Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/526



them, but in assassinating three victims for every criminal whom the law had condemned.

"We refused to believe in the realization of these savage menaces; but no one would have dared to imagine that, in the last and supreme hour, the hostages would be massacred for no other motives than vengeance, hatred, and love of murder; sentiments worthy of the barbarians who, in retiring before our soldiers, have destroyed so many national riches, who attempted to burn our houses and libraries, to their eternal shame and our eternal grief.

"The bodies of these beloved and deplored victims have been collected with the greatest care.

"Some, still bearing the trace of the inconceivable fury of their butchers, present no longer the human form, and are utterly unrecognizable.

"We are about to place them in the earth amidst universal respect and tears.

"The Assembly decided yesterday by a unanimous vote that it would represent the country at the head of the funeral procession. We ask it to-day to decree that the obsequies be conducted at the expense of the Public Treasure.

"PROJET DE LOI.

"Art. 1. The burial of Monseigneur Darboy, Archbishop of Paris, and of the hostages assassinated with him in Paris, will be made at the expense of the State.

"Art. 2. For this object, an extraordinary credit of 30,000 francs is opened for the Minister of Public Instruction and Worship."

This project was unanimously adopted on the succeeding day by 547 voices, with the addition of the following article:

"A commemorative tablet, erected in the Church of Notre Dame, will bear the names of all the hostages."