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The apartments of M. Grévy, where we had been sitting, being too small,
we appointed for our meeting-place No. 10. Rue des Moulins, although
warned that the police had already made a raid upon this house. But we
had no choice; in time of Revolution prudence is impossible, and it is
speedily seen that it is useless. Confidence, always confidence; such is
the law of those grand actions which at times determine great events.
The perpetual improvisation of means, of policy, of expedients, of
resources, nothing step by step, everything on the impulse of the moment,
the ground never sounded, all risks taken as a whole, the good with the
bad, everything chanced on all sides at the same time, the hour, the
place, the opportunity, friends, family, liberty, fortune, life,--such
is the revolutionary conflict.
Towards three o'clock about sixty Representatives were meeting at No.
1
0, Rue des Moulins, in the large drawing-room, out of which opened a
little room where the Committee of Resistance was in session.
It was a gloomy December day, and darkness seemed already to have almost
set in. The publisher Hetzel, who might also be called the poet Hetzel,
is of a noble mind and of great courage. He has, as is known, shown
unusual political qualities as Secretary-General of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs under Bastide; he came to offer himself to us, as the
brave and patriotic Hingray had already done in the morning. Hetzel knew
that we needed a printing-office above everything; we had not the
faculty of speech, and Louis Bonaparte spoke alone. Hetzel had found a
printer who had said to him, "Force me, put a pistol to my throat, and
I will print whatever you wish." It was only a question, therefore, of
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