e-establishment of the Empire, and when Bismarck, "looking pale, but
calm and self-possessed," had read to the assemblage the Proclamation
to the German people, "the bands burst forth with the national anthem,
colors and helmets were wildly waved, and the Hall of Mirrors shook
with a tremendous shout that was taken up and swelled till the rippling
thunder-roll of cheers struck the ears of the startled watchers on the
walls of Paris," where roar of cannon night and day summoned the French
to surrender. Thus the German Empire was born at the very seat of
French Monarchy.

The armistice terms were signed at Versailles on the twenty-eighth day
of January. One month later the representative of stricken France and
Bismarck, sitting in the Chancellor's headquarters, affixed their
signatures to the Peace Preliminaries, by which France surrendered
Alsace (except Belfort) and Lorraine, and agreed to pay within three
years a war indemnity of five thousand million francs.[*]

After the departure of the Prussians from Versailles (March 12, 1871),
the Deputies of France arrived from Bordeaux, the temporary capital,
and lodged in the Hall of Mirrors, which then became a dormitory, as it
had on occasion been a hospital ward, a ball-room and the banqueting
hall of royalty.

The insurrection of the Commune of Paris compelled the ministers to
seek a place of security at Versailles. Once more the palace was
chosen as the seat of Government. The ground floor, the upper floor
and the attic, the picture galleries, even the vestibule of the Queen's
Stairway and the servants' quarters served as offices for ministers and
secretaries. The Department of Justice was installed in the Guards'
Hall, the _Oeil-de-Boeuf_ and the rooms of Marie Antoinette. The
Secretary of Public Works directed his affairs within walls that had
sheltered the nefarious Dubarry. The official _Journal_ was printed in
the palace kitchens. For several years the Opera House, the north
wing, and the intimate apartments of Louis XV were given over to the
National Assembly.

A Republican fete offered in 1878 by the president, Marshal MacMahon,
was attended by twelve thousand guests. Once more the fountains of the
north parterre were illuminated, but this time with electric bulbs
instead of oil lanterns. There were ingenious fireworks on the
_Tapis-Vert_ that would have astounded even the courtiers of the Grand
Monarch. In the _Galerie des Glaces_, Dussieux tells us