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Coût. Sept = 1792

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General Cluseret was blamed for this reverse, and as he was, moreover, charged with plotting against the Commune, he was arrested and locked up in the Conciergerie. He was succeeded by Colonel Rossel. Simultaneously a Committee of Public Safety, consisting of five members (Arnaud, Meillet, Ranvier, Pyat, and Gerardin), was formed. On the same day on which the insurgents evacuated Fort d'Issy, the communal elections took place throughout France. In most places the Conservative Republicans remained victorious. On April 25th, the maires, adjuncts, and communal officers of the places around Paris presented an address to Thiers, in which they demanded an armistice, a complete restoration of the communal liberties, with the election of all maires and adjuncts by the councils, and the final establishment of the republic, and protested against the bombardment as well as against all reprisals. Thiers replied: "The republic is in existence. The Assembly actually maintains the republic. Although the majority seems to have received from the electors a monarchical mandate, it has the wisdom to see that the republic to-day has become the best form of government." At the same time, however, he also declared: "No way of a possible compromise is sought between a government proceeding from elections so free as they have been in France during the last forty years, and between criminals who only represent disorder and rebellion, and three-fourths of whom are foreigners." He guaranteed life and freedom to all who would lay down their arms, excepting the murderers of Generals Thomas and Lecompte, and declared himself ready to leave for several days one gate open, "in order to give the revolutionists an opportunity to leave Paris, and to seek a refuge outside of France." The Commune declared this to be an absolute refusal of reconciliation, แ which, however, can take place only through a recognition of the rights which we defend, and which we have received the mission of defending by means of arms, if we are unable by means of a compromise." A decree of the Commune ordered the establishment of a new line of defence within the limits of the city. -Montmartre and the Trocadero were to be fortified more strongly, and to be garrisoned with the heaviest cannon; besides, the plateau of the Panthéon was to be made a citadel. The liability to military service was extended to the fifty-fifth year of age, and severer measures were adopted against those who tried to evade it. At the same time, however, internal dissensions increased. A considerable minority of the Commune had opposed the appointment of a Committee of Public Safety; the discharge and arrest of military commanders became more frequent every day. In the first days of May the troops of the Government occupied the railroad depot at Clamart, which commands Fort Issy, and by a nightly surprise the redoubt of Moulin Saquet. Clamart had

been defended by the insurgents with the utmost obstinacy. The massacre in Moulin Saquet had been very bloody; as the position was too much exposed to the enemy's fire, the Versaillists had soon to abandon it, and to leave it again to the insurgents. The castle of Issy had three times been occupied, and only after they had taken it for the fourth time could the Versaillists maintain themselves in its possession. The troops of the Government gave no quarter in this battle, and on several other occasions prisoners were immediately shot by them. Thiers, in a letter to the imprisoned Archbishop Darboy, denied the truth of this charge, but many foreigners living in Versailles declared the complaints of the Communists not to be unfounded, though exaggerated. At all events, the combat on both sides assumed a more savage character. The successes of the Versaillists isolated the Fort of Issy to such a degree that its speedy fall was regarded as certain. In the night of May 8th the garrison began to attempt to escape in small detachments, in the direction of Paris. On May 9th, it was surprised and the fort captured. The insurgents soon abandoned a further resistance; but, when the victory of the troops of the Government was fully decided, a bloody conflict arose between them and the insurgents, a large number of whom were massacred.

The operations of the Government were greatly aided by the progress of the internal dissensions in Paris. On the same day on which Issy had been taken, Rossel resigned, and asked the Commune to give him a cell in Mazas. This step he declared to have been caused by the weakness of the Commune, and of the Central Committee, who deliberated when it was necessary to act, and by the petty caprices of the commanders of the legions who hindered the mobilization of the troops. A decree of the Commune announced that religious instruction must cease in the Parisian schools; the teachers must remove all the crucifixes, Madonnas, and other symbols, their exhibition being a violation of religious lib. erty. Several churches were closed, and their valuables confiscated; one church was destroyed. It was also resolved to destroy the works of art glorifying periods which, in the opinion of the Commune, were disgraceful to France: thus, on May 16th, the column of Vendôme was destroyed. Public placards and articles in newspapers declared that the Parisians would rather convert the whole city into a heap of ruins than allow it to be occupied by the Versaillists

The measures of the Commune increased the irritation of the remainder of France against it. At the same time, however, the opposition of the Right against Thiers gained strength in the Assembly. It was commonly believed that a fusion between the Legitimists and the Orleanists had been effected. A manifesto of the Count de Chambord, in which he declared his

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desire, at the head of "the whole house of France," to establish the prosperity of the country, greatly strengthened the belief in the report. When, however, the Right made a feigned attack upon Thiers, on account of his conduct toward the insurgents, Thiers made his continuance in office dependent upon a vote of confidence; and, as the Right did not dare to bring on a change in the Government before the insurrection was overpowered, the vote of confidence was given by 495 against 10 votes. The insurrection now seemed to approach its end. A few days after the occupation of Issy, the Forty-sixth Regiment, after a terrible massacre, took the Convent of Oiseaux. In consequence of this victory, the insurgents had also to evacuate Fort Vanvres. From this place at once a new trench was opened against the walls of Paris. The batteries of the insurgents from Point du Jour to Porte Vaurigard had nearly been silenced (May 14th), but from Porte Maillot to Saint-Ouen they still displayed great vigor. On May 19th a new battery in the Château des Puces near Courbevoie opened an effective fire against the bridge of Asnières, the Porte Maillot, and the Porte des Tarnes. The reconnoissances were extended as far as the island of Genevilliers, and on the south side Arceuil and Cachan were taken. Lagrange-Ory and la Maison Plichon fell likewise, after a violent battle, into the hands of the troops of the Government. Between Porte Maillot and Point du Jour the insurgents withdrew from the wall, but under the protection of stone parapets they continued to maintain an effective fire. On May 21st it was ascertained that Porte St.-Cloud had been almost wholly abandoned by the insurgents. A sudden attack made upon this point by Lieutenant Trèves was completely successful. After the first surprise, the insurgents endeavored to continue their resistance in the houses of Auteuil, and behind the large barricades which obstructed the bridge; but they were soon overpowered by the troops of the Government, which were with remarkable rapidity reënforced. This victory was followed up with great energy, and soon other parts of the city were in the hands of the Government. General l'Admirault took the gate of Passy, and, by a skilful turn of his operations, brought the Arc de Victoire into his power. General Vinoy entered at the Point du Jour, crossed the Seine, and at the same time opened the gate of Sèvres to General Cissey, who took possession of the Faubourg St.-Germain. The troops at first met with but little resistance; but the farther they advanced, the more desperately every barricade and every street was disputed by the insurgents. Delescluze, who now acted as Minister of War of the Commune, issued a last appeal, in which he declared the military rule to have passed, and the hour of revolution to have come. The Committee of Public Safety, which had been radically reorganized, issued proclamations of the same tenor. Arch

bishop Darboy, with sixty-four priests, and a number of other hostages, was shot. Powder and petroleum were put into the most important buildings, in order to prepare them for sudden destruction. The Tuileries, the Library of the Louvre, the Ministry of Finance, the Hôtel-de-Ville, the palaces of the Council of State, the Legion of Honor, the Théâtre de la Porte St.-Martin, the Entrepôt, the Grenier d'Abondance, the Salpêtrière, the Convent of the Magdalenes, and many other buildings, soon were actually destroyed. The women in large numbers took part in the fight, and seemed to exceed the men in fury; many of them were seen busy in feeding the flames with petroleum. The troops of the Government, on their part, were inflamed to the utmost rigor. All who were caught in incendiary work, or with arms in their hands, were shot on the spot and without trial. Thus the combat assumed a more and more terrible character, in particular on the right bank of the Seine; the left bank had to suffer severely from the batteries of the insurgents in the forts of Ivry and Bicêtre. At first, the fighting centred in the region near the Tuileries, the Louvre, the Hotel-de-Ville, and the Prefecture of Police. The insurgents defended themselves so obstinately that the troops of the Government employed artillery before they dared to storm the positions. The Quartier Montmartre had likewise to be attacked by heavy pieces of ordnance before the infantry could advance against it; and, although the attack was skilfully executed, the insurgents maintained themselves some time in a part of it. With extraordinary severity the battle raged all night around the barricade in the garden of the Tuileries, and, when the insurgents in the morning retired through the Rue St.-Honoré to the halls, the fight was resumed there with undiminished fury. With equal bravery the insurgents defended the barricades of the Rue Auber, and the neighborhood of the Madeleine. Here the insurgents were finally driven back into the church itself, where they were massacred to the last man. The generals of the Government operated with great caution, turning those positions of the insurgents where they met with a vigorous resistance. They steadily gained ground, until at last the adherents of the Commune were confined to the suburb St.Antoine, the Buttes Chaumont, one part of Belleville, the Quartier Mouffetard, and the Forts of Bicêtre and Ivry. But even here they could not maintain themselves. On May 29th the insurrection was entirely put down, the last two bands of insurgents having been overpowered in Vincennes and in the Père la Chaise. The leaders of the Commune, with only a few exceptions, had either been killed like Delescluze, or taken prisoners; a number of the latter class were at once shot. The number of prisoners who were immediately executed was considerable; in the Théâtre du Chatelet, a council of war was in session; on one side,

those were led out who were to be immediately put to death; on the other, those who were to remain in prison. The number of dead was estimated at 20,000; that of prisoners at 30,000.

In the mean while, the definitive peace between France and Germany had been concluded. The negotiations in Brussels threatened to remain without result, as the French endeavored in every possible way to obtain a modification of the conditions which had been agreed upon in the preliminary peace. As the civil war in Paris made it desirable for both parties to hasten the conclusion of the definite peace, Bismarck, Jules Favre, and Pouyer-Quertier, met in Frankfort, in order to bring the negotiations to a speedier close. The deliberation began on May 6th, and on - May 10th the definite peace was signed. The conditions of the preliminaries were in some points modified, though not mitigated, in favor of France.

The ratifications of the treaty were to be exchanged within ten days. On May 12th the treaty was laid before the French National Assembly. The committee moved that it be ratified. General Chanzy spoke against the ratification of the proposed exchange of territory; but, when Thiers showed that the proposed exchange was by no means unfavorable to France, the Assembly ratified it by a vote of 440 to 98, and subsequently the whole treaty by a large majority.

As soon as the army had overpowered the insurrection, the question of the future form of government was pushed into the foreground of political agitation. The Legitimists, who for some time had assumed a hostile attitude with regard to Thiers, displayed a remarkable activity. They declared the fusion of the Bourbons and the Orleanists to have been virtually accomplished, and they carried on their agitation in behalf of "the house of France." But, notwithstanding their positive declaration, it was found that the fusion had not been accomplished, and the execution of the other points of their programme was equally unsuccessful. The cabinet was partly reconstructed, as Lambrecht became, in the place of Picard, Minister of the Interior, Cissey Minister of War, and Lefranc Minister of Agriculture; but Jules Favre remained Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the position of Thiers was not only not shaken but notably confirmed. The Duke d'AudiffreyPasquier, the leader of the Legitimists, moved in the National Assembly the abrogation of all laws of expatriation directed against members of the house of France." This was met by another motion brought in, in the name of the Left, by Deputy Brunet, for repealing the laws of expatriation against all the former sovereign families of France. The Assembly, on June 2d, voted as urgent the latter motion. Public interest, for a time, was wholly absorbed by this question, and by the election of the Duke d'Aumale and the Prince de Join

ville to the National Assembly. After delaying the decision for a few days, Thiers, on June 2d, declared, in an elaborate speech, that he approved the repeal of the laws of expatriation, and was also willing to have the elections of the princes declared valid, if the latter would resign their seats. He admonished the Assembly to extend the "truce" between the parties, as France would be plunged into the worst anarchy, if the conflict between them was at once to be decided. In conclusion, he declared that he would deceive nobody. The motion for abrogating the laws of expatriation was adopted by 484 against 103 votes; and the election of the two princes of Orleans was declared valid by 448 against 113 votes. The princes submitted to the compromise proposed by Thiers, and left Versailles, after a long interview with the President. Not in harmony with this report was, however, an official declaration of the Prince de Joinville, who declared that, among the two places which had elected him deputy, he chose the former. The Orleanists, like the other parties, seemed to hope that the supplementary elections to the National Assembly would give to the latter a more definite complexion. The adherents of the Commune continued to issue proclamations, threatening placards, and explanatory declarations. A great activity was also displayed by the Catholic party. The Bishops of Evreux, Bayeux, Coutances, Seez, and the Archbishop of Rouen, addressed a petition to the National Assembly, in which they demanded the restoration of the temporal power of the Holy See. The demonstrations in favor of the Pope were numerous, and were frequently coupled with others in favor of Henry V. (Count de Chambord). During these conflicts of parties, the practical questions which demanded a speedy solution were, however, not neglected. Paris was divided into four military districts, the public places were ordered to be closed at a certain hour, the theatres subjected to a strict superintendence, and a number of other measures taken which gradually restored order. The National Assembly began to discuss the reorganization of the army; the system heretofore in use was rejected by all the members of the committee, which recommended the introduction of universal military duty. The financial question was regarded as still more urgent than the reorganization of the army, because the time when the first half milliard of the war indemnification had to be paid was near at band. The National Assembly, in compliance with a proposition made by the Minister of Finance, Pouyer-Quertier, resolved to contract a loan of two milliards. The subscriptions to this loan exceeded all expectation-a much larger sum being subscribed than the Government had asked for. The favorable result of the loan, and the success of the grand review of the French army in Paris, on June 29th, filled the Government and people of France with new

hopes. The supplementary elections, which were held on July 2d, in many departments were also highly favorable to the Moderate Republican party. Of one hundred and seventeen deputies elected, one hundred were adherents of a republican form of government. The radicals gained five departments; but in Paris only five radicals were elected, against sixteen members of the party of order, a league of the anti-radical parties. Two of the delegates elected for Paris were Bonapartists. Gambetta was elected in three districts. A speech which he had made on June 26th, at Bordeaux, in which he ascribed the misfortune of France in the late war to the ignorance of the masses, and recommended a thorough reorganization of public instruction, had everywhere made the most favorable impression.

A manifesto to the French nation published by the Count de Chambord, on July 5th, made a painful sensation. He announced that he would soon leave the castle of Chambord, and France, as he did not wish to furnish a new pretext for the political excitement of the country. But he expected that the people would soon call him back to the throne, in which case he promised to maintain universal suffrage, administrative decentralization, and local autonomy. But, at the same time, he would not abandon the white banner of Henry IV., Francis I., and the Maid of Orleans, which had established the national union, and which would restore to France order and freedom. The manifesto greatly increased the breach between the Legitimists and the Orleanists, and even many of the former loudly declared their disapprobation of the sentiments expressed in it. At the close of the month, the National Assembly had an excited debate on the petitions for the restoration of the temporal power of the Pope. Thiers declared that he had always been opposed to the national unity of Italy, which had been the "mother of German unity;" but, if the Government were to act in accordance with the petitions for the restoration of the temporal power, it would bring on a war with Italy-a result which the majority would hardly wish for. The majority was then willing to give to Thiers a vote of confidence by adopting the order of the day; but, when Gambetta ostentatiously supported this motion, the Right preferred to refer the petitions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. This motion was adopted by 431 against 82 votes. Thiers voted with the majority, while Barthélemy St.-Hilaire, the chief of his cabinet, and Jules Favre, voted with the minority. A few days later, on August 2d, the resignation of Favre as Minister of Foreign Affairs was accepted, and Charles de Rémusat appointed

as his successor.

The committee of the National Assembly on the reorganization of the army showed itself favorable to the adoption of the principle of universal and compulsory military service.

The first paragraph in its report, which was made on August 19th, provided that every Frenchman from his twentieth to his fortieth year might be called into service; it abolished the privilege of furnishing substitutes, deprived the standing army of the right of voting, and demanded the abolition of the National Guard. The last-mentioned measure had also been independently moved by 164 members of the National Assembly. General Chanzy, who on August 19th made also a report on this motion, concluded with the words: "We submit to you in the first place a law which takes from the soldiers the ballot, and secondly a law which takes from the voters the bullet." On this point Thiers was, however, not in agreement with the majority of the Assembly. In a speech made on August 24th, he admitted the present organization of the National Guard to be bad; but this was not the case with the fundamental principle of a national guard, which they had inherited from the first revolution. As there were also good national guards, the principle of their dissolution should not, in general, be sanctioned. He was also opposed to the unconditional demand for an immediate dissolution. Irritated by frequent interruption, he left the hall of the Assembly, and threatened his resignation. This disposed the majority to consent to a modification of the law, and, when Thiers after a quarter of an hour returned to the hall, the following compromise was adopted by 488 against 149 votes: "The National Guards are dissolved. Their disarmament shall take place as soon as possible under the responsibility of the Government. The National Guards are dissolved in all communes of France in proportion as the progress of the reorganization of the army on the basis of the law of 1868 allows it."

After long and animated discussions, the National Assembly, on August 30th, adopted a resolution which declared the present Assembly to be a Constituent Assembly. On the following day, a motion was adopted by 480 against 93 votes, appointing Thiers "President of the French Republic" for a term of three years. The text of this motion was as follows:

ARTICLE 1. The chief of the executive power assumes the title of President of the French Republic, and retains the powers which have been conferred upon him by the decree of February 17, 1871, subject to the authority of the Assembly as long as the latter has not completed its labors.

gates the laws which are transmitted to him by the ART. 2. The President of the Republic promulPresident of the National Assembly. He secures and superintends the execution of the laws. He resides in the place where the National Assembly has its seat. He appoints and dismisses the ministers; the ministry is, however, responsible to the National Assembly. He may address the National Assembly whenever he regards it as necessary, and after he has notified the President of the Assembly of his wish.

Every act of the President of the Republic must be countersigned by a minister.

ART. 8. The President of the Republic is responsible to the Assembly.

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