Sentenced by the judgment of the Helvetian jurisdiction, neither the king nor the Assembly could invalidate the judgment, or annul its effects.  The king had, at the entreaty of the Constituent Assembly, in vain attempted to obtain the pardon of these soldiers from the Swiss confederation.

These fruitless negotiations served the Jacobins and the National Assembly as food for accusation against M. de Montmorin.  In vain did he justify himself by alleging the impossibility of obtaining such an amnesty from Switzerland, at a moment when this country, who had suffered from civil commotions, sought to restore order by the laws of Draco.  “We shall be then the compulsory gaolers of this ferocious people,” cried Guadet and Collot d’Herbois.  “France must then degrade herself so far as to punish in her very ports those heroes who have gained the people a triumph over the aristocratic officers, and shed their blood for the nation instead of pouring it out in the cause of despotism.”

Pastoret, an influential member of the moderate party, and who was said to concert all his measures with the king, supported Guadet’s motion, in order to give the king popularity by an act agreeable to the nation; and the freedom of the soldiers of Chateauvieux was voted by the Assembly.  The king, having delayed his sanction for some time, in order not to wound the cantons by this violent usurpation of their rights over their own countrymen, afforded the Jacobins fresh ground for imprecation and invective against the court and the ministers.  “The moment is come when one man must perish for the safety of all,” cried Manuel, “and this man must be a minister; they all appear to me so guilty, that I firmly believe the Assembly would be free from crime did it cause them to draw lots for who should perish on the scaffold,” “All, all,” vociferated the tribunes.  But at this very moment Collot d’Herbois mounted the tribune, and announced, amidst loud applause, that the royal assent to the decree for their liberation had been given the previous evening, and that in a few days he should present to his brother deputies these victims of discipline.

The soldiers of Chateauvieux were in reality advancing to Paris, having been liberated from the galleys at Brest, and their march was one continued triumph, but Paris prepared for them a still more brilliant one through the exertions of the Jacobins.  In vain did the Feuillants and the Constitutionalists energetically protest, through the mouth of Andre Chenier, the Tyrtaeus of moderation and good sense, of Dupont de Nemours, and the poet Roucher, against the insolent oration of the assassins of the generous Desilles.  Collot d’Herbois, Robespierre, the Jacobins, the Cordeliers, and the very commune of Paris, clung to the idea of this triumph, which, according to them, would cover with opprobium the court and La Fayette.  The feeble interposition of Petion, who appeared as though he wished to moderate the scandal, served only to encourage it, for he of