MONSEIGNEUR AFFRE AND THE INSURRECTION OF JUNE.
The Courtyard of the Dragon--The National Workshops--The Insurrection of
June--Monseigneur Affre Shot at the Barricade of the Faubourg
St.-Antoine.
Close to the Rue de Turenne is the Courtyard of the Dragon, inhabited
for the last two centuries, even until now, by dealers in every kind of
ironwork. It was here, in July, 1830, that the first insurgents of this
particular district armed themselves more or less effectively for the
fray. The Courtyard of the Dragon owes its name to the dragon in bronze
placed at the entrance, just opposite the Rue Sainte-Marguerite, in
allusion to the monster on which painters and sculptors make Sainte
Marguerite trample. Passing in front of the Courtyard of the Dragon the
Rue de Rennes runs from north to south. The Rue du Four, the Rue du
Vieux-Colombier, and the Rue d’Assas, are at the back of the Monastery
of the Carmes Déchaussés--or Shoeless Carmelites--which occupies the
interior of the angle formed by the Rue de Rennes and the Rue d’Assas.
The Shoeless Carmelites, as formed or reformed under the auspices of St.
Theresa, were authorised to establish themselves in France by letters
patent, dated June, 1610; and they soon enriched themselves by the sale
of two manufactured articles which they alone were able to make: a kind
of stucco, known as Blanc des Carmes, which took the polish of marble,
and treacle water; both of which became very popular in Paris. The
Carmelite Monastery is now the seat of the Catholic University of Paris,
founded by thirty French archbishops or bishops, and comprising three
faculties: Law, Letters, and Sciences. In 1791 the priests, who had
refused to swear fidelity to the Constitution, were imprisoned in the
Carmelite Monastery, and the massacring band of Maillard, and the
wretches under his orders, slaughtered them on the 2nd and 3rd of
September, 1792, together with all the prisoners, irrespectively of age
or sex, who were confined with them. Close to the altar of the left
transept is a monument enclosing the heart of Monseigneur Affre, who
fell during the terrible days of June, in 1848, at the formidable
barricade of the Faubourg St.-Antoine, as he was making a last effort to
stop the further effusion of blood. In the midst of his exhortations he
was struck in the loins by a stray bullet, and fell into the arms of the
insurgents, who were in despair at the terrible incident, which was not
the result of a crime, as the direction of the shot, the evidence of the
vicars in attendance upon him, and the grief of the revolutionists
sufficiently testified. The venerable prelate expired on the 27th, two
days after he had been struck. “May my blood be the last shed” were his
dying words.
The successful insurrection of June, which, after much slaughter, was
suppressed, was partly the consequence of the successful insurrection of
February, after which, Louis Philippe having taken flight, the Second
Republic was proclaimed. In February the provisional Government had
guaranteed in a formal manner the “right to labour.” Accordingly,
numbers of workmen being without employment, and capitalists being
unwilling to embark in new enterprises, or even in many cases to
continue those which were already on foot, national workshops were
opened, in which upwards of 100,000 workmen found occupation and bread.
Apart from the drain upon the exchequer caused by the employment of
these hundred thousand men, the inevitable moment at which it would be
necessary to close the workshops was regarded by everyone with alarm.
Each workman was employed one day out of four in useless labour; and the
more prudent hoped that the national workshops would be closed
gradually, and the men induced gradually to seek service with private
employers. Among other measures it was proposed to colonise Algeria with
the men out of work; and it was calculated that two hundred millions of
francs would be necessary for this purpose. According to the
calculations of many wise economists and politicians, an expenditure of
two hundred millions in order to get rid of a menacing army of 100,000
men was not excessive. Others, including, it may be, some secret enemies
of the Republic, who did not object to a violent collision, in which the
republican form of government might disappear, thought the workshops
ought to be closed, and the men left to shift for themselves. The
national workshops were at the same time declared to be nests of idlers,
thieves, and incendiaries.
On the 17th of June, after long and passionate debates in the Assembly,
the immediate dissolution of the national workshops was proposed. The
next day the workmen, by way of reply, exhibited on all the walls of
Paris placards in these terms: “There is no unwillingness on our part to
work; but useful and appropriate work according to our trades is just
what we cannot obtain. We call for it, we ask for it with all our force.
The immediate suppression of the national workshops is demanded; but
what is to become of the 100,000 workmen who find in their modest pay
the sole means of existence for themselves and their families? Are they
to be delivered over to the evil counsels of famine, to the suggestions
of despair? Are they to be placed at the mercy of factions?” A
proclamation was at the same time issued to the workmen, calling upon
them to be calm, and warning them against the emissaries of different
political parties. “Nothing is any longer possible in France,” concluded
the proclamation, “but the democratic and social republic. We will have
neither emperor nor king; nothing except liberty, equality, and
fraternity.”
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE COURTYARD OF THE DRAGON.]
It was decided in the first place to expel from the national workshops,
and, with the consent of the expelled, enroll in the army all workmen of
from seventeen to twenty-five years of age. Other detachments were to be
sent to the marshes of Sologne in order to drain them, or to be employed
on earthworks in distant departments. Others, again, could be sent to
Algeria. The workmen, however, showed no disposition to adopt any of the
courses recommended; and, according to the expression of one of them,
they were called upon to choose between famine, expatriation, and
military servitude. They were threatened, indeed, by famine, but more
than one means of escape was offered to them. After a stormy day an
immense meeting was held in the Place St.-Sulpice, at which, after many
impassioned speeches, it was decided to meet the next morning at six
o’clock in the Place du Panthéon. The executive commission appointed by
the Government to watch over the peace of Paris, and prevent, if
possible, its being broken, ordered General Cavaignac, Minister of War,
to occupy the Place du Panthéon the next morning, June 23rd, at five.
But at six not a soldier was to be seen, and the square was taken
possession of by the people. The absence of troops at important points
was observed elsewhere. Two plans had been discussed. The executive
commissioners wished the troops to be disseminated in such a manner
that no barricade could be erected without being at once destroyed, so
that the hostile popular movement would be crushed from the beginning.
Cavaignac, however, wished to be allowed to mass the entire army beneath
his orders, and then to send columns of attack wherever necessary. It
was represented to him that by such a system Paris would be covered with
barricades, and the final victory of the troops cause torrents of blood.
The stern soldier cared nothing for that. “As for the National Guard,
let it take care of its own shops,” he haughtily added; “I do not wish
to run the risk of a single one of my companies being disarmed.”
Cavaignac was afterwards accused of having purposely allowed the
insurrection to grow, in order that he might play the part of a saviour.
But the question being purely a military one, the executive commission
found itself bound to give in.
The insurrection had neither chief nor settled plan. Enjoying full
liberty of extension during the first few hours, it had spread rapidly
over half the city, extending in a semicircle from the Clos St. Lazare
on the right bank to the Pantheon on the left. Its centre seemed to be
the Place de la Bastille, and its strategic object to converge upon the
Hôtel de Ville. In spite of Cavaignac’s sarcasm about the shopkeepers
and their shops, the National Guard played a very active part in the
suppression of the insurrection. Cavaignac entrusted the command on the
right bank and the boulevards to Lamoricière, on the left bank to
Daumesuil, and around the Hôtel de Ville to Bedeau. He himself took
charge of a few battalions in the Faubourg du Temple, not far from the
Place de la Bastille.
[Illustration: COURTYARD OF THE DRAGON.]
It was on the evening of the first day that Monseigneur Affre,
accompanied by his two Grand Vicars, went to the Place de la Bastille to
address some conciliatory words to the insurgents, in the hope of
prevailing upon them to abandon the contest; and it was here, as before
set forth, that, received with every mark of sympathy by the insurgents,
he fell while he was addressing them. It was not till nine on the day
following that the formidable insurrection of June was, after terrible
slaughter, brought to an end.