ns will be under
arms. The Jacobin club, the club of the Cordeliers, and the Faubourg St
Antoine, are the alarm posts. The Marseillais are posted at the Cordeliers,
and are to head the attack. Danton is already among them, and has
published this address.

He gave me the placard. It was brief and bold.

"Citizens--The country is betrayed. France is in the hands of her enemies.
The Austrians are advancing. Our troops are retreating, and Paris must be
defended by her brave sons alone. But we have traitors in the camp. Our
legislators are their accomplices: Lafayette, the slave of kings, has been
suffered to escape; but the nation must be avenged. The perfidious Louis
is about to follow his example and fly, after having devoted the capital
to conflagration. Delay a moment, and you will have to fight by the flame
of your houses, and to bleed over the ashes of your wives and children.
March, and victory is yours. To arms! To arms!! To arms!!!"

"Does Danton lead the insurrection?"

"No--for two reasons: he is an incendiary but no soldier; and they cannot
trust him in case of success. A secret meeting of the heads of the party
was held two days since, to decide on a leader of the sections. It was
difficult, and had nearly been finished by the dagger. Billaud de Varennes,
Vanquelin, St Angely, and Danton, were successively proposed. Robespierre
objected to them all. At length an old German refugee, a beggar, but a
soldier, was fixed on; and Westerman is to take the command. By one
o'clock the tocsin is to be rung, and the insurgents are instantly to move
from all points on the Tuileries."

"What is the object?"

"The seizure, or death, of the King and Royal Family!"

"And the result of that object?"

"The proclamation of a Republic!"

"Is this known at the palace?"

"Not a syllable. All there are in perfect security; to communicate
intelligence there is not in my department."

As I looked at the keen eye and dark physiognomy of my informant, there
was an expression of surprise in mine at this extraordinary coolness,
which saved me the trouble of asking the question.

"You doubt me," said he, "you feel distrust of information unpaid and
voluntary. But I have been ordered by Mordecai, the chief of our tribe in
England, to watch over you; and this information is a part of my obedience
to the command." He suddenly darted away.

Notwithstanding the steadiness of his assertions I still doubted their
probability, and,