The 40,000 men collected in Paris by the construction of the
fortifications are supposed to have mainly contributed to the revolution
of 1848. What is to be expected from this addition of 100,000? Then the
repressive force is differently constituted and differently animated. In
England you have an army which has chosen arms as a profession, which
never thinks of any other employment, and indeed is fit for no other, and
never expects any provision except its pay and its pension. The French
soldier, ever since 1789, is a citizen. He serves his six years because
the law and the colonel force him to do so, but he counts the days until
he can return to his province, his cottage, and his field. He sympathises
with the passions of the people. In the terrible days of June, the army
withstood the cries, the blessings, the imprecations and the seductions
of the mob, only because they had the National Guards by their side.
Their presence was a guarantee that the cause was just. The National
Guards never fought before as they did in those days. Yet at the Chateau
d'Eau, the miraculous heroism and the miraculous good luck of Lamoriciere
were necessary to keep them together.
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