They declared that they would only protect themselves by organized powers, not by the people.

It is a strange thing to say, but it must be noted, that with their habits of political shortsightedness, the popular armed resistance, even in the name of the Law, seemed sedition to them.

The utmost appearance of revolution which they could endure was a regiment of the National Guard, with their drums at their head; they shrank from the barricade; Right in a blouse was no longer Right, Truth armed with a pike was no longer Truth, Law unpaving a street gave them the impression of a Fury.

In the main, however, and taking them for what they were, and considering their position as politicians, these members of the Right were well-advised.
What would they have done with the people?
And what would the people have done with them?
How would they have proceeded to set fire to the masses?
Imagine Falloux as a tribune, fanning the Faubourg St.Antoine into a flame! Alas! in the midst of this dense gloom, in these fatal complications of circumstances by which the _coup d'etat_ profited so odiously and so perfidiously, in that mighty misunderstanding which comprised the whole situation, for kindling the revolutionary spark in the heart of the people, Danton himself would not have sufficed.
The _coup d'etat_ entered into this meeting impudently, with its convict's cap on its head.

It possessed an infamous assurance there, as well as everywhere else.