"BAZE."

While this was taking place at Mazas, the soldiers were laughing and
drinking in the courtyard of the Assembly. They made their coffee in the
saucepans. They had lighted enormous fires in the courtyard; the flames,
fanned by the wind, at times reached the walls of the Chamber. A
superior official of the Questure, an officer of the National Guard,
Ramond de la Croisette, ventured to say to them, "You will set the
Palace on fire;" whereupon a soldier struck him a blow with his fist.

Four of the pieces taken from the Cour de Canons were ranged in battery
order against the Assembly; two on the Place de Bourgogne were pointed
towards the grating, and two on the Pont de la Concorde were pointed
towards the grand staircase.

As side-note to this instructive tale let us mention a curious fact. The
42d Regiment of the line was the same which had arrested Louis
Bonaparte at Boulogne. In 1840 this regiment lent its aid to the law
against the conspirator. In 1851 it lent its aid to the conspirator
against the law: such is the beauty of passive obedience.


[2] The Questors were officers elected by the Assembly, whose special
duties were to keep and audit the accounts, and who controlled all
matters affecting the social economy of the House.