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History of the Girondists, Volume I

Note 26 — BOOK XVI

H. T. (Henry T.) Ryde translation

M. Lamartine has not in his work given the verses 3, 4, and 5; we have therefore supplied them, that "The Marseillaise" may be complete. The Marseillais ruffians entered Paris on the 30th July, 1792, by the Faubourg Saint-Antoine (the St. Giles's of Paris), and headed by Santerre, went to the Champs Elysées, (thus traversing the whole city from south to north,) where a banquet awaited them. Their arrival was marked by riots and bloodshed—Duhamel was murdered. This celebrated song was written by Rouget de Lisle, who also composed the air. On the 18th Nivose, an. iv.(8th January, 1795,) an order of the Directory enjoined that at all theatres and sights the air of the "Marseillaise," and those of "Ça Ira,—Veillons au Salut de l'Empire," and "Le Chant du Depart," should be played. Rouget de Lisle was an officer of engineers in 1790, and in spite of his republican opinions, incarcerated during the reign of terror and only saved by the 9th Thermidor. He would assuredly have been accompanied to the guillotine by his own song.—H. T. R.

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