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THE COLTON PAPERS.— No. IV. 



I NOW turn from the sanguinary triumphs I have been attempting to 

 describe to scenes of a less active, but scarcely less wondrous description ; 

 I mean those in which, in the midst of danger and anarchy, a provincial 

 government was suddenly organised ; established order called into exis- 

 tence from the elements of the wildest confusion ; and the dynasty of 

 one of the most powerful monarchs in the world, overthrown with a ra- 

 pidity almost unequalled in history. 



To' put the reader fully in possession of this part of the subject, I 

 must return to my narrative. On the morning of Wednesday, I stated 

 in a preceding " paper," that a meeting of sevei'al of the deputies had 

 taken place, to consider the measures necessary for them to adopt under 

 the circumstances in which they were now placed by the obnoxious 

 ordinances. 



These gentlemen held subsequent meetings on Tuesday and Wednes- 

 day, and on the latter day put forth a solemn Protest against the legality 

 of this audacious attempt of the Ministry against the rights of election 

 and the freedom of the press, declaring that they still considered them- 

 selves the legitimate representatives of the people. It was at the man- 

 sion of M. Laffitte, the banker, that this Protest was agreed upon. It 

 was signed bv most of theDeputies resident inParis,but the absence of some 

 well-known names gave rise at the moment, and also subsequently, to 

 considerable remark. Among the signatures appeared the name of one 

 never backward when the cause of liberty demands his aid, that of the 

 venerable Lafavette. This genuine patriot was now called upon, not 

 only by his brother Deputies, but by the unanimous voice of the capital, 

 to become the head of a Provisional Government, and Commander-in- 

 Chief of the National Guards. 



These important, and at this moment most dangerous posts, the vete- 

 ran patriot of 1789 did not for a moment hesitate to accept, and having 

 hastilv written a proclamation, announcing his acceptation of the com- 

 mand, which concluded with the following cheering sentence, "Liberty 

 shall ^triumph, or we will all perish together," he set out from ]M. Laf- 

 fitte's] to assume his functions at the Hotel de Ville. The General 

 was escorted by a large body of the National Guards, and followed by 

 thousands of his fellow-citizens, amid whose acclamations, and the 

 roar of cannon and musketry from the neighbourhood of the Lou- 

 vre, where the conflict was raging with unabated violence, he was in- 

 stalled in his great office. General Gerard and the Duke de Choiseul 

 were appointed to co-operate with Lafa}-ette in the government at this 

 momentous crisis, but the nomination of that respectable nobleman ^I. de 

 Choiseul was not acted upon. Other members were afterwards added to 

 the Provisional Administration, as will be subsequently explained. But 

 we must now proceed to put our readers in possession of the public do- 

 cuments and immediate operations of this Provisional Government, 



