Thus the precipitation and heedlessness of the Revolutionary electors sent up to the Hotel-de-Ville a majority of men, most of them devoted, but chosen without discernment, and, into the bargain, abandoned them to their own inspirations, to their whims, without any determined mandate to restrain and guide them in the struggle entered upon. Time and experience would no doubt have corrected this negligence, but time was wanting. The people never holds sway but for an hour, and woe to them if they are not then ready, armed _cap-a-pie_. The elections of the 26th March were irreparable. Only about sixty of those elected were present at the first sitting. At its opening, the Central Committee came to congratulate the Council. The chairman by seniority, Beslay, a capitalist of a fraternising turn of mind, made the opening speech. He very happily defined this young revolution: "The enfranchisement of the Commune of Paris is the enfranchisement of all the communes of the Republic. Your adversaries have said that you have struck the Republic. It is as with the pile, to be driven deeper into the earth. The Republic of 1793 was a soldier, who wanted to centralise all the forces of the nation; the Republic of 1871 is a workman, who above all wants liberty to fecundate peace. The Commune will occupy itself with all that is local, the Department with what is regional, the Government with what is national. Let us not overstep this limit, and the country and the Government will be happy and proud to applaud this revolution." This was the naive illusion of an old man, who, nevertheless, had had the experience of a long political life. This programme, so moderate in its form, was nothing less than the death-knell of the great bourgeoisie, as shown during this very sitting. There were already some jarring notes. The violent and the giddy-headed launched out into random motions, and wanted the Commune to declare itself omnipotent. Tirard, elected by his arrondissement, improved this occasion to withdraw, stating that his mandate was purely municipal, that he could not recognise the political character of the Commune, gave in his resignation, and ironically bade farewell to the Council: "I leave you my sincere good wishes; may you succeed in your task," &c. The insolence of this dishonest man, who for eight days had been busy in fomenting civil war and now threw up the mandate solicited in his address to the electors, evoked general indignation. The more impatient wanted to have him arrested, others to declare his mandate forfeited. He escaped scot-free because he had said at the Versailles tribune, "When you enter the Hotel-de-Ville, you are not sure to return from it."