s along, with the
good deputies of the "Left"; they jeer those of the "Right" and shake
their fists at them; one of these, known by his tall stature, is told
that his business will be settled for him the first opportunity.[2542]
Thus do they flaunt their collaborators to the Assembly, everyone
prepared and willing to act, even against the Assembly itself.--And
yet, with the exception of an iron-railing pushed in by the crowd and an
irruption on to the terrace of the "Feuillants," no act of violence
was committed. The Paris population, except when in a rage, is rather
voluble and curious than ferocious; besides, thus far, no one had
offered any resistance. The crowd is now sated with shouting and
parading; many of them yawn with boredom and weariness;[2543] at four
o'clock they have stood on their legs for ten or twelve hours. The human
stream issuing from the Assembly and emptying itself into the
Carrousel remains stagnant there and seems ready to return to its usual
channels.--This is not what the leaders had intended. Santerre, on
arriving with Saint-Huruge, cries out to his men, "Why didn't you enter
the chateau? You must go in--that is what we came here for."[2544] A
lieutenant of the Val-de-Grace gunners shouts: "We have forced open the
Carrousel, we must force open the chateau too! This is the first time
the Val-de-Grace gunners march--they are not j.... f.... Come, follow
me, my men, on to the enemy![2545]--"Meanwhile, outside the gate,
some of the municipal officers selected by Petion amongst the most
revolutionary members of the council, overcome resistance by their
speeches and commands. 'After all," says one of them, named Mouchet,
"the right of petition is sacred."--" Open the gate!" shout Sergent and
Boucher-Rene, "nobody has a right to shut it. Every citizen has a right
to go through it!"[2546] A gunner raises the latch, the gate opens and
the court fills in the winkling of an eye;[2547] the crowd rushes under
the archway and up the grand stairway with such impetuosity that a
cannon borne along by hand reaches the third room on the first story
before it stops. The doors crack under the blows of axes and, in the
large hall of the Oeil de Boeuf, the multitude find themselves face to
face with the King.

In such circumstances the representatives of public authority, the
directories, the municipalities, the military chiefs, and, on the 6th of
October, the King himself, have all thus far yielded; they have eith