3-043-793 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Right of Meeting at Paris: M. Ducasse speaking at the Salle des Folies-Belleville, 1869. 'The right of meeting (droit de la reunion) which was conceded in France at the same time as the new liberty of the press has led to the formation of several clubs...at which social and even political questions are discussed...in much the same spirit as at the Jacobins or Cordeliers in the days of the first Revolution...The speakers are generally petty demagogues, who give vent to long strings of Republican and Communist theories, which are greedily swallowed by their audience...[This] audience, composed almost entirely of working men, are seated upon plain wooden benches or in arm-chairs covered with faded crimson velvet, while the orator is delivering his harangue from the balcony...M. Ducasse, a law student,...is a great favourite and one of the most prominent members of the club of Belleville. Immediately behind him are the president or chairman,...and on his left are the commissary of police and his secretary. The duties of this secretary are to take down the words and to note even the gestures of the orator, as well as any interruptions which may occur, the object being to provide evidence in case of legal proceedings being taken'. From "Illustrated London News", 1869.