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Representatives of the People. Louis Napoleon sent a sergeant to drive
them away. The Assembly, having resisted the sergeant, he sent an
officer, the temporary commander of the sixth battalion of the Chasseurs
de Vincennes. This officer, young, fair-haired, a scoffer, half laughing,
half threatening, pointed with his finger to the stairs filled with
bayonets, and defied the Assembly. "Who is this young spark?" asked a
member of the Right. A National Guard who was there said, "Throw him out
of the window!" "Kick him downstairs!" cried one of the people.
This Assembly, grievous as were its offences against the principles of
the Revolution--and with these wrongs Democracy alone had the right to
reproach it--this Assembly, I repeat, was the National Assembly, that is
to say, the Republic incarnate, the living Universal Suffrage, the
Majesty of the Nation, upright and visible. Louis Bonaparte assassinated
this Assembly, and moreover insulted it. A slap on the face is worse than
a poniard thrust.
The gardens of the neighborhood occupied by the troops were full of
broken bottles. They had plied the soldiers with drink. They obeyed the
"epaulettes" unconditionally, and according to the expression of
eyewitnesses, appeared "dazed-drunk." The Representatives appealed to
them, and said to them, "It is a crime!" They answered, "We are not aware
of it."
One soldier was heard to say to another, "What have you done with your
ten francs of this morning?"
The sergeants hustled the officers. With the exception of the commander,
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