On Friday, the 24th of March, at nine in the morning, we are still in
the quarter of the Bourse. Some of the men have not slept for
forty-eight hours. We are tired but still resolved. Our numbers are
increasing every hour. I have just seen three battalions, with
trumpeters and all complete, come up and join us. They will now be able
to let the men who have been so long on duty get a little rest. As to
what is going on, we are but very incompletely informed. The Federals
are fortifying themselves more strongly than ever at the Place de
l’Hôtel de Ville and the Place Vendôme. They are very numerous, and
have lots of artillery. Why do they not act on the offensive? Or do
they want, as we do, to avoid a conflict? Certainly our hand shall not
be the first to spill French blood. These hours of hesitation on both
sides calm men’s minds. The deputies and mayors of Paris are trying to
obtain from the National Assembly the recognition of the municipal
franchise. If the Government has the good sense to make these
concessions, which are both legitimate and urgent, rather than remain
doggedly on the defensive, with the conviction that it has right on its
ride; if, in a word, it remembers the well-known maxim, “_Summum jus,
summa injuria_,” the horrors of civil war may be averted. We are told,
and I fancy correctly, that the Federal Guards are not without fear
concerning the issue of the events into which they have hurried. The
chiefs must also be uneasy. Even those who have declared themselves
irreconcileable in the hour of triumph would not perhaps be sorry now
if a little condescension on the part of the Assembly furnished them
with a pretext of not continuing the rebellion. Just now, several
Guards of the 117th Battalion, a part of which has declared for the
Central Committee, who happened to be passing, stopped to chat with our
outposts. Civil war to the knife did not at all appear to be their most
ardent desire. One of them said: “We were called to arms, what could we
do but obey? They give us our pay, and so here we are.” Were they
sincere in this? Did they come with the hope of joining us, or to spy
into what we were doing? Others, however, either more frank or less
clever at deception, declared that they wanted the Commune, and would
have, it at any price. This, however, was by far the smaller number;
the majority of the insurgents are of the opinion of these men who
joined in conversation with us. It is quite possible to believe that
some understanding might be brought about. A fact has just been related
to me which confirms me in my opinion.
The Comptoir d’Escompte was occupied by a post of Federals. A company
of Government Guards from the 9th Arrondissement marched up to take
possession. “You have been here for two whole days; go home and rest,”
said the officer in command of the latter. But the Federals obstinately
refused to be sent away. The officer insisted.—“We are in our own
quarter, you are from Belleville; it is our place to guard the Comptoir
d’Escompte.”—It was all of no avail until the officer said: “Go away
directly, and we will give you a hundred francs.”—They did not wait for
the offer to be repeated, but accepted the money and marched off. Now
men who are willing to sell their consciences at two francs a head—for
there were fifty of them—cannot have any very formidable political
opinions. I forgot to say that this post of Federals was commanded by
the Italian Tibaldi, the same who had been arrested in one of the
passages of the Hôtel de Ville during the riots of the 31st October.