32 Julia Creivitt Stoddard 



the hands of the aristocrats. 1 On the 30th of August a riot broke 

 out at the Palais Royal. 2 It was said that "traitors wished the 

 absolute veto; that France was about to be enslaved." It was 

 proposed "that 15,000 men should march to Versailles to invite 

 the nation to crush its unfaithful representatives and name others 

 in their places and to supplicate the king to come to Paris for 

 security. The Marquis of- Saint Huruge was charged to carry 

 this motion to the assembly." 3 



Mathiez draws a parallel between this insurrection and that of 

 October. "The riot of August 30," he says, "like that of the 4th 

 of October commenced by deputations to the commune. In both 

 cases it was the queen who was the object of hatred and of most 

 furious accusations. What is more remarkable, we find in the 

 statement of the wishes of the insurgents of August the same 

 thing that was demanded in October : that the king and his son 

 be supplicated to come to the Louvre and to dwell there in the 

 midst of his faithful Parisians." 4 



But if the thought of bringing the king to Paris appeared at 

 this time, it was in no way the main or the general thought of 

 the rioters. They wanted to punish the faithless conservative 

 deputies for desertion to the ranks of the aristocrats. 5 The riot 

 was soon crushed. At ten o'clock in the evening a message of 

 warning had been sent to Versailles, but at two in the morning a 

 second letter was sent "to inform you that in spite of the effer- 

 vescence at the Palais Royal the precautions of the commandant 

 have succeeded ; all is quiet." 6 



In spite of this assurance that all was quiet the moderates had 

 had too great a shock to recover at once from their fear. "If 

 the insurrection should break out again and be successful — the 

 assembly would be dispersed — and they would themselves lose 

 their power, if not their lives. Even if a transfer of the court 



1 Revue hi storique, LXVII, 252. 



2 Revolution'! de Paris No. VIII, 13. 



8 Bailly, Mtmoires, II, 328. 



* Revue historique, LXVII, 270. 



6 Revolutions de Paris, No. VIII, 13. 



6 Histoire parlementaire, II, 369. 



298 



