THE REIGN OF THE COMMUNE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2555, 24 November 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE REIGN OF THE COMMUNE.

In the Illustrated Naval and military Mugaziuc for this month there is a most interesting article by a war-artist on the Franco-Prussian war. The followinc cxtract, dealing as it does with the doings of the commune, will be read with interest :—" Most of the shutters were shut ; few of the lamps lit. The actors in the very few theatres that were open performed to almost empty benches. Just when the Paris of old times (about ten o'clock) began to live, it now went if possible, to sleep, and the shattered streets were as silent as those of Herculaneuin after the eruption. Paris could suffer to a degree and yet smile ; she bore up bravely against the first siege ; she starved complacently. The Prussians entered and left but, she still held on til, this final humiliation came, and then she seemed to collapse as completely as Tuilleries, the Vendome Column, the ttue de Rivoli, and the thousand other landmarks by which the beautiful city of Lutetia had so long known, also collapsed, seeming as if she had but one hope, tha' an earthquake or deluge would sweep her numberless ruined homes from the face of the earth, so that coming generations might approach the site, and old faris from its ashes rise Phoenix-like a new. And now came the final struggle. The roar of cannon as the city was shelled from without. The sharp rattle of musketry as barricades were lost and won, to which explosions now and again gave marked and terrible emphasis. The shops chiefly closed, admitted residents, who from necessity or curiosity had ventured out by side-doors ; but these, when they were seen hurrying homewards, were thrown open specially for them and immediately closed. How unlike the always half-open hall-door of the piping times of peace. In the making of barricades, which was now done generally in all the principal streets passers-by were enlisted indiscriminately into the service ; and when paving-stones and debris were exhausted, those who constructed them were not all particular as to whose property they appropriated for the purpose ic the name of the Commune—pianos, sideboards, and tables amongst other things playing their pari in those great heaps. Even the cafe* were now closed. What waiter would carry a tray full of liquors and cognacs :it such a moment? There was still, however, an effort to supply the want" of the barricade-makers, a few, chiefly waitresses by the way, mustering suffi cient courage to rush out now and again to those conveniently at hand ; who, thus refreshed, renewed their efforts, and so barricade after barricade rose higher still, and the deafening diu of battle louder and louder, till all became a surging mass of confusion and noisy bewilderment. Here and there might be seen a pgtroleuse rushing down a by street or screaming and scrambling over the broken masonry of the half-demol ished houses, brandishing her trusty bottle of petroleum in one hand, and probably a torn red flag tied to a broomhandle iu the other; while in the capacious pockets of her draggle-tailed skirt she had, no doubt several bottles of the same fluid in reserve. On she went till some inviting cellar-flap or room in the basement of a house presented itself, when she would stop to hurl her deathdealing messenger into the cavernous depths below, and await calmly the beginning of the end. See ! it ha* caught ; the fluid (ire is spreading, the flames find vent, hissing and cracking as they struggle to the surface. Then our petroleuse smiles blandly. She deserves well of the Commune, and thus encouraged she hastens on with a newlyprimed bottle to create more havoc This was not, however, the only work of women of Paris, as they were called at that time, they were active in a hundred other ways. Harnessed to mitrailleuses they played the part of horses they had long since eaten. They carried supplies of food and ammunition to the barricades and bivouacs, and were otherwise maids of all work, during this reign of terror. Shells now began to fall fast and furious iu the very heart of Paris from the f.jrts without. ThiVersaillais had after several hours' hard fighting, taken the Champ de Mars (appropriate name that), while from round about the Tuileries a heavy cannonade was directed against the Arc de Triomphe. The Veugeurs were fight ing like fiends, and falling like flies. The Champs Elysdes (curiously inappropriate name now) was a blaze of bayonets and the Ministry of War surrounded For a whole day and night did the fighting go on without noticeable intermission, when, at early dawn, the Arc de Triomphe was surmounted by the tricolour, and several of the outer defences of the Communists in the shape of barricades had been taken. But the pulses of a great city must, however terrible the fever be which is raging within, respond even at such a time, in some senses, to the domestic requirements of struggling humanity. Rats, cats, and dogs were bought and sold to those who had the money to buy and appetites to eat them One rat-natcher, having won a repufcation through the medium of his dog for the rats he supplied during the two sieges, seeing that the end had come, that rats would be at a discount, and that hidog had played its part, sacrificed that faithful ally at the last moment to stock the larder of a restaurant whose cus tomers were prepared to pay well, at such a crisis, for the luxuries of the season."