Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/33

 arrested, and conveyed to the fort of Aubervilliers. Some time after, two Germans were arrested in Paris by the malcontent National Guards, and taken to the Central Committee, by which they were tried, and sentenced to death the following morning. The Prussian military authorities, on learning this fact, demanded the immediate restoration of the condemned men. General Paladines sent a captain of the staff of the National Guard to claim the prisoners; but the application was refused, the envoy was dismissed, the chiefs declaring that they refused to recognize the authority of the General. A Commissary of Police was then deputed to continue the negotiation, and finally the committee offered to give up the Germans on condition that the National Guard above mentioned, who was an officer in the 147th battalion, should be set at liberty. The offer was accepted by the French authorities, and the prisoners were handed over to them. The officer was still retained by the Prussians; and the commander of the fort declared that he should be tried by a court-martial, and, if found guilty, shot; whereas the National Guards declared they only gave up their two prisoners on condition that their officer should be set at liberty, and were loud in the denunciations of the Government. Whereupon M. Thiers, chief of the Executive Power, issued, March 17th, the following proclamation:

",—We address ourselves to you, to your reason, to your patriotism, and we hope to be heard. Your great city, which can only live by order, is being deeply disquieted in some districts. This state of things, without spreading to other districts, is, however, sufficient to prevent the resumption of labor and comfort. For some time past some ill-intentioned persons have, under the pretense of resisting the Prussians, who are no longer before your walls, constituted themselves masters