36] ANNUAL RE 
pretended to fear. On the whole, 
although at this time a majority of 
the Assembly were on the side of 
peace and good’government, it does 
not appear that any proper mea- 
sures were taken for the prevention 
‘of insurrection, either by the As- 
sembly or the Mayor of Paris. 
The efforts made by the council 
of state for repelling the attack that 
was expected on the palace were 
sincere, and not destitute of either 
vigour or wisdom; yet they were 
unfortunately overborne by circum- 
stances to which human prudence 
and foresight do not extend. 
There were about fifteen hun- 
dred gentlemen, officers, and others 
of various ranks within the palace, 
attached to the King, and ready to 
die in his defence: a thousand 
Swiss in the barracks of the Carou- 
sel, and about eight thousand na- 
tional guards. ‘Twelve pieces of 
cannon were placed around the 
palace, in the manner thought most 
advantageous for repelling an at- 
tack. Besides the troops above 
enumerated, there was a body of a 
thousand cavalry, all under arms, 
all attached to the King, and posted 
in various places, under different 
commanders: other bodies of na- 
tional guards were stationed in the 
avenues near the palace royal, un- 
der arms, ready to march to the 
Thuilleries, in order to support the 
battalionsthat had gone before them. 
The attendants of the court and 
servants were distributed in the 
different. halls, having first sworn 
to defend the King to the last drop 
of their blood; they were about 
four hundred strong, but their only 
arms were swords and pistols. The 
dattalions of national guards on 
duty at the palace, were extremely 
avell disposed to the King: their 
GISTER, 1702. 
commanders and officers entirely 
devoted to him, Those troops 
were reinforced by gentlemen and 
loyalists ‘of every rank, whom the 
danger of the royal family drew in 
crowds to the palace. This united 
force would cerrainly have been 
able to have defended it until the 
arrival of three thousand Swiss 
trom Courbevoye, about four miles 
‘from Paris, if they had received 
timely orders to set out. Even on 
the 10th, when they were sent for, 
if the King had remained in the 
palace till their arrival, which would 
have taken place soon after he went 
to the National Assembly, he might 
perhaps have repelled the attack of 
that fatal day. 
Such was the force prepared for 
the defence of the palace on the 
10th of August. 
In opposition to this force, in- 
numerable bands of men, armed 
with muskets, artillery, pikes, pitch- 
forks, hatchets, and iron bars, filled 
all the adjacent streets and squares, 
and rent the air on all sides with 
their clamours. The battalion of 
the Marseillois, joined by. the 
inhabitants of the Fauxbourg St. 
Antoine, marched towards the 
Thuilleries in the greatest. order, . 
with their cannon and. matches 
lighted, inviting the people to follow 
them, and * assist,” as they said, . 
*in dislodging the tyrant, and pro- 
claiming his despotism to the Na- 
tional Assembly.”” The national — 
guards had formerly done duty by 
battalions: but by a late decree of — 
the National Assembly they had been 
directed to do duty by detachments — 
from all the various battalions. If 
the former method had been con-— 
tinued, Mandat, commander of the 
guards, might on any emergency 
have chosen those battalions which 
were 
