Bossuet muttered in Combeferre's ear:
"He did not answer my question."
"He is a man who does good by gun-shots," said Combeferre.
Those who have preserved some memory of this already distant epoch know that the National Guard from the suburbs was valiant against insurrections. It was particularly zealous and intrepid in the days of June, 1832. A certain good dram-shop keeper of Pantin des Vertus or la Cunette, whose "establishment" had been closed by the riots, became leonine at the sight of his deserted dance-hall, and got himself killed to preserve the order represented by a tea-garden. In that bourgeois and heroic time, in the presence of ideas which had their knights, interests had their paladins. The prosiness of the originators detracted nothing from the bravery of the movement. The diminution of a pile of crowns made bankers sing the Marseillaise. They shed their blood lyrically for the counting-house; and they defended the shop, that immense diminutive of the fatherland, with Lacedaemonian enthusiasm.
At bottom, we will observe, there was nothing in all this that was not extremely serious. It was social elements entering into strife, while awaiting the day when they should enter into equilibrium.
Another sign of the times was the anarchy mingled with governmentalism [the barbarous name of the correct party]. People were for order in combination with lack of discipline.
The drum suddenly beat capricious calls, at the command of such or such a Colonel of the National Guard; such and such a captain went into action through inspiration; such and such National Guardsmen fought,"for an idea," and on their own account. At critical moments, on "days" they took counsel less of their leaders than of their instincts. There existed in the army of order, veritable guerilleros, some of the sword, like Fannicot, others of the pen, like Henri Fonfrede.
Civilization, unfortunately, represented at this epoch rather by an aggregation of interests than by a group of principles, was or thought itself, in peril; it set up the cry of alarm; each, constituting himself a centre, defended it, succored it, and protected it with his own head; and the first comer took it upon himself to save society.
Zeal sometimes proceeded to extermination. A platoon of the National Guard would constitute itself on its own authority a private council of war, and judge and execute a captured insurgent in five minutes. It was an improvisation of this sort that had slain Jean Prouvaire. Fierce Lynch law, with which no one party had any right to reproach the rest, for it has been applied by the Republic in America, as well as by the monarchy in Europe. This Lynch law was complicated with mistakes. On one day of rioting, a young poet, named Paul Aime Garnier, was pursued in the Place Royale, with a bayonet at his loins, and only escaped by taking refuge under the porte-cochere of No. 6. They shouted:--"There's another of those Saint-Simonians!" and they wanted to kill him. Now, he had under his arm a volume of the memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon. A National Guard had read the words Saint-Simon on the book, and had shouted: "Death!"
On the 6th of June, 1832, a company of the National Guards from the suburbs, commanded by the Captain Fannicot, above mentioned, had itself decimated in the Rue de la Chanvrerie out of caprice and its own good pleasure. This fact, singular though it may seem, was proved at the judicial investigation opened in consequence of the insurrection of 1832. Captain Fannicot, a bold and impatient bourgeois, a sort of condottiere of the order of those whom we have just characterized, a fanatical and intractable governmentalist, could not resist the temptation to fire prematurely, and the ambition of capturing the barricade alone and unaided, that is to say, with his company. Exasperated by the successive apparition of the red flag and the old coat which he took for the black flag, he loudly blamed the generals and chiefs of the corps, who were holding council and did not think that the moment for the decisive assault had arrived, and who were allowing "the insurrection to fry in its own fat," to use the celebrated expression of one of them. For his part, he thought the barricade ripe, and as that which is ripe ought to fall, he made the attempt.
He commanded men as resolute as himself, "raging fellows," as a witness said. His company, the same which had shot Jean Prouvaire the poet, was the first of the battalion posted at the angle of the street. At the moment when they were least expecting it, the captain launched his men against the barricade. This movement, executed with more good will than strategy, cost the Fannicot company dear. Before it had traversed two thirds of the street it was received by a general discharge from the barricade. Four, the most audacious, who were running on in front, were mown down point-blank at the very foot of the redoubt, and this courageous throng of National Guards, very brave men but lacking in military tenacity, were forced to fall back, after some hesitation, leaving fifteen corpses on the pavement. This momentary hesitation gave the insurgents time to re-load their weapons, and a second and very destructive discharge struck the company before it could regain the corner of the street, its shelter. A moment more, and it was caught between two fires, and it received the volley from the battery piece which, not having received the order, had not discontinued its firing.
The intrepid and imprudent Fannicot was one of the dead from this grape-shot. He was killed by the cannon, that is to say, by order.
This attack, which was more furious than serious, irritated Enjolras.--"The fools!" said he. "They are getting their own men killed and they are using up our ammunition for nothing."
Enjolras spoke like the real general of insurrection which he was. Insurrection and repression do not fight with equal weapons. Insurrection, which is speedily exhausted, has only a certain number of shots to fire and a certain number of combatants to expend. An empty cartridge-box, a man killed, cannot be replaced. As repression has the army, it does not count its men, and, as it has Vincennes, it does not count its shots. Repression has as many regiments as the barricade has men, and as many arsenals as the barricade has cartridge-boxes. Thus they are struggles of one against a hundred, which always end in crushing the barricade; unless the revolution, uprising suddenly, flings into the balance its flaming archangel's sword. This does happen sometimes. Then everything rises, the pavements begin to seethe, popular redoubts abound. Paris quivers supremely, the quid divinum is given forth, a 10th of August is in the air, a 29th of July is in the air, a wonderful light appears, the yawning maw of force draws back, and the army, that lion, sees before it, erect and tranquil, that prophet, France.
博须埃在公白飞的耳边低声说：
“他没有回答我的问题。”
“这是一个枪下留情的人。”公白飞说。
那些对遥远的事还有些记忆的人知道郊区国民自*在镇压起义时也相当勇敢。尤其在一八三二年六月的日子里他们顽强而无畏。庞坦、凡都斯和古内特这些小酒店的好老板，当暴动使“企业”停工时，看到舞厅没有顾客，就都成了小狮子，他们牺牲自己的性命，为的是维持郊区小酒店所代表的治安。在这同时具有市侩气息和英雄气概的时期，各种思潮都有它的骑士，利润也有它的侠客。平凡的动机并没有减少它在运动中的胆量。看到白银堆降低了，银行家就唱起《马赛曲》。为了钱柜，人们热情地流了自己的血；有人以斯巴达人的*来护卫小店浦棗这个极其渺小的国家的缩影。
我们可以说，事实上这一切并没有不严肃的地方，这是社会各成分间的冲突，将来有一天会达到平衡。
那个时期的另一特点是无*主义混入了*至上主义（这是正统派的怪名称）之中。人们在维持秩序，但毫无纪律。在某一国民自*上校的指挥下战鼓突然莫名其妙地擂起了集合令；某个上尉一时激动就上了火线，某个自*为了“主义”，为了自己去战斗。在某些危急关头，在这些“日子”里，大家不去征求上级的指示而凭自己的本能行事。在治安部队里有真正的游击队员，有些人象法尼各那样拿起武器，还有的象亨利·方弗来特那样执笔撰文。
在这个时代，文明不幸是某些利益的集合而不是某些原则的代表，它是，或自以为是处于危急之中。它发出紧急呼吁。每个人以自己为中心，并根据自己的想法起来防卫它，支援它，保卫它；随便一个什么人都自认为要负责拯救社会。
有时这种热忱发展到要处死人。国民自*的某个分队擅自组织了一个军事法庭，在五分钟内判决一个被俘的起义者死刑并立即执行。就是这样一个临时组织杀死了让·勃鲁维尔。残酷的林奇裁判①，没有任何一方有权去责怪对方，因为美国的共和*就是这样行事的，犹如欧洲的君主政体一样。这种私刑加上误会就更复杂了。在某一个暴动的日子里，有一个叫保罗－埃美·加尼埃的年轻诗人在王宫广场被人持着刺刀追逐，他只得躲进六号大门洞里。有人大声喊：“又是一个圣西门主义者！”他们要杀死他。当时他臂下夹着一本圣西门公爵②的《回忆录》。有一个国民自*在封皮上一念到“圣西门”这个名字就大叫起来：“把他杀死！”
①林奇裁判（loi de Lynch），美国的一种刑法，抓到罪犯后当场判决，立即执行。
②圣西门公爵（1675-1755），著有《回忆录》，记述当时宫廷及显贵琐事。此处指人误认为他拿的是同名的空想主义者圣西门的著作。
一八三二年六月六日，有一连郊区国民自*，由上尉法尼各指挥，这个人前面已提到过，他出于怪癖和一时的兴致，在麻厂街造成了大量伤亡。这一事件，在一八三二年起义结束后进行的司法预审中有记载证实。法尼各上尉是一个性情急躁和冒险的小市民，在维护秩序的队伍中他是一个类似雇佣兵那样的角色，这种人我们已描绘过他们的特性，他是个*而无法无天的*至上主义者，他不能抑制冲动要提前开火，并有着由他带领连队单独取下街垒的野心，他在接连看到红旗后又见到把旧衣当作黑旗，这使他怒不可遏，于是破口大骂那些在开会的将军和军团长们，因为他们认为总攻的决定性时刻尚未到来，根据他们间的一句名言，那就是“让反抗者在他们自己的肉汁中煮熟吧”。至于法尼各，他认为夺取街垒已经成熟，熟了的东西就该落地，所以他就去尝试。
他指挥着一伙和他同样坚决的人，当时的见证人称之为“一群疯子”。他那一连人，就是枪杀诗人让·勃鲁维尔的，是驻扎在那条街转角上的营中的第一连。在一个谁也很少想到的时刻，这上尉派遣他的人向街垒进攻。这种只凭愿望而无策略的行动，使法尼各这连人蒙受了巨大的伤亡。他们还没有进入到这条街三分之二的地方，就遭到街垒中发出的一次全面射击。跑在最前面的四个最胆大的士兵在离棱堡脚下很近的地方被击毙。国民自*这伙好汉是极为英勇的，但还缺乏军人的顽强性，他们犹豫了一下就退下来了，在街心留下了十五具尸体。正当他们犹豫的时候，起义者又有时间去重新装上子弹，第二次射击杀伤力很强，打中了这一连里还没来得及回到街角掩体里的人。有那么一会儿，他们处在两股霰弹火力的夹击中，还受到大炮的轰击，因为这门大炮没有接到停火的命令。这位英勇而不谨慎的法尼各就是被霰弹击中的人里的一个。他被炮火击毙，也就是说被接受命令派击毙。
这次凶猛而不严肃的进攻激怒了安灼拉。“这群蠢材！”他说，“他们把自己人打死，还白白浪费了我们的弹药。”
安灼拉是以暴动里一个真正的将军身分讲了这番话的。起义者和镇压者在力量悬殊的情况下作战，起义者很快就被消耗殆尽，他们只能放有限的几枪，人员的损失也是一种限制。一个弹盒空了，一个人死了，就无法补充了。镇压者却拥有整个军队，人员不成问题，拥有万塞纳兵工厂，也无须计算弹药。镇压者有街垒中人员那么多的联队，有街垒中弹盒那么多的兵工厂，所以这是以百对一的战争，街垒最后一定要被摧毁，除非革命突然爆发，在天平上加上它那天神的火红利剑。如果这种情况发生了，那时一切都会站起来，大街上开始沸腾，民众的棱堡将急剧增多，如雨后春笋一般，巴黎将为此极度震动，一个神妙的东西①出现了，一个八月十日又来到了，一个七月二十九日又来到了；出现了神奇的光辉，张着血盆大口的权威将会退却，还有军队，这只狮子，它将望着镇定自若站在它面前的预言者----法兰西。
①神妙的东西。原文为拉丁文quid divinum。
