Sentinel Of The Valley

THE PROCLAMATION OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

The following account is given of the ceremony:

On the evening of the 4th, Mr. Berger, in the name of the deputies of the Seine, proposed "The National Assembly, faithful interpreter of the sentiments of the people by whom it has just been named, before commencing its labors, declare, in the name of the French people and in the face of the whole world, that the Republic proclaimed on the 24th of February, 1848, is and will remain the form of government of France.

"The republic which France wishes for has its motto, 'Liberty, equality, fraternity.'

"In the name of the country, the Assembly conjures all Frenchmen, of all opinions, to forget ancient dissensions, and only to form one family. The day which assembles the representatives of the people is for all citizens the fete of concord and fraternity." [Loud cries of "Vive la Republique."

All the representatives of the provinces rose to put in their claims to share the act, when General Courtais said, I come in the name of the people of Paris. [Interruption.] I request the members of the Provisional Government to come out on the peristyle of the building, and the representatives of the people to follow them, in order to proclaim the republic. [Great agitation. The whole assembly rose in the midst of the loudest acclamations of approval.]

A member.—The heroic population of Paris requests you, through the commandant of the National Guard, to proclaim with it the republic in the face of day.

The utmost enthusiasm was then evinced, and, the Provisional Government leading the way, the whole of the assembly proceeded outside to the steps, in front of the building, opposite the Pont de la Concorde.

A correspondent of the London Times of the 5th, says:

"Were the most theatrical people in the world to choose a position for an exhibition of the kind that met the eye of the observer on reaching the bridge, the portico, and the immense flight of steps—the most extensive perhaps in Europe—leading to the palace of the National Assembly, would be that selected. Imagine the whole of the quays at each side of the bridge and on each side the river crammed with people and National Guards mixed irregularly. Within the railing the National Guards and staff officers filled the space that lies between it and the first steps. Above were the members of the Provisional Government, and beside them, and filling the whole of the flight of steps beneath them, the 600 or 700 members of the Assembly. Every man of them could be distinctly seen by every spectator from the Pont Royal on the one side and the Pont des Invalides on the other, and from the church of the Madeline in front, if human vision could reach the distance.

"The scene which presented itself defies description. The colors of the National Guards had been brought within the railing by the time that I arrived. Something was wanting, but it was soon forthcoming. The colors of the army were called for in voices of thunder. They were brought forward, and then recommenced the proclamation of the Republic, the acceptance of it, and the fraternization of the 20th of April; but it would seem that the enthusiasm surpassed that observable on the day just mentioned, and it was stimulated by the thunder of the cannon of the Invalides.

"I have not time for further description. The Republic was proclaimed and accepted unequivocally by the National Assembly, in the presence of 200,000 of the people of Paris. Woe to those, or to any class who shall occasion doubts of the sincerity of that acceptation. I hear at every side to-day, 'To retract is impossible. The slightest appearance of retraction will raise Paris in flames and deluge its streets with blood.'

"From all that I have seen and heard, this is the general impression produced by the event."