While these scenes were going on in the Salle du Trone, the mayors, so long the accomplices of Trochu, were deliberating in the hall of the municipal council. To quell the riot, they proposed the election of municipalities, the formation of battalions of the National Guard, and their joining them to the army. The scapegoat Etienne Aragot was sent to offer this salve to the Government. At two o'clock an immense crowd inundated the Place de l'Hotel-de-Ville, crying, "Down with Trochu! Vive la Commune!" and carrying banners with the inscription "No armistice." They had several times come into collision with the mobiles. The delegates who entered the Hotel-de-Ville brought no answer. About three o'clock, the crowd, growing impatient, rushed forward, breaking through the mobiles, and forcing Felix Pyat, come to the Hotel-de-Ville as a sight-seer, into the Salle des Maires. He exclaimed, struggled, protested that this was against all rules. The mayors supported him as well as they could, and announced that they had demanded the election of the municipalities, and that the decree in that sense was about to be signed. The multitude, still pushing forward, goes up to the Salle du Trone, cutting short the oration of Jules Favre, who had rejoined his colleagues in the Government-room. While the people were thundering at the door, the Defenders voted the proposition of the mayors--but in principle--not fixing the date for the elections,[14]--another jesuitical trick. Towards four o'clock the mass penetrated into the room. Rochefort in vain promised the municipal elections. They asked for the Commune! One of the delegates of the Committee of the twenty arrondissements, getting upon the table, proclaimed the abolition of the Government. A Commission was charged to proceed with the elections within forty-eight hours. The names of Dorian, the only Minister who had taken the defence to heart, of Louis Blanc, Ledru-Rollin, Victor Hugo, Raspail, Delescluze, Felix Pyat, Blanqui and Milliere were received with acclamation.