320 



FRANCE. 



mairies and the bureaux of the ministers and 

 of the telegraph were in the hands of the in- 

 surgents, who through the maires demanded 

 the recall of Generals d'Aurelle and Vinoy, 

 and the Prefect of Police, Valentin. The 

 Government gave its consent to the removal 

 of the latter, who was replaced by Ferry ; but 

 the insurgents did not recognize the successor 

 of D'Aurelle, Langlois. During the follow- 

 ing days no further acts of violence occurred; 

 but among the people now and then the cry 

 " On to Versailles ! " was heard. The insur- 

 gents occupied the forts of Vanvres, Bicetre, 

 and Issy, and fortified all the approaches to 

 the city, in order to guard themselves against 

 being surprised from Versailles. The funds in 

 the mairies and in the H6tel-de-Ville were 

 seized, and all the documents in the office of 

 the Prefect of Police were destroyed. The 

 municipal elections were fixed for March 22d, 

 and the provinces were called upon to join the 

 republican alliance. The courts which might 

 show themselves "partial" were threatened 

 with dissolution. 



On March 20th the National Assembly met 

 at Versailles, and appointed a committee to 

 make propositions concerning the measures to 

 be adopted against Paris. On the next day 

 Picard informed the Assembly that all the 

 authorities of the provinces had offered armed 

 aid to the Government. A proclamation by 

 Thiers, on March 22d, announced that the 

 attempts made in the provinces to call forth 

 disturbances had everywhere failed, and that 

 the Government, having at its command an 

 army of 47,000 men, was master of the situa- 

 tion. In Paris the party of order began to 

 muster courage. The maires protested against 

 the elections which had been ordered by the 

 Central Committee, and the chiefs of the bat- 

 talions of the National Guard garrisoned in 

 the second arrondissement adhered to this 

 protest, as well as to the protest of the Na- 

 tional Assembly against the whole movement. 

 In the evening of March 22d blood was again 

 shed. A large number of unarmed citizens 

 proceeded to the Place Vend6me and de- 

 manded admission to the districts which were 

 held by the insurgents. "When their demand 

 was not complied with, they began to attack 

 the guard, who, in turn, fired upon the crowd 

 and drove it back. "While the attempt of the 

 party of order proved a complete failure, the 

 loyal National Guard gradually gained ground. 

 On March 24th they held all the places be- 

 tween the Rue Richelieu, the Boulevard, and 

 the Rue Montmartre, the Rue des Halles, du 

 Pont Neuf, Saint-Germain 1'Auxerrois and Ri- 

 voli. The insurgents, on the other hand, for- 

 tified their position on the Place Vend6me, and 

 occupied, without encountering any resistance, 

 Fort Vincennes. The National Assembly, on 

 March 22d, authorized the Government to en- 

 list a battalion of volunteers from every de- 

 partment. At a meeting of the maires and 

 assistant-maires Admiral Saisset was appointed 



commander-in-chief of the National Guard, 

 Langlois chief of the staff, and Victor Schol- 

 cher chief of the artillery. The negotiations 

 which had been carried on between Paris and 

 Versailles remained without result. On March 

 26th the communal elections took place, at 

 which the insurgents obtained a complete 

 victory, as a very large portion of the other 

 parties abstained from voting; only in three 

 arrondissements the candidates of the Central 

 Committee were defeated. The Central Com- 

 mittee now abdicated its powers, transferring 

 them to the new municipal administration. 

 The insurrectionary attempt which, in the 

 mean while, had been made in Lyons, had 

 failed ; but in Paris the situation became very 

 critical. The prominent members of the new 

 municipal administration were Flourens, Blan- 

 qui, Pyat, Delecluze, and Gambou. The place 

 of the Central Committee was taken by a 

 Subcentral Committee, which, on March 28th, 

 ordered the organization of twenty battalions 

 of infantry, twenty batteries of reserve artil- 

 lery, and fifteen mitrailleuse batteries. The 

 National Guards daily received, besides their 

 rations, 2 francs. The Bank of France, from 

 which previously a forced loan of 1,000,000 

 francs had been made, was called on for 500,000 

 francs. Generals Duval and Bergeret, who 

 were to organize the new forces, were author- 

 ized to procure the necessary articles by way 

 of requisition. Menotti Garibaldi was invited 

 to take the chief command, but he declined. 



Vigorously pressed by the moderate jour- 

 nals, many of which had been removed to Ver- 

 sailles, the Government declared, in a new 

 proclamation, that thus far, in order to avoid 

 the shedding of blood, it had not resorted to 

 extreme measures against the insurgents ; but 

 now its patience was exhausted, and it was 

 determined to put an end to the rebellion 

 in some way or other. Bismarck declared his 

 readiness to cooperate with the French Gov- 

 ernment to this end, by allowing the latter to 

 increase the army of Paris to 80,000 men ; but, 

 on the other hand, the withdrawal of the Ger- 

 man troops from France was arrested, and an 

 increase of the troops left before Paris taken 

 into consideration. A decree of the Govern- 

 ment announced the abolition of the conscrip- 

 tion, and compelled all able-bodied citizens to 

 enter the National Guard. Another decree 

 forbade to collect any arrears of the rents due 

 from October, 1870, to April, 1871, and ordered 

 that for the future only monthly payments of 

 rents were to* be made. The sale of unredeemed 

 pawned objects was prohibited, and all author- 

 ities, upon penalty of removal, ordered to re- 

 ceive no instructions from Versailles. The 

 clergy received orders to desist from saying 

 prayers in the prisons. All these measures 

 caused the wealthy classes of the population 

 to leave the city in large numbers ; it was es- 

 timated that within ten days nearly 160,000 

 left. But though the fear now became general 

 that the Reds would inaugurate a reign of 



