events may take. Now that we have one responsible head, unfettered by the intrigues of false colleagues, I have better hopes for the general safety.

Half-past 12.

I have just made an attempt to go out as far as the Rue Lepelletier, but had got no further than a couple of hundred yards along the Boulevard, when I was turned back by a group of representatives, National Guards, and other official persons, who announced that martial law was proclaimed, and that no citizens could circulate in the streets, except such as were armed for the maintenance of order.

5 o'clock.

After much hesitation, I ventured out again, and succeeded in reaching the F-'s house, by passing through the back streets. They are all tolerably well, and he in better spirits than I could have expected. The fact is, that the troops have donné with right goodwill, and although the insurrection is not yet put down, still we are confident that it soon will be, and it is only by passing through our present state (which has long been foreseen) that we can hope to arrive at a settled state of order and tranquillity. I hear that poor General Bédeau was badly wounded yesterday. The loss of his services, for the time, will be much felt, as he bears the character of an excellent officer, both for courage and head. The cuirassiers were stationed on our Boulevard last night, the horses picketed round the trees, which they have completely stripped of their bark, and the men lying on the bare flag-stones, with their breast-plates for pillows Poor fellows! they are sadly harrassed, as indeed are all the troops. The Republic is becoming very unpopular, and I am half afraid lest it should be kicked overboard. I sincerely trust that the re-actionary party will not be rash, for, should a split take place in the National Guard, all the blood that has been shed will have been spilled in vain. It is very sad to see the litters passing constantly, on which dead or wounded men are carried by their comrades, to the hospitals, or to their desolate homes. How will Lamartine and his accomplices answer for the misery which their greediness and ambition have brought about? A eux de l'or aux autres du plomb. By the way, talking of bullets, I am assured that the wretches who fight behind the barricades, and cry out against the National Guards as assassins, load their muskets with jagged bullets, and that a man, once hit by them, rarely recovers from his wound. What tyranny is perpetrated in the name of Liberty, and what dev ish cruelty is concealed under the mask of Equality and Fraternit God grant that our own country may take warning from what is passing in Germany and in France.

The ba tle still continues; but the universal opinion is, that the cause of order will prevail. On the other side of the river the insurrection is nearly got under. A large number of prisoners have been taken, and are shut up in the cellars of the Hôtel de Ville, the

Préfecture, and the Tuileries. The fighting is now chiefly confined to the Faubourg St. Antoine, where the insurgents are protected by barricades of the most formidable description. The exasperation o the troops and National Guards, at the cruelties practised by these wretches, is extreme. It is said that having made prisoners a party of the Mobile, they beheaded the officers, and cut off the right hands of their men. Amongst other atrocities, it is reported that they have hanged several officers whom they captured at the Panthéon.

The announcement, yesterday, of the resignation of the Executive Commission, and the proclamation of Martial Law, were received with enthusiastic cheers, as the most welcome boons that could be conferred on the 'vrai peuple' of Paris. To such straits have 120 days of Government, at the hands of men at once treacherous and incapable, reduced this fine country. And thus the curtain falls on the fourth act of the Revolution. The throne and sceptre of a constitutional monarch are replaced by the regulation saddle and sabie of a military dictator, and all civil rights cheerfully and thankfully exchanged for Martial Law. What will be the dénouement of the fifth act, Providence only can foresee.

*

Paris, June 29th, 1848.

* You will scarcely be satisfied by the receipt of a bulletin, announcing, according to the Emperor of Russia's formula, that "order reigns in Paris;" so I sit down, head achey, restless, and feverish from the excitement of the past week, to give you a few particulars of the crisis through which we have passed.

The insurrection has been put down; but it was a touch-and-go business. The public, and the Chamber also, I am told, were grossly deceived with regard to the number of troops in Paris and its neighbourhood, available for the repression of disorder. It was currently reported, and believed, that their effective force was 45,000 men. Now, I learn, upon good authority, that, when the revolt broke out, there were no more than 6,500 regular troops in Paris; and that, up to Saturday night, the reinforcements which arrived from the environs did not exceed 4,000 men. This was a very insufficient force to put down an army of insurgents, variously estimated at from sixty to a hundred and twenty thousand, well armed, and regularly officered; occupying a line of defence which extended from the Clos St. Lazare to the Pantheon, and so strongly and scientifically fortified, as to be impregnable, without the aid of a numerous and well-served train of artillery. The troops fought with the cool professional bravery of veterans, and were manfully seconded by the National Guards; whilst the Garde Mobile, with all the reckless gallantry of the genuine gamins de Paris, were foremost in every attack, and, utterly regardless of the balls that fell amongst them like a storm of hail, climbed the barricades like cats, and fought like tigers. The preservation of the capital from pillage and murder is, in great part, their work. The

devoted loyalty which they displayed, was a complete surprise to the in urgents. I have myself frequently heard the meneurs of revolt assure the groups of workmen whom they harangue, that the mobile, the enfans du peuple, would never fire upon the people. The disappointment caused by their unexpected and gallant ardour in attack, led to most barbarous acts of cruelty towards such of them as were made prisoners. These atrocities, however, only added fuel to the fire, and they fought to the last with unflinching bravery, and unremitting impetuosity. What a contrast does the conduct of one of these children present to that of Lamartine! To the one, France, confiding in his noble and patriotic sentiments, entrusts the reins of government, and he drives his country to ruin and civil war; to the other, to keep him out of mischief, she gives a pair of worsted epaulettes, with thirty sous a day; and, in the hour of his country's need, he storms the barricade, tears down the red flag of democracy run mad, and bears it in triumph to the Assembly of the Nation's Representatives. Poor boys! they have been dreadfully cut up. M. de Triqueti (who is himself wounded, and had a narrow escape, for he received four balls at a single volley,) told me that, of a battalion which marched out six hundred strong, from a caserne near his house, in the Rue de Clichy, only seventy came back. There are, probably, many wounded, and a considerable number of stragglers, but the "killed," I fear, cannot be estimated at less than one half of the whole number.

The officers of all ranks have exposed themselves unsparingly and have suffered severely. General Négrier, killed before a barricade, is said to be an almost irreparable loss to the army. General Bréa murdered in cold blood, with his aide-de-camp. Generals Bedeau, Duvivier, Damesme, and others wounded, more or less severely. Poor General Damesme obliged to undergo amputation at the thigh. Then, there is a loss of colonels and other officers,-too long to enumerate. The total of killed is estimated at 3,500, and of wounded at 7,000; but I fear these numbers fall far short of the reality.

In the midst of all this carnage, the martyrdom of the Archbishop of Paris forms a sad, but noble and heroic episode. He went upon his mission of peace, accompanied by his two vicars, good and devoted men like himself, without any of the pomp or ceremony of the church of which he is the head; his courage sustained by the words of his Saviour: "the good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep." With words of charity and conciliation on his lips, he fell, struck by a shot, a chance shot, I would fain hope; and after lingering for several hours in great pain, resigned his soul into the hands of his Maker, his last prayer being, that, by the sacrifice of his life, the dissensions of his country might be healed. He died like a good and christian prelate. May God receive his soul and grant his prayer!

During several days there was considerable difficulty in getting from one part of Paris to another. At the corner of each street was a picket of National Guards who searched every one who passed, and in many places refused the passage altogether. At night there were

sentinels posted at intervals of about fifty paces, all over the town. Every five minutes there was a cry of “ Sentinelle, prenez garde à vous!” which rolled along the Boulevard, until the echo was lost in the extreme distance. The effect was very sad and solemn. At ten o'clock the word was passed: "Eteignez vos lumières !" and all the lights disappeared from the front rooms as if by magic.

These restrictions have now ceased, and free circulation is re-established. I went yesterday as far as the Place de la Bastille. The Boulevard between the Porte St. Martin and Chateau d'Eau, is like a camp. A regiment of Lancers is stationed at the Porte St. Martin. The borses are picketed in the roadway, the lances, with their little flags fluttering in the breeze, are piled round the trees, and the men are lying about the foot-paths, on beds of straw, sleeping heavily after the fatiguing duties of the last five days. Further on is a batallion of the Mobile, tumbling upon the straw, like true gamins, and playing all sorts of tricks upon one another. Then a body of Infantry of the Line, prudently enjoying their rest whilst the opportunity is afforded them. In front of the Ambigu is a regiment of Dragoons, lying like their comrades of the Lancers, in groups of eight or ten, upon trusses of straw, with saddles, helmets, sabres and carabines scattered round them in picturesque confusion. And at the Chateau d'Eau is a strong force of Infantry of the Line, and Garde Mobile, on one side of the way, and a long train of artillery, and ammunition waggons on the other.

On the Place de la Bastille, I found an immense crowd, curious to see the effects of the cannonade upon the entrance of the Faubourg St. Antoire. There are one or two houses in the corner of the place reduced to a heap of smoking ruins. The first few houses in the Faubourg have suffered greatly: one, in particular, is laid almost completely open by the shot.

You will have seen by the papers the composition of Cavaignac's new ministry. Lamoricière, I am glad to see, is in, and my favourite aversion, Flocon, out. The worst features of the case are, that they have retained Bastide, the incapable, at the Foreign Office, and Récurt at the Ministry of Commerce. I am told that he has all his life been one of the Faubourg St. Antoine conspirators, and that he is married to the widow of Pépin, of the Fieschi plot. I do not understand how Cavaignac could retain such a man, nor how Lamoricière could be persuaded to join a ministry of which he is a member. I can write no more, or I shall miss this day's post.

Paris, July 3rd, 1848.

I greatly fear that the sanguine people on your side of the Channel see things far too much couleur de rose. To us, the future is painted couleur de sang. We have had a most bloody battle, and the victory has remained with les honnétes gens, but the snake, though scotched, is not dead, and the warfare between possessors of property and fathers

of families, and that perverted class which considers property as usurpation, and family ties as a straight- waistcoat upon rational freedom, can scarcely end otherwise than in the extermination of one party or the other. The revolution in France has now revealed itself in all its naked deformity, and the real republicans have avowed that their mission is not to redress wrongs, but to overthrow what all the world, up to the present day, has, by common consent, upheld and consecrated as rights. Thus, the Rights of Persons, and the Rights of Things, which you treated legally some years back, will no longer, as with us, be secured by acts of parliament, and judicial decisions, but must be hedged round by bayonets, and enforced by artillery, for henceforth, in this country,

This being the case, we are thankful to be under martial law, and to have what is called a ministry de circonstance. With Cavaignac, Bédeau, Lamoriciére, and Changarnier for our real governors, and a camp of 30,000 men within call, in addition to the troops in barracks, to support their authority, we may hope that the rascaldom of the outlying faubourgs of this distracted capital will be kept down, for some months at least. But it must be ruled with a rod of iron; the fire has been got under, yet it is still smouldering, and, should they for a single moment relax their vigilance, it would find vent again, and burst out into general conflagration.

*

Paris, July 6th, 1848.

** A decided improvement has taken place in the outward appearance of Paris, since the establishment of a military government. The streets are no longer encumbered with groups of turbulent and seditious idlers, and the number of unemployed blouses has been very considerably reduced, notwithstanding the dissolution of the atéliers nationaux. I am inclined to believe, that the more violent class of émeutiers have either perished at the barricades, or are now confined in the prisons and in the detached forts. The common herd of scoundrelism, their leaders being killed, arrested, or dispersed, have slunk back to their dens, where they will probably remain, brooding over their defeat, and chewing the cud of bitter thoughts, until a new conspiracy shall re-organise their strength, and open to them a prospect of revenge. The large number of prisoners taken with arms in their hands, coupled with the decree of banishment passed upon them by the National Assembly, is a great embarrassment to the executive power. The selection of a penal settlement for such a band of desperadoes, the means of conveyance to their destination, and the necessary measures for maintaining any sort of order amongst them when there, present difficulties of no ordinary description. Difficulties so great, indeed, that I much fear