France in the Nineteenth Century

ave mentioned, there was a scarcity of grain, there were drains on the finances, there was disaffection among the National Guard, and hostility among the peers to the measures

led to a duel. The man wounded was a journalist who was actively opposed to the king's Government. It was hinted that the duel was a device of the court to get him put out of the way. But the greatest of t

8, among many valuable documents that had been flung from the windows of the palace by the mob, the situation of thin

races of constitutional government, and has put forward the king as the primary, and indeed sole, mover upon all occasions. There is no longer any respect for ministers; their responsibility is null, everything rests with the king. He has arrived at an a

ale with England at an end, and the provinces in confusion,-the prince adds: "Those unhappy Spa

er of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies were alike virtually chosen by the Crown. The population of France in 1848 was thirty-five millions; but those entitled to vote were only two hundred and forty thousand, or one to every one hundred and forty-six of the population

h from political motives and from a desire in the rural districts to hear the great speakers, Lamartine and others, who had a national renown.

be suffered to go on. But meantime the city had been crammed with troops, and the sleep of its inhabitants had been broken night after night by the tramp of regiments and the rumble of artillery. Monday, February 21, was a beautiful day, the air was soft and genial, the streets and the Champs Elysées were very gay. Scarcely any one was aware at that time

ng the house of Odillon Barrot, the chief leader of the opposition, demanding what, under the circumstances, they had better do. In the Place de la Concorde, troops were endeavoring to prevent the crowd from crossing the Seine and assembling in front of the Chamber of Deputies. In order to break up the throng upon the bridge, a h

chment of the Municipal Guard arrived. The Municipal Guard was a handsome corps of mounted police, the men being all stalwart and fine-looking. They wore brazen helmets and horse-tails and glittering breastplates, but they were very unpopular, while the National Guards were looked on by the rioters as their supporters. The Municipal Guards, when they came upon the bridge, began treating the crowd roughly, a good many persons were hurt, an

e riot. But during the night the secret societ

y had been ill-provided with food and forage. The coats and swords of the students at the Polytechnic had been removed during the ni

d parts of Paris, and successful efforts had been made to e

and the princes were invited. The king spoke of resigning his crown, adding that he was "fortunate in being able to resign it." "But you cannot abdicate, mon ami," said the queen. "You owe

stry. Before he could do so, however, things had grown worse, and M. Thiers, instead of Count Molé, was made head of the Cabinet. He insisted that Odillon Barrot, the day before ver

he Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Some confusion was occasioned by the restlessness of a horse belonging to an officer in command of a squad of cavalry detailed to defend the building. The leader of the mob fired a pistol. The soldiers responded with

n Barrot was associated with M. Thiers, and Mars

rshal's plans met with the approval of the minister, and the commander-in-chief went to his post; while Odillon Barrot, accompanied by Horace Vernet, the painter, went forth into the stree

osition, when he received orders from M. Thiers that not another shot was to be fired by the soldiers. The marshal replied that he would not obey such orders unless he

s about to be dissolved. General Lamoricière has been appointed Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard. Messieurs O

ODILLON

IE

reets. The suburbs of Paris were cut off from the capital. During the previous night, arms had been everywhere demanded from private houses; but in obtaining them the insurgents endeavored to inspire no unnecessary terror. One lady in the English quarter was found kneeling by the b

rder which forbade them to defend themselves, reversed their arms a

met with cries of "Never mind him! We have no time to hear him! Too late, too late! We know all he has to say!" About the same time the école Militaire was taken; but a guard en blouse was posted to protect the ap

Tuileries, imploring the king to abdicate at once and spare further bloodshed. Without a word, Louis Philippe drew pen and paper towards him and

eps into the gardens. The victorious blouses already filled the inner court, the Place du Carrousel. The royal family, slenderly attende

e, with several of the children. Into the second stepped the Duchesse de Nemours, the Princess Clémentine, and an attendant. Some persons in the crowd who recognized them, cried out:

alk, weeping bitterly. A Portuguese gentleman gave her his arm, and took her in search of her husband's aide-de-camp, General Thierry. With several other gentlemen, who formed a guard about her, they passed back into the garden of

be contrary to law," he said; "and I have never yet done anything, thank God! contrary to law." "But what must I do," asked the duchess, "without friends, witho

She held her eldest son, the Comte de Paris, by the hand; her youngest, who was too small to walk, was carried by an aide-de-camp. Beside them walked M. Dupin, the Duc de Nemours, and a faithful servant. They left the Tuileries in such haste th

al of money and many other valuables disappeared; but after that time

renching himself with perfume, a third was scrubbing his teeth furiously with a brush that had that morning parted the lips of royalty. In another room a man en blouse was seated at a piano playing the "Marseillaise" to an admiring audience (the "Marseillaise" had been forbidden in Paris for many years). Elsewhere a party of gamins were turning over a magnificent scrapbook. In the next room was a grand piano, on which four men were thumping at once. In another, a party of working-men were dancing a quadrille, while a gentleman played for them upon a piano. At every chimney-piece a

the destruction of state furniture began. Three men were seen smoking in the state bed; some ate

possibly have saved the monarchy. But the mob got possession of the tribune (the pulpit from which alone speeches can be made in the Chamber); they pointed their guns at the Deputies, who cowered under their benches, and t

med insurgents crowded round him, clinging to his skirts, his hands, his knees. Throughout t

r regent during his minority. She endeavored several times to speak, and behaved with an intrepidity which did her honor. But when Lamartine, mounting the tribune, ca

children were dressed in little black velvet skirts and jackets, with large white turned-down collars. Soon the crowd around th

use, who said afterwards that he had been only anxious to protect the child; but a National Guard forced the boy from his grasp, and restored him t

the streets, then growing dark; and finding a hackney-coach, persuaded the coachman to drive them to a place of safety. The

rm with their new friends, singing, like them, the "Marseillaise" and "Mourir pour la Patrie." In the quarter of the Champs Elysées, where well-to-do foreigners formed a considerable part of the population, there was no ferocity exhibited

has memories of the license of the Commune, and above all it has learned the use of absinthe. There is a hat

just succeeded in getting the crowd out of the rooms and in closing the doors. This greatly disappointed our good nurse. She had counted on seeing the interior of the king's abode, and above all, the king's throne. She could speak very little French, but she must in some way have communicated her regrets to the crowd around her. "Does Madame desire so much to pass in?" said a big man in a blouse, girt with a red sash, and carrying a naked sword; "then Madame shall pass in!" Thereupon he and his followers in the front rank of the crowd so bepummelled the door with the hilts of their swords and the stocks of their muskets that those within were forced to throw it open. In marched our dear nurse beside her protector. They passed through

nfire of those very carriages which eighteen years before the mob had brough

to two compositors "who, between two fires," had been "so considerate" as to set up the type. But their consideration could not ha

ices, the blue and white strips had been tom away. On that day-but on that day only-every man wore a red ribbon

range quiet in Paris: no vehicles were in the streets, for the paving-stones had been torn up for barricades; no shops were open; on the closed shutters of most of them appeared the words "Armes données," Everywhere a paintbrush had been

he Mairie of the Arrondissement, and to stand for hours in a queue. Other money could be had only from the bankers in thousand

re not been some cavalry horses in the place, which were harnessed to one of the royal carriages. About midnight of their second day's journey they reached Dreux. There Louis Phil

d to him a supply of money. At Dreux the king's party was joined by the Duke of Montpe

es, the royal party pushed on to Evreux, where they were hospitably received by a farmer in the forest, who harnessed his work-horses to their carriage. Thence they went on

Express," lay at the wharf, on which the king and queen embarked as Mr. and Mrs. William Smith. The following morning they were off the English coast, at Ne

nt were many of them well known to the public, and of approved character. No men ever had a m

proposed were ei

ion of the

on of the G

ignty of t

n of the Chamb

on of the Cha

on of a Natio

aranteed to a

the army and

ion of a G

punishment of

f all politic

. Guizot and h

nd Fort Valérien, still held

uis Philippe to be rel

overnment pawn-broking establishment) v

ssed under preceding Gove

ended on the court to be

minated, to look after the int

inding employment for those boys and young men who for

ded for their profit; and that indeed was its ruin, for it was found impossible to keep the promises of work, support, parental protection, etc., made to the Parisian masses. The bourgeoisie, when they recovered from their astonishment and found that the ston

stability of the king's government, had for some time past been yearly adding diamonds to their necklaces, because, as one of them exclaimed to us during this mont

or two hundred dollars, yet the Champs Elysées were again gay with pedestrians and carriages. All favorite amusements were resumed, bu

der; yet the crowd was on its good behavior, and strict decorum was maintained. There were about three hundred thousand persons in the procession, and as

lution, so far from putting itself in antagonism with religious feeling, everywhere appealed to it. The men who invaded the Tuileries bowed before the crucifix in the queen's chamber. Priests who were known to be zealous workers among the po

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