The group of artillerymen who guided the three leaders we have
just mentioned went down at double quick pace, shouting, "_Vive la
République!_" along the right bank of the canal. Some fled before them,
others rallied round; there was a frightful tumult. At the place de
la Bastille they rejoined the 12th Light; after what the officer had
said they were sure of these. So the soldiers let the artillery go
by. The major saluted them and nodded his approval. At the boulevard
Saint-Antoine, a cuirassier, whose name I have forgotten, joined the
artillerymen. There was a cuirassier on 5 June as there was a fireman
on 15 May. When the cuirassier reached the guardhouse of the boulevard,
at the corner of the rue de Ménilmontant, he rushed into the guardroom,
sword in hand; the people followed him. In an instant, the guardhouse
was taken and the soldiers disarmed. They continued along the boulevard
to shouts of "_Vive la République!_" cries which were almost everywhere
received with cheers. At the top of the rue de Lancry, they met Carrel
on horseback. He came, like a general, to find out the state of things
for himself.
"Have you a regiment with you?" he asked.
"We have them all with us!" he was told.
"That is too much; I only want one," he said, laughing, as he resumed
at a gallop his way along the Bastille road. The artillerymen took the
rue Bourbon-Villeneuve. At sight of them, the guard at the Bank ran for
their rifles, but, to the great astonishment of the insurgents, they
presented arms. They could not, however, go through the whole of Paris
in this fashion; they were a few yards from the Vaudeville, where they
deposited the flag; they rapidly ate a few bites of food and made for
the _National,_ in the rue du Croissant. The Republicans flocked there,
and, in the midst of them, men who held intermediary opinions, like
Hippolyte Royer-Collard, for example. Meanwhile Carrel arrived, and his
opinion was awaited impatiently.
"I have not great faith in the barricade," he said; "we succeeded in
1830 by an accident. Those who are of different opinion from me may
move the paving-stones. I shall not persuade them to do it, nor shall
I disapprove; but, in saving _le National_ and in preventing them from
compromising it as a newspaper, I shall keep a bodyguard round until
to-morrow. Believe me, it takes more courage to say to my friends what
I am saying than to attempt with them that in which they are going to
engage."
As Carrel uttered these words, Thomas arrived from the boulevard
Bourdon.
"There is nothing for us to do here," said Thomas; "let us go away!"
At the same instant, the enthusiasts came out from the _National_
offices and went to consult together at Ambert's, in the rue
Godot-de-Mauroy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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