streets and places were occupied by the troops-in fact, the whole of Paris was occupied as if civil war had been everywhere raging. The troops remained under arms all night.

During the night all the barricades thrown up were demolished.

On Wednesday large numbers of the populace were under arms, and rebuilding the barricades. Some skirmishes took place. At eleven o'clock a body of the municipal guard were about to charge a group of inoffensive citizens, when the third legion of the national guard interfered, and prevented the shedding of blood.

The Place Carrousel, the Place de la Concorde, thebridges, and every other place in the neighbourhood of the Tuileries, were crowded with troops, and 40 pieces of cannon were on the Esplanade of the Hôtel des Invalides.

At three o'clock a deputation of the officers of the national guard went to the Tuileries, to demand that the ministry should be dismissed, when they were told by General Jacqueminot, their commander, that the ministry had given in its resignation.

The intelligence of the resignation of the ministry spread like wildfire through the city, and was everywhere received with every demonstration of joy.

The Chamber of Deputies met on Wednesday. The members of the Left mustered strong.

M. Guizot said that the King had that moment sent for Count Molé, to charge him with the reconstruction of a cabinet. While the present ministers continued in office (added M. Guizot), they would cause order to be respected. The sitting was then closed.

On Thursday morning it was evident that the change of ministry would not satisfy the people; and the King was required to abdicate in favour of the Count de Paris, under the regency of the Duchess of Orleans. The regency of the Duke de Nemours would not be listened to. After this it was notified that M. Odilon Barrot had been commissioned to form a ministry, but there soon followed a proclamation that the King had abdicated. All the military posts on the left bank of the Seine were disarmed and occupied by national guards and men of the people. The troops having evacuated the Tuileries, the palace was immediately occupied by the insurgents, who seized on the throne, which was carried in procession through the streets, and ultimately smashed to pieces. A complete sack took place at the Palais Royal, the private property of Louis Philippe, and all the furniture was taken out and burned.

A provisional government was then formed, M. de Lamartine being appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs; and the following is the first manifesto issued: :

"PROCLAMATION OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. "TO THE FRENCH PEOPLE,

"A retrograde Government has been overturned by the heroism of the people of Paris.

"This Government has fled, leaving behind it traces of blood, which will for ever forbid its return.

"The blood of the people has flowed, as in July; but, happily, it has not been shed in vain. It has secured a national and popular Government in accordance with the rights, the progress, and the will of this great and generous people.

"A Provisional Government, at the call of the people and some deputies in the sitting of the 24th of February, is for the moment invested with the care of organizing and securing the national victory. It is composed of MM. Dupont de l'Eure, Lamartine, Cremieux, Arago, Ledru Rollin, and Garnier-Pages. The secretaries to this Government are MM. Armand, Marrast, Louis Blanc, and Ferdinand Flocon. These citizens have not hesitated for an instant to accept the patriotic mission which has been imposed upon them by the urgency of the occasion.

Frenchmen, give to the world the example Paris has given to France. Prepare yourselves, by order and confidence in yourselves, for the institutions which are about to be given you.

"The Provisional Government desires a republic, pending the ratification of the French people, who are to be immediately consulted.

"Neither the people of Paris nor the Provisional Government desire to substitute their opinion for the opinions of the citizens at large upon the definite form of govern ment which the national sovereignty shall proclaim.

"L'unité de la nation, formed henceforth of all classes of the people which compose it. "The government of the nation by itself.

"Liberty, equality, and fraternity for its principles.

"The people to devise and to maintain order.

"Such is the democratic government which France owes to herself, and which our efforts will assure to her.

"Such are the first acts of the Provisional Government.

(Signed) "Dupont (de l'Eure), Lamartine, Ledru-Rollin, Bedeau, Michel-Goudchaux, Arago, Bethmont, Marie, Carnot, Cavagnac, Garnier-Pages."

The Municipal Guard is disbanded.

The protection of the city of Paris is confined to the National Guard, under the orders of M. Courtais.

These are the first acts of the Provisional Government.

M. DUPONT (DE L'EURE), President of the Council.
M. DE LAMARTINE, Minister of Foreign Affairs.,

M. ARAGO, Minister of Marine.

M. CREMIEUX, Minister of Justice.
General BEDEAU, Minister of War.

M. MARIE, Minister of Public Works.

M. LEDRU ROLLIN, Minister of the Interior.

M. BETHMONT, Minister of Commerce.

M. CARNOT, Minister of Public Instruction.

M. GOUDCHAUX, Minister of Finances.

M. GARNIER-PAGES, Mayor of Paris.

M. RECURT, Adjoint.

M. GEUNARD, Adjoint.

General CAVAIGNAC, Governor of Algiers.

General DE COURTAIS, Commandant-General of National Guards.

The other mayors are provisionally retained, as well as the adjoints, under the name of mayors-adjoints of arrondissement.

The Prefecture of Police is under the orders of the Mayor of Paris, and will be reconstituted under another bill.

The Municipal Guard is dissolved. The guard of the city of Paris is entrusted to the National Guard, under the orders of M. Courtais, superior Commandant of the National Guard of Paris.

Other proclamations and manifestoes followed with rapidity. At the sitting of the 24th of the Chamber of Deputies, M. de Lamartine spoke as follows:

"Gentlemen; I shared in the sentiments of grief which just now agitated this assembly in beholding the most afflicting spectacle that human annals can present-that of a Princess coming forward with her innocent son, after having quitted her deserted palace, to place herself under the protection of the nation. But if I shared in that testimony of respect for a great misfortune, I also share in the solicitude-in the admiration which that people, now fighting during two days against a perfidious Government for the purpose of re-establishing order and liberty, ought to inspire. (Great applause from the tribunes.) Let us not deceive ourselves- let us not imagine that an acclamation in this Chamber can replace the co-operation of 35,000,000 of men. Whatever government be established in the country, it must be cemented by solid definitive guarantees! How will you find the conditions necessary for such a government, in the midst of the floating elements which surround us? By descending into the very depth of the country itself, boldly sounding the great mystery of the right of nations. (Great applause in the tribunes.) In place of having recourse to these subterfuges, to these

emotions, in order to maintain one of those fictions which have no stability, I propose to you to form a government, not definite, but provisional-a government charged, first of all, with the task of stanching the blood which flows, of putting a stop to civil war (cheers), a government which we appoint without putting aside any thing of our resentments and our indignation; and in the next place a government on which we shall impose the duty of convoking and consulting the people in its totality-all that possess in their title of man, the right of a citizen." (Tremendous applause from the people in the tribunes.)

At this moment a violent and imperative knocking was heard at the door of an upper tribune, which was not entirely filled. On the door being opened a number of men rushed in, well provided with arms, and who appeared to have just come from a combat. Several of them forced their way to the front seats, and pointed their muskets at the deputies below. Some of these weapons were also turned in the direction of the Royal party.

Immediately the persons near the Duchess of Orleans, who was present in the Chamber, seemed to address her energetically, and a moment after she rose, and, with her sons and the two Princes, quitted the Chamber by a door on the extreme left.

M. Sauzet at the same moment withdrew from the president's chair, and nearly all the deputies who had remained quitted their places.

The next instant M. Dupont (de l'Eure) took possession of the chair. M. de Lamartine and Ledru-Rollin attempted severally to obtain a hearing, but unsuccessfully. Several of the national guards, and some of the people, also made similar attempts, but without effect. A cry then arose in one of the tribunes of "Let Lamartine speak!" and at once all the others took it up.

M. DE LAMARTINE. A Provisional Government will be at once proclaimed. (Enthusiastic cries of" Vive Lamartine!")

Other voices.. The names! the names!

M. LEDRU-ROLLIN (in the midst of the noise).—A Provisional Government cannot be organised in a light or careless manner. I shall read over the names aloud, and you will approve, or reject them, as you think fit.

In the midst of shouts and cries the hon. deputy read out the names, but nothing could be heard. Nearly all the deputies had by this time departed, and the national guards and the people had the Chamber to themselves.

M. LEDRU-ROLLIN.- We are obliged to close the sitting in order to proceed to the seat of government.

From all sides—“To the Hôtel-de-Ville! Vive la Republique!"

This most extraordinary sitting was then brought to a conclusion at 4 o'clock.

The people withdrew in the utmost tumult.

The Presse says:— - Five times during the day (25th) M. de Lamartine addressed the people assembled under the windows of the Hôtel-deVille:

"It is thus that you are led from calumny to calumny against the men who have devoted themselves, head, heart, and breast, to give you a real Republic-the Republic of all rights, all interests, and all the legitimate rights of the people. Yesterday you asked us to usurp, in the name of the people of Paris, the rights of 35,000,000 of men, to vote them an absolute Republic, instead of a Republic invested with the strength of their consent; that is to say, to make of that Republic, imposed

and not consented, the will of a part of the people, instead of the will of the whole nation. To-day you demand from us the red flag instead of the tricolour one. Citizens! for my part, I will never adopt the red flag; and I will explain in a word why I will oppose it with all the strength of my patriotism. It is, citizens, because the tricolour flag has made the tour of the world, under the Republic and the empire, with our liberties and our glories, and that the red flag has only made the tour of the Champ de Mars, trained through torrents of the blood of the people."

At this part of the speech of M. de Lamartine, after a most fatiguing sitting of sixty hours, in the midst of an irritated crowd, every one was suddenly affected by his words; hands were clapped and tears shed, and they finished by embracing him, shaking his hands, and bearing him in triumph. In a moment after, fresh masses of people arrived, armed with sabres and bayonets. They knocked at the doors; they filled the salles. The cry was, that all was lost; that the people were about to fire on or stifle the members of the Provisional Government. M. de Lamartine was called for. He was supplicated to go once more, for the last time, to address the people. He was raised on a step of the staircase; the crowd remained for half an hour without consenting to listen to him, vociferating, brandishing arms of all kinds over his head. M. de Lamartine folded his arms, recommenced his address, and finished by softening and appeasing the people, and determining them either to withdraw, or to become themselves the safeguard of the Provisional Government.

On Saturday, the 26th, the Republic was officially announced by M. de Lamartine, surrounded by the other members of the Provisional Government and the four secretaries. M. de Lamartine descended the steps of the great staircase of the Hôtel-de-Ville, and presenting himself in front of the edifice with a paper in his hand, thus expressed himself:

"Citizens

"The Provisional Government of the Republic has called upon the people to witness its gratitude for the magnificent national co-operation which has just accepted these new institutions. (Prolonged acclamations from the crowd and National

Guard.)

"The Provisional Government of the Republic has only joyful intelligence to announce to the people here assembled.

"Royalty is abolished.

"The Republic is proclaimed.

"The people will exercise their political rights.

"National workshops are open for those who are without work. (Immense acclamations.)

The army is being reorganised. The National Guard indissolubly unites itself with the people so as to promptly restore order with the same hand that had only the preceding moment conquered our liberty. (Renewed acclamations.)

"Finally, Gentlemen, the Provisional Government was anxious to be itself the bearer to you of the last decree it has resolved on and signed in this memorable sitting, - that is, the abolition of the penalty of death for political matters. (Unanimous bravos.)

This is the noblest decree, Gentlemen, that has ever issued from the mouths of a people the day after their victory. (Yes, yes!) It is the character of the French nation which escapes in one spontaneous cry from the soul of its Government. ( Yes, yes; bravo.') We have brought it with us, and I will now read it to you. There is not a more becoming homage to a people than the spectacle of its own magnanimity.'"

At the conclusion of this manifestation the Provisional Government, accompanied by the unanimous acclamations of the innumerable population who covered the Place of the Hôtel-de-Ville, was again called upon to receive anew the consecration of the popular voice, given to them by a crowd of citizens, national guards, students, and scholars.

One of the first acts of the Provisional Government was formally to abolish punishment of death for political offences.

Subsequently, and in very few days after, M. de Lamartine issued the following

"CIRCULAR OF THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS TO THE DIPLOMATIC AGENTS OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

"Sir, You are aware of the events in Paris, of the victory of the people, their heroism, their moderation, their tranquillity, and re-establishment of order by the concurrence of all the citizens, as if, in this interregnum of visible power, common sense itself governed France.

"The French revolution has thus just arrived at its definite period. France is a Republic, the French Republic does not require to be recognised to exist; it springs from a natural right, it is a national right. It is the will of a great nation which only demands its title from itself. The French Republic, however, desiring to enter into the family of the already instituted governments as a regular power, and not as a phenomenon that disturbs European order, it is requisite that you should promptly inform the government to which you are accredited of the principles and tendencies which will henceforth direct the external policy of the French government.

"The proclamation of the French republic is not an act of aggression against any form of government in the world. Forms of government possess a diversity as legitimate as the diversity of character, of geographical situation, and of intellectual moral and material development amongst the nations: like individuals have their different ages. The principles which govern them have successive phases. Monarchical, Aristocratic, Constitutional, and Republican Governments, are the expression of these different degrees of maturity in the genius of the people.

"They demand more liberty in proportion as they feel themselves more capable of supporting it; they require more equality and democracy in proportion as they are more inspired with justice and love of the people. This is a question of time. A people lose themselves by anticipating this maturity, as they dishonour themselves by allowing it to escape without seizing it. Monarchy and Republicanism are not in the eyes of true statesmen absolute principles which mortally oppose each other; they are facts, which contrast with each other, and which may exist face to face mutually comprehending and respecting each other.

"War, then, is not the principle of the French Revolution, as it became its glorious and fatal necessity in 1792. Between 1792 and 1848, there is half a century. To return, after half a century, to the principle of 1792 or to the principle of conquest of the Empire, would not be to advance, but to retrograde with regard to time. The Revolution of yesterday is a step in advance, not in retreat; we desire that the world and ourselves should march to fraternity and to peace.

"If the situation of the French republic in 1792 explained the necessity of war, the differences which exist between that epoch of our history, and the one in which we now are, explains the necessity of peace. These differences you must apply yourself to comprehend, and to make them understood around you,

"In 1792, the nation was not united. Two people existed upon the same territory. A terrible struggle was still prolonged between the classes dispossessed of their privileges, and those which had conquered equality and liberty. The dispossessed classes united with captive royalty, and with the jealous foreigner to refuse France its revolution, and to substitute in its place monarchy, aristocracy, and theocracy, by invasion. There are now no longer distinct and unequal classes. Liberty has enfranchised all. Equality has levelled every thing in the eyes of the law. Fraternity, the application of which we proclaim, and the benefits of which the National Assembly will soon organize, is about to unite every one. There is not a single citizen in France to whatever opinion he may belong, who does not rally round the principle of the country before every thing, and who does not render her, by this union itself, proof against the attacks and alarms of invasion.

"In 1792, it was not the entire people who had entered into possession of their govern ment: it was the middling class only who desired to exercise liberty and to enjoy it. The triumph of the middle class was then egotistical, as is the triumph of every oligarchy. It desired to retain for itself alone the rights conquered by all. It behoved it, for this purpose, to operate a grand diversion to the accession of the people, by pretcipitating them towards the field of battle, to prevent them from taking possession of heir own government. This diversion was war. War was the idea of the Monarchists and of the Girondists; it was not that of the more enlightened democrats, who desired, as we do, the sincere, complete, and regular reign of the people themselves, comprehending, under that name, all classes, without exclusion and without preference, of which the nation is composed.

"In 1792, the people were but the instruments of the Revolution, they were not its object. To-day the Revolution has been effected by the people and for them.