Page:Voices of Revolt - Volume 1.djvu/47

Rh him a victorious return. We cannot explain his flight otherwise. You know that three million armed men would constitute an insurmountable bulwark of liberty; but you refuse to arm the men. There must be a powerful party, there must be great accomplices, powerful intrigues, and all these right here in Paris. I am afraid of this mask of patriotism now being worn by every one. I am not expressing suspicions or insinuations; I am stating facts; and I therefore demand that the speakers who will follow me give their reasons for doubting these facts and advance evidence to disprove them. …

You all know the reminiscences left behind by Louis XVI. You remember how he sabotaged the points that were not to his advantage in the Constitution that was passed, and what was his attitude toward those articles in the Constitution that were so fortunate as to please him? Read the King's protest and you will understand the entire plot. In a short time the King will appear at the boundaries, he will be a member of the suite of the Emperor, of the King of Sweden, of the Count of Artois, and of the Prince of Condé, and with him will be all the émigrés, all the deserters and all the brigands that will have been united by the common cause of kings. And then what will these gentlemen do? They will issue a patriotic manifesto and the King will declare, as he has declared a hundred times already, :My people may count on my affection." The advantages