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would have done a wiser thing had he declared that "finding by experience that his subjects were unfit for the Charta which had been given to them, he withdrew it, and threw himself entirely upon the port"-he would have done a wiser thing for himself suparmy for had he done this, for he might have rallied his partisans around him by an appearance of force; it is just possible too, that he might have pleased the soldiery by a plausible address; while it is certain that he could not have made more enemies, or separated himself more entirely from the great body of his subjects than he really did.

People looked not to the mere act itself, they looked to the object the sovereign had in view who resorted to it. They saw that his object was to govern as he pleased that he altered the form of government in order to effect that object; and that it was quite clear, if the present experiment were unsuccessful, he would be perfectly willing, and was perfectly ready, to try any other.

REVOLUTION OF 1830.

I.

The conduct of the Newspapers and the Journalists-27, Struggle commenced in Palais Royal-28, Troops concentred and the People's courage rose-The Duc de Raguse's plans-How far succes. ful-Night of 28th-The great charge of the Parisian populace Retreat of the troops from the Tuileries to the Champs ElyséesCommand taken from Duc de Raguse and given to Duc de Angoulême-Order to march to St. Cloud.

It was the energetic conduct of the press, which had at once to choose between ruin and resistance, that first aroused the Parisians from the boding stillness by which the royal decree had been succeeded.

The editors of the liberal newspapers, fortified by the opinion of M. Dupin, and the ordonnance of M. Debelleyme,* published their protestation. 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 it 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.

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 "Bourgeoisie" shut their shops; the soldiers (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

* M. Debelleyme, president of the tribunal of première instance, declaring that the ordonnance relative to the press was illegal in its form, and unjust in its immediate provisions, recognised the right of the journalists to continue their publications.

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 amid 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 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 Napoleon and the schoolboys of the "Ecole Polytechnique" leading, exhorting, instructing, fighting. The "garde nationale" appeared in their uniform; the whole city engaged in the struggle; while the tri-coloured flag was hoisted on the towers of Notre Dame !

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

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'Ecole. General Wall went to and from the Place de Victoire and the Place de 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 their uncertain hue, and that the midnight enterprise languishes under the omen of a clouded moon; the citizen soldier was happy in his auspices; pure, and bright, and glorious as his own cause, was the heaven above his head, on the night which intervened between the 28th and 29th of July; and now a wide watch is kept throughout the city; every eye is awake, every hand is in action. Here the pavement is upturned-here the torch is planted-here the weapon is prepared-everywhere you may see the women mingling with the men-now sharing their labours--now binding up their wounds.

No distant and unruly noise mars the mystery of the hour; but there circulates a confused and immense murmur-the cannon, the tocsin is still; the busy gun has ceased to be heard, not a carriage moves; but the chopping of wood, the rolling of stones, the hammering at arms, the exchange of signals, the march of sentinels, the groans of sufferers, mingling together, form a mass of stifled and solemn sound, more awful, more terrible, perhaps, in this pause of action, than the loud thunder of artillery, or the crash of careering squadrons.

By the morning there were six thousand barricades in Paris. The great force of the royal troops was at the Louvre, on the Place de Carousel, on the Place Louis XV., on the Boulevard de la Madeleine, and on the Place Vendôme, while cannon was so placed as to sweep the Rue de Richelieu, and the Place du Palais Royal. The day commenced with a proclamation, which declared that hostilities would be suspended by the royal troops: it produced no effect. The people's courage was animated by the previous day's struggle

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