Page:Ernest Belfort Bax - A Short History of the Paris Commune (1895).djvu/64

 58 It took fire from the Versaillese shells directed against the Federal entrenchments on the terrace of the Tuilleries, the vast masses of documents in the upper storeys supplying combustible material which effectually spread the flames. Early on the Tuesday morning Bismarck surrendered the neutral ground and the Porte St. Ouen to another division of the Verseillese army which poured into Paris—a proof, if such were needed, of the hollowness of the sham sentiment called "patriotism" as against the solidarity of real class interest. The "patriotic" French bourgeois was ready to lick the boots while imploring the aid of the hated "Prussien" against the French proletaire. Meanwhile, before the common danger the men of the Commune rose above the petty squabbles and personalities of the council-room, the public meeting, and the street. Members of the "majority" and "minority" met in generous rivalry who could do the most. But how little there was to be done! Cluseret was powerless; La Cécilia, an old general of Garibaldi's and a man of some military capacity, was not obeyed, and could not get artillery or ammunition for important positions. Montmartre, the almost impregnable fortress, was defended by a few hundred disorganised Federals. The few pieces of artillery on the height had been allowed to get into disorder, and were little better than useless. Before mid-day on Tuesday Montmartre was captured in a mere walk-over, scarcely one effective blow having been struck in its defence. The Batignolles had been already occupied earlier in the morning. On Montmartre took place the first of the wholesale massacres of the "bloody week." Forty-two men, women, and children were taken to the Rue des Rosieres, and butchered as a holocaust to the manes of the scoundrels Lecomte and Clément-Thomas. The soldiers tried to force them all to kneel;