Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/47



round your chiefs, for it is the only means of escaping ruin and the domination of the foreigner."

", "Minister of the Interior.

", General Commanding-in-Chief of the National Guards of the Seine."

Events of great importance were occurring in other parts of the city, away from the principal scene of disturbance. As early as nine o'clock, groups were formed in the square before the Hotel de Ville, discussing the events of the morning. The words "treason" and "coup d'etat" being frequently heard. At about half past eleven a battalion of the line and one of the National Guard, headed by their drums and carrying their muskets upside down, arrived to protest against the attack at Montmartre. Cries of "Vive la ligne!" "Vive la Republique!" were heard on all sides, when suddenly a shot was fired by an individual in plain clothes. The mob rushed on the aggressor, who was at once seized; some persons were for throwing him into the river, but moderate counsels prevailed and he was removed in custody. Another well-dressed person, about sixty, took advantage of a moment of silence to raise the cry of "Vive l'Empereur!" "A bas la Republique!" In an instant he was knocked down and maltreated by the mob, his clothes being torn to shreds. The Office of Public Assistance and the Octroi were occupied by regiments of the line, whilst artillery and cavalry were massed in the Place of the Hotel de Ville. But when calm became re-established General Vinoy ordered them to be sent to other points. Later in the afternoon another deputation, of about 200 officers of the National Guard, line, and franc-tireurs, and accompanying several individuals, wounded in the Rue Legendre, came to protest against the "surprise" and "treason" of Montmartre.