MM.  Passy and de Tocqueville, in the midst of the groups, described that when they were Ministers they had always entertained an uneasy suspicion of a coup d’etat, and that they clearly perceived this fixed idea in the brain of Louis Bonaparte.  M. de Tocqueville added, “I said to myself every night, ’I lie down to sleep a Minister; what if I should awake a prisoner?’” Some of those men who were termed “men of order,” muttered while signing the degree of deposition, “Beware of the Red Republic!” and seemed to entertain an equal fear of failure and of success.  M. de Vatimesnil pressed the hands of the men of the Left, and thanked them for their presence.  “You make us popular,” said he.  And Antony Thouret answered him, “I know neither Right nor Left to-day; I only see the Assembly.”

The younger of the two shorthand writers handed their written sheets to the Representatives who had spoken, and, asked them to revise them at once, saying, “We shall not have the time to read them over.”  Some Representatives went down into the street, and showed the people copies of the decree of deposition, signed by the members of the “bureau.”  One of the populace took one of these copies, and cried out, “Citizens! the ink is still quite wet!  Long live the Republic!”

The Deputy-Mayor stood at the door of the Hall; the staircase was crowded with National Guards and spectators.  In the Assembly several had penetrated into the Hall, and amongst them the ex-Constituent Beslay, a man of uncommon courage.  It was at first wished to turn them out, but they resisted, crying, “This is our business.  You are the Assembly, but we are the People.”  “They are right,” said M. Berryer.

M. de Falloux, accompanied by M. de Keranflech, came up the Constituent Beslay, and leaned by his side on the stove, saying to him, “Good-day, colleague;” and reminded him that they both had formed part of the Committee of the National Workshops, and that they had together visited the Workmen at the Parc Monceaux.  The Right felt themselves falling; they became affectionate towards Republicans.  The Republic is called To-morrow.

Each spoke from his place; this member upon a bench, that member on a chair, a few on the tables.  All contradictory opinions burst forth at once.  In a corner some ex-leaders of “order” were scared at the possible triumph of the “Reds.”  In another the men of the Right surrounded the men of the Left, and asked them:  “Are not the faubourgs going to rise?”

The narrator has but one duty, to tell his story; he relates everything, the bad as well as the good.  Whatever may have taken place, however, and notwithstanding all these details of which it was our duty to speak, apart from the exceptions which we had mentioned, the attitude of the men of the Right who composed the large majority of this meeting was in many respects honorable and worthy.  Some of them, as we have just mentioned, even prided themselves upon their resolution and their energy, almost as though they had wished to rival the members of the Left.