testation. Believing that the Government would have a temporary triumph-for it was impossible to imagine that a Government which deliberately invited insurrection, was not prepared to resist it,-M. Thiers, M. Carrel, and their colleagues displayed a spirit worthy of their position. The proper guardians of public liberty, they placed themselves in the van as its defenders, for they knew that the freedom of a state is only momentarily in peril as long as possesses citizens ready to give the example of suffering for freedom's sake. "Le régime légal," said they, "est interrompu, celui de la force est commencé," words which should be remembered now, for they would have been remembered, if the revolt to which they invited had not proved a revolution. It was on the 27th that the struggle commenced. "Aux armes, aux armes!" shouted the students, jumping on the chairs of the Palais Royal.

it

The cavalry cleared the square, the gendarmerie charged in the streets; a man was killed in the "Rue du Lycée."-" Vive la Charte !" cried the mob, as, careless of the danger, furious at the fire, they attacked the troops on every side with sticks, with stones. And now the barricades began in the Rue St. Honoré; the

(fifth of the line) refused to fire, and the consciousness of a cause that was invincible breathed an iron energy into the insurrection.

On the 28th, the troops concentrated in large bands at the more important places, left many of the streets free which they had occupied the day before, and flattered the people with the idea that their resistance had been hitherto successful. The popular courage rose. The views of the people expanded. The cry of "Vive la Charte !" was dropped-the cry of "à bas les Bourbons" was raised. The Duc de Raguse urged concessions.* The Ministers declared Paris to be en état de siége,' and amidst conflicting counsels and useless edicts, high above the voice of authority swelled the popular tempest, sweeping at every instant with a more terrible wrath over the minds of men, and scattering far and wide the feelings which shook the foundations of the throne. The Commandant hesitated. Should he take a position and be counselled by events? Should he evacuate Paris and establish himself without the walls? Should he march forward at once into the heart of the city against the insurgents?

* "The honour of the Crown," said he to Charles the Tenth, " may yet be saved. To-morrow, perhaps, this will be impossible."

The last plan was the boldest, perhaps the best. Along the Boulevards, along the Quais, to the Bastille, to the Place de Grêve, to the Marché des Innocens, advanced the troops-and the clatter of the cavalry and the heavy rattling of the cannon, and the shouts and the musket-shots of the populace, announced in this direction the recommencement of the contest; and now from every door, from every corner, from every passage, from every window, an invisible and invulnerable enemy poured forth their fire; and paving stones, and tiles, and bottles, and bricks, and logs of wood, and masses of lead, tossed from the tops of the houses, hurled across the streets, bruised and beat down the soldier, who, incapable of defence, disapproving of his cause, marched on, undesirous of victory, and forbidden by honour from submitting to defeat.

Felled trees, overturned carriages, barrels filled with stones, formed new ramparts at every step against the harassed cavalry; and on all sides you might have seen the veterans of Napoléon, and the schoolboys of the 'École Polytechnique' leading, exhorting, instructing, fighting. The 'garde nationale' appeared in their uniform; the whole city engaged in the struggle: while the tricoloured flag was hoisted on the towers of Notre-Dame!

In spite, however, of the resistance accumulating at every step, the four columns which had advanced, arrived at their respective destinations. General St. Chamans marched up

the Boulevards as far as the Bastille, and, driven from the Rue St. Antoine, returned by the Bridge of Austerlitz, and the Esplanade of the Invalides to the Place Louis XV. General Talon crossed the Pont Neuf, advanced to the Place de Grêve, and placing himself at the head of his men, carried the Hôtel de Ville, which was then in the possession of the people, but which (having no ammunition) he evacuated during the night. General Quinsonnas arrived without much loss at the Marché des Innocens, where he found himself blockaded in all directions. Rescued by the almost incredible valour of a Swiss battalion from this situation, he took up his position, according to the orders he had received, along the Quai de l'École. General Wall went to and from the Place des Victoires and the Place Vendôme without difficulty. This was the result of the military operations of the 28th. For a moment the people believed that that result was almost entirely hostile to the popular cause; and many of those most active in commencing the resistance, now retired from Paris. But while

some in the city believed in the success of the troops, the troops themselves felt that they were discomfited. This was the opinion of the Duc de Raguse. "Je ne dois pas vous cacher," said he, in a letter to the King, " que la situation des choses devient de plus en plus grave." This was the opinion of General Vincent, who, forcing the King's apartment, declared to him, "Que tout était perdu, et qu'il n'y avait plus qu'à rapporter les ordonnances.”

M. de Polignac, however, still persisted, and the struggle was referred to a third day for its ultimate decision.

Pursuant to an order which the Duc de Raguse had received from St. Cloud, the royal forces were now concentrated at the Tuileries, the Louvre, and the Palais Royal.

The whole of Paris, with the exception of these places, was in the undisputed possession of the Parisians. The posts which had been forced in the morning, they found vacated in the evening, and the first impression which the taking of the Hôtel de Ville had occasioned, was more than effaced by its subsequent abandonment. The night came : if it be true as was deemed by Tacitus, that the warrior's mind is overshadowed by the aspect of a disastrous sky; that stars, dim and pale, infuse into the soul