The Assemblée divided itself into thirty bureaux to facilitate the great
work of creating the constitution, and the deputies of the tiers chose
their presidents from among the nobles and ecclesiastics.
So far, everything had gone well, but the day of violence was at hand.
More than thirty thousand troops had been concentrated around Paris and
Versailles by order of the court; the Parisians, uneasy at their
presence, demanded their withdrawal, the king dismissed Necker instead.
The next day, the disturbances broke out, the Gardes-Françaises fired on
a detachment of one of the foreign regiments, the Royal-Allemand, the
people rose, clamoring for arms, fabricated pikes, plundered the arsenal
of the Hôtel des Invalides, and moved on the Bastille as by a common
impulse. The governor, the Marquis de Launey, had made the best
preparations for defence that he could, but he had only one hundred and
fifteen men under his command, and these but little disposed to make a
good stand; at the end of a combat of several hours, they forced him to
capitulate, on the solemn promise of the besiegers that their lives
should be spared,--a promise which was not kept. It is rather as the
destruction of a hated instrument of tyranny than as a feat of arms that
the French celebrate this event,--which inaugurated the long series of
acts of bloodshed of the Revolution.
This news was received with such consternation at Versailles that the
king commenced his half-hearted attempts to accept the situation and
secure the friendship of his people. The next day, a royal courier
announced to the inhabitants of Paris that, "relying upon the love and
fidelity of his subjects," he had ordered the troops to leave the
vicinity of the capital and of Versailles. The Assemblée sent a
deputation of eighty members to Paris to confirm the news, there was
universal rejoicing, a _Te Deum_ at Notre-Dame, illuminations in the
evening, Lafayette was appointed general of the Parisian militia and
Bailly mayor of the city. On the 17th of July, the king made his famous
visit to the Hôtel de Ville, was received by the new mayor and all the
officers of the corporation, assumed the new tricolored cockade--with
sufficient unwillingness,--and in response to the tumultuous
acclamations of the crowd, swearing to defend his "legitimate
authority," made them a little speech: "My people can always rely upon
my love." "Louis might, on this day, have regained all hearts; but he
was in nowise the man required for such times. The Revolution continued
in his presence." On his return to Versailles, he consented to dismiss
his cabinet of ministers and to recall Necker.
But misery and hunger were prevalent in Paris, and throughout the
provinces the peasants had begun to burn convents and châteaux; the
murder of former officers of the crown and the parading of their heads,
and even of their hearts, through the streets had begun in the capital.
In the celebrated sitting of the night of the 4th of August, the
delegates of the nobility and the clergy voluntarily consented to the
abolishment of all their privileges and feudal rights, of jurisdiction,
of levying tithes by the clergy, privileges of persons, provinces, and
cities. The right of redemption of all these privileges, excepting those
which affected personal liberty, was stipulated, but this session was
considered as memorable in establishing the dawn of equality, and the
members of the Assemblée were saluted as "fathers of the country."
Following the example of the American Congress, it was desired to draw
up a declaration of the rights of the man and the citizen; those who
wished to divide the legislative power into two branches, as in England,
and give to the king the right of unlimited veto, were outvoted, some
of the moderate members retired from the committee on the
constitution,--on both sides the advocates of extreme measures came to
the front. The regiment of Flanders was recalled to Versailles; the king
refused the proposition which was made to him to take refuge in Metz,
with the army of Bouillé, which would have brought on the civil war, but
the final catastrophe was hastened, nevertheless, by an imprudent
banquet given to the officers of the various regiments, even the foreign
ones and those of the national guard, on the night of the 1st of
October, in which foreign airs were played, healths drunk to the royal
family, white cockades distributed by the ladies, and the tricolored
ones, it was said, trampled under foot.
The starvation in Paris had become so general, that the people, in their
ignorance, murmured: "Ah! if the king only knew of our miseries; he is
good, but he is deceived by the courtiers; if he were only here, and not
at Versailles!" The news of this banquet, and of another given the
following day in the _salle du manége_, set fire to the powder, an army
of women assembled, crying: "Bread! bread!" and, accompanied by a great
multitude, set out for Versailles, notwithstanding all the efforts of
Bailly and Lafayette. Some of the _gardes du corps_ were killed, and
their heads paraded through the streets on pikes; the royal family were
brought back to Paris, virtually prisoners, and the Assemblée committed
"the unpardonable fault" of following them, and thus placing itself also
within the reach of the mob that had finally learned all its power. The
great nobles had already begun to "emigrate," leaving the king
defenceless in the hands of his enemies, and rendering his situation
still more desperate by their intrigues with foreign powers, which
brought about the first of the coalitions against France.
On the 5th of November, it was decreed, and promptly approved by the
king, that the sittings of the Parlement of Paris should be suspended
until further orders, their powers to be exercised by the Chambres des
Vacations; on the 24th of March, 1790, this ancient body was formally
abolished, on the grounds that the nation had not concurred in its
election. The consideration of the innumerable reforms, civil and
political, voted by the Assemblée in its complete reconstruction of the
government belongs rather to the history of the nation than to that of
the city,--the absolute monarchy was deprived of the power of making
laws, establishing imposts, deciding on peace or war, and reduced to the
condition of the first of the administrative branches of the government,
with a civil list of twenty-five millions. Complete liberty of action
was given to the press, to industry and commerce. The rights of
primogeniture, of rendering estates inalienable, were abolished, and of
confiscation, on the principle that the expiation should be strictly
personal, like the fault. Protestants and Jews were admitted to all
civic and civil rights, and the former recovered their property which
had been incorporated in the domains of the State. All titles were
abolished, the nobles were reduced to the condition of citizens, and the
priests to those of public functionaries; the application of the
death-penalty was greatly restricted; all Frenchmen, without regard to
their birth or religion, were eligible to all public offices and all
military grades; the ancient provincial departments of the nation were
replaced by departments. "The territory of France is free throughout its
length and breadth, like the persons who inhabit it."
[Illustration: EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI, JANUARY 21, 1793, PLACE DE LA
CONCORDE. MINISTRY OF THE MARINE IN BACKGROUND.