Bastille Day had often held people jailed on the basis of "lettres de cachet" (literally "signet letters"), arbitrary royal indictments that could not be appealed and did not indicate the reason for the imprisonment. The Bastille held a large cache of ammunition and gunpowder, and was also known for holding political prisoners whose writings had displeased the royal government, and was thus a symbol of the absolutism of the monarchy. As it happened, at the time of the attack in July 1789 there were only seven inmates, none of great political significance. The crowd was eventually reinforced by mutinous "Gardes Françaises" ("French
Paris in the 18th century measures, and cleaning and lighting the streets. With the Revolution, the city administration suddenly found itself without a royal master. On 15 July 1789, immediately after the fall of the Bastille, the astronomer Bailly was proclaimed the first modern mayor of Paris. The old city government was abolished on 15 August, and a new municipal assembly created, with three hundred members, five from each of sixty Paris districts. On 21 May 1790, the National Assembly reorganized the city government, replacing the sixty districts with forty-eight sections. each governed by sixteen "commissaires" and a "comissiaire" of police. Each section had its