Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/453

 shortest distance from one point to another—being sure that his soldiers would know how to vanquish every obstacle that rose in their path.

The troops who had taken possession of the Central Market had advanced during the day through the Rue Turbigo, sustaining at almost every step a violent combat, and had commenced towards evening, in concert with the troops who had taken the line of the boulevards, the attack on the Chateau d'Eau.

The insurgents, established in the vast buildings of the Magasins-Réunis and the barracks of the Prince Eugène, defended with all the energy of despair the barricade which covered their stronghold in the 11th Arrondissement, and the access to Belleville and Père Lachaise. Nevertheless, the troops had succeeded in reaching the Buttes Chaumont by the upper quarters of La Villette, and had immediately proceeded to their investment.

During the last hours of Thursday the 25th, the line of battle extended, in making a large curve, from the Bastille to the Buttes Chaumont, passing by the Boulevards Beaumarchais, Des Filles-du-Calvaire, and Du Temple, by the Chateau-d'Eau, the Rue de la Douane, the Entrepôt and the canal, ending in turning round the hospital of Saint-Louis at the foot of the Buttes.

The army of France, since the evening of the 21st of May, the date at which it entered Paris, had accomplished an enormous task, marching in advance without interruption, surmounting valiantly every obstacle, and marking each day by important successes.

Paris, emerging from the terrified stupor into which it had been plunged by the reign of the Commune, regained the consciousness of its existence. The insurrection was evidently vanquished, and yet three days were still occupied by violent combats before the bloody struggle could be entirely terminated. During Friday, Saturday and