ther times, had stood several
regular sieges, and had never been taken. How they forced their entrance
has never been explained. They took all the arms, discharged the
prisoners, and such of the garrison as were not killed in the first
moment of fury; carried the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to the
Place de Greve (the place of public execution), cut off their heads, and
sent them through the city, in triumph, to the Palais Royal. About the
same instant, a treacherous correspondence having been discovered in M.
de Flesselles, _Prevot des Marchands_, they seized him in the _Hotel
de Ville_, where he was in the execution of his office, and cut off his
head. These events, carried imperfectly to Versailles, were the subject
of two successive deputations from the Assembly to the King, to both of
which he gave dry and hard answers; for nobody had as yet been permitted
to inform him, truly and fully, of what had passed at Paris. But at
night, the Duke de Liancourt forced his way into the King's bed-chamber,
and obliged him to hear a full and animated detail of the disasters of
the day in Paris. He went to bed fearfully impressed. The decapitation
of De Launay worked powerfully, through the night, on the whole
Aristocratical party; insomuch, that in the morning, those of the
greatest influence on the Count d'Artois, represented to him the
absolute necessity, that the King should give up every thing to the
Assembly. This according with the dispositions of the King, he went
about eleven o'clock, accompanied only by his brothers, to the Assembly,
and there read to them a speech, in which he asked their interposition
to re-establish order. Although couched in terms of some caution, yet
the manner in which it was delivered made it evident, that it was
meant as a surrender at discretion. He returned to the Chateau afoot,
accompanied by the Assembly. They sent off a deputation to quiet Paris,
at the head of which was the Marquis de la Fayette, who had, the same
morning, been named _Commandant en Chef_ of the _Milice Bourgeoise_; and
Monsieur Bailly, former President of the States General, was called for
as _Prevot des Marchands_. The demolition of the Bastile was now ordered
and begun. A body of the Swiss guards, of the regiment of Ventimille,
and the city horse-guards joined the people. The alarm at Versailles
increased. The foreign troops were ordered off instantly. Every Minister
resigned. The King confirmed Bailly as Prevot des M