Paris under the Commune: The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs)Leighton, John
History
Paris under the Commune: The Seventy-Three Days of the Second Siege; with Numerous Illustrations, Sketches Taken on the Spot, and Portraits (from the Original Photographs)
Leighton, John
Paris (France) -- History -- Commune, 1871
“The delegate of the Commune of Paris for Foreign Affairs has the
honour to address to you the following observations:—
“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.
“I shall be much obliged, General, if you will be good enough to
enlighten me in this respect.
“The Delegate for Foreign Affairs,
“(Signed) PASCHAL GROUSSET.”
The German general did not think fit, as far as we know, to send any
answer to the above.
IV. (Page 88.)
GAMBON.
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 _irréconciliables_. A
subscription was opened in the columns of the _Marseillaise_ 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.
V. (Page 120.).
LULLIER.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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