The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1871-08-05
THE CIVIL WAR In FRANCE.
Address of the General Council
OF THE
INTERNATIONAL

OF THE
INTERNATIONAL
WURKlNGMEN'S ASSOCIATION
CONTINUED.
III.
Armed Paris was the only serious oh
stacle in the way Of the counter-revolu-
tionary conspiracy. Paris was, therefore,
to be disarmed. On this point the Bor-
deaux Assembly was sincerity itself II
the roaring rant Of its Rurals had not been
audible enough, the surrender of Paris BY
Theirs, to the tender mercies Of the tri-
umvirate Of Vinoy, the Decem6rlseur, Val
entin, the Bonapartist genddrme, and Au-
relle de Paladine would have cut of even
the last subterfuge Of doubt But while
insultingly exhibiting the true purpose of
the disarmament of Paris, the conspirators
asked her to lay down her arms on a pre-
text which was the most glaring, the most
barefaced of lies. The artillery of tie
Paris National Guard, said Theirs, belong
ed to the State, and to the State it must be
returned.
The fact was this From the very day Of
the capitulation, by which Bismarck . prs-
oners signed the surrender of France, but
reserved to themselves a numerous BODY
guard, for the express purpose Of coNing
Paris, Paris stood on the watch. The
National Guard organized themselves and
entrusted their supreme command to a
Central Committee, elected by their en-
tire body, save some fragments of the old
BOnapartist formations.
On the eve Of the entrance Of the Prus-
slams into Paris, the Central Committee
took measures for the removal to Mont
martre, Belville, and La Villette, Of the
cannon and mitralleuses treacherously aban-
doUed by the capitulards. n ead about the
very quarters the Prussians were to occu-
py. That artillery had been furnished bv
the subscriptions Of the National Guard.
As their private property, it was officially
recognized in the capltulation of the 28tb
Of January, and on that very title EXEMPT
ed from the general surrender into the
hands Of the conGueror, of arms belong
ing to the government. And Theirs was
50 ut erly destitute Of even the fimsiest
pretext for initiating the war against Paris
that be had to resort to the fragrant lie Of
the artillery Of the National Guard being
State property.
The seizure of ber artillery was evident
y but to serve as the preliminary to the
general disarmament Of Paris, and, there
fore, Of the Revolution of the 4th Of
September. But the Revolution bad be-
come the legal status Of France. The re-
public, its work was recognized by the
conqueror in the terms of capitulation.
Alter the capitulation, it was acknowledged
BY all the foreign powers, and in its name
the National Assembly bad been summon
ed. The Paris workingmen's revolution,
of the 4th Of September was the only
legal title of the National Assembly seated
at Bordeaux, and Of its executive. With
out it the National Assembly would at
once have to give way to the Corps Legis-
latif, elected in 1869, by universal suffrage,
under French, not under Prussian rule,
and fOrcibly dispersed by the arm of the
Revolution.
Theirs and bis ticket-of-leave men
would have had to capitulate for safe con-
ducts, signed by Louis Bonaparte, to save
them from a voyage to Cayenne. The
National Assembly, with its power of at
torney to settle the terms Of peace with
Prussia, was but an incident Of that rev
OlutiOn, the true er bodiment Of which was
still armed Paris, which had initiated it,
undergone for it a five months's siege,
with its horrors Of famine, and made her
prolonged resistance, despite the plan
Of Trochu, the basis Of an obstinate war
Of defence in the provinces. And Paris
was now either to lay down her arms at
the insulting behest Of the rebellious slave
holders Of Bordeaux, and acknowledge that
her Revolution Of the 4th of September
meant nothing more than q simple trans
fer Of power from Louis Bonaparte 10 bis
royal rivals; or, she bad 70 stand forward
as the selfsacrifcing champion Of France,
whose salvation from ruin, and whose re.
generation were impossible, without the
revolutionary overthrow of the political and
social conditions that had engendered the
second Empire, and, under its fostering
care, matured into utter rottenness. Paris,
emaciated by FIVE months famine, did not
hesitate one moment. She heroically re-
solved to run all the hazards of a resist
ance against the French conspirators, even
with Prusslsn cannon frowning upon her
from her own forts.
Still, in its adherence Of the civil war
into which Paris was to be goaded, the
Central Committee continued to persist in
a merely defensive attitude, despite the
provocations Of the Assembly, the usurpa-
tons of the Executive, and the meDacing
concentration Of troops iu around Paris
Tbiers opened the civil war, by sending
Vinoy, at the head of a multitude Of
sergentS de viHe ard some regiments Of the
line, upon a nocturnal expedition against
Montmartre, there to seize the artillery Of
the National Guard. 1t is well known how
this attempt broke down before the resist
ance Of the National Guard and the frat
ernization Of the line with the people. Au-
relies de Paladine had printed beforehand
bis bulletin Of victory, and Theirs held
ready the plaeards announcing his measures
Of coup Getat,
Now these had to be replaced by
Theirs appeals, imparting bis magnanimous
resolve to leave the National Guard in pos
session Of their arms, with which, be said,