tard
the evacuation of the enemy, and perhaps expose us to disasters still
more complete and terrible.

"Let us look our position calmly in the face. We have been
conquered; nearly half of our territory has been in the power of a
million of Germans, who have imposed upon us a fine of five
milliards. Our only means of discharging this weighty debt is by the
strictest economy, the most exemplary conduct and care. We must not
lose a moment before putting our hands to work, which is our one and
solitary hope. And at this awful moment shall our miserable folly
lead us into a civil strife?...

"If, while they are meeting to treat with the enemy, our negotiators
have sedition to fear, they will break down as they did on the 31st
of October, when the events of the Hotel de Ville authorised the
enemy to refuse us an armistice which might have saved us."

This form of reasoning was not illogical, but those who were working in
secret for the furtherance of their own ambition, oared little to be
convinced, and their myrmidons obeyed them blindly, and gloated over the
wild, bombastic language of the demagogic press, which, though they did
not understand it, impressed them no less with its inflated phrases.

The Government, perceiving that it would be perhaps necessary to use
rigorous measures, gave orders to hasten the arrival of the rest of the
Army of the North.

Some few days after the 18th of March, they resolved to deal a decided
blow to the Democratic party in suppressing at once the _Vengeur_, the
_Mot d'Ordre_, the _Cri du Peuple_, the _Caricature_, the _Pere
Duchesne_, and the _Bouche de Fer_.

The National Guards had a perfect mania for collecting cannon; after
having placed in battery the mitrailleuses and pieces of seven, the
produce of patriotic subscriptions, they also seized upon others
belonging to the State, and carried them off to the Buttes Montmartre,
where they had about a hundred pieces. The retaking of this artillery
was the matter in question. While they at Versailles were occupied with
the solution of the problem, the National Guards continued their
manifestations at the Place de la Bastille, dragging these pieces of
artillery in triumph from the Champ de Mars to the Luxembourg, from the
park of Montrouge to Notre Dame, from the Place des Vosges to the Place
d'Italie, and from the Buttes Montmartre to the Buttes Chaumont.

Before making use of force, th