Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1877-11-15
EX-MINISTER WASHBURNE.
His Recital at Gaiena, ILL.,, OF the BLOODY
Scenes In the French Capital During the
CommunIstic Reign OF Terror.
Special dispatch to Chicago Tribune.

Special dispatch to Chicago Tribune.
GALENA, ILL, Nov. 2.-In compli-
ance with the request of the German
American citizens of Galena and 10
Dayiess county, his old neighbors and
| friends. Mr.. Washburne, late minister
of the United States to France, deiiv-
cred lecture tonight at Turner Hall,
on " The Siege and Commune OF
Paris" The hall was crowded with
| German and American citizens, ladies
of both nationalities comprising part
of the audience. The stage was dec
Grated with tri.colored and American
flags. and the motto used on former
occasion, "Galena Honors the Man
| who Honors the Nation, " was
stretched across the hall over the
stage. The Hon. Christov Barner was
made S. G. of the meeting, and intro
duced Minister Washburne in an elo-
ouent manner, in the German lam
guage. The lecture was listened to
with The ruost intense interest on the
part of the aodience, and, during the
thrilling recital of the scenes and in
cidents attending the siege of the
French capital, and the terrible events
which followed, every ear, was strain
ed to catch the utterauces OF the
speaker, and the close of each SEN
tence was followed by rapturous ap-
planse.
Mr.. Washburne commenced by
brief allusion to Paris and France IN
the spring of 1869, when he entered
upon his duties as minister of the
United States to the empire of France
He sketched the emperor and en-
press as surrounded by a brilliant
court, with all the outward appear
ance of popularity in all the monarch
ical and aristocratic circles of Paris.
But there was deep rumbling of
discomfort among all the middle class
es, which to the closer observer por-
tended eventual trouble. The scenes
in Paris after the breaking out of the
war were wildly portrayed. The
whole population, infamed. excited
and maddened by the appeals of dem
agogues; their parades in the streets,
their clamor for arms, their enthusl-
asm, their shouts, and their demands
to be sled to Berlin in eight days."
and the everlasting refrain from the
lips of thousands, of the Marseilaise,
that hymn of free France:
Allons, enfants de la patrie.
lie jour de gloire est arrive.
Then came the fall of Sedan; the
emperor and the army prisoners; Paris
appalled,; followed by the revolu-
ton of the 4th of September, one of
the most extraordinary events in his
tory; the crash of the empire and the
establishment of the provisional gov
eminent of the national defense, made
up of men whose names were in list
thrown out of window at the Hotel
de Vile by Gambetta, and acclaimed
by 10000 people in the Place de
Greve.
Mr.. Washbuane gave an account
of the relations he held to the Ger
man population in Paris, from the
time of the breaking out of the war
| until the diplomatic relations had
been established between France and
Germany period of nearly eleven
| months-in which he acted as the
German representative in France. Be-
fore the Gates of Paris were shut he
had given thirty thousand Germans
passports to leave France, and many
of them money to pay their way; and
during the siege he had protected and
cared for nearly 5000 who had been
left in the city during the siege.
Referring to the incidents of the
siege, MIR. Washburne proceeeed to
give an account of the terrible events
of the commune, when for eleven
weeks the most beautiful city in the
world was held by an organized mob,
and where there was no law but that
of force and terror. He described the
frightful scenes attending the entry of
the government troops into the city,
of fire and blood, of seven days of bat
tie to pull down the red ensign of an
archy aud establish the empire of law
the final suppression Of the insurrec-
ton and definite establishment of the
republic with MI. Theirs as president.