carriage awaited them, and took the road to Chalons and Montmedy.

On the following day the news of this escape threw Paris into
consternation; indignation soon became the prevailing sentiment; crowds
assembled, and the tumult increased. Those who had not prevented the
flight were accused of favouring it. Neither Bailly nor Lafayette escaped
the general mistrust. This event was considered the precursor of the
invasion of France, the triumph of the emigrants; the return of the
ancient regime, and a long civil war. But the conduct of the assembly soon
restored the public mind to calmness and security. It took every measure
which so difficult a conjuncture required. It summoned the ministers and
authorities to its bar; calmed the people by a proclamation; used proper
precautions to secure public tranquillity; seized on the executive power,
commissioned Montmorin, the minister of foreign affairs, to inform the
European powers of its pacific intentions; sent commissioners to secure
the favour of the troops, and receive their oath, no longer made in the
name of the king, but in that of the assembly, and lastly, issued an order
through the departments for the arrest of any one attempting to leave the
kingdom. "Thus, in less than four hours," says the marquis de Ferrieres,
"the assembly was invested with every kind of power. The government went
on; public tranquillity did not experience the slightest shock; and Paris
and France learned from this experience, so fatal to royalty, that the
monarch is almost always a stranger to the government that exists in his
name."

Meantime Louis XVI. and his family were drawing near the termination of
their journey. The success of the first days' journeys, the increasing
distance from Paris, rendered the king less reserved and more confident;
he had the imprudence to show himself, was recognised, and arrested at
Varennes on the 21st. The national guard were under arms instantly; the