Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/486



Arrondissement, which were carried by battalions of Fusiliers and sailors.

"Generals Clinchant and Douay guard the line of the St. Martin Canal, and the Boulevards from the Prince Eugène Barracks to the Bastille. What remains of the insurgent forces is surrounded on all sides, and all resistance will have ceased to-day.

"There was a very vigorous cannonade and musketry fire all last night in the direction of Belleville, where there were also numerous conflagrations. The firing still continued this morning."

The insurrection was now completely crushed, and the remaining fighting was but a struggle of despair, struggle still more terrible as the insurgents now fought only for the purpose of fighting.

In the Faubourgs of Belleville the barricades were numberless; they rose in every street, defended by cannon, and from the neighboring houses, which were also fortified. The soldiers were obliged to conquer each of these improvised citadels. Once taken, the houses were searched in every story, the concierges being obliged to mount with the troops, after having given the number and position of the inhabitants. If their statement proved false they were shot forthwith.

Here women approached the troops with smiles on their lips, distributing bread and wine. These, however, were soon discovered to be poisoned, and the soldiers were forbidden to receive anything from the hands of the inhabitants. Cigars dipped in corrosive liquids had been also distributed, and several officers had been shot by women who had approached them under different pretexts.

These acts, which prove the ferocity with which the contest was conducted, together with the recital of the massacre of the hostages, added to the fury of the soldiers,