ptember.

"Thus ended the French King's regiment of Swiss Guards, like one of
those sturdy oaks whose prolonged existence has affronted so many
storms, and which nothing but an earthquake can uproot. It fell the
very day on which the ancient French monarchy also fell. It counted
more than a century and a half of faithful services rendered to France.
To destroy this worthy corps a combination of unfortunate events had
been required; it had been necessary to deprive the Swiss of their
artillery, their ammunition, their staff, and the presence of the King;
to enfeeble them five days before the combat by sending away a
detachment of three hundred men; to forbid the two hundred men who
accompanied the King to the Assembly to fire a shot; to render useless
the wise dispositions of MM. de Maillardoz and de Bachmann by an
ill-advised order at the moment of the attack; and to have M.
d'Hervilly come at {314} the moment of victory to divide and enfeeble
the defence." (Relation of Colonel Pfyffer d'Altishoffen.)

The Swiss republic has honored the memory of these sons who died for a
king. At the entrance of Lucerne, in the side of a rock, a grotto has
been hollowed out, in which may be seen a colossal stone lion, the work
of Thorwaldsen, the famous Danish sculptor. This lion, struck by a
lance, and lying down to die, holds tight within his claws the royal
escutcheon upon a shield adorned with fleurs-de-lis. Underneath the
lion are engraved the names of the Swiss officers and soldiers who died
between August 10 and September 2, 1792. Above it may be read this
inscription cut in the rock:--

HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI.
_To the fidelity and courage of the Swiss._

Louis XVI. had to repent his weakness bitterly. The wretched monarch
had at last reached the bottom of the abyss where the slippery descent
of concessions ends, and for having been willing to spare the blood of
a few criminals, he was to see that of his most loyal and faithful
adherents shed in torrents. It is said that Napoleon, who witnessed
the combat from a distance, cried several times, in speaking of Louis
XVI.: "What, then, wretched man! Have you no cannon to sweep out this
rabble?" Behind the people of the 10th of August, the man of Brumaire
already appeared as a conqueror.

{315}

Work away, then, insurgents! This unknown young man, this
"straight-haired Corsican," hidden in the crowd, will be the master of
you all! He will crush the