Hotel de Ville as a deputation to the assembly, confirmed all they had
just heard. They informed them of the measures taken by the electors to
secure order and the defence of the capital; the disasters that had
happened before the Bastille; the inutility of the deputations sent to the
governor, and told them that the fire of the garrison had surrounded the
fortress with the slain. A cry of indignation arose in the assembly at
this intelligence, and a second deputation was instantly despatched to
communicate these distressing tidings to the king. The first returned with
an unsatisfactory answer; it was now ten at night. The king, on learning
these disastrous events, which seemed to presage others still greater,
appeared affected. Struggling against the part he had been induced to
adopt, he said to the deputies,--"You rend my heart more and more by the
dreadful news you bring of the misfortunes of Paris. It is impossible to
suppose that the orders given to the troops are the cause of these
disasters. You are acquainted with the answer I returned to the first
deputation; I have nothing to add to it." This answer consisted of a
promise that the troops of the Champ de Mars should be sent away from
Paris, and of an order given to general officers to assume the command of
the guard of citizens. Such measures were not sufficient to remedy the
dangerous situation in which men were placed; and it neither satisfied nor
gave confidence to the assembly.

Shortly after this, the deputies d'Ormesson and Duport announced to the
assembly the taking of the Bastille, and the deaths of De Launay and
Flesselles. It was proposed to send a third deputation to the king,
imploring the removal of the troops. "No," said Clermont Tonnerre, "leave
them the night to consult in; kings must buy experience as well as other
men." In this way the assembly spent the night. On the following morning,
another deputation was appointed to represent to the king the misfortunes
that would follow a longer refusal. When on the point of starting,