y voluntarily consented to the
abolishment of all their privileges and feudal rights, of jurisdiction,
of levying tithes by the clergy, privileges of persons, provinces, and
cities. The right of redemption of all these privileges, excepting those
which affected personal liberty, was stipulated, but this session was
considered as memorable in establishing the dawn of equality, and the
members of the Assemblee were saluted as "fathers of the country."
Following the example of the American Congress, it was desired to draw
up a declaration of the rights of the man and the citizen; those who
wished to divide the legislative power into two branches, as in England,
and give to the king the right of unlimited veto, were outvoted, some
of the moderate members retired from the committee on the
constitution,--on both sides the advocates of extreme measures came to
the front. The regiment of Flanders was recalled to Versailles; the king
refused the proposition which was made to him to take refuge in Metz,
with the army of Bouille, which would have brought on the civil war, but
the final catastrophe was hastened, nevertheless, by an imprudent
banquet given to the officers of the various regiments, even the foreign
ones and those of the national guard, on the night of the 1st of
October, in which foreign airs were played, healths drunk to the royal
family, white cockades distributed by the ladies, and the tricolored
ones, it was said, trampled under foot.

The starvation in Paris had become so general, that the people, in their
ignorance, murmured: "Ah! if the king only knew of our miseries; he is
good, but he is deceived by the courtiers; if he were only here, and not
at Versailles!" The news of this banquet, and of another given the
following day in the _salle du manege_, set fire to the powder, an army
of women assembled, crying: "Bread! bread!" and, accompanied by a great
multitude, set out for Versailles, notwithstanding all the efforts of
Bailly and Lafayette. Some of the _gardes du corps_ were killed, and
their heads paraded through the streets on pikes; the royal family were
brought back to Paris, virtually prisoners, and the Assemblee committed
"the unpardonable fault" of following them, and thus placing itself also
within the reach of the mob that had finally learned all its power. The
great nobles had already begun to "emigrate," leaving the king
defenceless in the hands of his enemies, and rendering his situation
still mo