782. BASTILE, Fall of the.—
The mob,
now openly joined by the French guards,
forced the prison of St. Lazare, released all the
prisoners, and took a great store of corn,
which they carried to the corn market. Here
they got some arms, and the French guards
began to form and train them. The committee
determined to raise forty-eight thousand Bourgeoise,
or rather to restrain their numbers to
forty-eight thousand. On the 14th [July], they
sent one of their members (Monsieur de
Corny, whom we knew in America) to the
Hotel des Invalides, to ask arms for their
Garde Bourgeoise. He was followed by, or he
found there, a great mob. The Governor of
the Invalides came out, and represented the impossibility
of delivering his arms, without the
orders of those from whom he received them.
De Corny advised the people then to retire,
and retired himself; and the people took possession
of the arms. It was remarkable, that
not only the Invalides themselves made no opposition,
but that a body of five thousand
foreign troops, encamped within four hundred
yards, never stirred. Monsieur de Corny and
five others were then sent to ask arms of
Monsieur de Launey, Governor of the Bastile.
They found a great collection of people already
before the place, and they immediately planted
a flag of truce, which was answered by a like
flag hoisted on the parapet. The deputation
prevailed on the people to fall back a little,
advanced themselves to make their demand of
the Governor, and in that instant a discharge
from the Bastile killed four of those nearest to
the deputies. The deputies retired; the people
rushed against the place, and almost in an instant
were in possession of a fortification, defended
by one hundred men, of infinite strength,
which in other times had stood several regular
sieges, and had never been taken. How they
got in, has, as yet, been impossible to discover.
Those who pretend to have been of the party
tell so many different stories, as to destroy the
credit of them all. They took all the arms,
discharged the prisoners, and such of the garrison
as were not killed in the first moment
of fury: carried the Governor and Lieutenant
Governor to the Gréve (the place of public
execution), cut off their heads, and sent them
through the city in triumph to the Palais
Royal.—
To John Jay. Washington ed. iii, 76.
(P.
July 19 1789)
