The police-vans, escorted as far as Mazas by Lancers, found another squadron of Lancers ready to receive them at Mazas.  The Representatives descended from the vehicle one by one.  The officer commanding the Lancers stood by the door, and watched them pass with a dull curiosity.

Mazas, which had taken the place of the prison of La Force, now pulled down, is a lofty reddish building, close to the terminus of the Lyons Railway, and stands on the waste land of the Faubourg St. Antoine.  From a distance the building appears as though built of bricks, but on closer examination it is seen to be constructed of flints set in cement.  Six large detached buildings, three stories high, all radiating from a rotunda which serves as the common centre, and touching each other at the starting-point, separated by courtyards which grow broader in proportion as the buildings spread out, pierced with a thousand little dormer windows which give light to the cells, surrounded by a high wall, and presenting from a bird’s-eye point of view the drape of a fan—­such is Mazas.  From the rotunda which forms the centre, springs a sort of minaret, which is the alarm-tower.  The ground floor is a round room, which serves as the registrar’s office.  On the first story is a chapel where a single priest says mass for all; and the observatory, where a single attendant keeps watch over all the doors of all the galleries at the same time.  Each building is termed a “division.”  The courtyards are intersected by high walls into a multitude of little oblong walks.

As each Representative descended from the vehicle he was conducted into the rotunda where the registry office was situated.  There his name was taken down, and in exchange for his name he was assigned a number.  Whether the prisoner be a thief or a legislator, such is always the rule in this prison; the coup d’etat reduced all to a footing of equality.  As soon as a Representative was registered and numbered, he was ordered to “file off.”  They said to him, “Go upstairs,” or “Go on;” and they announced him at the end of the corridor to which he was allotted by calling out, “Receive number So-and-So.”  The jailer in that particular corridor answered, “Send him on.”  The prisoner mounted alone, went straight on, and on his arrival found the jailer standing near an open door.  The jailer said, “Here it is, sir.”  The prisoner entered, the jailer shut the door, and they passed on to another.

The coup d’etat acted in a very different manner towards the various Representatives.  Those whom it desired to conciliate, the men of the Bight, were placed in Vincennes; those whom it detested, the men of the Left, were placed in Mazas.  Those at Vincennes had the quarters of M. Montpensier, which were expressly reopened for them; an excellent dinner, eaten in company; wax candles, fire, and the smiles and bows of the governor, General Courtigis.

This is how it treated those at Mazas.