Paris under the Commune Part 9

XVII.

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 a.s.sembly had acceded to the just demands of the mayors and deputies, did he take upon himself to pa.s.s 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 a.s.sembly.[21] 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. Clemenceau. He was right; a little condescension might have saved all; such obstinacy is fatal.

Deprived of the countenance of the a.s.sembly, 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 munic.i.p.al 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 a.s.sembly, 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 a.s.sembly 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 munic.i.p.al 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.

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 att.i.tude of the regular Government has done much towards furthering the revolution. The mistakes of the a.s.sembly have diminished in the eyes of the public the crime of revolt. Everywhere the murder of Generals Clement 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 ma.s.sacres of the Rue de la Paix, we are told that this event is enveloped in mystery, that the evidence is most contradictory, etc., etc.[22] 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 a.s.sembly, 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 const.i.tutional legality, who would consider as null and void elections carried on without the consent of the nation, as represented by the a.s.sembly. 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 const.i.tuted itself with as much legality as it had in its power to a.s.sume under the circ.u.mstances.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 21: The news of the check which the Maires of Paris had suffered in the a.s.sembly 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 arrondiss.e.m.e.nt, 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.]

[Footnote 22: 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:

"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!

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 Republique!" "Vive la Garde Nationale!"

Two men alone, who had rendered themselves unpopular by acts which we now p.r.o.nounce as iniquitous, were struck down in a moment of popular indignation.

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.

At the present moment the ministries are const.i.tuted, the prefect of police has a.s.sumed his duties, the public offices are again active, and we invite all citizens to maintain the utmost calmness and order."]

XVIII.

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 Chatelet 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 Hotel de Ville. Two friends meet together in the square of the Arts et Metiers.--"Are you alone, madame?" says one lady to another.--"Yes, madame; I am waiting for my husband, who is gone to vote."

A child, who is skipping, cries out, "Mama, mama, what is the Commune?"

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.--"_Cocher_, 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!"

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 sh.e.l.ls--and scented soap, and coloured pictures; crowds of beggars everywhere. In this part of the town the revolution looks very much like a fair.

At the mairie of the 6th Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt 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.

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."

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 cafes 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 hoa.r.s.e 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 Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt," says some one close to me.--"Lesueur is capital in the 'Partie de Piquet,'" says another. Oh!

people of Paris!

XIX.

It is over. We have a "Munic.i.p.al 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 debut 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!"

Another person expresses the same thing in rather a different form.

"This is the revolt of the _canaille_ 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."

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 pa.s.sed 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 Munic.i.p.al Council,[23]--"It will be an a.s.semblage 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 a.s.sembly 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?[24]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 23: The _Figaro_ gives the following list of those who held service under the Commune:--

Anys-el-Bittar, Librarian MSS. Department, Bibliotheque Nationale.

(Egyptian)

Biondetti, Surgeon 233rd Battalion. (Italian.)

Babiok, a Member of the Commune. (Pole.)

Beoka, Adjutant to the 207th Battalion. (Pole.)

Cluseret, General, Delegate of War. (American.)

Cernatesco, Surgeon of Francs Tireurs. (Pole.)

c.r.a.pulinski, Colonel of Staff. (Pole.)

Carneiro de Cunha, Surgeon 38th Battalion. (Portuguese.)

Charalambo, Surgeon of the Federal Scouts. (Pole.)

Dombrowski, General. (Russian.)

Dombrowski (his brother), Colonel of Staff. (Russian.)

Durnoff, Commandant of Legion. (Pole.)

Echenlaub, Colonel. (German.)

Ferrera Gola, General Manager of Field Hospitals. (Portuguese.)