," who yell according to understood
signals and at the word of command.[1424] Many of these are French
Guards, in civilian clothes, and who relieve each other: previously
they have asked of their favorite deputy "at what hour they must come,
whether all goes on well, and whether he is satisfied with those fools
of parsons (calotins) and the aristocrats." Others consist of low women
under the command of Theroigne de Mericourt, a virago courtesan, who
assigns them their positions and gives them the signal for hooting
or for applause. Publicly and in full session, on the occasion of the
debate on the veto, "the deputies are applauded or insulted by the
galleries according as they utter the word 'suspensive,' or the word
'indefinite.' "Threats," (says one of them) "circulated; I heard
them on all sides around me." These threats are repeated on going out:
"Valets dismissed by their masters, deserters, and women in rags,"
threaten the refractory with the lamp post, "and thrust their fists in
their faces. In the hall itself, and much more accurately than before
the 14th of July, their names are taken down, and the lists, handed
over to the populace," travel to the Palais-Royal, from where they
are dispatched in correspondence and in newspapers to the
provinces.[1425]--Thus we see the second means of compulsion; each
deputy is answerable for his vote, at Paris, with his own life, and,
in the province, with those of his family. Members of the former
Third-Estate avow that they abandon the idea of two Chambers, because
"they are not disposed to get their wives' and children's throats cut."
On the 30th of August, Saint-Hurugue, the most noisy of the Palais-Royal
barkers, marches off to Versailles, at the head of 1,500 men, to
complete the conversion of the Assembly. This garden club indeed, from
the heights of its great learning, integrity, and immaculate reputation,
decides that the ignorant, corrupt, and doubtful deputies must be got
rid of." That they are such cannot be questioned, because they defend
the royal sanction; there are over 600 and more, 120 are deputies of the
communes, who must be expelled to begin with, and then must be brought
to judgment.[1426] In the meantime they are informed, as well as the
Bishop of Langres, President of the National Assembly, that "15,000 men
are ready to light up their chateaux and in particular yours, sir."
To avoid all mistake, the secretaries of the Assembly are informed
in writing that