cross the
passage thus opened to them, thousands of the assailants rushed in;
murdered the governor, officers, and almost every one of the garrison; and
with a savage ferocity, as yet unexampled, though but a faint omen of
their future crimes, they cut off the head and hands of De Launay and
several of their chief victims, and, sticking them on pikes, bore them as
trophies of their victory through the streets of the city.

The news of what had been done came swiftly to Versailles, where it
excited feelings in the Assembly which, had the king or his advisers been
capable of availing themselves of it with skill and firmness, might have
led to a salutary change in the policy of that body; for the greater part
of the deputies were thoroughly alarmed at the violence of Santerre and
his companions, and would in all probability have supported the king in
taking strong measures for the restoration of order. But Louis could not
be roused, even by the murder of his own faithful servant, to employ force
to save those who might be similarly menaced. The only expedient which
occurred to his mind was to concede all that the rioters required; and at
midday on the 15th he repaired to the Assembly, and announced that he had
ordered the removal of the troops from Paris and from Versailles;
declaring that he trusted himself to the Assembly, and wished to identify
himself with the nation. The Assembly could hardly have avoided feeling
that it was a strange time to select for withdrawing the troops, when an
armed mob was in possession of the capital; but, as they had formerly
requested that measure, they thought themselves bound now to applaud
it, and, being for the moment touched by the compliment paid to
themselves, when he quit the Hall they unanimously rose and followed him,
escorting him back to the palace with vehement cheers. A vast crowd filled
the outer courts, who caught the contagion, and shouted out a demand for a
sight of the whole royal family; and presently, when the queen brought out
on the balcony her only remaining boy, whom the death of his brother had
raised to the rank of dauphin, and saluted them, with a graceful bow, the
whole mass burst out in one vociferous acclamation.

Yet even in that moment of congratulation there were base and malignant
spirits in the crowd, full of bitterness against the royal family, and
especially against the queen, whom they had evidently been taught to
regard as the chief obstacle to th