The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-07-29
THE COMMUNE.

We publish below a speech recently
delivered before the Cosmopolitan Con
ference of New York city, by Mrs
Francis r Msckinley, on the Commune
of Paris, which was loudly applaudet
at its conclusion, and will afford oul
readers an idea of the composition o
this new and popular organization.
Mrs. Mckinley was introduced BY
the chairman, Col Beeny, and said:
am glad to be here and to Iecog
nize manv friends and faces familiar 4
me whom I used to encounter at the
Universe rooms. I'll health had pre-
vented her from attending all the re
form meetings, but her heart and sym
pathies had followed them and theil
noble purposes. She had been told thai
she never seemed so happy as wher
the day and hour arrived for her at
tendance at one of the reform gather
ings, and it was true, because she sym
pathized heartily with these earnest
" ubH-rCCAuS minus, 81 supcIiOE dIt
they in thought and purpose TO world
lings.
The heart Of every true reformel
must have been filled latterly with hops
and delightful expectation at the pros
pect of establishing a Republic il
France on the basis of perfect freedom
and equality; but in this struggle
France has again failed, and liberty had
lost, as it seems, for the time being, O
step in its progressive march and now
one Of its greatest friends is on tria
for his life. No one who loves man
and desires his emancipation from the
intolerable miseries under which he
groans, but must feel anxious for the
possible fate of that brave, faithful and
earnest Republican-HenIi Rochefort
He may have made mistakes Of judg
ment, but IN self-sacri6cing devotion to
the cause of the people, as he conceiv-
ed it, he has passed his life, and i
now, as il is to be feared, about TO meet
his Heath. With incorporating deter
mination, with tongue and pen and
sword, at all times and in all places,
wherever he could make himself heard
or felt, he has proclaimed and fought
for the coming reign of those masses
Of his countrymen and the world, upon
whom the tyranny Of selfshness and
circumstances have so long weighed
Rochefort is true humAnitarian. Like
Mirabeau, though born himself in the
favored classes, he has always believed
that the soul OF man incarnated in
every human being Il, wherever de-
graded. degraded by untoward fate and
that inhumani,y which
Makes countless millions mourn
In the freedom and bravery Of bis
political theories, he was instructed By
his mother-a woman Of strong and
fixed republican principles. His whole
life has been devoted to the cause OF
liberty. He has been the most inveter
ate enemy Of the iyrannical Napoleonic
dynasty, and his famous journal, the
Ldnterne, contained the bitterest Of sto>
ries and the tiercest invectives against
lnaL government.
After the revolution Of September
which released him from the prison
where he was confined by Napoleon,h,
became a member OF the Provisional
Government, and took part in the de
fence OF Paris. When the Commune
was established. he remained in the city,
being regarded with jealousy by the
Versailles faction. In the turbulent
days that ensued, it is said that he ex-
erted himself upon the side Of order,
and would gladly have restrained the
excuses of the Communists. In at
tempting to escape from Paris, he was
captured by the Versaillisls, and is now
on trial for his life by a court martial.
These latter days in Paris have been
times that tried mems souls, the souls
Of the aspirants for liberty. 1t seemed
TO them, no doubt, the dawn of rev
day-the hour for action and exerIion.
France-bome Of though. aud sci
ence-has always led the van in Eu-
rope of protest against established in
situations, nor can, nor will she ever
cease that protest, though it be cement
ed with the blood Of myriads, until she
sttains to that perfect freedom and
equality which has been the aspiration
of her greatest spirits.
The Communists were not fighting for
mere plumber or destruction, but for
emancipation from the strong iron chains
OF both church and state. They had
hearty sympathy in Garibaldi and Vic.
.or Hugo. This has been a war Of
new conservatism, grown up out Of the
ruins Of the Empire and a fierce Radi~
calism, determined to root out all the
errors Of the past.
We are thel Communists of New
YOrk-radical protectors against every