ernorship of Paris, though by a strange contradiction he
kept the presidency of the Government of National Defence, and was
replaced by General Vinoy. On January 22, a riot broke out in the
capital in which blood was shed in civil strife. Finally, on January 28,
Jules Favre had to submit to the conqueror's terms. Paris capitulated
and the garrison was disarmed, with the exception of a few thousand
regulars to preserve order, and the National Guard; a war tribute was
imposed on the city and an armistice of twenty-one days was signed to
permit the election and gathering of a National Assembly to pass on
terms of peace. With inexcusable carelessness Jules Favre neglected to
warn Gambetta in the provinces that this armistice began for the rest of
France only on the thirty-first and that, as already stated, the Army of
the East was excepted from its provisions.

Gambetta was furious at the surrender and at the presumption of Paris to
decide for the provinces. He preached a continuation of the war, and the
intervention of Bismarck was necessary to prevent him from excluding
from the National Assembly all who had had any connection with the
imperial regime. Jules Simon was sent from Paris to counteract
Gambetta's efforts. The latter yielded before the prospect of civil war,
withdrew from power, and, on February 8, elections were held for the
National Assembly.

The downfall of what had been considered the chief military nation of
Europe was due to many involved causes. The Empire was responsible for
the _debacle_ and the Government of National Defence was unable to
create everything out of nothing. Many people were ready to be
discouraged after a first defeat, and few realized what Germany's
demands were going to be. The imperial army was insufficiently equipped
and the majority of its generals were inefficient and lacking in
initiative: there was no preparation, no system, little discipline.

During the period of National Defence the members of the Government
themselves were usually wanting in experience and in diplomacy, and the
badly trained armies made up of raw recruits were liable to panics or
unable to follow up an advantage. There was jealousy, mistrust, and
frequent unwillingness to subordinate politics to patriotism, or, at any
rate, to make allowances for other forms of patriotism than one's own.
Gambetta and Jules Favre were primarily orators and tribunes and
indulged in too many wordy proclamations, in which hab