Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-06-15

despatch to be transmitted to you from Lon
don tomorrow.
have the honor to be,
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
4. b. WAsuBURNE.
Hon. Hamilton Fish,
Secretary of State.
PARIS, May "a, 1871.
SIR My mention of the prodigious events
which have been transacting in Paris since
Sunday last, closed at noon yesterday. AS II
was impossible to reach those posts OF the
city in which the fighting was gong on, i
only knew that the contest was raging with
unparalleled fury in the central portion OF It,
At half past five or six O'Clock OF yesterday,
1t was evident that an immense fire had brok-
en- out at the Chanceillerie of the Legation OF
Honor Soon we saw the smoke arising in
other parts of the city, showing but too plain
ly that the terrible threats of the commune OF
a general conhagation had commenced to be
carried out. was at the headquarters of
Marshal Mcmahon at Passy at about nine
o'clock in the morning, for the purpose of
soliciting the sending of troops at the earliest
moment for the release of the archbishop OF
Paris and other hostages, in the prisons of
Mazas, and there was told by an officer OF
the staff that the palace of the Tuileries was on
fire. On my return l could discover nothing
and hoped that he had been mistaken. At
one o'clock this morning was awakened by
a friend who told me that Paris was all in
flames. hurried to position from which l
had full and complete view of the fire. 1t
was starlight night, calm and beautiful. An
insurgent battery which had been for twenty
four hours Smelling our part of the town, was
still sending its bombs into the immediate
neighborhood of the legation every fifteen
minutes. The roar of their cannon, the
cretipemeat of the mitrailleuses, and the
sharp rafting of chassepots fell upon the still
of the night. The lurid flames rising from
the burning palace lighted up half the heav-
ems, and the whole scene was the most terri
BILE had ever witnessed. To the fire of the
Tuileries was added other CONGREGATIONS,
the ministry of finance, the buildings of the
Rue Royale and other fires were seemed just
started. At one time it appeared to those of
us who were watching the progress of the
confagration that the Hospital DIES Invalides
was certainly on fire, but as the night wore
on, daylight disclosed its gilded dome intact,
and we discovered to our great qualification
that the fire was a short distance beyond in
the same direction.
At five o'clock this morning sent a mess
enger to Versailles with Geographic dis
patch for you in regard to what had taken
place. Coming to the legation at nine o'clock
heard that the Versailles troops had cap
tured the strong positions at Place de la Con-
corde and the Place Vendome. l at once
took my carriage ard proceeded in that direc-
ton, passing down the Boulevard Haussmann
to the Place st. Augustin and the Caseme
and were driven out after fight of about two
hours but at the foot of the Boulevard Male
sherbe, behind the Madeleine, and at the
r I,l
strong barricades; in fact the key of their
position was there for if the Versailles troops
could once pass that point they could easily
take the great batteries in Rue Royale, the
Rue de Rivoli and the Place Vendome in the
reverse; here the most desperate fighting
took place for period of nearly thirty-six
hours. The neighborhood presented the most
dreadful appearance this morning. The side
walks of that splendid Boulevard Malesherbe
were filed with horses, baggage wagons and
artillery carriages. The horses had been
more or less torn by shot and shell. The
trees were all cut to pieces by the fire of the
artillery and musketry, and their branche
filled the streets. dead national guard wa
lying in an excavation for cellar near by. Ii
small open epace, in the next street, wer
the bodies of two soldiers of the line, VIII,
had been summarily shot as deserters. Pro
ceeding further reached the front of thu
church of La Madelaine, at the head of Rue
Royale, and many of the buildings of thai
thoroughfare we're in flames, and Others
seemed literally to have been torn in pieces
by the fire of cannon and musketry. Going
further up the Boulevard Capucines l found
many of the buildings completely riddled, and
upon the sidewalk was dead national guard
and in side street, a short distance from
there, was another dead body of the insurgen
guard, people passing by and looking on then
with apparent satisfaction. l went to the
Place Vendome, which had been evacuated
during the night, and there for the first time
saw the great column lying in the position il
which it had fallen. The insurgents had no
time to remove the bronze, which is now tt
be made use of in the speedy restoration o
the column, the national assembly having
decreed that it shall at once be restored. The
Place de la Concorde was evacuated at the
same time, the insurgents retreating in the
direction Of the Hotel de Vile and up the
Rue Lafayette. From Place Vendome, !
went to the Rue de Rivoli and proceeded
cautiously toward the Tuileries under the
arcade. The Tuileries bnilding was still burn.
ing and the flames were bursting out in every
part of the building where they had not be-
fore reached. 1t seemed that it would be i'm.
possible to save the Louvre, but hear as
write that its preservation is secured with al
its treasures of art and historic interest Dur
ing the entire afternoon, the fires have beel
raging in many directions, and from the lie
cation the sound of battle can be distinctly
heard, but it is impossible to procure any re
liable intelligence in regard to what is takin
place. Most certainly something more def
mite can be ascertained in the morning.
THURSDAY, May %.
When closed my despatch last night,
was fire and battle. 1t is the same this morn
ing. There were frightful burnings all nigh
The great Hotel de Vile, with all its tradition
and souvenirs of history, exists no longer
The Court des Complies, the Court of Cassa
ton, the Prefecture of Police, and the celC
brated old prison of the Conciergerie hav
shared the same fate. All has been the wor
of organized incendiarsm, and the insured
tionists have done everything in their powe
to destroy Paris. If the entry of the troop
had been delayed much longer they woul
certainly have succeeded The commune ha
already made ''perquisitions" for all the pc
troleum in the city, and prepared petroleum
boxes and other means of firing the placp