Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/152



it has become the pretext for all sorts of extortions and intimidations. For that reason we infinitely prefer seeing the Commune make requisitions on the churches rather than on merchants and manufacturers."

The Moniteur, of Versailles, made the following comment on the above article:

"Where did M. Rochefort learn that the crucifixes carved by Bouchardon, and the sacred vessels chased by the most celebrated artists, were swindled, as he elegantly puts it, out of the dying, by working on their fears? When Philippe-le-Bel, after his victory of Mons-en-Puelle, Louis XIII, after the glorious combats of Pont-de-Suse, Condé, Turenne, and Luxemburg, whom the Parisians proudly named the Decorator of Notre-Dame, enriched our temples with their voluntary offerings, or with standards taken from the enemy, was their conduct caused by terror or cheating? And if those recollections do not touch M. Rochefort, let him at least respect in those works of art, so admirably executed, the glory of the artists. The handicraftsman has also his glory, often more durable than that of conquerors, pretended legislators, and self-called politicians; he transmits it to posterity in the masterpieces which, if a painter, he has fixed on canvas; if a sculptor, he has created from the shapeless block of marble; or, if a goldsmith, he has hammered or chiselled out with delight. In the name of industry and its glorious inheritance, respect at least those so-called treasures of the churches, which are, in reality, only magnificent works of art, and which, at least, unlike those carefully preserved in the cabinets of celebrated collectors, are open to all. Democrats, respect democratic art, which, perhaps, the Christian religion alone has placed at the service of the poor as well as of the rich."