Meeting of the Estates-General, 1789. 121 
upon. Duquesnoy relates an incident of June 25 showing not 
only the temper of the guards at the hall, but the attitude of 
the people as well. The secretary of the Marquis de Brézé 
presented himself at the door of the hall, but the guards refused 
him entrance. He appealed to a passing deputy to introduce 
him, as he had a letter from his master to the president. The 
deputy replied: “I know neither you nor your master and I do 
not see what he can have to do in our hall.’’ At this retort, the 
people loudly applauded the deputy and hissed the secretary.’ 
The French Guards, as indicated in the instances previously 
cited, were the first of the troops stationed in Versailles to 
show their sympathy with the popular cause. Very shortly 
after the royal session, however, the body guards in the city 
rebelled against the duties assigned to them, although evidently 
not from sympathy for the popular cause. Mounted body 
guards, it will be recalled, took part in quelling the demonstra- 
tion against the Archbishop of Paris, but apparently the service 
required of them roused their .antagonism. Jallet reports that 
on the following days, they refused to co-operate with a detach- 
ment of mounted police which was added to the guard at the 
hall, June 25.8 Afterward complaint about the service which 
they had to perform was carried to their captain, the Duc de 
Guiche, evidently by one, or perhaps by two, of the under 
officers in the name of their comrades. They stated explicitly 
that their duty was to guard the person of the king, not to be 
mounted to fight the rabble. Consequently, they refused to do 
patrol duty and to serve around the hall of the estates. The 
duke promptly discharged the offending officers, to the indig- 
nation of the companies whom they represented and who now 
threatened to leave the service unless their comrades were 
restored. They sent a memoir directly to the king, assuring 
him of their loyalty, but demanding the re-instatement of the 
6 Jallet, 106. 
7 Duquesnoy, I, 132. 
8 Jallet, 106; Boullé, Documents inédits, Revue de la révolution, XIII, 76. 
The latter does not mention the mounted police, but refers to the body guards: 
*‘ Nous avons trouvé la salle entourée comme les jours précédens et de plus 
un escadron nombreux de guardes du corps devant J’entrée et la sortie des 
prélats de la minorité.” 
235 
