Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/274



",, May 12.

":—You have responded to the confidence which France has placed in you. By your bravery and energy you have overcome obstacles opposed to you by an insurrection disposing of all the means prepared by us against the foreigner.

"You have successively carried the positions of Meudon, Sèvres, Rueil, Courbevoie, Bécon, Asnières, Moulineaux, and Moulin-Saquet, and, finally, you have entered the fort of Issy. In these different combats, more than 3,000 prisoners and 150 pieces of cannon have remained in your hands.

"The country applauds your success, and sees in it the presage of the end of a struggle which we all deplore.

"Paris calls us to deliver it from the pretended government which oppresses it; and before long we shall plant the national flag on the ramparts, and obtain the re-establishment of order, so imperatively called for by France and the whole of Europe.

"Soldiers, you have deserved the gratitude of the country.

",

"Commander-in-Chief."

The insurgent gunboats on the Seine had for several days been causing considerable annoyance to the Government batteries at Meudon; and as they remained partly concealed under the arches of the Viaduct, they presented only a small point of aim for the Versailles guns. The shells which fell in the water around them were, of course, quite harmless. The regulars, however, established a battery of 7-inch guns on Fort Issy, which crosses its fire with that of Montretout de Breteuil and Brimborion, in cannonading the Point-du-Jour. From this new position a cannonade was opened on the 13th with such effect on the gunboats, that one, the Estoc, was pierced through