terror in Paris, it was at the same time hoped that their rule would not be of long duration, as the country remained quiet and the movements in large cities, as Marseilles, Creuzot, St.-Etienne, Toulouse, Narbonne, and Perpignan, were easily suppressed. The attitude of the country induced the Commune to assume the aggressive. On April 2d an encounter between the troops of the Government and the insurgents took place near the bridge of Neuilly, between Courvoie and Pultaux; the insurgents were driven back into the city, where the excitement reached its climax, and extensive preparations for a march upon Versailles were made. On April 3d the insurgents, under Flourens, Bergeret, and Duval, set out before sunrise. The chief divisions attacked the troops of the Government north and west of Fort Mont Valérien, near Nanterre, Rueil, Bougival, Besons, Chatou, and Croissy. Before the break of day the fort opened fire upon them, yet without any notable effect, as they were protected by the villages. Their attack, however, was repulsed, and when the cavalry of General Vinoy prepared to attack them they hastened back to the city, leaving behind many dead and wounded. The other divissions, which had advanced beyond Meudon and Châtillon, suffered the same fate. An of ficial dispatch from Picard announced to the departments that the insurgents had suffered a crushing defeat; that the redoubt of Châtillon had been captured with 2,000 prisoners, among whom was General Henry, and that Flourens and Duval had been killed. The battles of April 4th turned out even more unfavorable to the insurgents. The troops of the Government remained in possession of Châtillon, and from there sustained an efficient fire against the forts of Issy, Vanvres, and Meudon, which were held by the insurgents. The Commune, from which twenty-one members had already withdrawn, did not, however, give up all hope: large reenforcements were sent to the combatants, and a proclamation promised a speedy victory over the royalists. The chief administration of military affairs was confided to General Cluseret, who appointed the Pole Dombrowski commander of the forces of the Commune; Bergeret, who thus far had filled this place, was arrested because he had not executed the orders of the delegates for war. The chief command of the army of Versailles was given to Marshal MacMahon; under him, General Admirault commanded on the side of Mont Valérien, General de Cissey on the side of Châtillon. Vinoy received the command of the reserve army. On April 6th and 7th there was severe fighting in Courbevoie and Neuilly, with heavy losses on both sides. On the first day the battle was undecided, and the insurgents succeeded in silencing the battery of the Versaillists on the Rond Point de Courbevoie. On the next morning the battle took a favorable turn for the troops of the Government, and, when the heavy ord

VOL. XI.-21 A

nance of Mont Valérien began to play, the barricade which defended the bridge of Neuilly was taken after a brave resistance. The troops of the Government occupied a part of Neuilly, the Bois de Boulogne and the village of Levallois; their main forces were concentrated on the Longchamps between the Seine and the Bois de Boulogne. Thus some of the most important positions outside of the walls of the city, except the above-mentioned forts on the left bank of the Seine, had been snatched from the insurgents. The battles of the next two days did not bring a decision; the destruction of the drawbridge of the Porte Maillot on April 10th, and the opening of a breach on this place by the Versaillists, proved, however, of considerable importance. On the next day, the battle was hottest around the Porte Maillot; Neuilly became more and more like a heap of ruins. On the left bank of the Seine there was also severe fighting; the forts of the insurgents, in particular Vanvres and Issy, had to suffer severely from the fire of the redoubt of Châtillon.

In Paris, in the mean while, the breach between the Commune and the Government had widened. A proclamation of the Commune, of April 5th, complained that "the bandits of Versailles every day throttled or shot their prisoners," and threatened that it would reply to it by executions of an equal or double number of prisoners. Everywhere they began to search for suspected persons and to imprison them. None had to suffer more from this policy than the clergy; among others, Archbishop Darboy was arrested as being suspected. The churches were laid under contributions, and forced loans taken from the large moneyed institutions and corporations, in order to obtain the means for continuing the struggle. The communication by railroad was interrupted, and thus the prices of provisions greatly rose; mortality considerably increased; the men were absolutely forbidden to leave the city, and to women and children the permission to do so was only given after the payment of a considerable sum of money. All able-bodied men had to enroll, and a systematic search was instituted against those who endeavored to escape the general duty. Thiers, Picard, Favre, and others, were impeached, and their property confiscated. Thirty-four papers which were opposed to the Commune were suppressed; the publication of new ones prohibited. The Radicals were, however, by no means agreed among themselves. Not only was there a very pronounced dissension between the Commune and the Central Committee, but the individual leaders also were engaged in an unceasing conflict with each other. The most radical elements more and more attained the ascendency, although at the same time the passive resistance of the wealthy classes, so far as they had remained in Paris, began to consolidate itself. The elec-tions of April 16th were regarded as a failure,

for so many had abstained from voting, that only minority elections were effected, which, nevertheless, were declared to be valid by the Commune. This situation of affairs encouraged the hope for compromises. The City Council sent peace commissioners to Thiers, but their mission failed, as the Council demanded the highest degree of self-government for the city, while Thiers insisted upon an unconditional recognition of the authority of the Government and the adoption of the town law, which had been voted by the National Assembly. Subsequent attempts at mediation made by the Paris merchants, the Ligue de l'union républicaine des droits de Paris, and the Freemasons, were equally unsuccessful. The Commune, in a manifesto of April 19th, declared that the conflict between Paris and Versailles was one of those which could not be ended by illusory compromises. The demands of the Commune and the new town law were in fact irreconcilable. The National Assembly had at first shown a disposition to leave the election of maires to the town councils; but, when Thiers declared that in this case he would resign, a compromise was agreed upon, according to which the Government received the right to appoint the maires in all towns with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The Commune, on the other hand, demanded for every town of France the most absolute independence of the Commune, which should have no other limit than the same right of other communes, the association of which must secure the unity of France. As rights belonging to the Commune, the following were claimed: "The vote on the communal budget, receipts, and expenditures; the assessment of taxes; the direction of all the branches of local administration; the organization of the courts, of the police, and education; the disposal of goods belonging to the Commune; the appointment of the communal magistrates, or officers of every degree; an unlimited guarantee of personal liberty; freedom of conscience and of labor; constant participation of the citizens in communal affairs, by the free expression of their ideas and the defence of their interests; guarantee for these expressions of opinion to be given by the Commune; the organization of the defence of the city, and of the National Guard, which elects its leaders, and which alone watches over the maintenance of order in the city. In the exercise of her freedom of action, Paris reserves to herself the right to carry through within her limits all the administrative and economical reforms which the population demands; to found such institutions as she may regard as fitted to develop and extend education, production, exchange, and credit; to generalize the power of Government, and the right of property, according to the exigencies of the moment, the wishes of all the parties interested, and the light gained by experience. The political unity demanded by Paris is the

voluntary association and cooperation of all individual forces for a common aim-the wellbeing, freedom, and security of all. The communal revolution of March 18th opens an era of experimental, positive, and scientific politics; it puts an end to the old governmental and clerical world, to the military and administrative hierarchies, to the reign of monopolies and privileges to which are due the servitude of the proletariat and the misfortune and defeat of the country." Thiers, on the other hand, confined himself to the renewed assurance that he would not act in opposition to the republic, and to the demand that the authority of the national Government be recognized by Paris as well as by the remainder of the country.

The military operations against Paris made but slow progress. Thiers, in a proclamation of April 16th, declared that the Government delayed an attack, as it desired to collect so large a force as to make a further resistance impossible, and also to give time to the misled Parisians to listen to the voice of reason. Public opinion suspected that the Government did not trust a large portion of the troops, and was waiting for the return of the prisoners of war from Germany. At all events, Marshal MacMahon proceeded with the utmost caution. The transfer of his headquarters to Fontenayaux-Roses was regarded as the beginning of an assault upon the outside, the former attacks having been confined to the west and southwest. The first successes were, however, obtained on the west side. On April 15th, Castle Bécon was captured, where the insurgents shortly before had successfully repulsed an attack. The position was of great importance, because it commanded Asnières, where Dombrowski had concentrated the main force. On April 18th Asnières also fell into the hands of the Government, and the insurgents were driven back upon the other bank of the river. The forts on both sides maintained a constant fire, which, on the whole, cost but few lives, but caused an immense damage to property. Repeated assaults of the troops of the Government upon the forts of the insurgents were repulsed, and the former began the regular siege of Fort Issy. The sorties of the insurgents likewise failed; occasionally they gained a little ground, but they were too weak to act vigorously on the offensive. A part of their troops could not be relied upon, and the Commune found it necessary to disarm several battalions. Fort Issy became more and more the centre of the battle. The insurgents defended themselves with great obstinacy; but, on the afternoon of April 30th, they had to leave it, because it had suffered too much from the unceasing fire. The troops of the Government, however, did not dare to occupy it, partly because they feared the fire of the batteries of Vaurigard, partly because they believed the fort to be undermined. Thus the insurgents found it possible to return to the fort. As

General Cluseret was blamed for this reverse, and as he was, moreover, charged with plotting against the Commune, he was arrested and locked up in the Conciergerie. He was succeeded by Colonel Rossel. Simultaneously a Committee of Public Safety, consisting of five members (Arnaud, Meillet, Ranvier, Pyat, and Gerardin), was formed. On the same day on which the insurgents evacuated Fort d'Issy, the communal elections took place throughout France. In most places the Conservative Republicans remained victorious. On April 25th, the maires, adjuncts, and communal officers of the places around Paris presented an address to Thiers, in which they demanded an armistice, a complete restoration of the communal liberties, with the election of all maires and adjuncts by the councils, and the final establishment of the republic, and protested against the bombardment as well as against all reprisals. Thiers replied: "The republic is in existence. The Assembly actually maintains the republic. Although the majority seems to have received from the electors a monarchical mandate, it has the wisdom to see that the republic to-day has become the best form of government." At the same time, however, he also declared: "No way of a possible compromise is sought between a government proceeding from elections so free as they have been in France during the last forty years, and between criminals who only represent disorder and rebellion, and three-fourths of whom are foreigners." He guaranteed life and freedom to all who would lay down their arms, excepting the murderers of Generals Thomas and Lecompte, and declared himself ready to leave for several days one gate open, "in order to give the revolutionists an opportunity to leave Paris, and to seek a refuge outside of France." The Commune declared this to be an absolute refusal of reconciliation, "which, however, can take place only through a recognition of the rights which we defend, and which we have received the mission of defending by means of arms, if we are unable by means of a compromise." A decree of the Commune ordered the establishment of a new line of defence within the limits of the city. Montmartre and the Trocadero were to be fortified more strongly, and to be garrisoned with the heaviest cannon; besides, the plateau of the Panthéon was to be made a citadel. The liability to military service was extended to the fifty-fifth year of age, and severer measures were adopted against those who tried to evade it. At the same time, however, internal dissensions increased. A considerable minority of the Commune had opposed the appointment of a Committee of Public Safety; the discharge and arrest of military commanders became more frequent every day. In the first days of May the troops of the Government occupied the railroad depot at Clamart, which commands Fort Issy, and by a nightly surprise the redoubt of Moulin Saquet. Clamart had

been defended by the insurgents with the utmost obstinacy. The massacre in Moulin Saquet had been very bloody; as the position was too much exposed to the enemy's fire, the Versaillists had soon to abandon it, and to leave it again to the insurgents. The castle of Issy had three times been occupied, and only after they had taken it for the fourth time could the Versaillists maintain themselves in its possession. The troops of the Government gave no quarter in this battle, and on several other occasions prisoners were immediately shot by them. Thiers, in a letter to the imprisoned Archbishop Darboy, denied the truth of this charge, but many foreigners living in Versailles declared the complaints of the Communists not to be unfounded, though exaggerated. At all events, the combat on both sides assumed a more savage character. The successes of the Versaillists isolated the Fort of Issy to such a degree that its speedy fall was regarded as certain. In the night of May 8th the garrison began to attempt to escape in small detachments, in the direction of Paris. On May 9th, it was surprised and the fort captured. The insurgents soon abandoned a further resistance; but, when the victory of the troops of the Government was fully decided, a bloody conflict arose between them and the insurgents, a large number of whom were massacred.

The operations of the Government were greatly aided by the progress of the internal dissensions in Paris. On the same day on which Issy had been taken, Rossel resigned, and asked the Commune to give him a cell in Mazas. This step he declared to have been caused by the weakness of the Commune, and of the Central Committee, who deliberated when it was necessary to act, and by the petty caprices of the commanders of the legions who hindered the mobilization of the troops. A decree of the Commune announced that religious instruction must cease in the Parisian schools; the teachers must remove all the crucifixes, Madonnas, and other symbols, their exhibition being a violation of religious liberty. Several churches were closed, and their valuables confiscated; one church was destroyed. It was also resolved to destroy the works of art glorifying periods which, in the opinion of the Commune, were disgraceful to France: thus, on May 16th, the column of Vendôme was destroyed. Public placards and articles in newspapers declared that the Parisians would rather convert the whole city into a heap of ruins than allow it to be occupied by the Versaillists.

The measures of the Commune increased the irritation of the remainder of France against it. At the same time, however, the opposition of the Right against Thiers gained strength in the Assembly. It was commonly believed that a fusion between the Legitimists and the Orleanists had been effected. A manifesto of the Count de Chambord, in which he declared his

desire, at the head of "the whole house of France," to establish the prosperity of the country, greatly strengthened the belief in the report. When, however, the Right made a feigned attack upon Thiers, on account of his conduct toward the insurgents, Thiers made his continuance in office dependent upon a vote of confidence; and, as the Right did not dare to bring on a change in the Government before the insurrection was overpowered, the vote of confidence was given by 495 against 10 votes. The insurrection now seemed to approach its end. A few days after the occupation of Issy, the Forty-sixth Regiment, after a terrible massacre, took the Convent of Oiseaux. In consequence of this victory, the insurgents had also to evacuate Fort Vanvres. From this place at once a new trench was opened against the walls of Paris. The batteries of the insurgents from Point du Jour to Porte Vaurigard had nearly been silenced (May 14th), but from Porte Maillot to Saint-Ouen they still displayed great vigor. On May 19th a new battery in the Château des Puces near Courbevoie opened an effective fire against the bridge of Asnières, the Porte Maillot, and the Porte des Tarnes. The reconnoissances were extended as far as the island of Genevilliers, and on the south side Arceuil and Cachan were taken. Lagrange-Ory and la Maison Plichon fell likewise, after a violent battle, into the hands of the troops of the Government. Between Porte Maillot and Point du Jour the insurgents withdrew from the wall, but under the protection of stone parapets they continued to maintain an effective fire. On May 21st it was ascertained that Porte St.-Cloud had been almost wholly abandoned by the insurgents. A sudden attack made upon this point by Lieutenant Trèves was completely successful. After the first surprise, the insurgents endeavored to continue their resistance in the houses of Auteuil, and behind the large barricades which obstructed the bridge; but they were soon overpowered by the troops of the Government, which were with remarkable rapidity reënforced. This victory was followed up with great energy, and soon other parts of the city were in the hands of the Government. General l'Admirault took the gate of Passy, and, by a skilful turn of his operations, brought the Arc de Victoire into his power. General Vinoy entered at the Point du Jour, crossed the Seine, and at the same time opened the gate of Sèvres to General Cissey, who took possession of the Faubourg St.-Germain. The troops at first met with but little resistance; but the farther they advanced, the more desperately every barricade and every street was disputed by the insurgents. Delescluze, who now acted as Minister of War of the Commune, issued a last appeal, in which he declared the military rule to have passed, and the hour of revolution to have come. The Committee of Public Safety, which had been radically reorganized, issued proclamations of the same tenor. Arch

bishop Darboy, with sixty-four priests, and a number of other hostages, was shot. Powder and petroleum were put into the most important buildings, in order to prepare them for sudden destruction. The Tuileries, the Library of the Louvre, the Ministry of Finance, the Hôtel-de-Ville, the palaces of the Council of State, the Legion of Honor, the Théâtre de la Porte St.-Martin, the Entrepôt, the Grenier d'Abondance, the Salpêtrière, the Convent of the Magdalenes, and many other buildings, soon were actually destroyed. The women in large numbers took part in the fight, and seemed to exceed the men in fury; many of them were seen busy in feeding the flames with petroleum. The troops of the Government, on their part, were inflamed to the utmost rigor. All who were caught in incendiary work, or with arms in their hands, were shot on the spot and without trial. Thus the combat assuined a more and more terrible character, in particular on the right bank of the Seine; the left bank had to suffer severely from the batteries of the insurgents in the forts of Ivry and Bicêtre. At first, the fighting centred in the region near the Tuileries, the Louvre, the Hotel-de-Ville, and the Prefecture of Police. The insurgents defended themselves so obstinately that the troops of the Government employed artillery before they dared to storm the positions. The Quartier Montmartre had likewise to be attacked by heavy pieces of ordnance before the infantry could advance against it; and, although the attack was skilfully executed, the insurgents maintained themselves some time in a part of it. With extraordinary severity the battle raged all night around the barricade in the garden of the Tuileries, and, when the insurgents in the morning retired through the Rue St.-Honoré to the halls, the fight was resumed there with undiminished fury. With equal bravery the insurgents defended the barricades of the Rue Auber, and the neighborhood of the Madeleine. Here the insurgents were finally driven back into the church itself, where they were massacred to the last man. The generals of the Government operated with great caution, turning those positions of the insurgents where they met with a vigorous resistance. They steadily gained ground, until at last the adherents of the Commune were confined to the suburb St.Antoine, the Buttes Chaumont, one part of Belleville, the Quartier Mouffetard, and the Forts of Bicêtre and Ivry. But even here they could not maintain themselves. On May 29th the insurrection was entirely put down, the last two bands of insurgents having been overpowered in Vincennes and in the Père la Chaise. The leaders of the Commune, with only a few exceptions, had either been killed like Delescluze, or taken prisoners; a number of the latter class were at once shot. The number of prisoners who were immediately executed was considerable; in the Théâtre du Chatelet, a council of war was in session; on one side,