The Insurrection of October, i/8p 29 



The success of the revolution meant the destruction of all class 

 privileges and distinctions of rank. What more natural than 

 that the great body of the aristocrats should contest openly or 

 secretly, by every means in their power, each step in its progress ? 

 Their policy had been to block all measures of reform by sys- 

 tematic opposition or delay. It was publicly charged in the as- 

 sembly on the 19th of September that "for fifteen days opposition 

 to the clearest principles, and difficulties over the simplest ques- 

 tions had greatly increased." 1 



On the 22d of September the Revolutions de Paris published 

 the following: "The municipal officers of Versailles have asked 

 for 1000 soldiers. It is said these troops are to help the king to 

 get away to Metz, and that he will return at the head of an army 

 and try to enslave by right of conquest." 2 D'Estaing's letter to 

 the queen has already been quoted. The plot of the aristocrats, 

 to get the king to take refuge at Metz, to destroy the assembly, 

 and to take by force the kingly power, now slipping from his 

 grasp, was widely reported. 3 After the arrival of the regiment 

 of Flanders, the "departure of the king, the dissolution of the 

 assembly, and the success of civil war were spoken of no more 

 mysteriously and in secret, but openly. It was pointed out how 

 the army would increase, how a Place d'armes would be estab- 

 lished at Metz where, in case of an improbable first defeat, there 

 would be an impregnable asylum, and it would be easy to intro- 

 duce foreign troops." 4 



After the October insurrection, charges against the aristocrats 

 multiplied. The next number of the Revolutions de Paris con- 

 tained the following: "The insolent aristocracy has been a sec- 

 ond time thrown to the earth, and the nation has made one more 

 step towards liberty. A few days ago we said 'A second access 

 of revolution is necessary, and everything is preparing for it.' 



1 Courrier de Provence, III, 108. 



2 Revolutions de Paris, No. XI, 24. 



8 Lafayette, Me" moires, II, 326, 3*29; Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence 

 and Miscellanies, III, 23; Deux amis de la liberty, Histoire de la revolution 

 de France, III, 98, 99. 



4 Deux amis de la liberty, Histoire de la revolution de France, III, 120; 

 Revolutions de Paris, No. XIII, 6. 



295 



