oints which he was directed to
insist on made him Dictator of France. But it was added that the
orders were given because he demanded them. Lafayette never produced
that document; and he left it to the commissaries sent with him to
urge the one demand in which he was interested, the establishment of
the Court at Paris.

He started about five o'clock, with nearly 20,000 men. From the
barrier by which he left Paris he sent a note in pencil to reassure
the Government as to his intentions. It was a march of seven hours.
At the passage of the Seine, he sent on an officer with further
explanations; and he declared that he was coming under compulsion, and
would have gone back if the bridge had been held in force. Before
Versailles he halted his men, and made them take the oath of fidelity
to the king and the Assembly.

The news of his coming had been received with terror. A man, dressed
like a workman, who had been on the march with him, hurried forward to
the Palace, and was at once admitted. It was the future Duke de
Richelieu, twice, in after years, Prime Minister. What he told of the
mood of the men added to the alarm. Another Council was held, at which
the majority were in favour of flight. "Sir," said St. Priest, "if you
go to Paris, it may cost you your crown." "That advice," said Necker,
"may cost you your head." Nobody doubted that flight signified civil
war. But St. Priest carried his point, and rode off to prepare
Rambouillet for the royal family. As he knew that the decision was the
gravest that could be taken, and that Necker's words were probably
true, he dropped into a walk, and was overtaken by his wife. From her
he learnt that the hazardous decision had been reversed, and that the
king would remain at Versailles. His interview with the deputation of
women had had a momentary success, and provoked cries of "Vive le
Roi!" Thereupon Necker recovered the lost ground, with the aid of
Liancourt, who first brought the king to Paris in the summer. The
carriages, which were ready, were countermanded. Later on, they were
again sent for, but this time they were stopped by the people.

The confusion of counsel was such that one of the ministers afterwards
declared that, if the Duke of Orleans had appeared and pressed his
demands, he would have obtained everything. It is said that the
managers of his party saw this, and showed him his opportunity, during
the panic that preceded Lafayette. It is even stated that they bro