The whole of her Majesty’s chamber, which consisted entirely of persons of fidelity, gave throughout all the dreadful convulsions of the Revolution proofs of the greatest prudence and self-devotion.  The same cannot be said of the antechambers.  With the exception of three or four, all the servants of that class were outrageous Jacobins; and I saw on those occasions the necessity of composing the private household of princes of persons completely separated from the class of the people.

The situation of the royal family was so unbearable during the months which immediately preceded the 10th of August that the Queen longed for the crisis, whatever might be its issue.  She frequently said that a long confinement in a tower by the seaside would seem to her less intolerable than those feuds in which the weakness of her party daily threatened an inevitable catastrophe.

[A few days before the 10th of August the squabbles between the royalists and the Jacobins, and between the Jacobins and the constitutionalists, increased in warmth; among the latter those men who defended the principles they professed with the greatest talent, courage, and constancy were at the same time the most exposed to danger.  Montjoie says:  “The question of dethronement was discussed with a degree of frenzy in the Assembly.  Such of the deputies as voted against it were abused, ill treated, and surrounded by assassins.  They had a battle to fight at every step they took; and at length they did not dare to sleep in their own houses.  Of this number were Regnault de Beaucaron, Froudiere, Girardin, and Vaublanc.  Girardin complained of having been struck in one of the lobbies of the Assembly.  A voice cried out to him, ’Say where were you struck.’  ‘Where?’ replied Girardin, ’what a question!  Behind.  Do assassins ever strike otherwise?”]

Not only were their Majesties prevented from breathing the open air, but they were also insulted at the very foot of the altar.  The Sunday before the last day of the monarchy, while the royal family went through the gallery to the chapel, half the soldiers of the National Guard exclaimed, “Long live the King!” and the other half, “No; no King!  Down with the veto!” and on that day at vespers the choristers preconcerted to use loud and threatening emphasis when chanting the words, “Deposuit potentes de sede,” in the “Magnificat.”  Incensed at such an irreverent proceeding, the royalists in their turn thrice exclaimed, “Et reginam,” after the “Domine salvum fac regem.”  The tumult during the whole time of divine service was excessive.

At length the terrible night of the 10th of August, 1792, arrived.  On the preceding evening Potion went to the Assembly and informed it that preparations were making for an insurrection on the following day; that the tocsin would sound at midnight; and that he feared he had not sufficient means for resisting the attack which was about to take place.  Upon this information the Assembly passed to the order of the day.  Petion, however, gave an order for repelling force by force.