The battles of the world : $b or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military eventsBorthwick, J. Douglas (John Douglas)
History
The battles of the world : $b or, cyclopedia of battles, sieges, and important military events
Borthwick, J. Douglas (John Douglas)
Battles; Military history
The Rue St. Honoré, for two days, was a perpetual scene of
slaughter. The Louvre, except the picture-gallery, was on all sides
attacked and defended at the same moment, and for hours. In the
court of the Louvre a field-piece was planted, which commanded
the Pont des Arts, being exactly opposite the Institute. Here the
fighting was so dreadful and so maintained, that the front of the
building of the Institute was completely covered with muskets and
grape shot. One cannon ball smashed a portion of the wall, and from
its elevation did dreadful execution in sweeping the bridge. The
attack on the Tuilleries was over in two or three hours. A young
man marched with a tri-coloured flag at the head of the attacking
bourgeois. A thousand balls, fired from the front of the chateau,
whistled by him without touching him. He continued to march
with perfect _sangfroid_, but with, at the same time, an air of
importance, up to the triumphal arch, and remained until the end of
the battle.
While the people and the military were combating at the Place de
Grêve, the Louvre, and the Tuilleries, troops were arriving by the
Champs Elysees. A great party of the people, and many national
guards, with two pieces of cannon, were hastening along near the
Place Louis XVI towards the Barrier St. Etoile, when a largo
troop of dragoons arrived, made a desperate charge, and cut down
the people without mercy who made a very bold stand. Many of the
soldiers solemnly vowed that they would not continue to obey orders
to massacre their brothers and sons. Their numbers were thinned,
they were fatigued, disheartened, discomfited, beaten, and fled. At
Chaillot, a district of Paris, verging on the route to St. Cloud,
the inhabitants, though few in number, sustained the fire of five
regiments of the guards, who attempted to effect their retreat by
the barrier of Passy. At length, all the royal troops left the
capital by the way of the Champs Elysees, and in their retreat were
fired upon by the people.
At night, part of the town was illuminated, particularly
the streets of St. Denis, St. Martin, St. Jacques, and the
neighbourhood of the Hotel de Ville. Perfect tranquillity prevailed
throughout the city. Strong patroles silently paraded the streets,
passed gently from barricade to barricade, and disarmed individuals
whom fatigue and the heat of the weather, more than wine, had
rendered incapable of employing their weapons usefully.
A deputation from Charles X at St. Cloud, arrived at the Hotel
de Ville early in the morning. It consisted of the marquis de
Rastoret, chancellor of France; M. Semonville; and count d’Argout,
peer of France. They announced that Charles had named the duke de
Mortemart president of the council, and that he was willing to
accept a ministry chosen by him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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