ssels. This was not known till the next day, when
the whole ministry was changed, except Villedeuil, of the domestic
department, and Barentin, _Garde des Sceaux_. These changes were as
follows. The Baron de Breteuil, president of the council of finance;
and De la Galaisiere, Comptroller General in the room of Mr. Necker; the
Marshal de Broglio, minister of war, and Foulon under him, in the room
of Puy-Segur; Monsieur de la Vauguyon, minister of foreign affairs,
instead of Monsieur de Montmorin; De la Porte, minister of marine, in
place of the Count de la Luzerne; St. Priest was also removed from
the Council. It is to be observed, that Luzerne and Puy-Segur had been
strongly of the aristocratical party in Council; but they were not
considered as equal to bear their shares in the work now to be done. For
this change, however sudden it may have been in the mind of the King,
was, in that of his advisers, only one chapter of a great plan, of which
the bringing together the foreign troops had been the first. He was now
completely in the hands of men, the principal among whom had been noted
through their lives for the Turkish despotism of their characters, and
who were associated about the King, as proper instruments for what was
to be executed. The news of this change began to be known in Paris about
one or two o'clock. In the afternoon, a body of about one hundred German
cavalry were advanced and drawn up in the Place Louis XV., and about two
hundred Swiss posted at a little distance in their rear. This drew the
people to that spot, who naturally formed themselves in front of the
troops, at first merely to look at them. But as their numbers increased,
their indignation arose; they retired a few steps, posted themselves
on and behind large piles of loose stone, collected in that place for
a bridge adjacent to it, and attacked the horse with stones. The horse
charged, but the advantageous position of the people, and the showers of
stones, obliged them to retire, and even to quit the field altogether,
leaving one of their number on the ground. The Swiss in their rear were
observed never to stir. This was the signal for universal insurrection,
and this body of cavalry, to avoid being massacred, retired towards
Versailles. The people now armed themselves with such weapons as they
could find in armorers' shops and private houses, and with bludgeons,
and were roaming all night through all parts of the city, without any
decided practi