[Translation.], the 8th of September, 1870

[Translation.]

The Government of the national defense to the French people:

Frenchmen: In proclaiming, four days since, the government of the national defense, we have ourselves defined our mission. Power lay prostrate; that which commenced by an attempt finished by a desertion. We have only picked up the government which escaped from impotent hands. But Europe needs to be enlightened; she needs to know, by irrefutable proof, that the country is with us. The invader must encounter upon his route not only the obstacle of an immense city resolved to perish rather than surrender, but a whole people, moreover, organized, represented, an assembly, in fine, which can carry into every place, in spite of every disaster, the living soul of the country. Therefore, the government of the national defense decrees—

Article I. The electoral colleges are convoked for Sunday, the 16th of October, in order to elect a constituent national asssembly.

Article II. The elections will take place on the revision of the list, conformably to the law of the 15th of March, 1849.

Article III. The number of the members of the constituent assembly will be seven hundred.

Article IV. The minister of the interior is charged with the execution of this decree.