The affair had ceased to resemble anything in history.

One felt that one had to deal with a man of a hitherto unknown type.
"Crassus crushed the gladiators; Herod slaughtered the infants; Charles IX exterminated the Huguenots; Peter of Russia, the Strelitz; Mehemet Ali, the Mamelukes; Mahmoud, the Janissaries; while Danton massacred the prisoners.

Louis Bonaparte had just discovered a new sort of massacre--the massacre of the passers-by.
"This massacre ended the struggle.

There are times when what should exasperate a people, strikes them with terror.

The population of Paris felt that a ruffian had his foot upon his throat.