"
"That will be all the more necessary, general, as the women will
certainly be accompanied by armed crowds of men, and excitement and
confusion will accompany them all the way to Versailles. Make haste,
general, to defend Versailles. The columns of women are already in
motion, and, as I have said to you, they will be accompanied by
armed men!"
"It would not be well for me to take my soldiers to Versailles,"
said Lafayette, shaking his head. "You know, M. De Bailly, to what
follies the reactionaries of Versailles have already led the royal
family. All Paris speaks of nothing else than of the holiday which
the king and queen have given to the royal troops, the regiment of
Flanders, which they have summoned to Versailles. The king and the
queen, with the dauphin, were present. The tri-colored cockade was
trodden under foot, and the people were arrayed in white ribbons.
Royalist songs were sang, the National Guard was bitterly talked of,
and an oath was given to the king and queen that commands would only
be received of them. My soldiers are exasperated, and many of my
officers have desired of me to-day that we should repair to
Versailles and attack the regiment of Flanders and decimate them. It
is, therefore, perilous to take these exasperated National Guards to
Versailles."
"And yet something must be done for the protection of the king,"
said Bailly; "believe me, these raging troops of women are more
dangerous than the exasperated National Guards.
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