Departure of the king's aunts; day known as 'The Daggers'; the king's escape; his declaration to all the French people; report by Drouet; humiliation of all sorts that the monarch suffers.

February 19, 1792, was the day that the king's aunts started for Italy; they were stopped at Arnay-le Duc, in Burgundy; the event justified because they had taken a very large party.

The unfortunate Louis XVI was confined to a tiny room which he could not leave. For consolation he had only a company of friends with whom, stripped of any class distinction, he unburdened his sorrows freely. But even in this single luxury a cruel fate wanted him to be even more isolated. In order to accomplish this, phony letters were circulated informing the public that the king and his family were not safe.

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This caused a great many royalists to come to his apartments. A few days thereafter, there was great excitement arising from false news that a man armed with a dagger had been apprehended at the king's residence. This led to tumult in the suburb of St. Antoine. Meanwhile, Santerre, at the head of a horde of brigands, went to Vincennes and caused enormous damage there and greatly alarming the inhabitants. Made indignant, Lafayette went there to fight him; won a victory; and returned full of pride.

Things took a turn for the worse on October 6, 1791 when four to five hundred armed gentlemen went to the king's apartments willing to sacrifice their lives if necessary, but when the people heard of it, they were resolved to cut the throats of these royal defenders. Officers of the national guard informed them they would certainly perish, along with the royal family, if they did not give up their weapons. The people believed they were united, armed, and committed to fight on the king's behalf.

Sharp ultimatums were given, but the king's ministers managed to calm the volatile situation. Louis XVI then admonished


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his defenders to surrender their weapons to him, and to withdraw. As these brave people left, they were roughly treated by the rabble. Several even died from blows which they received under the watchful eyes of Lafayette who sang "Ca Ira" with the rest of them. The General, finally, went to the royal apartments; was given the cache of weapons which were in the custody of the king, and spoke to the king in a lofty tone. Such was this infamous day that became known as the Day of Daggers in order to demonize the royal defenders who took part in it.

Then a plan was hatched in which the king, overcome with grief, would be constrained to abandon the national assembly. Then, making his escape through an abdication, he would be dethroned in the same manner that Jacques II had been years earlier. The royalists saw in this exit strategy the only means of recovering his authority. Charles V had given the example of this happening. The parties were agreed in this respect, but they differed in their reasons. However, this last avenue was cut off to him in a cruel way.


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One day he was in a carriage with his family when suddenly it was surrounded by national guards who ordered him to stop. The king, however, ordered his coachman onward and the horses were urged to carry on. The royal family was then given an obscene gesture and forced to halt. The astonished king said he was on his way to St. Cloud which he was permitted to do. The people then spat against the queen the vilest of profanities while a soldier even dared to pull down his pants in a gesture of gross indecency.

Gen. Lafayette was present, but far from protecting the sovereign by the force of the troops under his command, he proposed quite simply to deploy the red flag signifying the imposition of martial law. Louis XVI, always wishing to avoid the shedding of the blood of his subjects, preferred to retrench rather than exacerbate the standoff. The scene lasted one hour, and what did the national assembly do? Nothing. Finally, Louis XVI, overpowered under the weight of humiliation, stripped of any means of repression, degraded by the people's representatives who themselves published incendiary articles in the newspapers against him, decided to take his party and move away.

It is very probable that his intention was not


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to leave his kingdom altogether, but to re-establish his court at Montmédy, a fortified town on the border. There he could fulfill engagements that had been previously arranged to his advantage. There he could protest against the debacle that was unfolding and unveil a wiser plan, one involving less turbulent legislators. Lafayette was informed of this plan because women of the court gave an account to him of all that transpired, to the point that he even had a sample of the fabric that the queen would be wearing on her excursion out of Paris.

The king left furtively on the night of June 21, 1790, as did his brother. He left behind a declaration to the French people, of which here are a few snippets:

Declaration of the king to the people of France...

"As long as the king could hope to see a restoration of order and happiness in the kingdom by an average number of the participants of the national assembly, and the king's residence near it in the capital of the kingdom which saw no lack of personal sacrifice by him... but today the only reward of so much sacrifice is to see the destruction of the royalty,


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to see all the powers misused, properties violated, the safety of the people endangered everywhere, crimes going unpunished, and a complete anarchy being established above the laws, without so much as the appearance of authority which the new constitution gives them, that is to say sufficient to repair even one of the evils which afflict the kingdom..."

"the king, after having solemnly protested against all the acts emanating from the national assembly during his captivity, believes it his duty to place under the eyes of the French people and the world, the full panorama of his conduct and that of the government which has taken over in the kingdom".

"His majesty was seen, in July 1789, to turn aside any subject of distrust, even to the point of calling off the troops which had been called to serve as a bodyguard for his person."

"For a long time he prevented movements which were to burst forth on October 5. He could have withdrawn, but he preferred to sacrifice himself than to personally ignite a civil war."

"Yielding to the wishes of Parisians, he was established at the Tuileries, though, for 100 years no king had made his usual residence there, and no preparations had been made for him to be there."

"He instructed his bodyguards to move away from him -


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men who had given him the strongest evidence of their fidelity, thus resigning himself a prisoner under a guard arranged by the city of Paris."

"He convened the States General; doubled the deputies of the third states; smoothed out the difficulties; curtailed his expenditures; he reunited the orders when this wish was only hinted at."

"When the States General assumed the name of national assembly, and they began to deal with the constitution, the assembly left the king out of the constitution, leaving him with a mere facade of royalty."

"By giving him 25 million livres for the expenditure of the civil list, he was put into an awkward position with regards to his inheritance which he received from his ancestors."

"In arrangements regarding finance, no regard was given to the services which the sovereign rendered."

"The king was prevented in taking part in the formulation of new laws."

"The administration of the interior was put into the hands of the departments, the districts, and the municipalities - bureaucracies too multiplied not to harm the free movement of the machine."

"The king was declared to be the supreme head of the army



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and navy, but the work of forming these two forces was to be done by committees of the assembly without the king's participation. The king retained the power to choose one-third or one-quarter of the nominations but, in fact, he was exposed to contrary nominations without number. One sees in this a remaking of the general officers because the king's choices displeased the clubs [e.g. Jacobins], but he did not object because he did not want to expose brave officers to the violence which threatened them."

"The nomination of ministers in foreign affairs was reserved to the king, as well as the conduct of negotiations, but the freedom of the king in making these choices and decisions was effectively nil."

"The assembly, in its haste to overturn everything, removed taxes in order to create a positive perception, but in failing to decrease its expenditures, taxes rose higher than before."

"This same assembly threw such a mistrust upon all government officials, that it is now impossible to fill administrative positions."

"This form of government, so vicious, will become even more so through its various causes."

"1. The assembly, by the means of its committees, exceeds, constantly, the ends which it prescribed;"


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"2. It was formed everywhere of associations which, without being authorized to do so, deliberate on all the aspects of administration, making and receiving denunciations, posting decrees, and generally assuming such a ponderance presence that almost all the administrative and legal bodies are obliged to obey it. It creates the illusion that the king and kingdom of such a vast extent and importance cannot be governed by anything less than the national assembly. The spirit of the clubs permeates all; thousands of newspapers spread slander and inflammatory rhetoric daily, and foster a spirit of licentiousness."

"Never has the assembly been able to cure these abuses. One sees, by the spirit of these same clubs, that they want to replace the monarchy by a metaphysical and philosophical government which would be impossible without their execution."

"People of France! Is this what you expect from your representatives? Do you want the anarchy and despotism of the clubs to replace the monarchical government under which this nation has thrived for 1400 years? Do you wish to see your monarch smothered with insults, and the king deprived of his freedom while he was singularly preoccupied with defending yours?"


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"Love for their kings is one of the virtues of French people. Those who plan insurrection know very well that as long as this love remains intact their work could not be accomplished."

"Respect therefore had to be destroyed, and here is the reason for the insults that the king has received for two years, and for all the evils he has suffered."

"His majesty would not recall any of this miserable table of afflictions if he did not want to make known to his faithful subjects the spirit of rebellion which is tearing away at the heart of our fatherland while pretending to regenerate it."

"They benefitted from the popular enthusiasm for Mr. Necker, and to gain his support under the eyes of the king (an even more spectacular triumph), they had to at the same time bribe influential people so as to not attract the attention of the king. They dared, on the following day in Versailles, to insult the archbishop of Paris followed by rocks being thrown at him; then a courier sent by the king to Paris was publicly accosted and the letters he carried were opened. Meanwhile the assembly seemed to mock the misery of the king by filling distinctive positions with the same ministers whose very references served as a pretext for the insurrection."


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"Even then the king was determined to go forward to carry words of peace to them, but people posted along the road prevented cries of "long live the king"; and the harangues, far from carrying any expression of respect, were filled only with bitter ironies."

"While the people of Paris were being conditioned to hate the royalty, those at Versailles hung two hussards from the grille of the castle, and fanatically tore off their tunics. Meanwhile a rowdy character (Camille Desmoulins) made a public motion at the palais royal to remove the king and his son, and to lock the queen up in a convent. This motion, far from exciting indignation, drew enthusiastic applause!"

"Then the days of October 5 and 6 came to pass."

"The assembly, far from thinking of preventing these outrages, or at least quelling them, remained passive and was content to respond only to a motion about transport for the king, saying that he was not sufficiently dignified!"

"From this time onward every day was marked by new insults, each more outrageous than the one which preceded it."


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"Hardly had the king arrived at the Tuileries when an innocent person was massacred and his head paraded under his eyes. Those who were close to the king were persecuted or murdered even in the provinces. Even in the garden of the Tuileries, all those who spoke against royalty or religion received honors of triumph."

"At the federation of July 14, 1790, the king was named by a special decree to be at the head, the assembly thus effectively showing that it could name whoever it chose."

"At this same ceremony, the family of the king (in spite of his request to have them seated next to him) were seated at a separate platform."

"The ministers, these same ministers that the assembly had forced the king to recall, or whose nomination they had applauded, were constrained, with the force of insults and threats, to leave their seats - all except one".

"In February, mesdames Adelaide and Victoire, aunts of the king, left their home at Bellevue stating they wanted to make a pilgrimmage to Rome for religious reasons, but they were arrested at Arnay-le-Duc in Burgundy. The party was transported to the residence of monsieur, the brother of the king."

"Then there was an uprising.


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"A great number of faithful subjects went to the Tuileries to defend the king. Arms of various kinds were lent to them but his majesty made them surrender their weapons. When audacity was pushed to the limit, they were forced to withdraw."

"The king, upset, wanted to go to St. Cloud to get some rest in the country. The Cordeliers club then posted placards denouncing the king as one who was flaunting the law. Then when his majesty tried to leave in his carriage, a crowd of people arrived at the door of the Tuileries opposing his passage. And the national guard, far from pushing back the seditious ones, joined them and stopped the horses, etc. For these reasons, and the impossibility of the king being able to operate for the good and to prevent evil, is it surprising that he sought to recover his freedom by seeking safety elsewhere for himself and his family?"

"People of France! And especially you Parisians - you inhabitants of a city that the ancestors of his majesty were pleased to call the good town of Paris, be wary of the suggestions and lies of your false friends! Return to your king! He will be always your father and your best friend!"

"What a pleasure it will be to forget all the personal insults,


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and to return into your midst when a constitution that has been freely adopted makes provision for the respect of religion and a government established upon a stable and meaningful foundation so that the goods and status of each individual will no longer be disturbed, and so that the laws will no longer be flaunted with impunity, and freedom will finally be rooted on a basis that is firm and unshakeable."

In Paris, June 20, 1791.

Signed, LOUIS

The departure of the sovereign created a huge sensation. Paris was in an uproar. From all sides the general (Lafayette) was being queried. Groups multiplied everywhere. While one sought the word 'king' anywhere in order to erase it, another would strike down a portrait of Louis XVI. Nobody wanted to be seen showing partiality to him.

Undoubtedly Lafayette was not informed of this furtive departure. Precautions were such that Bouillé and his troops did not make any movement. One could say that the king did not want military protection but it is a bad reason. If flight had been possible with their help, it would certainly have been carried out. It is known, however, that Mr. Baillon, an officer at Chalons,


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had received particular orders from General Lafayette on June 21.

Louis was stopped in Varennes in the night of June 21-22. Here is an extract of the account that a man named Drouet made regarding the king's arrest. [This Drouet is a rascal, in league with the Jacobins.]

"I am the postmaster of St. Menehould, an old dragoon with the regiment of Conde. My comrade, Guillaume, is an old dragoon with the queen's regiment. On June 21 at 7:30 PM, two carriages and eleven horses relayed at the post office of St. Menehould. I believed that I recognized the queen and, seeing a man inside the carriage on the left, I was struck by his resemblance to the effigy of the one who appears on the 50 livre note."

"These carriages were driven by a detachment of dragoons, and another by hussards under the pretext of protecting a treasure. Horses were requested to take them to Verdun, but they took the road to Varennes instead. This strengthened my suspicions."

"I then took a short-cut which enabled me to get to Varennes ahead of the carriages. I arrived there at eleven o'clock in the evening."


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"The carriages were stopped in the street by a contingent of postilions along with the postmaster of the town. He wanted to have the horses changed but the king wanted to leave right away."

"Then I said to my comrade, 'Are you a good patriot? - Yes. - Eh well! The king is in Varennes. He should be stopped!' Then we barricaded the street and the bridge which the king had to cross. Fortunately there was a wagon loaded with pieces of furniture which we overturned. Then we went to the local prosecutor of the commune, the mayor, and the local commandant of the national guard, and in less than fifteen minutes we were joined together with eight men of goodwill."

"The travellers were asked where they were going. The queen answered they were in great haste but someone insisted on seeing her passport. Her passport bore the name of the baronne de Korff. She claimed this was sufficient but we held a contrary view because it was not signed by the president of the assembly. Because of our obstinacy the travellers were detained and would not be allowed to carry on until the following day. Then Louis XVI himself came forward saying: 'Here is your king, and here is my wife, and these are my children. We entreat you to treat us


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with the respect that the French always had for their kings'."

"Then a group of national guards and hussards arrived with sabres in hand wanting to approach the house where the king was staying. We shouted to them that if they wanted the king, it would be over our dead bodies."

"The commander of the local artillery brought forward four small cannons. Two of these he placed at the top of the street, and two below thus effectively putting the hussards in a crossfire. When they were ordered to dismount, they refused saying that they wanted to protect the king. Someone replied that they were doing a fine job in protecting him! When they insisted, a burning brand was placed next to the fuses of the cannons as if to fire even though the cannons weren't charged. However, the bluff worked. The hussards were disarmed and the king was made a prisoner."

In all liklihood the postmaster of Saint Menehould had received a courier announcing the king's flight from Paris. He claims to have recognized the queen (someone whom he had probably never seen), and he claims to have recognized the king inside the carriage simply on the basis of a resemblance to an image appearing on a 50 livre note! Then, by taking a short-cut, he arrives at Varennes ahead of the king's party; blocks a street and a bridge


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by simply overturning a wagon full of furniture that conveniently happened to be parked there. Then on a hunch he proclaims that the king is in Varennes; and then he finds guns and an armed national guard on short notice. All this would not occur naturally. Certainly if the king had said to the dragoons and hussards that he wanted to pass, there would have been a fight. However, he preferred to reveal himself and be apprehended. Nothing proves his excessive good-will better. But he knew that this same kindness would be disastrous to him, and undoubtedly, he was guided more by his heart than by logic.

Fearing the death of even one of his subjects, he would prefer, I maintain, to give up and be escorted by five or six thousand men. In return he had the pain to witness the massacre of the marquis de Dampierre who had come to bear a testimony of his respect and devotion. He could not even prevent his carriage from riding over the body of this hapless victim. The representatives Barnave, Péthion and Latour-Maubourg came out to meet the king and brought him back to Paris. There he made his entry on June 25 amidst the hootings and indignant cries of an animated rabble. To complete the indignities, tied to the seat of the coachman


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were the king's three trusted servants, messieurs de Moutier, de Malden and Valory. Then the unfortunate king was treated like a prisoner of the state, and the people who followed him were thrown into the dungeons of the abbey.

It was a question of his forfeiture. Since the king had not left the kingdom, people were satisfied to have him in sight, and to have him delivered up to the insults of the rabble. His presence provided for the foulest caricatures by famous artists who could profit from a popular desire to degrade him. He was portrayed in the most dreadful colors; others hung him in outlandish places; one represented him as a drunkard; the quays and boulevards were papered with caricatures of the king, each more outlandish than the next. Thus everywhere the king was depicted as a scoundrel without manners, honor, or principles while the queen, like Frédégonde, Messaline, or a Catherine de Médicis became a shrew. All these scurrilous spectacles accelerated the progress of hatred and slander. And it was d'Orleans who provided the slanderous anecdotes. It was his party which crafted them, and it was his vile agents who lent their ink and quills to the printers.