A hundred years ago
From the 'Spectator.' 10 September 1870—The great battle before Sedan . .. ended in far the most terrible defeat the French have yet sus- tained. . . . The capitulation of Sedan proved fatal to the Empire.... The battalions of the National Guard, followed by immense crowds of people, filled the Place de la Concorde, and marched over the bridge of that name towards the Legislative Chamber; then protected by the Gendarmerie and the Line. There was a moment of doubt as the head of the column touched the head of the gendarmes, but the latter gave way, the soldiers fraternized and withdrew, and the National Guards took their place, and the people poured into the Chamber. There Count de Palikao had produced his proposition; and the Right, through Jerome David, theirs; and M. Jules Favre his, which was the Republic. All three were to be referred to the bureaux, when the people burst in, the Right fled, and the Left, urging the people to calm, proclaimed the Republic and a Provisional Government. The vote was received by Paris with a burst of hysterical transport, the Imperial insignia were everywhere torn down, and within twenty-four hours all the cities of France had given in their adhesion.
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