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 THE 
 
 GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS, 
 
 FROM 8th FEBRUARY, 1871, TO 24th MAY, 1873. 
 
 FROM THE FRENCH 
 OF 
 
 M. JULES SIMON. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. L 
 
 Ncto ^ork: 
 CHARLES SCEIBNEE'S SONS, 
 
 743 AND 745 BROADWAY. 
 1879. 
 
 [^All rights reserved.]
 
 CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 MSB 
 
 The Elections • • 1 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 The Assembly at Bordeaux , , • • • 5i 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 The Pbelimix ABIES of Peace . • • • «116 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Paris before the 18th March, 1871 • • • 176 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Central Committee ..•••• 258 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 The Commune 357
 
 THE 
 
 GOYERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 
 
 This narrative opens on the 28th of January, 
 1871, a date of solemn import, that of the capi- 
 tulation of Paris. On the 27th at midnight the 
 firing had ceased, in virtue of a verbal agree- 
 ment, which was to be ratified on both sides 
 on the following day. Early on the morning of 
 the 28th, M. Jules Fa\Te went to Versailles, 
 but Count Moltke, who was not satisfied 
 with the stipulations that had been agreed upon, 
 showed but little readiness to bring matters 
 to a conclusion ; at every moment some fresh 
 difficulty was raised by the Staff, and the armistice 
 was not signed until ten o'clock at night. It was 
 one o'clock a.m. of the 29th when M. Jules Favre 
 rejoined his colleagues. The railway managers 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 had been summoned, for tlie first thing to be 
 arranged was tlie supply of food to Paris. The 
 Council, having accomplished this task, would not 
 separate until all matters connected with the 
 convocation of the Assembly had been agreed 
 to. Time and authority for the drawing up of an 
 electoral law were alike wanting. It was resolved 
 to put in action, with certain indispensable modi- 
 fications, the last electoral law of the Republic, 
 that of the loth March, 1849, which may be sum- 
 marized as follows : — Scrutiny of lists, cantonal 
 voting, the electorate at twenty-one years of age, 
 eligibility at twenty-five, no exclusion from either 
 electorate or eligibility, except in the case of 
 individuals under the sentence of the law. 
 
 At a time when so many citizens had accepted 
 public functions from patriotic motives, it was 
 considered expedient to suppress the greater 
 number of cases of ineligibility that had been 
 defined in 1849, and therefore the application of 
 Articles 81 to 90 was suspended. The prohibition 
 of the election of prefects and sub-prefects in the 
 department in which they exercised their functions 
 was confirmed. The army was called upon to 
 vote, as in 1849, a measure rendered more than 
 ever necessary by the fact. that every Frenchman 
 fit to carry arms was now enrolled. The 
 number of deputies was fixed at 753 for conti-
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 3 
 
 nental France, 6 for Algeria, and 9 for the colonies : 
 768 in all. 
 
 The decree of the Council was signed at early 
 dawn, immediately inserted in the Journal Officiel, 
 and placarded in Paris a few hours later. Orders 
 were issued for its immediate dissemination in the 
 departments, but it was evident that this must for 
 some days be impossible, or at least very difiScult. 
 The election was fixed for the 8th February, 
 and the meeting of the Assembly at Bordeaux 
 for the 12th. When M. Jules Favre announced 
 these decisions to Count Bismarck, the first 
 words uttered by the Chancellor were, " It is 
 impossible." 
 
 It was indeed impossible ; but nevertheless it 
 was done. 
 
 More than a third of the territory of France 
 was invaded by the enemy, and the administration 
 of the occupied departments was carried on by 
 German prefects. It was necessary to entrust 
 the prefectorial functions to the mayor of each 
 township,^ and to proceed with the elections by 
 sufferance of the conquerors. The uninvaded 
 departments were in relations with M. Gambetta 
 only, and notwithstanding the raising of the siege, 
 communication between Paris and Bordeaux 
 
 • This is the nearest English equivalent for the French 
 "chef-lieu." 
 
 B 2
 
 "* THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 was slow, difficult, and sometimes dangerous. 
 The telegraphic despatches necessarily passed 
 through Versailles, and were under the control of 
 the Prussians. M. Gambetta having telegraphed 
 to M. Jules Favre on the 30th January, was 
 replied to by Count Bismarck, and was in- 
 formed in the answer that the message of 
 M. Gambetta should be communicated to the 
 person for whom it was destined " as a matter of 
 information." The railroads were in a deplorable 
 condition, the rails torn up, the permanent ways 
 encumbered, the bridges broken, the rolling stock 
 dispersed or destroyed. Only from the 31st 
 was it possible to travel from Paris to Bordeaux 
 by railway, and then the line was broken at 
 Orleans for a distance of six kilometers. The 
 train leaving Paris on the 31st January at five 
 o'clock in the morning, did not reach Bordeaux 
 until one o'clock in the afternoon of the 
 1st February. Four hundred thousand French 
 soldiers, and consequently four hundred thousand 
 electors, were either prisoners in Germany, or 
 refugees in Switzerland. Six months of war- 
 fare had disorganized the municipal service ; the 
 lists had not been revised, in many places they 
 had disappeared ; the functionaries were no longer 
 at their posts. Such were the conditions under 
 which the work of several months in ordinary
 
 THE ELECTIONS. Ô 
 
 tîmes liad to be done witliin one week ; and, the 
 elections over, four days only would remain for the 
 transaction of the subsequent business, consisting 
 of verification of votes, declaration of results, 
 and despatch of papers to Bordeaux. The new 
 deputies would have to set out instantly on being 
 informed of their election in order to arrive in time. 
 It was easy to foresee that many would find no 
 direct road open to them, and be obliged to make 
 roundabout journeys, while others would hear 
 simultaneously, in German prisons, of their candi- 
 dateship and their election. The outlook on all 
 sides was full of difiiculties and hindrances, and 
 finally, as if to turn the strained situation into an im- 
 possible one, a conflict arose between the Govern- 
 ment in Paris and the Delegates at Bordeaux. 
 
 In his correspondence with M. Jules Favre 
 during the siege, M. Gambetta had frequently 
 declared his opinion that all the ministers, senators, 
 councillors of state, prefects, and former official 
 candidates of the Empire, should be excluded 
 from the future National Assembly. Prior to his 
 departure from Paris, he had argued in this 
 sense in the Government councils ; he had not 
 prevailed, and M. Gambetta had signed, toge- 
 ther with his colleagues, the decree of the 
 8th September, 1870, of which the new decree 
 was only a formal reproduction. During that
 
 b THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 long day wliicli M. Jules Favre passed at Ver- 
 sailles, awaiting the ratification of the treaty, 
 he had to consider whether the leader of the 
 Delegates would again give in his adhesion 
 to the decision of his colleagues, and undertake 
 the execution of a decree of whose principle 
 he disapproved. 
 
 In this uncertainty, and in order to avoid strife, 
 M. Jules Favre resolved on sending a member of the 
 Government armed with full powers to Bordeaux, 
 and before consulting his colleagues, he announced 
 this resolution, in general terms, by a despatch 
 which Count Bismarck undertook to transmit, 
 and which was received at Bordeaux on the 29th. 
 The Council selected M. Jules Simon, the former 
 deputy from the Gironde, and member of the 
 General Council of the city of Bordeaux, before 
 the Revolution of the 4tli September. His 
 nomination was confirmed, and his instruc- 
 tions were signed during the night of the 30th 
 January. He left Paris on the following morning 
 for Bordeaux. 
 
 The Government of Paris regarded it as ex- 
 tremely important that the clause of the decree 
 by which the eligibility of all citizens without 
 distinction was recognized, should be carried into 
 effect ; and it was no less important that a con- 
 flict with the Delegates should bo avoided. M.
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 7 
 
 Jules Simon took with him two decrees ; the first 
 was as follows : — " The Government of the 
 National Defence directs M. Jules Simon to pro- 
 ceed to Bordeaux, there to join the Delegates 
 in the exercise of authority in concert with 
 his colleagues, and to carry into execution the 
 decrees of the Government of National Defence. 
 The deliberations of the Delegates shall be taken 
 by the majority of votes, no member having a 
 casting vote. Paris, oOth January, 1871." The 
 latter stipulation was hardly necessary, inasmuch 
 as the number of the Delegates was raised to five 
 by the addition of M. Jules Simon; and served 
 no purpose except that of seriously altering the 
 position of M. Gambetta, who had hitherto had 
 a casting vote. The second decree reproduced 
 the terms of the first, with the following addi- 
 tion : — " In the unforeseen case of resistance by 
 the Delegates to the decrees and the orders of 
 the Government of National Defence, M. Jules 
 Simon is hereby invested with absolutely full 
 power to carry them into effect." The second 
 decree was not to be communicated to the Dele- 
 gates until all hope of conciliation should have 
 been abandoned. 
 
 When M. Jules Simon arrived at Bordeaux, 
 anger and consternation reigned in the city. The 
 missive addressed to M. Gambetta on the 28th,
 
 8 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 had been sent from Versailles at 11.15 in the 
 evening. M. Jules Favre announced the surrender 
 of Paris, the conclusion of an armistice of twenty- 
 one days, the summoning of an Assembly for the 
 12tli February, and the despatch to Bordeaux 
 of a member of the Government; but nothing 
 more. 
 
 At three o'clock in the morning of the 29th this 
 message arrived at its destination. The whole of 
 the 29th passed away in the vain expectation of 
 further news. On the 30th, M. Gambetta tele- 
 graphed to M. Jules Favre, complaining of the 
 strange silence. Count Bismarck received the 
 telegram ; did not transmit it to the Government 
 in Paris until the following day, the 31st, but 
 himself replied at noon to M. Gambetta, inform- 
 ing him that hostilities were continuing " pend- 
 ing agreement " before Belfort, in the Doubs, 
 in Jura, and in Côte d'Or. 
 
 Although it had long been known that no 
 aid could reach Paris, and that its supplies of 
 food were exhausted, the fall of the capital city 
 produced the effect of an unexpected calamity. 
 Instead of surrender, there ought to have been a 
 sortie en masse, the " torrential " sortie afterwards 
 demanded so often by the leaders of the Com- 
 mune. Nothing but corpses and a desert should 
 have been left for the enemy; but all France
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 9 
 
 would not have been in pawn. However great 
 the importance of Paris, after all it was only 
 one stronghold which surrendered. Why was 
 the capitulation signed by M. Jules Favre in the 
 name of the Goverument, and not by the military 
 Governor in the name of the fortress ? Why did 
 the capitulation include an armistice for all 
 France (with the fatal exception of the east), and 
 an undertaking, given to the enemy, to summon 
 an Assembly? This capitulation was not only 
 a stipulation made for Paris ; it was in reality 
 a preliminary of peace. And what would that 
 peace be, whither would it lead us, if the elections 
 should introduce into the National Assembly ac- 
 complices of the Empire, who, having had power 
 in their hands for eighteen years, and having been 
 dispossessed of it for barely six months, still pre- 
 served a portion of their former influence, espe- 
 cially over the rural populations ? Was there 
 not reason to fear that they would consent to 
 the completion of the ruin of which they were 
 the authors, and that they would endeavour to 
 restore the imperial dynasty ? 
 
 These thoughts were working in the mind 
 of M. Gambetta during the whole of the 30th 
 January. Was this to be the conclusion of all the 
 efforts made by himself and his fellow-labourers 
 during the past six months, to defend the territory
 
 10 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEliS. 
 
 and found tlie Republic ! After twenty-four hours 
 of suspense — without reflecting that M. Jules 
 Favre had written to him on the 28th at the last 
 moment, and before he could have consulted with 
 his colleagues, that on the 29th and 30th the con- 
 vention had to be concluded, the last obstacles to 
 be surmounted, an electoral law to be drawn up, 
 an envoy to Bordeaux to be selected, his instruc- 
 tions to be discussed, and the railroad to be re- 
 stored to working order — M. Gambetta induced 
 the Delegates to adopt an electoral law which 
 afiirmed the ineligibility of the functionaries of the 
 Empire, and issued a proclamation in which the 
 Government of Paris was accused of " culpable 
 levity." 
 
 This proclamation drew forth a few days later 
 from the Government of Paris an equally 
 angry reply ; it was only a reprisal indeed, but it 
 widened the breach between the two Govern- 
 ments. 
 
 Then came a difficult moment ; that of the first 
 tussle between the Government of Paris and the 
 Delegates of Bordeaux. It was inevitable. The 
 armistice found M. Gambetta in the full tide 
 of his exertions, and surrounded by an army of 
 fighting-men; and it disarmed him just when 
 he believed himself to be in a condition to fight, 
 and even to conquer. It may be said without
 
 THE ELECTIONS. H 
 
 exaggeration that lie had performed wonders. He 
 had created armies and generals, won battles, 
 repaired defeats, provided for the most urgent 
 necessities of order, rallied the timid, and inflated 
 the courage of others, resisted the intrigues 
 and the malevolence of parties, effected bargains, 
 raised loans, filled the arsenals, and found time 
 during all these labours to write letters — some 
 of them admirable, — and to deliver harangues 
 which aroused enthusiasm in their hearers. 
 He did not refuse to summon an Assembly, on the 
 contrary, he had long since called for the convoca- 
 tion of such a body, but he imposed as a condition, 
 which he would not relinquish, the exclusion 
 of all imperialists. He would not place power in 
 the hands of men except such as were, like him- 
 self, resolved to prosecute the war, and to found 
 the Republic. 
 
 For two days he expected from Paris explana- 
 tions which did not come ; but then, as the time 
 fixed for the elections was approaching, he issued 
 three decrees, all bearing date the 31st January. 
 The first contained the convocation of the As- 
 sembly, the second the exclusion pronounced 
 against all servants of the Empire; the third, 
 which was to answer the purposes of an electoral 
 law, put in action, with necessary modifications, 
 the law of the 15th March, 1849. It is important
 
 12 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 to observe that at tlie very hour at which the 
 Delegates pubhshed these three decrees, the 
 Government of National Defence on its part was 
 making other dispositions, but the decree pro- 
 mulgated in Paris on the 28th, and inserted 
 in the Bulletin des Lois on the 29th, w^as not 
 knowm at Bordeaux. By acting thus hastily 
 M. Gambetta simply meant to be beforehand 
 with his colleagues in Paris, he had no deliberate 
 intention of entering upon a conflict with them. 
 
 The decree of exclusion, signed by Cremieux, 
 Gambetta, Glais Bizoin, and Admiral Fourichon, 
 was posted on all the walls when M. Jules Simon 
 arrived at Bordeaux. It ran as follows : — 
 
 " The members of the National Defence, dele- 
 gated to represent the Government, and to exercise 
 its powers ; 
 
 " Considering it just that the accomplices 
 of the reign that commenced with the deed 
 of the 2nd December, and has ended in the capi- 
 tulation of Sedan, bequeathing to France ruin and 
 invasion, should be included in the same political 
 deposition which has been pronounced against the 
 accursed dynasty whose guilty instruments they 
 have been ; 
 
 " Considering that this step is a necessary 
 consequence of the responsibility they have 
 incurred by willingly and knowingly aiding and
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 13 
 
 abetting tlie ex-Emperor in the fulfilment of those 
 divers acts of his Government, whereby the 
 country has been placed in danger : 
 " Decree, — 
 
 " Art. 1. Those individuals who, between the 
 2nd December, 1851, and the 4th September, 1870, 
 have accepted the functions of minister, senator, 
 councillor of state, and prefect, cannot be elected 
 representatives of the people in the National 
 Assembly. 
 
 " Art. 2. Those individuals who, at the legisla- 
 tive elections which have taken place between the 
 2nd December, 1851, and the 4th September, 
 1870, have accepted official candidateship, whose 
 names are to be found on the lists recom- 
 mended by the prefects to the votes of the 
 electors, and have been published in the Moniteur 
 Officiel, as Government candidates of the Ad- 
 ministration, or Official candidates, are equally 
 excluded from eligibility to the National As- 
 sembly. 
 
 " Art. 3. Eeturns of votes bearing the names 
 of individuals comprised in the above cate- 
 gories are absolutely null and void. These re- 
 turns will not be included in the computation of 
 votes." 
 
 M. Jules Simon, on his way from the railway- 
 station to the prefecture, with M. Lavertujon,
 
 14 THE GOVERNilENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 aliglited from the carriage and read this decree. 
 Without losing a moment the Delegates met. 
 The situation was very easy to understand. 
 What did M. Jules Simon represent there, in the 
 midst of his colleagues, who were divided between 
 anger and despair ? He represented the capitula- 
 tion. Of what was he the bearer ? Of the order 
 to retreat, to disown themselves; the order for 
 M. Gambetta to renounce a long-cherished idea, 
 concerning which he had written to M. Jules 
 Favre, "If you adopt it, I will proceed with the 
 elections ; if you reject it, I will not do so." 
 
 On his entrance into the apartment where his 
 colleagues awaited him, M. Jules Simon was 
 assailed by bitter reproaches on the score of 
 the capitulation, the armistice, and the situation 
 in which the Army of the East was placed. 
 M. Glais Bizoin has acknowledged this violence of 
 language in his pamphlet entitled, Cinq Mois de 
 Dictature. " M. Jules Simon allowed himself," 
 says the author, " to be reviled." M. Jules Simon 
 afterwards boasted in the tribune that he had 
 done so, for he was in nowise ashamed of the fact. 
 Charged as he was with great interests, he had no 
 riofht to think of himself. 
 
 To the reproaches directed against the capitu- 
 lation, he might have replied .that no one had 
 striven harder than he to prevent or to resist it ;
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 15 
 
 tliat in his capacity as president of tlie Commission 
 of Supplies, he had delayed until the stronghold 
 had victuals for only eight more days before he 
 gave "warning to the Government; that he had 
 insisted on the last council of war, and when the 
 generals had renounced the attempt at a last sortie, 
 a " sortie of despair," that he had taken it upon 
 himself to assemble the colonels and ascertain 
 their opinion ; that Paris had surrendered, after 
 five months of heroic resistance to cold, epidemic 
 disease, bombardment, and famine. He might 
 have pleaded that the Government thus severely 
 condemned was guilty only of having failed 
 to execute an impossible task, that of raising 
 the blockade of a place besieged by a great army, 
 without external aid; that neither he nor those 
 who now attacked him had ever believed that 
 Paris could save itself by its own strength only ; 
 that this Government now accused of supineness 
 and incapacity had completed the ramparts, cast 
 cannon, armed and drilled 300,000 men, prevented 
 civil war, checked riot, made supplies last for five 
 months which every one had believed to be in- 
 sufiBcient for more than a few weeks ; that the army 
 of rescue so often announced in despatches that 
 were now menacing, anon encouraging, had never 
 made its appearance. Also, that if the governor 
 were guilty, as his accusers declared, of not having
 
 16 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 made sorties and fought battles often enoiigli, tlie 
 other generals who had twice held councils of war, 
 on the 31st December and the 16th January, were 
 as guilty as he, since none of them had proposed 
 or procured the acceptance of a new plan ; that 
 after the battle of Buzenval not the generals only 
 but the colonels also had declared it impossible for 
 Paris to raise the blockade by her own strength, and 
 that a sortie, whether partial or general, could have 
 no other result than a butchery, without advantage 
 to the defence. He might have pleaded that at 
 the moment of the capitulation there remained 
 only food enough — and such food ! — for one week ; 
 that Paris was threatened with death by famine 
 should the state of the railroads retard the 
 revictualling of the city, as there was reason 
 to fear ; that the enemy was aware of the situa- 
 tion, and at the commencement of the negotia- 
 tions had proposed the recall of Napoleon III., 
 the convocation of the former legislative body, 
 the military occupation of Paris, when the Na- 
 tional Guard should be disarmed, the regiments 
 deprived of their colours, and the officers of their 
 swords, and the garrison carried as prisoners 
 into Germany. Only after a long and desperate 
 struggle, and reiterated threats of complete rup- 
 ture, had less odious terms been obtained. M. 
 Jules Simon might have added that the armistice
 
 THE ELECTIONS, 17 
 
 did not apply to the armies of tlie provinces until 
 three days after it was signed ; that on the 30th 
 January the army of the east had crossed the 
 Swiss frontier; and that if an omission had been 
 made in the despatch of the 28th it was indeed to 
 be regretted, but had no influence upon the fate 
 of our army. Instead, however, of entering upon 
 a discussion which would have been designedly 
 prolonged, and might have been interminable, 
 M. Jules Simon refused to make any reply until 
 the electoral question had been settled. 
 
 He had no trouble in proving its urgency, 
 for two contradictory decrees were actually then 
 promulgated. He warned his colleagues at Bor- 
 deaux that the Government of Paris neither could 
 nor would yield on the point of ineligibility. He 
 appealed to the supreme authority of universal 
 suffrage, before which an established Government 
 is obliged to bow, and, with much more reason, 
 one newly organized in an emergency. Universal 
 suffrage is the expression of the national will : in 
 the name of what principle, in the name of what 
 interests would the delegates presume to prescribe 
 laws, or mark out limits for it ? Would the 
 Assembly produced by the Bordeaux decree be a 
 National Assembly ? No, it would be a party As- 
 sembly. Under such conditions would its authority 
 be submitted to by France or recognized abroad ? 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 18 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 After lia\âng so frequently reproached the Empire 
 with official candidateship, were we to adopt that 
 system more boldly and on a larger scale ? 
 When we might found the Republic upon the 
 desire of the country, should we base it upon a 
 decree of Messieurs Gambetta, Crémieux, Glais 
 Bizoin, and Fourichon ? Even taking into account 
 the narrowest political interest only, could it be 
 believed that five months after Sedan the 
 electors would vote for the accomplices of the 
 Empire? Was a handful of Bonapartists, reduced 
 to the status of a trumpery minority on the benches 
 of the Chamber, more to be dreaded than an entire 
 party outlawed by the nation, and who would 
 have the right to call our own principles, those 
 principles upon which the public peace rests, to 
 witness against us ? The Bonapartist deputies, 
 it was said, would lead the Chamber into the 
 acceptance of a disgraceful peace. Was not talk 
 of this kind the supposition of a Bonapartist 
 majority, that is to say, of the impossible ? Was 
 it not even a calumny against the Bonapartists, to 
 whom as our enemies justice was due ? Six hun- 
 dred Frenchmen, whatever their opinions might 
 be, chosen by their fellow-citizens, would make 
 peace if it must be so, or would continue the war 
 if they could. AVas it really a disgraceful peace 
 that was feared ? was it not rather any peace, no
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 19 
 
 matter on wliat terms ? Was it war à outrance^ a 
 vs^ar of extermination tliat was desired ? Was 
 such a war possible ? Was it just ? Was it even 
 so patriotic as it was sincerely believed to be ? 
 What would it lead us to ? To the turning of 
 France into another Poland. A glorious struggle 
 had been carried on for four months, but our best 
 soldiers were either dead or in captivity, many of 
 our generals were prisoners, the materials of war 
 were becoming exhausted ; the country was 
 agitated, a peace party was already formed, and 
 was growing in numbers day by day. Paris had 
 yielded at last; there was no longer room for 
 victory, but only for heroic defeat. We were 
 marching either to exhaustion or destruction. 
 The abandonment of us by Europe was evident 
 and complete. Was it to be eternal ? A people 
 who is only conquered may always revive. 
 Sedan, like Jena, may have its morrow. Between 
 a war of extermination and a conditional peace who 
 should be the judge, if not the people, the whole 
 people, voting with full power and freedom ? M. 
 Jules Simon did not ask his colleagues to abrogate 
 their decree, he conceded all to them except that 
 impossible clause, the mutilation of Universal 
 Suffrage. But he reasoned, entreated, and com- 
 manded in vain ; all failed before the invincible 
 determination of M. Gambetta, M. Crémieux, M. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 TUE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Glais Bizoin, and Admirai Fouriclion, who persisted 
 in maintaining the Bordeaux decree with the 
 ineligibility clause intact. 
 
 Before leaving for Bordeaux, and during the 
 long hours of the journey, M. Jules Simon had 
 reflected profoundly on the contingencies that 
 might arise, and he had made up his mind that he 
 would neither yield, nor have recourse to an open 
 rupture, unless it should prove absolutely im- 
 possible to avoid it. He firmly believed that 
 France could not be saved by an irregularly elected 
 Assembly, and he was no less firmly persuaded 
 that the country could not endure a struggle 
 between two sections of the Republican party. 
 He perceived by the reception he had met 
 with on entering the house of M. Crémieux, 
 and by the first words which were interchanged, 
 that he should gain nothing by discussion. Ought 
 he to rise at the conclusion of the sitting of the 
 Council, protest against the resolutions of his 
 colleagues, read to them the document that in- 
 vested him with plenary authority, and then retire, 
 after having given them notice that he was about 
 to promulgate the Paris decree without their con- 
 currence ? By acting thus he should indeed free 
 himself from his responsibility, but he might 
 probably encounter a check ; in any case, such a 
 proceeding would be a commencement of strife.
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 21 
 
 He had gone from the railway-station to the 
 Prefecture, and from thence to the house of 
 M. Crémieux, without seeing any one. The city 
 was hke a camp. M. Gambetta ruled over it. 
 M. Jules Simon, knowing that his colleagues 
 would be as averse to kindling civil war as he 
 was, believed that if he had the municipality of 
 Bordeaux on his side, he would be able to bring 
 about an arrangement. The Mayor, M. Fourcaud, 
 now a member of the Senate, and the municipal 
 councillors, who had been informed of his 
 arrival, presented themselves at this opportune 
 moment, and were ushered into the hall where 
 the Delegates were deliberating. They were all 
 his personal friends, his electors, promoters of his 
 election, members of his committee. In their 
 presence the discussion was renewed with more 
 calmness. M. Jules Simon explained the dissen- 
 sion which had arisen, gave his reasons, and asked 
 them whom they would obey. M. Gambetta in 
 his turn spoke with great eloquence and vehe- 
 mence. The answer of the Municipal Council was 
 that they would not dissociate themselves from the 
 Delegates, and that the elections at Bordeaux 
 must take place in conformity with the decree 
 that had been posted on the walls in the morning. 
 The Major warned M. Jules Simon that this 
 resolution would also be adopted by the National
 
 22 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Guard and the immense majority of the popula- 
 tion ; certainly by the whole of the Republican 
 portion. M. Jules Simon repeated that he 
 had, for his own part, undertaken the task 
 of securing absolute freedom of choice to the 
 electors ; that it was, to his mind, a question of 
 principle and of public safety; that he was resolved 
 to succeed, and that, before the elections were 
 proceeded with, the whole of France should know 
 that the Government of the National Defence 
 desired free elections and a Chamber which should 
 represent, not a party, but the country. He added, 
 " You are entering into a struggle with the Go- 
 vernment." They answered, " We know no other 
 Government than that which is here. We greet 
 your entry into it with pleasure. We have obeyed 
 it for four months past, and we will continue to 
 obey such resolutions as shall be adopted by the 
 majority of the members present." 
 
 The sitting of the Council terminated at five 
 o'clock, and on its conclusion M. Jules Simon had 
 interviews with M. Glais Bizoin and Admiral 
 Fourichon, separately. Each of these gentlemen 
 repeated to him that he was resolved to follow the 
 majority of the Delegates, and M. Glais Bizoin 
 added that he personally approved the spirit of 
 the Bordeaux decree and the exclusion of the 
 Bonapartists. Admiral Fourichon spoke in a
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 23 
 
 totally different sense ; he was of the opinion of 
 M. Jules Simon and the Government of Paris, and 
 he regretted that the Delegates had refused to yield. 
 The popularity of M. Gambetta with the Re- 
 publican party was immense ; so great, indeed, that 
 three days afterwards, on Sunday, February 4th, 
 a public meeting was convened at the Grand 
 Theatre, in order to confer the Dictatorship upon 
 him. He had the good sense to refuse to attend 
 the meeting, and to disavow all complicity with 
 the projects of his fanatical friends. M. Jules 
 Simon, on the contrary, was deposed from his 
 former popularity ; and held accountable, as were 
 all the members of the Government of Paris, for 
 the capitulation. The truth is that, but for them, 
 the siege would not have lasted two months ; but 
 this truth, which, even now, almost every one 
 denies, would not have been believed by any single 
 individual on the day after the surrender. M. 
 Glais Bizoin did justice to the Government, but 
 only up to the moment of the capitulation " There 
 should have been a sortie," he said ; " the 300,000 
 men of the National Guard and the army ought 
 to have been hurled upon the enemy." He declared 
 that he would yield to the majority, but should 
 vote with M. Gambetta and M. Crémieux. Admiral 
 Fourichon, who cherished no illusions whatever 
 about the propriety of a " torrential sortie,"
 
 24 THE GOVEKNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 founded his objection upon the resolution an- 
 nounced by M. Glais Bizoin. " "What would be 
 the use of voting with you ?" he inquired of 
 M. Jules Simon, *' we should never be more than 
 two ao^ainst three." 
 
 M. Jules Simon did not fail to point out to his 
 two colleagues that the Delegates, strictly speak- 
 ing, formed only a portion of the Government of 
 Paris, that the Paris decree was signed by seven 
 members of the Government, while that of 
 Bordeaux was signed by only four, so that there 
 was a majority for the Paris decree. He was 
 answered that this matter was not one of logic, 
 that the majority mustered at Bordeaux, and 
 that at the bottom of all this there lay a 
 question of civil war. 
 
 M. Thiers was "at Bordeaux. M. Jules Simon 
 Avent to him, and laid the facts of the case before 
 him. The first sentence uttered by M. Thiers 
 was, " Your decree must be published." It was 
 by no means clear that such a step would be 
 possible. The Government existing at Bordeaux 
 refused to recognize this decree. Could it be 
 believed that in the face of that refusal they would 
 quietly allow it to be published in the newspapers 
 and posted on the walls side by side with their 
 own opposition manifesto ? If publicity were 
 denied to it within the city of Bordeaux, was it to
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 25 
 
 be hoped that they could succeed in publishing it 
 outside ? It was clear that the BiUletin des Lois^ 
 which had been despatched by the Paris post, 
 had not been suffered to pass the Loire. What 
 had become of the copies which M. Jules Simon 
 himself had distributed on his way from Paris to 
 Bordeaux ? Those persons who had received them 
 from his own hand at Orleans, Vierzon, Limoges, 
 and Perigueux had been unable to get them re- 
 printed for distribution, or published in the news- 
 papers. It was useless to resort to a simple 
 announcement by telegraph, because the officials 
 would be forbidden to transmit the message. The 
 post remained, but this also was far from being 
 a safe expedient. ÎSTevertheless M. Jules Simon 
 determined to try it, and while he was with M. 
 Thiers, M. Lavertujon and some other trustworthy 
 and devoted friends prepared the packets. None 
 of those which contained printed matter reached 
 their destination; only private letters addressed 
 to non-official persons were allowed to pass. 
 
 But even had the decree forced its way 
 through every obstacle, it could only have reached 
 the departments as a piece of news, and news in a 
 sense proscribed, whereas the Bordeaux decree, 
 transmitted by official despatch, was already posted 
 up everywhere. The prefects, perceiving that a 
 struggle was going on between two sections of
 
 26 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 the Government, would consider themselves free 
 to choose between the rival decrees. Who were 
 those prefects ? They were friends and creatures 
 of M. Gambetta, who had selected and appointed 
 them, and who had for four months had sole and 
 entire authority over them. The greater number 
 were so devoted to the policy of war to the 
 knife, that it might easily be foreseen they would 
 carry the Bordeaux decree into execution with 
 extreme reluctance. As for the Paris decree, 
 they would reject it at once, holding it of no 
 account whatever. Supposing that even a few 
 of them were to accept the policy of the Paris 
 decree, their number would be very small, the 
 elections would be carried on under various con- 
 ditions in the several places ; there could be no 
 result except trouble and confusion. In short, 
 nothing could be done. No action of any kind 
 was possible so long as the Delegates should 
 persist in their opposition. 
 
 M. Thiers did not require a statement of these 
 objections from M. Jules Simon ; he had foreseen 
 them all. But, at first, perceiving no other 
 issue than a struggle between the two sections of 
 the Government, he inclined to advise immediate 
 action. " You have no time to wait," were his 
 words ; " you will have at least a legion of the 
 National Guard with you, and you may perhaps
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 27 
 
 reckon on the neutrality of tlie rest. You must 
 feel the pulse of General Billot's troops. Dispose 
 of me as you will," he added, with his usual 
 resolution and promptitude, " if my name or my 
 presence can serve you, I am ready." 
 
 M. Jules Simon was of opinion that recourse 
 to forcible measures, even supposing it to be suc- 
 cessful, a result of which he felt by no means certain, 
 would be a calamity. Before coming to a decision 
 of so serious a nature he wished to be able to plead 
 the excuse of absolute necessity, and the exhaustion 
 of all other resources. Admiral Fourichon was 
 held back solely by his apprehension of civil war ; 
 M. Glais Bizon declared that he would submit to 
 the majority, if a majority could be formed at 
 Bordeaux. This end could be obtained by 
 bringing down three new members of the Govern- 
 ment from Paris. They might arrive at Bordeaux 
 on the 6th February at nine o'clock in the morning. 
 There would be time to telegraph to the depart- 
 ments, on this occasion in the name of the entire 
 Government, and under such conditions as these 
 disobedience would be impossible. Doubtless the 
 despatch would arrive very late on the day or the 
 day but one before the vote ; but the preparations 
 for the elections were not in question at all; 
 only an exclusion had to be repealed, and 
 this could be effected at the last hour. After
 
 28 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 some reflection M. Thiers approved of this plan. 
 He recommended M. Jules Simon to send 
 a number of letters to the departments, to 
 prefects, newspapers, friends, and former col- 
 leagues, and he strongly advised him, while 
 believing himself certain of peace, to prepare for 
 war. M. Jules Simon informed M. Thiers that it 
 was his intention to see the generals, but in the 
 utmost secrecy, also certain influential officers of 
 the National Guard, and magistrates; that he 
 would leave nothing to chance, but appeal to the 
 patriotism of all ; and that he still entertained a 
 strong hope of success without any open strife. 
 
 This plan was carried out from point to point. 
 The first thing to be done was the w^riting to 
 Paris, and as M. Thiers had advised that the 
 post should not be employed, but that the letters 
 should be confided to a friend, M. Cochery was 
 selected, and he consented to start that same 
 evening. He stopped at Orleans, and from thence 
 made known to M. Jules Favre what was passing 
 at Bordeaux. M. Alfred Liouville left on the 
 following day, and was present in Paris on the 4th 
 February at the sitting of the Council in which the 
 Bordeaux decree was officially annulled. 
 
 "While M. Cochery and M. Albert Liouville were 
 on their way to Paris, M. Jules Simon saw the 
 representatives of the press, who were then very
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 29 
 
 numerous at Bordeaux, and unreservedly explained 
 to them the mission with which he was charged. 
 He wrote, and the friends who were with him wrote 
 for him, a great number of letters for the de- 
 partments, and, as he feared that his handwriting 
 misfht be recoc^nized, or that letters addressed to 
 political personages would be intercepted, he ad- 
 dressed several to merchants, and to Professors, 
 and had the addresses written by other hands. 
 Afterwards he conferred with the generals 
 and magistrates. One general who had in the 
 first instance promised him assistance in the 
 improbable case of his finding himself obliged to 
 resort to force, refused it at the last moment. 
 Another, General Foltz, promised unreservedly to 
 support him. The minister explained to him that 
 he had certain reasons for expecting the resigna- 
 tion of M. Gambetta on Monday, the 6th Feb- 
 ruary, at nine o'clock in the morning, but that if, 
 contrary to all expectation, the circumstances 
 which would bring about that resignation did not 
 take place, the Prefecture must be seized without 
 a moment's delay, so that the postal and telegraphic 
 services should be available during the whole of 
 the afternoon. He added that the surest means of 
 averting a collision would be to discourage resist- 
 ance by the display of an imposing military force. 
 The General replied that he had only a very
 
 30 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 small number of men under his command, and that 
 the power of authorizing the transfer of regiments 
 from one territorial division to another was ex- 
 clusively reserved to the Minister of War; but 
 M. Jules Simon had foreseen this difficulty before 
 lie left Paris, and was the bearer of a blank decree 
 of nomination of a Minister of War, whicli he filled 
 up with the name of General Foltz. This docu- 
 ment was then placed in the hands of the first 
 president, M. Cellerier, with all the decrees 
 necessary to empower him to proceed with the 
 elections. In case of M. Jules Simon's being 
 arrested before the 6th February, M. Cellerier was 
 to publish these decrees immediately, and General 
 Foltz was to seize the Prefecture, according to a 
 carefully prepared plan which could not fail of 
 success. 
 
 Thus everything was provided for. On the 
 morning of the 6th three members of the Govern- 
 ment of Paris were to arrive at Bordeaux, and 
 terminate the crisis by their presence. If by any 
 unforeseen accident they should not be in the 
 train which would arrive at nine o'clock, the 
 troops were to be drawn up around the Prefecture 
 at eleven a.m.; at noon the orders of the Govern- 
 ment of Paris would be carried by telegraph into 
 all the departments. Thus, at any rate, freedom 
 of election would be secured.
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 31 
 
 On the 2nd February, in the evening, two im- 
 portant personages, both members of the Assembly, 
 and one of whom had been for a long time a 
 minister, called on M. Jules Simon, and made 
 strenuous efforts to induce him to take forcible 
 measures on the following day. They reiterated 
 their arguments many times. A struggle between 
 the Governments of Paris and Bordeaux, that is 
 to say, between republicans, did not alarm them, 
 and they affirmed, with no little temerity, that a 
 portion of the National Guard was with them. 
 The representatives of the Monarchical Press also 
 urged M. Simon in the same sense. He, how- 
 ever, resisted all this pressure, without making 
 known either his hopes or his resolutions, but 
 merely declaring, as he had not ceased to do 
 since his arrival, that he was confident of 
 success. 
 
 On the morning of the 3rd, the following pro- 
 clamation, despatched to the prefects by telegraph, 
 was posted on all the walls of Bordeaux : — 
 
 " Citizens, I have received the following tele- 
 gram, — 
 
 " ' Versailles, 6. 40 p.m. 
 
 " ' Monsieur Leon Gambetta, at Bordeaux. 
 " * In the name of the freedom of Elections 
 stipulated by the armistice convention I protest 
 against the disposition emanating from you to
 
 32 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 deprive numerous categories of Frencli citizens 
 of the right of being elected to the Assembly. 
 Elections made under a rule of arbitrary oppres- 
 sion cannot confer the rights which the armistice 
 convention recognized as those of deputies freely 
 elected.^ " ' (Signed) Bismarck.* 
 
 *' Citizens, we were saying a few days ago that 
 Prussia, in order to satisfy her ambition, was 
 reckoning upon an Assembly into which, owing to 
 the shortness of the allotted time, and to our 
 material difficulties of every kind, the adherents 
 and accomplices of the fallen dynasty, allies of 
 Count von Bismarck would be admitted. The 
 decree of exclusion of the 31st January de- 
 feated these hopes. The insolent pretension put 
 forward by the Prussian Minister to interfere in 
 the constitution of a French Assembly is the most 
 striking justification of the measures taken by the 
 Government of the Republic. The lesson will 
 not be lost upon auy who possess the sentiment 
 of National honour. 
 
 " The Minister of the Interior and of War, 
 
 "L. GAMBm'A." 
 
 Nothing indeed could be more opposed to the 
 
 right of nations, to justice, and to propriety, than 
 
 Count Bismarck's despatch ; nor could anything 
 
 ^ This message was in singularly bad French. The above is a 
 literal translation.
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 33 
 
 have been more ill-judged. It was openly 
 averred by tlie followers of M. Gambetta that M. 
 Jules Simon and liis colleagues in Paris were 
 neither more nor less than agents of Count 
 Bismarck. Added to this, the Monarchists, 
 by taking sides with M. Jules Simon, made it 
 appear that he was an enemy of the Republic and 
 of Republicans. M. Jules Simon, fully alive to 
 the peril of the situation, knowing besides that he 
 could no longer count on the adhesion of any of 
 the Delegates, and having taken all the necessary 
 measures for securing his freedom of action on 
 the Ctli, went to the Prefecture, where his col- 
 leagues were assembled, and having read aloud, 
 to them the decree which conferred full powers 
 upon him, announced that he was about officially 
 to annul their decree of the 31st January, 
 by which former functionaries of the Empire were 
 declared ineligible for election to the National 
 Assembly. Having made this announcement, he 
 immediately quitted the Council, accompanied by 
 M. Lavertujon, without replying to the vehement 
 interpellation by which he was assailed. From 
 thence he went to the office of the Gironde news- 
 paper, and there, in concert with M. Lavertujon, 
 Secretary to the Government, who had come with 
 him from Paris to assist him in this crisis, he drew 
 up the following proclamation : — 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 34 THE GOYEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 " Citizens, 
 
 *' This morning at 45 minutes past 8 o'clock, I 
 received the despatch of Count Bismarck. 
 
 "I understand and share the irritation to which 
 that despatch lias given rise. 
 
 " But the decree of the Government now seated 
 in Paris is dated the 28th. January; it was in- 
 serted on the 29th in the Journal Officiel and 
 the Bulletin des Lois ; and I am here to exact its 
 application. 
 
 " I have never hesitated in requiring the exe- 
 cution of that decree, and I exact it to-day, as I 
 exacted it yesterday, because I beheve it to be 
 indispensable to the safety of my country. 
 
 " It matters little to me that political adver- 
 saries agree upon this point with the Repub- 
 lican party to which I belong. At the present 
 moment everything must yield to the most in- 
 dispensable of civic duties. 
 
 " The decree of Bordeaux only being known to 
 the prefects, and being in course of execution in 
 the departments, 
 
 " Seeing that there is Urgency, 
 
 *' In virtue of the powers conferred upon me 
 by the Government of National Defence, and 
 which are thus conceived : 
 
 " In the unforeseen case of resistance by the 
 Delegates to the decrees and orders of the Govern-
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 35 
 
 ment of National Defence, M. Jules Simon is in- 
 vested by these presents with absolute full powers 
 to carry them into execution. 
 
 " Done at Paris, the 30th January, 1871. 
 " (Signed) Jules Favre, Ernest Picard, Gene- 
 ral Trochu, Emmanuel Arago, 
 Gamier Pages, Eugène Pelletan. 
 " I make known to the public the following 
 decree, — • 
 
 " Article 1. — The elections shall take place in 
 all the departments on the 8th February, con- 
 formably to the decree published at Bordeaux by 
 the Delegates of the Government, but with the fol- 
 lowing modification: the choice of the electors may 
 be exercised upon every French citizen, not legally 
 ineligible, and having attained the prescribed age. 
 Every kind of incapacity set forth by former laws 
 and decrees, and especially by the decree published 
 at Bordeaux on the 31st January, is abolished. 
 
 " Article 2. — The Assembly shall meet at Bor- 
 deaux on Sunday, the 12th February. The Govern- 
 ment of the National Defence will immediately 
 place its powers in the hands of the Assembly. 
 '* Done at Bordeaux, the 3rd February, 1871. 
 " The Delegate Member of the Government, 
 
 " Jules Simon. 
 " The Delegate Secretary of the Government, 
 " André Lavertujon." 
 
 D 2
 
 36 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 The Gironde printed this document at once, 
 and supplied a great number of proofs, which 
 were sent to all the newspapers. It also 
 printed large posters, which were immediately 
 distributed to the bill-stickers. A letter was 
 written to the Mayor of Bordeaux, in which he 
 was requested to take immediate steps for the 
 official publication ; and a copy of the proclama- 
 tion was sent to the telegraph office for prompt 
 transmission to the prefects. 
 
 These efforts to procure the promulgation of 
 the decree were useless, as was to be expected, 
 and as M. Jules Simon had known from the first 
 that they would be. The Delegates had one of 
 two courses to take : either they must submit to 
 the orders received from Paris, or they must 
 maintain their own decree and prevent the 
 promulgation of the other. 
 
 The Delegates prohibited the transmission of 
 the decree by either post or telegraph, and 
 threatened the bill-stickers with imprisonment if a 
 single poster should appear. The Gironde and 
 all the newspapers of the 4th February which con- 
 tained the decree of M. Jules Simon were seized 
 by an order emanating from the Prefect of the 
 Gironde, and couched in the following terms : — 
 
 " The Prefect of the Gironde orders M. Leclerc, 
 Commissary of Police, immediately to seize all the
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 37 
 
 copies of the newspaper, No. — , after lie sliall 
 
 have satisfied himself that the said newspaper con- 
 tains a pretended decree relative to the elections, 
 signed ' Jules Simon,' or * André Lavertujon,' 
 and to place the copies seized at the disposal 
 of the Procureur of the Republic. 
 
 '' Bordeaux, the 4th February, 1871." 
 
 The letter, signed by the Prefect of the Gironde, 
 is marked " Approved. 
 
 *' The Director of General Safety, 
 
 " Eano." 
 
 On the same day, the 4th February, several 
 persons informed M. Jules Simon that it had 
 been seriously proposed to have him arrested. 
 Admiral Fourichon had strongly opposed the 
 motion, and he had been seconded by M. Glais- 
 Bizoin. The enemies of the Republic spread 
 this report in hopes of widening the breach 
 between the two sections of the Government. M. 
 Glais-Bizoin said to M. Jules Simon, "It has 
 been decided that you are not to be allowed any 
 means of addressing the public, but your personal 
 liberty will not be molested." 
 
 The representatives of the newspapers that had 
 been seized came to M. Jules Simon to protest 
 against the measure of which they were the 
 victims. They placed in his hands a protest 
 which ended thus : " In virtue of the unlimited
 
 38 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 powers you have received from the Govern- 
 ment of Paris in order to secure the execution of 
 this decree, we demand that you shall cause the 
 liberty of the press and submission to the law to 
 be respected in our persons." The individuals who 
 signed this protest knew perfectly well that he to 
 whom they addressed it had, at that moment, no 
 other means of getting justice done to them than 
 by resorting to force. They thought, with the 
 two other personages already mentioned, that the 
 battalions of the National Guard belonging to the 
 central quarters might be relied upon ; and some 
 among them would perhaps have seen the two 
 sections of the Government come to fisticuffs 
 without much regret. M. Jules Simon, on the 
 contrary, could not regard such an eventuality 
 otherwise than as the greatest of misfortunes. 
 
 He was convinced that if a struggle should 
 take place on that day, with the uncertain support 
 of a few battalions, it would turn out ill for the 
 cause that he was charged to defend. He hoped 
 that a peaceful solution would be reached in 
 two days, and when that time should have come, 
 if his hopes were not realized, there was a 
 resource remaining, on which he might reckon 
 securely. He therefore limited his action to the 
 drawing up of the following declaration in 
 answer to the protest of the newspaper editors,
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 39 
 
 forwarding it to the Delegates and to the news- 
 papers concerned, at the same time sending 
 a copy, signed by himself and M. Lavertujon, to 
 M. Cellerier : — 
 
 " Declakation. 
 
 " The decree unanimously adopted by the 
 Government of National Defence is dated the 
 28th January, 1871. 
 
 " It was inserted in the Journal Officiel on the 
 29th, and placarded in Paris on the same day. It 
 was ordered on the 28th that it should be sent 
 into all the departments. 
 
 " I do not think it advisable to publish tlie 
 entire text of that decree, or to maintain all its 
 dispositions, as I desire to avoid any confusion 
 between the instructions already received, and 
 those which would result from the decree of the 
 28th January. 
 
 " But I repeat the declaration that the decree 
 which was passed on the 28th, published on the 
 29th, and signed by all the members present in 
 Paris, contains the express clause that all French 
 citizens in enjoyment of their civil rights are 
 eligible. 
 
 " I have been charged, not only with the 
 execution of this decree, but especially to watch 
 over the preservation intact of universal suffrage. 
 
 *' I was authorized, if need were, to conform in
 
 40 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 other respects to the views of the Delegates ; but 
 I am the bearer of an imperative mandate so to 
 act that all citizcDS who are in the CDJoyment of 
 their civil rights shall be eligible. 
 
 " The decree is perfectly regular ; my powers 
 have been communicated to the Delegates, I 
 maintain the text of that decree in the most 
 formal manner. 
 
 *' The journals that have published it have acted 
 in conformity with right and law. The seizure 
 of those journals is illegal. Those persons who 
 have ordered, and, pursuant to Article 75, those 
 who have executed that seizure, are responsible 
 for the obstacles opposed by them to the liberty 
 of the press. 
 
 " Bordeaux, 5th February, 1871. 
 
 " (Signed) Jules Simon, 
 
 " André Lavertujon.'* 
 
 Each time that the delegate of the Government 
 of Paris had to write a declaration or a letter, he 
 was careful to repeat the terms of the Paris decree, 
 to explain its motives, and to point out its legality. 
 In spite of the close watch that was kept upon all 
 his actions, his mission had become known at 
 Bordeaux, and a certain number of his letters 
 had reached the public. The Delegates had from 
 the beginning adopted the expedient of casting 
 a doubt, which they did not entertain, upon the
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 41 
 
 authenticity of the decree. They had demanded 
 not only the text, but the original minute, 
 signed by the members of the Government; 
 with which M. Jules Simon had not been fur- 
 nished, no demand of the kind having been 
 anticipated, and, more especially, because the 
 decree had been printed in the Journal Officiel and 
 in the Bulletin des Lois, and distributed broadcast 
 since the 29th January. As railway communi- 
 cation between Bordeaux and the capital was 
 restored, it was supposed at Paris that the decree 
 had been published in the usual way. At the first 
 suggestion of this strange and insulting suspicion, 
 M. Jules Simon, who was present at the Council 
 of the Delegates, instead of giving way to in- 
 dignation, as he might fairly have done, at once 
 proposed that they should telegraph to Paris, so 
 that the question might be settled by the answer of 
 M. Jules Favre. This was at first agreed to, at 
 least in appearance, but on the following day 
 M. Jules Simon learned that the proposed tele- 
 gram had not been sent, " because messages had 
 to pass through the hands of Count Bismarck," 
 and that the question had been put by means of a 
 carrier-pigeon. 
 
 The pigeon never reached Paris ; and, when at 
 length, after the seizure of the newspapers, public 
 rumours became almost threatening, it was decided,
 
 42 TeE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 notwitlistanding tlie despatch of the carrier, to 
 send M. Cremieux to Paris, with a commission to 
 ascertain whether " the pretended decree " was, or 
 was not, a reaHty. This decision, with the words 
 " pretended decree," was posted on the walls of 
 the city, a fact of which M. Jules Simon was 
 apprised by a member of the Government, who 
 was indeed indignant at it, but who had, never- 
 theless, added his own signatures to the other 
 three. M. Jules Simon, who was resolved to 
 accomiDlish his purpose, but to take no personal 
 questions or incidents whatever into account, 
 merely shrugged his shoulders. On the 5th, 
 M. Crémieux started for Paris, and at Vierzon he 
 encountered Messieurs Garnier Pages, Emmanuel 
 Arago, and Pelletan, who brought him back with 
 them to Bordeaux, where the party arrived on the 
 6th at nine o'clock a.m. So soon as their arrival 
 was made known, and that it was evident the 
 majority of the Government at Bordeaux were 
 resolved upon the suppression of the ineligibility 
 clause, no difficulty was made about the despatch 
 of the decree by telegraph even in anticipation of 
 the meeting of the Council. M. Jules Simon 
 himself took it to the Director-General, who had it 
 sent off immediately in every quarter. By direc- 
 tion of M. Jules Simon, General Foltz at once re- 
 scinded the order by which the troops were confined
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 43 
 
 to barracks. The crisis bad ended peacefully, 
 after an anxious contest of a week's duration, and a 
 good understanding was re-established between the 
 members of the Government of National Defence. 
 
 One source of grave anxiety remained. AVhat 
 would the prefects do ? 
 
 M. Gambetta had always been of opinion that 
 the elections ought to take place, provided they 
 should be conducted on his system. All his 
 prefects (or nearly all), held with him on the second 
 point, the exclusion of the Bonapartists ; a few 
 only obeyed, in trembling, on the first, the convo- 
 cation of the electors. At Toulouse, M. Duportal, 
 the prefect, published the following proclama- 
 tion : — 
 
 " Dear Fellow-Citizens, 
 
 " In conformity with the unanimous desire of 
 true and tried patriots, the Government of the 
 Republic proposed to postpone the convocation 
 of the electors until it should have accom- 
 plished the patriotic mandate of National Defence, 
 which it had courageously accepted. The fortune 
 of war and the adverse destiny of France have 
 otherwise disposed. Afflicting truth, which never- 
 theless must be told ! It is beneath the trium- 
 phant roar of the cannon of the invader, under the 
 bloody heel of the Prussian, that we are called to 
 vote!" &c., &c., &c.
 
 44 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 On the 31st January, the municipahty of Saint 
 Etienne sent a deputation to M. Gambetta, bearing 
 an address which was posted the same day on the 
 walls of Saint Etienne, and contained the follow- 
 ing passage : — 
 
 " Take every energetic measure for continuing 
 the war ; either an honourable peace, or war to 
 complete exhaustion. 
 
 " We again demand from you absolute powers, 
 both civil and military, for our departmental 
 authority, so that every individual capable of carry- 
 ing arms may be enrolled, without any exception 
 whatever. 
 
 " As for the Elections, if they are to take place, 
 and it is our opinion that they ought not to be 
 held, we demand that it shall be decreed that 
 all those who have directly served the Empire, 
 senators, chamberlains, prefects, and others, and 
 also all place-seekers shall be ineligible to the 
 Constituent Assembly. 
 
 " We demand, besides, that every refractory 
 individual shall be deprived of the vote." 
 
 The prefect of Bouches du Rhône, an active and 
 intelligent man, had gone so far as to send in his 
 resignation rather than co-operate in the forma- 
 tion of a National Assembly. At the entreaty 
 of M. Gambetta, he consented to retain office and 
 to publish the Bordeaux decree, but he refused 
 
 m
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 45 
 
 to tlie end, even after the resignation of M. 
 Gambetta, to give official publicity to the acts of 
 the Government of Paris. In the sitting of the 
 11th March, 1871, M. Cocherj related the details 
 of this incident. " M. Gent," he said, " being 
 called upon to furnish us with explanations, 
 replied, that in fact he had received, on the 
 30th January, a telegram, despatched from 
 Bordeaux, by which he was enjoined to publish 
 the decree of convocation for the elections of the 
 8th February, but M. Gent was opposed to the 
 elections, and a partisan of war à outrance. Con- 
 sequently he telegraphed on the same day to 
 the Minister of the Interior that he could not 
 accept this new policy, and that he requested a 
 successor might be sent to replace him, and to 
 fulfil the electoral formalities. 
 
 "Not until the 3rd February did M. Gent, 
 yielding to urgent ministerial remonstrances, 
 consent to allow the decree of convocation to be 
 printed and placarded. 
 
 "It is equally certain that the decrees of the 
 29th January, the annulment of the ineligibility 
 clause, and the resignation of M. Gambetta 
 were not officially published by the Prefect of 
 Bouches du Rhône." 
 
 M. Gent, M. Duportal, and the Mayor of Saint 
 Etienne were not unsupported in their protest
 
 46 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 against the convocation of the electors. They 
 and the other malcontents, however, resigned 
 themselves, provided that the conditions of the 
 Bordeaux decree on the elections were maintained, 
 i. e. with the ineligibility clause. The prefect of a 
 central department summoned a young lawyer, 
 who had received a letter from M. Jules Simon, 
 and was distributing copies of it, before him, 
 and threatened him with imprisonment and a 
 prosecution. Many similar examples might be 
 quoted, and also proclamations by prefects and 
 sub-prefects, in which the Government of Paris 
 was violently attacked. M. Paul Bert, Prefect of 
 the Nord, a celebrated savant, and a distinguished 
 man in every respect, had taken elaborate pre- 
 cautions to ]3revent the election of functionaries 
 and candidates of the Empire. The placard 
 setting forth the names of the candidates to be 
 excluded is dated 6th February : — 
 
 "List or Candidates declared Inéligible. 
 
 Brame (Jules), former Minister of the Empire. 
 Plichon, former Minister of the Empire. 
 Des Rotours, Official Candidate in 1868 and 
 1869." 
 
 A few hours afterwards the Lille newspapers, 
 with the text of the decree promulgated in Paris 
 on the 29th January, reached the prefect, and he
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 47 
 
 immediately issued a proclamation, wMcli contains 
 these words : — 
 
 " This decree by the Government, prisoners in 
 Paris, and for a period of four months ignorant 
 of the state of the provinces, unable to com- 
 municate freely with them, and ignorant of 
 what their own delegates at Bordeaux were doing, 
 cannot, either in strict law or in equity, be 
 placed in opposition with the decree by the 
 Delegates at Bordeaux, who were in full pos- 
 session of freedom of thouscht and action. 
 It is only reasonable that the decree of the 
 31st January should have the force of law, 
 even admitting the existence of that of the 
 29th." 
 
 Four prefects only refused to apply the in- 
 eligibility clause : M. Mestreau, Prefect of Cha- 
 rente-Inférieure, M. Achille Delorme, Prefect of 
 Calvados, M. Emile Lenoël, Prefect of La 
 Manche, and M. Ricard, Commissary-General for 
 Deux-Sèvres and Vienne. M. Ricard sent the 
 following note to M. Jules Simon : — " I am told 
 that you are the bearer of a decree which con- 
 firms the eligibility of all citizens. Let me be in- 
 formed of the text of it, and I will answer to you 
 for its being obeyed wherever I have authority." 
 
 At the sitting of the 9th March, 1871, M. 
 Bethmont read aloud the telegrams that had
 
 48 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 been exchanged between M. Mestreau and M. 
 Gambetta. 
 
 *' M. Mestreau to the Minister of the Interior. 
 
 "It is impossible for me to pubHsh the documents 
 which you have just forwarded to me ; they 
 would produce a most unfavourable efifect in 
 Charente-Inférieure." 
 
 " The Minister to M. Mestreau. 
 
 " I am not concerned with the spirit of your 
 department, but with that of all France. In my 
 double capacity as Minister and Republican, I give 
 you a formal order under my personal respon- 
 sibility, to publish my proclamation." 
 
 " M. Mestreau to the Minister. 
 
 *'It is in view of the general condition of France, 
 as well as that of my own department, and also 
 under the inspiration of Republican principles, not 
 authoritative, that I have refused to publish your 
 proclamation, in which an outrage is inflicted on 
 the Government of National Defence. I therefore 
 maintain my former declaration." 
 
 On his resignation, M. Gambetta addressed an 
 important circular to the prefects, in which, 
 while holding to his opinion with regard to the 
 Bonapartists, he formally advised that the 
 elections should be proceeded with ; and this 
 counsel, emanating from him, put an end to all 
 hesitation.
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 49 
 
 *' Bordeaux, 6tli February, 1871, 3 p.m. 
 *' The Minister of the Interior to the Prefects and 
 Sub-Prefects. 
 
 " Notwithstanding the grave objections arising 
 from the execution of the Convention of Ver- 
 sailles, I had determined to cause the elections 
 to be proceeded with, that by so doing I might 
 furnish an incontestable proof of moderation 
 and sincerity, and also remain at my post until 
 relieved. 
 
 " You are aware. Monsieur, from the various 
 documents which have been sent to you, what is 
 to be the nature and character of those elections ; 
 nevertheless I am convinced that, notwithstand- 
 ing the material diJ0Q.culties of every kind heaped 
 upon us by the enemy, a faithful and resolute 
 Assembly will be their outcome. 
 
 *' I consider that our decree was called for alike 
 by justice as regards the accomplices of the 
 imperial rule, who are responsible for it, and 
 prudence in view of foreign intrigues. It 
 has elicited an insulting protest from Count 
 Bismarck. 
 
 " Since then, on the 4th February, 1871, the 
 members of the Government of 'Paris have sup- 
 pressed our decree by a legislative measure. They 
 have also sent Messieurs Garnier Pages, Eugène 
 Pelletan, and Arago, who signed the decree of 
 
 VOL. I. E
 
 50 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 abrogation, to Bordeaux, with their commission to 
 apply it. 
 
 " This is at once a disavowal and a dismissal 
 of the Minister of the Interior and of War. 
 
 " A fundamental difference of opinion from 
 both the exterior and the interior point of view is 
 therefore manifest beyond all doubt. My con- 
 science tells me that it is my duty to resign 
 my functions as a minister of the Government, 
 with which I no longer have ideas or hopes in 
 common. 
 
 " I have the honour to inform jou that I have 
 this day sent in my resignation, and to thank you 
 for the patriotic and steady support you have 
 afforded me in my endeavours to bring the 
 task which I had undertaken to a successful ter- 
 mination. 
 
 " Let me say to you that, on reflection, I am 
 convinced, seeing how grave are the interests 
 at stake, and how little time is at our dis- 
 posal, you will render a supreme service to the 
 Republic by proceeding with the elections of the 
 8th February. Thus you will obtain time, to 
 enable you to take such resolutions as you shall 
 think proper. 
 
 " Receive the assurance of my fraternal senti- 
 ments. 
 
 " Léon Gajif-etta.'*
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 51 
 
 The Council met at the house of M. Crémieux, 
 immediately after the arrival of Messieurs Garnier 
 Pages, Arago, and Pelletan. M. Gambetta did 
 not attend; he sent in his resignation by letter, 
 and his colleagues met him next in the As- 
 sembly. Admiral Fourichon had always desired 
 this solution of the difficulty ; M. Glais-Bizoin 
 felt himself beaten, and said so, but received 
 his three friends with no less cordiality on 
 that account. M. Crémieux yielded to the ne- 
 cessity of the case, while he bitterly regretted the 
 defeated policy, and persisted in believing that 
 the war might still have been carried on. He 
 tendered his resignation on the following day, but 
 the Council begged him to withdraw it, as all the 
 members of the Government were to resign col- 
 lectively in five days from that time. 
 
 Short though the interval was, it was neces- 
 sary to appoint a successor to M. Gambetta. 
 M. Jules Simon had been already appointed in 
 that capacity. The newly-arrived Delegates 
 brought him his nomination, signed by General 
 Trochu, Jules Favre, Arago, Pelletan, Garnier 
 Pages, and Ernest Picard. M. Glais-Bizoin ex- 
 claimed against this appointment, which, as he 
 said, aggravated the defeat of the Delegates. 
 
 " I resign myself to being beaten," said he, 
 "but not to being beaten to this extent." M. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Crémieux also said that it was unwise to pass 
 from M. Gambetta to tliat identical member 
 of tlie Government who represented the most 
 moderate policy ; and such was likewise M. Jules 
 Simon's own opinion. He felt convinced that 
 the Council, composed as it was now, would, after 
 this sitting, be unanimous in its resolutions. 
 The whole question was merely the substitution 
 of one name for another. He thought the name 
 of M. Arago would have more authority than his 
 own with the prefects who had been appointed 
 by M. Gambetta. They had almost all gone 
 against him during the week of struggle that had 
 just expired; it would be easier for them to 
 submit to the new orders they were about to 
 receive, if those orders were not signed by him. 
 These reasons seemed conclusive. The consent of 
 M. Emmanuel Arago was obtained, but not 
 without difficulty. A circular was immediately 
 drawn up, and addressed by telegraph to all 
 the prefects and sub-prefects of the uninvaded 
 departments. 
 
 At Bordeaux everything went off smoothly. In 
 the evening M. Arago presented himself at the 
 meeting of the Municipal Council and was warmly 
 received. The popularity and good management 
 of M. Fourcaud aided materially in preventing any 
 disturbance. None took place indeed in any part
 
 THE ELECTIONS. 53 
 
 of France. The elections were lield on tlie 8tli, 
 conformably with the Paris decree, and on Sunday, 
 the 12th February, the Assembly met, to declare 
 itself constituted.
 
 54 THE GOVEENMENT OF M, THIEES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BOEDEAUX. 
 
 It would be difficult for any one who had not seen 
 the city of Bordeaux when it was the capital of 
 France, to form an idea of the busy and bustling 
 crowd which at that time filled the hotels and 
 thronged the streets. The handsome, refined, 
 calm, and kindly city had become for the nonce 
 a political capital, a " Bourse " on a gigantic 
 scale, and the head-quarters of a large military 
 force. The Place des Quinconces was occupied 
 by cannon ; the Prefecture was the residence 
 of M. Gambetta, but the Government, the Ministry 
 of the Interior, the Ministry of War, the Police 
 and Telegraph Administrations, and the Pre- 
 fecture of the Gironde were also lodged there. 
 In the vast rooms set apart for the use of the 
 General Council, clerks, who had been employed 
 under the Empire, worked beneath the eyes of 
 their directors like schoolboys with the master's
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 55 
 
 cane in view ; tlie prefect's cabinet, the former 
 reception-rooms, and even the antechambers 
 were crowded by persons of another class, equally 
 busy and bustling, who might have been seen 
 five months before in the offices of the demo- 
 cratic newspapers. The all-powerful minister 
 enjoyed no privacy. "When he needed a little 
 quietness, while writing an order or a circular, 
 he took refuge behind a screen. He gave 
 audiences to the crowd on the balcony, to 
 deputations at the stairhead, and to individuals 
 behind the door. The grand staircase was 
 thronged hke that of a railway-station when 
 the trains are starting^. Ministers and Generals 
 made their way through the press with their 
 elbows ; a space would be cleared only for the 
 master and two or three of his familiars. This 
 buzzing and swarming crowd was enlivened by 
 a great variety of costumes. M. Gambetta had 
 shown incomparable activity in the creation of 
 armies ; — all the anger and ill-will of his enemies 
 can never deprive him of credit on that score 
 • — he had also created officers in o-reat Dro- 
 
 a X 
 
 fusion, and those officers had created uniforms. 
 Civil functionaries indulged in them to their 
 hearts' content ; a director of telegraphs wore 
 a plumed hat, and gold lace like a general. 
 The Bordeaux people who remained quietly at
 
 56 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 tlieir business hardly recognized their own city ; 
 their streets, their Prefecture, their theatres, 
 their counting-houses, indeed their own houses. 
 In the course of three months Bordeaux was 
 taken by assault two or three times by different 
 armies ; by civil functionaries, by speculators in all 
 kinds of business, by officials, and finally, after the 
 retirement of M. Gambetta, by deputies. 
 
 Only eight days were allowed for the transaction 
 of the onerous business of the elections, which, in 
 ordinary times, sets so many persons in motion ; 
 and those eight days were fertile in unexpected 
 occurrences in the uninvaded departments. 
 Operations had been commenced on the 2nd or 
 3rd February, in obedience to the Bordeaux 
 decree ; then, almost on the eve of the voting day, 
 came the decrees of M. Jules Simon and the 
 Government of Paris. In several departments 
 the prefects had been obliged to alter their in- 
 structions and to contradict their proclamations. 
 A few of them retired. The new prefect of Lille, 
 M. Hendlé, arrived on the voting day itself. No 
 less pressing, although of a different kind, were 
 the difiBculties under which the departments in- 
 vaded by the Prussians laboured. As there were 
 no longer any prefects in those departments, a 
 circular issued by M. Herold, Minister of the 
 Interior, transferred the most essential portion of
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BOEDEAUX. 57 
 
 their functions to tlie mayors of the various town- 
 ships. The enemy, who desired that the Assembly 
 should be summoned, offered no obstacle to 
 the proceedings. Liberty to meet, to advertise, 
 to correspond and to vote was unchecked, but 
 the state of siege was, in itself, a terrible impedi- 
 ment. Almost all the Mairies were turned into 
 barracks, the electoral lists were lost or destroyed, 
 the railroads were either blocked up or torn up, 
 many of the most active and important citizens 
 were serving with the army. Nevertheless, the 
 elections were held all over France at the appointed 
 hour. They were conducted in freedom and with 
 regularity. M. Thiers bore witness to this in 
 the sitting of the 10th March, 1871. " Never," 
 said he, " no never, has a country been more 
 sincerely interrogated, and never has it answered 
 more sincerely than on the recent occasion. 
 
 " The country was in great part occupied, 
 but where that was the case, the foreigners did 
 not meddle with your elections. In the other 
 portions of France certain prefects would have 
 liked to meddle with them, but they had not 
 time. 
 
 *' Thus, because the foreigner regarded them 
 with indifference, and the previous administration 
 had not time to interfere, the elections were not in 
 any way impeded."
 
 68 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 It has since been repeatedly alleged that the 
 Government of National Defence brought pressure 
 to bear on the electors, but this accusation is not 
 only false, it is absurd. The Assembly, which 
 was not to be suspected of a leaning towards 
 the Government, granted only one inquiry, — 
 in the case of the department of Vaucluse, — 
 and annulled, in all, only five returns, those 
 respectively of M. Cyprien Chaix in the 
 Hautes Alpes ; M. Marc-Dufraisse in the Alpes- 
 Maritimes ; M. Mestreau in Charente-Inférieure ; 
 M. Lamorte in Drome, and M. Girot-Ponzol in 
 Puy-de-Dôme. These elections were annulled 
 solely in virtue of the principle of the ineligibility 
 of prefects in the departments under their own 
 administration. It is therefore quite true that 
 the elections throughout all France were declared 
 valid, with the exception of those of one depart- 
 ment only. 
 
 The Delegates had authorized the candidateship 
 of prefects in their own departments (although 
 it was a departure from their principles) for 
 the reason that the circumstances of the case 
 were completedy exceptional, and that it would 
 have been unjust to disqualify men who had 
 accepted office, not as a career, but as an oppor- 
 tunity of rendering disinterested service to the 
 country.
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 59 
 
 M. Jules Simon, whose object it was not to 
 dishearten the prefects, did not wish to provoke 
 to disobedience those who might have offered 
 themselves as candidates several days before the 
 existence of his decree had come to their know- 
 ledge. As it happened, the greater number of 
 the prefects abstained from offering themselves as 
 candidates. Only eleven prefects and two sub- 
 prefects were returned. Several of those who 
 were elected had sent in their resignation in 
 time. M. Marc-Dufraisse, whose seat was in- 
 validated, was elected simultaneously in the 
 department of the Seine. The other four pre- 
 sented themselves anew, and were re-elected. 
 
 Not a single case of corrupt practices was even 
 alleged, and some instances of intimidation which 
 it was attempted to exaggerate were not proven ; 
 the Assembly took no heed of them. Several 
 prefects had advised the electors to vote for war 
 à outrance ; but the change which had taken place 
 in the administration two days previously had 
 nullified their influence, which was not, indeed, 
 important beforehand, for every one knew that they 
 were about to vacate their posts. Their promises 
 were not to be relied upon, nor were their threats 
 to be feared. At the date of the elections the 
 Government and their agents of every degree, 
 including the mayors, possessed moral authority
 
 60 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 only over tliose who were of their way of thinking ; 
 whosoever was not entirely with them was 
 against them. The Government of Paris was 
 reproached with the capitulation, the Government 
 of Bordeaux with a Dictatorship. In reality the 
 only collective influence was that of the clergy, 
 who had remained at their posts, with their 
 organization intact, while war and revolution 
 had profoundly troubled and terribly thinned the 
 ranks of lay society. From that time forth the 
 clergy openly and ardently joined in the strife of 
 parties 
 
 On the day after the elections the deputies 
 began to arrive at Bordeaux. Several of them 
 came direct from the army, or from the ambulances, 
 and had not allowed themselves a glimpse of 
 their homes. A few were still wearing their regi- 
 mental uniforms. The Grand Theatre had been 
 arranged as a temporary Assembly House; a 
 purpose which the large and commodious building 
 served admirably, with but one drawback. It was 
 not lighted from the outside, and therefore gas 
 had to be used on all occasions. The Lecture- 
 Room was assigned for the use of the public, the 
 actors' dressing-rooms and the property-rooms 
 were arranged as best they might be for the use 
 of the officials. 
 
 The Assembly met at three o'clock in the after-
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT EOliDEAUX. 61 
 
 noon of the 12tli February, in the green-room. 
 At first it was proposed only to get intelhgence, 
 but Count Benoist d'Azy, who was summoned to 
 preside at the sitting as the senior member pre- 
 sent, moved that considering the gravity of the 
 circumstances, the Assembly should at once 
 declare itself constituted. This proposal was 
 unanimously adopted. Provisional officers were 
 also elected. M. Benoist d'Azy was to con- 
 tinue to act as President. M. Duchâtel, M. de 
 Castellane, M. Paul de Remusat, and M. L'Ebraly 
 were appointed Secretaries. The Assembly ad- 
 journed until the following day for the verification 
 of powers. A considerable number of deputies 
 were already present. When on the 16tli the 
 Assembly proceeded to elect the permanent 
 officials, there were no less than 633 voters. 
 
 Neither the Paris Government nor the Bordeaux 
 Delegates had thought of defining the powers of 
 the Assembly, or of fixing a term to its mandate. 
 It was evident that the Assembly as the out- 
 come of universal suffrage possessed absolute 
 and sovereign power, and that from the moment 
 of its meeting its authority was sole and supreme 
 in France. It was generally believed that the 
 Assembly had been summoned to decide upon 
 peace or war ; that its mission would terminate 
 with the vote which should finally dispose of this
 
 62 THE GUVERNMExN'T OF M. THIERS. 
 
 formidable question, and that afterwards it would 
 liave nothing to do except to pass an electoral 
 law, and summon its successors. Those who are 
 familiar with history know that an Assembly 
 always takes all the powers it can get, and always 
 lasts as long as it can. Doubtless, however, 
 the deputies would have been astonished if they 
 had been told that they should sit for four years, 
 and should make a Constitution. 
 
 The list of the newly-elected deputies, upon 
 whom the fate of the country depended, v/as 
 studied with considerable anxiety at this time. 
 The indications afforded by it were by no means 
 clear. It included several new names, and it was 
 rightly believed that there would be numerous con- 
 versions among the former deputies. Everything 
 was conjectural, and the most skilful statisticians 
 dared not claim complete accuracy. 
 
 One important, sahent, and reassuring fact was 
 that only a few Bonapartists had been returned. 
 They numbered thirty in all, and the only well- 
 known men in the little group were M. Conti, 
 M. Gavini, M. Gallioni, M. Daru, and M. Brame. 
 Two-thirds of this small party, who afterwards 
 formed the nucleus of the group known as that of 
 " The Appeal to the People," would have indig- 
 nantly repudiated tlie appellation of " Bonapar- 
 tists." The apprehensions of M. Gambetta that
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 63 
 
 a Chamber composed of former official candidates 
 might be returned were very wide of the mark. 
 France had remembered the 2nd of December, 
 the mixed commissions, the transportations, the 
 law of Public Safety, Mexico, and Sedan. The 
 head of the Bonapartist party, M. Rouher, was 
 then abroad. He did not offer himself as a can- 
 didate until the elections of the 2nd July, when 
 he was beaten in Charente-Inférieure and the 
 Gironde. M. Se vérin Abbatucci was obliged to 
 resign in order to secure M. Rouher's seat for 
 the department of Corsica, which was then 
 regarded as a Bonapartist pocket-borough. The 
 party could not pretend that it was a victim 
 to the Bordeaux decree, for it was not more 
 fortunate on the 2ud July than on the 8th 
 February. 
 
 On the other hand, the number of republicans 
 amounted to only 250 ; and this was a disappoint- 
 ment. It was, however, to be expected that all 
 the Monarchical parties would league themselves 
 together against the Republic ; and that although 
 the Republic would win in the end, it must be 
 some time before it could be declared the definitive 
 Government of France, and still longer before it 
 could be secured against aggressive attempts by the 
 beaten parties. If the elections could have been 
 hold in September or October 1870, an almost
 
 64 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 entirely Republican Assembly would have been 
 returned. 
 
 The resurrection of the Legitimist party 
 was a novel and unexpected event, chiefly ex- 
 plicable by the intervention of the clergy. This 
 was a party of which France knew nothing, which 
 was believed to be extinct. It had, for a long time, 
 been composed of leaders without soldiers; but 
 now all the leaders were elected. It became evi- 
 dent, after a few sittings, that the representa- 
 tives of the old régime were ignorant of public 
 affairs, and that they did not number among them 
 any of those superior men who lend brilliancy to 
 their party, who force other parties to fear it, and 
 who occasionally succeed, by dint either of political 
 ability or oratorical talent, in displacing a majority. 
 
 It was otherwise with the Right Centre, a 
 group which outnumbered that of the Repub- 
 licans, and in which were included M. Thiers, M. 
 Dufaure, M. Léonce de Lavergne, M. Casimir Per- 
 rier, M. Laboulaye, and a number of learned and 
 eloquent men, accustomed to public business, and 
 to the handling of assemblies, governing men who 
 had been thrown into opposition by the Empire, 
 and who, if they should prove sufficiently high- 
 minded to keep clear of former prejudices and the 
 interests of a clique, could not fail to exercise a 
 preponderating influence in the Assembly.
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 65 
 
 Thus, tlie Right Centre was the most important 
 group ; next in order came the Eepubhcans, with 
 some first-rate speakers, M. Jules Favre, M. Gam- 
 betta, M. Pelletan and M. Picard ; after them the 
 Legitimists ; and lastly, the Bonapartists, in an 
 insignificant minority. If to all these be added 
 thirty individuals whose opinions nobody knew 
 anything about, tentative, expectant persons, 
 who certainly did not themselves know how 
 they ought to be classified, an almost exact 
 estimate may be formed of the state of parties 
 at the opening of the Assembly. 
 
 No group had the majority. The Right 
 Centre and the Republicans came first, with un- 
 equal forces ; and this result was discouraging 
 to the Bonapartists, and disheartening to the 
 Republicans. The only party who were justified 
 in congratulating themselves, and in thinking 
 that France was coming back to them, were 
 the adherents of Constitutional Monarchy. They 
 were accustomed to look upon Republicans as 
 devoid of political ability, and they calculated 
 that the check which the Republican party had 
 received through them in February, 1871, would 
 be still more complete when the supplementary 
 elections should have taken place. The Repub-^ 
 licans could not fail to make mistakes, and they 
 themselves would not fail to profit by those errors. 
 
 VOL. T. ' F
 
 66 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Then, too, every man of the Legitimist party wlio 
 was not too deeply pledged, every man who was 
 capable of taking a correct view of the state of 
 modern society, would join the Constitutional 
 Monarchists. Was it not essential, above all, 
 to escape the Eepublic? A second time in tlie 
 course of the century, the Constitutionalists would 
 be a necessary expedient. In the first place they 
 were certain to place M. Thiers at the head of 
 the Government. And then, as if to secure the 
 triumph of the Eight Centre, no sooner had the 
 Eepublicans met together than they began to 
 quarrel among themselves. 
 
 M. Gambetta and the other leaders of the 
 Republican party had seen the double danger 
 that awaited the Eepublic from the Orleanists 
 on the one side, and the Bonapartists on the 
 other. Against the latter they had the resource 
 of the decree of ineligibility, which they held 
 to be justified as a sort of lex talionis, in 
 retaliation for the official candidateships of the 
 Empire; but they had no such weapon to use 
 against Constitutional Monarchy. They believed 
 rightly that all persons of superior intelligence 
 would end by regarding the Eepublic as the 
 only Government possible and the best of 
 Governments, and that the great body of the 
 nation, freed from the delusion of Cœsarism,
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT EOEDEAUX. 67 
 
 could not but embrace the E/cpublican cause. 
 Progress, however, in human societies, does 
 not tread with even and measured pace; it 
 springs forward, then it recoils; it is subject 
 to interruptions, until, having triumphed over 
 final obstacles, it at length acquires irresistible 
 force. If the members of the Eight Centre had 
 obeyed one leader, if they had practised the 
 only kind of disinterestedness which a party 
 can exhibit, that is to say patience ; if, above all, 
 they had remained faithful to that liberal policy 
 which they had so loudly demanded under the 
 Empire, instead of making common cause with 
 the reaction and with clericalism, France might 
 have recommenced, under less enduring conditions, 
 the experiment of 1830. Their internal divisions 
 were a happy chance for the Republic. They had 
 nothing in common except their attachment to 
 the representative system and their dislike of 
 running risks. The dissensions in the party were 
 manifest from the first. A very few among 
 them denied all salvation outside of an Orleanist 
 restoration, and they sacrificed everything to 
 that conviction. The entire political faith 
 of others was summed up in instinctive aversion 
 to democracy, and fear of being deprived of 
 the political and social advantages they en- 
 joyed. They loved liberty in theory, they would 
 
 F 2
 
 Q8 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 even have consented to administer it to fhe 
 country, provided tliey liad been permitted to 
 measure the dose. Their conditional and tempe- 
 rate liberalism did not survive the spectacle 
 of the commune, and when three years later 
 it became evident that an Orleanist restora- 
 tion was impossible, they were forced to choose 
 between two evils, the Empire and the Repub- 
 lic. They made that selection which appeared 
 to them to be the safer, if not the more 
 honourable, and one by one they were seen to 
 enter the Assembly, and take their places in 
 the ranks of the party that hid itself under 
 the name of " The Party of Appeal to the 
 People." 
 
 Between the obstinate Orleanists and the 
 Orleanists turned Bonapartists, there existed in 
 the Eight Centre a group consisting of one 
 hundred clear-headed men, who were equally 
 incapable of abandoning the principles upon which 
 all society rests, and of renouncing liberty. They 
 would have preferred Constitutional Monarchy to 
 any other form of government ; if they had found 
 it established, or if they could have restored it by a 
 vote without violent measures. But they perceived 
 at once that neither the Legitimists nor the Bona- 
 partists would accede to the constitutional form ; 
 it would not have a majority either in Parlia-
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 69 
 
 ment nor among tlie people, while it was in itself, 
 and from the temperament of its advocates, 
 happily unable to resort to force. They were well 
 aware that the reappearance of the Legitimist 
 party upon the political stage was a brief incident 
 which would have no result ; and the only possible 
 monarchy was that which they would not accept 
 at any price, that which openly and unscrupulously 
 appealed to material interests and to force. 
 The Republic inspired them with distrust, which, 
 in some cases, at that time, certainly reached 
 the height of aversion. But, being persuaded 
 that they would have to choose between the 
 Republic and the Empire, and that the Empire 
 would never reconcile itself with the principles of 
 right, with justice, or with liberty, they did not 
 despair of being able to construct a hberal and 
 conservative Republic. In a word, they rejected 
 Legitimacy as chimerical, and dictatorship, whether 
 Republican or Csesarian, as odious ; they preferred 
 a liberal Monarchy to a moderate Republic, but 
 they did not hold that it would be right to bring 
 about a revolution simply that they might make 
 the presidency of the Republic hereditary. 
 
 Not only was M. Thiers the head of this party, 
 he was the party itself, for it was by following 
 him, by comprehending his ideas, that the others 
 came to the conclusion that the existing Govern-
 
 70 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 ment must be provisionally maintained. Mean- 
 time, the lists were to be kept open, so that the 
 power of making a free choice between the two 
 forms of constitutional Government should be 
 reserved to the country, which was to withhold its 
 judgment until after the reconstruction of the 
 nation ; that is to say, until France should once 
 more possess an army, an administration, and 
 finances. 
 
 The sitting of Monday, the 13th February, was 
 in reality the first sitting of the Assembly. It 
 commenced at two o'clock, in the theatre, 
 M. Benoist d'Azy presiding. The Deputies had to 
 struggle to their places through an enormous crowd, 
 who wanted to see the most important and popular 
 among them. Garibaldi, who wore his uniform, 
 and Victor Hugo, were the most closely sur- 
 rounded and the most loudly applauded. The 
 whole crowd was ardently Eepublican, and the 
 Deputies of the Eight complained of the be- 
 wildering shouts of Vive la Bêjmbliqne, which 
 followed them as they entered or issued from the 
 theatre. 
 
 M. Jules Favre spoke first ; the purport of his 
 address was to place the powers of the Govern- 
 ment of National Defence in the hands of the 
 representatives of the country. 
 
 " Ever since the members of the Government of
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT CORDEAUX. 71 
 
 National Defence have been cliarged with the task 
 which they accepted," said M. Jules Favre, "they 
 have had no greater solicitude or desire than 
 for the arrival of the day when they should find 
 themselves in tlie presence of the representatives 
 of the people. {Hear ! hear !) 
 
 *' They are in that presence now, and under 
 most cruel and grievous circumstances; but, 
 thanks to your patriotism, gentlemen, thanks to 
 that unity among you, to which I feel convinced 
 that we shall not appeal in vain {Bravo /), and 
 which, if need were, would be imposed upon us 
 by our misfortunes, by good sense, and by 
 solicitude for the interests of our dear country 
 (Cheers), we shall yet heal her wounds and recon- 
 struct her destiny. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 " To you, gentlemen, belongs this task. We 
 are no longer of any account, except that we are 
 responsible to you for all our acts, and ready to 
 answer for them; knowing that they will be 
 investigated with loyalty ; that loyalty which will 
 inspire every deliberation of yours, as you know 
 that it will be our guide in the explanations to 
 be laid before you." {Unanimous appla.use.) 
 
 M. Jules Favre added a few words respect- 
 ing the negotiation which he had opened, and 
 which obliged him to return on that same day to 
 Paris. " My first duty," he said, " will be to
 
 72 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 carry back to those with whom we are treat- 
 ing, the assurance that France is ready, hap- 
 pen what may, to do her duty bravely. {Loud 
 applause.) 
 
 " The Assembly will decide with the perfect 
 liberty that is the right of the representatives 
 of the country, careful for nothing save the salva- 
 tion of France, and her honour." (Renewed 
 applause.) 
 
 The President then read aloud the collective 
 and several letters of resignation of the members 
 of the Government ; and afterwards made known 
 to the Assembly the following document, — 
 
 " Citizen President of the National Assembly, 
 
 "As a last duty rendered to the cause of 
 the French Hepublic, I have come hither to 
 tender it my vote, which I place in your 
 hands. 
 
 " I renounce the mandate, by which 1 have been 
 honoured by various departments. 
 
 " I salute you, 
 
 "G. Garibaldi." 
 
 The drawing for the bureaus then took place, 
 and the Assembly adjourned in order that the 
 examination of powers might be proceeded with 
 immediately. 
 
 The public were already leaving the galleries,
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 73 
 
 and the Deputies were quitting the Chamber, when 
 General Garibaldi rose, and asked permission to 
 speak. 
 
 He was met with cries from all sides of "It is 
 too late! The sitting is adjourned." A member 
 added, " A deputy who has resigned has no longer 
 any right to speak in an Assembly." 
 
 General Garibaldi ought indeed to have spoken 
 during the sitting, and before he sent in his re- 
 signation; but the members of the Right were 
 glad of an opportunity of opposing him in this 
 sense, and of refusing him a hearing. Some days 
 later, very severe things were said of him on 
 that side of the Chamber. The members of the 
 Left, on the contrary, came hurrying in again 
 when the rumour spread that Garibaldi wished to 
 speak. The Republicans were not only animated 
 by sentiments of respect and admiration for 
 the General, but they thought the sitting might 
 have been resumed for a few minutes, in con- 
 sideration of the courtesy due to a foreigner, 
 and the gratitude due to a military leader who 
 had fought for us. Unfortunately they were 
 in the minority. M. Benoist d'Azy resumed his 
 presidential chair, but without removing his hat, 
 and said, — 
 
 " I have declared the sitting suspended, and I 
 can only request my colleagues to retire to their
 
 74 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 bureaus. I order the galleries to be immediately 
 cleared." 
 
 The members dispersed amid considerable com- 
 motion. The representatives, who repaired to 
 their bureaus, could hear the acclamations long 
 and loud with which Garibaldi was greeted by the 
 vast multitude outside. He set out for Italy on 
 the same evening. 
 
 The Assembly got on rapidly with the examina- 
 tion of powers. On the IGth February the 
 final nominations took place. The president 
 was appointed unanimously, and that president 
 was a Republican. M. Grévy was, however, so 
 plainly indicated by the circumstances, that his 
 election did not furnish a true criterion of the 
 respective strength of parties. Neither the Legi- 
 timists nor the Right Centre could possibly have 
 flattered themselves that a candidate of theirs 
 would be elected ; the support of the Republican 
 party was indispensable to the success of any one 
 who might be proposed. On the 4th September, 
 M. Grévy had not approved of the Govern- 
 ment which was proclaimed at the Hôtel de 
 Ville, and he had refused to accept office under 
 it as Minister of Justice. He had even under- 
 taken to convey the proposals of the Corps Légis- 
 latif to the Government on the same evening. 
 He was respected by the Republicans for his
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BOEDEAUX. 75 
 
 talents, his character, and the sincerity of 
 his convictions, and he had won favour with 
 the Monarchists by steadily holding himself 
 aloof from the revolution from the beginning. 
 M. Thiers, who was all-powerful in the As- 
 sembly, and especially over the Right Centre, 
 was the first to pronounce the name of M. Grevy, 
 and not a single objection was raised. The 
 state of parties was revealed in the subsequent 
 nominations. 
 
 Four vice-presidents were required. The per- 
 sons appointed were M. Martel, M. Yitet, M. Léon 
 de Maleville, all belonging to the Right Centre, 
 and M. Benoist d'Azy, a Legitimist. M. Léon de 
 Maleville, the last elected, had 288 votes. The 
 next candidate, M. de Vogué, a Legitimist, had 
 214 votes. The Right Centre had two questors, 
 who passed with 458 and 430 votes ; the Legiti- 
 mists succeeded with great difficulty in getting 
 M. Princeteau passed. He had only 212 votes 
 at the first ballot ; but the Republican candidate 
 had only 147, and this number fell to 55 at the 
 final ballot. 
 
 The six secretaries were Messieurs Bethmont, 
 Paul de Rémusat, de Barante, Johnston, de 
 Castellane, and de Meaux. Of these, only M. Beth- 
 mont was a Republican; so that there were but 
 two Republicans in a bureau composed of four-
 
 76 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 teen members. The strength, of the Republican 
 party is exactly represented by the number of 
 votes given to M. Magnin for the post of questor, 
 and to M. Charles Rolland for that of secre- 
 tary. M. Magnin had 147 votes, M. Rolland, 
 145. The Republicans voted without any allies. 
 The most liberal and intelligent members of the 
 Right Centre, those who, a few months later, were 
 to rally round the Republic, and form the Left 
 Centre of the Assembly, were still hesitating. 
 They voted for the Monarchist candidates, who 
 entered the bureau with majorities of 300 and 400 
 votes. 
 
 The most urgent duty of the Assembly was to 
 form a Provisional Government; first, because 
 France must have a Government, and secondl}^, be- 
 cause a Negotiator, who could speak with authority, 
 was indispensable. Afterwards the Assembly 
 would have to discuss the peace proposals, 
 and to fix the permanent locality of Parlia- 
 ment. Such was the order of the urgent 
 business of the Assembly and of France at that 
 moment. 
 
 The Assembly had no choice about placing 
 the Government in the hands of M. Thiers ; 
 it had only to follow the lead of the country. 
 Not only had he been elected in twenty-six 
 different places, but he had obtained important
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 11 
 
 minorities in others, and tlie total number of 
 votes given for him exceeded two millions. 
 When he was returned for Paris in 18()3, his 
 election was regarded throughout Europe as 
 an important event. He was obliged to allow 
 himself to be chaired, and some one called 
 out to him, " It will be a dialogue between 
 the Emperor and you." In July, 1870, the 
 Government, acting the braggart's part, but in 
 reahty beginning to tremble, entreated him to 
 join the Council of Defence. He replied that he 
 would only consent on the invitation of the whole 
 Chamber ; and the Chamber, like the Government, 
 knew that in that hour of great danger he was 
 indispensable. On the 4tli September he was 
 entreated to preside at the final sitting. The 
 Provisional Government had recourse to him in 
 its turn, and requested him to become the advocate 
 of France with kings and peoples. He had never 
 sought for popularity; he had braved it. All alike, 
 friends and enemies, knew that he was our only 
 statesman, and that in his name was our protec- 
 tion and moral force. 
 
 During the sitting of the 16th February it was 
 proposed that he should be placed at the head of 
 the Government. The proposition was signed by 
 Messieurs Dufaure, Jules Grev}^, Vitet, Léon de 
 Maleville, Rivet, Mathieu de la Eedorte, and
 
 78 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 Barthélémy Saint -Hilare, and was voted on tlie 
 17th, upon the report of M. Victor Lefranc. 
 
 "The commission," says the Report, " does not 
 require to lay before you the motives for the 
 selection of the man to whom it requests you 
 to delegate the Executive Power of the French 
 Republic. 
 
 " The inspiration which led him, thirty years 
 ago, to fortify Paris, that city which famine only 
 has been able to reduce (Sensation); the foresight 
 which made him oppose the war a few months 
 ago, while it was yet possible to avert it, the 
 noble self-devotion which led him to visit all the 
 nations of Europe that, in their hearing, he might 
 defend the rights of civilization together with the 
 interests of France; and, finally, the homage 
 of so many departments; all these things 
 point him out to our choice. [Cheers arid 
 applause.) 
 
 " Let us strengthen him by our unanimity : 
 it is the only means whereby we can add 
 to the strength of his patriotism. [Reneived 
 applause.) 
 
 " He will find worthy auxiliaries among those 
 who have borne the burthen and the pain of the 
 conflict, both in Paris and in the provinces. 
 (Approhation.) 
 
 " Let all France bo of one mind with this
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 79 
 
 Assembly; so shall slic fulfil the duties im- 
 posed upon her by her past, her present, and 
 her future." (Loud and ])rolonged api^laiise.) 
 
 The proposition was in the following terms : — 
 
 " The National Assembly, entrusted with 
 Sovereign. Authority, 
 
 " Considering it important, before the in- 
 stitutions of France are settled, that the neces- 
 sities of the Government and the conduct of 
 the negotiations should be immediately provided 
 for; 
 
 " Decrees : — 
 
 *' M. Thiers is appointed Chief of the Execu- 
 tive of the French Republic. He will exercise 
 his functions under the authority of the Na- 
 tional Assembly, with the assistance of Ministers 
 whom he shall select, and over whom he will 
 preside." 
 
 There was no public ballot. The Journal 
 Officiel reports the vote as follows : — 
 
 " The proposition was put to the vote, and 
 adopted almost unanimously." 
 
 The second paragraph had been added by the 
 Commission to the primary proposition. Its 
 object was to place on record that the Chamber 
 did not accept the Republican form otherwise 
 than provisionally, and pending legislation. M. 
 Louis Blanc called attention to this from the
 
 80 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 tribune ; adding to his own protest that of those 
 members of the Republican party who regarded 
 the Eepublican form as above all discussion and 
 contest. He declared that France regarded the 
 provision for a future revolution, made by the 
 Monarchists, in the very act which constituted 
 the Government, with uneasiness. No truth was 
 ever more evident. 
 
 The majority in the Assembly was commencing 
 its struggle with the majority in the country. 
 
 M. Thiers had set about formino- his Cabinet 
 prior to his being charged with the executive 
 power, indeed ever since the result of the 
 elections had made it evident that he must 
 speedily find himself at the head of the Govern- 
 ment. He resolved to take his ministers from 
 the two great sections of the Assembly, the 
 Left, and the Eight Centre. M. Dufaure was 
 naturally indicated as the Minister of Justice. 
 The portfolio of Commerce was confided to M. 
 Lambrecht, who had been a member of the 
 Legislative Body from 18 ^3 to 1860, had con- 
 stantly voted with M. Thiers, and was remarkable 
 for the extent of his information, the directness 
 and precision of his intelligence, and also for 
 elegance and clearness as a speaker. M. Thiers, 
 between whom and M. Lambrecht an old and 
 sincere friendship existed, used to say familiarly
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 81 
 
 of him that he was " wisest of the wise." M. 
 de Larcy, a Liberal Legitimist, a member of the 
 Chamber of Deputies under Louis Philippe, and a 
 determined enemy of the empire, became Minister 
 of Public AYorks. This non-political office was 
 the only share in the composition of the Cabinet 
 which fell to the Legitimist party. M. de Larcy, 
 a lawyer, and formerly a magistrate under the 
 Eestoration, had been for a long time in the 
 habit of taking part in political assemblies, and 
 was not adapted to the office which he was 
 appointed to fill. M. Lambrecht, an engineer in 
 official employ,^ would have been more suitably 
 placed as Minister of Public Works ; but M. 
 Thiers was bent upon having a Minister of Com- 
 merce who shared his own opinions in the matter 
 of Customs. The President retained General Le 
 Flo at the Ministry of War, and gave the naval 
 portfolio to Admiral Pothuan. General Le Flo 
 voted afterwards with the Right, and Admiral 
 Pothuan joined the Left Centre of the Assembly, 
 but, at the time, their respective nominations 
 to the Cabinet were not regarded as political 
 either by M. Thiers, or by the Chamber. M. 
 Thiers was careful to explain his selection of 
 Admiral Pothuan in his speech of the 10th March, 
 1871. "The Naval Mmister," he said, "might 
 ' In the service known as Ponts et Chaussées. 
 VOL. I. G
 
 82 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 remain at Bordeaux ; nevertheless we wanted liira 
 in Paris because he is popular, and even renowned 
 there, not only for good sense, but also for calm 
 courage. We are glad to avail ourselves of tlie 
 popularity he has won." 
 
 M. Thiers reserved only three out of nine 
 portfolios for Republicans, but he rightly con- 
 sidered that in appointing them to the Ministries 
 of Home and Foreign Affairs respectively he had 
 placed them in the most important posts. M. Jules 
 Favre had been Minister of Foreign Affairs under 
 the Government of National Defence, and in Sep- 
 tember had made the journey to Ferrieres, 
 whose result was decisive division between the Im- 
 perial and the Republican policy, release of the 
 Government from responsibility, and the demon- 
 stration of their true situation to France and 
 Prussia respectively. M. Jules Favre had also 
 negotiated and concluded the convention of the 
 28th January; it was natural that he should 
 become the associate and fellow-labourer, or 
 rather, as he afterwards said, the fellow-martyr 
 of M. Thiers in the negotiations about to be 
 opened. M. Jules Favre made his accept- 
 ance of office conditional upon the appointment 
 of M. Ernest Picard, his intimate friend, to the 
 Ministry of the Interior. During the early years 
 of the Empire, when there were only five dis-
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 83 
 
 sentients in the Legislative Body, M. Jales Favre 
 was the leader of that small but glorious band, 
 and Messieurs Ollivier and Picard were his com- 
 panions in arms. In later times M. Ollivier 
 became a Minister, while M. Ernest Picard re- 
 mained by the side of M. Jules Favre in the Re- 
 publican Opposition. They entered the Govern- 
 ment of National Defence together, and assumed 
 its direction. M. Thiers, who appreciated the 
 worth of M. Picard, accepted his services with 
 eagerness. He begged M. Jules Simon to retain 
 his office as Minister of Public Instruction. 
 On the 1 9th February, M. Thiers announced to 
 the National Assembly that he had formed his 
 Cabinet of the gentlemen above mentioned. 
 
 The name of the Minister of Finance was 
 missing from the list. *' The choice is already 
 made by the Council," said M. Thiers, " but the 
 honourable member to whom the department of 
 Finance will be entrusted has not yet reached 
 Bordeaux, so that I do not consider myself at 
 liberty to give publicity to his name." 
 
 For a short time M. Thiers had thought of M. 
 Buffet for the Ministry of Finance. On returning 
 to Paris he resolved to call upon M. Pouyer- 
 Quertier, one of our chief manufacturers, and a 
 powerful and original speaker on financial affairs 
 in the Legislative Body, to fill the important post. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 " He is a financier of the first class," wrote M. 
 Thiers to M.Jules Simon, "fertile in resource, 
 and bold to the last degree." The economic views 
 of M. Pouyer-Quertier, which were shared by 
 M. Lambrecht, but which M. Jules Simon 
 strenuously opposed in the latter years of the 
 Empire, also recommended him to M. Thiers. 
 The economic question above all others was 
 pressing upon the mind of the chief of the 
 Executive, and with good reason. Subjects of 
 disagreement were already but too numerous, in 
 the Council as well as in the Assembly, and indeed 
 throughout all France, this one must inevitably 
 lead to fresh complications, and that speedily, 
 since new taxes must inevitably, and soon, 
 be levied. M. Thiers relied upon the moderation 
 and the patriotism of his colleagues although 
 he did not hope to convert them all to his 
 economic views. He wrote to M. Jules Simon 
 as follows : — 
 
 " I said to M. Pouyer-Quertier that he must 
 confine himself to a moderate raising of the 
 tariifs, a measure which is indispensable to our 
 finances, for the customs only will be able to give 
 us one hundred millions of francs, the chief 
 resource of the future budget. I also told him that 
 his nomination was subject to your acquiescence. 
 As the Ministry must positively be completed,
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 85 
 
 especially in the department of Finance, which 
 must find money by the beginning of March, I 
 beg you will immediately summon the Council and 
 reply to me by telegraph. Do not lose a moment." 
 The consent for which M. Thiers asked was 
 telegraphed at once, but M. Jules Simon wrote 
 to him on the same day : — 
 
 " M. de Lat'cy takes exception on the point of 
 free trade ; M. Dufaure also, but more formally. 
 He has expressly charged me to write to you 
 to that effect ; and to add that he fears this 
 nomination will produce a bad effect in England, 
 where it may be interpreted as an abandonment 
 of the principle of free trade. I need not tell you 
 that I also take similar exception, and I have 
 every reason to believe that Jules Favre thinks 
 with me. 
 
 " I regret deeply that I am obliged to speak 
 just now of anything except the mission which 
 you are accomplishing so admirably, but the 
 first condition of an honest ministry like ours is 
 that the situation shall be perfectly clear on all 
 points. It must be understood then that I abide 
 by all the deplorable doctrines which, as you know, 
 I hold, free trade, obhgatory education, &c. 
 That point being settled, rest assured that I will 
 help you with all my might to conclude the peace, 
 and to tranquillize the country."
 
 86 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 On the 1 9tli February, in announcing tlie for- 
 mation of the Ministry (M. Pouyer-Quertier had 
 not yet joined it), M. Thiers made the memorable 
 speech in which he set forth what has since been 
 called " the pact of Bordeaux." This was the 
 programme of the Cabinet, and it was scrupulously 
 adhered to b}'' the Ministers and their illustrious 
 chief, but the majority of the Chamber, although 
 it was apparently adopted by them on that day, 
 afterwards refused to regard it otherwise than 
 as a precaution against a Republican Government. 
 When M. Thiers wished only to adjourn, they 
 wanted to condemn. 
 
 ** You have left to me," he said, " the selection 
 of my colleagues. I have chosen them from no 
 motive of preference beyond the public esteem 
 universally accorded to the character and the 
 capacity of each of them; I have taken them 
 not from one only of the parties into which we 
 are divided, but from all ; just as the country 
 did when it gave you its votes, allowing persons 
 of the most widely-different opinions to figure upon 
 the self-same lists, because they are all united by 
 patriotism, intelligence, and community of good 
 intentions. {Hear ! hear !) 
 
 " France, flung into a great war without a grave 
 motive. and in sufficiently prepared, has seen one balf 
 of her soil invaded, her army destroyed, her fine
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 87 
 
 organization broken up, her ancient and powerful 
 unity impaired, her finances crippled, multitudes 
 of her sons torn from their bread-winning toil to 
 die on the field of battle, order rudely disturbed by 
 the sudden uprising of anarchy, and the war, sus- 
 pended for a few days only, after the enforced 
 surrender of Paris, ready to break out again unless 
 a Government, held in esteem by Europe, accept- 
 ing power with courage, taking the responsibility 
 of most painful negotiations upon itself, shall 
 put an end to these frightful calamities. 
 
 " In the presence of such a state of things, is 
 there, can there exist a division of policy ? On the 
 contrary, is there not one policy only, enforced, 
 necessary, urgent ; — the securing of the promptest 
 possible cessation of the evils by which we are 
 overwhelmed ? 
 
 *•' Is there any one who would venture to deny 
 that the first thing to be done and as soon as 
 possible, is to bring the foreign occupation of 
 the territory to an end by means of a peace, 
 to be earnestly debated, and rejected if it be not 
 honourable? {Hear ! hear ! Applause from several 
 benches.) 
 
 " Will any one venture to tell us that a more 
 pressing duty exists for us than to free our lands 
 from the enemy who treads them under foot, and 
 devours then* produce ; to recall our soldiers, our
 
 88 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 officers, our generals, from their foreign prisons 
 with them to reconstitute a disciplined and brave 
 army ; to re-establish order ; to fill the places of 
 "unworthy officials, or of such as have resigned ; 
 to reform our dissolved General and Municipal 
 Councils by election; {Hear! hear!) to reconstruct 
 our disorganized administration, check ruinous 
 expenditure, re-establish — if not our finance, — that 
 we could not expect to do in a day — at least our 
 credit, which is our only means of facing our 
 pressing engagements ; to send back our mobiles 
 to their fields and their workshops ; to reopen the 
 intercepted highways, to rebuild the demolished 
 bridges ; to revive labour which is everywhere sus- 
 pended, labour which alone can secure the means 
 of existence to our workmen and our peasants ? 
 {Hear! hear!) Is it possible that any here 
 present would enter upon a lengthy discussion of 
 articles of constitution, while our prisoners are 
 languishing in distant lands, and om' starving 
 populations are forced to relinquish their last 
 morsel of bread to foreign soldiers ? {Prolonged 
 sensation.) 
 
 " No, no, gentlemen ; the only policy possible 
 or even conceivable at this moment is that of re- 
 organization, of the revival of labour, of the resto- 
 ration of credit. In these tasks every sensible, 
 honest, and intelligent man, let him think as he
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT EOKDEAUX. 89 
 
 may about the Monarchy or the Republic, may 
 worthily and usefully assist ; and if he has laboured 
 for those ends for only one year, or for six 
 months, then he may retire unto the bosom of his 
 country, with head erect and conscience at ease. 
 {Rear! hear!) 
 
 " When we shall have rendered those pressing 
 services which I liave just enumerated to our 
 country, when we shall have raised up bleeding 
 France, now lying low, when we shall have 
 healed her wounds and renovated her strength, 
 then we shall restore her to her own guidance, 
 and she, having recovered her liberty of spirit, 
 standing firm once more, shall rule her life as she 
 pleases." {Loud apj^Ianse.) 
 
 M. Thiers concluded his speech with an eloquent 
 appeal for concord. The building resounded, for 
 several minutes with the applause with which 
 every member of all the parties greeted his brave 
 and noble words. He repeated the same declara- 
 tions, with equal precision and with similar 
 success, at the last meeting of the Assembly at 
 Bordeaux, on the 10th March. The question was 
 the place in which the Assembly should sit. The 
 Extreme Left wanted Paris, the Right demanded 
 Fontainebleau, the Government designated Ver- 
 sailles. After he had discussed the question in a 
 lofty tone, and with irresistible effect, M. Thiers
 
 90 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 went on to speak of the part wliich the Assembly 
 liad now to act. " You are sovereign," said he to 
 his colleagues. " Never was there an Assembly 
 elected more freely, or with more extensive powers 
 conferred upon it. You have the power, if you 
 choose to use it, of making a Constitution ; but you 
 will be wise enough to forego the exercise of your 
 power." These words met with some opposition 
 from the benches on the Right, and he then dwelt 
 upon the divisions in the Assembly, and their 
 inevitable consequences, should such a moment be 
 chosen for framing a Constitution. "France," 
 said he, " needs all our efforts, she requires 
 union among us, for her new birth. Let us 
 adjourn our divisions, and working heartily 
 at our most pressing business, under the 
 Government de facto, leave the future an open 
 question." 
 
 Dealing with the characteristics of the parties 
 in the Assembly, M. Thiers dwelt on two only, 
 as befitted a practical man, fully aware of the 
 powerlessness of the Legitimists, and the worth- 
 lessness of the Bonapartists. " You are divided,'* 
 he said, "into two great parties: — one, and 
 this is perfectly legitimate, perfectly respect- 
 able, — believes that France can find definitive 
 repose only under a constitutional monarchy ; the 
 other, as sincerely, believes that in the institu-
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 91 
 
 tions which you have conferred upon yourselves, 
 in that great institution, Universal Suffrage, in 
 the general direction of the movement of men's 
 minds, in the disturbance which exists at the 
 centres of Government all the world over, there 
 is something which draws existing generations 
 towards the Republic." 
 
 M. Thiers spoke of the opposed parties with 
 equal respect, which was not only very politic 
 on his part, but also quite sincere. " Let calumny 
 cease among us," he said, "let us learn to do 
 justice, and to respect each other's opinions." 
 He made a brief allusion to the internal dissen- 
 sions among the different parties. " There are 
 Republicans who believe that the Republic, 
 even when it is not in their hands, is still 
 the Republic. There arc others who admit 
 the Republic only when it is in their hands." 
 Recalling the errors into which the first Republic 
 fell in the final years of its existence, and 
 the long-continued exposure of them, while the 
 excesses of the White Terror were scrupulously 
 kept in the shade, knowing besides that a 
 party cannot improvise capable administrators 
 off-hand, and that to know how to use power 
 it must be for some time in power ; and also, 
 perhaps, yielding in some measure to the in- 
 fluence of his old monarchical prejudices, M.
 
 92 THE GOVERîs^MENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 Thiers uttered tlie plirase " a Republic without 
 Republicans," wliich might indeed define a system, 
 but which, as he used it, was nothing more 
 than an exhortation to wisdom and moderation. 
 Those words were afterwards turned into a 
 weapon in the hands of those enemies of the 
 Republic who for a while governed it. "I 
 do not want," he added, " to flatter any one — 
 at my age I am not likely to begin to do what 
 I have never done under any system, I have 
 flattered neither king, nor people, nor party; — I 
 profoundly honour those who have the good sense 
 to recognize that the institution itself not being 
 reassuring, it is necessary that the men should 
 be so. 
 
 " What, then, is our duty ? " said M. Thiers in 
 conclusion. " What is the duty which I, whom 
 you have overwhelmed with your confidence, am 
 bound to fulfil ? It is loyal dealing towards all 
 the parties which divide France and which divide 
 the Assembly. It is due to them all that we 
 deceive none of them ; that we do not so act 
 as to prepare without your knowledge an ex- 
 clusive solution, which would cause dismay to 
 the other parties. {Hear! hear !) 
 
 " No, I swear in presence of the country, and 
 if I might consider myself so important that 
 I may allude to history, I would say that I
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 93 
 
 swear in presence of history, that I will not deceive 
 any of you, that I will not prepare through the 
 medium of constitutional questions any solution 
 unknown to you, and which would be a sort of 
 treason on my, on our, part. (Loud applause) 
 
 *' Monarchists, E;epui)licans, no ! Neither one 
 party nor the other shall be deceived. We have 
 accepted only a single mission, but it is almost 
 overwhelming. We will occupy ourselves solely 
 with the reorganization of the country. We 
 shall always ask for your support in that re- 
 organization, because we know that if we step 
 beyond this limited task we divide you, and our- 
 selves. 
 
 " We will labour at this dijBScult work only. 
 But I must be permitted to say to men who have 
 given their whole lives to the Republic, be just 
 to those members of this Assembly who do not 
 think as you do. 
 
 " You have called me Chief of the Executive of 
 the French Republic. In every act of the Govern- 
 ment, the word Republic is repeatedly used. If 
 we succeed in effecting reorganization it will be 
 done under the Republican form and to its profit. 
 (Hear ! hear ! from several benches !) You must 
 not come and say to us, *Do not sacrifice the 
 Republic ! ' for I should reply, * Do not ruin it 
 yourselves I '
 
 94 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 " The Eepublic is in your hands, it will be the 
 reward of your own prudence and of nothing else. 
 Every time that you lose your temper, every time 
 that you raise inopportune questions, every time 
 that you appear to be, let me say the confidants 
 or the involuntary accomplices — certainly invo- 
 luntary — of the party of disorder ; say to your- 
 self that by accepting this apparent complicity 
 you deal the Republic the deadliest of blows. 
 (Sensation.) 
 
 "When the country has been reorganized, we 
 shall come here, if happily we ourselves have been 
 able to reorganize it, if our strength have sufficed, 
 if we have not lost your confidence by the way ; 
 then, in that case, we shall come as soon as we 
 can, very happy, very proud of having contributed 
 to that noble deed, and we shall say to you, 
 ' You confided the country to us, bleeding, 
 covered with wounds, scarce alive ; we restore it 
 to you somewhat revived, now is the moment to 
 give it the form which it is definitely to wear.' 
 And I give you the word of an honest man, 
 on not one of the reserved questions shall any 
 resolution have been taken; no solution shall 
 have been effected by a breach of faith on our 
 part." 
 
 The speech of M. Thiers was followed by long- 
 continued and enthusiastic acclamations, and the
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BOEDEAUX. 95 
 
 orator was surrounded, almost mobbed, by mem- 
 bers of the Assembly wlio expressed their admira- 
 tion of it, some of them with tears. It was not 
 the orator whom they admired, whom they 
 thanked, though he had never been greater; it 
 was the statesman, the patriot, and — no one 
 would then have thought the word too strong — 
 the saviour. 
 
 This speech was delivered on the 10th March, 
 and in it M. Thiers had almost announced the 
 insurrection which actually did take place on the 
 18th. More than one among his hearers might 
 afterwards have recalled those memorable words : 
 " Every time that you appear to be the con- 
 fidants or the accomplices of the party of disorder, 
 you deal the E-epublic the deadliest of blows." 
 How often, afterwards, the whole Assembly, the 
 Left as well as the Eight, ought to have bethought 
 themselves of those other words, spoken with 
 such solemn sadness : " There is too much 
 calumny among us ! Let us respect each other's 
 opinions." France had so much need of peace ! 
 There was such a great work to be done in 
 common ! 
 
 It was not, however, easy to bring about in- 
 ternal peace in the country. Civil war was on 
 the point of breaking out in Paris. Strife, less 
 fierce indeed, but which, for the misfortune of
 
 96 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 France, was destined to last for years, already 
 existed in the National Assembly. Twice only 
 during tlie sittings at Bordeaux did tlie various 
 parties seem to be fused together in a common 
 purpose; first on the nomination of M. Thiers 
 as Chief of the Executive, and secondly, on 
 the proclamation of the abolition of the Em- 
 pire. The latter solemn decision was brought 
 about by an incident of the sitting on the 1st 
 March. 
 
 M. Bamberger, the deputy from Metz, had 
 ascended the tribune, to protest against the treaty 
 of peace, "or rather," said he, "the treaty of 
 shame." " One man only ought to have signed 
 it," continued M. Bamberger, " Napoleon the 
 Third." Then M. Gallioni was heard to exclaim, 
 " Napoleon the Third would never have signed a 
 shameful treaty !" In a moment there arose the 
 wildest confusion. All the members of the 
 Assembly stood up, and all spoke, or rather 
 shouted simultaneously. The public in the 
 galleries, as indignant as the deputies, shouted 
 with them. M. Conti made his way towards the 
 tribune amid cries of " Let him speak ! Let him 
 explain himself! Let him justify the Emperor ! 
 Let him dare to defend him who has betrayed and 
 ruined France ! " 
 
 " I stand here," said M. Conti, " to defend, with
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 97 
 
 earnest conviction a glorious past, a revered 
 sovereign, whom France has applauded by four 
 plebiscites, to whom those who now revile me 
 have, like me, sworn allegiance, to whom our 
 country owes fifteen years of repose and prosperity. 
 If my protest be stifled here, I hope, I am sure, 
 that it will resound throughout the whole of 
 France." 
 
 " A glorious past ! " cried M. Yitet, " say a 
 shameful past. Plebiscites imposed by craft and 
 violence ! Did not your Emperor take the oath to 
 the Republic ? You call years of oppression and 
 tyranny years of peace. Peace ! You have gone 
 to war against the will of France four times over ! 
 When M. Thiers demanded the preservation of 
 peace, you drove him from the tribune ! You 
 brought about the war by lies, and went into it like 
 madmen, without allies, without resources, without 
 generals ! You are responsible for the blood 
 of our soldiers, sacrificed by your criminal 
 folly ! responsible for our humiliation, our ruin, 
 and the dismemberment of France ! " M. Galloni, 
 M. Gavini, and M. Haentjens supported M. Conti, 
 but they only were with him. M. Bamberger 
 pushed his way to the tribune, and took his place 
 beside M. Conti. M. Victor Hugo joined the two, 
 and also endeavoured to speak. The President 
 could not get a hearing. A member called out 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 98 THE GOVEUNMENT OF M. THIEIiS. 
 
 loudly : " The deposition of the Empire must be 
 proclaimed ! " Then arose the cry, " Deposition ! 
 Deposition ! " {La déchéance ! La déchéance !) 
 from every part of the Assembly : it rolled like 
 thunder through the galleries, the corridors, and 
 the staircases, until it reached and was echoed by 
 the dense crowd which thronged the Place de 
 Tourny and the adjacent streets, and by the 
 troops under arms in the vicinity of the Theatre. 
 The President suspended the sitting, which was 
 resumed half an hour later, and then M. Grévy 
 read the text of an order of the day which had 
 been laid upon his desk : — 
 
 " The National Assembly closes the incident, 
 and under the grievous circumstances in which the 
 country is placed, in presence of unexpected pro- 
 tests and exceptions, confirms the deposition of 
 Napoleon the Third and of his dynasty, which 
 has been already proclaimed by universal suffrage, 
 and declares him responsible for the ruin, the 
 invasion, and the humiliation of France." 
 
 The reading of this order of the day was followed 
 by prolonged acclamations. All the members of 
 the Assembly rose to their feet, applauding, and 
 shouting " bravo ! " A great number of Repiib- 
 licans were among the signatories, but every 
 one wanted to sign, all parties were represented. 
 The names of Messieurs Lambert de Sainte- Croix,
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 99 
 
 de Brette-Thurin, Wallon, Victor de Laprade, 
 Baragnon, and de Marinier, were side by side with 
 those of Messieurs Target, Paul Bethmont, and 
 Charles Rolland. Three times the cheering was 
 renewed. M. Conti again demanded permission 
 to speak, in the midst of general indignation. 
 " Give him leave," said M. Thiers ; " Monsieur le 
 Président, give him leave to speak ! Sustain his 
 demand ! " The President, finding it impossible 
 to procure silence, M. Thiers made up his mind, 
 ascended the tribune, and said, — 
 
 " Gentlemen, I have proposed a policy of con- 
 ciliation and of peace, and I hoped that everybody 
 would understand our reserve and silence with 
 respect to the past. When, however, that past 
 uplifts itself again before the country, when it 
 seems to mock our misfortunes, which it has caused, 
 not by its faults only, but also by its crimes, we are 
 bound to answer on the instant, and make known 
 the truth. Do you know, gentlemen, what those 
 princes whom you represent are saying in Europe ? 
 They are saying that it is not they who are guilty 
 of the war, they are saying that we are guilty, that 
 France is guilty of it ! Well then, I give them the 
 lie in the face of Europe. No, France did not want 
 war ; it was you, you who now protest, who would 
 have it ! You have disowned the truth, but it has 
 risen to confront you to-day, and it seems like a 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 judgment from heaven that here, in this place, you 
 should be obliged to undergo the sentence of the 
 nation which will be that of posterity." 
 
 After these terrible words, the order of the day 
 was put to the vote. " The Assembly confirms the 
 deposition of Napoleon the Third and his dynasty, 
 already pronounced by universal suffrage, and 
 declares him responsible for the ruin, the invasion, 
 and the dismemberment of France." A few 
 members stood up at the counter-proof. " I 
 afQrm," said M. Cochery, " that five members only 
 have stood up at the counter-proof." " There 
 are six," said M. Wilson in his turn, " not one 
 more ! I require that the fact be stated in tho 
 Moniteur." 
 
 After such a sitting as this, and considering the 
 effect which it produced on the country, it might 
 have been beheved that Bonapartism was finally 
 and irrevocably vanquished. The Republicans 
 had not exhibited greater indignation than the 
 Constitutionalists and the Legitimists. M. Vitet, 
 usually so circumspect, and M. de Franclieu, had 
 remained during the entire scene at the foot of the 
 tribune, in the midst of the excited throng, and 
 were with difficulty restrained by their friends. 
 Nevertheless, this party, condemned, stigmatized, 
 dishonoured by a solemn vote, in which all the 
 other parties without exception had taken a part,
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 101 
 
 reduced to six members in tlie Assembly, and witli 
 no organs except M. Conti (who died shortly 
 afterwards), M. Gavini, and M. Galloni d'Istria, 
 was destined to become in time the most 
 influential in that same Assembly. It ob- 
 tained toleration from the Monarchists, in the 
 first place, as a useful auxiliary in their incessant 
 struggle against the Republic and Republicans: 
 then it became a necessary make-weight, securing 
 the victory to the side to which it leaned, after 
 this it profited by the senseless political cam- 
 paigns of the Orleanists and the Legitimists, who 
 seemed to put themselves forward to meet defeat, 
 and finally it became the director-in-chief of the 
 manœuvres of the Right, and their eventual 
 beneficiary. 
 
 In order to account for this extraordinary luck, 
 we must thoroughly understand that its point of 
 departure, at Bordeaux itself, was the hatred 
 of the Republic and Republicans entertained 
 by all the Monarchists. The explosion of wrath 
 against the imperial régime which took place on 
 the 1st March is easily explicable by the revival of 
 the recollection of our recent misfortunes, and the 
 discussion of the preliminaries of peace on the 
 same day. The Bonapartists, however, were well 
 aware that hatred of the Republic was an older 
 and a deeper sentiment, and one which would last
 
 102 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 longer in the breasts of the majority of tlie Mon- 
 archists. Republicans were constantly represented 
 as enemies of religion and property. The identi- 
 fication of them with atheists and socialists was 
 merely a continuation of a system of calumny 
 which dates back to the earliest contests between 
 the Royalists and the Revolution in 1789. The 
 Bonapartists added to these charges against the 
 Republicans that they had caused our disasters 
 by urging on the war, disorganizing the army, 
 bringing about a revolution in presence of the 
 enemy, prolonging resistance, and refusing to 
 summon the Assembly. All these imputations 
 were false. 
 
 The Republicans had not urged on the war ; on 
 the contrary they had resisted to the utmost the 
 declaration of war which was made by the leaders 
 of the Bonapartist party, in sj^ite of the Repub- 
 licans and of all France. The Republicans had 
 not disorganized the army; they had merely 
 insisted together with the whole of the Legislative 
 body upon a reduction of 10,000 men on the con- 
 tingent proposed by M. Emile Ollivier. Neither 
 had they brought about a revolution in presence 
 of the enemy; but they had courageously and 
 patriotically assumed power when the Empire 
 fell, crushed under the weight of its own sins 
 and our misfortunes, and unable to command the
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BOHDEAUX. 103 
 
 obedience of either soldiers or officials. Tliat tlie 
 Republicans bad not voluntarily prolonged resis- 
 tance to the enemy after the 4th September 
 was amply proved by the interview at Fer- 
 rieres. They were, indeed, forced in their own 
 despite to continue the war, and they urged it 
 on vigorously, according to the laws of honour, 
 until the moment at which further resistance 
 had become impossible. They had not refused 
 to summon a National Assembly, but they had 
 not thought it possible to do so without an 
 armistice, and while one half of France was 
 invaded. These contradictory assertions, some 
 of which were grossly absurd, were made by the 
 Bonapartists in all their newspapers, with the 
 object of distracting public attention from the 
 crimes of the Empire. 
 
 Although the country at large treated the 
 calumnies of the Bonapartists with the contempt 
 they deserved, it was otherwise in the Assem- 
 bly, where the most timid of conservatives and 
 the most fanatical of clericals were among the 
 members. That it was their set purpose to get 
 rid of the Republic and make war on Repub- 
 licans became especially evident when the ques- 
 tion of fixing the seat of Government outside of 
 Paris came on for discussion. To the Right, at 
 that moment, Paris meant Republic.
 
 104 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 It must be borne in mind tbat the question was 
 wbetber not tlie Assembly only, but the Chief of 
 the State, the Ministers and the entire adminis- 
 tration should not be located outside of Paris, and 
 even, if the more extreme had been listened to, 
 at a great distance from the capital. The present 
 aspect of the same question is entirely changed. 
 The President of the Republic and all the Ministers 
 reside in Paris. The public offices have never 
 been transferred. A few officials are sent to Ver- 
 sailles, during the session of the Assembly, that 
 the law may appear to be observed. In fact the 
 resolutions adopted at Bordeaux, and confirmed 
 by constitutional law are obsolete, with the sole 
 exception that the Assembly and the Senate meet 
 at Versailles instead of meeting at the Palais 
 Bourbon, and the Luxembourg. This is a great 
 inconvenience to the members of the two Assem- 
 blies, who lose much time every day, attend com- 
 mittees irregularly, and have few opportunities of 
 meeting and coming to an understanding with 
 one another. It is a still greater inconvenience 
 to the Ministers who are at a distance from their 
 bureaus, and consequently from the centres of 
 information and business during the greater part of 
 the day. What does Paris lose by all this ? 
 Nothing. When the discussion took place at 
 Bordeaux, on the 10th March, 1871, a week before
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BOEDEAUX. 105 
 
 the outbreak of the Commune, the case was en- 
 tirely different. 
 
 M. Thiers proposed "Versailles. He would have 
 preferred Paris, for he loved the capital deeply 
 and truly, and would not willingly have consented 
 to inflict a slight upon it. He was fully aware 
 that the tide of business flowed there, that the 
 Government ought not to be far from the 
 great financial centre ; that the danger, if danger 
 there were, from the crowded state of the city, 
 and the floating population, rendered the presence 
 of the Government all the more necessary. " A 
 Prefect at Paris ? " said he. " If you know one 
 who would be capable of governing and restrain- 
 ing it, show him to me. I shall be delighted. 
 He shall be put at the head of the Government ; 
 and rid me of a very heavy burden." M. Thiers 
 felt the necessity of restoring its former splendour 
 to the great city which is not only the political, but 
 also the literary, scientific, industrial, and financial 
 capital of the country. To make little of Paris 
 is to make little of France, and to lessen its 
 wealth. Foreigners come to see Paris rather than 
 France. To wealthy and enlightened Europe 
 Paris is France, and the strength and splendour 
 of France is estimated by the strength and splen- 
 dour of Paris. All the rest of the world takes its 
 tastes, its fashions, and its customs from Paris,
 
 106 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 submits to its judgment, comes tliitlier as to tlie 
 universal meeting-place, the centre of civilization. 
 Our history itself would be less comprehensible if 
 Paris "were no longer the capital. One of the 
 most admirable speeches ever made by M. Thiers 
 was his speech of the 10th March, and all its con- 
 clusions were in favour of Paris. Nevertheless he 
 said, several times over, " I do not propose Paris 
 to you." Why ? He did not give his reason. 
 
 The growing excitement of which he had just 
 been a witness, and which, a week later, cul- 
 minated in insurrection, was the explanation. He 
 could not propose Paris, and, had he done so, 
 it is not unlikely that, almost all-powerful as his 
 influence was, the proposal would have been re- 
 jected. He was restrained by that consideration 
 also. He did propose that the seat of the Assem- 
 bly should be at the gates of the city, with the 
 certainty that when things should have calmed 
 down, the Government, if not the Assembly, 
 would remove to Paris. Time has proved that he 
 was right. The Monarchical majority, who had 
 come to Versailles against their will, have made 
 strenuous efforts to keep the Government there. 
 They thought nothing of spending millions for 
 this purpose. They would have erected all the 
 necessary buildings, without reflecting that a 
 more colossal Paris would probably be the sole
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BOEDEAUX. 107 
 
 result, for, after all, it is only half an hour from 
 the Palais Bourbon to the Château de Ver- 
 sailles. They even inserted an Article in the 
 Constitution which very nearly threw everything 
 into confusion, and which, though put in practice 
 by the two Chambers because they can obey it at 
 the cost of some inconvenience, is openly violated 
 by the President of the Pepublic, because it would 
 be at once improper and impossible for him to con- 
 form to it. How was it that the Monarchists, who 
 foresaw these consequences, and who wanted Fon- 
 tainebleau in order to avoid them, agreed to Ver- 
 sailles? Several of the least clear-sighted among 
 them said, " It is not Paris." Others, conscious of 
 the enormity of their demands, had not suËBcient 
 courage to persist. They were strong in the 
 Assembly, but very weak in the country, and they 
 knew it. They did not even venture to propose 
 Bourges, their ideal, openly. They held to Fon- 
 tainebleau, which did not mean another capital, 
 but no capital at all; a locality in which the 
 Government would be deprived of the means of 
 action, but an insurrection would not. Fontaine- 
 bleau was, in plain words, a folly. Bourges would 
 have been an outrage; Versailles was an expedient. 
 Versailles carried the day by a large majority. 
 
 The true sentiments of the Monarchists came 
 out on several occasions during the debate. M.
 
 108 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 Louis Blanc was the first speaker. " Why," said 
 he, " should we follow up one provisional install- 
 ation by another ? Why should we be condemned 
 to offer to all Europe the spectacle of a wandering 
 Assembly, which goes begging for a refuge in the 
 very country which it represents ? Is it because 
 we are afraid of Paris ?" 
 
 A Memher. — " Yes." 
 
 The Assembly instantly recognized the impru- 
 dence of this utterance, and cries of " No, No ! " 
 arose on all sides. The rectification might be 
 sound policy, but the word had been uttered. A 
 little later in his speech M. Louis Blanc put this 
 question : — 
 
 " Is there not a party in the Assembly which, 
 in order to disarm what it calls the Revolution, 
 would remove the seat of Government from Paris 
 for ever ?" 
 
 A Voice on the Bight. — " Yes." 
 
 M. Louis Blanc. — " You say, * Yes.' Oh, my 
 fellow-citizens, reflect on this, and do not, I entreat 
 of you, touch the national unity. To do so would 
 be to complete by the hands of Frenchmen that 
 dismemberment of our beloved France that has 
 been commenced by the hands of the enemy, 
 and, perhaps, to kindle from the ashes of the 
 horrible foreign war that is hardly yet over, a 
 civil war more horrible still. {Great a^jplause 
 from several benches.)
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 109 
 
 " The other day one of my colleagues said in 
 my presence, — 
 
 " * Hitherto revolution has marched from Paris 
 on the provinces. It is time that order should 
 march from the provinces on Paris.' " {Hear! hear! 
 on the Right.) 
 
 M. Alfred Giraud replied to M. Louis Blanc. 
 " Many representatives have, like myself, received, 
 not an imperative mandate — that we would not 
 have accepted — but an imperious one. This 
 mandate is so to act that the Assembly shall not 
 deliberate either under the bullets of the Prussians 
 or the paving stones of rioters. Afraid ! The 
 word * afraid ' has been uttered, and I accept the 
 challenge. Yes, I am afraid ! Not for myself. 
 I am afraid for the National Assembly. I am 
 afraid for my country. France has endured 
 misfortune enough to earn our compassion 
 for her, grand, dear, and mournful wreck as she 
 is!" 
 
 M. de Belcastel expressed himself with complete 
 frankness. 
 
 "What is," said he, "the mind of the great 
 majority in France on this vital point ? I be- 
 lieve it to be this : — 
 
 " France knows that ten times in eighty years 
 Paris has sent her ready-made governments by 
 telegraph. {Assent on the Right.) 
 
 " She knows that iusurrections, even when they
 
 no THE GOVEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 are put down, are ugly dates. She knows that 
 Paris is the head-quarters of organized revolt 
 (Assent on the Bight), the capital of the revolutio- 
 nary idea, though only temporarily so, I hope and 
 believe. However, while this violent state of 
 crisis, of which she is the judge, lasts, France 
 will not, because she ought not, deliver up her 
 fortunes, and her last remaining citadel, your 
 Assembly, gentlemen, to the chances of a contest 
 and to the pressure of that idea." 
 
 M. Fresneau, although he pronounced a glow- 
 ing eulogium upon Paris, spoke as follows : — 
 
 " The mere fact of these deliberations seems to 
 prove that, while all our industries are disor- 
 ganized, there is still one which lasts and flourishes, 
 the industry of those worthies who make a trade 
 of overturning governments, as highwaymen might 
 stop a coach at the corner of a wood, and lay hold 
 of the sovereignty of thirty millions of men in two 
 hours. In this situation, and since we have been 
 nominated here, I admit that something like fear 
 has taken hold of my mind." 
 
 M. de Boisboissel also exclaimed, — 
 
 " If you want us to go to Paris, at least disarm 
 the faubourgs." 
 
 In every speech this fear of Paris, or, as the 
 speakers put it, of the revolutionary idea, is evident. 
 Paris was not to be the capital of the Republic,
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. Ill 
 
 therefore it was that they would none of Paris. 
 'No one said what would have been true, that 
 Paris was, just then, in a state of violent excite- 
 ment, easy to explain, but undeniably threaten- 
 ing ; and that if there were indeed some danger 
 for the Assembly it arose from present circum- 
 stances, and would disappear with them. 
 
 All this was in M. Thiers' mind. He was 
 satisfied with a provisional sojourn outside of 
 Paris, but at the gates of the city, at Saint 
 Cloud or Versailles. He would have preferred 
 Saint Cloud, had there been suitable accommoda- 
 tion, but the château was destroyed, and the 
 village in ruins. Even though fearing an in- 
 surrection he would have accepted Paris, had 
 he not despaired of the vote of the Assembly. 
 He did not go so far as M. Louis Blanc, who 
 believed that the sojourn of the Assembly at 
 Versailles would be one of the chief causes of the 
 insurrection, nor did he think that the presence of 
 the Assembly in Paris would prevent it. And yet, 
 such a proof of confidence in the capital at such 
 a moment might have allayed the tumult of the 
 public mind. The Government, supported by the 
 Assembly, present like itself at the post of 
 danger, would have gained in strength. If the 
 Assembly had been Republican, there would not 
 have been no hesitation. In any case, an ad-
 
 112 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 journment for a short time might be explained 
 by the circumstances, but a set purpose not to 
 re-enter Paris could only be explained by a set 
 purpose to overthrow the Republic. 
 
 No doubt the Monarchists were afraid, but 
 their fear arose from their own intentions. It 
 would never have been easy for an Assembly sitting 
 in Paris to announce the substitution of Monarchy 
 for the Republic. Napoleon himself, when he con- 
 templated the deeds of the 18th Brumaire, trans- 
 ferred the Council of the Ancients to Saint Cloud, 
 with the connivance of his brother. The Council 
 had a constitutional right to fix the place of its 
 abode. It remains to be seen whether, from the 
 point of view of the timid, such a right is 
 not more satisfactory than an article of the 
 Constitution by which a sojourn at Versailles 
 is rendered obligatory. Prior to the Constitution 
 of the 18th February, 1875, an Assembly always 
 had power to remove itself from Paris. In June, 
 1848, when the insurrection seemed for a while 
 on the point of triumphing, a blank order was 
 given to the President, M. Senard, empowering 
 him to convene his colleagues in any city in 
 France which he might select. During M. Jules 
 Simon's mission to Bordeaux, he had a similar 
 blank order from the Government of National 
 Defence.
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 113 
 
 The animated discussion that ended by making 
 Versailles the seat of Government, gave utter- 
 ance not to the resentment of the provinces but to 
 that of the Legitimist and Clerical parties. The 
 large towns, and indeed all towns in general, 
 have the Parisian, because they have the Repub- 
 lican spirit ; the provincial spirit, which is losing 
 ground day by day, lingers in small towns where 
 there is but little manufacture, and in country 
 places in which curés and country gentlemen still 
 maintain their influence. The Prussians had their 
 own interests to serve by spreading these discus- 
 sions between Parisians and rurals. The follow- 
 ing article appeared on Monday, the 24th October, 
 1870, in the Nouvelliste de Versailles^ the ofi&cial 
 journal of the German army : — 
 
 " There are two nations in France, and be- 
 tween them a distinction should always be made. 
 They are the Parisians, and the French properly 
 so called. Since the great centralization, the 
 work of Richelieu and Mazarin, the Parisians 
 have always usurped dominion over true French- 
 men of the provinces. The Parisians have 
 decided on peace and war, monarchy and the 
 Republic, liberty and despotism ; in short, as they 
 have invariably governed in fact, they have treated 
 the inhabitants of the country as helots. The 
 administration has always had its centre in Paris, 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 Hi THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 and prefects were, so to speak, enforced upon 
 the provinces ; not one of tliose functionaries 
 could be nominated, without having gone through 
 a previous probation in Paris, so that he should be 
 a Parisian by adoption, in default of birth. 
 
 " Thus it is not in reality against provincial 
 France that Germany is in arms at this moment. 
 The Departments, having up to the present time 
 submitted almost involuntarily to the yoke or the 
 domination of the Parisians, are now, as a matter 
 of course, involved in the consequences of a war 
 to which Paris, and the Government chosen by 
 Paris, have treated them without their assent. Let 
 provincial France emancipate herself from a pu- 
 pillage which has no longer anything to justify 
 it; let the departments show the domineering 
 capital that henceforth they will not be exploited 
 by it, to the detriment of their best interests." 
 
 The Nouvelliste de Versailles hardly stops short 
 of presenting the Prussians in the character of 
 liberators of the French provinces from their 
 Parisian oppressors. Our clever enemies under- 
 stand European opinion too well not to know that 
 to abase Paris was to abase France. 
 
 On the 10th March the Assembly decided that 
 its final sitting should be held at Bordeaux on the 
 next day ; and that they should meet again at 
 Versailles on the 27th. M. Thiers had proposed
 
 THE ASSEMBLY AT BORDEAUX. 115 
 
 the 16tli, which would have been better, but he 
 did not insist. 
 
 The Assembly had sat seventeen times, during 
 its sojourn at Bordeaux, including its preliminary- 
 meeting. It had verified the election, formed the 
 provisional Government, proclaimed the deposition 
 of Napoleon the Third and his dynasty, voted the 
 law on bills of exchange, appointed fifteen commis- 
 sions to report on the political, financial, industrial, 
 and military situation of France, decided on Ver- 
 sailles as the provisional residence of the Assembly 
 and the Government; and, finally, ratified the 
 preliminaries of peace. After all this work, the 
 Assembly took a week's holiday. Many of its 
 members, having come direct to Bordeaux from 
 the army or from the German prisons, required to 
 devote a few days to their families and their busi- 
 ness. The week destined to needful repose ended 
 on a sinister date, 18th March. But before we 
 enter upon the history of the Commune, we must 
 place before our readers the details of the nego- 
 tiation and the ratification of the preHminaries of 
 peace. 
 
 I 2
 
 116 THE GOVEENMENT OF M, THIEES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PRELIMINARIES OF PEACE. 
 
 During the war, two opposite current of opinions 
 had been formed in France, both equally violent ; 
 one for war à outrance, for extermination or vic- 
 tory, the other as strongly for peace, even at the 
 cost of the severest sacrifices. The Government 
 of Defence, the object of contradictory accusa- 
 tions on all points, has been execrated by the one 
 party for having desired peace, and condemned 
 by the other, for having, as they say, retarded 
 that end, by delaying the summoning of an 
 Assembly. Certain it is that the majority of the 
 Delegates to Tours and Bordeaux were for war 
 à outrance, and that the Government at Paris 
 was consistently for peace. This difference of 
 opinion came out strongly towards the end : it 
 had been perceptible from the beginning, but had 
 not produced disagreement in action, because the 
 Prussians were manifestly bent on abusing their
 
 THE PKELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 117 
 
 victory. Paris was as incapable of accepting a 
 disgraceful peace, as Bordeaux would have been 
 of refusing peace with honour. The efforts made 
 at Ferriéres by M. Jules Favre, and at Ver- 
 sailles by M. Thiers, to obtain an armistice, having 
 failed, the Government of Paris resolved to wait 
 for the assistance that Bordeaux continued to 
 promise, and to hold out until famine should 
 put an end to the siege. To summon an Assembly 
 without an armistice, when one third of France 
 was invaded, and to put the guidance of armies 
 or the negotiations for peace into the hands of a 
 body of men thus irregularly called together, 
 perhaps unknown to each other, and necessarily 
 disturbed by the gravity of events and their own 
 immense responsibility, appeared to all to be a 
 deepening of our material and moral disorganiza- 
 tion, almost equivalent to a surrender at discre- 
 tion. On the 14th January an intimate friend of 
 M. Thiers, knowing the siege was coming to an 
 end because famine was imminent, wrote a private 
 letter, asking him if it would not be possible, 
 considering the position of the departments, to 
 summon an Assembly immediately, reserving the 
 seats of those deputies whom Paris should 
 nominate after the siege was raised. " Thus 
 only," said he, *' shall we have a negotiator of 
 peace, who will not, at the same time, have to
 
 118 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEKS. 
 
 treat for the surrender of the citadel. On the 
 day when General Trochu goes to Versailles — and 
 that day is not far off, for we are exhausted — 
 Bismarck will ask him for France." The battle 
 of Buzenval took place, and with it came the 
 end. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that, throughout 
 the enth^e duration of the siege, the Government 
 could take no steps towards peace, except in 
 secret. After the 31st October they ceased to 
 take any. The population wished for war, and 
 still hoped for victory. Every man had enrolled 
 himself in the National Guard, and enlistments 
 in the regiments were already more than suf- 
 ficiently numerous. These improvised soldiers 
 asked no better than to be immediately drilled, 
 and sent to the advanced posts, and out in sorties. 
 They were full of the idea that the National Guard 
 would beat the Prussian army. Their only fear 
 was lest the Government should parley with the 
 besiegers. When M. Jules Favre went to Ferrieres 
 he concealed his departure from the people, and 
 also from several members of the Government. 
 WTien his report was published a few days after- 
 wards, it was received with general applause, not 
 so much because it exhibited the admirable courage 
 of the negotiator, although that was fully recog- 
 nized, as because it furnished fresh causes of
 
 THE rHELIMINAKIES OF PEACE. 119 
 
 complaint against the Prussians, and new motives 
 for a continued resistance. The fatal events of 
 the 31st of October took place to the cry of " No 
 Armistice !" It was in fact the rising of that day 
 which rendered the armistice impossible ; but that 
 was its only success. The same ringleaders brought 
 about the scenes of the 22nd January for the same 
 motives. On the 31st of October at least hope was 
 still left; there were provisions in the city, and 
 succour had been promised. It was a crime to 
 select that date for an explosion of hatred towards 
 the bourgeoisie, and it was madness to plan the 
 substitution of M. Gustave Flourens for General 
 Trochu. But when the rising of the 22nd January 
 took place, we had no bread left, we had no 
 succour to hope for, we could no longer deceive 
 ourselves, after the experience of Buzenval, 
 as to military resources ; nevertheless the Govern- 
 ment were seriously threatened. Once more M. 
 Jules Favre was obUged to hide himself like a 
 thief in order to accomplish the most painful 
 task that could be imposed upon a patriot. The 
 populace howled with rage at the shghtest rumour 
 of a negotiation, and yet they were all threat- 
 ened with speedy death by hunger ! " No, no ! " 
 they cried ; there was plenty of provisions, but 
 they were hidden so that the people might be 
 starved into a surrender ! An officer wrote in a
 
 120 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS, 
 
 newspaper, "You have provisions for six months !'* 
 True, they had been beaten at Buzenval, but that 
 was the fault of the generals. The sortie had not 
 been genuinely " torrential ! " The revolutionary 
 newspapers declared every morning that when an 
 entire people moves it is irresistible. Six weeks 
 later, at Bordeaux, when M. Thiers brought down 
 the preliminaries of peace to the sitting of the 
 10th of March, he had to repeat over and over 
 again to the bellicose members who would not 
 listen to them, " But the means ! the means ! " 
 " The means," answered intelligent, well-informed 
 men (see official report), " the means ! You shall 
 be taught it if you do not know it already. A 
 levee en 7nasse ! Let the 750 deputies place them- 
 selves at the head of the nation in arms, and we 
 shall utterly destroy the enemy." This was said 
 on the 10th of March by members of the Assembly, 
 after more than a month's reflection, and with the 
 condition of our troops and their equipments under 
 their eyes. AYas it surprising that in Paris, when 
 the blow fell that shook the reason of the strongest, 
 when it became evident that the Government was 
 making terms, a cry should have rung through 
 the great city, decimated by pestilence and cannon, 
 " We are betraved ! " 
 
 1/ 
 
 This cry found its echo in the provinces. It is 
 one of the grossest instances of injustice on record.
 
 THE PKELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 121 
 
 It was allowed that the population had immor- 
 talized themselves; but many added that the 
 Government had betrayed France by capitulating. 
 The most moderate accused them of incapacity 
 and weakness. There was great astonishment at 
 the fall of Paris, the really astonishing thing was 
 that it had not occurred three months earlier. This 
 incapable Government had put the fortifications 
 into a state of defence, raised an army which, im- 
 provised though it was, and necessarily lacking the 
 steadiness of veteran troops, performed garrison 
 duty perfectly, and displayed both dash and cou- 
 rage when under the enemy's fire ; eked out the 
 provisions beyond all hope; made head against 
 two revolts; had not spilt one drop of blood, 
 ordered one arrest, or committed one single act 
 of vengeance after the revolution of the 4th Sep- 
 tember, and, for the space of five months, had 
 kept order in Paris. The capital had neither 
 surrendered nor been taken ; it had been starved 
 out. The Government had so prolonged the 
 resistance, that no time was left for negotiation. 
 All the public stores were empty, the roads were 
 blocked up, and the enemy knew it ! The delay 
 of a day or two might give rise to one of the 
 most frightful famines on record. The conditions 
 of the armistice were less hard than might have 
 been feared under such circumstances, and it
 
 122 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 is paltering with the trutli to deny the men of 
 those conditions to M. Jules Favre. 
 
 It would not be less unjust to deny that tne 
 Government did good service to France, by 
 causing the elections to take place with perfect 
 freedom, and such promptitude, that the Assembly 
 was able to hold its first sitting fourteen days after 
 the date of thedecree of convocation. Once called 
 together, the principal mission of this Assembly — 
 some said, its sole mission — was to deliberate 
 upon peace or war. It had only twelve days in 
 which to decide upon a course of action; the 
 armistice expired on the 22nd of February. 
 
 Peace had its adversaries in the Assembly. The 
 number of them 107, is known. Doubtless, there 
 were sincere men among them who, believing that 
 France could still fight with some chance of suc- 
 cess, looked upon the treaty of peace as cowardice 
 and treason. There were also deputies from 
 Alsace and Lorraine, who could not bring them- 
 selves to understand the truth, or perhaps could 
 not admit to themselves that they did understand 
 it. M. Thiers used a terrible phrase in speaking 
 of a third class of peace partisans as " those who 
 came to court a false popularity in the tribune at 
 the risk of destroying their country." France 
 could certainly fight still, but she could no longer 
 conquer. We had been beaten, one might say
 
 THE PRELIMINARIES OP PEACE. 123 
 
 crushed, in the war which had just ended ; how 
 could we rationally hope for victory in a renewed 
 struggle when we had lost thirty-one depart- 
 ments, Strasburg, Metz, Paris, some of our 
 generals, and 420,000 men now prisoners in Ger- 
 many, without reckoning those dead on the field 
 of battle ? The war party reasoned that 200,000 
 men still remained to us. Of what troops? and 
 with what oflQcers ? According to them, we still 
 had plenty of war material. Who would venture 
 to compare what was left in our arsenals, and in 
 our camps, with the immense resources of Ger- 
 many, and the 500,000 disciplined men, used to 
 war and well commanded, whom she could im- 
 mediately array against us ? A levee en masse 
 was talked of ; but a multitude is not an army. 
 Men who can neither march, nor fire, who cannot 
 stand fire, nor endure fatigue and privation, are a 
 weakness, not a force. The levée en masse took 
 place; the experiment was complete ! With ad- 
 mirable vigour, M. Gambetta had drawn from the 
 nation all it would and could give. The Revolu- 
 tion, it was said, had subdued the world by the 
 levée en masse. The Revolution began with vic- 
 tories, because it had at its disposal the veteran 
 French army, disciplined and trained to war, and 
 commanded by Dumouriez. When it sent raw 
 recruits, commanded by second-hand generals,
 
 124 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 against Europe, it underwent a series of reverses 
 which brought the country within a hair's-breadth 
 of ruin. And yet the science of war was far from 
 the perfection to which the genius of Napoleon 
 brought it some years after. In these days, rail- 
 ways, and the transformation in weapons, give 
 power, against which mere superiority of numbers 
 can do nothing, to a well-commanded army, well 
 supplied with war material. At the beginning 
 of February, 1871, the Germans had the supe- 
 riority over us in numbers, in generalship, in 
 supplies of war material, and in money. They 
 had also the moral force lent by six months of 
 unheard-of success. A prolonged war would in- 
 deed have been terrible for them; but for us, fatal. 
 By treating for peace, France might be sure of 
 rising again, one day, as Prussia itself had arisen, 
 sixty years after Jena ; by continuing the war, she 
 would condemn herself to the fate of Poland. 
 Was there any hope that Europe would intervene 
 to save us ? Had Europe interfered after the 4th 
 of September ? During the course of the nego- 
 tiations, it was easy to measure the extent of the 
 help in store for us from European diplomacy. 
 Every one pitied us, and every one let us be 
 butchered. In Russia, the people were for us; the 
 Czar was for his uncle the Emperor of Germany. 
 He recommended moderation to the conqueror;
 
 THE PEELIMINAHIES OP PEACE. 125 
 
 but he informed Austria, whose sympathies we 
 had gained, that if she ranged herself on the side 
 of France, he would take the side of Prussia. 
 Italy, whom so many reasons should have attached 
 to us, was already afraid of the strength of the 
 clerical party in the Assembly, and conceived that 
 if this party, doubly blind, should attain power, 
 our armies would be placed at the disposal of the 
 Pope. Spain, sympathizing indeed, but a prey 
 to internal divisions, was powerless to help us. 
 England, as impolitic as the French Government 
 after Sadowa, gave us nothing but moral support, 
 and that at the close of the negotiations, when 
 it could avail only to irritate Count Bismarck, 
 without serving us. 
 
 In our position patriotism counselled, nay, 
 commanded us to submit to peace. A dis- 
 honourable peace, a shameful peace was talked of; 
 the resistance of Paris, and the glorious struggle 
 of the provinces were a sufficient answer ; honour 
 was more than life. Doubtless, if we had been 
 obliged to sacrifice the future of France in order 
 to obtain peace, it would have been better to die 
 fighting. If, however, by accepting all these 
 calamities for the present generation, we might 
 safely count upon the future, true honour con- 
 sisted in submitting to a disaster which had 
 been organized by the Empire with its own
 
 126 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES, 
 
 hands. The one absorbing anxiety of thinking 
 men, of true patriots, was this : to secure a to- 
 morrow ! 
 
 "What would Prussia demand? She would 
 claim an enormous war-indemnity, perhaps a 
 reduction of our effective force and our fortresses, 
 certainly a cession of territory. "We could not 
 deceive ourselves upon the last point. Even 
 before the war, it was known that Prussia was 
 threatening Alsace and Lorraine. At the Tuileries 
 the menace was ridiculed. When General Ducrot, 
 who commanded at Strasburg, warned the Imperial 
 Government of the designs which were entertained 
 at Berlin, and the preparation for a campaign of 
 invasion, they laughed at the warning ! Germany 
 avowed her pretensions openly after our earliest 
 disasters. Europe was silent ; a circumstance to 
 be noted. The day after Sedan, Count Bismarck 
 said to General de Wimpffen, who had taken the 
 command at the last moment, " We have had 
 enough of this. France must be chastised for her 
 pride, and her aggressive and ambitious temper. 
 We intend at last to make sure of our children's 
 safety, and, for that, we must have a glacis 
 between France and us ; we must have land, fort- 
 resses and frontiers which will place us, for ever, 
 beyond all risk of attack on her part." 
 
 A few days later, the interview at Ferrières took
 
 THE PEELIMINARIES OF PEACE. 127 
 
 place. During the conversation between Count 
 Bismarck and M. Jules Favre, the Chancellor 
 said, "You declared war against us without a 
 cause, and with the sole intention of taking a 
 portion of our territory. Germany, which did 
 not seek this opportunity, has made use of it for 
 her own security, which can only be guaranteed 
 by a cession of territory. Strasburg is a perpetual 
 threat to us. It is the key of the house, and we 
 want to have it." 
 
 M. Jules Favre replied, " Then, that means 
 Alsace and Lorraine ?" 
 
 The Count answered, " I have not spoken of 
 Lorraine. But as for Alsace, I speak point 
 blank. We look upon it as absolutely necessary 
 ^or our defence." 
 
 At another point in this same interview 
 Count Bismarck did sneak of Lorraine. He 
 expressly states this in a letter written by him at 
 Ferrieres, on the 24th of September, to rectify 
 certain assertions contained in M. Jules Favre' s 
 report, and which was published in German in the 
 " North German Correspondent." 
 
 " I expressly declared to M. Jules Favre," writes 
 the Count, " that I refused to enter upon the 
 subject of the new frontier demanded by us, until 
 the principle of a cession of territory had been 
 openly recognized by France. As a consequence
 
 128 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 of this declaration, the formation of a new 
 department of the Moselle, containing the districts 
 of Strasburg, Château-Salins, Sarraguemines, 
 Metz, and Thionville, was mentioned by me, as an 
 arrangement suitable to our intentions. . . ." 
 
 M. Jules Favre, in his turn, rectifies Count 
 Bismarck's rectifications, in a circular addressed 
 to the representatives of France in foreign lands, 
 recapitulating this important part of the con- 
 ference thus : — 
 
 " I have allowed that upon this subject the 
 Chancellor of the Confederation of the North had, 
 at first, met me with a sort of put-off, drawn 
 from my positive declaration that I would not 
 consent to any cession of territory; but my in- 
 terlocutor cannot have forgotten that, upon my 
 insisting, he explained himself categorically, and 
 mentioned, in case the principle of the cession 
 of territory should be admitted, those conditions 
 which I have enumerated in my report, i. e. the 
 relinquishment by France of Strasburg, with the 
 whole of Alsace, Metz, and part of Lorraine." 
 
 Germany's intentions were so well known to 
 every one in France, that M. ]\Iicliel Chevalier 
 spoke of them, in a letter to Mr. Gladstone on 
 the 12th of September, thus : " The conquest 
 of Alsace and Lorraine by Prussia is simply a 
 whim. Nancy is as French as Paris, and the
 
 THE PEELIMINARIES OP PEACE. 129 
 
 two chief towns of Alsace, Strasbur^ and Miil- 
 hoLise, are nearly as mucli so. Germany has no 
 interest in incorporating Alsace and Lorraine with 
 herself ; they are outside of her topography and 
 her hydrography." 
 
 Moreover, a striking and significant fact was 
 to be remarked prior to the conclusion of peace. 
 When the Germans invaded a district which they 
 wanted to keep, they established German institu- 
 tions there, at once ; when, on the contrary, 
 their occupation was only provisional, they ap- 
 pointed an administrator, who did not disturb 
 the French institutions. The alarm of the popu- 
 lation of Lorraine was no less vehement than that 
 of Alsace. The fears of both were made known, 
 at Bordeaux, by a declaration which M. Keller 
 undertook to lay before the Assembly in the 
 session of the 1 7th February, a few hours before 
 the vote was taken that entrusted the Government 
 of France to M. Thiers. It was signed by all the 
 Deputies from Lower Rhine, Upper Rhine, and 
 the departments of the Moselle and the Meurthe, 
 to the number of thirty-five. " Alsace and 
 Lorraine refuse to be alienated. With one voice, 
 the citizens at their firesides, the soldiers under 
 arms, the former by voting, the latter by fighting, 
 proclaim to Germany and to the world at large, 
 the immutable will of Alsace and Lorraine to 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 130 THE GOVEKNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 remain French. France can neither consent to 
 nor sign the cession of Lorraine and Alsace, 
 without perilling the continuity of her national 
 existence, and dealing a death-blow to her unity 
 with her own hands." 
 
 The Assembly heard this document read with 
 keen emotion. Great things were to be done that 
 day, the Assembly had to constitute the Govern- 
 ment. It was suggested that the consideration 
 of M. Keller's proposition should be deferred until 
 the following day, but M. Thiers insisted upon its 
 being discussed at once. 
 
 " The Assembly ought to understand," he said, 
 " that, in so grave a matter, we must act like 
 thoughtful men. 
 
 " Let us not be carried away by empty words ; 
 we must know what we mean to put behind our 
 words. 
 
 *' One thing alone is worthy of you, worthy of 
 France, worthy of true patriotism ; it is that you 
 declare yourselves at once, so that jour will may 
 be made known. To put this off to to-morrow 
 would be puerile. Be assured of this, you cannot 
 screen yourselves behind any Government which 
 you may institute. Have the courage of your 
 opinion ; either war, or peace. 
 
 " I promise you, if I can influence your fate, 
 to devote, as others do, my energies to the service
 
 THE PBELIMINAEIES OP PEACE. 131 
 
 of our country so long as I can be useful to 
 lier; but I could not — I tell you this at 
 once — accept a mission tliat, as an honourable 
 man and a good citizen, I should be unable to 
 carry out." 
 
 An hour after, M. Beulé, who had been ap- 
 pointed reporter during the interruption of the 
 sitting, moved the following resolution, which was 
 carried by a vast majority : — 
 
 " The J^ational Assembly, having received the 
 declaration of M. Keller and his colleagues with 
 the greatest sympathy, refers it to the wisdom 
 and patriotism of the negotiators." 
 
 Thus the negotiators were given full powers. 
 The nomination of M. Thiers as Chief of the 
 Executive took place immediately afterwards. 
 That night and the next day were occupied by 
 him in forming his cabinet. On Sunday, the 1 9th, 
 he was able to give the Assembly a list of the new 
 ministry, and to lay down his programme. On the 
 same evening he set out with M. Jules Simon for 
 Paris; and went to Versailles alone, according to 
 his own desire, very early on Tuesday morning, the 
 21st. On his arrival there an unforeseen difficulty 
 presented itself. 
 
 The Assembly had appointed a committee of 
 fifteen, who were to proceed to Paris in order to 
 assist the negotiators with their presence and 
 
 K 2
 
 132 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 advice, witliout, however, sharing their respon- 
 sibility. This measure was also taken for the 
 purpose of diminishing as far as possible the in- 
 convenience arising from the seat of the Assembly 
 being at Bordeaux, while the conditions of peace 
 w^ere under discussion at Versailles. The commis- 
 sioners got M. de Chaudordy to apply in London 
 for a safe conduct ; a needless precaution, which 
 retarded their journey by a day, and irritated Count 
 Bismarck, who was anxious to prevent all inter- 
 vention by the neutral powers. The Count ac- 
 quainted M. Thiers with these details at the outset 
 of the interview, and did so with vehemence only 
 slightly tempered with courtesy towards his illus- 
 trious interlocutor. After this unpleasant incident, 
 a prolongation of the armistice was agreed upon. 
 That evening M. Thiers wrote to M. Jules Simon, 
 "I have been fighting all day with Count Bismarck. 
 I have obtained a prolongation of the armistice 
 until midnight on Sunday " (that was Tuesday), 
 " but had to struggle hard for it, which shows 
 that our critical position could not last long." 
 At that time Count Bismarck wanted to limit 
 the negotiators to a very short time, because 
 he expected his proposals to be accepted as 
 an ultimatum ; we shall see that he relaxed this 
 rigorous rule towards the end of the negotiations, 
 when the principal bases had been agreed upon ;
 
 THE PEELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 133 
 
 and that lie tlien consented, without difficulty, to 
 prolong the armistice until the 12th March; 
 but on Tuesday, 21st February, the day of 
 M. Thiers' arrival, he insisted that everything 
 should be agreed upon and signed by the 26th, 
 and obstinately refused to grant one more day. 
 That point settled, he made known his proposals ; 
 France was to pay an indemnity of six milliards, 
 to give up the whole of Alsace, including Belfort, 
 Metz with its fortresses, and a considerable portion 
 of Lorraine ; the Prussians were to enter Paris, 
 and remain there until the ratification of peace. 
 
 M. Thiers protested against conditions which 
 he declared to be not only exorbitant, but im- 
 practicable. Six milhards represented more than 
 twice the savings of France. It was not a war 
 indemnity ; two milliards would have been ample 
 to reimburse Germany for her expenses and her 
 material losses. Six milliards w^ere demanded 
 with the evident design of exhausting the re- 
 sources of France. Had Germany considered the 
 consequences to herself and to the whole of Europe 
 of reducing a nation with such a geographical 
 position as ours, and concerned in all the com- 
 mercial and financial operations of the world, to 
 poverty and ruin ? Had Germany weighed the 
 results of the monetary disturbance which would 
 infallibly ensue from the payment of such a
 
 134 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 sum ? Nor was the dismembering of France 
 more politic, or more practicable. The populations 
 would not give themselves up, France could not 
 deliver them over; the fifteen commissioners 
 would not permit the discussion to be carried on 
 upon such foundations. It is a dictate of wisdom 
 that a lasting and true peace should be made after 
 war ; but in this case the two countries were con- 
 demned to perpetual division. This would not end 
 war, but merely suspend hostilities, for France 
 could never rest so long as the two provinces 
 were exiled from her breast. We could not, with- 
 out vainglorious folly, pretend that in carrying 
 on the war we had any hope of victory; but 
 Germany knew what it would cost her to destroy 
 the last armies of France. If we were driven to 
 despair, our enemies might crush us, but we 
 would not submit to degrading conditions. M. 
 Thiers was not satisfied with speaking thus to 
 Count Bismarck only ; he requested an audience 
 of the Emperor. It was granted reluctantly, 
 and was very brief. The Emperor declined any 
 political discussion. He could not hinder M. 
 Thiers from reminding him, in a few ardent 
 though respectful words, of all the arguments 
 against this policy of extermination. In short, 
 M. Thiers obtained nothing on the first day. All 
 his genius, all his eloquence, were expended in
 
 THE PEELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 135 
 
 vain upon an inflexible resolution. He returned 
 to Versailles on the following day, again unac- 
 companied. Having a very high opinion of Count 
 Bismarck's political capabilities, he wished to speak 
 with him privately in the language of politics. 
 He hoped to prove to him that the cession 
 of Metz would make the two nations enemies for 
 ever, and that France, though ever so willing, 
 could not pay six milliards. But he found the 
 Chancellor of the Empire more inflexible than 
 before, more inimical to every idea of negotiation 
 or arrangement. Count Bismarck asserted that 
 in Germany, " the most thinking men " estimated 
 the losses sustained by the country at fifteen mil- 
 liards. He was universally taxed with weakness 
 for having demanded only six. He was even on 
 the point of refusing all further conversation, 
 alleging that his proposals constituted an ulti- 
 matum requiring a simple yes or no in answer. 
 
 M. Thiers replied that an armistice had been 
 concluded ; that in virtue of the very terms of 
 that agreement, an Assembly had been summoned 
 to deliberate upon peace or war ; that he had 
 come in the name of that Assembly, and conse- 
 quently in the name of all France, on the strength 
 of a convention signed by Count Bismarck, on the 
 faith of a treaty, in the character of a negotiator, 
 having a right to be heard, and not as the envoy
 
 136 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 of an army wlaich has surrendered at discretion, 
 and has only to receive the orders of the con- 
 queror. Count Bismarck was sHghtly confused at 
 having given way to a fit of passion, so insulting 
 to us, and so httle worthy of him. He resumed 
 the conversation, but did not yield an inch of 
 ground. He even announced to M. Thiers that 
 he was benevolently exerting himself to facilitate 
 our payment of the six milliards, and that he 
 had found two financiers who were disposed to 
 undertake the operation by sure and easy means. 
 "You will pay," said he, "without perceiving it.'* 
 M. Thiers returned to Paris, believing that he 
 had gained nothing. 
 
 Next day (Thursday, February 23rd) the 
 aforesaid bankers presented themselves. Count 
 Bismarck had good reason to boast of their skill 
 and importance ; they were no less personages 
 than Count Heukel and Herr Black- Schroder, 
 the two chief bankers in Germany. M. Thiers 
 would not listen to them except in the presence of 
 the commissioners. Their system was ingenious 
 enough ; it would have given us, or rather sold 
 us, time, and it resolved itself into the doubling 
 of our indemnity. They argued at great length, 
 but of course our commissioners were no more 
 tempted to accept their proposals than was M. 
 Thiers; they submitted to this interview as he
 
 THE PEELIMTNARIES OF PEACE. 137 
 
 did, as an additional trial; and were resolved 
 beforehand to trust to France for rescue from 
 our embarrassments, and not to the interested 
 expertness of our enemies. 
 
 After this interview, which took place in the 
 morning, M. Thiers returned to Versailles, ac- 
 companied by M. Jules Favre, who left him no 
 more until the negotiations were concluded. They 
 were immediately informed by Count Bismarck 
 that the Emperor had consented to reduce the 
 indemnity by one milliard. All the entreaties, all 
 the arguments of the negotiators to obtain a more 
 equitable and less overwhelming assessment, were 
 unavailing. It was agreed, in order to save time, 
 that a preliminary treaty should be made, defin- 
 ing the bases of peace only ; but tha.t the stipula- 
 tions in detail should be reserved for an ulterior 
 treaty. Thus, during those three days, Thursday, 
 Friday and Saturday, the discussion was confined 
 to the amount of the indemnity, the mode and 
 dates of payment to correspond with the successive 
 evacuation of the territory by the German troops, 
 the territorial concessions, and the entry of the 
 Prussians into Paris. M. Thiers' great achieve- 
 ment was his obtaining that Belfort should be 
 left to France. He won this success, so to speak, 
 by main force. M. Jules Favre has described 
 this incident with so much passion and energy,
 
 138 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 that we feel bound to place his narrative before 
 our readers. 
 
 "I see liim still," says M. Jules Favre, " pale, 
 agitated, now sitting, now standing ; I hear his 
 voice, broken by grief, his faltering words, his 
 accents at once beseeching and proud, and I 
 know nothing grander than the sublime passion 
 of that noble heart, breaking out into lamentation, 
 menace, and entreaty. 
 
 " When, with his own inimitable eloquence, he 
 had set forth the immensity of our sacrifices, 
 the unexampled rigour that imposed an over- 
 whelming indemnity on us, in addition to the 
 mutilation of our territory, upon the ancient 
 ties that bound us to a town which had never 
 belonged to Germany and had nothing Germanic 
 about it, seeing the inflexibility of his hearer, he 
 cried out, ' Well then ! let it be as you will 
 Count ! These negotiations are nothing but a 
 sham. We appear to be discussing, but we are 
 merely to pass under your yoke. We ask of you a 
 city which is altogether French ; you refuse : this 
 is to admit that you have determined upon a war of 
 extermination. Make that war then ! Ravage our 
 provinces, burn our houses, slaughter the inoffen- 
 sive inhabitants ; in a word, complete your work. 
 We will fight you until our last breath. We may be 
 defeated, but at least we shall not be dishonoured 1 *
 
 THE PEELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 139 
 
 "Count Bismarck seemed moved. M. Thiers* 
 emotion had touched liim; he repHed that he 
 understood what M. Thiers must be suffering, and 
 that he would be glad to be able to make a con- 
 cession. * But,' he added, ' it would be wrong of 
 me to promise what I cannot grant. The King 
 has commanded me to keep to our conditions ; he 
 alone has the right to modify them. I must take 
 his orders. I must also confer with General 
 Moltke. If I have his consent, I shall be stronger.' 
 He then left the room. 
 
 " In a quarter of an hour he came back. The 
 King was out walking and would not return until 
 dinner-time, General Moltke was also out. Our 
 suspense may be imagined. It was at its height 
 when, about half an hour after, General Moltke 
 was announced. We did not see him; Count 
 Bismarck shut himself up with him." 
 
 "I think no accused man ever waited for a 
 verdict in more feverish agony of mind. Motion- 
 less and mute, we followed with scared eyes the 
 hands of the clock that was about to strike the 
 hour of our sentence. The door opened at last, 
 and, standing on the threshold, Count Bismarck 
 spoke : * I was commanded by the King to insist 
 upon the entry of our troops into Paris. You 
 have expressed to me your repugnance and your 
 fears, and earnestly requested that this clause may
 
 140 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 be mthdrawn. We will give it up if, on your side, 
 you will leave us Belfort.' 
 
 " ' Nothing,' replied M. Thiers, ' can equal 
 the grief which Paris must feel in opening the 
 gates of its unconquered walls to the enemy who 
 has been unable to force them. Therefore we 
 have besought you, and do still beseech you, not 
 to inflict this unmerited humiliation upon the 
 city. Nevertheless it is ready to drink the cup to 
 the dregs, so that one bit of its soil and an heroic 
 city may be preserved to the country. We thank 
 you. Count, for having afforded Paris the oppor- 
 tunity of ennobling its sacrifice. The mourning of 
 Paris shall be the ransom of Belfort, which we 
 nowpersist, more than ever,in claiming.' 'E-eflect,' 
 said Count Bismarck : ' perhaps you will regret 
 having rejected this proposal.' 'We should fail 
 in our duty if we accepted it,' replied M. 
 Thiers. The door was once more closed, and 
 the two Prussian statesmen resumed their con- 
 ference." 
 
 " It seemed to us to last an age ; after General 
 Moltke's departure, the Chancellor informed us 
 that there was only the King to convince. 
 Despite our impatience, we had to wait until 
 the monarch had finished his meal ; it was 
 nearly half-past six, when Count Bismarck went 
 to him. At eight M. Thiers reaped the fruits
 
 THE PEELIMINARIES OP PEACE. 141 
 
 of his valiant effort. He liad given back Belfort 
 to France," 
 
 Eightly to estimate the importance of this 
 success, it must be borne in mind that between 
 the Vosges hills and the Jura range, there is 
 a deep hollow through which all our invaders 
 have passed at every epoch. The fortress of 
 Belfort was built to command this pass. If 
 Belfort had remained in the hands of the Germans 
 they would have had a ready-made road between 
 the Jura and the Vosges, by which to penetrate 
 into the heart of France. After the loss of 
 Strasburg the possession of Belfort had become 
 indispensable to us. M. Thiers fought for it 
 during fourteen hours, and while he was making 
 this almost desperate struggle, he, who looked 
 upon peace as absolutely necessary, asked himself 
 several times if it would not be better to go on 
 with the war, than to leave our eastern frontier 
 open to fresh invasion. 
 
 When, on his return to Paris, M. Thiers made 
 known his unhoped-for success to the commission, 
 all the members expressed boundless gratitude to 
 him. It was not only a few leagues of territory he 
 restored to us ; it was an important position upon 
 our frontiers. Every evening, on returning from 
 Versailles, M. Thiers made the commissioners, who 
 were pledged to the strictest secrecy, thoroughly
 
 142 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 acquainted with all that had passed. He even 
 found time, before taking a few hours' rest, to 
 write to M. Jules Simon. *' We made our first 
 report to the commission yesterday," he wrote, on 
 the 24th of February. *' They did not seem ill- 
 pleased. "We have laid such stress upon secrecy 
 that I count a little upon their observing it. The 
 ignorance the Bourse is in proves that the secret 
 is pretty well kept. In two days we shall know 
 where we are." 
 
 On the 25th he wrote : " Yesterday, M. Jules 
 Favre and I passed eight hours in conference 
 with Count Bismarck. We set out at half-past 
 eleven in the morning, and were at Paris by ten 
 o'clock in the evening. I would France could see 
 what we have done to save her from loss and humi- 
 liation. The peace is to be signed this evening, 
 and I have asked myself twenty times whether we 
 shall have peace after all. It is certainly not 
 so bad as we might have feared, in our position, 
 at the feet of a conqueror who knows we can 
 expose France to frightful havoc, that we can 
 prolong a bloody and destructive struggle, but 
 that we cannot alter the ultimate result. Do 
 not say a word of this to any one, above all 
 about the nature of the peace. It must not be 
 subjected beforehand to party discussion. 
 
 ** If, as we hope, it be signed this evening
 
 THE PRELIMINARIES OP PEACE. 143 
 
 (under the form of precise preliminaries), we will 
 announce it to you by telegraph to-morrow morn- 
 ing. We shall leave on Monday, if we can, for 
 every hour costs us millions." 
 
 Peace was not signed on Saturday. On his 
 arrival at Versailles on that day, M. Thiers found 
 Count Bismarck particularly excited. His manner 
 of receiving M. Thiers was constrained and haughty, 
 his language was sharp, all but menacing. He 
 accused M. Thiers of wanting to spin out the con- 
 ference, and of seeking pretexts for recommenc- 
 ing the war. Our negotiators easily penetrated 
 the secret of the Chancellor's irritation. He had 
 been advised officially the day before, that the 
 English Government intended to make certain 
 representations to Germany concerning the amount 
 of the war indemnity. The Count went so far as 
 to say, " I see plainly your only aim is to begin 
 the campaign again, and you will have the sup- 
 port and advice of your good friends, the English." 
 By testifying a desire that the indemnity should 
 be reduced to a sum, the payment of which might 
 reasonably be expected, England gave us the only 
 support we could hope for from her after all that 
 had passed; and, far from thinking of begin- 
 ning the war again, M. Thiers and M. Jules Favre 
 were only bent upon hastening the conclusion of 
 peace.
 
 144 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Count Bismarck liarslily and violently spurned 
 our assurances of our pacific intentions, which at 
 that stage of the business he could not have 
 doubted had he been calm and collected. " It is 
 very good of me," he said roughly, " to take the 
 trouble you condemn me to ; our conditions are 
 an ultimatum ; you must either accept or reject 
 them. I will have nothing more to do with it ; 
 bring an interpreter to-morrow; henceforth I will 
 not speak French." And, in fact, he began to 
 talk in German with extreme vehemence. 
 
 M. Thiers showed that he was offended, but 
 without departing an instant from his dignity and 
 composure. This stormy and cruel day was but 
 so much time lost, after all. Count Bismarck 
 eagerly insisted upon our accepting his two 
 bankers, and his system of payments and financial 
 operations ; M. Thiers persisted in his refusal. 
 When they separated for the evening at ten o'clock, 
 everything remained as agreed upon in the terms 
 accepted on the preceding days. There only 
 remained the transcription and signature of the 
 agreements. It was decided that the signatures 
 on both sides should be affixed the next day, 
 Sunday, February 26th, at half-past one o'clock. 
 Our negotiators arrived punctually at the place of 
 meeting ; but they had to wait three hours before 
 the documents were ready. The duplicate copies
 
 THE PKELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 145 
 
 being brought in and compared, Count Bismarck 
 announced that he was about to summon " his 
 colleagues " of Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and Baden. 
 They came in, heard the treaty read without offer- 
 ing an observation, and affixed their signatures. 
 Count Bismarck sent for a golden pen which had 
 been presented to him by the ladies of a German 
 town for use on this occasion. M. Thiers and 
 M. Jules Favre did not exchange a word on their 
 journey back to Paris. M. Thiers had tears in 
 his eyes all the way ; he dried them in silence ; 
 he was a prey to the most terrible grief the heart 
 of a man can feel. Instantly on reaching the 
 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he sent off a telegram 
 in cipher to Bordeaux, as follows : — 
 
 " The Chief of the Executive to M. Jules Simon. 
 
 " Paris, February 27th, 7 p.m. 
 
 " The preliminaries of peace have been signed 
 to-day, after a long and painful contest. The 
 conditions are severe with respect to money, but 
 as regards territory they are less disadvantageous 
 than was to be feared. Belfort and five-sixths of 
 Lorraine are restored to us. The war indemnity 
 is five milliards, the payment to be spread over 
 several years. 
 
 " As ib is fitting the National Assembly should 
 
 VOL. I. L
 
 146 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 liave the first knowledge of the conditions, make 
 nothing pubhc but the fact that peace is con- 
 cluded." 
 
 M. Thiers arrived at Bordeaux on the 28th of 
 February : he immediatelj entered the Assembly, 
 which was sitting, and read a bill, which com- 
 menced with the following words: " The National 
 Assembly, having to bear the consequences of 
 deeds of which it is not the author, ratifies the 
 preliminaries of peace, the text of which is hereto 
 annexed, etc." M. Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire after- 
 wards read the Articles of peace. 
 
 Article I. comprises the cession of territory. "We 
 lose Alsace, with the exception of Belfort and its ter- 
 ritory. We retain the whole of Lorraine, with the 
 exception of Metz, its territory, and a few villages. 
 
 Article II. stipulates for the indemnity of five 
 milliards. One milliard is to be paid in the course 
 of the year 1871, and the remainder of the debt 
 within a period of three years dating from the 
 ratification of peace. 
 
 Article III. regulates the details of the evacua- 
 tion, which is to take place at three periods : the 
 first to begin immediately after the ratification of 
 peace ; the second after the payment of the first 
 half milliard, and the third after the payment of 
 two milliards. During the third period, and until 
 the complete liquidation of the debt, only the
 
 THE TEELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 147 
 
 departments of Marne, Ardennes, Upper Marne, 
 Meuse, Vosges, Meurthe, Belfort and its territory, 
 will continue to be occupied by the Prussians. 
 
 The occupation of the interior of Paris and of 
 the forts on the left bank of the Seine will cease 
 after the ratification of peace, that of the fort on 
 the right bank and of the department of the Seine 
 after the payment of the first half milliard. 
 
 The French army is to retire beyond the Loire 
 until the signature of the final treaty of peace, 
 leaving upon the left bank only such garrisons as 
 are indispensable for the fortresses, and 40,000 
 men to form the guard of Paris. From the date 
 of the payment of two milliards, the army of occu- 
 pation is not to exceed 50,000 men in number. 
 The Emperor of Germany states that he will be 
 disposed to accept a financial guarantee at the 
 same date, as an equivalent for the guarantee 
 resulting from the territorial occupation. 
 
 Article IV. suppresses all requisitions in money 
 and in kind, on the French Gov^ernment under- 
 taking to provide rations for the German troops. 
 
 Article V. protects the interests of the citizens 
 in the ceded territories ; and secures to them the 
 right of declaring for France, without having to 
 suffer any loss of property. 
 
 Article VI. provides that the prisoners of war 
 shall be given up immediately after the ratification 
 
 L 2
 
 148 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 of tlie preliminaries, and prescribes tlie necessary 
 measures for accelerating that operation. 
 
 Article VII. designates Brussels as tlie place 
 in wbicli negotiations for the final treaty of peace 
 shall be opened, immediately after the ratification 
 of the preliminary treaty. 
 
 ArticleYIII. restores the collection of taxes to the 
 French Government at once; the administration, 
 properly so called, will not be restored to them until 
 after the ratification of the final treaty of peace. 
 
 The two last articles (Articles IX. and X.) are 
 simply a matter of form. Added to this was a 
 special agreement in four articles, which M. 
 Barthélémy Saint-IIilaire also read from the 
 tribune. 
 
 Article I. prolongs the armistice until the 12th 
 March. 
 
 The fourth article of the convention of the 
 28th January was to the effect that the German 
 troops should not enter Paris. This was replaced 
 by Article II. in these terms : " That part of the 
 city of Paris, which is within the enceinte, and 
 lies between the Seine, the Eue du Faubourg 
 Saint-Honoré and the Avenue des Ternes, will be 
 occupied by German troops, not exceeding 30,000 
 men in number. The manner of occupation and 
 the arrangements for billeting the German troops 
 in this part of the city shall be settled by agree-
 
 THE PRELIMINARIES OF PEACE. 149 
 
 ment between two superior officers of the two 
 armies, and access to it will be forbidden to the 
 Trench troops and the National Guard so long as 
 the occupation lasts." 
 
 Article III. forbids the German troops to levy 
 contributions in money in the occupied territory, 
 but it authorizes the Germans to collect the taxes 
 due to the state. 
 
 Lastly, in virtue of the Article IV., the two 
 contracting parties are at liberty to end the 
 armistice after the 3rd of March, with a delay of 
 three days for the resumption of hostihties, if such 
 should take place. 
 
 If we refer to Count Bismarck's requirements 
 as they were formulated on the 21st February, we 
 shall see at once what had been obtained by our 
 negotiators. We owed to them the fortress of 
 Belfort and the reduction by a milliard of the 
 sum at first demanded. We owed to them the 
 eventual substitution of a financial for a territorial 
 guarantee, after the payment of two milliards, the 
 suppression of requisitions in money and in kind, 
 the immediate restoration of our prisoners, the 
 re-establishment of the French authorities after 
 the signing of the peace. These concessions, 
 wrung with immense difficulty from Count Bis- 
 marck, by dint of talent and energy, had appeared 
 to M. Thiers, M. Jules Favre, and the parliamen-
 
 150 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEKS. 
 
 tary commission, to be a succession of victories ; 
 but to tlie Assembly, who only saw tlie total result 
 of the negotiations, tliat result was overwhelming. 
 The reading of the articles was hstened to with 
 consternation, and in gloomy silence, interrupted 
 from time to time by a spontaneous groan from 
 the benches. All this had been foreseen, yet it all 
 seemed new. So it is wdth those who gather round 
 the dying; vain is their knowledge that the agony 
 cannot last long, the actual death always takes 
 them by surprise and redoubles their anguish. 
 
 M. Thiers demanded *' urgency." There were 
 a thousand reasons for voting it. And yet, how 
 was the Assembly, hardly recovered from the har- 
 rowing emotion evoked by the words w^hich had 
 been just read, to consummate so terrible a sacrifice? 
 Those who would have had the war to continue 
 demanded at least time for inquiry and discussion. 
 M. Tolain, M. JMillière, M. Langlois, M. Turquet, 
 opposed urgency, which was, however, carried by 
 a large majority. M. Schœlcher and M. Gambetta 
 asked for an adjournment until the next day, in 
 order that the bill might be printed and distri- 
 buted. But M. Thiers insisted that the Chamber, 
 despite the lateness of the hour, should at once go 
 into committee. " There are," said he, " only 
 three or four questions in this treaty for you to 
 settle. A long and earnest examination was
 
 THE PEELIMIN ARIES OF PEACE. 151 
 
 necessary for tlie negotiators ; they discussed in 
 despair, and even with tears, each several con- 
 dition of the treaty ; they put forth all their 
 strength in the effort to preserve to the country 
 her territory and her wealth ; but for you, I repeat, 
 there are only three or four questions whose solu- 
 tion is in all minds and all hearts." He returned to 
 the charge over and over again, replying to every 
 objection : " One thing only I ask of you ; to 
 testify, by a vote, to your zeal for the execution of 
 the treaty. 
 
 *' By the simple manifestation of this disposition, 
 you may exercise considerable influence over the 
 state of Paris ; you may even save our capital from 
 a great misfortune." 
 
 In these words M. Thiers gave the real, the 
 principal reason for his persistence. According 
 to the terms of the treaty, the Prussians were to 
 evacuate Paris immediately upon the ratification 
 of peace. They had not yet entered Paris on the 
 28th. Arrangements had to be made with the 
 Commissariat and the staff, and they were not to 
 enter Paris until the 1st. The Emperor proposed 
 to come in on the 3rd, and to hold a review in 
 the Champs-Elysées. In Paris nothing else was 
 thought of, whilst at Bordeaux, where the treaty 
 was new, the " shameful and unacceptable " peace 
 was the sole topic. On the 2Gth February, M.
 
 152 THE GOVEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 Jules Favre wrote to M. Jules Simon, " We have 
 no security against some mad act on the entry of 
 the Prussians into Paris. They will occupy the 
 Champs-Elysées so far as the Tuileries. They 
 are to remain until the ratification of the prelimi- 
 naries. The ratification must therefore be speedy. 
 Besides, what good can discussion do ? Who has 
 not an opinion to give ? Is it not an impiety to 
 expose the misfortunes of our country ; and a 
 crime to add to them the spectacle of civil dissen- 
 sions ? The Assembly will understand this. Our 
 colleagues' hearts bleed with ours. They will think 
 as we do." 
 
 The discussion which took place on the 1st 
 March was in fact very short, occupying as it did 
 only one sitting ; but it was very passionate. The 
 reporter was M. Victor Lefranc. " We desire 
 but one thing," said he, " for the strengthening 
 and the pacifying of our consciences. It is that 
 this peace may be disapproved of only by those who 
 would have ventured to resolve upon prolonging 
 war." In these words all was said. M. Edgar 
 Quinet, M. Victor Hugo, and M. Louis Blanc made 
 admirable speeches on the terrible concessions 
 demanded by Prussia, and the possibility of 
 renewing the struggle. "Uni il now," said M. 
 Quinet, " conquerors have contented themselves 
 with laying their hands upon a territory, with
 
 THE PRELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 153 
 
 taking possession of it by force. They kept it if 
 they could. That was the right of war. Now 
 Prussia has advanced entirely novel claims. After 
 having seized upon Alsace and Lorraine, she 
 demands that this taking of possession shall be con- 
 secrated by universal suffrage. What is up to the 
 present time a depredation only would then become 
 a right, sanctioned by the French themselves ! " 
 Victor Hugo pointed out the political consequences 
 of such a dismemberment. " Henceforth," he said, 
 " there are in Europe two nations which will be 
 formidable, the one because it will be victorious, 
 the other, because it will be vanquished." He 
 affirmed that Germany would not keep her con- 
 quest. " Taking is not keeping. Possession 
 supposes consent. Did Turkey possess Athens ? 
 Did Austria possess Venice ? Does Eussia possess 
 Warsaw ? Does Spain possess Cuba ? Does 
 England possess Gibraltar ? " Victor Hugo was 
 in the right ; but he was wrong to be in the right 
 before an Assembly which was under the yoke of 
 inexorable necessity. The more the Assembly 
 saw and felt as he did, the more angry with him 
 they grew. They ended by forgetting that respect 
 which was doubly due to the person of Victor 
 Hugo and to the cause he was defending. He 
 remembered this, on the 8th March, when being 
 desirous to express the gratitude of the Republi-
 
 154 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 cans towards Garibaldi, he was again interrupted 
 and attacked by the Right. He sent in his resig- 
 nation on the spot. In vain M. Gré^^ implored 
 him to withdraw it, and even refused to read it. 
 Victor Hugo persisted. His letter of resignation 
 was read at the sitting next day. " It is one more 
 misfortune added to so many others," exclaimed 
 Louis Blanc, " that this powerful voice should be 
 silenced at the very moment when it was proclaim- 
 ing the country's gratitude for eminent services. 
 This sentiment will be shared by all who cherish 
 or revere genius fighting for liberty." 
 
 M. Victor Hugo, in opposing the treaty of 
 peace, had declared that France would one day 
 take her revenge npon Germany. " France will 
 be heard to say : It is my turn ! Germany, 
 behold me ! ! ! Am I your enemy ? No, I am 
 your sister ! I have taken all, and now restore 
 it upon one condition, that we become but one 
 people, one family, one single Republic. I am 
 about to demolish my fortresses, you shall destroy 
 yours. My vengeance is brotherly love ! " 
 
 The orators, who followed him, spoke only 
 of war. They maintained that we might still 
 fight with hopes of success. M. Brunet pro- 
 posed the formation of a military commission 
 to examine our means of action. M. Louis 
 Blanc asked, " Could we not find means to
 
 THE PEELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 155 
 
 disconcert the Prussians in the science of murder, 
 and the mathematics of carnage, by forming all 
 the elements of our strength into one homogeneous 
 whole, substituting partisan warfare for a great 
 war ; avoiding pitched battles, no longer opposing 
 a mass of men, raised hap-hazard, and undis- 
 ciplined, to hostile armies, strong in organization 
 and numbers, but a large number of small corps, 
 whose varied, ceaseless, and unforeseen action 
 would harass and weaken the enemy, and baffle 
 its strategy." 
 
 M. Thiers had ascended the tribune the first 
 time, only, as it were, to ask that he might not be 
 called upon to speak. 
 
 " If I could have seen," he said, " the slightest 
 chance of maintaining the struggle, of maintaining 
 it successfully, never would I have subjected myself 
 to one of the greatest sorrows of my life, that 
 of signing the preliminaries of peace which I have 
 brought you. It is my absolute conviction of the 
 impossibility of continuing this struggle, which has 
 constrained me to bow my head before the strength 
 of the foreigner. I entreat you not to impose 
 upon me the necessity of explaining the grounds 
 of my conviction ; my silence is a sacrifice which 
 I make to the safety and the future of my country.' 
 (Hear! hear!) Yes, my profound conviction is, 
 that by making peace to-day, and by submitting
 
 156 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEUS. 
 
 to this great trial, we are saving the future of our 
 country, and securing her future greatness. This 
 hope alone could have determined me. I offer no 
 advice to the Assembly ; I can only counsel it by 
 my example. (Hear! hear!) I have imposed 
 upon myself, I repeat, one of the most cruel 
 sorrows of my life." At this point the speaker 
 was overcome by emotion, and the Assembly broke 
 out into applause. " I conjure my honourable 
 colleagues not to force me to explain myself 
 further. The interests of our country alone could 
 constrain me to enter more at length upon this 
 discussion." 
 
 It may be said that nearly all the Assembly 
 understood these words, and shared the senti- 
 ments of the speaker. Even of the hundred 
 and seven representatives who voted some hours 
 afterwards against the ratification of the treaty, 
 more than half recognized, not the impossibility 
 of fighting, for no such impossibility existed, but 
 the impossibility of victory. Certain orators, 
 however, insisted upon speaking against the suffi- 
 ciently-evident feeling of the Assembly. To what 
 end it would be hard to tell, for each member had 
 reflected upon and studied the matter ; it was the 
 great care, the great trouble of the moment ; no 
 Frenchman could banish it fi^om his thoughts. 
 The deputies who had accepted so great a respon-
 
 THE PEELIMINABIES OF PEACE. 157 
 
 sibility were not suddenly enlightened on this occa- 
 sion as to the state of our resources. Each had 
 made up his mind beforehand. In the bureaus, 
 where all the details might be entered into, and 
 where publicity does not exist, there might have 
 been discussion, in order to convince ; at a public 
 sitting, to discuss was to accuse. And, in fact, 
 the bearing of every speech was an accusation 
 against M. Thiers. 
 
 " This is a peace which cannot be accepted, 
 you say. A treaty of shame ! Let him who 
 speaks of shame stand up ! " cried M. Thiers, who 
 was at last obliged to reascend the tribune and put 
 the truth before those who did not, or feigned 
 not to see it. He did this in a few words. He 
 showed what our regiments were when the war 
 broke out. Blank cadres. We went to war with 
 blank cadres, insuflScient war material, an inca- 
 pable general, an absurd plan of campaign. This 
 was the crime of the Empire. Out of 120 regi- 
 ments, 117 were made prisoners at Sedan and 
 Metz. It is true that armies were raised to 
 replace these regiments, but those armies were 
 merely masses of men, doomed, in spite of their 
 bravery and the skill of their generals, to defeat 
 and slaughter. A soldier cannot be made in a 
 day ; cadres cannot be filled in a year. " Where 
 are they, these armies that sprang from the earth ?
 
 158 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 In Germany. We have left only 200,000 recruits 
 under arms. The levee en masse, supposing it 
 possible, would not give us an officer, or a ser- 
 geant. We should resume the contest now, having 
 lost 420,000 men, all our former cadres of 
 trained and experienced officers and sub-officers, 
 an immense quantity of war material, Strasbourg, 
 Metz, Paris, all the positions north of the Loire. 
 It is not the feebleness of France that I come to 
 plead. I would die rather than plead that. I would 
 fain preserve hope, for without hope I could not 
 live. I only want to tell you that your organiza- 
 tion has been shattered, and that you cannot put 
 it together again in a few days. If there are any 
 military men here who think that they can say 
 the contrary, let them declare it from this tribune 
 and I will answer them." 
 
 In this speech, which occupied only a few 
 minutes, M. Thiers delineated our true position in 
 a few graphic touches ; that was neither the time 
 nor place to enter into details. It is the misfor- 
 tune of representative governments that too often 
 under critical circumstances they cannot tell every- 
 thing, they cannot assign their true motives. The 
 Assembly had, in the sitting of the 19th Feb- 
 ruary, upon the proposal of M. Barthélémy 
 Saint-Hilaire, ordered an inquiry into the state 
 of our military resources. This inquiry had been
 
 THE PEELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 159 
 
 effected witli great expedition ; the results were 
 not published until the 11th March, but the 
 members of the commission were in possession 
 of the principal items. M. Brunei asserted from 
 the tribune that we could bring into the field 
 a million of men and 12,000 field-pieces. " I am 
 a member of the military commission," said he, 
 *' and from the first day to the last I have sought 
 to make myself acquainted with the real state of 
 our forces. I say that, in respect of men, who 
 number a miUion, and in respect of material, 
 which includes 12,000 field-pieces, we are in such 
 a position, that with great eff"orts, and under the 
 direction of an earnest executive, it is possible to 
 reestablish our armies and to continue the con- 
 test." Thus, in this same sitting of the 1st March, 
 M. Brunet, a member of the commission, talks of 
 a million of men, and M. Thiers, Chief of the 
 Executive, declares that we could not take the 
 field against a regular army of 500,000 soldiers. 
 The Assembly would have been able to account 
 for this apparent contradiction ; they would have 
 seen the truth clearly, if the Report of Admiral 
 Jaureguiberry, which was not distributed until ten 
 days afterwards, had been before them. Yes ! 
 France had called out a million of men; but of 
 this million, 420,000 were prisoners. There was 
 still an active army of 534,000 men, a reserve of
 
 160 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 354,000, and tliose enrolled in 1871, consisting 
 of 132,000 men, who might be called out at short 
 notice. All these came to more than a million on 
 paper. The error was in thinking that a million of 
 men were at our disposal. Unhappily, the report 
 of M. Jauréguiberry dispelled the illusion. We 
 shall see presently how he rated the active army. 
 Let us begin, like him, with the army of reserve. 
 " The men now existing in the territorial divisions, 
 in the depots, in Algeria, and a large number of 
 mobilized national guards in the training camps, 
 will form, when armed, equipped, and drilled, the 
 reserve of the active army. At present not 
 more than 53,087 soldiers of various arms could 
 be placed in line. It would be possible, later on, 
 to add to these forces the men enrolled in 1871, 
 whose effective strength amounts to 132,000 
 recruits. But the Minister of War has not 
 thought it advisable to call out these young 
 men, because he is unable to arm, clothe, and 
 drill them." 
 
 Here, then, are nearly 350,000 men, who form 
 our reserves, as the Admiral says, and will make 
 an army, when they have been drilled, disciplined, 
 equipped, and trained. They might indeed be 
 counted upon "to reorganize our army," as M. 
 Brunet said ; but it is not a question of reorgan- 
 izing armies, but of having an army to bring into
 
 THE PEELIMINAEIES OP PEACE. 161 
 
 the field by the 6tli of Marcli, tbe day on wliich 
 hostilities might be recommenced, according to the 
 terms of the armistice. 
 
 'Now out of these 354,000, or 500,000 men, 
 if we reckon those enrolled in 1871, how 
 many can be brought into the field on that 
 day — for the particular date is all-important ? 
 Admiral Jaureguiberry replies with inexorable 
 precision, 53,087. M. de Guirand gives the same 
 number in a supplementary Report upon the 
 efi&ciency of the army, but it is noticeable that to 
 the words, " 53,100 men, ready for service," he 
 adds, " wanting accoutrements." The active army 
 was then the only force on which we could 
 reckon. " France can only count at present," says 
 the Report, " upon the troops forming the active 
 army. These will be immediately called upon to 
 maintain the struggle should hostilities be re- 
 commenced." The effective strength of the ten 
 army corps composing our active army, on the 
 1st March, 1871, was proved to amount to 
 634,552 men, a number somewhat short of the 
 million M. Brunet talked of. From this total 
 2090 had to be deducted for the gendarmerie; 
 2375 for the staff", 6,408 for the various adminis- 
 trations, in all about 11,000 men. M. de Mornay, 
 who also furnished a Report, deducts, besides, 
 16,022 men for the free corps. " The free 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 162 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 corps," lie says, "wliicli were very numerous at 
 the beginning of the war, are now greatly 
 reduced in numbers. Their presence in advance 
 of the army has been, besides, of very little 
 advantage, and with the exception of some 
 special corps, whose exploits recall the finest 
 traits of heroism in our history, the military 
 authorities have found themselves under the 
 necessity of disbanding most of them. They 
 were sometimes more dangerous than useful, and 
 their insubordination and want of discipline were 
 very injurious to the regular troops." Both 
 Admiral Jauréguiberry and M. de Mornay re- 
 ported very unfavourably of the mobilized corps. 
 "We must quote the admiral's words. 
 
 " With regard to the mobilized national guards, 
 whose cadres have been filled by election, we must 
 unfortunately admit that they have hardly ren- 
 dered any service, and that their ignorance of 
 the art of war, their want of discipline and of 
 steadiness in presence of the enemy, have fre- 
 quently been the cause of serious evils. Some 
 splendid exceptions ought, however, to be pointed 
 out, for mobilized battalions might be named 
 whose ardour has rivalled that of veteran 
 troops. 
 
 "It is not impossible," he adds, "to remedy 
 the relative inferiority of this considerable portion
 
 THE PEELIMINAEIES OE PEACE. 163 
 
 of our troops ; but for this it would be necessary 
 completely to reform their cadres, to give them 
 military instruction and habits of discipline, 
 which need time for their acquirement, under 
 the direction of capable commanders, at once 
 energetic and patient." We must then deduct, 
 according to the Admiral, 135,735 mobilized 
 national guards, who would, like the men of the 
 reserve, have become good soldiers in time ; but 
 time was precisely that which we lacked most ; and 
 the Germans, aware of our state of disorganiza- 
 tion, refused to give us even until the 12th March ; 
 and insisted upon the right of recommencing the 
 war at their pleasure. " The armistice may be 
 declared at an end on the 3rd, hostilities may 
 recommence on the 6th." All deductions made, 
 we could actually bring into the field 60,307 
 men, consisting of regiments of the line, and 
 135,735 mobilized guards, in all, 204,942 men. 
 These are Admiral Jauréguiberry's figures. " In 
 one word, at present we could in reality only 
 oppose to the enemy's armies 205,000 infantry, 
 including regiments of the line and mobiles ; 
 nearly all the rest is a hindrance, and a source of 
 disorder, and can only furnish us with soldiers 
 worthy of the name several months hence." 
 
 A force subsequently mentioned by the Admiral 
 must, however, be added to the list ; it consisted 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 of a corps of marines 14,000 strong — one small in 
 numbers, but great in military virtues and wortli. 
 Our infantry was tlius raised to a total of 220,000 
 men. 
 
 Admiral Jaureguiberry concludes : — 
 
 " We have then, outside of special arms, only 
 220,000 infantry capable of offering resistance." 
 
 " Shall this resistance be crowned with the 
 success we all desire so ardently ? We dare not 
 even hope it; for we must not hide from our- 
 selves, that to conquer armies, so numerous, so 
 well organized in all respects as those of our enemy, 
 it is indispensable that our troops should be, not 
 only trained and well armed, but, above all, 
 animated by a spirit of dauntless endurance, 
 by contempt of danger, and by an ardent 
 patriotism, which unfortunately they do not all 
 possess. 
 
 " The 220,000 infantry upon whom we can count, 
 up to a certain point, are too easily disheartened. 
 A fight prolonged beyond a few hours fatigues and 
 disconcerts them, and as our enemies have always 
 reserves at theircommand, while thenumerical weak- 
 ness of our army deprives us of a similar resource, 
 the result is, that at the end of an obstinate engage- 
 ment, during which we have succeeded in main- 
 taining our positions, we are obliged to retreat, 
 because the enemy has been able to make a flank
 
 THE PEELIMINARIES OP PEACE. 165 
 
 movement at a great distance, or to recommence 
 the attack with fresh troops. 
 
 " Our soldiers would fight with more obstinacy, 
 and would not break their ranks, if the cadres 
 of our regiments were better composed. 
 
 " The disasters of the outset of the war have 
 deprived France of nearly all her best officers and 
 sub-officers." 
 
 It is necessary to insist upon these details, 
 because it is now constantly said, by men who 
 believe what they say, that we had a million of men 
 to bring into the field, and that we could have 
 reversed our defeat by a levée en masse. The facts, 
 for whose accuracy such a man as Jauréguiberry 
 has vouched, are a conclusive answer to all state- 
 ments of this kind. The commission included 
 eight generals, three colonels on active service, 
 and several retired officers. It is not possible, in 
 the face of such a report, to accuse France of 
 cowardice. She submitted to peace, because she 
 could not continue the war without rushing upon 
 irreparable disaster. The 205,000 with whom we 
 must have opposed the 500,000 disciplined soldiers 
 of the German army, were made up of soldiers of 
 various arms and regiments, for we had no longer 
 a complete regiment of the former line. These 
 soldiers formed a regiment, if you will, because 
 they had a number, colours, and a colonel ; but
 
 166 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the real regiment, wticb. is a family, wliose officers 
 know their soldiers, and tlie soldiers their officers, 
 where each man is surrounded by friends and 
 observers, where there is a heritage of honour to 
 defend in common, the regiment which con- 
 stituted the glory and the strength of the former 
 army of France ; where was it ? " All these corps," 
 says Jauréguibery, speaking of the 205,000 men, 
 who formed almost the whole of our army ; " all 
 these corps have for the most part new cadres, and 
 in capacity and experience are too often defec- 
 tive." When the admiral thus pronounced upon 
 the numbers and condition of our forces, with 
 the sure judgment of a man accustomed to war, 
 he could not foresee the spectacle that should be 
 presented by a part of our army at Paris on 
 the 18th March ; he had not seen the soldiers 
 huddled together at Versailles the day after the in- 
 surrection, irresolute, undisciplined, hardly know- 
 ing whether they would or would not make up 
 their minds to obey and fight. It is true, this 
 same army reformed itself after the first shots 
 were fired ; but who among us can ever forget 
 the suspense of all patriots, until the troops of 
 General Yinoy, descending the heights of Montre- 
 tout, dispersed the insurgents and drove them 
 beyond Neuilly. At that date Germany had 
 already given us back some of our imprisoned
 
 THE PRELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 167 
 
 soldiers, tlie cadres liad been reconstituted, which 
 was all-important, and could not have been done 
 but for the peace. To judge what our army 
 could have done if all the prisoners had remained 
 in Germany, by what it actually did, with the 
 good officers and sub -officers belonging to the 
 old regiments and just returned to us, would be 
 to imitate the error of those speakers, who, at the 
 sitting of the 1st March, reckoned raw recruits, 
 who did not know how to handle a musket if they 
 had even had muskets to handle, as fighting men 
 fit to march against the enemy. Two facts were 
 incontestably proved by Admiral Jauréguiberry's 
 Report : one, that we could not fight to-day ; the 
 other, that we might recover to-morrow. Thus, 
 then, we must submit to peace, if we would reserve 
 the future to ourselves. A re-perusal of M. Thiers' 
 speech on that memorable and sorrowful occa- 
 sion, on which the Assembly ratified the treaty of 
 peace, must lead to this double conclusion, and 
 we know that the years which have since passed 
 away have confirmed the precision of his words 
 upon those two points. 
 
 The Assembly, who at that time had unlimited 
 confidence in him, divined what he did not utter, 
 took his reserve kindly, and hastened to close the 
 discussion in accordance with his advice, in which 
 they all concurred. It was indeed more than
 
 1G8 THE GOVEKNMEÎs"T OF M. THIERS. 
 
 time to have done witli it. On tbat very day, tlie 
 1st Marcli, the Prussians invaded the Champs 
 Elysées ; the Emperor of Germany was to make 
 his solemn entry two days later. By an imme- 
 diate vote Paris might be delivered after an occu- 
 pation of forty-eight hours, and the military fetes^ 
 which would have been an insult to us, and 
 dangerous to all, prevented. M. Thiers had only 
 been able to hint at this, M. Cocbery reiterated 
 it pertinaciously. The sitting had been already 
 prolonged by the incident, due to the imprudence 
 of M. Conti, which had led to the declaration 
 of the deposition of the Imperial dynasty. 
 M. Henri Martin, M. André (of Moselle), M. 
 Langlois, M. Brisson, M. Delescluze, M. Floquet, 
 M. Clemenceau, M. Tolain, and others had put 
 down their names, but they all waived their 
 right to speak. What could they have said after 
 such speakers as M. Victor Hugo, M. Edgar Quinet, 
 M. Louis Blanc ? "What could they have replied 
 to M. Thiers ? General Changarnier, in a few 
 supremely dignified words, advised peace. The 
 Assembly voted for peace by 548 votes against 107. 
 It was remarked at the counting, and has since 
 been commented upon, that four generals. Billot, 
 Chanzy, Loysel, and Mazure, had voted against 
 peace. General Deligny abstained from voting, 
 as did the Orleans Princes. On the other hand,
 
 THE PEELIMINAEIES OP PEACE. 169 
 
 the ratification was voted by nineteen generals 
 and admirals — D'Aurelles de Paladines, Cliabaud- 
 Latour, Chabron, Changarnier, Charetou, Dom- 
 pierre d'Hornoy, Ducrot, Fouriclion, Frebault, 
 Jauréguiberry, La E-oncière le Noury, Le Flo, 
 Martin des Pallières, Montaignac, Pellissier, Poth- 
 uan, Saisset du Temple, and Trocbu. Among 
 the four who voted in silence that day, General 
 Chanzy only explained himself afterwards, when 
 he spoke, on the 18th May, 1871, against the 
 final treaty of peace. It would be rash to 
 speculate upon the motives of the other three, 
 but it may be admitted that in the improbable 
 but not impossible case of a resumption of 
 hostilities, they did not wish to record their con- 
 viction that success was impossible beforehand. 
 
 M. Jules Simon had taken measures that the 
 text of the law, clothed with all the ojfficial for- 
 malities, should be at once carried to Paris, and 
 communicated to Count Bismarck. The document 
 had been copied beforehand, and prepared for the 
 necessary signatures, which were affixed to it 
 immediately after the vote. A special train was 
 in readiness, and started at once for Paris, carry- 
 ing deliverance to the capital. 
 
 The ratification was the signal for numerous 
 resignations. M. Girot-Pouzol had resigned at 
 the commencement of the sittinsr. *' I could not
 
 170 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. TUIEIÎS. 
 
 make up my mind to vote for the bill," said lie; 
 " but as I know that in acting thus I should not 
 give satisfaction to my constituents, I resign my 
 seat." The terms in which the resignation of 
 M. Grosjean and his colleagues of Moselle, and of 
 Upper and Lower Rhine, were tendered, affected 
 the Assembly painfully. They were as follows : — 
 
 " The representatives of Alsace and Lorraine, 
 prior to any peace negotiations, laid a declaration 
 before the National Assembly, by which they 
 affirmed, in the name of these provinces, their will 
 and their right to remain French. Delivered 
 over, in contempt of all justice and by an odious 
 abuse of power, to the rule of the foreigner, we 
 have a last duty to fulfil. 
 
 " We declare once more that a compact which 
 disposes of us without our consent is null and 
 void." 
 
 "It remains for ever open to one and all of us 
 to claim our rights, in such form and measure as 
 our conscience may dictate. 
 
 " On quitting this Assembly, in which our 
 dignity no longer allows us to sit, and notwith- 
 standing the bitterness of our grief, the one 
 supreme feeling in the depth of our hearts is 
 gratitude to those who for six months have unceas- 
 ingly defended us, and of unalterable attachment 
 to the country from which we are violently torn.
 
 THE PBELIMINAEIES OP PEACE. 171 
 
 " We shall follow you witli our hearts, and 
 wait with perfect confidence, until, in the future, 
 regenerated France shall once more resume the 
 course of her great destiny. 
 
 " Your brethren of Alsace and Lorraine, now 
 separated from the common family, will preserve 
 a faithful love for France, absent from our fire- 
 sides, until the day when she shall return and 
 resume her place there." 
 
 This document bore twenty-eight signatures, 
 and was followed by the resignation of the three 
 deputies of Meurthe; MM. Varroy, Brice, and 
 Claude. Some of those who resigned again 
 obtained seats in the Assembly, either by new 
 elections, or in consequence of a parliamentary 
 incident wliich occurred at the sitting of the 11th 
 March, on the resignation of MM. Georges and 
 Denfert-Rochereau, and which, we will narrate in 
 this place. 
 
 M. Grévy, after having read letters from the two 
 deputies above-mentioned, spoke as follows : — 
 
 " The President avails himself of this oppor- 
 tunity to point out to M. Georges and M. Denfert, 
 and also to those among our colleagues, who, 
 finding themselves placed in an analogous posi- 
 tion have thought it right to send in their resig- 
 nation, that notwithstanding the changes of 
 condition which the populations who elected them
 
 172 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 have had to undergo, they are, and ought to 
 remain, representatives of the French people. 
 It is my duty to point this out, in the interests 
 of the Assembly, as well as in those of the 
 populations of the Eastern provinces, who will 
 remain French. 
 
 " I can only invite M. Georges and those of our 
 colleagues who are in the same position, not to 
 persist in their withdrawal and resignation." 
 
 These words received unanimous assent. M. 
 Georges, who was present at the sitting, im- 
 mediately withdrew his resignation ; MM. Varroy, 
 Brice, Claude, Bamberger, André, and Deschange 
 followed his example. Twenty deputies were, 
 however, finally lost to the nation. This was a 
 source of grief to the whole country; and a severe 
 blow to the Republican party, who thus found 
 their numerical strength lessened, and had to 
 regret it bitterly, on one or two important occa- 
 sions, when they were beaten by a majority of one 
 or two. 
 
 The 2nd March brought demonstrations of a 
 different class ; first came the collective resigna- 
 tion of MM. Rochefort, Ranc, Tridon, and Malon. 
 The latter signed himself, " B. Malon of the In- 
 ternational." Their letter declares the Assembly 
 deposed; and is a formal act of insurrection, a 
 forerunner of the insurrection of the 18th March.
 
 THE PEELIMINARIES OF PEACE. 173 
 
 "By the vote of tlie 1st March the Assembly 
 has dehvered up two provinces, dismembered 
 France, ruined the country. It is therefore no 
 longer the voice of the country, and its delibera- 
 tions are henceforth null and void. 
 
 " The votes of the four generals commanding 
 our army corps, and the significant abstention of 
 three others from voting, give a formal contradic- 
 tion to M. Thiers' assertions that we are incapable 
 of continuing the war. 
 
 " Our conscience, therefore, forbids us to sit a 
 day longer in an Assembly whose acts we cannot 
 recognize as valid." 
 
 The three generals mentioned in this letter, 
 as having abstained from voting, are General 
 Deligny, the Due d'Aumale, and M. de Charette. 
 The latter was at Rennes when the vote was 
 taken. His resignation, based upon other motives 
 than the vote of the 1st March, reached the 
 Assembly on the 6th. 
 
 M. Félix Pyat's letter is in the same style as that 
 of MM. Rochefort, Ranc, Tridon, and Malon: — 
 
 " Citizen President, 
 
 " The vote of the National Assembly has im- 
 posed a duty of conscience upon me ; the duty of 
 declaring that this vote has outraged my mandate. 
 I am the representative of the sovereign people,
 
 17é THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 and not their master, and if I kept silence before 
 the vote, it was because I was not authorized to 
 discuss such a treaty. 
 
 *' I have received from the people an impera- 
 tive mandate. I do not know the mandate of 
 others, but I know my own. It is this : An 
 honourable peace, Trance and the Kepublic 
 indivisible. 
 
 " I am then bound to protest, not to resign. 
 The Assembly has no power to accept my 
 resignation, for it is dissolved. It no longer 
 represents France, all France, by whom it was 
 called together on the 8th February: it exists 
 no longer. 
 
 "Faithful to my mandate, to the unity of France, 
 to the duty of representing her such as she was 
 when her capital did me the honour to elect me, 
 I am bound to protest, by leaving this Assembly, 
 which can no longer represent France in her 
 entirety, and I will never enter it again so long as 
 this parricidal vote shall remain unannulled. 
 *' Greeting and fraternity, 
 
 " Felix Pyat.'* 
 
 M. Ledru Rollin had been beforehand with 
 them all. He resigned on the 28th February, 
 from similar motives, having protested in advance 
 " against the harrowing and fatal things that were 
 about to take place."
 
 THE PRELIMINAEIES OF PEACE. 175 
 
 Sucli is, in brief, tlie sad history of the prelimi- 
 naries of peace. 
 
 The final treaty, which was only the applica- 
 tion of the bases laid down by these preliminaries, 
 was discussed at Frankfort during the insurrec- 
 tion of Paris, and voted at Versailles on the 20th 
 May, 1871.
 
 176 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEfiS. 
 
 CHAPTER lY. 
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8th MARCH, 1 8/ 1. 
 
 The insurrection of the Commune, wliicli tri- 
 umphed on the 18th March, did not begin on that 
 day. The same actors, with the same object, 
 may be traced in all the disturbances in 
 February and March, 1871 ; and again on the 
 31st of October, and the 22nd of January. 
 It would be an exaggeration to say that they 
 took the chief part on the 4th of September ; 
 that day's work was the deed of the entire popu- 
 lation. A multitude in which parties were lost, 
 rendered all-powertul by indignation, overturned 
 the Imperial Government, without any considera- 
 tion of what was to be substituted for it. The 
 future organizers of the Commune were, how- 
 ever, on the spot, and were perhaps the only 
 persons who had a fixed design, and were under 
 control. They were the first to enter the 
 Assembly, and they marched to the Hôtel de Ville
 
 PAEIS JBEFOEE THE i8tH MAECH, 1 87 1. 177 
 
 witli tlie premeditated intention of seizing upon 
 the reins of government. They had indeed 
 formed their government beforehand — Blanqui 
 and Delescluze were its chiefs, — and they had 
 already thrown the list of names out of the 
 windows of the Salle St. Jean, among the crowd, 
 when M. Jules Favre appeared upon the balcony, 
 and was saluted by acclamations which put a stop 
 to all competition. They submitted, with a bitter 
 regret, that they did not try to conceal, to the 
 formation of the Government of Defence, impro- 
 vised on the spur of the moment by the 500,000 
 men who thronged the Place de la Concorde, the 
 Place de Bourgogne, the quays, the Place de 
 l'Hôtel de Ville, and the Hôtel de Ville itself, and 
 who with one voice laid this burden upon the 
 deputies for Paris. Decimated after the Coup 
 d'Etat of the 2nd December, and the proscription 
 which ensued, this party had left the Republicans, 
 liberal and conservative, to carry on the struggle 
 against the Empire. They did not appear, either 
 as speakers at the electoral meetings, or as candi- 
 dates in the elections of 1857, 1858, and 18(33. 
 They had a candidate of their own for the first 
 time in the partial elections of 1864. The earliest 
 organization of workmen, which had nothing 
 political about it at the outset, dates from 1862. 
 Sixty delegates, chosen by the workmen out of 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 178 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 the different corporations, were sent at the Govern- 
 ment expense to the Exhibition in London. On 
 their return to Paris their reports had to be 
 written out, read in common, and revised for 
 pubhcation : all this took time. The sixty dele- 
 gates asked nothing better than to become a 
 permanent representation of the workmen, and 
 the workmen asked nothing better than to have 
 one. Two years later, in 1864, the sixty men 
 still formed a sort of central committee, which 
 claimed to speak in the name of the workshops of 
 Paris. The partial elections seemed to offer a 
 good opportunity for asserting themselves. They 
 published a political and social manifesto, and 
 called for a workman candidate. The desired 
 candidate was M. Tolaiu, who stood against M. 
 Garnier Pages, and had only 495 votes. 
 
 Then it was that Proudhon published his book, 
 entitled " La Capacité Politique des Classes Ouv- 
 lièresy "Since," he says, "the working classes 
 have for the first time made an act of will and 
 personality in the elections of 1863-64, since it is 
 upon this occasion that we have heard them 
 stammer their ideas, since their first appearance 
 has been at once a great victory and a great 
 blunder, let us begin by showing them the conse- 
 quences of the experiment." The great victory 
 was their having beaten the Government, and the
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 179 
 
 great blunder, according to Proudhon, was tlieir 
 having sacrificed tlie workmen's candidatesliip to 
 the bourgeois candidates. 
 
 From that ' moment, the sociah'st movement, 
 which had been arrested in 1852, increased in 
 importance day by day. Proudhon contributed 
 to this by his writings, M. Tolain by his in- 
 telligence and activity, and the Government by 
 a line which they adopted after some hesitation ; 
 that of exaggerating the strength of the socialists 
 in their journals and speeches, and throwing the 
 responsibility of socialist doctrines on all Repub- 
 licans, in order to put themselves forward as the 
 sole guardians of social interests. On the 26th 
 September, 1864, M. Tolain went to London with 
 two other workmen delegates, to be present at 
 the great meeting at St. Martin's Hall, where the 
 bases of the International Association of workmen 
 were laid. On his return he established the office 
 of the French branch in the Rue de Gravilliers, 
 and took care to send the statutes of the associa- 
 tion to the Minister of the Interior and the Prefect 
 of Police. He attended as delegate of the French 
 branch at the subsequent congresses of the Asso- 
 ciation, which took place in London in 1865, at 
 Geneva in 1866, at Lausanne in 1867, at Brussels 
 in 1868, and at Basle in 1860. With that practical 
 good sense which has always distinguished him ou 
 
 N 2
 
 180 TUE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 these occasions, lie defeuded the rights of indi- 
 vidual property against the Communists, who, 
 however, gained the preponderance, and fixed 
 upon the International Association — whose aim 
 had been for the three first years but ill- 
 defined — the character of a political association, 
 with the claiming of political rights for working 
 men for its immediate object, and Communism 
 for a theory. 
 
 The claiming of political rights for working 
 men would have had no seasonableness to French 
 citizens, even under the Empire, if it had been 
 taken in its literal sense. All Frenchmen possessed 
 the same rights both civil and political; the work- 
 men might be elected, like other citizens ; no one 
 dreamed of contesting this. But what they called 
 by that name, was not the right to run the 
 same chances with others in the elections, it was 
 the right of having a direct and special repre- 
 sentation in Parliament ; a bench of workmen in 
 the Corps Législatif, like the bench of bishops in 
 the Senate. This was, undeniably, a social ques- 
 tion ; for if the workman be elected in virtue of a 
 common right, he represents equality, but if he 
 be elected because he is a workman, and under 
 the pretext that the workmen have an exceptional 
 right to send members of their own class to Parlia- 
 ment, he no longer represents anything except
 
 PAEIS BEFOEE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 181 
 
 the contest between labour and capital. In 1867, 
 after the abortive manifestation of the 2ncl 
 November, a search was made at the house of 
 M. Chouteau — a member of the Central Com- 
 mittee in 1871 — and the statutes of a secret 
 society, called " The revolutionary Commune of 
 the workmen of Paris," were brought to light. 
 
 All workmen were not socialists, and all social- 
 ist workmen did not belong to the International 
 Association, which derived much of its impor- 
 tance from the alarm with which it inspired the 
 Conservative party. Nevertheless it grew. A bond 
 of union was naturally formed between it and 
 communist or simply socialist writers, who 
 undertook to spread the opinions of Proudhon 
 and Blanqui, by means of pamphlets, confer- 
 ences, and newspaper articles. The non-socialist 
 revolutionaries, whose dream was to return to 
 the principles of 1791, and who had Delescluze 
 for their ringleader, could only succeed with 
 the concurrence of the workmen, and there- 
 fore supported them in their revolt, without 
 associating themselves with their theories. Pro- 
 cessions to the tomb of Baudin, who died for 
 liberty during the " da3^s of December," and the 
 prosecutions to which they gave rise, cemented 
 the alliance. Popular meetings at which attacks 
 upon the Government were mingled with attacks
 
 182 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 upon property, and wliicli increased in number 
 after 18C8, brought the greater part of tbe men 
 of the future Commune prominently forward : 
 Peyrouton, tbe Gaillards, father and son, Longuet, 
 Briosne, Pindy the carpenter, Yermorel, Ducasse, 
 Lefrancais, and Humbert. M. Félix Pyat had 
 also received a sentence in 1863, and had risen 
 in popular favour in consequence. Men who 
 were for agitation by the press, by secret societies, 
 by street rows, reappeared on every side. 
 Then came strikes, menacing combinations, and 
 violent repressions. The troubles of Ricamarie 
 left behind them eleven corpses (nine men and 
 two women) ; the scenes at Aubin were not less 
 disastrous. 
 
 These terrible commentaries upon Communist 
 doctrines rendered them still more odious, and 
 the Government, faitliful to its policy, made use 
 of them against its enemies, who, for the most 
 part, repudiated them, and held them in horror. 
 The conservative Republicans, who were objects of 
 hatred and distrust to the Communists, did not 
 think it possible for public opinion to be deceived 
 into holding them responsible for anti-liberal 
 doctrines and practices. They did not repu- 
 diate the libel with sufficient energy, and it 
 happened that they gave a pretext to it on 
 more than one occasion. "While the Government
 
 PAKIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 187I. 183 
 
 was attributing every outbreak of disorder and 
 every false and perverse idea to them, tliey con- 
 fined themselves to contemptuous denials, and 
 so great was their need of allies, that they 
 accepted, not indeed compromising alliances, but 
 questionable approaches. They contested the 
 doctrines, but showed too much indulgence for 
 the men who held them. This was a mistake, 
 which may be explained, but not justified, by the 
 violence done in electoral matters by the Empire, 
 its manifold abuses of authority, its financial 
 scandals, and its deplorable foreign policy 
 
 In 1869, at the elections, however, an absolute 
 and final separation took place. The revolu- 
 tionists opposed Jules Favre by Eochfort, Garnier- 
 Pages by Raspail, Jules Simon by Vallès, Glais- 
 Bizoin by Barbes. They had thought of bringing 
 forward, first Ledru-RoUin, and then Louis Blanc, 
 in aU the arrondissements ; but these two men 
 seemed " hardly pure " enough. The election 
 of their candidates was to be preliminary to 
 the rising. Clearly to express the aim they had 
 in view, and although E-ochefort and Raspail 
 had taken the oath, they called their candidates, 
 " the unsworn." M. Lulher, a candidate in 1869, 
 and afterwards a general under the Commune, 
 wrote in his circular, " Danton will come back 
 from the Shades I " M. Maurice Joly demanded
 
 184 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 for tlie people the right of opposing the promulga- 
 tion of the laws, election for one year only, an 
 imperative mandate, and a constituent assembly. 
 " A manifestation is expected from the electors of 
 Paris," said Lefrançais, *' which will bring all 
 France to herself once more." Citizen Lombard 
 made a direct attack upon the deputies of the 
 Left. "We have," he said, "to name four 
 deputies ; what advantage will it be to us to have 
 four irreconcilable deputies the more ? We have 
 seen them — these irreconcilable deputies : the 
 word is big, but the deputies are very little. 
 What have they done ? Nothing, nothing, nothing. 
 Vote for an unsworn one, without troubling your- 
 selves about anything else concerning him ; vote, 
 if you like, for the poorest and most obscure 
 individual, for a rag-picker if you please ; but, I 
 beg of you, let him be one who has not taken the 
 oath.'' 
 
 The agitation continued after the elections, 
 which gave the victory to moderate Repub- 
 licans. The Government had not summoned the 
 Chambers for the 2Gth of October, although 
 legally required to do so. M. de Kcratry proposed 
 to his colleagues that they should meet without 
 being summoned, present themselves formally on 
 the 26th at the Palais Bourbon, and hold their 
 first sitting there. Here was an opportunity ready-
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 185 
 
 made for the ringleadei^s ; but the reaction on their 
 side also promised themselves a signal triumph, and 
 not without reason. The conservative Republicans 
 nipped the manifestation in the bud. M. Jules 
 Simon came back from Naples on purpose. " I 
 have done all I could," he wrote some time after, 
 in a letter which was made public, "that there 
 should be neither any movement, nor the appear- 
 ance of any movement, on the 26th; if my 
 popularity suffers in consequence, as you say it 
 will, so much the worse for me, and so much the 
 worse for the cause I serve." His popularity with 
 his own party did not suffer. The sensible and 
 moderate Republicans approved highly of the con- 
 duct of the deputies. It was otherwise with the 
 revolutionary party. A meeting was held on the 
 Boulevard Clichy ; Milliere presided, and MM. 
 Jules Simon, Pelletan, Bancel, and Ferry, were 
 called upon "to explain themselves" as it was 
 called. The explanation degenerated at once into 
 a quarrel, and the deputies, seeing the discussion 
 would be neither free nor fair, withdrew, after 
 having entered a protest. 
 
 Day by day the gulf between the Revolutionists 
 and the Liberals widened. MM. Raspail and 
 Rochefort, who sat with the Republican group 
 on the Left, but who never joined their meetings, 
 and were not even on terms of common pohte-
 
 186 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 ness witli the members composing it, introduced 
 a bill on the 8th December which M. Forcade 
 de la Roquette described as a ridiculous notion. 
 "A state is the multiple of the Commune, the 
 Commune is the multiple of the family. The 
 Municipal Council, which is elected for three years, 
 shall nominate the Mayor for a year. In a case 
 of difference between two Communes, a jury of 
 six members shall judge between them ; if be- 
 tween two arrondissements, it shall be submitted 
 to the Legislative Body. 
 
 "The Legislative Body, freely elected by uni- 
 versal suffrage, is the Commune of the Communes. 
 , . . Progressive taxation shall replace all other 
 taxation. The Legislative Body shall annually 
 fix the amount of the taxes ; the Commune shall 
 make the assessment. 
 
 " The Legislative Body shall nominate the 
 generals." 
 
 The ever-increasing mob of revolutionists and 
 communists were wildly excited by these fine 
 fancies. 
 
 M. Rochefort was the idol of this mob. He 
 had it completely in his hands on the day of the 
 funeral of Victor Noir. 
 
 He was wise enough not to let it loose on Paris. 
 A word from him was sufficient to restrain it ; no 
 one else, except perhaps M. Raspail, would have
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MAKCH, 1 87 1. 187 
 
 been listened to. M. Rocliefort was arrested 
 some days afterwards, under circumstances much 
 to be deplored, and which led to a disturbance. 
 M. Flourens illegally arrested a commissary of 
 police; Mégy shot a pohce agent. The police 
 made 450 arrests. The Left protested against a 
 policy of provocation and repression à outrance, 
 without, however, admitting any identification of 
 themselves with the actors or their principals. "I 
 do not understand," said M. OUivier (15th Feb- 
 ruary, 1870), "how the members of the opposition, 
 who have always frankly declared that their poHcy 
 was not a revolutionary policy, how men who so 
 openly and freely represent the legal and consti- 
 tutional opposition, associate themselves with a 
 policy which is a negation of and a satire upon 
 their own policy as well as ours." The Members 
 of the Left neither associated themselves with 
 the policy of Flourens, nor with the crime of 
 Mégy ; but they claimed, as was their duty, the 
 protection of the forms of law even for the men 
 who calumniated and condemned them. 
 
 What had they in common with the doctrines 
 and conduct of Assi, the leader of the strike at 
 Creuzot, with the regicidal speech of Félix Pyat, 
 at the anniversary banquet of January 21st, with 
 the attempted assassination by Beaury, with the 
 thirty-eight accused members of the International,
 
 188 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 and tlie seventy-two men accused at Tours ? It 
 was an indelible stain upon tlic deputies of tlie 
 Left, in the eyes of the Jacobins and Socialists, 
 tliat they were liberals, and bourgeois, Republicans 
 after tlieir own manner, not tlie right one, and 
 partisans of equality before the law, which by 
 maintaining property, hereditary succession, and 
 the pretended rights of capital, allows privileges 
 to subsist. 
 
 At the sitting of the Federal Council of the 
 International Association on the 12th of January, 
 1871, it was proposed to the Association to accept 
 as their organ La Lutte à outrance, a journal 
 founded by a society which called itself a repub- 
 lican association; Leo Frankel, an important 
 member of the Federal Council, and subsequently 
 a member of the Commune, said, " I accept La 
 Lutte à outrance. The French workman (Frankel 
 is a Prussian) has need of an idol, let him have 
 one; but let us hate and fight the bourgeoisie 
 with him. The bourgeois Hepublic is no longer 
 to be discussed; La Lutte à outrance ought to 
 discuss the social Republic." All these men, who 
 were afterwards the Commune, Protot, Milliere, 
 Félix Pyat, Cournet, Razoua, Flourens, Ferré, 
 Fontaine, Jaclard, Gromier, Mégy, Sapia, Tibaldi, 
 Raoul Rigault, shared Leo Frankel's contempt 
 and dishke for the bourgeois Republic. Protot
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 189 
 
 and Triton, wlio were barristers, Millière a doctor 
 of laws, Félix P^^at a literary man, Flourens a 
 tutor, Raoul Rigault a medical student, were 
 enemies of the bourgeoisie, as tlie revolutionists 
 of 1793 were enemies of the nobility; the deputies 
 of the Left were odious to them as bourgeois, or, 
 what was the same thing in their eyes, as enemies 
 of Socialism. They would all have said, with 
 Tony Moillin, a doctor, who became one of the 
 mayors of Paris under the Commune, " The 
 deputies deceive you shamefully." 
 
 The wrath of these men, already fierce enough 
 under the Empire, grew still fiercer after the 4th 
 September, when power had slipped through their 
 fingers. Lacord said at the Federal Council of the 
 Workmen's Association on the 10th June, 1871, 
 " The working men ought to have seized the 
 government on the 4th September ; if they had 
 done their duty, the 31st October would have 
 turned out very differently. If the International 
 had had a newspaper, it would have killed the 
 Government." Others of the same party, if not 
 the same association, had newspapers, by whose 
 aid they tried to " kill " the Government. They 
 never ceased during the siege to insist that the 
 people were invincible, that in order to raise the 
 blockade of Paris it was only necessary to put 
 the whole National Guard in action; they de-
 
 190 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THTERS. 
 
 manded that Flourens should be made governor 
 of Paris, and General-in-cliief of tlie army; they 
 maintained, even at the moment of the capitula- 
 tion, that we had an army intact of 300,000 
 men, and provisions for three months, nay, 
 for six. Riots, journals, pamphlets, handbills, 
 declamatory speeches in the clubs, the streets, 
 the cafés, and the guard-houses, all were 
 employed by them against the bourgeois Govern- 
 ment installed at the Hôtel de Ville. 
 
 ISTot only did the members of the Commune 
 not spring from the earth on the 18th March, 
 they had been severally known by their names 
 for more than two years, their influence had been 
 felt for more than six years; their object and 
 means of action were known ; the repulses they 
 had sustained might be computed, and the pro- 
 gress of their strength measured. 
 
 Under the Empire they had had their journals, 
 their clubs, and the International Association ; 
 a small group, but rendered powerful by its 
 organization. For the accomplishment of their 
 ends, a more comprehensive organization, and a 
 more definite authority were requisite. 
 
 When the National Guard was reorganized, 
 after the 4th September, with a great extension 
 of its numbers, these persons perceived that if 
 they could establish their influence with that
 
 •PARTS BEFOEE THE i8tH MARCH, 1871. 191 
 
 body they should be masters of the Government, 
 for they would possess, in that case, both numbers 
 and strength. They did not concern themselves 
 about getting rank in the Guard in which the 
 " steps " were much disputed, and indeed created 
 personal influence, instead of the collective in- 
 fluence which was really desirable. They tried 
 to get into the existing councils of the National 
 Guard, and to form new ones. Similar efforts, 
 made by others, resulted in advantage to them. 
 There were meetings of officers, meetings of the 
 majors, Vigilance Committees — committees and 
 meetings were in fashion just then, because every- 
 body wanted to make speeches and manifestations, 
 to be a president or a delegate. The future 
 members of the Commune insinuated themselves 
 everywhere. They entered, too, into those com- 
 mittees of armament and the family councils, 
 which the Government itself had instituted in 
 each company. These latter councils, charged 
 with administrative details, and invested with 
 certain disciplinary powers, had rapidly acquired 
 influence, which preponderated in certain bat- 
 talions ; and to this the authorities themselves had 
 contributed by employing them as paymasters. 
 This office was at first placed in the hands 
 of the sectors, who knew neither the officers 
 nor men, and had neither time nor means to
 
 192 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 exercise an efficacious control. It was afterwards 
 handed over to the mayors of arrondissements; 
 but the same difficulties arose, although in a 
 minor degree, and the mayors, overwhelmed with 
 other business, begged to be exonerated from 
 this. The family councils were better qualified 
 to appreciate the wants of the battalion, and to 
 detect frauds ; they accepted with eagerness a 
 task which the others had abandoned; being 
 paymasters, they speedily became masters of the 
 men, and then by means of federation they 
 became masters of the battalion. The family 
 council absorbed the armament and vigilance 
 committees nearly everywhere, and assumed their 
 functions. The arrondissements also had vigi- 
 lance committees, which had been suggested by 
 those of the National Guard, but had greater 
 power, because it was general and irresponsible. 
 The officers were reduced in a few weeks to being 
 mere instructors. They commanded at drill, 
 indeed, but like their men, they were subservient 
 to the occult authority of the committees and the 
 councils. This became strikingly evident on the 
 31st October, when several battalions came to 
 the Hôtel de Ville, with drums beating and led 
 apparently by their officers, who were, however, 
 devoted adherents of the Government. The men 
 came to a sudden halt, when they had arrived at
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 193 
 
 the gate, and raising tlie butt-ends of tlieir mus- 
 kets, shouted, " No Armistice ! " More than 
 one officer, appreciating the difference between 
 being and seeming, between authority and the 
 mere show of it, relinquished his rank that he 
 might become a member of the vigilance com- 
 mittee or the family council. The idea of fede- 
 ration between the battalions, or the committees 
 which led the battalions, was suggested by the 
 International Association, and spread rapidly. All 
 the affiliated were aware that if they gave the 
 National Guard a political organization outside 
 its military one, it would obtain the mastery of 
 Paris. 
 
 The federation was not complete all at once. 
 In its case also, the same idea had arisen in more 
 than one quarter at the same time. The Central 
 Vigilance Committee gave signs of life before any 
 of the others. It had existed since the 4th Septem- 
 ber, and issued proclamations ; they were, however, 
 lost in the multitude of such things, and attracted 
 public attention in only a very slight degree. 
 
 After the battle of Champigny (2nd December), 
 the Central Committee posted a demand for war 
 à outrance and the impeachment of the Govern- 
 ment, and by this bold stroke took the lead. 
 Thenceforward it called itself " The Republican 
 Federation of the National Guard," to dis- 
 
 VOL. T. o
 
 194 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS, 
 
 tingiiisli itself from tlie vigilance committees 
 of the arrondissements. Twenty days later it 
 began the periodical publication of its red placards, 
 which were thenceforth eagerly perused by all 
 those who made, wished for, or approved of the 
 insurrection of the 31st October. The Kepublican 
 Federation of the National Guard did not seek the 
 shelter of anonymity. The red placards were 
 signed by members of the Committee ; those who 
 signed them oftenest, and took the most active 
 part in drawing them up, were Bouis, Barroud, 
 Chouteau, Fabre, Gaudier, Gouhier, Grelier, 
 Lavalette, Moreau, Pougeret, Prudhomme, and 
 Eousseau. 
 
 According to General Vinoy, the Central Com- 
 mittee, which led the insurrection of the 18th 
 of March, originated in the following appeal to the 
 National Guard, signed Lemaitre, and which was 
 widely distributed : — 
 
 " Proposal made to the National Guard of the 
 Seine, 
 
 " With the view of securing the unity of action 
 of the National Guard for the present and for the 
 future, we propose immediately to establish a 
 committee in each of the arrondissements of Paris, 
 composed of one guard and one officer from every 
 battahon. Each of these committees shall name a
 
 PAEIS BEFOEB THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 195 
 
 delegate, and these delegates united shall form a 
 central committee, to deal with urgent questions 
 relating to the thorough organization of the 
 National Guard. 
 
 " This new organization should be composed as 
 follows : — 
 
 " Each arrondissement should place at its head 
 a naval or other ofificer, with the title of General of 
 the arrondissement. 
 
 " The generals should select from among them- 
 selves for their general-in-chief, a man with a 
 strong sense of his duty, and of the responsibility 
 to devolve upon him at a given moment; who 
 would have this colossal army of citizens in his 
 hands, whether to prevent us from falling into the 
 snares the enemy might set for us with a view 
 to the occupation of Paris, or to arrange the 
 final fate of France. 
 
 " The oflScers of the 14oth battalion, forming 
 a Preliminary Commission. 
 
 Lemaitre, Commandant. 
 Marotet, Captain, &c. 
 
 " Battalions are requested to signify their ap- 
 proval without delay, and to send in the names of 
 provisional delegates. 
 
 ** Café of the National Guard, 49, Rue de Bre- 
 
 tagne.' 
 
 2
 
 196 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 This idea was not, as General Vinoy supposes, 
 a novel one. It had already occurred to the 
 members of the Republican Federation, and the 
 position of Paris after the capitulation suggested 
 the same project to many groups among the 
 citizens. 
 
 On the 15th February, one Chalain, a man 
 of twenty-five or twenty- six years old, a turner 
 by trade, and a member of the International 
 Association and of the Commune, instigated certain 
 inhabitants of the 1 5th arondissement to summon 
 a meeting of the delegates of all the battalions at 
 the Vaux-Hall. The meeting was adjourned, 
 after a rambling debate, to the 24th, on which day 
 no less than 2000 delegates attended. The Repub- 
 lican Federation of the National Guard, which 
 was already completely organized, came in large 
 numbers. They proposed statutes, which were, 
 in fact, a reproduction of their own ; and on 
 the whole, the two meetings convoked by Chalain 
 served only to increase the number of the ad- 
 herents of the Republican Federation, which was 
 thenceforward known as the Central Committee. 
 
 Apart from the Federation, and consequently 
 from the Central Committee, there existed at this 
 date a body of delegates who took the name 
 of the Federal Republican Committee. This 
 consisted at first merely of the majors, who met to
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 197 
 
 discuss the question of pay : but ojBScers of all 
 ranks joined, and after a short time the asso- 
 ciation took a poHtical form. The meetings took 
 , place at the house of Lemardelay, under the pre- 
 sidency of the Count du Bisson, who had first 
 been a colonel in Cabrera's army, and afterwards 
 a general in that of Ferdinand IL The Count was 
 a Legitimist until the age of sixty, but we shall 
 presently find him figuring as a general under 
 the Commune. The Central Committee, who 
 wanted to govern alone, and who had turned Com- 
 mandant Lemaitre's proposal and the meetings 
 brought about by Chalain to their own advantage, 
 proposed a coalition. 
 
 After several conferences, delegates were named 
 on both sides: Bergeret, Bourdier, Chouteau, 
 Courtry, Pindy, Varlin, and Viart, for the Central 
 Committee; and for the Federal Committee, Raoul 
 du Bisson, Jaclard, Tribalet, Garcin, Grêlier, and 
 a sub-lieutenant whose name has not been dis- 
 covered ; and an agreement was concluded. At 
 a general meeting on the 3rd March, it was de- 
 cided that the title " Republican Federation of the 
 National Guard " should be revived. The complete 
 title of the famous Central Committee was thence- 
 forth the Central Committee of the Republican 
 Federation of the National Guard. It retained the 
 premises which it then occupied in the Rue de la
 
 198 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 Corderie, and the meetings at the house of 
 Lemardelay were discontinued. On the 3rd 
 March, it adopted, almost without discussion, 
 statutes in ten articles, of which the following are 
 the chief : — 
 
 " The Republican Federation of the National 
 Guard. 
 
 " Preliminary declaration. The Republic being 
 the only Government, cannot by right of justice 
 be subordinate to universal suffrage, which is its 
 own work. 
 
 " The National Guard has an absolute right to 
 nominate all its chiefs, and to dismiss them so 
 soon as they have lost the confidence of those who 
 elected them. . . 
 
 " 1st Article. The Repubhcan Federation of the 
 National Guard, is organized as follows: — 
 
 " 1st. The general assembly of delegates ; 
 " 2nd. Clubs of the battahons. 
 " 3rd. The Council of the legion, 
 •* 4th. The Central Committee. 
 "2nd Article. Thegeneral assembly is formed by: 
 "1st. A delegate elected for that purpose in 
 each company without distinction of rank; 
 " 2nd. An officer from each battalion, elected 
 
 by the officers. 
 « 3rd. The Major. 
 " The delegates, whomsoever they may be.
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 199 
 
 may be dismissed by those wlio have nominated 
 them. 
 
 *' 3rd Article. The Club of each battalion is 
 formed by: 
 
 *' 1st. The delegate of the general assembly; 
 *' 2nd. Two delegates from each company, 
 
 elected without distinction of rank : 
 *' 3rd. The officer delegated to the general 
 
 assembly ; 
 «*4th. The Major. 
 **4th Article. The Council of the legion is 
 formed by : 
 
 " 1st. Three delegates from each of the clubs 
 of the battalions, elected without dis- 
 tinction of rank; 
 ** 2nd. The majors of the arrondissement. 
 ** 5th Article. The Central Committee is formed 
 by: 
 
 " 1st. Three delegates from each arrondisse- 
 ment, elected without distinction of rank 
 by the Council of the legion. 
 " 2nd. A major from each legion, deputed by 
 his colleagues." 
 The 5th Article charged the Committees, 
 among other functions, " to prevent any attempt 
 which might have for its object the overthrow 
 of the RepubUc, and to draw up a plan for the 
 complete reorganization of the national forces."
 
 200 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 In addition to these statutes, the meeting pro- 
 posed tlie following resolution to the Committee : 
 "In case, as certain rumours tend to make us 
 believe, the seat of Government should be removed 
 to some place other than Paris, the city of Paris 
 shall at once constitute itself an independent 
 Republic." 
 
 Nearly two hundred and fifteen battalions 
 joined the Federation, and sent their delegates 
 with reports in due form, bearing the signatures 
 of the sergeant-majors, to a meeting which took 
 place at the Vaux-Hall on the 13th March. At 
 this meeting the statutes were put in action, by 
 the election of the principal chiefs of the National 
 Guard. Garibaldi was appointed to be general, 
 Lullier colonel of the artillery, Jaclard and Fallot 
 majors. 
 
 Thus the Central Committee is associated, by 
 its origin, with the whole revolutionary and social 
 movement since the election of 1864. It absorbs 
 the former Vigilance Committee — which was also 
 called the Central Committee and the Repub- 
 lican Federation of the National Guard, and 
 which published red placards during the siege — 
 the Provisional or Central Committee of the 
 National Guard, founded on the 15th February at 
 the instigation of Chalain and several citizens of 
 the 15th arrondissement, and the Federal Re-
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 187I. 201 
 
 publican Committee, a meeting of officers whicli 
 took place at the house of Lemardelay under the 
 presidency of Raoul du Bisson. It receives a 
 regular organization at the two meetings of the 
 3rd and 13th March. It is the product of an 
 election in four stages, with this distinction, that 
 the electors of the intermediate stages, remain 
 formed into circles and committees, subordinate to 
 the Central Committee, and transmitting its orders 
 to the 215 federate battalions. It has been said 
 that this Central Committee, which effected the 
 revolution of the 18th March, was composed of 
 unknown men ; unknown or not, its members were 
 invested with formidable powers, and had been 
 accustomed, for a long time to their exercise. The 
 31st October, and the 22nd January were not 
 so completely unexpected as has been supposed. 
 These revolts were suppressed with great difficulty ; 
 they were suppressed, however, owing to causes 
 which it is important to recall, precisely because 
 they had ceased to exist at the epoch with which 
 we are now dealing. 
 
 In the first place, the final organization of the 
 revolutionary forces by the formation of a single 
 Central Committee does not date further back 
 than the General Assemblies of the loth February, 
 and the 3rd and 13th March. 
 
 In the second place, until the capitulation, all
 
 202 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 tlie battalions belonging to the party of order were 
 at the full strength of their effective force, and 
 they more than counterbalanced that of the 
 revolutionary party. i 
 
 In the third place, the army of Paris properly 
 so-called, the regular army, the Line, obeyed the 
 Government. 
 
 In the fourth place, during the siege the enemy 
 had to be faced, there existed the sense of a great 
 patriotic duty to be fulfilled, hopes of victory were 
 Btill cherished, the disgrace of capitulation, and 
 disarmament had not been incurred. 
 
 We have just seen how the revolutionary forces 
 had increased since the termination of the siege. 
 It will be easy to show that the resisting forces 
 had decreased in proportion. 
 
 So soon as the gates of Paris were opened, all 
 those who had the means of leaving the city has- 
 tened to rejoin their families. The report made 
 by the Staff of the National Guard states that, 
 " sixty thousand of the steadiest, the most trust- 
 worthy of the National Guards, of those whose 
 interest it naturally is to preserve order, have left 
 Paris since the communications have been re- 
 opened." The proportion between conservatives 
 and revolutionists in the ranks of the National 
 Guard was entirely changed during the course of 
 the month of February, and this explains, without
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MAECH, 1 87 1. 203 
 
 going back to moral causes, why the call to arms 
 in what were termed the *'good" quarters of 
 the city, did not produce any appreciable result 
 on the 24th February, the 1st March, or especially 
 on the 18th March. This departure en masse j 
 was, under such circumstances, more than abdi- 
 cation, it was almost comphcity. M. Jules Favre 
 has asked forgiveness both of God and men for 
 having worked so hard to hinder the disarmament 
 of the National Guard ; he needs no pardon, first, 
 because the disarmament was impossible at the 
 date when he preserved us from it ; and, secondly, 
 because the National Guard might have been 
 allowed to retain their arms without any danger, 
 if only the men who saved the Government on 
 the 31st October had remained at their post. 
 
 Their desertion, is not, however, to be explained 
 only by their desire to return to their families, 
 to put their affairs in order, to seek health under 
 a more clement sky. While the revolutionary 
 party was advancing towards the Commune, its 
 adversaries did not know whither they were 
 drifting. Among these adversaries, the Mon- 
 archists were aware of their own powerlessness, 
 which did not arise solely from the divisions 
 among themselves ; the Republicans were angry 
 and disheartened. Although the result of the 
 siege, which had lasted beyond all hope, had
 
 204} THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 been foreseen, very few among the most sensible 
 and enlightened Republicans, would consent to 
 acknowledge that the Government had but yielded 
 to an inevitable necessity in giving up Paris ; and 
 even if they had forgiven the capitulation, they 
 could not forgive the language that had been 
 used during the conflict, to excite the courage of 
 the combatants, and sustain that of the suffering 
 inhabitants. The Government was charged with 
 the whole responsibility of the defeat ; according 
 to the fanatics it had betrayed the country, 
 according to the moderate party it had been in- 
 capable. Three hundred thousand men armed, the 
 fortifications completed, cannon cast, the provision- 
 ing of the city, revolts suppressed, order main- 
 tained ; all this was laid to the credit of the popu- 
 lation : the Government was credited with defeat 
 only. M.Gambetta alone retained his prestige ; but 
 M. Gambetta no longer formed part of the Govern- 
 ment ; he had taken no share in the capitulation. 
 The majority of the Assembly at Bordeaux was 
 monarchical ; it had placed M. Thiers at the head 
 of the Government ; M. Thiers who had served 
 King Louis Philippe for eighteen years with in- 
 comparable ability. How could they feel that the 
 Republic was safe with such a chief, and such an 
 Assembly? More than one Republican, who was 
 neither a socialist nor a revolutionist, hesitated.
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 205 
 
 They asked themselves whether in fighting for 
 order they should not be fighting for a dynasty also. 
 
 The Assembly evinced distrust of Paris which 
 some of its members carried to the length of 
 hostility. The deputies had been styled "rustics," ' 
 an uncalled-for taunt; but they were at least 
 provincials, and quite determined to submit no 
 longer to the sway of Paris ; M. Thiers, who could 
 do almost anything with them, did not even 
 attempt the impossible task of taking them back 
 to the Palais-Bourbon ; all that his influence and 
 eloquence could obtain, was that Versailles rather 
 than Fontainebleau should be chosen for the 
 meeting of the Assembly. Thus, as the reward 
 of her courage during five months of siege, Paris 
 was declared " suspect " and lost her rank as the 
 capital of France ! In addition to these griev- 
 ances the majority of the inhabitants had heavy 
 domestic cares. 
 
 The workmen, who had nothing to live on and 
 keep their families but their pay, for the work- 
 shops were shut, were afraid of losing that last 
 resource now that peace was made, and the small 
 trades people, who had for the last six months been 
 spending money, but making none, lacked funds and 
 courage to reopen their shops or workshops, with- 
 out customers, without capital, and even, in many 
 * Euraux.
 
 206 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 cases, without implements, for all had been ruined 
 and destroyed. The impossibility of gaining a 
 livelihood was trifling, so to speak, in comparison 
 with the impossibility of paying former debts, of 
 the preservation of commercial honour. House- 
 rents were due, arrears had not been paid up, a 
 remission of payment was demanded ; even mode- 
 rate and sensible persons, who were aware that 
 the Assembly could not sacrifice the rights of tbe 
 proprietors, asked, at least, for a long delay. 
 They would tax their ingenuity to the utmost; 
 they would borrow money, and practise the most 
 rigid economy ; but pay at once they could not. 
 It was the same with commercial bills. The 
 Government of Defence had granted a delay ; but 
 its term had now expired, and an act was required 
 to meet this emergency. The Assembly, in its 
 sitting of the 10th March, at Bordeaux, had 
 voted an act, the principal clause of which was 
 as follows : " All commercial bills due fi'om the 
 13th August to the 12th November, 1870, shall 
 be payable seven months from either date after 
 maturity, with all interest tbereon, after the 
 date of such maturity. Bills of the 13th No- 
 vember to the 12th April next, shall be pay- 
 able from either date, from the 13th June to 
 the 12th of July, with ail interest thereon, 
 from the date of first maturity." This enact-
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1871. 207 
 
 ment revealed ignorance of the true extent of 
 the evil. The bills of the 13th August, 1870, 
 became due on the 13th March, 1871, the very 
 day of the promulgation of the act. No one 
 was in a position to meet them. Communications 
 were not re-established between Paris and the 
 departments, the branch offices of the Bank were 
 not open, commercial transactions were impossible, 
 bills could not be discounted. From the 13th to 
 the 17th March more than 150,000 bills were 
 protested in Paris, and if the law had been carried 
 out to the letter, there would have been 40,000 
 bankruptcies. Representations were made on all 
 sides, from Lille, Rouen, and Havre. A petition 
 had been signed by the bureaus of sixty syndical 
 chambers in Paris, representing 7000 traders. In 
 the interest even of the creditor, which does not 
 lie in incurring useless expense, but in obtain secu- 
 rity for his loan, a longer delay was indispenable. 
 This was not understood until later ; the act was 
 reconstructed on the 27th April, under less 
 stringent conditions ; but on the 10th March, 
 the Assembly had lacked foresight. The question 
 of house-rents was not even raised at Bordeaux, 
 but it was a burning one in all the places which 
 had been the theatre of war, and above all in 
 Paris, where the siege had lasted five months, 
 and where rents are so high. When, at the
 
 208 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 sitting of the 20th March, M. Tirard was ques- 
 tioned upon the cause of the inaction of the 
 National Guard of the 2nd arrondissement, during 
 the 17th and 18th March, he repHed without 
 hesitation that it was the act relating: to com- 
 mercial bills. Nearly every one in Paris was 
 threatened with some misfortune ; the work- 
 men with losing their pay as national guards, 
 without finding w^ork ; lodgers with being turned 
 out, and having their furniture seized ; commer- 
 cial men with bankruptcy. It is sad to relate, 
 but nevertheless true, that at the conclusion 
 of the peace, it was Paris which had the most to 
 suffer, after Alsace and Lorraine. The great city 
 which had undergone bombardment, famine, and 
 the ravages of an epidemic without surrendering, 
 and whose walls were intact, was condemned to 
 submit to the insult of occupation by the enemy. 
 It seemed as though everything were to be done 
 that could dishearten the prudent, and exasperate 
 the violent. 
 
 The profound emotion, mingled with shame and 
 anger, that had been caused by the capitulation, 
 grew stronger and deeper. It did not lead to in- 
 surrection at first, no one would give the name of 
 insurrection to processions of drunken workmen 
 and soldiers, shouting treachery and breathing 
 vengeance against the Prussians and the Govern-
 
 PAEIS BEFOEE THE i8tH MAECH, 1 87 1. 209 
 
 ment. The revictualling of tlie city, and the 
 approaching elections were then absorbing all 
 minds. During the short electoral period which 
 immediately ensued the violence of the clubs 
 knew no bounds. The attacks upon property 
 and upon the bourgeoisie were as vehement 
 as those upon the Government of National 
 Defence. Electoral committees were formed on 
 all sides, and in prodigious numbers. A marvel- 
 lous number of candidates offered themselves. 
 So numerous were competitors and so widely 
 scattered were the votes, that several days were 
 consumed in the reckoning, 545,600 electors 
 having taken part in the ballot. 
 
 It is equally painful and instructive to read the 
 electoral placards. Some of them are perverse, 
 some grotesque ; a few, happily, are bold and 
 spirited. Here is one which might well have been 
 inspired by the notorious Central Committee. It 
 is printed on red paper : — 
 
 " Central Committee, 
 Revolutionary and Socialist, 
 
 of the clubs and electoral committees of the 
 twenty arrondissements of Paris. 
 
 ** Whereas Paris did not, as has been said, 
 surrender in order to avoid famine ; 
 
 " Whereas the conduct of the Government of 
 National Defence has been, since the 4th of Sep- 
 
 VOL. I. p
 
 210 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 tember, a succession of falsehoods and of cowardly 
 and infamous acts ; 
 
 " Whereas the Government had no right to 
 transact any capitulation ; 
 
 " The deputies sent to Bordeaux ought : 
 
 " 1st. To impeach this Government; 
 
 " 2nd. To demand war, and resign rather than 
 enter into any treaty of peace." 
 
 This placard is signed by Raoul Rigault, 
 Lavalette, Tanguy, and Varlet. A list follows of 
 forty-three recommended candidates, all of whom, 
 with three or four exceptions, afterwards made 
 part of the Commune. 
 
 The names of members of the Government 
 were to be found in some of the lists, according to 
 the caprice of those who had drawn them up. The 
 Government had not made any collective list, any 
 profession of political faith, or taken any measures. 
 The Liberal (moderate) committee, whose presi- 
 dent was M. Dufaure, had systematically excluded 
 tbem, not, he said, because he was hostile, but 
 to avoid weakening their authority by mixing 
 up their names in electoral discussions. " The 
 names of the members of the National Defence do 
 not figure upon our list. The committee beg 
 to state that the omission must not be taken for 
 condemnation or blame, but as an act of political 
 foresight."
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MAKCH, 1 87 1. 211 
 
 " The lionourable personages whom we omit 
 were called to the Government of Paris and of 
 France, on the 4th September, by necessity : on 
 the 3rd November, by the immense majority in 
 Paris ; it was understood between them and those 
 who gave them their authority, that it was to be 
 exercised by them until it should be confided to 
 other hands by a National Assembly. Their 
 authority must be maintained all the more 
 strictly as the close of its tenure approaches ; and 
 the committee are of opinion, that it might 
 come out of an electoral contest, in which the 
 members of the Government would be engaged, 
 weakened or compromised. 
 
 " In the name of the Committee, 
 
 " DuFAURE, President." 
 
 This act of " political foresight " did not save 
 the members of the Government from vehement 
 abuse. When the contest was ended by the 
 proclamation of the returns, the Assembly was 
 in existence, and the authority of the Govern- 
 ment, for which their own party had shown so 
 much solicitude, had no longer scope for its 
 exercise. Moreover, it is probable enough that 
 even the support of their friends, if it had been 
 given, would not have saved them from a defeat, 
 which was noisily hailed by the socialists as a con- 
 demnation and a " mark of contempt." M. Jules 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Favi^e, who was elected together with Messieurs 
 Dorian and Gambetta, believed, on the 10th 
 February, that the members of the Government of 
 Paris would neither be elected at Paris nor else- 
 where. He wrote to M. Jules Simon on the 10th, 
 at eleven p.m., " The confusion has been so great 
 that the counting is not yet finished; but so 
 far, it is certain that not one member of the 
 Government has been elected. This makes our 
 position a very difficult one. However, we shall 
 try to get out of it. We will stay at our posts so 
 long as it is necessary, doing all we can to hasten 
 the meeting o.^ the Assembly and facilitate its 
 setting to work. At the present moment, the 
 most important matter is to obtain a prolongation 
 of the armistice from Count Bismarck. I shall 
 see him to-morrow for that purpose, and I 
 am not without uneasiness as to the impres- 
 sion the ballot in Paris may have made upon 
 him." 
 
 The list of elected candidates was not published 
 in the Journal Officiel until the 18th February. 
 MM. Louis Blanc, Victor Hugo, Gambetta, 
 Garibaldi, and Quiuet were at the head. M. Louis 
 Blanc had 210,530 votes; M. Edgar Quinet, 
 199,472. M. Rochefort came after him, with 
 165,670 votes. Some of the generals who had 
 distinguished themselves during the siege figured
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 213 
 
 among the forty- three elected candidates: Admirals 
 Saisset, and Potliuau, and General Erebault. 
 The Government of Bordeaux was represented by 
 M. Gambetta only, that of Paris by Messieurs Jules 
 Favre and Dorian. M. Dorian was elected by 
 128,480 votes ; M. Jules Favre came in thirty- 
 fourth, with 81,722 votes. M. Thiers (103,226 
 votes) was only twentieth. There were a few 
 moderate republicans ; M. Henri Martin, M. 
 Vacherot, M. Sauvage, M. Littré, M. Leon Say, 
 and two or three others. The future members of 
 the Commune were MM. Delescluze (154,142 
 votes), Felix Pyat, Gambon, Ranc, Malon, and 
 Cournet. Paris had elected, besides, MM. Roche- 
 fort and Razoua; and lastly, MM. Lockroy, 
 Clemenceau, Floquet, and Millière, who, though 
 they did not belong in any way to the Commune, 
 sent in their resignation after the commencement 
 of hostilities. 
 
 The revictualling of the city went on rapidly, 
 but still too slowly for the needs of a city of two 
 millions of over excited inhabitants, who were 
 suffering from hunger and cold, and excited by so 
 many causes. London contributed to what may 
 be called the salvage of Paris with prompti- 
 tude and generosity which Paris will never 
 forget. M. Jules Favre, in his fine work Le 
 Gouvernement de la Defence Nationalet states that
 
 214 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the Prussians willingly facilitated the arrival of 
 provisions, and that Count Bismarck gave all he 
 had at his disposal, which represented subsistence 
 for us for a day and a half. General Vinoy 
 affirms, on the contrary, that, on the 3rd February, 
 the enemy, being apprised of M. Gambetta's pro- 
 clamation againt the conclusion of the armistice, 
 stopped the convoys of provisions everywhere on 
 their way to Paris. " Nevertheless," adds the 
 general, " they afterwards consented to withdraw 
 a prohibition which, if it had been kept in force 
 a few hours longer, might have led to deplorable 
 consequences." 
 
 The general's words are, " a few houis longer," 
 not, a day longer ; and in truth Paris was reduced 
 to counting by hours. The provisions which, 
 according to Raoul Rigault and the hostile 
 journals, were stored in abundance in the city at 
 the moment of capitulation, were in fact so limited, 
 that the inhabitants were kept on rations until 
 the 10th February, and it was feared that they 
 would literally want bread. 
 
 The railroads were broken up, their bridges 
 were shattered, their rolling stock dispersed or 
 useless, and their staffs disorganized. Even the 
 river had been barred above and below Rouen 
 by sunken vessels and torpedoes ; it would take 
 time and labour to render it navigable once
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 215 
 
 more. The Journal Officiel states that the first 
 train laden with flour, from Rennes, arrived 
 on the Brd February, at three o'clock, at the 
 Western station (Saint-Lazare). The same day 
 the Orleans line brought 248 bullocks from 
 Cholet, and three waggons of hay. The first con- 
 signment from the London committee also arrived 
 by the Northern line. It consisted of condensed 
 milk, cheese, bacon, Liebig's extract of meat, water 
 biscuits, soup, preserves, &c. On the 4th February, 
 a train from Lille brought 6000 cwts. of flour 
 and a waggon-load of coals. From that time 
 the arrivals succeeded each other without inter- 
 ruption. But the purchase of provisions in their 
 places of production was slow; the passage 
 of the armies had impoverished and devastated 
 the country. M. Magnin went to Dieppe to 
 expedite the proceedings. 
 
 The farmers in the neighbourhood of Paris had 
 set up a market at the bridge of Neuilly ; crowds 
 rushed thither, and there were serious disturb- 
 ances, only too easily explained by the general 
 suffering. The ordinary peace-oflicers did not 
 suffice to put these disturbances down ; and 
 recourse was had to the gendarmerie, who could 
 not be employed so near the outposts without 
 permission from the Prussians. Almost all the 
 railroads were available for traffic ; but there were
 
 216 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 2,000,000 mouths to be fed. The requisition of 
 corn and flour had been stopped on the 7th 
 February in the expectation of more rapid 
 arrivals. On the 12th February, Belleville was 
 almost destitute of bread ; the bakers having re- 
 ceived only 325 sacks of flour instead of 800. The 
 last sacks were distributed on the morning of the 
 13th; other provisions were totally exhausted. 
 Providentially, that very day, the 13th February, 
 the arrivals of flour, which had been very slack on 
 the ten preceding days, were numerous, and the 
 quantity of flour was large enough to put an end 
 to all apprehension. One cannot thmk, without a 
 shudder, of the calamities the delay of one more 
 day must have occasioned. A week later the 
 markets of the town had almost resumed their 
 usual aspect. Paris had food again ; the Central 
 Committee was waiting for this moment to appear 
 upon the scene. 
 
 It was in fact, as will be remembered, on the 
 15th February, that the appeal to the National 
 Guard was issued by the inhabitants of the 15th 
 arrondissement, and that the negotiations for 
 uniting the diff'erent committees in one single fede- 
 ration commenced. On the IGth, while the Assem- 
 bly was nominating its bureau, General Clément 
 Thomas, feeling that his influence with the National 
 Guard was gone, as the men were given up to their
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8th MARCH, 1 87 1. 217 
 
 committees, and not wishing to retain a sham 
 authority, resigned his functions. General Vinoy, 
 who was commanding the army of Paris, was 
 provisionally appointed to the command of 
 the National Guard. This choice was far from 
 being a popular one. " He is a senator of 
 the Empire ! " was said at the meetings. There 
 was no less outcry against General Valentin, 
 who was made Prefect of Police, and against 
 his gendarmes. The appointment of M. Thiers 
 produced great anger, for he was regarded as a 
 Monarchist; and a similar feeling was aroused 
 by the presence of three members of the Govern- 
 ment of Defence in the new Government. 
 M. Thiers thought to satisfy the National 
 Guard by giving the command to M. d'Aurelles 
 de Paladines. He wi'ote to M. Jules Simon on 
 the 24th February, — 
 
 " M. Jules Favre, M. Picard, and I, have made a 
 choice, of which I hope you will approve, for the com- 
 mand of the National Guard of Paris. We were told 
 the measure was urgently necessary, and we were 
 certainly told the truth. I have the consent of 
 General Vinoy, who conducts himself marvellously 
 well here, and has the confidence of all. The choice 
 of which I speak is that of General d'Aurelles de 
 Paladines, who is much esteemed everywhere, and 
 particularly here, because he alone gained an in-
 
 218 TUE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 contestable advantage at Coulmiers. He has 
 consented upon reflection, but on one condition, 
 that he is not to take the command until after the 
 solution of a question which is occupying every one 
 here, the passage of the Prussians through Paris. 
 The question is not solved, and the proposals of 
 the journals, the manifestations of certain of our 
 friends, are far from facilitating its solution. 
 The opinion of competent persons is that the 
 question is not so grave as it is made out to be. 
 But the bravado on a certain side is irritating 
 Prussian amour-propre to the highest pitch, and 
 embarrassing us greatly. 
 
 " We, Jules Favre, Picard, and I, should have 
 much liked to have been able to consult you upon 
 the choice of General d'Aurelles, but we were 
 obliged to make up our minds, the urgency being 
 made evident here, and the local authorities 
 pressing us, by declaring that Paris was left 
 ungoverned. They were greatly reassured by 
 the hope of a wise selection : above all, the can- 
 didate is irreproachable, and is in Paris, on the 
 scene of action." 
 
 M. Thiers deceived himself in thinking the 
 appointment of General d'Aurelles would be well 
 received. The battle of Coulmiers was forgotten, 
 while D'Aurelles de Paladines was remembered as 
 the general whom M. Gambetta had dismissed.
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 219 
 
 Any other choice would have been received with 
 equal disfavour. The National Guard wanted to 
 elect their own chief, all their chiefs, and declared 
 through their committee, that they had *' the 
 absolute right " to do so. On the 18th February, 
 the enemy, who were in possession of the forts, 
 wheeled the guns round so as to direct all the 
 artillery upon the enceinte, in case peace should not 
 be concluded. This superfluous and untimely de- 
 monstration excited great indignation, not against 
 the Prussians, but against the Government of 
 Defence, *' who had given us up," and against the 
 Assembly, its accomplice in treason. The people 
 must always have a victim and an idol. In Feb- 
 ruary its victim was the Government of Defence. 
 They were so angry with the Government that 
 they forgot to hate the Prussians. One measure 
 of economy, in itself wise, was very ill received. 
 On the 19th, the pay of one franc and a half, until 
 then allowed to all workmen serving in the 
 JSTational Guard, ceased to be granted as of right 
 by the family councils of the companies. To 
 obtain it, a man had to make his demand in writing, 
 and to prove that it was not possible for him to 
 get work. At the same time it was rumoured in 
 the battalions that the Prussians were to enter 
 Paris, and that the Assembly was going to transfer 
 the seat of Government elsewhere. The com-
 
 220 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 mercial bills act gave offence; that on house- 
 rents, wliich was impatiently expected, was not 
 under discussion. 
 
 The agitation in the populous quarters, Belleville 
 and Montmartre, increased; noisy and threaten- 
 ing crowds paraded the streets. The 24th February 
 seemed opportune for a grand demonstration. In 
 a meeting held at the Vaux Hall, it was decided 
 that the federated battalions should march, under 
 arms, to the column of July, shouting, Vive la Be- 
 publique! On the same occasion, two important 
 resolutions were taken : the first was in these 
 terms, *' The National Guard, through the medium 
 of their Central Committee, protest against all 
 attempt at disarming them, and declare that they 
 will resist it, if necessary, by arms." The second 
 resolution, adopted in spite of the strong pro- 
 test of the reasonable portion of the meeting, 
 was that the delegates should submit the following 
 proposal to their companies : — " At the moment 
 when the Prussians enter Paris, the National 
 Guard shall go forward to meet them, and 
 oppose an armed resistance." The precise day 
 of the enemy's entry was not known; it was 
 generally thought it would be the 27th. Mean- 
 while numbers might be counted by a pacific 
 demonstration on the 24th. The watch- word was 
 immediately given at the clubs.
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE iStH MARCH, 187I. 221 
 
 On the 24tli, the concourse round the column 
 of July was considerable. Soldiers and sailors 
 were to be seen in the crowd. The peace-ojQBcers 
 who were on duty, unarmed, were hooted and 
 hissed; that day, however, passed over without 
 any incident of graver importance. 
 
 The morning of the next day was tolerably 
 quiet. It was about two o'clock when the crowd 
 began to collect. At three nearly 3000 persons 
 were counted in the square. The deputations 
 from the National Guard carried wreaths of 
 immortelles. Some came in corps, headed by their 
 officers, and preceded by bugles or drums. The 
 arrival of 2000 men of the Garde Mobile of the 
 Seine was hailed with loud acclamations ; buglers 
 sounded the charge from the platform of the 
 column. A battahon of light infantry, with the 
 number 137 on their képis, marched in. The 
 crowd was more turbulent and ill-disposed than 
 on the day before. In the evening the excite- 
 ment rose high. Several well-dressed women 
 were pursued ; the peace-officers were compelled 
 to hide themselves. The crowd did not disperse 
 until ten o'clock. 
 
 Two deplorable incidents marked this day, the 
 26th February. At one o'clock the red flag was 
 hoisted upon the column of July, at three o'clock 
 a police agent in plain clothes, named Vincenzini,
 
 222 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 was recognized and pursued. He fled as fast 
 as Ws legs could carry him, but was caught 
 upon the quay, seized by artillery-men, sailors, 
 and light infantry, and dragged to the parapet. 
 " Throw him into the water !" cried the mob, 
 amono: which were numbers of women. He was 
 tied to a plank and thrown into the river. The 
 plank floated and the unhappy man begged for 
 mercy, but he was stoned to death. 
 
 The Central Committee had succeeded in 
 reckoning its forces; it had, so to speak, held 
 a review of them on the Place de la Bastille. It 
 now turned its attention to another object : the 
 battalions had only muskets, and very few 
 cartridges ; the Committee wanted to give them 
 ammunition and artillery ; and for that the entry 
 of the Prussians furnished a pretext. The Com- 
 mittee had probably perceived the absurdity of 
 attempting a conflict with the Prussian army from 
 the first, but intended to profit by the agitation 
 to complete the armament of the future insurrec- 
 tion. The idea thrown out at the Vaux Hall 
 meeting had been ardently taken up, and during 
 the last two days of February nothing was thought 
 of but fighting. Cannon " belonging to the 
 National Guard, for they had paid for them with 
 their own money " by voluntary subscriptions 
 during the siege, were posted at Neuilly, and in
 
 PAKIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 223 
 
 tlie Avenue de Wagram, on the route which the 
 Prussians were to follow. 
 
 *' Impossible to let them be taken by the 
 enemy ! " this was the uppermost idea in all the 
 battalions. The tocsin was rung by order of 
 the Central Committee, and the companies pro- 
 ceeded at once to place " the people's artillery " 
 in safety. They met with no resistance. The 
 artillery-men in charge of the cannon lent a 
 willing hand to the work. At six o'clock in the 
 evening, the first comers harnessed themselves to 
 the guns, and began to drag them towards the fau- 
 bourgs, crossing the Place de la Bastille, which was 
 still crowded. The cannon thus captured were 
 placed in the Place des Vosges, at Belleville, at the 
 Buttes-Chaumont, at Charonne, at La Villette, and 
 at Montmartre. The despatches sent to M. Thiers 
 by the generals during the night were alarming : — 
 
 " 9.20 p.m. 
 
 *' They are beating to quarters in Belleville ; 
 the battalions are getting under arms." 
 
 "11.40 p.m. 
 
 " Two thousand of the National Guard, armed 
 and provided with cartridges, are assembled on 
 the boulevard of Belleville; the drummers say 
 the rendezvous is Place du Château d'Eau. 
 Orders are given by the Central Committee, which 
 is sitting in the Rue de la Corderie."
 
 224 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEKS. 
 
 "11.50 p.m. 
 
 " The park of artillery at La Muette has been 
 carried off, the guns are being taken to the 
 Trocadero and the Champ de Mars. The meeting 
 of La Marseillaise has resolved to oppose the entry 
 of the Prussians by force, and is awaiting orders 
 from the Central Committee at the Rue de la 
 Corderie." 
 
 « 11.50 p.m. 
 
 " The battalions are assembling under arms, and 
 say they intend to oppose the entry of the Prus- 
 sians. The excitement is great ; the movement 
 is essentially patriotic, and directed solely against 
 the enemy. The prolongation of the armistice 
 will suspend this movement; but it will cer- 
 tainly be revived if the Prussians enter Paris. Is 
 there not real danger in this, and would it not be 
 well to take it into account in the negotiations ? '* 
 
 This is on the 26th February, from the general 
 commanding the sixth zone to M. Thiers. 
 M Thiers had arrived at Paris on the 20th ; be- 
 tween the 20th and the 26th he had nego- 
 tiated the peace with Count Bismarck ; the sup- 
 plementary convention regulating the entry of the 
 Prussians into Paris bears date the 26th. The 
 negotiators had not failed to warn Count Bis- 
 marck ; they knew, only too well, the disordered 
 state Paris was in; he himself was disturbed.
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1871. 225 
 
 but he declared that he was unable to resist the 
 will of the Prussian army on this point. M. 
 Thiers had to set out for Bordeaux on the 27th, 
 there to face the conflicts of the Assembly, 
 not knowing but that Paris might be deluged 
 with blood. The processions, begun on the 24th 
 February, lasted until the 1st March. That the 
 National Guard would oppose the entry of the 
 Prussians by a regular battle was neither probable 
 nor possible ; a partial attack, one isolated act of 
 folly, would, however, be enough to bring about 
 a catastrophe. 
 
 The carrying off of the cannon by the federate 
 battalions was completed during the 27th and 
 28th February. The authorities were unable to 
 prevent this, for they had no longer any forces at 
 their disposal, but they endeavoured to obtain 
 that each battalion should only take those guns 
 which it had given, hoping, by this means, to 
 save the cannon formerly given by the wealthy 
 quarters ; but the Central Committee would not 
 permit the non-federal battalions to have any 
 artillery. It employed itself with perseverance, 
 and not without intelligence, in accumulating 
 engines of war and ammunition. It instigated 
 the crowd, which was acting at random, to pillage 
 the bastions and the powder factories, for the 
 purpose of procuring powder and ball. The 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Committee ordered their muskets to be taken 
 from custom-liouse officials and tlie collectors 
 of the town-dues (octroi), at their posts, and 
 at the railway stations where they were 
 quartered. 
 
 The general commanding the second zone, 
 having tried to oppose this pillage, was arrested 
 and kept under ward. 
 
 The Prefect of Police to the General-in-chief. 
 
 "February 27th, 7 a.m. 
 
 *' The general commanding the second zone 
 is a prisoner there, the telegraph wires have 
 been cut ; the National Guards, wherever they 
 show themselves, advance the same pretext ; 
 they want cartridges, that they may oppose the 
 entry of the Prussians." 
 
 The Central Committee was making ready 
 for war, but not for war upon the Prussiaus. 
 Ammunition marked 7 was placed with pieces 
 of the same calibre, and cartridges for chassepots 
 were divided from cartridges for breech-loaders. 
 The keys of the powder-magazines were taken, by 
 violence if necessary. The guns of bastion 36 
 were replaced upon their carriages, in violation 
 of the fifth clause of the conveution. A battery 
 of six pieces was seb before the gate of La Chapelle. 
 For the protection of the artillery collected upon 
 the heights of Montmartre, the Committee had
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 187I. 227 
 
 ordered barricades to be erected in all the neigh- 
 bouring streets. So httle did it conceal its pre- 
 sence and its authority, that two officers who pre- 
 sented themselves before the general commanding 
 the quarter, to demand ammunition, produced a 
 written order by the Central Committee. The 
 movement, being spread over the whole city, was 
 necessarily irregular, but the traces of a guiding 
 authority were clearly to be recognized : the Central 
 Committee was making, according to its fashion, 
 order by disorder. 
 
 The nights of the 27th and 28th were not more 
 tranquil than the days. During the night of the 
 27th, several bands, each composed of about 500 
 men, flocked to the Place de la Concorde and up 
 the Champs Elysees, because it was believed the 
 enemy were coming. General Yinoy estimates 
 these bands at 3000 men ; he says that, on the 
 night of the 27th, 8000 armed men were 
 continually afoot in the diflerent quarters of 
 Paris. 
 
 No murder except that ofVincenzini is recorded. 
 Three Prussians were recognized in a carriage, 
 in the Eue Turbigo, and pursued by the crowd, 
 amidst cries of, " To the water ! " An officer 
 saved them, by taking upon himself to conduct 
 them to the Central Committee, in the Rue de la 
 Corderie. At the railway stations there were 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 serious disturbances, besides the carrying off of tlie 
 muskets. The trains were ransacked and sent 
 back. The workmen belonging to the Northern 
 railway, to the number of 1100, were stopped, 
 as they came up to their workshops, and made 
 to work at the barricades and at mounting 
 the cannon. The meeting held at La Marseillaise 
 had appointed a certain Darras General-in-chief 
 of the National Guard; he was scarcely heard 
 of afterwards. A more serious matter was 
 the liberation of Brunei and Piazza, who had 
 been locked up at Sainte-Pélagie since the 22nd 
 February, and who were chaired by the crowd. 
 They afterwards became personages of importance 
 in the army of the Commune. 
 
 On reading of these occurrences, it is impossible 
 not to ask oneself, what were the authorities doing? 
 Everywhere complaints were made of their 
 weakness, and they are bitterly reproached 
 with it still. What a mistake it was to let the 
 cannon be taken ! No one asks whether the 
 authorities had any means of preventing the 
 seizure. The authorities were weak, no doubt; 
 the question is, were they so through their own 
 fault or through that of their position ? M. Ernest 
 Picard, the Minister of the Interior, was a man of 
 great decision of character and of stout heart ; 
 M. Jules Ferry had proved, on two memorable
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 229 
 
 occasions, that he could brave peril both to his 
 person and his popularity ; General Vinoy, the 
 Govern or- General of Paris, is an energetic officer 
 who likes fighting without quarter better tlian 
 submission. But what can a few stout-hearted 
 men do, when they are completely disarmed ? The 
 authorities, who found themselves confronted by 
 the Central Committee and the Federals, knew, as 
 others before them had known, all the horrors 
 of civil war during the siege; and in the then 
 state of the National Guard and the army, they 
 felt they could not attempt vigorous measures 
 without running the risk of a civil war, in which 
 they should get the worst of it. 
 
 Those battalions of the National Guard which 
 were called " good," worn out by the siege, over- 
 whelmed with grief and shame at the capitulation, 
 reassured but slightly by the composition of the 
 Government, decimated, moreover, by the depar- 
 ture of 60,000 men of their effective strength for 
 the departments, did not respond, or responded 
 in only insignificant numbers to the repeated call 
 to arms. 
 
 It has been said that the National Guards did 
 not come, because they had been refused a suf- 
 ficient quantity of ammunition. The distribution 
 of cartridges was made with caution, because it 
 was not desirable either to waste them or give
 
 230 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 tliem to suspected persons. Wlio has ever 
 imagined that if the National Guard had come 
 forward, all the ammunition at command would 
 not have been distributed to them ? AYe must 
 not palter with history. The truth is, that, at 
 this time, three parts of the National Guard 
 were infected with a spirit of mutiny, and the 
 rest were utterly disheartened. If the correctness 
 of this proportion between the good battalions 
 and the bad is denied, it is because the number 
 who were absent is forgotten. The cadres of even 
 the orderly battalions were disorganized. 
 
 The two or three men who alone represented the 
 Government of Paris, did not, themselves, know 
 how utterly the National Guard would fail them. 
 They believed, up to the last moment, that the 
 men would rouse themselves when they under- 
 stood the magnitude of the danger. They were not 
 aware of the enormous number of absentees, and 
 this was the most serious evil. It was thought- 
 less and unpatriotic desertion, at the moment 
 of the greatest danger, which gave the victory 
 to the Central Committee, and soon after to the 
 Commune. 
 
 During the occupation of the Champs Elysées 
 by the Prussians, the Government endeavoured 
 by beat of drum to rally round them a cordon 
 of the National Guards; but no one appeared.
 
 PABIS BEFORE THE iSlH MARCH, 1 87 1. 231 
 
 High pay was offered, but in vain. Yet the 
 " good " battalions were still believed in. On the 
 day of the evacuation, when the Gobelins was 
 seriously threatened on account of a considerable 
 quantity of ammunition stored in the manu- 
 factory, and which the Central Committee wanted 
 to seize, M. Jules Favre would not have recourse 
 to the troops of the line, for he still relied 
 "upon the good battalions." M. Thiers, on being 
 consulted by telegraph, was of the same mind. 
 He replied, from Bordeaux, " It is impossible but 
 that the National Guard will interpose, at the 
 proper time, and put an end to the disturbances 
 which disquiet us." Some days later, on the 
 17th March, during the whole of the afternoon 
 and part of the night, the drums beat to arms 
 in those quarters which were most favourable 
 to order; but there was no response. This 
 resource, the good National Guard, the best of 
 all, for it had often put an end to insurrections 
 by its mere presence, now utterly failed the 
 authorities. 
 
 The " guardians of the peace," as they had 
 been called since the 4th September, formerly 
 called " serjents de ville," had been formed into 
 regiments during the war ; they made up a body of 
 some imjDortance. But they had been disarmed, 
 like the rest of the army, since the armistice, and
 
 232 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 tliey were, besides, objects of an especial Hatred 
 to the population of the suburbs ; they could not 
 show themselves in a crowd without being in- 
 sulted, chased, and ill-treated. Their number 
 was not great enough to oppose to armed bands. 
 It would have been impossible for them to make 
 an arrest, and especially to arrest the leaders of 
 the movement, protected and defended as they 
 were by body-guards who allowed no one to 
 approach them. 
 
 As for the army, there were two different phases 
 in its position. Up to the 15th March, the army 
 of Paris, that which had arms, at least, consisted of 
 15,000 men (Faron's division and the gendarmes). 
 The other soldiers in Paris were those who had 
 fought during the siege, and had just been disarmed 
 according to the terms of the armistice. The 
 total of the effective strength was 243,000 men. 
 Deducting the 12,000 of Faron's division, and the 
 3000 gendarmes who had kept their arms, they may 
 be said to have formed a mass of about 225,000 
 men ; a mass, not an army, a mass, moreover, 
 in process of dissolution, since it inchided 103,000 
 gardes mobiles, men engaged for the period of tho 
 war, discharged soldiers who had been recalled, 
 and those who would be exempt from service 
 early in 1871. The latter, whose time of service 
 had now nearly expired, were so far from
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 233 
 
 trustworthy, tliat it was of great importance for 
 the maintenance of order they should be disbanded 
 as quickly as possible. The mobiles of the Seine, 
 especially, no longer obeyed their superiors. More 
 than that, they had taken to arresting them and 
 bringing them as prisoners before the Central 
 Committee, which, for the most part, released 
 them. The 20,000 mobiles of the Seine were 
 quickly disbanded, but not much was gained by 
 the arrangement, for they stayed in Paris. The 
 others were sent off, as soon as possible, either 
 on foot, passing through the enemy's lines, or by 
 rail, so soon as the railroads were reopened. This 
 difiBcult operation was completed on the 14th 
 March. The men of the active army entitled to 
 be discharged were also disbanded at the same 
 time ; the former army of Paris vanished ; but, 
 just in time, came a new one sent by M. Thiers, 
 at the urgent request of General Vinoy, and with 
 the authorization of the Prussians, who com- 
 prehended the absolute necessity of letting the 
 third article of the preliminaries of peace lie 
 dormant. 
 
 This army, consisting of 4420 infantry and a 
 division of cavalry, arrived in Paris with the 
 men belonging to it who were entitled to be 
 discharged, and who had to be sent off to their 
 homes at once. In consequence of this, the
 
 234 THE GOVERNMENT OF IT. THIERS. 
 
 effective strength of the companies, already in- 
 complete, was still further reduced ; and the 
 regiments were more like corps in process of 
 formation than regiments already formed. An 
 effort was made to place tbem upon a proper 
 footing, by amalgamating them with the former 
 regiments bearing the same number, according as 
 the latter came back from captivity. This difficult 
 operation, during which an army can only exist 
 upon paper, was not concluded by the 17th March. 
 The new arrivals encountered the mobiles of the 
 Seine and all the discharged soldiers of the former 
 army of Paris, who had not yet returned to their 
 departments, or who had been domiciled in Paris 
 before the war. There was a great number of 
 them : they turned up in all the insurrections, 
 where they appeared in the képi, and red trousers, 
 and where their presence was always greeted with 
 hearty acclamations. Even before they were dis- 
 charged, it had been necessary to billet them upon 
 the inhabitants, so as to restore the schools, 
 colleges, and palaces, which had been turned into 
 barracks during the siege, to the public administra- 
 tion. To these discharged soldiers must be added 
 a swarm of francs-tireurs and foreign volunteers, 
 who were adventurers rather than soldiers, and 
 who found their opportunity in scenes of disorder. 
 Among surroundings such as these, the regiments,
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 285 
 
 sent to Paris, and those composing Faron's small 
 division, were perilously placed: all these men, 
 who were soldiers no longer and yet had not taken 
 up their former trades, were an incessant cause 
 of demoralization to their comrades in the active 
 army. Certainly, an army commanded by men 
 such as Generals Vinoy and Faron, was in 
 vigorous hands ; but it had neither cohesion, 
 party spirit, nor discipHne. The disarmed and 
 the discharged men soon turned the army to the 
 side of the Federals, who shouted : " Vive la 
 hgne !" as they passed along. They had in 
 themselves a powerful incentive to insurrection ; 
 for, if the Central Committee and its adherents 
 were actuated by secret political intentions, the 
 greater number of those who made the demonstra- 
 tions were inspired by nothing more than anger 
 against the Prussians, and pride in the flag and 
 the name of France : sentiments which were as 
 powerful in the hearts of the soldiers as in those 
 of the citizens. All the generals felt themselves 
 powerless, as their despatches testify. " Do you 
 wish us to resist ? I am not sure of my men." 
 Or again, "I do not know what my men may 
 do ;" or else, " These disturbances are serious, 
 and I have no means of putting them down." 
 General Yinoy, determined to know the worst, 
 held a review : the attitude of the soldiers was
 
 236 TOE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 threatening ; they were within a hair's-breadth of 
 mutiny. The General-in-chief was so little in a 
 condition to resist, that towards the middle of 
 March lie fell back with his troops towards the 
 centre. It often happened, that when a general 
 commanding a zone would send a detachment 
 of soldiers to prevent the carrying ofiP of cannon 
 or the pillage of armouries, the men would not 
 march; or that even on the spot, they would 
 not obey orders, or they would fraternize openly 
 with the Federals. There were honourable, even 
 splendid exceptions ; gendarmes and soldiers who 
 let themselves be imprisoned so long as the 
 Commune lasted rather than fight against the 
 French army; some forfeited their lives in this 
 devotion to duty; but the bulk of tke army of 
 Paris was rotten. The Communists took pains to 
 mark this, after the 18th March, by their mani- 
 festations of delight. " Our brethren of the army 
 would not lay a hand upon the sacred ark of 
 our liberties." This was said publicly. Among 
 themselves, they judged " our brethren of the 
 army," who had given themselves, or been bought, 
 more severely ; but these sentiments of contempt, 
 expressed behind closed doors, only afford further 
 proof of the reality and extent of the treachery. 
 It is worth while to give details. One day, after 
 the 18th March, it was asked, at the Hôtel
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1871* 237 
 
 de Ville, what was to be done with the soldiers ? 
 One member proposed that they should be in- 
 corporated with the National Guard; another, 
 named Rousseau, set himself energetically against 
 this proposal, saying, " no confidence could be 
 placed in men who had been seen to sell their arms 
 to the first comer for a few pieces of money." 
 To this had the army of Paris come. General 
 Lecomte was killed on the 18th, only because his 
 men deserted him ; he was taken by the assassins 
 from amidst his own soldiers. 
 
 At a meeting held on the 1st March (the day 
 of the Prussian entry) by the Federal Council of 
 the International Assembly, Ridet makes the 
 following report : " This evening, I had proof 
 that Yinoy is no longer obeyed. The line Avants 
 to avoid all conflict with the people. Vinoy 
 sent them to bring away the cannon from the 
 Place Royale. The National Guard refused to 
 give them up. The line did not insist." Babick 
 makes the following reflection : " The influence 
 of these events is considerable, this may be 
 an immense advantage." Since the soldiers 
 disobeyed their general when it was a ques- 
 tion of carrying off the guns, it is easy to foresee 
 what would have happened if they had been sent 
 into Belleville or Montmartre, to arrest the 
 leaders of the federation. Even if the formation
 
 238 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 of a company of trustworthy and devoted men 
 could have been achieved, it would have been 
 impossible to have effected any arrest without 
 much bloodshed. Who could have exposed 
 Paris to such a danger, at the very moment 
 of the Prussian entry? Not M. Thiers; not 
 MM. Jules Favre and Jules Ferry; and they 
 alone had to represent the Government after 
 the 27th. General Vinoy and all the generals 
 under his command shared this sentiment. It 
 is easy enough, when these events are left far 
 behind, to accuse the authorities of weakness ; 
 those who are in the midst of the facts, who 
 can measure the scope of their means of action, 
 who foresee the consequences of defeat, often 
 exhibit more courage in temporizing than would 
 have sufficed for fighting. This was the history 
 of the new Government, in those ill-omened days 
 at the end of February, as it had been that of the 
 Government of Defence during the greater part 
 of the sieg^e of Paris. 
 
 The uncertainty which had prevailed respect- 
 ing the exact day for the entry of the Prussians, 
 had produced, perhaps, a favourable result. 
 Anger had had time to cool, zeal had worn itself 
 out during four days' suspense. A conflict could 
 only result from a moment of blind rage, whose 
 insanity all had recognized on reflection. The
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 239 
 
 Government was certain that they had not a 
 general engagement to fear, but they dreaded 
 partial disturbances which might serve the enemy 
 as a pretext. The Central Committee, who 
 had probably resolved from the first to submit 
 to the occupation which no one in the world 
 could prevent, but also to take advantage of it 
 to get possession of the cannon and ammu- 
 nition, and to establish its authority over the 
 federal battalions, posted the following proclama- 
 tion, on the evening of the 28th, so that it might 
 appear that all the popular movements were 
 directed by the Committee. 
 
 " French Republic. 
 
 " Liberty, EquaHty, Fraternity, 
 
 " Central Committee of the National Guard. 
 
 " Citizens, — 
 
 " As it appears that the general feeling of the 
 population is against offering any opposition to 
 the entry of the Prussians into Paris, the Cen- 
 tral Committee, which had issued a notice to the 
 contrary, now declare that they have adopted the 
 following resolution : — 
 
 " There shall be erected all round those quar- 
 ters of the city which the enemy is to occupy, a 
 series of barricades so as to isolate that portion 
 of the city completely.
 
 240 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 " The inhabitants of the district circumscribed 
 within these limits ought to evacuate it imme- 
 diately. 
 
 " The National Guard, in concert with the army, 
 formed into a cordon, will surround this space, 
 and will take care that the enemy, thus isolated on 
 a soil which forms no longer a portion of our city, 
 shall have no communication whatsoever with the 
 other portions of Paris. 
 
 " The Central Committee therefore request all 
 the National Guard to lend their aid in the exe- 
 cution of the measures necessary to effect this 
 purpose, and also to avoid all acts of aggression 
 which would bring about the immediate overthrow 
 of the Republic. 
 
 " Paris, the 28th February, 1871. 
 " The Members of the Commission : 
 " André Alavoine, Bouit, Frontier, Bour- 
 sier, David, Boisson, Haroud, Gritz, 
 Tessier, Ramel, Badois, Arnold, Pi- 
 connel, Masson, Andoyneau, Weber, 
 Lagarde, Jean Laroque, Jules Ber- 
 geret, Pouchain, Lavalette, Fleury, 
 Maljournal, Chouteau, Cadoze, Gas- 
 teau, Dutil, Matte, Mutin." 
 The plan of the Central Committee was, in 
 fact, no other than that of General Yinoy, who on 
 his side had also published a proclamation.
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 241 
 
 Among the names of members of "the Com- 
 mission " of the Central Committee we find that 
 of Chouteau, who belonged to the International. 
 The Federal Council of the International had 
 decided, after some hesitation, that four of its 
 members should get themselves delegated by the 
 companies, so as to make part of the Central 
 Committee. These four members were to act 
 in their own names, without compromising the 
 association, but they were to supply it with in- 
 formation, and to be guided by it. 
 
 The International Association laid great stress 
 on what it called its moral influence ; it wanted 
 to bear a part in everything, and meant to take 
 its share of political action, without, however, 
 allowing politics to be anything but a means of 
 serving its social propaganda. 
 
 MM. Lanjalley and Corriez, the authors of 
 a history of the 18th March, assert, that before 
 drawing up the Manifesto of the 28th February, 
 the Central Committee had admitted several 
 members of the Federal Council of the Inter- 
 national, under the title of free members, "in 
 order to counterbalance the influence of the 
 violent and unruly element existing in its own 
 body." The Central Committee did not call upon 
 the International to act as moderators. It did 
 not fear its own violence to that extent ; it only 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 242 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 did on the 28th. what was already intended on 
 the 24th, but it wilhnglj accepted the co-opera- 
 tion of the International, in order to explain 
 and cover the sudden transformation of its 
 policy. 
 
 The International, whose directing Committee 
 was composed of very prudent men, was far 
 from any ideas of resistance, as the following 
 document will sufficiently prove : — 
 
 " Paris, 28th February. 
 
 " Numerous deputations have presented them- 
 selves at the Corderie since the entry of the 
 Prussians has been under consideration, and 
 have declared that they expected to find there 
 a military organization quite ready to march 
 against the invaders when they should set foot 
 in Paris. 
 
 " The members present having requested the 
 delegates to state what groups they represented, 
 the names of certain citizens were given who 
 have not received any mandate from the Com- 
 mittees constituting the reunion of the Corderie, 
 viz : — 
 
 " The International x^ssociation of Workmen ; 
 the Federal Chamber of the Working Men's Society; 
 the Deputation of the twenty arrondissements. 
 
 " Under these circumstances the three groups
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 8/ 1. 243 
 
 of the Corderie inform tlie workmen of Paris that 
 they have given no mandate to any one on the 
 subject of an action against the Prussians. 
 
 " The members present consider it their duty 
 to declare their behef that any attack would 
 but serve to place the people in the power of the 
 enemies of the Revolution, of German and French 
 Monarchists, who would drown all social claims 
 in a sea of blood. 
 
 " We remember the dark days of June. 
 *' The Members of the Commission : 
 
 " Henri Goulle, Pindy, Jules Vallès, 
 Rochat, Roueyrol,Leo Meillet, Ch. 
 Beslay, Avrial, Antoine Arnoud." 
 
 Round that portion of Paris occupied by the 
 Prussians the Government had formed two cordons 
 of troops, one furnished by General Faron's regi- 
 ments, the second by the National Guard. The 
 National Guard disliked this service, notwithstand- 
 ing their high pay. The two cordons were broken 
 through by only a few inquisitive persons, espe- 
 cially on the first day. It had been verbally 
 arranged that the Prussians might visit, indi- 
 vidually and unarmed, the Louvre and the Inva- 
 lides ; the Government had consequently ordered 
 all the gates of the Tuileries, of the Place du Car- 
 rousel, and of the Court of the Louvre to be shut. 
 
 E 2
 
 244 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 The Louvre was completely closed in by canvas 
 screens, so as to hide Paris from the enemy, and 
 the enemy from the Parisians. In the interior of 
 the town cafés and shops were shut ; the greater 
 number bore the following inscription : " Closed 
 on account of the National Mourning." Few, if 
 any carriages ; scarcely any one on foot : a dead 
 city. The Bourse was deserted ; the kiosks were 
 closed. Thirty-seven newspapers, of the most 
 diverse opinions, had unanimously announced 
 that they would not appear, and exhorted the 
 citizens to calmness and dignity. Not one of 
 them broke faith. In the night some unknown 
 hand had covered the face of each of the statues 
 in the Place de la Concorde with a black veil. 
 A few houses hoisted black flags. 
 
 The vanguard of the Prussians entered by 
 the Grande Avenue des Champs Elysées on the 
 1st March, at eight o'clock, but without passii^ 
 under the Arc de Triomphe, the middle arch being 
 completely blocked up by heaps of stones and 
 rubbish. They were preceded by a numerous 
 staff, who rode on to the Place de la Concorde 
 and marched round it several times, as though 
 to take possession of it. A regiment, which 
 appeared to be a second vanguard, entered 
 Paris about half-past ten. The Emperor mean- 
 while reviewed the main body of the army on the
 
 PARIS BEFOEE THE i8tH MAllCH, 1 87 1. 245 
 
 race-course of Longchamps. He afterwards re- 
 turned to Versailles with the Crown Prince, and 
 did not enter Paris at all. The troops in occupa- 
 tion marched with fife and drum down the 
 Grande Avenue des Champs Elysees at about 
 three o'clock. A great number of ofiB.cers of all 
 arms had requested permission to join the staff of 
 General Kammecke, who commanded the corps of 
 occupation. Count Bismark came the next day 
 in a close carriage, but went no farther than the 
 Avenue de la Grand Armée. 
 
 The Prussians came with all the panoply of 
 war, like troops going into battle, not to a parade. 
 Their baggage, ambulances, telegraphs, canteens, 
 and forage waggons crowded the Palais de l'Indus- 
 trie, the Rotonde des Panoramas, and the Cirque. 
 Many officers and soldiers were quartered on the 
 inhabitants; General de Kammecke established his 
 head quarters in Queen Christina's house. The 
 German soldiers, closely watched by their officers, 
 and perhaps also feeling they were treading on 
 a mine, were guilty of no provocation, cruelty, or 
 depredation. At the round point of the Champs 
 Elysees, whilst the Prussians were marching past 
 by torchlight, a passer-by hissed them, and, being 
 pursued, climbed over a hoarding in front of some 
 buildings in com-se of erection. The Prus- 
 sians burst open the door of the adjoining house
 
 246 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 in searcli of liim, and wounded the concierge and 
 some otlier persons. A stone was flung at a 
 Prussian soldier, and it knocked his eye out ; the 
 culprit was seized and executed on the spot. In 
 the city some natives of Alsace, who were mistaken 
 for Germans, were hunted by the mob, and for a 
 time they were in serious danger. Several 
 women of the town who addressed the Prussian 
 soldiers were beaten. 
 
 At the clubs, which sat permanently, threats 
 abounded ; and even some rash demonstrations 
 were made, such as the rolling of barrels of gun- 
 powder into the hall of La Marseillaise, with the 
 intention, it was said, of blowing up the palace 
 of the Elysée. Artillery-men of the National 
 Guard, aided by women and children, mounted 
 five pieces of cannon on the platform of the Mou- 
 lin de la Galette in full view of the Prussian army. 
 The greatest danger, however, that which most 
 alarmed General Vinoy and the Government, arose 
 from the clause that authorized the Prussians to 
 visit the Louvre and the Invalides. General 
 Yinoy declared himself ready to carry out the 
 condition with respect to the visit to the 
 Invalides, but he pointed out the risks the 
 visitors must incur, by venturing so far from 
 the occupied portion of Paris, and added, that, 
 unarmed as he was, and in presence of an
 
 PAEIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 187T. 247 
 
 angry and armed crowd, he could not be respon- 
 sible for tlie consequences of such, imprudence. 
 M. de Kammecke yielded this point, but insisted 
 that his men should enter the Louvre. General 
 Vinoy then explained that the galleries had no 
 longer any interest, as all the large pictures had 
 been taken down by order of M. Jules Simon, 
 during the siege, rolled up, and stowed away in 
 the half-subterranean galleries which seemed 
 likely to be impervious to shot and shell. The 
 Prussians would therefore see nothing^ but 
 empty frames. All the windows of the sculpture 
 galleries on the ground floor had been walled up, 
 also by order of M. Jules Simon ; so that they 
 were simply dark vaults. It was consequently 
 arranged that the soldiers should visit the great 
 courtyard, but not enter the galleries. They did 
 enter them nevertheless, for some of the officers, 
 finding a door open, penetrated as far as the 
 gallery of Apollo, and even were so imprudent as 
 to open the famous " window of the Balcony of 
 Henri III." and crowd into it to admire 
 the fine view of the Quays, the Seine, and the Cité. 
 So soon as the crowd on the bridges and in 
 the streets observed the German uniforms, there 
 arose a deafening roar of rage and defiance. Two- 
 sous pieces were flung at the Germans with the 
 cry, " Here is the beginning of the three mil-
 
 248 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 liards." Nearly 300,000 National Guards, all 
 armed, were in the streets. A single musket-shot 
 might have led to a massacre, and renewed the 
 war. 
 
 The peace was ratified at Bordeaux by the 
 Assembly on the 1st March, the day of the Prus- 
 sian entry into Paris. The news was received in 
 Paris at seven o'clock in the evening. Had the 
 Prussians been satisfied with the telegraphic 
 despatch the occupation would have lasted only a 
 single day, had they withdrawn when the authentic 
 instrument of the ratification reached the hands 
 of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, it would have 
 lasted but a day and a half. Count Bismark suc- 
 ceeded, by delays and formalities, in making it 
 last two entire days. It has been said that the 
 Emperor William intended to make a solemn entry 
 into the Champs Elysees with Count Bismarck and 
 Count Moltke by his side, and that the 3rd March 
 was the day appointed. If indeed he ever enter- 
 tained this cruel and dangerous design, he was 
 obliged by the formal text of the Convention 
 to abandon it. The evacuation commenced early on 
 the ord March, and terminated without any special 
 incident ; at noon it was completed. The crowd 
 rushed into the Champs Elysées, now deserted by 
 the enemy. The cafés where the Prussians had 
 dined, the Café Dupont, the Restaurant Le Doyen,
 
 PArJS BEFORE THE i8tH MAUCH, 1 87 1. 249 
 
 were wrecked and pillaged by a band of ruffians ; 
 but one company of foot belonging to the National 
 Guard sufficed to re-establish order. 
 
 The Central Committee had not been inactive 
 during the two days of the German occupation. 
 The members felt themselves all the more free to 
 act that the soldiers of Faron's division were em- 
 ployed in surrounding and watching the Prussians. 
 From the moment of the evacuation, they dis- 
 played fresh activity, as though they were in haste 
 to complete their preparations for civil war. On 
 the 3rd March they sent four battalions to the 
 guard-house of the Gobelins then occupied by the 
 " guardians of the peace ;" disarmed the soldiers, 
 took possession of their muskets and of a 
 quantity of ammunition stored in the establish- 
 ment; on the 4th they carried off twenty-nine 
 howitzers from La Villette ; two days after 
 they seized 2000 muskets, belonging to the 
 wounded and sick soldiers then under treatment 
 in the Hospital of Saint Antoine. On the 
 10th they ordered three battalions to seize the 
 cannons at the Luxembourg; but the attempt 
 failed; on the 14th they stopped a train of thirteen 
 waggons carrying powder, the last waggon only 
 remained in their hands. On the 16th they 
 attempted to capture the powder-magazine belong- 
 ing to the ninth zone ; the 131st foot, who were
 
 250 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 ordered to take it, retreated before tlie determined 
 resistance of the 21st battalion. The Committee 
 was everywhere; it prompted the revolt of the Garde 
 Mobile, it laid hands on the gunpowder belong- 
 ing to the State which was stored in the bastions, 
 and, the better to organize the approaching 
 conflict with the regular army, it withdrew the 
 cannon which had at first been placed in the Place 
 des Vosges, and transferred them to the heights of 
 Belleville and Montmartre. It also attacked Saint 
 Pélagie with the object of releasing the prisoners 
 of the 31st October and 22nd January. 
 
 The Committee never relaxed its efforts to 
 entice the Line, and was actively seconded in 
 this by the former mobiles of the Seine, and other 
 discharged soldiers. On the 11th March the news 
 came to Paris that the Assembly was to sit at 
 Versailles, that Blanqui and Flourens were con- 
 demned to death ^ar contumace for their partici- 
 pation in the rising of the 31st October ; that the 
 authorities had just suppressed six newspapers : 
 Le Vengeur, of Felix Pyat ; Le Cri du Peuple^ of 
 Jules Vallès, Le Mot d^ Ordre of Rochefort ; Le Père 
 Duchesne, of Vermersch ; La Caricature, of Pilotell, 
 and A Bouche de Fer, of Paschal Grousset. 
 
 General Vinoy had good reason to fear that 
 this news would exasperate the Federals ; he 
 warned all the commandants of the different
 
 PARIS BEFOEE THE i8tH MAECH, 187I. 251 
 
 zones to redouble their vigilance. On the 
 following day, the Committee issued a formal 
 provocation to the army to revolt. It was a 
 red placard, which was posted on all the walls 
 of Paris. 
 
 The address was as follows : — 
 " To the Army. 
 " The Delegates of the National Guard of 
 Paris. 
 " Soldiers, Children of the People ! 
 
 " Shameful reports are circulated in the Pro- 
 vinces. 
 
 " There are in Paris 300,000 National Guards, 
 and nevertheless troops are being brought in, 
 who are deceived respecting the spirit of the Pari- 
 sian population. The men who have organized 
 our defeat, dismembered Prance and handed over 
 our gold to the enemy, want to escape from 
 the responsibility which they have assumed, by 
 bringing about a civil war. They count on you as 
 docile instruments of the crime they meditate. 
 Citizen soldiers, will you obey a criminal command 
 to shed the same blood as that which flows in 
 your own veins? Will you rend your own 
 flesh ? No. You will never consent to become 
 parricides and fratricides ! 
 
 " What do the people of Paris want ? 
 
 " They want to keep their own arms, to choose
 
 252 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 their own cliiefs, and to revoke their choice when 
 they no longer have confidence in those chiefs. 
 They want the soldiers to be sent back to their 
 homes, to restore happiness to then* families and 
 to resume their work. 
 
 " Soldiers, children of the people, let us unite 
 to save the E-epublic. Kings and emperors have 
 done us enough harm. Do not stain your lives. 
 Military discipline does not relieve the conscience 
 from responsibility. Let us embrace in the full 
 sight of those, who, to gain a step, to obtain a 
 place, to bring back a kiog, would make us 
 slaughter each other. 
 
 " Long live the Republic ! 
 "Voted in the Vaux Hall, March 10th, 1871." 
 There were no signatures to this placard, which 
 was read with enthusiasm in the quarters where 
 the Federals were in the majority, and not with- 
 out a certain sympathy in the quarters which were 
 for " order." The great majority of the Parisian 
 population is Republican, and the most conser- 
 vative Republicans were not satisfied as to the 
 future of the Republic in the hands of M. Thiers. 
 The prospect of a bloody struggle between the 
 Federals and the regular troops was appalling ; 
 they asked themselves which side they, who had 
 not adhered to the federation, and who had no 
 confidence in the regular government, ought to take
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 253 
 
 in the event of a collision. Even among them the 
 suppression of the six newspapers was unpopular. 
 Conservatives of all shades of opinion, even 
 monarchical Conservatives, persisted in requiring 
 the liberty of the press. It is worthy of remark 
 that the people of Paris, whatever their political 
 opinions, have always shown themselves unani- 
 mous on that point. During the siege, the sup- 
 pression of a newspaper which had revealed the 
 secrets of the Government was so unpopular that 
 it had been impossible to persist in it. The Mayor 
 of Paris addressed the following despatch to the 
 Minister of the Interior : — 
 
 *' The suppression is exciting an agitation 
 which it would be unwise to treat with con- 
 tempt. Groups of people are formed even in the 
 peaceable quarters. A red placard addressed to 
 the Army, which is a deliberate appeal to dis- 
 obedience and revolt, is being posted The soldiers 
 read it readily; this may become serious. Cannot 
 this placard be suppressed ? " 
 
 The Prefect of Police wrote to the General- 
 in-chief on the 12th March at four o'clock in the 
 morning : — 
 
 " I have had the placards removed as well as I 
 could, but the adjutant-majors must have them 
 torn off the walls of the barracks." 
 
 M. Charles Yriarte, in his book entitled
 
 254 THE GOVEIÎNMENT OP U. THIEES. 
 
 " The Prussians in Paris," relates tliat on his 
 attempting to tear down one of these placards 
 from a pillar in the Rue de Rivoli, he was 
 instantly surrounded by a crowd, hustled, threat- 
 ened, and otherwise ill-used. " It seemed," says 
 he, " as though the entire population made com- 
 mon cause with the rising; weakness, pushed 
 even to cowardice, let us all roll into the 
 gulf." 
 
 General d'Aurelles de Paladines, who had been 
 appointed some days before to the post of Chief 
 Commandant of the National Guard, but was 
 detained at Bordeaux by his duties as a member 
 of the Commission of Fifteen, hastened to Paris 
 immediately after the ratification of the treaty of 
 peace. His official nomination dates from the 
 3rd March. Cluseret announced it to the Central 
 Committee by a letter written at Bordeaux, as 
 follows : — 
 
 " General d'Aurelles de Paladines is, after Gam- 
 betta and Trochu, the most guilty man towards 
 France. It was he who delivered up the army of 
 the Loire without a struggle, for one cannot give 
 the name of combat to his shameful flight. lie 
 ought to have been tried by court martial, and 
 yet it is he whom M. Thiers selects to place at your 
 head I By what right is this fresh insult inflicted ? 
 Where is the mandate of M. Thiers, and of the
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 187I. 255 
 
 Assembly which has conferred power on him ? 
 Elected by the peasants for a specific purpose : 
 to treat for the disgrace of France at the ex- 
 pense of the towns, it has accomplished its 
 sorry mandate. Now it is nothing more than a 
 group of factious men. 
 
 *' The source of all power, and the only power 
 in Paris, is you. National Guards of the Seine, 
 you the advanced people." 
 
 On the day of his arrival in Paris, the 4th 
 March, General d'Aurelles summoned a meeting 
 of the majors at head-quarters. A very few of 
 them responded to his summons. 
 
 The general published an order of the day, in 
 which he spoke of discipline and repression. " My 
 first duty is to secure the maintenance of order, 
 and respect for law and property. Labour must 
 repair the misfortunes of the war as speedily as 
 possible. Order alone can give us back prosperity. 
 I am firmly resolved to repress everything which 
 might threaten the tranquillity of the city." There 
 is nothing to be said against these words, still they 
 were not calculated to allay excitement. The 
 general had all the will to suppress and punish the 
 promoters of rebellion, but he had not the means to 
 do so ; every one knew this, and none better than 
 the Federals themselves. To show how little they 
 regarded the superior who had been sent to them,
 
 256 THE GOVEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 they hastened to elect generals. They did this 
 without concert, in haste, in the guise of a pro- 
 test, and in such confusion that no one knew 
 whether the general-in-chief were Darras, or 
 Henri, or Duval. Darras became an intendant, 
 or something of that sort, under the Commune. 
 Duval was the workman, transformed into a 
 general, who was shot, by Vinoy's orders, after 
 one of the first encounters, and who at least had 
 this merit, that he died bravely. Henri, who was 
 subsequently chief of the staff of Bergeret, exer- 
 cised a sort of authority after his nomination : 
 he had his staff and even a body-guard, in imitation 
 of Flourens. It was he who took the command 
 at the Ohaussee-du-Maine, on the 18th March. 
 A meeting held at the Vaux Hall, where the real 
 business was mostly done, proclaimed Garibaldi 
 general-in- chief. He was of course a general i7i 
 partihus, but they gave him very effective lieu- 
 tenants in Piazza and Brunei. 
 
 It was perfectly clear, from the election of 
 generals, that D'Aurelles de Paladines, or any 
 other chief appointed in his place by the Govern- 
 ment, would not be obeyed. The Government 
 had desired a resolute rûan, tliej^ had one ; but of 
 what avail was the will without the power? 
 Another resolute man. General Valentine, was 
 appointed Prefect of Pohce twelve days later.
 
 PARIS BEFORE THE i8tH MARCH, 1 87 1. 257 
 
 These two nominations, D'Aurelles and Valentine, 
 appeared satisfactory only because tliere was no 
 real knowledge of the power of the Federals, nor 
 of the disorganization and demoralization of 
 what was taken for the army of order. Every- 
 thing was toppling over. The Assembly was 
 coming in a few days to sit at Versailles ; the 
 majority, incensed as they were against Paris, 
 and determined, as they expressed it, no longer 
 to suffer Paris to send a ready-made government 
 into the provinces every six months, could not 
 fail to come to violent resolutions. It was 
 necessary to end matters before the arrival of 
 the Assembly. 
 
 M. Thiers resolved to make a great effort to 
 recover the cannon. If he succeeded, the authori- 
 ties would again have the upper hand, all would 
 then be easy. If he failed, he would retire to 
 Versailles, reconstruct the army, and prepare to 
 take Paris. Anything was preferable to the pro- 
 longation of a crisis which kept the Government 
 face to face with an organized revolt, with listless 
 adherents, and with an army ready to throw down 
 their arms, or to fraternize with the insurgents. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 258 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS, 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 
 
 M. Jules Ferry, wlio discharged the functions of 
 Mayor of Paris, and whose ability and energy 
 M. Thiers fully appreciated, was always present 
 at the Ministerial Councils. General Vinoy and 
 General d'Aurelles de Paladines were summoned 
 to attend the Council held on the 17th March, 
 at which it was the almost unanimous opinion 
 that, during the night of the 17th or 18th, the 
 heights of Montmartre should be occupied and 
 the cannon which the Federals had accumulated 
 there, seized ; and that the safety of France and 
 the honour of the Government depended on this 
 being done. So long as the city was threatened 
 with civil war, business could not be resumed, the 
 Prussians would not depart, and the ransom could 
 not be paid. The remembrance of the attempt 
 made a few days previously by M. Clemenceau 
 led the Ministers to believe that only slight oppo-
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 259 
 
 sition would be offered. M. Clemenceau liad 
 persuaded the officers of a battalion of bis arron- 
 dissement that they would be doing an act of 
 patriotism and wisdom in allowing the Govern- 
 ment to resume possession of the guns ; he had 
 then advised the Government of this state of 
 feeling, and indicated the day on which this 
 particular battalion would be on guard. At 
 the appointed hour on that day teams were 
 sent to take away the cannon ; but, either 
 through some misunderstanding, or through 
 the secret action of the Central Committee, the 
 guns were not given up. For all that, the con- 
 sent of the battalion was a symptom of weariness 
 or of appeasement. The Government believed 
 that the Central Committee had resisted so long 
 as they thought force would not be used, but 
 that, if active measures were taken, they would 
 no longer resist the law by violence. Supposing, 
 however, they did fight, the first few shots would 
 rouse the National Guards, who had remained 
 passive until now because they would not admit 
 to themselves that there was real danger. Faron's 
 division, which had already acquired steadiness 
 under its able chief, would set the example to the 
 soldiers who had arrived the day before. 
 
 General Vinoy did not share these views. He had 
 for a long tine previously been at variance with 
 
 s 2
 
 260 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEKS. 
 
 the Central Committee ; lie tliorougUy knew the 
 dispositions of the Non-federal National Guards, 
 while, as for what was called his army, he repeated 
 again and again that he had under his command 
 only a corps in process of formation, and that it 
 would be imprudent to employ it, as he could 
 not answer for it. He would have had the 
 Ministers await the return of some of the regi- 
 ments who were now prisoners in Germany. 
 
 " The new troops which form the army of Paris 
 were scarcely organized," he says, in his history of 
 these events, " the greater number of the men had 
 been only two days in the ranks, and the regiments 
 consequently lacked the necessary homogeneity 
 and cohesion. 
 
 "A small army of from 25,000 to 30,000 men 
 of inferior calibre, as opposed to 300,000 National 
 Guards, the one indifferent if not hostile, the other 
 well armed and possessing unexpected means of 
 resistance ; under such circumstances was the 
 struggle undertaken, on which such grave and 
 considerable interests depended." 
 
 These were strong reasons from a military point 
 of view, but M. Thiers looked at the situation as 
 a politician. Supposing the Government did not 
 succeed during the night of the 17th with their 
 insufficent force, that would be a repulse no doubt, 
 but a repulse easily explained and repaired, it
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 261 
 
 would not be the same thing if the former, the 
 regular army, were employed. In what state 
 would it return ? Several months of captivity 
 might have transformed it physically and morally. 
 It would be all over with this army, should it be 
 beaten by the insurgents; while, should it fraternize 
 with them, it would be all over with France ! If 
 it were evident, after the decisive proof of the 
 18th March, that the majority of the National 
 Guard was not with the Government, it would 
 no longer be possible to contend against Paris, 
 and the only course left would be to quit the city 
 and afterwards to retake it. These reasons con- 
 vinced the Council. In any case they would only 
 have three days to wait, for no one entertained any 
 doubt concerning the resolutions which would 
 be taken by the Assembly. 
 
 The plan of action was arranged between M. 
 Thiers, General Le Flo, General Yinoy, and 
 General d' Aurelles. General Susbielle, having with 
 him Generals Paturol and Lecomte, was to take 
 possession of Montmartre ; General Faron to make 
 himself master of the Buttes de Chaumont. 
 Strong detachments were posted at the Hôtel de 
 Ville and at the Tuileries ; there was also a reserve 
 corps at the École Militaire, whither the cannons 
 recovered from the National Guard were to be con- 
 veyed. Thus the whole army of Paris was astir.
 
 2G2 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 The artillery teams were stationed in the Champs 
 Elysées and on the Place de la Concorde, in 
 readiness for the first signal. 
 
 Everything passed off at first as had been 
 hoped ; on the morning of the 18th the heights 
 of Chaumont and Montmartre were in possession 
 of our troops. The satisfaction of the Government 
 was, however, of but short duration. We had 
 reached and occupied the heights without difficulty, 
 as the expedition had not been foreseen. When the 
 presence of our regiments became known, the 
 Committee ordered the drums to beat to arms, 
 the Federals presented themselves, and recovered 
 their positions as they had lost them, without 
 striking a blow. The troops had marched will- 
 ingly, but in face of the National Guard, and 
 especially of women and children who flocked to 
 the ground, they would neither fire nor charge. 
 The result of the operation was that the Federals 
 kept their guns, and acquired the certainty that 
 power lay with them, and that the Government 
 was forsaken and impotent. It has been said 
 that had there been a greater number of teams, 
 and had they been on the spot at the same time 
 as the soldiers, the cannon might have been 
 carried away in an hour or two, so that the 
 general-in-chief's error in the disposition of his 
 forces was in reality to blame for the failure of
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 263 
 
 the undertaking. This opinion is generally enter- 
 tained and repeated, but it will not bear examina- 
 tion. All the events of 1870-71 are rashly judged 
 by prejudiced or ill-informed persons, who do not 
 take into account the difficulties and impossibilities 
 of the case. On the 18th March it would have been 
 impossible for the generals to employ more horses 
 than they used, for the very good reason that they 
 had not got them. The siege had decimated 
 our cavalry. The teams could not have been 
 brought up to the point of attack at the same 
 time as the soldiers, without risking the success 
 of the operation and the safety of the troops. 
 To convince one's self of this one has only to 
 glance at the network of streets that had to be 
 crossed, and at the heights that had to be scaled. 
 Finally, to harness and transport the guns, which 
 were the objects of the dispute, would have 
 been impossible, since at Montmartre alone 
 there were 171 pieces of artillery all entangled 
 in one another, and several of them wanting their 
 limbers. 
 
 It has also been said that the troops were kept 
 inactive from five o'clock in the morning until the 
 moment when a battahon of the Federals presented 
 themselves with the butt-ends of their muskets 
 raised, and demanded a conference. This is no less 
 untrue. Sixty pieces of cannon had been carried
 
 264 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 by the soldiers down to the Boulevard Conr celles, 
 and the gendarmes were hastily harnessing them, 
 when Bergeret came up at the head of a detach- 
 ment of the 128th battalion. The superiority of 
 his force rendered any attempt at resistance im- 
 possible. The crowd seized the teams, cut the 
 traces, and thus without striking a blow captured 
 the greater number of the cannons. 
 
 It is then vain to throw the responsibility of 
 defeat on the alleged faults of the military authori- 
 ties ; the ill-success of the day was altogether due 
 to the inertness of the National Guard and the 
 defection of a considerable part of the army. 
 This is the truth, and it is only by fully recognizing 
 it, that we get a correct view of the events of 
 that day, and those which ensued. 
 
 The call to arms had been beaten without inter- 
 mission in all the rich quarters. What was the 
 result ? General Vinoy says less than 1000 men; 
 M. Thiers, in his deposition, says 600 men. On 
 the part of the soldiers, there was the reluctance 
 which always exists at the beginning of a conflict 
 of the kind. They were surrounded on all sides 
 by the National Guard, crying " Vive la ligne ! " 
 crowds of women went through their ranks, gently 
 and coaxingly reproaching them for their conduct, 
 and exhorting them to make common cause with 
 the people, until they refused to obey their officers.
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 265 
 
 raised the butt-ends of their muskets, or even 
 gave up their arms altogether. The insurgents 
 have boasted, shameful to relate, that they bought 
 muskets from the soldiers " for a few sous." A 
 great number of soldiers broke their ranks and 
 went down into Paris, saying that an agreement 
 had been come to, and all was over ; others passed 
 into the ranks of the insurgents, and were seen a 
 few hours later amongst the assassins. General 
 Lecomte was seized in the midst of his men, and 
 dragged to the Rue des Rosiers. Whilst the 
 soldiers were behaving thus at Montmartre, where 
 the 88th regiment opened its ranks to the 
 Federals, several other regiments in various parts 
 of the city were showing signs of insubordination. 
 The Hotel de Ville being beset by a mob in the 
 evening, the 120th (line regiment), quartered at 
 the Prince Eugène Barracks, laid down their arms 
 and fraternized with the rebels. The 135th, 
 quartered at the Luxembourg, opened the gates, 
 and joined the insurrection. Federals and soldiers 
 of the line were seen in the streets arm-in-arm, 
 uttering seditious cries, and disarming the soldiers 
 whom they met if they refused to join them. 
 The Council of Ministers, sitting permanently at 
 the Foreign Office, learned successively that the 
 Federals were masters of Montmartre and Belle- 
 ville, and that the Government had no longer an
 
 266 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 army. The Council was literally in the hands 
 of the insurgents, who might arrest the Ministers 
 or even kill them, as they killed that very day 
 General Lecomte and General Clément Thomas, 
 who had fallen into their hands. 
 
 It was about nine o'clock in the morning 
 when General Lecomte was taken by main 
 force from the very midst of his soldiers. He 
 was only defended by his officers, several of 
 whom were also seized. The house (N^o. C) 
 to which they dragged him belongs to Madame 
 Scribe; and the Military Committee of the 
 18th arrondissement, appointed a few days before 
 at a meeting which took place at the Salle 
 Robert, were sitting there permanently. The 
 General being brought before them, they de- 
 manded that he should address a written order 
 to abandon the heio^hts to his brio-ade. This he 
 refused to do. The Committee, having at the time 
 only a few men at hand, sent off their prisoner 
 under escort to the Château Rouge, where a 
 large body of National Guards was posted. All 
 along the way the mob shouted that the general 
 had made his men fire on the people. At one 
 o'clock a Federal captain presented himself, with 
 an order bearing four illegible signatures, and 
 the General was given up to this man, who 
 placed him, with ten other officers brought from
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 267 
 
 various parts, in tlie midst of a platoon of sixty- 
 men, and took him back to No. 6, Rue des 
 Rosiers, amid the groans and threats of the mob. 
 On his arrival he was placed in a separate room, 
 being thus parted from the officers who accom- 
 panied him. The crowd surrounded the house, 
 crying, "Death to them!" Towards three 
 o'clock General Clement Thomas, who was not in 
 uniform (he had been replaced since the 3rd of 
 March by General d'Aurelles), got out of a 
 carriage on the Place Pigalle, and bent his steps 
 towards the Boulevard Rochechouart. He was 
 recognized. " He transported the citizens in 
 1848 ! He insulted the National Guard ! He sold 
 us to the Prussians ! " Transported the citizens 
 in 1848 ! This was indeed a long-lived hatred. 
 It must have been the sons of some of those 
 who were transported who raised that cry. The 
 Commune was not so vindictive towards Cluseret, 
 who distinguished himself against the insurgents 
 in June, and was decorated for it. A similar 
 accusation' against the Deputies of 1848 was 
 made on the 28th February in a proclamation of 
 the International: " We remember June, 1848 !" 
 Amongst the signatures to this proclamation was 
 that of a man who, being a Deputy at that 
 epoch, had, like all his colleagues, fought against 
 the insurrection. Those who arrested Clément
 
 268 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 Thomas do right to recall this dark remem- 
 brance. June, 1848, March, 1871 ; it is the same 
 conflict, and General Clément Thomas must die 
 like General Bréa ! Some men of the National 
 Guard dragged him with insults and threats to 
 the house in the Rue des Rosiers. More than 
 2000 persons had followed him. He was placed 
 in the same room with Lecomte, and for more than 
 two hours the Federal officers who were present 
 strove to prevent the crowd, now threatening 
 them in their turn, from forcing the door. The 
 Committee, who seemed to wish to avoid murder, 
 transformed itself into a Court-Martial, and con- 
 ducted a sort of examination. They asked 
 Lecomte, "Do you regret having fired on the 
 people?" He calmly replied, "What I have 
 done is well done." While two or three of the 
 leaders were hesitating and trying to gain time, 
 those who surrounded the General, and the crowd 
 outside, were eager for the end. 
 
 " Why these delays ? we are betrayed !" 
 A rush was made, inside, upon the judges, out- 
 side, upon the house. The prisoners were lost.- 
 In a trial which took place before the Court- 
 Martial in March, 1878, Captain Franck related a 
 strange and touching incident. " They came to 
 ask General Clément Thomas whether he preferred 
 being shot inside the house, or in the garden.
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 269 
 
 He was just asking me wliat was my age ? 
 " Twenty, General." " That is very young to 
 be shot." Turning towards the insurgents, he 
 answered, " Outside;" then he whispered in my 
 ear, " Thus, they may spare you." 
 
 At this moment (it was five o'clock) the doors 
 and windows were smashed in and the crowd filled 
 the house. Some madmen seized Clément Thomas 
 by the collar. " You betrayed us at Montretout ! " 
 A sergeant of the line shook his fist at General 
 Lecomte, and vociferated, "You sent me to 
 prison for thirty days ; I shall be the first to fire, at 
 you!" General Clément Thomas was thrust out 
 of the room and driven by blows from clenched 
 fists and from the butt-ends of muskets, into the 
 garden ; on the way several balls struck him and 
 he was covered with blood. He was placed against 
 the wall ; holding his hat in his right hand, he 
 tried to shield his face with his left. Several 
 random shots struck him, and he fell on the 
 right side, his head against the wall, and his 
 body doubled in two. The men went on firing at 
 him, afterwards they trampled on his corpse, and 
 even struck it with their muskets. 
 
 Then came Lecomte's turn. Calmly he handed 
 his money to Commandant Poussargues, who had 
 been seized with him, and entrusted to him his 
 last words for his family, then he walked out
 
 270 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 before his assassins witli sucli quiet dignity tliat 
 several insurgent officers saluted liim. 
 
 It is a curious and significant fact tliat among 
 the considerable number of assassins, and the 
 much more considerable number of madmen, who 
 had applauded the murders, after they had pro- 
 voked and rendered them inevitable, not a 
 single person urged a fresh attack on the ten 
 officers who were awaiting their doom at the 
 distance of a few paces from the victims ; on 
 the contrary, they vied with each other in aiding 
 the prisoners to escape. The rescuers did not 
 forget, however, to give their names, and they 
 took precautions so that they might be recognized 
 or found at need, and be able to claim the reward 
 of this good deed. 
 
 At the same hour at which the two Generals 
 fell, a train coming from Orleans was stopped at 
 some distance from the fortifications, by the 
 orders of a Federal officer accompanied by a 
 strong detachment of the National Guard. The 
 captain made General Chanzy, who was on his 
 way to Versailles, and whose presence in the train 
 had evidently been signalled, get out. M. Turquet, 
 a Member of the National Assembly, who witnessed 
 this arrest, placed himself beside the General in 
 order to share his fate. They were both taken 
 in a carriage, in the midst of insults and threats,
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 271 
 
 to the prison of the zone, where they remained 
 two days. There they found General Labouriau, 
 of the army of the Loire, who had been arrested 
 at the same time as General Chanzy. Several 
 times during the journey from the railroad to 
 the prison General Chanzy' s life was in danger. 
 He was protected from the fury of the populace 
 by a member of the Central Committee, M. Leo 
 Meillet, who had taken him under his pro- 
 tection and defended him up to the last moment 
 with presence of mind and courage. The crowd 
 talked of nothing less than shooting General 
 Chanzy over against the Chapel of General Bréa. 
 They said, " Let them fire a single shot at us, 
 and we will throw the corpse of General Chanzy 
 in their faces !" A historian adds the following- 
 words, but does not record who it is that heard 
 them : " The left bank must have its corpse as 
 well as the right ! " 
 
 Finding that the General was not safe in the 
 prison of the zone, M. Leo Meillet had him re- 
 moved to the prison of La Santé, where he was 
 detained several days. The insanity of keeping a 
 man as a hostage who could not be reproached 
 for anything except his victories, became at last 
 apparent. He was released with many apolo- 
 gies, and returned to his post in the Assembly, 
 whither M. Turquet had already preceded him.
 
 272 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 Tlie evening of the 18tli and a part of the nig'ht, 
 were employed by the Committees of the different 
 arrondissements, and by the Central Committee, in 
 consolidating their victory, and preparing for the 
 conflict for which they looked on the morrow. 
 Belleville and Montmartre, bristling with barri- 
 cades and artillery, were transformed into for- 
 tresses ; on various points of Charonne, the Fau- 
 bourg Saint Antoine, the Faubourg du Temple, the 
 Gobelins, Montrouge, Yaugirard, Grenelle and the 
 Batignolles, barricades, with cannon and mitrail- 
 leuses, were erected. The barricades of Belleville 
 were constructed in the morning under the eyes 
 of General Faron's soldiers ; the men who worked 
 at them chatting quietly with the sentinels, 
 like ordinary workmen occupied in earning their 
 daily bread. The Federal battalions remained 
 under arms all day and all night, some guarding 
 the parks of artillery and the barricades, others 
 visiting every part of the city, parading on the 
 boulevards, and advancing as far as the Place de 
 la Concorde. Up to this time the idea of shutting 
 the gates of Paris, and holding the Government, 
 with the small army gathered together, and the 
 École Militaire, already hesitating between fidelity 
 and desertion, at their mercy, had not occurred 
 to them. Neither did they on the following day 
 think of marching on Versailles, where everything
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 273 
 
 was in tumult and disorder. The Committee itself 
 had not a recognized and respected authority, 
 nor a disciplined, compact, manageable army. 
 The members thought only of seizing the public 
 offices, which is indeed the business of the first 
 day in every Parisian insurrection. A battalion 
 entered the barracks of the Chateau d'Eau at 
 three o'clock in the afternoon of the 18th March, 
 and no one made the least show of resistance. Some 
 individuals in plain clothes, who accompanied the 
 battalion, carried off the soldiers' chassepots. At 
 nine o'clock in the evening, Bergeret, the newly 
 elected Commandant of the Legion of Montmartre, 
 and Arnold, who, like him, was a member of the 
 Central Committee, penetrated so far as the Place 
 Vendôme at the head of two battalions. The 
 1st battalion (non-federal) was on guard there, 
 and retired without an attempt at resistance. lb 
 is probable that orders to avoid a conflict had 
 been given. Bergeret immediately placed detach- 
 ments to bar the two issues which lead, one into the 
 Eue de la Paix, the other into the Rue Castiglione. 
 The taking of this position was important, since 
 it handed over to the insurgents the Ministère de 
 la Justice, and the head-quarters of the National 
 Guard, of the Army, and of the Citadel.' 
 
 The members of the Central Committee, divided 
 ^ La Place de Paris. 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 274 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 on that evening into several groups, sat at the E-ue 
 de l'Entrepôt, at the Chaussée Clignancourt, and at 
 the Eue Basf roi. They had given Lullier, a member 
 of the Committee, the command of the National 
 Guard " while awaiting the arrival of Garibaldi," 
 whom they had appointed General-in-chief. It 
 was Lullier who invaded the Tuileries, the 
 greater number of the Mairies, and on the following 
 day the Ministères in succession. Great impor- 
 tance was attached as usual to the possession of the 
 Hôtel de Ville. A first attempt to seize it did not 
 succeed, thanks to the firmness of M. Ferry ; but 
 a formal order to withdraw having been sent 
 by the Government during the evening, some 
 federal battalions entered the Hôtel de Ville, 
 and, to their profound astonishment, found it 
 completely deserted. The members of the Cen- 
 tral Committee followed them closely. They in- 
 stalled themselves in the cabinet of the Mayor of 
 Paris, and thought of nothing now but reigning. 
 M. Thiers was already at Versailles. The minis- 
 ters, the army, all the government officials were 
 about to join him. 
 
 M. Thiers had decided upon departure from 
 the moment at which it became evident that the 
 National Guard belonging to the party of order 
 would not act. On the previous day he had said 
 to M. Jules Simon, " I hope the National Guard —
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 275 
 
 ours — will make up their minds this time. If they 
 turn out in great numbers, their presence alone will 
 ensure us the fidelity of the army. With them we 
 are strong; the Federals will not dare to resist; 
 we shall recover the cannon without striking a 
 blow, and the Central Committee will be dissolved. 
 If the National Guard does not show, we have only 
 the hope left that the Committee will not venture 
 to commence the contest ; in that case we shall live 
 as we have done for the last fifteen days, that is to 
 say barely existing, and we shall see what happens. 
 But if there is resistance, if the army be not firm, 
 we have but one means of preventing a revolution 
 which would be the ruin of France ; it is to leave 
 Paris, and reorganize the army at Versailles. This 
 is the plan which succeeded with Windischgraetz 
 after the events of Vienna, and it was this I advised 
 during the days of June, 1848, in case of the suc- 
 cess of the Insurrection." In June, 1848, the 
 National Guard were aware that they were face to 
 face with social war, and their presence on the side of 
 the army had decided the victory. M. Thiers hoped 
 still, all through the morning of the 18th, that they 
 would appear ; but when he learned that only a few 
 men had come to the meeting-places of the different 
 companies, he said to those about him, " Our duty 
 is to retire," and when a murmur arose, " France 
 is in question," said he, *' and not ourselves.'* 
 
 T 2
 
 276 THE GOVERNMENT OE M. THIERS. 
 
 The mayors and the Eepublican deputies of 
 Paris, who from the first acted the part of 
 peace-makers, and persevered in doing so until 
 the election of the Commune, met several times 
 during the day on the 18th. At one of these 
 meetings which took place towards three o'clock at 
 the Mairie of the 2nd arrondissement, several of 
 its members were despatched to M. Picard and 
 to General d'Aurelles de Paladines. Nothing 
 but talk took place, no proposals were made, no 
 conclusion was reached. Another meeting, more 
 numerous than the first, held at six o'clock in the 
 evening at the Mairie of the 1st arrondissement, 
 passed some decided resolutions. The members 
 thought they should conquer the hesitation of the 
 republican, but not socialist National Guard, by 
 appointing M. Dorian, Mayor of Paris, M. Edmond 
 Adam, Prefect of Police, M.Langlois, Commandant- 
 in- Chief of the National Guard, and General Billot, 
 Commandant-in-Chief of the Army of Paris. Most 
 of these personages, among them General Billot, 
 were absent whilst they were being thus disposed 
 of. A Commission composed of Messieurs Tirard, 
 Yautrain, Vacherot, Bonvalet, Méline, Tolain, 
 Hérisson, Millière, and Peyrat, was charged to 
 carry these proposals to the Government. 
 Subsequent events have shown that even had 
 the Government accepted them, the insurrection 
 would have taken its course ail the same.
 
 THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE. 277 
 
 The National Guard, decimated by departures 
 for tlie provinces, disheartened by the siege, irri- 
 tated against the Assembly, lacked organization, 
 and cohesion. The Central Committee, flushed 
 with victory, would have refused to disarm. 
 When the Commission presented itself in the 
 evening at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 
 M. Thiers had already left for Versailles. The 
 delegates had a brief interview with M. Jules 
 Favre, who had just been apprised of the assassi- 
 nation of the two generals ; they found M. Ernest 
 Picard at the Ministry of the Interior. The 
 Minister promised to transmit their message. He 
 knew afterwards, indeed he even then saw what 
 the mayors of Paris would not see; that there 
 was neither National Guard nor Army. The 
 proposal was, however, adopted by the Govern- 
 ment a few hours later, on the advice of 
 M. Picard, not that they were mistaken about 
 it, but simply in order to have it to say that 
 no means of pacification had been left untried. 
 After their return to the Mairie of the 1st arron- 
 dissement, the delegates were consulting with 
 their colleagues who had remained there, when 
 M. Mahias, Secretary-General to the Mairie of 
 Paris was introduced. He came to inform them 
 that the Hôtel de Ville was deserted, and to 
 entreat them to take possession of it, so that the 
 treasury and the archives might not be left at
 
 278 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the mercy of tlie Insurgents. Unlike M. Jules 
 Ferry, wlio was only tlie delegate of the Govern- 
 ment, the mayors of the arrondissements had been 
 elected by universal suffrage ; many of them were 
 likewise representatives of the Seine ; they believed 
 that their authority w^ould be respected, especially 
 when they should present themselves as negoti- 
 ators between Paris and Versailles. The meeting 
 immediately despatched some of its members to 
 the Hôtel de Ville. The Federal battalions 
 arrived there at the same time, and almost as 
 soon the Members of the Central Committee, who 
 refused to receive them, stating that they them- 
 selves would lake such measures as the circum- 
 stances might require. The delegates of the 
 Municipalities returned with this answer to the 
 Mairie of the 1st arrondissement, where M. Ferry 
 had just arrived. They had scarcely entered 
 when the Mairie was surrounded by a detachment 
 of Federals sent by the Central Committee. 
 These men did not go quite so far as to arrest the 
 mayor and the de23uties of Paris, but allowed 
 them to depart on giving their names. They 
 adjourned to the Mairie of the 2nd arrondisse- 
 ment. M. Ferry, who would undoubtedly have 
 been arrested, got out unperceived, through a 
 little door wbicli opened on the square between 
 the Mairie and the Church of Saint Germain 
 r Auxerrois.
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 279 
 
 Shortly after midniglit M. Labiclie, Secretary- 
 General to tlie Ministry of the Interior, brought 
 the nomination of Colonel Langlois as general- 
 in-chief of the National Guard to the mayors 
 and deputies assembled at the 2nd arrondisse- 
 ment. M. Langlois was with him. M. Labiche 
 also announced that the Government intended to 
 appoint M. Dorian Mayor of Paris, and that the 
 municipal elections were to take place without 
 delay. These resolutions, which met the wishes of 
 the mayors and the Republican deputies, had been 
 taken at a secret meeting held by the Ministers 
 in the Rue Abattucci, at the residence of M. Cal- 
 mon, Under-Secretary of State for the Interior. 
 This place of meeting had been selected because the 
 Ministers were beset by alarmists and advisers. M. 
 Jules Simon arrived there about nine o'clock, ac- 
 companied by Admiral Pothuau and Count Roger 
 du Nord. Two unknown persons were waiting 
 for him at the door, although the place of meeting 
 had been kept a profound secret. " Do not 
 enter," they exclaimed, " the house is about to be 
 surrounded ! " They then hastily gave him some 
 details of the assassination of the two generals, 
 the accuracy of which was afterwards proved, and 
 went away, repeating their warning with emphasis, 
 but refusing to give their names. M. Dufaure 
 and General Le Flo came an hour after ; Messieurs 
 Jules Favre and Picard late in the night. First
 
 280 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the double assassination was discussed, then it 
 was said, " "We must act." The appointment of 
 Colonel Langlois was already agreed upon, and 
 the Ministers sent for him ; he accepted it with his 
 usual courage and devotion. It was decided that 
 on the following day the appointment of M. Dorian 
 as Mayor of Paris should be proposed to M. Thiers, 
 and that a bill to regulate the municipal elections 
 should be presented to the Chamber. The 
 bill was to be brought in before the sitting of the 
 20th March ; it should be applied to all the com- 
 munes in order to save time ; and urgency should 
 be demanded. 
 
 M. Picard undertook to draw up the bill, which 
 was to contain only two clauses ; and M. Jules 
 Simon wrote a last appeal to the National Guard, 
 to be posted in Paris on the following morning. 
 " Who are the members of this Committee ? " said 
 the proclamation. " No one in Paris knows them ; 
 whomsoever they be they are the enemies of 
 Paris, which they are giving up to pillage; of 
 France, which they are delivering to the Prussians ; 
 and of the Republic which they will hand over 
 to despotism. The abominable crimes that 
 they have committed deprive those who would 
 dare to follow or to submit to them of all 
 excuse. Do you wish to share the responsibility of 
 their assassinations, and of the ruin which they 
 will work ? Then, remain at home ! But if
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 281 
 
 you regard your honour and your most sacred 
 interests, in that case assemble at the call of the 
 Government and the National Assembly." 
 
 The Council broke up at midnight. Messieurs 
 Picard and Jules Favre passed the remainder of 
 the night at M. Calmon's house, where they 
 received a formal and pressing order from M. 
 Thiers to repair immediately to Versailles. Mes- 
 sieurs Dufaure, Jules Simon, and their colleagues 
 directed their steps towards the École Militaire, 
 from whence they set out before daybreak, at the 
 same time as the army. 
 
 M. Langlois went first, as we have seen, withM. 
 Labiche, to the Mairie of the 2nd arrondissement, 
 where his colleagues, the deputies of the Seine, 
 were sitting in permanence. He left them to go 
 to the Hotel de Ville. The Central Committee 
 received him immediately. He informed the 
 members present of the decisions of the Govern- 
 ment. He was asked, " By whom have you been 
 appointed?" "By the Government, by M. 
 Thiers." *' We do not recognize his authority ; 
 the National Guard will appoint its own chiei'." 
 . M. Langlois retired ; as he could no longer hope 
 to be recognized by the Federals, he thought, 
 with some reason, that his appointment had no 
 further object, and he hastened to the Journal 
 Officiel^ to withdraw his order of the day, which
 
 282 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 was already composed, and was to appear on the 
 morrow. On Sunday morning the insurgents 
 did not fail to heap insults on the Government, 
 " which had vanished before the breath of the 
 people." They could not sufficiently express their 
 anger and contempt for the " fugitives." Many 
 Parisians belonging to the party of order shared 
 this indignation. They felt that they had been 
 delivered into the hands of the insurgents, and 
 accused " a Government which deserted its post 
 and its duty." 
 
 It might have been said, in reply, that they had 
 only themselves to blame. For four-and-twenty 
 hours the drums had beat to arms incessantly in 
 the very quarters inhabited by these complainants. 
 How many National Guards had answered to the 
 call ? Scarcely 600 ; a number which could avail 
 nothing. The Government, reduced to the neces- 
 sity of yielding to the rising, or of opposing it with 
 the feeble army at their command, had chosen, 
 courageously, and perhaps imprudently (such was 
 the opinion of General Vin oy), the latter alterna- 
 tive ; but the only weapon which remained to them 
 had burst in their hands. Half the army had 
 betrayed them, and was now shoutiog in the streets 
 with the insurgents, and preparing to change its 
 colours. Under these conditions the Government 
 might certainly have remained in Paris, like a
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 283 
 
 sentinel who lets himself be killed at his post. Next 
 day the Central Committee would have arrested 
 M. Thiers and his ministers, and kept them as 
 hostages, or allowed them to meet the fate of 
 Lecomte and Clément Thomas. Was it to 
 avoid a similar fate that the Government had 
 retired to Yersailles ? In truth, it would be 
 judging human nature very harshly to arrive at 
 such a conclusion. All the ministers were men 
 who would fearlessly have awaited the course of 
 events ; they had all given proofs during their 
 lives of courao^e more difficult than that. The 
 effect on the country of their arrest or death 
 was what they had to consider, without a thought 
 for their personal safety, and the question studied 
 under that aspect could only be answered by 
 their departure ; not that the Ministers, with the 
 exception of M. Thiers, were individually neces- 
 sary, but because a change of Government, under 
 such circumstances as those which would have pro- 
 duced it, must necessarily have been attended with 
 disastrous consequences. Let us first convince 
 ourselves that they had no longer any means of 
 resistance. The attempt which was rashness on 
 the 18th would have been insanity on the 19th. 
 Was the National Guard with the Government ? 
 Certainly not ! When Admiral Saisset was in com- 
 mand, it was estimated that he might count upon
 
 284 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 20,000 men; but supposing the figures to be exact, 
 scarcely a fourth, of the number could be relied on 
 for any vigorous enterprise. The battalions had 
 all one common anxiety, the defence of their own 
 quarters, and the maintenance of order in them. 
 The admiral went to Passy, where he was personally 
 popular ; he asked for two battalions to recover 
 the Ministry of the Interior and the Elysée ; 300 
 men came ! Thus the Government had not the 
 National Guard with them. And the Army ? As 
 a general rule, it is always difficult to enlist the 
 army against the people, when at least a portion 
 of the National Guard is not on the side of the 
 troops. The 19th March tested the truth of this. 
 The disposition of the army had been ascertained 
 on the previous day : and yet, no, the word is 
 out of place, and an insult to the real army. It 
 was not an army which was then in Paris ; it 
 was only an army in process of formation. Was 
 it to be expected that the 15,000 or 20,000 
 gathered together at the Ëcole Militaire would not 
 follow in the footsteps of the 88th regiment, 
 of the 120th or the 135th? One had only to 
 look at them ! These soldiers, who were not 
 yet soldiers, seeing the Ministers imprisoned or 
 killed, would inevitably have disbanded them- 
 selves. The Central Committee would no longer 
 have been an insurrectionary, alongside of a
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 285 
 
 regular, Govemment, it would have been the 
 only Government. Was ifc to be supposed that 
 the National Assembly, in whom the sovereignty 
 resided and whose delegate M. Thiers was, would 
 appoint a new Chief of the Executive so promptly 
 that there should be no interregnum? What 
 would be the choice of the monarchical majority? 
 How would the newly elected Chief of the Execu- 
 tive be received by the large towns, half carried 
 away by the movement in Paris? how would he be 
 received by the French army which the prelimi- 
 naries of peace had sent beyond the Loire, and by 
 that other army which the German prisons were 
 about to yield up ? What other name would com- 
 mand the unanimity that the name of M. Thiers 
 had produced ? A¥ho was the general that would 
 be accepted by the Republicans ? Who the civilian 
 that could command the obedience of the army ? 
 Before proceeding to form a new Government, the 
 Assembly would have to meet. Under what con- 
 ditions ? In what place ? Impossible to think of 
 Versailles, for the Committee would have occupied 
 the palace on the 19th without striking a blow. 
 Whilst the scattered deputies were seeking an 
 asylum and security in some distant town, what 
 would have become of France ? to whom would the 
 army have given itself ? Would it have remembered 
 ancient legends or later defeats ? What would the
 
 286 THE GOVEENMÈNT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Germans, our enemies of yesterday, wlio still 
 occupied a third of our territory, have done in 
 this terrible interregnum ? When the Government 
 ■with which they had treated had disappeared, 
 would they not have declared the peace broken ? 
 They might take Paris, march on the Loire, dis- 
 perse our shattered, uncommanded army, or treat 
 with the man who had ruined us, and give him a 
 semblance of sovereignty under the protection of 
 their bayonets ! Every one knew that a few weeks 
 previously they had contemplated an alliance with 
 the Empress. M. Thiers saw all this at a glance. 
 He understood that it was necessary to make 
 sure of the safety of the Assembly, to preserve a 
 Government to France, to save the remnant 
 of the army of Paris from the shame of fresh 
 defection or disarmament. Civil war had become 
 inevitable ; he wanted to wage it with the chances 
 of victory assured. Paris cried out the day after, 
 "I am forsaken!" but, by remaining in the city, 
 the Government would have ruined Paris, and with 
 it, France. 
 
 M. Thiers left Paris on the 18th, at five in the 
 afternoon, after having given a written order for 
 the departure of the army and the evacuation of 
 the forts on the left bank, so that the insurgents 
 might have no easy victories. Several of his 
 ministers had resisted ; M. Jules Favre, M. Picard,
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 287 
 
 the Mayor of Paris. M. Jules Ferry, wlio for fifteen 
 days had asked for a successor, but none the less 
 had done his duty with indomitable energy, wrote 
 that he would remain at the Hôtel de Yille with 
 500 men. He received a formal order to with- 
 draw, but did so only when the last man on duty 
 had left the building. The departure of the army 
 was not effected without danger. The last regi- 
 ments hesitated to advance, and looked back 
 lingeringly. General Yinoy, who was obliged to go 
 in person more than once to rally them and urge 
 them forward, placed gendarmes who could be 
 relied on, in the rear, to prevent desertion. The 
 snow covered the earth like a winding-sheet. It 
 was still dark when the last soldiers crossed the 
 Seine. From Sevres onwards, the General placed 
 outposts, and arranged everything for the defence 
 of Versailles. A regiment which had not received 
 notice in time, and remained shut up in the 
 gardens of the Luxembourg, resisted all tempta- 
 tions and bribes, forced the gates, crossed Paris 
 with drums beating, and came to join the French 
 army at Versailles. This was the 63rd regiment ; 
 almost all the men belonged to the Marines, and 
 the 45th of the line. 
 
 On arriving at Versailles on the 19th, at 4 a.m., 
 M. Jules Simon alighted at the Prefecture, and 
 found the President of the Council already up. He
 
 288 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 asked him if he had thought of sending troops to 
 Mont Valerien, which, as he had just learned at 
 the École Militaire, was garrisoned only by two 
 disarmed battalions of Chasseurs-à-pied. M. Thiers 
 thanked him warmly, but said that a fortress like 
 Mont Valérien could not be carried by skirmishers, 
 or at the point of the bayonet, that there were 
 cannon there and a resolute commander, and that 
 a single shell would be sufficient to put a tumul- 
 tuous mob of the National Guards to flight, that 
 an attack in form with sufficient forces was not to 
 be feared on this first day, but that he was aware 
 of the necessity for prompt action. The difficulty 
 was not in sending a regiment, but in finding one to 
 send. Several Deputies, amongst them M. Buffet, 
 came during the morning to express their uneasi- 
 ness on the same subject. General Vinoy, warned 
 by a despatch from Colonel Lochner, who com- 
 manded the fort, consulted with M. Thiers respect- 
 ing a trustworthy regiment. Their choice fell on 
 the 119th of the line, commanded by Colonel Chol- 
 leton. This regiment, which had been quartered 
 at Versailles since the 12th, and billeted among 
 the inhabitants, was very steady and animated by 
 an excellent spirit. The orders were given on the 
 20th March, at 1 a.m. The Federals presented 
 themselves at Mount Valerien on the eveuino: of 
 the same day, to take possession, but they found it
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 289 
 
 strongly occupied. They retired with precipitation, 
 and no other attempt was made on the fort until 
 the battle of the 3rd April. 
 
 M. Thiers sent the following circular to be dis- 
 tributed in the departments; and thenceforth 
 until Paris was retaken, he wrote the bulletins, 
 which were despatched by telegraph to the 
 prefects every evening with his own hand. 
 
 «Versailles, 19th March, 1871, 8.25 a.m. 
 
 " The entire Government is at Versailles, and the 
 Assembly is collecting there. The army, also, to 
 the number of 40,000 men, is concentrated in 
 good order under the command of General Vinoy. 
 All the authorities and all the commanding officers 
 have arrived at Versailles. 
 
 " The authorities, both civil and military, will 
 execute no orders except those of the legal Govern- 
 ment residing at Versailles, under pain of for- 
 feiture. The members of the National Assembly 
 are requested to hasten their return in order to be 
 present at the sitting of the 20th March. 
 
 " The present despatch is to be made known to 
 the public. A. Thiers." 
 
 All the employés in public departments 
 were ordered to Versailles at once, so that 
 they might be at the disposal of the Govern- 
 ment. This measure was indispensable for 
 the transaction of public business, and it also 
 
 VOL. I. U
 
 290 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 deprived the insurrection of a dangerous weapon. 
 Only those employés whose presence in Paris 
 was necessary were excepted; such as Hospital 
 doctors, head masters of educational establish- 
 ments where there were boarders, custodians 
 of museums or libraries, and the officials of 
 the Bank of France with the exception of the 
 Governor. It was absolutely indispensable that 
 he should be within reach of the Chief of the 
 Executive. All these officials were speedily 
 installed in the palace* 
 
 The town of Versailles was no longer recog- 
 nizable. Strange to say, nothing had been 
 altered in it except its physiognomy, which was 
 woe-begone. The Prussians, always very orderly 
 under the eye of the master, had destroyed 
 nothing. A few placards in the German 
 language in the railway stations, and on the 
 barrack walls ; a great deal of dirt in the streets, 
 was all that remained of them out-of-doors. 
 The late occupants had, however, left traces of 
 their presence in the restaurants and cafés to 
 which the new arrivals flocked. These places 
 looked like German taverns, and smelt of tobacco, 
 beer, and leather. The town was in a state 
 of famine, there was nothing to eat. The king, 
 or rather, since he gave himself that title 
 at Versailles, the Emperor, had lived at the
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 291 
 
 Hôtel de la Préfecture. Nothing was clianged tliere. 
 When leaving, he stopped his carriage just as he 
 was passing through the gates, and calling the 
 porter, showed him a little gilt candlestick, of no 
 value, which he held in his hand. " I take this 
 as a souvenir," said he ; " let no one be disturbed 
 about it." 
 
 M. Jules Simon, accompanied by the custodians 
 of the Museum, inspected the entire palace, even to 
 the garrets ; nothing had been disturbed ; two 
 frames only, which had enclosed small pictures of 
 no importance, were empty; the canvas had been cut 
 close to the edge. M. Thiers installed himself at the 
 Préfecture which the Emperor had just vacated, 
 like a new prefect who occupies the apartments 
 and the cabinet of his predecessor. The avenues, 
 and the Place d'Armes in front of the palace 
 were crowded with soldiers under canvas. The 
 huts at Satory, which had been vacated by the 
 Germans, were not sufficient to accommodate the 
 troops. Men, horses, and guns were crowded 
 together in the midst of mud and hastily swept up 
 snow. Cooking, by the light of blazing faggots, was 
 done in the open; there was no order or discipline; 
 a look of anger and defiance was on every face ; 
 it was like a Tartar horde rather than a camp. 
 The soldiers no longer saluted their officers, 
 but looked threateningly at them as they passed.
 
 292 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Entire families were seen making tlieir way 
 through this crowd with their parcels and boxes. 
 These were bourgeois who had fled from Paris, em- 
 ployés who had followed their chiefs, and deputies 
 arriving from the departments for the meeting of 
 the Assembly on the 20th March. 
 
 The deputies were in their places at the ap- 
 pointed hour. All were alarmed and indignant, 
 but there were gradations in their sentiments 
 according to their politics. It could easily be 
 seen that the Republicans meditated conciliation, 
 and the Monarchists vengeance. The murder of 
 Clément Thomas and Lecomte immensely enhanced 
 the gravity of the situation. It was no longer a 
 political insurrection that had to be dealt with ; it 
 was a social war which revived all the detested 
 recollections of the terror. This was the impres- 
 sion of all France ; the members of the Central 
 Committee themselves felt it. They were divided 
 between anxiety to exculpate themselves from 
 participation in these outrages, and a savage de- 
 light in them which they felt, and could not con- 
 ceal. In the same number of the Journal Officiel 
 of the 19th March, they wrote in the first page of 
 " the bloody mud with which their honour had 
 been stained," and on the second page expressed 
 their indignation that this " execution " should be 
 called an " assassination." " These two men,"
 
 THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE. 293 
 
 said they, " have suffered under the law of War." 
 What more could the men of the Central Com- 
 mittee say to render themselves objects of universal 
 execration ? 
 
 The sitting of the 20th March was commenced 
 under these impressions. 
 
 M. Grevy spoke as follows : " The misfortunes 
 of our country seemed to have attained their 
 height. A criminal insurrection, which has not 
 even a plausible grievance or a serious pretext 
 to excuse it, has, however, been added to them. 
 A factious Government sets itself up against the 
 national sovereignty, of which you alone are the 
 legitimate representatives. You must rise with 
 courage and dignity to the height of the solemn 
 duties which such a situation imposes on you. 
 Let the nation remain calm and confident. Let it 
 rally round those whom it has elected : Might will 
 remain with Right. The national representation 
 will make itself respected, and will accomplish 
 its mission unmoved, staunching the wounds of 
 France, and securing the stability of the Republic 
 in spite of those who compromise it by the crimes 
 that they commit in its name." 
 
 The civil war had existed de facto in Paris since 
 the end of January, and it began, we may say, 
 officially, on the 18th March, when an insurrectional 
 Government installed itself in the Hôtel de Ville.
 
 294 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 If tte Germans did not intervene and profit hj 
 our fresli misfortunes, the issue of the conflict 
 could not be doubtfuh The immense majority 
 of the country was with the Assembly and the 
 legal Government. The Central Committee tried 
 hard to bring over the large towns to its side. In 
 its letters and proclamations, it was said that the 
 " rustics " desired to make peace at the expense 
 of the large towns, that they wanted to bring us 
 back to Monarchy; and that the enlightened 
 population of the large towns had a right to rule 
 the destinies of France. They sent emissaries 
 to Lyons, Marseilles, and Bordeaux, to all the 
 great centres ; on the 23rd March, the Commune 
 was proclaimed at Lyons and Marseilles, on the 
 24tli, at Toulouse; there were troubles at Beziers, 
 at Narbonne. Saint Etienne was moving, like 
 Paris it had its assassination ; the new prefect, 
 M. de l'Espée, was murdered on the very day 
 of his arrival. In spite of all this, nobody in 
 the Assembly felt any doubt of ultimate suc- 
 cess. 
 
 M. Thiers, especially, was very confident. 
 " The Prussians will not stir so long as the con- 
 ditions of the treaty are executed. The insurrec- 
 tion of two or three towns will be the affair of a 
 few days. France, in its entirety, is with us. I 
 shall reorganize the Arm}^" said he ; "I answer
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 295 
 
 for it. We shall take Paris, or Paris will sur- 
 render. We have the majority, even in Paris." 
 Such was his language, in private, at the Council, 
 in the lobbies of the Chamber, in the tribune, in 
 his correspondence with the generals, the prefects, 
 and our diplomatic agents. He never ceased to 
 work for success, and to reckon on it. We shall 
 see that his previsions were realized in every par- 
 ticular. 
 
 In the Assembly, in all France, but especially 
 in Paris, opinion was divided. One party be- 
 lieved the present struggle to be terminable 
 by force only ; the other, in spite of everything, 
 believed in the possibility of conciliation. The 
 very idea of conciliation, whatever its basis, 
 seemed criminal to the majority of the Assembly, 
 whose anger increased in proportion as the 
 Parisian insurrection developed itself. 
 
 The mayors of Paris (there were several 
 amongst the members of the Assembly) ascending 
 the tribune to plead for mild measures on behalf 
 of the immense Parisian population, who were 
 victims of the Central Committee and not its 
 accomplices, were received as though they were 
 partisans of the insurrection ; they, who ever since 
 the 18th March, had been risking their lives in 
 opposing it. The majority met the most just 
 and least revolutionary proposals, — for instance.
 
 296 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the proposal to vote urgency for the Municipal 
 Councils bill by such interruptions as the follow- 
 ing :— 
 
 " Paris must first disarm, and afterwards, we 
 shall see ! Paris must submit, do you hear ! Yes, 
 Paris must submit ! Let us call up the provinces 
 and march on Paris, if necessary; this must be 
 put a stop to ! " Not only was Paris attacked, 
 but the mayors were personally insulted. M. 
 Tirard, who had displayed great courage in his 
 conflict with the Revolution, was taunted thus : — 
 " Blame your friends at least. Blame the cut- 
 throats I " At the sitting of the 28th March, 
 Count de la Rochethulon, after having shown 
 the Assembly a strip of paper which had been 
 pasted on the door of his house, in Paris, with the 
 words " Good for shooting," printed on it in large 
 letters, said, — 
 
 " I beg my honourable colleagues of the Left, 
 now masters of Paris, to have the kindness to tell 
 their colleagues that I consider myself in a state of 
 legitimate defence ;" and as a violent commotion 
 arose, and M. de la Hochethulon was called on 
 to explain himself, he added, showing a notice 
 signed by the mayors of Paris, — 
 
 "It is a positive fact that certain members of 
 this Assembly, who have, or have not resigned, 
 are on terms with the Insurgents."
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 297 
 
 M. Prax-Paris, speaking of the mayors of Paris 
 at the sitting of the 4th April, called them " The 
 accredited Ambassadors of the Insurrection." 
 The mayors of Paris and deputies of the Seine, 
 who were received in this fashion at the Assembly, 
 were in no greater favour with the leaders of the 
 Insurrection. 
 
 At Versailles they were insulted, at Paris their 
 appointments were cancelled, they were expelled 
 from their Mairies, and imprisoned. The Com- 
 mittee, intending to hold the Communal elections 
 on the 22nd, had directed the mayors to preside 
 at them. To do so would have been to associate 
 themselves with the insurrection ; they refused. 
 Their resistance exasperated the Committee, who 
 called it resisting the people, and had, in fact, 
 already occupied the greater number of the 
 Mairies. This was one of Lullier's exploits on 
 the 19th ; the measure was confirmed and made 
 general on the 23rd, after the refusal of the 
 mayors. Henri, one of the " generals," said, 
 "We must occupy the dissentient Mairies by 
 faithful battalions. When there are no faithful 
 battalions in the arrondissement, recourse must 
 be had to the battalions of the Hôtel de Ville." 
 
 This was the case in the 9th arrondissement, as 
 the following proclamation of the mayor, M. 
 Desmarest, proves : — " The invasion of our Mairie
 
 298 THE GOVEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 by a military force unknown to the 9tli arrondisse- 
 ment puts a stop for the present to the transaction 
 of the pubHc business, of which we have accepted 
 the charge and the honour.'* 
 
 All the Mairies, except those of the 1st and 
 2nd arrondissements, were invaded either by 
 the federal battalions of the arrondissement, or 
 by the praGtorians of the Hôtel de Ville. Several 
 of the mayors published protests like the follow- 
 ing: — "The Mayor and assistants of the 17th 
 arrondissement, dispossessed by force, declare 
 that from this day forth all municipal business 
 is suspended in the arrondissement. The use of 
 the seal of the Mairie, all requisitions, and the 
 employment of the funds by the usurpers, will 
 be regarded as criminal acts. The munici- 
 pal officers reserve the authority that has been 
 delegated to them, by universal suffrage, and will 
 use it according to incontestable right when this 
 ephemeral usurpation shall have come to an 
 end." 
 
 M. Henri Martin, *' resolved to defend the 
 Republic, and to second the conciliatory efforts 
 of the deputies of Paris," organized a service of 
 protection and surveillance, in concert with the 
 officers of the 38th and 72nd battalions ; and 
 called upon " all citizens devoted to the Republic 
 and friends of order, for their aid." This example
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 299 
 
 was followed by several arrondissements, including 
 the 3rd. The protest of M. Clemenceau deserves 
 to be given in full. " Citizens, to-day at noon 
 (the 22nd March) the Mairie of the 18th arron- 
 dissement was invaded by an armed troop. An 
 officer of the National Guard dared to summon 
 the Mayor and his assistants to give up the 
 Mairie to a delegate of the Central Committee of 
 the National Guard. The Mayor and his assistants, 
 wearing their municipal insignia, and in the 
 presence of all the employés of the Mairie, sum- 
 moned the officer on guard to expel the intruders. 
 The latter, after having conferred with his com- 
 mander, replied that he refused to execute this 
 order, and that he was prepared to side with the 
 violators of this law. The ringleaders then 
 arrested the Mayor and two of his assistants, 
 and took them to the Guard-house between two 
 files of National Guards. Shortly after, the Mayor 
 and his two assistants, elected by the 18th arron- 
 dissement, were informed that they were ' free 
 to retire.' Citizens, we are anxious to avoid a 
 conflict, the disastrous consequences of which we 
 dread ; that is our reason for yielding to force 
 without appealing to force ; but we loudly protest 
 against the outrage which the National Guard 
 of the 18th arrondissement has inflicted on 
 the person of Kepublican Magistrates, freely
 
 300 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 elected, and who declare hereby that they have 
 faithfully discharged their duties." Thus, not 
 only were the mayors expelled, they were also 
 imprisoned. On the 23rd March, a proclamation 
 of the Commission charged by the Central Com- 
 mittee to proceed with the municipal elections 
 was posted in the 4th arrondissement. It began 
 with these words : " The municipal officers of 
 the 4th arrondissement having deserted the 
 Mairie, and the departments being in a state of 
 complete disorganization. . . ." In the 12th arron- 
 dissement the Central Committee had replaced the 
 elected municipal officers by a Commission. 
 It was the same in the 5th arrondissement ; the 
 provisional mayor, Eégère, accepted, he said, his 
 appointment by the Central Committee " as a 
 means of conciliation and order." To make a 
 revolution in the name of the communal liberties, 
 and at the same time to expel the elected mayors 
 from their Mairies, was a mere trifle to the 
 Central Committee. 
 
 The mayors of Paris, however, who had already 
 rendered so many services during the siege, con- 
 ceived that they had a new duty to fulfil, a 
 duty no less serious than the prevention of 
 bloodshed ; and neither the Right nor the In- 
 surgents had the power to turn them from it for 
 a moment.
 
 THE CENTKAL COMMITTEE. 301 
 
 The object of their constant solicitude was, 
 not the promoters of the insurrection, whom 
 they fought inch by inch, but the honest 
 Republican population to whom they them- 
 selves belonged, and who, while claiming its 
 just rights for the city of Paris, and fearful for 
 the Republic on account of the opinions of the 
 majority and the political past of M. Thiers, re- 
 garded the so-called Government which practised 
 or praised assassination, subjected Paris to a 
 silly tyranny, and boasted of making war upon 
 the bourgeoisie in the name of the proletariat with 
 horror. 
 
 As well as ringleaders there were dupes; as 
 well as dupes there were victims. " The Insur- 
 rection of Paris " is perpetually spoken of : it 
 would be more correct to say of the half of Paris, 
 or indeed not even the half, for at most the 
 insurgents could reckon on only a fourth of the 
 population. The proclamation of an insurrectional 
 government, which led directly to the Commune, 
 and the assassination of the two generals, had 
 opened the eyes of the absent or the defaulters of 
 the 18th March. They now saw the abyss into 
 which they had fallen by their own fault, 
 and only asked for the means of accomplishing 
 their own rescue. Nevertheless, in the war which 
 was impending, should it come to war, the entire
 
 302 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 population of Paris would have to suffer; the 
 innocent as well as the guilty, and perhaps the 
 innocent more than the guilty. 
 
 The well-disposed population had committed a 
 fault against the country and itself by its absence 
 on the 18th March ; in politics, however, one must 
 not be pitilessly just, but rather allow something 
 for the weaknesses of humanity. Sixty thousand 
 absentees from the ranks of the well-disposed 
 National Guard had placed it in a minority ; it was 
 only fair to give the abstainers the benefit of that 
 circumstance, and also, as some excuse for them, 
 to consider what was the actual composition of 
 the National Guard. During the siege everybody 
 was armed, the bad as well as the good, chance- 
 comers and even foreigners as well as residents. 
 There was consequently a great mixture in the 
 companies. The officers had been selected as 
 if for an army, with a view to fighting, 
 and not with a view to the preservation of 
 order, like a national guard. The insurrection 
 having been made in the name of the National 
 Guard by delegates and officers of the National 
 Guard, the army of order and that of the Revolution 
 had common cadres; and more than one company, 
 the majority of whom were enemies of the Commune, 
 found themselves under the command of a Com- 
 munist. A still more inextricable difficulty arose
 
 THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE. 303 
 
 from the uncertainty of the situation. The National 
 Guards, on whom the Government had counted, 
 believed themselves abandoned by the Assembly, 
 by the Army, and by the Government ; by the 
 Assembly, which had chosen to sit at Versailles, 
 and, but for M. Thiers, would have retired as 
 far as Fontainebleau; by the Army, which had 
 shown signs of disaffection on the 18th ; by the 
 Government, which had withdrawn, for imperative 
 reasons, no doubt, but such as not every one 
 could appreciate. Finally, (and this it was which 
 weighed heavily on the minds of the greater 
 number,) they believed that they only had anarchy 
 and monarchy to choose between. The Commune 
 in Paris or the King at Versailles ; a hard alter- 
 native for conservative Republicans. They were 
 mistaken, their alarm about the Government was 
 without foundation ; their fears about the Assem- 
 bly were exaggerated ; and they did not discern 
 communism and barbarism behind the Central 
 Committee. In absenting themselves they made a 
 terrible mistake, but their error is none the less an 
 excuse, which it would be equally unjust and im- 
 politic to ignore. The mayors believed — they never 
 ceased to believe — that the party of order would 
 rise in arms, with imposing unanimity, so soon as 
 the Assembly, by proclaiming the municipal fran- 
 chises of Paris, should remove the last scruples of
 
 304 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the hesitating, and deprive the insurrection of the 
 pretext of which it had availed itself. After all, 
 was this a time for judging men ? Nothing was 
 to be thought of except the interest of the country, 
 and the interest of the country demanded that civil 
 war should be averted by any means. Such were 
 the sentiments of the mayors of Paris, when with 
 indomitable perseverance they interposed between 
 two kinds of equally violent though not equally 
 justified hatred. All their efforts were baffled by 
 the fixed determination of the Assembly, which in 
 its only too legitimate hatred of the Commune, and 
 in its ill-will towards Paris, either rejected con- 
 ciliatory measures, or altered, under pretext of 
 amending them, or accepted them too late ; and 
 by the criminal obstinacy of the Central Commit- 
 tee, who wanted to create the Commune, to become 
 masters of it, and by its means to govern France. 
 That on both sides it was a government of combat, 
 may be admitted without any comparison between 
 the causes or the persons. 
 
 The Central Committee and the mayors had held 
 several discussions during Saturday night; the 
 former sometimes assuming a tone of mastery, 
 at others endeavouring to obtain the connivance 
 of the mayors in certain operations which had 
 been resolved upon. The Committee had not 
 been able to come to an agreement with them on
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 305 
 
 any point. It had published two short proclama- 
 tions on Sunday morning the 19th March, 
 one addressed to the people, the other to the 
 National Guard. These proclamations bore 
 twenty signatures only, and it is worthy of remark 
 that out of the sixty names of which the Central 
 Committee ought to have been composed at the 
 rate of three delegates to each arrondissement, 
 there had never appeared on the various proclama- 
 tions more than forty-eight. There are also only 
 forty-eight names on the list of the members com- 
 posing the Committee furnished by General Vinoy, 
 bearing the date of 5th March. The name of 
 Assi first figured on the placards of the 19th, so 
 that on the Boulevards de la Madeleine and des 
 Italiens, " The Government of M. Assi " was 
 spoken of, not without the recollection that M. 
 Assi had played the principal part in the strikes 
 at Auzin and Creuzot. 
 
 These proclamations were fresh attacks on the 
 Government and the Assembly, which were accused 
 of desiring to overthrow the Eepublic ; they an- 
 nounced the raising of the state of seige, and " the 
 convocation of the people of Paris in their sections 
 to hold their communal elections." The Commit- 
 tee added, " our mandate has expired." 
 
 The mayors and the deputies assembled at two 
 o'clock at the Mairie of the 3rd arrondissement. 
 
 VOL. T. X
 
 306 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEKS. 
 
 At the meeting — whose state of feeling might be 
 described by saying that the Assembly made it 
 nneasy, and the Committee made it indignant — 
 about forty majors were present. Above all, the 
 great object was to prevent a fratricidal conflict in 
 Paris. It was agreed on all hands that confidence 
 would be restored if the Assembly granted an 
 immediate municipal election (the National Guards 
 to elect their own chiefs), and revision of the 
 act relating to commercial bills. The mayors 
 flattered themselves that by these concessions they 
 could obtain the retirement of the Committee. 
 They wanted to be invested with the whole ad- 
 ministrative authority. The Government, without 
 sharing all their opinions, but animated like them 
 by a desire for a peaceful solution of the diffi- 
 culties of the situation, gave them full powers of 
 administration. In reality the mayors did nothing 
 but resume the policy of temporizing and pacifi- 
 cation which they themselves had tried up to the 
 18th March, which tliey could not continue 
 after an open contest, but which, now tried with 
 prudence and reasonableness by men who had been 
 elected by universal suffrage, might still have some 
 feeble chance of success. 
 
 The first step was the renewal of commu- 
 nication with the leaders of the Insurrection, 
 and the Central Committee, either uneasy at the
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 307 
 
 position, or to gain time, or in order to control tlie 
 municipal power which was the outcome of univer- 
 sal suffrage, proposed an interview. It took place 
 in the Hôtel de Ville. The 3rd arrondissement 
 was represented by two Deputies and six mayors 
 or their assistants. The discussion was very 
 earnest, and was prolonged until late at night. 
 
 The Committee was immovable with respect to 
 what it termed its rights over the National 
 Guard; this meant the keeping of military 
 authority in its hands, but it seemed willing to 
 yield the administrative authority to the mayors. 
 The members wished to deliberate apart before 
 giving their ultimatum. At midnight, Yarlin, 
 Jourde, Boursier, and a fourth whose name is 
 unknown, came to inform the representatives of the 
 municipalities that the Committee reserved to itself 
 the military authority only. The delegates of 
 the mayors insisted that the Hôtel de Ville should 
 be restored to them, in order to mark by a visible 
 sign that the administrative authority was again 
 placed in their hands. They carried this point, 
 and separated towards four o'clock, having agreed 
 upon a convention, which Messieurs Lanjalley and 
 Corriez, who seem to have drawn their information 
 from an official source, sum up thus : — 
 
 " The municipal administration will be restored 
 at nine o'clock in the morning to the elected 
 
 X 2
 
 308 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 municipal officers, represented by delegates ; 
 Citizen Bonvalet, mayor of the 3rd arrondisse- 
 ment ; Miirat, assistant-mayor of the 10th, and 
 Denizot, assistant-mayor of the 12th, will take 
 up their residence at the above-named hour at the 
 Hôtel de Viïle. 
 
 The Central Committee will leave the Hôtel de 
 Ville, and remove to head-quarters at the Place 
 Vendôme, where it will continue to rule the 
 National Guard. 
 
 Finally, the deputies and mayors being unable 
 to grant the municipal elections, which the As- 
 sembly alone can legally establish, will publish 
 a notice in which they shall promise to inter- 
 cede with the Assembly in order to obtain these 
 elections, and also for the same reason those 
 of the officers of the National Guard for all 
 ranks. 
 
 " The Government of the Hôtel de Ville (Mes- 
 sieurs Lanjalley and Corriez designate the Central 
 Committee thus) will, a few hours after this 
 notice is posted, post another announcing the 
 preceding resolutions on their own part." 
 
 Matters looked now as though they were com- 
 ing to a settlement, provided the Government and 
 the Assembly did not place any obstacle in the 
 way, and the deputies set out for Versailles with 
 every intention of keej^ing their promises. Before
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 309 
 
 their departure they caused the following notice 
 to be posted on the walls of Paris : — 
 " Citizens. 
 " Impressed with the absolute necessity of sav- 
 ing Paris and the Republic, by removing all cause 
 of conflict, and convinced that the best way to 
 attain this supreme object is by satisfying the 
 legitimate desires of the people, we have resolved 
 this day to request from the Assembly the adop- 
 tion of two measures which, we are in hopes, will, 
 if adopted, contribute to restore composure to the 
 minds of all. 
 
 " These two measures are — the election of all 
 the chiefs of the National Guard, and the esta- 
 blishment of a Municipal Council to be elected by 
 all citizens. 
 
 " What we want is that which is essential to 
 the pubUc welfare under all circumstances, order, 
 with Hberty and through liberty. 
 
 " Long live France ! Long live the Pepublic ! 
 " The Representatives of the Seine, 
 " Louis Blanc, Victor Schoelcher, A. Peyrat, 
 Edm. Adam, Floquet, Martin Bernard, 
 Langlois, Ed. Lochroy, Farcy, ÏÏ. 
 Brisson, Greppo, Milliere. 
 " The mayors and assistant-mayors of Paris." 
 
 (The signatures follow.) 
 The conditions being fulfilled on their side,
 
 310 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 MM. Bonvalet, Murat, and Denizot presented 
 themselves, on the 20tli March, at nine o'clock 
 in tbe morning in order to take possession of the 
 Hôtel de Yille. But the Central Committee had 
 thought better of it, and a note was read to the 
 Commissioners, stating that " under the present 
 circumstances, the Committee, being responsible 
 for the consequences of the situation, could not 
 relinquish either the civil or military power." 
 
 The Journal Ojjiciel, which appeared for the first 
 time under the authority of the Central Com- 
 mittee contained : — 1st, A note in which the 
 Committee justified its own conduct ; 2ndly, a 
 resolution of the Central Committee, announcing 
 that the elections of the Communal Council of 
 the city of Paris would take place on Wednesday, 
 the 22nd March, by ballot, and by arrondissement, 
 at the rate of one councillor to 20,000 inhabitants, 
 or fraction exceeding 10,000 ; 3rdly, a declaration 
 by V. Grêlier, describing himself as "Delegate of 
 the Government to the Ministry of the Interior," 
 of which the following are the exact terms : — 
 
 " We declare that henceforth we are firmly re- 
 solved to secure respect for the preliminaries of 
 peace, in order to preserve the safety of Republican 
 France and at the same time the public tran- 
 quillity." 
 
 The Committee stated besides, that while
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 311 
 
 awaiting the establishment of the true Kepublic, 
 they were holding the Hôtel de Ville in the name 
 of the people. 
 
 Thus the Committee broke the convention which 
 they had agreed on at four o'clock that morning, 
 and which had been loyally carried out by the 
 deputies and the mayors. The deputies, who had 
 already arrived at Versailles for the sitting of 20th 
 March, were immediately informed of this breach of 
 faith. They persisted none the less in their resolu- 
 tions. MM. Clemenceau and Tirard placed the bill 
 for the municipal elections before the Assembly 
 that very day; and M. Lockroy, the proposal 
 relative to the elections of the National Guard. 
 
 The former was thus conceived : — 
 
 "Article 1. — The election of a Municipal 
 Council for the city of Paris shall be held as early 
 as possible. 
 
 " Article 2. — The Council shall be composed of 
 eighty Members. 
 
 " Article 3. — The Council shall appoint its 
 President, who shall bear the title, and exercise 
 the functions of Mayor of Paris. 
 
 " Article 4. — There is incompatibility between 
 the functions of municipal councillor and that of 
 mayor, or deputy of one of the arrondissements 
 of Paris." 
 
 The following is the text of the second proposal:—
 
 312 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 " Article 1. — The corporals, sergeants, and 
 officers, up to and including the rank of captain, 
 shall be elected by the direct votes of the National 
 Guard. 
 
 " Article 2. — The majors and ensigns shall be 
 elected by the officers of the battalion and by 
 delegates appointed in each company in number 
 equal to that of the officers. 
 
 " Article 3.- — The colonels and lieutenant-colo- 
 nels shall be elected by the captains and majors. 
 
 " Article 4. — The general-in- chief of the 
 National Guard of the Seine shall be elected by the 
 colonels, the lieutenant-colonels and the majors. 
 
 " Article 5. — The general shall appoint his staff. 
 The colonels also shall appoint their staff. The 
 majors shall appoint the captains, the adjutant- 
 majors and the adjutants shall appoint the sub- 
 officers." 
 
 These two propositions bore the same signa- 
 tures as the proclamation posted in Paris that 
 morning, and in addition those of MM. Jean 
 Brunet, Tolain, Clemenceau, Tirard, Edgard 
 Quinet, Cournet, and Razoua. M. Millière then 
 presented a proposal in the following terms : — 
 
 " The delays accorded by the act passed on 
 the 10th March for the payment of commercial 
 bills shall be prorogued for three months." 
 
 The Assembly, agreeing with the Government, 
 voted urgency for the municipal elections bill,
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 313 
 
 and for that on the payment of commercial bills. 
 Urgency was not demanded for the elections of the 
 National Guard. 
 
 Thus, the majority itself, notwithstanding its 
 too legitimate causes of complaint, granted on 
 that day all it could grant ; that is to say, 
 urgency. The Government also officially renewed 
 the authorization to the mayors of Paris, to 
 exercise administrative powers already given on the 
 night of the 18th. M. Tirard and his colleagues, 
 in spite of the breach of faith by which they had 
 suffered that very morning, declared themselves 
 ready to continue their efforts for the peaceful 
 termination of the sedition of Paris. 
 
 The first thing to be done was to prevent the 
 elections fixed for the 22nd by the Central Com- 
 mittee. M. Tirard undertook to do this, and, 
 speaking from the tribune, he said, — • 
 
 " If we intended to become the accomplices of 
 the insurgents we might lend ourselves to the 
 resolution taken by the Central Committee to 
 proceed with the elections on Wednesday next. 
 The summons is placarded on all the walls of 
 Paris. Well ! we have declared, we the munici- 
 palities, that we should oppose this election. As 
 to me, I will oppose it. {Hear ! hear I) 
 
 M. Clemenceau. — " And I also ! 
 
 M. Tirard. — "We will all oppose it, we will 
 furnish neither lists of electors, nor voting-places.
 
 314 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 nor ballot-boxes, nothing in short that is necessary 
 for an election." (Hear! hear!) 
 
 M. Tirard kept his promise. A notice signed 
 by the deputies and the mayors appeared on the 
 21st. It announced the vote of urgency for the 
 municipal elections. 
 
 " The National Guard," said the signatories, 
 " will be guided by its patriotism ; it will make a 
 point of honour of removing all cause of conflict 
 whilst awaiting the decision of the National 
 Assembly." 
 
 The same day the following declaration ap- 
 peared in thirty-six Parisian newspapers, of 
 different political opinions : — 
 
 " To the Electors. 
 
 " Considering that the convocation of the 
 electors is an act of national sovereignty ; 
 
 " That the exercise of this sovereignty belongs 
 only to the powers which spring from universal 
 suffrage ; 
 
 " That consequently the Committee installed 
 at the Hôtel de Ville have neither right nor 
 qualification to convoke the electors ; 
 
 " The representatives of the undersigned journals 
 regard the convocation announced for the 22nd 
 March as null and void, and advise the electors to 
 take no heed of it. 
 
 " The following have adhered to this : — 
 
 " Le Journal des DéhatSj le Constitutionnel,
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 315 
 
 VElecteuT Libre, le Petit Moniteur, la Vérité, le 
 Figaro, le Gaulois^ la Petite Presse, le Petit 
 Journal, Paris Journal, le Petit Natioyial, la 
 Presse, la France, la Liberté, le Pays, le National, 
 l'Univers, la Cloche, la Patrie, le Français, la 
 Gazette de Fra^ice, V Union, le Bien Public, V Opi- 
 nion National, V Avenir Libéral, Journal des Villes 
 et des Campagnes, le Journal de Paris, le Moniteur 
 Universel, la France Nouvelle, le Monde, le Ternies, 
 le Soir, VAmi de la France, le Messager de Paris, 
 le Peuple Français.^* 
 
 This spirited proceeding was all the more coura- 
 geous that the Central Committee had not shown 
 much respect for the liberty of the press. The 
 Officiel of the 20th March contained a para- 
 graph which was very like a threat. 
 
 " The Eepublican authorities of the capital," 
 said this note, " desire that the liberty of the Press 
 as well as all other liberties shall be respected ; but 
 they hope that all journals will understand that the 
 first of their duties is the respect due to the Repub- 
 lic, to truth, to justice, and to right, which are 
 placed under the protection of all." 
 
 " The Republican authorities of the capital," 
 undertook to furnish a commentary on these am- 
 biguous words, by suppressing the publication of 
 the Gaulois and the Figaro on the 19th March. 
 They did not inflict the same punishment on the 
 thirty-five journals which had joined in the protest,
 
 316 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 they merely threatened them. " This is an 
 outrage committed by the reactionary press 
 against the sovereignty of the people of Paris," 
 said the Journal Officiel of the 22nd. " It 
 is a direct incitement to disobedience. Severe 
 repression will be the consequence of these out- 
 rages should they be repeated." The Journal 
 Officiel renewed its threats on the following day. 
 " We cannot attack the liberty of the press ; only, 
 as the Government of Versailles has suspended 
 the ordinary action of the tribunals, we warn 
 those dishonest writers, who, under other circum- 
 stances would thus render themselves amenable to 
 the common law against libel and insult, that they 
 will be immediately brought before the Central 
 Committee of the National Guard." 
 
 Notwithstanding this arrogant tone, the Com- 
 mittee hesitated before the protest of the press, of 
 the mayors elected by universal suffrage, and of 
 the deputies of the Seine. They had already post- 
 poned to the 23rd the elections at first announced 
 for the 22nd; and two demonstrations by the 
 party of order which took place on the Boulevards 
 and in the Place Vendôme on the 21st and 22nd 
 March, (blood was shed during the second of these), 
 contributed to render a further adjournment 
 necessary to the accomplishment of the objects 
 of the Committee. The population of the quarters
 
 THE CENTKAL COMMITTEE. 317 
 
 inhabited by bankers, and tlie higher ranks of com- 
 merce, began to wake out of their lethargy. The 
 energy of the mayors restored courage to them. 
 A certain number of majors, not federals, assisted 
 at their consultations. Several of the National 
 Guards who were on the side of order acted as 
 sentries during the day on the Place de la Bourse 
 in front of the unoccupied Mairies of the 1st and 
 2nd arrondissements ; and had also retained posses- 
 sion of the railway station of St. Lazare, although 
 their presence was useless so far as facilitating 
 communication between Paris and Versailles was 
 concerned, because the Federals searched the 
 trains at Asnieres, where they had established a 
 guard-house. A meeting was held at the Grand 
 Hôtel on Tuesday the 21st. A few persons came 
 out from it, shouting, "Vive la Paix!" They 
 were followed by several who were walking on the 
 boulevard, and who shouted with them. It was 
 agreed that this procession should be repeated on 
 the following day, and that the demonstration 
 should be made in greater force. On Wednesday 
 the meeting, as arranged, was lield in front of the 
 Grand Hôtel. The promoters of the demonstration 
 carried a large tricolour flag ; they were followed 
 by about 600 persons, belonging to the bourgeoisie, 
 who shouted " Vive la Paix" as on the previous day. 
 The crowd followed, astonished, but sympathizing
 
 318 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 and confident. The * demonstration ' proceeded to 
 the Bourse, where the National Guards presented 
 arms. They then retraced their steps, and turned 
 into the Rue de la Paix. 
 
 The Place Vendôme was the head-quarters of the 
 insurrection. The Committee sat at the Hôtel de 
 Ville, but the superior officers of the National 
 Guard remained constantly at the Place Vendôme, 
 where they were in force. A cordon of sentinels 
 barred the entrances to the Rue de la Paix, and the 
 Rue de Castigflione. The demonstration first en- 
 countered two sentinels posted in advance, who 
 attempted to oppose their passage, but they pushed 
 on, and the sentinels were obliged to fall back. 
 What happened then ? It is absurd to suppose that 
 a band of 6 or 700 persons had dreamed of engaging 
 in a struggle with a much more numerous body of 
 National Guards, armed to the teeth, and taking 
 aim at them. But it is probable that the boldest 
 of the members of the demonstration thought the 
 Federates would not fire on unarmed citizens, or 
 at any rate were willing to run the risk. What is 
 certain is that the insurgents did by roll of drum 
 summon the demonstration to disperse, but that 
 they held their ground. All at once a discharge 
 was heard. The insurgents assert that a pistol- 
 ball fired from a window had wounded a National 
 Guard. If this be true, it was the act of a mad-
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 319 
 
 man. The firing of a pistol from a window would 
 have justified a strict search in the house from 
 whence the shot came ; but it neither explains nor 
 justifies a general volley on an unarmed crowd. 
 The demonstration had not fired ; they had no 
 muskets ; the order to fire on them was given by the 
 men who had justified the assassins of Lecomte, 
 and Clément Thomas, in the newspapers the 
 day before. The inoffensive crowd, taken un- 
 awares by a volley of musketry, fled as fast as they 
 could in every direction, leaving eight wounded 
 and thirteen killed in the Rue de la Paix. On the 
 next day, Thursday, 23rd March, the following 
 proclamation appeared in the Officiel : — 
 " Citizens," 
 
 " Your righteous anger placed us on the 18th 
 March at the post which we were to occupy only 
 for such time as is strictly necessary to carry out 
 the communal elections. 
 
 *' Your mayors, your deputies, repudiating the 
 engagements which they made when they were 
 candidates for ofiice, have placed every obstacle in 
 the way in order to impede those elections which 
 we are anxious to conclude with as little delay as 
 possible. 
 
 " The reaction, excited by them, declares war 
 on us. 
 
 "We must accept the struggle and crush re-
 
 320 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 sistance in order that you may proceed witli 
 the elections in the calmness of power and 
 strength. 
 
 " Consequently the elections are postponed until 
 Sunday next, the 26th March. 
 
 " Until then the most energetic measures will 
 be taken to insure respect for the rights you have 
 redeemed." 
 
 It was after this proclamation that the Mairies, 
 which until then remained unmolested, were in- 
 vaded, with the exception of the Mairies of the 
 1st and 2nd arrondissement. Delegates from 
 the Central Committee would present themselves, 
 and summon the mayor to withdraw. The mayor 
 would protest, and declare that he would only yield 
 to force. 
 
 They would then send for the officer in command 
 of the guard-house, and ask him this question, 
 *' Will you obey the municipality, or the Central 
 Committee?" He invariably replied, "The Central 
 Committee ;" and the municipality withdrew. 
 
 This open war with the municipalities, the 
 threatening proclamation, the occurrences of the 
 22nd, led the mayors of Paris to resolve on a 
 measure which was carried into execution on the 
 23rd, at Versailles. Having nothing more to hope 
 from the Central Committee, they determined to 
 make a last and solemn appeal to the Assembly.
 
 THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE. 321 
 
 Events had travelled at sucli speed during this 
 fatal week, and the slightest movements of " the 
 street " had suddenly been invested with such im- 
 portance, that before leaving Paris for Versailles, 
 the mayors deemed it indispensable to give the 
 National Guard a chief. 
 
 Admiral Saisset had been elected deputy of the 
 Seine in the preceding month, by a very large 
 majority. He had been returned by no less 
 than 154,347 votes. He was popular in Paris 
 not only in consideration of his services and 
 his courage, but on account of the death of 
 his son, who was killed during the siege. The 
 Admiral was walking on the Boulevards the day 
 after the rising, when he was recognized and 
 cheered by the crowd. Several officers of the 
 National Guard who gathered round said to him, 
 " Place yourself at our head !" A few of the 
 number set out immediately for Versailles, to 
 request his appointment from M. Thiers. They 
 said, " Every one will rally round such a chief 
 as he." M. Thiers consented at once, and signed 
 the appointment, which was notified to the 
 Admiral on Sunday, the 19th March, at ten 
 o'clock in the evening. Admiral Saisset im- 
 mediately put himself in communication with the 
 mayors elected by universal suffrage, thinking 
 that their support would strengthen his hands. 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 322 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 The mayors of Paris, sharing this persuasion, 
 and believing that an appointment made on their 
 suggestion would be more popular than one 
 emanating directly from the Executive, wishing 
 also to surround the Admiral with men who were 
 popular in Paris for their opinions, and their 
 courage, issued tbe following notice on the morning 
 of the 23rd :— 
 
 " The Assembly of the mayors and deputy- 
 mayors of Paris, in virtue of tbe powers conferred 
 on them, in the name of universal suffrage, by 
 which they bave been elected, and for whose 
 principles they intend to secure respect, whilst 
 awaiting the promulgation of the act which shall 
 confer on the National Guard of Paris their full 
 right of election, seeing tbat there is urgency, 
 
 " Appoint personally, 
 
 " Admiral Saisset, repi'esentative of the Seine, 
 to be Commandant of the National Guard of 
 Paris ; 
 
 " Colonel Langlois, representative of the Seine, 
 to be Chief of the General Staff, Colonel Schœlcher 
 representative of the Seine, to be Commander-in- 
 chief of the artillery of the National Guard." 
 
 At the same time that they took this measure, 
 the mayors who were going to Versailles deter- 
 mined to attend in a body at the sitting of the 
 Assembly, when one of them, speaking in the
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 323 
 
 name of all, should explain tlie condition of Paris, 
 and ask tlie representatives to vote urgency for 
 the Electoral Acts, and to fix the election for as 
 early a date as possible. 
 
 The advanced Kepublican party is sometimes a 
 little theatrical. The mayors ought to have con- 
 tented themselves with being received by the 
 bureau, and placing their propositions in the hands 
 of M. Grevy, who was a man to do them justice 
 and lend them support. But, full of the impor- 
 tance of their proceedings, and of the sense of 
 their own earnestness, they wanted and looked 
 for solemnity. Haunted by the recollections of 
 the first Revolution, some of them would fain have 
 appeared at the bar and had all the honours of 
 the sitting. They contented themselves indeed 
 with a gallery which was readily placed at their 
 disposal, but they entered it in a body, wearing 
 their official sashes, and crying, " Vive la Répub- 
 lique ! " The Left responded to that cry which 
 was so dear to them ; the Right, on beholding 
 these worthy people who were striving so bravely 
 for order, imagined themselves in the actual pre- 
 sence of the Insurrection. They also fancied, like 
 the mayors, but with very different feelings, that 
 the first days of the first Revolution had returned. 
 They did not need the spectacle before them to 
 evoke those phantoms which were ever present to 
 
 T 2
 
 324 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 their minds ; and with cries of " Order ! Order ! " 
 they demanded the expulsion of the intruders, 
 who came before them wearing their sashes, and 
 shouting " Vive la Eepublique " in the gallery, 
 where all demonstrations were forbidden. A scene 
 of tumult ensued, but it was of short duration ; 
 for M. Grevy at once adjourned the sitting, in 
 accordance with a previous resolution, until nine 
 o'clock in the evening. When the members 
 resumed their places, M. Arnaud (de l'Ariège), 
 deputy, one of the mayors of Paris, read the 
 following declaration by his colleagues : — 
 " Gentlemen, 
 
 " We have very important communications to 
 make to you. Paris is on the eve, not of an 
 insurrection, but of civil war, — civil war under 
 its most terrible aspects. The population are 
 anxiously awaiting — firstly from you, and after- 
 wards from us — measures of such a nature as 
 will prevent further bloodshed. 
 
 " We believe that we are thoroughly acquainted 
 with the state of feeling in all classes, and we 
 are convinced that the triumph of order and the 
 safety of the Republic require the following : — 
 
 " According to us, it is absolutely necessary : — 
 
 *' Firstly, that the National Assembly place 
 itself in permanent communication with the 
 mayors of Paris by such means as in its wisdom 
 it may deem best.
 
 THE CENTBAL COAIMITTEE. 325 
 
 " Secondly, that tlie mayors be authorized to 
 take, at need, sucli measures as may be im- 
 peratively required by the public danger, subject 
 to rendering an account to you of their conduct, 
 and to answering for it. 
 
 " Thirdly, that the election of the General-in- 
 Chief of the National Guard, by the National 
 Guard, be fixed for the 28th of this month. 
 
 *' Fourthly, that the election of the Municipal 
 Council of Paris take place even before the 3rd of 
 April, if possible. 
 
 " And lastly, that in all which concerns the 
 act relative to municipal elections, the condition 
 of eligibility be reduced to six months' residence, 
 and that the mayors and their assistants proceed 
 with the elections." 
 
 The storm of the afternoon was, as often 
 happens, followed by a calm. The address was 
 received with deference. Although drawn up by 
 the mayors, and presented in their name, it was 
 signed only by deputies who were also mayors or 
 deputy mayors of the arrondissements of Paris. 
 Urgency was voted without opposition. M. 
 Grevy spoke a few words, intended to lessen the 
 effect of the hostile demonstrations of the Right. 
 In spite, however, of these extenuations and 
 apologies, the mayors must have left Versailles 
 with the sense that their peace-making rôle had 
 exposed them to injustice from the two parties.
 
 326 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 They liad declared from the tribune (through 
 M. Clemenceau) that they retained no illusions 
 with regard to the Central Committee ; after the 
 sitting of the 23rd they cannot have entertained any 
 with regard to the Right of the National Assembly. 
 
 They had been premature in their statements 
 to the Parisians. To announce by placards the 
 nature of demands which are about to be made 
 is almost to promise that they shall be granted. 
 Admiral Saisset, who shared both their hopes and 
 their efforts, had gone so far as to assert that 
 their dreams of pacification were accomplished 
 facts. The following was posted by his orders 
 on the morning of the 24th : — 
 " Dear Fellow- citizens, 
 
 " I hasten to inform you that in unison with 
 the deputies of the Seine and the elected mayors 
 of Paris, we have obtained from the Government 
 of the National Assembly; 
 
 "1st. The complete recognition of your muni- 
 cipal franchise. 
 
 " 2nd. The election of all the officers of the 
 National Guard, including the General-in-Chief. 
 
 " 3rd. Modifications of the act on commercial 
 bills. 
 
 " 4th. An act on house-rent, favourable to the 
 occupiers, up to and including tenancies of 1200 
 francs. Until you shall confirm my nomination
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 327 
 
 or replace me, I will remain at my post of honour 
 to forward tlie execution of the acts of conciliation 
 which we have succeeded in obtaining, and thus to 
 contribute to the consolidation of the Republic." 
 
 The " Government of the Assembly," of which 
 the Admiral speaks in this proclamation was M. 
 Thiers, it was not the Assembly. M. Thiers 
 could not associate himself openly with the pro- 
 ceedings of the mayors ; because, in his position 
 he could not do so, without giving a sort of 
 sanction to the insurrection, and also because he 
 knew the sentiments of the majority, and was 
 the more bound to take them into account, that 
 the country could not have borne a Government 
 crisis in addition to its other dangers. But in 
 his ardent desire to avert bloodshed, he favoured 
 the efforts of the mayors within the limits of 
 truth and possibility, and urged forward pacifi- 
 catory measures. The mayors had found him 
 disposed to favour their views up to a certain 
 point. He thought that the acts on municipal 
 elections, on the National Guard, on bills, and on 
 house-rents, ought to be passed with as little 
 delay as possible (he had even said so within 
 the last eight-and-forty hours). He wished them 
 to be liberal, which did not mean that he accepted 
 the basis laid down by Admiral Saisset, espe- 
 cially with regard to the election of the Com-
 
 328 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 mandant of the National Guard. He promised "his 
 support only, because he had only that to give. 
 No Government promises to make laws, it only 
 promises to propose them. However great the 
 influence of M. Thiers over the Assembly, it 
 was no longer all-powerful. Notwithstanding his 
 reserve, he constantly betrayed a leaning towards 
 conciliation which irritated and disturbed the 
 E-ight. It was, hoAvever, perfectly well known 
 that he would deal gently only with those who 
 were misled, and that he would be as incapable 
 of pardoning the leaders of the Revolution as of 
 countenancing their principles. He had thought 
 it right, on several occasions, to afSrm that he 
 would maintain the Republic, and although these 
 declarations were in conformity wdth what was 
 called " The pact of Bordeaux," as he took care 
 to show at the sitting of the 27th March, they 
 appeared almost treasonable, if not to the whole of 
 the Right, at least to the most violent, and to the 
 leaders on that side of the Chamber. Admiral 
 Saisset, in his generous ardour, exaggerated 
 the magnitude of the promises and the extent of 
 the power of M. Thiers, and the mayors, without 
 going quite so far as the Admiral in their expecta- 
 tions, believed that their proposals, for which 
 urgency had been voted without debate, and 
 in which it appeared to them the last hope of
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 329 
 
 safety resided, would be adopted almost in their 
 entirety. This hope encouraged them to further 
 efforts ; the danger seemed to them so terrible that 
 they never wearied in their exertions. 
 
 The day after M. Arnaud de l'Ariège had read 
 the address of the mayors to the Assembly, the 
 Central Committee, aware of the importance of the 
 Admiral's proclamation, resolved to recommence 
 negotiations, taking it for a basis. They sent 
 General Brunei and another of their colleagues as 
 negotiators. The envoys presented themselves 
 this time in no friendly fashion ; they came at the 
 head of a strong detachment and with artillery, 
 which caused a panic in Paris. The mayors, 
 overlooking the proclamation of the 23rd, in which 
 the Committee declared war on them, agreed to the 
 discussion, which took place in the afternoon. 
 It was commenced at the Mairie of the 1st ar- 
 rondissement, and continued at the Mairie of 
 the 2nd, whither Brunei came with his troops, and 
 where twelve of the mayors and their assistants 
 were assembled, together with several deputies. 
 During the discussion, the National Guards sta- 
 tioned at the Bourse, and those whom Brunei had 
 brought with him, remained in presence of each 
 other, so that a sanguinary conflict would surely 
 arise if no agreement was come to. 
 
 The date of the municipal elections was one
 
 330 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 of the chief points in dispute. The Committee 
 insisted on the 26th March, the mayors would have 
 preferred the 3rd April, because they expected that 
 M. Ernest Picard' s Municipal Bill would be passed 
 by that time. They considered themselves autho- 
 rized to propose the 30th March as a com- 
 promise; this was accepted by General Brunei 
 after obstinate resistance. That point being 
 settled, the good understanding seemed complete. 
 There were indeed some difficulties as to the elec- 
 tion of the General-in-cliief. M. Scliœlcher would 
 have had him elected by two grades, but M. Brunei 
 declared that he should be elected by direct 
 universal suffrage, or the negotiation must be 
 broken off. This threat silenced all objections. 
 The 30th March was fixed for the municipal elec- 
 tion, the 2 ad April for the election of the General- 
 in-chief by direct universal suffrage. Brunei 
 appeared on the threshold of the Mairie with the 
 mayors, and announced that peace was concluded. 
 His escort received the announcement with 
 acclamations, which were eagerly echoed by the 
 National Guard and the party of order. The news 
 spread throughout Paris, and produced general 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Whilst all was joy in Paris, on the afternoon of 
 the 24th, the Assembly at Versailles was preparing 
 to discuss the proposal of the mayors, which had
 
 THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE. 331 
 
 been granted urgency on the previous day. The 
 Commission, having been appointed at two o'clock, 
 had chosen M. de Peyramont President,, and imme- 
 diately set to work. Their report was not finished 
 at six o'clock in the evening, so that M. Jules 
 Simon proposed a night sitting, which was imme- 
 diately agreed to. All was going well up to that 
 time, both at Paris and at Versailles. 
 
 But before the night closed, all was lost. 
 The Assembly met at ten o'clock, waited some time 
 for the Commission, which was with M. Thiers, 
 then M. de Peyramont moved an adjournment, 
 and finally M. Thiers came in person to make 
 the same demand without giving any reason. 
 " If the discussion takes place," said he, " it 
 will be seen that the Government has no personal 
 cause to fear it, but they dread it for the country's 
 sake. One imprudent word may lead to much 
 bloodshed." The Assembly, moreover, could not 
 enter upon the discussion, as the report had not 
 been made. M. Arnaud de l'Ariége therefore 
 simply withdrew his motion until the sitting of 
 the following day. 
 
 What had happened was this : the turbulent 
 spirits, both at Paris and Versailles, had once 
 more got the better of men of good sense. 
 
 When the news of Admiral Saisset's proclama- 
 tion reached Versailles, the most excitable among
 
 332 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the members of the Eight had raised a cry of 
 treason, had assembled at once in one of the 
 bureaus, and were contemplating nothing less 
 than handing over the Government to the Prince 
 de Joinville. The Central Committee at Paris 
 had refused to ratify the treaty which had been 
 concluded by its delegate. 
 
 " Admiral Saisset makes acceptable proposals," 
 said Assi, who presided, as he always did, at the 
 meetings of the Hôtel de Ville ; " but who will 
 answer for their being carried out after the elec- 
 tion ? Let us commence by electing the Commune. 
 We are masters of the situation, our adversaries 
 although apparently determined on resistance, 
 have neither organization nor community of ideas." 
 Bergeret continued in the same strain. The 
 mayors were assembled at the Mairie of the 2nd 
 arrondissement, when Eanvier and Arnold came to 
 inform them that the agreement was broken off, 
 and that the elections would take place on the 26th. 
 
 The Central Committee made its will known 
 to the population by the following notice : — 
 
 " Citizens, carried away by your ardent desire 
 for conciliation, happy to realize that union which 
 is the object of all our efforts, we have loyally 
 stretched forth the hand of brotherhood to our 
 opponents. But the continuance of certain 
 manœuvres, and especially the transfer of mitral-
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 333 
 
 leuses to the Mairie of the 2nd arrondissements by 
 night, oblige us to maintain our first resolution. 
 
 " The vote will take place on Sunday, 26th 
 March. If we are mistaken as to the intentions 
 of our adversaries, we invite them to prove that 
 we wrong them much, by uniting with us in the 
 common vote of Sunday." 
 
 The mayors were in the right to break off 
 all communications with a Committee who first 
 granted, and afterwards refused, whose conces- 
 sions were a sham, and who, in order to gain their 
 object more readily, did not hesitate to deceive 
 their adversaries by the pretence of negotiations. 
 Their first idea was to adopt the same course on 
 the 26th as that which they had followed on the 
 22nd and 23rd ; namely, to refuse to countenance 
 the election, and to protest beforehand against 
 its results. Then again, they reflected that the 
 Central Committee was in the minority. If all 
 those who were afraid of it voted unanimously, 
 it must necessarily be beaten, and would be forced 
 to disappear. The mayors would thus procure 
 the safety of Paris, and the preservation of 
 peace, which they had vainly sought from the 
 Central Committee, by means of the population 
 itself. They knew besides, that their own 
 adherents were at variance on the question of the 
 opportunism of the vote, and that several of the
 
 334 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 National Guard were resolved to go to the ballot, 
 whatever might be the resolution taken by the 
 mayors. The major of the 10th battalion had 
 said in the presence of M. Schœlcher, " our men 
 will not fight, and the vote shall be on Sunday." 
 
 Ranvier and Arnold came back during the day 
 on the 25th, and offered to restore to the mayors 
 the eighteen Mairies from which they had been 
 expelled, if they would consent to summon the 
 electors and to preside at the voting. If they 
 refused, the elections should take place all the 
 same, without their assistance. The meeting, 
 which was composed at that moment of seven 
 mayors, twenty-seven of their assistants, and 
 six deputies, after a long discussion, and with 
 much hesitation, submitted. It was certainly 
 pushing the oblivion of injuries very far, but their 
 ardent desire to escape a civil war rendered any 
 alternative acceptable. " What would we not 
 submit to," said the members amongst themselves, 
 " to avert bloodshed, and avoid giving an oppor- 
 tunity to the Prussians ! " 
 
 The agreement was drawn up in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 " French Republic.'* 
 " Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." 
 
 " The deputies of Paris, the elected mayors and 
 assistants reinstated in the Mairies of their arron-
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 335 
 
 dissements, and the members of the Federal 
 Central Committee of the National Guard, con- 
 vinced that the only means whereby civil war and 
 bloodshed in Paris may be avoided, and at the same 
 time the Republic be firmly established, is, to hold 
 the elections immediately, hereby summon all the 
 citizens in the electoral constituencies for next 
 Sunday. The bureaus will open from eight in the 
 morning, and will close at midnight. 
 
 " The inhabitants of Paris are aware that 
 under the present circumstances their patriotism 
 requires that they should all give their votes, 
 so that the elections may be of the important 
 character which alone can secure peace in the 
 city. 
 
 " Long live the Republic. 
 " The representatives of the Seine present in 
 Paris : — 
 
 " Clemenceau, Floquet, Greppo, Lockroy, 
 Schœlcher, Tolain. 
 " The mayors and assistant-mayors of Paris : — 
 1st Arrondissement, Ad. Adam, J. Meline. 
 2nd, Brelay, Loiseau-Pinson. 3rd, 
 Bonvalet Murat. 4th, Vautrain, de 
 Chatillon, Callon, Loiseau. 5th, Collin 
 Jourdin. 6th, Leroy. 9th, Desmarest. 
 1 0th, A. Murat. 1 1 th, Mottu, Blanchon, 
 Tolain. 12th, Grivot, Denizot, Dumas,
 
 836 THE QOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Turillon. 13th, Combes, Leo MeiUet. 
 
 15th, Jobbé-Duval. 16th, Seveste. 
 
 17th, F. Favre, Malon, Villeneuve, 
 
 Cacheux. 18th, Clemenceau. 19th, 
 
 Deveaux, Sartory. 
 " The delegate members of the Central Com- 
 mittee : — 
 
 " G. Ranvier, G. Arnold." 
 This proclamation was sent to the National 
 printing-office, where it was falsified by the Central 
 Committee. Instead of the words, " The deputies 
 of Paris, the elected mayors and assistants re- 
 instated in the Mairies of their arrondissements, 
 and the members of the Central Committee, con- 
 vinced, etc.," they wrote : " The Central Committee 
 of the National Guard, around whom have rallied 
 the deputies of Paris, the mayors and assistants, 
 convinced, etc.; convoke,etc." They suppressed the 
 signature of M. Callon, and added the signatures of 
 Messieurs E. Ferry, André, Nast, assistants of the 
 9th; Poirier, assistant of the 11th; Sextius Michel, 
 assistant of the 15th; Chanelet, assistant of the 
 16th; Lafond, Dereure, and Jaclard, assistants of 
 the 18th arrondissement. 
 
 MM. Tirard, Arnaud de l'Ariége, and Brisson, 
 who were informed at Versailles of the text of 
 the agreement, declared that they would not 
 assent to it.
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 337 
 
 M. André Murat addressed the following letter 
 to all the editors of newspapers on the day of the 
 vote : — 
 
 " At the commencement of the ballot and in 
 presence of the monstrous fact that the text of 
 the convention, signed by the mayors, their assis- 
 tants the representatives of the people present in 
 Paris, and MM. Ranvier and Arnold, members of 
 the Central Committee, has been falsified, it 
 becomes essential that the truth, with regard to 
 the relations between the mayors and the Central 
 Committee should be made known. 
 
 " On Sunday, the 19th, a deputation of mayors 
 and deputies went to the Hôtel de Ville, to 
 request the Central Committee to leave the 
 general administration of the City of Paris, as well 
 as that of their respective arrondissements, to 
 the elected municipalities. After a long dis- 
 cussion, the Committee, wishing to consider the 
 matter, the deputation retired to the Mairie of the 
 2nd, whither four delegates of the Committee 
 came shortly afterwards, and there, by common 
 consent, it was agreed that the Hôtel de Ville 
 should be restored to a commission of the mayors 
 on the following morning at nine o'clock; tJiis 
 promise has not been kept. 
 
 " After this refusal, and as it was impossible 
 for the municipal officers to recognize the civil 
 
 VOL. I. Z
 
 338 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 autliority of the Committee, tliey protested and 
 were expelled one after another from their Mairies. 
 
 " On Friday, the situation being strained to 
 its utmost, and the municipal officers making un- 
 heard-of efforts to induce the Government and the 
 Assembly to accept the elections, which was a 
 reasonable demand, General Brunei, one of the 
 Committee, invested the Mairie of the 1st arron- 
 dissement, with several battalions and with 
 cannon. 
 
 " There, and to avoid bloodshed, a compromise 
 was made. The municipal officer agreed that the 
 elections should be held on the 30th. The 
 General then proceeded to the Mairie of the 2nd, 
 and the mayors assembled there approved the 
 fresh agreement. The Central Committee, repu- 
 diating the signature of its General, refused to 
 ratify it. 
 
 " Once more negotiations were attempted with 
 the object of conciliation, at first officiously and 
 afterwards officially ; and on Saturday at noon a 
 notice was drawn up by the mayors, and accepted 
 by the Central Committee. 
 
 " It might have been supposed that all was now 
 settled, and, for my own part, I went to my 
 Mairie at two o'clock to resume my duties and 
 take the requisite measures for holding the elec- 
 tions on Sunday ; but I was refused admittance,
 
 THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE. 339 
 
 the Central Committee declining to fulfil tlie 
 agreement. In the evening a notice was posted 
 by the said Committee, announcing that the mayors 
 had joined with the Committee, which is false, and, 
 still more to mislead the public, this notice was 
 signed with our names. 
 
 *' Such a violation of fixed agreements, and the 
 affixing of our signatures to a proclamation which 
 did not emanate from us, affords a measure of the 
 morality of the Committee; and teaches us how 
 much confidence should be placed in the good faith 
 and honour of such people. 
 
 " A. MURAT, 
 
 '^Assistant-mayor of the 9th Arrondissement.^^ 
 This letter, which does infinite honour to M. 
 Murat, appeared in the morning. The same even- 
 ing the Central Committee, unable to reply to it 
 otherwise, put M. Murat in prison. 
 
 The mayors had gone very far in the way of con- 
 cession. They had accepted the Central Committee 
 if not as a regular at least as an honest authority ; 
 they had to a certain extent undertaken to put up 
 with its vicinity, if only their Mairies were re- 
 stored, and the administrative authority in all civil 
 matters was left in their hands. As an answer to 
 those proceedings, by far too conciliatory, the 
 Committee deliberately committed a forgery, whose 
 consequences involved no less than the dishonour 
 
 z 2
 
 340 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 of the signatories of the proclamation. Never- 
 tlieless M. Murat was the only one to protest and 
 to withdraw ; his colleagues reserved their protest 
 for a more favourable moment; thus adding 
 another to the many sacrifices they had already 
 made in the interest of the public peace. 
 
 It only remained now to vote. 
 
 The ballot was about to remove both the Cen- 
 tral Committee and the mayors ; the Committee 
 who had made the insurrection of the 18th March, 
 the mayors who had courageously struggled 
 against its dictation, taking the lead at the 
 same time in both concihation and resistance. 
 The party of order once more proved faithless to 
 itself. The ballot, if all had done their duty, 
 would have resulted in Peace ; as it was, it resulted 
 in the Commune. 
 
 M. Louis Blanc had proposed that the Assembly 
 should resolve that the mayors of Paris, in approv- 
 ing the elections of the 26th, had acted like good 
 citizens. The Keport was made on the 27th, the 
 day after the vote. The commission concluded 
 against the consideration of the proposal. M. 
 Thiers and M. Jules de Lasteyrie, President of 
 the commission of fifteen members appointed 
 to convey confidential communications between 
 the Government and the Assembly during the 
 insurrection, were the only members who spoke, 
 and they merely begged the Assembly to vote
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 341 
 
 the conclusions of the commission withoiit 
 comment. The speech of M. Thiers, although 
 short, is memorable. He treated those who 
 accused him of wishing to overthrow the Republic 
 as base calumniators. " I want," said he, " I 
 want solely to establish the well-being of France. 
 When that is done I will restore her to you 
 with the form of Government she has to-day. 
 The different parties may then discuss what 
 her final form shall be. All will depend on 
 how each party conducts itself until then. The 
 victory will be with the wisest." Returning to 
 the question, he Confined himself to declaring that 
 France should not be oppressed by Paris, nor 
 Paris by France, that all the communes of France, 
 Paris included, should enjoy their full rights and 
 the plenitude of their liberty. He begged the 
 Assembly to attend without delay to the municipal 
 Act. 
 
 M. Jules de Lasteyrie did not intend to fail in the 
 discretion that M. Thiers expected from the mem- 
 bers of the Commission. His concluding phrase, 
 however, allowed the policy of the Government to 
 be divined; while maintaining the principles of 
 order and legality they did not wish to discourage 
 any efforts which tended to prevent bloodshed. 
 *' We will not," he said, " hinder any moderate or 
 conciliatory measure, but we say to the Govern- 
 ment: if ever crime, pillage or assassination run riot
 
 342 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 in Paris Versailles liad better be ready." Scarcely 
 had the Assembly closed the discussion by refus- 
 ing to take the proposition of M. Louis Blanc into 
 consideration, when M. Louis de Saint Pierre pre- 
 sented a protest, signed by eighty-one deputies, 
 against the elections of the day before. The 
 Assembly being consulted, urgency was refused. 
 All sensible men, even on the Right, appreciated 
 the danger of public discussions at such a moment. 
 The proposal of M. Louis Blanc had been inspired 
 by a right sentiment, it expressed nothing but what 
 was perfectly just. But officially to approve of 
 the mayors for having advised the vote would have 
 been to approve the vote itself, and to give a sort of 
 sanction to the Commune. 
 
 Every one understood and every one felt that, 
 notwithstanding the vote of the 27th, the mayors 
 of Paris were regarded with esteem by the 
 Government, the Assembly, and all patriots. 
 
 The Central Committee, on the contrary, was 
 held up, by all its actions, to the contempt of 
 history. 
 
 Appointed originally by several battalions of the 
 National Guard, to occupy itself exclusively with 
 the interests of the National Guard, it should 
 merely have expressed a desire that all the officers 
 should be elected; it did, however, quite another 
 thing; it decided that the officers should be elected; 
 and this was usurping legislative authority. It
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 343 
 
 declared that it would not obey the commanders 
 regularly appointed by the Government; and this 
 was placing itself in a state of rebellion. The men 
 who would not have any but elected chiefs, and who 
 made, according to their own statement, a revolution 
 on that account, appointed generals on their own 
 authority; these were Garibaldi, Cluseret,Bergeret, 
 Eudes, Duval, Henry, Gasnier, Brunei, Raoul du 
 Bisson. Flourens having appointed himself accord- 
 ing to his usual custom, the Committee hastened 
 to provide him with a command. 
 
 The Committee had, since February, been de- 
 manding the cannon which were given by the 
 National Guard during the siege. This was its 
 first move. It claimed them as the property of the 
 National Guard; an unsound reason, for there can- 
 not be proprietorship in an object which has been 
 given away. With a view to conciliation it was pro- 
 posed to the Committee that the cannon should not 
 indeed be restored en masse to the National Guard, 
 but that the pieces which had been purchased by 
 each, should be given back to that battalion indi- 
 vidually. This did not suitthe purposes of the Com- 
 mittee. It wanted cannons ; got them, and with 
 them, projectiles which the National Guard had 
 never given, but which it awarded to itself. Bar- 
 ricades were erected around the parks of artillery, 
 and the cannons were turned upon the city. In 
 this same month of February the drums beat to
 
 344 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 arms by order of the Committee : this was msub- 
 ordination and usurpation. Mazas, Sainte-Pelagie, 
 and La Santé were attacked, and tlie prisoners re- 
 leased, of some of whom the Committee afterwards 
 made generals. 
 
 On the 12th of March a notice was posted on 
 the walls of Paris which was a provocation to the 
 soldiers to rebel. 
 
 On the 18th a federal battalion was made to 
 march against the line, and a troop of women 
 brouo;ht down from the hei2:hts of Montmartre and 
 Belleville, who crowded round the soldiers, broke 
 through their ranks, and incited them first to dis- 
 obedience and afterwards to desertion. Members 
 of the Committee visited the barracks, gave the 
 soldiers wine, and either took or bought their 
 muskets. At the meeting held on the 22nd 
 March at the Hôtel de Ville, " Citizen Yiard, 
 having proposed that secret emissaries should be 
 sent to Yersailles in order to instruct the troops 
 in their true duty," Citizen Assi, the President, 
 replied that "emissaries had been sent several 
 days before." The Committee proceeded from 
 enlistment by bribery to enlistment by force. A 
 decree of 22nd March declares that " The soldiers 
 at present in Paris shall be incorporated in the 
 National Guard, and shall receive its allowances." 
 
 It was asserted that the Committee had not 
 ordered the assassination of Clément Thomas and
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 345 
 
 Lecomte ; but the Committee called this assassin- 
 ation " an execution," and undertook to defend it. 
 The promised inquiry into the circumstances was 
 not made. Several of those who had been conspi- 
 cuous on the occasion, received promotion ; Cap- 
 tains Ras and Herpin Lacroix were made majors ; 
 Captain Simon Mayer was made Commandant of 
 the Place Vendôme ; Kadanski, a carpenter, who 
 had been foremost in the proceedings at the guard- 
 house of the Rue de Rosiers, was promoted to 
 the staff. Yerdagner, a sergeant of the line, who 
 was one of the first to go over to the insurrection, 
 and who boasted that he had fired at General 
 Lecomte, obtained command of a battalion. 
 
 The Committee made no trouble about justifying 
 or even provoking assassinations. The Journal 
 Officiel of the 28th March contains the- following 
 note, which appears in the non-official portion. 
 
 " We reproduce the following article by Citizen 
 Ed. Vaillant, which appears to us to meet one of the 
 present difficulties in a satisfactory manner : — 
 
 " The Editor in chief of the Journal Officiel, 
 
 " Ch. Longuet." 
 
 This article, which " meets one of the present 
 difficulties in a satisfactory manner," concludes 
 with these words : — " Society has but one duty 
 towards princes ; to put them to death. One for- 
 mality only is binding upon it, the establishment of 
 identity. The Orleans are in France, the Bouaparfces
 
 346 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 want to return : let good citizens look to it I " On 
 the 31st March the Journal Officiel states that the 
 reactionary journals made a great noise about this 
 article. " This article being signed," it adds, " only 
 expresses an individual opinion, an opinion which 
 is besides very sustainable." 
 
 The Committee had fired on the people on the 
 22nd March, on an unarmed crowd, whose cry was 
 Vive la paix ! Apprised by the first demonstration, 
 which had taken place the day before, and by the 
 summons, which was public ; (proof enough that 
 no idea ot' having recourse to force was entertained), 
 it had charged Lullier and Moreau " to take 
 measures to prevent this demonstration, ivithout 
 bloodshed if possible. ''^ At four o'clock a report from 
 General du Bisson was brought to the Committee 
 at the Hôtel de Ville (13 killed, 8 wounded), 
 when '* Citizen Avoine moved a vote of thanks 
 to the General, and to all the staff who have 
 deserved well of the country. The motion was 
 carried unanimously." 
 
 The suppression of Courts Martial was also 
 voted with unanimity. " Courts Martial can be 
 nothing else than exceptional tribunals, where 
 convictions are decided in advance : their justice 
 is a deception. It is our duty to emancipate the 
 army; to its unity with the National Guard we 
 owe the victory of liberty." The vote took place 
 at the meeting of the 19th. The following sentence
 
 THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE. 347 
 
 occurs in the oiOficial Report of tlie meeting of the 
 23rd. " The Committee ratifies the condemnations 
 to death pronounced the day before on the motion 
 of Generals Henri and Du Bisson." 
 
 The Committee had placarded on the walls of 
 the Hôtel de Ville : " Any person taken in the act 
 of theft will be shot." The intention was praise- 
 worthy, the penalty outrageous, and the procedure 
 more than summary. Here is another notice : — 
 
 "The Central Committee have beeninformed that 
 men wearing the uniform of the National Guard 
 and recognized as former gendarmes and sergents- 
 de- ville have fired on the Prussian lines. The 
 Committee give notice that should a similar case 
 present itself, they themselves will take measures 
 to secure the guilty parties, who will be imme- 
 diately shot." Thus, having suppressed the state 
 of siege and the Courts Martial of the standing 
 army, the Committee transformed itself into a High 
 Court of Justice, enacted penalties, and carried 
 them into effect. Newspaper editors were 
 cautioned that if they had the misfortune to trip, 
 they would be brought " before the Committee," 
 and threatened with "severe penalties" should they 
 again oppose the will of the people. Was it also 
 a question of the recalcitrant journalists being shot? 
 
 The Committee (and this no one will be sur- 
 prised to learn) held advanced opinions respecting 
 the distribution of the public charg-es. On the
 
 348 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 24th March the following curious statistics 
 were published in the Journal Officiel : lucubrations 
 of this calibre constitute what was pompously- 
 termed in the language of the clubs and of public 
 meetings, " Science." 
 
 " In examining the working of our economical 
 institutions, we find that the various fortunes are 
 formed and developed in the following propor- 
 tions : — one, two, four, eight, sixteen, and, in an 
 inverse ratio, that the households possessing these 
 various fortunes are in the proportions of sixteen, 
 eight, four, two, one ; it could not be otherwise ; 
 were it so, poverty or opulence would be general. 
 
 " The union of these two proportions constitutes 
 that law which presides over the division of riches 
 between the five ranks of the population, whose 
 positions are as follows : — poor, tolerable, easy, 
 rich, and opulent. 
 
 " The wealth of France (mobilière and immohiliere) 
 being nearly 310 Milliards, and the number of 
 households, 13,950,000, a simple arithmetical 
 calculation gives the following results : — 
 
 " First group, 7,200,000 families ; indigent 
 persons of all sorts, workers, at the lowest wages, 
 possessing goods, and working tools, 10 Milliard?. 
 
 " 2nd group, 3,600,000 ; workmen possessing 
 land or a trade which allows them to work on 
 their own account, 20 Milliards.
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 349 
 
 " 3rd group, 1,800,000 ; small bourgeoisie, 
 retail traders, 40 Milliards. 
 
 " 4tli grade, 900,000 ; Middle class bourgeoisie, 
 wholesale traders, 80 Milliards. 
 
 " 6tli group, 450,000 ; great proprietors, large 
 capitalists, 160 Milliards." 
 
 Let, then, the fortunes of this latter class, com- 
 posed for the most part of the organizers or the 
 favourites of brigandage, be taxed at the rate 
 of three to four per cent., and a sum sufficient 
 to satisfy German rapacity will be realized imme- 
 diately. 
 
 Citizen Grollard, member of the Committee, 
 discovered a still simpler, and according to him, 
 more practical way of paying the indemnity of 
 five milliards ; it was simply " to confiscate and 
 sell for the profit of the Commune the goods of 
 all the Deputies, Senators, and Ministers, who had 
 voted for the war with Prussia." 
 
 Citizen Grêlier, " delegate to the Interior," who 
 had a better notion of what a sum of five Milliards 
 was, contented himself with announcing in the 
 Officiel, *' The authors of the war shaU pay the 
 greater portion of the ransom." 
 
 The Committee took the interests of house occu- 
 piers in hand. " Until further orders, and with 
 the sole object of maintaining peace, house pro- 
 prietors and hotel-keepers shall not have the
 
 350 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 power of obliging occupiers of any bouses or 
 botels to leave." Tbis was not pleasant for pro- 
 prietors and botel-keepers ; it simply condemned 
 tbem, together witb tbe autbors of tlie war, to pay 
 tbe indemnity. " Citizen Blancbet approves tbe 
 motion for tbe sale of tbe goods of tbe Deputies, 
 Senators, and Ministers," but be is of opinion that 
 " in addition to tbis measure for tbe public safety, 
 tbere sbould be a tax on tbe total amount of rents, 
 wbetber paid or not. 
 
 " Tbe motion is adopted ; tbe amount of tbe tax 
 sball be paid bereafter." 
 
 Tbe winners of tbe day on tbe 18tb Marcb gave 
 its true name to tbe Revolution, wbicb tbey believed 
 tbey bad effectually made. Tbey called it " tbe 
 accession of tbe proletariat. " Tbe proletariat bas 
 understood tbat it was its imperative duty and 
 its absolute rigbt to take its own destinies in band, 
 and to ensure tbeir triumpb by taking possession 
 of autbority." 
 
 Tbe Committee bad declared tbat tbe move- 
 ment wbicb bad just taken place was purely 
 municipal and purely local. Its next proceeding 
 was tbe appointment of its ministers. It sent 
 delegates to revolutionize Lyons, Marseilles, Bor- 
 deaux, all tbe large towns. 
 
 Amoureux writes to tbe Committee from 
 Lyons, on tbe 24tb Marcb, in tbe name of tbe 
 delegates : —
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 351 
 
 ''We arrived at Lyons, and immediately pro- 
 ceeded to the Hôtel de Ville. We have had to 
 appear on the balcony, amid the acclamations 
 of more than 20,000 citizens. 
 
 *' Eighteen battahons out of 24 are happy to 
 federalize themselves with the 215 battalions of 
 Paris. 
 
 " The Government of Versailles is not recog- 
 nized. 
 
 " In short, the cause of the people triumphs, 
 and Paris alone is recognized as the capital." 
 
 The Committee said, in its Journal Officiel^ " It is 
 on Paris that the duty of making the sovereignty 
 of the people respected, and of exacting that no at- 
 temptupon their rights shall be made, is incumbent." 
 It regarded the people of Paris as invested with 
 the right of governing France, in virtue of their 
 advanced opinions. This, at least, was the opinion 
 of General Cluseret. " The source of all power 
 and the only power in Paris," said he, " is you, 
 National Guards of the Seine, you, the advanced 
 people." The Committee reckoned on the press, 
 on the " enlightened or undeceived " departments ; 
 it also reckoned on the large towns to push 
 forward the smaller ones. 
 
 " The large towns have proved that they are 
 animated by the same republican spirit as Paris ; 
 the new Republican authorities hope, therefore, 
 that they will afford her their earnest and ener-
 
 352 THE GOVERNMENT OF M, THIEflS. 
 
 getic co-operation." True, the Committee adds 
 scornfully : " The country -places will be anxious 
 to imitate the towns." 
 
 It had declared, from the 20th March, that 
 it would ensure respect for the preliminaries of 
 peace; an admirable resolution on the part of 
 a Committee which had so many times expressed 
 itself in favour of " torrential " sorties and war 
 à outrance, and which had treated the surrender of 
 Paris and these very same preliminaries of peace 
 (which were to be so scrupulously respected), 
 as so many betrayals and money-bargains. The 
 Prussian general who commanded the third army 
 corps at Compiègue, having announced that 
 if events should assume an appearance of hos- 
 tility against the German troops, the city of 
 Paris would be treated as an enemy, the Com- 
 mittee hastened to reply that " the Revolution 
 accomplished in Paris being essentially commu- 
 nal," could be in no way aggressive to the 
 German armies. 
 
 General Von Schlotheim, in the note addressed 
 by him to the leaders of the insurrection, pro- 
 mised to keep a pacific attitude if not provoked. 
 The Committee in publishing this document 
 altered the words to a friendly attitude, and 
 ventured to say, in its proclamation of the 24th 
 March, — " The Prussians, judging us at our
 
 THE CENTEAL COMMITTEE. 353 
 
 true worth, have recognized our right." This 
 was false, but even had it been true, there was 
 dishonour in the utterance of such a statement. 
 With equal veracity was it aflBrmed, in official 
 proclamations, that the King was at Versailles, 
 that the army of M. Thiers was composed of 
 Pontifical Zouaves, and that it was commanded 
 by Charette. 
 
 One day Assi said to his Committee, " The 
 mayors and deputies of Paris deserve no con- 
 fidence whatever ; the ministers are rascals ; the 
 deputies ferocious imbeciles ; it is impossible to 
 place a shadow of confidence in such men." 
 The mayors were treated accordingly. The Com- 
 mittee promises them, on 22nd March, at six 
 o'clock in the evening, to give them up the Hôtel 
 de Ville ; at midnight it refuses. It consents, on 
 the 24th, to fix the elections for the 30th; on 
 the 25th, it alters the date to the 26th. It 
 obtains the consent of the mayors to the elections 
 of the 26th on condition of restoring their Mairies ; 
 but it falsifies the proclamation, the terms of 
 which had been settled by both, it does not keep 
 to its word in the restitution of the Mairies, so 
 that the first line of the proclamation, " The 
 mayors, reinstated in their Mairies," constitutes 
 a falsehood. It declares on the 19th, 20th, 21st, 
 24th, and 26th March, that it is about to retire, 
 
 VOL. I. A a
 
 354 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 that it is retiring, that it is giving place to the 
 Commune ; but it draws up lists of ofiBcial candi- 
 dates, on which it takes good care to inscribe the 
 names of all its members. When the Commune 
 is nominated and installed, instead of disappear- 
 ing, the Committee transforms itself into a Sub- 
 committee, retaining Assi as its President, and it 
 only awaits an opportunity of seizing power once 
 more. Such is the Central Committee of the 
 National Guard. 
 
 Those who gained admission to the hall in the 
 Hôtel de Ville, in which the Central Committee 
 sat, carried away with them a feeling of disgust 
 almost amounting to horror. It was very little 
 like a Government Council ; nay, not even like a 
 guard-room. Victuals everywhere, drink, pipes, 
 slovenly fellows with muskets slung at their 
 backs, disgusting dirt, deafening cries, wild and 
 ferocious talk. One member of the Committee, 
 according to a witness hardly to be suspected, 
 has a pleasant trick of pointing his loaded musket 
 at you the whole time he is speaking to you ; he 
 replaces it under his arm while you answer him. 
 It is grotesque, no doubt ; is it only that ? Is it 
 not the indication of a peculiar mental condition ? 
 From this congenial centre came apologies for 
 assassination, and provocations to civil and social 
 war. Monsieur Tirard said on the 21st March,
 
 THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 355 
 
 from the tribune in the Assembly : " On going to 
 the Hotel de Ville, you know well enough when 
 you enter it, but you know not whether you will 
 come out again." 
 
 The elections did not fulfil the hopes either 
 of the Committee or of the mayors. 
 
 The mayors had flattered themselves that the 
 party of order would vote, and that it would vote 
 with uniformity; but the party of order almost 
 entirely abstained from voting. The adversaries 
 of the Committee who voted, could only succeed in 
 electing sixteen of their candidates. The game 
 was lost, the sixteen elected candidates at once 
 tendered their resignation. The Commune, after 
 these resignations, and after taking some double 
 elections into account, found itself reduced to 
 sixty-six members ; after the 6th April, by rea- 
 son of fresh resignations, the number fell to sixty- 
 two. 
 
 The Central Committee had succeeded with 
 only thirteen of its members. It might, however, 
 count as belonging to it the seventeen members 
 elected from the International. This made, in all, 
 thirty-eight members, for two of those elected, 
 Varlin and Assi, belonged at the same time to the 
 Central Committee and to the International 
 Association. The other members of the Com- 
 mune were journalists of the school of Delescluze 
 
 A a 2
 
 356 THE GOVERNSfENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 or Blanqui, or else club-orators. This result was 
 vexatious to the Committee, who foresaw an- 
 tagonism between its policy and a majority with 
 Delescluze at its head. 
 
 But if instead of counting the elected, we 
 consider the number of voters, the results prove 
 that the party for order was once more beaten 
 through its own fault. 
 
 The number of registered voters was 481,970. 
 Of this number, 224,197 electors, that is 
 forty-six per cent, of the total, had taken part 
 in the election; <S9,731 voters had given their 
 votes to the sixteen elected in opposition to the 
 Revolution of the 18th March, who resigned im- 
 mediately. These 89,731, added to 257,773, who 
 abstained from voting, formed a total of 347,504 
 out of 482,970 registered electors. We must 
 also deduct from the voters who remained faithful 
 to the Central Committee, those who gave their 
 votes to former members of the corporations who 
 had not accepted the candidateship. M. Hérisson, 
 2279; M. Jozon, 2202; Dr. Loiseau, 4849; M. 
 Carnot, 1922 ; M. Denormandie, 1806, &c., &c.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE COMMUNE. 
 
 After the ballot of the 26th March, an impor- 
 tant Paris newspaper expressed regret that it 
 had not urged its friends to take part in the 
 election. Everybody was saying that if the party 
 of order had not deserted on the 18th " in the 
 street," or on the 26th at the ballot, the Commune 
 would never have existed. 
 
 No one could think of regarding the sum- 
 moning of the electors as a regular proceed- 
 ing. 
 
 In the first place, it was done by the Central 
 Committee, which asserted that it had been elected 
 by the majority of the National Guard. As a 
 matter of fact this was not proved, as a matter 
 of right the National Guard could not have nomi- 
 nated it except in defiance of the laws. This 
 Committee, whose very origin was seditious, had 
 accumulated seditious acts for several weeks past.
 
 358 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 If the members who composed it had been pro- 
 secuted, even before the 18th March, they 
 would justly and infallibly have been condemned. 
 On the 18th they had offered armed resistance 
 to the lawful authority of the country. They 
 had enticed away soldiers ; they had laid hands 
 on war-material belonging to the State ; they 
 had shut their eyes to the assassination of the 
 two generals, an assassination committed by their 
 partisans, and in their Journal Officiel they 
 had published an apology for the crime. They 
 had usurped authority and appointed functionaries 
 to fill public offices. They had laid hands on 
 the finances of the city and on those of the 
 State. They had substituted the red flag for the 
 national standard. These criminals committed 
 one more crime by convoking the electors. To 
 answer to their summons, to place the voting- 
 papers in the ballot-box presented by their 
 hands, was not this to give their approval to 
 the revolt ? How was a man to vote, and then 
 allege, after the vote, the nullity of the operation ? 
 How was he to contest the authority of the 
 Central Committee after having voluntarily sub- 
 mitted to it ? These reasons were insuperable, 
 in the sight of the Assembly and the Government 
 which had sprung from universal suffrage, and who 
 who could not bend the nation's will to a handful
 
 THE COMMUNE. 359 
 
 of factious men. What then would have become 
 of universal suffrage after such an abasement, and 
 of France after the fall of universal suffrage? 
 It will be remarked that Admiral Saisset, when 
 resigning his function as general-in-chief of the 
 National Guard, alleged as his principal motive 
 the conduct of the mayors, who, by signing the 
 last summons to the electors in common with the 
 insurgents, appeared to acquiesce in what had 
 been done on the 18th March, and since. 
 
 On the other hand, that which was impossible 
 for the Government and the Assembly, might be 
 held not to be so in the same degree for the 
 mayors of Paris and for ordinary citizens. The 
 mayors looked upon the participation of honest 
 citizens in the election which was about to take 
 place, not as an admission of the legality of the 
 vote, but as the sole means of throwing light 
 upon the situation by the enumeration of the 
 votes. They were well aware that the ballot 
 would give no rights to anybody. If, indeed, 
 there were but this one way of preventing civil 
 war, at a time when civil war might be the end of 
 France, was it permissible, was it possible not to 
 make use of it ? Under what circumstances, if 
 not under these, was " force majeure " to be 
 pleaded ? It is indisputable that if all the friends 
 of order had voted, the Insurrection of the 18th
 
 360 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 March would have ended, after a reign of eight 
 days, in an overwhelming and irremediable defeat. 
 The Central Committee which on the 18th bad 
 had defection for it, would have had on the 26th 
 election against it. More than two-thirds of Paris 
 voting against disorder would have been at once 
 the proclamation of right, and the irresistible 
 evidence of strength. The Commune would have 
 perished unborn. The Assembly, victorious with- 
 out a conflict, would have been entitled to be 
 merciful. It might have punished the leaders of 
 the rebelHon and the assassins, ignored all the 
 rest, given a liberal constitution to the city of 
 Paris, and without even taking the trouble to 
 annul the elections of the 26th, held the regular 
 elections without delay. Unfortunately, only a 
 half resolution had been taken, and that was the 
 very worst thing that could have happened. 
 Either all should have abstained out of respect 
 for legality, or all should have voted out of 
 respect for human life. Entire abstention, which 
 would have been preferable because it alone was 
 conformable with legality, with eternal justice, 
 and also because it would have clearly proved the 
 numerical weakness of the insurgents, could not 
 be obtained ; no one had sufficient authority to 
 insist upon it ; the mayors had felt their way, 
 and ascertained that many of the enemies of
 
 THE COMMUNE. 361 
 
 tlie CommuTie were resolved to vote. They met 
 every argument with the three words : " We shall 
 vote ! " Certainly three of the mayors them- 
 selves, perhaps five, were of one opinion. As the 
 abstention could not be otherwise than partial, 
 they resolved upon action, but they did not succeed 
 any better in establishing discipline in that sense. 
 They were unable to state the motives of their 
 conduct; the newspapers were divided, and 
 the population imitated the newspapers. The 
 absentees had not returned ; among those present, 
 a large number had persisted in abstaining; 
 finally, the voters had not agreed to a single list 
 of candidates. This disarray and inertness in the 
 party of order contrasted singularly with the 
 spirit of decision and discipline which was con- 
 spicuous among their adversaries at that time. 
 After the victory all was changed : their Assembly 
 and their party fell into unutterable disorder from 
 the first. 
 
 Not one half of the voters on the registers 
 voted. According to the decree of convocation, 
 ninety were to be elected ; there were only 
 eighty-six. Of this number, sixteen members, 
 belonging to the party of order, resigned their 
 seats so soon as the result was known. MM. Ranc, 
 Ulysse Parent, Robinet, Lefèvre, and Goupil, with- 
 drew on the 6th April. There were three double
 
 362 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 elections. The Assembly thus found itself reduced 
 to sixty-two members. These sixty-two, some 
 of whom had not even obtained a number of 
 votes equal to the eighth part of the registered 
 electors, met together ; declared themselves regu- 
 larly constituted; and announced that further 
 elections to the vacant seats would take place at 
 an early date. 
 
 Their first act was to proclaim the Commune, 
 and to concentrate the whole public authority in 
 the Commune. It was no longer pretended that 
 nothing beyond municipal franchises for Paris 
 was claimed. The elections over, this comedy 
 became useless. The Journal Officiel declared 
 that " it would be a strange and even a puerile 
 fallacy to think that the sole aim of the Revolu- 
 tion of the 18th March was to secure a communal 
 representation by election, but subject to a central 
 despotic power for Paris." A puerile fallacy 
 indeed; it was in fact a government that had just 
 been formed ; a government with very vague 
 aspirations, very positive hatreds, and absolutely 
 ignorant of the first principles of administration. 
 
 The Central Committee, to which the victory of 
 the Commune had administered a personal check, 
 by the defeat of the greater number of its members, 
 allowed itself at least the pleasure of installing its 
 successors with great pomp and a grand display
 
 THE COMMUNE. 363 
 
 of red flags and red sashes fringed with gold. 
 Assi officiated pontifically on this occasion, as 
 chief of the government which was disappearing 
 or was pretending to disappear. There were 
 repeated salvoes of artillery, and " Vive la Com- 
 mune ! " was shouted in the square in front of the 
 Hôtel de Ville during one whole day. The 
 Commune declared that the Central Committee 
 had deserved well of the country. After having 
 congratulated and complimented each other, and 
 enjoyed themselves, it was necessary to come 
 to business ; for they were but half masters 
 of Paris, and at the gates of Paris they had 
 the Prussians on one side and Versailles on the 
 other. 
 
 The members of the Commune had to stand a 
 siege, to raise an army, and to find generals. They 
 had no money. They had to create a government, 
 and to get it obeyed by that half of Paris which had 
 just voted against them. Moreover, from the very 
 first day there were profound divisions among 
 them. They agreed only upon that one word, 
 the " Commune," and each understood it after his 
 own fashion. They well knew what they were 
 fighting against ; but they had only conâised, 
 wild, and diverging notions of what it was their 
 business to found. Among their number there 
 was a Prussian, a bankrupt ex-capuchin, an ex-
 
 364 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 agent of the Imperial police, a mountebank, an 
 assassin who had been convicted and condemned, 
 a madman, a visionary. In such hands had our 
 misfortunes placed us. Under such conditions 
 did the insurgents, with the boastfulness which 
 is inherent to their party, and a little to our 
 country, make sure of victory. 
 
 They proclaimed aloud that the people ought 
 to march on Versailles. They had an axiom 
 which had been preached to them in every key 
 during the first siege, and which they would 
 not now relinquish ; it was that when the entire 
 people move together they are absolutely and 
 necessarily invincible. It was in virtue of this 
 axiom that the Government of Defence was 
 regarded as criminal ; it had victory in its hands, 
 if only it had chosen to open them ; it would have 
 been sufficient had it ordered a sortie en masse. 
 So it was now, the Commune had only to hurl the 
 people against " the rustics." The army would 
 not even offer any resistance. The soldiers are 
 our brothers ! They had proved this on the 18th 
 March. Towards the end of the Central Com- 
 mittee, there had been, it was admitted, some 
 diSiculties in the interior of Paris ; the battalions 
 that had remained faithful to the Assembly had 
 formed, under the orders of Admiral Saisset, a 
 small army which occupied the Bourse and the
 
 THE COMMUNE. 365 
 
 neighbouring streets, the Saint-Lazare Kailway 
 Terminus, and the quarters of the Elysée and 
 Passy ; but the Admiral, it was said, disheartened 
 by the ill success of his proclamation and the small 
 number of his adherents, had relinquished the 
 struggle on the very day of the election, and 
 returned to Versailles after having disbanded his 
 troops ; there was therefore nothing more to fear 
 in the city ; the Eevolution was sole ruler ; the 
 road to Versailles was open. "Was the Commune 
 about to imitate Trochu, and condemn the 
 National Guard to inaction and defeat? This 
 question was asked on the boulevards, in the 
 barracks, in the clubs, in the cafés and beer-shops. 
 The newspapers of the Insurrection repeated it. 
 Armed detachments defiled before the Hôtel de 
 Ville, shouting, "À Versailles!" just as they had 
 formerly shouted, '' A Berhn ! " Groups of 
 women accompanied them, determined also to 
 fight and to conquer. The Commune hesitated, 
 estimating more correctly the gravity and difficulty 
 of the enterprise. In what the rash believed to 
 be an army, they could see only a mob. There 
 was no lack of generals, there was even a crowd 
 of them ; Delescluze and a few others questioned 
 whether these generals were capable of com- 
 manding an army, a battalion, or even a 
 squad.
 
 366 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 The Central Committee had intrusted all the 
 military authority to three generals of its own 
 creation : Brunei, Eudes, and Duval. The first 
 had been a sub-lieutenant in the Chasseurs 
 d'Afrique for a short time in his youth ; Eudes 
 was a young man, thirty-two years of age, formerly 
 a medical student, afterwards an assistant in a 
 shop, and manager of the Libre Pensée ; Duval, 
 after having tempted fortune as an iron-founder, 
 had set up at last as a dealer in slippers. This 
 trinity inspired unlimited confidence among that 
 section of the National Guard which believed in 
 improvised generals and the irresistibility of 
 " torrential " sorties. The Commune, or rather the 
 Executive Commission placed at its head, was less 
 credulous, and consequently in less of a hurry. 
 It was thinking of organizing the government, the 
 finances, and the army, and making a selection 
 from among the generals, when hostilities broke 
 out without its order, on the 2nd of April, owing 
 to an unforeseen accident. 
 
 A federal column was proceeding along the 
 great avenue which leads straight to Courbevoie, 
 and marching on Versailles at hap-hazard. 
 General Vinoy sent a division, and two brigades 
 to intercept them. The place of rendezvous 
 assigned by him was the cross-roads at Bergères, 
 where they arrived at eleven o'clock in the morn-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 367 
 
 ing. Dr. Pasquier, surgeon-in-chief to tlie army 
 of Versailles, a very distinguished man, and most 
 popular with the soldiers, had set out in the 
 morning alone, on horseback, and unarmed, to 
 organize the medical service. He was riding 
 along the high road to St. Germain, between the 
 cross-roads at Bergères and the cross-roads at 
 Courbevoie, when he came within reach of a 
 federal outpost, which fired on him and killed 
 him. It was generally reported that evening at 
 Versailles, and was contradicted by nobody, that 
 he had voluntarily gone to meet the insurgents, 
 to entreat them not to fire upon the army and to 
 return to Paris. However this may have been, 
 the murder of a doctor before fighting had begun, 
 aroused the anger of the regiment, which at that 
 very moment was arriving on the scene of the 
 occurrence, and perhaps contributed to confirm 
 its loyalty. General Vinoy at once gave orders 
 to attack, and the firing began vigorously on both 
 sides. The insurgents showed great courage, but 
 they could not stand against superior forces. 
 General de Gallifet's cannon completely settled 
 the fate of the day. In the twinkling of an eye 
 the avenue was covered with runaways, who were 
 swept down by a battery set up at the cross-roads 
 at Courbevoie. The barricade commanding the 
 bridge at Neuilly was stormed by sailors and
 
 368 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 marines. At three o'clock the fight was over, and 
 the troops were ordered to return to their en- 
 campment. 
 
 The effect of this day was very great at "Ver- 
 sailles. It was known that the army had been 
 remodelled with marvellous rapidity; its morale 
 had been restored by the earnestness of its 
 officers, and the attentive and minute care with 
 which its welfare was studied. But there is 
 always a doubt of the steadiness of troops which 
 have not been under fire, and this is far more 
 emphatically the case in civil war. After the 
 2nd April, it was known that the officers would 
 be obeyed, and every one understood that victory 
 was now only a matter of time. 
 
 In Paris, the numerous spectators of the rout, 
 who crowded the top of the Arc-de-l' Etoile, knew 
 perfectly well what to believe ; but in the distant 
 quarters, where information was uncertain and 
 contradictory, the populace wanted to believe in 
 success. Some members of the Commune broke 
 in upon the sitting crying, " Victory ! victory ! " 
 Delescluze made them hold their tongues, and 
 brought them to a sense of the reality. 
 
 In the night, the three generals, that is to say, 
 Brunei, Eudes, and Duval, presented themselves 
 before the Executive Commission. 
 
 They came to propose a plan for marching
 
 THE COMMUNE. 369 
 
 once more upon Versailles and making themselves 
 masters of the Assembly. 
 
 The plan was extremely simple. The National 
 Guard was to be divided into three corps; the 
 first was to leave by the Vaugirard gate, and 
 to direct its course on Versailles, by Issy, 
 Chatillon, Sèvres, and Meudon ; the second was to 
 follow the road to Courbevoie, Puteaux, and Bu- 
 zenval ; the third was to reach Rueil, after passing 
 beneath Mont Valérien. The composition and the 
 strength of the three army corps had not been 
 fixed upon ; the topography of the environs of 
 Versailles was almost unknown ; whether the army 
 had constructed any works, or whether it occupied 
 those made by the Prussians ; where its outposts 
 were to be found ; all this was uncertain. The 
 three generals being convinced, in spite of the 
 events of the day before, that the army would 
 fraternize with the National Guard, were not even 
 afraid of passing within range of the guns of 
 Mont Valérien. They talked of the expedition 
 as of a promenade. 
 
 The Executive Commission was far from sharing 
 their opinion. It charged them to wait, and to 
 do nothing until they should have received its 
 orders and those of the Commune. Although it 
 bore in mind the failings of the 18th March, and 
 could not know the prodigies accomplished at 
 
 VOL. I. B b
 
 370 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Satory by tlie combined activity of M. Thiers, 
 tlie generals, and all our officers, it knew what 
 effect " first blood " has on the spirit of two 
 armies face to face, it was aware that the 
 superiority of numbers maybe more than balanced 
 by discipline and strategy ; that the very fact of 
 numbers without order and without skilful hand- 
 ling is a cause of weakness, above all in a 
 conflict with artillery ; and it was alarmed by 
 the aspect of its own troops, and the incredible 
 naïveté of its generals. Delescluze spoke to them 
 severely, and counted on being obeyed. Neither 
 the Commune nor the Commission believed in 
 any immediate aggressive movement. 
 
 But the faubourgs and the revolutionary 
 quarters of Paris had smelt gunpowder. The 
 clubs were crammed ; open-air orators were rant- 
 ing in every street. Nearly all affirmed that a 
 first victory had been gained over " the soldiers of 
 Cathelineau and Charette." A company of 
 Bellevillites who had been well beaten, and who 
 (rare exception) admitted the fact, were threat- 
 ened with the severest punishments " for having 
 spread false news, and attempted to chill the 
 ardour of the citizens." Perhaps after all, for 
 they did not mind making so much of a concession, 
 " the victory of the 2nd April " was not decisive ; 
 but why ? Because all the battalions had not
 
 THE COMMUNE. 371 
 
 been employed ; tlie sortie had not been " tor- 
 rential." In order that this time due warning 
 should be given, drums beat to arms all night long. 
 The zones were besieged by processions which 
 followed each other without an interval ; women 
 figuring in them in large numbers, some of them 
 with muskets and in uniform. About four o'clock 
 in the morning companies with their ranks nearly 
 full arrived from all parts. Wending their way to 
 the ramparts, they hastened to remount the guns, 
 and to get them into position by manual labour. 
 They demanded or rather they exacted ammu- 
 nition. As for provisions and ambulances, only 
 a few officers gave them a thought. 
 
 The Commune, uuwilling to begin the struggle 
 without due preparation, but who had not foreseen 
 this movement, had inflamed the maddened popu- 
 lation by the following proclamation, which was 
 posted at nightfall : — 
 
 " To the National Guard of Paris. 
 
 " The Royalist conspirators have attached. 
 
 " In spite of the moderation of our attitude, 
 they have attached. 
 
 " Being no longer able to reckon upon the 
 French army, they have attached with Pontifical 
 Zouaves and the Imperial police. 
 
 " Not content with cutting off our communica- 
 B b 2
 
 372 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 tiens witli tlie provinces, and witli making vain 
 efforts to reduce ns by famine, these madmen have 
 resolved to imitate the Prussians to the end, and 
 bombard the capital. 
 
 " This morning the Chouans of Charette, the 
 Vendéens of Cathelineau, the Bretons of Trochu, 
 flanked by Valentin's Gendarmes, have covered 
 the inoffensive village of Neuilly with shells and 
 grapeshot, and entered into a civil war with our 
 National Guard. 
 
 " There have been some killed and wounded. 
 
 " Elected by the population of Paris, our duty 
 is to defend the great city against these culpable 
 aggressors. With your help, we shall defend 
 it. 
 
 " The Executive Commission." 
 
 The sense of the responsibility of "entering 
 into civil war " had come rather late to the 
 Commission. It wanted to throw that responsi- 
 bility on the Government ; which was pushing the 
 audacity of falsehood very far. Had not the 
 authors of the 18th March " entered upon civil 
 war " ? Ought France to have done nothing ? 
 If the affair of the 2nd April only be taken into 
 consideration, in good sooth, the aggression had 
 not come from its side. The first shot had 
 killed Doctor Pasquier ; the Versailles army 
 had responded to that by a general attack.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 373 
 
 Moreover, what was tliat swarm of National 
 Guards whicli was spread over the Avenue de la 
 Grande- Armée, the high street and the bridge at 
 Neuilly ? Whither was it going ? To Versailles. 
 Its march was the most formal of aggressions ; 
 and had there only been that, the aggression came 
 from the Commune, and the Assembly and the 
 Government did but defend themselves. But it 
 was not on the 2nd April that France was 
 attacked for the first time ; she had been already 
 attacked on the 18th March, and even before the 
 18th. 
 
 If on the 2nd April the Assembly had com- 
 menced the attack first, it would have only 
 employed its right. There were many who held 
 that it was too long to have waited fourteen 
 days, and that the attack ought to have been 
 begun on the 19th. At Versailles, this was 
 the opinion of all those who imagined that 
 General Vinoy had brought back real soldiers 
 and a real army from Paris, during the night 
 of the 18th and 19th. The complaints of the 
 Executive Commission were as legitimate as 
 those of a man who, having stabbed you with 
 a dagger and against whom you were defending 
 your life, should say to you, "you attack 
 me." 
 
 Had the election of the 26th perchance changed
 
 374 THE GOVEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 the reciprocal position of the parties ? Had it 
 effaced the rights created by the election of the 
 10th February ? This was indeed the assertion 
 made by the Commune, and it must be admitted 
 that there never was a more outrageous one. The 
 members of the Commune, elected on the 26th 
 March, in virtue of an illegal and culpable sum- 
 mons, by a quarter at most of the population of 
 Paris, if the votes given to the party of order were 
 taken into account, affected to call themselves the 
 elect of the people, the representatives of the 
 national will ; not only did they oppose their pre- 
 tended right to that of the National Assembly 
 elected by the rest of France, and by Paris itself; 
 but they said, and seemed to believe, that it was 
 the duty of the Assembly to retire before them, 
 and disappear. This incredible sophism is to be 
 found in every proclamation issued by them in a 
 space of two months. Three days after the entry 
 of the troops into Paris, when their fall was an 
 accomplished fact, they offered to " resign " on 
 condition that the National Assembly should 
 resign simultaneously. A certain number of 
 " conciliators " whom by-and-by we shall see at 
 work, held very similar language, or at any rate, 
 made similar proposals. From its origin, the 
 Central Committee had treated the resistance of 
 the mayors as rebellion against the will of the
 
 THE COMMUNE. 375 
 
 People. In fhe proclamations the " insurgents '* 
 of Versailles were glibly spoken of. 
 
 It is certain that Versailles did not begin the 
 attack on the 2nd April ; but not only had it the 
 right to attack, it was bound to do so, and was 
 about to fulfil that duty, when the murder of 
 Dr. Pasquier precipitated events. M. Thiers had 
 only left Paris on the 16th March, in order to 
 retake the city by persuasion or by force. The 
 Assembly was beginning to blame his tardiness 
 when March ended; but he, firm in his resolu- 
 tions, knowing perfectly what he wanted, incapable 
 of allowing himself to be carried away by vain 
 impulses, had resolved that he would not bring 
 the army into action until he had remodelled it. 
 He had enlarged and improved the huts at Satory ; 
 he had quartered the army there, and isolated it ; 
 he had made its ofiScers camp out with their men ; 
 he had personally inspected the quantity and good 
 quality of the provisions ; he had increased the 
 rations; he had repaired the equipment, being 
 well aware that a well-clothed soldier, wearing a 
 regular uniform, is better disposed to submit to 
 discipline and to like it. He visited the camp 
 daily, and displayed in his inspections and his 
 conversations with the officers as much solicitude 
 and variety of knowledge as their own. It is but 
 just to say that he was seconded with patriotic
 
 '676 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 devotion by all our officers, from the general-in- 
 cliief down to the youngest sub-lieutenant. He 
 did justice to the activity and ability of our 
 officers. All who were near him during these 
 days of mortal anxiety heard him speak over and 
 over again, with deep feelings of hope and 
 admiration, of the rapid transformation of our 
 army. This had been evident from the very first, 
 but it progressed with giant's strides so soon as 
 the recruits, brought back from Paris on the 19th 
 of March had been formed into companies and 
 battalions, with the help of the old regiments 
 which the enemy gave back to us or those 
 which were summoned from the departments. 
 *' Nothing," said M. Thiers, " is a stronger proof 
 of the amount of power and vitality in our 
 country." In spite of this, he was in no hurry 
 to commence the conflict; he dreaded the first 
 fire. He was now no longer in doubt respecting 
 the prowess of the army, but he was still a little 
 suspicious of its goodwill. All was decided by 
 that first shot, fired before the engagement, which 
 killed an officer, a doctor, a man who was beloved 
 and popular. From that moment, until the end 
 of the campaign, the difficulty was not to excite 
 the ardour of the troops, but to restrain it. This 
 is the history of civil wars ; brothers perhaps, 
 before the battle ; after the first blood, enemies.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 377 
 
 The Federal Generals, without heeding the orders 
 of the Executive Commission, and obeying the 
 manifestations of the faubourgs, had sent their 
 army forward, very early on the 3rd April. 
 Bergeret and Flourens commanded two columns, 
 which were to unite at Neuilly ; Duval and Eudes 
 took the road by Vaugirard. Each battalion 
 joined the general whom it preferred ; Flourens, 
 whose prestige was immense, and whose popularity 
 was of long standing, since it was six months 
 old, had the largest body of men with him. The 
 commandant of Mont Valérien estimated the 
 forces that marched under the command of 
 Flourens at 30,000 men. This mass of men 
 dragged with it three field-pieces, and advanced 
 without order, at random, full of foolish con- 
 fidence. The insurgents had counted on the 
 neutrality and complicity of Mont Valérien, and 
 were near the cross-roads of Bergères, when the 
 fortress opened fire with terrible effect. Half the 
 insurgents took to their heels and ran away, re- 
 entering Paris by the Neuilly road ; the remainder 
 endeavoured to make a stand, and pointed their 
 three guns against the fort; but the artillery 
 dismounted two of their cannon, and scattered 
 the men in all directions. A considerable number, 
 however, formed again on the near side of the 
 hill, and pushed on as far as Reuil, making a dash
 
 378 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 on Bougival, six kilometers from Versailles. There 
 tliey were surrounded by several divisions of the 
 army, aïid fled helter-skelter from the heavy fire 
 of the artillery. The cavalry division under 
 General Du Preuil charged the fugitives in the 
 open plain that extends from Nanterre to Reuil. 
 It was during this charge that Gustave Flourens 
 was met by some gendarmes in a house at Chatou, 
 on the banks of the Seine. He shot the first 
 who presented himself, and was cut down by a 
 captain. 
 
 The columns that had followed Eudes and 
 Duval by the Versailles gate reached Meudon, 
 but could not maintain themselves there. They 
 were dislodged from this position by the Re- 
 publican Guard and the La Mariouse Brigade, 
 and forced to retreat in disorder on Châtillon. 
 Another band of Federals had pushed as far as 
 the hamlet of Villacoublay; but they were put 
 to rout by General Derroja and the Pelle Division, 
 and thrown back on the Châtillon redoubt, where 
 they arrived towards night. The attempt of the 
 Federals on Versailles, in spite of the courage 
 displayed by a large number of them on the 
 battle-field, had failed miserably, as was to be 
 expected, owing to the presumption and utter 
 incapacity of their generals. The defeat was too 
 complete to be remediable. Nevertheless, the dis-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 379 
 
 orderly crowds liad very nearly reached Versailles, 
 since tliey had even for a moment occupied 
 Bougival, Villacoublay, and the heights of Meudon. 
 Had they been better led, they might have become 
 a serious danger for the Assembly. M. Thiers 
 gave orders to General Vinoy to take possession 
 of the plateau of Châtillon, and to occupy Genne- 
 villiers in force. The General became master of 
 the plateau on the 4th April, after an obstinate 
 fight, in which the unfortunate Duval, one of 
 the generals improvised by the Commune, was 
 killed. 
 
 It is related that the general-in-chief, on reach- 
 ing the battle-field, observed several prisoners, 
 among whom one was pointed out to him as Duval. 
 He called him out of the ranks, and addressed 
 him, " How would you treat me if I were in your 
 place ?" "I would have you shot." " Lead him 
 to the wall " Between them and the wall there 
 was a ditch ; Duval jumped nimbly across, turned 
 composedly round to the firing-party, and fell, 
 crying, " Long live the Commune ! " This was a 
 hero's death. The dialogue is apocryphal; but 
 Duval's courageous death is a well-established 
 fact. The war had lasted but for two days as 
 yet, but it already had every horror. 
 
 Gennevilliers cost more time and trouble to 
 take than the plateau of Châtillon. It had to be
 
 380 THE GOVEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 won by a series of very deadly little fights, wliicli 
 were going on from the 5th to the 10th April. 
 
 On the 10th April the operation was concluded 
 by the occupation of Asnieres, where the troops 
 of General Ladmirault established themselves. 
 The line of outposts of the army of Versailles 
 was then stretched all along the Seine from St. 
 Denis, where it bordered on the Prussian out- 
 posts, as far as Lower Meudon. The insurgents 
 could no longer attempt any movement on Ver- 
 sailles, and found themselves reduced to a de- 
 fensive war. 
 
 Two great facts were established by those few 
 days' fighting; that Paris, during the second 
 siege, as in the first, having no army to relieve it 
 from without, could defend itself but not attack ; 
 and that the Insurrection had formidable artillery, 
 skilful gunners, and intrepid soldiers. The war, 
 under these circumstances, must inevitably be a 
 long one. 
 
 It is true that the Commune was heaping 
 blunder on blunder The first, from a military 
 point of view, was its having kept the generals 
 of the Central Committee, and not having known 
 how to make them obey it on 3rd April. The 
 Executive Commission, warned by its first dis- 
 asters, hastily took some indispensable precau- 
 tions.
 
 THE COiMMUNE. 381 
 
 This Commission, when first formed, included 
 the citizens Eudes, Tridon, Vaillant, Lefrançais, 
 Duval, Felix Pyat, and Bergeret. Properly 
 speaking, it was to constitute the government. 
 Nine other commissions represented the ministries, 
 and each one had a delegate, whose office was 
 almost that of a minister. Ths seven members 
 who composed the first Executive Commission 
 had not been selected for their military knowledge. 
 Eudes, Duval, and Bergeret had the title of 
 general ; it had either been given them, or they 
 had assumed it. Eudes we know. Duval, first 
 a workman, and afterwards a petty shopkeeper, 
 had never served except in the National Guard. 
 He was scarcely thirty years old. He knew not 
 how to command, but he showed that he knew 
 how to die. Bergeret, who also was only thirty- 
 two years of age, had been, it is said, a stable- 
 boy. Yet he could not ride on horseback, and 
 marched to victory in a cab. He had, moreover, 
 been a printer's reader, which implies that he had 
 at least some amount of education. He was a 
 sergeant in the National Guard ; and had held the 
 same rank in the army. From a sergeant he 
 became a general, and even a minister, for he 
 was Minister of War for a short period, Their 
 four colleagues in the commission were all civi- 
 lians. Tridon, aged thirty, a man of considerable
 
 382 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 property, and some distinction in literature, was 
 a disciple of Blanqui ; Vaillant, aged thirty, was 
 a physician, an engineer, formerly a student at 
 the Universities of Heidelberg, Vienna, and 
 Tubingen, a very learned man, who had been 
 unable to adopt either a country, a career, or a 
 doctrine, unless perhaps it were the philosophy of 
 Hegel, and who seemed to have returned to France 
 only to become a member of the International 
 Association, the Central Committee, and the 
 Commune : it was he who said : " The sole debt 
 of society to priuces is death." Lefrançais 
 was an ex-tutor, and an ex-merchant, a sincere 
 and ardent Republican, concerned in all the 
 disturbances, one of the orators of the Paris 
 clubs ; finally, Felix Pyat was the celebrated 
 author of some declamatory dramas and some 
 violent pamphlets. When a representative of 
 the people in 1848, he had sat with the parly 
 of the " Montagne," and was one of those 
 condemned in June in the affair of the Arts-et- 
 Metiers, in which Ledru Rollin was implicated. 
 As a journalist during the siege, he attacked the 
 Government of Defence, and demanded the " tor- 
 rential " sortie. Elected a deputy in 1871, he 
 appeared at Bordeaux only to declare the Assem- 
 bly dissolved, by reason of its vote on the pre- 
 liminaries of peace. He was sixty-one years of
 
 THE COMMUNE. 383 
 
 age, six years older than Lefrançais, and the senior 
 member of the Executive Commission. Such was 
 the Government which wanted to impose itself 
 upon France, and had to sustain the war against 
 the army of Versailles. 
 
 It was assisted in the latter task by the Military 
 Commission, which, like the other, was somewhat 
 ill-composed. We find in it first of all the three 
 generals Eudes, Bergeret, and Duval, (Duval 
 had just died on the field of battle,) then Flourens, 
 who had also been killed in the first engagement. 
 The latter was the son of a famous scholar, a 
 scholar himself, for a time his father's substitute 
 at the College de France, fond of revolutions and 
 adventures, of which he went in search as far as 
 Crete, the idol of the Belleville people, a little mad, 
 very dangerous, but never wicked. It was he 
 who asked General Trochu to give up to him the 
 command of the army. " It is our only means of 
 winning,'* he said ; and he believed it. 
 
 The other members of the Military Commission 
 were Pindy, Chardon, and Ranvier ; Pindy was 
 a working carpenter, and an influential member 
 of the '* Internationale ;" Chardon had formerly 
 been a tinker, but had enlisted during the siege 
 in the cavalry of the republic ; Ranvier was first 
 a landscape painter without any talent, then a 
 clever decorator; a great club-man, mayor of
 
 384 THE GOVEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 Belleville for a short time during tlie siege, and 
 afterwards one of the colonels of the Com- 
 mune. 
 
 The Executive Commission had begun its series 
 of military operations by decreeing the abolition 
 of the conscription ; a pure matter of form for 
 people who had already suppressed the standing 
 army. This decree is dated the 29th March. On 
 1st April a new decree, more important in its 
 consequences, divided the command between the 
 three generals, who were to make such a fine 
 use of it on the morrow and the day follow- 
 ing. 
 
 "Paris, 1st April, 1871. 
 
 " The Commune of Paris decrees : 
 
 " 1st. The title and functions of Commander- 
 in-chief are abolished. 
 
 " 2nd. Citizen Brunei is removed from his post. 
 
 " Brd. Citizen Eudes is delegate for war, 
 Bergeret, delegate for the staff of the National 
 Guard, and Duval delegate for the military com- 
 mand of the ex-prefecture of police. 
 
 " The Executive Commission." 
 
 Brunei had written with his own hand, under- 
 neath an order from the Central Committee : — 
 *' This order, having been despatched without 
 the authority of the commander-in-chief, is 
 annulled." The Central Committee, whose
 
 THE COMMUNE. 385 
 
 influence was all-powerful, could no longer bear 
 either that title nor that man. The title was 
 abolished, they were satisfied with placing the 
 man on the unattached list. The Commune was 
 still in its honeymoon. It treated Eudes and 
 Bergeret, after their disobedience and the mis- 
 fortunes of the 2nd and 3rd April, with similar 
 gentleness. There was a sitting at the Hotel de 
 Yille on the 3rd, while the generals were marching 
 on Versailles in contempt of express and formal 
 orders. Delescluze had arrived in great excite- 
 ment ; he asked whether the generals were above 
 the Executive Commission and the Commune? 
 He quoted the opinion of Cluseret, who was saying 
 everywhere, " The movement that has been com- 
 menced is mere childishness," and called for 
 severe measures against the offenders. The ma- 
 jority assented to the charge of disobedience, but 
 thought it was well done, as it would put an end to 
 the Versailles insurrection in the course of the day. 
 They read with enthusiasm despatche slike the fol- 
 lowing ; which were sent to them by the generals. 
 
 *' 20 minutes past 11. 
 
 " Bergeret and Flourens have affected a junc- 
 tion ; they are marching on Versailles. Certain 
 success." 
 
 " 2 o'clock. 
 
 ** About four o'clock in the morning, the columns 
 
 VOL. I. C C
 
 386 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 commanded by General Bergeret and Colonel 
 Flonrens effected a junction at the cross-roads of 
 Courbevoie. No sooner had they arrived than a 
 heavy fire was opened upon them by Mont Yalérien. 
 " The troops thereupon sheltered themselves 
 behind walls and houses. Thus protected, the 
 commanders were able to organize a movement 
 which completely succeeded, and the two columns 
 were able to clear the lines and set out on their 
 march to "Versailles. 
 
 " General Bergeret, at the head of his troops, led 
 them on to the cry of ' Long live the Republic ! ' 
 and has had two horses killed. 
 
 " The fire of the Yersailles Army did not 
 cause us any appreciable loss." 
 
 These audacious bulletins were contradicted 
 one after another by fresh testimony, and before 
 the end of the sitting it was known that the rout 
 had been complete. Thereupon, Delescluze spoke 
 again with renewed vigour, and imperatively 
 demanded the dismissal of the generals, who had 
 disobeyed the Commune and led its army to defeat. 
 But the accused were popular among the National 
 Guard and in the assembly which Delescluze was 
 addressing. To condemn them, when their fault 
 had been that of yielding to the patriotic ardour of 
 the National Guard, was to condemn the National 
 Guard itself! After a stormy debate, in which
 
 THE COMMUNE. 387 
 
 Delescluze steadily "held Ms ground against the 
 majority, it was decided that the generals should 
 be replaced in the Executive Commission, and, 
 without their command being withdrawn from 
 them, that Cluseret should be put over them as 
 delegate for war. These changes were notified to 
 them in the following letter, which does not con- 
 tain one word of blame. At the time when it 
 was written, Duval's death was not yet known. 
 The successors of Eudes, Bergeret, and Duval 
 in the Executive Commission were Delescluze, 
 Cournet, and Yermorel. 
 
 " To Citizens Bergeret, Duval, and Eudes. 
 " Citizens, 
 
 ** We have the honour to inform you that in 
 order to allow you full liberty to conduct the 
 military operations entrusted to you, the Commune 
 has just appointed General Cluseret to the direc- 
 tion of the War department. 
 
 " The Assembly is convinced that, considering 
 the gravity of the circumstances in which we are 
 placed, it is important to establish unity in the 
 administrative service of the war. 
 
 " The Commune also considers it indispensable 
 provisionally to appoint others in your place 
 in the Executive Commission, in the labours 
 of which your military position no longer per- 
 mits you to take an active part.'* 
 
 c 2
 
 388 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 Delescluze, Vermorel, Felix Pjat, Cournet, 
 Taillant, Tridon : the Revolution of March 18th 
 was ending in a Government of journalists. 
 Lefrançais, who did not write for the papers, had 
 been a schoolmaster. They were all bourgeois. 
 Not one of them had any knowledge of military 
 affairs. 
 
 After the double defeat of the 2nd and 3rd April, 
 the first thought of the Commission and of the 
 Commune was of revenge. MM. Thiers, Jules 
 Favre, Ernest Picard, Dufaure, Jules Simon, 
 and Admiral Pothuau, were impeached ; and their 
 property was sequestrated. That decree was 
 but child's play; the following was quite dif- 
 ferent. 
 
 " The Commune of Paris, — 
 
 " Considering that the Government of Versailles 
 openly tramples underfoot the rights of humanity 
 as well as those of war ; that it is guilty of 
 horrors with which not even the invaders of 
 French soil are stained ; 
 
 " Considering that it is the imperative duty of 
 the representatives of the Commune of Paris 
 to defend the honour and the life of 2,000,000 of 
 inhabitants, who have placed the care of their 
 destinies in their bands ; and that it behoves 
 them to take at once all measures which are 
 necessitated by the situation ;
 
 THE COMMUNE. 389 
 
 " Considering that political men and city- 
 magistrates ought to reconcile the common weal 
 with respect for public liberties ; 
 " Decrees : 
 
 " Art. 1. All persons suspected of complicity 
 with the Versailles Government shall be immedi- 
 ately accused and incarcerated. 
 
 ''Art. 2. A jury of inquiry shall be appointed 
 within the twenty-four hours, to investigate the 
 crimes which shall be brought before it. 
 
 " Art. 3. The jury shall come to a decision 
 within forty-eight hours. 
 
 " Art. 4. All accused persons who shall be de- 
 tained by the jury of inquiry, shall be hostages 
 of the people of Paris. 
 
 " Art. 5. Every execution of a prisoner of war, 
 or of a partisan of the regular Government of the 
 Commune of Paris, shall at once be followed by the 
 execution of a triple number of hostages retained 
 by virtue of Article No. 4, and for whom lots shall 
 be drawn. 
 
 " Art. 6. Every prisoner of war shall be brought 
 before the jury of inquiry, who shall decide whether 
 he is to be set at hberty immediately, or detained 
 as an hostage." 
 
 Messrs. Lanjalley and Corriez, the authors of 
 "L'Histoire de la Eévolution du 18 Mars," 
 assert that this decree was the work of the
 
 390 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 moderate members of the Commune, particularly 
 of Delescluze, wlio was the wise and temperate one 
 among tliem. He proposed it and had it voted, 
 in order to prevent the Commune from immediately 
 shooting a certain number of hostages, chosen in 
 preference from among the clergy. They would 
 have us believe that this savage decree was 
 chiefly a clever device. It ordered assassination, 
 but it set down rules for it ; it permitted it to be 
 adjourned. It gave to suspected persons the 
 guarantee of a thorough investigation to be con- 
 cluded vdthin forty-eight hours, and the chance 
 of the lot to those who were condemned to 
 death. As a matter of fact, we shall see that 
 the profound calculations of the " moderate " 
 party were of no use. The carnage took place. 
 There was no drawing of lots. Rigault and Ferré 
 chose their victims arbitrarily. They killed in the 
 heap. 
 
 It has been remarked as a strange coincidence 
 that the same day (April 6th) on which the Com- 
 mune promulgated this decree, the people were 
 indulging themselves in burning the guillotine 
 at the foot of the statue of Voltaire. The office 
 of public executioner was abolished by decree. It 
 was not the first time that ferocity and philanthropy 
 had been seen in company. As under the Reign 
 of Terror, so under the Commune there were
 
 THE COMMUNE. 391 
 
 proscribcrs who were philanthropists at the same 
 time. The difference between the two periods 
 rests chiefly in the instrument. The Eeign of 
 Terror abused the guillotine ; the Commune burned 
 it ; but then, the Commune had its firing-party. 
 
 While it threatened the "Royalists" of Versailles 
 with terrible reprisals, the Commune issued a 
 decree by which it adopted the families of citizens 
 who had fallen or might fall in its defence. It 
 promised their widows a pension of 600 francs. 
 In the excess of its sensibility it extended its 
 solicitude to the families of " Yersaillais," who 
 were left in Paris unprovided for, while their 
 heads were fighting under the orders of Charette 
 and Cathelineau, declaring that " the Republic had 
 help for all widows, and kisses for all orphans.'' 
 
 Cluseret, whom the Commune had just called 
 to the management of the war, was an adventurer, 
 but he was not incapable like his brother- generals. 
 He was not a member of the Commune at the 
 time of his nomination as delegate for war, nor 
 until the supplementary elections; but it was 
 felt that improvised generals would no longer do. 
 Educated at St. Cyr, major in the Garde Mobile 
 in 1848, captain in the Chasseurs d'Afrique, 
 very brave, very clever in his profession, Cluseret 
 had an honourable career open to him ; but his 
 irregular conduct had obliged him to leave the
 
 392 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 French army. Since then he had lived at random. 
 At one time we find him steward of M. Carayon- 
 Latour's estates. He was in America at the be- 
 ginning of the war of ItaUan Unity; there he 
 recruited a legion of volunteers, and brought them 
 over to Garibaldi, who first made him a colonel, 
 then a general. Afterwards he returned to America 
 and served in the Army of the North during the 
 war of Secession, as colonel of the staff". Between 
 the wars he became a newspaper-correspondent 
 in New York, London, or Paris, never writing 
 except in the most advanced Liberal papers. He 
 soon entered the " Internationale." He joined 
 even the Fenians during one of his visits to 
 England. If it be true, as it is affirmed, that 
 he took part in the expedition against Chester 
 Castle, he was truly predestined to become a 
 general under the Commune. After 4th April he 
 accepted the post which was offered him, and per- 
 haps had made up his mind to become dictator. 
 At any rate, he intended to be absolute master 
 in his department, and he would have been so 
 indeed had a strong will joined to real capacity 
 been sufficient for the purpose. 
 
 Two days after his appointment he addressed 
 a Eeport to the Executive Commission, in which 
 the following passage occurs : — 
 
 *' The situation may be summed up thus : ex-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 393 
 
 cellent soldiers, officers, some very good and 
 others very bad. A great deal of dash (élan), 
 little enough stability. When the war companies 
 shall have been formed and freed from the 
 stationary element, we shall have first-class 
 troops, whose effective force will exceed 100,000. 
 I cannot impress too strongly on the Guards 
 that they should direct all their attention to the 
 choice of their commanders. 
 
 " At present the relative positions of the two 
 armies may be summed up thus : the Prussians of 
 Versailles occupy the positions of their congeners 
 from beyond the Rhine ; we occupy the trenches. 
 Les Moulineaux, and the railway station of 
 Clamart. 
 
 " In fact, our position is that of men who, strong 
 in the right, wait patiently to be attacked, 
 content with defending themselves. 
 
 " .... In conclusion, citizens, I think that if 
 your troops keep cool and collected, and husband 
 their ammunition, the enemy will get tired before 
 we shall.'* 
 
 The remark upon the officers, " some very 
 good, others very bad," the warning not to waste 
 ammunition, and above all, the declaration that it 
 was necessary to await patiently the enemy's 
 attack and to keep on the defensive, are the 
 words of a man who is not afraid to tell the
 
 394 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 truth. He did not stint it in reference to tlie 
 members of the Commune, whom he plainly called 
 idiots. 
 
 The Commune, until April 11th, had before it 
 the former army of Paris, re-enforced by the 
 regiments from the other side of the Loire, 
 and commanded by General Yinoy. It was only 
 after April 11th that the real army of Versailles, 
 so patiently organized by M. Thiers, and in which 
 several of the regiments restored by Germany 
 were comprised, took the field under the superior 
 command of Marshal MacMahon, while General 
 Vinoy, who had just been made Grand-Chancellor 
 of the Legion of Honour, took the command of 
 the reserve. 
 
 A more spirited and general efiFort was now to be 
 made; hitherto, the chiefs of the Versailles army 
 had been almost exclusively absorbed in the 
 work of organization. Cluseret had taken ad- 
 vantage of the few days during which Vinoy's 
 army was undergoing transformation, slackened 
 the attack, to organize the resistance. The 
 ramparts were repaired round about the Maillot 
 gate, the gate itself was put into good condition, 
 and the drawbridge restored. The gun-boats, 
 completely armed, were moored near the viaduct 
 on the road to Auteuil so as to protect the
 
 THE COMMUNE, 395 
 
 Southern forts. Iron-plated waggons, movable 
 fortresses, laden with cannon and mitrailleuses, 
 began to run on the railroads. 
 
 Cluseret had set four objects before him: to 
 augment the effective strength of the National 
 Guard; to separate the depot of the National 
 Guard from the marching battalions ; to complete 
 the armament and the administrative services, 
 and thoroughly to reorganize the command. 
 
 He began by declaring that the military service 
 should be optional for young men from seventeen 
 to nineteen years old, and obligatory for all un- 
 married men from nineteen to forty years old. 
 Two days after, on April 6th, he recalled this, and 
 made service obligatory for every man from nine- 
 teen to forty years old, whether married or single. 
 Paris trembled at this decision, which compelled 
 the enemies of the Commune to fight on its behalf. 
 He had also ruled that " whereas permanent 
 armies had been abolished," all soldiers present in 
 Paris were of right to be enrolled in the National 
 Guard. As might have been expected, there 
 was an immense number of defaulters. Cluseret 
 demanded denunciation, and, charging the Na- 
 tional Guard to hunt up the defaulters, said, 
 " Discharge among yourselves the duties of a 
 patriotic police." In consequence, he gave the
 
 396 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 National Guard the riglit of searching private 
 dwellings. Then in each arrondissement bureaux 
 were established, armed with wide and formidable 
 powers. Various penalties were enacted, more 
 and more severe, as recruiting became more 
 difficult; disarmament, the interdiction of civil 
 rights ; trial by Court-Martial. A municipal 
 order, after Cluseret's time, referring to defaulters, 
 said : " The penalty incurred is that of death." 
 It was proposed that the pupils should be taken 
 from the colleges, the seminarists and monks from 
 the convents. The head-master of Saint Louis, 
 Monsieur Joguet, did himself great honour by his 
 courageous resistance. The Dominicans of 
 Arcueil, who refused to bear arms and to work 
 at the barricades, but offered to carry litters and 
 serve with the ambulances, were cast into prison, 
 and finally massacred. 
 
 To escape from being enrolled, many persons 
 had recourse to flight, to disguise, to changes of 
 residence ; Cluseret decided that no one should 
 be allowed to leave Paris for the future without a 
 passport. Passports were fraudulently obtained, 
 he ruled that no man from nineteen to forty years 
 of age was to leave Paris at all, on any pretext. 
 The trains were carefully watched ; the arrests in 
 the railway stations at the departures increased in 
 in number. A few of the defaulters purchased
 
 THE COMMUNE. 397 
 
 permission to get up on the engines, dressed 
 like stokers, and begrimed with soot. Others 
 bethought themselves of following a hearse with 
 sorrowful looks as far as the exterior cemeteries ; 
 when they would throw a wi^eath of immortelles 
 on the coffin, and gaily take the road to Versailles. 
 Cluseret got wind of this manoeuvre and thence- 
 forth only women were permitted to attend 
 funerals. Some young men were let down from 
 the walls, and escaped from Paris as from a prison. 
 A story is told of a poet who hired a vehicle 
 from an old driver, changed clothes with him, 
 put him inside the carriage, and drove the man all 
 the way to Versailles. Changing one's abode was 
 a dull device, because one only quitted the 
 territory of one legion to enter that of another. 
 Some took to wearing fancy uniforms, or, more 
 simply, the regular uniform of the legions, but 
 with no number on the képi. Cluseret gave 
 orders that any National Guard who did not carry 
 the number of his battalion on his képi was to be 
 arrested, punished, and, if discovered to be a 
 defaulter, treated accordingly. He required — 
 but in this he failed — regularity and simplicity of 
 uniform ; the enthusiastic Federals thought of 
 nothing but gold lace, sashes, plumes, trailing 
 swords ; they dressed themselves in the costume 
 of the heroes of melodrama. Personally, he set a
 
 398 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 good example, never wearing during his term of 
 office any other than civil attire. He also tried 
 to suppress the private corps, which afforded 
 facilities for disguise. The public offices, and 
 some of the great firms had armed their employés, 
 thus forming independent corps ; he incor- 
 porated these with the regular battalions. He 
 was less fortunate with the innumerable bands 
 of volunteers, "Enfants Perdus de Paris," " Ber- 
 geret's scouts," " the avengers of Flourens," 
 "the Turcos of the Commune," &c., the 
 Parisians persisting to the last in their mania 
 for uniforms, their taste for independence, and 
 their attachment to the heroes of the boulevard 
 and the tavern. During the whole of the Commune 
 there were corps in course of formation under the 
 most various and sometimes the most extravagfant 
 denominations. In spite of all these obstacles, 
 Cluseret displayed so much activity, that at the 
 end of a few days he could place in line more than 
 60,000 determined men, without reckoning a con- 
 siderable reserve. 
 
 He took special care to separate the depot 
 of the National Guard from the marching batta- 
 lions ; but this task at length was too much for 
 him ; men were willing enough to remain in the 
 depot on condition that they might keep their 
 arms and ammunition. Cluseret, moreover, was
 
 THE COMMUNE. 399 
 
 hampered by an ill-arranged commissariat, wliich 
 was entrusted to inexperienced hands ; by the 
 perpetual intermeddling of the Commune and 
 the municipal authorities, by innumerable officers, 
 delegates, and commissaries, who often had no 
 other mandate than their own, by a directing 
 Committee of artillery, acting as an independent 
 authority in its own sphere, and, above all, 
 by the mischievous activity of the Central 
 Committee, which had to resort to ruses to 
 get its way in politics, but in military matters 
 openly meddled with everything, and claimed 
 the right to give its orders to the officers, and 
 even to the minister. After a long struggle, 
 Cluseret was obliged to strike a bargain, by 
 which the Central Committee had the whole 
 administration, on condition that he was no 
 lono-er interfered with in the details of his com- 
 mand. The Central Committee had its bureau 
 at the Ministry of War, and it appeared to be 
 satisfied with this arrangement, which gave it a 
 large share of importance; but nothing was 
 beneath its notice, and never would it consent to 
 be considered only an administrative machine. 
 
 The most important measure was the reor- 
 ganization of the staff of officers. Cluseret, who, 
 unlike most of his colleagues, had served in the 
 army, did not believe in the efficacy of electing
 
 400 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 them. He could not foro^et that the startino:- 
 point of the Insurrection of March 18th was pre- 
 cisely the assertion of the pretended right of the 
 National Guard to elect its own officers, all its 
 officers, including the General-in-chief. He had 
 said in his first proclamation on April 4th, " In 
 obeying your elected chiefs, you obey your own- 
 selves." He accepted therefore elected officers, 
 because he could not do otherwise; but he in- 
 tended accepting them as little as possible. On 
 the 6th April, the Journal Officiel published the 
 two following documents, the second of which is 
 especially very significant : — 
 
 " Whereas it is important that the marching 
 battalions should, have at their head officers who 
 shall efficiently command them ; 
 
 "And whereas in the recent events a certain 
 number of officers have been found wanting ; 
 
 " In virtue of the decree of April the 4th of the 
 Delegate for War ; 
 
 " The Central Committee resolves : 
 
 " That in every battalion a commander shall be 
 nominated by the four war companies, and he 
 sliall lead them into action. The depot com- 
 panies shall remain under his control, and during 
 his absence a captain unattached shall take his 
 place. 
 
 " All commanders shall have to present them-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 401 
 
 selves on Saturday the 8tli at latest, at tlie offices 
 of the Central Committee with their nomination 
 papers. 
 
 " On and after Sunday, April the 9th, the service 
 of the zones shall be done away with. 
 " By delegation : 
 " Arnold, Gaudier, Peudhomme, Boursier, 
 Geolaed. 
 
 " Seen and approved, 
 
 " The Delegate for War, Cluseeet." 
 
 Immediately after this edict, the same number 
 of the Journal Officiel published a paragraph in 
 these terms : — 
 
 "Whereas under existing circumstances, it is' 
 important, particularly in a military point of view, 
 that superior officers of recognized ability should 
 be at the head of the legions ; 
 
 " In the arrondissements unprovided with such, 
 the chief of the legion shall be provisionally ap- 
 pointed bv the Delegate for War with the sanction 
 of the Central Committee." 
 
 It was a rather timid beginning. Cluseret 
 feels surer on the 26th April. He publishes a 
 decisive edict : — 
 
 " War Office. 
 
 " The Minister &c. . . . Whereas the organiza- 
 tion of the battalions of the National Guard neces- 
 sitate a special aptitude in the staff of the legion, 
 
 VOL. I. D d
 
 402 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 " Appoints : 
 
 " The Staff of tlie legion, composed of — 
 
 " A Chief of the Staff, 
 
 " A Town Major, 
 
 *' Two Staff-captains, 
 
 " And four Adjutants, 
 
 " Is nominated by the Delegate for War 
 " The Delegate for War, 
 
 *' Cluseret." 
 
 On the 27th it is the artillery's turn. An order 
 of the day, signed by Cluseret , decides that " the 
 nomination of officers shall be submitted by the 
 Central Committee of Artillery to the approval 
 of the Delegate for War." And the delegate 
 adds by way of apology : " These measures are 
 taken in view of the special aptitude required for 
 the artillery service." In as far as the chiefs of 
 legions are concerned, he dared not go beyond his 
 edict of April 6th, which reserved to him the 
 right of directly appointing to the legions that had 
 no elected chief, but to those only. He even recog- 
 nizes, on the 26th, speaking through Colonel 
 Mayer, that " the chief of the legion, commanding 
 in chief the active service, must be elected by the 
 legion, in accordance with the principles of the 
 federation." But he makes this declaration re- 
 luctantly, and adds immediately after : " This 
 post requu'es sufficient military knowledge to
 
 THE COMMUNE. 403 
 
 examine and appreciate the value of the chiefs of 
 battahons, and an influence capable of getting the 
 orders of the Delegate for War executed." 
 
 The chiefs of the legions were important per- 
 sons, most of them members of the Commune, with 
 whom he would have to reckon. The difficulty 
 was still greater with the generals. The Com- 
 mune had at first abolished the title of 
 general, which did not prevent a great number of 
 officers, and even certain chiefs of legions, from 
 decorating themselves with it. Cluseret easily 
 got rid of LuUier. That "general" had been 
 arrested at the end of March in consequence of a 
 violent altercation with the Central Committee. 
 He had been kept in prison for two days ; then, 
 " his innocence having been recognized," he was 
 set at liberty and enrolled as a private in one of 
 the battalions of the faubourgs. The position of 
 a private in the Guard not seeming to him to be 
 suitable to his importance, one fine day he took 
 for himself the title of Commander of the Flotilla. 
 This command was not of long duration. Cluse- 
 ret had the following note inserted in the Journal 
 O^aeZ of April 18th:— 
 
 " It is absolutely false that Citizen Ch. Lullier 
 has received any command whatsoever in the 
 Flotilla. 
 
 *' The Commune cannot give any command to the 
 D d 2
 
 404 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 man by whose fault, as lie liimself acknowledges, 
 Mont Valerien is in the hands of the enemy." 
 
 Cluseret could not so easily get rid of Bergeret. 
 Bergeret, who was proud of his services on the 
 day of the 18th, proud of his title of General, 
 proud of that of member of the Commune, and 
 proud of the function of Delegate for War, which 
 he discharged for fourteen days, would not hear 
 of returning to the ranks, much less of serving 
 under Cluseret, of whom he was jealous. The 
 title of Commandant of the Place de Paris had 
 been given to him as a sort of compensation. He 
 would have liked to have directed the army his 
 own way in this capacity. Cluseret decided that 
 General Bergeret was to sign all orders relating 
 to the movements of troops, " but only after 
 having come to an understanding with the Dele- 
 gate for War." This edict is of April 5th. It 
 did not please Bergeret, who gained nothing by 
 complaining. On the next day, Cluseret obtained 
 from the Executive Commission, or rather, dic- 
 tated to it, a decree in these terms : — 
 
 " Whereas the grade of General ofiScer is incom- 
 patible with the democratic organization of the 
 National Guard, and can only be temporary : 
 
 " Art. 1. The grade of general officer is 
 abolished. 
 
 " Art. 2. Citizen Jaroslaus Dombrowski, com-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 405 
 
 manding tlie twelfth legion, is appointed com- 
 mandant of the Place de Paris, in the place of 
 Citizen Bergeret, called to other duties." 
 
 Citizen Bergeret was finally arrested. He re- 
 mained several days in prison, and was liberated 
 on April 22nd. 
 
 Nevertheless Cluseret had laid his hand on 
 several officers of a certain amount of merit, such 
 as Jaroslaus Dombrowski, and La Cecilia. Wrob- 
 leski, an ex-forester, lieutenant -colonel in the in- 
 surrection of 1863, then an itinerant musician 
 through France, commanded the second army for 
 a little while. Greatly inferior to Dombrowski in 
 every respect, he was hardly remarkable except 
 for his bravery. 
 
 Cluseret, in the midst of the inextricable diffi- 
 culties of the situation, had shown skill and 
 energy. The prolongation of the struggle was 
 due to him. He thought himself necessary, not 
 without reason. He made no secret of it, and 
 treated every one haughtily, even the members of 
 the Executive Commission. When that Commis- 
 sion disappeared on the 20th April, and was re- 
 placed, with the same title, by the Council of 
 Delegates, Cluseret, who meanwhile had already 
 been elected a member of the Commune at the 
 elections of the 16th April, by the 1st and 18th 
 arrondissements, was confirmed in his post, and
 
 406 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 thus became a member of tbe Government of 
 the Commune, by virtue of the new organization. 
 He was tlien at the apogee of his fortune. He 
 had obtained, to keep his post of Delegate for "War, 
 forty-two votes out of fifty-one. Notwithstand- 
 ing all this, he was arrested ten days later by order 
 of the same Executive Commission, of which he 
 formed a part. His crime was that he had not 
 made the fort of Issy, against which the Versailles 
 army had for a fortnight directed a formidable 
 artillery, impregnable. He had done all that lay in 
 his power to defend it. He met with the same 
 fate as Raoul du Bisson, Lullier, Brunei, and 
 Bergeret ; the fate of Rossel, his successor. He 
 was imprisoned like the others. A cry of treason 
 was raised against him. The following decree 
 appeared on the 1st May, at the head of the 
 Journal Officiel : — 
 
 *' The Executive Commission 
 *' Orders : 
 
 "That Citizen Rossel be appointed, provisionally, 
 to the duties of Delegate for War. 
 
 " Jules Andrteux, Paschal Grousset, Ed. 
 Vaillant, Cournet, Jourde." 
 
 The decree does not bear Delescluze's signature. 
 
 These two paragraphs followed : — 
 
 *' Citizen Cluseret is deprived of his function 
 of Delegate for War. His arrest, ordered by the
 
 THE COMMUNE. 407 
 
 Executive CommissioD, is approved of by the 
 Commune." — " A substitute has been found pro- 
 visionally for Citizen Cluseret ; the Commune 
 takes every precaution necessary for safety." 
 
 A note published the next day is rather more 
 explicit. 
 
 *' The carelessness and negligence of the Dele- 
 gate for War having almost forfeited our posses- 
 sion of Fort Issy, the Executive Commission have 
 thought it their duty to propose the arrest of 
 Citizen Cluseret to the Commune, which has been 
 decreed. 
 
 " The Commune, moreover, has taken every 
 necessary means to retain Fort Issy in its power." 
 
 Rosselj whose tragic end has inspired a univer- 
 sal interest, on account of his youth and his talent 
 as an officer in his branch of the service, was not 
 perhaps superior to Cluseret as a general. His 
 writings show that he might have been an author ; 
 he was, above all, a newspaper writer full of ani- 
 mation and originality. In the army he has left 
 the reputation of being an intelligent and skilful 
 officer. His private life is without a stain. 
 During Cluseret's delegation, he had only been 
 employed in a subordinate office. His principal 
 duty at that time was to preside at a* Court-martial. 
 He discharged it with a severity which more than 
 once amounted to cruelty. Commandant Giraud
 
 408 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 of the 74th battalion (Oharonne quarter), had 
 refused to inarch to the Maillot Gate, because his 
 men had not eaten any food for twenty hours ; 
 the Court-martial, to make an example, and to 
 make the Court formidable from the first, con- 
 demned him to death. One of the affairs that 
 made the most noise was that of the 105th bat- 
 talion, which had mutinied in the Place Vendôme, 
 and had refused to march against the enemy. It 
 "was a battalion which had formerly had Rossel's 
 father for a chief, and had not re-elected him. It 
 was thought that father and son both resented 
 this. " Whereas," the edict said, " the general 
 weakness of the elected chiefs, and the collective 
 cowardice of the soldiers of the 105th battalion 
 may be imputed to the whole of the battalion . . . 
 the 105th shall be disbanded, and its number 
 scratched off the rolls of the National Guard. 
 The officers, non-commissioned officers, and pri- 
 vates of this battalion, shall be incorporated as 
 ordinary privates in the other battalions, and 
 deprived of the right of voting in a civil or military 
 election, under penalty of nulhty of the election." 
 There were, moreover, among the punishments to 
 be inflicted, sentences of hard labour for life. The 
 Commune itself was stirred at the news. A Com- 
 mission of revision was appointed by it to examine 
 into the affair over aorain. The decree was
 
 THE COMMUNE. 409 
 
 reversed, and the accused were sent before tlie 
 Court-martial of tlie 1 6th. Legion. This decision, 
 arrived at on the 25th April, is preceded by a pre- 
 amble stigmatizing E,ossel : " The Commission of 
 Revision, considering . . . the Court was only com- 
 posed of three regularly-appointed members, to 
 whom were added two members arbitrarily chosen ; 
 the President of the said Court was chief of the 
 staff of the Delegate for War, who was plaintiff in 
 the case ; in addition, delicacy as well as justice 
 entailed on President Rossel, the duty of retiring, 
 on account of his being the son of the former 
 commandant of the 105th battalion . . . ." In 
 spite of this adventure. President Rossel, five days 
 after, became Delegate for War, owing to the 
 support of Delescluze. 
 
 Rossel only directed the war for ten days, from 
 April 30th to May 10 th. In this short space of 
 time he showed that he thoroughly understood 
 his profession, and that he was hard-working and 
 intrepid; he was neither less proud nor less 
 haughty than Cluseret. Like him, and even more 
 than he, he had to endure the cooperation of 
 men who were incapable, and the domination of 
 civilians. 
 
 His first act of authority was to modify the 
 commands. Between Dombrowski and Wrobleski, 
 the former commanding the right wing, the latter
 
 410 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the left wing of the army, lie formed a command 
 in the centre, which extended from the Seine to 
 the left bank of the Bièvre, and entrusted it to La 
 Cecilia. This was an excellent move, for it placed 
 La Cecilia, who was a talented officer, in a pro- 
 minent position. By the same decree he insti- 
 tuted two reserve brigades, under the orders of 
 General Bergeret and General Eudes, a deplorable 
 selection, which probably was forced upon him. 
 It may be said, in his defence, that he was con- 
 stantly hindered by the Commune and the Central 
 Committee, which never ceased striving among 
 themselves and against him. With the exception 
 of a few former officers, lieutenants or captains, 
 and the Poles, like the two Dombrowskis, 
 Wrobleski, Okolowitz, and others, the officers he 
 had around him were only civilians dressed in a 
 uniform with a profusion of gold lace. The 
 greater number of the chiefs of legions had never 
 served except in the National Guard. Among 
 them figured Boursier, a wine retailer ; Lisbonne, 
 first an actor, then a theatrical manager ; Ranvier, 
 a decorative artist ; Millière, a barrister ; and 
 Jaclard, teacher of mathematics. The history of 
 this Jaclard, if it were told, would alone show the 
 disorder that reigned in the services and in the 
 minds of the people. He had been the deputy of 
 Monsieur Clemenceau, and had signed the first
 
 THE COMMUNE. 411 
 
 declaration of the mayors. After tliat lie went 
 over to the insurgents, who made him chief of a 
 legion ; but he had a difficulty in being accepted 
 in this new form. He had been appointed by the 
 Central Committee, and his nomination had been 
 confirmed by the Commune and the Delegate for 
 AVar ; it was purely and simply imposing a com- 
 mander. His soldiers summoned him every day 
 to withdraw, in order to make room for an elected 
 chief. After a long resistance he ended by sub- 
 mitting, and resigned. 
 
 " I have ever repeated," said he, " that being 
 invested with a command by order of the Com- 
 mune and its Delegate for "War, I was ready to 
 withdraw upon an order to that effect, emanating 
 from the same source. 
 
 " Meanwhile I have remained at my post, as it 
 was my duty, and have maintained myself therein. 
 It would have been a crime of high treason to 
 have abandoned it upon the summons made to me 
 by any other person than the Delegate of the Com- 
 mune, and to have yielded to so mere an attempt 
 at aggression as that which was made during 
 the night of the 5th and 6th May, on the staff 
 of the 17th Legion." 
 
 When Eossel had examinations for the posts 
 of staff-officers held, he inserted in his decree 
 the following sentence, which well expresses how
 
 412 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 hard up he was : *' Whereas," he says, " military 
 knowledge and abilities are very seldom to be met 
 with in the National Guard, the actual examina- 
 tion will refer principally to intellectual capabilities 
 and the moral and political worth of the candi- 
 dates." This was to be satisfied with a little. 
 The chairman of the jury, to whom the task 
 of selecting the examining body was given, was 
 Arnold, a member of the Central Committee and 
 of the Commune ; a man of thirty years of 
 age, an architect, who had never served in the 
 army, and who, previous to September 4th, had 
 been sub-inspector of works in Paris. 
 
 If the officers were incapable auxiliaries for 
 E-ossel, the members of the Central Committee 
 were invading auxiliaries, who were tending to 
 nothing less than to become masters. 
 
 The Journal Officiel of May 5th contained the 
 following circular : — 
 
 " To the Generals, Colonels, and Chiefs of 
 Service connected with the Delegation for War, 
 
 " I have the honour to inform you that, in con- 
 cord with the Committee of Public Welfare (the 
 Committee of Public Safety had taken the place 
 of the Executive Commission), I have admitted in 
 principle and T am going immediately to put into 
 effect the complete co-operation of the Central 
 Committee of the Federation of the National
 
 THE COMMUNE. 413 
 
 Guard for all the services of administration, and 
 for the greater part of the services of organization 
 dependent on the Delegation for War. 
 
 " This separation of powers may bring about 
 changes among the officials, of which I wish to 
 give you notice. 
 
 " This agreement has been made for the follow- 
 ing reasons : — 
 
 " The impossibility of raising the staff of offi- 
 cials necessary to the service in time to be of 
 use ; 
 
 "The propriety of absolutely separating the 
 administrative department from the command ; 
 
 " The necessity of employing in the most effica- 
 cious manner, not only the good will, but the high 
 revolutionary authority of the Central Committee 
 of the Federation. 
 
 " Greeting and fraternity." 
 
 It is evident from this document that Rossel 
 puts himself forward as having made the separa- 
 tion between the services, while keeping a strong 
 hold over them both. It was not the case. The 
 separation had been forced upon him, and was 
 complete. The Journal Officiel of the 6th contains 
 the following decree of the Committee of Public 
 Welfare, which interdicts most positively all 
 interference of his in the administrative depart- 
 ment.
 
 414 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 " The Committee of Public Welfare decrees : 
 "Art. 1. The Delegation for War comprises 
 two divisions : 
 
 " Military direction ; 
 " Administration. 
 " Art. 2. Colonel Rossel is charged with the 
 initiative and the direction of military opera- 
 tions. 
 
 " Art. 3. The Central Committee of the National 
 Guard is charged with the various services of ad- 
 ministration of the war, under the immediate 
 control of the Communal Military Commission. 
 " The Committee of Public Safety, 
 
 " Aemand, Gérardin, Felix Pyat, Léo 
 Meillet, Ranvier." 
 This decree strangely limited Eossel's power. 
 He was henceforth bnt half a minister. A few 
 days after came a fresh degradation. 
 
 " Citizen Moreau, a member of the Central 
 Committee, is appointed civil commissary of the 
 Commune to the Delegate for War." Nor did 
 the Commune stop there; it actually placed 
 commissaries with all the generals, in order to 
 act more and more in conformity with Revolu- 
 tionary traditions and the practices of the 
 Convention. Dereure, the shoemaker, was ap- 
 pointed to control the operations of Dombrowski. 
 The Central Committee thus set up in possession
 
 THE COMMUNE. 415 
 
 again, began to make direct appointments, 
 without caring any more either for the delegate 
 or for the Communal Military Commission. The 
 Commune, feeling that if the Central Committee 
 were to become all-powerful over the National 
 Guard, its own power would be gone, and perhaps, 
 afraid of a plot in which Rossel and Moreau 
 should be the principals, published the following 
 decree : the preamble shows that it knew it had 
 to deal with a strong party : — 
 " The Commune of Paris, 
 
 " Whereas the co-operation of the Central 
 Committee of the National Guard in the adminis- 
 tration of the war, as established by the Committee 
 of Public Welfare, is a necessary measure, useful to 
 the common cause ; 
 
 " Whereas, moreover, it is important that its 
 functions be clearly defined, and, for this purpose 
 it is fitting that the War Commission be called to 
 define its functions, in concert with the Delegate 
 for War ; 
 
 " Decrees : 
 
 "Article 1. The War Commission, together 
 with the Delegate for War, shall lay down rules 
 for the relations of the Central Committee of the 
 National Guard with the administration of the 
 war." 
 
 In virtue of this decree, the War Commission
 
 416 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 decided immediately that the Central Committee 
 was no longer to appoint to any post; it was 
 only left the right of proposing candidates to the 
 War Commission. Moreover, the Central Com- 
 mittee was bound to give an account each day 
 of the management of each branch of the 
 service. 
 
 But finally, who retained the authority ? Was 
 it the Central Committee, the Commune, or Rossel? 
 By whom were the appointments made ? Every- 
 body went his own way. Rossel being the most 
 firm was the best obeyed, and even he was no 
 longer able to rely on obedience, as may be seen 
 by the numerous instances in which he dismissed 
 his officers for having addressed themselves 
 directly to the Central Committee, or to the Com- 
 mission. The National Guard was composed of 
 legions, commanded, some by the elected colonels, 
 others by officers bestowed upon them by the 
 Central Committee, a perfectly absurd organiza- 
 tion. Eossel took a decided step. In each 
 legion there were marching battalions and 
 stationary battalions ; he took marching battalions, 
 formed them into regiments, and appointed their 
 commanders. This radical measure did not pass 
 without raising a storm. He explained that he 
 preserved the legion as an administrative centre, 
 but that he wished to create a radical unity. This
 
 THE COMMUNE. 417 
 
 answer was indisputable. We may judge of tlie 
 difference there was between the legions by two 
 figures. Several legions did not attain the figure 
 of 2000 men, the Popencoirt legion (11th) num- 
 bered 22,000. Rossel endeavoured to repair 
 this inequality, by the creation of the regiments, 
 and to diminish the authority of the elected com- 
 manders, being unable to destroy it. He wanted 
 to limit the commanders to holding parades and 
 making entries; but his reforms did not stop 
 here. He was pitiless towards defaulters, and 
 this was both iniquitous and imprudent. It was 
 Rossel who devised the system of cards of iden- 
 tity. Every citizen was bound to exhibit his card 
 of identity on being required to do so by a 
 magistrate or an ofiScer of the National Guard. 
 These cards were distributed at a bureau in each 
 quarter. Citizens who could not prove by the 
 evidence of their cards that they belonged to the 
 regular service of the National Guard, were im- 
 mediately incorporated into the battalion of their 
 quarter. The Commune hesitated at first to vote 
 such a decree ; and contented itself with prescrib- 
 ing measures for the discovery and punishment of 
 defaulters. In the end the card of identity was 
 exacted. The honour of having invented this 
 novel kind of persecution belongs incontestably 
 to Rossel. To show that the most ardent revo- 
 VOL. I. E e
 
 418 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 lutionists had no riglifc to accuse him of weakness 
 or of " moderatism," it will suffice to quote the 
 following order of the day issued by him : — 
 
 " It is forbidden to cease firing during an 
 engagement, even should the enemy raise their 
 muskets or hoist a flag of truce. 
 
 " It is forbidden, under pain of death, to go on 
 firing after the order to cease firing has been 
 given, or to continue to advance after the order 
 to halt has been given. Fugitives, and those who 
 lag behind their comrades, will be sabred by the 
 cavalry ; if they are numerous, they will be fired 
 upon by the artillery. The military chiefs have 
 full authority to force other officers and soldiers 
 under their command to march and obey during 
 an engagement." 
 
 These declarations were by no means to be re- 
 garded as empty threats. The President of the 
 Court-martial had proved that it was not in words 
 only he was pitiless. 
 
 At the sitting of the 28th April, two days before 
 the fall of Cluseret, Billioray said, " We do not 
 want a dictatorship at the War Office. In that 
 portion of the public service the Commune is 
 mocked ; its decisions are utterly disregarded. 
 The war administration is the organization of 
 disorganization." The phrase was harsh, but it 
 was just; and it was as just under the rule of
 
 THE COMMUNE. 419 
 
 Rossel as under that of Cluseret. The disorder 
 was not to be imputed to only one or the 
 other. It was everywhere ; it grew out of the 
 situation itself. The Commune had found no 
 precision, no fixity in anything. At the end of 
 six weeks it did not know why it was, nor what 
 it was. Eossel was superintended by Moreau, the 
 civil delegate to the War Office, by the Com- 
 munal Military Commission, by the Commune 
 itself, and by the Central Committee of the Federa- 
 tion. Under his orders were generals and colonels, 
 members of the Commune. Eudes even was a 
 member of the Committee of Public Welfare in 
 the organization of the 8th May. The Communal 
 Commission, the Committee of the Federation, the 
 Central Committee of Artillery, the Majors, the 
 Municipalities, the Committees and Sub-committees 
 of arrondissements, disputed his authority step by 
 step. The Government changed every day, and 
 each government was more incapable, more in- 
 terfering, and more odious than the preceding. 
 The list of the commandants of Fort Issy will 
 suffice to explain the military situation of the 
 Commune. The fort was commanded first by 
 Mégy, then by Larroque, Colonel of the staff. At 
 the beginning of May the Commune sent Dom- 
 browski thither ; the Central Committee, on its 
 side, sent Wrobleski. Rossel, who would not 
 
 E e 2
 
 420 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 submit to these encroachments, sent each of them 
 off to his head-quarters, and placed Eudes in 
 command of the fortress. This was an unwise 
 proceeding, for Eudes no sooner understood the 
 nature of his charge than he returned to Paris, 
 leaving it to Collet, the chief of his staff. Rossel 
 went several times in person to Issy. He even 
 intended for a while to resume the offensive there, 
 for which he required 12,000 men, who had been 
 promised him. He waited for them in vain, 
 and at length, on his pressing demand, 7000 
 were sent. This was not at all the same tliinsf. 
 Everything was going wrong, which was just 
 what Rossel ought to have expected. It is 
 strange that with his military knowledge he 
 should have taken a hand in a game of this kind. 
 Had he reckoned upon a general rising of the 
 great towns ? or upon the defection of the army ? 
 He had been at all events persuaded that his 
 authority would not be impeded, or that his own 
 energy would overcome resistance. He had 
 always despised the Commune. His plan was to 
 annul it, by means of the Central Committee, 
 with the co-operation of two or three men of 
 action, who failed him in the end. He isolated 
 himself more and more during the last days, like 
 a man whose part is played out, and who desires 
 to fall with dignity. He did not even send in 
 any more reports. At the sitting of the 8th May,
 
 THE COMMUNE. 421 
 
 Miot complains that tlie Commune has not received 
 an J mihtary report for three days. Citizen 
 Bereure : "We have not had a report for eight 
 days." The Citizen President (that day General 
 Eudes) : " Do you wish to send two members to 
 the Committee of Public Welfare ? " Citizen 
 Bégere : " What for ? The Committee is like our- 
 selves : it has received nothing." 
 
 The war news which Rossel could have given 
 was not of a nature to bring much comfort to the 
 Commune. The " Versaillais " were advancing 
 each day ; to Neuilly, to Auteuil : they rained 
 fire on the ramparts. Fort Issy, which had been 
 as good as lost to the insurrection since the end 
 of April, and whose desperate position had occa- 
 sioned the fall of Cluseret, prolonged its resistance 
 for a few days, but no men of sense could any 
 longer deceive themselves. Both sides were losing 
 their men ; it would have been better to make an 
 end of it. 
 
 ' On the day on which Rossel took possession of 
 the War Office, the officer commanding in the 
 trenches addressed the following summons to 
 the Commandant of Fort Issy : — 
 
 " In the name and by order of the Marshal, 
 Commander-in-chief of the Army, we, Staff- 
 Colonel Leperche, summon the Commandant of the 
 insurgents, assembled at present in Fort Issy, to 
 surrender himself and all the persons in the fort.
 
 422 TEE GOVERNMENT OF M.. THIERS. 
 
 " A delay of one quarter of an hour is granted 
 for replying to tliis summons. 
 
 " If the Commandant of the insurgent forces 
 declares, in writing, in his own name and in the 
 name of the entire garrison of Fort Issy, that he 
 surrenders to the present summons, without any 
 other condition than that of obtaining safety to 
 life, and liberty, less the authorization to reside 
 in Paris, that favour shall be granted. 
 
 " Unless he replies within above indicated time, 
 all the garrison will be shot. 
 
 " Trenches before Fort Issy, April 30, 1871.'* 
 
 Colonel Rossel replied on the following day : — 
 " Mï DEAR Comrade, 
 
 " The next time that you permit yourseif 
 to send us so insolent a summons as your auto- 
 graph letter of yesterday, I shall have your 
 envoy shot, in conformity with the usages of war. 
 " y OUI' devoted comrade, 
 
 *' RoSSEL, 
 
 ** Delegate of the Commune of Paris." 
 The Commune, delighted with this bit of brag, 
 applauded Rossel' s answer, and paid hardly any 
 attention to the summons of Colonel Leperche, 
 which clearly announced defeat. Some days were 
 still required for the taking of the fort. The 
 Château was taken by Faron's division on the 
 night of the 1st May. The Clamart railway 
 station was taken on the 5th. On the 9th the
 
 THE COMMUNE. 423 
 
 38th regiment of the line entered the fort, which 
 was evacuated, but still contained all its material. 
 
 On the 9th May, at noon, Rossel sent the 
 following despatch : — 
 
 *' The tricolour flag is floating on Fort Issy, 
 which was abandoned last night by the gar- 
 rison." 
 
 He had the despatch immediately posted every- 
 where. With what object ? More could not have 
 been done had it been a victory. 
 
 On that day Delescluze interrupted the sitting 
 of the Commune with these words : " You are 
 disputing while it has just been placarded that 
 the tricolour flag is floating from Fort Issy. 
 Citizens, we must consult without delay. I have 
 seen Rossel this morning; he has sent in his 
 resignation, and is quite resolved not to recall 
 it. 
 
 " All his actions are hampered by the Central 
 Committee. He is worn out. I have witnessed 
 his despair." 
 
 Rossel wrote the following letter, which deserves 
 to be preserved : — 
 
 "Paris, 9th May, 1871. 
 " Citizen Mem bee of the Commune, 
 
 " Charged by you by a provisional title 
 with the War delegation, I feel myself unable any 
 longer to bear the responsibility of a command 
 which everybody disowns and nobody obeys.
 
 424 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THTEES. 
 
 " Wlien it was necessary to organize the artil- 
 lery, the Central Committee of Artillery delibe- 
 rated, and prescribed nothing. After two months 
 of revolution, the entire service of our guns de- 
 pends upon an insufficient number of volunteers. 
 
 " When I took office, desiring to advance the 
 concentration of arms, the requisition of horses, 
 and the pursuit of defaulters, I requested the 
 Commune to increase the municipal officers in 
 the arrondissements. 
 
 *' The Commune deliberated, and came to no 
 resolution. 
 
 " Afterwards, the Central Committee of the 
 Federation came to offer me, almost imperiously, 
 its co-operation in the administration of the war. 
 Consulted by the Committee of Public Welfare, I 
 accepted this co-operation in the most distinct 
 manner, and I imparted all the information which 
 I possessed on the subject of organization to the 
 members of that Committee. From that time to 
 the present the Central Committee has been de- 
 liberating, and has not yet acted. During this 
 period the enemy directed against Fort Issy a 
 number of adventurous attacks, so imprudent that 
 if I had had the smallest disposable military force, 
 I could have punished them. 
 
 " The garrison, ill-commanded, got frightened, 
 and the officers deliberated, drove out of the fort
 
 THE COMMUNE. 425 
 
 Captain Dumont, an energetic man who came to 
 command tbem, and, still deliberating, evacuated 
 their fort, after having talked nonsense about 
 blowing it up, which was more impossible for 
 them than to defend it. 
 
 " This was not enough. Yesterday, while each 
 man was either working or under fire, the majors 
 were deliberating upon the substitution of a new 
 system of organization for that which I had 
 adopted, in order to make up for the shortcomings 
 of their authority, always fickle and ill-obeyed. 
 Their secret council produced a project at the 
 moment when we wanted men, and a declaration 
 of principles when we wanted actions. 
 
 " My indignation recalled them to other ideas, 
 and they promised me for to-day, as the extreme 
 limit of their efforts, an organized force of 12,000 
 men, with whom I undertook to march on the 
 enemy. The men were to be mustered at half- 
 past eleven. It is one o'clock and they are not 
 ready. Instead of 12,000 there are about 7000. 
 This is not at all the same thing. 
 
 " Thus, the uselessness of the Artillery Com- 
 mittee prevented the organization of the Artillery; 
 the uncertainties of the Central Committee of the 
 Federation stopped the administration ; the trifling 
 fidgetiness of the majors paralyzed the mobilisa- 
 tion of the troops.
 
 426 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 '* I am not a man to recoil from repression, and 
 yesterday, while tlie majors were deliberating, a 
 firing-party was waiting for them in the court. 
 But I do not choose to take the initiative, all 
 alone, of serious measures ; to endorse, all alone, 
 the executions which would be necessary, if, out 
 of this chaos, organization, victory, and obedience, 
 are to be extracted. Again, if I were protected 
 by the publicity of my actions, and of my power- 
 lessness, I might continue to fill my present post. 
 But the Commune has not courage enough to face 
 publicity. Twice already I have given you the 
 necessary information, and twice, in spite of me, 
 you have persisted in having the Committee a 
 secret one. 
 
 " My predecessor committed the fault of con- 
 tending: with this absurd situation. 
 
 *' Enlightened by his example, knowing that the 
 strength of a revolutionist consists only in the 
 precision of his position, I have to choose between 
 two courses of action; I must either crush the 
 obstacle which hampers my action, or withdraw 
 myself. I will not crush the obstacle, for the 
 obstacle is you and your weakness ; I will make 
 no attempt against the public sovereignty. 
 
 " I withdraw myself, and I have the honour to 
 demand a cell at Mazas. 
 
 " EOSSEL."
 
 THE COMMUNE. 427 
 
 This long letter is a newspaper article, well 
 written and a little declamatory. It contains one 
 atrocious sentence : " A firing-party was waiting 
 in the courtyard." To have done this was the 
 act of a criminal ; to boast of it, was not that of 
 a politic man. He may have done it. It was he 
 who had the defaulters of the 19th arrondisse- 
 ment placed in the ditches of Fort Yanvres while 
 the bombardment à outrance was going on. 
 
 He desired to be, and was, arrested. 
 
 The Commune, formed into a secret com- 
 mittee, renewed its Committee of Public Welfare, 
 in whose hands it placed itself to a certain extent, 
 by deciding that it would meet only three times a 
 week, and replaced Eossel by a civil delegate. 
 This was Delescluze. 
 
 The Commune thus assumed the direction of 
 the war. This was the last of the blunders which 
 it had been making incessantly from the day of 
 its installation. 
 
 What was this Commune, which, at the supreme 
 hour, undertook the responsibility of the military 
 operations in addition to so many others ? What 
 were its raison-d'' être and its object ? 
 
 Paris had its grievances, well-founded or not, 
 against the Government and the Assembly ; this 
 was, perhaps, enough to explain a rising ; but to 
 found a government, an idea is needed. We shall
 
 428 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 searcli in vain for tliat of tlie Commune, in its 
 declarations and its history. 
 
 We see wliat it was tliat tlie Commune wanted 
 to overturn ; it was the Government and existing 
 social order. We do not see what the Commune 
 wanted to found. 
 
 When it was the interest of its members to 
 make it out of small importance, they declared 
 that the Commune was only a municipal assembly, 
 that it demanded nothing but the franchises of 
 Paris ; and intended only to overthrow and re- 
 place tbe Government. In reality it made itself a 
 government, complete, having its ministers, its 
 finances, its army, and its flag. These are tbe 
 terms in which it proscribed the national standard, 
 which it had replaced by the red flag : — 
 
 " The citizens will cause the tricolour flag, which, 
 after having been that of the Revolution, has 
 become the tainted banner of the assassins of Ver- 
 sailles, to disappear with the least possible delay." 
 Not only did the Commune want to be a state 
 in a state ; it wanted to be the capital, or, to 
 speak more precisely, the sovereign of a federation 
 of Communes. This is proved by the address of 
 Paschal Grousset " to the great towns ; " by the 
 despatch of delegates, and even generals, to the 
 provinces ; by the proclamation of the Commune 
 at Lyons, Marseilles, Creuzot, Toulouse. A federa-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 429 
 
 tion of Communes ! The United States and 
 Switzerland are federations of states. The Com- 
 mune did not know the meaning of a commune, 
 or the meaning of a federation ; it did not know 
 in what national unity consists, nor what is the 
 use of it. It made a revolution with one word 
 and one hatred. 
 
 Hatred of the bourgeoisie. " The Eevolution of 
 the 18th March was made exclusively by the 
 workmen," said Frankel. The Commune said the 
 same, frankly, loudly, from the first day. " I am 
 the advent of the proletariat." The advent to 
 what ? To equality ? No ; equality already ex- 
 isted. To domination ? Undoubtedly, that is 
 what calls itself equality, in socialistic speech. 
 " The bourgeoisie have had their day ; we replace 
 them, as, in 1789, they replaced the nobility." 
 Nobility is a privilege; it is overthrown and 
 replaced. But what is the bourgeoisie ? A bour- 
 geois is simply a citizen who is educated, and who 
 possesses. The bourgeoisie is not overthrown, 
 one arrives at it. Or if, on the contrary, it be 
 overthrown, the two parents of civilization, pro- 
 perty, and the domestic hearth, are suppressed 
 with it. The Commune would not have failed to 
 do this ; in all its actions, disdain of the family 
 is evident. It had neither system nor principle ; 
 this it is which made it destroy without founding,
 
 430 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 and attack, without strengtli or skill, incoherently 
 and contradictorily. The few acts which it passed 
 exhibit at once the existence of resentment and 
 the absence of doctrine. 
 
 The Commercial Bills and House-rents Acts, 
 which were merely occasional, if one will, never- 
 theless exhibit this double character. It is cer- 
 tainly socialism, and socialism in the condition of 
 an expedient. 
 
 The Commercial Bills Act gives the debtors an 
 extension of three years, from 15th July, 1871, 
 and without interest during those three years. 
 The House-rents Act makes a present of three terms 
 to the tenants, even to those occupying furnished 
 houses ; it gives them the exclusive right to 
 extend their leases for a period of six months, 
 and prorogues the notices given by proprietors 
 for three months. 
 
 The Commune was not satisfied with restoring 
 gratuitously all the objects pledged at the Mont 
 de Piété, for a sum not exceeding twenty francs 
 (these amounted to more than 800,000 articles), 
 it announced its intention of liquidating the Mont 
 de Piété, and replacing it by a communal institu- 
 tion of " credit to labour," of which no one in the 
 Assembly formed a precise idea. This is plain on 
 reading the discussion. 
 
 The Commune intervened in private arrange-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 431 
 
 ments. Proprietors could not give their tenants 
 notice to leave while the siege lasted. It disposed 
 of private interests ; the workshops purchased by 
 the masters were to be open, and to be managed 
 by the former workmen formed into a syndicate. 
 It laid down rules for the employment of time, 
 night work was forbidden to bakers ; and for the 
 relations between workmen and masters, masters 
 could not impose fines, nor keep back wages. On 
 every occasion it was hostile to the masters ; in 
 contracts with the State or the Commune, co- 
 operative associations would have the preference. 
 It deprived all ministerial officials who had not 
 assented to the Revolution of the 18tli March of 
 their posts, without compensation, and afterwards 
 transformed the clerks and small employés into 
 functionaries appointed by the Government. 
 
 A few days before the general rout, Grelier 
 published in the Officiel an intimation in three 
 lines that the title-deeds of the Versaillais should 
 be burned. 
 
 " The inhabitants of Paris are required to re- 
 turn to their domiciles within forty-eight hours ; 
 after which delay their title-deeds ' will be 
 burned. 
 
 " For the Central Committee, 
 
 " Geêliee." 
 * " Titres de rente grand livre."
 
 432 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 What imprudence ! Jourde declared lie would 
 retire, if the action of Grelier were not repudiated 
 and punished. Several members shared his in- 
 dignation. One only betrayed the secret of this 
 farce. *' No doubt it ought to be done ; but it is 
 imprudent to say so at present." After all this, 
 Grelier was not the first comer. Before the 26th 
 March he had been the " Delegate of the Interior " 
 of the Central Committee. It was well known 
 in the Commune, that Grelier had acted by order 
 of the Committee ; though this was not openly 
 said, the Committee being the real master. A 
 member ventured to say, " Grelier must be pun- 
 ished, and his accomplices.''^ The phrase seemed 
 imprudent, and was hushed up. 
 
 There were also decisions, and especially pro- 
 posals, which touched family institutions. 
 
 It was resolved that concubines should be 
 placed on the same footing as legitimate wives, 
 with regard to the indemnity allotted to the wives 
 of National Guards. 
 
 Citizen Vesinier made the following proposal at 
 the sitting of the 17tli May; there was not time 
 to discuss it : — 
 
 "The Act of 8th May, 1861, is recalled; the 
 Decree of 21st March, 1803, promulgated on the 
 31st of the same month, is put in force again." 
 (This was the re-establishment of divorce.)
 
 THE COMMUNE. 433 
 
 " All children, called natural, non-recognized, 
 are recognized by the Commune, and legitimized. 
 
 "All male citizens eighteen years of age, and 
 all female citizens sixteen years of age, who shall 
 declare before the municipal magistrate that they 
 desire to be united in the bonds of marriage, shall 
 be so united, provided only that they shall also 
 declare that they are not already married, nor 
 related within the degrees which are in the eyes 
 of the law an impediment to marriage. 
 
 " They are dispensed from all other legal for- 
 malities. 
 
 " Their children, if they have any, shall, on 
 their simple declaration, be recognized as legiti- 
 mate." 
 
 If this proposal had been put under dis- 
 cussion, no one can tell what might have hap- 
 pened. The skill of the great politicians among 
 them consisted in putting aside discussions of this 
 kind, in reserving them for that happy time when 
 the Commune of Paris should dictate its laws to 
 France in peace. 
 
 The socialism of the Commune was not much 
 wiser than its politics, and its politics were about 
 on a par with its military tactics. The name of 
 the Commune had been taken out of the Revolu- 
 tion, as the red flag had been taken, and with this 
 name, under that banner, it dared fortune. 
 
 VOL. I. F f
 
 434 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 The tragedy, wliicli cost so mucli blood, and 
 narrowly escaped destroying France, began, like a 
 melodrama, with crackers and masquerades. A 
 soldier is not made with a plume, nor a legislator 
 with a sash. Never was there beheld such con- 
 fusion, ignorance, uncertainty, presumption, and 
 contradiction. 
 
 During the siege, after the capitulation, on the 
 morrow of the 18th March, since the incoming of 
 the Commune, the outcry against the Prussians 
 had been incessant. But one Frankel, a non- 
 nationahzed Prussian, was a member of the 
 Commune, and was even made one of its ministers. 
 The Commune exempted Alsace-Lorrainers, and 
 them only, from military service; it made advances 
 to the Prussian generals, and its first utterance 
 was a declaration that it would scrupulously 
 observe the treaty with Prussia. Paschal Grous- 
 set, " Delegate to Exterior Relations," addressed 
 a letter (which remained unanswered) to the 
 Commandant-in-chief of the 3rd corps of the 
 German arra}^ in the following terms : — 
 *' General, 
 
 " The undersigned Member of the Commune 
 of Paris, Delegate to External Relations, has the 
 honour to submit tlie following observations to 
 you. 
 
 " The city of Paris, bound by the same title as
 
 THE COMMUNE. 435 
 
 all the parts of the French Republic, by the pre- 
 liminaries of peace signed at Versailles, is in 
 duty bound to know how that treaty is carried out. 
 
 "It is of the highest importance to Paris to 
 know in particular whether the Government of 
 Versailles has lodged in the hands of the German 
 plenipotentiary a first instalment of 500,000,000 
 francs or any other sum, on account of the 
 stipulated indemnity, and whether, as a result of 
 this payment, the chiefs of the German army have 
 fixed the date for the evacuation by their troops of 
 the forts on the right bank, which forms an inse- 
 parable and integral part of the territory of Paris. 
 
 " The undersigned requests you. General, to 
 communicate to him the information you possess 
 on this subject." 
 
 It had been asserted during the siege of the city 
 by the Prussians that a " torrential " sortie of the 
 entire people would suffice to set Paris free. 
 This was an infallible method, and it was resorted 
 to against the French army on the memorable 
 3rd April. From the following day Cluseret 
 stated that the war should henceforth be purely 
 defensive ; the people submitted, and preferred to 
 remain merely besieged until the end. 
 
 The first " revendication " had been for the 
 Communal franchise, and for the right attributed 
 to itself by the National Guard of electing its own 
 
 F f 2
 
 436 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 chiefs. No more imposed mayors ! no more non- 
 elected oflScers ! The Commune was hardly in- 
 stalled before it imposed generals upon the 
 National Guard, and municipal officers upon 
 the arrondissements. 
 
 It may safely be said that the Commune imposed 
 itself upon Paris on the 28th of March. Not- 
 withstanding the co-operation of the former 
 mayors, the abstentions were 64 in 100, and 
 on the 16th April, when the Commune had 
 shown what it was made of, and found itself 
 reduced to itself, the abstentions were 80 in 100. 
 (Voters, 53,679; abstainers, 205,173.) It was 
 decided, too late, that an eighth of the electors 
 would no longer be necessary to render an election 
 vahd. The election was made by 1000 votes. 
 " To confirm these elections," said Arthur 
 Arnould, " is the dirtiest trick ever played on 
 universal suffrage by a government. You are 
 becoming ridiculous, odious." 
 
 One of the former grievances was the sup- 
 pression of six newspapers by General Vinoy. 
 The Central Committee allowed two to be sup- 
 pressed on 18th March. The Commune suppressed 
 four on 18th April, and on the 18th May, ten. If 
 Vermorel is to be believed, Felix Pyat proposed 
 these measures, which he afterwards censured in 
 his own paper, a detail of but slight interest. The
 
 THE COMMUNE. 437 
 
 Kberty of the press, however, found defenders, 
 even amongst the ranks of the insurgents. 
 Whole battalions wrote to the Commune to pro- 
 test. 
 
 Another grievance anterior to the 18th March 
 was the arrest of Piazza and Brunei, and the 
 condemnation of Blanqui and Flourens. The 
 Insurrection, faithful to its former demands, 
 abolished Courts Martial. " They owed that to 
 their brothers of the army." They burned the 
 guillotine in front of the statue of Voltaire. 
 *'The Committee of the 11th arrondissement has 
 caused that servile weapon of tyrannic power to 
 be seized, and has voted its final destruction." 
 But the Commune imprisoned Lullier, Du Bisson, 
 Bergeret, Brunei, Cluseret, and Rossel. Raoul 
 Rigault was allowed to fill the prisons ; he went 
 with Ferré to pass his evenings at the Folies 
 Dramatiques, and made his lists between the acts. 
 To the mayors and their colleagues, to the mem- 
 bers of sub-committees of the arrondissements, to 
 officers, sub-officers, and delegates of companies, 
 was given the power to arrest defaulters in 
 the streets, and to search houses for them. 
 The house-porters were bound to denounce such 
 persons under pain of imprisonment. The Com- 
 mune hesitated to vote the measure of tickets of 
 identity which was demanded by Rossel, but it was
 
 438 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIEES. 
 
 voted, nevertheless, after Kossel's fall. Every 
 citizen from nineteen to forty years of age was 
 obliged to produce liis ticket of identity at any 
 moment, and to any inquirer. 
 
 A mere National Guard, non-commsisioned (and 
 everybody was a National Guard), might demand 
 the production of your ticket, and if it were 
 not forthcoming, take you to prison as " sus- 
 pect." 
 
 To prison — everybody went there, and every- 
 body sent there. All the generals of the Com- 
 mune were incarcerated one after the other; 
 Bergeret, imprisoned at Mazas, wrote on the 
 walls of his cell, " Cluseret, I expect you here 
 next week." The prediction was soon fulfilled. 
 Chanzy, Langoriau, Turquet, tried Republicans, 
 were arrested ; patriots like Schcelcher, the very 
 authors of the Revolution of the 18th March 
 themselves ; for instance, Assi. 
 
 A perpetual round of arrests and liberations 
 went on. On a day when Dombrowski had 
 distinguished himself in an engagement, in which 
 he had the advantage of the Versaillais, he was 
 arrested on the way to head-quarters by a drunken 
 National Guard, and conducted to the guard- 
 house, where he remained some hours. From 
 March 18th to the 27th May there were 3G32 
 committals, and this number included men only.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 439 
 
 The Commune, wliicli had abolished Courts 
 Martial with much pomp, afterwards decided that 
 there should be a Court Martial to each legion. 
 Time was required to organize so many, and in 
 the meantime a general Court Martial was estab- 
 lished which could act at once. The Court made 
 its own jurisprudence, its code of procedure, and 
 its penal code. Rossel proposed that there should 
 be but one penalty — death. The Court preferred 
 to admit a little variety. The Commune itself sat 
 in judgment upon offences of the press. It 
 announced that it would try its own members. 
 It conducted the proceedings against Bergeret, 
 As si, and Cluseret. Its defenders hold that it 
 proved its moderation by the decree regarding 
 hostages. The Commune had also abolished con- 
 scription and a standing army. On the other 
 hand it compulsorily incorporated in the National 
 Guard, all the soldiers then in Paris and every 
 man from the age of nineteen to forty, married or 
 unmarried. Soldiers who would not serve were 
 imprisoned; there were numbers of them in all 
 the prisons, 1333 in La Petite Roquette alone. 
 Many of them were massacred. It was an inven- 
 tion of Rossel's to pen the refractory soldiers up 
 in a place where they were under fire. A colonel 
 declared, rather late, on 21st May, that "the 
 penalty incurred by all defaulters is that of
 
 440 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 death." Another, one Spinoy, decided that shops, 
 stores, commercial establishments, and warehouses, 
 held by the rebels or by their representatives, 
 should be at once closed and placed under seal. 
 
 The Commune had announced a reduction of 
 expenses. It was par excellence the Government 
 of the people; the cheap Government; the Central 
 Committee had touched nothing but its thirty 
 sous. The Commune only allowed itself fifteen 
 francs a day. No enrolment beyond 6000 francs. 
 No more Generals-in-chief, and even no more 
 Generals ! Never, under any régime, however^ 
 were there so many generals, so great a waste of 
 money and resources of all kinds, so extravagant 
 a number of officers and functionaries. 
 
 Those who were neither officers, staff officers 
 of the legion, officers of the free corps, nor 
 commissariat officers, were at all events commis- 
 saries or delegates of something or other. A few 
 days after all salaries had been reduced to 6000 
 francs, and the rank of general had been abolished, 
 it was settled that a general of artillery should 
 receive thirty-three francs a day; a badly-done 
 sum. All these generals had aides-de camp and 
 orderly officers, all of whom drew pay, were 
 bedizened with gold lace and aiguillettes, and 
 indulged not only in vain show but scandalous 
 behaviour. The officers rode at full gallop, to
 
 THE COMMUNE. 441 
 
 the great damage of folks' carriages, and they 
 drove about with prostitutes. Rigault, for the 
 sake of example, made occasional raids on the 
 offenders. He clapped the women into Saint 
 Lazare, and set the fine officers to trundle wheel- 
 barrows in pea jackets. Adieu, gold lace ! The 
 next day the orgie recommenced. Nothing is so 
 costly as disorder. In spite of the efforts of 
 Jourde, a medical student of twenty-eight, who 
 was, after Delescluze, almost the only man of 
 ability among them, the expenditure was in- 
 creased in one day to 1,800,000 francs. It 
 amounted to 600,000 francs at least during the 
 first month. After the Commune had spent the 
 money which was found in the ministerial offices, 
 and absorbed the funds of the Ministry of Finance, 
 4,000,000, the produce of the daily receipts from 
 the customs, octroi, registries, &c., was insufficient, 
 so 20,000,000 were borrowed from the bank, which 
 could not refuse the loan ; a tax of 2,000,000 was 
 levied upon the railway companies, with this 
 clause, " payable within twenty-four hours." The 
 expenditure up to the 27th May reached a total 
 of 47,000,000. 
 
 The bank in Paris was in great and permanent 
 danger. It might be pillaged or burnt. It was, 
 however, only fleeced, for which we have to be 
 thankful. The Governor, M. Rouland, whose
 
 442 THE GOVEENME.NT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 presence was indispensable to tlie Minister of 
 Finance, having been summoned by the Govern- 
 ment to Versailles, maintained order in the branch 
 banks, and even from Versailles was able to watch 
 over the interests of the bank and contribute to 
 its safety. The Under-governor, M. Plœuc, and 
 the directors remained in Paris, and encountered the 
 demands of the Commune with a skilful mingling 
 of concession and inflexible firmness, when occa- 
 sion required, which did them the greatest honour. 
 M. Charles Beslay, who had been the first 
 President of the Commune, and who was its senior 
 member, was a valuable assistant. He was a 
 generous, devoted, enthusiastic man. He had been 
 carried away with the most absurd systems and 
 theories both in politics and socialism, in suc- 
 cession, but he had never swerved from princi- 
 ples of the strictest integrity. His age (he was 
 seventy-seven), his past (he had been for a long 
 time a deputy), his well-established reputation as 
 a Republican and Socialist, the courage of which 
 he had given many proofs, and, perhaps above all, 
 that proverbial integrity, gave him considerable 
 weight among the strange companions whom his 
 foolish notions had collected round him. They 
 would not have followed him in politics, he knew 
 it too well to try them ; besides he had neither the 
 great nor the bad qualities by which a man leads
 
 THE COMMUNE. 443 
 
 men, but in matters of finance he was listened 
 to and respected. He got himself installed at 
 the bank in the capacity of Government Commis- 
 sary. With Beslay as surety and a battalion of 
 employés, well disciplined and armed, who were 
 kept on the premises, the bank managed to pull 
 through. It is tolerably certain that Jourde was no 
 hindrance. He calculated upon obtaining millions 
 when the Commune should require them, but his 
 ideas on finance and credit were too sound for 
 him to countenance depredation. There came a 
 terrible moment for the bank, when the Commune 
 and even Jourde himself maintained that the 
 crown jewels were lodged there, and threatened 
 to enforce their surrender. Had the siege been 
 prolonged it is probable that this *' revendica- 
 tion " would have been the beginning of the end, 
 for once inside the place the enemy would have 
 sacked it. Happily the bank escaped with a 
 fright only, and all the money taken by the Com- 
 mune passed over the counters. 
 
 The Commune, who laid hands on our great in- 
 stitutions in the interval before burning them, 
 and called it " protection," appointed M. Accolas, 
 a private tutor, Dean of Faculty of Law; M. 
 Naquet, Dean of Faculty of Medicine ; M. Ernest 
 Molle, Director of the Museum of Natural History. 
 Neither M. Accolas nor M. Naquet entered upon
 
 444 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 their new dignities. M. Jules Simon, in summon- 
 ing the functionaries to Versailles, had excepted 
 doctors of medicine, schoolmasters, and custodians 
 of public repositories. The officials, and most of 
 the Librarians, were at their posts in the Museums. 
 The Commune replaced those who had left, and 
 did not dismiss those who remained. It only im- 
 posed superiors upon them. M. Vincent in the first 
 place and M. Elisée Reclus later were appointed 
 to superintend the National Library, where the 
 latter was joined subsequently by M. Guigard. 
 
 The churches were declared Communal pro- 
 perty, and placed at the disposition of the muni- 
 cipal officers. There were some curious discussions 
 on this subject in the Commune. One member 
 could prove beyond all doubt that M. Hauss- 
 mann had sold two churches, another affirmed 
 that certain churches belonç^ed " to associations 
 called Fabriques." All the churches were overrun, 
 many were pillaged, two or three only were 
 destroyed. 
 
 General Appert gives the list of churches in- 
 vaded during the month of April, with the dates 
 of the occurrences. " St. Eustache, violently en- 
 tered April 11th; Notre Dame de Lorette, pil- 
 laged, 13th; St. Vincent de Paul, St. Jean, 
 St. François, 9th ; St. Martin, 24th ; St. Pierre, 
 10th; Notre Dame de Clignancourt, 12th;
 
 THE COMMUNE. 445 
 
 St. Leu, 13th; St. Bernard, 13tli; St. Roch, 
 15th; St. Honoré, St. Medard, St. Jacques-du- 
 Hautpas, the Chapelle Bréa, 15th and 16th; Notre 
 Dame de-la-Croix, 17th; St. Ambroise, 22nd; 
 Notre Dame de Bercy, afterwards burnt between 
 28th and 30th April, St. Lambert, St. Christophe, 
 St. Germain I'Auxerrois, St. Marguerite, St. Pierre 
 de Moutrouge. 
 
 On Good Friday a delegate with a squad of 
 soldiers entered the Sacristy of Notre Dame, 
 ordered the presses to be opened, packed up all 
 the valuables, and proceeded to load a van with 
 the spoil. A courageous beadle escaped un- 
 observed during the operations, and informed the 
 Commune of what was taking place. They were 
 in a tolerant humour that day at the Hôtel de 
 Ville, and besides, they did not approve of these 
 encroachments, for after all, whence came this 
 delegate ? on what authority was he acting ? 
 Perhaps on that of the Central Committe ! A 
 better authorized delegate was despatched to the 
 spot, who seized upon the half-laden van, opened 
 the packages, and replaced the ornaments and 
 jewels in the repositories of the Chapter. This 
 was a triumph for the Commune, for good sense, and 
 for the Sacristy. The grateful beadle presented 
 the Commune with a " satisfecit," which provoked 
 a laugh, by its style and its spelling, even in 
 those days when men no longer laughed.
 
 446 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 The fate of tlie cliurches varied according to 
 the disposition of the municipal officers. In some 
 districts they were converted into club-rooms, in 
 which meetings were held. " They seemed made 
 on purpose." And the orators mounted the pulpits, 
 which were decorated with red flags. Some of the 
 churches were made to serve a double purpose. 
 The services were performed in the sanctuary, 
 and club-meetings were held in the nave. 
 
 In the 20th arrondissement. Citizen Le Moussu 
 carried the following resolution : — 
 
 " Seeing that the clergy are bandits, and that 
 the churches are their haunts, in which they 
 have morally assassinated the masses, by 
 handing over France to the claws of the 
 infamous Bonaparte, Favre, and Trochu ; the 
 civil delegate of the quarries near the ex- Prefec- 
 ture of Police orders that the Church of St. 
 Pierre de Montmartre sliall be closed, and decrees 
 the arrest of the priests and Ignorantins." 
 
 This decree and its style were not to the taste 
 of the Commune, and the civil delegate of the 
 quarries near the ex-Prefecture of Police had the 
 mortification of finding himself repudiated. But 
 as time went on wrath against the clergy grew 
 apace. The Archbishop of Paris, his vicars, 
 parish priests, almoners, Jesuits, Dominicans, and 
 missionaries were thrown into prison. The 
 Sisters of Charity, the nuns of Picpus were sent
 
 THE COMMUNE. 447 
 
 to St. Lazare ; the goods of the Communities 
 were sequestrated. At the Beaujon Hospital the 
 nursing sisters were replaced by " Citoyennes." 
 At length public worship was interdicted every- 
 where ; it had been suppressed in the prisons from 
 the first ; and, to inflame the anger of the people, 
 which required no fuel, the most extraordinary non- 
 sense was published concerning some skeletons a 
 hundred years old, which had been found in a char- 
 nel house near the Church of St. Laurent. The 
 chapel erected to the memory of General Bréa, 
 who was assassinated in June, 1848, was con- 
 demned to demolition, by decree, and a similar 
 fate was reserved for the Expiatory Chapel of 
 Louis XVI.; but there was not time to put the 
 decree into execution. 
 
 As may be supposed, all instruction was de- 
 clared secular, and masters and mistresses be- 
 longing to the Rehgious Orders were dismissed. 
 This operation was a long and diflicult one. It 
 was necessary to reiterate decrees, to repeat and 
 aggravate the menaces which were directed against 
 those teachers. Crucifixes were also proscribed, 
 and such as were made of precious metal were taken 
 to the mint to be converted into ingots. M. Thiers' 
 house was pulled down. The first decree had not 
 been executed, and complaints arose in the Com- 
 mune, during its high and palmy days. " Let us end
 
 448 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEKS. 
 
 this," said the malcontents. They ended it by the 
 following decree : — 
 
 "The Committee of Public "Welfare, 
 
 *' Seeing that a notice has been issued by 
 M. Thiers, styling himself Chief of the Executive 
 of the French Republic ; 
 
 " Seeing that this notice, printed at Ver- 
 sailles, has been posted on the walls of Paris by 
 the orders of the said Thiers ; that in this docu- 
 ment he declares that he is not bombarding Paris 
 whilst every day women and children fall victims 
 to the fratricidal projectiles of Versailles; that 
 by it treason is appealed to that he may get into 
 the city, knowing the absolute impossibility of 
 conquering the heroic population of Paris by force 
 of arms ; 
 
 " Decrees : 
 
 " 1st. Thiers' goods shall be seized by the Ad- 
 ministration of Public Property. 
 
 " 2nd. Thiers' house situated in the Place Saint 
 Georges, shall be pulled down. 
 
 " Citizens Fontaine and Andrieux are charged 
 with the immediate execution of this order. 
 
 *' The members of the Committee of Public 
 Welfare : 
 
 " Ant. Arnaud, Eudes, F. Gambon, G. Ranvier. 
 
 " 21. Floréal. Year 79." 
 
 {Officiel oî the nth May.)
 
 THE COMMUNE. 449 
 
 The column in the Place Vendôme was pulled 
 down. 
 
 " The Commune of Paris, 
 
 *' Considering that the Imperial column in the 
 Place Vendôme is a monument of barbarism, a 
 symptom of brute force and of false glory, an 
 affirmation of militarism, a negation of interna- 
 tional law, a perpetual insult offered to the con- 
 quered by the conquerors, a standing outrage 
 upon fraternity, one of the three great principles 
 of the French Republic; 
 " Decrees : 
 
 Single Article. — The Column in the Place Ven- 
 dôme shall be pulled down. 
 "12th April." 
 
 The "Moderates" resorted to all kinds ot 
 shifts to prevent the execution of this sentence of 
 death. First, they got it put off until the anni- 
 versary of the 5th May. The anniversary came 
 and passed, the engineers were not ready, and 
 there was a fresh adjournment. At length there 
 was no more to be done. The column fell on the 
 16 th May. 
 
 Arthur Arnould said, " You are falling into 
 derision and odium." Avrial said, " You vote 
 decrees, and you have no means of getting them 
 executed. One passes on the responsibility to 
 another, and nothing is done." Vallès said, " I 
 
 VOL. I. G g
 
 450 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 have been to your prison in the Rue Cherclie- 
 Micli ; and it's a perpetual seesaw of arrests and 
 discharges." BilHoray said, " The War Admi- 
 nistration is the organization of disorganization. 
 It is an incapable dictatorship." Delescluze said, 
 even in April, " Do you think that everybody 
 here approves of what is going on ? " On the 9th 
 May he said, " We have got a Committee of 
 Public Welfare. What does it do ? It makes 
 special appointments instead of specific acts. 
 It has just appointed Citizen Moreau Civil Dele- 
 gate for War. What then are the members of 
 the War Commission doinof ? Are we nothino- ? 
 I cannot admit that. Your Committee of Public 
 Welfare is annihilated, crushed under the weight 
 of the memories with which it is laden, and it 
 cannot even do what might be done by a mere 
 Executive Commission." 
 
 " I am filled with disgust," said Vermorel, " in 
 the midst of such folly, pretension, and cowardice. 
 The game is lost. The communal idea was a good 
 one, but we had only fools, knaves, and trai- 
 tors to carry it out ; our instruments were either 
 base or ridiculous. I have no hope, and no faith 
 in anything I see or in any one who approaches 
 me." We have heard what Possel said. His 
 practical knowledge and firmness of purpose were 
 indisiDutable, and his charges are sweeping. On
 
 TPIE COMMUNE. 451 
 
 tlie 14tli May, a correspondence on tlie position of 
 Paris appeared in the Temps. It contained the 
 following : — 
 
 " At the present writing there no longer exists 
 anything, or nearly so. The Commune holds no 
 more meetings because it could only meet to 
 arrest itself; Pyat would demand the head of 
 Delescluze, who would demand the head of 
 Colonel Brunei, who has deserted Fort Issy ? The 
 Central Committee would indict all whom the 
 Commune should have overlooked. Delescluze 
 and Pyat are playing at hide and seek. Delescluze 
 ■wishes to reinstate Rossel, Pyat would like to 
 hang him. The Committee is for Pyat, the Com- 
 mune is for Delescluze ; Rossel is in a safe hiding- 
 place, out of which he will not come, for he is 
 more afraid of those who want to make a dictator 
 of him than of those who want to have him 
 shot." 
 
 With a Government in such a state of disorder, 
 a well-behaved population was hardly to be looked 
 for. Every day fresh orders were issued that 
 prostitutes were not to walk the streets, which 
 only proves that street-walking was not dis- 
 continued. Rigault, who took fits of severity 
 towards other people, passed his nights in orgies, 
 at the ex-Prefec<»ure, with " his Staff." Never had 
 so many drunken men been seen. The pay of 
 
 G g 2
 
 452 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 one franc fifty centimes was spent on drink ; and 
 all kinds of measures had to be taken to secure a 
 portion of that sum for the men's wives. The 
 municipal officers gave orders that any National 
 Guard who was found drunk, or in the company of 
 prostitutes, should be taken to prison. This 
 would have been no trifling task. Here is a letter 
 from Cluseret to the generals under his orders, 
 during his dictatorship. 
 " General, 
 
 *' There is a general complaint, and especially 
 from the Commune, of your over-sumptuous staff, 
 and that they show themselves on the Boulevards 
 with loose women, and in carriages, etc. I beg 
 of you to make a clean sweep of all these people. 
 You are compromised by them, and with you, I 
 myself, and our principles." 
 
 Here again is a portrait of an officer of the 
 National Guard drawn by Rossel with a master 
 hand, also during the time of his power. " These 
 rascally officers of the Commune, drinking at the 
 public-house bar with the sergeants ; beggars dis- 
 guised as soldiers, and who turn the uniform into 
 which they have been thrust into unsightly rags ; 
 with their trousers twisted, their swords between 
 their legs, their belts loose, coats too big for them, 
 their greasy képis on the top of their dirty 
 selves, their eyes and their speech alike tipsy;
 
 THE COMMUNE. 453 
 
 such were the fellows who pretended to free the 
 country from the rule of the sword, and who could 
 only institute the rule of delirium tremens." There 
 was not too much honesty, dummies in the compa- 
 nies, and scandalous perquisites to make up for the 
 small salaries were not the only kinds of theft in 
 practice ; there were also organized robberies. 
 General Appert describes the pillage of Neuilly 
 from the Report of the Government commissary: — 
 " On the 10th May the 257th battahon replaced 
 the 117th. Till then there had been only isolated 
 cases of pillage. From the 18th May the 257th 
 exhibit no further scruples, and seem to «fear 
 nothing except discovery. There are still in the 
 cantonments old men, women and children. These 
 indiscreet witnesses must be got rid of at any 
 cost. Revolver in hand they expel the remaining 
 inhabitants, bully or threaten with death those 
 who resist. They drive the people like sheep to 
 head-quarters — stones are flung at them all the 
 way — thence to despatch them to Paris. A dying 
 woman does not even find grace with these men 
 thirsting for spoil ; she cannot walk, so they carry 
 her on a mattress across the garden. Then follow 
 orgies and plunder. All these houses are only 
 separated by garden walls ; the pillagers make their 
 way from one to the other by breaking holes in 
 them, and they get into the rooms by smashing 
 doors and windows.
 
 454 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 " Gowns of silk and velvet, shawls, laces, linen, 
 curtains, clocks, pictures, curiosities, and objects 
 of art, all that can be removed they pack up and 
 send to Paris. The cellars still contain wine ; they 
 get drink, and then wind up these festivities by 
 horrible balls to which the robbers dressed up in the 
 spoils of their victims, invite their concubines, 
 whom they summoned from Paris, and also their 
 lawful wives." 
 
 The journals of the party contributed not a little 
 by their bitterness and exaggeration to the troubles 
 of the Government. Rigault and the others did 
 not scruple to suppress some of them. They even 
 ventured to suppress the Commune, Millière's 
 paper, he being also suspected of" Moderantisme," 
 A great number, however, still existed. La 
 Vérité, edited by Portalis ; La, Lutte à outrance, 
 which belonged to the School of Medicine club ; the 
 Mot d'Ordre, Rochefort's paper, which supported 
 Rossel. (Rochefort got tired of it at last, fled in 
 disguise, was taken and brought to Versailles, 
 where he arrived on the 20th May.) La Car- 
 magnole, by Touchatout ; Le Cri du Peuple, Jules 
 Vallès; Le Père Duchesne, Vermersch ; L'Ordre and 
 L'Ami du Peuple, published one after the other, but 
 without success, by Vermozel. La Sociale, André 
 Leo ; La Montagne, Le Saint Vullic, G. Maroteau ; 
 L'Action, Le Tribun du Peuple, Lissagaray ; Paris 
 Libre, Vesinier ; Le Réveil du Peuple, by Cournet
 
 THE COMMUNE. 455 
 
 and Razoua ; Le Bonnet Bougea by Segondignc ; 
 etc., etc. 
 
 With all this, a city full of clubs and committees, 
 who made speeches, assigned missions to them- 
 selves, and assumed a right of control over every 
 one and every thing. The Central Republican 
 Union, the Republican Union for the Rights of 
 Paris ; the Jacobin Club ; the League of the Deliver- 
 ance of Alsace-Lorraine; the St. Eustaclie club; 
 the St. Sulpice club, (church clubs may be men- 
 tioned collectively ; there was scarcely a church 
 without its club.) The School of Medicine club : 
 one of the most active and powerful both before 
 and after the 18th March ; the Republican Alliance 
 of the Departments, a club formed of former 
 citizens of the departments, now inhabitants of 
 Paris. The Commission of Conciliation of com- 
 merce, of work and industry ; the Central Com- 
 mittee of the Women's Union for the defence of 
 Paris, and the succour of the wounded; the 
 Federation of Freemasons of all rites ; the Car- 
 bonarism of all countries ; the Federation of 
 Artists ; and above all these associations and 
 corporations, the International Association, which 
 perseveringly pursued its socialistic aims without 
 attracting any notice, and which had a hand in 
 all political affairs ; lastly, the Central Committee, 
 its ally if not its instrument, and which originated 
 the Revolution.
 
 456 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 The " Conciliators" were very numerous in Paris, 
 even in the clubs, where they did not always obtain 
 a hearing. For many this was a mission, for 
 some it was a profession. Those, both men and 
 women, who did not frequent the clubs, but re- 
 mained sorrowing in their own houses, were also 
 for conciliation, because they were for peace. 
 The Freemasons made a solemn manifestation at 
 the Hôtel de Ville ; they went in procession to 
 the ramparts to plant their banners there, they 
 sent delegates to Versailles, who saw a great many 
 people, spoke with emotion of the evils of war, 
 and the necessity for peace ; but returned to Paris 
 having obtained nothing. 
 
 The other associations, those even who like the 
 *' League of Paris " made continuous efforts during 
 two months with great zeal and courage, had 
 no better success. The departments also inter- 
 fered ; the towns, great and small, sent delegates 
 to negotiate for peace, or, not attempting so high 
 a line, to beg for it. 
 
 They lured each other in all good faith with 
 those two words — Conciliation and Peace ; all 
 would have been glad to have peace. But there 
 at Versailles was the regular Government, and the 
 Assembly, the issue of universal suffrage ; in Paris 
 were rebels : at Versailles, the old social system of 
 France, based upon the eternal principle of law ; in
 
 THE COMMUNE. 457 
 
 Paris was the negation of all law and principle. 
 The Government of Paris had but one means of 
 making peace — to submit. Versailles, that is to 
 say France, had also one, to promise indulgence 
 to the erring, but only when they had laid down 
 their arms, and to the exclusion of all the leaders 
 and all the assassins. 
 
 What could the conciliators do in such a state 
 of things ? If they merely expressed a platonic 
 desire they would be simply ridiculous, if they 
 proposed to make concessions to the rebellion 
 they would be almost criminal. The rôle of con- 
 ciliators in earnest could have been possible only 
 to the Mayors of Paris, and that during the first 
 week of the Insurrection ; now they must fight. As 
 to talking of " Leagues of Peace," the sole chance 
 of obtaining peace lay in supporting the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 The municipal councils of a great number of 
 towns in the south resolved to form an assembly 
 to consult on the means of conciliation. The 
 assembly was to meet at Bordeaux, and depu- 
 tations were already arriving there when the 
 Government interfered. The municipal councils 
 had overstepped their proper bounds, and were 
 violating the law. It was in vain that the dele- 
 gates assured them that thej were acting as in- 
 dividuals, not as municipal councillors. If the laws
 
 458 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 could be so easily set aside there would soon be 
 no laws left. The form in wbicb the assembly 
 was convoked admitted of no subterfuge. Even 
 had the delegates done no more than form an 
 assembly chosen by the large towns, it was to be 
 feared that this meeting might usurp a political 
 authority, and might want to set the large towns 
 against the rural districts, as was done daily in 
 Paris. It must not be forgotten that we were in 
 the midst of a civil war ; that the Commune of Paris 
 was in rebellion against the National Assembly ; 
 that several towns had after their example pro- 
 claimed the Commune, and attempted a struggle 
 as impotent as it was criminal against the regular 
 Government of the country; that it Lad been 
 necessary in several localities to fire on the Insur- 
 gents ; that certain municipalities had addressed 
 the Government and the Assembly in a tone of 
 menace ; that, in terms which were calculated to 
 weaken the distinction between the just and the 
 unjust, they had proposed that the Assembly 
 should treat on an equal footing with the Com- 
 mune, thereby confounding lawful order with in- 
 surrection, the power created by the will of France, 
 with the dictatorship which had imposed itself on 
 Paris by crime, and was reigning there by terror. 
 
 An assembly solemnly convoked at Bordeaux 
 meeting in the building which had been oc-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 459 
 
 cupied six weeks previously by tlie National 
 Assembly, and nominated exclusively by the large 
 towns, would have confirmed the antagonism that 
 the Commune sought to create between the towns 
 and the country districts. How should such an 
 assembly be prudent enough to limit itself to the 
 part it affected to play ? It would receive the 
 adhesion of Socialists and Revolutionists ; before 
 long it would believe itself to have rights and supe- 
 rior authority ; for Paris it would be an auxiliary, 
 for " the rustics of Versailles " an enemy. Not 
 only was the Government justified in interdicting 
 the meeting, but when some time later M. Thiers 
 pressed upon the Assembly the necessity of 
 depriving the municipal councils of towns of the 
 right to elect their mayors, it is evident this 
 recollection was present with him. He had long 
 been of opinion that the nomination of the majors 
 ought to be in the hands of the Government, 
 and he was confirmed in his ideas on this point by 
 witnessing the attitude of the large towns in the 
 south, and hearing their language. 
 
 The congress, which had been unable to meet 
 at Bordeaux, found a refuge at Lyons. But 
 warned by their repulse, its members did not court 
 notice, nor did they affect the formalities of a 
 meeting of representatives; they adopted the 
 language and bearing of the Union for the Rights
 
 460 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 of Paris, with whicli they placed themselves in 
 correspondence ; and they sent delegates to Ver- 
 sailles, with a mission to M. Thiers. Afterwards, 
 if necessary, they were to address themselves to 
 the Commune of Paris. 
 
 M. Thiers received all who came ; it was mar- 
 vellous how he found time. He managed the 
 army as much as did the General-in-chief ; he 
 never passed a day without personally visiting 
 the outposts, he sat in council with his ministers 
 daily for hours ; difficulties with Berlin and 
 the German generals were perpetually arising, 
 which aggravated and embittered the civil war. 
 The Assembly on its side wanted to know every- 
 thing, meddled with everything, wished to govern, 
 and was perpetually sending to him or requiring 
 his presence. He spoke from the tribune, he spoke 
 in the Committees, he wrote despatches with 
 M. Jules Favre. In the midst of overwhelming 
 work, and cares of every kind, he listened to 
 the delegates with patience. It was not an easy 
 matter to answer them. The delegates complained 
 that he did not make concessions enough, and the 
 Right that he made too many ; he replied, however, 
 and in unvarying terms, that, as to the Republic, it 
 ran no risk in his hands, that he would not permit 
 any party to attack it, that he should restore the 
 trust such as he had accepted it at Bordeaux,
 
 THE COMMCTNE. 461 
 
 honestly and faithfully ; that he had no political 
 mental reservations, nor any other desire than to 
 cure the ills of France. He promised for Paris all 
 the liberty compatible with the security of the 
 State. If the insurgents would lay down their 
 arms, he undertook that only the ringleaders, 
 and those who had been guilty of offences against 
 the common law should be punished. He even 
 consented to give the National Guard their pay, 
 until the workshops should be reopened. Could 
 he answer otherwise? The Right would have 
 had him refuse all audiences, or if he granted 
 them, speak only of his determination to quell the 
 Insurrection. They reproached him especially for 
 his careful handling of the Republican form, which 
 almost amounted to an adhesion. 
 
 The negotiators, on the contrary, considered that 
 he promised nothiog, because he persisted in treat- 
 ing the chiefs of the Commune as rebels ; in fact, 
 almost all those who came to Versailles were, in 
 reality, for Paris. The most reasonable put Ver- 
 sailles and Paris on the same level ; they proposed 
 the simultaneous abdication of the Assembly and 
 the Commune, and the election of a new Assembly. 
 This was to propose that law should be abandoned 
 and revolt legalized. These attempts were made 
 so often and under so many forms, that it was 
 feared the good sense of the people would be
 
 462 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 affected by them. The Commune on their side 
 never for a moment thought of submitting ; when 
 they entertained the idea of a negotiation, it was on 
 the footing of one power treating with another, 
 and they did not even do that until the last 
 moment, when the army was already in Paris. 
 On the 3rd May Paschal Grousset exclaimed, " I 
 demand of the Commune to have done with 
 negotiators;" another said, " We are not bellige- 
 rents, we are judges." A saying was current 
 among the most violent, both in Paris and at Ver- 
 sailles, " Negotiation is treason." The women 
 were associated with these efforts, but in different 
 ways; some ardently desiring peace, looking at 
 nothing else ; begging it, so to speak, on their 
 knees ; others repelling the idea with scorn, and 
 wanting, as they proclaimed incessantly among 
 the combatants, " to conquer or to die." 
 
 The following proclamation was posted in Paris, 
 on the 3rd May : — 
 
 " The women of Paris, in the name of Country, 
 Honour, and even Humanity, demand an armistice. 
 
 " They think that the courageous resignation of 
 which they have given proof, this winter, during 
 the siege, has established for them a right to be 
 heard by the opposing parties, and they hope that 
 their titles of wives and mothers will soften hearts 
 alike in Paris and at Versailles.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 463 
 
 "Weary of suffering, terrified by the misfortunes, 
 this time inglorious which again threaten them, 
 they appeal to the generosity of Versailles, to the 
 generosity of Paris. 
 
 " They implore these towns to lay down arms 
 were it only for a day, two days, long enough for 
 brothers to recognize and come to an agreement 
 with each other, long enough to arrive at a peaceful 
 solution. All the women, those who have little 
 children whom the shells may reach even in their 
 cradles, those whose husbands are fighting from 
 sincere conviction, those whose husbands and sons 
 earn their daily bread upon the ramparts, those 
 who now are the sole guardians of their homes, 
 all the calmest as well as the most enthusiastic, 
 from their hearts cry to Versailles and Paris for 
 Peace — Peace. 
 
 (Signed) " A group of * Citoyennes.' " 
 
 This was the answer, which was not long 
 delayed. 
 
 " Manifesto of the Central Committee of the 
 * Women's Union for the Defence of Paris and the 
 Care of the wounded.' 
 
 " In the name of the social Revolution which we 
 proclaim, in the name of the rights of labour, of 
 equality and justice, the Union of Women for the 
 Defence of Paris and the Care of the Wounded, 
 protest with all their strength against the un-
 
 464 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 wortliy proclamation of tlie * Citoyennes ' posted 
 the day before yesterday, and emanating from 
 an anonymous group of reactionaries. The said 
 proclamation sets forth that the women of Paris 
 appeal to the generosity of Versailles, and demand 
 peace at any price ! 
 
 " The generosity of cowardly assassins ! a con- 
 ciliation between liberty and despotism, between 
 the people and their persecutors ! 
 
 " No, it is not Peace, but War à outrance that the 
 working women of Paris call for ! 
 
 " To-day a coalition would be treason ! It would 
 be to belie all the aspirations of labour which 
 proclaims an absolute social renovation, the anni- 
 hilation of all actually existing juridical and social 
 relations, the suppression of all privileges, the 
 substitution of the reign of labour for that of 
 capital; in a word, the enfranchisement of the 
 worker by himself. 
 
 " Six months of suffering and of treason during 
 the siege, six weeks of superhuman struggle with 
 a coalition of knaves and spoilers, rivers of blood 
 shed in the cause of liberty, these are our titles 
 to glory and vengeance. 
 
 " The present struggle can have no other issue 
 than the triumph of the popular cause. Paris will 
 not draw back, for she carries the banner of the 
 future. The supreme hour has struck. Room 
 for the workers, down with their oppressors I
 
 THE COMMUNE. 465 
 
 " Deeds ! earnestness ! the tree of liberty- 
 flourishes, watered by the blood of its enemies. 
 
 " United and resolute, aggrandized and enlight- 
 ened by the sufferings that a social crisis ever 
 brings in its train, profoundly convinced that the 
 Commune, representing the revolutionary and in- 
 ternational principles of nations, bears within it 
 the germ of the social revolution, the women of 
 Paris will prove to France, and to the world, that 
 they also, in the moment of supreme danger, on 
 the ramparts of Paris, at the barricades, should 
 the reaction force the gates, know how to give, 
 like their brothers, their blood and their lives for 
 the defence, and the triumph of the Commune, 
 that is to say, of the People ! 
 
 " In that day, victorious, free to unite and agree 
 upon their mutual interests, working men and 
 working women, forming one solidarity, shall 
 annihilate for ever, by a last effort, every vestige 
 of exploitation and those who practise it. 
 
 " Long live the social and universal Republic I 
 
 " Long live labour ! 
 
 " Long live the Commune ! 
 
 " The executive commission of the Central 
 Committee, Le Mel, Jacquier, Lefevre, Leloup, 
 Dmitrief.— Paris, 6tli May." 
 
 The " citoyennes," Lemel, Jaquier, Lefevre, Le- 
 loup, and Dmitrief did not confine themselves to 
 
 VOL. I. n h
 
 466 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 proclamations in this higli style ; a few days later 
 they turned out a battalion of 2500 women, 
 commanded by men, well armed and equipped, 
 who were reviewed on the 15th May in the court- 
 yard of the Tuileries by two general officers, and 
 a delegate of the Commune. They received, like 
 the others, one franc fifty centimes as pay, and 
 rations. Their exploits are not recorded, but 
 there are instances of individuals, attached to the 
 companies as canteen women, or who joined in 
 the contest as soldiers in uniform, who displayed 
 courage and eagerness scarcely equalled by the 
 men, and ferocity which contributed not a little 
 to render the civil war especially sanguinary. 
 
 Mauy were to be found at a later date behind 
 the barricades. Others undertook the pouring of 
 petroleum upon the houses. The unfortunate 
 women who preached conciliation and prayed with 
 tears for peace, had dangerous and terrible neigh- 
 bours. The Commune expected something more 
 from the largo towns than sympathetic demon- 
 stration and efforts at conciliation. While at Ver- 
 sailles the meeting of the Congress of Bordeaux 
 had been prevented, and measures were taken to 
 dissolve the Congress of Lyons the moment it 
 presented any aspect beyond that of a club; 
 Paris was indignant at a timid intervention, 
 which led only to speech-making and embassies.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 407 
 
 Lyon S, Marseilles and Toulouse had been unable to 
 maintain their Communes after having proclaimed 
 them. The Congress of the southern towns that 
 was to have met at Bordeaux was still-born. The 
 Commune of Paris allowed that in both cases they 
 succumbed to force ; but now, when by means of 
 a little stratagem, by hiding the desired aim, and 
 accepting all who offered themselves as delegates, 
 a number of Federalists had been collected to- 
 gether, why should this assembly give itself airs 
 of impartiality between the Commune and the 
 Monarchy ? Paschal Grousset was employed to 
 bring these lukewarm friends to account. " What 
 are you waiting for before you rise ? Is it that 
 the last soldier of the good cause may have been 
 shot down by the poisoned bullets of Versailles ! 
 
 "Are you waiting until Paris is transformed 
 into a cemetery and every house into a tomb ? 
 
 " Great cities ! the time is at an end for mani- 
 festations; you have muskets and ammunition. 
 To arms!" 
 
 *' Do not forget, Lyons, Marseilles, Lille, 
 Toulouse, Nantes, Bordeaux and others ! Should 
 Paris fall for the liberty of the world, avenging 
 History would have the right to say that Paris 
 was slain because you will have allowed the 
 murder to be done." 
 
 But the great cities remained deaf to these 
 H h 2
 
 468 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 despairing appeals. The congress of Lyons had 
 neither generals nor soldiers. It had done all in 
 its power by sending commissaries to Paris and 
 Versailles, and it continued to send them to the 
 end : some were still at Versailles on the 20th May. 
 There they met with the delegates of the Union of 
 the Syndicate^, who came from Paris to make one 
 more attempt at conciliation. The ambassadors 
 from the Lyons congress, and those from the Syn- 
 dicates of Paris assembled in a body to demand an 
 audience with the Chief of the Executive. It was 
 then Saturday evening, and the end was close at 
 hand. M. Barthélémy Saint-Hilaire put off these 
 tardy diplomatists to Monday the 22nd; when 
 that day came they learned that M. Thiers was in 
 Paris. 
 
 The ccmciliators, its platonic friends, were only 
 trouble to the Commune. The Central Committee 
 of the National Guard was something more than 
 a trouble, it was a danger. When the Members of 
 Committee were ousted by the votes of the 26th 
 March, they flattered themselves if they kept up 
 their influence over the National Guard, the 
 Commune would be simply a sham government, 
 which they could direct or suppress at pleasure. 
 
 From the 4th April the Commune felt it neces- 
 sary to inform the populace that the Central Com- 
 mittee was not the directing power ; that, in fact, it
 
 THE COMMUNE. 469 
 
 was at best but tbe gi^eat family council of the 
 National Guard. That seemed to be nothing, but 
 in fact it was everything ; for every citizen was a 
 part of the National Guard, and in Paris there 
 was no other armed force. The Central Committee, 
 more clear-sighted than the Commune, took a 
 very correct view of the situation, and acted 
 accordingly. On the 6th April, the Committee 
 issued a proclamation, as though it were itself the 
 Government : — 
 
 " To the People of Paris. 
 " To the National Guard. 
 
 " Citizens, make no mistake, this is the great 
 struggle ; it is between parisitism and labour, ex- 
 ploitation and production. 
 
 " Citizens of Paris, merchants, manufacturers, 
 shopkeepers, thinkers, all you who work, and who 
 seek in good faith the solution of social problems ; 
 the Central Committee adjures you to march in 
 unison towards progress. Let the destinies of 
 your country and its universal genius inspire 
 you. 
 
 "The Committee is confident that the heroic 
 Parisian population is about to immortalize itself, 
 and to regenerate the world." 
 
 The members of the Central Committee hold 
 debates like the Commune; they exhibit the same 
 insignia, visit the battalions on the ramparts.
 
 470 THE GOVEENME^'T OF M. THIERS. 
 
 wliere they are received with acclamation, post up 
 notices on white paper, menace the defaulters, 
 send them before the court s -martial, continue the 
 election of delegates of companies and of battalions. 
 The decrees of the Commune are scarcely attended 
 to, but every one takes orders from the Com- 
 mittee. 
 
 The Committee appoints one of its members 
 civil delegate of war. It obliges Cluseret, and 
 afterwards Rossel, to resign their posts in the 
 administration in its favour. It installs itself 
 and its bureaux in the ministry. Its members 
 are the administration to all intents and pur- 
 poses, and leave nothing to the general but the 
 command of the troops. At length they give 
 orders to General Wrobleski ; they try to lay 
 their hands on the paymastership of the National 
 Guard and the general disbursements. They send 
 their instructions to Jourde, who at once goes to 
 the Commune, and declares he will not submit. 
 But the Committee is the strongest, and it forces 
 every one to capitulate, even the Commune, even 
 the Committee of Public Welfare, formed especially 
 to counterbalance the all-pervading power of the 
 Central Committee. On the 18th May the Com- 
 mittee of Public Welfare had published the follow- 
 ing threat, which served in the end to show its 
 impotence : — ■
 
 THE COMMUNE. 471 
 
 " The orders given by the Committee of 
 Public Welfare have not been obeyed, because 
 such and such signatures did not accompany 
 them. 
 
 " The Committee cautions officers of all ranks, 
 belonging to whatever corps, as also all citizens, 
 that a refusal to carry out any order of theirs will 
 entail the summoning of the culprit before the 
 court-martial under a charge of high treason. 
 
 " Hôtel de Ville, 28 Floréal, Year 79. 
 " The Committee of Public Welfare, 
 *' Arnaud, Billiokay, Eudes, F. Gambon, 
 G. Ranvier." 
 
 The Central Committee, directly attacked, 
 obliges the Commune to send delegates, or 
 rather ambassadors to it on the next day. It 
 signs a proclamation together with these delegates. 
 " There is said to be a struggle between the Central 
 Committee and the Commune. This is a falsehood 
 emanating from the reactionaries." 
 
 New rules are made that very day for the 
 election and functions of the delegates of com- 
 panies, of battalions, and of legions. It is declared 
 that the Central Committee is preparing the 
 means of utilizing all the resources, all the moral 
 and revolutionary forces of the federation. " All 
 the clubs or groups of the federation are about 
 to receive precise instructions, regulating their
 
 472 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 proper functions, and establishing the necessary 
 relations between them and the Central Committee. 
 
 The Commune never ceases making claims 
 and submission. It collapsed on the 23rd May, 
 and the Central Committee officially assumed 
 authority. The secret of its strength is in one 
 word; it was organized. The Commune was not. 
 
 Nothing can be more lamentable than the 
 history of that unlucky assembly. It gave its 
 name to the revolution, it assumed every responsi- 
 bility, and it was constantly at the mercy of its 
 own generals and of the Central Committee. It 
 passed its time in looking for itself, in making 
 and unmaking Governments. The electors that 
 had elected it were convoked, in violation of 
 every law, by the Central Committee, which 
 derived its own power from the insurrection. 
 
 The election, which was nullified by its origin, 
 was not even regular in its form. It was 
 solemnly declared that ninety-two were elected, 
 but only by admitting as elected five candidates 
 who had not votes equal to an eighth of the 
 number of inscribed members. The same thing 
 happened in April ; in consequence of death, 
 resignations, and double elections, there were 
 thirty-one members to be elected; twenty-one 
 candidates only were declared eligible, and, of 
 these, ten had not obtained the eighth exacted by
 
 THE COMMUNE. 473 
 
 law. Rogeard and Briosne refused to accept, 
 and a third, Menotti Garibaldi, never took his 
 seat and never wrote. 
 
 One of the candidates who consented to take 
 his seat had only obtained 1000 votes ; in short, 
 the fifth part only of the electors had taken part 
 in the voting. This result did not appear in the 
 Officiel until the 20th April. The resignations were 
 very numerous, sixteen immediately after the 26th 
 March ; five from the 1 st to the 6th April ; three 
 after the election of the 16th. Amongst the 
 resignations were those of some who, like M. Ranc, 
 would have accepted a Commune, but they would 
 not accept that particular one. 
 
 This assembly, so called, never arrived at 
 having a compact and homogeneous majority. 
 It included socialists, non-socialist Jacobins, 
 plagiarists of 1793, clubbists who did not even 
 understand what was in question. It changed 
 the form of government three times in six weeks, 
 and the members of the government over six 
 times. At first there was an executive commis- 
 sion of seven members, having under its orders 
 nine delegates or ministers, and nine ministerial 
 commissions ; then the nine delegates themselves 
 formed the government; then a Committee of 
 Public Welfare was inaugurated, composed of 
 five members, with the full powers of the Com-
 
 474 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 mune, even that of dismissing delegates. To 
 establish this dictatorship, a great battle in 
 the interior of the Commune itself was necessary. 
 The mere name was terrible ; a first ballot, 
 which only related to the name, gave twenty- 
 six against twenty-six. The voting was post- 
 poned until next day, 1st May. Finally, the 
 name of " Committee of Public Welfare," was 
 adopted by thirty- four voters against twenty-eight, 
 who voted for the title of Executive Committee. 
 The whole decree commanded forty-five votes 
 against twenty- three. Nine days later the re- 
 signation of the members was exacted, and their 
 successors were appointed. 
 
 The dissension among the members of the 
 Commune on this question of dictation was so 
 great that the minority insisted on "votes motivés'* 
 and the publication in full of the debates ; very 
 serious resolutions for an assembly which had 
 only consented to publish the reports of its 
 sittings under pressure of public opinion. It 
 was thought at one moment that the Commune 
 was about to split into two assemblies, for the 
 members of the minority had retired into their 
 respective municipalities and refused to return to 
 sit at the Hôtel do Ville. 
 
 The Central Committee rejoiced. The dis- 
 sentients had prepared a declaration which was to 
 be read at the sitting of 15th May.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 475 
 
 The Majority, forewarned, defeated this project 
 by staying at home, which rendered the sitting 
 impossible. 
 
 The declaration was then published in the 
 papers, as it became necessary, it was said, to 
 enlighten public opinion. 
 
 " Declaration. 
 
 " By a special and summary vote, the Commune 
 of Paris has abdicated its power, in favour of a 
 dictatorship which will be entitled the * Committee 
 of Public Welfare.' 
 
 " The Majority of the Commune has declared 
 itself irresponsible by this vote ; and has aban- 
 doned to the Committee all the responsibilities of 
 our situation. 
 
 " We, thinking otherwise, claim in the name of 
 the suffrages we represent, the right to answer for 
 our own acts to our electors, without sheltering 
 ourselves behind a supreme dictation, which our 
 mandate neither allows us to accept nor to re- 
 cognize. 
 
 "We shall no longer, therefore, present ourselves 
 at the Assembly, until the day when it shall con- 
 stitute itself a Court of Justice for the judgment 
 of one of its members. 
 
 "Devoted toour great Communal cause, for which 
 so many of our citizens die daily, we retire to our, 
 perhaps, too-long neglected arrondissements. Con- 
 vinced besides that the question of the war at this
 
 476 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 moment supersedes every other, the time we can 
 spare from our Municipal functions shall be spent 
 amon2:st our brethren of the National Guard, and 
 we will take our part in the strife." This decla- 
 ration was signed by twenty-one members, Ch. 
 Beslay, Jourde, Theisz, Lefrancais, Eug. Gérardin, 
 Vermorel, Clémence, Andrieux, Serrailler, Longuet 
 Arthur Arnould, Clément Victor, Avrial, Ostyn, 
 Frankel, Pindy, Arnould, Vallès, Tridon, Varlin, 
 Courbet. This project of dislocation, the con- 
 sequences of which would have been serious for 
 the Commune was not carried out. Some members 
 of the Minority returned, they received a torrent 
 of abuse and gave blow for blow, all the rest 
 followed them. A sort of reconciliation was then 
 patched up. 
 
 But the diversity of designs and temperaments 
 had broken out ; there were in the Assembly 
 Girondins and men of the Mountain ; united 
 action was impossible. On one side they were 
 for some moderation, on the other they were 
 impatient for the end, even were it necessary 
 to repeat the expedients of the Place de la 
 Révolution. 
 
 The more violent had already declared at 
 different times, " We are not revolutionary 
 enough ! " It was even, as we have seen, to ap- 
 pease them that the *' moderates " had voted the 
 decree regarding the hostages.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 477 
 
 « 
 
 Pass the decree again," they said on the 
 Mountain ; " provided it is carried out. It has as 
 yet only served the prisoners, it is time to think of 
 the interests of the Revolution. Let them shoot ten 
 hostages forthwith, five with all due parade on the 
 Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, the other five at the 
 outposts." 
 
 " And what has become too," they asked, " of the 
 decree regarding the Column ? The tactics of 
 the * moderates ' are too transparent, they post- 
 pone everything that they may prevent everything. 
 They put a stop to these reactionary manoeuvres, 
 when they inserted * immediately ' in the decree 
 for the razing of M. Thiers' house, which was 
 obeyed. The violent members of the Commune 
 did. not say, like Delescluze, * we will die on the 
 ramparts, or on the steps of the Hôtel de Ville,* 
 but ' we will be buried beneath its ruins.' " Some 
 days before the catastrophe this same party 
 requisitioned petroleum. 
 
 It seems that men like Arthur Arnould, Ch. Bes- 
 lay, Tridon, Vaillant Courbet, Theisz, Avrial, 
 Jourde, Babick, and Vermorel, suffered deeply 
 from falling into this furnace. Delescluze was 
 embittered against all parties and all men. He 
 had no repugnance to civil war, nor to dictator- 
 ship, but he was austere in his life, courageous, 
 disinterested, intelligent. He did not share the 
 anti-social passions of his confederates.
 
 478 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIEKS. 
 
 He accepted the direction of the war on the 
 9th May, he a journalist, who had never been 
 anything but a journaHst, and knew less than 
 nothing of military matters. Did he think him- 
 self a general because twenty-eight years before 
 he had joined the expedition of "Eisquons-Tout"? 
 Did he, like the fools who surrounded him, believe 
 in improvised generals ? Did he yield to his old 
 hatred to " militarism " ? It was said that he had 
 bound himself to follow the counsels of Rossel, 
 and that he consulted him secretly to the last; 
 and this is possible, nay probable. 
 
 Rossel, who had petitioned for a cell at Mazas, 
 obtained more, they ordered him before a Court- 
 martial. He escaped with Ch. Gérardin, a mem- 
 ber of the Commune, who had been made • his 
 gaoler, but he remained hidden in Paris, till the 
 end of the siege — occupied even during the 
 conflict at the barricades in quietly writing his 
 memoirs. 
 
 It is believed that Delescluze was in the secret, 
 and that they saw each other daily. Delescluze, 
 even with Rossel at his back, was none the less an 
 incompetent War Minister; Rossel was certainly a 
 good officer, there is but one opinion on this point 
 even in the army, but was he a good general ? 
 This is a different question. His ministry was re- 
 markable ratlier for orders and remonstrances than 
 for exploits. After all, with the disorder which pre-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 479 
 
 vailed, and sucli an army, tlie greatest proof of 
 mental capacity that a general could give was to 
 resign. He did this, and gave the reason publicly. 
 Assisted or not by him, Delescluze could no longer 
 dream of victory, but only of a making a good 
 end. Rossel in his posthumous papers describes 
 him thus: "Delescluze, if he had not been enfeebled 
 by age and ill-health, might have been the man 
 of the Kevolution. He marked his appointment 
 to the Ministry of War by several useful measures, 
 which might have restored order in the govern- 
 ment of military matters ; to technicalities he 
 was an absolute stranger. It likewise does not 
 appear that he was a good administrator. All 
 things considered, he was a worn-out man. 
 On the 7th March, he was recovering from a 
 fortnight's illness ; a long exile had ruined his 
 health ; he could hardly speak, or breathe ; he 
 was a living corpse. His acceptance of power 
 was the sacrifice of the miserable remainder of his 
 life; yet he accepted it from the majority of the 
 Commune of which he did not form a part, but 
 which he dominated by his former greatness; 
 this was an impossible rôle, doomed beforehand, 
 and in which he was not supported. 
 
 He fell behind a barricade, but he had already 
 fallen under his task. His corpse was found, 
 disfigured by a frightful wound in the neck,
 
 480 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 caused by the falling of a beam from a neigbbour- 
 ing house. His enemies found words with which 
 to insult him even in death." 
 
 Delescluze, who had been elected on the 9th May 
 a member of the Committee of Public Welfare 
 (the last of five), resigned, that he might devote 
 himself entirely to the defence. He had suc- 
 ceeded Rossel, May 10th. He was the last dele- 
 gate to the Ministry of War. It was during this 
 final period of the siege that the house of M. Thiers 
 was razed to the ground (May 10th) ; also that 
 the measure relative to the cards of identity, 
 adjourned the first time, was carried (May 14th), 
 that the Column of the Place Vendôme was pulled 
 down (May 16tli), that the Commune decreed the 
 putting into immediate exeoution of the decree 
 regarding the hostages (May 17th), that the last 
 independent journals were suppressed (May 11th 
 and 18th). 
 
 The army of Versailles advanced slowly but 
 surely; the Commune, driven to bay, redoubled its 
 fury. Towards the middle of May, the news was 
 spread through Paris that M. Thiers was bom- 
 barding the city. It had been counted a crime 
 in the Prussians under the first siesie to have 
 bombarded Paris. M. Thiers himself had held up 
 the King of Naples to the indignation of Europe, 
 for bombarding his capital in revolt. For a
 
 THE COMMUNE. 481 
 
 week it was the theme of all the speechifiers in 
 the Commune and at the Clubs. 
 
 But M. Thiers was not bombarding Paris ; he 
 was bombarding the ramparts of Paris at the two 
 points where he meant to make the assault, at 
 Neuilly and at Auteuil ; the surrounding districts 
 were laid waste; such is the hard necessity of 
 war. 
 
 Delescluze on his side bombarded Neuilly and 
 Boulogne. " Colonel Henry will immediately 
 set up a battery of thirty mortars of the heaviest 
 calibre in the railway cutting, and on the flank 
 of bastions 59, 60, 61, and 62. These mortars 
 are intended to bombard Neuilly and Boulogne, 
 and also the bridges of boats." 
 
 Neither M. Thiers nor M. Delescluze could 
 make war without firing guns. 
 
 Against M. Thiers a still more odious accusation 
 was brought; he was accused of setting fire to 
 the cartridge-factory in the Avenue Rapp. At 
 the top of the Officiel of May 18th was the 
 following : — 
 
 " The Government of Versailles has soiled its 
 hands with a new crime, the most horrible and 
 most cowardly of all. Its agents have set fire to 
 the cartridge-factory of the Avenue Rapp, and 
 brought about a frightful explosion. 
 
 " The victims are estimated at over one 
 VOL. I. I i
 
 482 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 hundred, some women and a child at tlie breast 
 liave been blown to fragments. 
 
 " Four of the incendiaries are in the hands of 
 the ' Sûreté Générale.' 
 
 " The Committee of Public Welfare, Arnaud, 
 Billioray, Eudes, Gambon, Ranvier." 
 
 There could not be " over a hundred victims," 
 since the cartridge-factory only employed sixteen 
 men and fourteen women, and M. Thiers could not 
 have set fire to it, because the act would have been 
 at once a crime and a blunder. Delescluze did 
 not hesitate to repeat this lie. 
 
 " Yesterday you learnt the atrocity committed 
 within our walls by our infamous enemies; and 
 your patriotic hearts throbbed with indignation 
 against the offenders. The number of the victims 
 is far below what we at first feared ; fifty wounded, 
 for the most part slightly ; this is all that the men 
 of Versailles will have gained." 
 
 Delescluze was not sufiiciently blinded by hate 
 to believe that "the men of Versailles" had 
 plotted the burning of a manufactory. He took 
 hold of this calumny as of a weapon, and strove 
 to the last to defame the Government which was 
 destined to conquer him. M. Thiers did not 
 burn the manufactories, he did not bombard 
 Paris ; but he took his measures to put an end, 
 within the mouth, to the civil war. The majority
 
 THE COMMUNE. 483 
 
 of the Assembly, more and more irritated and im- 
 patient, constrained him to this. The Prussians 
 talked of taking Paris themselves, if the Govern- 
 ment did not end the matter. Another more 
 pressing motive was the situation of France, 
 whose resources were exhausted, and whose 
 activity was repressed by this prolonged and 
 ruinous war. 
 
 How could the ransom be paid ; how could 
 the country revive, if industry and commerce 
 were not restored ? And how restore them except 
 by peace ; and how attain peace except by 
 victory ? M. Thiers, urged by the most pressing 
 necessity, resolved to make the assault, and rained 
 shot upon the two points where the breach was 
 to be made. 
 
 This was not expected before the 24th. The 
 obligation to assault, which was fatally incumbent 
 upon M. Thiers, made him tremble. Not only 
 would the assault be sanguinary in itself, but how 
 were the soldiers to be kept within bounds after 
 the victory, if they entered by the breach, that is 
 to say at the price of the greatest peril and over 
 the bodies of the Federals. Of all the difficulties 
 the human will can attempt to overcome, perhaps 
 the greatest is to excite the soldier to the point of 
 fury that will make him rush to the assault, and 
 to restore him to self-restraint when he has scaled 
 
 I i 2
 
 éS4s THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the wall. Before resolving to spill Frencli blood 
 for hours, and to create lasting resentment and 
 vengeance between the army and the population, 
 M. Thiers resolved to do all in his power to get 
 one gate opened to him ; and in the first 
 place, to address the people in the language of 
 common sense, moderation, and patriotism. He 
 sent out on the 8th May the following proclama- 
 tion, which he managed to circulate largely among 
 the National Guard, and to which the Commune 
 replied by pulling down his house in the Place 
 St. Georges : — 
 
 " The Government of the French Republic to 
 the Parisians. 
 
 " France, freely consulted by universal suffrage, 
 has elected a government which is the only legal 
 one ; the only one that can command obedience 
 if universal suffrage is not an empty word. 
 
 " This Government has given you the same 
 rights as those enjoyed by Lyons, Marseilles, 
 Toulouse, and Bordeaux ; and, except by falsehood 
 to the principles of equality, you cannot demand 
 more rights than are possessed by the other cities 
 of our country. 
 
 "In presence of this Government the Com- 
 mune — that is to say the minority which oppresses 
 you, and which presumes to hoist the in- 
 famous red flag — has the assurance to impose its
 
 THE COMMUNE. 485 
 
 will upon France. By its works you will be 
 able to judge of tlie régime to wbicli it would 
 destine you. 
 
 " It violates property, imprisons citizens to make 
 hostages of them, turns your streets and your 
 public places, where once was displayed the 
 commerce of the world, into deserts ; suspends 
 labour in Paris, paralyzes it throughout France ; 
 arrests the prosperity which was about to revive, 
 retards the evacuation of territory by the 
 Germans, and exposes you to a fresh attack on 
 their part, which they are prepared to execute 
 without mercy, unless we come and suppress the 
 insuiTection ourselves. 
 
 "We have listened to all the denutations 
 which have been sent to us, and not one has 
 offered a condition that was not the abasement 
 of the national sovereignty before the revolt, and 
 the sacrifice of every liberty and every interest. 
 "We have repeated to these deputations that 
 we will spare the lives of those who laid down 
 their arms, and continue the subsidy to needy 
 workmen. 
 
 "We have promised this, and we promise it 
 again ; but this insurrection must cease, for 
 France must perish if it be prolonged. 
 
 " The Government that speaks to you would 
 have desired that you should have freed your-
 
 486 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 selves from the tyrants wlio have made sport 
 of your liberties and your lives. Since you 
 cannot do this, they must make it their own 
 business, and it is for this that the Government 
 has brought together under your walls an army 
 which comes at the cost of its blood, not to 
 conquer but to dehver you. 
 
 " Up to the present time the attack has been 
 limited to the outworks ; the moment has now 
 come when to shorten your sufferings the walls 
 must be attacked. 
 
 " Paris will not be bombarded, as the people of 
 the Commune and the Committee of Public Welfare 
 will not fail to say was intended. A bombard- 
 ment menaces the safety of a whole town, renders 
 it uninhabitable, and has no other aim than 
 to intimidate the citizens and to compel them to 
 a capitulation. The Government will fire no 
 cannon, except to force one of your gates, and 
 will make every effort to limit this war of which 
 it is not the author to the point of attack. 
 
 " The Government is aware, had you not 
 made it known, from many sources, that as soon as 
 the soldiers have entered the walls, you will rally 
 round the national flag, and assist our gallant 
 army in the destruction of a sanguinary and cruel 
 tyranny. 
 
 " It depends upon yourselves to avert the
 
 THE COMMUNE. 487 
 
 disasters inseparable from an assault. You are a 
 hundred times more numerous than the followers 
 of the Commune. Join, then, and in a body open 
 to us the gates which they have closed against 
 law, against order, against your own prosperity 
 and that of France. 
 
 *' The gates once open the guns will be silenced ; 
 quiet, order, abundance, peace, will return within 
 your walls ; the Germans will evacuate your 
 territory, and the traces of your misfortunes will 
 rapidly disappear. 
 
 " But if you do not act, the Government will be 
 obliged to take the surest and promptest measures 
 for your deliverance. It owes this to you, but 
 it owes it above all to France, because the evils 
 that weigh on you weigh on her, the stoppage 
 of business that ruins you extends to and equally 
 ruins her, because she has the right to be saved, 
 if you do not know how to save yourselves. 
 
 " Parisians, think seriously ; in a very few 
 days we shall be in Paris. France will have an end 
 of civil war. She will, she ought, she can. She 
 comes to deliver you, you can contribute to your 
 own safety by rendering the assault needless, and 
 by once more taking your place amongst 3'our 
 brethren." 
 
 While adjuring the Parisians to succour them- 
 selves, M. Thiers sent into Paris in disguise
 
 488 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 soldiers who were to confer with their old com- 
 rades, and men of spirit who, at the risk of losing 
 their lives, consented to negotiate with the insur- 
 rectionary generals. Some citizens who had re- 
 mained in Paris, hating the Commune, and pas- 
 sionately desiring an end of this parricidal 
 struggle, had succeeded in getting to Versailles 
 by clearing the outposts ; they spoke of officers 
 of the National Guard who were disposed to open 
 the gates, of citizens ready to fight the Federals 
 within, while the army should approach the ram- 
 parts, and thus catch them between two fires. 
 Some of these intermediaries were only intriguers; 
 others, for the most part well-intentioned, but 
 ill-informed, brought nothing but equivocal pro- 
 mises and impossible projects. 
 
 There were, however, in Paris, some courageous 
 and resolute enemies of the Commune. Admiral 
 Saisset had for some days had in readiness a little 
 army of 20,000 men. He had disbanded it on 
 the 25th March, on the eve of the Communal 
 elections ; but several of these good citizens had 
 remained secretly affiliated to and in correspond- 
 ence with their chiefs, who themselves corre- 
 sponded with Versailles : we may name Colonel 
 Charpentier, Colonels Domalain and De Beaufort, 
 Commandants Bonne, Dequevauvilliers, Polard, 
 Durouchoux, Dumay, Galimard, and Roulez.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 489 
 
 M. Lepage, author of a history of the Commune 
 of Paris, says, that M. Roulez made thirty-four 
 expeditions from Paris to Versailles, between the 
 2nd April and the 19th May. M. Barthélémy de 
 Saint-Hilaire, who made it his business to mislead 
 schemers and foolish persons, thought the proposal 
 of M. Roulez serious enough to make it desirable 
 to put him in direct correspondence with M. 
 Thiers. It concerned the delivering up of a gate. 
 M. Thiers, trusting the individual, but not confident 
 as to the enterprise, nevertheless took measures so 
 as to arrive at the appointed time at the foot of 
 the rampart. He went himself to the trenches, 
 and spent the night there, wishing to share this 
 great peril with the army, and to trust nothing to 
 chance. B;it the Delegate of War had suspicions ; 
 the rotation of the battalions was altered. M. 
 Thiers had to retire after several hours of waiting, 
 giving some pretext to the detachment to avoid 
 taking them into confidence. This attempt was 
 repeated twice. One of the correspondents of 
 M. Thiers, M. Lasnier, was arrested on entering 
 his house in the Rue de Maubeuge. Two large 
 chests, filled with tricoloured badges, were found 
 there and seized. It appeared later that M. 
 Charpentier was on the point of being arrested 
 when the troops entered Paris. 
 
 The negotiations with the iusurgent generals
 
 490 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 were active enough, but very diflBcult ; they 
 could only be carried on through third parties ; 
 the terrible danger incurred by the generals 
 prevented their writing, so that there were then 
 no guarantees, and to this day there are no 
 proofs. 
 
 Not a day passed that M. Thiers and M. Picard 
 did not give an account to the Council of Ministers 
 of the proposals which had been made to them. 
 The generals, who felt they were lost, should have 
 been satisfied with a safe-conduct to escape to 
 America ; they demanded instead, or caused to be 
 demanded in their names, enormous sums. M. 
 Lissagaray relates that Cluseret boasted one day to 
 Delescluze of having refused a million, and that 
 Delescluze turned his back on him. If the offer 
 was made, it was not by an authorized agent of 
 the Government. We shall mention one of these 
 attempts because it had tragical results. M. 
 Georges Vaysset was in communication with 
 Dombrowski's secretary. The secretary, on the 
 supposed authority of his chief, demanded several 
 safe-conducts and a sum of 500,000 francs. M. 
 Yaysset saw M. Barthélémy de Saint-Hilaire more 
 than once, but he refused to give the money 
 without some pledge for the veracity of the secre- 
 tary and the fidelity of the general. A day was 
 fixed with the secretary, and a place of meeting
 
 THE COMMUNE. 491 
 
 assigned near St. Denis. M. Georges Vaysset went 
 there with his friend M. Planât, formerly a deputy of 
 the opposition at the Corps Législatif, who wished 
 to take his share of exertion and peril. They 
 found only agents of the Commune. M. Planât 
 managed to escape. Georges Vaysset was taken 
 to the depot of the Prefecture, and shot three 
 days later. 
 
 The Committee of Public Welfare summoned 
 Dombrowski. Guilty or not, the rendezvous 
 given by his secretary was undeniable. Other 
 generals had been arrested for much less. M. 
 Lissagaray, who was that day at the Hôtel de Ville, 
 relates the interview thus in his " Huit Journées 
 de Mai derrière les Barricades." 
 
 " Brought before the Committee, with crossed 
 arms and a glance which included every one 
 present, he exclaimed with fury, — 
 
 *" It seems I am accused of treachery.* 
 
 " No one replied. A member of the Com- 
 mune, Dereure, broke the silence. 
 
 " ' If Dombrowski is a traitor, then am I also a 
 traitor. I answer for him as for myself.' " 
 
 They let Dombrowski depart. He seated himself 
 at the officers' table and dined with them. After 
 the repast he walked round the room and shook the 
 hand of each one in silence. They all knew he 
 was going to get himself killed."
 
 492 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 The event of 21st May rendered all negotiations 
 witli the generals unnecessary. The battalion 
 charged on that day with the keeping of the Porte 
 de St. Cloud, deserted its post. Was this mutiny, 
 or excess of confidence, or simply disorder ? It is 
 certain that the fire of our batteries rendered the 
 ramparts uninhabitable. Whatever the cause, the 
 battalion disappeared. A brave citizen, M. Ducatel, 
 seeing that the gate was undefended, scaled the 
 rampart, tied a white handkerchief to the end of 
 his cane, and made the situation known to an 
 ofiicer named Treves, who hastened to him on 
 seeing his signal. Paris owes it to M. Ducatel 
 that it was not taken by assault. France and 
 the army owe to him a prompter solution of the 
 crisis. The breach was still insufficient, and 
 Marshal MacMahon asked three or four days to 
 make it more practicable. Captain Treves was 
 the first to scale the fortified wall with Sergeant 
 Coûtant of the 91st foot, who had followed him. 
 Captain Treves reconnoitred the position, in 
 advance of the movement of the first columns of 
 the army. The 37th foot entered first, almost all 
 Verge's division followed. At half past-five, 
 General Douai's troops had taken the Porte 
 d'Auteuil, driving before them the Federal 
 bataillons that had gathered at this point. 
 
 At the same moment General Vinoy entered
 
 THE COMMUNE. 493 
 
 Paris with Admiral Pothiiau, Minister of Marine, 
 and they were witnesses of this short but sharp 
 engagement. 
 
 General Vinoy gave some orders and returned 
 to Versailles, whence he brought the Far on and 
 Bruat divisions, and with them re-entered Paris at 
 two in the morning. The army had carried 
 the barricade on the Quai de Grenelle during the 
 evening, and established themselves on the heights 
 of the Trocadero and the Arc de l'Étoile, where 
 the insurgents had thrown up works, which 
 they abandoned in the agitation of this surprise. 
 They fled by the Avenue of the Champs Elysees. 
 Some few tried to drag away the guns, but had 
 to desert them. The guns were seized, and not a 
 moment was lost before they were set in battery 
 against the Federals. 
 
 During this time the columns of infantry, fol- 
 lowing the line of the viaduct, opened the south 
 gates to General de Cissey. He entered by the 
 Porte de Sèvres at the approach to Porte d'Issy, 
 left bank, took possession of Grenelle and Yaugi- 
 rard, and marched upon the École Militaire, where 
 he arrived on the 22nd at dawn of day. 
 
 The greater part of Paris went to sleep on the 
 night of the 21st without hearing the news of the 
 entry of the troops. Those who heard refused to 
 believe it. The battalions of Federals, scattered
 
 494 THE GOVERNMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 by the army, had announced in the quarters to 
 which they had retired, that the walls were cleared, 
 but their tale was received with incredulity; it 
 was believed to be a panic. Delescluze revised 
 and forwarded to the Committee of Public "Wel- 
 fare the following note. It was communicated to 
 the journals ; he withdrew it wherever he could, 
 but it appeared notwithstanding on the Monday 
 morning in the Cri du Peuple. 
 
 " At the Observatory of the Arc de Triomphe 
 the entry of the Versailles army is denied. 
 Nothing resembling it is to be seen. Com- 
 mandant Renard, of the Section, who has just 
 left me, afiBrms that there has merely been a 
 panic, that the Porte d'Auteuil has not been 
 forced ; that if any Yersaillais have presented 
 themselves, they have been repulsed. I have 
 sent for eleven battalions of reinforcements, and 
 as many staff-officers, who are not to leave them 
 till they are marched to the posts they are intended 
 to occupy." 
 
 The Delegate of War was not long in receiving 
 news which put an end to his optimism. He at 
 once gave orders for street-fighting and barri- 
 cades. Paris was lost, but not yet taken. 
 Greek fire, mines, bonfires, immnise barricades 
 with ditches in front, and scientifically con- 
 structed, sanguinary engagements between house
 
 THE COMMUNE. 495 
 
 and house, this is what the army would have to 
 contend with. It would take a full week. All 
 the horrors of the cruellest sieges of which 
 history has kept a record were compressed into 
 that short space of time. 
 
 That night Delescluze wrote his last proclama- 
 tion ; it appeared on Monday morning in the 
 Journal Officiel^ and was placarded on all sides. 
 
 " To the People of Paris. 
 " To the National Guard. 
 
 " Enough of militarism ! No more gold-laced 
 Staff-ofiScers. 
 
 " Room for the people, the bare-armed com- 
 batants ! 
 
 " The hour of the Revolutionary "War has 
 struck. The people know nothing of scientific 
 manoeuvres, but when they have muskets in their 
 hands and pavements under foot, they fear not 
 the strategy of the monarchist army. 
 
 " To arms ! citizens ! To arms ! 
 
 " It means, and you know it, to conquer or to 
 fall into the pitiless hands of the reactionaries and 
 the clericals of Versailles, of those wretches who 
 have intentionally delivered up France to the 
 Prussians, and who will make you pay the ransom 
 of their treachery ! 
 
 *' If you would not have all the generous 
 blood which has been poured like water for the last
 
 496 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 six weeks wasted, if you would live with freedom 
 and equality in France, if you would spare your 
 cliildren your own miseries and griefs, you will 
 rise as one man, and, before your formidable resis- 
 tance, tlie enemy, who flatter themselves that they 
 will crush you once more beneath the yoke, shall 
 have nothing but the shame of the useless crimes 
 of the last two months. 
 
 " Citizens, your representatives will fight and 
 die with you if needful, but in the name of this 
 glorious France, the mother of all popular revolu- 
 tions, the permanent centre of those ideas of justice 
 and solidarity which ought to be, and will be, the 
 laws of the world, march upon the enemy, and let 
 your revolutionary energy show them that Paris 
 may be sold, but neither conquered nor given 
 up ! 
 
 " The Commune counts upon you. Count upon 
 the Commune ! 
 
 " The Committee of Public Welfare. 
 
 " The Delegate of War, 
 
 " Delescluze." 
 
 On that same day the Commune held its last 
 sitting at the Hôtel de Ville. The few members 
 present were disheartened. 
 
 Felix Pyat showed that defeat was inevitable, 
 and spoke of treating with Versailles. 
 
 The matter was not taken up.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 497 
 
 They distrusted one another. They feared 
 Versailles, and they feared the people, who would 
 have cried " Treason." 
 
 They saw death on all sides, and consulted 
 the Committee of Public Welfare respecting the 
 measures to be taken. Its members were power- 
 less ; they thought to make use of the hostages ^ 
 to save their own lives, and Billioray, in the name 
 of his colleagues, had broached that notion at the 
 Union of Syndicates on the preceding Thursday. 
 The members of the Committee present at the 
 sitting of the 22nd did not associate themselves 
 with the insinuations of Felix Pyat. They let 
 themselves be charged with all the authority and 
 all the responsibility, without pronouncing a 
 word. 
 
 'No one proposed any collective plan. The few 
 energetic men present comprehended that the 
 Assembly could do nothing more, either for the 
 cause or for their own good. They dispersed, 
 some to avenge themselves, or to go and fight, 
 others to hide or to fly. 
 
 Delescluze, resolved still to struggle, because he 
 was resolved to die, established himself at the 
 Mairie of the 11th arrondissement, which he 
 made his head-quarters. The Hôtel de Ville had 
 no sooner been evacuated by the Commune, than 
 the Committee installed itself there. More than 
 
 VOL. I. K k
 
 498 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 one member of the Committee, as well as of the 
 Commune, knew that in a couple of days the 
 Hôtel de Ville of Paris would be nothing but a 
 ruin; but so long as it stood erect it was the 
 official and historical seat of the revolutionary 
 Government, and the Committee was anxious to 
 date its proclamation from the Hôtel de Ville, 
 to show that it had resumed possession of power, 
 and sheltered itself no longer behind those two 
 impostures, the Commune and the Committee 
 of Public Welfare. 
 
 " Let Paris bristle with barricades, and from 
 behind those improvised ramparts send forth her 
 war-cry to the enemy, a cry of defiance, a cry 
 of pride, but likewise a cry of victory ; for Paris 
 with her barricades is impregnable." High sound- 
 ing words which ill concealed a great and profound 
 disaster ! The Central Committee had not, any 
 more than the Commune, a settled plan of defence. 
 
 Neither was capable of anything more now 
 than proclamations and incendiarism. While the 
 Committee declared Paris impregnable, the army 
 was pursuing a happily-conceived plan for 
 crushing the insurrection while sacrificing as 
 few lives as possible. The troops advanced along 
 the two banks, strengthening themselves in the 
 positions they took, and laying hands on all the 
 fire-arms they found in the houses. Thus was
 
 THE COMMUNE. 499 
 
 effected the disarming of tlie National Guard, 
 wliicli had been deemed impossible. They took 
 over 350,000 muskets. On the Monday evening 
 the army occupied Batignolles, the Saint Lazare 
 Station, and the Palais d'Industrie on the right; on 
 the left the Corps-Législatif, the Western Railway 
 Station, the Invalides, and Vaugirard. 
 
 The Committee of Public Welfare addressed 
 a proclamation to the soldiers on the 23rd. But 
 how far were they now from the 18th of March ! 
 
 " Soldiers of the army of Versailles. 
 
 " The people of Paris will never believe that 
 you could direct your arms against them; when 
 you are breast to breast, your hands will recoil 
 from an act which would be fratricide. Like 
 ourselves you belong to the proletariat; like us 
 you are interested in depriving these conspiring 
 monarchists of the right to drink your blood, as 
 they live by your sweat. 
 
 " What you did on the 18th of March you will 
 do again, and the people will be spared the pain 
 of fighting with men whom they look upon as 
 brothers, and whom they would gladly see sitting 
 with them at the civic banquet of liberty and 
 equality. 
 
 " Come to us, brothers ! come to us ! our arms 
 are open to you ! 
 
 " The Committee of Public Welfare." 
 K k 2
 
 500 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 Tlie Committee also publislied the following 
 decree at the same time : — 
 
 "Art. 1. The blinds and shutters of all win- 
 dows are to be left open. 
 
 " Art. 2. Any house from which a shot is fired, 
 or any act of aggression against the National 
 Guard committed, will be immediately burnt. 
 
 *' Art. 3. The National Guard is charged with 
 the strict execution of this order." 
 
 On the Tuesday morniog, the Republican 
 Union for the rights of Paris, sent one of its 
 members, M. Bonvalet, to the Hôtel de Ville, to 
 inquire of the Commune whether they would not 
 take measures to put an end to the struggle 
 which for three days had drenched Paris in 
 blood. He was received by the Central Commit- 
 tee, which since the day before had replaced the 
 Commune. The majority met the proposal coldly. 
 That evening, however, three delegates, Rousseau, 
 Grollard, and Grelier, held a conference with 
 the Republican Union. 
 
 They would not negotiate, they said, unless the 
 Assembly began by changing the Government. 
 Thus, at this period of the struggle they were 
 still making conditions, and such conditions I 
 This was like insanity. The members of the 
 Union replied that nothing could be attempted. 
 Rousseau said, " We cannot be conquered. If 
 need be we shall resort to extreme measures."
 
 THE COJIMUNE. 501 
 
 Already on the 16t]i May, tlie Cri du Peuple 
 Vallès' journal, had published these threatening 
 words ; — 
 
 " A few days since, we received information 
 of the most serious nature, the truth of which has 
 now been confirmed. 
 
 "All measures have been taken, so that no 
 hostile soldiers shall enter Paris. 
 
 " The forts may be taken, one after the other, 
 the ramparts may fall : no enemy's soldier shall 
 enter Paris. 
 
 " If M. Theirs understands chemistry, he will 
 understand us. 
 
 " Let the army of Versailles be assured that 
 Paris will do everything but surrender." 
 
 The same paper published what follows on 
 the 20th of May :— 
 
 " Paris, heroic and despairing, may be blown 
 up, but should this occur, it will be in order 
 to engulf Versailles and its army." 
 
 Rousseau talked of extreme measures ; the Com- 
 mittee of Public Welfare, of burning the houses. 
 Vallès threatened to blow up Paris. The Scien- 
 tific Commission were incessantly requisitioning 
 petroleum. The following paper was found on 
 the body of an insurgent, killed on the 8th May, 
 at the attack on the Mairie of the 11th arron- 
 dissement.
 
 502 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 " Committee of Public Welfare. 
 
 " The Municipal officers are ordered imme- 
 diately to collect all inflammable and explosive 
 chemicals to be found in their arrondissement, and 
 to concentrate them within the 11th. 
 
 " Committee of Public "Welfare. 
 
 " C. Jauffret. 
 
 " The houses attacked by the Versaillais or by 
 the reaction are to be burned. C. J. " 
 
 It has been said on behalf of the Commune 
 that no collective responsibility could exist on 
 this subject ; that there was no discussion. 
 Doubtless we find no trace of discussion any- 
 where; but the Commune never met after the 22nd, 
 the members had retired into the Mairies, remain- 
 ing in the power of the insurrection. A few were 
 seen to enter the Mairie of the 11th, where they 
 sought news. The Central Committee sat at the 
 Hôtel de Ville on the 23rd ; afterwards at their 
 old locality in the Rue Basfroy. Details are 
 wanting as to what was said and done at these 
 latter confabulations. 
 
 It is to be hoped for the honour of humanity 
 that no discussion was held anywhere upon the 
 assassination of the hostages ; and the burning of 
 the monuments of Paris. 
 
 In the Commune, in the Central Committee, 
 there were men who would have protested with
 
 THE COMMUNE. 603 
 
 all their strength, who would have made public 
 their protests and their indignation ; Beslay, who 
 saved the Bank; Theisz, who saved the Post Office; 
 Grêlier, who prevented several conflagrations ; 
 Yarlin, who risked his life to rescue the victims of 
 the Rue Haxo; Vallès, Yermorel, who opposed 
 Genton and Mégy, to save the hostages of La 
 Roquette; poor Arthur Arnould, so little fitted 
 for such surroundings as assassins and incen- 
 diaries, and many others who refused to be ac- 
 complices in such crimes. A resolution was 
 indeed taken, that is evident, but amongst a 
 small number of villains. M. Maxime du Camp, 
 who states that he has quoted no text without 
 having the original at hand (" Les Prisons de Paris 
 sous la Commune ") has published the following 
 document : — 
 
 «Paris (22nd May). 
 
 " The Citizen Millière will take 150 men with 
 fuses, and set fire to the suspected houses and 
 the monuments on the right bank. 
 
 " The Citizen Dereure, with 100 of the same, 
 is entrusted with the 1st and 2nd arrondisse- 
 ments. The Citizen Vésinier is specially charged 
 with the Boulevards from the Madeleine to the 
 Bastille. These Citizens are to make arrangements 
 with the commandants of barricades so as to 
 ensure the execution of these orders.'*
 
 Ô04 THE GOVEENMENT OP M. THIERS. 
 
 There is proof against some of them. Ferré*s 
 note, " Faites flamber Finances," is in existence; 
 and so is Parent's order — (not Ulysse Parent, but 
 a confederate ofificer of that name) " Fire the 
 quarter of the Bourse. Do not be afraid ;" and 
 that note of Ulric's, " I am about to fire the 
 Government storehouses." The story of the 
 burning of the Tuileries is told by M. V. 
 Thomas, nephew of Clément Thomas. The in- 
 cendiaries were Benot and Bergeret. M. Maxime 
 du Camp quotes the names of the incendiaries of 
 the Hôtel de Yille. " Ranvier, Hippolyte, Parent, 
 Pindy, and Dudach, undertook the execution of 
 this senseless crime, and acquitted themselves 
 conscientiously of it, aided by the federals of the 
 174th battalion and two companies of the Avengers 
 of Flourens." On the morning of the 26th the 
 federals of the 174th passed along the Quai St. 
 Berrard, and said joyfully, " We have just fired 
 the Hôtel Haussmann, and we are going to the 
 Buttes-aux-Cailles to pitch into the Versaillais." 
 
 At night, on the 23rd — 24th, a part of Paris was 
 in flames. The Ministère des Finances was entirely 
 burnt. ("Faites flamber Finances.") The 
 Palais Royal and the Library of the Louvre, oppo- 
 site each other, were set on fire. The Library had 
 been sprinkled with petroleum. Previous to 4th 
 September it had been the Emperor's library. It
 
 THE COMMUNE. 605 
 
 contained a quantity of valuable editions, of 
 magnificent bindings, of beautiful engravings. M. 
 Jules Simon had made it the Library of the 
 Museum of the Louvre, and had occupied himself 
 with collecting publications interesting to artists. 
 All was burnt, to the last sheet of paper. The 
 Museums were in danger for fully half a day, but 
 the wind was not in that quarter, the flames went 
 up straight ; it was a great piece of luck in the 
 midst of cruel disaster. Several houses in the 
 Eue Royale had also been set on fire. 
 
 M. V. Thomas thus relates the burning of the 
 Tuileries. " Bergeret gave Benot orders to make 
 preparations for the conflagration, and to set fire 
 to the Palace. ... It was no sooner mentioned, 
 than he exclaimed, * I undertake it.' He at once 
 furnished himself with candles, brooms, and all 
 needful utensils for spreading petroleum upon the 
 walls, and powder on the staircases, and in the 
 rooms. 
 
 " A barrel of powder was placed on the ground 
 floor of the clock -tower, and large quantities of 
 ammunition in the Salle des Maréchaux. 
 
 " He saturated the flooring and walls of all the 
 rooms with petroleum ; and laid a train of gun- 
 powder reaching from the inner court to the 
 ground floor of the Pavillion. 
 
 *' Between ten and eleven o'clock Benot returned
 
 506 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 to the Louvre, where the pair supped. After 
 coffee, towards midnight, Benot proposed that 
 they should enjoy the sight from the terrace of the 
 Louvre. About two in the morning a formidable 
 explosion took place. All the federals garrisoning 
 the posts were alarmed. Bergeret reassured them, 
 " It is nothing," said he; " the Tuileries are being 
 blown up." 
 
 M. y. Thomas adds, that after the explosion of 
 the Tuileries, Bergeret wrote the following words 
 in pencil, and sent them to the Committee of 
 Public Welfare : " The last vestiges of royalty have 
 just disappeared. I desire that the same shall 
 be done with all the monuments in Paris." 
 
 Did he do this ? Did he write this ? Is it 
 true ? Is it possible ? On the 24th, the fires con- 
 tinued and were multiplied. On the left bank, the 
 Palais de la Légion d'Honneur, and the Palais du 
 Quai d'Orsay, were burned. Several houses in 
 the Rue du Bac were destroyed, and also the 
 houses in the Rue de Lille and a part of the 
 Croix Rouge. 
 
 On the right bank, a portion of the Rue de 
 Rivoli, the Prefecture of Police, the Palais de 
 Justice, the Hôtel de Ville, the theatre of the 
 Porte St. Martin, were burnt, and also several 
 houses in the Rue de Bondy, Place du Château 
 d'Eau, and the Boulevard Voltaire. The Palais-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 507 
 
 Koyal, which had been set on fire, was saved, as 
 also the Théâtre-Français by the arrival of the 
 troops. The powder-magazine in the waste ground 
 of the Luxembourg was blown up, so as to leave 
 no ammunition for the " Yersaillais." On the 25th, 
 when the insurgents were dislodged from the 
 Buttes-aux- Cailles, by General Cissey, they set fire 
 to the Gobelins in retiring ; and thus consumed 
 tapestries which had no equal in the world. On the 
 26th, the Lyons Railway Station, and the Docks of 
 La Villette containing merchandise to the value of 
 200,000 francs were burned. 
 
 The artists had formed a battalion, under the 
 orders of Commandant Monplat; they had a 
 twofold right as artists and as citizens to 
 oppose these devastations. The Commandant 
 stationed pickets at the Conservatoire des Art 
 et Métiers, at the Archives, at the National 
 Printing-Office, at the Mairie of the 3rd 
 arrondissement, at the Temple, and at Notre 
 Dame. The preservation of those monuments is 
 due to these brave citizens. The incendiaries 
 presented themselves and were repulsed. They 
 had forced their way into the Mairie of the 
 3rd arrondissement, and at once forming them- 
 selves into a court-martial had tried the artists 
 who opposed their entrance, and sentenced them 
 to death. While the judges were consulting, the
 
 508 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEES. 
 
 condemned appropriated the arms whicli were 
 stacked in the place, and had Httle trouble in 
 showing the court-martial the door. 
 
 Assassination had begun on the 23rd, at the 
 same time as incendiarism. On the 22nd, Raoul 
 Rigault had gone to the Conciergerie to make 
 su^e of the presence of thirty-four gendarmes 
 whom he had confined there. He said on 
 leaving, " It shall be to-morrow." The next 
 day, the 23rd, came an order from him, that they 
 were to be taken away, and shot. A gaoler, 
 named Durlin, saved them at the risk of his life. 
 The old employés of the prison service, kept in 
 Paris by order of M. Ernest Picard, showed 
 praiseworthy fidelity in all cases. In the evening, 
 on the same day, at the hour when the flames 
 began to rise, Raoul Rigault repaired to Ste. 
 Pélagie, and sent for Chaudey to the prison 
 lodge. 
 
 Cbaudey, who had received a visit from his 
 wife during the day, was writing in his cell. The 
 firing of cannon could be heard drawing nearer, 
 he began to believe in his deliverance. He came 
 just as he was, in dressing-gown and slippers. 
 Rigault curtly informed him that he was to die. 
 
 " I have a wife and child," said Chaudey. " No 
 snivelhng ! " Chaudey was not weeping. " You 
 shall see," said he, "how a Republican dies." 
 He awaited his death, standing upright without
 
 THE COMMUNE. 509 
 
 trembling, witTiout turning his head. The assassin 
 also ordered three gendarmes, who had been 
 prisoners since the 18th March, to be shot. Then, 
 Is business over, he retired, thinking perhaps that 
 he had another victim for the morrow awaiting 
 him at La Roquette. But on the morrow it was 
 his own turn to die. 
 
 On the 22nd May, Ferré, delegate of Police, the 
 successor and disciple of Rigault, had sent an 
 order to the Governor of La Santé, which re- 
 mained without effect, thanks to the resoluteness 
 of the officials. 
 
 " Paris, May 22nd, 1871. 
 
 " The Governor of La Santé is ordered to 
 have the gendarmes, sergeants, secret agents, all 
 Bonapartists who are in this prison, shot, should 
 the insurgents of Versailles have the audacity to 
 attack and attempt to take it." 
 
 On the 24th, at eight in the morning he caused 
 M. Georges Vaysset, who was detained at the 
 Conciergerie, to be shot. The body of this brave 
 citizen, who had served as a medium of com- 
 munication between the government and the 
 generals who were disposed to surrender, was 
 thrown into the river. 
 
 The hostages of most importance were at La 
 Grande Hoquette. Raoul Rigault had gone him- 
 self to fetch them from Mazas on the 22nd, and 
 had transferred them thither. In the prison were
 
 510 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 the Arclibisliop of Paris, the Abbé Deguerry, curé 
 of the Madeleine, some other priests, Jesuits, 
 missionaries, almoners, and several lay persons. 
 M. Bonjean, presiding judge of the Cour de Cassa- 
 tion, who had been a senator under the Empire, 
 M. Chevriaux, now inspector of the Academy of 
 Paris, &c. Eflforts had been made some time 
 previously to liberate the archbishop ; or it 
 would be more correct to say that efforts had 
 been made to liberate Blanqui, a prisoner of the 
 Government, by exchanging him for the arch- 
 bishop, a prisoner of the Insurrection. The follow- 
 ing letter, written by the archbishop to M. Thiers, 
 and taken to Versailles by a hostage, who had 
 given his word to return to Mazas, but did not 
 feel bound to keep it, explains the situation with 
 great exactness. 
 
 "April 12th, 1871, Prison at Mazas. 
 " Monsieur le President. 
 
 " I have the honour of submitting to you a 
 communication which I received yesterday evening, 
 and I beg you to take such action upon it as 
 your wisdom and humanity may deem fitting. 
 
 " An influential man, closely connected with 
 M. Blanqui by certain political opinions, and above 
 all by sentiments of deep and long-standing friend- 
 ship (the archbishop here alluded to M. Flotte, 
 formerly deputy of the Seine) is making active
 
 THE COMMUNE. 511 
 
 efforts to procure his liberation. With this 
 view he has of his own accord proposed the 
 following arrangement to the commissaries whom 
 it concerns. If M. Blanqui is set at liberty, the 
 archbishop of Paris, and also his sister, will be 
 set free, President Bonjean, M. Deguerry, curé of 
 the Madeleine, and M. Lagarde, Vicar-general of 
 Paris. The latter will be the bearer of this letter. 
 The proposal has been agreed to, and now only 
 requires your approval. 
 
 " Although I am at stake in this affair, I ven- 
 ture to recommend it to your good will, and my 
 motives will, I hope, appear plausible. 
 
 " There are only too many causes of dissension 
 and bitterness amongst us. Since an opportunity 
 occurs of effecting a compromise, which, after all, 
 involves persons rather than principles, might it 
 not be wise to accede to it, and thus to contribute 
 to the soothing of men's minds ? Public opinion 
 might not perhaps understand a refusal. 
 
 " In a sharp crisis, such as we are now passing 
 through, reprisals, executions by the rioters, 
 though they should touch only two or three 
 persons, add to the terror of some, to the anger of 
 others, and do much to aggravate the situation. 
 
 " Permit me to say without further detail, that 
 this question of humanity is woi'thy of all your 
 attention in the present state of things in Paris.
 
 512 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 " May I venture, M. le President, to avow my 
 last reason. Touched by the zeal that the 
 person of whom I speak has testified, with so true 
 a friendship, for M. Blanqui, my heart as a man 
 and as a priest has been unable to resist his moving 
 entreaties, and I have undertaken to ask of you 
 the liberation of M. Blanqui as promptly as 
 possible. This I have now done. 
 
 " I should be happy, M. le President, if what 1 
 now solicit should not appear to you impossible. 
 I shall then have rendered service to several 
 persons, and even to my country." 
 
 M. Thiers did not return a reply for two days. 
 He wished to consult the Ministers, and afterwards 
 the Commission of Fifteen. 
 
 The Council and the Commission were unani- 
 mously for a refusal. M. Thiers prepared a 
 letter to this effect, which never reached its 
 destination, but of which the conclusion and the 
 motives were made public. 
 
 The Archbishop was no doubt right in saying 
 that "reprisals, and executions by the rioters, 
 added to the terror of some, and the anger of 
 others." What would the Ministrynot have doneto 
 give to the present struggle a less sanguinary cha- 
 racter ? No one at Versailles believed that the lives 
 of the hostages were threatened. They knew by a 
 cruel and recent experience, of what a riotous mob
 
 THE COMMUNE. 613 
 
 is capable, in a moment of excitement. But the 
 hostages were in prison, they could not perish 
 save by virtue of an order from the insurrectional 
 Government, and however criminal that Govern- 
 ment might be, it would not go so far as delibe- 
 rately to order a wanton massacre : but, supposing 
 that they were wicked enough to commit such a 
 crime and insane enough to cut off their own sole 
 chance of safety, only five hostages were proposed 
 as an exchange for M. Blanqui. There still would 
 remain nearly two thousand in the hands of the 
 insurrection ; so that the results of an execution or 
 rather of a massacre so justly dreaded by the Arch- 
 bishop, would not be avoided. The Government 
 had no right to make this exchange ; they could 
 only effect it in violation of the law ; because 
 Blanqui, condemned, but condemned in default, 
 must of necessity be tried, and could not under the 
 circumstances be a subject for clemency. And then, 
 political reason would forbid the insurrection's 
 being provided with a chief who would be regarded 
 as a considerable addition to its strength. 
 
 *' Would not the acceptance of this offer be to 
 sanction and extend the abominable system of 
 hostages, and to permit the men ruling in Paris 
 to multiply arrests so as to constrain the Govern- 
 ment to effect new exchanges. 
 
 " I am thus, Monseigneur, without the right and 
 VOL. I. L 1
 
 514 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 wifhout the power of effecting the exchange you 
 propose, and which a commission of the Assembly 
 has unanimously decided that the Government 
 ought to refuse. 
 
 " In this distressing position, I am at least con- 
 fident that the men who have dared to arrest you 
 will not be so wicked as to proceed to any further 
 violence." 
 
 This last sentence expressed the belief of 
 every one. When on the 22nd May the soldiers 
 entered La Roquette, which had been deserted 
 by the Federals, the first words of the captain were, 
 " "Where is the Archbishop, where is M. Bonjean ? '* 
 They had been assassinated three days before. 
 
 It would be hard to say from whence came the 
 order for their execution. There had been a sbam 
 court-martial at the Mairie of the 11th arron- 
 dissement, where Delescluze had established him- 
 self, and which was the rendezvous of the mem- 
 bers of the Commune and the insurgent officers. 
 Who gave the order to assemble this tribunal, and 
 regulated its formation ? Was it Raoul Rigault 
 or Ferré ? or the Committee of Public Welfare ? 
 The President was one Genton, a carpenter, a 
 former club-president at the end of the empire and 
 during the siege, an illiterate personage of whom 
 the Commune had made a magistrate. The names 
 of the assessors are unknown, it is probable that
 
 THE COMMUNE. 515 
 
 he himself never knew them ; such formalities 
 were needless. "The Court" sat at the Marie 
 of the 11th, on the 14th May, at two o'clock 
 in the afternoon. Although it was composed of 
 three members only, there were present members 
 of the Commune who took part in the proceedings. 
 The first question that arose was the shooting of 
 sixty-six hostages. They were reduced to six, on 
 the stipulation that the Archbishop and M. Bon- 
 jean should be of the number. 
 
 Vallès and Vermorel strongly opposed the 
 contemplated iniquity, but their voices were 
 overpowered. Genton set out for La Grande 
 Roquette with the sentence ; he was accompanied 
 by Mégy and Sicard, and he arrived at about five 
 o'clock. The order only bore two names, and 
 demanded six victims, " We must have the six 
 names," said the clerk of the prison, endeavouring 
 to gain time. 
 
 Genton took the jailor's list, and wrote the six 
 names in the following order : Darboy, Bonjean, 
 Deguerry, Allard, Clerc, Ducoudray. *' It must 
 be approved," said the clerk. Genton ran to the 
 Mairie of the 11th, and returned in three quarters of 
 an hour with the order endorsed by Ferré. A 
 body of forty men, led by François (the director 
 of the prison), Genton, Mégy, Picard, and Vérig 
 (Yérig was the captain commanding the post), 
 
 L 1 2
 
 616 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 mounted to the first floor. Let us follow M. Maxime 
 du Camp to the end of the story. " Ramain (a 
 superintendent, a friend of François, and newly 
 brought by him into the prison) called the roll : 
 " Darboy ! " a very calm voice replied " Present.'* 
 " Bonjean," " I am here," said the President, *' I 
 am taking my overcoat.'* Ramain seized him by 
 the arm : " It is not worth while, you will do as 
 you are," said he. They called Deguerry, no voice 
 was heard, the name was repeated, and after some 
 moments, the curé of the Madeleine came and 
 placed himself next to M. Bonjean, The Fathers 
 Clerc, Allard, and Ducoudray replied at once, and 
 joined their companions. Ramain said, " The 
 number is made up." The men then moved away. 
 The chiefs deliberated for an instant as to the spot 
 where the execution should take place. They 
 would be too much in sight in the little garden. 
 Ramain opened the door leading to the first circular 
 path. The Archbishop passed through first, 
 rapidly descended the five steps, and turned round ; 
 when his companions in martyrdom were on the 
 steps he raised his right hand, and pronounced 
 the form of absolution, " Ego vos absolvo ab 
 omnibus censuris et peccatis ;" then he offered his 
 arm to M. Bonjean, who walked with difficulty. 
 
 They were placed against the wall facing the 
 firing-party, Monseigneiu* Darboy first, then M.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 617 
 
 Bonjean, tlie Abbé DegueiTy, Fathers Ducoudray 
 and Clerc, both Jesuits, and lastly the Abbé 
 Allard, almoner to the ambulances, who during 
 the siege and the battles of the Commune had 
 zealously tended the wounded. 
 
 The firing-party were within thirty paces from 
 the six men who stood there erect and resiofnod. 
 It was Genton who gave the order to fire. Two 
 successive volleys were heard, and then a few 
 stray shots. It was a quarter to eight in the 
 evening. 
 
 The next day, the 25th, at seven in the morning 
 Genton returned to La Grande Roquette and made 
 them deliver up Jecker, the banker, who was 
 taken on foot through a multitude of streets into 
 some waste ground beyond Père la Chaise, and 
 there shot. M. Lissagaray, in his " Histoire de 
 la Commune," says that he seemed to resign 
 himself very quickly, and even conversed on the 
 way. 
 
 "You are mistaken," he said, "if you think 
 that I made a good thing of this ; those people 
 tricked me." Genton had but four armed men 
 with him. M. Maxime du Camp names two of 
 them, François and Yérig. 
 
 On the same day, Thursday the 25th, another 
 massacre took place at the other end of Paris. 
 
 A descent had been made, on the 19th, upon the
 
 618 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 École Albert le Grand, directed by Père Captier, 
 and the Dominicans of Arcueil. The latter were 
 accused of corresponding with the hostile army, 
 by means of signals, which they had never dreamed 
 of doing. Their house was entered, the occupants 
 imprisoned, their plate and money seized. There 
 were twenty-one monks, a few servants, a very 
 small number of children whom their parents had 
 been unable to remove, and some Sisters of 
 Charity. The Sisters and the children were sent 
 to Saint Lazare. The Dominicans were shut up 
 in the casemates of the fort of Bicetre with two 
 Belgian servants, and two children over fifteen. 
 The next day they were taken to the prison of the 
 13th zone, which was already overcrowded; one 
 of them escaped on the way ; the two boys were 
 set at liberty, the two Belgians were let off as 
 foreigners. The other twenty found themselves 
 in this new prison at the mercy of Serizier, a 
 turner transformed into a colonel and Chef de 
 Légion, who at the beginning of the insurrec- 
 tion had helped Leo Meillet to save the life of 
 General Chanzy, but who had become ferocious 
 after six weeks of fighting, absolute authority, and 
 violent excitement. Serizier, who had a horror of 
 priests, overwhelmed these with abuse. He wanted 
 to compel them to work at the barricade ; but they 
 stoutly refused. " We are lufirmarians," they
 
 THE COMMUNE. 619 
 
 said ; " we succour your wounded, but we will 
 not lend our assistance to war." As it was im- 
 possible to dishonour, it was resolved to kill them; 
 but to kill them like human game, instead of 
 having recourse to the vulgar proceeding of the 
 firing-party, and of " sticking them to the wall." 
 Serizier placed the National Guards at some dis- 
 tance, as if on the watch for a shot. A good many 
 women with muskets joined them to take part in 
 the fun. When all was ready, an adjutant entered 
 the prison, and said to the Dominicans, " Go out, 
 you are at liberty." He, however, made them go 
 out one by one. Father Captier was the first 
 to appear at the street door. He saw the guns 
 levelled at him. " God, is it possible?" he 
 cried ; and fell upon the first step, pierced with 
 several balls. Those who came afterwards began 
 to run in difierent directions. Stumbling about, 
 encumbered as they were by their long garments, 
 eight of them managed to gain the cross streets, 
 and to escape. The whole quarter had turned 
 out to see the spectacle; the windows were 
 thronged with men and women who laughed and 
 clapped their hands. 
 
 The massacre of the Eue Haxo must now be 
 related. One's heart sickens at such recollections ; 
 but if these catastrophes are to be the last, there 
 must be no shrinking from the terrible task of
 
 620 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 relating tliem. Those are lugubrious annals, 
 which begin with the murder of Vincenzini, of 
 Lecomte, and of Clément Thomas. 
 
 During Friday the 26th, when no one could 
 longer retain any illusions as to the issue of the 
 struggle, the leaders thought of carrying out a 
 plan which had been conceived by Delescluze; that 
 of collecting all the hostages at the Mairie of 
 Belleville, and demanding their own life and 
 liberty in exchange for them from the Government. 
 There was, besides these, a minority who did not 
 count upon the clemency of the Government, or 
 who, maddened by the strife, preferred revenge 
 to everything. Emile Gois, who was chosen to 
 take the prisoners out of La Roquette, belonged 
 to this class. He and François, who had mas- 
 sacred the hostages on the 24th and Jecker on 
 the 25th, assisted one another. François had 
 his lists ready, when Emile Gois arrived with his 
 escort. They brought down eleven priests and 
 four laymen from the division to which M. Bonjean 
 and the Archbishop had belonged; from that 
 which they called the gendarmes' quarter, were 
 next selected thirty-seven gendarmes or guards 
 of Paris and fifteen Serjeants of police. Gois sent 
 back the fifteen Serjeants, thinking his escort 
 scarcely sufficient for those who remained. The 
 thirty-seven gendarmes buckled on their knap-
 
 THE COMMUNE. 621 
 
 sacks, put on their kepis, and descended two and 
 two, keeping step, under the conduct of their 
 quarter-master one Geanty. They took the lead, 
 the laymen followed next, then the priests. Emile 
 Gois mounted his horse, and they started. 
 
 Such an escort was absurd for such a number 
 of prisoners, and outside the prison as far as the 
 Rue Puebla the mob was sympathetic ; a woman 
 called out to them, ' ' Run away ! run away ! " They 
 all followed Geanty, however, as though they were 
 going on parade ; and whether it was that Geanty 
 despaired of success, or was mistaken as to the 
 intentions of their jailors, or that he yielded 
 mechanically to the habit of discipline, he marched 
 straight on, without the slightest thought of flight 
 or of resistance. In the Rue Puebla the mob 
 showed itself hostile. Stones were thrown, a cry 
 was raised, " Down with the priests." An immense 
 crowd was watching the horrible and magnificent 
 spectacle of the burning of Paris from the 
 heights. The federals, repulsed from the Buttes- 
 Chaumont, came flying at all their speed; and 
 feeling themselves in comparative security, they 
 loudly demanded that the prisoners should be 
 given up to them. They would have massacred 
 them on the instant. 
 
 The escort stood firm, and succeeded in ascend- 
 ing the Rue Puebla and the Rue des Rigoles which
 
 622 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 is a continuation of it, in tlie midst of an enormous 
 concourse. G. Ranvier was on the threshold of 
 the Mairie of the 20th. He received the prisoners 
 " in his Mairie." " You have a quarter of an hour 
 to make your wills if that amuses you," he told 
 them. In fact they did set out again in a quarter 
 of an hour. It is stated that Ranvier said, *' Go 
 and shoot me all that, on the rampart." 
 
 The cortege had changed its aspect. At the 
 head marched a vivandière dressed in red, sitting 
 astride upon a horse, a sword in her hand; 
 next came the drummers and trumpets, sounding 
 the charge ; next the hostages, surrounded, 
 pressed upon, hardly protected by their escort. 
 Shouts arose of " Here ! here ! let us go no 
 farther." The most furious of the crowd drove 
 away the soldiers, and struck the prisoners in the 
 face. Thus they were driven up the Rue Haxo, 
 as far as a cité that now bears the number 83 ; 
 it was the head-quarters of the 2nd zone. 
 
 The last members of the Commune and the 
 Central Committee, the last of the federal officers 
 had gathered there that day. They had just 
 divided the contents of the safe amongst them. 
 Eudes, Bergeret, and Jourde had left. Yarlin 
 was still there, also Humbert, Latapy, Oudet, and 
 Hippolyte Parent. 
 
 A tremendous clamour, drowing the trumpets
 
 THE COMMUNE. 523 
 
 and drums, announced the arrival of tlie hostages. 
 YarHn, who soon afterwards was to follow in the 
 same path, rushed to meet them and to repel the 
 assassins. His friends had to use force to remove 
 him; he was threatened with "being stuck to 
 the wall " like the others. 
 
 The hostages were pushed into a little court 
 where there was a building, and a low, unfinished 
 wall, about fifty centimetres in height. 
 
 The vivandière jumped ofi" her horse and struck 
 the first blow. Geanty uncovered his breast ; a 
 priest threw himself in front of him ; they both 
 fell. *' With muskets, with revolvers, they fired 
 upon these unfortunate men," says M. Maxime du 
 Camp. " Some federals, attracted by the noise, had 
 perched themselves upon a neighbouring wall, and 
 sang at the top of their voices while firing down- 
 wards. Hippolyte Parent, standing on a little 
 wooden balcony, with a cigar in his mouth and 
 his hands in his pockets, looked quietly on until 
 the end. 
 
 "Massacre was not enough: the assassins in- 
 vented a game. They forced the unhappy men to 
 jump the low wall. The gendarmes jumped ; they 
 shot them ' flying,' and that was amusing. One of 
 the priests having said, * We are ready to confess 
 our faith, but it does not become us to die 
 skipping ;' a federal threw down his musket,
 
 524 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 seized him round the body and, amidst the 
 applause of the crowd, pushed him and then the 
 others over the wall. The last priest resisted ; 
 he fell, dragging the federal along with him. The 
 assassins were impatient, fired, and killed their 
 comrade. 
 
 " A few still breathed ; the crowd fired a general 
 volley at them, thrust at them with bayonets, and 
 stamped on their corpses. When the bodies were 
 removed on the 29th May, it was stated that one 
 of them had received sixty-nine balls." 
 
 On the 24th May, twenty-four hours after the 
 commencement of the conflagration, the day after 
 the murder of Chaudey, the very day on which the 
 Archbishop and M. Bonjean were assassinated, the 
 Central Committee, speaking of conciliation after 
 their own fashion, placarded and distributed the 
 following declaration : — 
 " Republican Federation of the National Guard. 
 *' Central Committee. 
 
 " At this supreme moment, when a whole popu- 
 lation, arrived at the climax of exasperation, has 
 resolved to conquer or to die for the maintenance 
 of its rights, the Central Committee desires to 
 make its voice heard. 
 
 "We have but fought against an enemy: civil 
 war. Consistent throughout, whether as a pro- 
 visional administration, or, since wo have entirely
 
 THE COMMUNE. 526 
 
 witlidrawn from affairs, we have thought, spoken 
 and acted in this sense. 
 
 " To-day, and for the last time, in presence of 
 the evils which may fall upon us all, 
 
 " We propose to the heroic armed people who 
 elected us, we propose to the erring men who 
 are attacking us, the only solution capable of 
 arresting bloodshed, while securing the legitimate 
 rights that Paris has won. 
 
 " 1st. The National Assembly, whose part is 
 played out, shall dissolve itself. 
 
 " 2nd. The Commune will likewise dissolve 
 itself. 
 
 " 3rd. The so-called regular army shall leave 
 Paris, and withdraw to a distance of at least 
 twenty-five kilomètres. 
 
 "4th. A temporary authority, composed of 
 delegates from the towns, numbering at the least 
 60,000 inhabitants, shall be appointed. 
 
 " This body shall choose from among its mem- 
 bers a pro visionary government, whose mission will 
 be to elect a constituent Assembly and a Commune 
 of Paris. 
 
 " 6th. There shall be no reprisals taken, either 
 against the members of the Assembly or against 
 the members of the Commune, for any acts after 
 the 26th March. 
 
 " These are the only acceptable conditions.
 
 626 THE GOVEKNMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 *' May the blood spilt in a fratricidal struggle 
 fall upon the heads of those who oppose them. 
 
 " As for us, in the future as in the past, we 
 will do our duty to the end. 
 
 " The members of the Central Committee." 
 
 But, on the 24th, General de Cissey was master 
 of the Luxembourg, of the Pantheon, of the 
 Barrière d'Enfer ; his troops were arriving at the 
 quay of the left bank opposite the Hôtel de Ville, 
 while on the right the army occupied the 12th 
 and 2nd arrondissements. The Hôtel de Ville, 
 then deserted and in readiness for burning, was 
 surrounded by our troops. 
 
 It burnt between two corps d'armée. On 
 the 25th General de Cissey took the Butte-aux- 
 Cailles after a serious encounter. General Vinoy 
 advanced as far as the Bastille. The Château d'Eau 
 was in the hands of the besiegers. General 
 Ladmirault occupied La Chapelle and Villette on 
 the very day on which Jecker was assassinated, 
 and when they had the pleasure, at the 13th zone, 
 of a battue of Dominicans. 
 
 On the 26th Vinoy took the Faubourg Saint 
 Antoine, and the Lyons Station, which the insur- 
 gents fired on leaving. He next occupied the 
 Place du Trône and reached the boundary of Père 
 La Chaise. Ladmirault was in possession of the 
 Rotonde and of the Temple. On the 27th Douay 
 took the rest of the faubourg.
 
 THE COMMUNE. 527 
 
 The Commune was dislodged from Père La 
 Chaise. There was no fighting there, as was said, 
 nor did the fugitives attempt an ambuscade among 
 the shrubs or behind the tombs. The army 
 reached the heights by the great thoroughfares, 
 without encountering any obstacles. 
 
 Ladmirault was master of the Buttes-Chaumont 
 by Sunday morning. 
 
 The insurrection, which had been confined since 
 the 26th to the Faubourg of Belleville and Menil- 
 montant, signalized its last hours by the massacres 
 of the Rue Haxo, and the burning of the docks 
 of La Yillette. Ferré returned on the 27th to 
 the Rue de la Roquette, to bring back 1300 
 soldiers, prisoners at La Petite Roquette, to 
 Belleville, and 315 hostages, who still remained at 
 La Grande Roquette ; these put themselves on the 
 defensive. Ferré, who was pressed for time, and 
 who believed the regiments of the line were at his 
 heels, started with the 1300 soldiers. He had time 
 to take them back to Belleville, and to encamp them 
 in the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, where they 
 passed their last night of captivity. On Sunday 
 morning, the 28th, there was nothing left to take 
 but a few barricades. The last surrendered at 
 four in the afternoon. 
 
 The following proclamation, very simple and 
 very dignified, announced to Paris and to France 
 that the horrible struggle was at an end : —
 
 528 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. THIEBS. 
 
 " French Republic. 
 " Inhabitants of Paris, 
 
 " The army of France has come to save you. 
 Paris is delivered. At four o'clock our soldiers 
 took the last positions occupied by the insurgents. 
 
 " To-day the struggle is ended ; order, labour, 
 and security are about to revive. 
 
 " Maeéchal de MacMahon." 
 
 Certain hostages perished by their own fault 
 on the 27th. The prison of La Grande Eoquette 
 was free. The greater portion of the prisoners 
 remained there to await the army, but some went 
 out into the neighbouring streets, still bristling 
 with barricades. Monseigneur Surat, Grand-Vicar, 
 M. Becourt, Curé of Bonne-Nouvelle, M. Houillon, 
 missionary, and a civilian, M. Cbaulieu, reached 
 the Rue de Charonne, where they were stopped. 
 
 Monseigneur Surat said, " I am a priest, and 
 I have come out of La Roquette." They were 
 massacred on the spot. 
 
 The Army has been reproached with not hav- 
 ing taken Paris on the 22nd and 23rd. This 
 rapidity would, it is said, have saved the lives of 
 the hostages. The barricades, which had to be 
 taken one by one, did not then exist ; they 
 were the work of those two days ; 582 barri- 
 cades having been constructed in the interval 
 between Sunday and Wednesday morning. But
 
 THE COMMUNE. 529 
 
 no one can vouch for the accuracy of these figures, 
 which are probably exaggerated. All the barricades, 
 whatever their number, were not raised in two days. 
 From the 18th March, Paris was busy in erecting 
 barricades. Cluseret and Rossel, had shown great 
 energy in directing those operations. The Commune 
 had more cannon than were required in the forts 
 and on the ramparts wherewith to furnish them ; 
 the interior of the city bristled with them. 
 
 The entry of the troops, on Sunday the 21st, 
 was a surprise, and there was a momentary panic 
 among the insurgents ; Passy, Auteuil, Grenelle, 
 were scarcely defended ; the army took advantage 
 of this to advance rapidly towards the Trocadero. 
 But the confusion did not last a day. During 
 the night of Sunday to Monday, the tocsin sounded 
 in all the churches, and the drums beat to arms 
 in every street with a deafening noise. The army, 
 at the first step they made to enter the streets, 
 found muskets and cannon pointed at them. It 
 was known that the insurgents held in their 
 power 1500 or 2000 hostages, but it was pro- 
 bable, it was believed, that they would only make 
 use of them to negotiate, and in fact this was the 
 opinion of the great majority of the combatants. 
 
 The madmen who preferred their own ven- 
 geance to this last chance of safety, would only 
 have begun earlier to assassinate, had they been 
 
 VOL. I. M m
 
 630 THE GOVEENMENT OF M. THIERS. 
 
 attacked witli blind impetuosity, at the risk of 
 sacrificing tlie soldiers ; they would either have 
 massacred the prisoners in a body, or set fire 
 to the prisons. 
 
 An order to burn Mazas had been given. M. 
 Thiers remained faithful during this last week, to 
 the rule which he had imposed on himself from 
 the beginning; to go slowly, that he might go 
 surely. Those who criticize him too late, do not 
 measure the consequences of a defeat, or even of 
 a check in the moment of victory. The advance 
 movement might be slow without too much peril 
 from a political point of view ; the least retrogade 
 movement would have ruined all. 
 
 It was necessary to keep in view the spirit of 
 the army and of the large towns ; of the excite- 
 ment of a portion of the Assembly in a contrary 
 sense, and lastly, above all, of the presence of 
 the Prussians. 
 
 Certain historians, who have never dealt with 
 politics or commanded armies, are pleased to say 
 that Paris might have been taken in two days, 
 that nothing was easier. In the same manner 
 General Trochu is reproached for not having 
 raised the siege. The Commandant of the Army 
 and his generals thought with M. Thiers and the 
 Government, that the taking of the streets of 
 Paris was a difficult and redoubtable enterprise ;
 
 THE COMMUNE. 531 
 
 that it required as mucli ability as courage, and 
 that they ought not to leave behind them either 
 present or future combatants. 
 
 They considered the lives of their men ; a pre- 
 cipitate and headlong rush through Paris could 
 not succeed except at the cost of innumerable 
 human victims, whilst the losses of the army 
 would be comparatively slight. The war, con- 
 ducted as it was, does honour to the humanity 
 and ability of our generals. Such will certainly 
 be the final judgment of History. 
 
 It is to be regretted that cruelties should have 
 been committed by the conquerors. They may 
 be explained, it is impossible to justify them. 
 The Government had given a formal order that 
 all who laid down their arms should be made 
 prisoners, and this was also the desire of the 
 Marshal and of the principal officers of the army. 
 Nothing is so impossible, however, as to excite 
 the ardour of the soldier, when he is on this side 
 of the wall, and to exact that he shall restrain 
 himself so soon as he is on the other side. 
 
 He has slain and he slays. Victory during the 
 first hour, is mere vengeance. Men whose own 
 blood is flowing and who have trodden on the 
 bodies of their comrades, can hardly be merciful. 
 They are sometimes ferocious, and that is deeply 
 deplorable. 
 
 M m 2
 
 532 THE GOVERNMENT OF M. TRIEES. 
 
 The war had been very sanguinary. Fighting 
 had gone on daily for t\YO months. The army 
 had seen the Civil War commence, after the 
 foreign war, with a thrill of indignation. The 
 regiments on returning from captivity and having 
 so much need of rest, and of a welcome from 
 their country, found themselves obliged to go into 
 harness again, to give and receive gun-shots and 
 cannon-shots, while they were being waited for 
 and expected at their homes. 
 
 The burning of Paris was not calculated to 
 soften the conquerors' hearts. The flames that 
 enveloped them showed these brave men human 
 madness and fury imder a new form. They 
 forgot they were in France, on beholding these 
 barbarities. 
 
 Among the few leaders of the insurrection who 
 perished in action, we may quote Duval, Flourens, 
 a colonel named Burgoin, General Dombrowski, 
 Delescluze, who fell at a barricade where he came 
 to die, and not to fight, on the 25th May : 
 Yermorel, who received a mortal wound on the 
 last day ; Millière, who was shot on the steps of 
 the Pantheon. Kigault had been arrested on the 
 24th, in a house where he tried to hide. As 
 they took him away, " I am Raoul Rigault," he 
 said, and he was shot dead on the spot. 
 
 Many members of the Commune, and officers,
 
 THE COMMUNE. 633 
 
 succeeded in making their escape. The Govern- 
 ment only laid hands on twenty-seven members of 
 the Commune, forty-five members of the Central 
 Committee, two generals, forty-six colonels and 
 lieutenant-colonels, eleven commissariat officers, 
 and fifty-seven doctors. The other prisoners, of 
 whom the number exceeded 30,000, were but the 
 mob. 
 
 END OP THE FIEST VOLUME.
 
 "A book aboandlnff In matter of solid Interest."— Zo»(/<7n Spectator, 
 
 %\i ^QbFPnmFn! of im^* ^IIffs* 
 
 By JULES SIMON. 
 
 Translated from the French, 
 
 Two vols. 8to $4.50. 
 
 The importance of this book among the materials for the history of the 
 time is at once self-evident, and can hardly be exaggerated. Simon's part 
 in the most intense action of the period he describes, his intimate relations 
 with Thiers himself, and his position in the Republican party of France, 
 unite to give a worth to his narrative such as could hardly attach to that oi 
 any other eye-witness of these events. Such records, by men writing of 
 matters in the very crisis of their own activity, generally have to wait for 
 the future historian to put them into their lasting form, and give them their 
 greatest interest as parts of the whole story. But the most remarkable fea- 
 ture of M. Simon's book is that it does not need this treatment, and is not 
 so much a personal memoir — a contribution to history — as a completed pic- 
 ture of the period. There is a justice of proportion and truth of historical 
 perspective about it that is very unusual in the work of one recording the 
 politics of his own day. Parts are not unduly magnified because they were 
 subjects of the author's special personal observation and interest ; but the 
 relative weight of different events is as carefully given as though by a philo- 
 sophical looker-on rather than an actor. There is a strong probability that 
 a century hence the book will still be looked upon as among the first 
 authorities, in impartiality and full appreciation of the time it treats. 
 
 Simon's pen-pictures of contemporaries — even of adversaries — are very 
 striking, in the fact that they are generally just without losing any of their 
 vigor. They are as interesting from another point of view — if not as 
 *' ruthless "—as those of the great German chancellor, whose comments on 
 the characters of those engaged in the same scenes are often supplemented 
 by these sketches. The future historian of the last ten years can hardly 
 complain that he lacks knowledge of their leading men, when he has at hand 
 this history and Dr. Busch's memoirs of Prince Bismarck. 
 
 From the " London Spectator." 
 *' The special interest connected with these volumes is to be found in striking and vivid 
 notices scattered through them of points which only one intimately connected with the 
 transactions under review could have known. With the single exception of M. Harthè- 
 lemy St. Hilaire, no person was so closely associated with M. Thiers during the course of 
 his administration as Jules Simon. * • * * 1'he various chapters are devoted to so 
 many episodes — many of them stirnng episodes — that are told with striking force. Of 
 course the spint of the narrative is strongly biased, but it cannot be said that M. Jules 
 Simon writes with want of candour. * * * * The history of the constant and patient 
 straggle of M. Thiers against turbulent and factious combinations, though not unlre- 
 quently attended by sallies on his own part of seeming impatience and querulousncss, is 
 narrated in graphic chapters. Two especially must command attention — those in which 
 M. Simon tells the tale of the Commune and of the negotiations wliich M. Thiers carried 
 on with so much skill and pertinacity for the liberation of France from the invader at a 
 term earlier than that fixed by the original treaty." 
 
 •** The above book for sale by all booksellers, or luill be sent, prepaid, upon 
 receipt of price, by 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 
 
 743 AND 745 Broadway, New York.
 
 THE MiOST FA-MiOTJS BOOK OF THE 33 A. Y. 
 
 BISMARCK 
 
 IN THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR. 
 
 AN AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION FROM THE GERMAN 
 
 OF 
 
 Dr. MORITZ BUSCH. 
 
 Two Vols. 8vo, extra cloth, black and gold, . . $4.00 
 
 American readers now have an opportunity to make 
 acquaintance with the most widely-discussed book of the 
 day, and those whose expectation has been aroused by the 
 reviews and correspondents will be able fully to understand 
 the excitement it has called forth in Europe. 
 
 Covering the whole period of the war, the book gives 
 an account — as vivid as only the smallest details can make 
 it — of Bismarck's daily life, habits, and methods of work ; 
 his comments on everything and every one about him ; his 
 opinions, epigrams, and smallest table-talk. 
 
 '• Thf /'uhlicntion of Bisvtarck' s a/tfr-dinner itilk, inhethfr liiscrfft or not, ivill 
 he of p'icelfss hiograpliiciil imlue, ami Knglishtnrn, nt lettst, iinll not he disposed to 
 gun rrel -untk Dr. Hu'.ch for ghn'ij:; a picture as true to life as Boswell V ' Johnson ' 
 of the foremost practical genius that Germany has produced since Frederick the 
 Great."— LONDON TIMHS. 
 
 '■^ Nohody can understand the political history of the Franco-German iiuir, nor 
 the man Bismarck, its chief maker, who has not read the diary of the Keichskanzler's 
 
 Bosii-ell The English version is far ntore rtadabie than t/ie German." 
 
 —LONDON ATHENj^UM. 
 
 *^* The above book for lale by all booksellers, or iinll be sent, /repaid, upon 
 receipt of price, by 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 
 
 Nos. 743 AND 745 Broadway, New York.
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
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