Paris under the Commune Part 7

"What we desire, and what the public welfare requires under all circ.u.mstances; and which the present situation renders more indispensable than ever, is, order in liberty and by liberty.

"_Vive la France!_ Vive la Republique!

"_The representatives of the Seine_:

"Louis Blanc, V. Schoelcher, Edmond Adam, Floquet, Martin Bernard, Langlois, Edouard Lockroy, Farcy, Brisson, Greppo, Milliere.

"_The maires and adjoints of Paris_:

"1st Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Ad. Adam, Meline, adjoints.--2nd Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Tirard, maire, representative of the Seine; Ad.

Brelay, Cheron, Loiseau-Pinson, adjoints.--3rd Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt; Bonvalet, maire; Ch. Murat, adjoint.--4th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Vautrain, maire; Loiseau, Callon, adjoints.--5th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Jourdan, adjoint.--6th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Herisson, maire; A. Leroy, adjoint.--7th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Arnaud (de l'Ariege), maire, representative of the Seine.--8th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Carnot, maire, representative of the Seine.--9th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Desmaret, maire.--10th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Dubail, maire; A. Murat, Degoyves-Denunques, adjoints.--11th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Motu, maire, representative of the Seine; Blanchon, Poirier, Tolain, representative of the Seine.--12th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Denizot, Dumas, Turillon, adjoints.--18th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Leo Meillet, Combes, adjoints.--14th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Heligon, adjoint.--15th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Jobbe-Duval, adjoint.--16th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: Henri Martin, maire and representative of the Seine,--17th.

Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: FRANcOIS FAVRE, maire; MALOU, VILLENEUVE, CACHEUX, adjoints.--18th. Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt: CLeMENCEAU, maire and representative of the people; J.B. LAFONT, DEREURE, JACLARD, adjoints."

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 _maires_ 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 a.s.sembly 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 _emeute_. Let them therefore have all praise for this truly patriotic attempt. Let them hasten to obtain from the a.s.sembly a recognition of our rights. In acceding to the demands of the deputies and the _maires_, 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.

If the a.s.sembly 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.

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 munic.i.p.al liberties--we are resolved to follow where our deputies and the _maires_ 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.

VIII.

Paris has this evening, the 21st of March, an air of extraordinary contentment; it has belief in the deputies and the _maires_, it has trust even, in the National a.s.sembly. 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:--

"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 employe, 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 pa.s.sed, and the people cried, '_Vive l'Ordre! Vive l'a.s.semblee Nationale! A bas la Commune!_' 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 pa.s.sed, 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 _mairie_ of the Ninth Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt 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 _mairie_ 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 '_reactionnaires_,' and that we ought to add the words '_Vive la Republique!_' Those who headed the manifestation came to a halt, and a few of them went into a cafe, 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 Vendome, where the battalions of the Committee were collected in ma.s.ses, 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 att.i.tude 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 '_Vive l'Ordre!

Vive l'a.s.semblee Nationale! Vive la Republique!_' 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 Elysees, 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 Chaille. From that moment he headed the manifestation, which pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed before a guard-house the men presented arms. On the Place St. Sulpice a battalion drew up to allow us to pa.s.s. 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, '_Vive l'a.s.semblee Nationale!_'

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 pa.s.sers-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 Hotel, 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."

This account differs a little from those given in the newspapers, but I have the best reason to believe it absolutely true.

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 a.s.sembly, it cannot have been ineffective in aiding the coming pacification.

Many hopeful promises of concord and quiet circulate this evening amongst the less violent groups.

IX.

What is this fusillade? Against whom is it directed? Against the Prussians? No! Against Frenchmen, against pa.s.sers-by, against those who cry "_Vive la Republique et vive l'Ordre_." 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.

I had started, in company with a friend, from the Pa.s.sage 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 Pet.i.ts 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 Vendome; it pa.s.sed along the boulevards a short time since, crying "_Vive l'Ordre_."

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 ma.s.sacre? What fearful deeds are pa.s.sing 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.

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 b.a.l.l.s 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 pa.s.sed in the Place, Vendome 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.

One thing certain is that the Friends of Order who, yesterday, succeeded in a.s.sembling 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, "_L'Ordre! L'Ordre! Vive l'Ordre!_" 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 pa.s.sage. 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.

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 a.s.sertions 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 ma.s.s 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 Vendome, 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 b.a.l.l.s, while raising a wounded man from the ground.

One of my friends a.s.sures me that half-an-hour after the fusillade he was fired at, as he was coming out from a _porte-cochere_,[18] by National Guards in ambuscade.

At four o'clock, at the corner of the Rue de la Paix and the Rue Neuve des Pet.i.ts Champs, an old man, dressed in a blouse, still lay where he had fallen across the body of a _cantiniere_, 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 employe at Siraudin's?

There were many other victims--Monsieur de Pene, the editor of _Paris-Journal_, 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.

Where will this revolution lead us, which was begun by the murder of two Generals and is being carried on by the a.s.sa.s.sination of pa.s.sers-by?

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 18: Porte-cochere (carriage gateway).]

X.

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 circ.u.mstance had happened, the _garcon d'honneur_ told me. They had been to the _mairie_ to be married, but the _mairie_ had been turned into a guard-house, and instead of the _mairie_ and his clerks, they found soldiers of the Commune. The sergeant had offered to replace the munic.i.p.al 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 pa.s.sing by, "they can marry to-morrow.--There is always time enough to commit suicide."

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.

XI.

The _mairie_ of the Second Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt 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 a.s.sembled 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 ma.s.sacre 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 Hotel de Ville on the one hand, where the members of the Committee are sitting, formidably defended, and the Place Vendome, 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 _mairie_ of the Second Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt and the Grand Hotel, where Admiral Saisset and his staff are said to be installed.[19]

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 pa.s.s 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.

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 _mairie_, 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,

"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 _maires_ 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."

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 c.o.c.k 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, pa.s.sing along the boulevards with three pieces of cannon.