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commanded, and blockaded on every side, was a pitiful citadel for the
assailed National Representation. It is true that they no longer had the
choice of a citadel, any more than later on they had the choice of a
general.
Their arrival at the Mairie might have seemed a good omen. The great
gate which leads into a square courtyard was shut; it opened. The post
of the National Guards, composed of some twenty men, took up their arms
and rendered military honors to the Assembly. The Representatives
entered, a Deputy Mayor received them with respect on the threshold of
the Mairie. "The Palace of the Assembly is closed by the troops," said
the Representatives, "we have come to deliberate here." The Deputy Mayor
led them to the first story, and admitted them to the Great Municipal
Hall. The National Guard cried, "Long live the National Assembly!"
The Representatives having entered, the door was shut. A crowd began to
gather in the street and shouted "Long live the Assembly!" A certain
number of strangers to the Assembly entered the Mairie at the same time
as the Representatives. Overcrowding was feared, and two sentries were
placed at a little side-door, which was left open, with orders only to
allow members of the Assembly who might come afterwards to enter. M.
Howyn Tranchère stationed himself at this door, and undertook to identify
them.
On their arrival at the Mairie, the Representatives numbered somewhat
under three hundred. They exceeded this number later on. It was about
eleven o'clock in the morning. All did not go up at once into the hall
where the meeting was to take place. Several, those of the Left in
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