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falling to decay and erected the pavilion on the south 

 side. Louis Philippe at length restored the building, 

 and converted part of it into an historical picture 

 gallery." 



' From 19th September, 1870, to 6th March, 1871, 

 the palace was the headquarters of the King of Prussia, 

 and a great part of the edifice was then used as a mili- 

 tary hospital, the pictures having been carefully covered 

 to protect them from injury. An impressive scene 

 took place here on the 18th January, 1871, when the 

 Prussian Monarch, with the unanimous consent of the 

 German States, was saluted as Emperor of Germany. 

 To describe minutely all the events which occurred at 

 Versailles during the above period would be to write a 

 history of the Franco-Prussian war. The house No. 1, 

 Boulevard du Eoi (which was pointed out to us) was 

 the scene of the negotiations between Prince Bismark 

 and Jules Favre on the 23rd-24th, 26th-28th January, 

 1871, which decided the terms for the capitulation of 

 Paris and the preliminaries of peace. After the depart- 

 ure of the German troops (12th March, 1871), Versailles 

 became the seat of the French Government, and it was 

 from here that Marshal MacMahon directed the struggle 

 against the fierce outbreak of the Commune. It was not 

 till 1879 that the Government and the Chambers tran- 

 sferred their headquarters to Paris. 



The town itself contains little to interest travellers. 

 The great attractions are the palace and its picture 

 gallery. 



The gardens at the back of the Palace of Versailles, 

 with their park and ornamental sheets of water, are 

 nearly in the same condition as when laid out by Le 

 Notre, the most famous landscape gardener of the period. 

 Le Notre and his geometrical and artificial style have 

 seen their day long since. Trees are now permitted to 

 branch out such as nature intended them ; no modern 

 landscape-gardener would attempt to torture their 



