The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

42 LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
but he had as yet to learn the situation of a revolu- tached a tambour de basque, commenced a harangue
tionary general. "Is it not strange,"' said one of in the name of the sovereign people. He announced
his soldiers, who seemed quite to. understand the that they wanted bread;, that they were convinced
military relation of officer and private on such an the ministers were traitors; that the arm of the
occasion, " is it not strange that La Fayette pretends people was uplifted, and about to strike;-with
to command the people, when it is his,part to re- much to the same purpose, in the exaggerated eloceive orders from them?" quence of the period. The same sentiments were
Soon afterwards an order arrived from the As,- echoed by his followers, mingled with the bitterest
sembly of the Commune of Paris, enjoining the threats, against the queen in particular, that fury
commandant's march, upon his own report that it could contrive, expressed: in language of the most
was impossible to withstand the will of the people. energetic brutality.
He marched accordingly in- good order, and at The Amazons then crowded into the assembly,
the head of a large force of the National Guard, mixed themselves with the members, occupied the
about four or five hours after the departure of the seat of the president, of the! secretaries, produced
mob, who, while he waited in a state of indecision, or procured victuals and wine, drank, sung, swore,
were already far on their way to Versailles. scold'ed, screamed, —abused somle of the members,
It does not appear that the king, or his ministers, and loaded others with their loathsome caresses.
had any information of these hostile movements. A deputation of these madwomen was at length
Assuredly, there could not have been a royalist in sent to St-Priest, the minister, a determined royalist,
Paris willing to hazard a horse or a groom to carry who received them sternly, and replied, to their
such intelligence, where the knowledge of it must demand of bread, " When you' had but one king,
have been so important. The leading members of you never wanted bread-you have now twelve
the assembly, assembled at Versailles, were better hundred -go ask it of them." They were introinformed. "These gentlemen,'" said Barbantanne, duced to the king, however, and were so muchi
looking at the part of the hall where the nobles and struck with the kind interest which he took in the
clergy usually sat, "wish more light-they shall state of Paris, that their hearts relented in- his fahave lanterns,* they may rely upon it.' Mirabeau vour, and the deputies returned to their constituents,
went behind the chair of Mounier, the president. shouting' Vive e roi!
" Paris is marching upon us," he said.-" I know not Had the tempest depended on the mere popular
what you mean,"' said Mounier. —-"Believe me or breeze, it might now have been lulled to sleep; but
not, all Paris is marching upon us —dissolve the there was a secret ground-swell, a heaving upwards
sitting."-"I never hurry the deliberations," said of the bottom of the abyss, which could not be conMounier.-" Then feign illness," said Mirabeau,- jured- down by the awakened feelings or convinced
" go to the palace, tell them what I say, and give understandings of the deputation. A cry was raised
me for authority. But there is not a minute to lose that the deputies had been bribed to represent the
-Paris marches upon us." —-" So much the better," king favourably; and, in this liumour of suspicion,
answered Mounier; "'we will be a republic the the army of Amazons stripped their garters, for the
sooner." t purpose of strangling their own delegates. They
Shortly after this singular dialogue, occasioned had by this time ascertained, that neither the Naprobably by a sudden movement, in which Mirabeau tional, Guard of Versailles, nor the regiment of
showed the aristocratic feelings from which he never Flanders, whose transitory loyalty had passed away
could shake himself free, the female battalion, to- with: the fumes of the wine of the banquet, would
gether with their masculine allies, continued their opposethem by' force and that they had only to deal
march uninterruptedly, and entered Versailles in with the Gardes du- Corps, who dared not to act
the afternoon, singing patriotic airs,, intermingled with vigour, lest they should provoke a general atwith blasphemous obscenities, and the most furious tack on the palace, while the most complete distracthreats against the queen. Their first visit was to tionand indecision reigned within its precincts. Bold
the National Assembly, where the beating ofdrums, in consequence, the female mob seized on the exshouts, shrieks, and a hundred confused sounds, terior'avenuesof the'palace, and threatened destrucinterrupted the deliberations. A man called Mail- tion to all within.
lard, brandishing a sword in his hand; and supported The attendants of the king saw it necessary to
by a woman holding a long pole, to which was at- take measures for the safety of his person, but they
were marked by indecision and confusion. A force
In the beginning of the Revolution, when the mob exe- was hastily gathered of two or three hundred gentlecuted their pleasure on the individuals against- whom their men, who, it was-proposed, should mount the horses
suspicions were directed, the lamp-irons served'for gibbets, of the royal stud, and escort the king to Rambouillet,
and the-lines by which the lamps, or-lanterns, were disposed out of this scene of confusion.* The Gardes du
across the street, were ready halters; Iencce the. cry of
a Les Aristocrates d la naterne.," The answer ofthe Abbe This was proposed by that Marquis de Favras, whose
Mauryis well known.' Eh! res amis,, qutadvoeUs'r'stu- death upon the gallows fora royalist plot gave afterwards
rez mis a la lanterne, est-ce que eous. verrez plus flair?, such- exquisite delight to! the citizens of Paris. Being the
t Mounter must be supposed to- speak ironically, and in first manof quality whom they'had seen hanged (that puallusion, not to his own opinions, but to. Miralbeau'sa revo- nishmnenthaving been hitherto reserved for plebeians), they
lutionary tenets. Another account of this singular conlver- encored the performance, and would fain. have hung himr
sation states his answer to have been, " All' the better. If up a second time. The same unfortunate gentleman had
the mob kill all of us-remark, I say all" ofus, it will be the previously proposed to secure the bridge at Sdvres with a
better for the country.n body of cavalry, which would' have prevented the women