Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/28

 Many who are not the political opponents of Jules Favre blame him much for his course of action while he remained in power; it would certainly have been in better taste, had he permitted some other Frenchman to sign his name to a treaty of peace which gave away many inches of territory and numerous stones of fortresses; but he was fond of power and wished to retain it—so fond of it, that at his request, the Germans permitted the National Guards to retain their arms, most of whom were the same men who attempted to overthrow the government during the funeral of Victor Noir, and who were ignominiously defeated in their attempt to establish a commune during the siege; but these men were Favre's electors and the electors of Gambetta and Rochefort, and they must be armed, as the soldiers of the empire would soon be back from Germany, and they must be prepared to meet them. It is to be hoped that the result of the late struggle will prove to the advocates of socialistic and communist ideas that the good sense of the people of France will never permit a repetition of the past lamentable events; and should an attempt again be made, the recollection of the destruction of property and loss of life, of the blasphemy and horror, will cause every citizen with a social position to maintain and a dollar to lose, to rise and crush the monster in its infancy. Had this been done by the government of M. Thiers, how different would have been the result; but M. Thiers was old and tender-hearted, and Favre had too much consideration for his friends; and as late as March 16, two days before the outbreak, a council of ministers was held at Versailles, when it was determined, "seeing the state of affairs at Montmartre, to let matters take their natural course and not interfere," and the Constitutionnel, a leading Paris journal, in alluding to this resolution, observed: "The majority of the Paris population will applaud this resolution, and the provinces also, when