Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/256

 windows and from the cellars through air-holes. Eventually the insurgents had to retire, having succeeded in capturing only one of the buildings, which they were obliged to abandon. The position was of some importance, as, being united to the village Thiais by trenches, the soldiers were able to advance to it and annoy the insurgents in the redoubt. The troops made a faint attack during the day on the great barricade of the Route de Chatillon, but did not persist in it, and withdrew when reinforcements arrived to the insurgents. About five in the evening a more serious assault was made on the Haute-Bruyères, and the advanced trenches were carried by the troops.

It was generally supposed that the news received by the Paris journals of the results of the fighting going on outside the walls was meagre in the extreme; but the Commune still wished to make it more so. A proposal was consequently brought before that body by Citizen Mortier to the effect that any journal venturing to touch on military matters should be suspended, and its proprietors and printer prosecuted before the tribunals. The examples of military news in the official and other Communal journals were certainly most amusing for their brevity. The subjoined were published the morning after Fort Issy surrendered:

First.—"Night." "Tolerably calm."

Second.—"Day; entirely quiet."

Third.—"Bas-Fontenay attacked the Fort of Montrouge, which replied vigorously, and reduced the Versaillese to silence."

Fourth.—"Morning quiet."

Fifth.—"Night quite calm;" then, "Evening tranquil," etc.