CHAPTER V.

The French Revolution approaching—Ominous Signs—The Price of Bread—Causes back of the Famine—Influence of the American Revolution—Reckless Extravagance of the French Courts—Public Finances in a State of Chaotic Ruin—Maurepas, Turgot, de Clugny, Necker, and Calonne—Convocation of the Notables—La Fayette chosen a Member—The Direful Financial Chasm—The Notables confronted by the Dreadful Deficit—La Fayette upholds the People’s Rights—His Letter to Washington upon Public Affairs—Washington writes of American Prosperity—La Fayette demands the Convocation of the States-General—The Notables aghast at Such Audacity—Louis obliged to yield to Popular Clamor—Convocation of the States-General—La Fayette chosen a Deputy—TheTiers État—Their Demands—Their Reception—Their Resolve—Defiance of theTiers État—La Fayette joins the National Assembly—His Famous Declaration of Rights—A Riotous Mob—Storming of the Bastile—La Fayette assumes Command of the National Guards—His Ideas of Liberty Subservient to Law and Order—His Difficult Position—Execution of Foulon—La Fayette’s Resignation—Appeal of the National Guards—La Fayette resumes Command—Awful Juggernaut of the Revolution—A Versailles!—Carlyle’s Description—King Louis and Marie Antoinette at the Mercy of the Mob—La Fayette rescues them—Le Roi à Paris—Versailles deserted.

“What is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint.”—Burke.

PARIS ran red with blood. The ghastly knife of the guillotine fell incessantly. The terrible tocsin sounded forth its ominous knell under the black midnight sky, and clanged its harsh and horrid discords inthe midst of the summer’s stillness, and the glowing brightness of midday. Why were these demons of chaotic riot let loose upon the doomed city? Why had men, and even women, become like wild beasts, thirsting only for blood? Ah! there had gone forth unheeded another wail, before theawfulcry ofBlood! Blood! Blood!rang through the land. From the homes of twenty-five millions of people had ascended the pitiful appeal forBread! Bread! Bread!And they had been answered only by the exasperating spectacle of gorgeous banquets, spread in the splendidsalonsof Versailles, where the weak-minded king and the selfish, shortsighted nobles surfeited themselves with luxuries, while the people died of starvation unheeded.

“What is the price of bread?” asked a stranger of a workingman’s wife. “Three francs twelve sous the quartern,” was the answer. “The price is fixed at twelve sous, but it is not to be had. My husband is obliged to pass a whole day at the door of the baker. He loses his wages of three francs; so that the bread comes to three francs twelve sous the quartern.”

But soon it rises to fourteen sous. “A brisk business is doing on the bridges, in the open places, where men passing with a loaf of bread under their arms re-sell it to the workmen for twenty sous.”

“We want powder for our wigs,” Jean Jacques Rousseau had said; “that is the reason of the poor wanting bread.”

“And the reproach touches the hearts of actresses and fashionable ladies; they discard powder, or use as little as possible: the starch-makers are ordered to employ barley instead of wheat; the pupils of the college Louis le Grand resolve to eat rice, and to offer twenty-eight sacks of wheat. The king forbids the playing of thefountains at the fêtes, in order to turn the water to the Versailles mills; but it is of no use: the associates of the grain monopoly, the makers of the vile Famine Pact, cause a fictitious scarcity by having the markets pillaged, the mills burned, the corn thrown into the river by a band of ruffians. Poor Louis is astonished, and begins to doubt whether he is really king of France.” But there were other causes back of the famine which led to the volcanic outburst of the French Revolution. For long years the terrible mine had been preparing beneath the French monarchy, and at length exploded with awful destruction and blood-curdling horrors.

The dazzling glory of the gorgeous Louis XVI., with all its power and grandeur, was reared over a sleeping volcano, destined to shock the continent of Europe, when at length its slow fires should unite their direful forces for the last mighty eruption.

The glorious success of the American Revolution inspired suffering people in all lands with a clearer hope of future freedom. Regarding its effect upon France a writer says:—

“It is difficult to suppose that so many thousand officers and soldiers had visited America, and fought in behalf of her rights, without being imbued with something of a kindred spirit. There they beheld a new and happy nation, among whom the pride of birth and the distinctions of rank were alike unknown; there they for the first time saw virtue and talents and courage rewarded; there they viewed with surprise a sovereign people fighting, not for a master, but themselves, and haranguing, deliberating, dispensing justice, and administering the laws, by representatives of their own free choice. On their return the contrast was odious and intolerable; they beheld family preferred to merit,influence to justice, wealth to worth; they began to examine into a constitution in which the monarch, whom they were now accustomed to consider as only the first magistrate, was everything, and the people, the fountain of all power, merely ciphers; and they may well be supposed to have wished, and even languished, for a change.

“In fine, the people being left entirely destitute of redress or protection, the royal authority paramount and unbounded; the laws venal, the peasantry oppressed; agriculture in a languishing state, commerce considered as degrading; the public revenues farmed out to greedy financiers; the public money consumed by a court wallowing in luxury; and every institution at variance with justice, policy, and reason,—a change became inevitable in the ordinary course of human events; and, like all sudden alterations in corrupt states, was accompanied with the temporary evils and crimes that made many good men look back on the ancient despotism with a sigh.

“But it was not, however, the influence of the officers and soldiers fresh from the field of American liberty which gave the most fatal blow to the dynasty of the Bourbons. The wanton and reckless extravagance of past courts, culminating in the splendid lustre ofLe Grand Monarque, whose dazzling genius and rod of iron won shouts of enthusiastic admiration, even amid the groans of oppression, but whose gorgeous state could be maintained only at the expense of his people’s degradation and bondage, followed by the disreputable court of the despicable Louis XV., had brought the public finances to a condition of chaotic ruin. The annual deficit amounted to millions; and when poor, weak, good-natured Louis XVI. ascended the throne, it was even then tottering upon the edge of the awful abyss, whichsoon engulfed king and nation in its black and baleful horrors.... When the fearful gulf became visible to Louis XVI. and his cabinet, they looked around despairingly for some means of escape. Maurepas, Turgot, M. de Clugny, and Necker have each tried to stay the coming of the direful doom, but each and all have failed. And now M. de Calonne becomes comptroller-general. Now surely the royal inmates of the Œil-de-Bœuf may breathe more freely. Obstacles seem for a while to flee away before this incomparable comptroller-general.”

“I fear this is a matter of difficulty,” said her Majesty, Queen Marie Antoinette.—“Madame,” replied the comptroller, “if it is but difficult, it is done; if it is impossible, it shall be done.” Truly most admirable was such an all-conquering comptroller-general!

But deficits will not be removed by promises, however prodigal of wind and words, and royal deficits of millions form too wide an abyss for even this boastful comptroller to bridge.

“If we cannot cross this yawning gulf at a leap, what shall we do?” ask king and nobles of their pet Calonne. “We must hold aConvocation of the Notables,” replies the intrepid comptroller-general.

And so the Assembly of the Notables was convened by royal proclamation, and on the 22d of February, 1787, La Fayette, who had been chosen a member from his province, took his seat with his associates in this memorable gathering.

And now the dreadful secret must be revealed; these titled notables must be conducted to the edge of this terrifying precipice, and made to gaze into the black depths of the financial chasm. Consternation blanches the cheeks of these assembled lords; but the courage ofLa Fayette is not extinguished, nor his love of liberty impaired, nor his bold spirit benumbed by evils however monstrous, or difficulties however defiant. To right the wrong is ever his aim, and to remove the root of error is always his persevering endeavor. Back of the ruinous deficit of millions is a still deeper abyss of evil, into which the brave soul of La Fayette courageously gazes; and though startled at the infamous disclosures of corruption, injustice, bitter abuses, and shameful oppressions, he is not appalled, but in the face of king and nobles he rises chivalrously as the people’s champion, and demands redress. Though a brother of the king is president of this council, though he must protest against both monarch and court, with dignified firmness he fearlessly exclaims: “I repeat with renewed confidence the remark that the millions which are dissipated are collected by taxation, and that taxation can only be justified by the real wants of the state; that the millions abandoned to peculation or avarice are the fruits of the labor, the tears, and perhaps the blood of the people, and that the computation of unfortunate individuals, which has been made for the purpose of realizing sums so heedlessly squandered, affords a frightful subject of consideration for the justice and goodness which, we feel convinced, are the natural sentiments of his Majesty.”

But La Fayette stood alone as the upholder of the people’s rights; the principles of liberty which he thus boldly declared were received with horrified amazement by the old aristocracy, and the heart of the weak monarch was filled with strange foreboding. Before the Assembly closed its session, the heroic words of La Fayette had begun to work their brave mission. Threats of danger reached his ears; but his eye did not quail; hewas not awed into silence. His enemies proposed to the king that he should be sent to the Bastile; but their menaces were only received with a smile by La Fayette, who dauntlessly continued his efforts in behalf of the down-trodden people.

ASSEMBLY OF THE NOTABLES.

The following letter from La Fayette to Washington will give a clearer insight regarding the opinions of the marquis upon public affairs:—

“Paris, May 25, 1788.“My dear General: In the midst of our internal troubles it is a great consolation for me to enjoy the assured prosperity of my adopted country, because the news from America gives me the hope that the constitution will be accepted. Permit me once more, my dear General, to beseech you not to refuse the presidency. The constitution, such as is proposed, responds to many desires; but I fear there are, regarding it, certain passages which will not be completed without danger, if the United States have not the happiness of possessing their guardian angel, who will appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of each clause, and will be aware, before re-entering his quiet retreat, how to determine with precision the degree of force which it is indispensable to give the government, and to limit those powers which one might abuse; in short, to indicate that which remains to be done, in order to attain that perfection to which the new constitution is nearer than that of any other form of government, past or present.“The affairs of France are reaching a crisis, of which the good results are most uncertain, as the people in general have no inclination to come to extremities.Mourir pour la libertéis not the motto upon this side of the Atlantic; as all the classes are more or less dependent,as the rich love their repose, at the same time that the poor are enervated by misery and ignorance, we have but one resource: it is to reason with them, and to inspire the nation with a sort of passive discontent, or non-obedience which will fatigue the levity and baffle the plans of government.“The Parliaments, in spite of their inefficiency, have been the necessary champions to move. You will see by the publications—because I have sent you all which have appeared—that the king has raised pretensions, and that the courts of justice are established upon principles so contradictory, that one can scarcely believe that these assertions have been declared in the same country and in the same age. Affairs cannot remain thus; the government has employed the force of arms against the disarmed and expelled magistrates. And the people, say you?—The people, my dear General, have been so benumbed that it has made me sick, and medicines have been necessary to cool my blood. That which has greatly increased my indignation is a bench of justice where the king has created a plenary court composed of judges, of peers, and of courtiers, without a single real representative of the people, and the impudence of the ministers who have dared to say that all the taxes and loans will be registered.“Thanks to God, we have prevailed against them, and I begin to hope for a constitution. The magistrates have refused to sit in the plenary courts. The thirty-eight peers, of whom a small number have some sense and some courage, will not obey. Some of them, such as my friend La Rochefoucauld, conduct themselves nobly; the others follow at a distance. The Parliaments have unanimously protested, and made an appeal to the nation. The greater part of the inferior courtsrepresent the newrégime. Discontent is displayed everywhere, and in several provinces has not been repressed. The clergy who find themselves assembled at this time make remonstrances; the advocates refuse to plead; the government is embarrassed, and begins to resort to apologies; the governors in some cities have been pelted by stones and mud.“In the midst of these troubles and of this anarchy the friends of liberty fortify themselves daily, close the ear to all negotiations, and declare that they will have a National Assembly or nothing.“Such, my dear General, is our present situation. For my part, I shall be satisfied to think that, after a little, I shall be in an assembly of the representatives of the French nation, or at Mount Vernon.“I am so absorbed by these affairs that I will say little to you upon European politics. My disapprobation of the projects of the administration, and the small attempts I have made against it, have forced me to discontinue to see the archbishop; but I become more united to him and to the keeper of the seals, the more I have made clear my indignation against the infernal plan. I am well pleased that the decree regarding America was passed before these troubles, and I occupy myself, through other ministers, in endeavoring to suppress totally the duties upon oil and whalebone, so that the French and American negotiations will be placed upon a basis of equality, even under the revenue premiums, and that without obliging the fishermen to leave the coasts of their country. If we become reunited, it will be necessary to consider immediately the commerce with the West Indies.“I am happy that we have here M. Jefferson for an ambassador; his talents, his virtues, his excellent character,all constitute a great statesman, a zealous citizen, and a precious friend.“I pray you, my dear General, to receive my tender homages, etc.”

“Paris, May 25, 1788.

“My dear General: In the midst of our internal troubles it is a great consolation for me to enjoy the assured prosperity of my adopted country, because the news from America gives me the hope that the constitution will be accepted. Permit me once more, my dear General, to beseech you not to refuse the presidency. The constitution, such as is proposed, responds to many desires; but I fear there are, regarding it, certain passages which will not be completed without danger, if the United States have not the happiness of possessing their guardian angel, who will appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of each clause, and will be aware, before re-entering his quiet retreat, how to determine with precision the degree of force which it is indispensable to give the government, and to limit those powers which one might abuse; in short, to indicate that which remains to be done, in order to attain that perfection to which the new constitution is nearer than that of any other form of government, past or present.

“The affairs of France are reaching a crisis, of which the good results are most uncertain, as the people in general have no inclination to come to extremities.Mourir pour la libertéis not the motto upon this side of the Atlantic; as all the classes are more or less dependent,as the rich love their repose, at the same time that the poor are enervated by misery and ignorance, we have but one resource: it is to reason with them, and to inspire the nation with a sort of passive discontent, or non-obedience which will fatigue the levity and baffle the plans of government.

“The Parliaments, in spite of their inefficiency, have been the necessary champions to move. You will see by the publications—because I have sent you all which have appeared—that the king has raised pretensions, and that the courts of justice are established upon principles so contradictory, that one can scarcely believe that these assertions have been declared in the same country and in the same age. Affairs cannot remain thus; the government has employed the force of arms against the disarmed and expelled magistrates. And the people, say you?—The people, my dear General, have been so benumbed that it has made me sick, and medicines have been necessary to cool my blood. That which has greatly increased my indignation is a bench of justice where the king has created a plenary court composed of judges, of peers, and of courtiers, without a single real representative of the people, and the impudence of the ministers who have dared to say that all the taxes and loans will be registered.

“Thanks to God, we have prevailed against them, and I begin to hope for a constitution. The magistrates have refused to sit in the plenary courts. The thirty-eight peers, of whom a small number have some sense and some courage, will not obey. Some of them, such as my friend La Rochefoucauld, conduct themselves nobly; the others follow at a distance. The Parliaments have unanimously protested, and made an appeal to the nation. The greater part of the inferior courtsrepresent the newrégime. Discontent is displayed everywhere, and in several provinces has not been repressed. The clergy who find themselves assembled at this time make remonstrances; the advocates refuse to plead; the government is embarrassed, and begins to resort to apologies; the governors in some cities have been pelted by stones and mud.

“In the midst of these troubles and of this anarchy the friends of liberty fortify themselves daily, close the ear to all negotiations, and declare that they will have a National Assembly or nothing.

“Such, my dear General, is our present situation. For my part, I shall be satisfied to think that, after a little, I shall be in an assembly of the representatives of the French nation, or at Mount Vernon.

“I am so absorbed by these affairs that I will say little to you upon European politics. My disapprobation of the projects of the administration, and the small attempts I have made against it, have forced me to discontinue to see the archbishop; but I become more united to him and to the keeper of the seals, the more I have made clear my indignation against the infernal plan. I am well pleased that the decree regarding America was passed before these troubles, and I occupy myself, through other ministers, in endeavoring to suppress totally the duties upon oil and whalebone, so that the French and American negotiations will be placed upon a basis of equality, even under the revenue premiums, and that without obliging the fishermen to leave the coasts of their country. If we become reunited, it will be necessary to consider immediately the commerce with the West Indies.

“I am happy that we have here M. Jefferson for an ambassador; his talents, his virtues, his excellent character,all constitute a great statesman, a zealous citizen, and a precious friend.

“I pray you, my dear General, to receive my tender homages, etc.”

Regarding Washington’s feelings in view of accepting the presidency, the following lines to La Fayette upon that subject will not be without interest. They were written in answer to La Fayette’s ardently expressed hopes that his revered commander-in-chief would not refuse the important office which the needs of his country forced upon him. The letter was written in 1788.

“I have but a few things, nothing new, except to respond to the opinion which you have already expressed. You think that it will be expedient to accept the office of which you speak; your sentiments are more in accordance with those of my other friends than with mine.

“In truth, the difficulties appear to me to multiply and increase in approaching the period when in accordance with the general belief it will be necessary to give a definite response. In case the circumstances should in some sort force upon me my acceptance, be assured, my dear sir, that I accept the burden with sincere reluctance and with great self-distrust—that which will probably be little credited by the world.

“If I know well the bottom of my heart, the conviction that I fulfil a duty will alone determine me to resume an active part in public affairs; at that time I shall endeavor to form a plan of conduct, and at the risk of losing my past reputation and my present popularity; I will work without respite to remove my fellow-citizens from the difficult situation where they find themselves, in need of credit; and to establish a system of politicswhich, if it will be followed, will insure their future power and prosperity.

“I believe I perceive a ray of light illuminating the way which leads to that end. The present state of affairs and the tendency of public opinion give me the hope that there will result union, honesty, industry, and frugality—those four pillars of public felicity.”

But this encouraging picture of American affairs was offset by direful scenes in France.

Feeling that justice demanded that if the people were to be taxed they should be represented, La Fayette offered to the Assembly a memorial for the king, in which he entreated his Majesty to convoke aNationalAssembly, which might accomplish the regeneration of France.

“What, sir!” exclaimed the President of the Council, starting from his seat in astonishment; “do you ask for the convocation of the States-General?”

“Yes, my lord, and even more than that,” was La Fayette’s dauntless reply.

“You wish me then to write and announce to the king that the Marquis de La Fayette moves to convoke the States-General?”

“Yes, my lord,” calmly answered the marquis.

This daring proposition appalled the Notables, but was hailed with shouts of acclamation by the public. The States-General was first convoked by Philippe le Bel, in 1303, and had only rarely assembled since that time. The despotic governments looked upon this institution with abhorrence, for in it the common people were represented. It was composed of the three estates of the kingdom,—the nobles, the clergy, andtiers état, or common people,—and Louis and his court were determined if possible to avoid this dreaded Assembly. But the shoutrang out from every quarter of France, in answer to the clarion bugle note which La Fayette had so bravely sounded even in the very midst of the enemy’s camp. “Give us the States-General!” From the Alps and the Pyrenees, the shores of the Mediterranean, and the borders of the Channel, was re-echoed the wild cry, “Give us the States-General!” And Louis, unable to resist the raging tempest of popular opinion, yielded to their demand, and the States-General was by royal edict convened on the 5th of May, 1789.

La Fayette was chosen a deputy by the nobility of Auvergne. To say “let States-General be” was easy; to say in what manner they shall be is not so easy. “How to shape the States-General? There is a problem. Each body corporate, each privileged, each organized class, has secret hopes of its own in that matter, and also secret misgivings of its own; for, behold, this monstrous twenty-million class, hitherto the dumb sheep which these others had to agree about the manner of shearing, is now also arising with hopes! It has ceased or is ceasing to be dumb; it speaks through pamphlets, or at least brays and growls behind them, in unison, increasing wonderfully their volume of sound.What is the third estate? What has it hitherto been in our form of government? Nothing. What does it want? To become something.” These are questions and answers which must now be met. The Assembly was opened with great pomp. A solemn procession in which king, nobles, clergy, and thetiers étatall repaired in grand state to Notre Dame, paraded through the streets, and formed a splendid spectacle which was greeted by the people with joyous demonstrations and loud acclamations.

At the first meeting of the Assembly, the three orders convened in separate departments. Here arose the firstdifficulty. The nobles and the clergy were unwilling to meet with the representatives of the common people, and thetiers étatwere determined to maintain their contested rights. La Fayette advocated the cause of thetiers étatin the assembly of the nobles, but the aristocracy would not yield, and at the end of five weeks the States-General as a united body was still inactive. At length thetiers étatresolved upon momentous action. They formed themselves into a legislative body, under the name of the National Assembly, and declared their intention to accomplish political reform. The king and nobles received this unexpected news with consternation. La Fayette warmly urged a union between the departments, but the king and aristocracy refused. Louis then determined to awe these rebellious subjects to submission. He ordered the doors of the hall where thetiers étatusually met to be closed and guarded. When the members gathered and found their usual place of meeting denied them, they proceeded to another, and thereupon issued their defiant demand,—A Constitution for the French People; and they solemnly declared with oath, in view of the indignity which had been offered to them by the crown, “never to separate, and to assemble whenever circumstances should require, till the constitution of the kingdom should be established and founded on a solid basis.”

At length, on the 23d of June, the king and nobles assembled in the hall formerly occupied by thetiers état, and after some delay the doors were opened to that body, and the king reproached them for taking the title of National Assembly, and bade them renounce it, and also commanded that the Assembly should immediately separate. The king then left the hall, followed by the nobles and part of the clergy. But scarcely had the sound of the footsteps of royalty died away ere a man arose inthe Assembly. It was Mirabeau. With eyes flashing like stars from the gloomy shadows of his pock-marked, disfigured countenance, he exclaimed:—

“What means this insulting dictation? this threatening display of arms? this flagrant violation of the national temple? Who is it that dictates to you the way in which you shall be happy? He who acts by your commission. Who is it that gives you imperious laws? He who acts by your commission,—the minister, who by your appointment is vested with the execution of the laws,—of laws which we only have a right to make.

“To us, twenty-five millions of people are looking to guard from further desecration the sacred ark of liberty, to release them from the burdensome yoke which has so long crushed them, and to give them back their own inalienable right to peace, liberty, and happiness. Gentlemen, an attempt is made to destroy the freedom of your deliberations. The iron chain of despotic proscription is laid upon you. A military force surrounds your Assembly. Where are the enemies of France? Is Catiline at our gates? Gentlemen! I demand that, clothing yourself in your dignity and your legislative authority, you remain firm in the sacredness of your oath, which does not permit us to separate till we have framed a constitution—till we have given aMagna Chartato France.”

Then as the grand master of ceremonies again reminded the Assembly of the commands of the king, Mirabeau exclaimed, “Go and tell your master that we are here by the order of the people, and that we shall depart only at the point of the bayonet.”

“GO AND TELL YOUR MASTER THAT WE ARE HERE BY THE ORDER OF THE PEOPLE.”

La Fayette, with the forty-seven who had stood by his side in declaring the expediency of uniting with thecommons, now left the nobility, and took his seat in the National Assembly. The king and aristocracy, finding at length that their resistance was useless, submitted to the popular demand, and on the 27th of June the three orders met together and commenced their united deliberations.

La Fayette was closely observed by all parties. He spoke often in the Assembly, and always on the side of freedom. On the 11th of July he brought forward his famous Declaration of Rights; which after a long and stormy debate, during which it was warmly supported by the republicans, and denounced by the adherents of despotism, was adopted; and the name of La Fayette, “THE PEOPLE’S FRIEND!” was on every lip and enshrined in every heart throughout the kingdom.

This renowned Declaration of Rights reads as follows:—

“Nature has made all men free and equal; the distinctions which are necessary for social order are founded alone on the public good.

“Man is born with inalienable and imprescriptible rights, such as the unshackled liberty of opinion, the care of his honor and life, the right of property, the complete control over his person, his industry, and all his faculties; the free expression of his opinion in every possible manner; the worship of the Almighty; and resistance against oppression.

“The exercise of natural rights has no other limits than those which are necessary to secure their enjoyment to every member of society.

“No man can be made subject to laws which he has not sanctioned, either himself, or through his representatives, and which have not been properly promulgated and legally executed.

“The principle of all sovereignty rests in the people.No body or individual can possess any authority which does not expressly emanate from the nation.

“The sole end of all government is the public good. That good demands that the legislative, executive, and judicial powers should be distinct and defined, and that their organization should secure the free representation of the citizens, the responsibility of their deputies, and the impartiality of the judges.

“The laws ought to be clear, precise, and uniform in their operation toward every class of citizens.

“Subsidies ought to be liberally granted and the taxes proportionally distributed.

“And as the introduction of abuses and the rights of succeeding generations will require the revisions of all human institutions, the nation ought to possess the power, in certain cases, to summon an extraordinary assembly of deputies, whose sole object shall be to examine and correct, if it be necessary, the faults of the constitution.”

On the 14th of July a riotous crowd march to the Invalides, and having armed themselves with the twenty-eight thousand muskets found there, and dragging twenty cannon, they proceed to storm the Bastile. After five hours the Bastile is taken by the people, and the Revolution, which might perhaps have been stayed by different measures on the part of the government, is henceforth destined to work out its direful doings.

THE CROWD ARM THEMSELVES FROM THE INVALIDES.

The National Guard, composed of citizens rather than mercenary soldiers, was now formed, and La Fayette was entrusted with the command. The key of the demolished Bastile was given to him, as the most worthy person to receive this memorial of past oppression. La Fayette was now looked up to by the people as their defender, and the masses gave him warm but fickle homage. Toulongeon says of him: “La Fayette, whose name andreputation acquired in America were associated with liberty itself, was at the head of the Parisian National Guard. He enjoyed at once that entire confidence and public esteem which are due to great qualities. The faculty of raising the spirits, or rather of infusing fresh courage into the heart, was natural to him. His external appearance was youthful and bold, which is always pleasing to the multitude. His manners were simple, popular, and engaging. He possessed everything which is wanting to commence and terminate a revolution,—the brilliant qualities of military activity and the calm confidence of courage in times of public commotion. La Fayette was equal to everything, if everything had been done fairly and openly; but he was unacquainted with the dark and narrow road of intrigue.”

La Fayette’s idea of liberty was always accompanied with a firm belief in law and order; it was not the liberty of unbridled license. When he first upheld the Revolution in France, it was with the same spirit with which he had aided the American Revolution, contending only for liberty and order; and when, during the Reign of Terror, riot and license held the reins of power, then La Fayette was to be found not in sympathy with this wild, reckless turmoil, but always standing by the recognized government, though that government were even a monarchy, and risking his own life to save those royal lives, who so poorly repaid his generous and chivalrous devotion as even to turn with contemptuous coldness toward him who had sacrificed his own popularity to save them from destruction.

At the head of the National Guard La Fayette had a most difficult task to perform during those days of riotous commotion. His sympathies were with the oppressed people; his duty was to maintain public order; his loyaltymade him true to his king. When the unfortunate minister Foulon was seized by the mob and dragged before the Assembly, where the rioters clamored loudly for his death, La Fayette thus appealed to the furious crowd:—

“I am known to you all; you have appointed me your commander,—a station which, while it confers honor, imposes upon me the duty of speaking to you with that liberty and candor which form the basis of my character. You wish, without a trial, to put to death the man who is before you; such an act of injustice would dishonor you; it would disgrace me; and were I weak enough to permit it, it would blast all the efforts which I have made in favor of liberty. I will not permit it. I am far from desiring to save him, if he be guilty; I only wish that the orders of the Assembly should be carried into execution, and that this man be conducted to prison, to be judged by a legal tribunal. I wish the law to be respected; law, without which there can be no liberty; law, without whose aid I would never have contributed to the revolution of the New World, and without which I will not contribute to the revolution which is preparing here. What I advance in favor of the forms of law ought not to be interpreted in favor of M. Foulon. But the greater the presumption of his guilt is, the more important is it that the usual formalities should be observed in his case, so as to render his punishment more striking, and by legal examinations, to discover his accomplices. I therefore command that he be conducted to the prison of L’Abbaye St. Germain.”

VIEW OF THE BASTILE.

These remarks were hailed with applause by those within hearing of them; but at this moment a fresh mob broke into the Assembly, and set up a furious yell for vengeance; and notwithstanding the loud intercessionsof La Fayette, deaf to everything but their wild fury, the rioters seized the hated Foulon, and rushing forth, hanged him to a lamp post in front of the Hôtel de Ville.

Liberty and law may both be spoken almost synonymously with the name of La Fayette. His abhorrence of such lawless acts of vengeance was as strong as his zeal for freedom. Horrified at the lawlessness of the populace, and feeling that his honor was thereby jeopardized, La Fayette determined to resign his office as commander-in-chief of the National Guard, which he did in the following letter addressed to the mayor of Paris:—

“Sir: Summoned by the confidence of its citizens to the military command of the capital, I have uniformly declared that in the present state of affairs it was necessary, to be useful, that confidence should be full and universal. I have steadily declared to the people that, although devoted to their interest to my last breath, yet I was incapable of purchasing their favor by unjustly yielding to their wishes. You are aware, sir, that one of the individuals who perished yesterday was placed under a guard, and that the other was under the escort of our troops, both being sentenced by the civil power to undergo a regular trial. Such were the proper means to satisfy justice, to discover their accomplices, and to fulfil the solemn engagements of every citizen toward the National Assembly and the king.“The people would not hearken to my advice; and the moment when the confidence which they promised, and reposed in me, is lost, it becomes my duty, as I have before stated, to abandon a post in which I can no longer be useful. I am, with respect,“La Fayette.”

“The people would not hearken to my advice; and the moment when the confidence which they promised, and reposed in me, is lost, it becomes my duty, as I have before stated, to abandon a post in which I can no longer be useful. I am, with respect,

“La Fayette.”

The news of La Fayette’s resignation spread consternation throughout the city. The National Guard flocked around him to beseech him to retain his position as their commander. The mayor and council waited upon him at midnight, to solicit him to withdraw his resignation. But La Fayette calmly declined, and the next day appeared before the Assembly to state his reasons for so doing, in the following dignified and courteous terms:—

“Gentlemen, I come to acknowledge the last testimonies of your kindness with all the warmth of a heart whose first desire, after that of serving the people, is to be loved by them, and to express my astonishment at the importance they deign to attach to an individual, in a free country, where nothing should be of real importance except law. If my conduct on this occasion could be regulated by my sentiments of gratitude and affection, I should only reply to the regrets with which you and the National Guard had honored me by yielding obedience to your entreaties; but, as I was guided by no feeling of private interest when I formed that resolution, so also, in the midst of the various causes for agitation that surround us, I cannot allow myself to be governed by my private affections.

“Gentlemen, when I received such touching proofs of affection, too much was done for me and too little for thelaw. I am convinced how well my comrades loveme, but I am still ignorant to what degree they cherish the principles on which liberty is founded. Deign to make known to the National Guard this sincere avowal of my sentiments. To command them, it is necessary that I should feel certain that they unanimously believe that the fate of the constitution depends upon the execution of law, the only sovereign of a free people; that individual liberty, the security of each man’s home, religious liberty,and respect for legitimate authority, are duties as sacred to them as to myself. We require not only courage and vigilance, but unanimity, in these principles; and I thought, and still think, that the constitution will be better served by my resignation, on the grounds I have given, than by my acquiescence in the request with which you have deigned to honor me.”

The National Guards were already assembled, impatiently awaiting La Fayette’s answer; and upon receiving this decision, they immediately passed the following resolution:—

“The National Assembly has decreed that the public forces should be obedient, and a portion of the Parisian army has shown itself essentially disobedient. General La Fayette has only ceased to command that army because they have ceased to obey law. He requires a complete submission to the law, not a servile attachment to his person. Let the battalions assemble. Let each citizen-soldier swear on his word and honor to obey the law. Let those who refuse be excluded from the National Guards. Let the wish of the army, thus regenerated, be carried to General La Fayette, and he will conceive it his duty to resume command.”

After some hesitation La Fayette resolved to resume his command, and withdrew his resignation. His desires were only for the public good. When urged by the municipality of Paris to accept some remuneration for his services, he unselfishly replied:—

“My private fortune secures me from want. It has outlasted two revolutions; and should it survive a third, through the complaisance of the people, it shall belong to them alone.”

Mirabeau said of La Fayette: “There is one man in the state who, from his position, is exposed to the hazardof all events; to whom successes can offer no compensation for reverses; and who is, in some manner, answerable for the repose, we may even say the safety, of the public,—and that man is La Fayette.”

But La Fayette was not superhuman. His arm could not turn backward the awful Juggernaut of the oncoming revolution. The corruption and oppression of past centuries could not be wiped out by the untarnished purity of life and principles of this self-sacrificing Knight of Liberty. And beneath the bloody wheels of the huge Juggernaut of license,—law, liberty, and La Fayette were all to be ruthlessly sacrificed.

The sword of Damocles hung suspended over the head of the unfortunate king, and the throne was tottering, soon to be engulfed in hopeless ruin.

On the morning of the 5th of October, a woman, frenzied with hunger, rushed into a guard-house, and seizing a drum, ran with it along the streets, accompanying her wild beating with the frantic cry of “Bread! bread!” As the crowd increases, every voice takes up the shrill shriek for bread, until at last the mad chorus changes to a furious clamor, and the words “To Versailles!” “A Versailles!“ ring out in hoarse yells from street to street, and the alarm bell sounds the direful tocsin which sends a knell of despair to every listener’s heart.

The news of the riot reaches La Fayette, and he says: “As soon as the tidings reached me, I instantly perceived that, whatever might be the consequence of this movement, the public safety required that I should take part in it, and after having received from the Hôtel de Ville an order and two commissaries, I hastily provided for the security of Paris, and took the road to Versailles, at the head of several battalions.”

THE CROWD SHOUT, “TO VERSAILLES.”

Alarmed lest the Guard themselves might be inducedto join in the revolt, he halted on the way and made every one renew his oath of fidelity to the king and obedience to the law. A description of this momentous march is nowhere so quaintly and so graphically told as by Carlyle, who, in spite of certain sarcasms, seems to appreciate La Fayette’s difficult position, and surely it would seem as though only the grim irony of fate could have placed this Knight of Liberty in the midst of such lawless rioters: and yet, throughout all these trying circumstances, La Fayette is not once inconsistent to his avowed principles; and whether he sympathizes with the people’s wrongs, or endeavors to shield his king from their furious attacks, he is ever true to his principles of right and honor.

And so we will let Carlyle take La Fayette to Versailles in his own inimitable way.

“The Three Hundred have assembled; all the Committees are in activity; Lafayette is dictating despatches for Versailles, when a deputation of the Centre Grenadiers introduces itself to him. The deputation makes military obeisance; and thus speaks, not without a kind of thought in it: ‘Mon Général, we are deputed by the six companies of Grenadiers. We do not think you a traitor, but we think the government betrays you; it is time that this end. We cannot turn our bayonets against women crying to us for bread. The people are miserable; the source of the mischief is at Versailles; we must go seek the king, and bring him to Paris. We must exterminate [exterminer] theRegiment de Flandreand theGardes-du-Corps, who have dared to trample on the National Cockade.

“‘If the king be too weak to wear his crown, let him lay it down. You will crown his son; you will name a Council of Regency, and all will go better.’

“Reproachful astonishment paints itself on the face of La Fayette, speaks itself from his eloquent chivalrous lips in vain. ‘My General, we would shed the last drop of our blood for you, but the root of the mischief is at Versailles; we must go and bring the king to Paris; all the people wish it’ (tout le peuple le veut).

“My General descends to the outer staircase, and harangues once more in vain. ‘To Versailles! To Versailles!’ Mayor Bailly, sent for through floods of Sansculottism, attempts academic oratory from his gilt state-coach, realizes nothing but infinite hoarse cries of, ‘Bread! To Versailles!’ and gladly shrinks within doors. La Fayette mounts the white charger; and again harangues and reharangues, with eloquence, with firmness, indignant demonstration, with all things but persuasion.

“‘To Versailles! To Versailles!’ so lasts it hour after hour, for the space of half a day.

“The great Scipio-Americanus can do nothing; not so much as escape. ‘Morbleu, mon Général!’ cry the Grenadiers, serrying their ranks as the white charger makes a motion that way; ‘you will not leave us, you will abide with us!’ A perilous juncture; Mayor Bailly and the Municipals sit quaking within doors; My General is prisoner without; the Place de Grève, with its thirty thousand regulars, its whole irregular, Saint Antoine and Saint Marceau, is one minatory mass of clear or rusty steel; all hearts set, with a moody fixedness, on one object. Moody, fixed are all hearts: tranquil is no heart, if it be not that of the white charger, who paws there with arched neck, composedly champing his bit, as if no world, with its Dynasties and Eras, were now rushing down. The drizzly day bends westward; the cry is still, ‘To Versailles!’

“Nay, now, borne from afar, come quite sinister cries; hoarse, reverberating in long-drawn hollow murmurs, with syllables too like those of ‘Lanterne!’ Or else, irregular Sansculottism may be marching off, of itself, with pikes; nay, with cannon. The inflexible Scipio does at length, by aide-de-camp, ask of the Municipals whether or not he may go. A letter is handed out to him, over armed heads; sixty thousand faces flash fixedly on his; there is stillness, and no bosom breathes till he has read. By Heaven, he grows suddenly pale! Do the Municipals permit? ‘Permit, and even order,’ since he can no other. Clangor of approval rends the welkin. To your ranks, then; let us march!

“It is, as we compute, towards three in the afternoon. Indignant National Guards may dine for once from their haversacks; dined or undined, they march with one heart. Paris flings up her windows, ‘claps hands,’ as the Avengers with their shrilling drums and shalms tramp by; she will then sit pensive, apprehensive, and pass rather a sleepless night.

“On the white charger, La Fayette, in the slowest possible manner, going and coming, and eloquently haranguing among the ranks, rolls onward with his thirty thousand. Saint Antoine, with pike and cannon, has preceded him; a mixed multitude of all and of no arms hovers on his flanks and skirts; the country once more pauses agape:Paris marche sur nous.

“Towards midnight lights flare on the hill; La Fayette’s lights! The roll of his drums come up the Avenue de Versailles. With peace or with war? Patience, friends! With neither. La Fayette is come, but not yet the catastrophe.

“He has halted and harangued so often on the march; spent nine hours on four leagues of road. At Montreuil,close on Versailles, the whole host had to pause, and, with uplifted right hand in the murk of night, to these pouring skies, swear solemnly to respect the king’s dwelling, to be faithful to king and National Assembly. Rage is driven down out of sight by the laggard march; the thirst of vengeance slaked in weariness and soaking clothes. Flandre is again drawn out under arms; but Flandre grown so patriotic, now needs no ‘exterminating.’ The wayworn battalions halt in the Avenue; they have, for the present, no wish so pressing as that of shelter and rest.

“Anxious sits President Mounier; anxious the Château. There is a message coming from the Château, that M. Mounier would please to return thither with a fresh deputation swiftly, and so at leastuniteour two anxieties. Anxious Mounier does of himself send, meanwhile, to appraise the general that his Majesty has been so gracious as to grant us the acceptance pure and simple. The general, with a small advance column, makes answer in passing, speaks vaguely some smooth words to the National President, glances only with the eye at that so mixtiform National Assembly, then fares forward towards the Château. There are with him two Paris Municipals; they were chosen from the three hundred for that errand. He gets admittance through the locked and padlocked gates, through sentries and ushers, to the royal halls.

“The court, male and female, crowds on his passage to read their doom on his face, which exhibits, say historians, a ‘mixture of sorrow, of fervor and valor,’ singular to behold. The king, with Monsieur, with ministers and marshals, is waiting to receive him. He ‘is come,’ in his highflown chivalrous way, ‘to offer his head for the safety of his Majesty’s.’ The two Municipals statethe wish of Paris; four things of quite pacific tenor. First, that the honor of guarding his sacred person be conferred on patriot National Guards, say the Centre Grenadiers, who asGardes Françaiseswere wont to have that privilege. Second, that provisions be got if possible. Third, that the prisons, all crowded with political delinquents, may have judges sent them. Fourth,that it would please his Majesty to come and live in Paris. To all which four wishes, except the fourth, his Majesty answers readily Yes; or indeed may almost say that he has already answered it. To the fourth he can answer only Yes or No, would so gladly answer YesandNo! But in any case, are not their dispositions, thank Heaven, so entirely pacific? There is time for deliberation. The brunt of the danger seems past.

“La Fayette and D’Estaing settle the watches; Centre Grenadiers are to take the guard-room, they of old occupied asGardes Françaises; for indeed theGardes-de-Corps, its late ill-advised occupants, are gone mostly to Rambouillet. That is the order ofthisnight; sufficient for the night is the evil thereof. Whereupon La Fayette and the two Municipals, with highflown chivalry take their leave.

“So brief has the interview been, Mounier and his deputation were not yet got up. So brief and satisfactory, a stone is rolled from every heart. The fair palace dames publicly declare that this La Fayette, detestable though he be, is their saviour for once. Even the ancient vinaigrousTantesadmit it; the king’s aunts, ancientGrailleand Sisterhood, known to us of old. Queen Marie Antoinette has been heard often to say the like.

“Towards three in the morning all things are settled; the watches set, the Centre Grenadiers put into their old guard-room, and harangued; the Swiss and few remainingbody-guard harangued. The wayworn Paris battalions, consigned to the hospitality of Versailles, lie dormant in spare beds, spare barracks, coffee-houses, empty churches.

“The troublous day has brawled itself to rest; no lives yet lost but that of one war-horse. Insurrectionary Chaos lies slumbering round the palace like ocean round a diving-bell,—no crevice yet disclosing itself. Deep sleep has fallen promiscuously on the high and on the low, suspending most things, even wrath and famine. Darkness covers the earth. But, far on the northeast, Paris flings up her great yellow gleam far into the wet, black night. For all is illuminated there, as in the old July nights; the streets deserted, for alarm of war; the municipals all wakeful; patrols hailing with their hoarseWho goes?

“La Fayette, in theHôtelHôtelde Nôailles, not far from the Château, having now finished haranguing, sits with his officers, consulting. At five o’clock the unanimous best counsel is, that a man so tossed and toiled for twenty-four hours and more, fling himself on a bed and seek some rest....

“The dull dawn of a new morning, drizzly and chill, had but broken over Versailles. Rascality is in the Grand Court.... Barricading serves not; fly fast, ye body-guards: rabid Insurrection, like the hell-bound chase, uproaring at your heels.... ‘Save the Queen!’ Tremble not, women, but haste, for, lo! another voice shouts far through the outermost door, ‘Save the Queen!’ It is brave Miomandre’s voice that shouts this second warning. He has stormed across imminent death to do it; fronts imminent death, having done it....

“Trembling maids-of-honor hastily wrap the queen, not in robes of state. She flies for her life across theŒil-de-Bœuf,against the main door of which, too, Insurrection batters. She is in the king’s apartment, in the king’s arms; she clasps her children amid a faithful few. The imperial-hearted bursts into mother’s tears: ‘O my friends, save me and my children’ (O mes amis, sauvez-moi et mes enfants!). The battering of insurrectionary axes clangs audible across theŒil-de-Bœuf. What an hour!...

“Now, too, La Fayette, suddenly aroused, not from sleep (for his eyes had not yet closed), arrives, with passionate eloquence, with prompt military word of command. National Guards, suddenly roused by sound of trumpet and alarm drum, are all arriving. The death-melly ceases; the first sky-lambent blaze of insurrection is got damped down; it burns now, if unextinguished, yet flameless, as charred coals do, and not extinguishable. The king’s apartments are safe. Ministers, officials, and even some loyal national deputies are assembling round their Majesties. Now, too, is witnessed the touching last flicker of etiquette, which sinks not here in the Cimmerian world-wreckage without a sign! as the house cricket might still chirp in the pealing of a trump of doom. ‘Monsieur,’ said some master of ceremonies, as La Fayette, in these fearful moments, was rushing towards the inner royal apartments, ‘Monsieur, le roi vousaccordeaccordeles grandes entrees’ (Monsieur, the king grants you the grand entries)—not finding it convenient to refuse them.

“However, the Paris National Guard, wholly under arms, has cleared the Palace, and even occupies the nearer external spaces, extruding miscellaneous patriotism, for the most part, into the grand court, or even into the forecourt. The body-guards, you can observe, have now of a verity hoisted the national cockade, for they step forward to the windows or balconies, hat aloft inhand, on each hat a huge tricolor, and fling over their bandoleers in sign of surrender, and shout,Vive la nation!To which how can the generous heart respond but with,Vive le roi! vivent les gardes-du-corps!His Majesty himself has appeared with La Fayette on the balcony, and again appears.Vive le roi!greets him. Her Majesty, too, on demand, shows herself, though there is peril in it. ‘Should I die,’ she said, ‘I will do it.’ She stands there alone, her hands serenely crossed on her breast. Such serenity of heroism has its effect. La Fayette, with ready wit, in his highflown, chivalrous way, takes that fair, queenly hand and, reverently kneeling, kisses it; thereupon the people do shout,Vive la reine!

“So that all, and the queen herself, nay, the very captain of the body-guards, have grown national! The very captain of the body-guards steps out now with La Fayette. On the hat of the repentant man is an enormous tricolor, large as a soup platter or sunflower, visible to the utmost forecourt. He takes the national oath with a loud voice, elevating his hat; at which sight all the army raise their bonnets on their bayonets, with shouts. Sweet is reconciliation to the heart of man. La Fayette has sworn Flandre; he swears the remaining body-guards down in the Marble Court; the people clasp them in their arms: O my brothers, why would ye force us to slay you? Behold, there is joy over you, as over returning prodigal sons! The poor body-guards, now national and tricolor, exchange bonnets, exchange arms; there shall be peace and fraternity. And still, ‘Vive le roi!’ and also, ‘Le roi à Paris!’

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