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
In truth a declaration was empty air, a protest was noise, a decree was
action. They cried out, "What decree?" "Deposition," said Berryer.
Deposition was the extreme limit of the energy of the Right. Beyond
deposition, there was outlawry; deposition was practicable for the Right,
outlawry was only possible for the Left. In fact it was the Left who
outlawed Louis Bonaparte. They did it at their first meeting in the Rue
Blanche. We shall see this later on. At deposition, Legality came to an
end; at outlawry, the Revolution began. The recurrence of Revolutions are
the logical consequences of _coups d'état_. The deposition having been
voted, a man who later on turned traitor, Quentin Bauchart, exclaimed,
"Let us all sign it." All signed it. Odilon Barrot came in and signed it.
Antony Thouret came in and signed it. Suddenly M. Piscatory announced
that the Mayor was refusing to allow Representatives who had arrived to
enter the Hall. "Order him to do so by decree," said Berryer. And the
decree was voted. Thanks to this decree, MM. Favreau and Monet entered;
they came from the Legislative Palace; they related the cowardice of
Dupin. M. Dahirel, one of the leaders of the Right, was exasperated, and
said, "We have received bayonet thrusts." Voices were raised, "Let us
summon the Tenth Legion. Let the call to arms be beaten. Lauriston
hesitates. Let us order him to protect the Assembly." "Let us order him
by decree," said Berryer. This decree was drawn up, which, however, did
not prevent Lauriston from refusing. Another decree, again proposed by
Berryer, pronounced any one who had outraged the Parliamentary
inviolability to be a traitor, and ordered the immediate release of those
Representatives who had been wrongfully made prisoners. All this was
voted at once without debate, in a sort of great unanimous confusion, and
in the midst of a storm of fierce conversations. From time to time
Berryer imposed silence. Then the angry outcries broke forth again. "The
_coup d'état_ will not dare to come here." "We are masters here." "We are
at home." "It would be impossible to attack us here." "These wretches
will not dare to do so." If the uproar had been less violent, the
Representatives might have heard through the open windows close at hand,
the sound of soldiers loading their guns.
A regiment of Chasseurs of Vincennes had just entered silently into the
garden of the Mairie, and, while waiting for orders, were loading their
guns.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account