man, Camille-Desmoulins, afterwards a prominent actor in the drama of the Revolution, sprang upon a table, and harangued the multitude in a passionate invective. The dismissal of Necker, he exclaimed, 'is the knell of a St. Bartholomew of patriots. This very night the Swiss and German battalions will move from the Champ de Mars to slaughter us! But one resource is left to us -to fly to arms!' Loud acclamations responded in approval. The orator then advised that a distinguishing symbol should be assumed whereby patriots might be known. A green cockade was voted. Plucking a leaf from a tree, and affixing it to his hat, Camille gave the signal, which was eagerly followed, and all the trees were stripped bare. Then, as if by some preconcerted movement, a rush was made to a sculptor's shop in the Palais-Royal, where the busts of Necker and the Duke of Orleans were seized, and borne through the streets in tumultuous procession. All were made to take off their hats as the busts passed, and thus the crowd proceeded in noise and disorder to the Place Louis XV., where it was charged by a detachment of dragoons under the Prince de Lambesc, who dispersed it, and cut down the bearer of one of the busts. The greater part of the multitude fled into the garden of the Tuileries, whither the Prince de Lambesc followed. Here a stand was made by the populace at the Turning Bridge, and more blood was spilt. The garden was at length cleared, and the prince returned with his troops to the Place Louis XV. The French Guards meanwhile, from fear of their disloyal tendencies, had been locked up in their barracks; they now broke loose, and drew up in order of battle against the German regiment of the Royal Allemand. The latter took to flight, after sustaining a loss of two men killed and three wounded. Orders were forthwith sent to all the troops encamped in the Champ de Mars to advance into the city. As they came up, they were confronted by the Guards in the Champs Elysées with levelled muskets; they halted, and refused to charge. A Swiss regiment was the first to give this example. The officers had no other alternative but to lead their soldiers back to the Champ de Mars.

Thus Paris was left almost wholly abandoned to an exasperated mob. As night approached, the gunsmiths' shops were forced and plundered, and all the barriers were destroyed. A horde of brigands traversed the streets, and spread terror and dismay in every quarter. Amid this horrible disorder the Assembly of Electors met at the Hotel de Ville, to take measures for the security of the city. This assembly had continued to sit ever since the election of members of the States-General, and it now took upon itself the functions of government. Paris was at this time divided into sixty districts, in which the electors were chosen to nominate deputies to the States-General. In each of these districts the tocsin was sounded, and every citizen summoned to attend, that

an organisation might be effected for the general protection, as well against the troops of the king as against the mob and the brigands. A correspondence was opened by the Assembly of Electors with the districts, and a scheme was speedily matured for the formation of a burgher guard, consisting of 48,000 men. Contingents were furnished by the several districts, and the whole placed under the command of general officers appointed by the central authority at the Hotel de Ville. Such was the origin of the National Guards. The green cockade of CamilleDesmoulins was superseded by the colours of the city of Parisblue and red-which afterwards, in their turn, gave way to the famous tri-colour-blue, white, and red-which soon became the national emblem. But before this force could be enrolled, and brought into operation, numerous outrages were committed. The convent of Saint Lazarus was ransacked in quest of arms, and afterwards set on fire. The Garde-Meuble, a repository of ancient arms and armour, was broken into, and every available weapon carried off; but all the other costly objects within it were left untouched. The prison of La Force was stormed, and all the prisoners, who were principally debtors, set at liberty. The felons incarcerated in the Châtelet, hearing of this occurrence, expected also to be released; but growing impatient, they attempted to overpower their keepers and procure their own liberation. The governor of the jail had no better resource to quell this mutiny than to invoke the aid of the very mob which had levelled the gates of La Force. It entered upon his call, fired upon the prisoners, and reduced them to submission. Such are the strange inconsistencies of popular impulses !

The abrupt dismissal of the ministry, and the dangers of the capital, formed the themes of exciting debates in the National Assembly. A fresh address was voted to the king, soliciting him to remove the troops from Versailles and Paris, and to sanction the organisation of a burgher militia. This address was presented by a deputation, at the head of which was the Archbishop of Vienne, who had succeeded Bailly as president of the Assembly. The king replied, with great firmness, that he would do neither the one nor the other; that the measures he had taken for insuring tranquillity he saw no occasion to vary; and that the extent of Paris forbade the idea of intrusting it to a burgher guard. In the uncertainty and apprehension that prevailed touching the actual intentions of the court, this reply was regarded as indicating a settled resolution to employ force. What other object could be inferred from the change of ministers? The banishment of Necker pointed obviously to a reversal of his system, which was one of conciliation and concession. If it had any meaning at all, none other could be attached to it. The Baron de Breteuil, the head of the new ministry, was known to be a violent oppo

nent of popular rights. Hence everything served to inspire the gloomiest doubts and suspicions. These were felt to be so natural and imperious, that not a voice was raised in exculpation of the court; and the Assembly forthwith passed resolutions, by a unanimous vote, declaring that Necker and the displaced ministers carried with them the esteem and regret of the nation; that the ministers and counsellors of the king, of whatever rank and state, were personally responsible for whatever calamities might occur, or infringements be made on the rights of the nation; that the public debt, having been placed under the safeguard of French integrity, could never be washed away by an infamous bankruptcy; that the removal of the army, and the establishment of burgher guards, were essential; and that all the previous resolutions of the 17th, 20th, and 23d of June were valid, and of full force and effect. A copy of these resolutions was ordered to be transmitted to the king, and they were likewise published and disseminated through the kingdom. Finally, fearing that the hall of the Assembly might be occupied by soldiers during the night, the sittings were declared permanent.

The night of the 13th-14th July was passed in anxiety and alarm. In the morning the most sinister rumours were circulated. The plans of the new ministry were stated to be definitively fixed. The king was to quit Versailles, and leave the Assembly to be dispersed at the point of the bayonet. The leading deputies were to be arrested, and Paris and Versailles occupied by an overwhelming military force. Additional credit was given to these rumours by an announcement that the queen, attended by the ladies of the court, had been seen going through the ranks of the soldiers, to encourage them, and ordering the distribution of refreshments among them. On the motion of Mirabeau, a fresh deputation was appointed to wait upon the king to ascertain his intentions, and to renew the complaints against the disposition of the army. Before it returned with an answer, two electors rushed breathlessly into the hall to proclaim that Paris was in a complete state of insurrection, that the Bastille had been attacked, and that the streets were running with blood. A second deputation was nominated to represent the increasing dangers of the capital to the king, and to insist yet more strenuously on the removal of the troops. The unfortunate Louis XVI. had been in consultation the whole day with his ministers as to the course it behoved him to take. It is impossible to say what secret hopes might have been indulged, what schemes formed, consequent upon the dismissal of the Necker ministry, and which led to it; but whatever they were, they had been unequivocally frustrated by the refusal of the troops to act on the 12th. The king was reduced to the most pitiable state; his ministers could suggest no mode of obviating the difficulties of his position. To withdraw

the troops from the capital when, and because it was, in openrebellion, seemed a strange request; yet he was assured by the deputations that no other means existed of restoring tranquillity. With a bitter pang he yielded to their representations, and promised that the troops encamped on the Champ de Mars should be removed, which was really tantamount to an abandonment of the reins of power; for what is an absolute monarch without his cohorts at the seat of government? Nevertheless, this reply was deemed unsatisfactory by the Assembly, which resolved to continue its instances with the king until not only the troops in the Champ de Mars, but all those stationed around Paris and Versailles, should be removed to a distance. This earnestness to get rid of any military force near the capital was natural in the Assembly. Distrustful of the court, conscious that an opportunity only was awaited to crush it, the masses were the sole means of its support, and in their triumph over authority it saw its own. If the sincerity of the court could have been depended upon—which was impossible, after the manifestation of the 23d June, and the dismissal of Necker-it would have been interested in the preservation of order and authority, instead of being impelled to vindicate, and even encourage, popular excesses. The danger of inuring the populace to insurrection and bloodshed was overlooked in the more pressing emergency of its position; and thus it helped to raise a power which soon towered above all control.

A decisive event meanwhile had taken place in Paris. During the day of the 13th, the Hotel de Ville had been besieged by applicants for arms. The supply at the disposal of the Committee of Electors was insignificant in reference to the quantity required. But the provost of the trades, De Flesselles, who was chairman of the committee, announced the approach of twelve thousand muskets from Charleville. These were impatiently awaited; but being not forthcoming even on the following morning, a cry of treachery was raised among the multitude. Amidst the tumult, in which the life of De Flesselles was threatened, the rioters were led by one De Corny, late solicitor to the municipality of Paris, to the Hotel des Invalides, in search of arms. The governor, De Sombreuil, at first refused to open the gates, but seeing that the people were determined to force an entrance, he voluntarily admitted them, whereupon every weapon in the arsenal was seized, together with several pieces of artillery. The night had been passed in continued uproar and agitation. The Place de Grêve, in front of the Hotel de Ville, was crowded with intercepted vehicles, and a belligerent mob uttering alternate cries of "The nation for ever!' and 'Death to traitors!' whilst at the Palais-Royal the patriots had formed themselves into a permanent assembly. Patrols were placed at all the gates of the city, and no one was allowed to leave it. On the side of the Champ de Mars, where the

troops were posted, artillery was planted, and a large body of the burgher guards drawn up, fully equipped and armed. In the morning the streets were thronged with angry hordes carrying pikes, muskets, and swords, shouting in deafening accents, To the Bastille! to the Bastille!' This was the well-known State prison, of which so many gloomy tales were current. It had long been an object of almost superstitious terror to the inhabitants of Paris, who, as they passed its grim and lofty walls, regarded them with an involuntary shudder. Many were the victims who had been here abandoned to ruthless tyranny, immured in cells, and cut off from all communication with the living world. Its demolition was eagerly demanded by the triumphant insurgents, the more vehemently because it was reported that the cannons on the turrets were pointed, and about to be fired on the city. From every quarter the people poured to this central point. The drawbridge of the fortress was drawn up, and preparations made to resist a siege. A deputy of the districts, Thuriot, sought a conference with the governor, Delaunay, and was admitted within the walls. He received an assurance that the guns were withdrawn from their embrasures, and that the garrison, consisting of Swiss and invalid soldiers, would not fire unless attacked. Satisfied, he returned to the crowd outside, and endeavoured to calm the excitement, but his voice was drowned amidst shouts of 'Down with the Bastille! Let us storm the Bastille!' Forthwith two men sprang to the roof of the guardhouse, and with axes broke the chains of the outer drawbridge, which fell, and the assailants rushed over it to the second bridge. Here they maintained an exchange of musketry with the garrison for a time, but at length retired out of range of shot. Detachments hastened to the Hotel de Ville to obtain fresh supplies of ammunition. These the committee was unable to give, and the exasperated mob reproached it with treachery, and menaced it with revenge. In the interim a fresh attack was made on the second bridge of the Bastille, headed by two soldiers, Hulin and Elie. The renewed firing alarmed the committee, which sent a deputation to the governor, to urge upon him the expediency of admitting a burgher guard into the fortress. The members of this deputation were unable to obtain a hearing. The same fate attended a second deputation, sent on a like errand. The conflict had now raged for some hours, when about two in the afternoon the French Guards appeared with artillery, and commenced a cannonade against the gate. It was answered by a discharge of grape, which did great execution among the besiegers. But the governor conceived it impossible to hold out, and hoisted a flag of truce. A parley was opened, but amidst the noise and confusion nothing could be determined. The governor, in despair, seized a lighted match, to fire the powder magazine and blow up the building, but was prevented by