44] 
overweening confidence, which it 
hath fhewn upon every new confpi- 
tacy. At length, the alarmtd ca- 
pital faw no other means of termi- 
nating its fears, both for France and 
for the deputies, than by poflefling 
the national aflembly and the king 
within her walls, where a hundred 
thoufand arms were ready to defend 
them, where fix hundred thoufand 
perfons were continually on the 
watch againft confpiracies.”’ 
A queftion, which fhould never 
be out of mind in reading this ac- 
count is, In whofe hands was the 
government of Paris at that time 
placed? and, as derived from the 
fame, Who were the perfons em- 
ployed to provide the capital with 
corn; and if they did not fulfl 
their duty, why were they not 
removed? It might have been 
fuppofed, that the rabble of Paris 
in that feafon of famine, would have 
been muchmore profitably employed 
along the Seine, in angling for the 
loaves newly thrown into the river, 
than in raifing ufelefs riots in the 
itreets, and about the bakers fhops, 
Jt will perhaps be a matter of fur- 
prize to fome, that of the fix hun- 
dred thoufand pairs of jealous and 
fufpicious eyes which were ever 
Watching Confpiracies in Paris, they 
fhould all look fo dire&tly one way, 
as never to take a view of the banks 
of the river, nor of the paflages lead- 
ing thereto; and that neither chance 
or fortune fhould fo far befriend 
them, as to enable them in a fingle 
inflance to deteét any of that atro- 
cious gang of confpirators, who thus 
wantonly robbed them of the means 
of fubfiftance and life. We cannot 
help obferving, that the abundant 
plenty of which Rabaut fpeaks, ac- 
cords but badly with the immenfe 
fums of money which were foon 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1490. 
after difpofed of to foreign nations, 
in order to induce them to tranfport 
corn or grain of any ‘kind into 
France; a meafure which was not, 
however, fuilicient to preferve that 
country from all the bitterhefs of 
famme. ; 
But whether the picture be cor- 
rect or not, it was at the period 
which it intends to defcribe, that 
the officers of the King’s 
October 1. life guards at Verfailies 
gave an entertainment to thofe of 
the regiment of Flanders; it being, 
according to the writers on one fide 
of the queftion, the ufual etiquette 
in the jervice, for the officers in 
garrifon to entertain the new-comers 
upon their being joined by ftran- 
gers;but Rabautafierts, that this was 
the firft banquet which the king’s. 
guards, as a corps, ‘had-ever yet 
given. He farther afferts, that the 
great objeft of this feaft was, to at- 
tach the military to the king; and 
that, in purfuance of endeavours 
which had been ufed for fome days 
to gain over the national guards of 
Verfailles, feveral of their officers — 
were invited upon this feftive oc- 
cafion. Rabaut feems to”confider 
it in every refpect as the effect of 
a fettled plan, contrived. by the 
court. However that was, the pro- 
ceedings of this extraordinary day 
and night were too ridiculoufly 
contemptible, to merit any enquiry, 
whether they were the effect. of de- 
liberative folly, or of cafual intem- 
perance and madnefs. 
The king and queen were moft 
injudicioufly advifed to vifit thefe 
bacchanals after dinner, and to bring 
the infant dauphin with them. The 
extravagance of the joy that pre- 
vailed upon their appearance was 
beyond all defcription, and the 
whole company feemed te be oni 
° ma 
