L. 1848. 79. led to the insurrec tion. May 27. CHAP. continue, and yet it was equally evident that it could not be terminated without a desperate struggle; for the paid workmen, who were for the most part able-bodied and Steps which armed, were determined not to relinquish the advantage they had gained. In order to derive some advantage from this immense mass of idle workmen, M. Leon Faucher, in the end of May, brought forward a proposal for employing a certain number of the men in the formation of the lines of railway which had been in progress when the Revolution broke out. At the same time some regulations were laid down for correcting the abuses so prevalent in the drawing of pay, and M. Emile Thomas, the superintendent, who had connived at them, was sent under the surveillance of the police to Bordeaux. The committee to whom the matter was reported, recommended that the workmen who had not been domiciled more than three months in the department of the Seine should be sent to their respective homes, to be employed in such productive labour as could there be found for them; and the Assembly, adopting this report, passed several decrees for enforcing the removal of a certain number of the workmen to various railway works. Victor Hugo, the celebrated novelist, albeit a decided Liberal, who had obtained a place in the Assembly, said on this occasion: "The Ateliers Nationaux were necessary when first established; but it is now high time to remedy an evil of which the least inconvenience is to squander uselessly the resources of the Republic. What have they produced in the course of four months? Nothing. They have deprived the hardy sons of toil of employment, given them a distaste for labour, and demoralised them to such a degree that they are no longer ashamed to beg on the streets. The Monarchy had its idlers; the Republic has its June 21, vagabonds. God forbid that the enemies of the country i. 401, 402; should succeed in converting the Parisian workmen, for1948, 283. merly so virtuous, into lazzaroni or prætorians. When June 10. 1 Moniteur, 1848; Cass. Ann. Reg. Paris is in agony, London rejoices;1 its power, riches, and preponderance have tripled since our disturbances CHAP. commenced." L. 1848. 80. against the and general June 21, i. Com. d'En de M. Car These measures excited the most violent discontent among the workmen; and an insurrection was openly Measures talked of, which was first fixed for the 14th July, the Socialists, anniversary of the taking of the Bastile. But the mea- discontent sures directed against the Ateliers Nationaux brought among matters to a crisis at an earlier period. On June 20, June 20. M. Leon Faucher, on the part of the committee to whom the matter had been intrusted, reported that 120,000 workmen were now paid daily at the Ateliers Nationaux, and 50,000 more were demanding to be admitted. Horrorstruck at this prospect, he saw no resource but a fresh loan of 150,000,000 francs by the Government, to set in motion in the provinces the industry so fatally arrested by the Revolution; but to this the Finance Moniteur, Minister made the strongest possible objections. Thus, 1848; Cass. between the two, nothing was done; and meanwhile the 401, 402; paid workmen and Socialists, encouraged by the leaders quête, Dep. of the clubs, made open preparations for insurrection, and lin; Ann. resolved to resist any attempt at removal. "We must not 217, 218. go,' ," said they; "they are about to destroy the Republic."1 It was all very well, however, as a figure of speech to 81. declaim on 100,000 armed men as ready to support the Forces on democratic and socialist Revolution; but when the contest commenced, it was found that the actual number who could be relied on was much less considerable. Altogether it was computed that from 25,000 to 30,000 would come forth to support the insurrection, composed of 12,000 liberated convicts, 6000 of the most determined from the Ateliers Nationaux, and 8000 or 10,000 from the secret societies and clubs. On the other hand, the forces Government had nominally at its disposal were much more considerable. There were 20,000 regular troops in the barracks of Paris, with ample artillery and cavalry; 15,000 in the neighbouring towns; and the National Guard in the metropolis and the banlieu had Hist. 1848, both sides. 1848. CHAP. already turned out, for a review, forces said to amount L. to 300,000 men. But though abundantly ready to come forward on days of holiday parade, it was very doubtful how far the majority of these would act when shots were to be fired in anger; and it was well known that a large proportion of them were in secret inclined to the insurgents, and would, if the contest appeared at all doubtful, in all probability join them. A similar disunion pervaded the executive, and no united action could be expected from a directory in which such opposite characters as Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin, and Marie held the reins of power. On the other hand, the insurgents, impelled by necessity and in dread of starvation, were united and desperate, and obeyed leaders of no small military ability, invested with that absolute power with which mutineers never fail to invest those whom for a time they have placed in command. Thus, though in appearance unequal, the contest was in reality more evenly balanced than might be supposed; and at any rate, the most despe1 Ann. Hist. rate conflict which had occurred since the first begin220; Lam. ning of the troubles in 1789 was evidently approachCass. i. 407; ing, and it was much to be feared that any serious requête, Dep. verse at first would throw all the waverers into the arms of the insurgents, and in all probability consign France to the sanguinary rule of a Red Republic.1 1848, 217 ii. 478-480; Com. d'En de M. Car lin. 82. ment of the tion. June 22. Hostilities commenced at nine at night on the 22d Commence June by the assembling of crowds on the quays, from the insurrec- bridge of Notre Dame to the Hôtel de Ville, and the placarding of an address calling on all Frenchmen to sign a petition to the National Assembly on the "organisation of labour." At the same time a brigade of the workmen which had been sent to Corbeil returned, contrary to orders, to Paris, and stationed themselves in the Place of the Bastile and at the Barrier du Trône, calling out, "Vive Napoleon!" "Vive l'Empereur ! "A bas Marie!" "Nous resterons!" During the whole night the workmen of the Ateliers Nationaux remained in L. 1848. the streets, and their leaders and the orators from CHAP. the clubs harangued them without intermission. Every leader had his post assigned to him. The organisation of the insurrection corresponded exactly to that of the brigades of the Ateliers Nationaux. The whole were under the powerful and able direction of the Société des Droits de l'Homme, which had reconstituted itself in defiance of the Government on the 11th June. Early on the morning of the 23d the erection of barricades com- June 23. menced, and proceeded with a rapidity, order, and consistency which evidently bespoke a long-laid plan. Nearly the whole population, men, women, and children, in the disaffected districts, which comprised a full half of the city, were employed on these works, which sprang up as if by enchantment, and soon appeared of stupendous magnitude. Before noon, nearly one half of Paris, comprising all lying to the eastward of a line drawn from the Pantheon to the Chateau d'Eau, was covered with barricades. Two strong ones were erected at the Porte St Denis, one at that of St Martin, one at the entry of the Faubourg du Temple, four in the streets leading to the Hôtel de Ville, one of stupendous magnitude at the entrance of the Faubourg St Antoine, and thirty in the 219-221; neighbourhood of the Isle of St Louis, the Faubourg St 477-480. Jacques, and the Faubourg St Marceau.1 1 Moniteur, 1848; Ann. June 24, Hist. 1848, Lam. ii. 83. the insur rection. June 23. During all this time nothing whatever was done on the part of Government to interrupt these preparations. Progress of The truth was, they had not, in the outset, the means of combating the insurrection over the immense surface over which it extended. General Cavaignac, in whom, as Minister at War, the supreme command was invested, had only at his disposal 23,000 infantry and 2000 horse, of whom not more than 20,000 of both arms could be calculated upon as effective. The générale was immediately beat in all the streets; but the National Guard. was very backward in answering the call, and many of them, as well as some of the Garde Mobile, were to be L. 1848. CHAP. seen in the ranks of the insurgents. Orders were sent off immediately to four regiments at Versailles and Orléans to come to Paris; telegraphic messages to the same effect were despatched to those stationed at Lille, Metz, and Rouen, and even a division of the Army of the Alps was ordered to the capital. But some time must necessarily elapse before even the nearest of these troops could arrive, and meanwhile every hour was precious; something required to be done instantly to stop the progress of the insurrection. But Cavaignac was too old and too good a soldier not to know the extreme hazard of involving troops in insufficient numbers in the narrow streets of an insurgent capital, and too much experienced in revolutions not to be aware of the ruinous results which might ensue from the defeat or capture of even an inconsiderable body of regular soldiers. He positively refused, therefore, to divide his forces, or act on any extended scale before the reinforcements came up. In this opinion he was strongly supported by Lamartine. "Do not deceive yourselves,' said he to the other members of the Provisional Government; "we do not advance to a strife with an emeute, but to a pitched battle with a confederacy of great factions. If the Republic, and with it society, is to be saved, it must have arms in its hands during the first years of its existence; and its forces should be disposed, not only here, but over the whole surface of the empire, as for great wars which embrace not only the quarters of Paris, but the provinces, as in the days of Cæsar and Pompey.": 1 Lam. ii. teur, June Ann. Hist. 473; Moni 24, 1848; 1848, 220 222; Nor manby, ii. 27, 28. 84. Cavaignac kept his regular troops in reserve the whole Cavaignac's of the 23d, and devoted himself to the organisation of and plans of his forces as for a serious campaign. He divided his men action. into four columns, which were placed under the orders of preparations Generals Lamoricière, Duvivier, Damesne, and Bedeau. The first of these took post near the Porte St Denis and Porte St Martin, prepared to combat the insurrection in the northern parts of the city; the second was intrusted with the defence of the Hôtel de Ville, the general head |