The History of a Crime: Chapter 11

Chapter 11

THE END OF THE SECOND DAY

We left Marie's house just in time. The regiment charged to track us and
to arrest us was approaching. We heard the measured steps of soldiers in
the gloom. The streets were dark. We dispersed. I will not speak of a
refuge which was refused to us.

Less than ten minutes after our departure M. Marie's house was invested.
A swarm of guns and swords poured in, and overran it from cellar to
attic. "Everywhere! everywhere!" cried the chiefs. The soldiers sought
us with considerable energy. Without taking the trouble to lean down and
look, they ransacked under the beds with bayonet thrusts. Sometimes they
had difficulty in withdrawing the bayonets which they had driven into the
wall. Unfortunately for this zeal, we were not there.

This zeal came frown higher sources. The poor soldiers obeyed. "Kill
the Representatives," such were their instructions. It was at that
moment when Morny sent this despatch to Maupas: "If you take Victor
Hugo, do what you like with him." These were their politest phrases.
Later on the _coup d'�tat_ in its decree of banishment, called us
"those individuals," which caused Schoelcher to say these haughty
words: "These people do not even know how to exile politely."

Dr. V�ron who publishes in his "M�moires" the Morny-Maupas despatch,
adds: "M. du Maupas sent to look for Victor Hugo at the house of his
brother-in-law, M. Victor Foucher, Councillor to the Court of Cassation.
He did not find him."

An old friend, a man of heart and of talent, M. Henry d'E----, had
offered me a refuge in rooms which he occupied in the Rue Richelieu;
these rooms adjoining the Th��tre Fran�ais, were on the first floor of a
house which, like M. Gr�vy's residence, had an exit into the Rue
Fontaine Moli�re.

I went there. M. Henry d'E---- being from home, his porter was awaiting
me, and handed me the key.

A candle lighted the room which I entered. There was a table near the
fire, a blotting-book, and some paper. It was past midnight, and I was
somewhat tired; but before going to bed, foreseeing that if I should
survive this adventure I should write its history, I resolved immediately
to note down some details of the state of affairs in Paris at the end of
this day, the second of the _coup d'�tat_. I wrote this page, which I
reproduce here, because it is a life-like portrayal--a sort of direct
photograph:--

"Louis Bonaparte has invented something which he calls a 'Consultative
Committee,' and which he commissions to draw up the postscript of his
crimes.

"L�on Foucher refuses to be in it; Montalember hesitates; Baroche
accepts.

"Falloux despises Dupin.

"The first shots were fired at the Record Office. In the Markets in the
Rue Rambuteau, in the Rue Beaubourg I heard firing.

"Fleury, the aide-de-camp, ventured to pass down the Rue Montmartre. A
musket ball pierced his k�pi. He galloped quickly off. At one o'clock
the regiments were summoned to vote on the _coup d'�tat_. All gave their
adhesion. The students of law and medicine assembled together at the
Ecole de Droit to protest. The Municipal Guards dispersed them. There
were a great many arrests. This evening, patrols are everywhere.
Sometimes an entire regiment forms a patrol.

"Representative Hespel, who is six feet high, was not able to find a
cell long enough for him at Mazas, and he has been obliged to remain in
the porter's lodge, where he is carefully watched.

"Mesdames Odilon Barrot and de Tocqueville do not know where their
husbands are. They go from Mazas to Mont Val�rien. The jailers are dumb.
It is the 19th Light Infantry which attacked the barricade when Baudin
was killed. Fifty men of the _Gendarmerie Mobile_ have carried at the
double the barricade of the Oratoire in the Rue St. Honor�. Moreover, the
conflict reveals itself. They sound the tocsin at the Chapelle Br�a. One
barricade overturned sets twenty barricades on their feet. There is the
barricade of the Schools in the Rue St. Andr� des Arts, the barricade of
the Rue du Temple, the barricade of the Carrefour Ph�lippeaux defended by
twenty young men who have all been killed; they are reconstructing it;
the barricade of the Rue de Bretagne, which at this moment Courtigis is
bombarding. There is the barricade of the Invalides, the barricade of the
Barri�re des Martyres, the barricade of the Chapelle St. Denis. The
councils of war are sitting in permanence, and order all prisoners to be
shot. The 30th of the Line have shot a woman. Oil upon fire.

"The colonel of the 49th of the Line has resigned. Louis Bonaparte has
appointed in his place Lieutenant Colonel N�grier. M. Brun, Officer of
the Police of the Assembly, was arrested at the same time as the
Questors.

"It is said that fifty members of the majority have signed a protest at
M. Odilon Barrot's house.

"This evening there is an increasing uneasiness at the Elys�e.
Incendiarism is feared. Two battalions of engineer-sappers have
reinforced the Fire Brigade. Maupas has placed guards over the
gasometers.

"Here are the military talons by which Paris has been grasped:--Bivouacs
at all the strategical points. At the Pont Neuf and the Quai aux Fleurs,
the Municipal Guards; at the Place de la Bastille twelve pieces of
cannon, three mortars, lighted matches; at the corner of the Faubourg the
six-storied houses are occupied by soldiers from top to bottom; the
Marulaz brigade at the H�tel de Ville; the Sauboul brigade at the
Panth�on; the Courtigis brigade at the Faubourg St. Antoine; the Renaud
division at the Faubourg St. Marceau. At the Legislative Palace the
Chasseurs de Vincennes, and a battalion of the 15th Light Infantry; in
the Champs Elys�es infantry and cavalry; in the Avenue Marigny artillery.
Inside the circus is an entire regiment; it has bivouacked there all
night. A squadron of the Municipal Guard is bivouacking in the Place
Dauphine. A bivouac in the Council of State. A bivouac in the courtyard
of the Tuileries. In addition, the garrisons of St. Germain and of
Courbevoie. Two colonels killed, Loubeau, of the 75th, and Quilio. On all
sides hospital attendants are passing, bearing litters. Ambulances are
everywhere; in the Bazar de l'Industry (Boulevard Poissioni�re); in the
Salle St. Jean at the H�tel de Ville; in the Rue du Petit Carreau. In
this gloomy battle nine brigades are engaged. All have a battery of
artillery; a squadron of cavalry maintains the communications between the
brigades; forty thousand men are taking part in the struggle; with a
reserve of sixty thousand men; a hundred thousand soldiers upon Paris.
Such is the Army of the Crime. The Reibell brigade, the first and second
Lancers, protect the Elys�e. The Ministers are all sleeping at the
Ministry of the Interior, close by Morny. Morny watches, Magnan commands.
To-morrow will be a terrible day."

This page written, I went to bed, and fell asleep.

Back to chapter list of: The History of a Crime