_Decheance_. The formidable nature of a council apparently so meanly
constituted became strikingly evident at that moment, because it was so
small in number, while each one of these could put in movement a large
section of the populace; secondly, because, unlike a revolutionary club
or a numerous association, no time was wasted in idle speeches, and all
were under the orders of one man of clear head and resolute purpose; and
thirdly, and above all, because one man supplied the treasury, and money
for an object desired was liberally given and promptly at hand. The
meeting did not last ten minutes, and about two hours afterwards its
effects were visible. From Montmartre and Belleville and Montretout
poured streams of _ouvriers_, with whom Armand Monnier was a chief, and
the _Medecin des Pauvres_ an oracle. Grimm and Ferrier headed other
detachments that startled the well-dressed idlers on the Boulevards. The
stalwart figure of the Pole was seen on the Place de la Concorde,
towering amidst other refugees, amid which glided the Italian champion of
humanity. The cry of _Decheance_ became louder. But as yet there were
only few cries of _Vive la Republique_!--such a cry was not on the orders
issued by Lebeau. At midnight the crowd round the hall of the _Corps
Legislatif_ is large: cries of _La Dechaeance_ loud--a few cries, very
feeble, of _Vive la Republique_!

What followed on the 4th--the marvellous audacity with which half-a-dozen
lawyers belonging to a pitiful minority in a Chamber elected by universal
suffrage walked into the Hotel de Ville and said, "The Republic is
established, and we are its Government," history has told too recently
for me to narrate. On the evening of the 5th the Council of Ten met
again: the Pole; the Italian radiant; Grimm and Ferrier much excited and
rather drunk; the Medecin des Pauvres thoughtful; and Armand Monnier
gloomy. A rumour has spread that General Trochu, in accepting the charge
imposed on him, has exacted from the Government the solemn assurance of