The Court was filled with terror by the adventure. Were they not
the "enemy," these mutinous Parisians? And should a King go thus
among his enemies? If he shared some of that fear, as the gloom of
him might lead us to suppose, he must have found it idle. What if
two hundred thousand men under arms - men without uniforms and with
the most extraordinary motley of weapons ever seen - awaited him?
They awaited him as a guard of honour.
Mayor Bailly at the barrier presented him with the keys of the city.
"These are the same keys that were presented to Henri IV. He had
reconquered his people. Now the people have reconquered their King."
At the Hotel de Ville Mayor Bailly offered him the new cockade, the
tricoloured symbol of constitutional France, and when he had given
his royal confirmation to the formation of the Garde Bourgeoise and
to the appointments of Bailly and Lafayette, he departed again for
Versailles amid the shouts of "Vive le Roi!" from his loyal people.
And now you see Privilege - before the cannon's mouth, as it were
- submitting at last, where had they submitted sooner they might
have saved oceans of blood - chiefly their own.
Pages:
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431