132 Ethel Lee Howie 



You can assure the assembly of the states-general that they (the troops) 

 are destined only to repress or rather to prevent new disorders, to maintain 

 order and to execute the laws, to assure and protect the liberty which 

 should reign in your deliberations. All kind of constraint should be ban- 

 ished, just as all apprehension of tumult and violence should be turned 

 aside. It was only evil intentioned people who could mislead my people 

 concerning the true motives of the measures of precaution which I take. 

 I have constantly sought to do all that might tend to their happiness and 

 I have always had cause to be assured of their love and their fidelity. 



If, however, the necessary presence of the troops in the environs 

 of Paris still causes misgivings I would consent, on the request of the 

 states-general, to transfer them to Noyon or to Soissons; and then I 

 would go to Compiegne, in order to maintain the communication which 

 there should be between the assembly and myself. '^"^ 



This answer of the king shows clearly that he did not recognize 

 the national assembly ; neither did he give his real motive in bring- 

 ing the troops to Paris. But how was the king's answer received 

 by the assembly? The Marquis de Crillon proposed a testimony 

 to the king of " love and confidence," as the assembly could have 

 no fear once the word and the assurance of the king had been 

 given. We see in this suggestion what the attitude of the upper 

 orders was. They naturally would do nothing to check the coup 

 d'etat. Mirabeau, however, opposed this motion, stating that no 

 one disputed their love and confidence in the king, but there were 

 some objects concerning which confidence should rest on knowl- 

 edge. The removal of the assembly would indicate that the mem- 

 bers were afraid. He advocated remaining at Versailles but in- 

 sisted on the removal of the army. He asked that the question of 

 the renewal of the protest to the king be considered, urging that 

 the assembly should be careful not to give the idea that it had 

 taken a " vain and inconsiderate step." It is reported that the 

 Archbishop of Vienne favored a discussion of the question and 



^^^ Proccs-verbal, I, No. 21, 2; Courrier de Provence, 1, 19th letter, 7-8; 

 Duquesnoy, Journal, I, 180-186, gives the sense but not the exact terms 

 of the response; Biauzat, Sa vie et sa correspondance, II, 173, states, " Ce- 

 pendant la reponse que le roi fit hier a nos deputes est expressive de senti- 

 ments affectueux. C'est qu'on ne le croit pas capable de tenir des propos 

 durs lorsqu'il a le temps de reflechir " ; Bulletins dc I'assanblee nationale, 

 July II. 



414 



