f feeling on
the part of the troops, and after a moment of surprise and horror the
soldiers, prompted by an irresistible impulse, raised the butts of
their rifles in the air and shouted: "Long live the National Guard!"
The general in command, being powerless to control his men, went off
to Vincennes by way of the quays and the people remained masters of the
Bastille and of the faubourg.

"It is a result that might have cost more dear, in my case especially,"
remarks M. Moreau and he shows us his hat which has been pierced by a
bullet. "A brand new hat," he adds with a laugh.

Half past ten o'clock.--Three students from the Ecole Polytechnique have
arrived at the Mairie. They report that the students have broken out of
the school and have come to place themselves at the disposition of the
people. A certain number have therefore distributed themselves among the
mairies of Paris.

The insurrection is making progress every hour. It now demands that
Marshal Bugeaud be replaced and the Chamber dissolved. The pupils of
the Ecole Polytechnique go further and talk about the abdication of the
King.

What is happening at the Tuileries? There is no news, either, from the
Ministry, no order from the General Staff. I decide to go to the Chamber
of Deputies, by way of the Hotel de Ville, and M. Ernest Moreau is kind
enough to accompany me.

We find the Rue Saint Antoine bristling with barricades. We make
ourselves known and the insurgents help us to clamber over the heaps
of paving-stones. As we draw near to the Hotel de Ville, from which the
roar of a great crowd reaches our ears, and as we cross some ground on
which are buildings in course of erection, we see coming towards us with
hurried steps M. de Rambuteau, the Prefect of the Seine.

"Hi! Monsieur the Prefect, what brings you here?" I cry.

"Prefect! Do I know whether I am still Prefect?" he replies with a surly
air.

A crowd, which looks anything but benevolent, has already begun to
gather. M. Moreau notices a house that is to let. We enter it, and M. de
Rambuteau recounts his misadventure.

"I was in my office with two or three Municipal Councillors," he says,
"when we heard a great noise in the corridor. The door was thrown
violently open, and there entered unto me a big strapping captain of the
National Guard at the head of an excited body of troops.

"'Monsieur,' said the man, 'you must get out of here.'

"'Pardon me, Monsieur, here, at the Hotel de Ville I a