ad done their duty,
and then, with lenient arts, turned them out.

That trying humiliation marks the loftiest moment in the reign of
Lewis XVI. He had stood there, with the red cap of liberty on his
powdered head, not only fearless, but cheerful and serene. He had been
in the power of his enemies and had patiently defied them. He made no
surrender and no concession while his life was threatened. The
Girondins were not recalled, and the movement failed. For the moment
the effect was injurious to the revolutionary party, and useful to the
king. It was clear that menace and outrage would not move him, and
that more was wanted than the half-hearted measures of the Gironde.

The outrage of June 20 was a contumelious reply to Lafayette's letter
of the 16th, and the time had come for more than the writing of
letters. His letter had been well received, and the Assembly had
ordered it to be printed. The Girondins, by pretending that it could
not be authentic, had prevented a vote on the question of sending it
to the departments. He could count on the Feuillant majority, on the
ministry composed of his partisans, on his popularity with the
National Guard. As he was at the head of an army, his advice to the
king to adopt a policy of resistance implied that he would support him
in it. He now wrote once more, that he could never maintain his ground
against the Prussians unless there was a change in the state of things
in the capital. On the morning of June 28, immediately after his
letter, he appeared in the Assembly, and denounced the sowers of
disorder who were disorganising the State. Having obtained a vote of
approval, by 339 to 234, he appealed to the National Guard to stand by
him against his Jacobins. He summoned a meeting of his friends, but
the influence of the Court caused it to fail, and he was compelled to
return to his camp, having accomplished nothing. He imagined one
chance more. He now put forward his colleague, General Luckner, who
was incompetent but, not being a politician, was not distrusted, and
they were jointly to rescue the king, and bring him to a city of
refuge.

The revolutionists could now lay their plans without fear of the army.
They summoned _federes_ from the departments for the anniversary of
July 14, and it was arranged that sturdy men should be sent from Brest
and Marseilles to be at their orders when they struck the final blow.
Paris could not be relied on. The failure there had been complete.