At ten o'clock the French still held the buildings on the north side of the Mollette. These were now assailed from the south. The 4th Company of the Emperor Alexander Regiment crossed the stream and forced its way through a breach made by the sappers into the farmstead in which the enemy's main force was gathered. The defenders had to be quelled with the bayonet and with clubbed arms, and here the French Colonel de Baroche met his death.
Although by this time--eleven o'clock--all the three attacking columns had struck hands in the heart of Le Bourget, the enemy continued the struggle in detached houses and gardens with embittered desperation till the afternoon, while all the forts on the north front of Paris overwhelmed the place with shell-fire. It was not till half-past one that the troops of the attack could withdraw by companies to their respective quarters. Two battalions remained to garrison Le Bourget.
The desperate resistance of the French showed how important they considered their retention of this post. Its success had cost the 2nd (Guard) Division 500 men. The enemy's loss is not known, but 1200 prisoners were taken. This new disaster added to the dissatisfaction of the inhabitants of Paris. The revolutionary factions, which at all times lurk in the French capital, came ominously to the front.
Highly-coloured reports could no longer conceal utter lack of results; the authority of the Government was steadily on the wane. It was accused of incapacity, nay, of treason. Noisy mobs clamoured for arms, and even a part of the National Guard took part in the tumult. The Hôtel de Ville was surrounded by a throng shouting "Vive la Commune!" and though other troops dispersed these gatherings, the ringleaders, though well known, went unpunished.
On the 31st of October uproarious masses again paraded the streets. As General Trochu had forbidden the sentries at the Hôtel de Ville to use their arms, the rebels forced their way in. The Ministers were their prisoners till the evening, when some battalions which remained staunch liberated them.
Monsieur Thiers, who had returned from his fruitless tour among the European Courts, thought the time had come for re-opening negotiations with Versailles. On the part of the Germans there was still the readiness to grant an armistice, but it was naturally impossible to accede to the condition demanded by the French, that the city should be re-provisioned, and so hostilities had to take their course.