Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/378

 extinguished; the inhabitants were obliged to form a chain, and every passer-by was requisitioned and obliged to work for two hours.

At the Place de la Concorde, a regiment of the line was stationed; many of them were sleeping under the shade of the Tuileries terrace, which had been bought the night before with the blood of their comrades. Their rest, however, did not remain undisturbed, for shells fell rapidly on the Place, and often burst far up the Champs Elysées, coming from the batteries at the Hotel de Ville.

This firing became more violent as the day advanced, shells being sent also from the Federal batteries at the Buttes Chaumont and Père-Lachaise.

The following order was sent by General Eudes to the commandant of the battery at Père-Lachaise.

"Republic of France.

"{{small caps|Committee of Public Safety,} "Paris}}, May —, 1871.}

"Commune of Paris:

"Fire on the Bourse, the Bank, the Posts, the Place des Victoires, the Place Vendôme, the Garden of the Tuileries, and the Babylone Barracks. We leave the Hotel de Ville under the command of Pindy. The Delegate of War, the Committee of Public Safety, and the members of the Commune now present, will transport themselves to the Mairie of the 11th Arrondissement, where we shall establish ourselves. It is there that we shall organize the defence of the popular quarters.

"We will send you the artillery and munitions of the Park Basfroi.

"We shall hold to the end and quand même.

""