IV. 1789. CHAP. music and dancing for the last time enlivened that scene of former festivity. But in the night intelligence of the real state of things was received that the Bastille was taken, Paris in insurrection, the guards in open revolt, the regiments of the line in sullen inactivity. The soldiers knew that an increase of their pay had been recommended in most of the cahiers of the deputies; and thus, by interest as well as inclination, they were disposed to take part with the citizens in the contest which was approaching. The Assembly, which had been constantly sitting for the two preceding days, was violently agitated by the intelligence. It was proposed to send a new deputation to the King, to urge the removal of the troops. "No," said Clermont Tonnerre, "let us leave them this night to take counsel : it is well that kings, like private men, should learn by experience." The Duke de Liancourt took upon himself the painful duty of acquainting the King with the events which had occurred, and proceeded to his chamber in the middle of the night for that purpose. "This is a revolt," said the King after a long silence. 'Sire," replied he, "it is a revolution."1 1 Hist. Parl. ii. 116, 117. Toul. i. 78. Mig. i. 66. Calonne, 390. 114. The King Assembly he will dismiss the troops. Finding resistance hopeless, from the general defection of the troops, the King immediately resolved upon goes to the submission-a measure which relieved him from the and declares dreadful apprehension of causing the effusion of blood. On the following morning he repaired, without his guards or any suite, accompanied only by his two brothers, to the Assembly. He was received in profound silence. Gentlemen," said he, "I am come to consult you on the most important affairs: the frightful disorders of the capital call for immediate attention. It is in these moments of alarm that the Chief of the nation comes, without guards, to deliberate with his faithful deputies upon the means of restoring tranquillity. I know that the most unjust reports have been for some time in circulation as to my intentions—that CHAP. 1789. even your personal freedom has been represented as being in danger. I should think my character might be a sufficient guarantee against such calumnies. As my only answer, I now come alone into the midst of you; I declare myself for ever united with the nation; and, relying on the fidelity of the National Assembly, I have given orders to remove the troops from Versailles and Paris, and I invite you to make my dispositions known to the capital." Immense applause followed this popular declaration; the Assembly, by a spontaneous movement, rose from their seats, and reconducted the monarch to the palace. A deputation, with the joyful intelligence, was immediately despatched to Paris, and produced a temporary calm among its excited popula- 1 Toul. i. 79. tion. Bailly was named mayor of the Lafayette commander of the armed force. had the prudence to sanction these appointments, which in truth he could not prevent, but they origi- 26. nated with the insurrectionary authorities in Paris.1 city, and Hist. Parl. The King ii. 116, 117. Th. i. 106. Mig. i. 67. Bert. de Moll. ii. 24, visits Paris. July 17. On the 17th the King set out from Versailles, with 115. few guards and a slender suite, to visit the capital, upon The King, whose affections his sole reliance was now placed. A large part of the National Assembly accompanied him on foot; the cortège was swelled on the road by an immense concourse of peasants, many of whom were armed with scythes and bludgeons, which gave it a grotesque and revolutionary aspect. The Queen parted with him in the most profound grief, under the impression that she would never see him more. He had received in the morning intelligence of a design to assassinate him on the road, but that made no change on his resolution. The march, obstructed by such strange attendants, lasted seven hours; during which the King underwent every humiliation that a monarch could endure. He was received at the gates by Bailly, at the head of the municipality, who presented to him the keys of the city. "I bring your majesty," said he, CHAP. IV. "the same keys which were presented to Henry IV. He entered the city as a conqueror; now it is the 1789. people who have reconquered their sovereign." Louis advanced to the Hôtel de Ville, through the midst of above one hundred thousand armed men, under an arch formed of crossed sabres. His air was composed, but melancholy; his countenance pale, and with an expression of sadness. The whole of the immense crowd bore tricolor cockades, now assumed as the national colours. At the Pont Neuf he passed a formidable park of artillery, but at the touch-hole and mouth of each had been placed a garland of flowers. Few cries Moll. ii. 47, of Vive le Roi met the ears of the unfortunate monarch -those of Vive la Nation were much more numerous; but when he appeared at the window of the Hôtel de Th. i. 105, Ville, with the tricolor cockade on his breast, thunders of applause rent the air, and he was reconducted to Versailles amidst the most tumultuous expressions of public attachment.1 1 Bert. de 55. Deux Amis, ii. 47, 52. Lac. vii. 105,109. 109. Toul. i. 82, 83. Burke, v. 139. 116. Orleans fac insurrec tion. The Orleans conspirators were thus disappointed in Share of the the result of the insurrection of 14th July, which they tion in the had so large a share in promoting. They had expected that, during the confusion consequent on the revolt of the people and defection of the troops, the King and royal family would have taken to flight, and then the Duke of Orleans was to have been proclaimed lieutenant-general of the kingdom. Mirabeau, Laclos, and Latouche, were the chiefs of this conspiracy; and from their dark councils had issued the orders, as from the coffers of the Duke the treasures, which had originally put the revolt in motion. In pursuance of this plan, their adherents in the Assembly had vehemently declaimed against the employment of troops in the suppression of the insurrection, and pressed the King with those repeated addresses, which at length, from his inability to remedy the evils complained of, led to his answering them in a voice so penetrated with IV. 1789. grief as to move their hearts.* Mirabeau, in par- CHAP. ticular, thundered with all the force of his eloquence against the military, and concluded with the words, ominous of the reign of blood-"I demand the head of the Marshal de Broglie." So confident were the conspirators that this situation would be given to the Duke without hesitation, that the great object to which their efforts were directed was to determine him to ask it, and to prepare for him the speech which he was to employ on the occasion. † Indeed Mirabeau openly avowed in the National Assembly, on a subsequent occasion, the design of supplanting Louis XVI. by Louis Philippe. But the Duke of Orleans failed at the decisive moment. He went so far, at the instigation of his accomplices, as to go to the King, with the intention of demanding from the prostrate monarch the office of lieutenant-general of the kingdom; but want of courage, or a lingering feeling of loyalty, prevented him from preferring the request; and he contented tions au himself with asking leave, if affairs turned out ill, to 213. Dép. retire into England. Mirabeau's indignation at this de M. de failure knew no bounds, and exhaled in vehement iii. 238. expressions of contempt; and from that day he sought Causes Sean opportunity to disconnect himself from so irresolute and unprofitable a conspirator.1 "His cowardice," said La * "Vous déchirez de plus en plus mon cœur, par le récit que vous me faites des malheurs de Paris. Il n'est pas possible de croire que les ordres qui ont été donnés aux troupes en soient la cause.' L'émotion avec laquelle le Roi prononça ces paroles montrait assez la douleur dont il était pénétré. députation fut affectée, et l'archevêque de Paris en rendit compte à l'Assemblée, de la manière la plus propre à la disposer à entendre la réponse de sa Majesté; mais la majorité, composée des députés les plus timides que la terreur entrainait avec les plus audacieux, persista à trouver cette réponse insuffisante, et personne n'osa ouvrir, ou soutenir, une autre opinion."-BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, Histoire de la Révolution, ii. 14. "De lui faire son thème"-Mirabeau's words on the occasion.-BERTRAND DE MOLLEVILLE, Histoire de la Révolution, iii. 14. "Qui vous conteste que la France n'ait besoin d'un roi, et ne veuille un roi? Mais Louis XVII. sera roi comme Louis XVI.; et si l'on parvient à persuader à la nation que Louis XVI. est fauteur et complice des excès qui ont lassé sa patience, elle invoquera un Louis XVII.”—Discours de MIRABEAU à l'Assemblée Nationale, 4th Oct. 1790.-Moniteur. Ferrières, de Moll. ii. i. 133. Bert. 15. Déposi Châtelet, i. Virieu. Lab. Hist. des crètes de la Rév. i. 37. IV. CHAP. he, "has made him lose the greatest advantages; they would have made him lieutenant-general of the kingdom it rested with himself alone: his throne was made they had prepared what he was to have said." 1789. 117. Who did wrong in tion? The throne was irrecoverably overturned by the insurrection of the 14th July. The monarch had attempted, this stage of at the eleventh hour, to restrain the encroachments of the Revolu- the Tiers Etat by military force, and he had failed in the attempt. All classes had seen the weakness of the government; the power of opinion, the prestige of force, had passed over to the other side-for it was obvious that it was in it the supreme authority was vested. This is the true date of the destruction of the old French monarchy; the subsequent years of Louis were nothing but a melancholy, painful, and abortive attempt to rule, by following the changes of public opinion when the power of controlling it was gone. It will appear in the sequel what unbounded calamities followed this great change, from which at the time nothing but felicity was anticipated. In the mean time, before advancing further, the all-important question arises, Who did wrong in this stage of the Revolution? 118. The Tiers Etat did wrong, and committed at once a Usurpation flagrant moral crime, and an irremediable political fault, of the Tiers by compelling the union of the orders, and usurping the Etat. supreme authority in the state. The constitution of and treason France, as of all European monarchies, was founded on the separation of the representatives of numbers from those of property -a separation, not fanciful or accidental, but resting on the nature of things, coeval with civilisation, and one which, in one form or other, has existed in all forms of government which have had any durability, since the beginning of the world. The duplication of the numbers of the Tiers Etat by Necker rendered it still more imperative to uphold this separation; because, as their numbers now equalled those of the two other orders put together, and a large portion of |