the retirement of the deputies, the people rushed
forward, and almost in an instant, were in possession
of a fortification, of infinite strength, defended
by one hundred men, 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 Lieutenant
Governor to the Place de Greve (the place of public
execution), cut off their heads, and sent them through
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 Launay worked powerfully, through the night,
on the whole Aristocratical 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 every thing
to the Assembly. This according with the dispositions
of the King, he went about eleven o’clock, accompanied
only by his brothers, to the Assembly, and there read
to them a speech, in which he asked their interposition
to re-establish order. Although 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 Monsieur 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. Necker, 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,