e provinces,
when it was decided to give one in Paris; and a large inclosed piece
of ground on the Rue Chaillot, not far from the Arch of Triumph,
was fixed upon for the purpose. This banquet was to take place on
Tuesday, Feb. 22, 1848. Until Monday afternoon opinions seemed
divided as to whether it would be suffered to go on. But meantime the
city had been crammed with troops, and the sleep of its inhabitants
had been broken night after night by the tramp of regiments and the
rumble of artillery. Monday, February 21, was a beautiful day,
the air was soft and genial, the streets and the Champs Elysees
were very gay. Scarcely any one was aware at that time that it
was the intention of the Government to forbid the banquet; but
that night the preparations made for it were carted away by order
of the liberal leaders, who had been warned of the decision of the
authorities, while at the same time every loose paving-stone that
might help to erect a barricade was, by orders from the police,
removed out of the way.

When morning dawned, a proclamation, forbidding the banquet, was
posted on every street-corner. The soldiers were everywhere confined
to their quarters, the windows of which were stuffed with mattresses;
but to residents in Paris the day seemed to pass quietly, though
about noon the Place de la Madeleine was full of men surrounding
the house of Odillon Barrot, the chief leader of the opposition,
demanding what, under the circumstances, they had better do. In the
Place de la Concorde, troops were endeavoring to prevent the crowd
from crossing the Seine and assembling in front of the Chamber of
Deputies. In order to break up the throng upon the bridge, a heavy
wagon was driven over it at a rapid pace, escorted by soldiers, who
slashed about them with their sheathed swords. At the residence
of M. Guizot, then both Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign
Affairs, a large crowd had assembled and had broken his windows;
but the rioters were dispersed the Municipal Guard and the Police.

In the afternoon, on the Place de la Concorde, a party of men and
boys, apparently without leaders, contrived to break through the
troops guarding the bridge, and began to ascend the steps of the
Chamber of Deputies. Being refused admission to the hall, they
proceeded to break windows and do other damage. Then a party of
dragoons began to clear the bridge, but good-humoredly, and the
people were retiring as fast as they might, when a det