Page:The Rise and Fall on the Paris Commune in 1871.djvu/99

 above was concealed with a crimson curtain. A platform ornamented with a bust of a female figure representing the Republic, had been erected in front of the building, and on it were placed arm-chairs for the accommodation of the Committee. Cannon were drawn up on the square, which was also occupied by about 20,000 National Guards in close ranks. Other battalions waited in the adjacent streets and on the quay. At four o'clock Citizen Assi rose and announced that the power of the Central Committee had transpired and was now transferred to the Commune. He then read aloud the names of the Councillors elected. Cries of "Vive la République!" were raised, the trumpets sounded, drums beat, and caps were waved in the air. About four o'clock salvos were fired from the Hotel de Ville, and answered by the guns at Montmartre. This cannonade created considerable alarm among the inhabitants, who imagined that the troops of Versailles had arrived at Paris, or that the Prussians had returned to restore order. All the National Guards present, to the number of 60,000, then marched past the dais on which the Committee was seated. In the evening the Arc de Triomphe, barracks, and principal public buildings were illuminated.

It will be remembered that the Committee had solemnly promised to retire on the new election; that it had represented such precipitate resignation as one of its highest titles to glory. However, after reading the official organ of the insurgents, one was led to believe that the occupants of the Hotel de Ville had already reconsidered their determination. In fact that body, after having declared that it ceded its place to the Commune, added: "Having fulfilled the extraordinary mission imposed upon it by necessity, it will reduce itself to the special functions for which it was called into existence." Thus admitting that it had at the same time an extraordinary mission and a