ROYAL.]

The PALAIS ROYAL.--The palace itself alone is destroyed; the galleries
of the THEATRE FRANCAIS are preserved. The _Constitutionnel_ published
the following account of the conflagration;--

"It was at three o'clock that this fearful fire burst forth. A
shopkeeper of the PALAIS ROYAL, M. Emile Le Sache, came forward in all
haste to offer his services. A Communist captain, or lieutenant,
threatened to fire on him if he did not retire on the instant; he added
that the whole quarter was going to be blown up and burned. In the teeth
of this threat, however, two fire-engines were brought to the Place, and
were worked by the people of the neighbourhood. It was four o'clock. No
water in the Cour des Fontaines. But some was procured by a line of
people being placed along the passage leading from the Cour d'Honneur,
who passed full buckets of water from hand to hand.

"A ladder was placed against the wall for the purpose of reaching the
terrace of the Rue de Valois. The insurgents proved so true to their
word that the people were forced to renounce the attempt at saving the
entire pavilion. Fire and smoke burst forth from three windows just
above the terrace. In the midst of the balls showered from the barricade
at the corner of the Rue de Rivoli, they succeeded in extinguishing the
fire on that side. At five o'clock M. O. Sauve, captain in the
commercial service, with a handful of brave workmen, got a fire engine
into the Cour d'Honneur, and thus saved a great quantity of pictures,
precious marbles, furniture, hangings, etc. Here another line of people
was formed for the carrying of buckets, but unfortunately water ran
short: the pipes had been cut, the wretches had planned that the
destruction should be complete. At seven o'clock M. Bessignet, jun.,
hastened there with four Paris firemen, but already the Pavilion, where
the flames were first apparent, was entirely consumed.

"On the arrival of the firemen they used every effort to prevent the fire
communicating itself to the apartments of the Princess Clothilde; it had
already reached the facade on the side of the Place. Here, too, all the
fittings and ornaments of the chapel were saved.

"At last, at seven o'clock, the soldiers of the line arrive. 'Long live
the line!' is shouted on all sides. 'Long live France!' Signals are made
with the ambulance flags. Help is come at last!

"Those present now regard their position with more coolness, and use
every effort to