Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 6: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the QueenCampan, Mme. (Jeanne-Louise-Henriette)
History
Memoirs of the Court of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, Volume 6: Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan, First Lady in Waiting to the Queen
Campan, Mme. (Jeanne-Louise-Henriette)
France -- Court and courtiers; Marie Antoinette, Queen, consort of Louis XVI, King of France, 1755-1793
When I returned to Paris most of the harsh precautions were abandoned; the
doors were not kept open; greater respect was paid to the sovereign; it
was known that the constitution soon to be completed would be accepted,
and a better order of things was hoped for.
CHAPTER VI.
On my arrival at Paris on the 25th of August I found the state of feeling
there much more temperate than I had dared to hope. The conversation
generally ran upon the acceptance of the constitution, and the fetes which
would be given in consequence. The struggle between the Jacobins and the
constitutionals on the 17th of July, 1791, nevertheless had thrown the
Queen into great terror for some moments; and the firing of the cannon
from the Champ de Mars upon a party which called for a trial of the King,
and the leaders of which were in the very bosom of the Assembly, left the
most gloomy impressions upon her mind.
The constitutionals, the Queen's connection with whom was not slackened by
the intervention of the three members already mentioned, had faithfully
served the royal family during their detention.
"We still hold the wire by which this popular mass is moved," said Barnave
to M. de J----- one day, at the same time showing him a large volume, in
which the names of all those who were influenced with the power of gold
alone were registered. It was at that time proposed to hire a
considerable number of persons in order to secure loud acclamations when
the King and his family should make their appearance at the play upon the
acceptance of the constitution. That day, which afforded a glimmering
hope of tranquillity, was the 14th of September; the fetes were brilliant;
but already fresh anxieties forbade the royal family to encourage much
hope.
The Legislative Assembly, which had just succeeded the Constituent
Assembly (October, 1791), founded its conduct upon the wildest republican
principles; created from the midst of popular assemblies, it was wholly
inspired by the spirit which animated them. The constitution, as I have
said, was presented to the King on the 3d of September, 1791. The
ministers, with the exception of M. de Montmorin, insisted upon the
necessity of accepting the constitutional act in its entirety. The Prince
de Kaunitz--[Minister of Austria]--was of the same opinion. Malouet wished
the King to express himself candidly respecting any errors or dangers that
he might observe in the constitution. But Duport and Barnave, alarmed at
the spirit prevailing in the Jacobin Club,
[The extreme revolutionary party, so called from the club, originally
"Breton," then "Amis de la Constitution," sitting at the convent of the
Dominicans (called in France Jacobins) of the Rue Saint Honore.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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