GUARDS. 



573 



The maison du roe in his reign amounted to 8000 men, 

 but still retained more or less the character of house- 

 hold troops, that is, it was their duty to guard the per- 

 son and palaces of the kings. Most monarchs had 

 similar troops, and many of the smaller ones were dis- 

 tinguished for the splendour of their guards. The 

 petty princes of Germany had brilliant corps of Swiss, 

 Heydukers, &c. Frederic the Great led his battalion 

 of body-guards into the fire like other troops. He 

 had several battalions of infantry and several squad- 

 rons of cavalry as guards ; troops of distinguished 

 courage and remarkable height. Height, at this time, 

 was considered one of the chief excellences of a sol- 

 dier. The guards were, therefore, to excel all other 

 troops in this quality ; and they were indeed a rare 

 collection of giants. The Russian guards were more 

 numerous. In 1785, they amounted to 10,000 men. 

 Napoleon's, however, were the finest guards, and 

 among the finest troops that ever existed. He re- 

 lates (in Las Cases's Memorial, vol. 2, page 33, edit, 

 of 1821), that his narrow escape from being taken 

 prisoner, in a castle on the Mincio, led to the establish- 

 ment of troops whose destination was the personal 

 safety of the commander. He called them guides : 

 these were body-guards. When he became the head 

 of the government, and all Europe was arrayed against 

 the revolutionary principles of France, it was natural, 

 more particularly after he had conceived the plan of 

 re-establishing a hereditary throne, that he should 

 wish to have a corps, which might serve, in every 

 respect, as a model to his whole army, and which, at 

 the same time, would be particularly attached to 

 him. He therefore instituted his consular guards, 

 and, afterwards, the imperial guards, which formed 

 a complete corps d'armee, with artillery and cavalry, 

 and of which lie made use, in battles, only in decisive 

 moments. He could confidently rely on them. They 

 were the elite of the army : none were admitted who 

 had been punished by a court-martial. In 1812, the 

 imperial guards consisted of one division of old guards 

 (three regiments of garde-grenadiers and two regi- 

 ments of garde-chasseurs) and two divisions of young 

 guards, consisting of six regiments of garde-tirailleurs, 

 six regiments of garde-voltigeurs, one regiment of 

 garde-chasseurs, one regiment of garde-grenadiers, 

 one of garde-fianqueurs, each containing two bat- 

 talions of 800 men. The cavalry consisted of grena- 

 diers, dragoons, chasseurs, chevaux legers, landers, 

 Mamelukes and gendarmerie d'elite. The artillery 

 had 120 pieces of cannon. After the disasters of 

 1812, the imperial guard was reorganized on the 

 same basis. Every one knows how nobly the old 

 guards left the stage of history on the field of Water- 

 loo. When Louis XVIII. was put upon the throne 

 of his broker, he abolished the imperial guards a 

 measure which according to some writers, he after- 

 wards regretted and, instead of them, the ancient 

 household troops, were again introduced, which had 

 been, in part, abolished, even before the revolution 

 the gardes-du-corps , the gardes-de-la-porte, the 

 cent Suisses, the mousquetaires noirs and gris, &c., 

 most of them commanded by emigrants, two of the 

 bodies by Berthier and Marmont. The cent Suisses 

 looked ridiculously in their dress, which appeared 

 ludicrous even before the revolution. But, after the 

 hundred days, real guards were established, and 

 several battalions of Swiss. The fate of both, in 

 July, 1830, is well known. (See France.) There 

 are now no royal guards in France. In Britain, the 

 household troops or guards consist of the life-guards, 

 the royal regiment of horse-guards, and three regi- 

 ments of foot-guards. In Russia, the guards form a 

 numerous corps, which, on the death of Alexander, 

 and previously, showed that many among them had 

 the spirit which, as we have said, the guards of des 



pots always have, more or less ; though, at present 

 Russia has nothing to fear from them similar to the 

 conduct of the Strelitz (q. v.), because even the 

 Russian autocrat governs, in some degree, by 

 means of laws. The Prussian guards form a whole 

 corps d'armee. In Austria, the guards, though 

 more numerous than formerly, are still merely body- 

 guards of the sovereign, and therefore their number, 

 is comparatively small. Noble guards, in which only 

 sons of noblemen could serve, have sometimes been 

 formed, a private in which had the rank of ensign. 

 They have generally proved useless in moments when 

 their services were needed. 



Guards, National ; an institution which has ac- 

 quired historical importance, in the politics of 

 France, and, according to all appearance, will now 

 become more important than ever. It was desirable 

 that the popular party, in the beginning of the revo- 

 lution, should have forces on which they could rely, 

 both for maintaining order, and resisting the attempts 

 of the court party, in case it should be necessary ; as, 

 for instance, the court had early marched 30,000 

 men, under the duke de Broglie, towards Paris. 

 July 13, 1789, after great disorders had occurred in 

 Paris, and the day before the Bastile was taken, a 

 municipal committee was formed in the hotel-de- 

 ville, to provide for safety and order. They invited 

 the lieutenant of the police to advise with them ; 

 and, within a few hours, a plan was prepared for 

 arming the citizens. The armed force was to con- 

 sist of 48,000 men, to be drawn from the various 

 electoral districts. They first adopted green as 

 their colour, taking branches of trees as their 

 badges ; but, as it was remembered that this was 

 the colour of the livery of the count d'Artois (after- 

 wards Charles X., brother of Louis XVI.), who was 

 highly unpopular on account of his arbitrary senti- 

 ments, it was abandoned ; and it is commonly be- 

 lieved that the colours of the city of Paris (blue and 

 red), were united with that of the king (white). 

 But the origin of the tricolor is not quite certain. 

 (See the article Tricolor.) The plan of arming a 

 portion of the citizens was adopted with great readi- 

 ness, because it was necessary to preserve order. 

 This is the origin of the national guards, afterwards 

 so important. On the 14th, the Bastile was taken ; 

 on the 15th, Bailly, president of the assembly, was 

 made mayor of Paris, and the marquis de Lafayette 

 commandant-general of the militia of Paris. June 

 12, 1790, the national assembly decreed that, to en- 

 joy the rights of citizenship, it was necessary to be a 

 member of the national guard. September 29, 1791, 

 a degree was issued for the organization of the na- 

 tional guards. A standing municipal and departmen- 

 tal national guard was herewith established, to be 

 raised by voluntary enlistment, in the proportion of 

 one to every twenty citizens ; they chose their own 

 officers, and received pay, arms, and uniform. The 

 solemn declaration of the general assembly, Decem- 

 ber 29, 1791, that the French nation renounces all 

 wars of conquest, and will never employ its arms 

 against the liberty of any nation, was connected with 

 this measure. In May, 1792, the number of the 

 battalions of the departmental national guards was 

 fixed at 216. But the measures of Austria and 

 Prussia, as well as the arming of the emigrants on 

 the frontier, obliged the French government to 

 assume a military attitude ; and the national guards 

 became a great support to the army, by diffusing a 

 military spirit throughout the nation, and training 

 many individuals, who afterwards joined the army. 

 October 5, 1795 (13 Vendemiaire), Bonaparte, act- 

 ing under Barras, led the troops of the convention 

 against the national guards of the sections of Paris, 

 who hd declared against the system of terrorism. 



