But the place of the yielding king was now filled by determined men, who saw the needs of the situation.

In the earlier scenes of the Revolution, Buonaparte had pondered on the efficacy of artillery in street-fighting--a fit subject for his geometrical genius.

With a few cannon, he knew that he could sweep all the approaches to the palace; and, on Barras' orders, he despatched a dashing cavalry officer, Murat--a name destined to become famous from Madrid to Moscow--to bring the artillery from the neighbouring camp of Sablons.

Murat secured them before the malcontents of Paris could lay hands on them; and as the "sections" of Paris had yielded up their own cannon after the affrays of May, they now lacked the most potent force in street-fighting.

Their actions were also paralyzed by divided counsels: their commander, an old general named Danican, moved his men hesitatingly; he wasted precious minutes in parleying, and thus gave time to Barras' small but compact force to fight them in detail.
Buonaparte had skilfully disposed his cannon to bear on the royalist columns that threatened the streets north of the Tuileries.