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To put Nemesis to flight, what a terrifying triumph!
To Louis Napoleon pertains this glory, which is the summit of his shame.
Let us narrate it.
Let us narrate what History had never seen before.
The assassination of a people by a man.
Suddenly, at a given signal, a musket shot being fired, no matter where,
no matter by whom, the shower of bullets poured upon the crowd. A shower
of bullets is also a crowd; it is death scattered broadcast. It does not
know whither it goes, nor what it does; it kills and passes on.
But at the same time it has a species of soul; it is premeditated, it
executes a will. This was an unprecedented moment. It seemed as though a
handful of lightnings was falling upon the people. Nothing simpler. It
formed a clear solution to the difficulty; the rain of lead overwhelmed
the multitude. What are you doing there? Die! It is a crime to be
passing by. Why are you in the street? Why do you cross the path of the
Government? The Government is a cut-throat. They have announced a thing,
they must certainly carry it out; what is begun must assuredly be
achieved; as Society is being saved, the People must assuredly be
exterminated.
Are there not social necessities? Is it not essential that Béville
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