Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/134

 could consider himself safe from the unjustifiable violence of the Commune. It was rumored that one million francs were demanded as ransom from the Archbishop.

A serious conflict had arisen between the Central Committee and the Commune, in consequence of the attempt of the former to seize the Hotel de Ville, also on account of conflicting authority in the War Department. On the night of the 7th of April several orders of General Cluseret's (Delegate of War) had not been executed by the staff; and General Bergeret, substituting his authority for that of his colleague, had sent to the battalions orders so different from those which he had received, that there was much confusion in the military operations. In the morning Bergeret was replaced by General Dombrowski, a Polish citizen formerly an officer in the Russian service, and the ex-commander was sent for by General Cluseret, who addressed to him such violent reproaches that the interview soon degenerated into a sharp dispute. Citizen Bergeret then raising his voice, told General Cluseret that he (the speaker), a Frenchman and a patriot, could not consent to obey a man who had fought in America for the cause of slavery against liberty, and who had repudiated his quality of Frenchman to become a citizen of another country.—Bergeret was in error as to the side on which Cluseret fought during the American civil war, the error at that time being very prevalent in Paris. He fought on the Northern side, and was for some time attached to the staff of General Fremont. Bergeret was immediately arrested and thrown into prison, and the Polish exile or convict was appointed to his place. It was said that the new commander, Dombrowski, was much feared by the Russian authorities. He had been transported to Siberia and escaped, after having traversed all Russia at the peril of his life, arriving in France in 1865.

A despatch from the new commandant, Dombrowski,