Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/287

BKTWEEN THE CZAR AND THE SULTAN. 245 That was what the brethren of the Elysee wanted, chap. On Sunday the 30th, General Lawsestine was ap- 1 ' , pointed to the command. He was a man who had fought in the great wars, hut, now in his grey hairs, he was not too proud to accept the part designed for him. His function was — not to lead the force of which he took the command, but — to prevent it from acting. It was unnecessary to admit either Lawsestine or Vieyra to a complete knowledge of the plot, because all that they were to do was to frustrate the assembly of the National Guard by withholding all orders and preventing the drums from beating to arms. Of course the engine on which the brethren of The army, the Elysee rested their main hopes was the army ; and it was known that the remembrance of humiliating conflicts in the streets of Paris had long been embittering the temper in which the troops regarded the people of the capital. More- over, it happened that at this time the Legislative Assembly had been agitated by a discussion which inflamed the troops with fresh anger against civilians in general, but more especially against the Parisians, against the representatives of the people, and against statesmen and politicians of all kinds. A portion of the Chambers, foreseeing that the army might be used against the freedom of the Legislative Body, had desired that the Assembly should avail itself of a provision in the Consti- tution which empowered it, not only to have an armed force for its protection, but to have that force under the order of its own nominee. This