Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 2

Mention must not be omitted of the part played, in connection with the invasion, by the money-lender attached to the Prussian forces. He was no miserable camp-follower bent on securing much plunder by small advances of ready money, nor private bill-discounter prepared to “oblige” officers with loans on notes of hand. He was an officially recognised financial agent, representing a syndicate of foreign bankers, who, to enable the municipalities and the occupied towns to execute the requisitions and pay the contributions imposed on them, offered, with a generosity rare in time of war, to lend the necessary funds in return for promises to pay, secured on the local taxes. The arrival of Herr Betzold was announced in the

Moniteur de Versailles

, the official journal published by the Germans throughout the occupation; and a few days afterwards his benevolent project for enabling destitute French municipalities to satisfy the most exorbitant Prussian demands was made known through the columns of the little sheet, which thus found itself transformed for a time into a financial newspaper. A second time attention was called to the advantages to be derived from the scheme; but neither the eloquent articles of the

Moniteur de Versailles

 nor the friendly personal representations of Herr Betzold himself had any effect upon the municipality. The mayor refused to pledge the future resources of the town, or rather, refused to pledge them to the Prussians. A loan was found indispensable, but the bonds were offered to and taken by the inhabitants. The interest was fixed at five per cent., principal and interest both to be paid off within three months of signing the peace.

While on the subject of contributions and the means taken to enable the conquered populations to pay them, I may point out – what some professors of international law are perhaps unaware of – that the Prussians no longer recognise the right of maritime Powers in time of war to seize merchant vessels belonging to the enemy. The contribution of 1,000,000 francs per occupied department, to which M. Delerot devotes some pages, was ordered by way of reprisal, and as an indemnity for the losses inflicted upon German commerce by French men-of-war.

The most serious charge brought by M. Delerot against the Prussians is that at Bougival they attacked and wounded a certain number of the inhabitants, on the ground, and apparently under the distinct impression, that they had been fired at with an air-gun: an instrument which, as M. Delerot assures us, is found only in scientific laboratories. The Prussians to whom the outrage in question is attributed were temporarily retreating in face of a sortie from Paris; and according to M. Delerot, they simply deluded themselves into a belief that the inhabitants of Bougival had assumed towards them an attitude which, under the circumstances, inhabitants are likely enough to adopt.

The fact that a formal trial was instituted, and that it resulted in two of the inhabitants being found guilty and shot, would seem to show that there must have been some sort of evidence against them, though M. Delerot will have it that the Prussians were under a delusion on the subject. It is clear, however, from the facts, adduced as such by M. Delerot himself, that the Prussians wished, not so much to act with severity as to be thought severe. The object, indeed, of most punishments in civilised warfare is, not to punish offenders retributively and in a spirit of vengeance for what they have done, but to deter other possible offenders from imitating their example. No one imagines that there is anything morally wrong in a civilian’s wishing to defend his country. But if troops do not molest the civil population, they consider that they have a right to require in return that civilians shall not molest them. One day, then, when a number of peasants taken in arms were brought to Versailles, the Prussians announced loudly their intention to shoot them. But M. Delerot and his friends observed that, instead of being taken to the place of execution, the peasants were imprisoned. On leaving Versailles, the Prussian authorities gave up to the mayor a list of the persons thrown into gaol during their occupation; and M. Delerot republishes it, with the names of the prisoners, the offences charged against them, and so on. The list certainly shows that many persons were incarcerated on trivial accusations: among others a servant-girl for having returned a box on the ears to an officer; someone else for having been found “in possession of a diary containing insulting expressions addressed to the King of Prussia”; a third for having recognised a Prussian spy; a fourth for having “followed Count Bismarck.” M. Delerot would, perhaps, have preferred that this last victim of precautionary measures should have been allowed to pursue Count Bismarck, who, walking out alone, was sometimes completely mobbed; so that on one occasion he reproached his pursuers with their ignorance of the “usages of war,” adding that if some impetuous young officer found himself surrounded in such a manner, he would probably make use of his sword. Thus, if Count Bismarck ended by objecting altogether to followers, he did not do so until they had become a serious nuisance.

The arrest of a man who had “recognised” a Prussian spy is interesting as an example of an action perfectly innocent, and, indeed, praiseworthy in itself, but which of necessity entailed upon its author a period of forced seclusion. A spy recognised, even by one individual, is a spy lost unless the individual who has recognised him be at once removed from public life.

To a large extent, M. Delerot’s work, independently of the fact that it is well put together and contains a mass of valuable and interesting information, is impartial. “Impartiality!” exclaims Victor Hugo in his “Napoleon le Petit.” “Strange virtue for an historian, which Tacitus never possessed!” Thereupon Victor Hugo proceeds to “déchirer” his victim “en style de Juvenal.” M. Delerot claims to have seen things, and to state them precisely as they took place. But, with the best intentions, such an attitude would be impossible for a citizen and official of Versailles writing the moment after the occupation had come to an end, with the wound constantly and inevitably inflicted on his patriotism still fresh. He has nothing extenuated, and he has set down much, if not in malice, at least in anger. But he has striven, though not always with success, to render justice to the Prussians, especially to the Crown Prince, Count Moltke, and even Prince Bismarck.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

VERSAILLES AND THE COMMUNE

The Communists or Communards – The “Internationale” – Bismarck and the National Guard – The Municipal Elections – The Insurrection – Thiers – Paris During the Commune – Concluding Remarks

NO sooner had peace been signed between France and Germany than a desperate conflict took place in the streets of the capital, which led to a two months’ war between the regular troops established at Versailles and a mass of federated battalions of the National Guard in Paris itself. The Communards are known in England as the “Communists”; and, having after a time adopted certain theories on the subject of labour and the division of property as part of their programme, they are generally looked upon as Communists in the socialistic sense of the word. The Communard movement of 1871 was, above all, a revolutionary attempt to establish absolute municipal self-government in Paris. It recalled, then, from the first the Commune of the great Revolution, when Pétion was Mayor of Paris, with Robespierre and Danton among his councillors and officials. The Paris Commune of the first Revolution declared all other authorities suspended. It joined the extreme party known as the Mountain (from occupying the highest benches in the Assembly), organised the movement which resulted in the fall of the moderate, well-intentioned Girondists, and remained faithful to Robespierre throughout the Reign of Terror until the overthrow of the revolutionary tyrant. The very name of Commune was then abolished, and in lieu of a central municipal power, Paris was divided into twelve distinct municipalities.

Count Bismarck at Versailles had recommended the disarming of the National Guard. His well-meant advice was regarded with suspicion, though, as he had foreseen, the revolutionary spirit of the force in question soon asserted itself. Already on the 18th of March the National Guard had resisted the action of some Line regiments. The Municipal Elections of the 26th proved favourable to the projected Communal Government, and, on the 29th, the Commune was formally proclaimed. The Red Republicans, leaders in every revolutionary movement, had, since the dethronement of Napoleon III. and the proclamation of the Republic in September, 1870, never ceased to attack what they considered the conservative character of the Government of National Defence; and in demanding measures of a more democratic kind, they aimed in particular at decentralisation, municipal independence, and the introduction of a federated system made up of self-governing communes. These views were supported in good faith by politicians of the extreme Republican side. But they were adopted also, and spread abroad with many pernicious additions, by political agitators, revolutionists, and adventurers of the worst kind. The members of the “Internationale” – a society for the promotion of revolution everywhere, of which but little has lately been heard – did their best to fan the insurrectionary flame; and soon every form of discontent had its representatives, and every impossible chimera its supporters among the leaders of what was still called the Commune.

The vagabondism which gave to the Commune so many adherents had been generated and developed during the siege, and there were numbers of men in Paris, composing the worst portion of the National Guard, who saw in the end of the war the end also of their living at Government expense, and who looked forward with dismay to the return of regular work, the enforcement of creditors’ claims, the collection of rents and taxes, and a hundred other inconveniences which they had evaded during the war. On the triumphal entry of the German army into Paris, March 1st, 1871, detachments of the National Guard had, by express stipulation, though contrary to Bismarck’s advice, been allowed to remain under arms for the preservation of order in the streets, and a considerable quantity of cannon having been entrusted to their care (in order to prevent its falling into the hands of the Germans, who by the terms of the armistice had every right to it), they afterwards, when summoned to do so by General Aurelle de Paladines, refused to give it up. It was on this occasion that the National Guard came into collision with the regular troops, who had been instructed to receive the artillery from them. Their determination not to part with the field-pieces placed beneath their protection was at first attributed to an honourable patriotic feeling. But the National Guard lost no time in seeking ammunition for their artillery, and they took possession of several magazines. They were attacked by some bodies of regular troops, but succeeded in giving a good account of their opponents, some of whom were induced to join them. A Central Committee of the National Guard was now formed, and inflammatory proclamations were put forward demanding that the National Guard should have the right to elect its own officers; that the daily war pay of one franc and a half should be secured to each National Guard until he could obtain work, and that General Aurelle de Paladines should be displaced in order to make room for a commander of their own choosing. In regard to general politics, they demanded universal suffrage and the formal subjection of all military power to the civil authority of the Paris municipality: Paris commune, that is to say.

The chief of the new National Government, M. Thiers, saw that the time for suppressing the movement in favour of the Commune had arrived. The National Guard had carried their artillery to the heights of Montmartre, and some ten thousand of the regular troops now took up positions of attack at the base of the hill. They then pressed upwards to the summit, overcame the guard placed outside the insurgents’ camp, took the cannon, and made several hundred prisoners. Having once got possession of the cannon, the regular troops do not seem to have known what to do with their capture. News of the affair spread rapidly through the workmen’s quarters of Montmartre and Belleville, and the alarm having been beaten, several battalions of National Guards mustered and marched to the hill on whose crest the cannon still remained. One of the regiments entrusted with the custody of the guns fraternised with the assailants, and the victory of the National Guards was thus made easy. The insurgents remained in possession of the guns, and the few troops who remained loyal to their colours were allowed to withdraw. Soon afterwards, on the same day, a small body of regular troops was cut off from the main column by a party of insurgents, and General Clément Thomas, former commander of the National Guard of Paris, was taken prisoner and shot. By mid-day on the 18th, the insurgents were in full possession of Montmartre, and towards evening, the Government troops having been driven from the field, they penetrated into other quarters, and now for the first time established themselves in the Place Vendôme. Soon after dark, they occupied the Hôtel de Ville without encountering any resistance. By midnight they had made it their headquarters, the regular troops having meanwhile returned to Versailles. On the morning of the 19th, the federated Guards held every point within their power, and the Central Committee were the rulers of the city. The Government over which M. Thiers presided was already established at Versailles.

Nothing could be stranger than the way in which the forts around Paris were now occupied. Those on the eastern and north-eastern side were still in the hands of the Germans. The regular Government held Mont-Valérien, the most important of all the forts. The other forts had fallen into the power of the federated battalions of the National Guard, who now made preparations for defending the city against a second siege.

Elections were at this juncture made to a municipal assembly; the Commune was declared to be the only true and legitimate Government of the city; and a

Journal Officiel de la Commune de Paris

 was founded, in which a series of decrees was immediately published. The old revolutionary calendar was restored, March 29th being announced as “the eighth of Germinal, year 79.” Laws were issued requiring every able-bodied citizen, from nineteen to forty, to serve in the National Guard; a partial remission of overdue rents was granted; three years’ time was given for payment in full of overdue notes and bills, and the daily pay of the National Guards was raised to two and a half francs. All articles, moreover, that had been pawned for a sum not exceeding twenty francs were to be returned to their owners; pensions were to be paid to the widows and orphans of those falling in the insurrection; and all factories whose owners had left Paris were to become the property of the workmen employed in them.

The Commune now proceeded to organisation, and, after many lively debates in the Assembly, an executive committee was formed, when the conduct of the Communal Government assumed a definite shape. Ministers were appointed, and one of the leading members of the Commune – he happened to be the best-dressed man amongst them – was named, at a time when Paris was cut off from all communication with the outer world, “Director of External Affairs” – “Directeur des Affaires Extérieures.” “Ce monsieur,” said Rochefort, when he heard of the appointment, “a plus d’extérieur que d’affaires.”

The general cry on the part of the Communal leaders was now to march upon Versailles and “crush the Assembly.” The first encounter, however, with regular troops undeceived the National Guard as to the kind of reception they would encounter. They had expected fraternisation, but met only with defeat. Their first repulse, however, had little effect but to encourage the Communal Government to renewed efforts; and on the day following the first check nearly 90,000 men, divided into three columns, were sent towards Versailles. The centre column, under Bergeret, an American, was to advance in the direction of Meudon, covered by the southern forts in possession of the Commune; the left, under Eudes, was to approach Versailles by way of Vaugirard, Montrouge, and Chàtillon, while the right, under Duval, was to pass directly under the guns of Mont-Valérien, which was believed to be evacuated, and advance upon Nanterre and Rueil. Neither column, however, had marched very far before it encountered disaster. Bergeret was met by a division of regulars at Meudon, and at once driven back; the left, under Eudes, was stopped by a corps of sailors and marines and, after a fierce encounter, compelled to retreat. The worst fate of all was reserved for Duval’s column, which, on approaching Mont-Valérien, was surprised at close quarters by a terrible discharge of artillery from the fort believed to be abandoned. The middle part of the column was annihilated, and the leading regiments, equally with the rear, took to flight. Duval himself was captured and shot.

Bergeret’s place in the army was now taken by a Pole, Ladislas Dombrowski, who was also made Commandant of Paris. Another reign of terror seemed at hand. Requisitions were made upon public institutions of various kinds, including churches; and several rich men, accused of disloyalty to the Commune, had their property seized and confiscated. Numbers of Communist prisoners taken in action had been shot, and it was now declared that in putting to death unarmed soldiers the Versailles authorities had transgressed the rules of civilised warfare. The Archbishop of Paris, Monseigneur Darboy, with other ecclesiastics and civilians of eminence, were seized as hostages; and it was announced that for every Communist prisoner put to death three hostages would be executed. Monseigneur Darboy was one of the first victims under this decree. Tragic, indeed, has been the fate of three archbishops of Paris in succession: Monseigneur Affre, who perished on the barricades in the days of June, 1848, as he was seeking to pacify the insurgents; Monseigneur Sibour, assassinated by a fanatical priest; Monseigneur Darboy, shot in cold blood by the Communists.

M. Thiers, who had erected the forts of Paris partly against foreign invasion, partly, it was thought, against a possible insurrection in Paris itself, enjoyed within a few months the opportunity of testing their utility in both characters. As a protection against assault from the outside they had proved ineffective, though they need not have done so had Paris been approached within a reasonable time by a relieving army strong enough to break through the lines of investment. Against the forces of the Commune they were found very serviceable; and, when the final advance was made from Versailles, the forts played an important part in covering the attack. The Versailles troops were under the command of Marshal MacMahon, who retained his popularity with the French by reason of his being, as a matter of fact, the only prominent French leader who had not signed a capitulation or in any way capitulated; though, had he not been severely wounded on the morning of the battle of Sedan, he would have had no choice but to surrender on the terms which his successor in command, General de Wimpffen, was compelled to accept. Nevertheless, while General de Wimpffen, Marshal Bazaine, and General Uhrich, Commandant of Strasburg, were stigmatised, with all the commandants of the numerous fortified towns which surrendered under severe bombardment, as unworthy of the trust reposed in them, Marshal MacMahon, by the mere accident of his having been incapacitated at the beginning of the most critical battle of the whole war, was regarded as a hero without fear and without reproach.

To return to Versailles – the regular troops occupied point after point, until at last they were prepared for a final advance. Rossel, an artillery officer of considerable talent, had now replaced Cluseret as “delegate for war.” Dombrowski retained the chief command. But the Commune was greatly in want of leaders, and numbers of battalions were without chiefs, On the 10th of May M. Thiers’ private house was demolished, and on May 16th the Vendôme column was overthrown. The insurgents, under the pressure of the Versailles troops, became almost as frantic as were the revolutionists of the Reign of Terror when they feared the invasion of all Europe. The most bitter hatred was expressed against the Versailles Government by popular orators haranguing crowds in the streets and in the great republican clubs. Bands of women, as during the revolution of 1789, marched through the public thoroughfares, carrying arms and exciting the people against the “assassins of Versailles.”

On the 14th of May several forts were captured from the Communists; and on the 21st everything seemed ready for a general attack. Proclamations were posted on the walls of Paris calling upon citizens to fight to the last; and officers rode through the streets inciting all they met to determined resistance. These appeals proved ineffective in the richer quarters of Paris, where the arrival of the Versailles troops was looked forward to with joy. But they met with the fullest response in the workmen’s districts, where even women and children fought at the barricades. Begun on Sunday, May 21st, the operations of the Versailles army were continued on Monday and Tuesday. The troops had been divided into five columns, which were to form a cordon round the city, and, attacking vigorously at certain points in the circumference, were gradually to concentrate so as to hem in the insurgents on all sides – the plan, in short, of the battle of Sedan applied by Frenchmen to other Frenchmen. On Tuesday morning, May 23rd, the attack was begun. The Versailles troops were successful at all points; but one of the columns met with a desperate resistance on the plateau of Montmartre, which was not taken until after severe fighting. Close to Montmartre the Place Pigalle, where Dombrowski had his headquarters, still held out. It was surrounded by a barricade, which was defended with the utmost energy for two hours, until the Communist leader fell mortally wounded. Then the resistance did not cease; but before night the important stronghold was in possession of the Versailles troops.

There was desperate fighting, too, in the Place Vendôme, which was at last taken by an overwhelming assault made at the same time from the Rue de la Paix on the one side and the Rue de Castiglione on the other. The Place de l’Opéra was also the scene of a sanguinary struggle. It was not until Wednesday morning that the Bourse was taken, and the only important points left unoccupied were now the Hôtel de Ville and the Château d’Eau.

Meanwhile the insurgents, gradually falling back, had, in their powerlessness, gratified their rage by the most barbarous means. Organised incendiarism had been resorted to, and fires now broke out in every part of Paris. Fires which might possibly have been caused by shells had been noticed on the Tuesday, and now, on Wednesday, the Tuileries was in flames. Soon the Palais Royal, a whole side of the Rue Royale, and then, in an easterly direction, the Hotel de Ville, were found to be burning. A panic spread through the city, among the Versailles troops as well as the people. It was repeated from mouth to mouth that the Communists had sworn to burn all Paris by fire kindled with petroleum; and a series of arrests and executions was now begun, which soon amounted to the indiscriminate slaughter of all who chanced to fall under the slightest suspicion. “It was only necessary,” says an American writer, Dr. Edward L. Burlingame, “that a man or woman should be pointed at as

pétroleur

 or

pétroleuse

; they were shot down without inquiry or mercy. Houses were searched, and those hidden in them were brought into the streets and killed. Many entirely innocent shared the fate of the leaders, like Vermorel and Rigault, both of whom fell by these summary executions. A court-martial was established in the centre of the city, but even for those brought before it there was in most cases only a hurried form of trial. New fires were continually lighted, either by concealed incendiaries – of whom many were taken with the implements for their work in their hands – or by petroleum bombs from the barricades and the districts still in possession of the Communists. During this week of conflagrations there were consumed or partially burned, besides a great number of private houses, the Palais de Justice, the Prefecture of Police, the Palace of the Legion of Honour, the Porte St. Martin Theatre, the Grenier d’Abondance, several churches, many mercantile establishments and minor public buildings: all this, besides the more formidable conflagrations at the Hôtel de Ville, the Tuileries and the Louvre.”

During the whole of Wednesday, in spite of the distraction caused by the fires, the troops had steadily continued the manœuvres by which they were gradually closing about the last insurgent strongholds. Around the burning hotel the Communists contested every step of advance with desperate bravery. It was late on Wednesday night before the building, then in flames in four places, was at last abandoned. On the left bank of the Seine the resistance was still more obstinate, and it was only on Thursday afternoon that the Versailles troops succeeded in driving the insurgents from their last strong position on the Buttes-aux-Cailles, after the bloodiest contest since their entry into the city. Still fighting, the Communists fell back to the manufactory of the Gobelins, which they set on fire. Here was their last desperate defence on this side of the river. Prisoners in their hands were forced to man the barricades, and afterwards were shot down after freedom had been scoffingly promised them. After a violent struggle the Versailles troops gained possession of the whole district, and with it of the last contested spot on the left bank.

On the right bank the troops were operating towards the Faubourg St. Antoine, and especially the Place de la Bastille, which was taken on Friday, when the insurgents retired to the cemetery of Père Lachaise. The quarter of Belleville, inhabited almost exclusively by workmen, resisted with the greatest ferocity, and on Friday night it was still unconquered by the Versailles troops, who now formed a semicircle around it. On Saturday, May 27th, there were still barricades to take in the Faubourg du Temple; and the Communists had yet to be dislodged from the cemetery of Père Lachaise. A fire, too, was kept up by a battery on the Buttes Chaumont. On the evening of Saturday, May 27th, General Vinoy took the cemetery by storm. The last defence of the Communists was made at a barricade in the Faubourg du Temple, which, in spite of constant attacks, held out until Sunday at noon. At five o’clock on Sunday afternoon the firing had ceased throughout the city, and a notice from Marshal MacMahon was posted on the walls announcing that the civil war was at an end. The dead were scattered through half the streets of Paris, the hospitals were crowde