At the Place de Grêve they fiercely contended with the household troops, the Swiss guards, and compelled them to fly with great loss. In the Rue Montmartre an attack was made by the duke of Ragusa in person. During part of the day the Place des Victoires was occupied by some troops, among whom was a part of the fifth regiment of the line, who had gone over to the national guards established at the Petits Peres. About two o’clock the duke de Ragusa arrived at the place at the head of fresh troops. He drew them up opposite the Rues du Mail, des Fosses, Montmartre, Croix des Petits Champs, and Neuve des Petits Champs. He immediately commanded a charge, and on both sides hundreds of men were killed. The marshal directed his troops down the Rue du Mail, and they scoured the Rue Montmartre without much difficulty till they reached the Rue Joquelet, where the people were prepared. Each house was armed and guarded. The black flag was displayed on the Porte St. Denis and other edifices. As soon as the firing ceased, the people made preparations for the next day by strengthening the barricades and increasing their number. They were assisted by women and even children. The remainder of the afternoon and evening, and the whole of the night, was spent in raising these important obstacles to the evolutions of cavalry. Excellent materials were at hand in the paving-stones; they were dug up and piled across the streets in walls breast high, and four or five feet thick. These walls were about fifty paces distant from each other. Hundreds of the finest trees were cut down for blockades. Nothing could be more effective for the defence of a large open town like Paris, traversed in every direction by long narrow streets, overlooked by houses of six, seven, and eight stories, than such barriers, scientifically constructed. All the means that industry and ingenuity could devise, in so short a time, were carried into execution, for the energetic stand and assault determined to be made against the military in the morning. At day-break on Thursday the tocsin sounded “To arms;” and the people began to assemble rapidly and in great crowds. The military, whose guard-houses had been destroyed, were chiefly quartered at the Louvre and the Tuilleries, the Swiss and the royal guards being posted in the houses of the Rue St. Honoré and the adjacent streets. At the same time, the students of the Polytechnic School joined the citizens nearly to a man; they then separated, proceeding singly to different parts to take the command of the people, and nobly repaid the confidence reposed in them. The garden of the Tuilleries was closed. In the Place du Carousel were three squadrons of lancers of the garde royale, a battalion of the third regiment of the guards, and a battery of six pieces, also belonging to the guards.