They reached Tours on the 18th. The patriots hastened thither to meet them. In the west and south, they had already organized Leagues to marshal the departments against the enemy and supply the want of a central impulse. They surrounded the delegates of Paris, asking them for a _mot-d'ordre_, vigorous measures, the sending of commissioners, and promised their absolute co-operation. The putridities answered, "We are _entre nous_, let us speak frankly. Well, then, we have no longer any army; all resistance is impossible. We only hold out for the sake of making better conditions." We ourselves witnessed the scene.[46] There was but one cry of indignation: "What! is this your answer when thousands of Frenchmen come to offer you their lives and fortunes?" On the 28th, the Lyonese broke out. Hardly four departments separated them from the enemy, who might at any moment come to levy a contribution on their city, and since the 4th September they had in vain demanded arms. The municipality, elected on the 16th in place of the Committee of Public Safety, passed its time in squabbling with the Prefect, Challemel-Lacour, an arrogant Neo-Jacobin. On the 27th, instead of any serious measures of defence, the council had reduced by fivepence the pay of the workingmen employed in the fortifications, and appointed Cluseret general _in partibus_ of an army to be created.[47] The Republican committees of Les Brotteaux, of La Guillotiere, of La Croix-Rousse,[48] and the Central Committee of the National Guard decided to urge on the Hotel-de-Ville, and laid before it on the 28th an energetic programme of defence. The workingmen of the fortifications, led by Saigne, supported this step by a demonstration. They filled the Place des Terreaux, and what with speeches, what with the excitement, invaded the Hotel-de-Ville. Saigne proposed the nomination of a revolutionary commission, and perceiving Cluseret, named him commander of the National Guard. Cluseret, much concerned for his future, only appeared on the balcony to propound his plan and recommend calm. However, the commission being constituted, he no longer dared to resist, but set out in search of his troops. At the door, the mayor, Henon, and the prefect arrested him. They had penetrated into the Hotel-de-Ville by the Place de la Comedie. Saigne, springing upon the balcony, announced the news to the crowd, which, throwing itself upon the Hotel-de-Ville, delivered the prospective general and in turn arrested the mayor and prefect. The bourgeois battalions soon arrived at the Place des Terreaux; shortly after those of La Croix-Rousse and of La Guillotiere debouched. Great misfortune might have resulted from the first shot. They parleyed. The commission disappeared and the general swooned.