Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/447

 being more complete than that of any other building. As a ruin, however, the beautiful but defaced remnants, still standing, present an unusually touching and imposing appearance.

Immediately after the capture of the Hotel de Ville, the army of reserve, under General Vinoy, advanced upon the Place de la Bastille.

Early in the morning the division Bruat, charged with turning by the east the Faubourgs Saint-Antoine and Belleville, had taken possession of the Jardin des Plantes and the Orleans Railway Station.

They then attacked vigorously the bridge of Austerlitz, supported on the left bank by the brigade Derroja, and on the right by the brigade De la Mariouse, both belonging to the division Faron; also on the Seine by the flotilla of gunboats recently organized.

The defences of the bridge were formidable; but towards four in the afternoon the position was carried. This success hastened the fall of the Lyons Railway Station, the Mazas prison, and the viaduct of the Vincennes Railway.

In the Mazas prison, early on the morning of the 25th, a bomb had fallen in the 2d division, shortly followed by another, which had caused considerable injury. The keepers were seized with terror; and causing the prisoners to leave their cells, they conducted them into the patrol path between the outer and inner walls. At seven o'clock a superior officer of the Federals arrived, and ordered the prisoners—five hundred in number—to be set at liberty. Only five ecclesiastics remained among this number.

Hardly outside the prison, they all found themselves surrounded by barricades, where the insurgents endeavored to force them to take part in the struggle. Most of them refused and were shot, while others succeeded in escaping from the midst of such terrible perils.

One of the prisoners, M. Bacon, foreseeing the fate