Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/161

 The comments of various journals on these elections, produced the following decree from the Commune:

The Commune, which cannot possibly tolerate in besieged Paris journals which openly preach up civil war, give military information to the enemy, and propagate calumny against the defenders of the Republic, has decided that the Soir, the Cloche, the Opinion Nationale, and the ''Bien Public'' are hereby suppressed."

One of the most important engagements of the siege took place on the 17th between the regulars and the advanced posts at Asnières. During the morning the troops from Versailles attacked the federal outposts on the railway, guarded by the 77th battalion, which at once retreated, abandoning the barricades and trenches. Four other battalions on the farther bank of the Seine, seeing their comrades fall back, and being attacked by mitrailleuses, fled to the bridge of boats; a detachment of cavalry made a dash, cutting off a large number and making them prisoners. The insurgents then endeavored to bring their locomotive batteries into action, but a shot from a battery established at the Château de Bécon seriously damaged one of those engines, and drove it off the rails; the line in consequence became blocked, and the other locomotives had to return to Paris. The insurgents on the right bank, fearing that the troops might cross the pontoon bridge, severed it in the middle; but at that moment many insurgents still remained on the opposite side. Some of these men threw themselves into the river to endeavor to cross the gap in the chain of boats by swimming; others tried to climb up the slope of the railway bridge, on which they were exposed to the fire of the troops; whilst many were carried away by the stream and drowned.