Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/372



forget the force of examination which you brought to bear upon our laws, nor your recent studies to reform them according to the republican idea.

"Shall I speak of your genius? Before this tomb it is no time to praise the ingenuity, amenity, and originality of the French mind.

"A higher thought impresses itself upon my heart. It is of a duty accomplished, of a martyrdom generously suffered for principle; it is of your heroism that I ought to speak.

"Defender of the law, you have perished for her; and against her was struck a blow of premeditated fury in assassinating you!

"Adieu, my friend; adieu, Chaudey."

Chaudey's death is believed to have been caused at the instance of Delescluze, Delegate of War. The latter had in his youth committed a theft on a M. Denormandie, which he had been obliged to avow. He knew that the written proof of his fault was in the hands of M. Chaudey; and this explains the fury with which he pursued the man whose revelations he feared.

While this frightful crime was being perpetrated in one portion of the city, in another several members of the Commune, wishing to save their heads, had determined to attempt an extreme means of escape.

A carriage arrived at about ten o'clock in the evening in the neighborhood of a gas manufactory, situated on the Boulevard de Vincennes, and orders were given to inflate a balloon which was in readiness there.

The National Guards established in the neighborhood were rather surprised at these preparations, but they were informed that the balloon was to be sent with proclamations from the Commune to the provinces.

At two in the morning, the balloon was ready to leave.