The sea voyage was beneficial, and on the 30th of August the President and his family set out for Mount Vernon, there to spend the few months before the next meeting of Congress at Philadelphia. They left New York for Elizabethtown in the splendid barge in which they had arrived, amid the thunders of cannon and the huzzas of a great multitude of people. Washington never saw New York again. Having no further use for his barge, he wrote to Mr. Randall, the

chairman of the committee through whom he had received it, saying:

"As I am at this moment about commencing my journey to Virginia, and consequently will have no farther occasion for the use of the barge, I must now desire that you will return it, in my name, and with my best thanks, to the original proprie‐ tors; at the same time I shall be much obliged if you will have the goodness to add, on my part, that in accepting their beautiful present, I considered it as a pledge of that real urbanity which, I am happy in declaring, I have experienced on every occasion during my residence among them; that I ardently wish every species of prosperity may be the constant portion of the respectable citizens of New York; and that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the polite attentions of the citizens in general, and of those in particular to whom the contents of this note are addressed."

A few days after this, Washington was again beneath the roof he loved so well, at Mount Vernon, but the coveted enjoyment of his home was lessened by the weight of public cares that pressed upon him. The old feeling of deep responsibility, which it was so difficult for him to lay aside at the close of his military career, returned; and in his library, where he loved to devote his morning hours to reading and the labors of the pen in recording facts connected with his pursuits as a farmer, he might be seen with state papers, maps, plans, and every thing that indicated the weighty cares of a public

man.

The Congress then just closed had been a most important one, and the labors of every conscientious officer and employee of the government had been very severe. Upon them had

been laid the responsible and momentous task of putting in motion the machinery of a new government, and laying the foundations of the then present and future policy of that government, domestic and foreign. As the chief magistrate of the republic, the chief officer of the government, the chief architect of the new superstructure in progress, Washington felt the solemnity of his position, and the importance of the great trusts which the people had placed in his hands; and the sense of all this denied him needful repose, even while sitting within the quietude of his home on the banks of the Potomac.

Just before Congress adjourned, Washington received a curious present, which he carried with him to Mount Vernon. It was the key of the Bastile, that old state prison in Paris, which had become a strong arm of despotism. It was first a royal castle, completed by Charles V. of France, in 1383, for the defence of Paris against the English, but in the lapse of time it had become a fortress, devoted to the selfish purposes of tyranny. It was hated by the people.

During the preceding year, the slumbering volcano of revolution burning in the hearts of the people, upon which for a long time, royalty and the privileged classes in France had been reposing, showed frequent signs of inquietude, which prophesied of violent eruption. The abuses of the government, under the administration of the ministers of a well-meaning but weak monarch, had become unendurable, and the best friends of France had spoken out boldly against them.

Among these the boldest was Lafayette. He had made a formal demand for a National Assembly. "What!" said the Count d'Artois to him on one occasion, "Do you make a motion for the States General?" "Yes, and even more than that,"

Lafayette replied; and that more was nothing less than a charter from the king, by which the public and individual liberty should be acknowledged and guarantied by the future States General.

That body opened their session at Versailles in May, and soon constituted themselves a National Assembly. Their hall was closed by order of the king, on the 20th, and from that time until early in July, Paris was dreadfully agitated. Every one felt that a terrible storm was ready to burst. The king, surrounded by bad advisers, attempted to avert it by means which precipitated it. He placed a cordon of troops around Paris, to overawe the opposers of government. The Assembly, supported by the people, organized a militia within the city. The number required was forty-eight thousand. In two days, two hundred and seventy thousand citizens enrolled themselves. A state mayor was appointed by the town assembly, and the Marquis La Salle was named commander-in-chief.

The armed people intercepted the court dispatches by arresting the royal couriers; and an immense assemblage went to the Hospital of the Invalids, on the 10th of July, and demanded of the governor to deliver up to them all the arms depos ited there. He refused, and they seized thirty thousand muskets and twenty pieces of cannon. They also seized all the arms in the shops of the armorers, and those of the GardeMeuble. The tumult throughout the city became terrible in strength and intensity, and the National Assembly sent a deputation to the king to inform him of the disturbances, and to point to the cause the surrounding troops. The king, under advice, refused to make a change, haughtily declaring that he alone had the right to judge of the necessity of public measures.

On the night of the 13th, Paris was comparatively quiet. It was the lull before the bursting of the storm. The dismissal of M. Necker from the post of minister of finance, had greatly exasperated the inhabitants. The streets were barricaded. The people formed themselves into a National Guard, and chose Lafayette as their commander. Each assumed some sort of military dress, and laid hold of gun, sabre, scythe, or whatever weapon first fell in their way. Multitudes of men of the same opinion, embraced each other in the streets as brothers; and in an instant, almost, a National Guard was formed, consisting of a hundred thousand determined men.

It was believed that the Bastile contained a large quantity of arms and ammunition, and thither the people repaired on the morning of the 14th. A parley ensued, the gates were opened, and about forty citizens, leaders of the people, were permitted to go in. The bridges were then drawn, and a firing was heard within!

That moment marks the opening of the terrible drama of the French revolution. The fury of the populace was excited beyond all control. That firing fell upon their ears as the death-knell of their friends who had gone within the walls of the hated prison. With demoniac yells they dragged heavy cannon before the gates, in the face of a storm of grape-shot from the fortress. They quailed not before the storm, but attacked the stronghold of Despotism with tiger-like ferocity. The alarmed governor, Delaunay, soon displayed a white flag, and the firing ceased.

A second deputation was now sent to the governor. They shared the fate of the former. With redoubled fury the people again assailed the walls, made a breach, rushed in,