The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-06-03 00:00:00

VICTOR HUGO ON THE COMMUNISTS.

The following Is the letter from 11. Victor lingo, publlihed
In the Irat.pendance _ . . .

.
"1 protest agiunst the declaration of the Belgian
Government relative to the vanquished of Parisi.
Whatever may be said or done, these vanquished are
political men. I was not with them. I accept the
principal of the Commune; I do not accept the men.
I have protested against their acts. Their violencee
have made me indignant, as the violence@ of the oppo-
site party would do now. The destruction of the
Column is an act of high treason towards the nation.
The destruction of the Louvre would have been an act
of high treason towards civilization. But savage acts,
being unconscious, are not criminal acts. Demency
m a disease and not a crime. Ignorance is not the
mime of the ignorant. The destruction of the Column
has been for France a Bad hour. The destruction of
the Louvre would have been eternal mourning for all
peoples. Bat the Column will be raised again, and the
Louvre is safe. Paris is retaken. Ihe Assembly has
vanquished the Commune. Who has made the lgth of
March? Who is guilty, the Assembly or the Com-
mune ? History will Led. The burning of Paris is a
monstrous fact, But are there not two incendiaries?
Let us wait in order to judge. I have never under-
stood Billioray ; and Rigault has astonished me unto
indignation. But to shoot Billioray or Rigatilt is a
crime. Those of the Commune. Johannard and La
Cecilia, who shoot • child of fifteen years, are
criminals. Those of the Assembly, who shoot
Boequet, Parise', Aruouroux, Lefratcais,
Brunet, and Dombrowski are criminals. Here the
crime is as well in the Assembly as in the Commune.
First, to all civilized men the punishment of death is
abominable; secondly, the execution without judgment
la infamous. Judge first, then condemn, then execute.
I might then blame, but not objurgate. You are
within the law. If you kill without judgment, you
assassinate. I return to the Belgian Government. It
Is wrong to refuse asylum. The law permits this
refusal, the eight forbids it. I who write these lines
hold as a maxim 'Pro jure contra legtm.' Asylum is
an old right. It is the sacred right of the unfortunate.
In the middle ages the Church granted asylum even
to parricides. As to me I declare :—I cffer this egyhim
which the Belsiao Government Wham Inuit

lln-1

ii MB iTtre; fi" &TEAT.; de;
Barricades, No. 4. (M. Hogo's town residence at
Brussels.) Let a vanquished of Para, let a member of
the Commune, which Paris has but little elected, and
which I have never approved—let one of these men,
were he my personal enemy—eepecially I/ lie is my
personal enemy—knock at my door, I open. He is in
my house he is inviolable. Should I, perchance, be a
.forelignse in Belgium? [do not believe it. I feel my-
self the brother of all men, and the guest of all nations.
Al all events, a fugitive of the Commune with me will
be • vanquished one with an outlaw; the vanquished
of to day with the outlaw of yesterday. Two venerable
thing., as Ido not heaitste to my. One weakness
protecting another. If a man be an outlaw, let him
enter my house. I defy whomsoever it be to tear him
from it. I speak here of political men. If • fugitive of
the Commune be taken at my house, they shall take
me. If he be given up I shall follow him. I shall sit
down with him on the bench of the accused. For the
defence of the right, the man of the Republic, who has
been proscribed by lionarparte,shall be seen by the side
of the man of the Commune, who is the vanquished
of the Assembly of Versailles. I ehail do my duty.
Principle, before everything! It may be affirmed that
England will not give up the refugees of the Commune.
Why place Belgium below England? The glory of
Belgium I. to be an asylum. Let us not take that
glory from bee. By defending France I defend Bel-
gium. The Belgian Governmen will be against me,
but the Belgian people will be with me. At any rate
I shall have my conscience."