Within twenty four hours of this interview the ministry was dissolved!  Dumourier was gone posthaste to the command of one of the armies on the frontier, merely to save his life from the mob, and I went to bed, in the Place Vendome, by the light of Lafayette burned in effigy in the centre of the square.  So much for popularity.

At dusk, on the memorable ninth of August, as I was sitting in a cafe of the Palais Royal, listening to the mountain songs of a party of Swiss minstrels in front of the door, Mendoza, passing through the crowd, made me a signal; I immediately followed him to an obscure corner of one of the galleries.

“The insurrection is fixed for to-night,” was his startling announcement.  “At twelve by the clock of Notre-Dame, all the sections will be under arms.  The Jacobin club, the club of the Cordeliers, and the Faubourg St Antoine, are the alarm posts.  The Marseillais are posted at the Cordeliers, and are to head the attack.  Danton is already among them, and has published this address.

He gave me the placard.  It was brief and bold.

“Citizens—­The country is betrayed.  France is in the hands of her enemies.  The Austrians are advancing.  Our troops are retreating, and Paris must be defended by her brave sons alone.  But we have traitors in the camp.  Our legislators are their accomplices:  Lafayette, the slave of kings, has been suffered to escape; but the nation must be avenged.  The perfidious Louis is about to follow his example and fly, after having devoted the capital to conflagration.  Delay a moment, and you will have to fight by the flame of your houses, and to bleed over the ashes of your wives and children.  March, and victory is yours.  To arms!  To arms!!  To arms!!!”

“Does Danton lead the insurrection?”

“No—­for two reasons:  he is an incendiary but no soldier; and they cannot trust him in case of success.  A secret meeting of the heads of the party was held two days since, to decide on a leader of the sections.  It was difficult, and had nearly been finished by the dagger.  Billaud de Varennes, Vanquelin, St Angely, and Danton, were successively proposed.  Robespierre objected to them all.  At length an old German refugee, a beggar, but a soldier, was fixed on; and Westerman is to take the command.  By one o’clock the tocsin is to be rung, and the insurgents are instantly to move from all points on the Tuileries.”

“What is the object?”

“The seizure, or death, of the King and Royal Family!”

“And the result of that object?”

“The proclamation of a Republic!”

“Is this known at the palace?”

“Not a syllable.  All there are in perfect security; to communicate intelligence there is not in my department.”

As I looked at the keen eye and dark physiognomy of my informant, there was an expression of surprise in mine at this extraordinary coolness, which saved me the trouble of asking the question.