He presented himself at the Tuileries in a black coat, with a round hat, and nailed shoes covered with dust.

He wished to show in himself the man of the people, entering the palace in the plain garb of the citizen, and thus meeting the man of the throne.

This tacit insolence he thought would flatter the nation and humiliate the king.
The courtiers were indignant; the king groaned over it; Dumouriez laughed at it.

"Ah, well then, really, gentlemen," he said to the courtiers, "since there is no more etiquette there is no more monarchy." This jocose mode of treating the thing had at once removed all the anger of the court, and all the effect of the Spartan pretensions of Roland.
The king no longer regarded the discourtesy, and treated Roland with that cordiality which unlocks men's hearts.

The new ministers were astonished to feel themselves confiding and moved in the presence of the monarch.