Book: The Insurrection in Paris

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The Versailles batteries are firing furiously against the Quarters
which still hold out. By the aid of the telescope the horrible fact is
disclosed of numerous dead and wounded left lying about the streets
without any succour whatever.


MAY 25th.

I have been over a large portion of the city to-day and I am happy to
say that, though large fires are still raging, the conflagration is not
spreading to the extent that had been apprehended. The destruction done
by the street fighting and the desolation which prevails in the
principal Boulevards and other leading thoroughfares exceed all I could
have imagined from a more distant view.

I went to the Porte de la Muette, and, getting round to the left,
approached the Arc de Triomphe from the Avenue de L'Imperatrice. All
along I found trees, lamp-posts, and the facades of houses smashed by
shells. Turning off by the Rue de Morny, I worked my way round to the
Boulevard Haussmann. It was impossible to proceed along by the pavement,
as on either side at intervals of a few feet felled trees and thick
branches had been laid down by the insurgents to obstruct the passage of
the troops. On Monday last the Federals had occupied the houses, and
fired from the corridors. All the fronts of the houses were disfigured
by rifle balls, the corridors were broken, and the handsome stone
cornices very much battered. The beautiful columns of the Madeleine are
sadly injured, the fluted edges having been in many places shot away.
The two houses in the Rue Royale, at the corner of the Rue Faubourg St.
Honore, were blazing still, and the smoke and ashes that flew from them
were stifling the pompiers, who were working energetically there and at
other points; some of their corps were shot. It had been discovered that
they, instead of throwing water on the fires they were called upon to
extinguish, were actually pumping petroleum into the flames, and so
adding to their fury. When this was detected the guilty firemen were
surrounded by a body of cavalry, conducted into the Parc de Monceaux,
and there shot. I could count the number of people I met along the
Boulevards, so few were those who ventured to walk about. The fears of
petroleum and explosions are universal. The inhabitants had either
stopped up, or were engaged in stopping up, every chink through which
petroleum might be thrown into their houses. Their cellar lights, their
ventilators, and their gratings were being made impervious by sand,
mortar, and other materials. This precaution was taken because women
and children partisans of the Commune, have in numerous instances been
detected throwing petroleum into houses. Not a shop was entirely open,
and those that opened only doors were inferior restaurants and wine
houses. Around the railing in the Place Vendome troopers' horses were
tied. The bronze figure of the Emperor was on its back, the shattered
and prostrate Column lay about in fragments. On visiting the
neighbourhood of Montmartre, and ascending an Observatory there I found
there was a cannon and musketry fire going on in the district of
Belleville and the Buttes de Chaumont. The Insurgents had not been
dislodged, and as the troops have undergone much fatigue since Monday a
regular attack on Belleville will not be made till to-morrow morning.
General Clinchant will bring his forces against it in the rear, and
General Vinoy's soldiers will advance upon it from the Boulevards. On
coming round by the quay to the Place de la Concorde I found that all
the statues of the French cities are injured, and some very
considerably. Of several the arms and heads are off. The splendid
fountains in the centre of the Place are dreadfully smashed. The stone
balustrade is badly broken in a hundred places. The lamp posts are all
down, and this once charming spot presents a most melancholy
appearance. I found a crowd looking over the wall of the wharf beside
the bridge. I looked over and found a number of labourers digging a huge
square grave in which to bury some 25 Insurgents, who lay mangled and
dead along the wall.

The Hotel de Ville is still smoking. So are the ashes of the Tuileries.
Happily not very much of the Louvre is destroyed, and at the Palais
Royal the fire was extinguished when only a portion of that building had
been consumed. The Prefecture of Police is consumed, but the Palais de
Justice is not, and the Sainte Chapelle has suffered but little injury.
The greatest conflagration of to-day was that at the Grenier
d'Abondance. The flames and smoke from it rose high over the city. There
were other fires, but, happily, not in the centre of the city. I could
not learn in what particular buildings they were rising, but I believe
that a frightful fire is raging at the Entrepot des Vins, on the Quai
St. Bernard.

M. Thiers has addressed the following Circular to the Departements:--

"We are masters of Paris, with the exception of a very small portion,
which will be occupied this morning. The Tuileries are in ashes, the
Louvre is saved. A portion of the Ministry of Finance along the Rue de
Rivoli, the Palais d'Orsay, where the Council of State holds its
sittings, and the Court of Accounts have been burnt. Such is the
condition in which Paris is delivered to us by the wretches who
oppressed it. We have already in our hands 12,000 prisoners, and shall
certainly have from 18,000 to 20,000. The soil of Paris is strewn with
corpses of the Insurgents. The frightful spectacle will, it is hoped,
serve as a lesson to those insensate men who dared to declare themselves
partisans of the Commune. Justice will soon be satisfied. The human
conscience is indignant at the monstrous acts which France and the world
have now witnessed. The Army has behaved admirably. We are happy in the
midst of our misfortune to be able to announce that, thanks to the
wisdom of our Generals, it has suffered very small losses."

The troops have captured the Hotel de Ville, and have occupied Fort
Montrouge.

The military operations are being actively and energetically carried on
by the three Corps which are now in Paris. It is hoped that they will be
in possession of the whole of the capital by this evening.

It is asserted that General Vinoy has been appointed Governor of Paris.

The newspapers state that Delescluze, Cluseret, Felix Pyat, and Ranvier
have been made prisoners, but the news is not officially confirmed.

Firemen have been summoned by telegraph from all the districts around
Paris.

Fort Bicetre has been occupied by the troops.

It is stated that Raoul Rigault was shot this morning.

A dense cloud of smoke still hangs over Paris, which gives rise to fears
of fresh conflagrations.

Since noon to-day a south-easterly wind has arisen, causing the
conflagration to extend in the direction of the Bastille, and
threatening the city with destruction.

The Versailles batteries are firing vigorously upon Belleville.

The fires are apparently slackening. The wind fortunately veered round
to the west at 5 o'clock this evening, and this change was followed by a
calm, which has since continued. The sky is still lurid from the
reflection of the flames, and the _debris_ from the burning buildings
fall at distances of 20 kilometres.

It is said that the Mazas prison is burnt to ashes, and fears are
entertained for the safety of the Archbishop, who was incarcerated
there.

It is reported that considerable bodies of Insurgents attempted to
escape from Paris in the direction of Aubervilliers and Romainville,
but they were driven back.

The cannonading from the Versailles batteries at Montmartre against
Belleville and Chaumont continues.


MAY 26th.

The attack on Belleville was made this morning soon after daybreak.
General Clinchant approached it from the ramparts, and General Bruat's
Division marched on it in front from the direction of the Rue de Paris.
The troops had to attack seven barricades successively. When they had
made a partial progress the Insurgents, seeing defeat inevitable,
offered to surrender on condition that their lives should be spared.
This was refused, and the struggle continued till the military
succeeded. A large number of the Insurgents were shot. Many cannon and
22 red flags were captured.

Last night a large group of the Insurgents imprisoned in the docks of
Satory, attempted a rising. The battalion in charge fired, and a number
of the prisoners were shot dead. The portion of the Palais Royal
consumed by the fire on Wednesday is the block of buildings in which
Prince Napoleon resided. The library of the Louvre has been destroyed.
The fire was arrested at the portion of the building occupied by the
Gendarmerie. Between the Louvre and the Hotel de Ville several shops and
private houses have been reduced to ashes. The Theatre Lyrique is burnt
down. Of the Hotel de Ville nothing remains but some walls. The Hotel of
the Ministry of Finance and that of the Cour des Comptes are both
destroyed. One of the towers of the Conciergerie, the Prefecture of
Police, and a portion of the Palais de Justice are burnt. The Grenier
d'Abonbance has disappeared, after being in flames for many hours
yesterday. A shell charged with petroleum struck and set on fire the
turret of the Church of St. Eustache. This part of the building crumbled
away; but the church itself was saved. In the Rue Royale eight houses
have been entirely, and two partially, consumed by the fire which broke
out at the corners of the Rue Faubourg St. Honore. In the latter street
four houses have been consumed. The upper story of the British Embassy
has been much injured by shells. Several women have been arrested while
in the act of firing on the troops, and it is said that one _cantiniere_
caused the death of ten soldiers by putting poison in their wine. Some
of the women whom I have seen marched from Paris as prisoners are
dressed in the uniform of National Guards. Not a few of the female
prisoners are very furious-looking. Several attempts at escape and
assassination have been made by prisoners. They are marched between a
double line of Cavalry, each of the latter holding a revolver in his
hand, with his finger on the trigger. Women found throwing petroleum
into houses have been shot on the spot. Since Monday there has been a
very large number of summary executions in the streets of Paris. At No.
27, Rue Oudinot, where Les Ambulances de la Presse have their
Head-Quarters, the bodies of 52 persons thus despatched are now
deposited. On one, which is dressed in the uniform of a National Guard,
bank notes to the amount of 150,000f. were found.

Viard, a member of the Commune, was arrested in the Rue de l'Universite
yesterday. Gustave Courbet, an artist of celebrity, and also a member of
the Commune, has died at Satory of poison, supposed to have been
administered by himself. He expired in great agony. He it was who
promoted the idea of destroying the Column in the Place Vendome. Raoul
Rigault, Procureur de la Commune, has been shot. Napoleon Gaillard,
Director of the Barricades, was insubordinate at Satory, and was shot by
the side of the fosse there. It is reported that Cluseret, Amouroux,
and Clement, all members of the Commune, have been arrested.

Fort d'Ivry has been evacuated by the Insurgents. They blew it up on
leaving, and the troops have taken possession of it. Six thousand
insurgents surrendered at discretion this morning at the Barriere
d'Italie.

The affair of Belleville is not yet concluded. There is fighting still.
A great fire is raging in the direction Buttes de Chaumont.


MAY 27th.

If it is difficult to realize the present condition of Paris, it is
still more difficult to describe it. We creep timidly about the streets,
haunted by the constant dread, either of being arrested as belonging to
the Commune, pressed into a _chaine_, or struck by the fragment of some
chance shell, and oppressed ever by the scenes of destruction and
desolation that surround us; the whole forming a combination which
produces a sensation more nearly allied to nightmare than to any
psychological experience with which I am familiar, but yet requiring
some new word to define it. The angry ring of the volleys of execution;
the strings of men and women hurried off to their doom; the curses of an
infuriated populace; the brutal violence of an exasperated soldiery,
are sights and sounds calculated to produce a strange and powerful
effect on the mind. Yesterday afternoon I drove over as much of the city
already in the occupation of the Versaillists as was consistent with
safety. Following the Boulevard Clichy in order to avoid the _chaines_
in the neighbourhood of the Madeleine, I passed the scenes of terrible
fighting. The Place Clichy was a mass of barricades and shattered
houses, the _facades_ marked with bullets as if pitted with the
smallpox, the windows smashed, and the evidences of a fearful struggle
visible everywhere. It seemed as if the ground had been disputed here
house by house; but from all I can learn of the resistance, the actual
defenders of the barricades, though resolute men, were few in number.
One of the most marked characteristics of this fighting has been the
cowardice of the many as compared with the courage and resolution of the
few; some of the barricades were abandoned by their defenders by
hundreds, only ten or a dozen remaining to the last, and holding their
ground until they were all killed or wounded. Passing up the Rue
Lafayette, I reached the Head Quarters of the Fifth Corps, where,
happening to know an officer, I was present at the examination of some
prisoners who were brought in, as every soldier who thinks he has good
ground for suspicion can arrest men or women, and drag them to the
divisional tribunal. They are captured in shoals. One lame man with a
villanous countenance, who was brought in while I was there, was accused
of being a _chef de barricade_, and having been taken in the act. He was
put through a short sharp fire of cross-examination, his pockets emptied
and his clothes felt, and he was then hurried off to take his place in
the ranks of the condemned ones that are forwarded to Versailles.
Instant execution is only ordered in the more extreme cases, excepting
where the fighting is actually going on, and then the troops give very
little quarter. The bitterness of the belligerents against each other is
of a far more intense and sanguinary kind than that which ordinarily
exists between combatants. The soldiery, looking at the pedestal on the
Place Vendome and at the numerous public buildings which in some form or
other are associated with their military history, now all smoking ruins,
can scarcely contain their rage, and not unnaturally vent it with
ferocity on an enemy which deliberately planned the destruction of Paris
as the price of victory to the conquerors, and who are even yet
endeavouring to carry out their diabolical design of destroying the
houses still uninjured by secretly introducing petroleum balls and
fusees into the cellars. I saw a soldier suddenly seize a man as he was
apparently harmlessly walking along the street; his pockets were emptied
and found to contain cartridges and combustible balls of various sizes.
Another soldier and a sailor rushed to the spot; the latter drew his
revolver, and I expected would have shot the man then and there, but he
was satisfied on seeing his comrade prick him sharply with his bayonet.
The two soldiers then hurried the culprit off in front of them cuffing
him occasionally on the head, and accelerating his progress with the
points of their bayonets while they cursed him heartily. A small crowd
eagerly followed to see his fate, which they loudly hoped would be
instant execution; and, looking at the detestable nature of the contents
of his pockets and of his intentions, one could scarcely blame either
his captors or their sympathizers if they called for vengeance, and long
ere this, he has probably ceased to exist. One woman was caught with
these fire balls on two occasions, having succeeded once in escaping. As
a general rule, the hand-dog look of the prisoners is their most
striking characteristic. I passed one gang of about 50 yesterday, and
tried in vain, as I walked by their side, to catch a man's eye, or even
to see a face turned fairly up to the light of day. With heads bare, and
eyes steadily fixed on the ground, they passed between rows of people,
who howled and hooted at them, and it was not till I reached the head of
the short column that I observed a slender figure walking alone in the
costume of the National Guard, with long, fair hair floating over the
shoulders, a bright blue eye, and a handsome, bold, young face that
seemed to know neither shame nor fear. When the female spectators
detected at a glance that this seeming young National Guardsman was a
woman, their indignation found vent in strong language, for the torrent
of execration seems to flow more freely from feminine lips when the
object is a woman than if it be one of the opposite sex; but the only
response of the victim was to glare right and left with heightened
colour and flashing eyes, in marked contrast to the cowardly crew that
followed her. If the French nation were composed only of French women
what a terrible nation it would be!

The aspect of the Boulevards is the strangest sight imaginable. I
followed them from the Porte St. Martin to the Rue de la Paix. There was
fighting at the Chateau d'Eau, and without either a pass or an ambulance
_brassard_ a nearer approach to the scene of action was undesirable;
indeed, until recently, the shells had been bursting here in every
direction, and their holes might be seen in the centre of those
pavements heretofore sacred to the _flaneurs_ of Paris. Strewn over the
streets were branches of trees; and fragments of masonry that had been
knocked from the houses, bricks and mortar, torn proclamations, shreds
of clothings half concealing bloodstains, were now the interesting and
leading features of that fashionable resort; foot passengers were few
and far between, the shops and _cafes_ hermetically sealed, excepting
where bullets had made air holes, and during my whole afternoon's
promenade I only met three other carriages besides my own. The Place de
l'Opera was a camping ground of artillery, the Place Vendome a confusion
of barricades, guarded by sentries and the Rue Royale a mass of
_debris_. Looked at from the Madeleine the desolation and ruin of that
handsome street were lamentable to behold. The Place de la Concorde was
a desert, and in the midst of it lay the statue of Lille with the head
off. The last time I had looked on that face it was covered with crape,
in mourning for the entry of the Prussians. Near the bridge were 24
corpses of Insurgents, laid out in a row, waiting to be buried under the
neighbouring paving stones. To the right the skeleton of the Tuileries
reared its gaunt shell, the framework of the lofty wing next the Seine
still standing; but the whole of the roof of the central building was
gone, and daylight visible through all the windows right into the Place
de Carrousel. General Mac-Mahon's head-quarters were at the Affaires
Etrangeres, which were intact. After a visit there, I passed the Corps
Legislatif, also uninjured by fire, but much marked by shot and shell,
and so along the Quais the whole way to the Mint, at which point General
Vinoy had established his head-quarters. At the corner of the Rue du Bac
the destruction was something appalling. The Rue du Bac is an impassable
mound of ruins, 15 or 20 feet high, completely across the street as far
as I could see. The Legion d'Honneur, the Cour des Comptes, and Conseil
d'Etat were still smoking, but there was nothing left of them but the
blackened shells of their noble _facades_ to show how handsome they had
once been. At this point, in whichever direction one looked, the same
awful devastation met the eye--to the left the smouldering Tuileries, to
the right, the long line of ruin where the fire had swept through the
magnificent palaces on the Quai, and overhead again to-day a cloud of
smoke, more black and abundant even than yesterday, incessantly rolling
its dense volumes from behind Notre-Dame, whose two towers were happily
standing uninjured. This fire issued from the Grenier d'Abondance and
other buildings in the neighbourhood of the Jardin des Plantes. In
another direction the Arsenal was also burning. One marked result of a
high state of civilization is, that it has furnished improved facilities
for incendiarism, which seem to have been developed even more completely
than the means of counteracting them. Along the Quais under the trees,
cavalry horses were picketed, and a force was about to leave General
Vinoy's head-quarters just as I reached it, to support an attack which
was even then being made upon the Place de la Bastille, where the
Insurgents were still holding out. On the opposite side of the river
were the smoking ruins of the Theatre Chatelet and the Hotel de Ville.
Passing through the Place du Carrousel into the Rue de Rivoli, I had a
more complete view of the entire destruction which has overtaken the
Tuileries and some of the adjoining buildings. The lower end of the Rue
de Rivoli towards the Faubourg St. Antoine was densely crowded with
troops, and passage in that direction was interdicted, while at the
other end, near the Place de la Concorde, there was a _chaine_; so I
struck once more across to the Boulevards, past the Palais Royal, a
large part of which is burnt, wearied and sickened with the waste of
ruins through which I had passed, and meeting with only one incident,
when I found myself in the midst of a panic-stricken throng all running
away from a series of cracker-like explosions, which turned out to be
cartridges that from some unexplained cause had begun to go off
spontaneously under our feet. To-day the firing is more distant and less
audible. The insurgents are still holding the heights of Belleville and
Pere-Lachaise. In the Jardin des Plantes the loss of the troops was
heavy, but up to this time they have won their ground with a less loss
than could have been anticipated, and the fearful mortality of Generals
which characterized the last "_Campagne Parisienne_" has happily not
been repeated upon this occasion. So far, no General has been either
killed or wounded.

The affair of Belleville is not yet concluded. There is fighting still.
A great fire is raging in the direction of the Buttes de Chaumont.

Loud reports have been heard within the walls of Mazas, and it is
supposed that the hostages have been massacred.

Courbet, Amouroux, Gambon, and Valles have been executed.

The night is quiet.

Shells have fallen on the Boulevard Menilmontant. Great hopes are
entertained that the rains will check the conflagration. A few shells
have fallen in the Rue de la Paix. Constant arrests or executions are
being made of women who throw incendiary matter down the cellar
gratings. Many bodies have been exhumed from under shattered houses,
some with large sums of money on them. News reaches us that troops of
the Line have occupied Menilmontant and the Cemetery of Pere-Lachaise.
The Federals had declared Pere-Lachaise to be their last stronghold,
and that they were prepared to defend it tomb by tomb. The National
Guard will be dissolved to-morrow. Upwards of 1,000 prisoners were
marched up the Boulevard this morning, escorted by mounted Hussars.
Delescluze has been taken at Villiers le Bel. General Eudes and Ranvier
have also been taken. The public buildings destroyed up to the present
time are the Tuileries, the Palais Royal, the Ministry of Finance, the
Cour des Comptes, the Prefecture of Police, the Palace of the Legion of
Honour, the Caisse des Depots, Graineterie, and the Garde Meuble. The
Pantheon was saved by a rush of Marines, who cut a slow match before it
reached the powder barrels in the crypt. The Chatelet, Lyrique, and
Porte St. Martin Theatres have been burnt, also the great barracks of
the Rue des Celestins. Part of the roof of St. Eustache has fallen in.

The fighting still continues round the Chateau d'Eau. There will be no
difficulty, however, in disarming the National Guard. Valles fought for
his life, and received a sabre cut across the face and several bullets
before he finally fell close to the Tour St. Jacques. Rows of bodies
line the quays awaiting burial where they fell. The individuals arrested
will be tried by Court-Martial at Versailles. The Court-Martial will
commence its sittings on Monday. Many women and children have been
executed around the Luxembourg, having been convicted of firing on
soldiers. Fort Bicetre is still in Federal hands, but the garrison is
said to have exhausted its ammunition. Bergeret gave the order for
burning the Tuileries. General Douai, by promptness of action, prevented
the fire spreading to the Louvre. Humour has it that Delescluze and
Pyat, disguised as beggars, were recognized in the Rue du Petit Carreau,
and shot. Thirteen women have just been executed after being publicly
disgraced in the Place Vendome. They were caught in the act of spreading
petroleum. Such papers as have appeared announce the execution of the
Archbishop of Paris and the cure of the Madeleine.

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