But M.de Gouvion was sustained by a sentiment stronger than popular fury--that of generous despair; he continued: "As a man, I applauded the clemency of the National Assembly when it burst the fetters of these unhappy soldiers who were misled." He was again interrupted, but continued: "the decrees of the Constituent Assembly, the orders of the king, the voice of their officers, the cries of their country, all were unavailing; without provocation on the part of the national guards of the two departments, they fired on Frenchmen, and my brother fell a victim to his obedience to the laws.

No, I cannot remain silent, so long as the memory of the national guards is disgraced by the honours decreed to these men who murdered them." Couthon, a young Jacobin, seated not far from Robespierre, from whose eyes he seemed to gain his secret inspirations, rose and replied to Gouvion, without insulting him.

"Who is the slave of prejudices that would venture to dishonour men whom the law has absolved; who would not repress his personal grief in the interest and the triumph of liberty ?" But Gouvion's voice touched that chord of justice and natural emotion that always vibrates beneath the insensibility of opinion.

Twice did the Assembly, summoned by the president to vote for or against their admission to the debate, rise in an even number for and against this motion.

And the secretaries, the judges of these decisions, hesitated to pronounce on which side the majority was; they at length, after two attempts, declared that the majority was in favour of the admission of the Swiss; but the minority protested, and the _appel nominal_ was demanded.