individuals with wild
physiognomies, and sometimes one hears an excited, menacing
discussion on Louis Philippe, who, as well as his ministers,
hangs only by a single hair. The populace is disgusted with
the Government, and would like to overthrow it, in order to
make an end of the misery; but the Government is too well on
its guard, and the least concourse of people is at once
dispersed by the mounted police.

Riots and attentats were still the order of the day, and no opportunity
for a demonstration was let slip by the parties hostile to the
Government. The return of General Ramorino from Poland, where he had
taken part in the insurrection, offered such an opportunity. This
adventurer, a natural son of Marshal Lannes, who began his military
career in the army of Napoleon, and, after fighting wherever fighting
was going on, ended it on the Piazza d'Armi at Turin, being condemned by
a Piedmontese court-martial to be shot for disobedience to orders, was
hardly a worthy recipient of the honours bestowed upon him during his
journey through Germany and France. But the personal merit of such
popular heroes of a day is a consideration of little moment; they are
mere counters, counters representative of ideas and transient whims.

The enthusiasm of the populace for our general is of course
known to you [writes Chopin to his friend Woyciechowski].
Paris would not be behind in this respect. [Footnote: The
Poles and everything Polish were at that time the rage in
Paris; thus, for instance, at one of the theatres where
dramas were generally played, they represented now the whole
history of the last Polish insurrection, and the house was
every night crammed with people who wished to see the combats
and national costumes.] The Ecole de Medecine and the jeune
France, who wear their beards and cravats according to a
certain pattern, intend to honour him with a great
demonstration. Every political party--I speak of course only
of the ultras--has its peculiar badge: the Carlists have
green waistcoats, the Republicans and Napoleonists (and these
form the jeune France) [red], [Footnote: Chopin has omitted
this word, which seems to be necessary to complete the
sentence; at least, it is neither in the Polish nor German
edition of Karasowski's book.] the Saint-Simonians who
profess a new religion, wear blue, and so forth. Nearly a
thousand of these young peo