Unlike the Republic of 1848, the strength of which was chiefly, or almost solely, in Paris, the Republic was proclaimed at Lyons, Marseilles, and Bordeaux, before any news came of the overthrow of the Napoleonic dynasty at the capital[58].
[Footnote 58: Seignobos, _A Political History of Contemporary Europe_, vol.i.p.

187 (Eng.

edit.).] He now entrusted three important portfolios, those for Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, and Public Instruction, to pronounced Republicans--Jules Favre, Picard, and Jules Simon.

Having pacified the monarchical majority by appealing to them to defer all questions respecting the future constitution until affairs were more settled, he set out to meet Bismarck at Versailles.
A disadvantage which almost necessarily besets parliamentary institutions had weakened the French case before the negotiations began.
The composition of the Assembly implied a strong desire for peace--a fact which Thiers had needlessly emphasised before he left Bordeaux.

On the other hand, Bismarck was anxious to end the war.