nd, by way of
averting or avenging so atrocious an act, the mob began to set fire to
houses in different quarters of the city. Growing bolder at the sight of
their own violence, they broke open the prisons, and thus obtained a
re-enforcement of hundreds of desperadoes, ripe for any wickedness. The
troops were paralyzed by Louis's imbecile order to avoid bloodshed, and in
the same proportion the rioters were encouraged by their inaction and
evident helplessness. They attacked the great armory, and equipped
themselves with its contents, applying to the basest uses time-honored
weapons, monuments of ancient valor and patriotism. The spear with which
Dunois had cleared his country of the British invaders; the sword with
which the first Bourbon king had routed Egmont's cavalry at Ivry, were
torn down from the walls to arm the vilest of mankind for rapine and
slaughter. They stormed the Hotel de Ville, and got possession of the
municipal chest, containing three millions of francs; and now, more and
more intoxicated with their triumph, and with the evidence which all these
exploits afforded that the whole city was at their mercy, they proceeded
to give their riot a regular organization, by establishing a committee to
sit in the Guildhall and direct their future proceedings. Lawless and
ferocious as was the main body of the rioters, there were shrewd heads to
guide their fury; and the very first order issued by this committee was
marked by such acute foresight, and such a skillful adaptation to the
requirements of the moment and the humor of the people, that it remains in
force to this day. It was hardly strange that men in open insurrection
against the king's authority should turn their wrath against one of its
conspicuous emblems, consecrated though it was by usage of immemorial
antiquity and by many a heroic achievement--the snow-white banner bearing
the golden lilies. But that glorious ensign could not be laid aside till
another was substituted for it; and the colors of the city, red and blue,
and white, the color of the army, were now blended together to form the
tricolor flag which has since won for itself a wider renown than even the
deeds of Bayard or Turenne had shed upon the lilies, and with which, under
every form of government, the nation has permanently identified itself.

They demanded more men, and a committee with three millions of francs
could easily command recruits. They stormed the Hotel des Invalides, where