42 Julia Crezviti Stoddard 



Lafayette's letter was written on the 17th, 1 and presented to the 

 staff on the 18th. It is therefore manifestly impossible that it 

 could have been the cause of sending for this body of troops. 

 Is it not probable that the reason for this step lay deeper? At 

 the end of August, Versailles had been threatened by a mob from 

 the Palais Royal, incensed by the action of the moderate deputies 

 on the veto and alarmed for the safety of the decrees of August 

 4. If we remember that the king was obstinately opposed to 

 these decrees, that the ministers believed that their promulgation 

 would bring anarchy; and if we recall that the moderates were 

 so strong in the assembly as to be believed in the majority, and 

 that the plan to transfer both the king and the assembly to the 

 provinces had not yet been given up, and if we reflect that the 

 aristocrats had never ceased to work and plot for the complete 

 restoration of the ancient regime, we shall, I think, accept Ma- 

 thiez's interpretation of the calling of the regiment of Flanders, 

 that it was "the first step of the king and his ministers in the 

 way of open resistance." 2 



Not without lively opposition was the deed accomplished. The 

 municipality of Versailles had ratified the demand for reinforce- 

 ments, 3 but the staff was by no means unanimous. On the 21st 

 of September, Mirabeau rose in the assembly to contest the right 

 of the municipality of Versailles to call troops without the con- 

 sent of the national assembly. 4 Before the arrival of the troops, 

 members of the Breton club, Lafayette, and the commune of 

 Paris had united in the demand that the regiment of Flanders be 

 sent away again. 5 The reply which they received from Saint- 

 Priest destroyed their last hope of success by legal means. 6 



JBailly, Memoires, II, 380; Revue historique, LXIX. 61. 

 2 Revue hi 'si 'or 1 'que, LXIX, 63. 



3 Pieces justificatives du rapport de la procedure du chatelet, 35. 



4 Proces-verbal de I'assemblee nationale, No. LXXX, 4; Courrier de Pro- 

 vence, No. XXV. 



5 Revue hhtorique, LXVIII, 269. 



6 Campan, Mhnoires, II, 294. The reply which Saint-Priest sent to this 

 demand is mentioned in the "Abrege" des circonstances du depart de Louis 

 XVI, pour Paris le 6 octobre, 1789," written by Saint-Priest and contained 

 in Mme. Campan's Mimoires. "Je lui r^pondis, le plus moderdment que je 

 pus, que cette demande d'un regiment de ligne etait une suite naturelle de 



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