HIS ADMINISTRATION AS MAYOR. 201 



constantly before our eyes the list of unheard-of difficul- 

 ties that the revolution had to surmount, and to remember 

 the very restricted means of repression placed at the 

 disposal of the authorities in the beginning. 



The scarcity of food gave rise to many embarrass- 

 ments, to many a crisis ; but causes of quite another 

 nature had not less influence on the march of events. 



In his memoirs, Bailly speaks of the manreuvres of a 



redoubtable faction labouring for under the 



name of the The names are blank. A certain 



editor of the work filled up the lacunre. I have not the 

 same hardihood. I only wished to remark that Bailly 

 had to combat at once both the spontaneous efferves- 

 cence of the multitude, and the intrigues of a crowd of 

 secret agents, who distributed money with a liberal hand. 



Some day, said our colleague, the infernal genius who 

 directed those intrigues and le bailleur de fonds will be 

 known. Although the proper names are wanting, it is 

 certain that some persons inimical to the revolution urged 

 it to deplorable excesses. 



These enemies had collected in the capital thirty or 

 forty thousand vagabonds. What could be opposed to 

 them ? The Tribunals ? They had no moral power, and 

 were declared enemies to the revolution. The National 

 Guard ? It was only just formed ; the officers scarcely 

 knew each other, and moreover scarcely knew the men 

 who were to obey them. "Was it at least permitted to 

 depend on the regular armed force ? It consisted of six 

 battalions of French Guards without officers ; of six 

 thousand soldiers who, from every part of France, had 

 flocked singly to Paris, on reading in the newspapers the 

 following expressions from General Lafayette : " They 



talk of deserters ! The real deserters are those men who 



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