Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/166

 162 COMMUNE DE PARIS ened by another committee claiming to be the regularly elected representatives of a federation of battalions ; but a fusion was effected between the two, and the central committee, thus recon- structed, found itself with even greater in- fluence than before. Acting under its orders, the insurgents had taken the cannon on Feb. 26 ; directed by it, they now possessed them- selves of great quantities of arms and ammuni- tion from the fortifications, and took up their principal position in an intrenched camp on Montmartre. They took magazines, compelled the release of public prisoners, and even came into open conflict with small bodies of regular troops, some of whom were induced to join them. They began to call themselves the " fed- erated guards," in distinction from those na- tionals who had remained loyal. From its stronghold at Montmartre the central commit- tee issued inflammatory proclamations, demand- ing that the national guard should have the right to elect all its own officers; that the daily pay (war standard) of one franc and a half should be secured to each of its members until he could obtain work, or the government could obtain it for him ; that Gen. Aurelle de Pala- dines should be displaced to make room for a commandant of their own choosing. In what concerned general politics they demanded uni- versal suffrage, and the formal subjection of all military power to the civil authority of the Paris municipality. The greater part of these de- mands were sent to the minister of the interior, with much of the formality attending the pres- entation of an ultimatum from a hostile power. Such was the position of affairs when the new national government, headed by M. Thiers, at last perceiving with what they had to deal, determined upon the employment of force. They rapidly collected the troops that could be spared from other employment, and brought the de- tachments stationed in Paris up to the strength of 30,000 men, including that minority of the national guard that remained loyal. On March 11 Gen. Vinoy, to whom the task of dealing with the matter was largely intrusted, had, just after the receipt of the demands of the reds, sup- pressed six of the most violent radical journals, Le Vengeur (the organ of Felix Pyat), Pere Duchene, Le Cri du Peuple, La BoucTie de Fer (the organ of Paschal Grousset), La Caricature, and Rochefort's paper, Le Mot d< Or Are. With the exception of this, however, no decisive act had revealed the intentions of the government; the quieter classes of Parisians, with singular blindness, seemed to have no idea of an ap- proaching conflict ; the difficulty, if referred to at all, was spoken of lightly as " the cannon question;" the insurgents on Montmartre re- mained quiet for several days ; and a lull pre- ceded the final crisis which promoted a gen- eral sense of security, and gave the outbreak when it came additional violence. On the night of March 17-18, 10,000 of the govern- ment troops finally took up positions of -attack about the base of Montmartre. These occu- pied, they pressed on to the summit of the hill, easily overcame the few guards stationed about the camp of the insurgents, took 400 prisoners and several cannon, and before day- light made themselves masters of the place without encountering formidable resistance. So quietly was this done, that no general knowledge of the movement spread through the other quarters of Paris at the time; the morning papers appeared without mentioning the events of the night, and the victors flat- tered themselves that the whole trouble was at an end. But some apparently trifling errors in their plan caused them to be very quickl undeceived. Nothing now remained to com plete the success but the removal of the can non ; but the arrangements for carrying the away having been incompletely made, a lot delay ensued, and meanwhile the news of th affair spread rapidly through the insurge: districts near at hand, and among the feder guards, the fellows of those who had been c tured. The general alarm was beaten in t quarters of Belleville and Montmartre; th populace poured into the streets ; and about o'clock several battalions of federates, hastil mustered, attacked the government tro with whom a violent and irregular confl followed. Suddenly the 88th regiment of line, among those engaged, threw up the but of their muskets and went over to the federa side, and their example was followed later b, other regular soldiers, while new reenfo: ments from the hostile quarters reached th insurgents constantly. Gen. Vinoy had dra a cordon of troops around the hill, orderin them to permit no one to pass, and planti mitrailleuses covering the various roads of cent. But these precautions were rende useless by the fraternization of the soldi with the people ; the insurgents carried off th mitrailleuses, and the few troops remainin loyal saw themselves compelled to withdraw In the place Pigalle a small body of sue troops (200 to 300 men), commanded by Gen. Faron, was cut off from the rest in their re- treat, and only succeeded late in the day in cu ting a way out after a fierce conflict. Ge Lecomte and the former commander of the n tional guards of Paris, Gen. Clement Tho: deserted by their soldiers, were taken prisone: by the federates and the people, and after bein insulted and maltreated by the mob they w led before the central committee, which co: manded that they be held as prisoners of war, In spite of this decree, they were taken la in the day by a few federate guards into a li tie garden near by, and shot, Gen. Thorn it was said, falling at the fifteenth disch By noon of the 18th the insurgents were one more in full possession of Montmartre and its surroundings, where they set about erecting street barricades and other defences; and toward evening, the government troops hav- ing been driven from the field, they pene- trated into other quarters of the city, and first