The king's flight also enormously reinforced the arguments of all those who held to a conspiratorial view of the world. As the National Assembly delved into the affair, it became patently clear that a comprehensive plot had been afoot for months, involving numerous participants in Paris, in the army, and among the emigres in Germany; entailing, as well, a pattern of boldfaced deceit on the part of Louis himself. Never, since the Revolution began, had there been more extensive proof of the reality of grand conspiracy at the highest levels. Almost everywhere nobles and refractory priests, already suspected before the crisis, now became the objects of ex treme mistrust. The popular suspicions were intensified by the new waves of emigration as noblemen in large numbers, inspired by the king's attempted flight, crossed the frontiers and joined counterrevolutionary armies.
Far more than ever before, the Revolutionary leaders internalized this "paranoid" perspective. In Paris members of the Feuillant faction came to suspect not only the refractory priests and the emigre nobles, but also those intellectuals and popular groups who were pushing for greater democracy. Wielding the logic of expediency, the need to save the Revolution at all cost from the enemiesreal or imagined-who now seemed to threaten it, patriot leaders readily violated the very laws and the "rights of man" that they themselves had only just proclaimed. For the first time, they crossed the threshold of state-sponsored violence, vigorously promoting the armed repression of the demonstration at the Champ de Mars. Thereafter, in both Paris and the provinces, whole categories of citizens were rounded up, without any attempt to determine individual guilt or responsibility. Freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, habeas corpus, judicial due process-rights guaranteed in the constitution-were all set aside in the name of the greater end of preserving the Revolutionary state. In this sense, the weeks following the flight to Varennes marked an anticipation, a prefiguration of both the psychology and the procedures of the Terror.
Louis' attempt to escape the Revolution did not in itself "cause" the great expansion of state-sponsored violence in 1793-94. In the summer of 1791 there were as yet no Committee of Public Safety, no Revolutionary tribunal, no guillotine. Only a small number of people lost their lives during the entire crisis. And the war that everyone had feared did not in fact begin so soon. By the end of August, the Assembly was self-consciously attempting to end the state of emergency and return to a rule of law. Yet this single event, the flight to Varennes, with all its ramifications and reverberations, profoundly influenced the social and political climate of France. For better or for worse, it helped set the nation on a new and perilous trajectory toward the future.
Abbreviations
Notes
Index
Abbreviations
Notes
Full documentation of sources cited in the Notes is provided in the Bibliography.
Prologue
i. Antoine-Francois Delandine, Memorial historique des Etats generaux, 5 vols. (n.p., 1789), 3: 4.
i. Sire, You May Not Pass
i. Aimond, Histoire de Varennes; and Beauvalet-Boutouyrie.
2. Unless otherwise noted, the account that follows is taken from the minutes of the municipality of Varennes on June 23 and June 27, 1791, as reprinted in Fournel, 31o-329; from the account of Jean-Baptiste Droner in AP 27: 508-509; and from Aimond, Enigme and Histoire de Varennes. The last two works, by an outstanding local historian, relied on documents in the archives of Varennes destroyed in 1914, and on local oral and written testimonies now apparently lost.
3. Fournel, 311.
4. Fournel, 322; Fischbach, 91.
5. For this and the following paragraphs, see especially Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 288-313.
6. AD Meuse, L 2144.
7. Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 292-293.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., 293; AD Meuse, L 1266.
1o. Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 298-299.
it. Aimond, Enigme, 38-39; Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 308-310; Aimond, Histoire religieuse, 112, 192; Boutier and Boutry.
12. Aimond, Histoire de Farennes, 304-308; Tackett, Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture, 343.
13. Aimond, Enigme, 42-43; Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 301-302.
14. For this and the following paragraph: Aimond, Enigme, 31, 44-45, III; Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 299-300, 315-316.
15. AP 27: 544.
16. Aimond, Enigme, 39-41, 111; letter from Sauce, July 21, 1791, AD Ardennes, L 78.
17. Raigecourt, 187-195; Aimond, Enigme, 126.
18. Choiseul-Stainville, 90-92; Damas, 230-232.
19. Fournel, 321.
20. Fournel, 323; AP 27: 508.
21. Letter from Sauce, July 21, 1791, AD Ardennes, L 78.
22. Lesort, 10-11; Pionnier, 108.
23. AN D XXIX his 36 (1), dos. 370.
24. Lesort, 10-12, 14-15; Bimbenet, 187-193, 235-238; Fournel, 335; Pionnier, 108; AD Marne, i L 329; AD Aisne, L 605; AD Haute-Marne, L 274.
25. Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 326; Aimond, Enigme, 149-152; Fournel, 324.
26. Fournel, 311-312, W.
27. Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 325; Aimond, Enigme, 143.
28. Damas, 237.
29. AP 27: 358.
30. Choiseul-Stainville, ToT; Tourzel, 201; Aimond, Enigme, 154-156.
P. AN D XXIX bis 38, dos. 388.
32. AP 29: 532-534; Lenotre, passim.
2. The King of the French
i. Campan, 113.
2. Bachaumont, 104.
3. Hardman and Price, 243-244, 297.
4. Nicolardot, 112-113.
5. Hardman and Price, 294; Nicolardot, 207; Campan, 113; Padover, 16-17; Saint-Priest, 2: 49-50, 62-63.
6. Nicolardot, 117, 120, 151-160, 189-214, 233.
7. Falloux, passim; Padover, 15-16; Hardman, 2o.
8. Falloux, 1, 7, 27, 35; Nicolardot, 49-50; Hardman and Price, 167.
9. Bachaumont, 57-59; Padover, 128-129; Lever, 184-195.
10. Falloux, 98.
ii. Tourzel, 103; Campan, 114.
12. Zweig, 4-6, 82-83; Girault de Coursac and Girault de Coursac, 21-22; Saint-Priest, 2: 62; Hardman, 24.
13. Bachaumont, 79; Zweig, 21-24; Padover, 33-36, 96-104.
14. Nicolardot, 62; Arneth, 4-18; Padover, 96-104.
15. Bachaumont, 155; Arneth, 20-21; Zweig, 136-137.
i6. Bachaumont, 126.
17. Bachaumont, 67, 143, 165, 226; Saint-Priest, 2: 65-66; Zweig, 34-38, 187, and chap. to; Hunt, Family Romance, chap. 4.
18. Wick, passim.
19. Saint-Priest, 2: 67, 72, 80, 84, 90, 92; Zweig, 226-247.
20. Hardman and Price, 263, 288.
21. Nicolardot, 107, 112-13; Padover, 135.
22. Saint-Priest, 2: 48-50; Fersen, 82-83. See also Bachaumont, 36; Padover, 89.
23. Arneth, 2, 38-39, iTo; Bachaumont, 226; Padover, 92-95.
24. Campan, 224; Lescure, 270; Saint-Priest, 2: 77, 82-83.
25. Saint-Priest, 2: 88-90.
26. Saint-Priest, 2: 90-91.
27. Mousset, 228.
28. Saint-Priest, 2: 24-25; also Arneth, 126-127; Feuillet de Conches, 2: 46-48; Tourzel, 105, 142.
29. Tourzel, 78, 80, 102; Tackett, Becoming a Revolutionary, 297-298.
30. Arneth, 129, 132; Campan, 279.
31. Arneth, 134, 139; Tourzel, 158.
32. Tourzel, 81; Arneth, 126-127, 129; Feuillet de Conches, 2: 41-42; Mousset, 241.
33. AP 27: 378-383.
34. For these and other such plans, see Tourzel, 20-21; Saint-Priest, 2: 14, 83, 93; Campan, 267-268, 273-274; Bouille, 228.
35• AP 27: 383; also Feuillet de Conches, 2: Io-11; Tourzel, 160-161; Mousset, 264; Legendre, letter of March 2, 1791.
36. Tourzel, 173-176, 185; Feuillet de Conches, 2: 46-48; Arneth, 155; Campan, 286; AP 27: 552-553.
37• AP 27: 383; Tourzel, 16o-161, 163, 174; Irland de Bazoges, letter of March 4, 1791; Mousset, 249.
38. Fersen, 97, 103-105.
39. Bouille, 215-21
6; Bouille fils, 17-19, 21-22.
40. Fersen, 113.
41. Feuillet de Conches, 2: 38-40; Fersen, 82.
42. E.g., Arneth, 165, 169, 151, 162, 177-179; Tourzel, 176.
43. Louis XVIII, 45-77.
44. Bouille, 240; Fersen, 128; Bouille fils, 39; Damas, 207.
45. Bouille fils, 43; Tourzel, 193; Bimbenet, 36, 51; Choiseul-Stainville, 44.
46. E.g., Bimbenet, 44, 57-62; 65-82; Choiseul-Stainville, 75-77; Weber, 324325-
47. Choiseul-Stainville, 50, 52; Tourzel, 190-92; Campan, 286-90; Feuillet de Conches, 2: 14, 127-128; Bimbenet, 26, 40-44.
48. AP 25: 201, 312-13; Fersen, 87; also Fersen, io8; Tourzel, 179; Arneth, 155; Feuillet de Conches, 2: 48-49.
49. Bouille, 202, 226-233, 247-249, 215-216; Bouille fils, 17-19, 21-22, 24-25, 56-59; Heidenstam, 44-45.
5o. Bouille, 219-220, 240, 255; Bouille fils, 37-39 44, 87; Fersen, 121.
51. Bouille fils, 37-39; Fersen, 118, 121; Tourzel, 196.
52. Campan, 282; Fersen, 121; Bouille, 251; Choiseul-Stainville, 55-56, 58; Bouille fils, 70-71; Damas, 207.
53. Bouille, 253; Damas, 205-206 and 208; Choiseul-Stainville, 63; Fersen, 130.
54. Bouille fils, 72-73; Choiseul-Stainville, 49.
55. Fersen, 136; Bouille fils, 70-71.
56. Bouille, 243-246; Bouille fils, 33-41, 62-63, 80.
57. Fersen, 130; Bouille, 220-222, 242; Bouille fils, 64-65; Damas, 203-205; Choiseul-Stainville, 37; Aimond, Enigme, 131.
58. Bouille, 254-255, 252; Fischbach, 205-206.
59. Choiseul-Stainville, 38, 55; Bouille, 222; Fersen, 101, 109, 128, 132, 136.
6o. Fersen, 137; Bouille fils, 77-79; Bouille, 254-255; Choiseul-Stainville, 4243; Damas, 208.
61. Bouille, 223; Fersen, 11o; Choiseul-Stainville, 34, 53, 55-56.
62. Feuillet de Conches, 2: 101-125; Lefebvre, Recueil de documents, 274-284; Fersen, 128; Choiseul-Stainville, 34; Bouille, 223.
63. Bouille, 200-201; Arneth, 152-154, 171; Feuillet de Conches, 2: 129-130; Campan, 290; Choiseul-Stainville, 53. Bouille seems to have made preparations for the king's arrival in the Abbey of Orval, just across the frontier; AP 27: 558.
64. Arneth, 152-154; Feuillet de Conches, 2: 55-59, 127-128, 63.
3. The King Takes Flight
i. Madame Royale, in Weber, 313-314; AN D XXIX his 38, dos. 389; Bimbenet, 44.
2. Valory, 257-259; Moustier, 4; Bimbenet, 92-128; Louis XVIII, 40-41.
3. Bimbenet, 28-29, 51, 57-62; Moustier, 6-7.
4. Choiseul-Stainville, 69-74; Aimond, Enigme, 56; Lenotre, 270-276.
5. Bimbenet, 8-11, 65-82.
6. Aimond, Enigme, 5'7; Lafayette, 3: 77; Weber, 325; Almanach de la ville de Lyon, xix.
7. Tourzel, 191-192; Weber, 314-316. By some accounts Tourzel was accompanied out of the palace by Malden, or Fersen, or even the queen herself; Lenotre, 41-42.
8. Choiseul-Stainville, 75-77; Bimbenet, 35-36, 92-103; Tourzel, 192; AP 27: 553; Aimond, Enigme, 56-57.
9. Tourzel, 193-194; Choiseul-Stainville, 78-79; Aimond, Enigme, 58; Bimbenet, 57-62.
to. Bimbenet, 61-62; Choiseul-Stainville, 78-79.
11. Bimbenet, 8-12, 36, 51.
12. Aimond, Enigme, 8-9.
13. Valory, 270; Bimbenet, 82-92; AP 27: 552-553; Vast, 15; Arbellot and Lepetit, 18.
14. Aimond, Enigme, 13. They traveled the 146 miles from Paris to Varennes in about 20.5 hours, or 7.1 miles per hour. With the nineteen relay stops subtracted, the road time was more like 9.2 miles per hour.
15. Fournel, 356; Lacroix, 128; Weber, 316. Others report that the accident was near Chaintrix: Vast, 24-25; Aimond, Enigme, 65-66, 74.
i6. Tourzel, 193-195; Weber, 315; Moustier, 9-11; Vast, 1; Petion, 194.
17. Bimbenet, 65-82, 92-103, 115-128; Moustier, it; Aimond, Enigme, 64-65.
iS. Aimond, Enigme, 64-65, 68-69; Vast, 16-19, 27, 39-41.
19. Weber, 316; Aimond, Enigme, 74-76; Vast, 41-43.
20. Vast, 62, 67-69, 72; Aimond, Enigme, 76-78; AN D XXIX bis 36 (1), dos. 370.
21. Tourzel, 195-197; Valory, 270; Vast, 97-99; Aimond, Enigme, 79.
22. Bouille, 256-257; Damas, 209, 212-213; Bouille fils, 79, 86, 122-129; Raigecourt, 187-195; Bimbenet, 238-239; Aimond, Enigme, 106-110.
23. Bimbenet, 177-178.
24. Damas, 107, 210, 214, 218; Vast, 175; Aimond, Enigme, 96.
25. Bimbenet, 183-185; Lagache, 449-453; Buirette, 546-550; Vast, tot-107; Aimond, Enigme, 33, 84-86.
26. Choiseul-Stainville, 8o-84; Damas, 233-234; Aimond, Enigme, 80-81.
27. Fersen, 138; Choiseul-Stainville, 80-84, 109-1to; Damas, 233-234; Bouille fils, 95-98; Aimond, Enigme, 80-81.
28. Damas, 218-221; Bimbenet, 183-185; Raigecourt, 187-195; Aimond, Enigme, 1o8-no.
29. Tourzel, 197; Valory, 270-274; Moustier, 13; Lagache, 451; Fournel, 340341; Buirette, 547-548; Vast, 107, 111-118; Aimond, Enigme, 84-87.
30. Laurent, 248-249.
31. AP 27: 508; Buirette, 547-548; Vast, 111-119; Aimond, Enigme, 87-91.
32. Bimbenet, 183-185; Lagache, 452-453; AN D XXIX his 37, dos. 386: report of municipality of Sainte-Menehould, July 28, 1791; Buirette, 547553-
33. Damas, 221-229; Valory, 276-277; Tourzel, 196; Weber, 316; Bimbenet, 187-193; Lagache, 453-454; Aimond, Enigme, 103.
34. Weber, 316.
35. Valory, 258, 279-285; Moustier, 15-18; Weber, 316; AP 27: 508-509; Aimond, Histoire de Tcarennes, 317-318.
36. Tourzel, 198.
37. Choiseul-Stainville, 1o5-1o8; Damas, 239; Tourzel, 202; Campan, 298-299; AD Ardennes, L 12 and 78; AN D XXIX his, dos. 385; Fournel, 326; Aimond, Histoire de Tcarennes, 328; Aimond, Enigme, 156-159.
38. Bouille, 241-246; Bouille fils, 122-135; Bimbenet, 238-239; Planta de Wildenberg, 444-446; Aimond, Histoire de Varennes, 328-329; Aimond, Enigme, 161-166.
39. Fischbach, 209.
40. Valory, 312; Petion, 197; Tourzel, 209-210. On the weather: Guittard de Floriban, 64-66.
41. Moustier, 26; Petion, 191-192; Buirette, 555-556.
42. Tourzel, 203; Aimond, Enigme, 167-168; Buirette, 555-556.
43. Buirette, 561-562; Nicolas, 60-61. See also Chapter 6 of this volume.
44. Valory, 295-296; Petion, 194; Dumas, I: 497-499; Nicolas, 61-62.
45. Fischbach, 87; Valory, 298-299; Buirette, 556-559; Lefebvre, "Le meurtre du comte de Dampierre," 393-405.
46. AD Marne, i L 329: letter of municipality of Neuf-Bellay.
47. Tourzel, 204-205; Valory, 300-306; Nicolas, 60-62; Aimond, Enigme, 171173-
48. Tourzel, 205-206; Gillet, 37-42; Aimond, Enigme, 173-175.
49. Dumas, 1: 489-490; Petion, 192; AP 27: 428; Aimond, Enigme, 175-176.
5o. Dumas, 1: 490-493; Petion, 193, 201; Tourzel, 206-211; Aimond, Enigme, 177-179.
51. Dumas, 1: 500-502; Tourzel, 211; Petion, 202.
52. Petion, 202-203; Tourzel, 211; Valory, 312; Roger, 71; Rabaut SaintEtienne, Precis, 248.
53. Valory, 315-323; Moustier, 52; Petion, 203-204; Dumas, 1: 503; Tourzel, 212-215; AP 27: 527-528; Aimond, Enigme, 179-180.
54. Bouille, 220-222, 225-226.
4. Our Good City of Paris
i. Mercier, 34, 108, 328. Much of the following is based on this source.
2. Mercier, 34; Tulard, 33-35, 44-49; Roche, chap. 1; Godechot, 67-70, 83.
3. Thompson, 1oo-1o1, 118-119.
4. See esp. Censer, chap. 2.
5. Mercier, 70.
6. Short, 20: 585; Mercier, 402; Andress, 177.
7. Boutier and Boutry, 40.
8. Mathiez, 4-IO.
9. See in particular Mathiez; Bourdin; Monnier, 4-6.
to. See esp. Burstin, "Une Revolution a l'oeuvre," parts 2 and 3; and Kaplan, La fin des corporations, chaps. 13-15.
it. Burstin, "La loi Le Chapelier"; Andress, 122-135.
12. Burstin, "Une Revolution a l'oeuvre"; Andress, chaps. 2-4; Pisani, I: 191199; Tackett, Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture, 354.
13. Godechot, 2
45-48; Burstin, "La Revolution a l'oeuvre," 287-289, 293-295; Carrot, 1: 41, 69-71.
14. Andress, IIo-111; Burstin, "Une Revolution a l'oeuvre," 254; Gower, 82.
15. Miles, 1: 209; Gower, 8o; Short, 20: 348; Guittard de Floriban, 45.
,6. Gaultier de Biauzat, letter of January 29; Ami du peuple, February 14 and March to (kindly indicated to me by Jeremy Popkin); also Legendre, letter of February 2; Ruault, 221, 233-234; Vernier, letter of May I; Colson, 192.
17. AP 27: 370-372; Aimond, Enigme, 52-53; L orateur du peuple, vol. 6, no. 45 (ca. June 20); L ami du peuple, June 21 (published before the king's flight was known).
18. AN D XXIX his 38, dos. 389; Bimbenet, 14-15, 17, 35-36, 44.
19. Lacroix, 1-2; Leclercq, 582-583.
20. Leclercq, 581; Faulcon, 421; Thibaudeau, 139-14o; Colson, 194; Ferrieres, 360.
21. Bimbenet, 14, 35-36; Ruault, 246; Panon Desbassayns, 186; Leclercq, 581.
22. Lacroix, 4; Oelsner, 18; Chronique de Paris, no. 173, June 22; Le babillard, no. 18, June 22; Leclercq, 585.
23. Mousset, 273; Short, 20: 562; Le babillard, no. 18, June 22; Oelsner, 38.
24. Lacroix, 1-2, 5, 11.
25. Lacroix, 3, 14-15, 22, 25, 179; Bourdin, 241; Panon Desbassayns, 186.
26. Lacroix, 1-2, 5, 7, 13, 22, S3, 141-142, 185; Charavay, ix; Burstin, "La Revolution a l'oeuvre," 256-257; Genty, Io5; Bourdin, 241-244; Le patriote francais, no. 683, June 22; Mathiez, 51, 64.
27. Bourdin, 235-237; Guittard de Floriban, 34; Short, 19: 635; Gower, 71; Censer, 111-115.
28. Oelsner, 21.
29. Chronique de Paris, no. 173, June 22;.journal de Perlet, no. 692, June 28.
30. Leclercq, 672-676; Chronique de Paris, no. 173, June 22; Roland, 2: 316; Ruault, 246-247; Dumont, 222.
31. AN D XXIX his 35, dos. 365; Le patriote francais, no. 683, June 22; Short, 20: 585; Chronique de Paris, no. 173, June 22; Mathiez, 51; Mousset, 273.
32. Oelsner, 21; Chronique de Paris, no. 173, June 22.
33. Leclercq, 675-76; Duprat, 146-188; Hunt, Family Romance, 50-51.
When the King Took Flight Page 24
