V. 1789. rank and elegance which still adhered to the court graced CHAP. the assembly with their presence. The enthusiasm of the moment the recollections of the spot, formerly the scene of all the splendour of Versailles-the influence of assembled beauty,—all conspired to awaken the chivalrous feelings of the military. The health of the King was drunk with enthusiasm, and the wish loudly expressed that the royal family would show themselves to their devoted defenders. The officers of the Swiss and of some other regiments, were admitted to the repast; and the King, who had just returned from hunting, yielding to the solicitations of the Duke of Luxembourg, appeared, attended by the Queen, the Dauphin, and Madame Elizabeth. At this sight the hall resounded with acclamations, and the monarch, unused to the expression of sincere attachment, was melted into tears. After the royal family retired, the musicians of the court struck up 1 Bert. de the pathetic and well-known air, "Oh, Richard! oh, my Campan, ii. King the world abandons thee!" At these sounds the 70, 71. Fertransports of the moment overcame all restraint; the Mig. i. 89. officers drew their swords and scaled the boxes, where 185, 189. they were received with enthusiasm by the ladies of the Th. i. 167. court, and decorated with white cockades by fair hands trembling with agitation.1 Moll. ii. 181. rières, i. 276. Lac. vii. Toul. i. 132. 59. Paris at the news of it. Accounts of this banquet were speedily spread through Paris, magnified by credulity, and distorted by malignant Agitation in ambition. It was universally credited the following morning at the Palais Royal, in the clubs and marketplaces, that the dragoons had sharpened their sabres, trampled under foot the tricolor cockade, and sworn to exterminate the Assembly and the people of Paris. The Oct. 5. influence of the ladies of the court, and the distribution of the white or black cockades, was represented as particularly alarming by those who had employed the seductions of the Palais Royal to corrupt the allegiance of the French Guards. Symptoms of insurrection speedily manifested themselves; the crowds continued to accumu V. 1789. CHAP. late in the streets in an alarming manner, until at length, on the morning of the 5th, the revolt openly broke out. A young woman seized a drum, and traversed the streets, exclaiming, "Bread! bread!" She was speedily followed by a crowd, chiefly composed of females and boys, which rolled on till it reached the Hôtel de Ville. That building was at once broken up, and pillaged of its arms. It was even with difficulty that the infuriated rabble were prevented from setting it on fire. In spite of all opposition, they broke into the belfry and sounded the tocsin, which soon assembled the ardent and formidable bands of the Faubourgs. The cry immediately arose, raised by the agents of the Duke of Orleans, "To Versailles !" and a motley multitude of drunken women and tumultuous men, armed and unarmed, set out in that direction. Such was the multitude of females in the crowd, that the French Republican writers do not hesitate to say the triumph of 5th October was owing to the women.* The national guard, which had assembled on the first appearance of disorder, impatiently demanded to follow; and although their commander, Lafayette, exerted his utmost influence to retain them, he was at length compelled to yield, and, at seven o'clock, the whole armed force of Paris set out for Versailles. The Gardes Françaises, who, notwithstanding the medals, fêtes, bribes, and courtesans they had received as a reward for their treachery, were in secret ashamed of the part they had taken, announced their determination to resume their service at the royal palace. They formed the centre of the national guard, and openly declared their resolution to seize the King, and exterminate the regiment of Flanders and the 1 Deux Amis, iii. 150, 155. Bert. de Moll. ii. 193, 195. Lac. vii. 189, 195, 1999 i. 90. Th. . 134. Mig. body guard, who had dared to insult the national colours. i. 170, 174. Hints were even openly thrown out that the monarch Introd. should be deposed, and the Duke of Orleans nominated lieutenant-general of the kingdom.1 Mich. i. 126. "Les femmes font le 5 Octobre."-MICHELET, Histoire de la Revolution. i. 126; Introduction. V. 1789. 60. State of the and the arrival of Versailles. The minds of the members of the Assembly, and of the CHAP. inhabitants of Versailles, though less violently excited, were in an alarming mood. The King had refused his sanction to the Declaration of the Rights of Man; and the Assembly, piqued at any obstacle to their sovereignty, Assembly were in sullen hostility. The Queen had been heard to Court, and express her delight with the banquet of the officers; and the mob at the assemblage of troops, joined to some hints dropped by the courtiers, led to a general belief that a movement of the seat of the Assembly, and of the court, to Tours or Metz, was in contemplation. No one, however, anticipated any immediate danger; the King was out on a hunting party, and the Queen seated, musing and melancholy, in an arbour in the gardens of Trianon, when the forerunners of the disorderly multitude began to appear in the streets. She instantly rose and left the gardens to go to the palace: she never saw them again. At the first intelligence of the disturbance, the monarch returned with expedition to the town, where the appearance of things exhibited the most hideous features of a revolution. The gates in front of the court-yard of the palace were closed, and the regiment of Flanders, the body guards, and the national guard of Versailles, drawn up within, facing the multitude; while without, an immense crowd of armed men, national guards, and furious women, uttering seditious cries and clamouring for bread, were assembled. The ferocious looks of the insurgents, their haggard countenances, and uplifted arms, bespoke but too plainly their savage intentions. Nothing had been done to secure the safety of the royal family. Though the Swiss Guards lay at the distance of only a few miles, at ii. 74. Mig. Ruel and Courbevoie, no attempt was made to bring 168, 172. them to the scene of danger-a decisive proof that the Lac. vii. reports of the warlike designs ascribed by the Orleans 205. Bert. conspirators and furious democrats to the court were 190, 201. entirely destitute of foundation.1 The commander of ii. 177, 179. the national guard of Versailles, the Count d'Estaing, 1 Campan, i. 91. Th. i. 192, 204, de Moll. ii. Deux Amis, CHAP. seemed to have lost that daring spirit which he had V. formerly evinced, and subsequently displayed on the 1789. 61. gents sur scaffold. The multitude soon broke into the hall of the Assembly; The insur and that august body, for the first time, beheld themround the selves outraged by the popular passions which they had Assembly. awakened. For above an hour they were insulted by the insolent rabble, who seated themselves on the benches, menaced some of the deputies with punishment, and commanded silence to others. "Lose no time," they exclaimed, "in satisfying us, or blood will soon begin to flow!" Maillard, the orator of the insurgents, who had taken so active a part in the attack on the Bastille, openly denounced Mounier, Clermont Tonnerre, and other courageous deputies, who had exposed the designs of the Orleans faction. "We have come to Versailles," said he, "to demand bread, and at the same time to punish the insolent body guard who have dared to insult the national colours. We are good patriots, and have torn all the black and white cockades which we have met on our road. The aristocrats would have us die of famine. This very day they have sent two hundred francs to a miller to bribe him not to grind flour." "Name him! name him!" resounded from all parts of the Assembly; but Maillard was obliged to confess he could not specify a name. voice in the crowd then called out, "the Archbishop of Paris;" but on all sides the cry arose, that he was incapable of such an atrocity. Still the intimidation of the Assembly was such, that they were obliged to give in to all their demands. In the gallery a crowd of fishwomen were assembled, under the guidance of one virago with stentorian lungs, who called to the deputies familiarly by name, i. 135. Bert. and insisted that their favourite Mirabeau should speak. Speak," said they to one deputy; "Hold your tongue," to another. 1 1 Deux Amis, iii. 181, 182. Dumont, 181, 182. Lac. vii. 208. Toul. de Moll. ii. 207, 209 A In the confusion on the outside, an officer of the guard struck with his sabre a Parisian soldier, who immediately V. And soon into the discharged his musket at him; a general discharge of CHAP. fire-arms from the guards ensued, which produced great consternation, but did little or no execution. The 1789. national guard of Versailles, aided by the multitude, 62. followed the body guards to their barracks, whither they after break had been ordered by the King to retire, forced the gates, palace. pillaged the rooms, and wounded some of the men. The court was in consternation, and the horses were already harnessed to the carriages, to convey the royal family from the scene of danger; but the King, who knew the real object of the conspirators, and was with reason apprehensive that, if he fled, the Duke of Orleans would be immediately declared lieutenant-general of the kingdom, resolutely, at whatever hazard, refused to move. The mob soon penetrated into the royal apartments, as the guards were prohibited from offering any resistance, and were received with so much condescension and dignity by the King and Queen, who listened attentively, and answered mildly, to all their requests, that they forgot i. 75, 76. the purpose of their visit, and left the royal presence iii. 188, 189. exclaiming Vive le Roi! A heavy rain, which began to of Louis fall in the evening, cooled the ardour of the multitude, 382. Toul. and before nightfall, the arrival of Lafayette, with the Mig. 1. 92. national guard of Paris, restored some degree of order to the environs of the palace.1 1 Campan, Deux Amis, Memoirs XVIII. iv. i. 136, 137. 63. the Queen. During these tumults the King was distracted by the most cruel incertitude. Mounier, at the head of a depu- Irresolutation from the Assembly, conjured him to vanquish his tion of the King, and scruples, and accept simply the articles of the constitution heroism of proposed by the Assembly-the Queen to act boldly and defend his kingdom. Two carriages, ready harnessed, were kept at the gate of the Orangerie; but the crowd discovered them, and assembled to prevent their departure the King commanded the Count d'Estaing to disperse the mob at that point; but he declined, alleging that the thing was impossible: the King urged the Queen to depart, and take the royal family with her; but she |