measures taken by Government, which ought to have been more diplomatic
and skilful. The agitation of these men of Montmartre, at the entry of
the Prussians, had calmed down in a few hours; it was now the duty of
Government to allay the irritation which had caused the insurgents to
form their Montmartre stronghold, and not to follow the advice of
infuriated reactionaries, who make no allowance for events and
circumstances, neither analysing the elements of that which they are
combating, nor weighing the measures they do not even know how to apply
with tact.

The guns had not been re-taken, but Paris was very calm. Dissensions had
broken out in the Montmartre Committee, some of whose members wished the
cannon to be returned (the Committee sat at No, 8 of the Rue des
Rosiers, with a court-martial on one hand, and military head-quarters on
the other). Danger seemed now to be averted, and the authorities had but
one thing to do, to allow all agitation to die out, without listening to
blind or treacherous counsellors, who advocated a system of immediate
repression. It was said, however, that the greater number of the members
of Government were inclined to temporise, but the provisional
appointment of General Valentin to the direction of the Prefecture of
Police, seemed to contradict this assertion.

During this time, the leaders who held Montmartre, spurred on by the
ambitious around them, and by those desirous of kindling civil war for
the sake of the illicit gains to be obtained from it, were getting up a
manifestation, which was to claim for the National Guard the right of
electing its commander-in-chief; and the post was to be offered to
Menotti Garibaldi. But though the men of Montmartre declared that all
who did not sign the manifestos were traitors, yet the addresses
remained almost entirely blank. The insurrection had evidently few