SPEECHES OF
MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE
THE FLIGHT OF THE KING
The royal family had left Paris in the night between June 20 and 21, 1791. An immense excitement took possession of the population of the city, great masses of people surrounded the Legislative Assembly. The Assembly attempted to take measures to pacify the population. All the clubs in Paris held meetings. On the same evening Robespierre delivered the following speech, which was published in No. 32 of the Révolutions de France et de Brabant, which was Desmoulins' newspaper.
Citizens! I am not one who would regard the flight of the King as a frightful event. This day might have become the fairest in the annals of the Republic and the saving of the forty millions we have to pay for the support of this royal individual might perhaps be the smallest of our benefactions. But in order to make June 20 a happy day for us, the Legislative Assembly would be obliged to take entirely different measures from any it has thus far adopted. The King has not chosen a bad moment for his decision. The King feared the national veto of the Legislature and chose for his flight that mo-
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