THE next day, Saturday the 11th, about an hundred Swiss who had not been
in the palace placed themselves under the protection of the National
Assembly. They were sent to the _Palais Bourbon_ escorted by the
Marseillois, with _Mr. Petion_ at their head, in order to be tried by a
court-martial.
The people were now employed, some in hanging thieves, others with
_Mademoiselle_ _Teroigne_ on horseback at their head, in pulling down
the statues of the French Kings.
The first was the equestrian one in bronze of Lewis XV. in the square of
the same name, at the end of the _Tuileries_ gardens; this was the work
of _Bouchardon_, and was erected in 1763. At the corners of the pedestal
were the statues, also in bronze, of strength, peace, prudence, and
justice, by _Pigalle_. Many smiths were employed in filing the iron bars
within the horse's legs and feet, which fastened it to the marble
pedestal, and the _sans-culottes_ pulled it down by ropes, and broke it
to pieces; as likewise the four statues above-mentioned, the pedestal,
and the new magnificent balustrade of white marble which surrounded it.
The next was the equestrians statue of _Lewis XIV._ in the _Place
Vendôme_, cast in bronze, in a single piece, by Keller, from the model
of Girardon; twenty men might with ease have sat round a table in the
belly of the horse; it stood on a pedestal of white marble of thirty
feet in height, twenty-four in length, and thirteen in breadth. This
statue crushed a man to pieces by falling on him, which must be
attributed to the inexperience of the _pullers-down_.
The third was a pedestrian statue of _Lewis XIV._ in the _Place
Victoire_, of lead, gilt, on a pedestal of white marble; a winged
figure, representing victory, with one hand placed a crown of laurels on
his head, and in the other held a bundle of palm and olive branches. The
king was represented treading on _Cerberus_ and the whole group was a
single cast. There were formerly four bronze slaves at the corners of
the pedestal, each of twelve feet high; these were removed in 1790. The
whole monument was thirty-five feet high, and was erected in 1689, at
the expence of the Duke _de la Feuillade_, who likewise left his duchy
to his heirs, on condition that they should cause the whole group to be
new gilt every twenty-five years; and who was buried under the
pedestal.
On Sunday the 12th, at about noon, the equestrian statue, in bronze, of
_Henry IV._ which was on the _Pont-neuf_, was pulled down; this was
erected in 1635, and was the first of the kind in Paris. The horse was
begun at Florence, by _Giovanni Bologna_, a pupil of _Michael Angelo_,
finished by _Pietro Tacca_, and sent as a present to _Mary of Medicis_,
widow of _Henry IV._ Regent. It was shipped at _Leghorn_, and the vessel
which contained it was lost on the coast of Normandy, near _Havre de
Grace_, the horse remained a year in the sea, it was, however, got out
and sent to Paris in 1614.
This statue used to be the idol of the Parisians; immediately after the
revolution it was decorated with the national cockade; during three
evenings after the federation, in 1790, magnificent festivals were
celebrated before it.
It was broken in many pieces by the fall; the bronze was not half an
inch thick, and the hollow part was filled up with brick earth.
The fifth and last was overthrown in the afternoon of the same day; it
was situated in the _Place Royale_; it was an equestrian statue in
bronze, of Lewis XIII. on a vast pedestal of white marble; it was
erected in 1639. The horse was the work of _Daniel Volterra_; the figure
of the king was by _Biard_.
The people were several days employed in pulling down all the statues
and busts of kings and queens they could find. On the Monday I saw a
marble or stone statue, as large as the life, tumbled from the top of
the _Hôtel de Ville_ into the _Place de Grêve_, at that time full of
people, by which two men were killed, as I was told, and I did not wish
to verify the assertion myself, but retired.
They then proceeded to deface and efface every crown, every _fleur de
lis_, every inscription wherein the words king, queen, prince, royal, or
the like, were found. The hotels and lodging-houses were compelled to
erase and change their names, that of the _Prince de Galles_ must be
called _de Galles_ only; that of _Bourbon_ must have a new name; a sign
_au lys d'or_ (the golden lily) was pulled down; even billiard tables
are no longer _noble_ or _royal_.
The _Pont-royal_, the new bridge of _Lewis XVI._ the _Place des
Victoires_, the _Place Royal_, the _Rue d'Artois, &c._ have all new
names, which, added to the division of the kingdom into eighty-three
departments, abolishing all the ancient noble names of _Bourgogne,
Champagne, Provence, Languedoc, Bretagne, Navarre, Normandie, &c._ and
in their stead substituting such as these: _Ain, Aube, Aude, Cher,
Creuse, Doubs, Eure, Gard, Gers, Indre, Lot, Orne, Sarte, Tarne, Var,
&c._ which are the names of insignificant rivers; to that of Paris into
forty-eight new sections, and to all titles being likewise abolished,
makes it very difficult for a stranger to know any thing about the
geography of the kingdom, nor what were the _ci-devant_ titles of such
of the nobility as still remain in France, and who are at present only
known by their family names.