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their horses touching the horses of our vehicle, these Frenchmen who had
become Mamelukes, these citizen soldiers of the Great Republic
transformed into supporters of the degraded Empire. From the place where
I sat I almost touched them; I could no longer restrain myself.
I lowered the window of the omnibus. I put out my head, and, looking
fixedly at the dense line of soldiers which faced me, I called out, "Down
with Louis Bonaparte. Those who serve traitors are traitors!"
Those nearest to me turned their heads towards me and looked at me with a
tipsy air; the others did not stir, and remained at "shoulder arms," the
peaks of their helmets over their eyes, their eyes fixed upon the ears of
their horses.
In great affairs there is the immobility of statues; in petty mean
affairs there is the immobility of puppets.
At the shout which I raised Arnauld turned sharply round. He also had
lowered his window, and he was leaning half out of the omnibus, with his
arms extended towards the soldiers, and he shouted, "Down with the
traitors!"
To see him thus with his dauntless gesture, his handsome head, pale and
calm, his fervent expression, his beard and his long chestnut hair, one
seemed to behold the radiant and fulminating face of an angry Christ.
The example was contagious and electrical.
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