M. Jules Favre says that late in the evening of the 2nd of September a trustworthy person came to him, and informed him that Marshal MacMahon had been wounded, that the army had been defeated, and that it, along with the Emperor, was shut up in Sedan. All the next day a feverish anxiety reigned in every part of Paris. What was known was terrible, but a just foreboding whispered that there was still worse behind. A meeting of the Chamber was summoned by the Government for three o'clock on the afternoon of the 3rd of September. Count Palikao announced the failure of Bazaine's sorties out of Metz on the 31st of August and 1st of September, and admitted that, after a partial success, the French army, overwhelmed by numbers, had been driven back, partly upon Mézières, partly upon Sedan, and a small portion across the Belgian frontier. In presence of these grave events the Minister declared that the Government appealed to the strength, vigour, and patriotism of the nation; he added that 200,000 Gardes Mobiles were about to enter Paris, who, united to the forces already there, would ensure the safety of the capital. Jules Favre then rose. Availing himself of an admission made by Palikao that the Emperor was not in communication with his Ministers and gave them no orders, he came to the conclusion that "the Government had ceased to exist," and enlarged upon the means that were at hand for supplying its place. Before separating the Chamber voted urgency for a proposition of M. Argence, calling to arms all men between twenty and thirty-five years, whether married or single. Filled with gloom and anxious apprehension, the members separated till the following day (Sunday, September 4th) at five o'clock.
But soon after the meeting certain intelligence of the capitulation reached Palikao and the Ministers and the news, coming by various channels, soon flew over Paris. Immense crowds filled the boulevards; cries were frequently heard demanding the fall of the Government. M. Favre and some of his friends went to M. Schneider, the President of the Corps Législatif, and prevailed upon him to convene it for a midnight sitting that same night. Jules Favre did not conceal from M. Schneider that he meant to propose the deposition of the Emperor; but to this the latter would by no means give his consent. He and many other honourable members of the Chamber believed themselves, even were there no other argument against a revolution, to be restrained by their oath of fidelity to the Emperor from joining in any project that contemplated either his dethronement or the repudiation of the dynasty.
The plan of Jules Favre and his friends of the Extreme Left was this: that the deposition of the Emperor and his dynasty should be proclaimed, and that the Chambers should assume all the powers of government, exercising them through an executive commission consisting of a few members, in which not only Palikao but also M. Schneider would be retained. The plan was embodied in three articles, which ran as follows:—
Article 1. Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and his dynasty are declared to be deposed from the power given them by the constitution.
Article 2. A parliamentary committee, consisting of ——, is entrusted with the powers of government and with the mission to expel the enemy from France.
Article 3. General Trochu remains in his post as Governor of Paris.
The articles prepared by Jules Favre were signed by twenty-seven members of the Corps Législatif, but the name of M. Thiers was not among them. That experienced and wary politician had much confidence in the military knowledge and skill of Count Palikao, and on this account, as well as on account of the general considerations that may be urged against a revolutionary procedure, he would bear no part in a plan for overthrowing the Government. At the midnight sitting of the Chamber, no disguise being any longer possible, Count Palikao announced that the army, having been thrown back after heroic efforts on Sedan, and finding resistance no longer possible, had capitulated, and that the Emperor had been made prisoner. He then demanded an adjournment till noon of the same day (September 4th), that the Government might have time to mature its proposals in this alarming crisis. The adjournment was not opposed; but M. Jules Favre gave notice that he should, at the mid-day sitting, bring forward the motion the terms of which have been already stated. The motion, if the Count Palikao is to be believed, was ill received by the majority of the members.
Between 8 and 9 A.M. a council of Ministers was held at the Tuileries, presided over by the Empress, who displayed exemplary firmness and courage. It was resolved at this council to propose to the Chambers the nomination of a Council of Regency of five members (each member to be nominated by the absolute majority of the Legislative Body), with Count Palikao as its Lieutenant-General. But when he arrived at the Corps Législatif, shortly before noon, and communicated to a number of deputies the plan of the Government, he found that the use of the term "Regency" was generally disapproved. Thiers and his friends desired that the new council should be simply described as a "Council of Government." To this Palikao was unwilling to accede because the words seemed to betoken a breach of continuity between the new Government and the old—to be equivalent therefore to sanctioning revolution. An ingenious expedient occurred to him: it was to alter the words "Council of Regency" into "a Council of the Government and of National Defence;" thus avoiding the unpopular word, and yet implying that the Government had not come to an end, but was prolonged in and transformed into the new Council. The majority of the deputies appeared to approve of the clause so worded; and the Empress, whose consent Palikao was careful to obtain, sent him word that she relied entirely on him and approved of whatever he might do.
The hour for the meeting was now come. The approaches to the hall of the Legislative Body were occupied by troops of the line, and 600 mounted gendarmes were stationed in reserve in the Palais de l'Exposition in the Champs Elysées.
Three propositions were brought before the Chamber: first, that of the Government; secondly, that of Jules Favre; and thirdly, that of M. Thiers. The last was signed by forty-six deputies, and was expressed in the following terms:—