A reading of the placards and decrees alone can explain the downheartedness, the fury, and the recurring ferocious appetites of the delirious crowd. The following placard is from the Courier of the Departments, published by the Girondin Gorsas:
PLAN OF THE ALLIES AGAINST PARIS.
More than two hundred Royalist chiefs, scattered about in the different centers of France, have their rendezvous.—They hold the signatures of numerous persons who are ready to join the armies of the allied Kings when they shall have cleared the frontier.—The combined armies will march on the fortified towns as if to lay siege to them; but will take only such as will open their gates.—The Duke of Brunswick will combine with his army those corps of the French forces which are scattered along the frontier, while the King of Prussia will advance at the head of his troops, swelled by the counter-revolutionists of the interior.—They will march first upon Paris.—They will reduce the city by starvation. No consideration, not even the danger of the royal family, will change the following dispositions:—The inhabitants, of Paris will be led into the open country. They will be sorted out. The revolutionists will be put to death.—As to the others they will be disposed of later.—Perhaps they will follow the system of the Emperor of Austria, not to spare any but the women and children. In case of unequal forces, they will set the cities on fire; for, according to the expression of the allied Kings, DESERTS ARE PREFERABLE TO PLACES INHABITED BY A REVOLTED PEOPLE.
To arms, citizens! The enemy is at our gates!
Another poster stuck on the walls of the city read:
TO ARMS, CITIZENS!!!
Citizens:
The enemy will soon be under the walls of Paris!
Longwy is taken!
Verdun can hold out but a few days. Its defenders appeal to the people.