mercy, and exulted in the inauguration of an epoch of reasonable
democracy free from the tyrannical fads of Socialism.

"The other exception was a paper thought to be one of the most
violent opponents of democracy, and so it was; but the editor of it
found his manhood, and spoke for himself and not for his paper. In a
few simple, indignant words he asked people to consider what a
society was worth which had to be defended by the massacre of unarmed
citizens, and called on the Government to withdraw their state of
siege and put the general and his officers who fired on the people on
their trial for murder. He went further, and declared that whatever
his opinion might be as to the doctrines of the Socialists, he for
one should throw in his lot with the people, until the Government
atoned for their atrocity by showing that they were prepared to
listen to the demands of men who knew what they wanted, and whom the
decrepitude of society forced into pushing their demands in some way
or other.

"Of course, this editor was immediately arrested by the military
power; but his bold words were already in the hands of the public,
and produced a great effect: so great an effect that the Government,
after some vacillation, withdrew the state of siege; though at the
same time it strengthened the military organisation and made it more
stringent. Three of the Committee of Public Safety had been slain in
Trafalgar Square: of the rest the greater part went back to their
old place of meeting, and there awaited the event calmly. They were
arrested there on the Monday morning, and would have been shot at
once by the general, who was a mere military machine, if the
Government had not shrunk before the responsibility of killing men
without any trial. There was at first a talk of trying them by a