Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/251

 Porte Maillot was before the triumphal arch at the top of the Champs Elysées. The most formidable, however, was that on the Place d'Italie. Those at Montmartre and Belleville had their guns pointed on the interior of the city, instead of being turned to the exterior, showing that in that quarter more fear was entertained of an attack from within than from without.

The Chief of the Executive Power determined, before commencing the finishing stroke for the subjection of the insurgents, to make a final appeal to the Parisians; he caused, therefore, the following proclamation to be circulated:

":—France, freely consulted, elected a Government which is the only legal one—the only one which can command obedience, if Government be not an empty word. This Government has given to you the same rights which are enjoyed by Lyons, Marseilles, Toulouse, and Bordeaux. Without departing from the principle of equality, you cannot demand greater rights than are possessed by the other cities of the territory. It is the government of the Commune—that is; of the minority—which oppresses you; and, while daring to cover itself with the infamous red flag, claims to impose its will upon France. By its works you can judge of the régime which it proposes to inflict upon you; it violates the rights of property, imprisons citizens to use them as hostages, converts your streets and public places into deserts, puts a stop to all work in Paris, paralyzes it throughout all France, arrests the prosperity which was about to revive, retards the evacuation of our territory by the Germans, and exposes you to a renewed attack from them, which they declare they are ready to commence without mercy if we do not contrive by ourselves to put down the insurrection. We have ourselves listened to all the delega