This
time it was planned to bring royal troops from the garrisons in
Flanders. And on the night of 1 October, 1789, a supper was given by
the officers of the bodyguard at Versailles in honor of the arriving
soldiers. Toasts were drunk liberally and royalist songs were sung.
News of the "orgy," as it was termed, spread like wildfire in Paris,
where hunger and suffering were more prevalent than ever. That city was
starving while Versailles was feasting. The presence of additional
troops at Versailles, it was believed, would not only put an end to the
independence of the Assembly but would continue the starvation of
Paris. More excited grew the Parisians.
On 5 October was presented a strange and uncouth spectacle. A long line
of the poorest women of Paris, including some men dressed as women,
riotous with fear and hunger and rage, armed with sticks and clubs,
screaming "Bread! bread! bread!" were straggling along the twelve miles
of highway from Paris to Versailles. They were going to demand bread of
the king.
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