A CORRECTION.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") SIB,—The " famous question," or rather exclamation, " Le sang qui vient de couler etait-il done si pur which you father on Danton, was not uttered by him, but by Barnave, with reference to the murders of Foulon and Bertier a few days after the taking of the Bastille. In his memoirs, he says that the expression was hasty and indefensible. What do you say to the King's remark to Bailly on the death of De Launay, the Governor of the Bastille,—" Ah ! it a bien merits son sort !" P
—I am, Sir, &c., E. S. BEE8LY. 53 Warrington Crescent, W., April 11th.
[Our correspondent is right as to the phrase, but Danton said exactly the same thing. When asked, as Minister of Justice, to protect prisoners threatened with massacre in Orleans, he answered gloomily twice over, "Are not these men guilty r (Carlyle's " French Revolution," vol. iii., p. 57, first edition.)—ED. Spectator.]
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