The Communist commander of that Fort sent to the Bavarian General a list
of his officers and men, requesting for the former passes into
Switzerland, for the latter passes into France. After various
negotiations, the affair was left in the hands of General Vinoy, and it
was agreed that all the garrison of Vincennes, having never fired a
shot, should be detained prisoners only temporarily; but that all
fugitives who had taken refuge there should be surrendered
unconditionally. The garrison eagerly consented to the terms, and at
once put their chiefs in prison. Orders were found on many of them,
signed Ulysse Parent, for the burning of the Hotel de Ville, the Bourse,
and other places.
The Luxembourg is to replace temporarily the Hotel de Ville, and the
Staff has already moved there. Everything is going on quietly enough in
most parts of Paris, but in the Belleville Quarter life is still unsafe.
Not only shots are fired from windows, but occasionally Insurgents fire
off revolvers upon officers at a few yards' distance. Many fear that,
notwithstanding the large numbers of the Insurgents caught, and the
terrible example made, enough have escaped to give further trouble, if
not by open resistance, at least by arson and secret assassination. The
severities, moreover, exercised by the military authorities have
produced a pretty strong feeling of reaction against them, and in some
of even the least revolutionary Quarters the troops are scarcely
popular, certainly not so popular as when they entered Paris. The
Insurgents find many sympathizers to hide them, and assist their escape
from Paris.
The policy of England with reference to those who have escaped is
watched with great anxiety.
Active measures are being taken to cleanse the streets and rid them of
the dead bodies, some of which had been buried where they fell under the
barricades, with a foot or two of soil over them. Passers-by are pressed
into the service as burying parties, and the English Embassy has
received complaints from Englishmen of having been seized for this
purpose. The smell of corpses in some places is offensively strong, and
it is feared this hot weather following upon the heavy rain may breed a
pestilence.
Traffic in the streets at night is getting easier, though the _cafes_
have to be closed at 11. The unpopularity of the troops is no doubt, in
part due to the deeply-rooted Parisian dislike of military rule and the
abolition of the National Guard--a measure which, however necessary,
under no circumstances is likely to be welcome.
The firemen of Havre who came to Paris to aid in extinguishing the
recent conflagrations have returned home to-day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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