Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/45

 *ness and indifference which had nothing terrifying, except to those in the rear.

At two o'clock the Central Committee of Montmartre had assumed the entire direction of affairs—had appointed committees of defence and of barricades—many of which were erected there and in other parts of Paris. A body of men, protected by a line of National Guards, raised a barricade at the end of the Rue des Martyrs, at the junction of that street with the Boulevards Rochechouart and Clichy. Behind it was placed a cannon on its carriage. Other barricades were erected on Rue Germain-Pilon, as also on all the different strategic points in that quarter of Paris.

The quarter Montrouge was also up and stirring; and though it had surrendered its cannon to the authorities a few days before, at two o'clock the Barrière-d'Enfer was in the hands of its battalions; the women and children were all in the streets; the walls were covered with proclamations from a committee stating that the National Guards were the protectors of the Republic; and that their officers ought to be appointed by them, and them alone. The streets were crowded with the insurgents coming and going to the headquarters of their commander-in-chief, which were situated in a shop in Rue Rochefoucault; and their appearance was anything but encouraging to the friends of law and order. They all carried chassepots, but that was the only thing in which they were all alike. They mostly wore slouched hats, with long hair. Your true insurgent favors that style; and in the absence of cartridge-pouches, stuffed that needful article in their pockets. Many wore high boots, with a brace of pistols stuck in their belts; and a line soldier who had become demoralized was a small deity among them. The beer and wine shops were all doing a thriving business, but their customers did not