The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1879-09-27
DoNALDsoNvnLE LOUISIANA SATURDAY SEPTEMBER a 1879

had been collected for them by sym
pathiing friends; the next was to
hurry away to the railway station,
Many proceeded to Paris but the des.
tination Of the majority was Mar
boDne.
A wellfed, prosperous Paris artisan
Of twenty--whO was but boy o1
twelve when the madness of the Com
mune raged-may, gazing upon some
gaunt, wayworn, phantom looking
exile newly landed from the Var,
murmur to himself, as the women OF
RavenDa used to murmur as they
watched the awful form of Dante
Aligheri stalking by, "There goes
the man who has seen hell" The
Commune Of l87l.was, it is undenia-
| bic, guilty and disastrous frenzy.
The MURDER of the hostages, the de-
struction Of the public buildings, were
tremendous crimes, which posterity
will justly regard with horror and in
dignation but, if bygones are ever
allowed to be bygones, the only SEN
timent with which the unfortunate
men who have just been restored to
their native land should be regarded
must be feeling Of commiseration.
There may be professed anarchists,
incorrlgible conspirators, nay, des-
perately wicked men among them !;
but the bulk of their number are
most sincerely to be piticd. Some of
them possibly were not guiltess of
acts of incendiarism or freebooting.
The criminality of tile others did not
go beyond implication to a greater or
smaller extent in revolutionary out
break. Their lot, if they escaped
Aecimation st the hands of s, ch Gen
erals as the Marquis de Gallfet, was
to be driven in droves, like cattle,
tethered together by ropes, and urged
on by the butt ends of muskets along
a dusty road, and under burning
sun, from Paris to Versailles. There
they were thrust by hundreds to-
gether into the great buildings of the
Orangery. Hunger, thirst, fatigue,
and mental excitement reduced many
of their number to the condition of
wild beasts, and thes story of the
" Fosse aux Lions" at the Orangery,
could it ever be faithfully narrated,
might equal in intensity of horror the
record Of the Black Hole at Calcutta.
Then, for such of the convicted Com
mnnlsts who escaped the fusilades
of the plain Of Satory, came the dreary
journey III cellular vans to the ports
of embarkation, the weeks of slow
agony passed in the easements of
Mont st. Michel or Fort Lamalgne,
the months of wretched monotony
and discomfort in the cages placed
tween decks of the convict ships
which bore them to Noumea. They
may not have been quite so sayagely
treated in their captivity as the most
irrcconcilable exiled Communists
would have us believe but it is un-
unqueslionab1e that they were at one
period subjected to rigorous discip-
line; and that the very circumstance
Of their detention entailed on them
an amount Of physical and mental
anguish which may fairly be accepted
as adequate retribntion for the crimes
or the folies of which they may have
been guilty. Other transports full of
pardoned Communists are shortly ex-
pected in France. The Picardie. the
Calvados, aud yet third great ship
are coming, all laden with amnestied
prisoners, among whom it is said that
there are many who made themselves
conspicuous by their excesses in Paris
during the evil days of May, 1871.
The immediate consequences of this
sudden accession of Democrats to the
population of the French capital can
not be regarded without some amount
of anxiety but it is to be hoped that
the mass Of the returning exiles have
learned little wisdom through their
dire misfortune. The State will not
surely suffer these most unhappy men
to starv+, and they must lie assisted
until they can obtain work. Society
in France seems to be disposed to ex-
tend to them the full benefits of an
act Of oblivion if they will only do
their best to make themselves and
their errors forgotten.
Truly yours, ROVER.
Fever at Morgan City.
Lafayette Advertiser.