When M. Deschanel concluded, there was a pause during the absence of M.
Viviani. The Premier entered, pale but confident, amid a hurricane of
cheers and read amid a silence broken only by frenzied shouts of "Vive
la France!" a speech detailing the whole course of the diplomatic
negotiations, in which he placed upon Germany crushing responsibility
for the catastrophe which has overtaken Europe.

The Chamber, before rising, adopted unanimously without discussion a
whole series of bills making provision for national defense and the
maintenance of order in France.

M. Viviani's speech was interrupted by terrific cheering when he
referred to the attitude adopted by the British and Belgian governments.
All rose to face the diplomatic tribune, cheering again and again.

M. Viviani's last phrase, "We are without reproach. We shall be without
fear," swept the whole Chamber off its feet.

The vast hemicycle was a compact mass of cheering deputies, all waving
aloft in their hands papers and handkerchiefs. From the tribunes of the
public gallery shout after shout went up. At the foot of the
presidential platform the gray-haired usher, with his 1870 war medals on
his breasts, was seated, overcome with emotion, the tears coursing down
his cheeks.

Paris is back in the days of the curfew, and at eight o'clock, by order
of the Military Governor of Paris, it is "lights out" on the boulevards,
all the cafes close their doors, the underground railway ceases running,
and policemen and sentinels challenge any one going home late, lest he
should be a German spy. Paris is no longer "_la ville lumiere_"--