Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/340

 The heights were soon almost abandoned, and the troops met with but a slight resistance. The different columns having united at Montmartre, a part descended the hill and attacked the Mairie of the 11th Arrondissement, from the windows of which, as well as from the surrounding houses, the insurgents kept up a quick musketry fire. The combat, however, was not of long duration; many of the insurgents made good their retreat, while a great number were taken, or surrendered themselves prisoners, leaving without defenders the barricades in the Rues-Germain-Pilon and Houdon.

The latent opposition to the Commune which had reigned in the greater part of the Parisian population soon made itself manifest, even at Montmartre. As soon as the people discovered that the regulars had occupied definitively all the important positions, they hastened to applaud the soldiers. The search for arms immediately began, and, after laying their guns and bayonets on the pavements, the inhabitants threw from the windows cartridge-boxes, uniforms, and every war-like accoutrement.

At the capture of Montmartre the Government gained possession of 150 cannon and mitrailleuses. The batteries menacing Paris were removed, while others were established above the Chateau Rouge to command the heights of the Buttes Chaumont and Père-Lachaise, where it was foreseen the insurgents would entrench themselves strongly.

The taking of Montmartre was the principal event of the day, and indeed we might add, of the occupation of Paris. It was universally believed that the insurrection would here make its strongest resistance. In the eyes of the defenders of the Commune it possessed a certain prestige, for here the movement of the 18th of March had had its origin and decisive success. Montmartre, supported by the Buttes Chaumont and Père-Lachaise, assured to