. "Citizens!" he cried, and the 

 crowd became more quiet. He told them that they had made 

 their representations to the hereditary representative of the nation 

 with a dignity becoming a free people and urged them to retire 

 with the dignity with which they had entered. But the clamor 

 and shouts continued and the people did not move on. They called 

 for a definite answer from the king and cried, "Down with the 

 veto! Sanction the decrees! Recall the ministers! Long live 

 the nation ! " Then Petion, mounted on a chair, spoke firmly. 

 He said that this was not a suitable time to demand of the king 

 the recall of the veto, that he must have time in which to deliberate, 

 else it would be said that the king was not free. He said he had 

 no doubt that when the eighty-three departments of France ex- 

 pressed their wish the king would yield to the manifest desires 

 of the people. He continued to urge them to retire. He said 

 they had entered with the dignity worthy of a free people and 

 had expressed their wishes and that they ought now to retire for 

 if they remained longer they would give occasion to their enemies 

 to calumniate their good intentions and those of their magistrates 

 and again strongly insisted that they move on.-'^ But while the 

 people heard Petion respectfully and applauded him, they replied 

 to him with a demand for a definite response from the king and 



"" " Proces-verbal dresse par Sergent " ; " Declaration de Fontaine." 

 The exact words are Fontaine's. 



"^"Proces-verbal dresse par Sergent"; "Declaration de Lesieur." 



""Sergent says he was one of those who helped lift him up. 



"^"Proces-verbal dresse par Sergent"; "Declaration de Fontaine"; 

 " Proces-verbal dresse par Patris " ; " Proces-verbal dresse par Cham- 

 pion"; " Declaration de Lecrosnier " ; Declarations made before the justice 

 of the peace of the section of the Tuileries the 25th of June, 1792, by 

 Montmorin, Hemery, Dorival and Dossonville, Lesieur and Becquey, in 

 Ternaux, I, 404; " Conduite tenue par M. le maire"; Roederer, Chronique 

 de cinquante jours, 61. 



