fight where I was was the principal cause of the Revolution. I was in
little danger from the shot, for there was an immense crowd in front
of me, though quite within gunshot. [By another letter, a hundred
yards from the troops.] I wished I had stopped there.

"The Paris streets are filled with the most extraordinary crowds of
men, women, and children, ladies and gentlemen. Every person joyful.
The bands of armed men are perfectly polite. Mamma and aunt to-day
walked through armed crowds alone, that were firing blank cartridges
in all directions. Every person made way with the greatest politeness,
and one common man with a blouse, coming by accident against her,
immediately stopped to beg her pardon in the politest manner. There
are few drunken men. The Tuileries is still being run over by the
people; they only broke two things, a bust of Louis Philippe and one
of Marshal Bugeaud, who fired on the people....

"I have been out all day again to-day, and precious tired I am. The
Republican party seems the strongest, and are going about with red
ribbons in their button-holes....

"The title of 'Mister' is abandoned: they say nothing but 'Citizen,'
and the people are shaking hands amazingly. They have got to the top
of the public monuments, and, mingling with bronze or stone statues,
five or six make a sort of _tableau vivant_, the top man holding up
the red flag of the Republic; and right well they do it, and very
picturesque they look. I think I shall put this letter in the post
to-morrow as we got a letter to-night.

(_On Envelope._)

"M. Lamartine has now by his eloquence conquered the whole armed crowd
of citizens threatening to kill him if he did not immediately proclaim
the Republic and red flag. He said he could not yield to the citizens
of Paris alone, that the whole country must be consulted, that he
chose the tricolour, for it had followed and accompanied the triumphs
of France all over the world, and that the red flag had only been
dipped in the blood of the citizens. For sixty hours he has been
quieting the people: he is at the head of everything. Don't be
prejudiced, Frank, by what you see in the papers. The French have
acted nobly, splendidly; there has been no brutality, plundering, or
stealing.... I did not like the French before; but in this respect
they are the finest people in the world. I am so glad to have been
here."