Uhrich was bound down by his parole, while Trochu, Vinoy, and Ducrot were busy defending Paris. Large forces were being concentrated both on the Loire and the Rhone, but no one had been yet appointed, or even nominated to command them. The ministry of war, by Fourichon's resignation, was vacant, and M. Cremieux, an amiable, easy lawyer, minister of justice in the Provisional Government, was acting war minister. His appointment, at such a crisis, was very unsuitable, and there were loud demands for transferring the war administration to a commission composed of MM. Glais-Bizoin, Laurier, Steenackers, Frayssinet, Le Cesne, and Alphonse Gent. The nation was becoming absolutely frantic with impatience and despair at the inaptitude of those who had the direction of affairs, and at the utter demoralization, both civil and military, which was spreading through every department.

In these circumstances M. Laurier, the acting manager for the department of the Interior, a man of considerable capacity, devoted to the cause of the nation, and faithful to the trust reposed in him by M. Gambetta, his chief, thought that the moment had come when the government of Paris should be informed of the serious state of things. Two words, translated "Come at once," were addressed by him to Gambetta, and intrusted to the carriage of a "pigeon traveller." The minister of the Interior knew his agent well. Without delay he consulted with his colleagues, who all felt convinced that his presence at Tours was indispensable, and that he ought to proceed thither immediately.

M. Léon Gambetta, the young barrister who was thus destined to play such an important part in the struggles of his country, won a seat in the Chamber of Deputies in 1869, as one of the members for Paris, and distinguished himself by his bold attacks on the imperial policy, and his advocacy of democratic principles. A native of the south of France, but of Genoese family, he was endowed with all the ardent physical and moral qualities of that passionate Italian race. His eloquence and capacity for business were proved by many successes at the French bar, achieved by the time he was thirty-two years of age; but he came first into public note as counsel for some of the accused under the government prosecutions of 1868, against the promoters of the subscription for a monument to Baudin, one of the members of

the National Assembly killed in the street-fighting after the coup d'état of December, 1851.

For fully a week did this energetic young statesman have to wait in Paris for a favourable opportunity of starting. Morning after morning the Place de Saint-Pierre at Montmartre was thronged by people eager to witness his departure, and morning after morning pilot-balloons were sent up, in order to ascertain the direction of the aerial currents; but the wind kept persistently in the west, and would probably have carried the balloon into the parts of France occupied by the enemy, and possibly into Germany itself, had the attempt been made to ascend. At length it changed to the south-east; and at eleven o'clock on the morning of Thursday, October 7, M. Gambetta, accompanied by his secretary and the aeronaut Trichet, ascended in the Armand Barbès, carrying with him an immense quantity of letters and several pigeons. During the night, however, a contrary breeze sprung up. On Friday morning the aeronaut in charge of the balloon, believing they were not far from Tours, allowed the machine. to descend-but only to find out that they were hovering over Metz, two hundred miles away to the east. The Prussian troops fired volley after volley at the travellers. The balloon was made to rise again, but not a moment too soon, for already some half dozen balls had pierced the car; and even one of the cords which attached it to the balloon was cut, and had to be spliced by the minister himself, who was slightly wounded in the hand. All through Friday the travellers made little or no progress, but on Saturday, at daylight, they descended in the neighbourhood of Montdidier, a small town about four leagues from Amiens, and one league off the railway between it and Paris. M. Gambetta was here met by a gentleman who conveyed him in his carriage to Amiens, whence he shortly after departed for Rouen, where a great demonstration was made by the national guard and the populace, and at the railway station the following address was presented to him :-" Illustrious Citoyen Gambetta; self-sacrifice is everywhere, but energy, foresight, and management are wanting. Raise up these, and the enemy will be driven forth, France saved, and the republic founded definitively and for ever. Vive la France! Vive la Republique!" M. Gambetta made a stirring reply, addressed specially to the people of Normandy, and concluding with the words, "If

we cannot make a compact with victory, let us make a compact with death." Immediately after he left for Tours. Here the enthusiastic republican was unpleasantly impressed with the aspect of the place, the number of officers and soldiers idling about the cafés, and the absence of that stern concentration of thought on one object which he left behind him in Paris. He also found that little had been done, that there was a lack of resource and vigour ill befitting the gravity of the crisis; and it was with ill-concealed displeasure that he appeared at the Prefecture window in answer to the clamorous crowd below. In a few brief words he acknowledged the honour done him and, deprecating demonstrations, concluded as follows:"Let us work and fight. I bring you the instructions and decisions of the Paris government. As I cannot speak to you all, I have written. In an hour's time you will be able to read the object of my mission. Once more, gentlemen, let us work and fight, for we have not a minute to spare. Everyone to his post. 'Vive la Republique!'" He at once held a council with his colleagues, and at night a decree was published, postponing the intended elections for a National Assembly, chiefly because twenty-three departments were more or less in the hands of the invader. Simultaneously with the decree, he issued the following circular :

"By order of the republican government I have left Paris to convey to you the hopes of the Parisian people, and the instructions and orders of those who accepted the mission of delivering France from the foreigner. For seventeen days Paris has been invested, and offers the spectacle of two millions of men who, forgetting all differences to range themselves around the republican flag, will disappoint the expectations of the invader, who reckoned upon civil discord. The revolution found Paris without cannon and without arms. Now 400,000 national guards are armed, 100,000 mobiles have been summoned, and 60,000 regular troops are assembled. The foundries cast cannon, the women make 1,000,000 cartridges daily. The national guard have two mitrailleuses for each battalion. Field-pieces are being made for sorties against the besiegers. The forts are manned by marines, and are furnished with marvellous artillery, served by the first gunners in the world. Up till now their fire has prevented the enemy from establishing the smallest work. The enceinte,

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which on the 4th of September had only 500 cannons, has now 3800, with 400 rounds of ammunition for each. The casting of projectiles continues with ardour. Every one is at the post assigned to him for fighting. The enceinte is uninterruptedly covered by the national guard, who from morning until night drill for the war with patriotism and steadiness. The experience of these improvised soldiers increases daily. Behind the enceinte there is a third line of defence formed of barricades, behind which the Parisians are found to defend the republic-the genius of street fighting. All this has been executed with calmness order by the concurrence and enthusiasm of It is not a vain illusion that Paris is impregnable. It cannot be captured nor surprised. Two other means remain to the Prussians-sedition and famine. But sedition will not arise, nor famine either. Paris, by placing herself on rations, has enough to defy the enemy for long months, thanks to the provisions which have been accumulated, and will bear restraint and scarcity with manly constancy, in order to afford her brothers in the departments time to gather. Such is without disguise the state of Paris. This state imposes great duties upon you. The first is to have no other occupation than the war; the second is to accept fraternally the supremacy of the republican power, emanating from necessity and right, which will serve no ambition. It has no other passion than to rescue France from the abyss into which monarchy has plunged her. This done, the republic will be founded, sheltered against conspirators and reactionists. Therefore, I have the order, without taking into account difficulties or opposition, to remedy and, although time fails, to make up by activity the shortcomings caused by delay. Men are not wanting. What has failed us has been a decisive resolution and the consecutive execution of our plans. That which failed us after the shameful capitulation at Sedan was arms. supplies of this nature had been sent on to Sedan, Metz, and Strassburg, as if, one would think, the authors of our disaster, by a last criminal combination, had desired, at their fall, to deprive us of all means of repairing our ruin. Steps have now been taken to obtain rifles and equipments from all parts of the world. Neither workmen nor money are wanting. We must bring to bear all our resources, which are immense; we must make the provinces shake off their torpor, react against

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