On the 27th the Alliance and _L'Eclaireur_ altogether withdrew, and the Commission gradually dwindled down. In the evening, the few faithful still holding out received two young men, whom the delegates from the Central Committee at Lyons had sent. They urged resistance; but the Hotel-de-Ville was being deserted, and on the morning of the 28th there were only about a hundred left. At six o'clock General Lavoye presented himself with the francs-tireurs of the Vosges and some troops come from Montbrison. The National Guards, on his appeal to lay down their arms in order to avoid bloodshed, consented to evacuate the mairie. Numerous arrests were made. The Conservatives overwhelmed the Commune with the customary insults, and recounted that cannibals had been seen amongst the murderers of the prefect.[104] _L'Eclaireur_ did not fail to demonstrate that the movement was purely Bonapartist. The workingmen felt themselves vanquished, and at the solemn funeral of M. De l'Espee not loud but deep curses were uttered. * * * * * At Creuzot, also the proletarians were defeated. Yet the Socialists administered the town from the 4th September, the mayor, Dumay, being a former workman at the iron works. On the 25th, at the news from Lyons, they spoke of proclaiming the Commune. At their review on the 26th the National Guards cried "Vive la Commune!" and the crowd accompanied them to the Place of the Mairie, held by the colonel of cuirassiers, Gerhardt. He ordered the foot-soldiers to fire. They refused. He then ordered the cavalry to charge; but the guards levelled their bayonets and invaded the mairie. Dumay pronounced the abolition of the Versailles Government, proclaimed the Commune, and the red flag was hoisted. But there, as everywhere else, the people did not move. The commander of Creuzot came back the next day with a reinforcement, dispersed the crowd, which was standing curious and passive in the square, and took possession of the mairie. In four days all the revolutionary centres of the east, Lyons, St. Etienne, and Creuzot, were lost to the Commune. FOOTNOTES: [102] He then and there inaugurated this incomparable lying campaign, the progress of which we shall closely watch. On the 19th he said, "The army, to the number of 40,000 men, is concentrated in good order at Versailles." There were 23,000 men (the number given by himself in the _Enquete_) totally disbanded. On the 20th: "The Government did not want to enter into a bloody struggle, though provoked." By the 21st the army had grown to 45,000 men: "The insurrection is disavowed by everybody." On the 22nd: "From all sides the Government is offered battalions of mobiles to support it against anarchy." On the 27th, while the votes were being counted: "A considerable proportion of the population and of the National Guard of Paris solicits the help of the provinces to re-establish order."