ed, guarding her king very jealously. Marat constantly
preached suspicion. Zealous sections formed watch committees that kept
the palace under keen observation. If the King attempted to leave
Paris violence must be used to keep him there. Royalists offered their
protection to the King; {114} and in February a bad brawl took place
within the palace walls, between the two factions.

Incidents kept occurring. In March the assembly voted that the King
was the first public functionary, and therefore, like other
functionaries, responsible for carrying out certain duties. One of
these was declared to be that he must reside within 20 leagues of the
assembly. This measure was in one sense restrictive; in another it
seemed slightly to loosen the King's fetters. To test whether he could
not take advantage of this decree to enlarge his radius of movement, it
was decided that Louis should attempt an afternoon's excursion as far
as St. Cloud.

In all this matter Mirabeau had been consulted. His advice had been
constant and correct. If the King would make his departure from Paris
coincide with taking the lead in a real reform he might get most
support and rouse least opposition by going to Rouen, the capital of
Normandy, a very accessible point; to go to Metz was to touch the
self-same chord that had whipped Paris into open revolt in July 1789.

But although Mirabeau's advice was asked, what he said was only half
listened to. No one could trust him now, no one could believe {115}
him--and besides, he was dying. Battling in the assembly for measures
of constructive statesmanship, spending his life outside with profuse
extravagance, his vitality was now gone, and a fever carried him off on
the 2d of April. His death caused a great sensation, though few would
say a word of praise for the great orator. He realized that his death
removed the last possible hope for the monarchy, and Louis himself,
when Marie Antoinette showed her satisfaction at the news, rebuked her
and declared that he had lost a friend.

Friendless, what could Louis do now? The obscure Robespierre,
tortuous, fanatical and tenacious, had risen to importance; hitherto
the giant Mirabeau had held down the smaller man and his little group
by his breadth, his vigour and his crushing apostrophes:--_Silence aux
trente voix_! But now that Mirabeau was gone, Robespierre suddenly
appeared almost the first figure of the assembly; and Robespierre stood
for the ri