CHAPTER XIX.
THE SECOND DAY.
The 23d of February dawned on Paris as a city under arms. Artilleryfrowned in all the public places; the barricades of the preceding nighthad been thrown down as fast as erected; National Guards thronged thethoroughfares; the people swarmed along the boulevards. In theneighborhood of the Porte St. Denis and the Porte St. Martin, barricadesrose as if by magic, but were as if by magic swept away. Cavalrybivouacked in the streets, and ordnance was leveled along their entireextent. The avenues were closely invested, and even old men and womenwere arrested on their way to their own thresholds. From time to timesingle shots or volleys of musketry were heard in the distance, andwounded men were carried past to the hospitals.
The Government had ordered all public carriages to be cleared from thestands, that material for new barricades might not exist when the oldones were demolished; but the people were busy, too, for the ironrailings at the hotel of the Minister of Marine, in the Place de laConcorde, and at the churches of the Assumption and St. Roch had beentorn away to supply weapons of attack or defence, or implements withwhich to tear up the huge square paving stones of Paris for barricades.
At eleven o'clock the National Guard of the Second Arrondissementgathered at the opera house in the Rue Lepelletier, and near the officeof "Le National." "Vive la Reforme!" "Vive la Garde Nationale!" "Longlive the real defenders of the country!"--these were the shouts,intermingled with the choruses of national songs, that now rose from thepeople and the National Guard.
At twelve o'clock the 2d Legion of the National Guard was at theTuileries to make a demonstration for reform. Its colonel, M. Bagnieres,declared to the Duke of Nemours that he could not answer for his men. Atone o'clock, accompanied by an immense multitude, with whom theyfraternized, they were again on the Rue Lepelletier. A squadron ofcuirassiers 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 Guardsmounted and on foot, cuirassiers and infantry of the Line, came down theBoulevard and made a half movement on the Rue Lepelletier, but, seeingthe hostile attitude of the National Guard, continued their march amidshouts 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 Kingreform and a change of Ministry. The colonel presented the memorial toGeneral Jaqueminot, who promised to place it in the Royal hands.
The 4th Legion marched to the Chamber of Deputies and presented apetition for reform.
Col. Lemercier, of the 10th, arrested a man for shouting "Vive laReforme!" The man was liberated by his own troops, with shouts of "Vivela 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. Bothadvanced--bayonets were crossed--blood was about to flow. At that momentCol. Textorix, of the National Guard, rushed up and exclaimed:
"Brothers, will you slay brothers?"
The effect was electrical. The muskets were instantly shouldered and thecombatants separated.
All over Paris the same scenes took place, with a few exceptions.
"Vive la Republique!" cried Ledru Rollin to Albert, who was hurryingdown the Rue Lepelletier, at about noon.
"Vive la Republique!" was the hearty response. "What of the NationalGuard?"
"The Guard fraternizes with the people," replied Ledru Rollin. "What ofthe 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 onlyexcepted; yet, at dawn this morning, the whole space between theQuartier Saint-Martin des Champs, the Mont de Piete and the Temple, andall 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 ofVincennes."
"Who were repulsed?"
"With most obstinate bravery. At the Rue Rambuteau, the 69th Regimentwas three times driven back; also at the corner of the Rue St. Denis andthe Rue de Tracy. In the Rue Philippeaux a ball passed through the faceof a soldier of the 21st of the Line infantry, and then through the headof a voltigeur behind him. Sixteen soldiers fell in the attack on thebarricade of the Rue Rambuteau. A blouse pointed a pistol at an officerof the Municipal Guard; the pistol hung fire, and the officer passed hissword through his assailant's body. From this you can infer that we havehad close fighting."
"I have heard that an assault was made on the armory of our friends, theLeparge Brothers, for weapons; is it so?"
"There was an assault at about ten o'clock; but the windows were toostrong to be carried. There has been fighting in the Rue de PetitCarrel, and the neighborhood of the Place Royale, I learn. AchmetPacha, son of Mehemet Ali, is fighting for us with the most wonderfulintrepidity. A chef de bataillon of the 34th was slain by a shot from awindow, and some offices of the Octroi have been burned. Three men werekilled at the Batignolles, and their bodies were accompanied by animmense throng to the Morgue."
"Have you heard that the 5th Regiment, as in 1830, has joined thepeople, and that, on their way to the Prefecture of Police to liberatesome of the people who had been arrested, they stopped at the office of'La Reforme,' and were eloquently addressed by our friend, Louis Blanc?"
"What did he say to them?"
"He told them the fight was not yet over; that there must still be abanquet; and that this time there must be no mistake--the workmen musthave the freedom they won!"
"Vive Louis Blanc!" cried Albert, and, in a higher state of excitementthan he had ever before been known to exhibit, he hurried off.
"I am for the Tuileries," said Ledru Rollin, as they parted.
"And I for the Palais Royal," said Albert.
"We meet to-night at the office of 'Le National?'"
"Without fail, at midnight!"
It was on the square at the south end of the Palais Royal that mostblood was spilled between the people and the troops. The Chateau d'Eauwas furiously assailed and obstinately defended--assailed by the peopleand defended by six thousand picked troops. The people triumphed! Of thetroops, at least a thousand perished, and the remnant fled.
At three o'clock M. Rambuteau, Prefect of the Seine, waited on the Kingand informed him that the National Guard demanded reform, and theMunicipal Guard a change of Ministry.
The King in dismay convened the Ministry.
"Can the Ministry maintain itself?" asked Louis Philippe.
"That question brings its own answer to your Majesty," replied Guizot."If you doubt the stability of your Ministry, who can trust them?"
"I have thought of the Count Mole," observed the King.
"He is an able man, sire," replied Guizot; "and his politicalconnections with M. Barrot and M. Thiers may aid him to form a Ministry.But, sire, not an instant is to be lost. Your faithful Ministers will doall they can, but a Ministerial crisis cannot be delayed; and, if yourMajesty will permit the suggestion, the emergency demands that toMarshal Bugeaud be given the command of Paris."
"You will proceed to the Chamber to announce that M. Mole is entru
stedwith the formation of a new cabinet," said the King.
And the council closed.
At four, an officer of the staff passed along the boulevards, announcingthe fall of the Ministry.
Instantly, with the speed of the telegraph, the intelligence flew tothe obscurest parts of Paris. Its effect was, at first, most cheering.Barricades were deserted and arms thrown down; faces brightened, hands,almost stained with each other's blood, were clasped; troops and people,unwillingly fighting, embraced; all was triumph, joy and congratulation.
"All now is over--all is right at last!" was the exclamation of one manof the people to another.
"Guizot has fallen, but the King has sent for Count Mole," replied athird, with a dissatisfied air.
"No matter," cried the first speaker, "the system is overturned! Whatcare we who is Minister?"
"It is too late," replied the other. "Guizot has been forced away by thepeople--Mole may be forced away, too--so may the King! No more tricks!The people now know their power. There shall be no mistake this time!"
And the insurrectionists parted.
As the day closed, barricades rose in the Quartier du Temple, and therewas fighting between the people and the Municipal Guard. But theNational Guard came to the rescue, and the latter surrendered.
At nine o'clock Paris was illuminated. White, red, blue--yellow, orange,green--these were the tri-colors of the lamps that poured their richeffulgence from every window on the gloomy scene without. The streetswere thronged and the cafes crowded; men of all nations and Parisiansof all classes were in the streets; the rattle of musketry had ceased;the troops were in their barracks and the people at their homes.
At the corner of the Boulevard and the Rue des Capucines, Flocon andLouis Blanc met.
"Guizot has fallen!" cried the first.
"And the most intimate friend of the King has succeeded him! What havewe to hope for from the change?"
"What are we to do?" asked Flocon.
"In one hour the people will sing the Marseillaise before the Hotel desAffaires Etrangeres!"
"The 14th Regiment of the Line is there," replied Flocon.
"So much the better! Blood will flow! The revolution will not stop!"
And the conspirators separated.
At ten o'clock, before the official residence of M. Guizot, himself thenabsent, and probably in full flight for the coast, an immense crowd ofthe people with torches was assembled. Their purpose was to sing theMarseillaise. The 14th Regiment barred the way--the street was dimlylighted--a single row of lamps along the courtyard wall was all theillumination--a double line of troops was the defence.
"Let me pass!" cried the officer of the National Guard who led thepeople to the officer who led the troops.
"Impossible!"
"In the name of the people, I demand to pass!"
"In the name of the Law, you shall not!"
"The people command! Forward!" cried the National Guard.
"Present! Fire!" shouted the officer.
There was a roll of musketry--a shrill shriek rang along theBoulevard--the vast mass recoiled--the smoke floated off--sixty-three ofthe people of Paris lay weltering in their gore!
"The blow is struck at last!" cried M. Dantes, rushing across theBoulevard, pale and excited. "To arms, people of Paris, to arms!"
"To arms, to arms! Vengeance for our brothers!" was now the terrible crythat burst from the infuriated populace. The congratulation--theillumination--all was lost in the wild wish for vengeance.
At eleven o'clock that night an immense multitude, composed chiefly ofworkmen from the faubourgs, was coming down the Boulevard des Capucines.It was the largest and most regular throng yet seen. In front marched aplatoon of men bearing torches and waving tri-color flags. Immediatelybehind walked an officer in the full uniform of the National Guard, witha drawn sword in his hand, whose slightest command was implicitlyobserved. Next came a tumbrel bearing the naked corpses of the slain,whose faces, mutilated by their wounds and disfigured by blood, glaredhorribly up, with open eyes, in the red torchlight that flared in thenight blast around! Behind this awful display marched a dense mass ofNational Guards, succeeded by a countless mass of the people armedwith, guns, swords, clubs and bars of iron, chanting forth in fullchorus, not the inspiring Marseillaise or the Parisienne, but in awfulconcert sending upon the night air the deep and dreadful notes of thedeath-hymn of the Girondins, "Mourir pour la Patrie," intermingled withyells for vengeance.
Down the boulevards approach the multitude--more distinct becomes thedirge--more redly glare the torches--and, amid all, more deeply rumblethe wheels of the death-cart on the pavement!
The funeral column reaches the corner of the Boulevard and the RueLepelletier--the death-hymn rises to a yell of fury--the officer of theNational Guard turns the head of the column to the right--before it isan edifice conspicuous by its illumination of huge and blood-redlamps--it is the office of "Le National"--the crowd halts--one long loudshriek of "Vengeance!" goes up--it is succeeded by the thrilling notesof the Marseillaise from ten thousands lips, and "Marrast! Marrast!" isthe shout that follows.
The windows of the front office were thrown up, and the editor,surrounded by friends, appeared. His speech was brief but fervid. Heexhorted the people to be firm--to secure their rights beyondrecall--and promised them ample retribution for past wrongs and securityfor future rights.
M. Garnier Pages, who stood at the side of Marrast, next addressed thepeople in the same strain, amid thunders of applause.
Making a detour to the office of "La Reforme," the multitude wereaddressed by M. Flocon, its editor; then, proceeding to the Place de laBastille, the corpses were deposited at the foot of the Column of July,and the crowd dispersed.
The night that succeeded was an awful one. The streets, which an hourbefore blazed with the illumination, were dark. Barricades rose in everydirection. At every corner shopmen, workmen, women, clerks and childrenwere at work. The crash of falling trees, the clank of the lever and thepickaxe, the rattle of paving stones--these were the significant soundsthat broke the stillness. Every tree on the whole line of the Boulevardwas felled and every lamp-post overthrown; a barricade of immensestrength rose at the end of the Rue Richelieu; the troops offered noresistance; they piled their arms, lighted their fires and bivouackedclose beside the barricades. At the Hotel de Ville the troops of theLine and the Chasseurs d'Afrique quietly ate their suppers, smoked theirpipes and laid themselves down to sleep. On the Boulevard des Italiensappeared three regiments of the Line, a battalion of National Guards, aregiment of cuirassiers, and three field-pieces, with their caissons ofammunition. The horses were unharnessed by the people, the caissonsopened, the ammunition distributed and the guns dragged off. The troops,guards and cuirassiers fraternized.