Fear > Fête de la Fédération > A Letter from a Fédéré

Two days befor ethe Fête de la Fédération, the fédérés were ordered to gather in the afternoon in the CHamps-Elysées for inspection by the king. Torrential rain brought a change of orders, and they marched through the hall before the king, the queen and their family. Instead of wearing dark blue, my department adopted sky-blue uniforms, with red lapels and facings and white lining and buttons; this gave an unusual effect which caught the queen's eye.

I was marching at the head of the first squad. We were halted for some two minutes right in front of the king. THe queen leaned forward, pulled gently at the skirts of my jacket, and said, 'Monseiur, which province are you from?' -- 'From that one where your forebears were fulers,' I replied, lowering my sabre. 'What! You are...?' -- 'Your loyal subjects from Lorraine,' and I spoke honestly. She thanked me with a slight bow and a look which I see still, so deeply did it pierce me; and, leaning towards the king, she told him, 'These are your faithful subjects from Lorraine.' The king nodded in greeting, and as we marched on I saw no more.

Well! These few words, this look which none of my comrades missed, moved us so much that we would have done anything those two unhappy persons might have demanded of us at that instant. I am only quoting this personal encounter in order to demonstrate how easy it would have been for the king to have at his disposal some eighty thousand men gathered together in Paris who, like myself, were seeing the king for the first time.

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