Who then were those Representatives assembled at the _mairie_ of the
Tenth Arrondissement, and what did they do there? Every shade of opinion
was represented in this extemporaneous Assembly. But four-fifths of its
members belonged to the different conservative parties which had
constituted the majority. This Assembly was presided over by two of its
Vice-Presidents, M. Vitet and M. Benoist d'Azy. M. Daru was arrested in
his own house; the Fourth Vice-President, the illustrious General
Bedeau, had been seized that morning in his bed, and handcuffed like a
robber. As for the President, M. Dupin, he was absent, which surprised
no one. Besides its Vice-Presidents, the Assembly was accompanied by its
secretaries, its ushers, and even its phonographer who preserved for
posterity the records of this last and memorable sitting. The Assembly,
thus constituted, began by voting a decree in the following terms:
"In pursuance of article sixty-eight of the constitution, viz., the
President of the Republic, the ministers, the agents, and depositaries
of public authority are responsible, each in what concerns himself
respectively, for all the acts of the Government and the Administration:
any measure by which the President of the Republic dissolves the
National Assembly, prorogues it, or places obstacles in the exercise of
its powers is a crime of high treason.
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