Suddenly, a well-known speculator, who had for two days been a great admirer of the _coup d'etat_, made his appearance, pale and breathless, like a fugitive, and exclaimed: 'They are firing on the boulevards!' "This is what had happened: III "A little after one o'clock, a quarter of an hour after the last order given by Louis Bonaparte to General Roguet, the boulevards throughout their whole length, from the Madeleine, were suddenly covered with cavalry and infantry.

Almost the whole of Carrelet's division, composed of the five brigades of Cotte, Bourgon, Canrobert, Dulac, and Reibell, making a total of sixteen thousand four hundred and ten men, had taken up their position, and extended in echelon from Rue de la Paix to Faubourg Poissonniere.

Each brigade had its battery with it.

Eleven pieces were counted on Boulevard Poisonniere alone.

Two of the guns, with their muzzles turned different ways, were levelled at the entrance to Rue Montmartre and Faubourg Montmartre respectively; no one knew why, as neither the street nor the faubourg presented even the appearance of a barricade.