y permitted him to return to France,
where he made haste to bring out another new journal, _Le Reveil_, which
of course earned him fines and imprisonments with great rapidity, three
of each within the twelvemonth.

In the month of February, 1871, he was elected deputy by a large number
of votes; and later, when the Assembly went to Bordeaux, sat there for
some time, and then gave in his resignation, in order to take part with
the Commune.

By the Commune he was made delegate at the Ministry of War, after the
pretended flight of Rossel, and in a sitting of the 20th of April, in
which the project of burning Paris was discussed, Delescluze ended his
speech with the words--"If we must die, we will give to Liberty a pile
worthy of her."]

[Footnote 83: He was convinced of the hopelessness of any further
struggle after the capture of Fort Issy; gave in his resignation, and
hid himself to escape the vengeance of his former colleagues. He was
supposed to be in England or Switzerland, whereas, in fact, he had fled
no farther than the Boulevard Saint Germain. He was arrested by the
police on the ninth of June, disguised as an employe of the Northern
Railway. He was first interrogated at the Petit Luxembourg, and
afterwards conducted handcuffed to Versailles, where three mouths after
he was tried by court-martial and sentenced to military degradation and
death.]

[Footnote 84: "A plot had just been discovered between Bourget of the
Internationale, Billioray, member of the Commune, and Cerisier, captain
of the 101st Battalion of the insurgent National Guard. For a certain
sum of money they were to deliver Port Issy into the hands of General
Valentin, of the Versailles army. The succession of Rossel to the
Ministry of War frustrated the whole project.

"In the night of the 17th of May another attempt of the same kind met
with failure. The Communists Bourget, Billioray, Mortier, Cerisier, and
Pilotel, the artist, traitors to their own treacherous cause, were to
open the gates to the soldiers of Versailles, an hour after midnight, at
the Point du Jour; the soldiers to be disguised as National Guards. But,
at the appointed hour, Cerisier took fright, and contented himself with
the money he had received on account (twenty-five thousand francs) in
payment for his treachery, and did no more. When the Versailles troops
presented themselves at the gates, they had to beat a retreat under a
heavy fire of mitrailleuses." _Guerre des Comm