perty of Thiers (they even denied him the
appellation of citizen) are seized by order of the administration of
public domains.

"Art. 2. The house of Thiers, situated at the Place Saint-Georges, to be
demolished."

On the following day the National Assembly, in presence of the activity
exhibited by M. Thiers, declared that the proscribed, whose house was
demolished, had exhibited proofs of an amount of patriotism and
political ability which inspired every confidence in the future. On the
12th of the same month works were commenced at Versailles for the
formation of a railway-station sufficient for all the wants of an
important army, the initiation of which was due to M. Thiers; a
conference was opened on the 19th April with the Western Railway
Company, the plans were approved on the 22nd of the same month, and the
preliminary works were commenced on the 12th of May. When these are
terminated, they will consist of thirty-five parallel lines of rails,
more than a mile in length. But the principal point in the plan is, that
by means of branches to Pontoise and Chevreuse, this immense station may
be placed in direct communication with all the lines of railway in
France. It is easy enough to draw the following conclusion, namely, that
if the necessity should ever again arise, Paris would cease to be the
central depot for all commercial movements, and thus the paralysis of
the affairs of the whole country would be avoided, in case the Parisian
populace should again be bitten by the barricade mania. At one time it
was feared that the collections of M. Thiers were destroyed in the
conflagration at the Tuileries; but M. Courbet reports that on the 12th
of May he asked what he ought to do about the different things taken at
the house of M. Thiers, and if they were to be sent to the Louvre or to
be publicly sold, and he was then appointed a member of the commission
to examine the case. Regarding his conduct at the time of the
demolishing of the house of M. Thiers, he arrived too late, he says, to
make an inventory; the furniture and effects had been already packed by
the _employes_ of the Garde Meuble; "I made some observations about it,
and on going through the empty apartments, I noticed two small figures
that I packed in paper, thinking they might be private _souvenirs_, and
that I would return them some day to their owner. All the other things
were already destroyed or gone."]

LXXXIV.

An anecdote: Parisian all o