s
sanction. The king was inflexible. In vain did Dumouriez represent to
him that by refusing legal measures against the nonjuring priests he
exposed the priests to massacre, and thus made himself responsible for
all the blood that might be shed. In vain did they represent to him that
this refusal would render the ministry unpopular, and thus deprive them
of all hope of saving the monarchy. In vain did they appeal to the
queen, and implore her, by her feelings as a mother, to bend the king to
their wishes. The queen herself was for a long time powerless. At last
the king seemed to hesitate, and gave Dumouriez a private meeting in the
evening. In this conversation he ordered Dumouriez to present to him
three ministers, to succeed Roland, Claviere, and Servan. Dumouriez at
once named Vergennes for finance, Naillac for foreign affairs, Mourgues
for the interior. He reserved the war department for himself:
dictatorial minister at the moment when France was becoming an army.
Roland, Claviere, and Servan, stung to the quick at a dismissal they had
provoked the more because they had not anticipated it, hastened to carry
their complaints and accusations to the Assembly. They were received
there as martyrs to their patriotism; they had filled the tribunes with
their partisans.

III.

Roland, Claviere, and Servan were present, under pretence of rendering
an account of the grounds of their dismissal. Roland laid before the
Assembly the celebrated confidential letter dictated by his wife, and
which he had read to the king in his cabinet. He affected to believe
that the dismissal of ministers was the punishment of his own courage.
The advice he gave to the king in this letter thus turned into
accusations of this unfortunate prince. Louis XVI. had never received
from the malcontents a more terrible blow than that now given by his
minister. Passions trouble the conscience of the people, and there are
days when treachery passes current for heroism. The Girondists made a
hero of Roland. They had his letter printed, and circulated it in the
eighty-three departments.

Roland left the chamber amidst loud applauses. Dumouriez entered it in
the midst of uproar. He displayed in the tribune the same calmness as in
the field of battle. He began by announcing to the Assembly the death of
General Gouvion. "He is happy," he said, with sadness, "to have died
fighting against the enemy, and not to have been the witness of the
discords which ren