s, but there were the
special days as well to break the monotony of all this. There were
the manifestations, which had the great advantage of provoking
counter-manifestations. On the 16th of March, there was the
manifestation of the National Guard, who were tranquil members of
society, but on the 17th there was a counter-manifestation of the Clubs
and workingmen. On such days the meeting-place would be at the Bastille,
and from morning to night groups, consisting of several hundred thousand
men, would march about Paris, sometimes in favour of the Assembly
against the Provisional Government, and sometimes in favour of the
Provisional Government against the Assembly. On the 17th of April,
George Sand was in the midst of the crowd, in front of the Hotel de
Ville, in order to see better. On the 15th of May, as the populace was
directing its efforts against the Palais Bourbon, she was in the Rue de
Bourgogne, in her eagerness not to miss anything. As she was passing
in front of a _cafe_, she saw a woman haranguing the crowd in a very
animated way from one of the windows. She was told that this woman
was George Sand. Women were extremely active in this Revolution. They
organized a Legion for themselves, and were styled _"Les Vesuviennes_."
They had their clubs, their banquets and their newspapers. George Sand
was far from approving all this feminine agitation, but she did
not condemn it altogether. She considered that "women and children,
disinterested as they are in all political questions, are in more direct
intercourse with the spirit that breathes from above over the agitations
of this world."(42) It was for them, therefore, to be the inspirers of
politics. George Sand was one of these inspirers. In order to judge what
counsels this Egeria gave, we have only to read some of her letters.
On the 4th of March, she wrote as follows to her friend Girerd: "Act
vigorously, my dear brother. In our present situation, we must have even
more than devotion and loyalty; we must have fanaticism if necessary."
In conclusion, she says that he is not to hesitate "in sweeping away
all that is of a _bourgeois_ nature." In April she wrote to Lamartine,
reproaching him with his moderation and endeavouring to excite his
revolutionary spirit. Later on, although she was not of a very warlike
disposition, she regretted that they had not, like their ancestors of
1793, cemented their Revolution at home by a war with the nations.

(42) _Corresp