entered, leaving behind him the silver service which was in the room
where he had been about to sit down to dinner.
Assy, was taken on the Quai de Billy.
Montmartre has been carried after a rather sharp struggle. The tricolour
now waves over the Buttes.
For some hours I witnessed the fighting to day. I found that early this
morning all the important positions of Montmartre had been taken by the
two Corps d'Armée of Generals Douai and Ladmirault. The latter General
had occupied the station of St. Ouen and the Place of Clichy, and he had
advanced to Montmartre by an external movement, keeping for some
distance outside the ramparts. At the same time General Douai made a
direct movement from inside the city by the Parc de Monceaux. In this
manner Montmartre had been almost entirely surrounded. There was a hard
contest, but the troops succeeded in entering the Buttes. A large number
of the Insurgents were killed in the action, and about 4,000 were made
prisoners. The number of cannon and mitrailleuses taken was very
considerable, amounting to some hundreds. Belleville is still in the
hands of the Insurgents, as are also the Hôtel de Ville and the
Tuileries. The Red flag was floating on them at half-past 5 o'clock.
Severe fighting was going on across the Place de la Concorde between the
Insurgents occupying the mansion of the Ministry of Marine, at the
corner of the Rue Royale, and the troops on the other side of the river
in the Palace of the Corps Législatif. A gunboat which the Insurgents
had under the Pont Royal, close to the Tuileries, was firing constantly.
The Insurgents in the Rue de Rivoli and the garden of the Tuileries were
using mitrailleuses and rifles, and the troops along the Boulevard at
the edge of the Place des Invalides, close to the river, were attacking
them with four-pounder guns. Fort Vanves was firing on the Insurgent
positions in the neighbourhood of Montrouge and the Faubourg St.
Germain, and the Federalists were shelling Vanves from Forts Montrouge
and Bicêtre. There was musketry skirmishing at various points in the
Faubourg St. Germain. The Insurgents occupy houses, from which they keep
up a rapid fire to impede the march of General Cissey's troops. Among
the prisoners taken to-day many have been recognized as old Reds who
were actively engaged in the insurrection of June, 1848. A movement has
been ordered which will result in completely shutting in the Insurgents
within a circle formed by the whole Army of Paris. The Madeleine is in
the hands of the military. Several fires have broken out in the city.
Colonel Piquemalle, Chief of the Staff of General Vergé, was killed
to-day.
The following circular despatch was yesterday forwarded to the Prefects
of the several Departments.
"The tricolour flag waves over the Buttes-Montmartre and the Northern
Railway station. These decisive points were carried by the troops of
Generals Ladmirault and Clinchant, who captured between 2,000 and 3,000
prisoners. General Douai has taken the Church of the Trinity, and is
marching upon the Mairie in the Rue Drouot.
"Generals Cissey and Vinoy are advancing towards the Hôtel-de-Ville and
the Tuileries.
MAY 24th.
"The Generals, desiring to treat the city with lenity, withheld any
attack upon public monuments in which the insurgents had taken up
positions. This morning they carried the Place de la Concorde. The
Ministry of Finances, the Hôtel of the Conseil d'Etat, the Palace of the
Légion of Honour, and the Palace of the Tuileries were burnt by the
insurgents. When the troops gained possession of the Tuileries, it was
but a mass of smouldering ashes. The Louvre will be saved. The Hôtel de
Ville is in flames. I am convinced that the insurrection will be
completely conquered by this evening at the latest. No one could have
prevented the crime of these wicked wretches. They have made use of
petroleum for their incendiary purposes, and have sent petroleum bombs
against the soldiers. What remedy can be applied? The best of the
Generals of the army have shown an amount of talent and valour which has
excited the admiration of foreigners.
I have just returned from witnessing one of the saddest sights that has
occurred in the world's history.
I announced that the insurgents had set fire to several of the public
buildings of Paris, the Royal and historical Tuileries included. Flames
and bombshells are fast reducing the magnificent city to a huge and
shapeless ruin. Its architectural glories are rapidly passing away in
smoke and flame, such as have never been witnessed since the burning of
Moscow, and amid a roar of cannon, a screaming of mitrailleuses, a
bursting of projectiles, and a horrid rattle of musketry from different
quarters which are appalling. A more lovely day it would be impossible
to imagine, a sky of unusual brightness, blue as the clearest ever seen,
a sun of surpassing brilliancy even for Paris, scarcely a breath of wind
to ruffle the Seine. Such of the great buildings as the spreading
conflagration has not reached stand in the clearest relief as they are
seen for probably the last time; but in a dozen spots, at both sides of
the bridges, sheets of flame and awful volumes of smoke rise to the sky
and positively obscure the light of the sun. I am making these notes on
the Trocadéro. Close and immediately opposite to me is the Invalides,
with its gilded dome shining brightly as ever. The wide esplanade of the
École Militaire, almost immediately underneath it, is nearly covered
with armed men, cannon, and horses. Shells from the positions of General
Cissey, at Montrouge, are every minute falling close to the lofty dome
of the Panthéon. It and the fine building of Val de Grace, near it, seem
certain to be destroyed by missiles before the incendiary fire reaches
them. There is a dense smoke close to St. Sulpice, and now flame rises
amid the smoke, and the two towers of the church are illuminated as no
electric light could illuminate them. Some large building is on fire
there. Every one asks which it is; but no one can approach that Quarter
to put the matter beyond doubt. Burnt leaves of books are flying towards
us, and the prevailing opinion is that the Sorbonne and its Library are
being consumed. There are a dozen other fires between that and the
river. No one doubts that the Palais de Justice is sharing the fate of
the Tuileries and the Louvres. The Château of the Tuileries has all but
disappeared. The centre cupola has fallen in, and so has the roof along
the entire length of the building. Some of the lower stories yet burn,
for fire and smoke are rushing fiercely from the openings where up to
this morning there were window-frames and windows.
The Louvre is not yet wholly gone, and perhaps the fire will not reach
all its Courts. As well as we can make out through the flame and smoke
rushing across the gardens of the Tuileries, the fire has reached the
Palais Royal. Every one is now crying out, "The Palais Royal burns!" and
we ascertain that it does. We cannot see Notre Dame or the Hôtel Dieu.
It is probable that both are fast becoming ashes. Not an instant passes
without an explosion. Stones and timber and iron are flying high into
the air, and falling to the earth with horrible crashes. The very trees
are on fire. They are crackling, and their leaves and branches are like
tinder. The buildings in the Place de la Concorde reflect the flames,
and every stone in them is like bright gold. Montmartre is still outside
the circle of the flames; but the little wind that is blowing carries
the smoke up to it, and in the clear heavens it rises black as Milton's
Pandemonium. The New Opera House is as yet uninjured; but the smoke
encircles it, and it will be next to a miracle if it escapes. We see
clearly now that the Palais de Justice, the Ste. Chapelle, the
Prefecture of Police, and the Hôtel de Ville are all blazing without a
possibility existing of any portion of any one of them being saved from
the general wreck and ruin.
The military are as far as the Pont Neuf on the left bank of the river,
and just beyond the Hôtel de Ville on the right. Now, at 6 o'clock, it
is all but certain that when this fire is extinguished scarcely one of
the great monuments of Paris will have escaped entire destruction.
The barricade of the Insurgents at the end of the Rue Royale was taken
last night by a movement in which the troops made their way from house
to house, starting from the Rue Boissy d'Anglas, to the Rue Faubourg St.
Honoré. The fighting in the Rue Faubourg St. Honoré and the Avenue
Marigny was very severe. Six shells fell and exploded in the grounds of
the British Embassy. The two houses which formed the angles at the
corners of the Rue Royale and the Rue Faubourg St. Honoré were burnt to
the ground. The Place Vendôme was taken by the troops. In the Faubourg
St. Germain during the whole night an energetic combat was raging
between the Insurgents and the men of General Cissey's division.
The Versailles batteries are firing furiously against the Quarters
which still hold out. By the aid of the telescope the horrible fact is
disclosed of numerous dead and wounded left lying about the streets
without any succour whatever.
MAY 25th.
I have been over a large portion of the city to-day and I am happy to
say that, though large fires are still raging, the conflagration is not
spreading to the extent that had been apprehended. The destruction done
by the street fighting and the desolation which prevails in the
principal Boulevards and other leading thoroughfares exceed all I could
have imagined from a more distant view.
I went to the Porte de la Muette, and, getting round to the left,
approached the Arc de Triomphe from the Avenue de L'Impératrice. All
along I found trees, lamp-posts, and the façades of houses smashed by
shells. Turning off by the Rue de Morny, I worked my way round to the
Boulevard Haussmann. It was impossible to proceed along by the pavement,
as on either side at intervals of a few feet felled trees and thick
branches had been laid down by the insurgents to obstruct the passage of
the troops. On Monday last the Federals had occupied the houses, and
fired from the corridors. All the fronts of the houses were disfigured
by rifle balls, the corridors were broken, and the handsome stone
cornices very much battered. The beautiful columns of the Madeleine are
sadly injured, the fluted edges having been in many places shot away.
The two houses in the Rue Royale, at the corner of the Rue Faubourg St.
Honoré, were blazing still, and the smoke and ashes that flew from them
were stifling the pompiers, who were working energetically there and at
other points; some of their corps were shot. It had been discovered that
they, instead of throwing water on the fires they were called upon to
extinguish, were actually pumping petroleum into the flames, and so
adding to their fury. When this was detected the guilty firemen were
surrounded by a body of cavalry, conducted into the Parc de Monceaux,
and there shot. I could count the number of people I met along the
Boulevards, so few were those who ventured to walk about. The fears of
petroleum and explosions are universal. The inhabitants had either
stopped up, or were engaged in stopping up, every chink through which
petroleum might be thrown into their houses. Their cellar lights, their
ventilators, and their gratings were being made impervious by sand,
mortar, and other materials. This precaution was taken because women
and children partisans of the Commune, have in numerous instances been
detected throwing petroleum into houses. Not a shop was entirely open,
and those that opened only doors were inferior restaurants and wine
houses. Around the railing in the Place Vendôme troopers' horses were
tied. The bronze figure of the Emperor was on its back, the shattered
and prostrate Column lay about in fragments. On visiting the
neighbourhood of Montmartre, and ascending an Observatory there I found
there was a cannon and musketry fire going on in the district of
Belleville and the Buttes de Chaumont. The Insurgents had not been
dislodged, and as the troops have undergone much fatigue since Monday a
regular attack on Belleville will not be made till to-morrow morning.
General Clinchant will bring his forces against it in the rear, and
General Vinoy's soldiers will advance upon it from the Boulevards. On
coming round by the quay to the Place de la Concorde I found that all
the statues of the French cities are injured, and some very
considerably. Of several the arms and heads are off. The splendid
fountains in the centre of the Place are dreadfully smashed. The stone
balustrade is badly broken in a hundred places. The lamp posts are all
down, and this once charming spot presents a most melancholy
appearance. I found a crowd looking over the wall of the wharf beside
the bridge. I looked over and found a number of labourers digging a huge
square grave in which to bury some 25 Insurgents, who lay mangled and
dead along the wall.
The Hôtel de Ville is still smoking. So are the ashes of the Tuileries.
Happily not very much of the Louvre is destroyed, and at the Palais
Royal the fire was extinguished when only a portion of that building had
been consumed. The Prefecture of Police is consumed, but the Palais de
Justice is not, and the Sainte Chapelle has suffered but little injury.
The greatest conflagration of to-day was that at the Grenier
d'Abondance. The flames and smoke from it rose high over the city. There
were other fires, but, happily, not in the centre of the city. I could
not learn in what particular buildings they were rising, but I believe
that a frightful fire is raging at the Entrepot des Vins, on the Quai
St. Bernard.
M. Thiers has addressed the following Circular to the Departements:--
"We are masters of Paris, with the exception of a very small portion,
which will be occupied this morning. The Tuileries are in ashes, the
Louvre is saved. A portion of the Ministry of Finance along the Rue de
Rivoli, the Palais d'Orsay, where the Council of State holds its
sittings, and the Court of Accounts have been burnt. Such is the
condition in which Paris is delivered to us by the wretches who
oppressed it. We have already in our hands 12,000 prisoners, and shall
certainly have from 18,000 to 20,000. The soil of Paris is strewn with
corpses of the Insurgents. The frightful spectacle will, it is hoped,
serve as a lesson to those insensate men who dared to declare themselves
partisans of the Commune. Justice will soon be satisfied. The human
conscience is indignant at the monstrous acts which France and the world
have now witnessed. The Army has behaved admirably. We are happy in the
midst of our misfortune to be able to announce that, thanks to the
wisdom of our Generals, it has suffered very small losses."
The troops have captured the Hôtel de Ville, and have occupied Fort
Montrouge.
The military operations are being actively and energetically carried on
by the three Corps which are now in Paris. It is hoped that they will be
in possession of the whole of the capital by this evening.
It is asserted that General Vinoy has been appointed Governor of Paris.
The newspapers state that Delescluze, Cluseret, Félix Pyat, and Ranvier
have been made prisoners, but the news is not officially confirmed.
Firemen have been summoned by telegraph from all the districts around
Paris.
Fort Bicêtre has been occupied by the troops.
It is stated that Raoul Rigault was shot this morning.
A dense cloud of smoke still hangs over Paris, which gives rise to fears
of fresh conflagrations.
Since noon to-day a south-easterly wind has arisen, causing the
conflagration to extend in the direction of the Bastille, and
threatening the city with destruction.
The Versailles batteries are firing vigorously upon Belleville.
The fires are apparently slackening. The wind fortunately veered round
to the west at 5 o'clock this evening, and this change was followed by a
calm, which has since continued. The sky is still lurid from the
reflection of the flames, and the _débris_ from the burning buildings
fall at distances of 20 kilomètres.
It is said that the Mazas prison is burnt to ashes, and fears are
entertained for the safety of the Archbishop, who was incarcerated
there.
It is reported that considerable bodies of Insurgents attempted to
escape from Paris in the direction of Aubervilliers and Romainville,
but they were driven back.
The cannonading from the Versailles batteries at Montmartre against
Belleville and Chaumont continues.
MAY 26th.
The attack on Belleville was made this morning soon after daybreak.
General Clinchant approached it from the ramparts, and General Bruat's
Division marched on it in front from the direction of the Rue de Paris.
The troops had to attack seven barricades successively. When they had
made a partial progress the Insurgents, seeing defeat inevitable,
offered to surrender on condition that their lives should be spared.
This was refused, and the struggle continued till the military
succeeded. A large number of the Insurgents were shot. Many cannon and
22 red flags were captured.
Last night a large group of the Insurgents imprisoned in the docks of
Satory, attempted a rising. The battalion in charge fired, and a number
of the prisoners were shot dead. The portion of the Palais Royal
consumed by the fire on Wednesday is the block of buildings in which
Prince Napoleon resided. The library of the Louvre has been destroyed.
The fire was arrested at the portion of the building occupied by the
Gendarmerie. Between the Louvre and the Hôtel de Ville several shops and
private houses have been reduced to ashes. The Théâtre Lyrique is burnt
down. Of the Hôtel de Ville nothing remains but some walls. The Hotel of
the Ministry of Finance and that of the Cour des Comptes are both
destroyed. One of the towers of the Conciergerie, the Prefecture of
Police, and a portion of the Palais de Justice are burnt. The Grenier
d'Abonbance has disappeared, after being in flames for many hours
yesterday. A shell charged with petroleum struck and set on fire the
turret of the Church of St. Eustache. This part of the building crumbled
away; but the church itself was saved. In the Rue Royale eight houses
have been entirely, and two partially, consumed by the fire which broke
out at the corners of the Rue Faubourg St. Honoré. In the latter street
four houses have been consumed. The upper story of the British Embassy
has been much injured by shells. Several women have been arrested while
in the act of firing on the troops, and it is said that one _cantinière_
caused the death of ten soldiers by putting poison in their wine. Some
of the women whom I have seen marched from Paris as prisoners are
dressed in the uniform of National Guards. Not a few of the female
prisoners are very furious-looking. Several attempts at escape and
assassination have been made by prisoners. They are marched between a
double line of Cavalry, each of the latter holding a revolver in his
hand, with his finger on the trigger. Women found throwing petroleum
into houses have been shot on the spot. Since Monday there has been a
very large number of summary executions in the streets of Paris. At No.
27, Rue Oudinot, where Les Ambulances de la Presse have their
Head-Quarters, the bodies of 52 persons thus despatched are now
deposited. On one, which is dressed in the uniform of a National Guard,
bank notes to the amount of 150,000f. were found.
Viard, a member of the Commune, was arrested in the Rue de l'Université
yesterday. Gustave Courbet, an artist of celebrity, and also a member of
the Commune, has died at Satory of poison, supposed to have been
administered by himself. He expired in great agony. He it was who
promoted the idea of destroying the Column in the Place Vendôme. Raoul
Rigault, Procureur de la Commune, has been shot. Napoléon Gaillard,
Director of the Barricades, was insubordinate at Satory, and was shot by
the side of the fosse there. It is reported that Cluseret, Amouroux,
and Clément, all members of the Commune, have been arrested.
Fort d'Ivry has been evacuated by the Insurgents. They blew it up on
leaving, and the troops have taken possession of it. Six thousand
insurgents surrendered at discretion this morning at the Barrière
d'Italie.
The affair of Belleville is not yet concluded. There is fighting still.
A great fire is raging in the direction Buttes de Chaumont.
MAY 27th.