The guards of the king are neutralized; they are disoriented, soldiers are raised; the situation of Louis XVI; his speech; inquisitorial mode; the business of Avignon; various reflections; speech by Mr. Gilbert des Voisins to his soldiers; hotheads employed by the national assembly; infamy of the municipalities.

As soon as the king was made a prisoner (because this is what he was in reality) to diminish the loyalty which was due him, a rumour was spread that the throne was surrounded by conspirators. This spread alarm and managed to break the ancient chain which bound the French with their king.

It was published, with an incredible boldness, that fidelity and obedience were no longer principal virtues of the soldier, and it cost enormous sums to spread this kind of propaganda. Lameth distributed to Nancy more than 300 thousand books.

As a consequence, Mr. D' Hervilly was accosted by his own soldiers; Mirabeau, the cadet, dared to carry away the ties of the flags of his regiment. And in Perpignan there was a considerable revolt. The marines were worked in a similar manner. At Toulon, d'Albert de Riom was almost thrown into the sea. Women were used to seduce the soldiers. They entered the barracks and plied the soldiers with brandy.

In vain Louis XVI tried to revive a spirit of decorum. He was simply mocked and insulted by jeering lampoonists, and so public opinion was corrupted. The unfortunate monarch even had powerful enemies in England. Lord Stanhope and the doctor Price attacked him unceasingly.

The more Louis showed himself candid and frank, the greater were the efforts to blacken him. Licence posed under the guise of freedom, and insolence and audacity masqueraded as equality.

Louis was still surrounded by an illusion of splendour.
Flattered by the royalists who misled him; rejected by the representatives of his people who scorned him, he groaned from all the disorder which he could not repress. He had a right
to complain.

Here is an extract of the speech he made at the assembly on February 4, 1790. I enjoy tracing this good king's steps because all his actions reveal the excellence of his character.

"The gravity of the circumstances in which France finds itself brings me into your midst. The progressive relaxation of all the bonds of order and subordination; the suspension, or inactivity of justice; dissatisfactions which are born from particular privations; opposition and hatreds which unhappily stem from prolongued grievances; and finally, the general agitation of the spirits, all seem to have converged upon us thus obliging true friends of prosperity and the happiness of the kingdom to meet together and consider these matters."

"A great challenge presents itself for your consideration... It was, I must say, in a manner more soft and tranquil that I hoped to guide you, when I originally formed the intention of having you assemble together. However, let us deliver with faith the hopes for a better tomorrow which we can conceive...

Everyone knows that the monarch and the representatives are united in the same interest and are of one accord... Those which gave up great pecuniary privileges, those

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who no longer form a political order in the state as before, find themselves subjected to sacrifices of which I know the importance. But I am persuaded they will have enough generosity to seek compensation through public advantages by which the establishment of the national assemblies presents the hope."

"I too would have many losses to count if in the course of the great interests of the state I stopped to consider my personal fortunes, but I find complete compensation in the increase of happiness in the nation, and I express this sentiment from the bottom of my heart."

"Without question, in completing your work you will occupy yourselves surely with wisdom and frankness. The strengthening of the executive power, a condition without which under no circumstances could there exist any durable order from within or without. Put distrust behind you. Thus it is your duty to ensure, for the good of the state and public freedom, this stability which can derive from only one active and guardian authority."

"You will keep in mind, surely, that without such an authority, all the parts

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of your system of constitution would remain at the same time without bond and coherence, and with regard to your deliberations about freedom which you and I both love, do not lose sight of the fact that the disorder in administration, by bringing confusion as to responsibilities, often degenerates under violent and passionate men into the most dangerous and alarming of all tyrannies.

It is not me, gentlemen, and my personal well-being that counts for anything, but the happiness of our homeland that is all-important. I invite you to free yourselves from all the impressions of the moment that would prevent you from seeing the whole picture. Consider what the kingdom of France requires; consider its vast domain and its immense population. Consider its relations with other countries...

What are the chances, unless calm is restored, of new troubles
spreading through the provinces? And what are the chances of devoting new repressive measures to these? Light the way which the people have forsaken. Oh, if they only knew how unhappy I am with the news of unjust attacks against their fortunes, or of any act of violence against the people! Perhaps your efforts will spare us this painful prospect. Those who

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spare me from this bitterness by restoring a spirit of harmony even if it means making me a scapegoat for all the the memories which grieve them, I will reward them through my recognition and affection."

When the king withdrew, the queen said to those close to her,

"I share the sentiments of the king. I join him in heart and spirit in the love for his people that made him say what he did. Look, here is my son. I will unceasingly instill in him the best virtues of his fathers, and I will teach him early how to respect public freedom and to uphold laws which, I believe, he will be the firmest support."

After this initiative by the sovereign, whether out of sober reflection, disinterest or respect, isn't it astonishing that the genius who directed the assembly did not stop degrading him!

But what constitutes a monarchy? It is a system in which a single individual governs according to laws. And what is the will of the French people? That their representatives make the laws in liaison with the sovereign. Thus there must be a direct relationship between the assembly and the king. Thus there must be a balance of power because without it the deputies, agents with coercive power, would become

oligarchical tyrants as were the tyrants of Athens.

The king had the power to veto a law, a right attached to the position of monarch; why then was it considered a bad thing that he used the veto? Why should he be required to sanction what he disapproved of? And why should the king be reduced to a subordinate signatory? Indeed, the doge of Genoa even has the right to put into the debate various proposals which he considers suitable while this same privilege would be refused to the head of a vast empire because twenty thoughtless individuals wish to exert exclusive domination!

French people, in order that the proceedings do not blind you any more, it is time to lift the veil of error. Was it ever your intention that your delegates be allowed to wield both legislative and executive powers? Tell us! "But this is necessary," declare your deputies, "otherwise nothing would be accomplished." But, as I said before, if you want a monarchy then do not strip the monarch of his monarchical prerogatives; and if he is to be considered supreme, then it is essential for the king to be free.

On March 16, 1790, the lettre de cachets were

abolished and this permitted the return of those who had been sent into exile.

This decree was certainly welcome but it blinded people to the immense powers handed over to the new administrative bodies. These bodies wanted to reign as despots in their cantons and to enforce their municipal deliberations with military discipline.

Revenge was the only motivation of these little tyrants. Incapable of wise judgments they harangued priests with insults and slander while the nobility found itself between fire and assassins. And since their conduct was not reproved, it gave the appearance of representing the views of the national assembly.

This course struck astonishment amongst all that were not part of the rabble. This astonishment gave way to fear, and fear led to stupor. In the end one grew to respect the representatives in the same way that the Manicheans grew to embrace the dispensers of all evils.

Then a new decree appeared on June 20, 1790. It declared that the orders of French nobility and titles were no longer to be recognized. This was certain to heighten the tensions amongst those affected and it soon had its effect. The emigrants fled

in all directions and didn't have to prove that the flames of contention that had ignited in France could set the whole of Europe ablaze.

Then the inquisitorial regime established itself with great force. The city of Paris obliged all the people who would like to travel to obtain an application for a passport, and it ordered the districts to obtain very precise information before forwarding these applications. Whatever honesty was ascribed to the applicant was at the whim of the certifiers.

Meanwhile the committee overseeing the police force insisted that the street vendors shouted only the decrees of the assembly and the districts forced homeowners and tenants to give an account of all changes in tenancies. Finally the system of oppression was established which was always on the increase.

When tyrants, jealous of their authority, take such actions, it isn't particularly extraordinary, but when 1200 citizens chosen by a powerful nation to reform abuses comprise this kind of tyranny - this is difficult to conceive. About this time, the spirit of insurrection was propagated

beyond French borders and particularly at Avignon which became soon, like France, a theatre of horrors and carnage. [It was observed that the southernmost territories have a ferocity which exceeded even the northern regions. Theodore Beze relates how, during the wars of religion, the inhabitants of Orange reflecting on the corpses of the catholics killed at Mornas and thrown into the river, had signs posted which declared: "Toll collectors of Avignon, let these men pass; they have paid their dues at Mornas."] This city, whipped up by seditious agitators on the pretext of oppression (while there was no society more free and less subjected to taxation) declared itself independent and then wanted to place itself under French domination.

This possession of the Pope, goes back as far as 1273 for the comtat Venaissin, and then simply Avignon until 1348. There are no princes in Europe who have older titles and who were more
revered; truly the kings of France had been several times in possession of the comtat Venaissin. Louis XIV seized it in 1663 but restored it again in 1664 under the Treaty of Pisa. Then in 1688 he repeated this act of authority but restored it again in 1689.

Louis XV followed this example in 1769 and similarly restored it in 1774. For a long time the seeds of discord fermented in Avignon which burst out on June 10, 1790 with violence, and blood ran in the streets of this unfortunate city. Citizens cut each others' throats simply over opinions. Capitulation did not seem to stop the carnage either. The following night arrests were renewed, scaffolds were erected and many were the virtuous citizens who underwent this infamous torment. Since then this city has been the theatre of all the horrors that the human mind
can invent.

It is within this milieu of abominable scenes that the vile ones of Avignon declared loudly its independence and demanded its reunification with the French empire.

Is it, after all, surprising, amongst so much violence when a crowd of fugitive citizens had deserted the city, and considering one could collect a free wish when the municipality was shaken and higher authorities demanded rigorous accounts which probably everyone wanted to avoid?

However a member of the assembly,

named Bouche, after having quickly reviewed the history of Avignon, declared that his small territory intercepts communications, and by its location provides refuge to all
defrauders, robbers, etc.; that it is the cradle of ill will, and therefore that it is necessary to accept the wishes of the Avignonnais people. This Mr. Bouche had undoubtedly forgotten the decrees by which the assembly had declared that France did not want to increase.

At that time, the whole of Europe was in motion. The disorganization of the French monarchy worried all the powers and everywhere preparations were being made to at least halt the contagion. With the first news, in France, of this general build-up, armies joined together from various regions; military bases were established, and workshops of iron and bronze, and
munitions factories arose. As if by magic a million men were pressed into uniform as the military evolved.

Coblentz became a gathering place for the emigrants where zealous partisan spirits emerged and quarrels led to the profuse spilling of French blood.

There was talk of an Austrian faction which communicated secretly with the court in Vienna. Nothing could have been further from the truth. It was designed to make the queen odious and to give the king the appearance of bad faith so as to provide the pretext for watching him carefully, i.e., to reinforce the bonds that held him captive.

This atrocious calumny was heralded in a victorious way but it produced the effect that one expected. It takes time to destroy the error that one moment gives birth to. It is impossible that the national assembly were the only ones unable to realize that its operations were bad and that, if it proceeded with its disorganized plan, it would result in continual seditions in which its members would one day become victims. However, one is not a prophet in his own country. This is a proverb and, therefore, the truth. Being insensitive, this assembly failed to realize that by giving its successors an example of despotism, it had prepared a disorder much larger than the one which it came to alleviate.

In good faith, could it believe that France, delivered to 83 departments, each made up of 5 or more districts, could be controlled

like a single body moving at the impulse of the same spirit? Hadn't it seen the innumerable abuses of this administration? What nonsense! Thirty-six intendants did the work and now it is necessary for more than six thousand administrators and perhaps thirty thousand offices to accomplish the same business [this was the cause of the shortage of wood], and now a power made up of 40 thousand municipalities is set up which tyrannizes the whole area of the kingdom.

Limit the freedom of the people and despotism results; this truth is self-evident. Can one believe that 1000 or 1200 men, more or less, taken away every two years from their studies, their workshops, their shops, their ploughs, can manage a great empire? Isn't a permanent assembly nothing but a continual source of jealousies, intrigue, disorders and expenditures? If the laws are good, then what good is an assembly of the people? When the architect finishes his building, his presence is no longer needed and he goes away.

Would it not be better to call for an assembly of the people every five years to reform any abuses and to amend those laws which

are proving difficult to execute? And wouldn't it have been wiser not to choose Paris for the place of the gathering because the interests of its enormous population are not the same as those of the other parts of France? It is unique in its exclusive circulation such as the operations of its exchanges, great businesses, the multitudes from abroad who are attracted there by various interests - these are thousands of doors to fortune which would be affected by continuous disorder.

Ah! that means this city has corrupt legislators who are passionate! In a great monarchy, however, the authority of the king and that of the monarch are inseparable. If you isolate these two authorities then these capacities merge, run together, destroy themselves and there is no more order.

It was intended to expose the French nation to contempt by demoting the quality of king to a public servant because this dressing-up demeans the monarchy. However, it isn't possible for the king to be a mere public servant as were the consuls of Rome.

Even if he retained executive power,

it wouldn't be possible because he was only the titular head of the executive branch, a position he held by law. But when this supremacy was removed from him, then the chain of command was broken; it was scattered and then everyone wanted
to reign, and thus nobody had to obey.

It was said that it was necessary to destroy the despotism of the king and that of the ministers, that of the intendants, that of finances, etc. But when one has jaundice, all the objects appear yellow. It is absurd to have confused despotism with the administrative order which obviously requires a firmness to accomplish its mandate. Furthermore, nothing was easier than to moderate all the despotisms through checks-and-balances by fixing the authorities in a precise way. At least that would have been better than establishing a despotism of the departments, the despotism of the districts, the municipal despotism, the despotism of the committee of research, the despotism of the clubs, the despotism of the soldiers, the despotism of follicular, and finally the despotism of the rabble. Most tyrannical of all was the punishment meted out by this unwise control - it wasn't slow and methodical because the police force and safety had disappeared, as well as the arts, and the poor no longer obtained any more charity while an alarming 'tax' was put on diverse merchandise by the greediness of merchants who charged exorbitant prices.

Confidence (basic to commerce) was replaced with brigandage; food shortages resulted while civil and military anarchy crowned the inconsistencies of the legislators. To prove this last truth, here is a speech that Mr. Gilbert des Voisins pronounced to his troops at Valence, June 4, 1790.

"SOLDIERS: France is being tested by a revolution for which history provides no examples. The kingdom is undergoing a general subversion; all authorities are destroyed and degraded; the courts of justice have been leveled; the nobility cannot help the peasant or the day laborer; and the military has dishonoured itself.

"Some ambitious people, under the false promise of a better order of things, and of a freedom one thousand times more odious than the most dreadful despotism, have managed to arm the people against a constitution as old as the monarchy itself, in which there were indeed some abuses that needed to be reformed.

"They have managed to turn the French people whose character was one of softness into a cruel and unruly mob. They have been detached from the love which they hitherto bore for their king. They are seen insulting

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his majesty and his palace, soiling it with blood, and tearing it all apart.

"Soldiers, you who were formerly my companions, I want you to contemplate this state of affairs. I urge you to quiver with remorse at this horror because you have given yourselves to licence and indiscipline; you ignored and insulted your officers; you degraded yourselves by being seduced by the charms lavished upon you by traitors. Yes, you encouraged, served and helped propagate this disorder so that, thanks to you, the king is now impotent, France is without a government, and the fatherland is without defenders.

"Ah! What great misfortune! Be ashamed of yourselves for what you have done, but now repair your errors. Unite behind the princes in order to return to the king his former freedom and power. Unite behind the military to restore its respect. And unite behind France to restore its happiness."

The national assembly knew her force well only after the storming of the Bastille and the seige of the Palace of Versailles. Sensing by these two spectacles how easy it was to lead the people, it employed all its means to fanaticize the public completely. By holding it unceasingly on edge, every possible means of inflaming its passions were proposed.

The induced pride produced astonishing effects as these initiatives issued from the fangs of the dominators.

The propaganda for modesty not only had an effect on fashion when modesty became little more than a masquerade, but friendship too became only a caricature of the real thing. In place of the solid bonds which link hearts together, one saw nothing more than fragile nets which swim in the air, carried aloft by the winds.

The propaganda for patriotism, in theory, was to produce fraternity, freedom, equality, virtue, etc. But in practice it was only a question of personal interests. Each patriot felt that our heritage touched him only a little, but he spoke of it in such an affectionate way that one would believe that a real patriotic fervor existed. One only had to say that he was 'patriotic' in order to be it indeed. The wise people shouted, "Destroy this propaganda machine because it will afflict the families," while others said, "Far from destroying it, it should be strengthened." While some attacked it, others defended it, and in the end they all wound up cutting each others' throats.

The people resembled children well enough;

Of all the wellsprings which drive men to do what they do, none is more powerful than fanaticism. The Turk, fanaticized by the prophet Mohammed, will put to death someone for drinking wine that some dignitary presented him in an emerald cup.

Fanaticize the people en masse, give them weapons, torches and daggers, and they will set fires, plunder and massacre. In fact they will do more: they will believe whatever one can imagine - the more absurd, the better.

Do you want an example? Read the annals of Genoa. You will see that during the crusades an army of pilgrims went to Syria persuaded that the sea would roll back to deliver them safely across.

Once the human spirit has departed from the paths of reality, it bypasses truth and finally finds itself in darkness where the torch of the reason dies out completely. "Give me licence," said Cromwell "and I will raise a regiment of murderers".

I say, therefore, that to stifle the force of the malcontents is to further fanaticize the people, stirring them up to cannibalistic tragedies.

The instigators of these horrors were not ignored. In fact, the public voice called for them by name and the assembly knew who its gangrenous members were, but it allowed the evil to become inveterate.

The whole mass of the legislators allowed these orators to take center stage; they were made presidents of clubs and spoke in theatres where the man most inciteful was the most applauded. This is where denouncements were made without evidence resulting in proscriptions. This is where the alleged 'public opinion' was merely the opionions flowing out of the brains of some hot-headed rowdy characters who were animated by fury, revenge and stupidity.

While the people delivered themselves with impetuosity over to the most dreadful brigandage, here is how the bodies that made up the provinces behaved. Some features will foreshadow the horrors which inevitably formed the terrible chain of the revolution.

The Carthusian monks of Cahors cultivated dwarf trees for themselves and their friends and they made a gift of four small pear trees to Mr. de Beaumont,

The municipality of Cahors, thoroughly zealous and stupidly 'politically correct' declares, "Mr. de Beaumont guilty of having brazenly and maliciously degraded the national goods, and condemns him to a fine of 300 liv. and orders that the four dwarf pear trees be carried on Wednesday, market day, to the front of the door of Mr. de Beaumont where it will remain four days, and to be guarded at his expense by four officers to whom will be attached a sign stating: 'Louis de Beaumont, Degrader of National Goods', and furthermore that he would have one thousand specimens of the sentence printed for public distribution and posting."

Here is the beginning of popular jurisprudence. Far from eliciting an outcry it appeared to be publicly approved.

I don't doubt that the four dwarf trees which were carried like a trophy with the sentinels placed close by them, produced in Cahors a great sensation in the same way that some travelling acrobats amuse and excite you by their nonsensical antics. And we would expect that from the the mayor of Cahors who was an imbecile full of gall,

A pregnant woman was ill at the village of Equéherien, near Guise, and she was known for loving her former Pastor more than the new one. The magistrates of the village came to her home accompanied by the new priest. "Madam," said the man standing before her dressed in his black garb, "You are in danger and it is necessary for you to make confession and take absolution." - "Dear sirs, truly I have sinned, but I know what I have done, and ask that you please withdraw."

Then the officers took off their scarves and with blows from their batons they drove away the caretakers of this woman. "This is a police matter and you will confess now, Madam." This poor unfortunate person who believed in freedom suffered such trauma from the commotion that she gave birth prematurely and the baby died.

I have more serious facts to relate, but those, taken randomly in a multitude strike me as revealing because the object of the

Then the courts of justice and administration became confused and all was abandoned to the vagaries of force.

The jurisdiction of departments and districts and the powers granted to the municipalities and to soldiers had no limits. And as men are inclined to extend their domination, it naturally followed that the machinery of government being without a rudder or regulator had to do the bidding of its springs and thus one could readily anticipate the complete destruction of its wheels.

Such were, in general, the circumstances which led to a multitude of emigrations. And which man could rightly blame one for abandoning one's country where all the authority and force are in the hands of those who are delirious with fury?