spot, who thus accidentally found themselves in front of the troops,

merely at first as spectators; but as their numbers increased, their
indignation rose. They retired" target="_blank" title="a.退休的；通职的">retired a few steps, and posted themselves on

and behind large piles of stones, large and small, collected in that
Place for a bridge which was to be built adjacent to it. In this

position, happening to be in my carriage on a visit, I passed thro'
the lane they had formed, without interruption. But the moment after

I had passed, the people attacked the cavalry with stones. They
charged, but the advantageous position of the people, and the showers

of stones obliged the horse to retire, and quit the field altogether,
leaving one of their number on the ground, & the Swiss in their rear

not moving to their aid. This was the signal for universal
insurrection, and this body of cavalry, to avoid being massacred,

retired" target="_blank" title="a.退休的；通职的">retired towards Versailles. The people now armed themselves with
such weapons as they could find in armorer's shops and private

houses, and with bludgeons, and were roaming all night thro' all
parts of the city, without any decided object. The next day (13th.)

the assembly pressed on the king to send away the troops, to permit
the Bourgeoisie of Paris to arm for the preservation of order in the

city, and offer to send a deputation from their body to tranquillize
them; but their propositions were refused. A committee of

magistrates and electors of the city are appointed by those bodies to
take upon them it's government. The people, now openly joined by the

French guards, force the prison of St. Lazare, release all the
prisoners, and take a great store of corn, which they carry to the

Corn-market. Here they get some arms, and the French guards begin to
form & train them. The City-committee determined to raise 48.000.

Bourgeoise, or rather to restrain their numbers to 48.000. On the
14th. they send one of their members (Mons. de Corny) to the Hotel

des Invalides, to ask arms for their Garde-Bourgeoise. He was
followed by, and he found there a great collection of people. The

Governor of the Invalids came out and represented the impossibility
of his delivering arms without the orders of those from whom he

received them. De Corny advised the people then to retire, and
retired" target="_blank" title="a.退休的；通职的">retired himself; but the people took possession of the arms. It was

remarkable that not only the Invalids themselves made no opposition,
but that a body of 5000. foreign troops, within 400. yards, never

stirred. M. de Corny and five others were then sent to ask arms of
M. de Launay, governor of the Bastile. They found a great collection

of people already before the place, and they immediately planted a
flag of truce, which was answered by a like flag hoisted on the

Parapet. The deputation prevailed on the people to fall back a
little, advanced themselves to make their demand of the Governor, and

in that instant a discharge from the Bastile killed four persons, of
those nearest to the deputies. The deputies retired" target="_blank" title="a.退休的；通职的">retired. I happened to

be at the house of M. de Corny when he returned to it, and received
from him a narrative of these transactions. On the retirement of the

deputies, the people rushed forward & almost in an instant were in
possession of a fortification defended by 100. men, of infinite

strength, which in other times had stood several regular sieges, and
had never been taken. How they forced their entrance has never been

explained. They took all the arms, discharged the prisoners, and
such of the garrison as were not killed in the first moment of fury,

carried the Governor and Lt. Governor to the Place de Greve (the
place of public execution) cut off their heads, and sent them thro'

the city in triumph to the Palais royal. About the same instant a
treacherous correspondence having been discovered in M. de

Flesselles, prevot des marchands, they seized him in the Hotel de
Ville where he was in the execution of his office, and cut off his

head. These events carried imperfectly to Versailles were the
subject of two successive deputations from the assembly to the king,

to both of which he gave dry and hard answers for nobody had as yet
been permitted to inform him truly and fully of what had passed at

Paris. But at night the Duke de Liancourt forced his way into the
king's bed chamber, and obliged him to hear a full and animated

detail of the disasters of the day in Paris. He went to bed
fearfully impressed. The decapitation of de Launai worked powerfully

thro' the night on the whole aristocratic party, insomuch that, in
the morning, those of the greatest influence on the Count d'Artois

represented to him the absolute necessity that the king should give
up everything to the Assembly. This according with the dispositions

of the king, he went about 11. o'clock, accompanied only by his
brothers, to the Assembly, & there read to them a speech, in which he

asked their interposition to re-establish order. Altho' couched in
terms of some caution, yet the manner in which it was delivered made

it evident that it was meant as a surrender at discretion. He
returned to the Chateau afoot, accompanied by the assembly. They

sent off a deputation to quiet Paris, at the head of which was the
Marquis de la Fayette who had, the same morning, been named

Commandant en chef of the Milice Bourgeoise, and Mons Bailly, former
President of the States General, was called for as Prevot des

marchands. The demolition of the Bastile was now ordered and begun.
A body of the Swiss guards of the regiment of Ventimille, and the

city horse guards joined the people. The alarm at Versailles
increased. The foreign troops were ordered off instantly. Every

minister resigned. The king confirmed Bailly as Prevot des
Marchands, wrote to Mr. Neckar to recall him, sent his letter open to

the assembly, to be forwarded by them, and invited them to go with
him to Paris the next day, to satisfy the city of his dispositions;

and that night, and the next morning the Count D'Artois and M. de
Montesson a deputy connected with him, Madame de Polignac, Madame de

Guiche, and the Count de Vaudreuil, favorites of the queen, the Abbe
de Vermont her confessor, the Prince of Conde and Duke of Bourbon

fled. The king came to Paris, leaving the queen in consternation for
his return. Omitting the less important figures of the procession,

the king's carriage was in the center, on each side of it the
assembly, in two ranks afoot, at their head the M. de la Fayette, as

Commander-in-chief, on horseback, and Bourgeois guards before and
behind. About 60.000 citizens of all forms and conditions, armed

with the muskets of the Bastile and Invalids, as far as they would
go, the rest with pistols, swords, pikes, pruning hooks, scythes &c.

lined all the streets thro' which the procession passed, and with the
crowds of people in the streets, doors & windows, saluted them

everywhere with cries of "vive la nation," but not a single "vive le
roy" was heard. The King landed at the Hotel de Ville. There M.

Bailly presented and put into his hat the popular cockade, and
addressed him. The King being unprepared, and unable to answer,

Bailly went to him, gathered from him some scraps of sentences, and
made out an answer, which he delivered to the audience as from the

king. On their return the popular cries were "vive le roy et la
nation." He was conducted by a garde bourgeoise to his palace at

Versailles, & thus concluded an amende honorable as no sovereign ever
made, and no people ever received.

And here again was lost another precious occasion of sparing to
France the crimes and cruelties thro' which she has since passed, and

to Europe, & finally America the evils which flowed on them also from
this mortal source. The king was now become a passive machine in the

hands of the National assembly, and had he been left to himself, he
would have willingly acquiesced in whatever they should devise as

best for the nation. A wise constitution would have been formed,
hereditary in his line, himself placed at it's head, with powers so

large as to enable him to do all the good of his station, and so
limited as to restrain him from it's abuse. This he would have

faithfully administered, and more than this I do not believe he ever
wished. But he had a Queen of absolute sway over his weak mind, and

timid virtue; and of a character the reverse of his in all points.
This angel, as gaudily painted in the rhapsodies of the Rhetor Burke,

with some smartness of fancy, but no sound sense was proud,
disdainful of restraint, indignant at all obstacles to her will,

eager in the pursuit of pleasure, and firm enough to hold to her
desires, or perish in their wreck. Her inordinate gambling and

dissipations, with those of the Count d'Artois and others of her
clique, had been a sensible item in the exhaustion of the treasury,

which called into action the reforming hand of the nation; and her
opposition to it her inflexible perverseness, and dauntless spirit,

led herself to the Guillotine, & drew the king on with her, and
plunged the world into crimes & calamities which will forever stain