As demonstrations spread
across Paris on the morning of 14 July, Pierre–Victor Besenval,
commander of the royal soldiers stationed in the capital, contemplated
ordering his men to suppress the protests. However, as reports poured
in from across the city, he realized that the situation was moving
beyond his control. As he describes below, his primary concern was
to refrain from taking any action that could lead to widespread
and unnecessary violence.
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On the eve of the fourteenth of July, Besenval, who is responsible
for public order, is embarrassed.
. . . The insurrection
of the 12th assumed an alarming aspect. Fearing that the different
cavalry posts detailed to maintain order in the faubourgs might
be insufficient or that under provocation they might infringe the
express orders they had received, I sent them word to proceed to
Place Louis XV (Place de la Concorde). A strong detachment of Swiss
Guards with four pieces of Artillery was already in the Champs-Elysées.
. . .
On their way to Place Louis
XV the troops were the target of insulting cries, stone-throwing
and pistol-shots. Several men were severely wounded, but not a single
menacing gesture was made by the soldiers, so great was their respect
for the order that not a drop of their fellow-citizens' blood was
to be shed.
The disorder increased
hourly and with it my misgivings. What decision was I to take? If
I engaged my troops in Paris, I should start a civil war. Blood,
precious from whatever veins it flowed, would be shed without achieving
any result likely to restore calm. The crowds were tampering with
my men, almost under my eyes, seeking to seduce them with the usual
promises. I received alarming reports concerning their loyalty.
Versailles ignored my cruel situation and persisted in regarding
a rising of three hundred thousand men as an unlawful assembly and
the revolution as a riot.
With all these considerations
in mind, I thought the wisest course was to withdraw the troops
and to leave Paris to itself. . . .
On the evening of the 13th
I was at the Invalides. M. de Sombreuil, the Governor brought me
deputations from two districts, who came to ask me to leave them
the fifty-two thousand muskets stored in the hospital. They expressed
the liveliest alarm saying that they were surrounded by brigands
who threatened their homes with fire and pillage. . . .
Although the spokesmen
of these deputations had prepared their arguments cleverly, it was
easy for me to see that they had been put up to it and that they
wanted the arms rather for the purpose of attacking us than defending
themselves. . . .
On the 14th at 5 a.m. a
man came into my room. This man (whose name I learnt later) with
his fiery eyes, his swift incisive speech, his bold demeanor and
rather handsome face, made a striking impression on me. He said,
"M. le Baron, I must warn you to avoid a useless resistance.
Today the barriers of Paris will be burnt. I am sure of this and
neither you or I can do anything to prevent it. Do not try to do
so. You will sacrifice your men without extinguishing a single torch."
Source: Georges Pernoud and Sabine Flaissier, eds., The French Revolution,
trans. Richard Graves (New York: Capricorn Books, 1961), 29–31.
