rom which showers of shells were
discharged, which bursting behind the barricades shattered these
defences, ponderous although they were, scattering them, and the bodies
of the brave men who defended them to the last. Shells also were thrown
into the houses, whence a fire was kept up upon the military in the
streets: many of these houses were torn to pieces, burying the defenders
in their ruins. In some streets the troops had to cut their way from
house to house, the sappers knocking down the party-walls: the contest
in these directions resembled that at Saragossa, where, amidst crumbling
walls and blazing roofs, men fought foot to foot, in the agonies of
valour, fanaticism, and despair. Throughout the 25th and 26th the
conflict raged, but was terminated on the evening of that day. Twenty
thousand men were killed or wounded. General Cavaignac was elected by
the assembly president of the council. The gallant general conducted his
administration with justice and wisdom.

During the month of June, a committee appointed by the assembly was
engaged in drawing up a constitution; they presented a report to the
following effect:--They proposed that there should be a president
elected by universal suffrage for a period of four years; he was to be
a French citizen, not less than thirty years of age. The legislature
to consist of one chamber; that chamber to consist of seven hundred
and thirty members. The ministers to be appointed and dismissed at the
pleasure of the president. A council of state to be appointed out of the
assembly, forty in number, and chosen by the assembly itself; that body
to draw up the projects of law which the government might think fit
to bring in. The punishment of death for political offences was
interdicted. Slavery to be abolished in all French colonies. The press
to be free. All religions to be allowed, and their ministers to be
paid by the state. Public instruction to be free, subject to the
superintendence of the state. Substitutes for the army and navy to be
disallowed. The national debt to be deemed sacred. Property inviolable.
Algeria, and all other French colonies, to be integral parts of the
French soil, but to be governed by laws peculiar to themselves. Trials
to be public, and the office of judge to be permanent.

This project of constitution was accepted as a base for further
consideration. Subsequently it was modified, but not in any way
essentially to alter its principles. The resolution