Page:Dramatic Moments in American Diplomacy (1918).djvu/76

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CHAPTER FOUR

"TRADITIONS OF THE SERVICE"

Gouverneur Morris Takes a Hand in the French Revolution—His Memorandum to the King—The Man from Home Plans the Escape of Marie Antoinette—The Affair of the King's Money and Papers—Coaching a Despot to Play Republican—The Embassy a Haven for Condemned Aristos—Invaded by the Commune—The Minister Arrested—All the Ambassadors Leave—"Better My Friends Should Wonder Why I Stay Than My Enemies Inquire Why I Went Away"—Morris Stands by His Post of Danger—The King's Legacy Delivered in Vienna.

"Went to court this morning," reads the ancient diary of an American gentleman. "Nothing remarkable, only they were up all night, expecting to be murdered."

Not an unreasonable expectation either, that fatal summer of 1792, when bloody revolution ran riot through the streets of Paris, and the

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