on of fighting or of keeping quiet.
There were back shops where workingmen were made to swear that they
would hasten into the street at the first cry of alarm, and "that they
would fight without counting the number of the enemy." This engagement
once entered into, a man seated in the corner of the wine-shop "assumed
a sonorous tone," and said, "You understand! You have sworn!"

Sometimes they went up stairs, to a private room on the first floor,
and there scenes that were almost masonic were enacted. They made the
initiated take oaths to render service to himself as well as to the
fathers of families. That was the formula.

In the tap-rooms, "subversive" pamphlets were read. They treated the
government with contempt, says a secret report of that time.

Words like the following could be heard there:--

"I don't know the names of the leaders. We folks shall not know the day
until two hours beforehand." One workman said: "There are three hundred
of us, let each contribute ten sous, that will make one hundred and
fifty francs with which to procure powder and shot."

Another said: "I don't ask for six months, I don't ask for even two.
In less than a fortnight we shall be parallel with the government. With
twenty-five thousand men we can face them." Another said: "I don't sleep
at night, because I make cartridges all night." From time to time,
men "of bourgeois appearance, and in good coats" came and "caused
embarrassment," and with the air of "command," shook hands with the most
important, and then went away. They never stayed more than ten minutes.
Significant remarks were exchanged in a low tone: "The plot is ripe, the
matter is arranged." "It was murmured by all who were there," to borrow
the very expression of one of those who were present. The exaltation was
such that one day, a workingman exclaimed, before the whole wine-shop:
"We have no arms!" One of his comrades replied: "The soldiers have!"
thus parodying without being aware of the fact, Bonaparte's proclamation
to the army in Italy: "When they had anything of a more secret nature on
hand," adds one report, "they did not communicate it to each other." It
is not easy to understand what they could conceal after what they said.

These reunions were sometimes periodical. At certain ones of them, there
were never more than eight or ten persons present, and they were always
the same. In others, any one entered who wished, and the room was
so full that they were forc