Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/351

 This was not the worst disaster. At about nine in the evening a strong volume of fire rose high in the air, revealing to the stupefied inhabitants the pavilion of the Tuileries in flames. The fire spread fast and soon embraced the entire building, while every possibility of checking the flames had been prevented by the Commune, they having smeared the principal parts of the structure with petroleum. This, added to the dryness of the weather, which had rendered the timber-work dry and inflammable, caused a most terrible conflagration. Had a breath of air been stirring, the whole of the beautiful Rue de Rivoli would have been in flames.

Meanwhile every effort had been made to save the Louvre. On Monday night all the guardians of the Louvre had been taken prisoners and kept as hostages at the mayoralty of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, where they were several times on the point of being shot.

All day Tuesday, numerous carriages charged with powder passed through the court of the Louvre on their way to the Tuileries. In the evening the guardians who had been taken prisoners were allowed to return to their homes exhausted with fatigue.

In the night a terrible explosion was heard, and the Louvre shook to its foundations. The central portion of the Tuileries, where the combustible matter had been accumulated, had just blown up. Soon the palace was but an immense furnace, the flames colored here and there in a fantastic manner according to the mineral oils and ingredients which were burned.

What souvenirs and riches lost!

The evening before, eleven wagons, bearing a portion of the collections of M. Thiers, had been brought here, and all were consumed.

The flames were approaching with rapidity the Library