[Sidenote: National workshop abolished]

The elections of April 23 gave the moderate element a handsome majority. An
attempt to change the elections was frustrated by the National Guard.
Strengthened by this manifestation of popular approval, Lamartine and his
colleagues got rid of their radical associates in the Cabinet. The excluded
radicals now planned a new revolution. On May 15, simultaneously with the
renewed riots in Vienna, an attempt was made to overthrow the government.
On the pretext of presenting a petition on behalf of Poland, a mob invaded
the Chambers and dissolved the Assembly. A provisional government was
installed at the Hotel de Ville. The government supporters rallied the
National Guard. The leaders at the Hotel de Ville were taken captive. The
Palais Bourbon was cleared, and the Deputies were reconvened in their
assembly hall. Encouraged by this success, the government resolved to rid
itself of the incubus of the national workshops, after a variety of schemes
with this purpose in view had been brought forward in the Assembly. The
government cut the Gordian knot by a violent stroke. On June 21, an edict
was issued that all beneficiaries of the public workshops between the ages
of seventeen and twenty-five must enlist in the army or cease to receive
support from the State.

[Sidenote: Paris up in arms]

[Sidenote: Archbishop killed]

[Sidenote: End of bloodshed]

At this time more than a hundred thousand destitute men had flocked to the
national workshops. They rose as of one accord. The rising of June 23 was
the most formidable yet experienced in Paris. The number of the workmen
alone exceeded that of several army corps. The unity of grievances and
interests gave them an _esprit de corps_ similar to that of an army. The
whole eastern part of Paris was barricaded like a fortified camp. Instead
of a mere revolt, the government found itself entering upon a civil war.
General Cavaignac, the Minister of War, was placed in supreme command, the
executive commission resigning its powers. He summoned all available troops
into the capital. Regardless of private interests, Paris was treated as a
great battlefield in which the enemy was to be attacked in a mass and
dislodged from all his main lines. The barricades were battered down with
field and siege artillery. Four days and nights the fight lasted. Whole
houses and blocks in which the insurgents had found a lodgment had to be
demolished. On the third d