, and fatigue have
blunted my senses, and I hear nothing; it seems, however to be about the
same thing over again, for the same acclamations of the crowd greet the
same gestures on the part of the orators.

We are off again down the Boulevards; the long procession, with its
waving banners and glittering signs, is hailed by the populace with
delight. Having reached the Place de la Concorde, I loiter behind.
Groups are stationed here and there. I go from one to another, trying to
gather what these open-air politicians think of all this Masonic parade.
Shortly fugitives are seen hurrying back from the Champs Elysees,
shouting, and gesticulating. "Horror! Abomination! They respect nothing!
Vengeance!" I hear a brother-mason has been killed by a shell opposite
the Rue du Colysee; that the white flag is riddled with shot; that the
Versailles rifles have singled out, killed and wounded several masons.

In a very short time the terrible news, increased and exaggerated as it
spread, filled every quarter of Paris with consternation. I returned
home in a most perplexed state of mind, from which I could not arouse
myself until the arrival, towards evening, of a friend, a freemason, and
consequently well informed. This, it appears, is what took place.

"At the moment when the procession arrived in the Champs Elysees it
formed itself into several groups, each choosing a separate avenue or
street. One followed the Faubourg St. Honore and the Avenue Friedland as
far as the Triumphal Arch, till it reached the Porte Maillot; a second
proceeded to the Porte des Ternes by the Avenue des Ternes; a third to
the Porte Dauphine by the Avenue Uehrich. Not a single freemason was
wounded on the way, though shells fell on their passage from time to
time. The VV.'.[Transcriber's note: triangular symbol of three dots here]
of each lodge marched at the head, displaying their masonic banners.

[Illustration: THE FREEMASONS AT THE RAMPARTS. GAMINS COLLECTING
SHELLS.]

"As soon as the white flag was seen flying from the bastion on the right
of the Porte Maillot, the Versailles batteries ceased firing. The
freemasons were then able to pass the ramparts and proceed towards
Neuilly. There they were received rather coldly by the colonel in
command of the detachment. The officers, including those in high
command, were violently indignant against Paris. But the soldiers
themselves seemed utterly weary of war.

"After some parleying the members of the ma