The national guards and the troops have done their duty.

The king is at the Tuileries." Petion added, in order to flatter public opinion, that when the carriage stopped some persons had attempted to lay hands on the _gardes du corps_, that he himself had been seized by the collar and dragged from his place by the carriage door, but that this movement by the people was legal in its intention, and had no other object than to enforce the execution of the law which had ordered the arrest of the accomplices of the court.

It was decreed that information should be drawn up by the tribunal of the _arrondissement_ of the Tuileries concerning the king's flight, and that three commissioners appointed by the Assembly should receive the declarations of the king and queen.

"What means this obsequious exception ?" exclaimed Robespierre.

"Do you fear to degrade royalty by handing over the king and queen to ordinary tribunals?
A citizen, a _citoyenne_, any man, any dignity, how elevated soever, can never be degraded by the law." Buzot supported this opinion; Duport opposed it.