From this time I thought it expedient to depend less upon the committee and more upon my own exertions, and I formed the resolution of going among the members of the National Assembly myself, and of learning from their own mouths the hope I ought to entertain relative to the decision of our question.  In the course of my endeavours I obtained a promise from the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, the Comte de Mirabeau, the Abbe Syeyes, Monsieur Bergasse, and Monsieur Petion de Villeneuve, five of the most approved members of the National Assembly, that they would meet me, if I would fix a day.  I obtained a similar promise from the Marquis de Condorcet, and Claviere and Brissot, as members selected from the committee of the Friends of the Negros.  And Messieurs de Roveray and Du Monde, two Genevese gentlemen at Versailles, men of considerable knowledge and interest, and who had heard of our intended meeting, were to join us at their own request.  The place chosen was the house of the Bishop of Chartres at Versailles.

I was now in hope that I should soon bring the question to some issue; and on the fourth of October I went to dine with the Bishop of Chartres to fix the day.  We appointed the seventh.  But how soon, frequently, do our prospects fade!  From the conversation which took place at dinner, I began to fear that our meeting would not be realized.  About three days before, the officers of the Guard du Corps had given the memorable banquet, recorded in the annals of the revolution, to the officers of the regiment of Flanders which then lay at Versailles.  This was a topic, on which the company present dwelt.  They condemned it as a most fatal measure in these heated times; and were apprehensive, that something would grow immediately out of it, which might endanger the King’s safety.  In passing afterwards through the streets of Versailles my fears increased.  I met several of that regiment in groups.  Some were brandishing their swords.  Others were walking arm in arm and singing tumultuously.  Others were standing and conversing earnestly together.  Among the latter I heard one declare with great vehemence, “that it should not be; that the revolution must go on.”  On my arrival at Paris in the evening the Palais Royale was full of people, and there were movements and buzzings among them, as if something was expected to happen.  The next day, when I went into the streets it was obvious what was going to take place.  Suffice it to say, that the next evening the King and Queen were brought prisoners into Paris.  After this, things were in such an unsettled state for a few days, and the members of the National Assembly were so occupied in the consideration of the event itself, and of the consequences which might attend it, that my little meeting, of which it had cost me so much time and trouble to procure the appointment, was entirely prevented.