“As soon as I was settled in my apartment, which was on the same floor with that of the Queen, she condescended to relate to me every particular of her unfortunate journey.  I saw the pain it gave her to retrace the scenes, and begged her to desist till time should have, in some degree, assuaged the poignancy of her feelings.  ‘That,’ cried she, embracing me, I can never be!  Never, never will that horrid circumstance of my life lose its vividness in my recollection.  What agony, to have seen those faithful servants tied before us on the carriage, like common criminals!  All, all may be attributed to the King’s goodness of heart, which produces want of courage, nay, even timidity, in the most trying scenes.  As poor King Charles the First, when he was betrayed in the Isle of Wight, would have saved himself, and perhaps thousands, had he permitted the sacrifice of one traitor, so might Louis XVI. have averted calamities so fearful that I dare not name, though I distinctly foresee them, had he exerted his authority where he only called up his compassion.’

“‘For Heaven’s sake,’ replied I, ’do not torment yourself by these cruel recollections!’

“‘These are gone by,’ continued Her Majesty, and greater still than even these.  How can I describe my grief at what I endured in the Assembly, from the studied humiliation to which the King and the royal authority were there reduced in the face of the national representatives! from seeing the King on his return choked with anguish at the mortifications to which I was doomed to behold the majesty of a French Sovereign humbled!  These events bespeak clouds, which, like the horrid waterspout at sea, nothing can dispel but cannon!  The dignity of the Crown, the sovereignty itself, is threatened; and this I shall write this very night to the Emperor.  I see no hope of internal tranquillity without the powerful aid of foreign force.

[The only difference of any moment which ever existed between the Queen and the Princesse de Lamballe as to their sentiments on the Revolution was on this subject.  Her Highness wished Marie Antoinette to rely on the many persons who had offered and promised to serve the cause of the monarchy with their internal resources, and not depend on the Princes and foreign armies.  This salutary advice she never could enforce on the Queen’s mind, though she had to that effect been importuned by upwards of two hundred persona, all zealous to show their penitence for former errors by their present devotedness.

“Whenever,” observed Her Highness, “we came to that point, the Queen (upon seriously reflecting that these persons had been active instruments in promoting the first changes in the monarchy, for which she never forgave them from her heart) would hesitate and doubt; and never could I bring Her Majesty definitely to believe the profferers to be sincere.  Hence, they were trifled with, till one by one she either lost them, or saw them sacrificed to an attachment, which her own distrust and indecision rendered fruitless.”]