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 REK IV. GIBSOA 
 
 i^dTCL 
 
 BY HIS WIFL 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 JANE K. SATHER 
 
^-* 
 
 ■& 
 
 ■ 
 
 ■ 
 
 tfpf w^' 
 
 BEY. WILLIAM GIBSON, B.A. 
 
PAEIS 
 
 DURING THE COMMUNE, 
 
 By EEV. W. GIBSON, 
 WITH A CHABACTEB SKETCH BY HIS WIFE. 
 
 Ronton : 
 
 Methodist Book Room, Castle Street, City Road, 
 and Paternoster Row. 
 
 liotthtgijam : 
 
 Howitt and Son, Printers, Clumber Street. 
 
 1895. 
 
&ATHER 
 
 WILLIAM GIBSON 
 
 OF PARIS. 
 
 CHARACTER SKETCH, 
 
PC3-2S" , j- g f ggi 
 
 MAW i 
 
 What can I say about one of the brightest, purest,, 
 loveliest spirits that ever sojourned for a while on this earth? 
 
 As I write, solemn influences from his last moments 
 still linger round me, and it seems almost desecration to 
 make public any details concerning one whose life was. 
 signalized by humility and self-forgetfulness. But I would 
 fain have him live on longer here below than will even the 
 tenderest memories of those who loved him best. Being 
 dead, I would have him yet speak, and speak to the glory 
 of the God he loved and served from childhood. 
 
 I feel convinced that the simple portrayal of a character 
 such as his cannot fail to prove an inspiration to some who. 
 will henceforth seek to follow him as he followed Christ. 
 
 As to my own pain in recalling so many hallowed but 
 now harrowing memories I count it a very small offering 
 to bring for over thirty-two years of incomparable devo- 
 tion and almost infinite tenderness, and the sad satis- 
 faction outweighs the suffering. His family are not alone 
 in appreciating his singular worth : over four hundred 
 beautiful letters recently received bear unqualified testi- 
 mony to his faultless Life, his ideally perfect character and 
 his wide-spread and holy influence. From all parts of the 
 world witnesses rise up to call him blessed, in that he not 
 only pointed them to the way of life but by his own 
 Christlike example helped them to walk in it. 
 
 He " lived with God in such untroubled love, 
 And clear confiding, as a child on whom 
 The Father's face has never yet but smiled ; 
 
 672 
 
And with men even, in such harmony 
 
 Of brotherhood, that whatsoever spark 
 
 Of pure and true in any human heart 
 
 Flickered and lived, it burned itself towards him." 
 
 ft •-^koo) 
 
 Xa 
 
 <3qJ 
 
 W&* 
 
 ^-•« 
 
 SZ7 
 
■8 
 
 Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a 
 little child shall in no wise enter therein. (Luke xviii., 17.) 
 
 Oh ! say not, dream not, heavenly notes 
 
 To childish ears are vain, 
 That the young mind at random floats, 
 
 And cannot reach the strain. 
 
 Dim or unheard, the words may fall, 
 
 And yet the heaven-taught mind 
 May learn the sacred airs, and all 
 
 The harmony unwind. 
 
 Child-like though the voices be 
 
 And untuneable the parts, 
 Thou wilt own the minstrelsy, 
 
 If it flow from child-like hearts. 
 
 Who but a Christian, through all life 
 
 That blessing may prolong ? 
 Who, thro' the world's sad day of strife, 
 
 Still chant his morning song? 
 
 Keble. 
 
9- 
 
 II 
 
 William Gibson was brought to understand the love of 
 God at the age of 11. I give the account in his own 
 words, taken from a letter in the memoir of Joseph B.. 
 Shrewsbury, who was his intimate friend and the means of 
 his conversion : — 
 
 " Wesley College, Dec. 8, 1849. 
 In the summer of 1843 I went to Wocdhouse Grove 
 School, and as it is always more pleasant, and also more 
 safe, to have some senior boy to take a little oversight of 
 boys just entering upon their school life, my brother John, 
 who had contracted a friendship with Joseph at the- 
 Grove, thought it well to write a few lines to him requesting 
 him to look after me a little. 
 
 As soon as Joseph arrived I handed him this letter, and 
 he, thinking, as he told me afterwards, that the best way 
 to look after me was to lead me to Christ, took me by the 
 arm in the play-ground, and began to talk to me about my 
 soul. 
 
 I had been seriously inclined for some time previous, so- 
 that I was quite ready and willing to receive and to attend 
 to all he said. We went together to the footstool of mercy,. 
 and he directed me to u the Lamb of God which taketh 
 away the sin of the world." I continued in this state of 
 repentance two days, during which he spent nearly the 
 whole of the play hours in praying beside me, and leading 
 me to Christ. After these two days, at the prayer- 
 meeting, at five o'clock in the afternoon, when I was 
 standing beside him endeavouring to assist in singing, 
 " Praise God from whom all blessings flow," &c, because 
 one of our school-fellows had been brought into the 
 
10 
 
 : glorious liberty of the children of God, the Lord revealed 
 Himself to me as my Saviour, and thus burst the bonds 
 which held my spirit in thraldom, causing me to rejoice in 
 the unclouded smile of my reconciled Father. 
 
 Then began a Christian friendship between us, which 
 being so suddenly terminated upon earth will, I trust, be 
 consummated in heaven." 
 
 A week after his conversion he began to keep a journal. 
 I have the first little document before me now. Two 
 sheets of small note-paper folded in half and covered with 
 a bit of thin green cardboard, the whole carefully protected 
 by a piece of school-report paper on which is inscribed in 
 a good round hand : 
 
 I forbid anyone 
 to look ivithin. 
 Private. 
 
 Wm. Gibson. 
 
 " Within" is a touching record of a child's walk with 
 God, a walk even then assured and steadfast, and which 
 became steadier and straighter the further he walked until 
 the day that " he was not, for God took him." Truly the 
 child was father to the man. From the very first full salva- 
 tion for himself and for all around him was the absorbing 
 desire of his soul, constraining him to give up the larger 
 part of his play-time to prayer. 
 
 Friday, July 7, 1843, was the date of his conversion, 
 and I think he never forgot the anniversary. He always 
 spoke of it as being literally to him a new birth — a com- 
 plete transformation of all his tastes, desires and tempers. 
 But we had hard work to believe he ever could have been 
 ■•anything but perfect. Does not this prove the inestimable 
 "value of early conversion ? 
 
12 
 
 "I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, whom shall I 
 send, and who will go for us ? Then said I, here am I, send 
 me." (Isa. vi. 8). 
 
 " If two of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything 
 •that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father 
 which is in heaven." (Matt, xviii. 19). 
 
 " Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee 
 great and mighty things that thou knowest not." (Jer. 
 xxiii. 3). 
 
 " Let not fine culture, poesy, art, sweet tones, 
 
 Build up about my soothed sense a world 
 
 That is not Thine and wall me up in dreams ; 
 
 So my sad heart may cease to pulse with Thine, 
 
 The great world-Heart, whose blood, for ever shed, 
 
 Is human life, whose ache is man's dull pain. 
 
 Let not my grasp on Life's most awful Truth 
 
 Be loosened ; but where'er the people hear 
 
 Quick-eared, as closer unto life, Thy step, 
 
 And thronging bring their dumb hearts unto Thee, 
 
 To ease the ache that has no easeful words, 
 
 There, through all rudest speech and gestures mean, 
 
 Obscuring sights, and harsh fanatic sounds, 
 
 Still may I see the Christ in faded vesture ; 
 
 Nor stand with Greeks and coldly criticise 
 
 The mean apparel, in whose tarnished hem, 
 
 By a diviner instinct led, the lost, 
 
 The sad, the poor, the sinful find sweet healing. 
 
 Ellice Hopkins. 
 
13 
 
 III. 
 
 When only 15 William Gibson decided to follow in his 
 father's steps and be a Christian minister, and from that 
 moment he devoted all his energies to preparing himself 
 mentally and spiritually for what he held to be one of the 
 highest and holiest of all callings* 
 
 From the very first he had a passion for souls. 
 
 He was one of the five lads who in 1848 banded together 
 at Wesley College to pray for a revival in the place. The 
 result was glorious. He wrote an account of the blessed 
 " three days," which I print in toto, trusting that it may be 
 suggestive to the present generation of lads at school. 
 
 11 At the beginning of the " second half," 1848, five youths, 
 who alone among the boys then at Wesley College, pro- 
 fessed to live in the enjoyment of religion, i.e., to have 
 communion with God as their Father and to rest in the 
 assurance of His love to them, resolved to appoint a time 
 to pray specially for the outpouring of the Spirit upon the 
 school. Accordingly, seven o'clock on Saturday evening 
 was fixed for this special prayer meeting , and the little 
 band met regularly in the vestry adjoining the College 
 Chapel for this particular purpose. Pleading earnestly 
 and importunately " whatsoever two of you shall agree on 
 •earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be 
 done for them of my Father which is in heaven," those 
 five became assured that God heard and would answer 
 their prayers. That room, while they thus wrestled with 
 the Angel of the Covenant, was to them none other than 
 the house of God. The heavens were opened ; the place 
 was filled with the Divine glory, and each was over- 
 whelmed with a sense of the immediate presence of God. 
 
14 
 
 One Saturday, earnest supplications were offered on 
 behalf of those boys who, as it appeared, were the least 
 likely to be converted, and special mention of them was- 
 made by name. 
 
 On the following Tuesday, one of the five proposed a 
 special prayer meeting in the vestry, to plead again for the 
 outpouring of the Spirit. The proposition was at once 
 eagerly embraced ; and the five boys on that day again 
 united to implore the descent of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, November 22nd, at six o'clock, 
 one of the college boys (Bealey) exchanged time for 
 eternity. He had been ill for some time ; and general 
 interest had been aroused in his behalf. The first question 
 each morning for a fortnight had been " How is Bealey?" 
 The hearts of all were saddened as they heard each day 
 that he was worse. 
 
 After breakfast on that Wednesday morning the 
 Governor detained the boys : it was evident from his 
 countenance that he had something sad to communicate. 
 After a brief pause, he told us that at six o'clock Bealey 
 had breathed his last ; but that he had left us a glorious 
 testimony, — that he had expressed his assurance of his 
 interest in the blood of Christ, and that he was going home 
 to heaven. 
 
 The Governor, the Eev. Samuel D. Waddy, was 
 evidently powerfully affected. He proceeded, as soon as 
 his feelings would allow him, to address an earnest 
 exhortation to the boys, on the importance of personal 
 religion and preparation for death. I have heard him 
 speak hundreds of times but never with such power as on 
 that morning. The boys were without exception moved to 
 tears ; there was not a dry eye throughout the school. He 
 
15 
 
 must have had a hard heart indeed who could have resisted 
 the force of the earnest and persuasive appeal that fell 
 from the Governor's lips. 
 
 The address was concluded by an announcement that 
 there w T ould be a prayer meeting that morning at twelve 
 •o'clock. By five minutes past twelve the vestry, which 
 had ordinarily been quite large enough for the prayer 
 meetings, was filled ; the steps leading down from the 
 music room were crowded, and numbers, unable to gain 
 admission were standing in the music room above. It was 
 necessary to adjourn into the chapel. There were not 
 twenty boys absent, out of the hundred and sixty. The 
 Governor, on entering the play ground between twelve and 
 one, was surprised to find it deserted ; but his surprise was 
 changed to joy, when one of his family came running to 
 him with the cry " Oh ! do come into the chapel." Eight 
 out of the number at the prayer meeting appeared to be 
 earnestly seeking salvation. They were, accordingly 
 invited to a meeting to be held in the vestry at half-past 
 two o'clock. Eight more would force their way into the 
 vestry, notwithstanding efforts made to exclude them lest 
 they should have come only " to make fun." They were, 
 however, all true penitents ! The power of the Spirit was 
 present to heal the broken heart. One after another was 
 made happy in the love of Christ ; and, about four o'clock, 
 we sang a hearty hallelujah for sixteen souls passed from 
 darkness unto light. 
 
 As we came up from the prayer meeting we were met by 
 others, asking with tearful eyes why they were not invited, 
 for they were indeed in earnest. In half an hour the 
 vestry was filled again with seekers of salvation. The 
 music room was also crowded with penitents ; and there 
 
16 
 
 was a general cry, " What must I do to be saved?" At 
 eight o'clock in the evening, one of the boys for whom 
 special intercession had been offered the previous Saturday, 
 and who, on hearing of the general concern manifested by 
 the boys for salvation, had been inclined to treat the whole 
 with contempt, was reading a novel in his room. From some 
 indefinable and unaccountable influence over his mind he 
 was unable to read. At last, a voice seemed to say to him, 
 Go to the prayer meeting. He closed the novel and went 
 to the door of the room. " What a fool I am going to 
 make of myself," he said, and went back to his desk and 
 took up his novel ; but he was unable to read. Another 
 inward struggle and he was a second time at the door of 
 his room. With a second exclamation similar to the first 
 he returned a third time to his book. Still he was uneasy ;. 
 there was a perfect tumult within : flinging the book down 
 and desperately forcing himself away, he hastened through 
 the covered play-ground where no one could observe him, 
 to the door of the vestry. His heart failed him, and he 
 hurried back to his room. He opened his book ; but he 
 could not compel his eyes to trace its pages. Unable to 
 control his agitated spirit, and overwhelmed with the power 
 of conviction he rushed out of his room, made his way 
 quickly to the vestry, threw open the door, and without 
 waiting to close it, flung himself, a weeping penitent, upon 
 his knees beside one of the forms. That very night he 
 stepped into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 
 Before we retired to the dormitories seventy-five of the 
 boys had tasted that the Lord is gracious, and could rejoice 
 in the forgiveness of sin. In each bedroom a prayer 
 meeting was held till near midnight. Many could not 
 sleep that night for gladness of heart. 
 
17 
 
 On Thursday, the 23rd, two of the masters who had not 
 been living in the enjoyment of religion began to seek the 
 pearl of great price ; several of the servants were deeply 
 convinced of sin, and at the evening prayer meeting three 
 or four of them passed into the glorious freedom of the 
 gospel. 
 
 Prayer meetings were constantly held in the chapel 
 vestry and school rooms during out-of-school hours, and 
 many more believed with the heart unto righteousness* 
 The whole building was filled with the voice of prayer and 
 praise. One youth at the evening prayer meeting in the 
 vestry was in a great agony of supplication ; his whole 
 frame betokened the severity of the struggle going on 
 within. He literally writhed in agony of soul, groaning out 
 in the bitterness of his spirit, " God be merciful to me a 
 sinner." He wrestled on till his knees were sore ; but so 
 determined was he not to be content without a conviction 
 of the pardoning mercy of God, that he expressed the 
 resolve not to stir from that place till he could rejoice in 
 God as his reconciled Father. " The Kingdom of Heaven 
 suffereth violence ; and the violent take it by force." He 
 soon heard the whisper of peace — " Thy sins which are 
 many are all forgiven thee." 
 
 The Governor was accustomed to meet a class on 
 Thursday evening. Twenty or thirty in attendance had 
 been a large number, but now a hundred and thirty were 
 wishful to be present. The Governor, therefore, as it was. 
 impossible for him to speak to each individually, delivered 
 a pointed address to us collectively in the chapel, and 
 concluded with a prayer meeting. The masters were 
 present, but they took no part in the meeting. The boys 
 alone engaged in prayer. From the lips of youths, not 
 
18 
 
 accustomed to pray, supplications, consecutive in thought 
 and beautiful in language, were poured forth in a con- 
 tinuous torrent of earnest and prevailing prayer. Such 
 prayers I had never heard before — such prayers I have 
 never heard since. It seemed as though they were 
 inspired. Ours was truly the gladness of a full heart, and 
 the joy of a loosened tongue. 
 
 The bedrooms that night all became rooms for prayer ; 
 and importunate supplications were prolonged far into the 
 night. 
 
 The question on the Friday, November the 24th, was 
 not Who are saved ? but Who are not converted ? and 
 intercessory supplications were offered for those who still 
 remained without a saving interest in Christ. The 
 laboratory, the music room, the reading room, the school 
 rooms, and the students' rooms, were all occupied with 
 knots of earnest pleaders at the Throne of Grace. A few 
 went into the play-ground ; but — the football lying 
 untouched on the grass — they paced the grounds, arm-in- 
 arm, singing — 
 
 " Glory, honour, praise, and power, 
 
 Be unto the Lamb for ever : 
 Jesus Christ is our Eedeemer ; 
 Hallelujah, &c. 
 The prayer meeting on the Friday evening will never be 
 forgotten by any who were present. All were filled with the 
 " Speechless awe that dares not move, 
 And all the silent heaven of love." 
 The influence in the College chapel that night was 
 iterally overpowering. All alike felt 
 
 " Lo, God is here ! Let all adore 
 And own how dreadful is this place." 
 
19 
 
 It became generally known that there was only one boy 
 in the whole school unconverted ; and all were drawn out 
 in prayer that his heart might be subdued. One of the 
 five who had prayed from the beginning of the half year 
 for the outpouring of the Spirit, went up from the prayer 
 meeting to induce if possible this last boy, who remained 
 careless and unconcerned, to come down into the chapel. 
 He found him sitting by himself in one of the school 
 rooms, but could not move him by solicitations. " Will 
 you allow me to pray with you !" " You may pray if you 
 like, but I shall put my fingers in my ears." (Our readers 
 will be glad to know that even this rebellious spirit yielded 
 to the love of God some years later)." He returned to the 
 chapel, and as he entered the doors, so powerful was his 
 emotion, and so deep his concern on behalf of the only 
 impenitent boy in the whole school, that he was trembling 
 from head to foot. He laid hold of my arm to prevent 
 himself from falling, and I *could feel that his whole frame 
 was tremulous with intensity of emotion. The songs of 
 praise in all the bedrooms that night were surely " such as 
 angels sing." It was truly Heaven begun below. 
 
 Eleven years have passed away ; but those three days 
 are as fresh in my recollection as though they had trans- 
 pired last week. They have not ceased to exert their 
 influence upon me to this day. And many a time has my 
 heart been cheered by living them over again in memory. 
 
 There were two remarkable characteristics of this revival 
 of religion. 
 
 One was the entire absence of human agency. If the 
 masters were present, they only came silently to enjoy the 
 sacred and hallowed influence. The five boys who had 
 been in the school phrase " religious " previously, did not 
 
20 
 
 take any lead ; they only prayed in turn with the rest. 
 They who directed the penitent to the cross were those 
 who had themselves just proved that Christ hath power on 
 •earth to forgive sins. It was not by might nor power, but 
 by the Spirit of the Lord. 
 
 The other peculiar characteristic was an entire absence 
 of noise or excitement. There were no loud Aniens, — no 
 shouting, — no confusion. Not that we would condemn loud 
 manifestations of sincere religious feeling (let the Lord 
 work as he wills !) ; but a sacred quietness was the 
 peculiarity of this revival. " The wind bloweth where it 
 listeth ; and thou nearest the sound thereof, but canst not 
 tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth." 
 
 "But have they remained steadfast?" "What has 
 been the permanent result ? 
 
 " These questions can be answered satisfactorily : — 
 
 (1) Although fifty, nearly one-third of the whole number, 
 left at the end of the half year, the influence of the revival 
 remained throughout the following year, nor has it ceased 
 to this day to exert a gracious power, for traditions of this 
 remarkable work still linger in the College, and the recital 
 of its circumstances still stimulates the religious feelings of 
 the boys. 
 
 (2) As to the steadfastness of those who were converted. 
 There have been some backsliders ; but feioer than in any 
 revival of which I have heard or read. Some who were 
 then converted have exchanged mortality for life. Some 
 have become active members of the Methodist Society. 
 Some have joined other denominations of Christ's church, 
 and occupy, in various parts of the great vineyard, 
 positions of honour and usefulness. 
 
21 
 
 (3) Numbers have been converted through the instru- 
 mentality of those who were then brought to a knowledge 
 of the truth. Two revivals — one at Crookes, one at 
 Batcliffe — resulted immediately, from simply hearing of 
 the glorious news. Many cases might be given in which 
 the mere recital of these never-to-be-forgotten scenes in 
 different towns in England, and ' afar off ' in foreign 
 lands, has led to deep concern for salvation. One instance 
 could be cited in which, while listening to an account of 
 this revival, given in a town in the south of England, two 
 were then and there led to Christ. All the good that has 
 resulted and will result from this memorable revival cannot 
 be known till the ' books ' are ' opened.' 
 
 The writer trusts that the perusal of this imperfect 
 sketch of one of the most remarkable effusions of the 
 Spirit ever vouchsafed to a seminary of learning, may lead 
 the boys now at Wesley College to pray for a like baptism 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The thought of publishing the above account was partly 
 suggested by reading of the revivals in Ireland. Why 
 should there not be in every school a revival such as that 
 with which Wesley College was blessed in 1848 ! We have 
 the same God, equally faithful to his promises ; His ' ear' 
 not ' heavy ;' His ' arm ' not ' shortened.' 
 
 How is such a revival in any place to be ensured ? Let 
 a few earnest believers meet together for the special pur- 
 pose of interceding with God on behalf of the ungodly. 
 Let them not be satisfied until their prayers are answered. 
 Let them give God no rest day or night until He grant 
 the gift of the Holy Ghost, and ' pour floods upon the dry 
 ground." 
 
22 
 
 ' O wondrous power of faithful prayer ! 
 What tongue can tell the Almighty grace ? 
 God's hands or bound or open are, 
 As Moses or Elijah prays.' 
 
 Let them mention before the Lord, in their united 
 supplications, the names of lukewarm professors, and of 
 the most notorious sinners. The certain consequence will- 
 be the outpouring of the spirit. 
 
 Assuredly the expected revival will come. ' The times 
 of refreshing from the presence of the Lord ' are at hand.'" 
 
 
 
24 
 
 The law of his God is in his heart, none of his steps 
 shall slide. (Pro. 37, 31.) 
 
 Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conver- 
 sation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. (I. Tim. iv. , 12.) 
 
 If in the paths of the world 
 Stones might have wounded thy feet, 
 Toil or dejection have tried 
 Thy spirit, of that we saw- 
 Nothing — to us thou wast still 
 Cheerful and helpful and firm ! 
 Therefore to thee it was given 
 Many to save with thyself. 
 
 Matthew Arnold. 
 
25 
 
 IV. 
 
 Wordsworth says : — 
 
 " 'Tis the most difficult of tasks to keep 
 
 Heights which the soul is competent to gain.!' 
 
 William Gibson not only gained those heights, but kept 
 them, and drew other struggling souls up to them. 
 
 Lives like his are the great want of the world. Passion- 
 ate pleaders, ready reasoners, and earnest expositors 
 abound in the pulpit and out of it, but Christ-like men, 
 epistles of Christ, are rare anywhere. Men out of whose 
 eyes Christ looks, through whose lips Christ speaks, and 
 whose every act is a reminder of Christ — what a small 
 sprinkling is there of such throughout Christendom ! 
 
 My husband was permeated with the Spirit of Christ, so 
 that his preaching and his practice agreed. He did not 
 pull down with one hand what he had built up with the 
 other, as is always done when a man's teaching and 
 temper are at variance. A talented talker may make 
 nominal Christians, but only a saintly soul can make saints. 
 While my husband's bright cheerfulness attracted outsiders 
 toward the religion of Christ, his singular consistency 
 tended to confirm them in it. Thank God, I do not believe 
 he was ever an occasion of stumbling to anyone. 
 
 Almost immediately after his conversion he became 
 deeply interested in the subject of holiness. When yet a 
 child at school the eyes of his understanding were en- 
 lightened to know what is the exceeding greatness of God's 
 power to those who believe. He trusted that power and 
 found it avail. 
 
 His humility was as genuine as his faith was simple and 
 tenacious. He always felt himself to be only a sinner 
 
26 
 
 saved by Almighty grace, but he knew that he was saved,, 
 and gave God the glory. His ideas of entire sanctification 
 were very practical ; he loved to speak of it as a life obli- 
 gatory on each Christian, and he could speak with authority 
 of a life he himself lived. Full trust in Christ as a 
 Saviour from all sin, and a daily renewed experience of 
 the Spirit's regenerating influences, sufficed to keep him 
 from falling in the midst oft-times of annoyances and 
 aggravations that were a severe test. He had put on "the 
 ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight 
 of God of great price." 
 
 And verily the meek do inherit the earth, and may de- 
 light themselves in the abundance of peace ! His exquisite 
 gentleness and patience not only called forth the almost 
 adoration of his family and household, but also very 
 generally secured him his own way, for none of us ever 
 had the heart to withstand him. 
 
 His favourite hymns treated of the Atonement and of the 
 boundless love of God in Christ. Night after night did he 
 soothe himself to sleep with " How do Thy mercies close 
 me round," or " For ever here my rest shall be." This 
 precious little hymn comforted his last hours upon earth. 
 
 He may be equalled by many, and surpassed by some, in 
 learning and in genius, but in hard, persevering, energetic 
 work-capacity, in high-souled devotion, in sublime un- 
 selfishness and goodness (God-likeness), William Gibson 
 stands out head and shoulders above most of his genera- 
 tion. 
 
 It can truly be said of him he was always " in the 
 Spirit ;" prayer was his native air ; he never felt it out of 
 place to pray. Whether in the midst of discussing some 
 knotty, annoying mission question, or whether enjoying a 
 
CHARACTER SKETCH. 27 
 
 hearty laugh over a humorous story, he would stop in an 
 instant, if required, and go down on his knees with as much 
 fervour and evident pleasure as though he were in a church. 
 He had early formed the blessed habit of rising betimes for 
 prayer and Bible-reading. It was in these quiet morning 
 hours, alone with God, that he gained the strength to 
 persevere in his difficult work ; it was then that he formed 
 plans and projects for the mission, to be carried out with 
 the dogged perseverance that so characterized him, long 
 after the primal inspiration had died away. 
 
 His " tasks in hours of insight willed " 
 Were oft " thro' hours of gloom fulfilled." 
 
 When quite a lad he wrote a list, which I have since 
 found in his early journal, of subjects for daily private 
 prayer. The list begins with his step-mother, contains 
 every possible relation near or distant, and ends up with 
 ministers and missionaries. This habit of detail in prayer, 
 as distinguished from the wholesale style one is so prone 
 to adopt in this busy age, continued with him to the last. 
 
 Every morning before leaving his room he would pray 
 with me for each member of the family on both sides, 
 his and mine, and very often by name — brothers, sisters, 
 nieces, nephews, none were forgotten. 
 
 The last sentence in his last report is a prayer — a prayer 
 for blessing upon all his helpers and for the speedy conver- 
 sion of his beloved France. As we were preparing the 
 report he remarked that it was probably the last we should 
 draw up together, and doubtless it was in view of the 
 proposed changes that he felt the timeliness of prayer. 
 All his stations were begun and continued in prayer. 
 Havre, Honfleur, Eouen and Elbeuf, St. Malo, Boulogne, 
 Chantilly, Asnieres, and St. Cloud, together with the other 
 
28 
 
 halls in and around Paris, how importunately have they all 
 been borne up before God ! As for Kouen, I " testify that I 
 have seen " when I speak of hours at one stretch spent on 
 his knees in intercession for that station. 
 
 He believed in Methodism as a perfect piece of 
 machinery, a gigantic and magnificent steam engine, able 
 to run as well in France as in England or America ; 
 capable, indeed, of bearing along the whole world, if fired 
 by the Holy Ghost. Therefore the burden of his prayers 
 was always for a renewed Pentecost. 
 
 Ought a mission, begun and brought up to its present 
 point by unceasing prayer, untiring energy, and consum- 
 mate self-sacrifice, to be subjected to retrenchment as soon 
 as its founder is laid in his grave ? And yet so must it be 
 unless help comes in voluntarily. 
 
30 
 
 "The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteous- 
 ness." (Prov. xxi., 5.) 
 
 "Be not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, 
 
 serving the Lord." (Eom. xii., 11.) 
 
 "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts 
 xx., 35.) 
 
 There is that that maketh himself poor, yet hath great 
 riches." (Prov. xiii., 7.) 
 
 Measure thy life by loss instead of gain, 
 Not by the wine drunk, but the wine poured forth. 
 For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice, 
 And whoso suffers most hath most to give. 
 
 H. E. H. King. 
 
 So others shall take patience, labour to their heart and 
 hand 
 
 From thy hand, and thy heart, and thy brave cheer ; 
 And God's grace fructify through thee to all. 
 
 E. B. Browning. 
 
31 
 
 V. 
 
 Service for others was the law of my husband's life. On 
 the principle of " No deed too little for great love to do " 
 he stooped to the merest trifles in the way of small atten- 
 tions to all around him. No press of business made him 
 thoughtless of other people's feelings, nor absent-minded 
 when it was a question of their comfort ; neither did he 
 mar a courteous act by making a merit of it. Therefore 
 was it that he always avoided seeming hurried to visitors 
 and conveying the impression that he had not a minute to 
 spare. In his bureau at Eue Eoquepine he would put 
 aside the most important correspondence to receive a 
 succession of callers with the ease and cordiality of a 
 gentleman at leisure, and then write half through the 
 night to regain the time. His strict punctuality and his 
 habit of obliging, at any cost, each day to do its own work, 
 alone enabled him to get through the incredible amount of 
 business that fell to his lot. 
 
 With him everything was subservient to duty. Duty 
 first, pleasure afterwards, was his watchword. But if 
 pleasure had not graciously come to meet him in duty, he 
 would not have seen much of her in this life. 
 
 He loved spiritual work ; preaching, holding prayer and 
 class meetings, whatever was of a purely soul-saving 
 character was his special delight ; and yet during his last 
 16 years his chief occupations were organizing, " serving 
 tables," collecting. 
 
 His great practical difficulty arose from the lack of funds 
 for the Mission. He could not keep within the com- 
 mittee's grant, believing, as he did, that it was " now or 
 never" for spreading an undiluted Gospel throughout 
 
32 
 
 France. Therefore he felt forced to collect, but there is no 
 doubt the terribly fatiguing travelling late and early, the 
 trudging from one end of a town to another in all weathers, 
 and the sleepless nights spent in writing to the persons 
 he had failed to find, hastened his end. 
 
 Collecting was to him the most utterly uncongenial and 
 distasteful of the many disagreeable things he had to do. 
 Kepulsed nine times out of ten, disheartened, wearied — 
 both bodily and mentally — he suffered enough at such 
 times to rub the bloom off the ripest spirituality, but his 
 only thrived " the more exceedingly." Often has he told 
 me of the blessed peace and strengthening communion 
 with God realized by him in some of his most discouraging 
 collecting tours. In his hands the secular work never 
 clashed with the spiritual, for he held that a man needed 
 to be full of faith and of the Holy Ghost to do either 
 w T ell. He lived with, he lived in God, and his piety had 
 the freshness and vigour of its Divine source, and pervaded 
 whatever he undertook. 
 
 And after all, there were two sides to the collecting 
 question. I must pay a tribute here to the kindness and 
 liberality of the many friends who, during these several 
 years, have kept the Mission going by their gifts, and who 
 have so often and so hospitably entertained the collector. 
 His daily letters used to be filled with the goodness of the 
 various ministers and laymen who received him into their 
 houses and cheered and lightened his toils by their 
 sympathy and help. 
 
 My husband had strong intellectual tastes ; philosophy 
 was his hobby. He never went anywhere without books, 
 which explains in part our manifold and bulky packages in 
 travelling. He used to say he liked to have me with him 
 
33 
 
 as I got the credit of the unreasonable number of hand- 
 bags ! Once when a fastidious Frenchman protested 
 against our undue appropriation of the compartment, and 
 my sense of justice inclined me to side with him, my 
 husband took a good-humoured revenge by exclaiming in 
 French, with a sly look at me, " See what comes of travel- 
 ling with ladies ! " Beading was such a necessity to him 
 that unable to find time in the day, and having accounts 
 to settle late every night, he would yet when all was done, 
 take up some hard, dry book and compel his tired eyes 
 and languid mind to do a little more work by way of re- 
 creation ! My repeated remonstrances were cut short 
 with " I cannot live without reading." But never did his 
 love of study interfere with his visits or his meetings, or 
 with any branch of his varied work. 
 
 He was a diligent and ready writer ; quotations, 
 thoughts, outlines of sermons, things new and old out 
 of his full treasury, were neatly inscribed in note-books 
 and kept for reference. With all his deep spirituality he 
 had a strong vein of humour, which made him get some 
 fun out of almost everything. His stories were- irresistibly 
 amusing, and I know of nothing more comic than his 
 " History of the Buggies Family," in which, with a few 
 strokes of his pen and a few graphic phrases, he has im- 
 mortalized (for us) some of the incidents of our private 
 life. Very interesting and clever also are the descriptions 
 in rhyme of his most important journeys, written to 
 interest those at home. Indeed, wherever he went, what- 
 ever he did, he never forgot his " beloved home," his 
 " little Paradise," his " Bethany," as he loved to call it. 
 He did this extra writing in spare moments here and 
 
34 
 
 there, when most people would have done nothing. His. 
 mind was so untiringly active that rest to him only meant 
 change of occupation. 
 
 He left very few subjects untouched, but the one that he 
 sounded to the extent of his powers was how to use every 
 faculty to the glory of God in the good of man. 
 
 He was an enthusiastic traveller, and an ardent admirer 
 of fine architecture. His greatest rest and refreshing was 
 to visit some splendid old cathedral and point out all its- 
 beauties in detail. He had a little money when he was young, 
 and spent it all on a visit to the Holy Land, of which he- 
 wrote a description in his " Eecollections of Other Lands." 
 Rev. Canon Whelpton, one of his travelling companions,, 
 writes of him : — " He was the mind and soul of the party ;. 
 he planned, arranged, managed, and directed at every 
 point of the tour ; he was always ready with psalms and 
 hymns and spiritual songs to cheer our hearts, to make 
 us enter into the deep meanings of Holy Scripture as 
 illustrated by the scenes around ; above all to invite us 
 by his example, instantly and at all times, to lift up our 
 voices in prayer, that we might reap the best blessings 
 from the high privilege of our pilgrimage." 
 
 Some years later one of his aunts left him £200, which 
 he laid out wholly on a journey to America, though it 
 also served him another useful purpose, for ever after wards- 
 any very extravagant act of generosity would be justified 
 by "But 'tis my aunt's money," till the phrase became a 
 joke in the family. 
 
 That was the only little legacy he ever spent on anything 
 personal. He had others, but they went straight into the 
 work. 
 
36 
 
 " He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in 
 him." 
 
 " He will beautify the meek with salvation." (Psa. 
 cxlix., 4.) 
 
 As some rare perfume in a vase of clay 
 Pervades it with a fragrance not its own, 
 
 So. when Thou dwellest in a mortal soul 
 
 All Heaven's own sweetness seems around it thrown. 
 
 Harriett Beecher Stowe. 
 
 Servants of God ! or sons 
 Shall I not call you ? because, 
 Not as servants, ye knew 
 You Father's innermost mind — 
 His, who unwillingly sees 
 One of His little ones lost — 
 Yours is the praise, if mankind 
 Hath not as yet in its march 
 Fainted, and fallen, and died ! 
 
 Matthew Arnold, 
 
37 
 
 VI. 
 
 All our dear Evangelists loved their Director as a father, 
 because he treated them as his children. He visited them 
 in their homes, helped them in their difficulties, sympa- 
 thized in their sorrows, took part in all that concerned 
 them, consulted them as to every little change in the 
 work, and last, but not least, was as gracious and as 
 courtly to them as though they had been the most in- 
 fluential men in the Church (and who can say they were 
 not, if personal effort counts for more than money or 
 position in Divine calculations ! ) 
 
 There was a total absence in him of that antiquated 
 clerical spirit, which still largely prevails in French 
 Protestantism. He esteemed his Evangelists very highly 
 in love for their work's sake, and never made them feel 
 that their ecclesiastical status was lower than his own. 
 
 In the leaders' and quarterly meetings what an effective 
 method he had of cooling any too hot argument that 
 threatened to blaze up into a dispute ! His gentle " Let 
 us pray " has arrested many a hasty word on its way to 
 wound a brother, and breathed back calm into many a 
 ruffled spirit. 
 
 The people loved him. The poor men and women at 
 the halls said his face was a sermon to them. When the 
 news of his death reached Paris our Bible-woman wrote 
 from Eue Clairant that the people were crowding up to her 
 room to get details, and all of them with tears streaming 
 down their faces. She added, " See what a holy life can 
 do!" 
 
 Children everywhere loved him. Sometimes when 
 paying a visit, the little ones of the family would fight for 
 a place beside him, and failing that would get as near 
 
38 
 
 as possible in front of him, where they might catch his 
 friendly nod and loving smile. 
 
 His was one of those sweet natures that take everything 
 kindly and see good in everyone. He seemed, indeed, 
 an incarnation of the 13th of 1st Corinthians — always 
 •encouraging, always generous, even lavishly so ; always 
 magnanimous and forgiving, though morbidly sensitive to 
 any unkindness or rudeness. He never closed his eyes at 
 night without, as he used to say, "feeling nothing but love" 
 in his heart for everybody. 
 
 Sometimes when detailing in the home circle any little 
 discussion with detractors or opposers (as plentiful in our 
 days as in Nehemiah's) someone would exclaim, " why did 
 you not say this, that, or the other," suggesting something 
 jpiqiiant. He would answer, " If I had, I should not have 
 been able to sleep quietly to-night," or " If I had, it would 
 have pained them, and I hate giving pain." Blessed one ! 
 the only pain he ever gave us was when he left us to go 
 ■" up higher ! " 
 
 He had learnt the " new commandment," and his whole 
 life was an act of obedience to it. All who know the Eue 
 Koquepine Church in Paris will remember the passage 
 painted in seven languages behind the pulpit, " A new 
 commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another ; 
 as I have loved you that ye also love one another. By 
 this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have 
 love one to another." That little circular nave may stand 
 for my husband's monument., When it was being painted 
 32 years ago he spent hours superintending the Hebrew 
 panel. If he left it for an instant something went wrong 
 and had to be repainted. He might well take an interest 
 in the commandment which was the key-note to his life. 
 
3£ 
 
 He had an ideal beauty of character, which drew his. 
 family irresistibly towards him. We have often said to 
 each other, with tears of tenderness in our eyes, " Was 
 there ever anything so lovely, so touching as father ? " 
 
 But gentle and amiable as he was, he had a quiet 
 dignity of manner which effectually prevented any undue 
 familiarity or liberty -taking. Moreover, he was so firm 
 and strong in his rule that his antagonists called him 
 obstinate ! Being of a remarkable vigorous temperament 
 morally, whenever he had clearly seen any course to be 
 the right one he would take it and persist in it, despite 
 the most powerful opposition. He never contended, unless 
 driven to it, and was a man of very few words ; but all 
 knew that with him to say was to do. 
 
 Strictly orthodox himself, he yet never repelled any who 
 in this free-thinking country could not see eye to eye with 
 him in matters of belief. All who had the Spirit of Christ 
 were his brethren, no matter to what extent their heads 
 might be affected by heterodoxy. After our first arrival in 
 Paris, Mr. Demogeot, Professor of Literature at the 
 Sorbonne, one of the literati as well as one of the choicest 
 spirits of France, began to attend regularly at the Eue 
 Koquepine, and soon formed a devoted friendship for my 
 husband. He hardly ever missed a service, and used to 
 love to have quiet talks with him in our little home above 
 the Church. I cannot vouch for his conversion to ortho- 
 doxy, but he certainly had the mind of the Master, and 
 was " not far from the Kingdom." My hope is that the 
 French Agnostic and the English Methodist preacher are 
 now together " in the presence of the King." 
 
40 
 
 " Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the 
 end of that man is peace." (Psa. xxxvii., 37.) 
 
 " Father, I will that they also whom Thou has given me 
 be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." 
 (John xvii., 24.) 
 
 " We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord 
 said, I will give it you." (Numb, x., 29.) 
 
 Take courage to entrust your love 
 To Him so named who guards above 
 
 Its ends, and shall fulfil ! 
 Breaking the narrow prayers that may 
 Befit your narrow hearts, away 
 
 In His broad, loving will. 
 
 E. B. Broivning. 
 
41 
 
 VII. 
 
 Friday, July 13, was our last day en famille. We 
 were at St. Malo for the health of one of our children. 
 In the afternoon our second daughter, our youngest son 
 and myself were carried out by the receding tide while 
 bathing and nearly drowned. After trying in vain to save 
 me, the two managed to swim against the current to the 
 shore and procure help in the shape of our prospective son- 
 in-law. My husband, happily, knew nothing of the danger 
 till it was past. The evening was very quiet and solemn. 
 We half-drowned ones shivered over a blazing wood fire ; 
 the others gathered round as near as the heat would let 
 them. We all felt we had just been spared the agony of 
 separation, and could neither speak nor think of anything 
 else. We read chapter after chapter of praise and con- 
 secration, sang hymns both French and English, and 
 prayed until bed-time. Surely an antepast of our next 
 family meeting in the eternal Home ! 
 
 At five next morning my husband was up and off to 
 Paris en route for Birmingham. He never saw any of his 
 children again. 
 
 On Friday, the 17th August, he joined me at our 
 brother-in-law's, Westbrook Hay, Boxmoor, Herts., and 
 readily agreed to put off the homeward journey till the 
 following Wednesday, saying he should be glad of two 
 days' more work in London. Those two days, during 
 which he received £1, cost us— his life. On Tuesday, the 
 21st, he returned to Boxmoor utterly exhausted. His last 
 day of wearisome collecting was done. Being a dark night 
 he had lost his way, and only reached the house about ten 
 o'clock, after half an hour's wandering in the park. That 
 
42 
 
 was the beginning of the end. It was no longer a question of 
 travelling on the morrow, and we decided to wait until the 
 Friday. But Thursday evening found him still weak and 
 unfit for any fatigue, and we persuaded him to 
 stay for the next boat on the following Monday. Little 
 did we imagine that that was the date ordained for his last 
 long journey from time into eternity ! 
 
 During the week he suffered much from pain in the 
 left shoulder and from general weakness, but he refused to 
 -stay in bed, and kept about as usual. He even took some 
 long drives and enjoyed them. We all felt concerned on 
 his account, and the various members of the family and 
 household, and also the visitors, seemed to vie with one 
 another as to which should show him the greatest kind- 
 ness and attention. He must have felt unequal to any effort, 
 as there is no entry in his diary, which he had kept all his 
 life through, after Monday the 20th. But he still wrote 
 letters for money to the friends he had missed on those 
 two dreadful days in London. Truly he ceased " at 
 once to work and live." 
 
 As we look back upon that last now sacred week, we 
 remember the peculiar heavenliness of his whole bearing, 
 and wonder we did not read the warning in his ethereal face. 
 It was truly the "shining light" " shining more and more unto 
 the perfect day," which "day" was so much nearer than we 
 thought. It was as though the soul had outgrown the 
 body, and was literally bursting through the bars that con- 
 fined it. 
 
 Did God allow our eyes to be holden so that nothing 
 should anticipate the glad surprise He was reserving for 
 "His beloved "? 
 
43 
 
 On Sunday, the 26th, he rose early as usual, 
 and spent perhaps an hour or more in communion 
 with God. Before going down stairs, after our usual 
 prayer together, he read to me Keble's morning 
 hymn. (''The Christian Year" was one of his very 
 favourite books. His last letter to me expresses great 
 delight at having come across the two volumes of Keble's 
 life by Coleridge on an old book-stall, and dwells upon the 
 pleasure he was having in reading them in the train). 
 
 I remember now that he was quiet and subdued, though 
 he appeared really better in health. Before going to 
 church I wrote home that he was " almost himself again." 
 
 On entering the little Bourne End Church, the clergy- 
 man, Mr. Earl, spoke to him and requested him to read 
 the lessons, but he declined on the ground of his voice 
 being still weak. The sermon was beautiful, almost 
 prophetic in its words of comfort : "I know the thoughts 
 that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of 
 peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end." 
 (Jer. xxix., 11.) 
 
 On the way home he began to be much exhausted, and 
 could hardly manage the short hill. On reaching the- 
 house he at once fell asleep until luncheon, and also slept 
 again most of the afternoon. My brother-in-law's fears were 
 aroused and he begged him to see his doctor in London the 
 next morning before starting homewards. He, however, 
 so objected to this and so pleaded with me when we were 
 alone not to say any more about it, promising that if 
 needful he would see a doctor in Paris later on, that we 
 ceased to press the matter. 
 
44 
 
 In the afternoon my sister and I were looking 
 out texts to be engraved on our mother's tomb 
 in Norwood in memory of our father, who lies in 
 an Australian grave. My husband took an interest 
 in and approved our choice, little dreaming that 
 before the next Sunday he would be laid to rest with our 
 beloved mother in the same tomb. Towards evening he 
 sat on the verandah enjoying the gorgeous sunset, peering 
 as it were through the 
 
 " gates of space, whose key 
 Love keeps on that side, and on this side death." 
 
 At dinner he seemed to revive, and in the evening 
 conducted family prayers with wonderful vigour. "We 
 sang from the Mission Hymn Book — 
 
 " Now I have found the ground wherein 
 Sure my soul's anchor may remain." &c, 
 
 and " Sun of my soul, Thou Saviour dear," &c. His 
 beautiful voice sounded out as sweet and clear and loud as 
 ever. He then read the 4th chapter of 2nd Corinthians, 
 commenting freely on several verses, particularly on " cast 
 down, but not forsaken," and " our light affliction," 
 and " the things not seen," concluding with a fervent 
 prayer. 
 
 When we retired to rest my sister begged him to let 
 someone help with his packing, but he answered cheer- 
 fully, " Oh no, thank you, I shall get it all done in a 
 trice." 
 
 I am glad, however, to remember that I did the greater 
 part of it. 
 
 As we were finishing it off he said : " I had such a 
 blessed time of prayer here this morning (in his dressing- 
 
45 
 
 room), whoever comes after me in this room will get a 
 blessing, for God was here this morning." 
 
 Before 6.30 next morning, God had come again to 
 receive him to Himself. 
 
 When all was over, remembering his words, I could only 
 bless the Good Master for having thus set his seal of 
 approval on the habit of early prayer, irradiating His 
 faithful servant's last " morning hour " with a foretaste of 
 the glory so soon to be revealed to him ! 
 
46 
 
 Behold, I say unto you, Watch, 
 Let the door be on the latch 
 
 In your home. 
 In the chill before the dawning, 
 Between the night and morning, 
 
 I may come. 
 
 B. M. 
 
 " Enoch walked with God : and he was not ; for Godi 
 took him." (Gen. v., 24.) 
 
 " Absent from the body... present with the Lord.' 
 (II. Cor. v., 8.) 
 
 " I will come again and receive you unto myself, that 
 where I am there ye may be also." (John xiv., 3.) 
 
 And we must pass the gates 
 Of Death linked with Him, holding by the hand 
 Our Brother gone before, before we come 
 To the perception how our life is joined 
 To God's. 
 
 H. E. E. King. 
 
 One little hour, and then the glorious crowning 
 The golden harp-strings and the victor's palm ; — 
 One little hour, and then the Alleluia, 
 Eternity's long deep, thanksgiving psalm ! 
 
 C. P. 
 
 " Thou hast- made him most blessed for ever : Thou hast 
 made him exceeding glad with Thy countenance." (Psa. 
 xxi., 6.) 
 
47 
 
 VIII. 
 
 My husband passed a troubled night. His mind ran as 
 usual on spiritual things. His "waking thoughts" were 
 .always " bright with God's praise." 
 
 " God gives His angels charge of those who sleep, 
 But He Himself watches with those who wake." 
 He was with His restless child every moment of those 
 long hours. 
 
 We did not talk much, as I was so anxious for him to 
 sleep, but he repeated hymns and prayed aloud for strength 
 to " get home " next day to his work and to his children. 
 He quoted — 
 
 " Tho' waves and storms go o'er my head, 
 Tho' strength and health and friends be gone, 
 Tho' joys be withered all and dead, 
 Tho' every comfort be withdrawn, 
 On this my steadfast soul relies : 
 Father, thy mercy never dies." 
 .and regretted that it had been left out of the hymn in 
 the Mission Book. He was surely allowed to draw my 
 attention to it for my sake, for he no longer needed it him- 
 self. Once he began the hymn — 
 
 " For ever here my rest shall be," &c. 
 As it seemed rather an effort to him to repeat it, I took 
 it up and went through the four verses. He responded 
 earnestly. When it came to the 4th verse, 
 
 " The atonement of Thy blood apply, 
 Till faith to sight improve, 
 Till hope in full fruition die, 
 And all my soul be love," 
 we both endorsed the prayer with a solemn Amen— our 
 la,st united act of worship. 
 
48 
 
 It was about then that he clasped my hand tenderly, 
 and said " My most precious wife, how I do love you !" 
 That was our only farewell. 
 
 Towards morning, when the oppressive breathing 
 set in, he said " Perhaps we shall have to wait till 
 Wednesday." I think it was about five o'clock when he 
 began to expectorate blood, but I have only a confused 
 memory of that last awful hour. I aroused help and sent 
 for a doctor, unknown to him as during the whole week 
 he had refused to see one, declaring that he only needed 
 rest and quiet. But long before the doctor arrived the 
 Good Physician had healed him for ever, and taken him 
 where there is no more sickness nor death. 
 
 He was his own beautiful self to the end. When a 
 kind attendant put a large hot poultice on his chest, he 
 said " Oh, how nice that feels !" and when my sister came 
 into the room he gave her a sweet smile — his last on earth. 
 
 Knowing how he hated either being or seeming ill, I 
 said to him as cheerily as I could, " Well, darling, this is 
 evidently a sharp attack of bronchitis, and we must just 
 wait quietly here a few days longer — a good opportunity 
 for acting submission to God's will." He answered in a 
 very decided tone, " Oh yes, it's all right." After this I 
 asked him if he had any pain and he said, " No." I never 
 once suspected anything wrong with the heart, but I knew 
 he was fearfully ill. It may have been ten or fifteen 
 minutes later, suddenly there came a strong convulsive 
 movement. I rushed to him — only to see the mysterious 
 change which we call death pass quickly over the beloved 
 face, leaving it still and calm in the last sleep. 
 
 * * if 
 
 In the dressing-room everything spoke of life : bags and 
 rugs carefully strapped for the homeward journey, the 
 
49 
 
 clothes on the chair awaiting their wearer, the Greek 
 Testament open at the chapter he had read at prayers, with 
 the latest letter from one of our daughters placed between its 
 pages, the eye-glass lying just where he had put it off a few 
 hours before — it seemed impossible to realise that he had 
 been caught up suddenly out of our midst, borne away for 
 ever above the need of these accessories of mortal life,, 
 above the need even of our affection ! 
 
 We do not realise it yet. 
 
 The following fragments of a poem by Edwin Arnold 
 may comfort other mourners as they have comforted us. A 
 freed spirit addresses the friends who are preparing his 
 body for burial : — 
 
 M I can see your falling tears, 
 
 I can hear your sighs and prayers ; 
 Yet I smile, and whisper this, — 
 
 I I am not the thing you kiss ; 
 Cease your tears, and let it lie, 
 It was mine, it is not I ! ' 
 
£0 
 
 Sweet friends ! What the women lave 
 For its last bed of the grave, 
 Is a hut which I am quitting, 
 Is a garment no more fitting, 
 Is a cage from which, at last, 
 Like a hawk my soul hath passed. 
 
 Loving friends ! Be wise and dry 
 Straightway every weeping eye ; — 
 What ye lift upon the bier 
 Is not worth a wistful tear. 
 'Tis an empty sea-shell — one 
 Out of which the pearl is gone ; 
 The shell is broken, it lies there ; 
 The pearl, the all, the soul is here. 
 
 God all glorious ! God all good ! 
 Now Thy world is understood, 
 Now the long, long w r onder ends ! 
 Yet ye weep, my erring friends, 
 While the man whom ye call dead, 
 In unspoken bliss instead, 
 Lives and loves you ! Lost 'tis true 
 By such light as shines for you ; 
 But in the light ye cannot see 
 Of unfulfilled felicity, — 
 In enlarging paradise, 
 Lives a life that never dies ! 
 Farewell, friends ; yet not farewell ; 
 Where I am, ye too shall dwell. 
 I am gone before your face 
 A moment's time, a little space ; 
 When ye come where I have stepped, 
 Ye will wonder wny ye wept. 
 
51 
 
 Ye will know, by wise love taught, 
 That here is all, and there is naught. 
 Weep awhile, if ye are fain, — 
 Sunshine still must follow rain ; 
 Only not at death, — for death, 
 Now I know, is that first breath 
 Which our souls draw when we enter 
 Life, which is of all life centre." 
 
52 
 
 11 1 know him that he will command his children and his 
 household after him." (Gen. xviii., 19.) 
 
 " Let your light so shine before men that they may see 
 your good works and glorify your Father which is in 
 Heaven." (Matt, v., 16.) 
 
 11 Before his translation he had this testimony that he 
 pleased God." (Heb. xi., 5.) 
 
 " As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness : I 
 shall be satisfied when I awake, with thy likeness." (Psa. 
 xvii., 15.) 
 
 " So oft the doing of God's will 
 
 Our foolish wills undoeth ! 
 
 And yet what idle dream breaks ill 
 
 Which morning light subdueth ! 
 
 And who would murmur and misdoubt, 
 
 When God's great sunrise finds him out." 
 
 E. B. Browning. 
 
 " O Lord my God, do Thou Thy holy will— 
 
 I will lie still— 
 I will not stir, lest I forsake thine arm, 
 And break the charm, 
 Which lulls me, clinging to my Father's breast 
 
 In perfect rest." 
 
 Keble. 
 
53 
 
 IX. 
 
 One of our children says : From our earliest childhood, 
 I say it with reverence, we were able to understand some- 
 thing of the lovingkindness of our " Father which is in 
 Heaven " by the lovingkindness of our father who was 
 upon the earth. The indefinite was made definite to us by 
 specialisation. 
 
 Far back as our memory can travel, our father was all 
 tenderness and strength. The boys were sometimes 
 punished, the girls were allowed to grow like flowers, for 
 father had Buskin's ideas about theirbringing up. 
 
 It was a treat when he came up to the nursery ! I can 
 still see him on all-fours, hidden under a great bear- 
 skin, pursuing us round the room while we screamed 
 with delight. When we were old enough to sit 
 at the breakfast-table and father had anything which we 
 were not expected to ask for, he would always insist on 
 giving a taste of the coveted morsel to each one of us, 
 unheeding how little might be left for himself ! 
 
 We not rarely showed a quarrelsome or uncharitable 
 spirit at meals ; in such a case the quiet remark from 
 father that he wanted us to tell him all about William the 
 Conqueror was more of a rebuke than the sternest scold- 
 ing. It was the same in regard to coming down early to 
 prayers. He did not need to say, " You must come ;" 
 when eight o'clock struck, if we were not down, we would 
 hear a pathetic duet, father's clear voice, and the maids' 
 thin piping, chiming out the hymn, and would be filled 
 with remorse, knowing how he loved to have us all round 
 him before beginning prayers. The change in our outward 
 conduct was thus worked from within, a slower perhaps, 
 but a surer method. 
 
54 
 
 How generous he was ! Eagerly on his return 
 from a journey would we gather around him awaiting 
 the words : " Open your hands and shut your 
 eyes" or " He who loves his home brings back stick or 
 stone !" As we grew older, we loved him for himself. He 
 was a companion and friend, as well as a father. More- 
 over, we revered his character. We saw how he gave up 
 everything to duty. We knew his strongly developed 
 intellectuality. Yet self-sacrifice was constantly taking the 
 place of self-culture. We knew he felt things keenly, yet 
 we never saw a shadow of irritation cross his face. We 
 knew he was often terribly tired when he went to bed, and 
 yet he was [up generally the first in the family for his 
 hour of prayer, " seeking God before the sun." The 
 influence of those morning talks with God pervaded his 
 life. In God's law did he meditate day and night, and he 
 was " like a tree planted by the rivers of water that 
 bringeth forth his fruit in due season." 
 
 His whole being was steeped in charity ; if he spoke to 
 us of Christian perfection we could believe in it because we 
 lived with him ! We loved his little courteous ways. I 
 remember our visits to the Eue Eoquepine bureau. In the 
 midst of work or shopping we would oftentimes turn in. 
 However busy father was, he would be radiant at seeing us, 
 would get chairs for us with a loving : " Sit-down, sweetests; 
 tell me all you've been doing," etc., etc. No event in our 
 lives was insignificant to him. We knew that nothing that 
 touched us could fail to touch him. 
 
 His one earthly ambition for his children was that they 
 should be learned. He used to say laughingly that his 
 dream was to see his girls in white gowns walking up and 
 down the lawn reading Plato in the original ! — (a dream 
 never realised !) 
 
55 
 
 He loved Christ with a deep personal love. He 
 loved the cause of Christ, and gave to it all 
 the untiring energy of his whole nature. " II faut du 
 courage, tou jours du courage !" Those words of Napoleon 
 in another kind of fight were the watchwords of his life. 
 Difficulties only stirred his zeal. Out of seeming defeat 
 he organised victory. 
 
 The Saturday before his death the Evangelists of the 
 Mission were discussing their chief. " Mr. Gibson never 
 commands us to do certain things" they said, " but he does 
 them himself, and something compels us to do as he does. 
 
 He has never told us to be in time for the Saturday 
 leaders' meeting and prayer-meeting, but he is always the 
 first there. We know he is busier than we are, and we 
 are ashamed to be late." 
 
 The world saw his energy, his strength, his firmness ; we 
 saw that — and his sweetness. Most beautiful was our 
 father to those most near to him. The best things in 
 God's handiwork are most lovely on nearest view. 
 
 " The Gospel of Christ translated into flesh and blood " 
 was the universal testimony with regard to him — a living 
 epistle, " known and read of all men." 
 
 He dearly loved music. If ever mother and he were at 
 home together in the evening, which was very seldom, and 
 we wanted to lure him down from his incessant writing, 
 mother had only to strike up some music. The charm 
 worked invariably ! A few moments after father would 
 appear beaming with pleasure and quoting " Orpheus with 
 his lute," or " Music hath charms to soothe the savage 
 breast !" 
 
56 
 
 He was full of fun. If ever in family discussions, 
 mother advised a less pacific course than that to which he 
 was inclined, he would smile mischievously and turn to us 
 saying " whom Jezebel his wife stirred up !" 
 
 I cannot speak of his devotion to mother, shewn in such 
 countless little ways. He never allowed anyone else to 
 meet her at the train when she returned late from meet- 
 ings. All those trifling attentions — which are supposed 
 to belong almost exclusively to the period of courtship — 
 he continued them to the end. His entry into the house 
 brought nothing but light and pleasure. We have looked 
 into his bright eyes, always young, and thought of those 
 words of Abelard, " I am sprung from a land of light, the 
 temper of whose inhabitants is light." Surely our father 
 came thence, and now he has returned to the sunny 
 heights of God whence he came. 
 
 He had always liked the idea of being taken away in the 
 midst of his work. When he heard of Mr. Barratt's death 
 in Germany he said, " that is the way I should wish to 
 die." 
 
 The sunset of his last Sunday evening was a wonder of 
 beauty. How fair a type of the life of him who watched 
 it, his face aglow with worship. In the August of his life- 
 time, no leaf sere, no leaf fallen, every faculty strong to 
 the last, his own sun was to set upcn this earth : a lovely 
 and glorious sunset after a cloudless day ! 
 
 " Till in the ocean of Thy love 
 
 We lose ourselves in heaven above " 
 
 were the last words he ever sang. 
 
 We see him no more with us, but we do not say he has 
 
 gone ; we only say he has gone beyond the limit of our 
 
57 
 
 earthly vision, has dropped below our horizon into the 
 ocean of eternity. 
 
 And in the midst of our blinding grief we yet lift our 
 hearts in thankfulness to our Heavenly Father, who spared 
 him to remain in our very midst, in sacred familiar inter- 
 course, so long after he was perfected and made meet for 
 the companionship of the saints in light. 
 
 We pray for faith that, as our darling read on his last 
 night upon the earth, we may " look not at the things 
 which are seen, but at the things which are not seen : for 
 the things which are seen are temporal, but the things 
 which are not seen are eternal." 
 
58 
 
 " None of these things move me, neither count I my life 
 dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, 
 and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, 
 to testify the gospel of the grace of God." (Acts xx. 24). 
 
 " What things were gain to me those I counted loss 
 for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but 
 loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, 
 my Lord." (Phil. hi. 7, 8). 
 
 " strong soul, by what shore 
 Tarriest thou now ? For that force 
 Surely has not been left vain ! 
 Somewhere, surely, afar, 
 In the sounding labour-house vast 
 Of being, is practised that strength 
 Zealous, beneficent, firm ! " 
 
 Matthew Arnold. 
 
59 
 
 The Eev. J. Gaskin, of Boulogne sur-Mer, an old and 
 tried friend, allows me to print the following comprehensive 
 sketch, which he read from his pulpit on the Sunday after 
 the funeral. 
 
 " Wm. Gibson was a minister's son, one of the many who 
 have belonged to this Apostolic succession, and have piously 
 chosen the ministry their fathers have adorned. He was 
 first an assistant master at one of our Connexional schools, 
 then President's Assistant and Classical Tutor at Kichmond, 
 and afterwards a popular preacher in one of the best 
 London circuits. I well remember hearing between thirty 
 and forty years ago, on the other side of the world, a 
 running description of the leading London preachers by 
 one who was considered a judge. He placed Mr. Gibson 
 in the front rank for clear, vivid, striking, and forceful 
 portraiture, and as a master of pure, nervous, telling English, 
 very ready, never at a loss, always putting his case with 
 clearness and confidence. 
 
 Mr. Gibson was a scholar, a graduate of London, he 
 gained high distinction, being one of the few who obtained 
 honours in Biblical languages, Hebrew and Greek. He 
 kept up, as many do not, his early literary tastes and 
 acquirements. 
 
 Busy as his life was, he seemed to find time for every- 
 thing, verifying the old adage — that if you want a favour 
 or service ask it of a busy man. I remember seeing him 
 on a cold winter's morning, sitting round the fire with his 
 children, hearing them repeat their lines from " Horace 
 and Virgil," scanning. and construing with them as if he 
 
60 
 
 had never been anything but a school teacher. He also 
 kept himself abreast with theological and general literature. 
 
 Mr. Gibson was a traveller, the greatest I have personally 
 known ; full of zest and enthusiasm. He knew every point 
 of interest in the places he had visited, seemed instinctively 
 to fix upon all that was worth seeing and remembering, and 
 make it his own once for all. He had visited every 
 capital in Europe, and almost every important town and 
 city in the United States and Canada. He was a familiar 
 figure in every important circuit in Methodism in Great 
 Britain and Ireland, as he was constantly visiting, preach- 
 ing, and holding meetings for the benefit of his beloved 
 work in France. Paris he knew as well as, if not better 
 than London. 
 
 All the English preaching places, as well as the stations 
 for Evangelical Mission Work are of his founding. He 
 built the beautiful little sanctuaries at Chantilly, Anieres 
 and St. Cloud, and he was constantly looking out for 
 opportunities for starting work in new centres. He would 
 wait and watch for years, patiently promenading the 
 whole quarter, till he found some place for a salle. So he 
 got to know Paris and Paris people as few Englishmen 
 know them. 
 
 'But it was as a Christian, and especially as a Christian 
 Minister, that he made his personality most impressively 
 felt. Mr. Gibson was a very godly man ; so godly, that 
 everything else seemed to pale before his complete and all 
 absorbing devotion. He truly counted all things loss for 
 the excellency of the knowledge of Christ. He was 
 consumed by the true Missionary spirit, a quenchless 
 enthusiasm that took account of no obstacles, and scorned 
 all discouragement. His faith was mighty, and ever looked 
 
61 
 
 for the removal of mountains in the work to which he had 
 devoted all with loving self-sacrifice. With how Christly 
 a tenderness and compassion he regarded the very lowest 
 and most hopeless of the people for whom he prayed and 
 worked ! How nobly he gave up all his prospects of honour,, 
 advancement and distinction in the ministry at home, to 
 work in France ; and to return, after an interval, to give 
 his life to that work among the most degraded of the 
 population. I know of no more striking instance of a man 
 of refined temperament, choice gifts and wide cultivation, 
 pressing into the service of the lowest and most needy the 
 highest gifts of mind and heart. France has been favoured 
 by Providence with two remarkable men, who have devoted 
 themselves to this mission of loving evangelism — McAll 
 and Gibson. Mc All's work has had a wider range, 
 arising out of its founder's neutral position, which 
 excited no rivalries outside of the churches, but drew 
 sympathy and help from them all. Mr. Gibson was the 
 servant of a church, he laid on the altar gifts, which, while 
 they did not command equal apparent success, represented 
 an amount of self-sacrifice and devotion which had no 
 parallel. If Mr. Gibson had had the free hand and free 
 lance of an unattached evangelist, with adequate resources,. 
 he would have covered France with an organisation that 
 would have been the wonder of the churches. So complete 
 and all absorbing was his enthusiam, that many of his own 
 ministerial brethren thought him, well, just a little too 
 exclusively pushing and zealous for France. He had 
 France on the brain ! How he begged and worked, 
 travelling night and day, crossing the ocean, and from city 
 to city on the American Continent urging the claims of 
 France ! France catholic, and France unbelieving, yet 
 France foremost in power for good or evil, demanding the 
 
62 
 
 efforts of all Protestant Christendom to make her the brightest 
 jewel in the Kedeemer's crown. It would surprise most of us 
 if we could know how many miles he has travelled ; how 
 many letters he has written, and how many speeches he has 
 made in his wonderful propaganda. He always secured, by 
 some means, a special meeting at Conference on behalf of 
 French work. Sometimes, as at Birmingham, it was a garden 
 party, sometimes a drawing room meeting, sometimes a 
 more public gathering, but France was always to the front. 
 'The wonder is how he got through all the work he 
 accomplished. Many men would have found it impossible 
 to do what he did in the Evangelistic work alone. But 
 besides this, he had all the duties of the Chairmanship, the 
 supervision of all the Stations and District business, and 
 many other secular matters requiring constant attention 
 (besides the collecting of from £1,000 to £1,200 per annum), 
 yet he was a most punctual and copious correspondent. 
 Everything went to his work — heart and soul and body were 
 in it. Often I have seen him after a busy day, not closing 
 till midnight, after which a brotherly talk would carry us 
 to the small morning hours, yet he would be stirring again 
 at six, and punctually at eight, his clear ringing voice would 
 be heard, whoever was present or absent, singing the hymn 
 which began family worship. 
 
 Time would fail, and words too, to touch and describe 
 even the salient features of this untiring worker for God. 
 He was just as diligent in works of mercy as in efforts for 
 the conversion of sinners. 
 
 I will only add, Mr. Gibson was a man of prayer; 
 eminently a man of importunate supplication. Prayer was 
 the foundation of all his work ; wherever he went, whether 
 to the houses of friends, or on visits among the people, he 
 
63" 
 
 never omitted this ; and it was by prayer he ever sought to< 
 hearten and keep alive the fidelity and zeal of the agents- 
 employed in the work. Often he would invite them to his. 
 house at St. Cloud for an all-day meeting of prayer. To 
 many, such a mode of spending a day would seem a 
 weariness to the flesh ; not so to our saintly friend. His face 
 seemed to brighten, and his spirits to rise as the hours 
 rolled by. When evening and parting came he seemed like. 
 a giant refreshed with new wine. 
 
 Mr. Gibson was a remarkable combination of firmness. 
 and gentleness. Once convinced a course was right 
 nothing could make him swerve. Some thought him in 
 consequence gently obstinate ; but it was only his high 
 sense of moral rectitude which was in play. He could not 
 do what his conscience did not fully approve ; expediency 
 was not his law ; he would have made a perfect martyr in 
 persecuting days. Yet he was the essence of sweet kindli- 
 ness. His smile won the love of innocent childen. One of 
 mine was very much attached to him, and asked once why 
 he liked him so much, said " Why, because he has the 
 goodest face." Gentle he was and gentlemanly, full of the 
 quiet meekness of Christ. 
 
 The end came suddenly and unexpectedly. After forty- 
 two years of unceasing toil, he ceased at once to work and 
 live. None was ever more ready for the final summons. I 
 never saw him more full of life and energy than shortly 
 before ; yet such labour as his must tell on a man when 
 he has passed the three score. 
 
 The anxieties of the last few years had also probably some- 
 thing to do with the conditions which ended in the sudden 
 and unforeseen break down. No evidence of this was 
 apparent in the calm and unruffled bearing of Mr. Gibson, 
 
64 
 
 either in his official or private life, but deep down beneath 
 the outward calm there must have been troubles and 
 anxieties, fears for the ultimate success and prosperity of 
 his loved work, which would prey on his sensitive nature. 
 
 But now the rest has come, with its fuller light and 
 perfect vision. The wise Master builder has said "It is 
 enough, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Our dearly 
 loved and honoured friend rests from his labours, and his 
 works do follow him." 
 
66 
 
 " He was a faithful man and feared God above many."" 
 (Neh. vii., 2.) 
 
 " An Isrealite indeed in whom is no guile." (John i., 47.) 
 
 " And in their mouth was found no guile, for they are 
 without fault before the throne of God." (Bev. xiv., 4.) 
 
 And when we come to die we shall not find 
 The day has been too long for any of us 
 To have fulfilled the perfect law of Christ. 
 
 H. E. H. King. 
 
 " If I still hold closely to Him 
 
 What hath He at last ? 
 Sorrow vanquished, labour ended, 
 
 Jordan past ! " 
 
67 
 
 XI. 
 
 Subjoined are some extracts from a few out of many 
 magazines and journals which contained notices of my 
 husband's death with short outlines of his life. I have 
 selected only what I hope may tend to set his beautiful 
 character in still stronger relief and to exhibit him as an 
 example imitable by all, since the Source whence he drew 
 his strength is open to all. 
 
 The Kev. H. F. Bland, now of Canada, writes to the 
 Christian Guardian (Toronto) : — 
 
 In 1841-42 the Eev. Ealph Gibson (William's father) was 
 stationed in the Addington Circuit. A most excellent man 
 he was, transparent and earnest. The future French 
 Missionary was then, say ten or eleven years of age, 
 slender, pale, and thoughtful. As a missionary collector 
 my recollection of him is very fresh — persistent, not to be 
 said nay. How that thin pale face and silvery voice would 
 plead ! The successful pleader of other days was in that 
 boy-collector. Circumstances for many years threw us 
 widely apart, but I followed Mr. Gibson's subsequent steps 
 with deep interest .... Seldom have I been more 
 impressed than when I read of my brother's sudden death. 
 4t The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not 
 found in his lips : he walked with God in peace and equity 
 and did turn many away from iniquity." 
 
 In the Methodist Becorder of Aug. 30 Eev. N. Curnock 
 says : There was great consternation in the Mission House 
 on Monday when the news arrived that the Eev. William 
 Gibson, B.A., of Paris, had suddenly passed away. . . 
 x\t the Birmingham Conference, Mr. Gibson 
 appeared to be in his usual health. We dined with him at 
 Mr. Akrill's in company with Dr. Jenkins and Eev. E. 
 
68 
 
 Workman. He was full of enthusiasm about the work to 
 which he had devoted so many years of his life, and was 
 preparing for the great Garden Party in Mr. Akrill's 
 grounds, at which the claims of the work were to be 
 advocated. Those who were present will long remember 
 the thrilling siories he told during dinner of his adventures 
 in Paris during the Commune, and of the extraordinary 
 Providences which surrounded our Methodist people 
 throughout that time of fiery trial. Last Wednesday we 
 spent some time with Mr. Gibson, arranging with him the 
 details of an article on that subject, which he had promised 
 to write for our Winter Number. He was then working 
 under high pressure for his mission. His intention was 
 to return to Paris in a few days, and he very much wished 
 that we would accompany him, not for pleasure but for 
 work — always " work — Paris — France. What will you do 
 for France ?" 
 
 The Eev. D. A. de Mouilpied lays " a flower upon his 
 grave " in the following letter to the Methodist papers : 
 
 The mournful and unexpected intelligence of the death 
 of my former colleague and dear brother reached me so 
 late that it was not possible for me to be present at 
 Norwood at the laying of the mortal remains of my dear 
 friend in their last resting-place. May I ask of your 
 courtesy to be allowed to lay a flower upon his grave ? The 
 death of Mr. Gibson is a great loss to the Church of God 
 on earth. He was the soul of goodness. His kindness 
 never failed. His geniality was a constant inspiration and 
 cheer. His hopefulness was unbounded. " The gospel of 
 the face " was always preached by looks and smiles which 
 were flashed from an inner light which always burnt steady 
 and clear. He was the best of friends ; his kindness never 
 
69 
 
 wearied, it was never exhausted. He was good to all, but 
 his friendship was a very generous friendship. His activity 
 was the revelation of his consecration to his work, and 
 that was complete. The fire burnt with inextinguishable 
 blaze on the altar of his soul. Although a most modest 
 and gentle man, purpose in him was very strong ; and, once 
 a course of action had been entered upon, nothing could 
 turn him aside. But so transparent was his. motive, so 
 genial the way in which he enforced his will, so quiet his 
 method, that what in some might be called self-will, and in 
 others obstinacy, was in him the virtue of perseverance. It 
 is hard to think that we shall see his face no more till the 
 Eesurrection Day. His has been a life well-spent, and now 
 he rests from his labours. 
 
 In " Work and Workers " for October Eevs. Dr. Eigg 
 and F. W. Macdonald bear testimony to the life, the 
 labours, and the character of their old friend : 
 
 We have never known a saintlier or more absolutely con- 
 secrated soul than William Gibson. A holy passion, an 
 unquenchable enthusiasm burned with a clear and unre- 
 mitting light on the altar of his heart. For thirty years 
 he had given himself, body and soul, to evangelistic work 
 in France. He was working for the same object to the 
 very last. How for so many years he had unrestingly, and 
 with unabated zeal and fervour, kept up his work of faith 
 and labour of love at a high pressure level, seldom reached, 
 even at intervals, by ordinary workers, had been a marvel 
 to all who knew him. At length he sank exhausted in the 
 race, the energies of his physical nature having finally 
 collapsed. The wonder is that the speed and pressure 
 were so long maintained. His working days were longer 
 
70 
 
 by hours than those of most men, even busy and active 
 men ; his cares and anxieties were urgent and excessive. 
 Fervour and faith had sustained him, and would have sus- 
 tained him still, but that the overwrought and exhausted 
 body yielded at length, and gave way. All who knew 
 Gibson and his work, all who cared for the great cause of 
 evangelistic mission work in France, will deeply mourn the 
 loss of such a worker, the quenching of such a light, the 
 passing from view of an example so apostolic ; but no 
 one who knew him and his work can be surprised at 
 the result. 
 
 Mr. Gibson was the son of a Methodist minister. He 
 was converted at Woodhouse Grove School in 1848. From 
 that school he passed forward to Wesley College, where he 
 took an active part in religious work, maintaining the 
 warmth and fervour of his zeal throughout his period at 
 the school. He entered the ministry in 1852, and in 1854 
 was assistant to the Eev. John Farrar, the President of the 
 Conference. He was appointed to Paris for his first term 
 of residence in 1862, having previously spent five years in 
 London circuits. After ten years' work in Paris, he 
 returned to the English work, and spent six more years in 
 London in the Southwark and Brixton Hill Circuits. In 
 1878 he returned to Paris, and there he spent the remainder 
 of his life with an ever-increasing devotion to his work, to 
 which he had given himself with an absolute surrender. 
 The paramount importance of France as a centre of world- 
 wide influence was perhaps his deepest intellectual con- 
 viction ; the need of the Gospel for France in order to heal 
 its national troubles and maladies, and to make it the most 
 powerful and central influence in the world for the 
 leavening of humanity with the Christian truth and 
 
71 
 
 Christian faith, were ideas which had taken possession of 
 his whole soul, and the force of which only increased with 
 the increase of his knowledge and experience. He was 
 further convinced by the evidence of large and wide 
 experience that whilst Christianity as represented in the 
 worship of the Calvinistic Reformed Churches was unsuit- 
 able to the genius of France, the bright, vivid, sym- 
 pathetic, experimental characteristics of Wesleyan Metho- 
 dist doctrine and fellowship were peculiarly adapted to win 
 the sympathy and allegiance of the French people, adapted 
 to their temper, their tastes, and their whole spirit. He 
 appreciated fully the difficulty of inducing Frenchmen, 
 impregnated with the ideas of Calvinistic Presbyterianism, 
 to accept Protestantism in the emotional and experimental 
 forms of Wesleyan Methodism, but he held that one 
 reason why Protestantism in France 'has produced an 
 almost inappreciable effect upon the nation was the 
 unsuitableness of the old form under which it had been 
 known for centuries.- What he sought to initiate was the 
 presentation of Methodism in its special and characteristic 
 aspects to French people — its presentation in the generous 
 freedom of its Gospel doctrines, and in the hearty and 
 social forms of its Christian fellowship. Although in his 
 work he stood as a leader well-nigh alone in Paris, and had 
 but- a very small handful of fellow-labourers in other parts 
 of France, his experience and the measure of success 
 granted to him, were sufficient to warrant the conclusions 
 which he had fixed in his own mind, and which he 
 cherished for the encouragement of his fellow-labourers 
 and himself in their work. 
 
 The work accomplished by himself and his family in the 
 preparation and publication of hymns suitable for French 
 
72 
 
 Methodist worship, and tune-books, and tracts, and 
 evangelistic periodicals, has formed no mean part of 
 what has been done in the pioneer services of Methodism 
 in France. It may be safely affirmed that those who enter 
 into the labours of Mr. Gibson and his circle of associates, 
 will discover more and more, as their experience expands, 
 how great a work of preparation has been accomplished. 
 The evangelistic spirit and services of Methodism, its 
 prayer meetings, its fellowship meetings, the frank, cordial, 
 and loving relations it establishes between the members of 
 the Church, its true brotherhood and sisterhood, have 
 taken hold of the working people of France in a number of 
 important centres. 
 
 Never was a pioneer placed in more difficult circum- 
 stances than Mr. Gibson. Never did a labourer for Christ 
 do work of exceeding difficulty in a nobler spirit, with 
 higher faith, or in a more exact and whole-hearted cor- 
 respondence to the spirit and the precedents of Apostolic 
 Christianity. What the world needs is that its waste 
 places, where Christ and His saving truth are still un- 
 known, could be occupied everywhere by evangelists of the 
 spirit and character and aims of William Gibson. 
 
 J. H. Eigg. 
 
 My acquaintance with Mr. Gibson began when he was 
 stationed in the Chelsea circuit more than thirty years 
 ago. I was but a boy at the time, and was from the first 
 impressed by his amiability and gentleness. He took a 
 kindly interest in my welfare, and was one of the first to 
 encourage me to tread the path which, in Methodism, 
 leads to the ministry. He has often referred to my first 
 joublic address, delivered at a Sunday School meeting at 
 
73-. 
 
 Westminster, early in the year 1860, and would quote the 
 undeserved but kindly prophecies he made at the time. 
 During the early years of my ministry, I visited him more 
 than once in Paris, where the passion for what was to be- 
 his life work had already taken possession of him. From 
 that time onward I enjoyed his friendship, and he took the 
 place in my esteem and affection which he retained to the 
 end. With increasing intimacy I had a continually 
 deepening admiration for his purity, his unworldliness, his 
 absolute devotion to God and His work. During the last 
 three years our intercourse has been close and constant, 
 and I have had the best means of gauging the intensity of 
 his love for the special work committed to him. The way 
 in which his thoughts and aspirations, his endeavours and 
 his prayers converged upon " the Gospel for France " was 
 wonderful, at times pathetic. With him all roads led — to 
 Paris. In a far truer and deeper sense than that in which 
 the English queen said, " You will find Calais written 
 upon my heart " might it be said that France was graven 
 upon the heart of William Gibson. He lived and died for 
 it. How he laboured for it many know in part ; none but 
 his own family know the whole. Along with a gentleness 
 that nothing could ruffle, a patience that nothing could 
 exhaust, he had courage, perseverance, and tenacity of 
 purpose that I have seldom, if ever, known equalled. 
 They carried him through innumerable difficulties, they 
 secured for him again and again the ends upon which his 
 mind was set, and turned the seemingly impossible into 
 accomplished fact. Though he was characterically, I had 
 almost said, incurably sanguine, yet I can well believe that 
 the work in which he would never admit the possibility of 
 failure cost him more than others thought, more than he 
 himself knew. The sudden, the unlooked for -failure of his. 
 
74 
 
 vital powers would seem to show that he had been spend- 
 ing them all along in a way he little suspected, so 
 unaccustomed was he to consider himself, or take account 
 of days spent in toil and nights in travel. 
 
 When it was first proposed, a year or two ago, to place 
 the Evangelistic work he had so long directed upon a new 
 basis, drawing it into closer association with the French 
 Conference, the proposal was not altogether welcome to 
 him. This w T as natural. Humanly speaking, it was his 
 work ; he had made it. Its every detail was planned and 
 administered by himself, aided by his admirable family, 
 and he was not to be blamed if he thought that no one else 
 would love it, care for it, toil for it as he delighted to do. 
 But he came to see that it was better that responsibility 
 should be shared, and that a future must be thought of 
 when he could no longer do for his beloved work what he 
 had done. No trace of self, no pride of authority or pre- 
 cedence mingled with the hesitation he felt with regard to 
 certain portions of the scheme proposed, and he set himself 
 to promote the desired reorganisation, placing all his 
 varied resources at the disposal of the Committee with the 
 utmost loyalty and good will. 
 
 How little did we think that his work was already done, 
 and that others must face the problems of the future 
 unaided by his counsel and his prayers. 
 
 Dear William Gibson ! He has left a memory that will 
 long be cherished by all who knew and loved him, cherished 
 by the poor people for whom he lived as their friend and 
 father, one whose wealth of love and sympathy had given 
 them their first notions of the love of God, whose Christ- 
 like life even more than his earnest words had drawn them 
 toward the Kingdom of Heaven. F. W. Macdonald. 
 
-75 
 At the meeting of the General Missionary Committee, 
 Eev. F. W. Macdonald referred to the recent sudden death 
 of the Eev. William Gibson — "William Gibson, of Paris," said 
 he, " for he has been associated with that field of work 
 in a manner more close than is usual. Very few men 
 are bound to a particular sphere of interest so closely and 
 by so many ties as Mr. Gibson has been for the last twenty- 
 five years. The Committee is aware how pathetically 
 sudden was his removal. It is only two months ago that 
 I was with him at the French Conference at Nimes. I 
 playfully said to him, ' You are never ill, and you are 
 never tired.' ' No,' said he, ' I don't think I am very 
 much — I have very much to be thankful for ' — and he at 
 once set off on a fifteen hours' journey. We all saw him 
 at the Conference. His spirit was as bright, gentle, 
 gracious, and earnest as it always was. There had been 
 no period of rest or preparation, but few men have lived in 
 such a state of preparedness for the Master's call as Mr. 
 Gibson, and perhaps when the immediate shock and 
 distress shall in some measure have passed away, even 
 those nearest to him may see the gentleness and beauty of 
 God's dealing with him — a man who was allowed to live in 
 his work to the very last, putting into it his heart's devo- 
 tion and mind's intelligence, and then without any cares 
 or gathering up of tangled issues suddenly called away 
 to his reward. He has left a lovely memory, as we all 
 know. Many of us have had occasion to differ from Mr. 
 Gibson in matters of detail — but how small do such 
 differences appear when we look back upon the career that 
 has just closed. He lived a spotless life, and he has left 
 behind a blameless memory." 
 
 Dr. Jenkins said : I feel that this event is to myself a 
 profound personal loss. I knew Mr. Gibson in the 
 
76 
 
 intimacy of a spiritual fellowship for many years. We 
 wanted more of that kind of work which he was well 
 fitted to render to a society like this. But we wanted even 
 more, a longer career of an example which I will venture to 
 say connot be exceeded (if matched) for the singular com- 
 pleteness of its consecration. I always counted it an 
 honour to have fellowship with Mr. Gibson in the work of 
 God and in addressing the throne of grace together as we 
 have often done, and I do not remember in any friendship 
 that I have formed a higher sanctity of inner life expressed, 
 as many of us know, with beautiful consistency. He was 
 not a Frenchman, and yet he was ; and France never had 
 a more faithful and zealous friend than Mr. Gibson ; and 
 he has left a record in Paris and in France that time will 
 not soon efface. 
 
 Dr. Eigg said he had known Mr. Gibson for many years. 
 A purer or a saintlier man never lived. He thought he 
 never knew a man so absolutely consistent with his own 
 modest — (never vaunted or loudly expressed) — but living 
 example and character of consecration to God. 
 
 Eev. G. W. Olver, B.A., said that for during a period of 
 ten years he had to correspond with Mr. Gibson on all 
 sorts of questions relating to his own work and workers in 
 connection with the French Conference, and he never knew 
 him utter a single angry word. He could well understand 
 what was said to him (Mr. Olver) by one of the members 
 of the family on the day of the funeral : " Tell them that 
 he was Christ-like in his family. We never knew him 
 raise his voice in anger. We never saw him with a frown 
 upon his brow." 
 
 Eev. John Bond writes : I remember my dear friend in 
 his earliest ministry. We came out the same year, and 
 
77 
 were appointed to adjoining circuits in South Wales, he to 
 the extensive colliery and manufacturing circuit of Merthyr 
 Tydvil, and I to the small agricultural circuit of Brecon. 
 We first met about 16 miles from our respective homes. 
 He was then in the youth what he was known to be in 
 later life, good nature embodied. We were friends in an 
 instant. It was impossible that it should be otherwise, so 
 hearty was his greeting, and so transparent his character. 
 Overflowing with fun, crammed with curious tales of his 
 habitual and rough environment, inexhaustible in stories of 
 considerable European travel, with a large heart full of 
 sympathy for the good wherever found, and a cultivated 
 mind competent to judge justly of what he saw, he was 
 the most pleasant companion possible. In the exuberance 
 of our young manhood we roamed the fields and jumped 
 the ditches of the wild Wales of those times, like two boys 
 let loose, and time fled all too rapidly. We probably never 
 afterwards met, even for a few minutes, without joking 
 over our first intercourse, when he had a horse to drive 
 which he declared could not go, and which I declare he did 
 not know how to make go. But behind trfis genial fun no 
 one could fail to see the sanctified spirit, and the broad 
 outlook and sober purpose of a noble Christian minister. 
 His work then and there won for him esteem and admira- 
 tion. I never met him but he did me good. 
 
 Mr. E. R. Shaw, who was my husband's fellow 
 traveller in America in 1878, kindly writes as follows : — 
 
 This American tour was undertaken by Mr. Gibson in 
 the interval between the close of his superintendency of the 
 Brixton Hill Circuit and his entering on the duties of the 
 post to which he had recently been appointed by the Con- 
 ference, viz., that of General Superintendent of our 
 Methodist Evangelistic Work in France. 
 
78 
 
 France, indeed, as a Mission field had been Mr. Gibson's 
 early love, and he had already laboured successfully for 
 several years in that country. It can hardly be doubted 
 that one motive which strongly influenced him in making 
 this tour was the opportunity it would afford him of 
 awakening among the educated classes on the other side 
 of the Atlantic a deeper interest in the Mission to which, 
 as it has proved, he was destined to devote the remainder 
 of his life. A large majority of those who come to visit 
 Europe from Canada and the States make a more or less 
 extended stay in Paris ; and it is interesting to note that 
 of late years an ever increasing number of these have 
 found their way to our Wesleyan services in the Eue 
 Eoquepine. 
 
 Mr. Gibson was in every way an excellent companion 
 for such a tour as this. He had already travelled much ; 
 his spirits were buoyant ; his observation was keen and 
 rapid ; his interest in the novel and ever varying incidents 
 which each successive day presented was intense ; while as 
 a companion he *was cheerful, kindly, and genial in a rare 
 degree. 
 
 But it was easy to see that, underlying the strong 
 feeling of enjoyment, rising at times to enthusiasm, which 
 grand natural scenery never failed to awaken in him, there 
 was ever present to his mind a profound sense of the- 
 sacredness of his life-work, and especially of that work 
 in connexion with the spiritual needs of France. France 
 seemed to be ever in his mind ; France was often on his 
 lips ; and it needed but some chance word, or some subtle 
 association, to divert his thoughts from the most impressive 
 natural surroundings, and fix them on the great work 
 
79 
 
 which lay before him. " It is France," he said to me more 
 than once, referring to Queen Mary's exclamation when 
 she heard of the loss of Calais, " It is France which will 
 be found engraven on my heart." 
 
 Mention has already been made of the geniality and 
 general charm of Mr. Gibson's companionship. None 
 indeed who met him only occasionally and for brief inter- 
 course could fail to be struck with the exceeding winsome- 
 ness of his manner, and the unaffected kindness of heart 
 which literally shone from his countenance. But a period 
 of three months' close association can hardly fail to dis- 
 close traits which casual intercourse would scarcely reveal. 
 Each successive week which we spent together served but 
 to deepen the impression which I had already formed as to 
 the transparent simplicity, the guilelessness, the single- 
 mindedness of his character, and of that real saintliness of 
 life which is the result alone of entire consecration. Here 
 was the secret of so much that was lovely, so much that 
 was truly noble. 
 
 In conclusion, it may be confidently said, that, when 
 the history of Methodist pioneer missionary work in France 
 shall be written, one of the brightest names on its pages 
 will be that of the Kev. William Gibson. 
 
 «>4fe^» ■ ■ 
 
80 
 
 " I know that my Kedeemer liveth." (Job xix., 25.) 
 
 " God will redeem my soul from the power of the- 
 grave : for He shall receive me." (Psa. xlix., 15.) 
 
 " I will ransom them from the power of the grave ; I 
 will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy 
 plagues : O grave, I will be thy destruction." (Hosea xiii.,. 
 14.) 
 
 " When this corruption shall have put on incorruption 
 and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall 
 be brought to pass the saying that is written : Death i& 
 swallowed up in victory." (I. Cor. xv., 54. ) 
 
 The grave is the dark keyhole of our life 
 That holds within it locked the mystery 
 
 Wherewith our days are rife. 
 
 But we alack ! have lost the key ; 
 
 And now we can but peep and pry 
 
 At the beyond, or bow our ear 
 
 Some far-off harmony to hear, 
 
 Waiting till He who hath the keys come near. 
 
 Ellice Hopkins. 
 
 When from the dust of death I rise 
 To claim my mansion in the skies, 
 
 Even then this shall be all my plea 
 Jesus hath lived, hath died for me. 
 
81 
 
 XII. 
 
 This account of the last sad service is taken from the 
 Becorder of Sept. 6 : — 
 
 The mortal remains of " William Gibson, of Paris," 
 
 were laid to rest in what may almost be termed the 
 
 Methodist plot of the vast and beautiful south-east London 
 
 cemetery on Friday last. 
 
 * k * * # * 
 
 The service in the cemetery chapel was read with great 
 solemnity and feeling by Eev. F. W. Macdonald. 
 
 An address followed by Eev. G. W. Olver, B.A. He 
 said : We have not forgone the words of Christian comfort 
 with which we are accustomed to gather round the 
 Christian's grave. There was not one of them which we 
 could not take to ourselves. We do not come here merely 
 to bury our dead, nor do we come to praise a brother who 
 has passed out of sight. But I have been asked to say a 
 word or two regarding him. Yet I confess I have never 
 undertaken a duty which I have felt a greater strain upon 
 mind and heart. I have said that we have not come here 
 to praise, but I wish in a few words to recall the gift 
 which God bestowed, and which He has now treasured in 
 His safe treasury till our turn shall come, and we shall 
 join the company of those who rest. All who have learned 
 from the Scripture the true character of life, of its privi- 
 leges and its responsibilities, know that whatever talents 
 are possessed by men are the gifts of grace. Ability for * 
 service is not to the living an occasion for pride. To him 
 who receives it, and to those who watch its use it is matter 
 for thanksgiving, and especially to him who receives it is it 
 matter of responsibility. The Church has seldom had a 
 worker more unselfish, more devoted to the work laid upon 
 him, than William Gibson. From a youth he loved the 
 
82 
 
 Saviour. He found peace, I am told, at the age of eleven, 
 while singing the Doxology. My own first knowledge of 
 him goes back forty-five years. We met casually, but 
 from that time I have known him, and of late years his 
 service also. We first met when we were both visiting 
 London to pass an examination. For the last thirteen 
 years we have' worked in close intimacy. Those who knew 
 him in public knew much of his work ; those who knew 
 him privately knew much more. Quiet, gentle, beloved — 
 because so loveable — if he had a fault it was that his un- 
 selfishness and devotion to the welfare of those among 
 whom he lived led him to what might be thought an excess 
 of generosity. If that were a failing, at all events it 
 leaned to virtue's side. To his work he gave himself, his 
 wife, his children, and that united band has built up a 
 work which some present who have come from France 
 know full well. The place vacated by William Gibson 
 God only can fill. His service was not showy, but quiet 
 and persevering. Nothing satisfied him but the conversion 
 of souls. To that work he gave himself with a persistence 
 which was wonderful, and with a success which will be his 
 abundant joy when the Master shall come. After all, 
 whatever of sombreness or sadness there may be around us 
 to-day, that coffin shows that God has once more fulfilled 
 His latest promise. Day by day we look for the fulfilment 
 of many of his promises. His last was, " I will come 
 again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there 
 ye may be also." If there be sadness and sorrow in our 
 hearts to-day, yet we have confidence that our Father and 
 Friend will fulfil every promise as it is needful for us, till 
 He fulfils the latest and last, when He gathers us in his 
 arms and takes us to His peace. Perhaps He may fulfil 
 it to us as He did to him. On Sunday night he conducted 
 
83 
 family worship with simplicity and fervour, and a manifest 
 experience of the truth he spoke. He dwelt upon the 
 words " Our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, 
 shall work out for us a more exceeding and eternal weight 
 of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, 
 but at the things which are not seen ; for the things which 
 are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen 
 are eternal." Then he retired to rest. He had a troubled 
 night. At 5.30 came a sudden attack of the heart : in 
 another hour a sudden convulsion, and then all was peace. 
 May God write those words respecting " our light 
 afflictions " upon our hearts ! Only, if we want the com- 
 fort of them, we must look " at the things which are not 
 seen." Our brother is out of sight, but not out of reach. 
 We cannot talk with him, but we have fellowship with him 
 in Christ. He is among " the cloud of witnesses." It is 
 not for us to say whether he may not be among those 
 " ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who 
 shall be heirs of salvation." He and we walk with Christ : 
 and in Christ day by day we have true companionship. 
 He remembers the things of earth — he must do, if the 
 song is "to Him that loved us, and washed us from our 
 sins in His own blood." Let us see to it that with simple 
 trust we give ourselves to fulfil the Master's task till the 
 Master calls. One thing more. We can pray that God 
 will, in his own way, provide for the consolidation and 
 carrying on of the work to which he gave practically all his 
 ministerial life. With deep emotion, which for a time 
 quite checked his utterance, Mr. Olver added, As to those 
 on whom the shadow most deeply rests I cannot trust 
 myself to speak ; but we know that the Father will com- 
 pass them with the arms of His loving mercy, and hush 
 the weary spirits to His own perfect peace. 
 
84 
 
 A favourite hymn of Mr. Gibson's, repeated by him 
 during the Sunday night, was then sung heartily and with 
 evident feeling by the congregation, beginning — 
 " For ever here my rest shall be 
 Close to Thy bleeding side." 
 Mr. Olver then closed the service in the chapel with a 
 touching and appropriate prayer. 
 
 The closing services at the graveside were read by Eev. 
 G. W. Olver, who, just before the conclusion, mentioned 
 that Rev. George Whelpton wished to say a few words on 
 behalf of the bereaved churches in France. 
 
 Mr. Whelpton, who had difficulty in controlling his 
 emotions, said he had been asked to represent the French 
 churches and to express their deep affection for one who 
 had been more than a father to them, who were dearer to 
 him than any outside his own family. Some there could 
 understand the affection which existed between a mis- 
 sionary and his converts. On the previous Tuesday, when 
 the sad news came, the weeknight service at Rue Clairaut 
 was turned into a testimony meeting, and the hall re-echoed 
 with sobs. Yet they were full of praise to God for all he 
 had accomplished by His servant. He was to have 
 brought a palm branch bound with the tricolor, as an 
 emblem of the victory of their departed brother. This 
 had been subscribed for by all the members of the Paris 
 Circuit, but had not yet arrived in London. All the mem- 
 bers of the various halls had also sent addresses of con- 
 dolence. Mr. Gibson's people in France said of him that 
 his home was their home, and that he was the dearest, 
 and his smile to them the sweetest thing upon the earth. 
 The one characteristic in him above all others was his 
 exceptional holiness of character. All recognised his 
 
85 
 
 blamelessness of heart, his singleness of intention. He 
 never lost an opportunity of praying with his colleagues, 
 and bringing them to the footstool of Divine mercy. 
 During the last fourteen years Mr. Gibson had been to 
 him (Mr. Whelpton) as a father. One present there from 
 France had said to him that morning that Mr. Gibson's 
 life had been a living Gospel. His choice of hymns, 
 especially on the subject of entire sanctification, was very 
 beautiful. It was not only his own people who loved him. 
 Outsiders did the same — even unbelievers. A gentleman — 
 a stranger — saw him one morning carrying two travelling 
 bags to the St. Cloud Station, and insisted upon relieving 
 him of one. On hearing of Mr. Gibson's death, this man 
 said, " I am an ontsider, but I heard him say some words 
 which I shall never forget." The faith which inspired such 
 a life must be not only sincere, but faith in a reality. To 
 him (Mr. Whelpfcon) the message from that open grave was 
 to seek holiness of heart. Above all things, William 
 Gibson lived with God. They praised the Heavenly Father 
 for His gift, and in saying au revoir to their departed 
 brother looked forward to their next and happier meeting. 
 
 The Doxology was then sung, the Benediction pro- 
 nounced, and the gathering slowly dispersed. 
 
 * * * * * * 
 
 We terminate this fragmentary sketch with the following 
 beautiful extract from the leader in the Recorder of Sept. 
 6, 1894 :— 
 
 " New and pathetic reasons for united intercession come 
 to us constantly. William Gibson, with ' France ' written 
 on his heart, has died praying. We rise from the writing 
 of these lines to go to his burying, and as we go there 
 comes to us the sorrowful persuasion that only a compara- 
 
86 
 
 tive few in the Methodist Church had any conception of 
 the deep and passionate yearning which possessed him 
 with reference to the evangelisation of France. With a 
 haunting fear that some well-meaning but terribly ignorant 
 persons in Methodism are resolving to agitate for with- 
 drawal from the whole Continent of Europe he has passed 
 into that world where they see all things in unclouded 
 light. Let any intelligent Methodist, who has time and 
 means at his disposal, make a journey to France and 
 inquire into the possibilities and necessities of the work 
 for which William Gibson was begging and praying when 
 he died. He will come again asking, Who can fill this 
 empty place ? And why, during his lifetime, did we not all 
 more earnestly support these outivorks of Protestantism in 
 France ?" 
 
 Oh may God raise up many to more than fill the 
 " empty place " ! William Gibson's prayer will not be fully 
 answered till Christ has seen of the travail of his soul in 
 *France and is Satisfied. 
 
 HELEN W. GIBSON. 
 St. Cloud, 
 France. 
 
 END. 
 
PARIS DURING 
 
 THE COMMUNE, 1871 
 
 BEING 
 
 LETTERS FEOM PARIS AND ITS 
 NEIGHBOURHOOD. 
 
 WRITTEN CHIEFLY DURING THE TIME OF 
 
 THE SECOND SIEGE, 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM GIBSON, B.A. 
 
 (Republished after his death for the henefit of the 
 French Methodist Mission.) 
 
TO MY WIFE, 
 
 MY CONSTANT COMPANION DURING THESE DAYS 
 OF TROUBLE, THIS BOOK 
 
 IS DEDICATED. 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 I have been frequently asked to give an account 
 of what I saw in and near Paris during the time 
 of the Commune. My easiest answer is to 
 reprint my letters written in March, April, May, 
 and June, which have already appeared in some 
 of the public papers. 
 
 4, Bue Boquejnne, Paris, 
 Nov. 11th, 1871. 
 
axx& after tfye gnege 
 
 4, Kue Koquepine, Paris, 
 
 March 6, 1871. 
 
 As soon as I have a moment at leisure I fulfil 
 my promise to give you an account of my 
 journey to Paris. On reaching Boulogne I was 
 not even asked to show my passport, I suppose 
 because I was so unmistakably English. Not 
 finding a train to go on at once to Paris, I stayed 
 at the Hotel Christol, and left Boulogne the 
 next morning at nine o'clock. The train was 
 quite full, for the most part of people returning 
 to their homes in Paris. As soon as we had 
 fairly started, I looked about me to see who 
 were my companions, and found a Frenchman 
 and his wife returning to their home at 
 Colombes, near Paris, a comical old French 
 lady, a German who had lived in England many 
 years, and spoke English perfectly, a shrewd 
 Scotchman, an Austrian from Vienna, and a 
 Prussian (pur san*) who could speak French 
 pretty well, and English badly. The French- 
 man and his wife had lived at their house at 
 Colombes all through the siege; he had been 
 in the National Guard, had been in the midst 
 
94 PARIS AFTER 
 
 of the fighting at Avron, and had taken part in 
 the sortie of the 19th January, but had been in 
 no special danger, his post being at Bezons, some 
 little distance from the actual fighting. Hi? 
 bodily appearance did not indicate that he had 
 suffered much, for he was fat and flourishing, 
 but his wife looked as if she had known what it 
 was to be put upon short rations. This quondam 
 National Guard asserted that the world was 
 making a retrogade movement, that the reign 
 of brute force was returning, and that, in the 
 point of view of civilization, the results of the 
 war were most disastrous. All the nations of 
 Europe would increase their armaments, and 
 the time would be long deferred when Europe 
 would become a community of nations in which 
 international quarrels would be settled by arbi- 
 tration and not by the sword. The queer old 
 French dame declared that if the Hohenzollern 
 pretext had not come up, Bismarck would have 
 found some other excuse for going to war. All 
 agreed in thinking the terms too hard, and that 
 it was only a long armistice, not a peace. The 
 German with an English look and an English 
 tongue expressed a very strong opinion against 
 the hardness of the terms, and so did the 
 Scotchman. The Austrian said that the ex- 
 Emperor, knowing the hatred against Prussia 
 which existed in the South German side, hoped 
 to have enlisted them on his side ; but the 
 South German States knew that if they sided 
 with France their territory would have been the 
 seat of war, and their land would have been laid 
 waste and their towns destroyed, and they were 
 
THE SIEGE. 95 
 
 not anxious for that ; and besides, they remem- 
 bered the days of Napoleon I., and therefore 
 had decided to right with Prussia against 
 France. The Prussian (pur sang) maintained a 
 judicious silence on all political questions, and 
 only talked when general topics were discussed. 
 He was on his way back to Paris, where he had 
 been for some years in business. He knew his 
 path would not be made easier in Paris by 
 declaring himself a German, so intended to 
 keep silence and not uselessly declare his 
 nationality. There was nothing different from 
 ordinary times in the railway journey as far as 
 Noyelles, where we first caught sight of the 
 spiked helmets, and w T ere made to feel that the 
 line from this point was in the possession of the 
 Germans. At Abbeville there were numbers of 
 German soldiers. Indeed, there are three 
 thousand quartered in the town. The black and 
 white (Prussian) flag was suspended in the 
 middle of the station, and all betokened a 
 thorough German occupation. The querulous 
 old lady interjected, " Gela me fait mal" 
 declared that the Germans were savages, true 
 Visigoths, and like all those people of the 
 North. She made, however, the amende honor- 
 able soon afterwards, for she added that she 
 understood they had behaved very well at Abbe- 
 ville. At Amiens the buffet was not open, and 
 it was a poor look-out for those who had not 
 been thoughtful enough to bring provisions with 
 them. A few eatables were sold at the buvette, 
 but they were terribly dear. Our thrifty Scotch- 
 man had to pay 2f. 50c. for a skinny leg of fowl, 
 
96 PARIS AFTER 
 
 a piece of .bread, and half-a-bottle of vin 
 ordinaire. The station was filled with Prussian 
 soldiers ; and the platform was made the scene 
 of much excitement by the fact of some 
 travellers being turned out of the train to make 
 room for some German soldiers. Our ladies 
 expressed themselves more strongly about this 
 than all the other miseries and humiliations of 
 the war. At last we were at Creil, and found 
 the station hung with garlands and Prussian 
 flags, and almost covered with evergreens to 
 celebrate the victory of the Germans ! Leaving 
 Creil (one of the places on the Paris Circuit 
 plan), we found we were going not by Chantilly, 
 but on the Pontoise line, and soon saw the 
 reason in the broken railway bridge over the 
 Oise. Nearing Pontoise, we saw many proofs 
 of the devastations caused by war in gutted or 
 pillaged houses. At Pontoise we were informed 
 by a railway official that we must all get out of 
 the carriages, that we. should have to walk along 
 the temporary bridge over the Oise, and should 
 find a train awaiting us at the other side of the 
 river. So we quickly descended, took our port- 
 manteau or carpet bag in hand, and walked on 
 the planks over the river, the water rolling close 
 under our feet. 'Twas a sight to be remembered, 
 that procession across the Oise. On the other 
 side I got into a carriage with two Prussian 
 officers, fine-looking men, who sat mute for 
 some time, but at last drew out their beautifully- 
 executed maps of the environs of Paris, and 
 asked in broken French where Ermont, the 
 station at which we were now stopping, was to 
 
THE SIEGE, 97 
 
 be found on their maps. We were soon at St. 
 Denis, where the Prussian officers quitted the 
 train. The St. Denis station was literally 
 crowded with Prussian soldiers. Passing the 
 town, we had a good opportunity of witnessing 
 the havoc made by the bombardment : houses 
 roofless, or the roofs broken in several places ; a 
 great factory gutted, the new Catholic church 
 much injured, and a scaffolding at the side of 
 the tower of the cathedral for repairs to the fine 
 old pile, where all the old kings of Prance used 
 to lie, each in his own house. Passing the 
 desolate zone and the fortifications, we were 
 soon at the Gare du Nord. But instead of 
 finding the asphalted area full of cabs, as before 
 the siege, there were only three or four cabs 
 and three omnibuses, and they were all engaged. 
 Outside the station, however, I was fortunate 
 enough to find a voiture de remise, which soon 
 conveyed me to Eue Eoquepine. 
 
 I am thankful to say none of our chapels have 
 been in the least injured during the siege. Even 
 Asnieres, which has been under the fire of Mont 
 Yalerien, and half-way between the German 
 battery at Argenteuil and the North of Paris, 
 has not been damaged externally. Yesterday, 
 being so few, we met in the minister's house. 
 Pive were present, two of them strangers from 
 London. The three who have been in Paris 
 throughout the siege, were full of expressions 
 of thankfulness to God for his care over them. 
 They were all well, and had been so throughout 
 the whole time, though at times w T eak through 
 want of sufficient nourishment. One cause of 
 
98 PARIS AFTER 
 
 thankfulness was that they had the provisions- 
 which I had laid in for the siege, without which 
 they would have been reduced to great straits. 
 
 I have this day taken a general view of some 
 of the principal parts of Paris, and find them 
 less changed than I anticipated. The trees 
 both in the Boulevards and the Champs Elysees 
 are much as they were. Very few have been 
 cut down. The gardens of the Tuileries are 
 artillery barracks ; the statue representing 
 Strasburg is covered with flags and garlands, as 
 it was before the siege, but they are dirty and 
 faded. It is also covered with faded immortelles. 
 Each statue in the Place de la Concorde had a 
 black covering over the face, that they might 
 not appear to look on the Prussians when they 
 were in the city last week. In the Hue de 
 Rivoli, the Eue Royale, and Boulevards, the one 
 great change is the want of carriages, cabs, &c, 
 in the streets. In the Rue St. Honore at one 
 o'clock I could not see, looking down from the 
 corner of the Rue Royale, a single wheeled 
 vehicle. The Mobiles are beginning to leave 
 Paris. I w^as aroused at five o'clock this 
 morning by the rappel. What was it ? Not, I 
 am thankful to say, the usual call to revolu- 
 tion, but simply a call to the Mobiles to get 
 ready to start, an announcement which would 
 give great joy to the inhabitants of this quarter 
 on whom they have been billeted. 
 
THE SIEGE. 99 
 
 4, Eue Boquepine, Paris, 
 
 March 7, 1871. 
 
 I cannot find words to express the gratitude 
 of our people here for the provisions sent from 
 the Mission-house, as soon as the way to Paris 
 was open, which arrived most opportunely. The 
 services in this chapel have never been inter- 
 rupted, and on two or three special occasions 
 the chapel was crowded. I have this day been 
 to Asnieres. The chapel itself has not been 
 injured in the least. The depredations com- 
 mitted in the interior — the forcing open of 
 doors, the injury done to the harmonium, the 
 wrenching off the box for contributions at the 
 door, and other acts of wanton mischief, are 
 what might have been anticipated. As I left 
 the train numbers of German soldiers were 
 mounting to go on to Versailles, generally 
 choosing the upper portion of the carriages, to 
 get, I suppose, a better view. To go to Asnieres 
 you must now take the Versailles train, not, as 
 formerly, the St. Germain line. No trains as 
 yet are advertised to go to St. Germain, and 
 only five trains in the day to Versailles, instead 
 of, as before, every hour. The trains consist 
 almost ' exclusively of second class carriages, 
 the first class having doubtless been appro- 
 priated to the use of " ces Messieurs ," the term 
 by which some Frenchmen, whether in anger or 
 otherwise it is hard to tell, invariably speak of 
 the Prussians. I walked through the village of 
 Asnieres, making my way along the Kue St. 
 Denis, and returning by the Quai de Seine on 
 
100 PAKIS AFTER 
 
 the banks of the river. But few of the inhabi- 
 tants of Asnieres have returned to their houses. 
 There are many signs of both French and Ger- 
 man occupation — broken windows, palings and 
 hedges partly destroyed, dilapidated gardens. 
 German names were here and there chalked on 
 the walls of the houses. I entered one house 
 which had been the peaceful and happy abode of 
 our Asnieres chapel steward before the siege, 
 and found it the home of filth, the precious 
 legacy of the Mobiles. The Germans have 
 nearly all quitted Asnieres to-day. One good 
 man with a " Eed " cap, after diligently sweep- 
 ing out his house, was making a bonfire in the 
 street of the debris left by '" ces Messieurs." On 
 nearing the bridge, or rather what was the 
 Asnieres bridge, I saw the broken piers pro- 
 jecting from the water, the rest, except the 
 remnants of some of the arches, being all 
 destroyed. Pity that the French should them- 
 selves have committed so much useless injury 
 to their own property ! In Paris the word 
 "Ambulance" still meets you in every direction. 
 Private houses by scores and several hotels still 
 display the flag with the red cross. Part of the 
 Western Eailway Station is also still so em- 
 ployed. I find more dogs than I expected, and 
 fancy that dog's-flesh eating, like the Irishman's 
 fast horse, existed more in imagination that 
 reality. True, the poor brutes, like too many 
 poor human creatures, look dreadfully thin, but 
 their number seems to me not much diminished 
 by the siege. Although there is now gas in the 
 streets, it is as yet but a flicker compared with 
 
THE SIEGE. 101 
 
 the brilliant lighting of Paris as it used to be. 
 Coals are still scarce and dear. Our coal 
 merchant, as a special favour, got us some two 
 days ago, and was obliged to charge eighty 
 francs per ton. Provisions are now plentiful 
 and cheap, but people have no money to buy, 
 all industry having been so long at a stand-still. 
 The labouring men are weak, and unequal to 
 hard bodily toil. The coalmen, who used to 
 think nothing of shouldering a sack of coals, 
 now shrink from carrying a load to the third or 
 fourth story. Caricatures of the ex-Emperor 
 meet you in nearly every shop window, and 
 caricatures of the Emperor of Germany, and 
 Bismarck also abound. The general talk is 
 — all these disasters are owing to the Emperor 
 Napoleon. Some of the National Guard, without 
 venturing to fix any blame on him, say that 
 twenty years was quite long enough to reign, 
 and now they wanted something else ! This 
 Paris is a wonderfully buoyant place. Every- 
 thing is returning to its normal condition. This 
 " return of peace " is like the return of spring 
 after a hard winter. 
 
 March 8, Evening. 
 
 I have had a most interesting day. Went to 
 the Chemin de Eer de l'Ouest to go by an early 
 train to Versailles. When I asked for a ticket 
 for Versailles I was asked if I had a special 
 " laissez passer ;" and, as I had not, could be 
 booked no further than Viroflay. My compart- 
 ment was quite full, and in a short time I heard 
 
102 PAEIS AFTER 
 
 no little vituperation vented against the Prus- 
 sians. One woman next to me came from a 
 village three miles beyond Versailles. They 
 had Prussians quartered upon them at the 
 beginning of the siege, and they had been there 
 ever since, never having been engaged in fight- 
 ing, but in "eating, drinking, and drilling." As 
 we passed along we saw many houses almost 
 entirely destroyed. At Viroflay I set off to walk 
 to Versailles. At last I came to the great gates 
 at the entrance of the town. A great number of 
 people were assembled outside the gate, but no 
 one was allowed to enter without a " laissez 
 passer." Some German soldiers formed the 
 guard to see that no one entered to whom per- 
 mission had not been given, and a little man in 
 Prussian uniform who could speak French was 
 examining the papers. As the crowd were 
 beginning to push him, the little official screamed 
 out for two of the Landwehr. My passport, 
 which had fortunately been vise by the Prussian 
 Consul in London, got me easily through, and I 
 began at my leisure to walk along the Grand 
 Avenue leading towards the Palace. Now a few 
 spiked helmets passed, now a German officer on 
 horseback, and now, as I neared the centre of 
 the town, twenty or thirty iron boats for making 
 pontoon bridges, placed keel upwards, each 
 drawn by six horses, crossed the road, probably 
 beginning their journey back to Germany. I 
 had now before me the front of the Palace, and 
 there was floating over the centre of the Palace 
 of the Grand Monarque the Prussian flag ! 
 Under the shade of this emblem of foreign 
 
THE SIEGE. 103 
 
 dominion were the statues of the celebrated 
 French generals, and the equestrian statue of 
 Louis XIV. In the restaurant of the Hotel de 
 France, I met several Prussian officers, some 
 of them evidently of high rank. In the open 
 space in front of the palace were arranged great 
 numbers £>f field guns. On the walls of the 
 houses were announcements printed in French 
 and German. I passed into the gardens. Groups 
 of Prussians were scattered here and there 
 admiring the beauty of the place. From Ver- 
 sailles I took train to St. Cloud. The houses at 
 St. Cloud are nearly all destroyed. Some 
 beautiful villas which I have often observed with 
 admiration, but the interior of which I never 
 hoped to see, are completely gutted. I made 
 my way to Montretout to see the German 
 redoubt, and to witness the scene of the 
 struggle during the sortie of January 19. 
 Ascending the hill I came to places where the 
 road had been barricaded with earthworks, sur- 
 mounted by strong boughs of trees — German 
 outposts these to prevent the advance of the 
 French to the redoubt. At last I was in the 
 centre of the redoubt. Wonderfully strong 
 earthworks, deep trenches, and rough stone- 
 work covered with iron bars, surmounted by 
 thick layers of earth to protect the artillerymen, 
 are the chief features of the place. From 
 Montretout you gain a good view of Valerien. 
 Descending I had a good opportunity of seeing 
 German soldiers at drill. It was wonderful to 
 see the simultaneous agility with which they 
 instantaneously obeyed the word of command. 
 
104 PARIS AFTER 
 
 Eeturning to St. Cloud, I passed through the 
 Eue d'Orleans, a terrible scene of devastation, 
 and at last made my way to the Palace. It is 
 a complete wreck, most piteous to behold — only 
 the bare wall standing. I walked through those 
 once magnificent apartments, now an utter ruin. 
 .Frenchmen were everywhere loud in execrating 
 the Prussians, though Valerien is accountable 
 for nearly all the damage done at St. Cloud. As 
 I returned to Paris I had three Prussian officers 
 in the compartment with me, and I got into 
 conversation with them. I told one of them 
 I thought they had demanded too much indem- 
 nity. His reply was, " The expenses of war." 
 
 We had a delightful service at-, the Eue 
 Eoquepine this evening. There were not many 
 present, not more than seven, and we had the 
 class meeting afterwards. From the funds 
 placed at my disposal to help the sufferers in 
 Paris, I was able to relieve one poor woman who 
 is in the greatest poverty and distress as the 
 result of the siege, and whose stepson died 
 yesterday in the hospital. She will thus be 
 enabled to give him a decent burial. Many 
 blessings are invoked on English people for 
 their generous charity in this crisis of need. 
 There is still much misery, and I venture to 
 make an appeal to British Christians for addi- 
 tional help for the relief of their brethren in 
 Paris and throughout France. 
 
 I hear on every hand of sufferings endured 
 through the siege, and invariably as among the 
 very severest sufferings I hear enumerated the 
 iaving to form queue at four o'clock in the 
 
THE SIEGE. 105 
 
 winter mornings and wait at the doors of the 
 butchers' shops till ten or eleven o'clock for the 
 small ration of meat. Some of the shops are 
 beginning to get gas, and I suppose soon we 
 shall have it again in the private houses. 
 
 Thursday, March 9. 
 
 This morning I had a visit from a contractor 
 (entrepreneur de maconnerie), an honest, respect- 
 able Frenchman, who has a real home in Paris, 
 with twelve children about him, and his opinion 
 was that the misfortunes to France were to be 
 traced to these four causes — 1. Want of religious 
 faith. 2. Want of respect for authority. 3. 
 Want of a "spirit to tvork. 4. Want of modesty, 
 shown in a spirit of boastfulness and vainglory. 
 For himself he felt that France had been un- 
 fortunate, but he did not feel humiliated. They 
 had been pursuing their peaceable occupations, 
 and had been all at once, without any wish on 
 their part, plunged into war. What they wanted 
 now was to set to work, and to be content to 
 work, and things would right themselves. 
 
 I have spent a portion of to-day in pastoral 
 visitation. The two or three members of my 
 flock now in Paris live at great distances from 
 each other, and each one had much to say. All 
 were thankful for their portion of the provisions, 
 which, being distributed on Jan. 31, were worth 
 at that time more than gold. All had attended 
 our French Methodist services at the Eue 
 Eoquepine. Their faith had never failed, even 
 at the darkest times of the siege, and the way 
 
106 PARIS AFTER 
 
 in which their wants had been supplied had 
 sometimes seemed to them almost miraculous. 
 When the cannon first sounded they were 
 inclined to tremble, but gradually they became 
 accustomed to it, until at last they were uneasy 
 if they did not hear it, for the great noise, and 
 the shaking of windows, &c, was from the forts, 
 and when it ceased they feared something 
 dreadful was going to happen. In my walks I 
 passed the Pare Monceaux. The gates were 
 kept by the National Guards, and inside the 
 principal entrance were rows of French cannon. 
 Beyond the second railing were French soldiers 
 with their tents, &c. It afforded me great 
 pleasure to find that none of the noble trees of 
 the Park had been cut down. Some of the 
 smaller ones may have disappeared, but they can 
 be easily replaced. I made my way also to the 
 Jardin des Plantes, and expected to find it com- 
 paratively a desert. What was my surprise, 
 then, to find all the animals in their places just 
 as before the siege. There was the huge ele- 
 phant pushing out his great trunk beyond the 
 bars of his enclosure, the lubberly hippopotamus 
 lying flat on the ground, the scaly rhinoceros 
 opening wide his mouth as usual, to receive con- 
 tributions of bread or other eatables ; the lions, 
 panthers, tigers, &c, all pacing their dens, and 
 looking as sleek as if nothing extraordinary had 
 been transpiring. I suppose I must now believe 
 that all the animals one read of as being killed 
 and eaten were from the " Jardin d'Acclimata- 
 tion," and not from the Jardin des Plantes. In 
 the principal streets to-day were vast assemblages 
 
THE SIEGE. 107 
 
 of the Moblots, who are just about to leave Paris 
 to return to their homes. Several of the streets 
 in Paris are losing their old names — for example, 
 Rue cle Berlin is to be Rue Richard Wallace, to 
 perpetuate the memory of the munificent charity 
 of our countryman ; and the Rue cl'Allemagne is 
 to be Rue de la Revanche ! Everybody says the 
 peace is but a truce. " Ge n'est quhme trcve^ 
 you hear on every hand. Nearly all the ladies 
 are dressed in half mourning. How can the 
 daughters of France be merry when their 
 country is in sorrow ? The general opinion of 
 Parisians is that the German entry into Paris 
 was a foolish thing, and that it only deepened the 
 resentment of France. If the reason is given 
 that it was important to let Paris know she was 
 beaten, the reply is that the sober people knew 
 too well that France was under the foot of 
 the conqueror, and that nothing will convince 
 the mob of Belleville. Some are of opinion 
 that Prussia will have reason to regret the 1st of 
 March, 1871. Various placards are to be seen 
 on the walls. One at the Mairie, Batignolles, 
 exhorted to contribute towards a general sub- 
 scription so as to raise the amount of the indem- 
 nity at once, and thus get rid of the invader. 
 Another, headed " Ligue Anti-Prussienn^^ 
 strongly advised all employers of labour to 
 refuse any application made by a German be- 
 longing to the States that have made war with 
 France, and in case any Prussian should re-open 
 his house of business, that no Frenchman 
 should ever cross its threshold. In their present 
 temper Parisians cannot be made to understand 
 that this is a suicidal policy. 
 
108 PABIS APTER 
 
 Paris is now assuming its former brilliant 
 appearance at night. In side streets the dim 
 petroleum lamps may still be seen, but in all the 
 principal thoroughfares the gas supply is the 
 same as it was before the beginning of the siege. 
 
 CIVIL WAE IN PAEIS. 
 
 4, Eue Eoquepine, March 10, 1871. 
 
 I managed to secure a voiture this morning, 
 and drove to Belleville. All was quiet. I then 
 made my way to Montmartre, to the very top of 
 the hill. Some of the " Eeds " of the National 
 Guard have taken possession of this elevated 
 ground, and have cannons and other munitions 
 of war. I could not gain admission. The 
 National Guard at the entrance had orders to 
 let no one pass. He said, however, that he 
 would call the corporal, which he did, but the 
 corporal could not let me pass without an order 
 from a superior officer. Through the doorway, 
 however, I saw piles of shells ready to be 
 launched upon Paris, if the occasion should 
 arise. The ostensible reason of the fortifying of 
 this height was to oppose the entry of the Prus- 
 sians, but now, notwithstanding the central Ee- 
 publican authority, these " Eeds " hold Mont- 
 martre. Most people say that rather than make 
 them conspicuous by opposing them the Govern- 
 ment mean to let this thing die out by its own 
 
THE SIEGE. 109 
 
 intrinsic weakness and folly. My cabman was 
 a true Parisian. " We were sold, we were not 
 beaten !" " On Sunday week there was great 
 agitation all along the district from Belleville to 
 Montmartre. The Prussians heard of it, and 
 dare not come in, as they intended, on Monday !" 
 At the extremity of one of the streets at Mont- 
 martre I saw the remnants of a barricade, the 
 large paving stones all torn up, and all made 
 ready to form in a short time an impassable 
 barrier. In the exterior Boulevards all the way 
 from Belleville to Batignolles were long lines of 
 sheds for the lodging of those Mobiles who were 
 not billeted on the houses. But they are all 
 preparing to quit Paris shortly, and these sheds 
 will soon be taken down. By the circular rail- 
 way I have also to-day been all round Paris, 
 starting at the Avenue de Clichy and going 
 round by Charonne, Kapee Bercy, and Point du 
 Jour to the Gare St. Lazare. The line for the 
 greater part of the distance (twenty miles) 
 follows the fortifications. I had a good view of 
 the works constructed during the siege. Wherever 
 there was a wall near the fortifications it was 
 pierced with loopholes through which to fire 
 upon the enemy. As we neared Point du Jour 
 I saw some of the effects of the bombardment. 
 The roof of one large building had been smashed 
 in two or three places. I scarcely recognised 
 Auteuil, with nearly all the trees of the Bois cut 
 down. Placards are. posted at the Mairies, ex- 
 horting the people of Paris to betake themselves 
 to their ordinary work. 
 
110 PARIS AFTER 
 
 March 11. 
 
 A day at St. Denis. I was anxious to see what 
 had become of our preaching-place at St. Denis, 
 so I made my way thither by the 11.25 train. 
 There are only five trains in a day now to St. 
 Denis, instead of one every hour, as before the 
 siege. As I came out of the station I found 
 that a regiment of Prussian soldiers was inarch- 
 ing through the town. I walked alongside as 
 far as the Cathedral, and from the steps had a^ 
 good view of the soldiers as they marched along. 
 First came the artillery, then the infantry, next 
 the ambulance waggons and men with the red 
 cross on the right arm ; then the cavalry, then 
 another company of men with the red cross and 
 ambulance waggons. Just what one has read is 
 their order of battle is their order of march. It 
 was very exciting to see the whole street as far 
 as the eye could reach bristling with bayonets, 
 to hear the German martial music and the 
 soldiers singing " Die Wacht am Khein." As 
 soon as the regiment had passed I took at my 
 leisure a careful survey of the exterior of the 
 Cathedral, to see what damage had been done. 
 Part of the beautiful parapet on the north side 
 has disappeared, several bits of the exquisite 
 stonework of the fine old building and a portion 
 of the roof of one of the towers have been 
 destroyed. I tried to gain access to the interior 
 of the Cathedral, but the German sentries would 
 not let me pass. So I went to the German 
 head-quarters in the Eue de la Boulangerie and 
 got a pass to enter. Very little damage has 
 been done to the interior, possibly because the 
 
THE SIEGE. Ill 
 
 walls were covered with sandbags. One bomb 
 •entered and carried away a corner of one of the 
 monuments. Otherwise no damage has been 
 done. I wandered about as I listed, without 
 gar (lien, in this wonderful edifice, and saw more 
 of the tombs of the kings than I had ever seen 
 before. From the Cathedral I hastened to see 
 •our little place of worship in the factory now 
 belonging to Thompson Freres, but formerly 
 leased by Mr. Isaac Holden. As I neared the 
 place I found everywhere marks of terrible 
 destruction. Scarcely a single house which had 
 not received one or two bombs. Some were 
 •completely riddled. At last I came near the 
 Double Couronne and turned to the right along 
 the route de Gonesse and was soon in our old 
 preaching place. What was my sorrow to find 
 that the walls were shattered, the roof riddled, 
 and the floor partly ploughed up. Three shells 
 had burst in the room where for five or six years 
 we have held services since the present occu- 
 pants have been in possession, and where for 
 eleven years, while Mr. Holden was tenant, 
 Methodist services were regularly held. An old 
 attendant at the services made his appearance 
 and took me over the factory. The walls were 
 pierced in all directions, rafters carried away 
 and beams broken. In one of the apartments 
 adjoining the factory, formerly occupied by Mr. 
 Holden' s family, a woman was killed on the 
 spot, while in the act of dressing, by the very 
 first shell that was sent into St. Denis. In one 
 part of the factory I saw a pile of shells two 
 feet high, all of which had been found within 
 
112 PABIS AFTER 
 
 the building. From the upper windows of 
 the factory I distinctly saw Le Bourget, where 
 so many skirmishes occurred. I went next to 
 to the Protestant establishment in the Avenue 
 Benoit, consisting of chapel, day-schools, and 
 pastor's house. The school escaped injury ; but 
 M. Saglier, the pastor, told me that one shell 
 had fallen in his house and three in the chapel, 
 completely destroying the left-hand gallery. In 
 returning to the station I looked into the new 
 Catholic Church, and counted thirteen holes in 
 the roof. It is said that it was struck by no 
 fewer than fifty bombs. Prussian soldiers were to 
 be seen all over the town of St. Denis, making 
 the people feel that thej were conquered, and 
 }^et generally conducting themselves well. 
 
 4, Rue Eoquepine, Paris, 
 
 March 17, 1871. 
 
 A few days ago I visited the battle-field of 
 Champigny. We formed a party of five, and 
 started early in the morning, so as to have the 
 day before us. One of our number was Mr. 
 Scheffter, the young French minister who 
 remained in Paris throughout the siege, had 
 witnessed from a distance the battle of Cham- 
 pigny, and after the battle had helped to carry 
 away the Prussian and French wounded. We 
 made our way along the line of the Boulevards 
 to the Bastille. The red flag was floating from 
 the top of the column of July, and the lower 
 
THE SIEGE. 113 
 
 portion of the column was decorated with tri- 
 colour flags and immortelles. Having some 
 time to wait for a train on the Yincennes Kail- 
 way, we strolled into the Faubourg St. Antoine, 
 partly to show the strangers in our party the 
 scene of former revolutions, and partly to see if 
 all was now quiet in the chosen home of the 
 onrriers. All is peaceful enough now, but who 
 will say what may soon transpire ? With the 
 emblem of " Eed " Republicanism floating over 
 our heads in antagonism to the powers that be, 
 we may well be said to be living on the side of a 
 volcano. 
 
 Ity the rail we soon reached Joinville. On our 
 way from the station to the bridge over the 
 Marne we passed some German soldiers packing 
 their knapsacks and getting all in readiness for 
 their march homewards. They were from the 
 duchy of Baden, and had been stationed at a 
 post three miles further from Paris, the Wurtem- 
 bergers having occupied Joinville. They were 
 " heartily tired of the war, and were anxious to 
 get home." We had now arrived at the tem- 
 porary bridge, the entrance of which was guarded 
 by a little Bavarian, who contrasted both in 
 stature and bearing with the fine and portly 
 Prussians whom we had seen north of Paris. 
 Walking on the main road from Joinville to 
 Champigny, towards the crest of the hill where 
 the battle had raged most fiercely, we saw the first 
 sign of a recent fight, shortly after leaving the 
 Marne, in the skeleton of a horse left to bleach 
 in the sun. Mr. Scheffter told us he had seen 
 several horses completely demolished in an 
 
114 PARIS AFTER 
 
 incredibly short space of time. The soldiers 
 surrounded the fallen horses, and, after flaying 
 them, each cut a piece from the carcass to 
 supply his own need, and so in a few minutes 
 the bones were left clean. Some carcasses were 
 taken back to Paris to increase the supply of 
 horse-flesh in the city. 
 
 As we passed on evidences of a severe struggle 
 were plentiful enough. Not a house that had 
 not been almost demolished, not a wall unpierced 
 with holes for musketry fire. We could generally 
 distinguish the houses and gardens which had 
 been held by the French from those held by 
 the Germans, the hole made by the French 
 being generally round, that by the Germans a 
 mere slit in the wall broadening outwards. We 
 now reached the village of Champigny, a mere 
 mass of ruins. One poor woman just returning 
 to her house was gazing with mingled grief and 
 despair on the wreck of her former dwelling, and 
 told us that she and her husband had put their 
 all into the building of this house, and now they 
 were left homeless and without resources. A 
 strong barricade, now broken through the middle, 
 had been thrown across the street of Champigny. 
 On each side of this barricade were carts piled 
 .with beds, bedding, chairs, tables, &c, the house- 
 hold effects of families returning to their homes. 
 Turning from this street to the left, we were 
 soon, under the guidance of Mr. Sheffter, upon 
 the actual battle-field. " Along this path I and 
 another carried a wounded Prussian officer. He 
 was so heavy that we almost fainted under the 
 load. As we bore him along on the litter he 
 
THE SIEGE. 115 
 
 said, ' Cela ne vaut pas la 'peine.' (It is not 
 worth the trouble.) Having placed him in the 
 ambulance, we returned to the field. It was 
 now dark, but, stumbling over the stiffened 
 corpses, we could hear, in a tone weak and 
 tremulous, ' blesse ' (wounded). We succeeded 
 in picking up thirty or forty French soldiers who 
 had been wounded at break of day, and had been 
 lying on the cold damp ground all day without 
 anyone coming near to bind up their wounds." 
 [It will be remembered that this battle of 
 Champigny was on the occasion of the famous 
 sortie made by Ducrot on the 30th November to 
 2nd December, when he led out his troops to the 
 war-cry, " Dead or victorious."] Advancing 
 along the rising ground, we came to a house 
 completely riddled with shot and shell. The 
 proprietor, who was hard at work putting it into 
 r6pair, had been in the engagement, and gave us 
 some particulars as to the principal points of the 
 combat. We were soon at one of the Prussian 
 batteries, left just as it was when the Prussians 
 were here, minus the great guns which had 
 dealt such havoc on the environs of the great 
 city which, grand and beautiful, loomed in the 
 distance in front of us. There was Fort Nogent> 
 yonder Eosny, still further to the right the 
 plateau of Avron. When we could withdraw 
 our gaze from these distant objects, we saw that 
 the ground at our feet was strewn with kepis, 
 some of them shot through, showing how fierce 
 had been the fight on this very spot. We now 
 pursued our way over wild fields, dotted here 
 and there with clumps of trees, the ground still 
 
116 PARIS AFTER 
 
 rising. The whole Held was completely covered 
 with the remnants of cartridges, bullets were 
 plentifully strewn on the ground, and here and 
 there were holes in the mould made by the 
 falling and explosion of a shell, in other instances 
 a round hole only betokened that the shell had 
 entered and without exploding had buried itself 
 in the soil. I need not add that we refrained 
 from meddling with the beds these bombs had 
 made for themselves in the earth, lest w T e should 
 add the necessary percussion and be ourselves 
 blown into the air ! Sad indeed was it, as we 
 wandered about, to see the graves of both 
 French and Prussian soldiers. A little enclosure 
 surrounded w 7 ith stones and containing three 
 crosses attracted us. On one was written, in 
 
 German, " Here lies , died Dec. 2, 1870." 
 
 A similar inscription on a second cross — a young 
 Prussian officer just twenty years old. On the 
 third cross w 7 as an inscription, but a white foulard 
 was wrapped around it, as though to say, 
 " Touch me not." Further on we saw on a 
 large cross, " Here lie fifty Frenchmen." Two 
 others with " Here lie twenty-five Frenchmen," 
 " Here lie fifteen Frenchmen." We went to 
 another mound which we saw 7 in the distance. 
 The mould had just been thrown over the 
 body, but not sufficiently to cover the lower 
 part of one limb, or the shoulder, covered with 
 the soldier's coat, of. the left arm. Such the 
 unlettered grave of an uncoffined Prussian 
 soldier. We had seen enough, and returned 
 with saddened hearts to Joinville. On reaching 
 the Place de la Bastille we found it filled with 
 
THE SIEGE. 117 
 
 an excited crowd. There had been a fracas in a 
 neighbouring wine-shop, and some National 
 Guards were conducting all the offenders towards 
 the guard-house. 
 
 March 18. 
 
 This day (Saturday) has been a day of great 
 excitement in Paris. Having occasion to go to 
 the Northern Eailway Station at six o'clock this 
 morning, I heard the National Guards in all 
 directions beating the rappel, and knew some- 
 thing must be brewing. Young Eostan (son of 
 the Alpine missionary) who came over with 300 
 young Frenchmen from America at the outbreak 
 of the war to right his country's battles, and was 
 in the middle of the right at Montretout on Jan. 
 19, went to Montmartre and found what was the 
 cause of the tumult. The Government having 
 determined on strong measures to quell the 
 insurgents at Montmartre and take away their 
 cannon, there had been a struggle in the streets. 
 Rostan saw one officer of the gens (V armes 
 carried away dead, and another officer with his 
 face much battered, and a poor woman shot 
 accidentally in the street carried away dead. All 
 Paris was speedily in a tumult, and has remained 
 so all day. Going along the Boulevards, I saw 
 numbers of National Guards, disarmed troops of 
 the line sauntering along, knots of people at the 
 corners of the streets. I found that the Boule- 
 
118 PARIS AFTEE 
 
 vards omnibuses did not give correspond lance 
 along any of the omnibus lines in the direction 
 of Montmartre, Belleville, or Menilmontant, 
 which was ominous. Arrived at the Place de la 
 Bastille, I found the whole square lined with 
 troops. Turning into the Faubourg St. Antoine 
 I observed that all the shops were shut. By- 
 and-bye our omnibus driver wheeled round the 
 omnibus, and went back by the same road that 
 he came. One of the large postal omnibuses 
 (Administration ales Postes) did the same thing. 
 The turn in the street soon revealed the cause. 
 There was a barricade just thrown up, and men 
 were still at work with pickaxes tearing up the 
 paving-stones, and throwing them on the barri- 
 cade. The foot passengers were returning on 
 the causeway. " On ne passe pas " was heard 
 on every hand, so I turned back too. The 
 Boulevards, as I returned, were in a state of the 
 greatest excitement, and so they .were this after- 
 noon. They say that the troops of the line are 
 fraternising with the National Guard — i.e., that 
 part of it opposing the Government and deter- 
 mining to keep possession of the cannons. How 
 the thing will end it is difficult to say. Two 
 proclamations of the Government, signed b} r 
 Thiers and the other members of the Govern- 
 ment, have been placarded on the walls of Paris, 
 one early in the morning announcing their deter- 
 mination to put down the disturbances at Mont- 
 martre and elsewhere, and exhorting the people 
 to work and quietness : and the second, at three 
 o'clock this afternoon, assuring the Parisians that 
 they were not preparing a coup d'etat ! 
 
THE SIEGE. 119 
 
 9 p.m. — Our quarter is quiet, but National 
 Guards and gens cVarmes are patrolling, and a 
 line of National Guards is keeping the approaches 
 of the Place Vendome. 
 
 11 p.m. — We hear the roll of cannon, but hope, 
 nevertheless, to sleep in peace. 
 
 4, Kue Roquepine, Paris, 
 
 March 20, 1871. 
 
 Paris could hardly be said to be " agitated " 
 yesterday as it was on Saturday, for all the 
 population in the city, the National Guards 
 included, seemed to be giving themselves up to 
 enjoyment, the people promenading as usual on 
 Sunday, and the National Guards marching 
 along the middle of the streets. Indeed, all had 
 a complete holiday air. Preceding most of the 
 battalions of the National Guards were young 
 women (one to each battalion) dressed in kepi 
 and Bloomer costume, with a small cask sus- 
 pended by a strap flung over the shoulders. The 
 Place Vendome was filled with the National 
 Guards, who had possession of the MinisUre de 
 Justice et des Cultes. A barricade of paving- 
 stones, with two box-seats of carriages thrown 
 on the top, prevented access to the square in 
 front of the Hotel de Yille from the Kue de 
 Eivoli. A similar barricade thrown across the 
 Avenue Victoria prevented access in that direc- 
 tion. A great crowd pressed along the Kue de 
 
120 PARIS AFTER 
 
 Rivoli and the Avenue Victoria up to these 
 barricades ; but none, except the National' Guard, 
 was allowed to pass by the narrow opening in 
 the middle of the barricade, which was most 
 strictly guarded. The square in front of the 
 Hotel de Ville was filled with National Guards, 
 who seemed to have nothing to do but to enjoy 
 themselves in the bright sun. The omnibus 
 traffic was suspended. It was quite a strange 
 sight to look along the whole line of the Boule- 
 vard des Capucines and Italiens from the corner 
 of the Madeleine, and, with the exception of one 
 or two cabs, not to see a single wheeled vehicle, 
 and this at half -past four o'clock on Sunday 
 afternoon, when the Boulevards are usually so 
 crowded with omnibuses and carriages of every 
 description. The asphalted causeways, how- 
 ever, were crowded enough. A r ery blessed was 
 the contrast from the scenes outside presented 
 by our quiet sanctuary. Both the services were 
 better attended than could have been expected. 
 To-day in our quarter the city presents a quiet 
 appearance, but I am told that at Batignolles 
 there is a good deal of excitement. When I 
 went to the post-office near the Madeleine this 
 morning one of the officials asked, " What do 
 they think of us in your country ?" and added, 
 " C'est comique ; un nouveau Government ehaque 
 jour I" On Saturday the red flag was no longer 
 on the top of the column of July, but it now 
 floats over the great clock in the centre of the 
 Hotel de Ville. The Kevolutionary Committee 
 has issued several proclamations. Most of the 
 shops are shut, and business is almost at a 
 
THE SIEGE. 121 
 
 standstill. Two generals, Clement Thomas and 
 Lecomte, were shot at Montmartre on Saturday 
 .afternoon. 
 
 Monday Evening, March 20, 1871. 
 
 The barricades are still kept around the Hotel 
 de Ville, and the centre of the Place de l'Hotel 
 de Ville is filled with cannon. The " Central 
 Committee " has, however, issued no more 
 proclamations, but this evening a placard is 
 posted on the walls, signed by Louis Blanc and 
 others, announcing that two points will be con- 
 sidered : (1) the appointment of officers of the 
 National Guard, and (2) the election of the 
 municipal council by all the citizens. Here is a 
 conversation between two women standing on a 
 bench and looking over the barricade into the 
 Place de l'Hotel de Ville. " And those two 
 officers who ordered the soldiers to fire." " Yes, 
 and it served them right, they paid for it with 
 their life." " And that Trochu, who's he? 
 Such villany, to feed us with that wretched 
 straw, and have all the while stores of provisions 
 hidden away." 
 
 March 21, 5 p.m. 
 
 Paris is much quieter to-day — no inarching of 
 troops of the National Guard, as yesterday and 
 the day before, along the principal streets ; most 
 of the shops are open, and the omnibuses are for 
 the most part running as usual. Still there are 
 groups of people talking most earnestly at the 
 
122 PARIS AFTER 
 
 corners of the streets, and there is much excite- 
 ment and but little business. On going to the 
 Hotel de Ville an hour ago we found that 
 the barricade in the Eue de Kivoli was not 
 kept as yesterday ; indeed, it can hardly be said 
 to be a barricade at all, for the people were per- 
 mitted to walk through it in single file in two 
 places. All the soldiers have been withdrawn 
 from the barracks ; and even the gardens of the 
 Tuileries, which have been used as artillery and 
 cavalry barracks, are deserted. According to 
 report, the Assembly at Versailles will not deal 
 with the insurrection with a high hand, but will 
 come to terms with the leaders of the National 
 Guard. At present, however, the Hotel de Ville 
 is still held by the National Guard, and cannon 
 are still pointed along the Eue de Eivoli and the 
 Avenue Victoria. The people, both yesterday 
 and to-day, are promenading in the Boulevards 
 and principal streets as though it were a national 
 holiday ! 
 
 Wednesday, March 22. 
 
 To-day was fixed by the " Central Committee' 1 
 for the elections for the " Commune," but a 
 placard was posted on the walls yesterday signed 
 by the representatives of twenty-seven daily 
 papers, begging the electors to take no notice of 
 the summons to register their votes. 
 
 I went to Montmartre before breakfast this 
 morning, but all was quiet. The numerous 
 barricades, as, for example, those at L the end of 
 
THE SIEGE. 123 
 
 the Kue Blanche and neighbouring streets, were 
 guarded each by a single National Guard. I 
 counted nine cannons in the Place de Clichy. 
 The barricade at the end of Kue d' Amsterdam 
 had been partly demolished, and was left without 
 any guard at all. A strong feeling is setting in 
 throughout the respectable quarters of Paris 
 against the usurpation of the "Beds." The 
 insurgents made a descent on the Mairie of the 
 7th Arrondissement last evening, and possessed 
 themselves of it. A few wounds were inflicted : 
 one man had his hand thrust through with a 
 bayonet, but no lives were lost. The Mayor 
 announced by placard this morning that, being 
 turned out, he can no longer discharge his 
 functions ! 
 
 From half-past ten to eleven o'clock this 
 morning there was constant cannonading. Our 
 windows shook, and we wondered what it was 
 all about. On going out to see I found that it 
 was the Prussians still in possession of some of 
 the forts, who were firing blank cartridge in 
 honour of some " Prussian anniversary." At 
 least so informed me a placard in our boulevard, 
 which ran to this effect : " Salvoes will be fired 
 to-day from the Prussian artillery. We hasten 
 to inform the inhabitants of Paris of this fact, 
 the only object being to celebrate a Prussian 
 anniversary." While, however, I was reading 
 this placard a man came up to me and said, 
 " Yes, they say that ; but do you know what the 
 Prussians are doing ? They are making entrench- 
 ments between each fort. 
 
124 PARIS AFTER 
 
 Two o'clock. 
 
 I hear that fighting is going on in the Place 
 Vendome. The young man who told me this 
 says that several people were killed close to him. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 This afternoon, about two o'clock, the "friends 
 of order " made a demonstration along the Kue 
 de la Paix, towards the Place Vendome. " Vive 
 la Kepublique," " Vive l'Ordre," were the watch- 
 words. As they drew near the end of the Rue 
 de la Paix, the insurgents who occupy the Place 
 Vendome fired on them. Several were killed 
 and many wounded. The crowd fled. The news 
 spread like wild-fire through the city, and all 
 Paris w T as in a ferment. Our Boulevard (Males- 
 herbes), generally so quiet, was filled with 
 anxious faces. Groups gathered here and there 
 to discuss the situation. Well-affected National 
 Guards were marching with quick step and 
 determined look along the asphalted pavement. 
 The general talk was that one and all were 
 resolved that this state of things should not 
 continue, and that the death of the unarmed 
 victims in the Rue de la Paix should be 
 avenged on the insurgents. At five o'clock we 
 walked along the Boulevard des Capucines. The 
 Rue Neuve des Capucines was guarded by 
 insurgents, who allowed no one to pass. The 
 pavements of the Boulevards were crowded ; but 
 scarcely any carriages or cabs, and no omnibuses, 
 were to be seen in the carriage way. The end 
 of the Rue de la Paix was blocked with a com- 
 
THE SIEGE. 125 
 
 pact crowd. It was said that cannon and 
 mitrailleuses command the street, and that the 
 houses also are occupied by the insurgents. The 
 Grand Hotel is occupied by the National Guards,, 
 who are the " friends of order/' and access can 
 only be gained by one of the side doors, which 
 is kept by the National Guards. The idea is to 
 surround the insurgents in the Place Vendome. 
 We are about to meet in our peaceful week- 
 evening service, but I do not expect many, as it 
 will be dangerous to venture out to-night. 
 
 Night. \$ 
 
 Eight persons were present at our service, 
 notwithstanding the perils of the streets. At our 
 class-meeting, after the service, two of our 
 members gave thanks to God for their merciful 
 preservation from imminent danger. One of 
 them, a dentist in the Boulevard des Capucines, 
 close to the Eue de la Paix, joined the " friends 
 of order " in their friendly demonstration, and 
 was nearly at the front when they approached 
 the Place Vendome. Their spokesman said to 
 the insurgents, " We wish to have a Eepublic, 
 we're all Bepublicans ; but we want order. La 
 crosse en Vair!" Some of those in the front rank 
 did throw up the butt-end of their muskets. But 
 from behind seemed to come an order. The 
 ranks advanced. A roll of the drums and two 
 taps repeated three times, and at the end of 
 the third time a volley was fired along the Eue 
 de la Paix. A man fell dead close beside our 
 young friend. It was five minutes before he 
 
126 PARIS AFTER 
 
 could get out of the street, so great was the 
 crowd and confusion. A second volley was 
 fired, aud a third, and men, women, and children 
 fell. All were full of rage against the insurgents, 
 Women, with faces distorted, and looking more 
 like fiends than human beings, were brandishing 
 knives and scissors. 
 
 Another young man, a member of our class, 
 had been in his office in the Eue Basse du Bern- 
 part, and hearing a noise in the Boulevard, 
 rushed out in the direction of the Bue de la 
 Paix, where the crowd seemed to be the thickest. 
 Hearing that firing was going on, he drew back 
 into the Boulevard just in time to avoid the 
 volley. A poor man was wounded very near him, 
 and was carried into a neighbouring house. A 
 few minutes afterwards he went to inquire how 
 the poor fellow was, and found him dead. The 
 report is that thirty or forty were killed or 
 wounded. It is a sad sight to see two ambulance 
 waggons passing along our Boulevard Males- 
 herbes about three o'clock in the afternoon to 
 pick up the wounded in one of the streets of 
 Paris ! It seems, however, that the insurgents 
 would not for some time allow the ambulance- 
 men to pick up the wounded, and some who 
 ventured into the Bue de la Paix to succour the 
 w T ounded were fired upon. 
 
 Thursday Morning, March 23. 
 
 I went out this morning into the Boulevard 
 des Capucines and to the end of Bue de la Paix. 
 All was quiet compared with the excitement of 
 
THE SIEGE. 127 
 
 yesterday. A number of insurgents were keeping 
 guard at the entrance of the Eue de la Paix. 
 Well-disposed National Guards were keeping the 
 Grand Hotel. Nearly all the shops along the 
 line of the Boulevard are shut. National 
 Guards fill the place de la Bourse. The insur- 
 gents are threatening to take possession of the 
 Mairie of the Second Arrondissement, the only 
 Mairie not as yet in their power. The National 
 Guards are determined to resist them. 
 
 Afternoon. 
 
 Paris is perfectly calm this afternoon. No 
 excitement in the streets. The insurgents are 
 left in peaceable possession of the Hotel de 
 Ville, Ministeres, and Mairies. This was the 
 day fixed by the Central Committee for the 
 elections, but as very few went to vote, the 
 elections have been put off till Sunday. What 
 the Government at Versailles will do, it is im- 
 possible to say. Surely this state of things 
 cannot be suffered to continue. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 This afternoon, having occasion to pay a visit 
 in the Kue d'Albe, I had to pass for some dis- 
 tance along the Champs Ely sees. A lady whom 
 I went to see in the Rue d'Albe gave me a more 
 consecutive account than I have been able to 
 get from anyone of the, sufferings endured 
 through the siege. The effect produced on my 
 mind by the recitals of most people with whom 
 I have conversed has been a medley of ideas, 
 
128 PARIS AFTER 
 
 without beginning, middle, or end. " I get 
 credit (she said) for being a heroine, but such 
 credit I do not deserve, for the truth is that, 
 invalid as I am, I lacked courage to go away. 
 Once fairly shut in, I took it for granted that it 
 would be an affair of five or six weeks, little 
 imagining that it would be five or six months 
 before Paris would be open again to the world. 
 Having, however, an account at my banker's, I 
 thought I would not trouble myself, as I should 
 be able to secure what money could buy. But 
 what was my dismay when my messenger re- 
 turned with the reply, ' Communications stopped 
 with England ; cannot cash your paper.' What 
 was to be done ? A lady happened to be with 
 me at the time, and seeing my emergency offered 
 to place at my disposal 1,000 francs, an offer 
 which I gladly accepted. Before this store was 
 exhausted a French gentleman residing near 
 came, and, although not himself overburdened 
 with cash, offered, so far as he was able, to lend 
 me money, and I was thus supplied. At first, 
 although the prices- were high, all the necessaries 
 of life were easily procured. But at last the 
 question of meat became a serious one. So 
 long as horseflesh was abundant I managed 
 pretty well, but when that also was rationed, 
 the prospect became very gloomy. I could not 
 bear the idea of living on bread and wine. Of 
 bread I seldom eat much at any time, and such 
 bread as we were then reduced to, being a com- 
 pound of bran and chopped straw, I had a 
 perfect loathing of; and of wine I take but 
 little. I remembered, however, to have read 
 
THE SIEGE. 129 
 
 years ago, in ' The Last of the Mohicans,' of a 
 method the Indians adopted to preserve their 
 meat, and having managed to secure a filet de 
 cheval, I tried the process with success. I was 
 reduced, however, at last, to a state of sadness 
 and despair. The bombardment was terrible ; 
 the windows of my apartment shook, and the 
 house itself trembled, although no shell fell 
 nearer than the Trocadero. During the last 
 three weeks no amount of money availed to pro- 
 cure the necessaries of life, and if the siege had 
 lasted a week longer I must have died. What 
 was my joy when the gates of Paris were opened 
 to see some butter and fresh eggs brought by 
 the hand of a friend, and to receive a remittance 
 from my banker in London, enabling me to dis- 
 charge all my debts. The sum I had expended 
 was very large, for I told the members of my 
 household never to think of expense if only the 
 absolute necessaries of life could be procured 
 at any price, saying to them, ' We are buying 
 our lives.' In my review of our privations 
 throughout the whole time, I consider that the 
 want of fuel, especially during the intensely cold 
 weather, was one of the severest. When coal 
 failed, and the wood was nearly exhausted, I 
 bought, at an enormous price, a quantity of 
 rafters taken from an old house in course of 
 demolition, and so managed to keep up a miser- 
 able fire. All thanks be to God, who has so 
 wonderfully preserved my life !" 
 
 Horses must have wonderfully increased in 
 Paris within the last few days. Three days ago 
 I saw for the first time since the siege, three 
 
130 PARIS AFTER 
 
 cabs waiting for hire on one of the old cab- stands 
 in the Boulevard des Capucines. The next day 
 I counted nine or ten standing in the Place du 
 Palais Royal, and yesterday there were three or 
 four on the stand at the corner of our street. Of 
 cats I see none. I quite miss my old friends 
 who used to lie in a sunny spot in shop windows. 
 They were all caught up during the seige to 
 make "rabbit." If the old proverb be true, 
 " When the cat's away the mice will play," we 
 may expect a great invasion by the mouse 
 species this summer. But, strange to say, 
 although their natural enemies are absent, I 
 have seen neither rat nor mouse since my return, 
 and before the siege they were frequently to be 
 seen near the iron openings to the cellars in our 
 Boulevard Malesherbes, and occasionally were 
 promenading on the asphalt. Some say that 
 when the cunning creatures began to under- 
 stand that they were considered fit articles for 
 food, they took the hint and disappeared, and 
 have not yet had courage to show their faces; 
 again ; others that with their natural instinct 
 for finding out well-provisioned places, they left 
 starving Paris for the German quarters, and are 
 not yet persuaded that Paris is sufficiently re- 
 victualled to make their way back to their old 
 haunts. 
 
 I find, in walking through the streets, that 
 the word " Ambulance," which was to be seen 
 on so many hotels and private houses, is rapidly 
 disappearing, and the red cross is taken down. 
 Let us hope that the poor wounded men are as 
 rapidly recovering. I have been trying to 
 
THE SIEGE. 131 
 
 ascertain the reasons of this emeute having 
 assumed such proportions. The Belleville 
 insurgents proper do not number more than 
 60,000, and there are at least 150,000 of the 
 National Guard who have sympathised with 
 this insurrection. The causes are, I believe : 
 1. The suspicion that the National Assembly 
 wishes to impose a king, and destroy the Re- 
 public. 2. The wish for the people to elect the 
 members of the Municipal Council. 3. The 
 unwillingness on the part of numbers of the 
 National Guard to betake themselves to work 
 and lose their thirty sous per day. 4. The 
 question of the payment of commercial bills and 
 rents, which a disturbed state of things will 
 defer. These reasons do not weigh equally with 
 all. With some each one of the four may be the 
 chief cause of sympathy with the emeute. 
 
 To-day placards on the wall have been plenti- 
 ful. The first announced the postponement of 
 the elections to Sunday, and the measures of 
 " repression " which the Government intended 
 to take. A while afterwards official announce- 
 ments informed the soldiers that they had right to 
 the pay of the National Guard, and the National 
 Guard that on giving up their old guns they 
 would receive Chassepots in exchange. Then 
 appeared the protestations of the National 
 Guard, the appeal of the mayors to universal 
 suffrage, next the decrees naming the chiefs of 
 the National Guard, next the protestations of 
 the magistrates expelled from their "marries," 
 then a third appeal from the united muni- 
 cipalities. 
 
132 PARIS AFTER 
 
 Friday, March 24. 
 
 Walking into the Boulevards this morning I 
 found them all quiet, but the shops were still 
 all, or nearly all, shut, and the National Guards 
 were moving about. The Place Vendome is 
 strongly guarded. Our chapel steward, who has 
 an office in the Place de la Bourse, has just been 
 in, and tells us that the Place de la Bourse is 
 occupied with National Guards, "friends of 
 order," and they are determined not to give up 
 the mairie of the Second Arrondissement in the 
 Rue de la Banque to the insurgents, and that if 
 they attempt to take it there will be a fierce 
 fight. Two battalions from Belleville attempted 
 to come near by two different streets yesterday, 
 but, seeing the strong force of the " friends of 
 order," retreated. There is an uneasy feeling 
 throughout the city which may probably end 
 before night in a terrible conflict. 
 
 Two o'clock. — I have been into the Boule- 
 vards. The shops were shut ; but the omni- 
 buses are beginning to run from the Madeleine 
 to the Bastille. All was quiet. As I passed 
 No. 8, Boulevard des Capucines, I saw the 
 marks made by the bullets of the insurgents on 
 Wednesday. The Rue de la Paix w T as quite 
 deserted, and only here and there a National 
 Guard to be seen. But the Place Vendome was 
 full of insurgent troops. Returning by the Rue 
 St. Lazare, I found that the entrance of the 
 Gare de l'Ouest (the railway [right bank] to 
 Versailles) was occupied by the well-disposed 
 National Guards. A temporary wooden railing 
 
THE SIEGE. 133 
 
 has been thrown across the carriage entrance, 
 and the entrance for foot-passengers through the 
 iron gateway at the side is kept by National 
 Guards — a wise precautionary measure, as the 
 access to Versailles from Paris might have been 
 stopped — i.e., if the station of the Chemin de 
 Fer de l'Ouest on the south side had also been 
 seized. Great preparations are being made for 
 the elections on Sunday. A red placard is 
 posted on the walls of our arrondissement pro- 
 posing candidates : " Elections du Conseil 
 Communal. — Jules Allix, publicist e ; Arthur 
 Arnould, journalist e ; Vaillant, ingenieur civil ; 
 Eaoult Eigoult." It is supposed, however, that 
 very few in this arrondissement will go to the 
 vote. The mayors have installed themselves in 
 the Place de la Bourse. The houses near the 
 Bourse are all occupied by the " friends of 
 order," who will not hesitate to fire from the 
 windows upon the insurgents if they should 
 invade the " Place." 
 
 It appears that acts of pillage are being com- 
 mitted. I have just heard of a man whose box 
 was taken from him in the public streets. To 
 such a condition is this city (the centre of 
 civilisation !) reduced. 
 
 March 25. 
 
 Things are looking more peaceful this morn- 
 ing. The cafes and some of the shops on the 
 Boulevards are open. The Place de la Bourse 
 is completely filled with National Guards on the 
 side of order. Vice-Admiral Saisset, the Com- 
 mander of the National Guard, has just issued a 
 
134 PARIS AFTER 
 
 spirited proclamation, which was being posted 
 on the walls as I walked along the Boulevards, 
 and he declares that he will defend the cause of 
 order, and the respect of persons and property. 
 In this cause he is ready, if need be, to sacrifice 
 his life, as his only son has already done, in the 
 defence of his country. A barricade has been 
 erected at the end of the Eue de la Paix, and 
 also in the Eue Castigiione, so that the entrance 
 to the Place Vendome is entirely blocked on 
 both sides ; but circulation is free in the streets 
 adjoining, Eue Neuve des Capucines, Eue 
 JNeuve des Petits Champs, &c. 
 
 It seems very strange to see all the u Bureaux 
 Telegraphiques " in Paris closed. ]j)ven during 
 the siege, although the outer world was cut off, 
 it was possible to send telegraphic despatches 
 from one part of Paris to another ; but now the 
 offices are entirely shut up. 
 
 Saturday Night, March 25. 
 
 Paris has continued calm all the day. The 
 announcement was made this evening that the 
 < Comite Central ' having failed to come to any 
 understanding with the mayors, had decided to 
 proceed with the elections to-morrow. The 
 " friends of order " are mustering in strong force 
 to-night, and there are some who say that there 
 may be a fight in the streets before morning ; 
 others think that things are on the point of 
 being arranged. The " proletariat " question, 
 destined to cause so much trouble and anxiety 
 in England, is fighting its great battle in Paris. 
 
THE SIEGE. 135. 
 
 Most of the members of the " Comite Central " 
 are members of the International Secret 
 Society. 
 
 The last news which 1 gather from the 
 placards on the walls is (1) that some men in 
 the uniform of National Guards have been 
 firing on the Prussian lines : that on examina- 
 tion it turns out that they are former " sergents. 
 de ville ;" and that in future anyone convicted 
 of a like offence will be immediately shot. This 
 is the summary announcement of the Central 
 Committee, who also by another affiche inform 
 the Parisians that anyone caught in committing 
 theft will be shot out of hand, a notice not alto- 
 gether destitute of consolation to the trembling 
 inhabitants of the aristocratic quarters, who 
 have heard to their dismay that the prison doors 
 have been opened ; and, although the release 
 from confinement is only granted to political 
 prisoners, it is feared that some marauders may 
 also have escaped. A third placard is from the 
 mayors, saying that an understanding has been 
 come to with the Central Committee, that they 
 have returned to their " mairies," and will pro- 
 ceed with the elections to-morrow. A fourth, 
 signed by six of the Deputies of Paris, exhorting 
 the people to vote to-morrow as the only mode 
 of settling the difficulties of the hour. A fifth is 
 a red bill signed by the members of the council 
 of the International Association, and the mem- 
 bers of the Committee of the Federal Council of 
 Workmen, entreating all persons who care for the 
 principles of a real Kepublic to go to the vote,' 
 and assuring them that they will thus secure & 
 
136 PARIS AFTER 
 
 proper consideration of the question of a fair 
 remuneration for their work, freedom of public 
 assembly, and the election of their own Munici- 
 pal Council, without having the officers of the 
 city imposed on them by a superior authority. 
 I do not give you the text of these numerous 
 placards, which involve, if not conceal, their 
 signification in a multiplicity of words, but have 
 endeavoured to seize their meaning. I over- 
 heard a man in our Boulevard commenting on 
 the sentence with which Saisset's proclamation 
 •ends, " My device remains that of the sailors, 
 Honour and Country." " Patrie I II rty a pas 
 de jpatrie ; ilrtya Hen" " Country ! there is 
 no country; there isn't anything." What a 
 comment is the present state of France on the 
 passage, " And if a kingdom be divided against 
 itself, that kingdom cannot stand." 
 
 March 27. 
 
 As the mayors agreed with the Central Com- 
 mittee on Saturday afternoon that the elections 
 should be held yesterday, Admiral Saisset re- 
 signed his position as Commander of the 
 National Guard at seven o'clock on Saturday 
 evening, and returned to Versailles. The 
 Guards on the side of order at the Bourse and 
 the Grand Hotel returned to their homes ; and 
 under the sanction of the mayors, the elections 
 took place. What is the result, as the bureaux 
 were kept open till midnight, I have not yet 
 been able to ascertain. The city yesterday had 
 all the appearance of being en fete. Crowds of 
 pleasure-seekers were in the Champs Efysees, 
 
THE SIEGE. 137 
 
 and on the Boulevards. One would not have- 
 supposed, from the aspects of the streets, that 
 we were in the middle of a revolution ! Observ- 
 ing some groups near the gardens of the Tuil- 
 eries, where the Eue de Eivoli joins the Place 
 de la Concorde, I went up and found men and 
 boys singing the " Marseillaise " to groups of 
 twenty or thirty people, and then offering copies 
 of the words for sale at ten centimes each. The 
 thought occurred to me at once, If this is allowed 
 in one of the most public places in Paris, perhaps 
 preaching in the open air will no longer be in- 
 terdicted, and there may be means of usefulness 
 open before us in this city which have hitherto 
 been denied. 
 
 I found the Boulevards this morning quiet „ 
 and many shops are being opened. The Grand 
 Hotel was open, not kept by National Guards, 
 as for the last few days ; and although the Eue 
 de la Paix was guarded by pickets, and the Place 
 Vendome still strongly barricaded, there was the 
 look everywhere of quietness. But how long 
 this is to last, and what is to occur, we know 
 not. Paris is now fairly at the mercy and under 
 the government of the " Commune." These 
 "Eed" authorities seem determined to keep 
 order. They declare " death to thieves," and 
 have strictly prohibited gambling as inimical to 
 the real interests of " citizens." The walls of 
 Paris are completely covered with affiches — 
 those of the Comite Central printed on white 
 paper, which used always to be reserved for 
 announcements of the Government ; the rest 
 being flaring red, the chosen colour of the insur- 
 
138 PARIS AFTER 
 
 rectionary party. A poster widely distributed 
 yesterday announced that Lyons had followed 
 the example of Paris and adopted the Commune ; 
 but we learn this morning that sedition was soon 
 displaced from the Hotel de Ville at Lyons, and 
 that the reactionary party is very strong. 
 Marseilles also has been but little disturbed. 
 
 I suppose that now, so far as all practical 
 purposes of government are concerned, Paris is 
 separated from the rest of France. What has 
 become of the old French motto, " U union fait 
 la force ?V What will the Assembly do ? Leave 
 Paris to itself ? or bring up the provincial 
 soldiers to subdue it ? 
 
 Business seems to be going on to-day, but 
 people have no confidence. There is not a 
 single National Guard either at the Gare de 
 l'Ouest or the Mairie of our arrondissement. 
 Many of the men are tired of soldiering, and are 
 going back to w T ork. 
 
 4, Eue Roquepine, Paris. 
 
 Monday Evening, March 27, 1871. 
 
 I w T alked this afternoon along the Rue Neuve 
 St. Augustine and into the Rue de la Paix. As 
 I neared the corner where the Rue Neuve St. 
 Augustine joins the Rue de la Paix, I saw a 
 cannon grimly staring out of the barricade along 
 the street, and could look into its muzzle. 
 The barricade was kept by National Guards, 
 who ordered bystanders to move on. Some few 
 
THE SIEGE. lS^ 
 
 were admitted into the Place Vendome ; indeed, 
 I saw numbers of round hats in the very centre 
 of the u Place," mingling with the kepis of the 
 National Guards, and no doubt if I had asked I 
 should have been allowed to pass the barricade ; 
 but I wished to go along the Kue de la Paix, so 
 contented myself with a good look in the 
 " Place " which still presents a most warlike 
 aspect. Cannons, stacked rifles, troops of 
 National Guards, from the midst of which rose 
 grandly the triumphal column surmounted with 
 the figure of the first Napoleon — such were the 
 salient features of the picture. I took note as I 
 passed along the Kue de la Paix of the points 
 where the victims of the sad massacre of the 
 27th instant had fallen. The shops were nearly 
 all fast closed ; but finding one with the door 
 open I had a long talk with the shopkeeper, a 
 respectable, intelligent man. " These ' friends 
 of order ' are really disturbers of order. They 
 had fair notice given them by the sentinels ; but 
 they pushed them back, and would not be 
 warned. A man was shot down in front of my 
 shop. I was standing close by and saw him fall. 
 The Central Committee also declare themselves 
 ' friends of order,' and say, ' We mean to make 
 it too." Those reactionists at Versailles want 
 to impose on us a king." " But they say they 
 are Kepublicans." " They say, yes, but it does 
 not require much perspicacity to see through 
 their acts. Paris has suffered enough from 
 kings and emperors, and means to have are- 
 public. The country, kept in ignorance, has 
 elected the majority of the Assembly. The 
 
140 PARIS AFTER 
 
 great towns, more enlightened, hold very 
 different opinions from those held by most of the 
 members of the Assembly. There is now no 
 other course open than for the members of the 
 Assembly to send in their resignation." I 
 passed along the Eue du 4 Septembre. The 
 great letters which I saw chalked up before the 
 siege still remain at the end of the street ; but 
 the name has now been regularly adopted, and 
 appears in due form at the intersection of each 
 side street with this new main artery from the 
 Place du Nouvel Opera to the Bourse. As I 
 returned along the Boulevards I saw in a large 
 plate-glass window opposite the Eue de la Paix 
 a round hole made by a bullet on that memor- 
 able Wednesday of last week. 
 
 March 28. 
 The city is quiet to-day. National Guards 
 are promenading through the streets, heralded 
 by the bugle and rappel. " Are things on the 
 point of being settled ?" I have just asked the 
 shopman in the Bue Boyale. " No, they are 
 only just beginning. This state of things cannot 
 last," was his reply. The Gaulois, suppressed 
 by the " Comite Central " in Paris, has begun 
 to appear as a single sheet at Versailles. It 
 may be bought on the Boulevards. Some other 
 respectable papers are thinking of establishing 
 themselves at Versailles. The acts of this 
 Central Committee have been singularly at 
 variance with the professed principles of some 
 of its adherents. One of the articles in the 
 political creed of some *>f the workmen, whose 
 red bill meets you at every corner, is " perfect 
 
THE SIEGE. 141 
 
 liberty of the press." This committee, how- 
 ever, deems it prudent to seize the offices of 
 some papers and silence others — their idea of 
 " perfect liberty." Never were more scurrilous 
 journals than some which have recently ap- 
 peared in advocacy of revolutionary ideas. The 
 Cri du Peujple is bad enough, but the worst of 
 all is the Fire Du chime. All the papers this 
 morning are full of the results of the elections of 
 Sunday last, which terminated in nearly all the 
 twenty arrondissements in favour of the Red 
 Republicans. But the thing to be noted in con- 
 nection with the elections was the number of 
 people who abstained from voting altogether. 
 Out of 400,000 electors only 119,000 voted. 
 Arrests are frequent. Indeed, it is dangerous to 
 utter strong opinions against the people now in 
 power. Passages of arms are occurring in the 
 environs of Paris between the National Guards 
 and detachments of the army. Yesterday 
 morning, says the Moniteur Universel, a patrol 
 of National Guards of the 66th Battalion, 
 stationed at the Fort Issy, encountered on the 
 plateau of Chatillon a detachment of Chasseurs 
 a Gheval, sent from Versailles to make a recon- 
 naissance, and, after exchanging a few shots, 
 the National Guards took to flight. 
 
 PARIS UNDER THE RED FLAG. 
 
 March 29, 1871. 
 
 The roll of cannon of which I spoke in my 
 letter of yesterday, and the purport of which I 
 
142 PARIS UNDER 
 
 knew not, turned out to be the salvoes of 
 artillery on the quays near the Hotel de Ville, 
 by which the advent of the Commune was 
 announced to the city. At three o'clock yester- 
 day afternoon battalions of the National Guards 
 from Belleville and Montmartre arrived en masse 
 at the Place de Greve, and were arrayed in front 
 of the Hotel de Ville. Other battalions followed, 
 and by four o'clock there were 200,000 armed 
 men in the " Place." Crowds filled the neigh- 
 bouring streets, the Rue de Rivoli, Avenue 
 Victoria, &c. The names of the candidates 
 elected as members of the Commune were read 
 from the temporary platform erected in front of 
 the " Pavilion de PHorloge ;" and speeches 
 were made by Assi and Lavalette, which were 
 followed by rounds of applause. Three red flags, 
 one above another, floated from the centre of 
 the Hotel de Ville. The equestrian statue of 
 Henry IV. was covered with red drapery, and 
 served as background to a large bust of the 
 Republic. The enthusiasm of the National 
 Guards was intense. In the evening the Hotel 
 de Ville, the Tuileries, Louvre, and the front of 
 Palais Ro}^al were illuminated. I have this 
 morning walked through the principal streets as 
 far as the Hotel de Ville, to see how Paris looked 
 under the Red fla^. The first thing that struck 
 my attention was a placard in the Boulevard, 
 signed by the new mayor of our arrondissement, 
 Jules Allix, in which notice was given of certain 
 meetings of the National Guard obeying the 
 orders of the Central Committee, asserting that 
 France cannot exist without Paris at its head, 
 
THE BED FLAG. 143 
 
 and advising the members of the Assembly at 
 Versailles to quit (s'en alter) as quickly as 
 possible. Turning the corner of the Kue 
 Koyale, I saw that the beautiful fountains in the 
 Place de la Concorde were in full play in honour 
 of the new regime. All along I observed that 
 the wants of the city were being well and care- 
 fully attended to. Whether it is that " the 
 new broom sweeps clean " I know not, but 
 certain it is that I have never seen the streets 
 of Paris so well swept since the siege as they 
 were this morning. The heaps of rubbish had 
 been cleared away, the centre of the road as well 
 as the causeways well swept, and men were busy 
 watering the roads — a sight very grateful to me, 
 for during the last few windy days I have been 
 almost choked with dust. Arrived in view of 
 the Palace of the Tuileries, I observed that the 
 red nag flaunted over the central " Tour de 
 l'Horloge." How little I thought when taking 
 particular notice of the tricolor flag betokening 
 the presence of the Empress on the afternoon 
 of the 3rd of last September, that the next time 
 I saw a flag floating above the Tuileries it would 
 be the drapeau rouge. I found, however, that 
 the red flag brings some advantages, for I was 
 permitted as a citoyen to walk along the pave- 
 ment close to the palace, where I used to see 
 the Emperor pacing to and fro, in company with 
 two or three friends, in other days. The view of 
 the shrubs and trees all decked in the fresh 
 green of the first burst of spring was lovely. 
 Taking my stand in front of the Tour de 
 l'Horloge, I gained the wonderful view, the like 
 
144 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 of which no other city can boast : first the little 
 fountain in the midst of the Gardens of the 
 Tuileries, with its frame of statues and trees ; 
 then the Oberlisk of Luxor in the centre of the 
 Place de la Concorde ; then the fine sweep of 
 Champs Elysees, terminated by the Grand Arch 
 of Triumph. All the surroundings were calcu- 
 lated to suggest the idea of a royal or imperial 
 residence, but, turning round, I saw promenad- 
 ing to and fro in front of the principal entrance 
 of the palace, an unwashed National Guard, 
 doubtless from Belleville, whose coat was of the 
 very dirtiest, and whose mien was of the very 
 lowest. Chalked at the side of the grand en- 
 trance, in wretched writing, was, " Bepublique 
 Frangaise, a la .garde des Citoyens" Passing 
 out on the quay, I looked up to the wide space 
 over the new entrance to the Place du Carrousel, 
 where was formerly the bronze equestrian statue 
 of Napoleon III. in alto-relievo. On the 5th of 
 September last I saw a large crowd standing 
 here demanding that the statue of the Emperor 
 should be taken down. In place of the statue is 
 now written in large characters, " BSpublique 
 Frangaise, democrat icpie, une et indivisible. 
 Liberie, Egalite, Fraternite." I walked along 
 the quays to the Hotel de Yille. Barges were 
 lying four deep waiting their turn to be unloaded. 
 Barrels and cases innumerable were scattered 
 about in hopeless confusion. Nearing the Hotel 
 de Yille, I expected to be summarily ordered 
 back, but I passed a line of National Guards 
 without hindrance, and found that the barricade 
 which up to yesterday so completely blocked the 
 
THE RED FLAG. 145 
 
 entrance to the Place de Greve had been par- 
 tially broken down, and I passed, without being 
 even asked what was my business, into the 
 centre of the Place. It was a sight to be re- 
 membered. Along the front of the Hotel de 
 Ville were arranged the cannon, with ammuni- 
 tion. In the centre of the square were numerous 
 groups of National Guards, some answering the 
 word of command, other taking their ease. Now 
 there was the sound of the clarion, and now the 
 roll of the drum. Animation everywhere — a 
 martial scene indeed ! As I walked back along 
 the Eue de Eivoli a man in red Garibaldian 
 costume galloped past on a fiery steed, his sword 
 dangling at his side, and exchanged salutes with 
 red-coated Garibaldians who were walking along 
 the pavement. There was a look in the streets 
 as though men were setting to work again. In- 
 deed, after the fete of yesterday the Central 
 Committee urged all to work, and it seemed if 
 their order were being obeyed. In the Rue St. 
 Honore, a man who had papers to sell was 
 vociferating, " Le Pere Ducliene rCest plus en 
 colere ; il est content." 
 
 It is said that the Bank of France made yes- 
 terday a new advance of 500,000f . to the Central 
 Committee. Under the heading, " Les Nou- 
 velles," the Petit Moniteur Universel tells us 
 that the French Government, which ought to 
 have paid to Prussia on Thursday last 135 
 millions of francs, has obtained, in consequence 
 of recent events, a delay of a fortnight, and that 
 as guarantee for the punctual payment of the 
 indemnity the Prussians are re-arming their 
 
146 PAKIS UNDER 
 
 batteries and assembling their troops at the 
 north and east of Paris. There seems to be 
 great indignation among the shopkeepers at the 
 present state of things. ■ Shopkeeper in the Kue 
 St. Honore : " This cannot last. The Assembly 
 is letting them have their own way for the 
 present, knowing that soon of its own weakness 
 the thing must come to an end. They would 
 have been only too glad if the Government had 
 resorted to violence. They'll get tired of this 
 playing at soldiers. It is utterly contemptible. 
 When one sees them looking over the balconies 
 of the Palace of the Tuileries one is inclined to 
 ask, D'on cela sort il / (Whence comes such a 
 creature as that ?) Some of them go about in 
 indescribable clothing (dans un retement impossi- 
 ble). But we have to be careful w T hat w r e say." 
 At this moment a National Guard came in and 
 the conversation dropped. Shopkeeper in the 
 Rue Neuve des Capucines : " There's no busi- 
 ness doing at all. One might as well shut up 
 shop. I should be glad if could I get away from 
 Paris. I don't think the Assembly ought to 
 bring in a king. I have never been a Republican ; 
 but just now I think it would be wrong to 
 attempt to establish a monarchy." 
 
 Two placards posted on the walls to-day are 
 worthy of note ; one from the Committee of the 
 Commune, announcing that their affiches and 
 those of the several municipalities are alone to 
 be printed on white paper ; that no announce- 
 ment emanating from the Government at Ver- 
 sailles is to be allowed on the walls, and that any 
 infraction of these orders will be severely 
 
THE BED FLAG. 147 
 
 punished ; the other from a proprietor at Mont- 
 rouge, proposing that all rents between l,000f. 
 and 2,000f. shall be reduced 10 per cent. ; be- 
 tween 2,000f. and4,000f., 15 per cent. ; between 
 4,000f. and 6,000f,, 20 per cent. ; between 6,000f. 
 and 8,000f., 25 per cent.; and between 8,000f. 
 and 10,000f., 30 per cent. 
 
 March 30. 
 
 Paris is still quiet, but no one knows what 
 may happen. There is no confidence, and, say 
 the shopkeepers, less business than during the 
 siege. I observed early this morning two fresh 
 placards ; one from the members of the Coniite 
 Central announcing that having, with the help 
 of the people, well performed their duty, they 
 now resign their power into the hands of the 
 Committee of the Commune, and doubt not that 
 the great object at which they aim will shortly 
 be accomplished, the establishment of a " Re- 
 publique JJniverselle ;" the other headed Com- 
 m a ue de Paris, and proclaiming that all the 
 employes for all the " services " must obey their 
 authority, the Commune being the only power 
 (pouvoir) now in existence, and that no obedience 
 is to be paid to any orders from Versailles. 
 The Government at Versailles, on the other 
 hand, announces that the employes connected 
 with the administration of the octroi and the 
 employes of the prefecture de la Heine and of the 
 Ville de Paris were forbidden under any pretext 
 to render their help to the irregular power which 
 has constituted itself at the Hotel de Ville. 
 Both sides threaten forfeiture (forfaiture) as the 
 result of disobedience. What are the poor 
 creatures to do ? 
 
148 PARIS UNDER 
 
 Eeaction is beginning to spring up in Mont- 
 martre itself. Here is a copy of a manuscript 
 placard: "The Central Committee gives us 
 fanaticism, hunger, rags, misery. There is no 
 work for the workmen, no industry, no commerce. 
 Is that a good government ?" The word suspect 
 is making itself known again, as in the times of 
 the first Revolution. Here is a copy of a 
 placard which adorns the walls of Montmartre : 
 " The delegate of the Central Committee charged 
 with the administration of the 18th Arrondisse- 
 ment informs the public that the citoyens (here 
 follow four names) are appointed to receive 
 denunciations against the citizens suspected of 
 complicity with the treacherous Government 
 which has just collapsed at Montmartre." I 
 read in the Paris Journal this morning : " Bercy 
 is in consternation. An order from the Com- 
 mittee has just interdicted the export of wines. 
 Every cart loaded with barrels is stopped at the 
 barrier and the invoices are minutely examined. 
 If the buyer is at Paris a National Guard mounts 
 beside the driver and goes to deliver the mer- 
 chandise ; if the buyer is in the provinces the 
 wmole is seized and the proprietor referred to 
 the Central Committee." Another paragraph in 
 the Paris Journal worthy of notice is : " Yes- 
 terday afternoon M. Thiesz, elected in the 12th 
 Arrondissement, presented himself at the Hotel 
 des Posies and asked to speak to M. Ramport. 
 Introduced into the cabinet of the Director- 
 General, he produced an order, signed by the 
 members oi the Committee, inviting him to give 
 place to the newly-appointed postmaster. " Sir," 
 
THE RED FLAG. 149 
 
 replied M. Ramport, " I refuse to obey the Com- 
 mittee. I stay here. If you wish to force me 
 by the use of violence to quit, I warn you that I 
 shall scarcely have quitted my post before all my 
 employes will follow me to Versailles. Paris 
 from that moment will have no more letters 
 from the provinces. Take your choice." Be- 
 fore such energetic language M. Thiesz retired. 
 
 Two features of the streets, so different from 
 before the seige, strike me — (1) the innumerable 
 beggars in the principal thoroughfares ; (2) the 
 number of invalids, men just recovering from 
 long illnesses, with pale, emaciated faces, and 
 soldiers with arms in slings or with amputated 
 limbs. 
 
 This morning I find that the barricades near 
 the Hotel de Ville are nearly demolished. I was 
 in a Bercy omnibus, and expected to get down 
 just before reaching the barricade in the Rue de 
 Rivoli, but the omnibus passed on through the 
 partly demolished barricade and across the Place 
 de Greve. The " Place " was only sparsely 
 occupied by National Guards, and I could move 
 about at my leasure and take a good look at the 
 plaster figure representing the Republic (in front 
 of the statue of Henri VI.) surrounded by five 
 red flags. Between the Hotel de Ville and the 
 barracks were the horses which the Central 
 Committee requisitioned for their artillery. The 
 National Guards seemed to be far more occupied 
 with the question of provisioning themselves 
 than with guarding the approaches of the Hotel 
 de Ville. The good-for-nothing creatures, in- 
 stead of being at their work and earning an 
 
150 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 honest livelihood, are eating the bread of idle- 
 ness, and are now receiving three francs instead 
 of thirty sous per day. Seeing a large shop 
 closed as I walked back along the- Rue de 
 Rivoli, and a written announcement posted on 
 the shutters, I went up to read ; but instead of 
 seeing " Shut up, disgusted with the Insurrec- 
 tion," I found " Ferine j)our cause de matiage /" 
 As I passed along the Rue Castiglione and into 
 the Rue St. Honore I observed that the barricade 
 close to the Rue St. Honore was down, and that 
 men were at work wheeling away the great 
 paving-stones in barrows to make a barricade 
 near the centre of the Place Vendome, not far 
 from the iron railings around the triumphal 
 column. Square holes were being left in the 
 barricade for the muzzles of the cannon, from 
 which it is evident they mean still to command 
 the approaches to the " Place." In the Rue de 
 Rivoli I met two or three battalions of the 
 National Guards. A more unkempt lot I never 
 saw. Idle scoundrels ! A more thorough con- 
 tempt than I felt for the lazy rascals as they 
 marched along it would be impossible for any 
 one to experience. The red flag now floats 
 everywhere. Two flaring strips of red are to be 
 seen to-day over the Palais Royal. 
 
 March 31. 
 
 Dissension soon began to show itself in the 
 councils of the Commune. M. Tirard, mayor of 
 the 22nd Arrondissement, retired, and has 
 written a letter which has appeared in the 
 papers, stating that he supposed the Commune 
 
THE RED FLAG. 151 
 
 would treat of municipal affairs only ; but, 
 finding that they were intending to discuss 
 political questions also, he immediately retired. 
 Yesterday afternoon the following announce- 
 ments were placarded on the walls : — 
 The Commune of Paris decrees 
 
 1. The conscription is abolished. 
 
 2. No military force, except the National 
 Guard, shall be created or introduced into Paris. 
 
 3. All able-bodied citizens form part of the 
 National Guard. 
 
 The Commune of Paris, considering that 
 work, industry, and commerce have borne all the 
 expenses of the war, and that it is only just that 
 property should make for the country its share 
 of sacrifice, decrees 
 
 1. A general remission to tenants of the rents 
 due for the quarters of October, 1870, January 
 and April, 1871. 
 
 2. All the sums already paid by tenants during 
 these nine months shall be deducted from the 
 rent of coming quarters. 
 
 3. A general remission also of sums due for 
 furnished apartments. 
 
 4. All leases may be cancelled, if the tenants 
 so wish, during the next six months. 
 
 5. All notices to quit given by the proprietors 
 may, on the demand of tenants, be deferred for 
 three months. 
 
 The Commune of Paris decrees 
 
 That the sale of articles pawned at the Monte 
 de Piete is suspended. 
 
 I saw several men, who looked as if they were 
 small shopkeepers, reading the second decree 
 
152 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 with evident satisfaction, and chuckling over the 
 supposed rage and disappointment of the pro- 
 prietors. In another group gathered round this 
 popular afficke I overheard a man saying, " But 
 this is meant only for the people who cannot pay. 
 If anyone who can pay were to take advantage 
 of it to cheat his landlord, I should call him a 
 wretch." 
 
 These three decrees show plainly enough the 
 cause of the great strength and popularity of the 
 insurrection. If the Government had been wise 
 it would at once have dealt with the exceptional 
 case of Paris. During the five months' siege the 
 shopkeepers have done scarcely any business. 
 They would now have had their rents to pay to 
 proprietors who have been absent during the 
 siege, and they have not the money to pay them. 
 Most of the poorer people pawned what few 
 valuables they had to get money to live during 
 the siege. Articles precious to them, which they 
 would never have parted with except to buy dear 
 life, found their way to the Mont de Piete. 
 These two decrees therefore are welcomed by a 
 large majority of the population. The abolition 
 of the conscription is also very popular. The 
 indirect blow also struck at the dependence of 
 the Church on the State is rejoiced over by 
 nearly all Parisians. 
 
 An announcement is made in the Liberie not 
 at all comforting to residents in Paris. "The 
 Chief of the Secret Police of London, now in 
 Paris, says : ' I am assured that there are now 
 in Paris more than 4,000 English robbers who 
 will no doubt search the pockets of the curious 
 
THE EED FLAG. % 153 
 
 who assemble in groups on the Boulevards and 
 elsewhere." It is said that there is to be a 
 grand review of the National Guard by the 
 members of the Commune some day soon, pro- 
 bably in the Place de la Concorde and Champs 
 Elysees. Omnibuses full of clothing for the 
 National Guard are to be seen passing along the 
 streets. Yesterday afternoon at five o'clock I 
 saw, to my astonishment, a flock of sheep and a 
 drove of oxen in the Boulevard des Capucines. 
 Such a sight was never seen in other days at the 
 fashionable hour in the most fashionable boule- 
 vard of Paris. Sic transit ! 
 
 Friday, 11 a.m. 
 
 I have just learned that no letters have entered 
 Paris this morning, and that the gates are shut. 
 The trains are stopped on some of the lines. So 
 we are shut up as in a cage ! As I went out our 
 concierge said, " I never felt afraid during the 
 siege, but now I am trembling." Our librarian 
 and his wife both said that the news they heard 
 this morning made them quite afraid. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 As we are shut in, we thought it would be 
 well to lay in a stock of provisions, and went 
 this afternoon to Potin's, a large provision 
 merchant. The shop was crowded with people 
 on the same errand with myself, and we had 
 difficulty in getting served. One poor woman 
 near us said, " C'est-le dernier jour de notre vie.'" 
 " It's the last day of our life." Others think 
 
154 .PAKIS UNDER 
 
 that affairs will soon be arranged. But who 
 can tell what is to be the end ? For myself and 
 those dear to me I have no fear, knowing that 
 we are under the protection of God. Having 
 referred to Potin, let me contradict a statement 
 which went the round of the English papers 
 during the siege, that Potin, a large provision 
 merchant, had committed suicide. The story 
 was that he had concealed a number of hams, 
 and, when they were requisitioned he put an end 
 to his life. The whole story is untrue. He is 
 alive and well. Indeed, he is worthy of all 
 commendation, for, during the siege, when most 
 articles of consumption were sold in Paris at an 
 exorbitant price, he raised his prices very little. 
 The streets of Paris have had a very deserted 
 and sad aspect to-day. It was strange indeed 
 not to see a single postman in any of the 
 thoroughfares. 
 
 Saturday, April 1. 
 
 I went early this morning to the Gare St. 
 Lazare and the Gare du Nord. At the Gare St. 
 Lazare I found, that although railway commu- 
 nications with Versailles are stopped, the trains 
 still go at the usual hours along the Rouen line, 
 and also to St. Germain and Argenteuil. At 
 the Gare du Nord all was in full activity, and 
 instead of the trains being stopped or reduced 
 in number, I found that a new train to Boulogne 
 had just been added. Our communications with 
 England are therefore not likely to be inter- 
 rupted, at least not for the present. My next 
 visit was to the Post-office at the Madeleine,. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 155 
 
 which to my joy I found open instead of fast 
 closed as yesterday, and one solitary official 
 walking to and fro. " Have any letters arrived 
 from England?" "No." "Will there be a 
 post to England this evening ?" " Yes." " At 
 what time must we post letters?" "Before 
 five o'clock." "Where are the letters that 
 arrived from England yesterday?" "At Ver- 
 sailles." "Where must we make application 
 for them?" "Either at Versailles or at the 
 Direction General des Posies, in the Rue Jean 
 Jacques Rousseau." I came away with a light 
 heart at the thought of postal communications 
 being reopened with England. 
 
 The leading article in the Paris Journal 
 begins thus : " The Blockade. — Here we are 
 again in the sad days of the siege. Our letters 
 do not leave, our journals are no longer sent 
 into the provinces ; our railways even have in 
 part been interrupted. Indeed, the gates of 
 Paris are closed, and the ordinary articles of 
 consumption increase in price. Nothing more 
 is wanted but to see the balloon ' Commune de 
 Paris ' rise from the Tuileries, and to hear the 
 cannon roll about our ramparts." 
 
 The Commune is making requisition both 
 within and outside Paris. The Palais Royal 
 has been visited by the representatives of the 
 Committee from the cellar to the garret. Seals 
 have been placed everywhere ; even the wine 
 has been put under sequestration. To show the 
 complete liberty of the press, the Constitutionnel 
 was seized the day before yesterday, and the 
 
156 PARIS UNDER 
 
 sale of the Elect eur Libre forbidden. Several 
 new papers are appearing; among them, La 
 Fratemitc and La ISociale ! 
 
 April 3. 
 I walked out yesterday (Sunday) morning 
 along our Boulevard between nine and ten 
 o'clock. At the entrance of the Church St. 
 Augustin I saw great quantities of sprigs of box- 
 wood, and little girls were running about offering 
 the sprigs of green at one sou each. It was 
 Palm Sunday ! Nothing different, however, 
 from any ordinary Palm Sunday, except that 
 groups of the National Guard were standing near 
 the pretty fountain in front of the church" and 
 that the cannon frequently groivlecl in the dis- 
 tance. We held oar peaceful service in the 
 chapel at half-past eleven, and afterwards par- 
 took of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper : 
 God was with us of a truth. The service over, 
 one of our young men, who lives at the Ternes, 
 brought word that there had been fighting at 
 Courbevoie, and that the roll of the cannon was 
 from Valerien. In the afternoon the Champs 
 Elysees were crowded, and large groups of 
 people were to be seen around the Arc de 
 Triomphe standing on the elevated ground or on 
 the projecting stonework to get a view T along the 
 Avenue de Neuilly. The wide Avenue de la 
 Grand Armee from the Arc de Triomphe to the 
 Porte Maillot was filled with people and National 
 Guards. After our evening service and prayer- 
 meeting, some of our people gave the following 
 account of what they had heard : — Some 
 battalions of the National Guard had gone out 
 
THE KED FLAG. 157 
 
 in the direction of Courbevoie, and there had 
 encountered a company of gendarmes and a 
 regiment of Pontifical Zouaves. A skirmish 
 followed, and several were killed and wounded. 
 The battery at Courbevoie kept up a brisk fire 
 during the engagement. The National Guard, 
 finding themselves outnumbered, retreated to 
 the city. In the evening the rappel and generate 
 were beaten all over Paris, and the National 
 Guards assembled in great force in the Avenue 
 de la Grand Armee and the district of the Ternes. 
 We say a battalion passing along our Boulevard, 
 going probably, poor fellows, as sheep to the 
 slaughter. And what for ? 
 
 This (Monday) morning we have heard the 
 roll of the cannon, I suppose from Mont Valerien, 
 since six o'clock. , It is now half-past seven, and 
 it still continues. No doubt a fight is going on. 
 
 Monday 10 a.m. 
 
 The cannonade ceased about nine o'clock, and 
 all has been quiet since. We know not what 
 has taken place this morning ; but we hear that 
 National Guards are to be seen walking two and 
 three together along the streets, and looking 
 very dejected. The Journal ties Debats gives 
 the following account of yesterday : — 
 
 " An engagement, which commenced about 
 nine o'clock in the morning, took place between 
 the National Guards stationed at Courbevoie 
 and the advanced posts of the Versailles troops 
 massed for the past few days at Puteaux. At 
 ten o'clock the sound of cannon and mitrailleuses 
 
158 PARIS UNDER 
 
 was added to that of the fusillade. At eleven 
 o'clock the cannon which had been placed at 
 the roncl jioint of Courbevoie ceased their lire. 
 Some shells fell at the entrance of the Bois de 
 Boulogne, near the Porte Maillot. The bat- 
 talions engaged on the side of the National 
 Guard were the 93rd, the 119th, the 135th, and 
 some companies of the 127th. On the opposite 
 side were some troops of the line and the 
 gendarmes." 
 
 The Liberie in its account adds: — "Some 
 National Guards beat a retreat, and re-entered 
 the city by the Porte Maillot." 
 
 Monday Afternoon. 
 
 We cannot get any definite information as to 
 what went on this morning. It is said that the 
 National Guard was compelled to fall back on 
 Paris. The firing of cannon is said not to have 
 been from Valerien, but from the cannon that 
 were placed yesterday near the Porte Maillot. 
 The Boulevards are quiet to-day ; indeed, the 
 whole city has a calm aspect, compared with the 
 tumult and effervescence of yesterday. It is 
 said that 160,000 passengers left Paris last week. 
 
 This afternoon we walked along the Champs 
 Ely sees to the Arc de Triomphe. There was a 
 great concourse of people in the Place de la 
 Concorde and along the Champs Elysees. Soli- 
 tary National Guards were here and there sur- 
 rounded by groups eagerly asking them ques- 
 tions. The poor fellows looked thoroughly 
 fatigued and disspirited. Occasionally a small 
 
THE RED FLAG. 159 
 
 company of National Guards passed along the 
 Avenue looking quite disorganised. One poor 
 wounded man hobbled along the asphalt leaning 
 on the arm of a comrade with a face the picture 
 of misery, and a clotted stream of blood on his 
 forehead. When we reached the Arc de 
 Triomphe we found it surrounded with crowds 
 of people who were looking in the direction of 
 Courbevoie. Lines of white smoke showed that 
 there had just been &fus*ilacle in that direction.. 
 The roll of cannon was also heard during the 
 afternoon in the direction of Clamart and 
 Chatillon to the south of Paris. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 On my return from taking my letters to the 
 northern station, to entrust them to a guard of 
 one of the trains to post them at some station 
 on the line, I met several groups of National 
 Guards returning to their homes at Montmartre^ 
 looking fatigued and worn, and covered with dust ; 
 so changed in their appearance from what they 
 were when they marched out on Sunday even- 
 ing. All is very quiet this evening. Such a 
 contrast to the excitement and noise of last 
 night ! A woman selling papers at one of the 
 kiosques in the Boulevard, speaking of last 
 night, said : Je ne pouvais pas dormir die tout. 
 Les regiments marchaient. On criait partout, 
 Avx armes, aux armes. In to-day's Journal 
 Officiel of Paris I read : — 
 
 " The Commune of Paris, considering that 
 the men of the Government of Versailles have 
 
160 PAKIS UNDER 
 
 ordered and begun civil war, attacked Paris, 
 killed and wounded National Guards, soldiers of 
 the line, women and children, and considering 
 that this crime was committed with premedita- 
 tion and wantonly against all right and without 
 provocation, decrees : Art. I. MM. Thiers, 
 Favre, Picard, Dufaure, Simon, and Pothaun 
 are put under accusation. Art. II. Their goods 
 shall be seized and sequestered until they have 
 been brought to trial before the people's tribunal 
 of justice. 
 
 " The Commune of Paris, considering that 
 the first principle of the French Eepublic is 
 Liberty, considering that liberty of conscience 
 is the first of liberties, considering that the 
 budget of worship is contrary to principle 
 in imposing on people against their own 
 faith ; considering, indeed, that the clergy 
 have been the accomplices of the crimes of the 
 monarchy against -liberty, decrees, Art. I. The 
 Church is separated from the State. Art. II. 
 The budget of worship is suppressed. Art. III. 
 The so-called benefices of Mortmain, belonging 
 to religious societies, are declared national pro- 
 perty. Art. IV. An inquiry shall be made im- 
 immediately concerning such benefices, to state 
 their nature and to place them at the disposal of 
 the nation." 
 
 Tuesday, April 4. 
 
 The city is quiet to-day, and there seems to 
 be no probability at present of the renewal of 
 the fighting. As I went across the Place de la 
 Concord this morning I saw a group of women 
 
THE EED FLAG. 161 
 
 assembled around a red flag. Shortly afterwards 
 these women formed a procession, marched 
 along the Kue de Kivoli, and turned up the Kue 
 Castiglione. What was their object I could not 
 make out. A man near me in the Eue de 
 Bivoli, as they passed, said, " Those women are 
 from Versailles, and they cannot get back home, 
 the gates on the side of Versailles being all 
 closed." 
 
 Very contradictory statements are made in 
 reference to the doings of yesterday ; and as to 
 the accounts given by the National Guards who 
 had been themselves in the affray, each man 
 gave a different story. The papers this morning 
 also contradict each other ; but from all we can 
 learn there were three engagements yesterday — 
 one at Nanterre, where some battalions from 
 Menilmontant and Belleville, under the com- 
 mand of Bergeret, were fired upon by Mont 
 Valerien and dispersed by the shells, which fell 
 into their very midst ; another early in the 
 morning not far from Fort Issy, and near 
 Meudon ; and the third about three o'clock in 
 the afternoon in the direction of Clamart and 
 Chatillon. In each instance the National 
 Guards, mostly from Montmartre and Belleville 
 were met by a fussilade bieri nourrie ; at first 
 they retired, and afterwards there w T as a de- 
 bandade getierale. The National Guards went 
 home, and show but little enthusiasm for the 
 continuance of the struggle. The loss on the 
 side of the National Guards in killed and 
 wounded was great, some say over a thousand, 
 but it is difficult to ascertain the truth. 
 
162 PAKIS UNDEE 
 
 April 5. 
 
 The situation of affairs remains exactly the 
 same as when I wrote yesterday. We are unable 
 to get reliable news, receiving no English papers; 
 and the French papers in which one has been 
 accustomed to place some confidence (the Journal 
 des Debats, for example) have not appeared this 
 morning. But so far as I can learn, righting is 
 still going on at Clamart and Chatillon. From 
 the top of our tower we can see curling wreaths- 
 of white smoke rising from Forts Issy and 
 Vanves, and from the heights of Chatillon, 
 telling that a fierce artillery duel is going on. 
 Sometimes we can hear the heavy roll of the 
 distant cannon. Whether there is also fighting 
 between the troops of the Versailles and the 
 National Guards I cannot tell. Yesterday there 
 was a good deal of fighting near the forts and in 
 the woods, and many wounded were brought 
 into the city. There was much talk yesterday 
 of a probable reconciliation between the Govern- 
 ment of Versailles and the Commune of Paris ; 
 and it is said that there was a meeting of the 
 Deputies of Paris and the former mayors to 
 strive to be the means of effecting such a recon- 
 ciliation ; but to-day it seems little likely that a 
 reconciliation will take place. Here is the lead- 
 ing article of the Bappel :—■ 
 
 " Conciliation ! is it possible between the men 
 who, without declaration of war, attacked Mont- 
 martre, who abandoned Paris, who refused the 
 city its rights, who have engaged in civil war, 
 authorise barbarities committed on the prisoners. 
 
THE BED FLAG. 163 
 
 (The Prussians did not shoot ! The Government 
 of Versailles is more savage than the Govern- 
 ment of Berlin), who recommence the siege in 
 the presence of the enemy ; between these men 
 and the men who took the reins of power after 
 the revolution of March 18, who continue the 
 war, who put Ministers under accusation, who 
 have organised the Commune, who pursue with 
 determination the reactionaires, can there be a 
 reconciliation possible ? Common sense says 
 No. But is there no method of ending this 
 dreadful situation ? Is there no method of 
 stopping the effusion of blood and saving the 
 Republic ? Perhaps. On the one side energetic 
 radical measures must be taken ; on the other 
 it behoves every one who loves France to devote 
 himself in order to save it. There must be (1) 
 the recognition of the rights of the Commune 
 of the municipality of Paris. (2) The promul- 
 gation of a new electoral law, assuring to the 
 different towns of France — to the different Com- 
 munes — a more homogeneous representation, 
 which will prevent their votes from being 
 swamped by the country votes, which will 
 guarantee, in a word, the rights of the intelli- 
 gent and enlightened minorities. (3) The dis- 
 solution of the Assembly at Versailles, and the 
 convocation, as soon as possible, of a Constituent 
 Assembly. (4) Re-elections everywhere. At 
 this price Paris may be satisfied, and the civil 
 war may be stopped. But let this be done 
 quickly, for blood is flowing." This article is 
 signed " Edouard Lockroy." Paris is looking 
 sad and deserted. About half the shops on the 
 
164 PAKIS UNDER 
 
 Boulevards are closed, and some only half open. 
 What is to be the end it is difficult to predict. 
 
 April 7. 
 
 We are truly again in the " Keign of Terror. "" 
 Many have been arrested and imprisoned, and 
 there is a general feeling of uneasiness through- 
 out the city. The guillotine was set up on the 
 Boulevard Yoltaire, but it was immediately 
 burned, and I hear two accounts, one that it was 
 burned by the indignant people, another that it 
 was brought out from the prison de la Eoquette 
 and burned purposely to show the people's horror 
 of capital punishment. There was heavy fight- 
 ing in the direction of Courbevoie yesterday 
 morning and afternoon. There was a terrible 
 fusillade on the bridge of Neuilly, and the bridge 
 and barricade are now in the hands of the Ver- 
 sailles troops. Three positions near Paris are 
 now occupied by the troops, Asnieres, Courbe- 
 voie, and Puteaux. There are different reports- 
 as to the number of killed and wounded in the 
 combat of yesterday, but it is agreed on all 
 hands that it was very great on the side of the 
 insurgents. A National Guard said to-day, 
 " Nous serous bientbt ecrasts" (We shall soon 
 be completely destroyed.) There was a great 
 concourse of people at the funeral of the 
 National Guards who fell on the 3rd, 4th, and 
 5th. The procession passed from the Hospital 
 Beaujon along the Boulevard Hausmann, Boule- 
 vard Malesherbes, and along the line of the 
 Boulevards de Madeleine, des Capucines, &c, 
 
THE RED FLAG. 165 
 
 to Pere la Chase. The bodies were conveyed in 
 three funeral cars draped in black, with red flags 
 at each corner. Several battalions of the 
 National Guard followed, the men looking 
 thoughtful and sad. At intervals there was the 
 sound of the muffled drum. The procession was 
 followed by men and women, relatives and friends 
 of the deceased. Dense crowds lined the 
 Boulevards on each side throughout the whole 
 course of the procession. It was an impressive 
 sight. 
 
 Fighting has been going on again to-day at 
 Neuilly. I could see the bombs from Mont 
 Valerien quite plainly from the Arc de Triomphe. 
 The Champs Elysees were crowded throughout 
 their whole length with people going up to see 
 the battle from afar. Oh that these days of 
 civil war may speedily come to a close ! 
 
 A meeting was to have been held last evening 
 in the Salle de la Bourse, but it was interdicted. 
 An announcement to this effect was placarded 
 yesterday. " The Commune of Paris decrees, 
 Art. I. The meeting announced for this evening 
 at six o'clock, Salle de la Bourse is interdicted. 
 Art. II. Every manifestation likely to disturb 
 order and to excite intestine strife during the 
 battle will be rigorously repressed by force." 
 
 Nevertheless, from the leading article in the 
 Journal Officiel of Paris this evening, it seems 
 as if the Commune were giving way a little : — 
 
 u The Government of Versailles deceives you 
 in saying that Paris wishes to govern France 
 and exercise a dictature which would be the 
 negation of the National Sovereignty. They 
 
166 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 deceive you when they say that robbery and 
 assassination are publicly perpetrated in Paris. 
 Our streets have never been more quiet." (This 
 is true enough, but it is on the principle, "Make 
 a desert and then call it peace.") " During 
 three weeks not a single robbery has been com- 
 mitted ! Not a single attempt at assassination 
 has occurred. Paris only aspires to found the 
 Republic, and to acquire its communal franchise, 
 happy to furnish an example to the other Com- 
 munes of France. If the Commune of Paris 
 has gone beyond the circle of its normal attri- 
 butions, it is to its great regret, and it has been 
 only to answer to the state of war provoked by 
 the Government of Versailles. Paris only 
 aspires to govern itself, full of respect for the 
 equal rights of the other Communes of France. 
 As to the members of the Commune, they have 
 no other ambition than to see the day arrive 
 when Paris, delivered from the Royalists who 
 threaten it, will be able to proceed to new 
 elections." 
 
 We are in doubt as to whether Paris will be 
 again bombarded, and have to endure the horrors 
 of another siege. It appears, from what has 
 transpired in the Assembly of Versailles, that 
 there are many of the deputies who would be 
 glad to see Paris bombarded and the city burnt 
 to the ground. They seem to forget that burn- 
 ing Paris would not destroy the weeds they are 
 striving to uproot, which would crop up else- 
 where if turned out of their favourite soil in 
 Paris. The cause of this tumult lies deep, and 
 ■cannot be dealt with at a stroke. This " pro- 
 
THE RED FLAG. 167 
 
 letariat f controversy, which is at the bottom of 
 all, is the great question for the next generation 
 to settle. A significant paragraph has appeared 
 lately in some of the papers, showing that for 
 the same room occupied by a workman the rent 
 has been trebled within the last eighteen years.. 
 The notion, right or wrong, that the workmen 
 are spending muscle and brain to enrich capita- 
 lists, without getting a corresponding increase 
 in wages in proportion to the increasing value of 
 their labour, is laying hold of the whole class of 
 workmen. — All feel very acutely the being cut 
 off from correspondence with friends. We are 
 told that now all letters put into the post are 
 forwarded, but we have received no letters since 
 March 30. 
 
 There is an order published by the Commune 
 that all citizens from seventeen to thirty-five 
 years of age are to enrol themselves in the 
 National Guard. Yesterday there was a great 
 crowed of people at the Northern Station flying 
 from Paris. National Guards were there in force, 
 preventing any man who could not bring proof 
 that he was a married man and not within the 
 age in which he would be liable to serve, from 
 leaving Paris. There never was, in the history 
 of the world, a despotism like that under which 
 we are living. Well may we say, with Madame 
 Poland when she was being led to execution in 
 1793, " Liberty, what crimes are committed in 
 thy name!" One good thing will have been 
 accomplished by these days of terror ; a whole- 
 some hatred of the Commune will have been 
 inspired into the minds of the people. 
 
168 PARIS UNDER 
 
 In addition to the arrests of the Cure of the 
 Madeleine, &c, we hear that the Cure of St. 
 Laurent and many priests at the Jesuits' College 
 have been arrested and incarcerated. The 
 valuables of the churches have been put under 
 sequestration. Many Eoman Cathalic churches 
 were shut up to-day. 
 
 April 8. 
 
 At three o'clock this morning I heard the roll 
 of cannon, and it continued till seven or eight 
 o'clock. There was then a slight cessation. 
 Afterwards during the morning there was the 
 occasional boom. It seems that yesterday a 
 bomb fell at the corner of the Arc de Triomphe 
 and another in the Avenue Josephine. The city 
 is now regularly besieged, though not invested. 
 The Versailles troops are drawing nearer the 
 fortifications ; they occupy the bridge of Neuilly 
 and part of the Avenue de Neuilly. The ram- 
 parts are being bombarded from Valerien, and 
 possibly an assault may be made to-morrow. 
 
 The representatives of Paris present at Ver- 
 sailles have addressed a declaration to the 
 inhabitants of Paris in the interests of peace 
 and order, deploring the useless effusion of 
 blood, and lamenting that, while the enemy is 
 still on the soil of France, the blood of French- 
 men should be shed in civil war. Whether this 
 '" declaration" will produce an effect remains to 
 be seen. In the Journal Officiel of Paris this 
 morning is the following paragraph : — 
 
 " Considering the patriotic reclamations of a 
 great number of National Guards, who, although 
 
THE RED FLAG. 169 
 
 married, hold to the honour of defending their 
 municipal independence, even at the price of 
 their life, the decree of April 5 is thus modified : 
 From seventeen to nineteen years of age the 
 service in the companies of war shall be 
 voluntary, and from nineteen to forty obligatory 
 for National Guards, whether married or not. 
 All good patriots are expected themselves to 
 form the police of their arrondissement, and to 
 force the refractory to serve." 
 
 Here is the account of yesterday which appears, 
 in La Petite Press : — 
 
 " The action was concentrated at Courbevoie 
 and at Neuilly with even more fury than before. 
 What cannonading ! At the moment we arrived 
 at the Arc de Triomphe, exactly three o'clock,, 
 the crowd, an immense crowd, was flying in all 
 directions in the greatest disorder, men, women, 
 children — everybody was running in the direc- 
 tion of the Champs Elysees and the neighbour- 
 ing streets. ' What is it ?' we asked. * Ah, Sir/ 
 replied an old man, ' a bomb has fallen in the 
 avenue on this side the enceinte ; hence the 
 panic that you see.' From this point the bombs, 
 did not cease to rain on the Porte Maillot and 
 the fortifications. So far as one could judge 
 from this distance, the Versailles^ troops were 
 massed at the foot of the column of Courbevoie. 
 Their batteries, six in number, were placed in 
 front of the column, firing upon the barricade of 
 the bridge of Neuilly and upon the barrier of 
 the Porte Maillot. At four o'clock the barrier 
 was demolished. Some National Guards crossed 
 the road running, and took refuge in the houses 
 
170 PARIS UNDER 
 
 on the left side. The batteries of the fortifica- 
 tions fired without interruption ; nevertheless, 
 the Versailles batteries evidently drew nearer. 
 The struggle was more severe than ever. One 
 could count by hundreds the projectiles which 
 were hurled against the wall of the enceinte and 
 in the avenue at about 160 yards from the Arc 
 de Triomphe. Mont Valerien mingled its hoarse 
 voise in this horrible concert, sending its shells 
 to the right and to the left, as if the movements 
 of the National Guards were taking place 
 outside the fortifications. One heard from time 
 to time the frightful grinding of the mitrail- 
 leuses." 
 
 The general aspect of the streets, except the 
 Champs Elysees, is the same, deserted and 
 gloomy. The partie officielle of the Journal 
 Officiel contains this announcement : " Con- 
 sidering that the grades of generals are incom- 
 patible with the democratic organisation of the 
 Guard, and were only temporarily used — Art. I. 
 The grade of general is suppressed. Art. II. 
 The citoyen Ladislas Dombrowski, commander 
 of the 12th Legion, is named Commander of the 
 place of Paris, instead of citoyen Bergeret, who 
 is called to other functions." 
 
 Monday morning, April 10. 
 
 Yesterday (Easter Sunday) morning was 
 ushered in with the roll of cannon. The quiet 
 of our morning service was often interrupted by 
 the heavy clap caused by the explosion of the 
 bombs near the Arc de Triomphe. All was 
 
THE RED FLAG. 171 
 
 comparatively quiet during our evening service 
 and the prayer-meeting which followed. Some 
 people came to us during the day to ask where 
 they could find shelter, as shells were falling 
 around their houses. It seems that during 
 Saturday night and throughout yesterday the 
 houses situated in the Avenue de la Grand 
 Armee and Avenue des Ternes suffered a con- 
 tinuous bombardment. Mont Valerien fired at 
 intervals, and the batteries at Courbevoie 
 thundered without intermission. The shells 
 fell mostly in the Avenue de la Grande Armee 
 and around the Arc de Triomphe, one injuring 
 the arch just above the bas-relief on the right 
 hand. Some shells fell in the neighbouring 
 streets, Eue de Galilee, corner of the Eue de 
 Berri, &c, and one is said to have reached the 
 Pare Monceaux. Many have been the victims 
 of the bombardment. Women and children 
 have been killed or wounded. A wine merchant 
 w 7 as killed close to his own door, and a chef de 
 musique, by name Thibaut, was so severely 
 wounded that he died a few minutes afterwards. 
 A shell fell on one of the chains surrounding 
 the Arc de Triomphe, sending the rings far and 
 wide. One of them wounded a poor man in the 
 leg. Indeed so dangerous did it become in the 
 afternoon to go near the arch that no one was 
 allowed to pass along the Champs Elysees 
 beyond the Bond Point. Below that point, 
 however, there was an immense crowd. True, 
 some faces seemed much saddened and solemn- 
 ised ; but the greater part seemed to have come 
 out as a spectacle ! Will it be believed when 
 
172 PARIS UNDER 
 
 death, havoc, and destruction were being dealt 
 out wholesale within so short a distance, that a 
 goat carriage drawn by four goats was to be seen 
 near the asphalted walk, and the people near 
 seemed to take pleasure in the diversion ! A 
 perfect anomaly is the French character. At 
 five o'clock yesterday afternoon some National 
 Guards ^egan to throw up a barricade at the 
 junction of the Eue Eoyale with the Place de la 
 Concorde. As there are no paving stones in the 
 Eue Eoyale, the work of raising a barricade was 
 more difficult than in other places where paving- 
 stones are at hand, and the work went on but 
 slowly. There was hardly any firing to be heard 
 last night, and this morning when I went 
 out, about seven o'clock, all was perfectly still 
 in the streets. No progress had been made with 
 the barricade at the end of the Eue Eoyale ; 
 but as I stood in the Place de la Concorde I saw 
 two companies of National Guards, with pick- 
 axes and shovels on their shoulders, making 
 towards the corner of the Eue Eoyale and the 
 Eue de Eivoli. They immediately set to work. 
 By twelve o'clock these two barricades, com- 
 posed principally of earth thrown up from deep 
 holes cut in the road, were completed half 
 across each street. From these preparations it 
 would seem as if an attack were still expected, 
 as certainly was the general belief yesterday. 
 The aspect of the city to-day, and the silence 
 of Valerien and of the batteries of Courbevoie, 
 except an occasional detonation, lead me to 
 think some efforts must be in course of being 
 made at Versailles to effect a reconciliation. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 173 
 
 The news reaches us that Thiers in the Assembly 
 has contended for the municipal freedom of all 
 the towns in France, and that if his point were 
 not conceded, he would retire from his post as 
 Chief of the Executive power. Surely if this 
 be granted, and it should be tolerably certain 
 that the Eepublic will be maintained, there will 
 be a basis of conciliation, and this civil war may 
 be brought to a close. 
 
 Most of the priests taken prisoners within the 
 last few days are still detained, but one or two 
 have been set at liberty. Among those released 
 may be mentioned the Cure of St. Eustache, 
 who was allowed to leave his prison yesterday 
 morning. When he appeared in the pulpit at 
 St. Eustache the men waved their hats and the 
 women their pocket handkerchiefs. The Arch- 
 bishop of Paris, so say the papers, has been 
 removed from the Conciergerie to the prison 
 Mazas. Kumour says that M. Duguerry, the 
 Cure of the Madeleine, an old man of seventy- 
 six years, most highly esteemed and beloved 
 throughout his parish, has died in prison, over- 
 whelmed with grief and chagrin. Notre Dame 
 was entered and pillaged yesterday. Nothing, 
 however, of great value was found. 1793 did 
 the work of pillaging Notre Dame so thoroughly 
 that there is but little left for 1871 to do. 
 Several domiciliary visits have been paid ; but 
 in very few instances has much spoil been found. 
 The Cure of the large church close by us, St. 
 Augustin, and the Cure of La Trinite, at a short 
 distance, have both been placed under arrest. 
 The Cure of St. Laurent managed to escape. 
 
174 PARIS UNDER 
 
 Thousands are flying from Paris. Scarcely a 
 young man, except in the uniform of the National 
 Guard, is to be seen. The' " Laissez passer " 
 must be procured at the Prefecture of Police in 
 order to leave Paris, and no man between nine- 
 teen and forty years of age is allowed to quit. 
 It is stated that 50,000 persons left the city 
 each day last week. From the deserted look of 
 the streets, if it were not for the magnificence 
 of the houses, one would suppose oneself to be 
 walking through a second-rate provincial French 
 town. 
 
 A devoted English lady, Miss Blundell, who 
 love the French and has spent years in France 
 in earnest efforts to do them good, has just 
 printed a fly-sheet in the style of Pere Duchene 
 beginning "lis sont venusT and ending with 
 an earnest exhortation to sinners to come at 
 once to Christ. She was suspect e of favouring 
 the Versailles party, and marched off between 
 two armed National Guards. But when her fly- 
 sheet was read through it was pronounced to be 
 " irrei>rocliable" and she was set at liberty. 
 
 We see here and there in the streets great 
 waggons filled with furniture with Demenagement 
 in large characters upon them. It would seem 
 as if the people remaining in Paris were meaning 
 to take advantage of the decree of the Commune 
 absolving them from the payment of rent for 
 the last nine months. Some on leaving their 
 apartments have had the impudence to ask their 
 landlords for a receipt for the amount of their 
 rent ! 
 
THE RED FLAG. 175 
 
 Elections for the vacant places in the Com- 
 mune were to have taken place to-day ; but a 
 placard posted this morning announces that they 
 &re deferred. Pere Duchene (the ultra-Com- 
 munist paper) says, that this putting off the 
 •elections is worse than a crime, it is a fault ! 
 und declares himself for the first time in absolute 
 •opposition to the Commune. Bergeret, the 
 former Commandant de la Place de Paris, is 
 now under arrest. So much for the concord of 
 the Commune ! 
 
 3 p.m. 
 
 On looking out from the top of our tower in 
 the direction of Neuilly and towards Issy, 
 Vanves, and Montrouge, I see much white smoke, 
 showing that my hope that hostilities were 
 ■ceasing is vain. The last news is that the can- 
 nonade and fusilade still continue at the Porte 
 Maillot, and that an attack is being made on 
 Montrouge. 
 
 Paris, Monday evening, April 10. 
 
 Going out about four o'clock this afternoon, I 
 was surprised to find the Boulevards, the Rue 
 Royale, the Rue de Rivoli, the Place de la Con- 
 corde, and the Champs Ely sees as far as the 
 Rond Point, crowded with people. But remem- 
 bering that, being Easter Monday, it is a general 
 holiday, one could, under ordinary circumstances, 
 have accounted for the great concourse of 
 people ; but surely none except French people 
 would have turned out for a holiday when such 
 
176 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 numbers of their fellow-countrymen are at this 
 moment lying dead or wounded. Crossing the 
 Place de la Concorde, we found a great crowd 
 gathered around the Obelisk of Luxor, looking 
 up the Champs Elysees. No bombs, however, 
 were flying about to-day, as yesterday, and we 
 could see that some venturesome people were 
 walking up to the arch. There was another 
 crowd along the Quai de Billy. The object of 
 their curiosity was a collection of gunboats, 
 seven or eight in number, moored alongside the 
 quay, but with their steam up and ready to start 
 at any moment. The Opinion Nationale this, 
 evening has an article headed "La Paixl la 
 Paixl" and gives an account of the interview 
 of the delegates of the commercial men in Paris- 
 with M. Thiers. I hear that the Versailles 
 cannon has broken the jpont Levis of the Porte 
 Maillot, and that at any moment the Versailles, 
 troops might enter. The preparations now 
 being made by the National Guards indicate the 
 expectation of street fighting. In addition to 
 the barricades recently constructed at the end 
 of the Rue Royale and the Rue Rivoli, we saw, 
 when in the Place de la Concorde this afternoon, 
 that they were making a strong barricade at the 
 entrance of the Pont de la Conde. If it should 
 come to street fighting, the slaughter would be 
 terrible. 
 
 An amusing paragraph in connection with the 
 Northern Station is going the round of the 
 papers : " The Prussians are not confining them- 
 selves to interdicting any interference on the 
 part of the members of the Commune with the 
 
THE RED FLAG. 177 
 
 management of the Northern line. They have, 
 to a certain point, taken possession of the 
 Northern Station. For two days a Prussian 
 officer, dressed in ordinary costume, has taken 
 up his abode in the bureaux of the station 
 master, and superintends the regular departure 
 of the trains. At nine o'clock an individual 
 strangely attired, with a grey hat and waistcoat 
 a la Mobespierrr, drove up to the station in a 
 carriage with four horses, and escorted by four 
 red-shirted horsemen. He asked to see the 
 station master, and said that the Commune, of 
 which he was a member, held him (the station 
 master) responsible for having allowed more 
 than 200 men between seventeen and thirty-five 
 years of age to leave Paris by that line. ■ Sir/ 
 said the station master, ' I do not recognise 
 the Commune, and besides, the Northern line 
 is placed under the surveillance of the Prussians, 
 and to them you must address your complaint/ 
 At this juncture the Prussian officer made his- 
 appearance, and requested the member of the 
 Commune to follow him. ' Where ? Who are 
 you ?' ' A Prussian officer, about to transport 
 you to St. Denis.' Without further delay the 
 whole party set off at a gallop." 
 
 The following letter appeared in the Times of 
 April 15th : — 
 
 April 12. 
 
 In the omnibus last evening, as I went to the 
 Chemin de Per du Nord to find some passenger 
 to take my letters to England, was a woman 
 talking to a National Guard about the losses in 
 
178 PARIS UNDER 
 
 killed and wounded during the last few days. 
 The number was spoken of as being very great. 
 One battalion had been almost entirely cut up. 
 The woman at the end of the conversation 
 uttered a deep groan, more significant than any 
 words she could have employed. As we were 
 sitting quietly in our room at 9 o'clock last 
 evening we heard the loud report of a gun, as if 
 very near, then two more detonations, and then 
 immediately succeeded what seemed to be a 
 terrible fusillade, and it appeared so near that 
 we supposed it must be in the Champs Elysees, 
 and we came to the conclusion that the Versailles 
 troops had come in by stealth, and that a fierce 
 battle was raging between them and the insur- 
 gents within a short distance from us. We 
 opened our windows and looked out. The night 
 w T as very dark ; and on the black sky, apparently 
 just over the Palais de l'lndustrie, was a lurid 
 glare, flashes exactly like lightning glinting the 
 heavens. We first fell on our knees to pray to 
 God to have mercy on the poor creatures who 
 were at that moment being killed ; then we 
 mounted our tower, and from this excellent point 
 of observation watched the battle till midnight. 
 At 10 o'clock the firing slackened, and the hoarse 
 grating of the mitrailleuses was less frequently 
 heard ; but the cannon growled more furiously, 
 and it seemed to us as if it were within the city. 
 Had the Versailles troop entered ? Were they 
 gaining the victory or not ? If within the city, 
 how had they entered ? were questions which 
 agitated us, but which we could not settle. At 
 midnight we retired to rest, and slept as well as 
 
THE BED FLAG. 179 
 
 the report of artillery at intervals would allow 
 us. From 5 to 6 there was a constant cannon- 
 ade. Before 7 I was out and got the Petit 
 Moniteur TJniversel and the Verite. From them 
 we learnt that the battle had been at Issy, that 
 the Versailles troops had surprised the advanced 
 guards of the insurgents, who had retired under 
 the protection of the guns of the forts. 11 a.m. 
 — The cannonading still continues from Neuilly, 
 Mont Valerien, and the forts on the south side 
 of the city, but is less vigorously kept up than 
 last night. We learn that Asnieres was again 
 the scene of conflict yesterday. The Versailles 
 troops occupy the houses towards Courbevoie, 
 but the insurgents have most of the village, and 
 are strengthening their fortifications at the rail- 
 way station. Several bombs have fallen in the 
 streets, but as yet little damage has been done. 
 I trust our little chapel, which is close to the 
 station, has escaped injury. It escaped during 
 the siege only to be placed in greater danger 
 now. In viewing Paris from our tower I observe 
 a strange feature. In the days of the Empire 
 no smoking chimneys were allowed in this beau- 
 tiful Paris, but now I see several tall stacks, like 
 those of Birmingham or Sheffield, rising from 
 the midst of the houses. I find they are from 
 the workshops for the manufacture of cannon, 
 and if I may judge from the great volumes of 
 smoke they send forth to blacken the sky and 
 give the dismal tinge, the mark of London 
 respectability, to the neighbouring houses, this 
 manufacture must be carried on with great 
 activity just now. We hear this morning that 
 
180 PARIS UNDER 
 
 the managers of the Northern station have been 
 arrested, and that there is a probability of the 
 trains being stopped. Sad news to us, implying 
 the entire cessation of our sending letters by 
 passengers to our friends. I hope it is not true. 
 More cures have been arrested. The Conciergerie 
 will soon be a conclave of priests. Yesterday 
 several men'were surrounded by armed National 
 Guards and forced to arm and join the insur- 
 gents. One poor man at Montmartre, a member 
 of our French congregation, who would probably 
 have been taken off, found refuge here last night. 
 The Freemasons of Paris have placarded the 
 walls with a protest in the name of humanity 
 against the continuance of this civil war, and 
 have sent delegates to Versailles to strive to be 
 the means of negotiating a reconciliation. The 
 bombardment of Paris from Mont Valerien still 
 continues. A shell fell this morning in the 
 Boulevard Haussman, not far from the Pare 
 Monceau. Great indignation is expressed against 
 M'Mahon, who entered on his duties as Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Versailles forces yester- 
 day, and, it is thought, wished to signalise the 
 fact by carrying the southern forts. Sedan was 
 to be revenged on Paris, and M'Mahon was to 
 wash away the dishonour of Sedan in the blood 
 of Parisians. From all we hear the Prussians 
 are likely to put in an appearance on the scene 
 if this sad business is not soon settled. General 
 Fabrice is said to be at St. Denis, Prince 
 Frederick Charles at Compiegne, and German 
 troops are massed all around the north and east 
 of Paris, some of them stationed within five 
 
THE RED FLAG. 181 
 
 minutes' walk from the ramparts. — 3 p.m. 
 Cannonading is still continuing at Neuilly, and 
 evidently, from the loud report, with large 
 pieces. Issy and Vanves are also firing occa- 
 sionally. The two arms of the cross surmount- 
 ing the Pantheon have been cut off, and a red 
 flag is to be seen floating on the summit of the 
 building. It has ceased to be a church, and 
 is again dedicated, as in 1793, " aux grands 
 hommes." 
 
 April 13. 
 
 Last evening, about half-past nine, we heard 
 again the din of battle — the fire of musketry and 
 the rattle of mitrailleuses. On looking out we 
 found it was much further off than the night 
 before. About ten o'clock the artillery began to 
 play an active part, and the roll of cannon 
 mingled with the rifle-firing. The night was 
 not so dark as the night before, but the sky was 
 partly overcast, and the flashes of light glittered 
 here and there on the sombre clouds. We learn 
 this morning that the attack was made by the 
 Versailles troops on the outposts beyond the 
 southern forts, mostly in the direction of 
 Clamart. The fusillade ceased before eleven 
 o'clock, but the sound of cannon was prolonged 
 through the night. I slept well nevertheless, 
 and awoke to the same boom as I heard just 
 before falling asleep. Going into the Place de 
 la Concorde about seven o'clock, I found a com- 
 pany of people near the Obelisk looking up the 
 Champs Ely sees, the upper portion of which 
 
182 PABIS UNDEK 
 
 near the arch was dimmed by smoke. Bombs 
 are still falling around the arch and in the 
 neighbouring streets. 
 
 11 a.m. 
 
 We hear heavy firing towards Neuilly and 
 Courbevoie. It is said that the troops and the 
 National Guards have come to hand-to-hand 
 fighting, the two opposite sides being in adjoin- 
 ing houses and fighting from garden to garden 
 and from house to house. 
 
 Fighting still goes on at Asnieres, and Mont 
 Valerien sends shells upon the village. Some 
 houses suffered severely yesterday in the Eue de 
 Bretagne, close to the new chapel. We are in 
 great anxiety as to its safety. Several shells 
 have struck the Arc de Triomphe, occasioning, 
 however, but little damage. The statues repre- 
 senting the principal French towns in the Place 
 de la Concorde still keep the black covering over 
 their faces. They may well mourn over poor 
 France ! Nantes alone, the black covering 
 thrown across the shoulder, looks with calm 
 mien towards the garden of the Tuileries, now 
 bursting out into the fresh green of spring. The 
 trees along the whole line of the Champs Elysees 
 are beginning to be beautiful. The weather is 
 fine, and the temperature mild ; everything to 
 make the city enjoyable if it were not for this 
 horrible civil war. With the return of spring 
 might have come the return of happiness and 
 prosperity were it not for these internal discords. 
 Alas ! when will they cease ? From much that 
 I have seen and heard I am forced to the con- 
 
THE RED FLAG. 183 
 
 elusion that many of these fellows of Belleville 
 and Montmartre, finding themselves with arms 
 in their hands, are determined to go on with the 
 game of fighting, and, other enemies failing, ho 
 matter to them, they will fight their own coun- 
 trymen. Many of them know not what they are 
 fighting for. I don't wonder that just now so 
 many Frenchmen are ashamed of their nation- 
 ality. 
 
 We saw yesterday on the Boulevard de la 
 Madeleine, one of the most fashionable parts of 
 Paris, what I never expected to see in the centre 
 of the metropolis of France — a man in the middle 
 of the broad asphalted pavement, with a crowd 
 around him, performing feats with heavy weights, 
 lifting them and throwing them over his head ; 
 a sight such as you might see on the green of a 
 provincial village on a, fete day. Paris, the gay, 
 the fashionable, is reduced to this. The empty 
 state of the city — i.e., as far as carriages are 
 concerned, has, however, some advantages. One 
 can cross the Boulevard reading a newspaper all 
 the time without any fear of being run down. 
 Fancy this in the Strand or Cheapside. 
 
 In the Siecle this morning is the copy of a 
 letter written from the prison de Mazas on 
 April 8 to the President of the Assembly, begging 
 him to seek to end as soon as possible this civil 
 war. I find that the report that M. Duguerry, 
 the Cure of the Madeleine, had died in prison is 
 incorrect. He also writes from the Depot de la 
 Conciergerie to the members of the Government 
 at Versailles, begging of them not to allow any 
 executions of wounded or prisoners, as such 
 
184 PARIS UNDER 
 
 executions excite great anger in Paris, and 
 might produce terrible reprisals, a resolution 
 having been formed, at the occasion of each new 
 execution at Versailles, to order double the 
 number of the hostages in their hands to be put 
 to death. 
 
 A paragraph from a speech delivered by Thiers 
 in the Chamber of Deputies in 1840, during the 
 discussion of the project for fortifying Paris, is 
 placarded on the walls and signed " Un Ami cle 
 VOrdre" " What ! to imagine that these works 
 of fortification could injure liberty or order is to 
 place oneself out of all reality. And, besides, it 
 is to calumniate a Government, of whatever kind 
 it might be, to suppose that it could some day 
 seek to maintain itself by bombarding the capital. 
 What ! after having pierced with its bombs the 
 dome of the Invalides or the Pantheon, after 
 having inundated with its fires the houses of 
 your families, would it present itself to you to 
 demand the confirmation of its existence ? But 
 it would be a hundred times more impossible 
 after the victory than before." 
 
 An announcement of the Commune posted 
 this morning informs the inhabitants of Paris 
 that the museums are shortly to be opened to 
 the public, and the usual annual exhibitions of 
 modern paintings is to be held ! Will it be 
 believed that when on Tuesday night we were 
 listening, transfixed with horror, to the din of 
 the battle, some French people were looking out 
 from the windows of a neighbouring house on 
 the rolling fire that seemed to pierce the very 
 heavens, were bursting into roars of laughter ! 
 
THE RED FLAG. 185 
 
 A battery has been placed in position on the 
 Trocadero to attack Valerien. We may there- 
 fore expect in reply more shells from Valerien 
 in the interior of Paris. The managers of the 
 Northern Station, imprisoned two or three days 
 ago, have been set at liberty. We may there- 
 fore hope that the train towards England will 
 not be stopped. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 This is the day so much looked forward to by 
 the friends of order in Paris as a day of deliver- 
 ance. The general report was that, if the 
 Government had not reduced Paris to subjection 
 before that day, the Prussians would enter the 
 city on the 15th. But the day has come to a 
 close without the fulfilment of these hopes. 
 There has been, however, terrible cannonading 
 all day, as if an entrance were being forced. 
 While we met in our quiet prayer meeting this 
 evening, we had the heavy roll of the cannon in 
 our ears. A fierce fusillade has also been going 
 on during most of the afternoon and evening in 
 the direction of Neuilly. We can get no reliable 
 information as to what is really transpiring, and 
 can only, comparing what we see and hear, come 
 to our own conclusions. 
 
 The Protestant establishment of the " Dia- 
 conesses " for the sick and infirm was entered a 
 day or two ago by some agents of the Commune. 
 They made diligent enquiries and searched the 
 whole place, entering at ten o'clock at night, 
 and not leaving till six o'clock the next morning. 
 At last they went away without having found 
 
186 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 anything of importance to lay hands upon. The 
 only thing taken away was a watch hanging on 
 a wall. The man who took it, being remon- 
 strated with, replied, " If I don't take it, some 
 one else will." The Cure of St. Koch has been 
 arrested and imprisoned. The parishioners in 
 the Rue St. Honore are in a state of great 
 indignation about it. The large church near 
 us, St. Augustin, has been closed for several 
 days. What makes everyone so full of fear in 
 these troublesome times is that numbers of men 
 under the name of the Commune go about to 
 pillage. The bombardment, although not carried 
 on vigorously the last two or three days, still 
 makes its victims. A family at the Ternes, 
 living near the top of a house, and through the 
 illness of the father of the family unable to 
 remove, had a shell sent into the midst of their 
 little apartment. Two of the children were 
 killed, the mother wounded. The youngest child 
 and the sick father escaped unhurt. 
 
 The investment of Paris on the south side is 
 said to be complete, and we are in some doubt 
 as to whether the battles of the last few nights, 
 which here are said to be attacks by the Ver- 
 sailles troops, have not been repulses of sorties 
 made by the insurgents. Another idea we have 
 is that, if they were attacks made by the troops, 
 they were made with the design of drawing the 
 insurgents away from the forts and then sur- 
 rounding them. 
 
 Placards issued by the Commune still abound 
 on the walls. One announces the adoption by 
 the Commune of all the wives and children of 
 
THE RED FLAG. 187 
 
 men who die " in defending the rights of Paris. " 
 Wives, " married or not," are to receive 600 
 francs a-year ; children, recognised (i.e., legiti- 
 mate) or not, 365 franc a-year, parents or other 
 relatives who can show that they were dependent 
 upon those who have died, from 100 to 800 
 francs, according to circumstances. These 
 words, " married or not," " legitimate or not," 
 are worthy of note as showing the idea enter- 
 tained by Communists of the sanctity of the 
 marriage bond. Tacitly, though not openly, a 
 general divorce is pronounced under this dreadful 
 rule of the Commune. Another placard signed 
 by Cluseret, delegue a la guerre, tells that he has 
 •examined all the positions and finds them satis- 
 factory, that Versailles has summoned them to 
 surrender in the space of twenty-four hours. 
 " Let the powder reply," is the concluding sen- 
 tence. A third placard conveys some comfort 
 to inhabitants of Paris who have been in 
 constant dread of a domiciliary visit from robbers 
 under the name of National Guards, declaring 
 that no perquisitions will be allowed except those 
 ordered by the Commune, and their order will 
 always be stamped at the " Minister e de la 
 Guerre" The National Guards are commanded 
 to watch and see that no other perquisitions are 
 made. We have therefore the comfort of know- 
 ing that if we are robbed it will be by authority ! 
 The same want of truth which has distinguished 
 the official announcements under the different 
 administrations ever since July last still shows 
 itself in the placards of the Commune. The 
 attacks of the enemy are always repulsed. The 
 
188 PARIS UNDER 
 
 losses of the federes are always small. Although 
 everyone knows that the number of killed and 
 wounded has been very great every day on the 
 side of the insurgents, it is officially declared in 
 a despatch signed Cluseret that on the 13th the 
 loss was " five wounded and two killed." 
 
 With the storm of war around, a storm of 
 thunder, lightning, and hail burst over the city 
 this afternoon. The sound of heaven's artillery 
 was a pleasant change after hearing for days 
 this horrible din of civil war. 
 
 Paris, April 14, 1871. 
 
 We are truly under a " Eeign of Terror." A 
 woman, formerly a servant in our family, came 
 yesterday and told us that her husband had been 
 taken off by some National Guards and forced 
 into a Cotnpagnie de Marche three days ago, 
 and she had heard nothing of him since. He 
 had hidden in the cellar till he could hide no 
 longer. Two National Guards had come into 
 their apartment, one armed with a revolver, the 
 other with a Chassepot, and had threatened him 
 if he would not go with them. When he referred 
 to his wife's unwillingness to let him go, they 
 turned to her and threatened to shoot her. 
 " Shoot me, then," said the woman. However, 
 the end was that the poor man was forced to go. 
 So much for the liberty enjoyed under the rule 
 of the Commune. 
 
 The following paragraph has appeared in 
 Galignani's Messenger : — u Notification of the 
 British Embassy. Mr. Malet, second secretary 
 
THE BED FLAG. 189 
 
 of her Majesty's Embassy, deems it right to 
 repeat the notice published by Lord Lyons on 
 the 13th of last September, and to declare that 
 British subjects who continue to remain in Paris 
 now do so at their own risk and peril, and that 
 those who delay their departure may find them- 
 
 selves hereafter unable to get 
 
 &' 
 
 away. 
 
 The three delegates of the u Ligue d' Union 
 Hepublicaine des droits de Paris," just returned 
 from Versailles, have published the result of 
 their interview with M. Thiers. These are the 
 main points : — 
 
 1. M. Thiers guarantees the continuance of 
 the Eepublic. 
 
 2. Paris is to have the same privileges as. 
 other towns in France. 
 
 3. The Government will proceed to an organi- 
 sation of the National Guard, but will not admit 
 the principle of the absolute exclusion of the 
 army. 
 
 4. All who give up the armed strife, and enter 
 peacefully their homes, shall be exempt from 
 prosecution. Only the assassins of Generals. 
 Clement Thomas and Lecomte, if found, will be 
 judged according to the law. 
 
 5. The National Guards will continue to 
 receive their pay for several weeks. 
 
 Surely this is all these people can demand. 
 The three delegates are to have an interview 
 with the members of the Commune to-day. 
 
 The fighting yesterday was principally at 
 Neuilly. The insurgents advanced on the right 
 
190 PABIS UNDEE 
 
 side of the avenue nearly to the bridge. The 
 Versailles troops still held the houses on the left 
 side. The Versailles batteries at the Pond 
 Point de Courbevoie and the cannon planted at 
 the Porte Maillot and at the Porte des Ternes 
 kept up an artillery duel throughout the day: 
 Mont Valerien fired both on the Porte Maillot 
 and the new battery of the Trocadero. Many 
 shells fell on the houses at Passy. Some poor 
 women and children were killed, and the inhabi- 
 tants fled into the safer parts of the city, not at 
 all grateful for the establishment of the battery 
 so near to them. All seemed quiet in the 
 evening, but at ten o'clock gleams of light were 
 to be seen on the hills of Chatillon, and about 
 one o'clock in the morning there was the sound 
 of battle — the report of musketry and the growl 
 of the mitrailleuse. 
 
 The din of war I heard in the dead of the 
 night was, it seems, an attack by the Versailles 
 troops on Vanves. What was the issue I find it 
 difficult to ascertain. The losses are said to be 
 great on both sides. 
 
 7 p.m. 
 
 There has been comparative quietude all day. 
 We have scarcely heard the cannon at all. There 
 has been everywhere a feeling of uneasiness, as 
 if either a terrible assault were about to be 
 made or that we should be shut in to the horrors 
 of another siege. In the middle of the day I 
 received by post a copy of the circular already 
 quoted from Galignani' s Messenger, sent from 
 
THE RED FLAG. 191 
 
 the British Embassy. I made my way to the 
 Embassy to know what it meant, and found 
 that, as the bombardment of the city had begun, 
 and it was probable that before long blood would 
 be shed in the streets, the Secretary had deemed 
 it right to issue such a notice to the British 
 residents in Paris. I learned to my great joy, 
 that Lord Lyons has sent word that British sub- 
 jects may send and receive their letters through 
 the Embassy. 
 
 In walking through the streets of Paris I see 
 numbers of English nags. I had no idea there 
 were so many English families in Paris. Where 
 are they all on the Sabbath-day ? Certainly not 
 in the churches. On this question of the Eng- 
 lish in Paris, I have lived long enough here to 
 learn that there are numbers of English people 
 who have given up English habits, dismissed 
 English ideas, and are English only in name, 
 and when something is to be gained by showing 
 their nationality. The difficulty of labouring 
 among such people is very great. They hide 
 themselves away from their fellow-countrymen, 
 and become French in their thoughts and modes 
 of life. English ministers may labour here for 
 years without even being able to find them out. 
 But when such times as these come, forth go 
 their English flags. There is also a. class of 
 very poor English people in Paris, scattered over 
 the city, whose very existence is altogether un- 
 known until something occurs to throw them to 
 the surface. Such are those who, during the 
 siege, made their way in numbers to the British 
 Charitable Fund. 
 
192 PABIS UNDER 
 
 Another feature of the streets just now is the 
 number of couriers on horseback — estafettes — 
 who ride along at full gallop carrying messages 
 to and from the members of the Commune. The 
 proprietors of the Grand Hotel are making use 
 of this time, when there are so many strangers 
 in Paris, to cleanse the hotel thoroughly after 
 its occupation as a hospital during the siege. 
 Painters, white washers, and upholsterers are at 
 work, so that, when things are a little more 
 settled than at present, and the former clientele 
 of the Grand Hotel return, they may take up 
 their abode without fear in their old quarters. 
 
 M. E. de Pressense and M. G. Monod, Pro- 
 testant pastors, have both written to the Temps, 
 protesting against the imprisonment of the 
 Archbishop of Paris and other priests, and 
 begging for their immediate release. 
 
 9.30 p.m. 
 
 Fighting is now going on in the direction of 
 Chatillon. While I write I hear the noise of 
 battle, the hoarse roar of the mitrailleuse, and 
 the boom of the cannon. The sky towards the 
 south is at intervals completely lit up, and 
 gleams with flashes like forked lightning. 
 
 Saturday morning, April 15. 
 
 We learn that the fighting last night was 
 another skirmish between the advanced guards 
 on both sides near Meudon. There has been 
 heavy canonading all night, both at the south of 
 Paris and at Neuilly. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 193 
 
 Monday, April 17. 
 
 On awaking yesterday (Sunday) morning our 
 •ears were greeted with the same awful noise of 
 cannon, and it continued all through the day till 
 evening, when there was a short cessation. The 
 quiet of the morning service, as on Sunday last, 
 was interrupted by the booming of cannon. 
 Immediately after we joined in the prayer of the 
 Litany, " That it may please Thee to give to all 
 nations unity, peace, and concord," there was a 
 tremendous burst from a siege gun, which almost 
 covered the responses ot the congregation. 
 After the service, Pastor E. Cook came in, just 
 arrived from Jersey. He had come via Gran- 
 ville, Versailles, and St. Denis. At Versailles 
 he had seen one of the Deputes, whose report 
 was that " things are progressing slowly." 
 Pastor Scheffter also called, and told us that he 
 had been yesterday in our chapel at Levallois 
 (the chapel specially under his care), and a rifle 
 ball had come through one of the windows and 
 flattened itself on the opposite wall. He picked 
 up the ball, and at the same moment another 
 ball came, and he had a narrow escape of being 
 hit. He thought it prudent to immediately leave 
 the chapel. Mr. W. ML Taylor, who was present 
 at the service, told us that, a day or two ago, 
 having occasion to send a load of goods along 
 the Avenue des Ternes, the poor driver had been 
 killed by a shot from a mitrailleuse, and the cart 
 was besmeared with blood. We had com- 
 parative quiet, for which we were very thankful, 
 during the evening service and the prayer 
 
194 PARIS UNDER 
 
 meeting which followed. As we retired about 
 eleven o'clock all was still, or nearly so, and we 
 hoped for a night undisturbed by the hateful roll 
 of war, when suddenly the same now too familiar 
 noise of a fussilade, in the direction of Neuilly, 
 began again, and continued for some time. 
 There was canonading all through the night, 
 and it continues this morning. But, if we may 
 judge by the sound, it is the cannon of the 
 fortifications, probably spending ammunition 
 uselessly. I find to-day three new placards, the 
 first signed by Cluseret, and giving an account 
 of yesterday, of course telling of a victory, and 
 that the Pontifical Zouaves, with the gendarmes 
 and the sergents de ville, were vigorously com- 
 bated at the Church of Neuilly and repulsed ; 
 the second announcing that a court martial had 
 been instituted, composed of six members, who 
 W T ill sit in permanence to try the numerous cases 
 awaiting judgment, the cases of capital punish- 
 ment to be referred to the Executive Council ; 
 the third requiring all arms to be given up at 
 the respective mairies, and ordering the disarm- 
 ing of all refractory National Guards. It is 
 said that Dombrowski has been wounded in the 
 neck, and that thus he may be disabled from 
 commanding for a few days. A word, in speaking 
 of Cluseret and Dombrowski as to the character 
 of this insurrection. Both the military leaders 
 are foreigners. Cluseret is of French descent, 
 but, banished in 1848, he went over to America 
 and became a naturalised American, and took 
 part in the American war. Dombrowski is a 
 Pole, or, as some assert, a Russian, who was 
 
THE BED FLAG. 195 
 
 sentenced to Siberia, but managed to escape. 
 Both these men are said to be capable leaders, 
 but neither of them is a Frenchman. So of 
 the men under their command, although the 
 majority are Frenchmen, there is a fair sprinkling 
 of Italians of the Garibaldi school, and of Eng- 
 lishmen of the ultra-Eed Eepublican party. It 
 seems as if it were generally understood that 
 this is a great struggle between the jdebs and 
 patricians, and the partisans of the ])lebs are 
 rallying around the standard of Bed Repub- 
 licanism. I may be wrong, but it seems to me 
 this Emeute has gained its strength and con- 
 sistence from its connection with the Inter- 
 national Secret Society. 
 
 Although the city is not really invested, the 
 question of supplies is beginning to be a serious 
 one. Country people don't care to bring their 
 provisions into a city bristling with cannon and 
 abounding in barricades. Naturally prudent, 
 they prefer to sell their provisions to the 
 Prussians, who surround the city on the north 
 and east, and to the French who surround it on 
 the south and west, to running the risk of pene- 
 trating into the city at the risk of losing their 
 lives by shells or bullets. Hence, the price of 
 provisions is rising rapidly. Veal, which sold 
 at If. 40c, now sells at 2f. the pound ; leg of 
 mutton, which a week ago was selling at If. 30c, 
 is now 2f. 90c At the last market of La Villette 
 there were only 600 oxen. Our butcher said 
 that in a week's time there would be no more 
 beef to be had. These insurgents are, I believe, 
 well provisioned, for I have seen for the last 
 
196 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 fortnight immense quantities, in vehicles requi- 
 sitioned by the Commune, passing through the 
 streets of Paris, as if they were going to some 
 place of safety to be stored for the use of the 
 Commune. The sufferers now, as during the 
 time of the siege, will be the poor inoffensive 
 people who have had nothing to do with the 
 emeute, but who, living in the same city with 
 the emetdiers, suffer for their folly and wicked- 
 ness. " Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, 
 that I dwell in the tents of Kedarf." 
 
 The interior of Paris presents an aspect more 
 and more sad. The streets, the boulevards, 
 have completely changed their look. Every- 
 where there is emptiness and solitude. Even 
 the Boulevard des It aliens, generally the centre 
 of animation, is deserted. The shops are mostly 
 closed, or only half-opened. When I talk with 
 the shopkeepers about the state of affairs I only 
 have one reply — a deep sigh and " Pauvre 
 France !" Groups of people are to be seen at 
 all hours of the day at the end of the Champs 
 Elysees, near the Place de la Concorde, watch- 
 ing for the explosion of bombs. Some venture 
 along the avenue as far as the Bond Point, and 
 a few more during and imprudent than the 
 rest go as far as the Arc de Trioinphe. The 
 arch has been injured in twenty-seven places. 
 Long will Paris bear the marks of this revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Accounts reach us on all hands of the terrible 
 results of the bombardment in the district of 
 the Ternes, especially between the Avenue des 
 Ternes and the Avenue de la Grande Armee. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 197 
 
 Shells have fallen the last two days in great 
 numbers. The poor frightened people take 
 refuge in the cellars, but even there are scarcely 
 safe. Balls, too, whistle about in all directions. 
 Two men were talking quietly together in the 
 Avenue des Ternes, and were both of them 
 wounded. " Spies " are being arrested in num- 
 bers. A young man near the Arc de Triomphe 
 was arrested on Saturday because he was look- 
 ing with a lorgnette in the direction of Neuilly. 
 On Friday six persons were seized in the Avenue 
 d'Eylau because they were looking towards Mont 
 Yalerien, and their gestures made some National 
 Guards believe they were making signals to the 
 fort ! The members of the Commune, making 
 believe that they are very careful of the lives of 
 citizens, have just issued an order that the 
 couriers (estafettes) are not to gallop along the 
 streets, lest they should endanger the lives of 
 citizens. I wish they were equally careful of 
 exposing the lives of citizens upon the battle- 
 field. 
 
 4 p.m. 
 
 The cannon still rolls and the bombardment 
 
 goes on. Mr. , who has just called, tells 
 
 us that this morning a pastrycook, standing at 
 the door of his house in the Avenue, des Ternes, 
 was killed on the spot by a shell. A bill posted 
 on the wall announces that since yesterday all 
 the gates on the north and east of the city from 
 the Porte de Clichy to the Porte d' Orleans are 
 open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and free ingress and 
 egress allowed without laissez passer, except for 
 
198 PARIS UNDER 
 
 men between 19 and 40 years of age. Another 
 bill tells that the parks and public gardens, 
 closed since the beginning of the siege, are to be 
 opened from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. They are making 
 excavations at the junction of the Eue de Eivoli 
 with the Place de la Concorde, but whether to 
 construct barricades or for some other purpose 
 I could not understand. 
 
 April 18. 
 
 The more I get to know about this insurrec- 
 tionary movement the more I am convinced that 
 it is a great effort of the Eed Eepublican party 
 in Europe to gain their ends. They have 
 been on the look-out for years for a field of 
 operations ; they could not find it in England or 
 Germany, but in Paris, at this particular 
 juncture, they have found exactly what they 
 have long wanted. And to make their cause 
 more popular they have turned the legitimate 
 desire on the part of the Parisians, to have the 
 municipal management of Paris in their own 
 hands, to suit their own nefarious purposes. Two 
 entirely distinct things have been blended 
 together. Hence Paris gets blame which she 
 does not deserve. The Assembly is angry at 
 Paris. The anger and complaint should be 
 directed against that which Paris happens to 
 contain at the present moment. The " word of 
 order " to these people in Paris is said to come 
 from the International Society in London ! 
 These are questions in which all Europe is 
 interested. Unfortunately poor Paris has to 
 
THE RED FLAG. 199 
 
 suffer because she is the scene of strife. The 
 scum of Europe has been collected in Paris to 
 fight out this battle. I have never seen such 
 countenances, not even • typified in Madame 
 Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors, as are now to be 
 seen in Paris. An artist with a powerful pencil 
 might get many a hint for a new edition of 
 Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress " if he were now 
 in this city. -'Old Adam," " Hate-good," 
 " Malice," " Love-lust," " Liar," " Cruelty," 
 "Enmity," <; No-good," "Envy," all find their 
 most expressive representations in feces which 
 may be said to be " types of sin." 
 
 I happened to meet Pastor William Monod 
 this morning. He was evidently sad at heart 
 because of the multiplied troubles of his poor 
 but dear country. He spoke of the foreign 
 element in the insurrection as a partial excuse 
 for his own countrymen. 
 
 We heard last night that great numbers of 
 the insurgents had been surrounded and taken 
 prisoners between Asnieres and Mont Valerien. 
 Our concierge, having had to go to Batignolles, 
 heard the rajipel and generate everywhere and 
 the clairon d'alarme. The cry " Au secours " 
 was general. So we did not know whether to 
 believe the report ; but this morning the news 
 is confirmed, not in the papers, which maintain 
 a significant silence, but from lip to lip ; the 
 following particulars being added, " A whole 
 battalion from La Chappelle taken prisoners. Of 
 another battalion only the commander returned, 
 all the rest taken prisoners. A third battalion 
 almost entirely cut up. Some wagons blindes 
 
■200 PARIS UNDER 
 
 also taken by the Versailles troops." It is 
 generally supposed that a simultaneous attack 
 will be made on all the sides of the city occupied 
 by the French. The rappel was but faintly 
 responded to at Batignolles last night, and even 
 those who did make their appearance in answer 
 to the call seemed much discouraged, and 
 showed no heart for the fight. All these are 
 welcome signs of the coming termination of the 
 struggle. In the meantime, however, prepara- 
 tions are being made for the street fighting. 
 Passing along the Eue de Eivoli this morning, 
 we found out the reasons of the excavations at 
 the point where the Eue de Eivoli joins the 
 Place de la Concorde. It was the erection of a 
 barricade after the new fashion ordered by the 
 Commission of Barricades — a deep trench to be 
 cut on each side the barricade and filled with 
 gunpowder, the barricade itself in the centre 
 constructed not of stones, but of earth. They 
 were this morning throwing up another barri- 
 cade in the Eue Castiglione. The Commission 
 of Barricades also orders by a placard on the 
 walls, after giving directions for the construction 
 of the barricades, that gunpowder shall be placed 
 at certain intervals in the drains. If it were 
 possible, these desperate fellows, rather than 
 yield, would blow up Paris. Happily, such a 
 -catastrophe is not possible. Yet the fact of 
 their undermining the city with gunpowder is 
 not at all comforting to timid people. I passed 
 along the Eue de Eivoli, and saw, to my joy, 
 that the decree of the Commune that the 
 -Column Vendome should be demolished has not 
 
THE RED FLAG. 201 
 
 been carried into effect, nor is the scaffolding 
 erected, as was reported. I believe we owe the 
 preservation so far of this historical monument 
 to Cluseret, who induced the Commune to delay 
 the execution of their decree until ' ' the termi- 
 nation of hostilities," which, of coure, is putting 
 it off indefinitely. 
 
 The result of the elections on Sunday to fill 
 up the number of members of the Commune is 
 now known, and shows that they created but 
 little interest, only about one-eighth of those 
 inscribed having voted. Kequisitions are still 
 being made. The house of the Brothers Pereire 
 in the Faubourg St. Honore has been visited, 
 and all the wine in bottles, some of it worth 25f. 
 a bottle, carried off. The Belgian Embassy in 
 the Faubourg St. Honore has also been invaded 
 by some of the National Guards. This, how- 
 ever, has created such an outcry that the 
 offenders have been arrested and imprisoned. I 
 know not whether they will next come to us. I 
 have put out the British flag in front* of the 
 chapel, and given orders to the concierge, should 
 any of these roughs make their appearance, to 
 summon me at once. It is a comfort at such a 
 time to think that we are English. By the way, 
 let me tell you that the British Embassy has 
 been of great service to the few British subjects 
 remaining in Paris. Lord Lyons kindty allows 
 us to have our letters brought from Versailles in 
 the bag of the Embassy. Let me cite another 
 instance of kind consideration on the part of 
 the Embassy. An English professor now has a 
 situation at Morlaix, Emistere. His wife, also 
 
202 PARIS UNDER 
 
 teacher of English, finding little to do at Mor- 
 laix, made her way to Paris after the termination 
 of the war. Shortly after the outbreak of the 
 revolution she made her way to London. In the 
 meantime, however, her husband, finding that 
 postal communications were stopped, and anxious 
 to send some money, wrote to Lord Lyons asking 
 his lordship to supply his wife with necessary 
 funds until postal communications were re- 
 opened and he was able to repay the money 
 advanced. Last evening I received fifty francs 
 from the Embassy to meet this case, which, as 
 the wife is now safe in England, I have taken 
 back this morning. These isolated cases, small 
 in themselves, will suffice to show that the 
 British Embassy is now caring for the British 
 subjects still in Paris, and regaining the esteem 
 which it lost by having no representative of 
 England at the Embassy during part of the 
 siege. By the present abnormal state of things 
 a complete stop has been put to work of nearly 
 all kinds, and most of the workshops are closed. 
 The Commune, in their short-sighted wisdom, 
 have ordered that the workshops that have been 
 abandoned shall be re-opened for the benefit of 
 the co-operative societies of workmen, as though 
 the opening of the workshops would bring back 
 the work ! The violation of private houses is 
 now permitted under authority, under pretence 
 of searching for arms chez lez emigres, refrac- 
 taires or disbanded National Guards. A letter 
 in the Opinion Nationale, signed H. Lassi- 
 moune, gives an account of his being arrested 
 at Passy, on the 6th of April, for posting a 
 
THE KED FLAG. 203 
 
 placard announcing a meeting. He was brought 
 before a tribunal of four citizens, one of whom, 
 as soon as he entered the room where the trial 
 was to be held, pointed a revolver at him, and 
 said " I'll blow out your brains." When the 
 citizen became a little more calm the trial pro- 
 ceeded, and ended in his imprisonment at the 
 Prefecture of Police. At the end of four days- 
 he was unexpectedly released. 
 
 We are all hoping for a termination of this 
 terrible civil war by compromise, to avoid the 
 further effusion of blood ; but we know not how 
 it is to be brought about. Thiers is willing to 
 make concessions, not to the Commune, with 
 whom he cannot treat, but to Paris asking to 
 administer its own affairs. Whether these con- 
 cessions are such as Paris will accept is matter 
 of doubt. It would be wise, however, to con- 
 sider the demands fairly ; for if Versailles suc- 
 ceeds in quelling the insurrection, the demands, 
 if not met in a liberal spirit, will crop up under 
 another form ; whereas, if they are granted so 
 far as they are just, Paris may hope for peace 
 and quietness for some time to come. 
 
 We see to-day two new placards of the Com- 
 mune, one announcing that the professors at 
 the School of Medicine have deserted their 
 posts, and asking for medical men as volunteers 
 to supply their lack of service ; the other issuing 
 an order to all the Gardes Sedentaires to give 
 up their chassepots for an inferior weapon, in 
 order that the Compagnies de Mar die may be 
 supplied with proper arms. An appeal is made 
 to their patriotism to perform this duty, a hint 
 
204 PARIS UNDER 
 
 being given that if they do not voluntarily give 
 up their chassepots, they will be forced to part 
 with them. 
 
 Neuilly is in sad plight ; some of the houses 
 burnt, most of them riddled. Some parts of the 
 Ternes near the fortifications have not fared 
 much better. The firing has been much slacker 
 to-day. I hope that this is a sign we are near 
 the end of hostilities. 
 
 We are beginning to find the result of the 
 partial blockade in the rapid rise of prices. The 
 supplies at the Halles are falling short, and at 
 the market at La Villette there is only one- 
 fourth of the amount of sales effected at this 
 time last year. True the population of Paris 
 has been much reduced by the large number 
 who have fled, but that emigration will only 
 partially account for the failure of the supply, 
 and we may expect prices to rise higher day 
 by day. 
 
 5.30 p.m. 
 
 We hear that there was fighting again at 
 Asnieres this morning, and that the insurgents 
 sustained serious losses. In the Mot d'Ordre, 
 Eochefort's paper, it is said that pourparlers are 
 being exchanged between the two parties. 
 
 April 19. 
 
 The least sign of the possible termination of 
 this civil war is welcomed. Hence I read with 
 pleasure that a deputation from the town of 
 Lyons has waited on Thiers, and has also sought 
 an interview with the Commune. I was not 
 
THE EED FLAG. 205 
 
 sorry also to read in the Bien Public that in the 
 Faubourg St. Antoine, which used to be the 
 hot-bed of Red Republicanism, there is a general 
 discouragement among the National Guards. 
 Those who marched willingly at first, thinking 
 they were fighting for the municipal franchise, 
 now see that the Commune is going further, and 
 that success is impossible, and many of them 
 are relinquishing the strife. The same symptoms 
 are manifest at Batignolles, where the great 
 majority of the Guards say that they have had 
 enough of it. These short extracts from the 
 Opinion National* afford food for reflection : 
 *■ The situation of Paris is such that no one can 
 believe himself in security, either for his liberty, 
 or for his goods, or for his life ;" and, " The 
 Prussians in Paris, such is the necessary final 
 result of the part to which the Commune seems 
 to have committed itself." The sad effect of 
 the present state of things on the material hap- 
 piness and prosperity of the people is everywhere 
 apparent. Shopkeepers are in evil case : scarcely 
 a customer is to be seen in the shops. Hotels, 
 which at this time of the year are generally so 
 full, are empty. Those frequented by foreigners, 
 and especially those favoured by English people, 
 are deserted. Yesterday, in passing the Hotel 
 Meurice, which has been for so many years a 
 home for my countrymen, I saw that, instead of 
 the usually wide-open carriage way into the 
 court, inviting the welcome traveller, the great 
 doors were closed. The number of beggars, 
 reminding one of Naples as it used to be under 
 the Bourbon rule, had become so great in the 
 
206 PARIS UNDER 
 
 public thoroughfares that even the Commune 
 has found itself obliged to take the matter in 
 hand, and, by placards posted everywhere, has 
 forbidden begging in the streets. 
 
 From the accounts in the papers this morning 
 we learn that the scene at Asnieres on Monday 
 was terrible. The bridge of boats having been 
 broken in the middle by order of the chef de 
 legion, Landowski, in order to stop the retreat 
 of the 77th and 125th battalions, the first ranks 
 already on the bridge, to prevent themselves 
 from being pushed into the water by those who 
 were following, threw themselves flat on the 
 bridge one above another. In the frightful dis- 
 order wdiich followed numbers of the poor fellows- 
 fell into the water and were drowned. Yester- 
 day, although we did not hear so much noise 
 because of the change of wind, Valerien and the 
 new r batteries in the Pare de Neuilly and the 
 Chateau de Becon kept up a constant fire all 
 through the day. Shells fell in showers on 
 Levallois, on the railway bridge at Asnieres, and 
 in the district of the Ternes. A bomb fell very 
 near the Ternes Chapel, but did not touch the 
 building. In the next street to the one in which 
 the chapel is situated, Rue Bayen, a mother of 
 four little children had her head carried off by a 
 shell. The poor little children were covered 
 with fragments of plaster, but were not killed. 
 Many other sad casualties are reported. My 
 heart bleeds at the recital of horrors of which I 
 hear. 
 
 Rain has fallen plentifully during the last few 
 days, and has much discouraged the insurgents ! 
 
THE KED FLAG. 207 
 
 This may seem strange to English people, but 
 any one who has lived in Paris knows full well 
 what an effect is produced upon Parisians of 
 ■every grade by a few drops of rain ! Numbers 
 of the insurgents, it is said, have bronchitis and 
 lumbago, and are only too glad to go home and 
 get cured. They have more fear of inflammation 
 of the lungs than of shells ! Butcher's meat is 
 becoming very dear ; Is. 7d. per pound is asked 
 for and given for rib of beef. 
 
 11.30 a.m. 
 
 I have just been to my point of observation on 
 the top of our tower. The forts on the south, 
 Issy, Vanves, and Montrouge, are all quiet. So 
 is Valerien ; but I hear some coups de canojismd. 
 coups de fusil in the direction of Levallois. 
 The people at Passy have reason to be thankful 
 that the Trocadero battery has ceased, as it drew 
 on them the fire of Valerien. The reason of its 
 having ceased was thus given in a placard posted 
 on the walls, and signed by Cluseret : " The 
 battery at Trocadero has reached the buildings 
 of Valerien, and inflicted appreciable injuries. 
 That was all it was desirable to ascertain for the 
 present." The fact is, that the shells from 
 Trocadero never went further than Suresnes, and 
 the harm they inflicted was not on Valerien, but 
 on the poor defenceless people of Suresnes, some 
 of whom were killed in their houses. 
 
 The way from the Rue de Rivoli to the Place 
 de la Concorde is now blocked by the barricade. 
 Vehicles have to make the detour by the Rue St. 
 Honore. The wind during the last day or two 
 
208 PARIS UNDER 
 
 has been too strong for the strings by which the 
 black covering was tied on the faces of the 
 statues representing the great towns in the Place 
 de la Concorde, Lille and Bordeaux, after having 
 been blinded for six weeks, gaze again on the 
 beautiful fountains ; and even Strasbourg looks 
 out above the crowd of immortelles by which she 
 is covered. Large red posters have been placed 
 on the walls this morning, containing an extract 
 from a speech delivered by Thiers in the Cham- 
 ber of Deputies in January, 1848, to this effect : 
 " Palermo has been bombarded. And by whom ? 
 By its own government. And what for ? For 
 demanding its rights. Such an event may well 
 excite the indignation of Europe. Lille, fifty 
 years ago was bombarded by the Austrians ; 
 Copehagen by the English ; Barcelona by the 
 Regent Espartero. In each case general indig- 
 nation was aroused." 
 
 The following is the version given by one of 
 the moderate part}' as the reason why the friends 
 of order did not rally in greater force at the 
 outbreak of the insurrection : "I am a man of 
 moderate means, a caJUg raphe (penman), gaining 
 my livelihood by my own exertions. To pursue 
 my calling I am obliged to live near the centre 
 of the city. I have an apartment in the Boule- 
 vard Poissoniere. I remained in Paris during 
 the siege, became one of the National Guard, 
 and did my best to defend Paris, encountering 
 with my fellow-citizens exposure in performing 
 my duties as National Guard, and also the pri- 
 vations of the siege. In order to live, I was 
 obliged to sell some \ obligations,' the fruit of my 
 
THE RED FLAG. 209 
 
 economy for years. These ' obligations ' I had 
 bought at 300f. each, and was obliged to sell 
 them at 50f. each. After the siege, not having 
 earned a sou for seven months, I was expected 
 by my landlord to pay the arrears of rent on 
 the 12th of April. I pay 3,000f. a-year for my 
 apartment. The rent used to be l,200f., but 
 within the last few years has been raised by the 
 landlord to 3,000f . My landlord, like most other 
 landlords, was away from Paris during the siege. 
 After the 18th March, when the insurrection 
 broke out, I belonged to the parti d'ordre, and 
 joined those who rallied around the standard 
 of order at the Bourse. One day, on entering 
 my apartment, I received from the concierge a 
 paper. On opening it I found it was a conge 
 (notice to quit) from my landlord. I threw my 
 sword to the other side of the room, and there 
 it is still." This question of rents has had 
 much to do with the course events have taken 
 during the insurrection. Respectable people 
 have said: " Why should I trouble myself? 
 Let the landlords come and fight their own 
 battle," There is a general feeling that Paris, 
 having suffered exceptionally during the siege, 
 ought to have been the first consideration of the 
 National Assembly. 
 
 It is said that 500,000 persons have left the 
 city since the 18th March. 
 
 Thursday Morning, April 20. 
 
 There was a general expectation last evening 
 that an attack would be made during the night 
 
210 PARIS UNDER 
 
 by the Versailles troops. We saw several com- 
 panies of our National Guards marching along 
 our Boulevard towards the Asnieres gate. The 
 rap pel was beaten till late in the night. How- 
 ever, we heard nothing further than the heavy 
 roll of cannon kept up all through the night and 
 continuing this morning. I see a placard on the 
 walls, " Dombrowski a l'Executive,' dated yes- 
 terday, 19th April, and telling that all was going 
 on well at Montr ouge and Asnieres — the enemy 
 repulsed — his right wing advancing — some of 
 the advanced posts of the Versailles troops 
 almost surrounded ; but he wanted a reinforce- 
 ment of 2,000 men immediately, as the enemy 
 was in strong force. 
 
 A notice appeared in the Journal Ojficiel of 
 the Commune announcing the suppression of four 
 papers : Le Soi?% Le Cloche, L' Opinion Nation- 
 ale, and Le Bien Public appeared nevertheless 
 last evening, each containing a protest against 
 the Tyranny of the Commune. 
 
 The law of the Commune on the question of 
 echeances (bills falling due) has been promulgated, 
 allowing the suspension of payment for three 
 years ! 
 
 Neuiliy, Levallois, the Ternes, and Asnieres 
 are still suffering a continual bombardment. A 
 shell fell in the school play-ground connected 
 with the Ternes Chapel, yesterday, but the 
 building itself still escapes, although bombs have 
 fallen all around. The Commune has made an 
 offer to exchange the Archbishop of Paris for 
 Blanqui, imprisoned some time ago by the 
 Government, but it has been refused. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 211 
 
 In the midst of all this turmoil we continue 
 our services, and they are truly times of refresh- 
 ing. On Tuesday evening a few of us held a 
 special prayer meeting to plead with God for the 
 termination of this civil war. Last evening we 
 held our usual service, followed by the class- 
 meeting, and found that, according to his Word, 
 Christ was present with the " two or three." 
 
 Thursday Evening, April 20. 
 
 To-day at noon immense placards were posted 
 on the walls, of which the following is a 
 translation : " Declaration of the Commune to 
 the French people. In the sad and terrible 
 conflict which imposes once again on Paris the 
 horrors of the siege and bombardment, which 
 causes French blood to be shed, which dooms to 
 destruction our brothers, our wives, our children, 
 crushed under shells and shot, it is of prime 
 importance that public opinion should not be 
 divided, that the national conscience should not 
 be troubled. It is necessary that Paris and the 
 entire country should know what is the nature, 
 the reason, the end of the Revolution which is 
 now taking place. In a word, it is just that the 
 responsibility of the griefs, the sufferings, and 
 the misery of which we are the victims should 
 fall on those who, after having betrayed France 
 and delivered Paris to the foreigner, seek, with 
 a blind and cruel obstinacy, the ruin of the great 
 city, in order to bury, in the disaster of the 
 Republic and of Liberty, the double witness of 
 their treason and their crime. 
 
212 PARIS UNDER 
 
 u The Commune considers that it is its duty 
 to affirm and define the aspirations and wishes 
 of the population of Paris : to explain the cha- 
 racter of the movement of March 18, misinter- 
 preted, misunderstood, and calumniated by the 
 political men who sit at Versailles. This time 
 again Paris works and suffers for the whole of 
 France, of which it is preparing, by its combats 
 and its sacrifices, the intellectual, moral, admin- 
 istrative, and economical regeneration, the glory 
 and prosperity. What does it demand ? The 
 recognition and consolidation of the Eepublic, 
 the only form of Government compatible with 
 the rights of the people and the regular and free 
 development of society. The absolute self- 
 government (autonomie) of the Commune ex- 
 tended to all the parts of France, and assuring 
 to each the integrity of its rights, and to every 
 Frenchman the full exercise of his faculties and 
 capabilities as man, citizen, and workman. The 
 self-government of the Commune will only have 
 for limit the right of equal self-government for 
 all the other Communes adhering to the con- 
 tract, the association of which will assure 
 French unity. The inherent rights of the Com- 
 mune are the vote of the Communal budget, 
 implying the control of receipts and expenses ; 
 the fixing and division of taxes ; the direction of 
 local services ; the organisation of the magistra- 
 ture, of the interior police, and instruction ; the 
 administration of the goods belonging to the 
 Commune. The choice by election, with the 
 permanent right of control or recall, of the 
 magistrates and public functionaries of all orders. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 213 
 
 The absolute guarantee of individual liberty, of 
 liberty of conscience and liberty of labour. The 
 permanent intervention of citizens in the Com- 
 munal affairs by the free manifestation of their 
 ideas and the free defence of their interests, the 
 Commune alone being charged to watch over 
 and assure the free and just exercise of the right 
 of public meeting and publicity. The organisa- 
 tion of the defence of the city and of the National 
 Guard, which shall elect its own chiefs, and 
 alone watch over the maintenance of order in 
 the city. Paris does not wish for further local 
 guarantees on condition, be it understood, of 
 finding in the great central administration, the 
 delegation of federated Communes, the realisa- 
 tion and practice of the same principles. Paris, 
 however, reserves the right of making the ad- 
 ministrative, and economical reforms that its 
 population may claim, to create institutions 
 suitable for the development of instruction, 
 production, exchange, and credit, to regulate 
 power and property according to the necessities 
 of the moment, the wish of those interested, and 
 the rules furnished by experience. 
 
 " Our enemies deceive themselves or deceive 
 the country when they accuse Paris of wishing 
 to impose its wish or supremacy on the rest of 
 the nation, and of pretending to a dictation 
 which would be a veritable menace against the 
 independence and sovereignty of other Com- 
 munes. They deceive themselves or deceive the 
 country when they accuse Paris of pursuing the 
 destruction of French unity, constituted by the 
 Revolution in the midst of the acclamations of 
 
214 PAKIS UNDEK 
 
 our fathers assembled at the fete of the federation 
 of all the parts of old France. Unity, such as 
 has been imposed on us up to this day by the 
 Empire, by monarchy, and parliamentarism, is 
 only despotic, unintelligent, arbitrary, and bur- 
 densome centralisation. Political unity, such 
 as Paris wishes, is the voluntary association of 
 all local initiatives, the spontaneous and free 
 concurrence of all individual energies in view of 
 a common end, the well-being, liberty, and 
 security of all. The Communal Eevolution, 
 begun by the popular initiative of March 18, 
 inaugurates a new 7 political era, experimental, 
 positive, scientific. It is the end of the old 
 governmental and clerical w r orld, of militarism, 
 of monopolies, of privileges to which the prole- 
 tariat owes its servitude, the country its miseries 
 and disasters. Let this dear and great country, 
 deceived by lies and calumnies, be reassured. 
 The struggle between Paris and Versailles is one 
 of those which cannot be terminated by illusory 
 compromises. The issue cannot be doubtful. 
 Victory, pursued with unconquerable energy by 
 the National Guard, will rest on the side of 
 right. We summon France as witness. Let 
 Paris, under arms, possess as much calmness as 
 bravery ; let it maintain order with as much 
 energy as enthusiasm ; let it be willing to endure 
 sacrifice with as much reason as heroism ; let it 
 only be armed through devotion to the liberty 
 and glory of all, that France may cause this 
 bloody conflict to cease. It is for France to 
 disarm Versailles by the solemn manifestation of 
 its irresistible will. Called to benefit by our 
 
THE BED FLAG. 215 
 
 conquests, let her declare herself the associate 
 of our efforts ; let her be our ally in- the combat 
 which can only end in the triumph of the Com- 
 munal idea, or by the ruin of Paris ! So far as 
 we are concerned, citizens of Paris, we have the 
 mission of accomplishing the modern Revolution, 
 the greatest and the most fruitful of all that have 
 illumined history. It is our duty to struggle and 
 conquer. u The Commune of Paris. 
 
 "Paris, April 19, 1871." 
 
 The hope that the Column Vendome would be 
 spared is, it seems, to be doomed to disappoint- 
 ment. In the papers to-day it is announced that 
 the materials composing the column in the Place 
 Vendome are offered for sale in four lots — two 
 lots materials and construction ; two lots metals. 
 La France this evening gives a list of forty-seven 
 priests arrested between the 1st and 18th April ; 
 twenty-six churches closed since the beginning 
 of the month, among them Notre Dame, La 
 Trinite, St. Philippe du Roule, St. Roch, and 
 Notre Dame de Lorrette ; and a list of twenty- 
 four " Maisons. Beligieuses " and convents, in 
 which perquisitions have been made. I hap- 
 pened to-day to meet an English chaplain, and 
 I find he takes a very gloomy view of the present 
 aspect of affairs, and counsels all English people 
 to quit Paris. He has seen several members of 
 the Commune, and finds that they are deter- 
 mined to fight it out to the end ; that probably 
 it will come to street fighting, and then the 
 struggle will be dreadful ; that the Commune is 
 getting help from other countries, numbers of 
 
216 PARIS UNDER 
 
 foreigners daily coming into Paris, and among 
 them many Englishmen of Bed Republican 
 principles. 
 
 The boom of cannon and the occasional sound 
 of musketry have been heard all day in the 
 direction of Neuilly and Asnieres, and shells 
 have been rained on the Ternes. Three bombs 
 fell to-day in the Faubourg St. Honore, in the 
 garden of the Rev. Mr. Forbes, the chaplain of 
 the English Church in the Rue d'Aguesseau, 
 and they have sought a safer abode for the time 
 in the interior of the town. A fragment of a 
 shell has broken into the roof of our Ternes 
 Chapel, and scattered the plaster, but has done 
 no further injury. Shells are also still falling 
 around the Arc de Triomphe, and in the Avenue 
 d'Eylau. Will it be believed that, notwithstand- 
 ing, a wedding took place in the Avenue d'Eylau, 
 and that some of the wedding party ran to pick 
 up the fragments of a bomb that exploded near 
 them ! 
 
 Friday Morning, April 21. 
 
 There has been heavy cannonading all night, 
 and the hoarse noise of the mitrailleuses. There 
 was fighting throughout the whole of yesterday 
 from Neuilly to Asnieres, and the noise in that 
 direction this morning confirms the news that 
 the combat is continued to-day. The positions 
 of the combatants have not materially changed. 
 There is a general idea, however, that an attack 
 in considerable force by the army of Versailles 
 is imminent. Report says that in any case the 
 Commune is doomed, for, if the Versailles troops 
 
THE RED FLAG. 217 
 
 should be repulsed, the Prussians will take the 
 matter in hand, and establish a respectable 
 Government. 
 
 Friday Evening, April 21. 
 
 A bomb has fallen in our boulevard (Boulevard 
 Malesherbes) near No. 107, close to the entrance 
 of the Pare Monceau, not so near as to cause us 
 much disquietude, but still quite near enough ! 
 La Licjne cle V Union Hepublicane des droits de 
 Paris, notwithstanding the failure of its effects 
 hitherto, does not seem to be discouraged. This 
 morning a great red placard was to be seen 
 everywhere, containing their new address. They 
 announce that they maintain their former pro- 
 gramme, and will take resolutions, following the 
 different phases of the strife, which may appear 
 to them the best fitted to assure the triumph of 
 their principles, and that they are now resolved 
 to place themselves in correspondence with the 
 municipal councils of the principal towns in 
 France, and to let them know the legitimate 
 wishes of Paris, to which they will lend their 
 support. 
 
 I fear the constant sight of warlike preparations 
 will exercise a most baneful effect upon the 
 youth of this city. I see mere children marching 
 in rank and file along the streets with sticks in 
 their hands or across their shoulders, and one of 
 them blowing a horn. Scarcely a boy is to be 
 seen in the streets without his gun-stick. No 
 doubt numbers are saying to themselves, " Je 
 serai soldat." 
 
218 PAKIS UNDEK 
 
 I think the Commune are beginning to find 
 out that it has been a mistake to force unwilling 
 men to fight. In many regiments only one- 
 fourth have fought from conviction or with 
 heart ; the rest have only marched from fear or 
 for the pay. Hence the morale in many of the 
 battalions has been very low 7 . Said a man to 
 me the other day, * Yes, of course, if I am forced 
 I shall march ; but I shall never fire, or if I fire, 
 it will be in the air, or with blank cartridge." 
 Another man, who was in the battles on the 
 south side of Paris on the 11th and 12th, said 
 that he fired his gun in the air so as to be sure 
 of not killing anyone, and that he wore his 
 ordinary clothes under his regimentals, so that, 
 if a chance offered, he might fling away his 
 regimentals, and either escape or go over to the 
 opposite side. This accounts for so much noise, 
 and, happily, so little fatal result in some of the 
 skirmishes. 
 
 A bill has been posted this afternoon with a 
 new Order of the Commune — (1) that all cafes, 
 concerts, theatres, and public establishments- 
 shall be shut from half -past twelve to six a.m. ; 
 and (2) that any such places that may be found 
 favouring gambling and prostitution shall be 
 immediately closed. 
 
 I passed along the Eue de Eivoli to-day, and 
 saw the barricade at the entrance of the Place 
 de la Concorde, and the one in the Rue Castig- 
 lione, both of which are assuming quite a 
 formidable appearance. The barricades around 
 the Hotel de Yille have also been greatly 
 strengthened. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 219 
 
 Saturday, April 22. 
 
 The account this morning is that there was 
 fighting yesterday, as before, at Neuilly from 
 house to house, and also at Levallois, neither 
 side gaining any great advantage. Dombrowski 
 sends word to the Executive that " the enemy 
 is in retreat !" The seventeen omnibuses and 
 carriages filled with dead bodies, which came in 
 at the Clichy gate, to say nothing of the ambu- 
 lance waggons bringing wounded men, do not 
 afford convincing proof of the truth of Dom- 
 browski's despatches. The suppression of the 
 four journals two or three days ago has exasper- 
 ated many Kepublicans against the Commune. 
 It is a common thing to hear people inveighing 
 against the tyranny under which Paris is now 
 groaning ; but they say, " What can we do ? 
 Felix Pyat, one of the members of the Execu- 
 tive, lifted up his voice boldly in the Vengeur, 
 and said that the suppression of newspapers is 
 always dangerous and useless. Whether on 
 this point of the suppression of newspapers 
 dissension has shown itself in the Commune I 
 know not, but I find that the seven names 
 which, as the Executive, have been hitherto 
 appended to all official proclamations (Cournet, 
 Eelix Pyat, Tridon, Vermorel, Delescluse, 
 Avrial, Vaillant), appear no longer, and that a 
 new Executive Commission has been appointed. 
 
 2 p.m. 
 
 In going towards the Palais Koyal I saw a 
 bill containing an appeal to all natives of the 
 
220 PARIS UNDER 
 
 French Departments in Paris to meet this after- 
 noon in a large room at the Arts et Metiers to 
 hear an address in favour of " conciliation." 
 The barricades at the corner of the Place de la 
 Concorde and in the Kue Castiglione are 
 assuming the appearance of miniature fortresses. 
 In the Court of the Palais Boyal an awkward 
 squad of w 7 orkmen in blouses was at drill. A 
 young Englishman residing in Paris, whom I 
 happened to meet, said that the current opinion 
 was that a great attack by the Versailles troops 
 was expected within the next week, and at the 
 same time by the insurgents a blow-up of some 
 of the streets, and a general pillage ! 
 
 We had a visit while I was out this (Saturday) 
 afternoon from two National Guards, who asked 
 what this building was, and to whom it belonged. 
 On hearing that it was English, they said 
 "Bon" and departed. 
 
 Chantilly, Paris Circuit, April 27, 1871. 
 
 On Tuesday, April 25, during the time of the 
 armistice, I took my wife and family out of 
 Paris, and placed them in safety here at Chan- 
 tilly. The Northern Station w T as filled with 
 armed men, whose duty was to prevent any 
 Frenchman, between 19 and 40 years of age, 
 from leaving Paris. Our luggage was carefully 
 examined, search being specially made for pro- 
 visions and newspapers. It was quite a refresh- 
 ment to one's eyes to see a tricolor flag at St. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 221 
 
 Denis, not having seen anything but the red flag 
 for three or four weeks. St. Denis was still 
 occupied by Prussians, and each station on the 
 line had its complement of German soldiers. 
 Having been for five weeks without our boxes, 
 which had been stopped at Boulogne, and, goods 
 trains being suspended, there being no chance 
 of getting them without going for them, I started 
 the same day. The train from Chantilly stopped 
 at Creil, and, having two hours to wait, I 
 sauntered through the town. Like Chantilly, in 
 addition to its being still occupied by Prussians, 
 the town is filled with Paris people taking refuge 
 from the perils of Paris. Creil used to be on 
 our Paris plan, but the English workmen left at 
 the outbreak of the war. As I stood upon the 
 bridge, in the centre of which the tricolor was 
 flapping in the breeze, and looked over the 
 parapet upon the sluggish Oise rolling its yellow 
 current under the arches, and heard mingling 
 with the gurgling of the river the merry laugh 
 of Prussian soldiers, who were smoking to their 
 hearts' content close by, I thought of the last 
 time I had stood upon that bridge in the midst 
 of a knot of friends who are now scattered, 
 northward to England, westward as far as 
 Cobourg, Canada, and eastward as far as 
 Lausanne. I strolled into the quaint old 
 church. It was drawing towards evening, and 
 the slantering rays of the westering sun, falling 
 obliquely through the eastern stained-glass 
 window upon the bizarre and medley archi- 
 tecture of the interior of the building, produced 
 a most pleasing effect. The deep bass voice of 
 
222 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 a man came rolling along the arches to the 
 extremity of the building, and was followed by 
 the united shrill voices of children. I found 
 that a priest was giving a Bible lesson. I planted 
 myself behind a broad column where I could 
 hear without being observed, and listened to one 
 of the best Bible lessons I have ever heard. The 
 doctrines of the Trinity in Unity, the Divinity 
 and Proper Humanity of Christ, and the doctrine 
 of redemption through the blood of Christ, were 
 taught in a simple and beautiful manner. But, 
 as is always the case inEoman Catholic churches, 
 the pure doctrine was spoilt by the dragging in 
 of Eomish additions. The poor children were 
 made at the close to join in a prayer to the 
 Virgin Mary ! I was reminded of the close of 
 a splendid sermon I heard one week-evening in 
 1854 in the Cathedral of Avignon. The subject 
 was the Judgment, and so powerful and faithful 
 was the preaching that we were all brought in 
 imagination before the great white throne. The 
 like of it on that subject I have never heard. 
 The priest concluded the sermon by an exhorta- 
 tion to the people to bring some flowers before 
 the following Sunday to decorate the image of 
 the Virgin ! 
 
 When I got into the Boulogne train at Creil 
 I found near me a very intelligent man, whose 
 home is in Paris ; so I proposed to him the 
 following questions : — Why did the Government 
 make the attack on Montmartre on the night of 
 March 17 without being sure of success ? Why 
 did the Government leave Paris, and would they 
 not by staying in Paris, have formed a nucleus 
 
THE BED FLAG. 223 
 
 around which the friends of order might have 
 rallied and so quelled the rebellion ? Why, 
 when Admiral Saisset was sent from Versailles, 
 did not the National Guards, said to be well 
 affected, assemble in great numbers under the 
 standard of order ? How do you account for 
 the great numbers of National Guards (far ex- 
 ceeding the opposite party) who desire order and 
 peace, consenting to go out and fight the battles 
 of the insurgents ? Said a lady in our com- 
 partment, who, with her daughter, was flying 
 from Paris, " V&ild les cinq questions!" All 
 were eye and ear for the answer. The reply 
 was, that the Government had treated the Mont- 
 martre affair with contempt, regarding it as a 
 sort of bravado which they could any day put 
 down when so disposed ; that these insurgents 
 were desperate fellows, who had nothing to lose, 
 and held together, answering always to the 
 rappel, whereas only three thousand friends of 
 order assembled, the rest not caring to sacrifice 
 their lives in what they supposed was an unequal 
 contest, and, moreover, many of them not 
 willing to fight for the Versailles government 
 because of its law on the subject of the echeances 
 (bills falling due) ; and that the men singly, 
 unable to resist the march of three or four armed 
 guards sent to force them to march, preferred to 
 take the chance of battle to the risk of being 
 shot out of hand. ' 
 
 My object accomplished, through the aid of 
 the Eev. J. Gaskin, 1 returned at once to 
 Chantilly, I had as fellow-passenger a Danish 
 lady, whose home is in the Kue Malesherbes, 
 
224 PARIS UNDER 
 
 and who was going to Paris to rescue, if possible, 
 some of her plate from the hands of the brigands ! 
 a Frenchman, who thought that the Assembly 
 at Versailles was very much to blame, and by its 
 acts provoking instead of allaying civil war ; a 
 French lady, who has just placed her husband 
 in safety at Amiens, and was herself returning 
 to look after their affairs ; and three Prussian 
 officers, who were just returning from a six days' 
 visit to England, and had been delighted with 
 all they had seen, and especially with the Crystal 
 Palace. My passport had been required and 
 carefully scrutinised at Amiens on going to 
 Boulogne ; but at Longeau, on returning, the 
 examination was painfully particular. " Where 
 are you going ? Who and what are you ? What 
 is the object of your journey ?" Even this was 
 not enough. A second official came in and took 
 a seat in the carriage. " Your passport is all 
 en regie ; but what is your object in going 
 towards Paris, and what are you ;" " All well ; 
 but we must have proof of your identity. Have 
 you any papers to show ; I produced the printed 
 card of our Methodist Chapel in the Eue 
 Roquepine, Paris, with a list of the services. 
 With this he was satisfied, and a smile came 
 over his before stern face. " I beg your pardon, 
 sir, but Monsieur Lyons (Lord Lyons) has begged 
 us to be particular with English subjects." I 
 was quite consoled for this strict examination by 
 the thought that Lord Lyons was taking care to 
 prevent the entrance into Paris of English vaga- 
 bonds to fight the battles of the Commune. 
 
THE BED FLAG. 225 
 
 Although at a distance of twenty- five miles, 
 we hear the cannon distinctly at Chantilly. Last 
 evening and this morning the canonnading has 
 been continuous. We find a wide sphere of 
 usefulness here. We hold English services 
 for the English people, French services for the 
 French people, and distribute tracts and speak 
 to the German soldiers, who are here in great 
 numbers. 
 
 Paris, May 3. 
 
 The situation of affairs in Paris remains much 
 the same as when we were here a few days ago. 
 Eort Issy has been all but taken, and on the 
 Neuilly and Asnieres side the Versailles troops 
 have advanced, but there is no perceptible dif- 
 ference in the city — the same disposition on the 
 part of the insurgents to fight on to the last, 
 and the same sad and desolate aspect of the 
 streets. In the Rue Roy ale I saw the great 
 barricade, wheie the street joins the Place de 
 la Concorde, which during the last few days has 
 grown into a fortress. The barricade in our 
 Boulevard, and almost close to our street, has 
 not been proceeded with. The roadway of the 
 line of the Boulevards is still comparatively 
 empty. I could only see, as I stood at the end 
 of the Boulevard de la Madeleine, an omnibus 
 and two cabs in the whole length from the 
 Madeleine to the corner of the Boulevard Mont- 
 martre. From the top of our tower I could 
 distinctly hear the fusillading going on in the 
 direction of Neuilly and Asnieres. The cannon- 
 ade, though not continuous, still rolled its 
 dreadful boom through the city. 
 
226 PARIS UNDER 
 
 Among the many placards of the Commune 
 upon the wall, I specially noted the following : — 
 
 " Sommation. 
 
 " In the name and by order of M. the Marshal 
 (M'Mahon), Commander-in-Chief of the Army, 
 we the major of the trenches, summon the com- 
 mander of the insurgents, now in the Fort of 
 Issy, to surrender himself and all the personnel 
 shut up in the said fort. A delay of a quarter of 
 an hour is allowed for a reply to this Sommation. 
 If the commander of the insurgent forces de- 
 clares, in writing, in his own name and that of 
 the entire garrison of the Fort of Issy, that he 
 submits, he and his, to this Sommation, with no 
 other condition than obtaining life and liberty, 
 with the sole exception of permission to reside 
 in Paris, that favour will be granted. If no reply 
 is sent in the course of the delay indicated, the 
 whole garrison will be shot. 
 
 (Signed) " E. Leperche. 
 
 " Tranchees before the Fort of Issy, 
 April 30, 1871." 
 
 " Eeply. 
 
 " To the Citizen Leperche, Major of the Trenches 
 before the Fort of Issy. 
 
 " My dear Comrade, — The next time you send 
 a Sommation so insolent as that contained in 
 your yesterday's letter I shall have the man who 
 brings it shot, according to the usages of war. — 
 Your devoted comrade, (Signed) " Eossel, 
 
 " Delegue de la Commune de Paris." 
 
THE EED FLAG. 227 
 
 A word as to this Bossel, who is well known 
 to friends of ours. He is a Protestant, a member 
 of Pastor Abric's church at Passy. He is quite 
 a young man, not more than twenty-six, but a 
 man of great energy and deep convictions. He 
 has conscientiously embraced the cause of the 
 Commune. He and Leperche were together at 
 Metz, and were the principal leaders of the 
 movement to oppose by force, shortly before the 
 capitulation, the acts of Bazaine. 
 
 Our chapel at the Ternes has received another 
 bomb in the staircase. Our Levallois chapel 
 has been much injured. Two or three days ago 
 a shell burst into the building, and, exploding, 
 battered one of the walls, leaving the floor of 
 the chapel covered with stones and plaster. I 
 wait with trembling to hear of the fate of our 
 chapel at Asnieres. 
 
 May 7. 
 
 At our service this morning we had not a large 
 congregation (fifteen in the morning, twenty in 
 the evening), but God was with us. both at the 
 public service and the Sacrament of the Lord's 
 Supper afterwards. All is quiet to-day ; no 
 sound of cannon. Not a single boom disturbed 
 the quiet of our morning service. Before and 
 during our evening service we heard occasionally 
 the roll of cannon, but compared with former 
 Sabbaths the day may be said to have been 
 tranquil. 
 
 Monday Morning, May 8. 
 
 A notice is placarded on the walls announcing 
 that the " Chapelle Expiatoire," close to us, is 
 
228 PARIS UNDER 
 
 doomed to destruction, as being a standing 
 insult to the spirit of revolution. Those who 
 have visited Paris will well remember this little 
 chapel, built over the place where the bones of 
 Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette were laid, and 
 rested for twenty-two years, until their removal 
 to St. Denis. Here also were buried the Swiss 
 guards who lost their lives in defending the 
 Tuileries. The two marble statues of Louis 
 XVI. and Marie Antoinette in the little chapel 
 are master-works of sculpture. Within eight 
 days — so says the decree — this interesting me- 
 morial is to be levelled to the ground. This 
 placard is signed by Eossel, Delegue a la Guerre, 
 and dated Floreal, 79, the first official document 
 of the Commune I have seen with the dates of 
 the First Revolution. In passing near the Place 
 Vendome I observed a scaffolding around the 
 base of the column, but of so slight a description 
 that I cannot believe the insurgents are in ear- 
 nest in their threat to pull it down. I had heard 
 that straw manure was to be laid for it to fall 
 upon. I see, however, no preparations of this 
 kind. Let us hope also that the rumour of the 
 threatened destruction of the statues of Henry 
 IV. on the Pont Neuf, and of Louis XV. in the 
 Place Royale, and other bronze statues, is a false 
 report. 
 
 In addition to the great barricade at the end 
 of the Rue Royale, I observe some stones and 
 sand-bags laid across the street at the corner of 
 the Rue St. Honore. This, however, may not 
 be the beginning of a new barricade, but an 
 indication that carriages cannot enter that part 
 
THE EED FLAG. 229' 
 
 of the Rue Royale. The stone barricades in 
 and near the Place Vendome have given place 
 to larger and stronger barricades of earth and 
 sand-bags, &c, at the entrance of the Rue 
 Castiglione and at both entrances into the Rue 
 St. Honore. The barricade at the end of the 
 Quai des Tuileries, adjoining the Place de la 
 Concorde is assuming large proportions ; and 
 one of the most imposing of all is at the grand 
 entrance of the Gardens of the Tuileries. One 
 of the chief features of each barricade is a deep 
 trench in front. The universal opinion is that 
 the Commune will fight on to the end, and may 
 hold out for several weeks longer. One is grieved 
 to see in the battalions of the Commune some 
 mere lads. I have observed lately boys of not 
 more than fourteen or fifteen ! Several placards 
 announce increased facilities for the instruction 
 of children, and also that schools are being 
 established in which trades may be learnt. Many 
 of these arrangements for the education of the 
 people are admirable. 
 
 A red bill proclaims to Parisians that the 
 Church of St. Nicolas des Champs has been 
 opened for the meetings of a club, and exhorts 
 citizens of other arrondissements to turn to a 
 like useful purpose their parish churches. A 
 young man, a member of our society, attended a 
 meeting in St. Nicholas des Champs a few days 
 ago. Men were smoking, drinking, and spitting 
 on the floor. A rabid orator from the pulpit 
 addressed the meeting in the wildest style, re- 
 calling the deeds of their grandfathers in 1793. 
 
230 PARIS UNDER 
 
 On Thursday last a meeting of Protestant 
 pastors was held to decide as to whether any 
 action should be taken by them as Protestant 
 pastors in reference to some acts of the Com- 
 mune, as, for example, that of the imprisonment 
 of priests, &c. One was of opinion that the 
 Communists were brigands, that no peace was 
 possible with them, and that they must be driven 
 away. Another, although milder in his view, 
 was quite as much opposed to the Commune. 
 Others thought there were points in which the 
 Commune had the right on its side, and said 
 they had members of their churches who con- 
 scientiously had espoused the cause of the 
 Commune. The decision arrived at was to take 
 no action at all. 
 
 There is talk of a levee en masse, a thing of 
 course impossible. The Commune, however, is 
 taking means to discover every Frenchman 
 capable of bearing arms. A notice is placarded 
 requiring all concierges, under heavy penalties, 
 to furnish a list of all the persons in their 
 houses, giving name, profession or business, 
 place of birth, and age. 
 
 I think I see many signs of weakness in the 
 Commune, and doubtless its days are numbered. 
 The question now comes, what permanent effect 
 upon the Government of France will have been 
 produced by its existence for a few weeks in 
 Paris ? Some say that it will disgust people 
 with the Eepublic, and make all France ready 
 to receive a monarchy. Others think (and, as I 
 believe, w T ith more reason) that it is the Com- 
 mune alone that has saved the Republic for 
 
THE RED FLAG. 231 
 
 France, and that, even if it should soon cease 
 to exist, the Commune will have secured a Ee- 
 public for France at least for a few years, what- 
 ever may be the after course of events. 
 
 Paris, May 10, 1871. 
 
 The great event of to-day is the resignation of 
 Eossel as Dclegite a la Guerre. He was regarded 
 by all as a man of talent and capacity, and his 
 retirement is a great loss to the Commune. In 
 his letter, addressed ausc citoyens membres de la 
 Commune, he states that either his orders have 
 not been obeyed, or that they have been counter- 
 manded by others, and on such conditions he 
 declines to hold the responsibility. He thus 
 concludes his letter, " I retire, and have the 
 honour of asking from you a cell at Mazas." 
 Eochefort in the Mot cVOrdre agrees with Eossel 
 in everything but his request for a cell at Mazas, 
 and adds that in the present crisis the one thing 
 to be done is to appoint a military dictator. 
 Whether that dictator should be Eossel or 
 another he leaves, but counsels that the Com- 
 mune should choose its man without losing a 
 single day. The Column Vendome is still 
 standing. Its fall is put off till Friday. Per- 
 haps then it will be deferred till next Monday ! 
 Nor are there as yet preparations for the demoli- 
 tion of the C hap ell e Expiatoire. The tricolour 
 now floats on Fort Issy, and Fort Vanves is all 
 but taken by the Government troops. The 
 Commune is said to be almost dead, but it 
 dies hard. 
 
232 PARIS UNDER 
 
 The sister of one of our French pastors, M. 
 Dugand, successor to M. Jaulmes at the Eue 
 Roquepine, has been imprisoned because her 
 husband managed to escape from Paris. Pastor 
 William Monod is interesting himself to secure 
 her release, but so far has not succeeded. Our 
 Ternes Chapel is escaping in a most wonderful 
 manner. Beyond the slight injury caused by 
 the two fragments which fell on the staircase, it 
 has not suffered at all, although bombs have 
 been falling on the right and the left. The other 
 day a shell entered the house on one side, killed 
 the wife of the concierge, and wounded the 
 concierge himself. Another shell fell at the 
 corner of the house on the other side, breaking 
 a corner of the wall. In walking through some 
 of the streets of the city, usually full of bustle 
 and business, it seemed to me that I was w r alking 
 through a city of the dead — no carriages on the 
 roadway, no foot-passengers on the causew T ays, 
 all silent and deserted, nothing to be heard but 
 the echo of my footstep. The Boulevards, how- 
 ever, were a little more bustling than of late. 
 Ugly dogs, with baskets in their mouths, solicit- 
 ing alms for maimed or blind persons sitting 
 alongside, fragments of bombs that had fallen 
 in Paris offered for sale, and books, among 
 w T hich were many copies of the works of Voltaire, 
 were to be seen on the broad asphalt. Shop- 
 keepers were busy pasting strips of white paper, 
 diamond-fashion, on their shop w T indow T s, with 
 the idea of preventing the plate glass from 
 being broken by the sudden shake that might be 
 caused by the fall of the Vendome Column, or 
 
THE EED FLAG. 233 
 
 by the explosion of gunpowder. There is a 
 general impression that some parts of Paris will 
 be blown up. From one of the numerous 
 placards on the wall I learn that the Central 
 Committee is again coming into power in military 
 affairs. Its address to the people of Paris begins 
 with the announcement in large characters that 
 the Commune is sure of victory ! The bom- 
 bardment of the enceinte is still going on, but 
 the cannonading is not so furious as for a day or 
 two past. 
 
 May 11. 
 
 Passing along the Boulevards to-day, we saw 
 from the end of the Kue de la Paix that ropes 
 were fixed near the top of the Colonne Vendome. 
 This looks like an intention on the part of the 
 Commune to carry out their threat to-morrow. 
 I said to a man in a blouse near me, " Do they 
 really mean to pull down the column ?" "I 
 don't know — pity if they do." " It is an 
 historical monument ; they can't destroy the 
 history, if they destro}' the monument." " No, 
 let them take down the man at the top if they 
 like, but the column ought not to be destroyed. 
 Everybody who came to Paris went to see the 
 Colonize Vendome ; if they go on destroying in 
 this way there will soon be nothing left to see. 
 What with the Versailles people and the Com- 
 mune, Paris will soon not have a single monu- 
 ment to show. The Arc de Triomphe has been 
 very much injured, and some of the bas-reliefs 
 which cost so much labour and skill destroyed." 
 Walking along our Boulevard Malesherbes, I 
 
'234 PARIS UNDER 
 
 saw a placard just posted up : " In its sitting of 
 yesterday (seven o'clock in the evening) the 
 Commune decided : 1. The nomination of 
 citizen Delescluse to the functions of Delegue 
 civil a la Guerre. 2. To send Colonel Kossel 
 before the court-martial." Near it was another 
 placard signed Delescluse, of which the follow- 
 ing is a translation : To the Garde Nationale. 
 Citizens, the Commune has delegated me to the 
 Ministere de la Guerre : it has thought that its 
 representative in the military administration 
 ought to beLmg to the civil element. If I only 
 consulted my own strength I should have de- 
 clined this dangerous post, but I have reckoned 
 on your patriotism to render the accomplishment 
 more easy to me. The situation is grave, you 
 know it ; the horrible war which the Federals, 
 leagued with the remnants of the monarchical 
 regimes, are making against you has already 
 cost you enough generous blood ; nevertheless, 
 while deploring these sad losses, when I behold 
 the sublime future which will open for our 
 children if it should not be given to us to reap 
 what we have sown, I should salute again with 
 enthusiasm the Revolution of March 18, which 
 has opened to France and to Europe prospects 
 which none of us dared hope for three months 
 ago. To your ranks, then, citizens, and hold 
 your ground before the enemy. Our ramparts 
 are as solid as your arms and your hearts. You 
 are not ignorant, besides, that you are righting 
 for your liberty and for social equality, that 
 promise the fulfilment of which has so long 
 escaped you ; that if your breasts are exposed 
 
THE RED FLAG. 235 
 
 to the balls and shells of the Versaillists, the 
 prize which is assured to you is the freedom of 
 France and of the world, the security of your 
 hearths and the life of your wives and children. 
 You will conquer, then : the world which con- 
 templates you and applauds your magnanimous 
 efforts is ready to celebrate your triumph, which 
 shall be safety for all the people. Vive la Be- 
 jmblique Universelle ! Vive la Commune /" 
 
 Another notice placarded on the walls every- 
 where was to this effect : " The Committee of 
 Public Safety decrees that the goods belonging 
 to Thiers' property shall be seized, and the 
 house of Thiers situated in the Place St. Georges 
 razed to the ground." A long and wordy 
 answer to the proclamation of M. Thiers is 
 also placarded, and a larger bill than any of the 
 rest announces another concert at the Tuileries 
 for this evening at eight o'clock. Meetings of 
 clubs are being held at many of the churches. 
 Pastor Emile Cook w r as present at one of them, 
 held at St. Eustache, and listened for some time 
 to a torrent of nonsence and blasphemy. One 
 speaker said there was no God, but that every- 
 thing was ideal. Another that the religion of 
 the Galilean was too old, but that the Galilean 
 himself was in some respects excellent, always 
 having remained a poor man and never having 
 sought to get out of the ranks of the poor ! 
 
 From the top of our tower we can see the- 
 bombardment of the forts and enceinte, which 
 is now carried on with great vigour. Last evening 
 a dense smoke covered Fort Vanves ; and, if I 
 may form a judgment at this distance, I should 
 
236 PARIS UNDER 
 
 say that it is no longer tenable. The other forts 
 on the south and south-east, Montrouge, Bicetre, 
 and Ivry, must soon fall into the hands of the 
 Government. The general impression is that a 
 grand attack on the city itself by the Versailles 
 troops is imminent. 
 
 Summoned to-day to conduct a funeral service 
 over the remains of an American banker (Mr. 
 Eichards, of the firm of Monroe and Co.), who 
 died rather suddenly a few days ago, I had a fine 
 opportunity of addressing a large company of 
 Americans, who had assembled to sympathise 
 with the bereaved family and show their respect 
 for the memory of the deceased. May the seed 
 sown on this solemn occasion spring up to the 
 glory of God. 
 
 Our own services at Eue Eoquepine are regu- 
 larly attended by the few who remain in Paris, 
 and in this time of trouble are truly times of 
 refreshing. Our people, although some of them 
 have been exposed to great danger, have all 
 been kept from harm. Shells have exploded in 
 the next apartment, or in the street within a 
 few yards, but not one has been touched. So 
 God keepeth his own. 
 
 May 14. 
 
 The Sabbath-day was ushered in with firing 
 from the battery on the heights of Montmartre. 
 This will inevitably, we fear, draw the fire of the 
 Versailles troops further into the city. With 
 the roar of cannon close at hand, we went down 
 to our morning service ; but, fortunately, during 
 the time of service we had comparative quiet. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 237 
 
 Throughout the clay batteries have been sending 
 their shells upon Vanves, Montrouge, &c, and 
 upon the enceinte. The heavy boom was dis- 
 tinctly heard during our evening service, and 
 two of our congregation who reside at Mont- 
 martre had to hasten home to place in safety 
 their fragile things, lest they should be broken 
 by the vibration from the cannon. The sun, 
 which had been shining most brilliantly all day, 
 sank over the west of the city in colour of deepest 
 blood-red. Soon after the houses and monu- 
 ments, shown out so beautifully in the clear 
 evening light, had disappeared, the heavens 
 towards the north-west were lighted up by the 
 lurid glare of a fire. We found afterwards that 
 it was a house set on fire by a shell. 
 
 Monday Morning, May 15. 
 
 Placards have not been posted so plentifully 
 during the last day or two as in the earlier days 
 of the Commune. Military announcements are, 
 indeed, conspicuous by their absence. I observe, 
 however, that Delescluse announces that the 
 Federal troops have " swept Sablonville," and 
 Grousset (Minister of the Commune for Foreign 
 Affairs ! ) declares that the laws of the Geneva 
 Convention have been scandalously disregarded 
 by the assassins at Versailles, and wounded men 
 have been summarily put to death, and tells that 
 the Commune, influenced by civilisation, will 
 still keep to the Geneva Convention, let the 
 conduct of the assassins be what it may. 
 
 The Column Vendome is still standing, but 
 more ropes have been attached to the top, and 
 
238 PARIS UNDER 
 
 the scaffolding enlarged at the base. A crowd 
 of people in the Rue de la Paix were calmly 
 contemplating the preparations. We went up 
 to one of them and asked, " When is the 
 Column to come down ?" " I don't know, but I 
 should think not before eight days." But they 
 said it was to be pulled down on Friday, and 
 then that this was the day on which it was to 
 fall." " Yes, but it can't be taken down without 
 making the proper preparations." " Well, I 
 hope they won't take it down at all." " Ah, 
 who knows but that the Versaillais will be in 
 before they have a chance." The only one of 
 the threatened demolitions really carried into 
 effect as yet is that of M. Thiers' house in the 
 Place St. Georges. 
 
 The barricade at the end of the Rue de Rivoli, 
 in the Rue Castiglione and Rue St. Honore, 
 have been beautifully finished, and may be styled, 
 in the barricade line, works of art. The muzzles 
 of cannon stare out from the midst of the sand- 
 bags, and command the whole line of the streets. 
 The barricade at the end of the Rue Royale w T ill 
 probably be the most imposing of all. As we 
 passed it we saw six carts, laden with large bags 
 rilled with rags, making towards it to discharge 
 their burden. All preparations are being made 
 for a terrible resistance ; for, although there is 
 now an open feud between the Ministry of War, 
 headed by Delescluse, and the Central Com- 
 mittee, which might end in a dissolution of the 
 Commune, yet there are numbers of determined 
 men, having nothing to lose, who will fight on 
 to the last. The general opinion is that this 
 
THE RED FLAG. 239 
 
 affair cannot he ended without a fearful 
 slaughter, nor without righting from street to 
 street and house to house. The temporary 
 sheds erected in the gardens of the Tuileries 
 have nearly all disappeared, and the gardens are 
 assuming their old aspect. 
 
 Paris has never appeared to me cleaner and 
 healthier than now. The city, except in the more 
 open parts, has generally a sour smell, not per- 
 ceptible by French people, but easily discernible 
 by the keener olfactories of English people. 
 Indeed, Paris, like Cologne, boasts of ninety- 
 nine distinct odours. But, during the reign of 
 the Commune, the city has been as sweet as 
 any one could desire. I have accounted for it 
 from the fact of more than one-third of the 
 population having left, the ordinary operations 
 for sweeping and cleansing the city being still 
 carried on. It is strange to think of the Roman 
 Catholic churches being used for their customary 
 religious services in the morning, and for the 
 meetings of clubs in the evening. An orator at 
 one of the evening meetings boasted the other 
 day of the superiority of this revolution in this 
 particular, that the priests were willing to cele- 
 brate the mass, and allow secular meetings to 
 be held in the churches at the same time, 
 not considering the building desecrated by the 
 secular evening meeting for the religious services 
 in the morning. 
 
 We " assisted " at one of these meeting held 
 at St. Eustache, which is regarded as the central 
 meeting, delegates attending from all the clubs, 
 
240 PARIS UNDER 
 
 and two or three members of the Central Com- 
 mittee being always present. The effect pro- 
 duced on my mind on entering the church was 
 peculiar, and almost indefinable. I saw men 
 walking in with their hats on ; instinctively I 
 took off my own. Passing by the aisles we 
 managed to get near enough to the pulpit to 
 hear very distinctly. The whole body of the 
 church was crowded. Oh for such an audience 
 to preach the gospel unto ! Dim lamps sur- 
 rounded the nave, the light just serving to make 
 the darkness of the aisles visible. The lofty 
 groined roof looked very beautiful in the hazy 
 half-darkness. The orator, who had dared to 
 invade the pulpit, spoke thus : " Have no pity 
 on the assassins ; they don't deserve any. The 
 other day they bayoneted a poor wounded man 
 on a litter." This remark caused a shudder of 
 horror among the women near me. " We must 
 demand the release of Blanqui. And if he be 
 not released, the head of the Archbishop must 
 fall." At this moment the assessor of the bureau 
 (at all French meetings there is a bureau, con- 
 sisting usually of chairman, vice-chairman, 
 secretaries, and delegates) rose on the side of 
 the nave opposite the pulpit, and said in a clear, 
 strong voice, " I am glad you have touched on 
 that subject. It was I who voted a few days ago 
 for the death of the archbishop, and I call on 
 you to vote it by acclamation." True, there 
 were a few who shouted M Oui, put" but to the 
 honour of the meeting be it said that there was 
 a very feeble response. We had heard enough, 
 and left the meeting. A few days ago, at a 
 
THE BED FLAG. 241 
 
 meeting of citoyennes at St. Germain l'Auxerrois, 
 a vote for a general divorce was carried by ac- 
 clamation ! 
 
 Paris, May 17, 1871. 
 
 The event of yesterday was the fall of the 
 Column Vendome ; the event of to-day is a ter- 
 rific explosion. At a quarter to six this evening 
 every one was almost stunned, and the windows 
 of our chapel were suddenly forced open. What 
 could it be ? As is usual, there were as many 
 opinions as persons, but the general decision 
 was, from the direction whence the terrible 
 sound had seemed to come, that it was an ex- 
 plosion at Grenelle. The dense volume of 
 smoke, seen from our tower, rising in that 
 direction, confirmed the opinion. Our librarian 
 and schoolmaster set off together to ascertain 
 the truth. When they returned we learned that 
 it was an explosion of the cartridge manufactory 
 in the Avenue Eapp, that from a hundred to two 
 hundred and fifty had been killed, and a great 
 number wounded. Women were chiefly engaged 
 in the manufacture of the cartridges, and they 
 were the most numerous victims, but the Na- 
 tional Guards on duty outside the manufactory, 
 and some people who happened to be near at 
 the time, are among the number of the dead. 
 Many of the dead bodies were thrown by the 
 violence of the explosion to the roofs of the 
 neighbouring houses. Fragments of bodies and 
 mangled limbs were to be seen in all directions. 
 
242 PARIS UNDER 
 
 The sight was most horrible to behold. The 
 general idea throughout Paris is that this fearful 
 event has been brought about by " malveilance," 
 and that agents of Versailles have done it. Of 
 this, however, there is no proof ; indeed, every- 
 thing that I hear confirms the belief that it was 
 a pure accident. The only suspicious circum- 
 stance is that many women left the manufactory 
 at five instead of six o'clock as usual. Fortunate 
 that they did leave, or the loss of life would have 
 been fearful. Four poor fellows have been 
 arrested. 
 
 The long-looked-forwarded to, but often-de- 
 ferred event — the fall of the Column Vendome — 
 took place yesterday. At three o'clock in the 
 afternoon a citoyen mounted to the top of the 
 column and shook the tricolour flag to indicate 
 that the fall of the column would involve that 
 of the flag. At half-past three the clarion 
 sounded, the workmen came down from the 
 scaffolding, the vast crowd was made to fall 
 back, the cabestan (a machine for pulling the 
 ropes) was set in motion. The column seemed 
 to move. .All eyes were fixed and anxious. But 
 at this critical moment a heavy crack was heard. 
 It was the cabestan breaking, and five or six 
 workmen were thrown over, but not seriously 
 hurt. A new apparatus was sent for, but it took 
 at least two hours to bring and fix it. In the 
 meantime some men worked with pickaxes, at 
 the base of the column, and the bands of two or 
 three battalions played martial and patriotic airs. 
 Shortly before half-past five the new cabestan 
 was set to work. The crowd was breathless. 
 
THE RED FLAG. 
 
 243 
 
 The tension of the ropes made the column totter. 
 An involuntary cry lest some terrible accident 
 should occur, burst from every mouth, and was 
 succeeded by a dead silence. After having 
 oscillated for a moment, the mass of stone and 
 bronze fell dislocated upon the bed of straw, 
 manure, and branches prepared for it. An arm 
 
 «SB<6'*^ 
 
 
 ^J 
 
 the fall, and the 
 
 There was a great 
 
 of the statue was broken in 
 
 head severed from the trunk. 
 
 crackling of boughs, and clouds of dust rose into 
 
 the air, but not the awful crash that had been 
 
 expected. A tremendous clamour burst from 
 
 the crowd, mingled with enthusiastic shouts of 
 
 " Vive la Eepublique !" " Vive la Commune !" 
 
244 PARIS UNDER 
 
 To-day, in passing along the Boulevards, and 
 looking along the Eue de la Paix, I could scarcely 
 reconcile myself to the new look of the Place 
 Vendome, with the empty space instead of the 
 beautiful column. Four red flags had been 
 placed on the pedestal. The sight of the column 
 celebrating the victories of the First Napoleon 
 prostrate, and the statue of the Emperor lying 
 dishonoured on the ground, awoke many re- 
 flections. 
 
 The Versailles troops are getting nearer and 
 nearer, and the general impression is they will 
 soon be within the ramparts. 
 
 Chantilly, Paris Circuit, May 20. 
 
 It being part of my ministerial duty to pay a 
 friendly visit to Eheims once a year, I went on 
 Thursday and returned yesterday. My route 
 lay by Senlis and Soissons, and at both places 
 every one in the train was obliged to show a 
 passport. The news of Rochefort's arrest at 
 Meaux on Friday last shows the reason of such 
 minute examination. Soissons, the ancient and 
 historical town on the edge of the forest Villers 
 Cotterets, the burial-place of Kings Clothaire 
 and Sigebert, is, it will be remembered, one of 
 the towns that, during the late war, the com- 
 mandant would blow up rather than yield ; but 
 after two days it capitulated ! The bombard- 
 ment of forty-eight hours, however, has left its 
 mark on the town. The fortifications were much 
 battered and a breach effected ; the cathedral, 
 
THE RED FLAG. 245 
 
 which, though small, is one of the most beautiful 
 in France, was struck in several places ; and 
 some shells broke through the two spire-crowned 
 towers, the great ornaments of the town, and 
 the only remains of the once magnificent Abbey 
 of St. Jean des Vignes. 
 
 At Eheims I could almost have believed my- 
 self in a German town, so completely is it 
 occupied by the invaders. The streets were 
 filled with German soldiers ; and in front of the 
 colossal fabric, the pride of Eheims, where all 
 the Kings of France were crowned, from the 
 time of Phillippe Auguste to that of Charles X., 
 with the exceptions of Henry IV. and Louis 
 XVIII. , Prussians with spiked helmets were lis- 
 tening, under the shadow of the far-famed portal 
 of one of the grandest of French cathedrals, to 
 the command to shoulder arms. I made my 
 way to the house of the Eev. John Mearns, our 
 minister at Eheims, and it being Ascension-day, 
 a general holiday throughout France, went with 
 him to a school treat he had prepared for the 
 children of the day-school. About thirty bright 
 and bonny English children sat down to tea and 
 cake, and romped in downright English fashion 
 in Mr. Holden's garden. I was the guest of Mr. 
 Jonathan Holden, nephew of Mr. Isaac Holden, 
 about whom and the arrangements of his factory 
 a long article appeared in the Standard (after- 
 wards copied into the Watchman) in September 
 last. Mr. Holden went into Paris on urgent 
 business, by the last train which entered the 
 city before the investment by the Germans, and 
 gave me the following account of his escape : — 
 
246 PARIS UNDER 
 
 " Finding myself, with our principal clerk, shut 
 up in Paris, having had the misfortune to enter 
 by the last train from Eouen on the night of the 
 17th September, to attend to important financial 
 business, and feeling very strongly that my duty 
 was at Eheims, among our suffering workpeople, 
 who were exposed to all the rigours of the Prus- 
 sians, of whose treatment I had already had 
 some experience before leaving, I resolved at all 
 hazards to make the attempt to cross the two 
 belligerent lines, for which dangerous enterprise 
 my journey through the Ardennes the w r eek 
 before, amid the terrible scenes of the late battles 
 and their concomitant evils and misery had 
 partly prepared me ; but, before desperately 
 running the gauntlet, I adopted all possible 
 means to get through under shelter of an escort 
 or flag of truce. I went first to our Embassy, 
 and saw the only remaining attache ; he said he 
 was powerless to render the least service, never- 
 theless was well disposed to make an effort, and 
 fixed an hour in the afternoon for me to call 
 again. Not to lose precious time I made an 
 effort myself with General Trochu, but failed to 
 get further than the ante-chamber. I then 
 called upon Mr. Eouland, the Governor of the 
 Bank, who kindly gave me a letter of introduc- 
 tion to the General, begging him to aid by any 
 means in his power my departure. I was at 
 once admitted, and found him overwhelmed with 
 most urgent despatches from all the forts around 
 Paris. He at once ordered us a special sauf 
 conduit to enable us to pass freely through their 
 lines, but could not do more, adding that it was 
 
THE EED FLAG. 247 
 
 rash to make the attempt to leave the city. I 
 then returned to the Embassy, and the attache 
 told me that he could not aid me in any way, 
 not even to procure me a pass. I told him that 
 I had succeeded in getting a sauf conduit^ but 
 now requested advice as to how to pass into the 
 Prussian Camp. He said, you have already pro- 
 cured what I have failed in, and in the rest will 
 be more successful, as I cannot see M. Jules 
 Favre at present (he had left Paris for the Prus- 
 sian head quarters), I then went to the river, 
 but failed ; afterwards to Charenton, but was 
 not allowed to pass, as a severe combat was 
 going on in that direction, especially around 
 Villejuif. We then drove to St. Denis, and 
 arrived there in time to get into the heat of a 
 contest going on to the right of the Double 
 Courorme, towards Stains, from which wounded 
 were being brought back to the city. We were 
 therefore obliged to return, over innumerable 
 difficulties, to Paris. It was Tuesday night, the 
 20th September. I saw a good number of friends, 
 but all advised me to stay ; nor would they aid 
 me in any way. Nevertheless I agreed with the 
 cabman who had driven us to St. Denis, to take 
 us out next morning by a special route which he 
 knew well, for which we agreed to pay him 4,000f . 
 down, and 3,000f. if any accident occurred to his 
 horses or cab, but he never made his appearance. 
 I again saw our military attache at the British 
 Embassy, who tried to dissuade us from making 
 the attempt, as he saw no possibility of our 
 getting through. I then called upon M. Jules 
 Simon, who gave me a note to M. de Keratry 
 
248 PAEIS UNDER 
 
 (the Prefect) as the person most likely to be of 
 service to us. When I saw him he said, " Your 
 case has already been before me three times by 
 friends whom I should be most happy to serve, 
 but really I cannot ; neither will I take the 
 responsibility to even advise." I replied that I 
 was fully resolved to leave ; and the only favour 
 that I would now ask was that he would inform 
 me where the least fighting was going on, and 
 at the same time where I should meet the 
 greatest body of Prussians, as I was not wishful 
 to fall in with a few straggling troops without 
 officers. He said, " At this moment in the 
 direction of Eomanville ; but I will not under- 
 take to say w T hat will be the case even there an 
 hour hence. My determination was taken at 
 once. Accompanied by my French friend I 
 took a cab and drove to Messrs. Eothschilds to 
 deposit the principal part of our mouey for a 
 cheque upon London. They most kindly ren- 
 dered the service, though money just then in 
 Paris was a charge and extra risk, and not at all 
 useful. We also deposited our luggage with a 
 friend, and made for the barrier of Eomainville, 
 where we were allowed to pass on foot to the 
 Fort. We were received very courteously by 
 the Commandant. After hearing our request, 
 he advised us strongly not to venture, assuring 
 us that we could never pass his lines, and saying, 
 " My men will not regard your pass ; they may 
 bring you before me several times, that is, if they 
 will take the trouble ; but I will again release 
 you. I cannot prevent you making the effort 
 with your sauf conduit, but will not aid you in 
 
THE KED FLAG. 249^ 
 
 the least." As a favour I requested him to give 
 orders to his men not to fire upon us from the 
 Fort : he said, "I cannot, nor will Heave my room 
 to assist you." We left him in this mood and 
 quitted the Fort, which was vomiting forth its 
 shells into the woods behind Bondy, or whereso- 
 ever the spiked helmet was to be seen. We took 
 to our right, and immediately turned down the 
 road leading to Noisy-le-Sec. When scaling the 
 breastwork at its head, we were accosted by a 
 sentinel who allowed us to pass, and pointed out 
 an easier by-path. We followed his direction. 
 On entering this by-path my companion ex- 
 claimed, ' Are you really going ?' I said, ' Yes, 
 but you may remain, and can make yourself 
 useful in Paris ; ' he replied, ' No, if you leave 
 I will not allow you to go alone, but will follow.' 
 I soon discovered that we should be exposed to 
 stray shots, and perhaps be a mark for the 
 franc tireurs, if we continued among the bushes 
 and fields : we therefore made for the main road, 
 which was encumbered with the fine large trees 
 that had a short time before formed a pleasant 
 avenue. We climbed over tree after tree, always 
 remaining in the centre of the road. The franc 
 tireiirs were as thick as the trees and bushes 
 permitted. I induced one of them to accom- 
 pany* us for some distance towards Noisy-le-Sec. 
 Before entering the village we were gruffly 
 accosted by a franc tireur who had had part of 
 his kepi shot away that morning. I recognised 
 and went at once up to him saying, ' I know 
 that face ; are you not from Bheims ?' he said, 
 1 I am, and worked there at .' Well, you 
 
250 ESCAPE OF MK. J. HOLDEN 
 
 should know me, I am .' ' Of course I 
 
 know you ; what are you doing out here amid 
 so much danger ? ' 'I am going to Kheims.' 
 ' What can I do for you ? come to my com- 
 mandant,' and at once he conducted us to him. 
 The commandant received us most sternly ; but, 
 when he leant that we were from Kheims, he 
 changed his tone and began to enquire most 
 kindly about several dear friends, charging me 
 to give them news of him if we should ever 
 arrive. He told us that we had before us a 
 most perilous journey, but added, ' I will con- 
 duct you to our avant yoste, and would gladly go 
 with you to the Prussian out-post if those 
 gentlemen were conducting the war upon human 
 principles.' We asked him how long we should 
 have to walk before coming in sight of the 
 Prussians. 'About one hour and a half,' he 
 said. On arriving at the extreme limit we 
 jumped over the barricade, and our kind con- 
 ductor exclaimed, with a graceful wave of the 
 hand, ' a la grace de Dieu ! ' 'Twas a most 
 solemn hour and a half, never, indeed, to be 
 forgotten. We passed through Bond} r most of 
 which was in flames, without encountering any 
 living creature save a few dogs and cats that 
 still clung to the deserted village. On all that 
 beautiful landscape hung dark clouds of smoke 
 arising from the country residences and home- 
 steads. Shortly after leaving Bondy, we dis- 
 covered the glistening bayonets and casques of 
 the Prussians, for it was a bright clear day. I 
 said to my friend, ' If they fire we may both 
 fall, and they may then come to fetch us.' At 
 
FKOM PARIS. 251 
 
 the same time I wrapped my overcoat round my 
 arm and laid it across my breast. As we neared 
 came the welcome sound ' Halt !' as none but a 
 German can utter it. They motioned to us to 
 advance, and again to halt ; and thus we were 
 allowed to pass the first outpost. The men were 
 placed along the bank of the canal, and behind 
 the trees lining the road, and were lying down 
 in the ditches with their muskets pointed towards 
 us by the score. Once allowed to meet, how- 
 ever, I felt quite safe. Then I remembered that 
 I had eaten nothing that day, and little for a 
 day or two before. I requested to be allowed to 
 sit down, and asked for a little bread if possible ; 
 but they said that they had not received any 
 rations that day. We remained there about an 
 hour, and then moved to another part of the 
 wood, and then another, and thus moved about, 
 but always under shelter of the wood. In 
 moving from the first rendezvous, they pointed 
 out a terrible hole made by a bomb in the road 
 close by where they all had a narrow escape but 
 a few minutes before ; the shells were constantly 
 falling at random among the trees of Kaincy. 
 About six we went with the main body to Clichy. 
 On our way an officer with whom I was walking 
 pointed out a man in a blouse whom they were 
 conducting into the fields to shoot as a spy ; 
 and on entering Clichy the soldiers off duty 
 remarked, as we passed, " there go two others 
 to be shot. The officer growled at them in any- 
 thing but an agreeable tone. On our arrival our 
 papers were demanded, and during their exami- 
 nation, our guard, who appeared to take great 
 
252 ESCAPE OF MR. J. HOLDEN 
 
 interest in our position, said, ' I am a soldier, 
 but would not attempt to accomplish what you 
 have done to-day, nor even now should I like to 
 be in your position.' I replied ' We are now all 
 safe, only hungry. Can you procure some bread 
 for us ?' He went into the room where were 
 the officers examining our papers one of whom 
 immediately brought us a large piece of bread 
 and two glasses of wine, for which we were 
 very thankful. Never did I find bread so sweet. 
 Our papers were made out for Belgium at the 
 German head-quarters of Eheims, though they 
 were aware that our mission was to Paris ; 
 but, not being in possession of the road, they 
 gave a sauf conduit for Belgium, therefore I 
 was requested to give a reason for being in 
 Paris, &c. Finally, I requested to be sent to the 
 Royal head-quarters, as it was Count Moltke 
 himself who made out our papers. The officials 
 at Clichy were exceedingly kind and gentlemanly, 
 and decided to send us at once, with an escort, 
 to Coubron, the head-quarters of the Saxon 
 troops, where we arrived at a late hour, and then 
 went through another severe examination of 
 much the same kind. After conferring together, 
 the General said with great emphasis, • And you 
 have come out of Paris to-day V ' Yes, at noon/ 
 \ You have come out of Paris ?' ' Well, my 
 men have not executed my orders, which were 
 to allow no one to leave ; it is, indeed a miracle 
 that you are here, and I am only sorry that I 
 cannot accommodate you for the night, as you 
 must remain with me.' He added, pointing to 
 a mattress, ' That is all I have for myself.' He 
 
FROM PARIS. 253 
 
 sent us into an empty room ; but soon chairs, 
 and also bread, meat, and wine, were brought, 
 at last two mattresses. My friend was sad 
 indeed ; and when pressed to lie down, he 
 replied, ' I would gladly, if it were my bed of 
 death.' After a while the General came to our 
 room to learn something of Paris, and asked if 
 there was still something to eat, &c. We pleaded 
 ignorance, having been only a few days there. 
 He most generously said on leaving, ' I see 3^011 
 are not wishful to say anything, and you are 
 perfectly right : I admire your caution, good 
 night.' In the morning he sent us coffee and 
 bread ; but I could not prevail on my friend to 
 take any refreshment. He added, ' I would if 
 it were poison.' Come, come, you are perfectly 
 safe now ; what makes you so sad ?' He replied, 
 ' It is your cheerfulness that makes me sad ; you 
 had no occasion to leave Paris.' I said, ' I had 
 no duty in Paris, and should have been an extra 
 mouth and a burden to them. My clear duty 
 lay at Eheims, and since the decision was taken 
 I have had no fear, but should have ever 
 despised myself if I had remained.' He said, 
 ' Well, you are right ; but it is death to me to 
 see my poor country thus overrun by an exacting 
 enemy.' We were kept long into the day, but 
 finally sent forward to Claye wdth an escort ; 
 the General expressing his regret at not being 
 able to procure a carriage for us, but said, 
 ' I have given instructions that they procure 
 one for you at Claye.' Then we were safely 
 delivered over to the commandant, who was 
 kind and considerate, and gave us wine, bread, 
 
254 ESCAPE OF MB. J. HOLDEN 
 
 and raw bacon, which latter was a great boon 
 throughout the war to the German army. We 
 did not remain long. The commandant told us 
 that we had now our liberty, and was sorry 
 that he could not provide a conveyance for us, 
 but said, ' I have given you a written authority 
 to stop any military carriage and mount.' 
 We then started of! on foot for Meaux, under a 
 burning sun. The country was indeed lovely, 
 with all the late crops still on the ground, and 
 all the vines laden with their abundant and 
 luxuriant charge, but not one solitary inhabitant 
 did we meet between Paris and Meaux. All the 
 villages quite deserted, nothing but military trains, 
 and movements of troops, as if all Germany 
 were pouring into poor France. When nearing 
 Meaux we found a way-side inn, and hoped to 
 get some little refreshment ; but the moment we 
 presented ourselves the poor woman nearly lost 
 her senses, and began to beg us to kill her at 
 once. Nothing, however, could we procure. 
 There followed us a most brutish gang of camp 
 followers whose conduct was such that I did not 
 wonder at the state of the poor woman. All 
 these ruffians wore the brassard of the Geneva 
 Convention. Such were the only people we met 
 in our walk of forty kilometers. We passed the 
 night at Meaux, and next morning saw the com- 
 mandant to get his visa. We happened to meet 
 a Queen's messenger returning to Berlin, who 
 kindly gave us places forward to Epernay. We 
 stayed one night at Dormons, and arrived at 
 Eheims on Saturday night the 24th of Septem- 
 ber, after a fortnight's perils and adventures, 
 
FROM PARIS. 255 
 
 and found my house still occupied as Prussian 
 barracks, and the town crowded with Prussian 
 soldiers." 
 
 I learnt from several reliable persons at Kheims, 
 in reference to the German occupation, that the 
 excellent character given in some English news- 
 papers, as for example, the Times and Daily 
 News, to the Germans, and especially to the 
 German officers, for their consideration and gen- 
 tlemanly conduct, is by no means deserved. 
 The universal testimony is that during the first 
 fortnight of the occupation a tide of lawless 
 plunder swept over the country. The general 
 opinion, however, is that, much as may be said 
 against the Germans in France, the French 
 would have been far worse if they had succeeded 
 in entering Germain". 
 
 Paris, May 21. 
 
 Before the dawn of this day of rest began a 
 terrible battle just outside the fortifications, 
 wdiich lasted till six o'clock. The night before 
 there had been fighting along the whole line 
 from eleven p.m. till four a.m. The result has 
 been hundreds, if not thousands, of dead and 
 wounded, a universal discouragement among the 
 insurgents, and an expectation that within a 
 short time the A r ersaillais will be within the 
 gates of the city. During our morning service 
 there seemed to be some relaxation in the 
 cannonading, for we did not hear a single rum- 
 
256 PARIS UNDER # 
 
 ble of cannon or mitrailleuse during the whole 
 time. It was a quiet and blessed season — one 
 to be remembered — though our number was only 
 fifteen ! Some who could not come to the ser- 
 vice called on us in the afternoon. The first 
 was a man from Asnieres, who had come to tell 
 me that his wife, a regular attendant at our 
 Asnieres chapel, had been killed by a shell. The 
 poor fellow burst into floods of tears while giving 
 me the following sorrowful recital. The cannon- 
 ading had become so heavy around his dwelling 
 that he had fitted up the cellar for his wife and 
 four children to live in, and had told them to go 
 down to this place in safety. The four children 
 he had taken down himself, and begged his wife 
 to go, but she lingered to cook some meat for 
 their dinner. While she was leaning over the 
 frying-pan a shell from a wagon blinde on the 
 railway belonging to the Commune had entered 
 the cottage, and burst close to the poor woman. 
 Seven fragments struck her, laying her fiat on 
 the ground, and scattering above and around 
 her in hopeless confusion beds, bedding, tables, 
 and chairs. Her husband, employed at a factory 
 close by, hearing the noise, rushed to the house, 
 and called his wife by her name. No response. 
 A second call, " Where are you, Polly ? " The 
 voice of his youngest child answered from a 
 corner of the room, " Mother's up there." The 
 child had stolen up from the cellar, and was in 
 the room when the bomb exploded, but was not 
 hurt! "Children, where are you?" Three 
 voices from the cellar replied, " We're all here, 
 father." Eemoving chairs, tables, and bedding, 
 
THE BED FLAG. 257 
 
 the husband saw stretched on the floor the life- 
 less body of his wife. The three children had 
 in a moment been made motherless, and himself 
 a widower. A second member of my congrega- 
 tion came just as this poor man went out. She 
 had not been able to attend the morning service ; 
 had been aroused at three o'clock by the terrific 
 fusillade, which, although she was not living far 
 from the centre of the city, in the Eue de la 
 Victoire, seemed so near that she could scarcely 
 believe that the Versailles troops were not within 
 the city. A member of my class came next to 
 tell me she could not come to the service be- 
 cause of the presence, in the house of which 
 she was concierge, of some people whose absence 
 would be much more agreeable to her. The 
 house was next to the Mairie of the Eighth 
 Arrondissement, and under pretence that the 
 windows overlooked the courtyard of the Mairie, 
 and that the National Guards might be shot 
 by any one posted there, they decided that the 
 house must be occupied. Accordingly an insur- 
 gent commandant had established himself in the 
 apartment of the first floor, and factionaires 
 (armed men) kept guard at the door. She had 
 been faithful in speaking boldly to the com- 
 mandant, who professed not to believe in God 
 and religion, and was not without hope that 
 some impression had been produced on his 
 mind. Her account of the origin of this man 
 and his surroundings were some answer to the 
 question constantly asked as to these soldiers 
 of the Commune, " D'oii cela sort-ill" This 
 commandant, now occupying with his family a 
 
258 PAEIS UNDER THE RED FLAG. 
 
 grand apartment on the first floor in the Eue 
 d'Anjou St. Honore, was a riding master at the 
 Hippodrome, and his aide-de-camp was a stable 
 boy ! The ' valorous commandant had kept a 
 carriage at the door of the house throughout 
 Friday night all ready to convey him safely 
 away in case the need had arisen. 
 
 The Kev. Emile Cook next came in, and told 
 us that a second meeting of Protestant pastors 
 had been held, and a written request to the 
 members of the Commune to release the Arch- 
 bishop of Paris and other priests had been 
 signed by twenty-two Protestant pastors and 
 laymen, and was to be presented by a deputation 
 from their number; that Pastor E. de Pressense 
 had attended a seance of the jury d' accusation, 
 presided over by Kaoul Eigault, to decide which 
 among the prisoners should be retained as host- 
 ages, and had witnessed a mockery of justice 
 such as one reads of in connection with the 
 First Kevolution ; and that the Commune had 
 published a law forbidding prostitution, and con- 
 demning all that were proved guilty of robbery 
 to the penalty of death. 
 
 Our evening service was greatly disturbed by 
 the roll of cannon. The white lines of smoke 
 on the hills on the south side of the city, as 
 seen from the top of our tower, and the whizzing 
 of shells from Mont Valerien, indicate the con- 
 tinuance of the bombardment ; and at nine 
 o'clock this evening the quickly succeeding 
 flashes in the direction of Passy and Auteuil 
 denote the beginning of a fusillade, perhaps of 
 the general attack ! 
 
ENTRANCE OF THE VERSAILLES AEMY. 259 
 
 Chantilly, Paris Circuit, May 23, 1871. 
 
 We got out of Paris just before the city was 
 isolated, the communications interrupted, and 
 the gates closed. The Northern line was cut 
 about two hours after our Jirain passed. We 
 heard in Paris on Sunday afternoon that the 
 Versailles troops had entered the city, but we 
 could scarcely believe it. We found, however, 
 the following morning that the news was true ; 
 at least that some troops under Commandant 
 Treves passed the St. Cloud Gate at half-past 
 three on Sunday afternoon, although the great 
 bulk of the army did not enter till Monday 
 morning. A telegram from the Government of 
 Versailles was posted at the Chantilly Station 
 yesterday (Monday) morning: " Versailles, 4.30 
 a.m. A part of the army is already in Paris. 
 We have the gates of St. Cloud, Passy, and 
 Auteuil. We are masters of the Trocadero." 
 This (Tuesday) evening 1 have seen some one 
 just returned from St. Denis, who brings the 
 news that a telegram of the Government was 
 posted this afternoon, and dated, " Versailles, 
 May 23, 2 p.m.," announcing that the troops 
 w 7 ere in possession of the Tuileries and the 
 Louvre, and had surrounded Montmartre. 
 Another telegram at 4.30 p.m. had announced 
 that Montmartre is taken. All yesterday we 
 heard the cannon very distinctly ; it was heard 
 all through the night ; and this morning it was 
 more furious than ever, accompanied by detona- 
 tions which sounded like explosions, and not the 
 ordinary roar of the cannon ; but this evening, 
 thank God, all is still. May the horrid sound 
 
260 PAEIS UNDER THE RED FLAG. 
 
 never be heard more ! Now that this sad civil 
 strife is nearing its close, my memory brings 
 before me the appearance of the city during the 
 last hours of the Commune. Passing along the 
 Eue Neuve des Capucines, which is in a line 
 with our Eue Eoquepine, I observed that the 
 iron chains surrounding the Chapelle Expiatoire 
 had been removed, and some of the stones dis- 
 placed, the beginning of the demolition of the 
 monument. Happily the destruction of this 
 historical building has been prevented by the 
 entrance of the troops. I'wish they had been 
 in a week earlier, so as to have prevented the 
 fall of the Colonne Vendome. Sad indeed was 
 the sight of that prostrate column as w 7 e saw it 
 the other day. We had made our way through 
 the fortress-barricade at the end of the Eue 
 Eoyale, a compact wall of sand-bags rising to 
 a great height on each side of the narrow pas- 
 sage ; and then, crossing the Place de la Con- 
 corde, through the barricade at the end of the 
 Eue de Eivoli. Both these barricades were 
 strengthened with stone work, with regular steps 
 leading from the lower to the higher parts of the 
 fortification. We proceeded along the Eue de 
 Eivoli, and turned up the Eue Castiglione, the view 
 along the Eue de la Paix seeming strange with- 
 out the column. At last, nearing the barricade, 
 w r e took to the Arcade on the left, but soon 
 found a bayonet in front of us, and the smiling 
 face of a National Guard beckoning us to the 
 other side of the street, as the sortie was there. 
 In single file we passed close to the houses, the 
 huge barricade filling up the greater part of the 
 
LAST DAYS OF THE COMMUNE. 261 
 
 arcade. Learning that by a detour we could get 
 into the centre of the Place Vendome, we went 
 along the Rue St. Honore, Rue Marche St.. 
 Honore into the very middle of the Place, and 
 stood beside the fallen monument. Some men 
 were at work with pickaxes, upon the top of the 
 pedestal, apparently levelling the stonework still 
 remaining at the base of the column. From 
 the near view we gained of the prostrate mass 
 of stone and bronze, we found that the covering 
 of bronze was very thin. Most of it had been 
 stripped from the stone, and was lying in heaps 
 at the side, but about the middle of the column 
 there was a portion remaining intact in its spiral 
 coil around the stone. We thus gained a good 
 view of a part of the historical bas-relief, which 
 before we had seen only at a distance. The 
 chief point of interest, however, was the colossal 
 bronze statue. There was the figure of the great, 
 talented, ambitious, unscrupulous man in the 
 Roman costume, lying flat on the ground in the 
 very centre of the city in which he was once almost 
 worshipped. A feeling came over me exactly 
 like that which I experienced when I stood, in 
 the midst of shapeless ruins of Memphis, beside 
 the one great prostrate st-atue, possibly that of 
 the great Rameses. In Paris, Napoleon I., 
 once the idol of the Parisians, finds no one to 
 speak well of him. " None now so base as do 
 him reverence." The shopkeepers near the 
 Place Vendome (for the fall of the column was, 
 during a day or two, the one subject of conversa- 
 tion) join in saying, " Ah ! France owes all her 
 misfortunes to him and his nephew." Such is the 
 
262 LAST DAYS OF THE COMMUNE. 
 
 Instability of human glory ! In the general view 
 of Paris from the top of our tower I quite miss 
 the statue. There it used to be, overtopping 
 the neighbouring houses, apparently close to the 
 Madeleine. I w T as accustomed of late constantly 
 to look in that direction to assure myself that 
 the column was still standing ; but now there is 
 •only an open space ! 
 
 On Sunday afternoon last Paris seemed to be 
 ^en fete. There have never been such crowds in 
 and around the Place de la Concorde except on 
 some extraordinary occasion, such as the fete of 
 the 15th August under Imperialist rule, and 
 everyone appeared to be in holiday dress. At 
 that very time the Versailles troops were in Paris ! 
 Never has a city been more completely kept 
 under and cowed than Paris during the last two 
 months under the rule of the Commune. No 
 one dared to utter a word against the Commune 
 lest a bird of the air should carry the voice. 
 The reply to the question, " What think you of 
 the present state of affairs ?" was " On rCose que 
 penser" " One dare only think." The press was 
 completely gagged. Newspapers were succes- 
 sively suppressed until not one was left but such 
 as expressed the wishes of the Commune. A 
 medical man, in a hired cab on his way to a post 
 of great danger to care for the wounded, when, 
 a shell having exploded near, the cabman refused 
 to proceed, had only to put his head out of the 
 window and say. " Vous etes requisitione par la 
 Commune" and the cab bounded along at a pace 
 never attained in ordinary times under the ut- 
 most possible pressure. 
 
PARIS ON FIRE. 263 
 
 May 24. 
 We have seen from St. Denis this day a sight 
 such as we shall never forget. Fires have been 
 seen in various parts of the city throughout the 
 whole day ; but in the evening, towards nine 
 o'clock, the heavens in the direction of the ill- 
 fated city were completely lighted up. If we 
 had not during the last sad few weeks seen how 
 little comparative damage has been done by what 
 has appeared to be a tremendous conflagration, 
 we should have thought all Paris was on fire. 
 We climbed to the fifth story of a house near 
 the canal -bridge, and thence gained as good a 
 view as it was possible to obtain. From this 
 point of observation we distinctly saw (1) a 
 terrible fire at La Chapelle, (2) a mass of flame 
 between La Chapelle and Montmartre, which 
 seemed to be either at La Villette or in the 
 interior of the city in the direction of the 
 Tuileries and the Hotel de Ville (3) a smoulder- 
 ing fire on the right of Montmartre, apparently 
 in the direction of Vaugirard. The heavy roll 
 of cannon broke on our ear as we looked on the 
 fearful sight. No one could tell exactly from 
 what part of the city the sound came, but it was 
 generally supposed that it was the battery of the 
 Buttes Chaumont, the last stronghold of the 
 insurgents, firing on Montmartre, which is now 
 occupied by the Government troops. Mont- 
 martre rose dark and black in the midst of the 
 surrounding fires, and immediately behind Mont- 
 martre all was dark, betokening that the quarter 
 of the Madeleine was safe : so we have no fear 
 for our Kue Koquepine Chapel, unless from the 
 
264 PAEIS ON FIRE. 
 
 Buttes Chaumont the insurgents should carry 
 out, by sending some shells into the midst of it, 
 their vow of vengeance often expressed against 
 the Eighth Arrondissement (in which our chapel 
 is situate) because most of the National Guards 
 fled after the outbreak of the insurrection. 
 
 As we gazed upon the burning city and the 
 lurid glare of the sky, we could not but recall 
 some passages in the 18th chapter of the Book 
 of the Eevelation : " Alas ! alas ! that great city 
 that was clothed in fine linen and purple and 
 scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious 
 stones, and pearls !" " and cried when they saw 
 the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is 
 like unto this great city !" 
 
 We met a man who showed us some charred 
 pieces of paper which he had picked up at 
 Houille, twelve miles from Paris, about one 
 o'clock, the time when a terrible explosion was 
 heard, supposed to be the blowing up of the 
 Hotel de Ville. On these blackened shreds could 
 be made out w T ords in writing, showing that they 
 were " actes de naissance," probably from some 
 mairie or from the Hotel de Ville. 
 
 As we returned by train to Chantilly, we could 
 see the fire distinctly for a distance of at least 
 ten miles. On a bridge over the railway near 
 Gonesse a crowd of people " stood afar off " 
 looking towards Paris, u and lo, the smoke 
 thereof went up as the smoke of a furnace." 
 
 May 26. 
 
 This evening w^e went to St. Denis to ascer- 
 tain as much as possible, by personal observation, 
 
PAEIS ON FIKE. 265 
 
 the course of events. Soon after the train 
 emerged from the Chant illy forest, we saw a 
 bright light in the sky, betokening the continu- 
 ance of fires in the city. As we drew nearer the 
 light brightened until we could see, at a distance 
 of at least twelve or fourteen miles from Paris, 
 a brilliant flame. Various points in the horizon 
 towards the south were lighted up as from 
 smouldering fires, and the whole length of the 
 city was covered with smoke. The flame in- 
 creased in intensity as we neared St. Denis. We 
 counted four great fires, but could not make out 
 exactly where they were. One of them was 
 much larger than the rest, the flames rising to a 
 great height and covering the clouded heavens 
 throughout half their expanse with a crimson 
 hue. How little did we dream when walking 
 through the beautiful streets on Sunday last of 
 the extent of the calamity that was about to 
 befal the city ! On our return we did not lose 
 sight, except while passing through the forest, 
 of the glare of the fires, and even when we 
 reached the Chantilly station Ave could still see 
 the sky completely lighted up in the direction of 
 Paris. A notice was posted at the Mairie here 
 yesterday, asking, on behalf of the Government, 
 for young men cle bonne volonte to serve as fire- 
 men, and go up to Paris with fire engines. 
 Tw r elve men dressed as firemen, with all the 
 necessary equipment, left Chantilly yesterday 
 afternoon. In the evening numbers ol pompiers 
 from Beauvais, Amiens, and other towns passed 
 the Chantilty station on their way to the burning 
 city. 
 
%66 PARIS ON FIRE. 
 
 The three official despatches of the Govern- 
 ment sent to all the authorities, civil and 
 military, throughout France during this week 
 have been : — 
 
 " Versailles, May 23, 4.30 a.m. 
 
 (1) " Half the army is already in Paris. We 
 have the gates of St. Cloud, Passy, and Auteuil. 
 We are masters of the Trocadero." 
 
 Versailles, May 23, 2.10 p.m. 
 
 (2) " Events follow the course we had a right 
 to hope for. There are ninety thousand men in 
 Paris. The General Cissey is established at the 
 Mont Parnasse Eailway Station, at the Ecole 
 Militaire, and has followed the left bank of the 
 Seine as far as the Tuileries. The Generals 
 Douay and Vinoy are surrounding the Tuileries, 
 the Louvre, the Place Vendome, to advance 
 afterwards to the Hotel de Ville. General 
 Clinchant, master of the Opera, the St. Lazare 
 Railway Station, and Batignolles, has just carried 
 the barricade of Clichy. He is also at the foot 
 of Montmartre, which General Ladmirault has 
 turned with two divisions. General Montaudon, 
 following outside the movement of General Lad- 
 mirault, has taken Neuilly, Levallois Perret, 
 Clichy, and is attacking St. Ouen. He has 
 taken 105 cannon and mitrailleuses ; and every- 
 thing leads to the hope that if the struggle does 
 not terminate to-day, it will be finished to- 
 morrow, and for a long time. The number of 
 prisoners amounts already to five or six thou- 
 sand ; it will be doubled to-morrow. As to the 
 number of killed and wounded insurgents, it is 
 
PAEIS ON FIKE. 267 
 
 impossible to speak certainly, but it is consider- 
 able. On the side of our army the losses have 
 been small." 
 
 Montmartre was taken about the time the 
 above despatch was written. 
 
 " Versailles, May 25, 7 am. - 
 
 (3) " We are masters of Paris, except a very 
 small portion, which will be occupied this 
 morning. The Tuileries are in ashes ; the 
 Louvre is saved ; the part of the Ministere des 
 Finances which abuts on the Eue de Eivoli is 
 burnt. The Palace Quai d'Orsay, in which sat 
 the Council of State and Cour des Comptes, has 
 been also burnt. Such is the state of Paris. 
 Twelve thousand prisoners ; we reckon that wo 
 shall have eighteen to twenty thousand. The 
 ground is strewn with dead bodies. The fright- 
 ful spectacle will serve as a lesson, it is to be 
 hoped, to the foolish people who dared to declare 
 themselves partisans of the Commune. Justice 
 will soon receive satisfaction. The human con- 
 science is indignant at the monstrous deeds 
 of which France and the whole world have just 
 been witnesses. The conduct of the army has 
 been admirable. We are happy, in the midst of 
 our misfortunes, to be able to announce that, 
 thanks to the wisdom of our generals, our loss 
 is but small." 
 
 May 27, 7. p.m. 
 
 We have just received a letter, posted in Paris, 
 from Mr. Chastel, our librarian at Eoquepine, 
 the first letter from Paris the Chantilly postman 
 
268 
 
 PARIS UNDER 
 
 has delivered for two months. He tells us that 
 he is well, and that the whole house has been 
 safely kept. Some rifle balls entered the build- 
 ing, but no one was wounded. He adds : u Paris 
 is quite devastated — a considerable portion burnt. 
 The insurrection is conquered, but what a mass 
 
 of ruins it has left ! No one can 
 
 go 
 
 out of 
 
 Facade des Tuileries. 
 
 Paris. God has mercifully kept me from all 
 danger, but many have fallen. You will learn 
 with sorrow that Madame Paris and her brother 
 (the Madame Pans who, with her husband, has 
 carried on so successful a work of evangelisation 
 among the chiffoniers) were struck by a ball in 
 their room on Tuesday morning. They were 
 
THE RED FLAG. 
 
 269 
 
 buried last evening (Thursday) at six o'clock. 
 The Eue Koyale, the Tuileries, Hotel de Ville, 
 Cour des Comptes, Legion d'Honneur, Ghrenier 
 d'Abondance, some churches, barracks, &c, &c, 
 have been burnt by the insurgents, and are 
 completely destroyed. Frightful ! frightful I 
 But that which oppresses me the most is the 
 
 Hotel de Villc. 
 
 thought of the thousands of lives sacrificed, the 
 souls that have passed into eternity without any 
 preparation. Oh ! my heart bleeds ! Among 
 all our friends and acquaintances I hear of none 
 killed except the two whom I have mentioned. 
 I have passed a good night for the first time 
 since Saturday. I do not hear the cannon, but 
 
270 PARIS UNDER 
 
 know not whether all the quarters are conquered. 
 There are fires in all directions. Women and 
 children are going about in all the quarters, and 
 pouring petroleum through all the air-holes of 
 the cellars and underground storehouses. Every- 
 body is taking the precaution of having them 
 stopped up." 
 
 In the Paris Journal of to-day we find the 
 following sad account of the fires in Paris : — 
 
 Les Tuileries, absolutely consumed except the 
 thick walls. Le Louvre, saved, except the library. 
 Le Palais de Justice, a ruin. Le Palais Royal 
 all the part formerly inhabited by the Prince 
 Napoleon destroyed, the neighbouring houses 
 preserved. Le Ghdtelet, burning still. Les Arts 
 et Metiers, consumed. Le Grenier d'Abondance, 
 nothing but enormous smoking debris. L' Hotel 
 de Ville, with its archives, documents, library, 
 and history of Paris, a ruin ; L'Eglise St. 
 Eustache, the beginning of a fire produced by a 
 petroleum-bomb, which was soon extinguished. 
 The clock-tower partially destroyed by shells, 
 but the main part of the church saved. Le 
 Legion d'Honneur, in ashes. Le Conseil cVEtat, 
 la Cour des Comtes, in ashes. Le Minister e des 
 Finances, partly burnt. Le Port St. Martin, 
 burnt. L Entrepot, in flames. Les Gobelins, 
 destroyed." Some of these buildings were 
 scarcely injured ; but this is the list as it appeared 
 in the Paris Journal. 
 
 Such is the mournful list ; and we learn that 
 women, more like furies than human beings, 
 have taken a fiendish part in the work of 
 destruction. They have, however, done their 
 
THE RED FLAG. 271 
 
 worst, the remaining insurgents being now 
 pursued to their Jast stronghold, Belleville, 
 whence doubtless they will soon be dislodged. 
 Notwithstanding this fearful destruction, ai^one 
 who takes in his hand a map of Paris and com- 
 pares what has been destroyed with what 
 remains, will see but little of the city has been 
 devastated. The finest monuments, the Made- 
 leine, Notre Dame, the Sante Chapelle, the 
 Church of the Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, 
 &c, &c, still remain, and I venture to predict 
 that, although I have no hope that the city will 
 be rebuilt in a year, in twenty years from this 
 time Paris will be more magnificent than ever. 
 Some verses in Revelation xviii., it is true, have 
 wonderfully described the present doleful con- 
 dition of the city, but I have no belief that the 
 prophecy of the chapter refers to Paris. There 
 are some verses which lead to the supposition 
 that it refers with far greater probability to such 
 a city as London ! 
 
 May 28. 
 
 I have just received a letter from one of our 
 local preachers who is taking the services to-day 
 at Rue Roquepine, as it is impossible for me to 
 get in. I am preaching at the chapel here at 
 Chantilly. Here is the letter : — 
 
 " Paris, Thursday Morning. 
 " We have passed through a terrible season, 
 but have been preserved. AYe are all safe and 
 well at the chapel. I am writing on the top of 
 a drum near Montmartre, having followed the 
 troops to attend to the wounded. I have just 
 
272 PAKIS UNDER 
 
 witnessed the execution of twenty-five women 
 who were found pouring boiling water upon the 
 heads of the soldiers. A great portion of the 
 city is in flames." 
 
 May 20. 
 
 The two following official Government des- 
 patches have been posted at the Mairie yesterday 
 and to-day : — 
 
 May 27, 11.40 a.m. 
 
 " The troops have conquered all the forts, 
 carried the Place de la Bastille, the Chateau 
 d'Eau, the Prince Eugene Barracks, the railway 
 stations, and now there is nothing left but to 
 occupy Belleville. We have made more than 
 20,000 prisoners." 
 
 May 28, 9.30 p.m. 
 
 " Our corps cVarmee, charged to operate upon 
 the right bank, was yesterday evening ranged in 
 a circle at the foot of the Buttes Chaumont and 
 the heights of Belleville. This night they have- 
 surmounted all obstacles. General Ladmirault 
 has passed the Bassin de la fillette, the Cattle 
 Market, and ascended the Buttes Chaumont 
 and the heights of Belleville. Young Drouot, 
 so worthy of the name he bears, carried the bar- 
 ricades, and this day Ladmirault's corps crowned 
 the heights. On his side Douay's corps left the 
 Boulevard Eichard Lenoir in order to reach the 
 same positions of Belleville. At the same time 
 General Vinoy mounted the Cemetery of Pere 
 Lachaise, carried the Mairie of the Twentieth 
 Arrondissement and the prison of la Roquette. 
 
THE EED FLAG. 273 
 
 The sailors showed everywhere their accustomed 
 entrain. Entering la Eoquette we had the con- 
 solation of saving 269 hostages who were about 
 to be shot ; but alas ! the wretches from whom 
 we are obliged to snatch Paris burnt and bloody, 
 had had the time to shoot seventy-four of them, 
 among whom, we have the sorrow of announcing, 
 are the Archbishop of Paris, the Abbe Deguerry, 
 cure of the Madeleine (the best of men), the 
 president Bonjean, and many men of merit and 
 of rare and excellent qualities. After having 
 put to death, during these last days, the generous 
 Chaudey, a man full of heart and goodness, and 
 an inveterate republican, whom could one hope 
 they w r ould spare ? Now t , driven back to the 
 extremity of the enceinte between the French 
 army and the Prussians, who refuse to let them 
 pass, they are about to expiate their crimes, and 
 have nothing more to do but either to die or give 
 themselves up. The too culpable Delescluze 
 was picked up dead by the troops of General 
 Clinchant. Milliere, not less famous, has been 
 shot for having fired a revolver three times at a 
 corporal who arrested him. These expiations do 
 not atone for so much misery, for so many 
 crimes ; but they ought to teach these mad people 
 that men do not provoke and set civilization at 
 defiance in vain ; and that soon justice makes 
 itself heard and felt. The insurrection, shut up 
 within the space of some few hundred yards, is 
 conquered, definitely conquered. Peace is about 
 to spring up again, but it will not be able to 
 chase from honest and patriotic hearts the pro- 
 found grief with which they are penetrated." 
 
274 PARIS UNDER 
 
 May 29, G p.m. 
 
 fri The Paris Journal has just arrived, announcing 
 that " the army of order is now completely mis- 
 tress of Paris." Among the items of news we 
 learn, in contradiction of the former report, that 
 the Odeon and Chatelet are not burnt ; that the 
 great fire we saw from St. Denis on Friday night 
 was at the great storehouses near the docks at 
 Yillette. 
 
 Chantilly, Paris Circuit, May 31, 1871. 
 
 We have received two letters from Mr. Chastel, 
 our librarian at the Kue Koquepine, which have 
 reached us by the regular post, showing that 
 postal communications are now re-established. 
 From these letters I translate the following 
 extracts : — 
 
 Paris, May 22. 
 
 Since eight o'clock this morning there has 
 been a fusillade in our street (Koquepine). 
 During part of last night we heard the distant 
 cannon, the drum, the clarion, and the tocsin. 
 This morning we were surrounded by National 
 Guards, and we heard the fusillade in the direc- 
 tion of the Faubourg St. Honore and Champs 
 Elysees. After a while the fight was close to 
 St. Augustin, in the Boulevard Malesherbes, and 
 ^t last the soldiers reached our street. We 
 could not even put our nose to the window 
 without the risk of being struck by a ball. The 
 soldiers are installed in the house next to our 
 
THE RED FLAG. . 275 
 
 chapel, and are firing in the direction of Rue 
 Neuve des Mathurins (in a line with our Rue 
 Roquepine on the other side of the Boulevard 
 Malesherbes). They are at the doorway and at 
 the windows of each story. You may imagine 
 the noise and confusion we hear outside. About 
 nine o'clock we had worship in our room ; all in 
 the house were present, and we prayed earnestly 
 to God to aid us and prepare us for whatever 
 might happen. It is blessed to feel the presence 
 of God in the midst of danger. The door of the 
 shop immediately in front of us has been broken 
 in with a hatchet, I suppose because they would 
 not open it. I heard a poor wounded man utter 
 a cry, I peeped out from under our window shut- 
 ters and saw him carried off. Shortly afterwards 
 a soldier was killed on the spot close to our 
 library. A litter was brought, and he was car- 
 ried with all haste to the other side of the street, 
 as at that time the balls were falling only on our 
 side. Our concierge just opened the great door 
 of the chapel enough to give a bottle of wine to 
 the soldiers. An artilleryman at the corner of 
 the Rue d'Astorg (a street close by us) was 
 killed or badly wounded. At one o'clock I went 
 up to Mr. Cook's apartment. The noise was 
 even louder there than in the library. A ball 
 has just flattened itself against the balcony of 
 Mr. Gibson's apartment. I came down to the 
 library. The cannon rolled and the fusillade 
 continued, but it was impossible for us to know 
 which side had the upper hand. From time to 
 time we heard the grating of the mitrailleuses. 
 Shells were bursting, but' we knew not whence 
 
276 . PARIS UNDER 
 
 they came nor where they were falling. The 
 noise is something terrible. Mrs. Gibson, when 
 they were here yesterday, regretted that they 
 were not all in Paris. If she were here to-day 
 she would wish herself in Chantilly. 
 
 4 p.m. 
 
 The fusillade still continues. I hear the 
 soldiers mounting the staircase of the next house. 
 Mr. Bordage (the schoolmaster) has not come 
 to-day. Doubtless he has been unable to make 
 the journey from his apartment. None of us 
 dares to go out. Happily, I laid in 41b. of bread 
 on Saturday. No one, however, has much 
 appetite or the heart to eat. Our cry is, " Lord, 
 have mercy upon us." 
 
 6 p.m. 
 
 The fusillade continues just outside my door. 
 In the distance I heard the rattling of the mitrail- 
 leuses and the cannonade. A sapper has just 
 been into the chapel and says that the troops 
 have entered on different sides ; that the}^ have 
 surrounded Paris, and that they are about to 
 deliver us from the Commune. After having 
 drunk a glass of wine he took his post at our 
 chapel door and began firing in the direction of 
 the Kue Neuve des Mathurins. It is quite a 
 punishment to us to be all kept prisoners here 
 without being able to put our heads outside. I 
 have managed, how T ever, to look out, and find 
 to my sorrow that the door of another of the 
 shops on the opposite side of the street has been 
 broken in, the window-shutters broken, and 
 
THE BED FLAG. 277 
 
 the fragments scattered about the middle of the 
 street. I hope they have put everything away, 
 but I am in great fear that during the night the 
 shop will be plundered. 
 
 10.30 p.m. 
 
 I have been very anxious to go and barricade 
 the shop opposite that has been broken into, 
 but I saw that it was utterly impossible. The 
 balls whistled in the street. A sergeant has 
 installed himself in the house, so I hope all will 
 be safe. This evening all the inhabitants of the 
 building met in Mr. Cook's apartment, and 
 partook of a slight repast. Afterwards we had 
 worship, and then stayed awhile to talk over the 
 perils of the day. I am much fatigued, but 
 have no wish to sleep. The fusillade has dimin- 
 ished in intensity, but the cannon still roars, 
 and from time to time we hear the firing from the 
 windows of the next house. The night is black 
 and dark, the gas lamps are not lighted. What 
 & day ! How long it has seemed ! And what 
 anxiety ! What will this night bring ? Will it 
 be deliverance ? May God grant it ! Shall we 
 be able to stir out to-morrow without the risk of 
 being killed ? I am not able to judge, for I am 
 not able to understand what has been passing in 
 our street and what is the strategy of the troops. 
 One of the soldiers, however, assured us that 
 they would be masters of Paris to-night ; but I 
 do not see that they have stirred from our street. 
 They are in force in the neighbouring street, 
 Rue d'Astorg, and are sheltered at the side of 
 the French Protestant Church opposite us. 
 
278 PARIS UNDER 
 
 Midnight. 
 
 Many balls have come whistling against our 
 chapel, and we hear bombs passing over the build- 
 ing. We feel the uncertainty of life, and that 
 our existence hangs on a thread which may be 
 broken at any moment. 
 
 May 23. 
 
 God has kept us safely through the night. I 
 slept a little about two o'clock, but was much 
 agitated. The fusillade and cannonade con- 
 tinued throughout the night. The soldiers have 
 been firing close to my bedroom. Bullets struck 
 our house from a barricade close by Duval's, in 
 the Eue Neuve des Mathurins. Mr. Bordage 
 has succeeded in arriving here, and tells us that 
 the army occupies Batignolles, Place Clichy, the 
 St. Lazare Eailway Station, &c. About three 
 o'clock in the afternoon the firing slackened, and 
 Mr. Cook and Mr. Bordage went out on the side 
 already in the possession of the troops. At 
 four o'clock there was a sharper fusillade than 
 we had heard throughout the day. A company 
 of soldiers, their commander in front, advanced 
 to drive away the insurgents ; • they advanced at 
 marching pace notwithstanding that balls were 
 raining in the street. One bullet has just struck 
 my window, pierced the glass, broken off a piece 
 of stone in its course, and has fallen at the foot 
 of my bureau. Splinters of glass fell upon the 
 bureau itself. Happily I w-as not there. At five 
 o'clock the soldiers had driven away the insur- 
 gents from the barricade, and we could put our 
 noses outside. I saw several soldiers lying dead. 
 
THE BED FLAG. 279 
 
 and others wounded. Crossing the street I 
 found the shops opposite a complete scene of 
 confusion, and attempted to barricade the doors 
 to save them from being plundered. At six 
 o'clock the soldiers evacuated our street, and 
 advanced towards the Madeleine, where there 
 was a barricade, against which the troops have 
 been firing with cannon from a barricade con- 
 structed near Potin's, across the Boulevard 
 Malesherbes. At last they succeeded in taking 
 the barricade near the Madeleine. About the 
 same time Montmartre was taken. At seven 
 o'clock, while I was at Mr. Cook's, the little 
 servant of Madame Paris came in and told us 
 the sad news that Madame Paris and her 
 brother had both been killed. They were 
 together in their apartment, and a ball came 
 with such force as to pass through the brother, 
 killing him on the spot, and then strike Madame 
 Paris on the chest. She just uttered the words, 
 " I am dead," and sank lifeless on the floor. 
 We were all stunned with grief and sorrow. 
 Madame Paris was one of the most earnest 
 evangelists in Paris. 
 
 Wednesday, May 24. 
 
 IVIr. Cook has passed the night with Mr. Paris, 
 who is overwhelmed with grief. At nine o'clock 
 Mr. Bordage and I mounted the tower. The 
 Tuileries were in flames ! The Rue Royale 
 was burning, and other parts of Paris were on 
 fire ! The insurgents before retreating, have 
 poured petroleum on the buildings and set them 
 on fire. I trembled with horror. We went out 
 into the boulevard. The house next to us at 
 
280 PARIS UNDER 
 
 the corner of the boulevard has been much in- 
 jured, all the windows broken, and the fagade 
 disfigured and broken by shells. I could weep 
 without ceasing over the dead lying about in 
 great numbers, the frightful ruins, the irrepar- 
 able devastation. The Tuileries are only a 
 smoking mass of ruins. A portion of the 
 Louvre is also on fire. The monsters took 
 care, in order to accomplish their purpose, to 
 saturate the floors and the walls with petroleum. 
 The noise of the cannon and mitrailleuses still 
 continues. Fighting is going on in the direction 
 of the Faubourg Montmartre. The insurgents 
 have batteries on the Buttes Chaumont, which 
 are throwing petroleum shells into the centre of 
 Paris. The soldiers are now giving no quarter, 
 but shoot all who are taken ; hence the insur- 
 gents are fighting with the energy of despair. 
 It is said the Hotel de Yille is also on fire. 
 This evening — at nine o'clock — what a shocking 
 spectacle ! — we beheld the sky apparently all on 
 fire in the direction of the Eue de Eivoli and 
 the Faubourg Montmartre. It is impossible to 
 describe it. The flames rose towards heaven 
 with terrible intensity. The Ministere des 
 Finances is announced on fire. One would 
 have supposed it was all Paris burning. Even 
 at this distance we could feel the heat. With 
 such a sight around us one could well imagine 
 the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. 
 
 This evening we went out to dine with Mr. 
 Bordage. Mr. Cook joined us just as we were 
 going out. While Mr. Bordage and I were 
 talking, Mr. Cook was arrested. He showed his 
 
THE BED FLAG. 281 
 
 papers ; but that was not enough, and they were 
 about to conduct him away between two soldiers. 
 A worthless concierge, half drunk, had said to 
 the corporal, " You must take him ; he's a dis- 
 guised Englishman." Mr. Bordage and I both 
 came up and bore our testimony as to who fye 
 was ; and, as I had my " patente " in my 
 pocket, they at length yielded, and set Mr. Cook 
 at liberty. I wanted them to take the concierge 
 for denouncing a person without any knowledge 
 of him, but the rascal had disappeared. In the 
 present state of public feeling there is no telling 
 what might become of anyone arrested for com- 
 plicity with the Commune. 
 
 All the lower part of the Boulevard Males- 
 herbes is riddled with balls. We went to the 
 Kue Eoyale. Some houses are still burning. 
 Others have already fallen in. It is on the 
 Faubourg St. Honore side that most injury has 
 been done. The Eestaurant Weber is all in 
 flames. They were forming the " chaine " to 
 throw water upon the fire. The Maison de 
 Nouveautes at the corner of the Faubourg is 
 completely demolished. Dead bodies were lying 
 in the middle of the street, under the branches 
 of the trees cut down by the shells. The Eue 
 St. Honore in the neighourhood of the Place 
 Vendome has also been much damaged. Hap- 
 pily, the Place Vendome was taken by the 
 troops before the insurgents had time to set it 
 on fire. We could not go into the Eue de 
 Eivoli, for shells were whistling along the street, 
 but from a neighbouring street we saw the 
 Tuileries. It is nothing but a great heap of 
 
282 
 
 PARIS UNDER 
 
 blazing ruins ; the Pavilion d'Horloge has fallen 
 in. The heat burns you even at a great distance. 
 No one can go near to attempt to extinguish the 
 flames. The insurgents are throwing petroleum 
 shells upon the burning palace. As we were 
 looking on in horror we saw smoke rising on the 
 other side of the Seine. The Ministeres on 
 
 M in is t ere de la Marine. 
 
 fire ! Returning home with hearts filled with 
 sorrow, we heard shells whistling overhead. In 
 the Rue St. Roch a bomb burst behind us, and 
 knocked down the corner of a house. As we 
 reached our door a shell passed over the chapel, 
 and fell probably in the Faubourg St. Honore. 
 
THE BED FLAG. 283 
 
 On entering his apartment last evening, M. 
 Bordage saw that his window was broken. A 
 ball had passed through and cut the candle on 
 his table in two. If he had been there he would 
 certainly have been wounded, if not killed. So 
 both at home and outside we have been in great 
 peril. Blessed be God who has safely kept us. 
 
 One o'clock. 
 
 It is specially the women who are setting fire 
 to the houses. Many have been taken in the 
 act and shot at once. All foreigners taken with 
 arms in their hands, who cannot give satisfactory 
 explanations, are shot. Some executions took 
 place yesterday near the Caserne Pqnnidre, and 
 in the Hue Godot de Mauroi. The fire in the 
 Eue Eoyale is nearly extinguished. We shall 
 now escape, unless a bomb should set fire to our 
 quarter. 
 
 Evening. 
 
 I have been to see Mr. Paris in his great grief. 
 He was sitting beside his two dead, overwhelmed 
 with sorrow, but graciously sustained. A perfect 
 calm is depicted on the face of Mme. Paris. 
 Beautiful in death ! The ball, which, as I have 
 already said, passed through her brother before 
 it struck her, passed through the heart or lungs 
 and came out at the neck. Death was instan- 
 taneous. All the ordinary arrangements for 
 funerals are put out of course. The administra- 
 tion is disorganised, and no hearse or funeral 
 carriage is to be had. What is to be done ? 
 They are burying anywhere and everywhere. 
 
284 PABIS UNDER 
 
 Thursday, May 25. 
 
 At five o'clock this evening Mr. Cook and I 
 went to the funeral of Madame Paris. There 
 were many people assembled, and Mr. Cook 
 conducted the service in a little courtyard. All 
 were in tears. After waiting some time a sort 
 of funeral cart arrived at the door — no hearse 
 was to be had. The cart already contained 
 three corpses, and was about to take up three 
 more in the same street. We all counted on 
 walking towards the Clichy Cemetery, but the 
 announcement was made that no one, not even 
 the husband, would be allowed to follow. The 
 two coffins were lifted in, and the cart pursued 
 its mournful way. 
 
 This evening we walked along the Eue Eoyale, 
 &c. Some houses, spared before, are now on 
 fire ; the same in the Faubourg St. Honore and 
 the Eue Boissy d'Anglas. We were nearly 
 pressed into the chaine, but there were more 
 men than were needed, and all the pumping did 
 not avail to assuage the fire. On different sides 
 we see first a thick smoke, then a brilliant flame, 
 with tongues of fire undulating towards the sky. 
 The Grenier d'Abondance is in flames. Many 
 houses, theatres, and churches are on fire. 
 Those wretches are setting fire to the buildings, 
 and destroying all in their power, even if they 
 themselves perish in the burning. Pieces of 
 burnt paper from the Ministere des Finances, 
 obligations, actions de rente, &c, are flying about 
 in all directions. No one can tell where this 
 disaster will stop. We can hear the cannon 
 and fusillading in the distance. They say that 
 
THE RED FLAG. 
 
 285 
 
 fighting is going on in the Faubourg St. Antoine, 
 and that the troops are nearing Belleville. The 
 detonations of the cannon are frightful. The 
 Buttes Montmartre are firing on the Buttes 
 Chaumont. Very bloody combats have taken 
 place in the Faubourg Poissonniere. Prisoners 
 have been taken in great numbers, and among 
 
 Arrestation de Petroleuses. 
 
 them pompiers who have been caught throwing 
 petroleum upon the flames instead of ex- 
 tinguishing them. Women and young children 
 are also among the prisoners, who are marched 
 off between two ranks of soldiers, armed with 
 revolvers to shoot any one who attempts to 
 escape. Many women have been taken throwing 
 
"286 PARIS UNDER THE RED FLAG. 
 
 petroleum into the cellars, some in the Boule- 
 vard Malesherbes close to us. All who are 
 caught in the act are immediately shot. We see 
 dead bodies lying about in the streets, and 
 breathe the exhalations arising from them. How 
 the devil gloats over such scenes ! These wretched 
 people would not have God. Destruction and 
 ruin have been their weapons. And what 
 destruction ! what ruin ! 
 
 Friday, May 26. 
 
 It is raining fast this morning. So much the 
 better. It will help to put out the fires, for they 
 have been multiplying. I am overwhelmed with 
 grief and anguish. Who would have said, when 
 w r e suffered so much during the siege, that we 
 should have to endure sorrows a thousand times 
 more poignant ? 
 
 Saturday, May 27. 
 
 The cannons of Montmartre (in the hands of 
 the Government) are firing constantly. At 
 intervals we hear the fusillade in the distance. 
 More and more killed and w r ounded. We have 
 been to the Place St. Georges, and saw the 
 remnants of M. Thiers' house. Nothing remains 
 but the thick outside walls above the first story. 
 If reconstructed, it will have to be rebuilt from 
 the very foundations. On returning I passed by 
 the barrier Blanche, where a great combat took 
 place. Several houses around are riddled with 
 shells and balls ; the same at the Place Clichy. 
 In the Eue Godot de Mauroy all was prepared 
 by the insurgents for burning the houses, but 
 the troops advanced so quickly that they were 
 
THE END OF THE COMMUNE. 287 
 
 obliged to fly without having accomplished their 
 design. We walked to the Palais Eoyal. Two- 
 thirds of it are burnt, the Pavilion in the centre, 
 and the left wing at the side of Eue de Valois. 
 The Library of the Louvre, which was opposite 
 the Palais Eoyal, is burnt, but the stones are 
 not demolished as at the Tuileries. Thanks to 
 the energy displayed by the troops, the galleries 
 of the Louvre are saved from the fire. At the 
 other side of the Seine, the Eue de Bac is 
 nothing but a heap of stones, which are still 
 smoking. The whole street is blocked with 
 crumbling ruins. The part of the Eue de Lille 
 abutting on the Eue du Bac is all burnt. The 
 walls of the Caserne Napoleon are still standing, 
 but the interior is all burnt. We were stopped 
 to aid at the pumps, but managed to escape. 
 Passing by the quays, we saw that the magnifi- 
 cent buildings of the Conseil d'Etat, la Caisse 
 des Depots et Consignations, la Cour des 
 Comptes, la Legion d'Honneur are nothing but 
 smoking masses of deb)- in. We passed at the 
 end of the Boulevard St. Germain, near the 
 Palais Legislatif . The side of the palace bears 
 traces of shells and rifle balls, but the palace 
 itself has not suffered much. The Place de la 
 Concorde, however, on the side of the bridge, 
 bears the marks of a terrible artillery combat. 
 The beautiful gas-lamps are on the ground, the 
 balustrades destroyed, the statues of the fountains 
 are some without heads, others without arms, 
 and all the broken pieces are scattered about the 
 place jpele mele. The statue of Lille is knocked 
 down. The Ministere des Finances is burnt . 
 
288 
 
 THE END OF 
 
 Men were at work demolishing the famous barri- 
 cade at the corner of the Place de la Concorde 
 and the Eue de Eivoli. It was impossible to 
 cross the Kue Koyale. Water was being thrown 
 on the houses, which, one after another, fell in. 
 The little Kue Eoyale Chapel, being low and 
 lying behind, is said not to have suffered, not- 
 
 La Legion d'Honneur. 
 
 withstanding that the house in front is all burnt, 
 and the house at the side has fallen in. We came 
 home much saddened. In the evening we went 
 out to see if the sister of our pastor, M. Dugand, 
 who, with many others, had been imprisoned at 
 St. Lazare, was safe. Our course lay along the 
 Faubourg St. Honore, which has not suffered 
 
THE COMMUNE. 289 
 
 much, except from the fall of shells. We found 
 to our joy that M. Dugand's sister was again in 
 her own house safe and well. She was one of 
 six hundred imprisoned at St. Lazare. Daily 
 the insurgents told them they were about to be 
 shot. When the soldiers took the quarter they 
 were immediately set at liberty. The other 
 hostages have not been so fortunate. Many of 
 them have been shot. We complained during 
 the siege of want of light in the streets. Now 
 the streets are sometimes completely lighted up 
 by the glare of the fires. At other times it is 
 very dark. Not a single gas-lamp is lighted, and 
 there is no gas in the houses. I suppose the 
 streets will remain in darkness until the gas- 
 lamps are repaired. 
 
 Sunday Evening. 
 
 What a week since last Sunday ! No week 
 during the siege was anything to be compared 
 with it. My heart has been full of anguish. 
 This is Whit- Sunday. Oh that God may bestow 
 on us abundantly the gift of the Holy Spirit ! 
 Then I do not despair of the resuscitation of 
 France and of Paris. But men have not been 
 willing to acknowledge the existence of God nor 
 of the Holy Spirit. Hence the abyss of misery 
 into which they have fallen. Madame Sabatier 
 this morning gave us a good dejeuner, a roast 
 with carrots. After we had finished she told us 
 that it was a morsel of the horse of an insurgent 
 commandant, which had been killed near her 
 son's house. After breakfast I went to Taitbout 
 Chapel and heard M. de Pressense. He appeared 
 
290 THE END OF 
 
 wearied, and but little disposed to speak. Never- 
 theless, he showed very beautifully that the 
 bible contains consolations for such times of 
 trouble. He besought Christians to pray, and 
 to endeavour to enlighten our fellow-citizens, 
 that they may not any longer remain without 
 God,. and that so great a disaster may be repaired. 
 Leaving the Taitbout Chapel, I met a company 
 of prisoners passing along the Rue Lafayette. 
 My heart beat violently on seeing these poor 
 unfortunate creatures, bareheaded, coats turned 
 inside out, and marching along between two 
 ranks of cavaliers, who, carbine in hand, were 
 ready to fire on any who attempted to make 
 their escape. I was told there were five thousand 
 of them. Among them were women and children, 
 who sometimes were obliged to run to keep up 
 with the rest, or they would have been trampled 
 on by the horses. They were taken at the 
 Buttes Chaumont yesterday and this morning. 
 Most of them were of hideous look, yet I could 
 not but compassionate them, notwithstanding 
 their crimes. The crowd hooted them as they 
 passed along. I was ready to say to the people 
 around me — Do you think that you are less 
 culpable than they ? No ; unless you repent 
 and be converted. Gendarmes brought up the 
 rear of the cortege. I returned home sad- 
 dened, thinking of those poor wretched creatures, 
 many of whom could not be reckoned responsible 
 for the part they had taken. 
 
 M. Scheffer preached the sermon at our service 
 at Rue Roquepine, and Mr. Cook administered 
 the Lord's Supper. One of our people living 
 
THE COMMUNE. 291 
 
 near the Pantheon told us that every moment 
 they were fearing that the Pantheon would be 
 blown up, for they knew it was full of gun- 
 powder. Thanks to the courage of a soldier, the 
 Pantheon, with all the quarter, was saved. 
 Seeing a man in sailor's clothes coming up from 
 the crypt, and divining what he had been doing, 
 the soldier rushed into the crypt, found a slow 
 match on fire, put it out with his foot, and so 
 prevented a dire catastrophe. I went out with 
 Mr. Cook, and we saw a great crowd around the 
 Magasin du Printemps. A revolver had been 
 fired from one of the neighbouring houses at two 
 artillery officers. One of them had only escaped 
 death by means of a leathern purse in his pocket, 
 which had deadened the ball. All the houses 
 near were searched, and, it was said, an officer 
 belonging to Dombrowski's staff, who went in 
 and out of the house as if he belonged to the 
 regular army, was arrested. This evening we 
 had a delightful prayer-meeting. May God hear 
 our prayers and grant us calm and peace ! 
 
 Monday, May. 29. 
 
 Mr. Cook has been trying to obtain a laissez 
 passer to quit Paris so as to join his wife and 
 family at Jersey, but he has not yet succeeded. 
 No one is allowed to leave the city without a 
 special order from M'Mahon. The insurrection 
 is now completely at an end, and those of the 
 insurgents who fought to the last have either 
 been killed or taken prisoners. 
 
 From a member of our congregation living in 
 the Eue de la Victoire we have received the fol- 
 
292 THE END OF 
 
 lowing communication : May 26, — They fought 
 all round our house from Monday morning to 
 Tuesday evening. Our quarter was surrounded 
 with barricades, one at least in each of the fol- 
 lowing streets : Eue de la Victoire, near the 
 Faubourg Montmartre, Chaussee d'Antin, Rue 
 Joubert, Rue Caumartin, Rue de Provence, Rue 
 St. Georges, Rue Laffitte, Rue Lafayette. The 
 barricade in the Chaussee d'Antin was large and 
 strong, as may well be supposed from the fact 
 that, although the soldiers began to fire upon it 
 on Monday evening, it was not carried till Tues- 
 day evening. You cannot imagine what it is to 
 hear the cannon, mitrailleuses, and guns almost 
 at one's door. The cannons of the troops were 
 placed in the Square of the Trinite, near the 
 church ; those of the insurgents behind the bar- 
 ricade at the corner of the Boulevards. The 
 noise w r as frightful. Our house has been injured 
 by the shells ; but, thank God, no lives have 
 been lost. Several houses in the Chaussee 
 d'Antin have been seriously damaged, the Church 
 of the Trinity is injured both outside and inside. 
 Numbers of insurgents w^ho were taken w T ere 
 summarily shot in front of the church. I cannot 
 tell you what joy we all felt when we saw the 
 real French flag. The army was greatly ap- 
 plauded throughout our quarter ; cigars, wine 
 and money were distributed to the soldiers ; and 
 oranges and flowers thrown out at the windows. 
 It was a horrible sight to see men and horses 
 lying dead in almost every street ; there were 
 eight in the Chaussee d'Antin, six in the Rue 
 Caumartin, three in the Rue Joubert, and every- 
 
THE COMMUNE. 29& 
 
 where else in proportion. The army lost no 
 men in our quarter ; but as they advanced they 
 had much more to suffer, as many of the people 
 in the faubourgs were on the side of the Com- 
 mune. Even the women fired from the windows, 
 and threw paving-stones on the soldiers' heads ■;. 
 and some, dressed in men's clothes, fought be- 
 hind the barricades. The army has been obliged 
 to take Paris almost street by street, the insur- 
 gents leaving one barricade to run to the next. 
 To-day they are fighting at Belleville, the Buttes 
 Chaumont, and the Faubourg St. Antoine ; and 
 we hope that in a day or two all will be finished. 
 A great number of the chiefs are already taken 
 and shot. Thousands of the insurgents have 
 been killed, and ten thousand taken prisoners. 
 The wives of the insurgents, seeing that their 
 husbands are lost, are revenging themselves by 
 poisoning our poor soldiers, giving them wine in 
 which they have put poison. We saw a woman 
 in the Chaussee d'Antin yesterday, who has 
 poisoned forty soldiers, taken to her home to be 
 shot at the door of her house as "an example. 
 Fourteen women were shot this morning at the 
 end of our street for the same cause. Six hun- 
 dred women were taken prisoners yesterday, some 
 of whom had been throwing petroleum into the 
 cellars by the air-holes. Children behind them 
 were throwing matches to light it. Thus several 
 streets have been burnt. The insurgents have 
 set fire to most of the principal monuments of 
 the city. Some are burnt down ; others are still 
 burning." 
 
'294 THE RUINS 
 
 Chantilly, June 1. 
 
 The pompiers from Chantilly have returned ; 
 and, headed by the tricolour flag, formed a pro- 
 cession through the town. They report that the 
 fires are almost entirely extinguished, and say 
 that it is heartrending to see the ruins, and that 
 no one who has not seen it can have any idea of 
 the desolation of the city. It is said that the 
 way into Paris will be opened in a day or two, 
 and then I shall be able to give you my own 
 impressions. 
 
 Paris, June 3, 1871. 
 I have this day seen the ruins of Paris ! Going 
 along the Boulevard Magenta towards the Chateau 
 d'Eau, we saw on the right and left of the street 
 bullet-holes on the houses without number ; 
 corners of houses broken away, and walls pierced 
 by shells, the iron- work of balustrades bent or 
 twisted, windows broken and window-frames 
 crushed. The general aspect of the street, 
 looking along its whole length, is not much 
 changed, but when you pass the houses one by 
 one, and look at the details of the injury, it is 
 sad to behold. We noted in passing that the 
 top of the gable of the new facade of St. Laurent 
 is broken in. From one of the windows of 
 almost every house was suspended a tricolour 
 flag, and such we found afterwards was the case 
 in almost every street of Paris. They most 
 abound in the aristocratic quarters. In the Eue 
 de Eivoli, Eue de la Paix, &c, &c, we saw a 
 
OF PARIS. 29 5 
 
 forest of flags. But they were not absent even 
 from the " Ked " districts, everyone now being 
 anxious to show his decided preference for the 
 proper Government. Some friends of mine told 
 of a man who might be seen in the street during 
 the reign of the Commune, in the dress of a 
 National Guard, and might be heard advocating 
 Communistic doctrines, and who, the day after 
 the Versailles troops entered Paris, donned his 
 ordinary civil costume and appeared at the door 
 of his house with his hands in his pockets. 
 This may account for some of the National 
 Guard who are "not in Paris," and have neither 
 been wounded nor killed. 
 
 Arrived at the Chateau d ? Eau, we saw around 
 us a complete scene of desolation. The Magasins 
 Beunis gutted, houses in ruins, the beautiful 
 fountains in front of the barracks destroyed, 
 marks of shells and rifle shots on every hand. 
 Men were hard at work demolishing the barri- 
 cades, which were at the end of every street. 
 This was one' of the points where the fight 
 was fiercest. Proceeding along the Boulevard 
 Beaumarchais towards the Bastille, we noticed 
 the various contrivances of each house — and the 
 like is to be seen throughout Paris — for stopping 
 completely the air-holes and entrances to the 
 cellars, so as to prevent malicious persons from 
 setting fire to the houses with petroleum. At 
 the Bastille the ruin is frightful, whole houses 
 having fallen in. Photographers were busy, so 
 that those who cannot be eye-witnesses of the 
 destruction will be able, by means of those 
 faithful delineations, to form a good idea of the 
 
296 THE RUINS 
 
 amount of mischief that has been done. Near 
 the Bastille, along the canal, is the Grenier 
 d'Abondance, an immense range of warehouses, 
 2,300 feet long, where was stored a portion of 
 the corn which served as food supply for the 
 people of Paris during the five months' siege. 
 This large place is smoking ruin, only the bare 
 walls standing. The great pile was still smok- 
 ing, as were also some houses near. We made 
 our way to Pere la Chaise to see whether a little 
 tomb in which we have a special interest had 
 been injured. We passed by the Rue Sedaine, 
 which bears marks of a terrible conflict, into the 
 Boulevard Voltaire (formerly Prince Eugene). 
 In front of the Mairie of the 11th Arrondiss- 
 ment one of the great rallying points of the 
 insurgents, were heaps of knapsacks, straps, 
 kepis, scraps of clothing, &c. Ah ! where were 
 the poor fellows who had worn them ? Turning 
 into Rue de la Roquette, we met Marshal 
 M'Mahon, probably returning rom the prison to 
 his head-quarters. As we passed the point 
 where two prisons of la Roquette and des Jeunes 
 Detenus dismally confront each other, and 
 meditated on the terrible events which have 
 taken place during the last few days (it was 
 here the Archbishop of Paris, the cure of the 
 Madeleine, and others were shot), we saw a 
 company of soldiers march out of the prison 
 des Jeunes Detenus and form in rank and file in 
 front of la Roquette. A good deal of interest 
 was excited, and people were clustering around, 
 but, lest we should unwillingly " assist " at the 
 execution of some poor creatures, we pursued 
 
OF PAKIS. 297 
 
 our way. Happily, we found our little tomb 
 uninjured. Nor did we find nearly so much 
 havoc in the Cemetery as we expected. Here 
 and there, especially on the heights overlooking 
 Paris, where the fiercest resistance was made, 
 the tombs are chipped at the corners, and bear 
 marks of rifle-shots ; otherwise the Cemetery 
 wears its usual appearance. A grand view of 
 the city expands before you from the top of the 
 hill above the chapel, which was remarkable to 
 us from the absence of two prominent objects — 
 the central tower of the Tuileries, and the top 
 of the Hotel de Ville. On our way to the in- 
 terior of the city we passed again through the 
 Place de la Bastille. The column in the centre 
 of the Place, on the site of the old Bastille, is 
 still erect and surmounted with the gilt figure, 
 but the basement bears marks of a fire, and the 
 interior, it is said, is burnt. Passing along the 
 Eue St. Antoine, we observed right and left the 
 marks of a hard street fight ; the facades of the 
 Church St. Antoine and another smaller church 
 in the same street have been much damaged by 
 the explosion of shells. Entering the Eue de 
 Eivoli we met a respectably-dressed man, sur- 
 rounded by soldiers, being marched off to prison. 
 The poor fellow was deathly pale, and was 
 probably as innocent as ourselves. We were 
 now in front of the Hotel de Ville, of which 
 the walls alone remain. The older part in the 
 centre has fallen in. Thankful were we to see 
 the venerable pile of Notre Dame' intact. We 
 next visited the Halles Centrales, which have 
 been riddled with bullets. Entering St. Eustache > 
 
'298 THE RUINS 
 
 where we " assisted " three weeks ago at a club, 
 we saw that the eastern stained-glass windows 
 were much broken. The exterior of the church 
 has also been damaged by bombs. Eeturning 
 to the Kue de Kivoli, and continuing towards 
 the Louvre, we were quite saddened by the 
 sight of the houses on each side, completely 
 
 Place du Carrousel. 
 
 destroyed except the exterior walls. In some 
 of the skeletons of apartments were to be seen 
 mirrors and other articles of household furniture 
 wonderfully spared in the midst of the general 
 conflagration. At last w 7 e were before the 
 Louvre, which happily was saved and bears 
 only a few r marks of shells. Through the Kue 
 
OF PARIS. 299^ 
 
 de Eivoli gateway we entered the Place du 
 Carrousel, and gazed upon the skeleton of the 
 Tuileries. The debris was still smoking. Pass- 
 ing out by the new Grand Archway, which is 
 uninjured, w T e crossed the Seine, and passed the 
 Hotel des Consignations, Palais du Quai d'Orsayy 
 and the Palais de la Legion d'Honneur, of all 
 
 T 
 
 
 (Mil 
 
 Fontaine. Place de la Concorde. 
 
 of- which nothing remains but the outside walls. 
 We passed close by the Corps Legislatif, the 
 facade of which has been much injured by shells, 
 and then into the Place de la Concorde. The 
 damage done in this incomparable square, al- 
 though considerable, is comparatively small. 
 Here is a beautiful fountain almost destroyed, 
 
300 THE EUINS 
 
 there the statue of Lille broken down, and its 
 head lying on the asphalt, here lamp-posts riven 
 in twain, there the tail of one of the plaster-of- 
 Paris horses at the entrance of the Tuileries 
 Gardens knocked off ; but, as you stand in the 
 centre and look westward up the Champs 
 Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, northward 
 towards the Madeleine, eastward towards the 
 gardens of the Tuileries, and southward towards 
 the Corps Legislatif, you really miss nothing from 
 the grand panorama but the Tour de l'Horloge 
 of the Palace of the Tuileries. As you pass 
 along the Eue Eoyale, after No. 10, up to which 
 the houses are intact, havoc, ruin, and desola- 
 tion stare you in the face. The houses at the 
 corner of the Eue Faubourg St. Honore, and one 
 of the houses at the corner of Eue St. Honore, 
 are a mass of ruins, piteous to behold. Far up 
 on a wall of the sixth story of one of the houses, 
 all the rest of the building having fallen down, 
 we could discern a dress and an umbrella hang- 
 ing by nails, probably the property of some 
 servant-maid, who had only just time to escape 
 herself. No ruins in Paris are more complete 
 than those of the Eue Eoyale, except those of 
 the Eue du Bac. Madame de Stael would not 
 now be able to say, if asked whether she did not 
 much admire the surroundings of the Lake of 
 Geneva, " Yes, but not so much as Eue du Bac ! " 
 We were very anxious to ascertain whether the 
 little chapel in the Eue Eoyale had been injured, 
 and made our way to it by the court behind. It 
 is not damaged in the least ! With houses in 
 front and at the side on fire, it has escaped ! 
 
OF PARIS. 301 
 
 reminding one of the bush enveloped in flames, 
 yet remaining unconsumed, or the three Hebrews 
 who though " in the midst of fire" had "no 
 hurt." The facade of the Madeleine bears deep 
 traces of the combat which raged so fiercely in 
 front of the building, some of the magnificent 
 fluted Corinthian columns being seriously chip- 
 ped. There was a hot fight along the Boulevard 
 Malesherbes, and most of the houses bear traces 
 of it ; but No. 19 has suffered most, the third 
 and fourth stories being completely covered with 
 bullet-holes. The house at the corner of our 
 Rue Boquepine has more than two hundred 
 marks of rifle-shots upon it, and the lower 
 story has been much knocked about, and the 
 beautiful mirrors completely smashed. I counted 
 thirty-two marks of bullets upon the facade and 
 turrets of our chapel. One ball has broken a 
 corner of one of the great windows and buried 
 itself in the stone so deeply that it will doubtless 
 remain for years a memento of the eventful days 
 of May, 1871. One bullet came close to my 
 study window and chipped off a piece of stone. 
 Another dashed into our balcony close to the 
 drawing-room window. Another broke through 
 the roof into our attic. 
 
 We walked to the Place Vendome. Strange 
 to say, not a single house has been burnt in this 
 centre of the insurgents, where their utmost 
 vengeance was to have been wreaked. They 
 were, without doubt, surprised, and had no time 
 to carry out their nefarious design. We ob- 
 served that the bronze has been almost entirely 
 stripped off the stone, and the stones themselves 
 
302 THE RUINS 
 
 separated and distributed about the centre of 
 the square previous to the reconstruction of the 
 monument. Passing along the Rue Castiglione 
 into the Rue de Rivoli, we saw what w T as the 
 Ministere des Finances a complete mass of 
 ruins. Again crossing the Place de la Concorde, 
 we examined particularly the obelisk to see if it 
 had been at all injured. It seems to me that it 
 must have been in the direct line of fire from 
 the barricade at the end of the Rue de Rivoli ; 
 and yet not an injury has it received except a 
 slight shell-mark on the granite basement con- 
 taining the inscription, just above the word, 
 " cmtiquissimum." u Four thousand years " and 
 " the oldest monument but one in the world " 
 commanded respect even from the insurgents ! 
 
 Sunday, June 4. 
 
 Feeling a particular interest in the place in 
 which I began my ministry in Paris nearly nine 
 years ago, I went this morning to see if I could 
 get into the Rue Royale Chapel, having seen the 
 outside yesterday. I succeeded in entering and 
 could not but thank God when I found that the 
 place which has to so many Methodists such 
 hallowed associations is all safe. Not a pane of 
 glass has been broken, not a seat injured. The 
 blessed sanctuary where William Toase preached 
 for eleven years, where William Arthur and 
 others ministered, and which, though it has 
 passed into other hands, resounds with the same 
 gospel, remains intact. May it long be a Bethel ; 
 and, saved as by fire, may it still be the birthplace 
 of souls ! 
 
OF PARIS. 303 
 
 June 5. 
 
 The Champs Elysees, notwithstanding all the 
 battering by shells, looks much the same. 
 A few branches of trees have been torn down 
 and a few lamp-posts injured, but the general 
 effect is the same. The Arc de Triomphe, not- 
 withstanding that it has received scores of shells 
 and has some of its bas-reliefs damaged, looks 
 almost uninjured. But many of the houses in 
 the Avenue de la Grande Armee are almost in 
 ruins, and the neighbourhood of the Porte 
 Maillot is a desolation. We followed a crowd 
 into a Chapelle Ardent e of the Madeleine, and 
 saw the coffin (draped in black velvet and 
 covered with beautiful flowers) in which are the 
 remains of the Abbe Deguerry ; and at the 
 Archeveche in the Rue Grenelle St. Germain we 
 saw the Archbishop lying in state. The body 
 has been embalmed and is dressed in gorgeous 
 robes. The face did not look like death, but 
 like a wax figure or what one imagines a mummy 
 to have been. The interment is to take place 
 on Wednesday next. 
 
 June 7. 
 
 In looking over our chapel to find other traces 
 of # the fierce conflict which raged in and around 
 our street, I find a black mark on a stone ledge 
 at the side of the principal entrance of the 
 building, and, on inquiry, learn that a soldier 
 wdio stood at our chapel-door for eight hours 
 firing on the insurgents rested his gun upon this 
 ledge to take aim and fire. On examining the 
 facade of the chapel I find I understated last 
 
304 THE RUINS 
 
 week the number of bullet marks it has received. 
 The top of our turret seems to have been a, 
 special mark to aim at. 
 
 The new Church St. August in near us, in 
 front of which there was a hard and long fight, 
 has received on its facade and dome many marks 
 of shells. Going into the interior, we found 
 that many of the stained-glass windows had 
 been shot through. Otherwise the church is 
 not damaged. Entering the Madeleine, I dis- 
 covered no trace whatever of the terrible combat 
 which took place when, according to report, two 
 or three hundred of the insurgents took refuge 
 in the church, and were all of them shot or 
 bayoneted. Not able to get into the Pare 
 Monceau, the gates being locked, I walked 
 around the beautiful enclosure which used to be 
 my favourite place of recreating, speculating 
 upon which might be the spot where so many 
 poor wretches had been executed. We hear 
 that many bodies dug up from the fosses near 
 the barricade are to be brought here and burnt. 
 Good-bye to the Pare Monceau for some time as 
 a pleasure-garden. I am glad, however, that 
 any place has been chosen for the incineration 
 of the corpses, for Paris, in certain parts of the 
 city, is not at all sweet just now. Whiffs of 
 earthy odours of decomposition meet you here 
 and there, especially near the quondam barri- 
 cades, and a strong oily smell, which they say 
 is not unhealthy, but certainly is sickening, tries 
 your temper in the districts where houses have 
 been burnt. The weather, fortunately, may I 
 not say providentially, is cool, and an almost 
 
OF PAEIS. 305 
 
 wintry wind is blowing over the city ; otherwise 
 we might expect a pestilence. As I pass over 
 places where I saw deep trenches dug in front 
 of the barricades three weeks ago, and now, from 
 unmistakable signs, cannot fail t«> know that 
 there are dead men underneath the newly-laid 
 road, many passages of the Word come to my 
 mind : " Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein." 
 " The heathen are sunk down in the pit that 
 they made ; in the net which they hid is their 
 own foot taken." " But thou, O God, shalt 
 bring them down into the pit of destruction ; 
 bloody and deceitful men shall .not live out half 
 their days." It is a comfort to breathe freely 
 again in Paris, and to feel some security for life 
 and property, which one never did under the 
 reign of the Commune. Yet never was a city 
 more completely kept down by soldiery. Patrols 
 march along the streets night and day, and no 
 one is allowed to pass the gates of the city after 
 nine o'clock at night. Nevertheless, Paris is 
 reviving, commerce is returning, the streets are 
 filling, orders for goods are coining in fast, and 
 the Boulevards are almost as gay as ever. The 
 city, phoenix-like, is springing up from its ashes. 
 The trees have not, as in the Revolution of 
 1848, disappeared, but, although here and there 
 branches have been lopped off, still grace the 
 Boulevards with their bright green foliage. 
 
 Paris has now a grand chance — such a chance 
 as a nation has never had — of rebuilding its 
 principal monuments in the strength of its 
 recuperative power. Most nations, which have 
 had their chief buildings ruined, have had them 
 
306 THE EUINS 
 
 destroyed when they have ceased to possess 
 recuperative power. France, notwithstanding 
 the heavy war indemnity, is rich still ; and has 
 the power and the wealth to rebuild her capital 
 in a style more splendid than ever. Whether it 
 is wise for a nation to spend money on magnifi- 
 cent buildings is a question, but nations have 
 done it and will do it. One cannot but regret 
 bitterly the wickedness which led to the firing of 
 Paris, but as the result Paris may become 
 grander than ever. Great cities owe much to 
 great fires. What does not London ow r e to its 
 great fire ? What will not Constantinople owe 
 to its great fire of eighteen months ago ? As 
 an Englishman proud of my country, I should 
 not be sorry, provided it were not the work of 
 incendiaries, and that in the burning not a 
 single precious article or valuable paper were 
 destroyed, if the w r hole line of buildings between 
 the Bank and Charing-cross, including the Great 
 Temple in the middle of St. Paul's Church-yard, 
 were laid low. London, with her redundancy of 
 wealth, would then build streets worthy of being 
 the principal thoroughfare of the chief city of 
 the world. I find a response, doubtless, in all 
 but the reference to St. Paul's ; but I am free 
 to confess that Sir C. Wren is no favourite of 
 mine. He has left as his legacy to the City of 
 London some few mediocre churches, the dis- 
 figurement by the two western towers of the 
 finest ecclesiastical building of which London 
 boasts, Westminster Abbey, and a copy (said to 
 be an improvement) of St. Peter's at Eome, 
 which is a mixture of the features of a heathen 
 
OF PARIS. 307 
 
 temple and Mahommedan mosque. But London 
 is not destined to have any such chance. Her 
 fire-engines are such that there is no possibility 
 of any fire spreading ; and, if they had gone in 
 any force to Paris, much that has been destroyed 
 under the smouldering ruins might have been 
 spared. 
 
 Now that we are all under the fresh impres- 
 sion of horror caused by the firing of Paris, and 
 every one is hurling against the perpetrators of 
 such a crime unmingled indignation, there is 
 danger lest we should forget that there were 
 three different kinds of supporters of the Com- 
 mune. The first, those who bond fide wished 
 only municipal liberties for Paris. Those who 
 went so far only with the Commune, and were 
 moderate in their views, will certainly sooner or 
 later succeed. 
 
 " Freedom's battle, once begun, 
 Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, 
 Though often lost, is surely won." 
 
 Others there were who were Communists 
 because, under the teaching of the International 
 Society, they were determined that capital 
 should no longer tyrannise over labour. The 
 First Ee volution may be said to have been the 
 struggle of the people against the nobles ; this 
 late revolution has been a struggle of the em- 
 ployed against the employers. " We want," say 
 they, " a share of the profits."' 
 
 A third kind were desperadoes, who wished to 
 pull down every one higher than themselves ; 
 and in carrying out their designs were willing 
 to undertake any desperate measure, t^or the 
 
308 THE RUINS 
 
 last, who set fire to the public buildings, and 
 employed women and children to pour petroleum 
 into the houses, we can have no pity or com- 
 passion whatever. Yet one cannot but regret 
 the indiscriminate brutal savagery of the 
 soldiers during the first few days of their 
 victory. One of our local preachers saw a man 
 coolly pricked to death by a soldier, and then 
 lifted up on the point of the bayonet for the 
 inspection of the lookers on. No sympathy was 
 evinced for the poor old man, and two ladies (?) 
 suggested that the soldier should " chop the 
 rat's head off ! " 
 
 I observe in the streets of Paris the broad 
 white caps of the " sisters," wilich for the last 
 two months have been conspicuous by their 
 absence, again flitting and flapping about ; and 
 the priests, who if seen at all, walked along with 
 a downcast and dejected look, step out with a 
 confident air and somewhat haughty mien. We 
 are now almost certain to have a Monarchy 
 again in France, and with a Monarchy, pro- 
 tectionist duties, priestcraft, &c, and the educa- 
 tion of the people in the hands of the priests, 
 w r hich means a high education for the favoured 
 few, and the bulk of the people kept in ignorance. 
 But how is it, if there are so many primary 
 schools in France as are reported in the year- 
 books, that so many of the people are unable to 
 read and write ? The simple reason is that so 
 the priests will it. They keep them ignorant 
 under the show of instructing them. I have 
 taken pains to inform myself upon this subject 
 by talkfng with the people — " How is it that you 
 
OF PAKIS. 309 
 
 cannot read or write ; did you not go to school 
 when a child ?" " Oh, yes ; but the priests kept 
 me all the time learning Pater Nosters and Ave 
 Marias; and so, after years at school, I left 
 without knowing anything." Who will say that 
 this was not done by the priests with a design of 
 keeping the people ignorant, so that they may 
 keep their hold on them ? Indeed, I have met 
 with numerous instances which have convinced 
 me that the priests designedly keep the key of 
 the door of the temple of knowledge in their 
 own hands, that the people may come to them 
 for instruction in all things, and may look up to 
 them as having superior knowledge. In ordi- 
 nary life you meet with some monsters, who, 
 though instructed on certain subjects, will not 
 tell you anything lest you should become as 
 well-informed as they. This is the general con- 
 duct of the priests. 
 
 In the panoramic view of Paris, as seen from 
 the top of our tower, I do not observe since the 
 recent disasters the slightest difference, the 
 Tuileries being hidden by the Madeleine, and 
 the Hotel de Ville by intervening buildings. The 
 Napoleon statue in the Place Vendome, which I 
 miss so much, had disappeared from the view 
 before the fall of the Commune. 
 
 There has been much excitement to-day about 
 the burial of the Archbishop, and crowds of 
 people have flocked into the city. The cab fare 
 rose this morning to 5f. the course, and 8f. the 
 hour. We saw the procession as it made its 
 slow way along the quay. There was nothing 
 gorgeous or splendid, as was expected. The 
 
310 THE END OF 
 
 impression produced by the hearse and its sur- 
 roundings was that it was the funeral of some 
 grand personage who had expressed a desire to 
 be buried quietly, without pomp or show. What 
 made it imposing was the number of troops who 
 marched slowly to the sound of the muffled 
 drum. The cuirassiers, with their martial bear- 
 ing, as the restrained horses stepped gently 
 along, added greatly to the impressiveness of 
 the scene. Notre Dame was surrounded with a 
 compact crowd. We did not even attempt to 
 get near the building. But those who were 
 fortunate enough to enter describe the service 
 as one of great solemnity. The ceremony was 
 performed by the Bishops of Meaux, Chalons-sur- 
 Marne, Versailles, Bayeux, Nancy, and Pamiers. 
 Marshal M'Mahon, Generals Vinoy, de Cissey, 
 Trochu, Douay, Ladmirault, Changarnier, and 
 the members of the Assembly " assisted." The 
 body of the Archbishop remained exposed in the 
 Cathedral during the middle of the day ; and at 
 three o'clock, while vespers were chanted, was 
 laid in the vault of the iVrchbishops of Paris. 
 
 The remnants of the barricades are fast dis- 
 appearing, and in a few days not a vestige of 
 them will be seen. Nothing but two corners 
 at the entrance of the Eue de la Paix, which the 
 demolishers were carting away as quickly as 
 possible, remained this morning of all the fort- 
 ress-like surroundings of the Place Vendome. 
 Preparations were also rapidly advancing for the 
 re-construction of the column. Affiches abound 
 almost as much as in the days of the Commune ; 
 but, instead of dealing in a single line with 
 
THE COMMUNE. 311 
 
 great questions (as for example, the separation 
 of the Church from the State), in the fashion to 
 which we have become accustomed of late, some 
 of them are headed "Armee de Versailles," and 
 signed " M'Mahon ; " others forbid the sale of 
 petroleum, and order arms to be immediately 
 delivered up. 
 
 The general aspect of the city is that of a 
 rebound from stagnation and death to activity 
 and life. There will be plenty of work for 
 masons, carpenters, and glaziers for a long time 
 to come. Foreigners are arriving in great num- 
 bers, and the hotels are filling fast. During the 
 past two months, notwithstanding 1 all that has 
 been said about the Commune being sustained by 
 the foreign element, Paris has had a peculiarly 
 French appearance. It had become a rare thing 
 to meet a foreigner, and especially an English- 
 man. Now the city is resuming its former cos- 
 mopolitan look. 
 
 Many regrets have I heard expressed that our 
 central Methodist chapel was not in the Rue 
 Eoyale, or in the Boulevard Malesherbes. Such 
 regrets will probably now cease as, if it had 
 been in the Boulevard, it would probably have 
 been riddled with rifle-shots and partially des- 
 troyed by shells, and if in the Rue Royale, it 
 might have been burnt to the ground. 
 
 June 8. 
 
 I have been to Asnieres. The scene of ruin 
 is such as no words can describe. The houses 
 on the quays are most of them destroyed, the 
 railway station has been entirely demolished; 
 
312 THE END OF 
 
 but our little chapel, only a stone's-throw from 
 the station, and not fifty yards from houses that 
 have been pounded with bombs, has escaped 
 with almost no injury at all. A few stones 
 chipped off, a hole in the roof, and a window- 
 sill smashed, we reckon nothing, compared with 
 the surrounding devastation. God be praised 
 for His care over His house ! 
 
 Paris, June 14, 1871. 
 
 The great subject of conversation everywhere 
 is the form of government which France is to 
 have. Thiers' speech in the Assembly last 
 Thursday is highly applauded, and Thiers him- 
 self is winning golden opinions. The most 
 intelligent and well-informed are inclined to 
 blame Thiers as indirectly the author of many 
 of the misfortunes of France ; but with the 
 many who know not and do not care to inform 
 themselves of the words and acts of the now 
 Chief of the Executive for the last thirty or 
 forty years, the present only is regarded, and 
 Thiers is the man of the hour, getting more 
 credit than he deserves. The Orleans Princes 
 have paid their respects to Thiers at Versailles, 
 and have met the Comte de Chambord at Dreux; 
 and it is now generally understood that the 
 programme is Thiers, Dictator for two years ; 
 then Henri V., the crown reverting at his death, 
 as he has no issue, to the heir of the Orleans 
 family.* But what meanwhile, of the Eepublic? 
 A Eepublic is not possible in France, there being 
 but few Eepublicans, and the French people not 
 
 * Public political opinion, never at one stay in Paris, has considerably 
 changed since this letter was written. 
 
THE COMMUNE. 313 
 
 being prepared for a Kepublic. In France, the 
 Kepublic always forms the stepping-stone to a 
 Monarchy or an Empire. Paris is fast filling 
 with strangers who have come to see the ruins, 
 but, their object accomplished, they take their 
 departure. Business is very dull, and shop- 
 keepers complain of the want of the rush of 
 commerce which they expected along with the 
 rush of strangers. Active measures are being 
 taken to prevent the miasma which might have 
 poisoned the air of the city during the hot 
 months, if the corpses, hastily buried during 
 that dreadful week between the 21st and 28th 
 of May, had been allowed to remain where they 
 were at first thrown. As I passed the Pont de 
 la Concorde on Monday morning last, I saw 
 grave-diggers exhuming the bodies from the 
 quays, and two large vans in waiting to receive 
 their putrid deposit and transport it to one of 
 the Cemeteries. It is sad indeed to see occasion- 
 ally a poor fellow marched off between soldiers, 
 for search is still being made in the houses for 
 hidden insurgents. On Sunday afternoon I saw 
 a man looking the image of misery, walking in 
 front of two mounted soldiers who followed with 
 loaded rifles ; and on Monday morning in the 
 Eue St. Honore I saw conducted by a soldier, a 
 walking figure above whose shoulders there was 
 nothing of the " human face divine," but amass 
 of bruised and swollen flesh covered with blood. 
 My blood ran cold as I passed. The trifling 
 remark of a Parisian who happentd to be near, 
 and witnessed this sight of horror, was only an 
 index of the general levity and frivolity of the 
 
314 THE END OF 
 
 inhabitants of the city. They have neither, so 
 far as I can see, been humbled by the events of 
 the war, nor saddened by the disasters which 
 have befallen the city. La PolicMwelle, (the 
 French Punch and Judy) is as popular as ever, 
 and the Boulevards are the Boulevards still. 
 
 It may comfort English people who are intend- 
 ing to take a trip to Paris to know that at 
 present there is no epidemic in the city. The 
 Commune, dirty as its adherents looked, has not 
 left a legacy of disease, but has purged Paris of 
 epidemics (and among them the small-pox) which 
 have raged in the city for more than a year. 
 
 On Sunday afternoon last a very solemn and 
 impressive funeral service took place at Asnieies. 
 The body of the poor woman who had acted as 
 concierge of our chapel, and who had been killed 
 in her cottage by a shell two or three weeks ago, 
 was carried to its final resting place in the 
 Courbevoie Cemetery. When the sad accident 
 occurred bombs were raining in Asnieres, so the 
 disconsolate husband had to dig a " narrow 
 house " in the little garden in front of the cot- 
 tage, awaiting quieter times for a funeral service. 
 It was intended to hold the service in the cot- 
 tage, but so many had assembled that we were 
 compelled to hold it in the open air. The sight 
 as we neared the humble dwelling was one to be 
 remembered. There, in front of the little 
 garden wall, was the exhumed coffin, covered 
 with a plain black cloth, and all around a 
 numerous group of people, English and French, 
 some friends of the deceased, others sympathisers 
 with the bereaved family. Close by the garden 
 
THE COMMUNE. 315 
 
 gate was the sorrowing husband surrounded by 
 the four motherless children. Behind was the 
 cottage, with one side entirely broken in by the 
 shell which killed the poor woman. All were 
 impressed and solemnised, and some brushed 
 away their tears during the service, in which the 
 English Congregational minister in Paris (the 
 Eev. T. Baron Hart) took part. The procession 
 then moved slowly along, passing near the 
 Chateau de Becon, to the cemetery. Addresses 
 both in French and English were delivered to 
 the large company gathered around the grave ; 
 and as the poor woman, thus suddenly taken 
 away, had a good hope of eternal life, all were 
 comforted with the words, " Blessed are the dead 
 which die in the Lord." 
 
 June 15. 
 
 I regret to find that the determination to seek 
 to take their revenge sooner or later on Prussia 
 is again manifesting itself among the Parisians. 
 During the last two or three months the talk 
 has all been about the Commune, but now you 
 hear everywhere the expression of a resolve to 
 bide their time for vengeance. And it is not, 
 like the usual nervous utterances of Parisians, a 
 flighty and enthusiastic expression, but the 
 sullen and moody telling of a deeply-formed 
 purpose, like a German or English resolve of 
 revenge. Alas for France, and alas for the hope 
 of the peace of Europe ! 
 
 France is adopting, as every one from the 
 beginning of the war foresaw would be the case, 
 the Prussian system, and ordering compulsory 
 
316 THE END OF 
 
 military service for every Frenchman. This is, 
 without doubt, the most disastrous result of the 
 war, and will do more than anything else to 
 throw back the civilisation of Europe. With a 
 nation like Prussia, whose sons are stolid and 
 plilegmatic, it is not dangerous to enforce 
 military service, and make every man a soldier ; 
 but with such an excitable nation as the French, 
 universal instruction in the use of arms will be 
 fraught with the greatest peril. High-spirited, 
 proud, and susceptible, they will be always find- 
 ing a casus belli, and good-bye to the idea of 
 European peace ! German officers have again 
 and again expressed to friends of mine their sur- 
 prise to find that French people are not, as they 
 supposed them, a military people ; that, instead 
 of finding every French peasant burning with 
 the military spirit, they have found them plodding 
 along in blouses, anxious above all for peace, 
 and to be allowed to pursue quietly their rustic 
 life. All will be altered now ; and Germany, 
 when within the next few years she again en- 
 counters France in arms, will find her a very 
 different foe from the France of 1870 ; and who 
 knows but that, before the end of this century, 
 there may be a similar triumph in Paris to that 
 which is now being celebrated in Berlin ? I 
 vainly hoped that France would feel herself 
 fairly beaten and be willing to accept her inferior 
 position in Europe, regarding it as the result of 
 what Frenchmen call la force majeure. But no ; 
 wherever I go I hear the same language — a wil- 
 lingness to make any sacrifice, no matter how 
 great, to be revenged on Prussia. They say, 
 
THE COMMUNE. 317 
 
 one and all, if peace had been made on reason- 
 able terms after Sedan, France and Germany 
 would have been friends ; but now that Germany 
 in the hour of her victory has imposed such 
 hard terms of peace, a spirit of implacable hatred 
 and revenge has been aroused, which can only 
 be satisfied by an attempt at retaliation. It is 
 most sadly ominous for the future that Parisians, 
 borrowing a feature entirely foreign to them- 
 selves, but characteristic of the Germans ever 
 since Tacitus wrote his graphic description of 
 them in his " Germania," say gloomily that 
 France must have her revenge, even if she 
 should have to wait a century for it. Such is 
 Europe in the nineteenth century of the Christian 
 era ! 
 
 One great subject of conversation in Paris is 
 Trochu's speech in the Assembly. Parisians 
 generally consider his cause not proven, and 
 think that if the city had been fortunate enough 
 to have a more energetic governor, things might 
 have been very different. Napoleon I. used to 
 say to his generals, " I will give you anything 
 but time," and so succeeded. Trochu seems to 
 have been impressed with the Arab motto, 
 " There will be another day to-morrow," and so 
 failed. In one point, however, Parisians entirely 
 agree with Trochu, that the second siege was a 
 natural sequence of the first, and that so the 
 Germans were indirectly the cause of the ex- 
 cesses of the Commune. 
 
 The Steele gives an instance of the summary 
 execution of an innocent man (doubtless one out 
 
318 THE END OF 
 
 of many) during that terrible week between the 
 21st and 28th of May :— 
 
 " Everybody remembered that several journals 
 announced the death of Billioray, member of 
 the Commune, arrested on the 26th May in the 
 Avenue la Bourdonnaye, and shot at the 
 Military School. It is now well known that 
 Billioray was not taken until a few days ago, and 
 that he is at Versailles awaiting his trial. Here 
 are the details of the execution of the poor 
 fellow who was the victim of his likeness to 
 Billioray. On the 26th of May, about half-past 
 two in the afternoon, an individual tolerably 
 well dressed, walking along the Avenue la 
 Bourdonnaye, was surrounded by a crowd shout- 
 ing, t It is Billioray, member of the Commune.' 
 A patrol of the 6th of the line, who happened 
 to be passing in that direction, arrested the so- 
 called Billioray, and conducted him to the 
 Military School. The crowd followed, shouting, 
 1 It's Billioray.' The poor fellow protested, but 
 the shouts drowned his voice. The officer before 
 whom he was conducted, convinced of his 
 identity by so many witnesses, ordered his im- 
 mediate execution. ' But I swear that I am not 
 Billioray,' said the unfortunate man, f I am 
 Constant, and live very near here, at Gros- 
 Caillou ; go and ask my neighbours.' ' He is 
 lying, the coward,' vociferated the bystanders ; 
 ' he is Billioray, we're sure.' And a crowd of 
 people who had never in their lives seen the 
 member of the Commune, cried aloud, ' It's 
 Billioray.' The officer gave the order to execute 
 the poor man, who struggling in vain, was seized 
 
THE COMMUNE. 319 
 
 and shot at once. In the evening the body, 
 with many others, was sent to Issy to be buried. 
 Now that the true Billioray is arrested, the sad 
 and fatal mistake is sufficiently evident, and 
 papers, found upon the unfortunate man who 
 was shot, prove that his name was really Con- 
 stant, and that he was an honourable citizen, a 
 father of a family, and a hosier by trade, who 
 had taken no part whatever in the politics of 
 the day." 
 
 Last evening there was a gathering of repre- 
 sentatives of the English in Paris at the Cercle 
 des Chemins-de-fer in the Kue Michaudiere to 
 do honour to the Rev. Dr. Smyth, who has 
 remained unflinchingly at his post in the Eng- 
 lish Church, Avenue Marbeuf, during the two 
 sieges, and is now about to leave Paris. Lord 
 Lyons and two of the secretaries of the British 
 Embassy were present ; the medical profession 
 was represented by Drs. Herbert, Shrimpton, 
 and Cormack ; and the English churches, the 
 Congregational and Wesleyan chapels, by their 
 respective ministers. According to the wont of 
 Englishmen, we dined together, and many were 
 the good wishes expressed for the future happi- 
 ness and welfare of the honoured clergyman, 
 whose name will long be remembered with 
 affection by the English poor in Paris. 
 
 Frenchmen, although fully aware of the great 
 burden they must bear through increased taxa- 
 tion for many years, are full of hope that their 
 country will easily get over its financial diffi- 
 culties. France is one of the richest countries 
 in Europe, and can bear a heavy taxation. It 
 
320 THE END OF THE COMMUNE. 
 
 is a question for time to settle how far the 
 restoration of protectionist duties will hinder its 
 commercial prosperity. In ordinary years France 
 grows enough corn and more than enough wine 
 und oil for its inhabitants. Its best wines, silks, 
 and articles de Paris other nations will have at 
 whatever cost. A few years of peace, and 
 France will have righted herself. 
 
 _____ jr 
 
 P.S.— April 11th, 1872. Subsequent events 
 have justified every one's expectations. France 
 is not dead nor dying. Although scarcely a year 
 has elapsed, she is really stronger to-day than 
 before the war. Her return to prosperity, in so 
 short a time, after events so disastrous, is simply 
 marvellous. Oh that in her returning prosperity 
 she may remember God ! 
 
 I have preferred to reprint these letters just as 
 they appeared in the " Watchman" resisting the 
 strong temptation to remodel them in the light 
 which has since been thrown upon so important and 
 eventful an episode in French history. The only 
 alteration is in Mr. Jonathan Holderfs account 
 of his escape from Paris after its investment by 
 the German army, which is here given in his own 
 words. W. G. 
 
 Howitt and Son, Steam Printers, Nottingham. 
 
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