The spectacle was such, that horror
paralyses every other sentiment, even that of self-preservation.
Consternation sits encircled by a blazing atmosphere of terror! The
Hotel de Ville is in flames; the smoke, at times a deep red, envelops
all, so that it is impossible to distinguish more than the outlines of
immense walls; the wind brings, in heavy gusts, a deadly odour--of burnt
flesh, perhaps--which turns the heart sick and the brain giddy. On the
other side the Tuileries, the Legion d'Honneur, the Ministere de la
Guerre, and the Ministere des Finances are flaming still, like five
great craters of a gigantic volcano! It is the eruption of Paris! Alone,
a great black mass detaches itself from the universal conflagration, it
is the Tour Saint-Jacques, standing out like a malediction.

One of the three friends, who are with me on the roof of the house, was
able, about an hour ago, to get near the Hotel de Ville. He related to
me what follows:--

"At the moment of my arrival, the flames burst forth from all the
windows of the Hotel de Ville, and the most intense terror seized
upon all the inhabitants blocked up in the surrounding quarters, for
a terrible rumour is spread; it is said that more than fifty
thousand pounds of powder is contained in the subterranean vaults.
The incendiaries must have poured the demoniacal liquid in rivers
through the great halls, down the great staircases, from the very
garrets, to envelop even the Salle du Trone. The great fire throws a
blood-red glare over the city, and on the quays of the Institute.
Night is so like day that a letter may be read in the street. Is
this the end of the famous capital of France? Have the infamous
fiends of the committee for public safety ordered, in their cowardly
death-agony, that this should be the end? Yes, it is the ruin of all
that was grand, generous, radiant, and consolatory for our country
that they have decided to consummate, with a chorus of hellish
laughter, in which terror and ferocity struggle with brutal
degradation.

"In the midst of this horror, confused rumours are circulated. It is
said that the heat will penetrate to the cellars and cause an
explosion of whole quarters. Then what will become of the
inhabitants, and the riches that they have accumulated? The heat is
overwhelming between the Tuileries and the Hotel de Ville--that is,
over the space of