nner, that two out
of the six at the last committee were spies. They had come into the
society for no other reason than to watch and report its motions; and
they were in direct correspondence with the slave-merchants at Havre de
Grace. This matter I brought home to them afterwards, and I had the
pleasure of seeing them excluded from all our future meetings.

From this time I thought it expedient to depend less upon the committee,
and more upon my own exertions; and I formed the resolution of going
among the members of the National Assembly myself, and of learning from
their own mouths the hope I ought to entertain relative to the decision
of our question. In the course of my endeavours I obtained a promise
from the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, the Comte de Mirabeau the Abbe
Sieyes, Monsieur Bergasse, and Monsieur Petion de Villeneuve, five of
the most approved members of the National Assembly, that they would meet
me if I would fix a day. I obtained a similar promise from the Marquis
de Condorcet, and Claviere and Brissot, as members selected from the
committee of the Friends of the Negroes. And Messieurs de Roveray and Du
Monde, two Genevese gentlemen at Versailles, men of considerable
knowledge and interest, and who had heard of our intended meeting, were
to join us at their own request. The place chosen was the house of the
Bishop of Chartres at Versailles.

I was now in hope that I should soon bring the question to some issue;
and on the 4th of October I went to dine with the Bishop of Chartres to
fix the day. We appointed the 7th. But how soon, frequently, do our
prospects fade! From the conversation which took place at dinner, I
began to fear that our meeting would not be realised. About three days
before, the officers of the Garde du Corps had given the memorable
banquet, recorded in the annals of the revolution, to the officers of
the regiment of Flanders, which then lay at Versailles. This was a topic
on which the company present dwelt. They condemned it as a most fatal
measure in these heated times; and were apprehensive that something
would grow immediately out of it, which might endanger the king's
safety. In passing afterwards through the streets of Versailles my fears
increased. I met several of that regiment in groups. Some were
brandishing their swords. Others were walking arm in arm, and singing
tumultuously. Others were standing and conversing earnestly together.
Among the latter I heard one declare with