A few changes in the articles as at first drawn up were made.  The Prussians did not insist, as Bismarck had done at first, that the cannon in the bastions should be hurled down, and regiments were permitted to retain their colors, though Von Moltke objected strongly to such concessions.  They were granted, however, by the emperor, when the matter was referred to him, but in words more insulting than a refusal.  “Tell the envoy of the French Government,” he said, “that we have trophies enough and standards enough taken from French armies, and have no need of those of the army of Paris.”

Then, the capitulation being signed, the armistice began.  General elections were at once held all over France, and the National Assembly met at Bordeaux.  A Provisional Government, with M. Thiers at its head, was appointed, and peace was concluded.  Alsace and Lorraine were given up to Germany, with the exception of the stronghold of Belfort, which had never surrendered.  The German army was to enter Paris, but to go no farther than the Place de la Concorde; and besides the two hundred millions of francs exacted from Paris, France was to pay five milliards, that is, five thousand millions, of francs, as a war indemnity,—­a thousand millions of dollars.  Germany was to retain certain forts in France, and her troops in them were to be rationed by the French until this money was paid.

It was paid in an incredibly short time, chiefly by the help of the great Jewish banking-houses; and the last of the Germans retired to their own soil in September, 1872.

But on March 13, 1871, the German army around Paris, after remaining a few hours in the capital, marched away towards home.

The Assembly at Bordeaux proceeded at once to transfer itself to the late Prussian headquarters at Versailles; but on March 18 a great rising, called the Commune, broke out in Paris, which lasted rather more than nine weeks, with a continued succession of horrors.

CHAPTER XV.

THE COMMUNE.

The story of the Commune is piteous, disheartening, shameful, and terrible.  It seems as if during three months of 1871 “human nature,” as Carlyle says of it in his “French Revolution,” “had thrown off all formulas, and come out human!” It is the story of those whom the French call “the people,”—­we “the mob,” or “the populace,”—­let loose upon society, and society in its turn mercilessly avenging itself for its wrongs.

By March 12,1871, the Prussian soldiers had quitted the environs of Paris, and were in full march for their homes.  Two of the detached forts, however, remained eighteen months longer in their hands.  On March 20 the National Assembly was to begin its session at Versailles.  The Provinces were very mistrustful of Paris, and the assembling of the deputies at Versailles was of itself a proof of the want of national confidence in the Parisians.