Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/118

 This proclamation was made known to the inhabitants of Châtou by the public crier, who, after each beat of the drum, added:

"The President of the Municipal Committee of Châtou warns the inhabitants in the interest of their own safety, that those who offer an asylum to the enemies of the Republic will render themselves subject to the laws of war.

" "President."

None of the three columns had been successful. The sortie en masse had failed; a few thousand insurgents had reached Versailles, but in a character totally different from that in which they had hoped to arrive. Compared with the number of troops engaged, the losses in killed and wounded were small; but it was the commencement of a furious strife, and one of the most inauspicious and saddest days in the history of France—the beginning of fearful civil war, brother literally fighting against brother; and well might the poor old lady of Neuilly say, "Thank God my poor boy was killed by the Prussians; this would have been too dreadful." Still the Commune, instead of stopping this bloodshed at the beginning, stimulated its adherents by reports of success or of deeds of murder and retaliation supposed to have been committed by the Versaillists.

The official journal of the Commune, published the 7th of April, contains the following:

":—The Journal Officiel of Versailles contains the following: 'Some men recognized as belonging to the army and seized with arms in their hands, have been shot, in accordance with the rigor of military law which condemns to death all soldiers fighting against their flag.'

"That horrible avowal requires no commentary, and