ple, et qu'on ne nous en arrachera que par la puissance des bayonettes.

The immediate effect of this speech of Mirabeau was, that the deputies, by a general acclamation, announced their assent to what he had pronounced. The president then addressing himself to M. de Brézé said, The assembly decreed yesterday, that they would continue their meeting after the royal session; I can make no alteration in this decree. Shall I carry that answer to the king?' said M. de Brézé.—‹ Yes, sir,' rejoined the presi dent.

When de Brézé was withdrawn, Mirabeau proposed, that the persons of the deputies should be declared inviolable, and that whoever should make any attempt against their liberty should be deemed traitors to the country, and guilty of a capital crime; which passed into a decree immediately. The abbé Sieyes made an harangue, the tendency of which was to encourage them to adhere to their purpose of re-establishing the nation in its rights, and forming a free constitution, which no power on earth, he said, had a right to do for them; and he used an expression, which was admired at the time, and has been often quoted since. Do you not feel, gentlemen, that you are to-day what you were yesterday?" He finished his speech by moving, that their assemblies should be public. No authority, he added, should prevail on them to exclude the people from hearing their debates. This also was agreed to, and the assembly soon after broke

up.

When M. le marquis de Brézé made his report to the council of the manner in which the king's orders had been obeyed, they seemed in a greater dilemma and much more

* Yes, we have heard what the king has been prevailed on to express. But you, who cannot be his organ in this assembly; you, who have here neither seat nor vote, nor any right whatever, are not the proper person to remind us of his discourse. Go and tell those who sent you, that we are here assembled by the will of the French people, and nothing will make us retire but the bayonet.

alarmed than the assembly had been when they heard them delivered.*

As there were four thousand guards under arms on the day of the royal session, and seven or eight regiments in the neighbourhood of Versailles, the passive timidity of the council may seem extraordinary. The following circumstances are said to have made a strong impression, and to have contributed to an alteration in their measures. At the ceremony in the tennis-court on the 20th, several of the guards had appeared greatly affected; and it was believed, that none but the foreign troops would have obeyed, if any violence had been ordered to be used to the deputies. When the king returned from the assembly to the palace on the 23d, although the streets were crowded with people, they maintained a sullen silence. No sign of applause, not so much as a single Vive le Roi! was heard an event without a precedent in the annals of the French monarchy; for the French populace hitherto had been as much accustomed to applaud their king, whatever his character was, as often as he appeared in public, as the ancient Egyptians were to worship whatever the priests presented to them, whether in the form of a crocodile or a calf.

• Those who suggested these peremptory orders given by the king on the present occasion, seem to have acted on the same principle with Bays in the duke of Buckingham's Rehearsal-who, to make sure of the success of his piece, said, that he would appear on the stage in mourning, attended by an executioner, and roundly tell the audience, that if they did not immediately applaud his play, he would order the executioner to cut off his head before their faces; on which, adds he, they will all applaud. But on its being suggested, that possibly the audience might not applaud, Bays had thought of no subterfage, by which he might avoid the other alternative.

CHAPTER X.

Great Popularity of M. Necker-Disorders in Paris-Part of the Order of Nobles join the National Assembly-Reflections on that event-Populace demand to be admitted, contrary to the King's Orders-Deputation to the King on that subjectThe King desires the Nobles and Clergy to unite with the Tiers Etat-Debates on that Subject-The two superior Orders join the National Assembly-Universal Joy-Discourse of Mirabeau-Reflections.

GREAT numbers of the deputies, after the breaking up of the assembly, went directly to M. Necker's hotel; but he, on the pretext of being indisposed, saw very few of them. It was soon after rumoured, that the king was displeased with the minister, because he had not attended the royal session, and that he was to be dismissed from the administration. In the evening, however, he went to wait on his majesty. This was no sooner known, and it was known immediately, than the courts of the palace were crowded with the populace, who from time to time exclaimed, Vive M. Necker! Point de demission! of Vive le Roi! was heard.

but no cry

After his conference with the king, as M. Necker returned to his own house, the multitude surrounding him insisted on his giving his promise not to resign his situation. This they obtained without much difficulty. The assurance was heard with transport; those nearest him held him up in their arms to gratify their fellow-citizens with a sight of this favourite minister, and then actually carried him in this triumphant manner to his hotel.

The nobles, and the minority of the clergy who had not united with the tiers-etat, met the day after the royal session in their respective chambers, as the king had enjoined; but the other deputies, still retaining the name of the national assembly, met in the old hall, and deliberated as a complete legislative body. Nothing can be a stronger proof how much all the king's injunctions were

disregarded, than that on this first meeting, although he had ordered that none but deputies should be admitted to hear their debates, a great number of strangers were present. The sentries at the door asked of each person that presented himself, if he was a deputy; but if by his hesitation there was reason to suspect that he was not, the sentry whispered to him, Say yes, and immediately desired him to enter.

While the disputes concerning the union of the orders existed at Versailles, the minds of the Parisians were in continual agitation. Messengers were dispatched several times a-day from Versailles, to inform the groups and bands of politicians in the Palais Royal, of what passed at the assembly; and, if any one ventured to utter an expression contrary to the prevailing opinion, he was exposed to the capricious insults of the multitude.

They obliged one person to make what they called amende honorable, by asking pardon on his knees and kissing the ground; others they punished with the rod; and one unfortunate ecclesiastic they treated so rudely, by shoving him from one side to the other of the circle which surrounded him, that he was long confined to his bed, and with difficulty escaped with his life from the consequences of this barbarous sport.

One wretch, who had a diabolical rancour against M. d'Espremenil, seized the moment when a bulletin just brought from Versailles was read to a group in one of the public places, accusing him as an apostate from the cause of the people, and made a most violent harangue against that gentleman, which he concluded by a proposal, that, as his person was not immediately in their power, they should turn his wife and children into the street, and burn his house. A person of presence of mind and humanity, who heard this shocking proposal, and was afraid that some of the most furious might adopt it, exclaimed, • that it would be no punishment to the real criminal, because the house and furniture belonged to the landlord, his wife to the public; and that as for the children, they

1

perhaps belonged to some of the best patriots in the company.

This sarcasm against M. d'Espremenil was believed neither by the speaker nor the audience; but as it put them in a humour inconsistent with the horrid proposal, which certainly was the intention of the speaker, it may be considered as a very happy jest.

Besides the moveable groups which were constantly forming and dissolving in the Palais Royal, a band of young men formed themselves into a society, erected a scaffold sheltered from rain, in a form of a kind of hall, and, in imitation of the assembly at Versailles, chose a president and secretaries, and debated on political questions. Here the most incendiary motions were made, and the most extravagant and ridiculous accusations against the ministers and persons of distinction of both sexes belonging to the court. Those accusations for being ridi culous were not the less dangerous; as they exposed the objects of them to the insults and fury of the mob. At the conclusion of each debate, there was a decree or sentence, expressive of the opinion of the society, immediately drawn up and announced to the multitude. After a long debate respecting M. d'Espremenil, who, from being esteemed as a patriot, was now detested as a courtier, the sentence of this society was, that his name should be erased from the list of counsellors of the parliament, and he himself declared a traitor to his country.

L'Abbé Maury by the same authority was to be placed on a pillory on the Pont-neuf, there to remain during the sitting of the states-general.

A third sentence was, that all persons of the name of Polignac should be transported to the poorest part of the province of Auvergne, that it might be fertilized by their riches. This was directed against Madame de Polignac, the queen's favourite, who was supposed to have enriched herself and many of her relations at the expense of the national treasure.

What was burlesque or humourous in these mock de