The possession by the city of Paris of the most extended municipal liberties, distinct from all action or interference from the central power." These delegates state that they arrived at Versailles, and placed themselves in communication with a committee of seven members of the Left, in conjunction with whom they drew up the following outline of the compromise:
"The formation of a Committee of Conciliation, the
functions of which would be to place in communication
the members of the Government and of the Commune of
Paris, each preserving entire freedom of action, and to
seek in that exchange of ideas the means of a pacific solution.
The course by which that result is to be arrived at
appears to consist principally in these dispositions: 'The
acceptance by the city of Paris of the Municipal Bill
which is about to be voted by the Assembly; elections in
Paris in conformity with that law, that is to say, in a few
days, under the direction of the Committee of Conciliation;
recognition of the right of the Municipal Council
thus chosen to submit to the Assembly certain propositions
relative to the particular conditions of the city of
Paris, the necessity of which the bill already admits in
certain respects; and consequently, in order to facilitate
the negotiations, the suspension of military operations
immediately after the acceptance of those preliminaries
at Paris, without prejudice for the present to the question
of the arming or organization of the National Guard,
which subject shall be reserved for the subsequent examination
of the Municipal Council, and for the decision
of the National Assembly, when the latter body shall have
under consideration the reconstitution of the armed force
in France. A general political amnesty!" The report
of the delegates then goes on to say: "We waited on M.
Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, who manifested the greatest
