of human existence, popular acclamation, resounding
in their ears. I had known some of them, I had seen then all; and now I
saw those highly gifted, vigorously practised, and fiery-souled men,
shaken down in an instant like a shock of corn; swept to death as if
they were but so many weeds; extinguished in a moment, and in another
moment flung aside, a heap of clay, to make room for other dead. And
this was Republicanism--this the reign of knowledge, the triumph of
freedom, the glory of political regeneration! Even in that most trying
moment, when I saw the waggon, in which I remained the last survivor but
one, give up my unfortunate companion to the executioner, my parting
words to him, as I shook his cold hand, were--"Better the forest and the
savage than republicanism! Doubly cursed be murder, when it takes the
name of freedom!"

I then resolved to see and hear no more; gave a brief and still a fond
recollection to England; and, committing my spirit to a still higher
care, I bowed my forehead on my hands, like one laying down his head for
the final blow!

But while I was still thus absorbed I heard a sudden shout, the
trampling of cavalry, and the sound of trumpets. I again raised my eyes.
A strong body of French troopers, covered with the dust of the
high-road, and evidently exhausted by a long journey, were passing along
the _quai_ which bordered the scene of execution. In the midst of these
squadrons were seen Austrian standards surmounted by the tricolor, and
evidently carried as trophies. The rumour now ran quickly through the
spectators, that Flanders had been entered, that the enemy had been
routed, and that a column of Austrian prisoners was passing through the
streets, of which those squadrons formed the escort.

What could now detain the multitude? The public curiosity would probably
have defied grape-shot; with one burst they poured from the square. When
the populace went, why should the National Guard stay behind?--were they
not as much entitled to satisfy their curiosity? Three-fourths of the
guard instantly piled their muskets, leaving them in care of their less
zealous or more lazy fellow warriors, and ran after the multitude. The
executioners were like other men; equally touched by their "country's
glory," and fond of a spectacle. They dropped by twos and threes quietly
from the sides of the scaffold, and made their way to the _quai_. In the
mean time I was left disregarded; but I was still fettered