f the Chateau, "I am just come
from there; the king is in danger! I have this moment seen him, and can
bear witness to the testimony of my colleagues MM. Isnard and Vergniaud
in their unavailing efforts to restrain the people. Yes, I have seen the
hereditary representative of the nation insulted, menaced, degraded! I
have seen the _bonnet rouge_ on his head. You are responsible for this
to posterity!" They replied to him by ironical laughter and uproarious
shouts. "Would you imply that the _bonnet_ of patriots is a disgraceful
mark for a king's brow?" said the Girondist, Lasource; "will it not be
believed that we are uneasy as to the king's safety? Let us not insult
the people by lending it sentiments which it does not possess. The
people do not menace either the person of Louis XVI. or the prince
royal. They will not commit excess or violence. Let us adopt measures of
mildness and conciliation." This was the perfidious lulling of Petion,
and the Assembly was put to sleep by such language.

XXIV.

Petion himself could not for any length of time feign ignorance of the
gathering of 40,000 persons in Paris since the morning, and the entry of
this armed mob into the Assembly and the Maison of the Tuileries. His
prolonged absence recalled to mind the sleep of La Fayette on the 6th of
October; but the one was an accomplice, and the other innocent. Night
approached, and might conceal in its shades the disorders and attempts
which would go even beyond the views of the Girondists. Petion appeared
in the court-yard, amidst shouts of _Vive Petion!_ They carried him in
their arms to the lowest steps of the staircase, and he entered the
apartment where for three hours Louis XVI. had been undergoing these
outrages. "I have only just learned the situation of your majesty," said
Petion. "That is very astonishing," replied the king, in a tone of deep
indignation, "for it is a long time that it has lasted."

Petion, mounted on a chair, then made several addresses to the mob,
without inducing it to move in the least. At length, being put on the
shoulders of four grenadiers, he said, "Citizens, male and female, you
have used with moderation and dignity your right of petition; you will
finish this day as you began it. Hitherto your conduct has been in
conformity with the law, and now in the name of the law I call upon you
to follow my example and to retire."

The crowd obeyed Petion, and moved off slowly through the long avenue of
apa