ed of being a _reactionnaire_
(that is, a partisan of the National Assembly) should be at once
arrested. The delivery of letters was suspended, gas was cut off,
and with the exception of a few places where lamp-posts were supplied
with petroleum, Paris was in darkness.

The Commune also issued a decree that while all men under sixty
must enter its army, women, children, and aged men could obtain
passes to leave the city at the prefecture of police for two francs
a head. The prefecture was besieged by persons striving to get
these passes, many of whom camped out for forty-eight hours while
waiting their turn.

In the midst of this confused pressure on the prefect of police,
Count Orsi took the resolution of visiting him. As a known adherent
of the former dynasty and a personal friend of the late emperor, he
did not feel himself safe. He therefore took the bull by the horns,
and went to call on the terrible Raoul Rigault in his stronghold.
He did not see him, however; but after struggling for three hours
in the crowd of poor creatures who were waiting to pay their two
francs and receive a passport, he was admitted to the presence of
his secretary, Ferre. Ferre was writing as his visitor was shown
in, and, waving his pen, made him stand where he could see him.
When he learned his name, he said--

"Your opinions are well known to us. We also know that you have
taken no active part against us. We fight for what we believe to
be just and fair. We do not kill for the pleasure of killing, but
we must attain our end, and we _shall_, at any cost. I recommend
you to keep quiet. As you are an Italian, you shall not be molested.
However, I must tell you that you have taken a very bold step in
calling on me in this place. Your visit might have taken a different
turn. You may go. Your frank declaration has saved you."

On Easter Sunday, as the English lady to whom allusion has been
made, was leaving Paris, the population in the neighborhood of
the Place de Greve was amusing itself by a public burning of the
guillotine. It was brought forth and placed beneath a statue of
Voltaire, where it was consumed amid wild shouts of enthusiasm.

The Freemasons and trades unions sent deputies to Versailles to
endeavor to negotiate between the contending parties. M. Thiers
promised amnesty to all Communists who should lay down their arms,
except to those concerned in the deaths of Generals Lecomte and
Thomas, and he was also willing to give