ional
general, there was no security in the character of the king.

The calculation on which the flight to Montmedy was undertaken was
not, in itself, unreasonable. There was a strong party in the Assembly
with which it was possible to negotiate. In the Rhone district, along
the Loire, in parts of western and southern France, hundreds of
thousands of the most intrepid men on earth were ready to die for the
altar and the throne. But they were not willing to expose themselves
for a prince in whose hands the best cause was doomed to fail, and
whose last act as king was to betray his faithful defenders.
Instigated by Bouille, the queen asked her brother to lend some
regiments to act with the royal forces as auxiliaries in case of
resistance. She wished for 30,000 men. That is the significant fact
that justifies the postmaster of St. Menehould and the patriots of
Varennes. The expedition to Montmedy was a first step towards civil
war and foreign invasion. That is what these men vaguely understood
when they stopped the fugitives.

For the management of the journey the best advice was not always
taken. Instead of two light carriages, the royal party insisted on
travelling in one large one, which Fersen accordingly ordered. The
route by Rheims would have been better, because Varennes was off the
post road. But Varennes was preferred on the ground that Rheims was
the coronation city, and the king might be recognised. The shortest
way to Montmedy passed through Belgian territory; but it was thought
dangerous to cross the frontier. It was urged that a military display
on the road would lead to trouble, but it was decided that it was
necessary beyond Chalons. Bouille's advice was not always sound, but
there was one point on which it proved fatal to reject it. He wished
the travellers to be accompanied by an experienced officer, whom he
knew to be masterful, energetic, and quick in an emergency. The king
thought of several, but the queen was disinclined to have a stranger
in the carriage. But she asked for three able-bodied officers, to be
employed as couriers, adding that they need not be unusually
intelligent. In those words the coming story is told. The three
couriers answered too faithfully the specified qualification.

The departure had been fixed for the second week of June. Bouille
still hoped for a movement among the imperialists, and he requested a
delay. On the 16th he was informed that the royal family would start
at