An attack was nonsensical, and it was this that determined Paris to remain on the defensive. But M. Thiers saw nothing, neither the disaffection of the middle classes nor the deep irritation of the faubourgs. The little man, a dupe all his life, even of a MacMahon, prompted by the approach of the 20th March, spurred on by Jules Favre and Picard, who, since the failure of the 31st of October, believed the revolutionists incapable of any serious action, and jealous to play the part of a Bonaparte, threw himself head foremost into the venture. On the 17th he held a council, and, without calculating his forces or those of the enemy, without forewarning the mayors--(Picard had formally promised them not to attempt to use force without consulting them)--without listening to the chiefs of the bourgeois battalions,[79] this Government, too weak to arrest even the twenty-five members of the Central Committee, gave the order to carry off two hundred and fifty cannon[80] guarded by all Paris. FOOTNOTES: [71] Arnold, J. Bergeret, Bouit, Castioni, Chauviere, Chouteau, Courty, Dutil, Fleury, Frontier, H. Fortune, Lacord, Lagarde, Lavalette, Maljournal, Matte, Ostyn, Piconel, Pindy, Prudhomme, Varlin, H. Verlet, Viard. Many of these names, those of the representatives elected on the 3rd, were new ones. On the other hand, many of those that had figured in the placard of the 28th were missing, because only those signed who were present at the sitting. [72] He dared to say from the tribune that he only returned on the 3rd "to save Paris from any demagogic attempts." [73] The prefecture of Rennes placarded this despatch of the Government: "A criminal insurrection is being organised in Paris. I send forces which, joined to the honest National Guards of Paris and to the other regular troops which are still stationed there, will suppress, I hope, this odious attempt." [74] Jules Ferry, who had remained at Paris, telegraphed on the 5th to the Government: "Never has a Sunday been calmer, notwithstanding sinister reports. The population is enjoying the sun and their promenades as if nothing had happened. I no longer believe in the danger." [75] "The vote of the Assembly," wrote Jules Favre, "was received at Paris with extreme disfavour; not only amongst the fanatics and the agitators; all classes of the population showed themselves almost unanimous. Every one saw in it an affront and a menace. It was repeated everywhere that this was the first act of a monarchical _coup-d'etat_; that the Assembly was ready to name a king, and that, knowing the unpopularity of its work, it sought to accomplish it far from the eyes of those who might oppose it." [76] This is the Committee which many took for the Central Committee.