"I have
come hither," he said, "to prevent a great crime, and because I
believe that I am safest surrounded by the representatives of the
nation."
"Sire," replied President Vergniaud, "you can reckon upon the
devotion of the National Assembly. It knows its duties; its members
have sworn to live and to die in defence of the rights of the people
and of the constitutional authorities."
Voices were heard at this point from all sides of the hall,
declaring that the constitution forbids the Assembly holding its
deliberations in the presence of the king and the queen.
They then took the royal family into the little low box scarcely ten
feet long, in which the reporters of the "Logograph" used to write
their accounts of the doings of the Assembly. Into this narrow space
were a king, a queen, with her sister and her children, their
ministers and faithful servants, crowded, to listen to the
discussions concerning the deposition of the king.
From without there came into the hall the wild cry of the populace
that the Swiss guards had been killed, and shouts accompanied the
heads as they were carried about on the points of pikes. The crack
of muskets was heard, and the roar of cannon. The last faithful
regiments were contending against the army of the revolutionists,
while within the hall the election by the French people of a General
Convention was discussed.
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