I20 Ethel Lee Howie 



were thoroughly in sympathy with the assembly, yet at the same 

 time, they felt that the king was to be trusted. Perhaps the feel- 

 ings of the times may best be expressed in the words of Le Hodey, 

 when he says, speaking of the letter of the king on July 2, "We 

 are ignorant what are the precautions which the prudence of the 

 king has adopted in order to establish order in the capital, but 

 what we can state and what all French will repeat with us is that 

 twenty regiments would not produce the same effect that the 

 generous pardon, solicited by the national assembly and accorded 

 by the clemency of the king, has produced on the hearts of all 

 good citizens."^^^ 



XII 



We have dealt with the importance of the revolt of the French 

 guards for the history of the revolution and have noted that the 

 government could not depend on these troops in a struggle against 

 the national assembly. The French guards, however, formed 

 only a small part of the army around Paris at this time. Ever 

 since the royal session troops, chiefly foreign, had been gathering 

 about Paris and Versailles. Nothing had been said in the as- 

 sembly about this movement of troops, but it was perfectly clear, 

 both from the number arriving and the silence on the part of the 

 authorities concerning the object in bringing them to Paris, that 

 the government was planning a coup d'etat. The army would 

 make it possible to hold Paris under control while the assembly 

 was forced to accept the declarations of the king or be dissolved. 

 Reports were circulated that plots were being formed against the 

 national assembly. There was even talk of a second royal session, 

 having for its object the suspension of the estates for a month.^^^ 



Necker says, in speaking of the orders for the concentration of 



^^^ Assemblee nationale, 1, 319. 



569 Duquesnoy, Journal, I, 171 ; Bulletins d'un agent secret, July 8, states 

 that at the session it would be announced that the three orders had been 

 together long enough, that the first two should retire to their chambers ; 

 Journal de JJardy (VIII, July 9, 381) states that the object was to sus- 

 pend the session of the assembly for a month under the pretext of waiting 

 until the constituents had addressed less imperative mandates to their 

 deputies. 



402 



