All these united their forces in
order to attack the "Austrian," to obscure the last gleams of the
love and respect which were paid to her in happier days.
When Mirabeau made the proposition in the National Assembly that the
person of the king should be declared inviolable, there arose from
all these four hundred representatives of the French nation only one
man who dared to declare with a loud voice and with defiant face,
"The persons of the king and queen shall be declared inviolable!"
This was Toulan, the "soldier of the queen." But the Assembly
replied to this demand only with loud murmurs, and scornful
laughter; not a voice was raised in support of this last cry in
favor of the queen, and the Assembly decreed only this: "The person
of the king is inviolable."
"That means," said the queen to the police minister Brienne, who
brought the queen every morning tidings of what had occurred at
Paris and Versailles, "that means that my death-warrant was signed
yesterday."
"Your majesty goes too far!" cried the minister in horror, "I think
that this has an entirely different meaning. The National Assembly
has not pronounced the person of the queen inviolable, because they
want to say that the queen has nothing to do with politics, and
therefore it is unnecessary to pass judgment upon the inviolability
of the queen.
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