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while the Journeymen; the carters; the cobblers; the masons; the

braziers; and the stone…cutters whom they go to solicit in their

lodgings are just as ignorant as they are。  When irritation has

accumulated; it breaks out haphazardly。



Just at this time the clergy of Paris renounce their privileges in

way of imposts;'13' and the people; taking friends for adversaries;

add in their invectives the name of the clergy to that of Réveillon。

During the whole of the day; and also during the leisure of Sunday;

the fermentation increases; on Monday the 27th; another day of

idleness and drunkenness; the bands begin to move。  Certain

witnesses encounter one of these in the Rue Saint…Sévérin; 〃armed

with clubs;〃 and so numerous as to bar the passage。  〃Shops and

doors are closed on all sides; and the people cry out; 'There's the

revolt!'〃 The seditious crowd belch out curses and invectives

against the clergy; 〃and; catching sight of an abbé; shout

'Priest!'〃 Another band parades an effigy of Réveillon decorated

with the ribbon of the order of St。  Michael; which undergoes the

parody of a sentence and is burnt on the Place de Grève; after which

they threaten his house。  Driven back by the guard; they invade that

of a manufacturer of saltpeter; who is his friend; and burn and

smash his effects and furniture。'14'  It is only towards midnight

that the crowd is dispersed and the insurrection is supposed to have

ended。  On the following day it begins again with greater violence;

for; besides the ordinary stimulants of misery'15' and the craving

for license; they have a new stimulant in the idea of a cause to

defend; the conviction that they are fighting 〃for the Third…

Estate。〃 In a cause like this each one should help himself; and all

should help each other。  〃We should be lost;〃 one of them exclaimed;

〃if we did not sustain each other。〃 Strong in this belief; they sent

deputations three times into the Faubourg Saint…Marceau to obtain

recruits; and on their way; with uplifted clubs they enrol;

willingly or unwillingly; all they encounter。  Others; at the gate

of Saint…Antoine; arrest people who are returning from the races;

demanding of them if they are for the nobles or for the Third…

Estate; and force women to descend from their vehicles and to cry

〃Vive le Tiers…Etat 〃'16'。   Meanwhile the crowd has increased

before Réveillon's dwelling; the thirty men on guard are unable to

resist; the house is invaded and sacked from top to bottom; the

furniture; provisions; clothing; registers; wagons; even the poultry

in the back…yard; all is cast into blazing bonfires lighted in three

different places; five hundred louis d'or; the ready money; and the

silver plate are stolen。  Several roam through the cellars; drink

liquor or varnish at haphazard until they fall down dead drunk or

expire in convulsions。  Against this howling horde; a corps of the

watch; mounted and on foot; is seen approaching;'17' also a hundred

cavalry of the 〃Royal Croats;〃 the French Guards; and later on the

Swiss Guards。  〃Tiles and chimneys are rained down on the soldiers;〃

who fire back four files at a time。  The rioters; drunk with brandy

and rage; defend themselves desperately for several hours; more than

two hundred are killed; and nearly three hundred are wounded; they

are only put down by cannon; while the mob keeps active until far

into the night。  …  Towards eight in the evening; in the rue

Vieille…du…Temple; the Paris Guard continue to make charges in order

to protect the doors which the miscreants try to force。  Two doors

are forced at half…past eleven o'clock in the Rue Saintonge and in

the Rue de Bretagne; that of a pork…dealer and that of a baker。

Even to this last wave of the outbreak which is subsiding we can

distinguish the elements which have produced the insurrection; and

which are about to produce the Revolution。   Starvation is one of

these: in the Rue de Bretagne the band robbing the baker's shop

carries bread off to the women staying at the corner of the Rue

Saintonge。    Brigandage is another: in the middle of the night M。

du Chatelet's spies; gliding alongside of a ditch; 〃see a group of

ruffians〃 assembled beyond the Barrière du Tr?ne; their leader;

mounted on a little knoll; urging them to begin again; and the

following days; on the highways; vagabonds are saying to each other;

〃We can do no more at Paris; because they are too sharp on the look…

out; let us go to Lyons!〃 There are; finally; the patriots: on the

evening of the insurrection; between the Pont…au…Change and the

Pont…Marie; the half…naked ragamuffins; besmeared with dirt; bearing

along their hand…barrows; are fully alive to their cause; they beg

alms in a loud tone of voice; and stretch out their hats to the

passers; saying; 〃Take pity on this poor Third…Estate!〃  The

starving; the ruffians; and the patriots; all form one body; and

henceforth misery; crime; and public spirit unite to provide an

ever…ready insurrection for the agitators who desire to raise one。





IV。  The Palais…Royal。



But the agitators are already in permanent session。  The Palais…

Royal is an open…air club where; all day and even far into the

night; one excites the other and urges on the crowd to blows。  In

this enclosure; protected by the privileges of the House of Orleans;

the police dare not enter。  Speech is free; and the public who avail

themselves of this freedom seem purposely chosen to abuse it。  

The public and the place are adapted to each other。'18'  The Palais…

Royal; the center of prostitution; of play; of idleness; and of

pamphlets; attracts the whole of that uprooted population which

floats about in a great city; and which; without occupation or home;

lives only for curiosity or for pleasure  the frequenters of the

coffee…houses; the runners for gambling halls; adventurers; and

social outcasts; the runaway children or forlorn hopefuls of

literature; arts; and the bar; attorneys' clerks; students of the

institutions of higher learning; the curious; loungers; strangers;

and the occupants of furnished lodgings; these amounting; it is

said; to forty thousand in Paris。  They fill the garden and the

galleries; 〃one would hardly find here one of what were called the

〃Six Bodies;〃'19' a bourgeois settled down and occupied with his own

affairs; a man whom business and family cares render serious and

influential。  There is no place here for industrious and orderly

bees; it is the rendezvous of political and literary drones。  They

flock into it from every quarter of Paris; and the tumultuous;

buzzing swarm covers the ground like an overturned hive。  〃Ten

thousand people;〃 writes Arthur Young;'20' 〃have been all this day

in the Palais…Royal;〃 the press is so great that an apple thrown

from a balcony on the moving floor of heads would not reach the

ground。  The condition of these heads may be imagined; they are

emptier of ballast than any in France; the most inflated with

speculative ideas; the most excitable and the most excited。  In this

pell…mell of improvised politicians no one knows who is speaking;

nobody is responsible for what he says。  Each is there as in the

theater; unknown among the unknown; requiring sensational

impressions and strong emotions; a prey to the contagion of the

passions around him; borne along in the whirl of sounding phrases;

of ready…made news; growing rumors; and other exaggerations by which

fanatics keep outdoing each other。  There are shouting; tears;

applause; stamping and clapping; as at the performance of a tragedy;

one or another individual becomes so inflamed and hoarse that he

dies on the spot with fever and exhaustion。  In vain has Arthur

Young been accustomed to the tumult of political liberty; he is

dumb…founded at what he sees。'21'  According to him; the excitement

is 〃incredible。  。  。  。  We think sometimes that Debrett's or

Stockdale's shops at London are crowded; but they are mere deserts

compared to Desenne

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