20 THE COLTON PAPERS. 



rlan-e drawn bv six hor?es, and followed by nine pieces of artillery, with 

 their caissons! Tlie Duke of Raguf a, who had been reconciled to the 

 prince, mounted on a spirited bay charger, with a scarlet velvet saddle, 

 and in the splendid uniform of a Marslial of France, rode by the door of 

 the carriai'-e. The 1st rej^nment of infantry of the Garde Royale, some 

 of the Gendarmerie d'elitc, and the scattered remains of the Lancers of 

 the Guard, followed. Tlie regiments under the command of General 

 Bordesoult, stationed at Versailles, refused to march ; the general him- 

 self, nevertheless, joined the melancholy cortege. The chateau was in- 

 stantly taken possession of by the popular force. 



The onlv ministers who accompanied the royal family were M. Mon- 

 thel and C'apellc. The other five had dispersed, each to seek his indivi- 

 dual safety. 



Previous to the departure of the troops, those who had suffered defeat 

 in Paris, and were encamped in the Bois de Boulogne, had refused to 

 assist in an\ movement contemplated against the people. A deputation 

 of officers ()f the line and pupils of the Polytechnic School had waited 

 upon the officers of the Royal Guard, and requested their co-operation. 

 These gallant men answered, that they were decided not to carry arms 

 in the cause of tyrannv against their fellow -citizens, but that until they 

 were released from their oaths, they could not unite with their brethren 

 in Paris. Dreadful to relate, the evening previous to the departure from 

 the palace, a number of soldiers of the royal guard who had cried Vive la 

 Charle ! were shot, and buried in the park of St. Cloud. It is said that 

 the number of thes3 victims to the frenzy of despotism amounted to 

 twentv-ei^ht. This, if it be true, was an act of cold-blooded assassina- 

 tion, for which tlie Duke of Angouleme, as Generalissimo of the Army, 

 must be responsible. 



Bv easy stages, and at afoot-pace, the lugubrious and silent procession 

 reached llambouillct, a small town about twenty-eiglit miles from Paris, 

 where they seemed determined to make a stand, and to obtain, by a show 

 of resistance, the best terms possible. On his first arrival at Rambouillet, 

 the King sent to the Duke of Orleans, who bad been called upon unani- 

 hiouslv to assume the office of Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, an 

 unqualified abdication; requesting, at the same time, a million of francs 

 in gold, and a safeguard to protect him on his passage to Cherbourg, 

 where he intended to cndjark for a foreign country. (This imj)0)-tant 

 fact will hereafter ap])ear, when 1 resume my account of the proceed- 

 ino-s in Paris — I am lierc compelled a little to anticipate, in order to 

 render the narrative clear.) The abdication was evidently dictated by 

 the fears of the King for his personal safety, as intelligence hourly reached 

 him tliat, as his ordinances arrived at the most remote towns and vil- 

 lan-es, no other stimulus was necessary to call into life the national flag, 

 and the tri-coloured cockade, even long before the events of Paris were 

 known. La Vendue, the most unenlightened province of Fi'ance, and 

 the supposed very focus of loyalty, displayed instantly the ensign of revolt. 

 The citizens of every town which led to the coast were under arms, and 

 the national guards of Rouen, Bolbec, and Elbcuf, were marching upon 

 Paris, and in the rear of his little army, not amounting to 3000 men. 

 With equal alacrity and generosity the provisional government imme- 

 distely depUted> as a safeguard, the five following comraissioucrs, of the 



