They were
students and apprentices who were completing their courses in the
schools and workshops, and refugees who, like shipwrecked mariners, had
sought shelter on the hospitable strand of Paris. Their cheers had no
special significance, but they were all moved by their desire to show
their love for the Republic. And Desnoyers, touched by the sight,
felt that France was still of some account in the world, that she yet
exercised a moral force among the nations, and that her joys and sorrows
were still of interest to humanity.
"In Berlin and Vienna, too," he said to himself, "they must also be
cheering enthusiastically at this moment . . . but Germans only, no
others. Assuredly no foreigner is joining in their demonstrations."
The nation of the Revolution, legislator of the rights of mankind, was
harvesting the gratitude of the throngs, but was beginning to feel
a certain remorse before the enthusiasm of the foreigners who were
offering their blood for France. Many were lamenting that the government
should delay twenty days, until after they had finished the operations
of mobilization, in admitting the volunteers. And he, a Frenchman born,
a few hours before, had been mistrusting his country! . . .
In the daytime the popular current was running toward the Gare de l'Est.
Crowded against the gratings was a surging mass of humanity stretching
its tentacles through the nearby streets.
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