- From the
23rd of June,[31] two companies of the French Guards refused to do
duty. Confined to their barracks, they on the 27th break out, and
henceforth "they are seen every evening entering the Palais-Royal,
marching in double file." They know the place well; it is the
general rendezvous of the abandoned women whose lovers and parasites
they are.[32] "The patriots all gather around them, treat them to
ice cream and wine, and debauch them in the face of their officers."
-- To this, moreover, must be added the fact that their colonel, M.
du Ch?telet, has long been odious to them, that he has fatigued them
with forced drills, worried them and diminished the number of their
sergeants; that he suppressed the school for the education of the
children of their musicians; that he uses the stick in punishing the
men, and picks quarrels with them about their appearance, their
board, and their clothing. This regiment is lost to discipline: a
secret society has been formed in it, and the soldiers have pledged
themselves to their ensigns not to act against the National
Assembly.
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