210 



BAILLY. 



lution, was very troublesome to lead and to rule. Insub- 

 ordination appeared to be the rule in its ranks; and 

 hierarchical obedience a very rare exception. My re- 

 mark may perhaps appear severe : well, Gentlemen, read 

 the contemporary writings, Grimm's Correspondence, for 

 example, and you will see, under date of November 1790, 

 a dismissed captain replying to the regrets of his com- 

 pany in the following style : " Console yourselves, my 

 companions, I shall not quit you ; only, henceforward I 

 shall be a simple fusilier ; if you see me resolved to be 

 no longer your chief, it is because I am- content to com- 

 mand in my turn." 



It is allowable besides to suppose that the National 

 Guard of 1791 was deficient, in the presence of such 

 crowds, of that patience, that clemency, of which the 

 French troops of the line have often given such perfect 

 examples. It was not aware that, in a large city, crowds 

 are chiefly composed of the unemployed and the idly 

 curious. 



It was half-past seven o'clock when the municipal 

 body arrived at the Champ de Mars. Immediately some 

 individuals placed on the glacis exclaimed : " Down with 

 the red flag ! down with the bayonettes ! " and threw 

 some stones. There was even a gun fired. A volley 

 was fired in the air to frighten them ; but the cries soon 

 recommenced; again some stones were thrown; then 

 only the fatal fusillade of the National Guard began ! 



These, Gentlemen, are the deplorable events of the 

 Champ de Mars, faithfully analyzed from the relation that 

 Bailly himself gave of the 18th July to the Constituent 

 Assembly. This recital, the truth of which no one as- 

 suredly will question any more than myself, labours under 

 some involuntary but very serious omissions. I will 



