Lamartine refusing the red flag in front of the Hôtel de Ville - Philippoteaux

On February 25, 1848, Lamartine delivered the famous speech on the flag, which convinced the people of Paris not to adopt the red flag:

... That's what yesterday's sun saw, citizens!" continued Lamartine. And what would today's sun see? It would see another people, all the more furious for having fewer enemies to fight, defying the same men it raised above itself yesterday; coercing them in their freedom, degrading them in their dignity, disregarding them in their authority, which is only yours; substituting a revolution of vengeance and torment for one of unanimity and fraternity, and ordering its government to fly as a sign of concord the banner of combat to the death between the citizens of the same homeland! This red flag, which has sometimes been raised as a scarecrow against enemies when blood was flowing, and which must be taken down immediately after combat as a sign of reconciliation and peace! I'd rather have the black flag, which is sometimes flown like a shroud in a besieged city, to point the bomb at neutral buildings dedicated to humanity, and from which even the enemies' cannonballs and bombs must flee. So do you want the flag of your republic to be more menacing and sinister than that of a bombed-out city?