to-day at 2. A great concourse assembled. Bands played. The Commune and
their Staff, amounting to 200, attended on horseback. At 3.45 p.m. an
attempt was made, which failed owing to the breaking of a snatchblock.
The ropes slackened suddenly, injuring two men. Another attempt was
made, fresh ropes having been added, and the Column fell at about 10
minutes to 6. It broke up in the air as it fell. The concussion was
nothing like what had been expected. No glass was broken or injury done
to the Square, excepting that the Column forced itself into the ground.
The excitement was intense. The crowd rushed with loud cheers to
scramble for fragments, while speeches were made by members of the
Commune, mounted on fallen masses, and red flags were hoisted on the
pedestal. Immense crowds assembled in the streets outside, making it
almost impossible to leave the Place Vendôme. It was forbidden to take
away any fragments, and people were searched before leaving the Square.
MAY THE 16th.
Two hundred National Guards entered the Grand Hotel last night. After
having searched every room, under the pretence of looking for arms,
they retired with a good deal of plunder.
This is on that subject a letter forwarded by Mister van Henbeck to the
_Figaro Journal_.
It has been spoken in different ways of the frequent searches made in
the Grand Hotel, since the occupation by the admiral Saisset and his
Staff, which had rendered the Hotel suspected by the "Commune" and the
"Comité Central."
The last visit of these _Gentlemen_, has been marked by many strange
proceedings:
In the night of may 15th a band of about 300 armed men, pseudo-sailors
of the "Commune" and Belgian volunteers of both sex, rushed into the
Hotel. During five hours these mad men, several of them being
intoxicated, had to make in every part of the Hotel fantastic searches,
they went breaking the doors and menacing the administrator, the clerks
and servants.
They had no mandamus to do that, but the pretext was the arrestation of
a battalion of "Gendarmes" and the discovery of a subterranean vault
leading to Versailles.
The search for "Gendarmes" was not long to make, but the one for the
vault was stopped only when they had found the wine cellar. The door was
knocked out:
The great attention they paid to those investigations can be evaluated
by a consummation of 1764 francs of wine.
That operation began at 4 a.m. and was out at 6.
The whistles of those supposed sailors and the trumpets of the "Fédérés"
ordered the end of that small festival. The cellar was left a-side, and
the servants of the Hotel were obliged to bring up in the court-yard
those of the band who could not walk any more; at last, the troop went
out carrying away a good supply of provisions as wine, cigars, watches,
jewels and purses stolen in the servants' rooms, and also clocks and
about a hundred table-plates belonging to the Hotel.
They went with empty hands, but the pockets were full. Two of the
servants were obliged to go with them, and they said they would come
back the next day to arrest many others.
These wicked orgies having no political character, I will address myself
to the "Code pénal" for a repression, and I deliver into the hands of
the "Procureur de la République" a complaint justified by the deposings
of all my servants, and indicating the names of the chiefs of that
curious performance.
Be good enough, Sir, to believe me yours most respectfully: V.....
_Administrator of the Grand Hotel_.
The Insurgents have evacuated all their positions between Fort Vanves
and the _enceinte_.
The only gunboats now beneath the Viaduct at the Point du Jour are mere
wrecks, and their guns have completely disappeared.
The Insurgents' battery on a bastion between Vaugirard and Montrouge has
been firing frequently to-day. One of its shells came as far as Bas
Meudon.
Fort Issy has been directing its fire upon the Point du Jour. About noon
there were two conflagrations at the Point du Jour and one at Auteuil.
The soldiers working at the parallels and the breaching batteries are
suffering from the musketry of Insurgents behind the _enceinte_. As many
as 30 of them have been killed during one night, but the sap has been
carried to within less than 400 metres of the ramparts.
The Insurgents are raising additional barricades in the Rue de
Vaugirard, and also at Passy and Auteuil. Pontoon bridges and fascines
in great numbers are being sent forward to the military foreposts.
The Committee of Public Safety has appointed a military Commission to
replace the existing Commission; it is composed of Arnold, Avrial,
Johannard, Tridon, and Varein.
Henri has been appointed Chief of the Staff of the War Ministry, and
Mathieu commander of the troops posted between the Point du Jour and the
Wagram Gate.
All mechanics over 40 years of age have been called out to work at the
city defences. They will receive 3f. 75c. as daily pay.
Important resolutions are expected to be taken at the sitting of the
Commune to-day, and the serious division will be terminated by the
dissolution of the Central Committee, or by the absorption of the
Committee of Public Safety in the Central Committee.
The Commune announces that the Versailles troops were repulsed in
several attacks made by them last night upon the barricades at
Châtillon, Moulin de Pierre, and Moulin Saquet.
There was a vigorous engagement yesterday evening at the Dauphine and
Maillot Gates, and the Versailles troops were driven back with
considerable loss.
It is rumoured that Fort Montrouge has been evacuated.
The Commune declares that it has a reserve force of 20,000 men.
Of M. Thiers' house little more, it is feared, than the outer walls
remain standing.
MAY 17th
The "Majority of the Commune"--as the Commune is now spoken of in
consequence of the secession of 22 of its members--has resolved to form
a Central Club like that of the Jacobins, composed of delegates from
various clubs of Paris, in order to keep itself _en rapport_ with public
opinion.
The 12th Legion has formed a battalion of women, who in addition to
their other military duties are to disarm publicly all runaways.
The Communal Delegation of the 2d Arrondissement, considering that
slavery was considered immoral even before the American War, and that a
standing army has been suppressed by the Commune, decrees that all
houses of ill fame in their quarter shall be immediately closed, as
involving traffic in human beings.
Peter's Restaurant was searched last night, and several arrests were
made, among them officers of the National Guard suspected of complicity
in the Tricolour Brassard Plot. The Restaurant is closed.
The heaviest firing to-day has been against the Point du Jour. Large
pieces of Marine Artillery have been placed on the ramparts behind
Montrouge.
A terrific explosion has just (6 o'clock) created general alarm.
Enormous volumes of smoke are visible from a great distance. The
cartridge manufactory near the École Militaire has exploded. Six hundred
_employés_, chiefly women, are said to have been killed. Bullets were
launched in all directions, killing and wounding many passers by.
The Insurgents have constructed a battery of Marine pieces, which much
embarrasses the troops and retards the breaching works. Breaches will be
opened at three points--namely, at Mortemart, opposite Auteuil, at
Bastion 65, opposite the Parc-aux-Princes in the Bois and in the
neighbourhood of Vaugirard.
This afternoon the Insurgents fired from three batteries between the
left bank ending the viaduct at the Point du Jour and Montrouge. One of
these batteries was placed close to the Vaugirard Gate, and its fire was
directed to a point at which the Engineers were supposed to be
constructing a trench.
There were conflagrations this evening in Auteuil, the Point du Jour,
and between the latter place and Vaugirard. The flame and smoke were
distinctly visible. We hear it was the blowing up of a powder factory in
the Rue de Wagram, Paris, or at the Trocadéro.
The Committee of Public Safety, in order to save the country from a
military dictatorship, has associated Civil Commissioners with the
various Generals of the Commune. With Dombrowski are joined Burger and
Dereuve, with La Cecilia, Johannard, and with Wrobleski, Leo Meillet.
All passenger and goods trains leaving Paris have to stop outside the
walls for examination. Trains contravening this order will not be
permitted to proceed.
Possessors of petroleum are to declare the amount they hold to the
authorities within 48 hours.
Fort Montrouge is still held, and is strongly supported by the Hautes
Bruyères.
The Government troops have not yet occupied Vanves; they are pressing
upon Billancourt and La Marette.
A letter of General Cluseret in the _Mot d'ordre_ advises that every
exertion should be made for the erection of barricades at the Barrière
de l'Etoile, the Place Roi de Rome, and the Place Eylau, with a second
line between the Passy Gate and the Grenelle Bridge, and a third line
from the Pont de la Concorde to the Ouen Gate.
The Versailles and Auteuil Gates of Paris have been demolished by the
cannonade. The neighbouring bastions are subjected to a tremendous fire,
but do not reply.
Fort Issy, which is now in the hands of the Versailles troops, is
vigorously bombarding Petit Vanves, Grenelle, and Point du Jour.
The last is utterly untenable by the Insurgent gunners.
A belief obtains that the Versailles Engineers are laying a mine under
the walls of Paris in the direction of the Muette Gate. The disagreement
between the Commune and the Central Committee continues.
The Versailles troops have made good their communications from Montrouge
to Issy, and have established batteries on the glacis before Fort
Vanves. They are vigorously attacking Bicêtre and Hautes Bruyères.
A terrible bombardment of the Maillot Gate and the Arc de Triomphe is
going on.
The Federalists in the village of Malakoff are in danger of being cut
off from Paris, while those stationed in the villages of Petit Vanves
and Montrouge have been compelled to retire into the city.
Ladders for scaling the ramparts have reached the Versaillist outposts
in the Bois de Boulogne.
The Versailles troops are endeavouring to cut a way through the wood to
the Avenue of Neuilly.
The cannonade in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe is increasing in
intensity.
MAY 18th.
To-day was a day of feasting, and National Guards surrounded the
Churches of St. Augustin and La Trinité, and forced the priests to stop
Divine service, and turned out the congregations. The establishment of
the Sisters of Mercy of St. Vincent de Paul was also surrounded. An
inventory was made of the goods, the Sisters being themselves placed
under lock and key until to-morrow, when they will be turned out.
Bodies are being removed from the crypt of the Church of Les Petits
Pères, near the Bank of France, for examination. Rumours are afloat that
people have been recently buried there under false names, and bones
strew the pavement on both sides of the church door.
The Versaillais are at a distance of 200 metres from the ramparts from
the Point du Jour to Vanves. The National Guards in great numbers are
assembled under the cover of the ramparts, and an attack is hourly
expected. Shells have fallen on the bridge of Grenelle, killing several
persons. An attack was made yesterday on the Zoological Gardens of the
Bois de Boulogne, which turned out disastrously for the Federals.
The fire from the Insurgents' batteries on the _enceinte_ has been
stronger to-day than at any time previously since the opening of the new
redoubt at Montretout. They have been throwing shells from La Muette
against the troops in the Bois de Boulogne, but mortars placed in the
Bois near the large lake have been responding vigorously, and a field
battery at Mortemart, the south-eastern extremity of the Bois, has been
protecting, by its fire, the Engineers working at the breaching battery,
and also doing some damage to the Artillery on the bastion.
Between Passy and Auteuil the Insurgents are in considerable force
behind the _enceinte_. Their three batteries on the _enceinte_, between
the Point du Jour and Montrouge, have been firing on the military
position at Bas Meudon and Issy. There has been a return shelling from
these positions between the rival Artillery.
Engineers are engaged in sapping from Issy in the direction of
Vaugirard. They are much exposed to the batteries of the Insurgents, but
neither yesterday nor to-day did I see a single shell fall into the
French lines where they are at work.
The Committee of Public Safety has issued an appeal to the National
Guards calling upon them to secure the triumph of Paris, and describing
the fearful results which would ensue from the victory of the Versailles
troops.
A later attack which was made on Neuilly yesterday was repulsed.
This morning the Federal batteries at Montmartre are bombarding the
Château Bécon.
The _Journal Officiel_ of the Commune of to-day accuses the agents of
Versailles of having caused the explosion of the cartridge manufactory,
and says that a hundred persons have fallen victims to it. Four arrests
have been made in connexion with this affair. The _Vérité_ demonstrates
that the explosion could not have been the result of intention, but was
solely attributable to accident. The same paper states that no shell
fell in the Champ de Mars at the time of the explosion.
The Versailles troops are constructing trenches within 200 yards of the
Auteuil Gate, but the breach is not yet assailable.
Fort Montrouge still holds out, but offers only a feeble resistance.
The Communists claim to-day to have repulsed all attacks.
The bombardment is incessant.
The German troops are taking up imposing positions.
The tribunals of the Commune have decided to-day as to who among the
prisoners in the hands of the Commune are to be regarded as hostages. It
is asserted that three hostages will be executed to-morrow.
MAY 19th.
The firing was heavier last night than it has ever been. There were both
a cannonade and a fusillade. Everybody thought that the Versaillais had
at last made their assault. It appears that the Communists attempted a
sortie, and were repulsed with great loss. Numerous waggons filled with
wounded were taken to Versailles. Various battalions returned to Paris,
apparently much dispirited. Numerous reinforcements, however, were
brought up.
The bullets are falling so thickly about the ramparts that the
Communists with difficulty maintain their position there. The Versailles
shell-practice has improved. The shells burst about the bastions instead
of in the town.
The conscription is carried on with increased rigour, death being
threatened to those who refuse to serve. A Lieutenant-Colonel and a
Commandant have been sentenced, the one to 15 years' and the other to 10
years' imprisonment for cowardice, and their battalion has been
dissolved. The Chief and Staff of the 6th Legion have been dismissed for
not disarming the refractory battalions.
It is said the prisoners accused of firing the cartridge manufactory are
to be shot in 24 hours.
Much fear is entertained for the fate of the hostages, whose execution
has been so strongly advocated in the Commune, in reprisal for the
alleged violation and murder of an _infirmière_ by the Versaillais.
Some iron cupola-shaped cases, capable of holding each 1,000lb. of
powder, were to-day taken to the barricades near the ramparts for the
purpose of blowing them up if necessary.
It has been proposed in the Commune to abolish all titles of rank, with
the emoluments and advantages appertaining to them; also that all
children now illegitimate shall be for the future legitimate; and that,
instead of the present form of marriage, any man over 18 and woman over
16 may be allowed to go before a municipal magistrate and declare their
wish to marry.
The only breaching battery that has as yet opened fire is that
established in the Parc aux Princes, at 400 metres distance from the
ramparts. It directs its fire against the _enceinte_ at Auteuil, where
the gates and the drawbridge have been destroyed.
The Fort of Montrouge is almost surrounded by the troops, who advance
also by means of trenches towards the Redoubt of Hautes Bruyères.
Towards the South a series of attacks have been made, with the view of
driving all the Insurgents on that side from their positions outside the
_enceinte_.
Last night, in an affair at Lagrange, the military put 110 Insurgents
_hors de combat_ and made 43 prisoners.
All the breaching works are not yet completed.
To-day the Insurgents have been firing from La Muette, which is on the
_enceinte_ between Passy and Auteuil, and I observed that they had added
to the number of their guns between the Point du Jour and Montrouge.
Yesterday they had three batteries between those points; to-day they
have been firing from five.
Mont Valérien has done very little to-day, and Montretout has not been
so violent as usual, but the military batteries at Bas Meudon, Les
Moulineanx, and Issy have been very active, as have likewise been the
mortars and field guns in the Bois de Boulogne.
Twenty-one members of the Commune no longer attend the sittings of that
body, but remain in their Arrondissements.
Four hundred Versailles Chasseurs are said to have deserted from their
own side into Paris yesterday.
Batteries of 30 guns have been established at the Dauphine Gate.
The _Cri du peuple_ says the Committee have determined rather to blow up
Paris than capitulate.
A requisition has been made of the silver candlesticks at the Church of
Notre Dame des Victoires.
No one without a special pass is allowed to leave the city at night by
the Eastern or Northern gates.
The Commune has ordered that all prostitutes and drunkards shall be
arrested.
A decree of the Committee of Public Safety, published to-day, orders the
suppression of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, _Avenir National_, _Patrie_,
_Commune_, _Justice_, and five other newspapers.
No new journals will be allowed to appear until the end of the war.
All articles must be signed by the writer.
Attacks on the Government will be dealt with according to martial law.
Officers who hesitate to obey the orders of the Committee of Public
Safety will be tried for high treason by court-martial.
The _Salut Public_ alleges that one of the chief persons implicated in
the explosion of the cartridge manufactory is Count Ladislas Zamoyski,
and that papers have been found upon him proving him to be in
communication with the Government of Versailles.
The same paper announces that the Germans demand that an armistice
should be entered into between the Commune and the Versailles
Government, in order that a _Plebiscite_ of all France may be held to
decide upon the future form of Government.
The Commune has seized the silver ornaments and other valuables of the
Church of the Trinity. All the other churches of Paris will shortly be
treated in a similar manner, and will then be closed.
All arrests and requisitions are being carried out by Flourens's corps
of Avengers.
The demolition of the Expiatory Chapel was commenced to-day.
The gate at Point du Jour is destroyed.
Yesterday evening two battalions of troops carried the Ory Farm and
Plichon House, near Fort Montrouge, at the point of the bayonet. The
Federalists had about 400 killed and wounded, and lost 42 prisoners,
including a Chief of Battalion. The troops also captured a flag, but
subsequently evacuated the conquered positions, as they were too much
exposed to the fire of the enemy. The loss of the Versailles troops was
small.
* * * * *
THE VENDÔME COLUMN.