Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/427

 Ventadour, the Marché Saint-Honoré, on the Boulevard des Italiens, Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, Rue Blanche, Rue Pigalle, and all the streets extending from there to the Faubourg Saint-Martin.

Had Montmartre been able to add its fire to that of the two formidable positions still held by the insurgents, half of Paris would have been reduced to ashes. As it was, the destruction was enormous; and though most of the inhabitants had the precaution to take refuge in the cellars, the number of victims to this bombardment was very great.

No! Paris will never forget the night of the 24th of May, to which history can find no parallel unless perhaps the 24th of August, 1572—all fanaticisms, whether religious or revolutionary, resembling each other in their blind transports of fury. To find anything truly similar to the burning of Paris we must remount to the celebrated night on which Nero treated himself to the spectacle of Rome in flames. What was done by the Roman Emperor from a mere whim of ferocious curiosity, the Commune did not hesitate to do incited by a furious desire for revenge; uniting thus in their hatred of the future, modern demagogy with the most hateful of the tyrannies of ancient Rome.

Nothing can express the cruel impression produced during the night as each new fire broke forth, extending along the line of the horizon from the Hotel de Ville to the Place de la Concorde. As each new light appeared, people questioned each other with anxiety as to what building it might be on which the work of destruction was being completed.

In the evening, a little before nightfall, thick clouds of smoke had announced the points at which the fire had declared itself; but the gravity of the situation was not realized until darkness fell upon the city. Then the flames became more distinct, reddening the sky in every