Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/396



"If, instead of fighting bravely at Villiers, and having yourself mutilated by a Prussian shell on the Plateau of Avron, you had come to talk sometimes with your old friend, you would have known that, given the incontestable principle that above all in days of danger a functionary should be at his post, I could not act otherwise than I have done. I answer your three questions.

"1st Question.—The Court of Appeal, over which I preside, being in vacation from September 1 to November 3, I could have, without doubt, very regularly, and without incurring any reproach, remained in Normandy with my family, and awaited the end of a siege which nobody then believed would last more than a few weeks. But, on the other hand, as the result of the departure of M. Devienne, it was on me, being senior of the presidents of the chamber, that the duties of first president devolved, that is to say, of the highest magistrature of the country. I thought it therefore my duty to return to Paris when the siege became imminent, and I entered on the 8th, leaving in Normandy my wife and children in tears.

"My sentiment was shared by all my colleagues; when, a few days later, M. Cremieux, keeper of the seals, consulted us on the expediency of transporting the Court of Cassation to Poitiers, the twenty-four members in Paris did not hesitate to reply by a large majority that this removal was not necessary to the welfare of the service. It was also unanimously decided that it was 'more worthy for the highest judiciary body to associate itself with the perils of the Parisian population,' (See the Officiel of September 18.) I continued, therefore, during the siege, to exercise the functions of first president added to those of president of appeals. I attempted to contribute even more actively in the defence of Paris, and had myself inscribed as a volunteer in the National Guard; but this service was beyond my strength, and I was obliged to renounce it.