be obtained on the condition of a partial and very temporary occupation of a portion of Paris:  absolutely to be limited to the quarter of the Champs Elysees.  Not more than thirty thousand men are to enter the city, and they are to retire as soon as the preliminaries of peace have been ratified, which act can only occupy a few days.

“If this convention were not to be respected the armistice would be at an end:  the enemy, already master of the forts, would occupy the whole of Paris by force.  Your property, your works of art, your monuments, now guaranteed by the convention, would cease to exist.

    “The misfortune would reach the whole of France.  The frightful
    ravages of the war, which have not heretofore passed the Loire,
    would extend to the Pyrenees.

“It is then absolutely true to say that the salvation of France is at stake.  Do not imitate the error of those who would not listen to us when, eight months ago, we abjured them not to undertake a war which must be fatal.

“The French army which defended Paris with so much courage will occupy the left of the Seine, to ensure the loyal execution of the new armistice.  It is for the National Guard to lend its aid, by keeping order in the rest of the city.

“Let all good citizens who earned honour as its chiefs, and showed themselves so brave before the enemy, reassume their authority, and the cruel situation of the moment will be terminated by peace and the return of public prosperity.”

This clause of the occupation of Paris by the Prussians was regarded by some people as a mere satisfaction of national vanity; but the greater number considered it as an apple of discord thrown by M. de Bismarck, who had every reason to desire that civil war should break out, thus making himself an accomplice of the Socialists and the members of the International.  Confining ourselves simply to the analysis of facts, and to those considerations which may enlighten public opinion respecting the causes of events, we shall not allow ourselves to be carried over the vast field of hypothesis, but preserve the modest character of narrators.  On the night of the 27th of February, the admiral commanding the third section of the fortifications, having noticed the hostile attitude of the National Guard, caused the troops which had been disarmed in accordance with the conditions of the armistice to withdraw into the interior of the city.  The men of Belleville profited by the circumstance to pillage the powder magazines which had been entrusted to their charge, and on the following day they went, preceded by drums and trumpets, to the barracks of the Rue de la Pepiniere to invite the sailors lodged there to join them in a patriotic manifestation on that night.  Believing that the object was to prevent the Prussians entering Paris, a certain number of these brave fellows, who had behaved so admirably