essed his amazement that the French Government had
permitted the publication of the American Constitution, which produced
a great impression in Paris. The music of _Ca ira_, taken from a dance
tune, _Le Carillon National_, very popular in the _guinguettes_ of
Paris, has been published in the _Revolution Francaise_ for 16th
December 1898.]

As early as December 1790 the court had been in secret communication
with the foreigner. Louis' brother, the Count of Artois (afterwards
Charles X.), with the queen's and king's approval, had made a secret
treaty with the House of Hapsburg, the hereditary enemy of France, by
which the sovereigns of Austria, Prussia and Spain agreed to cross the
frontier at a given signal, and close on France with an army a hundred
thousand strong. It was an act of impious treachery, and the beginning
of the doom of the French Monarchy. Yet if but some glimmer of
intelligence and courage had characterised the preparations for the
flight of the royal family to join the armed forces waiting to receive
them near the frontier, their lives at least had been saved.

The incidents of the four months' "secret" preparations to leave the
Tuileries as described by Madame Campan--the disguised purchases of
elaborate wardrobes of underlinen and gowns; the making of a
dressing-case of enormous size, fitted with many and various articles
from a warming-pan to a silver porringer; the packing of the
diamonds--read like scenes in a comedy. The story of the pretended
flight of the Russian baroness and her family; the start delayed by
the queen losing her way in the slums of the Carrousel; the colossal
folly of the whole business has been told by Carlyle in one of the
most dramatic chapters in history.

The Assembly declared on hearing of Louis' flight, that the government
of the country was unaffected and that the executive power remained in
the hands of the ministers. After voting a levy of three hundred
thousand National Guards to meet the threatened invasion, they passed
calmly to the discussion of the new Penal Code.

The king returned to Paris through an immense and silent multitude.
"Whoever applauds the king," said placards in the street, "shall be
thrashed; whoever insults him, hung." The idea of a republic as a
practical issue of the situation was now for the first time put
forward by the extremists, but met with little sympathy, and a
Republican demonstration in the Champ de Mars was suppressed by the
Asse