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"
Who is this man?" the combatants behind the barricade asked each other.
Suddenly they cried out,--
"He is a Representative of the People!"
Denis had, in fact, suddenly assumed his brother Gaston's sash.
What he had premeditated was about to be accomplished; the hour of the
heroic falsehood had arrived. He cried out,--
"Soldiers, do you know what the man is who is speaking to you at this
moment? He is not only a citizen, he is a Legislator! He is a
Representative chosen by Universal Suffrage! My name is Dussoubs, and I
am a Representative of the People. It is in the name of the National
Assembly, it is in the name of the Sovereign Assembly, it is in the name
of the People, and in the name of the Law, that I summon you to hear me.
Soldiers, you are the armed force. Well, then, when the Law speaks, the
armed force listens."
This time the silence was not broken.
We reproduce these words almost literally; such as they are, and such as
they have remained graven on the memory of those who heard them; but
what we cannot reproduce, and what should be added to these words, in
order to realize the effect, is the attitude, the accent, the thrill of
emotion, the vibration of the words issuing from this noble breast, the
intense impression produced by the terrible hour and place.
510
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