Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/302

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2G0 OlilGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 chap, strument, lie said lie would refer for guidance to L his chief.* Presently afterwards several battalions of the line under the command of General Forey came up and surrounded the Mayoralty. The Chasseurs de Vincennes were ordered to load. By-and-by two Commissaries of Police came to the door, and, announcing that they had orders to clear the hall, entreated the Assembly to yield. The Assembly refused. A third Commissary came, using more imperative language, but he also seems to have shrunk back when he was made to see the law- lessness of the act which he was attempting, -f* Written At length an aide-de-camp of General Magnan orders from ° 1 o Maguanto came with a written order directing the officer in clear the ° LaU - command of the battalion to clear the hall, to do this if necessary by force, and to carry off to the prison of Mazas any Deputies offering resist- ance.:): By his way of framing this order, Magnan showed how he crouched under his favourite shelter, for in it he declared that he acted 'in ' consequence of the orders of the Minister of ' War.' § The number of Deputies present at

  • La Ve'rite', 'Recueil d'Actes Officiels,* p. 52.

t Ibid. pp. 53 -G. 1 It was in the second of the two written orders produced that the prison of Mazas was designated. It is given ibid. p. $7.— Note to Uh Edition, 1863. § The order rendered into English was in these words : — ' Commandant ! In consequence of Ike orders of the Minister of ' War, cause to be immediately occupied the Mayoralty of the ' 10th arrondissement, and cause to be arrested, if necessary, ' such of the representatives as shall not instantly obey the