"Nos vaillants soldats se conduisent de maniere a inspirer la plus haute estime, la plus grande admiration a l'etranger."--_Discours de M. Thiers, a l'Assemblee Nationale le 24 Mai 1871._ WEDNESDAY 24TH--THE MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL EVACUATE THE HOTEL-DE-VILLE--THE PANTHEON IS TAKEN--THE VERSAILLESE SHOOT THE FEDERALS BY HUNDREDS--THE FEDERALS SHOOT SIX HOSTAGES--THE NIGHT OF THE CANNON. The defenders of the barricades, already without reinforcements and munitions, were now left even without food, and altogether thrown on the resources of the neighbourhood. Many, quite worn out, went in search of some nourishment; their comrades, not seeing them return, grew desperate, while the chiefs of the barricades strained themselves to keep them back. At nine o'clock Brunel received the order to evacuate the Rue Royale. He went to the Tuileries to tell Bergeret that he could still hold out, but at midnight the Committee of Public Safety again sent him a formal order to retreat. Forced to abandon the post he had so well defended for two days, the brave commander first removed his wounded and then his cannon by the Rue St. Florentin. The Federals followed; when at the top of the Rue Castiglione, they were assailed by shots. It was the Versaillese, who, masters of the Rue de la Paix and the Rue Neuve des Capucines, had invaded the Place Vendome, entirely deserted, and by the Hotel-du-Rhin turned the barricade of the Rue Castiglione. Brunel's Federals, abandoning the Rue de Rivoli, forced the rails of the garden, went up the quays, and regained the Hotel-de-Ville. The enemy did not dare to pursue them, and only at daybreak occupied the Ministry of Marine, long since abandoned. The rest of the night the cannon were silent. The Hotel-de-Ville had lost its animation. The Federals slept in the square; in the bureaux the members of the committees and the officers snatched a few moments of repose. At three o'clock a staff officer arrived from Notre Dame, occupied by a detachment of Federals. He came to tell the Committee of Public Safety that the Hotel-Dieu harboured eight hundred sick, who might suffer from the proximity of the struggle, and the Committee commanded the evacuation of the cathedral in order to save these unfortunate people. And now the sun rose, eclipsing the glare of the conflagrations; the day dawned radiant, but with no ray of hope for the Commune. Paris had no longer a right wing; her centre was broken; to assume the offensive was impossible. The prolongation of her resistance could now only serve to bear witness to her faith.