ive great questions that came up before the Provisional
Government for immediate solution,--

The relation of France to foreign powers.

The enlargement of the army.

The subsistence of working-men out of employment.

The property and safety of the exiled royal family.

And, above all, how to meet these expenses and the payment of interest
on national bonds, due the middle of March, with assets in the
treasury of about twenty-five cents in the dollar.

These questions were all met by the wonderful energy of Lamartine
and his colleagues, seconded by genuine patriotic efforts throughout
France.

Lamartine had taken the foreign relations of the new Republic into
his own hands; and so well did he manage them that not one potentate
of Europe attempted to interfere with the internal affairs of France,
or to dispute the right of the French to establish a republic if
they thought proper. But although Lamartine's policy was peace,
he thought France needed a large army both to keep down communism
and anarchy at home, and to show itself strong in the face of all
foreign powers. The army of France in January, 1848, had been about
three hundred thousand men, of whom one hundred thousand were in
Algeria; by May it was five hundred thousand, not including the
Garde Mobile, which was of Lamartine's raising. It is well known
how fiercely boys and very young men fought when any occasion for
fighting was presented in the streets and at the barricades; all
business being stopped in Paris, thousands of these were out of
employment. Lamartine had them enrolled into his new corps, the
Garde Mobile. Their uniform at first was a red sash and a workman's
blouse. They were proud of themselves and of their new position,
and in May, by dint of discipline, they were transformed into a
fine soldierly body of very young men, who several times rendered
important help to the Government in maintaining the cause of order.
The National Guard was broken up until it could be reorganized,
and so was the Garde Municipale.

But how to feed the multitude? Two hundred thousand mechanics alone
were out of employment in Paris, besides laborers, servants, clerks,
etc. It was proposed to establish national workshops in Louis Philippe's
pretty private pleasure-grounds, the Parc des Monceaux. The men applying
for work were enrolled in squads; each squad had its banner and its
officers, and each man was paid on Saturday night his week's wages,
at the rate of