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Show 482 The Three Days. T!te First Day. [AuGUST, which so much blood had been shed, and which, taken out. In a few minutes the quay presen ted since the days of the empire, had been severely the most curious spec ta cle. ]mmediately beneath proscribed, was horne through the streets with our windows was an immense crowd in expectaenthusiasm. Alas! how much more blood would tion of a suden attack and taking means to resist be shed before its folds could wave triumphantly it. Out of the gunsmiths' shops, the most heteroover the spires of the land. geneous arms had been taken, some of them be- However, the government did not slumber, hut longing to far distant days. He re you could see a was taking measures to smother those rising sparks, swanhy blacksmith fixing on his huge head the when night and darkness closed the scenes of the helmet of some kni ght of the middle age. There day. the cuirass of a leaguer on the breast of a student, What a darkness! All was as still as death ; or the head piece of a dragoon worn by a clerk. yet it was I hat kiud of Jiving and moving stillness Some were armed with the Poli sh lance, or the which would have caused you to shudder. You Turkish scimitar. Others brandished the twowould have felt like a man who falls on a stu/den handed sword of the crusader, or the boardinginto a d:uk cavern where he knows enemies are lt:itchet of the sailo r. A few had muskets. S (•tne concealed. He cannot see them, he cannot hear more had fowling- pieres, but the majority had noththem. Yet he fancies he can feel their lnt>ath, ing but bayonets fastened at the ends of sticks, or and he trembles in the expectation that el'ery mo- any other weapon chance might have thrown in _ment, oreverymotionof his will bring forth a tre- their hands. Yet it was such a crowd, without mendous explosio n. The mine is ready; a spnk leaders, without ammunition, almost unarmed, which will set fire to it. Tl1e people, the people are pre- undertook to conquer thirty thousand men of rcguparing forth~ morrow! • • • Jar troops, including light and heavy artillery and The snn rose on the 2ith in a clouded at.mo~- cavalry, forming the garrison of Paris, besides the phere, but the morning mist wa.s soon ~1lown away, Royal and Swiss guards and the police. The strugand the fiery globe appeared 111 all Its splendor, gle was deadly, and we will see with what success a faithful image of thal liberty, the fate of which it was crowned. was to be decided so soon, and which was destined As it has be en said before the first char11es of to emerge so bright and pure from the dark clouds ca,·alry were without any res~ It, and it beca~e neof the battle. cessary to employ more effective means. Four All was quiet till about 10 o·clock. Then nu- horsemen were sent from the police barracks to merous groups appeared on all points. They were bring orders to the different oOieers commanding as yet peaceful, but more animated than on the the garrison. They started at full gallop, but the preceding day. Suddenly a drum, a solitary drum people had now assumed the offensive. \Vhen they is heard, and lo! it is a mulled drum. There was a reached the middle of the Merchants' bridge, J becolumn of young men, most of them law or medi- held a scene which time can never blot out of my cal students, marching in ranl•s, arm in arm, and in memory. The report of six or ei~ht muskets was the most dca?ly silence. The tn:'ljority of them heard, and there lay the orderlies and their horses, were dressed Ill black, and one of them marched in a quivering and bloody heap. They were the first fro~t, carryin~ a .IJ!ac~ fl.ag, ~~~the .funereal folds uf vietims, and many a time has the image of those wluch was tins mscnptwn 111 wl11te letters, Lib- falling men crossed my boyish dreams. erty or Death ! They passed away and disap- In the mean time the insuP•ents had not been peared like a pha~t01?. The ~otionless groups idle in the other parts of the ci7y. All the guardl, ad gazed on them 111 Silence . .r\ot a shout, hardly rooms, containing only a small force, had been cara word had been exchanged between them. There ried, and the arms there found were dis;tributed was between them a deeper bond than words could among the \'ictors. Barricades were furmed and express: That de\·ic~, Liberty or Death, was en- some blood was shed. So that the troops began graved In the he:ms of Cl'ery one. to be put in motion on all sides. The important edifl- But the au.thorities thought it was time to make ces were hastily fOrtified and their usoal garrison8 a denwnstratwn. A squadron of c:n·alry was sent doubled. The palace of the Lnuvre received a very from the pcolice barracks to make some charges. strong reinforcement of Swiss guards, and the eonAway they swept along the Southern quay-away test bec:w1~ more general. At last a detachment uf they swept along the .\Ierchants' bridge; but when royal gnards was seen coming from the New bridge, ~hey reac~1ed the groups the scene was changed as whilst a brigade of the line appeared on the MerIf hy mag1c. 1 n a second, every man had drawn a chants' bridge. The citizens, who defended the dagger, or some other weapon, and attacked the barricade before our house, waited for them in stf'Tn horsemen hand to hand. 1n the mean time some silence, expecting that countrymen would not fire ?thers ~ug out the paving stones and piled them up on countrymen without trying at least some milder Ill barncades so as to prevent the passage of C<lv- argurnerus. But from the scrorants of tyranny, no airy. The numerous gunsmiths' stores, situated mercy was to he hoped, and no mercy was shown. along the quays, were broken open and the arms A discharge wats simulta.ueously made IJy both de- 1645.] Tire Three Days. The First Day. 483 tachmcnts. Then there was a wild shout, in wldch I by a long building, which is used as a national Muthc groans of the wounded and dyiug were lost: scum. The Northern side ought to be joined in "Revenge! liberty or death!" Then an explosion, the same way. but the work is sti ll unfinished. and all was silence again. Both p:uties wer~ There are four double iron gates opening in the midcounting their dead. Soon the drums beat and an die of each of the faces. A little to the \\'est of the attempt was made to carry the barricade with the Southero entrance is that window from which bayonet. Charles the lXth. amused himself by shouting his Every circumstance contributed to show that the protestant subjects oo the day of St. Barthelemy, present insttrrectiun was not a mere riot without whilst they were flying over the bridge of arts; and importance or consequences, which, like a summer opposite to it is the hridge itself. From the Eaststorm, disturbs the serenity of the sk ies but for a ern front, tl1c view extends on a large square. This few moments. It was a mighty volcnno. The front is the most beautiful of all. The windows of dark and ominous cloud of public opinion had been the lower story are very simple and furnished with overlooked or slighted. But now,the incandescent iron gratings. 'f'he upper story is a ga.llery of the mass was in motion, and its dreadful work should noblest Corinthian columns, a!JouL 60 feet in height not stop till it had buried under torren ts of burning and 5 in diameter. They are placed in couples lava the confident and credulous trav eller who ahout 15 or 20 ft>et distant from each other. The slept in deceitful security upon the fermenting soil. whole is built of the fine st stone which the country The insurgents showed by their calmness tha.L they afrords. As will appear hy this imperfect drscripwere not blinded by the mad impulse of the tnO+ tion, the palace is of very difficult access to any ment, but that they had a final work to accomplish, hostile force. The garrison had been more than and that, in spite of all opposition. They waited douhled and had received, besides the elite of the with their loaded pieces for the impetuous charge. Swiss guards, a large detachment of the royal Each one kept his fire till he saw the gliueriug gu:~.rds, amounting in all to about 500 men, well bavonets within a fen· inches of his hrca:>t: then, furnished with ammunition and well trained to the th~y pull ed the triggers, and now, strike for justice use of arms. Besides, e\·ery window, every cuiand liberty! nmn, offered them a shelter against the musketry The subsequent incidents of this fight have bPen of the enemy, on whom they themselves could fire erased from my memory. Alii recollect is seeing with perfect ease and security. the royal troops driven back, though in good order. 'When the insurgents determined upon attacking The brigade of line retreated as far as the i\'ler- the Louvre, they neglected all strategical considchants' bridg-e, and there halted. But the royal erations. The Eastern side of the palace was the guards abandoned tl1e field and aug mented the gar- stron~est, bnt it opened on a square, the dimeusions risons of the Louvre ami Tuileri es. of which were such as to allow them to extend This was an omen of victory, but all was not the front of their forces, and this was enough to done. The insurgents at once determined to join overbalance all other circumstances. Before bethose of their brethren already before the Louvre ginning hostilities, they sent summonses to the Govand attack that palace. Abandoning, therefore, the ernor of the pahce; but as it had been foresee n, barricade they had formed , they followed the quay these summonses were without any effect, and the in that direction. The soldiery posted on the "'ler- struggle began. The insurgents fired for some chants' bridge a11owed them to depart unmolested. time against their enemies, but they soon discovlt was with joy that they saw the popular torrent ered the disadvantages of this mode of fighting. assailing- a. position which they deemed impregna- Tbe garrison was perfectly secured from their shot, ble, inste:td of the police barracks, which were of and secondly, from e\'e ry nook, every window and an easy access and contained a vast supply of arms every column, showers of bullets fell among them and ammunition. They kept their position all day with the most drt>adful effect; and yet, shall they and the following night; for it was the principal ave- give up the ir task~ No, ne\·er as long as they nue to the place they wanted to protect. ha\·e blood to shed or life to sacrifice on tht>. altars A II was now quiet before us. but we could hear of their rountry! the continual firing of the attack of the Louvre Ou, on tbey rush to the assault. They pour imwhich was carried on at a distance less than a quar- petuously at the rna in gate. Tltey try to force the ter of a mile from us. windows. But the enemy smile quietly at their The Louvre is an extensive palace, in the shape efforts. From all apertures they are overwhelmed of a perfect square, the '"!entre of which is a large hy the withering volleys of experienced marksmen. yard. It was begun by the Medicis, and continued The main gate resists all battering. The gratings under their difrerent successors. Napoleon built of the windows are too strong to give way, and the its principal front, which is turne(J to the East, columns of attack arc obliged to withdraw, when The palace is now destined fur the reception of heaps of dead and dying choke all the a.l'enues. Works of art from all parts of the world. The They retreat, beaten but undaunted. Every brow Southern side is joined to the palace of the Tuileries is sterner, every hand grasps more firmly the mus- |