Paris under the Commune Part 40

"(Signed) PASCHAL GROUSSET."

It was very logical of you, Monsieur Grousset, to avow that you had no authority to discuss the preliminaries of peace voted by the a.s.sembly.

What right had you then to subst.i.tute yourselves for it? He did not, however, thus remain midway in his diplomatic career, for after the election of the Commune he thought it his duty to address the following letter to the German authorities:--

"COMMUNE OF PARIS.

"To the Commander-in-chief of the 3rd Corps.

"GENERAL,

"The delegate of the Commune of Paris for Foreign Affairs has the honour to address to you the following observations:--

"The city of Paris, like the rest of France, is interested in the observance of the conditions of peace concluded with Prussia; she has therefore a right to know how the treaty will be executed. I beg you, in consequence, to have the goodness to inform me if the Government of Versailles has made the first payment of five hundred millions, and if in consequence of such payment, the chiefs of the German army have fixed the date for the evacuation of the part of the territory of the department of the Seine, and also of the forts which form an integral portion of the territory of the Commune of Paris.

"I shall be much obliged, General, if you will be good enough to enlighten me in this respect.

"The Delegate for Foreign Affairs,

"(Signed) PASCHAL GROUSSET."

The German general did not think fit, as far as we know, to send any answer to the above.

IV. (Page 88.)

GAMBON.

There are certain legendary names which when spoken or remembered evoke a second image and raise a double personality, Castor implies Pollux; Ninos, Euryalus; Damon, Pythias. An inferior species of union connects Saint Anthony with his pig, Roland with his mare, and the infinitely more modern Gambon with his historic cow. He was "the village Hampden"

of the Empire. By withstanding the tyranny of Caesar's tax-gatherer and refusing to pay the imperial rates, he obtained a popularity upon which he existed until the Commune gave him power. His history is brief. About a year before the fall of the Second Empire, he declared that he would pay no more taxes imposed by the Government. Thereupon, all his realizable property, consisting of one cow, was seized by the authorities and sold for the benefit of the State. This procured him the commiseration of the entire party of _irreconciliables_. A subscription was opened in the columns of the _Ma.r.s.eillaise_ to replace the sequestrated animal, and "La vache a Gambon"--"Gambon's cow"--became a derisive party cry. Gambon had been a deputy in 1848, and when the Commune came into power took a constant though not remarkable part in its deliberations. He was appointed member of the Delegation of Justice on the twentieth of April.

V. (Page 120.).

LULLIER.

Charles Ernest Lullier was born in 1838, admitted into the Naval School in 1854, and appointed cadet of the second cla.s.s in 1856. He was expelled the Naval School for want of obedience and for his irascible character. When on board the Austerlitz he was noted for his quarrelsome disposition and his violent behaviour to his superiors as well as his equals, which led to his removal from the s.h.i.+p and to his detention for a month on board the Admiral's s.h.i.+p at Brest. He was first brought into notoriety by his quarrel with Paul de Ca.s.sagnac, the editor of the _Pays_, whom he challenged, and who refused his cartel. Lullier is celebrated for several acts of the most violent audacity. He struck one of the Government counsel in the Palais de Justice, and openly threatened the Minister of Marine. He was condemned several times for political offences and breaches of discipline. On the fourth of September he left Sainte-Pelagie at the same time as Rochefort. He attacked the new government in every possible way; and when the events of the 18th March occurred, M. Lullier--the man of action, the man recommended by Flourens--seized the opportunity to justify the hopes formed of him by his political a.s.sociates, who had not lost sight of him, and who elected him military chief of the insurrection. As General of the National Guard, he has given us the history of his deeds during the 18th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd March. He has since complacently described the energy with which he executed his command, has explained the means he used, and the points occupied by the insurgents; and has described in the same style the occupation of the Paris forts by the National Guard.

When, on the 18th of March, the Central Committee offered him the command in chief of the National Guard, he would only accept it on the following conditions:--

1. The raising of the state of siege.

2. The election by the National Guard of all its officers, including the general.

3. Munic.i.p.al franchises for Paris--that is to say, the right of the citizens to meet--to appoint magistrates for the city, and to tax themselves by their representatives.

On being appointed he made it a condition that the initiative should rest with him, and then he began to execute his duties with a zeal which never relaxed till his arrest on the 22nd March. By his orders, barricades were erected in the Rue de Rivoli, where he ma.s.sed the insurgent forces. He ordered the occupation of the Hotel de Ville and the Napoleon Barracks by Brunel, the commander of the insurgents. At midnight he took possession of the Prefecture of Police, at one o'clock of the Tuileries, at two o'clock of the Place du Palais Royal, and at four o'clock he was informed that the Ministry were to meet at the Foreign Office.--"I would have surrounded them," he said, "but Jules Favre's presence withheld me. I contented myself therefore with occupying the Place Vendome, the Hotel de Ville, and ordering strategical points on the right bank of the river and four on the left."

He was subsequently accused of having sold Mont Valerien to the Versailles authorities, arrested, and thrown into the Conciergerie. He reappeared, however, on the 14th April as commander of the flotilla of the Commune. Furious with the Central Committee and the Commune he opposed them and was arrested, but contrived to escape from Mazas. From that moment the general of the Commune put himself in communication with Versailles through the mediation of M. Camus and Baron Dathiel de la Tuque, who agreed with him to organise a counter revolution. Lullier was now busily employed in endeavouring to make people forget the part he had taken in the insurrection of the 18th March. He had made it a condition that neither he nor his accomplices, Gomez d'Absin and Bisson, should be prosecuted. The expenses were calculated at 30,000 francs; of which M. Camus gave 2000 francs to Lullier, but the scheme did not succeed. Lullier undertook to have all the members of the Commune arrested, and to send the hostages to Versailles. Lullier is a man of courage, foolhardy even, who never hesitated to fight, and if at the end of the Commune he tried to serve the legitimate government, it was from a spirit of revenge against the men who had refused his dictation, and in his own interest.

VI. (Page 220.)

PROTOT.

Citizen Protot, appointed Delegate of Justice by a decree of the twentieth of April, 1871, was born in 1839.

As an advocate, he defended Megy, the famous Communist general of the fort of Issy, when he was accused of the a.s.sa.s.sination of a police agent on the eleventh of April, 1870. This trial, and the ability he displayed, drew public attention for a moment upon him. Compromised as a member of secret societies, he managed to escape the police, but was condemned in his absence to fines and imprisonment. Having been himself a victim of the law, his attention was first given to the drawing up of a decree, thus worded:--

"The notaries and public officers in general shall draw up legal doc.u.ments which fall within their duty without charge."

In the discussion on the subject of the confiscation of the property of M. Thiers, he proposed that all the plate and other objects in his possession bearing the image of the Orleans family should be sent to the mint.

VII. (Page 229.)

"And now he thinks: 'The Empire is tottering, There's little chance of victory.'

Then, creeping furtively backwards, he tries to slink away.

Remain, renegade, in the building!

"'The ceiling falls,' you say! 'if they see me They will seize and stop me as I go,'

Daring neither to rest nor fly, you miserably watch the roof And then the door,

"And s.h.i.+veringly you put your hand upon the bolt.

Back into the dismal ranks!

Back! Justice, whom they have thrust into a pit, Is there in the darkness.

"Back! She is there, her sides bleeding from their knives, Prostrate; and on her grave They have placed a slab. The skirt of your cloak Is caught beneath the stone.

"Thou shalt not go! What! Quit their house!

And fly from their fate!

What! Would you betray even treachery itself, And make even it indignant?

"What! Did you not hold the ladder to these tricksters In open daylight?

Say, was the sack for these robbers' booty Not made by you beforehand?

"Falsehood, Hate, with its cold and venomous fang, Crouch in this den.