The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-05-29
THE COMMUNIST LEADERS.


Recent cable kilograms announce the death
of three prominent Communists, Delescluze,
Pyat and Courbet the two former of whom
especially have taken very active part in the
infamous insurrection which has made desolate
a third part of Paris.
Louis Charles DeIescIuze.
NJ. Delescluze, who for a few days held the
position of Delegate Minister of War to the
Commune, and had taken prominent part in
the Socialist revolution from the start, was one
of the most remarkable of the revolutionary
leaders. He was born on the I'd of October,
1909, and was educated in Paris at the College
Bourbon and the Ecole du Droit. While still a
student he joined the political societies of Paris
after the Revolution of 1880, and in 1884 was for
the first time arrested because of his revolution
ary associations. In the following year he was
seriously implicated in a conspiracy, and in con-
sequence was obliged to seek an asylum in Bel
gium. Here he embraced the profession of
journalist, and became editor of the Journal de
Charleroi. Returning to France subsequently,
he became chief editor of L'Impartial du Nord,
journal published at Valenciennes. In 1S41
he suffered his first condemnation for articles
published in this paper, being condemned to
one months imprisonment and a fine of 1000
francs.
After the Revolution of February, 1S4S, by
which the House of Orleans was overthrown, he
was appointed Commissaire- General of the Re-
public for the Departments of the Nord and
Pas de Calais, and in November following esta-
bished two journals La Revolution Democrd-
tique Ell Socidle and La Liberte Republicdine.
In these journals he wrote recklessly one article
costing him q years Imprisonment and 10000
francs fine, and another an Imprisonment of
three months and fine of 10000 francs.
Finally, on June 13, 1S49, La Revolution was
suppressed and Delescluze was condemned by
the High Court at Versailles to transportation
by default. For the second time he went
Into exile, residing in England
until 1858, when he returned to France. But he
was raarrastod, ..nd, afsor hoines inaPri-
soned at Mayas, was, in 1854, condemned to four
years Imprisonment and fine of 1000 francs as
q member of a secret society. He was trans
ported successfully to Belle Isle Corte, Ajaccio,
Toulon, and Brest, at the two latter places being
associated with convcts, and often compelled to
labor in the chain-gangs. On September l. 1858,
by simple ministerial order, he was sent to
Cayenne, under sentence of ten years transpor-
tation, by the provisions of the decree of De-
cember 8, 1851. At the end of single year,
however, he was suffered to return to France by
an amnesty.
For some years thereafter, Delescluze kept out
of public life; but the old passion finally resumed
its sway and in 1868 he established lie ReueiL,
which at first was published as a weekly. Within
a single year after he embarked in this new
journalistic enterprise he suffered three severe
condemnations-three months imprisonment
and 5000f fine for his first article, six months
imprisonment and fifty francs fine on account of
the Baudin subscription, and six months i'm
prisonment and 20O0f. fine by judgment pro-
pxrf nf
the following day, the Emperor's birthday, he
escaped the infiction of the last penalty.
A man with such record as this must, of
course, come to the surface after the downfall
of the empire. At the election of the 9Th of
February last for delegates to the Constituent
Assembly, Deescluze stood the eighth in order
on the poll of Paris, receiving 1853 900 votes the
list being headed by Louis Blanc with 2l6,OOO
In the Assembly he soon gave evidence of his
extreme radical tendencies. On March 6, when
Louis Blanc and Victor Hugo submit.
ted demand for the detention o;
the members of the Provisional
Republican Government until they should render
an account of their acts previous to the capitu-
lation of Paris, Deescluze supplemented il by
demanding their arrest and impeachment on the
charge of high treason. at the municipal cleo
tion held in Paris on Sunday, March 26, in the
early days OF the revolution, Delescluze was
elected member of the Communal Council.
and few days thereafter resigned his seat in
the Assembly He became one of the most
active of the revolutionary leaders, aud on MAY
10 was appointed Delegate Minister of War
to the Commune, as successor to
General Rossel. But in less than week he fell
under the suspicion and displeasure of the Com
mune, and was displaced The despatch an
nOuncing the close of his stormy career states
that his body has been found in the streets and
identified. He was probably killed during the
terrific encounters of last week; although, as his
arrest by the Versaillists had been previously
announced, he may have been shot after sum-
mary trial.
Felix Pyat.
This revolutionary journalist, who is reported
to have been shot, was born at Vierzon, October
A. 1910. He received an excellent education,
studied law at Paris, and was admitted as an
advocate in 1881. He turned his attention to
literature, however, and was attached success
sively to the Figaro, OhGriUari, and the Steele.
He likewise wrote several plays, being best
known as an author by his dramas of Mattilde,
Diogene and lie Chifonier de Paris, which
acquired considerable popularity on account of
their political illusions.
The outbreak of the Revolution of 1S4S led
him into politics. and he joined the ranks of
Ledru-R -Rollin, with whom he soon after went
into exile, publishing several political works
during his residence in England, and addressing