Paris in the 18th century the Marquis de Lafayette organized a "Garde nationale" to defend the city against the army. On 14 July, a mob seized the arsenal at the Invalides, acquiring thousands of guns, and stormed the Bastille, a symbol of royal authority, a prison which at the time held only seven prisoners, and was defended by eighty invalid soldiers, reinforced by thirty-six Swiss guards. About forty Revolutionaries were killed in the fighting. The governor of the Bastille, the Marquis de Launay, surrendered and then was killed, and his head put on the end of a pike and carried around Paris. The Provost of
Paris in the 18th century the "Garde" were far-ranging, from chasing criminals to monitoring bread prices, keeping traffic moving on the streets, settling disputes and maintaining public order. The Parisians considered the police both corrupt and inefficient, and relations between the people and the police were increasingly strained. When the Revolution began, the "Garde" harshly repressed the first riots of 1788-89, but, submerged in the neighborhoods of Paris, it was quickly infected by revolutionary ideas. On 13 October 1789, the "Garde" was formally attached to the "Garde Nationale." It was reformed into the "Legion de Police Parisienne" on 27 June 1795, but its members mutinied