quered the town, the national guard fraternizing with them; but soon the military occupied the town without a blow. Ricamari, Saint-Aubin and Decazeville are names of localities rendered famous by the first exploits of militarism under the second French Empire. In those times the bourgeois republicans were most vehemently opposed to sending soldiers to the strike districts. These same republicans had scarcely got into power when they themselves began to adopt the method of Bonapartism which they had only just fought against, and they soon excelled their model. They found words of disapproval only when the culprit was a Clerical or a Monarchist, and then only out of political spite. At Fourmies a bullet from a Lebel rifle, striking down a young girl, Marie Blondeau, on May 1, 1891, inaugurated the new régime's baptism of blood. The bag of the day, which was made by the 145th regiment of the line, consisted of 10 killed and 35 wounded. But the butchers of Fourmies, Constant and his assistant, Captain Chapuis, were soon to have companions. Fourmies was followed by Chalons in
