The demolition of the Bastile is going on, and the _Milice Bourgeoise_
organizing and training. The ancient police of the city is abolished by
the authority of the people, the introduction of the King's troops will
probably be proscribed, and a watch or city guards substituted, which
shall depend on the city alone. But we cannot suppose this paroxysm
confined to Paris alone. The whole country must pass successively
through it, and happy if they get through it as soon and as well as
Paris has done.
I went yesterday to Versailles, to satisfy myself what had passed
there; for nothing can be believed but what one sees, or has from an
eye-witness. They believe there still, that three thousand people have
fallen victims to the tumults of Paris. Mr. Short and myself have been
every day among them, in order to be sure of what was passing. We cannot
find, with certainty, that any body has been killed but the three before
mentioned, and those who fell in the assault or defence of the Bastile.
How many of the garrison were killed, nobody pretends to have ever
heard. Of the assailants, accounts vary from six to six hundred. The
most general belief is, that there fell about thirty. There have been
many reports of instantaneous executions by the mob, on such of their
body as they caught in acts of theft or robbery.
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