Come, General
Lafayette, we will go to the city hall, and summon the magistracy
and the leaders of the National Guard, to take counsel of them."
An hour later the drums beat through all the streets of Paris, for
in the city hall the resolve had been taken that the National Guard
of Paris, under the lead of General Lafayette, should repair to
Versailles to protect the royal family against the attacks of the
people, but at the same time to protect the National Assembly
against the attacks of the royalist troops.
But long before the troops were in motion, and had really begun
their march to Versailles, the troops of women were already on their
way. Soldiers of the National Guard and armed men from the people
accompanied the women, and secured among them a certain military
discipline. They marched in ten separate columns, every one of which
consisted of more than a thousand women.
Each column was preceded by some soldiers of the National Guard,
with weapons on their shoulders, who, of their own free will, had
undertaken to be the leaders. On both sides of each column marched
the armed men from the people, in order to inspire the women with
courage when they grew tired, but at the same time to compel those
who were weary of the long journey, or sick of the whole
undertaking, and who wanted to return to Paris, to come back into
the ranks and complete what they had begun, and carry the work of
revolution still further.
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