The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of
France, Volume 5, by Madame Campan

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Title: The Memoirs of Marie Antoinette, Queen Of France, Volume 5
Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting
to the Queen

Author: Madame Campan

Release Date: December 4, 2004 [EBook #3888]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARIE ANTOINETTE ***

Produced by David Widger

MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE,

QUEEN OF FRANCE

Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan,

First Lady in Waiting to the Queen

Volume 5

BOOK 2.

CHAPTER I.

The ever-memorable oath of the States General, taken at the Tennis Court
of Versailles, was followed by the royal sitting of the 23d of June. In
this seance the King declared that the Orders must vote separately, and
threatened, if further obstacles were met with, to himself act for the
good of the people. The Queen looked on M. Necker's not accompanying the
King as treachery or criminal cowardice: she said that he had converted a
remedy into poison; that being in full popularity, his audacity, in openly
disavowing the step taken by his sovereign, had emboldened the factious,
and led away the whole Assembly; and that he was the more culpable
inasmuch as he had the evening before given her his word to accompany the
King. In vain did M. Necker endeavour to excuse himself by saying that
his advice had not been followed.

Soon afterwards the insurrections of the 11th, 12th, and 14th of
July--[The Bastille was taken on the 14th July, 1789.]--opened the
disastrous drama with which France was threatened. The massacre of M. de
Flesselles and M. de Launay drew bitter tears from the Queen, and the idea
that the King had lost such devoted subjects wounded her to the heart.

The character of the movement was no longer merely that of a popular
insurrection; cries of "Vive la Nation! Vive le Roi! Vive la Liberte!"
threw the strongest light upon the views of the reformers. Still the
people spoke of the King with affection, and appeared to think him
favourable to the national desire