of the
insurgents.

It was well known that General Marmont could feel but little sympathy
in the cause which, in obedience to his oath, he felt compelled to
defend. The insurgents were now pressing the troops on every side. An
incessant fire of musketry, accompanied by loud shouts, indicated the
renewed severity with which the battle was beginning to rage. The
Provisional Government, anxious to arrest, if possible, the carnage
inevitable upon the continuance of the struggle, dispatched M. Arago,
the celebrated philosopher, who was an intimate friend of General
Marmont, to confer with him upon the subject. The philosopher was
introduced to the warrior, seated upon his horse in the middle of the
Carrousel, surrounded by his staff of officers. The following is, in
substance, the conversation which is represented as having taken
place between them. M. Arago first urged General Marmont to imitate
the troops of the line, and, with his Guard, espouse the cause of the
people, which was the cause of liberty and justice. The general
firmly and somewhat passionately replied,

"No! propose nothing to me which will dishonor me."

M. Arago then urged him to abandon a bad cause, to surrender his
command, retire to St. Cloud, and return his sword to the king, and
no longer to fight in defense of despotic measures, and against the
people, who were struggling only for their rights. The general
replied:

"You know very well whether or not I approve of those fatal and
odious ordinances. But I am a soldier. I am in the post which has
been intrusted to me. To abandon that post under the fire of
sedition, to desert my troops, to be unfaithful to my king, would be
desertion, flight, ignominy. My fate is frightful. But it is the
decree of destiny, and I must go through with it."[W]

[Footnote W: "The Duc de Raguse found himself invested with a real
military dictatorship. His situation was a cruel one. If he took part
with the insurgents, he betrayed a king who relied upon him. If he
put so many mothers in mourning, without even believing in the
justice of his cause, he committed an atrocity. If he stood aloof, he
was dishonored. Of these three lines of conduct he adopted that which
was most fatal to the people."--LOUIS BLANC].

While they were conversing, the battle was still raging at the
outposts with the clamor of shouts, musketry, and booming cannon. An
officer came, covered with dust, and bleeding from his wounds, to
urge that rei