Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/147



be the position of the principal accused or their accomplices.

"Art. 4. The German military authority has the right—1. To make perquisitions by day or by night in the dwellings of the inhabitants; 2. To remove released convicts and individuals not having a residence in the localities subject to a state of siege; 3. To order the delivery of arms and ammunition, and to search for and remove them; and 4. To prohibit such publications and meetings as may seem to it of a nature to produce or protract disorder.

", "Prince Royal of Saxony."

The disgraceful and sacrilegious conduct of the Commune became more and more disgusting to that respectable portion of the citizens who were compelled to remain in Paris. A number of its soldiers went on the morning of the 9th of April to the church of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, and, after blocking up the approaches, proceeded to make requisitions under the pretext of seeking for mitrailleuses. They also arrested one of the priests, and seized on the papers of the curé. The search lasted several hours, during which time some of the party were playing cards in the vestry, others proceeded to dress up the figure of the Virgin Mary as a vivandière, while that of Jesus was clothed in the uniform of a Versailles soldier, a pipe stuck in his mouth, and then shot at by the insurgents present.

All the clergy of Montmartre, including M. Protot, the venerable curé of St. Pierre, were also arrested. The motives may be seen from the following curious placard, posted on the closed doors of the church:

", 10, 1871.

"Whereas priests are thieves, and churches are haunts where the masses have been morally assassinated in dragging France under the heels of the scoundrels Bonaparte,