city in every direction, and every prominent
place was occupied by squadrons of cavalry or squads of infantry.
Nevertheless, soon after breakfast the people collected at various points,
at first in small numbers; but gradually these swelled in size in
proportion as they advanced to what appeared the centre to which all were
attracted, the _Place de la Concorde_. Shouts, laughter, and merriment were
heard from all quarters of the crowd, and the moving masses appeared more
like a body of people going to some holiday amusement, than conspirators
bent upon the overthrow of a government.

Just as a detached body of these was passing through the Rue de Burgoigne,
a gentleman stepped out of one of the houses in that narrow street, and,
partly led by curiosity and partly by his zeal for the popular cause,
joined their ranks and advanced with them as far as the _Palais du Corps
Legislatif_, where they were met by a troop of dragoons, who endeavored to
disperse the crowd. Angry words were exchanged, and a few sabre blows fell
among the crowd. One of the troopers, who seemed determined to check the
advancing column, rode up to one who appeared to be a leader, and, raising
his sword, exclaimed, "Back, or I'll cleave your skull!" But the youthful
and athletic champion folded his arms, and, without the slightest
discomposure, replied, "Coward! strike an unarmed man;--prove your
courage!" The dragoon, without a reply, wheeled his horse, and rode to
another part of the square. Just at that moment, another insolent trooper
pressed his horse against the gentleman who had joined the crowd in the Rue
de Burgoigne. The latter lifted his cane, and was about to chastise the
soldier's insolence, when a man in a blouse and a slouched hat resembling
the Mexican _sombrero_, arrested his arm, and whispered to him, "Do not
strike! you are not in America: France is not as yet the place to resent
the insolence of a soldier." Irritated at this unexpected interference, the
gentleman endeavored to free his arm from the vice-like grasp of the
new-comer, while he exclaimed, "Unhand me, sir! A free American is
everywhere a freeman; and these soldiers shall not prevent me from
proceeding and aiding the cause of an oppressed people." "Say rather a
hungry people," replied the other; and then added with a smile, and in good
English, "Has the quiet student of the Juniata been so soon transformed
into a fierce revolutionary partisan? What would Captain Sanker say