CHAP. Broglie, Admiral Dufaure, Duvergier event of his bein labour to show ting, when an a The facts menti Batigne that during the fifty-four fed upon the dawn of the 2d, the the pale was weakened by its Napoleon to the negro Emperor who had and there were many to whom it seemed that his El Plainly the difference was, that instand of having only a few dresses and figs he commanded the resources of the executive government in the world; there was a somewhat widespread beliet President was tumbling as fast as was necesld soon be defeated and punished. By the contrivance already described, ti.. paralysed the National Guard. Morewww seem that the great body of t.. working did not conceive themselves to be h by what had been done. Universal suffrage, ar the immediate privilege of choosing a dictator: France, were offerings well fitted to win over m honest though credulous labourers, and the be st whose vice is envy, were gratified by what been done; for they loved to see the kind of version which was impied in the fact that The Lamoricine and Redean, and Cavaignac De Lines, like De Tocqueville, and the Duc Boogie could be sup in a jail or thrown XIV. CHAP. descent upon Boulogne, that, during the fifty-four hours which followed upon the dawn of the 2d, the indignation of the public was weakened by its sense of the ridiculous. The contemptuous cry of Soulouque!' indicated that Paris was comparing Louis Napoleon to the negro Emperor who had travestied the achievements of the First Bonaparte ; and there were many to whom it seemed that his mimicry of the 18th Brumaire belonged to exactly the same class of enterprises as his mimicry of the return from Elba. Plainly the difference was, that this time, instead of having only a few dresses and counterfeit flags, he commanded the resources of the most powerful executive government in the world; but still there was a somewhat widespread belief that the President was tumbling as fast as was necessary, and would soon be defeated and punished. Besides, by the contrivance already described, the plotters had paralysed the National Guard. Moreover, it would seem that the great body of the working-men did not conceive themselves to be hurt by what had been done. Universal suffrage, and the immediate privilege of choosing a dictator for France, were offerings well fitted to win over many honest though credulous labourers, and the baser sort, whose vice is envy, were gratified by what had been done; for they loved to see the kind of inversion which was implied in the fact that men like Lamoricière, and Bedeau, and Cavaignac, like De Luines, like De Tocqueville, and the Duc de Broglie, could be shut up in a jail or thrown into XIV. a felon's van by persons like Morny, and Maupas, and CHAP. St Arnaud formerly Le Roy. Thus there was no sufficing material for the immediate formation of insurgent forces in Paris. The rich and the middle classes were indignant, but they had a horror of insurrection; and the poor had less dread of insurrection, but then they were not indignant. It is known, moreover, that for the moment there was no fighting power in Paris. Paris has generally abounded in warlike and daring men, who love fighting for fighting's sake; but, for the time, this portion of the French community had been crushed by the result of the great street-battle of June 1848, and the seizures and banishments which followed the defeat of the insurgents. The men of the barricades had been stripped of their arms, deprived of their leaders, and so thinned in numbers as to be unequal to any serious conflict, and their helplessness was completed by the sudden disappearance of the street captains and the chiefs of secret societies, who had been seized in the night between the 1st and 2d of December. mittee of ance. Still there was a remnant of the old insurrectionary The Comforces which was willing to try the experiment of Resistthrowing up a few barricades, and there was, besides, a small number of men who were impelled in the same direction by motives of a different and almost opposite kind. These last were men too brave, too proud, too faithful in their love of right and freedom, to be capable of acquiescing for even a week in the transactions of the December night. The foremost XIV. CHAP. of these was the illustrious Victor Hugo. He and some of the other members of the Assembly who had escaped seizure, formed themselves into a Committee of Resistance, with a view to assert by arms. the supremacy of the law. This step they took on the 2d of December. Attempted rising in the Faubourg St Antoine. Several members of the Assembly went into the Faubourg St Antoine, and strove to raise the people. These deputies were Schoelcher, Baudin, Aubry, Duval, Chaix, Malardier, and De Flotte, and they were vigorously supported by Cournet, whose residence became their headquarters, and by Xavier Durrieu, Kesler, Ruin, Lemaitre, Wabripon, Le Jeune, and other men connected with the democratic press. More, it would seem, by their personal energy than by the aid of the people, these men threw up a slight The barri- barricade at the corner of the Rue St Marguerite. Against this there marched a battalion of the 19th cade of the Rue St Marguerite. Regiment; and then there occurred a scene which may make one smile for a moment, and may then almost force one to admire the touching pedantry of brave men, who imagined that, without policy or warlike means, they could be strong with the mere strength of the law. Laying aside their fire-arms, and throwing across their shoulders scarfs which marked them as Representatives of the People, the Deputies ranged themselves in front of the barricade, and one of them Charles Baudin, held ready in his hand the book of the Constitution. When the head of the column was within a few yards of the barricade, it was halted. For some moments there was silence. |