Till September 19 the railways continued to run. Then the fifty-one
gates of Paris were closed, the railroad entrances were walled
up, and the following notice appeared upon the walls:--

"Citizens! The last lines which connected Paris with France and
Europe were cut yesterday evening. Paris is left to herself. She
has now only her own courage and her own resources to rely on.
Europe, which has received so much enlightenment from this great
city, and has always felt a certain jealousy of her glory, now
abandons her. But Paris, we are persuaded, will prove that she has
not ceased to be the most solid rampart of French independence."

To _hold out_ was the determination of all classes; but the very
next day the Reds put forth a manifesto demanding a commune, the
dismissal of the police, the sequestration of the property of all
rich or influential men, and a public declaration that the king of
Prussia would not be treated with so long as his armies occupied
one foot of French soil. "Nothing less than these things," said
the document, "will satisfy the people."

Here we see the usual assumption of the Parisian Communists that
they are "the people." They have always assumed that thirty-two
millions of Frenchmen outside the walls of Paris counted for nothing.

As the Prussian armies passed to the southward of Paris to take
possession of Versailles, an attack, authorized by General Trochu
and by General Ducrot (who had escaped from Sedan), was made upon
the German columns. The Zouaves, who had come back to Paris under
General Vinoy, demoralized by the disasters of their comrades, were
the first to break and run. The poor little Mobiles stood firm