all which was to be presented
in so menacing a guise; M. Roederer, the procurator-syndic, or chief legal
officer of the department of Paris, recommending its rejection, on the
ground that such a procession was illegal, not only because of its avowed
object of forcing its way to the king, but also because it was likely to
lead into acts of violence even if it had not premeditated them.

His arguments were earnestly supported by the constitutionalists, and
opposed and ridiculed by Vergniaud. But before the discussion was over,
the rioters, who had now reached the hall, took the decision into their
own hands, forced open the door, and put forward a spokesman to read what
they called a petition, but which was in truth a sanguinary denunciation
of those whom it proclaimed the enemies of the nation, and of whom it
demanded that "the land should be purged." Insolent and ferocious as it
was, it, however, coincided with the feelings of the Girondins, who were
now the masters of the Assembly. One orator carried a motion that the
petitioners should receive what were called the honors of the Assembly;
or, in other words, should be allowed to enter the hall with their arms
and defile before them. They poured in with exulting uproar. Songs, half
blood-thirsty and half obscene, gestures indicative some of murder, some
of debauchery, cries of "Vive la nation!" interspersed with inarticulate
yells, were the sounds, the guillotine and the queen upon the gallows were
the sights, which were thought in character with the legislature of a
people which still claimed to be regarded as the pattern of civilization
by all Europe. Evening approached before the last of the rabble had passed
through the hall; and by that time the leading ranks were in front of the
Tuileries.

There were but scanty means of resisting them. A few companies of the
National Guard formed the whole protection of the palace; and with them
the agents of Orleans and the Girondins had been briskly tampering all the
morning. Many had been seduced. A few remained firm in their loyalty; but
those on whom the royal family had the best reason to rely were a band of
gentlemen, with the veteran Marshal de Noailles at their head, who had
repaired to the Tuileries in the morning to furnish to their sovereign
such defense as could be found in their loyal and devoted gallantry. Some
of them besides the old marshal, the Count d'Hervilly, who had commanded
the cavalry of the Constitutiona