The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-17 00:00:00

families, and their native land. Should they
adopt the prudent resolution of abstaining for the
future from their inflaming harangues, and keeping
within constitutional limits in their political exer-
tions, we shall not regret their personal exemption.
If they sin no more, we would gladly award them an
amnesty for the past ; but we fear their unexpected
escape will only stimulate themselves and others to
new transgressions, the consequence of which may be
of the most serious character. We must, also, under
any circumstances deplore the fact that the special
jurors of the Irish metropolis have not followed the
noble example set them by the gentlemen of Lime-
rick, Clare, and Tipperary, during the late Special
Commission in those counties ; but that the miscon-
duct of some of their members has reflected so deep
discredit on a body comprising many respectable
and honourable men, as to render it contingent on
the chances of a ballot whether a fair and disinte-
rested verdict can be calculated on in any case bearing
a political aspect.

Madrid papers to the 11th have arrived. The con•
tents are uninteresting.
MADRID BeILMA, MAY 11.—Three per Cents, 21
to ; Fives, 14i. Exchange on London, 41.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
Paris continued perfectly quiet —order was restored,
the National Guard, the students of the Polytechnic
School, the Garde Mobile, the standing army, were
all under arms, and were actuated by the best feel-
ing for the preservation of order. About six o'clock
in the evening of Monday the National Guard of
the Banlieu entered Paris to offer their services to
the National Assembly. The prisoners SOBRIER,
BARBES, ALBERT, RASPAIL, CADET, HUBERT, Ge-
neral COURTAIS, and others (among whom we regret
to say is not BLANQUI, who has effected his escape),
were transferred early yesterday morning to the dun-
geons of Vincennes, where they are strongly guarded.
fhe National Assembly will, it is said, be erected
into a court of justice for the trial of
these conspirators. Early yesterday morning
a proclamation of the Executive Committee of
Government was placarded about Paris, which stated
that, under pretext of presenting a petition in favour
of Poland, the Assembly had been invaded—that the
members remained firm in presence of the conspiracy
—that the conspirators had been arrested—the con-
spiracy vanquished—and that justice would be firmly
executed. The Clubs are closed ; those presided
over by BLANQUI, SOBRIER, and BARBES, are in
possession of the National Guard.
We now proceed to give a summary of the events
of Monday—a brief history of this revolution of an
hour—in continuation of the account which appeared
in The Sun of yesterday :
The movement had been planned for some days
beforehand. Poland was the pretext, but the orga•
nization of a system of plunder, under the name of
Communism, was the object. The members of the
Executive Committee of the Government, and the
(residents, Questors, and authorities of the National
Assembly, were perfectly aware some days before of
the intention, and of the forces of the insurgents, and
were perfectly prepared for them. In fact order
would never have been disturbed had there not been
treason in the camp of the Republicans. General
COURTAIS, the Commander of the National Guard,
and CAUSSIDIERE, the Prefect of Police, were both in
league with the Clubbists. COURTAIS, on the ap-
proach of the mob to the National Assembly, not
only ordered the National Guarde not to oppose
any resistance to their attack upon the As-
sembly, but, in order to render such resistance
impossible, he had actually ordered them to unfix
bayonets, and not to load their muskets. It is not,
therefore, to be wondered at that the mob entered the
Assembly by force, and that for four hours Paris was
in possession of a lawless set of plunderers, to get rid
of whom, as one of the correspondents of a morning
paper justly observes, even the restoration of the elder
branch of the Bourbons would have been accepted ;
and we believe that the restoration of either the elder
or the younger branch of the Bourbons is the object
to att tin which the chiefs of this movement were aim-
ing. The connexion between BLANQUI and the police
of Louis PHILIPPE is well known. Louts BLANC
naturally belongs to the Legitimist party. He began
life as one of the followers of GENOUDE, of the Gazette
de France, the head of that party which openly avows
that the way to a restoration of Legitimacy is through

Communism—the old parti pretre—the men who,
to use the words of CAMILLE DESMOULINS, "endea-
vour to drive liberty mad, in order to disgust the
world with her."
The following is an account of the proceedings of
the mob before they broke into the Assembly :
The various clubs and the workmen of the Ateliers
Nationaux met on the Boulevards, and afterwards re-
paired to the Place de la Bastille. At eleven o'clock they
proceeded to the National Assembly, following the Boule-
vards, headed by the presidents of the clubs and several
officers, both of the regular troops and the National Guard.
When the procession reached the Bridge de la Concorde,
it was guarded by a small body of National Guards who
were forced by the mob to remove their bayonets
from their muskets. On reaching the Pale,i.
Bourbon a general, in full uniform, who was
standing on the steps of the Palace facing the
bridge, came down to receive the delegates who
bore the petition; several of them entered. The proces-
sion, after a short stand at the back of the Palace, pro-
ce, ded to the Place du Palais Bourbon. A small body
of Garde Nationale Mobile were drawn up in front of
the Palace, and received the procession with fixed
bayonets. A workman immediately seizing the
musket of one of the men, took off the
bayonet, returned him his arm, and urged the
rest to remove their bayonets also, as resistance
was useless, whatever might be their orders. The proces-
sion then stood some time on the place. Shortly after some
began to shout " Open the doors," when a man scaled the
wall on the right side of the gates, and, with a standard in
his hand, urged the crowd to follow him. That proceeding
was severely censured by a portion of the proces-
sion ; the Colonel of the National Guard, who was at
the head of the procession, left the spot immediately.
During the scaling of the wall several persons offered a
slight resistance; some officers of the National Guard
attempted to push the men off. General Courtais soon
appeared, and after an ineffectual attempt to prevent one
er two persons from entering the court, he retired. The
doors were now thrown open, and the mob rushed in Very
shortly after the report of a musket was heard, and the
people began to fly, and shout "To arms!" It was soon
reported that the musket had gone off by accident.
The greatest irritation prevailed among the mob. A staff-
officer of the National Guard went into the Assembly, and
promised the people to let them know what was going
on. He soon came out, and informed those who
surrounded him that the question had the warmest
sympathies of the Assembly, and that they would ins•
mediately take the matter into consideration. That
information was very ill received by the mob—one man
exclaimed " We are the masters!" others, " We will
have no such answers; it must be yes or no." "We
will not leave the spot till war has been declared," &c.
The troops appeared to be manceuvring to surround the
PAlace. A large body of the Garde Mobile was drawn
qp on the steps that face the bridge, and troops were
arriving on all sides.
The above account appeared in our Third Edition of
3
'esterday. Subsequent accounts show that it was not
the mob which forced the National Guards who were
stationed on the Bridge de la Concorde to remove
their bayonets ; the removal of the bayonets had
been ordered some time before by General COURTAIS,
the general who appeared in full uniform on the steps
of the palace to receive the delegates, and who intro-
duced the mob into the Assembly-.
During the time the mob held possession of the
Chambers, they amused themselves by placing Louts
&Axe, the General Tom Thumb of politicians, upon
a table, and parading him round the Assembly. On
leering the Assembly they proceeded to the Hotel de
Ville, where they nominated the following as mem-
bers of a Provisional Government:—Ledru Rollin,
Caussidiere, Barbes, Flocon, Louis Blanc, Albert
and Thore, maire de Paris. This first list, however'
did not please them, and they therefore prepared a
second list, as follows:—Pierre Leroux, Barbes,
Blanqui, Cabet, Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Albert, Le-
,lru Rollin, Huber, and Respell. The National
Guard got possession of the. Hotel de Ville
while the anarchists were in the act of pre-
paring this list, and order was at once restored.
ALBERT and General COURTAIII were immediately
arrested, and the epaulettes o 1 the latter were cut
from his shoulders by the National Guards. At a
later hour in the evening, not only BARBEs,
BLANQUI, SOBRIER, and RASP•AIL, but also nearly
all the other chiefs of the txiovement, had been
arrested.

The house in the Rue de Rivoli, No. 16, in which
SOBRIER has established his journal, called the Com-
mune de Paris, and where he ht icl a numerous guard
in his pay, to whom he had give: n the title of Mon-

tagnards, was blocked on every side by National
Guard!, and Commissaries of Police entered the
offices of the Commune de Paris, and began to exa•
mine all the papers. The .Montagnards, on learning
the arrest of SonatEß, had attempted to burn his
papers, but they were prevented.
When the detachment of National Guards sent to
invest the house arrived, an individual in a grey
blouse attempted to escape by the window of the en-
tresol, but was arrested immediately on reaching the
ground. It was understood that all the persons found
in the portion of the house rented by SOBRIER were
taken into custody.
The arrest of SOBRIER was effected in a rather
curious manner. In the distribution of places by the
self-constituted Provisional Government, SOBRIER
had taken for himself the post of Minister of the In-
terior, and immediately after leaving the Chamber of
Representatives he proceeded to the Ministry, at-
tended by about a hundred men, and after proclaim-
ing his new dignity, and demanding the seals of
office, he left for the purpose of going to the Hotel
de Ville to assist in the councils of his confederates.
The exertions of the day, however, had made citizen
SOBRIER so thirsty that he stopped on his way at the
the cafe d'Orsay, and entered to take some refresh-
ment. He was here recognised by M. RONDEAU, a
representative of the people, who immediately col-
lared him, and handed him over to the National
Guard on the Quai d'Orsay.

At eight o'clock the delegates of the departments,
who had arrived in Paris to take part in the fete,
Passed through the rue Vivienne and other principal
streets, displaying their banner, and shouting, " Vive
l'Assembl6e Nationale." This cry was responded to
with indescribable enthusiasm by all the inhabitants
as the delegates passed. In the evening a great part
of Paris was brilliantly illuminated, in honour of the
triumph of order over anarchy, and as a mark of
satisfaction at the rescue of the National Assembly
and the resumption of its sittings.
The following proclamation was issued by the
Minister of the Interior last night :
" Citizens,—A multitude led away by some factious
men has just violated the national representation. This
insensate attempt has failed in presence of the unani-
mous manifestation of the population of Paris. The
Government of the Republic will do its duty ; it will
know how to display the energy which must insure
order, without the least attack upon the principle of
liberty• " RECURT."

The following was issued by the questeur of the
Assembly :
" Citizens I—The National Assembly, elected by the
universal suffrages of the people, has been invaded ; its
President has bee❑ expulsed from the chair, and factious
men have substituted themselves for your veritable re.
presentatives, who rely on you and o❑ all good citizens,
as you may count on them.
" DEGOUSEE, th© delegated questeur."
At eight o'clock the following proclamation was
issued from the Hotel de Ville :

" The National Assembly is not dissolved. The Pre-
sident, yielding to the tumult, declared the sitting at an
end. The brave citizens of Paris are called on to main-
tain the respect due to the National Assembly, which
was elected by universal suffrage. To attack the
National Assembly is to attack the Republic conquered
in February, and proclaimed by the Assembly. Vive
rAssemble Nationale! Vive la Republique!
" ARMAND MARRAST,
I " Representative of the People, Mayor of Paris."
lAbout the same time the following was issued:—
" Ths Hotel de Ville is delivered. The Provisional
Government is leaving it amidst the acclamations of the
people. The conspirators have been arrested. Citizen
Buis Lecomte, bearer of the present proclamation, is
charged to read and cause it to be placarded in all the
mairies.

15th May, Seven o'clock.
" J. FLOTTARD,
" Secretary-Geueral of the Mairie of Paris."

The mails left Paris at the usual hour, but, by way of
precaution, were escorted by detachments of Nationa
Guards.

At a quarter to six o'clock on Monday evening a
cabriolet milord ascended as rapidly as possible the
Rue de la Montagne Sainte Genevieve, which is a
street very steep and ill-paved. Some persons, to aid
the horse, pushed the vehicle behind, and called on
the driver to whip the horse. Three men were in
the vehicle. On arriving before the Pantheon, the
cab started off at a gallop in the direction of the
Rue des Gres, and stopped at No. 5, Rue des Francs
Bourgeois, the residence of M.RA.SPAIL. The National
Guards who were bivouacked at the Luxembourg,
informed no doubt that M. RASPAIL was at his house,
went en masse to it. An order immediately ar-
rived that a search should be made. A battalion sur-
rounded all the issues of the Rue des Francs Bour-
geois, of the Rue Monsieur le Prince, and the Rue
Vaugirard. The search did not lead to the discovery
of anything positive. The adjoining houses were also
searched without success. Still, on the deposition of
some neighbours that M. RASPAIL had entered at
six o'clock, and had not since left, a new search took
place, and ended in his discovery and capture. It
was at that time half-pa3t nine o'clock. A cab was
at the door, and three officers entered it with M.
RAsrAIL. The vehicle proceeded to the Luxem-
bourg, where the prisoner was lodged. Not a cry,
not a menace was uttered—the National Guard
escorted the prisoner calmly and in good order.
The Debats says :

"As soon as the tact of the crime committed against
the National Assembly became known in Paris, about
four o'clock, the rappel was beaten iu all the legions.
The National Guard immediately assembled with admi-
rable ardour to cries of ' Viva l'Assemblee Nationale I'
The 10th and 3d legions went towards the National
Assembly to protect it. Several representatives joined
their ranks, asking for arms. The other legions, de-
tachments of the Garde Mobile, detachments of infantry
and cavalry, and a battery of artillery went to the Hotel
de Ville to possess themselves of the two or three pro-
visional Governments who had endeavoured to instal
themselves therein. M. de Lamartine and M. Ledru
Rollin were on horseback side by side, in the ranks
of the 2d legion. Everywhere ou there passage they
were received with acclamations and by the cry of
• Vive l'Assembl4 Nationale !' On arriving at the Hotel
de Ville, they entered it without resistance. They
found about a hundred individuals assembled, the
greatest number of whom were arrested, the rest es-
caping. No act of violence had to be deplored. M. do
Lamartine and M. Ledru Rollin left the Hotel de Ville
at seven o'clock. They were both on horseback. and
proceeded to the National Assembly. The immense and
compact crowd scarcely allowed their horses to advance,
they were almost borne by thousands of arms. Unani-
mous cries broke out on their passage. M. de Lamar-
tine, with his arms extended and shaking hands with
thousands, saluted, and with tears in his eyes, ad-
dressed thanks to the multitude of devoted citizens.
This demonstration accompanied him to the Palace of
the National Assembly. Between six and seven o'clock
the legions of the banlieu entered Paris by all the bar-
riers, to offer their support to the National Assembpr,
and their co-operation to the Executive Commission.
The following is the report of the evening sitting
of Monday of the National Assembly :
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.—SITTING OF

MAY 15.
EVENING SITTING.

Immediately after the Representatives had left the
Chamber, an imposing development of forces made their
appearance around the building. Considerable numbers
of the Ist and 2d Legion and of the Garde Mobile en-
tered the hall with their arms, and caused the people to
leave it. When the whole building was completely
cleared, a certain number of the Representatives re-
tnrned, and, after some little delay, proceeded to hold
a sitting.
All the tribunes were occupied by the National Guard,
and loud cries of " Vive I'Assemble3 Nationale!" rose
from all sides. The scene, in fact, was the very reverse
of what had taken place during the day. M. de La-
martine soon after appeared, and the greatest enthusiasm
was manifested. A number of the National Guards who
were occupy ing the space below rushed forward to meet
him, and even some of them kissed his hands. He was,
in fact, borne in triumph to his place.
M. Corbon, one of the Vice-Presidents, took the
chair about seven o'clock.
General Courtais appeared for a moment at the entry
of the hall, but the chilling reception which he met with
caused him promptly to leave it.
A Member.—Our first duty is to declare that the
National Assembly is not dissolved.
Several members attempting to speak together, con-
siderable confusion arose.
The Minister of Justice.—Citizens, the Government
is in permanence. It is determined to take the most
severe and the most efficient measures to avenge the
shameful attempt committed on the National Represen-
tatives, and to restore order and calm.—(Hear, hear.)
The Minister of Commerce.—I recommend the As-
sembly to abstain from every thing which might look
like anger, and to leave to the Government which the
Assembly has formed to act as the dignity of the As-
sembly and the great interests of the country demand.
country.—(
M. Berryer supported the view of the question taken
by the Minister of Justice.
M. De Lamartine rose and said, addressing the Na-
The immense
ti mid Guards—The first duty of the National Assembly,
which by the aid of your bayonets will be able to deli-
berate in securit will be to pass a vote of thanks to
which have takneanjoprlietcye
the National Guards, who have merited well of their
Numerous Voices And to the Garde Mobile!
_M. De Lamartine—l join them together--the two
Great applause, and a roll of the drums.)
fo r but one guard for the defence of liberty.—(Cheers.)
of
to-day
dh
ae
yi inhabitants bt iht
iissn tps
place.—(Cheer.
e .Paris havehee .
been moved with indignation at the scandalous scenes
ing, and beating of drums.) ;in
to the wretched
madmen who wanted to plunge the country in mourn-