230 THE COLTON PAPERS, 



and the Pont Neuf, with the quays, were enveloped in one lurid 

 cloud of sulphurous smoke, pierced by the flashes of the cannon, or 

 the fusillade of the musket. The continuous tiraillage of the citizens 

 filled up the pauses that intervened between the platoon firing of the 

 troops and the sullen roar of the artillery. The Seine might now be 

 said without a metaphor to " flow purple to the sea." The dead 

 bodies of horses and of soldiers were visible in its stream, carried 

 down in a tumultuous mass to St. Cloud, shortly to announce to the 

 royal tenants of its chateau the discomfiture of their proudest hopes, 

 by the dismal evidence of this floating wreck. 



The Hotel de Ville, which, during the conflict I have above 

 described, had been the scene of such carriage and heroism, was 

 doomed at length to become a sanguinary trophy of the popular 

 triumph, and on its third capture it was destined to remain in pos- 

 session of those who had so gallantly stormed it, and become the 

 seat of the Provisional Government, and the head-quarters of the 

 National Guard; and once more, as in 1789, it had the honour to 

 receive within its walls the venerable Lafayette as the commander. 

 The loss was dreadful on the part of both people and soldiers, during 

 the ten hours this determined combat took place ; cart-loads of dead 

 were taken away, and in all the neighbouring streets the wounded 

 were seen on hand-carriages and beds, on their way to the different 

 hospitals. The cause of liberty had triumphed, but it had cost the 

 country much precious blood. Twelve hundred men were either 

 killed or wounded, of those who had taken up arms in defence of 

 their liberties. The troops lost on that scene of slaughter about six 

 hundred men, four pieces of artillery, and forty horses. 



The tri-coloured flag was now proudly displayed from the towers 

 of Notre Dame, which are conspicuous from most parts of Paris and 

 the surrounding country. Many were the telescopes directed to 

 these towers, and the sight of the national flag, once more floating 

 in the wind, cheered the hearts of many at a distance, who were 

 suffering the most intolerable suspense as to the result of the arduous 

 struggle. Many a tender mother, many an affectionate wife, who 

 had sent forth their sons and husbands, like the Spartan women of 

 old, to combat for their dearest rights, and whose situation precluded 

 them from any other effort in the general cause than their prayers 

 for the safety and success of those they held dear, were animated 

 with fresh hope at this convincing sight ; while, at St. Cloud, the re- 

 sidence of HIM whose fatal obstinacy had caused this accumulation of 

 bloodshed and woe, the same object, distinctly visible, must have 

 struck despair to his heart, and those of his pernicious and flattering 

 councillors. The tocsin pealed through the air from many of the 

 churches, and the perpetual roar of musketry, and the thunders of 

 the artillery, re-echoed by the houses on the quays, would induce 

 the belief that the city had been stormed by some foreign enemy, 

 and not that it was attacked by parricidal hands. 



Hitherto success was doubtful, alternate triumphs and defeats pre- 

 vailed at different parts ; and it was evident that the contest had only 

 begun. A strong body of men formed themselves on the Place of 

 the Odeon, under the command of M. Joffres, a distinguished avocat, 



