will conspire against their country." The orator
concludes by demanding that the armed citizens shall be passed in
review by the Assembly. It was in vain that Stanislas de Girardin
cries, "Do the laws exist no longer, then?" The Assembly capitulates.
Armed citizens are introduced. Twenty thousand men are about to pass
through the session hall. The march is opened by a dozen musicians,
who stop in front of the president's armchair. Then the two leaders of
the manifestation make their appearance: Santerre, king of the fish
markets, idol of the faubourgs, and Saint-Huruge, the deserter from the
aristocracy, the marquis demagogue; Saint-Huruge, cast into the
Bastille for his debts and scandalous behavior, and liberated by the
Revolution; Saint-Huruge, the man of gigantic stature and the strength
of a Hercules, who is the rioter _par excellence_, and whose stentorian
voice rises above the bellowing of the crowd.

The spectators in the galleries tremble with joy; they stamp on
perceiving both Santerre and Saint-Huruge, sabre in hand and pistols at
the belt. The band plays the _Ca ira_, the national hymn of the red
caps. Is this an orgy, a masquerade? Look at these rags, these
bizarre costumes, these butcher-boys brandishing their knives, these
tattered women, these drunken harlots who dance and shout; inhale this
{194} odor of wine and eau-de-vie; behold the ensigns, the banners of
insurrection, the ambulating trophies, the stone table on which are
inscribed the Rights of Man; the placards wherein one reads: "Down with
the veto!" "The people are tired of suffering!" "Liberty or Death!"
"Tremble, tyrant!"; the gibbet from which hangs a doll representing
Marie Antoinette; the ragged breeches surmounting the fashionable
motto: "Live the Sans-Culottes!"; the bleeding heart set upon a pike,
with the inscription, "Heart of an aristocrat!" The procession, which
began about two in the afternoon, is not over until nearly four
o'clock. At this time Santerre repairs to the bar, where he says: "The
citizens of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine came here to express to you
their ardent wishes for the welfare of the country. They beg you to
accept this flag in gratitude for the good will you have shown towards
them." The president responds: "The National Assembly receives your
offering; it invites you to continue to march under the protection of
the law, the safeguard of the country." And then, heedless of the
dangers the King was ab