On the 3rd of May I betook myself direct to that quarter of the town where I heard unpleasant rumours of a sanguinary conflict having taken place.  I afterwards learned that the actual cause of the dispute between the civil and military power had arisen when the watch had been changed in front of the Arsenal.  At that moment the mob, under a bold leader, had seized the opportunity to take forcible possession of the armoury.  A display of military force was made, and the crowd was fired upon by a few cannon loaded with grape-shot.  As I approached the scene of operations through the Rampische Gasse, I met a company of the Dresden Communal Guards, who, although they were quite innocent, had apparently been exposed to this fire.  I noticed that one of the citizen guards, leaning heavily on the arm of a comrade, was trying to hurry along, in spite of the fact that his right leg seemed to be dragging helplessly behind him.  Some of the crowd, seeing the blood on the pavement behind him, shouted ’He is bleeding.’  In the midst of this excitement I suddenly became conscious of the cry raised on all sides:  ’To the barricades! to the barricades!’ Driven by a mechanical impulse I followed the stream of people, which moved once more in the direction of the Town Hall in the Old Market-place.  Amid the terrific tumult I particularly noticed a significant group stretching right across the street, and striding along the Rosmaringasse.  It reminded me, though the simile was rather exaggerated, of the crowd that had once stood at the doors of the theatre and demanded free entrance to Rienzi; among them was a hunchback, who at once suggested Goethe’s Vansen in Egmont, and as the revolutionary cry rose about his ears, I saw him rub his hands together in great glee over the long-desired ecstasy of revolt which he had realised at last.

I recollect quite clearly that from that moment I was attracted by surprise and interest in the drama, without feeling any desire to join the ranks of the combatants.  However, the agitation caused by my sympathy as a mere spectator increased with every step I felt impelled to take.  I was able to press right into the rooms of the town council, escaping notice in the tumultuous crowd, and it seemed to me as if the officials were guilty of collusion with the mob.  I made my way unobserved into the council-chamber; what I saw there was utter disorder and confusion.  When night fell I wandered slowly through the hastily made barricades, consisting chiefly of market stalls, back to my house in the distant Friedrichstrasse, and next morning I again watched these amazing proceedings with sympathetic interest.