“After forty years of memorable vicissitudes the old tri-colored flag of ’89, the flag of the national sovereignty, of liberty, and of public order, has just been gloriously, generously, and forever re-established; around this standard has rallied, with a spontaneous movement, and will soon be legally organized, all France in arms.
“The French people, profiting by the lessons of experience, by the progress of light and civic intelligence, and appreciating the glory and benefits of our political storms, casting off all that deprived their first impulses of their purity, feel much the more necessity for general and personal security, now that the happy division of property and the advancement of industry render it more and more necessary. Filled with respect and good will for the rights of other nations, and their bosoms glowing with ardor for all the rights, without distinction, of individual, civil and religious liberty, they cannot but maintain with firmness, and if it be necessary defend with energy, their own rights of independence, liberty, of legal order, the laws to which they have consented, and the popular throne which they have founded.
“It is the National Guard to whom these great duties are particularly confided; and as no foreign influence can prevail against the French nation, proud as she is of her retrospections, of her strength, and of the great and virtuous example she has just presented to the world, holding in her hands the sacred arms of liberty; so neither can any domestic intrigue, any of those temptations to disorder which the odious tactics of our adversaries formerly rendered so oppressive, now triumph over the spirit of wisdom, moderation, and at the same time of energy and persevering patriotism, which now characterize France as it is, and which was so admirably evinced by her brave men during the three great days.
“The general commander-in-chief, ready at all times to assist his fellow-soldiers with all the efforts of his devotion and of his personal independence, communicates to them this day some provisionary instructions through the medium of the inspector-general, whose long experience has greatly aided his labors.
“There will be no delay by the government in the presentation of a law for the final organization of the National Guard. It will have for its basis the law of ’91, and especially the vital principle of election by the citizens; but this is only an additional motive for forwarding at present with all our zeal the spontaneous movement which does honor and gives strength to France, and which presents her such as she ought to be to her friends, and, in case of need, to her enemies.
“La Fayette.”
“Paris, Aug. 17, 1830.
“How much I should wish to be with you, my dear general, to rejoice together in the result of this last glorious and virtuous revolution. The people alone have achieved the whole; they have shown themselves as great in the victory as daring and intrepid in the struggle. Bodies of courageous mechanics were led by young students, and chiefly by pupils of the Polytechnique School, who were far more admirable than I can express.
“Our losses, during these three bloody days, have been great; those of our adversaries have been considerable. No sooner was a regiment engaged in the streets to carry off the barricades than new ones were thrown up in the rear. The attacks on the Louvre, Tuileries, and Hôtel de Ville were made with incredible valor. Levasseur was severely wounded, but we shall save him. I was, on the morning of the third day, established in the Hôtel de Ville, which had been taken and retaken; and the tricolored flag was waving over our heads. The king having halted at Rambouillet with ten or twelve thousand men, I ordered from fifteen to twenty thousand Parisians to march against him; the enemy retreated. Afterwards the Count d’Artois and family reached the port of embarkation, under the escort of our commissaries, without receiving the least insult during their journey through the French territory.
“The National Guard is organizing throughout France. The king we have elected is patriotic and popular. I would not say, as has been reported, that this is the best of republics, but I do say that it is a very republican monarchy, susceptible of improvement.