rnment for the
National Defence, and promised that he would produce them at the proper
time and place.

Up to this moment, the demonstrations seemed to have but one
result--that of impeding circulation; but they soon gave rise to scenes
of tumult and disorder. Towards one o'clock, when perhaps twenty or
thirty thousand persons were on the above Place, an individual, accused
of being a spy, was dragged by an infuriated mob to the river, and
flung, bound hand and foot, into the look by the Ile Saint Louis, amidst
the wild cries and imprecations of the madmen whose prey he had become.

The night of the 26th was very agitated; drums beat to arms, and on the
morning of the 27th the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard issued
a proclamation, in which he appealed to the good citizens of Paris, and
confided the care of the city to the National Guard. This had no effect,
however, on the aspect of the Place de la Bastille; the crowd continued
to applaud, frantically, the incendiary speeches of the socialist party,
who had sworn to raise Paris at any cost.

[Illustration: COLUMN OF JULY, PLACE DE LA BASTILLE.]

On the same day, the 27th of February, the Government informed the
people of Paris of the result of the negociations with Prussia, in the
following proclamation:

"The Government appeals to your patriotism and your wisdom; you hold
in your hands the future of Paris and of France herself. It is for
you to save or to ruin both!

"After a heroic resistance, famine forced you to open your gates to
the victorious enemy; the armies that should have come to your aid
were driven over the Loire. These incontestable facts have compelled
the Government for the National Defence to open negotiations of
peace.

"For six days your negotiators have disputed the ground foot by
foot; they did all that was humanly possible, to obtain less
rigorous conditions. They have signed the preliminaries of peace,
which are about to be submitted to the National Assembly.

"During the time necessary for the examination and discussion of
these preliminaries, hostilities would have recommenced, and blood
would, have flowed afresh and uselessly, without a prolongation of
the armistice.

"This prolongation could only be obtained on the condition of a
partial and very temporary occupation of a portion of Paris:
absolutely to be limited to the quarter of the Champs Elyse