the
residence of his king.

III.

The first insurrections of the Revolution were the spontaneous impulses
of the people: on one side was the king, the court and the nobility; on
the other the nation. These two parties clashed by the mere impulse of
conflicting ideas and interests. A word--a gesture--a chance--the
assembling a body of troops--a day's scarcity--the vehement address of
an orator in the Palais Royal, sufficed to excite the populace to
revolt, or to march on Versailles. The spirit of sedition was confounded
with the spirit of the Revolution. Every one was factious--every one was
a soldier--every one was a leader. Public passion gave the signal, and
chance commanded.

Since the Revolution was accomplished, and the constitution had imposed
on each party legal order, it was different. The insurrections of the
people were no longer agitations, but plans. The organised factions had
their partisans--their clubs--their assemblies--their army and their
pass-word. Amongst the citizens, anarchy had disciplined itself, and its
disorder was only external, for a secret influence animated and directed
it unknown even to itself. In the same manner as an army possesses
chiefs on whose intelligence and courage they rely; so the _quartiers_
and sections of Paris had leaders whose orders they obeyed. Secondary
popularities, already rooted in the city and faubourgs, had been founded
behind those mighty national popularities of Mirabeau, La Fayette, and
Bailly. The people felt confidence in such a name, reliance in such an
arm, favour for such a face; and when these men showed themselves,
spoke, or moved, the multitude followed them without even knowing
whither the current of the crowd would lead; it was sufficient for the
chiefs to indicate a spot on which to assemble, to spread abroad a panic
terror, infuse a sudden rage, or indicate a purpose, to cause the blind
masses of the people to assemble on the appointed spot ready for
action.

IV.

The spot chosen was most frequently the site of the Bastille, the Mons
Aventinus of the people, the national camp, where the place and the
stones reminded them of their servitude and their strength. Of all the
men who governed the agitators of the faubourgs, Danton was the most
redoubtable. Camille Desmoulins, equally bold to plan, possessed less
courage to execute. Nature, which had given this young man the
restlessness of the leaders of the mob, had denied him the exterior and