n the emigrants and invade France
with a foreign force. That, on the contrary, he strongly disapproved of
the measures adopted by the emigrants as calculated only to increase the
excitement against the throne, and to peril his cause. He declared that
it was only his wish to escape from the scenes of violence, insult, and
danger to which he was exposed in Paris, and somewhere on the frontiers
of his kingdom to surround himself by his loyal subjects, and there
endeavor amicably to adjust the difficulties which desolated the empire.
The character of the king renders it most probable that such was his
intention, and such has been the verdict of posterity.

But there was another source of embarrassment which extremely troubled
the royal family. The emigrants were deliberating upon the expediency of
declaring the throne vacant by default of the king's liberty, and to
nominate his brother M. le Comte d'Artois regent in his stead. The king
greatly feared this moral forfeiture of the throne with which he was
menaced under the pretense of delivering him. He was justly apprehensive
that the advance of an invading army, under the banners of his brother,
would be the signal for the immediate destruction of himself and family.
Flight, consequently, had become his only refuge; and flight was
encompassed with the most fearful perils. Long and agonizing were the
months of deliberation in which the king and queen saw these dangers
hourly accumulating around them, while each day the vigilance of their
enemies were redoubled, and the chances of escape diminished.

The following plan was at last adopted for the flight. The royal family
were to leave Paris at midnight in disguise, in two carriages, for
Montmedy, on the frontiers of France and Germany, about two hundred
miles from Paris. This town was within the limits of France, so that
the king could not be said to have fled from his kingdom. The nearest
road and the great public thoroughfare led through the city of Rheims;
but, as the king had been crowned there, he feared that he might meet
some one by whom he would be recognized, and he therefore determined to
take a more circuitous route, by by-roads and through small and
unfrequented villages. Relays of horses were to be privately conveyed to
all these villages, that the carriages might be drawn on with the
greatest rapidity, and small detachments of soldiers were to be
stationed at important posts, to resist any interruption which mig