Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/133

 or five seconds between the sound and the arrival of the shell, giving one plenty of time to dodge; but it is necessary that both eyes and ears be kept wide open.

The shells fell for some time in quick succession in the vicinity of the Arc de Triomphe, Avenue de l'Impératrice, and Champs Elysées, killing and wounding great numbers.

A belt of insurgents was stationed midway up the Champs Elysées to prevent the people from advancing, and it was necessary to make a long detour to arrive at the Arc de Triomphe. Numerous battalions of insurgents were encamped on the Champs Elysées.

During the following day the regular troops continued to strengthen their positions outside the fortifications on the west of the city. On the southwest the forts of Vanves and Issy continued to send shells on the plateau of Chatillon, which did not reply. The insurgents, thinking they had dismounted the guns of the regular troops, were on the point of making an attack, when a sharp fusillade was heard in the direction of the viaduct; in an instant after the Versailles outposts had passed Le Val and dislodged the insurgents from the slope nearest Issy.

A veritable persecution had now commenced against the churches and clergy of Paris by order of the Commune. Monseigneur Darboy, the Archbishop of Paris; M. Deguerry, curé of the Madeleine, the curé of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires, the curé of Saint Séverin, the curé of Saint Eustache, and a number of other respectable ecclesiastics in Paris, were all arrested, the object being to hold them as hostages. The Archbishop's sister was also arrested, and the following notice stuck up in many of the churches: "Boutique á loué"—"This shop to let." Not only was the wealth of the different churches declared the property of the Commune, but also the private property of the clergy was confiscated, and no ecclesiastic