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
Next day the particulars of the reception of the deputies by the King were
reported to the Assembly, and excited warm approbation. But the President
having put the question whether the Assembly ought not to remain seated
while the King took the oath "Certainly," was repeated by many voices;
"and the King, standing, uncovered." M. Malouet observed that there was
no occasion on which the nation, assembled in the presence of the King,
did not acknowledge him as its head; that the omission to treat the head
of the State with the respect due to him would be an offence to the
nation, as well as to the monarch. He moved that the King should take the
oath standing, and that the Assembly should also stand while he was doing
so. M. Malouet's observations would have carried the decree, but a deputy
from Brittany exclaimed, with a shrill voice, that he had an amendment to
propose which would render all unanimous. "Let us decree," said he, "that
M. Malouet, and whoever else shall so please, may have leave to receive
the King upon their knees; but let us stick to the decree."
The King repaired to the chamber at mid-day. His speech was followed by
plaudits which lasted several minutes. After the signing of the
constitutional act all sat down. The President rose to deliver his
speech; but after he had begun, perceiving that the King did not rise to
hear him, he sat down again. His speech made a powerful impression; the
sentence with which it concluded excited fresh acclamations, cries of
"Bravo!" and "Vive le Roi!"--"Sire," said he, "how important in our eyes,
and how dear to our hearts--how sublime a feature in our history--must be
the epoch of that regeneration which gives citizens to France, and a
country to Frenchmen,--to you, as a king, a new title of greatness and
glory, and, as a man, a source of new enjoyment." The whole Assembly
accompanied the King on his return, amidst the people's cries of
happiness, military music, and salvoes of artillery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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