y conduct on the days of
October; I again absented myself, not to add fresh fuel to the
excitement of the people; and I only reappeared when calm again
prevailed. I was met at Sevres by the bands of straggling assassins, who
bore back the bleeding heads of the king's guards: these men stopped my
carriage, and fired on the postilion. Thus I, who was the pretended
leader of these men, narrowly escaped being their victim, and owed my
safety to a body of the national guard, who escorted me to Versailles;
and as I went to wait on the king I repressed the last murmurs of the
people in the Cour des Ministres I signed the decree which declared the
Assembly inseparable from the person of the king. It was at this time
that M. de La Fayette called on me, and informed me of the king's desire
that I should quit Paris, in order to afford no pretext for popular
tumult. Convinced now, that the Revolution was accomplished, and only
fearing the troubles with which attempts might be made to fetter its
onward progress, I unhesitatingly obeyed, only demanding the consent of
the National Assembly to my departure; this they granted, and I left
Paris. The inhabitants of Boulogne, who had been worked upon by an
intrigue which may be laid to my charge, but to which I was a stranger,
since I would not yield to it, wished forcibly to detain me, and opposed
my embarkation. I confess I was much touched, but I did not yield to
this violent manifestation of public favour, and I myself persuaded them
to return to their allegiance. Advantage has been taken of this voyage
and my absence to impute to me, without refutation on my part, the most
odious crimes. It was I who wished to force the king to fly with the
Dauphin from Versailles,--but Versailles is not France; the king would
have found his army and the nation when once he left this town, and the
only result of my ambition would be civil war, and, a military
dictatorship given to the king. But the Count de Provence was alive; he
was the natural heir to the throne thus abandoned. He was popular; he
had, like myself, joined the commons,--thus I should only have laboured
for him. But the Count d'Artois was in safety in another country, his
children were secure from my pretended murders, they were nearer the
throne than myself. What a series of follies, absurdities, or useless
crimes! The French nation, amidst the Revolution, have neither changed
their character nor their sentiments. I fully believe that t