What is the meaning of all this! Are we deceiving ourselves, or being
deceived? We await in vain the consummation of Admiral Saisset’s
promises. In officially announcing that the Assembly had acceded to the
just demands of the mayors and deputies, did he take upon himself to
pass delusive hopes as accomplished facts? It seems pretty certain now
that the Government will make no concessions, that the proclamation is
only waste paper, and that the Provisional Commander of the National
Guard has been leading us into error—with a laudable intention
doubtless—or else has himself been deceived likewise. The united
efforts of the Deputies of the Seine and the Mayors of Paris have been
unequal to rouse the apathy of the Assembly.[21] In vain did Louis
Blanc entreat the representatives of France to approve the conciliatory
conduct of the representatives of Paris. “May the responsibility of
what may happen be on your own heads!” cried M. Clémenceau. He was
right; a little condescension might have saved all; such obstinacy is
fatal. Deprived of the countenance of the Assembly, and left to
themselves, the Deputies and Mayors of Paris, desirous above all of
avoiding civil war, have been obliged to accede to the wishes of the
Central Committee, and insist upon the municipal elections being
proceeded with immediately. They could not have acted otherwise, and
yet it is humiliating for them to have to bow before superior force,
and their authority is compromised by so doing. What the Assembly,
representing the whole of France, could have done with no loss of
dignity, and even with honour to itself, the former accomplish only at
the risk of losing their influence; what to the Assembly would have
been an honourable concession is to them dangerous although necessary
submission. The Committee would have been annulled if the Government
had consented to the municipal elections, but thanks to a tardy
consent, rung from the Deputies and Mayors of Paris, it triumphs. The
result of the humiliation to which the representatives of Paris have
been forced to submit to prevent the effusion of blood, will be the
entire abdication of their authority, which will remain vested in the
Central Committee until the members of the Commune are elected.
Abandoned by the Government since the departure of the chief of the
executive power and the ministers, we rallied round the
representatives, who, unsustained by the Government, are obliged to
submit to the revolutionists. We must now choose between the Commune
and anarchy.
Therefore, to-day, Sunday, the 26th March, the male population of Paris
is hurrying to the poll. It is in vain that the journals have begged
the people not to vote; the elections were only announced yesterday,
and the electors have had no time to reconsider the choice they have to
make, and yet they insist on voting. Those who decline to obey the
suggestions of the Central Committee, will re-elect the late mayors or
choose among the deputies, but vote they will. The present attitude of
the regular Government has done much towards furthering the revolution.
The mistakes of the Assembly have diminished in the eyes of the public
the crime of revolt. Everywhere the murder of Generals Clément Thomas
and Lecomte is openly regretted; but those who repeat that the Central
Committee declares having had nothing to do with it, are listened to
with patience. The rumour that they were shot by soldiers gains ground,
and seems less incredulously received. As to the massacres of the Rue
de la Paix, we are told that this event is enveloped in mystery, that
the evidence is most contradictory, etc., etc.[22] There is evidently a
decided reactionary movement in favour of the partizans of the Commune.
Without approving their acts their activity is incontestable. They have
done much in a short time. People exclaim, “There are men for you!”
This state of things is very alarming to all those who have remained
faithful to the Assembly, which in spite of its errors has not ceased
to be the legal representative of the country. It is a cruel position
for the Parisians who are obliged to choose between a regular
Government which they would desire to obey, but which by its faults
renders such obedience impossible, and an illegitimate power, that,
although guilty in its acts, and stained with crime, still represents
the opinions of the republican majority. By to-night, therefore, the
Commune will have been called into existence; an illegal existence it
may be argued, doubtless, by the partizans of constitutional legality,
who would consider as null and void elections carried on without the
consent of the nation, as represented by the Assembly. Legal or not,
however, the elections have taken place, and the fact alone is of some
importance. In a few hours the Executive Power of the Republic will
have to treat, whether it will or no, with a force which has
constituted itself with as much legality as it had in its power to
assume under the circumstances.