towards the end of april, everything had become aggravated. the fermentation entered the boiling state. ever since 1830,petty partial revolts had been going on here and there,which were quickly suppressed, but ever bursting forth afresh,the sign of a vast underlying conflagration. something terrible was in preparation. glimpses could be caught of the features still indistinct and imperfectly lighted, of a possible revolution. france kept an eye on paris; paris kept an eye on the faubourg saint-antoine.
the faubourg saint-antoine, which was in a dull glow, was beginning its ebullition.
the wine-shops of the rue de charonne were, although the union of the two epithets seems singular when applied to wine-shops, grave and stormy.
the government was there purely and simply called in question. there people publicly discussed the question of fighting or of keeping quiet. there were back shops where workingmen were made to swear that they would hasten into the street at the first cry of alarm, and "that they would fight without counting the number of the enemy." this engagement once entered into, a man seated in the corner of the wine-shop "assumed a sonorous tone," and said, "you understand! you have sworn!"
sometimes they went up stairs, to a private room on the first floor,and there scenes that were almost masonic were enacted. they made the initiated take oaths to render service to himself as well as to the fathers of families. that was the formula.
in the tap-rooms, "subversive" pamphlets were read. they treated the government with contempt, says a secret report of that time.
words like the following could be heard there: --
"i don't know the names of the leaders. we folks shall not know the day until two hours beforehand." one workman said: "there are three hundred of us, let each contribute ten sous, that will make one hundred and fifty francs with which to procure powder and shot."
another said: "i don't ask for six months, i don't ask for even two. in less than a fortnight we shall be parallel with the government. with twenty-five thousand men we can face them." another said: "i don't sleep at night, because i make cartridges all night." from time to time, men "of bourgeois appearance, and in good coats" came and "caused embarrassment," and with the air of "command," shook hands with the most important, and then went away. they never stayed more than ten minutes. significant remarks were exchanged in a low tone: "the plot is ripe, the matter is arranged." "it was murmured by all who were there," to borrow the very expression of one of those who were present. the exaltation was such that one day, a workingman exclaimed, efore the whole wine-shop: "we have no arms!" one of his comrades replied: "the soldiers have!" thus parodying without being aware of the fact, bonaparte's proclamation to the army in italy: "when they had anything of a more secret nature on hand," adds one report, "they did not communicate it to each other." it is not easy to understand what they could conceal after what they said.
these reunions were sometimes periodical. at certain ones of them, there were never more than eight or ten persons present, and they were always the same. in others, any one entered who wished, and the room was so full that they were forced to stand. some went thither through enthusiasm and passion; others because it was on their way to their work. as during the revolution, there were patriotic women in some of these wine-shops who embraced new -comers.
other expressive facts came to light.
a man would enter a shop, drink, and go his way with the remark: "wine-merchant, the revolution will pay what is due to you."
revolutionary agents were appointed in a wine-shop facing the rue de charonne. the balloting was carried on in their caps.
workingmen met at the house of a fencing-master who gave lessons in the rue de cotte. there there was a trophy of arms formed of wooden broadswords, canes, clubs, and foils. one day, the buttons were removed from the foils.
a workman said: "there are twenty-five of us, but they don't count on me, because i am looked upon as a machine." later on, that machine became quenisset.
the indefinite things which were brewing gradually acquired a strange and indescribable notoriety. a woman sweeping off her doorsteps said to another woman: "for a long time, there has been a strong force busy making cartridges." in the open street, proclamation could be seen addressed to the national guard in the departments. one of these proclamations was signed: burtot, wine-merchant.
one day a man with his beard worn like a collar and with an italian accent mounted a stone post at the door of a liquor-seller in the marche lenoir, and read aloud a singular document, which seemed to emanate from an occult power. groups formed around him, and applauded.
the passages which touched the crowd most deeply were collected and noted down. "--our doctrines are trammelled, our proclamations torn, our bill-stickers are spied upon and thrown into prison."--"the breakdown which has recently taken place in cottons has converted to us many mediums."--"the future of nations is being worked out in our obscure ranks."--" here are the fixed terms: action or reaction, revolution or counter-revolution. for, at our epoch, we no longer believe either in inertia or in immobility. for the people against the people, that is the question. there is no other."--"on the day when we cease to suit you, break us, but up to that day, help us to march on." all this in broad daylight.
other deeds, more audacious still, were suspicious in the eyes of the people by reason of their very audacity. on the 4th of april, 1832, a passer-by mounted the post on the corner which forms the angle of the rue sainte-marguerite and shouted: "i am a babouvist!" but beneath babeuf, the people scented gisquet.
among other things, this man said: --
"down with property! the opposition of the left is cowardly and treacherous. when it wants to be on the right side, it preaches revolution, it is democratic in order to escape being beaten, and royalist so that it may not have to fight. the republicans are beasts with feathers. distrust the republicans, citizens of the laboring classes."
"silence, citizen spy!" cried an artisan.
this shout put an end to the discourse.
mysterious incidents occurred.
at nightfall, a workingman encountered near the canal a "very well dressed man," who said to him: "whither are you bound, citizen?" "sir," replied the workingman, "i have not the honor of your acquaintance." "i know you very well, however." and the man added: "don't be alarmed, i am an agent of the committee. you are suspected of not being quite faithful. you know that if you reveal anything, there is an eye fixed on you." then he shook hands with the workingman and went away, saying: "we shall meet again soon."
the police, who were on the alert, collected singular dialogues, not only in the wine-shops, but in the street.
"get yourself received very soon," said a weaver to a cabinet-maker.
"why?"
"there is going to be a shot to fire."
two ragged pedestrians exchanged these remarkable replies, fraught with evident jacquerie:--
"who governs us?"
"m. philippe."
"no, it is the bourgeoisie."
the reader is mistaken if he thinks that we take the word jacquerie in a bad sense. the jacques were the poor.
on another occasion two men were heard to say to each other as they passed by: "we have a good plan of attack."
only the following was caught of a private conversation between four men who were crouching in a ditch of the circle of the barriere du trone:--
"everything possible will be done to prevent his walking about paris any more."
who was the he? menacing obscurity.
"the principal leaders," as they said in the faubourg, held themselves apart. it was supposed that they met for consultation in a wine-shop near the point saint-eustache. a certain aug--, chief of the society aid for tailors, rue mondetour, had the reputation of serving as intermediary central between the leaders and the faubourg saint-antoine.
nevertheless, there was always a great deal of mystery about these leaders, and no certain fact can invalidate the singular arrogance of this reply made later on by a man accused before the court of peers:--
"who was your leader?"
"i knew of none and i recognized none."
there was nothing but words, transparent but vague; sometimes idle reports, rumors, hearsay. other indications cropped up.
a carpenter, occupied in nailing boards to a fence around the ground on which a house was in process of construction, in the rue de reuilly found on that plot the torn fragment of a letter on which were still legible the following lines:--
the committee must take measures to prevent recruiting in the sections for the different societies.
and, as a postscript:--
we have learned that there are guns in the rue du faubourg-poissonniere, no. 5 [bis], to the number of five or six thousand, in the house of a gunsmith in that court. the section owns no arms.
what excited the carpenter and caused him to show this thing to his neighbors was the fact, that a few paces further on he picked up another paper, torn like the first, and still more significant, of which we reproduce a facsimile, because of the historical interest attaching to these strange documents:--
+------------------------------------------------------------+ | q | c | d | e | learn this list by heart. after so doing | | | | | | you will tear it up. the men admitted | | | | | | will do the same when you have transmitted | | | | | | their orders to them. | | | | | | health and fraternity, | | | | | | u og a fe l. | +------------------------------------------------------------+
it was only later on that the persons who were in the secret of this find at the time, learned the significance of those four capital letters: quinturions, centurions, decurions, eclaireurs [scouts], and the sense of the letters: u og a fe, which was a date, and meant april 15th, 1832. under each capital letter were inscribed names followed by very characteristic notes. thus: q. bannerel. 8 guns, 83 cartridges. a safe man.--c. boubiere. 1 pistol, 40 cartridges.--d. rollet. 1 foil, 1 pistol, 1 pound of powder.-- e. tessier. 1 sword, 1 cartridge-box. exact.--terreur. 8 guns. brave, etc.
finally, this carpenter found, still in the same enclosure, a third paper on which was written in pencil, but very legibly, this sort of enigmatical list:--
unite: blanchard: arbre-sec. 6. barra. soize. salle-au-comte. kosciusko. aubry the butcher? j. j. r. caius gracchus. right of revision. dufond. four. fall of the girondists. derbac. maubuee. washington. pinson. 1 pistol, 86 cartridges. marseillaise. sovereignty of the people. michel. quincampoix. sword. hoche. marceau. plato. arbre-sec. warsaw. tilly, crier of the populaire.
the honest bourgeois into whose hands this list fell knew its significance. it appears that this list was the complete nomenclature of the sections of the fourth arondissement of the society of the rights of man, with the names and dwellings of the chiefs of sections. to-day, when all these facts which were obscure are nothing more than history, we may publish them. it should be added, that the foundation of the society of the rights of man seems to have been posterior to the date when this paper was found. perhaps this was only a rough draft.
still, according to all the remarks and the words, according to written notes, material facts begin to make their appearance.
in the rue popincourt, in the house of a dealer in bric-abrac, there were seized seven sheets of gray paper, all folded alike lengthwise and in four; these sheets enclosed twenty-six squares of this same gray paper folded in the form of a cartridge, and a card, on which was written the following: --
saltpetre . . . . . . . . . . . 12 ounces. sulphur . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ounces. charcoal . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ounces and a half. water . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ounces.
the report of the seizure stated that the drawer exhaled a strong smell of powder.
a mason returning from his day's work, left behind him a little package on a bench near the bridge of austerlitz. this package was taken to the police station. it was opened, and in it were found two printed dialogues, signed lahautiere, a song entitled: "workmen, band together," and a tin box full of cartridges.
one artisan drinking with a comrade made the latter feel him to see how warm he was; the other man felt a pistol under his waistcoat.
in a ditch on the boulevard, between pere-lachaise and the barriere du trone, at the most deserted spot, some children, while playing, discovered beneath a mass of shavings and refuse bits of wood, a bag containing a bullet-mould, a wooden punch for the preparation of cartridges, a wooden bowl, in which there were grains of hunting-powder, and a little cast-iron pot whose interior presented evident traces of melted lead.
police agents, making their way suddenly and unexpectedly at five o'clock in the morning, into the dwelling of a certain pardon, who was afterwards a member of the barricade-merry section and got himself killed in the insurrection of april, 1834, found him standing near his bed, and holding in his hand some cartridges which he was in the act of preparing.
towards the hour when workingmen repose, two men were seen to meet between the barriere picpus and the barriere charenton in a little lane between two walls, near a wine-shop, in front of which there was a "jeu de siam."[33] one drew a pistol from beneath his blouse and handed it to the other. as he was handing it to him, he noticed that the perspiration of his chest had made the powder damp. he primed the pistol and added more powder to what was already in the pan. then the two men parted.
[33] a game of ninepins, in which one side of the ball is smaller than the other, so that it does not roll straight, but describes a curve on the ground.
a certain gallais, afterwards killed in the rue beaubourg in the affair of april, boasted of having in his house seven hundred cartridges and twenty-four flints.
the government one day received a warning that arms and two hundred thousand cartridges had just been distributed in the faubourg. on the following week thirty thousand cartridges were distributed. the remarkable point about it was, that the police were not able to seize a single one.
an intercepted letter read: "the day is not far distant when, within four hours by the clock, eighty thousand patriots will be under arms."
all this fermentation was public, one might almost say tranquil.the approaching insurrection was preparing its storm calmly in the face of the government.no singularity was lacking to this still subterranean crisis, which was already perceptible. the bourgeois talked peaceably to the working-classes of what was in preparation. they said: "how is the rising coming along?" in the same tone in which they would have said: "how is your wife?"
a furniture-dealer, of the rue moreau, inquired: "well, when are you going to make the attack?"
another shop-keeper said:--
"the attack will be made soon."
"i know it. a month ago, there were fifteen thousand of you, now there are twenty-five thousand." he offered his gun, and a neighbor offered a small pistol which he was willing to sell for seven francs.
moreover, the revolutionary fever was growing. not a point in paris nor in france was exempt from it. the artery was beating everywhere. like those membranes which arise from certain inflammations and form in the human body, the network of secret societies began to spread all over the country. from the associations of the friends of the people, which was at the same time public and secret, sprang the society of the rights of man, which also dated from one of the orders of the day: pluviose, year 40 of the republican era, which was destined to survive even the mandate of the court of assizes which pronounced its dissolution, and which did not hesitate to bestow on its sections significant names like the following:--
pikes. tocsin. signal cannon. phrygian cap. january 21. the beggars. the vagabonds. forward march. robespierre. level. ca ira.
the society of the rights of man engendered the society of action. these were impatient individuals who broke away and hastened ahead. other associations sought to recruit themselves from the great mother societies. the members of sections complained that they were torn asunder. thus, the gallic society, and the committee of organization of the municipalities. thus the associations for the liberty of the press, for individual liberty, for the instruction of the people against indirect taxes. then the society of equal workingmen which was divided into three fractions, the levellers, the communists, the reformers. then the army of the bastilles, a sort of cohort organized on a military footing, four men commanded by a corporal, ten by a sergeant, twenty by a sub-lieutenant, forty by a lieutenant; there were never more than five men who knew each other. creation where precaution is combined with audacity and which seemed stamped with the genius of venice.
the central committee, which was at the head, had two arms, the society of action, and the army of the bastilles.
a legitimist association, the chevaliers of fidelity, stirred about among these the republican affiliations. it was denounced and repudiated there.
the parisian societies had ramifications in the principal cities, lyons, nantes, lille, marseilles, and each had its society of the rights of man, the charbonniere, and the free men. all had a revolutionary society which was called the cougourde. we have already mentioned this word.
in paris, the faubourg saint-marceau kept up an equal buzzing with the faubourg saint-antoine, and the schools were no less moved than the faubourgs. a cafe in the rue saint-hyacinthe and the wine-shop of the seven billiards, rue des mathurins-saint-jacques, served as rallying points for the students. the society of the friends of the a b c affiliated to the mutualists of angers, and to the cougourde of aix, met, as we have seen, in the cafe musain. these same young men assembled also, as we have stated already, in a restaurant wine-shop of the rue mondetour which was called corinthe. these meetings were secret. others were as public as possible, and the reader can judge of their boldness from these fragments of an interrogatory undergone in one of the ulterior prosecutions: "where was this meeting held?" "in the rue de la paix." "at whose house?" "in the street." "what sections were there?" "only one." "which?" "the manuel section." "who was its leader?" "i." "you are too young to have decided alone upon the bold course of attacking the government. where did your instructions come from?" "from the central committee."
the army was mined at the same time as the population, as was proved subsequently by the operations of beford, luneville, and epinard. they counted on the fifty-second regiment, on the fifth, on the eighth, on the thirty-seventh, and on the twentieth light cavalry. in burgundy and in the southern towns they planted the liberty tree; that is to say, a pole surmounted by a red cap.
such was the situation.
the faubourg saint-antoine, more than any other group of the population, as we stated in the beginning, accentuated this situation and made it felt. that was the sore point. this old faubourg, peopled like an ant-hill, laborious, courageous, and angry as a hive of bees, was quivering with expectation and with the desire for a tumult. everything was in a state of agitation there, without any interruption, however, of the regular work. it is impossible to convey an idea of this lively yet sombre physiognomy. in this faubourg exists poignant distress hidden under attic roofs; there also exist rare and ardent minds. it is particularly in the matter of distress and intelligence that it is dangerous to have extremes meet.
the faubourg saint-antoine had also other causes to tremble; for it received the counter-shock of commercial crises, of failures, strikes, slack seasons, all inherent to great political disturbances. in times of revolution misery is both cause and effect. the blow which it deals rebounds upon it. this population full of proud virtue, capable to the highest degree of latent heat, always ready to fly to arms, prompt to explode, irritated, deep, undermined, seemed to be only awaiting the fall of a spark. whenever certain sparks float on the horizon chased by the wind of events, it is impossible not to think of the faubourg saint-antoine and of the formidable chance which has placed at the very gates of paris that powder-house of suffering and ideas.
the wine-shops of the faubourg antoine, which have been more than once drawn in the sketches which the reader has just perused, possess historical notoriety. in troublous times people grow intoxicated there more on words than on wine. a sort of prophetic spirit and an afflatus of the future circulates there, swelling hearts and enlarging souls. the cabarets of the faubourg saint-antoine resemble those taverns of mont aventine erected on the cave of the sibyl and communicating with the profound and sacred breath; taverns where the tables were almost tripods, and where was drunk what ennius calls the sibylline wine.
the faubourg saint-antoine is a reservoir of people. revolutionary agitations create fissures there, through which trickles the popular sovereignty. this sovereignty may do evil; it can be mistaken like any other; but, even when led astray, it remains great. we may say of it as of the blind cyclops, ingens.
in '93, according as the idea which was floating about was good or evil, according as it was the day of fanaticism or of enthusiasm, there leaped forth from the faubourg saint-antoine now savage legions, now heroic bands.
savage. let us explain this word. when these bristling men, who in the early days of the revolutionary chaos, tattered, howling, wild, with uplifted bludgeon, pike on high, hurled themselves upon ancient paris in an uproar, what did they want? they wanted an end to oppression, an end to tyranny, an end to the sword, work for men, instruction for the child, social sweetness for the woman, liberty, equality, fraternity, bread for all, the idea for all, the edenizing of the world. progress; and that holy, sweet, and good thing, progress, they claimed in terrible wise, driven to extremities as they were, half naked, club in fist, a roar in their mouths. they were savages, yes; but the savages of civilization.
they proclaimed right furiously; they were desirous, if only with fear and trembling, to force the human race to paradise. they seemed barbarians, and they were saviours. they demanded light with the mask of night.
facing these men, who were ferocious, we admit, and terrifying, but ferocious and terrifying for good ends, there are other men, smiling, embroidered, gilded, beribboned, starred, in silk stockings, in white plumes, in yellow gloves, in varnished shoes, who, with their elbows on a velvet table, beside a marble chimney-piece, insist gently on demeanor and the preservation of the past, of the middle ages, of divine right, of fanaticism, of innocence, of slavery, of the death penalty, of war, glorifying in low tones and with politeness, the sword, the stake, and the scaffold. for our part, if we were forced to make a choice between the barbarians of civilization and the civilized men of barbarism, we should choose the barbarians.
but, thank heaven, still another choice is possible. no perpendicular fall is necessary, in front any more than in the rear.
neither despotism nor terrorism. we desire progress with a gentle slope.
god takes care of that. god's whole policy consists in rendering slopes less steep.
将近四月底时，一切情况都严重起来了。酝酿成了沸腾。从一八三○年起，这里那里都有过一些局部的小骚动，立即遭到了扑灭，但是随扑随起，这是地下暗流进行大汇合的信号。大动乱有一触即发之势。一种可能的革命已露出若隐若现的迹象。法国望着巴黎，巴黎望着圣安东尼郊区。
圣安东尼郊区，暗中早已火热，即将进入沸腾。
夏罗纳街上的那些饮料店是严肃而汹涌澎湃的，虽然把这两组形容词连在一起来谈那些店是显得有些特别的。
在那些地方，人们根本或干脆不把政府放在眼里。人们在那里公开讨论“是打还是呆着不动的问题”。在那些店的一些后间里，有人在听取一些工人宣誓：“一听到告警的呼声，便立即跑到街上，并且不问敌人多少，立即投入战斗。”宣誓以后，一个坐在那店角落里的人便“敞着嗓门”说：“你同意啦！你宣誓啦！”有时，那人还走到一层楼上的一间关上了门的屋子里，并在那里举行一种类似秘密组织所惯用的仪式。那人教初入组织的人作出诺言：“为他服务，如同对家长那样。”那是一种公式。
在那些矮厅里，有人在阅读“颠覆性”的小册子。“他们冒犯政府”，当时一个秘密报告这样说。
在那些地方，人们常听到这样一些话：“我不知道首领们的姓名。我们，要到最后的两个钟头才能知道日期。”一个工人在说：“我们一共三百人，每人十个苏吧，就会有一百五十法郎，可以用来制造枪弹和火药。”另一个工人说：“我不指望六个月，也不指望两个月。不到两星期我们便要和政府面对面了。有了两万五千人，便可以交一下手。”另一个说：“我从不睡，因为我整夜做子弹。”有些“资产阶级模样的穿着漂亮衣服”的人不时走来“耍派头”，“指手画脚”和那些“重要角色”握握手，便走了。他们停留的时间从来不超过十分钟。人们低声谈着一些有深意的话：“布置已经完成，事情已经到了头了。”一个当时在场的人的原话：“所有在场的人都嗡嗡地那样说。”群情是那样激奋，以致有一天，一个工人对着满店的人嚷道：“我们没有武器！”他的一个同志回答说：“大兵们有！”这样便无意中引用了波拿巴的《告意大利大军书》。有一个情报还说：“更重要的秘密，他们不在那些地方传达。”旁人不大明了他们在说了他们所说的那些话以后还瞒着些什么。
那些会有时是定期举行的。在某些会里，从来不超过八个或十个人，并且老是原来那几个。另外一些会，任人随意参加，会场便拥挤到有些人非立着不可。到会的人，有的是出于激情和狂热，有的是因为“那是找工作的路子”。和革命时期一样，在那些饮料店里也有一些爱国的妇女，她们拥抱那些新到会的人。
还出现了另外一些有意义的事。
有一个人走进一家饮料店，喝过以后，走出店门说道：“酒老板，欠账，革命会照付的。”
人们常在夏罗纳街对面、一个饮料店老板的家里选派革命工作人员。选票是投在鸭舌帽里的。
有些工人在柯特街一个收学生的剑术教师家里聚会。他家里陈列了各种武器：木剑、棍、棒、花剑。一天，他们把那些花剑头上的套子全去掉了。有个工人说：“我们是二十五个人，但是他们不把我算在内，因为他们把我看作一个饭桶。”这饭桶便是日后的凯尼赛1。
1凯尼赛（quénisset），巴黎圣安东尼郊区的工人，一八四一年九月十三日谋刺奥马尔公爵及奥尔良公爵，未遂。
预先思考过的种种琐事也渐渐传开了。一个扫着大门台阶的妇人曾对另一个妇人说：“大家早已在拼命赶做枪弹了。”人们也对着街上的人群宣读一些对各省县国民自卫军发出的宣言。有一份宣言的签字人是“酒商，布尔托”。
一天，在勒努瓦市场的一个酒铺门前，有个生着络腮胡子、带意大利口音的人立在一块墙角石上，高声朗读一篇仿佛是由一个秘密权力组织发出的文告。一群群的人向他的四周聚拢来，并对他鼓掌。那些最使听众激动的片段曾被搜集记录下来：“……我们的学说被禁止了，我们的宣言被撕毁了，我们的宣传员受到了暗中侦察并被囚禁起来了……”“……最近棉纱市场的混乱现象替我们说服了许多中间派……”“……人民的将来要由我们这个惨淡的行列来经营……”“……摆着的问题就是这样：动还是反动，革命还是反革命。因为，在我们这时代，人们已不承认有什么无为状态或不动状态。为人民还是反人民，问题就在这里。再没有旁的。”“……等到有一天，你们感到我们不再适合你们的要求了，粉碎我们就是，但是在那以前，请协助我们前进。”这一切都是公开说的。
另外一些更大胆的事，正因为它们大胆，引起了人民的怀疑。一八三二年四月四日，一个走在街上的人跳上一块圣玛格丽特街转角处的墙角石并且喊道：“我是巴贝夫主义者！”但是，人民在他那巴贝夫的下面嗅到了吉斯凯的臭味1。
1吉斯凯（gisquet），七月王朝时期大金融家，一八三一年曾任警署署长。
那个人还说了许多话，其中有这么一段：
“打倒私有财产！左派的反对是无耻的，口是心非的。当他们要显示自己正确的时候，他们便宣传革命。可是，为了不失败，他们又自称是民主派，为了不战斗，他们又自称是保王派。共和主义者是一些生着羽毛的动物。你们得对共和主义者提高警惕，劳动的公民们。”
“闭嘴，当暗探的公民！”一个工人这样喊。
这一声喊便堵住了那篇演说。
还发生过一些费解的事。
天快黑时，一个工人在运河附近遇见一个“穿得漂漂亮亮的人”对他说：“你去什么地方，公民？”那工人回答说：“我没有认识您的荣幸。”“我却认识你，我。”那人接着还说：“你不用怕。我是委员会的工作人员。他们怀疑你不怎么可靠。你知道，要是你走漏消急，人家的眼睛便盯在你身上。”接着，他和那工人握了一下手，临走时还说：“我们不久再见。”
不止是在那些饮料店里，在街上，伸着耳朵的警察们也听到一些奇怪的对话：“赶快申请参加。”一个纺织工人对一个细木工说。
“为什么？”
“不久就要开火了。”
两个衣服破烂的人在街上一面走，一面说出了这么几句耐人寻味、富有明显的扎克雷1味道的话：
“谁统治我们？”
“菲力浦先生。”
“不对，是资产阶级。”
1扎克雷（jacquerie），指一二五八年法国的农民起义。
谁要是认为我们在这里提到“扎克雷味道”含有恶意，那他便误会了。扎克雷，指的是穷人。而挨饿的人都有权利。另一次，有两个人走过，其中的一个对另一个说：“我们有了一个好的进攻计划。”
四个人蹲在宝座便门圆路边的土坑里谈心，旁人只听到这么一句话：
“我们应当尽可能让他不再在巴黎蹓跶。”
谁呀，“他”？吓坏人的闷葫芦。
那些“主要头儿”棗这是郊区的人常用的称号棗不露面。人们认为他们常在圣厄斯塔什突角附近的一家饮料店里开讨论会。一个叫奥古什么的人，蒙德都街缝衣业互助社的首领，被认为是那些头儿和圣安东尼郊区之间的主要联络人。但是头儿们的情况始终没有暴露出来，也没有任何一点具体事实能回击一个被告日后在贵族院作出的那句怪傲慢的答词：
“您的首领是什么人？”
“我一个也不知道，一个也不认得。”
这也只不过是一些隐隐闪闪的片言只语，有时，也只是一些道听途说而已。另外还有一些偶然出现的迹象。
一个木工在勒伊街一处房屋建筑工地周围的栅栏上钉木板时，在工地上拾到一封被撕破的信的一个片段，从那上面还可以看出这样几行字：
“……委员会应立即采取措施，为防止各种不同的社团在各组征调人员……”
另有附言：
“据我们了解，在郊区鱼市街附五号，一个武器商人家的院子里有五千或六千支步枪。本组毫无武器。”
使那木工惊奇并把这东西递给他的伙伴们看的是，在相隔几步的地方，他又拾到另外一张纸，同样是撕破了的，但更有意义，这种奇特的材料具有历史价值，因此我们照原样把它抄录下来：
qcde请将本表内容背熟记牢。随后加
以撕毁。已被接纳人员，在接受了你
们所传达的指示以后，也应同样办理。
敬礼和博爱。
uoga
1
fe l。
当日发现这张表格并为之保密的那几个人直到日后才知道那四个大写字母的含义：quinturions（五人队长），centuriaons（百人队长），décurions（十人队长），eclaireurs（先锋队），uoga
1
fe这几个字母代表一个日期：一八三二年四月十五日。在每个大写字母下面，登记着姓名和一些极特殊的情况。例如：q．巴纳雷尔，步枪8支，枪弹83粒，人可靠。c．布比埃尔，手枪1支，枪弹40粒。d．罗莱，花剑1柄，手枪1支，火药1斤。e．德西埃，马刀1把，枪弹匣1个，准时。德赫尔，步枪8支，勇敢。等等。
木工在同一处工地上，还找到第三张纸，纸上用铅笔很清楚地写了这么一个费解的单子：
团结。布朗夏尔。枯树。6。
巴拉。索阿兹。伯爵厅。
柯丘斯科。奥白利屠夫？
j．j．r．
凯尤斯·格拉古。
审核权。迪丰。富尔。
吉伦特派垮台。德尔巴克。莫布埃。
华盛顿。班松。手枪1，弹86。
《马赛曲》。
人民主权。米歇尔。坎康布瓦。马刀。
奥什。
马尔索。柏拉图。枯树。
华沙。蒂伊，《人民报》叫卖。
那个保存这张单子的诚实的市民知道它的含义。据说这单子上是人权社第四区各组组长的姓名住址的全部登记。所有这些被埋没了的事到今天已成历史，我们不妨把它公开出来。还应当补充一点，人权社的成立似乎是在发现这张单子的日期以后。这也许只是一个初步名单。
可是，在那些片言只语和道听途说以后，在那些纸上的一鳞半爪以后，又有一些具体事实开始冒出头来。
波邦古街，在一个旧货商人的铺子里，人们从一张抽斗柜的一个抽斗里搜出了七张一式一样从长里一折四的灰色纸，这几张纸下面还有二十六张用同样的灰色纸裁成的四方块，并且卷成了枪弹筒的形状，另外还有一张硬纸片，上面写着：
硝十二英两
硫磺 二英两
炭二英两半
水二英两
搜查报告还证明抽斗里有强烈的火药味。
一个收工回家的泥瓦工人把他的一个小包忘了，丢在奥斯特里茨桥旁的一条长凳上。这小包被人送到警察哨所。打开来看，包里有两份问答体的印刷品，作者叫拉奥杰尔，还有一首题名为《工人们，团结起来》的歌，和一个盛满了枪弹的白铁盒子。
一个工人在和一个同伴喝酒时，要那同伴摸摸他多么热，那同伴发现他的褂子下有一支手枪。
一群孩子在拉雪兹神甫公墓和宝座便门之间、那段行人最少的公路旁的坑里游戏，他们从一堆刨花和垃圾下找出了一个布口袋，袋里盛着一个做枪弹的模子，一根做枪弹筒的木棍，一个还剩有一些猎枪火药的瓢和一个生铁锅，锅里留有明显的熔铅痕迹。
几个警务人员在早晨五点钟突然冲进一个叫帕尔东的人的家里，发现他正立在床边，手里拿着几个枪弹筒在做。这人便是日后参加美里街垒的一员，一八三四年四月起义时牺牲了的。
快到工人们休息时，有人看见两个人在比克布斯便门和夏朗东便门之间，在两堵墙间的一条巡逻小道旁的一家大门前、有一套暹罗游戏的饮料店附近碰头。一个从工作服下取出一支手枪，把它交给另一个。正要给他时，他发现胸口上的汗水把火药浸潮了一点。他重新上那支手枪，在药池里原有的火药上添上一些火药。随后，那两个人便分头走开了。
一个名叫加雷、日后四月事件发生那天在博布尔街被杀的人，常夸口说在他家里有七百发子弹和二十四颗火石。
政府在某天得到通知说最近有人向郊区散发了一些武器和二十万发枪弹。一星期过后，又散发了枪弹三万发。值得注意的是，警察一点也没有破获。一封被截留的信里说：“八万爱国志士在四个钟头以内一齐拿起武器的日子已经不远了。”
所有这些酝酿活动全是公开的，几乎可以说是安然无事的。即将发作的暴动从容不迫地在政府面前准备它的风雷。这种仍在暗中进行、但已隐约可见的危机可说是无奇不有。资产阶级泰然自若地和工人们谈论着正在准备中的事。人们问道：“暴动进行得怎么样了？”问这话的语气正如问：“您的女人身体健康吧？”
莫罗街的一个木器商人问道：“你们几时进攻呀？”
另一个店铺老板说：
“马上就要进攻了。我知道。一个月以前，你们是一万五千人，现在你们有两万五千人了。”他献出了他的步枪，一个邻居还愿意出让一支小手枪，讨价七法郎。
总之，革命的热潮正在高涨。无论是在巴黎或法国，没有一处能例外。动脉处处在跳动。正如某些炎症所引起、在人体内形成的那种薄膜那样，秘密组织的网已开始在全国四散蔓延。从那既公开又秘密的人民之友社，产生了人权社，这人权社曾在它的一份议事日程上写上这样的日期：“共和纪元四十年雨月”，虽经重罪裁判所宣判勒令解散，它仍继续活动，并用这样一些有意义的名称为它的小组命名：
长矛。
警钟。
警炮。
自由帽。
一月二十一。1
穷棒子。
流浪汉。
前进。
罗伯斯庇尔。
水平仪。
《会好的呵》。
1一七九三年一月二十一日，法王路易十六被处死刑。
人权社又产生了行动社。这是一些分化出来向前跑的急躁分子。另外还有一些社在设法从那些大的母社中征集社员。组员们都因为此拉彼扯而感到为难。例如高卢社和地方组织委员会。又如出版自由会、个人自由会、人民教育会、反对间接税会。还有工人平等社，曾分为三派，平等派、共产派、改革派。还有巴士底军，一种按军队编制组合的队伍，四个人由下士率领，十个人由中士率领，二十人由少尉率领，四十人由中尉率领，从来没有五个以上互相认识的人。一种小心与大胆相结合的创造，似乎具有威尼斯式的天才。为首的中央委员会有两条手臂：行动社和巴士底军。一个正统主义的组织叫忠贞骑士社，在这些共和主义的组织中蠕蠕钻动。结果它被人揭发，并被排斥。
巴黎的这些会社在一些主要城市里都建立了分社。里昂、南特、里尔和马赛都有它们的人权社、烧炭党、自由人社。艾克斯有一个革命的组织叫苦古尔德社。我们已经提到过。
在巴黎，圣马尔索郊区比圣安东尼郊区安静不了多少，学校也并不比郊区平静多少。圣亚森特街的一家咖啡馆和圣雅克马蒂兰街的七球台咖啡馆是大学生们的联络站。跟昂热的互助社以及艾克斯的苦古尔德社结盟的abc的朋友们社，我们已经见过，常在缪尚咖啡馆里聚会。这一伙年轻人，我们以前曾提到过，也常出现在蒙德都街附近一家酒店兼饭馆的称作科林斯的店里。这些聚会是秘密的。另一些会却尽量公开，我们可以从日后审讯时的这段口供看出他们的大胆：“会议是在什么地方举行的？”“和平街。”“谁的家里？”“街上。”“到了哪几个组？”“只到一个组。”“哪一个？”“手工组。”“谁是头儿？”
“我。”“你太年轻了，不见得能单独一人担负起这个攻击政府的重大任务吧。你接受什么地方的指示？”“中央委员会。”
日后从贝尔福、吕内维尔、埃皮纳勒等地发生的运动来判断，军队和民众一样，也同时有所准备。人们所指望的是第五十二联队、第五、第八、第三十七、第二十轻骑队。在勃艮第和南方的一些城市里，种植了自由树，也就是说，一根顶着一顶红帽子的旗杆。
当时的局势便是这样。
圣安东尼郊区，我们在开始时便已提到，比任何其他地区的民众使这种局势变得更敏锐更紧张。这里是症结所在。
这个古老的郊区，拥挤得象个蚂蚁窝，勤劳、勇敢和愤怒得象一窝蜂，在等待和期望剧变的心情中骚动。一切都在纷攘中，但并不因此而中止工作。这种振奋而阴郁的面貌是无法加以说明的。在这郊区里，无数顶楼的瓦顶下掩盖着种种惨痛的苦难，同时也有不少火热的和稀有的聪明才智。正是由于苦难和聪明才智这两个极端碰在一起，情况尤为危殆。
圣安东尼郊区还有其他一些震颤的原因；因为它经常受到和重大政治动荡连结在一起的商业危机、倒闭、罢工、失业的灾殃。在革命时期，穷苦同时是原因也是后果。它的打击常回到它自身。这些民众，有着高傲的品德，充满了最高的潜在热力，随时准备拿起武器，一触即发，郁怒，深沉，跃跃欲试，所等待的仿佛只是一粒火星的坠落。每当星星之火被事变的风吹逐着，飘在天边时，人们便不能不想到圣安东尼郊区，也不能不想到这个由苦难和思潮所构成的火药库，可怕的机缘把它安置在巴黎的大门口。
圣安东尼郊区的那些饮料店，我们在前面的速写里已经多次描绘过，在历史上是有名的。在动荡的岁月里，人们在那些地方所痛饮的，不仅仅是酒，更多的是语言。一种预感的精神和未来的气息在那里奔流，鼓动着人们的心并壮大着人们的意志。圣安东尼郊区的饮料店有如阿梵丹山上那些建造在巫女洞口暗通神意的酒家，一种人们凭着类似香炉的座头酌饮着厄尼乌斯1所谓巫女酒的酒家。
1厄尼乌斯（ennius），公元前二世纪的拉丁诗人。
圣安皂尼郊区是人民的水库。革命的冲力造成水库的裂口，人民的主权便沿着裂口流出。这种主权可能有害，它和任何其他主权一样，难免发生错误，但是，尽管迷失方向，它仍是伟大的。我们不妨说它象瞎眼巨人库克罗普斯的吼叫声。
在九三年，根据当时流传着的思想是好还是坏，根据那天是狂热的日子还是奋激的日子，从圣安东尼郊区出发的，时而是野蛮的军团，时而是英雄的队伍。
野蛮。让我们来把这词说明一下。这些毛发直竖的人们，在破天荒第一次爆发的革命的混乱中，衣服破烂，吼声震天，横眉怒目地抡着铁锤，高举长矛，一齐向丧魂落魄的老巴黎涌上去，他们要的是什么呢？他们要的是压迫的终止，暴政的终止，刑戮的终止，成人有工作，儿童有教育，妇女有社会的温暖，要自由，要平等，要博爱，人人有面包，人人有思想，世界乐园化，进步；他们要的便是这神圣、美好、温和的东西：进步；他们走投无路，控制不了自己，这才大发雷霆，袒胸攘臂，抓起棍棒，大吼大叫地来争取。这是一些野蛮人，是的，但是是文明的野蛮人。
他们以无比愤怒的心情宣布人权，即使要经过战栗和惊骇，他们也要强迫人类登上天堂。他们貌似蛮族，却都是救世主。他们蒙着黑夜的面罩要求光明。
这些人很粗野，我们承认，而且狞恶，但他们是为了为善而粗野狞恶的。在这些人之外另有一种人，满脸笑容，周身锦绣，金饰，彩绶，宝光，丝袜，白羽毛，黄手套，漆皮鞋，肘弯支在云石壁炉旁的丝绒桌子上，慢条斯理地坚持要维护和保持过去、中世纪、神权、信仰狂、愚昧、奴役、死刑、战争，细声细气彬彬有礼地颂扬大刀、火刑和断头台。至于我们，假如一定要我们在那些文明的野蛮人和野蛮的文明人之间有所选择的话，我们宁肯选择那些野蛮人。
但是，谢谢皇天，另一种选择也是可能的。无论朝前和朝后，陡直的下坠总是不必要的。既不要专制主义，也不要恐怖主义。我们要的是舒徐上升的进步。
上帝照顾。务使坡度舒徐，这便是上帝的全部政策。