“There are changes in the ministry preparing. The king has chosen his council from the most violent portion of the popular party, that is to say, from the club of the Jacobins, a kind of Jesuitical institution more likely to make deserters from our cause than to attract to us followers. These new ministers, however, are not suspected of being able to have a chance of re-establishing order. They discuss that which they should apply to themselves. The Assembly is little enlightened; they value too highly popular applause. The king in his daily conduct from time to time acts very well. After all, the thing will go on, and the success of the revolution cannot be placed in doubt.
“My command extends upon the frontiers from Givet to Bitche. I have sixty thousand men, and this number will be increased by young men who will come from all parts of the empire to complete the regiments. The voluntary recruits are animated by a spirit most patriotic. I go to make an entrenched camp with thirty thousand men, and with a detached corps of four to five thousand; the remainder of the troops will occupy strong places. The armies of the Maréchaux Luckner and Rochambeau are inferior to mine, because we have sent several regiments south; but in case of war we can gather respectable forces.
“If we have yet some reasons for discontent, we can, however, hope to attain our just cause. License, under the mask of patriotism, is our greatest evil, because it menaces property, tranquillity, and even liberty.
“Adieu, my dear General; think sometimes of your respectful, tender, and filial friend.”
But La Fayette’s confidence in his countrymen was repaid by ingratitude; and he was yet to learn that few men were actuated by his unselfish loyalty and stern integrity.
THE MOB INVADE THE TUILERIES.
His enemies now plotted his ruin. A treacherous plan was laid to draw off his expected re-enforcements, so that when he reached Givet, he would find himself at the mercy of the advancing foe. This disgraceful scheme was put into execution, and La Fayette, finding himself exposed to overwhelming dangers, wisely retreated to his former post to await further developments. But soon the direful rumors from Paris filled his patriotic heart with more painful concern than his own perilous position. “Would that he had trusted me!” exclaimed magnanimous La Fayette, as courier after courier brought news of the woes thickening around the helpless, weak king. In a letter to the Assembly, La Fayette boldly declared war against the defiant Jacobins, who were fast clutching the reins of government, or, rather, planning a counter-revolution, which should give up the city and the nation to the diabolical power of a wild anarchy and unbridled license. It was this memorable letter in which he said: “Can you dissemble even to yourselves that a faction—and to avoid all vague demonstrations, the Jacobin faction—have caused all these disorders? It is that society which I boldly denounce; organized in its affiliated societies like a separate empire in the metropolis, and blindly governed by some ambitious leaders, this society forms a totally distinct corporation in the midst of the French nation, whose power it usurps by tyrannizing over its representatives and constituted authorities. Let the royal authority be untouched, for it is guaranteed by the constitution; let it be independent, for its independence is one of the springs of our liberty; let the king be revered, for he is invested with the majesty of the nation; let him choose a ministry which wears the chain of no faction; and if traitors exist, let them perish under the sword of the law.”
No other man in France would have dared to write such a letter; and this brave letter lost him his popularity, for the masses were imbued with the influence of the Jacobins. This party now took an oath to destroy the fearless marquis who had thus laid bare their base designs. They harangued the mob, and persuaded them to believe that Louis and La Fayette were leagued against them. It required little to inflame the excited people. Twenty thousand men from the lowest ranks paraded the streets, and with wild shouts of “Down with the king! to the Tuileries!” they swept onward to the palace, and with yells of execration they trampled down the guard and burst into the very apartment of the king. Louis for once was roused and played the part of a man. His calmness awed the mob; and the Assembly sending a deputation to his relief, the multitude were persuaded to retire.
This news was wafted quickly to La Fayette; and on the 28th of June he appeared in Paris. He left the army, and came alone as a simple citizen, and, visiting the Assembly, he boldly met their charge against him, which was that he had made an attempt at dictation; and he was there to answer this slander, and to demand reparation for the indignity to which the king had been subjected. He ended his speech with the words, “Such are the representations submitted to the Assembly by a citizen whose love for liberty, at least, will not be disputed.”