was dramatic. The French exiles were waiting in troops on the banks of the river, with their great tricolours, under the command of Colonel Fabvier, who called on the Army to desert the white standard ; they sang Bérenger's disgraceful song, " Soldats ! Demitour a gauche ! " It was a solemn moment. The officer present in command of the Army was an old servant of the Empire. He unhesitatingly gave the order to fire ; no less unhesitatingly the soldiers obeyed. That cannonade was historical ; its roar resounded far beyond our frontiers. The Restoration might count its cause gained, since the Army would not betray it ; the Army was loyal ! The Liberals were dumb with amazement ; the opposition was apparently to be annihilated, and of military conspiracies nothing more was heard. Carrel himself, when he could form a saner judgment of these things, said later, in writing of the war in Spain : " Probably there never was under the Empire an Army of one hundred thousand men better disciplined, or so well instructed." And Canning gave it the same high praise when he said that no army had ever done so little harm or prevented more.
These fine results were in a great measure
