nce,
and it was found that a light carriage without any courier was nearly
three hours less in running the distance than a heavy carriage preceded by
a courier.
The Queen also blamed him for having quitted the high-road at
Pont-de-Sommevelle, where the carriage was to meet the forty hussars
commanded by him. She thought that he ought to have dispersed the very
small number of people at Varennes, and not have asked the hussars whether
they were for the King or the nation; that, particularly, he ought to have
avoided taking the King's orders, as he was previously aware of the reply
M. d'Inisdal had received when it was proposed to carry off the King.
After all that the Queen had said to me respecting the mistakes made by M.
de Goguelat, I thought him of course disgraced. What was my surprise
when, having been set at liberty after the amnesty which followed the
acceptance of the constitution, he presented himself to the Queen, and was
received with the greatest kindness! She said he had done what he could,
and that his zeal ought to form an excuse for all the rest.
[Full details of the preparations for the flight to Varennes will be found
in "Le Comte de Fersen et La Cour de France," Paris, Didot et Cie, 1878 (a
review of which was given in the Quarterly Review for July, 1880), and in
the "Memoirs of the Marquis de Bouille", London, Cadell and Davis, 1797;
Count Fersen being the person who planned the actual escape, and De
Bouille being in command of the army which was to receive the King. The
plan was excellent, and would certainly have succeeded, if it had not been
for the royal family themselves. Marie Antoinette, it will have been seen
by Madame Campan's account, nearly wrecked the plan from inability to do
without a large dressing or travelling case. The King did a more fatal
thing. De Bouille had pointed out the necessity for having in the King's
carriage an officer knowing the route, and able to show himself to give
all directions, and a proper person had been provided. The King, however,
objected, as "he could not have the Marquis d'Agoult in the same carriage
with himself; the governess of the royal children, who was to accompany
them, having refused to abandon her privilege of constantly remaining with
her charge." See "De Bouille," pp. 307 and 334. Thus, when Louis was
recognised at the window of the carriage by Drouet, he was lost by the
very danger that had been foreseen, and this wretched piece
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