The Parisians — Volume 11Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
General
The Parisians — Volume 11
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron
English fiction -- 19th century; Paris (France) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
The morning of that day the Council of Ten were summoned by Lebeau--minus
only Rameau, who was still too unwell to attend, and the Belgian, not
then at Paris; but their place was supplied by the two travelling
members, who had been absent from the meeting before recorded. These
were conspirators better known in history than those I have before
described; professional conspirators--personages who from their youth
upwards had done little else but conspire. Following the discreet plan
pursued elsewhere throughout this humble work, I give their names other
than they bore. One, a very swarthy and ill-favoured man, between forty
and fifty, I call Paul Grimm--by origin a German, but by rearing and
character French; from the hair on his head, staring up rough and ragged
as a bramblebush, to the soles of small narrow feet, shod with dainty
care, he was a personal coxcomb, and spent all he could spare on his
dress. A clever man, not ill-educated--a vehement and effective speaker
at a club. Vanity and an amorous temperament had made him a conspirator,
since he fancied he interested the ladies more in that capacity than any
other. His companion, Edgar Ferrier, would have been a journalist, only
hitherto his opinions had found no readers; the opinions were those of
Marat. He rejoiced in thinking that his hour for glory, so long
deferred, had now arrived. He was thoroughly sincere: his father and
grandfather had died in a madhouse. Both these men, insignificant in
ordinary times, were likely to become of terrible importance in the
crisis of a revolution. They both had great power with the elements that
form a Parisian mob. The instructions given to these members of the
Council by Lebeau were brief: they were summed up in the one word,
_Decheance_. The formidable nature of a council apparently so meanly
constituted became strikingly evident at that moment, because it was so
small in number, while each one of these could put in movement a large
section of the populace; secondly, because, unlike a revolutionary club
or a numerous association, no time was wasted in idle speeches, and all
were under the orders of one man of clear head and resolute purpose; and
thirdly, and above all, because one man supplied the treasury, and money
for an object desired was liberally given and promptly at hand. The
meeting did not last ten minutes, and about two hours afterwards its
effects were visible. From Montmartre and Belleville and Montretout
poured streams of _ouvriers_, with whom Armand Monnier was a chief, and
the _Medecin des Pauvres_ an oracle. Grimm and Ferrier headed other
detachments that startled the well-dressed idlers on the Boulevards. The
stalwart figure of the Pole was seen on the Place de la Concorde,
towering amidst other refugees, amid which glided the Italian champion of
humanity. The cry of _Decheance_ became louder. But as yet there were
only few cries of _Vive la Republique_!--such a cry was not on the orders
issued by Lebeau.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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