those who fancy that some slight circumstance may change the whole current of events may like to speculate on what would have happened had exit from Paris been unobstructed. The influence, indeed, of the Faubourg St. Antoine on the Revolution has been exaggerated, but the principal outlet from Paris was certainly in one of the most unruly quarters of the city. Lord and Lady Palmerston's carriage was not molested, but the children's carriage which followed was stopped, probably because piled with luggage, by the mob. Carriage and occupants were taken to the "section" or district committee, but after an hour and a half's delay, the crowd having dispersed, were escorted by eight mounted National Guards out of the city. The anxiety meanwhile of the parents, who had been dissuaded from returning, may be imagined.[1]
The departure might. Lady Palmerston thought, have been effected in a quieter way, but travellers were at the mercy of mob caprice. Now they might be hugged, now again threatened with hanging, and sometimes the hugging had a menacing air. Even before the tiger had tasted blood its caresses were terrifying. Mrs. Damer, writing to Miss Berry in October 1791, describes a kind of blackmail then practised by Paris fishwives. They brought her a bouquet, and she gave them six
- ↑ "Life of Sir Gilbert Elliot, first Earl of Minto." Palmerston did not see Paris again till September 1815.
