ower; the former of these, on October 31, nearly succeeded. Other towns
in the centre and south, notably Lyons, were also on the brink of
revolutionary socialism, and the success of the movement in Paris might
conceivably have led to a widespread trial of the communal experiment.
The war helped to keep matters in the old lines.

But now, the feelings of rage at the surrender of Paris and the cession
of the eastern districts of France, together with hatred of the
monarchical assembly that flouted the capital by sitting at the abode of
the old Kings of France, served to raise popular passion to fever heat.
The Assembly undoubtedly made many mistakes: it authorised the payment
of rents and all other obligations in the capital for the period of
siege as if in ordinary times, and it appointed an unpopular man to
command the National Guards of Paris. At the close of February the
National Guards formed a Central Committee to look after their interests
and those of the capital; and when the Executive of the State sent
troops of the line to seize their guns parked on Montmartre, the
Nationals and the rabble turned out in force. The troops refused to act
against the National Guards, and these murdered two Generals, Lecomte
and Thomas (March 18). Thiers and his Ministers thereupon rather tamely
retired to Versailles, and the capital fell into the hands of the
Communists. Greater firmness at the outset might have averted the
horrors that followed.

The Communists speedily consulted the voice of the people by elections
conducted in the most democratic spirit. In many respects their
programme of municipal reforms marked a great improvement on the type of
town-government prevalent during the Empire. That was, practically,
under the control of the imperial _prefets_. The Communists now asserted
the right of each town to complete self-government, with the control of
its officials, magistrates, National Guards, and police, as well as of
taxation, education, and many other spheres of activity. The more
ambitious minds looked forward to a time when France would form a
federation of self-governing Communes, whose delegates, deciding matters
of national concern, would reduce the executive power to complete
subservience. At bottom this Communal Federalism was the ideal of
Rousseau and of his ideal Cantonal State.

By such means, they hoped, the brain of France would control the body,
the rural population inevitably taking the position of he