and unshaken in his zeal for
the royal cause, though in former days the constitutionalists had reckoned
him among their adherents. His brigade numbered about two thousand four
hundred men, on most of whom he could thoroughly rely. And it was no
slight proof of his force of character and energy, as well as of his
address, that, as the National Guard could not be employed out of the
routine of their regular duty without a special authorisation from the
civil power, he contrived to extort from Petion, as mayor of the city, a
formal authority to augment his brigade for the special occasion, and, if
force should be used against him, to repel it by force.

The Swiss Guard of about a thousand men were all trustworthy; and there
was also a small body of heavy cavalry of the gendarmery who had proved
true enough to resist all the seductions of the conspirators. There were
likewise a few cannon. In all, nearly four thousand men could be mustered
for the defense of the palace; a force, if well equipped and well led, not
inadequate to the task of holding it out for some time against any number
of undisciplined assailants. But they were not well armed. They were
nearly destitute of ammunition, and Mandat's most vehement entreaties and
remonstrances could not wring out from Petion an order for a supply of
cartridges, though, as he told him, several companies had not four rounds
left, some had only one; and though it was notorious that the police had
served out ammunition to the Marseillese, who had no claim to a single
bullet. Still less were they well led; for at such a crisis every thing
depended on the king's example, and Louis was utterly wanting to himself.

As night approached, the agitation in the palace, and still more in the
city, grew more and more intense. It was a brilliant and a warm night. By
ten o'clock the mob began to cluster in the streets, many only curious and
anxious from uncertain fear; those in the secret hastening toward the
point of rendezvous. The rioters also had cannon, and by eleven their
artillery-men had taken charge of their guns. The conspirators had got
possession of all the churches; and as the hour of midnight struck, a
single cannon-shot gave the signal, and from every steeple and tower in
the city the fatal tocsin began to peal. The insurrection was begun.

Petion, who, from some motive which is not very intelligible, wished to
save appearances, and who, though in fact he had been eager in promot