a
great Socialist demonstration was made in Paris. Large columns of
men marched to the Hotel-de-Ville, singing the old revolutionary
chant of "Ca ira." Ledru-Rollin, in the fulness of his heart, seeing
these one hundred and twenty thousand men all marching with some
discipline, said to his colleagues in the Council Chamber: "Do
you know that your popularity is nothing to mine? I have but to
open this window and call upon these men, and you would every one
of you be turned into the street. Do you wish me to try it?"

Upon this, Garnier-Pages, the Finance Minister, walked up to
Ledru-Rollin, and presenting a pistol, said: "If you make one step
toward that window, it shall be your last." Ledru-Rollin paused
a moment, and then sat down.

The object of the demonstration was to force the Provisional Government
to take measures for raising and equalizing wages, and providing
State employment for all out of employ. The main body was refused
admittance into the Hotel-de-Ville, but a certain number of the
leaders were permitted to address the Provisional Government. To
Ledru-Rollin's and Louis Blanc's surprise, they found that half
of these leaders were men they had never seen before, more radical
radicals than themselves,--that revolutionary scum that rose to
the surface in the Reign of Terror and the Commune.

A sense of common danger made Ledru-Rollin and Louis Blanc unite
with their colleagues in refusing the demand of the deputation that
the measures they advocated should be put in force by immediate
decrees. Lamartine harangued them; so did Ledru-Rollin and Louis
Blanc; and at last the disappointed multitude, with vengeance in
their hearts, filed peaceably away.

A month later, April 15, another outbreak was planned. The chief
club leaders wished it to be headed by Ledru-Rollin and Blanqui,--the
latter a conspirator in Louis Philippe's time. But Ledru-Rollin
refused to serve with Blanqui, having discovered from documents
in his office (that of Minister of Justice) that Blanqui had once
been a Government spy. "Well, then," said the club leaders, "since
you decline to be our chief, you shall to-morrow share the fate
of your colleagues." Ledru-Rollin, after a terrible night of
vacillation, resolved to throw himself on Lamartine's generosity.
He went to him at daybreak and told him of the impending danger.
At once Lamartine sent him to call out the National Guard, while
he himself summoned the Garde Mobile. The National G