the steps of saint-roch

as soon as morgan had joined the sectionists, and stood facing bonaparte, the latter saluted him by drawing his sword, and then, turning to cartaux, he said:

"you did well, general, to abandon the pont-neuf, in spite of the order which i gave you. you could not hold it with three hundred men against thirty-two thousand. but here you have more than a thousand men, and this is the thermopyl? of the convention; you must die rather than yield a single step. come, barras!"

barras saluted general cartaux and followed bonaparte as though he were already accustomed to receiving orders from him. then, continuing along the quai, the young general ordered two guns to be placed a little below the balcony of charles ix., to command the flank of the quai conti. then, continuing to follow the quai, he entered the court of the carrousel. he had left by the swing-bridge at the extreme end of the tuileries, had crossed the place de la révolution—where there was a strong reserve force of men and artillery—had followed the line of the feuillants, the place vend?me, the cul-de-sac du dauphin, the rue[pg 326] saint-honoré, and had then returned by way of the louvre and re-entered by the carrousel.

just as bonaparte and barras disappeared within the gate of the carrousel, a messenger bearing a flag of truce was introduced to them with all the ceremonial customary among men all over the civilized world when treating with fortified towns. the bearer approached them through the gate of l'echelle, on the opposite side of the carrousel, and was preceded by a trumpeter. questioned as to his errand, he said that he came with proposals from citizen danican, general-in-chief of the sectionists.

the two generals led him to the hall of the convention, where the bandage covering his eyes was removed. then, in a threatening voice, he offered peace on condition that the battalion of the patriots should be disarmed and the decrees of fructidor repealed. then the convention gave way to a weakness, which, to their shame, is often manifest in large assemblies. and the strangest part of all was that this weakness emanated from a quarter where the greatest strength had been looked for.

boissy d'anglas, so grand, so firm, so like the ancients on the 1st prairial, now descended from the tribune, and offered the sectionists, not what they had demanded, but a conference with danican, in which they might come to an understanding. another deputy proposed to disarm all those patriots of '89 whose conduct during the revolution had been reprehensible. finally a third proposed a more reprehensible measure than the preceding ones; namely, to trust to the good faith of the sections. lanjuinais, who had so resolutely withstood the jacobins and who had dared to oppose the massacres of september, yielded to fear, and suggested that it would be well to accept the proposals of these "good citizens." now the "good citizens" were none other than the sectionists.

one of the conventionals went even further, crying: "i am told that some assassins have crept into the battalion of the patriots of '89. i demand that they be shot."

[pg 327]

but then chénier sprang to the tribune. the poet's head was conspicuous among all that throng of heads. his brow was inspired, not by the muse of drama, but by the genius of patriotism.

"i am in truth amazed," he cried, "that you should dare to consider the demands of the revolted sections. there can be no middle course for the convention. victory or death! when the convention has conquered, it will be time enough to separate the guilty from those who are only misguided. talk of assassins," he continued; "what of the assassins in the revolted parties!"

lanjuinais ascended the tribune and said: "i foresee civil war."

twenty voices cried out at the same time: "civil war! it is you who are bringing it about."

lanjuinais endeavored to reply, but cries of "down! down!" came from all parts of the hall.

it is true that just then they had seen general bonaparte receive some stacks of arms.

"for whom are these arms?" they cried.

"for the convention, if it is worthy of them," replied he.

the inspiration breathed by the young general's reply thrilled every heart.

"arms! give us arms!" cried the conventionals. "we will die together!"

the convention, humiliated for a moment, had recovered itself. the lives of its representatives were not yet saved, but their honor was. bonaparte profited by the spark of enthusiasm which he had just kindled. each deputy received a musket and a packet of cartridges. barras exclaimed: "we are going to die in the streets in defence of the convention. it is for you to die here, if need be, in defence of liberty."

chénier, who had been the hero of the session, ascended the tribune again, and, with that eloquence which is akin to grandeur, he raised his arms to heaven, saying: "o thou, who for the last six years hath guided the ship of[pg 328] the revolution through the most frightful tempests, amid the rocks of contending parties; thou, through whose aid we have conquered europe without a government and without rulers, without generals, and with soldiers without pay, o thou, genius of liberty, watch over us thy last defenders!"

at that moment, as though in answer to chénier's prayer, the first shots were heard. every deputy seized his musket, and, biting off his cartridge, loaded it. it was a solemn moment, during which nothing but the sound of ramrods in the musket barrels was heard.

ever since early morning the republicans, provoked by the grossest insults and even by occasional shots, had obeyed with heroic patience the order not to fire. but attacked this time by a volley from a court which the sectionists had captured, and seeing one republican drop dead, and others, wounded, totter and even fall, they replied by a volley.

bonaparte at the first shot hastened into the court of the tuileries.

"who fired first?" he asked.

"the sectionists," came the answer from all sides.

"then all is well," he said. "and it will not be my fault if our uniforms are reddened with french blood."

he listened; it seemed to him that the firing was heaviest in the direction of saint-roch. he set out at a gallop, and found two pieces of artillery at the feuillants, which he ordered to be limbered up, and advanced with them to the head of the rue du dauphin.

the rue du dauphin was a furnace. the republicans held the street and were defending it. but the sectionists occupied all the windows, and stood in groups upon the steps of the church of saint-roch, whence they were raining a hail of bullets upon their adversaries.

bonaparte arrived at this moment, followed by his two pieces of artillery and the battalion of '89. he ordered the two officers of the battalion to advance into the rue saint-[pg 329]honoré, amid and in spite of the terrible fusillade, and wheel one to the right and the other to the left.

the officers called their men, executed the requisite man?uvre, and fired in the direction designated, one toward the palais royal and the other toward the place vend?me. at the same moment a hurricane of fire swept along behind them. it was caused by general bonaparte's two cannon, which vomited fire simultaneously and covered the steps of the church of saint-roch with corpses and blood.