Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/372

330 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 chap. Frenchman when he rages because he is anxious. XIV . '__ Even without the utterance of airy words, the countenances of men thus disturbed would be swiftly read in a body of Trench troops ; and though the soldiery and the inferior officers would not be able to make out very well what it was that was troubling the minds of the Generals, the sense of not knowing all would only make them the more susceptible of infection. On the other hand, it is certain that the instructions given to the troops prescribed the ruthless slaughtering of all who resisted or obstructed them ; and although it is of course true that these directions would not compel or sanction the slaughter of peaceful crowds not at all obstructing the troops, still they would so act upon the minds of the soldiery that any passion which might chance to seize them would be likely to take a tierce shape, surmised Upon the whole, then, it would seem that the massacre, natural and well-grounded alarm which beset the President and some of his associates was turned to anxiety of the raging sort when it came upon the military commanders, and that from them it ran down, till at last it seized upon the troops with so maddening a power as to cause them to face round without word of command, and open fire upon a crowd of gazing men and women. If this solution were accepted, it would destroy the theory which ascribes to Prince Louis Bona- parte the malign design of contriving a slaughter on the Boulevard as a means of striking terror,