Page:Works of Heinrich Heine 07.djvu/194

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174
FRENCH AFFAIRS.

rally attributed to the one or to the other, but to that party which, "ever conquered by arms, always raises itself again by cowardly means, which attains to prosperity and power invariably by the ruin of France, and which now, dispensing with the aid of Cossacks, may readily seek refuge in common poison." This is about what is said in the Constitutional.

What I gained by personal observation on the day when these murders took place was the conviction that the rule of the elder branch of the Bourbons will never be re-established in France. I heard the most remarkable utterances in different groups; I saw deep into the heart of the people—it knows its men.

Since these events all has become quiet again, or, as Horatius Sebastiani would say, "L'ordre regne, à Paris." There is a stony stillness as of death in every face. For many evenings very few people were seen on the Boulevards, and they hurried along with hands or handkerchiefs held over their faces. The theatres are as if perished and passed away. When I enter a salon, people are amazed to see me still in Paris, since I am not detained by urgent business. In fact, most strangers, and especially my fellow-countrymen, left long since. Obedient parents received from their children orders to return at once. God-fearing sons fulfilled without delay the tender wishes of their