g man mounted on a
superb black horse. It is Dombrowski. I had been told he was dead. He is
very pale. "A fragment of shell hit him in the chest at La Muette, but
did not enter the flesh," says some one. The men sing the _Chant du
Depart_ as they march along. I see a few women carrying arms among the
insurgents; one who walks just behind Dombrowski has a child in her
arms. Looking in the direction of the Place de la Concorde, I see smoke
arising from the terrace of the Tuileries. In front of the Ministere des
Finances, this side of the barricade is a black mass of something; I
think I can distinguish wheels; it is either cannon or engines. All
around is confusion. I can hear the musketry distinctly, but the noise
seems to come from the Champs Elysees; they are not firing at the
barricade. I turn and walk towards the Hotel de Ville: mounted expresses
ride constantly past; companies of Federals are here and there lying on
the ground around their piled muskets. By the Rue du Louvre there is
another barricade; a little further there is another and then
another.[100] Close to Saint Germain l'Auxerrois women are busy pulling
down the wooden seats; children are rolling empty wine-barrels and
carrying sacks of earth. As one nears the Hotel de Ville the barricades
are higher, better armed, and better manned. All the Nationals here
look ardent, resolved, and fierce. They say little, and do not shout at
all. Two guards, seated on the pavement, are playing at picquet. I push
on, and am allowed to pass. The barricades are terminated here, and I
have nothing to fear from paving-stones. Looking up, I see that all the
windows are closed, with the exception of one, where two old women are
busy putting a mattress between the window and the shutter. A sentinel,
mounting guard in front of the Cafe de la Compagnie du Gaz, cries out to
me, "You can't pass here!" I therefore seat myself at a table in front
of the cafe, which has doubtless been left open by order, and where
several officers are talking in a most animated manner. One of them
rises and advances towards me. He asks me rudely what I am doing there.
I will not allow myself to be abashed by his tone, but draw out my pass
from my pocket and show it him, without saying a word. "All right," says
he, and then seats himself by my side, and tells me, "I know it already,
that a part of the left bank of the river is occupied by the troops of
the Assembly, that fighting is going on everywhere,