On the following day, Sunday, the 12th of July, about four in the
afternoon, Necker's disgrace and departure became known at Paris. This
measure was regarded as the execution of the plot, the preparations for
which had so long been observed. In a short time the city was in the
greatest confusion; crowds gathered together on every side; more than ten
thousand persons flocked to the Palais Royal all affected by this news,
ready for anything, but not knowing what measure to adopt. Camille
Desmoulins, a young man, more daring than the rest, one of the usual
orators of the crowd, mounted on a table, pistol in hand, exclaiming:
"Citizens, there is no time to lose; the dismissal of Necker is the knell
of a Saint Bartholomew for patriots! This very night all the Swiss and
German battalions will leave the Champ de Mars to massacre us all; one
resource is left; to take arms!" These words were received with violent
acclamations. He proposed that cockades should be worn for mutual
recognition and protection. "Shall they be green," he cried, "the colour
of hope; or red, the colour of the free order of Cincinnatus?" "Green!
green!" shouted the multitude. The speaker descended from the table, and
fastened the sprig of a tree in his hat. Every one imitated him. The
chestnut-trees of the palace were almost stripped of their leaves, and
the crowd went in tumult to the house of the sculptor Curtius.

They take busts of Necker and the duke of Orleans, a report having also
gone abroad that the latter would be exiled, and covering them with crape,
carry them in triumph. This procession passes through the Rues Saint
Martin, Saint Denis, and Saint Honore, augmenting at every step. The crowd
obliges all they meet to take off their hats. Meeting the horse-patrol,
they take them as their escort. The procession advances in this way to the
Place Vendome, and there they carry the two busts twice round the statue
of Louis XIV. A detachment of the Royal-allemand comes up and attempts to