achment of the
Municipal Guard arrived. The Municipal Guard was a handsome corps
of mounted police, the men being all stalwart and fine-looking. They
wore brazen helmets and horse-tails and glittering breastplates,
but they were very unpopular, while the National Guards were looked
on by the rioters as their supporters. The Municipal Guards, when
they came upon the bridge, began treating the crowd roughly, a
good many persons were hurt, and an old woman was trodden down. At
this the crowd grew furious, stones were thrown, and the soldiers
drew their swords. Before nightfall there was riot and disorder all
over Paris. Towards dusk the _rappel_--the signal for the National
Guard to muster--had been beaten in the streets, and soon many
soldiers of that body might be seen, escorted by men in blouses
carrying their guns, while the National Guards, unarmed, were shouting
and singing.

All Tuesday, February 22, the affair was a mere riot. But during
the night the secret societies met, and decided on more formidable
action.

The next morning was chilly and rainy, very dispiriting to the
troops, who had bivouacked all night in the public squares, where
they had been ill-provided with food and forage. The coats and
swords of the students at the Polytechnic had been removed during
the night, to prevent their joining the bands who were singing the
"Marseillaise" and the "Dernier Chant des Girondins" under their
windows.

Meantime barricades had been raised in the thickly populated parts of
Paris, and successful efforts had been made to enlist the sympathies
of the soldiers and the National Guard.

During the early hours of Wednesday, the 23d, reports of these
disaffections succeeded each other rapidly at the Tuileries, and
a council was held in the king's cabinet, to which the queen and
the princes were invited. The king spoke of resigning his crown,
adding that he was "fortunate in being able to resign it." "But
you cannot abdicate, _mon ami_," said the queen. "You owe yourself
to France. The demand made is for the resignation of the Ministry.
M. Guizot should resign, and I feel sure that being the man of
honor that he is, he will do so in this emergency."

M. Guizot and his colleagues at once gave in their resignations.
The king wept as he embraced them, bidding them farewell. Count
Mole was then called in and requested to form a ministry. Before
he could do so, however, things had grown worse, and M. Thiers,
instead of