"Bread!" and "To Versailles!"
One of the conquerors of the Bastille; the usher Maillard, offers
himself as a leader. He is accepted, and taps his drum; on leaving
Paris, he has seven or eight thousand women with him, and, in addition,
some hundreds of men; by dint of remonstrances, he succeeds in
maintaining some kind of order amongst this rabble as far as
Versailles.--But it is a rabble notwithstanding, and consequently so
much brute force, at once anarchical and imperious. On the one hand,
each, and the worst among them, does what he pleases--which will be
quite evident this very evening. On the other hand, its ponderous mass
crushes all authority and overrides all rules and regulations--which is
at once apparent on reaching Versailles.--Admitted into the Assembly, at
first in small numbers, the women crowd against the door, push in with a
rush, fill the galleries, then the hall, the men along with them, armed
with clubs, halberds, and pikes, all pell-mell, side by side with the
deputies, taking possession of their benches, voting along with them,
and gathering about the President, who, surrounded, threatened, and
insulted, finally abandons the position, while his chair is taken by
a woman.[1434] A fishwoman commands in a gallery, and about a hundred
women around her shout or keep silence at her bidding, while she
interrupts and abuses the deputies:

"Who is that speaker there? Silence that blabbermouth; he does not know
what he is talking about. The question is how to get bread. Let papa
Mirabeau speak--we want to hear him."

A decree on subsistence having been passed, the leaders demand something
in addition; they must be allowed to enter all places where they suspect
any monopolizing to be going on, and the price of "bread must be fixed
at six sous the four pounds, and meat at six sous per pound."

"You must not think that we are children to be played with. We are ready
to strike. Do as you are bidden."

All their political injunctions emanate from this central idea. And
further:

"Send back the Flemish regiment--it is a thousand men more to feed, and
they take bread out of our mouths."--"Punish the aristocrats, who hinder
the bakers from baking." "Down with the skull-cap; the priests are the
cause of our trouble!"--"Monsieur Mounier, why did you advocate that
villainous veto? Beware of the lamp post!"

Under this pressure, a deputation of the Assembly, with the President at
its head, sets out on foot, in t