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
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 _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 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:—
“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, ‘_Vive l’Ordre! Vive
l’Assemblée 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 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 _mairie_ 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 _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 ‘_réactionnaires_,’ and that we ought to add the
words ‘_Vive la République!_’ Those who headed the manifestation came
to a halt, and a few of them went into a café, and there wrote the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account