"PARIS,

"  February  4th,  1852."


ivi,

-


APPENDIX   II

EEVELATIONS    CONCERNING    THE    ARREST
OF   ^MILE    THOMAS1


T  was  on  February  25th  [1848],  at  the  hotel  de  Ville,  that
M.  Marche  had  forced  onM.  Louis  Blanc  the  decree  that  pro-

ised  bread  and  employment  to  all  working-men, — or  at  any

te  bread,  if  employment  was  not  forthcoming, — and  the
foundation  of  the  national  workshops  dates  from  this  decree.
Thus  though  they  were  only  instituted  on  February  25th,
many  of  these  ateliers  were  opened  between  February  26th
and  March  9th,  in  different  places  ;  and  as  they  were  found
too  small  to  contain  all  the  applicants,  another  decree  was
issued  granting  1  franc  50  daily  to  every  man  without
work.  The  result  of  this  law  was  that  on  March  6th  there
existed  17,000  men  in  receipt  of  this  assistance.  They
flocked  around  the  municipal  department,  which  was
obliged  to  devote  all  its  time  to  their  affairs.  The  doors
of  every  mairie  were  besieged  by  them,  and  perpetual  dis-
turbances ensued  ;  while  the  mairies  of  the  6th  and  8th
arrondissements  had  been  more  than  once  threatened  with
fire.  And  besides  these  17,000  workmen  receiving  the
daily  largess,  the  Minister  of  War  was  forced,  by  order  of
the  engineers,  to  employ  in  the  Champs  de  Mars  4,000  others,
who  remained  under  his  sole  direction  till  May  17th.
The  Minister  of  Public  Works,  on  his  side,  undertook  the
charge  of  three  thousand  who  were  employed  either  at  the
place  de  1'Europe,  at  the  Barriere  d'lvry,  or  at  Courbevoie,
and  for  these,  MM.  Baude,  Chanoine,  and  Onffroy  de
Breville,  the  chief  engineers,  were  responsible.
