transpired that the immense forces of General Trochu were strong enough to break through their lines, and defeat them in the open field. The practical failure of these first sorties from the capital, however, tended to render the Germans confident of ultimate success, and from this time the belief was general that no assault would be necessary. They considered that they held Paris as in a trap, as in the case of Sedan, and that little else was required than to starve it into surrender.

The month of October, however, did not pass without another sortie, which was of the most sanguinary character, although again resulting in no practical advantage to the French. The hamlet of Le Bourget, situated on a small rivulet that runs into the Seine on the north-eastern side of Paris, lay in the middle of a considerable plain midway between the French and Prussian outposts. The rivulet had been dammed up by the enemy, and the country flooded. The village was occupied by a company of Prussian guards to prevent its being used for offensive purposes against them. The attack on it on October 28 was planned with great secrecy by General Bellemare, who ordered Commander Rolland, of the "Franctireurs of the Press," to make a night assault, supported by a part of the thirty-fourth regiment and the fourteenth battalion of the mobiles of the Seine. Taken by surprise, and not knowing the strength of the attacking force, the Prussians gave way, and retired in disorder, leaving knapsacks and helmets behind. The French continued their advance on the village. As the Prussians made a show of defending the church, with the design of taking them in flank the supports were ordered up, and several guns and a mitrailleuse were thrown forward, while a couple of heavy guns were posted in front of Courneuve. On this the Prussians were compelled to retreat, and on the arrival of General Bellemare at eleven o'clock the French were in complete possession of the village. Orders were then given to strengthen the position; provisions were brought up; the sixteenth mobiles and twenty-eighth regiment of the line appeared to relieve and support their successful comrades; and engineers and sappers worked unremittingly in making communications, crenellating houses, and erecting barricades. The loss of the French amounted to some twenty wounded and four or five killed, while the Prussians appear to have suffered considerably. The capture of Le Bourget,

said General Bellemare's report, "enlarges the circle of our occupation beyond the forts, gives confidence to our troops, and increases the supply of vegetables for the Parisian population."

The Prussians, however, were not disposed to bear their defeat with indifference. Throughout the 29th they battered the village with their artillery, and at one time a deadly combat raged between the outposts of the combatants, in which the bayonet was freely used.

The result of the attack had been at once communicated to the German headquarters, and Count von Moltke issued orders to the general commanding the second division of guards to retake the place at any cost-an order which they were not slow to obey. General Budritzki, early on the morning of the 30th, in turn surprised the French with seven battalions of guards, and a bloody fight ensued, in which the Prussians displayed great exasperation of feeling, but were met with most obstinate resistance. The French having barricaded the streets, and made the most of every available means of defence, it required a desperate effort to force them out of their stronghold. At the moment when the fight was at the hottest, and the Prussians appeared in danger of getting the worst of it, General Budritzki rode to the front of the Elizabeth regiment on their advance, and, dismounting, seized the standard in order to lead them to the storm. With heavy sacrifices a firm foot was at last planted in the village. The Queen Augusta regiment had also reached Le Bourget. A detachment was about to advance, when the colonel, Count Waldersee, who had so far recovered from a wound at Gravelotte that he rejoined his regiment ten days previously, was struck by a ball which killed him on the spot. An officer was hastening to catch the falling leader in his arms when he too was shot. Colonel Zaluskowski of the Elizabeth regiment, and Count von Keller, were also killed. These losses appear to have roused the vengeful feelings of the Germans, and shouting fiercely, they made an irresistible onslaught, and swept the French out of the village at the point of the bayonet, to within a short distance of St. Denis; and so closely pursued them, that some 30 officers and 1200 men were captured, including a whole company of mobiles, stationed to the north of Le Bourget, who had not fired a shot. The franc-tireurs were so cut up that, out of 380 men, only 150 remained;

and being all Parisians, their fate caused great mourning to their friends in the city, who had lately rejoiced at their success. The fourteenth mobiles also suffered fearfully. Out of a strength of 800 men, 200 only answered the roll call after the retreat. The Prussians also paid dearly for their victory, for besides those whose names have been already mentioned, the Augusta and Elizabeth regiments lost at least 30 officers killed and wounded, and upwards of 400 men. Gallantly as the French acted in this affair, it was altogether an unfortunate mistake, undertaken without the authority of General Trochu, and executed without any of that forethought and pre-arrangement which were necessary in order to turn the temporary advantage to account. Supposing it had been desirable to leave a small French force in so advanced a position as Le Bourget, it should have been solidly supported.

The result of the engagement had a very depressing influence upon the Parisians, and coupled with the unexpected news of another and far more serious disaster, caused considerable disturbances in the capital. On the 26th October a paper published in Paris by the notorious communist Felix Pyat, announced that Bazaine had been negotiating with the Prussians for the surrender of Metz. On the 27th the Journal Officiel contained a very emphatic contradiction, which read strangely enough in the light of subsequent events. After arraigning the "odious lines" before the tribunal of public opinion, the official organ said, "The author of these malignant calumnies has not dared to sign his name; he has signed Le Combat -surely, the combat of Prussia against France; for in lieu of a bullet which could reach the heart of the country, he levels against its defenders a double accusation equally false and infamous. He asserts that the government deceives the public by concealing from it important news, and that the glorious soldier of Metz is disgracing his sword and turning traitor. We give these two figments the most emphatic contradiction. Officially brought under the notice of a court-martial, they would expose their inventor to the most severe punishment. We think the sentence of public opinion will prove more effectual. It will stigmatize with just severity those sham patriots whose trade it is to sow distrust with the enemy at our gates, and undermine by their lies the authority of those who fight him." The punishment of Felix Pyat, how

ever, was not left entirely to public opinion; for on the afternoon of the same day, the 27th, he was mobbed and hustled on the boulevards, and ran a narrow risk of falling a victim to the indignation of the crowd. On the following day his office was invaded by national guards, who, abusing him for vending false news, hauled him to the Hotel de Ville before M. Jules Ferry and M. Henri Rochefort, who, after hearing what he had to say for himself, dismissed him with the assurance that he must have been hoaxed.

As has been related, however, in the previous chapter, the "hoax" was an accomplished fact at the moment when M. Pyat was being mobbed in Paris for hinting at its possibility—a fact which, much as the Parisians might be indisposed to believe it, was soon forced upon them by evidence that could not be gainsaid. On the 30th of October M. Thiers arrived in Paris with a safe-conduct, confirming the surrender of Bazaine and the fall of Metz, and bringing proposals of an armistice by England, Russia, Austria, and Italy, with the view of arranging for the convocation of a National Assembly. These proposals, as we have seen in Chapter XVII., led to no result, owing to the French insisting on the victualling of Paris as a condition of the armistice.

Thus a three-fold humiliation was inflicted upon the Parisians. In the affair at Le Bourget they were robbed of the first success, small enough in itself, which had attended the military operations of the siege; by the fall of Metz the last barrier was removed to the full outpouring upon their capital of all the warlike resources of Germany; and to add to their mortification, their rulers were actually willing to treat for an armistice with the victors. It is therefore little surprising that the temper of the revolutionary section of Paris was inflamed, and their rage indiscriminating. Bazaine was at Wilhelmshöhe, beyond their reach, but the government of defence was at hand, and daring to suggest terms of agreement with the Prussians. Jamais! A l'ennemi! La guerre à la mort! A bas les traitres! cried the infuriated populace; and by noon on the last day of October the Place de l'Hotel de Ville and its approaches were densely crowded by an excited mass from all parts of Paris, demanding the resignation of the government and the election of the commune. In the crowd were many national guards, armed and unarmed, including a considerable number from

the neighbourhood of Belleville and other communist quarters, some of whom carried placards inscribed "No peace!" or "No armistice!" and "The commune for ever!" General Trochu, Jules Simon, and others, attempted at intervals to address the insurgents, but their voices were drowned by shouts of Pas d'armistice! Guerre à outrance! During the tumult a shot was fired by an individual in the crowd, when immediately a tremendous uproar ensued, accompanied with cries that the citizens were being fired upon. Some of the mob, calling themselves a delegation from the people, a number of ultra-democrats, having previously assembled in the hall of St. John, forced their way into the Hotel de Ville, and in an insolent and threatening manner demanded explanations from the government on the Bourget affair, the capitulation of Metz, and the proposed armistice. This self-styled delegation brought with them the following decree :—“In the name of the people, the provisional government of national defence is dissolved. The armistice is refused. The election to the commune will take place within forty-eight hours. The provisional committee is composed of the members whose names are affixed. The delegation will signify the purport of this decree to the members of the former government, who remain always confined to the hall of their deliberations.""

The delegation was received, in the first instance, by M. Jules Ferry, speedily joined by General Trochu and Jules Favre. Respecting Le Bourget, General Trochu stated the facts which have just been detailed. As to the capitulation of Metz, he assured the delegates on oath that the government knew nothing of it, and disbelieved it on the morning of the 26th, when it was announced in the Combat. With regard to the obnoxious armistice, he assured them that nothing was decided, nor would be, without first consulting the popular wishes. The latter part of his discourse was drowned by tumultuous cries of "Down with the government!" "No armistice!" "The commune!" A scene of indescribable confusion followed; all the ill-disposed battalions of the national guard surrounded the Hotel de Ville. Hundreds of them, following the delegation, and headed by M. Flourens, forced their way into the apartment where the government were deliberating, and proceeded to form themselves into a committee of public safety. Flourens, mounting the table at

which the government were sitting, intimated to them that they were under arrest. General Trochu and his colleagues, who in the critical circumstances acted with calmness and dignity, were called upon to sign their resignation, and otherwise grossly insulted. A little later a red flag was hoisted from one of the windows of the Hotel de Ville, and in the balcony underneath appeared MM. Blanqui, Flourens, Ledru Rollin, Pyat, Mottu, Greppo, Delescluze, Victor Hugo, and Louis Blanc, who proclaimed themselves the government, and that M. Dorian had been nominated president, which post, however, the minister of Public Works prudently declined. The announcement was received with loud applause by the revolutionary section below, and the name of M. Rochefort was added to the list.

But the success of the commune on this occasion was short-lived. M. Ernest Picard had succeeded in making his escape from the Hotel de Ville, and hastened to the ministry of Finance, where he took the speediest possible measures to counteract the movements of the revolutionists, and release his colleagues from their hands. He wrote to the staff of the governor and the staff of the national guard, ordering the call to arms to be made in all the quarters of Paris. He had the national printing office occupied by troops, and prohibited the Official Journal from printing anything not sanctioned by the governor. He also sent word to the different ministries to hold themselves ready for defence. In these conservative measures he was assisted by the characteristic doings of the revolutionary party themselves, who, instead of immediately securing the various ministries, fell upon the provisions stored in the Hotel de Ville, devouring the dinner prepared for the government, distributing the other viands, and broaching innumerable casks of wine, of which they freely partook. They then set about amusing themselves by destroying the furniture, breaking the mirrors, and injuring the pictures in the palace, and defiling the sofas and the painted walls and wainscots. One of their partizans, however, did not forget the "sinews of war." "sinews of war." A messenger from the Hotel de Ville was sent to the ministry of Finance, with an order signed by Blanqui for 15,000,000 francs, payable to bearer, who was, however, immediately arrested, while M. Picard retained possession of the order, as proof of Blanqui's participation in the events of the day. Another communist, Citizen

Millière, thinking to steal a march on his colleagues, left them at the dinner table and went to instal himself as minister of Finance, but he, too, was checkmated and missed his aim. An officer of Blanqui's battalion, who repaired to the état major of the national guard to give orders, was also placed under arrest. The prefecture of police was surrounded by 300 or 400 persons demanding admission, but M. Adam, the prefect, resolutely refused to yield to their demands.

After having lasted several hours, the tumult was rapidly suppressed. A meeting of officers was held at the Bourse, the assembly was sounded, and Admirals de la Roncière and De la Chaille placed themselves at the service of M. Picard, who throughout the disturbance acted with a coolness and presence of mind worthy of the highest commendation. At nine o'clock he arrived at the Hotel de Ville with the 106th battalion of the national guards, who immediately ascended the staircase, forced their way through the commune guard, and having released General Trochu and M. Jules Favre, compelled the insurgents to lay down their arms and quit the building. The governor, as soon as liberated, proceeded to the Louvre, and being joined by M. Picard, General Ducrot, and other officers, organized active measures for the restoration of order, and the deliverance of his colleagues who still remained in the hands of M. Flourens and his party. Under Trochu's orders several battalions of mobiles quickly assembled, and the national guard at the same time collected in the Place Vendôme. Just before midnight parties of these troops defiled in the direction of the Hotel de Ville, where MM. Garnier Pages, Jules Simon, and Magnin were still kept in confinement as hostages by two battalions from Belleville. M. Jules Favre had shown great firmness with the rioters, telling them that, as he had been chosen by the whole population, he would only retire at the bidding of his constituents. The agitators who surrounded Flourens demanded that the members of the government should be sent to Vincennes; some made even more menacing proposals. About half-past twelve seven battalions of mobile guards concentrated behind the Hotel de Ville, where those from Belleville had barri- | caded themselves. A company of the mobiles now succeeded in effecting an entrance by a subterranean passage from an adjoining barracks, and proceeded to open one of the large gates, by which

they admitted a goodly number of their comrades, who gradually drove back the rioters to the upper stories. At the same time numerous battalions of the national guard arrived on the spot, shouting, "Long live the Republic! Long live Trochu!" The mobiles, once masters of the Hotel de Ville, shut the rioters up in the cellars, from which they subsequently brought them out, disarmed them, and set them at liberty. Their leaders were also treated with great leniency, and freely allowed to depart, although the Citizen Blanqui subsequently complained of rough usage at the hands of the troops. The mairies of the first and eleventh arrondissements had been taken possession of by the rioters. The former was occupied by a Dr. Pillot, who was ejected at two o'clock on the following morning by the commander of the eleventh battalion of national guards, and carried off in custody to the hotel of General Trochu. The other mairie was seized by the ex-mayor, Citizen Mottu, who had been dismissed a week or two before for forbidding all kinds of religious instruction at the schools in his district, and even interdicting the masters and mistresses from taking their pupils to church. He was, however, apprised of the order given for his arrest, and thought it prudent to decamp in the course of the night. At three a.m. all was quiet. The movement was merely a surprise, and the national guard, by their behaviour in the course of the evening, showed that it met with no sympathy from them. The riot might have been suppressed much sooner, but for the wish to avoid bloodshed; and happily the proceedings of the 31st of October, as well as those of the 4th of September, terminated without loss of life on either side.

On the following day General Trochu issued the subjoined proclamation to the national guards:

"Your firm attitude has preserved the republic from a great political humiliation, possibly from a great social danger, certainly from the ruin of our forces for the defence. The disaster of Metz, foreseen though it was, but deeply to be lamented, has very naturally disturbed the public mind, and doubled the anguish of the public. In connection with that sad event the government of the national defence has been insulted by the supposition that it was aware of it, but kept it concealed from the population of Paris, when, I affirm it, we only heard of it for the first time on the evening of the 30th. It is true that the rumour was circulated by the

Prussian outposts for the two days previous, but we are so used to false statements of the enemy, that we had refused to believe it. The painful accident which happened at Le Bourget, through a force which had surprised the enemy allowing itself to be surprised in its turn by its utter want of vigilance, had also deeply affected public opinion. Finally, the proposal for an armistice unexpectedly proposed by the neutral powers has been construed, in utter disregard of truth and justice, as the prelude to a capitulation, when in reality it is a tribute to the attitude and firmness of the population of Paris. That proposal was honourable for us. The government itself arranged its conditions in terms which it considered firm and dignified; it stipulated a suspension of hostilities for twenty-five days at least, the revictualling of Paris during that period, and the right of voting for the election of a National Assembly for every citizen in all the French departments. There was a wide difference between these conditions and those previously offered by the enemy to wit, 48 hours' truce, very limited intercourse with the provinces to prepare the elections, no revictualling, a fortress to be given up by way of guarantee, and the exclusion of the citizens of Alsace and Lorraine from any participation in the elections. The armistice now proposed has other advantages to recommend it which Paris can fully appreciate, without its being necessary to enumerate them; and this is what is reproached to the government as a weakness, nay, rank treason. An insignificant minority, which cannot pretend to represent the feelings of the population of Paris, has availed itself of the public excitement to try and substitute itself by violence in the place of the government. The government, on the other hand, is anxious to have protected interests which no government ever had the duty of watching over simultaneously-the interests of a besieged city of two millions of souls, the interests of absolutely unlimited liberty. You have co-operated in the discharge of that duty, and the support you have afforded the government will for the future give it strength to put down our enemies from within, as well as to oppose. our enemies without."

After the above episode in the history of the siege, the conduct of the government of national defence became somewhat dubious and vacillating. Early on the morning of the 1st of November the walls of

Paris were found covered with a notice, signed by MM. Arago, Dorian, Schoelcher, and other officials, apprising the inhabitants that they were to elect on that day four representatives in each arrondissement. An ambiguous notice, intended as a disavowal of the one signed by the mayor and the minister of Public Works, appeared later in the day; and later still, fresh intimations were posted up all over Paris, intimating that the people would have an opportunity afforded them of saying whether they desired the commune or not. Again, on the 2nd November, the Journal Officiel published a decree, to the effect that, on the day following, they would be called upon to vote Yes or No, whether they wished to maintain the government of national defence, and that on Saturday the elections of the mayors and adjoints of the different arrondissements would be proceeded with. Decrees were also published revoking the commands of numerous chefs de bataillons of national guards, including that of M. Flourens, compromised in the proceedings of the 31st; and announcing that any battalion going out armed without superior orders would be forthwith disarmed and dissolved, and the commander brought before a court-martial. By these proceedings the position of M. Rochefort in the government of national defence was rendered untenable, and his resignation was forthwith announced, avowedly in consequence of the postponement of the municipal elections.

Notwithstanding that the plebiscite was or dered immediately after the tumult caused by the communists, the actual voting took place amidst the utmost order and quietude. The machinery for the working of the ballot in France is simple and complete, and very easily put into operation. The 3rd of November, therefore, passed off much as any ordinary day; the only difference observable being some small crowds collected in front of the various mairies and other places where the votes had been appointed to be taken. In the evening it was commonly known that the government had obtained an enormous majority; and at ten o'clock a proclamation of the result, so far as then ascertained, was made by torchlight, on the Place de l'Hotel de Ville, by M. Etienne Arago, the mayor, in presence of an immense assemblage, composed principally of national guards. The crowd next proceeded to the hotel of General Trochu, and with enthusiastic cheers saluted the members of the government who were there assembled. They, in