[Footnote 252: M. Fromont, in his memoirs entitled "_Recueil de divers Ecrits relatifs à la Revolution_," very frankly writes, "I repaired secretly to Turin (January, 1790), to the French princes, to solicit their approbation and their support. In a council which was held on my arrival, I demonstrated to them that, if they would arm the partisans of the altar and of the throne, and make the interests of religion go hand in hand with those of royalty, it would save both. The real argument of the revolutionists being force, I felt that the real answer was force. Then, as at present, I was convinced of this great truth--that _religious zeal alone can stifle the Republican mania_. "In consequence of this dread (of the new order of things), they secretly set at work the most efficacious means for ruining the internal resources and for thwarting the proposed plans, several of which were calculated to effect the re-establishment of order, if they had been wisely directed and supported."] [Footnote 253: "There is no country in the world," says Voltaire, "where there are so many contradictions as in France. The king gives the actors wages, and the curé excommunicates them."] [Footnote 254: "The whole of Europe--on the one hand Austria and Russia, on the other England and Prussia--were gradually gravitating toward the selfsame thought, the hatred of the Revolution. However, there was this difference, that liberal England and philosophical Prussia needed a little time in order to pass from one pole to the other--to prevail upon themselves to give themselves the lie, to abjure and disown their principles, and avow that they were the enemies of liberty."--_Michelet_, p. 327.] [Footnote 255: Memoirs of the Marquis of Ferrières.] [Footnote 256: No one familiar with the writings of that day will affirm that this description is too highly drawn. Upon this point Patriots and Royalists agree. See Ferrières, t. ii., p. 89, on the part of the Royalists, and Alphonse Esquiros, p. 38, on the part of the Revolutionists.] [Footnote 257: Michelet's French Revolution, p. 415.] CHAPTER XX. FLIGHT OF THE KING. Riot at Nancy.--Prosecution of Mirabeau.--Issue of Assignats.--Mirabeau's Interview with the Queen.--Four political Parties.--Bishops refuse to take the Oath to the Constitution.--Character of the Emigrants.--The King's Aunts attempt to leave France.--Debates upon Emigration.--Embarrassment of the Assembly.--Death of Mirabeau.--His Funeral.--The King prevented from visiting St. Cloud.--Duplicity of the King.--Conference of the Allies.--Their Plan of Invasion.--Measures for the Escape of the King.--The Flight.