intruders, soldiers, or menials, should not throw the weight of
their turbulence and thoughtlessness into the scales which have to
be cautiously and firmly held by their chiefs. This was the express
demand of the Government;[30] but the demand was not regarded; and
against the persistent usurpation of the multitude nothing is left
to it but the employment of force. But force itself is slipping
from its hands, while growing disobedience, like a contagion, after
having gained the people is spreading among the troops. - From the
23rd of June,[31] two companies of the French Guards refused to do
duty. Confined to their barracks, they on the 27th break out, and
henceforth "they are seen every evening entering the Palais-Royal,
marching in double file." They know the place well; it is the
general rendezvous of the abandoned women whose lovers and parasites
they are.[32] "The patriots all gather around them, treat them to
ice cream and wine, and debauch them in the face of their officers."
-- To this, moreover, must be added the fact that their colonel, M.
du Châtelet, has long been odious to them, that he has fatigued them
with forced drills, worried them and diminished the number of their
sergeants; that he suppressed the school for the education of the
children of their musicians; that he uses the stick in punishing the
men, and picks quarrels with them about their appearance, their
board, and their clothing. This regiment is lost to discipline: a
secret society has been formed in it, and the soldiers have pledged
themselves to their ensigns not to act against the National
Assembly. Thus the confederation between them and the Palais-Royal
is established. -- On the 30th of June, eleven of their leaders,
taken off to the Abbaye, write to claim their assistance. A young
man mounts a chair in front of the Café Foy and reads their letter
aloud; a band sets out on the instant, forces the gate with a
sledge-hammer and iron bars, brings back the prisoners in triumph,