Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-06-15

The New York Times gives detailed
connected history of the last days of the
Commune from Minister Washburn's Off
cial dispatches to, the State Department,
one of which is sointeresting and graphic
that we give it in full.
/ His dispatch is dated Thursday, May
l25tla - =
When / closed my dispatch last night it
was fire and battle. 1t is the same this
morning! There were frightful burnings
all night. The great Hotel de Vile; with
all its traditions and souveniers of history
the Court of Cessation, the Prefecture of
Police, and the celebrated old prison of the
! Conciergerie have shared the same fate.
All has been the work of organized incen-
diarism, and the einsurrectionists have done
everything in their power to destroy Paris.
If the entry. of the troops had been delay
ed muclr lorlgerthey would certainly have
succeeded The Commune had already
made "perquisitions" for all the petroleum
in the city, and prepared petroleum boxes
and other means of firing the place. Bands
| of men, women and children were organ
i lied to do this diabolical work. During
| the past two days immense numbers of
/ these persons have been detected i'm dis
tributing these boxes, and in every case
the most summary vengeance has been in-
f1icted upon them, without regard to age,
| sex, or condition. An emplOye of this le-
cation counted this afternoon on the Av-
enue d'Autin the dead bodies of eight chill
dren, the oldest not more than IA years of
age; who had been seized while distribut-
| ing their incendiary boxes, and shot on
the spot. The state of feeling now existing
in. Paris is fearful beyond, description.
I Passing events haveEfilled the whole pop
'ulation opposed to the Commune with
horror and rage. Arrests are made by
wholesale of the innocent as well as the
guilty. Last night four Americans, two
ladies and two gentlemen, innocent as your
self ofall completely withsthe instruction,
were seized while dining at restaurant
and marched through the streets to one of
the military posts. They sent word to me
as soon as possible of their arrest, and /
lost no time in going to their relief. I adj
dressed myself to Gen. Donal, who, upon
my statement, Immediately ordered their
release. He expressed much regret at what
had happened.
/ went down in the city this afternoon
to see for myself what was the progress of
events. Very little had been done toward
putting matters into shape in the parts al
ready captured from the insurgents. The
barricades feyerywhere remain. The fire
wasssthf raging I'm Rue Royale.s The Min
istry of Finance is completely consumed,
with every record and paper, loss that is
ing been driven beyond the Place Bastile,
1 wassable to go much further thaRI went
yesterday. 1 passed at the Rue de Rivoli
by the smoking ruins of the Tuilleries, and
had The efnexpressible pleasureof seeing for
myself that the Louvre, with alllits noble
and incalculable treasures had been pre-
served. AS I continued up the street it
| i 6 ell II
of an army. Reaching the Hotel de Willie,
found the neighborhood; had all the ap-
pearance of an intrenchedJ camp. Inn
mense barricades were on every street
leading into the square. But I am told
the insurgents abandoned it without
fight, finding themselves upon the point
of being hemmed in. But before leaving
they applied the torch to that pile so inter-
woven with the history of Paris and of
Grange, and the pride of -Frenchmen, for
centuries gone by. {: Now there was moth
ing but amass of smoldering ruins. Two
squares of magnificent buildings on the
lower side of the Place de pHotel de Vile
had also been destroyed. 1t was indeed q
sad sight to behold. There was regiment
of the troops of the line on the quay, but
scarcely another soul was to be seen in the
entire neighborhood. Eight dead bodies
of the insurgents, partially consumed by
what was the main entrance into the
building, and presenting the most horrible
appearance, and sad sights everywhere
At the Place de POpera, / saw some five
hundred prisoners men, women and chill
dren, who We're being, driven to Versailles
There was squad of cavalry marching in
front and in rear of them, and foot-soldiers
marching on, either side, must say they
were the most hideous and dsinister-looking
my life. Thesighto Of the prisoners excited
the people to the highest pitch of indigna-
ton, and every approbrious epithet was
heaped upon them, and the escort alone
prevented violence from being inflicted
upon the spot An officer told me this af-
ternoon that the order was to shoot every
man takeninE arms; against the Govern
ment. do not, yoqeh for the truth OF
what he told me, but I do know that large
numbers of the National Guard and many
Others caught in some criminal act have
| been sumImarily executed. ia1 ssafisl -
iol 1t is with no small degree of satisfaction
! that I am able to inform you that during
all these horrible exercises in Paris for the
past sttenweeksno material damage lfas been
| done to the property of Americans, neither
! to the property of the Germans, with whose
1 interest L. still continue to be charged.
Among the last prisoners to be released
were eleven German nuns who had been
seized at the Convent of Pichus. After
being set at liberty they came to the Lega-
tiop ip body to- thanklne for my efforts
| i'm their behalf
The only newspaper have been able to
gee since the entry of tie troops is the
Vcrite, two copies of which / send you.
The last number appeared yesterday morn
ing, although dated to-day. No paper has
appsareds to-day as far as 1 can learn, ex-
cept little Sheet called the Constitution,