The next day, the 24th, the delegations returned. The Council tendered their resignation, and declared they would only officiate till their replacement by the electors, to be convoked with the briefest delay. This was a defeat, for the same day the prefect _ad interim_, Morellet, adjured the population not to proclaim the Commune, but to respect the authority of the Assembly. At seven o'clock in the evening a company of the National Guard relieved the sentinel to the cries of "Vive la Commune!" The Central Committee invited the Alliance to join them in taking possession of the Hotel-de-Ville. The Radicals refused, saying that the promise of the Council sufficed; that the movements of Paris and Lyons were of a vague character, and that it was necessary to affirm order and public tranquility. During these negotiations the people had assembled at the Club de la Vierge, accusing the first delegates of weakness, resolved to send others, and to accompany them, so that they could not give way. At ten o'clock two columns of 400 men each drew up before the rails that cover the Hotel-de-Ville. These had been closed by order of the new prefect, M. De l'Espee, an autocrat of iron works, who had just then arrived, eager to subdue the disturbers. But the people began pulling down the rails, and it was necessary to let in their delegates. They found the mayor and Morellet, asked for the Commune, and provisionally the adjunction of a popular commission. The mayor refused, the former prefect obstinately tried to demonstrate that the Commune was a Prussian invention. Hopeless of convincing the delegates, he went to warn M. De l'Espee--the prefecture being contiguous to the mairie--and both then making off by the garden, succeeded in rejoining General Lavoye, the commander of the garrison. At midnight the delegates, unable to obtain anything, declared that nobody would be allowed to leave the Hotel-de-Ville, and proceeding to the rails, told the demonstrators to reflect. Some ran off in quest of arms, others penetrated into the Salle des Prudhommes, where they held a meeting. The night passed tumultuously. The delegates, who had just learned the miscarriage of the movement at Lyons wavered. The people threatened and were for beating the _rappel_. The mayor refused. At last, at seven o'clock, he found an expedient, and promised to propose a plebiscite on the establishment of the Commune. A delegate read this declaration to the people, who at once withdrew from the Hotel-de-Ville. At the same moment M. De l'Espee conceived the brilliant idea of beating the _rappel_, which the people had in vain asked for since midnight. He picked up some National Guards of order, re-entered the now empty Hotel-de-Ville, and promulgated his victory. The municipal council informing him of the morning's agreement, De l'Espee refused to fix the date of the elections. Besides, said he, the general had promised him the aid of the garrison.