'What was the obvious mode of restraining the mob? To guard all the avenues of the palace-to shut the gates of the courts and gardens, and even the doors of the buildings-to place at all the entrances brave men, determined to show a bold front and to support each other-to make a barrier of their bodies-to present an immoveable resistance, and to cover themselves by their bayonets. I once saw at Metz 600 brave men resist for ten hours a mob of 6000, who wanted to destroy a warehouse, and I am convinced that a firm resistance will always be effective for the preservation of persons and property. Now, I ask, whose duty was it to make these preparations on that 20th June? The military commandant-general's, beyond all doubt. The municipality had nothing to do with it. The mayor had given a general order to the commandant-general to double the force at the Tuileries, and to take all other measures for ensuring the public tranquillity, and therefore the mayor had done all he could or ought to do.'-p. 125-7.

We do not quote this as presenting the real state of the case as to Pétion-and to refute it we should need but to quote M. Rœderer's preceding account of the whole of Pétion's conduct;-we shall content ourselves with one out of a hundred passages :towards the conclusion of the affair, Pétion, says M. Roederer, harangued the mob and concluded with these words :

The people has done its duty-yes, you have acted with the elevation and dignity of freemen-but you have done enough. Let all now withdraw.'-p. 57.

-It is not therefore as regards Pétion that we have quoted the former passage, but we beg our readers, when they shall arrive at the statement of the measures of defence taken on the 10th of August, to bear in mind M. Roederer's recorded opinions of the mode by which such an assault could and ought to be resisted.

At this time Roederer did not anticipate that he should so soon have an opportunity of putting his plan into practice. He wrote to the King on the 7th July,

'Sire, The events of the 20th of June will not be repeated-the causes which produced them no longer exist.'-p. 172.

This prophecy appears to us to place M. Roederer in an awkward dilemma-either he knew nothing of the state of the capital, or he was acting with insincerity and fraud towards the King. Now, unluckily every page of his work shows that he knew perfectly the state of the public mind, and he must have been deaf and blind not to have known it. But another circumstance which occurred about this time throws additional doubts over Roederer's sincerity in favour of the constitutional monarchy.

His colleagues in the council general of the Department-all eminent constitutionalists-La Rochefoucault-Talleyrand, &c. -finding that they could not repress the illegal usurpations of

Pétion

Pétion and the municipality, resigned in the week between the 18th and 23rd July-Roederer, hitherto their cordial colleague and co-operator, alone kept his place. Without taking upon ourselves to answer the question which he puts- Was I wrong? Were they right?'-(p. 276.)—we may at least say that Roederer must be understood to have separated himself, by this act, from the constitutional principles of his former colleagues, and to have adopted those of their Jacobin successors.

He tells us that his particular attachment (liaison particulière) was to Vergniaud (p. 27)-the eloquent leader of the Gironde, and to Gaudet and Duclos, two of its most remarkable members. We suspect that there is here some little equivocation. We do not believe that Roederer had any liaison particulière with Vergniaud. Ræderer's representative life ended before that of Vergniaud began. One came from the north-east, the other from the south-west corner of France, nor have we ever found, except in this assertion, any trace of such a liaison. It is very remarkable, that when, on the morning of the 20th June, Roederer made, at the bar of the Convention, a very judicious and spirited remonstrance against the assembling armed mobs under the pretence of petitioning, and against the countenance given to such disorders by the Assembly itself, his propositions were opposed only by Vergniaud and Gaudet. This proves beyond doubt either that there was an infamous juggle between them, or-as we confidently believe -that there was, at this time, no liaison particulière between Rœderer and these two men. We therefore conclude that Roederer's adhesion to the Girondins must have taken place when he broke with his old constitutional friends on the subject of Petion's suspension.

M. Roederer-a courtier of the son of Egalité-will not now be offended at our saying that we have always considered him as of the Orleans party, to which Brissot and others of the Gironde originally belonged, and we suspect that any acquaintance he may have had with Vergniaud arose from this connexion. But Vergniaud has become a popular name, and Roederer is not sorry to ally himself to it, though he does not tell us any point of his conduct that was influenced by that liaison. If the truth were told, we believe it would appear that Roederer knew a great deal more of Robespierre than he did of Vergniaud. We, however, so far concur in M. Roederer's statements, as to admit that, on the 10th August, he was acting-probably in concert-certainly in accordance with the Girondins-up to this period only a section of the Jacobins, but who about this time began to place themselves, as they hoped, in a juste milieu between the real Constitutionaliststhe friends of Louis XVI.-and the Mountain; and for this purpose condescended to associate themselves to the intriguers who

were

were preparing the Tenth of August, in the hope of being able to Ride in the whirlwind and direct the storm.'

Indeed Roederer himself gives this-or rather a still more odiousview of the policy of the Gironde at this period:

Things were going faster and farther than the Girondins wished; they were terrified at the rapidity of the popular movement. Their situation was, indeed, become perilous between the Court and M. Lafayette on the one side, and the Jacobins on the other. Their policy now was to temporise-to gain time-to work upon the fears of the Court and on its gratitude, and, by at once protecting and menacing it, to reduce it to the alternative of being crushed by the Jacobins, or of throwing itself into the hands of the Girondins. In pursuance of this system a threatening address to the King was resolved upon. Its menacing and insulting language was to be such as should maintain the wavering popularity of the Girondins with the Jacobins, without, however, delivering them up their prey. Gaudet, the most eloquent of the Gironde party, next to, but long behind Vergniaud, drew up and moved the address.'-p. 229.

These are candid and valuable avowals. They tell us nothing indeed that we had not before inferred from the acts and speeches of the Gironde, but it is good to have them thus put beyond all question by the voluntary confession of one of the party. Roederer adds another trait, which, though but a corollary, deserves separate notice. The address attributes the existing tumults to the dismissal of the former Girondin ministers, and Roederer, in approbation of this suggestion, says,—

This allusion is the mark (cachet) of the Deputies of the Girondethey wished for a constitution and a King-but they wished that the King should be constitutional, and that his ministry should be such as would be a guarantee of his intentions.'—p. 300.

That is, they wished for Egalité as king and themselves as ministers. With these glimpses of the secret policy of the Gironde, and these indications that Roederer was anxious to carry it into effect, we now proceed to the account of his own share in the closing scene of these memorable transactions.

The 9th August, at a quarter past ten at night, the minister of justice came to the Department, and told me that the king would send for me if necessary.

At three-quarters past ten I was summoned to the palace. I arrived at eleven. The drums were beating to arms in all the neighbourhood-in the apartments were several persons, but no crowd. I entered the council-room, or the King's closet-he was there with the Queen, Madame Elizabeth, and his ministers-I gave his Majesty the last accounts which had reached me-nothing remarkable had hitherto taken place, but there was a great agitation. I wrote a note to desire the mayor

(Pétion)

(Pétion) to come to the palace-as I was sealing it he came. He gave the King an account of the state of Paris-he then came to me-we chatted upon indifferent subjects, till Mandat, the commandant-general of the national guard,* and Boubé, the secretary-general of the staff, joined us. Mandat complained to the mayor that the Administrators of the municipality had refused him powder-the mayor replied, "You had not taken the preliminary steps to entitle you to have it "—a debate arose on this point-the mayor asked Mandat whether he had not some powder remaining from former deliveries--Mandat said, that " None of his men had more than nine cartridges, and many none at all, and that they naturally complained of this." This conversation ended here. The mayor then said "It is dreadfully hot here-I shall go down and take a little fresh air." I, however, expected news from the Department, which had promised to let me hear from them from hour to hour, and I sat down in a corner.'-p. 394.

This looks as if Pétion, having thus by an insidious question, ascertained the want of the means of defence, hastened away to apprise his fellow-conspirators.

'About half-past eleven came a letter from the Department-nothing positive known-the hour for ringing the tocsin was not comee-I then went down stairs alone to take the air, and I went into the court-I was stopped by several national guards-I then turned into the garden-there again I met sentinels-I was walking down the centre alley, when I met a group composed of Pétion, some municipal officers, and members of the commune, and about fifteen or twenty young national guards, who were singing and dancing about the mayorthey stopped me, and Pétion proposed to me to take a turn-"With pleasure!"'—we walked to the end of the terrace on the river side, till hearing the drums beat to arms at the palace, we went back.'

Let it be here observed, that the two magistrates charged with the defence of the palace reject the application of the military commandant for the ammunition necessary to that defence; and while every quarter of the city confided to their care was in a state of the most alarming excitement, they stroll about the garden for a little fresh air.

During our walk, I could not but express to the mayor my grief at the general agitation, and my fears for the consequences-the mayor however was more at his ease-"I hope it will end in nothing-commissioners have been sent to the places of meeting--Thomas tells me there will be nothing-Thomas must know." I knew nothing about this Thomas.'-p. 396.

Je ne sais qui est ce Thomas-yet with this reference to a name he never heard before the Procureur-Syndic is satisfied.-Perhaps, we may help M. Roederer to some knowledge of this Thomas,'

*After the resignation of Lafayette the chief command of the National Guards was taken in rotation by the colonels of the six legions which composed the whole body. M. Mandat was colonel of the third legion, and unhappily for him in rotation of command in the month of August, 1792.

upon

upon whose opinions, it seems, the destinies of the world turned. Was he not a certain Jean Jacques Thomas-an active member of the Jacobin Club-assessor to the Jugé de Paris, and first elector of the section des Lombards-residing No. 204, Rue St. Denisand a busy and influential man in that populous district?

After some conversation with some other gentlemen of the group on indifferent subjects, [on indifferent subjects, though the drums were beating to arms!] we reached the palace, and were at the foot of the great stairs when they came to tell Pétion that the Assembly had sent for him-He went, and I ascended to the royal apartments— I passed through the rooms without stopping, and went at once to the king's closet; my place could neither be in the first nor second anteroom. [Equality, with a vengeance!] It was then half an hour past midnight-I had soon after another letter of intelligence from the Department-great agitation in the faubourg St. Antoine, but as ye no assemblage. I acquainted the ministers with this, and the King, Queen, and Madame Elizabeth successively read my letter.

Soon after the King received a verbal report, agreeing with my letter-I know not from whom, for whenever any news arrived, or that the King made a movement, twenty people pressed around him, while I remained where I was.

At three-quarters past twelve the tocsin was heard on all sidesthe windows were open-every one went to them to listen-and some would affect to recognise the bell of this church or of that. Another letter from the Department announces that the Faubourg St. Antoine is in motion-that there are, however, not above fifteen hundred or two thousand men assembled-but that the gunners are all ready with their cannon, and that the citizens are all standing at their own doors, armed, and ready to join the march. I read this to the ministers, and, I think, to the King and Queen. One of the ministers, I do not remember which, now asked me "if there was not now a case to proclaim martial law?" I replied, "that since the law of the 3d August, 1791, martial law could only be proclaimed when the public tranquillity should be habitually disturbed; but here," said I, " is a very different state of things from a simple disturbance of the public tranquillity-this is a revolt, which is stronger than martial law, or than the power which should proclaim it. It is quite idle to think of such a thing for our present circumstances moreover, it belongs not to the Department to proclaim martial law even if it were proper, but to the municipality." The minister replies, "We think the Department has the right." I insisted on the negative, and after consulting the text of the law, continued of the same opinion.'

Here M. Roederer thinks it necessary to add a note, which, in his general abstinence from revealing anything like the real motive of his words or actions, becomes an important explanation of the foregoing passage :

If even I had had the legal right to direct the municipality to proclaim martial law, if I had a force stronger than the revolt, and if the

national