Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/424

 *manded it every day in the Marseillaise, of which you were one of the editors!"

"Ah! not I; the others! At all events, that was in the time of Badinguet. As for me, I always declared loudly that we would not suffer hostile papers when we were the strongest. As we are the strongest now, we can't have any."

"But will you always be the strongest?"

"Certainly; Paris is impregnable, and Versailles must finally yield."

"And the provinces?"

"The provinces!" he replied, laughingly; "much we care for the provinces!"

To that there was no reply, but M. Cochinat used other arguments, which finally induced Rigault to give an order to Dacosta, his private secretary, for the liberation of M. Balathier.

M. Cochinat then asked Rigault if he did not think it peurile and absurd to arrest journalists so moderate in their language as M. Balathier and others? to which Rigault replied that he quite agreed with him; above all, as the arrests gave him a great deal of work.

"Then why," said he, "do you do these things if you yourself think them absurd?"

"Ah," he replied, with a careless air, "because it keeps up une petite terreur in the city."

Such were the individuals for whom thousands of unhappy creatures lost their lives or liberty.

Although the Commune ostensibly allowed but six thousand francs a year to its highest functionaries, they managed to lead la vie douce in it fullest signification. The following bills of fare of two breakfasts taken at the restaurant of the Frères-Provençaux by Raoul Rigault and his secretary Dacosta, show at least that they were connoisseurs in matters of the table: