muskets. Father Allard was placed against the wall, and was the first to be shot; then Mgr. Darboy fell. Six prisoners were in this way shot down, and all showed the greatest courage.

"The bodies were taken to Père la Chaise, where they were thrown all into a trench, and not even covered with earth."

On the 26th instant, hostages to the number of twentyfour, besides thirty-eight unfortunate gendarmes, were put to death by a kind of indiscriminate massacre in the Rue Haxo. Among the hostages were Father Olivaint, the Jesuit, and M. Jecker, the famous banker. Father Olivaint had a reputation for sanctity; many interesting memorials of him and his fellow-sufferers are reverently preserved in the Jesuits' Church of the Rue de Sèvres. But there was no assassination which surpassed in horror that of the Dominicans from the convent in the Rue de Vaugirard. "In the course of the afternoon of the 25th May, they were visited in their prison by a company of National Guards, who deliberately proceeded to load in their presence. The outer door of the prison was then thrown open, and the commanding officer said, 'You are free. Go out one by one.' They did as directed, and were shot down as they issued forth. Only one or two escaped." *

A passage which reads almost like a prophecy may be found in a letter from the Abbé Lacordaire, written in 1849, just after the acquisition by the Dominicans of the old Carmelite convent (known as "Les Carmes ") in the Rue de Vaugirard. "Pray to God, my dear friend," he writes, "that this favour may not turn to our confusion, and that if the Carmes, in consequence of the public misfortunes, should become a second time the prey of revolution, we may be able to mingle our blood worthily with that of the martyrs who preceded us."†

The Government of Versailles deemed it its duty to by stern in meting out punishment to those who had had a principal share in the excesses and crimes of the Commune. Many of them had fallen in the course of the eight days' fighting. Of the fate of Delescluze we have already spoken. The Pole, Dombrowski, the Commune's best general, was killed at the barricade in the Boulevard d'Ornano on the 23rd May. Millière, a deputy for Paris, taken with arms in his hands on the 28th instant, was summarily tried by court-martial and sentenced to be shot. He displayed the greatest intrepidity, and bared his breast to the firing party. The officer who presided did so with marked inhumanity; because Millière would not kneel and ask pardon of society for the evil he had done, the officer ordered two soldiers to force him on his knees, and he was shot in that position; his last words were," Long live Humanity." Raoul Rigault, the brutal public prosecutor of the Commune, was taken and shot at the Luxembourg on the 24th instant. Vaillant fell in battle. Vallès was taken at a barricade and shot; his body was then pierced by bayonets almost beyond recognition. In the course of August and September most of

* "Cassell's History of the Franco-German War," II. 497. +"Correspondance Inédite du Père Lacordaire," by Villard. Paris, 1870. Page 255.

Assi and

the remaining leaders were put on their trial. Billioray were sentenced to transportation to a fortress. Courbet, the painter, who had been active in bringing about the destruction of the column in the Place Vendôme, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, and to pay a fine of 500 francs. Ferré, the most blood-thirsty of all the Communal chiefs, was condemned to death, and the sentence was executed on the plateau of Satory. Paschal Grousset, formerly Rochefort's assistant editor in the Marseillaise, was sentenced to transportation to New Caledonia. Rochefort-who had edited the Mot d'Ordre up to the 20th May, but on that day, seeing that the fall of the Commune was imminent, had made his escape from Paris, and fallen at once into the hands of the Versailles troops-was brought up for trial on the 20th September. That he should have used his scathing wit and bright intelligence to uphold so bad a cause was lamentable and inexcusable; but, fortunately for him, although he advocated the destruction of the column, the last article in the Mot d'Ordre that appeared with his name was a protest-lightly and gaily expressed, but still a protest against the decree of the 17th May for putting the hostages to death, and against the system of reprisals generally. His life accordingly was spared, and he was sentenced to transportation to New Caledonia. Colonel Rossel had committed an offence which the laws of men do not pardon; as a deserter, he was condemned to death, and was shot on the 28th November.

Cluseret contrived to make his escape, and found an asylum in America, his adopted country. Félix Pyat disappeared, like several others of the insurgents, while the struggle was proceeding. We have not found any account of what became of Eudes, Gambon, Leo Meillet, and Ranvier, after the final overthrow of the

Commune.

The definite treaty of peace between France and Germany, which will be known in history as the Treaty of Frankfort, was signed in that city on the 10th May by Bismarck, who had lately received the title of Prince from the Emperor William, and MM. Jules Favre and PouyerQuertier. The terms differed but little from those which were agreed to for the preliminary peace; but whatever difference there was tended to make them harder and more unpalatable for France. Instead of merely agreeing to pay the first milliard in the course of 1871, France now bound herself to pay the first half-milliard within thirty days after the French Government should have re-established its authority in Paris, and the second and third half-milliards before the end of 1871. The Communal insurrection, leading German statesmen to regard France as still more weakened and disorganised than was really the case, is justly to be charged with this increased rigour. A heavy rate of interest was also to be paid by France in respect of the unpaid portions of the indemnity; and the evacuation of French departments by the German army was to proceed at a slower rate than had been originally arranged.

A letter written by Félix Pyat, on the subject of the destruction of the Napoleonic column, and dated "London, May 23, 1874," was published in the Times.

A passage from an eloquent article in the Revue des Deux Mondes may fitly terminate this chapter :

"Since after so many misfortunes in her war against the foreign enemy, France has found herself still further reduced to the necessity of reconquering herself-of reconquering Paris from the most criminal of all factions -she enjoys at least this day this last and reassuring victory. She has broken the tyranny of the subordinate malefactors, she has tamed the monster. It is the victory of right, of civilisation, of patriotism; but with what combats, what wearing anxieties, what sacrifices, has it not been necessary to purchase this victory, the saddest of all victories in civil wars! Never, surely, since human beings first lived together in society, will such a catastrophe have resounded through the world; never has the insanity of Erostratus been pushed to such a degree of malignant savagery. They began by the assassination of the 18th March; they reigned by terror and plunder; during two months they converted Paris into the rendezvous of all the Machiavellian perversities, all the infamous practices, of all the adventurers of Europe, crowding hither for the division of the spoil; they thought themselves almost immortal in their power of commanding chance! When they found themselves threatened, they ended with setting the great city on fire. What the wildest and most preposterous imagination could not or would not have foreseen, that they realised as a work worthy of them while fleeing before our soldiers. Such is their history, such is the history of these late days of conflict and mourning, which, to use the expression of M. Thiers, restore Paris to her true sovereign, France; but restore her bleeding, mutilated, soiled, ransacked, and half annihilated by the flames.

"What must we say again, when such an attempt is carried out at the moment when the nation and the city that are made its victims are under the weight of an implacable foreign occupation, under the insulting glance of the conqueror of yesterday? At such a time, it ceases to be merely a domestic revolution, more or less criminal; it becomes a complicity with the foreigner. Each blow dealt to the country delivers her up a little more to the enemy; and, in reality, this is what this Paris Commune has done, by suddenly paralysing the energies of France at the moment when she had need of all her powers to bear, without succumbing under it, the burden of her misfortunes and her obligations. Had there been nothing else to brand them with infamy, these people would have shown themselves in their true light by taking advantage of one of those dark hours which occur only once in several centuries, to urge on their country into utter perdition by divisions, impotence, and degradation in the presence of the enemy."

CHAPTER XLIX.

Effects of the War upon France, Germany, and Italy-France; Condition of the Country-Character of M. Thiers-The Assembly of Versailles-The Orleanist Princes and the Count of Chambord

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The Loan and the Proceedings of the Assembly-Remaining Events of the Year-Germany; Proclamation of the Emperor Hopes of the Empire-Entry of the Emperor into Berlin-Meeting of the German Parliament-Prince Bismarck and the Catholics-Alsace-Lorraine-Count Benedetti's Case Power of the House of Savoy; Amadeus in Spain-Victor Emmanuel in Italy; His Dealings with the Pope--The Paral Jubilec-The Government Transferred to Rome- Opening of the Mont Cenis Tunnel -Reported Combination between the Ultramontanes and the Republicans-Opening of the First Italian Parliament.

THE story of the struggle between the two great Empires for the position of arbiter of the destinies of Europe would not be complete without a short account of its effects upon the three nations most directly concerned in it-the two principals, France and Germany, and the third party, who was the real gainer by the war, Italy.

We left France cast down but not destroyed, her warfare accomplished, her intestine strife at an end, in a state of almost blessed apathy, lying as a patient who has been torn by paroxysms of agony lies, when the crisis is past, panting, exhausted, and helpless, but at rest. The healer who was to inspire her stricken frame with new energy, who was to nurse her with patient hand during long hours of convalescent fretfulness, before she could go forth again and take her part in the affairs of the family of nations, was Louis Thiers. By a curiously rapid process of elimination, the National Assembly of Versailles and its chief of the Executive had become the only power in France. The Empire had failed, the Commune had failed, there remained an amorphous Republic. To the Assembly M. Jules Favre submitted the treaty of peace, and obtained its ratification. Having thus, to the best of their ability, atoned for the past, the statesmen who were to restore the fallen fortunes of their fatherland had to provide for the future.

The character of the man to whom the destinies of the new Republic were committed had thus become a matter of supreme importance. It could not, perhaps, be said, even by his most ardent admirers, that his political record was absolutely free from reproach. An adventurer of the humblest origin, he had been one of the most remarkable of the "publicists," whose vigorous and not too scrupulous attacks had driven Charles X. from the throne. As the minister of Louis Philippe, his appeal to the Chauvinistic instincts of the Parisian mob was nearly the cause of a purposeless war between France and England; after his dismissal in 1810 he made himself conspicuous by barefaced intrigues against his rival, Guizot; and finally precipitated the downfall of the Orleans dynasty by refusing to allow the troops to fire on the rioters. In fact, like all adventurers, he was forced during his early years to be somewhat of an opportunist. During the second Republic, he showed that he had learned wisdom by suffering, and his attempt to restrict the suffrage was dictated by a spirit of statesmanlike caution. Nevertheless, his glorification of the Napoleonic idea in the pages of "the history of the Consulate and of the Empire" was a distinct blunder, inasmuch as it paved the way for the return of the third

Napoleon. It was, however, his last mistake. With proud integrity he retired from political life rather than take office under the dreamy charlatan; and when, towards the end of the Empire, the cords of despotism were relaxed and liberty of speech became possible, he reappeared as the patriotic castigator of ministerial corruption, of financial incapacities, and of a foreign policy which, though it was favourable to free trade and to the regeneration of Italy, yet feared to attack Prussia before her strength was matured. "There is not a single mistake," was his terrible saying after Sadowa, "left for the Emperor to commit." It is well known that his objections to the war with Germany were dictated solely by the consideration that France was unprepared for so great a strain. After it had broken out, it was he who organised the defence of Paris which went so far to redeem the military honour of his nation; it was he who submitted to the voluntary humiliation of a journey of supplication to the courts of Europe, and who by his patient courage was able to abate the demands of Prince Bismarck. M. Thiers' financial abilities pointed him out as the only man who could lift up the load of pecuniary liability now imposed upon France.

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It was only natural that the members of a deliberative body, elected in a season of ubiquitous chaos, as a remedy originated by despair, should contain a strongly reactionary element. The Napoleonists were not for the time being to be reckoned as a factor of political calculations; the Left," as the Republicans were termed from their position in the Chamber, found many supporters in the provinces, but were not strongly represented in the Assembly; the power of numbers lay with the advocates of what we should call a constitutional monarchy, and it was an open secret that these views theoretically found favour in the eyes of M. Thiers. Unfortunately, there was a superfluity of royal candidates. The Duke d'Aumale and the Prince de Joinville represented the hopes of the Orleanists, while the Legitimists put their trust in the Count de Chambord, "Henri V.," as they fondly called him, and, failing him, in the Duke of Madrid, son of Don Carlos of Spain. In vain did the "Fusionists" attempt to reconcile these hostile claims; the far-seeing eye of M. Thiers saw that, as those who advocated kingly rule were hopelessly divided against themselves, a Republic was pro tempore the only possible form of government, and it was only with reluctance that he consented to the repeal of the law of the "ostracism," as it was called, of the House of Bourbon, and the confirmation of the election of the two Orleanist princes to seats in the Assembly. On the revocation of the edict of banishment, the Count of Chambord also returned to his native land. But, far from imitating the wise policy of his relatives, who were patiently waiting upon events, he rushed to the banks of his native Loire, and there caused his enemies to rejoice and his friends to weep by a proclamation, the ill-timed character of which was equalled only by its theatrical extravagance. Frenchmen," he said, "I am here in the midst of you.

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You have opened the gates of France to me, and I could not renounce the happiness of seeing my country once more." He proposed to re-establish, "on the broad basis of administrative decentralisation and of local franchise, a government in harmony with the real wants of the country, and to restore the national movement of the latter end of the eighteenth century, restoring to it its true character." When the hour came he would be at hand with "his devotion, his principles, and his flag.” But with respect to this flag," said he, "conditions have been put forward to which I will not submit. Frenchmen! there must be no misunderstanding, no concealment, no reticence between us. Whatever charges about privileges, absolutism, or intoleranceabout, it may be, titles, about feudal rights, which the most audacious falsehood may lay against me, whatever phantoms it may conjure up to prejudice you against me, I shall not suffer the standard of Henry IV., of Francis I., and of Joan of Arc to be torn from my grasp."

While one of the pretenders to the French throne was indulging in these idle vapourings, the Assembly was attempting to place national affairs on a firm basis. M. Pouyer-Quertier, the Minister of Finance, proposed the imposition of new taxes to the amount of 460 millions of francs; and M. Thiers, who professed unbounded faith in the recuperative power of his country, instituted a loan to meet the deficit on the years 1870 and 1871, estimated at 1,636 millions of francs, and the war indemnity of 2,000 millions then due. The list filled with surprising promptitude, and within a few hours the subscriptions more than covered the amount required. The Government also seemed for the moment to be strengthened by the result of the elections to fill the vacancies in the Assembly, of which there were no less than 113. In Paris, especially, the Conservative "Union of the Public Press" carried its candidates, but the Left gained considerable accession of strength from the result of the provincial elections, and it was noticed that Gambetta was again returned for several places. Nevertheless, it was said at the time that "the character of the elections may be pronounced broadly to be Conservative' in this sense, that they are very decidedly in favour of keeping things as they are." The feeble knees of the Government being thus strengthened, they proceeded about their business; but were thwarted at the outset by the rejection by the Budget Committee of M. Pouyer-Quertier's tax on raw material. Shortly afterwards M. Jules Favre resigned the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, ostensibly on account of the success of a motion in the Assembly praying for interference in Italian affairs, with the view to the restoration of the Pope's temporal power, but really because of his past connection with the now hated Government of the National Defence. He was succeeded by M. Charles de Rémusat, an old man of seventy-four, whose past reputation had been mainly literary. The first proposals for the settlement of affairs came from the Left Centre, and were conched in the form of a scheme for making M. Thiers President

A.D. 1871.]

for three years, with the power of nominating a Vicepresident and a constitutional Cabinet. It was, indeed, rapidly becoming clear that the present state of disagreement between the Executive and the Assembly must before long end in open collision. Thrice had M. Thiers, in a fit of vexation, threatened to resign; twice had a compromise been effected, but on the third occasion-the Army Reconstruction Bill, which involved General Chanzy's scheme of enforced conscription and the disbandment of the National Guard-the petulance of the Chief of the Executive threatened serious consequences. He had openly accused the Right of cowardice, and declared that he would resign if more confidence was not placed in him. The Right, in return, made their power to be felt by carrying in committee the "Proposition Vitet," as it was called, after the name of its originator, whereby the title of "President of the Republic" was granted during the existence of the present Assembly, the Ministry were to be responsible to the Assembly, and the President, after due notice given, was allowed to appear in the tribune. By styling the Assembly "constituent," the Right simply continued the Provisionary Government without making any declaration in favour of a Republic. But it was evident that this reservation was a mere quibble, and that the mere fact that France had chosen to give its chief official the title of "President of the Republic" virtually ensured the eventual triumph of the principles of the Left. The President himself affected to look upon the form that the Government was to assume as absolutely unsettled. His message expressed it as follows:-"This country, the object of the passionate attention of the whole universe, is it to be a republic or a monarchy ?-will it adopt one or the other of the two forms of government which at present divide the nations ?" Yet, in spite of the strength of the reactionary element in the Assembly, it was evident that the declaration of the more democratic form of government was only a question of time. "The Republic," according to M. Thiers' celebrated apophthegm," divides France the least."

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Shortly before the session came to an end, the President was able to announce the completion of a special arrangement which was to accelerate the evacuation of six of the conquered departments by the German troops. It will be remembered that the stipulations of the treaty were, that as each instalment of the indemnity was paid the troops should withdraw from a portion of the occupied territory. Accordingly it was the President's object to raise the necessary money at all costs, for any pecuniary sacrifice was to be preferred to the continuance of so terrible an incubus on the shoulders of the new Republic. It was above all things necessary that France should break with her past. Nor were pecuniary reasons alone urgent in spite of the admirable temper of the soldiers of the Empire, more than one collision had taken place between the populace and the occupying forces, several Germans had been murdered, and French juries had refrained from conviction; whereat Prince Bismarck had said bluntly that if the authorities refused to give up the assassins he should make reprisals on the

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hostages, and if necessary, resort to even more extreme measures. Now the result of the loan proved beyond question that France was financially sound, and that the future might be anticipated with hope. M. Thiers therefore resolved to go further, and ask the German Chancellor to accept paper money. Prince Bismarck stipulated in return that free trade should be granted by France for a certain period, ultimately settled to terminate at the end of 1872, to the ceded provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. This was a bitter pill for an avowed Protectionist to swallow, especially at a moment when he was meditating an attack on the too-liberal provisions of the commercial treaty with England, but he eventually consented to waive his cherished principles, and a convention was signed, on the 13th of October, at Berlin.

The remaining events of the year do not call for detailed notice. The trials of the Communists, especially that of the unfortunate Rossel, attracted considerable attention both in England and America, but France seemed to be conveniently forgetful of their existence. When the Assembly met again on the 4th of December, the Orleanist princes ventured to prove the strength of their party by taking their seats, pleading that their promise to M. Thiers to abstain from politics was no longer binding, now that a definite form of government had been established. They were more fortunate than a member of the rival line, Prince Jerome Napoleon, the "Plon-Plon" of the boulevards, who, though elected to the general council of the department of Corsica, found his position untenable, and retired somewhat hastily to Italy. On the whole, France had good reason to be satisfied with the results of the first few months of the new régime. She had virtually, though not actually, declared for the form of government best suited to her national genius; she had proved more than able to bear the immense weight of liability imposed upon her by the war indemnity; and all her fair acres, with the exception of six departments, were free from the footsteps of the invader.

The great ceremonial at Versailles on the 18th of January, at which the leader of the victorious armies of the North was solemnly hailed Emperor of Germany by the loud acclamations of the assembled kings and princes, was followed by the publication of a proclamation announcing the great fact of the Unity of the Fatherland to his Prussian subjects. "We, William, by God's grace King of Prussia, hereby announce that the German princes and free towns having addressed to us a unanimous call to renew and undertake with the re-establishment of the German Empire the dignity of Emperor, which now for sixty years has been in abeyance, and the requisite provisions having been inserted in the constitution of the German Confederation, we regard it as a duty to the entire Fatherland to comply with this call of the United German princes and free towns, and to accept the dignity of Emperor.