10th of August (French Revolution)

On August 10, 1792, during the French Revolution, a mob – with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Commune – besieged the Tuileries palace. King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly. This proved to be the effective end of the French Monarchy (until it was restored in 1814). The formal end of the monarchy occurred six weeks later, as one of the first acts of business of the new Convention.

The insurrection

The populace were unwilling to wait on the result of Pétion's attempts to pursue matters through legislative channels. The

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section of the Quinze-vingts declared on August 8 that, if the dethronement were not pronounced that very day, at midnight they would sound the tocsin and attack the royal residence at the Tuileries. Of the forty-eight sections of Paris, all but one concurred. Pétion informed the Legislative Assembly that the sections had "resumed their sovereignty" and that he had no power over the people other than that of persuasion.

Related Topics:
August 8 - Tocsin

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On the night of August 9 a new revolutionary Paris Commune took possession of the Hôtel de Ville (the seat of city government). The plan of the Jacobins of the Assembly, supported by the armed fédérés, was to dissolve the département of Paris, to dismiss Pétion, and to institute an insurrectionary commune (municipal government), then to assault the Tuileries.

Related Topics:
August 9 - Hôtel de Ville - Département - Commune

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At midnight, the tocsin sounded. The insurgents named a provisional council of the commune, which proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville to direct the insurrection. Pétion was at the Tuileries, where he had been summoned by the king, who wished to ascertain from him the state of Paris, and obtain an authorization to repel force by force.

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A portion of the Assembly, aroused by the tocsin, had gone into emergency session under the presidentship of Vergniaud. Hearing that Pétion was at the Tuileries, they presumed he was detained there and wanted to be released. They now summoned him, as the king had earlier, to give an account of the state of Paris. He came, as requested. A deputation from the Hôtel de Ville inquired for him at the Assembly, also supposing him to be a prisoner at the Tuileries. He left with them and effectively became a prisoner of the insurrectionist commune, under a guard of three hundred men.

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The new commune also summoned the Marquis de Mandat, commander of the National Guard forces guarding the Tuileries. Unaware of the change of regime at the Hôtel de Ville, he obeyed the summons; he was accused of authorizing the troops to fire on the people. He was ordered to the Abbaye, but, in the event, the mob murdered him as he was leaving the Hôtel de Ville. The commune immediately conferred the command of the national guard on Santerre.

Related Topics:
Marquis de Mandat - Santerre

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Pierre Louis Roederer, the recorder of the Paris départment, passed the night at the Tuileries. As the preparations of the Jacobins had been notorious, some measures of defence had been taken. Roederer's Chronique des Cinquante Jours records that at about four in the morning Queen Marie Antoinette summoned him, and he advised that the king and the royal family should proceed to the Legislative Assembly. "You propose," said Dubouchage, "to take the king to his foes". Roederer pointed out that only two days earlier two thirds of the Assembly had pronounced in favour of Lafayette, and argued that this plan was the least dangerous. The queen, however, opted to resist with force, and Roederer acquiesced.

Related Topics:
Pierre Louis Roederer - Marie Antoinette - Dubouchage

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Laschenaye, commanding the troops in Mandat's absence, said that the National Guard troops were ready on the defensive, but he protested the presence of the aristocratic irregulars. Mandat had earlier vainly urged the queen to dismiss these gentlemen, because their presence discouraged the zeal of the constitutionalists. Like Mandat before him, Laschenayewas rebuked by the queen: "I will answer for those who are here; they will advance first or last, in the ranks, as you please; they are ready for all that is necessary; they are sure men." De Joly and Champion were sent to the Assembly to apprise it of the danger, and to ask for its assistance and for commissioners.

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The king's 5 a.m. review of his troops showed that he could not count on all of his ostensible protectors. Cries of Vive le roi! mixed with cries of Vive la nation! and even Vive Pétion! The pike battalions were openly hostile, crying out "Down with the veto!" and "Down with the traitor!"; as Louis returned, they quit their position, placed themselves near the Pont Royal, and turned their cannon against the château. Two other battalions stationed in the courts imitated them, and established themselves on the Place du Carrousel in an attitude of attack.

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Meanwhile, the insurgents had forced the arsenal, armed themselves, and were advancing in several columns. The fifteen-thousand-strong column of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine on the Right Bank, and the five-thousand-strong column of the Faubourg Saint Marceau Left, began to march about six, gathering numbers as they advanced. Artillerymen had been placed on the Pont Neuf by the directory of the

Related Topics:
Faubourg Saint-Antoine - Faubourg Saint Marceau - Pont Neuf

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département to prevent the union of these columns, but Manuel, the town clerk, had ordered them to be withdrawn, and the passage was accordingly free.

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Early on the morning of August 10 the insurgents assailed the Tuileries. The vanguard of the Faubourgs, composed of Marseillais and Breton fédérés arrayed on the Carrousel, cannon turned against the château. De Joly and Champion returned from the Assembly, stating that the sixty or eighty members present were not sufficient in number to debate and that their proposition had not been heard.

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Members of the département, headed by Roederer, the recorder of the department, presented themselves to the crowd, observing that so great a multitude could not have access to the king, or to the national assembly, and recommending them to entrust twenty deputies with their requests, nut they did not listen to him. He turned to the National Guard, reminded them of the article of the law, which enjoined them when attacked, to repel force by force. A very small part of the National Guard seemed disposed to do so; and a discharge of cannon was the only reply of the artillerymen. Roederer, seeing that the insurgents were everywhere triumphant, that they were masters of the field, and that they disposed of the multitude, and even of the troops, returned hastily to the château, at the head of the executive directory.

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Besides a few gentlemen in arms and a number of present and former National Guards (including recently dismissed officers), the palace was garrisoned by the Swiss Guard, about 950 strong. However, Mandat's departure and subsequent death significantly affected the situation. The National Guard would probably (at least according to Mignet) have obeyed orders from Mandat to employ force against the multitude, but finding themselves side by side with nobles and royalists and lacking their own commander, they now either dispersed or fraternised with the assailants.

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The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica argues that even without the National Guards, the disparity of force was not so great as to make resistance altogether hopeless, but Louis let himself be persuaded into betraying his own cause and retiring with his family under the shelter of the Assembly. Mignet gives a more circumstantial account, based on Roederer's memoir:

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The king held a council with the queen and ministers. A municipal officer had just given the alarm by announcing that the columns of the insurgents were advancing upon the Tuileries. "Well, and what do they want?" asked Joly, keeper of the seals. "Abdication," replied the officer. "To be pronounced by the assembly," added the minister. "And what will follow abdication?" inquired the queen. The municipal officer bowed in silence. At this moment Roederer arrived, and increased the alarm of the court by announcing that the danger was extreme; that the insurgents would not be treated with, and that the national guard could not be depended upon. "Sire," said he, urgently, "your majesty has not five minutes to lose: your only safety is in the National Assembly; it is the opinion of the department that you ought to repair thither without delay. There are not sufficient men in the court to defend the château; nor are we sure of them. At the mention of defence, the artillerymen discharged their cannon." The king replied, at first, that he had not observed many people on the Carrousel; and the queen rejoined with vivacity, that the king had forces to defend the château. But, at the renewed urgency of Roederer, the king after looking at him attentively for a few minutes, turned to the queen, and said, as he rose: "Let us go." "Monsieur Roederer," said Madame Elizabeth, addressing the recorder, "you answer for the life of the king?" "Yes, madame, with my own," he replied. "I will walk immediately before him."

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The king announced to the defenders of the château his intent to go to the National Assembly and placed himself, along with his family, ministers, and the members of the département, between two ranks of national guards, summoned as an escort. While still on the grounds of the Tuileries, a deputation of the Assembly met him and offered asylum. Passing through an animated mob, the king and his family had great difficulty in reaching the hall, where they took the seats reserved for the ministers.

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"Gentlemen," said the king, "I come here to avoid a great crime; I think I

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cannot be safer than with you." Vergniaud assured him that the members of the Assembly, "have sworn to die in maintaining the rights of the people, and the

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constituted authorities." The king then took his seat next the president, but Chabot reminded him that the Assembly could not deliberate in the presence of the king; the royal party retired into the reporter's box behind the president, whence all that took place could be seen and heard.

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The king's departure removed all rational motives for resistance. The gendarmerie left their posts. The National Guard began to move in favour of the insurgents, who still surrounded the château. Meanwhile, the Marseillais and Bretons who occupied the first rank forced the Porte Royale on the Carrousel, and entered the court of the château. Led by Danton's associate François Joseph Westermann, they faced off against the Swiss Guards. A few of the assailants advanced amicably, and the Swiss threw some cartridges from the windows in token of peace. Nonetheless, a murderous combat began; it is unknown which side started it and whether they did so intentionally. The Swiss had the early advantage, but were surrounded by assailants armed with cannon. They kept their posts until they received orders from the king to cease firing. They were mostly shot down as they were retiring, and of those who surrendered many were murdered in cold blood next day.

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