M. Dupuy on Thursday took the very decided step of
closing the Labour Exchange by military force. This establishment was founded by M. Floquet, and was intended to be a labour centre, where those who wanted work, or wanted labour, could come into contact with each other. Soon after
its formation, however, it was occupied by the leaders of the unemployed ; and it has gradually become a centre and a rendezvous for the disaffected, the anarchists even putting up their inscriptions on the walls. It was found daring the dis- turbances that the more violent societies were concocting plans there, and it was therefore closed, the agents of the law being supported, as they took possession, by an irresistible force of bayonets. It should be added that the moment the rioters began to overthrow omnibuses in order to stop the cavalry, M. Dupuy summoned twenty thousand fresh soldiers to Paris, and every preparation was made for determined street-fighting. The Opportunists have evidently found in "the schoolmaster" a stronger man than was at all expected, and one without hesi- tation in his preference of bloodshed to anarchy. It is not known yet how the workmen will take the closing of their Bourse.
