THE STATE OF PARIS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VI, Issue 179, 31 July 1871, Page 2

THE STATE OF PARIS.

The following is from the Paris correspondent of the London Standard :— Paris, May 28, Evening. The wholesale executions continue very indiscriminately, and without even a pretence of a trial. It is easy to understand the thrist for revenge of the Iroops who find mines laid down to blow them up in every quarter of the town they occupy, but many perfectly innocent persons must fall victims to this mania for summary reprisals. The prisoners are taken down in. batches to certain specified execution places, where firing parties are stationed, and deep trenches dug beforehand. One of these places is* the Ecole Militaire, another the Caserne 1 Napoleoo, immediately behind the* Hotel de Ville. One of the men engaged in this work of blood has given me some particulars^ which, I trust, are incorrect.. He tells me that at the Cascerne Napoleon since last night 500 persons have been shot, and that, the? courtyard is f! full of blood; and^ deafl"b6dies: To induce'the prisoners v to march without resistance they J? are told that tbey are'ta.be taken lo Versailles for 'trial, and; ■it: itfeonlylwnedf' tbe^r.* arri vre -at tae place of execution that the blood and

dead-bodies before them make known to jpn' i ibat their last hour has arrived. -TJh^re, are invariably women and boys anibhg them, and they scream and cry and beg for. mercy, bnt are pushed forward and shot.dawn. It is said that 10,000 persons have thus been executed, but I trust that this is a gross exaggeration, for, if true, it would inflict a stigma on the French Government which no, excuse could possibly efface. i~haveloTd you of the indiscwkninate character of these- executions. Here is an instance in point. M. CeraußC-i^of'-thfe :£&.?&,> accompaaied 'by M. Theodore Dure«, :J,: wei_t yesterday to the pri on of -Saint'e Telagie to try and find „€j a b'6dy- of -M: G-ustave Chaudey, one of their collaborateurs, who was brutally.' shot 'two • -days- -ago by ordef •*""- ef '"• • the Mohawks of the Commune. M.-Cernuschi and M. Dufet were both arrested, ordered pp get into the carnage which had._brought them, and tbe carriage, escorted by a squad, drove slowly' off, 'they knew 'hot" whither. Suddenly the carriage came to a standstill close to a blind, .alley,, where a firing party appeared to be stationed en permanenee^and .where tbe of two men just shot were lying in a pool, .of blood. M. Duret immediately jumped out of the carriage, and spoke so strongly to the officer in command . of the. escort that he prevailed upon him to make some inquiry before shooting them. . The carriage drove off, and, .falling in "with a colonel who knew £ ...these journalists by name, tbey were released from their very uopleasant position. As for IVT. Chaudey you -know -he" had* 'been*- arrested as a hostage. On Tb.ursday__Raoul Rigault,the Procureur of the Commune,, came into M. Chaudy's cell at eleven o'clock p.m.,; and, without any introduction told him — "I bave to inform you that your last, hour has- arrived." " "What ! Do you intend murdering me ? " replied Chaudey. _ "You are about to be shot I—-immediately."1 — -immediately." The National Guards on duty refused 16 lend themselves to -this piece of butchery ; so Rigault went and procured some less scrupulous tool'sT" The prisoner was-taken out before them. Rigault waved - his sword, the men fired, and Chaudey fell — mot killed, but only wounded. A serjeant marched up "and j>ut him but of pain by two shots from a revolver. * 'Before leaving this ghastly subject, let me mention another incident." On Wednesday, Brunei, the "ex-commander of the fort of Issy, was found concealed with a wcupan, Jn one of the mansions pf the _^lace Vendome ; they were, taken down into tbe court-yard and shot. The bodies lay-fhereubtil yesterday — Saturday! — when they were ordered to be removed for interment.- When Jhe men came to lift them up they found the womon was still breathing. .It, ip ,said. that she was taken to an ambulance. The "petroleum-" panic continues, and many. people are" wrested and summarily, dealt with on the suspicion of having thrown- mineral oil down. the cellar. The number of people using mineraj _pjl Jamps-' iv Paris is very great/a nd*„i f o"ugh the mere force .-of habitseveral, persons imperil their : . lives. . The,, porter at a t house, in which a friend of mine lives very nearly cam _j ; to grief by going to a grocer's to fetch a supply of petroleum for bis lamps ; he -was being dragged off for instant execution, but the people" of the-neighbor-hood, being well acquainted with him, interfered and obtained his release.-- J Tbe number of prisoners. taken is enormous : a column of 6000 has just been marched down the Roe Lafayette on its •way to the' Park Monceau. Before being' driven out of La Roquette the insurgents butchered all the hostages, including the" Arch bishop of Paris, .the, venerable cure of the Madelaihe, Abbe Deguerry, President Bonjeau, President of the Court' of Cassation, and all the other eriiihent'men whom they removed from Mazas to La Roqutte, less as a security for themselves," as they well knew that after- their wholesale incendiarism they had no mercy to expect, thanto have the oppoPtußity of revenging the slaughter ' of their prisoners by sacrificing the lives of -men illustrious,, for their, learning! and venerable for the"' piety and the exercise of every wOhristian' virtue, , ...Thepdoros ftf : Aby__nia'was more merjbjiful .than these sons of civilisation, for hiief captives he did not injure; but then he "had hot heard of the rights of man. Delescluze, whowaserrpneousr/reported to have been shot a few days ago while running "aWjay.idiedTfigbting.at the barri- F cade-of-the Chateau d'Eau. He was shot through the. neck* and apparently expired without a struggle, as his face wears precisely, tke_sam.e expression as ,i t~ did- d ur i nglitis life. His body, stripped naked, is now lying i&£Js..q&siM!^^ t -t e church o£ St. Elizabeth, in., the Rue dv Temple, with .a rjjg.over.lt. fi , t J ; , - ; •-•■^holeeale continue to an ez^nt'^-^f^^'iMrfootl; reyoltiqg. The • Frienfls^of Order seem to wish to vie with:^^the revoltfti6nißl¥i-r their utter dis^" regard of human life, re *, f a ■ •' : rt>A'.A' : '.•• y-^, ■ zjAufrUJJ'A : ■ *