escape him of what he felt, at being obliged by circumstances to
accept such assistance.

The chiefs of the confederation addressed him in a speech, in which
the following passages were principally remarked.

"You, sire, are the man of the nation, the defender of our country:
from you we expect independence, and a sage liberty. You will secure
to us these two precious possessions; you will render sacred for ever
the rights of the people: you will reign according to the constitution
and the laws. We come to offer you our arms, our courage, and our
blood, for the safety of the capital.

"Ah! sire, why had we not arms at the time when foreign kings,
emboldened by treason, advanced up to the walls of Paris? ... we shed
tears of rage, at seeing our hands useless to the common cause: ... we
are almost all of us old defenders of our country; our country should
give arms with confidence to those, who have shed their blood for her.
Give us arms in her name ... we are not the instruments of any party,
the agents of any faction.... As citizens, we are obedient to our
magistrates, and to the laws; as soldiers, we are obedient to our
chiefs....

"Long live the nation, long live liberty, long live the Emperor!"

The Emperor answered them in the following terms:

"Soldiers, federates of the suburbs of St. Antoine and St. Marceau: I
returned alone, because I reckoned on the people of the towns, the
inhabitants of the country, and the soldiers of the army, whose
attachment to the honour of the nation I well knew. You have all
justified my confidence. I accept your offer. I will give you arms; to
lead you, I will give you officers covered with honourable scars, and
accustomed to see the enemy flee before them. Your robust limbs,
inured to the most laborious work, are better adapted than any other,
to handle arms. As to courage, you are Frenchmen: you shall be the
skirmishers (_eclaireurs_) of the national guard. I shall be without
any anxiety for the capital, while the national guard and you are
employed in its defence: and if it be true, that foreigners persist in
the impious design of attacking our independence and our honour, I may
avail myself of victory, without being checked by any solicitude.

"Soldiers, federates; if there be men among the higher classes of
society, who have dishonoured the French name; the love of our
country, and the sentiment of national honour, have been preserved
entire among the people of our town