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diff --git a/10861-h/10861-h.htm b/10861-h/10861-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..982382e --- /dev/null +++ b/10861-h/10861-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,18191 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>Paris under the Commune, by John Leighton</title> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10861 ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-1"></a> +<img src="images/001.jpg" width="498" height="386" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>the Column of July</b></p> +</div> + +<h1>PARIS<br/> +UNDER THE COMMUNE: +</h1> + +<h3>OR,</h3> + +<h2>THE SEVENTY-THREE DAYS OF THE<br/> +SECOND SIEGE</h2> + +<h4>WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, SKETCHES TAKEN ON THE SPOT, AND +PORTRAITS (FROM THE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHS).</h4> + +<h2>BY JOHN LEIGHTON, F.S.A.,<br/> +&C.</h2> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<img src="images/002.jpg" width="96" height="96" alt="Illustration: " /> +</div> + +<h4>LONDON:<br/> +1871.</h4> + +<hr /> + +<p class="letter"> +Socialism, or the Red Republic, is all one; for it would tear down the +tricolour and set up the red flag. It would make penny pieces out of the Column +Vendôme. It would knock down the statue of Napoleon and raise up that of Marat +in its stead. It would suppress the Académie, the École Polytechnique, and the +Legion of Honour. To the grand device Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, it +would add “Ou la mort.” It would bring about a general bankruptcy. +It would ruin the rich without enriching the poor. It would destroy labour, +which gives to each one his bread. It would abolish property and family. It +would march about with the heads of the proscribed on pikes, fill the prisons +with the suspected, and empty them by massacres. It would convert France into +the country of gloom. It would strangle liberty, stifle the arts, silence +thought, and deny God. It would bring into action these two fatal machines, one +of which never works without the other—the assignat press and the +guillotine. In a word, it would do in cold blood what the men of 1793 did in +fever, and after the grand horrors which our fathers saw, we should have the +horrible in all that was low and small. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +(VICTOR HUGO, 1848.) +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<img src="images/003.jpg" width="96" height="96" alt="Illustration: " /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a> PREFACE.</h2> + +<p> +Early in June of the present year I was making notes and +sketches, without the least idea of what I should do with them. I +was at the Mont-Parnasse Station of the Western Railway, awaiting +a train from Paris to St. Cloud. Our fellow passengers, as we +discovered afterwards, were principally prisoners for Versailles; +the guards, soldiers; and the line, for two miles at least, +appeared desolation and ruin. +</p> + +<p> +The façade of the station, a very large one, was pockmarked all over by Federal +bullets, whilst cannon balls had cut holes through the stone wall as if it had +been cheese, and gone down the line, towards Cherbourg or Brest! The restaurant +below was nearly annihilated, the counters, tables, and chairs being reduced to +a confused heap. But there was a book-stall and on that book-stall reposed a +little work, entitled the “Bataille des Sept Jours,” a brochure +which a friend bought and gave to me, saying, “<i>Voilà la texte de vos +croquis</i>,” From seven days my ideas naturally wandered to +seventy-three—the duration of the reign of the Commune—and then +again to two hundred and twenty days—that included the Commune of 1871 +and its antecedents. Hence this volume, which I liken to a French château, to +which I have added a second storey and wings. +</p> + +<p> +And now that the house is finished, I must render my obligations to M. Mendès +and numerous French friends, for their kind assistance and valuable aid, +including my confrères of “<i>The Graphic</i>,” who have allowed me +to enliven the walls with pictures from their stores; and last, and not least, +my best thanks are due to an English Peer, who placed at my disposal his unique +collection of prints and journals of the period bearing upon the +subject—a subject I am pretty familiar with. Powder has done its work, +the smell of petroleum has passed away, the house that called me master has +vanished from the face of the earth, and my concierge and his wife are reported +<i>fusillés</i> by the Versaillais; and to add to the disaster, my rent was +paid in advance, having been deposited with a <i>notaire</i> prior to the First +Siege.... But my neighbours, where are they? In my immediate neighbourhood six +houses were entirely destroyed, and as many more half ruined. I can only speak +of one friend, an amiable and able architect, who, alas! remonstrated in +person, and received a ball from a revolver through the back of his neck. His +head is bowed for life. He has lost his pleasure and his treasure, a valuable +museum of art,—happily they could not burn his reputation, or the +monument of his life—a range of goodly folio volumes that exist +“<i>pour tous</i>.” +</p> + +<p class="right"> +L. +</p> + +<p> +LONDON, 1871. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><b>Contents</b></h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td></td><td><a href="#pref01">PREFACE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td></td><td><a href="#pref02">LIST OF PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER</td><td><a href="#pref03">The 30th October, 1870—The Hôtel de Ville +invaded—Governor Trochu resigns—A Revolt +attempted—Meetings, Place de la Bastille—The +Prussians enter Paris—Hostility of the National Guard</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>I.</td><td><a href="#I.">The Memorable 18th of March—Line and Nationals Fraternise—Discipline at a Discount</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>II.</td><td><a href="#II.">Assassination of Generals Lecomte and Clément +Thomas</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>III.</td><td><a href="#III.">Proclamation of M. Picard—The Government retires to +Versailles</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>IV.</td><td><a href="#IV.">The New Regime Proclaimed—Obscurity of New Masters</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>V.</td><td><a href="#V.">Paris Hesitates—Small Sympathy with Versailles</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>VI.</td><td><a href="#VI.">The Buttes Montmartre</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>VII.</td><td><a href="#VII.">An Issue Possible—An Approved Proclamation</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>VIII.</td><td><a href="#VIII.">Demonstration of the Friends of Order</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>IX.</td><td><a href="#IX.">The Drama of the Rue de la Paix—Victims to Order</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>X.</td><td><a href="#X.">A Wedding</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XI.</td><td><a href="#XI.">The Bourse and Belleville</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XII.</td><td><a href="#XII.">Watching and Waiting</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XIII.</td><td><a href="#XIII.">A Timid but Prudent Person</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XIV.</td><td><a href="#XIV.">Some Federal Opinions</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XV.</td><td><a href="#XV.">Proclamation of Admiral Saisset—Paris Satisfied.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XVI.</td><td><a href="#XVI.">A Widow</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XVII.</td><td><a href="#XVII.">The Central Committee Triumphs</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XVIII.</td><td><a href="#XVIII.">Paris Elections</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XIX.</td><td><a href="#XIX.">The Commune a Fact—A Motley Assembly</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XX.</td><td><a href="#XX.">Proclamation of the Elections</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXI.</td><td><a href="#XXI.">A Batch of Official Decrees—Landlord, and Tenant</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXII.</td><td><a href="#XXII.">Requisitions and Feasts</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXIII.</td><td><a href="#XXIII.">Removals and Retirements</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXIV.</td><td><a href="#XXIV.">A General Flight</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXV.</td><td><a href="#XXV.">An Envoy to Garibaldi</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXVI.</td><td><a href="#XXVI.">Commencement of Civil War—Beyond the Arc de Triomphe</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXVII.</td><td><a href="#XXVII.">Mont Valérien opens on the Federals—Contradictory News</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXVIII.</td><td><a href="#XXVIII.">Death of General Duval—Able Administration</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXIX.</td><td><a href="#XXIX.">Antipathy to the Church—The Archbishop Interrogated</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXX.</td><td><a href="#XXX.">The Accomplices of Versailles</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXI.</td><td><a href="#XXXI.">Death of Colonel Flourens</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXII.</td><td><a href="#XXXII.">The Cross and the Red Flag</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXIII.</td><td><a href="#XXXIII.">Colonel Assy of Creuzot—Disgrace of Lullier</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXIV.</td><td><a href="#XXXIV.">Fighting goes on</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXV.</td><td><a href="#XXXV.">Federal Funerals</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXVI.</td><td><a href="#XXXVI.">Prudent Counsel</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXVII.</td><td><a href="#XXXVII.">Suppression of Newspapers</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXVIII.</td><td><a href="#XXXVIII.">The Second Bombardment—Avenue de la Grande Armée—Reckless Aim of the Versaillais</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XXXIX.</td><td><a href="#XXXIX.">The Plan of Bergeret</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XL.</td><td><a href="#XL.">Another General—Police and Pressgang—A Citizen of the World</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLI.</td><td><a href="#XLI.">Women and Children</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLII.</td><td><a href="#XLII.">Why is Conciliation Impossible?</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLIII.</td><td><a href="#XLIII.">The Portable Guillotine</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLIV.</td><td><a href="#XLIV.">The Common Grave</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLV.</td><td><a href="#XLV.">Idle Paris</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLVI.</td><td><a href="#XLVI.">The Press</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLVII.</td><td><a href="#XLVII.">Day follows Day</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLVIII.</td><td><a href="#XLVIII.">The Condemned Column—Model Decrees</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XLIX.</td><td><a href="#XLIX.">Thiers and Conciliation—Paris and France</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>L.</td><td><a href="#L.">Communist Caricatures—Political Satire</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LI.</td><td><a href="#LI.">Gustave Courbet—Federation of Art—Courbet, President</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LII.</td><td><a href="#LII.">Camp, Place Vendôme</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LIII.</td><td><a href="#LIII.">Elections of the 16th of April</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LIV.</td><td><a href="#LIV.">The “Change” under the Commune</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LV.</td><td><a href="#LV.">Elections sans Electors—Farce of Universal Suffrage</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LVI.</td><td><a href="#LVI.">À la Mode de Londres</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LVII.</td><td><a href="#LVII.">The Little Sisters of the Poor</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LVIII.</td><td><a href="#LVIII.">Bécon and Asnières taken—Declaration to the French People—Federation of Communes—The Commune or the Deluge</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LIX.</td><td><a href="#LIX.">A Court-Martial</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LX.</td><td><a href="#LX.">A Heroic Gamin</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXI.</td><td><a href="#LXI.">Killing the Dead</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXII.</td><td><a href="#LXII.">The Truce at Neuilly—Porte-Maillot destroyed—Neuilly in Ruins</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXIII.</td><td><a href="#LXIII.">Masonic Mediation—The Envoy of Peace—Citizens and Brothers—A White Flag on Porte-Maillot</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXIV.</td><td><a href="#LXIV.">Prudent Monsieur Pyat</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXV.</td><td><a href="#LXV.">Resources of the Commune—The Royal Road to Riches</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXVI.</td><td><a href="#LXVI.">The Prophecy of Proudhon</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXVII.</td><td><a href="#LXVII.">Revolutionary Balloons</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXVIII.</td><td><a href="#LXVIII.">A Confession of Conscience</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXIX.</td><td><a href="#LXIX.">Communist Journalism—Sensation Articles</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXX.</td><td><a href="#LXX.">Fort Issy falls</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXI.</td><td><a href="#LXXI.">Cluseret arrested</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXII.</td><td><a href="#LXXII.">The Executive Commission—Committee of Public Safety</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXIII.</td><td><a href="#LXXIII.">A Competent Tribunal</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXIV.</td><td><a href="#LXXIV.">The Password betrayed</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXV.</td><td><a href="#LXXV.">The Condemned Chapel</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXVI.</td><td><a href="#LXXVI.">Restitution is Robbery</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXVII.</td><td><a href="#LXXVII.">The Nuns of Picpus</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXVIII.</td><td><a href="#LXXVIII.">Rossel resigns—The Semblance of a Government</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXIX.</td><td><a href="#LXXIX.">Want of Funds—The Sinews of War</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXX.</td><td><a href="#LXXX.">Passwords—The Chariot of Apollo—Refractories</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXI.</td><td><a href="#LXXXI.">Sacrilege—Clubs in the Churches</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXII.</td><td><a href="#LXXXII.">Refractories in Danger</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXIII.</td><td><a href="#LXXXIII.">The Home of M. Thiers, Demolition and Removal</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXIV.</td><td><a href="#LXXXIV.">Filial Love</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXV.</td><td><a href="#LXXXV.">Communal Secessionists—Save himself who can</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXVI.</td><td><a href="#LXXXVI.">The Failing Cause—The Column Vendôme falls</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXVII.</td><td><a href="#LXXXVII.">A Concert at the Tuileries</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXVIII.</td><td><a href="#LXXXVIII.">Cartridge Magazine Explosion</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>LXXXIX.</td><td><a href="#LXXXIX.">The Advent of Action—Paris ceases to smile</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XC.</td><td><a href="#XC.">The Troops enter—Street Fortifications—Insurgents at home</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCI.</td><td><a href="#XCI.">Arrests and Murders</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCII.</td><td><a href="#XCII.">Fire and Sword</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCIII.</td><td><a href="#XCIII.">Barricade at the Place de Clichy</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCIV.</td><td><a href="#XCIV.">Rack and Ruin</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCV.</td><td><a href="#XCV.">Bloodshed and Brigandage</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCVI.</td><td><a href="#XCVI.">Hôtel de Ville on Fire—A Furnace</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCVII.</td><td><a href="#XCVII.">Pétroleurs and Pétroleuses</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCVIII.</td><td><a href="#XCVIII.">Streets of Paris</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>XCIX.</td><td><a href="#XCIX.">The Expiring Demons—The Hostages—Reprisals—Cemeteries</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>C.</td><td><a href="#C.">Sewers and Catacombs</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td>CI.</td><td><a href="#CI.">Mourning and Sadness</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<h2><b>APPENDIX</b></h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#CHRONOLOGY_OF_THE_PARISIAN_INSURRECTION">Chronology of the Commune</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#I._Page_2._HENRI_ROCHEFORT.">Memoir of Rochefort.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#II._Page_27._THE_EIGHTEENTH_OF_MARCH.">The 18th of March</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#III._Page_77._THE_PRUSSIANS_AND_THE_CO">The Prussians and the Commune</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#IV._Page_88._GAMBON.">Memoir of Gambon</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#V._Page_120.._LULLIER.">Memoir of Lullier</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#VI._Page_220._PROTOT.">Memoir of Protot</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#VII._Page_229.">Translation from Victor Hugo</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#VIII._Page_231._JOURDE.">Note of Jourde</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#IX._Page_316.">Last Proclamations of the Commune</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#X._Page_335.">Note of Férré</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#XI._Page_342.">The Hostages—Gendarmes, &c.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#XII._Page_345.">President Bonjean</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#XIII._Page_82._URBAIN.">Note of Urbain.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#XIV._THE_DEVASTATIONS_OF_PARIS.">Devastations of Paris</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#App._XV.">Official Report of General Ladmirault</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#App._XVI.">Ammunition expended on Second Siege of Paris</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#XVII._LIST_OF_PUBLIC">List of Monuments and Buildings destroyed</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#INDEX_TO_PLAN.">Index to Plan—Damage by Fire, &c.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<img src="images/004.jpg" width="95" height="96" alt="Illustration: " /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="pref02"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS:</h2> + +<p> +<a href="#image-1">FRONTISPIECE</a>:—THE COLUMN OF JULY (HISTORY REPEATS +ITSELF) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-2">PORTRAIT OF M. THIERS</a>, PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-3">THE STATE OF PARTY</a>—PICTURED By THEMSELVES. +ALLEGORICAL PAGE—ROCHEFORT, CLÉMENT THOMAS, &c. (<i>facsimile</i>) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-4">COLUMN OF JULY</a>—PLACE DE LA BASTILLE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-5">THE BUTTES MONTMARTRE</a>—FEDERAL ARTILLERY PARKED +THERE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-6">MONTMARTRE</a>—FIRST LINE OF SENTINELS +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-7">THE RED FLAG OF THE COLUMN OF JULY</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-8">PURIFICATION OF THE CHAMPS ÉLYSÉES</a> AFTER THE DEPARTURE +OF THE PRUSSIANS—CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST BARRICADE, 18TH MARCH +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-9">DEFENCE OF THE HOTEL DE VILLE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-10">SENTINELS,</a> BOULEVARD SAINT-MICHEL +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-11">BEHIND A BARRICADE</a>—THE DÉJEUNER +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-12">PORTRAIT OF GAMBON</a>, MEMBER OF THE COMMUNE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-13">BEHIND A BARRICADE</a>—THE EVENING MEAL +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-14">PLACE DE LA CONCORDE</a>—FEDERALS GOING OUT +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-15">PORTRAIT OF GENERAL BERGERET</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-16">PORTRAIT OF ABBÉ DEGUERRY</a>, CURÉ OF THE MADELEINE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-17">PORTRAIT OF RAOUL RIGAULT</a>, PROCUREUR OF THE COMMUNE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-18">PORTRAIT OF MONSEIGNEUR DARBOY</a>, ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-19">PORTRAIT OF COLONEL FLOURENS</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-20">PORTRAIT OF COLONEL ASSY</a>, GOVERNOR OF THE HOTEL DE +VILLE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-21">THE RED FLAG ON THE PANTHEON</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-22">PORTRAIT OF GENERAL CLUSERET</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-23">THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE DE L’ÉTOILE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-24">HORSE CHASSEUR ACTING AS COMMUNIST ARTILLERYMAN</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-25">MARINE GUNNER AND STREET BOY</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-26">THE CORPS LÉGISLATIF</a>—HEAD QUARTERS OF GENERAL +BERGERET +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-27">PORTRAIT OF GENERAL DOMBROWSKI</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-28">BURNING THE GUILLOTINE IN THE PLACE VOLTAIRE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-29">COLONNE VENDÔME</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-30">CARICATURE DURING THE COMMUNE</a>—LITTLE PARIS AND +HIS PLAYTHINGS (<i>facsimile</i>) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-31">THE MODERN “EROSTRATE”</a>—COURBET AND THE DEBRIS OF +THE VENDÔME COLUMN +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-32">FEDERAL VISIT TO THE LITTLE SISTERS OF THE POOR</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-33">PORTRAIT OF VERMOREL</a>, DELEGATE OF THE EXECUTIVE +COMMISSION +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-34">FEMALE CURIOSITY AT PORTE MAILLOT</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-35">PORTE MAILLOT AND CHAPEL OF ST. FERDINAND</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-36">ARMISTICE</a>—INHABITANTS OF NEUILLY ENTERING PARIS +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-37">WATCHING FOR THE FIRST SHOT FROM FORT VALERIEN</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-38">FEMALE IMPERTURBABILITY AFTER THE ARMISTICE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-39">PORTRAIT OF PROTOT</a>, DELEGATE OF JUSTICE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-40">PORTRAIT OF FÉLIX PYAT</a>, MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE OF +PUBLIC SAFETY +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-41">FREEMASONS AT THE RAMPARTS</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-42">PORTRAIT OF VERMESCH</a>, EDITOR OF THE “PÈRE +DUCHESNE” +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-43">PORTRAIT OF PASCHAL CROUSSET</a>, DELEGATE OF FOREIGN +AFFAIRS +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-44">PORTRAIT OF DUPONT</a>, COMMISSIONER OF TRADE AND COMMERCE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-45">CHAPELLE EXPIATOIRE</a> (CONDEMNED BY THE COMMUNE) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-46">CARICATURE DURING THE COMMUNE</a>—PARIS EATS A +GENERAL A-DAY (<i>facsimile</i>) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-47">PORTRAIT OF DELESCLUZE</a>, DELEGATE OF WAR +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-48">PORTRAIT OF FONTAINE</a>, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC DOMAINS AND +REGISTRATION +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-49">RÉFRACTAIRES ESCAPING FROM THE CITY BY NIGHT</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-50">PORTRAIT OF GENERAL LA CÉCILIA</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-51">CHURCH OF ST. EUSTACHE</a> (EXTERIOR) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-52">INTERIOR OF ST. EUSTACHE</a>, USED AS A RED CLUB +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-53">HOUSE OF M. THIERS IN THE PLACE ST. GEORGES</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-54">HOUSE DURING DEMOLITION—</a><a +href="#image-54">AFTER ITS SACK</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-55">PORTRAIT OF COURNET</a>, PREFECT OF POLICE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-56">PORTRAIT OF ARTHUR ARNOULD</a>, COMMISSIONER OF FOREIGN +AFFAIRS +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-57">THE SEINE: FOUNDERED GUN-BOATS</a>—PORTE MAILLOT, +DESOLATION AND DESTRUCTION +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-58">BARRICADE OF THE RUE CASTIGLIONE FROM THE PLACE +VENDÔME</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-59">PALACE OF THE TUILERIES</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-60">PORTRAIT OF RAZOUA</a>, GOVERNOR OF THE MILITARY SCHOOL +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-61">CAFÉ LIFE UNDER THE COMMUNE</a>—A SLIGHT +INTERRUPTION—PLAY-BILLS AND BURNT-OFFERINGS—“SPECTACLES DE +PARIS” +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-62">PLACE DE LA CONCORDE</a>—STATUES OF LILLE AND +STRASBOURG +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-63">FIRE AND WATER</a>—THE EFFECT OF FIRE ON THE +FOUNTAINS OF THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE AND THE CHÂTEAU +D’EAU—HIRONDELLES DE PARIS +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-64">PORTRAIT OF JULES VALLÈS</a>, DELEGATE OF FOREIGN +AFFAIRS AND OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-65">BARRICADE CLOSING THE RUE DE RIVOLI FROM THE PLACE DE LA +CONCORDE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-66">BULLET MARKS “EN FACE” AND “EN PROFIL”</a>—THE TREES +AND LAMPS +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-67">RUE ROYALE</a>, LOOKING FROM THE MADELEINE TO THE PLACE DE +LA CONCORDE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-68">A WARM CORNER OF THE TUILERIES</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-69">PORTRAIT OF MILLIÈRE</a>, EX-DEPUTY, MEMBER OF THE +COMMUNE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-70">PALAIS DE JUSTICE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-71">POLICE OF PARIS</a>—MINISTRY OF FINANCE, RUE DE +RIVOLI +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-72">PORTRAIT OF FERRÉ</a>, PREFECT OF POLICE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-73">PALACE OF THE LUXEMBOURG</a> (AMBULANCE HOSPITAL OF THE +COMMUNE) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-74">PÉTROLEURS AND PÉTROLEUSES</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-75">THE THEATRE OF THE PORTE ST-MARTIN</a>—ALL THAT +REMAINS OF THE HOME OF SENSATION DRAMA +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-76">CELL OF THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS IN THE PRISON OF LA +ROQUETTE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-77">YARD OF LA ROQUETTE</a> WHERE THE ARCHBISHOP AND HOSTAGES +WERE SHOT +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-78">MY NEIGHBOUR</a> OPPOSITE, BUSINESS CARRIED ON AS +USUAL—MY NEIGHBOUR NEXT DOOR, HE THINKS HIMSELF FORTUNATE +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-79">PARIS UNDERGROUND</a> (SEWERS AND CATACOMBS) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-80">THE ENEMIES OF PROGRESS</a> (LES ARISTOCRATES +ENCORE)—CORPS DE GARDE DE L’ARMÉE DE VERSAILLES +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-81">THE PUBLIC PROMENADES</a>—A CAMP IN THE +LUXEMBOURG—THE NEW MASTERS—PROCLAMATION OVER PROCLAMATION +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-82">THE LUXEMBOURG</a> (PRESENT TOWN HALL OF PARIS, 1871) +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-83">PORTRAIT OF MARSHAL MACMAHON</a>, DUKE OF MAGENTA +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-84">LIGHT AND AIR ONCE MORE</a>—THE FOSSE COMMUNE (THE +END) +</p> + +<p class="center"> +APPENDIX. +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-85">MUSÉE OF THE LOUVRE</a>, FROM THE PLACE DU CARROUSEL +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-86">PALAIS ROYAL</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-87">HOTEL DE VILLE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-88">FOREIGN OFFICE</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-89">PALACE OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR</a> +</p> + +<p> +<a href="#image-90">MAP OF PARIS,</a> WITH INDICATIONS OF ALL THE PARTS DAMAGED +OR DESTROYED. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-2"></a> +<img src="images/005.jpg" width="331" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>M. Thiers,<br/> +Voted Chief of the Executive Power Feb. 18.1871,<br/> +and President of the Republic, Sept. 1871.</b></p> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<h2>PARIS<br/> +UNDER THE COMMUNE.</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="pref03"></a>INTRODUCTORY.</h2> + +<p> +<img title="Liberté Égalité Fraternité" +style="width: 93px; height: 96px;" alt="Liberté Égalité Fraternité" +src="images/006.jpg" /> +Late in the day of the 30th October, 1870, the agitation was great in Paris; +the news had spread that the village of Le Bourget had been retaken by the +Prussians. The military report had done what it could to render the pill less +bitter by saying that “<i>this village did not form a part of the system of +defence</i>,” but the people though kept in ignorance perceived instinctively +that there must be weakness on the part of the chiefs. After so much French +blood had been shed in taking the place, men of brave will would not have been +wanting to occupy it. We admit that Le Bourget may not have been important from +a military point of view, but as regarding its moral effect its loss was much +to be regretted. +</p> + +<p> +The irritation felt by the population of Paris was changed +into exasperation, when on the following day the news of the +reduction of Metz appeared in the <i>Official Journal</i>: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The Government has just been acquainted with the sad intelligence of the +capitulation of Metz. Marshal Bazaine and his army were compelled to surrender, +after heroic efforts, which the want of food and ammunition alone rendered it +impossible to maintain. They have been made prisoners of war.” +</p> + +<p> +And after this the Government talks of an armistice! What! +Strasburg, Toul, Metz, and so many other towns have resisted to +the last dire extremity, and Paris, who expects succour from the +provinces, is to capitulate, while a single effort is left +untried? Has she no more bread? No more powder? Have her citizens +no more blood in their veins? No, no! No armistice! +</p> + +<p> +In the morning, a deputation, formed of officers of the +National Guards, went to the Hôtel de Ville to learn from +the Government what were its intentions. They were received by M. +Etienne Arago, who promised them that the decision should be made +known to them about two o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +The rappel was beaten at the time mentioned; battalions of the +National Guards poured into the Place, some armed, many without +arms. +</p> + +<p> +Over the sea of heads the eye was attracted by banners, and +enormous placards bearing the inscriptions— +</p> + +<p> +“Vive la République! +</p> + +<p> +“No Armistice!” +</p> + +<p> +or else +</p> + +<p> +“Vive la Commune! +</p> + +<p> +“Death to Cowards!” +</p> + +<p> +Rochefort,<a href="#fn-1" name="fnref-1" id="fnref-1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> with several +other members of the Government, shows himself at the principal +gate, which is guarded by a company of Mobiles. General Trochu +appears in undress; he is received with cries of “<i>Vive la +République! La levée en masse!</i> No Armistice! +The National Guards, who demand the <i>levée en masse</i>, +would but cause a slaughter. We must have cannon first; we will +have them.” Alas! it had been far better to have had none +whatever, as what follows will prove. While some cry, “Vive +Trochu!” others shout, “Down with Trochu!” Before long the +Hôtel de Ville is invaded; the courts, the saloons, the +galleries, all are filled. Each one offers his advice, but +certain groups insist positively on the resignation of the +Government. Lists of names are passed from hand to hand; among +the names are those of Dorian (president), Schoelcher, +Delescluze, Ledru Rollin, Félix Pyat. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-3"></a> +<img src="images/007.jpg" width="309" height="480" alt="THE STATE OF PARTY +PICTURED By THEMSELVES" /> +</div> + +<p> +Cries are raised that if the Government refuse to resign, its +members will be arrested. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes! yes! seize them!” And an officer springs forward to make +them prisoners as they sit in council. +</p> + +<p> +“Excuse me, Monsieur, but what warrant have you for so doing?” +asks one of the members. +</p> + +<p> +“I have nothing to do with warrants. I act in the name of the +people!” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you consulted the people? Those assembled here do not +constitute the people.” +</p> + +<p> +The officer was disconcerted. Not long afterwards, however, +the crowd is informed that the members of the Government are +arrested. +</p> + +<p> +The principal scene took place in the cabinet of the +ex-prefect. Citizen Blanqui approaches the table; addressing the +people, he requests them to evacuate the room so as to allow the +commission to deliberate. The commission! What commission? Where +does it spring from? No one knew anything of it, so the members +must evidently have named themselves. Monsieur Blanqui had seen +to that, no doubt. During this time the adjoining room is the +theatre of the most extraordinary excitement; the men of the +106th Battalion, who were on guard in the interior of the +Hôtel de Ville, are compelled to use their arms to prevent +any one else entering. After some tumult and struggling, but +without any spilling of blood, some National Guards of this +battalion manage to fight their way through to the room in which +the members of the Government are prisoners, and succeed in +delivering them. +</p> + +<p> +At about two o’clock in the morning, the 106th Battalion had +completely cleared the Hôtel de Ville of the crowds. No +violence had been done, and General Trochu was reviewing a body +of men ranged in battle order, which extended from the Place de +l’Hôtel de Ville to the Place de la Concorde. An hour +later, quiet was completely restored. +</p> + +<p> +The members of the Government, who had been incarcerated +during several hours, now wished to show their authority; they +felt that their power had been shaken, and saw the necessity of +strengthening it. What can a Government do in such a case? Call +for a plébiscite. But this time Paris alone was consulted, +and for a good reason. Thus, on the 1st November, the people, of +Paris were enjoined to express their wishes by answering yes or +no to this simple question:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Do the people of Paris recognise the authority of the Government for the +National Defence?” +</p> + +<p> +This was clear, positive, and free from all ambiguity. +</p> + +<p> +The partizans of the Commune declared vehemently that those +who voted in the affirmative were reactionists. “Give us the +Commune of ’93!“ shouted those who thought they knew a little +more about the matter than the rest. They were generally rather +badly received. It is no use speaking of ’93! Replace your +Blanquis, your Félix Pyats, your Flourens by men like +those of the grand revolution, and then we shall be glad to hear +what you have to say on the subject. +</p> + +<p> +The inhabitants of Montmartre, La-Chapelle, Belleville, +behaved like good citizens, keeping a brave heart in the hour of +misfortune. +</p> + +<p> +However it came about, the Government was maintained by a +majority of 557,995 votes against 62,638. +</p> + +<p> +Well, Messieurs of the Commune, try again, or, still better, +remain quiet. +</p> + +<p> +During the night of the 21st of January the members of the +National Defence and the chief officers of the army were +assembled around the table in the council-room. They were still +under the mournful impression left by the fatal day of the +nineteenth, on which hundreds of citizens had fallen at +Montretout, at Garches, and at Buzenval. Thanks to the want of +foresight of the Government, the people of Paris were rationed to +300 grammes of detestable black bread a day for each person. All +representations made to them had been in vain. Ration our bread +by degrees, had been said, we should thus accustom ourselves to +privation, and be prepared insensibly, for greater sufferings, +while the duration of our provisions would be lengthened. But the +answer always was: “Bread? We shall have enough, and to spare.” +When the great crisis was seen approaching, the public feeling +showed itself by violent agitation. It was not surprising, +therefore, that all the faces of these gentlemen at the +council-table bore marks of great depression. The Governor of +Paris offered his resignation, as he was in the habit of doing +after every rather stormy sitting; but his colleagues refused to +accept it, as they had before. What was to be done? Had not the +Governor of Paris sworn never to capitulate? After a night spent +in discussing the question, the members of Government decided on +the following plan of action. You will see that it was as simple +as it was innocent! The following announcement was placarded on +all the walls:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The Government for the National Defence has decided that the chief commandment +of the army of Paris shall in future be separate from the presidency of the +Government.<br/> + “General Vinoy is named Commandant-in-Chief of the army of Paris.<br/> + “The title and functions of the Governor of Paris are suppressed.” +</p> + +<p> +A trick was played: if they capitulate now, it will no longer +be the act of the Governor of Paris. How ingenious this would +have been, if it had not been pitiful! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“General Trochu retains the presidency of the Government.” +</p> + +<p> +By the side of this placard was the proclamation of General +Thomas. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +“TO THE NATIONAL GUARD. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Last night, a handful of insurgents forced open the prison of Mazas, and +delivered several of the prisoners, amongst whom was M. Flourens. The same men +attempted to occupy the <i>mairie</i> of the 20th arrondissement (Belleville), +and to install the chiefs of the insurrection there; your commander-in-chief +relies on your patriotism to repress this shameful sedition.<br/> + “The safety of Paris is at stake.<br/> + “While the enemy is bombarding our forts, the factions within our + walls use all their efforts to paralyse the defence.<br/> + “In the name of the public good, in the name of law, and of the high + and sacred duty that commands you all to unite in the defence of + Paris, hold yourselves ready to frustrate this most criminal + attempt; at the first call, let the National Guard rise to a man, + and the perturbators will be struck powerless.<br/> + “The Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard, +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“CLEMENT THOMAS. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“A true copy. +</p> + +<p class="right"> + “Minister of the Interior ad interim,<br/> + “JULES FAVRE. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Paris, 22nd January, 1871.” +</p> + +<p> +In the morning, large groups of people assembled from mere +curiosity, appeared on the Place of the Hôtel de Ville, +which however wore a peaceful aspect. +</p> + +<p> +At about half-past two in the afternoon, a detachment of a +hundred and fifty armed National Guards issued from the Rue du +Temple, and stationed themselves before the Hôtel de Ville, +crying, “Down with Trochu!” “Long live the Commune!” A short +colloquy was then held between several of the National Guards and +some officers of the Mobiles, who spoke with perfect calmness. +Suddenly, a shot is fired, and at the same moment, as in the +grand scene of a melodrama, the windows and the great door are +flung open, and two lines of Mobile Guards are seen, the front +rank kneeling, the second standing, and all levelling their +muskets and prepared to fire. Then came a volley which spread +terror amidst the crowds of people in the Place, who precipitated +themselves in all directions, uttering cries and shrieks. In +another moment the Place is cleared. Ah! those famous chassepots +can work miracles. +</p> + +<p> +The insurgents, during this mad flight of men, women, and +children, had answered the attack, some aiming from the shelter +of angles and posts, others discharging their rifles from the +windows of neighbouring houses. +</p> + +<p> +Then the order to cease firing is heard, and a train of +litterbearers, waving their handkerchiefs as flags, approach from +the Avenue Victoria. At the Hôtel de Ville one officer only +is wounded, but on the Place lie a dozen victims, two of whom are +women. +</p> + +<p> +At four o’clock the 117th Battalion of the National Guard +takes up its position before the municipal palace. They are +reinforced by a detachment of <i>gendarmes</i>, mounted and on +foot, and by companies of Mobiles, under the command of General +Carréard. +</p> + +<p> +General Clément Thomas hastens to address a few words +to the 117th; later, he paid with his life for thus appearing on +the side of order. Finally, General Vinoy arrives, followed by +his staff, to take measures against any renewed acts of +aggression. Mitrailleuses and cannon are stationed before the +Hôtel de Ville; the drums beat the <i>rappel</i> throughout +the town, and a great number of battalions of National Guards +assemble in the Rue de Rivoli, at the Louvre, and on the Place de +la Concorde; others bivouac before the Palais de l’Industrie, +while on the other side of the Champs Elysées regiments of +cavalry, infantry, and mobiles, are drawn out. The agitators have +disappeared, calm is restored, within the city be it understood, +for all this did not interrupt the animated interchange of shells +between the French and Prussian batteries, and a great number of +Parisians, who had twice helped to disperse the insurgents of +October and January, thought involuntarily of the Commune of the +10th of August, 1793, which headed the revolution, and said to +themselves that there were perhaps some amongst the present +insurgents who, like the former, would rise up to deliver them +from the Prussians. For these agitators have some appearance of +truth on their side: “You are weak and timorous,” they cry to +those in power; “you seem awaiting a defeat rather than expecting +a victory. Give place to the energetic, obscure though they may +be; for the men of the great Commune, of our first glorious +revolution, they also were for the greater part unknown. We have +confidence in the army of Paris, and we will break the iron +circle of invasion.” +</p> + +<p> +Though the Communists have since then shown bravery, and +sometimes heroism, in their struggle against the Versailles +troops, we are very doubtful, now that we have seen their chiefs +in action, whether the efforts they talked of would have been +crowned with success. Their object was power, and, having nothing +to risk and all to gain, they would have forthwith disposed of +public property in order to procure themselves enjoyment and +honours. The few right-minded men who at first committed +themselves, proved this by the fact of their giving in their +resignation a few days after the Commune had established +itself. +</p> + +<p> +Tranquillity had returned. In the morning of the 25th, guards +patrolled the Place de la Bastille, the Place du Château +d’Eau, the Boulevard Magenta, and the outer boulevards. Paris +started as if she had been aroused from some fearful dream, and +the waking thought of the enemy at her gates stirred up all her +energies once more. +</p> + +<p> +The Communists had been defeated for the second time; but they +were soon to take a terrible revenge. +</p> + +<p> +The vow made by the Governor of Paris had been repeated by the +majority of the Parisians, and all parties seemed to have rallied +round him under the same device: vanquish or die. After the +forts, the barricades, and as a last resource, the burning of the +city. Who knows? Perhaps the fanatics of resistance had already +made out the plan of destruction which served later for the +Commune. It has been proved that nothing in this work of ruin was +impromptu. +</p> + +<p> +The news of the convention of the 28th of January, the +preliminary of the capitulation of Paris, was thus very badly +received, and M. Gambetta, by exhorting the people, in his +celebrated circular of the 31st of January, to resist to the +death, sowed the seeds of civil war:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CITIZENS,—<br/> + “The enemy has just inflicted upon France the most cruel insult that + she has yet had to endure in this accursed war, the too-heavy + punishment of the errors and weaknesses of a great people.<br/> + “Paris, the impregnable, vanquished by famine, is no longer able to + hold in respect the German hordes. On the 28th of January, the + capital succumbed, her forts surrendered to the enemy. The city + still remains intact, wresting, as it were, by her own power and + moral grandeur, a last homage from barbarity.<br/> + “But in falling, Paris leaves us the glorious legacy of her heroic + sacrifices. During five months of privation and suffering, she has + given to France the time to collect herself, to call her children + together, to find arms, to compose armies, young as yet, but valiant + and determined, and to whom is wanting only that solidity which can + be obtained but by experience. Thanks to Paris, we hold in our + hands, if we are but resolute and patriotic, all that is needed to + revenge, and set ourselves free once more.<br/> + “But, as though evil fortune had resolved to overwhelm us, something + even more terrible and more fraught with anguish than the fall of + Paris, was awaiting us.<br/> + “Without our knowledge, without either warning, us or consulting us, + an armistice, the culpable weakness of which was known to us too + late, has been signed, which delivers into the hands of the + Prussians the departments occupied by our soldiers, and which + obliges us to wait for three weeks, in the midst of the disastrous + circumstances in which the country is plunged, before a national + assembly can be assembled.<br/> + “We sent to Paris for some explanation, and then awaited in silence + the promised arrival of a member of the government, to whom we were + determined to resign our office. As delegates of government, we + desired to obey, and thereby prove to all, friends and dissidents, + by setting an example of moderation and respect of duty, that + democracy is not only the greatest of all political principles, but + also the most scrupulous of governments.<br/> + “However, no one has arrived from Paris, and it is necessary to act, + come what may; the perfidious machinations of the enemies of France + must be frustrated.<br/> + “Prussia relies upon the armistice to enervate and dissolve our + armies; she hopes that the Assembly, meeting after so long a + succession of disasters, and under the impression of the terrible + fall of Paris, wilt be timid and weak, and ready to submit to a + shameful peace.<br/> + “It is for us to upset these calculations, and to turn the very + instruments which are prepared to crush the spirit of resistance, + into spurs that shall arouse and excite it.<br/> + “Let us make this same armistice into a code of instruction for our + young troops; let us employ the three coming weeks in pushing on the + organization of the defence and of the war more ardently than ever.<br/> + “Instead of the meeting of cowardly reactionists that our enemies + expect, let us form an assembly that shall be veritably national and + republican, desirous of peace, if peace can ensure the honour, the + rank, and the integrity of our country, but capable of voting for + war rather than aiding in the assassination of France.<br/> + “FRENCHMEN,<br/> + “Remember that our fathers left us France, whole and indivisible; + let us not be traitors to our history; let us not deliver up our + traditional domains into the hands of barbarians. Who then will sign + the armistice? Not you, legitimists, who fought so valiantly under + the flag of the Republic, in the defence of the ancient kingdom of + France; nor you, sons of the bourgeois of 1789, whose work was to + unite the old provinces in a pact of indissoluble union; nor you, + workmen of the towns, whose intelligence and generous patriotism + represent France in all her strength and grandeur, the leader of + modern nations; nor you, tillers of the soil, who never have spared + your blood in the defence of the Revolution, which gave you the + ownership of your land and your title of citizen.<br/> + “No! Not one Frenchman will be found to sign this infamous act; the + enemy’s attempt to mutilate France will be frustrated, for, animated + with the same love of the mother country and bearing our reverses + with fortitude, we shall become strong once more and drive out the + foreign legions.<br/> + “To the attainment of this noble end, we must devote our hearts, our + wills, our lives, and, a still greater sacrifice perhaps, put aside + our preferences.<br/> + “We must close our ranks about the Republic, show presence of mind + and strength of purpose; and without passion or weakness, swear, + like free men, to defend France and the Republic against all and + everyone.<br/> + “To arms!” +</p> + +<p> +The Government, by obtaining from M. de Bismarck a condition +that the National Guards should retain their arms, hoped to win +public favour again, as one offers a rattle to a fractious child +to keep him quiet; and it published the news on the 3rd of +February: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “After the most strenuous efforts on our part, we have obtained, for + the National Guard, the condition ratified by the convention of the + 28th January.” +</p> + +<p> +Three days after, on the 6th of February, Gambetta wrote: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “His conscience would not permit him to remain a member of a + government with which he no longer agreed in principle.” +</p> + +<p> +The candidates, elected in Paris on the 8th of February, were +Louis Blanc, Victor Hugo, Garibaldi, Gambetta, Rochefort, +Delescluze, Pyat, Lockroy, Floquet, Millière, Tolain, +Malon. The provinces, on the other hand, chose their deputies +from among the party of reaction, the members of which have been +so well-known since under the name of <i>rurals.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Loud murmurs arose in the ranks of the National Guard, when +the decrees of the 18th and 19th of February, concerning their +pay, were published; and later, when an order from headquarters +required the marching companies to send in to the state +depôt all their campaigning paraphernalia. +</p> + +<p> +On the 18th of February, M. Thiers was named chief of the +executive power by a vote of the Assembly. +</p> + +<p> +On Sunday, the 26th of February, the Place de la Bastille, in +which manifestations had been held for the last two days in +celebration of the revolution of February ’48, became as a +shrine, to which whole battalions of the National Guard marched +to the sound of music, their flags adorned with caps of liberty +and cockades. The Column of July was hung with banners and +decorated with wreaths of immortelles. Violent harangues, the +theme of which was the upholding of the Republic “to the death,” +were uttered at its foot. One man, of the name of Budaille, +pretended that he held proofs of the treachery of the Government +for the National Defence, and promised that he would produce them +at the proper time and place. +</p> + +<p> +Up to this moment, the demonstrations seemed to have but one +result—that of impeding circulation; but they soon gave +rise to scenes of tumult and disorder. Towards one o’clock, when +perhaps twenty or thirty thousand persons were on the above +Place, an individual, accused of being a spy, was dragged by an +infuriated mob to the river, and flung, bound hand and foot, into +the look by the Ile Saint Louis, amidst the wild cries and +imprecations of the madmen whose prey he had become. +</p> + +<p> +The night of the 26th was very agitated; drums beat to arms, +and on the morning of the 27th the Commander-in-Chief of the +National Guard issued a proclamation, in which he appealed to the +good citizens of Paris, and confided the care of the city to the +National Guard. This had no effect, however, on the aspect of the +Place de la Bastille; the crowd continued to applaud, +frantically, the incendiary speeches of the socialist party, who +had sworn to raise Paris at any cost. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-4"></a> +<img src="images/008.jpg" width="263" height="300" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Column of July, Place de La Bastille.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +On the same day, the 27th of February, the Government informed +the people of Paris of the result of the negociations with +Prussia, in the following proclamation: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “The Government appeals to your patriotism and your wisdom; you hold + in your hands the future of Paris and of France herself. It is for + you to save or to ruin both!<br/> + “After a heroic resistance, famine forced you to open your gates to + the victorious enemy; the armies that should have come to your aid + were driven over the Loire. These incontestable facts have compelled + the Government for the National Defence to open negotiations of + peace.<br/> + “For six days your negotiators have disputed the ground foot by + foot; they did all that was humanly possible, to obtain less + rigorous conditions. They have signed the preliminaries of peace, + which are about to be submitted to the National Assembly.<br/> + “During the time necessary for the examination and discussion of + these preliminaries, hostilities would have recommenced, and blood + would, have flowed afresh and uselessly, without a prolongation of + the armistice.<br/> + “This prolongation could only be obtained on the condition of a + partial and very temporary occupation of a portion of Paris: + absolutely to be limited to the quarter of the Champs Elysées. Not + more than thirty thousand men are to enter the city, and they are to + retire as soon as the preliminaries of peace have been ratified, + which act can only occupy a few days.<br/> + “If this convention were not to be respected the armistice would be + at an end: the enemy, already master of the forts, would occupy the + whole of Paris by force. Your property, your works of art, your + monuments, now guaranteed by the convention, would cease to exist.<br/> + “The misfortune would reach the whole of France. The frightful + ravages of the war, which have not heretofore passed the Loire, + would extend to the Pyrenees.<br/> + “It is then absolutely true to say that the salvation of France is + at stake. Do not imitate the error of those who would not listen to + us when, eight months ago, we abjured them not to undertake a war + which must be fatal.<br/> + “The French army which defended Paris with so much courage will + occupy the left of the Seine, to ensure the loyal execution of the + new armistice. It is for the National Guard to lend its aid, by + keeping order in the rest of the city.<br/> + “Let all good citizens who + earned honour as its chiefs, and showed themselves so brave before + the enemy, reassume their authority, and the cruel situation of the + moment will be terminated by peace and the return of public + prosperity.” +</p> + +<p> +This clause of the occupation of Paris by the Prussians was +regarded by some people as a mere satisfaction of national +vanity; but the greater number considered it as an apple of +discord thrown by M. de Bismarck, who had every reason to desire +that civil war should break out, thus making himself an +accomplice of the Socialists and the members of the +International. Confining ourselves simply to the analysis of +facts, and to those considerations which may enlighten public +opinion respecting the causes of events, we shall not allow +ourselves to be carried over the vast field of hypothesis, but +preserve the modest character of narrators. On the night of the +27th of February, the admiral commanding the third section of the +fortifications, having noticed the hostile attitude of the +National Guard, caused the troops which had been disarmed in +accordance with the conditions of the armistice to withdraw into +the interior of the city. The men of Belleville profited by the +circumstance to pillage the powder magazines which had been +entrusted to their charge, and on the following day they went, +preceded by drums and trumpets, to the barracks of the Rue de la +Pépinière to invite the sailors lodged there to +join them in a patriotic manifestation on that night. Believing +that the object was to prevent the Prussians entering Paris, a +certain number of these brave fellows, who had behaved so +admirably during the siege, set out towards the Place de la +Bastille but having been met on their way by some of their +officers, they soon separated themselves from the rioters. Thirty +of them had been invited to an open-air banquet in the Place de +la Bastille; but seeing the probability of some disorder they +nearly all retired, and on the following morning only eight of +them were missing at the roll-call. Not one of the six thousand +marines lodged in the barracks of the Ecole Militaire absented +himself. On the same day, the 28th, a secret society, which we +learned later to know and to fear, issued its first circular +under the name of the Central Committee of the National Guard; +the part since played by this body has been too important for us +to omit to insert this proclamation here: its decisions became +official acts which overthrew all constituted authority. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL GUARD.<br/> + “Citizens,—<br/> + “The general feeling of the population appears to be to offer no + opposition to the entry of the Prussians into Paris. The Central + Committee, which had emitted contrary advice, declares its intention + of adhering to the following resolutions:—<br/> + “‘All around the quarters occupied by the enemy, barricades shall be + raised so as to isolate completely that part of the town. The + inhabitants of the circumscribed portion should be required to quit + it immediately.<br/> + “‘The National Guard, in conjunction with the army, shall form an + unbroken line along the whole circuit, and take care that the enemy, + thus isolated upon ground which is no longer of our city, shall + communicate in no manner with any of the other parts of Paris.<br/> + “‘The Central Committee engages the National Guard to lend, its aid + for the execution of the necessary measures to bring about this + result, and to avoid any aggressive acts which would have the + immediate effect of overthrowing the Republic.’” +</p> + +<p> +But here is a little treacherous placard, manuscript and +anonymous, which takes a much fairer tone:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “A convention has permitted the Prussians to occupy the Champs + Elysées, from the Seine to the Faubourg St. Honoré, and as far as + the Place de la Concorde.<br/> + “Be it so! The greater the injury, the more terrible the revenge.<br/> + “But, if some panderer dare to pass the circle of our shame, let him be +instantly declared traitor, let him become a target for our balls, an object +for our petroleum, a mark for our Orsini bombs,<a href="#fn-2" name="fnref-2" id="fnref-2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> + an aim for our daggers!<br/> + “Let this be told to all. +</p> + +<p class="right"> + “By decision of the Horatii,<br/> + “(Signed) POPULUS.” +</p> + +<p> +The effervescence in the minds of the people was so great, +that the entry of the Prussians was delayed for forty-eight +hours, but on the first of March, at ten in the morning, they had +come into the city, and the smoke of their bivouac fires was seen +in the Champs Elysées. On the evening of the same day, a +telegram from Bordeaux announced that the National Assembly had +ratified the preliminaries of peace by a majority of 546 voices +against 107. On the following day the ex-Minister of Foreign +Affairs left for Versailles, and by nine o’clock in the evening, +everything was prepared for the evacuation of the troops, which +was effected by eleven, on the third of March. During the short +period of their stay, the city was in veritable mourning; the +public edifices (even the Bourse) were closed, as were the shops, +the warehouses, and the greater part of the cafés. At the +windows hung black flags, or the tricolour covered with black +crape, and veils of the same material concealed the faces of the +statues<a href="#fn-3" name="fnref-3" id="fnref-3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> on the Place de la +Concorde. +</p> + +<p> +All these demonstrations had, however, a pacific character, +and the presence of the enemy in Paris gave rise to no serious +incident. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, the agitation of the public mind was not +allayed; some attributed this to a plot the Socialists had +formed, and which had arrived at maturity. Others believed that +the Prussians had left emissaries, creators of disorder, behind +them, in revenge for their reception on the Place de la Concorde. +In truth, their entry was anything but triumphal; their national +airs were received with hisses; their officers were hooted as +they promenaded in the Tuileries, and those who attempted to +visit the Louvre were compelled to retreat without having +satisfied their curiosity. On the evening of the 3rd of March, a +note emanating from the Ministry of the Interior, pointed out in +the following terms the danger to be feared from the Central +Committee:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Incidents of the most regrettable nature have occurred during the + last few days, and menace seriously the peace of the capital. + Certain National Guards in arms, following the orders, not of their + legitimate chiefs, but of an anonymous Central Committee, which + could not give them any instructions without committing a crime + severely punishable by the law, took possession of a considerable + quantity of arms and ammunition of war, under the pretext of saving + them from the enemy, whose invasion they pretended to fear. Such + acts should at any rate have ceased after the departure of the + Prussian army. But such is not the case, for this evening the + guard-house at the Gobelins was invaded, and a number of cartridges + stolen.<br/> + “Those who provoke these disorders draw upon themselves a most + terrible responsibility; it is at the very moment that the city of + Paris, relieved from contact with the foreigner, desires to reassume + its habits of serenity and industry, that these men are sowing + trouble and preparing civil war. The Government appeals to all good + citizens to aid in stifling in the germ these culpable + manifestations.<br/> + “Let all who have at heart the honour and the peace of the city + arise; let the National Guard, repulsing all perfidious + instigations, rally round its officers, and prevent evils of which + the consequences will be incalculable. The Government and the + Commander-in-Chief (General d’Aurelle de Paladines, nominated on + the same day by M. Thiers to the chief command of the National + Guard) are determined to do their duty energetically; they will + cause the laws to be executed; they count on the patriotism and the + devotion of all the inhabitants of Paris.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-5"></a> +<img src="images/009.jpg" width="480" height="338" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Hill of Montmartre—with the Guns Of The +National Guard Parked There. View Taken from the Place St. Pierre.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +It was indeed time to put a stop to the existing state of +affairs, for already twenty-six guns were in the possession of +the insurgents, who had formed a regular park of artillery in the +Place d’Italie, and this is the aspect of the Buttes Montmartre +on the sixth of March, as described by an eye-witness:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “The heights have become a veritable camp. Three or four hundred + National Guards, belonging partly to the 61st and 168th Battalions, + mount guard there day and night, and relieve each other regularly, + like old campaigners. They have two drummers and four trumpeters, + who beat the rappel or ring out the charge whenever the freak takes + them, without any one knowing why or wherefore. The officers, with + broad red belts, high boots, and their long swords dragging after + them, parade the Place with pipes or cigars in their months. They + glance disdainfully at the passers-by, and seem almost overpowered + with the importance of the high mission they imagine themselves + called upon to fulfil.<br/> + “This is of what their mission consists: at + the moment of the entry of the Prussians into Paris, the National + Guard of Montmartre, fearing that the artillery would be taken from + them to be delivered to the enemy, assembled and dragged their + pieces, about twenty in number, up to the plateau which forms the + summit of Montmartre, and then placed them in charge of a special + guard. Now that the Prussians have left, they still keep their + stronghold, thinking to use it in the defence of the Republic + against the attacks of the reactionists. The guns are pointed + towards Paris, and guard is kept without a moment’s relaxation. + There are four principal posts, the most important being at the foot + of the hill, on the Place Saint Pierre. The guards bivouac in the + open air, their muskets piled, ready at hand. Sentinels are placed + at the corner of each street, most of them lads of sixteen or + seventeen; but they are thoroughly in earnest, and treat the + passers-by roughly enough.<br/> + “All the streets which debouche on the Place Saint-Pierre are closed<br/> + by barricades of paving-stones. The most important was formed of an<br/> + overturned cart, filled with huge stones, and with a red flag reared<br/> + upon the summit. A death-like silence reigned around. There were but<br/> + few passers-by, none but National Guards with their guns on their<br/> + shoulders.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-6"></a> +<img src="images/010.jpg" width="450" height="366" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Sentinels at Montmartre</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +The appearance of the Boulevard de Clichy and Boulevard +Rochechouart is completely different. The cafés are +overflowing with people, the concert-rooms open. Men and women +pass tranquilly to and fro, without disturbing themselves about +the cannon that are pointed towards them. +</p> + +<p> +The Government, before coming to active measures, appealed to +the good sense of the people in a proclamation, dated the 8th of +March, saying that this substitution of legal authority by a +secret power would retard the evacuation of the enemy, and +perhaps expose us to disasters still more complete and +terrible. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Let us look our position calmly in the face. We have been + conquered; nearly half of our territory has been in the power of a + million of Germans, who have imposed upon us a fine of five + milliards. Our only means of discharging this weighty debt is by the + strictest economy, the most exemplary conduct and care. We must not + lose a moment before putting our hands to work, which is our one and + solitary hope. And at this awful moment shall our miserable folly + lead us into a civil strife?...<br/> + “If, while they are meeting to treat with the enemy, our negotiators + have sedition to fear, they will break down as they did on the 31st + of October, when the events of the Hôtel de Ville authorised the + enemy to refuse us an armistice which might have saved us.” +</p> + +<p> +This form of reasoning was not illogical, but those who were +working in secret for the furtherance of their own ambition, +oared little to be convinced, and their myrmidons obeyed them +blindly, and gloated over the wild, bombastic language of the +demagogic press, which, though they did not understand it, +impressed them no less with its inflated phrases. +</p> + +<p> +The Government, perceiving that it would be perhaps necessary +to use rigorous measures, gave orders to hasten the arrival of +the rest of the Army of the North. +</p> + +<p> +Some few days after the 18th of March, they resolved to deal a +decided blow to the Democratic party in suppressing at once the +<i>Vengeur</i>, the <i>Mot d’Ordre</i>, the <i>Cri du Peuple</i>, +the <i>Caricature</i>, the <i>Père Duchesne</i>, and the +<i>Bouche de Fer</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The National Guards had a perfect mania for collecting cannon; +after having placed in battery the mitrailleuses and pieces of +seven, the produce of patriotic subscriptions, they also seized +upon others belonging to the State, and carried them off to the +Buttes Montmartre, where they had about a hundred pieces. The +retaking of this artillery was the matter in question. While they +at Versailles were occupied with the solution of the problem, the +National Guards continued their manifestations at the Place de la +Bastille, dragging these pieces of artillery in triumph from the +Champ de Mars to the Luxembourg, from the park of Montrouge to +Notre Dame, from the Place des Vosges to the Place d’Italie, and +from the Buttes Montmartre to the Buttes Chaumont. +</p> + +<p> +Before making use of force, the Government desired to make a +last effort at conciliation, and on the 17th of March the +following proclamation was posted on the walls:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “INHABITANTS of PARIS,<br/> + “Once more we address ourselves to you, to your reason, and your + patriotism, and we hope that you will listen to us.<br/> + “Your grand city, which cannot live except with order, is profoundly + troubled in some of its quarters, and this trouble, without + spreading to other parts, is sufficient nevertheless to prevent the + return of industry and comfort.<br/> + “For some time a number of ill-advised men, under the pretext of + resisting the Prussians, who are no longer within our walls, have + constituted themselves masters of a part of the city, thrown up + entrenchments, mounting guard there and forcing you to do the same, + all by order of a secret committee, which takes upon itself to + command a portion of the National Guard, thus setting aside the + authority of General d’Aurelle de Paladines so worthy to be at your + head, and would form a government in opposition to that which exists + legally, the offspring of universal suffrage.<br/> + “These men, who have already caused you so much harm, whom you + yourselves dispersed on the 31st of October, are placarding their + intention to protect you against the Prussians, who have only made + an appearance within our walls, and whose definite departure is + retarded by these disorders, and pointing guns, which if fired would + only ruin your houses and destroy your wives and yourselves; in + fact, compromising the very Republic they pretend to defend; for if + it is firmly established in the opinion of France that the Republic + is the necessary companion of disorder, the Republic will be lost. + Do not place any trust in them, but listen to the truth which we + tell you in all sincerity.<br/> + “The Government instituted by the whole nation could have retaken + before this these stolen guns, which at present only menace your + safety, seized these ridiculous entrenchments which hinder nothing + but business, and have placed in the hands of justice the criminals + who do not hesitate to create civil war immediately after that with + the foreigner, but it desired to give those who were misled the time + to separate themselves from those who deceived them.<br/> + “However, the time allowed for honourable men to separate themselves + from the others, and which is deducted from your tranquillity, your + welfare, and the welfare of France, cannot be indefinitely + prolonged.<br/> + “While such a state of things lasts, commerce is arrested, your + shops are deserted, orders which would come from all parts are + suspended; your arms are idle, credit cannot be recreated, the + capital which the Government requires to rid the territory of the + presence of the enemy, comes to hand but slowly. In your own + interest, in that of your city, as well as in that of France, the + Government is resolved to act. The culprits who pretend to institute + a Government of their own must be delivered up to justice. The guns + stolen from the State must be replaced in the arsenals; and, in + order to carry out this act of justice and reason, the Government + counts upon your assistance.<br/> + “Let all good citizens separate themselves from the bad; let them + aid, instead of opposing, the public forces; they will thus hasten + the return of comfort to the city, and render service to the + Republic itself, which disorder is ruining in the opinion of France.<br/> + “Parisians! We use this language to you because we esteem your good + sense, your wisdom, your patriotism; but, this warning being given, + you will approve of our having resort to force at all costs, and + without a day’s delay, that order, the only condition of your + welfare, be re-established entirely, immediately, and unalterably.” +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the party of disorder saw the intentions of the +Government of Versailles thus set forth, a chorus of +recriminations burst forth:—“They want to put an end to the +Republic!”—“They are about to fire on our +brothers!”—“They wish to set up a king,” &c. The same +strain for ever! In order to prevent as far as possible the +mischievous effects of this insurrectionary propaganda, the +Government issued the following proclamation, which bore date the +18th of March:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “NATIONAL GUARDS of PARIS!—<br/> + “Absurd rumours are spread abroad that the Government contemplates a + <i>coup d’état.</i><br/> + “The Government of the Republic has not, and cannot have, any other + object but the welfare of the Republic.<br/> + “The measures which have been taken were indispensable to the + maintenance of order; it was, and is still, determined to put an end + to an insurrectionary committee, the members of which, nearly all + unknown to the population of Paris, preach nothing but Communist + doctrines, will deliver up Paris to pillage, and bring France into + her grave, unless the National Guard and the army do not rise with + one accord in the defence of the country and of the Republic.” +</p> + +<p> +The Government had many parleys with the insurrectionary +National Guards at Montmartre; at one moment there was a rumour +that the guns had been given up. It appeared that the guardians +of this artillery had manifested some intention of restoring it, +horses had even been sent without any military force to create +mistrust, but the men declared that they would not deliver the +guns, except to the battalions to which they properly belonged. +Was there bad faith here? or had those who made the promise +undertaken to deliver up the skin before they had killed the +bear. +</p> + +<p> +Public opinion shaped itself generally in somewhat the +following form:—“If they are tricking each other, that is +not very dangerous!” +</p> + +<p> +Many an honest citizen went to bed on the seventeenth of March +full of hope. He saw Paris marching with quick steps towards the +re-establishment of its business, and the resumption of its usual +aspect; the emigrants and foreigners would arrive in crowds, +their pockets overflowing with gold to make purchases and put the +industry of Paris under contributions the French and foreign +bankers will rival each other to pay the indemnity of five +milliards. +</p> + +<p> +The dream of good M. Prudhomme<a href="#fn-4" name="fnref-4" +id="fnref-4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> was, however, somewhat clouded by the figure of +the Buttes Montmartre bristling with cannon; but the number of guards had +become so diminished, and they seemed so tired of the business, that it +appeared as if they were about to quit for good. The following chapter will +inform you what were the waking thoughts of the Parisians on the morning of the +eighteenth of March. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-7"></a> +<img src="images/011.jpg" width="92" height="133" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>THE GENIUS OF<br/>THE RED<br/>FLAG.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-1" id="fn-1"></a> <a href="#fnref-1">[1]</a> +Memoir, see <a href="#I._Page_2._HENRI_ROCHEFORT.">Appendix I</a>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-2" id="fn-2"></a> <a href="#fnref-2">[2]</a> +The police had seized, some time before, in Paris, ten thousand Orsini bombs, +and hundreds of others of a new construction, charged with fulminating mercury. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-3" id="fn-3"></a> <a href="#fnref-3">[3]</a> +The eight gigantic female figures, representing the principal towns of France: +Strasbourg, Lille, Metz, &c., &c. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-4" id="fn-4"></a> <a href="#fnref-4">[4]</a> +“Joseph Prudhomme” is the typical representative of the Parisian +middle-class (<i>Bourgeois</i>); the honest simple father of family, peaceful +but patriotic, proud of his country and ready to die for it. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-8"></a> +<img src="images/012.jpg" width="395" height="653" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Purification of the Champs Élysées—After The +Departure of the Prussians Mar 1871.<br/>Building A Barricade. March 18. +1871.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="I."></a> I.</h2> + +<p> +<img style="width: 96px; height: 101px;" alt="L" +title="L" src="images/013.jpg" />isten! What does that mean? Is it +a transient squall or the first gust of a tempest? Is it due to +nature or to man’s agency; is it an émeute or the advent +of a revolution that is to overturn everything? +</p> + +<p> +Such were my reflections when awakened, on the 18th of March, +1871, at about four in the morning, by a noise due to the tramp +of many feet. From my window, in the gloomy white fog, I could +see detachments of soldiers walking under the walls, proceeding +slowly, wrapped in their grey capotes; a soft drizzling rain +falling at the time. Half awake, I descended to the street in +time to interrogate two soldiers passing in the rear. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are you going?” asked I.—“We do not know,” +says one; “Report says we are going to Montmartre,” adds the +other.<a href="#fn-5" name="fnref-5" id="fnref-5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> They were +really going to Montmartre. At five o’clock in the morning the 88th +Regiment of the line occupied the top of the hill and the little streets +leading to it, a place doubtless familiar to some of them, who on Sundays and +fête days had clambered up the hill-sides in company with apple-faced rustics +from the outskirts, and middle-class people of the quarter; taking part in the +crowd on the Place Saint-Pierre, with its games and amusements, and +“assisting,” as they would say, at shooting in a barrel, admiring +the ability of some, whilst reviling the stupidity of others; when they had a +few sous in their pockets they would try their own skill at throwing big balls +into the mouths of fantastic monsters, painted upon a square board, while their +country friends nibbled at spice-nuts, and thought them delicious. But on this +18th of March morning there are no women, nor spice-nuts, nor sport on the +Place Saint-Pierre: all is slush and dirt, and the poor lines-men are obliged +to stand at ease, resting upon their arms, not in the best of humour with the +weather or the prospect before them. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! and the guns of the National Guard that frown from their +embrasures on the top of the hill, have they been made use of +against the Prussians? No! they have made no report during the +siege, and were only heard on the days on which they were +christened and paid for; elegant things, hardly to be blackened +with powder, that it was always hoped would be pacific and never +dangerous to the capital. Cruel irony! those guns for which Paris +paid, and those American mitrailleuses, made out of the savings +of both rich and poor, the farthings of the frugal housewife, and +the napoleons of the millionaires; the contributions of the +artists who designed, and the poets who pen’d, are ruining Paris +instead of protecting it. The brass mouths that ate the bread of +humanity are turned upon the nation itself to devour it also. +</p> + +<p> +But, to return to the 88th Regiment of Line, did they take the guns? Yes, but +they gave them up again, and to whom? why, to a crowd of women and children; +and as to the chiefs, no one seemed to know what had become of them. It is +related, however, that General Lecomte had been made a prisoner and led to the +Château-Rouge, and that at nine o’clock some Chasseurs d’Afrique +charged pretty vigorously in the Place Pigalle a detachment of National Guards, +who replied by a volley of bullets. An officer of Chasseurs was shot, and his +men ran away, the greater part, it is said, into the wine-shops, where they +fraternised with the patriots, who offered them drink. I was told on the spot +that General Vinoy, who was on horseback, became encircled in a mob of women, +had a stone and a cap<a href="#fn-6" name="fnref-6" +id="fnref-6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> thrown at him, and thought it prudent to +escape, leaving the National Guards and linesmen to promenade in good +fellowship three abreast, dispersing themselves about the outer boulevards and +about Paris. Indeed, I have just seen a drunken couple full of wine and +friendship, strongly reminding one of a duel ending in a jolly breakfast. And +who is to blame for this? Nobody knows. All agree that it is a +bungle,—the fault of maladministration and want of tact. Certainly the +National Guards at Montmartre had no right to hold the cannons belonging to the +National Guards, as a body, or to menace the reviving trade and tranquillity of +Paris, by means of guns turned against its peaceful citizens and Government +officials; but was it necessary to use violence to obtain possession of the +cannons? Should not all the means of conciliation be exhausted first, and might +we not hope that the citizens at Montmartre would themselves end by abandoning +the pieces of artillery<a href="#fn-7" name="fnref-7" +id="fnref-7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> which they hardly protected. In fact, they were +encumbered by their own barricades, and they might take upon themselves to +repave their streets and return to order. +</p> + +<p> +Monsieur Thiers and his ministers were not of that opinion. +They preferred acting, and with vigour. Very well! but when +resolutions are formed, one should be sure of fulfilling them, +for in circumstances of such importance failure itself makes the +attempt an error.<a href="#fn-8" name="fnref-8" id="fnref-8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Well! said the Government, who could imagine that the line would throw up the +butt ends of their muskets,<a href="#fn-9" name="fnref-9" +id="fnref-9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> or that the Chasseurs, after the loss of a +single officer, would turn their backs upon the Nationals, and that their only +deeds should be the imbibing of plentiful potations at the cost of the +insurgents? But how could it be otherwise? Not many days since the soldiers +were wandering idly through the streets with the National Guards; were billeted +upon the people, eating their soup and chatting with their wires and daughters, +unaccustomed to discipline and the rigour of military organisation; enervated +by defeat, having been maintained by their officers in the illusion of their +invincibility; annoyed by their uniform, of which they ceased to be proud, the +humiliated soldiers sought to escape into the citizen. Were the commanding +officers ignorant of the prevailing spirit of the troops? Must we admit that +they were grossly deceived, or that they deceived the Government, when the +latter might and ought to have been in a position to foresee the result. +Possibly the Assembly had the right to coerce, but they had no right to be +ignorant of their power. They must have known that 100,000 arms (chassepots, +tabatières,<a href="#fn-10" name="fnref-10" id="fnref-10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> +and muskets) were in the hands of disaffected men, clanking on the floors of +the dealers in adulterated wines and spirits, and low cabarets. The fact is, +the Government took a leap in the dark, and wondered when they found the +position difficult. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-5" id="fn-5"></a> <a href="#fnref-5">[5]</a> +<a href="#II._Page_27._THE_EIGHTEENTH_OF_MARCH.">Appendix, note 2</a>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-6" id="fn-6"></a> <a href="#fnref-6">[6]</a> +A mark of insult. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-7" id="fn-7"></a> <a href="#fnref-7">[7]</a> +This useless artillery was much ridiculed; jokers said that the notary of +General Trochu was working out faithfully the “plan” of his +illustrious client in these tardy fortifications. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-8" id="fn-8"></a> <a href="#fnref-8">[8]</a> +How was the Government to act in the presence of these facts; to await events, +or to strike a great blow?<br/> + Some think that the resistance of the insurgents was strengthened by the +measures taken by Government, which ought to have been more diplomatic and +skilful. The agitation of these men of Montmartre, at the entry of the +Prussians, had calmed down in a few hours; it was now the duty of Government to +allay the irritation which had caused the insurgents to form their Montmartre +stronghold, and not to follow the advice of infuriated reactionaries, who make +no allowance for events and circumstances, neither analysing the elements of +that which they are combating, nor weighing the measures they do not even know +how to apply with tact.<br/> + The guns had not been re-taken, but Paris was very calm. Dissensions had +broken out in the Montmartre Committee, some of whose members wished the cannon +to be returned (the Committee sat at No, 8 of the Rue des Rosiers, with a +court-martial on one hand, and military head-quarters on the other). Danger +seemed now to be averted, and the authorities had but one thing to do, to allow +all agitation to die out, without listening to blind or treacherous +counsellors, who advocated a system of immediate repression. It was said, +however, that the greater number of the members of Government were inclined to +temporise, but the provisional appointment of General Valentin to the direction +of the Prefecture of Police, seemed to contradict this assertion.<br/> + During this time, the leaders who held Montmartre, spurred on by the +ambitious around them, and by those desirous of kindling civil war for the sake +of the illicit gains to be obtained from it, were getting up a manifestation, +which was to claim for the National Guard the right of electing its +commander-in-chief; and the post was to be offered to Menotti Garibaldi. But +though the men of Montmartre declared that all who did not sign the manifestos +were traitors, yet the addresses remained almost entirely blank. The +insurrection had evidently few supporters. According to others, the +insurrection of 1871 was the result of a vast conspiracy, planned and nurtured +under the influence of a six months’ siege. No simple Paris +<i>émeute</i>, but a grand social movement, organised by the great and +universal revolutionary power; the Société Internationale, Garibaldiism, +Mazziniism, and Fenianism, have given each other rendezvous in Paris. Cluseret, +the American; Frankel, the Prussian; Dombrowski, the Russian; Brunswick, the +Lithuanian; Romanelli, the Italian; Okolowitz, the Pole; Spillthorn, the +Belgian; and La Cécilia, Wroblewski, Wenzel, Hertzfel, Bozyski, Syneck, +Prolowitz, and a hundred others, equally illustrious, brought together from +every quarter of the globe; such were these ardent conspirators, all imbued, +like their colleagues the Flourens, the Eudes, the Henrys, the Duvals, and +<i>tutti quanti</i>, with the principles of the French school of democracy and +socialism.<br/> + This strong and terrible band, we are told, is under the command of a chief +who remains hidden and mute, while ostensibly it obeys the Pyats, Delescluzes, +and Rocheforts, politicians, who not being generals, never condescend to +fight.<br/> + In the first days of March all was prepared for a coming explosion, and in +spite of the departure of the Prussians, the Socialist party determined that it +should take place. (<i>Guerre des Communeux</i>, p. 61.) +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-9" id="fn-9"></a> <a href="#fnref-9">[9]</a> +A sign that they refused to fight. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-10" id="fn-10"></a> <a href="#fnref-10">[10]</a> +A smooth-bore musket arranged as breech-loader, and called a snuff-box, from +the manner of opening the breech to adjust the charge. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="II."></a> II.</h2> + +<p> +At three o’clock in the afternoon there was a dense group of +linesmen and Nationals in one of the streets bordering on the +Elysée-Montmartre. The person who told us this did not +recollect the name of the street, but men were eagerly haranguing +the crowd, talking of General Lecomte, and his having twice +ordered the troops to fire upon the citizen militia. +</p> + +<p> +“And what he did was right,” said an old gentleman who was +listening. +</p> + +<p> +Words that were no sooner uttered than they provoked a torrent +of curses and imprecations from the by-standers. But he continued +observing that General Lecomte had only acted under the orders of +his superiors; being commanded to take the guns and to disperse +the crowd, his only duty was to obey. +</p> + +<p> +These remarks being received in no friendly spirit, hostility +to the stranger increased, when a vivandière approached, +and looking the gentleman who had exposed himself to the fury of +the mob full in the face, exclaimed, “It is Clément +Thomas!” And in truth it was General Clément Thomas; he +was not in uniform. A torrent of abuse was poured forth by a +hundred voices at once, and the anger of the crowd seemed about +to extend itself to violence, when a ruffian cried out: “You +defend the rascal Lecomte! Well, we’ll put you both together, and +a pretty pair you’ll be!” and this project being approved of, the +General was hurried, not without having to submit to fresh +insults, to where General Lecomte had been imprisoned since the +morning. +</p> + +<p> +From this moment the narrative I have collected differs but +little from that circulated through Paris. +</p> + +<p> +At about four o’clock in the afternoon the two generals were +conducted from their prison by a hundred National Guards, the +hands of General Lecomte being bound together, whilst those of +Clément Thomas were free. In this manner they were +escorted to the top of the hill of Montmartre, where they stopped +before No. 6 of the Rue des Rosiers: it is a little house I had +often seen, a peaceful and comfortable habitation, with a garden +in front. What passed within it perhaps will never be known. Was +it there that the Central Committee of the National Guard held +their sittings in full conclave? or were they represented by a +few of its members? Many persons think that the house was not +occupied, and that the National Guards conducted their prisoners +within its walls to make the crowd believe they were proceeding +to a trial, or at least to give the appearance of legality to the +execution of premeditated acts. Of one thing there remains little +doubt, namely, that soldiers of the line stood round about at the +time, and that the trial, if any took place, was not long, the +condemned being conducted to a walled enclosure at the end of the +street. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-9"></a> +<img src="images/014.jpg" width="600" height="277" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Hotel de Ville, As Fortified by the National Guard, +March, 1871.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +The Hôtel de Ville of Paris, Which Witnessed So Many National Ceremonies and +Republican Triumphs, Was Commenced in 1533, And It Was Finished in 1628. Here +the First Bourbon, Henry Iv., Celebrated His Entry Into Paris After the Siege +of 1589, and Bailly The maire, On The 17th July, 1789, Presented Louis Xvi. To +the People, Wearing A Tricolor Cockade. Henry Iv. Became a Catholic in Order to +Enter “his Good City of Paris” Whilst Louis Xvi. Wore the Democratic +Insignia In Order to Keep It. A Few Days Later the 172 Commissioners of +Sections, Representing the Municipality of Paris, Established The Commune. The +Hôtel de Ville Was the Seat of The First Committee Of Public Safety, And From +the Green Chamber, Robespierre Governed The Convention and France Till his Fall +on the 9th Thermidor. From 1800 to 1830 Fêtes Held The Place of Political +Manifestations. In 1810 Bonaparte Received Marie-Louise Here; in 1821, the +Baptism of The Duke Of Bordeaux Was Celebrated Here; in 1825 Fêtes Were Given +to the Duc D’angouleme on His Return from Spain, and to Charles X., Arriving +From Rheims. Five Years Later, from the Same Balcony Where Bailly Presented +Louis Xvi. To The People, Lafayette, Standing by the Side of Louis Philippe, +Said, “this Is the Best of Republics!” It Was Here, in 1848, That de +Lamartine Courageously Declared to an Infuriated Mob That, As Long As he Lived, +The Red Flag Should Not Be the Flag of France. During The Fatal Days Of June, +1848, the Hôtel de Ville Was Only Saved from Destruction by The Intrepidity of +a Few Brave Men. The Queen Of England Was Received Here In 1865, and the +Sovereigns Who Visited Paris Since Have Been Fêted Therein. On the 4th of +September The Bloodless Revolution Was Proclaimed; and on the 31st of October, +1870, And The 22nd Of January, 1871, Flourens and Blanqui Made a Fruitless +Attempt to Substitute The Red Flag for the Tricolor; But Their Partisans +Succeeded on The 18th Of March, when It Was Fortified, and Became the +Head-quarters of The Commune of 1871. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as they had halted, an officer of the National Guard +seized General Clément Thomas by the collar of his coat +and shook him violently several times, exclaiming, whilst he held +the muzzle of a revolver close to his throat,—“Confess that +you have betrayed the Republic.” To this Monsieur Clément +Thomas only replied by a shrug of his shoulders; upon this the +officer retired, leaving the General standing alone in the front +of the wall, with a line of soldiers opposite. +</p> + +<p> +Who gave the signal to fire is unknown, but a report of twenty +muskets rent the air, and General Clément Thomas fell with +his face to the earth. +</p> + +<p> +“It is your turn now,” said one of the assassins, addressing +General Lecomte, who immediately advanced from the crowd, +stepping over the body of Clément Thomas to take his +place, awaiting with his back to the wall the fatal moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Fire!” cried the officer, and all was over. +</p> + +<p> +Half an hour after, in the Rue des Acacias, I came across an +old woman who wanted three francs for a bullet—a bullet she +had extracted from the plaster of a wall at the end of the Rue +des Rosiers. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="III."></a> III.</h2> + +<p> +It is ten o’clock in the evening, and if I were not so tired I +would go to the Hôtel de Ville, which, I am told, has been +taken possession of by the National Guards; the 18th of March is +continuing the 31st of October. But the events of this day have +made me so weary that I can hardly write all I have seen and +heard. On the outer boulevards the wine shops are crowded with +tipsy people, the drunken braggarts who boast they have made a +revolution. When a stroke succeeds there are plenty of rascals +ready to say: I did it. Drinking, singing, and talking are the +order of the day. At every step you come upon “piled arms.” At +the corner of the Passage de l’Elysée-des-Beaux-Arts I met +crowds of people, some lying on the ground; here a battalion +standing at ease but ready to march; and at the entrance of the +Rue Blanche and the Rue Fontaine were some stones, ominously +posed one on the other, indicating symptoms of a barricade. In +the Rue des Abbesses I counted three cannons and a mitrailleuse, +menacing the Rue des Martyrs. In the Rue des Acacias, a man had +been arrested, and was being conducted by National Guards to the +guard-house: I heard he was a thief. Such arrests are +characteristic features in a Parisian émeute. +Notwithstanding these little scenes the disorder is not +excessive, and but for the multitude of men in uniform one might +believe it the evening of a popular fête; the victors are +amusing themselves. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-10"></a> +<img src="images/015.jpg" width="500" height="408" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Sentinels, Rue du Val de Grâce and Boulevard St. Michel</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +Among the Federals this evening there are very few linesmen; +perhaps they have gone to their barracks to enjoy their meal of +soup and bread. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the main boulevards noisy groups are commenting upon the +events of the day. At the corner of the Rue Drouot an officer of +the 117th Battalion is reading in a loud voice, or rather +reciting, for he knows it all by heart, the proclamation of M. +Picard, the official poster of the afternoon. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “The Government appeals to you to defend your city, your home, your + children, and your property.<br/> + “Some frenzied men, commanded by unknown chiefs, direct against + Paris the guns defended from, the Prussians.<br/> + “They oppose force to the National Guard and the army.<br/> + “Will you suffer it?<br/> + “Will you, under the eyes of the strangers ready to profit by our + discord, abandon Paris to sedition?<br/> + “If you do not extinguish it in the germ, the Republic and France + will be ruined for ever.<br/> + “Their destiny is in your hands.<br/> + “The Government desires that you should hold your arms energetically + to maintain the law and preserve the Republic from anarchy. Gather + round your leaders; it is the only means of escaping ruin and the + domination of the foreigner. +</p> + +<p class="right"> + “The Minister of the Interior,<br/> + “ERNEST PICARD.” +</p> + +<p> +The crowd listened with attention, shouted two or three times +“To arms!” and then dispersed—I thought for an instant, to +arm themselves, though in reality it was only to reinforce +another group forming on the other side of the way. +</p> + +<p> +This day the Friends of Order have been very apathetic, so +much so that Paris is divided between two parties: the one active +and the other passive. +</p> + +<p> +To speak truly, I do not know what the population of Paris +could have done to resist the insurrection. “Gather round your +chiefs,” says the proclamation. This is more easily said than +done, when we do not know what has become of them. The division +caused in the National Guard by the Coup d’Etat of the Central +Committee had for its consequence the disorganisation of all +command. Who was to distinguish, and where was one to find the +officers that had remained faithful to the cause of order? +</p> + +<p> +It is true they sounded the “rappel”<a href="#fn-11" +name="fnref-11" id="fnref-11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> and beat the +“générale”;<a href="#fn-12" name="fnref-12" +id="fnref-12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> but who commanded it? Was it the regular +Government or the revolutionary Committee? +</p> + +<p> +More than one good citizen was ready to do his duty; but, +after having put on his uniform and buckled his belt, he felt +very puzzled, afraid of aiding the entente instead of +strengthening the defenders of the law. Therefore the peaceful +citizen soldiers regarded not the call of the trumpet and the +drum. +</p> + +<p> +It is wise to stay at home when one knows not where to go. +Besides, the line has not replied, and bad examples are +contagious; moreover, is it fair to demand of fathers of +families, of merchants and tradesmen, in fact of soldiers of +necessity, an effort before which professional soldiers withdraw? +The fact is the Government had fled. Perhaps a few ministers +still remained in Paris, but the main body had gone to join the +Assembly at Versailles. +</p> + +<p> +I do not blame their somewhat precipitate departure,<a href="#fn-13" +name="fnref-13" id="fnref-13"><sup>[13]</sup></a> perhaps it was necessary; +nevertheless it seems to me that their presence would have put an end to +irresolution on the part of timid people. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, from the Madeleine to the Gymnase, the cafés +overflowed with swells and idlers of both sexes. On the outer +boulevards they got drunk, and on the inner tipsy, the only +difference being in the quality of the liquors imbibed. +</p> + +<p> +What an extraordinary people are the French! +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-11" id="fn-11"></a> <a href="#fnref-11">[11]</a> +The roll call. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-12" id="fn-12"></a> <a href="#fnref-12">[12]</a> +Muster call in time of danger, which is beaten only by a superior order +emanating from the Commander-in-chief in a stronghold or garrison town. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-13" id="fn-13"></a> <a href="#fnref-13">[13]</a> +The army of Paris was drawn off to Versailles in the night of the 18th of +March, and on the 19th, the employés of all the ministries and public offices +left Paris for the same destination.<br/> + On the 19th of March, as early as eight in the morning, Monsieur Thiers +addressed the following circular to the authorities of all the +departments:—<br/> + “The whole of the Government is assembled at Versailles: the + National Assembly will meet there also.<br/> + “The army, to the number of forty thousand men, has been assembled + there in good order, under the command of General Vinoy. All the + chiefs of the army, and all the civil authorities have arrived + there.<br/> + “The civil and military authorities will execute no other orders but + those issued by the legitimate government residing at Versailles, + under penalty of dismissal.<br/> + “The members of the National Assembly are all requested to hasten + their return, so as to be present at the sitting of the 20th of + March.<br/> + “The present despatch will be made known to the public. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“A. THIERS.”</small> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="IV."></a> IV.</h2> + +<p> +Next morning, the 19th of March, I was in haste to know the +events of last night, what attitude Paris had assumed after her +first surprise. The night, doubtless, had brought counsel, and +perhaps settled the discord existing between the Government and +the Central Committee. +</p> + +<p> +Early in the morning things appeared much as usual; the +streets were peaceful, servants shopping, and the ordinary +passengers going to and fro. In passing I met a casual +acquaintance to whom I had spoken now and then, a man with whom I +had served during the siege when we mounted guard on the +ramparts. “Well,” said I, “good morning, have you any +news?”—“News,” replied he, “no, not that I know of. Ah I +yes, there is a rumour that something took place yesterday at +Montmartre.” This was told me in the centre of the city, in the +Rue de la Grange-Batelière. Truly there are in Paris +persons marvellously apathetic and ignorant. I would wager not a +little that by searching in the retired quarters, some might be +found who believe they are still governed by Napoleon III., and +have never heard of the war with Prussia, except as a not +improbable eventuality. +</p> + +<p> +On the boulevards there was but little excitement. The +newspaper vendors were in plenty. I do not like to depend upon +these public sheets for information, for however impartial or +sincere a reporter may be, he cannot represent facts otherwise +than according to the impression they make upon him, and to value +facts by the impression they make upon others is next to +impossible. +</p> + +<p> +I directed my steps to the Rue Drouot in search of placards, and plentiful I +found them, and white too, showing that Paris was not without a government; for +white is the official colour even under a red Republic.<a href="#fn-14" +name="fnref-14" id="fnref-14"><sup>[14]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Taking out a pencil I copied hastily the proclamation of the +new masters, and I think that I did well, for we forget very +quickly both proclamations and persons. Where are they now, the +official bills of last year? +</p> + +<p class="center"> + “RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE.<br/> + “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité.”<br/> + <i>To the People</i>. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Citizens,—The people of Paris have shaken off the yoke endeavoured + to be imposed upon them.” +</p> + +<p> +What yoke, gentlemen—I beg pardon, citizens of the +Committee? I assure you, as part of the people, that I have never +felt that any one has tried to impose one upon me. I recollect, +if my memory serves me, that a few guns were spoken of, but +nothing about yokes. Then the expression “People of Paris,” is a +gross exaggeration. The inhabitants of Montmartre and their +neighbours of that industrious suburb are certainly a part of the +people, and not the less respectable or worthy of our +consideration because they live out of the centre (indeed, I have +always preferred a coal man of the Chaussée Clignancourt +to a coxcomb of the Rue Taitbout); but for all that, they are not +the whole population. Thus, your sentence does not imply +anything, and moreover, with all its superannuated metaphor, the +rhetoric is out of date. I think it would have been better to say +simply— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Citizens,—The inhabitants of Montmartre and of Belleville have + taken their guns and intend to keep them.” +</p> + +<p> +But then it would not have the air of a proclamation. +Extraordinary fact! you may overturn an entire country, but you +must not touch the official style; it is immutable. One may +triumph over empires, but must respect red tape. Let us read +on: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Tranquil, calm in our force, we have awaited without fear as + without provocation, the shameless madmen who menaced the Republic.” +</p> + +<p> +The Republic? Again an improper expression, it was the cannons +they wanted to take. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“This time, our brothers of the army....” +</p> + +<p> +Ah! your brothers of the army! They are your brothers because +they fraternised and threw up the butt-ends of their muskets. In +your family you acknowledge no brotherhood except those who hold +the same opinion. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “This time, our brothers of the army would not raise their hands + against the holy ark of our liberty.” +</p> + +<p> +Oh! So the guns are a holy ark now. A very holy metaphor, for +people not greatly enamoured of churchmen. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Thanks for all; and let Paris and France unite to build a Republic, and +accept with acclamations the only government that will close for ever the flood +gates of invasion and civil war.<br/> + “The state of siege is raised.<br/> + “The people of Paris are convoked in their sections to elect a +Commune. The safety of all citizens is assured by the body of the National +Guard.<br/> + “Hôtel de Ville of Paris, the 19th of March, 1871.<br/> + “The Central Committee of the National Guard:<br/> + “Assy, Billioray, Ferrat, Babick, Ed. Moreau, Oh. Dupont, Varlin, +Boursier, Mortier, Gouhier, Lavallette, Fr. Jourde, Rousseau, Ch. Lullier, +Blanchet, G. Gaillard, Barroud, H. Geresme, Fabre, Pougeret.”<a +href="#fn-15" name="fnref-15" id="fnref-15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +There is one reproach that the new Parisian Revolution could +not be charged with; it is that of having placed at the head men +of proved incapacity. Those who dared to assert that each of the +persons named above had not more genius than would be required to +regenerate two or three nations would greatly astonish me. In a +drama of Victor Hugo it is said a parentless child ought to be +deemed a gentleman; thus an obscure individual ought, on the same +terms, to be considered a man of genius. +</p> + +<p> +But on the walls of the Rue Drouot many more proclamations +were to be seen. +</p> + +<p class="center"> + “RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE.<br/> + “LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ,<br/> + “To the National Guards of Paris. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CITIZENS,—You had entrusted us with the charge of organising the + defence of Paris and of your rights.” +</p> + +<p> +Oh! as to that, no; a thousand times, no! I admit—since you appear to +cling to it—that Cannon are an ark of strength, but under no pretext +whatever will I allow that I entrusted you with the charge of organising +anything whatsoever. I know nothing of you; I have never heard you spoken of. +There is no one in the world of whom I am more ignorant than Ferrat, Babick, +unless it be Gaillard and Pougeret (though I was national guard myself, and +caught cold on the ramparts for the King of Prussia<a href="#fn-16" +name="fnref-16" id="fnref-16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> as much as anyone else). I +neither know what you wish nor where you are leading those who follow you; and +I can prove to you, if you like, that there are at least a hundred thousand men +who caught cold too, and who, at the present moment, are in exactly the same +state of mind concerning you “We are aware of having fulfilled our +mission.” +</p> + +<p> +You are very good to have taken so much trouble, but I have no +recollection of having given you a mission to fulfil of any kind +whatever! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Assisted by your courage and presence of mind!...” +</p> + +<p> +Ah, gentlemen, this is flattery! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “We have driven out the government that was betraying you.<br/> + “Our mandate has now expired...” +</p> + +<p> +Always this same mandate which we gave you, eh? +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “We now return it to you, for we do not pretend to take the place of + those which the popular breath has overthrown.<br/> + “Prepare yourselves, let the Communal election commence forthwith, + and give to us the only reward we have ever hoped for—that of + seeing the establishment of a true republic. In the meanwhile we + retain the Hôtel de Ville in the name of the people.<br/> + “Hôtel de Ville, Paris, 19th March, 1871.<br/> + “The Central Committee of the National Guards:<br/> + “Assy, Billioray, and others.” +</p> + +<p> +Placarded up also is another proclamation<a href="#fn-17" name="fnref-17" +id="fnref-17"><sup>[17]</sup></a> signed by the citizens Assy, Billioray, and +others, announcing that the Communal elections will take place on Wednesday +next, 22nd of March, that is to say in three days. +</p> + +<p> +This then is the result of yesterday’s doings, and the +revolution of the 18th March can be told in a few words. +</p> + +<p> +There were cannon at Montmartre; the Government wished to take +them but was not able, thanks to the fraternal feeling and +cowardice of the soldiers of the Line. A secret society, composed +of several delegates of several battalions, took advantage of the +occasion to assert loudly that they represented the entire +population, and commanded the people to elect the Commune of +Paris—whether they wished or not. +</p> + +<p> +What will Paris do now between these dictators, sprung from +heaven knows where, and the Government fled to Versailles? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-14" id="fn-14"></a> <a href="#fnref-14">[14]</a> +No one may use white placards—they are reserved by the government.<br/> + The following is an extract from the <i>Official Journal</i> of Versailles, +bearing the date of the 20th of March, which explains the official form of the +announcements made by the Central Committee:—<br/> + “Yesterday, 19th March, the offices of the <i>Official Journal</i>, +in Paris, were broken into, the employés having escaped to Versailles with the +documents, to join the Government and the National Assembly. The invaders took +possession of the printing machines, the materials, and even the official and +non-official articles which had been set up in type, and remained in the +composing-rooms. It is thus that they were enabled to give an appearance of +regularity to the publication of their decrees, and to deceive the Parisian +public by a false <i>Official Journal</i>.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-15" id="fn-15"></a> <a href="#fnref-15">[15]</a> +Here is an extract from the <i>Official Journal</i> upon the subject (numbers +of the 29th March and 1st June):—<br/> + “In the insurrection, the momentary triumph of which has crushed +Paris beneath so odious and humiliating a yoke, carried the distresses of +France to their height, and put civilisation in peril, the International +Society has borne a part which has suddenly revealed to all the fatal power of +this dangerous association.<br/> + “On the 19th of March, the day after the outbreak of the terrible +sedition, of which the last horrors will form one of the most frightful pages +in history, there appeared upon the walls a placard which made known to Paris +the names of its new masters.<br/> + “With the exception of one, alone, (Assy), who had acquired a +deplorable notoriety, these names were unknown to almost all who read them; +they had suddenly emerged from utter obscurity, and people asked themselves +with astonishment, with stupor, what unseen power could have given them an +influence and a meaning which they did not possess in themselves. This power +was the International; these names were those of some of its members.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-16" id="fn-16"></a> <a href="#fnref-16">[16]</a> +<i>Travailler pour le Roi de Prusse</i>, “to work for the King of +Prussia,” is an old French saying, which means to work for nothing, to no +purpose. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-17" id="fn-17"></a> <a href="#fnref-17">[17]</a> +“THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL GUARD.<br/> + “Inasmuch:—<br/> + “That it is most urgent that the Communal administration of the City +of Paris shall be formed immediately,<br/> + “Decrees:—<br/> + “1st. The elections for the Communal Council of the City of Paris +will take place on Wednesday next, the 22nd of March.<br/> + “2nd. The electors will vote with lists, and in their own +arrondissements.<br/> + Each arrondissement will elect a councillor for each twenty thousand of +inhabitants, and an extra one for a surplus of more than ten thousand.<br/> + 3rd. The poll will be open from eight in the morning to six in the evening. +The result will be made known at once.<br/> + 4th. The municipalities of the twenty arrondissements are entrusted with +the proper execution of the present decree.<br/> + A placard indicating the number of councillors for each arrondissement will +shortly be posted up.<br/> + “Hôtel de Ville, Paris, 29th March, 1871.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="V."></a> V.</h2> + +<p> +Paris remains inactive, and watches events as one watches +running water. What does this indifference spring from? Surprise +and the disappearance of the chiefs might yesterday have excused +the inaction of Paris, but twenty-four hours have passed over, +every man has interrogated his conscience, and been able to +listen to its answer. There has been time to reconnoitre, to +concert together; there would have been time to act! +</p> + +<p> +Why is nothing done? Why has nothing been done yet? Generals +Clément Thomas and Lecomte have been assassinated; this is +as incontestable as it is odious. Does all Paris wish to partake +with the criminals in the responsibility of this crime? The +regular Government has been expelled. Does Paris consent to this +expulsion? Men invested with no rights, or, at least, with +insufficient rights, have usurped the power. Does Paris so far +forget itself as to submit to this usurpation without +resistance? +</p> + +<p> +No, most assuredly no. Paris abominates crime, does not +approve of the expulsion of the Government, and does not +acknowledge the right of the members of the Central Committee to +impose its wishes upon us. Why then does Paris remain passive and +patient? Does it not fear that it will be said that silence +implies consent? How is it that I myself, for example, instead of +writing my passing impressions on these pages, do not take my +musket to punish the criminals and resist this despotism? It is +that we all feel the present situation to be a, singularly +complicated one. The Government which has withdrawn to Versailles +committed so many faults that it would be difficult to side with +it without reserve. The weakness and inability the greater part +of those who composed it showed during the siege, their obstinacy +in remaining deaf to the legitimate wishes of the capital, have +ill disposed us for depending on a state of things which it would +have been impossible to approve of entirely. In fine, these +unknown revolutionists, guilty most certainly, but perhaps +sincere, claim for Paris rights that almost the whole of Paris is +inclined to demand. It is impossible not to acknowledge that the +municipal franchise is wished for and becomes henceforth +necessary. +</p> + +<p> +It is for this reason that although aghast at the excesses in +perspective and those already committed by the dictators of the +18th March, though revolted at the thought of all the blood +spilled and yet to be spilled—this is the reason that we +side with no party. The past misdeeds of the legitimate +Government of Versailles damp our enthusiasm for it, while some +few laudable ideas put forth by the illegitimate government of +the Hôtel de Ville diminish our horror of its crimes, and +our apprehensions at its misdoings. +</p> + +<p> +Then—why not dare say it?—Paris, which is so +impressionable, so excitable, so romantic, in admiration before +all that is bold, has but a moderate sympathy for that which is +prudent. We may smile, as I did just now, at the emphatic +proclamation of the Central Committee, but that does not prevent +us from recognizing that its power is real, and the ferocious +elements that it has so suddenly revealed are not without a +certain grandeur. It might have been spitefully remarked that +more than one patriot in his yesterday evening walk on the outer +boulevards and in the environs of the Hôtel de Ville, had +taken more <i>petit vin</i> than was reasonable in honour of the +Republic and of the Commune, but that has not prevented our +feeling a surprise akin to admiration at the view of those +battalions hastening from all quarters at some invisible signal, +and ready at any moment to give up their lives to defend ... +what? Their guns, and these guns were in their eyes the palpable +symbols of their rights and liberties. During this time the +heroic Assembly was pettifogging at Versailles, and the +Government was going to join them. Paris does not follow those +who fly. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="VI."></a> VI.</h2> + +<p> +The Butte-Montmartre is <i>en fête</i>. The weather is +charming, and every one goes to see the cannon and inspect the +barricades, Men, women, and children mount the hilly streets, and +they all appear joyous ... for what, they cannot say themselves, +but who can resist the charm of sunshine? If it rained, the city +would be in mourning. Now the citizens have closed their shops +and put on their best clothes, and are going to dine at the +restaurant. These are the very enemies of disorder, the small +shopkeepers and the humble citizens. Strange contradiction! But +what would you have? the sun is so bright, the weather is so +lovely. Yesterday no work was done because of the insurrection; +it was like a Sunday. To-day therefore is the holiday-Monday of +the insurrection. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-11"></a> +<img src="images/016.jpg" width="381" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Behind a Barricade: The Morning Meal—thirty Sous A +Day and nothing to eat</b></p> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="VII."></a> VII.</h2> + +<p> +In the midst of all these troubles, in which every one is +borne along, without any knowledge of where he is +drifting—with the Central Committee making proclamations on +one side, and the Versailles Government training troops on the +other, a few men have arisen who have spoken some words of +reason. These men may be certain from this moment that they are +approved of by Paris, and will be obeyed By Paris—by the +honest and intelligent Paris—by the Paris which is ready to +favour that side which can prove that it has the most justice in +it. +</p> + +<p> +The deputies and maires of Paris have placarded the following +proclamation:— +</p> + +<p class="center"> + “RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE.<br/> + “LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Citizens,—Impressed with the absolute necessity of saving Paris + and the Republic by the removal of every cause of collision, and + convinced that the best means of attaining this grand object is to + give satisfaction to the legitimate wishes of the people, we have + resolved this very day to demand of the National Assembly the + adoption of two measures which we have every hope will contribute to + bring back tranquillity to the public mind.<br/> + “These two measures are: The election of all the officers of the + National Guard, without exception, and the establishment of a + municipal council, elected by the whole of the citizens.<br/> + “What we desire, and what the public welfare requires under all + circumstances; and which the present situation renders more + indispensable than ever, is, order in liberty and by liberty.<br/> + “<i>Vive la France!</i> Vive la République! +</p> + +<p class="center"> + “<i>The representatives of the Seine</i>: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Louis Blanc, V. Schoelcher, Edmond Adam, Floquet, Martin Bernard, + Langlois, Edouard Lockroy, Farcy, Brisson, Greppo, Millière. +</p> + +<p class="center"> + “<i>The maires and adjoints of Paris</i>: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “1st Arrondissement: Ad. Adam, Meline, adjoints.—2nd + Arrondissement: Tirard, maire, representative of the Seine; Ad. + Brelay, Chéron, Loiseau-Pinson, adjoints.—3rd Arrondissement; + Bonvalet, maire; Ch. Murat, adjoint.—4th Arrondissement: Vautrain, + maire; Loiseau, Callon, adjoints.—5th Arrondissement: Jourdan, + adjoint.—6th Arrondissement: Hérisson, maire; A. Leroy, + adjoint.—7th Arrondissement: Arnaud (de l’Ariége), maire, + representative of the Seine.—8th Arrondissement: Carnot, maire, + representative of the Seine.—9th Arrondissement: Desmaret, + maire.—10th Arrondissement: Dubail, maire; A. Murat, + Degoyves-Denunques, adjoints.—11th Arrondissement: Motu, maire, + representative of the Seine; Blanchon, Poirier, Tolain, + representative of the Seine.—12th Arrondissement: Denizot, Dumas, + Turillon, adjoints.—18th Arrondissement: Léo Meillet, Combes, + adjoints.—14th Arrondissement: Héligon, adjoint.—15th + Arrondissement: Jobbe-Duval, adjoint.—16th Arrondissement: Henri + Martin, maire and representative of the Seine,—17th. + Arrondissement: FRANÇOIS FAVRE, maire; MALOU, VILLENEUVE, CACHEUX, + adjoints.—18th. Arrondissement: CLÉMENCEAU, maire and + representative of the people; J.B. LAFONT, DEREURE, JACLARD, + adjoints.” +</p> + +<p> +This proclamation has now been posted two hours, and I have +not yet met a single person who does not approve of it entirely. +The deputies of the Seine and the <i>maires</i> of Paris have, by +the flight of the Government to Versailles, become the legitimate +chiefs. We have elected them, it is for them to lead us. To them +belongs the duty of reconciling the Assembly with the city; and +it appears to us that they have taken the last means of bringing +about that conciliation, by disengaging all that is legitimate +and practical in its claims from the exaggeration of the +<i>émeute</i>. Let them therefore have all praise for this +truly patriotic attempt. Let them hasten to obtain from the +Assembly a recognition of our rights. In acceding to the demands +of the deputies and the <i>maires</i>, the Government will not be +treating with insurrection; on the contrary, it will effect a +radical triumph over it, for it will take away from it every +pretext of existence, and will separate from it, in a definite +way, all those men who have been blinded to the illegal and +violent manner in which this programme is drawn up, by the +justice of certain parts of it. +</p> + +<p> +If the Assembly consent to this, all that will remain of the +18th of March will be the recollection—painful enough, +without doubt—of one sanguinary day, while out of a great +evil will come a great benefit. +</p> + +<p> +Whatever may happen, we are resolute; we—that is to say, +all those who, without having followed the Government of +Versailles, and without having taken an active part in the +insurrection, equally desire the re-establishment of legitimate +power and the development of municipal liberties—we are +resolved to follow where our deputies and the <i>maires</i> may +lead us. They represent at this, moment the only legal authority +which seems to us to have fairly understood the difficulties of +the situation, and if, in the case of all hope of conciliation +being lost, they should tell us to take up arms, we will do +so. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="VIII."></a> VIII.</h2> + +<p> +Paris has this evening, the 21st of March, an air of +extraordinary contentment; it has belief in the deputies and the +<i>maires</i>, it has trust even, in the National Assembly. +People talk of the manifestation of the Friends of Order and +approve of it. A foreigner, a Russian, Monsieur A—— +J——, who has inhabited Paris for ten years, and is +consequently Parisian, has given me the following information, of +which I took hasty note:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“At half-past one o’clock to-day a group, of which I made one, was formed in +the place of the New Opera-house. We numbered scarcely twenty persons, and we +had a flag on which was inscribed, ‘Meeting of the Friends of Order.’ This flag +was carried by a soldier of the line, an employé, it is said, of the house of +Siraudin, the great confectioners. We marched along the boulevards as far as +the Rue de Richelieu; windows were opened as we passed, and the people cried, +‘<i>Vive l’Ordre! Vive l’Assemblée Nationale! A bas la Commune!</i>’ Few as we +were at starting our numbers soon grew to three hundred, to five hundred, to a +thousand. Our troop followed the Rue de Richelieu, increasing as it went. At +the Place de la Bourse a captain at the head of his National Guards tried to +stop us. We continued our course, the company saluted our flag as, we passed, +and the drums beat to arms. After having traversed, still increasing in +numbers, the streets which surround the Bourse, we returned to the boulevards, +where the most lively enthusiasm burst out around us. We halted opposite the +Rue Drouot. The <i>mairie</i> of the Ninth Arrondissement was occupied by a +battalion attached to the Central Committee—the 229th, I believe. +Although there was some danger of a collision, we made our way into the street, +resolved to do our duty, which was to protest against the interference with +order and the disregard for established laws; but no resistance was opposed to +us. The National Guards came out in front of the door of the <i>mairie</i> and +presented arms to us, and we were about to continue our way, when some one +remarked that our flag, on which, as I have already said, were the woods +‘Meeting of the Friends of Order,’ might expose us to the danger of being taken +for ‘<i>réactionnaires</i>,’ and that we ought to add the words ‘<i>Vive la +République!</i>’ Those who headed the manifestation came to a halt, and a few +of them went into a café, and there wrote the words on the flag with chalk. We +then resumed our march, following the widest and most frequented paths, and +were received with acclamations everywhere. A quarter of an hour later we +arrived at the Rue de la Paix and were marching towards the Place Vendôme, +where the battalions of the Committee were collected in masses, and where, as +is well known, the staff of the National Guard had its head-quarters. There, as +in the Rue Drouot, the drums were beaten and arms presented to us; more than +that, an officer came and informed the leaders of the manifestation that a +delegate of the Central Committee begged them to proceed to the staff quarters. +At this moment I was carrying the flag. We advanced in silence. When we arrived +beneath the balcony, surrounded by National Guards, whose attitude was +generally peaceful; there appeared on the balcony a rather young man, without +uniform, but wearing a red scarf, and surrounded by several superior officers; +he came forward and said—‘Citizens, in the name of the Central +Committee....’ when he was interrupted by a storm of hisses and by cries of +‘<i>Vive l’Ordre! Vive l’Assemblée Nationale! Vive la République!</i>’ In spite +of these daring interruptions we were not subjected to any violence, nor even +to any threats, and without troubling ourselves any more about the delegate, we +marched round the column, and having regained the boulevards proceeded towards +the Place de la Concorde. There, some one proposed that we should visit Admiral +Saisset, who lived in the Rue Pauquet, in the quarter of the Champs Elysées, +when a grave looking man with grey hair said that Admiral Saisset was at +Versailles. ‘But,’ he added, ‘there are several admirals amongst you.’ He gave +his own name, it was Admiral de Chaillé. From that moment he headed the +manifestation, which passed over the Pont de la Concorde to the Faubourg St. +Germain. Constantly received with acclamations, and increasing in numbers, we +paraded successively all the streets of the quarter, and each time that we +passed before a guard-house the men presented arms. On the Place St. Sulpice a +battalion drew up to allow us to pass. We afterwards went along the Boulevard +St. Michel and the Boulevard de Strasbourg. During this part of our course we +were joined by a large group, preceded by a tricolor flag with the inscription, +‘<i>Vive l’Assemblée Nationale!</i>’ From this time the two flags floated side +by side at the head of the augmented procession. As we were about to turn into +the Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle, a man dressed in a paletot and wearing a grey +felt hat, threw himself upon me as I was carrying the standard of the Friends +of Order, but a negro, dressed in the uniform of the National Guard, who +marched beside me, kept the man off, who thereupon turned against the person +that carried the other flag, wrested it from him, and with extraordinary +strength broke the staff, which was a strong one, over his knee. This incident +caused some confusion; the man was seized and carried off, and I fear he was +rather maltreated. We then made our way back to the boulevards. At our +appearance the enthusiasm of the passers-by was immense; and certainly, without +exaggeration, we numbered between three and four thousand persons by the time +we got back to the front of the New Opera-house, where we were to separate. A +Zouave climbed up a tree in front of the Grand Hôtel, and fixed our flag on the +highest branch. It was arranged that we should meet on the following day, in +uniform but without arms, at the same place.” +</p> + +<p> +This account differs a little from those given in the +newspapers, but I have the best reason to believe it absolutely +true. +</p> + +<p> +What will be the effect of this manifestation? Will those who +desire “Order through Liberty and in Liberty” succeed in meeting +in sufficiently large numbers to bring to reason, without having +recourse to force, the numerous partizans of the Commune? +Whatever may happen, this manifestation proves that Paris has no +intention of being disposed of without her own consent. In +connection with the action of the deputies in the National +Assembly, it cannot have been ineffective in aiding the coming +pacification. +</p> + +<p> +Many hopeful promises of concord and quiet circulate this +evening amongst the less violent groups. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="IX."></a> IX.</h2> + +<p> +What is this fusillade? Against whom is it directed? Against +the Prussians? No! Against Frenchmen, against passers-by, against +those who cry “<i>Vive la République et vive l’Ordre</i>.” +Men are falling dead or wounded, women flying, shops closing, +amid the whistling of the bullets,—all Paris terrified. +This is what I have just seen or heard. We are done for then at +last. We shall see the barricades thrown up in our streets; we +shall meet the horrid litters, from which hang hands black with +powder; every woman will weep in the evening when her husband is +late in returning home, and all mothers will be seized with +terror. France, alas! France, herself a weeping mother, will fall +by the hands of her own children. +</p> + +<p> +I had started, in company with a friend, from the Passage +Choiseul on my way to the Tuileries, which has been occupied +since yesterday by a battalion devoted to the Central Committee. +On arming at the corner of the Rue St. Roch and the Rue Neuve des +Petits Champs we perceived a considerable crowd in the direction +of the Rue de la Paix. “What is going on now?” said I to my +friend. “I think,” said he, “that it is an unarmed manifestation +going to the Place Vendôme; it passed along the boulevards +a short time since, crying “<i>Vive l’Ordre</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +As we talked we were approaching the Rue de la Paix. All at +once a horrible noise was heard. It was the report of musketry. A +white smoke rose along the walls, cries issued from all parts, +the crowd fled terrified, and a hundred yards before us I saw a +woman fall. Is she wounded or dead? What is this massacre? What +fearful deeds are passing in open day, in this glorious sunshine? +We had scarcely time to escape into one of the cross-streets, +followed by the frightened crowd, when the shops were closed, +hurriedly, and the horrible news spread to all parts of terrified +Paris. +</p> + +<p> +Reports, varying extremely in form, spread with extraordinary +rapidity; some were grossly exaggerated, others the reverse. “Two +hundred victims have fallen,” said one. “There were no balls in +the guns,” said another. The opinions regarding the cause of the +conflict were strangely various. Perhaps we shall never know, +with absolute certainty, what passed in the Place, Vendôme +and the Rue de la Paix. For myself, I was at once; too far and +too near the scene of action; too near, for I had narrowly missed +being killed; too far, for I saw nothing but the smoke and the +flight, of the terrified crowd. +</p> + +<p> +One thing certain is that the Friends of Order who, yesterday, +succeeded in assembling a large number of citizens, had to-day +tried to renew its attempt at pacification by unarmed numbers. +Three or four thousand persons entered the Rue de la Paix towards +two o’clock in the afternoon, crying, “<i>L’Ordre! L’Ordre! Vive +l’Ordre!</i>” The Central Committee had doubtless issued severe +orders, for the foremost sentinels of the Place, far from +presenting arms to the “Friends of Order,” as they had done the +day before, formally refused to let them continue their way. And +then what happened? Two crowds were face to face; one unarmed, +the other armed, both under strong excitement, one trying to +press forward, the other determined to oppose its passage. A +pistol-shot was heard. This was a signal. Down went the muskets, +the armed crowd fired, and the unarmed dispersed in mad flight, +leaving dead and wounded on their path. +</p> + +<p> +But who fired that first pistol-shot? “One of the citizens of +the demonstration; and moreover, the sentinels had their muskets +torn from them;” affirm the partisans of the Central Committee, +and they bring forward, among other proofs; the evidence of an +eye-witness, a foreign general, who saw it all from a window of +the Rue de la Paix. But these assertions are but little to be +relied upon. Can it be seriously believed that a crowd, to all +appearance peaceful, would commit such an act of aggression? Who +would have been insane enough to expose a mass of unarmed people +to such dire revenge, by a challenge as criminal as it was +useless? The account according to which the pistol was fired by +an officer of the Federal guard from the foot of the Place +Vendôme, thus giving the signal to those under his orders +to fire upon the citizens, improbable as appears such an excess +of cold-blooded barbarity, is much the more credible. And now how +many women mourn their husbands and son’s wounded, and perhaps +dead? How many victims have fallen? The number is not yet known. +Monsieur Barle, a lieutenant of the National Guard, was shot in +the stomach. Monsieur Gaston Jollivet, who some time ago +committed the offence, grave in our eyes, of publishing a comic +ode in which he allows himself to ridicule our illustrious and +beloved master, Victor Hugo, but was certainly guilty of none in +desiring a return to order, had his arm fractured, it is said. +Monsieur Otto Hottinger, one of the directors of the French Bank, +fell, struck by two balls, while raising a wounded man from the +ground. +</p> + +<p> +One of my friends assures me that half-an-hour after the fusillade he was fired +at, as he was coming out from a <i>porte-cochère</i>,<a href="#fn-18" +name="fnref-18" id="fnref-18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> by National Guards in +ambuscade. +</p> + +<p> +At four o’clock, at the corner of the Rue de la Paix and the +Rue Neuve des Petits Champs, an old man, dressed in a blouse, +still lay where he had fallen across the body of a +<i>cantinière</i>, and beside him a soldier of the line, +the staff of a tricolour flag grasped in his dead hand. Is this +soldier the same of whom my friend Monsieur A—— +J—— speaks in his account of the first demonstration, +and who was said to be an employé at Siraudin’s? +</p> + +<p> +There were many other victims—Monsieur de Péne, +the editor of <i>Paris-Journal</i>, dangerously wounded by a ball +that penetrated the thigh; Monsieur Portel, lieutenant in the +Eclaireurs Franchetti, wounded in the neck and right foot; +Monsieur Bernard, a merchant, killed; Monsieur Giraud, a +stockbroker, also killed. Fresh names are added to the funereal +list every moment. +</p> + +<p> +Where will this revolution lead us, which was begun by the +murder of two Generals and is being carried on by the +assassination of passers-by? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-18" id="fn-18"></a> <a href="#fnref-18">[18]</a> +Porte-cochère (carriage gateway). +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="X."></a> X.</h2> + +<p> +In the midst of all this horror and terror I saw one little +incident which made me smile, though it was sad too; an idyl +which might be an elegy. Three hired carriages descended the Rue +Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. It was a wedding. In the first carriage +was the bride, young and pretty, in tears; in the second, the +bridegroom, looking anything but pleased. As the horses were +proceeding slowly on account of the hill, I approached and +inquired the cause of the discontent. A disagreeable circumstance +had happened, the <i>garçon d’honneur</i> told me. They +had been to the <i>mairie</i> to be married, but the +<i>mairie</i> had been turned into a guard-house, and instead of +the <i>mairie</i> and his clerks, they found soldiers of the +Commune. The sergeant had offered to replace the municipal +functionary, but the grands-parents had not consented to such an +arrangement, and they were forced to return with the connubial +knot still to be tied. An unhappy state of things. “Pooh!” said +an old woman who was passing by, “they can marry +to-morrow.—There is always time enough to commit +suicide.” +</p> + +<p> +It is true, they can marry to-morrow; but these young people +wished to be married to-day. What are revolutions to them? What +would it have mattered to the Commune had these lovers been +united to-day? Is one ever sure of recovering happiness that has +once escaped? Ah! this insurrection, I hate it for the men it has +killed, and the widows it has made; and also for the sake of +those pretty eyes that glistened with tears under the bridal +wreath. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XI."></a> XI.</h2> + +<p> +The <i>mairie</i> of the Second Arrondissement seems destined to be the centre +of resistance to the Central Committee. The Federals have not been able, or +have not dared, to occupy it. In the quarter of the Place de la Bourse and the +Place des Victoires, National Guards have assembled and declared themselves +Friends of Order. But they are few in number. Yesterday morning, the 23rd of +March, they were reinforced by battalions that joined them, one by one, from +all parts of Paris. They obey the orders, they say, of Admiral Saisset, raised +to the superior command of the National Guard. It is believed that there are +mitrailleuses within the Bourse and in the court of the Messageries. The +massacre of the Rue de la Paix decided the most timorous. There is a +determination to have done, by some means or other, with tyrants who represent +in fact but a small part of the population of Paris, and who wish to dominate +over the whole city. The preparations for resistance are being made between the +Hôtel de Ville on the one hand, where the members of the Committee are sitting, +formidably defended, and the Place Vendôme, crammed with insurgents, on the +other. Is it civil war—civil war, with all its horrors, that is about to +commence? A company of Gardes Mobiles has joined the battalions of Order. +Pupils of the Ecole Polytechnique come and go between the <i>mairie</i> of the +Second Arrondissement and the Grand Hôtel, where Admiral Saisset and his staff +are said to be installed.<a href="#fn-19" name="fnref-19" +id="fnref-19"><sup>[19]</sup></a> A triple line of National Guards closes the +entrance of the Rue Vivienne against carriages and everybody who does not +belong to the quarter. Nevertheless, a large number of people, eager for +information, manage to pass the sentries in spite of the rule. On the Place de +la Bourse a great crowd discusses, and gesticulates around the piled bayonets +which glitter in the sun. I notice that the pockets of the National Guards are +crammed full; a large number of cartridges has been distributed. +</p> + +<p> +The orders are strict: no one is to quit his post. There are +men, however, who have been standing there, without sleep, for +twenty-four hours. No one must leave the camp of the Friends of +Order even to go and dine. Those who have no money either have +rations given them or are provided at the expense of the +<i>mairie</i>, from a restaurant of the Rue des Filles +Saint-Thomas, with a dinner consisting of soup and bouilli, a +plate of meat, vegetables, and a bottle of wine. I hear one of +them exclaim, +</p> + +<p> +“If the Federals knew that we not only get our pay, but are +also fed like princes, they would come over to us, every man of +them. As for us, we are determined to obey the <i>maires</i> and +deputies of Paris.” Much astonishment is manifested at the +absence of Vice-Admiral Saisset; as he has accepted the command +he ought to show himself. Certain croakers even insinuate that +the vice-admiral hesitates to organise the resistance, but we +will not listen to them, and are on the whole full of confidence +and resolution. “We are numerous, determined; we have right on +our side, and will triumph.” +</p> + +<p> +At about four o’clock an alarm is sounded. We hear cries of +“To arms! To arms!” The drums beat, the trumpets sound, the ranks +are formed. The ominous click, click, as the men cock their +rifles, is heard on all sides. The moment of action has arrived. +There are more than ten thousand men, well armed and determined. +A company of Mobiles and the National Guards defend the entrance +of the Rue Vivienne. All this tumult is caused by one of the +battalions from Belleville, passing along the boulevards with +three pieces of cannon. +</p> + +<p> +What is about to happen? When the insurgents reach the top of +the Rue Vivienne they seem to hesitate. In a few seconds the +boulevards, which were just now crowded, are suddenly deserted; +and even the cafés are closed. +</p> + +<p> +At such a moment as this, a single accidental shot (several +such have happened this morning; a woman standing at a window at +the corner of the Rue Saint Marc was nearly killed by the +carelessness, of one of the Guards),—a single shot, a cry +even, or a menacing gesture would suffice to kindle the blaze. +Nobody. moves or speaks. I feel myself tremble before the +possibility of an irreparable disaster; it is a solemn and +terrible moment. +</p> + +<p> +The battalion from Belleville presents arms; we reply, and +they pass on. The danger is over; we breathe again. In a few +seconds the crowd has returned to the boulevards. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-19" id="fn-19"></a> <a href="#fnref-19">[19]</a> +Lieutenant-Colonel de Beaugrand had improvised staff-quarters at the Grand +Hôtel, and the nomination of Admiral Saisset, together with M. Schoelcher and +Langlois, had strengthened the enmity of the two parties. The Central +Committee, seeing the danger which threatened, announced that the Communal +elections were adjourned to Sunday the 26th March. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XII."></a> XII.</h2> + +<p> +It is two in the morning. Tired of doing nothing I take out my +note-book, seat myself on a doorstep opposite the Restaurant +Catelain, and jet down my memoranda by the light of a street +lamp. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as night came on, every measure of precaution was +taken. We have no idea by whom we are commanded, but it would +appear that a serious defence is contemplated, and is being +executed with prudence. Is it Admiral Saisset who is at our head? +We hope so. Although we have been so often disappointed in our +chiefs, we have not yet lost the desire to place confidence in +some one. To-night we believe in the admiral. Ever and anon our +superior officers retire to the <i>mairies</i>, and receive +strict orders concerning their duty. We are quite an army in +ourselves; our centre is in the Place de la Bourse, our wings +extend into the adjoining streets. Lines of Nationals guard all +the openings; sentinels are posted sixty feet in front to give +the alarm. Within the enclosed space there is no one to be seen, +but the houses are inhabited as usual. The doors have been left +open by order, and also all the windows on the first floors. Each +company, divided under the command of sergeants, has taken +possession of three or four houses. At the first signal of alarm +the street-doors are to be closed, the men to rush to the +windows, and from there to fire on the assailants. “Hold +yourselves in readiness; it is very possible you may be attacked. +On the approach of the enemy the guards in the streets are to +fall back under fire towards the houses, and take shelter there. +Those posted at the windows are to keep up an unceasing fire on +the insurgents. In the meantime the bulk of our forces will come +to our aid, and clear the streets with their mitrailleuses.” +</p> + +<p> +So we waited, resolved on obedience, calm, with a silent but +fervent prayer that we might not be obliged to turn our arms +against our fellow-townsmen. +</p> + +<p> +The night is beautiful. Some of our men are talking in groups +on the thresholds of the doors, others, rolled in their blankets, +are lying on the ground asleep. In the upper storeys of some of +the houses lights are still twinkling through the muslin +curtains; lower down all is darkness. Scarcely a sound is to be +heard, only now and then the rumble of a heavy cart, or perhaps a +cannon in the distance; and nearer to us the sudden noise of a +musket that slips from its resting-place on to the pavement. +Every hour the dull sound of many feet is heard; it is the patrol +of Mobiles making its round. We question them as they +pass.—“Anything fresh?”—“Nothing,” is the invariable +reply.—“How far have you been?”—“As far as the Rue de +la Paix,” they answer, and pass on. Interrupted conversations are +resumed, and the sleepers, who had been awakened by the noise, +close their eyes again. We are watching and waiting,—may we +watch and wait in vain! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XIII."></a> XIII.</h2> + +<p> +Never have I seen the dawn break with greater pleasure. Almost +everyone has some time in his life passed such sleepless nights, +when it seems to him that the darkness will never disappear, and +the desire for light and day becomes a fearful longing. Never was +dawn more grateful than after that wretched night. And yet the +fear of a disastrous collision did not disappear with the night. +It was even likely that the Federals might have waited for the +morning to begin their attack, just when fatigue is greatest, +sleep most difficult to fight against, and therefore discipline +necessarily slackened. Anyhow, the light seemed to reassure us; +we could scarcely believe that the crime of civil war could be +perpetrated in the day-time. The night had been full of fears, +the morning found us bright and happy. Not all of us, however. I +smile as I remember an incident which occurred a little before +daylight. One of our comrades, who had been lying near me, got +up, went out into the street, and paced up and down some time, as +if to shake off cramp or cold. My eyes followed him mechanically; +he was walking in front of the houses, the backs of which look +out upon the Passage des Panoramas, and as he did so he cast +furtive glances through the open doorways. He went into one, and +came out with a disappointed expression on his face. Having +repeated this strange manoeuvre several times, he reached a +<i>porte-cochère</i> that was down by the side of the +Restaurant Catelain. He remained a few minutes, then reappeared +with a beaming countenance, and made straight for where I was +standing, rubbing his hands gleefully. +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur,” said he, in a low voice, so as not to be overheard, +“do you approve of this plan of action, which consists, in case of +attack, of shooting from the windows on the assailants?”—“A +necessity of street fighting,” said I. “Let us hope we shall not +have to try it.”—“Oh! of course; but I should have preferred +it if they had taken other measures.”—“Why?” I +asked.—“Why, you see, when we are in the houses the insurgents will +try to force their way in.”—I could not see what he was driving at, +so I said, “Most probably.”—“But if they do get +in?” he insisted:—“I will trust to our being reinforced from +the Place de la Bourse before they can effect an +entrance.”—“Doubtless! doubtless!” he answered; but I +saw he was anything but convinced.—“But you know reinforcements +often arrive too late, and if the Federals should get in, we shall be shot down +like dogs in those rooms overhead!”—I acknowledged that this would +be, to say the least, disagreeable, but argued that in time of war one must +take one’s chance.—“Do you think, then, monsieur,” he +continued, “that, if in the event of the insurgents entering we were to +look out for a back door to escape by, we should be acting the part of +cowards?”—“Of cowards? no; but of excessively prudent +individuals? yes.”:—“Well, monsieur, I am prudent, and there +is an end of it!” exclaimed my comrade, with an air of triumph, +“and I think I have found——” —“The back +door in question?”—“Just go; look down that passage in front +of us; at the end there is a door which leads—where do you +think?”—“Into the Passage des Panoramas, does it +not?”—“Yes, monsieur, and now you see what I +mean.”—I told him I did not think I did.—“Why, you +see,” he explained, “when the enemy comes we must rush into that +passage, shut the lower door, and make for our post at the windows, where we +will do our duty bravely to our last cartridge. But suppose, in the meantime, +that those devils, succeed in breaking open the lower door with the butt end of +their muskets—and it is not very strong—what shall we do +then?”—“Why, of course,” I said, “we must plant +ourselves at the top of the staircase and receive them at the point of our +bayonets.”—“By no means;” he +expostulated.—“But we must; it is our duty.”—“Oh! +I fancied we might have gained the door that leads into the passage,” he +went on, looking rather shame-faced.—“What, run +away!”—“No, not exactly; only find some place of +safety!”—“Well, if it comes to that,” I replied, +“you may do just as you like; only I warn you that the passage is +occupied by a hundred of our men, and that all the outlets are +barricaded.”—“No, not all,” he said with conviction, +“and that is why I appeal to you. You are a journalist, are you +not?”—“Sometimes.”—“Yes, but you are; and +you know actors and all those sort of people, and you go behind the scenes, I +dare say, and know where the actors dress themselves, and all +that.”—I looked at my brave comrade in some surprise, but he +continued without noticing me, “And, you know all the ins and outs of the +theatre, the corridors, the trapdoors.”—“Suppose I do, what +good can that do you?”—“All the good in the world, monsieur; +it will be the saving of me. Why we shall only have to find the actors’ +entrance of the <i>Variétés</i>, which is in the passage, then ring, at the +bell; the porter knows you, and will admit us. You can guide us both up the +staircase and behind the scenes, and we can easily hunt out some hole or corner +in which to hide until the fight is over.”—“Then,” said +I, feeling rather disgusted with my companion, “we can bravely walk out +of the front door on the boulevards, and go and eat a comfortable breakfast, +while the others are busy carrying away our dead comrades from the staircase we +ought to have helped to defend!” +</p> + +<p> +The poor man looked at me aghast, and then went off. I saw +that I had hurt his feelings, and I thought perhaps I had been +wrong in making him feel the cowardice of his proposition. I had +known him for some months; he lived in the same street as I did, +and I remembered that he had a wife and children. Perhaps he was +right in wishing to protect his life at any price. I thought it +over for a minute or two, and then it went out of my mind +altogether. +</p> + +<p> +At four in the morning we had another alarm; in an instant +every one was on foot and rushing to the windows. The house to +which I was ordered was the very one that had inspired my +ingenious friend with his novel plan of evasion. I found him +already installed in the room from whence we were to fire into +the street.—“You do not know what I have done,” said he, +coming up to me.—“No.”—“Well, you know the door which +opens on to the passage; you remember it?”—“Of course I +do.”—“I found there was a key; so what do you think I did? +I double-locked the door, and went and slipped the key down the +nearest drain! Ha! ha! The fellow who tries to escape that way +will be finely caught!” +</p> + +<p> +I seized him cordially by the hand and shook it many times. He +was beaming, and I was pleased also. I could not help feeling +that however low France may have fallen, one must never despair +of a country in which cowards even can be brave. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XIV."></a> XIV.</h2> + +<p> +On Friday, the 24th of March, at nine in the morning, we are +still in the quarter of the Bourse. Some of the men have not +slept for forty-eight hours. We are tired but still resolved. Our +numbers are increasing every hour. I have just seen three +battalions, with trumpeters and all complete, come up and join +us. They will now be able to let the men who have been so long on +duty get a little rest. As to what is going on, we are but very +incompletely informed. The Federals are fortifying themselves +more strongly than ever at the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville +and the Place Vendôme. They are very numerous, and have +lots of artillery. Why do they not act on the offensive? Or do +they want, as we do, to avoid a conflict? Certainly our hand +shall not be the first to spill French blood. These hours of +hesitation on both sides calm men’s minds. The deputies and +mayors of Paris are trying to obtain from the National Assembly +the recognition of the municipal franchise. If the Government has +the good sense to make these concessions, which are both +legitimate and urgent, rather than remain doggedly on the +defensive, with the conviction that it has right on its ride; if, +in a word, it remembers the well-known maxim, “<i>Summum jus, +summa injuria</i>,” the horrors of civil war may be averted. We +are told, and I fancy correctly, that the Federal Guards are not +without fear concerning the issue of the events into which they +have hurried. The chiefs must also be uneasy. Even those who have +declared themselves irreconcileable in the hour of triumph would +not perhaps be sorry now if a little condescension on the part of +the Assembly furnished them with a pretext of not continuing the +rebellion. Just now, several Guards of the 117th Battalion, a +part of which has declared for the Central Committee, who +happened to be passing, stopped to chat with our outposts. Civil +war to the knife did not at all appear to be their most ardent +desire. One of them said: “We were called to arms, what could we +do but obey? They give us our pay, and so here we are.” Were they +sincere in this? Did they come with the hope of joining us, or to +spy into what we were doing? Others, however, either more frank +or less clever at deception, declared that they wanted the +Commune, and would have, it at any price. This, however, was by +far the smaller number; the majority of the insurgents are of the +opinion of these men who joined in conversation with us. It is +quite possible to believe that some understanding might be +brought about. A fact has just been related to me which confirms +me in my opinion. +</p> + +<p> +The Comptoir d’Escompte was occupied by a post of Federals. A +company of Government Guards from the 9th Arrondissement marched +up to take possession. “You have been here for two whole days; go +home and rest,” said the officer in command of the latter. But +the Federals obstinately refused to be sent away. The officer +insisted.—“We are in our own quarter, you are from +Belleville; it is our place to guard the Comptoir +d’Escompte.”—It was all of no avail until the officer said: +“Go away directly, and we will give you a hundred +francs.”—They did not wait for the offer to be repeated, +but accepted the money and marched off. Now men who are willing +to sell their consciences at two francs a head—for there +were fifty of them—cannot have any very formidable +political opinions. I forgot to say that this post of Federals +was commanded by the Italian Tibaldi, the same who had been +arrested in one of the passages of the Hôtel de Ville +during the riots of the 31st October. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XV."></a> XV.</h2> + +<p> +The news is excellent, in a few hours perhaps it will be +better. We rejoice beforehand at the almost certain prospect of +pacification. The sun shines, the boulevards are crowded with +people, the faces of the women especially are beaming. What is +the cause of all this joy? A placard has just been posted up on +all the walls in the city. I copy it with pleasure. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“DEAR FELLOW CITIZENS,—I hasten to announce to you that together with the +Deputies of the Seine and the Mayors of Paris, we have obtained from the +Government of the National Assembly: 1st. The complete recognition of your +municipal franchises; 2nd. The right of electing all the officers of the +National Guard, as well as the general-in-chief; 3rd. Modifications of the law +on bills; 4th. A project for a law on rents, favourable to tenants paying 1,200 +francs a year, or less than that sum. Until you have confirmed my nomination, +or until you name some one else in my stead, I shall continue to remain at my +post to watch over the execution of these conciliatory measures that we have +succeeded in obtaining, and to contribute to the well-being of the Republic! +</p> + +<p class="right"> + “The Vice-Admiral and<br/> + Provisional Commander,<br/> + SAISSET<br/> + Paris, 23rd March.” +</p> + +<p> +Well! this is opportune and to the purpose. The National Assembly has +understood that, in a town like Paris, a revolution in which a third of the +population is engaged, cannot be alone actuated by motives of robbery and +murder;<a href="#fn-20" name="fnref-20" id="fnref-20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> and +that if some of the demands of the people are illegitimate or premature, there +are at least others, which it is but right should obtain justice. Paris is +never entirely in the wrong. Certainly among the authors and leaders of the +18th March, there are many who are very guilty. The murderers of General +Lecomte and General Clément Thomas should be sought out and punished. All +honest men must demand and expect that a minute inquiry be instituted +concerning the massacres in the Place Vendôme. It must be acknowledged that all +the Federals, officers and soldiers, are not devils or drunkards. A few hundred +men getting drunk in the cabarets—(I have perhaps been wrong to lay so +much stress here upon the prevalence of this vice among the +insurrectionists)—a few tipsy brutes, ought not to be sufficient to +authorise us to condemn a hundred thousand men, among whom are certainly to be +found some right-minded persons who are convinced of the justice of their +cause. These unknown and suddenly elevated chiefs, whom the revolution has +singled out, are they all unworthy of our esteem, and devoid of capacity? They +possess, perhaps, a new and vital force that it would be right and perhaps +necessary to utilise somehow. The ideas which they represent ought to be +studied, and if they prove useful, put into practice. This is what the Assembly +has understood and what it has done. By concessions which enlarge rather than +diminish its influence, it puts all right-minded men, soldiers and officers, +under the obligation of returning to their allegiance. Those who, having read +the proclamation of Admiral Saisset, still refuse to recognise the Government, +are no longer men acting for the sake of Paris and the Republic, but rioters +guilty of pursuing the most criminal paths, for the gratification of their own +bad passions. Thus the tares will be separated from the wheat, and torn up +without mercy. Yesterday and the day before, at the Place de la Bourse, at the +Place des Victoires and the Bank, we were resolved on +resistance—resistance, nothing more, for none of us, I am sure, would +have fired a shot without sufficient provocation—and even this resolution +cost us much pain and some hesitation. We felt that in the event of our being +attacked, our shots might strike many an innocent breast—and perhaps at +the last moment our hearts would have failed us. Now, no thoughts of that kind +can hinder us. In recognising our demand, the Assembly has got right entirely +on its side, we shall now consider all rebellion against the authority of which +it makes so able a use, as an act entailing immediate punishment. Until now, +fearing to be abandoned or misunderstood by the Government, we had determined +to obey the mayors and deputies elected by the people, but the Assembly, by its +judicious conduct, has shown itself worthy confidence. Let them command, we are +ready to obey. +</p> + +<p> +Truly this change in the attitude of the Government is at once +strange and delightful. No later than yesterday their language +was quite different. The manner in which the majority received +the mayors did not lead us to expect a termination so favourable +to the wishes of all concerned. But this is all past, let us not +recriminate. Let us rather rejoice in our present good fortune, +and try and forget the dangers which seemed but now so imminent. +I hear from all sides that the Deputies of the Seine and the +mayors, fully empowered, are busy concluding the last +arrangements. Municipal elections are talked of, for the 2nd +April; thus every cause for discontent is about to disappear. +Capital! Paris is satisfied. Shops re-open. The promenades are +crowded with people; the Place Vendôme alone does not +brighten with the rest, but it soon will. The weather is lovely, +people accost each other in the streets with a smile; one almost +wonders they do not embrace. Is to-day Friday? No, it is Sunday. +Bravo! Assembly. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-20" id="fn-20"></a> <a href="#fnref-20">[20]</a> +At the same time that the proclamation of Admiral Saisset encouraged the +partizans of the Assembly, proofs were not wanting of the poverty of the +Commune in money, as well as men: a new loan obtained from the Bank of France, +which had already advanced half a million of francs, and the military +nominations which raised Brunel, Eudes, and Duval from absolute obscurity to +the rank of general. These were indications decidedly favourable to the party +of order. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XVI."></a> XVI.</h2> + +<p> +On the ground-floor of the house of my neighbour there is an +upholsterer’s workshop. The day before yesterday the master went +out to fetch some work, and this morning he had not yet returned. +In an agony of apprehension his wife went everywhere in search of +him. His body has just been found at the Morgue with a bullet +through its head. Some say he was walking across the Rue de la +Paix on his way home, and was shot by accident; but the +<i>Journal Officiel</i> announces that this poor man, Wahlin, was +a national guard, assassinated by the revolvers of the +manifestation. Whom are we to believe? Anyhow, the man is to be +buried tomorrow, and his poor wife is a widow. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XVII."></a> XVII.</h2> + +<p> +What is the meaning of all this! Are we deceiving ourselves, or being deceived? +We await in vain the consummation of Admiral Saisset’s promises. In +officially announcing that the Assembly had acceded to the just demands of the +mayors and deputies, did he take upon himself to pass delusive hopes as +accomplished facts? It seems pretty certain now that the Government will make +no concessions, that the proclamation is only waste paper, and that the +Provisional Commander of the National Guard has been leading us into +error—with a laudable intention doubtless—or else has himself been +deceived likewise. The united efforts of the Deputies of the Seine and the +Mayors of Paris have been unequal to rouse the apathy of the Assembly.<a +href="#fn-21" name="fnref-21" id="fnref-21"><sup>[21]</sup></a> In vain did +Louis Blanc entreat the representatives of France to approve the conciliatory +conduct of the representatives of Paris. “May the responsibility of what +may happen be on your own heads!” cried M. Clémenceau. He was right; a +little condescension might have saved all; such obstinacy is fatal. Deprived of +the countenance of the Assembly, and left to themselves, the Deputies and +Mayors of Paris, desirous above all of avoiding civil war, have been obliged to +accede to the wishes of the Central Committee, and insist upon the municipal +elections being proceeded with immediately. They could not have acted +otherwise, and yet it is humiliating for them to have to bow before superior +force, and their authority is compromised by so doing. What the Assembly, +representing the whole of France, could have done with no loss of dignity, and +even with honour to itself, the former accomplish only at the risk of losing +their influence; what to the Assembly would have been an honourable concession +is to them dangerous although necessary submission. The Committee would have +been annulled if the Government had consented to the municipal elections, but +thanks to a tardy consent, rung from the Deputies and Mayors of Paris, it +triumphs. The result of the humiliation to which the representatives of Paris +have been forced to submit to prevent the effusion of blood, will be the entire +abdication of their authority, which will remain vested in the Central +Committee until the members of the Commune are elected. Abandoned by the +Government since the departure of the chief of the executive power and the +ministers, we rallied round the representatives, who, unsustained by the +Government, are obliged to submit to the revolutionists. We must now choose +between the Commune and anarchy. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore, to-day, Sunday, the 26th March, the male population of Paris is +hurrying to the poll. It is in vain that the journals have begged the people +not to vote; the elections were only announced yesterday, and the electors have +had no time to reconsider the choice they have to make, and yet they insist on +voting. Those who decline to obey the suggestions of the Central Committee, +will re-elect the late mayors or choose among the deputies, but vote they will. +The present attitude of the regular Government has done much towards furthering +the revolution. The mistakes of the Assembly have diminished in the eyes of the +public the crime of revolt. Everywhere the murder of Generals Clément Thomas +and Lecomte is openly regretted; but those who repeat that the Central +Committee declares having had nothing to do with it, are listened to with +patience. The rumour that they were shot by soldiers gains ground, and seems +less incredulously received. As to the massacres of the Rue de la Paix, we are +told that this event is enveloped in mystery, that the evidence is most +contradictory, etc., etc.<a href="#fn-22" name="fnref-22" +id="fnref-22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> There is evidently a decided reactionary +movement in favour of the partizans of the Commune. Without approving their +acts their activity is incontestable. They have done much in a short time. +People exclaim, “There are men for you!” This state of things is +very alarming to all those who have remained faithful to the Assembly, which in +spite of its errors has not ceased to be the legal representative of the +country. It is a cruel position for the Parisians who are obliged to choose +between a regular Government which they would desire to obey, but which by its +faults renders such obedience impossible, and an illegitimate power, that, +although guilty in its acts, and stained with crime, still represents the +opinions of the republican majority. By to-night, therefore, the Commune will +have been called into existence; an illegal existence it may be argued, +doubtless, by the partizans of constitutional legality, who would consider as +null and void elections carried on without the consent of the nation, as +represented by the Assembly. Legal or not, however, the elections have taken +place, and the fact alone is of some importance. In a few hours the Executive +Power of the Republic will have to treat, whether it will or no, with a force +which has constituted itself with as much legality as it had in its power to +assume under the circumstances. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-21" id="fn-21"></a> <a href="#fnref-21">[21]</a> +The news of the check which the Maires of Paris had suffered in the Assembly +suddenly loosened the bond which for two days had united the friends of order, +and profound discouragement seized upon the public mind. It was at this moment +that the deputies from the Committee presented themselves at the Mairie of the +first arrondissement, preceded by three pieces of artillery, a very warlike +accompaniment to a deputation. It was arranged that the Communal election +should be managed by the existing Maires, and that the battalions of each +quarter of the city, whether federal or not, should occupy the voting places of +their sections; but this did not prevent the Committee on the following morning +occupying the Mairie of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, in spite of the +arrangement, by their most devoted battalions. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-22" id="fn-22"></a> <a href="#fnref-22">[22]</a> +The following are the terms in which the Commune spoke of the events of the +18th March, and excused the murder of the two generals:<br/> + “CITIZENS,—The day of the 18th of March, which for +interested reasons has been travestied in the most odious manner, +will be called in history, The Day of the People’s Justice!<br/> + The Government, now subverted—always +maladroit—rushed into a conflict without considering either +its own unpopularity, or the fraternal feeling that animates the +armies; the entire army, when ordered to commit fratricide, +replied with cries of “Vive la République!” “Vive la Garde +Nationale!”<br/> + Two men alone, who had rendered themselves unpopular by acts +which we now pronounce as iniquitous, were struck down in a +moment of popular indignation.<br/> + The Committee of the Federation of the National Guard, in +order to render homage to truth, declare it was a stranger to +these two executions.<br/> + At the present moment the ministries are constituted, the +prefect of police has assumed his duties, the public offices are +again active, and we invite all citizens to maintain the utmost +calmness and order.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XVIII."></a> XVIII.</h2> + +<p> +Crowds in the streets and promenades. This evening all the +theatres will be re-opened. In the meantime the voting is going +on. The weather is delightful, so I take a stroll along the +promenades. Under the colonnade of the Châtelet there is a +long line of electors awaiting their turn. I fancy that in this +quarter the candidates of the Central Committee will be surely +elected. Women, in bright-coloured dresses and fresh spring +bonnets, are walking to and fro. I hear some one say that there +are a great many cannon at the Hôtel de Ville. Two friends +meet together in the square of the Arts et +Métiers.—“Are you alone, madame?” says one lady to +another.—“Yes, madame; I am waiting for my husband, who is +gone to vote.” +</p> + +<p> +A child, who is skipping, cries out, “Mama, mama, what is the +Commune?” +</p> + +<p> +The fiacre drivers make the revolution an excuse for asking +extravagant fares; this does not prevent their having very +decided political opinions. One who, drove one would scarcely +have been approved of by the Central +Committee.—“<i>Cocher</i>, what is the fare?” I +ask.—“Five francs, monsieur.”—“All right; take me to +the mairie Place Saint-Sulpice.”—“Beg pardon, monsieur, but +if you are going to vote, it will be ten francs!” +</p> + +<p> +On the Boulevard de Strasbourg there are streams of people +dressed in holiday attire; itinerant dealers in tops, pamphlets, +souvenirs of the siege—bits of black bread, made on +purpose, and framed and glazed, also bits of shells—and +scented soap, and coloured pictures; crowds of beggars +everywhere. In this part of the town the revolution looks very +much like a fair. +</p> + +<p> +At the mairie of the 6th Arrondissement there are very few +people. I enter into conversation with one of the officials +there. He tells me he has never seen voting carried on with +greater spirit. +</p> + +<p> +I meet a friend who has just returned from Belleville, and ask +him the news, of course.—“The voting is progressing in +capital order,” he tells me; “the men go up to the poll as they +would mount the breach. They have no choice but to obey +blindly.”—“The Central Committee?” I inquire.—“Yes, +but the Committee itself only obeys +orders.”—“Whose?”—“Why those of the International, of +course.” +</p> + +<p> +At a corner near the boulevards, a compact little knot of +people is stationed in front of a poster. I fancy they are +studying the proclamation of one of the candidates, but it turns +out only to be a play-bill. The crowd continues to thicken; the +cafés are crammed; gold chignons are plentiful enough at +every table; here and there a red Garibaldi shirt is visible, +like poppies amongst the corn. Every now and then a horseman +gallops wildly past with dispatches from one section to another. +The results of some of the elections are creeping out. At +Montrouge, Bercy, Batignolles, and the Marais, they tell us the +members of the Central Committee are elected by a very large +majority. Here the hoarse voice of a boy strikes in,—“Buy +the account of the grand conspiracy of Citoyen Thiers against the +Republic!” Then another chimes in with wares of a less political +and more vulgar nature. The movement to and fro and the +excitement is extraordinary. While the populace basks in the sun +the destiny of the city is being decided.—“M. Desmarest is +elected for the 9th Arrondissement,” says some one close to +me.—“Lesueur is capital in the ‘Partie de Piquet,’” says +another. Oh! people of Paris! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XIX."></a>XIX.</h2> + +<p> +It is over. We have a “Municipal Council,” according to some; +a “Commune,” according to others. Not quite legally elected, but +sufficiently so. Eighty councillors, sixty of whom are quite +unknown men. Who can have recommended them, or, rather, imposed +them on the electors? Can there really be some occult power at +work under cover of the ex-Central Committee? Is the Commune only +a pretext, and are we at the début of a social and +political revolution? I overheard a partizan of the new doctrines +say,—“The Proletariat is vindicating its rights, which have +been unjustly trampled on by the aristocratic bourgeoisie. This +is the workman’s 1789!” +</p> + +<p> +Another person expresses the same thing in rather a different +form. “This is the revolt of the <i>canaille</i> against all kind +of supremacy, the supremacy of fortune, and the supremacy of +intellect. The equality of man before the law has been +acknowledged, now they want to proclaim the equality of +intellect. Soon universal suffrage will give place to the drawing +of lots. There was a time in Athens when the names of the +archontes were taken haphazard out of a bag, like the numbers at +loto.” +</p> + +<p> +However, the revolution has not yet clearly defined its tendencies, and in the +meantime what are we to think of the unknown beings who represent it? A man in +whom I have the greatest confidence, and who has passed his life in studying +questions of social science, and who therefore has mixed in nearly all the +revolutionary circles, and is personally acquainted with the chiefs, said to me +just now, in speaking of the new Municipal Council,<a href="#fn-23" +name="fnref-23" id="fnref-23"><sup>[23]</sup></a> “It will be an +assemblage of a very motley character. There will be much good and much bad in +it. We may safely divide it into three distinct parts: firstly, ten or twelve +men belonging to the International, who have both thought and studied and may +be able to act, mixed with these several foreigners; secondly, a number of +young men, ardent but inexperienced, some of whom are imbued with Jacobin +principles; thirdly, and by far the largest portion, unsuccessful plotters in +former revolutions, journalists, orators, and conspirators,—noisy, +active, and effervescent, having no particular tie amongst themselves except +the absence of any common bond of unity with the two former divisions, and +being confounded now with one, now with the other. The members of the +International alone have any real political value; they are Socialists. The +Jacobin element is decidedly dangerous.”—If in reality the Communal +Assembly is thus composed, how will it act? Let us wait and see; in the +meantime the city is calm. Never did so critical a moment wear so calm an +exterior. By the bye, where are the Prussians?<a href="#fn-24" name="fnref-24" +id="fnref-24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-23" id="fn-23"></a> <a href="#fnref-23">[23]</a> +The <i>Figaro</i> gives the following those who held service under the +Commune:—<br/> +<br/> +Anys-el-Bittar, Librarian MSS. Department, Bibliothèque Nationale. (Egyptian)<br/> +Biondetti, Surgeon 233rd Battalion. (Italian.)<br/> +Babiok, a Member of the Commune. (Pole.)<br/> +Beoka, Adjutant to the 207th Battalion. (Pole.)<br/> +Cluseret, General, Delegate of War. (American.)<br/> +Cernatesco, Surgeon of Francs Tireurs. (Pole.)<br/> +Crapulinski, Colonel of Staff. (Pole.)<br/> +Carneiro de Cunha, Surgeon 38th Battalion. (Portuguese.)<br/> +Charalambo, Surgeon of the Federal Scouts. (Pole.)<br/> +Dombrowski, General. (Russian.)<br/> +Dombrowski (his brother), Colonel of Staff. (Russian.)<br/> +Durnoff, Commandant of Legion. (Pole.)<br/> +Echenlaub, Colonel. (German.)<br/> +Ferrera Gola, General Manager of Field Hospitals. (Portuguese.)<br/> +Frankel, a Member of the Commune. (Prussian.)<br/> +Giorok, Commandant of the Fort d’Issy. (Valachian.)<br/> +Grejorok, Commandant of the Artillery at Montmartre.(Valachian.)<br/> +Kertzfeld, Chief Manager of Field Hospitals. (German.)<br/> +Iziquerdo, Surgeon of the 88th Battalion. (Pole.)<br/> +Jalowski, Surgeon of the Zouaves de la République. (Pole.)<br/> +Kobosko, Despatch Bearer.<br/> +La Cecilia, General. (Italian.)<br/> +Landowski, Aide-de-Camp of General Dombrowski. (Pole.)<br/> +Mizara, Commandant of the 104th Battalion. (Italian.)<br/> +Maratuch, Surgeon’s mate of the 72nd Battalion. (Hungarian.)<br/> +Moro, Commandant of the 22nd Battalion. (Italian.)<br/> +Okolowicz and his brothers, General and Staff Officers. (Poles.)<br/> +Ostyn, a Member of the Commune. (Belgian.)<br/> +Olinski, Chief of the 17th Legion. (Pole.)<br/> +Pisani, Aide-de-Camp of Flourens. (Italian.)<br/> +Potampenki, Aide-de-Camp of General Dombrowski. (Pole.)<br/> +Ploubinski, Staff Officer. (Pole.)<br/> +Pazdzierswski, Commandant of the Fort de Vanves. (Pole.)<br/> +Piazza, Chief of Legion. (Italian.)<br/> +Pugno, Music-manager at the Opera-house. (Italian.)<br/> +Romanelli, Manager of the War Offices. (Italian.)<br/> +Rozyski, Surgeon of the 144th Battalion. (Pole.)<br/> +Rubinowicz, Surgeon of the Marines. (Pole.)<br/> +Syneck, Surgeon of the 151st Battalion. (German.)<br/> +Skalski, Surgeon of the 240th Battalion. (Pole.)<br/> +Soteriade, Surgeon. (Spaniard.)<br/> +Thaller, Under Governor of the Fort de Bicêtre. (German.)<br/> +Van Ostal, Commandant of the 115th Battalion. (Dutch.)<br/> +Vetzel, Commandant of the Southern Forts. (German.)<br/> +Wroblewski, General Commandant of the Southern Army. (Pole.)<br/> +Witton, Surgeon of the 72nd Battalion. (American.)<br/> +Zengerler, Surgeon of the 74th Battalion, (German.)] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-24" id="fn-24"></a> <a href="#fnref-24">[24]</a> +The Prussians and the Commune, see <a href= +"#III._Page_77._THE_PRUSSIANS_AND_THE_CO">Appendix 3</a>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XX."></a> XX.</h2> + +<p> +Who can help being carried away by the enthusiasm of a crowd? +I am not a political man, I am only an observer who sees, hears, +and feels. +</p> + +<p> +I was on the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville at the moment when the names of +the successful candidates were proclaimed, and the emotion is still fresh upon +me.<a href="#fn-25" name="fnref-25" id="fnref-25"><sup>[25]</sup></a> There +were perhaps a hundred thousand men there, assembled from all quarters of the +city. The neighbouring streets were also full, and the bayonets glittering in +the sun filled the Place with brilliant flashes like miniature lightning. In +the centre of the façade of the building a platform was erected, over which +presided a statue of the Republic, wearing a Phrygian cap. The bronze +basso-relievo of Henry IV. had been carefully hidden with clusters of flags. +Each window was alive with faces. I saw several women on the roof, and the +<i>gamins</i> were everywhere, hanging on to the sculptured ornaments, or +riding fearlessly on the shoulders of the marble busts. One by one the +battalions had taken up their position on the Place with their bands. When they +were all assembled they struck up the Marseillaise, which was re-echoed by a +thousand voices. It was grand in the extreme, and the magnificent hymn, which +late defeats had shorn of its glory, swelled forth again with all its old +splendour revived. Suddenly the cannon is heard, the voices rise louder and +louder; a sea of standards, bayonets, and human heads waves backwards and +forwards in front of the platform. The cannon roars, but we only hear it +between the intervals of the hymn. Then all the sounds are confounded in one +universal shout, that shout of the vast multitude which seems to have but one +heart and one voice. The members of the Committee, each with a tricolor scarf +across his breast, have taken their places on the platform. One of them reads +out the names of the elected councillors. Then the cannon roars once more, but +is almost drowned by the deafening huzzas of the crowd. Oh! people of Paris, +who on the day of the “<i>Crosse en l’air</i>”<a +href="#fn-26" name="fnref-26" id="fnref-26"><sup>[26]</sup></a> got tipsy in +the wine-shops of Montmartre, whose ranks furnished the murderers of Thomas and +Lecomte, who in the Rue de la Paix shot down unconscious passengers, who are +capable of the wildest extravagance and most execrable deeds, you are also in +your days of glory, grand and magnificent, when a volcano of generous passions +rages within, and the hearts even of those who condemn you most, are scorched +in the flames. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-25" id="fn-25"></a> <a href="#fnref-25">[25]</a> +The result of the voting was made known at four o’clock on the 28th +March. The papers devoted to the Commune asserted, on the following day, that +<i>two hundred and fifteen</i> battalions were assembled on that day, and that +the average strength of each corps was one thousand men. Who could have +believed that the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville was capable of accommodating +so many! This farcical assertion of the two hundred and fifteen battalions has +passed into a proverb. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-26" id="fn-26"></a> <a href="#fnref-26">[26]</a> +When they turned the butt-ends (<i>crosses</i>) of their guns in the air, as a +sign they would not fight. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXI."></a> XXI.</h2> + +<p> +“Citizens,” says the <i>Official Journal</i> this morning, +“your Commune is constituted.” Then follows decree upon decree. +White posters are being stuck up everywhere. Why are they at the +Hôtel de Ville, if not to publish decrees? The conscription +is abolished. We shall see no more poor young fellows marching +through the town with their numbers in their caps, and fired with +that noble patriotism which is imbibed in the cabarets at so much +a glass. We shall have no more soldiers, but to make up for that +we shall all be National Guards. There’s a glorious decree, as +Edgar Poë says. As to the landlords, their vexation is +extreme; even the tenants do not seem so satisfied as they ought +to be. Not to have to pay any rent is very delightful, certainly, +but they scarcely dare believe in such good fortune. Thus when +Orpheus, trying to rescue Eurydice from “the infernal regions,” +interrupts with “his harmonious strains” the tortures of eternal +punishment, Prometheus did not doubtless show as much delight as +he ought to have done, on discovering that the beak of the +vulture was no longer gnawing at his vitals, “scarcely daring to +believe in such good fortune.” Orpheus is the Commune; Eurydice, +Liberty; “the infernal regions,” the Government of the 4th +September; “the harmonious strains,” the decrees of the Commune; +Prometheus, the tenant; and the vulture, the landlord! +</p> + +<p> +In plain terms, however—forgive me for joking on such a +subject—the decree which annuls the payment of the rents +for the quarters ending October 1870, January 1871, and April +1871, does not appear to me at all extravagant, and really I do +not see what there is to object to in the following lines which +accompany it:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“In consideration of the expenses of the war having been chiefly sustained by +the industrial, commercial, and working portion of the population, it is but +just that the proprietors of houses and land should also bear their part of the +burthen....” +</p> + +<p> +Let us talk it over together, Mr. Landlord. You have a house +and I live in it. It is true that the chimneys smoke, and that +you most energetically refuse to have them repaired. However, the +house is yours, and you possess most decidedly the right of +making a profit by it. Understand, once for all, that I never +contest your right. As for me, I depend upon my wit, I do not +possess much, but I have a tool—it may be either a pen, or +a pencil, or a hammer—which enables me, in the ordinary +course of things, to live and to pay with more or less regularity +my quarter’s rent. If I had not possessed this tool, you would +have taken good care not to let me inhabit your house or any part +or portion thereof, because you would have considered me in no +position to pay you your rent. Now, during the war my tool has +unquestionably rendered me but poor service. It has remained +ignobly idle in the inkstand, in the folio, or on the bench. Not +only have I been unable to use it, but I have also in some sort +lost the knack of handling it; I must have some time to get +myself into working order again. While I was working but little, +and eating less, what were you doing? Oh! I do not mean to say +that you were as flourishing as in the triumphant days of the +Empire, but still I have not heard of any considerable number of +landlords being found begging at the corners of the streets, and +I do not fancy you made yourselves conspicuous by your assiduous +attendance at the Municipal Cantines. I have even heard that you +or many of your brother-landlords took pretty good care not to be +in Paris during the Prussian siege, and that you contented +yourselves with forming the most ardent wishes, for the final +triumph of French arms, from beneath the wide-spreading oaks of +your châteaux in Touraine and Beauce, or from the safe +haven of a Normandy fishing village; while we, accompanied it is +true by your most fervent prayers, took our turn at mounting +guard, on the fortifications during the bitter cold nights, or +knee-deep in the mud of the trenches. However, I do not blame +those who sought safety in flight; each person is free to do as +he pleases; what I object to is your coming back and saying, +“During seven or eight months you have done no work, you have +been obliged to pawn your furniture to buy bread for your wife +and children; I pity you from the bottom of my heart—be so +kind as to hand me over my three quarters’ rent.” No, a thousand +times no; such a demand is absurd, wicked, ridiculous; and I +declare that if there is no possible compromise between the +strict execution of the law and his decree of the Commune, I +prefer, without the least hesitation, to abide by the latter; I +prefer to see a little poverty replace for a time the long course +of prosperity that has been enjoyed by this very small class of +individuals, than to see the last articles of furniture of five +hundred thousand suffering wretches, put up to auction and +knocked down for one-twentieth part of their value. There must, +however, be some way of conciliating the interests of both +landlords and tenants. Would it be sufficient to accord delays to +the latter, and force the former to wait a certain time for their +money? I think not; if I were allowed three years to pay off my +three quarters’ rent, I should still be embarrassed. The tool of +the artisan is not like the peasant’s plot of ground, which is +more productive after having lain fallow. During the last few sad +months, when I had no work to do, I was obliged to draw upon the +future, a future heavily mortgaged; when I shall perhaps scarcely +be able to meet the expenses of each day, will there be any +possibility of acquitting the debts of the past? You may sell my +furniture if the law gives you the right to do so, but I shall +not pay! +</p> + +<p> +The only possible solution, believe me, is that in favour of +the tenants, only it ought not to be applied in so wholesale a +fashion. Inquiries should be instituted, and to those tenants +from whom the war has taken away all possibility of payment an +unconditional receipt should be delivered: to those who have +suffered less, a proportionate reduction should be allowed; but +those whom the invasion has not ruined or seriously +impoverished—and the number is large, among provision +merchants, café keepers, and private residents—let +those pay directly. In this way the landlords will lose lees than +one may imagine, because it will be the lowest rents that will be +forfeited. The decree of the Commune is based on a right +principle, but too generally applied. +</p> + +<p> +The new Government—for it is a Government—does not confine itself +to decrees. It has to install itself in its new quarters and make +arrangements.<a href="#fn-27" name="fnref-27" id="fnref-27"><sup>[27]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +In a few hours it has organized more than ten +committees—the executive, the financial, the +public-service, the educational, the military, the legal, and the +committee of public safety. No end of committees and +committeemen: it is to be hoped that the business will be +promptly despatched! +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-27" id="fn-27"></a> <a href="#fnref-27">[27]</a> +Organisation of the Commissions on the 31st of March:<br/> +<br/> +<i>Executive Commission</i>.—Citizens Eudes, Tridou, Vaillant, +Lefrançais, Duval, Félix Pyat, Bergeret.<br/> +<i>Commission of Finance</i>.—Victor Clément, Varlin, Jourde, Beslay, +Régère.<br/> +<i>Military Commission</i>.—General E. Duval, General Bergeret, General +Eudes, Colonel Chardon, Colonel Flourens, Colonel Pindly, Commandant +Ranvier.<br/> +<i>Commission of Public Justice</i>.—Ranc, Protot, Léo Meillet, +Vermorel, Ledroit, Babick.<br/> +<i>Commission of Public Safety</i>.—Raoul Rigault, Ferré, Assy, Cournet, +Oudet, Chalain, Gérardin.<br/> +<i>Victualling Commission</i>.—Dereure, Champy, Ostyn, Clément, Parizel, +Emile Clément, Fortuné Henry.<br/> +<i>Commission of Industry and Trade</i>.—Malon, Frankel, Theiz, Dupont, +Avrial, Loiseau-Pinson, Eugène Gérardin, Puget.<br/> +<i>Commission of Foreign Affairs</i>.—Delescluze, Ranc, Paschal +Grousset, Ulysse Parent, Arthur Arnould, Antoine Arnauld, Charles +Gérardin.<br/> +<i>Commission of Public Service</i>.—Ostyn, Billioray, Clément (J.B.) +Martelet, Mortier, Rastoul.<br/> +<i>Commission of Education</i>.—Jules Vallès, Doctor Goupil, Lefèvre, +Urbain,<a href="#fn-28" name="fnref-28" id="fnref-28"><sup>[28]</sup></a> +Albert Leroy, Verdure, Demay, Doctor Robinet.] +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-28" id="fn-28"></a> <a href="#fnref-28">[28]</a> +Memoir, see <a href="#XIII._Page_82._URBAIN.">Appendix XIII</a>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXII."></a> XXII.</h2> + +<p> +Come, let us understand each other. Who are you, members of +the Commune? Those among you who are in some sort known to the +public do not possess, however, enough of its confidence to make +up for the want of knowledge it has of the others. Have a care +how you excite our mistrust. You have published decrees that +certainly are open to criticism, but that are not entirely +obnoxious, for their object is to uphold the interests of that +portion of the population, which you most particularly represent, +and from whom you hold your commission. We will forgive the +decrees if you do nothing worse. Yesterday, the 30th March, +during the night (why in the night?) some men wearing a red scarf +and followed by several others with arms, presented themselves at +the Union Insurance Company. On the porter refusing to deliver up +the keys of the offices he was arrested. They then proceeded to +break open the doors with the butt-end of their muskets, and put +seals on the strong box. What can this portend? Have you been +elected to break open private offices and put seals on +cash-boxes? That same night, a friend of mine who happened to be +passing across one of the bridges on his way home, noticed that +the windows of the Hôtel de Ville were brilliantly lighted. +Could they be having a ball already? he wondered. He made +inquiries and discovered that it was not a ball, but a banquet; +three or four hundred National Guards from Belleville had invaded +the apartments and had ordered a dinner to be served to them. +They were accompanied by a corresponding number of female +companions, and were drinking, talking, and singing to their +hearts’ content. What do you mean by that, members of the +Commune? Have you been elected to keep open-house, and do you +propose to inscribe over the entrance of the municipal palace: +“Ample accommodation for feasts and banquets,” as a companion to +your motto of “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity?” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXIII."></a> XXIII.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“I tell you, you shall not go!”—“But I will.”—“Well, you may, but +not your furniture.”—“And who shall prevent my carrying off my furniture +if I choose?”—“I will.”—“I defy +you!”—“Thief!”—“Robber!” +</p> + +<p> +This animated discussion was being carried on at the door of a +house, in front of which a cart filled with furniture was +standing; a crowd of street boys was fast assembling, and the +heads of curious neighbours appeared grinning in all the +windows. +</p> + +<p> +A partizan of the Commune had determined to profit by the +decree. Matters at first had seemed to go on quietly. The +concierge, taken aback by the sudden apparition of the van, had +not summoned up courage to prevent the furniture from being +stowed away in it. The landlord, however, had got scent of the +affair, and had hastened to this spot. Now, the tenant was a +determined character, and as the van-men refused to mix +themselves up in the fray, he himself shouldered his last article +of furniture and carried it to the van. He was about to place it +within cover of the awning, when the landlord, like a miser +deprived of his treasure, seized it and deposited it on the +pavement. The tenant re-grasped his spoil and thrust it again +into the cart, from whence it was instantly drawn forth again by +the enraged landlord. This game was carried on for some time, +each as determined as the other, grasping; snatching, and pulling +this unfortunate piece of furniture until one wrench, stronger +than the former, entirely dislocated its component parts, and +laid it in a ruined heap upon the ground. This was the moment for +the tenant to show himself a man of spirit. Taking advantage of +the surprise of the landlord, he swept the broken remains of his +property deftly into the van, bounded on to the driver’s seat, +shook the reins, cracked his whip, and started off at a +thundering gallop, pursued by the huzzas of the crowd, the cries +of the van-men, and the oaths of the disappointed landlord. The +van and its team of lean cattle were soon lost to view, and the +landlord was left alone on his doorstep, shaking his fist and +muttering “Brigand!” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXIV."></a> XXIV.</h2> + +<p> +What a quantity of luggage! Even those who had the good fortune of witnessing +the emigration before the siege would never have supposed that there could be +so much luggage in Paris. Well-to-do looking trunks with brass ornaments, black +wooden boxes, hairy trunks, leathern hat-boxes, and cardboard bonnet-boxes, +portmanteaux and carpet bags are piled up on vehicles of every description, of +which more than ten thousand block up the roads leading to the railway +stations. Everybody is wild to get away; it is whispered about that the +Commune, the horrid Commune, is about to issue a decree forbidding the +Parisians to quit Paris. So all prudent individuals are making off, with their +bank-notes and shares in their pocket-books. I see a man I know, walking very +fast, wearing a troubled expression on his face. I ask him where he is +going.—“you do not know what has happened to me?” he cries. I +confess I do not.—“The most extraordinary thing: I am condemned to +death!”—“You!” I exclaim.—“Yes! by the +Commune!”—“And wherefore?” I ask.—“Because +I write on the <i>Figaro</i>.”—“Why, I never knew +that!”—“Oh! not very often; but last year I addressed a +letter to the Editor, to explain to him that my new farce called ‘My +Aunt’s Garters’ had nothing at all to do with ‘My +Uncle’s Braces,’ which is by somebody else. You understand that I +did not want to change the title, which is rather good of its kind, so I wrote +to the <i>Figaro</i>, and as my letter was inserted, and as the Commune +condemns all the contributors.... You see ...!”—“Perfectly! +Why, my dear fellow, you ought to have been off before. Of course you go to +Versailles?”—“Why, yes.”—“By the +railway?” I cannot help having a joke at his expense.—“Yes, +of course.”—“Well, if I were you, I would not, really; the +engine might blow up, or you might run into a luggage train. Such things do +happen in the best of times, and I think the Commune capable of anything to get +rid of so dangerous an adversary.”—“You don’t mean to +say,” says the poor little, man in a tremor, “that they would go to +such lengths! Well, at any rate I will travel by the road.”<a +href="#fn-29" name="fnref-29" id="fnref-29"><sup>[29]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +A little farther up the Boulevard des Italiens I see another +acquaintance. “What, still in Paris?” I say, shaking hands with +him.—“I am off this evening,” he answers.—“Are you +condemned to death?”—“No, but I shall be tried +to-night.”—“The devil! Do you write on the +<i>Figaro</i>!”—“No, no, it is quite a long story. Three +years ago, I made the acquaintance of a charming blonde, who +reciprocated my advances, and made herself highly agreeable. In a +word, I was smitten. Unfortunately there was a husband in the +case!”—“The devil there was!”—“He made inquiries, and +found out who I was, and ...”—“And invited you to mortal +combat?”—“Oh! no, he is a hosier. But from that day forth +he became my most bitter enemy.”—“Very disagreeable of him, +I am sure, but I do not see how the enmity of this retail dealer +obliges you to quit Paris?”—“Why, you see he has a cousin +who is elected a member of the Commune.”—“I understand your +uneasiness; you fear the latent revenge of this unreasonable +hosier.”—“I am to be tried to-night, but it is not the fear +of death which makes me fly. It is worse than that. Those +Hôtel de Ville people are capable of anything, and I hear +they are going to make a law on divorce. I know the malignity of +the lady’s husband—and I believe he is capable of getting a +divorce, and forcing me to marry her!” +</p> + +<p> +So, under one pretext and another, almost everyone is going away. As for me, I +am like a hardened Parisian—my boots have a rooted dislike to any other +pavement than that of the boulevards. Who is right, I, or those who are rushing +off? Is there really danger here for those who are not ardently attached to the +principles of the Commune? I try to believe not. True there have been +arrests—domiciliary visits and other illegal and tyrannical +acts—but I do not think it can last.<a href="#fn-30" name="fnref-30" +id="fnref-30"><sup>[30]</sup></a> May we not hope that the dangerous element in +the Commune will soon be neutralised by the more intelligent portion of the +Municipal Council, if, indeed, that portion exists? I cannot believe that a +revolution, accomplished by one-third of the population of Paris, and tolerated +by another (the remaining fraction having taken flight), can be entirely devoid +of the spirit of generosity and usefulness, capable only of appropriating the +funds of others, and unjustly imprisoning innocent citizens. Besides, even if +the Commune, instead of trying to make us forget the bloody deeds with which it +preceded its establishment, or seeking to repair the faults of which it has +been guilty, on the contrary continues to commit such excesses, thus harrying +to its ruin a city which has already suffered so much, even then I will not +leave it. I will cling to it to the last, as a sailor who has grown to love the +ship that has borne him gallantly in so many voyages, clings to the wreck of +his favourite, and refuses to be saved without it. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-29" id="fn-29"></a> <a href="#fnref-29">[29]</a> +The following is a document which completely justifies these +apprehensions:—<br/> + “30th March—The Commune of Paris—Orders from the +Central Committee to the officer in command, of the battalion on +guard at the station of Ouest-Ceinture.<br/> + “To stop all trains proceeding in the direction of Paris at +the Ouest-Ceinture station.<br/> + “To place an energetic man night and day at this post. This +man is to mount guard with a beam, which he is to throw across +the rails at the arrival of each train, so as to cause it to run +off the rails, if the engine-driver refuses to stop. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“HENRI, Chief of a Legion.”</small> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-30" id="fn-30"></a> <a href="#fnref-30">[30]</a> +Vexatious measures accumulated:<br/> + +The pacific M. Glais-Bizoin was arrested in a tobacconist’s +shop, where he was, doubtless, lighting a reactionary cigar. He +fancied at first that there had been a mistake, but he was taken +before the Committee, which caused him, however, to be +liberated.<br/> + +M. Maris Proth, a writer in <i>Charivari</i>, which is +certainly not a royalist journal, was arrested on the following +day, and detained for a longer time.<br/> + +On the same day a search was made at the house of the +publisher Lacroix.] +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-12"></a> +<img src="images/017.jpg" width="332" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Gambon.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="XXV."></a> XXV.</h2> + +<p> +Garibaldi is expected. Gambon has gone to Corsica to meet him. He is to be +placed at the head of the National Guard. It is devoutly to be hoped that he +will not come.<a href="#fn-31" name="fnref-31" +id="fnref-31"><sup>[31]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Firstly, because his presence at this moment would create new +dangers; and secondly, because this admirable and honoured man +would compromise his glory uselessly in our sorry discords. If I, +an obscure citizen, had the honour of being one of those to whom +the liberator of Naples lends an ear, I would go to him without +hesitation, and, after having bent before him as I would before +some ancient hero arisen from his glorious sepulchre, say to +him,—“General, you have delivered your country. At the head +of a few hundred men you have won battles and taken towns. Your +name recalls the name of William Tell. Wherever there were chains +to rend and yokes to break, you were seen to hasten. Like the +warriors Hugo exalts in his <i>Légende des +Siècles</i>, you have been the champion of justice, the +knight-errant of liberty. You appear to us victorious in a +distant vision, as in the realm of legend. For the glory of our +age in which heroes are wanting, it befits you to remain that +which you are. Continue afar off, so that you may continue great. +It is not that your glory is such that it can only be seen at a +distance, and loses when regarded, too nearly. Not so! But you +would be hampered amongst us. There is not space enough here for +you to draw your sword freely. We are adroit, strange, and +complicated. You are simple, and in that lies your greatness. We +belong to our time, you have the honour to be an anachronism. You +would be useless to your friends, destructive to yourself. What +would you, a giant fighting with the sword, do against dwarfs who +have cannon? You are courageous, but they are cunning, and would +conquer you. For the sake of the nineteenth century you must not +be vanquished. Do not come; in your simplicity you would be +caught in the spider’s web of clever mediocrity, and your grand +efforts to tear yourself free would only be laughed at. Great +man, you would be treated like a pigmy.” +</p> + +<p> +It is probable, however, that if I held such a discourse to General Garibaldi, +General Garibaldi would politely show me the door. Other and more powerful +counsellors have inspired him with different ideas. Friendship dangerous +indeed! How deeply painful is it that no man, however intelligent or great, can +clearly distinguish the line, where the mission for which Heaven has endowed +him ceases, and, disdaining all celebrity foreign to his true glory, consent to +remain such as future ages will admire.<a href="#fn-32" name="fnref-32" +id="fnref-32"><sup>[32]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-31" id="fn-31"></a> <a href="#fnref-31">[31]</a> +The Citizen Gambon, representative of the Department of the Seine, left Paris +charged with a mission to seek Garibaldi, but was arrested at Bonifacio, in the +island of Corsica, just as he was embarking for Caprera.<br/> + For Memoir, see <a href="#IV._Page_88._GAMBON.">Appendix 4</a>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-32" id="fn-32"></a> <a href="#fnref-32">[32]</a> +Garibaldi was chosen by the Central Committee for Commander-in-Chief of the +National Guard, but he refused in the following terms, pretending not to be +aware of the condition of Paris:— +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“Caprera, 28th March, 1871.</small> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +“CITIZENS,—<br/> +“Thanks for the honour you have conferred upon me by my nomination +as Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard of Paris, which I love, and +whose dangers and glory I should be proud to share.<br/> + “I owe you, however, the following explanations:—<br/> + “A commandant of the National Guard of Paris, a commander of the +Army of Paris, and a directing committee, whatever they may be, are +three powers which are not reconcilable with the present situation of +France.<br/> + “Despotism has the advantage over us, the advantage of the +concentration of power, and it is this same centralisation which you +should oppose to your enemies.<br/> + “Choose an honest citizen, and such are not wanting: Victor Hugo, +Louis Blanc, Félix Pyat, Edgar Quinet, or another of the elders of +radical democracy, would serve the purpose. The generals Oremer and +Billot, who, I see, have your confidence, may be counted in the number.<br/> + “Be assured that one honest man should be charged with the supreme +command and full powers; such a man would choose other honest men to +assist him in the difficult task of saving the country.<br/> + “If you should have the good fortune to find a Washington, France +will recover from shipwreck, and in a short time will be grander than +ever.<br/> + “These conditions are not an excuse for escaping the duty of +serving republican France. No! I do not despair of fighting by the side +of these <i>braves</i>, and I am, +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“Yours devotedly,<br/> +(Signed), “G. GARIBALDI.”</small> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXVI."></a> XXVI.</h2> + +<p> +Monday, the 3rd of April.<a href="#fn-33" name="fnref-33" +id="fnref-33"><sup>[33]</sup></a> A fearful day! I have been hurrying this way +and that, looking, questioning, reading. It is now ten o’clock in the +evening. And what do I know? Nothing certain; nothing except this, which is +awful,—they are fighting. +</p> + +<p> +Yes, at the gates of Paris, Frenchmen against Frenchmen, +beneath the eyes of the Prussians, who are watching the +battle-field like ravens: they are fighting. I have seen +ambulance waggons pass full of National Guards. By whom have they +been wounded? By Zouaves. Is this thing credible, is it possible? +Ah! those guns, cannon, and mitrailleuses, why were they not all +claimed by the enemy—all, every one, from soldiers and +Parisians alike? But little hindrance would that have proved. It +had been resolved—by what monstrous will?—that we +should be hurled to the very bottom of the precipice. These +Frenchmen, who would kill Frenchmen, would not be checked by lack +of arms. If they could not shoot each other, they would strangle +each other. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-13"></a> +<img src="images/018.jpg" width="316" height="480" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Barricade: Evening Meal—soup and cigars, and a “petit verre”</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +This, indeed, was unlooked for. An insurrection was feared; +men thought of the June days; that evening when the battalions +devoted to the National Assembly camped in the neighbourhood of +the Bank, we imagined, as a horrible possibility, muskets pointed +from between the stones of barricades, blood flowing in the +streets, men killed, women in tears. But who could have foretold +that a new species of civil war was preparing? That Paris, +separated from France, would be blockaded by Frenchmen? That it +would once more be deprived of communication with the provinces; +once more starved perhaps? That there would be, not a few men +struggling to the death in one of the quarters of the town, but +two armies in presence, each with chiefs, fortifications and +cannon? That Paris, in a word, would be besieged anew? How +abominable a surprise of fate! +</p> + +<p> +The cannonading has been heard since morning. Ah! that sound, +which, during the siege, made our hearts beat with +hope,—yes, with hope, for it made us believe in a possible +deliverance—how horrible it was this morning. I went +towards the Champs Elysées. Paris was deserted. Had it +understood at last that its honour, its existence even, were at +stake in this revolution, or was it only not up yet? Battalions +were marching along the boulevards, with music playing. They were +going towards the Place Vendôme, and were singing. The +<i>cantinières</i> were carrying guns. Some one told me +that men had been at work all night in the neighbourhood of the +Hôtel de Ville, and that the streets adjoining it were +blocked with barricades. But in fact no one knows anything, +except that there is fighting in Neuilly, that the “Royalists” +have attacked, and that “our brothers are being slaughtered.” A +few groups are assembled in the Place de la Concorde. I approach, +and find them discussing the question of the rents,—yes, of +the rents! Ah! it is certain those who are being killed at this +moment will not have to pay their landlord. On reaching the Rond +Point I can distinctly perceive a compact crowd round the +Triumphal Arch, and I meet some tired National Guards who are +returning from the battle. They are ragged, dusty, and dreary. +“What has happened?”—“We are betrayed!” says +one.—“Death to the traitors!” cries another. +</p> + +<p> +No certain news from the field of battle. A runaway, seated +outside a café amidst a group of eager questioners, +recounts that the barricade at the Neuilly bridge has been +attacked by <i>sergents de ville</i> dressed as soldiers, and +Pontifical Zouaves carrying a white flag.—“A parliamentary +flag?” asks some one.—“No! a royalist flag,” answered the +runaway.—“And the barricade has been taken?”—“We had +no cartridges; we had not eaten for twenty-four hours; of course +we had to decamp.” +</p> + +<p> +Farther on a soldier of the line affirms that the barricade +has been taken again. The cannon roars still. Mont +Valérien is firing, it is said, on the Courbevoie +barracks, where a battalion of Federal guards was stationed +yesterday.—“But they were off before daybreak,” adds the +soldier. +</p> + +<p> +As I continue my road the groups become more numerous. I lift +my head and see a shell burst over the Avenue of the Grande +Armée, leaving a puff of white smoke hanging for a few +seconds like a cloud-flake detached by the wind. +</p> + +<p> +On I go still. The height on which the Arc de Triomphe stands +is covered with people; a great many women and children among +them. They are mounted on posts, clinging to the projections of +the Arch, hanging to the sculpture of the bas-reliefs. One man +has put a plank upon the tops of three chairs, and by paying a +few <i>sous</i> the gapers can hoist themselves upon it. From +this position one can perceive a motionless, attentive crowd +reaching down the whole length of the Avenue of the Grande +Armée, as far as the Porte Maillot, from which a great +cloud of white smoke springs up every moment followed by a +violent explosion,—it is the cannon of the ramparts firing +on the Rond Point of Courbevoie; and beyond this the Avenue de +Neuilly stretching far out in the sunshine, deserted and dusty, a +human form crossing it rapidly from time to time; and farthest of +all, beyond the Seine, beyond the Avenue de l’Empereur, deserted +too, the hill of Courbevoie, where a battery of the Versailles +troops is established. But stretch my eyes as I may I cannot +distinguish the guns; but a few men, sentinels doubtless, can be +made out. They are <i>sergents de ville</i>, says my right-hand +neighbour; but he on my left says they are Pontifical Zouaves. +They must have good eyes to recognise the uniforms at this +distance. The most contradictory rumours circulate as to the +barricade on the bridge; it is impossible for one to ascertain +whether it has remained in the possession of the soldiers or the +Federals. There has been but little fighting, moreover, since I +came. A little later, at twelve o’clock, the fusillade ceases +entirely. But the battery on the ramparts continues to fire upon +Courbevoie, and Mont Valérien still shells Neuilly at +intervals. Suddenly a flood of dust, coming from Porte Maillot, +thrusts back the thick of the crowd, and as it flies, widening, +and whirling more madly as it comes, everyone is seized with +terror, and rushes away screaming and gesticulating. A shell has +just fallen, it is said, in the Avenue of the Grande +Armée. Not a soul remains about the Triumphal Arch. The +adjoining streets are filled with people who have run to take +shelter there. By little and little, however, the people begin to +recover themselves, the flight is stopped in the middle, and, +laughing at their momentary panic, they turn back again. A +quarter of an hour afterwards the crowd is everywhere as compact +as before. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-14"></a> +<img src="images/019.jpg" width="480" height="327" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Place de La Concorde and Champs Elysees, from the Gardens +of the Tuileries—Federalists going out to fight the Versaillais:</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +This panorama gives an idea of the theatre of operations of the Second Siege of +Paris. The Prussians closed the eastern enceinte, whilst the Federals held the +southern forts to the last, with the exception of Issy and Vanves that were +abandoned. Point-du-Jour and Porte Maillot were the parts particularly +attacked; the former being defended by the Federal gunboats on the Seine. Mont +Valérien, it will be seen, commands the whole of the distant plateau. About one +mile and a half beyond the Triumphal Arch the river Seine intersects the space +from south to north, enclosing the Bois de Boulogne and the villages of +Neuilly, Villiers, and Courcelles, being a sort of outer fortification. The +walls of Paris follow the same line, falling about half a mile on the other +side of the Arch, and parallel runs a line of railway within the fortified +wall. This view exhibits the portion the Prussians were permitted to occupy for +two days: all the outlets, except the west, being barricaded and defended. +</p> + +<p> +This spectacle, however, of combatants and gapers distresses +me, and in despair of learning anything I return into the +city. +</p> + +<p> +At some distance from the scene of events one gets better +information, or, at any rate, a great deal more of it. +Imagination has better play when it is farther from the fact. A +hundred absurd stories reach me. What appears tolerably certain +is, that the Federals have received a check, not very important +in itself, the Versailles troops having made but little advance, +but at any rate a check which might have some influence on the +resolution of the National Guards. They have been told that the +army would not fight, that the soldiers of the line would turn +the butt-ends of their guns into the air at Neuilly as they had +done at Montmartre. But now they begin to believe that the army +will fight, and those who cry the loudest that it was the +<i>sergents de ville</i> and Charette’s Zouaves who led the +attack alone, seem as if they said it to give themselves courage +and keep up their illusions. +</p> + +<p> +But from which side did the first shot come? On this point +everyone has something to say, and no one knows what to believe. +Official reports are looked for with the utmost impatience. The +walls, generally so communicative, are mute up to this hour. The +least improbable of the versions circulated is the following: At +break of day some shots are said to have been exchanged between +the Federal advanced guard and the patrols of the Versailles +troops. None dead or wounded; only powder wasted, happily. A +little later, and a few minutes after the arrival of General +Vinoy at Mont Valérien, a messenger with a flag of truce, +preceded by a trumpeter and accompanied by two <i>sergents de +ville</i> (inevitably), is said to have presented himself at the +bridge of Courbevoie. The name of the messenger has been +given,—Monsieur Pasquier, surgeon-in-chief to the regiment +of mounted <i>gendarmes</i>. Two of the National Guards go to +meet him; after some words exchanged, one of the Federals blows +out Monsieur Pasquier’s brains with his revolver, and ten minutes +later Mont Valérien opens a formidable fire, which +continues as fiercely four hours afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the drams beat to arms, on all sides. A considerable +number of battalions defile along the Boulevard Montmartre; more +than twenty thousand men, some say, who pretend to know. On they +march, singing and shouting “<i>Vive la Commune! Vive la +République!</i>” They are answered by a few shouts. These +are not the Montmartre and Belleville guards alone; peaceful +faces of citizens and merchants may be seen under the military +<i>képis</i>, and many hands are white as no workman’s +are. They march in good order,—they are calm and resolved; +one feels that these men are ready to die for a cause that they +believe to be just. I raise my hat as they pass; one must do +honour to those who, even if they be guilty, push their devotion +so far as to expose themselves to death for their +convictions. +</p> + +<p> +But what are these convictions? What is the Commune? The men +who sit at the Hôtel de Ville have published no programme, +yet they kill and are killed for the sake of the Commune. Oh, +words! words! What power they have over you, heroic and most +simple people! +</p> + +<p> +In the evening out came a proclamation. There was so great a +crowd wherever it was posted up that I had not the chance of +copying it; but it ran somewhat in these terms:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CITIZENS,—This morning the Royalists have ATTACKED.<br/> + “Impatient, before our moderation they have ATTACKED.<br/> + “Unable to bring French bayonets against us, they have opposed us + with the Imperial Guard and Pontifical Zouaves.<br/> + “They have bombarded the inoffensive village of Neuilly.<br/> + “Charette’s <i>chouans</i>, Cathelineau’s <i>Vendéens</i>, Trochu’s <i>Bretons</i>, + Valentin’s <i>gendarmes</i>, have rushed upon us.<br/> + “There are dead and wounded.<br/> + “Against this attack, renewed from the Prussians, Paris should rise + to a man.<br/> + “Thanks to the support of the National Guard, the victory will be + ours!” +</p> + +<p> +Victory! What victory? Oh, the bitter pain! Paris shedding the +blood of France, France shedding the blood of Paris! From +whatever side the triumph comes, will it not be accursed? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-33" id="fn-33"></a> <a href="#fnref-33">[33]</a> +On the 1st of April several shots were fired under the walls of Fort Issy, but +it was not until the next day, the 2nd of April, at nine o’clock in the +morning, that the action commenced in earnest at Courbevoie, by an attack of +the Versailles army. The federals, who thought themselves masters of the place, +were stopped by the steady firing of a regiment of gendarmerie and heavy +cannonading from Mont Valérien. At first the National Guards retreated, then +disputed every foot of ground with much courage. In the neighbourhood the +desolation and misery was extreme.<br/> + The revolution had now entered a new phase; the military proceedings had +begun, and it was about to be proved that, the Communist generals had even less +genius than those of the Défense Nationale, although it must be admitted that +the latter did not know the extent of the resources they had at their disposal. +When we remember the small advantage those generals managed to derive from the +heroism of the Parisian population, who, during the second siege showed that +they knew how to fight and how to die, it is marvellous that many people have +gone so far as to regret that the émeute of the 31st of October was not +successful, believing that if the Commune had triumphed at that time, Paris +would have been saved. All this seems very doubtful now, and opinions have +veered round considerably, for it is not such men as Duval, Cluseret, La +Cécilia, Eudes, or Bergeret, who could have protected Paris against the science +of the Prussian generals. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-15"></a> +<img src="images/020.jpg" width="293" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>General Bergeret.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="XXVII."></a> XXVII.</h2> + +<p> +To whom shall we listen? Whom believe? It would take a +hundred pages, and more, to relate all the different rumours +which have circulated to-day, the 4th of April, the second day of +the horrible straggle. Let us hastily note down the most +persistent of these assertions; later I will put some order into +this pell-mell of news. +</p> + +<p> +All through the night the drums beat to arms in every quarter +of the town. Companies assembled rapidly, and directed their way +towards the Place Vendôme or the Porte Maillot, shouting, +“<i>A Versailles!</i>” Since five this morning, General Bergeret +has occupied the Rond-Point of Courbevoie. This position has been +evacuated by the troops of the Assembly. How was this? Were the +Federals not beaten yesterday? +</p> + +<p> +(One thing goes against General Bergeret in the opinion of his +troops: he drives to battle in a carriage.) +</p> + +<p> +He has formed his troops into columns. No less than sixty thousand men are +under his orders; two batteries of seven guns support the infantry; omnibuses +follow, filled with provisions. They march towards the Mont Valérien; after +having taken the fort, they will march on Versailles by Rueil and Nanterre.<a +href="#fn-34" name="fnref-34" id="fnref-34"><sup>[34]</sup></a> After they have +taken the Mont Valérien! there is not a moment’s doubt about the success +of the enterprise. “We were assured,” said a Federal general to me, +“that the fort would open its doors at the first sight of us.” But +they counted without General Cholleton, who commands the fortress. The +advance-guard of the Federals is received by a formidable discharge of shot and +shells. Panic! Cries of rage! A regular rout to the words, “We are +betrayed!”<a href="#fn-35" name="fnref-35" +id="fnref-35"><sup>[35]</sup></a> The army of the Commune is divided into two +fragments: one—scarcely three battalions strong—flies in the +direction of Versailles, the other regains Paris with praiseworthy +precipitation. Must the Parisian combatants be accused of cowardice for this +flight? No! They were surprised; had never expected such a reception from Mont +Valérien; had they been warned, they would have held out better. After all, +there was more fright than harm done in the affair; the huge fortress could +have annihilated the Communists, and it was satisfied with dispersing them. But +what has become of the three battalions that passed Mont Valérien? Bravely they +went forward. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime another movement was being made upon +Versailles by Meudon and Clamart. A small number of battalions +had marched out during the night, and are massed under cover of +the forts of Issy and Vanves. They have managed to establish a +battery of a few guns on a wooded eminence, at the foot of the +glacis of Fort. Issy, and their pieces are firing upon the +batteries of the Versailles troops at Meudon, which are answering +them furiously. It is a duel of artillery, as in the +time—the good time, alas!—of the Prussians. +</p> + +<p> +Up to this moment the information is tolerably clear; probable +even, and one is able to come to some idea of the respective +positions of the belligerents. But towards two o’clock in the +afternoon all the reports get confused and contradictory. +</p> + +<p> +An estafette, who has come from the Porte Maillot, cried to a +group formed on the place of the New Opera-house, “We are +victorious! Flourens has entered Versailles at the head of forty +thousand men. A hundred deputies have been taken. Thiers is a +prisoner.” +</p> + +<p> +Elsewhere it is said that in the rout of that morning, at the +foot of Mont Valérien, Flourens had disappeared. And where +could he have found the forty thousand men to lead them to +Versailles? +</p> + +<p> +At the same time a rumour spreads that General Bergeret has +been grievously wounded by a shell. “Pure exaggeration!” some one +answers. “The General has only had two horses killed under +him.” +</p> + +<p> +Before him, rather, since he drives to battle. What appears +most certain of all is that there is furious fighting going on +between Sèvres and Meudon. I hear it said that the 118th +of the line have turned the butts of their guns into the air, and +that the Parisians have taken twelve mitrailleuses from the +Versailles troops. +</p> + +<p> +There is fighting, too, at Châtillon. The Federals have +won great advantages. Nevertheless an individual who went out +that side to investigate, announces that he saw three battalions +return with very little air of triumph, and that other +battalions, forming the reserve, had refused to march. +</p> + +<p> +A shower of contradictions, in which the news for the most +part has no other source than the opinion and desire of the +person who brings it. It is by the result alone that we can +appreciate what is passed. At one moment I give up trying to get +information as a bad job, but I begin questioning again in spite +of myself; the desire to know is even stronger than the very +strong certainty that I shall be able to learn nothing. +</p> + +<p> +I turn to the Champs Elysées. The cannon is roaring; +ambulance waggons descend the Avenue, and stop before the Palais +de l’Industrie; over the way Punch is making his audience roar +with laughter as usual. Oh! the miserable times! The horrible +fratricidal struggle! May those who were its cause be accursed +for ever! +</p> + +<p> +While some are killing and others dying, the members of the +Commune are rendering decrees, and the walls are white with +official proclamations. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Messieurs Thiers, Favre, Picard, Dufaure, Simon and Pothuan are impeached; +their property will be seized and sequestrated until they deliver themselves up +to public justice.” +</p> + +<p> +This impeachment and sequestration, will it bring back +husbands to the widows and fathers to the orphans? +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The Commune of Paris adopts the families of citizens who have fallen or may +fall in opposing the criminal aggression of the Royalists, directed against +Paris and against the French republic.” +</p> + +<p> +Infinitely better than adopting the orphans would be to save +the fathers from death. Oh, these absurd decrees! You separate +the Church from the State; you suppress the budget of public +worship; you confiscate the property of the clergy. A pretty time +to think about such acts! What is necessary, what is +indispensable, is to restore quiet, to avoid massacres, and to +stifle hatred. That you will not decree. No! no! That which is +now happening you have desired, and you still desire it; you have +profited by the provocations you have received to bring about the +most frightful conflict which the history of unfortunate France +records; and you will persevere, and in order to revive the +fainting courage of those whom you have devoted to inevitable +defeat and death, you bring into action all the hypocrisy with +which you have charged your enemies! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Bergeret and Flourens have joined their forces; they are marching on +Versailles. Success is certain!” +</p> + +<p> +You cause this announcement to be placarded in the +street—false news, is it not? But men can only be led to +their ruin by being deceived. You add: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The fire of the army of Versailles has not occasioned us any appreciable +loss.” +</p> + +<p> +Ah! As to this let us ask the women who await at the gates of +the city the return of your soldiers, and crowd sobbing round the +bloody litters! +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-34" id="fn-34"></a> <a href="#fnref-34">[34]</a> +The combined plan of the three generals of the Commune consisted, like the +famous plan of General Boum, in proceeding by three different roads: the first +column, under the orders of Bergeret, seconded by Flourens, went by Rueil; the +second, commanded by Duval, marched upon Versailles by lower Meudon, Chaville, +and Viroflay; covered by the fire of Fort Issy, and the redoubt of Moulineaux; +and lastly, the third, with General Eudes at its head, took the Clamart road, +protected by the fort of Vanves. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-35" id="fn-35"></a> <a href="#fnref-35">[35]</a> +Though no fort covered Bergeret’s eight battalions with its fire, yet +Bergeret was so sure that the artillerymen of Mont Valérien would do as the +line did on the 18th of March, i.e., refuse to fire, that he advanced boldly as +far as the bridge of Neuilly, and had made a halt at the Rond-Point des +Bergères, when a heavy cannonading from Mont Valérien separated a part of the +column from its main body. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXVIII."></a> XXVIII.</h2> + +<p> +Every hour that flies by, becomes more sinister than the last. +They fight at Clamart as they fight at Neuilly, at Meudon and at +Courbevoie. Everywhere rage the mitrailleuses, the cannon, and +the rifle; the victories of the Communalists are lyingly +proclaimed. The truth of their pretended triumphs will soon be +known; and unhappily victory will be as detestable as defeat. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +General Duval has been made prisoner and put to death. “If you had taken me,” +asked General Vinoy, “would you not have shot me?”—“Without hesitation,” +replied Duval. And Vinoy gave the word of command, “Fire!” +</p> + +<p> +But this anecdote, though widely spread, is probably false. It +is scarcely likely that a Commander-in-Chief of the Versailles +troops would have consented to hold such a dialogue with an +“<i>insurgent</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Flourens also is killed. Where and how is not yet known with +any certainty. Several versions are given. Some speak of a ball +in the head, or the neck, or the chest; others spread the report +that his skull was cut open by a sword. +</p> + +<p> +Flourens is thought about and talked of by men of the most +opposite opinions. This singular man inspires no antipathy even +amongst those who might hold him in the greatest detestation. I +shall one day try to account for the partiality of opinion in +favour of this young and romantic insurgent. +</p> + +<p> +Duval shot, Flourens killed, Bergeret lying in the pangs of +death; the enthusiasm of the Federals might well be cooled down. +Not in the least! The battalions that march along the boulevards +have the same resolute air, as they sing and shout “<i>Vive la +Commune!</i>” Are they the dupes of their chiefs to that extent +as to believe the pompous proclamations with their hourly +announcements of attacks repelled, of redoubts taken, of soldiers +of the line made prisoners? It is not probable. And besides, the +guards of the respective quarters must see the return of those +who have been to the fight, and whose anxious wives are waiting +on the steps of the doors; must learn from them that the forward +marches have in reality been routs, and that many dead and +wounded have been left on the field, when the Commune reports +only declare “losses of little importance.” Whence comes this +ardour that the first rush and defeat cannot check? Is it +nourished by the reports, true or false, of the cruelties of the +Versaillais which are spread by the hundred? The “murder” of +Duval, the “assassination” of Flourens, prisoners shot, +<i>vivandières</i> violated, all these culpable +inventions—can they be inventions, or does civil war make +such barbarians of us?—are indeed of a nature to excite the +enthusiasm of hate, and the men march to a probable defeat with +the same air as they would march to certain victory. Ah! whether +led astray or not, whether guilty, even, or whatever the motive +that impels them, they are brave! And when they pass thus they +are grand. Yes! in spite of the rags that serve the greater +number of them for uniforms, in spite of the drunken gait of +some, as a whole they are superb! And the reason of the coldest +partisan of order at any price, struggles in vain against the +admiration which these men inspire as they march to their +death. +</p> + +<p> +It must be admitted, too, that there is much less disorder in +the command than might be expected. The battalions all know whom +they are to obey. Some go to the Hôtel de Ville, others to +the Place Vendôme, many to the forts, a few to the advanced +posts; marches and counter-marches are managed without confusion, +and the combatants are in general well provided with ammunition, +and supplied with provisions. Far as one is from esteeming the +chiefs of the Federals, one is obliged to admit that there is +something remarkable in this rapid organisation of a whole army +in the midst of one of the most complete political convulsions. +Who, then, directs? Who commands? The members of the Commune, +divided as they are in opinion, do not appear capable, on account +of their number and lamentable inexperience, of taking the sole +lead in military affairs. Is there not some one either amongst +them or in the background, who knows how to think, direct, and +act? Is it Bergeret? Is it Cluseret? The future perhaps will +unravel the mystery. In the meantime, and in spite of the +reverses to which the Federals have had to submit during these +last days, the whole of Paris unites in unanimous surprise at the +extreme regularity with which the administrative system of the +war seems to work, the surprise being the greater that, during +the siege, the “legitimate” chiefs with much more powerful means, +and having disciplined troops at their command, did not succeed +in obtaining the same striking results. +</p> + +<p> +But would it not have been better far that that order had +never existed? Better a thousand times that the command had been +less precise than that those commanded should have been led to a +death without glory? For the last few days Neuilly, so joyous in +times gone by with its busy shops, its frequented +<i>restaurants</i> and princely parks; Neuilly, with the +Versailles batteries on one side and the Paris guns on the other, +under an incessant rain of shells and <i>mitraille</i> from Mont +Valérien; Neuilly, with her bridge taken and re-taken, her +barricades abandoned and re-conquered, has been for the last few +days like a vast abyss, into which the Federal battalions, seized +with mortal giddiness, are precipitated one after another. Each +house is a fortress. Yesterday, the <i>gendarmes</i> had advanced +as far as the market of Sablonville; this morning they were +driven back beyond the church. Upon this church, a child; the son +of Monsieur Leullier, planted a red flag amidst a shower of +projectiles. “That child will make a true man,” said Cluseret, +the war delegate. Ah, yes! provided he is not a corpse ere then. +Shots are fired from window to window. A house is assaulted; +there are encounters, on the stairs; it is a horrible struggle in +which no quarter is given, night and day, through all hours. The +rage and fury on both sides are terrific. Men that were friends a +week ago have but one desire—to assassinate each other. An +inhabitant of Neuilly, who succeeded in escaping, related this to +me: Two enemies, a soldier of the line and a Federal, had an +encounter in the bathing establishment of the Avenue de Neuilly, +a little above the Rue des Huissiers. Now pursuing, now flying +from each other in their bayonet-fight, they reached the roof of +the house, and there, flinging down their arms, they closed in a +mad struggle. On the sloping roof, the tiles of which crush +beneath them, at a hundred feet from the ground, they struggled +without mercy, without respite, until at last the soldier felt +his strength give way, and endeavoured to escape from the gripe +of his adversary. Then, the Federal—the person from whom I +learnt this was at an opposite window and lost not a single one +of their movements—the Federal drew a knife from his pocket +and prepared himself to strike his half-prostrate antagonist, +who, feeling that all hope was lost, threw himself flat on the +roof, seized his enemy by the leg, and dragging him with him by a +sudden movement, they rolled over and fell on to the pavement +below. Neither was killed, but the soldier had his face crimsoned +with blood and dust, and the Federal, who had fallen across his +adversary, despatched him by plunging his knife in his chest. +</p> + +<p> +Such is this infamous struggle! Such is this savage strife! +Will it not cease until there is no more blood to shed? In the +meantime, Paris of the boulevards, the elegant and fast-living +Paris, lounges, strolls, and smiles. In spite of the numerous +departures there are still enough blasé dandies and +beauties of light locks and lighter reputation to bring the blush +to an honest man’s cheek. The theatres are open; “<i>La +Pièce du Pape</i>” is being played. Do you know “The +Pope’s Money?” It is a suitable piece for diverting the thoughts +from the horrors of civil war. A year ago the Pope was supported +by French bayonets, but his light coinage would not pass in +Paris. Now Papal zouaves are killing the citizens of Paris, and +we take light silver and lighter paper. The piece is flimsy +enough. It is not its political significance that makes it +diverting, but the <i>double-entendre</i> therein. One must laugh +a little, you understand. Men are dying out yonder, we might as +well laugh a little here. Low whispers in the <i>baignoires</i>, +munching of sugared violets in the stage boxes—everything’s +for the best. Mademoiselle Nénuphar (named so by +antithesis) is said to have the most beautiful eyes in the world. +I will wager that that handsome man behind her has already +compared them to mitraille shot, seeing the ravages they commit. +It would be impossible to be more complimentary,—more witty +and to the point. Ah! look you, those who are fighting at this +moment, who to-day by their cannon and chassepots are exposing +Paris to a terrible revenge, guilty as these men are, I hold them +higher than those who roar with laughter when the whole city is +in despair, who have not even the modesty to hide their joys from +our distresses, and who amuse themselves openly with shameless +women, while mothers are weeping for their children! +</p> + +<p> +On the boulevards it is worse still; there, vice exhibits +itself and triumphs. Is it then true what a young fellow, a poor +student and bitter philosopher, said to me just now: “When all +Paris is destroyed, when its houses, its palaces, and its +monuments thrown down and crushed, strew its accursed soil and +form but one vast ruin beneath the sky, then, from out of this +shapeless mass will rise as from a huge sepulchre, the phantom of +a woman, a skeleton dressed in a brilliant dress, with shoulders +bared, and a toquet on its head; and this phantom, running from +ruin to ruin, turning its head every now and then to see if some +libertine is following her through the waste—this phantom +is the leprous soul of Paris!” +</p> + +<p> +When midnight approaches, the <i>cafés</i> are shut. +The delegates of the Central Committee at the ex-prefecture have +the habit of sending patrols of National Guards to hasten and +overlook the closing of all public places. But this precaution, +like so many others, is useless. There are secret doors which +escape the closest investigations. When the shutters are put up, +light filters through the interstices of the boards. Go close up +to them, apply your eye to one of those lighted crevices, listen +to the cannon roaring, the mitrailleuses horribly spitting, the +musketry cracking, and then look into the interior of the closed +rooms. People are talking, eating, and smoking; waiters go to and +fro. There are women too. The men are gay and silly. Champagne +bottles are being uncorked. “Ah! ah! it’s the fusillade!” Lovers +and mistresses are in common here. This orgie has the most +telling effect, I tell you, in the midst of the city loaded with +maledictions, a few steps from the battle-field where the +bayonets are dealing their death thrusts, and the shells are +scattering blood. And later, after the laughter and the songs and +the drink, they take an open carriage, if the night is fine, and +go to the Champs Elysées, and there mount upon the box by +the coachman to try and see the fight—if “those people” +knew how to die as well as they know how to laugh it would be +better for them. +</p> + +<p> +Other <i>bons viveurs</i>, more discreet, hide themselves on +the first floors of some houses and in some of the clubs. But +they are betrayed by the sparkle of the chandeliers which pierces +the heavy curtains. If you walk along by the walls you will hear +the conversation of the gamesters and the joyous clink of the +gold pieces. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! the cowardice of the merry ones! Oh, thrice pardonable +anger of those who starve! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXIX."></a> XXIX.</h2> + +<p> +At one o’clock this morning, the 5th of April, on my return +from one of these nightly excursions through Paris, I was +following the Rue du Mont Thabor so as to gain the boulevards, +when on crossing the Rue Saint-Honoré I perceived a small +number of National Guards ranged along the pavement. The incident +was a common one, and I took no notice of it. In the Rue du Mont +Thabor not a person was to be seen; all was in silence and +solitude. Suddenly a door opened a few steps in front of me; a +man came out and hurried away in the direction opposite to that +of the church. This departure looked like a flight. I stopped and +lent my attention. Soon two National Guards rushed out by the +same door, ran, shouting as they went, after the fugitive, who +had had but a short start of them, and overtaking him, without +difficulty brought him back between them, while the National +Guards that I had seen in the Rue Saint-Honoré ran up at +the noise. The exclamations and insults of all kinds that were +vociferated led me to ascertain that the man they had arrested +was the Abbé Deguerry, <i>curé</i> of the +Madeleine. He was dragged into the house, the door was shut, and +all sank into silence again. +</p> + +<p> +That morning I learned that Monseigneur Darboy, the Archbishop +of Paris, was taken at the same hour and in almost similar +circumstances. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-16"></a> +<img src="images/021.jpg" width="357" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>ABBÉ DEGUERRY,<br/>Curé of the Madeleine.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +The arrests of several other ecclesiastics are cited. The +<i>curé</i> of St. Séverin and the +<i>curé</i> of St. Eustache have been made prisoners, it +is said; the first in his own house, the second at the moment +when he was leaving his church. The <i>curé</i> of +Notre-Dame-des-Victoires was to have been arrested also, but +warned in time, he was able to place himself in safety. +</p> + +<p> +Monseigneur Darboy, being conducted to the ex-prefecture (why +the <i>ex</i>-prefecture? It seems to me it works just as well as +when it was purely and simply a prefecture), was cross-examined +there by the citizen delegate Rigault. It must be said that +Monsieur Rigault had begun to make himself talked about during +these last few days. He is evidently a man who has a natural +vocation for the employment he has chosen, for he arrests, and +arrests, and still arrests. He is young, cold, and cynical. But +his cynicism does not exclude him from a certain gaiety, as we +shall see. It was the Citizen Rigault, then, who examined the +Archbishop of Paris. I am not inordinately curious, but I should +very much like to know what the cynical member of the Commune +could ask of Monseigneur Darboy. Having committed apparently but +one crime, that of being a priest, and having no inclination to +disguise it, it is difficult to know what the interrogatory could +turn upon. Monsieur Rigault’s imagination furnished him no doubt +with ample materials for the interview, and he has probably as +much vocation for the part of a magistrate as for that of a +police officer. But however it may be, the journals of the +Commune record this fragment with ill-disguised admiration. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-17"></a> +<img src="images/022.jpg" width="330" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Raoul Rigault<a href="#fn-36" name="fnref-36" +id="fnref-36"><sup>[36]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-18"></a> +<img src="images/023.jpg" width="276" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Monseigneur Darboy,<br/>Archbishop of Paris.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +“My children”—the white-haired Archbishop of Paris is +reported to have said at one moment. +</p> + +<p> +“Citizen,” interrupted the Citizen Rigault, who is not yet +thirty, “you are not before children, but before +magistrates.” +</p> + +<p> +That was smart! And I can conceive the enthusiasm with which +Monsieur Rigault inspires the members of the Commune. But this +excellent citizen did not confine himself to this haughty +repartee. I am informed (and I have reason to believe with truth) +that he added: “Moreover, that’s too old a tale. You have been +trying it on these eighteen hundred years.” +</p> + +<p> +Now everyone must admit that this is as remarkable for its wit +as for its elegance, and it is just what might be expected of the +amiable delegate, who, the other day, in a moment of exaggerated +clemency, permitted an abbé to visit a prisoner in the +Conciergerie, and furnished him with a <i>laisser-passer</i> that +ran thus: “Admit the bearer, who styles himself the servant of +one of the name of God.” Oh! what graceful, charming wit! +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-36" id="fn-36"></a> <a href="#fnref-36">[36]</a> +Rigault became connected with Rochefort in the year 1869, and with him was +engaged on the journal called the <i>Marseillaise</i>, and produced articles +which subjected him more than once to fine and imprisonment. In the month of +September, 1870, he was appointed by the Government of the National Defence, +Commissaire of Police, but having taken part in the insurrection of the 31st of +October, he was, on the following day, dismissed from office. Shortly after +this he made his appearance as a writer in Blanqui’s paper the <i>Patrie +en Danger</i>; but, presently, he took a military turn, and got himself elected +to the command of a battalion of the National Guard. He seems to have been born +an informer or police spy, for we are told when at school, he used to amuse +himself by filling up lists of proscriptions, with the names of his +fellow-pupils. With such charming natural instincts, it is not at all +surprising that he was on the 18th of March, appointed by the Commune +Government, Prefect of Police. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXX."></a> XXX.</h2> + +<p> +I am beginning to feel decidedly uncomfortable. This new +decree of the Commune seriously endangers the liberty of all +those who are so unfortunate as to have incurred the ill-will of +their concierge, or whose dealings with his next-door neighbour +have not been of a strictly amicable nature. Let us copy the 1st +article of this ferocious decree. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“All persons accused of complicity with the Government of Versailles +shall be immediately taken and incarcerated.”<a href="#fn-37" +name="fnref-37" id="fnref-37"><sup>[37]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Pest! they do not mince matters! Why, the first good-for-nothing +rascal—to whom, perhaps, I refused to lend five francs seven years +ago—may go round to Citizen Rigault and tell him that I am in regular +communication with Versailles, whereupon I am immediately incarcerated. For, I +beg it may be observed, it is not necessary that the complicity with “the +traitors” should be proved. The denunciation is quite sufficient for one +to be sent to contemplate the blue sky through the bars of the Conciergerie.<a +href="#fn-38" name="fnref-38" id="fnref-38"><sup>[38]</sup></a> Besides, what +do the words “complicity with the Government of Versailles” mean? +All depends upon the way one looks at those things. I am not sure that I am +innocent. I remember distinctly having several times bowed to a pleasant +fellow—I say pleasant fellow, hoping that these lines will not fall under +the observation of any one at the Prefecture of Police—who at this very +moment is quite capable, the rogue, of eating a comfortable dinner at the Hôtel +des Réservoirs at Versailles in company with one or more of the members of the +National Assembly. You can understand now why I am beginning to feel rather +uncomfortable. To know a man who knows a deputy, constitutes, I am fully +persuaded—otherwise I am unworthy to live under the paternal government +of the Commune—a most decided complicity with the men of Versailles. I +really think it would be only commonly prudent to steal out of Paris in a coal +sack, as a friend of mine did the other day, or in some other agreeable +fashion.<a href="#fn-39" name="fnref-39" id="fnref-39"><sup>[39]</sup></a> See +what may come of a bow! +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-37" id="fn-37"></a> <a href="#fnref-37">[37]</a> +DECREE CONCERNING THE SUSPECTED. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<small>“Commune of Paris:</small> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +“Considering that the Government of Versailles has wantonly +trampled on the rights of humanity, and set at defiance the +rights of war; that it has perpetrated horrors such as even the +invaders of our soil have shrunk from committing;<br/> + “Considering that the representatives of the Commune of Paris +have an imperative duty devolving upon them,—that of +defending the lives and honour of two millions of inhabitants, +who have committed their destinies to their charge; and that it +behoves them at once to take measures equal to the gravity of the +situation;<br/> + “Considering that the politicians and magistrates of the city +ought to reconcile the general weal with respect for public +liberty,<br/> + “Decrees:<br/> + “Art. 1. All persons charged with complicity with the +Government of Versailles will be immediately brought to justice +and incarcerated.<br/> + “Art. 2. A ‘jury, of accusation’ will be summoned within the +twenty-four hours to examine the charges brought before it.<br/> + “Art. 3. The jury must pass sentence within the forty-eight +hours.<br/> + “Art. 4. All the accused, convicted by the jury, will be +retained as hostages by the People of Paris.<br/> + “Art. 6. Every execution of a prisoner of war, or of a member +of the regular Government of the Commune of Paris, will be at +once followed by the execution of a triple number of hostages, +retained by virtue of article 4, who will be chosen by lot.<br/> + “Art. 6. All prisoners of war will be summoned before the +‘jury of accusation,’ who will decide whether they be immediately +set at liberty or retained as hostages.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-38" id="fn-38"></a> <a href="#fnref-38">[38]</a> +Prison of Detention. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-39" id="fn-39"></a> <a href="#fnref-39">[39]</a> +The following is still more naïve:—A man takes a return-ticket for the +environs, and sometimes finds a guard silly enough to allow him to pass on the +supposition that such a ticket was sufficient proof of his intention of +returning to Paris.<br/> + Others get into the waiting-room without tickets, under the pretext of +speaking to some one there.<br/> + M. Bergerat, a poet, passed the barrier in a cart-load of charcoal. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-19"></a> +<img src="images/024.jpg" width="359" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Colonel Flourens.<a href="#fn-40" name="fnref-40" +id="fnref-40"><sup>[40]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="XXXI."></a> XXXI.</h2> + +<p> +Flourens is dead: we heard that last night for certain. A National Guard had +previously brought back the colonel’s horse from Bougival, but it was +only a few hours ago that we heard any details. An attempt was made to take him +prisoner at Rueil. A gendarme called out to him to surrender, he replied by a +pistol shot; another gendarme advanced, and wounded him in the side, a third +cleft his skull with a sabre out. Some people do not believe in the pistol +shot, and talk of assassination. How many such events are there, the truth of +which will never be clearly proved! One thing certain is, that Flourens is +dead. His body was recognised at Versailles by some one in the service of +Garnier frères. His mother started this morning to fetch the corpse of her son. +It is strange that one is so painfully affected by the violent death of this +man. He has been mixed up in all the revolutionary attempts of the last few +years, and ought to be particularly obnoxious to all peaceful and order-loving +citizens; but the truth is, his was a sincerely ardent and enthusiastic spirit. +He was a thorough believer in the principles he maintained. Whatever may be the +religion he professes, the apostle inspires esteem, and the martyr compassion. +This apostle, this martyr, was born to affluence; son of an illustrious savant, +he may be almost said to have been born to hereditary distinction. He was still +quite young when he threw himself heart and soul into politics. There was +fighting in Crete, and so off he went. There he revolted against the revolt +itself, got imprisoned, escaped, outwitted the gendarmes, got retaken: his +adventures sound like a legend or romance. It is because he was so romantic, +that he is so interesting. He returned to France full of generous impulses. He +was as prodigal of his money as he had been of his blood. In the bitter cold +winters he fed and clothed the poor of Belleville, going from attic to attic +with money and consolation. You remember what Victor Hugo says of the sublime +Pauline Roland. The spirit of Flourens much resembled hers. The patriot could +act the part of a sister of charity. At other times, an enthusiast in search of +a social Eldorado, he would put himself at the service of the most forlorn +cause; never was anyone so imprudent. He was of a most active and critical +disposition: it was impossible for him to remain quiet. When he was not +seemingly employed, he was agitating something in the shade. His friendship for +Rochefort was great. These two turbulent spirits, one with his pen, the other +with his physical activity, remind us each of the other. Both ran to extremes, +Rochefort in his literary invectives, Flourens in his hairbreadth adventures. +Although they were often allied, these two, they were sometimes opposed. Have +you never, seen two young artists in a studio performing the old trick, one +making a speech, while the other, with his head and body hidden in the folds of +a cloak, stretches forth his arms and executes the most extravagant gestures? +Rochefort and Flourens performed this farce in politics, the former talking, +the latter gesticulating; but on the day of the burial of Victor Noir they went +different ways. On that day Rochefort, to do him justice, saved a large +multitude of men from terrible danger. Flourens, always the same, wished the +body to be carried to Père Lachaise; on the road there must have been a +collision; that was what he desired, but he was defeated. The tongue prevailed, +a hundred thousand cries of vengeance filled the air, but they were only cries, +and no mischief was done, except to a few graves in the Neuilly cemetery. +Flourens awaited a better occasion, but by no means passively. He was a man of +barricades; he did not seem to think that paving-stones were made to walk on, +he only cared to see them heaped up across a street for the protection of armed +patriots. Although he always wore the dress of a gentleman, he was not one of +those black-coated individuals who incite the men to rebellion and keep out of +the way while the fight is going on; he helped to defend the barricades he had +ordered to be thrown up. Wherever there was a chance of being killed, he was +sure to be; and in the midst of all this he never lost his placid expression, +nor the politeness of a gentleman, nor the look of extreme youth which beamed +from his eyes, and must have been on his face even when he fell under the cruel +blows of the gendarmes. Now he is dead. He is judged harshly, he is condemned, +but he cannot be hated. He was a madman, but he was a hero. The conduct of +Flourens at the Hôtel de Ville in the night of the 31st October is hardly in +keeping with so favourable a view. The French forgive and forget with +facility—let that pass. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-40" id="fn-40"></a> <a href="#fnref-40">[40]</a> +Flourens was born in 1838, and was the son of the well-known <i>savant</i> and +physiologist of this name. He completed his studies with brilliancy, and +succeeded his father as professor of the Collège de France. His opening lecture +on the History of Man made a profound impression on the scientific world. +However, he retired from this post in 1864, and turned his undivided attention +to the political questions of the day. Deeply compromised by certain pamphlets +written by him, he left France for Candia, where he espoused the popular cause +against the Turks. On his return to France he was imprisoned for three months +for political offences. Rochefort’s candidature was hotly supported by +him. In 1870 he rose against the Government, with a large force of the +Belleville <i>faubouriens</i>. He was prosecuted, and took refuge in London. +After the fourth of September he was placed at the head of five battalions of +National Guards. He was again imprisoned for having instigated the rising of +October, and it was not till the twenty-second of March that he was set at +liberty. On the second of April he set out for Versailles at the head of an +insurgent troop. He was met midway by a mounted patrol, and in the <i>mêlée</i> +that ensued he was killed. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXXII."></a> XXXII.</h2> + +<p> +In the midst of so many horrible events, which interest the +whole mass of the people, ought I to mention an incident which +broke but one heart? Yes, I think the sad episode is not without +importance, even in so vast a picture. It was a child’s funeral. +The little wooden coffin, scantily covered with a black pall, was +not larger, as Théophile Gautier says, “than a violin +case.” There were few mourners. A woman, the mother doubtless, in +a black stuff dress and white crimped cap, holding by the hand a +boy, who had not yet reached the age of sorrowing tears, and +behind them a little knot of neighbours and friends. The small +procession crept along the wide street in the bright +sunlight. +</p> + +<p> +When it reached the church they found the door closed, and yet the money for +the mass had been paid the night before, and the hour for the ceremony fixed. +One of the women went forward towards the door of the vestry, where she was met +by a National Guard, who told her with a superfluity of oaths that she must not +go in, that the —— curé, the sacristan, and all the d—— +fellows of the church were locked up, and that they would no longer have +anything to do with patriots. Then the mother approached and said, “But +who will bury my poor child if the curé is in prison?” and then she began +to weep bitterly at the thought that there would be no prayers put up for the +good of the little spirit, and that no holy water would be sprinkled on its +coffin. Yes, members of the Commune, she wept, and she wept longer and more +bitterly later at the cemetery, when she saw them lower the body of her child +into the grave, without a prayer or a recommendation to God’s mercy. You +must not scoff at her, you see she was a poor weak woman, with ideas of the +narrowest sort; but there are other mothers like her, quite unworthy of course +to bear the children of patriots, who do not want their dear ones to be buried +like dogs; who cannot understand that to pray is a crime, and to kneel down +before God an offence to humanity, and who still are weak enough to wish to see +a cross planted on the tombs of those they have loved and lost! Not the cross +of the nineteenth century—a red flag! such as now graces the dome of the +church of the Pantheon.<a href="#fn-41" name="fnref-41" +id="fnref-41"><sup>[41]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-41" id="fn-41"></a> <a href="#fnref-41">[41]</a> +Early in April the Commune forbade divine service in the Pantheon. They cut off +the arms of the cross, and replaced it by the red flag during a salute of +artillery. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-20"></a> +<img src="images/025.jpg" width="289" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Colonel Assy.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="XXXIII."></a> XXXIII.</h2> + +<p> +Communal fraternity is decidedly in the ascendant; it is +putting into practice this admirable precept, “Arrest each +other.” They say M. Delescluze has been sent to the Conciergerie. +Yesterday Lullier was arrested, to-day Assy. It was not +sufficient to change Executive Committees—if I may be +allowed to say so—with no more ceremony than one would +change one’s boots; the Commune conducts itself, in respect to +those members that become obnoxious to it, absolutely as if they +were no more than ordinary archbishops. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-21"></a> +<img src="images/026.jpg" width="354" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Placing the Red Flag on the Pantheon.<br/>(The hole in the +dome was occasioned by a Prussian shell.)</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +What! Assy—Assy<a href="#fn-42" name="fnref-42" +id="fnref-42"><sup>[42]</sup></a> of Creuzot—who signed before all his +comrades the proclamations of the Central Committee, in virtue, not only of his +ability, but in obedience to the alphabetical order of the thing—Assy no +longer reigns at the Hôtel de Ville!—publishes no more decrees, discusses +no longer with F. Cournet, nor with G. Tridon. Wherefore this fall after so +much glory? It is whispered about that Assy has thought it prudent to put aside +a few rolls of bank notes found in the drawers of the late Government. What, is +that all? How long have politicians been so scrupulous? Members of the Commune, +how very punctilious you have grown. Now if the Citizen Assy were accused of +having in 1843 been intimately acquainted with a lady whose son is now valet to +M. Thiers’ first cousin, or if he had been seen in a church, and it were +clearly proved that he was there with any other intention than that of +delicately picking the pockets of the faithful, then I could understand your +indignation. But the idea of arresting a man because he has appropriated the +booty of the traitors, is too absurd; if you go on acting in that way people +will think you are growing conscientious! +</p> + +<p> +As to Citizen Lullier,<a href="#fn-43" name="fnref-43" +id="fnref-43"><sup>[43]</sup></a> who was one of the first victims of +“fraternity,” he is imprisoned because he did not succeed in +capturing Mont Valérien. I think with horror that if I had been in the place of +Citizen Lullier I should most certainly have had to undergo the same +punishment, for how in the devil’s name I could have managed to transport +that impregnable fortress on to the council-table at the Hôtel de Ville I have +not the least conception. It is as bad as if you were in Switzerland, and asked +the first child you met to go and fetch Mont Blanc; of course the child would +go and have a game of marbles with his companions, and come back without the +smallest trace of Mont Blanc in his arms, thereupon you would whip the +youngster within an ace of his life. However, it appears that M. Lullier +objected to being whipped, or rather imprisoned, and being as full of cunning +as of valour he managed to slip out of his place of confinement, without drum +or trumpet. “Dear Rochefort,” he writes to the editor of <i>Le Mot +d’Ordre</i>, “you know of what infamous machinations I have been +the victim.” I suppose M. Rochefort does, but I am obliged to confess +that I have not the least idea, unless indeed M. Lullier means by +“machinations” the order that was given him to bring Mont Valérien +in his waistcoat pocket. “Imprisoned without motive,” he continues, +“by order of the Central Committee, I was thrown ...” (Oh! you +should not have <i>thrown</i> M. Lullier) “into the Prefecture of +Police,” (the ex-Prefecture, if you please), “and put in solitary +confinement at the very moment when Paris was in want of men of action and +military experience.” Oh, fie! men of the Commune, you had at your +disposal a man of action—who does not know the noble actions of Citizen +Lullier? A man of military experience—who does not know what profound +experience M. Lullier has acquired in his numerous campaigns—and yet you +put him, or rather throw him, into the Prefecture! This is bad, very bad. +“The Prefecture is transformed into a state prison, and the most rigorous +discipline is maintained.” It appears then that the Communal prison is +anything but a fool’s paradise. “However, in spite of everything, I +and my secretary managed to make our escape calmly ...”—the calm of +the high-minded—“from a cell where I was strictly guarded, to pass +two court-yards and a dozen or two of soldiers, to have three doors opened for +me while the sentinels presented arms as I passed ...” What a wonderful +escape: the adventures of Baron Munchausen are nothing to it. What a fine +chapter poor old Dumas might have made of it. The door of the cell is passed +under the very nose of the jailer, who has doubtless been drugged with some +narcotic, of which M. Lullier has learnt the secret during his travels in the +East Indies; the twelve guards in the court-yards are seized one after another +by the throat, thrown on the ground, bound with cords, and prevented from +giving the alarm by twelve gags thrust into their twelve mouths; the three +doors are opened by three enormous false keys, the work of a member of the +Commune, locksmith by trade, who has remained faithful to the cause of M. +Lullier; and last, but not least, the sentinels, plunged in ecstasy at the +sight of the glorious fugitive, present arms. What a scene for a melodrama! The +most interesting figure, however, in my opinion, is the secretary. I have the +greatest respect for that secretary, who never dreamt one instant of abandoning +his master, and I can see him, while Lullier is accomplishing his miracles, +calmly writing in the midst of the danger, with a firm hand, the faithful +account of these immortal adventures. “I have now,” continues the +ex-prisoner of the ex-Prefecture, “two hundred determined men, who serve +me as a guard, and three excellent revolvers, loaded, in my pocket. I had +foolishly remained too long without arms and without friends; now I am resolved +to blow the brains out of the first man who tries to arrest me!” I heard +a bourgeois who had read this exclaim, that he wished to Heaven each member of +the Commune would come to arrest him in turn. Oh! blood-thirsty bourgeois! Then +Lullier finishes up by declaring that he scorns to hide, but continues to show +himself freely and openly on the boulevards. What a proud, what a noble nature! +Oh, ye marionettes, ye fantoccini! Yet let me not be unjust; I will try and +believe in you once more, in spite of armed requisitions, in spite of arrests, +of robberies—for there have been robberies in spite of your +decrees—I will try and believe that you have not only taken possession of +the Hôtel de Ville for the purpose of setting up a Punch and Judy show and +playing your sinister farces; I want to believe that you had and still have +honourable and avowable intentions; that it is only your natural inexperience +joined to the difficulties of the moment which is the cause of your faults and +your follies; I want to believe that there are among you, even after the +successive dismissal of so many of your members, some honourable men who +deplore the evil that has been done, who wish to repair it, and who will try to +make us forget the crimes and forfeits of the civil war by the benefits which +revolution sometimes brings in its train. Yes, I am naturally full of hope, and +will try and believe this; but, honestly, what hope can you have of inspiring +confidence in those who are not prejudiced as I am in favour of innovators, +when they see you arrest each other in this fashion, and know that you have +among you such generals as Bergeret, such honest citizens as Assy, and such +escaped lunatics as Lullier? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-42" id="fn-42"></a> <a href="#fnref-42">[42]</a> +Assy, who first became publicly known as the leader of the strike at Messrs. +Schneider’s works at Creuzot, was an engineer. He was born in 1840. He +became a member of the International Society, and was selected in 1870 to +organise the Creuzot strike. Being threatened with arrest, he went to Paris, +but did not remain there long, and on the 21st of March in that year, a few +days after his return to Creuzot, the strike of the miners commenced. Assy was, +finally, arrested and tried before the Correctional Tribune of Paris as chief +and founder of a secret society, but he was acquitted of that charge.<br/> + At the siege of Paris, Assy was appointed as an officer in a free guerilla +corps of the Isle of France. Subsequently he was a lieutenant in the 192nd +battalion of the National Guard. Getting on the Central Committee, he took an +active share in the events that occurred. Appointed commander of the 67th +battalion on the 17th March, we find him on the morning of the 18th as Governor +of the Hôtel de Ville, and colonel of the National Guard, organising with the +members of the committee the means of a serious resistance—giving orders +for the construction of barricades—stopping the transport of munitions +and provisions from Paris. Becoming a member of the Commune, he took an active +part in carrying into effect the decrees which led, among other things, to the +demolition of the Vendôme Column and of the house of M. Thiers. He was arrested +in April, and was succeeded as Governor of the Hôtel de Ville by one Pindy, who +retained the office till the army entered Paris. Assy was held prisoner, <i>sur +parole</i>, at the Hôtel de Ville, till the 19th April, when he was liberated. +After this Assy was engaged in superintending the manufacture of munitions of +war. He was the sole superintendent of the supply, especially as regards +quality. Among the warlike stores manufactured were incendiary shells filled +with petroleum, intended to be thrown into Paris during the insurrection. It is +certain that these engines of destruction could only have been made at the +factory superintended by Assi. He was arrested on the 21st May. Assy was one of +the chiefs of the insurrection; he denied signing the decrees for the execution +of the hostages, or order for the enrolment of the military in the National +Guard. Assy was condemned by the tribunal of Versailles, Sept. 2, to +confinement for life in a French fortress—a light penalty for the deeds +of this important insurgent. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-43" id="fn-43"></a> <a href="#fnref-43">[43]</a> +Memoir, see <a href="#V._Page_120.._LULLIER.">Appendix 5</a>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-22"></a> +<img src="images/027.jpg" width="319" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>General Cluseret.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="XXXIV."></a>XXXIV.</h2> + +<p> +The fighting still continues, the cannonading is almost incessant. However, the +damage done is but small. To-day, the 7th April, things seem to be in pretty +much the same position as they were after Bergeret had been beaten back and +Flourens killed. The forts of Vanves and Issy bombard the Versailles batteries, +which in their turn vomit shot and shell on Vanves and Issy. Idle spectators, +watching from the Trocadéro, see long lines of white smoke arise in the +distance. Every morning, Citizen Cluseret,<a href="#fn-44" name="fnref-44" +id="fnref-44"><sup>[44]</sup></a> the war delegate, announces that an assault +of gendarmes has been victoriously repulsed by the garrisons in the forts. It +is quite certain that if the Versaillais do attack they are repulsed, as they +make no progress whatever; but do they attack, that is the question? I am +rather inclined to think that these attacks and repulses are mere inventions. +It seems evident to me that the generals of the National Assembly, who are now +busy establishing batteries and concentrating their forces, will not make a +serious attempt until they are certain of victory. In the meantime they are +satisfied to complete the ruin of the forts which were already so much damaged +by the Prussians. +</p> + +<p> +Between Courbevoie and the Porte Maillot the fighting is +continual. Ground is lost and gained, such and such a house that +was just now occupied by the Versaillais is now in the hands of +the Federals, and <i>vice versâ</i>. Neither side is wholly +victorious, but the fighting goes on. What! is there no one to +cry out “Enough! Enough blood, enough tears! Enough Frenchmen +killed by Frenchmen, Republicans killed by Republicans.” Men fall +on each side with the same war cry on their lips. Oh! when will +all this dreadful misunderstanding cease? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-44" id="fn-44"></a> <a href="#fnref-44">[44]</a> +The biography of this general of the Commune is very imperfect, down to the +time when he was elected for the 1st Arrondissement of Paris, and was thereupon +appointed Minister of War, or in Communal phraseology, Delegate at the War +Department. He seems to have been one of those beings, without country or +family, but who are blessed, by way of compensation, with a plurality of names; +we do not know whether Cluseret was really his own, or how many aliases he had +made use of.<br/> + It is said that he was formerly captain in a battalion of +Chasseurs d’Afrique, but was dismissed the army upon being +convicted of defalcations, in connection with the purchase of +horses, and, that soon after his dismissal from the French army, +he went to the United States, where he served in the +revolutionary war, and attained to the rank of General. Then we +have another story, to the effect that having been entrusted with +the care of a flock of lambs, the number of the animals decreased +so rapidly, that nothing but the existence of a large pack of +wolves near at hand, could possibly have accounted for it in an +honest way; this affair is said to have occurred at Churchill, +Such vague charges as these however deserve but little +credit.<br/> + After closing his career as a shepherd, he became a defender +of the Pope’s flock, enlisting in the brigade against which +Garibaldi took the field. The next we hear of him is that he +joined the Fenians, and made an attempt to get possession of +Chester Castle, but that he fell under suspicion of being a +traitor, and was glad to escape to France, where, report says, he +found refuge with a religious community. +<br/> +<br/> + “When the devil was sick,<br/> + The devil a monk would be;<br/> + But when the devil was well,<br/> + The devil a monk was he! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXXV."></a> XXXV.</h2> + +<p> +Thirty men carrying muffled drums, thirty more with trumpets +draped in crape, head a long procession; every now and then the +drums roll dismally, and the trumpets give a long sad wail. +</p> + +<p> +Numerous detachments of all the battalions come next, marching +slowly, their arms reversed. A small bunch of red immortelles is +on every breast. Has the choice of the colour a political +signification, or is it a symbol of a bloody death? +</p> + +<p> +Next appears an immense funeral car draped with black, and +drawn by four black horses; the gigantic pall is of velvet, with +silver stars. At the corners float four great trophies of red +flags. +</p> + +<p> +Then another car of the same sort appears, another, and again +another; in each of them there are thirty-two corpses. Behind the +cars march the members of the Commune bare-headed, and wearing +red scarfs. Alas! always that sanguinary colour! Last of all, +between a double row of National Guards, follows a vast multitude +of men, women, and children, all sorrowful and dejected, many in +tears. +</p> + +<p> +The procession proceeds along the boulevards; it started from +the Beaujon hospital, and is going to the Père Lachaise: +as it passes all heads are bared. One man alone up at a window +remains covered; the crowd hiss him. Shame on him who will not +bow before those who died for a cause, whether it may be a worthy +one or not! On looking on those corpses, do not remember the evil +they caused when they were alive. They are dead now, and have +become sacred. But remember, oh! remember, that it is to the +crimes of a few that are due the deaths of so many, and let us +help to hasten the hour when the criminals, whoever they be, and +to whatever party they belong; will feel the weight of the +inexorable Nemesis of human destiny. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXXVI."></a> XXXVI.</h2> + +<p> +We are to have no more letters! As in the time of the siege, +if you desire to obtain news of your mother or your wife, you +have no other alternative than to consult a somnambulist or a +fortune-teller. This is not at all a complicated operation; of +course you possess a ribbon or a look of hair, something +appertaining to the absent person. This suffices to keep you +informed, hour by hour, of what she says, does, and thinks. +Perhaps you would prefer the ordinary course of things, and that +you would rather receive a letter than consult a charlatan. But +if so, I would advise you not to say so. They would accuse you of +being, what you are doubtless, a reactionist, and you might get +into trouble. +</p> + +<p> +Yesterday a young man was walking in the Champs Elysées, a Guard National +stalked up to him and asked him for a light for his cigar.—“I am +really very sorry,” said he, “but my cigar has gone +out.”—“Oh! your cigar is out, is it? Oh! so you blush to +render a service to a patriot! Reactionist that you are!” Thereupon a +torrent of invectives was poured on the poor young man, who was quickly +surrounded by a crowd of eager faces: One charming young person exclaimed, +“Why, he is a disguised sergent-de-ville!”—“Yes, yes; +he is a gendarme!” is echoed on all sides.—“I think he looks +like Ernest Picard,” says one.—“Throw him into the +Seine,” says another.—“To the Seine, to the Seine, the +spy!” and the unfortunate victim is pushed, jostled, and hurried off. A +dense crowd of National Guards, women, and children had by this time collected, +all crying out at the top of their voices, and without any idea of what was the +matter, “Shoot him! throw him the water! hang him!” Superstitious +individuals leaned towards hanging for the sake of the cords. As to the +original cause of the commotion, no one seemed to remember anything about it. I +overheard one man say,—“It appears that they arrested him just as +he was setting fire to the ambulance at the Palais de l’Industrie!” +As to what became of the young man I do not know; I trust he was neither +hanged, shot, nor drowned. At any rate, let it be a lesson to others not to get +embroiled in dangerous adventures of that kind; and whatever your anxiety may +be concerning your family or affairs, you would do well to hide it carefully +under a smiling exterior. Suppose you meet one of your friends, who says to +you, “My dear fellow, how anxious you must be?” You must answer, +“Anxious! oh, not at all. On the contrary, I never felt more free of care +in my life.”—“Oh! I thought your aunt was ill, and as you do +not receive any letters ...”—“Not receive any letters!” +you continue in the same strain, “who told you that? Not receive any +letters! why, I have more than I want! what an idea!”—“Then +you must be strangely favoured,” says your mystified companion; +“for since Citizen Theiz<a href="#fn-45" name="fnref-45" +id="fnref-45"><sup>[45]</sup></a> has taken possession of the Post-office, the +communications are stopped.”—“Don’t believe it. It is a +rumour set on float by the reactionists. Why, those terrible reactionists go so +far as to pretend that the Commune has imprisoned the priests, arrested +journalists, and stopped the newspapers!”—“Well, you may say +what you please, but a proclamation of Citizen Theiz announces that +communication with the departments will not be re-established for some +days.”—“Nothing but modesty on his part; he has only to show +himself at the Post-office, and the service, which has been put out of order by +those wretched reactionists, will be immediately +reorganised.”—“So I am to understand that you have news every +day of your aunt.”—“Of course.”—“Well, I am +delighted to hear it; for one of my friends, who arrived from Marseilles this +morning, told me that your aunt was dead.”—“Dead, good +heavens! what do you mean? Now I think of it, I did not get a letter this +morning.”—“There you see!” +</p> + +<p> +You must not, however, allow your sorrow to carry you away, at +the risk of your personal safety, but answer readily. “I see it +all, for a wonder I did not get a letter this morning; Citizen +Theiz is a kind-hearted man, and did not want to make me +unhappy.” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-45" id="fn-45"></a> <a href="#fnref-45">[45]</a> +A working chaser, and one of the most active and influential members of the +International Society. He was among the accused who were tried in July, 1870, +and was condemned to two years’ imprisonment. On the formation of the +Central Committee, he was appointed Vice-President. It was Theiz who saved the +General Post Office, Rue J.J. Rousseau, from the total destruction decreed by +other members of the Commune. His fate is not well known. Director of the +General Post-office in the Rue J.J. Rousseau, he is said to have saved that +important establishment, doomed to destruction by the Commune. Theiz escaped +from Paris to London on the 29th of July; he took an active part in the +struggle to the last, and was close to Vermorel when wounded at the barricade +of the Château d’Eau. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXXVII."></a> XXXVII.</h2> + +<p> +The queen of the age is the Press. Lately dethroned and +somewhat shorn of her majesty, but still a queen. It is in vain +that the press has sometimes degraded itself in the eyes of +honest men by stooping to applaud and approve of crimes and +excesses, that journalists have done what they can to lower it; +still the august offspring of the human mind, the press, has +really lost neither its power nor its fascination. Misunderstood, +misapplied, it may have done some harm, but no one can question +the signal service which it has been able to render, or the +nobility of its mission. If it has sometimes been the organ of +false prophets, its voice has also been often raised to instruct +and encourage. +</p> + +<p> +When last night you went secretly, in a manner worthy of the +act, to seize on the printing presses of the <i>Journal des +Débats</i>, the <i>Paris Journal</i>, and the +<i>Constitutionnel</i>, were you aware of what you were doing? +You imagined, perhaps, this act would have no other result than +that of suppressing violently a private concern—which is +one kind of robbery—and of reducing to a state of +beggary—which is a crime—the numerous individuals, +journalists, printers, compositors, and others who are employed +on the journal, and who live by its means. You have done worse +than this. You have stopped, as far as it was in your power, the +current of human progress. You have suppressed man’s noblest. +right—the right of expressing his opinions to the world; +you are no better than the pickpocket who appropriates your +handkerchief. You have taken our freedom of thought by the +throat, and said, “It is in my way, I will strangle it.” +Wherefore have you acted thus? To shut the mouths of those who +contradict you, is to admit that you are not so very sure of +being in the right. To suppress the journals is to confess your +fear of them; to avoid the light is to excite our suspicion +concerning the deeds you are perpetrating in the darkness. We +shut our windows when we do not desire to be seen. Little +confidence is inspired by closed doors. Your councils at the +Hôtel de Ville are secret as the proceedings of certain +legal cases, the details of which might be hurtful to public +morality. Again I say, wherefore this mystery? What strange +projects have you on foot? Do you discuss among you, propositions +of a nature which your modesty declines to make known to the +world? This fear of publicity, of opposition, you have proved +afresh, by the nocturnal visits of your National Guards to the +printing offices, wherein they forced an entrance like +housebreakers. Shall we be reduced to judge of your acts, and of +the bloody incidents of the civil war, only by your own +asseverations and those of your accomplices? You must be very +determined to act guiltily and to be obliged to tell lies, as you +take so much trouble to get rid of those, who might pass sentence +on you, and who might convict you of falsehood. Therefore you +have not only committed a crime in so doing, but made a great +mistake as well. No one can meddle with the liberty of the press +with impunity. The persecution of the press always brings with it +its own punishment. Look back to the many years of the Imperial +Government, to the few months of the Government of the 4th of +September; of all the crimes perpetrated by the former, of all +the errors committed by the latter, those crimes and errors which +most particularly hastened the end were those that were levelled +against the freedom of the press. The most valable excuse in +favour of the revolt of the 18th of March was certainly the +suppression of several journals by General Vinoy, with the +consent of M. Thiers. How can you be so rash as to make the very +same mistakes which have been the destruction of former +governments, and also so unmindful of your own honour as to +commit the very crime which reduces you to the same level as your +enemies? +</p> + +<p> +Ah I truly those who were ready to judge you with patience and +impartiality, those who at first were perhaps, on the whole, +favourable to you, because it seemed to them that you represented +some of the legitimate aspirations of Paris, even those, seeing +you act like thoughtless tyrants, will feel it quite impossible +to blind themselves any longer to your faults; those who having +wished to esteem you for the sake of liberty, will for the sake +of liberty, be obliged to despise you! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXXVIII."></a> XXXVIII.</h2> + +<p> +It cannot be true. I will not believe it. It cannot be +possible that Paris is to be again bombarded: and by whom? By +Frenchmen! In spite of the danger I was told there was to be +apprehended near Neuilly, I wished to see with my own eyes what +was going on. So this morning, the 8th April, I went to the +Champs Elysées. +</p> + +<p> +Until I reached the Rond Point there was nothing unusual, only +perhaps fewer people to be seen about. The omnibus does not go +any farther than the corner of the Avenue Marigny. An +Englishwoman, whom the conductor had just helped down, came up to +me and asked me the way; she wanted to go to the Rue +Galilée, but did not like to walk up the wide avenue. I +pointed out to her a side-street, and continued my way. A little +higher up a line of National Guards, standing about ten feet +distant from each other, had orders to stop passengers from going +any farther. “You can’t pass.”—“But ...,” and I stopped to +think of some plausible motive to justify my curiosity. However, +I was saved the trouble. Although I had only uttered a hesitating +“but,” the sentinel seemed to consider that sufficient, and +replied, “Oh, very well, you can pass.” +</p> + +<p> +The avenue seemed more and more deserted as I advanced. The shutters of all the +houses were closed. Here and there a passenger slipped along close to the walls +of the houses, ready to take refuge within the street-doors, which had been +left open by order, directly they heard the whizzing of a shell. In front of +the shop of a carriage-builder, securely closed, were piled heaps of rifles; +most of the National Guards were stretched on the pavement fast asleep, while +some few were walking up and down smoking their pipes, and others playing at +the plebeian game of “bouchon.”<a href="#fn-46" name="fnref-46" +id="fnref-46"><sup>[46]</sup></a> I was told that a shell had burst a quarter +of an hour before at the corner of the Rue de Morny. A captain was seated there +on the ground beside his wife, who had just brought him his breakfast; the poor +fellow was literally cut in two, and the woman had been carried away to a +neighbouring chemist’s shop dangerously wounded. I was told she was still +there, so I turned my steps in that direction. A small group of people were +assembled before the door. I managed to get near, but saw nothing, as the poor +thing had been carried into the surgery. They told me that she had been wounded +in the neck by a bit of the shell, and that she was now under the care of one +of the surgeons of the Press Ambulance. I then continued my walk up the avenue. +The cannonading, which had seemed to cease for some little time, now began +again with greater intensity than ever. Clouds of white smoke arose in the +direction of the Porte Maillot, while bombs from Mont Valérien burst over the +Arc de Triomphe. On the right and left of me were companies of Federals. A +little further on a battalion, fully equipped, with blankets and saucepans +strapped to their knapsacks, and loaves of bread stuck aloft on their bayonets, +moved in the direction of Porte Maillot. By the side of the captain in command +of the first company marched a woman in a strange costume, the skirt of a +vivandière and the jacket of a National Guard, a Phrygian cap on her head, a +chassepot in her hand, and a revolver stuck in her belt. From the distance at +which I was standing she looked both young and pretty. I asked some Federals +who she was; one told me she was the wife of Citizen Eudes,<a href="#fn-47" +name="fnref-47" id="fnref-47"><sup>[47]</sup></a> a member of the Commune, and +another that she was a newspaper seller in the Avenue des Ternes, whose child +had been killed in the Rue des Acacias the night before by a fragment of a +shell, and that she had sworn to revenge him. It appeared the battalion was on +its way to support the combatants at Neuilly, who were in want of help. From +what I hear the gendarmes and sergents de ville had fought their way as far as +the Rue des Huissiers. Now I had no doubt the Versailles generals had made use +of the gendarmes and sergents de ville, who were most of them old and tried +soldiers, but if in very truth they were wherever the imagination of the +Federals persisted in placing them, they must either have been as numerous as +the grains of sand on the sea-shore, or else their leaders must have found out +a way of making them serve in several places at once. Having followed the +battalion, I found myself a few yards in front of the Arc de Triomphe. Suddenly +a hissing, whizzing sound is heard in the distance, and rapidly approaches us; +it sounds very much like the noise of a sky-rocket. “A shell!” +cried the sergeant, and the whole battalion to a man, threw itself on the +ground with a load jingling of saucepans and bayonets. Indeed there was some +danger. The terrible projectile lowered as it approached, and then fell with a +terrific noise a little way from us, in front of the last house on the +left-hand side of the avenue. I had never seen a shell burst so near me before; +a good idea of what it is like may be had from those sinister looking +paintings, that one sees sometimes suspended round the necks of certain blind +beggars, supposed to represent an explosion in a mine. I think no one was hurt, +and the mischief done seemed to consist in a Wide hole in the asphalte and a +door reduced to splinters. The National Guards got up from the ground, and +several of them proceeded to pick up fragments of the shell. They had, however, +not gone many yards when another cry of alarm was given, and again we heard the +ominous Whizzing sound; in an instant we were all on our faces. The second +shell burst, but we did not see it; we only saw at the top of the house that +had already been struck, a window open suddenly and broken panes fall to the +ground. The shell had most likely gone through the roof and burst in the attic. +Was there anyone in those upper stories? However, we were on our legs again and +had doubled the Arc de Triomphe. I had succeeded in ingratiating myself with +the men of the rear-guard, and I hoped to be able to go as far with them as I +pleased. Strange enough, and I confess it with <i>naif</i> delight, I did not +feel at all afraid. Although half an inch difference in the inclination of the +cannon might have cost me my life, still I felt inclined to proceed on my way. +I begin to think that it is not difficult to be brave when one is not naturally +a coward! Beneath the great arch were assembled a hundred or so of persons who +seemed to consider themselves in safety, and who from time to time ventured a +few steps forward, for the purpose of examining the damage done to Etex’s +sculptured group by three successive shells. But in the Avenue de la Grande +Armée only three Federals were to be seen, and I think I was the only man in +plain clothes they had allowed to go so far. I could distinctly perceive a +small barricade erected in front of the Porte Maillot on this side of the +ramparts. The bastion to the right was hard at work cannonading the heights of +Courbevoie; great columns of smoke, succeeded by terrific explosions, testified +to the zeal of the Communist artillerymen. Beyond the ramparts the Avenue de +Neuilly extended, dusty and deserted. Unfortunately the sun blinded me, and I +could not distinguish well what was going on in the distance. By this time the +sound of musketry was heard distinctly. I was told they were fighting +principally at Saint James and in the park of Neuilly. I tried to pass out of +the gates with the battalion, but an officer caught sight of me, and in no +measured tones ordered me back. I ought not to complain, however, he rendered +me good service; for although the fire of the Versaillais had somewhat +diminished, I do not think the place could have been much longer tenable, to +judge from the quantities of bits of shell that strewed the road; from the +numerous litters that were being borne away with their bloody burthens; from +the railway-station in ruins, and the condition of the neighbouring houses, +which had nearly all of them great black holes in their fronts. The Federals +did not seem at all impressed by their critical position; sounds of laughter +reached me from the interior of a casemate, from the chimney of which smoke was +arising, and guards running hither and thither were whistling merrily the +<i>Chant du Départ</i>, with a look of complete satisfaction. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-23"></a> +<img src="images/028.jpg" width="500" height="413" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Arc de Triomphe, East Side (the Finest), Uninjured. +</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +Damaged on the other side. During the Prussian siege it was defended from +injury, though no shells reached it. Uncovered before the civil war. +</p> + +<p> +I managed to reach the Rue du Débarcadère, which is situated close to the +ramparts. An acquaintance of mine lives there. I knew he was away, but I +thought the porter would recognise and allow me to take up a position at one of +the windows. Next door, the corner house, I found a shell had gone into a +wine-merchant’s shop there, who could very well have dispensed with such a +visitor, and had behaved in the most unruly fashion, breaking the glass, +smashing the tables and counter, but neither killing nor wounding anybody. The +porter knew me quite well, and invited me to walk upstairs to the apartments of +my friend, situated on the third floor. From the windows I could not see the +bastion, which was hidden by the station; but to the left, in the distance, +beyond the Bois de Boulogne, wherein I fancied I perceived troops moving +between the branches, but whether Versaillais or Parisians I could not tell, +arose the tremendous Mont Valérien bathed in sunlight. The flashes from the +cannon, which in daylight have a pale silver tint, succeeded each other +rapidly; the explosions were formidable, and the fort was crowned with a wreath +of smoke. They appeared to be firing in the direction of Levallois, rather than +on the Porte Maillot. The Federals did not seem to attempt to reply. Turning +myself towards the right I could scan nearly the whole length of the Avenue de +Neuilly. The bare piece of ground which constitutes the military zone was +completely deserted; several shells fell there that had been aimed doubtless at +the Porte Maillot or the bastion. The position I had taken up at the window was +rather a perilous one. I was just behind the bastion. Beyond the military zone +most of the houses seemed uninhabited, but I saw distinctly the National Guards +in front of the Restaurant Gilet, making their soup on the side-walk. I was too +far away to judge of the extent of the mischief done by the cannonading, but I +was told that several roofs had fallen in and many walls had been thrown down +in that quarter. All that I could see of the market-place was empty; but the +sound of musketry, and the smoke which issued from the houses on one side of +it, told me that the Federals were there in sufficient numbers. A little +further on I saw the barrels of the rifles sticking out of the windows, with +little wreaths of smoke curling out of them; small knots of armed men every now +and then marched hurriedly across the avenue, and disappeared into the opposite +houses. Partly on account of the distance, and partly on account of the +blinding sun, and partly, perhaps, on account of the emotion I experienced, +which made me desire and yet fear to see, I could distinguish the bridge but +indistinctly, with the dark line of a barricade in front of it. What surprised +me most in the battle which I was busily observing, was the extraordinarily +small number of combatants that were visible, when suddenly—it was about +two o’clock in the afternoon—the Versailles batteries at Courbevoie, +which had been silent for some time, began firing furiously. The horrid screech +of the mitrailleuse drowned the hissing of the shells; the whole breadth of the +long avenue was covered by a kind of white mist. The bastion in front of me +replied energetically. It seemed to me as if the interior part of my ear was +being rent asunder, when suddenly I heard a dull heavy sound, such as I had not +heard before, and I felt the house tremble beneath me. Loud cries arose from +the National Guards on the ramparts. I fancied that a rain of shot and shell +had destroyed the drawbridge of the Porte Maillot; but it was not so; in the +distance I saw that the clouds of smoke were rolling nearer and nearer, and +that the roar of the musketry, which had greatly increased, sounded close by. I +felt sure that a rush was being made from Courbevoie—that the Versaillais +were advancing. The shells were flying over our heads in the direction of the +Champs Elysées. I began to distinguish that a tumultuous mass of human beings +were marching on in the smoke, in the dust, in the sun. The guns on the bastion +now thundered forth incessantly. There was no mistaking by this time, there +were the Versaillais; I could see the red trowsers of the men of the line. The +Federals were shooting them down from the windows. Then I saw the advanced +guard stop, hesitate beneath the balls which seemed to rain on them from the +Place du Marché, and presently retire. Whereupon a large number of Federals +poured forth from the houses, and, walking close to the walls, to be as much as +possible out of the way of the projectiles, hurried after the retreating enemy. +But suddenly, when they had arrived a little too far for me to distinguish +anything very clearly, they in their turn came to a standstill, and then +retraced their steps, and returned to their positions within the houses. The +fire from the Versaillais then sensibly diminished, but that of the bastions +continued its furious attack. It was thus that I witnessed one of those +<i>chassé-croisés</i> under fire, which have become so frequent since this +dreadful civil war was concentrated at Neuilly. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-24"></a> +<img src="images/029.jpg" width="320" height="450" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Horse Chasseur acting as a communist artillery man, +attended by a gamin sponger.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +As it would have been most imprudent to follow the railway +cutting, or to have gone back by the Avenue de la Grande +Armée, where the Versailles shells were still falling, I +walked up the Rue du Débarcadère, and then turned +into the Rue Saint-Ferdinand, and soon found myself in the Place +des Ternes, in front of the church. There was a most dismal +aspect about the whole of this quarter. Situated close to the +ramparts, it is very much exposed, and had suffered greatly. +Nearly all the shops were shut; some of the doors, however, of +those where wine or provisions, are sold, were standing open, +while on the shutters of others were inscribed in chalk, “The +entrance is beneath the gateway.” I was astonished to see that +the church was open, a rare sight in these days. Why, is it +possible that the Commune has committed the unqualifiable +imprudence of not arresting the curé of Saint-Ferdinand, +and that she is weak enough—may she not have to regret +it!—to permit the inhabitants of Ternes to be baptised, +married, and buried according to the deplorable rites and +ceremonies of Catholicism, which has happily fallen into disuse +in the other quarters of Paris? I can now understand why the +shells fall so persistently in this poor arrondissement: the +anger of the goddess of Reason (shall we not soon have a goddess +of Reason?) lies heavily on this quarter, the shame of the +capital, where the inhabitants still try to look as if they +believed in heaven! In spite of everything, however, I entered +the church; there were a great many women on their knees, and +several men too. The prayers of the dead were being said over the +coffin of a woman who, I was told, was killed yesterday by a ball +in the chest, whilst crossing the Avenue des Ternes, just a +little above the railway bridge. A ball, how strange! yet I was +assured such was the case. It is pretty evident, then, that the +Versaillais were considerably nearer to Paris, on this side at +least, than the official despatches lead us to suppose. +</p> + +<p> +On returning to the street I directed my steps in the +direction of the Place d’Eylau. Two National Guards passed me, +bearing a litter between them.—“Oh, you can look if you +like,” said one. So I drew back the checked curtain. On the +mattress was stretched a woman, decently dressed, with a child of +two or three years lying on her breast. They both looked very +pale; one of the woman’s arms was hanging down; her sleeve was +stained with blood; the hand had been carried away.—“Where +were they wounded?” I asked.—“Wounded! they are dead. It is +the wife and child of the velocipede-maker in the Avenue de +Wagram; if you will go and break the news to him you will do us a +good service.” +</p> + +<p> +It was therefore quite true, certain, incontestable. The balls +and shells of the Versaillais were not content with killing the +combatants and knocking down the forts and ramparts. They were +also killing women and children, ordinary passers-by; not only +those who were attracted by an imprudent curiosity to go where +they had no business, but unfortunates who were necessarily +obliged to venture into the neighbouring streets, for the purpose +of buying bread. Not only do the shells of the National Assembly +reach the buildings situated close to the city walls, but they +often fall considerably farther in, crushing inoffensive houses, +and breaking the sculpture on the public monuments. No one can +deny this. I have seen it with my own eyes. Anyhow, the +projectiles fall nearer and nearer the centre. Yesterday they +fell in the Avenue de la Grande Armée; to-day they fly +over the Arc de Triomphe, and fall in the Place d’Eylau and the +Avenue d’Uhrich. Who knows but what to-morrow they will have +reached the Place de la Concorde, and the next day perhaps I may +be killed by one on the Boulevard Montmartre? Paris bombarded! +Take care, gentlemen of the National Assembly! What the Prussians +did, and what gave rise to such a clamour of indignation on the +part of the Government of the 4th September, it will be both +infamous and imprudent for you to attempt. You kill Frenchmen who +are in arms against their countrymen,—alas! that is a +horrible necessity in civil war,—but spare the lives and +the dwellings of those who are not arrayed against you, and who +are perhaps your allies. It is all very well to argue that guns +are not endowed with the gifts of intelligence and mercy, and +that one cannot make them do exactly what one likes; but what +have you done with those marvellous marksmen who, during the +siege, continually threw down the enemy’s batteries and +interrupted his works with such extraordinary precision, and who +pretended that at a distance of seven thousand metres they could +hit the gilded spike of a Prussian helmet? Wherefore have they +become so clumsy since they changed places with their +adversaries? Joking apart, in a word, you are doing yourself the +greatest injury in being so uselessly cruel; every shell +overleaping the fortifications is not only a crime, but a great +mistake. Remember, that in this horrible duel which is going on, +victory will not really remain with that party which shall have +triumphed over the other, by the force of arms (yours +undoubtedly), but to the one who, by his conduct, shall have +succeeded in proving to the neutral population, which observes +and judges, that right was on his side. I do not say but what +your cause is the best; for although we may have to reproach you +with an imprudent resistance, unnecessary attacks, and a wilful +obstinacy not to see what was legitimate and honourable in the +wishes of the Parisians, still we must consider that you +represent, legally, the whole of France. I do not say, therefore, +but what your cause is the best; frankly though, can you hope to +bring over to your side that large body of citizens, whose +confidence you had shaken, by massacring innocent people in the +streets, and destroying their dwellings? If this bombardment +continues, if it increases in violence as it seems likely to do, +you will become odious, and then, were you a hundred times in the +right, you will still be in the wrong. Therefore, it is most +urgent that you give orders to the artillerymen of Courbevoie and +Mont Valérien, to moderate their zeal, if you do not +desire that Paris—neutral Paris—should make dangerous +comparisons between the Assembly which flings us its shells, and +the Commune which launches its decrees, and come to the +conclusion that decrees are less dangerous missiles than +cannon-balls. As to the legality of the thing, we do not much +care about that; we have seen so many governments, more or less +legal, that we are somewhat <i>blasés</i> on that point; +and a few millions of votes have scarcely power enough to put us +in good humour with shot and shell. Certainly the Commune, such +as the men at the Hôtel de Ville have constituted it, is +not a brilliant prospect. It arrests priests, stops newspapers, +wishes to incorporate us, in spite of ourselves, in the National +Guard; robs us—so we are told; lies inveterately—that +is incontestable, and altogether makes itself a great bore; but +what does that matter?—human nature is full of weaknesses, +and prefers to be bored than bombarded. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-25"></a> +<img src="images/030.jpg" width="288" height="397" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Marine Gunner and Street-boy.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +During the Prussian siege the sailors of the French navy played an important +part, their bravery, activity, and ingenuity being much esteemed by the +Parisians. Some, of them took the red side, and manned the gun-boats on the +Seine. Knowing the prestige attached to the brave marines, the Communist +generals made use of the naval clothes found in the marine stores, and dressed +therein some of the valliant heroes of Belleville and Montmartre. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-46" id="fn-46"></a> <a href="#fnref-46">[46]</a> +The game of pitch-halfpenny, in, which, in France, a cork (<i>bouchon</i>), +with halfpence on the top of it, is placed on the ground. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-47" id="fn-47"></a> <a href="#fnref-47">[47]</a> +General Eudes was the Alcibiades, or rather the Saint Just, of the Commune. He +had the face and manners of a fashionable <i>tenorino</i>, the luxurious taste +of the Athenian, the cruel inflexibility of Robespierre’s protégé. He was +born at Bonay, in the arrondissement of Coutances. His father was a tradesman +of the Boulevard des Italians. In his examination before the Council of War in +August, 1870, Eudes called himself a shorthand writer and law student, though +his real position was said to be that of a linendraper’s clerk. His first +notable exploit was the assassination of a fireman at La Villette. For this +crime he was brought before the First Council of War at Paris. Here he informed +the President, in somewhat unparliamentary terms, that “the betrayers of +the country were not the Republicans, and that to destroy the Imperial +Government was to annihilate the Prussians.” In spite of the eloquent +appeal of his counsel, he was condemned to death. The events of the fourth of +September prevented the execution of this sentence, and he lived to take an +active part in the agitation of the thirty-first of October. He was again tried +for this conduct and acquitted, together with Vermorel, Ribaldi, Lefrançais and +others. Eudes’ name figures in the first decrees of the Commune, and on +the last of those of the Committee of Public Safety. On the second of April he +was appointed Delegate for War, and, conjointly with Cluseret, organised ten +corps of the Enfants Perdus of Belleville. He promised to each of his +volunteers an annuity of 300 francs and a decoration. Eudes was an atheist of +the most violent type, and sayings are attributed to him which make one +shudder. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XXXIX."></a> XXXIX.</h2> + +<p> +Where is Bergeret? What have they done with Bergeret? We miss Bergeret. They +have no right to suppress Bergeret, who, according to the official document, +was “himself” at Neuilly; Bergeret, who drove to battle in an open +carriage; who enlivened our ennui with a little fun. They were perfectly at +liberty to take away his command and give it to whomsoever they chose; I am +quite agreeable to that, but they had no right to take him away and prevent him +amusing us. Alas! we do not have the chance so often!<a href="#fn-48" +name="fnref-48" id="fnref-48"><sup>[48]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Rumours are afloat that he has been taken to the Conciergerie. +Poor Bergeret! and why is he so treated? Because he got the +Federals beaten in trying to lead them to Versailles?</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-26"></a> +<img src="images/031.jpg" width="498" height="386" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>CORPS LEGISLATIF.—THE HEAD-QUARTERS OF GENERAL BERGERET</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +Citizens, if you will allow me to express my humble opinion on +the subject, I shall take the opportunity of insinuating that the +plan of Citizen Bergeret—which has, I acknowledge, been +completely unsuccessful—was the only possible one capable +of transforming into a triumphant revolution, the émeute +of Montmartre, now the Commune of Paris. +</p> + +<p> +Let us look at it from a logical point of view, if you please. +Does it seem possible to you, that Paris can hold its own against +the whole of the rest of France? No, most certainly not. Today, +especially, after the disasters that have occurred to the +communal insurrectionists of Marseilles, Lyons, and +Toulouse—disasters which your lying official reports have +in vain tried to transform into successes; today, I say, you +cannot possibly nourish any delusive hopes of help from the +provinces. In a few days, you will have the whole country in +array in front of your ramparts and your ruined fortresses, and +then you are lost; yes, lost, in spite of all the blinded heroism +of those whom you have beguiled to the slaughter. The only hope +you could reasonably have conceived was that of profiting by the +first moment of surprise and disorder, which the victorious +revolt had occasioned among the small number of hesitating +soldiery which then constituted the whole of the French army; to +surprise Versailles, inadequately defended, and seize, if it were +possible, on the Assembly and the Government. Your sudden +revolution wanted to be followed up by a brusque attack, there +would then have been some hope—a faint one, I confess, but +still a hope, and this plan of Bergeret, by the very reason of +its audacity, should not have been condemned by you, who have +only succeeded through violence and audacity, and can only go on +prospering by the same means. Now what do you mean to do? To +resist the whole of France? To resist your enemies inside the +walls, besides those enemies outside, who increase in numbers and +confidence every day? Your defeat is certain, and from this day +forth is only a question of time. You were decidedly wrong to put +Bergeret “in the shade” as they say at the Hôtel de +Ville,—firstly, because he amused us; and secondly, because +he tried the only thing that could possibly have +succeeded—an enterprise worthy of a brilliant madman. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-48" id="fn-48"></a> <a href="#fnref-48">[48]</a> +General Bergeret, Member of the Central Committee, Delegate of War, &c., +was a bookseller’s assistant. He emerged in 1869 from a printing-office +to support the irreconcileable candidates in the election meetings.<br/> + Events progressed, and on the 18th of March Victor Bergeret +reappeared, resplendent in gold lace and embroidery, happy to +have found at last a government, to which Jules Favre did not +belong.<br/> + When Bergeret, who never had any higher grade than that of +sergeant in the National Guard, was made general, he believed +himself to be a soldier. A friend of this pasteboard officer said +one day, “If Bergeret were to live a hundred years, he would +always swear he had been a general.”<br/> + On the 8th April, Victor Bergeret was arrested by order of the +Executive Commission for having refused obedience to Cluseret, a +general too, and his superior, and he was incarcerated in the +prison of Mazas, where he remained for a short time, until the +day when Cluseret was shut up there himself. In fact, Cluseret +went into the very cell which Bergeret had just quitted, and +found an autograph note written on the wall by his predecessor, +and addressed to himself. The words ran thus:—<br/> +<br/> + “CITIZEN CLUSERET,—<br/> + “You have had me shut up here, and you will be here yourself before eight +days are over. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“GÉNÉRAL BERGERET.”</small> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +On leaving the prison of Mazas, Bergeret was still kept a prisoner for a time +in a magnificent apartment of the Hôtel de Ville, decorated with gilded +panneling and cerise-coloured satin. His wife was allowed to join him here, and +he also obtained permission to keep with him a little terrier, of which he was +extremely fond. Shortly afterwards he was reinstated, took his place again in +the Communal Assembly, and was attached to the commission of war. The beautiful +palace of the president of the Corps Législatif was now his residence, and +there he delighted in receiving the friends who had known him when he was poor. +His invariable home-dress in palace as in prison, was red from head to foot: +red jacket, red trousers, and red Phrygian cap.<br/> + One day, a short time after his release from prison, he said to an intimate +friend:—“Affairs are going well, but the Commune is in need of +money, I know it, and they are wrong not to confide in me. I would lend them +ten thousand francs willingly.” The generalship had singularly enriched +Jules Bergeret (himself). +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-27"></a> +<img src="images/032.jpg" width="320" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>General Dombrowski.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="XL."></a>XL.</h2> + +<p> +Who takes Bergeret’s place? Dombrowski.<a href="#fn-49" name="fnref-49" +id="fnref-49"><sup>[49]</sup></a> Who had the idea of doing this? Cluseret. +First of all we had the Central Committee, then we had the Commune, and now we +have Cluseret. It looks as if Cluseret had swallowed the Commune, which had +previously swallowed and only half digested the Central Committee. We are told +that Cluseret is a great man, that Cluseret is strong, that Cluseret will save +Paris. Cluseret issues decrees, and sees that they are executed. The Commune +says, “<i>we wish</i>;” but Cluseret says, “<i>I +wish</i>.” It is he who has conceived and promulgated the following +edict: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“In consideration of the patriotic demands of a large number of National +Guards, who, although they are married men, wish to have the honour of +defending their municipal rights, even at the expense of their lives ...” +</p> + +<p> +I should like to know some of those National Guards who attach +so little importance to their lives! Show me two, and I will +myself consent to be the third. But I am interrupting Dictator +Cluseret. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The decree of the fifth of April is therefore modified:” +</p> + +<p> +The decree of the fifth of April was made by the Commune, but +Cluseret does not care a straw for that. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “From seventeen to nineteen, service in the marching-companies is + voluntary, but from nineteen to forty it is obligatory for the + National Guards, married or unmarried.<br/> + “I recommend all good patriots to be their own police, and to see + that this edict is carried out in their respective quartern, and to + force the refractory to serve.” +</p> + +<p> +As to the last paragraph of Cluseret’s decree it is impossible +to joke about it, it is by far too odious. This exhortation in +favour of a press-gang,—this wish that each man should +become a spy upon his neighbour (he says it in so many words), +fills me with anger and disgust. What! I may be passing in the +streets, going about my own business, and the first Federal who +pleases, anybody with dirty hands, a wretch you may be sure, for +none but a wretch would follow the recommendations of +Cluseret,—an escaped convict, may take me by the collar and +say, “Come along and be killed for the sake of my municipal +independence.” Or else I may be in bed at night, quietly asleep, +as it is clearly my right to be, and four or five fellows, fired +with patriotic ardour, may break in my door, if I do not hasten +to open it on the first summons like a willing slave, and, +whether I like it or not, drag me in night-cap and slippers, in +my shirt perhaps, if it so pleases the brave +<i>sans-culottes</i>, to the nearest outpost. Now I swear to you, +Cluseret, I would not bear this, if I had not, during the last +few hungry days of the siege, sold to a curiosity +dealer—your colleague now in the Commune—my revolver, +which I had hoped naïvely might defend me against the +Prussians! Think, a revolver with six balls, if you please, and +which, alas! I forgot to discharge! +</p> + +<p> +We can only hope that even at this moment, when the revolution has brought out +of the darkness into the light, so many rascals and cowards, just as the +sediment rises to the top when the wine is shaken, we must hope, that there +will be found in Paris, nobody to undertake the mean office of spy and +detective; and that the decree of M. Cluseret will remain a dead-letter, like +so many other decrees of the Commune. I will not believe all I am told; I will +not believe that last night several men, without any precise orders, without +any legal character whatever, merely National Guards, introduced themselves +into peaceful families; waking the wife and children, and carrying off the +husband as one carries off a housebreaker or an escaped convict. I am told that +this is a fact, that it has happened more than fifty times at Montmartre, +Batignolles, and Belleville; yet I will not believe it.<a href="#fn-50" +name="fnref-50" id="fnref-50"><sup>[50]</sup></a> I prefer to believe that +these tales are “inventions of Versailles” than to admit the +possibility of such infamy. +</p> + +<p> +Come now, Cluseret, War Delegate, whatever he likes to call +himself. Where does he come from, what has he done, and what +services has he rendered, to give him a right thus to impose his +sovereign wishes upon us? +</p> + +<p> +He is not a Frenchman; nor is he an American; for the honour +of France I prefer his being an American. His history is as short +as it is inglorious. He once served in the French army, and left, +one does not know why; then went to fight in America during the +war. His enemies affirm that he fought for the Slave States, his +friends the contrary. It does not seem very clear which side he +was on—both, perhaps. Oh, America! you had taken him from +us, why did you not keep him? Cluseret came back to us with the +glory of having forsworn his country. Immediately the +revolutionists received him with open arms. Only think, an +American! Do you like America? People want to make an America +everywhere. Modern Republics have had formidable enemies to +contend with—America and the revolution of ’98. We are sad +parodists. We cannot be free in our own fashion, but are always +obliged to imitate what has been or what is. But that which is +adapted to one climate or country, is it always that which is the +fittest thing for another? I will return, however, to this +subject another time. America, who is so vaunted, and whom I +should admire as much as could reasonably be wished, if men did +not try to remodel France after her image, one must be blind not +to see what she has of weakness and of narrowness, amid much that +is truly grand. It was said to me once by some one, “The American +mind may be compared to a compound liqueur, composed of the yeast +of Anglo-Saxon beer, the foam of Spanish wines, and the dregs of +the <i>petit-bleu</i> of Suresnes, heated to boiling point by the +applause and admiration given by the genuine pale ale, the true +sherry, and authentic Château-Margaux to these their +deposits. From time to time the caldron seethes with a little too +much violence, and the bubbling drink pours over upon the old +world, bringing back to the pure source, to the true vintage, +their deteriorated products. Oh! The poor wines of France! How +many adulterations have they been submitted to!” Calumny and +exaggeration no doubt; but I am angry with America for sending +Cluseret back, as I am angry with the Commune for having imposed +him on Paris. The Commune, however, has an admirable excuse: it +has not, perhaps, found among true Frenchmen one with an ambition +criminal enough to direct, according to her wishes, the +destruction of Paris by Paris, and France by France. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-49" id="fn-49"></a> <a href="#fnref-49">[49]</a> +There are two versions of Dombrowski’s earlier history. By his admirers +he was said to have headed the last Polish insurrection: the party of order +stigmatise him as a Russian adventurer, who had fought in Poland, but against +the Poles, and in the Caucasus, in Italy, and in France—wherever; in +fine, blows were to be given and money earned. He entered France, like many +other adventurous knights, in Garibaldi’s suite, came to Paris after the +siege, and immediately after the outbreak of the eighteenth of March was +created general by the Commune, and gathered round him in guise of staff the +most illustrious, or least ignoble, of those foreign parasites and vagabonds, +who have made of Paris a grand occidental Bohemian Babel. These soldiers of +fortune, most of whom had been “unfortunate” at home, formed the +marrow of the Commune’s military strength.<br/> + Dombrowski had gained a name for intrepidity even among these men of +reckless courage and adventurous lives. He maintained strict discipline, albeit +to a not very moral purpose. Whoever dared connect his name with the word +defeat was shot. Like many other Communist generals he took the most stringent +measures for concealing the truth from his soldiers, and thus staved off total +demoralisation until the Versailles troops were in the heart of Paris. His +relations with the Federal authorities were not of an uniformly amiable +character. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-50" id="fn-50"></a> <a href="#fnref-50">[50]</a> +A poor Italian smith told me he had three men seized. They had taken a stove +near the fortifications of Ternes, when they were arrested. “But we are +Italians!” they cried. It was no excuse, for the Federals replied, +“Italians! so much the better; you shall serve as Garibaldians!” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLI."></a> XLI.</h2> + +<p> +It was not enough that men should be riddled with balls and torn to pieces by +shells. The women are also seized with a strange enthusiasm in their turn, and +they too fall on the battle-field, victims of a terrible heroism. What +extraordinary beings are these who exchange the needle for the needle-gun, the +broom for the bayonet, who quit their children that they may die by the sides +of their husbands or lovers? Amazons of the rabble, magnificent and abject, +something between Penthesilea and Théroigne de Méricourt. There they are seen +to pass as cantinières, among those who go forth to fight. The men are furious, +the women are ferocious,—nothing can appal, nothing discourage them. At +Neuilly, a vivandière is wounded in the head; she turns back a moment to +staunch the blood, then returns to her post of danger. Another, in the 61st +Battalion, boasts of having killed three <i>gardiens de la paix</i><a +href="#fn-51" name="fnref-51" id="fnref-51"><sup>[51]</sup></a> and several +<i>gendarmes</i>. On the plain of Châtillon a woman joins a group of National +Guards, takes her stand amongst them, loads her gun, fires, re-loads and fires +again, without the slightest interruption. She is the last to retire, and even +then turns back again and again to fire. A <i>cantinière</i> of the 68th +Battalion was killed by a fragment of shell which broke the little +spirit-barrel she carried, and sent the splinters into her stomach. After the +engagement of the 3rd of April, nine bodies were brought to the <i>mairie</i> +of Vaugirard. The poor women of the quarter crowd there, chattering and +groaning, to look for husbands, brothers and son’s. They tear a dingy +lantern from each other, and put it close to the pale faces of the dead, +amongst whom they find the body of a young woman literally riddled with shot. +What means the wild rage that seizes upon these furies? Are they conscious of +the crimes they commit; do they understand the cause for which they die? +Yesterday, in a shop of the Rue de Montreuil, a woman entered with her gun on +her shoulder and her bayonet covered with blood. “Wouldn’t you do +better to stay at home and wash your brats?” said an indignant neighbour. +Whereupon arose a furious altercation, the virago working herself into such a +fury that she sprang upon her adversary, and bit her violently in the throat, +then withdrew a few steps, seized her gun, and was going to fire, when she +suddenly turned pale, her weapon fell from her hands, and she sank back dead. +In her wild passion she had broken a blood vessel. Such are the women of the +people in this terrible year of 1871. It has its <i>cantinières</i> as +’93 had its <i>tricoteuses</i>,<a href="#fn-52" name="fnref-52" +id="fnref-52"><sup>[52]</sup></a> but the cantinières are preferable, for the +horrible in them partakes of a savage grandeur. Fighting as they are against +brothers and kinsfolk, they are revolting, but against a foreign enemy, they +would have been sublime. +</p> + +<p> +Children, even, do not remain passive in this fearful +conflict. The children! you cry,—but do not smile; one of +my friends has just seen a poor boy whose eye has been knocked in +with the point of a nail. It happened thus. It was on Friday +evening in the principal street of Neuilly. Two hundred +boys—the eldest scarcely twelve years old—had +assembled there; they carried sticks on their shoulders, with +knives and nails stuck at the end of them. They had their army +roll, and their numbers were called over in form, and their +chiefs—for they had chiefs—gave the order to form +into half sections, then to march in the direction of Charenton; +a mite of a child trudged before, blowing in a penny trumpet +bought at a toy-shop, and they had a cantinière, a little +girl of six. Soon, they met another troop of children of about +the same numbers. Had the encounter been previously arranged? Had +it been decided that they should give battle? I cannot tell you +this, but at all events the battle took place, one party being +for the Versailles troops, the other for the Federals. Such a +battle, that the inhabitants of the quarter had the greatest +difficulty in separating the combatants, and there were killed +and wounded, as the official despatches of the Commune would give +it; Alexis Mercier, a lad of twelve, whom his comrades had raised +to the dignity of captain, was killed by the blow of a knife in +the stomach. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! believe it, these women drunk with hate, these children +playing at murder, are symptoms of the terrible malady of the +times. A few days hence, and this fury for slaughter will have +seized all Paris. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-51" id="fn-51"></a> <a href="#fnref-51">[51]</a> +The Gardiens de la Paix replaced the Sergents de Ville. They carried no sword, +and wore a cap with a tricoloured band and cockade; in fact were the policemen +of Paris. The Gendarmerie are the country police. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-52" id="fn-52"></a> <a href="#fnref-52">[52]</a> +Tricoteuses (knitters), women who attended political clubs—working whilst +they listened—1871 refined upon the idea of 1793. The first revolution +had its Tricoteuses, that of 1871 its Petroleuses!!! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLII."></a> XLII.</h2> + +<p> +May conciliation be hoped for yet? Alas! I can scarcely think so. The bloody +fight will have a bloody end. It is not alone between the Commune of Paris and +the Assembly of Versailles that there lies an abyss which only corpses can +fill. Paris itself, at this moment—I mean the Paris sincerely desirous of +peace—is no longer understood by France; a few days of separation have +caused strange divisions in men’s minds; the capital seems to speak the +country’s language no longer. Timbuctoo is not as far from Pekin, as +Versailles is distant from Paris. How can one hope under such circumstances, +that the misunderstanding, the sole cause of our misfortunes, can be cleared +away? How can one believe that the Government of Monsieur Thiers will lend an +ear to the propositions carried there by the members of the Republican Union of +the rights of Paris,<a href="#fn-53" name="fnref-53" +id="fnref-53"><sup>[53]</sup></a> by the delegates of Parisian trade and by the +emissaries of the Freemasons;<a href="#fn-54" name="fnref-54" +id="fnref-54"><sup>[54]</sup></a> when the principal object of all these +propositions is the definitive establishment of the Republic, and the fall and +entire recognition of our municipal liberties. The National Assembly is at the +same point as it was on the eve of the 18th of March; it disregards now, as it +did then, the legitimate wishes of the population, and, moreover, it will not +perceive the fact that the triumphant insurrection—in spite of the +excesses that everyone condemns—has naturally added to the validity of +our just revendications. The “Communists” are wrong, but the +Commune, the true Commune, is right; this is what Paris believes, and, +unhappily, this is what Versailles will not understand; it wants to remain, as +to the form of its government, weakly stationary; it makes a municipal law that +will be judged insufficient; and, as it obstinately persists in errors which +were worn out a month ago and are rotten now, they will soon consider the +“conciliators” whose ideas have progressed from day to day, as the +veritable agents of the insurrection, and send them, purely and simply, about +their business. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, the desire of seeing this fratricidal war at an +end, is so great, so ardent, so general, that convinced as we are +of the uselessness of their efforts, we admire and encourage +those who undertake the almost hopeless task of pacification with +persistent courage. True Paris has now but one flag, which is +neither the crimson rag nor the tricolour standard, but the white +flag of truce. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-53" id="fn-53"></a> <a href="#fnref-53">[53]</a> +The citizens, united under the denomination of the League of Republican Union +of the Rights of Paris, had adopted the following programme, which seemed to +them to express the wishes of the population:—<br/> + “Recognition of the Republic.<br/> + “Recognition of the rights of Paris to govern itself, + to regulate its police, its finances, its public charities, + its public instruction, and the exercise of its religious +liberty by a council freely elected and all-powerful within the + scope of its action.<br/> + “The protection of Paris exclusively confided to the National +Guard, formed of all citizens fit to serve.<br/> + “It is to the defence of this programme that the members of the +League wish to devote their efforts, and they appeal to all citizens to +aid them in the work, by making known their adhesion, so that the +members of the League, thereby strengthened and supported, may exercise +a powerful mediatory influence, tending to bring about the return of +peace, and to secure the maintenance of the Republic.<br/> + “Paris, 6th April, 1871.”<br/> + Here follow the signatures of former representatives, +<i>maires</i>, doctors, lawyers, literary men, merchants, and +others. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-54" id="fn-54"></a> <a href="#fnref-54">[54]</a> +MANIFESTO OF THE FREEMASONS.<br/> +<br/> +“In the presence of the fearful events which make all France shudder and +mourn, in the sight of the precious blood that flows in streams, the +Freemasons, who represent the sentiments of humanity and have spread them +through the world, come once more to declare before you, government and members +of the Assembly, and before you, members of the Commune, these great principles +which are their law and which ought to be the law of every one who has the +heart of a man.<br/> + “The flag of the Freemasons bears inscribed upon it, the noble +device—Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Union. The Freemasons uphold peace +among men, and, in the name of humanity, proclaim the inviolability of human +life. The Freemasons detest all wars, and cannot sufficiently express grief and +horror at civil warfare. Their duty and their right are to come between you and +to say:<br/> + “‘In the name of humanity, in the name of fraternity, in the +name of the distracted country, put a stop to this effusion of blood; we ask of +you, we implore of you, to listen to our appeal.’” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLIII."></a> XLIII.</h2> + +<p> +Do you know what the Abbaye de Cinq-Pierres is, or rather what it was? Mind, +not Saint-Pierre, but Cinq-Pierres (Five Stones). Gavroche,<a href="#fn-55" +name="fnref-55" id="fnref-55"><sup>[55]</sup></a> who loves puns and is very +fond of slang, gave this nickname to a set of huge stones which stood before +the prison of La Roquette, and on which the guillotine used to be erected on +the mornings when a capital punishment was to take place. The executioner was +the Abbé de Cinq-Pierres, for Gavroche is as logical as he is ingenious. Well! +the abbey exists no longer, swept clean away from the front of the Roquette +prison. This is splendid! and as for the guillotine itself, you know what has +been done with that. Oh! we had a narrow escape! Would you believe that that +infamous, that abominable Government of Versailles, conceived the idea, at the +time it sat in Paris, of having a new and exquisitely improved guillotine, +constructed by anonymous carpenters? It is exactly as I have the honour of +telling you. You can easily verify the fact by reading the proclamation of the +“<i>sous-comité en exercice.</i>” What is the “active +under-committee?” I admit that I am in total ignorance on the subject; +but, what does it matter! In these times when committees spring up like +mushrooms, it would be absurd to allow oneself to be astonished at a +committee—and especially a sub-committee—more or less. Here is the +proclamation:— +</p> + +<p> +“CITIZENS,—Being informed that a guillotine is at this +moment in course of construction,...” Dear me, yes, while you +were fast asleep and dreaming, with no other apprehension than +that of being sent to prison by the members of the Commune, a +guillotine was being made. Happily, the sub-committee was not +asleep. No, not they! “... a guillotine ordered and paid for +...”. Are you quite sure it was paid for, good sub-committee? For +that Government, you know, had such a habit of cheating poor +people out of their rights. “... by the late odious government; a +portable and rapid guillotine.” Ha! What do you say to that? Does +not that make your blood run cold? Rapid, you understand; that is +to say, that the guillotining of twelve or fifteen hundred +patriots in a morning would have been play to the Abbé of +Cinq-Pierres. And portable, too! A sort of pocket guillotine. +When the members of the Government had a circuit to make in the +provinces, they would have carried their guillotine with their +seals of office, and if, at Lyons, Marseilles, or any other great +town, they had met a certain number of scoundrels—Snip, +snap! In the twinkling of an eye, no more scoundrels left. Oh! +how cunning! But let us go on reading. “The sub-committee of the +eleventh arrondissement ...” Oh! so there is a sub-committee for +each arrondisement, is there? “... has had these infamous +instruments of monarchical domination ...” One for you, Monsieur +Thiers! “... seized, and has voted their destruction for ever.” +Very good intentions, sub-committee, but you can’t write grammar. +“In consequence, they will be burnt in front of the +<i>mairie</i>, for the purification of the arrondissement and the +preservation of the new liberties.” And accordingly, a guillotine +was burnt on the 7th of April, at ten o’clock in the morning, +before the statue of Voltaire. +</p> + +<p> +The ceremony was not without a certain weirdness. In the midst +of a compact crowd of men, women, and children, who shook their +fists at the odious instrument, some National Guards of the 187th +Battalion fed the huge flames with broken pieces of the +guillotine, which crackled, blistered, and blazed, while the +statue of the old philosopher, wrapped in the smoke, must have +sniffed the incense with delight. When nothing remained but a +heap of glowing ashes, the crowd shouted with joy; and for my own +part, I fully approved of what had just been done as well as of +the approbation of the spectators. But, between you and me, do +you not think that many of the persons there had often stationed +themselves around the guillotine with rather different intentions +than that of seeing it burnt? And then, if in reducing this +instrument of death to ashes, they wished to prove that the time +is past when men put men to death, it seems to me that they ought +not to stop at this. While we are at it, let us burn the muskets +too,—what say you? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-55" id="fn-55"></a> <a href="#fnref-55">[55]</a> +Gavroche is a street boy of Paris, a <i>gamin</i> immortalized by Victor Hugo +in “Les Misérables,” a master of Parisian <i>argot</i> (slang). +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLIV."></a> XLIV.</h2> + +<p> +I have just witnessed a horrible scene. Alas! what harrowing +spectacles meet our eyes on every side, and will still before all +this comes to an end. I accompanied a poor old woman to a +cemetery in the east of Paris. Her son, who had engaged himself +in a battalion of Federal guards, had not been home for five +days. He was most likely dead, the neighbours said, and one bade +her “go and look at the Cimetière de l’Est, they have +brought in a load of bodies there.” Imagine a deep trench and +about thirty coffins placed side by side. Numbers of people came +there to claim their own among the dead. To avoid crowding, the +National Guards made the people walk in order, two or three +abreast, and thus they were marshalled among the tombs and +crosses. The poor woman and I followed the others. From time to +time I heard a burst of sobs; some one amongst the dead had been +recognised. On we go slowly, step by step, as if we were at the +doors of a theatre. At last we arrive before the first coffin. +The poor mother I have come with is very weak and very sad; it is +I who lift up the thin lid of the coffin. A grey-haired corpse is +lying within it, from the shoulders downwards nothing but a heap +of torn flesh, and clothes, and congealed blood. We continue on. +The second coffin also contains the body of an old man; no wounds +are to be seen; he was probably killed by a ball. Still we +advance. I observe that the old men are in far greater number +than the young. The wounds are often fearful. Sometimes the face +is entirely mutilated. When I had closed the lid of the last +coffin the poor mother uttered a cry of relief; her son was not +there! For myself, I was stupefied with horror, and only +recovered my senses on being pushed on by the men behind me, who +wanted to see in their turn. “Well! when will he have done?” said +one. “I suppose he thinks that it is all for him.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-28"></a> +<img src="images/033.jpg" width="298" height="480" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Burning the Guillotine. April</b></p> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLV."></a> XLV.</h2> + +<p> +What is absolutely stupefying in the midst of all this, is the +smiling aspect of the streets and the promenades. The constantly +increasing emigration is only felt by the diminution in the +number of depraved women and dissipated men; enough, however, +remain to fill the cafés and give life to the boulevards. +It might almost be said that Paris is in its normal state. +</p> + +<p> +Every morning, from the Champs Elysées, Les Ternes, and +Vaugirard, families are seen removing into the town, out of the +way of the bombardment, as at the time when Jules Favre +anathematised the barbarity of the Prussians. Some pass in cabs, +others on foot, walking sadly, with their bedding and household +furniture piled on a cart. If you question these poor people, +they will all tell you of the shells from the Versailles +batteries, destroying houses and killing women and children. What +matters it? Paris goes her usual round of business and pleasure. +The Commune suppresses journals and imprisons journalists. +Monsieur Richardet, of the <i>National</i>, was marched off to +prison yesterday, for the sole crime of having requested a +passport of the savage Monsieur Rigault; the Commune thrusts the +priests into cells, and turns out the young girls from the +convents, imprisons Monsieur O’yan, one of the directors of the +Seminary of St. Sulpice; hurls a warrant of arrest at Monsieur +Tresca, who escapes; tries to capture Monsieur Henri Vrignault, +who however, succeeds in reaching a place of safety; the Commune +causes perquisitions to be made by armed men in the banking +houses, seizes upon title deeds and money; has strong-boxes burst +open by willing locksmiths; when the locksmiths are tired, the +soldiers of the Commune help them with the butt-ends of their +muskets. They do worse still, these Communists—they do all +that the consciousness of supreme power can suggest to despots +without experience; each day they send honest fathers of families +to their death, who think they are suffering for the good cause, +when they are only dying for the good pleasure of Monsieur Avrial +and Monsieur Billioray. Well! and what is Paris doing all this +time? Paris reads the papers, lounges, runs after the last news +and ejaculates: “Ah! ah! they have put Amouroux into prison! The +Archbishop of Paris has been transferred from the Conciergerie to +Mazas! Several thousand francs have been stolen from Monsieur +Denouille! Diable! Diable!” And then Paris begins the same round +of newspaper reading, lounging, and gossiping again. Nothing +seems changed. Nothing seems interrupted. Even the proclamation +of the famous Cluseret, who threatens us all with active service +in the marching regiments, has not succeeded in troubling the +tranquillity and indifference of the greater number of Parisians. +They look on at what is taking place, as at a performance, and +only bestow just enough interest upon it to afford them +amusement. This evening the cannonading has increased; on +listening attentively, we can distinguish the sounds of +platoon-firing; but Paris takes its glass of beer tranquilly at +the Café de Madrid and its Mazagran at the Café +Riche. Sometimes, towards midnight, when the sky is clear, Paris +goes to the Champs Elysées, to see things a little nearer, +strolls under the trees, and smoking a cigar exclaims: “Ah! there +go the shells.” Then leisurely compares the roar of the battle of +to-day to that of yesterday. In strolling about thus in the +neighbourhood of the shells, Paris exposes itself voluntarily to +danger; Paris is indifferent, and use is second nature. Then +bed-time comes, Paris looks over the evening papers, and asks, +with a yawn, where the devil all this will end? By a +conciliation? Or the Prussians perhaps? And then Paris falls +asleep, and gets up the next morning, just as fresh and lusty as +if Napoleon the Third were still Emperor by the grace of God and +the will of the French nation. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLVI."></a> XLVI.</h2> + +<p> +An insertion in the <i>Journal Officiel</i> of Versailles has +justly irritated the greater part of the French press. This is +the paragraph. “False news of the most infamous kind has been +spread in Paris where no independent journal is allowed to +appear.” From these few lines it may be concluded, that in the +eyes of the Government of Versailles the whole of the Paris +newspapers, whose editors have not deserted their posts, have +entirely submitted to the Commune, and only think and say what +the Commune permits them to think and say. This is an egregious +calumny. No, thank heaven! The Parisian press has not renounced +its independence, and if no account is taken (as is perfectly +justifiable) of a heap of miserable little sheets which no sooner +appear than they die, and of some few others edited by members of +the Commune, one would be obliged to acknowledge, on the +contrary, that since the 18th of March the great majority of +journals have exhibited proofs of a proud and courageous +independence. Each day, without allowing themselves to be +intimidated, either by menaces of forcible suppression or threats +of arrest, they have fearlessly told the members of the Commune +their opinion without concealment or circumlocution. The French +press has undoubtedly committed many offences during the last few +years, and is not altogether irresponsible for the troubles which +have overwhelmed the unhappy country; but reparation is being +made for these offences in this present hour of danger, and the +fearless attitude which it has maintained before these men of the +Hôtel de Ville, atones nobly for the past. It has +constituted itself judge; condemns what is condemnable, resists +violence, endeavours to enlighten the masses. Sometimes +too—and this is perhaps its greatest crime in the eyes of +the Versailles Government—it permits itself to disapprove +entirely of the acts of the National Assembly; some journals +going as far as to insinuate that the Government is not +altogether innocent of the present calamities. But what does this +prove? That the press is no more the servant of the Assembly than +it is the slave of the Commune; in a word, that it is free. +</p> + +<p> +And what false news is this of which the <i>Journal +Officiel</i> of Versailles complains, and against which it seems +to warn us? Does it think it likely that we should be silly +enough to give credence to the shouts of victory that are +recorded each morning, on the handbills of the Commune? Does it +suppose that we look upon the deputies as nothing but a race of +anthropophagi who dine every day off Communists and Federals at +the <i>tables d’hôte</i> of the Hôtel des +Réservoirs? Not at all. We easily unravel the truth, from +the entanglement of exaggerations forged by the men of the +Hôtel de Ville; and it is precisely this just appreciation +of things that we owe to those papers which the <i>Journal +Officiel</i> condemns so inconsiderately. +</p> + +<p> +But it is not of fake news alone, probably, that the +Versailles Assembly is afraid. It would not perhaps be sorry that +we should ignore the real state of things, and I wager that if it +had the power it would willingly suppress ill-informed +journals—although they are not Communist the least in the +world—who allow themselves to state that for six days the +shells of Versailles have fallen upon Les Ternes, the Champs +Elysées and the Avenue Wagram, and have already cost as +many tears and as much bloodshed, as the Prussian shells of +fearful memory. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLVII."></a> XLVII.</h2> + +<p> +Wednesday, 12th April.—Another day passed as yesterday +was, as to-morrow will be. The Versaillais attack the forts of +Vanves and Issy and are repulsed. There is fighting at Neuilly, +at Bagneux, at Asnières. In the town requisitions and +arrests are being made. A detachment of National Guards arrives +before the Northern railway-station. They inquire for the +director, but director there is none. Embarrassing situation +this. The National Guards cannot come all this way for nothing. +Determined on arresting some one, they carry off M. Félix +Mathias, head of the works, and M. Coutin, chief inspector. An +hour later other National Guards imprison M. Lucien Dubois, +general inspector of markets, in the depôt of the +ex-Prefecture of Police. Here and there a few journalists are +arrested without cause, to serve as examples; some priests are +despatched to Mazas, among others M. Lartigues, +<i>curé</i> of <i>Saint Leu</i>. Yesterday the following +was placarded on the shut doors of the church at Montmartre: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Since priests are bandits and churches retreats where they have morally +assassinated the masses, causing <i>France to cower beneath the clutches of the +infamous Bonapartes, Favres, and Trochus</i>, the delegates of the stone masons +at the ex-Prefecture of Police give orders that the church of Saint-Pierre (not +Cinq-Pierres this time) shall be closed, and decrees the imprisonment of its +priests and its <i>Frères Ignorantins</i>. Signed by Le Mousau.” +</p> + +<p> +To-day it is the turn of the church of Notre Dame de Lorette. +A considerable number of worshippers had assembled in the holy +place. The National Guards arrive, headed by men in plain +clothes. Under the Empire such men were called spies. The women +found praying are turned out, those who do not obey promptly +enough, with blows. This done, the guards retire. What they had +come there for is not known. But what we are certain of is, that +they will begin again to-morrow in this same church, or in +another. The days resemble each other as the children of an +accursed family. What frightful catastrophe will break this +shameful monotony? +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLVIII."></a> XLVIII.</h2> + +<p> +Eh! What? It is impossible! Are your brains scattered? I speak +figuratively, awaiting the time when they will be scattered in +earnest. It must be some miserable jester who has worded, +printed, and placarded this unconscionable decree. But no, it is +in the usual form, the usual type. This is rather too much, +Gentlemen of the Commune; it outsteps the bounds of the +ridiculous; you count a little too much this time on the +complicity of some of the population, and on the patience of +others. Here is the decree: +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-29"></a> +<img src="images/034.jpg" width="500" height="472" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Column in the Place Vendôme.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +Erected by the first Napoleon to commemorate his German campaign of 1805. An +imitation of the Column of Trajan, at Rome, slightly taller. It cost 1,500,000 +francs! +</p> + +<p class="center"> + “THE COMMUNE OF PARIS, +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Considering that the Imperial column of the Place Vendôme is a + monument of barbarian, a symbol of brute force, of false glory, an + encouragement of military spirit, a denial of international rights, + a permanent insult offered by the conquerors to the conquered, a + perpetual conspiracy against one of the great principles of the + French Republic, namely: Fraternity,<br/> + “Decrees:<br/> + “<i>Sole article</i>.—The Colonne Vendôme is to be demolished.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I must tell you plainly, you are absurd, contemptible, and +odious! This sorry farce outstrips all one could have imagined, +and all that the Versailles papers said of you must have been +true; for what you are doing now is worse than anything they +could ever have dared to imagine. It was not enough to violate +the churches, to suppress the liberties,—the liberty of +writing, the liberty of speaking, the liberty of free +circulation, the liberty of risking one’s life or not. It was not +enough that blood should be recklessly spilled, that women should +be made widows and children orphans, trade stopped and commerce +ruined; it was not enough that the dignity of defeat—the +only glory remaining—should be swallowed up in the shameful +disaster of civil war; in a word, it was not sufficient to have +destroyed the present, compromised the future; you wish now to +obliterate the past! Funereal mischief! Why, the Colonne +Vendôme is France, and a trophy of its past +greatness,—alas, at present in the shade—is not the +monument, but the record of a victorious race who strode through +the world conquering as they went, planting the tricolour +everywhere. In destroying the Colonne Vendôme, do not +imagine that you are simply overthrowing a bronze column +surmounted by the statue of an emperor; you disinter the remains +of your forefathers to shake their fleshless bones, and say to +them, “You were wrong in being brave and proud and great; you +were wrong to conquer towns, to win battles; you were wrong to +astound the universe by raising the vision of France glorified. +It is scattering to the wind the ashes of heroes! It is telling +those aged soldiers, seen formerly in the streets (where are they +now? Why do we meet them no longer? Have you killed them, or does +their glory refuse to come in contact with your infamy?) It is +telling the maimed soldiers of the Invalides, “You are but +blockheads and brigands. So you have lost a leg, and you an arm! +So much the worse for you idle scamps. Look on these rascals +crippled for their country’s honour!” It is like snatching from +them the crosses they have won, and delivering them into the +hands of the shameless street urchins, who will cry, “A hero! a +hero!” as they cry “Thief! thief!” There is certainly purer and +less costly grandeur than that which results from war and +conquests. You are free to dream for your country a glory +different to the ancient glory; but the heroic past, do not +overthrow it, do not suppress it, now especially, when you have +nothing with which to replace it, but the disgraces of the +present. Yet, no! Complete your work, continue in the same path. +The destruction of the Colonne Vendôme is but a beginning, +be logical and continue; I propose a few decrees: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “The Commune of Paris, considering that the Church of Notre Dame de + Paris is a monument of superstition, a symbol of divine tyranny, an + affirmation of fanaticism, a denial of human rights, a permanent + insult offered by believers to atheists, a perpetual conspiracy + against one of the great principles of the Commune, namely, the + convenience of its members,<br/> + “Decrees:<br/> + “The Church of Notre Dame shall be demolished.” +</p> + +<p> +What say you to my proposition? Does it not agree with your +dearest desire? But you can do better and better: believe me you +ought to have the courage of your opinions. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “The Commune of Paris, considering that the Museum of the Louvre + contains a great number of pictures, of statues, and other objects + of art, which, by the subjects they represent, bring eternally to + the mind of the people the actions of gods, and kings, and priests; + that these actions indicated by flattering brush or chisel are often + delineated in such a way as to diminish the hatred that priests, + kings, and gods should inspire to all good citizens; moreover, the + admiration excited by the works of human genius is a perpetual + assault on one of the great principles of the Commune, namely, its + imbecility,<br/> + “Decrees:<br/> + “<i>Sole article</i>.—The Museum of the Louvre shall be burned to the + ground.” +</p> + +<p> +Do not attempt to reply that in spite of the recollections of +religion and despotism attached to these monuments you would +leave Notre Dame and the Museum of the Louvre untouched for the +sake of their artistic importance. Beware of insinuating that you +would have respected the Colonne Vendôme had it possessed +some merit as a work of art. You! respect the masterpieces of +human art! Wherefore? Since when, and by what right? No, little +as you may have been known before you were masters, you were yet +known enough for us to assert that one of you—whom I will +name: M. Lefrançais—wished in 1848 to set fire to +the <i>Salon Carré</i>; there is another of you—whom +I will also name: M. Jules Vallès—asserts that Homer +was an old fool. It is true that M. Jules Vallès is +Minister of Public Instruction. If you have spared Notre Dame and +the Museum of the Louvre up to this moment, it is that you dared +not touch them, which is a proof, not of respect but of +cowardice. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! our eyes are open at last! We are no longer dazzled by the +chimerical hopes we nourished for a moment, of obtaining, through +you communal liberties. You did but adopt those opinions for the +sake of misleading us, as a thief assumes the livery of a house +to enter his master’s room and lay hands on his money. We see you +now as you are. We had hoped that you were revolutionists, too +ardent, too venturous perhaps, but on the whole impelled by a +noble intention: you are nothing but insurgents, insurgents whose +aim is to sack and pillage, favoured by disturbances and +darkness. If a few well-intentioned men were among you, they have +fled in horror. Count your numbers, you are but a handful. If +there still remain any among you, who have not lost all power of +discriminating between justice and injustice, they look towards +the door, and would fly if they dared. Yet this handful of +furious fools governs Paris still. Some among us have been +ordered to their death, and they have gone! How long will this +last? Did we not surrender our arms? Can we not assemble, as we +did a month ago near the Bank, and deal justice ourselves without +awaiting an army from Versailles? Ah I we must acknowledge that +the deputies of the Seine and the Maires of Paris, misled like +ourselves, erred in siding with the insurrectionists. They wished +to avert street fighting. Is the strife we are witnessing not far +more horrible than that we have escaped? One day’s struggle, and +it would have ended. Yes, we were wrong to lay down our arms; but +who could have believed—the excesses of the first few days +seemed more like the sad consequences of popular effervescence +than like premeditated crimes—who could have believed that +the chiefs of the insurrection lied with such impudence as is now +only too evident, and that before long the Commune would be the +first to deprive us of the liberties it was its duty to protect +and develope? The “Rurals” were right then,—they who had +been so completely in the wrong in refusing to lend an attentive +ear to the just prayers of a people eager for liberty, they were +right when they warned us against the ignorance and wickedness of +these men. Ah! were the National Assembly but to will it, there +would yet be time to save Paris. If it really wished to establish +a definite Republic, and concede to the capital of France the +right, free and entire, of electing an independent municipality, +with what ardour should we not rally round the legitimate +Government! How soon would the Hôtel de Ville be delivered +from the contemptible men who have planted themselves there. If +the National Assembly could only comprehend us! If it would only +consent to give Paris its liberty, and France its tranquillity, +by means of honourable concessions! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XLIX."></a> XLIX.</h2> + +<p> +The delegates of the League of the Republican Union of the +Rights of Paris returned from Versailles to-day, the 14th April, +and published the following reports:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CITIZENS,—The undersigned, chosen by you to present your programme + to the Government of Versailles, and to proffer the good offices of + the League to aid in the conclusion of an armistice, have the honour + of submitting you an account of their mission.<br/> + “The delegates, having made known to Monsieur Thiers the programme + of the League, he replied that as chief of the sole legal government + existing in France he had not to discuss the basis of a treaty, but + notwithstanding he was quite ready to treat with such persons whom + he considered as representing Republican principles, and to acquaint + them with the intentions of the chief of the executive power.<br/> + “It is in accordance with these observations, which denote, in fact, + the true character of our mission, that Monsieur Thiers has made the + following declarations on different points of our programme.<br/> + “Respecting the recognition of the Republic, Monsieur Thiers answers + for its existence as long as he remains in power. A Republican state + was put into his hands, and he stakes his honour on its + conservation.” +</p> + +<p> +Ay! it is precisely that which will not satisfy +Paris—Paris sighing for peace and liberty. We have all the +most implicit faith in Thiers’ honour. We are assured that the +words, “French Republic” will head the white Government placards +as long as he remains in power. But when Thiers is withdrawn from +power—National Assemblies can be capricious +sometimes—what assures us that we shall not fall victims to +a monarchical or even an imperial restoration? Ghosts can appear +in French history as well as in Anne Radcliffe’s novels. To +attempt to consider the elected members who sit at Versailles as +sincere Republicans is an effort beyond the powers of our +credulity. You see that Thiers himself dares not speak his +thoughts on what might happen were he to withdraw from power. +Thus we find ourselves, as before, in a state of transition, and +this state of transition is just what appals us. We address +ourselves to the Assembly, and ask of it, “We are Republican; are +you Republican?” And the Assembly pretends to be deaf, and the +deputies content themselves with humming under their breaths, +some the royal tune of “The White Cockade,” and others the +imperial air of “Partant pour la Syrie.” This does not quite +satisfy us. It is true that Thiers says he will maintain the form +of government established in Paris as long as he possibly can; +but he only promises for himself, and it results clearly from all +this that we shall not keep the Republic long, since its definite +establishment depends in fact on the majority in the Assembly, +while the Assembly is royalist, with a slight sprinkle of +imperialism here and there. But let us continue the reading of +the reports. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Respecting the municipal franchise of Paris, Monsieur Thiers declares that +Paris will enjoy its franchise on the same conditions as those of the other +towns, according to a common law, such as will be set forth by the Assembly of +the representatives of all France. Paris will have the common right, nothing +less and nothing more.” +</p> + +<p> +This again is little satisfactory. What will this common right +be? What will the law set forth by the representatives of all +France be worth? Once more we have the most entire confidence in +Thiers. But have we the right to expect a law conformable to our +wishes from an assembly of men who hold opinions radically +opposed to ours on the point which is in fact the most important +in the question—on the form of government? +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Concerning the protection of Paris, now exclusively confided to the National +Guards, Monsieur Thiers declares that he will proceed at once to the +organization of the National Guard, but that cannot be to the absolute +exclusion of the army.” +</p> + +<p> +In my personal opinion, the President is perfectly right here; +but from the point of view which it was the mission of the +delegates of the Republican Union to take, is not this third +declaration as evasive as the preceding? +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Respecting the actual situation and the means of putting an end to the +effusion of blood, Monsieur Thiers declares that not recognising as +belligerents the persons engaged in the struggle against the National Assembly, +he neither can nor will treat the question of an armistice; but he declares +that if the National Guards of Paris make no hostile attack, the troops of +Versailles will make none either, until the moment, yet undetermined, when the +executive power shall resolve upon action and commence the war.” +</p> + +<p> +Oh, words! words! We are perfectly aware that Thiers has the +right to speak thus, and that all combatants are not +belligerents. But what! Is it as just as it is legal to argue the +point so closely, when the lives of so many men are at stake; and +is a small grammatical concession so serious a thing, that sooner +than make it one should expose oneself to all the horrible +feelings of remorse that the most rightful conqueror experiences +at the sight of the battle-field? +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Monsieur Thiers adds: ‘Those who abandon the contest, that is to say, who +return to their homes and renounce their hostile attitude, will be safe from +all pursuit.’” +</p> + +<p> +Is Thiers quite certain that he will not find himself +abandoned by the Assembly at the moment when he enters upon this +path of mercy and forgiveness? +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Monsieur Thiers alone excepts the assassins of General Lecomte and General +Clément Thomas, who if taken will be tried for the crime.” +</p> + +<p> +And here he is undoubtedly right. We must have been blind +indeed the day that this double crime failed to open our eyes to +the true characters of the men who, if they did not commit it or +cause it to be committed, made at least no attempt to discover +the criminals! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Monsieur Thiers, recognising the impossibility for a great part of the +population, now deprived of work, to live without the allotted pay, will +continue to distribute that pay for several weeks longer. “Such, citizens, is, +etc., etc.” +</p> + +<p> +This report is signed by A. Dessonnaz, A. Adam, and Donvallet. +Alas! we had foreseen what the result of the honourable attempt +made by the delegates of the Republican Union would be. And this +result proves that not only is the National Guard at war with the +regular troops, but that a persistent opposition is also made by +the National Assembly of Versailles to the most reasonable +portion of the people of Paris. And yet the Assembly represents +France, and speaks and acts only as she is commissioned to speak +and act. The truth then is this,—Paris is republican and +France is not republican; there is division between the capital +and the country. The present convulsion, brought about by a group +of madmen, has its source in this divergence of feeling. And what +will happen? Will Paris, once more vanquished by universal +suffrage, bend her neck and accept the yoke of the provincials +and rustics? The right of these is incontestable; but will it, by +reason of superiority of numbers, take precedence of our right, +as incontestable as theirs? These are dark questions, which hold +the minds of men in suspense, and which, in spite of our desire +to bring the National Assembly over to our side, the greater part +of whose members could not join us without betraying their trust, +cause us to bear the intolerable tyranny of the men of the +Hôtel de Ville, even while their sinister lucubrations +inspire us with disgust. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="L."></a>L.</h2> + +<p> +During this time the walls resound with fun. Paris of the +street and gutter—Paris, Gavroche and blackguard, rolls +with laughter before the caricatures which ingenious salesmen +stick with pins on shutters and house doors. Who designed these +wild pictures, glaringly coloured and common, seldom amusing and +often outrageously coarse? They are signed with unknown +names—pseudonyms doubtless; their authors, amongst whom it +is sad to think that artists of talent must be counted, are like +women, high born and depraved, mixing with their faces masked in +hideous orgies. +</p> + +<p> +These vile pictures with their infamous calumnies keep up and +even kindle contempt and hatred in ignorant minds. Laughter is +often far from innocent. But the passers-by think little of this, +and are amused enough when they see Jules Favre’s head +represented by a radish, or the <i>embonpoint</i> of Monsieur +Picard by a pumpkin. Where will all this unwholesome stuff be +scattered in a few days? Flown away and dispersed. Eccentric +amateurs will tear their hair at the impossibility of obtaining +for their collections these frivolous witnesses of troubled +times. I will make a few notes so as to diminish their despair as +far as I am able. +</p> + +<p> +A green soil and a red sky—In a black coffin is a +half-naked woman, with a Phrygian cap on her head, endeavouring +to push up the lid with all her might. Jules Favre, lean, small, +head enormous, under lip thick and protruding, hair wildly flying +like a willow in a storm, wearing a dress coat, and holding a +nail in one hand and a hammer in the other, with his knee pressed +upon the coffin-lid, is trying to nail it down, in spite of the +very natural protestations of the half-naked woman. In the +distance, and running towards them, is Monsieur Thiers, with a +great broad face and spectacles, also armed with a hammer. Below +is written: “If one were to listen to these accursed Republics, +they would never die.” Signed, Faustin. Same author—Same +woman. But this time she lies in a bed hung with red flags for +curtains. Her shoulders a little too bare, perhaps, for a +Republic, but she must be made attractive to her good friends the +Federals. At the head of the bed a portrait of Rochefort; +Rochefort is the favoured one of this lady, it seems. Were I he, +I should persuade her to dress a little more decently. Three +black men, in brigands’ hats, their limbs dragging, and their +faces distorted, approach the bed, singing like the robbers in +Fra Diavolo: “Ad.... vance ... ad ... vance ... with ... pru ... +dence ...!” The first, Monsieur Thiers, carries a heavy club and +a dark lantern; Jules Favre, the second, brandishes a knife, and +the third, carries nothing, but wears a peacock’s feather in his +hat, and.... I have never seen Monsieur Picard, but they tell me +that it is he. +</p> + +<p> +The young Republic again, with shoulders bare and the style of +face of a <i>petite dame</i> of the Rue Bossuet. She comes to beg +Monsieur Thiers, cobbler and cookshop-keeper, who “finds places +for pretenders out of employ, and changes their old boots for new +at the most reasonable prices,” to have her shoes mended. “Wait a +bit! wait a bit!” says the cobbler to himself, “I’ll manage ’em +so as to put an end to her walking.” +</p> + +<p> +Here is a green monkey perched on the extreme height of a +microscopic tribune. At the end of his tail he wears a crown; on +his head is a Phrygian cap. It is Monsieur Thiers of course. +“Gentlemen,” says he, “I assure you that I am republican, and +that I adore the vile multitude.” But underneath is written: +“We’ll pluck the Gallic cock!” The author of this is also +Monsieur Faustin. I have here a special reproach to add to what I +have already said of these objectionable stupidities. I do not +like the manner in which the author takes off Monsieur Thiers; he +quite forgets the old and well-known resemblance of the chief of +the executive power to Monsieur Prud’homme, or what is the same +thing, to Prud’homme’s inventor, Henri Monnier. One day Gil Perez +the actor, met Henri Monnier on the Boulevard Montmartre. “Well, +old fellow!” cried he, “are you back? When are you and I going to +get at our practical jokes again?” Henri Monnier looked +profoundly astonished; it was Monsieur Thiers! +</p> + +<p> +The next one is signed Pilotel. Pilotel, the savage +commissioner! He who arrested Monsieur Chaudey, and who pocketed +eight hundred and fifteen francs found in Monsieur Chaudey’s +drawers. Ah! Pilotel, if by some unlucky adventure you were to +succumb behind a barricade, you would cry like Nero: “Qualis +artifex pereo!” But let us leave the author to criticise the +work. A Gavroche, not the Gavroche of the +<i>Misérables</i>, but the boy of Belleville, chewing +tobacco like a Jack-tar, drunk as a Federal, in a purple blouse, +green trousers, his hands in his pockets, his cap on the nape of +his neck; squat, violent, and brutish. With an impudent jerk of +the head he grumbles out: “I don’t want any of your kings!” This +coarse sketch is graphic and not without merit. +</p> + +<p> +Horror of horrors! “Council of Revision of the Amazons of +Paris,” this next is called. Oh! if the brave Amazons are like +these formidable monstrosities, it would be quite sufficient to +place them in the first rank, and I am sure that not a soldier of +the line, not a guardian of the peace, not a <i>gendarme</i> +would hesitate a moment at the sight, but all would fly without +exception, in hot haste and in agonised terror, forgetting in +their panic even to turn the butt ends of their muskets in the +air. One of these Amazons—but how has my sympathy for the +amateurs of collections led me into the description of these +creatures of ugliness and immodesty?—one of them.... but +no, I prefer leaving to your imagination those Himalayan masses +of flesh, and pyramids of bone—these Penthesileas of the +Commune of Paris that are before me. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! Here is choleric old “Father Duchesne” in a towering +passion, with short legs, bare arms, and rubicund face, topped +with an immense red cap. In one hand he holds a diminutive +Monsieur Thiers and stifles him as if he were a sparrow. Here, +the drawing is not only vile, but stupid too. +</p> + +<p> +This time we have the nude, and it is not the Republic, but France that is +represented. If the Republic can afford to bare her shoulders, France may +dispense with drapery entirely. She has a dove which she presses to her bosom. +On one side is a portrait of Monsieur Rochefort. Again! Why this +unlovely-looking journalist is a regular Lovelace. Finally, two cats (M. Jules +Favre and M. Thiers) are to be seen outside the garret window with their claws +ready for pouncing. “Poor dove!” is the tame inscription below the +sketch.<a href="#fn-56" name="fnref-56" id="fnref-56"><sup>[56]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +Next we find a Holy Family, by Murillo. Jules Favre, as +Joseph, leads the ass by the reins, and a wet-nurse, who holds +the Comte de Paris in her arms instead of the infant Jesus, is +seated between the two panniers, trying to look at once like +Monsieur Thiers and the Holy Virgin. The sketch is called “The +Flight.... to Versailles.” Oh! fie! fie! Messieurs the +Caricaturists, can you not be funny without trenching on sacred +ground? +</p> + +<p> +We might refer to dozens more. Some date from the day when +Paris shook off the Empire, and are so infamous that, by a +natural reaction of feeling, they inspire a sort of esteem for +those they try to make you despise; others, those which were seen +by everyone during the siege, are less vile, because, of the +patriotic rage which originated them, and excused them; but they +are as odious as they can be nevertheless. But the amateurs of +collections who neglected to buy fly-sheets one by one as they +appeared, must be satisfied with the above. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-56" id="fn-56"></a> <a href="#fnref-56">[56]</a> +As a power for the encouragement of virtue and the suppression of vice, +caricature cannot be too highly estimated, though often abused. It is doubtful +which exercises the greater influence, poem or picture. In England, perhaps, +picture wields the greater power; in France, song. Yet, “let me write the +ballads and you may govern the people,” is an English axiom which was +well known before pictures became so plentiful or so popular, or the refined +cartoons of Mr. Punch were ever dreamt of. In Paris, where art-education is +highly developed, fugitive designs seems to have, with but few exceptions, +descended into vile abuse and indecent metaphor, the wildest invective being +exhausted upon trivial matters—hence the failure.<br/> + The art advocates of the Commune, with but few exceptions, seem to have +been of the most humble sort, inspired with the melodramatic taste of our Seven +Dials or the New Out, venting itself in ill-drawn heroic females, symbols of +the Republic, clad in white, wearing either mural crowns or Phrygian caps, and +waving red flags. They are the work of aspiring juvenile artists or uneducated +men. I allude to art favourable to the Commune, and not that coëval with it, or +the vast mass of pictorial unpleasantly born of gallic rage during the +Franco-Prussian war, including such designs as the horrible allegory of Bayard, +“Sedan, 1870,” a large work depicting Napoleon III. drawn in a +calèche and four, over legions of his dying soldiers, in the presence of a +victorious enemy and the shades of his forefathers’, and the well-known +subject, so popular in photography, of “The Pillory,” Napoleon +between King William and Bismarck, also set in the midst of a mass of dead and +dying humanity. Paper pillories are always very popular in Paris, and under the +Commune the heads of Tropmann and Thiers were exhibited in a wooden vice, +inscribed Pantin and Neuilly underneath. And, again, in another print, entitled +“The Infamous,” we have Thiers, Favre, and MacMahon, seen in a +heavenly upper storey, fixed to stakes, contemplating a dead mother and her +child, slain in their happy home, the wounds very sanguine and visible, the +only remaining relict being a child of very tender years in an overturned +cradle; beneath is the inscription “Their Works.” Communal art +seems also to have been very severe upon landlords, who are depicted with long +faces and threadbare garments, seeking alms in the street, or flying with empty +bags and lean stomachs from a very yellow sun, bearing the words “The +Commune, 1871.” Whilst as a contrast, a fat labourer, with a patch on his +blouse, luxuriates in the same golden sunshine.<br/> + As a sample of the better kind of French art, we give two fac-similes, by +Bertal, from <i>The Grelot</i>, a courageous journal started during the +Commune; it existed unmolested, and still continues. We here insert a +fac-simile of a sketch called “Paris and his Playthings.”<br/> + “What destruction the unhappy, spoiled, and ill-bred child +whose name is Paris has done, especially of late!<br/> + “France, his strapping nurse, put herself in a passion in +vain, the child would not listen to reason. He broke Trochu’s +arms, ripped up Gambetta, to see what there was inside. He blew +out the lantern of Rochefort; as to Bergeret himself, he trampled +him under foot.<br/> + “He has dislocated all his puppets, strewed the ground with +the <i>débris</i> of his fancies, and he is not yet +content,—‘What do you want, you wretched baby?’—‘I +want the moon!’ The old woman called the Assembly was right in +refusing this demand,—‘The moon, you little wretch, and +what would you do with it if you had it?’—‘I would pull it +to bits, as I did the rest.’”<br/> + Further on will be found “<a href="#image-46">Paris eating a +General a day</a>” (Chapter LXXVIII). Early in June, 1871 there +appeared in the same journal “The International Centipede,” “John +Bull and the Blanche Albion.” The Queen of England, clad in +white, holding in her hands a model of the Palace of Westminster, +and sundry docks, resists the approach of an interminable +centipede, on which she stamps, vainly endeavouring to impede the +progress of the coil of fire and blood approaching to soil and +fire her fair robe; beside her stands John Bull, in a queer mixed +costume, half sailor, with the smalls and gaiters of a +coalheaver. He bears the Habeas Corpus Act under his arm, but +stands aghast and paralysed, it never seeming to have occurred to +the artist that this “Monsieur John Boule, Esquire,” was well +adapted by his beetle-crushers to stamp out the vermin. Perhaps, +it is needless to add, that the snake-like form issues from a +hole in distant Prussia, meandering through many nations, causing +great consternation, and that M. Thiers is finishing off the +French section in admirable style. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-30"></a> +<img src="images/035.jpg" width="500" height="376" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Little Paris and his Playthings. Nurse. Mais! Sacré mille +noms d’un moutard! what will you want next?—PETIT PARIS: I’ll have the +moon!</b></p> +</div> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LI."></a> LI.</h2> + +<p> +What has Monsieur Courbet to do among these people? He is a painter, not a +politician. A few beery speeches uttered at the Hautefeuille Café cannot turn +his past into a revolutionary one, and an order refused for the simple reason +that it is more piquant for a man to have his button-hole without ornament than +with a slip of red ribbon in it, when it is well known that he disdains +whatever every one else admires, is but a poor title to fame. To your last, +Napoleon Gaillard!<a href="#fn-57" name="fnref-57" +id="fnref-57"><sup>[57]</sup></a> To your paint-brushes, Gustave Courbet! And +if we say this, it is not only from fear that the meagre lights of Monsieur +Courbet are insufficient, and may draw the Commune into new acts of +folly,—(though we scarcely know, alas! if there be any folly the Commune +has left undone,)—but it is, above all, because we fear the odium and +ridicule that the false politician may throw upon the painter. Yes! whatever +may be our horror for the nude women and unsightly productions with which +Monsieur Courbet<a href="#fn-58" name="fnref-58" +id="fnref-58"><sup>[58]</sup></a> has honoured the exhibitions of paintings, we +remember with delight several, admirably true to nature, with sunshine and +summer breezes playing among the leaves, and streams murmuring refreshingly +over the pebbles, and rocks whereon climbing plants cling closely; and, besides +these landscapes, a good picture here and there, executed, if not by the hand +of an artist—for the word artist possesses a higher meaning in our +eyes—at least by the hand of a man of some power, and we hate that this +painter should be at the Hôtel de Ville at the moment when the spring is +awakening in forest and field, and when he would do so much better to go into +the woods of Meudon or Fontainebleau to study the waving of the branches and +the eccentric twists and turns of the oak-tree’s huge trunk, than in +making answers to Monsieur Lefrançais—iconoclast in theory only as +yet—and to Monsieur Jules Vallès, who has read Homer in Madame +Dacier’s translation, or has never read it at all. That one should try a +little of everything, even of polities, when one is capable of nothing else, +is, if not excusable, at any rate comprehensible; but when a man can make +excellent boots like Napoleon Gaillard, or good paintings like Gustave Courbet, +that he should deliberately lay himself open to ridicule, and perhaps to +everlasting execration, is what we cannot admit. To this Monsieur Courbet would +reply: “It is the artists that I represent; it is the rights and claims +of modern art that I uphold. There must be a great revolution in painting as in +politics; we must federate too, I tell you; we’ll decapitate those +aristocrats, the Titians and Paul Veroneses; we’ll establish, instead of +a jury, a revolutionary tribunal, which shall condemn to instant death any man +who troubles himself about the ideal—that king whom we have knocked off +his throne; and at this tribunal I will be at once complainant, lawyer, and +judge. Yes! my brother painters, rally around me, and we will die for the +Commune of Art. As to those who are not of my opinion, I don’t care the +snap of a finger about them.” By this last expression the friends of +Monsieur Gustave Courbet will perceive that we are not without some experience +of his style of conversation. Courbet, my master, you don’t know what you +are talking about, and all true artists will send you to old Harry, you and +your federation. Do you know what an artistic association, such as you +understand it, would result in? In serving the puerile ambition of one +man—its chief, for there will be a chief, will there not, Monsieur +Courbet?—and the puerile rancours of a parcel of daubers, without name +and without talent. Artist in our way we assert, that no matter, what painter, +even had he composed works superior in their way to Courbet’s +“<i>Combat de Cerfs</i>” and “<i>Femme au +Perroquet</i>,” who came and said, “Let us federate,” we +would answer him plainly: “Leave us in peace, messieurs of the +federation, we are dreamers and workers; when we exhibit or publish and are +happy enough to meet with a man who will buy or print a few thousand copies of +our work without reducing himself to beggary, we are happy. When that is done, +we do not trouble ourselves much about our work; the indulgence of a few +friends, and the indignation of a few fools, is all we ask or hope for. We +federate? Why? With whom? If our work is bad, will the association with any +society in the world make it good? Will the works of others gain anything by +their association with ours? Let us go home, <i>messieurs les artistes</i>, let +us shut our doors, let us say to our servants—if we have any—that +we are at home to no one, and, after having cut our best pencil, or seized our +best pen, let us labour in solitude, without relaxation, with no other thought +than that of doing the best we can, with no higher judge than that of our own +artistic conscience; and when the work is completed, let us cordially shake +hands with those of our comrades who love us; let us help them, and let them +bring help to us, but freely, without obligation, without subscriptions, +without societies, and without statutes. We have nothing to do with these +free-masonries, absurd when brought into the domain of intelligence, and in +which two or three hundred people get together to do that, which some +new-comer, however unknown his budding fame, would accomplish at a blow, in the +face of all the associations in the world.” This is what I should naïvely +reply to Monsieur Courbet if he took it into his head to offer me any advice or +compact whatsoever to sign. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-31"></a> +<img src="images/036.jpg" width="271" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Modern “Erostrate” Courbet. In progress +of removal. June 1871.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +The artists have done still better than we should; they have +not answered at all, for one cannot call the “General Assembly of +all the Artists in Design,” presided over by Monsieur Gustave +Courbet, and held on the 13th of April, 1871, in the great +amphitheatre of the Ecole de Médecine, a real meeting of +French artists. We know several celebrated painters, and we saw +none of them there. The citizens Potier and Boulaix had been +named secretaries. We congratulate them; for this high +distinction may, perhaps, aid in founding their reputation, which +was in great want of a basis of some kind. But there were some +sculptors there, perhaps? We saw some long beards, beards that +were quite unknown to us, and their owners may have been +sculptors, perhaps. For Paris is a city of sculptors. But if +artists were wanting, there were talkers enough. Have you ever +remarked that there are no orators so indefatigable as those who +have nothing to say? And the interruptions, the clamour, the +apostrophising, more highly coloured than courteous! Such an +overwhelming tumult was never heard:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“No more jury!”<br/> +“Yes! yes! a jury! a jury!”<br/> +“Out with the reactionist!”<br/> +“Down with Cabanel!”<br/> +“And the women? Are the women to be on the jury?”<br/> +“Neither the women, nor the infirm.” +</p> + +<p> +And all the time there is Monsieur Gustave Courbet, the +chairman, desperately ringing his bell for order, and launching +some expressive exclamation from time to time. And the result of +all this? Absolutely nothing at all! No! stop! There were a few +statutes proposed—and every one amused himself immensely. +“Well! so much the better,” said one. “Every one laughed, and no +harm was done to anybody.” +</p> + +<p> +We beg your pardon! There was a great deal of harm +done—to Monsieur Courbet. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-57" id="fn-57"></a> <a href="#fnref-57">[57]</a> +Gaillard Senior (a sort of Odger), cobbler of Belleville and democratic stump +orator. Appointed, April 8, to the Presidency of the Commission of Barricades. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-58" id="fn-58"></a> <a href="#fnref-58">[58]</a> +As a painter Courbet has been very diversely judged. He was the chief of the +ultra-realistic school, and therefore a natural subject for the contempt and +abuse of the admirers of “legitimate art.” But his later use of the +political power entrusted to him has drawn down upon him the wrath of an +immense majority of the French public, which his artistic misdemeanours had +scarcely touched. On the sixteenth of April he was elected a member of the +Commune by the 6th arrondissement of Paris, and forthwith appointed Director of +the Beaux Arts. Until this time his life had been purely professional, and +consequently of mediocre interest for the general public. He was born at +Ornans, department of the Doubs, in 1819, and received his primary instructions +from the Abbé Gousset, afterwards Archbishop of Rheims. He first applied +himself to the study of mathematics, painting the while, and apparently aiming +at a fusion of both pursuits. He subsequently read for the bar for a short +time, and, finally, adopting art as his sole profession, threw himself heart +and soul into a Rénaissance movement as the apostle of a new style. The +peculiarities of his manner soon brought him into notoriety, and a school of +imitators grouped itself around him. His pride became a proverb. In 1870 he was +offered the cross of the Legion of Honour, and refused it, arrogantly declaring +that he would have none of a distinction given to tradesmen and ministers. The +part he took in the destruction of the Colonne Vendôme is familiar to all +readers of the English press. Three weeks after the fall of the Commune he was +denounced by a Federal officer, and discovered at the house of a friend hiding +in a wardrobe, and in September was condemned by the tribunal at Versailles to +six months’ imprisonment and a fine of 600 francs—a slight penalty +that astonished everyone. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LII."></a> LII.</h2> + +<p> +It is forbidden to cross the Place Vendôme, and +naturally, walking there is prohibited too. I had been prowling +about every afternoon for the last few days, trying to pass the +sentinels of the Rue de la Paix, hoping that some lucky chance +might enable me to evade the military order; all I got for my +pains was a sharply articulated “<i>Passes au large!</i>” and I +remained shut out. +</p> + +<p> +To-day, as I was watching for a favourable opportunity, a +<i>petite dame</i> who held up her skirts to show her stockings, +which were as red as the flag of the Hôtel de +Ville—out upon you for a female Communist!—approached +the sentinel and addressed him with her most gracious, smile. And +oh, these Federals! The man in office forgot his duty, and at +once began with the lady a conversation of such an intimate +description, that for discretion’s sake I felt myself obliged to +take a slight turn to the left, and a minute later I had slipped +into the forbidden Place. +</p> + +<p> +A Place?—no, a camp it might more properly be called. +Here and there, are seen a crowd of little tents, which would be +white if they were washed, and littered about with straw. Under +the tents lie National Guards; they are not seen, but plainly +heard, for they are snoring. You remember the absurd old bit of +chop-logic often repeated in the classes of philosophy? One might +apply it thus: he sleeps well who has a good conscience; the +Federals sleep well; ergo, the Federals have a good conscience. +Guards walk to and fro with their pipes in their mouths. If I +were to say that these honourable Communists show by their easy +manner, gentlemanly bearing, and superior conversation, that they +belong to the cream of Parisian society, you would perhaps be +impertinent enough not to believe one word of what I said. I +think it, therefore, preferable in every way to assert the direct +contrary. There is a group of them flinging away their pay at the +usual game of <i>bouchon</i>. “The Soldier’s Pay and the Game of +Cork” is the title that might be given by those who would write +the history of the National Guard from the beginning of the siege +to the present time. And if to the cork they added the bottle, +they might pride themselves upon having found a perfect one. This +is how it comes to pass. The wife is hungry, and the children are +hungry, but the father is thirsty, and he receives the pay. What +does he do? He is thirsty, and he must drink; one must think of +oneself in this world. When he has satisfied his thirst, what +remains? A few sous, the empty bottle, and the cork. Very good. +He plays his last sou on the famous game, and in the evening, +when he returns home, he carries to his +family—what?—the empty bottle! +</p> + +<p> +On the Place two barricades have been made, one across the Rue +de la Paix, and the other before the Rue Castiglione. “Two +formidable barricades,” say the newspapers, which may be read +thus: “A heap of paving stones to the right, and a heap of paving +stones to the left.” I whisper to myself that two small +field-pieces, one on the place of the New Opera-house, and the +other at the Rue de Rivoli, would not be long before they got the +better of these two barricades, in spite of the guns that here +and there display their long, bright cylinders. +</p> + +<p> +The Federals have decidedly a taste for gallantry. About +twenty women—I say young women, but not pretty +women—are selling coffee to the National Guards, and add to +their change a few ogling smiles meant to be engaging. +</p> + +<p> +As to the Column, it has not the least appearance of being +frightened by the decree of the Commune which threatens it with a +speedy fall. There it stands like a huge bronze I, and the +emperor is the dot upon it. The four eagles are still there, at +the four corners of the pedestal, with their wreaths of +immortelles, and the two red flags which wave from the top seem +but little out of place. The column is like the ancient honour of +France, that neither decrees nor bayonets can intimidate, and +which in the midst of threats and tumult, holds itself aloft in +serene and noble dignity. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LIII."></a> LIII.</h2> + +<p> +Who would think it? They are voting. When I say “they are +voting,” I mean to say “they might vote;” for as for going to the +poll, Paris seems to trouble itself but little about it. The +Commune, too, seems somewhat embarrassed. You remember Victor +Hugo’s song of the Adventurers of the Sea: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“En partant du golfe d’Otrente<br/> + Nous étions trente,<br/> +Mais en arrivant à Cadix<br/> + Nous n’étions que dix.”<a href="#fn-59" name="fnref-59" +id="fnref-59"><sup>[59]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p> +The gentlemen of the Hôtel de Ville might sing this song +with a few slight variations. The Gulf of Otranto was not their +starting point, but the Buttes Montmartre; though to make up for +it they were eighty in number. On arriving at C——, +no, I mean, the decree of the Colonne Vendôme, they were a +few more than ten, but not many. What charming stanzas in +imitation of Victor Hugo might Théodore de Banville and +Albert Glatigny write on the successive desertions of the members +of the Commune. The first to withdraw were the <i>maires</i> of +Paris, frightened to death at having been sent by the votes of +their fellow-citizens into an assembly which was not at all, it +appears, their ideal of a municipal council. And upon this +subject Monsieur Desmarest, Monsieur Tirard, and their +<i>adjoints</i> will perhaps permit me an unimportant question. +What right had they to persuade their electors and the Friends of +Order, to vote for the Commune of Paris if they were resolved to +decline all responsibility when the votes had been given them? +Their presence at the Hôtel de Ville, would it not have +infused—as we hoped—a powerful spirit of moderation +even in the midst of excesses that could even then be foretold? +When they have done all they can to persuade people to vote, have +they the right to consider themselves ineligible? In a word, why +did they propose to us to elect the Commune of Paris if the +Commune were a bad thing? and if it were a good thing, why did +they refuse to take their part in it? Whatever the cause, no +sooner were they elected than they sent in their resignations. +Then the hesitating and the timid disappeared one after another, +not having the courage to continue the absurdity to the end. Add +to all this the arrests made in its very bosom by the Assembly of +the Hôtel de Ville itself, and you will then have an idea +of the extent of the dilemma. A few days more and the Commune +will come to an end for want of Communists, and then we shall +cry, “Haste to the poll, citizens of Paris!” And the white +official handbills will announce supplementary elections for +Sunday, 16th of April. +</p> + +<p> +But here comes the difficulty; there may be elections, but not +the shadow of an elector. Of candidates there are enough, more +than enough, even to spare; Toting lists where the electors’ +names are inscribed; ballot-urns-no, ballot-boxes this time-to +receive the lists; these are all to be found, but voters to put +the lists into the ballot-boxes, to elect the candidates, we seek +them in vain. The voting localities may be compared to the desert +of Sahara viewed at the moment when not a caravan is to be seen +on the whole extent of the horizon, so complete is the solitude +wherever the eager crowd of voters was expected to hasten to the +poll. Are we then so far from the day when the Commune of Paris, +in spite of the numerous absentees, was formed—thanks to +the strenuous efforts of the few electors left to us? Alas! At +that time we had still some illusions left to us, whilst now.... +Have you ever been at the second representation of a piece when +the first was a failure? The first day there was a cram, the +second day only the claque remained. People had found oat the +worth of the piece, you see. Nevertheless, though the place is +peopled only with silence and solitude, the claque continues to +do its duty, for it receives its pay. For the same reason one +sees a few battalions marching to the poll, all together, in +step, just as they would march to the fighting at the Porte +Maillot; and as they return they cry, “Oh! citizens, how the +people are voting! Never was such enthusiasm seen!” But behind +the scenes,—I mean in the Hôtel de +Ville,—authors and actors whisper to each other: “There is +no doubt about it, it is a failure!” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-59" id="fn-59"></a> <a href="#fnref-59">[59]</a><br/> +On leaving the gulf of Otranto<br/> + There were thirty of us there,<br/> +But on arriving at Cadiz<br/> + There were no more than ten. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LIV."></a> LIV.</h2> + +<p> +And what has become of the Bourse? What are the brokers and jobbers saying and +doing now? I ask myself this question for the first time, as in ordinary +circumstances, the Bourse is of all sublunary things that which occupies me the +least. I am one of those excessively stupid people, who have never yet been +able to understand how all those black-coated individuals can occupy three +mortal hours of every day, in coming and going beneath the colonnade of the +“temple of Plutus.” I know perfectly well that stockbrokers and +jobbers exist; but if I were asked what these stockbrokers and jobbers do, I +should be incapable of answering a single word. We have all our special +ignorances. I have heard, it is true, of the <i>Corbeille</i>,<a href="#fn-60" +name="fnref-60" id="fnref-60"><sup>[60]</sup></a> but I ingeniously imagined, +in my simple ignorance, that this famous basket was made in wicker work, and +crammed with sweet-scented leaves and flowers, which the gentlemen of the +Bourse, with the true gallantry of their nation, made up into emblematical +bouquets to offer to their lady friends. I was shown, however, how much I was +deceived by a friend who enlightened me, more or less, as to what is really +done in the Bourse in usual times, and what they are doing there now. +</p> + +<p> +I must begin by acknowledging that in using the worn metaphor +of the “temple of Plutus” just now, I knew little of what I was +talking about. +</p> + +<p> +The Bourse is not a temple; if it were it would necessarily be +a church or something like one, and consequently would have been +closed long ago by our most gracious sovereign, the Commune of +Paris. +</p> + +<p> +The Bourse, then, is open; but what is the good of that? you +will say, for all those who haunt it now, could get in just as +well through closed doors and opposing railings; spectres and +other supernatural beings never find any difficulty in +insinuating themselves through keyholes and slipping between +bars. ‘Poor phantoms! Thanks to the weakness of our Government, +which has neglected to put seals on the portals of the Bourse, +they are under the obligation of going in and coming out like the +most ordinary individuals; and a Parisian, who has not learned, +by a long intimacy with Hoffmann and Edgar Poë, to +distinguish the living from the dead, might take these ghosts of +the money-market for simple <i>boursiers</i>. Thank heaven! I am +not a man to allow myself to be deceived by specious appearances +on such a subject, and I saw at once with whom I had to do. +</p> + +<p> +On the grand staircase there were four or five of them, +spectres lean as vampires who have not sucked blood for three +months; they were walking in silence, with the creeping, furtive +step peculiar to apparitions who glide among the yew-trees in +church-yards. From time to time one of them pulled a ghost of a +notebook from his ghost of a waistcoat-pocket, and wrote +appearances of notes with the shadow of a pencil. Others gathered +together in groups, and one could distinctly hear the rattling of +bones beneath their shadowy overcoats. They spoke in that +peculiar voice which is only understood by the +<i>confrères</i> of the magi Eliphas Levy, and they recall +to each other’s mind the quotations of former days, Austrian +funds triumphant, Government stock at 70 (<i>quantum mutata ab +illâ</i>), bonds of the city of Paris 1860-1869, and the +fugitive apotheosis of the Suez shares. They said with sighs: +“You remember the premiums? In former times there were reports +made, in former times there were settling days at the end of the +month, and huge pocket-book’s were so well filled, that they +nearly burst; but now, we wander amidst the ruins of our defunct +splendour, as the shade of Diomedes wandered amid the ruins of +his house at Pompeii. We are of those who were; the imaginary +quotations of shares that have disappeared, are like vain +epitaphs on tombs, and we, despairing ghosts, we should die a +second time of grief, if we were not allowed to appear to each +other in this deserted palace, here to brood over our past +financial glories!” Thus spoke the phantoms of the money market, +and then added: “Oh! Commune, Commune, give us back our settling +days?” From time to time a phantom, which still retains its +haughty air, and in which we recognise a defunct of distinction, +passes near them. In the days of Napoleon the Third and the +Prussians this was a stockbroker; it passed along with a mass of +documents under its arm,—as the father of Hamlet, rising +from the grave, still wore his helmet and his sword. It enters +the building, goes towards the <i>Corbeille</i>, shouts out once +or twice, is answered only by an echo in the solitude, and then +returns, saluted on his passage by his fellow-ghost. And to think +that a little bombardment, followed by a successful attack, seven +or eight houses set on fire by the Versailles shells, seven or +eight hundred Federals shot, a few women blown to pieces, and a +few children killed, would suffice to restore these desolate +spectres to life and joy. But, alas! hope for them is deferred; +the last circular of Monsieur Thiers announces that the great +military operations will not commence for several days. They must +wait still longer yet. The people who cross the Place de la +Bourse draw aside with a sort of religious terror from the +necropolis where sleep the three per cents and the shares of the +<i>Crédit Foncier</i>; and if the churches were not +closed, more than one charitable soul would perhaps burn a candle +to lay the unquiet spirits of these despairing jobbers. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-60" id="fn-60"></a> <a href="#fnref-60">[60]</a> +A circular space in the great hall of the Bourse, enclosed with a railing, and +in which the stockbrokers stand to take bids. It is nicknamed the basket +(<i>corbeille</i>). +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LV."></a> LV.</h2> + +<p> +The game is played, the Commune is <i>au complet</i>. In the +first arrondissement 21260 electors, are inscribed, and there +were 9 voters! Monsieur Vésinier had 2 votes, and Monsieur +Vésinier was elected. Monsieur Lacord—more clever +still—has no votes at all, and, triumphing by the unanimity +of his electors, Monsieur Lacord will preside over the Commune of +Paris in future. A very logical arrangement. It must be evident +to all serious minds that the legislators of the Hôtel de +Ville have promulgated <i>in petto</i> a law which they did not +think it necessary to make known, but which exists nevertheless, +and most be couched somewhat in the following +terms:—“Clause 1st. The elections will not be considered +valid, if the number of voters exceed a thousandth part of the +electors entered.—Clause 2nd. Every candidate who has less +than fifteen votes will be elected; if he has sixteen his +election will be a matter of discussion.” The poll is just like +the game called, “He who loses gains, and he who gains loses!” +and the probable advantages of such an arrangement are seen at +once. Now let us do a bit of Communal reasoning. By whom was +France led within an inch of destruction? By Napoleon the Third. +How many votes did Napoleon the Third obtain? Seven millions and +more. By whom was Paris delivered into the hands of the +Prussians? By the dictators of the 4th September. How many votes +did the dictators of the 4th September get for themselves in the +city of Paris? More than three hundred thousand. <i>Ergo</i>, the +candidates who obtain the greatest number of votes are swindlers +and fools. The Commune of Paris cannot allow such abuses to +exist; the Commune maintains universal suffrage—the grand +basis of republican institutions—but turns it topsy-turvy. +Michon has only had half a vote,—then Michon is our +master! +</p> + +<p> +Ah! you do not only make us tremble and weep, you make us laugh too. What is +this miserable parody of universal suffrage? What is this farce of the will of +the people being represented by a half a dozen electors? The unknown +individual, who owes his triumph to the kindness of his concierge and his +water-carrier, becomes a member of the Commune. I shall be governed by +Vésinier, with Briosne and Viard as supporters. Do you not see that the few +men, with any sense left, who still support you, have refused to present +themselves as candidates, and that even amongst those who were mad enough to +declare themselves eligible, there are some who dispute the validity of the +elections? No; you see nothing of all this, or rather it suits you to be blind. +What are right and justice to you? Let us reign, let us govern, let us decree, +let us triumph. All is contained in that. Rogeard pleases us, so we’ll +have Rogeard. If the people won’t have Rogeard, so much the worse for the +people. Beautiful! admirable! But why don’t you speak out your opinion +frankly? There were some honest brigands (<i>par pari refertur</i>) in the +Roman States who were perhaps no better than you are, but at least they made no +pretension of being otherwise than lawless, and followed their calling of +brigands without hypocrisy. When, by the course of various adventures, the band +got diminished in numbers, they stuck no handbills on the walls to invite +people to elect new brigands to fill up the vacant places; they simply chose +among the vagabonds and such like individuals those, who seemed to them, the +most capable of dealing a blow with a stiletto or stripping a traveller of his +valuables, and the band, thus properly reinforced, went about its usual +occupations. The devil! <i>Messieurs</i>, one must say what is what, and call +things by their names. Let us call a cat a cat, and Pilotel a thief. The time +of illusions is past; you need not be so careful to keep your masks on; we have +seen your faces. We have had the carnival of the Commune, and now Ash-Wednesday +is come. You disguised yourselves cunningly, <i>Messieurs</i>; you routed out +from the old cupboards and corners of history the cast-off revolutionary rags +of the men of ’98; and, sticking some ornaments of the present fashion +upon them,—waistcoats à la Commune and hats à la Federation,—you +dressed yourselves up in them and then struck attitudes. People perceived, it +is true, that the clothes that were made for giants, were too wide for you +pigmies; they hung round your figures like collapsed balloons; but you, cunning +that you were, you said, “We have been wasted by persecution.” And +when, at the very beginning, some stains of blood were seen upon your old +disguises; “Pay no attention,” said you, “it is only the red +flag we have in our pockets that is sticking out.” And it happened that +some few believed you. We ourselves, in the very face of all our suspicions, +let ourselves be caught by the waving of your big Scaramouche sleeves, that +were a great deal too long for your arms. Then you talked of such beautiful +things: liberty, emancipation of workmen, association of the working-classes, +that we listened and thought we would see you at your task before we condemned +you utterly. And now we have seen you at your task, and knowing how you work, +we won’t give you any more work to do. Down with your mask, I tell you! +Come, false Danton, be Rigault again, and let Sérailler’s<a href="#fn-61" +name="fnref-61" id="fnref-61"><sup>[61]</sup></a> face come out from behind +that Saint Just mask he has on. You, Napoléon Gaillard, though you are a +shoemaker, you are not even a Simon. Drop the Robespierre, Rogeard! Off with +the trappings borrowed from the dark, grand days! Be mean, small, and +ridiculous,—be yourselves; we shall all be a great deal more at our ease +when you are despicable and we are despising you again. +</p> + +<p> +Paris said to you yesterday just what I am telling you now. +This almost general abstention of electors, compared with the +eagerness of former times, is but the avowal of the error to +which your masquerade has given rise. And what does it prove but +the resolution to mix in your carnival no more? We see clearly +through it now, I tell you, that the saturnalia is wearing to its +end. In vain does the orchestra of cannon and mitrailleuses, +under the direction of the conductor, Cluseret, play madly on and +invite us to the fête. We will dance no more, and there is +an end of it! +</p> + +<p> +But it will be fatal to Paris if, after saying this, she sit +satisfied. Contempt is not enough, there must be abhorrence too, +and actual measures taken against those we abhor. It is not +sufficient to neglect the poll, one abstains when one is in +doubt, but now that we doubt no longer it is time to act. While +wrongful work is being done, those that stand aside with folded +arms become accomplices. Think that for more than a fortnight the +firing has not ceased; that Neuilly and Asnières have been +turned into cemeteries; that husbands are falling, wives weeping, +children suffering. Think that yesterday, the 18th of April, the +chapel of Longchamps became a dependance—an extra +dead-house—of the ambulances of the Press, so numerous were +that day’s dead. Think of the savage decrees passed upon the +hostages and the refractory, those who shunned the Federates; of +the requisitions and robberies; of the crowded prisons and the +empty workshops, of the possible massacres and the certain +pillage. Think of our own compromised honour, and let us be up +and doing, so that those who have remained in Paris during these +mournful hours, shall not have stood by her only to see her fall +and die. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-61" id="fn-61"></a> <a href="#fnref-61">[61]</a> +Sérailler, a member of the International, intrusted with a commission to London +on behalf of the Central Committee to borrow cash for the daily pay of thirty +sous to the National Guard. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LVI."></a> LVI.</h2> + +<p> +Paris! for once I defy you to remain indifferent. You have had much to bear, +during these latter days; it has been said to you, that you should kneel in +your churches no more, and you have not knelt there; that the newspapers that +pleased you, should be read no more, and you have not read them. You have +continued to smile—with but the tips of your lips, it is true—and +to promenade on the boulevards. But now comes stalking on that which will make +you shudder indeed! Do you know what I have just read in the <i>Indépendance +Belge</i>? Ah! poor Paris, the days of your glory are past, your ancient fame +is destroyed, the old nursery rhyme will mock you, “<i>Vous n’irez +plus au Bois, vos lauriers sont coupés.</i>”<a href="#fn-62" +name="fnref-62" id="fnref-62"><sup>[62]</sup></a> This is what has happened; +you are supplanted on the throne of fashion. The world, uneasy about the form +of bonnet to be worn this sorrowful year, and seeing you occupied with your +internal discords, anxiously turned to London for help, and London henceforth +dictates to all the modistes of the universe. City of desolation, I pity you! +No more will you impose your sovereign laws, concerning +<i>Suivez-moi-jeune-homme</i><a href="#fn-63" name="fnref-63" +id="fnref-63"><sup>[63]</sup></a> and dog-skin gloves. No more will your boots +and shirt-collars reach, by the force of their reputation, the sparely-dressed +inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands. And, deepest of humiliations, it is your +old rival, it is your tall and angular sister, it is the black city of London, +who takes your glittering sword and transforms it into a policeman’s +baton of wood! You are destined to see within your walls—if any walls +remain to you—your own wives and daughters clog their dainty tread with +encumbrances of English leather, flatten their heads beneath mushroom-shaped +hats, surround themselves with crinoline and flounces, and wear magenta, that +abominable mixture of red and blue which always filled your soul with horror. +Then, to increase the resemblance of your Parisian women with the Londoners or +Cockneys (for it is time you learnt the fashionable language of England), your +dentists will sell them new sets of teeth, called insular sets, which can be +fitted over their natural front teeth, and will protrude about a third of an +inch beyond the upper lip. And they will have corsets offered them whose aim is +to prolong the waist to the farthest possible limits and compress the fairest +forms—a fact, for report says they lace in London, whilst here we have +nearly abandoned the corset. Well, my Paris, do you tremble and shiver? Oh! +when those days of horror come to pass! when you see that not only have you +forfeited your pride, but your vanity too; when you are convinced that the +Commune has not only rendered you odious, but ridiculous as well; ah! then, +when you wear bonnets that you have not invented, how deeply will you regret +that you did not rebel on that day, when some of the best of your citizens were +put <i>au secret</i> in the cells of Mazas prison!<a href="#fn-64" +name="fnref-64" id="fnref-64"><sup>[64]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES:</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-62" id="fn-62"></a> <a href="#fnref-62">[62]</a> +The refrain of a nursery song,—<br/> +<br/> +“Go no more to the wood, for all the laurels are cut.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-63" id="fn-63"></a> <a href="#fnref-63">[63]</a> +The long floating ends of the neck ribbons. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-64" id="fn-64"></a> <a href="#fnref-64">[64]</a> +The Parisian play-writer’s English exhibits all the typical peculiarities +noted above. We have our ideal, if not typical, Frenchman, little less truthful +perhaps—taken from refugees and excursionists, from the close-cropped, +dingy denizen of Leicester Square; our tourist suits, heavy pedestrian toots, +“wide-awakes,” and faded fashions, used up in travel—all +these things are put down to insular peculiarities. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LVII."></a> LVII.</h2> + +<p> +I have just heard or read, a touching story; and here it is as +I remember it. In the Faubourg Saint Antoine lives a community of +women with whom the aged of the poor find shelter; those who have +become infirm, or have dropped into helpless childishness, +whether men or women, are received there without question or +payment. There they are lodged, fed and clothed, and humbly +prayed for. +</p> + +<p> +Last evening, sleep was just beginning to reign in the little +community. The old people had been put to rest, each Little +Sister had done her duty and was asleep, when the report of a gun +resounded at the house-door. You can imagine the startings and +the terror. The Little Sisters of the poor are not accustomed to +have such noises in their ears, and there was a tumult and hubbub +such as the house had never known, while they hurriedly rose, and +the old people stared at each other from their white beds in the +long dormitories. When the house-door was got open, a party of +men, with a menacing look about them, strode in with their guns +and swords, making a horrible racket. One of them was the chief, +and he had a great beard and a terrible voice. All the Little +Sisters gathered in a trembling crowd about the superior. +</p> + +<p> +“Shut the doors,” cried the captain, “and if one of these +women attempt to escape—one, two, three, fire!” Then the +Good Mother—that is the Little Sisters’ name for their +superior—made a step forward and said, “What do you wish, +messieurs?” +</p> + +<p> +“Citizens, <i>sacrebleu!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +The Good Mother crossed herself and, repeated, “What do you +wish, my brothers?” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-32"></a> +<img src="images/037.jpg" width="370" height="600" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Federal Visit to the Little Sisters of The Poor.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +“That I will,” bravely answered the captain; “give me your +hand. And now, if any one wants to harm you, he will have me to +deal with first.” +</p> + +<p> +A few minutes later, the National Guards were gone, the Little +Sisters and the old nurslings were at rest again, and the house +was just as silent and peaceful as if it were no abominable +resort of plotters and conspirators. +</p> + +<p> +But if I had been the Commune of Paris, would I not have shot +that captain! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LVIII."></a> LVIII.</h2> + +<p> +The people of the Hôtel de Ville said to themselves, +“All our fine doings and talking come to nothing, the delegate +Cluseret and the commandant Dombrowski send us the most +encouraging despatches in vain, we shall never succeed in +persuading the Parisian population, that our struggle against the +army of Versailles is a long string of decisive victories; +whatever we may do, they will finish by finding out that the +federate battalions gave way strangely in face of the iron-plated +mitrailleuses the day before yesterday at Asnières, and it +would be difficult to make them believe that this village, so +celebrated for fried fish and Paris Cockneys, is still in our +possession, unless we can manage to persuade them that although +we have evacuated Asnières, we still energetically +maintain our position there. The fact is, affairs are taking a +tolerably bad turn for us. How are we to get over the +inconvenience of being vanquished? What are we to do to destroy +the bad impression produced by our doubtful triumphs?” And +thereupon the members of the Commune fell to musing. “Parbleu!” +cried they, after a few moments’ reflection—the elect of +Paris are capable of more in a single second than all the +deputies of the National Assembly in three years—“Let +decrees, proclamations, and placards be prepared. By what means, +did we succeed in imposing on the donkeys of Paris? Why, by +decrees, by proclamations, by placards. Courage, then, let us +persevere. Ha! the traitors have taken the château of +Bécon, and have seized upon Asnières. What matters! +quick, eighty pens and eighty inkstands. To work, men of letters; +painters and shoemakers, to work! Franckel, who is Hungarian; +Napoléon Gaillard, who is a cobbler; Dombrowski, who is a +Pole; and Billioray, who writes <i>omelette</i> with an h, will +make perhaps rather a mess of it. But, thank heaven! We have +amongst us Félix Pyat, the great dramatist; Pierre Denis, +who has made such bad verses that he must write good prose; and +lastly, Vermorel, the author of ‘<i>Ces Dames</i>,’ a little book +illustrated with photographs for the use of schools, and +‘<i>Desperanza</i>,’ a novel which caused Gustave Flaubert many a +nightmare. To work, comrades, to work! We have been asked for a +long time what we understand by the words—La Commune. Tell +them, if you know. Write it, proclaim it, and we will placard it. +Even if you don’t know, tell them all the same; the great art of +a good cook consists in making jugged hare without hare of any +kind.” And this is why there appeared this morning on the walls +an immense placard, with the following words in enormous letters: +“Declaration to the French people.” +</p> + +<p> +Twenty days ago a long proclamation, which pretended to +express and define the tendencies of the revolution of the +eighteenth of March, would perhaps have had some effect. To-day +we have awaked from many illusions, and the finest phrases in the +world will not overcome our obstinate indifference. Let us, +however, read and note. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-33"></a> +<img src="images/038.jpg" width="332" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Vermorel,<a href="#fn-65" name="fnref-65" +id="fnref-65"><sup>[65]</sup></a> Delegate of Public Safety.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +“In the painful and terrible conflict which once more imposes upon Paris the +horrors of the siege and the bombardment, which makes French blood flow, which +causes our brothers, our wives, our children, to perish, crushed by shot and +shell, it is urgent that public opinion should not be divided, that the +national conscience should not be troubled.” +</p> + +<p> +That’s right! I entirely agree with you; it is undoubtedly +very urgent that public opinion should not be divided. But let us +see what means you are going to take to obtain so desirable a +result. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Paris and the whole nation must know what is the nature, the reason, the +object of the revolution which is now being accomplished.” +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless; but if that be indispensable to-day, would it have +been less useful on the very first day of the revolution; we do +not see why you have made us wait quite so long for it. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The responsibility of the mourning, the suffering, and the misfortunes of +which we are the victims should fall upon those who, after having betrayed +France and delivered Paris to the foreigner, pursue with blind obstinacy the +destruction of the capital, in order to bury under the ruins of the Republic +and of Liberty the double evidence of their treason and their crime.” +</p> + +<p> +Heigho! what a phrase! These clear and precise expressions, +that throw so much light on the gloom of the situation, are these +yours, Félix Pyat? Did the Commune say “<i>Pyat Lux!</i>” +Or were they yours, Pierre Denis? Or yours, Vermorel? I +particularly admire the double evidence buried under the ruins of +the Republic. Happy metaphor! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The duty of the Commune is to affirm and determine the aspirations and the +views of the population of Paris; to fix precisely the character of the +movement of the 18th of March, misunderstood, misinterpreted, and vilified by +the men who sit at Versailles.” +</p> + +<p> +Ah, yes, that is the duty of the Commune, but for heaven’s +sake don’t keep us waiting, you see we are dying with +impatience. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Once more, Paris labours and suffers for the whole of France, and by her +combats and her sacrifices prepares the way for intellectual, moral, +administrative and economic regeneration, glory and prosperity.” +</p> + +<p> +That is so true that since the Commune existed in Paris, the +workshops are closed, the factories are idle, and France, for +whom the capital sacrifices herself, loses something like fifty +millions a day. These are facts, it seems to me; and I don’t see +what the traitors of Versailles can say in reply. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“What does Paris demand?” +</p> + +<p> +Ah! yes, what does she ask? Truly we should not be sorry to +know. Or rather, what do you ask; for in the same way as Louis le +Grand had the right to say, “The State, I am the State,” you may +say “Paris, we are Paris.” +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Paris demands the recognition and the consolidation of the Republic, the only +form of government compatible with the rights of the people, and the regular +and free development of society.” +</p> + +<p> +This once you are right. Paris demands the Republic, and must +yearn for it eagerly indeed, since neither your excesses nor your +follies have succeeded in changing its mind. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“It demands the absolute entirety of the Commune extended to all the localities +of France, ensuring to everyone the integrity of its rights, and to every +Frenchman the free exercise of his faculties and abilities as man, citizen, and +workman. The rights of the Commune should have no other limit, but the equal +rights of all other Communes adhering to the contract, an association which +would assure the unity of France.” +</p> + +<p> +This is a little obscure. What I understand is something like +this. You would make France a federation of Communes, but what is +the meaning of words “adherence to the contract?” You admit then +that certain Communes might refuse their adhesion. In that case +what would be the situation of these rebels? Would you leave them +free? Or would you force them to obey the conventions of the +majority? Do you think it would be sufficient, in the case of +such a town as Pezenas, for example, refusing to adhere, that the +association would be incomplete? That is to say, that French +unity would not exist? Are you very sure about Pezenas? Who tells +you that Pezenas may not have its own idea of independence, and +that, we may not hear presently that it has elected a duke who +raises an army and coins money. Duke of Pezenas! that sounds +well. Remember, also, that many other localities might follow the +example of Pezenas, and perhaps in order to insure the entirety +of the Commune, it might have been wise to have asked them if +they wanted it. Now, what do you understand by “localities?” +Marseilles is a locality; an isolated farm in the middle of a +field is also a locality. So France would be divided into an +infinite number of Communes. Would they agree amongst themselves, +these innumerable little states? Supposing they are agreed to the +contract, it is not impossible that petty rivalries should lead +to quarrels, or even to blows; an action about a party-wall might +lead to a civil war. How would you reduce the recalcitrant +localities to reason? for even supposing that the Communes have +the right to subjugate a Commune, the disaffected one could +always escape you by declaring that it no longer adheres to the +social compact. So that if this secession were produced not only +by the vanity of one or more little hamlets, but by the pride of +one or more great towns, France would find herself all at once +deprived of her most important cities. Ah! messieurs, this part +of your programme certainly leaves something to be desired, and I +recommend you to improve it, unless indeed you prefer to suppress +it altogether. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The inherent rights of the Commune are ‘the vote of the Commmunal budget, the +levying and the division of taxes, the direction of the local services, the +organisation of the magistrature, of the police, and of education, and of the +administration of the property belonging to the Commune.’” +</p> + +<p> +This paragraph is cunning. It does not seem so at first sight, +but look at it closely, and you will see that the most +Machiavellic spirit has presided over its production. The ability +consists in placing side by side with the rights which +incontestably belong to the Commune, other rights which do not +belong to it the least in the world, and in not appearing to +attach more importance to one than to the other, so that the +reader, carried away by the evident legitimacy of many of your +claims, may say to himself, “Really all that is very just.” Let +us unravel if you please this skein of red worsted so ingeniously +tangled. The vote of the Communal budget, receipts and expenses, +the levying and division of taxes, the administration of the +Communal property, are rights which certainly belong to the +Commune; if it had not got them it would not exist. And why do +they belong to it? Because it alone could know what is good for +it in these matters, and could come to such decision upon them, +as it thought fit, without injuring the whole country. But it is +not the same as regards measures concerning the magistracy, the +police, and education. Well, suppose one fine day a Commune +should say, “Magistrates? I don’t want any magistrates; these +black-robed gentry are no use to me; let others nourish these +idlers, who send brave thieves and honest assassins to the +galleys; I love assassins and I honour thieves, and more, I +choose that the culprits should judge the magistrates of the +Republic.” Now, if a Commune were to say that, or something like +that, what could you answer in reply? Absolutely nothing; for, +according to your system, each locality in France has the right +to organise its magistracy as it pleases. As regards the police +and education, it would be easy to make out similar hypotheses, +and thus to exhibit the absurdity of your Communal pretensions. +Should a Commune say, “No person shall be arrested in future, and +it is prohibited under pain of death to learn by heart the fable +of the wolf and the fox.” What could you say to that? Nothing, +unless you admitted that you were mistaken just now in supposing, +that the integrity of the Commune ought to have no other limit +but the right of equal independence of all the other Communes. +There exists another limit, and that is the general interests of +the country, which cannot permit one part of it to injure the +rest, by bad example or in any other way; the central power alone +can judge those questions where a single absurd measure—of +which more than one “locality” may probably be guilty—might +compromise the honour or the interests of France; the magistracy, +the police, and education, are evidently questions of that +nature. +</p> + +<p> +The other rights of the Commune are, always be it understood, +according to the declaration made to the French people: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “The choice by election or competition; with the responsibility and + the permanent right of control over magistrates and communal + functionaries of every class;<br/> + “The absolute guarantee of individual liberty, of liberty of + conscience, and of liberty of labour;<br/> + “The permanent participation of the citizens in Communal affairs by + the free manifestations of their opinions, and the free defence of + their interests: guarantees to this effect to be given by the + Commune, the only power charged with the surveillance and the + protection of the full and just exercise of the rights of meeting + and publicity;<br/> + “The organisation of the city defences and of the National Guard, + which elects its own officers, and alone ensures the maintenance of + order in the city.” +</p> + +<p> +With regard to the affirmation of these rights we may repeat +that which we have said above, that some of them really belong to +the Commune, but that the greater part of them do not. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Paris desires nothing more in the way of local guarantees, on + condition, let it be understood, of finding in the great central + administration ...”<br/> + “... In the great central administration appointed by the federated + Commune the realisation and the practice of the same principles.” +</p> + +<p> +That is to say, in other words, that Paris will consent +willingly to be of the same opinion as others, if all the world +is of the same opinion as itself. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“But, thanks to its independence, and profiting by its liberty of action, Paris +reserves to itself the right of effecting, as it pleases, the administrative +and economic reforms demanded by the population; to create proper institutions +for the development and propagation of instruction, production, commerce, and +credit; to universalize power and property,...” +</p> + +<p> +Whew! Universalize property! Pray what does that mean, may I +ask? Communalism here presents a singular likeness to +Communism! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “... According to the necessities of the moment, the desire of those + interested, and the lessons famished by experience:<br/> + “Our enemies deceive themselves or the country when they accuse + Paris of wishing to impose its will or its supremacy on the rest of + the nation, and to pretend to a dictatorship which would be a + positive offence against the independence and the sovereignty of the + other Communes:<br/> + “They deceive themselves, or they deceive the country, when they + accuse Paris of desiring the destruction of French unity, + constituted by the Revolution amid the acclamations of our fathers + hurrying to the Festival of the Federation from all points of + ancient France:<br/> + “Political unity as imposed upon us up to the present time by the + empire, the monarchy, and parliamentarism, is nothing more than + despotic centralization, whether intelligent, arbitrary, or onerous.<br/> + “Political unity, such as Paris demands, is the voluntary + association of all local initiatives, the spontaneous and free + cooperation of individual energies with one single common + object—the well-being and the security of all.<br/> + “The Communal revolution, inaugurated by the popular action of the + 18th of March, ushers in a new era of experimental, positive, and + scientific politics.” +</p> + +<p> +Do you not think that during the last paragraphs the tone of +the declaration is somewhat modified? It would seem as though +Felix Pyat had become tired, and handed the pen to Pierre Denis +or to Delescluze,—after Communalism comes socialism. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Communal revolution is the end of the old governmental and clerical world, of +militarism, of officialism (this new editor seems fond of words ending in ism), +of exploitation, of commission, of monopolies, and of privileges to which the +proletariat owes his thralldom, and the country her misfortunes and disasters.” +</p> + +<p> +Of course there is nothing in the world that would please me +better; but if I were very certain that Citizen Rigault did not +possess an improved glass enabling him to observe me from a +distance of several miles, without leaving his study or his +armchair, if I were very certain that Citizen Rigault could not +read over my shoulder what I am writing at this moment, I might +perhaps venture to insinuate, that the revolution of the 18th of +March appears to me to be, at the present moment, the apotheosis +of most of the crimes which it pretends to have suppressed. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Let then our grand and beloved country, deceived by falsehood and calumnies, +be reassured!” +</p> + +<p> +Well, in order that she may be reassured there is only one +thing to be done,—be off with you! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “The struggle going on between Paris and Versailles is one of those + which can never be terminated by deceitful compromises. There can be + no doubt as to the issue. (Oh, no! there is no doubt about it.) + Victory, pursued with indomitable energy by the National Guard, will + remain with principle and justice.<br/> + We ask it of France.” +</p> + +<p> +Where is the necessity, since you have the indomitable energy +of the National Guard?”. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Convinced that Paris under arms possesses as much calmness as bravery ...” +</p> + +<p> +You will find that a very difficult thing to persuade France +to believe. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“... That it maintains order with equal energy and enthusiasm ...” +</p> + +<p> +Order? No doubt, that which reigned at Warsaw; the order that +reigned on the day after the 2nd of December. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“... That it sacrifices itself with as much judgment as heroism ...” +</p> + +<p> +Yes; the judgment of a man who throws himself out of a +fourth-floor window to prove that his head is harder than the +paving-stones. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“... That it is only armed through devotion for the glory and liberty of +all—let France cause this bloody conflict to cease!” +</p> + +<p> +She’ll cause it to cease, never fear, but not in the way you +understand it. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“It is for France to disarm Versailles ...” +</p> + +<p> +Up to the present time she has certainly done precisely the +contrary. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“... by the manifestations of her irresistible will. As she will be partaker in +our conquests, let her take part in our efforts, let her be our ally in this +conflict, which can only finish by the triumph of the Communal idea, or the +ruin of Paris.” +</p> + +<p> +The ruin of Paris! That is only, I suppose, a figurative +expression. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “For ourselves, citizens of Paris, it is our mission to accomplish + the modern revolution, the grandest and most fruitful of all those + that have illuminated history.<br/> + “Our duty is to struggle and to conquer!<br/> + “THE COMMUNE OF PARIS.” +</p> + +<p> +Such is this long, emphatic, but often obscure declaration. It +is not wanting, however, in a certain eloquence; and, although +frequently disfigured by glaring exaggerations, it contains here +and there some just ideas, or at least, such as conform to the +views of the great majority. Will it destroy the bad effect +produced by the successive defeats of the Federals at Neuilly and +at Asnières? Will it produce any good feeling towards the +Commune in the minds of those who are daily drawing farther and +farther from the men of the Commune? No; it is too late. Had this +proclamation been placarded fifteen or twenty days sooner, some +parts of it might have been approved and the rest discussed. +Today we pass it by with a smile. Ah! many things have happened +during the last three days. The acts of the Commune of Paris no +longer allow us to take its declarations seriously, and we look +upon its members as too mad—if not worse—to believe +that by any accident they can be reasonable. These men have +finished by rendering detestable whatever good there originally +was in their idea. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-65" id="fn-65"></a> <a href="#fnref-65">[65]</a> +He was born in 1841, in the department of the Rhône. His education was +completed very early. At the age of twenty he was engaged on two journals of +the opposition, <i>La Jeune France</i>, and <i>La Jeunesse</i>. Those papers +were soon suppressed, and their young contributor was imprisoned for three +months. In 1864 he became one of the staff of the <i>Presse</i>, whence he +passed to the <i>Liberté</i> in 1866. Two years later he founded the +<i>Courrier Français</i>; but from the multiplicity of fines imposed upon it, +and from the imprisonment of its founder, the new journal expired very shortly. +After a year’s incarceration at Sainte-Pélagie, Vermorel was engaged on +the <i>Réforme</i>, which continued to appear until the fall of the Empire. +During the siege he served as a private in the National Guard. He became a +member of the Committee of Justice under the Commune, and was one of those who, +at its fall, neither deserted nor disgraced it. He is reported to have mounted +a barricade armed only with a cane, crying “I come here to die and not to +fight.” His mother obtained permission to transport his remains to +Venice. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LIX."></a> LIX.</h2> + +<p> +We have a court-martial; it is presided over by the citizen +Rossel, chief of the grand staff of the army. It has just +condemned to death the Commandant Girod, who refused to march +against the “enemy.” The Executive Committee, however, has +pardoned Commandant Girod. Let us look at this matter a little. +If the Executive Committee occupies its time in undoing what the +court-martial has done, I can’t quite understand why the +executive has instituted a court-martial at all. If I were a +member of the latter I should get angry. “What! I should say, +they instal me in the hall where the courts-martial are held, +they appoint guards to attend upon me, and my president has the +right to say, ‘Guards, remove the prisoner.’ In a word, they +convert me into something which resembles a judge as much as a +parody can resemble the work burlesqued, and when I, a member of +the court-martial, desire to take advantage of the rights that +have been conferred upon me, and order the Commandant Girod to be +shot, they stand in the way of justice, and save the life of him +I have condemned. This is absurd! I had a liking for this +commandant, and I wished him to die by my hands.” +</p> + +<p> +Never mind, court-martial, take it coolly; you will have your +revenge before long. At this moment there are at least +sixty-three ecclesiastics in the prisons of Mazas, the +Conciergerie, and La Santé. Although they are not +precisely soldiers, they will be sent before you to be judged, +and you may do just what you like with them, without any fear of +the executive commission interposing its veto. The refractory +also will give you work to do, and against them you can exercise +your pleasure. As to the Commandant Girod, his is a different +case, you understand. He is the friend of citizen Delescluze. The +members of the Commune have not so many friends that they can +afford to have any of them suppressed. But don’t be downcast; a +dozen priests are well worth a major of the National Guard. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LX."></a> LX.</h2> + +<p> +It is precisely because the men that the Commune sends to the +front, fight and die so gloriously, that we feel exasperated +against its members. A curse upon them, for thus wasting the +moral riches of Paris! Confusion to them, for enlisting into so +bad a service, the first-rate forces which a successful revolt +leaves at their disposal. I will tell you what happened +yesterday, the 22nd of April, on the Boulevard Bineau; and then I +think you will agree with me that France, who has lost so much, +still retains some of the bright, dauntless courage which was +her. pride of old. +</p> + +<p> +A trumpeter, a mere lad of seventeen, was marching at the head +of his detachment, which had been ordered to take possession of a +barricade that the Versailles troops were supposed to have +abandoned. When I say, “he marched,” I am making a most incorrect +statement, for he turned somersets and executed flying leaps on +the road, far in advance of his comrades, until his progress was +arrested by the barricade; this he greeted with a mocking +gesture, and then, with a bound or two, was on the other side. +There had been some mistake, the barricade had not been +abandoned. Our young trumpeter was immediately surrounded by a +pretty large number of troops of the line, who had lain hidden +among the sacks of earth and piles of stones, in the hope of +surprising the company which was advancing towards them. Several +rifles were pointed at the poor boy, and a sergeant said: “If you +move a foot, if you utter a sound, you die!” The lad’s reply was +to leap to the highest part of the barricade and cry out, with +all the strength of his young voice, “Don’t come on! They are +here!” Then he fell backwards, pierced by four balls, but his +comrades were saved! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXI."></a> LXI.</h2> + +<p> +Another, and a sadder scene happened in the Avenue des Ternes. +A funeral procession was passing along. The coffin, borne by two +men, was very small, the coffin of a young child. The father, a +workman in a blouse, walked behind with a little knot of other +mourners. A sad sight, but the catastrophe was horrible. Suddenly +a shell from Mont Valérien fell on the tiny coffin, and, +bursting, scattered the remains of the dead child upon the living +father. The corpse was entirely destroyed, with the trappings +that had surrounded it. Massacring the dead! Truly those cannons +are a wonderful, a refined invention! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXII."></a> LXII.</h2> + +<p> +At last the unhappy inhabitants of Neuilly are able to leave +their cellars. For three weeks, they have been hourly expecting +the roofs of their houses to fall in and crush them; and with +much difficulty have managed during the quieter moments of the +day to procure enough to keep them from dying of starvation. For +three weeks they have endured all the terrors, all the dangers of +battle and bombardment. Many are dead—they all thought +themselves sure to die. Horrible details are told. A little past +Gilet’s restaurant, where the omnibus office used to be, lived an +old couple, man and wife. At the beginning of the civil war, two +shells burst, one after another, in their poor lodging, +destroying every article of furniture. Utterly destitute, they +took refuge in the cellar, where after a few hours of horrible +suspense, the old man died. He was seventy, and the fright killed +him; his wife was younger and stronger, and survived. In the rare +intervals between the firing she went out and spoke to her +neighbours through the cellar gratings—“My husband is dead. +He must be buried; what am I to do?”—Carrying him to the +cemetery was of course out of the question; no one could have +been found to render this mournful duty. Besides, the bearers +would probably have met a shell or a bullet on the way, and then +others must have been found to carry them. One day, the old woman +ventured as far as the Porte Maillot, and cried out as loud as +she could, “My husband is dead in a cellar; come and fetch him, +and let us both through the gates!”—The sentinel +facetiously (let us hope it was nothing worse) took aim at her +with his rifle, and she fled back to her cellar. At night, she +slept by the side of the corpse, and when the light of morning +filtered into her dreary place of refuge, and lighted up the body +lying there, she sobbed with grief and terror. Her husband had +been dead four days, when putrefaction set in, and she, able to +bear it no longer, rushed out screaming to her neighbours: “You +must bury him, or I will go into the middle of the avenue and +await death there!”—They took pity on her, and came down +into her cellar, dug a hole there and put the corpse in it. +During three weeks she continued there, resting herself on the +newly-turned earth. To-day, when they went to fetch her she +fainted with horror; the grave had been dug too shallow, and one +of the legs of the corpse was exposed to gaze. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-34"></a> +<img src="images/039.jpg" width="324" height="450" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Female Curiosity at Porte Maillot.<br/> +“Prenez Garde, Mam’zelle”</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +This morning, the 25th of April, at nine o’clock, a dense +crowd moved up the Champs Elysées: pedestrians of all ages +and classes, and vehicles of every description. The truce +obtained by the members of the <i>Republican Union of the rights +of Paris</i> was about to begin, and relief was to be carried to +the sufferers at Neuilly. However, some precautions were +necessary, for neither the shooting nor the cannonade had ceased +yet, and every moment one expected to see some projectile or +other fall among the advancing multitude. In the Avenue de la +Grande Armée a shell had struck a house, and set fire to +it. Gradually the sound of the artillery diminished, and then +died away entirely; the crowd hastened to the ramparts. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-35"></a> +<img src="images/040.jpg" width="500" height="416" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Porte Maillot and Chapel of St. Ferdinand.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +The chapel was erected by Louis Philippe in memory of the Duke of Orleans, +killed on the spot, July 18th, 1842. +</p> + +<p> +The Porte Maillot has been entirely destroyed for some time, +in spite of what the Commune has told us to the contrary; the +drawbridge is torn from its place, the ruined walls and bastions +have fallen into the moat. The railway-station is a shapeless +mass of blackened bricks, broken stones, glass, and iron-work; +the cutting where the trains used to pass is half filled up with +the ruins. It is impossible to get along that way. Fancy the +hopeless confusion here, arising among this myriad of anxious +beings, these hundreds of carts and waggons, all crowding to the +same spot. Each one presses onwards, pushing his neighbour, +screaming and vociferating; the National Guards try in vain to +keep order. To add to the difficulties there is some form to be +gone through about passes. I manage to hang on to a cart which is +just going over the bridge; after a thousand stoppages and a +great deal of pushing and squeezing, I succeeded in getting out, +my clothes in rags. A desolate scene meets my eyes. In front of +us, is the open space called the military zone, a dusty desert, +with but one building remaining, the chapel of Longchamps; it has +been converted into an ambulance, and the white flag with the red +cross is waving above it. Truly the wounded there must be in no +little danger from the shells, as it lies directly in their path. +To the left is the Bois de Boulogne, or rather what used to be +the wood, for from where I stand but few trees are visible, the +rest is a barren waste. I hasten on, besides I am hard pressed +from behind. Here we are in Neuilly, at last. The desolation is +fearful, the reality surpassing all I could have imagined. Nearly +all the roofs of the houses are battered in, rafters stick out of +the broken windows; some of the walls, too, have fallen, and +those that remain standing are riddled with blackened holes. It +is there that the dreadful shells have entered, breaking, +grinding furniture, pictures, glasses, and even human beings. We +crunch broken glass beneath our feet at every step; there is not +a whole pane in all the windows. Here and there are houses which +the bullets seemed to have delighted to pound to atoms, and from +which dense clouds of red and white dust are wafted towards us. +Well, Parisians, what do you say to that? Do you not think that +Citizen Cluseret, although an American, is an excellent patriot, +and “In consideration of Neuilly being in ruins, and of this +happy result being chiefly due to the glorious resistance +organized by the delegate Citizen Cluseret, decrees: That the +destroyer of Neuilly, Citizen Cluseret, has merited the gratitude +of France and the Republic.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-36"></a> +<img src="images/041.jpg" width="758" height="406" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Inhabitants of Neuilly Entering Paris During The Armisctice of the 18th of April.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +The firing ceased from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon, when +Paris cabs, furniture-vans, ambulance-waggons, band-barrows, and all sorts of +vehicles were requisitioned to bring in the sad remains and dilapidated +household goods of the suburban bombardés. They entered by the gate of +Ternes—for that of Porte Maillot was in ruins and impassable. Many went +to the Palais de l’Industrie, in the Champs Elysées, where a commission sat to +allot vacant apartments in Paris. On this occasion some robberies were +committed, and refractories escaped: it is even said that hard-hearted +landlords wished to prevent their lodgers from departing—an object in +which the proprietors were not very successful. The poor woman perched on the +top of her relics, saved from the cellar in which she had lived in terror for +fourteen days, deplores the loss of her husband and the shapeless mass of ruin +and rubbish she once called her happy home; whilst her boys bring in green +stuff from the surburban gardens, and a middle-aged neighbour stalks along with +his pet parrot, the bird all the while amusing himself with elaborate +imitations of the growl of the mitrailleuse and the hissing of shells ending +with terrific and oft-repeated explosions. +</p> + +<p> +Out of all the houses, or rather from what was once the +houses, emerge the inhabitants carrying different articles of +furniture, tables, mattresses, boxes. They come out as it were +from their graves. Relations meet and embrace, after having +suffered almost the bitterness of death. Thousands run backwards +and forwards; the carts are heaped up to overflowing, everything +that is not destroyed must be carried away. A large van filled +with orphan children moves on towards the barrier; a sister of +charity is seated beside the driver. The most impatient of the +refugees are already through the Porte Maillot; who will give +them hospitality there? No one seems to think of that. The +excitement caused by all this movement is almost joyous under the +brilliant rays of the sun. But time presses, in a few minutes the +short truce will have expired. Stragglers hurry along with heavy +loads. At the gates, the crowding and confusion are greater than +in the morning. Carts heavily laden, move slowly and with +difficulty; the contents of several are spilled on the highway. +More shouting, crowding, and pushing, until the gates are passed +at last, and the emigrant crowd disperses along the different +streets and avenues into the heart of Paris. A happy release from +bondage, but what a dismal promised land! +</p> + +<p> +Then the cannonading and musketry on either side recommences. +Destroy, kill, this horrible quarrel can only end with the +annihilation of one of the two parties engaged. Go on killing +each other if you will have it so, combatants, fellow-countrymen. +Some wretched women and children will at least sleep in safety +to-night, in spite of you! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-37"></a> +<img src="images/042.jpg" width="450" height="375" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b><i>Federal Officer</i>. Pardon, Monsieur, but we cannot allow +civilians to remain here.<br/> +<i>Monsieur</i>. I wait for Valérien to open upon us.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +Yes, my good friends and idlers, the sad scene would not have +been complete without your presence to relieve its sadness. If +respect for your persons kept you away from danger, it at least +gives zest to the place, a locality that in a few short minutes +will be dangerous again. At five the armistice was over, but for +all that, the National Guard had great difficulty in clearing the +ground, until real danger, the excitement sought for, arrived, +and sent the spectators much further up the Avenue de la Grande +Armée. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-38"></a> +<img src="images/043.jpg" width="450" height="397" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Mdlle, et Ses Cousines.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +5.30. Great Guns of Valérien, Why do you not begin? Know you that tubes charged +with bright eyes are directed against you? +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXIII."></a> LXIII.</h2> + +<p> +I had almost made up my mind not to continue these notes. +Tired and weary, I remained two days at home, wishing to see +nothing, hear nothing, trying to absorb myself in my books, and +to take up the lost thread of my interrupted studies, but all to +no purpose. +</p> + +<p> +It is ten in the morning, and I am out again in search of +news. How many things may have happened in two days! Not far from +the Hôtel de Ville excited groups are assembled at the +corners of the streets that lead out of the Rue de Rivoli. They +seem waiting for something—what are they waiting for? Vague +rumours, principally of a peaceful and conciliatory nature, +circulate from group to group, where women decidedly +predominate. +</p> + +<p> +“If <i>they</i> help us we are saved!” says a workwoman, who +is holding a little boy in the dress of a national guard by the +hand.—“Who?” I ask.—“Ah! Monsieur, it is the +Freemasons who are taking the side of the Commune; they are going +to cross Paris before our eyes. The Commune must be in the right +if the Freemasons think so.”—“Here they come!” says the +little boy, pulling his mother along with all his strength. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-39"></a> +<img src="images/044.jpg" width="341" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Protot<a href="#fn-66" name="fnref-66" +id="fnref-66"><sup>[66]</sup></a>, Delegate of +Justice.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +The vehicles draw up on one side to make room, the crowd +presses to the edge of the pavement. The drums beat, a military +band strikes up the “Marseillaise.” First come five +staff-officers, and then six members of the Commune, wearing +their red scarfs, fringed with gold. I fancy I recognize Citizens +Delescluze and Protot among them. “They are going to the +Hôtel de Ville!” cries an enthusiastic butcher-boy, holding +a large basket of meat on his head, which he steadies with one +hand, while with the other he makes wild signs to two companions +on the other side of the way. “I saw them this morning in the +Place du Carrousel,” he continues in the same strain. “That was +fine, I tell you! And then this battalion came to fetch them, +with the music and all. Now they are going to salute the +Republic; come along, I say. Double quick time!” So the +butcher-boy, and the woman with the child, and myself, and all +the rest of the bystanders, turn and follow the eight or ten +thousand members of Parisian freemasonry who are crowding along +the Rue de Rivoli. In the front and rear of the procession I +notice a large number of unarmed men, dressed in loose Zouave +trousers of dark-blue cloth, with white gaiters, white bands, and +blue jackets. Their heads are mostly bare. I am told these are +the Communist sharpshooters. Ever so far on in front of us a +large white banner is floating, bearing an inscription which I +cannot manage to read on account of the distance. However, the +butcher-boy has made it out, and informs us that “Love one +another” is written there. Happy, delusive Freemasons! “Tolerate +one another” is scarcely practicable! In the meantime we continue +to follow at the heels of the procession. There is much shouting +and noise, here and there a feeble “<i>Vive la Commune!</i>” But +the principal cries are, “Down with the murderers! Death to +assassins! Down with Versailles!” A Freemason doffs his hat and +shouts, “<i>Vive la Paix!</i> It is peace we are going to +seek!” +</p> + +<p> +I am still sadly confused, and cannot make up my mind what all +this is about. Patience, however, I shall know all at the +Hôtel de Ville. Here we are. The National Guard keeps the +ground, and the whole procession files into the Cour d’Honneur. +Carried on by the crowd, I find myself near the entrance and can +see what is going on inside. The whole of the Commune is out on +the balcony, at the top of the grand staircase, in front of the +statue of the Republic, which like the Communists wears a red +scarf. Great trophies of red flags are waving everywhere. Men +bearing the banners of the society are stationed on every step; +on each is inscribed, in golden letters, mottos of peace and +fraternity. A patriarchal Freemason, wearing his collar and +badges, has arrived in a carriage; they help him to alight with +marks of the greatest respect. The court is by this time full to +overflowing, an enthusiastic cry of “Vive la Franc +Maçonnerie! Vive la République Universelle!” is +re-echoed from mouth to mouth. Citizen Félix Pyat, member +of the Commune, who is on the balcony, comes forward to speak. I +congratulate myself on being at last about to hear what all this +means. But I am disappointed. The pushing and squeezing is +unbearable. I have vigorously to defend my hat, stick, purse, and +cigar-case, and am half stifled besides. I almost despair of +catching a single word, but at last succeed in hearing a few +detached sentences:—“Universal nationality.... liberty, +equality, and fraternity.... manifestos of the heart....” (what +is that?) “the standard of humanity.... ramparts....” If I could +only get a little nearer—the words “homicidal balls.... +fratricidal bullets.... universal peace....” alone reach me. Is +it to hear such stuff as this, that the Freemasons have come to +the Hôtel de Ville? I suppose so, for after a little more +of the same kind the whole is drowned in a stupendous roar of +“Vive la Commune!” and “Vive la République!” I have given +up all hope of ever understanding. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-40"></a> +<img src="images/045.jpg" width="299" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Félix Pyat.<a href="#fn-67" name="fnref-67" +id="fnref-67"><sup>[67]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p> +“They have come to draw lots to see who is to go and kill M. +Thiers,” cries a red-haired gamin.—“Idiot,” retorts his +comrade, “they have no arms!”—“Listen, and you will hear,” +says the first, which is capital advice, if I could but follow +it. The pushing becomes intolerable, when suddenly the bald head +of an unfortunate citizen executes a fatal plunge—I can +breathe at last—and the following words reach me pretty +clearly:—“The Commune has decided that we shall choose five +members who are to have the honour of escorting you, and we are +to draw lots....”—“There! was I not right?” cries he of the +carrotty hair; “I knew they were going to draw lots!” A cleverly +administered blow, however, soon silences his elation, and we +hear that the lots have been drawn, and that five members are +chosen to aid “this glorious, this victorious act.” There seems +more rhyme than reason in this. “An act that will be read of in +the future history of France and of humanity.” Here the +irrepressible breaks out again:—“Now I am sure they are +going to kill M. Thiers!” Whereupon his irritated adversary +seizes him by the collar, gives his head some well-applied blows +against the curb-stone, and then, pushing through the crowd, +carries him off bodily. As for me, my curiosity unsatisfied, I +grow resigned—may the will of the Commune be done—and +I give it up. More hopeless mystification from the Citizen +Beslay, who regrets not having been chosen to aid in this “heroic +act.” He also alludes to the drawing of lots, and I begin after +all to fancy poor M. Thiers must be at the bottom of it all, but +he continues:—“Citizens, what can I say after the eloquent +discourse of Félix Pyat? You are about to interest +yourselves in an act of fraternity....” (then something horrible +is surely contemplated) “in hoisting your banner on the walls of +our city, and mixing in our ranks against our enemies of +Versailles.” A sudden light breaks upon me. In the meantime +Citizen Beslay is embracing the nearest Freemason, while another +begs the honour of being the first to plant his banner, the +Persévérance, which was unfurled in 1790, on the +ramparts. Here a band plays the “Marseillaise,” horribly out of +tune; a red flag is given to the Freemasons, with an appropriate +harangue; then the Citizen Térifocq takes back the flag, +with another harangue, and ends by waving it aloft and roaring, +“Now, citizens, no more words; to action!” +</p> + +<p> +This is clear, the Freemasons are to hoist their banner on to +the walls of Paris side by side with the standard of the Commune; +and who is blind enough to imagine, that the shells and bullets, +indiscriminately homicidal, fratricidal, and infanticidal as they +prove, are imbued with tact sufficient to steer clear of the +Freemasons’ banners, and injure in their flight only those of the +Commune? As the Versailles projectiles have only one end in view, +that of piercing both the Parisians and their standards, as a +national consequence if both Parisians and standards are pierced, +it is likewise most probable that the Masonic banners will not +remain unscathed in so dangerous a neighbourhood. And if so, what +will be the result? According to Citizen Térifocq “the +Freemasons of Paris will call to their aid the direst vengeance; +the Masons of all the provinces of France will follow their +example; everywhere the brothers will fraternise with the troops +which are marching on to help Paris. On the other hand, if the +Versailles gunners do not aim at the Masons, but only at the +National Guards (<i>sic!</i>), then the Masons will join the +battalions in the field, and encourage by their example the +gallant soldiers, defenders of the city.” This is all rather +complicated—what can come of it? Escorted by an +ever-increasing crowd, we reach the Place de la Bastille. Several +discourses are spouted forth at the foot of the column, but the +combined effects of noise, dust, and fatigue have blunted my +senses, and I hear nothing; it seems, however to be about the +same thing over again, for the same acclamations of the crowd +greet the same gestures on the part of the orators. +</p> + +<p> +We are off again down the Boulevards; the long procession, +with its waving banners and glittering signs, is hailed by the +populace with delight. Having reached the Place de la Concorde, I +loiter behind. Groups are stationed here and there. I go from one +to another, trying to gather what these open-air politicians +think of all this Masonic parade. Shortly fugitives are seen +hurrying back from the Champs Elysées, shouting, and +gesticulating. “Horror! Abomination! They respect nothing! +Vengeance!” I hear a brother-mason has been killed by a shell +opposite the Rue du Colysée; that the white flag is +riddled with shot; that the Versailles rifles have singled out, +killed and wounded several masons. +</p> + +<p> +In a very short time the terrible news, increased and +exaggerated as it spread, filled every quarter of Paris with +consternation. I returned home in a most perplexed state of mind, +from which I could not arouse myself until the arrival, towards +evening, of a friend, a freemason, and consequently well +informed. This, it appears, is what took place. +</p> + +<p> +“At the moment when the procession arrived in the Champs +Elysées it formed itself into several groups, each +choosing a separate avenue or street. One followed the Faubourg +St. Honoré and the Avenue Friedland as far as the +Triumphal Arch, till it reached the Porte Maillot; a second +proceeded to the Porte des Ternes by the Avenue des Ternes; a +third to the Porte Dauphine by the Avenue Ührich. Not a +single freemason was wounded on the way, though shells fell on +their passage from time to time. The VV.·. of each lodge +marched at the head, displaying their masonic banners. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-41"></a> +<img src="images/046.jpg" width="346" height="450" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Freemasons at the Ramparts. Gamins collecting shells.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +“As soon as the white flag was seen flying from the bastion on +the right of the Porte Maillot, the Versailles batteries ceased +firing. The freemasons were then able to pass the ramparts and +proceed towards Neuilly. There they were received rather coldly +by the colonel in command of the detachment. The officers, +including those in high command, were violently indignant against +Paris. But the soldiers themselves seemed utterly weary of +war. +</p> + +<p> +“After some parleying the members of the manifestation +obtained leave to send a certain number of delegates to +Versailles, in order to make a second attempt at conciliation +with the Government.” +</p> + +<p> +Will this new effort be more successful than the preceding +one? Will the company of freemasons obtain what the Republican +Union failed in procuring? I would fain believe it, but cannot. +The obstinacy of the Versailles Assembly has become absolute +deafness, though we must admit that the freemasons’ way of trying +to bring about reconciliation was rather singular, somewhat like +holding a knife at Monsieur Thiers’ throat and crying out, “Peace +or your life!” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-66" id="fn-66"></a> <a href="#fnref-66">[66]</a> +Memoir, see <a href="#VI._Page_220._PROTOT.">Appendix 6</a>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-67" id="fn-67"></a> <a href="#fnref-67">[67]</a> +Félix Pyat was born in 1810 at Vierzon. He came to Paris for the purpose of +studying law, but soon abandoned his intention for the more genial profession +of journalist. He contributed to the <i>Figaro</i>, the <i>Charivari</i>, the +<i>Revue de Paris</i>, and the <i>National</i>. In 1848 he was named +Commissary-General, and subsequently deputy of the department of the Cher. +Having signed Ledru-Rollin’s call to arms, he was obliged after the +events of June to take refuge in England. Profiting by the amnesty of the +fifteenth of August, 1869, he returned to France, but made himself so obnoxious +to the Government by his virulent abuse of the Empire, that he was again +expelled. The revolution of the fourth of September allowed him to re-enter +France. He commenced an immediate and violent attack on the new government, +which he continued until his journal, <i>Le Combat</i>, was suppressed. +Needless to say that he was one of the chief actors in the insurrections of the +thirty-first of October and the twenty-second of January. He was elected +deputy, but soon resigned, for the purpose of connecting himself with the cause +of the Commune. He edited the <i>Vengeur</i> and the <i>Commune</i> newspapers, +and obtained a decree suppressing nearly all rival or antagonistic +publications. At the fall of the Commune he fled no one knows where. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXIV."></a> LXIV.</h2> + +<p> +No! no! Monsieur Félix Pyat, you must remain, if you +please. You have been of it, you are of it, and you shall be of +it. It is well that you should go through all the tenses of the +verb, I am not astonished that a man as clever as you, finding +that things were taking a bad turn, should have thought fit to +give in your resignation. When the house is burning, one jumps +out of window. But your cleverness has been so much pure loss, +for your amiable confederates are waiting in the street to thrust +you back into the midst of the flames again. It is in vain that +you have written the following letter, a chef-d’oeuvre in its +way, to the president of +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CITIZEN PRESIDENT,—If I had not been detained at the Ministry of + War on the day when the election took place, I should have voted + with the minority of the Commune. I think that the majority, for + this once, is in the wrong.”<br/> + “For this once” is polite.<br/> + “I doubt if she will ever retrieve her error.”<br/> + If the Commune were to retrace its steps at each error it made, it + would advance slowly.<br/> + “I think that the elected have not the right of replacing the + electors. I think that the representatives have not the right of + taking the place of the sovereign power. I think that the Commune + cannot create a single one of its own members, neither make them nor + unmake them; and, therefore, that it cannot of itself furnish that + which is wanted to legalise their nominations’.” +</p> + +<p> +Oh! Monsieur Félix Pyat, legality is strangely out of +fashion, and it is well for Versailles that it is so. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“I think also, seeing that the war has changed the population....” +</p> + +<p> +Yes; the war has changed the population, if not in the way you +understand it, at least in this sense, that a great many +reasonable people have gone mad, and that many—ah! how +many?—are now dead. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“I think that it was more just to change the law than to violate it. The ballot +gave birth to the Commune, and in completing itself without it, the Commune +commits suicide. I will not be an accomplice in the fault.” +</p> + +<p> +We understand that; it is quite enough to be an accomplice in +the crime. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “I am so convinced of this truth, that if the Commune persist in + what I call an usurpation of the elective power, I could not + reconcile the respect due to the rote of the majority with the + respect due to my own conscience; I shall therefore be obliged, much + to my regret, to give in my resignation to the Commune before the + victory. +</p> + +<p class="right"> + “<i>Salut et Fraternité</i>.<br/> + “FÉLIX PYAT.” +</p> + +<p> +“Before the victory” is exquisitely comic! But, carried away by the +desire of exhibiting the wit of which he is master, Monsieur Félix Pyat fails +to perceive that his irony is a little too transparent, that “before the +victory” evidently meant “before the defeat,” and that +consequently, without taking into account the excellent reasons given in his +letter to the president of the Commune, we shall only recollect that rats run +away when the vessel is about to sink. But this time the rats must remain at +the bottom of the hold. Tour colleagues, Monsieur Pyat, will not permit you to +be the only one to withdraw from the honours, since you have been with them in +the strife. Not daring to fly themselves, they will make you stay. Vermorel +will seize you by the collar at the moment you are about to open the door and +make your escape; and Monsieur Pierre Denis,<a href="#fn-68" name="fnref-68" +id="fnref-68"><sup>[68]</sup></a> who used to be a poet as well as a cobbler, +will murmur in your ear these verses of Victor Hugo<a href="#fn-69" +name="fnref-69" id="fnref-69"><sup>[69]</sup></a>, which, with a few slight +modifications, will suit your case exactly:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Maintenant il se dit: ‘L’empire est chancelant;<br/> + La victoire est peu sûre.’<br/> +Il cherche à s’en aller, furtif et reculant.<br/> + Reste dans la masure!”<br/> +<br/> +“Tu dis: ‘Le plafond croule; ils vont, si l’on me voit,<br/> + Empêcher que je sorte.’<br/> +N’osant rester ni fuir, tu regardes le toit,<br/> + Tu regardes la porte.<br/> +<br/> +“Tu mets timidement la main sur le verrou;<br/> + Reste en leurs rangs funèbres!<br/> +Reste! La loi qu’ils ont enfouie en un trou<br/> + Est là dans les ténèbres.<br/> +<br/> +“Reste! Elle est là, le flanc percé de leurs couteaux,<br/> + Gisante, et sur sa bière<br/> +Ils ont mis une dalle. Un pan de ton manteau<br/> + Est pris sous cette pierre.<br/> +<br/> +“Tu ne t’en iras pas! Quoi! quitter leur maison!<br/> + Et fuir leur destinée!<br/> +Quoi! tu voudrais trahir jusqu’à la trahison<br/> + Elle-même indignée!<br/> +<br/> +“Quoi! n’as-tu pas tenu l’échelle à ces fripons<br/> + En pleine connivence?<br/> +Le sac de ces voleurs ne fut-il pas, réponds,<br/> + Cousu par toi d’avance?<br/> +<br/> +“Les mensonges, la haine au dard froid et visqueux,<br/> + Habitent ce repaire;<br/> +Tu t’en vas! De quel droit, étant plus renard qu’eux<br/> + Et plus qu’elle vipère?” +</p> + +<p> +And Monsieur Félix Pyat will remain, in spite of the +thousand and one good reasons he would find to make a short tour +in Belgium. His colleagues will try persuasion, if +necessary—“You are good, you are great, you are pure; what +would become of us without you?” and they will hold on to him to +the end, like cowards who in the midst of danger cling to their +companions, shrieking out, “We will die together!” and embrace +them convulsively to prevent their escape. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-68" id="fn-68"></a> <a href="#fnref-68">[68]</a> +A writer in the <i>Vengeur</i>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-69" id="fn-69"></a> <a href="#fnref-69">[69]</a> +For translation, see <a href="#VII._Page_229.">Appendix 7</a>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXV."></a> LXV.</h2> + +<p> +An anonymous writer, who is no other, it is said, than the +citizen Delescluze, has just published the following:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“The Commune has assured to itself the receipt of a sum of 600,000 francs a +day—eighteen millions a month.” +</p> + +<p> +There was once upon a time a French forger, named +Collé, celebrated for the extent and importance of his +swindling, and who possessed, it was said, a very large fortune. +When questioned upon the subject, he used to answer: “I have +assured to myself a receipt of a hundred francs a day—three +thousand francs a month.” +</p> + +<p> +Between Collé and the Commune there exists a difference, however: in the first +place, Collé affected a particular liking for the clergy, whose various garbs +he used frequently to assume, and the Commune cannot endure <i>curés</i> and +secondly, while Collé, in assuring himself a receipt of three thousand francs a +month, had done all that was possible for him to do, the Commune puts up with a +miserable eighteen millions, when it might have ensured to itself a great deal +more. It is astounding, and, I may add, little in accordance with its dignity, +that it should be satisfied with so moderate an allowance. You show too much +modesty; it is not worth while being victorious for so little. Eighteen +millions—a mere nothing! Your delicacy might be better understood were +you more scrupulous as to the choice of your means. Thank Heaven! you do not +err on that score. Come! a little more energy, if you please. +“But!” sighs the Commune, “I have done my best, it seems to +me. Thanks to Jourde,<a href="#fn-70" name="fnref-70" +id="fnref-70"><sup>[70]</sup></a> who throws Law into the shade, and to +Dereure,<a href="#fn-71" name="fnref-71" id="fnref-71"><sup>[71]</sup></a> the +shoemaker—Financier and Cobbler of La Fontaine’s Fable—I +pocket daily the gross value of the sale of tobacco, which is a pretty +speculation enough, since I have had to pay neither the cost of the raw +materials nor of the manufacture. I have besides this, thanks to what I call +the ‘regular income from the public departments,’ a good number of +little revenues which do not cost me much and bring me in a good deal. Now +there’s the Post, for instance. I take good care to despatch none of the +letters that are confided to me, but I manage to secure the price of the +postage by an arrangement with my employés. This shows cleverness and tact, I +think. Finally, in addition to this, I get the railway companies to be kind +enough to drop into my pockets the sum of two millions of francs: the Northern +Railway Company will supply me with three hundred and ninety-three thousand +francs; the Western, with two hundred and seventy-five thousand; the Eastern, +three hundred and fifty-four thousand francs; the Lyons Railway Company, with +six hundred and ninety-two thousand francs; the Orleans Railway, three hundred +and seventy-six thousand francs. It is the financial delegate, Monsieur Jourde, +who has the most brains of the whole band, who planned this ingenious +arrangement. And, in truth, I consider that I have done all that is in my +power, and you are wrong in trying to humiliate me by drawing comparisons +between myself and Collé, who had some good, in him, but who was in no way +equal to me.” My dear, good Commune, I do not deny that, you have the +most excellent intentions; I approve the tobacco speculation and the funds +drawn from the public service money, in which you include, I suppose, the +profits made in your nocturnal visits to the public and other coffers, and your +fruitful rounds in the churches. As to the tax levied on railways, it inspires +me with an admiration approaching enthusiasm. But, for mercy’s sake, do +not allow yourself to stop there. Nothing is achieved so long as anything +remains to be done. You waste your time in counting up the present sources of +your revenues, while so many opportunities remain of increasing them. Are there +no bankers, no stock-brokers, no notaries, in Paris? Send a few of these honest +patriots of yours to the houses of the reactionaries. A hundred thousand francs +from one, two hundred thousand francs from another; it is always worth the +taking. From small streams come great rivers. In your place I would not neglect +the shopkeepers’ tills either, or the money-chests of the rich. They are +of the <i>bourgeoisie</i>, those people, and the <i>bourgeois</i> are your +enemies. Tax them, <i>morbleu!</i> Tax them by all means. Have you not all your +friends and your friends’ friends to look after? Is it false keys that +fail you? But they are easily made, and amongst your number you will certainly +find one or two locksmiths quite ready to help you. Take Pilotel, for instance: +a sane man, that! There were only eight hundred francs in the escritoire of +Monsieur Chaudey, and he appropriated the eight hundred francs. Thus, you see, +how great houses and good governments are founded. And when there is no longer +any money, you must seize hold of the goods and furniture of your +fellow-citizens. You will find receivers of stolen goods among you, no doubt. +They told me yesterday that you had sent the Titiens and Paul Veroneses of the +Louvre to London, in order to be able to make money out of them. A most +excellent measure, that I can well explain to myself, because I can understand +that Monsieur Courbet must have a great desire to get rid of these two +painters, for whom he feels so legitimate and profound a hatred. But, alas! it +was but a false report. You confined yourselves to putting up for sale the +materials composing the Column of the Place Vendôme; dividing them into four +lots, two lots of stone and cement, and two lots of metal. Two lots only? Why! +you know nothing about making the best of your merchandise. There is something +better than stone and metal in this column. There is that in it which a number +of silly people used to call in other times the glory of France. What a pretty +spectacle—when the sale by auction is over—to see the buyers +carrying away under their arms—one, a bit of Wagram; another, a bit of +Jena; and some, who had thought to be buying a pound or two of bronze, having +made the acquisition of the First Consul at Arcole or the Emperor at +Austerlitz. It is a sad pity that you did not puff up the value and importance +of your sale to the bidders. Your speculation would then have turned out +better. You have managed badly, my dear Commune; you have not known how to take +advantage of your position. Repair your faults, impose your taxes, appropriate, +confiscate! All may be yours, disdain nothing, and have no fear of resistance; +everyone is afraid of you. Here! I have five francs in my own pocket, will you +have them? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-70" id="fn-70"></a> <a href="#fnref-70">[70]</a> +Jourde occupied the position of financial Minister under the Commune +Government. He is well-educated, and is said to be one of the most +intellectually distinguished of the Federal functionaries. He is a medical +student, and said to be twenty-seven years of age. See <a +href="#VIII._Page_231._JOURDE.">Appendix 8</a>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-71" id="fn-71"></a> <a href="#fnref-71">[71]</a> +A working cobbler, and member of the International Society, which he +represented at the Congress of Bâle. He occupied a post on the +<i>Marseillaise</i> newspaper, became a Commissary of Police after the fourth +of September, and took part on the popular side in the outbreak of the +thirty-first of October. He was deprived of his office by General +Trochu’s government, and appointed one of the delegates for justice, by +the authorities of the Commune. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXVI."></a> LXVI.</h2> + +<p class="letter"> + “The social revolution could end but in one great catastrophe, of + which the immediate effects would be—<br/> + “To make the land a barren waste:<br/> + “To put a strait jacket upon society:<br/> + “And, if it were possible that such a state of things could be + prolonged for several weeks—<br/> + “To cause three or four millions of human beings to perish by + horrible famine.<br/> + “When the Government shall be without resources, when the country + shall be without produce and without commerce:<br/> + “When starving Paris, blockaded by the departments, will no longer + discharge its debts and make payments, no longer export nor import:<br/> + “When workmen, demoralised by the politics taught at the clubs and + the closing of the workshops, will have found a means of living, no + matter how:<br/> + “When the State appropriates to itself the silver and ornaments of + the citizens for the purpose of sending them to the Mint:<br/> + “When perquisitions made in the private houses are the only means of + collecting taxes:<br/> + “When hungry bands spread over the country, committing robbery and + devastation:<br/> + “When the peasant, armed with loaded gun, has to neglect the + cultivation of his crops in order to protect them:<br/> + “When the first sheaf shall have been stolen, the first house + forced, the first church profaned, the first torch fired, the first + woman violated:<br/> + “When the first blood shall have been spilt:<br/> + “When the first head shall have fallen:<br/> + “When abomination and desolation shall have spread over all France—<br/> + “Oh! then you will know what we mean by a social revolution:<br/> + “A multitude let loose, arms in hand, mad with revenge and fury:<br/> + “Soldiers, pikes, empty homes, knives and crowbars:<br/> + “The city, silent and oppressed; the police in our very homes, + opinions suspected, words noted down, tears observed, sighs counted, + silence watched; spying and denunciations:<br/> + “Inexorable requisitions, forced and progressive loans, paper money + made worthless:<br/> + “Civil war, and the enemy on the frontiers:<br/> + “Pitiless proconsuls, a supreme committee, with hearts of stone—<br/> + “This would be the fruits of what they call democratic and social + revolution.” +</p> + +<p> +Who wrote this admirable page?—Proudhon. +</p> + +<p> +O all-merciful Providence! Take pity on France, for she has +come to this. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXVII."></a> LXVII.</h2> + +<p> +A balloon! A balloon! Quick! A balloon! There is not a moment +to be lost. The inhabitants of Brive-la-Gaillarde and the +mountaineers of Savoy are thirsting for news; let us shower manna +on them. Write away! Pierre Denis! Pump in your gas, emulators of +Godard! And may the four winds of heaven carry our “Declarations” +to the four quarters of France! Ah! ah! The +Versaillais—band of traitors that they are!—did not +calculate on this. They raise soldiers, the simpletons; they +bombard our forts and our houses, the idiots! But we make +decrees, and distribute our proclamations throughout the country +by means of an unlimited number of revolutionary aeronauts. May +they be guided by the wind which blows across the mountains! How +the honest labourers, the good farmers, the eager workers of the +departments will rejoice when they receive, dropping, from the +sky, the pages on which are inscribed the rights and duties of +the man of the present day! They will not hesitate one single +instant. They will leave their fields, their homes, their +workshops, and cry, “A musket! a musket!” with no thought that +they leave behind them women without husbands, and children +without fathers! They will fly to us, happy to conquer or die for +the glory of Citizen Delescluze and Citizen Vermorel! What +ardour! What patriotism! Already they are on their way; they are +coming, they are come! Those who had no fire-arms have seized +their pickaxes or pieces of their broken ploughs! Hurrah! +Forward! March! To arms, citizens, to arms! Hail to France, who +comes to the rescue of Paris! +</p> + +<p> +All to no purpose. I tell you the people of Brive-la-Gaillarde +and the mountaineers of Savoy have not once thought of taking up +arms. They have never been more tranquil or more resolute on +remaining in peace and quiet than now. When they see one of your +balloons—always supposing that it has any other end in view +than of depositing repentant communists in safe, snug corners, +pass the lines of the Versailles troops—when they see one +of your balloons, they simply exclaim, “Hulloa! Here’s a balloon! +Where in the world can it come from?” If some printed papers fall +from the sky, the peasant picks them up, saying, “I shall give +them to my son to read, when he returns from school.” The evening +comes, the son spells them out, while the father listens. The son +cannot understand; the father falls asleep. “Ah! those +Parisians!” cries the mother. Can you wonder? These people are +born to live and die without knowing all that is admirable in the +men of the Hôtel de Ville. They are fools enough to cling +to their own lives and the lives of those near them. They do not +go to war amongst themselves; they are poor ignorant creatures, +and you will never make them believe that when once they have +paid their taxes, worked, fed their wives and children, there +still remains to them one duty to fulfil, more holy, more +imperative than all others,—that of coming to the +Porte-Maillot to receive a ball or a fragment of shell in their +skulls. +</p> + +<p> +But these balloons might be made of some use, nevertheless. +Pick out one, the best made, the largest in size, the best +rigged; put in Citizen Félix Pyat—who, you may be +sure, will not be the last to sit down—and Citizen +Delescluze too, nor must we omit Citizen Cluseret, nor any of the +citizens who at the present moment constitute the happiness of +Paris and the tranquillity of France! Now inflate this admirable +balloon, which is to bear off all your hopes, with the lightest +gases. Then blow, ye winds, terrifically, furiously, and bear it +from us! Balloons can be capricious at times. Have you read, the +story of Hans Pfaal? Good Heavens! if the wind could only carry +them away, up to the moon, or even a great deal further +still. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXVIII."></a> LXVIII.</h2> + +<p> +I’m surprised myself, as I re-read the preceding pages, at the +strange contradictions I meet with. During the first few days I +was almost favourable to the Commune; I waited, I hoped. To-day +all is very different. When I write down in the evening what I +have seen and thought in the day, I allow myself to blame with +severity men that inspired me formerly with some kind of +sympathy. What has taken place? Have my opinions changed? I do +not think so. Besides, I have in reality but one opinion. I +receive impressions, describing these impressions without +reserve, without prejudice. If these stray leaves should ever be +collected in a volume, they will at least possess the rare merit +of being thoroughly sincere. Is it then, that my nature is +modified? By no means. If I were indulgent a month ago, it was +that I did not know those of whom I spoke, and that I am of a +naturally hopeful and benevolent disposition: if I now show +myself severe, it is that—like the rest of Paris—I +have learned to know them better. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXIX."></a> LXIX.</h2> + +<p> +The Commune has naturally brought an infinite number of +journals into existence. Try, if you will, to count the leaves of +the forest, the grains of sand on the seashore, the stars in the +heavens, but do not, in your wildest dreams, attempt to enumerate +the newspapers that have seen the light since the famous day of +the 18th of March. Félix Pyat has a journal, <i>Le +Vengeur</i>; Vermorel has a journal, <i>Le Cri du People</i>; +Delescluze has a journal, <i>Le Reveil</i>; there is not a member +of the Commune but indulges in the luxury of a sheet in which he +tells his colleagues daily all the evil he thinks of them. It +must be acknowledged that these gentlemen have an extremely bad +opinion one of the other. I defy even the <i>Gaulois</i> of +Versailles—yes, the <i>Gaulois</i> itself—to treat +Félix Pyat as Vermorel treats him, and if it be remembered +on the other hand what Félix Pyat says of Vermorel, the +<i>Gaulois</i> will be found singularly good-natured. Napoleon +cautioned us long ago “to wash our dirty linen at home,” but good +patriots cannot be expected to profit by the counsels of a +tyrant. So the columns of the Commune papers are devoted to the +daily and mutual pulling to pieces of the Commune’s members. But +where will these ephemeral sheets be in six months, in one month, +or in a week’s time perhaps? The wind which wafts away the leaves +of the rose and the laurel, will be no less cruel for the +political leaves. Let us then, for the sake of posterity, offer a +specimen of what is—or as we shall soon say, what +was—the Communalist press of to-day. Be they edited by +Marotteau, or Duchesne, or Paschal Grousset, or by any other +emulator of Paul-Louis Courier, these worthy journals are all +much alike, and one example will suffice for the whole. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-42"></a> +<img src="images/047.jpg" width="290" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Vermesch (père Duchesne).<a href="#fn-72" name="fnref-72" +id="fnref-72"><sup>[72]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p> +First of all, and generally in enormous type, stand the LATEST +NEWS, the news from the Porte Maillot where the friends of the +Commune are fighting, and the news from Versailles where the +enemies of the country are sitting. They usually run somewhat in +this style:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “It is more and more confirmed that the Assembly of Versailles is + surrounded and made prisoner by the troops returned from Germany. + The generals of the Empire have newly proclaimed Napoleon: the + Third, Emperor. After a violent quarrel about two National Guards + whom Marshal MacMahon had had shot, but had omitted to have cooked + for his soldiers, Monsieur Thiers sent a challenge to the Marshal, + by his two seconds. These seconds were no other than the Comte de + Chambord and the Comte de Paris. Marshal MacMahon chose the + ex-Emperor and Paul de Cassagnac. The duel took place in the Rue + des Reservoirs, in the midst of an immense crowd. The Marshal was + killed, and was therefore obliged to renounce the command of the + troops. But the Assembly would not accept his resignation.<br/> + “We are in the position to assert that a company of the 132nd + Battalion has this morning surrounded fifteen thousand gendarmes and + sergents-de-ville, in the park of Neuilly. Seeing that all + resistance was useless, the supporters of Monsieur Thiers + surrendered without reserve. Among them were seventeen members of + the National Assembly, who, not content with ordering the + assassination of our brothers, had wished also to be present at the + massacre.<br/> + “A person worthy of credit has related to us the following fact:—A +<i>cantinière</i> of the 44th Battalion (from the Batignolles quarter), was in +the act of pouring out a glass of brandy for an artilleryman of the Fort of +Vanves, when suddenly the artilleryman was out in two by a Versailles shell; +the brave <i>cantinière</i> drank off the contents of the glass just poured out +for the dead man who lay in bits at her feet, and took his place at the guns. +She performed her new part of artilleryman so bravely, that ten minutes later +there was not a single gun uninjured in the Meudon battery. As to those who +were serving the pieces there, they were all hurled to a distance of several +miles, and amongst them were said to have been recognised—we give this +news however with great reserve—Monsieur Ollivier, the ex-minister of the +ex-Emperor, and Count von Bismarck, who wished to verify for himself the actual +range of the guns that he had lent to his good friends of Versailles.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-43"></a> +<img src="images/048.jpg" width="338" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>PASCHAL GROUSSET, DELEGATE FOR FOREIGN +AFFAIRS.<a href="#fn-73" name="fnref-73" id="fnref-73"><sup>[73]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p> +After the LATEST NEWS come the reports of the day, the +<i>bulletin du jour</i> as it is called now, and it is in this +that the editor, a member of the Commune, reveals his talent. We +trust that the following example is not quite unworthy of the pen +of Monsieur Félix Pyat, or the signature of Monsieur +Vermorel:— +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“Paris, 29th April, 1871. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “They are lying in wait for us, these tigers athirst for blood.<br/> + “They are there, these Vandals, who have sworn that in all Paris not + a single man shall be spared, nor a single stone, left standing.<br/> + “But we are not in their power yet. No, nor shall we ever be.<br/> + “The National Guard is on the watch; victorious and sublime, their + soldierly breasts are not of flesh and blood, but of bronze, from + which the balls rebound as they stand, dauntless, before the enemy.<br/> + “Ah! so these lachrymose Jules Favres, these fat Picards, these + hungry Jules Ferrys, said amongst themselves, ‘We will take Paris, + we will tear it up, and its soil shall be divided after the victory + between the wives of the <i>sergents de ville!</i>’ “They are beginning + to understand all the insanity of their plan. Why, it is Paris that + will take Versailles, that will take all those blear-eyed old men + who, because they cannot look steadily at Monsieur Thiers’ face, + fancy that it is the sun.<br/> + “It is in vain that they gorge with blood and wine their deceived + soldiers; the moment is approaching when these men will no longer + consent to march against the city which is fighting for them. + Already, yesterday, the mêlée of a battle could be distinguished + from the fort of Vanves; the line had come to blows with the + <i>gendarmes</i> of Valentin and Charette’s Zouaves. Courage, Parisians! + A few more days and you will have triumphed over all the infamy that + dares to stop the march of the victorious Commune!<br/> + “But it is not enough to vanquish the enemies without, we must get + rid also of the enemies that are within.<br/> + “No more pity! no more vacillation! The justice of the people is + wearied of formalities, and cries out for vengeance. Death to spies! + Death to the <i>réactionaires</i>! Death to the priests! Why does the + Commune feed this collection of malefactors in your prisons, while + the money they cost us daily would be so useful to the women and + children of those who are fighting for the cause of Paris? We are + assured that one of the prisoners ate half a chicken for his dinner + yesterday; how many good patriots might have been saved from + suffering with the sum which was taken from the chests of the + Republic for this orgie! There is no longer time to hesitate; the + Versaillais are shooting and mutilating the prisoners; we must + revenge ourselves! We must show them such an example, that in + perceiving from afar the heads of their infamous accomplices, the + traitors of Versailles, stuck upon our ramparts, confounded by the + magnanimity of the Commune, they will lay down their arms at last, + and deliver themselves up as prisoners.<br/> + “As to the refractory of Paris, we cannot find words to express the + astonishment we experience at the weakness that has been shown with + regard to them.<br/> + “What! we permit that there should still be cowards in Paris? I + thought they were all at Versailles. We allow still to remain + amongst us men who are not of our opinion? This state of things has + lasted too long. Let them take their muskets or die. Shoot them + down, those who refuse to go forward. They have wives and children, + they are fathers of families, they say; a fine reason indeed! The + Commune before everything! And, besides, there must be no pity for + the wives of <i>réactionaires</i> and the children of spies!” +</p> + +<p> +The <i>bulletins du jour</i> are sometimes set forth in +gentler terms; but we have chosen a fair average specimen between +the lukewarm and the most violent. +</p> + +<p> +Then comes the solid, serious article, generally written by a +pen invested with all due authority, by the man who has the most +head in the place. The subject varies according to circumstances; +but the main point of the article is generally to show that Paris +has never been so rich, so free, nor so happy, as under the +government of the Commune; and this is a truth that is certainly +not difficult to prove. Is not the fact of being able to live +without working the best possible proof that people are well off? +Well! look at the National Guards; they have not touched a tool +for a whole month, and they have such a supply of money that they +are obliged to make over some of it to the wineshop-keepers in +exchange for an unlimited number of litres and sealed bottles. +Then, who could say that we are not free? The journals that +allowed themselves to assert the contrary have been prudently +suppressed. Besides, is it not being free to have shaken off the +shameful yoke of the men who sold France; to be no longer +subjected to the oppression of snobs, +<i>réactionaires</i>, and traitors? And as to the most +perfect happiness, it stands to reason, since we are both free +and rich, that we must be in the incontestable enjoyment of it. +Finally, after the official dispatches edited in the style you +are acquainted with, and after the accounts of the last battles, +come the miscellaneous news, the <i>faits divers</i>; and here it +is that the ingenuity of the writers displays itself to the +greatest advantage. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Yesterday evening, towards ten o’clock, the attention of the + passers-by in the Rue St. Denis was attracted by cries which seemed + to proceed from a four-storied house situated at the corner of the + Rue Sainte-Apolline. The cries were evidently cries of despair. Some + people went to the nearest guardhouse to make the fact known, and + four National Guards, preceded by their corporal, entered the house. + Guided by the sound of the cries they arrived at the fourth storey, + and broke open the door. A horrible spectacle was then exposed to + the view of the Guards and of the persons who had followed them in + their quest. Three young children lay stretched on the floor of the + room, the disorder of which denoted a recent struggle. The poor + little things were without any covering whatever, and there were + traces of blows upon their bodies; one of them had a cut across the + forehead. The National Guards questioned the children with an almost + maternal kindness. They had not eaten for four days, and, in + consequence of this prolonged fast, they were in such a state of + moral and physical abasement that no precise information could be + obtained from them. The corporal then addressed himself to the + neighbours, and soon became acquainted with a part of the terrible + truth.<br/> + “In this room lived a poor work-girl, young and pretty. One day, as + she was carrying back her work to the shop, she observed that she + was followed by a well-dressed man, whose physiognomy indicated the + lowest passions. He spoke to her, and was at first repulsed; but, + like the tempter Faust offering jewels to Marguerite, he tempted her + with bright promises, and the poor girl, to whom work did not always + come, listened to the base seducer. Blame her not too harshly, pity + her rather, and reserve all your indignation for the wretch who + betrayed her.<br/> + “After three years, which were but anguish and remorse to the + miserable woman, and during which she had no other consolation but + the smiles of the children whose very existence was a crime, she was + becoming reconciled at last to her life, when the father of her + children deserted her.<br/> + “This desertion coincided with the glorious revolution of the 18th + of March; and the poor work-girl, who had still room in her heart + for patriotism, found some consolation in reflecting that the day, + so miserable for her, had at least brought happiness to France.<br/> + “A fortnight passed, the poor abandoned mother had given up all hope + of ever seeing the father of her three children again, when one + evening—it was last Friday—a man, wrapped in a black cloak, + introduced himself into the house, and made inquiries of the + <i>concierge</i>—a great patriot, and commander of the 114th + Battalion—whether Mademoiselle O... were at home? Upon an answer in + the affirmative from the heroic defender of Right and Liberties of + Paris, the man mounted the stairs to the poor workwoman’s rooms. It + was he—the seducer; the <i>concierge</i> had recognised him. What passed + between the murderer and his victims? That will be known, + perhaps—never! But certain it is, that an hour afterwards he went + out, still enveloped in his black mantle.<br/> + “The next day, and the days following, the <i>concierge</i> was much + astonished not to see his lodger of the fourth floor, who was + accustomed to stop and talk with him on her way to fetch her <i>café + au lait</i>. But his deep sense of duty as commander of the 114th + Battalion occupied his mind so thoroughly, that he paid but little + attention to the incident. Neither did he regard the sighs and sobs + which were heard from the upper stories. He can scarcely be blamed + for this negligence; he was studying his <i>vade-mecum</i>.<br/> + “On the fourth day, however, the cries were so violent that they + began to inspire the passers-by with alarm, and we have related how + four men, headed by their <i>caporal</i>, were sought for to inquire into + the cause.<br/> + “We have already told what was seen and heard, but the explanations + of the neighbours were not sufficient to clear up the darkest side + of the mystery, and perhaps the truth would never have been known if + the <i>caporal</i>—exhibiting, by a rare proof of intelligence, how far + he was worthy of the grade with which his comrades had honoured + him—had not been inspired with the idea of lifting up the curtain + of the bed.<br/> + “Horror! Upon the bed lay stretched the corpse of the unhappy + mother, a dagger plunged into her heart, and in her clutched hand + was found a paper upon which the victim, before rendering her last + breath, had traced the following lines:—<br/> + “‘I die, murdered by him who has betrayed me; he would have murdered + also my three children, if a noise in the next room had not caused + him to take flight. He had come from Versailles for the express + purpose of accomplishing this quadruple crime, and, by this means, + obliterate every trace of his past villany. His name is Jules Ferry. + You who read this, revenge me!’” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-72" id="fn-72"></a> <a href="#fnref-72">[72]</a> +Vermesch, who was born at Lille, in 1846, though not an official member of the +Commune, was one of its most powerful champions. He was founder and principal +editor of the <i>Père Duchesne</i>, a poor imitation of the journal, published +under the same title, by Hébert, in the time of the first Revolution. This +paper, one of the most characteristic of the Commune, was filled with +trivialities, in the vilest taste and slang, which cannot be rendered in +English. The first number of Vermesch’s journal was published on the 6th +of March, but was suppressed by General Vinoy; it re-appeared, however, on the +eighteenth of the same month, and met with such prodigious success, that even +its editor himself was astonished. Intoxicated with the result, the writers +became more and more virulent, and not content with penning the vilest personal +abuse, Vermesch assumed the <i>rôle</i> of public informer. For instance, he +denounced M. Gustave Chaudey, a writer in the <i>Siècle</i>, in the <i>Père +Duchesne</i> of the 12th of April, and that journalist was arrested in +consequence on the following day. The journal became, not only the medium of +all kinds of personal abuse and vengeance, but did the duty of inquisitor for +the Communal Government, for whom it produced a terrible crop of victims. The +<i>Official Journal</i> contained a number of decrees, the drafts of which at +first appeared in <i>Père Duchesne</i>.<br/> + Amongst other acts, Vermesch organised what he called the battalion of the +Enfants of the <i>Père Duchesne</i>, and considering the origin of this corps, +the character of the rabble which filled its ranks may easily be imagined. The +children of such a father could only be found amidst the lowest dregs of the +Parisian population; fit instruments for the infamous work which was afterwards +to be done. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-73" id="fn-73"></a> <a href="#fnref-73">[73]</a> +Paschal Grousset prepared himself for politics by the study of medicine; from +the anatomy of heads he passed to the dissection of ideas. Having turned +journalist, he wrote scientific articles in <i>Figaro</i>, contributed to the +<i>Standard</i>, and was one of the editors of the <i>Marseillaise</i> when the +challenge, which gave rise to the death of Victor Noir and the famous trial at +Tours, was sent to Prince Pierre Bonaparte. Immediately after the revolution of +the eighteenth of March he started the <i>Nouvelle République</i>, an ephemeral +publication which only lived a week. On the second of April he commenced the +<i>Affranchi</i>, or journal of free men, as he called it, Vesinier joining him +in the management of it. The popularity of Grousset caused him to be elected a +member of the Commune in April, and the Government soon appointed him Minister +of Foreign Affairs. He communicated circulars to the representatives of +different nations at Paris, in order to obtain a recognition of the Commune; he +also sent proclamations to the large towns of France, appealing to arms. But +his means of communication with other governments, and indeed with his own +envoys, was very restricted.<br/> + He was one of those who took refuge at the <i>Mairie</i> of the Eleventh +Arrondissement, and who, knowing well that the struggle was really over, said +to the silly heroes who protected them, “All is well. The Versailles mob +is turned, and you will soon join your brethren in the Champs Elysées.” +Many of them that night entered the valley of the shadow of death! On the third +of June the ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs was arrested in the Rue Condorcet, +dressed as a woman, and marched off to Versailles. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXX."></a> LXX.</h2> + +<p> +“Issy is taken! Issy is not taken! Mégy<a href="#fn-74" name="fnref-74" +id="fnref-74"><sup>[74]</sup></a> has delivered it up! Eudes holds it +still.” +</p> + +<p> +I have heard nothing but contradictory news since this +morning. Is Fort Issy in the hands of the Versailles +troops—yes or no? Hoping to get better information by +approaching the scene of conflict, I went to the Porte d’Issy, +but returned without having succeeded in learning anything. +</p> + +<p> +There were but few people in that direction; some National +Guards, sheltered by a casemate, and a few women, watching for +the return of their sons and husbands, were all I saw. The +cannonading was terrific; in less than a quarter of an hour I +heard five shells whistle over my head. +</p> + +<p> +Towards twelve o’clock the drawbridge was lowered, and I saw a +party of about sixty soldiers, dusty, tired, and dejected, +advancing towards me. These were some of the “revengers of the +Republic.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where do you come from?” I asked them. +</p> + +<p> +“From the trenches. There were four hundred of us, and we are +all that remain.” +</p> + +<p> +But when I asked them whether the Fort of Issy were taken, +they made no answer. +</p> + +<p> +Following the soldiers came four men, bearing a litter, on +which a dead body lay stretched; and it was with this sad +procession that I re-entered Paris. From time to time the men +deposited their load on the ground, and went into a wine-shop to +drink. I took advantage of one of these moments when the corpse +lay abandoned, to lift the cloak that had been spread over it. It +was the body of a young man, almost a lad; his wound was hidden, +but the collar of his shirt was dyed crimson with blood. When the +men returned for the third time, their gait was so unsteady that +it was with difficulty they raised the poor boy’s bier, and then +went off staggering. At the turning of a street the corpse fell, +and I ran up as it was being picked from the ground; one of the +drunken men was shedding tears, and maudling out, “My poor +brother!” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-74" id="fn-74"></a> <a href="#fnref-74">[74]</a> +Mégy, the famous governor of the Fort of Issy, was implicated in the last, +supposed, plot against the life of Napoleon III. Having shot one of the police +agents charged with his arrest, he was tried and condemned to death. He was, +however, delivered from prison on the fourth of September, and appointed to the +command of a battalion of National Guards, with which he marched against the +Hôtel de Ville on the thirty-first of October and the twentieth of January. He +was named a member of the Commune on the eighteenth of March, and set fire to +the Cour des Comptes and the Palace of the Légion d’Honneur on the +twenty-third of May, 1871. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXI."></a> LXXI.</h2> + +<p> +We shall see no more of Cluseret! Cluseret is done for, Cluseret is in +prison!<a href="#fn-75" name="fnref-75" id="fnref-75"><sup>[75]</sup></a> What +has he done? Is he in disgrace on account of Fort Issy? This would scarcely be +just, considering that if the fort were evacuated yesterday it was reoccupied +this morning; by the bye, I cannot explain satisfactorily to myself why the +Versaillais should have abandoned this position, which they seem to have +considered of some importance. If it is not on account of Fort Issy that +Cluseret was politely asked to go and keep Monseigneur Darboy company, why was +it? I remember hearing yesterday and the day before something about a letter of +General Fabrice, in which that amiable Prussian, it is reported, begged General +Cluseret to intercede with the Commune in behalf of the imprisoned priests. Is +it possible that the Communal delegate, at the risk of passing for a Jesuit, +could have made the required demand? Why, M. Cluseret, that was quite enough +for you to be put in prison, and shot too into the bargain. However, you did +not intercede for anybody, for the very excellent reason that General Fabrice +no more thought of writing to you, than of giving back Alsace and Lorraine. So +we must search somewhere else for the motive of this sudden eclipse. Some say +there was a quarrel with Dombrowski, that the latter thought fit to sign a +truce without the authority of Cluseret—a truce, what an idea! Has +Dombrowski any scruples about slaughter?—that Cluseret flew into a great +rage; but that his rival got the best of it in the end. You see if one is an +American and the other a Pole, the Commune must have a hard time of it between +the two! +</p> + +<p> +No, neither the evacuation of Fort Issy—in spite of what +the <i>Journal Officiel</i> says—Monseigneur Darboy, nor +the quarrel with Dombrowski are the real causes of the fall of +Cluseret. Cluseret’s destiny was to fall; Cluseret has fallen +because he did not like gold lace and embroidery—“that is +the question,” all the rest are pretexts. +</p> + +<p> +So the noble delegate imagined he could quietly issue a proclamation one +morning commanding all the officers under his orders to rip off the gold and +silver bands which luxuriantly ornament their sleeves and caps!<a href="#fn-76" +name="fnref-76" id="fnref-76"><sup>[76]</sup></a> He thought his staff would +forego epaulets and other military gewgaws. Why, the man must have been mad! +What would Cora or Armentine have said if they had seen their military heroes +stalk into the Café de Suède or the Café de Madrid, shorn of all their +brilliant appendages, which made them look so wonderfully like the +monkey-general at the Neuilly fair, in the good old times, when there were such +things as fairs, and before Neuilly was a ruin. Ask any soldier, Federal or +otherwise, if he will give up his pay, or his jingling sword, or even his rank; +he may perhaps consent, but ask him to rip off his embroidery, and he will +answer, never! How can you imagine a man of sense consenting not to look like a +mountebank? +</p> + +<p> +Another of these absurd prescriptions has done much to lower Cluseret in public +estimation. One day he took it into his head to prevent his officers from +galloping in the streets and boulevards, under the miserable pretext that the +rapid evolutions of these horsemen had occasioned several accidents. Well, and +if they had, do you think a gallant captain of horse is going to deprive +himself of the pleasure of curvetting within sight of his lady love, for the +pitiful reason, that he may perchance upset an old woman or two or three +children? Citizen Cluseret does not know what he is talking about! It is +certain that if this valiant general has such a very great horror of accidents, +he should begin by stopping the firing at Courbevoie, which is a great deal +more dangerous than the galloping of a horse on the Boulevard Montmartre. As +you may imagine, the officers went on galloping and wearing their finery under +the very nose of the general, while he walked about stoically in plain clothes. +However, although they did not obey him, they owed him a grudge for the orders +he had given. Opposition was being hatched, and was ready to burst forth on the +first opportunity, which happened to be the evacuation of Fort Issy. Cluseret +has fallen a victim to his taste for simplicity, but he carries with him the +regrets of all the illused cab-horses which, in the absence of thoroughbreds, +have to suffice the gallant staff, and who, poor creatures, were only too +delighted not to gallop. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-75" id="fn-75"></a> <a href="#fnref-75">[75]</a> +General Cluseret was a great personage for a time with the Communists, and his +military talents were lauded to the skies, but suddenly he was committed to +prison, and was succeeded in the command of the army by Rossel. The cause of +his imprisonment is not clear. Some say that he was discovered to be in +correspondence with the Thiers government, others that he was suspected of +aiming at the Dictatorship. During the confusion that occurred on the first +entry of the Versailles troops into Paris, when the Archbishop of Paris and the +other so-called “hostages” had been barbarously assassinated, when +the Louvre, the Palais Royal, and the Hôtel de Ville were in flames, Cluseret +escaped from prison, and was not heard of again until it was reported that his +body had been found buried beneath the rubbish of the last barricade. Was +report correct? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-76" id="fn-76"></a> <a href="#fnref-76">[76]</a> +“THE MINISTER OF WAR TO THE NATIONAL GUARD.<br/> + “CITOYENS,—I notice with pain that, forgetful of our modest origin, +the ridiculous mania for trimmings, embroidery, and shoulder-knots has +begun to take hold upon you.<br/> + “To work! You have for the first time accomplished a revolution by, +and for, labour.<br/> + “Let us not forget our origin, and, above all, do not let us be +ashamed of it, Workmen we were! workmen let us remain!<br/> + “In the name of virtue against vice, of duty against abuse, of +austerity against corruption, we have triumphed; let us not forget the +fact.<br/> + “Let us be, above all, men of honour and duty; we shall then found +an austere Republic, the only one that has or can have reason for its +existence.<br/> + “I appeal to the good sense of my fellow-citizens: let us have no +more tags and lace, no more glitter, no more frippery which costs so +little at the shops yet is so dear to our responsibility.<br/> + “In future, anyone who cannot deduce proof of his right to wear the +insignia of his nominal rank, or, who shall add to the regular uniform +of the National Guard, tags, lace, or other vain distinctions, will be +liable to be punished.<br/> + “I profit by this occasion to remind each of you of the necessity +of absolute obedience to the authorities, for in obeying those whom you +have elected you are only obeying yourselves. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“The Delegate of War,<br/> + “Paris, April 7th, 1871,<br/> + (Signed) “E. CLUSERET.”</small> +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXII."></a> LXXII.</h2> + +<p> +Suppose that a man in disguise goes into the opera ball +intoxicated, rushes hither and thither, gesticulating, insulting +the women, mocking the men, turns off the gas, then sets light to +some curtains, until such a hue and cry is raised that he is +turned out of the place. Whereupon our mask runs off to the +nearest costumier’s, changes his clown’s dress for that of a +pantaloon, and returns to the opera to recommence his old tricks, +saying, “I have changed my dress, no one will recognise me.” But +he is wrong, there is no mistaking his way of doing business. +</p> + +<p> +The crowd surrounds him and cries, “We recognise you, <i>beau +masque!</i>” and if he has had the imprudence to secure the +doors, they throw him out of window. +</p> + +<p> +We recognise you, Executive Commission;<a href="#fn-77" name="fnref-77" +id="fnref-77"><sup>[77]</sup></a> it is in vain that you disguise yourself in +the bloody rags of the Committee of Public Safety, your are still yourself, you +are still Félix Pyat, you are still Ranvier, you have never ceased to be +Gérardin; you hope to make yourself obeyed more readily under this lugubrious +costume, but you mistake. Command us to go and fight, and we will not budge; +pursue us, and we will hardly run away; put us in prison, and we will only +laugh. You are no more a Terror, than Gil-Pérez the actor is Talma; the knocks +you receive have pushed aside your false nose; it is in vain that you decree, +that you rob, that you incarcerate; you are too grotesque to be terrible. Even +if you carried the parody out to the end, and thought fit to erect a guillotine +and sharpen the knife, we should even then decline to look seriously upon you, +and were we to see one by one five hundred heads fell into the basket, we +should still persist in thinking that your axe was of wood, and your guillotine +of cardboard! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-44"></a> +<img src="images/049.jpg" width="327" height="384" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Dupont, Delegate of Trade and Commerce.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-77" id="fn-77"></a> <a href="#fnref-77">[77]</a> +The affair of the 30th of April signally disappointed the chiefs of the +insurrection, who decreed the formation of a Committee of Public Safety, and +caused Cluseret to disappear. “The incapacity and negligence of the +Delegate of War having,” they said, “almost lost them the +possession of Fort Issy, the Executive Commission considered it their duty to +propose the arrest of Citizen Cluseret, which was forthwith decreed by the +Commune.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXIII."></a> LXXIII.</h2> + +<p> +The Parisian <i>Official Journal</i> says: “The members of the +Commune are not amenable to any other tribunal than their own” +(that of the Commune). Ah! truly, men of the Hôtel de +Ville, you imagine that, do you? Have you forgotten that there +are such tribunals as court-martials and assizes? +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXIV."></a> LXXIV.</h2> + +<p> +M. Rossel is really very unfortunate! What is M. Rossel?<a href="#fn-78" +name="fnref-78" id="fnref-78"><sup>[78]</sup></a> Why, the provisional +successor of Citizen Cluseret. It was not a bad idea to put in the word +<i>provisional</i>. The Commune had confided to him the care of military +matters, which he had accepted, but with an air of condescension. This +“Communeux” looks to me like an aristocrat. At any rate he has not +been fortunate. Scarcely had he taken upon himself the safety of Paris, when +the redoubt of Moulin-Saquet was surprised by the Versaillais. This accident +was not calculated to enhance the courage of the Federals. The whole affair has +been kept as dark as possible, but the porter of the house where I live, who +was there, has told me strange things. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you believe, Monsieur, that I had just finished a game +of cards with the captain, and was preparing to have a bit of +sleep, for it was near upon eleven o’clock, when I thought I +heard something like the noise of troops marching. I looked round +to see if any one heard it besides myself, but the men were +already asleep, and a circular line of boots was sticking out all +round the tents. The captain said: ‘I daresay it is the patrol +from the Rue de Villejuif.’—‘Oh, yes,’ said I, ‘from the +barricade,’ and I fell to sleep without a thought of danger. In +fact, there seemed nothing to fear, as the Moulin-Saquet +overlooks the whole of the plain which stretches from Vitry to +Choisy-le-Roi, and from Villejuif to the Seine. It was impossible +for a man to approach the redoubt without being seen by the +sentinel. I had, therefore, been asleep a few minutes when I was +awoke by the following dialogue:—‘Stop! who goes +there?’—‘The patrol.’—‘Corporal, forward!’—Oh! +said I to myself, it is our comrades come to see us; there will +be some healths drunk before morning, and I got up to go and give +them a welcome. The captain was also astir. ‘The password!’ he +cried. The chief of the patrol came forward and +answered—‘Vengeance!’ I remember wondering at the moment +why he spoke so loud in giving the pass-word, when suddenly I saw +three men rush forward, seize our captain, and throw him down. At +the same time two or three hundred men, dressed as National +Guards, threw themselves into the camp, rushed upon the sleeping +artillery-men with their bayonets, and then fired several volleys +into the tents where our poor comrades were asleep. What I had +taken at first for National Guards were only those devils of +sergents-de-ville dressed up! So, you see, as it was each man for +himself, and the high road for everybody, I just threw myself +down on my face, and let myself drop into the trenches. There was +no fear of the noise of my fall being heard in the riot. I +managed to hide myself pretty well in a hole I found there, and +which had doubtless been made by a shell. I could not see +anything, but I heard all that was going on. Clic! clac! clic! +went the rifles, almost like the cracking of a whip, answered by +the most dismal cries from the wounded. I could hear also the +grinding of wheels, and made sure they were taking away our guns, +the robbers! When all was silent except the groans of the dying +men, I crept out of my hiding place. Would you believe it, +Monsieur, I was the only one able to stand up; the Versaillais +had taken all those who had not run away or were not wounded; I +saw them, the pilfering thieves, making off towards Vitry, as +fast as their legs could carry them!” +</p> + +<p> +“You have no idea, lieutenant,” I said to the porter, “how the +Versaillais got to know the pass-word?”—“No, only the +captain, who is an honest fellow enough, but rather too fond of +the bottle, went in the evening to the route d’Orléans +where there are lots of wine-shops ...”—“And you think he +got tipsy, and let the pass-word out to some spy or +other?”—“I would not swear he did not; but what I am more +sure of, is that we are betrayed!” +</p> + +<p> +Alas! yes, unfortunates, you are betrayed, but not in the way +you think. You are being cheated by these madmen and criminals +who are busy publishing decrees at the Hôtel de Ville, +while you are dying by scores at Issy, Vanves, Montrouge, +Neuilly, and the Moulin-Saquet; they betray you when they talk of +Royalists and Imperialists; they deceive you when they tell you, +that victory is certain, and that even defeat would be glorious. +I tell you, that victory is impossible, and that your defeat will +be without honour; for when you fell, crying, “Vive la Commune!” +“Vive la République!” the Commune is Félix Pyat, +and the Republic, Vermorel. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-78" id="fn-78"></a> <a href="#fnref-78">[78]</a> +Colonel Rossel was one of the most capable members of the Commune Government. +He was born in 1844, and was the son of Commandant Louis Rossel, an officer who +acquired a high reputation in the Chinese war. The young Louis Rossel received +a sound military education at the Prytanée of La Flèche, and subsequently at +the École Polytechnique, at which latter institution he gained high honours. He +served as captain of engineers in the army of Metz, and was one of the officers +who signed the protestation against the surrender of Bazaine. He succeeded in +eluding the vigilance of the Prussians, and appeared at Tours to offer his +services to the Government of National Defence. Gambetta, then Minister of War, +appointed Rossel to the rank of colonel in the so-called auxiliary army. After +the signature of the peace preliminaries, the new government refused to ratify +the promotion granted by Gambetta, but offered Rossel the rank of major. This +seriously offended the ex-Dictator’s ex-colonel, who shortly after the +tenth of March, put his sword at the disposition of the Commune. He was at +first appointed chief of the staff of General Cluseret, whom he subsequently +replaced as delegate for war. On April 16 he became president of the Communist +court-martial; he acted with great vigour in all military affairs until the +10th of May, when the Commune ordered his arrest. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-45"></a> +<img src="images/050.jpg" width="500" height="408" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Chapelle Expiatoire.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="LXXV."></a>LXXV.</h2> + +<p> +Malediction on the man who imagined this decree; malediction on the assembly +that approved it; and cursed be the hand which shall first touch a stone of +that tomb! Oh I believe me, I am not among those who regret the times of royal +prerogatives, and who believe that everything would have gone well, in the most +peaceful country in the world, if Louis XVII had only succeeded to the throne +after his father, Louis XVI. The author of the revolution of 1798 knew what he +was about in multiplying such terrible catastrophes. The name of that author +was Infallible Necessity. Indeed I am quite ready to confess that the indolent +husband of Marie Antoinette had none of those qualities which make a great +king, and I will even add, if you wish it absolutely, that the solitary fact of +being a king is a crime worthy a thousand deaths. As to Marie Antoinette +herself—“the Austrian,” <i>Père Duchesne</i> would call +her—I allow that in history she is not quite so amiable as she appears in +the novels of Alexandra Dumas, and that her near relationship to the queen +Caroline-Marie, whose little suppers at Naples, in company with Lady Hamilton, +one is well acquainted with, gives some excuse for the calumnies of which she +has been the object. Have I said enough to prevent myself being the recipient, +in the event of a Bourbon restoration, of the most modest pension that ever +came out of a royal treasury? Well, in spite of what I have said, and in spite +of what I think, I repeat, “Do not touch that tomb!” Like the +Column Vendôme, which is the symbol of an heroic and terrible epoch in history, +the Chapelle Expiatoire<a href="#fn-79" name="fnref-79" +id="fnref-79"><sup>[79]</sup></a> is a souvenir of the old monarchical reign, +an age which was neither devoid of sorrow, nor of honour for France. Can you +not be republican without suppressing history, which was royalist? The last +remains of monarchy repose in peace beneath that gloomy monument; may it be +respected, as we respect the ashes of those who respected it; and you, breakers +of images, profaners of past glory, do you not fear, in executing your decree, +to produce an effect diametrically opposed to that which you desire? By +persecuting kings even in their last resting-place, are you not afraid to +excite the pity, the regret perhaps, of those whose consciences still hesitate? +In the interest of the Republic, I say, take care! The memory of the dead +stalks forth from open sepulchres! +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-79" id="fn-79"></a> <a href="#fnref-79">[79]</a> +This chapel was erected by Louis XVIII. upon the spot where, during the +Revolution of 1793, the remains of Louis XVI, and his Queen had been obscurely +interred. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXVI."></a> LXXVI.</h2> + +<p> +Rejoice, poor housewives, who, on days of poverty, were obliged to carry to the +Mont-de-Piété<a href="#fn-80" name="fnref-80" id="fnref-80"><sup>[80]</sup></a> +the discoloured remains of your wedding dress, or your husband’s Sunday +coat; rejoice, artisans, who, after a day of toil, thought your bed so hard +since your last mattress was taken to the Rue des Blancs-Manteaux, to rejoin +your last pair of sheets. The Commune has decreed that “all objects in +pawn at the Mont-de-Piété, for a sum not exceeding twenty francs, shall be +given back gratuitously to all persons who shall prove their legitimate right +to the said objects.” Thanks to this benevolent decree, you may now hope +that things you have pawned will be restored to you before three or four +hundred days! +</p> + +<p> +Count on your fingers; the number of articles to which the +decree applies is at least 1,200,000. As there are only three +offices for the claimants to apply to, and considering the forms +which have to be observed, I do not think more than three +thousand objects can be given back daily; the Commune says four +thousand, but the Commune does not know what it is talking about. +However, even if we calculate four thousand a-day, the whole +would take up ten or twelve months. +</p> + +<p> +During this time men and women, whom poverty had long ere this +taught the road to the Mont-de-Piété, would have to +get up early, neglect the daily work by which they live, and go +and stand awaiting their turn at the office, frozen in winter, +baked in summer, thankful to obtain a moment’s rest upon one of +the wooden benches in the great bare hall; and when they have +been there a long, weary time, to see their number, drawn by lot, +put off to the next day or the day after, or the week or the +month following perhaps. +</p> + +<p> +Still we must not blame the Commune for the sad disappointment +of this long delay, it would be impossible to shorten it. One +thing, which is less impossible, is to indemnify the +administration of the Mont-de-Piété for this +gratuitous restitution. Citizen Jourde, delegate of the finances, +says, “I will give 100,000 francs a-week.” Without stopping to +consider where this able political economist means to get his +weekly 100,000 francs, I will be content with remarking that this +sum would in no wise cover the loss to the +Mont-de-Piété, and that the Commune will only be +giving alms out of other people’s purses. If, however, thanks to +this decree, some few poor creatures are enabled to get back +those goods and chattels which they were obliged to dispose of in +the hour of need, there will not be much cause to complain. The +Mont-de-Piété usually does a very good business, +and there will always be enough misery in Paris for it to grow +rich upon. Besides, the Commune owes the poor wounded, mutilated, +dying fellows who have been brought from Neuilly and Issy, at +least a mattress to die in some little comfort upon. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-80" id="fn-80"></a> <a href="#fnref-80">[80]</a> +The governmental pawnbroking establishments. All the pawnbroking is carried on +by the Government. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXVII."></a> LXXVII.</h2> + +<p> +They have put them into the prison of Saint-Lazare. Whom? The +nuns of the convent of Picpus. They have put them there because +they have been arrested. But why were they arrested? That is what +Monsieur Rigault himself could not clearly explain. Some of the +nuns are old. They have been living long in seclusion, and have +only changed cells; having been the captives of Heaven, they have +become the prisoners of Citizen Mouton. In such an abject place +too, poor harmless souls! Victor Hugo has said, speaking of that +wretched prison, “Saint-Lazare! we must crush that edifice.” Yes, +later, when we have the time; we must now pull down the Column +Vendôme and the Chapelle Expiatoire. In the meantime these +poor ladies are very sad. One of my friends went to see them; +they have neither their prayer-books nor their crucifix; they +have had even the amulets they wore round their necks taken from +them. This seems nothing to you, citizens of the Commune. You are +men of advanced opinions. You care as much about a crucifix as a +fish for an apple; and perhaps you are right. You have studied +the question, and you say in the evening, looking up at the +stars, “There is no God.” But you must understand that with these +poor nuns it is quite a different matter. They have not read +philosophical treatises; they still believe that the Almighty +created the world in six days, and that the Son died on the cross +for the sake of the world. When they were free, or rather when +they were in a prison of their own choosing, they prayed in the +morning, they prayed at noon, they prayed at night, and only +interrupted this most pernicious occupation for the purpose of +teaching poor little girls that it is good to be virtuous, +honest, and grateful, and that Heaven rewards those who do +rightly. That was their occupation, poor simple souls, and you +have sent them to Saint Lazare for that. You should have chosen +another prison, for their presence must be disagreeable to the +usual female denizens of the place. But there, or elsewhere, they +do not complain; they only ask for a prayer-book and a wooden +crucifix. Come, Citizen Delegate of the ex-Prefecture, one little +concession, and unless the future of the Republic is likely to be +compromised by so doing, give them a cross. A cross is only two +pieces of wood placed one on the other. I promise you there will +be wood enough in the forest the day honest men make up their +minds to exercise their muscles on your backs, you bullying +slave-drivers! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXVIII."></a> LXXVIII.</h2> + +<p> +After Bergeret came Cluseret; after Cluseret, Rossel. But Rossel has just sent +in his resignation. My idea is, that we take back Cluseret, that we may have +Bergeret, and so on, unless we prefer to throw ourselves into the open arms of +General Lullier. The choice of another general for the defence of Paris is +however no business of mine; and the Commune, a sultan without a favourite, may +throw his handkerchief if he pleases, to the tender Delescluze, as some say he +has the intention—I have not the least objection. Why should not +Delescluze<a href="#fn-81" name="fnref-81" id="fnref-81"><sup>[81]</sup></a> be +an excellent general? He is a journalist, and what journalist does not know +more about military matters than Napoleon I., or Von Moltke himself? In the +meantime we are in mourning for our third War Delegate, and we shall no longer +see Rossel on his dark bay, galloping between the Place Vendôme and the Fort +Montrouge. He has just written the following letter to the members of the +Commune:— +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-46"></a> +<img src="images/051.jpg" width="600" height="478" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Quelle Gourmande! Paris at Table.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +Waiter, two or three more stewed generals. —We are out of them. +—Very well, then a dozen colonels in caper sauce. —A dozen? +—Yes: directly!! +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CITIZENS, MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNE,—Having been charged by you with + the War Department, I feel myself no longer capable of bearing the + responsibility of a command wherein every one deliberates, and no + one obeys.<br/> + “When it was necessary to organise the artillery, the + Central Committee of Artillery deliberated, but nothing was done. + After a month’s revolution, that service is only carried on, thanks + to the energy of a very small number of volunteers.<br/> + “On my nomination to the Ministry, I wanted to further the search + for arms, the requisition of horses, and the pursuit of refractory + citizens; I asked help of the Commune.<br/> + “The Commune deliberated, but passed no resolutions.<br/> + “Later, the Central Committee came and offered its services to the + War Department; I accepted them in the most decisive manner, and + delivered up to its members all the documents I had concerning its + organisation. Since then the Central Committee has been + deliberating, and has done nothing. During this time the enemy + multiplied its venturesome attacks on Fort Issy; had I had the + smallest military force at my command, I would have punished them + for it.<br/> + “The garrison, badly commanded, took flight; the officers + deliberated, and sent away from the fort Captain Dumont, an + energetic man, who had been ordered to command them. Still + deliberating, they evacuated the fort, after having stupidly talked + of blowing it up,—as difficult a thing for them to do as to defend + it.<br/> + “Even that was not enough. Yesterday, when every one ought to have + been at work or fighting, the chiefs were deliberating upon another + system of organisation from that which I had adopted, so as to make + up for their want of forethought and authority. The results of their + council were a project, when we want men, and a declaration of + principles, when we wanted acts.<br/> + “My indignation brought them back to other thoughts, + and they promised me for to-day the largest force + they could possibly muster,—an organised one of not more than + 12,000 men. With these I undertook to march on the enemy. These men + were to muster at eleven o’clock: it is now one, and they are not + ready, and the promised 12,000 has dwindled to about 7,000, which is + not at all the same thing.<br/> + “Thus, the utter uselessness of the artillery committee prevented + the organization of the artillery; the hesitation of the Central + Committee stopped all arrangements; the petty discussions of the + officers, paralyses the concentration of the troops.<br/> + “I am not a man to mind having recourse to violence. Yesterday, + while the chiefs discussed, a company of men with loaded rifles + awaited in the court. But I did not want to take upon myself the + initiative of so energetic a measure, or draw upon myself the odium + of such executions as would have been necessary to extricate + obedience and victory from such a chaos. Even if I had been + protected by the publicity of my acts, I need not have given up my + position.<br/> + “But the Commune has not had the courage to confront publicity. + Twice I wished to give some necessary explanations, and twice, in + spite of me, it insisted on a secret council.<br/> + “My predecessor was wrong to remain in so absurd a position.<br/> + “Enlightened by his example, and knowing that the strength of a + revolutionary, only consists in the clearness of his position, I + have only two alternatives, either to break the chains which impede + my actions, or to retire.<br/> + “I will not break the chains, because those chains are you, and your + weakness,—I will not touch the sovereignty of the people.<br/> + “I retire; and have the honour to beg for a cell at Mazas. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“ROSSEL.”<a href="#fn-82" name="fnref-82" id="fnref-82"><sup>[82]</sup></a> +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-47"></a> +<img src="images/052.jpg" width="318" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Delescluze, Delegate of War.<a href="#fn-83" +name="fnref-83" id="fnref-83"><sup>[83]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p> +Most certainly I do not like the Paris Commune, such as the men of the Hôtel de +Ville understand it. Deceived at first by my own delusive hopes, I now am sure +that we have nothing to expect from it but follies upon follies, crimes upon +crimes. I hate it on account of the suppressed newspapers, of the imprisoned +journalists, of the priests shut up at Mazas like assassins, of the nuns shut +up at Saint-Lazare like courtesans; I hate it because it incites to the crime +of civil war those who would have been ready to fight against the Prussians, +but who do not wish to fight against Frenchmen; I hate it on account of the +fathers of families sent to battle and to death; on account of our ruined +ramparts, our dismantled forts, each stone of which as it falls wounds or +destroys; on account of the widowed women and the orphaned children, all of +whom they can never pension in spite of their decrees; I cannot pardon them the +robbing of the banks, nor the money extorted from the railway companies, nor +the loan-shares sold to a money-changer at Liège; I hate it on account of +Clémence the spy, and Allix the madman. I am sorry to think that two or three +intelligent men should be mixed up with it, and have to share in its fall. I +hate it particularly on account of the just principles it at one time +represented, and of the admirable and fruitful ideas of municipal independence, +which it, was not able to carry out honestly, and which, because of the +excesses that have been committed in their name, will have lost for ever, +perhaps, all chance of triumphing. Still, great as is my horror of this parody +of a government to which we have had to submit for nearly two months, I could +not forbear a feeling of repulsion on reading the letter of Citizen Rossel. It +is a capitally written letter, firm, concise, conclusive, differing entirely +from the bombastic, unintelligible documents to which the Commune has +accustomed us; and besides, it brings to light several details at which I +rejoice, because it permits me to hope that the reign of our tyrants is nearly +at an end. I am glad to hear that the Commune, if it possesses artillery, is +short of artillerymen. It delights me to learn that they can only dispose of +seven thousand combatants. I had feared that it would be enabled to kill a +great many more; and as to what Citizen Rossel says of the committees and +officers who deliberate but do not act, it is most pleasant news, for it +convinces me, that the Commune has not the power to continue much longer a war, +which can but result in the death of Paris; and yet I highly disapprove of the +letter of Citizen Rossel, because it is on his part an act of treachery, and it +is not for the friends and servants of the Commune to reveal its faults and to +show up its weaknesses. Who obliged Rossel, commander of the staff, to take the +place of his general, disgraced and imprisoned? Did he not accept willingly a +position, the difficulties of which he had already recognised? He says himself +that his predecessor was wrong to have stayed in so absurd a position, and why +did he voluntarily put himself there, where he blamed another for remaining? If +the new delegate hoped by his own cleverness to modify the position, he ought +not, the position remaining the same, accuse anything but his own incapacity. +In a word, the conclusion at which we arrive is, that he only accepted power to +be able to throw it off with effect, like Cato, who only went to the public +theatres for the purpose of fussily leaving the place, at the moment when the +audience called the actors before the curtain. Not being able or perhaps +willing to save the Commune, M. Rossel desired to save himself at its expense. +There is something ungentlemanly in this. Do not, however, imagine for a moment +that I believe in M. Rossel having been bought by M. Thiers. All those +ridiculous stories of sums of money having been offered to the members of the +Commune, are merely absurd inventions.<a href="#fn-84" name="fnref-84" +id="fnref-84"><sup>[84]</sup></a> What do you think they say of Cluseret? That +he was in the habit of taking his breakfast at the Café d’Orsay, and +afterwards playing a game of dominoes. One day his adversary is reported to +have said to him, “If you will deliver the fort of Montrouge to the +Versaillais, I will give you two millions.” What fools people must be to +believe such absurdities! Rossel has not sold himself, for the very good reason +that nobody ever thought of buying him. It was his own idea to do what he did. +For the pleasure of being insolent and showing his boldness, he has pulled down +from its pedestal what he adored, consequently the most criminal among the +members of the Commune, once a swindler, now a pilferer, is free to say to M. +Rossel, who is, I am told, a man of intelligence and honesty, “You are +worse than I am, for you have betrayed us!” +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-81" id="fn-81"></a> <a href="#fnref-81">[81]</a> +PARIS AT DINNER.—An ogress, gentleman! A famished creature, faring +sumptuously; her face flushed with wine, her eyes bright, her hands trembling. +Madame Lutetia is a strapping woman still, with a queenly air about her, in +spite of the red patches on her tunic; somewhat shorn of her ornaments, it is +true, as she has had to pawn the greater part of her jewelry, but the orgie +once over she will be again what she was before.<br/> + For the time being she is wholly absorbed in her gastronomic exertions. She +has already devoured a Bergeret with peas, a Lullier with anchovy sauce, an +Assy and potatoes, a Cluseret with tomatos, a Rossel with capers, besides a +large quantity of small fry, and she is not yet appeased. The +<i>maître-d’hôtel</i> Delescluze waits upon her somewhat in trepidation, +with a sickly smile on his face. What if, after such a meal of generals and +colonels, the ogress were to devour the waiter!—<i>Fac simile of design +from the “Grelot,” 17th May, 1871</i>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-82" id="fn-82"></a> <a href="#fnref-82">[82]</a> +He was convinced of the hopelessness of any further struggle after the capture +of Fort Issy; gave in his resignation, and hid himself to escape the vengeance +of his former colleagues. He was supposed to be in England or Switzerland, +whereas, in fact, he had fled no farther than the Boulevard Saint Germain. He +was arrested by the police on the ninth of June, disguised as an employé of the +Northern Railway. He was first interrogated at the Petit Luxembourg, and +afterwards conducted handcuffed to Versailles, where three mouths after he was +tried by court-martial and sentenced to military degradation and death. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-83" id="fn-83"></a> <a href="#fnref-83">[83]</a> +Delescluze’s wild life began at Dreux, in 1809. Driven from home on +account of his bad conduct, he came to Paris, and obtained employment in an +attorney’s office, from which he was very soon afterwards, it is said, +discharged for robbery. In 1834, he underwent the first of his long list of +imprisonments, for the part he took in the April revolution, and in the +following year, being compromised in a conspiracy against the safety of the +state, he took refuge in Belgium, Where he obtained the editorship of the +<i>Courrier de Charleroi</i>. In 1840 he returned to Paris, where he founded a +journal called the <i>Révolution Démocratique et Sociale</i>, which brought him +fifteen months’ imprisonment and twenty thousand francs fine. After a +long period of liberty of nearly eight years, he was condemned to +transportation by the High Court of Justice, but the condemnation was given in +his absence, for he had slipped over to England, where he remained until 1853. +On his returning in that year to France he was immediately imprisoned at Mazas, +transferred afterwards to Belle-Isle, and then successively to the hulks of +Corte, Ajaccio, Toulon, Brest, and finally to Cayenne. These sojourns lasted +until 1868, when the amnesty permitted him to return to France, where he made +haste to bring out another new journal, <i>Le Réveil</i>, which of course +earned him fines and imprisonments with great rapidity, three of each within +the twelvemonth.<br/> + In the month of February, 1871, he was elected deputy by a large number of +votes; and later, when the Assembly went to Bordeaux, sat there for some time, +and then gave in his resignation, in order to take part with the Commune.<br/> + By the Commune he was made delegate at the Ministry of War, after the +pretended flight of Rossel, and in a sitting of the 20th of April, in which the +project of burning Paris was discussed, Delescluze ended his speech with the +words—“If we must die, we will give to Liberty a pile worthy of +her.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-84" id="fn-84"></a> <a href="#fnref-84">[84]</a> +“A plot had just been discovered between Bourget of the Internationale, +Billioray, member of the Commune, and Cérisier, captain of the 101st Battalion +of the insurgent National Guard. For a certain sum of money they were to +deliver Port Issy into the hands of General Valentin, of the Versailles army. +The succession of Rossel to the Ministry of War frustrated the whole +project.<br/> + “In the night of the 17th of May another attempt of the same kind met +with failure. The Communists Bourget, Billioray, Mortier, Cérisier, and +Pilotel, the artist, traitors to their own treacherous cause, were to open the +gates to the soldiers of Versailles, an hour after midnight, at the Point du +Jour; the soldiers to be disguised as National Guards. But, at the appointed +hour, Cérisier took fright, and contented himself with the money he had +received on account (twenty-five thousand francs) in payment for his treachery, +and did no more. When the Versailles troops presented themselves at the gates, +they had to beat a retreat under a heavy fire of mitrailleuses.” +<i>Guerre des Communeux</i>.] +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXIX."></a> LXXIX.</h2> + +<p> +I was told the following by an eye-witness of the scene. In a small room at the +Hôtel de Ville five personages were seated round a table at dinner. The repast +was of the most modest kind, and consisted of soup, one dish of meat, one kind +of vegetable, cheese, and a bottle of vin ordinaire each. One would have +thought, oneself in a restaurant at two francs a head, if it had not been that +the condiments had got musty during the siege; besides, there was something +solemn and official in the very smell of the viands which took away one’s +appetite. However, our five personages swallowed their food as fast as they +could. At the head of the table sat Citizen Jourde. Jourde looks about eight +and twenty; he has a delicate looking, mathematical head, with brown curly hair +and sallow complexion, a kind of Henri Heine of the Finance. Tall and thin, +with his red scarf tied round his waist, he reminds us of one of the old +Convention of ’89. They sat for some time in silence, as if they were +observing each other. At the end of the first course, Jourde took up a spoon +and examined it, saying, “Silver! true there is silver at the Hôtel de +Ville, I will send for it to-morrow!” One of the other guests said, +“Pardon me, I have to answer for it, and shall not give it +up.”—“Oh, yes you will,” answered Jourde, “I will +have an order sent to you from the Domaine,”<a href="#fn-85" +name="fnref-85" id="fnref-85"><sup>[85]</sup></a> and then, as if he were +thinking aloud, goes on to express his satisfaction at having found an +unexpected sum of three hundred thousand francs, as it were on the +dinner-table. A whole day’s pay! He will be able to put by four millions +at the end of the week; he tries to be economical, but the war runs away with +everything. “You must at least give me three days’ notice for the +payment of sums amounting to more than a hundred thousand francs,” says +he, with a shrug of the shoulders, particularly addressed to Beslay. Then he +speaks of his hopes of reducing the Prussian debt before the year is out, if +the Commune lives so long; touches on subjects connected with the taxes, +patents and duties, “or else bank-notes worth fire hundred francs in the +morning, will only be worth twenty sous in the evening; money is scarce, it is +leaving the city. I do not see much copper about, but if you leave me alone, I +promise to succeed.” All this was said in a tone of the most sincere +conviction. When the dinner was over, he hastily bowed and rushed off, without +having taken any notice of what was said to him. Every now and then cries arose +in the streets, and made the members of the Commune start as they sat there +behind their sombre curtains. “Do you think they can come in?” +asked some one of Johannard, to which he replies, “What a wild idea! +Delescluze knows it is impossible, and Dombrowski, a cold unexcitable fellow, +only laughs when people mention it; does he not, Rigault?” Thereupon the +personage addressed, who has not yet spoken, bows his head in sign of +acquiescence. He looks young in spite of his thick, black beard; his eyes are +weak, his expression is sly and disagreeable, and looks as if he might +sometimes have his hours of coarse joviality. Then a portière was lowered, or a +door shut, and the person who had overheard the preceding heard and saw no +more. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-48"></a> +<img src="images/053.jpg" width="322" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Fontaine, Director of Public Domains And +Registration<a href="#fn-86" name="fnref-86" +id="fnref-86"><sup>[86]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-85" id="fn-85"></a> <a href="#fnref-85">[85]</a> +The Commune occupied the Mint, and directed Citizen Camelinat, bronze-fitter, +to manufacture gold and silver coin to the amount of 1,500,000 francs. Of that +sum, 76,000 francs only was saved by the Versailles troops on their entry. The +different articles of gold and silver found at the Hôtel des Monnaies +represented a total weight of 1,186 lbs., and consisted of objects taken from +the churches, religious houses, and government offices, Imperial plate, and +presents to the city of Paris. All these objects have been sent to the +repository of the Domaine, where they maybe claimed on identification by their +owners. + +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-86" id="fn-86"></a> <a href="#fnref-86">[86]</a> +Fontaine was nominated on the 18th of March director of the public domains and +of registration. His name figures in the history of the revolutions, émeutes, +and insurrections of Paris from 1848. He was a professional insurgent. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXX."></a> LXXX.</h2> + +<p> +I am beginning to regret Cluseret. He was impatient, especially in speech. He +used to say “Every man a National Guard!” But with Cluseret, as +with one’s conscience, there were possible conciliations. You had only to +answer the decrees of the war-delegate by an enthusiastic “Why I am +delighted, indeed I was just going to beg you to send me to the +Porte-Maillot;” which having done, one was free to go about one’s +business without fear of molestation. As to leaving Paris, in spite of the law +which condemned every man under forty to remain in the city; nothing was +easier. You had but to go to the Northern Railway Station, and prefer your +request to a citizen, seated at a table behind a partition in the passport +office.<a href="#fn-87" name="fnref-87" id="fnref-87"><sup>[87]</sup></a> When +he asked you your age you had only to answer “Seventy-eight,” +passing your hand through your sable locks as you spoke—“Only that? +I thought you looked older,” the accommodating individual would answer, +at the same time putting into your hand a paper on which was written some +cabalistic sign. One day I had taken it into my head to go and spend two hours +at Bougival, and my pass bore the strange word “Carnivolus” written +on it. Provided with this mysterious document, I was enabled to procure a +first-class ticket and jump into the next train that started. I was free, and +nothing could have prevented my going, if such had been my wish, to proclaim +the Commune at Mont Blanc or Monaco. +</p> + +<p> +How the times are changed! The Committee of Public Safety and the Central +Committee now join together in making the lives of the poor +<i>réfractaires</i><a href="#fn-88" name="fnref-88" +id="fnref-88"><sup>[88]</sup></a> a burthen to them. I do not speak of the +disarmaments, which have nothing particularly disagreeable about them, for an +unarmed man may clearly nourish the hope that he is not to be sent to battle. +But there are other things, and I really should not object to be a little over +eighty for a few days. Domiciliary visits have become very frequent. Four +National Guards walk into the house of the first citizen they please, and +politely or otherwise, explain to him that it is his strict duty to go into the +trenches at Vanves and kill as many Frenchmen as he can. If the citizen resists +he is carried off, and told that on account of his resistance he will have the +honour of being put at the head of his battalion at the first engagement. These +visits often end in violence. I am told that in the Rue Oudinot a young man +received a savage bayonet thrust because he resisted the corporal’s +order; and as these occurrences are not uncommon, the <i>réfractaires</i> +cannot be said to live in peace and comfort. They are subject to continual +terror, the sour visage of their <i>concierge</i> fills them with misgivings, +he may be one of the Commune. As to going to bed, it must not be thought of; it +is during the hours of night that the Communal agents are particularly active. +This necessity of changing domicile has lead to certain Amélias and Rosalines +and other ladies of that description having the words “Hospitality to +<i>Réfractaires</i>” written in pencil on their cards. Men who decline to +take advantage of such opportunities have to go about from hôtel to hôtel, +giving imaginary names, suspicious of the waiters, and awaking at the least +sound, thinking it is the noise of feet ascending the stairs, or the rattle of +muskets on the landing. The day before yesterday a number of +<i>réfractaires</i>, having the courage of despair, walked to the Porte +Saint-Ouen—“Will you let us out?” asked they of the +commanding officer, who answered in a decided negative; whereupon the party, +which was three hundred strong, fell upon the captain and his men, whom they +disarmed, and five minutes afterwards they were running free across the fields. +</p> + +<p> +Others employ softer means of corruption; resort to the +wine-shops of Belleville, where they make themselves agreeable in +every way, and soon succeed in entering into friendly +conversation with some of the least ferocious among the Federals +of the place. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-49"></a> +<img src="images/054.jpg" width="350" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Réfractaires Escaping from Paris</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +“You are on duty, Tuesday, at the Porte de la +Chapelle?”—“Why, yes.”—“So that you might +very easily let a comrade out who wants to go and pay a visit at +Saint-Denis?”—“Quite out of the question; the others would +prevent me, or denounce me to the captain.”—“You think there +is nothing to be done with the captain?”—“Oh! no; he is a +staunch patriot, he is!”—“How very tiresome; and I wanted +most particularly to go to Saint-Denis on Tuesday evening. I would gladly give +twenty francs out of my own pocket for the sake of a little walk outside the +fortifications.”—“There is only one +way.”—“And how is that?”—“You don’t +care much about going out by the door, do you?”—“Well, no; +what I want is to get outside.“—“Oh! then listen to me; come +to La-Chapelle early on Tuesday evening, and walk up and down the rampart. I +will try and be on duty at eight o’clock, and look out for you. When I +see you I will take care not to say <i>qui +vive</i>.”—“That’s easy enough; and what +then?”—“Why, then I will secure around you a thick rope which +of course you will have with you!”—“The +devil!”—“And I will throw you into the +trench.”—“By Jove! That will be a +leap.”—“Oh! I will do it very carefully, without hurting you. +I will let you slip softly down the +wall.”—“Humph!”—“When you reach the ground +below, in an instant you can be up and off into the darkness. Do you accept? +Yes or no?”—“I should certainly prefer to drive out of the +city in a coach and six, but nevertheless I accept.” +</p> + +<p> +Generally, this plan answers admirably. They say that the +Federals of Belleville and Montmartre make a nice little income +with this kind of business. Sometimes, however, the plan only +half succeeds, and either the rope breaks, or the Federal +considers, he may manage capitally to reconcile his interest with +his duty, by sending a ball after the escaped +<i>réfractaire</i>. +</p> + +<p> +Disguises are also the order of the day. A poet, whose verses +were received at the Comédie Française with +enthusiasm during the siege, managed to get away, thanks to an +official on the Northern Railway, who lent him his coat and cap. +Another poet—they are an ingenious race—conceived a +plan of greater boldness. One day on the Boulevard he called a +fiacre, having first taken care to choose a coachman of +respectable age, “<i>Cocher</i>, drive to the Rue Montorgueil, to +the best restaurant you can find.” On the way the poet reasoned +thus to himself: “This coachman has in his pocket, as they all +have, a Communal passport, which allows him to go out and come +into Paris as he pleases; let me remember the fourth act of my +last melodrama, and I am saved.” +</p> + +<p> +The cab stopped in front of a restaurant of decent exterior +not far from Philippe’s. The young man went in, asked for a +private room, and told the waiter to send up the coachman, as he +had something to say to him, and to procure a boy to hold the +horse. The coachman walked into the room, where the breakfast was +ready served. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, coachman, I am going to keep you all day, so do not +refuse to drink a glass with me to keep up your strength.” +</p> + +<p> +An hour after the poet and the coachman had breakfasted like old friends; six +empty bottles testified that neither one nor the other were likely to die of +thirst. The poet grumbled internally to himself as he thought of the three +bottles of Clos-Vougeot, one of Léoville, two of Moulin-au-Vent, that had been +consumed, and the fellow not drunk yet. Then he determined to try surer means, +and called to the waiter to bring champagne. “It is no use, young +fellow,” laughed the coachman, who was familiar at least, if he was not +drunk; “champagne won’t make any difference; if you counted on that +to get my passport, you reckoned without your host!”—“The +devil I did,” cried the poor young man, horrified to see his scheme fall +through, and to think of the prodigious length of the bill he should have to +pay for nothing.—“Others, have tried it on, but I am too wide awake +by half,” said the coachman, adding as he emptied the last bottle into +his glass, “give me two ten-franc pieces and I will get you +through.”—“How can I be grateful enough?” cried the +poet, although in reality he felt rather humiliated to find that the grand +scene in his fourth act had not succeeded.—“Call the waiter, and +pay the bill.” The waiter was called, and the bill paid with a sigh. +“Now give me your jacket.”—“My +jacket?”—“Yes, this thing in velvet you have on your +back.” The poet did as he was bid. “Now your waistcoat and +trousers.”—“My trousers! Oh, insatiable +coachman!”—“Make haste will you, or else I shall take you to +the nearest guard-room for a confounded <i>réfractaire</i>, as you are.” +The clothes were immediately given up. “Very well; now take mine, dress +yourself in them, and let’s be off.” While the young man was +putting on with decided distaste the garments of the <i>cocher</i>, the latter +managed to introduce his ponderous bulk into those of the poet. This done, out +they went. “Get up on the box.”—“On the +box?”—“Yes, idiot,” said the coachman, growing more and +more familiar; “I am going to get into the cab, now drive me wherever you +please.” The plan was a complete success. At the Porte de Châtillon the +disguised poet exhibited his passport, and the National Guard who looked in at +the window of the carriage cried out, “Oh, he may pass; he might be my +grandfather.” The cab rolled over the draw-bridge, and it was in this way +that M ...,—ah! I was just going to let the cat out of the bag—it +was in this way that our young poet broke the law of the Commune, and managed +to dine that same evening at the Hôtel des Réservoirs at Versailles, with a +deputy of the right on his left hand, and a deputy of the left on his right +hand. +</p> + +<p> +Shall I go away? Why not? Do I particularly wish to be shut up +one morning in some barrack-room, or sent in spite of myself to +the out-posts? My position of <i>réfractaire</i> is +sensibly aggravated by the fact of my being in rather a dangerous +neighbourhood. For the last few days, I have felt rather +astonished at the searching glances that a neighbour always casts +upon me, when we met in the street. I told my servant to try and +find out who this man was. Great heavens! this scowling neighbour +of mine is Gérardin—Gérardin of the Commune! +Add to this the perilous fact, that our <i>concierge</i> is +lieutenant in a Federal battalion, and you will have good reason +to consider me the most unfortunate of +<i>réfractaires</i>. However, what does it matter? I +decide on remaining; I will stay and see the end, even should the +terrible Pyat and the sweet Vermorel both of them be living under +the same roof with me, even if my <i>concierge</i> be M. +Delescluze himself! +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-87" id="fn-87"></a> <a href="#fnref-87">[87]</a> +The decree which rendered obligatory the service in the marching companies of +the National Guard, and the establishment of courts-martial, spread terror +among the population, and thousands of people thronged daily to the Prefecture +of Police. Sometimes, the queue extended from the Place Dauphine to beyond the +Pont Neuf. But soon afterwards, stratagems of every kind were put into +requisition to escape from the researches of the Commune, which became more +eager and determined, from day to day, after the publication of the following +decree, the chef-d’oeuvre of the too famous Raoul Rigault:— +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<small>“EX-PREFECTURE OF POLICE.<br/> +“Delivery of Passports.</small> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<small>“Considering that the civil authority cannot favour the +non-execution of the decrees of the Commune, without failing in its +duty, and that it is highly necessary that all communications with +those who carry on this savage war against us should be prevented,<br/> + “The member of the Committee of Public Safety, Delegate at the +Prefecture of Police,<br/> + “Decrees:—<br/> + “Art. 1. Passports can only be delivered on the production of +satisfactory documents.<br/> + “Art. 2. No passport will be delivered to individuals between the +ages of seventeen and thirty-five years, as such fall within the +military law.<br/> + “Art. 3. No passport will be issued to any member of the old +police, or who are in relation with Versailles.<br/> + “Art. 4. Any persons who come within the conditions of Articles 2 +or 3, and apply for passports, will be immediately sent to the dépôt of +the ex-Prefecture of Police.</small> +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>(Signed) “RAOUL RIGAULT,<br/> +“Member of the Committee of Public Safety.”]</small> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-88" id="fn-88"></a> <a href="#fnref-88">[88]</a> +Those who decline to join the Commune. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXXI."></a> LXXXI.</h2> + +<p> +Glorious news! I have seen Lullier again. We had lost +Cluseret, lost Rossel; Delescluze does not suffice, and except +for Dombrowski and La Cécilia with his prima-donna-like +name, the company of the Commune would be sadly wanting in stars. +Happily! Lullier has been restored to us. What had become of him? +he only wrote seven or eight letters a day to Rochefort and +Maroteau, that I can find out. How did he manage to employ that +indomitable activity of his, and that of his two hundred friends, +who with their red Garibaldis and blue sailor trousers made him +the most picturesque escort you can imagine? Was he meditating +some gigantic enterprises the dictatorship that Cluseret had +dreamed of and Rossel disdained, was he about to assume it for +the good of the Republic? I have no idea; but whatever he has +been doing, I have seen him again at the club held in the church +of Saint Jacques. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-50"></a> +<img src="images/055.jpg" width="295" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>General La Cécilia.<a href="#fn-89" name="fnref-89" +id="fnref-89"><sup>[89]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p> +Ha! ha! Worthless hypocrites and inquisitors, who for the last +eighteen hundred years have crushed, degraded, and tortured the +poor; you thought our turn was never to come, you monks, priests, +and archbishops! Thanks to the Commune you now preach in the +prisons of the Republic; you may confess, if you like, the +spiders of your dungeons, and give the holy viaticum to the rats +which play around your legs! You can no longer do any harm to +patriots. No more churches, no more convents! Those who have not +houses in the Champs Elysées shall lodge in your convents; +in your churches shall be held honest assemblies, which will give +the people their rights; as to their duties, that is an invention +of reactionists. No more of your sermons or speeches: after +Bossuet, Napoléon Gaillard! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-51"></a> +<img src="images/056.jpg" width="500" height="332" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Church of Saint Eustache. Used As a Red Club. Partly +destroyed by fire.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +On entering the church of Saint Eustache yesterday, I was +agreeably surprised to find the font full of tobacco instead of +holy-water, and to see the altar in the distance covered with +bottles and glasses. Some one informed me that was the counter. +In one of the lateral chapels, a statue of the Virgin had been +dressed out in the uniform of a vivandière, with a pipe in +her mouth. I was, however, particularly charmed with the amiable +faces of the people I saw collected there. The sex to which we +owe the <i>tricoteuses</i> was decidedly in the majority. It was +quite delightful not to see any of those elegant dresses and +frivolous manners, which have for so long disgraced the better +half of the human race. Thank heaven! my eyes fell with rapture +on the heroic rags of those ladies who do us the honour of +sweeping our streets for us. Many of these female patriots were +proud to bear in the centre of their faces a rubicund nose, that +rivalled in colour the Communal flag on the Hôtel de Ville. +Oh, glorious red nose, the distinguished sign of Republicanism! +As to the men, they seemed to have been chosen among the first +ranks of the new aristocracy. It was charming to note the +military elegance with which their caps were slightly inclined +over one ear; their faces, naturally hideous, were illuminated +with the joy of freedom, and certainly the thick smoke which +emanated from their pipes, must have been more agreeable as an +offering, than the faint vapours of incense that used to arise +from the gilded censers. “Marriage, citoyennes, is the greatest +error of ancient humanity. To be married is to be a slave. Will +you be slaves?”—“No, no!” cried all the female part of the +audience, and the orator, a tall gaunt woman with a nose like the +beak of a hawk, and a jaundice-coloured complexion, flattered by +such universal applause, continued, “Marriage, therefore, cannot +be tolerated any longer in a free city. It ought to be considered +a crime, and suppressed by the most severe measures. Nobody has +the right to sell his liberty, and thereby to set a bad example +to his fellow citizens. The matrimonial state is a perpetual +crime against morality. Don’t tell me that marriage may be +tolerated, if you institute divorce. Divorce is only an +expedient, and if I may be allowed to use the word, an Orleanist +expedient!” (Thunders of applause.) “Therefore, I propose to this +assembly, that it should get the Commune of Paris to modify the +decree, which assures pensions to the legitimate or illegitimate +companions of the National Guards, killed in the defence of our +municipal rights. No half measures. We, the illegitimate +companions, will no longer suffer the legitimate wives to usurp +rights they no longer possess, and which they ought never to have +had at all. Let the decree be modified. All for the free women, +none for the slaves!” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-52"></a> +<img src="images/057.jpg" width="450" height="297" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Interior of the Church Of St. +Eustache—communist Club.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +The orator descends from the pulpit amidst the most lively +congratulations. I am told by some one standing near me, that the +orator is a monthly nurse, who used to be a somnambulist in her +youth. But the crowd opens now to give place to a male orator, +who mounts the spiral staircase, passes his hand through his +hair, and darts a piercing glance on the multitude beneath. It is +Citizen Lullier. +</p> + +<p> +This young man has really a very agreeable physiognomy; his +forehead is intelligent, his eyes pleasant. Looking on M. +Lullier’s sympathetic face, one is sorry to remember his +eccentricities. But what is all this noise about? What has he +said? what has he done? I only heard the words “Dombrowski,” and +“La Cécilia.” Every one starts to his feet, exasperated, +shouting. Several chairs are about to be flung at the orator. He +is surrounded, hooted. “Down with Lullier! Long live Dombrowski!” +The tumult increases. Citizen Lullier seems perfectly calm in the +midst of it all, but refuses to leave the pulpit; he tries in +vain to speak and explain. Two women, two amiable hags, throw +themselves upon him; several men rush up also; he is taken up +bodily and carried away, resisting to the utmost and shouting to +the last. The people jump up on the chairs, Lullier has +disappeared, and I hear him no more; what have they done with +him! +</p> + +<p> +What do you think of all this, gentlemen and Catholics! Do you +still regret the priests and choristers who used awhile ago to +preach and chant in the Parisian churches? Where is the man, who +at the very sight of this new congregation, so tolerant, so +intelligent, listening with such gratitude to these noble lessons +of politics and morality; where is the man, who could any longer +blind himself to the admirable influence of the present +revolution? Innumerable are the benefits that the Paris Commune +showers upon us! As I leave the church, a little vagabond walks +up to the font, and taking a pinch of tobacco,—“In the name +of the...!” says he, then fills his pipe; “In the name of the +...!” proceeding to strike a lucifer, adds, “In the name of the +...!”—“Confound the blasphemous rascal!” say I, giving him +a good box on the ears. After having written these lines I felt +inclined to erase them; on second thoughts I let them +remain—they belong to history! +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-89" id="fn-89"></a> <a href="#fnref-89">[89]</a> +A political refugee, who left his country in 1869 for Prussia, where he taught +mathematics in the University of Ulm, and afterwards accepted service under +Garibaldi. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXXII."></a> LXXXII.</h2> + +<p> +This morning I took a walk in the most innocent manner, having +committed no crime that I knew of. It was lovely weather, and the +streets looked gay, as they generally do when it is very bright, +even when the hearts of the people are most sad. I passed through +the Rue Saint-Honoré, the Palais Royal, and finally the +Rue Richelieu. I beg pardon for these details, but I am +particularly careful in indicating the road I took, as I wish the +inhabitants of the places in question, to bear witness that I did +not steal in passing a single quartern loaf, or appropriate the +smallest article of jewellery. As I was about to turn on to the +boulevards, one of the four National Guards who were on duty, I +do not know what for, at the corner of the street, cried out, +“You can’t pass!” All right, thought I to myself; there is +nothing fresh I suppose, only the Commune does not want people to +pass; of course, it has right on its side. Thereupon I began to +retrace my steps. “You can’t pass,” calls out another sentinel, +by the time I have reached the other side of the street. +</p> + +<p> +This is strange, the Commune cannot mean to limit my walk to a +melancholy pacing up and down between two opposite pavements. A +sergeant came up to me; I recognised him as a Spaniard, who +during the siege belonged to my company. “Why are you not in +uniform?” he asked me, with a roughness that I fancied was +somewhat mitigated by the remembrance of the many cigars I had +given him, the nights we were on guard during the siege. I +understood in an instant what they wanted with me, and replied +unhesitatingly, “Because it is not my turn to be on +guard,”—“No, of course it’s not, it never is. You have been +taking your ease this long time, while others have been getting +killed.” It was evident this Spaniard had not taken the cigars I +had given him, in good part, and was now revenging +himself.—“What do you want with me?” I said; “let’s have +done with this.” Instead of answering, he signed to two Federals +standing near, who immediately placed themselves one on each side +of me, and cried, “March!” I was perfectly agreeable, although +this walk was not exactly in the direction I had intended. On the +way I heard a woman say, “Poor young man I They have taken him in +the act.” I was conducted to the church of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, +and marched into the vestry, where about fifty +<i>réfractaires</i> were already assembled. +</p> + +<p> +Behind a deal table, on which were placed a small register, an +inkstand stuck in a great bung, and two quill pens, sat three +young men, almost boys, in uniform. You might have imagined them +to be Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus, at the age when they +played at leap-frog. “Your name?” said Rhadamanthus, addressing +me. I did not think twice about it, but gave them a name which +has never been mine. Suddenly some one behind me burst out +laughing; I turned round and recognised an old friend, whom I had +not noticed among the other prisoners. “Your profession?” +inquired Minos.—“Prizefighter,” I answered, putting my arms +akimbo and looking as ferocious as possible, by way of keeping up +the character I had momentarily assumed. To the rest of the +questions that were addressed to me, I replied in the same +satisfactory manner. When it was over, Minos said to me, “That is +enough; now go and sit down, and wait until you are +called.”—“Pardon me, my young friend, but I shall not go +and sit down, nor shall I wait a moment more.”—“Are you +making fun of us? We are transacting most serious business, our +lives are at stake. Go and sit down.”—“I have already had +the honour to remark, my dear Rhadamanthus, that I did not mean +to sit down. Be kind enough to allow me to depart +instantly.”—“You ask <i>me</i> to do this?”—“Yes! +you!” I shouted in a tremendous voice. The three judges looked at +me in great perplexity, and began whispering amongst themselves. +A prize fighter, by jingo! I thought the moment had come to +strike a decisive blow, so I pulled out of my pocket a little +green card, which I desired them to examine. Immediately Minos, +Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus got up, bowed to me most respectfully, +and called out to two National Guards who were at the door, +“Allow the citizen to pass.”—“By-the-bye,” said I, +pointing, to my friend, “this gentleman is with me.”—“Allow +both the citizens to pass,” shouted the lads in +chorus.—“This is capital,” cried my friend as soon as we +were well outside the door.—“How did you manage?”—“I +have a pass from the Central Committee.”—“In your own +name?”—“No, I bought it of the widow of a Federal; who was +on very good terms with Citizen Félix Pyat.”—“Why, +it is just like a romance.”—“Yes, but a romance that allows +me to live pretty safely in the midst of this strange reality. +Anyhow, I think we had better look out for other lodgings.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-53"></a> +<img src="images/058.jpg" width="450" height="393" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>House of M. Thiers, Palace Saint-Georges.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="LXXXIII."></a>LXXXIII.</h2> + +<p> +At ten o’clock in the evening I was walking up the Rue +Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. In these times the streets are quite deserted at that +hour. Looking on in front I saw that the Place Saint-Georges was lighted up by +long tongues of flame, that the wind blew hither and thither. I hastened on, +and was soon standing in front of M. Thiers’ house.<a href="#fn-90" +name="fnref-90" id="fnref-90"><sup>[90]</sup></a> At the open gate stood a +sentinel; a large fire had been lighted in the court by the National Guards; +not that the night was cold, they seemed to have lighted it merely for the +pleasure of burning furniture and pictures, that had been left behind by the +Communal waggoners. They had already begun to pull down the right side of the +house; a pickaxe was leaning against a loosened stone; the roof had fallen in, +and a rafter was sticking out of one of the windows. The fire rose higher and +higher; would it not be better that the flames should reach the house and +consume it in an hour or two, than to see it being gradually pulled down, stone +by stone, for many days to come? In the court I perceived several trucks full +of books and linen. A National Guard picked up a small picture that was lying +near the gate; I bent forward and saw that it was a painting of a satyr playing +on a flute. How sad and cruel all this seemed! The men lounging about looked +demoniacal in the red light of the fire. I turned away, thinking not of the +political man, but of the house where he had worked, where he had thought, of +the books that no longer stood on the shelves, of the favourite chair that had +been burnt on the very hearth by which he had sat so long; I thought of all the +dumb witnesses of a long life destroyed, dispersed, lost, of the relatives, and +friends whose traces had disappeared from the rooms empty to-day, in ruins +to-morrow; I thought of all this, and of all the links that would be broken by +a dispersion, and I trembled at the idea that some day—in these times +anything seems possible—men may break open the doors of my modest +habitation, knock about the furniture of which I have grown fond, destroy my +books which have so long been the companions of my studies, tear the pictures +from my walls, and burn the verses that I love for the sake of the trouble they +have given me to make,—kill, in a word, all that renders life agreeable +to me, more cruelly than if four Federals were to take me off and shoot me at +the corner of a street. But I am not a political man. I belong to no +party—who would think of doing me any injury? I am perfectly harmless, +with my lovesick metaphor. Ah I how egotistical one is! It was of my own home +that I thought while I stood in front of the ruin in the Place Saint-Georges. I +confess that I was particularly touched by the misfortunes of that house, +because it awakened in me the fear of my own, misfortune, most improbable, and +most diminutive, it is true, in comparison with that. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-54"></a> +<img src="images/059.jpg" width="450" height="420" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>House of M. Thiers During Demolition and Removal.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-90" id="fn-90"></a> <a href="#fnref-90">[90]</a> +It should be remarked that the destruction of M. Thiers’ house coincided +with the first success of the Versailles army; it was the spirit of hatred and +mad destructiveness which dictated the following decree, issued by the +Committee of Public Safety on the 10th of May:—<br/> + “Art. 1. The goods and property of Thiers (they even denied him the +appellation of citizen) are seized by order of the administration of public +domains.<br/> + “Art. 2. The house of Thiers, situated at the Place Saint-Georges, to +be demolished.”<br/> + “On the following day the National Assembly, in presence of the +activity exhibited by M. Thiers, declared that the proscribed, whose house was +demolished, had exhibited proofs of an amount of patriotism and political +ability which inspired every confidence in the future. On the 12th of the same +month works were commenced at Versailles for the formation of a railway-station +sufficient for all the wants of an important army, the initiation of which was +due to M. Thiers; a conference was opened on the 19th April with the Western +Railway Company, the plans were approved on the 22nd of the same month, and the +preliminary works were commenced on the 12th of May. When these are terminated, +they will consist of thirty-five parallel lines of rails, more than a mile in +length. But the principal point in the plan is, that by means of branches to +Pontoise and Chevreuse, this immense station may be placed in direct +communication with all the lines of railway in France. It is easy enough to +draw the following conclusion, namely, that if the necessity should ever again +arise, Paris would cease to be the central depot for all commercial movements, +and thus the paralysis of the affairs of the whole country would be avoided, in +case the Parisian populace should again be bitten by the barricade mania. At +one time it was feared that the collections of M. Thiers were destroyed in the +conflagration at the Tuileries; but M. Courbet reports that on the 12th of May +he asked what he ought to do about the different things taken at the house of +M. Thiers, and if they were to be sent to the Louvre or to be publicly sold, +and he was then appointed a member of the commission to examine the case. +Regarding his conduct at the time of the demolishing of the house of M. Thiers, +he arrived too late, he says, to make an inventory; the furniture and effects +had been already packed by the <i>employés</i> of the Garde Meuble; “I +made some observations about it, and on going through the empty apartments, I +noticed two small figures that I packed in paper, thinking they might be +private <i>souvenirs</i>, and that I would return them some day to their owner. +All the other things were already destroyed or gone.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXXIV."></a> LXXXIV.</h2> + +<p> +An anecdote: Parisian all over; but with such stuff are they +amused! +</p> + +<p> +Raoul Rigault, the man who arrests, was breakfasting with +Gaston Dacosta, the man who destroys. These two friends are +worthy of each other. Rigault has incarcerated the Archbishop of +Paris, but Dacosta claims the merit of having loosened the first +stone in M. Thiers’ house. But however, Rigault would destroy if +Dacosta were not there to do so; and if Rigault did not arrest, +Dacosta would arrest for him. +</p> + +<p> +They talked as they ate. Rigault enumerated the list of people he had sent to +the Conciergerie and to Mazas, and thought with consternation that soon there +would be no one left for him to arrest. Suddenly he stopped his fork on its way +to his mouth, and his face assumed a most doleful +expression.—“What’s the matter?” cried Dacosta, +alarmed.—“Ah!” said Rigault, tears choking his utterance, +“Papa is not in Paris.”—“Well, and what does it matter +if your father is not here?”—“Alas!” exclaimed Rigault, +bursting out crying, “I could have had him arrested!”<a +href="#fn-91" name="fnref-91" id="fnref-91"><sup>[91]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-91" id="fn-91"></a> <a href="#fnref-91">[91]</a> +The illegality of his conduct, however, was complaint made by Arthur Arnould, +to the committee, concerning the arbitrary arrest of a number of persons. +Cournet was appointed to the Prefecture in Rigault’s stead, but the +amateur policeman and informer did not renounce work; he found the greatest +pleasure, as he himself expressed it, in acting the spy over the official +spies. This man was a well-known frequenter of the low cafés of the Quartier +Latin, and his face bore such evidences of his debauched life, that though only +twenty-eight years of age, he looked nearer forty. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-55"></a> +<img src="images/060.jpg" width="222" height="240" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Cournet, Member of Committee Of General Safety.</b></p> +</div> + +<h2><a name="LXXXV."></a>LXXXV.</h2> + +<p> +The horrible cracking sound that is heard at sea when a vessel splits upon a +rock, is not a surer sign of peril to the terrified crew, than are the vain +efforts, contradictions and agitation at the Hôtel de Ville, the forerunners of +disaster to the men of the Commune. Listen! the vessel is about to heave +asunder. Everybody gives orders, no one obeys them. One man looks defiantly at +another; this man denounces that, and Rigault thinks seriously of arresting +them both. There is a majority which is not united, and a minority that cannot +agree amongst themselves. Twenty-one members retire, they do well.<a +href="#fn-92" name="fnref-92" id="fnref-92"><sup>[92]</sup></a> I am glad to +find on the list the names of the few that Paris’ still believes in, and +whom, thanks to this tardy resignation, it will not learn to despise. For +instance, Arthur Arnould. But why should they take the trouble to seek out a +pretext? Why did they not say simply: “We have left them because we find +them full of wickedness; we were blinded as you were at first, but now we in +our turn see clearly; a good cause has been lost by madmen or worse, and we +have abandoned it because, if we were to stay a moment longer, now that we are +no longer blinded, we should be committing a criminal act” Such words as +these would have opened the eyes of so many wretched beings, who are going to +their deaths and think they do well to die! As to those who remain, they must +feel that their power is slipping from them. They did not arrest or detain +Rossel; it would seem as if they dared not touch him because he was right in +thinking what he said, although he was very wrong to say it as he did. While +the Commune hesitates, the military plans of the Versaillais are being carried +out. Vanves taken, Montrouge in ruins, breaches opened at the Point-du-Jour, at +the Porte-Maillot, at Saint-Ouen; the Communists have only to choose now, +between flight and the horrors of a terrible death struggle! May they fly, far, +far away, beyond the reach of vengeance, despised, forgotten if that be +possible! I am told that the Central Committee is trying now to substitute +itself for the Commune, which was elected by its desire.<a href="#fn-93" +name="fnref-93" id="fnref-93"><sup>[93]</sup></a> One born of the other, they +will die together. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-56"></a> +<img src="images/061.jpg" width="298" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Arthur Arnould, Commissioner of Foreign +Affairs.<a href="#fn-94" name="fnref-94" id="fnref-94"><sup>[94]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-57"></a> +<img src="images/062.jpg" width="347" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Foundered Craft on the Seine.<br/> +Porte Maillot et Avenue de la Grande Armée</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-92" id="fn-92"></a> <a href="#fnref-92">[92]</a> +An important document has just made the round of the Communal press—the +manifesto of the minority of the Commune, in which twenty-one members declare +their refusal to take any farther part in the deliberations of the body, which +they accuse of having delivered its powers into the hands of the Committee of +Public Safety, and thus rendering itself null. This declaration is signed +by:—Arthur Arnould, Avrial, Andrieux, Arnold, Clémence, Victor Clément, +Courbet, Franckel, Eugène Gérardin, Jourde, Lefrançais, Longuet, Malon, Ostyn, +Pindy, Sérailler, Tridon, Theisz, Varlin, Vermorel, Jules Vallès.<br/> + Adding to these twenty-one secessionists, twenty-one members who have +resigned:—Adam, Barré, Brelay, Beslay, De Bouteiller, Chéron, Desmarest, +Ferry, Fruneau, Goupil, Loiseau-Pinson, Leroy, Lefèvre, Méline, Murat, +Marmottan, Nast, Ulysse Parent, Robineat, Rane, Tirard;<br/> + Three who have not sat: Briosne, Menotti Garibaldi, Rogeard;<br/> + Two dead: Duval, Flourens;<br/> + One captured: Blanqui;<br/> + One escaped: Charles Gérardin;<br/> + Five incarcerated: Allix, Panille dit Blanchet, Brunel, Emile Clément, +Cluseret;—<br/> + Out of 101 members elected to the Commune on the 26th of March and the 16th +of April, only forty-seven now remain:—Amouroux, Ant. Arnaud, Assy, +Babick, Billioray, Clément, Champy, Chardon, Chalain, Demay, Dupont, Decamp, +Dereure, Durant, Delescluze, Eudes, Henry Fortuné, Ferré, Gambon, Geresme, +Paschal Grousset, Johannard, Ledroit, Langevin, Lonclas, Mortier, Léo Meiller, +Martelet, J. Miot, Oudet, Protot, Paget, Pilotel, Félix Pyat, Philippe, +Parisel, Pottier, Régère, Raoul Rigault, Sicard, Triquet, Urbain, Vaillant, +Verdure, Vésmier, Viart. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-93" id="fn-93"></a> <a href="#fnref-93">[93]</a> +“REPUBLICAN FEDERATION OF THE NATIONAL GUARD. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<small>“Central Committee.<br/> +“To the People of Paris! To the National Guard!</small> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<small>“Rumours of dissensions between the majority of the Commune and the +Central Committee have been spread by our common enemies with a +persistency which, once for all, must be crushed by public compact.<br/> + “The Central Committee, appointed to the administration of military +affairs by the Committee of Public Safety, will enter upon office from +this day.<br/> + “This Committee, which has upheld the standard of the Communal +revolution, has undergone no change and no deterioration. It is today +what it was yesterday, the legitimate defender of the Commune, the +basis of its power, at the same time as it is the determined enemy of +civil war; the sentinel placed by the people to protect the rights that +they have conquered,<br/> + “In the name, then, of the Commune, and of the Central Committee, + who sign this pact of good faith, let these gross suspicions and + calumnies be swept away. Let hearts beat, let hands be ready to + strike in the good cause, and may we triumph in the name of union + and fraternity.<br/> + “Long live the Republic!<br/> + “Long live the Commune!<br/> + “Long live the Communal Federation!</small> +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“The Commission of the Commune, + BERGERET, CHAMPY, GERESME, LEDROIT, LONGLAS, URBAIN.<br/> + “The Central Committee.<br/> + “Paris, 18th May, 1871.”</small> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-94" id="fn-94"></a> <a href="#fnref-94">[94]</a> +Arnould is a man of about forty-seven years of age, small in stature, lively +and intelligent. He has written in many of the Democratic journals of Paris and +the provinces; and his literary talents are of a good kind. Being connected +with Rochefort’s journal, the <i>Marseillaise</i>, he was sent by the +latter to challenge Pierre Bonaparte, and was a witness at the trial which +followed the murder of Victor Noir.<br/> + Although naturally drawn by his connections into the movement +of the eighteenth of March, he always protested loudly against +the arbitrary acts of the Commune, and it is surprising that he +did not fall under accusation, by his colleagues. He opposed +particularly the proposals for the suppression of newspapers. “It +is prodigious to me,” he said, in full meeting of the committee, +“that people will still talk of arresting others for expressing +their opinions.”<br/> + He voted against the organisation of the Committee of Public +Safety on the ground:—<br/> + “That such an institution would be directly opposed to the +political opinions of the electoral body, of which the Commune is +the representative.”<br/> + He protested most energetically against secret +imprisonment—<br/> + “Secret incarceration has something immoral in it; it is moral +torture substituted for physical.<br/> + “I cannot understand men who have passed their life in +combating the errors of despotism, falling into the same faults +when they arrive at power. Of two things one: either secret +imprisonment is an indispensable and good thing; or, it is +odious. If it was good it was wrong to oppose it, and if it be +odious and immoral, we ought not to continue it.”<br/> + What on earth had he then to do in the Commune?<br/> + “Que diable allait-il faire dans cette galère?” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXXVI."></a> LXXXVI.</h2> + +<p> +It was five o’clock in the afternoon. The day had been splendid and the +sun shone brilliantly on Caesar still standing on the glorious pedestal of his +victories. Outside the barricades of the Rue de la Paix and the Rue +Castiglione, the crowd was standing in a compact mass, as far as the Tuileries +on one side and the New Opera House on the other. There must have been from +twenty to twenty-fire thousand people there. Strangers accosted each other by +the title of Citizen, I heard some talking about an eccentric Englishman who +had paid three thousand francs for the pleasure of being the last to climb to +the summit of the column. Nearly every one blamed him for not having given the +money to the people. Others said that Citizen Jourde would not manage to cover +his expenses; Abadie<a href="#fn-95" name="fnref-95" +id="fnref-95"><sup>[95]</sup></a> the engineer had asked thirty-two thousand +francs to pull down the great trophy, and that the stone and plaster was after +all, not covered with more than an inch or two of bronze, that it was not so +many metres high, and would not make a great many two-sous pieces after all. +These sous seemed to occupy the public mind exceedingly, but the principal +subjects of conversation, were the fears concerning the probable effects of the +fall. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-58"></a> +<img src="images/063.jpg" width="512" height="459" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Barricade of the Rue Castiglione, from The Place Vendôme.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +The event was slow in accomplishment. The wide Place was +thinly sprinkled with spectators, not more than three hundred in +all, privileged beings with tickets, or wearing masonic badges; +or officers of the staff. Bergeret at one of the windows was +coolly smoking a cigarette; military bands were assembled at the +four angles of the Place; the sound of female laughter reached us +from the open windows of the Ministère de la Justice. The +horses of the mounted sentinels curvetted with impatience; +bayonets glittered in the sun; children gaped wearily, seated on +the curbstone. The hour of the ceremony was past; a rope had +broken. Around the piled faggots on which the column was to fall, +great fascines of flags of the favourite colour were flying. +</p> + +<p> +The crowd did not seem to enjoy being kept in suspense, and +proclaimed their impatience by stamping with measured tread, and +crying “Music!” +</p> + +<p> +At half-past five there was a sudden movement and bustle around the barricade +of the Rue Castiglione. The members of the Commune appeared with their +inevitable red scarfs.<a href="#fn-96" name="fnref-96" +id="fnref-96"><sup>[96]</sup></a> Then there was a great hush. At the same +instant the windlass creaked; the ropes which hung from the summit of the +column tightened; the gaping hole in the masonry below, gradually closed; the +statue bent forward in the rays of the setting sun, and then suddenly +describing in the air a gigantic sweep, fell among the flags with a dull, heavy +thud, scattering a whirlwind of blinding dust in the air. +</p> + +<p> +Then the bands struck up the “Marseillaise,” and cries of +“Vive la Commune” were re-echoed on all sides by the terror or +the indifference of the multitude. In a marvellously short time, +however, all was quiet again, so quiet, indeed, that I distinctly +heard a dog bark as it ran frightened across the Place. +</p> + +<p> +I daresay the members of the Commune, who presided over the +accomplishment of this disgraceful deed, exclaimed in the pride +of their miserable hearts, “Caesar, those whom you salute shall +live!” +</p> + +<p> +Everybody of course wished to get a bit of the ruin, as +visitors to Paris eagerly bought bits of siege bread framed and +glazed, and there was a general rush towards the place; but the +National Guards crossed, their bayonets in front of the +barricade, and no one was allowed to pass. So that the crowd +quickly dispersed to its respective dinners. “It is fallen!” said +some to those who had not been fortunate enough to see the sight. +“The head of the statue came off—no one was killed.” The +boys cried out, “Oh, it was a jolly sight all the same!” But the +greater part of the people were silent as they trudged away. +</p> + +<p> +Then night came on, and next day a land-mark and a finger-post +seemed missing in our every-day journey. Until we lose a familiar +object we hardly appreciate its existence. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-95" id="fn-95"></a> <a href="#fnref-95">[95]</a> +Abadie arranged to demolish the Colonne Vendôme for 32,000 or 38,000 francs, +forfeiting 600 francs for every day’s delay after the fourth of May. This +reduced the sum to be paid to him by 6000 francs. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-96" id="fn-96"></a> <a href="#fnref-96">[96]</a> +Regarding Courbet and the destruction of the Column, he rejects the accusation +on the ground that this decree had been voted previously to his admission in +the Commune, and on the request he had made under the Government of the 4th of +May of removing the column to the esplanade of the Invalides. He affirms that +the official paper has altered his own words at the Commune, and he pretends +having proposed to the Government to rebuild the column at his own expense, if +it can be proved that he has been the cause of its destruction. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXXVII."></a> LXXXVII.</h2> + +<p> +On the sixteenth, I received a prospectus through my +concierge. There was to be a concert, mixed with speeches—a +sort of popular fête at the Tuileries. The places varied in +price from ten sous to five francs. Five francs the Salle des +Maréchaux; ten sous the garden, which was to be +illuminated with Venetian lamps among the orange-trees; the whole +to be enlivened by fireworks from the Courbevoie batteries. +</p> + +<p> +I had tact enough not to put on white gloves, and set out for +the palace. +</p> + +<p> +It was not a fairy-like sight; indeed, it was a most +depressing spectacle. A crowd of thieves and vagabonds, of +dustmen and rag-pickers, with four or five gold bands on their +sleeves and caps, (the insignia of officers of the National +Guard), were hurrying along down the grand staircase, chewing +“imperiales,” spitting, and repeating the old jokes of ’93. As to +the women—they were sadly out of place. They simpered, and +gave themselves airs, and some of them even beat time with their +fans, as Mademoiselle Caillot was singing, to look as if they +knew something about music. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-59"></a> +<img src="images/064.jpg" width="700" height="410" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Palace of the Tuileries, from The Garden.</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +The Last concert held in the Tuileries by the Commune took place on Sunday, the +21st March, when Auteuil and Passy had been in the power of the army for +several hours. Two days later the old palace was in flames. Citizen Félix Pyat +had advocated the preservation of the Tuileries in the “Vengeur”, +proposing to convert it into an “asylum” for the victims of work and +the martyrs of the Republic. “This residence”, he wrote, “ought +to be devoted to people, who had already taken possession of it.” +</p> + +<p> +The concert took place in the Salle des Maréchaux: a +platform had been erected for the performers. The velvet curtains +with their golden bees still draped the windows. From the gallery +above I could see all that was going on. The Imperial balcony +opens out of it; I went there, and leaned on the balustrade with +a certain feeling of emotion. Below were the illuminated gardens, +and far away at the end of the Champs Elysées, almost lost +in the purple of the sky, rose the Arc de Triomphe de +l’Etoile. +</p> + +<p> +The roaring of the cannon at Vanves and Montrouge reached me +where I stood. When the duet of the “<i>Maître de +Chapelle</i>” was over, I returned into the hall; the distant +crashing of the mitrailleuse at Neuilly, borne towards us on the +fresh spring breeze, in through the open windows, joined its +voice to the applause of the audience. +</p> + +<p> +Oh! what an audience! The faces in general looked fit subjects +for the gibbet; others were simply disgusting: surprise, +pleasure, and fear of Equality were reflected on every +physiognomy. The carpenter, Pindy, military governor of the +Hôtel de Ville, was in close conversation with a girl from +Philippe’s. The ex-spy Clémence muttered soft speeches +into the ear of a retired <i>chiffonnière</i>, who smiled +awkwardly in reply. The cobbler Dereure was intently +contemplating his boots; while Brilier, late coachman, hissed the +singers by way of encouragement, as he would have done to his +horses. They were going to recite some verses: I only waited to +hear— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“PUIS, QUEL AVEUGLEMENT! QUEL NON-SENS POLITIQUE!” +</p> + +<p> +an Alexandrine, doubtless, launched at the National Assembly, +and made my way to the garden as quickly as I could. +</p> + +<p> +There, in spite of the Venetian lamps, all was very dull and +dark. The walks were almost deserted, although it was scarcely +half-past nine. I took a turn beneath the trees: the evening was +cold; and I soon left the gardens by the Rue de Rivoli gate. A +good many people were standing there “to see the grand people +come from the fête”—a fête given by lackeys in +a deserted mansion! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXXVIII."></a> LXXXVIII.</h2> + +<p> +I was busy writing, when suddenly I heard a fearful +detonation, followed by report on report. The windows rattled: I +thought the house was shaking under me. The noise continued: it +seemed as if cannon were roaring on all sides. I rushed down into +the street; frightened people were running hither and thither, +and asking questions. Some thought that the Versaillais were +bombarding Paris on all sides. On the Boulevards I was told it +was the fort of Vanves that had been blown up. At last I arrived +on the Place de la Concorde: there the consternation was great, +but nothing was known for certain. Looking up, I saw high up in +the sky what looked like a dark cloud, but which was not a cloud. +I tried again and again to obtain information. It appeared pretty +certain that an explosion had taken place near the Ecole +Militaire-doubtless at the Grenelle powder-magazine, I then +turned into the Champs Elysées. A distant cracking was +audible, like the noise of a formidable battery of mitrailleuses. +Puffs of white smoke arose in the air and mingled with the dark +cloud there. I no longer walked, I ran: I hoped to be able to see +something from the Rond Point de l’Etoile. Once there, a grand +and fearful sight met my eyes. Vast columns of smoke rolled over +one another towards the sky. Every now and then the wind swept +them a little on one side, and for an instant a portion of the +city was visible beneath the rolling vapours. Then in an instant +a flame burst out—only one, but that gigantic, erect, +brilliant, as one that might dart forth from a Tolcano suddenly +opened, up through the smoke which was reddened, illumined by the +eruption of the fire. At the same moment there were explosions as +of a hundred waggons of powder blown up one after another. All +this scene, in its hideous splendour, blinded and deafened me. I +wanted to get nearer, to feel the heat of the burning, to rush +on. I had the fire-frenzy! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-60"></a> +<img src="images/065.jpg" width="200" height="240" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Razoua, Governor of the Ecole militaire<a href="#fn-97" +name="fnref-97" id="fnref-97"><sup>[97]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p> +Going down to the Quai de Passy, I found a dense crowd there. +Some one screamed out: “Go back! go back! the fire will soon +reach the cartridge-magazine.” The words had scarcely been +uttered, when a storm of balls fell like hail amongst us. Each +person thought himself wounded, and many took to their heels. It +did not enter into my head to run away. From where I was then, +the sight was still more terribly beautiful, and the crowd that +had withdrawn from the spot soon re-assembled again. Dreadful +details were passed from mouth to mouth. Four five-storied houses +had fallen; no one dared to think even of the number of the +victims. Bodies had been seen to fall from the windows, horribly +mutilated; arms and legs had been picked up in different places. +Near the powder-magazine is a hospital, which was shaken from +foundation to roof: for an instant it had trembled violently as +if it were going to fall. The nurses, dressers, and even the sick +had rushed from the wards, shrieking in an agony of fear; the +frightened horses, too, with blood streaming down their sides, +pranced madly among the fugitives, or galloped away as fast as +they could from the awful scene. +</p> + +<p> +As to the cause of the explosion, opinions varied much. Some +said it was owing to the negligence of the overseers or the +imprudence of the workwomen; others, that the fire was caused by +a shell. A woman rushed up to us, screaming out that she had just +seen a man arrested in a shed in the Champ de Mars, who +acknowledged having blown up the powder-magazine, by order of the +Versailles government. Of course this was inevitable. The Commune +would not let such a good opportunity pass for accusing its +enemies. A few innocent people will be arrested, tried with more +or less form, and shot; when they are so many corpses, the +Commune will exclaim, “You see they must have been guilty: they +have been shot!” +</p> + +<p> +As evening came on I turned home, thinking that the cup was +now filled to overflowing, and that the devoted city had had to +suffer defeat, civil war, infamy, and death; but that this last +disaster seemed almost more than divine justice. Ever and anon I +turned my head to gaze again. In the gathering gloom, the flames +looked blood-red, as if the Commune had unfurled its sinister +banner over that irreparable disaster. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-97" id="fn-97"></a> <a href="#fnref-97">[97]</a> +Razoua served in a regiment of Spahis in Africa. Becoming acquainted with the +journalists who used to frequent the Café de Madrid, he was a constant +attendant there. He took up literature, and in 1867 published some violent +articles in the <i>Pilori</i> of Victor Noir. He afterwards went with +Delescluze to the <i>Réveil</i>, where his revolutionary principles were +manifested. In the month of February, 1871, he was elected a member of the +National Assembly by the people of Paris. After having sat for some time at +Bordeaux, he gave his resignation, and became one of the Communal council.<br/> + Appointed governor of the École Militaire, he distinguished himself in no +way in his position, except by the sumptuous dinners and déjeûners with which +he regaled his friends. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="LXXXIX."></a> LXXXIX.</h2> + +<p> +I have gazed so long on what was passing around me that my +eyes are weary. I have watched the slow decline of joy, of +comfort and luxury, almost without knowing how everything has +been dying around me, as a man in a ball-room where the candles +are put out, one by one, may not perceive at first the gathering +gloom. To see Paris, as it is at the present moment, as the +Commune has made it, requires an effort. Let me shut my eyes, and +evoke the vision of Paris as it was, living, joyous, happy even +in the midst of sadness. I have done so—I have brought it +all back to me; now I will open my eyes and look around me. +</p> + +<p> +In the street that I inhabit not a vehicle of any kind is +visible. Men in the uniform of National Guards pass and repass on +the pavement; a lady is talking with her <i>concierge</i> on the +threshold of one of the houses. They talk low. Many of the shops +are closed; some have only the shutters up; a few are quite open. +I see a woman at the bar of the wine-shop opposite, drinking. +</p> + +<p> +Some quarters still resist the encroachments of silence and +apathy. Some arteries continue to beat. Some ribbons here and +there brighten up the shop-windows: bare-headed shopgirls pass by +with a smile on their lips; men look after them as they trip +along. At the corner of the Boulevards a sort of tumult is +occasioned by a number of small boys and girls, venders of +Communal journals, who screech out the name and title of their +wares at the top of their voices. But even there where the crowd +is thickest, one feels as if there were a void. The two contrary +ideas of multitude and solitude seem to present themselves at +once in one’s mind. A weird impression! Imagine a vast desert +with a crowd in it. +</p> + +<p> +The Boulevards look interminable. There used to be a hundred +obstacles between you and the distance; now there is nothing to +prevent your looking as far as you like. Here and there a cab, an +omnibus or two, and that is all. The passers-by are no longer +promenaders. They have come out because they were obliged: +without that they would have remained at home. The distances seem +enormous now, and people who used to saunter about from morning +till night will tell you now that “the Madeleine is a long way +off.” Very few men in black coats or blouses are to be seen; only +very old men dare show themselves out of uniform. In front of the +café’s are seated officers of the Federal army, sometimes +seven or eight around a table. When you get near enough, you +generally find they are talking of the dismissal of their last +commander. Here and there a lady walks rapidly by, closely +veiled, mostly dressed in black, with an unpretending bonnet. The +gallop of a horse is distinctly audible—in other times one +would never have noticed such a thing; it is an express with +despatches, a Garibaldian, or one of the <i>Vengeurs de +Flourens</i>, who is hoisted on a heavy cart-horse that ploughs +the earth with its ponderous forefeet. Several companies of +Federals file up towards the Madeleine, their rations of bread +stuck on the top of their bayonets. Look down the side-streets, +to the right or the left, and you will see the sidewalks +deserted, and not a vehicle from one end to the other of the +road. Even on the Boulevards there are times when there is no one +to be seen at all. However, beneath it all there is a longing to +awaken, which is crushed and kept down by the general apathy. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening one’s impulses burst forth; one must move +about; one must live. Passengers walk backwards and forwards, +talking in a loud voice. But the crowd condenses itself between +the Rue Richelieu and the Rue du Faubourg Montmartre. Solitude +has something terrible about it just now. People congregate +together for the pleasure of elbowing each other, of trying to +believe they are in great force. Quite a crowd collects round a +little barefooted girl, who is singing at the corner of a street. +A man seated before a low table is burning <i>pastilles</i>; +another offers barley-sugar for sale; another has portraits of +celebrities. Everybody tries hard to be gay; but the shops are +closed, and the gas is sparingly lighted, so that broad shadows +lie between the groups. +</p> + +<p> +Some few persons go to the theatres; the playbills, however, +are not seductive. If you go in, you will find the house nearly +empty; the actors gabble their parts with as little action as +possible. You see they are bored, and they bore us. Sometimes +when some actor, naturally comic, says or does something funny, +the audience laughs, and then suddenly leaves off and looks more +serious than before. Laughter seems out of place. One does not +know how to bear it; so one walks up and down the corridors, then +instead of returning to the play, wanders out again on to the +Boulevard. It is ten o’clock—dreadfully late. Many of the +cafés are already closed for the night. At Tortoni’s and +the Café Anglais, not a glimmer is visible. The crowd has +nearly disappeared. Only a few officers remain, who have been +drinking all the evening in an <i>estaminet</i>. They call to +each other to hurry on; perhaps one of them is drunk, but even he +is not amusing. Let us go home. Scarcely anyone is left in the +street. A bell is rung here and there, as the last of us reach +our respective homes. +</p> + +<p> +That, Commune de Paris, is what you have made of Paris! The +Prussians came, Paris awaited them quietly with a smile; the +shells fell on its houses, it ate black bread, it waited hours in +the cold to obtain an ounce of horse-flesh or thirty pounds of +green wood; it fought, but was vanquished; it was told to +surrender, and “it was given up,” as they say at the Hôtel +de Ville; and yet through all, Paris had not ceased to smile. And +this, they say, constitutes its greatness; it was the last +protestation against unmerited misfortunes; it was the +remembrance of having once been proud and happy, and the hope of +becoming so again; it was, in a word, Paris declaring it was +Paris still. Well, what neither defeats, nor famine, nor +capitulation could do, thou hast done! And accursed be thou, O +Commune; for, as Macbeth murdered sleep, thou hast murdered our +smiles! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XC."></a> XC.</h2> + +<p> +The roaring of cannon close at hand, the whizzing of shells, volleys of +musketry! I hear this in my sleep, and awake with a start. I dress and go out. +I am told the troops have come in. “How? where? when?” I ask of the +National Guards who come rushing down the street, crying out, “We are +betrayed!” They, however, know but very little. They have come from the +Trocadero, and have seen the red trousers of the soldiers in the distance. +Fighting is going on near the viaduct of Auteuil, at the Champ de Mars. Did the +assault take place last night or this morning? It is quite impossible to obtain +any reliable information. Some talk of a civil engineer having made signals to +the Versaillais; others say a captain in the navy was the first to enter +Paris.<a href="#fn-98" name="fnref-98" id="fnref-98"><sup>[98]</sup></a> +Suddenly about thirty men rush into the streets crying, “We must make a +barricade.” I turn back, fearing to be pressed into the service. The +cannonading appears dreadfully near. A shell whistles over my head. I hear some +one say, “The batteries of Montmartre are bombarding the Arc de +Triomphe;” and strange enough, in this moment of horror and uncertainty, +the thought crosses my mind that now the side of the arch on which is the +bas-relief of Rude will be exposed to the shells. On the Boulevard there is +only here and there a passenger hurrying along. The shops are closed; even the +café’s are shut up. The harsh screech of the mitrailleuse grows louder +and nearer. The battle seems to be close at hand, all round me. A thousand +contradictory suppositions rush through my brain and hurry me along, and here +on the Boulevard there is no one that can tell me anything. I walk in the +direction of the Madeleine, drawn there by a violent desire to know what is +going on, which silences the voice of prudence. As I approach the Chaussée +d’Antin I perceive a multitude of men, women, and children running +backwards and forwards, carrying paving-stones. A barricade is being thrown up; +it is already more than three feet high. Suddenly I hear the rolling of heavy +wheels; I turn, and a strange sight is before me—a mass of women in rags, +livid, horrible, and yet grand, with the Phrygian cap on their heads, and the +skirts of their robes tied round their waists, were harnessed to a +mitrailleuse, which they dragged along at full speed; other women pushing +vigorously behind. The whole procession, in its sombre colours, with dashes of +red here and there, thunders past me; I follow it as fast as I can. The +mitrailleuse draws up a little in front of the barricade, and is hailed with +wild clamours by the insurgents. The Amazons are being unharnessed as I come +up. “Now,” said a young <i>gamin</i>, such as one used to see in +the gallery of the Théâtre Porte St. Martin, “don’t you be acting +the spy here, or I will break your head open as if you were a +Versaillais.”—“Don’t waste ammunition,” cried an +old man with a long white beard—a patriarch of civil +war—“don’t waste ammunition; and as for the spy, let him help +to carry paving-stones. Monsieur,” said he, turning to me with much +politeness, “will you be so kind as to go and fetch those stones from the +corner there?” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-61"></a> +<img src="images/066.jpg" width="297" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Café Life Under the Commune.<br/> +Spectacles of Paris.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +I did as I was bid, although I thought, with anything but pleasure, that if at +that moment the barricade were attacked and taken, I might be shot before I had +the time to say, “Allow me to explain.” But the scene which +surrounds me interests me in spite of myself. Those grim hags, with their red +headdresses, passing the stones I give them rapidly from hand to hand, the men +who are building them up only leaving off for a moment now and then to swallow +a cup of coffee, which a young girl prepares over a small tin stove; the rifles +symmetrically piled; the barricade, which rises higher and higher; the solitude +in which we are working—only here and there a head appears at a window, +and is quickly withdrawn; the ever-increasing noise of the battle; and, over +all, the brightness of a dazzling morning sun—all this has something +sinister and yet horribly captivating about it. While we are at work, they +talk; I listen. The Versaillais have been coming in all night.<a href="#fn-99" +name="fnref-99" id="fnref-99"><sup>[99]</sup></a> The Porte de la Muette and +the Porte Dauphine have been surrendered by the 13th and the 113th battalions +of the first arrondissement. “Those two numbers 13 will bring them +ill-luck,” says a woman. Vinoy is established at the Trocadéro, and Douai +at the Point du Jour: they continue to advance. The Champ de Mars has been +taken from the Federals after two hours’ fighting. A battery is erected +at the Arc de Triomphe, which sweeps the Champs Elysées and bombards the +Tuileries. A shell has fallen in the Rue du Marché Saint Honoré. In the +Cours-la-Reine the 188th battalion stood bravely. The Tuileries is armed with +guns, and shells the Arc de Triomphe. In the Avenue de Marigny the gendarmes +have shot twelve Federals who had surrendered; their bodies are still lying on +the pavement in front of the tobacconist’s. Rue de Sèvres, the +<i>Vengeurs de Flourens</i> have put to flight a whole regiment of the line: +the <i>Vengeurs</i> have sworn to resist to a man. They are fighting in the +Champs Élysées, around the Ministère de la Guerre, and on the Boulevard +Haussman. Dombrowski has been killed at the Château de la Muette. The +Versaillais have attacked the Western Saint Lazare station, and are marching +towards the Pépinière barracks. “We have been sold, betrayed, and +surprised; but what does it matter, we will triumph. We want no more chiefs or +generals; behind the barricades every man is a marshal!” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-62"></a> +<img src="images/067.jpg" width="307" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Poor Pradier’s statues.<br/> +Place de La Concorde: LILLE suffers from her friends in fight, whilst +STRASBOURG, in crape, mourns the foe of France.</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-63"></a> +<img src="images/068.jpg" width="324" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Fire And Water—The effect of fire on the fountains +of the Place de la Concorde and the Château d’Eau—Hirondelles de +Paris</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +Eight or ten men come flying down the Chaussée d’Antin; they join, crying +out, “The Versaillais have taken the barracks; they are establishing a +battery. Delescluze has been captured at the Ministère de la +Guerre.”—“It is false!” exclaims a vivandière; +“we have just seen him at the Hôtel de Ville.”—“Yes, +yes,” cry out other women, “he is at the Hôtel de Ville. He gave us +a mitrailleuse. Jules Vallès embraced us, one after another; he is a fine man, +he is! He told us all was going well, that the Versaillais should never have +Paris, that we shall surround them, and that it will all be over in two +days.”—“Vive la Commune!” is the reply. The barricade +is by this time finished. They expect to be attacked every second. +“You,” said a sergeant, “you had better be off, if you care +for your life.” I do not wait for the man to repeat his warning. I +retrace my steps up the Boulevard, which is less solitary than it was. Several +groups are standing at the doors. It appears quite certain that the troops of +the Assembly have been pretty successful since they came in. The Federals, +surprised by the suddenness and number of the attacks, at first lost much +ground. But the resistance is being organised. They hold their own at the Place +de la Concorde; at the Place Vendôme they are very numerous, and have at their +disposal a formidable amount of artillery. Montmartre is shelling furiously. I +turn up the Rue Vivienne, where I meet several people in search of news. They +tell me that “two battalions of the Faubourg Saint Germain have just gone +over to the troops, with their muskets reversed. A captain of the National +Guard has been the first in that quarter to unfurl the tricolour. A shell had +set fire to the Ministère des Finances, but the firemen in the midst of the +shot and shell had managed to put it out.” At the Place de la Bourse I +find three of four hundred Federals constructing a barricade; having gained +some experience, I hurry on to escape the trouble of being pressed into the +service. The surrounding streets are almost deserted; Paris is in hiding. The +cannonading is becoming more furious every minute. I cross the garden of the +Palais Royal. There I see a few loiterers, a knot of children are skipping. The +Rue de Rivoli is all alive with people. A battalion marches hurriedly from the +Hôtel de Ville; at the head rides a young man mounted on a superb black horse. +It is Dombrowski. I had been told he was dead. He is very pale. “A +fragment of shell hit him in the chest at La Muette, but did not enter the +flesh,” says some one. The men sing the <i>Chant du Départ</i> as they +march along. I see a few women carrying arms among the insurgents; one who +walks just behind Dombrowski has a child in her arms. Looking in the direction +of the Place de la Concorde, I see smoke arising from the terrace of the +Tuileries. In front of the Ministère des Finances, this side of the barricade +is a black mass of something; I think I can distinguish wheels; it is either +cannon or engines. All around is confusion. I can hear the musketry distinctly, +but the noise seems to come from the Champs Élysées; they are not firing at the +barricade. I turn and walk towards the Hôtel de Ville: mounted expresses ride +constantly past; companies of Federals are here and there lying on the ground +around their piled muskets. By the Rue du Louvre there is another barricade; a +little further there is another and then another.<a href="#fn-100" +name="fnref-100" id="fnref-100"><sup>[100]</sup></a> Close to Saint Germain +l’Auxerrois women are busy pulling down the wooden seats; children are +rolling empty wine-barrels and carrying sacks of earth. As one nears the Hôtel +de Ville the barricades are higher, better armed, and better manned. All the +Nationals here look ardent, resolved, and fierce. They say little, and do not +shout at all. Two guards, seated on the pavement, are playing at picquet. I +push on, and am allowed to pass. The barricades are terminated here, and I have +nothing to fear from paving-stones. Looking up, I see that all the windows are +closed, with the exception of one, where two old women are busy putting a +mattress between the window and the shutter. A sentinel, mounting guard in +front of the Café de la Compagnie du Gaz, cries out to me, “You +can’t pass here!” I therefore seat myself at a table in front of +the café, which has doubtless been left open by order, and where several +officers are talking in a most animated manner. One of them rises and advances +towards me. He asks me rudely what I am doing there. I will not allow myself to +be abashed by his tone, but draw out my pass from my pocket and show it him, +without saying a word. “All right,” says he, and then seats himself +by my side, and tells me, “I know it already, that a part of the left +bank of the river is occupied by the troops of the Assembly, that fighting is +going on everywhere, and that the army on this side is gradually +retreating.—Street fighting is our affair, you see,” he continues. +In such battles as that, the merest gamin from Belleville knows more about it +than MacMahon.... It will be terrible. The enemy shoots the prisoners.” +(For the last two months the Commune had been saying the same thing.) “We +shall give no quarter.”—I ask him, “Is it Delescluze who is +determined to resist?”—“Yes,” he answers.<a +href="#fn-101" name="fnref-101" id="fnref-101"><sup>[101]</sup></a> “Lean +forward a little. Look at those three windows to the left of the trophy. That +is the Salle de l’État-Major. Delescluze is there giving orders, signing +commissions. He has not slept for three days. Just now I scarcely knew him, he +was so worn out with fatigue. The Committee of Public Safety sits permanently +in a room adjoining, making out proclamations and +decrees.”—“Ha, ha!” said I, +“decrees!”—“Yes, citizen, he has just decreed +heroism!”<a href="#fn-102" name="fnref-102" +id="fnref-102"><sup>[102]</sup></a> The officer gives me several other bits of +information. Tells me that “Lullier this very morning has had thirty +<i>réfractaires</i> shot, and that Rigault has gone to Mazas to look after the +hostages.” While he is talking, I try to see what is going on in the +Place de l’Hôtel de Ville. Two or three thousand Federals are there, some +seated, some lying on the ground. A lively discussion is going on. Several +little barrels are standing about on chairs; the men are continually getting up +and crowding round the barrels, some have no glasses, but drink in the palms of +their hands. Women walk up and down in bands, gesticulating wildly. The men +shout, the women shriek. Mounted expresses gallop out of the Hôtel, some in the +direction of the Bastille, some towards the Place de la Concorde. The latter +fly past us crying out, “All’s well!” A man comes out on the +balcony of the Hôtel de Ville and addresses the crowd. All the Federals start +to their feet enthusiastically.—“That’s Vallès,” says +my neighbour to me. I had already recognised him. I frequently saw him in the +students’ quarter in a little <i>crémerie</i> in the Rue Serpente. He was +given to making verses, rather bad ones by-the-bye; I remember one in +particular, a panegyric on a green coat. They used to say he had a situation in +the <i>pompes funèbres</i>.<a href="#fn-103" name="fnref-103" +id="fnref-103"><sup>[103]</sup></a> His face even then wore a bitter and +violent expression. He left poetry for journalism, and then journalism for +politics. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-64"></a> +<img src="images/069.jpg" width="280" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Jules Vallès, Commissioner Of Public +instruction<a href="#fn-104" name="fnref-104" id="fnref-104"><sup>[104]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p> +To-day he is spouting forth at a window of the Hôtel de +Ville. I cannot catch a word of what he says; but as he retires +he is wildly applauded. Such applause pains me sadly. I feel that +these men and these women are mad for blood, and will know how to +die. Alas! how many dead and dying already! neither the +cannonading nor the musketry has ceased an instant. I now see a +number of women walk out of the Hôtel, the crowd makes room +for them to pass. They come our way. They are dressed in black, +and have black crape tied round their arms and a red cockade in +their bonnets. My friend the officer tells me that they are the +governesses who have taken the places of the nuns. Then he walks +up to them and says, “Have you succeeded?”—“Yes,” answers +one of them, “here is our commission. The school children are to +be employed in making sacks and filling them with earth, the +eldest ones to load the rifles behind the barricades. They will +receive rations like National Guards, and a pension will be given +to the mothers of those who die for the Republic. They are mad to +fight, I assure you. We have made them work hard during the last +month, this will be their holiday!” The woman who says this is +young and pretty, and speaks with a sweet smile on her lips. I +shudder. Suddenly two staff officers appear and ride furiously up +to the Hôtel de Ville; they have come from the Place +Vendôme. An instant later and the trumpets sound. The +companies form in the Place, and great agitation reigns in the +Hôtel. Men rush in and out. The officers who are in the +café where I am get up instantly, and go to take their +places at the head of their men. A rumour spreads that the +Versaillais have taken the barricades on the Place de la +Concorde.—“By Jove! I think you had better go home,” says +my neighbour to me, as he clasps his sword belt; “we shall have +hot work here, and that shortly.” I think it prudent to follow +this advice. One glance at the Place before I go. The companies +of Federals have just started off by the Rue de Rivoli and the +quays at a quick march, crying “Vive la Commune!” a ferocious joy +beaming in their faces. A young man, almost a lad, lags a little +behind, a woman rushes up to him, and lays hold of his collar, +screaming, “Well, and you, are you not going to get yourself +killed with the others?” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-65"></a> +<img src="images/070.jpg" width="500" height="443" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Barricade Dividing the Rue de Rivoli and The Place De La +Concorde</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +I reach the Rue Vieille-du-Temple, where another barricade is +being built up. I place a paving-stone upon it and pass on. Soon +I see open shops and passengers in the streets. This tradesmen’s +quarter seems to have outlived the riot of Paris. Here one might +almost forget the frightful civil war which wages so near, if the +conversation of those around did not betray the anguish of the +speakers, and if you did not hear the cannon roaring out +unceasingly, “People of Paris, listen to me! I am ruining your +houses. Listen to me! I am killing your children.” +</p> + +<p> +On the boulevards more barricades; some nearly finished, +others scarcely commenced. One constructed near the Porte Saint +Martin looks formidable. That spot seems destined to be the +theatre of bloody scenes, of riot and revolution. In 1852, +corpses laid piled up behind the railing, and all the pavement +tinged with blood. I return home profoundly sad; I can scarcely +think.—I feel in a dream, and am tired to death; my eyelids +droop of themselves; I am like one of those houses there with +closed shutters. +</p> + +<p> +Near the Gymnase I meet a friend whom I thought was at +Versailles. We shake hands sadly. “When did you come back?” I +ask.—“To-day; I followed the troops.”—Then turning +back with me he tells me what he has seen. He had a pass, and +walked into Paris behind the artillery and the line, as far as +the Trocadéro, where the soldiers halted to take up their +line of battle. Not a single man was visible along the whole +length of the quays. At the Champ de Mars he did not see any +insurgents. The musketry seemed very violent near Vaugirard on +the Pont Royal and around the Palais de l’Industrie. Shells from +Montmartre repeatedly fell on the quays. He could not see +much,—however only the smoke in the distance. Not a soul +did he meet. Such frightful noise in such solitude was fearful. +He continued his way under shelter of the parapet. In one place +he saw some gamins cutting huge pieces of flesh off the dead body +of a horse that was lying in the path. There must have been +fighting there. Down by the water a man fishing while two shells +fell in the river, a little higher up, a yard or two from the +shore. Then he thought it prudent to get nearer to the Palais de +l’Industrie. The fighting was nearly over then, but not quite. +The Champs Elysées was melancholy in the extreme; not a +soul was there. This was only too literally true; for several +corpses lay on the ground. He saw a soldier of the line lying +beneath a tree, his forehead covered with blood. The man opened +his month as if to speak as he heard the sound of footsteps, the +eyelids quivered and then there was a shiver, and all was over. +My friend walked slowly away. He saw trees thrown down and bronze +lamp-posts broken; glass crackled under his feet as he passed +near the ruined kiosques. Every now and then turning his head he +saw shells from Montmartre fall on the Arc de Triomphe and break +off large fragments of stone. Near the Tuileries was a confused +mass of soldiery against a background of smoke. Suddenly he heard +the whizzing of a ball and saw the branch of a tree fall. From +one end of the avenue to the other, no one; the road glistened +white in the sun. Many dead were to be seen lying about as he +crossed the Champs Elysées. All the streets to the left +were full of soldiery; there had been fighting there, but it was +over now. The insurgents had retreated in the direction of the +Madeleine. In many places tricolor flags were hanging from the +windows, and women were smiling, and waving their handkerchiefs +to the troops. The presence of the soldiery seemed to reassure +everybody. The concierges were seated before their doors with +pipes in their mouths, recounting to attentive listeners the +perils from which they had escaped; how balls pierced the +mattresses put up at the windows, and how the Federals had got +into the houses to hide. One said, “I found three of them in my +court; I told a lieutenant they were there, and he had them shot. +But I wish they would take them away; I cannot keep dead bodies +in the house.” Another was talking with some soldiers, and +pointing out a house to them. Four men and a corporal went into +the place indicated, and an instant afterwards my friend heard +the cracking of rifles. The concierge rubbed his hands and winked +at the bystanders, while another was saying, “They respect +nothing those Federals; during the battle they came in to steal. +They wanted to take away my clothes, my linen, everything I have, +but I told them to leave that, that it was not good enough for +them, that they ought to go up to the first floor, where they +would find clocks and plate, and I gave them the key. Well, +Messieurs, you would never believe what they have done, the +rascals! They took the key and went and pillaged everything on +the first floor!” My friend had heard enough, and passed on. The +agitation everywhere was very great. The soldiers went hither and +thither, rang the bells, went into the houses; and brought out +with them pale-faced prisoners. The inhabitants continued to +smile politely, but grimly. Here and there dead bodies were lying +in the road. A man who was pushing a truck allowed one of the +wheels to pass over a corpse that was lying with its head on the +curbstone. “Bah!” said he, “it won’t do him any harm.” The dead +and wounded were, however, being carried away as quickly as +possible. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-66"></a> +<img src="images/071.jpg" width="436" height="600" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Shell Hole—a Convenient Seat. Shot marks: en +profil—In the rues—On the boulevards: Plus de lumière!! Plus +d’ombre!!—Bullet hole: en face.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +The cannon had now ceased roaring, and the fight was still +going on close at hand—at the Tuileries doubtless. The +townspeople were tranquil and the soldiery disdainful. A strange +contrast; all these good citizens smiling and chatting, and the +soldiers, who had come to save them at the peril of their lives, +looking down upon them with the most careless indifference. My +friend reached the Boulevard Haussmann; there the corpses were in +large numbers. He counted thirty in less than a hundred yards. +Some were lying under the doorways; a dead woman was seated on +the bottom stair of one of the houses. Near the church of “La +Trinité” were two guns, the reports from which were +deafening; several of the shells fell on a bathing establishment +in the Rue Taitbout opposite the Boulevard. On the Boulevard +itself, not a person was to be seen. Here and there dark masses, +corpses doubtless. However, the moment the noise of the report of +a gun had died away, and while the gunners were reloading, heads +were thrust out from doors to see what damage had been +done—to count the number of trees broken, benches torn up, +and kiosques overturned. From some of the windows rifles were +fired. My friend then reached the street he lived in and went +home. He was told that during the morning they had violently +bombarded the Collège Chaptal, where the Zouaves of the +Commune had fortified themselves; but the engagement was not a +long one, they made several prisoners and shot the rest. +</p> + +<p> +My friend shut himself up at home, determined not to go out. +But his impatience to see and hear what was going on forced him +into the streets again. The Pépinière barracks were +occupied by troops of the line; he was able to get to the New +Opera without trouble, leaving the Madeleine, where dreadful +fighting was going on, to the right. On the way were to be seen +piled muskets, soldiers sitting and lying about, and corpses +everywhere. He then managed, without incurring too much danger, +to reach the Boulevards, where the insurgents, who were then very +numerous, had not yet been attacked. He worked for some little +time at the barricade, and then was allowed to pass on. It was +thus that we had met. Just as we were about to turn up the +Faubourg Montmartre a man rushed up saying that three hundred +Federals had taken refuge in the church of the Madeleine, +followed by gendarmes, and had gone on fighting for more than an +hour. “Now,” he finished up by saying, “if the <i>curé</i> +were to return he would find plenty of people to bury!” +</p> + +<p> +I am now at home. Evening has come at last; I am jotting down +these notes just as they come into my head. I am too much +fatigued both in mind and body to attempt to put my thoughts into +order. The cannonading is incessant, and the fusillade also. I +pity those that die, and those that kill! Oh! poor Paris, when +will experience make you wiser? +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-98" id="fn-98"></a> <a href="#fnref-98">[98]</a> +It was known by this time at Versailles in what a desperate condition was the +Commune, by the information of persons devoted to order, but who remained +amongst the insurgents to keep watch over and restrain them as much as +possible.<br/> + The Versailles authorities know that, thanks to the well-directed fire of +Montretout, the bastions of the Point du Jour were no longer tenable, and that +their defenders had abandoned them and had organized new works of defence; +nevertheless, the operations were earned on just as systematically as if the +fire of the besieged had not ceased for several days, when, on Sunday, the 21st +May, about midday, an officer on duty in the trenches, in course of formation +in the Bois de Boulogne, perceived a man making signs with a white handkerchief +near the military post of Saint Cloud; the officer immediately approached near +enough to hear the bearer of the flag of truce, say:—<br/> + “My name is Ducatel, and I belong to the service of the Engineers of +Roads and Bridges, and I have been a soldier. I declare that your entrance into +Paris is easy, and as a guarantee of the truth of what I say, I am about to +give myself up;” so saying, he passed over the fosse by means of one of +the supports of the drawbridge, in spite of several shots fired at him by +Federals hidden in the houses at Auteuil, but none of which reached him.<br/> + A few resolute men now passed over the fosse, and arrived without accident +on the other side. A few insurgents, who were still there, made off without +loss of time, leaving the invaders to establish themselves, and wait for +reinforcements.<br/> + A short time after a white flag was exhibited in the neighbouring bastion, +which bore the number 62, and the fire from Montretout and Mont Valérien was +stopped, the infantry of the Marine took possession of the gate, out the +telegraphic wires which were supposed to be in communication with torpedoes, +while information was immediately despatched to Versailles of these important +events.<br/> + The division of General Vergé, placed for the time under the orders of +General Douay, entered the gate at half-past three in the afternoon, and took +possession of Point du Jour, after having taken several barricades; at one of +these, Ducatel was sent with a flag of trace towards the insurgents, who +offered to surrender, but he received a bayonet wound, was carried off to the +École Militaire, tried by court-martial and condemned to death, from which he +was fortunately snatched by the arrival of the Versailles troops at the +Trocadéro at two o’clock in the morning.<br/> + At the same time, the first corps d’armée (that of General +L’Admirault), made its way into the city by the Portes d’Auteuil +and Passy, and took up a strong position in the streets of Passy. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-99" id="fn-99"></a> <a href="#fnref-99">[99]</a> +At ten o’clock at night, the army had taken possession of the region +comprised between the <i>ceinture</i>, or circular railway, and the +fortifications, the streets of Auteuil to the viaduct, and the bridge of +Grenelle.<br/> + At midnight, the movement which had been suspended for a time to rest the +troops, was recommenced all along the line.<br/> + At two o’clock in the morning, General Douay occupied the Trocadéro; +and at about four o’clock his soldiers, after a short struggle, captured +the chateau of La Muette, making about six hundred prisoners, and then, +advancing in the direction of Porte Maillot, they joined the troops of General +Clinchant, who had got within the ramparts on that side.<br/> + At the break of day, the tricolour floated over the Arc de Triomphe, +without the Versailles forces having sustained sensible loss. All this passed +on the right bank of the Seine. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-100" id="fn-100"></a> <a href="#fnref-100">[100]</a> +The insurrectionists followed a decided and pre-conceived plan. The barricades, +which intersected the streets of Paris in every direction, were arranged on a +general system which showed considerable skill. Was this ensemble a conception +of Cluseret? or a plan of Gaillard, or Eudes, or Rossel? No one now could say +which, but at any rate we are able to deduce the plan from the facts and set it +out as follows:—<br/> + Within the line of the fortifications the insurgents had +formed a second line of defence, which runs on the right bank of +the river, by the Trocadero, the Triumphal Arch, the Boulevard de +Courcelles, the Boulevard de Batignolles, and the Boulevard de +Rochechouart; and on the left across the bridge of Iéna, +the Avenue de la Bourdonnaye, the École Militaire, the +Boulevard des Invalides, the Boulevard Montparnasse, and the +Western Railway Station. Along the whole extent of this circuit +the entrances of the streets were barricades, and the “Places” +turned into redoubts.<br/> + From this double <i>enceinte</i> of fortifications the lines +of defence converged along the great boulevards, the Rue Royale, +by the Ministry of Marine, the terrace of the Tuileries Gardens, +the Place de la Concorde, the Palace of the Corps +Législatif, the Rue de Bourgogne, and the Rue de Varenne. +This third <i>enceinte</i> of defence was the pride of the +insurgents; they were never tired of admiring their celebrated +barricade of the Rue St. Florentin, and that which intercepted +the quay at the corner of the Tuileries Gardens on the Place de +la Concorde.<br/> + This is not all. Supposing that the third line were forced, +the insurgents would not even then be without resource. On the +left bank of the Seine they fell back successively on the Rue de +Grenelle, Rue Saint Dominique, and Rue de Lille, all three closed +by barricades; on the right bank they could carry on the struggle +by the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs, the Rue de la Paix, and the +Place Vendôme, and even when beaten back from these last +retreats, they could still defend the Rue St. Honoré and +operate a retreat by the Palace of the Tuileries, the Louvre, and +the Hôtel de Ville. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-101" id="fn-101"></a> <a href="#fnref-101">[101]</a> +In the following proclamation, published on the 21st May, Delescluze stimulated +the Communist party, which felt its power melting away on all sides: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<small>“TO THE PEOPLE OF PARIS, TO THE NATIONAL GUARD.</small> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<small>“CITIZENS,—We have had enough of militaryism; let us have no more +stuffs embroidered and gilt at every seam!<br/> + “Make room for the people, the real combatants, the bare arms! The +hour of the revolutionary war has struck!<br/> + “The people know nothing of scientific manoeuvres, but with a rifle +in hand and the pavement beneath their feet, they fear not all the +strategists of the monarchical school.<br/> + “To arms, citizens! To arms! You must conquer, or, as you well +know, fall again into the pitiless hands of the <i>réactionaires</i> +and clericals of Versailles; those wretches who with intention +delivered France up to Prussia, and now make us pay the ransom of their +treason!<br/> + “If you desire the generous blood which you have shed like water +during the last six weeks not to have been shed in vain, if you would +see liberty and equality established in France, if you would spare your +children sufferings and misery such as you have endured, you will rise +as one man, and before your formidable bands the enemy who indulges the +idea of bringing you again under his yoke, will reap nothing but the +harvest of the useless crimes with which he has disgraced himself +during the past two months.<br/> + “Citizens! your representatives will fight and die with you, if +fall we must; but, in the name of our glorious France, mother of all +the popular revolutions, the permanent source of ideas of justice and +unity, which should be and which will be the laws of the world, march +to the encounter of the enemy, and let your revolutionary energy prove +to him that Paris may he sold, but can never be delivered up or +conquered.<br/> + “The Commune confides in you, and you may trust the Commune!<br/> + “The civil delegate at the Ministry of War,</small> +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“(Signed)<br/> +“CH. DELESCLUZE.</small> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<small>“Countersigned by the Committee of Public Safety:—Antoine Arnauld, +Billioray, E. Eudes, F. Gambon, G. Ranvier.”</small> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +Such was the despairing cry of the insurrection at bay. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-102" id="fn-102"></a> <a href="#fnref-102">[102]</a> +See <a href= "#IX._Page_316.">Appendix, No. 9</a>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-103" id="fn-103"></a> <a href="#fnref-103">[103]</a> +There are no private undertakers and funeral furnishers in Paris. It is all +done by a company, under the supervision of Government, a very large concern, +called the <i>Pompes Funèbres</i>. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-104" id="fn-104"></a> <a href="#fnref-104">[104]</a> +Jules Vallès was one of the most conspicuous among the men of the 18th of +March. He had been journalist, working printer, a clerk at the Hôtel de Ville, +editor of a newspaper, pamphleteer, and café orator in turn, but always noisy +and boastful. André Gill, the caricaturist, once drew him as an +undertaker’s dog, dragging a saucepan behind him, and the caricature told +Vallès’ story well enough. In face he was ugly, but energetic in +expression, almost to ferociousness.<br/> + He was born at Puy, in 1833, and on leaving the college of +Nantes, came to study law in Paris, but politics occupied him +chiefly, and he soon got himself shut up in Mazas as a political +prisoner. After some time spent in confinement, he obtained his +liberty, and published at Nantes, a pamphlet under the title of +“Money: by a literary man become a journalist;” and the pamphlet, +having gained him some slight popularity, he was engaged, later, +on the <i>Figaro</i>, to write the reports of the Bourse, and in +the meantime he eked out his slender salary by working as a clerk +at the Hôtel de Ville. When Ernest Feydeau brought out the +<i>Epoque</i>, in 1864, Jules Vallès published a few +articles in its columns, and a little later became a writer on +the <i>Evénement</i>, with the magnificent salary of +eighteen thousand francs a year. A month afterwards, he was +without occupation again, but he soon re-appeared with a new +journal of his own, <i>La Rue, La Sue</i>, in its turn, however, +only lived during a few numbers, and Jules Vallès now took +up café politics, and practised table oratory at the +<i>Estaminet de Madrid</i>, where he fostered and expounded the +projects which he has since brought to so fearful a result.<br/> + In 1869, he became one of the most inveterate speakers at +election meetings, and presented himself as a candidate for the +Corps Législatif. He was not elected, but the profession +of opinions that he then made was certain to obtain him a seat in +the Communal Assembly. One of the last articles in the <i>Cri du +People</i> of Jules Vallès announced the fatal resolution +of defending Paris by all possible means. An article finishing +with this prophetic sentence, “M. Thiers, if he is chemist enough +will understand us.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XCI."></a> XCI.</h2> + +<p> +It is imprudent to go out; the night was almost peaceable, the +morning is hideous. The roar of musketry is intense and without +interruption. I suppose there must be fighting going on in the +Rue du Faubourg Montmartre. I start back, the noise is so +fearful. In the Cour Trévise not a person to be seen, the +houses are closely shut and barred. On a second floor I hear a +great moving of furniture, and hear quite distinctly the sound of +sobbing, of female sobbing. I hear that the second floor of the +house is inhabited by a member of the Commune and his family. I +am about to go up and see if I can be of any help to the women in +case of danger, when I see a man precipitately enter the Court. +He wears a uniform of lieutenant; I recognise him, it is the +porter. He stops, looks around him, and seeing that he is alone, +takes his rifle in both hands and throws it with all his strength +over the high wall which is on the left hand of the Court. That +done, he rushes into the house. There I distinctly hear him say +to his wife, “The barricade is taken, give me a <i>blouse</i>, +they are at Montmartre. We are done for!” I think, the porter +must have made a mistake, and that the battery is not taken yet, +for I hear the whistling of a shell that, seems to come from +Montmartre. The deafening clamour on all sides redoubles, all the +separate noises seem to confound themselves in one ceaseless +roar, like the working of a million of hammers on a million of +anvils. I can scarcely bear it; my hands clutch the door-posts +convulsively. I lean out as far as I can, but see nothing but a +company of soldiers preceded by two gendarmes, who are entering +the Court. They stop before the door of the house. Several of +them go in, and then I hear the sound of a door suddenly opened +and shut, and heavy steps on the wooden floor. I feel myself +trembling; this man they have come to arrest—are they going +to shoot him here, in his own apartment, before his wife? Thank +God, no! The two gendarmes reappear in the street holding the +prisoner between them; his hands are bound; the soldiers surround +them, and they are going to march away, when the man, lifting up +his arms, cries fiercely, “I have but one regret, that I did not +blow up the whole of the quarter.” At this instant the window +above is opened, and a woman with grey hair leans out, crying, +“Die in peace, I will avenge you!” At these words the soldiers +arrest their steps, and the two gendarmes re-enter the house. +They are going to take the wife prisoner after having taken the +husband. I fall back into a chair horrified; I shut my eyes not +to see, and I press my hands on my ears, not to hear the dreadful +sound of the musketry, but the horrible shrill noise is +triumphant, and I hear it all the same. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XCII."></a> XCII.</h2> + +<p> +Oh! those that hear it not, how happy they must be; they will +never understand how fearful this continuous, this dreadful noise +is, and to feel that each ball is aimed at some breast, and each +shell brings ruin in its train. Fear and horror wrings one’s +heart and maddens one’s brain. Visions pass before one’s eyes of +corpses, of houses crushing sleeping inmates, of men falling and +crying out for mercy! and one feels quite strange to go on living +among the crowds that die! +</p> + +<p> +I have been out a little while, a ball whistled over my +shoulder, and flattened itself against an iron bar on a shop +front. I heard a mass of glass shiver into fragments on the +pavement. I determined to return home. +</p> + +<p> +On my way back, I had to pass in front of a liqueur shop, the +door of which was open, and several men were talking there. I +stopped to learn the news. Montmartre is taken; the Federals had +not opposed much resistance; but a great deal of firing had gone +on in the side streets and lanes. Seven insurgents were +surrounded. “Give yourselves up, and your lives will be saved,” +cried out the soldiers. They replied, “We are prisoners;” but one +of them drew his revolver and shot an officer in the leg. Then +the soldiers took the seven men, threw them into a large hole, +and shot them from above like so many rabbits. Another man told +me that he had seen a child lying dead at the corner of the Rue +de Rome. “A pretty little fellow,” he said, “his brains were +strewed on the pavement beside him.” A third, that when all the +fighting was over at the Place Saint-Pierre a rifle shot was +heard, and a captain of Chasseurs fell dead. The major who was +there, looked up and saw a man trying to hide himself behind a +chimney pot; the soldiers got into the house, seized him on the +roof, and brought him down into the Place. What did the insurgent +do, but walked up to the major, smiling, and hit him a blow on +the cheek. The major set him up against a wall, and blew his +brains out with a revolver. Another insurgent who was arrested, +made an insulting grimace at the soldiers; they shot him. On the +southern sides of Paris, the operations of the army have not been +so fortunate as on this. In the Faubourg St. Germain it advances +very slowly, if it advance at all. The Federals fight with heroic +courage at the Mont-Parnasse Station, the Rue +Notre-Dame-des-Champs, and the Croix-Rouge; from the corners of +the streets, from the windows, from the balconies proceed shots +rarely ineffective. This sort of warfare fatigues the soldiers, +particularly as the discipline prevents them from using the same +measures. At Saint-Quen, likewise, the march of the troops is +stayed; the barricade of the Rue de Clichy holds out, and will +hold out some time. In other quarters the advantages gained by +the Versaillais are evident. Here and there some small show of +resistance is offered, but the insurgents are flying. I cannot +tell whether all these floating rumours are true. As I return +home, I look round; in the Rue Geoffrey-Marie, near the Faubourg +Montmartre, I see a National Guard alone in the middle of the +street, nothing to screen him whatsoever; he loads his rifle and +fires, loads and fires again; again and again! Thirty-three +times! Then the rifle slips to the ground, and the man staggers +and falls. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XCIII."></a> XCIII.</h2> + +<p> +This morning, the 23rd, after a combat of three hours, the +barricade of the Place de Clichy has not yet yielded. Yet two +battalions of National Guards had, at the beginning of the fight, +reversed their arms, and were fraternising with the soldiers on +the Place de la Maine, a hundred and fifty yards from the scene +of the fray. The cracking of the rifles, the explosion of shells, +and the sound of mitrailleuses filled the air. The smell of +powder was stifling. Dreadful cries arose from the poor wounded +wretches; and the whizzing projectiles from Montmartre rent the +air above in their fiery course. “Beneath us,” said an inhabitant +of Batignolles who gave me these particulars, “beneath us the +city lay like a seething caldron.” +</p> + +<p> +The beating of drums and the sharp trumpet-calls mixed in this +monstrous din, and were every now and then lost in the tremendous +noise of the firing. +</p> + +<p> +About half-past one the sounds grew quieter; the barricade was +taken. The insurgents were retreating to La Chapelle and +Belleville in disorder; the soldiers of the line rushed like a +torrent into the Avenue de Clichy, leaving a tricolour flag +hoisted upon the dismantled barricade. +</p> + +<p> +Here and there, in the streets, the struggle had not ceased. +In the Rue Blanche a rifle-shot proceeded from a ground-floor; +the man was taken and executed outside his own door. The +artillery was moving up the Rue Chaptal towards Montmartre and La +Chapelle. The day was very hot; pails of water were thrown over +the guns to quench their burning thirst. All the young men who +were found in the streets were provisionally put under arrest, +for they feared everyone, even children, and horrible vengeance +and thirst for blood had seized upon all. Suddenly an isolated +shot would be heard, followed a minute or two after by five or +six others. One knew reprisal had been done. +</p> + +<p> +At about four o’clock in the afternoon, when the quarters of +Belleville and Clichy were pretty well cleared of troops, two +insurgents were walking, one behind the other, in the Rue +Léonie. The one who walked last lifted his rifle and fired +carelessly in the direction of the windows; the report sounded +very loudly in the silent street, and a pane of glass fell in +fragments to the ground. The insurgent who was in front did not +even turn his head; these men seem to have become quite reckless +and deaf to everything. +</p> + +<p> +What the troops feared the most were the sharp-shooters hidden +in the houses, aiming through little holes and cracks; suddenly a +snap would be heard, and the officers would lift their glassed to +their eyes; more often nothing was to be seen at all, but if the +slightest shadow were visible behind a window curtain, the order +was, “Search that house!” The executions did not take place in +the apartments. Now and then an inhabitant or two were brought +down into the street, and those never returned! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XCIV."></a> XCIV.</h2> + +<p> +It is the middle of the night; and I awake with a terrible start. A bright red +light streams through the panes. I throw open the window; the sky to the left +is one mass of dark smoke and lurid streaks of light—it is a fire, Paris +on fire!<a href="#fn-105" name="fnref-105" id="fnref-105"><sup>[105]</sup></a> +I dress and go out. At the corner of the Rue de Trévise a sentinel stops me, +“You can’t pass.” I am so bewildered that I do not think of +noticing whether he is a Federal or a soldier. What am I to do, where am I to +go? Although an hour ago balls were whistling around, there are now people at +every window. “The Ministère des Finances is on fire! the Rue Royale! the +Louvre!” The Louvre! I can scarcely avoid a cry of horror. In a minute +the enormity of the disaster has broken upon me. Oh! +<i>chefs-d’oeuvre</i> without number! I see you devoured, consumed, +reduced to ashes! I see the walls tottering, the canvases fall from the frames +and shrivel up; the “Marriage of Canaan” is in flames! Raphael is +struggling in the burning furnace! Leonardo da Vinci is no more! This was, +indeed, an unexpected calamity! Fortune had reserved this terrible surprise for +us! But I will not believe it, these rumours are false, doubtless! How should +these people who inhabit this quarter know what I am ignorant of? Yet over our +heads the sky is tinged with black and red! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-67"></a> +<img src="images/072.jpg" width="500" height="359" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Ruins of the Rue Royale, Looking Towards The Place de La +Concorde and across the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +A strange smell fills the air, like that of a monstrous +petroleum lamp just lighted. That dreaded word, petroleum, makes +me shudder. Once distinctly I hear the sound of a vast body +falling heavily. Not to be able to obtain information is +terrible; not to know what is going on, while all around seems on +fire; the day is beginning to break, the musketry and the +cannonading commences afresh, it is a hell, with death for its +girdle! In front of me I see the corner of a building lighted up +by the fire, on which little spirals of smoke are reflected from +the distant conflagration. I rush home, I want to hide myself, to +sleep, to forget. When I am in my room, I see through the white +curtains of the window a bright light. I tremble and rush to the +window! It is the gilt letters of a signboard, on the opposite +side of the way, that are darting forth brilliant flashes, +borrowed from the distant flames. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-68"></a> +<img src="images/073.jpg" width="380" height="600" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>A Bay of the Tuileries—from The Place Du Carrousel. +A warm corner approching the Louvre</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-69"></a> +<img src="images/074.jpg" width="250" height="289" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Millière<a href="#fn-106" name="fnref-106" +id="fnref-106"><sup>[106]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-105" id="fn-105"></a> <a href="#fnref-105">[105]</a> +The 24th May the COMMITTEE FOR PUBLIC SAFETY issued these cold-blooded +decrees:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +<small>“Citizen Millière, at the head of one hundred and fifty + fuse-bearers, is to set fire to all houses of suspicious aspect, as + well as to the public monuments of the left bank of the Seine.<br/> + “Citizen Dereure, with one hundred and fifty fuse-bearers, is + charged with the 1st and 2nd Arrondissement.<br/> + “Citizen Billioray, with one hundred men, is charged with the 9th, + 10th, and 20th Arrondissements.<br/> + “Citizen Vésinier, with fifty men, has the Boulevards of the + Madeleine and of the Bastille especially entrusted to him.<br/> + “These Citizens are to come to an understanding with the officers + commanding the barricades, for the execution of these orders.</small> +</p> + +<p class="right"> +<small>“DELESCLUZE, RÉGÈRE, RANVINE, JOHANNARD, VÉSINIER, BRUNEL, + DOMBROWSKI.<br/> + “Paris, 3 Prairial, year 79.”</small> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-106" id="fn-106"></a> <a href="#fnref-106">[106]</a> +This Millière, formerly an advocate and writer on the <i>Marseillaise</i>, was +a native of St-Etienne, and fifty-four years of age, a cool speaker, and +advocate of advanced ideas, that got him several imprisonments. In March 1870 +he was taken from the prison of Sainte-Pélagie to give evidence at Tours +against Pierre Bonaparte for the murder of Victor Noir, where his lucid +depositions told greatly against the prisoner. When regaining his liberty he +became more revolutionary than ever, writing during the siege in the <i>Patrie +en Danger</i>. At the peace he became one of the members for Paris, and sat at +Bordeaux and Versailles, agitating social subjects and the law of lodgers. +About the 10th of April he took part with the Commune, and at the entrance of +the troops was taken at the Luxembourg after having fired six rounds from a +revolver, was shot on the steps of the Pantheon, and died as he opened his +shirt front, shouting, “<i>Vive la République! Vive la Liberté! Vive +l’Humanité!</i>” +</p> + +<h2><a name="XCV."></a> XCV.</h2> + +<p> +Certainly I nursed no vain illusions. What you had done, +gentlemen of the Commune, had enlightened me as to your value, +and as to the purity of your intentions. Seeing you lie, steal, +and kill, I had said to you, “You are liars, robbers, and +murderers;” but truly, in spite of Citizen Félix Pyat, who +is a coward, and Citizen Miot, who is a fool; in spite of +Millière, who shot <i>réfractaires</i>, and +Philippe, whose trade shall be nameless; in spite of Dacosta, who +amused himself with telling the Jesuits at the Conciergerie, +“Mind, you are to be shot in an hour,” and then an hour +afterwards returning to say, “I have thought about it, and it is +for tomorrow;” in spite of Johannard, who executed a child of +fifteen guilty of selling a suppressed newspaper; in spite of +Rigault, who, chucking the son of Chaudey under the chin, +laughingly said to him, “Tomorrow, little one, we shall shoot +papa;” in spite of all the madmen and fools that constituted the +Commune de Paris, who after being guilty of more extravagances +than are necessary to get a man sent to the Madhouse of +Charenton, and more crimes than are sufficient to shut him up in +prison at Sainte-Pélagie, had managed, by means of every +form, of wickedness and excess, to make our beloved Paris a +frightened slave, crouching to earth under their abominable +tyranny; in spite of everything, I could not have dreamed that +even their demoniac fury could have gone so far as to try to burn +Paris, after having ruined it! Nero of the gutter! Sardanapalus +drunk with vitriol! So your vanity wanted such a volcano to +engulf you, and you wished to die by the light of such an +<i>auto-da-fé</i>. Instead of torches around your funeral +car, you wished the Tuileries, the library of the Louvre, and the +Palace of the Legion of Honour burnt to ashes, the Rue Royale one +vast conflagration, where the walls as they fell buried alive +women and children, and the Rue de Lille vomiting fire and smoke +like the crater of Vesuvius. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-70"></a> +<img src="images/075.jpg" width="500" height="393" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Palais de Justice, Partly Destroyed. Sainte Chapelle, +Saved.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +It has pleased you that thousands of families should be +ruined, their savings scattered in the ashes of the vanished +papers of the burnt Ministère des Finances and the +<i>Caisse des dépôts</i>. In seeing that the +art-galleries of the Louvre had remained intact, only its library +burnt, you must have been seized with mad rage. How! Notre Dame +not yet in flames? Sainte-Chapelle not on fire? Have you no more +petroleum, no more flaming torches? The cry “To Arms!” is not +enough, you must shout “To Fire!” Would you consume the entire +city, and make of its ruins a horrible monument to your +memory? +</p> + +<p> +Do not say, “We have not done this; it is the people who are +working out their own revenge, and we stand for nothing, we are +as gentle as lambs. Ranvier would not hurt a fly.” Away with all +this pretence; were you not on the balcony of the Hôtel de +Ville with your blood-red scarfs, uttering your commands? The +populace, deceived and blinded, have but obeyed you. Do not all +the circumstances leading to this stupendous catastrophe, reveal +an elaborate and digested plan, determined long beforehand? Did +we not read this notice, daily, in your official journal: “All +those who have petroleum are requested immediately to declare the +quantities in their possession?” Was there not a quick-match +extinguished in the quarter of the Invalides that was to have +communicated the flames to barrels of powder placed, long ago, in +the great sewers? Yes, what has taken place you had decreed. If +the disasters have not been more terrible, is it not, that, +surprised at the sudden arrival of the troops, you had not the +time to finish your preparations? Yes, you are the criminals! It +was Eudes who gave out the petroleum to the +<i>Pétroleuses</i>; it was Felix Pyat who laid the train +of gunpowder. It is Tridon who said: “Take care that the phials +be not uncorked.” The public incendiary committee has well +performed its duty! Wicked criminals! Execrable madmen! May +Heaven bear me witness that my heart abhors revenge, is always +inclined to pardon—but for these! What chastisement can be +great enough to appease the wrath of justice! What vow of +repentance could be offered up fervent enough to be received in +Heaven, even at the moment when, struck down by balls, they offer +their lives as expiation? Misguided humanity! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-71"></a> +<img src="images/076.jpg" width="315" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Ministère Des Finances, Rue de Rivoli:<br/> +POLICE OF PARIS.<br/> +Au citoyen Lucas, <br/> +Faites de suite flamber Finances et venez nous retrouver.<br/> +4 prairial, an 79. +Th: Ferré.</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-72"></a> +<img src="images/077.jpg" width="318" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Ferré<a href="#fn-107" name="fnref-107" id="fnref-107"><sup>[107]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-107" id="fn-107"></a> <a href="#fnref-107">[107]</a> +Ferré, the friend of Raoul Bigault, and his colleague in the Commission of +General Safety, like the latter, had inhabited the prisons for a considerable +time for his political writings, seditious proposals, plots against the state, +etc. He is a small man about five feet high, and very active. He signed with +avidity the suppression of nearly all the journals of Paris, and the sentence +of death of a great number of unfortunate prisoners, with the approbation of +Raoul Bigault. He willingly undertook to announce to the Archbishop of Paris +that his last hour had arrived. The following order, drawn up by him, was found +on the body of an insurgent:—“Set fire to the Ministry of Finance +immediately, and return here.<br/> + 4 Prairial, An 79.<br/> + (Signed) TH. FERRÉ.”<br/> + See <a href="#X._Page_335.">Appendix, No.10</a>.] +</p> + +<h2><a name="XCVI."></a>XCVI.</h2> + +<p> +With three friends I stood upon the roof of a house near the +new opera, watching what was passing around. The spectacle was +such, that horror paralyses every other sentiment, even that of +self-preservation. Consternation sits encircled by a blazing +atmosphere of terror! The Hôtel de Ville is in flames; the +smoke, at times a deep red, envelops all, so that it is +impossible to distinguish more than the outlines of immense +walls; the wind brings, in heavy gusts, a deadly odour—of +burnt flesh, perhaps—which turns the heart sick and the +brain giddy. On the other side the Tuileries, the Légion +d’Honneur, the Ministère de la Guerre, and the +Ministère des Finances are flaming still, like five great +craters of a gigantic volcano! It is the eruption of Paris! +Alone, a great black mass detaches itself from the universal +conflagration, it is the Tour Saint-Jacques, standing out like a +malediction. +</p> + +<p> +One of the three friends, who are with me on the roof of the +house, was able, about an hour ago, to get near the Hôtel +de Ville. He related to me what follows:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“At the moment of my arrival, the flames burst forth from all the windows of +the Hôtel de Ville, and the most intense terror seized upon all the inhabitants +blocked up in the surrounding quarters, for a terrible rumour is spread; it is +said that more than fifty thousand pounds of powder is contained in the +subterranean vaults. The incendiaries must have poured the demoniacal liquid in +rivers through the great halls, down the great staircases, from the very +garrets, to envelop even the Salle du Trône. The great fire throws a blood-red +glare over the city, and on the quays of the Institute. Night is so like day +that a letter may be read in the street. Is this the end of the famous capital +of France? Have the infamous fiends of the committee for public safety ordered, +in their cowardly death-agony, that this should be the end? Yes, it is the ruin +of all that was grand, generous, radiant, and consolatory for our country that +they have decided to consummate, with a chorus of hellish laughter, in which +terror and ferocity struggle with brutal degradation.<br/> + “In the midst of this horror, confused rumours are circulated. It is said that +the heat will penetrate to the cellars and cause an explosion of whole +quarters. Then what will become of the inhabitants, and the riches that they +have accumulated? The heat is overwhelming between the Tuileries and the Hôtel +de Ville—that is, over the space of about a mile. The two barricades of +the Rue de Rivoli and of the Rue de la Coutellerie, near which are the offices +of the municipal services—the lighting of the city, the octroi, waters, +sewers, etc.,—will not be taken until too late, in spite of the energy +with which the army attacks them. It is feared that the flame will reach the +neighbourhood of the great warehouses, so thickly do the burning flakes fall +and scatter destruction. The barricades of the quays are still intact, it will +be another hour yet before they are taken. The firemen are there furiously at +work, but their efforts are insufficient! It would take tons of ammonia to +slake the fury of the petroleum which flows like hot lava upon the place from +the Hôtel de Ville, and the horrible reflection reddens the waters of the +Seine, so that the current of the river seems to flow with blood, which stains +the stones as it dashes against the arches of the bridge!” +</p> + +<p> +These scenes are being pictured to me as I gaze upon the +terrible conflagration, and all that is told me I seem to see. An +irresistible longing to be near seizes me. I am under the power +of an invincible attraction. I lean forward, my arms +outstretched; I run a great risk of falling, but what matters? +The sight of these almost sublime horrors has burnt itself into +my very brain! +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XCVII."></a> XCVII.</h2> + +<p> +She walks with a rapid step, near the shadow of the wall; she +is poorly dressed; her age is between forty and fifty; her +forehead is bound with a red checkered handkerchief, from which +hang meshes of uncombed hair. The face is red and the eyes +blurred, and she moves with her look bent down on the ground. Her +right hand is in her pocket, or in the bosom of her +half-unbuttoned dress; in the other hand she holds one of the +high, narrow tin cans in which milk is carried in Paris, but +which now, in the hands of this woman, contains the dreadful +petroleum liquid. As she passes a <i>poste</i> of regulars, she +smiles and nods; when they speak to her she answers, “My good +Monsieur!” If the street is deserted she stops, consults a bit of +dirty paper that she holds in her hand, pauses a moment before +the grated opening to a cellar, then continues her way, steadily, +without haste. An hour afterwards, a house is on fire in the +street she has passed. Who is this woman? Paris calls her a +<i>Pétroleuse</i>.<a href="#fn-108" name="fnref-108" id="fnref-108"><sup>[108]</sup></a> +One of these <i>pétroleuses</i>, who was caught in the act +in the Rue Truffault, discharged the six barrels of a revolver +and killed two men before being passed over to execution. Another +was seen falling in a doorway of a house in the Rue de Boulogne, +pierced with balls—but this one was a young girl; a bottle +filled with petroleum fell from her hand as she dropped. +Sometimes one of these wretched women, might be seen leading by +the hand a little boy or girl; and the child probably carrying a +bottle of the incendiary liquid in his pocket with his top and +marbles. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-73"></a> +<img src="images/078.jpg" width="500" height="360" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Palace of the Luxembourg (garden Front). Used as a +Federal Ambulance Hospital.<a href="#fn-109" name="fnref-109" +id="fnref-109"><sup>[109]</sup></a></b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-74"></a> +<img src="images/079.jpg" width="321" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Les Pétroleurs<br/>Les Pétroleuses</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-108" id="fn-108"></a> <a href="#fnref-108">[108]</a> +The incendiaries formed a veritable army, composed of returned convicts, the +very dregs of the prisons, pale, thin lads, who looked like ghosts, and old +women, that looked like horrible witches; their number amounted to eight +thousand! This army had its chiefs, and each detachment was charged with the +firing of a quarter. The order for the conflagration of public edifices bore +the stamp of the Commune, and of the Central Committee, and the seal of the +delegate at the Ministry of War. For the private houses more expeditive means +were used. Small tickets, of the size of postage stamps, were found pasted upon +walls of houses in different parts of Paris, with the letters B.P.B. (<i>bon +pour brûler</i>), literally, good for burning. Some of the tickets were square, +others oval, with a bacchante’s head in the centre. They were affixed on +spots designated by the chiefs. Every <i>pétroleuse</i> was to receive ten +francs for each house she fired. Sept. 5,1871. Amongst the insurgents tried at +Versailles, three pétroleuses were condemned to death, and one to imprisonment +for life, a host of others being transported or otherwise punished. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-109" id="fn-109"></a> <a href="#fnref-109">[109]</a> +On the Wednesday succeeding the explosion of the powder-magazine in the garden +of the Luxembourg, which unroofed a portion of the palace, and destroyed the +windows, and did fearful damage to the surrounding houses, all the Communeux +disappeared from the neighbourhood. The following night four men returned, +bringing a quantity of petroleum with them. They gave orders that the six +hundred wounded men who were then lying in the Palace should be taken away +immediately. They had commenced their sinister project, and were pouring the +petroleum about in the cellars, when the soldiers of the Brigade Paturel were +informed of it, and arrived in time to prevent its execution. The criminals +were taken and shot on the spot. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XCVIII."></a> XCVIII.</h2> + +<p> +It is seven in the evening, the circulation has become almost +impossible. The streets are lined with patrols, and the regiments +of the Line camp upon the outer boulevards. They dine, smoke, and +bivouac, and drink with the citizens on the doorsteps of their +houses. In the distance is heard the storm of sounds which tells +of the despairing resistance of Belleville, and along the foot of +the houses are seen square white patches, showing the walled-up +cellars, every hole and crevice being plastered up to prevent +insertion of the diabolical liquid—walled up against +<i>pétroleurs</i> and pétroleuses, strings of +prisoners, among whom are furious women and poor children, their +hands tied behind their backs, pass along the boulevards towards +Neuilly. Night comes on, not a lamp is lighted, and the streets +become deserted as by degrees the sky becomes darker. At nine +o’clock the solitude is almost absolute. The sound of a musket +striking the pavement is heard from time to time; a sentinel +passes here and there, and the lights in the houses grow more and +more rare. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XCIX."></a> XCIX.</h2> + +<p> +The hours and the days pass and resemble each other horribly. +To write the history of the calamities is not yet possible. Each +one sees but a corner of the picture, and the narratives that are +collected are vague and contradictory; it appears certain now +that the insurrection is approaching the end. It is said that the +fort of Montrouge is taken; but it still hurls its shells upon +Paris. Several have just fallen in the quarter of the Banque. +There is fighting still at the Halles, at the Luxembourg, and at +the Porte Saint-Martin. Neither the cannonading nor the fusillade +has ceased, and our ears have become accustomed to the continued +roar. But, in spite of the barbarous heroism of the Federals, the +force of their resistance is being exhausted. What has become of +the chiefs? +</p> + +<p> +We continue to note down the incidents as they reach us. +</p> + +<p> +It is said that Assy has been taken, close to the New Opera +House. He was going the nightly rounds, almost alone—“Who’s +there!” cried a sentinel. Assy, thinking the man was a Federal, +replied, “You should have challenged me sooner.” In an instant he +was surrounded, disarmed, and carried off. However, it is a very +unlikely tale; it is most improbable that Assy should not know +that the New Opera was in the hands of the Versaillais. +</p> + +<p> +They say that Delescluze has fled, that Dombrowski has died<a href="#fn-110" +name="fnref-110" id="fnref-110"><sup>[110]</sup></a> in an ambulance, and that +Millière is a prisoner at Saint-Denis. But these are merely rumours, and I am +utterly ignorant as to their worth. The only thing certain is that the search +is being carried on with vigour. Close by the smoking ruins of what was once +the Hôtel de Ville they caught Citizen Ferraigu, inspector of the barricades; +he confessed to having received from the Committee of Public Safety particular +orders to burn down the shop of the Bon-Diable. Had one of these committeemen +been an assistant there, and did he owe his former master a grudge? Ferraigu +had a bottle of petroleum in his pocket; he was shot. I am told that at the +Théâtre du Châtelet a court-martial has been established on the stage. The +Federals are brought up twenty at a time, judged, and condemned, they are then +marched out on to the Place, with their hands tied behind their backs. A +mitrailleuse, standing a hundred yards off, mows them down like grass. It is an +expeditious contrivance. In a yard, in the Rue Saint-Denis, is a stable filled +with corpses; I have myself seen them there. The Porte Saint-Martin Theatre is +quite destroyed, a guard is stationed near. This morning three +<i>pétroleuses</i> were shot there, the bodies are still lying on the +boulevards. I have just seen two insurgents walking between four soldiers; one +an old man, the other almost a lad. I heard the elder one say to the younger, +“All our misery comes of our having arms. In ’48 we had none, so we +took those of the soldiers, and then they were without. Now there is more +killing and less business done.” A few minutes after the little +procession passed up the Rue d’Hauteville, and I heard the reports of two +rifles. Oh! what horrible days! I feel a prey to the deepest dejection—if +it were but over! The town looks wretched; even where the fighting is not going +on, the houses are closed and the streets deserted, except here and there: a +lonely passenger hurrying along, or a wretched prisoner marching between four +soldiers. It is all very dreadful! In the streets where the battle is still +raging the shutters are not closed; as soon as the soldiers get into a new +quarter of the town they cry out, “Shut the windows, open the +shutters.” The reason for this is, that the open barred outer shutters, +or <i>persiennes</i>, form a capital screen through which aim maybe taken with +a gun. As for me, in the midst of this horror and sadness, I feel like a madman +in the night. The rumour that the hostages have been shot at Mazas gains +ground.<a href="#fn-111" name="fnref-111" id="fnref-111"><sup>[111]</sup></a> I +am told that the Archbishop, the Abbé Degueiry, and Chaudey have all been +assassinated. It was Bigault who ordered these executions. He has since been +taken, and fell, crying “Down with murderers!” This reminds one of +Dumollard, the assassin, calling the jurymen “Canaille!” Millière +is said to have been shot in the Place du Panthéon. When they told him to kneel +down he drew himself up to his full height, his eyes flashing defiance. Strange +caprice of nature, to make these scoundrels brave. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-75"></a> +<img src="images/080.jpg" width="288" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Theatre Porte St Martin. Sensation Drama out +sensationed</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-76"></a> +<img src="images/081.jpg" width="303" height="450" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Cell of the Archbisop in The Prison Of La Roquette.</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-77"></a> +<img src="images/082.jpg" width="500" height="361" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Court-yard of Prison Of La Roquette, Where the Hostages +were shot.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +In the meantime, the Commune is in its death throes. Like the +dragon of fairy lore, it dies, vomiting flames. La Villette is on +fire, houses are burning at Belleville and on the +Buttes-Chaumont. The resistance is concentrated on one side at +Père la Chaise, and on the other at the Mont-Parnasse +cemetery. The insurrection was mistress of the whole of Paris, +and then the army came stretching its long arms from the Arc de +Triomphe to Belleville, from the Champ-de-Mars to the +Panthéon. Trying hard to burst these bonds, tightly +surrounded, now resisting, now flying, the <i>émeute</i> +has at last retreated. It is over there now, in two cemeteries; +it watches from behind tombstones; it rests the barrels of its +rifles on marble crosses, and erects a battery on a sepulchre. +The shells of the Versaillais fall in the sacred enclosure, +plough up the earth, and unbury the dead. Something round rolled +along a pathway, the combatants thought it was a shell; it was a +skull! What must these men feel who are killing and being killed +in the cemetery! To die among the dead seems horrible. But they +never give it a thought; the bloody thirst for destruction which +possesses them allows them only to think of one thing, of +killing! Some of them are gay, they are brave, these men. That +makes it only the more dreadful; these wretches are heroic! +Behind the barricades there have been instances of the most +splendid valour. A man at the Porte Saint-Martin, holding a red +flag in his hand, was standing, heedless of danger, on a pile of +stones. The balls showered around him, while he leant carelessly +against an empty barrel which stood behind.—“Lazy fellow,” +cried a comrade—“No,” said he, “I am only leaning that I +may not fall when I die.” Such are these men; they are robbers, +incendiaries, assassins, but they are fearless of death. They +have only that one good quality. They smile and they die. The +vivandières allow themselves to be kissed behind the +tombstones; the wounded men drink with their comrades, and throw +wine on their wounds, saying, “Let us drink to the last.” And +yet, in an hour perhaps, the soldiers will fight their way into +the cemeteries, which their balls reach already, they too mad +with rage; then the horrible bayonet fighting will commence, man +against man among the tombs, flying over the mounds, desecrating +the monuments, everything that imagination can conjure up of most +profane and terrible—a battle in a cemetery! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-78"></a> +<img src="images/083.jpg" width="768" height="520" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>My Neighbour ‘en face’; business carries on as +usual—My neighbour next door: who thinks himself fortunate</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-110" id="fn-110"></a> <a href="#fnref-110">[110]</a> +The most reliable account of his death is given by a medical student who +attended him in his last moments. “Dombrowski was passing with several +members of the Commune in the Rue Myrrha, near the Rue des Poissonniers, when +he was struck by a bullet, which traversed the lower part of his body. He was +carried to a neighbouring chemist’s, where I bandaged the wound. Before +his transportation to the Lariboisière Hospital, he ordered the fire to cease, +but the troops defending the barricade disobeyed the injunction. His sword was +handed by me to a captain of the 45th of the Line. His last words were nearly +identical with those which he uttered as he fell: ‘I am no +traitor!’” His worst enemies have said of him that he was a good +soldier in a bad cause. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-111" id="fn-111"></a> <a href="#fnref-111">[111]</a> +At the prison of Sainte-Pélagie, on Tuesday, the 23rd of May, the unfortunate +gendarmes, who had been made prisoners on the 18th, were shot, together with M. +Chaudey, a writer, on the <i>Siècle</i>, arrested at the office of the journal, +and conducted, first to Mazas and afterwards to Sainte-Pélagie. (<a +href="#XI._Page_342.">Appendix 11</a>).<br/> + According to the <i>Siècle</i>, the “Procureur” of the +Commune, Raoul Rigault, presented himself, at the office at about +eleven at night, and having sent for M. Chaudey, said to him, +without any preamble: “I am here to tell you that you have not an +hour to live.”<br/> + “You mean to say that I am to be assassinated,” replied +Chaudey.<br/> + “You are to be shot, and that directly,” was the other’s +rejoinder.<br/> + But, on reaching the prison, the National Guards who had been summoned +refused to do the odious work, and the Procureur went himself to find others +more docile. Chaudey was led before them, Raoul Rigault drew his sword to give +the signal, the muskets were levelled and fired, and Chaudey fell, but wounded +only. A sergeant gave him the death blow by discharging his pistol at his head. +The next day, a hundred and fifty hostages of the Commune, confined at the +Prefecture of Police, amongst whom were Prince Galitzin and Andreoli, a +journalist, were about to be shot by an order of Ferré, when the incendiary +fires broke out and prevented the execution of the order. At eleven +o’clock, Raoul Rigault commanded the prisoners to be released, and +enjoined them to fight for the Commune; upon their refusal, a shower of balls +was discharged at them. The prisoners rushed for refuge into the Rue du Harlay, +which was in flames, and were afterwards rescued by a detachment of the +line.<br/> + That same day was fatal to Raoul Rigault. He was perceived by a party of +infantry at the moment when he was ringing at the door of a house in the Rue +Gay Lussac. His colonel’s uniform instantly made him a mark for the +soldiers; he had time to enter the house, however, but was soon discovered, +gave his name, and allowed himself to be taken off towards the Luxembourg, but +before reaching it, he began to shout, “Vive la Commune!” +“Down with the assassins!” and made an effort to escape. The +soldiers thrust him against a wall and shot him down.<br/> + The next day, the 24th, marked the fate of the hostages, who, in +expectation of an attack of the Versaillais, had been transferred from Mazas to +La Roquette. “Monseigneur Darboy,” writes an eye-witness (Monsieur +Dubutte, miraculously saved by an error of name), “occupied cell No. 21 +of the 4th division, and I was at a short distance from him, in No. 26. The +cell in which the venerable prelate was confined had been the office of one of +the gaolers; it was somewhat larger than the rest, and Monseigneur’s +companions in captivity had succeeded in obtaining for him a chair and a table. +On Wednesday, the 24th, at half-past seven in the evening, the director of the +prison—a certain Lefrançais, who had been a prisoner in the hulks for the +space of six years—went up, at the head of fifty Federals, into the +gallery, near which the most important prisoners were incarcerated. Here they +ranged themselves along the walls, and a few moments later one of the +head-gaolers opened the door of the archbishop’s cell, and called him +out. The prelate answered, “I am here!” Then the gaoler passed on +to M. le President Bonjean’s cell (<a href="#XII._Page_345.">Appendix +12</a>), then to that of Abbé Allard, member of the International Society in +Aid of the Wounded; of Père du Coudray, Superior of the School of +Ste-Geneviève; and Père Clère, of the Brotherhood of Jesus; the last called +being the Abbé Deguerry, curé of the Madeleine. As the names were called, each +prisoner was led out into the gallery and down the staircase to the courtyard; +each side, as far as I could judge, was lined with Federal guards, who insulted +the prisoners in language that I cannot repeat. Amid the hues and cries of +these wretches my unfortunate companions were conducted across the courtyard to +the infirmary, before which a file of soldiers were drawn up for the execution. +Monseigneur Darboy advanced and addressed his murderers—addressed them +words of pardon: then two of the men approached the prelate, and falling on +their knees implored his pardon. The rest of the Federals threw themselves upon +them, and thrust them aside with oaths, then, turning to the prisoners, they +heaped fresh insults upon them. The chief officer of the detachment, however, +imposed silence on the men, and uttering an oath, said, ‘You are here to +shoot these men, not to insult them.’ The Federals were silenced, and +upon the command of their lieutenant, they loaded their muskets.<br/> + “Père Allard was placed against the wall, and was the first who was +struck; then Monseigneur Darboy fell, and the six prisoners were thus shot in +turn, showing, at this supreme moment, a saintly dignity and a noble +courage.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="C."></a> C.</h2> + +<p> +Where are these men going with hurried steps, and with +lanterns in their hands? Their uniform is that of the National +Guard, and consequently of Federals, but the tricolour band which +they wear on the arm would seem to indicate that they belong to +the Party of Order. They are making their way by one of the +entries of the sewers, and preceded by an officer are +disappearing beneath the sombre vaults. Calling to mind the +sinister expression of a Communal artillery commander—“The +reactionary quarters will all be blown up; not one shall be +spared,” it is impossible to avoid feeling a shudder of terror. +What if the incendiaries all wearing the badge of the Party of +Order, be about to set fire to mines prepared beforehand, or to +barrels of petroleum ready to be staved in! The wild demons of +the Commune are capable of everything; an invention of incendiary +firemen is quoted as an example of the diabolical genius which +presided over the work of destruction; individuals wearing the +fireman’s uniform were seen to throw combustible liquids by means +of pumps and pails on the burning houses, instead of aiding to +extinguish the flames. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-79"></a> +<img src="images/084.jpg" width="450" height="450" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Paris Underground</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-80"></a> +<img src="images/085.jpg" width="365" height="600" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The Enemies of Progress.<br/> +Corps de garde de l’armée de Versailles</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +Fortunately, the fear is unfounded, the object of these men, +on the contrary, is to cut the wires which connect all parts with +inflammable materials, torpedoes, and other atrocious machines. +They have already passed several nights in destroying this +underground telegraphic system. The duty is not without danger; +for not only are they exposed to the terrible consequences of a +sudden explosion, but also to the risk of being taken and shot +without trial, as traitors to the Commune. That is, should they +chance to fall in with hostile bands, or appear in unfriendly +quarters. It appears that these determined and devoted citizens +have already lost two of their companions in the execution of +this perilous duty. The intention of the Commune was to charge +the whole of the main sewers and subways with combustibles; but +luckily they had not time to mature their schemes, the advance of +the Versailles troops being too quick for them. The Catacombs +were included in the arrangement; for did not the able Assy +direct his agent Fossé to keep them open, as a means of +escape? Alas! these subterranean passages that underlie so large +a portion of ancient Paris, what stories could they not tell of +starved fugitives and maimed culprits dragging their weary limbs +into the darkness of these gloomy caverns, only that they might +die there in peace! Men and women, whose forms will in a few +short weeks be unrecognisable, whose whitened bones will be +crushed and kicked aside by the future explorer, who may +perchance penetrate the labyrinths, and whose dust will finally +be mixed up and undistinguishable from that of the bones and +skulls taken from ancient cemeteries and graveyards with which +this terrible Golgotha is decorated in Mosaic. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="CI."></a> CI.</h2> + +<p> +The fire is out, let us contemplate the ruins.<a href="#fn-112" +name="fnref-112" id="fnref-112"><sup>[112]</sup></a> The Commune is vanquished. +Look at Paris, sad, motionless, laid waste. This is what we have come to! +Consternation is in every breast, solitude is in every street. We feel no +longer either anger or pity; we are resigned, broken by emotion; we see +processions of prisoners pass on their way to Versailles, and we scarcely look +at them; no one thinks of saying either, “Wretches!” or “Poor +fellows!” The soldiers themselves are very silent. Although they, are the +victors they are sad; they do not drink, they do not sing. Paris might be a +town that had been assaulted and taken by dumb enemies; the irritation has worn +itself off, and the tears have not yet come. The tricolour flags which float +from all the windows surprise us; there does not seem any reason for rejoicing. +Yet, of late especially, the triumph of the Versaillais has been ardently +wished for by the greater portion of the population; but all are so tired that +they have not the energy to rejoice. Let us look back for a moment. First the +siege, with famine, separation and poverty; then the insurrection of +Montmartre, surprises, hesitations, cannonading night and day, ceaseless +musketry, mothers in tears, sons pursued, every calamity has fallen on this +miserable city. It has been like Rome under Tiberius, then like Rome after the +barbarians had overrun it. The cannon balls have fallen upon Sybaris. So much +emotion, so many horrors have worn out the city; and then all this blood, this +dreadful blood. Corpses in the streets, corpses within the houses, corpses +everywhere! Of course they were terribly guilty, these men that were taken, +that were killed; they were horrible criminals, those women who poured brandy +into the glasses and petroleum on the houses! But, in the first moment of +victory, were there no mistakes? Were those that were shot all guilty? Then the +sight of these executions, however merited, was cruelly painful. The innocent +shuddered at the doom of justice. True, Paris is quiet now, but it is the quiet +of the battle-field on the morrow of a victory; quiet as night, and as the +tomb! An unsupportable uneasiness oppresses us; shall we ever be able to shake +off this apathy, to pierce through this gloom? Paris, rent and bleeding, turns +with sadness from the past, and dares not yet raise her eyes to the future! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-81"></a> +<img src="images/086.jpg" width="368" height="600" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>The New Masters PROCLAMATION OVER PROCLAMATION PUBLIC +PROMENADES. CAMPS IN THE GARDENS OF THE LUXEMBOURG AND THE TUILERIES—THE +SOLDIERS LOCKED IN, AND THE PUBLIC LOCKED OUT. The damage done to the pier was +by a Prussian shell in Jan. 1871.</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-82"></a> +<img src="images/087.jpg" width="335" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Palace of the Luxembourg (streat Front). Now The Seat of +the Prefecture of Paris</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +POOR PARIS! +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<img src="images/088.jpg" width="70" height="96" alt="Illustration: " /> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +On August 15th, the <i>Times</i> reporter gave the number awaiting trial<br/> +at Versailles at 30,000. On the 7th September they had reached<br/> +39,000, daily arrests adding to the number; out of these,<br/> +35,000 only had their charges made out, of which<br/> +13,900 had been examined, 2,800 writs of<br/> +release having been issued, though only a<br/> +few hundreds have been set at liberty.<br/> +There are only 94 reporting officers:<br/> +20 attached to the Council of War,<br/> +6 to the Orangerie, 4 to Satory,<br/> +3 to the Prison des Femmes,<br/> +and 16 to the Western Ports:<br/> +17 more are to be<br/> +added shortly. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-83"></a> +<img src="images/089.jpg" width="312" height="400" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Marchal Macmahon, Duc de Magenta.<br/> +Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Versailles.</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-84"></a> +<img src="images/090.jpg" width="380" height="600" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Light & Air Once More<br/> +the Fosse commune<br/> +THE END</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-112" id="fn-112"></a> <a href="#fnref-112">[112]</a> +See <a href= +"#XIV._THE_DEVASTATIONS_OF_PARIS.">Appendix 14</a>, <a href= +"#App._XV.">15</a>, <a href="#App._XVI.">16</a>, and <a href= +"#XVII._LIST_OF_PUBLIC">17</a>. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<img src="images/091.jpg" width="300" height="146" alt="Illustration: " /> +</div> + +<h2><a name="APPENDIX."></a> APPENDIX.</h2> + +<h3><a name="CHRONOLOGY_OF_THE_PARISIAN_INSURRECTION"></a> +CHRONOLOGY OF THE PARISIAN INSURRECTION,</h3> +<h3> FROM THE 18th OF MARCH TO THE 29th MAY, 1871.</h3> + +<p> +The dash (—) in each day after the commencement of +military operations divides the civil from the military. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 18th March</i>: Early in the morning troops take +possession of the Buttes Montmartre and Belleville. The soldiers +charged with the recovery of the pieces of artillery fraternise +with the people and the National Guard. Arrest of Generals +Lecomte and Clement Thomas: they are shot at Montmartre without +trial. National Guards take possession of the Hôtel de +Ville, the Prefecture of Police is invaded by Raoul Rigault, +Duval, and others. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Sunday, 19th March</i>: The Central Committee of the +National Guard take possession of the offices of the <i>Journal +Officiel</i>. Arrest of General Chanzy. Gustave Flourens, +imprisoned at Mazas, is set at liberty by the new masters of +Paris. M. Thiers addresses a circular to the country enjoining +obedience to the only authority, that of the Assembly. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 21st March</i>: Manifestation of the “Friends of +Order.” Procession for public demonstration. Sitting of the +Assembly at Versailles. M. Jules Favre advises prompt measures. +Appeal to the people and army. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 22nd March</i>: Friends of Order shot in the Rue +de la Paix. Lullier arrested by order of the Central +Committee. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Thursday, 23rd March</i>: Vice-Admiral Saisset is appointed +by the Assembly Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Friday, 24th March</i>: The delegates Brunel, Eudes, Duval, +are promoted to the rank of generals by the Central Committee. +Vice-Admiral Saisset’s proclamation. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 29th March</i>: Occupation of the Mairie of the +1st Arrondissement by the Federals. First placard of the +Committee of Conciliation. Rumour of the arrest of Lullier +reproached for moderation. Vice-Admiral Saisset retires to +Versailles. <i>Sunday, 26th March</i>: Municipal elections to +constitute the Commune of Paris. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 28th March</i>: 4 p. m., names of the elect +proclaimed at the Hôtel de Ville. Arrival of General Chanzy +at Versailles. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 29th March</i>: Conscription abolished—all +citizens to be National Guards. Pawnbroking decree. Organisation +of commissions: executive, financial, military, etc. Ministers to +be called delegates. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 1st April</i>: The Executive Committee issues a +decree to suppress the rank and functions of General-in-Chief. +General Eudes appointed Delegate of War; Bergeret to the staff of +the National Guard, in place of Brunel; Duval to the military +command of the ex-Prefecture of Police, where Raoul Rigault was +civil delegate. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Sunday, 2nd April</i>: Military operations commence 9 a.m. +Action at Courbevoie. Flourens marches his troops to Versailles, +<i>viâ</i> Rueil. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Monday, 3rd April</i>: The corps d’armée of General +Bergeret at the Rond Point near Neuilly, is stopped by the +artillery of Mont Valérien. Exchange of shot between Fort +Issy and Fort Vanves, occupied by insurgents, and +Meudon.—The separation of Church and State decreed. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 4th April</i>: General Duval made prisoner in the +engagement at Châtillon and shot. Death of Flourens at +Rueil.—Delescluze, Cournet, and Vermorel succeed Generals +Bergeret, Eudes, and Duval on the Executive Commission. Cluseret +Delegate of War, and Bergeret commandant of Paris forces. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 6th April</i>: General Cluseret commences active +operations. Military service compulsory for all citizens under +forty. Abbé Deguerry, and Archbishop of Paris +arrested. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Thursday, 6th April</i>: Extension of action to Neuilly and +Courbevoie. Versailles army decreed by executive authority. +Obsequies of Flourens at Versailles.—Decree concerning the +complicity with Versailles, and arrest of hostages. The rank of +general suppressed by the Commune. Dombrowski succeeds Bergeret +as Commandant of Paris. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Friday, 7th April</i>: Decree for disarming the +Réfractaires. The guillotine is burnt on the Place +Voltaire. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 8th April</i>: Federals abandon +Neuilly.—Commission of barricades created and presided over +by Gaillard Senior. Military occupation of the railway termini by +the insurgents. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Sunday, 9th April</i>: Insurgents attempt to retake +Châtillon, but are repulsed. Forts Vanves and Montrouge +disabled. Mont Valérien shells the Avenue des +Ternes.—Assy and Bergeret arrested by order of the +Commune. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 11th April</i>: Marshal MacMahon, +Commander-in-Chief, distributes his forces. Commences the +investment of fort Issy. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 12th April</i>: Versailles batteries established +on Châtillon. The Orleans railway and telegraph out. +Communications of the insurgents with the south +intercepted.—Decree ordering the fall of the Column +Vendôme. Decree concerning the complementary elections. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Thursday, 13th April:</i> Courbet presides at a meeting of +artists at the École de Médecine. Publication of +the reports of the sittings of the Commune. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Friday, 14th April</i>: The redoubt of Gennevilliers taken. +The troops of Versailles make advances to the Château de +Bécon, a post of importance.—Lullier takes the +command of the flotilla on the Seine. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Sunday, 16th April</i>: Complementary elections. +Organisation of a court-martial under the presidence of Rossel, +chief officer of the staff. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Monday, 11th April</i>: Capture and fortification of the +Château de Bécon. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 18th April</i>: Station and houses at +Asnières taken by the army of Versailles. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Thursday, 20th April</i>: The village of Bagneux is +occupied by the Versaillais.—Reorganisation of commissions. +Eudes appointed inspector-general of the southern forts. +Transfers his quarters from Montrouge to the Palace of the Legion +of Honour. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 22nd April</i>: Deputation from the Freemasons to +Versailles. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Monday, 24th April</i>: Raoul Rigault takes the office of +public prosecutor, resigning the Prefecture of Police to +Cournet. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 25th April</i>: The Versailles batteries at +Breteuil, Brimborion, Meudon, and Moulin de Pierre trouble the +Federal Fort Issy, and battery between Bagneux and +Châtillon shells Fort Vanves. Truce at Neuilly from 9 a.m. +to 5 p.m. The inhabitants of Neuilly enter Paris by the Porte des +Ternes. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 26th April</i>: Capture of Les Moulineaux, +outpost of the insurgents, by the troops, who strongly fortify +themselves on the 27th and 28th. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 29th April</i>: Cemetery and park of Issy taken +by the Versaillais in the night.—Freemasons make a new +attempt at conciliation. The Commune levies a sum of two millions +of francs from the railway companies. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Sunday, 30th April</i>: A flag of truce sent to Fort Issy +by the Versaillais, calling upon the Federals to surrender. +General Eudes puts fresh troops in the fort, and takes the +command himself.—Cluseret imprisoned at Mazas by order of +the Commune. Rossel appointed provisional Delegate of War. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Monday, 1st May</i>: The Versaillais take the station of +Clamart and the Château of Issy.—Creation of the +Committee of Public Safety. Members: Antoine Arnauld, Léo +Meillet, Ranvier, Félix Pyat, Charles Gérardin. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 3rd May</i>: The troops of General Lacretelle +carry the redoubt of Moulin Saquet. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Friday, 5th May</i>: Colonel Rossel appointed to the +direction of military affairs. He defines the military quarters: +General Dombrowski, Place Vendôme; General La +Cécilia, at the Ecole Militaire; General Wroblewski, at +the Elysée; General Bergeret, at the Corps +Législatif; General Eudes at the Palace of the Legion of +Honour. The Central Committee of the National Guard charged with +Administration of War under the supervision of the military +commission. The Chapelle Expiatoire condemned to +destruction—the materials to be sold by auction. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 6th May</i>: Concert at the Tuileries in aid of +the ambulances. Suppression of newspapers. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Monday, 8th May</i>: Battery of Montretout (70 marine guns) +opens fire. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 9th May</i>: Morning, insurgents evacuate the Fort +Issy.—The Committee of Public Safety renewed. Members: +Ranvier, Antoine Arnauld, Gambon, Eudes, Delescluze. Rossel +resigns; his letter to the Commune. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 10th May</i>: Cannon from the Fort Issy taken to +Versailles.—Decree for the demolition of M. Thiers’ house. +Delescluze appointed Delegate of War. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Friday, 12th May</i>: Troops take possession of the Couvent +des Oiseaux at Issy, and the Lyceum at Vanves. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 13th May</i>: Triumphal entry of the troops into +Versailles with flags and cannon taken from the Convent. The +evacuation of the village of Issy completed. Fort Vanves taken by +the troops. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Sunday, 14th May</i>: Vigorous cannonade from the batteries +of Courbevoie, Bécon, Asnières on Levallois and +Clichy: both villages evacuated. Commencement of the demolition +of house of M. Thiers. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Monday, 15th May</i>: Report of the rearmament of +Montmartre. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 16th May</i>: The Column Vendôme falls. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 11th May</i>: Powder magazine and cartridge +factory near the Champ de Mars blown up. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Sunday, 21st May</i>: 2 p.m. the troops enter +Paris.—Rochefort arrives at Versailles. Raoul Rigault and +Régère charged with the hostage decree. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Monday, 22nd May</i>: Noon, explosion of the powder +magazine of the Manège d’Etat-Major (staff riding-school). +The hostages transferred from Mazas to La Roquette. Assy arrested +in Paris by the Versaillais. The Assembly votes the re-erection +of the Column Vendôme. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Tuesday, 23rd May</i>: Montmartre taken. Death of +Dombrowski. Morning, Assy arrives at Versailles. Execution of +gendarmes and Gustave Chaudey at the prison of +Sainte-Pélagie. Night, the Tuileries are set on fire. +Delescluze and the Committee of Public Safety hold permanent +sittings at the Hôtel de Ville. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Wednesday, 24th May</i>: One p.m., the powder magazine at +the Palais du Luxembourg blown up. The Committee of Public Safety +organise detachments of fusee-bearers. Raoul Rigault shot in the +afternoon by the soldiers. In the evening, execution in the +Prison of La Roquette of the Archbishop, Abbé Deguerry, +etc. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Thursday, 26th May</i>: The forts Montrouge, +Hautes-Bruyères, Bicêtre evacuated by the +insurgents. The death of Delescluze is reported to have taken +place this day. Executions in the Avenue d’Italie of the +Pères Dominicains of Arcueil. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Friday, 26th May</i>: Sixteen priests shot in the Cemetery +of Père Lachaise by the insurgents. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Saturday, 27th May</i>: The Buttes Chaumont, the heights of +Belleville, and the Cemetery of Père Lachaise carried by +the troops. Taking of the prison La Roquette by the Marines. +Deliverance of 169 hostages. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Sunday, 28th May</i>: The investment of Belleville +complete. +</p> + +<p> +<i>Monday, 29th May</i>: Six. p.m., the federal garrison of +the fortress of Vincennes surrendered at discretion. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="I._Page_2._HENRI_ROCHEFORT."></a> I. (Page 2.)</h2> + +<h3> HENRI ROCHEFORT.</h3> + +<p> +Henri Rochefort, personal enemy of the Empire, republican +humourist of the <i>Marseillaise</i>, and the lukewarm socialist +of the <i>Mot d’Ordre</i>, who could answer to the judge who +demanded his name, “I am Henri Rochefort, Comte de Lucey,” has +been reproached by some with his titles of nobility, and with the +childish pleasure that he takes in affecting the plebeian. It is +said of him that he aspires but to descend, but who would condemn +him for spurning the petrifactions of the Faubourg Saint-Germain? +A man must march with the times. +</p> + +<p> +Rochefort has distinguished himself among the young men by the +marvellous tact that he has shown in discovering the way to +popular favour. If I were allowed to compare a marquis to one of +the canine species, I should say that he has a keen scent for +popularity; but one must respect rank in a period like ours, when +we may go to sleep to the shouts of the <i>canaille</i>, and +awake to the melodious sounds of “<i>Vive Henri V!</i>” “Long +live the King!” +</p> + +<p> +Born in January, 1830, Henri Rochefort was the son of a +marquis, although his father, lately dead, was a +<i>vaudevilliste</i> and his mother a +<i>pâtissère</i>. From such a fusion might have +emanated odd tastes, such as preferring truffles to potatoes, but +putting the knife into requisition whilst eating green peas. But +in his case Mother Nature had intermingled elements so cleverly +that Rochefort could be republican and royalist, catholic and +atheist, without being accused for all that of being a political +weathercock. +</p> + +<p> +As a writer of drollery and scandal in the <i>Charivari</i>, +would it have been well if he had used his title as a badge? +Later, when contributing to the <i>Nain Jaune</i>, the +<i>Soleil</i>, the <i>Evénement</i>, and the +<i>Figaro</i>, when everyone would have been enchanted to call +him <i>mon cher Comte</i>, he never displayed his rank, except +when on the ground, face to face with the sword or pistol of +Prince Achille Murat or Paul de Cassagnac. +</p> + +<p> +A frequenter of <i>cafés</i>, living fast, bitter with +journalists, hail-fellow with comedians, he lavished his wit for +the benefit of minor theatres, and expended the exuberance of his +patrician blood in comic odes. Dispensing thus some of his +strength in such pieces as the <i>Vieillesse de Brididi</i>, the +<i>Foire aux Grotesques</i>, and <i>Un Monsieur Bien-Mis</i>, in +1868 he founded the <i>Lanterne</i>, and thenceforth became the +most ardent champion of the revolutionary party; and in the +brilliant articles we all know, he cast its light on the follies +of others under the pretext that they were his own. This +satirical production reached the eleventh number, when its +author, overstepping all bounds, took Napoleon by the horns and +the gendarmes by the nose, and committed other extravagances, +until the Government fined him to the amount of ten thousand +francs penalties, and ordered him a short repose in the prison of +Sainte-Pélagie. The notoriety attaching to his name dates +from that period, and the events which accompanied the violent +death of Victor Noir tended to augment his popularity and to +convert him into the leader of a party, or the bearer of a flag, +around which rallied all the elements of the struggle against +established authority. He escaped to Belgium, and studied +socialism, which he expounded later to an admiring audience of +seventeen to eighteen thousand electors at Belleville. Elected +deputy by the 20th Arrondissement, M. de Rochefort became, in +1869, a favourite representative of that class of the Parisian +population whose bad instincts he had flattered and whose +tendencies to revolt against authority he had encouraged, and in +virtue of these claims he was chosen to form part of the +Government of the National Defence. As President of the +Commission of Barricades, after the 4th of September, during the +siege of Paris, in the midst of the difficulties of all sorts +caused to the Government of the National Defence by the +investment of the capital, M. De Rochefort, making more and more +common cause with the revolutionary party, separated himself from +his colleagues in the Government who refused to permit the +establishment of a second Government, the Commune, within a +besieged city. By this act he openly declared himself a partisan +of the Commune, and immediately after the acceptance of the +preliminaries of peace he resigned his position as a deputy, +alleging that his commission was at an end, and retired to +Arcachon. +</p> + +<p> +His wildly sanguinary articles in the <i>Marseillaise</i>, and +the compacts sealed with blood, with Flourens and his associates, +now had so exhausted our poor Rochefort that at the moment of +flourishing his handkerchief as the standard of the +<i>canaille</i>, he dropped pale and fainting to the ground, +attacked by a severe illness. He was hardly convalescent when the +events of the 18th of March occurred. But early in April, he +exerted himself to assume the direction of the <i>Mot +d’Ordre</i>, which, after having been suppressed by order of +General Vinoy, the military commandant of Paris, had reappeared +immediately upon the establishment of the Commune. He arrived on +the scene of contest about the 8th or 10th of April. The daily +report of military operations states the movements of the enemy, +and points out what should be done to meet and resist him most +advantageously (12th, 13th, and 14th of April; 10th; 16th, and +20th of May). Imaginary successes, the inaccuracy of which must +in most instances have been known to the chief editor of the +<i>Mot d’Ordre</i>, encouraged the hopes of the insurgents, while +the announcement of unsuccessful combats was delayed with evident +intention; the most ridiculous stories, the falsity of which was +evident to the plainest common sense, and which could not escape +the intelligence of M. Rochefort, were published in his journal, +and kept up the popular excitement (12th, 15th, 19th, 26th, 27th, +and 28th of April; 6th and 7th of May). It was in this manner +that the pretended Pontifical Zouaves were brought upon the +scene, with emblazoned banners, which were seized by the soldiers +of the Commune (18th and 19th of April, 8th and 10th of May); +that the Government of Versailles was furnished with war material +given by, or purchased from the Prussians (27th and 28th of +April, 6th and 17th of May); that it was again accused of making +use of explosive bullets (18th and 19th of May), and of petroleum +bombs (20th of April, and 2nd, 5th, 17th, and 19th of May); and +that the best-known and most respected generals had been guilty +of the grossest acts of cruelty and barbarity. Incitement to +civil war (2nd and 26th of April and 14th and 24th of May) +followed, as did also the oft-repeated accusation against the +Government of wishing to reduce Paris by famine; indescribable +calumnies directed against the Chief of the Executive Power (2nd, +16th, 20th, and 30th of April, and 8th of May), against the +minister, the Chambers (16th of April and 14th of May), and the +generals (12th, 16th, and 26th of April). The director of the +<i>Mot d’Ordre</i> then finding that men’s minds were prepared +for all kinds of excesses, started the idea of the demolition of +M. Thiers’s house by way of reprisal (6th of April); he mentioned +the artistic wealth which it contained. He also referred to the +dwellings of other ministers. He returned persistently to this +idea, and on the 17th of May he invited the people, in the name +of justice, to burn off-hand that other humiliating monument +which is styled the History of the Consulate and of the +Empire—in short, he insists on the execution of these acts +of Vandalism. He did not call for the destruction of the Column +Vendôme, but approved of the decree. He demands the +destruction of the Expiatory Chapel of Louis XVI. (20th of +April), and suggests the seizure of the crown jewels, which were +in the possession of the bank (14th of April). In short, M. +Rochefort, having entered upon a road which must naturally lead +to extremes, finally arrives at a proposition for assassination. +In the same way as he pointed out to the demolishers the house of +M. Thiers, and to the bandits released by the Commune the +treasures of the Church, so he points out to the assassins the +unfortunate hostages. +</p> + +<p> +A few days before the end of the reign of the Commune he +judged it prudent, “seeing the gravity of events,” to suspend the +publication of his journal and to quit Paris. +</p> + +<p> +He was arrested at Meaux. It was the “<i>Meaux de la fin</i>,”<a +href="#fn-113" name="fnref-113" id="fnref-113"><sup>[113]</sup></a> said a +friend and fellow-writer. +</p> + +<p> +He arrived at Versailles on the twenty-first of May, at two +o’clock, the same day on which the troops entered Paris. On Sept. +20 Rochefort was tried with the Communists before the military +tribunal of Versailles. Physically he seemed to have suffered +much during his three months of incarceration. He is reported to +have made anything but a brilliant defence, and to have +restricted himself to pleading past actions and good services. He +said that he suppressed <i>The Marseillaise</i> at a loss of +20,000 francs per month, when he had no other private means of +support, because he thought the effect of its articles would +weaken the plan of Trochu for the defence of Paris, and that when +he (M. Rochefort) held the <i>forces populaires</i>, and had an +<i>occasion unique</i>, he chose to play a subordinate part. He +stated himself a journalist <i>under</i> the reign of the +Commune, and not an active power <i>in</i> the Commune from which +in the end he had to fly. Rochefort owned that his articles in +the <i>Mot d’Ordre</i> had been more or less violent, but he +pleaded the cause his “<i>façon plus ou moins nerveuse +à écrire</i>” and that from illness he did not +sometimes see his own journal. When pandering to a vulgar +audience, Rochefort seemed to have lost his rich vein of satire, +and to have lost himself in vile abuse. On the 21st he was +sentenced to transportation for life within the enceinte of a +French fortress. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NOTES: +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-113" id="fn-113"></a> <a href="#fnref-113">[113]</a> +“<i>Le mot de la fin</i>,” the final word—the finale. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="II._Page_27._THE_EIGHTEENTH_OF_MARCH."></a> II. +(Page 27.)</h2> + +<h3>THE EIGHTEENTH OF MARCH.</h3> + +<p> +It was on the day of the 18th of March, exactly six months +after the appearance of Prussians beneath the walls of Paris, +that the Government had chosen for the repression of the +rebellion. At four o’clock in the morning, the troops of the army +of Paris received orders to occupy the positions that had been +assigned to them. All were to take part in the action, but it is +just to add here that the most arduous and fatiguing part fell to +the share of the Lustielle division, composed of the Paturel +brigade (17th battalion of Chasseurs), and of the Lecomte brigade +(18th battalion of Chasseurs). Three regiments of infantry were +entrusted with the guard of the Hôtel de Ville; another, +the 89th, mounted guard at the Tuileries. The Place de la +Bastille was occupied by a battalion of the 64th, and two +companies of the 24th. Three other battalions remained confined +to barracks on the Boulevard du Prince Eugene. The Rue de +Flandre, the Rue de Puebla, and the Rue de Crimée were +filled with strong detachments of Infantry; a battalion of the +Republican Guard and the 35th Regiment of Infantry were drawn up +in the neighbourhood of the Buttes Chaumont. The whole quarter +around the Place Clichy was occupied by the Republican Guard, +foot Chasseurs, mounted gendarmes, Chasseurs d’Afrique, and a +half battery of artillery. Other troops, starting from this +base-line of operation, were led up the heights of Montmartre, +together with companies of Gardiens de la Paix (the former +Sergents-de-Ville converted into soldiers). At six o’clock in the +morning the first orders were executed; the Gardiens de la Paix +surrounded a hundred and fifty or two hundred insurgents +appointed to guard the park of artillery, and the troops made +themselves masters of all the most important points. The success +was complete. Nothing remained to be done but to carry off the +guns. Unhappily, the horses which had been ordered for this +purpose did not arrive at the right moment. The cause of this +fatal delay remains still unknown, but it is certain that they +were still on the Place de la Concorde at the time when they +ought to have been harnessed to the guns at Montmartre. Before +they arrived, agitation had broken out and spread all over the +quarter. The turbulent population, complaining in indignant tones +of circulation being stopped, insulted the sentinels placed at +the entrances of the streets, and threatened the artillerymen who +were watching them. At the same time, the Central Committee +caused the rappel to be beaten, and towards seven o’clock in the +morning ten or twelve thousand National Guards from the +arrondissements of Batignolles, Montmartre, La Villette, and +Belleville poured into the streets. Crowds of lookers-on +surrounded the soldiers who were mounting guard by the recaptured +pieces, the women and children asking them pleadingly if they +would have the heart to fire upon their brothers. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, about a dozen tumbrils, with their horses, had +arrived on the heights of the Buttes, the guns were dragged off, +and were quietly proceeding down hill, when, at the corner of the +Rue Lepic and the Rue des Abbesses, they were stopped by a +concourse of several hundred people of the quarter, principally +women and children. The foot soldiers, who were escorting the +guns, forgetting their duty, allowed themselves to be dispersed +by the crowd, and giving way to perfidious persuasion, ended by +throwing up the butt ends of their guns. These soldiers belonged +to the 88th Battalion of the Lecomte brigade. The immediate +effect of their disaffection was to abandon the artillerymen to +the power of the crowd that was increasing every moment, +rendering it utterly impossible for them either to retreat or to +advance. And the result was, that at nine o’clock in the morning +the pieces fell once more into the hands of the National +Guards. +</p> + +<p> +Judging that the enterprise had no chance of succeeding by a +return to the offensive, Général Vinoy ordered a +retreat, and retired to the quarter of Les Ternes. This movement +had been, moreover, determined by the bad news arriving from +other parts of Paris. The operations at Belleville had succeeded +no better than those at Montmartre. A detachment of the 35th had, +it is true, attacked and taken the Buttes Chaumont, defended only +by about twenty National Guards; but as soon as the news of the +capture had spread in the quarter, the drums beat to arms, and in +a short time the troops were found fraternising with the National +Guards of Belleville, who got possession again of the Buttes +Chaumont, and not only retook their own guns, but also those +which the artillery had brought up to support the manoeuvre of +the infantry of the line. At the same time, the 120th shamefully +allowed themselves to be disarmed by the people, and the +insurgents became masters of the barracks of the Prince +Eugène. +</p> + +<p> +At about four o’clock in the afternoon, two columns of +National Guards, each composed of three battalions, made their +way towards the Hôtel de Ville, where they were joined by a +dozen other battalions from the left bank of the river; at the +same hour, the insurgent guards of Belleville took and occupied +the Imprimerie Nationale, the Napoleon Barracks, the +staff-quarters of the Place Vendôme, and the railway +stations; the arrest of Général Chanzy completed +the work of the day, which had been put to profitable account by +the insurgents.—“<i>Guerre de Comunneux de Paris.</i>” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="III._Page_77._THE_PRUSSIANS_AND_THE_CO"></a> III. +(Page 77.)</h2> + +<h3>THE PRUSSIANS AND THE COMMUNE.</h3> + +<p> +The enemies of yesterday, the Prussians, did not disdain to +enter into communication with the Central Committee on the 22nd +of March. This was an additional reason for the new masters of +Paris to regard their position as established, and the +<i>Official Journal</i> took care to make known to the public the +following despatch received from Prussian +head-quarters:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“To the actual Commandant of Paris, the Commander-in-Chief of the +third corps d’armée.<br/> + “Head-quarters, Compiègne,<br/> + “21st March, 1871.<br/> +<br/> +“The undersigned Commander-in-Chief takes the liberty of informing +you that the German troops that occupy the forts on the north and east +of Paris, as well as the neighbourhood of the right bank of the Seine, +have received orders to maintain a pacific and friendly attitude, so +long as the events of which the interior of Paris is the theatre, do +not assume towards the German forces a hostile character, or such as to +endanger them, but keep within the terms settled by the treaty of +peace.<br/> + “But should these events assume a hostile character, the city of +Paris will be treated as an enemy. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“For the Commandant of the third corps of the Imperial armies,<br/> +“(Signed) Chief of the Staff, VON SCHLOSHEIM,<br/> +“Major-General.” +</p> + +<p> +Paschal Grousset, the delegate of the Central Committee for +Foreign Affairs, who had succeeded Monsieur Jules Favre, but who +instead of minister was called delegate, which was much more +democratic, replied as follows:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Paris, 22nd March, 1871.<br/> +“To the Commandant-in-Chief of the Imperial Prussian Armies.<br/> +<br/> +“The undersigned, delegate of the Central Committee for Foreign +Affairs, in reply to your despatch dated from Compiègne the 21st +instant, informs you that the revolution, accomplished in Paris by the +Central Committee, having an essentially municipal character, has no +aggressive views whatever against the German armies.<br/> + “We have no authority to discuss the preliminaries of peace voted +by the Assembly at Bordeaux. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“The member of the Central Committee, Delegate for Foreign Affairs.<br/> +“(Signed) PASCHAL GROUSSET.” +</p> + +<p> +It was very logical of you, Monsieur Grousset, to avow that +you had no authority to discuss the preliminaries of peace voted +by the Assembly. What right had you then to substitute yourselves +for it? He did not, however, thus remain midway in his diplomatic +career, for after the election of the Commune he thought it his +duty to address the following letter to the German +authorities:— +</p> + +<p class="center"> +“COMMUNE OF PARIS.<br/> +“To the Commander-in-chief of the 3rd Corps. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“GENERAL,<br/> +<br/> +“The delegate of the Commune of Paris for Foreign Affairs has the +honour to address to you the following observations:—<br/> + “The city of Paris, like the rest of France, is interested in the +observance of the conditions of peace concluded with Prussia; she has +therefore a right to know how the treaty will be executed. I beg you, +in consequence, to have the goodness to inform me if the Government of +Versailles has made the first payment of five hundred millions, and if +in consequence of such payment, the chiefs of the German army have +fixed the date for the evacuation of the part of the territory of the +department of the Seine, and also of the forts which form an integral +portion of the territory of the Commune of Paris.<br/> + “I shall be much obliged, General, if you will be good enough to +enlighten me in this respect. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“The Delegate for Foreign Affairs,<br/> +“(Signed) PASCHAL GROUSSET.” +</p> + +<p> +The German general did not think fit, as far as we know, to +send any answer to the above. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="IV._Page_88._GAMBON."></a> IV. (Page 88.)</h2> + +<h3>GAMBON.</h3> + +<p> +There are certain legendary names which when spoken or +remembered evoke a second image and raise a double personality, +Castor implies Pollux; Ninos, Euryalus; Damon, Pythias. An +inferior species of union connects Saint Anthony with his pig, +Roland with his mare, and the infinitely more modern Gambon with +his historic cow. He was “the village Hampden” of the Empire. By +withstanding the tyranny of Caesar’s tax-gatherer and refusing to +pay the imperial rates, he obtained a popularity upon which he +existed until the Commune gave him power. His history is brief. +About a year before the fall of the Second Empire, he declared +that he would pay no more taxes imposed by the Government. +Thereupon, all his realizable property, consisting of one cow, +was seized by the authorities and sold for the benefit of the +State. This procured him the commiseration of the entire party of +<i>irréconciliables</i>. A subscription was opened in the +columns of the <i>Marseillaise</i> to replace the sequestrated +animal, and “La vache à Gambon”—“Gambon’s +cow”—became a derisive party cry. Gambon had been a deputy +in 1848, and when the Commune came into power took a constant +though not remarkable part in its deliberations. He was appointed +member of the Delegation of Justice on the twentieth of +April. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="V._Page_120.._LULLIER."></a> V. (Page 120.).</h2> + +<h3>LULLIER.</h3> + +<p> +Charles Ernest Lullier was born in 1838, admitted into the +Naval School in 1854, and appointed cadet of the second class in +1856. He was expelled the Naval School for want of obedience and +for his irascible character. When on board the Austerlitz he was +noted for his quarrelsome disposition and his violent behaviour +to his superiors as well as his equals, which led to his removal +from the ship and to his detention for a month on board the +Admiral’s ship at Brest. He was first brought into notoriety by +his quarrel with Paul de Cassagnac, the editor of the +<i>Pays</i>, whom he challenged, and who refused his cartel. +Lullier is celebrated for several acts of the most violent +audacity. He struck one of the Government counsel in the Palais +de Justice, and openly threatened the Minister of Marine. He was +condemned several times for political offences and breaches of +discipline. On the fourth of September he left +Sainte-Pélagie at the same time as Rochefort. He attacked +the new government in every possible way; and when the events of +the 18th March occurred, M. Lullier—the man of action, the +man recommended by Flourens—seized the opportunity to +justify the hopes formed of him by his political associates, who +had not lost sight of him, and who elected him military chief of +the insurrection. As General of the National Guard, he has given +us the history of his deeds during the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, +and 22nd March. He has since complacently described the energy +with which he executed his command, has explained the means he +used, and the points occupied by the insurgents; and has +described in the same style the occupation of the Paris forts by +the National Guard. +</p> + +<p> +When, on the 18th of March, the Central Committee offered him +the command in chief of the National Guard, he would only accept +it on the following conditions:— +</p> + +<p> +1. The raising of the state of siege. +</p> + +<p> +2. The election by the National Guard of all its officers, +including the general. +</p> + +<p> +3. Municipal franchises for Paris—that is to say, the +right of the citizens to meet—to appoint magistrates for +the city, and to tax themselves by their representatives. +</p> + +<p> +On being appointed he made it a condition that the initiative +should rest with him, and then he began to execute his duties +with a zeal which never relaxed till his arrest on the 22nd +March. By his orders, barricades were erected in the Rue de +Rivoli, where he massed the insurgent forces. He ordered the +occupation of the Hôtel de Ville and the Napoleon Barracks +by Brunel, the commander of the insurgents. At midnight he took +possession of the Prefecture of Police, at one o’clock of the +Tuileries, at two o’clock of the Place du Palais Royal, and at +four o’clock he was informed that the Ministry were to meet at +the Foreign Office.—“I would have surrounded them,” he +said, “but Jules Favre’s presence withheld me. I contented myself +therefore with occupying the Place Vendôme, the Hôtel +de Ville, and ordering strategical points on the right bank of +the river and four on the left.” +</p> + +<p> +He was subsequently accused of having sold Mont +Valérien to the Versailles authorities, arrested, and +thrown into the Conciergerie. He reappeared, however, on the 14th +April as commander of the flotilla of the Commune. Furious with +the Central Committee and the Commune he opposed them and was +arrested, but contrived to escape from Mazas. From that moment +the general of the Commune put himself in communication with +Versailles through the mediation of M. Camus and Baron Dathiel de +la Tuque, who agreed with him to organise a counter revolution. +Lullier was now busily employed in endeavouring to make people +forget the part he had taken in the insurrection of the 18th +March. He had made it a condition that neither he nor his +accomplices, Gomez d’Absin and Bisson, should be prosecuted. The +expenses were calculated at 30,000 francs; of which M. Camus gave +2000 francs to Lullier, but the scheme did not succeed. Lullier +undertook to have all the members of the Commune arrested, and to +send the hostages to Versailles. Lullier is a man of courage, +foolhardy even, who never hesitated to fight, and if at the end +of the Commune he tried to serve the legitimate government, it +was from a spirit of revenge against the men who had refused his +dictation, and in his own interest. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="VI._Page_220._PROTOT."></a> VI. (Page 220.)</h2> + +<h3>PROTOT.</h3> + +<p> +Citizen Protot, appointed Delegate of Justice by a decree of +the twentieth of April, 1871, was born in 1839. +</p> + +<p> +As an advocate, he defended Mégy, the famous Communist +general of the fort of Issy, when he was accused of the +assassination of a police agent on the eleventh of April, 1870. +This trial, and the ability he displayed, drew public attention +for a moment upon him. Compromised as a member of secret +societies, he managed to escape the police, but was condemned in +his absence to fines and imprisonment. Having been himself a +victim of the law, his attention was first given to the drawing +up of a decree, thus worded:— +</p> + +<p> +“The notaries and public officers in general shall draw up +legal documents which fall within their duty without charge.” +</p> + +<p> +In the discussion on the subject of the confiscation of the +property of M. Thiers, he proposed that all the plate and other +objects in his possession bearing the image of the Orleans family +should be sent to the mint. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="VII._Page_229."></a> VII. (Page 229.)</h2> + +<p class="letter"> +“And now he thinks: ‘The Empire is tottering,<br/> + There’s little chance of victory.’<br/> +Then, creeping furtively backwards, he tries to slink away.<br/> + Remain, renegade, in the building!<br/> +<br/> +“‘The ceiling falls,’ you say! ‘if they see me<br/> + They will seize and stop me as I go,’<br/> +Daring neither to rest nor fly, you miserably watch the roof<br/> + And then the door,<br/> +<br/> +“And shiveringly you put your hand upon the bolt.<br/> + Back into the dismal ranks!<br/> +Back! Justice, whom they have thrust into a pit,<br/> + Is there in the darkness.<br/> +<br/> +“Back! She is there, her sides bleeding from their knives,<br/> + Prostrate; and on her grave<br/> +They have placed a slab. The skirt of your cloak<br/> + Is caught beneath the stone.<br/> +<br/> +“Thou shalt not go! What! Quit their house!<br/> + And fly from their fate!<br/> +What! Would you betray even treachery itself,<br/> + And make even it indignant?<br/> +<br/> +“What! Did you not hold the ladder to these tricksters<br/> + In open daylight?<br/> +Say, was the sack for these robbers’ booty<br/> + Not made by you beforehand?<br/> +<br/> +“Falsehood, Hate, with its cold and venomous fang,<br/> + Crouch in this den.<br/> +And thou wouldst leave it! Thou! more cunning than Falsehood,<br/> + More viperous than Hate.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="VIII._Page_231._JOURDE."></a> VIII. (Page 231.)</h2> + +<h3>JOURDE.</h3> + +<p> +Jourde certainly occupied one of the most difficult offices of +the Commune, for he had to find the means to maintain the +situation, but as the Ministry of Finances is burnt, no documents +can be found to show the employment he made of the funds which +passed through his hands. On the 30th of May, when he was +arrested, disguised as an artizan, with his friend Dubois, he had +about him a sum of 8070 francs in bank notes, and Dubois 3100 +francs; making a total sum of 11,170 francs between the two. A +part of Jourde’s cash was hidden in the lining of his waistcoat; +he declared that it was the only sum taken by him out of the +moneys belonging to the state, thus clearly proving that he had +been guilty of embezzlement. +</p> + +<p> +The amounts declared to have been received by Jourde form a +total of 43,891,000 francs, but as the expenses amount to +47,000,000 francs, it is clear there is a deficiency of +3,309,000. Notwithstanding this fact, all the payments were made +up to the 29th of May. It is, then, certain that other moneys +were received by Jourde, and as he says that cash has been +refused from some unknown persons who offered to lend 50,000,000 +francs on the guarantee of the picture gallery of the Louvre, the +suggestion comes naturally to the mind that the 3,309,000 francs +may have been produced by the sale of valuables in the Tuileries. +Jourde was sentenced by the tribunal of Versailles to +transportation beyond the seas. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="IX._Page_316."></a> IX. (Page 316.)</h2> + +<p> +These are the last proclamations from the Hôtel de +Ville. They refer immediately to the burning of the capital. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening of the thirty-first of May, when Delescluze +denied with vehemence that the regular army had made its entry, +he wrote to Dombrowski:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CITIZEN—I learn that the orders given for the construction of + barricades are contradictory.<br/> + “See that this be not repeated.<br/> + “Blow up or burn the houses which interfere with your plans for the + defence. The barricades ought to be unattackable from the houses.<br/> + “The defenders of the Commune must be removed above want: give to + the necessitous that which is contained in the houses about to be + destroyed.<br/> + “Moreover, make all necessary requisitions, +</p> + +<p class="right"> + “DELESCLUZE, A. BILLICRAY.”<br/> + “Paris, 2nd Prairial, an 79.” +</p> + +<p> +On the 22nd appeared the following proclamation:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “CITIZENS,—The gate of Saint-Cloud, attacked from four directions + at once, was forcibly taken by the Versaillais, who have become + masters of a considerable portion of Paris.<br/> + “This reverse, far from discouraging us, should prove a stimulus to + our exertions. A people who have dethroned kings, destroyed + Bastilles, and established a Republic, can not lose in a day the + fruits of the emancipation of the 18th of March.<br/> + “Parisians, the struggle we have commenced cannot be abandoned, for + it is a struggle between the past and the future, between liberty + and despotism, equality and monopoly, fraternity and servitude, the + unity of nations and the egotism of oppressors.<br/> +<br/> + “AUX ARMES!<br/> +<br/> + “Yes,—to arms! Let Paris bristle with barricades, and from behind + these improvised ramparts let her shout to her enemies the cry of + war, its cry of fierce pride of defiance, and of victory; for Paris + with her barricades is invincible.<br/> + “Let the pavement of the streets be torn up; firstly, because the + projectiles coming from the enemy are less dangerous falling on soft + ground; secondly, because these paving-stones, serving as a new + means of defence, can be carried to the higher floors where there + are balconies.<br/> + “Let revolutionary Paris, the Paris of great deeds, do her duty; the + Commune and the Committee for Public Safety will do theirs. +</p> + +<p class="right"> + “Hôtel de Ville, 2nd Prairial, an 79,<br/> + “The Committee for Public Safety,<br/> + “ANTOINE ARNAULT, E. EUDES, F. GAMBON, G. RANVIER.” +</p> + +<p> +These are the commentaries made by Citizen +Delescluze:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + “Citoyen Jacquet is authorised to find men and materials for the + construction of barricades in the Rue du Château d’Eau and in the + Rue d’Albany.<br/> + “The citoyens and citoyennes who refuse their aid will be shot on + the spot.<br/> + “The citoyens, chiefs of barricades, are entrusted with the care of + assuring tranquillity each in his own quarter.<br/> + “They are to inspect all houses bearing a suspicious appearance &c., + &c.<br/> + “The houses suspected are to be set light to at the first signal + given. +</p> + +<p class="right"> + “DELESCLUZE.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="X._Page_335."></a> X. (Page 335.)</h2> + +<h3>FERRÉ.</h3> + +<p> +At half-past nine on the morning of the 18th of March +Ferré was at No. 6, Rue des Rosiers, opposing the +departure of the prisoners of the Republican Guard, by obtaining +from the Commander Bardelle the revocation of the order for their +dismissal, which was known to have been issued. He went to the +council of the Château Rouge, whither General Lecomte was +about to be taken, and made himself conspicuous by the +persistency with which he called for the death of that general. +On the morning of Monday, the 24th May, a witness residing at the +Prefecture of Police saw Ferré and five others going up +the stairs of the Prefecture of Police. Ferré said to him, +“Be off as quick as you can. We are going to set fire to the +place. In a quarter of an hour it will be in flames.” Half an +hear afterwards the witness saw the flames burst forth from two +windows of the office of the Procureur-Général. +When Raoul Rigault was installed during the insurrection, a woman +saw some persons washing the walls of the Prefecture of Police +with petroleum. Seeing them going out by the court of the St. +Chapelle, she noticed among them one smaller than the rest, +wearing a grey paletot with a black velvet collar, and black +striped trousers. On the same day a police agent went to La +Roquette to order the shooting of Mgr. Darboy and the other +prisoners—the President Bonjean, the Abbé Allard, +the Père Ducoudray, and the Abbé Deguerry. On +Saturday, the 27th, Ferré installed himself in the clerk’s +office of the prison, and ordered the release of certain of the +criminals and gave them arms and ammunition. Upon this they +proceeded to massacre a great number of the prisoners, among whom +were 66 gendarmes. Several witnesses saw Ferré that day at +the prison. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XI._Page_342."></a> XI. (Page 342.)</h2> + +<p> +At the trial of Ferré, August 10, Dr. Puymoyen, +physician to the prison for juvenile offenders, opposite La +Roquette, gave the following graphic evidence:— +</p> + +<p> +“Immediately after the insurgents, driven back by the troops, +had occupied La Roquette, they installed a court-martial at the +children’s prison opposite, where I live. It was from thence I +saw the poor wretches whom they feigned to release, ushered in to +the square, where they encountered an ignoble mob, that +ill-treated them in the most brutal manner. I was told that +Ferré presided over this court-martial. Its proceedings +were singular. I saw an unfortunate gendarme taken to the prison; +he had been arrested near the Grenier d’Abondance, on a +denunciation. He wore a blouse, blue trousers, and an apron, and +was charged with having stolen them. The mob wanted to enter the +prison along with him, but the keepers, who behaved very well, +prevented the invasion of the courtyard. The escort was commanded +by a young woman carrying a Chassepot, and wearing a chignon. I +entered the registrar’s office with this unfortunate gendarme. +One Briand, who was charged to question the prisoners summarily, +asked him where his clothes came from. The man was very cool and +courageous, and his perfect self-possession disconcerted this +<i>juge d’instruction.</i> He was asked if he were married, and +had a family. He replied, ‘Yes, I have a wife and eight +children.’ He was then shown into the back office, where the +‘judges’ were. These judges were mere boys, who seemed quite +proud of the part they were playing, and gave themselves no end +of airs, I asked the governor of the gaol soon afterwards what +had been done with the gendarme. He told me that they were going +to shoot him. I replied, ‘Surely it can’t be true. I must see the +president—we can’t allow a married man with eight children +to be murdered in this way.’ I tried to get into the room where +the court-martial was sitting, but was prevented. One of the +National Guards on duty at the door told me ‘Don’t go in there, +or you’re done for (<i>N’y entrez pas, ou vous êtes +f—</i>).’ I made immediately further inquiries about M. +Grudnemel, and was told he was in ‘a provisional cell.’ I +trembled for him, for I knew that meant he would be given up to +the mob, which would tear him to pieces. When they said, ‘This +man is to be taken to a cell,’ that meant that he was to be shot. +When they said, ‘Put him in a provisional cell,’ it meant that he +should be delivered over to the mob for butchery, I continued to +plead the gendarme’s cause with the National Guard, dwelling on +the fact of his having eight children. Thereon, the Woman above +referred to, who appeared to be in command of the detachment, +exclaimed, ‘Why does this fellow go in for the gendarme?’ One of +her acolytes replied, ‘Smash his jaw.’ This woman seemed to +understand her business. She minutely inspected the men’s pouches +to ascertain that they had plenty of ammunition. She would not +hear of the gendarme being reprieved, and she had her way. I +understood that I had better follow the governor’s advice and +keep quiet. A mere boy was placed as sentry at the door of the +court-martial. He told me, ‘You know I sha’n’t let you in.’ When +I saw the poor gendarme leave the room he looked at me +imploringly; he had probably detected in my eyes a look of +sympathy. And when he was told that he might go out—hearing +the yells of the mob—he turned towards me and said, ‘But I +shall be stoned to death;’ and, in fact, it was perfectly fearful +to hear the shouts of the crowd outside. I could not withstand +the impulse, and I took my place by his side, and tried to +address the crowd. ‘Think on what you are going to +do—surely you won’t murder the father of eight children.’ +The words were hardly out of my mouth when a kind of signal was +given. I was shoved back against the wall, and one National +Guard, clapping his hand on his musket, ejaculated, ‘You know, +you old rascal, there is something for you here,’ and he drove +his bayonet through my whiskers. The unfortunate gendarme was +taken across the place, close to the shop where they sell funeral +wreaths, but there was no firing party in attendance. He then +took to his heels, but was pursued, captured, and put to death. I +began to feel rather bewildered, and some one urged me to return +to the prison, which I did. A young linesman was then brought in. +He was quite a young fellow, barely twenty; his hands were tied +behind his back. They decided to kill him within the prison. They +set upon him, beat him, tore his clothes, so that he had hardly a +shred of covering left; they made him kneel, then made him stand +up, blindfolded him then uncovered his eyes; finally they put an +end to his long agony by shooting him, and flung the body into a +costermonger’s cart close to the gate. Several priests had got +out of the prison of La Roquette. The Abbé Surat, on +passing over a barricade, was so imprudent as to state who he +was, and showed some articles of value he had about him. He had +got as far as about the middle of the Boulevard du Prince +Eugène, when he was arrested and taken back to the prison, +where they prepared to shoot him. But the young woman whom I have +before mentioned, with a revolver in one hand and a dagger in the +other, rushed at him exclaiming, ‘I must have the honour of +giving him the first blow.’ The abbé instinctively put his +hands out to protect himself, crying, ‘<i>Grâce! +grâce!</i>’ Whereon this fury shouted, ‘<i>Grâce! +grâce! en voilà un maigre</i>,’ and she discharged +her revolver at him. His body was not searched, but his shoes +were removed. Afterwards his pastoral cross and 300 francs were +found about him. The boys detained in the prison were set at +liberty. The smaller ones were made to carry pails of petroleum, +the others had muskets given them, and were sent to fight. Six of +them were killed; the remainder came back that night, and on the +following day. About a hundred boys were taken to Belleville by a +member of the Commune, quite a young man; they were wanted to +make sand-bags, to be filled with earth to form barricades.” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XII._Page_345."></a> XII. (Page 345.)</h2> + +<p> +Regarding the death of President Bonjean, the Abbé de +Marsay said—“That gentleman carried his scruples so far +that he would not avail himself of forty-eight hours’ leave on +<i>parole</i>, fearing he could not get back in time; thus did +not see his family.” +</p> + +<p> +The Abbé Perni, a venerable man with a white beard, who +had been a missionary said: +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“On Wednesday, the 24th of May, we were ordered back to our cells at La +Roquette at an earlier hour than usual, and at about four o’clock in the +afternoon a battalion of federates noisily occupied the passage into which our +cells opened. They spoke at the topmost pitch of their voices. One of them +said, ‘We must get rid of these Versailles banditti.’ Another replied, ‘Yes; +let us bowl them over, put them to bed.’ I understood what this meant, and +prepared for death. Soon after the door next mine was opened, and I heard a man +asking if M. Darboy was there. The prisoner replied in the negative. The man +passed before my door without stopping, and I soon heard the mild voice of the +archbishop answering to his name. The hostages were then dragged put of the +lobby; ten minutes later I saw the mournful <i>cortège</i> pass in front of my +windows; the federates were walking along in a confused way, making a noise to +cover the voice of their victims, but I could hear Father Allard exhorting his +companions to prepare for death. A little after I heard the report of the +muskets, and understood that all was over. On Thursday (the 25th) the day +passed off quietly, but on Friday shells began to fall on the prison, and at +about half-past four in the afternoon a corporal, named Romain. came up, and +with a joyful face told us we would soon be free. He said answer to your names; +I must have 15. He had a list in his hand, and I must confess a feeling of +terror came over us all. Ten hostages answered to their names. One of them, a +father of the order of Picpus, asked if he could take his hat. Romain replied, +‘Oh, it’s no use; you are only going to the registrar’s.’ None of these +unfortunate men ever returned. On Saturday (the 27th) we learnt that several of +the prisoners had been armed with hammers, files, &c. They threw us some of +these in at the windows. We were then informed that several members of the +Commune had arrived at La Roquette. I cannot say whether Ferré was among them. +We were taken back to our cellars, where we expected to be put to death every +minute. At about four o’clock the cells of the common prisoners were opened, +and they escaped, shouting ‘Vive la Commune!’ Our keeper himself had +disappeared, and a turnkey presently opened our cells, and recommended us to +run away. We were afraid this was a trap, but as it might afford a chance we +determined to avail ourselves of it. Those amongst us who had plain clothes +hurried them on, and I must say the gaolers behaved admirably in this +emergency; they lent clothes to such of us as had none, and we were thus all +enabled to escape. As for myself, after wandering for about an hour in the +streets about the prison, and being unable to find shelter anywhere, and afraid +of being murdered in the streets, I determined to return to La Roquette. As I +reached it I met the archbishop’s secretary, two priests, and two gendarmes, +who, like myself, had been driven to return to the prison. One of the keepers +told us that the safest for us was the sick ward. We dressed up in the hospital +uniform and hid in bed. At eight in the evening the federates, who were not +aware that we had escaped, came back and called on the gaolers to produce us. +They were told we had gone; fortunately they believed it. On Sunday the troops +came in, and I left La Roquette for good this time. In reply to a further +question the witness said that as the hostages marched past his windows, on +their way to execution, he saw President Bonjean raising his hands, and heard +him say, ‘<i>Mon Dieu, mon Dieu!</i>’ +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XIII._Page_82._URBAIN."></a> XIII. (Page 82.)</h2> + +<h3>URBAIN.</h3> + +<p> +Urbain, formerly head master of an academy, was elected to the +Commune, and became, in virtue of his former office of teacher, a +member of the Committee of Instruction, retaining at the same +time his office of mayor. He finally installed himself in his +mayoralty about the middle of April, with his sister and young +son, and gave protection there to his mistress, Leroy, who had +great influence over him, and who used to frequent the committees +and clubs. At the mayoralty of the 7th Arrondissement this woman, +in the absence of the mayor, took the direction and management of +affairs. During the administration of Urbain searches were made +in private and in religious houses, this woman, Leroy, sometimes +taking part in the proceedings; on these occasions seizures were +made of letters and articles of value, which were sent to the +mayoralty and from thence to the police-office. Urbain and the +woman Leroy are accused of having appropriated to themselves +money and jewellery. At the mayoralty of the 7th Arrondissement +there were deposits for public instruction to the amount of 8000 +francs, which had dwindled down to 2900 francs. Urbain confesses +having employed this money in helping persons compromised like +himself. It is certain that during the residence of the woman +Leroy at the mayoralty the expenses exceeded the sum allowed to +Urbain. According to the evidence of a domestic everybody tad +recourse to this unfortunate deposit, and it is stated in the +instructions that the accused had left by will to his son a sum +of 4000 francs in bank notes and gold, deposited in the hands of +his aunt, Madame Danelair, while there is clear proof that before +the days of the Commune he did not possess a sou. Madame Leroy +herself, who came to the mayoralty without a penny, was found in +possession of 1000 francs, which she said were the results of her +savings. It appears from the statement of M. Laudon, inspector of +police, that the search made at his house resulted in the +subtraction of a sum of 6000 francs, and that he has seen a ring +which belonged to his wife on the finger of the woman Leroy. +Though not taking a conspicuous share in the military operations, +Urbain played an important part. His duty was to visit the +military stations and to take possession of the Fort d’Issy, +which had been abandoned. He admits that he thus visited the +barracks and the ramparts. He ordered the construction of +barricades, and says that, on the occasion of the repulse of the +22nd May, he resisted the entreaties of the woman Leroy, who +wished him to give up the struggle and to betake himself to the +Hôtel de Ville, with the view of remaining at his post. As +a politician, Urbain, in the discussions of the Commune, was very +zealous and spoke frequently. By his vote he gave his sanction to +all the violent decrees relating to the hostages, the demolition +of the Column, the destruction of M. Thiers’ house, and the +Committee of Public Safety, of which he was one of the most +ardent supporters. To him is to be attributed in particular the +demand for the carrying into execution the decree relating to the +hostages. On this point here is Urbain’s proposal, copied from +the <i>Official Journal</i> of the 18th May:—“I demand that +either the Commune or the Committee of Public Safety should +decree that the ten hostages in our custody should be shot within +twenty-four hours, in retaliation for the murders of our +cantinière and of the bearer of our flag of truce, who +were shot in defiance of the law of nations. I demand that five +of the hostages should be executed solemnly in the centre of +Paris, in presence of deputations from all the battalions, and +that the rest should be shot at the advanced posts in presence of +the soldiers who witnessed the murders. I trust my proposal will +be agreed to.” By this proposal Urbain has linked his name to the +horrible crime committed on the hostages. Latterly he was a +member of the military committee, and his ability served well the +cause of the insurgents. He was condemned by the court-martial of +Versailles to hard labour for life, September 2, 1871. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XIV._THE_DEVASTATIONS_OF_PARIS."></a> XIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE DEVASTATIONS OF PARIS.</h3> + +<p> +The following is the way in which the fires were +prepared:—In some instances a number of men, acting as +<i>avant-courriers</i>, went first, telling the inhabitants that +the Quarter was about to be delivered to the flames, and urging +them to fly for their lives; in other oases, the unfortunate +people were told that the whole city would be burnt, and that +they might as well meet death where they were as run to seek it +elsewhere. In some places—in the Rue de Vaugirard, for +instance—it is asserted that sentinels were placed in the +streets and ordered to fire upon everyone who attempted to +escape. One incendiary, who was arrested in the Rue de Poitiers, +declared that he received ten francs for each house which he set +on fire. Another system consisted in throwing through the cellar +doors or traps tin cans or bottles filled with petroleum, +phosphorus, nitro-glycerine, or other combustibles, with a long +sulphur match attached to the neck of the vessel, the match being +lighted at the moment of throwing the explosives into the cellar. +Finally, the batteries at Belleville and the cemetery of +Père la Chaise sent destruction into many quarters by +means of petroleum shells. +</p> + +<p> +Eudes, a general of the Commune, sent the following order to +one of his officers:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Fire on the Bourse, the Bank, the Post Office, the Place des +Victoires, the Place Vendôme, the Garden of the Tuileries, the Babylone +Barracks; leave the Hôtel de Ville to Commandant Pindy and the Delegate +of War, and the Committee of Public Safety and of the Commune will +assemble at the <i>mairie</i> of the eleventh Arrondissement, where +you are established; there we will organize the defence of the popular +quarters of the city. We will send you cannon and ammunitions from the +Parc Basfroi. We will hold out to the last, happen what may. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +“(Signed) E. EUDES.” +</p> + +<p> +The insurgents had collected a considerable quantity of powder +in the Pantheon, and when the Versailles troops obtained +possession of the building the officer in command at once +searched for the slow match, and cut it off when it had not more +than a yard to burn! +</p> + +<p> +Instructions were given to the firemen not to extinguish the +fires, but to retire to the Champ de Mars with the pumps and +other apparatus. Whenever a man attempted to do anything to +arrest the conflagration he was fired at. The firemen, who had +arrived from all parts, even from Belgium, and honest citizens +who joined them, worked to extinguish the fires amid showers of +bullets. At the Treasury the labours of these men were four times +interrupted by the violent cannonading of the insurgents. +</p> + +<p> +The fire broke out at the TUILERIES on Tuesday evening. When +the battalions at the Arc de Triomphe and at the Corps +Législatif had silenced the guns ranged before the Palace, +the insurgents set fire to it, and threw out men <i>en +tirailleur</i> to prevent anyone from approaching to subdue the +flames. +</p> + +<p> +At the same moment an attempt was made to set fire to the +MINISTRY OF MARINE, in obedience to an order given to Commandant +Brunel, which was thus worded:—“In a quarter of an hour the +Tuileries will be in flames; as soon as our wounded are removed, +you will cause the explosion of the Ministry.” It was Admiral +Pothuau, the minister himself, who, at the head of a handful of +sailors, set the incendiaries to flight, Brunel along with them. +They also arrived in time to prevent any damage being done to the +BIBLIOTHÈQUE NATIONALE. +</p> + +<p> +The struggle was terrific during the night; the insurgents, +who had sought refuge in the Ministry of Finance, after the +taking of the barricade in the Rue Saint-Florentin, increased the +fury of the flames by firing from the windows, and discharging +jets of petroleum at the soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +On Wednesday morning the battle had become fearful. Towards +ten o’clock columns of smoke rose above Paris, forming a thick +cloud, which the sun’s rays could not penetrate. Then, +simultaneously, all the fires burst forth: at the CONSEIL D’ETAT, +at the LEGION OF HONOUR, at the CAISSE DES DÉPÔTS ET +CONSIGNATIONS. at the HÔTEL DE VILLE, at the PALAIS ROYAL, +at the MINISTRY OF FINANCE, at the PREFECTURE DE POLICE, at the +PALAIS DE JUSTICE, at the THÉÂTRE LYRIQUE, in the +Rue du Bac, the Rue de Lille, the Rue de la Croix-Rouge, Rue +Notre-Dame-des-Champs, in a great number of houses in the +Faubourgs Saint-Germain and Saint-Honoré, in the Rue +Royale, and in the Rue Boissy d’Anglas. Not many hours later, +flames were seen to arise from the Avenue Victoria, Boulevard +Sébastopol, Rue Saint-Martin, at the Château d’Eau, +in the Rue Saint-Antoine, and the Rue de Rivoli. +</p> + +<p> +During the night of Friday, the docks of LA VILLETTE, and the +warehouses of the DOUANE, the GRENIER D’ABONDANCE and the +GOBELINS were all burning! So great was the glare that small +print could be read as far off as Versailles, even on that side +of the town towards Meudon and Ville d’Avray. +</p> + +<p> +THE DOME OF THE INVALIDES.—This was placed in imminent +danger. Mines were laid on all sides, but their positions were +discovered, and the electric wires out which were to have +communicated the spark. +</p> + +<p> +THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE.—When the noise of the +fusillade and cannonading ceased, the Place de la Concorde was a +scene of absolute desolation. On all sides lay broken pieces of +candelabra, balustrades, paving-stones, asphalte, and heaps of +earth. The water-nymphs and Tritons of the fountains were much +mutilated, and the statue of the town of Lille—one of the +eight gigantic, seated figures of the principal towns of France, +which form a prominent ornament to the Place, the work of +Pradier, and a likeness of one of the Orleans princesses-lay +shivered on the ground. +</p> + +<p> +THE ARC DE L’ETOILE.—The triumphal arch bears many +scars, but none of them of much importance. On the façade +looking towards Courbevoie, the great bas-relief by Etex, +representing “War,” was struck by three shells; the group of +“Peace” received only the fragment of one. Here and there, in the +bas-relief representing the “Passage of the Bridge of Areole,” +and the “Taking of Alexandra,” some traces of balls are visible. +On the whole, no irremediable hum is done here. Rude’s +masterpiece, “The Marseillaise,” is untouched. +</p> + +<p> +THE PALACE OF INDUSTRY.—Rumour says Courbet had, among +other projects, formed an idea of demolishing the Palace of +Industry. The painted windows of the great nave have received no +serious injury. The bas-relief of the main façade, +picturing Industry and the Arts offering their products to the +universal exhibitions, has several of its figures mutilated. The +same has happened to the colossal group by Diebolt—France +offering laurel crowns to Art and Industry. +</p> + +<p> +THE TUILERIES.—Felix Pyat, in the <i>Vengeur</i>, +proposed converting the Palace of the Tuileries into a school for +the children of soldiers. He says:—“They have taken +possession by the work and activity that reign there; a whole +floor is filled with tools and activity, and converted into +workshops for the construction of messenger balloons. King Labour +is enthroned there. I recognised there among the workmen an exile +of the revolutionary Commune of London. The workmen and the +proscribed at the Tuileries! From the prison of London to the +palace of the Tuileries. It is well!” But in the heart of the +Commune the soul of the <i>Vengeur</i> underwent a change, and +insisted on the complete destruction of the “infamous pile.” +</p> + +<p> +The portion of the building overlooking the river was alone +preserved. The roofing is destroyed, but the façade is but +little injured, the only work of art damaged here being a +pediment by M. Carrier-Belleuse, representing “Agriculture.” +Fortunately the Government of the Fourth of September had sent +all the most precious things to the Garde-Meuble (Stores); but +how can the magnificent Gobelins tapestry, the fine ceilings, the +works of Charles Lebrun, of Pierre Mignard, of Coypel, of +Francisque Meillet, of Coysevox, of Girardon, and of many others, +and the exquisite Salon des Roses be replaced? +</p> + +<p> +The Tuileries burnt for three days, and ten days afterwards +the ruins blazed forth anew near the Pavillon de Flore. Not only +did the devouring fire threaten to destroy inestimable treasures, +but on Monday a number of men carrying slow matches, and led by a +man named Napias-Piquet, made all their preparations to set fire +to several points of the museum of the Louvre, and two of the +guardians were shot. This Napias-Piquet threatened to make of the +whole quarter of the Louvre one great conflagration. He was taken +and shot, and in his pocket was found a note of his breakfast of +the preceding day, amounting to 57 francs 80 centimes. +</p> + +<p> +THE LOUVRE.—The preservation of the museum was due to +the strong masonry, and the thick walls of the new portion of the +building, on which the raging flames could make no impression. +But it ran other risks: when the troops entered the building, +they planted the tricolour on the clock pavilion, which served as +an object for the insurgents’ aim. It was immediately removed, +however, when this was perceived. It was generally believed that +the galleries of the Louvre contained all their art treasures. +This was not the case; prior to the first siege the most precious +of the contents had been carefully packed and conveyed to the +arsenal of Brest, where they safely reposed, but many very +admirable works remained. +</p> + +<p> +MINISTRY OF FINANCE (Treasury).—On the 22nd of May, the +official journal of the Commune published a note declaring that +the certificates of stock and the stock books (<i>grand +livre</i>) would be burnt within forty-eight hours. The Commune +was annoyed at the publicity given to this note, and a violent +debate took place in its council in consequence. On this occasion +Paschal Grousset uttered the following:— +</p> + +<p> +“I blame those who inserted the note in question, but I demand +that measures may be taken for the destruction of all such +documents belonging to those at Versailles, the day that they +shall enter Paris.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-85"></a> +<img src="images/092.jpg" width="600" height="278" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Court of the Louvre, from Place Du Carrousel</b></p> +</div> + +<p class="letter"> +The Library is completely destroyed. More than 90,000 volumes are burnt. Rare +editions, Elzevirs, precious MSS., coins, and unique collections, priceless +treasures, are irrevocably lost. +</p> + +<p> +The building forms one of the most striking ruins in Paris. +Citizen Lucas, appointed by Ferré to set the Ministry on +fire, did his task well. The conflagration, which lasted several +days, began in the night of the 23rd of May. Not only was every +part soaked with petroleum, but shells had also been placed about +the building, and burst successively as the fire extended. +Scarcely anything remains of the huge pile but the offices of the +Administration of Forest Lands, which are almost intact. A +considerable number of valuable documents were saved, but the +quantity was very small in comparison with the immense collection +accumulated since the beginning of the century. Four times was +the work of salvage interrupted by the insurgents. Not a single +book in the library has escaped; and this library contained +almost the whole of the enormous correspondence of Colbert, the +minister, forming no less than two thousand volumes. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-86"></a> +<img src="images/093.jpg" width="600" height="299" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Palais Royal.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +The PALAIS ROYAL.—The palace itself alone is destroyed; +the galleries of the THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS are +preserved. The <i>Constitutionnel</i> published the following +account of the conflagration;— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“It was at three o’clock that this fearful fire burst forth. A +shopkeeper of the PALAIS ROYAL, M. Emile Le Saché, came forward in all +haste to offer his services. A Communist captain, or lieutenant, +threatened to fire on him if he did not retire on the instant; he added +that the whole quarter was going to be blown up and burned. In the +teeth of this threat, however, two fire-engines were brought to the +Place, and were worked by the people of the neighbourhood. It was four +o’clock. No water in the Cour des Fontaines. But some was procured by a +line of people being placed along the passage leading from the Cour +d’Honneur, who passed full buckets of water from hand to hand.<br/> + “A ladder was placed against the wall for the purpose of reaching +the terrace of the Rue de Valois. The insurgents proved so true to +their word that the people were forced to renounce the attempt at +saving the entire pavilion. Fire and smoke burst forth from three +windows just above the terrace. In the midst of the balls showered from +the barricade at the corner of the Rue de Rivoli, they succeeded in +extinguishing the fire on that side. At five o’clock M. O. Sauve, +captain in the commercial service, with a handful of brave workmen, got +a fire engine into the Cour d’Honneur, and thus saved a great quantity +of pictures, precious marbles, furniture, hangings, etc. Here another +line of people was formed for the carrying of buckets, but +unfortunately water ran short: the pipes had been cut, the wretches had +planned that the destruction should be complete. At seven o’clock M. +Bessignet, jun., hastened there with four Paris firemen, but already +the Pavilion, where the flames were first apparent, was entirely +consumed.<br/> + “On the arrival of the firemen they used every effort to prevent the +fire communicating itself to the apartments of the Princess Clothilde; +it had already reached the façade on the side of the Place. Here, too, +all the fittings and ornaments of the chapel were saved.<br/> + At last, at seven o’clock, the soldiers of the line arrive. ‘Long +live the line!’ is shouted on all sides. ‘Long live France!’ Signals +are made with the ambulance flags. Help is come at last!<br/> + “Those present now regard their position with more coolness, and use +every effort to combat the fire, pumping from the roofs and upper +storeys of the neighbouring houses. The fire continues, however, +increasing and spreading on the theatre side. Here is the greatest +danger. If the theatre catch light, all the quarter will most probably +be destroyed. They then determine to avail themselves of the water +appliances of the theatre to stay the progress of the flames. This is. +rendered more difficult and dangerous by the continuous firing from the +Communists installed in the upper story of the Hôtel du Louvre. M. Le +Sache mounts on the roofs, with the principal engineer, to conduct this +movement. They are compelled to hide out of the way of the shower of +balls coming from the Communists.<br/> + “At ten o’clock the companies from the quarter of the Banque, the +12th battalion of National Guards, arrive. The Federals are put to +flight. Thereupon thirty <i>sapeurs-pompiers</i> of Paris came at full +speed and succeed in mastering the remaining fire. An hour sooner and +all could have been saved.” +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-87"></a> +<img src="images/094.jpg" width="600" height="376" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Hôtel de Ville.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +THE HOTEL DE VILLE.—The Hôtel de Ville was set on +fire by order of the Committee of Public Safety at the moment +when the entry of the troops caused them to fly to the Ecole des +Chartes, which was thus saved, and whence they fled to the Mairie +of Belleville. Five battalions of National Guards—the 57th, +156th, 178th, 184th, and the 187th—remained to prevent any +attempt being made to extinguish the fire. Petroleum had been +poured about the <i>Salle du Trône</i>, and the <i>Salle du +Zodiaque</i>, which were decorated by Jean Goujon and Cogniet; in +the <i>Galerie de Pierre</i>, in which were paintings by Lecomte, +Baudin, Desgoffes, Hédouin, and Bellel; in the <i>Salon +des Arcades</i>, in the <i>Salon Napoléon</i>, in the +<i>Galerie des Fêtes</i>, and in the <i>Salon de la +Paix</i>, which contained works of Schopin, Picot, Vanchelet, +Jadin, Girard, Ingres, Delacroix, Landelle, Riesener, Lehmann, +Gosse, Benouville and Cabanel. It is not only as a fine specimen +of architecture that the Hôtel de Ville is to be regretted, +but as the cradle of the municipal and revolutionary history of +Paris, as well as for the vast collection of archives of the +city, duplicates of which were at the same moment a prey to the +flames at the Palais de Justice. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-88"></a> +<img src="images/095.jpg" width="336" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Foreign Office.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +THE PREFECTURE OF POLICE was set fire to by the Communal +delegate Ferré and a band of drunken National Guards. +</p> + +<p> +THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE, thanks to the prompt arrival of the +soldiers, has been partially spared. The damage done, however, is +very great. In the SALLE DES PAS-PERDUS several of the grand +arches that support the roof have fallen in, and many of the +columns are lying in ruins on the pavement. The Cour de Cassation +and the Cour d’Assises are entirely destroyed. The conflagration +was stopped, when it reached the Cour d’Appel and the Tribunal de +Première Instance. +</p> + +<p> +PALACE OF THE QUAI D’ORSAY.—This vast building, in which +the Conseil d’État and the Cour des Comptes held their +sittings, has suffered seriously, though the walls are not +destroyed; but what is irreparable is the loss of the many +precious documents belonging to the financial and legislative +history of France. The most famous artists of our time have +contributed to the decoration of the interior. Jeanron painted +the twelve allegorical subjects for the vaulted ceiling of the +<i>Salle des Pas-Perdus</i>; Isabey, the Port of Marseilles in +the Committee-room. The Death of President de Renty, in the +<i>Salle du Contentieux</i>, was by Paul Delaroche; the fine +portrait of Napoleon I., as legislator, in the great Council +Chamber, by Flandrin; and in another apartment the portrait of +Justinien by Delacroix. These, and many other treasures, are +lost; for the work of destruction was complete. +</p> + +<p> +MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.—The façade has been +seriously injured. It was fired upon from the terrace of the +Tuileries, and from a gunboat lying under cover of the +Pont-Royal. The Doric and Ionic columns are partly broken, as +well as the fifteen medallions in white marble, which bore the +arms of the principal powers. The apartments in front have been +greatly damaged, and especially the <i>salon</i> of the +ambassadors, where the Congress of Paris was held in 1856. +</p> + +<p> +THE PALACE OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR.—This is a specimen +of French architecture, unique of its kind. Happily, drawings and +plans have been preserved, and the members of the Legion of +Honour have offered a subscription for its re-instatement. +</p> + +<p> +THE GOBELINS.—The public gallery, the school of +tapestry, and the painters’ studios have been destroyed. The +incendiaries would have burned all, works, frames and materials, +if the people of the quarter, with the Gobelins weavers, had not +defended them at the peril of their lives. An irreparable loss is +that of a valuable collection of tapestry dating from the time of +Louis XIV. +</p> + +<p> +The military hospital of the VAL DE GRÂCE, the ASYLUM +FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, the MINT, the façade of the annex +of the ÉCOLE-DES-BEAUX-ARTS, have been riddled with balls. +At the LUXEMBOURG the magnificent camellia-house and +conservatories exist no longer, and the graceful Medici fountain +has been injured. +</p> + +<p> +THE BANK had most fortunately been placed in charge of the +delegate Beslay, who, during the whole time he was there, made +every effort to prevent the pillage of the valuables. He was ably +seconded by all the officials and <i>employés</i>, who had +before been armed and incorporated into a battalion. +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-89"></a> +<img src="images/096.jpg" width="338" height="500" alt="Illustration: " /> +<p class="caption"><b>Palace of the Legion D’honneur.</b></p> +</div> + +<p> +POST OFFICE.—The Communal delegate, Theiz, prevented the +incendiaries from setting fire to this important +establishment. +</p> + +<p> +THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH OF THE PORTE-ST-DENIS.—The bas-relief +containing an emblematical figure of the Rhine resting on a +rudder has been mutilated, a shell having carried the arm and its +support entirely away. The other bas-relief of Holland vanquished +and in tears, has been struck by balls, as have also the figures +of Fame in the tympans of the arcades. +</p> + +<p> +THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH OF THE PORTE-ST-MARTIN.—The +sculptures, which represent the taking of Limbourg and the defeat +of the Germans, have suffered considerably. They are the works of +Le Hongre and the elder Legros. +</p> + +<p> +A tragic incident marked the burning of the THEATRE OF THE +PORTE ST. MARTIN (see sketch). After laving massacred the +proprietor and people of the <i>restaurant</i> Ronceray, the +Federals set fire to the house and the theatre which is +adjoining. At eight o’clock in the evening, on beholding the +first flames arise, the inhabitants of the quarter united in +endeavouring to extinguish the fire, notwithstanding that the +projectiles fell thickly in the Boulevard Saint-Martin and in the +Rue de Bondy. The Federals from behind their barricades at the +corner of the Rue Bouchardon, fired upon everyone who attempted +to enter the theatre. +</p> + +<p> +The ARCHIVES (Record Office), the IMPRIMERIE NATIONALE, and +the BIBLIOTHÈQUE MAZARINE were all preserved through the +strenuous endeavours of MM. Alfred Maury, Haureau, and Charles +Asselineau, who had all managed to keep their places in spite of +the Commune. +</p> + +<p> +At the DOCKS OF LA VILLETTE, and at the warehouses of the +DOUANE, the destruction of property has been enormous. Many +millions’ worth of goods were consumed there. +</p> + +<p> +In the great buildings belonging to the MAGASINS RÉUNIS +(Cooperative Stores) an ambulance had been established, and this +was in the utmost danger during two days. It was only owing to +the wonderful energy of M. Jahyer that the fire was mastered +while the poor wounded men were transported to a place of +safety. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +THE CHURCHES. +</p> + +<p> +NOTRE-DAME.—In the interior of Notre-Dame the insurgents +set fire to three huge piles of chairs and wood-work. Fortunately +the fact was discovered before much mischief had happened. +</p> + +<p> +THE SAINTE-CHAPELLE.—This incomparable gem of Gothic +art, by some marvellous good fortune was neither touched by fire +nor shells. It will still be an object for the pilgrimages of the +erudite and the curious. +</p> + +<p> +THE MADELEINE.—The balls have somewhat damaged the +double colonnade of the peristyle, but the sculptured pediment by +Lemaire is all but untouched. +</p> + +<p> +THE TRINITÉ.—The façade has been seriously +injured. The Federals, from their barricades at the entrance of +the Chaussée-d’Antin, bombarded it for several hours. The +painted windows by Ondinot had been removed before the +siege—like those of the ancient Cathedral of St. Denis, and +the Chapel of St. Ferdinand, by Ingres, they repose in +safety. +</p> + +<p> +Of all the churches of Paris ST. EUSTACHE has suffered the +most. At one time the fire had reached the roof, but it was +fortunately discovered in time. +</p> + +<p> +The paintings at NOTRE-DAME-DE-LORETTE, at +SAINT-GERMAIN-L’AUXERROIS, and at SAINT-GERMAIN-DES-PRÉS +have been spared. +</p> + +<p> +It is curious that the churches suffered so little, whilst +several theatres were burned, including the Porte St. Martin, +Théâtre du Châtelet, Lyrique, +Délassements Comiques, etc. +</p> + +<p> +The windows of the church of SAINT-JACQUES-DU-HAUT-PAS are +destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +It has been estimated that the value of the houses and other +property destroyed in Paris amounts to twenty millions sterling. +In addition to this, it is said that twelve millions’ worth of +works of art, furniture, &c., have disappeared, and that more +than two and a half millions’ worth of merchandise was burnt, +making a total of nearly thirty-five millions. It has been said +that the value of the window-glass alone destroyed during the +reign of the Commune approaches a million sterling. The demand +for glass was at one time so great that the supply was quite +insufficient, and at the present moment the price is 20 per cent. +higher than usual. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="App._XV."></a> XV.</h2> + +<p> +The following order of the day of General de Ladmirault, +commanding the first army corps of Versailles, sums up the +principal episodes of this eight days battle:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Officers and soldiers of the First Corps d’Armée,—<br/> + The defences of the lines of Neuilly, Courbevoie, Bécon and +Asnières served you by way of apprenticeship. Your energy and courage +were formed amid the greatest works and perils. Every one in his grade +has given an example of the most complete abnegation and devotion. +Artillery, engineers, troops of the line, cavalry, volunteers of the +Seine-et-Oise, you rivalled each other in zeal and ardour. Thus +prepared, on the 22nd of the month you attacked the insurgents, whose +guilty designs and criminal undertakings you knew and despised. You +devoted yourselves nobly to save from destruction the monuments of our +old national glory, as well as the property of the citizens menaced by +savage rage.<br/> + On the 23rd of the month, the formidable position of the Buttes +Montmartre could no longer resist your efforts, in spite of all the +forces with which they were covered.<br/> + This task was confided to the first and second division and the +volunteers of the Seine and Seine-et-Oise, and the heads of the various +columns arrived simultaneously at the summit of the position.<br/> + On the 24th, the third division, which alone had been charged with +the task of driving the insurgents out of Neuilly, Levallois-Perret, +and Saint-Ouen, joined the other divisions, and took possession of the +terminus of the Eastern Railway, while the first division seized that +of the Northern line by force of arms.<br/> + On the 26th, the third division occupied the <i>rotonde</i>—circular +place—of La Villette.<br/> + On the 27th, the first and second division, with the volunteers of +the Seine-et-Oise, by means of a combined movement, took the Buttes +Chaumont and the heights of Belleville by assault, the artillery having +by its able firing prepared the way for the occupation.<br/> + Finally, on the 28th, the defences of Belleville yielded, and the +first corps achieved brilliantly the task which had been confided to +them.<br/> + During the days of the struggle and fighting you rendered the +greatest service to civilization, and have acquired a claim to the +gratitude of the country. Accept then all the praise which is due to +you. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Paris, 29th May, 1871.<br/> +The General commanding the First Corps d’Armee,<br/> +(Signed) “LADMIRAULT.”” +</p> + +<p> +During the day of the 28th of Kay Marshal MacMahon caused the +following proclamation to be posted in the streets of +Paris:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“Inhabitants of Paris,—<br/> + The army of France is come to save you. Paris is relieved. The last +positions of the insurgents were taken by our soldiers at four o’clock. +Today the struggle is at an end; order, labour, and security are +springing up again. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +Paris, Quartier General, the 28th May, 1871.<br/> +(Signed) “MACMAHON, Due de Magenta, Marshal of France,<br/> +Commander-in-Chief.” +</p> + +<p> +On the 28th of May the war of the Communists was at an end, +but the fort of Vincennes was still occupied by three hundred +National Guards, with eighteen of their superior officers and +fifteen of the high functionaries of the Commune; They made an +appeal to the commander of the Prussian forces in front of the +fort, in the hope of obtaining passports for Switzerland. General +Vinoy, hearing of this, took at once the most energetic measures, +and at six o’clock on the 29th of May the last defenders of +Vincennes surrendered at discretion. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="App._XVI."></a> XVI.</h2> + +<p> +The amount of the extraordinary expenses of the Versailles +was, at the rate of three millions of francs a day, 216 millions +from the 18th March to the 28th May. The list of artillery +implements removed from the arsenals of Douai, Lyon, +Besançon, Toulon, and Cherbourg, and forwarded to +Versailles from the 18th March to the 21st May, +comprise— +</p> + +<pre> + 80 cannons of 0.16m (6 in. 299/1000 diameter) from the War Arsenal + 60 ” ” ” from the Marine Arsenal + 10 ” of 0.22m (8 in. 661/1000 diameter) Marine. + 110 Rifled long 24-pounders. + 30 Rifled short 24-pounders. + 80 Rifled siege 12-pounders. + 3 Mortars of 0.32m (12 in. 598/1000 diameter). + 15 Mortars of 0.27m (10 in. 629/1000 diameter). + 15 Mortars of 0.22m (8 in. 661/1000 diameter). + 40 Mortars of 0.15m (5 in. 905/1000 diameter). + —— +Total 393 artillery siege pieces. +</pre> + +<p> +Ammunition received at Versailles— +</p> + +<pre> +Shells of 0.16m (marine). . . . 73,000 + ” 0.22m ” . . . . . 10,000 + ” 0.24m (rifled). . . . 140,000 + ” for 12-pounder (rifled) 80,000 +Bombs of 0.32m . . . . . . . . 1,000 + ” 0.27m . . . . . . . . 7,000 + ” 0.22m . . . . . . . . 7,000 + ” 0.15m . . . . . . . . 30,000 + ——— + Total 348,000 +</pre> + +<p> +The stock of gunpowder amounted to 400 tons. +</p> + +<p> +Up to the 21st of May, the artillery received 20 tons a day, +and on that day 50 tons were forwarded to the besieging army. +</p> + +<p> +Up to the 21st of May, the field ordnance consisted +of— +</p> + +<pre> + 36 batteries of 4-pounders. + 18 ” 12-pounders. + 4 ” 7-pounders (breech-loaders). + 12 ” of mitrailleuses. + — +</pre> + +<p> +Total 70 batteries, 63 of which were provided with horses (7 +being in store). +</p> + +<p> +The ammunition service consisted of— +</p> + +<pre> + 80 tumbrels (calibre 12), each containing 54 charges. + 30 ” (calibre 7), ” 90 ” + 120 ” (calibre 4) ” 120 ” + 55 ” of mitrailleuses ” 243 ” +5000 cases of ammunition (for calibre 12), containing 49,000 charges. + 600 ” (for calibre 4), ” 12,000 ” +2000 ” (for calibre 7), ” 20,000 ” +1000 ” for mitrailleuses ” 30,000 ” + 16 millions of Chassepot cartridges, and + 2 millions of Remington cartridges. +</pre> + +<p> +On the evening of the 23rd of May the army of Versailles +expended— +</p> + +<pre> + 26,000 discharges (calibre 0.16m), marine guns. + 2000 ” ” 0.22m), ” + 60,000 ” ” 0.24m), rifled guns. + 30,000 ” ” 0.12m), rifled siege guns. + 12,000 ” (calibre of 7), used as a siege gun. + 150 bombs of 0.32m + 360 ” 0.27m + 2500 ” 0.22m + 5500 ” 0.16m + ———- +Total 138,800 discharges of siege guns and mortars.—“<i>Guerre +des Communeux</i>,” p. 321. +</pre> + +<p> +The great feature of the second siege of Paris was the +prudence exercised in manoeuvring the men so as to protect them +from needless exposure, practical experience in German encounters +having taught the line a severe lesson. From the report of +Marshal MacMahon we learn that the lost amounted to 83 officers +killed, and 430 wounded; 794 soldiers killed, and 6,024 wounded, +and 183 missing in all. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><a name="XVII._LIST_OF_PUBLIC"></a>XVII.</h2> + +<h2>LIST OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS, MONUMENTS, CHURCHES, AND HOUSES,</h2> + +<h3>DAMAGED OR DESTROYED BY THE COMMUNISTS OF PARIS,</h3> + +<p class="center"> +<b>MAY 24-29, 1871.</b> +</p> + +<p> +Fire commenced in the houses marked thus (*). +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + Palais des Tuileries (Emperor’s Paris residence). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Musée du Louvre. <i>Library totally destroyed</i>.<br/> + Palais Royal (Prince Napoleon’s Paris residence). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Palais de la Légion d’Honneur (records all gone). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Conseil d’Etat. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Corps Législatif. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Cour des Comptes (Exchequer). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Ministère d’Etat (Minister of State). <i>Fired, but saved</i>.<br/> + Ministère des Finances (Treasury). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Hôtel de Ville. (Town Hall of Paris). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Palais de Justice (Law courts). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Préfecture de Police. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + The Conciergerie (House of Detention). <i>Partly burnt</i>.<br/> + Mairie of the 1st Arrondissement. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Mairie of the 4th Arrondissement. <i>Partially burnt</i>.<br/> + Mairie of the 11th Arrondissement. <i>Partially</i>.<br/> + Mairie of the 12th Arrondissement. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Mairie of the 13th Arrondissement. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Imprimerie Nationale. (National Printing office). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Polytechnic School. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Manufacture des Gobelins (National tapestry manufactory). <i>Partially burnt</i>.<br/> + Grenier d’Abondance (Enormous corn and other stores). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Colonne Vendôme. <i>Overthrown on the 16th of May</i>.<br/> + Colonne de Juillet, on the Place de la Bastille. <i>Greatly damaged</i>.<br/> + Porte Saint-Denis. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Porte Saint-Martin. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Cathedral of Notre Dame. <i>Very slightly damaged</i>.<br/> + Panthéon. <i>Very slightly damaged</i>.<br/> + Church of Belleville. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Church of Bercy. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Church of La Madeleine. <i>Slightly dam</i>.<br/> + Church of St. Augustin. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Church of Saint Eustache (used as a club). <i>Fired and much damaged</i>.<br/> + Church of Saint Gervais (used as a club). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Church of St. Laurent. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Church of Saint Leu. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Church of Reuilly. <i>Fired but not burnt</i>.<br/> + Church of the Trinité. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Church of La Villette. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Sainte-Chapelle. <i>Slightly, if at all, dam</i>.<br/> + Théâtre du Châtelet. <i>Fired, but saved</i>.<br/> + Théâtre Lyrique. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Ba-ta-clan Music Hall. <i>Fired, but not burnt</i>.<br/> + Théâtre des Délassements-Comiques. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin. <i>Totally destroyed</i>.<br/> + Théâtre Cluny. <i>Only damaged</i>.<br/> + Théâtre Odéon. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Abattoir de Grenelle. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Assistance Publique (offices of public charity). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (Bank of Deposit). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Caisse de Poissy (Bank of Deposit). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Service des Ponts et Chaussées of the 13th Arrondissement (Civil engineer’s office). <i>Partially</i>.<br/> + Arsenal. <i>Partly burnt</i>.<br/> + Caserne du Château-d’Eau (barracks). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Caserne Mouffetard. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Caserne Napoléon. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Caserne Quai d’Orsay. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Caserne de Reuilly. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Docks, Bonded Warehouses and Storehouses at La Villette. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Les Halles Centrales (Great general market). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Marché du Temple (General market). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Marché Voltaire (General market). <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Bridge over the Canal de l’Ourcq. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Passerelle de la Villette (Foot-bridge). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Pont d’Austerlitz, with restaurant Trousseau and sluice-keeper’s house. <i>All burnt</i>.<br/> + Rotonde de la Villette. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Hospice de l’Enfant Jesus. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Hospital Lariboisière. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Hospital Salpétrière: (House of refuge and lunatic-asylum for women). <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Prison of la Roquette. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Gare de Lyon (Lyons railway terminus). <i>Fired and damaged</i>.<br/> + Gare d’Orléans (Orleans railway terminus.) <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Gare Montparnasse (Western railway terminus). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Gare de Strasbourg (Eastern railway terminus). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Gare de Vincennes (Vincennes railway terminus). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + House of M. Thiers (Place St. Georges). <i>Pulled down (previously)</i>.<br/> + Cimetière du Père-Lachaise (cemetery). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Barrière Charenton. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Luxembourg: Powder Magazine in rear of Palace <i>blown up</i>, some subsidiary + buildings <i>burnt</i>, and whole quarter <i>damaged</i>. +</p> + +<p class="letter"> + Avenue des Amandiers: Nos. 1, 2, 4, <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + No. 69. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Avenue de Choisy: Nos. 202, 221. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Avenue de Clichy: Nos. 2, 4, 22. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Avenue d’Italie: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 78, 88. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Avenue d’Orléans: Nos. 79, 81, 83. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Avenue Victoria: Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + No. 6. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Avenue de Vincennes: Nos. 2, 4, 10. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard Beaumarchais: No. 1. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 2, 13, 15, 26, 28, 30, 109. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard de Bercy: No. 4, 8. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle: Nos. 11, 15. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard Bourdon: Nos. 7, 17. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard des Capucines: No. 11;<br/> + Maison Giroux, Nos. 43, 58, 60. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard de la Chapelle: Nos. 10, 12,<br/> + 14, 18, 20, coach houses and stables,<br/> + 22, 30, 34, 40, 62, 86, 90, 94,<br/> + 100, 122, 141, 143, 145, 147, “Aux<br/> + Buttes Chaumont,” 157, 163, 165,<br/> + 169, 208, “Au Cadran Bleu,” 216,<br/> + 218. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard de Charonne: Nos. 50, 52, 74. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard de Clichy: No. 77; Convent and<br/> + Church; Nos. 79, 81, 84, 86. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Contrescarpe: Nos. 2, 4. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 42, 46. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard de la Gare: No. 131. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Hausmann: Nos. 23, 72. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard d’Italie: Nos. 7, 69. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard de la Madeleine: No. 1. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Magenta: Nos. 1, 3, 5, 6, 15,<br/> + 48, 70, 78, 98, 114, “Au Méridien,”<br/> + 118, 143, 151, 153, 156. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard Malesherbes: Nos. 9, 33. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard Mazas: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 22, 26, 28 bis, 30, 60. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Montmartre: No, 1. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard du Montparnasse: Nos. 9 bis,<br/> + 41, 70, 100, 120, 150. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Nos. 25, three shops, 110, 112. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Boulevard Ornano: No. 56. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 1, 4, 7, 9, 22, 27, 32. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Poissonnière: No. 15. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard du Port-Royal: Nos. 16, 18, 20. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard du Prince Eugène: Magazins-Réunis<br/> + (co-operative store). <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Richard-Lenoir: Nos. 20, 82. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 1, 5, 7, 9, 31, 36, 50, 69, 76,<br/> + 87, 93, 107, 109, 116, 118, 136, 140. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard Saint-Denis: Nos. 6, 13, Café Magny. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard St. Jacques: Nos*. 69. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Saint-Marcel: No. 21. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Saint Martin: Nos. 14, 16, 18, 20. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard Saint Michel: No. 20; Café du Musée, 25;<br/> + Café Miller, 65;<br/> + Restaurant Molière, 73; Dreher Beer House, 99;<br/> + School of Mines. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Boulevard Sébastopol: Nos. 9, 11, 13, 15. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 42, *65, 83. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard du Temple: Nos. 52, 54. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 2, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 30, 32, 34,<br/> + 35, 38, 40, 44, 50. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Boulevard de la Villette: Nos. 85, 87, 117, Usine Falk. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 97, 128, 134, 136, 138, 140, 162. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Boulevard Voltaire: Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 20, 22, 28, 60. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 38, 63, 55, 60, 78, 94, 97, 98, 141, 166. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Carrefour de l’Observatoire; No. 11. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Chaussée Clignancourt: “Château-Rouge” (a public dancing-room). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Chaussée du Maine: No. 164. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Chaussée de Ménilmontant: Nos. 56, 58, 81, 98. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Croix-Rouge (cross way): Nos. 2, 4. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Faubourg Montmartre: No. 50,64. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Faubourg Poissonnière: Nos. 39, 168. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Faubourg Saint-Antoine: No. 2. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 1, 8, 4, 6, 6, 7, 22, 141, 164, 156, 158, 162. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Faubourg Saint-Denis: Nos. 68, 77,114, 208 bis, 214. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Faubourg Saint-Honoré: Nos. 1, 2, 3. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 4, 29, 30, 33, 85. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Faubourg Saint-Martin: Nos. *55, 66, 67, 69, 71, “Tapis Rouge.” <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 147, 184, 221, 234, 267. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Faubourg du Temple: No. 30. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 9, 16, 17, 19, 20, 26, 29, 32, 33, 36, 41, 47, 48, 49, 53, 64,<br/> + 66, 73, 81, 82, 98, 94, 106, 117. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Impasse Constantine: No. 2. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Impasse Saint-Sauveur: No. 2. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Passage du Sauinon. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place de la Bastille: Nos. 8, 10, 12, Poste de l’Ecluse. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 4, 5, 6, 14. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place Blanche: Nos. 2, 3. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place Cambronne: No. 8. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place du Château-d’Eau: Nos. 7, 15. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + *9,13, “Pauvres Jacques;” Nos. 17, 19, 21, 23, Café du<br/> + Château-d’Eau. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place de la Concorde (Fountain). <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Place de la Concorde (Statue of Lille). <i>Destroyed</i>.<br/> + Place de l’Hôtel de Ville: Nos. 1, 3, 7, 9, 11. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Place de Jessaint: No. 4. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place du Louvre: No. 1. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Place de la Madeleine: No. 31. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Place de l’Odéon: No. 8; Café de Bruxelles. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place de l’Opera: No. 3. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place Pigalle: No. 1. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place de la Sorbonne: No. 8. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Place Valhubert: “Châlet du Jardin.” <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place des Victoires: No. 2. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Place de Vintimille: Nos. 1, 27. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Place Voltaire: No. 7. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + No. 9. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Quai d’Anjou: Nos. 5, 11, 19, 23, 27, 43; “Au Petit Matelot.” <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Quai de Bercy: No. 12, 13. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 3, 5, 10. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Quai de Béthune: Nos. 12, 20. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Quai Bourbon: No. 3. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Quai des Célestins: No. 6. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Quai de Gèvres: No. 2. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Quai de l’Hôtel-de-Ville: Nos. 28, 68, 72, 78, 82. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Quai de Jemappes: Nos. 18, 80, 34, 42. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + No. 32. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Quai de la Loire: Nos. 10, 84, 86, 88. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + No. 60. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Quai du Louvre: Nos. 2, 4, 6. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Quai de la Mégisserie: No. 22; “Belle Jardinière.” <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Quai d’Orsay (a Club). <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Quai de la Rapée: No. 92, 94, 96, 98, 100, <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Quai de Valmy: Nos. 27, 29. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 31, 39, 48, 71, 73, 79. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Quai Voltaire: No. 9, 13, 17. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue d’Alibert: Nos. 1, 2; <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue d’Allemagne: Nos. 2, 10. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue d’Alsace: Nos. 31, 33, 39. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue des Amandiers: Nos. 3, 4, 20, 65,86, 87. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Amelot: Nos. 2, 21, 25, 104, 106,139. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie: No. 2: “À Mazarin” (drapers). <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue d’Angoulême: Nos. 2, 28, 31, 43, 72bis. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue d’Anjou: No. 23. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de l’Arcade: No. 2. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de l’Arsenal: No. 3. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Rue d’Assas: Nos. 80, *78, 86, 90, 96, 98, 106, 112, 118, 124. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue d’Aubervilliers: No. 138. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 2, 24, 88, 92, 96. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Audran: No. 1. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue d’Aval: No. 11. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + No. 17. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Rue du Bac: Nos. 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 54, 55, 56, Leborgne House, 58, 62, 64. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Barrault: Nos. 3, 31. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Belleville: Nos. 1, 2, 66, 70, 89, 91, 133. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Bercy: No. 257. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Bichat: No. 67. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Bisson: No. 49. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Blanche: Nos. 97, 99. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Boissy-d’Anglas: No. 31. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 33, 35, 37. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Bondy: Nos. 16, 17, 19, 21. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. *22, *32; 24, 26, Grand Café Parisien, 28, 30, 40, 44. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Bréa: Nos; 1. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + No. 3. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Bruxelles: No. 29. <i>Damaged</i><br/> + Rue de Buffon: Nos. 1, 3. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles: Nos. 1, 16. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Butte-Chaumont: No. 1. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Rue Cail: No. 25. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Castex: No. 20. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Cerisaie: Nos. 20, 41, 45, 47. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Chapelle: Nos. 6, 16, 19, 35, 37, 75, 77. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Charbonnière: Nos. 32, 42. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Charenton: No. 1. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 100, 102, 187, 214, 230. <i>Dam.</i>.<br/> + Rue de Charonne: Nos. 61,79,155. <i>Dam.</i>.<br/> + Rue du Château: Nos. 169,180. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue du Château-d’Eau: Nos. 1, 3, 73. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 32, 55, 71, 75, 79, 81, <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue de la Chaussée-d’Antin: Nos. 58, 64, 68. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue du Chemin-Vert: Nos. 46,54. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue Clavel: No. 3. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Clignancourt: Nos. 9, 39, 43, 45, 49, 59. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Conti: No. 2. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Cotte: No. 8. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Coutellerie: No. 2. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Rue de Crimée: Nos. 156, 158. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 81, 83, 155, 163. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue du Croissant: (Saint Joseph’s Market). <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Curial: No. 134. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Damesne: No. 1. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Delambre: Nos. 2, 4, <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Rue Descartes: No. 6. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Domat: No. 24. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Dombasle: No. 61. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Durantin: No. 7. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue des Ecoles: No. 25. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue d’Elzévir: Nos. 4,7, ll, 12; “Auberge de la Bouteille” (inn). <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue de l’Espérance: Nos. 7, 11. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue Fléchier: No. 2. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Folies-Méricourt: Nos. 51, 64, 75. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + No. 115. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Rue des Francs-Bourgeois: No. 33, Hotel Carnavalet. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire: No. 18. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue de la Glacière: Nos. 36, 75. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue Grange-aux-Belles: No. 20. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue de Grenelle: Nos. 1, 3. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + No. 34. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Guy-Patin: No. 3. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue des Halles: No. 28. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Jacques-Coeur: No. 31. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue Joquelet: No. 12. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Julien-Lacroix: No. 2. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Jussieu: No. 41. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Lafayette: No. 107, 127. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Nos. 196, Aubin (fireworks), 208, 213, 215. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Lacuée: Nos. 2, 4, 6. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Rue de Lappe: No. 2. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Lepelletier: No. 26. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Lesdiguières: No. 2. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Levert: No. 12. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Lille: Nos. 27, 37, 39, 43, 45,<br/> + *47, 48, 49, 50, 51, Museum of M. Gatteaux, bequeathed to nation,<br/> + 53, 55, 57, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 81, 83. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Rue Louis-le-Qrand: Nos. 32, 34. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue du Louvre: Nos. 6, 8. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Rue de la Lune: No. 1. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Lyon: No. 16. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue des Marais: No. 68. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue du Maroc: No. 38. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Meaux: Nos. 2, 14. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Ménars: No. 8. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Meslay: No. 2. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Rue Montmartre: Nos. 49, 53, 55. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue Montorgueil: Nos. 1, 29, 31, 33, 65. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Mouffetard: Nos. 132, 134, 136,<br/> + 138, 139, 150; Church of St. Médard. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue du Moulin-des-Près: Nos. 83, 85. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs: No. 105, Piver’s. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs: Nos. 52, 54.<br/> + Studio of M. John Leighton. <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 55, 57. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Notre-Dame-de-Nazareth: Nos. 16, 31. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Oberkampf: No. 4; À la Ville<br/> + d’Alençon, No. 11, 12, 13, 15, 25,<br/> + 36, 37, 41, 49, 50, 53, 57, 60, 67. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue aux Ours: Nos. 47, 48, 49, 55. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue des Petites-Ecuries: Nos. 2, 4. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue du Petit-Muse: No. 21. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Pierre Lescot: No. 16. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Popincourt: No. 2. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue du Pressoir: No. 54. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Provence: No. *20. No. 23. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Puebla: Nos. 2, 3, 4, 17, 30, 292. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Racine: No. 2. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Rambuteau: Nos. 32, 58, 60, 102.<br/> + “Aux Fabriques de France:” No. 124. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + No. 16, “Colosse de Rhodes;” No. 19,<br/> + Café du Marais; Nos. 26, 28, 30,<br/> + 34, 62, 65, 72; Mr. Leforestier’s<br/> + house, “À l’Alliance,” Nos. 49, 61,<br/> + 63, 66, 69, 71. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Ramey: Nos. 41, 43. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Rampon: No. 18. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Réaumur: Nos. 14, 25, 43. <i>Dam.</i><br/> + Rue de Rennes: No. 2; Café de Rennes, 161. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Reuilly: No. 68. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue du Rhin: No. 6. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Riquet: Nos. 63, 64. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue de Rivoli: Nos. 33, 35, 37, 39, 79,<br/> + 80, 82, 84, 86, 91, 98, 100; “À Pygmalion.” <i>Burnt.</i><br/> + Nos. 41, 88, 128, 210, 226, 236, 238. <i>Damaged.</i><br/> + Rue Rollin; No. 18. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Roquette: Nos. 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 11 13, 18, 19, 20, 22,<br/> + 24, 26. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 4, 8, 15, 17, 34, 87, 38, 78. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Rue Royale: Nos. 15, 18, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 24, 27. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint André-des-Arts: Nos. 26, 42. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Antoine: Nos. 3, 7, 9, 114, 142, 150, 152, 160, 176,<br/> + 178, 182,192, 194, 198, 199, 201, 202, 203, 204, 206, 207, 212;<br/> + “À la Fiancée,” No. 213; “Phares de la Bastille,” 214, 216, 218,<br/> + 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 232, 234, 236; Protestant Church. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Petite rue Saint Antoine: Nos, 3, 7, 9. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Nos. 11, 18. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Denis: No. 223; Église Saint Leu. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Fiacre: No. 15. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Honoré: No. 422. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + No. 132. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Jacques: Nos. 26, 146, 164, Café de l’Ecole de Droit,1<br/> + 36, 195, 198, 216. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Lazare: No. 46. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Sainte-Marguerite: No. 22. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Martin: Nos. 8, 10; “The Bon-Diable.” Nos. 12, 14. <i>Burnt</i><br/> + Nos. *16, 248. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Maur: Nos. 151, 184, 225, 227. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue des Saints-Pères: Nos. 46, 48. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint-Sabin: Nos. 2, 4, 6. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 3, 10, 12, 14. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Saint Sébastien: Nos. 42, 43, 44. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Sauval: No. 13. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Santé: No. 63. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Sedaine: No. 1. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue du Sentier: No. 22. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue du 4 Septembre: No. 13. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Rue de Sèvres: No. 2. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 14, 16 (reservoir); Nos. 91, 92, 141. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Sully: No. 11. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Suresnes: Nos. 1, 9, 15, 17, 19. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Tacherie: Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Rue Taitbout: Nos. 22, 26. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Taranne*: No. 10. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue du Temple: Nos. 7, 10, 39, 201. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + No. 207. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Rue Toquelet: No. 12. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Traversière: No. 53. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Turbigo; Nos. 1, 3; “Au Grand Parisien,” Nos. 5, 8, 11, 19,<br/> + 21, 47; Church of Saint-Nicholas-des-Champs, Nos. 51, 53, 56, 63,<br/> + 74. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue De Vaugirard: Nos. 60, 68, 69, 70, Convent des Carmes, 82, School<br/> + for Girls, 92, School for Boys. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Rue Vavin: Nos. 2, *18, 20, 22. <i>Burnt</i>.<br/> + Nos. 16, 34, 36, 39. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + 54 (Collection of M. Reiber, Architect). <i>Destroyed</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Victoire: No. 61. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue du Vieux-Colombier: No. 31. <i>Dam</i>.<br/> + Rue Vilin: No. 2. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Villette: Nos. 20, 25, 26, 70. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de la Ville l’Evêque: Nos. 7, 18. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue Volta: No. 38. <i>Damaged</i>.<br/> + Rue de Wiarmes: No. 1. <i>Damaged</i>. +</p> + +<p> +The barricades of Paris numbered about 600—from a slight +breast-work to a veritable fortress. +</p> + +<h2><a name="INDEX_TO_PLAN."></a> INDEX TO PLAN.</h2> + +<p class="center"> +B. Burnt. P.B. Partly Burnt. D. Damaged. S. Damaged by Shot and Shell. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +NORTH OF THE RIVER SEINE. +</p> + +<table cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" style= +"width: 45%; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" + border="1"> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td><br/> +</td> +<td><br/> +</td> +<td>Div. of Map.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>1</td> +<td>Palace of the Tuileries, B</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>2</td> +<td>Museum of the Louvre, P.B</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>3</td> +<td>Palais Royal, B</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>4</td> +<td>The Bourse (Exchange)</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>5</td> +<td>The New Opera House</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>6</td> +<td>The Church of the Madeleine, D</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>7</td> +<td>The Column Vendôme (overthrown)</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>8</td> +<td>The Palace of the Elysée</td> +<td>7</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>9</td> +<td>The Triumphal Arch, D</td> +<td>7</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>10</td> +<td>Palais de l’Industrie, B</td> +<td>7</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>11</td> +<td>Church of St. Augustin, D</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>12</td> +<td>” of the Trinity, B</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>13</td> +<td>” Notre Dame de Lorette</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>14</td> +<td>Ministère of Marine</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>15</td> +<td>Bibliothèque Nationale</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>16</td> +<td>Halles Centrales, S</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>17</td> +<td>Church of Saint Eustache, D</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>18</td> +<td>Opéra Comique</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>19</td> +<td>Church of St. Vincent de Paul</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>20</td> +<td>Hospital of Lariboisière, D</td> +<td>3</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>21</td> +<td>Barracks of Prince Eugène, D</td> +<td>9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>22</td> +<td>Hospital of St. Louis</td> +<td>9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>23</td> +<td>Prison of La Roquette, D</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>24</td> +<td>Statue of Prince Eugène (removed)</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>25</td> +<td>Hôtel de Ville, B</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>26</td> +<td>Tower of St. Jacques, D</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>27</td> +<td>Prison of Mazas</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>28</td> +<td>Barracks Napoléon, B</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>29</td> +<td>Conservatoire of Arts and Métiers</td> +<td>9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>30</td> +<td>Hospital of St. Eugénie</td> +<td>15</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>31</td> +<td>Cattle Market and Slaughter H</td> +<td>5</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>32</td> +<td>Magasins of Bercy (sacked)</td> +<td>20</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>33</td> +<td>Ministère des Finances, B</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>34</td> +<td>Place de la Concorde, D</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>86</td> +<td>Porte St. Denis, D</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>36</td> +<td>Porte St. Martin, D</td> +<td>9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>37</td> +<td>Theatre of Porte St. Martin, B</td> +<td>9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>38</td> +<td>Church of St. Laurent, D</td> +<td>9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>39</td> +<td>Mairie 1st Arrondissement, D</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>40</td> +<td>Théâtre du Chatelet, P.B</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>41</td> +<td>Théâtre Lyrique, B</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>42</td> +<td>Caisse Municipale, B</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>43</td> +<td>Assistance Publique, B</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>44</td> +<td>Mairie IVth Arrondissement, P.B</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>45</td> +<td>Magasins Réunis, D</td> +<td>9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>46</td> +<td>Théâtre des Del. Comiques, B</td> +<td>9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>47</td> +<td>Mairie XIth Arrondissement, P.B</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>48</td> +<td>Column of July, D</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>49</td> +<td>The Arsenal, B</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>50</td> +<td>Hospital of Salpétrière, B</td> +<td>19</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>51</td> +<td>Granary of Abundance, B</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>52</td> +<td>Lyons Railway Station, PB</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>53</td> +<td>Mairie of XIIth Arrondissement and Church of Bercy, B</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p class="center"> +SOUTH OF THE RIVER SEINE. +</p> + +<table cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" style= +"width: 45%; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" + border="1"> +<tbody> +<tr> +<td>1</td> +<td>Foreign Office, D.</td> +<td>7</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>2</td> +<td>Military School</td> +<td>12</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>3</td> +<td>Les Invalides and Tomb of Napoléon I.</td> +<td>12</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>4</td> +<td>Corps Législatif</td> +<td>7</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>5</td> +<td>Barracks d’Orsay, P.B.</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>6</td> +<td>Palace of the Institute</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>7</td> +<td>The Mint</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>8</td> +<td>Church of St. Sulpice</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>9</td> +<td>Palace of the Luxembourg, D.</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>10</td> +<td>Odéon Theatre, D.</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>11</td> +<td>Museum of Cluny</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>12</td> +<td>Palais de Justice, B.</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>13</td> +<td>Cathedral of Notre Dame</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>14</td> +<td>Church of the Pantheon, D.</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>15</td> +<td>Church of Val de Grâce</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>16</td> +<td>The Observatory</td> +<td>18</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>17</td> +<td>Wine Market (sacked)</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>18</td> +<td>Palace of Légion d’Honneur, B.</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>19</td> +<td>Conseil d’État and Exchequer, B.</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>20</td> +<td>Bank of Deposit, B.</td> +<td>8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>21</td> +<td>Western Railway Station, B.</td> +<td>13</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>22</td> +<td>Gobelins Tapestry Manufactory, P.B.</td> +<td>18</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td>23</td> +<td>Orleans Railway Station, P.B.</td> +<td>14</td> +</tr> +</tbody> +</table> + +<p> +See western side of Plan for the fire and devastation caused +by shot and shell during the engagements between the Federal +troops and the army of Versailles:—Point du Jour, Auteuil, +Passy, Porte Maillot, Avenue de la Grande Armée (Arc de +Triomphe, much injured), Neuilly, Villiers, Lavallois, +&c. +</p> + +<p class="center"> +[Maps: (press map to enlarge)] +</p> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a name="image-90"></a> +<a href="images/097.jpg"> +<img src="images/097.jpg" width="96" height="59" alt="Illustration: " /></a> +<p class="caption"><b>Plan of Paris Illustrative Of Mr. Leighton’s Paris</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/098.jpg"> +<img src="images/098.jpg" width="96" height="62" alt="Illustration: " /></a> +<p class="caption"><b>Plan of Paris Illustrative Of Mr. Leighton’s Paris</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/099.jpg"> +<img src="images/099.jpg" width="96" height="69" alt="Illustration: " /></a> +<p class="caption"><b>Parts Destroyed Or Damaged During the Reign of The Commune</b></p> +</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:100%;"> +<a href="images/100.jpg"> +<img src="images/100.jpg" width="96" height="69" alt="Illustration: " /></a> +<p class="caption"><b>Plan of Paris Illustrative Of Mr. Leighton’s Paris</b></p> +</div> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10861 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + + diff --git a/10861-h/images/001.jpg b/10861-h/images/001.jpg Binary files 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