[1] The prefect of police, Pietri, attests it: "It is certain that on that day the revolution might have succeeded, for the crowd which surrounded the Corps Legislatif on the 9th August was composed of elements similar to those which triumphed on the 4th September."-- _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. i. p. 258. [2] Let it be understood that I proceed, the words of our adversaries in hand--parliamentary inquiries, memoirs, reports, histories; that I do not attribute to them an act or a word which has not been avowed by them, their documents, or their friends. When I say M. Thiers _saw_, M. Thiers _knew_, it is that M. Thiers has said, _I saw_, page 6, _I knew_, page 11, vol. i. of the _Enquete sur les Actes du Gouvernement de la Defense Nationale_. It will be the same with all the acts and words of all the official or adverse personages that I quote. [3] See the evidence of the Marquis de Talhouet, reporter of the Commission charged to verify the famous despatch which precipitated the vote for war. _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. i. p. 121-124. [4] _Compte-rendu du 31 Octobre_, by Milliere. [5] Which did not, however, prevent his accepting a secret mission during the Crimean war. He was commissioned by Napoleon III. to propose to the English to betray Turkey by limiting the war to the defence of Constantinople. [6] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Jules Brame, vol. i. p. 201. [7] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. ii. p. 194. [8] Ibid., p. 313. [9] Ibid., Jules Favre, vol. i. p. 330. [10] In his official report, Jules Favre, to clear the Government, did not neglect to assume the responsibility of this mission, which he said he had undertaken without the knowledge of his colleagues. [11] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Garnier-Pages, vol. i. p. 445. [12] "Constantly in relations with the anxious population, which urgently asked what was going on, what the Government thought, what it was doing, we were obliged to screen it; to say that it was acting for the best; that it had given itself up entirely to the defence; that the chiefs of the army were most devoted and working with ardour.... We said this without knowing, without believing it. We knew nothing."--_Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Corbon, vol. i. p. 375. [13] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, Jules Ferry. He even calls the armistice a "compensation." [14] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. i. p. 432. [15] _Enquete sur le 4 Septembre_, vol. i. p. 395. The deposition of this imbecile, always equally naive, is all the more conclusive.