Croix Rousse, cross the Rhone by the Pont Morand,
the wooden bridge next to that of La Guillotiere. Near the foot of this
bridge is situated a large open space of ground, called Les Brotteaux,
where the most atrocious of the revolutionary massacres took place. The
site of the fusillade, by which two hundred and seven royalists perished
at one time, is marked by a large chapel, dedicated to the memory of the
victims, in the erection of which they are now proceeding. Three only
are said to have escaped from this massacre, and to be still living.
One of them finding his cords cut asunder by the first shot that reached
him, escaped in the confusion, and plunging amid the thick bushes and
dwarf willows which bordered upon the Rhone, baffled the pursuit of
several soldiers. There is nothing remarkable in the appearance of the
Brotteaux at present; but no true lover of his country ought to neglect
visiting a spot associated with such warning recollections. One of the
stanzas inscribed by Delandine on the cenotaph of his countrymen (which
has been removed to make room for the chapel above mentioned), expresses
briefly, and much in the spirit of Simonides's well known epitaph on the
Spartans, the impressions conveyed by the sight of this Aceldama:

Passant, respecte notre cendre;
Couvrez la d'une simple fleur:
A tes neveux nous te chargeons d'apprendre
"Que notre mort acheta leur bonheur."

This passage is, indeed, prophetic of the salutary effects of a lesson,
which these and a thousand more voices from the tomb will proclaim to
future ages; if, indeed, future ages will believe, that a[8] dastardly
stroller was allowed to glut his full vengeance on the kindred of those
who had hissed him from their stage, and to vow in a fit of wanton
frenzy, that an obelisk only should mark the site of the second city in
France; that he found himself seconded in this plan of destruction by
thousands of hands and voices; that one citizen was executed for
supplying the wounded with provisions, another for extinguishing a fire
in his own house; and that when these pretexts failed, such ridiculous
names as "quadruple" and "quintuple counter-revolutionist" were invented
as terms of accusation. Such facts as these, written in the blood of
thousands, furnish a strong practical comment on the consequences of
anarchy, and the uncompromising firmness which should be displayed in
checking its first inroads; the nature of which was never