the noxious or unclean
animals that had escaped from it. In the garden, in the open air, the
most extravagant proposals were made. "People," said one of these
orators, mounting on a chair, "it will be unfortunate, should this
perfidious king be brought back to us,--what should we do with him? He
would come to us like Thersites to pour forth those big tears, of which
Homer tells us; and we should be moved with pity. If he returns, I
propose that he be exposed for three days to public derision, with the
red handkerchief on his head, and that he be then conducted from stage
to stage to the frontier, and that he be then kicked out of the
kingdom."

Freron caused his papers to be sold amongst the groups. "He is gone,"
said one of them, "this imbecile king, this perjured monarch. She is
gone, this wretched queen, who, to the lasciviousness of Messalina,
unites the insatiable thirst of blood that devoured Medea. Execrable
woman, evil genius of France, thou wast the leader, the soul of this
conspiracy." The people repeating these words, circulated from street
to street these odious accusations, which fomented their hate, and
envenomed their alarm.

XVI.

It was only at ten o'clock that three cannon shots proclaimed (by order
of the municipal and departmental authorities) the event of the night to
the people. The National Assembly had already met; the president
informed it that M. Bailly, the mayor of Paris, was come to acquaint
them that the king and his family had been carried off during the night
from the Tuileries by some enemies of the nation; the Assembly, who were
already individually aware of this fact, listened to the communication
with imposing gravity. It seemed as though at this moment the critical
juncture of public affairs gave them a majestic calmness, and that
all the wisdom of the great nation was concentrated in its
representatives--one feeling alone dictated every act, every thought,
every resolution,--to preserve and defend the constitution, even
although the king was absent, and the royalty virtually dead. To take
temporary possession of the regency of the kingdom, to summon the
ministers, to send couriers on every road, to arrest all individuals
leaving the kingdom; to visit the arsenal, to supply arms, to send the
generals to their posts, and to garrison the frontiers,--all this was
the work of an instant; there was no "right," no "left," no "centre;"
the "left" comprised all. The Assembly was infor