"It is not possible," was the answer. "We have instructed Durand-Savoyat to allow no one to remain there." And the discussion continued. Nevertheless the sound of voices insensibly increased, and ultimately grew so distinct that it became necessary to see what it meant. Carnot half opened the door. The room and the ante-chamber adjoining the room where we were deliberating were filled with Representatives, who were peaceably conversing. Surprised, we called in Durand-Savoyat. "Did you not understand us?" asked Michel de Bourges. "Yes, certainly," answered Durand-Savoyat. "This house is perhaps marked," resumed Carnot; "we are in danger of being taken." "And killed upon the spot," added Jules Favre, smiling with his calm smile. "Exactly so," answered Durand-Savoyat, with a look still quieter than Jules Favre's smile. "The door of this inner room is shrouded in the darkness, and is little noticeable. I have detained all the Representatives who have come in, and have placed them in the larger room and in the ante-chamber, whichever they have wished. A species of crowd has thus been formed. If the police and the troops arrive, I shall say to them, 'Here we are.' They will take us. They will not perceive the door of the inner room, and they will not reach you. We shall pay for you. If there is any one to be killed, they will content themselves with us." And without imagining that he had just uttered the words of a hero, Durand-Savoyat went back to the antechamber. We resumed our deliberation on the subject of a decree. We were unanimously agreed upon the advantage of an immediate convocation of a New Assembly. But for what date? Louis Bonaparte had appointed the 20th of December for his Plebiscitum; we chose the 21st. Then, what should we call this Assembly? Michel de Bourges strongly advocated the title of "National Convention," Jules Favre that its name should be "Constituent Assembly," Carnot proposed the title of "Sovereign Assembly," which, awakening no remembrances, would leave the field free to all hopes. The name of "Sovereign Assembly" was adopted. The decree, the preamble of which Carnot insisted upon writing from my dictation, was drawn up in these terms. It is one of those which has been printed and placarded. "DECREE. "The crime of Louis Bonaparte imposes great duties upon the Representatives of the People remaining at liberty. "Brute force seeks to render the fulfilment of these duties impossible. "Hunted, wandering from refuge to refuge, assassinated in the streets, the Republican Representatives deliberate and act, notwithstanding the infamous police of the _coup d'état_. "The outrage of Louis Napoleon, in overturning all the Public Powers, has only left one authority standing,--the supreme authority,--the authority of the people: Universal Suffrage. "It is the duty of the Sovereign People to recapture and reconstitute all the social forces which to-day are dispersed.