formed against the people. It
is an accomplice in the extravagant projects of this general, who, not
being able to become the hero of liberty, has preferred to make himself
the Don Quixote of the court." A deputy exclaimed: "The acclamations
with which the Assembly has listened to this petition authorize me to
ask its publication: I make an express motion to that effect." And the
publication was decreed.

O poor Lamourette! humanitarian abbe, rose-water revolutionist, of what
avail is your democratic holy water? What have you gained by your
sentimental {247} jargon? what do your dreams of evangelical philosophy
and universal brotherhood amount to? Poor constitutional abbe, people
are scoffing already at your sacerdotal unction, your soothing homily!
The very men who, to please you, have sworn to destroy the republic,
will proclaim it two and a half months later. Your famous reunion of
parties, people are already shrugging their shoulders at and calling it
the "_baiser d'Amourette, la reconciliation normande_": the calf-love
kiss, the pretended reconciliation. They accuse you of having sold
yourself to the court. They ridicule, they flout, and they will kill
you. January 11, 1794, Fouquier-Tinville's prosecuting speech will
punish you for your moderatism. You will carry your head to the
scaffold, and, optimist to the end, you will say: "What is the
guillotine? only a rap on the neck."

{248}

XXIV.

THE FETE OF THE FEDERATION IN 1792.

The fete of the Federation, which was to be celebrated July 14, was
awaited with anxiety. The federates came into Paris full of the most
revolutionary projects. Anxiety and anguish reigned at the Tuileries.
Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, who were to be present in the
Champ-de-Mars, feared to be assassinated there. The Queen's
importunities decided the King to have a plastron made, to ward off a
poniard thrust. Composed of fifteen thicknesses of Italian taffeta,
this plastron consisted of a vest and a large belt. Madame Campan
secretly tried it on the King in the chamber where Marie Antoinette was
lying. Pulling Madame Campan by the dress as far as possible from the
Queen's bed, Louis XVI. whispered: "It is to satisfy her that I yield;
they will not assassinate me; their plan is changed; they will put me
to death in another way." When the King had gone out, the Queen forced
Madame Campan to tell her what he had just said. "I had divined it!"
she exclaimed.