Edmond Dantès
"and this evening, at about five o'clock, in several of the
arrondissements. But no reliance need be placed on the National Guard.
They are with us--they are of the people--they shout, 'Vive la
Reforme!'"
"But the Municipal Guard and the Line? I am told that an immense body of
them was this evening, at about eight o'clock, reviewed by the King and
the Dukes of Nemours and Montpensier, in the Place du Carrousel," said
Flocon.
"That's true," said Ledru Rollin; "I witnessed it myself in passing, and
I could not help saying, 'It is the last.'"
"Six thousand troops of the Line are on the boulevards, from the
Madeleine to the Porte St. Martin," said M. Dantes. "The Hotel de Ville,
the Places de la Bastille, de la Concorde and du Carrousel, and the
Quays frown with artillery. To-morrow will be a warm day!"
"It has been rather warm to-day in some parts of Paris," said Louis
Blanc, smiling. "Was there ever a grander spectacle than that in the
Place de la Concorde at noon? At least one hundred thousand men were
there assembled. Rushing across the bridge, they gathered around the
Chamber of Deputies--then from the southern gate of the Tuileries issued
two bodies of troops, one of mounted Municipal Guards, the other
infantry of the Line, and, pressing on the dense mass, they drove them
over the bridge. Only a few old fruitwomen were crushed beneath the
horses' hoofs, and a few of the troops were wounded by pebbles,
however."
"At the same time," said Flocon, "all the chains in the Champs-Elysees
were in requisition for a barricade, as well as all the public
carriages, and the people sang the Marseillaise, the Parisienne and the
Hymn of the Girondins. A guard-house was also consumed."
"Have you heard Bugeaud's remark at noon, when looking upon the Place de
la Concorde?" asked Marrast.
"We have been too busy to-day to hear anything," said Ledru Rollin.
"'Ah! we shall have a day of it,' said the bloodthirsty old hero. 'I
care not for the day,' said the pale Guizot, 'but the night!'"
"The people made quite a demonstration about Guizot, I hear," said
Flocon. "They assailed him with a shower of groans, it is said, and some
of the gamins flung pebbles at his gates."
"The most significant shout before the office of Foreign Affairs was
this," said Ledru Rollin--"'Countess of Leven, where is the Minister?'"
"And the very moment this was occurring," said Flocon, "I understand
that M. Thiers, on his return from the Chamber, in passing through the
Champs-Elysees, narrowly escaped a most unwelcome ovation from the
people. The two rivals were duly and simultaneously honored it seems."
"Thus much for to-day," said Marrast; "what of to-night?"
"Barricades rise all over Paris," said M. Dantes. "But we can do no
more. Let us each retire to his home. To-morrow the National Guard will
fraternize with the people, and the Ministry will resign."
A few words of parting salutation passed, and all departed.
M. Dantes and Lamartine left the office in company.
"What say you, Edmond," asked Lamartine, "will your wife spare you long
enough from her pillow to make with me a brief tour of the town?"
"Mercedes is rather exacting," said Dantes, with a laugh; "but if your
fair lady will suffer your absence, mine must do the same, I fear."
"Well, then, let us first to the Hotel de Ville, that grand centre of
Paris in all that is revolutionary."
As the two friends passed along, conversing on the events of the day and
the anticipations of the morrow, they were met, from time to time, by
knots of men at the corners, eagerly recounting the incidents of the
hour; the roll of drums was heard in the distance, and occasionally
there came the heavy and measured tread of infantry, the clatter of
cavalry and the lumbering of artillery, as they passed on their way. All
the shops and cafes were closed. Many of the lamps were demolished, and
others were not lighted, the gas being shut off. A fearful gloom brooded
over the city. The winter wind swept sharply and cuttingly along the
deserted streets, and rain, which froze as it fell, at intervals dashed
down.
The Hotel de Ville was encompassed by troops as the friends approached
it.
"Is that a cannon?" asked Lamartine, pointing to a dark object that
protruded from an embrasure of the edifice.
"It is!" replied Dantes.
"Then the revolution has, indeed, begun! Artillery in the streets of
Paris!"
"Behind each column of the portico of the Chamber of Deputies this day
frowned a concealed cannon!" was the significant response.
The friends turned off from the Hotel de Ville, and, crossing the right
branch of the Seine, were under the deep shadows of Notre Dame. But all
was tranquil and still. Only the howlings of the wintry blast were heard
through the towers and architectural ornaments of the old pile. Up the
Rue St. Jacques, into the Quartier Latin, they then proceeded, but the
students and the grisettes seemed to be fast asleep. Turning back, they
passed the Fish Market, and here a large body of cavalry had bivouacked.
Patrols marched to and fro; officers in huge dark cloaks smoked,
laughed and chatted, regardless of the morrow. The friends went on. All
was dark in the faubourg which succeeded. Not a light gleamed, save, in
some lofty casement, the fainting candle of the worn-out needlewoman or
of the overtasked student.
"Ah!" exclaimed Lamartine, as they passed one of these flickering
lights, "who knows what plotting head and ready hand may be beside that
candle? Who knows of the weapon burnished, the cartridge filled and the
sabre sharpened by that light for the morrow?"
"The morrow!" exclaimed M. Dantes; "that morrow decides the fate of
France!"
And the friends parted.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE SECOND DAY.
The 23d of February dawned on Paris as a city under arms. Artillery
frowned in all the public places; the barricades of the preceding night
had been thrown down as fast as erected; National Guards thronged the
thoroughfares; the people swarmed along the boulevards. In the
neighborhood of the Porte St. Denis and the Porte St. Martin, barricades
rose as if by magic, but were as if by magic swept away. Cavalry
bivouacked in the streets, and ordnance was leveled along their entire
extent. The avenues were closely invested, and even old men and women
were arrested on their way to their own thresholds. From time to time
single shots or volleys of musketry were heard in the distance, and
wounded men were carried past to the hospitals.
The Government had ordered all public carriages to be cleared from the
stands, that material for new barricades might not exist when the old
ones were demolished; but the people were busy, too, for the iron
railings at the hotel of the Minister of Marine, in the Place de la
Concorde, and at the churches of the Assumption and St. Roch had been
torn away to supply weapons of attack or defence, or implements with
which to tear up the huge square paving stones of Paris for barricades.
At eleven o'clock the National Guard of the Second Arrondissement
gathered at the opera house in the Rue Lepelletier, and near the office
of "Le National." "Vive la Reforme!" "Vive la Garde Nationale!" "Long
live the real defenders of the country!"--these were the shouts,
intermingled with the choruses of national songs, that now rose from the
people and the National Guard.
At twelve o'clock the 2d Legion of the National Guard was at the
Tuileries to make a demonstration for reform. Its colonel, M. Bagnieres,
declared to the Duke of Nemours that he could not answer for his men. At
one o'clock, accompanied by an immense multitude, with whom they
fraternized, they were again on the Rue Lepelletier. A squadron of
cuirassiers and one of chasseurs advanced to dislodge them.
"Who are these men?" cried the chef d'escadron.
"The people of Paris!" replied the officer of the National Guard.
"And who are you?"
"An officer of the 2d Legion of the National Guard."
"The people must disperse!"
"They will not!"
"I will compel them!"
"The National Guard will defend them!"
"Vive la Reforme!" shouted the people.
The National Guard and the cuirassiers united. The officer, chagrined,
turned back to his men and vociferated in tones of thunder:
"Wheel! Forward!"
And the whole body resumed its march down the Boulevard.
An hour afterwards a still larger body of troops, Municipal Guards
mounted and on foot, cuirassiers and infantry of the Line, came down the
Boulevard and made a half movement on the Rue Lepelletier, but, seeing
the hostile attitude of the National Guard, continued their march amid
shouts of "Vive la Reforme!" "Vive la Garde Nationale!" "Vive la Ligne!"
Twice, within an hour afterwards, the same thing occurred.
It was plain that the National Guard fraternized with the people.
The 3d Legion deputed their colonel, M. Besson, to demand of the King
reform and a change of Ministry. The colonel presented the memorial to
General Jaqueminot, who promised to place it in the Royal hands.
The 4th Legion marched to the Chamber of Deputies and presented a
petition for reform.
Col. Lemercier, of the 10th, arrested a man for shouting "Vive la
Reforme!" The man was liberated by his own troops, with shouts of "Vive
la Reforme!" The colonel withdrew.
The cavalry legion, the 13th, in like manner repudiated Col. Montalivet.
The Municipal Guard was ordered to disarm the 3d Legion. Both
advanced--bayonets were crossed--blood was about to flow. At that moment
Col. Textorix, of the National Guard, rushed up and exclaimed:
"Brothers, will you slay brothers?"
The effect was electrical. The muskets were instantly shouldered and the
combatants separated.
All over Paris the same scenes took place, with a few exceptions.
"Vive la Republique!" cried Ledru Rollin to Albert, who was hurrying
down the Rue Lepelletier, at about noon.
"Vive la Republique!" was the hearty response. "What of the National
Guard?"
"The Guard fraternizes with the people," replied Ledru Rollin. "What of
the blouses and the barricades?"
"Last night, the barricades of yesterday were swept from the streets,
and even the material of which to build them also, the pavements only
excepted; yet, at dawn this morning, the whole space between the
Quartier Saint-Martin des Champs, the Mont de Piete and the Temple, and
all the smaller streets were choked with barricades."
"And they were at once assailed?"
"By the troops of the Line, the Municipal Guard and the chasseurs of
Vincennes."
"Who were repulsed?"
"With most obstinate bravery. At the Rue Rambuteau, the 69th Regiment
was three times driven back; also at the corner of the Rue St. Denis and
the Rue de Tracy. In the Rue Philippeaux a ball passed through the face
of a soldier of the 21st of the Line infantry, and then through the head
of a voltigeur behind him. Sixteen soldiers fell in the attack on the
barricade of the Rue Rambuteau. A blouse pointed a pistol at an officer
of the Municipal Guard; the pistol hung fire, and the officer passed his
sword through his assailant's body. From this you can infer that we have
had close fighting."
"I have heard that an assault was made on the armory of our friends, the
Leparge Brothers, for weapons; is it so?"
"There was an assault at about ten o'clock; but the windows were too
strong to be carried. There has been fighting in the Rue de Petit
Carrel, and the neighborhood of the Place Royale, I learn. Achmet
Pacha, son of Mehemet Ali, is fighting for us with the most wonderful
intrepidity. A chef de bataillon of the 34th was slain by a shot from a
window, and some offices of the Octroi have been burned. Three men were
killed at the Batignolles, and their bodies were accompanied by an
immense throng to the Morgue."