The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-28 00:00:00

G-, ET N E 28, /848

but they were instantly destroyed by the National
Guard and the troops of the line, who remained
definitively masters of every point. (in the right
bank the contest was prolonged, but several of the harri •
nicks in the Rue St. Antoine were carried and the insur-
gents constantly lost ground. They retrenched them-
selves, however, on other points and forced their way
into several houses, from whence thg•y fired on the troops.
This occurred towards twelve o clock in the Place du
Chatelet, the Quay of the Megisserie, and in several ad-
joining streets. Some battalions of the National Guards
of the departments, which were marching in perfect
confidence on the Quay de la Megisserie, received seve-
ral discharges which caused them a severe loss. A
similar occurrence took place at the Place du Chatelet,
and in the small streets in the neighbourhood, where the
insurgents endeavoured to farm barricades without
success. Engineers and firemen were employed
to dislodge the insurgents entrenched in the houses.
Those houses were pierced in the rear or in
the roof, a passage having been effected through
the adjoining houses. At three o'clock the insurgents
were defeated •on almost every point. The Clos St.
Lazare and the Faubourg du Temple were cleared. The
insurgents then entrenched themselves in the Marais,
where preparations were made to dislodge them.
" Five thousand muskets were captured by the Na-
tional Guard, who passed from house to house until they
reached the barricades. The engineers and corps of
firemen afforded valuable assistance in accomplishing
those perilous operations. During those attacks, which
cost several valuable lives, a superior officer of the artil-
lery of the National Guard of Neuilly was severely
wounded. An officer of the former Garde Republicaine
was captured whilst firing on the troops at the barricade
of the Rue Planche Milbray. The troops would have
shot him bad not M. Divier, a representative of the
people, saved him by throwing his scarf over him. He
was lodged in the cellars of the Hotel de Ville. M.
Michel, Lieut.-Colonel of the Parisian artillery, was
wounded near Notre Dame.
The same journal gives the following description
of the capture of the strong positions of the Bar-
riare Poissonniere and La Chapelle on Sunday after-
- -

noon :

" The insurgents had trenched themselves outside the
wall of Paris, which they had loopholed. They had,
moreover, intercepted the outside boulevard with strong
barricades, placed at 200 yards from each other. Two
pieces of cannon were planted in a position by which
the Custom-house of the Barriere St. Denis, occupied by
the insurgents, was cannonaded. The houses at the
upper end of the Faubourg Poissonniere were occupied
by the National Guard and the Mobile, and several
companies of those two guards, together with some com-
panies of infantry, occupied the streets adjacent and
the new hospital, keeping up a running fire with the
insurgents, which produced no effect until towards four
o'clock, when, a reinforcement of National Guards and
troops of the line having arrived, a movement in advance
was made along the entire line from the Clos
St. Lazare to the Barriere Poissonniere, which was
carried in double quick time. The insurgents fled
along the exterior boulevard on the side of the Barriere
St. Denis, crossing and abandoning a number of barri-
cades, quickly pursued by the heads of the columns
composed of troops of the line, the Garde Mobile, the Na-
tional Guards, and officers of all ranks, amongst whom
were even surgeons of the National Guard and of the
army, and amongst them Dr. Baton, son of the brave
general of that name, who, with a musket in his hand,
at one moment fired upon the insurgents, and the next
was dressing a wound. The troops arrived thus where
a last barricade was defended by about 50 men, who
waved their handkerchiefs as a sign that they wished to
surrender. Unfortunately the head of the column was
too weak to trust themselves to those wretches, and it
was not until half-an-hour longer that a sufficient force
arrived to surround theta; but the insurgents had in the
mean time escaped and dispersed in La Chapelle and La
Villette. hey were quickly pursued, and, the houses
having been searched, about 20 insurgents sivere cap-
tured. To conclude, all this portion of the ,insurrection
was completely suppressed towards six o'clock on Sun-
day evening, but nut without numerous and lamentable
sacrifices of life."
An eye-witness of the capture of the Clos of St.
Lazare gives the following account of that affair :
" At half past two the 2d battalion of the Ist legion,
composed of the 3d and 4th companies, and of several
National Guards of the sth and eth companies, left the
Maisie; it was rallied at three o'clock by General Le-
breton, with a park of artillery and a picquet of euiras•
siers close to the barracks of the Faubourg Poissonisire.
The battalion was there joined by some Mobile Guards
and half a company of the Republican Guard.
" At four o'clock the 3d company took up their quar-
ters in the houses near the Clos, and the barricade, an
immense work, having before it a deep ditch pa-
lissaded, and behind it a mountain of paving
stones heaped up against the gate of the Barriere. The
insurgents occupied the buildings of the Octroi and some
of the neighbouring houses, from whence they fired
downwards; they had placed tirailleurs from distance to
distance, in the hospital now being built.
" The battalion, preceded by artillery, commanded by
the brave Captain Vieyza, issued boldly from the street
forming an angle, and which led straightforward to the
barricade. Atter having fired off the cannon three
times, the battalion sprang forward, reached the barri-
cade, after having driven away the insurgents, who
placed in it, and in the buildings.of the Octrois, kept up
an incessant and most murderous fire. In spite of that,
the barricade was taken and destroyed. But it was
impossible to proceed further for want of artillery.
However the battalion stood its ground till relieved from
its position at about ten o'clock in the evening."
The Siecle gives the following account of the mur-
der, for by no other name can it be called, cf the
venerable Archbishop of PARIS
The insurrection being confined to the Faubourg
St. Antoine, the following occurrence took place:--The
Archbishop of Paris, as authorised by General Cavaig-
nac, presented himself to the insurgents, accompanied
by MM. Larabit, Galli Casatel, and Druet Desvaux,
representatives of the people. On arriving at the
Faubourg St. Antoine the Archbishop advanced to a
barricade, which he scaled, followed by the three re-
presentatives, unfortunately. Drums beat, shots were
exchanged, and the Archbishop received a ball in the
side. He fell, and was carried to the Hospital of the
Quinse Vingts. -The representatives descended at the
other side, and were in the power of the insurgents.
They were led to the chief, who promised to use his
efforts to save them, and led them to his house. At
three o'clock in the morning some of the insurgents
came to propose that the representatives should bear to
the Assembly a message calculated to lead to a cession
of hostilities. M. Larabit consented to accompany the
delegates of the insurgents with his colleagues, and to
return and surrender himself in case the conditions
should not be accepted. M. Larabit did return, as he
promised, like another Regulus. Towards eleven o'clock
one of the insurgents advised the three representatives
to escape, and told them the road to take, and so they
escaped. There is no hope of the Archbishop's re-
covery."
The murder, too, of General BREA is, perhaps, un-
equalled for cold-blooded atrocity and cowardice by
any event recorded in the annals of crime. General
BREA was commandant of the garrison of Nantes.
He had already been wounded in an attack on a pre-
ceding day, but had resumed service. One of the
insurgents having been captured by some of the
Garde Mobile, these men, infuriated at their inhuman
conduct, determined to shoot him, when, at the mo-
ment of execution, General BREA. threw himself be-
fore the prisoner, and entreated them by all the laws
of war as well as humanity to spare him, and leave
him to the hands of justice. This noble appeal had
scarcely passed his lips, when the ruffian, who stood
behind him, pulled out a pistol and shot the gallant
general dead.
Nothing could exceed the atrocities perpetrated
and avowedly contemplated by the insurgents.
" This time," says the Coizstitutionnel, " the dra-
pe= rouge has been displayed, and the cry has been
Vive la Republique Sociale r and, by way of com-
mentary upon this rallying cry, there was written or

several banners pillage et viol. Posterity will refuse
to believe the tortures inflicted on prisoners by fellow-
citizens in an age like ours, and in the capital of a
country which boasts of being at the head of civili-
zation ! Judging from what has been done by the
vanquished emeute, we tremble on thinking of the lot
that was reserved for Paris if this sacrilegious enter-
prise had succeeded."

'We have already recorded the massacre of the
prisoners in the Place Maubert by the insurgents,
but this was humanity compared with their conduct

in many instances. They in some instances cut the

wrists of the soldiers who were taken, dividing the
tendons so as to deprive them of the use of their

hands; in others they cut off their hands, their
heads, or their legs, and stuck their mutilated

bodies on the barricades. They pumped vi-
trol into the faces of their antagonists, and
they pumped turpentine into the houses, their inten-
.. . .

tion being to burn Paris. Indeed, they now openly
avow the intention to have recourse to incendiarism

ami assassination. Some idea may be formed of the
desperate determination of the insurgents by the pe-
rusal of the following placard, which was extensively
posted in the Faubourg St. Antoine on Monday

" To ARMS !
"We wish for a democratic and social Republic. We
wish for the sovereignty of the people. All the citis.ns
of a Republic ought to desire nothing more. To defend
that Republic the co-operation of all is necessary. The
numerous democrats who have comprehended that ne-
cessity have already been in the streets for the last two
days. That holy cause already counts many victims ;
we are all resolved to avenge those noble martyrs or to die.
"Be on the alert, citizens ! Let not one of us be in-
attentive to this appeal. In defending the Republic we •
defend property. It an obstinate blindness finds you in-
different, after all the blood that has been shed, we shall
all die beneath the burning ruins of the Faubourg 61.
Antoine.

"Think of your wives—your children—anti you will
'oin us !"

Under these circumstances we learn, with feel-
ings rather of sorrow than surprise, that the troops
were not at all times enabled to command their feel-
ings of indignation and their desire for revenge,

Galignuid s Messenger says :
" Thu exasperation of the troops of the Uric and the
artillery of the National Guard was each that it was im-
possible to prevent a considerable massacre atn,mg the
insurgents, when they commenced flying before
.the
troops in the Faubourg St. Athoinc. A great number,
however, were made prisoners, and the armed fugitives,
who we understand in their flight irtTiently turned
round to continue the tight, were put sucd by a division
of the artillery of the National Guard to a considerable
distance. The number of muskets abandoned by the
insurgents was sufficient to load several carts. One
woman, we are assured, cut into pieces the bodies of two
of the Garde Mobile, who had been lulled. She was
taken, and in the heat of indignation and horror at her
conductkilled with blows from the butt-ends of mithets."
A military commission has been installed at the
Prefecture of Police. It is assisted by six substituts
of the Procureur of the Republic. All the repris de
justice, fercats liberes, or forcats who have broken
their ban, as well as all those found in possession of
considerable sums of money, are included in the same
category, and immediately given up to the high mili-
tary court. An investigation into the charges against
all the other prisoners is postponed.
The prisoners taken and awaiting their trial
amount already to upwards of five thousand, they, as
well as the prisoners of Vincennes implicated in the
affair of May, will be tried for high treason, and, if
convicted, transported to the Marquesas, which is
henceforth to be a convict colony.
DEFLOTTE, the ex-officer of Marine, who was com-
promised in the affair of the 15th of May, and was
one of the chiefs of the insurrection, has been cap-
tured. It is said that at the time he had a sum of
150,000 f. on him.
It is said that the Government possess ample in-
formation as to the leaders in the insurrection, all
of whom are known, and many of whom are in cus-
tody. Men of the highest rank—men who have
hitherto been considered as of the most irreproach-
able character—are said to have been deeply im-
plicated.
Although Monday night passed off quietly, yet it
was a night of terror. The whole city was occupied
by military. The entire National Guard was on
foot. The Boulevards and quays were closed ; the
other streets guarded at their extremities by large
bodies of National Guards, and throughout their ex-
tent by a line of centinels, who incessantly, that is
at intervals of only five minutes throughout the
entire night, called to each other, " Sentinelle !
garde a vows r
In many streets every window in every house was
illuminated.
Some musket shots were occasionally heard. In
one quarter a body of National Guards were convey-
ing forty prisoners to one of the prisons, and were
fired on by men concealed in the houses of a narrow
street through which they were passing. In the
confusion they escaped.
General Cavarcrrsac ordered that the Faubourgs
should be disarmed during the night. In the
Faubourg St. Antoine alone 30,000 muskets were
collected.
The Debuts states that at midnight a sharp fusillade
was heard near the Tuileries, which lasted only a
few minutes. The troops and National Guards
were immediately on foot. The cause could not be
ascertained.
On Monday, about midnight, a terrible catastrophe
took place in the Place de Carrousel. Two companies
of the National Guard of the 13anlieue of Paris
were conducting about eighty prisoners to the
Tuileries, in the cellars of which a large number of
the insurgents are confined. When close to the
Rue de Ruhan some of the prisoners attempted to
escape. They attacked their guards suddenly, dis-
armed some of them, and attempted to run. The
alarm was at once given. The troops of the line and
the National Guards in the vicinity flew to arms. A
terrible pell moll followed, in which the soldiers fired,
not only upon the prisoners, but upon each other, and
the result was, that about twenty soldiers and Na-
tional Guards were killed. More than half the pri-
soners were killed. The bodies of the soldiers and
National Guards were carried into the Tuileries.
The bodies of the prisoners were left for a consider-
able time lying on the spot where they fell.
The National Guards who arrested M. LOUIS
BLANC accused him of having established correspon-
dence from the Café Vernon with the insurgents, and
of having been in communication with them to the
last moment.
An ambulance for the wounded, with 120 beds, has
been established in the Tuileries, and another in the
Louvre.
The following journals are suppressed during the
state of siege :—La Presse, La Revolution de 1848,
L' Organisation du Travail, La Vraie Republique,
L'Assemblee National, La Napoleon Republicain, La
Lzberte, L' Aimable Faubourien, I a Lampion, Le
.Pere Duchene, Le Pilori.
M. ENIILE DE GIRARDIN, who was arrested, has
been, it is said, set at liberty.
M. JANVIER, a representative, had a narrow es-
cape. He went alone to a barricade in the Rue
Meslay, with his scarf, &c., and endeavoured to ap-
peal to the insurgents. He was received with cries
of—" Down with the Representative ! Down with
the National Assembly !" and was surrounded by a
furious crowd, who menacingly brandished their
weapons at him. His life was at one time seriously
in danger, but at length it was decided to detain him
as a prisoner. A combatant, however, stepped
forward, and cried, "No doubt he is a guex de repre-
sextant : but as he has had the courage to trust us, let
him be off!" The ranks then opened, and M. JAN..
VIER was allowed to escape.
The house of M. Feocoer, the Minister of Com-
merce has been searched.
On Tuesday morning considerable alarm was
created by the beating of the rappel, and a report
was spread that the insurgents had strongly posted
themselves at Pere la Chaise, and had resumed hos-
tilities. This report, however, proved unfounded. The
insurgents had retired from Pere la Chaise to Ro-
mainville, pursued by the troops, and the rappel was
beating to arms for the funeral of the victims of the
insurrection. At eleven o'clock yesterday, several of
the cafés and shops were open, and the circulation
through the streets was partly resumed.
The last barricade attacked was at the corner of
the Rue de la Roquette. It took place on Monday
evening at eleven o'clock. General LAMORCIERE,
after having taken the whole of the barricades in the
Faubourg du Temple, arrived at the Place de la Bas-
tille, from which he attacked the barricade with can-
non and shells. A shell fell on one of the adjoining
houses, and set it on fire, and the insurgents after
a short defence took to fight. This was the last
effort of the insurrection. From that moment the
insurgents were not able to rally. They immediately
flew to the Barriere de Menilmontant and du Trone
which they had in their hands, and thus escaped to
the country.
The insurrection was by far the most terrible that
as ever desolated Paris. The number of killed and
wounded will probably never be known ; but eer-
tainly they amount to many thousands. Many cal-
culate the number as high as 20,000, and none
estimate it below .10,000. The troops of the line
suffered greatly, and of the Garde Mobile nearly one-
third are either killed or wounded.
The number of prisoners taken among the insur-
gents is 5,000, who are deposited in the vaults and
dungeons under the Tuileries, the Louvre, the Palais
.Royal, the Chamber of Deputies, the Hotel de Ville,
and in the various prisons.
Four or five of the Members of the Assembly are
among the killed, and about as many among the
wounded.
Fourteen general officers have been put hors de
combat, several being killed. The loss in superior
officers has been greater than in the most brilliant en-
gagements during the wars of NAPOLEON.
The greatest praise is accorded by all parties to the
troops of every class. The National Guard behaved
heroically; the Garde Mobile, composed chiefly of
boys under 20, exhibited an ardour characteristic of
their youth, committing imprudences, proceeding
from an excess of bravery.
The destruction of property has been immense.
It is impossible to conceive the state of the Quer-
tier St. Antoine. In the streets, more than fifty
houses are almost entirely destroyed by the artillery,
and a much larger number have suffered consider-
ably. At every hundred paces formidable barricades
were constructed, here with carriages, filled with
stones, there with paving-stones, further with trunks
of trees, and in some cases with large flag stones.
On the Place de la Bastille the disasters are not
less. The column of July has been injured. The
warehouse known as " La Belle Fermiere" is com-
pletely destroyed; two houses, which formed the
angle of the Place de la Bastille and the Rue de la
Roquette, are a heap of rubbish.
At two o'clock the pompiers were employed to put
out the fire which had commenced in the ruins.
The Faubourg- St. Antoine presents ft still snore
sinister aspect. There is not a house which has not
suffered more or less by the cannonade. The insur-
gents, driven from barricade to barricade, and from
house to house, opposed foot by foot a resistance
which compelled every instant a new combat.
The inhabitants of this unhappy faubourg appear
in consternation. The greater number submit with
eagerness to the search for arms which the insurgents
have abandoned. Everywhere are found guns and
ammunition, and numerous arrests are made. Cries
of vengeance are very rare, and those of misery pre
vail.

One of the insurgents who was arrested was me-
naced by some exasperated citizens for the loss of
numerous comrades who had fallen, when an artil-
leryman of the National Guard, interposed, saying,
" Have pity on the vanquished !' Some representa-
tives, who were there, applauded this ; it was uni-
versally repeated, and the prisoner was saved.
The Faubourg St. Antoine was divided with enor-