The effervescence in the minds of the people was so great, that the entry of the Prussians was delayed for forty-eight hours, but on the first of March, at ten in the morning, they had come into the city, and the smoke of their bivouac fires was seen in the Champs Elysees.  On the evening of the same day, a telegram from Bordeaux announced that the National Assembly had ratified the preliminaries of peace by a majority of 546 voices against 107.  On the following day the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs left for Versailles, and by nine o’clock in the evening, everything was prepared for the evacuation of the troops, which was effected by eleven, on the third of March.  During the short period of their stay, the city was in veritable mourning; the public edifices (even the Bourse) were closed, as were the shops, the warehouses, and the greater part of the cafes.  At the windows hung black flags, or the tricolour covered with black crape, and veils of the same material concealed the faces of the statues[3] on the Place de la Concorde.

All these demonstrations had, however, a pacific character, and the presence of the enemy in Paris gave rise to no serious incident.

Nevertheless, the agitation of the public mind was not allayed; some attributed this to a plot the Socialists had formed, and which had arrived at maturity.  Others believed that the Prussians had left emissaries, creators of disorder, behind them, in revenge for their reception on the Place de la Concorde.  In truth, their entry was anything but triumphal; their national airs were received with hisses; their officers were hooted as they promenaded in the Tuileries, and those who attempted to visit the Louvre were compelled to retreat without having satisfied their curiosity.  On the evening of the 3rd of March, a note emanating from the Ministry of the Interior, pointed out in the following terms the danger to be feared from the Central Committee:—­

“Incidents of the most regrettable nature have occurred during the last few days, and menace seriously the peace of the capital.  Certain National Guards in arms, following the orders, not of their legitimate chiefs, but of an anonymous Central Committee, which could not give them any instructions without committing a crime severely punishable by the law, took possession of a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition of war, under the pretext of saving them from the enemy, whose invasion they pretended to fear.  Such acts should at any rate have ceased after the departure of the Prussian army.  But such is not the case, for this evening the guard-house at the Gobelins was invaded, and a number of cartridges stolen.

“Those who provoke these disorders draw upon themselves a most terrible responsibility; it is at the very moment that the city of Paris, relieved from contact with the foreigner, desires to reassume its habits of serenity and industry, that these men are sowing trouble and preparing civil war.  The Government appeals to all good citizens to aid in stifling in the germ these culpable manifestations.

[Illustration:  THE HILL OF MONTMARTRE!—­WITH THE GUNS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD PARKED THERE.  VIEW TAKEN FROM THE PLACE ST. PIERRE.]