The measures they proposed were eighteen in number: 

  1.  The retention of the tricolor.
  2.  The retention of the Gallic cock.
  3.  The sovereignty of the people.
  4.  The dissolution of the Chamber of Deputies.
  5.  The suppression of the Chamber of Peers.
  6.  The convocation of a National Assembly.
  7.  Work to be guaranteed to all working-men.
  8.  The unity of the army and the populace.
  9.  The formation of a Garde Mobile.
 10.  The arrest and punishment of all deserters.
 11.  The release of all political prisoners.
 12.  The trial of M. Guizot and his colleagues.
 13.  The reduction of Vincennes and Fort Valerien, still held by the
     troops for the king.
 14.  All officials under Louis Philippe to be released from their oaths.
 15.  All objects at the Mont de Piete (the Government pawn-broking
     establishment) valued under ten francs, to be restored.
 16.  All National Guards dismissed under preceding Governments to be
     reinstated.
 17.  The million of francs expended on the court to be given to disabled
     workmen.
 18.  A paternal commission to be nominated, to look after the interests
     of the working-classes.

The institution of the Garde Mobile was a device for finding employment for those boys and young men who formed one of the most dangerous of the dangerous classes.

It is easy to see how tempting these promises were to working-men; and yet the better class among them mourned their loss of steady employment.  The Revolution of 1848, though it was not originated by the working-classes, was made to appear as if it were intended for their profit; and that indeed was its ruin, for it was found impossible to keep the promises of work, support, parental protection, etc., made to the Parisian masses.  The bourgeoisie, when they recovered from their astonishment and found that the stone they had set rolling under the name of reform had dislodged their own Revolution of 1830, and the peasants of the provinces, when they found that all the praise and all the profits were solely for the working-men of the capital, were very far from satisfied.

As to the upper classes, their terror and dismay were overwhelming.  Everything seemed sliding away under their feet.  Many women of rank and fashion, distrusting the stability of the king’s government, had for some time past been yearly adding diamonds to their necklaces, because, as one of them exclaimed to us during this month of February:  “We knew not what might happen to stocks or to securities, but diamonds we can put into our pockets.  No other property in France can be called secure!”

And yet Paris soon resumed its wonted appearance.  Commerce and shopping might be impossible in a city where nobody could make change for two hundred dollars, yet the Champs Elysees were again gay with pedestrians and carriages.  All favorite amusements were resumed, but almost all men being idle, their great resource was to assemble round the Hotel-de-Ville and force Lamartine to make a speech to them.