any words, but fairly and squarely, taking him, so to speak, as the
Bible urges that the bull be taken, by the horns.

Garnier-Pages propped up the accusation that had almost been laid low.
He brought the personal pronoun much too frequently into the discussion;
he acted ill-advisedly, for everybody's personality ought to have been
effaced in view of the seriousness of the debate and the anxiety of the
country. He turned to all sides with a sort of disconsolate fury;
he summoned Arago to intervene, Ledru-Rollin to speak, Lamartine to
explain. All three remained silent, thus failing in their duty and
destiny.

The Assembly, however, pursued Garnier-Pages with its hooting, and when
he said to Cavaignac: "You wanted to throw us down," it burst into a
laugh, at the sentiment as well as at the expression. Garnier-Pages
gazed at the laughing house with an air of despair.

From all sides came shouts of: "The closure!"

The Assembly had reached a state in which it would not listen and could
no longer hear.

M. Ledru-Rollin appeared in the tribune.

From every bench the cry arose: "At last!"

Silence ensued.

Ledru-Rollin's speech had a physical effect as it were; it was coarse,
but powerful. Garnier-Pages had pointed out the General's political
shortcomings; Ledru-Rollin pointed out his military shortcomings. With
the vehemence of the tribune he mingled all the skill of the advocate.
He concluded with an appeal for mercy for the offender. He shook
Cavaignac's position.

When he resumed his seat between Pierre Leroux and de Lamennais, a man
with long grey hair, and attired in a white frock-coat, crossed the
Chamber and shook Ledru-Rollin's hand. He was Lagrange.

Cavaignac for the fourth time ascended the tribune. It was half past
10 o'clock at night. The noise of the crowd and the evolutions of the
cavalry on the Place de la Concorde could be heard. The aspect of the
Assembly was becoming sinister.

Cavaignac, who was tired, had decided to assume a haughty attitude. He
addressed the Mountain and defied it, declaring to the mountaineers,
amid the cheers of the majority and of the reactionaries, that he at
all times preferred "their abuse to their praise." This appeared to
be violent and was clever; Cavaignac lost the Rue Taitbout, which
represented the Socialists, and won the Rue de Poitiers, which
represented the Conservatives.

After this apostrophe he remained a few moments motionless, then passed
his hand