Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/355

 were obliged to surrender. The prisoners were marched out in file surrounded by soldiers, and nothing could be more wretched than their appearance.

At the head marched a delegate of the Commune, well dressed, and with a resolute air, but the remainder was a pell-mell of individuals with every kind of costume. They all seemed ready to drop with fatigue.

A large crowd collected as they passed, manifesting the most profound indignation, when an incident occurred which shows with what regretable facility the Parisian population will pass from one extreme to another.

As the prisoners advanced, two gendarmes were seen approaching in an opposite direction, and were received with loud acclamations by the crowd. One of them remarked, philosophically, "Three days ago these same people would have helped to cut us to pieces." In fact, the whole body of gendarmes had been the object of the most violent vituperation and the greatest cruelty during the reign of the Commune, and woe to the unfortunate member who fell into his enemies' hands. He was shown no mercy.

The Church of the Trinity being taken, a violent contest ensued for the possession of the barricade at the end of the Rue de la Chausée d'Antin. Cannon were placed on the porch of the church, which commanded the street, and were fired during the entire afternoon without intermission. The insurgents replied with a cannon and mitrailleuses, considerably damaging the church and neighboring houses. One shell pierced the steeple; another penetrated through the dome into the interior; while a third left its mark just below the gilt face of the clock. By a chance which seems almost miraculous, not one of the three beautiful statues which decorate the staircase leading down to the square, was touched.