Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/513



the persons under him, and in the National Guards of the quarter, the heartiest assistance, and a battalion was constituted to watch over the establishment. It was five hundred strong; but the men had only twenty-five cartridges each, very little for purposes of defence if really attacked, but enough to make a show, and to enable them to reply haughtily, the insurgents being ignorant of their penury of munitions.

"It is generally believed that the cellars of the building can be inundated instantaneously; but that is an error. Immense reserves of sand enclosed in sacks are accumulated below; in case of danger they are piled on the notes and ingots to so great a height that if the whole structure fell in during a conflagration, not a single paper would be burnt. That precaution was taken, and the future awaited.

"One day Citizen Beslay, the oldest member of the Commune, arrived. He seems to have been a good sort of man, somewhat weak in the head, a great talker, easily led by his vanity, and who always spoke of conciliation. He was of the same province as the Marquis, with whom he was previously acquainted. He came to warn the sub-Governor that the Bank was to be pillaged, and expressed his regret. 'But what is to be done?' he said; 'how can you expect starving men to remain tranquil in front of a baker's shop?' The allusion was clear, and the metaphor, of which M. de Plœuc felt the correctness, rendered him very uneasy. He did not, however, let that feeling be suspected, and declared, in a firm tone, that if the Bank was attacked it was ready to defend itself; that it had arms and would know how to use them. Beslay then softened down, and dropped a hint that perhaps an understanding might be come to with the Commune if a delegate were accepted. The Marquis had enough sagacity to fathom his man, and to see at the first glance all the advantage