Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/515



the delegates. Every day a new comedy was played. Matters progressed, the Bank sometimes refusing, sometimes giving when the pressure was too great, but never more than small sums. At last the struggle became more continuous and more dangerous. One morning the Vengeurs de la Republique entered and seized the sub-Governor in his bed, demanding the keys. 'I can only give them to Beslay,' he replied. The latter was sent for and arrived. 'My friends my good friends!' And phrases and threats of resignation! and diminution of demands! and finally the free-marksmen withdrew without a sou.

"Another time the young, gay and triumphant Le Mossu presented himself, furnished with a search-warrant signed by the Committee of Public Safety. He obtained nothing; Jourde arrived to his rescue, raved and stormed; arms, he said, were concealed in the Bank; he had been told so; he knew it to be a fact. 'There are none,' replied M. de Plœuc, 'but you may satisfy yourself. Come with me alone, and if you find a single musket besides those belonging to our garrison, I consent to be shot upon the spot. Come!' 'I believe you,' said Jourde, to whom the proposed search did not seem very inviting; 'I believe you,' and, turning to his men, he added: 'Let us go, gentlemen; no weapons are concealed here.' During all this time the Board of Directors, reduced to four members, met every day, but each time in a different place, having been warned by Beslay that they were to be seized as hostages.

"The last three days were the most terrible. The battalion of the 500 had not for a long time left the building to which all the men had been summoned, and where they were lodged with their wives and children. The Bank was surrounded by the insurrection, like an island in the midst of foaming waves. Fire was on every side; great unwillingness was felt in detaching men to combat it, but