Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/365

 The following despatch relating to the military events of the day was forwarded by M. Thiers to the Prefects of the several Departments:

", May 23, 2

"The course which events are taking justify our expectations. We have now 90,000 men in Paris.

"General De Cissey has taken up his position from the railway-station at Montparnesse to the Ecole Militaire, and is proceeding along the left bank toward the Tuileries.

"Generals Douay and Vinoy are enclosing the Tuileries, the Louvre, and the Place Vendôme, in order subsequently to advance on the Hotel de Ville.

"General Clinchant having made himself master of the Opera, the St. Lazare Railway Station, and the Batignolles, has carried the barricades at Clichy.

"General Ladmirault is approaching the foot of Montmartre with two divisions.

"General Montaudon, following the movement of General Ladmirault, has taken Neuilly, Levallois-Perret, and Clichy, and is attacking St. Ouen. He has taken 105 guns and a quantity of prisoners.

"The resistance of the insurgents is gradually declining, and there is every ground for hoping that if the struggle is not finished to-day it will be over by to-morrow at the very latest, and for a long time.

"With respect to the killed and wounded it is impossible to fix the numbers, but they are considerable. The army, on the contrary, has suffered but very slight loss.

""

Later in the afternoon a second circular was issued:

"3:30

"The tri-colored flag waves over the Buttes Montmartre