CAMILLE DESMOULINS IN THE PALAIS BOTAL course with the citizens or with the other sol-1 diers. Versailles was encompassed by armies, and a battery of artillery was pointed at the very doors of the Assembly. The aspect of affairs had now become so threatening that on Friday, the 10th of July, Mirabeau rose in the Assembly and proposed that the discussion of the Constitution should be suspended while a petition was sent to the King urging the removal of these menacing armies.* "Fresh troops," said he, "are daily advancing. All the bridges and promenades are converted into military posts. Movements public and secret, hasty orders and counter-orders meet all eyes. Soldiers are hastening hither from all quarters. Thirty-five thousand men are already cantoned in Paris and Versailles. Twenty thousand more are expected. They are followed by trains of artillery; spots are marked out for batteries; every communication is secured; every pass is blocked up; our streets, our bridges, our public walks are converted into military stations. Preparations for war strike every eye, and fill every heart with indignation." At the same time a pamphlet was circulated through Paris, stating that the King was to hold another royal sitting on the 13th; that he had determined to enforce his Declarations of the 23d of June; that the National Assembly was to be dissolved by violence, its leaders arrested, and Necker to be driven from the kingdom. A deputation of twenty-four members was sent to the King, with a petition which is of world-wide celebrity, drawn up by Mirabeau.t M. Rabaut de St. Etienne. "It is not to be dissembled," writes M. Bailly, the first President of the Assembly, "that Mirabeau was in VOL. XV.-No. 89.-Q q Though Necker earnestly advised the removal of the troops, the King, now in the hands of his worst counselors, returned almost an insulting answer. He affirmed that the troops were assembled for the maintenance of public order, and for the protection of the Assembly, and that if the members of the Assembly were afraid of their protectors they might adjourn to Noyon or to Soissons, cities some fifty or sixty miles north of Paris. In either of these cities, removed from the protection of the capital, they would have been entirely at the mercy of their enemies.* On the evening of this day, Saturday, July 11, as M. Necker was dressing for dinner, he received a communication announcing his dismissal. A confidential letter from the King at the same time informed him that the monarch was unable to prevent his removal, and urged M. Necker, without communicating to any one the news of his dismissal, immediately and secretly to leave the kingdom. True to the confidence thus reposed in him, Necker quietly dined, and then, taking his carriage as if for an evening drive with his wife, took the direction to the Netherlands, the nearest frontier, and drove on rapidly through the night. grand, more firm, more worthy of the occasion, than this the Assembly its principal force. Nothing could be more address to the King." The Marquis of Ferrières, acknowledging the insincerity of the court in the King's answer, writes: "The They would have lost all their hold if they had once reAssembly saw through the snare that was spread for them. moved themselves from the security which the vicinity of Paris afforded. Inclosed between the two camps (of Flanders and Paris) they would have found themselves at the mercy of the Court." See also Hist. Phil. de la Rev. de France, par ANT. FANTIN DESODOURDS, tom. i. p. 150. † MADAME DE STAEL, Cons derations, etc., ch. 12. The next day was the Sabbath, July 12. At an early hour the Palais Royal in Paris was filled with an anxious crowd. About ten o'clock an unknown person announced that Necker was dismissed, and that a new ministry was organized, composed of members of most determined hostility to popular reform. A young manCamille Desmoulins-sprung upon a table, his dress disarranged, his hair disheveled, his face flushed, his eyes gleaming with indignation and tears, and with a pistol in each hand to protect himself from the police, shouted "To arms! to arms! This dismissal is but the precursor to another St. Bartholomew. This night the Swiss and German troops are to march to our massacre. We have but one resourceit is to defend ourselves." The impassioned cry was immediately reechoed by the multitude-"To arms!" A rallying sign was needed. Desmoulins plucked a green leaf from a tree and attached it to his hat. Instantly all the chestnut-trees which embellished the garden were stripped of their foliage, and the leaf became the pledge of union. The flash of a moment had brought the whole body of the populace into a recognized uniform and a rude organization. An army of more than one hundred thousand determined men was thus in an hour called into being, inspired with deathless enthusiasm and crying out for leaders and for weapons. The movement was now in progress which was to scatter like chaff the battalions of foreign mercenaries, and to prostrate in dust and ashes the court and the throne. But alas for man! The flame which cheers the fireside may lay palaces and temples and happy homes in ruins. A new power had arisen, and it proved to be as blind and ignorant as it was resistless. In this wild hour of turmoil the multitude were bewildered and knew not what to do. They had no arms, and no recognized leaders except the National Assembly at Versailles, from whom they were now cut off by detachments of troops. Near by there was a museum of wax-figures. Some men ran and brought out busts of Necker and of the Duke of Orleans, who was also, it was said, threatened with exile. Decorating these busts with crape, they bore them aloft through the streets with funereal honors. A company of foreign dragoons charged upon them, dispersed the procession, killing one man and cutting the busts to pieces. The French Guards were all this time locked up in their barracks, and the Prince of Lambesc had stationed a squadron of German dragoons in front of their quarters to prevent their coming to the aid of the people. But nothing could restrain them. They broke down and leaped over the iron rails, and fiercely attacked the hated foreigners. The dragoons fled before them, and the Prince of Lambesc, who commanded, fell back upon the garden of the Tuileries, and entering the gates charged upon the people who were there. One old man was killed and the rest were put to flight. Paris was now in a state of fearful ferment. The roused multitudes were running in all directions in search of arms. Every bell was ringing the alarm, and the whole city was agitated with the most intense emotions of indignation and terror. As the sun went down and darkness enshrouded the city the tumult increased. All were apprehensive that the dawn would usher in a dreadful day. A report of the agitated state of the metropolis was carried to the Assembly at Versailles, exciting very great anxiety in the minds of the patriots deliberating there. The nobles rejoiced. The hour was now at hand when they thought the Revolution was to be crushed by the energies of grapeshot and the bayonet. In the election of deputies to the States-General, Paris had been divided into sixty sections, · each of which chose two electors. These hundred and twenty electors, composed of the most wealthy and intelligent citizens of Paris, immediately met, and passed the night deliberating respecting the anarchy into which the city was plunged. There were two foes now equally to be dreaded-the court and the blind, enraged populace. Monday morning, July 13, dawned. This was the day designated for the coup d'etat by which the Assembly was to be dispersed. It was openly boasted by the nobles that a Parliament composed of the privileged class exclusively was to be convened; that all the deputies of the Third Estate were to be tried for treason; that the members of the clergy and of the nobility who had declared in favor of the Tiers Etat were to be consigned to perpetual imprisonment, and that those who had been particularly active in the cause of popular liberty were to be sent to the scaffold.* In preparation for this event the new ministry, bitterly hostile to the popular cause, had taken their seats in the King's cabinet; Necker, a fugitive, was hastening to the Netherlands; fifty thousand troops under Marshal Broglie, the most determined advocate of aristocratic privilege, crowded the environs of Paris and Versailles.† * "A list of the proscribed had been drawn up in the Committee of the Queen. Sixty-nine deputies, at the head of whom were placed Mirabeau, Sieyes, and Bailly, were to be imprisoned in the citadel of Metz, and from thence led to the scaffold as guilty of rebellion. The signal agreed upon for this St. Bartholomew of the representstives of the people was the change of the Ministry."Histoire des Montagnards, par ALPHONSE ESQUIROS, p. 15. See also Hist. Phil. de la Rev. de France, par ANT. FANTIN DESODOURDS, tom. i. p. 148; Memoirs of Mar montel. + Professor William Smyth, of Cambridge, England, in his very able lectures upon the French Revolution, while confessing that his sympathies are with the court in this conflict, writes: "On the whole, it appears to me that there can be no doubt that a great design had been formed by the court for the dissolution of the National Assembly, and the assertion of the power of the crown; that military force was to have been produced, and, according to the measure of its success would, in all probability, have been the depression of the spirit of liberty, even of rational liberty then existing in France. Less than this can net 2. That it was the duty of the King imme- had been seized, set on fire, and were now diately to remove the foreign troops. 3. That the King's advisers, of whatever rank, were responsible for present disorders. 4. That to declare the nation bankrupt was infamous. These were bold resolves. The third, it was well understood, referred to the Queen and the two brothers of the King. The fourth branded with infamy the measure which the court had already adopted in virtually declaring bankruptcy, and in making payments only in paper. After passing these resolutions, the members of the Assembly were in such peril that they deemed it best to keep together for mutual protection. They voted their session permanent, and for seventy-two hours, day and night, continued in their seats, one-half deliberating while the others slept upon their benches. Lafayette, who be supposed; much more may be believed."-Lect. on French Revolution, vol. i. p. 251. "They were going to make payments with paper money, without any other guarantee than the signature of an insolvent King."-MICHELET, i. 37. blazing. It was expected every moment that the troops would traverse the streets, sweeping them with grapeshot. From every steeple the tocsin was pealing, summoning the people to arms. Thousands of those who thronged the city, houseless wanderers, were haggard and wan with famine, and knew not where to get a mouthful of bread. The great demand was for arms to protect themselves from the anticipated assault. In the search they ransacked the city. Every sword, musket, and pistol from private residences was brought forward. The shops of the gunsmiths furnished a small supply. The Royal Arsenal, containing mainly curiosities and suits of ancient armor, was sacked, and while all the costly objects of interest were left untouched, every available weapon was taken away. An immense crowd was collected around the Hôtel de Ville, where the electors had met, demanding arms and the immediate establishment of a citizens' guard. The excitement at last be came so intense, and the importunity so pressing, that the electors, hesitating to adopt so decisive a measure, which might doom them to the Bastile or the scaffold, referred the people to the Mayor of the city. Flesselles, the Mayor,* was an officer of the crown, but he immediately obeyed the summons of the people and came to the Hôtel de Ville. Here he feigned to be entirely on their side, declared that he was their father, and that he would preside over their meeting only by the election of the people. This announcement was received with a burst of enthusiasm. It was immediately decided that a citizens' guard should be established, and Lafayette, by universal acclaim, was appointed its General.† Paris contained then nearly a million of inhabitants. Almost every able-bodied man was eager to be enrolled in the National Guard. It was decided that each of the sixty districts of the city should accept eight hundred men, and immediately arrange them in military battalions. Thus a new and an independent government, composed of the sixty electors, with its strong army of defense, consisting of fortyeight thousand of the National Guard, sprang as it were by accident into being. It was the sudden growth of uncontrollable events, which no human wisdom had planned. Like a flash of lightning it blazed upon every eye at a moment, and all were alike amazed. The King was henceforth powerless. The Court was powerless. The National Guard could by a word be increased to hundreds of thousands. The French soldiers, almost to a man, were with them in heart, and were ready to join them. neither party were as yet fully aware how entirely the royal troops were in sympathy with the popular cause. Still ment rumors were reaching the city that Marshal Broglie was approaching with all his troops. Still the National Guard was almost entirely destitute of arms and ammunition. The Mayor Flesselles, who the people began now to suspect was deluding them merely to gain time for the royal troops to enter the city, was urged to point out the dépôt where arms were stored, as it was well known that somewhere there was an abundant supply in the city. He replied that the manufactory at Charleville had promised to send him thirty thousand muskets, and that twelve thousand he was momentarily expecting. Soon a large number of boxes were brought marked "Guns." The Mayor ordered them to be stored in the magazine until he should have time to distribute them; but the impatient people broke open the boxes, and found them filled with rubbish. It was now quite evident that Flesselles was trifling with the people, acting the part of a spy and a traitor at the Hôtel de Ville. Thus passed the 13th of July. The 14th of July is one of the most eventful days in the annals of France. Its early dawn found the city in intense excitement. The rumor spread through the crowd that there was a large supply of arms at the Hotel des Invalides. But how could they be taken without any weapons of attack? Sombreuil, the governor of the Invalides, was a firm and fearless man, and, in addition to his ordinary force, amply sufficient for defense, he had recently obtained a strong detachment of artillery and several additional cannon, showing that he was ready to do battle. Within fifteen minutes' march of the Invalides, Bensenval was encamped with several thousand Swiss and German troops in the highest state of discipline. Still, as by a common instinct, the whole multitude poured along the streets toward the Hotel. Soon thirty thousand men were swarming around the building, some with armed. The curate of St. Etienne led his parishioners in this conflict for freedom. As this intrepid clergyman marched at the head of his flock, he said, "My children, let us not forget that all men are brothers." The alarm-bells ringing from the steeples seemed to invest the movement with a religious character. Those sublime voices, accustomed Every thinking man saw clearly that matters were fast approaching a crisis. Marshal Broglie, proud and self-confident, was at Versailles, in constant conference with the court, and hav-pikes, pistols, or muskets, but most of them uning under his command fifty thousand men, abundantly armed and equipped, all of whom could, in a few hours, be concentrated in the streets of Paris. General Bensenval had assembled a force of several thousand Swiss and German troops, cavalry and artillery, in the Field of Mars. The enormous fortress of the Bastile, with its walls forty feet thick at its base and ten at the top, rising with its gloomy tow-to summon the multitude to prayer, now, with ers one hundred and twenty feet into the air, with cannon charged with grapeshot, already run out at every embrasure to sweep the streets, commanded the city. It was garrisoned by eighty-two French soldiers from the Hôtel des Invalides; but as it was feared that they could not be fully relied upon, thirty-two Swiss troops were thrown in as a reinforcement. Every mo* Prévôt des Marchands. their loudest utterance, called them to the defense of their civil and religious rights. Sombreuil perceived at once that the populace could only be repelled by enormous massacre, and that probably even that, in the frenzied state of the public mind, would be ineffectual. He dared not assume the responsibility of firing without an order from the King, and he could get no answer to the messages which he sent to The cockade was to be the colors of the city, blue and Versailles. The citizens, with a simultaneous At the suggestion of Lafayette, white, the old rush in all directions, leaped the trenches, clamcolor of France, was added. Hence originated the tri-bered over the low wall-for the Hôtel was not color. "I give you," said Lafayette, "a cockade which will go round the world."-Mémoires de M. de Lafaya fortress-and, like a resistless inundation, filled the vast building. They found in the red. ette, tom. ii. p. 266. armory thirty thousand muskets. Seizing these, and six pieces of cannon, they rushed toward the Bastile, to assail, with these feeble means, one of the strongest fortresses in the world; a fortress which an army under the great Condé had in vain besieged for three-and-twenty days.* It The Bastile was the great terror of Paris. While that remained in the hands of their enemies, with its impregnable walls and heavy guns commanding the city, there was no safety. stood in the very heart of the Faubourg St. Antoine, enormous, massive, and blackened with age, the emblem of royal prerogative, exciting by its mysterious power and menace the terror and execration of every one who passed beneath the shadow of its towers. Even the sports of childhood dared not approach the empoisoned atmosphere with which it seemed to be enveloped. M. de Launay was governor of the fortress. He was no soldier, but a mean, mercenary man, despised by the Parisians. He had contrived to draw from the establishment, by every means of extortion, an income of twenty-five thousand dollars a year. He reduced the amount of firewood to which the shivering inmates were entitled; made a great profit on the wretched wine which he furnished to those who were able to buy; and he even let out the little garden within the inclosure, thus depriving those prisoners who were not in dungeon confinement of the priviM. Rabaut de St. Etienne, i. 66. lege of a walk there, which they had a right to claim. Linguet's Mémoires of the Bastile had rendered De Launay's name infamous throughout Europe. From the summit of the towers of the Bastile, De Launay had for many hours listened to the roar of the insurgent city. As he now saw the mass of countless thousands rushing on to the assault, he turned pale and trembled. All the cannon, loaded with grape-shot, were with their muzzles thrust out of the port-holes. Several cart-loads of paving-stones, cannon-balls, and old iron had been conveyed to the tops of the towers, to be thrown down to crush the assailants. Twelve large rampart guns, charged heavily with grape, guarded the only entrance. These were manned by thirty-two Swiss soldiers, who would have no scruples in firing upon Frenchmen. The eighty-two French soldiers who composed the remainder of the garrison were placed in the towers and at distant posts, where they could act efficiently without being brought so immediately into conflict with their assailants.* "The Bastile had no cause for fear. Its walls, ten feet thick at the top of the towers, and thirty or forty at the base, might long laugh at cannon-balls. Its towers pierced with windows and loop-holes, protected by double and triple gratings, enabled the garrison, in full security, to make a dreadful carnage of its assailants. The attack on the Bastile was by no means reasonable. It was an act of faith."-Historical View of the French Revolution, by J. MICHELET, vol. i. p. 143. |