the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore joins the Rue Royale.  My wife was seated on her sofa.  He ordered her to leave the room.  She resisted, and was removed by force.  The soldiers then began firing on the insurgents from the windows.  The insurgents had possession of the upper floors of some houses facing mine, and fired with such effect that the soldiers were driven from their position.  The officer withdrew his men from the drawing-room and asked for a map of Paris, for he did not know exactly where he was.  I made a friend of him by pointing to my pictures, everyone of which proved me to be a friend and follower of the emperor.  He asked me if I had any wine to give his men, who had had nothing to eat or drink since the previous night.  While they were partaking of bread and wine in the kitchen, and I was talking with the officer in the dining-room, a shot fired from across the street struck the officer on the temple.  He fell as if struck dead.  His soldiers rushed in and seized me.  They were about to shoot me on the spot, when luckily my servant, with water and vinegar, brought the officer to his senses, so that he could raise his hand and make a sign to the soldiers, who had me fast by both my arms, to keep quiet.  By God’s mercy the officer had only been stunned.  He had been hit, not by a bullet, but by a piece of brick forced out of the wall by a shot.  I was released, but the soldiers were far from satisfied, believing their officer had accepted this explanation only to spare my life.  They left my house at nightfall, and afterwards the fire of the insurgents became so hot that the front wall of the house fell in, and everything I had was smashed to pieces.

“The next morning, May 26, as I was searching for some valuable papers among the ruins, two men in plain clothes entered and ordered me to follow them to the Prefecture of Police, temporarily located on the Quai d’Orsay.  As Paris was by this time completely under military rule I was examined by an officer.  I told him that, not knowing for what purpose I was wanted, I had left my papers at home, and was sent under charge of two men to fetch them.  I was also given to understand that I had better make any arrangements I thought necessary for my wife, which led me to think it probable I should be shot or imprisoned.  It was a reign of terror of a new kind, of which I could never have expected to be a victim.  As we were crossing the Place de la Concorde we saw half a dozen soldiers who had seized four Federals on the barricade close by.  A struggle was going on for life or death.  The soldiers, having at last the upper hand, strove to drag the Federals to the wall of the Ministry of Marine to be shot.  The poor wretches were imploring for mercy, and refused to stand erect.  Seeing this, the soldiers shot them one after the other as they lay upon the ground.

“I was finally disposed of, in company with other prisoners, in some large stables and carriage houses.  Some of us were in plain clothes, some in uniform.  We were all packed together so closely that there was not even the possibility of lying down upon the stones.  Bread and water alone were given us.  On the approach of night we were shut in like cattle, with the intimation that any attempt to revolt or escape would be followed by instant execution.