Mirabeau, the king adhered to the project with some
modification; he wrote in cypher to the Marquis de Bouille at the end
of April, to inform him that he should leave Paris almost immediately
with his family in one carriage, which he had ordered to be built
secretly and expressly for this purpose; and he also desired him to
establish a line of posts from Chalons to Montmedy, the frontier town he
had fixed upon. The nearest road from Paris to Montmedy was through
Rheims; but the king having been crowned there dreaded recognition. He
therefore determined, in spite of M. de Bouille's reiterated advice, to
pass through Varennes. The chief inconvenience of this road was, that
there were no relays of post-horses, and it would be therefore necessary
to send relays thither under different pretexts; the arrival of these
relays would naturally create suspicion amongst the inhabitants of the
small towns. The presence of detachments along a road not usually
frequented by troops was likewise dangerous, and M. de Bouille was
anxious to dissuade the king from taking this road. He pointed out to
him in his answer, that if the detachments were strong they would excite
the alarm and vigilance of the municipal authorities, and if they were
weak they would be unable to afford him protection: he also entreated
him not to travel in a berlin made expressly for him, and conspicuous by
its form, but to make use of two English carriages, then much in vogue,
and better fitted for such a purpose; he, moreover, dwelt on the
necessity of taking with him some man of firmness and energy to advise
and assist him in the unforeseen accidents that might happen on his
journey; he mentioned as the fittest person the Marquis d'Agoult, major
in the French guards; and he lastly besought the king to request the
Emperor to make a threatening movement of the Austrian troops on the
frontier near Montmedy, in order that the disquietude and alarm of the
population might serve as a pretext to justify the movements of the
different detachments and the presence of the different corps of cavalry
in the vicinity of the town.

The king agreed to this, and also to take with him the Marquis d'Agoult;
to the rest he positively refused to accede. A few days prior to his
departure he sent a million in assignats (40,000_l._) to M. de Bouille,
to furnish the rations and forage, as well as to pay the faithful troops
who were destined to favour his flight. These arrangements made,