[105] The 24th May the COMMITTEE FOR PUBLIC SAFETY issued these
cold-blooded decrees:—
“Citizen Millière, at the head of one hundred and fifty fuse-bearers,
is to set fire to all houses of suspicious aspect, as well as to the
public monuments of the left bank of the Seine.
“Citizen Dereure, with one hundred and fifty fuse-bearers, is
charged with the 1st and 2nd Arrondissement.
“Citizen Billioray, with one hundred men, is charged with the 9th,
10th, and 20th Arrondissements.
“Citizen Vésinier, with fifty men, has the Boulevards of the
Madeleine and of the Bastille especially entrusted to him.
“These Citizens are to come to an understanding with the officers
commanding the barricades, for the execution of these orders.
“DELESCLUZE, RÉGÈRE, RANVINE, JOHANNARD, VÉSINIER, BRUNEL, DOMBROWSKI.
“Paris, 3 Prairial, year 79.”
[106] This Millière, formerly an advocate and writer on the
_Marseillaise_, was a native of St-Etienne, and fifty-four years of
age, a cool speaker, and advocate of advanced ideas, that got him
several imprisonments. In March 1870 he was taken from the prison of
Sainte-Pélagie to give evidence at Tours against Pierre Bonaparte for
the murder of Victor Noir, where his lucid depositions told greatly
against the prisoner. When regaining his liberty he became more
revolutionary than ever, writing during the siege in the _Patrie en
Danger_. At the peace he became one of the members for Paris, and sat
at Bordeaux and Versailles, agitating social subjects and the law of
lodgers. About the 10th of April he took part with the Commune, and at
the entrance of the troops was taken at the Luxembourg after having
fired six rounds from a revolver, was shot on the steps of the
Pantheon, and died as he opened his shirt front, shouting, “_Vive la
République! Vive la Liberté! Vive l’Humanité!_”