The majority of the members of the Committee were still in favor of a

certain slackening of action which should tend to prolong the struggle;

and it was difficult to say that they were in the wrong. It was certain

that if they could protract the situation in which the coup d'état had

thrown Paris until the next week, Louis Bonaparte was lost. Paris does

not allow herself to be trampled upon by an army for a whole week.

Nevertheless, I was for my own part impressed with the following:--The

workmen's societies offered us three or four thousand combatants, a

powerful assistance;--the workman does not understand strategy, he lives

on enthusiasm, abatements of ardor discourage him; his zeal is not

extinguished, but it cools:--three thousand to-day would be five hundred

to-morrow. And then some serious incident had just taken place on the

Boulevards. We were still ignorant of what it actually was: we could not

foresee what consequences it might bring about; but seemed to me

impossible that the still unknown, but yet violent event, which had just

taken place would not modify the situation, and consequently change our

plan of battle. I began to speak to this effect. I stated that we ought

to accept the offer of the associations, and to throw them at once into

the struggle; I added that revolutionary warfare often necessitates

sudden changes of tactics, that a general in the open country and before

the enemy operates as he wishes; it is all clear around him; he knows

the effective strength of his soldiers, the number of his regiments; so

many men, so many horses, so many cannons, he knows his strength, and

the strength of his enemy, he chooses his hour and his ground, he has a

map under his eyes, he sees what he is doing. He is sure of his

reserves, he possesses them, he keeps them back, he utilizes them when

he wishes, he always has them by him. "But for ourselves," cried I, "we

are in an undefined and inconceivable position. We are stepping at a

459

The History of a Crime