Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/485



"During six days there has been constant fighting, and our energetic and indefatigable soldiers have really achieved wonders. The merit of those who have had to attack barricades is far different from that of those who have defended them. The officers in command of troops have shown themselves worthy of leading such men, and have fully justified the vote of thanks passed by the Assembly.

"After the few hours' repose which they are now enjoying, they will to-morrow morning bring to an end the glorious campaign which they have undertaken against the most odious demagogues and criminals the world has ever seen. They will thereby deserve the eternal gratitude of France and humanity.

"Our troops have suffered painful losses. General Leroy de Dais is dead. Commandant Segoyer was made prisoner by the insurgents in the Place de la Bastille, and his captors, without respect for the laws of war, shot him at once. This act is what we might have expected from men who set fire to our cities, and who have even collected a quantity of venomous liquid wherewith to poison the soldiers, and cause almost instantaneous death."

The Staff of the Army of Versailles issued the following report:

"After having captured the slaughter-houses and cattle-market of La Villette with the division of General Grenier, and the large barricade armed with cannon at the Rond Point of the Boulevard de la Villette with the aid of General Montaudon's division, General Ladmirault carried in the evening the Buttes Chaumont and the heights of Belleville, whence for three days the insurgent batteries had been bombarding Paris. General Vinoy, whose troops held in the morning the Rue and Faubourg Saint Antoine and the Cours de Vincennes, obtained possession of the Cemetery of Père-Lachaise and the Mairie of the 20th