in number.
Yesterday morning, the 23rd of March, they were reinforced by battalions
that joined them, one by one, from all parts of Paris. They obey the
orders, they say, of Admiral Saisset, raised to the superior command of
the National Guard. It is believed that there are mitrailleuses within
the Bourse and in the court of the Messageries. The massacre of the Rue
de la Paix decided the most timorous. There is a determination to have
done, by some means or other, with tyrants who represent in fact but a
small part of the population of Paris, and who wish to dominate over the
whole city. The preparations for resistance are being made between the
Hotel de Ville on the one hand, where the members of the Committee are
sitting, formidably defended, and the Place Vendome, crammed with
insurgents, on the other. Is it civil war--civil war, with all its
horrors, that is about to commence? A company of Gardes Mobiles has
joined the battalions of Order. Pupils of the Ecole Polytechnique come
and go between the _mairie_ of the Second Arrondissement and the Grand
Hotel, where Admiral Saisset and his staff are said to be installed.[19]
A triple line of National Guards closes the entrance of the Rue Vivienne
against carriages and everybody who does not belong to the quarter.
Nevertheless, a large number of people, eager for information, manage to
pass the sentries in spite of the rule. On the Place de la Bourse a
great crowd discusses, and gesticulates around the piled bayonets which
glitter in the sun. I notice that the pockets of the National Guards are
crammed full; a large number of cartridges has been distributed.

The orders are strict: no one is to quit his post. There are men,
however, who have been standing there, without sleep, for twenty-four
hours. No one must leave the camp of the Friends of Order even to go and
dine. Those who have no money either have rations given them or are
provided at the expense of the _mairie_, from a restaurant of the Rue
des Filles Saint-Thomas, with a dinner consisting of soup and bouilli, a
plate of meat, vegetables, and a bottle of wine. I hear one of them
exclaim,

"If the Federals knew that we not only get our pay, but are also fed
like princes, they would come over to us, every man of them. As for us,
we are determined to obey the _maires_ and deputies of Paris." Much
astonishment is manifested at the absence of Vice-Admiral Saisset; as he
has accepted the command he ought to show himsel