Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/172

 fought. The 27th, 74th and 76th battalions lost one-third of their effective force.

On the events of the day the official journal of the Commune published the following reports:

"After a sanguinary engagement we have retaken our position. Our troops, the left wing in advance, seized on a store of the enemy's provisions, consisting of sixty-nine casks of hams, cheese and bacon. The combat continues furiously; the enemy's artillery at Courbevoie covers us with projectiles and grape; but in spite of the vivacity of his fire, our right wing is at this moment executing a movement with a view to surrounding the troops of the line who have advanced too far. I require five battalions of fresh men, two thousand at least, because my adversaries are in considerable force.

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April 19th, morning.—We were attacked at daybreak by strong columns of the line; and our men, deceived by friendly signals made by the soldiers, were surprised; but I have promptly re-established order.

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The Archbishop of Paris having written a letter from his prison to M. Thiers on the subject of pretended cruelties to the Communist prisoners, the chief of the executive power replied through the Paris journals, indignantly denying the charge. He said that the hospitals at Versailles contained a large number of insurgents who are attended to with the greatest kindness; that the sixteen hundred prisoners who had been sent to Belle-Isle or elsewhere were treated with far greater consideration than any of the soldiers would have been if taken by the Communists; and concluded by reiterating his offers of pardon to any of the insurgents who should lay down their arms, and by promising assistance to the necessitous until