again. They evidently made a
communication to the troops, because I beheld the latter waving their
arms, but, of course, I did not catch a word of what they said; I was
too far away. It was, I learnt afterwards, the announcement of the
advent of a new ministry, and the appointment of a new commander of the
National Guards. When I saw hats and caps flung into the air, and heard
the people shouting, I made certain that the revolution was at an end. I
was mistaken. It was not Cremieux's communication at all that had
provoked the enthusiasm; it was a second communication, made by some one
from the doorway of the Tuileries immediately after the eminent
barrister had disappeared among the crowd, to the effect that the King
had abdicated in favour of the Comte de Paris, with the Duchesse
d'Orleans as regent. Between the first and second announcements there
could not have elapsed more than five or six minutes, ten at the utmost,
because, before I had time to recover from my surprise, I saw Cremieux
and Gourgaud battle through the tightly wedged masses once more, and
re-enter the Tuileries to verify the news. I am writing this note
especially by the light of subsequent information, for, I repeat, it was
impossible to understand events succinctly by the quickly succeeding
effects they produced at the time. Another ten minutes elapsed--ten
minutes which I shall never forget, because every one of the thousands
present on the Place du Carrousel was in momentary danger of having the
life crushed out of him. It was no one's fault; there was, if I
recollect rightly, but one narrow issue on the river-side, and there was
a dense seething mass standing on the banks, notwithstanding the danger
of that position, for the insurgents were firing freely and recklessly
across the stream. Egress on the opposite side of the Place du
Carrousel, that of the Place du Palais-Royal, had become absolutely
impossible, for at that moment a fierce battle was raging there between
the people and the National Guards for the possession of the military
post of the Chateau d'Eau;[46] and those of the non-combatants who did
not think it necessary to pay for the fall or the maintenance of the
monarchy of July with life or limb, tried to get out of the bullets'
reach. There was but one way of doing so, by a stampede in a southerly
direction; the Rue de Rivoli, at any rate that part which existed, was
entirely blocked to the west, the congeries of streets that have b