PUBLISHED WEDNESDAYS AND SATURDAYS BY JOHN fENHO, No. 69, HIGH-STREET, BETWEEN SECOA'O AND THIRD ST I'EFTS, PHILADELPHIA [.No. 56, of Vol. lII.] Wednesday, August 51, 1791- PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, ON THE FLIGHT OF THE KING AND ROYAL FAMILY. (COA'TINU ED.) Friday Morning, June 24. A Deputation from the diftrift of Clermont dated frcfli parti culars relating to the capture of the King. M. Damas undertook by order of M. Bouille, to protrft his flight; but, abandoned by his dragoons, he was himfelf obliged to fly. The King had a passport, of which this is a copy : 44 On the part of the King. " To all officers, civil and military, charged with the fuper intendance and maintenance of public order in the diff rent de partments of the kingdom : " We enjoin you to fufFef to pass, without interruption, the Baroness de Kortz, going to Frankfort* with two children, a wo man, a valet-de-chambre, and three domestics, without giving or fuffering her to reeeive an) hindrance. " This pafTport to continue in force for one month only. " Given at Paris, June 5, 1791 (Signed) " By the King, (Signed) M. Montmorin was ordered to the bar, to (late by whom and how this passport was granted. He endeavored to exculpate him felf, by faying, he had been futprifed. Friday Night. The fitting was opened by the report of the Commiflioncrs charged to examine the condufl of M. Montmorin with refpe&io the King's passport. The Commidioncrs stated, that having examined the rcgifters, they had found that the passport had been obtained at the request of M. Simolin, the Ruflian Ambalfadoi in France. A deputation of the Municipality of Paris prefentcd to the Af the two citizens who Hopped the King. then gave the following recital : RffwFn the Postmaster of Sainte Menehoud, formerly a dra the regiment of Conde. My comrade, William, wa& ■H|v a dragoon of the Queen's regiment. |HW5n the 8i ft of June, at half past ieven o'clock in the evening, two carriages and eleven horses baited at my house I thought 1 recognized the Queen; and perceiving a man at the back part of the carriage, on the left, I was struck with the resemblance of his countenance to the King's .effigy on an aflignat of 50 , " These carriages were conduced by a detachment of dragoons, which succeeded a detachment of hussars, under pretence of pro te&inga treasure. This escort confirmed me in my suspicions; particularly when I saw the commander of ihe detachment fpea& with great animation to one ot the couriers. However, fearing to exciteJalfe alarms, being alone and having no opportunity of consulting any one, I fuffcred the carriages to depart. " But feeing immediately the dragoons making to follow them, and observing that, after having alk<d horles for"! Verdun, the carriages took the road to Varennes, I went a cross joad, in order to rejoin them " I arrived be fore them at Varennes. It was eleven o'clock at light, very dark, and ev.ery one gone to bed. The carnages were Hopped in a street, by a difputc which h,d taken place between the poflillions and the poft-rnaller of the place. The pott-maltcr was desirous that they should (lop and rctneth their horses accord ing to custom. The King, on the conti arts,* was desirous to hasten his departure. t •' I then said to my comrade, " Are you a staunch patriot!" 44 Don't doubt it," replied he. " Well (said I) the King is at Varenues. He muff be flopped.'' We then alighted, and re fle&ed, that in order to secure success to oar plan, it was necessary to barricade the street artd the bridge by which the King was to pals. " My companiQn and I then went to the bridge of Varenncs; fortunately there was a carriage there loaded with furniture—we overturned it, so as to render the road impassable ; we then ian to feck, the Procureur de la Commune, the mayor, the commandant of the national guard, and in a few minutes our number increafcd to eight men, who were all hearty in the cause. " The commander of the national guard, accompanied by the procureur, approached the carriage, asked the travellers who they were, and where thev were going ? The Queen answered that they were in a hurry. A fight 01 the passport was then demanded. She at length gave her passport to two guards of honour, who alighted and came to the inn. " When the passport was read, some said it was fufficient—we combated this opinion, bccaufe it was not signed by the President of the National Affcmbly, as it should have been. If you are a foreigner, said we to the Queen, how came you to have fufficient influence to have a detachment lo follow you ? How come you, when you passed through Clermont, to have fulHcicnt influence to be followed by a firft detachment ? *' In consequence of these reflections, and our perseverance, it was determined that the travellersJhould not proceed till the follow ing day. Thev alighted at the house of the procurcur. " Then the king said to us, ' I am the King ! Thcfe are my wife and children ! We conjure you to treat us with that refpeft ■which the French have ever (hewn their Kings! 4t The national guards immediately came in crowds, and at the fame time the huilars arrived sword in hand—they endeavored to approach the houfc where the King was, but we let them know, that if they persisted in taking him away, they (hould not tear him from us alive. 41 The commander of the national guard* had the precaution to bring up two (mall field-pieces, which he planted at the upper end of the fticei, and two others at the lower end, so that the huf fdrs were between two fires. They were fummoricd to dismount. M. Jouglas refufed ; he said, that he and his troop would guard the Km# ; he was answered, that the national guards would guard him without his. affiftjnee. He persisted in his resolution ; upon which the commander of the national guards gave orders to the gurineis to form their ranks, and to fiie. They tdok the matchcs in tfieir hands—but the cannons were not then loaded. 41 In a word, the commander of the national guaids, and the national guards, acted so judiciously, that they contrived to dis arm thehuflars. The King was then made a prifoncr f " Having thus fulfilled our duty, we returned home, amidst the applause of oi.r fellow-citizens ; and we are comc to lay before the National Aflcmbly ;he homage of our Cervices/* FRANCE MONTMO R I N." The President congratulate :hcfe brave citizens on the eininen; fi-rvice they had rendered to iheir vountry. The meeting was then suspended. Satur day, Jure 25, The Aflrmhly paSTe-d the toilowing decrees : 1. The K-ng, on hts return to the Chateau des Thuilleries, (hall have provifionaily, a guard l'ubjedl to the dirc3 order of the com mandant general, who (ball be responsible for its condu£t. 2. There (hall be likewise given to the preemptive heir, a guard, under the order ol the commandant general, and a gover nor, who (hall be nominated by the National AHembly. 3. That all those who accompanied the Royal Family (hall be am-(ted and examined, and that the King and Queen (hal! be neard in their vindication, that such mealures (hall be adopted in consequence as mav be judged proper. 4. That a guaid (hall likcwife be appointed previously for the King. 5. That, till it (hall be othei wife ordained, the mimfterof jus tice (hall be authorised, as he has alreacy done since the flight of the King, to a;rx the seal of the (late to the a£ls of the legislative body. 6 The minifleis, and the commiflioners of the King, are autho rised to cxcrcife, being relptmlible, the fun&tons of the executive :>ower. MONDAYy J une 2 7* M. Tronchet gave, in the name of the three Commiflioncrs ap points d to receive the declarations of the King and Queen, the f 'Mowing account of the manner in which they had executed their coninnflion : LOUIS " For the purpose of executing your decree of yesterday, M. Dandre, M. Duport, and I, met ; und, about nine in the evening, proceeded to the Thuiilerus. We were introduced into the King's apartment, where we found him alone. After having read to him your decree, I judged it receffary to remark, that the de claration of his Majesty (hould re er according to the intent and meaning of the decree, as well to all the tranfa&ions of the 21 It of June, as to the occurrences coinetted with them, whether of an interior or posterior dare. king answered, that he did not undciftand submitting to interrogatories ; but that he would deliver in a declaration conformably to the requ:fition which had been made to him by the National Assembly. We then took his declaration, to every page of which he had fel his fignalure. We went afterwards to the apat tments of the Queen, whom we found, w itn Madame Elizabeth, preparing to fit down to table ; but, the latter informing us that her Majesty could not then receive us, because she was going to the bath, we dcfircd her to appoint ano ther hour; and she fixed upon eleven this morning. Ot course, wc retired ; but, re urntng at the time prefci ibed, were intro duced into the bed-chamber, where the Queen was without any one attendant whatever. Wc then read to her the decree of the National Assembly, subjoining to it the fame obfeivation which wc had made to the Kii.g. She dittated to us her declaration, and, having afterwards heard it read over, put her signature to every page of it." DECLARATION OF THE KING. * 11 1 obfervc, Gentlemen, by your commiflion, that nothing jjike an interrogatory is meant ; but I am dcfirous of complying 1 with the wifties of the National Aflemblv, and I shall never de i the motives of myconduft. The motives for my journey were the outrages and the threats offered to my family and to myfclf on the 18th of last April ! fubfequentto that period, I and k»y family have frequently been infultcd and menaccd in se veral writings ; and the authors of ihefe have remained unpun ished. I conceived that the fafety of my family, and of my own pcrfon, forbade me to continue any longer in Paris. I wished to leave it ; and it was for the purpose of departing with less in terruption, that I preferred the night-time. My intentions never were to quit the kingdom. I had not concerted any measures whatsoever, either with foreign powers, or with the French emi grants beyond the kingdom. The circumstance of apartments having been prepared for my reception at Montmedy, may be adduced as a proof that I had no design to pass beyond the fron tiers. I chose this place, because, as it was fortified, my family might have remained there in security ; and because, being thus near the frontiers, I (hould have been more at hand to resist every attempt to invade France. Here, in the cafe of an invalion, I could immediately have prefentcd myfelf in the poll of danger, "n short, I chose Montmedy even in the moment when I might havechofen any other retreat. One of my principal motives was to re-cftabliih the vigor of the g vernment, and to render my'ell fftfure. Had I felt an inclination to depart from the kingdom, I (hould not upon the very fame day, have sent my declaration to the National Assembly, but I should have waited for the moment of my having palled beyond the frontiers. I always adhered to ihe desire of returning to Paris. It is in this sense that the last ex preflions of my memorial (hould be undcrftood :—Frenchmen, and above all, citizens oj Paris, what pfeafuie Jhall I feel to be among you ! I had not, in the cariiage, more than the sum of 13,200 livrcs in gold, and 560,000 livres in aflignats ; and these were incloicd within the port-folio which has been returned to me by the de partment. " I did not communicate my intentions to Monsieur until within a ftiort time previous to my departure ; and he only pro ceeded into a foreign State with the intention of returning to Montmedy, but without taking the fame road. Several days be fore I had cfdered the three persons who attended me, to provide themselves the dreftes of couriers, in which they might bear my difpatrhes. It was not until the preceding evening that I told them they were to accompany me. I only took a paflport for going out of the kingdom, becauie none is granted at the Office for Foreign Affairs for the inter ior parts of the kingdom : neiihei was the road marked out even at all pursued. I never made an\ other protections than those which I addrefTed to the aflembl on the day of my departure ; and these do not bear so much up on the ground work of the principles of the constitution as upon i he torm of fanthons, upon the deficiency of that freedom which I ought to enjoy and upon the point, that as the constitutional de crees were not presented to me in one mass, I could not poflibly Judge of them in a collected view, and altogether. The princi pal part of this memorial rcits upon the defeat of the administra tive and executive mcafures. I was sensible, during my journey, that the public opinion was decidedly in favor of the conltiiution. I did not conceive that I could fully have ascertained the nature of this public opmion at Paris; but upon the road, and in con fcquence of all the elucidations, which, as the result of my en quiries, flafliea upon my mind, I became convinced, as I now am, how indifpenfibly neceflary it is even for the constitution to give power to those officers of the fiatc who are appointed for tie maintenance of public order. As soon as I could afceitain the 141 [Whole No. 244.] nature of the public opinion, I did not Ik lit ate to facriiicc my peilonal inteveft.s to the welfare ol my people, this being the great object ol all m/wi.Qiesand desires. tf I shall willingly forget all the unpleasant circumstances that I have experienced, to fecucc the peace aud the happiness of the nation." [The King, after reading this declaration, observed, " That he had omitted to add, that his Son's Governess, and the Ladies in his suite, were apprized of his departure but a short time only before it took place ; and the King signed it with us.]] (Signed) LOUIS, Tkonchet, Dukort, Dandre," D ECLAT lON OF THE QUEEN. tc I declare, that the King being dcfirous of quitting Paris with his children, nothing in nature could have dissuaded me from following him ; for, that I never will consent to quit him, my whole conduct for these two years past, has given fufficient proof#. I was confirmed in my determination to follow him, from the confidence and persuasion which I had, that he would never quit the kingdom. Had he been lo inclined, all my influence would have been exerted to prevent I im. The Govemefs of my daugh ter, who "jhad been indisposed for five weeks did not receive or ders for departure till the evening preceding She had not even taken any clothes with her—l was obliged to lend her some—■ She was absolutely ignorant of our destination. The three cou riers neither knew the destination nor the object of the journey— they were fupplicd, from time to time, with money upon ihe road, and received our orders as we proceeded. The two Jemmes de chambre did not receive orders till the moment of our departure—- One of them, whofc husband was in the Palace, had not an op portunityof feeing him. Monsieur and Madame separated from us, and took the road to Mons, onlv to avoid embarrassment, and to prevent delay from the want of horses upon the road—Thev weie to rejoin us in France. We went out of the Palace by pac ing through the apartment of M. Villequier ; and that we might not be perceived, we went separately, and at some distance of time from each other." [After reading over this declaration to the Queen, (he acknow ledged it to be such a declaration as Jhe intended to make, and signed it with u .] (Signed). The Declaration being read, M. Tronchet said, 44 The King is dHiromto have a duplicate of these declarations; without doubt, the assembly will authorifc us to deliver thein." The assembly complied with the r quest, and ordered the de clarations to the committee which shall be appointed to make a icport on this affair. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, TO THE FRENCH. A PROCLAMATION. Decreed in the fitting of "Juris 22, r 79 r - " A GRAND offence hasjuft been committed. The National Aflembly was near the conclusion of its long labours ! the constitution was ahnoft completed : the tumults of the Revolution were about to ceafc ; and the enemies of the public welfare were eager, by a single crime, to facri fice the whole nation to their vengeance. The King and the Royal Family were carried off on the 21ft inilant. " Buc your Regrcfentatives will triumph over all tliis obstacle. eftiriiate calmly the ex tent of the duties imposed upon them. The pub lic liberty shall be maintained ; con fpi rat org and slaves (hall understand the intrepidity ps the French Nation, and we make, in the name of the Nation, a solemn engagement to revenge the law, or die ! " France would be Free, arid she (hall be so. It is intended to make the Revolution recede, but it recedes not. —Such, Frenchmen, is your will—it (hall be accomplilhed. It is neceflary to accommodate the law to theftateof the kingdom. The King, in the Constitution, exercise* the pow er of the Royal fancftion over the Decrees of Lc giflative Body , He is the Head of the Executive Power, and, in that capacity causes the laws to be executed by responsible ministers. " If the firft officer of the public deserts lil> pofl, or is carried off against his will, the Repre sentatives of the Nation have the right to supply his place.—The National Aflembly has, inconfe qnence, decreed, That the Seal of State, and the signature of the Minister of JutHce, (ball be ad ded to all its decrees, to give them the character of laws. As no order of the King would have been executed, without being countersigned by the responsible Mim'lter, nothing was neceflary but a simple delegation by the Aflembly ro au thorise him to sign the orders, and those only i(l'ned by them. In this circumstance they have been directed by the conlHtntional law relative to a Regency, which authorises them to perform the functions of the Executive Power until the nomination of a Regent " By thcfc mcnfiircs your Representatives have infurecl order in the interior part of the kingdom, and to repulse any attack from with out. they add to the army a reinforcement of three hundred thousand National Guards. " The citizens then have, on all fides, the means of security. Let them not be overcome MARIE ANTONIETTE, Tronchet, Duport. Dandrb."
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