The alarm
at Versailles increased instead of abating. They believed that the
aristocrats of Paris were under pillage and carnage, that one hundred
and fifty thousand men were in arms, coming to Versailles to massacre
the royal family, the court, the ministers, and all connected with
them, their practices, and principles. The aristocrats of the Nobles
and Clergy in the States General, vied with each other in declaring how
sincerely they were converted to the justice of voting by persons, and
how determined to go with the nation all its lengths. The foreign troops
were ordered off instantly. Every minister resigned. The King confirmed
Bailly as _Prevot des Marchands_, wrote to Mr. Necker to recall him,
sent his letter open to the States General, to be forwarded by them, and
invited them to go with him to Paris the next day, to satisfy the city
of his dispositions: and that night and the next morning, the Count
d'Artois, and Monsieur de Montisson (a deputy connected with him),
Madame de Polignac, Madame de Guiche, and the Count de Vaudreuil,
favorites of the Queen, the Abbe de Vermont, her confessor, the Prince
of Conde, and Duke de Bourbon, all fled; we know not whither. The
King came to Paris, leaving the Queen in consternation for his return.
Omitting the less important figures of the procession, I will only
observe, that the King's carriage was in the centre, on each side of it
the States General, in two rank, afoot, and at their head the Marquis de
la Fayette, as Commander in Chief, on horseback, and _Bourgeois_ guards
before and behind.
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