CHAPTER I

The masquerade of the budget at Grenoble--M. Maurice Duval--The serenaders--Escapade of the 35th of the line--The insurrection it excites--Arrest of General Saint-Clair--Taking of the préfecture and of the citadel by Bastide--Bastide at Lyons--Order reigns at Grenoble--Casimir Périer, Garnier-Pagès and M. Dupin--Report of the municipality of Grenoble--Acquittal of the rioters--Restoration of the 35th--Protest of a smoker

It was with great happiness that I abandoned the literary side of my life, which had just compelled me, very much against my will, to be disagreeable to a man against whom I have preserved no rancour, and who, besides, about the time we have reached, had given up the theatre and, having published a remarkable book, so I am assured, _La Chevalière d'Éon,_ left for America, and rendered the immense service to French literature of spreading and popularising it in the country of Washington Irving and of Cooper; it was, I repeat, with great pleasure that I abandoned the literary side of my life to take up again the thread of political events which agitated the year 1832, even if they had not as yet stained Paris with blood and thrown a pall of mourning over France. Let us be permitted to take them up a little farther back than the month of June, which saw them burst forth; we will return all too soon to that terrible moment.

After the trial of the artillery, of which I have given an account, the old secret societies, endued with the Carbonist principles of 1821, were reorganised, and, at the same time, new societies were created. Our readers are acquainted with the name of the Society of the "Friends of the People," and that of the "Rights of Man": these, in a measure, were the parent societies; but two other societies had sprung up side by side with them: the Société Gauloise, which, at the time of the combat, proved itself one of the most ardent in flying to arms; and the organising Committee of the Municipalities, which connected itself by invisible but real bonds with the famous Society of the Philadelphians, which, under the Empire it had failed in overturning, had, for its principal leaders, Oudet, Pichegru and Moreau. Bastide was affiliated to the latter society, the principles of which were Babouvist; so, at the Lyons insurrection, which, caused by poverty, was of a socialistic tendency, Bastide was sent in to the insurgent town to see what the Republican party could gain from it. All was over by the time he arrived; but he thought he could discern the seeds of fresh insurrections in the dying one, and returned with the idea that something might be done in that direction. So he only stayed a short time in Paris, and soon set off again for the départements of Ardèche and Isère. There he found that fiery Dauphiné population which, in 1788, were the first to keep their States for Vizille; which, since 1816, had conspired against the Bourbons, and, since 1832, against Louis-Philippe. On 13 March he returned from a tour in the mountains with the two brothers Vasseur, both since dead, the eldest of whom was representative of the people in the Legislative Assembly; and, as they approached the gates of Grenoble, they learnt that the town, which they had left perfectly quiet, was in flames. This is what had happened.

On 11 March the young people had organised a masquerade which represented the Budget and the two supplementary Trusts, New regulations forbade this masquerade; but ancient custom had prevailed over new rules, and the masquerade procession had--left Grenoble by the gate of France and was making straight for the Esplanade, where General Saint-Clair was to hold a review of the garrison exactly at that hour. The general was aware of the interdiction against the masquerade; but, like a sensible man, he pretended not to see it. Unluckily, M. Maurice Duval, préfet of Isère, was less tolerant. It was the same M. Maurice Duval whom we shall meet again three or four months later, talking to Madame la duchesse de Berry with his hat on his head.

M. Maurice Duval, furious that the young folk of the town had transgressed the order, requested M. de Saint-Clair to make the soldiers take up arms. The result of this order was that when our masqueraders wanted to re-enter the town they found not only that the gate was shut, but also that behind each closed gate were a hundred or so of grenadiers waiting for them, armed to the teeth. The masqueraders, who were not above ten or twelve, could not believe in such an exhibition of force; consequently they marched resolutely upon the grenadiers, who fixed their bayonets. Unfortunately the crowd which followed them thought it was a joke, as they did, and determined to enter also; there were horsemen and carriages among them, but the grenadiers thought of nothing but their orders, and stood firm. The crowd, pushed upon the bayonets, began to complain that these were entering their bodies. The complaints were succeeded by cries of "Down with the grenadiers!" and showers of stones followed this cry. A collision seemed imminent. Colonel Bosonier l'Espinasse took upon himself to command that the gates be opened. The grenadiers withdrew; the crowd was swallowed up in the town, and, in the midst of this commotion, the masqueraders, the first cause of all the uproar, disappeared. Instead of being satisfied with this ending, which conciliated everybody, M. Maurice Duval protested against the weak giving in, and made out that the Government would fall into contempt if he did not take his revenge.

A masked ball was announced for the night; M. Maurice Duval forbade it. The mayor, a sensible man, rushed to the préfecture and pointed out to M. Maurice Duval that if they were deprived of a pleasure upon which they were counting, this interdict would produce the very worst effect on people whose heads were already excited.

"What of that?" returned M. Duval, so one was told.

"What of that? Why, there will be a riot!"

"Good! the rioters will fling stones at the soldiers; but, if they fling stones, the soldiers will put bullets into them, that is all."

This retort, the truth of which there is nothing to establish, spread throughout the town.

At night, in the theatre, there were outcries to hold the ball forbidden by the préfet; but matters went no further than that.

Next day the town seemed quiet; but a rumour spread abroad that they were going to give a charivari that night to M. le préfet. The Dauphiné charivaris are celebrated; some time previously they had given one at Vizille, which had made much stir. In the morning M. Maurice Duval was warned of the project. So he sent an order to the mayor to put a battalion of the National Guard under arms. Now this despatch,--by what cause or from what reason is still unknown,--sent from the préfecture at noon, never reached the Mairie until a quarter to five in the evening. This was too late: the summons could not take effect.

The charivari was no empty threat. About eight at night a gathering began to collect: it had nothing hostile about it, for nearly a third of it was composed of women and children. This crowd, which had no arms, nor even at that moment, at least, any means necessary for the giving of a charivari, was contented with shouts of laughter, uttering of halloes, and occasionally cries of "Down with the préfet!"

This was all very disagreeable, but ranked, however, among the insults to which not merely public functionaries are exposed, but Conservative deputies even still more. A summons could put an end to the gathering of the crowd; but M. Duval was not content with merely re-establishing order; he wished to punish those who had annoyed him. He gave orders to MM. Vidal and Jourdan, police commissaries, to go to the barracks where the soldiers had been confined for four hours, each to take a company, and to _surround,_ the agitators. Amongst these agitators, a tipsy youth was bringing notice upon himself by his droll gesticulations and frantic shouts. The police agents made way through the crowd to arrest the _charivariseur_ from the midst of its numbers. The crowd let them do so, and the young man was taken away to the guardhouse. But the arrest was hardly accomplished before all those men who had kept silence, and given way to two policemen, reproached themselves with their cowardice, and excited one another, clamouring at the top of their voices for the prisoner. Then the charivari began to change its aspect: it turned to a riot. It was at this moment, and as the first deputy of the mayor was about to set the prisoner free--who, ignorant of the cause of all the uproar, had been asleep in the guardhouse--that the grenadiers and light infantry appeared: the grenadiers, led by M. Vidal, were advancing across the Place Saint-André; the infantry, led by M. Jourdan, by the rue du Quai. These were the only two ways of egress. The soldiers wore the gloomy expression which indicates determined purpose. They marched in file, advanced in silence, the drummers having their drums on their backs. Suddenly M. Vidal disappeared, and across the Place Saint-André this order was given from between the officer's clenched teeth--"Soldiers, forward!" The grenadiers lowered their rifles at this order--charged their bayonets and advanced at charging pace, taking up the whole width of the street. The crowd fled by the rue du Quai, the only outlet which seemed open to it; but in that street it met and dashed against another crowd which was flying before the infantry. Then on all sides a frightful tumult took place in the crowd thus threatened, and it was drowned in the voice of an officer who gave this laconic order--"Fix bayonets! charge!" Almost at the same moment cries of pain succeeded those of terror; one could distinguish this from the anguished tones which cried out--

"Pardon!... Help!... Murder!"

Luckily the windows of a study opened and some thirty persons rushed into the shelter thus afforded. M. Marion, councillor to the _cour royale_ of Grenoble, flung himself into the entry of Bailly's shop, and there met a man covered with blood. A student named Huguet, wishing to protect a woman threatened with a grenadier's bayonet, threw himself in front of her and received on his arm the blow meant for her. A cabinetmaker named Guibert backed up against the wall, seeing the circle of bayonets come towards him, cried out, "Do not hit me! I am not making any disturbance!" He received three thrusts from the bayonets, one of which, in the groin, sent him spinning close to the statue of Bayard.

Imagine that statue, after three hundred years, looking on with the eyes of the chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche,_ and judge of his amazement!

It was in the midst of this turmoil that Bastide and the two brothers Vasseur arrived. The opportunity for which the intrepid agent of the Société des Municipalités was looking had come to meet him. The two brothers Vasseur exchanged a few words with the associates, and, during the night, all the young men, enrolled in secret companies, rushed off to meet Bastide. All were of opinion that the moment had come to _strike the blow._ There was such enthusiasm in those young heads at this period, such courage in all young hearts, that they had scarcely realised their conviction before they were trying to imbue others with the idea that the time for action had come. Every one thought that the fiery atmosphere he breathed was the atmosphere of the whole of France. It was then decided that, next day, they should take advantage of all the circumstances and try to get up a more serious struggle. It was, indeed, a wonder they waited till the morrow.

Next day everything was just what the patriots could desire: public anger was at its height, and general indignation overflowed. The number of wounded was exaggerated, and they said the journeyman cabinetmaker, Guibert, was dead. On all sides an inquest was being demanded. The procureur-général, M. Moyne, said openly that he should prosecute the guilty parties, whoever they were.

The _Cour royale_ took up the matter. All these rumours, all this budding news, spread and increased with fearful rapidity, like a storm roaring in the air. The curses of the city were concentrated on the préfet and the 35th regiment of the line--on those who had given the orders, and those who had carried them out.[1] About ten o'clock in the morning the rappel beat in every street of Grenoble: the National Guard was being called out by order of the municipal councillors. But at the same time that the National Guards were going to their posts, the young men who formed no part of the National Guard ran hither and thither, passing about among the armed men, exchanging a few brief words with them which proved that the whole population shared the same feeling, and, asking for rifles, spread the flames of the insurrection that was already visible.

Then two very separate and distinct and decided authorities revealed themselves: the municipal authority, which proceeded by means of gentleness and conciliation; and the regal authority, which exercised compulsion and terror.

Two proclamations both appeared simultaneously; one proceeding from the mayor's side, the other from that of the préfet; the préfet's proclamation was torn down with cursings; the mayor's was applauded enthusiastically. At this moment the roof of the Hôtel de Ville filled with infantry, whose rifles could be seen shining in the shade; the _piqueurs_ of the previous day were recognisable, and from all parts shouts of "Down with the préfet! Down with the 35th of the line!" went up. The préfet, who thought he had taken all the coercive measures necessary, waited at the préfecture, having by him General Saint-Clair and all his staff.

At this instant M. Maurice Duval, MM. Ducruy, Buisson and Arribert were announced. These three well-known names, honourably known names, belonged to the municipal council of the town. They came to ask the préfet for the surrender to the National Guard of the positions occupied by the 35th of the line!

General Saint-Clair had realised the gravity of the situation; he guessed that something more serious than a quarrel supervening a charivari was exciting them down below; he discerned in it the counter-stroke of the Parisian risings; that there was Republican influence at work. Therefore, in spite of the opposition of the préfet, he announced that he was prepared to give up to the National Guard all the positions which contained under a dozen men.

"Does the guard which watches at the gate of your hôtel understand?" asked the préfet.

"That is the first I shall give up," replied the general.

In fact, the order was about to be given when a great noise was heard in the courtyard of the préfecture. The crowd had invaded it, and blows resounded on the gates.

"What does that signify?" General Saint-Clair asked.

"Parbleu!" replied M. Maurice Duval, laughing, "that means that with your fine measures of conciliation we, you and I, shall be flung out of the windows!"

The betting was a hundred to one that the prophecy would be fulfilled; so the general, his staff and the préfet left the defence of the préfecture to a detachment of firemen, and hastened into the hall of the Mairie. They found a large number of the National Guard collected there to defend the Hôtel de Ville and the municipal council, if these should be attacked, but they did not seem in the least degree disposed to extend that protection to the préfet and General Saint-Clair. The latter was not mistaken, for he felt there was something unknown and more portentous beneath all this than a provincial riot; it was Bastide and the brothers Vasseur--old campaigners, whose first stripes traced back to Carbonarism--who were leading the movement.

At the cry that went up in the town of "Guibert is dead!" Bastide had conceived an idea which he had communicated to his companions; it was to pick up the body and carry it about the streets, shouting--"To arms!" We know what a similar procession, leaving the Vaudeville Theatre in 1830, had produced, and we have since seen what the same manœuvre did after the famous discharge of the 14th of the line on the boulevard des Capucines. Consequently, Bastide sent men to Guibert's dwelling. The dead body was to be borne to the house occupied by the brothers Vasseur, and the cortège was, from there, to march through all the streets of the town. Whilst they were going to Guibert's house, the younger Vasseur reorganised the volunteer corps with which, in 1830, he had attempted to invade Savoy. A desperate chamois-hunter, he had then carried on a most curious warfare among the mountains, which deserved a historian all to itself. Later, he was exiled from France, and travelled over Mexico and Texas; and, on his return, he was seized with cholera, and died. He was a man of lofty purpose, adored at Grenoble, specially by the men with whom he had made the strange enterprise of stirring up and conquering Savoy.

As he ran to announce that his volunteer corps was ready, the messengers sent to Guibert's home to get the body came to tell in a whisper that Guibert was very ill, but not dead. This was a great disappointment; at the same time, with his usual cleverness, Bastide changed his plan: as people's spirits seemed prepared for bold undertakings, the voluntary corps of the younger Vasseur afforded him actual power; he ordered them to march upon the préfecture. It was the noise of the invasion led by Bastide which had echoed in the apartments, and had obliged General Saint-Clair and M. Maurice Duval to take refuge in the Mairie, in order not to be flung out of the windows, as the préfet said. At the same time, Vasseur the younger, with his volunteer corps, drew up in front of the Mairie windows. So, when General Saint-Clair made the suggestion of giving up to the National Guard all the posts with less than a dozen men at them, a voice rose up and shouted, "It is too late!"

What is it in those four words of eleven letters that is so fatal and cabalistic?

The insurgents now demanded the occupation of all the posts held by the National Guard with the exception of the three town gates, which were to be guarded by the National Guard, artillery and engineers unitedly. The conditions were severe. General Saint-Clair determined to face the insurgents instead of sending a parley; he went into the courtyard himself and wanted to harangue the crowd. But a young man came from out the crowd with his arm in a sling. It was Huguet, who had been wounded the previous day. He exchanged a few vivacious words with the general which were only heard by those around them, but which the latter repeated to others; and it was thus they learned that Huguet, with the vigour of a man who had risked his life the day before, protested against the return of the 35th of the line. Universal applause greeted Huguet's protest; whilst Vasseur, thinking it was time to learn why he and his volunteers were there, embraced him before everybody. The effect of this salutation was electrical. They shouted, "_Vive Vasseur! Vive Huguet! Vive le Maire!... Down with the préfet! Down with the 35th of the line!"_

A young man called Gauthier stretched out his arm, seized General Saint-Clair by the collar, and cried aloud--

"General, you are my prisoner!"

The general offered no resistance, although the soldiers were within call of his voice, and he knew he had only to say a word to bring about a more terrible struggle than that of the previous day; but he hesitated to give that word, and followed the man who arrested him. They took the general to his hôtel, and Vasseur placed sentinels from his volunteer company at every door. At the same time, Bastide, who was studying the whole situation, thought that the moment had come to assault the préfecture. The doors were forced in at the first attempt, and, in spite of the resistance of the firemen, the insurgents entered the vestibule and tried the doors of the apartments: they were all solidly barricaded on the inside. A street urchin--they are everywhere to be found, and always at the head of any uproar--succeeded in breaking and forcing open the lower panel of a door. Bastide slipped through the aperture and received a blow from a bayonet which tore his coat and scratched his breast; but he seized the bayonet with both hands, and the soldier, drawing his rifle towards himself at the same time drew in Bastide, who found himself inside, snatched the rifle from the soldier's hands, and opened the two sides of the swinging door to those who followed him. The préfecture was captured.

The rumour had gone abroad that the préfet was hidden in a cupboard. Bastide himself presided over the opening of all the cupboards; but they were empty--of préfets, at any rate. The next thing was to take the citadel. At Grenoble, as in ancient Arx, the citadel is situated on a hill, and commands the whole town. Bastide asked for some volunteer to take the citadel with him; an artillery-man named Gervais came forward. They both climbed the steep slope; when they reached within twenty yards of the sentry, the latter cried--

"Who goes there?"

"The Commandant of the fortress," replied Bastide.

The sentry presented arms and let Bastide and M. Gervais pass. The taking possession was as rapidly carried out as the entry. Bastide, who remembered his profession of artillery captain, had six pieces of cannon brought out and put in position in the square. When they had reached that place, their success had reached its height. Nothing, indeed, had been prepared that could give a serious check to such a sudden attack. Whilst Bastide was entering the préfecture and carrying the citadel, timid hearts were alarmed to see the direction in which the fiery spirits were going. Reaction began to set in.

When Bastide came down into the town again, after making sure of the citadel, he found that the National Guard had relieved the posts at General Saint-Clair's hôtel. It had taken all Vasseur's influence over his men to prevent a collision between them and the volunteer corps. From that time Bastide realised that, if Lyons did not rise, all was lost. General Saint-Clair, who desired to restore the peace which he had not been able to maintain, spoke of sending a deputation to General Hulot, charged with asking him for the return of the 35th. He mentioned the name of M. Julien Bertrand. Bastide offered and was accepted. M. Bress, aide-de-camp of General Saint-Clair, was added to them, and they all three set out for Lyons. It will be understood that the mission demanded by Bastide was only an excuse. He wanted to confer with the Republicans of Lyons, and to ascertain what could be done.

One single power was left at Grenoble after they left: the municipal. The préfet was sheltering in the barracks--the National Guard was distributing cartridges through the mayor.

The three deputies reached Lyons in the middle of the night. They were at once taken to General Hulot. Bastide was the spokesman.

"Grenoble is taken; General Saint-Clair is a prisoner; the préfet is in hiding, or has taken flight; thirty-five thousand insurgents occupy the town; and the peasants of the surrounding country are beginning to come down from the mountains."

This news, given with the air of perfect truth, which neither M. Bertrand nor M. Bress denied, frightened General Hulot, who acceded to the retreat of the 35th and the sending away of the préfet, gave a written order to M. Bress and despatched him straight to Paris.

Bastide left General Hulot's house with M. de Gasparin, Mayor of Lyons. M. de Gasparin held advanced Liberal opinions: he reminded Bastide that he was the son of the regicide, and that all his inclinations were towards Republicanism. Bastide left M. de Gasparin and immediately put himself into communication with the Republicans of Lyons, whom he had seen during his last tour. They assured him that, if Grenoble only held out forty-eight hours, they would begin a 24th of November more terrible than the first. And, indeed, that 24th of November burst out in 1834. Bastide set out for Grenoble. All had calmed down during his absence. The volunteer corps was disbanded, and constitutional order was re-established everywhere. They offered Bastide the choice of taking refuge for himself in Piedmont or Savoy; but he feared that, by following this advice, he would pass for an insurrectionary agent, and contented himself with taking a boat and going down the Rhone with the two brothers Vasseur, who lived in the département de l'Ardèche; when there, the three conspirators would be at home, and would have a thousand means of evading search. At Romans they were all three arrested and taken back to Grenoble. At the same time, M. Huguet was arrested, he who had harangued General Saint-Clair, also M. Gauthier, who had arrested the general. Meanwhile General Hulot's orders had been carried out, and on 16 March the 35th of the line had left the town.

Casimir Périer, bilious and irritable all over, still more irritable on account of the disease to which he was to succumb two months later, learnt this news with rage. Casimir Périer was a minister of strong aversions and petty views; to him France was divided into friends and enemies. His desire was not to govern France, but to destroy his personal enemies. A financier, he wanted peace before all else; he did all in his power to keep up the revenue, and made impossible efforts to increase it still more. The Bourse actually went into mourning at his death!

By his order _le Moniteur_ published an article in praise of the 35th. This was nothing: from the point of view of the Government the 35 th had merely done its duty. But, simultaneously with these praises, which had been allowed to pass, the article added that the military had only resisted aggression: that many were already wounded when they charged, whilst, on the contrary, the injuries of the agitators had been exaggerated. These inaccuracies were common knowledge; but one knows that the Government of King Louis-Philippe did not shrink from that sort of thing. MM. Duboys-Aymé and Félix Réal, deputies of the arrondissement of Grenoble, wrote to _le Moniteur_ to give the real facts of the case. _Le Moniteur_ refused to put in their letters. In the sitting of 20 March, M. Duboys-Aymé asked leave to speak, mounted the rostrum and questioned the minister upon the subject of the occurrences at Grenoble. Garnier-Pagès, an advanced leader of the Republican party in the Chamber, supported him.

"How can the Government bestow blame or praise without previous inquiry? How can it be satisfied from the préfet's report that the préfet did right; from the report of the military commandant how decide that the armed-force acted rightly; from the report of the procureur-général how be satisfied to extol the procureur-général?"

"I," the orator said, "do not judge harshly like that. Although I may say that the correspondence and the two newspapers of Grenoble--papers of absolutely opposite opinions--relate the facts in the same way; although we have a thousand proofs to one that the rioters were not summoned to disperse by the town authorities, I should but speak hypothetically, and I say: _If those orders were not carried out, still the citizens were killed!"_

At these final words the Centres took up the dubious phrase and turned it into the affirmative; they shouted loudly, so that the speaker could not go on.

M. Dupin ascended the rostrum; the Centres quietened down. They knew that, under any circumstances, M. Dupin was the King's advocate, both in the law-courts and in the tribune.

Here is a specimen of the speech of the deputy for la Nièvre--

"How can you expect a government to progress," asked M. Dupin, "when at the very heart of the national representation itself--a microcosm of the population, among the trustees of its power--the first movement is not in favour of the authorities and the instruments of law, and the first impulse is to put authority in the wrong and reason to flight? It is said that the Riot Act was not read; but when should it be read? When public gatherings become disquieting by their outcries and by their presence, but not when a violent aggression displays itself by methods of action and open attacks."

At these words the president of the Council rose; though pale, he had a fiery and energetic soul in his sickly, debilitated body, and he exclaimed--

"That is the question; speak!"

M. Dupin, encouraged by the president of the Council and by the cries of the Centres, continued--

"When legal order is called upon, it must submit itself to the rules of legality. If I am attacked by a malefactor in the streets of the town, I invoke the help of the magistrates, the legal protection of authority; but if, single-handed, I am attacked on the high road, I become a magistrate in my own cause, and I defend myself from anything and everything.... Think of it, gentlemen, can a French army consent to quit its hearths, its family, to be at the disposal of the magistrates, to watch over the defence and protection of its citizens, and yet allow itself to be insulted, attacked, killed at a street corner and at the bottom of a passage? Messieurs, I am certain that the whole population of Grenoble is indignant.

"M. GARNIER-PAGÈS.--Yes, indignant, that is true.

"M. DUBOYS-AYMÉ.--Indignant, but against authority.

"M. DUPIN.--It is indignant against the authors of the disturbance. Who, then, brought about these troubles and misfortunes? Not the young men, who were simply amusing themselves with an inoffensive masquerade. IT IS AN ABOMINABLE CRIME, IT IS TO SIMULATE THE MURDER OF THE KING!"

Thus a great confession had just been made by M. Dupin, the king's man.

The king _is the Budget and the two supplementary trusts._ To make game of the two and the Budget by means of a masquerade is to simulate the murder of the king! An enemy would not have said anything better. O La Fontaine! good La Fontaine! what stones M. Dupin has flung at the head of his friend Louis-Philippe! This last one was one of the heaviest.

A few days later, a report arrived from the municipality of Grenoble. It stated--

"1. That the masquerade of 11 March in no way typified the assassination of the king.

"2. That the National Guard had been convoked too late to assemble.

"3. That no shouts in any way hostile to the Government or to the king had been uttered beneath the préfet's windows.

"4. That M. Duval had, indeed, given the order to the Commissaries of the Police to surround the gathering of people, but not to disperse it.

"5. That no legal summons had been made.

"6. That the place of gathering was destitute of stones that could be thrown at the soldiers.

"7. That amongst the wounds given to the citizens, fourteen had been received from behind.

"8. That one soldier only had entered the hospital four days after the events of the 12th, for some inflammatory attack consequent on a kick.

"9. Finally, that the events of the 13th were the inevitable result of the exasperation of mind caused by a flagrant violation of the law, and that the conduct of the National Guard of Grenoble had been not only irreproachable, but even deserved the gratitude of the citizens."

Better still, the tribunal of the Police Correctionnelle, before which the accused had been sent, for want of power to hand them over to the Court of Assizes, decided that their conduct had not been more than imprudent; in consequence of which decision Bastide was liberated, and returned to Paris.

Not one witness had desired to recognise him, not even the fireman who had dealt him a blow in the chest with his bayonet, and from whom Bastide had snatched his gun. But the Government could not be wrong, and the 35th returned to the town, drums beating, bands playing, slow matches ready. Only one protest was made, which will illustrate the French mind.

An approaching workman, who did not know for what deadly object this match was intended, remarked to the gunner--

"My friend, please let me have a light for my pipe."

[Footnote 1: See Appendix.]