3 s Julia Creuilt Stoddard 



hit ion would be lost unless these decrees were carried out. There- 

 fore measures should be taken to "get the king and the assembly 

 away from the pernicious influence of Versailles at any cost. 1 



It was only too evident that the king was disposed to favor the 

 plans of counter-revolution, and very unwilling to accept the pro- 

 posed reforms and constitution. The queen was winning her 

 cause. The aristocrats were happy in the hope of victory. But 

 the patriots were grimly determined never to yield what they had 

 won for France. They knew that the country was behind them. 

 They needed but the spur of some new aggression on the part of 

 the court to be ready for desperate deeds. This incentive came 

 in the banquet of the body-guards and its attendant circum- 

 stances. 



Ill 



MILITARY COMPLICATIONS 



Before studying the immediate causes which precipitated the 

 insurrection, it is necessary to go back and take into account the 

 general situation of military affairs, the position of the French 

 guards and the share they had in bringing about the call of the 

 regiment of Flanders, the attitude of the body-guards of the king 

 toward the revolution, and the fact of secret enrolment of new 

 troops in the royal service. 



Before the 14th of July the French guards shared with the 

 body-guard the honor of protecting the king. 2 But when the 

 moment came to choose or sacrifice the patriotic cause, they aban- 

 doned their post at Versailles and joined the revolution. Their 

 action afterwards received the approval of the king, who author- 

 ized them to remain in Paris and become a part of the citizen 

 militia. 3 



Their share in the triumph of taking the Bastille made them 

 popular heroes. The commune recognized their service to the 

 state by granting to each of them a certificate of acknowledgment 



1 Revue histortque, LXVIII, 266. 



2 Deux amis de la liberty, Histoire de la revolution de France, III, 107. 



3 Lafayette. MSmoires, II, 271. 



30'4 



