Scarcely
have they entered when they begin the work of destruction, and the
latest arrivals shoot at random those that come earlier; "each one
fires without heeding where or on whom his shot tells." Sudden
omnipotence and the liberty to kill are a wine too strong for human
nature; giddiness is the result; men see red, and their frenzy ends
in ferocity.
For the peculiarity of a popular insurrection is that nobody obeys
anybody; the bad passions are free as well as the generous ones;
heroes are unable to restrain assassins. Elie, who is the first to
enter the fortress, Cholat, Hulin, the brave fellows who are in
advance, the French Guards who are cognizant of the laws of war, try
to keep their word of honor; but the crowd pressing on behind them
know not whom to strike, and they strike at random. They spare the
Swiss soldiers who have fired at them, and who, in their blue
smocks, seem to them to be prisoners; on the other hand, by way of
compensation, they fall furiously on the invalides who opened the
gates to them; the man who prevented the governor from blowing up
the fortress has his wrist severed by the blow of a saber, is twice
pierced with a sword and is hung, and the hand which had saved one
of the districts of Paris is promenaded through the streets in
triumph.
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