The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-05 00:00:00

THE SECOND CITY OF FRANCE,

Ever since the Republic was proclaimed at Paris the
name of Lyons, says the Times has been a name of doubt-
ful omen. Lyons, it was said, had abolished the Empire

even before Paris took that decisive step, and, having
anticipated the capital in this particular, was resolved to
keep ahead of it in developing the Revolution. The
rest of France might be disposed to disown the leader-
ship of Paris in setting np the Republic, but
Lyons disowned its leadership because the Re-
public it had set up was too tame and mode-
rate. There was much in the previous history of the great
manufacturing city of the South to give these reports pro-
bability, and some facts were stated which went far to
substantiate them. Although Lyons was in 1793 so
little inflamed with revolutionary ardour that it rebelled
against the convention, and withstood for a long time
the forces sent fsom Paris to subdue it, it has ever since
been a focus of revolutionary movement. The extreme
theorists have found honour there. The weavers of the

Croix Rousse have bestowed their support on Jacobins,
Socialists, and Communists of all kinds—any and every-
body who proposed to take a clean brush and begin
again. Only last year they elected Raspail by more
than 16,000 votes against less than 6,000 given to M.
Jules Favre, though M. Favre is a native of the city.
And now when the Revolution came a red flag is hoisted
in the town. A ss.lf-appointed Committee of Public
Safety contested the right to exercise authority with
the Prefect nominated by the self-appointed' Govern-
ment of National Defence of Paris. The letter of a
correspondent in the Times describes the facts and im-
pressions of his first days at Lyons, and though there is

evidently much in the -condition of the place that must
excite watchfulness, and even anxiety, the result is on the
whole reassuring. The elements of disorder are there in
great abundance. But the people of Lyons, and—what
is of greater importance—the volunteer battalions of the

Croix Rousse itself, see that at present their paramount
duty is that of providing for the national defence, and in
the presence of this exigency all differences of opinion as
to the future organisation of the country must be sunk.
Once and again there have been appeals to their revolu-
tionary sympathies. So only lately " General"
Cluseret, in conjunction with a party of the Reds; made
a bold attempt to constitute themselves the supreme
authority in the city by suppressing the Prefect and his
supporters. By two in the afternoon the square in front
of the Hotel de Ville—the Place des Terreaux—presented
a remarkable spectacle. The hospitable Hotel de Ville
accommodated in separate but adjacent balconies, like
the hustings at an election, MM. Cluseret and Saigne,
and the Prefect, M. Challemel-Lacour, with his military
aide, General Mazure. Some companios of the Na-
tional Guard, that had been hastily got together,
kept the entrances of the Town Hall, and as the
rappel continued to be beaten fresh companies poured into
the place. M. Saigne from his balcony was urging the
mob to break into the Hotel de Ville, to arrest General
Mazure and instal " General " Cluseret in his place, and
to depose the Prefect ; while the Prefect from his balcony
seems to have ordered the National Guards to step inside
and arrest "General" Cluseret, at the very moment that
the " General " appeared by the side of M. Saigne
to declare his readiness to accept the military
command of the city. Out of France the situa-
tion could never have been paralleled. Such a
method of taking a show of hands and proceeding
to instal the favourite reads like a page out of Mr. Car-
lyle's history, and for a moment it seemed that M. Saigne
and his " General" would be victorious. The mob trying
to force their way in began to press upon the National
Guard that had assembled, which could not make up their
minds what to do, when 3,000 of the Gub;rd of the Croix
Rousse quarter marched round the corner and pro-
nounce 3 for the Prefect. The St. Antoine of Lyons
had put in its appearance in, favour of the authorities in
possession. Whether an order was or was not given . for
the arrest of MM. Saigne and Cluseret it certainly was
not executed. The programme of M. Saigne and his allie.,
professed to abolish everything. The State itself, with its tri-
bunals, its administrative machinery, its taxes, and its pur-
suit of debtors—all were to go. Nothing was•to be left but
the territorial divisions of departments and communes,
and the communes were to elect delegates to form De-
partmental Committees of Public Safety, and the Depart-.
mental Committees were to elect delegates forming
the Revolutionary Conventiori for the safety of France,
which should meet at Lyons to rescue the country.
This was of course a distinct alternative offered
to Lyons in opposition to the leadership of
Paris. It has been rejected, and rejected by the prompt
action of the most democratic section of Lyons. The de-
duction is plain that Lyons is ready to abide by the
Republic as it is, and will follow M. Challemel-Lacour
with perfect willingness so long as he proves himself
capable of heading its energies in defence of the country.
The risk of the future depends on his capacity. Whether•
he has learnt as an exile, as a critic of the fine arts, and
as a director of the Revue Moderne hcrw to govern a great .
municipality seething with the agitations of a groat crisis