On Sunday, the 26th of February, the Place de la Bastille, in which manifestations had been held for the last two days in celebration of the revolution of February ’48, became as a shrine, to which whole battalions of the National Guard marched to the sound of music, their flags adorned with caps of liberty and cockades.  The Column of July was hung with banners and decorated with wreaths of immortelles.  Violent harangues, the theme of which was the upholding of the Republic “to the death,” were uttered at its foot.  One man, of the name of Budaille, pretended that he held proofs of the treachery of the Government for the National Defence, and promised that he would produce them at the proper time and place.

Up to this moment, the demonstrations seemed to have but one result—­that of impeding circulation; but they soon gave rise to scenes of tumult and disorder.  Towards one o’clock, when perhaps twenty or thirty thousand persons were on the above Place, an individual, accused of being a spy, was dragged by an infuriated mob to the river, and flung, bound hand and foot, into the look by the Ile Saint Louis, amidst the wild cries and imprecations of the madmen whose prey he had become.

The night of the 26th was very agitated; drums beat to arms, and on the morning of the 27th the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard issued a proclamation, in which he appealed to the good citizens of Paris, and confided the care of the city to the National Guard.  This had no effect, however, on the aspect of the Place de la Bastille; the crowd continued to applaud, frantically, the incendiary speeches of the socialist party, who had sworn to raise Paris at any cost.

[Illustration:  COLUMN OF JULY, PLACE DE LA BASTILLE.]

On the same day, the 27th of February, the Government informed the people of Paris of the result of the negociations with Prussia, in the following proclamation: 

    “The Government appeals to your patriotism and your wisdom; you hold
    in your hands the future of Paris and of France herself.  It is for
    you to save or to ruin both!

“After a heroic resistance, famine forced you to open your gates to the victorious enemy; the armies that should have come to your aid were driven over the Loire.  These incontestable facts have compelled the Government for the National Defence to open negotiations of peace.

“For six days your negotiators have disputed the ground foot by foot; they did all that was humanly possible, to obtain less rigorous conditions.  They have signed the preliminaries of peace, which are about to be submitted to the National Assembly.

“During the time necessary for the examination and discussion of these preliminaries, hostilities would have recommenced, and blood would, have flowed afresh and uselessly, without a prolongation of the armistice.

“This prolongation could only