t.

The Commissary interrupted him with these words, which are literally
given,--

"Mr. President, I am not going to enter upon an oratorical combat with
you. I have my orders, and I transmit them to you. Obey."

"Whom?"

"The Prefect of Police."

The President asked this strange question, which implied the acceptance
of an order,--

"Have you a warrant?"

The Commissary answered,--

"Yes."

And he handed a paper to the President.

The judges turned pale.

The President unfolded the paper; M. Cauchy put his head over M.
Hardouin's shoulder. The President read but,--

"You are ordered to dissolve the High Court, and, in case of refusal, to
arrest MM. Beranger, Rocher, De Boissieux, Pataille, and Hello."

And, turning towards the judges, the President added,--

"Signed, Maupas."

Then, addressing himself to the Commissary, he resumed,--

"There is some mistake, these are not our names. MM. Beranger, Rocher,
and De Boissieux have served their time and are no longer judges of the
High Court; as for M. Hello, he is dead."

The High Court, in reality, was temporary and renewable; the _coup
d'etat_ overthrew the Constitution, but did not understand it. The
warrant signed "Maupas" was applicable to the preceding High Court. The
_coup d'etat_ had been misled by an old list. Such is the heedlessness of
assassins.

"Mr. Commissary of Police," continued the President, "you see that these
names are not ours."

"That does not matter to me," replied the Commissary. "Whether this
warrant does or does not apply to you, disperse, or I shall arrest all of
you."

And he added,--

"At once."

The judges were silenced; one of them picked up from the table a loose
sheet of paper, which was the judgment they had drawn up, and put the
paper in his pocket.

Then they went away.

The Commissary pointed to the door where the bayonets were, and said,--

"That way."

They went out by the lobby between two ranks of soldiers. The detachment
of Republican Guards escorted them as far as the St. Louis Gallery.

There they set them free; their heads bowed down.

It was about three o'clock.

While these events were taking place in the Library, close by, in the
former great Chamber of the Parliament, the Court of Cassation was
sitting in judgment as usual, without noticing what was happening so near
at hand. It would appear, then, that the police exhaled no odor.

Let us at once have done with this High Court.

I