tyne had not yet got
command of it. Count on the Army? Why, General Neumayer was at Lyons,
and not at Paris. Would he march to the assistance of the Assembly?
What did we know about this? As for Lawoestyne, was he not double-faced?
Were they sure of him? Call to arms the 8th Legion? Forestier was no
longer Colonel. The 5th and 6th? But Gressier and Howyne were only
lieutenant-colonels, would these legions follow them? Order the
Commissary Yon? But would he obey the Left alone? He was the agent of
the Assembly, and consequently of the majority, but not of the minority.
These were so many questions. But these questions, supposing them
answered, and answered in the sense of success, was success itself the
question? The question is never Success, it is always Right. But here,
even if we had obtained success, we should not have Right. In order to
arrest the President an order of the Assembly was necessary; we should
replace the order of the Assembly by an act of violence of the Left. A
scaling and a burglary; an assault by scaling-ladders on the constituted
authority, a burglary on the Law. Now let us suppose resistance; we
should shed blood. The Law violated leads to the shedding of blood. What
is all this? It is a crime."

"No, indeed," he exclaimed, "it is the _salus populi_."

And he added,--

"_Suprema Lex_."

"Not for me," I said.

I continued,--

"I would not kill a child to save a people."

"Cato did so."

"Jesus did not do so."

And I added,--

"You have on your side all ancient history, you are acting according to
the uprightness of the Greeks, and according to the uprightness of the
Romans; for me, I am acting according to the uprightness of Humanity.
The new horizon is of wider range than the old."

There was a pause. He broke it.

"Then he will be the one to attack!"

"Let it be so."

"You are about to engage in a battle which is almost lost beforehand."

"I fear so."

"And this unequal combat can only end for you, Victor Hugo, in death or
exile."

"I believe it."

"Death is the affair of a moment, but exile is long."

"It is a habit to be learned."

He continued,--

"You will not only be proscribed. You will be calumniated."

"It is a habit already learned."

He continued,--

"Do you know what they are saying already?"

"What?"

"They say that you are irritated against him because he has refused to
make you a Minister."

"Why you know yourself that--"

"I know that it i