oncerning the
massacres in the Place Vendome. It must be acknowledged that all the
Federals, officers and soldiers, are not devils or drunkards. A few
hundred men getting drunk in the cabarets--(I have perhaps been wrong to
lay so much stress here upon the prevalence of this vice among the
insurrectionists)--a few tipsy brutes, ought not to be sufficient to
authorise us to condemn a hundred thousand men, among whom are certainly
to be found some right-minded persons who are convinced of the justice
of their cause. These unknown and suddenly elevated chiefs, whom the
revolution has singled out, are they all unworthy of our esteem, and
devoid of capacity? They possess, perhaps, a new and vital force that it
would be right and perhaps necessary to utilise somehow. The ideas which
they represent ought to be studied, and if they prove useful, put into
practice. This is what the Assembly has understood and what it has done.
By concessions which enlarge rather than diminish its influence, it puts
all right-minded men, soldiers and officers, under the obligation of
returning to their allegiance. Those who, having read the proclamation
of Admiral Saisset, still refuse to recognise the Government, are no
longer men acting for the sake of Paris and the Republic, but rioters
guilty of pursuing the most criminal paths, for the gratification of
their own bad passions. Thus the tares will be separated from the wheat,
and torn up without mercy. Yesterday and the day before, at the Place de
la Bourse, at the Place des Victoires and the Bank, we were resolved on
resistance--resistance, nothing more, for none of us, I am sure, would
have fired a shot without sufficient provocation--and even this
resolution cost us much pain and some hesitation. We felt that in the
event of our being attacked, our shots might strike many an innocent
breast--and perhaps at the last moment our hearts would have failed us.
Now, no thoughts of that kind can hinder us. In recognising our demand,
the Assembly has got right entirely on its side, we shall now consider
all rebellion against the authority of which it makes so able a use, as
an act entailing immediate punishment. Until now, fearing to be
abandoned or misunderstood by the Government, we had determined to obey
the mayors and deputies elected by the people, but the Assembly, by its
judicious conduct, has shown itself worthy confidence. Let them command,
we are ready to obey.

Truly this change in the at