第499章

At this same session the syndic-attorney of the department reports that the mob is ready， that 900 armed men had just entered Paris， that the tocsin would be rung at midnight， and that the municipality tolerates or favors the insurrection. At this same session， the Minister of Justice gives notice that "the laws are powerless，" and that the government is no longer responsible. At this same session， Pétion， the mayor， almost avowing his complicity， appears at the bar of the house， and declares positively that he will have nothing to do with the public forces， because "it would be arming one body of citizens against another."[63] -- Every support is evidently knocked away. Feeling that it is abandoned， the National Assembly gives up， and， as a last expedient， and with a degree of weakness or simplicity which admirably depicts the legislators of the epoch， it adopts a philosophic address to the people， "instructing it what to do in the exercise of its sovereignty."How this is done， it may see the next morning. At 7 o'clock， a Jacobin deputy stops in a cab before the door of the Feuillants club； a crowd gathers around him， and he gives his name， Delmas. The crowd understood it as Dumas， a well-known Constitutionalist， and， in a rage， drag him out of the vehicle and knock him down； had not other deputies run up and given assurances that he was the patriot Delmas， of Toulouse， instead of "the traitor， Mathieu Dumas，" he was a lost man.[64] Dumas makes no effort to enter. He finds on the Place Vend？me a second and not less instructive warning. Some wretches， followed by the usual rabble， carry about a number of heads on pikes， those probably of the journalist Suleau， and three others， massacred a quarter of an hour before； "boys quite young， mere children， play with these heads by tossing them in the air， and catching them on the ends of their sticks." -- There is no doubt but that the deputies of the "Right" and even the "Center，" would do well to go home and stay there. In fact， they are no longer seen in the Assembly.[65] In the afternoon， out of the 630 members still present the evening before， 346 do not answer the call， while about thirty others， had either withdrawn before this or sent in their resignations.[66] The purging is complete， like that to which Cromwell， in 1648， subjected the Long Parliament. Henceforth the Legislative body， reduced to 224 Jacobins or Girondins， with 60 frightened or tractable neutrals， will obey the orders of the street without any difficulty. A change has come over the spirit of the body as well as over its composition； it is nothing more now than a servile instrument in the hands of the seditious， who have mutilated it， and who， masters of it through a first misdeed， are going to use it to legalize other crimes.

VI.

Nights of August 9 and 10. -- The sections. -- Commissioners of the sections at the H？tel-de-ville. -- The revolutionary Commune is substituted for the legal Commune.