twenty days. And witness the 10th of August.

I have been frequently told by persons in England, that a regular and
disciplined army may easily crush a herd of raw and inexperienced
rabble, such as they supposed the French were, although ten times more
numerous. This may possibly be the event in small numbers, but if we
state the case with large numbers, for instance fifty thousand men of
the greatest courage, and of the most perfect discipline, and who are
fighting for pay, without any personal motive, against five hundred
thousand men, whom we shall suppose utterly ignorant of the art of war,
but who conceive they are fighting for their liberty and their country,
for their families and their property, and then reflect on the courage
and bravery of these very men, on their impetuosity, their
_acharnement_, or desperate violence in fight, which may be compared to
the irresistible force of water-spouts, and of whirlwinds, it may not
appear too partial to conjecture, that such persons may perceive some
little reason for suspending, if not for altering, their opinion,[41]
and may now estimate the degree of danger this nation may apprehend
from the attacks of extraneous powers, _provided its own people are
unanimous_.

[Note 41: I saw many thousands of these men (from my windows) on
their way to the _Tuileries_, early on _the_ Friday morning; their march
was at the rate of perhaps five miles an hour, without running or
looking aside; and this was the pace they used when they carried heads
upon pikes, and when they were in pursuit of important business, rushing
along the streets like a torrent, and attending wholly and solely to the
object they had in view. On such occasions, when I saw them approaching,
I turned into some cross street till they were passed, not that I had
any thing to apprehend, but the being swept along with the crowd, and
perhaps trampled upon. I cannot express what I felt on seeing such
immense bodies of men so vigorously actuated by the same principle. I
saw also many thousands of volunteers going to join the armies at the
frontiers, marching along the _Boulevarts_, almost at the same pace,
accompanied as far as the Barriers by their women, who were carrying
their muskets for them; some with large sausages, pieces of cold meat,
and loaves of bread, stuck on the bayonets, and all laughing, or singing
_ca ira_.

The French writers themselves say, "In all popular commotions the women
have always shown t