that of the capital, organized itself in all directions into
municipalities for purposes of self-government; and into bodies of
national guards for self-defence. Authority and force became wholly
displaced; royalty had lost them by its defeat, the nation had acquired
them. The new magistrates were alone powerful, alone obeyed; their
predecessors were altogether mistrusted. In towns, the people rose against
them and against the privileged classes, whom they naturally supposed
enemies to the change that had been effected. In the country, the chateaux
were fired and the peasantry burned the title-deeds of their lords. In a
moment of victory it is difficult not to make an abuse of power. But to
appease the people it was necessary to destroy abuses, in order that, they
might not, while seeking to get rid of them, confound privilege with
property. Classes had disappeared, arbitrary power was destroyed; with
these, their old accessory, inequality, too, must be suppressed. Thus must
proceed the establishment of the new order of things, and these
preliminaries were the work of a single night.

The assembly had addressed to the people proclamations calculated to
restore tranquillity. The Chatelet was constituted a court for trying the
conspirators of the 14th of July, and this also contributed to the
restoration of order by satisfying the multitude. An important measure
remained to be executed, the abolition of privileges. On the night of the
4th of August, the viscount de Noailles gave the signal for this. He
proposed the redemption of feudal rights, and the suppression of personal
servitude. With this motion began the sacrifice of all the privileged
classes; a rivalry of patriotism and public offerings arose among them.
The enthusiasm became general; in a few hours the cessation of all abuses
was decreed. The duke du Chatelet proposed the redemption of tithes and
their conversion into a pecuniary tax; the bishop of Chartres, the
abolition of the game-laws; the count de Virieu, that of the law