me eee eee 
if 
- 
HISTORY OF EUROPE. 
- their lives to be lafting; that the .and the court ftrove which fhould 
dauphin was only a weakly infant; 
and as to the count d’Artois, and 
his two fons, he affected {carcely to 
confider them as exifting with re- 
fpeét to that queftion, reprefenting 
them not only as fugitives, but 
nearly as outlaws. 
The arrival of the regiment of 
Flanders caufed as great a ferment 
at Paris and Verfailles, as that of 
a powerful foreign invading army 
could have done. The uiual bag- 
gage, ftores, and fix-pounders of a 
regiment, were immediately {welled 
into magazines of warlike ftores 
and trains of artillery. All the 
orators of the palais royal were fet 
to work, and feemed infpired with 
new vigour in their fuccefsful efforts 
to inflame the minds of the people ; 
affluring them, as a matter of fact of 
which they had direct knowledge, 
that the king intended to make his 
efcape under the efcort of this re- 
giment; and ftating in dreadful co- 
lours the confequences which mutt 
neceffarily take place from the ac- 
complifhment of this defign. 
In the mean time, numerous ‘de- 
tachments of thofe zealous and in- 
defatigable fupporters of Parifian 
liberty, the women of pleafure, were 
“d ge to Verfailles, in order to 
e converts and eftablifh their 
influence among the new-comers ; 
one of their principal objects being 
to embroil the private foldiers and 
their officers, by continually leading 
the former into thofe petty neglects 
of duty, which, though apparently 
trivial in themfelves, are fo totally 
fubveriive of all military difcipline 
and order, that no relaxation of 
them can be admitted in any army. 
We are informed by Rabaut, that 
on the arrival of the regiment of 
Flanders, the citizens of Verfailles 
[43 
fhower moft careffes upon it; the 
former on the foldiers, the latter on 
the officers. It is evident that this 
regiment, for the fhort period that 
the funfhine lafted, needed not to 
have envied any other in Chriften- 
dom for the goodnefs of its quarters; 
the foldiers, from the firft day, being 
in fuch a ftate of fraternity with the 
inhabitants, that they feemed incor- 
porated in one body; and {uch 
a continual fcene of feafting and 
good chear prevailing, as left little 
time or difpofition for recalling to 
remembrance the feverity of mili- 
tary duties. 
Before we enter into the particu- 
lars of the fucceeding convulfions, 
perhaps it may not be difpleafing to 
many of our readers, to take a view 
of that picture of the ftate of public 
affairs at this time which was drawn 
by Rabaut; which he affures us was 
faithfully done; and which in- 
cludes the pre-difpofing caufes 
which operated upon the Parifians 
in their conduct. He fays, that 
“« Paris was a prey to all the mife- 
ries of famine, even in the midft of 
abundance; bread was dear, and of 
a bad quality; the inhabitants were 
knocking at the doors of the bakers, 
in order to ‘obtain relief; it feemed 
that meafures had been taken to 
exafperate the people againft the 
new popular powers; and perfons, 
evidently paid for occafioning dif- 
turbances, befieged the fhops of the 
bakers, carried away the bread, 
threw it into the river, and returned 
for the purpofe of renewing this 
practice. The provinces were af- 
frighted by a circulated whifper, of 
the approaching flight of the king, 
and of a counter-revolution; and the 
party which defired it, already 
vaunted of it.loudly, and with that 
overweening 
