about the
hour of three
At the appointed hour , the Place de la Bastille was thronged . The National Guard , consisting of two battalions from each of the twelve legions of Paris , together with the Thirteenth Legion of cavalry and two battalions of the Banlieu , were drawn up from the Church of the Madeleine to the Column of July . And , there , at the base of that column erected in commemoration of the Revolution which had made Louis Philippe King of the French , his downfall was commemorated , and on the ruins of the throne then established was now inaugurated a Republic ! During the ceremony of the inauguration , the `` Marseillaise '' was sung by the National Guard and the people , and , at its conclusion , about the hour of three , the troops filed off before the Column of July to the thrilling strains of the `` Marseillaise '' and the `` Mourir Pour la Patrie '' of the Girondins . The members of the Provisional Government , preceded by a detachment of the National Guard and accompanied by the pupils of the Polytechnic School and the Military School of St. Cyr , then descended the boulevards , followed by the whole of the military and civic array , who chanted the national songs . The effect was stupendous . Hour after hour the immense procession moved on like a huge serpent through the streets of Paris ; and , at length , when its head was at the Hôtel de Ville , its extremity had hardly left the Column of July .