while the red flag had only made the tour of the Champs de Mars, trailed through torrents of blood. This made the muskets drop, saved Paris from horrors, and inspires hope.

Admiral Baudin accepts the command of the fleet. The war stores of all kinds at the École Militaire have been secured by the new Government; and courts of law recognize its authority.

The Bank of France has accepted bills drawn upon it, promising their payment in cash at maturity. Shops are reopening in Paris; and to-day it is stated that Baron Rothschild is prepared to fulfil all his engagements towards the heavy loan effected by the late Government.

Saturday, the 26th. On this same day Major Poussin calls upon me. He makes an earnest appeal to me to recognise the new Republic in my capacity as Minister of the United States, and says it will be of unspeakable service. He believes this, believes it fully; and knows, is sure, that my appearance at the Hotel de Ville to make the recognition in that capacity, will be very acceptable to the Provisional Government. He entreats me to take the step: to-day, if possible; if not, to-morrow.

It may be supposed that I was little prepared for this call. The Revolution had been sudden in the extreme. Hardly could we believe our eyes in seeing a Republic, where a Monarchy stood firm,

apparently, a week ago; and which was only first attacked by force five days ago. Were the barricades yet removed? Frenchmen might think the Republic stood firm; but could the world believe it?

I so expressed myself. Major Poussin tried to obviate these objections; putting forward, as one ground, that my taking the step would add immediate strength from abroad to France in her new position. Would I withhold my aid to Republicanism? Did I not wish well to that cause? Yes: he was sure I did.

I did, was my answer; but that was not the point between us. Other considerations must be weighed. I had no notice, as Minister of the United States, even of the existence of the Provisional Government. Without that notice, to say no more, could I in my official capacity take any step?

He thought forms might be overlooked in a case of such magnitude, giving some of his reasons; and, in connection with them, told me that the members of the Provisional Government had been agreed upon the night preceding the day they were announced at the Hotel de Ville, viz., last Wednesday night. I need not repeat all he said on that head.

Our interview closed by my telling him I would reflect on the subject, and that he should hear from me. In the course of the interview, he mentioned new facts, to show the energy with which the Pro

visional Government was acting, and how fast all classes were giving in their adhesion to it.

The subject of Major Poussin's visit was not new to my thoughts, though his visit was unexpected. My surmise was, that he had not come without the knowledge of the Provisional Government, but, for obvious reasons, had no authority to say so. I reflected on the situation I was placed in. I had previously known Major Poussin as an honorable Frenchman. When a young man, then in the French army, he accompanied General Bernard to the United States, soon after Napoleon's downfall. The fame and abilities of General Bernard, as a high officer in the engineer branch of Napoleon's service, commended him to my Government, for the superintendence and construction of works belonging to our national defences; and Major, then Captain, Poussin was his young assistant in those important operations. He then became a naturalized citizen of the United States; and I knew him then. He was on all accounts entitled to my esteem ; and I was on the best personal relations with him in Paris, before the Revolutionary tornado which brought him to me on this anxious errand for his country. Still, my own judgment was to guide my steps. The responsibilities of my public station were upon me. What would my Country expect from me? and what did I owe to my Country

under this emergency? These were the questions I was to deal with.

I did not view the King's Government, just overthrown, as did the opposition to it among the French. I was aloof from their party conflicts. To have mingled in them would have been improper. I was as a neutral. I desired to think well of the late Government, rather than ill. I aimed at conciliating it in all just ways, as befitting the diplomatic trust, and as tending to shed a good influence on my steps as Minister, when seeking to serve in France my Country and countrymen. As long as the King was on the throne, I felt the propriety of this course, and pursued it. But the French people were themselves the arbiters of the conduct of their Government, and the sole judges of what form of Government they would have. Whether a majority of them could have had opportunities of expressing a preference for a Republic, in the first moments after the Monarchy fell, was not an inquiry for me to propound. The United States were a Republic. It was their rule, in all their foreign intercourse, to acknowledge every new Government abroad, when seen to exist de facto, without inquiring by what means it was set up, or what its form. I might be thought hasty in inferring the new Government of France to be a Government de facto, so very soon; yet it was apparent to me, as to all, that it was exercising the

actual powers of Government, in ways the most telling, with none to thwart it. No party, no class, was moving against it. All seemed to acquiesce, silently, if not share the enthusiasm that was rallying all to its support. Would it be right or expedient in me to wait for instructions before recognising it? A month, or more, must elapse before instructions could reach me. Was it for me to be backward, when France appeared to be looking to us? The Nation whose blood flowed with ours in our Revolution, and whose sympathies in our cause were still a tradition, ever ready to excite our sympathies for her? Most especially would these spring into life, when she announced herself to the world as a Republic. I could not be blind to the satisfaction with which our People would regard her great name as enlisted on the side of Republicanism. True, I looked anxiously on so great a Republican experiment. Yet I was unwilling to scrutinize too closely, at first, the considerations which might seem at war with the hope of its full success. I therefore felt it my duty, after weighing every consideration, to lend my Representative name towards cheering it on. I believed I should have the approbation of the Government and people of the United States by anticipating instructions. The old feeling of good will towards France was still so much in the American heart, that the formularies of diplomacy, founded in good sense for the most