Page:Ernest Belfort Bax - A Short History of the Paris Commune (1895).djvu/54

 48 "symbolical" measures, was a decree passed by the Commune on the 12th of April for the destruction of the Vendôme Column. Although preparations for carrying it out were forthwith set about, owing to various delays these were not completed for more than a month. Accordingly, it was not before the 16th of May that the great emblem of French Jingoism actually kissed the earth. Erected to celebrate the victories of the first Napoleon in his wars of wanton aggression, it was very properly regarded as a standing insult, not only to every other European nationality, but, before all, to a Revolution based on the principles of Internationalism. So the afternoon of May 16th saw a large assemblage of Parisians in the Rue de la Paix and in the Place de la Concorde, the roofs of the houses and the windows being occupied with sightseers, watching anxiously, and not without apprehension, the operations, with the formidable array of ropes leading up to the final tug which should lay prone the emblem of aggressive patriotism. At five o'clock a national guard affixed the tricolour to its proper place, the gallery at the top of this piece of shoddy magnificence, and a few minutes later the national flag, the statue of Napoleon, and the column itself were alike lying in fragments on a vast bed of dung, appropriately prepared for them. The apprehensions proved unfounded, and the overthrow was accomplished without any noteworthy mishap.

On the 15th, the previous day, the dispute between the "minority" and "majority" had reached a climax in the withdrawal of the former under cover of a manifesto anent the "Public Safety," which declared the Commune to have abdicated its functions into the hands of an irresponsible Committee. "As for us," it went on to say, "we, no less than the 'majority,' desire the accomplishment of political