The first measure to be taken was evidently the deposition
of the President of the Republic by virtue of Article
68 of the Constitution. Some Representatives
of the party which was called Burgraves sat
round a table and prepared the deed of deposition.
As they were about to read it aloud a Representative
who came in from out of doors appeared at the door
of the room, and announced to the Assembly that the
Rue de Lille was becoming filled with troops, and that
the house was being surrounded.
There was not a moment to lose.
M. Benoist-d’Azy said, “Gentlemen, let
us go to the Mairie of the tenth arrondissement; there
we shall be able to deliberate under the protection
of the tenth legion, of which our colleague, General
Lauriston, is the colonel.”
M. Daru’s house had a back entrance by a little
door which was at the bottom of the garden. Most
of the Representatives went out that way.
M. Daru was about to follow them. Only himself,
M. Odilon Barrot, and two or three others remained
in the room, when the door opened. A captain
entered, and said to M. Daru,—
“Sir, you are my prisoner.”
“Where am I to follow you?” asked M. Daru.
“I have orders to watch over you in your own
house.”
The house, in truth, was militarily occupied, and
it was thus that M. Daru was prevented from taking
part in the sitting at the Mairie of the tenth arrondissement.
The officer allowed M. Odilon Barrot to go out.
THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
While all this was taking place on the left bank of
the river, towards noon a man was noticed walking
up and down the great Salles des Pas Perdus of the
Palace of Justice. This man, carefully buttoned
up in an overcoat, appeared to be attended at a distance
by several possible supporters—for certain
police enterprises employ assistants whose dubious
appearance renders the passers-by uneasy, so much so
that they wonder whether they are magistrates or thieves.
The man in the buttoned-up overcoat loitered from
door to door, from lobby to lobby, exchanging signs
of intelligence with the myrmidons who followed him;
then came back to the great Hall, stopping on the way
the barristers, solicitors, ushers, clerks, and attendants,
and repeating to all in a low voice, so as not to
be heard by the passers-by, the same question.
To this question some answered “Yes,”
others replied “No.” And the man set
to work again, prowling about the Palace of Justice
with the appearance of a bloodhound seeking the trail.
He was a Commissary of the Arsenal Police.
What was he looking for?
The High Court of Justice.
What was the High Court of Justice doing?
It was hiding.
Why? To sit in Judgment?
Yes and no.
