The History of a Crime: The Testimony of an Eye-WitnessHugo, Victor
History
The History of a Crime: The Testimony of an Eye-Witness
Hugo, Victor
France -- History -- 1789-1900
Through the precautions which we had taken, and thanks to the patriotic
assistance of several young medical and chemical students, powder had
been manufactured in several quarters. At one point alone, the Rue
Jacob, a hundred kilogrammes had been turned out during the night. As,
however, this manufacture was principally carried out on the left bank
of the river, and as the fighting took place on the right bank, it was
necessary to transport this powder across the bridges. They managed
this In the best manner they could. Towards nine o'clock we were warned
that the police, having been informed of this, had organized a system
of inspection, and that all persons crossing the river were searched,
particularly on the Pont Neuf.
A certain strategical plan became manifest. The ten central bridges
mere militarily guarded.
People were arrested in the street on account of their personal
appearance. A sergent-de-ville, at the corner of he Pont-au-Change,
exclaimed, loud enough for the passers-by to hear, "We shall lay hold
of all those who have not their beards properly trimmed, or who do not
appear to have slept."
Notwithstanding all this we had a little powder; the disarming of the
National Guard at various points had produced about eight hundred
muskets, our proclamations and our decrees were being placarded, our
voice was reaching the people, a certain confidence was springing up.
"The wave is rising! the wave is rising!" exclaimed Edgar Quinet, who
had come to shake my hand.
We were informed that the schools were rising in insurrection during
the day, and that they offered us a refuge in the midst of them.
Jules Favre exclaimed joyfully,--
"To-morrow we shall date our decrees from the Pantheon."
Signs of good omen grew more numerous. An old hotbed of insurrection,
the Rue Saint-André-des-Arts, was becoming agitated. The association
called La Presse du Travail gave signs of life. Some brave workmen, at
the house of one of their colleagues, Nétré No. 13, Rue du Jardinet,
had organized a little printing-press in a garret, a few steps from the
barracks of the Gendarmerie Mobile. They had spent the night first in
compiling, and then in printing "A Manifesto to Working Men," which
called the people to arms. They were five skilful and determined men;
they had procured paper, they had perfectly new type; some of them
moistened the paper, while the others composed; towards two o'clock in
the morning they began to print. It was essential that they should not
be heard by the neighbors; they had succeeded in muffling the hollow
blows of the ink-rollers, alternating with the rapid sound of the
printing blankets. In a few hours fifteen hundred copies were pulled,
and at daybreak they were placarded at the corners of the streets. The
leader of these intrepid workmen, A. Desmoulins, who belonged to that
sturdy race of men who are both cultured and who can fight, had been
greatly disheartened on the preceding day; he now had become hopeful.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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