horrors in the presence of their enemies, the Prussians, seemed
to him the very acme of humiliation and national infamy."

On Jan. 9, 1873, he died at Chiselhurst, in the presence of the
empress, who never left him, released from the storms of a fitful
existence and from intense physical suffering.

Let us return now to Paris and the Committee of Defence, its new
Republican Government. Though the people of Paris, in the excitement
consequent on the proclamation of a Republic, seemed to have forgotten
the Prussians, the prospect of their speedy arrival stared the
Government in the face. It was a Government, not of France, but
of Paris. France had had no voice in making this new Republic, nor
was it at all likely that it would be popular in the Provinces;
but meanwhile work of every kind was pressing on its hands. The
fortifications of Paris were unmanned, and, indeed, were not even
completed, and there were hardly any soldiers in the capital.

The first thing to be done was to bring provisions into the city.
Cattle, grain, salt, hay, preserved meats, in short, everything
edible that could be imagined, poured in so long as the railroads
remained open. All public buildings became storehouses, but affairs
were conducted with such recklessness and disorder that the live-stock
suffered terribly, and half the hay was wasted. As to troops, General
Vinoy arrived with twenty thousand soldiers, who had been stationed
between Belgium and Sedan. They had never fought the Pussians, but
were impatient of discipline and utterly demoralized. Stragglers
and fugitives from Sedan came in also, but these were still less
to be depended on. The National Guard had never enjoyed the favor
of the emperor, and had been suffered to fall to pieces. It was now